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hello-yue-here · 3 years ago

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About your atla ship songs, I have a couple of questions (sorry if my phrasing comes out wrong, english isn't my first language and I worry it might across as accidentally defensive): how did you end up with the choices for zukka, jetko and yuekka (note: I haven't seen the great comet, so feel free to obsess over it, I'm intrigued now and the hype is appreciated!)? Sidenote: I think the mailee choice is HILARIOUS and the tokka one just make me sad, I didn't expect to be attacked like this😭

kdjfha;s i love you im gonna obsess SO HARD over great comet now. you may regret this

this is gonna be so long so the rest is under the cut whoops

yuekka: no one else from great comet

where do i even begin. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN

okay so background information on this show: it's based off of a 76 oages excerpt from war and peace and its centered around a woman named natasha (and this guy pierre but he's irrelevant to this song so we wont worry about him) and natasha's bethrothed is off fighting in the war right now. she hasn't seen him in a while but she is in love with him.

every single lyrics of this song SCREAMS yuekka to me. the innocence and purity of their love. the love at first sight. and even the melancholy ending just- i go apeshit for this song. i love this song so much. and denee benton's voice??? kljsdhflwksugf please listen to this song if you haven't already. listen to the whole show. your life will be changed forever.

onto the lyrics (i stg this is ab to be the whole song whoops)

"the moon"

THOSE ARE THE FIRST WORDS ON THE SONG. natasha and andre (her bethrothed) met underneath the moonlight. Sokka and Yue first spoke to eachother at night and always met each other for their most intimate moments under the moonlight. also yue is LITERALLY the moon so like: right of the bat with those two words it's yuekka.

"and i saw your eyes / and i saw your smile / and the world opened wide"

sokka fell in love with yue the moment he saw her in the canal. she literally enchanted this motherfucker. everything about her made his heart go crazy. and 'the world opened wide' to me is from yue's perspective. Yue had never left the north pole and sokka had seen a good chuck of the world at the point. He took her on appa, he told her about his adventures. he saw the world yue wished to see and you know damn well that Sokka would have done anything to give it to her.

"oh the moon /oh the snow in the moonlight / and your childlike eyes and your distant smile / ill never be this happy again / you and i and no one else"

natasha sings fondly about the moon and the snow, seeing as it was where she fell in love with andre. yue and sokka LITERALLY fell in love in the same place: in the snowy nothern water tribe under the light of the moon. childlike eyes: THEYRE CHILDREN!!! distant smile: this is where it gets a little sad. theyre both children with way too many duties during a world that has known nothing but war for the past century. they want to be happy but yeah, theyre smiles are distant and far away because happiness seems out of reach for them most of the time. i'll never be this happy again: the moments yue and sokka shared together were probably the happiest either of them ever were. they were able to ignore the war and the world in the moments they shared together. and with no one else. no one else would be able to give each other this sense of peace and happiness and love.

"joy and life inside our souls / and no body knows just you and me / it's our secret"

Yue and Sokka had to sneak out in secret at night to go and see each other. Yue and Sokka couldn't be together for real because Yue was already engaged, but they were literally in love so she decided to see him anyways in secret. kasdjfhklasjd im losing my mind over them at this point.

"this winer sky / how can anyone sleep / there was never such a night before / i feel like putting my arms around my knees / and squeezing tight as possible / and flying away"

these are my FAVORITE lines in the entire song. yue and sokka had never felt this strongly about anyone before and that's why they are so drawn to each other. they had never experienced love before and they wanted to hold onto it for as long as they could even though they knew they couldnt. Sokka takes yue up on appa and she is wistful and wishes she could live like he does every day: ie flying away. oh my god these two deserved so much better. so much fucking better.

now for the saddes part. the saddest fucking part.

"maybe he'll come today / maybe he came already / and he's sitting in the drawing room / and i simply forgot"

natasha misses andre so intensely at this point. when i first listened to this show and heard this song i was like "wait a min... is andre like... dead?" and im sure i wasnt the only person who assumed that this was why natasha felt so sad by the end of such a beautiful song. (spoiler alert andre is fine)

but this line really exemplifies how sad natasha is, and hints at the fact that andre may never come back. it implies that their relationship is doomed (at least in my opinion) and that's all yuekka. Sokka misses yue intensely when shes gone. Yue accepted her fate almost immediately but sokka was in denial. he thought there had to be another way. but in the end it wasn't meant to be. and sokka will go on, loving yue, wishing for her back, even though it's not possible.

fuck im gonna cry.

zukka: all i've ever known- hadestown

"i was alone so long / i didn't even know that i was lonely / out in the cold so long / i didnt even know that i was cold"

sokka is from the swt so theres where the cold comes in. also in the gaang (initially) it was just him katara and aang. and katara and aang were much closer to each other than sokka was with aang and the two of them were benders so sokka was kind of an outsider with the two of them. He also represses a lot of his emotions and feels the need to do everything himself so i do see a lot of loneliness in sokka. and the fact that so many people in his life have left him (his mom, yue, his dad, suki briefly, etc...) he is known to keep people at an arms length. i see a lot of loneliness in sokka.

zuko's loneliness is a lot more obvious: he has literally been cast out and abandoned by everyone except iroh. and even then he still feels the need to be alone (remember zuko alone? thought so) these boys look after themselves and push others away and revel in their loneliness in order to keep themselves from getting hurt. at least in my opinion on canon and also some fanon because id be a liar if i said fanon didnt influence how i view ALL my ships (not just zukka)

"all ive ever known is how to hold my own / but now I wanna hold you too"

COME ONE MANNNN, they just wanna hold each other. theyre both very big protectors as well and kljhflkasdhg they wanna protect eachother like kljdhfl im gonna lose it rn.

"You take me in your arms / And suddenly there's sunlight all around me / Everything bright and warm / And shining like it never did before / And for a moment I forget / Just how dark and cold it gets"

SUNLIGHT SYMBOLISM. zuko is literally powered by the sun. i don't think i even NEED to elaborate on this one anymore lol. They find comfort in each other away from all of their trauma. when they're together nothing else matters and i personally love that for them. they both deserve love.

"I knew you before we met / And I don't even know you yet / All I know is your someone I have always known"

these two are extremely similar in canon. many parallels. older brothers overshadowed by their prodigy little sisters. longing to make their fathers proud (granted one dad is good and one is fuckin evil), both are pretty bad with emotions. both are seen protecting others before themselves (sokka protecting suki during the serpant's pass, sokka protecting toph on like multiple occassions, zuko protecting katara in the final agni kai), the list goes on. they know who the other is because they see themselves in the other person. they already know each other because they are each other (in a way, not entirely, but the similarities are strong in my opinion)

"I'm gonna hold you forever / The wind will never change on us / Long as we stay with each other / Then it will always be like this"

i just think this line is so cute and sweet (ignoring all the symbolism and foreshadowing that comes with the last line in the musical itself. im gonna pretend this is nothing but happy) and i think these boys deserve happiness so yeah. this song is zukka to me lol.

jetko: thrill of first love- falsettoes

if you've never listened to this song go an do it now. you will know INSTANTLY that it is jetko because of the dynamics alone. marvin and whizzer are pure jetko and i take no crticisms.

marvin and whizzer are both extremely stubborn, and they don't always get along, and they fight a lot, and they get mad at each other a lot, and they are both passionate as hell, and they will bring this passion into everything. they love each other that is without a doubt, but they arent perfect and they are once again stubborn and determined as fuck.

sound familiar? it's literally jetko.

the lyrics aren't what remind me of jetko, but the dynamic itself. the lyrics are too on the nose for a gay couple in 1970's america so that rlly cant apply to jetko all that much. but the way these two characters bounce off of each other and get annoyed with each other and argue with eachother reminds me of jetko. because let's be honest: these two are the most stubborn characters in the whole show. they will fight for what they believe and it will take literally everything to change their minds.

i love jetko but i think they would have petty arguments all the time and get aggravated by one another so easily. and this is even seen in canon: they work so fucking well together but they did not even HESITATE to fight one another after neither of them would give in and let the fight about whether jet was right or wrong about zuko being a firebender. like i cannot say it enough they are stubborn as fuck.

but underneath all that stubborn pettiness and bickering: marvin and whizzer still love each other. and jet and zuko would still love each other. because even though they are stubborn when it comes to arguments, they are even more stubborn and determined when it comes to each other. these two passionate motherfuckers are in love.

(now when i chose this song i decided to ignore the fact that this song literally spells out the fact that marvin and whizzer's relatinoship is doomed because they literally say passion dies. thats the difference between jetko and whizzer and marvin because i dont think passion dies. i chose this song strictly for the bickering lmao)

and i know you didnt ask about tokka but,,,,

i rlly wanna talk about the tokka one

so im going to

tokka: on my own- les mis

look. i KNOW this song is about unrequited love and i love tokka as a couple but,,, the unrequited love in this song just SCREAMS unrequited tokka to me so thats what i went with.

eponine is a girl who has neglectful parents who lives life by her own rules: toph. eponine is shown to be tough and confident and spunky to others but behind all of that she has emotions, she feels love, she hides her vulnerability so much: toph. she is in love with a guy she cant be with because he loves someone else: TOPH

eponine is toph to a t and toph is eponine to a t. this is not up for debate lmao

"without him i feel his arms around me"

toph is always seen grabbing onto someone (and its almost ALWAYS sokka) when she's somewhere where she can't use her feet to see. FEEL and ARMS cmon. look at it.

"and i know / i know that he is blind"

COME ON. IMAGINE TOPH SINGING THIS LINE. this line is already powerful enough in les mis but having toph, a blind character, sing it just makes the symbolism even deeper. toph sees the potential relationship they could have together. toph sees that sokka is oblivious to this. toph is not blind to the truth or the potention, but sokka is blind to her feelings. im about to lose my mind over this line.

"I love him / But every day I'm learning / All my life / I've only been pretending / Without me / His world will go on turning / A world that's full of happiness / That I have never known"

i need to sit down for a moment. toph grew up in a household where her parents did not understand her. she has learned to hide her true emotions and vulnerabilities from everyone. and its the fact that toph knows that she and sokka will never be together and the fact that she still loves him in spite of that is what makes this even more heartbreaking.

"but only on my own"

TOPH AND EPONINE SWEETIES I LOVE YOU

thank you for indulging my theatre kid nonsense. you are very sweet and kind and lovely and awesome and i hope you have a lovely day bestie :) <3

ask me why i think these songs go with these ships

#asks #liv is a theatre nerd #liv is an atla nerd #yuekka #zukka #jetko #tokka #ask me about my ship songs

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treescape · 4 years ago

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WIP Challenge

WIP Challenge 😁❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍❤😁🤩🤩 Rules: tell us the titles of all the WIPs you are currently working on right now and a little about them. Then tag five other writers.

Thank you so much to @outpastthemoat for the tag! <3 <3 <3

I wasn't kidding the other day when I said I have 36 files in my In Progress folder 😅 So I'm not going to post all of them. I'm leaving out quite a few shorter prompt fills I'm working on, a few I haven’t actually gotten past the daydreaming stage for yet, as well as a few that I really don't know how I'll move forward on.

Details below the cut, since it's long. Please note that some fics are E rated. Fics are divided by pairing (obikin, dinluke, quiobi, and other/gen)

Feel free to ask me about any of these by the way--I love talking about fic!

obikin/vaderwan

eastwest

Anakin was raised a Sith, Obi-Wan a Jedi. Vader is cursed to never be able to show his face until a Jedi comes to love him. After Vader kills his Master the Emperor, he puts out a demand: one of the Jedi must come to him or he will destroy the few who remain.

Obi-Wan, naturally, sacrifices himself.

This is basically a mix of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Beauty and the Beast, Cupid and Psyche, and Hades and Persephone. I've posted a small snippet on tumblr here.

This will be a longer, chaptered work, which I won't start posting until I've finished game plan.

exhaustion habits

For a prompt for the lines “Come on, now, Master, I couldn’t possibly carry you with more dignity” and “Obi-Wan had known exhaustion with a brutal intimacy for years” from my phone notes prompts. Order 66 doesn’t happen, and the Republic wins the war. Now that the war is over, however, Obi-Wan is so used to running on nothing but fumes that he finds it difficult to sleep if he's anything less than flat out exhausted. Since he still has to run himself ragged before he can rest, he thus keeps falling asleep in the most random places. Anakin is determined to do something about it.

game plan (chapter 2)

The second chapter of my fic in which Anakin was raised a Sith, Obi-Wan a Jedi, and they keep meeting during the Clone Wars. This was meant to be a more lighthearted Vaderwan fic than I usually write and I'm really loving it so far. There will be five chapters total, and I have them all pretty well planned out--I just need to work my way through my writing anxiety and finish them! In this second chapter, Vader has captured Obi-Wan (again) and is taking him back to his ship--but their shuttle has a bit of a malfunction and they're stranded. I've posted two brief snippets on tumblr, here and here.

light of day

The companion piece to dreamfield; Vader finds Obi-Wan on Tatooine, as suggested by my friend Scruffy! I've posted a snippet of this on tumblr here.

in darkness and light

My soulmates AU in which Anakin is raised a Sith and Obi-Wan a Jedi (are you…seeing a pattern here??? 😂) I’ve posted two brief snippet of this on tumblr, here and here! This will be chaptered, and I won’t be starting to post it until after game plan is done.

to have and to hold (part 5)

This is the fifth part of to have and to hold, for a prompt in which Obi-Wan and Anakin first sleep together. My lips are sealed as to the rest.

to have and to hold (part 6)

For a prompt in which Obi-Wan makes a misstep—and Anakin unknowingly comforts him.

to have and to hold (part 7)

For a prompt wanting to know a bit more about Bail and the twins. Obi-Wan learns some information he wishes he didn’t know—because if he doesn’t know it, he can never accidentally share it.

untitled omega!Obi-Wan

This for a prompt that asked for more in the unexceptional timing world! It will be a prequel (or can also be completely standalone). Obi-Wan, after all, has to get pregnant somehow 👀 I've posted a small snippet on tumblr here.

untitled prompt

For a prompt for the line "I'm sorry but.. Who are you?" Obi-Wan and Anakin are undercover. Shenanigans ensue! 👀

dinluke

nightmares (working title)

Din and Luke have just recently gotten together, but Luke never wants to spend the full night with Din. Luke finally confesses to Din that he has nightmares that he’s afraid of disturbing Din with. This is a big of an angstier piece than I normally do for dinluke, delving a bit into the PTSD that both Din and Luke experience.

stars shine down (on us and our love) (chapter 3)

The third chapter of my dinluke romcom, in which Leia hires Luke a bounty hunter to help out at his Jedi academy. In chapter 3, we move back to Luke's point of view the morning after Din first arrives on Yavin IV. I’m quite late getting this one done--I’m sorry! 😣

teach me (to know you) (chapter 2)

I am still planning to write this 😅 It picks up pretty much immediately after chapter 1 and is, uhh, very spicy.

untitled political au

Luke and Din are both senators. Luke was raised in politics, Din didn't even run for office and was elected because so many people put his name as a write in because they love him so much. Din and Luke fall in love around long and grueling committee meetings.

quiobi

all roads lead

Qui-Gon’s gone missing and the Council believes him to be dead. Obi-Wan refuses to believe it—and is determined to find him. I’ve been working on this for almost a year now and am hoping to finish it in the next couple of months!

beyond the greystone walls

The second part of my QuiObi Witcher AU. In this ‘verse, Qui-Gon is a Witcher who refuses to actually kill monsters, and Obi-Wan is a Sorcerer. In this specific part, Qui-Gon learns that Obi-Wan is being held captive and goes to rescue him—only to learn he’s ruined Obi-Wan’s undercover mission. Whoops.

legends and stars (chapter 2)

The second chapter of my imperial au, which is a secret santa gift for chibiobiwan. Palpatine came to power about twenty years before he does in canon; Obi-Wan becomes an Imperial officer instead of a Jedi, but keeps hearing rumours about the rebel leader Qui-Gon Jinn. This will be 5 chapters and an epilogue, and my goal is to get it all wrapped up in the next couple of months. The second chapter picks up right where the last one left off, with Obi-Wan having just landed on Tython.

The Trials and Tribulations of Master Kenobi, Gentleman (chapter 2)

The second chapter of my QuiObi Regency AU! Which I am still working on! I swear! This fic will be four chapters, of which only one is posted. In the first chapter, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan met in the library of their gentleman’s club. Now, it’s time for Obi-Wan to go home to his family estate of Stewjon for the summer. When he arrives, it’s to learn that his family is in a tizzy about their new neighbour, Master Skywalker—whose best friend and advisor is currently staying with him. I wonder who that is.

untitled

This is for a university AU prompt! I adore university AUs! In this one, we have Professor Kenobi--and Qui-Gon, who has gone back to school many years after his first degree to complete a second. Professor Kenobi just wants to finish the conference paper he has to give in a few days. Why are all the books he needs signed out of the library, when he hasn’t even assigned these poets on his syllabus? Who is reading his damn poets? And can he, like...marry them?

other/gen

a beautiful day in the senate

A Clone Wars, Qui-Gon lives AU! This one is Qui-Gon & Ahsoka gen. Qui-Gon has business at the Senate--and why not take his great-grand padawan along with him so they can spend the day together? Alas, their quiet day out turns into a bit of a catastrophe when there’s disaster in the Senate. I’ve posted a brief snippet of this here.

snowblooms

My top secret Codywan fic 👀 It involves books. And slowly falling in love.

untitled

A post-Wild Space Bail & Obi-Wan gen fic which I am super excited about. It’s a 5 times fic—based on a line in the book where Bail thinks of Obi-Wan: “And best of all, I don’t have a single thing he wants. How often do I meet someone who wants nothing from me?” So it’s five times Obi-Wan actually did want something of Bail—but the thinks are things like, he wants Bail to have survived order 66 etc. I just love their friendship so much.

Tagging (with absolutely no pressure to do this!) @tessiete , @acatbyanothername93 , @antheiasilva , @darkisrising , @xeniaraven !!!

#wip challenge #obikin #quiobi #dinluke #my fic #trees writes

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birbleafs · 4 years ago

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[fic] A Much Ado About (PSI)oulmates

Series: Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan || The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Rating: T Genre: Humour, Breaking The Fourth Wall Character(s): Saiki Kusuo, Aiura Mikoto, Satou Hiroshi, Akechi Touma, Toritsuka Reita Warnings: None, save for canon-typical shenanigans Summary: Aiura decides to combine her divination abilities with Kusuo’s powers for a super special comedic segment on Affinity Levels. Fic can also be read on AO3 _______

Excerpt taken from clairvoyant Dame Mata-Mata’s advert for Amazing Psychic Services:

99.9% accurate affinity readings and guaranteed life-long happiness! Discover your twin flame with as little 10,000 yen per hour! Some would say it’s foolish to risk your future and wallet on such clandestine offerings, but we assure you, we are no worse than the underhanded brand marketing on children’s television series! Call 1800-TWINFLAMES -1234567 to book a reading today!!

***

Anyone who would believe such clandestine and shady offerings isn’t just a fool but a complete buffoon, Kusuo scoffs impassively at the flyer before him. This is definitely worse than the underhanded brand marketing on children’s TV shows.

“They’re a total noob at it, fer sure!” Aiura says, leaning in too close and posing next to Kusuo as she takes a wefie with her phone. “Like sure, the concept of twin flames and soulmates ain’t new, but to claim everyone has half a soul yearning to get jiggy with its other missing half for life-long bliss is like, a gross oversimplification.” I don’t really care to be honest, Kusuo deadpans. He stares sullenly at how Aiura’s arm is still wrapped around his; she offers him a cheeky grin and a peace sign, snapping yet another wefie before she finally slides away to the opposite seat. “Soulmates just have more natural affinity for each other,” Aiura says, batting her eyelashes at him coyly. “But just like with everything, it doesn’t mean you don’t need to put in any effort to make it work! Hey, speaking of which—the author has a super special birthday tradition where she writes and/or posts up a new story, so this fanfic can totally be about Affinity Meters, right?!” Don’t know what you’re going on about and still don’t actually care, Kusuo retorts, shoving a spoonful of coffee jelly into his mouth as he resolutely tries to enjoy his Sunday afternoon. But Aiura persists, easily breaking the fourth wall to elaborate further: ��Just like how Kusuo can use the Affection Meter to quantify a person’s love for another, today we’ll combine Kusuo’s telepathy and my own divination abilities to measure soulmate compatibility via Affinity Levels! So, without further ado, let’s go, let’s goooo!” Aiura, no, Kusuo groans in quiet despair. “Miko-chan, YES!” Aiura whoops, fist-pumping the prologue away as the scene fades out. _______

Satou Hiroshi

Conventional. Moderate. Regular. Behold the quintessential stock background character, the pinnacle of normality—Satou Hiroshi. Standing at a height of 169.9 centimeters and weighing at precisely 61.0 kilograms—the exact national average of a healthy sixteen-year-old Japanese male—he is the gold standard, the epitome of normal. It’s a shame then that few recognize Satou-kun’s remarkable ordinariness, Kusuo muses, watching said background character ambling down the sidewalk with an approving smile. Nevertheless, perhaps that may be to my benefit. Surely our Affinity Levels must be pretty high; after all, we’re both normal and regular high-school teens who do not stand out much— “I don’t think using your powers to make yourself inconspicuous counts though,” Aiura says as she glances over Kusuo’s shoulder, puzzled at his fixation on someone so… well, boring. Kusuo isn’t even listening. We both have regular aspirations and hobbies, seeking only to live peaceful days! “Funnily, I now remember peeking at Normal-kun’s fortune for Hii-chan. And get this, his biggest dream is being on stage as a rock star! Like seriously, how typical can he get?” —So, taking into consideration all of the above, Kusuo presses on, undeterred by Aiura’s commentary, surely we would hit it off as friends with optimal affinity levels! “Uhm, Kusuo?” Aiura nudges him with her elbow, pointing at the meter hovering beside them. “Not to be a wet blanket and all, but the Affinity Meter started running again as you were waxing lyrical earlier, so now it’s showing that Normal-kun and your Affinity Levels are like, really just two stars at best.” She leans forward, squinting at the screen. “Simply because he thinks you’re okay but still a bit of a weirdo. Dayum, the nerve of this twerp!” Kusuo stares wordlessly at her for a beat, slack-jawed. A-Ahyuu…?

Affinity Level: ☆☆ _______

ii.

Akechi Touma

“It pains me to have to do this,” Aiura lets out a dramatic sigh. “But since Childhood Friends is a pretty popular trope in animanga, and therefore in fanfiction, I guess there’s no avoiding it.” Kusuo scowls, not liking where this is heading at all. It can totally be avoided. We can just avoid talking about it altogether. “Is that you, Kusuo-kun?” Akechi says as he suddenly appears at Kusuo’s side, curiosity in his eyes. “Oh, I see Aiura-san is here as well. I couldn’t help but notice how you two were standing and talking together so I thought I should come say hello, even though I was rather hesitant at first. I didn’t want to abruptly barge into your conversation, you see, as that would have been awfully rude, and I certainly don’t wish for you to think of me as rude, Kusuo-kun.” Yet here you are barging in anyway, blathering on incessantly like a runaway freight train, Kusuo remarks drily. “Well, I couldn’t help but overhear the mention of Affinity Levels,” Akeichi beams as he continues, unfazed by the jibe. “And I can’t say my curiosity isn’t the least bit piqued, even if I have little to no real interest or belief in the notion of soulmates. In fact, the existence of an actual soul remains debatable in scientific circles—” Exasperated, Aiura tries to interject. “Since you ain’t all that interested, mind if you just zip those lips for like five minutes? My hair’s gone all frizzy from the heat of your endless jabbering!” “However, these debates on the existence of the soul had also been instrumental to the understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the human body—” “Oh my God, please just stop yapping for ONE sec—!!” Aiura shrieks, tugging at her curls in frustration. She accidentally kicks the Affinity Meter to start running, and the lights blink and flash in a rapid blur before the meter gradually slows down to display four bright stars upon its screen. There’s a beat; the trio leans forward, staring at the meter in awkward silence. Kusuo’s brows are furrowed at the unexpected results; he shrugs it off as a fluke. Clearly there’s some technical issue with Affinity Meter (never mind that the meter works, in part, based on Aiura’s divination abilities, which have, to date, always been accurate). There’s just no way Akechi could ever beat Satou-kun on that scale, he’s too much of an abnormal— But Aiura is already moving forward, reaching out to grasp Akechi’s hand in a firm handshake. “Aiura-san? Is there something…?” She acknowledges Akechi’s curious gaze with a curt nod. “All right, I can’t deny it any longer. Not with that impressive detective aura of yours and with results like that on both Kusuo and my own Affinity Meter.” Oi, oi. Don’t start spouting weird nonsense now, Miss Abnormal! “All right, Akeinu! I hereby deem you a worthy rival in the fight to stand as Kusuo’s trusted sidekick!” “Oho! You’ve even given me a cutesy nickname as acknowledgment! I must say I’m quite flattered, Aiura-san.” How about I side-kick both of you out of my life right now? Kusuo sighs, mildly perturbed by this unexpected turn of events.

Affinity Level: ☆☆☆☆ _______

iii.

Toritsuka Reita

…… …… …… What, did you seriously think Toritsuka was getting a proper scene? He’s already way too pathetic. NEXT— “W-wait, did you just cut my scene?!” Toritsuka shrieks from the void like a headless chicken. “Don’t just write me off, Saiki-saaan!!” —Saiki exits stage left, pursuing normalcy. “And don’t just narrate yourself out!!”

Affinity Level: N.A. _______

iv. Aiura Mikoto

“At first glance, you might think we make for an odd couple,” Aiura says with a coquettish smile. “And how it seems absolutely cray that we could get along. Or like, that we don’t mesh just ‘cause our personalities clash way too much or somethin’.” She chuckles at the notion, running perfectly manicured nails through her luscious locks. “I mean, it’s obvs only those inexperienced with the inner workings of the heart would think that. Because opposites attract, y’know? It’s the push-pull dynamism between us that spices things up! Like two tango dancers stirring up a flame on the dance floor—it keeps things refreshing and exciting, but still comforting and familiar in the end, like sharing a nice, warm bath at the end of the day, or cuddling up together at the sofa, feeding each other spoons of dessert…” Aiura pauses, blushing when she catches sight of the Affinity Meter fluttering gently by her shoulder, at the line of stars glowing from the screen, a beacon of reassurance of their status as soulmates. She turns towards Kusuo, suddenly self-conscious as she tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Say, Kusuo… How about we head to that nice dessert buffet together and—” Only to realize she had been practically talking to thin air all this time. “H-Huh?! Aww, gimme a break! Where did you run off to this time, Kusuooo?!”

Affinity Level: ☆☆☆☆☆ _______ v.

Coffee Jelly

Good grief—finally some peace and quiet. Kusuo sighs as he leans back into the leather seat of his booth, in a nondescript cafe far away from his usual annoyances. He dips a spoon into his dessert bowl, lifting a dark sliver of coffee jelly to his mouth, and smiles in absolute contentment. There’s a soft whirr, and then a ping from somewhere below. He flicks a furtive gaze at the Affinity Meter hovering at the empty space beside him, curious despite himself. The endless line of glowing stars are probably a bit much, but he smiles anyway at the screen. Huh. I guess it works after all.

Affinity Level: ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

—End— _______ Notes:

It’s tradition for myself to spend my birthday writing and/or sharing a new fic (happy birthday to me!! lol). I also had this sitting in my draft for way too long and decided to kick myself to finish it. Apologies for any typoes/errors.

Comments and critique are always welcomed for my fics—I'd like to hear what you think, if you've enjoyed this! Thanks for reading :)

#saiki kusuo no psi nan #the disastrous life of saiki k.#saiki kusuo #aiura mikoto #fanfic #psychickers #too lazy to tag all the characters here #but it's basically the pk psychickers + mr. normal-kun lol

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stilwaterskeeter · 5 years ago

Text

Rewriting Saints Row IV

Hi this is my absolute least favorite game of the series and I kind of hate it! But here I am regardless putting my time and efforts into making an entire post dedicated to what I like and (in my opinions) how to fix the parts I don’t like...

This is also written to match by SRTT post rather than the base canon for the games! Which literally changes nothing but Johnny is already known to be alive before this game, so yknow...

This is also a HUGE post whoops

And again, this is just for fun. Don’t like it? Don’t interact with it. I’m not forcing you to read this. That being said, I do like discussing this kind of stuff so I totally up if you wanna just talk about alternatives or how you think things would play out and stuff

Plot/Story Specific Changes:

President’s Cabinet:

Fuck Keith David! Get him out of here! Leave sir! Go back to your movies!

Johnny Gat is our new Vice President because we know regardless of his skill at the matter, The Boss would make him his VP

This also gives Ben King a lot more reason to hold it against The Boss that he isn’t the VP, because at least before Keith David was a likable actor and had his own skillset for the role. Now it’s Johnny fucking Gat who has all the diplomatic and political tact of a shoe

The Boss’ dream isn’t some stupid 50s sitcom, that was so dumb, hardehar 50s is so nice and polite my ass

I think shit like meeting Julius, the boat explosion, Dex’s attempt to kill them, Magarac Statue blowing up even if they tried to go there, Johnny bleeding out after the fight with Jyunichi, and probably much more are better suited pieces to a much larger much more intimidating and genuine nightmare sim that would have broken The Boss inevitably

All the times they almost died because they weren’t quick enough, all the times they just barely saved their friends? A lot scarier than “oh noes I cawn’t kiww anybodwy uwu” crap

Zinyak doesn't really destroy the Earth

First of all: I don’t think he’d waste so many potential assets over the folly of one idiot

Second of all: The man’s supposed to be like a genius of sorts? So I find it ridiculous that he doesn’t have the ability to hide the fact that Earth is Actually Totally Fine from an idiot like The Boss

Third of all: To avoid Kinzie being oh so smart and debunking Zinyak’s scheme- She’s absolutely distraught when the Earth blew up and surprisingly caught up in her emotions, a pretty new thing for her. So I think it’s plausible she would bee too caught up in the moment to do much and afterwards is too caught up trying to help The Boss find and rescue what they believe is the last hopes for humanity

Kinzie doesn’t save anyone before The Boss, she goes straight for The Boss and before trying to go to Earth, they rescue Johnny Gat

Kinzie was prepared prior to saving The Boss with a few locations already in mind that she found as she was looking for them

One of which obvs ended up being Johnny

Another of which is a Surprise Prison that will help us later

All she knows is that it’s definitely based from Stilwater in ye olden days (first game, not actually ye olden days lmao) so she was assuming it was definitely either The Boss or Johnny

(Spoiler it’s Lin)

Additionally: The sim we do activities and hang out in isn’t Steelport. It should have been Stilwater and you know it.

After the Earth is “destroyed” and The Boss needs to go back into the sim and start recruiting people, Johnny steps in a lot when discussing who to save next

Sorry Matt, your rescue is getting pushed back a little

Johnny’s very adamant about not saving Matt first, “We are not saving that little goth punk whatever kid before we save our girl and Pierce. I don’t give a fuck that you’re president, I’m impeaching you, we’re saving Shaundi next. Not Matt.”

Shaundi’s nightmare sim stays relatively the same, but maybe polish up the writing better

I like her nightmare and the angle, but the writing just felt very,,,awkward to me?

She was supposed to be hung up on feeling helpless and the fact that she felt that because she was always “the damsel” and in need of protection, that Johnny was gone

But the writing kind of just skimmed over that

Then they save Pierce because, yeah, they give him a lot of shit, but he’s one of Johnny and The Boss and Shaundi’s closest friends and Johnny’s already made it clear they’re not saving anyone else until they got both Shaundi and Pierce back

Then you have the 3 rescues that you pick the order for

Asha

Ben

Matt

Then comes the replacement for Johnny’s canon rescue; It’s Lin’s Rescue Now

Kinzie isn’t sure who it really could be because they already have The Boss and Johnny, and they’ve already identified which sim is Ben’s

She asks Pierce and Shaundi for help trying to identify the sim while Johnny and The Boss are fuckin around in the sim

Neither of them have a clue who it could be

But both of them recognize the invading gang members in the sim as Westside Rollerz members so they recommend asking Johnny and The Boss about it

Johnny and The Boss have a moment of “Holy fucking shit, there’s no way” “It couldn’t be her, could it?” all the while the rest of the crew is just like “Any day now, who couldn’t it be?”

Lin’s nightmare sim is the events following up to her kidnapping and then the moments before Zinyak got her when she was in the process of drowing

A street race where some shithead Roller sabotaged Lin’s car so she had to forfeit midrace and then some guys kidnap her

I was figuring you’d be racing to catch up to her and then the race ends for you when she has to pullover

And then a brief cutscene of her trying to fight of some Rollerz goons while The Boss is locked in their car and can’t get out no matter how hard they try to break the window or bust it open

Then a followup cutscene Lin and Sharp arguing about The Playa not arriving to her rescue

“It appears to me like your little friend won’t be joining us. Oh well, we’ll take care of them soon enough. For now, just you will have to do.”

“Could your head be any further up your ass? Get on with it already, I’m getting bored here.”

And a short line from The Boss like, “What an asshole, jokes on him I wasted that son of a bitch years ago. And I’m not leaving without Lin this time.”

The last part is a timed boss battle with Sharp

Kinzie’s trying to do her tech thing and find a workaround to save Lin from drowning while The Boss fends off Sharp and miscellaneous goons

After Lin’s rescued and Sharp is dead, she steals the gun from The Boss in a cutscene and empties it into Sharp

“I have been waiting too fucking long to do that.”

There’s a brief reunion scene between her and The Boss

“Man, you don’t know how glad I am to see you.”

“Oh. My. God. You can fucking talk, that’s almost as crazy as the fact I’ve been living in this hellhole for years....You look good, did you do something to your hair?”

“You have no idea, Lin. You’ve missed a lot.”

“Nothing we can’t talk about over a beer after we get out of here. Speaking of, you got a plan for that or-?”

Kinzie chimes in, “I do.”

Kinzie isn’t the one who defends Matt when he says the mission is a bad idea because that was dumb and out of character, agree with him maybe, but not defend him

Instead of Keith’s betrayal/loyalty mission/whatever; We get Lin going into the simulation on her own to try and save Donnie after having Matt find his sim for her when The Boss pushes off saving Donnie as something to do later since Donnie’s not exactly useful in a mission like saving the universe and destroying Zinyak

“How do you even know he’s not dead? What makes you think Zinyak even abducted him?”

“Because I know he’s still alive, and Matt found him.”

“Look, we’ll take care of this after we end Zinyak. There’s no cars for him to rig or information to leak to us with these guys.”

“There’s gotta be a fucking reason he got abducted, playa. He’s worth saving.”

Johnny chimes in, “We’re not saving your stupid boyfriend right now, Lin. We have bigger fucking problems to deal with.”

It just progresses into a whole fight and the others are kind of just like....”Holy shit....there’s three of them now.” until Ben King steps in and tells them to all shut the fuck up

“Listen, Lin. We’re going to get your boy, but we aren’t doing it now. It’ll be the first thing after we kick Zinyak’s ass.”

The Boss chimes in, “Who said anything about the f-”

“I said...it’ll be the first thing we do, got it?”

Donnie’s nightmare sim is The Boss attacking his garage but Lin never shows up and instead he gets “killed” and then it’s The Boss harassing him and attacking him to get him to rig the Brotherhood vehicles and for the location of Carlos and Maero threatening him and ultimately “killing” him as well and then repeat

Bet The Boss kind of feels a little bad about always picking on him now, huh

Lin is at least, she feels guilty about setting up the raid on Donnie’s garage in SR1 and then just feels really pissed off about The Boss going after him more in SR2

Eventually The Boss shows up to help and with some hacking skills(TM) is given their superpowers and Lin is given powers as well to save Donnie

Obviously he can’t believe Lin is fucking ALIVE let alone just SAVED his ass

“Y-You’re alive? But Mr.Sharp killed you! A-And I let him! They found your body in the river and-....where the hell have you been for so long?”

“Listen, Donnie, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Are you sure? Because Earth got invaded by aliens and I’ve been dying repeatedly everyday since.”

“Shit, yeah. That son of a bitch, Zinyak, saved my ass from drowning back in Stilwater. This asshole over her saved me from that.”

“I bet their to blame for all this! It’s always their fault! Ultor, STAG, Gangstas in Space, Cyrus Temple, they’re the fucking president now can you believe that?”

The Boss chimes in, “I’m standing right fucking here! And for your information, I happen to be an excellent president!”

“Now’s really not the time, playa.”

And also that The Boss also SAVED him

“I thought you fucking hated me, I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get your panties in a twist, I’m only here for Lin.”

“Oh.”

Okay I lied, Zinyak DOES destroy the Earth for realsies

But only towards the end of the game, like following up to the boss battle

He reveals like

“Oh, it seems you haven’t learned your lesson then. I suppose I’ll have to really blow up your pitiful little planet then? Such a shame really, humanity could have been quite useful to the Zin Empire, but one must cut’s one’s losses sometimes. Their certainly not worth the trouble your putting me through here.”

This gives him time however to have abducted more people, including like Oleg, Viola, Donnie, etc etc etc

Fuck the Enter the Dominatrix DLC

Yeah it’s funny and all but like, where’s something actually interesting and additional to the game?

Replace it with DLC where you rescue like Viola and Oleg and stuff instead

Viola’s nightmare obviously would have to do with being stuck working for Killbane and probably have a boss battle where you fight simbane after he tries to kill Viola as well after having killed her sister

Oleg has a few options I think but the most appealing idea to me is a nightmare about him trying (and failing repeatedly) to escape the KGB

Character Specific Changes:

There really isn’t much to be put here shockingly

Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this but I think they should have expanded on the jokey romances more

I’m not talkin’ like full on bioware romances, just yknow maybe a little more than a single repeatable scene that varies from being shockingly indepth (Johnny) to just a fucking joke (Kinzie)

Maybe like add in a decision for a difference between just like casual sex or an actual romance with the characters

If you pick an actual romance then there’s random little banter lines about it when you have homies and maybe a few lines in some cutscenes or smth, nothing huge

Like say, you have Pierce and Shaundi as homies with you:

Romance Shaundi:

P: It’s about damn time someone did something

S: What are you talking about?

P: Uh, you and The Boss? Duh

S: Oh my god, shut up

P: Took ya’ long enough...y'all only been eye fucking each other as long as I can remember

S: Shut up, Pierce!

P: Chill! I’m happy for you, girl! Don’t attack me!

Romance Pierce:

S: So...you and The Boss, huh?

P: I already don’t like where this is going

S: I’m just surprised is all, you’ve been into them since like day one

P: No. I haven’t.

S: [snorts] Yeah, right. You used to get so upset when-

P: Shut up! They’re standing right there!

Or uh Pierce and Johnny:

Romance Pierce:

J: Hey, man, I’m proud of you for finally tellin’ The Boss how you feel

P: Wh- I didn’t- I’m not the one who-

J: But if you ever even think about hurting them [cocks gun] I won’t hesitate to put a cap in your ass

P: Man, calm down. I ain’t gonna do shit, jesus

J: [laughs] I’m just messin’ with you, Pierce. I’m not gonna shoot you.....Unless...

P: This is why I don’t tell you things, Gat! What the hell, man?!

Romance Johnny:

P: I can’t believe you and The Boss weren’t already fucking

J: Me neither

P: Didn’t you ever...yknow...like wonder? You never even thought about it?

J: Oh, no. I thought about it plenty. I wasn’t about to be the one to say somethin’ though

P: Did we finally find something Johnny Gat is scared of?

J: Fuck no, man, just after what happened with Eesh-

P: So...you were scared?”

J: No!

Lin getting to know everyone is a very big thing, like she’s suddenly surrounded by new people and everyone but Johnny and The Boss from before her abduction are dead

She gets along really well with Shaundi, Johnny (duh), Ben King, Asha, and Donnie (duh)

She gets along pretty damn well with Pierce too but it’s a pretty similar teasing relationship as Shaundi and Pierce and she gives him a hard time a lot

He gripes about how he has to deal with 2 Shaundis and Lin now a lot

She and Asha are pretty different but also pretty similar, they’re both really stubborn and dedicated to what they deem their “duties” but Lin still likes to let loose and have fun a lot more than Asha

A lot of their interactions consist of Lin trying to convince Asha to just let loose “a little” and have some fun

Asha for the most part wouldn’t ever really admit that she likes Lin but if pushed she’d definitely say something like “I definitely respect her. Maybe the Saints wouldn’t be as ridiculous and out of control if she was never taken from them before.”

Also because again you can pry wlw Lin from my cold dead hands we get this exchange:

“You know...you remind me a lot of one of my exes.”

“That’s...nice.”

“Stubborn, pretty, law-abiding, all work no play-”

“Is there a point to this?”

“Not really, I just keep thinking about it.”

“I see...and what happened to them?”

“She broke up with me for some prick named Blake...[laughs] So I broke his nose next time I saw him. Detention for a month, but definitely worth it to see her face.”

“No wonder The President likes you...”

She also gets along with Matt pretty well, having gone to him to find Donnie instead of Kinzie, although that was simply because she figured Matt would keep quiet about it and not tell The Boss, as well as Kinzie was already doing 101 things for The Boss at the time

She really doesn’t understand the whole Nyteblade thing but vampires are kind of cool she guesses and also it’s not like there’s a ton of shows or books left to entertain herself with, at least with Nyteblade, Matt’s got the memory of an elephant and probably totally recreates a ton of the episodes and key scenes because he is Absolutely That Guy first of all

She ends up getting pretty into it but if you ask about it she’ll shrug it off as simply because it’s “the only show left to watch”

Lin also remarks with Shaundi how she reminds her a lot of herself

“You know, I used to be some fun loving party girl myself.”

“Really? What happened?”

“Los Carnales and Julius fucking Little. Couldn’t go five feet out of my house without some assholes doing a drive-by or starting gang wars.”

“Oh...”

“Had to step up if I wanted it to stop, we see how well that turned out.”

“...Yeah....”

Alternatively to the nightmare sim swap I listed earlier...Johnny Gat would be The Boss’ husband in the 50s nightmare sim for sure

Kinzie definitely brings that up to Johnny if they’re both homies, especially if you romanced Johnny

Matt Miller and Donnie friendship when-

Turns out Donnie’s also a fan of Nyteblade

And Matt liked the Feed Dogs’ admittedly short lived time of activity

They both geek out of dumb shit and also talk about how fuckin scary The Boss can be and how lucky they are as some of the few remaining living members of gangs that The Boss fucking demolished

CID gets a lil more establishment

aka I mean he gets like a lil hologram of what he used to look like before becoming an AI in the zin system when he’s in the sim so he can hold guns and run around with you as a homie

also cut the whole thing of him trying to bargain with The Boss for “a woman” because that entire segment was weird and uncomfortable

#saints row #saints row 4 #johnny gat #matt miller #pierce washington #asha odekar #shaundi #zinyak #benjamin king #kinzie kensington #saints row lin #saints row donnie #stop talkin playa #rewriting saints row

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swiss-cheeze · 5 years ago

Text

Up || Daniel Webber x reader

Bold = lyrics

Italic = memories

Song - Up from Sing Street

Warnings: talk of physical abuse.

———

It's two o'clock on the edge of the morning

She's running magical circles around my head

I hitch a ride on a dream she's driving

“Stop going so fast love!” Daniel said with a laugh as his hair whipped into his face, the roof of the convertible had gone down ages ago but the pair where on a very clear free way with the speed at 100 and no cars in sight.

“Oh come on Daniel! Let loose!” you yelled to the boy over the wind sloshing across your ears and your hair whipping everywhere above you.

“Not when we’re about to DIE” Daniel said jokingly with a laugh as he gripped the car door, you hit the actors chest and gave him a stern ‘come on pussy’ look, Daniel simply rolled his eyes at you before leaning over to the radio and turned up Kickstart My Heart and pumped his hands into the air with the bass. You yelped and whooped and sang as loud and as high as you could.

She turns to kiss me, I crash back into bed

Daniel awoke with a start, his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and his sheets stuck to his chest as the rest of him was drenched in sweat, his breathing was heavy and the room was thick and musty; this was not ideal.

Across the street on a grayed out Monday

I see the girl with the eyes I can't describe

And suddenly it's a perfect Sunday

And everything is more real than life

Daniel stood from his bed and rubbed his face as he started getting ready for the day, you had invited him out for breakfast, but what Daniel did not know; you decided to bring your boyfriend, he would've been fine with it had it not have been the boyfriend that frequently abuses you. Daniel had been your best friend since the pair of you where three years old but when high school came around the corner and hormones became an apparent thing in both of your lives, Daniel had a never ending crush on you. Everything about you he loved and he fell in love with you with every moment that passed that he was with you; the funny cat videos you send him, the way you tie your hair back when you’re thinking and making things, the way you have a certain way of doing everything in the morning and your afternoon routine. The poor boy hated seeing you with so many guys that meant nothing to you, and you meant nothing to them. Daniel could always tell if the guy you were dating had a side chick or just wasn't interesting and even though he constantly told you you never listened, and then within the next month Daniel would find you in tears and blabbering ‘sorrys’ from not believing him, of course the actor would bring you in and comfort you with tea and a place to sleep for the night.

I think I'm back in the dream

I think I'm back on the ceiling

It's such a beautiful feeling

Walking down the street Daniel could hear the bustling of the street next to him, the clicking of the soles of his shoes on the pavement, the screaming child just behind him that wasn't allowed a lollipop; even with his headphones in and at a reasonable volume. Everything seemed so loud but so far away, Daniel wanted to tell you how much he loved you, how much he wanted to hug and hold you, kiss you and make you feel safe and okay and happy; but of course you already had someone before he could ask you.

Going up

“(Y/n)?” Daniel asked as he opened his front door and squinted out to his porch, “doll what the hell are you doing?” the tired man asked as he quickly let you in and sat you down on his couch before making his way to the kitchen and boiling the kettle, he knew what you were doing here, he knew something happened between you and your boyfriend, you normally wouldn't be here if it weren't for that. Daniel came back within five minutes with a two cups of tea and placed them both on the coffee table before retreating again to bring out the family biscuit pack and sat down next to you; the blonde didn't speak for a moment as he let you drink your tea and have a bite of an oval cookie.

“H-he slapped me” you whispered softly against the bite you took off your biscuit. Your voice was shaky and quiet as you let the words sink in, not only into Dan beside you; but to yourself as well, you never believed it would happen, you never thought you did anything bad or something your boyfriend didn't like.

“He...he hit you” Daniel confirmed looking at you with wide eyes. You simply nodded as you kept nibbling at your biscuit, “why?”

“An argument broke out, Damian was asking what i had made for dinner and I told him I hadn't made it yet, then he started to get s-so a-angry….” you mumbled, the end of your sentence trailed off as the fresh memories came back and the red mark on your cheek burnt, “a-and he got so….out of control. I-I couldnt s-stop him” you whimpered softly, tears sprouted in your eyes again and dripped down your cheek and into your tea as you took a generous mouthful.

“(N/n)....” Daniel said in a ‘what-do-i-even-say’ tone.

“J-just don-don't worry” you muttered softly as you dipped your biscuit into your warm tea and bit into the soft mush before it dropped, as you ate you looked to Daniel and took a second glance as he sipped his own tea. Dan looked to you mid bite.

“What?” he asked, a watery smile crept its way onto your face as you looked down.

“You’re only in your underwear” you said softly, Dan looked down with a small ‘what?’.

“Oh. Shit.” he said as he looked at his black jocks , “shit i'm sorry (Y/n)” the actor said as he put down his tea and rubbed his eyes. This made you laugh softly as you finished your tea and biscuit.

She lights me up

She breaks me up

She lifts me up

“Its okay” you said with a laugh as you put down your drink, “we’ve been friends for years, ive seen you naked before” you said with a giggle.

“Oh don't bring up that memory” Daniel said as he buried his head in his hands, “that was so embarrassing” the boy mumbled. When the two of you were in your teens you would go past each others houses and let yourselves in as nobody was really ever home, but today just so happen to be the week Daniel had broken his leg and with no one else home to help him shower; you had to be the one to make the commitment. Even though it was for an actual reason it was still something you liked to joke about every now and then; you had to help undress Daniel and shower him all while keeping your eyes up and off of his junk.

“It really wasn't” you said with a chuckle, “it was for a good reason” you said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, I know, but still. I've grown you know!” Daniel said quickly, before he could register the words his face went red as you burst out into a fit of giggles.

“Oh really?” you asked, “down there?” you pointed to his junk, “or up here?” you patted the blonde head which granted you a fun loving death glare from Daniel as he pushed your hand away from his head.

“You know what I mean” Daniel said with a blush.

“I really dont you know” you said with a laugh.

“UP HERE YOU DORK!” Daniel said with a loud voice and a laugh, this caused you to laugh too as you both shook your head.

You find a mystery bound in perfection

You've got to read, but you don't want to reach the end

As Daniel reached the cafe he pulled the headphones from his ears and stuffed them in his pocket with his phone. He could see you from the window already, Damian had a protective arm wrapped around your shoulders as you searched the cafe for Daniel; you almost looked frantic, you wanted to get away from Damien, which is probably the reason you have squished yourself against the window to get as far away from the man as you physically could. Of course that hasn't worked as you got pulled back into Damiens side.

Cause what if everything beautiful's fiction

And this reality's just pretend?

As Daniel walked into the cafe and the door let off a bell sounding out someone was here, a bright smile lit up your face like christmas night as Daniel finally reached the booth. By now you had FORCED Damian from the booth so you could hug your best friend.

“Hey Dan” you said into his neck softly as you squeezed the actor, him returning with the same force.

“Missed you” Daniel said softly into your hair as he nuzzled into your neck; but this moment was short lived as a rather loud and obnoxious cough interrupted you two. You separated from Daniel quickly and smiled before motioning for Daniel to sit down as you went back to your previous seat and Damien was quick to move in next to you; efficiently trapping you.

“So Dan” Damien said with a tight and annoyed smile, “what’ve you been up to recently that has made you stay away from us for so long?” the man asked. Daniel had to fit the urge to roll his eyes at the fakely covered sarcasm.

“Uh, i've been filming down in uh, SA actually. Adelaide; for the new movie with the other Daniel” Dan said with a chuckle. You leant forward in your seat and placed your arms on the table as a sign for Daniel to keep talking; that you were listening with the giant smile on your face. Daniel coughed and chuckled softly as he looked to you with a grin, “it’s called Escape from Pretoria, it's about these two men who break out from a South african prison with help from other people and it's just about their journey of survival really and how they got by; it's based on a book from one of the real escapees, Time Jenkin, Radcliffe is the one who got that role and i got the other guy” Daniel said with such happiness; he loved talking about his job but he loved it when you listen to his stories and things he does with the job. You get as excited as Daniel himself does, it's a nice thing to know.

And then I'm back in the dream

I'm looking up at the ceiling

It's such a beautiful feeling

As time passed and stories got told, Damien had excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom and as soon as he was out of sight Daniel got on topic.

“Has he hurt you recently?” the actor asked as he bent over the table slightly and leant in closer so no one else could hear. You looked to Dan with a scared face before doing the same and leaning in.

“Y-yeah he has” you said softly, “im so sorry” you say as you wipe your eyes from the tears that threatened to fall, “he takes my phone and locks the house and puts my keys somewhere i can't find them” you whimper out softly. Dan quickly gets up from the table and walks around to sit next to you, as he sat his arm wrapped around your shoulders and slowly brought you into his chest for a hug; you wrapped your arms around Dans shoulders and tried to stifle your crying.

“It’s okay babe” Dan said, he didn't even try to stop the nickname falling from his mouth as it felt so nice to say and sounded like the right time to say it.

“N-no it's not!” you whimper softly, “I don't want to be with Damien anymore. I hate him, h-he's so rude! And arrogant. He doesn't like any of the things I do, we disagree on everything all the way down to what to watch on TV!” you exclaimed, your voice wasn't loud enough state for everyone else to hear but Daniel knew what you were doing. Daniel nodded in an understanding of where you were coming from and thought for a moment.

Going up

“Then leave him” Daniel said, “we’ll leave right now,” he exclaimed with wide arms, “we-we pick up your stuff from your house and we head back to mine. You can bunk with me until we find a better place for you to live without him there” Dan said, you giggled softly at his awkwardness but nodded quickly.

“Please, I want to get away from him” you said with a sniffle. Dan nodded as well and clapped.

“Right! Come on, let's get away from here” Dan said as he started to drink the rest of his drink and took the last bite from his food as you started to bring money out from your purse, “what are you doing?” Daniel asked with a concerned look, “you aren't paying,” he said.

“What? No. im giving a tip” you said with a light chuckle as the waitress came over, she asked if the two of you were finished and you both nodded before telling her your ‘friend’ was in the toilet and was going to pay for the food anyway. You handed the woman a fair tip before dashing out of the cafe with the giggles and making quick work of getting to Daniels car before Damien came back.

She lights me up

She breaks me up

She lifts me up

After a quick rush to your ‘previous’ house (as Daniel had now dubbed it) to grab your things the two of you left a little note for Damien, basically saying you where going to change your phone number, that you had run off with someone and your things and that you never wanted to see him again. With To Young to Fall in Love blasting on the radio and the car going down the street at reasonable speed you got to Daniels house in record time; with enough daylight to still make a whole new room just for you in his house (seeing as it was a two bedroom). Daniel helped you set out your room as you wanted before the pair of you flopped onto the living room couch in a fit of giggles with some cool jazz playing in the background.

“I didn't actually think you’d agree with me,” Daniel said, “about moving in with me”

“Of course i would. Anything to get away from that prick” you said with a sigh and a roll of your eyes. You hated Damien since you first met him but he had somehow conditioned you into thinking you loved him and he loved you back, “I actually found out last week he's been cheating on me since before me and him got together” you paused, “I guess that’d make me the cheatee?” you questioned before shrugging, “I don't know what happened with the other girl. Maybe he’ll go back with her” you said with a sigh.

“Don't think about it hun” Daniel said as he sat up alongside you, he nudged your shoulder softly with a blush as he bit his lip, “you know there's always someone out there for you” Daniel said, biting the bullet. You shrugged.

“Maybe there isn't” you mumbled, before looking to the lounge room carpet and picking at the fraying ends.

Up to the stars she shows me

Daniel took a second look at you before scoffing slightly, “‘maybe there isn't’?” Daniel repeated.

“Well, yeah. Maybe i'm just meant to be alone!” you exaggerated.

“Why the hell would you say something like that?” Daniel said with a slight edge to his voice, “(Y/n) you're so beautiful, you're so talented. You send me cat videos almost every day at the same time, you tie your hair up and out of your face” Daniel scoffed as he fell back onto the cough with a huff, “hell, every night before you go to bed you turn the TV off, you got to the kitchen to make sure the kettle is off before you walk up the stairs, TWO AT A TIME, and put on long fluffy socks for the night if its cold before cuddling into the blanket in the fetal position” Daniel said; his face had turned red and was almost in tears.

Dame Street, George's Street, miles below me

Up where the world won't let us down

(Na, na, na, na)

“Daniel…” you muttered softly as you sat next to the actor on the couch as he wiped his eyes.

“(Y/n) im in love with you, and i have been my entire life. Ever since you first came to me from your first boyfriend breaking up with you, with tears streaming down your face and ice cream around your mouth you always looked so beautiful to me. The day we had our highschool formal and you were in that beautiful dress? That was the moment i knew i had fallen for you, i had been discarding my feelings and putting them off thinking it was just stupid teenage hormones; but seeing you walk down those stairs and into the lounge room where i was waiting with your parents and that stupid boyfriend of yous-”

“Braydon” you cut in with a watery smile.

“Yeah! Him. I always hated him” Daniel muttered absently, “ever since then ive been in love with you, and i've fallen more and more in love with you with every day that has passed. I find new things about you almost every day” Daniel said before taking a breath and letting out a small chuckle as he sniffled and wiped his eyes.

Going up

(It's two o'clock on the edge of the morning)

“Daniel…” you said softly, “why didn't you tell me sooner?” you asked as you scooted closer to the actor.

“I didn't want to ruin what we had” Daniel muttered softly as you wrapped your arms around him.

She lights me up

(She's running magical circles around my head)

“I wouldn't have minded you know” you said softly as you turned Daniels head to look at you. You sighed softly at the tears that streamed down his face and wiped away the tracks they had left and cupped Dans cheeks; rubbing your thumb over his cheekbone before letting your gaze drop to his lips.

She breaks me up

(I hitch a ride on a dream she's driving)

“Are you saying i could have asked you out this entire time?” Daniel asked with a chuckle, you nodded with a grin that spread to your eyes.

“I've been in love with you since you first broke your leg” you said before pausing, “wait”

“So you love me for my junk is that it?” Daniel asked with a laugh.

“What no! Of course not you dork!” you said as you pushed Daniel, the boy laughed wholeheartedly as he let himself fall onto his side on the couch before twisting himself onto his back as you came up and placed your knees either side of his hips; neither of you thought of it being sexual, nor did you even want it to be sexual.

“Why then?” Daniel asked, “hmm?”

“Because you trusted me enough to help you in some of your most desperate times without anyone else being there” you said thoughtfully. Daniel leant up on his elbows with a soft smile, “and ive fallen more and more in love with you with each day that passes” you said softly.

She lifts me up

Daniel chuckled softly before you leant in and connected your lips with his; a passionate, searing kiss mixed with every emotion of love, want, distance and everything in between. Your arms wrapped around Daniels shoulders and tangled into his hair as his came around your waist and his hands connected with the skin of your back; you shirt had ridden up from straddling Daniel, but neither of you cared enough to stop.

#daniel webber #colson baker #motley crue #teenage kicks #11.22.63 #daniel webber x reader #vince neil x reader

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haikyuu-imagines-and-others · 6 years ago

Note

WHAT A FUN IDEA! I would like to request Oikawa for 7 minutes in heaven and/or Kuroo for spin the bottle! If either of these boys have already been suggested just ignore. I just wanted to add them as a request for this fun prompt. I Look forward to seeing any and all characters requested that you write! As well as any other request because darling you are a phenomenal writer and I adore your writings 💕keep up the great work!

Lol well I did get Kuroo taken care of - I’ll link him below Oikawa’s BUT!!! I haven’t done an Oikawa one yet! You are an absolute delight, love - when I read your request I pretty much smiled all day - I’m so thankful you enjoy my writing

Oikawa Tooru: 7 Minutes in Heaven

Were you lucky? Not in the least.

Were you great at making it seem like lucky chance? Hell yes.

You’d called all your friends over to your place for a party. A friend of yours being Matsukawa, who knew the young man you’d had your eye set on for a while now… Oikawa Tooru. And of course Mattsun knew this, and Makki, and Iwaizumi. Though the latter didn’t really seem to care all that much in who you were interested in as much as the first two, he still helped play wingman when he could.

It was plainly obvious to everyone looking in that you had the biggest, cutest, awkward crush on the one guy that every girl in university had a crush on.

Did you care? Not in the least.

Though your plan had a specific start time you wanted - not until halfway through the game. Not yet. The bottle had already been spun by everyone in the group at least twice. You’d ended up in the closet with Kuroo, who only seemed to throw pun after pun at you, with Tendou, who kept hinting that he’d spill the beans on your crush if you didn’t give him half your lunch after your shared class, and lastly with Suga, who made pleasant conversation with you about the future and what you had planned for it.

Oikawa hadn’t really seemed to notice your being taken away, didn’t really seem to notice anything beyond his teasing Iwaizumi for going into the closet with Kiyoko, a girl who’s WAY out of his league. To say you felt disheartened at the fact would be an understatement. You’d completely deflated by the time the third round had started.

He hadn’t even looked at you. Not once. Were you wrong to find interest in him? Were you really so beneath him that he wouldn’t even acknowledge you?

Mattsun bumped his shoulder against yours, “Stop frowning, your face will get stuck that way.” You pouted up at him, silently showing your cracking heart, but he simply bumped you again. “I think everyone’s getting bored of the game… Plan ‘Trap the King’ is a go.” He winked over at Hanamaki, who, without so much as a warning, grabbed Oikawa’s drink and immediately dumped its contents onto Oikawa’s lap.

An outcry of surprise, Oikawa jumped to his feet, trying to brush off what liquid hadn’t seeped into his pants already, “What the hell, Makki?”

“Whoops.”

Violently blushing as the group laughed at his misfortune, Oikawa huffed angrily, “Now I’ve gotta go clean up, you dick! It’s gonna be all sticky.” Embarrassed, humiliated, his pout quivered in his rapidly draining strength to not let his flustered tears slip past his control.

Guilt immediately overtook your heart. You didn’t want him to cry. You hadn’t meant to completely humiliate him in front of his closest friends…. Was it possible to deflate a second time? You curled into yourself, bringing your knees to your chest and staring at the bottle with a blank expression. You’d done this. All because you were too scared to just tell him to his face how you felt.

While he’d quickly escaped to the bathroom to clean himself up, Hanamaki smirked as he went to work. Flipping the cup over, he taped a flat magnet to its center - so it didn’t tilt when set on his base. Then he grabbed the bottle, hooking a paperclip into the lip of the bottle and spinning it. The magnet wasn’t strong enough for the paperclip to immediately be drawn to the cup, but the spin of the bottle was a bit slower, and where it would have continued it’s path would stop and point directly at Oikawa’s cup.

“Plan ‘Trap the King’, phase ‘Plant the Attraction’ completed.” Hanamaki responded around what you could only understand as his attempt at a walkie talkie’s feedback static.

“I don’t feel good about you do-“

Mattsukawa nudged you a bit harder than you expected, making you cut off mid admonishment and slightly lose hold of your legs. “Shush, this is gonna help. Give it to him.”

You frowned as you held the liter of Oikawa’s favorite soda in your hands…”You guys are really pushing for this, huh?” Now was your turn to blush at how quick they were to help set the stage for you. You’d simply told them you’d wanted to get into the closet with Oikawa… and they’d taken it from there without any further direction from you.

Iwaizumi shrugged noncommittally, though the desperation in his eyes plainly showed what a blessing your interest in his best friend was doing for him. “You dating him is literally giving us all the break we need from babysitting him.”

“As much as he is entertaining, and easy to prank… It’s just too easy sometimes, there’s no chase there anymore.” Kuroo admitted with a rolled lip scowl, Makki nodding in agreement silently as he tried the bottle once more, seeing the same results.

“He’s really annoying.” Was Kiyoko’s deadpan admission, having Suga almost choke on his drink as he went to swallow. Harsh… But true, he’d have to agree.

The bathroom door closed, making you let out a sigh filled with anxiety and fear, everyone who’d been so invested in convincing you further now breaking off into smaller conversations and pretending they hadn’t just been planning or helping. Oikawa entered the living room, a sour scowl on his face as he took his seat, pushing against Hanamaki’s shoulder roughly, “Dick.” He muttered, making the pinket smirk with pride. “Who’s turn is it?” His voice was a bit more… frustrated than you were used to, but you simply raised your hand, “Then go?”

Was this really a good idea? He was obviously in a bad mood now… Did you really want to trick him while he wasn’t… himself? That in itself, you knew, was wrong thinking - since Oikawa now is the same as Oikawa 20 minutes earlier. The changing of his attitude didn’t make him a completely different person, it’s just who he is.

Steeling your nerves, you reached forward and spun the bottle, feeling everyone’s eyes turn to watch the glass clicking against the hardwood floor. You’d tried to spin it with the same force as Hanamaki had for his testing of the trick.

Too late, you remembered the soda Matsun had given you - reaching it out towards Oikawa silently. His light brown eyes easily showed his surprise as he took it from you, but didn’t open it. “What? You going to dump this on me, too?”

Hanamaki smirked still, glancing at the bottle of soda before looking back t Oikawa, “Is that an invitation?”

“Oh…. Oh… OH!” Bokuto called from behind Kuroo, leaning on the tall cats head as he watched the bottle point directly at Oikawa; Who had missed the weird way it’d wavered away from landing on Iwaizumi. “Looks like you’re saved from a soda shower, Tooru.” Oikawa looked at the bottle… Was that a blush you saw? Blinking, the color was gone, and you figured you’d just imagined it.

You didn’t wait, standing from your place and pointing at Matsukawa, “7 Minutes.”

He nodded, “Right, an hour. Gotcha.” You rolled your eyes, deciding not to put up a fight, knowing he would keep the right time regardless of his teasing. Oikawa practically stomped to the closet, walking in before you and leaning against the back wall with crossed arms.

Was he angry he got picked by you? Or just embarrassed about the soda spill still? You closed the closet door behind you… finding this closet was much much smaller than you remembered it being. The silence followed almost immediately, and for a split second you forgot how long you’d been in the closet… The weight of the quiet room had you feeling like you’d been in there with him for hours.

“Are you angry wi-“

“I bet you wanted to be in here with someo-“

Both of you stopped, not wanting to interrupt the other, or talk over each other… But both stopping, neither continued. Not until you finished his accusation in your head. “You.. You think I wanted to be in here with someone else?” You couldn’t see his expression, but you could feel his dejection rolling off him in waves. “What gave you that idea?”

He huffed, like a tantrum throwing child, “You didn’t tell Mattsun to keep the time any other time you came in here. Didn’t want to spend too much time with someone who looks like they peed their pants, huh?” Was he serious? Your look of disbelief was having a hard time remaining on your face, a smile wanted to break out - you wanted to laugh just a bit.

“That… That was more for your benefit..” You whispered, piquing his curiosity.

“My benefit?”

You shrugged this time, “I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable in your soiled pants.” He could hear the smirk in your voice, making him whine out in distaste, “Tooru….” You reached forward and found his hand in his crossed arms, pulling it free so you could hold it in both of yours, “I’m sorry… About earlier…”

Oikawa, again, huffed.. though this time it was to brush off your apology, “You didn’t do any-“

“Yes, I did.” Now or never, right? You’d wanted to be in a close space with him, but now it was all ruined because how you’d gone about it. Or rather, how Makki had gone about it. “I… I wanted to….” You sighed tiredly, trying to find the words that just would not come out. He waited. Patiently, it surprised you he hadn’t interrupted with a tease. “I wanted to rig the game so I’d choose you or you’d choose me….”

None of the dots connected in his head, yet. “So what does that have to do with my soda bath?”

A snort came out, unintentionally, and you quickly apologized for its escape. “I… Well… I kind of told Makki and Mattsun… About my wanting to rig the game.” The pieces came together in his head, and he went to take his hand away, but you held it tight, “BUT I didn’t tell them to do that! I would never tell them to embarrass you.” He stopped struggling, “The truth is… I’m too scared to confess anywhere else than a rigged closet game with you.”

“Wait….” Oikawa couldn’t help but smirk, “Makki spilled the soda on me, so you could confess? How does that even work?” Had he just… ignored the fact that you’d confessed?

“Magnets.”

“oh….”

You nodded, holding his hand still in both of yours, “I’m sorry… Really sorry… So instead of this closet being remembered for your rejecting my confession, it’s going to be remembered for my apologizing for a rigged game gone wrong..”

Oikawa smirked as he leaned down and kissed your forehead. No warning. No telltale of his proximity. Nope. Just a quick peck to your forehead before he was pinching your cheek like an old grandmother would, “You’re cute, ______, but you really need to work on your plans more…” Heart hammering in your chest, you leaned your head forward to rest on his chest, embarrassed now in his reaction. “Good thing your amazing boyfriend is going to help you out.”

Reeling back, you stammered in confusion, in shock, “B-bo-boyfriend? I- We- Wait-“ He leaned down and kissed your lips tenderly, but too quick for you to really enjoy the feel, pulling back again.

“I’ll reject your confession, but now you can remember my accepting your heart.”

Simple. Easy. Clean, cut, dry. Done deal.

The doors opened, “Times u- Hey!” You had reached out and pushed Mattsun back, pulling the doors closed once more before wrapping your arms around Oikawa’s neck and bringing your lips to his. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t pause or poke fun at your wanting more time with him. “Alright… Hour it is, then.” You could hear Matsukawa chuckle.

Kuroo Tetsurou:

7 Minutes in Heaven Here

Spin the Bottle Here

Additionally, if you felt either of the above didn’t hit his character - I am 100% open to hearing what you think and if you’d like a request redone! No problemo!

#Admin Satori #Haikyuu!!#Haikyuu!! Scenario #Oikawa Tooru #Kuroo Tetsurou #Character Challenge!#7 Minutes in Heaven #Spin the Bottle

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justheretobreakthings · 6 years ago

Text

Remember Me - Chapter 14

(First Chapter) (Previous Chapter) (Next Chapter)

Word Count: 5,504 (Total Word Count: 57,367) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

It was strange enough for the paladins of Voltron to have found another human this far from home, locked in a Galra prison. But it was stranger still when this human insisted that he knew them, and even that he was the former red paladin of Voltron.

That couldn’t possibly be true, could it? After all, if this Keith was actually a part of the Voltron team, then why does nobody remember him?

Chapter Preview:

“Keith,” Allura snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Saving the stupid mission, what’s it look like I’m doing?” Keith shot back.

“You were supposed to stay on the bridge with Coran!”

“Whoops,” Keith said drily. “Guess I forgot. Lance, on your eleven.”

“On my - hey!” Lance yelped, veering Red away as Keith sped by mere inches from her port flank. “Watch where you’re flying!”

“How’re things looking, Pidge?”

“Well, the intel holds true. We’re definitely getting readings in line with the ones the rebels sent us.”

“And you’re sure it’s quintessence?”

“Either that or the most bizarre new form of static cling ever discovered.”

Allura sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she frowned up at the screen where imaging from the Green Lion’s viewport was being projected back into the bridge, where the other paladins stood gathered, watching intently. “Pidge,” Allura said, “What have I told you about being sarcastic when reporting to base?”

“Hard to say, princess, I tend to tune you out when we get onto that topic.”

“Pidge,” Shiro said, tone scolding.

“Sorry. In any case, there’s definitely readings of quintessence on this ship, but it’s also definitely… different.”

“Different how?” Allura asked. “Different like the quintessence the Blade’s been trailing?”

“No, see here.” The view on the screen switched to Pidge’s helmet cam, and she pointed to a readout on her dashboard. “There’s no pattern to the energy surges. The quintessence that the Blade found in connection to Lotor had different energy readings than the ones we have on record from that druid lab we found way back when, but they were still regular. This stuff here, though, it’s like - it seems… unstable.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re moving around in Green,” Lance suggested. “Like, you know, you’re getting closer and farther to the ship, so the reading’s weird?”

“No, Lance,” Pidge sighed. “That’s not it.”

“Well, we can’t know that for sure until - ”

“Yes, we can. Distance doesn’t affect how Green picks up quintessential residue. She releases a signal toward a pre-calculated epicenter on the targeted area that remains completely static regardless of - ”

“Never mind,” Lance said. “I just decided you know what you’re doing.”

“Oh, goody, I feel validated.”

“Could whatever’s creating the quintessence energy be being actively altered right now?” Shiro asked. “Perhaps there’s a working lab in that ship?”

“Doubtful,” Coran spoke up. “Not with that make of ship. It’s a cargo ship, for one thing, but beyond that, it looks to be modeled after the Galra’s old Lexell-N-13 ships. Wonderful stability in the engine room, but notoriously terrible at maintaining internal gravity levels. A dreadful place to be doing precision lab work.”

“So, what are we looking at, then?” Allura asked.

“Transporting supplies, no doubt,” Coran answered. “Whatever’s leaving the quintessence traces may be what’s being experimented upon.”

“Not sure if that really gives us the greatest well of answers as to what the druids have been up to,” Keith commented from the back of the group. “Not if we don’t get access to their process in action, I mean.” This was the first he had spoken since Allura had told them about the signal the rebel group had picked up. Amid their wormholing to the coordinates and sending Pidge out in her cloaked Green Lion to scout out the ship the rebels had come across, he had remained quiet, intently focused.

“Perhaps not the greatest,” Coran replied, “But still useful. We can certainly glean information from whatever is being transported, both the cargo itself and inventory logs, and if they’re keeping travel records, we could use those to find out where the ship is coming from and where it’s going - two other locations that would be immense resources to us.”

Shiro nodded. “All right. Princess, your call: are we looking at an infiltration mission here?”

“That would probably be the best course of action,” Allura answered.

Lance lifted his hand in question. “Should we go for hijacking the ship while we’re down there? I’m just thinking, if this stuff important to Witch Lady, probably would be helpful to keep it from getting to checkpoint B, right?”

“Not in this case, no,” said Allura. “If we’re able to get information about the ship’s docking points, we’re going to want to be able to go investigate them afterward. As long as we’re stealthy and don’t impede the ship’s route, they won’t know we’re coming. If we interfere with them though, or if they’re able to send off any communication that something’s gone wrong en route, they’ll have time to clear the evidence. And if that prison was anything to go by, it seems that’s something at which the druids are quite adept.”

“All right,” Shiro said with a brisk nod. “I could join Pidge, and we can go down in Green and try and make our way into the ship.”

“Sounds good,” Allura said. “Lance, be on standby in Red in case they need help making a quick exit. Hunk and I can ready Blue and Yellow in case any shots start firing, and we can regroup once you’re either finished, or if a battle situation erupts.”

“What should I do?” Keith asked as the others started toward their ziplines.

Allura paused mid-step. “What - what should you do?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Should I ride down with someone, or do we have any cruisers to spare, or…?”

“Right. Right.” Allura cleared her throat. “Well, actually, er, it - it would probably be very helpful to have an extra set of eyes here on the bridge to, say, keep an eye on - ”

“Uh-huh,” Keith cut her off, and Lance could practically see him physically deflating. “Yeah, I’m sure that’ll be helpful.”

Allura sighed. “Keith, this isn’t a matter of you not being helpful, it’s - ”

“I just figured, you know, this is sort of my mission too, isn’t it?” Keith asked. “I mean, we’re - we’re looking into this ship because it’s a lead on, um, my - my, uh, my whole… deal, with Haggar, and I thought - ”

“Keith - ”

“And like I’ve already told you, I’ve got experience with infiltration missions, so I know what I - ”

“Keith,” Shiro said. He had doubled back toward him from his path toward the zipline, and he set his hand on Keith’s shoulder, turning the smaller man slightly to look him in the face. “I promise you, this isn’t anything personal. I’m sure you’d do just fine on a mission. But right now, we just need to do this quickly and efficiently, and that’s going to be more difficult if there’s an unfamiliar element in the mix, you know? We’re, ah, used to the current Voltron dynamic, we know how to work off of it.”

Keith bit at his lower lip for a moment before dropping his gaze and nodding. “Right, sorry,” he mumbled. “I hadn’t thought of - I’ll, uh, stay here with Coran.” Shiro smiled and patted his shoulder before moving away.

“Oh, I’m honored to have the companionship!” Coran said, brightly and just a little too loudly to be perfectly natural, before throwing his arm around Keith’s shoulder and tugging him toward the mission control screens. “Don’t know how many of these instruments you’re familiar with, so let me give you a quick rundown!”

He began an enthusiastic tutorial of the various monitors and buttons, and the other paladins took the opportunity to start toward the ziplines again. Lance shuffled over to walk beside Shiro. “You know,” he whispered. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Do what?” Shiro asked.

“Like, give Keith a whole speech if he doesn’t like an order? I know you’ve never been big on pulling rank, but, I mean, you and Allura are in charge, right?”

Shiro shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt anything. ‘Specially when he’s still not in the greatest state mentally and all.”

“He’s a lot better on that mark lately. It just doesn’t seem - ”

“Gotta split up here, Lance,” Shiro said, gesturing toward the zipline entrances.

Lance huffed out a breath. “Right,” he grunted, parting ways with Shiro and moving toward his own zipline. He could let the matter drop. It wasn’t as if he actually cared about whether Shiro was coddling Keith too much. It just had seemed worth a mention.

That’s all.

He slid down the zipline and into Red’s waiting cockpit, and from there he flew out of the hangar to wait, and it was easy to put any concerns about how Shiro was handling Keith to the back of his mind. Red had a way of keeping him focused during a mission. Lance wasn’t sure if it was just the thrill that came with being in the pilot seat, or if the Red Lion’s own keenness and confidence were contagious. Probably the latter, if he were to be honest. And it was something he wouldn’t trade away for the world.

He waited for the others to get their places situated; Allura and Hunk were flanking Black on the way down so Shiro could move into Green for the infiltration itself, and keeping the lion covered until Shiro could return to the pilot’s seat. Once Shiro had made his move, he tailed Green along back toward the Galra ship, keeping his distance.

“Found what looks to be a good entry point over beneath this wing,” Pidge said into the comms. “I can keep Green’s cloaking on and dock her. Lance, keep an eye out on the exterior and be ready in case we need to use a different exit point.”

“Roger,” Lance said. He started Red on a wide swingaround to the other side of the Galra ship, keeping his eyes peeled all the while for any activity.

“You got any schematics you can send my way, Coran?”

“Got some for the old Lexell-N-13,” Coran answered. “Not sure it will be precisely the same as this ship, but should give you a good guideline.”

“Pass ‘em over,” Pidge said. “Long as an access point to their security network’s in roughly the same place, I’m good to go.”

Lance kept his position in the air, and the others were quiet over their comms as they waited before Shiro said softly, “Disembarking Green now.”

“Got you on my radar, Shiro,” Lance said, pulling up the thermal imaging scope on Red’s dashboard and focusing onto the entry site Pidge had pointed out earlier, where two bright blurs indicated Shiro and Pidge’s presence. “Think your coast is clear.”

“All right, I’ll make my way toward security,” Pidge said. “Assuming that these schematics are accurate?”

“I’m eighty percent sure that they are,” Coran said.

“Good enough. Okay, Shiro, quintessence reading’s mostly centered farther back along the cargo bay toward the aft fuselage. Start heading that way, I’ll monitor you?”

“Already on it,” Shiro said.

Lance watched as the two blurs from their heat signatures parted and took off, tracking them until they started overlapping with others on the ship in connecting hallways. At that point he minimized the thermal vision on his dashboard and brought Red around to monitor from behind the cover of one of the ship’s elevons.

“At the security bank,” Pidge said after a few doboshes, “How’s everyone holding up?”

“Hunk and I are holding steady out here, Pidge,” Allura replied.

“Same here,” Lance said.

“Think I’m gonna need a hand, actually,” Shiro said. “Door’s not responding to my arm.”

“Shit, hang on, I don’t see any alarm raised or anything, so what did - ”

“It didn’t light up red or sound an alarm, it was just unresponsive. Seems like it’s turned off.”

“All right, hang on, let me get that powered back up for you.” There was quiet for a few moments before Pidge said, “Uh, Shiro, what door are you trying to open?”

“The cargo bay entrance? Why?”

“Well, I’m looking, and I can’t find any entrance to the cargo bay.”

“What?”

“Like, there’s definitely a cargo hold here on the ship, got official schematics here in the security bank, but I can’t… figure out how to get there.”

“Could you send those schematics my way, Pidge?” Coran asked.

“Sure thing.”

“Pidge?” said Shiro. “If this isn’t the entrance to the cargo hold - ”

“Hold on, let me find you on the monitors… yeah, looks like you’re trying to access a liquid hydrogen tank.”

“Then how do I get to the cargo hold?”

“I’m looking…”

“Don’t forget, Pidge,” Coran said. “You’re also looking for access to transport records and inventory logs.” In the background, Lance could hear Keith’s voice softly ask, “Can I look at the schematics?”

“Yeah, yeah, I didn’t forget,” Pidge said. “I’ve got two hands, Coran, I can only type so much at once.”

“So what should I - ” Shiro started.

“Lay low for sec,” Pidge answered. “Look, I’ll - I’ll keep an eye on the cameras while I work my way into their records, Coran can start trying to figure out a way into the cargo hold.”

“I don’t think there is one,” Keith said.

A pause, then, “Come again, Mullet?” Lance asked.

“Well, I mean, there is, technically, but it’s not - look, I recognize these schematics, we infiltrated a ship with this exact same layout once when I was with the Blades, must have been the same model of - ”

“Now, Keith,” Allura sighed, “We have been over this. You were never actually - ”

“No, okay, whatever, I wasn’t actually a Blade, but I swear, I know this ship! And you’re not gonna be able to get to the cargo hold, not from inside.”

“What are you talking about?” Pidge asked.

“It’s an added security measure to ensure that only select people have access to whatever’s being transported. You can’t get to the cargo hold from inside, not unless you go completely smashing through some walls. The only way to get to the cargo is through the exterior bay doors, and they locking mechanisms and key codes aren’t connected to the ship’s internal network, so Pidge won’t be able to hack them from where she is.”

“Aw, isn’t it so sweet how much the Galra all respect and trust each other,” Pidge muttered. “So what, we’re gonna have to go try to get into the cargo bay from the outside?”

“Nothing doing, short stuff,” Lance said. “I’ve got the exterior cargo bay doors in my view. Windows all around, right in the line of a laser turret just off the starboard wing, no place to dock Green… there’s no way in Hell you’d ever be able to get in there without being spotted.”

Keith let out a little grunt of frustration before saying, “Well, then, forget about the stealth, and you can just - ”

“Absolutely not,” Allura said. “Remember, if we give away our activity, we give them the opportunity to clear out evidence wherever the ship is intending to go.”

“But - ”

“Sorry, Keith, but Allura’s right,” Shiro said. “For now, we may just have to forego the cargo and focus on Pidge’s info download.”

“...Fine.”

“Well,” Pidge said. “The good news is, that shouldn’t take much longer. Think I’m just about into their primary drive, so if we - ” A sudden blare sounded into the comms, making Lance wince and put a hand over his ear. “Fuck!” Pidge spat.

“What happened?!” Shiro cried.

“Pidge, did you trigger an alarm?!” Hunk asked.

“No, no way, I - ”

Whatever she said next, Lance didn’t hear. His eyes widened as one of the turrets on the ship rotated toward him. A nudge from Red kept his surprise from freezing him in his tracks, and he had time to grab onto the steering and pull away before a laser blast came shooting his way.

“Crap!” Hunk yelped. “They’re shooting!”

“You don’t say?!” Lance grunted. “Sorry, Pidge, they spotted Red, think that’s what triggered the alarm!”

“Shit,” Pidge muttered. “Woulda been nice for you to wait a few minutes more before making your grand entrance, Lance!”

“Hey, Red is a gigantic robot lion in the sky, there’s only so much I can do to keep her from being noticed!”

“Paladins, please!” Allura said. “This is not the time! Pidge, Shiro, get back to Green! I’ll escort Black around so Shiro can make the transfer. Hunk, you’re on defense, get to Lance and stave off any attacks. Coran, prepare the castle for me to return and make a wormhole for us.”

A chorus of ‘right’s and ‘roger’s sounded through the comms as everyone hastened to comply with the orders. Lance dove out of the way of another blast from the ship before sending one of his own back through Red’s open mouth.

“Hey,” Keith said. “As long as your cover’s been blown - ”

“Not really a good time, Keith!” Lance shouted as he narrowly dodged another blast.

“But we can use whatever’s in the cargo hold!”

“Keith, we don’t have time,” Pidge said. “I don’t know how long it will take to figure out the locking mechanism on the bay doors, and we can’t - ”

“Then forget the locking mechanism, you can get through the doors by force!”

“If we wreck the doors or the cargo bay, we’ll no doubt also destroy the cargo,” said Shiro.

“If you’re careful about where you hit, there will be enough left intact to at least get something! Bring one of the Lions close enough, and - ”

“Even if that is the case, they’ve got weapons mounted right outside the cargo bay,” Lance pointed out. “You try to get into it, you’ll get shot down easy.”

“Not if you’re fast and you dodge!”

“Enough!” Allura said firmly. “We’re cutting our losses now, and that’s that. This is not up for debate.”

Keith let out a growl of frustration, and Lance heard a thump in the comms before Coran said, “Keith, where are you - ?” He paused, then, “Think he left to cool down.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Shiro said. “We’re at Green, boarding her now. Allura, ETA?”

“Within the dobosh,” she answered.

“On the bright side, least this wasn’t a total wash,” Pidge said. “Managed to get those transport records opened up before the alarm sounded, so I’ve got coordinates on hand now.”

“Those coordinates certainly would have been more helpful if we’d been able to maintain stealth, but I suppose they’re better than nothing,” Allura said. “We’ll have to - ” She stopped as a beeping sounded over the comms, followed by a thoughtful “Hm” from Coran. “Coran?” she asked. “What was that?”

“Erm, nothing, princess,” Coran answered.

“Coran - ”

“Allura, we’ve got visual on you and Black!” Shiro interrupted. “Moving in for transfer now.”

“Right, right,” Allura said.

“Feel free to hurry,” Lance said as Red sent another blast of flame toward the ship, “Sooner we get that wormhole opened, the better.”

“We’re all more than aware of that, Lance,” Allura said.

“Hey, guys? Looks like they have reinforcement coming in,” Hunk said.

“Quiznak, you’re kidding me!” Allura said. “What are we looking at here?”

“Just a small cruiser on my six o’clock, but I don’t know if more are intending to follow.”

“You and Lance hurry and take care of them.”

“On it,” Lance said, moving Red so that Yellow was blocking the ship from her before turning to face the new threat.

Just as he was preparing a beam, though, his comm crackled and Keith’s voice sounded into his ear. “Wait, wait, don’t shoot, that’s me!”

“Keith?!” Lance cried. “You’re their reinforcements?!”

“Wha - no! This is one of the castle’s cruisers!”

“Keith,” Allura snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Saving the stupid mission, what’s it look like I’m doing?” Keith shot back.

“You were supposed to stay on the bridge with Coran!”

“Whoops,” Keith said drily. “Guess I forgot. Lance, on your eleven.”

“On my - hey!” Lance yelped, veering Red away as Keith sped by mere inches from her port flank. “Watch where you’re flying!”

“I know what I’m doing, Lance,” Keith growled.

“Like fuck you do,” Lance muttered as he turned to watch Keith speeding straight toward the ship. “Hey dumbass, you do realize that’s where the lasers are coming from, right?!”

“I’m aware,” Keith answered, dodging one even as they spoke, not letting up on his speed for a moment.

“I’m heading back toward the castle, wormhole to follow shortly,” Allura said. “What exactly are you - ?”

“I told you,” Keith said, “You wanna get into that cargo bay, you gotta use force.”

“Keith, you’re gonna get shot down before you get within a mile of that cargo!” Lance shouted.

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you - oh, for the love of - ” He hastily turned Red to fire at the turret that had been aiming for Keith’s cruiser. “See?! That thing just almost took you out!”

“But it didn’t!”

“Yeah, and you got me to thank for that! Now would you just - ” A crash echoed over the comms, and Lance’s jaw dropped as Keith rammed diagonally right into the exterior cargo hold door, leaving a massive dent in its wake.

“Keith!” Shiro shouted. “Stop that, you’re going to wind up hurt!”

“I already said I know what I’m doing,” Keith said. He started making a wide turn away from the ship, getting back into position to start careening toward it again.

“I hope you’re aware that the castle’s healing pods aren’t quite as good at healing corpses,” Allura said.

“Noted,” Keith replied, right before another crash, louder still than the one before it, and this time Keith’s cruiser managed to get through the cargo bay door, the tail end of the ship left sticking out of the vaguely cruiser-shaped hole in the metal.

“... Keith?” Shiro said. “Keith, come in! Keith!”

“Oh my God, is Keith dead?!” Hunk squeaked out.

“I’m fine,” Keith groaned. “Just… just a little winded.”

“Keith, are you hurt?” Shiro asked.

“I’m disemarking for a moment.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

“Hang on, there’s - shit,” Keith spat. Blasts started coming through the comms, and when Lance squinted, he could see small flashes of light in the edges of the hole not currently blocked by the cruiser. “What the hell’s going on in there?” Lance asked.

“I don’t think the cargo hold likes visitors…” Keith said.

“Then get the fuck out of there!” Pidge shouted. “Guess the locking mechanism’s not the only security on that cargo.”

“I know, I’m going, I’m going,” Keith said, and a few ticks later, the cruiser moved, backing out of the cargo door. A couple of small laser blasts followed him out, narrowly missing the cockpit.

As the cruiser made it out of the ship and started moving away, Lance kept half an eye on it. The vehicle didn’t look to be in the same shape it had been before its crash - only natural, he supposed - and Keith was no longer flying nearly as smoothly as before. The cruiser kept slowing and speeding, and repeatedly lurched to the side before being pulled back onto its course.

“Keith, I don’t think you’re ship’s in a good state to be in battle right now,” Shiro said over the comms before Lance could say anything. Seems he wasn’t the only one who noticed the erratic flying.

“It’s nothing,” Keith replied. “Just some dents.”

“It looks like a hell of a lot more than some dents. If you can’t fly it - ”

“I can fly it just fine, it’s just a little - ” He broke off to let out a small cry as a shot from the Galra ship caught his starboard wing, leaving him spinning out for a few ticks before managing to find equilibrium again.

“Just some dents, huh?” Pidge asked.

Keith was silent for a moment before hesitantly replying, “I, uh… I might need some help.”

“I’ve got him,” Lance said, resisting the urge to tear his eyes away from the battle long enough to roll them. “Hunk, cover me.”

“Roger that,” Hunk said. Yellow made a wide turn to fly between Red and the Galra ship, and Lance sped to where Keith’s little cruiser floated to scoop him up into Red’s mouth.

“Thanks,” Keith grunted.

“Uh-huh,” said Lance. “Now, what have we learned today about crashing ourselves into bigger ships and expecting to fly off unscathed afterward?”

“That you’re too chickenshit to try it?” Keith asked, his tone gratingly innocent. Lance scowled and grabbed a joystick on the dash to make Red shake her head back and forth. “Hey!” Keith yelped. “What are you doing?!”

“Sorry, Red had an itch,” Lance said.

“The lions don’t get itches.”

“And you would know that how, exactly?”

Keith went quiet, and Lance had to grimace to himself a little. Admittedly, that remark had been a bit of a low blow. He opened his mouth with the intent to say as much, but lost his trail of thought when the castle’s wormhole opened up in the sky before him.

“All right team, moving out,” Shiro said, and Black led the way through the wormhole, Red and her catch bringing up the rear.

The universe around Lance went eerily quiet as it always did when they went through a wormhole, that sudden transition away from the noise of battle always leaving a ringing in his ears. The silence was soon relieved by a buzz of conversation on the comms, appraising what they’d gotten from that mission and asking what was to be done next.

“Keith, are you going to need a pod?” Shiro asked as Lance neared Red’s hangar.

“Uh, hard to say,” Keith replied. “Think my ship’s more banged up than me, to be honest.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to check just to make sure. Coran?”

“Right-oh, Number One,” Coran said. “I’ll meet you boys in the hangar!”

“Thanks,” Keith grunted right as Red touched down. Lance lowered Keith’s cruiser to the floor delicately, taking care not to jostle it as a silent apology for knocking him around earlier.

Keith was struggling out of the cruiser as Lance descended from Red’s jaw, and the latter let out a low whistle at the state of the smaller vehicle now that he could get a better look at it. A chunk of the starboard wing had been torn off from that blast it had taken, and the crash had left the forward bulkhead half caved in. “Damn,” Lance said, “If this is what you consider ‘dented’, I’d hate to see your idea of a wreck.”

“It’s… probably mostly cosmetic damage,” Keith said, and Lance turned to him. This was also first time getting a look at Keith, since their communication had been entirely over the comms rather than any video feed, and Lance raised his brow at the other’s appearance. Keith had at some point outfitted himself in a thick, boxy armor and helmet, silvery-white save for pale blue accents on the joints and above the visor, a color scheme Lance recognized as that belonging to the old Altean military uniforms in the castle’s storage. Keith finished exiting the ship fully, pale face grimacing as he planted himself on the metal floor of the hangar. His left arm was tucked into his abdomen, his right arm wrapped around it, and he tilted as he found his footing.

Lance frowned. “Your ability to assess your ship’s damage doesn’t give me much faith in your whole ‘I don’t need a pod’ thing.” Keith just sighed.

The door to Red’s hangar opened then with its electronic whir, and Coran marched in with an authoritative stride. “All right, let’s see what the damage - good gracious!” he said as he approached and got a look at the ship. “That looks like - ”

“Yeah, I know,” Keith said. “I’m sorry. It can be repaired though, right?”

“Nothing’s ever beyond repair,” Coran replied. “But it certainly won’t be a quick job.” He tutted as he stepped in to examine the ship more closely. “You’ve got Hunk and my work cut out for us, haven’t you.”

“Sorry,” Keith said again.

“Well, what’s done is done.” He shook his head before turning back to Keith. “Now, boy, this ship’s not the only thing that took a beating, correct?” He gestured toward Keith’s abdomen. “Come now, let the Coranic have a look.”

Keith slowly moved his arm away, and Lance winced when the left hand came away covered in a splattering of scarlet. Coran pounced immediately, tutting away as he moved Keith’s arms aside and examined the injury himself, so Lance had to step around and crane his neck to see the blood seeping through a seam in the plackart.

“Dear dear,” Coran said. “I assume this was from that little crash?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith said. “Kinda wound up thrown into some dented part of the ship’s dashboard. I, uh… there was a little, um, I felt a crack.”

“A rib may have broken through the skin,” Coran remarked. “Let’s see about getting this armor removed, yes?”

“Is everything all right?” a voice called. Lance looked up to see the others at the entrance to the hangar. Shiro was at the front of the group, making his way briskly toward them, and he hadn’t even so much as removed his helmet before coming to check the damage, just having rolled up the visor instead. “Keith, are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” Keith answered as Shiro stepped in to hover over him at Keith’s side. The others, as they joined, hung back, giving Keith some space.

“Okay, my ass,” Shiro said. “You’re bleeding.”

“Well, I’ve had worse,” Keith said. “It’s not like this is the first time I’ve ever crashed a ship.” He squeezed his eyes shut and sucked a breath between his teeth as Shiro carefully peeled the chestplate from him. “And this one wasn’t even so bad. Yeah, I got thrown, but - but normally I hold up better than this, I swear.”

“Where did you get that armor?” Allura asked, frowning at the chestplate.

“Uh, in the armory?”

“Why did you select this armor?”

“It - it looked like it would fit? Why?”

“Because, this is infantry armor,” Allura answered. “It’s no wonder you got hurt. This armor’s not designed to hold against the sort of impact that would come from a full-bodied high-speed collision.” She lifted her gaze from the armor to Keith’s face, eyes narrowed. “You’re awfully lucky you weren’t hurt worse.”

“Good,” Keith muttered. “‘Bout time I got some good luck.” He gasped as Shiro gently probed at the underarmor an inch above the spot where the skin had broken.

“Definitely going to need a pod,” Shiro said grimly. “Keith, honestly, you gave us all a scare with that stunt of yours. If you want to go on missions with the team, you can’t just - ”

“Hey, that stunt got us quintessence, didn’t it?” Keith snapped.

The others paused, all holding still and staring at Keith in silence. “Um… what?” Shiro said.

“The quintessence. Snatched some before whatever security was in the cargo hold started firing on me. It’s in the cockpit.”

Immediately Allura turned and climbed onto the ship, clambering into the cockpit and stretching past the caved-in parts only to soon slide back out. Her eyes were wide as she gazed at the two clear tubes in her hand, each filled nearly to the top with a glowing, pale-yellow liquid.

“Well,” Shiro said softly. “I’ll be damned.”

“You’re welcome,” Keith said flatly.

Allura sighed. “Keith, regardless of whether or not you managed to - ”

“So sorry to interrupt, princess,” Coran said. “I’m in total agreement that Keith’s in need of a nice long lecture, but perhaps it ought to be saved until after he’s had his time in the pod? Shouldn’t be more than a varga or two.”

“Fine,” Allura said. “Get healed up, then we can discuss your… conduct. I’ll take charge of these in the meantime.” She gestured with a tilt of her head toward the vials of quintessence in her arms.

Keith nodded to her as Shiro slid his arm around Keith’s shoulders in preparation to walk him to the med bay. “Coran and I will get that taken care of,” Shiro said. “You three, go ahead and wind down; we can debrief once Keith’s out of the pod.”

The others nodded, and the group made their way out of the hangar. Beyond the door, they separated, Allura off to the bridge, Shiro and Coran balancing Keith between them en route to the med bay, and the rest heading off to the living quarters.

“All right, I’m just gonna say it,” Lance said as soon as Keith was out of earshot. “Anyone else starting to think New Guy is kind of an asshole?”

“Maybe a little bit,” Pidge said with a shrug. “But even you have to admit, he was pretty badass out there today.”

“Badasshole,” Hunk commented, and, at the looks the other two sent him, added, “Sorry, continue.”

“I’m just saying,” Lance said. “Hey, you guys don’t think Allura and Shiro are actually going to let Keith start joining us on missions and stuff, do you? I mean, yeah, he’s all eager for it, and okay, sure, he can pilot, but after that crap he was pulling, can’t imagine he’s much when it comes to, say, following orders and, oh, not almost killing himself.”

“Hard to say,” Pidge replied. They turned the corner into the hallway housing their bedrooms. “Guess it’ll be their call. If nothing else, having him along for missions will definitely make them, um… exciting.”

Lance rolled his eyes as he made his way to his own bedroom. “And isn’t that just what Voltron needs,” he said drily as he opened the door. “More excitement.”

#vldgen #vld fic #voltron fic #keith #vld keith #my writing #fic: remember me

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ilovemygaydad · 6 years ago

Note

18 ON THE DIALOGUE PROMPTS SORRY I FORGOT TO SPECIFY

it’s cool lol. I used two of the 18s because... it fit idk.

Title: Captive Heart

Prompts: “What’s that? Why is the sky like that?” “What? Have you never seen a sunset before?”; “Please answer me.”

Pairings: Prinxiety (well... it’s kind of more platonic/pre but it’s still cute okay)

Warnings: death mentions, gun mentions, mass shootings, prisons, dystopian societies, executions mentioned, physical fights, being mean to others, mentions of wounds, amputations, prosthetics, a metric ton of swearing, panic attacks, anxiety, IVs, hospitals, and i think that’s it but... there’s a lot of shit that goes down

a/n: this got.... very long........

**don’t rip out ivs it’s Really Bad and i know this is a trope but uhhhh virgil doesn’t know any better because he literally has the knowledge of like a 7 year old child who has only seen the outside world like 50 times in 21 years

Roman was so excited to go on his very first raid mission. He had spent the last twenty-one years training for this very day, and now he was finally able to do it! And on his birthday, no less. It was an exciting day, even if Logan was being a giant thorn in his side.

“Roman, do remember that this warehouse is over twenty klicks away on rough terrain, and we are only going to be able to bring enough provisions for us for the next twenty-four hours. Don’t go off-route, and certainly don’t lag behind. This is a very important mission for us to gain supplies; I will not have a rookie like you messing this up.”

“Oh my gods, Specs!” Roman sighed. “First off, you’re only twenty-two, so it’s not like you’re some seasoned veteran like Patton. Second, give me a break! I’m far more reliable than you’re making me out to be. I wouldn’t have made it into L-1 if I was stupid.”

Patton set down the bag he was packing with a grimace. “Well, kiddo, you did go off course in the sim to save that ‘child’ that ended up being a trap. And then you died in that sim. And there was also the time you lagged behind because you were sure that you had found something in the woods and wound up getting lost until we were on our way back. Oh, and what about--”

“Okay! Okay, I get it. I’m a horrible soldier. However, I know that this is far more dire than a sim. I won’t screw up, promise.”

Logan glared at him for a second, but he wave his hand in dismissal. “Fine. Just remember that I am the captain of this mission, so you are to report back to me if anything goes awry. All thirty of us will have comm-packs, so it shouldn’t be an issue to contact me; however, if something does happen to your comm-packs, I will be notified of such.” He handed Roman his bag. “Shall we?”

“Fuck yes!”

“Roman Sanders,” Patton chided as he readied the gate.

“Um… Heck yeah!”

“Better.”

The supplies raid didn’t end up being a supplies raid at all. It was a warehouse full of prisoners. And, gods, it was a bloodbath. As soon as the rebel soldiers had been spotted, instead of shooting at the soldiers, the Savior guards began to kill off the prisoners. Roman had desperately wanted to run ahead--to try and save even one of those people, but he knew that he couldn’t jeopardize himself or the mission like that. He had promised.

So, instead, he followed Logan’s orders to the letter, and he watched countless children and adults die. These innocent people were killed right before his eyes, and all he could do was hang back and stay safe while the others secured the perimeters and took the guards as prisoners. Roman was too important to lose.

All of that hurt--it hurt so fucking bad--but none of it was as awful as having to go around from room to room and check for survivors so they’d know who to loot and bury. It was a slaughter that he had not been able to stop, and they were just going to take the useful clothes and other items and dump the bodies into unmarked mass graves. Roman loved the cause that he was fighting for, and he knew that he was on the right side, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. Each time that he went to find a pulse on a kid not much older than his brother, he felt his soul crumble that much more.

He had gone through four or so rooms without finding anyone still living. Logan had ordered the search to cease in five minutes before regrouping to determine a burial strategy, so Roman only had time to go through one last room. There were only three bodies in this one, all huddled together in the back corner, so it was easy to go through it quickly. He made it through the first two with the same results as before, but the body farthest back… had a pulse.

“Holy--Oh my gods, wake up!” Roman shook the boy in front of him gently, willing him to wake up. “Are you alright? Oh, please answer me!”

When nothing happened, Roman decided that he obviously needed to save this boy. He was so frail; it looked like he hadn’t had a proper meal in… well, ever. With an uncomfortable amount of ease, Roman scooped him up into his arms and rushed back to the rendezvous point. Most of the crew was there already, save for Patton and a few others.

“Logan, I--”

“Roman, why are you carrying a body around?”

“It’s a survivor! We have to take him back with us.” Roman took a step forward, but Logan held out his hand to stop him.

“Absolutely not. We will leave him here for the night and bring him back with the Savior guards tomorrow.”

“Logan, please--”

“What,” Patton interrupted, stepping into the room. “Is going on here?”

Logan gestured frustratedly at Roman. “He wants to take this survivor back with us tonight even though we don’t have the supplies to do so.”

Roman felt angry fire burn through his veins. “Have a heart, will you, Logan? He. Will. Die. We have to take him back tonight. He is injured and starving, and I am not going to just leave him here--completely alone, mind you--because you’re too set in your ways to even budge a little.” He turned to Patton, pleading. “I’ll keep him as my sole responsibility. No one else has to even think about him; I promise! Just let me take him with us. Please.”

“Well, Logan… I know that it’s not ideal, but Roman does make a good point.”

Logan glared at both of them. “Whatever. Fine. But you are taking care of him the whole way back, and you will be in charge of him at camp. He is not my responsibility, nor anyone else’s. Do you understand, Roman?”

“Yes! Oh, thank you so much. I promise that you won’t regret it.”

Roman may or may not have underestimated how much energy it would take to carry the survivor back to camp. Sure, he weighed maybe forty-five kilos, but that was a lot to carry for a twenty klick hike. The other soldiers were starting to get farther ahead, moving much faster. Logan would kick his ass if he got lost, but it wasn’t like he could ask for help. His stubborn nature had brought this upon himself, and he had to deal.

“Hey, Ro… Do you want a break? You look like you’re about to pass out,” Patton asked gently.

Roman nearly dropped the boy due to his shock. “God, Patton. Warn a guy next time.”

“Whoops, sorry, kiddo. Seriously, though. Let me take him for a while, okay? We don’t have to tell Logan.”

Before an argument could even form in his head, Patton had scooped the survivor into his arms. There wasn’t anything that Roman could say that would make Patton do anything else. The twenty-nine-year-old was the oldest and most successful in their sector. If it weren’t for rules, he probably would have made it into raid teams at sixteen. Patton was a six-four, two-hundred pound beast with intelligence to rival Logan, who was undisputedly the smartest person to ever join the rebellion. And Patton had a heart of gold, so he was a bit more stubborn than anyone else on the team when it came to helping.

Roman did appreciate it, though. He was actually able to chill out and look at the landscape. Their sector was surrounded by forest. They weren’t allowed to go out very far for fear of traps that had been set by the Saviors, so Roman hadn’t seen most of it, but he was able to see tons of flowers and plants that didn’t grow near their base. Little blue flowers grew along the sides of the path, and wild violets--Patton had pointed those out--were sprinkled around the ground further out into the foliage. If he wasn’t tied so strictly to the rules that he was already technically breaking, Roman would have been eager to run out and be among the nature.

But he didn't. He just fell into step with Patton, and they idly chatted until they were back at the base.

Virgil… couldn’t feel his arm. He tried to think if he’d fallen asleep on it, or maybe Raleigh or Sel accidentally did, but his last memories were fuzzy at best. His eyes cracked open slightly, and he was met with bright, white light, which was even more strange than not being able to feel his arm. Prisoners were always woken up before being brought outside to watch the executions, so why…?

Wait, where the hell was he?

Virgil sat up lightning fast. He raked his eyes around his surroundings and saw absolutely nothing familiar. A weird, clear snake-thing and bag of liquid was hooked into his arm--oh, shit, was he going to die?--and he was on a soft table of some sort with a scratchy piece of cloth draped over him. Someone he didn’t recognize was slumped in a chair--is that what a chair is???--in a corner asleep. There was a huge window on one of the walls, and a crate-like thing below it with a few metal things on it.

And his right arm was just fucking gone. Just not there. His right shoulder now ended up in a stump. He had lost his arm.

Holy shit, he had no idea where he was, and his arm had been cut off.

Breaths were coming in short, wheezing patterns, but Virgil was completely unable to calm himself. Who wouldn’t flip the fuck out when they woke up in a weird room and missing a fucking appendage? Tears welled up in his eyes as his brain raced through the possibilities. The guy in the corner seemed unarmed. If he could find something sharp, he might be able to escape and find out what the hell was going on.

As quietly as one having a panic attack could, Virgil slipped off the bed and ripped out the snake that had been inserted into his arm for mobility. He attempted to compose himself--and admittedly failed--as he stalked over to the crates under the window. After a few minutes of poking around, he found exactly what he was looking for. A sharp, pointy metal stick had been sitting on a tray of other equally sharp and pointy sticks inside the crate. Carefully, Virgil picked it up, holding it tightly by the handle. Now, to--

“Oh! You’re awake. Hello!”

Virgil spun around violently, swinging out his arm in an attempt to maim the person behind him. The stick pointed out in front of him as he stared, chest heaving, at the man. He was the one who had been asleep in the chair just moments prior. He looked afraid. Good.

“Um, if you would please put that scalpel down, sir…” He spoke too well. He had to be one of those awful doctors that the other captives whispered about when one of them was taken away and never seen again. Virgil swung his arm again, but the man jumped backwards just as fast. “Woah! Stop! Dude, please, I just want to ask some questions so that I can figure some things out about the Saviors.”

There was a second of hesitation, but Virgil lunged this time, throwing the stick to the side and using his hands to claw at the man. Well, he tried to do that. Within a second, Virgil was pinned to the ground with a knee resting just between his shoulders.

“Can you please calm down? I’ll explain everything if you’d just stop trying to kill me.”

Virgil hissed. “Go fuck yourself.”

“I--Wow! That’s extremely rude, you know, to say for someone who saved you from that dreadful Savior warehouse and almost single-handedly carried you twenty klicks back to our base.”

“Motherfu--wait, what?”

The man huffed. “Honestly, what does it take for a valiant soldier to get some recognition around here? I find the one survivor in the whole facility, and I’m almost told to just leave him there to die. However, I fight for this survivor and convince my hardened leader to allow me to bring him back with us. I stay with him day and night for the next two weeks as he fights off a nasty infection and a coma, and then this happens! He tries to kill me! How absolutely rude is that?”

“One survivor?” Virgil processed what he’d heard. “Oh my god…” Raleigh and Sel were dead. They were actually dead. Not only was he in a place that he was completely unfamiliar with, his only friends were fucking dead.

“Yes. It was absolutely devestating--”

“Get the hell off me.”

“Wha--”

“Get. Off.” The pressure on his back immediately lessened, and he could see that the man slumped against the crates next to him. Virgil pushed himself into a sitting position and curled up, trying not to cry. He couldn’t show weakness. He didn’t want to be punished for crying.

“Did you… were those two people in the room with you your friends?”

Virgil couldn’t find his voice, so he nodded slightly, taking care to not make eye contact.

“I’m very sorry about that. From what I saw of the aftermath, they are responsible for your survival. They took most of the bullets, and you escaped with only one shot in your right arm. The wound did end up becoming heavily infected due to the lack of attention I was able to give it before our arrival here, and your arm needed to be amputated, but we are working on making you a prosthetic.”

“A… prosthetic?” Virgil flicked his eyes up in confusion.

“Yeah, a prosthetic.” The man said it as though it were obvious.

“Oh… Right.” He had no fucking idea what he was talking about.

The man didn’t comment on Virgil’s hesitation if he even noticed it at all (which, honestly, Virgil doubted because he seemed rather… unobservant). “Is it alright if I call the nurse to replace your IV? It’ll help you feel better.”

“Sure.”

“Alright. I’ll be back in a minute.” The man stood up and started to exit, but he paused at the door. “I forgot to ask. What’s your name?”

“Virgil.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Virgil. My name is Roman.”

It had been a few weeks since Virgil learned what scalpels and prosthetics and IVs were. He’d learned a lot of things during that time. As it turned out, being held captive since you were a toddler led to a lot of lost knowledge of the world. Virgil learned about beds and cabinets and spaghetti and so many other awesome things like swords. Giant, shiny, stabby pieces of fucking metal! It was amazing.

Not only that, but Virgil was making new friends. He’d met Patton and Logan, who Roman claimed to be his “best friends,” even though Logan seemed less than enthused to be categorized as such. Patton was a sweetheart, and he was the one who designed Virgil’s awesome prosthetic arm, and Logan was just really smart and calming. He liked them both.

Over the weeks, he spent the most time with Roman. The soldier had helped him heal, and he had even brought him out to watch training sessions a few times as entertainment. He’d sworn to secrecy not to tell another soul that this had happened, but Roman allowed Virgil to spar with him a few times, and they discovered that, due to his small size, Virgil was extremely agile.

“Hey, Virge. What are you thinking about?”

Virgil snapped out of his reminiscence. “What? Oh, sorry. I was just zoning out.”

“Good.” Roman grabbed his hands and pulled him out of the cot (Virgil’s own cot because he actually had his own room now). “I want to show you the roof!”

“Gods, Roman, I’ve already seen a roof. This isn’t some learning opportunity. You’re just being weird.”

“Hush and let me take you outside. The weather’s very nice, and neither Patton nor Logan are willing to come out with me.”

A smirk tugged at Virgil’s lips, and he teased, “Roman, I’m hurt. I can’t believe that I’m your last choice.”

Roman laughed and continued to drag him around the facility. “Whatever.”

When they entered the fresh air outside, Virgil felt so refreshed. He closed his eyes and inhaled the clean, cool air. That was something that he had never gotten used to--being able to go outside virtually whenever he wanted. It was incredible. He opened his eyes to take in the view--

“Roman, what’s that? Why is the sky like that?! What is going on?” Virgil pointed at the orange and pink sky and clung to his companion.

“What?” Roman held Virgil back, but he did look very confused. “Have you never seen a sunset before?”

“A what?!”

“A sunset. Between day and night, there are periods of time where the sun rises and sets. During that time, the sky turns different colors due to small particles of dust.” His gaze softened. “It’s nothing to worry about, Virge. I promise.”

“But--”

“Hey, how about we sit down and watch the sky. Nothing bad will happen, but if you truly start to feel upset, we’ll go back inside. Alright?”

Virgil looked into Roman’s eyes for a few moments. If he had learned anything since his emancipation from the Saviors, it was that Roman never broke a promise. “Okay.”

It wasn’t long before Virgil and Roman had both fallen asleep in a tiny pile on the roof in a puddle of silver moonlight.

#sanders sides fic #thomas sanders fic #prinxiety #m writes things #wow this got way longer than i originally planned and way angstier whoops #Anonymous

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lj-writes · 6 years ago

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First chapter in my ESB rewrite

(The repetitive, lazy writing is intentional. I’m also really playing up the more ridiculous aspects of the movie. Warning: compared to The Last Jedi, at least, this fic might actually make sense.)

Star Wars: Episode II: The Last Jedi Strikes Back

The EMPIRE reigns. Having discovered the location of the Rebellion, Emperor Palpatine now deploys merciless legions to restore military control of the galaxy.

Luke Skywalker has gone in search of Jedi Master Yoda, certain that he can restore a spark of hope to the fight.

But the Rebellion is in grave danger. As the Empire speeds toward the rebel base, the brave heroes mount a desperate escape….

Chapter I: The Evacuation

The Avenger loomed over the jungle moon, its shadow casting doom on the rebel base. Below, General Rieekan shouted orders, loading transports with evacuees. Above the planet, the Home One waited for the evacuation to complete so the fleet could escape into hyperspace.

Suddenly Rieekan looked up as something massive emerged from hyperspace. It was a Star Destroyer, black and bigger than any Star Destroyer the general had ever seen. It was the dreadnought Eclipse, and it had come to wipe the rebel base from off the face of Yavin IV.

From the Avenger’s bridge, Captain Needa turned and smirked to his commanding officer. “Our first catch of the day.”

“I have my orders from the Emperor himself,” said Admiral Piett with sober triumph. “Wipe them out. All of them.”

As the hearts of the rebels filled with dread, a ship approached the Star Destroyer Avenger.

From the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, C-3PO murmured, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Chewbacca growled at him, an admonition to be upbeat and think happy thoughts.

“With all due respect, Chewbacca,” came the voice of Ackbar, the fleet admiral, “I’m with the droid on this one.”

“Well, thanks for the support, admiral,” Han snarked from the gunner’s position. “Chewie, open communications.”

Chewie flicked a switch and a signal was transmitted to the Star Destroyer Avenger.

“This is Han Solo of the Millennium Falcon,” said Han loud and clear over the channel. “I have an urgent communique for Admiral Pete.”

“Patch him through,” Piett ordered, walking the length of the bridge. “This is Piett. Your rebellion is at an end. You are all scum and war criminals. There will be no terms, no surrender. We will eliminate your filth from the galaxy.”

Han drummed his fingers on the trigger. “Hello?”

“Yes?” asked Piett.

“I’m holding for Admiral Pete.”

“This is Piett,” the admiral snapped.

“Is Admiral Pete there?” Han demanded. “Can someone please get me an Admiral Pete?”

“I am Admiral Piett,” Piett snapped. “Can you hear me?”

“Piett? With a P?” asked Han. “Bony fella. Big Adam’s apple.”

“That is me,” Piett snapped. “I am Admiral Piett.”

“Look, is anyone even there? Why won’t you answer me?” Han snapped.

“This is Piett of the Imperial Navy,” Piett snapped. “I can hear you. Can you hear me?”

“Do I have the right number?” asked Han.

“We read you,” said Piett. “This is Piett.”

“Look, if I can’t get an Admiral Pete, can I talk to Ensign Ferder?” asked Han. “First name Nerv, is he on?”

“Is there a Nerv Ferder on this ship?” asked Piett loudly to the bridge.

“No, sir,” replied the crew with a straight face.

“There are no Nerv Ferders on this ship,” said Piett to Han.

“Well, that’s obviously wrong,” Han smirked.

Needa furrowed his brow. “I believe he’s tooling with you, sir.”

“Look, I can’t hold forever,” Han snapped. “If you see Piett, tell him I’ve got an urgent message from Admiral Ackbar. About his mother.”

Piett blinked. “What is it?”

“Oh brother. Boring conversation anyway,” Han muttered as he hung up. “Punch it, Chewie!”

Chewie roared and put the Falcon’s new booster to the test, sending Threepio flying into the wall with a wail and a clatter.

The Avenger opened fire, but the Falcon zoomed straight past it, heading straight toward the dreadnought.

“He’s insane,” Piett muttered. He dialed up General Veers on hologram. “Why aren’t you blasting that puny freighter?”

“That freighter is at too close range for our weapons,” Veers replied. “We’ll have to fight them ship to ship.”

“Then unleash our fighters at once,” said Piett, hanging up.

“Ten minutes too late,” Veers muttered. “Launch fighters!”

“That single freighter can’t penetrate our armor,” Ozzell scoffed.

“They’re not penetrating our armor,” Veers snapped. “They’re taking out our surface cannons.”

“Sir,” said Ensign Canady, “ventral cannons are fully primed.”

“Excellent,” said Veers. “Blast the rebel base to rubble.”

The cannons charged and reduced the base to a crater.

Meanwhile, the Falcon dodged and weaved as Han took out cannons effortlessly. Chewie roared triumphantly.

“I know, one left,” said Han. “Looks like we’ve got company.”

A swarm of TIEs zoomed after the Falcon. A blast hit the Falcon, causing a panel to blow.

“Threepio, get down there and patch that up!” Han bellowed.

“I’m going, I’m going!” Threepio called, barely able to stand with all the Falcon’s spinning maneuvers. Sparks were flying from a console in the wall.

Threepio stuck his finger in it and yelped as he was zapped. The sparks stopped, only to explode in two other places. Threepio stuck his fingers in the breaches, yelping each time he was zapped. Soon eight of Threepio’s fingers were in awkward and physically impossible positions.

Chewie roared from the cockpit, asking if the droid had gotten the problem under control.

“I’m running out of fingers!” Threepio cried. He stuck his last two fingers into the sparking mess. Then he shut his eyes and rammed headfirst into the console with a wail. The sparks stopped flying.

Threepio opened his eyes. “I can’t believe that worked,” he said amazedly.

Han blasted the last cannon and whooped.

“Yeehaw!” cried Chewbacca.

“Excellent work, Captain Solo,” said Ackbar. “The fleet is ready to make the jump to lightspeed. Return to the main cruiser at once.”

“With pleasure, your Admiralbleness,” said Han.

Chewie roared and turned the ship back toward the Eclipse.

“What are you, suicidal?” Han demanded. “He said return to the cruiser!”

Chewie roared in retort.

“What do you mean we won’t get far?” Han demanded. “I’ll tell you what, we won’t get very far if we don’t jump to lightspeed right now instead of playing hero!”

“Oh, Chewbacca, please do listen to Captain Solo!” Threepio cried. “This is madness!”

“Chewbacca!” Ackbar thundered. “Return at once!”

Chewie shut off Ackbar’s channel and ordered Gold Squadron to strafe the dreadnought.

“I’m the captain!” shouted Han. “I give the orders around here! You turn this ship around right now, you big hairy idiot, or you’re grounded for a month!”

Chewie roared and pelted the surface of the Eclipse with blaster fire.

The Y-wings began their bombing runs, dropping proton bombs on the dreadnought’s surface. They weren’t making much of a dent, and the TIEs were picking them off fast. The rebel ships began to be caught in one another’s explosions.

From the cockpit of her fighter, Holdo growled in frustration. Her release mechanism was jammed. She reached for the manual remote in the ceiling compartment, but it fell between her feet. Frantically, she attempted to scoop it up with one of her booted feet.

Seeing the other bombers weren’t doing any damage, Holdo realized what she had to do. She shot straight toward the bridge.

“Blast that fighter!” Veers ordered, but it was too late. The Y-Wing was careening straight toward the bridge.

Holdo closed her eyes and stomped on the detonation button.

“Well, f–” said Veers as a sudden explosion engulfed the bridge. A chain of explosions blossomed along the dreadnought, destroying it completely.

Chewie roared in triumph and made the jump to lightspeed.

Piett stood at the bridge of the Avenger, letting none of his fear show on his face.

Needa approached him. “Emperor Palpatine is requesting contact.”

“Excellent,” said Piett. “I’ll take the call in my chambers.”

The Emperor’s hooded head suddenly filled the bridge in blue hologram. “Admiral Piett,” growled the raspy old man.

“My lord, I report that–” Piett’s face smacked into the floor with a crunch as the Emperor used the Force to drag him across the bridge.

“My disappointment in your performance cannot be understated,” snarled Palpatine.

“My lord, they cannot get away,” said Piett, standing up only to slip on the puddle of blood from his nose. “We have them tied to the end of a string.”

The Emperor mused on this. “See me in my chambers at once.”

Chewie and Han stood before Admiral Ackbar.

Ackbar slapped his great fishy flipper across Han’s face. “You’re demoted,” he barked.

“Hey, now hold on just a second!” Han replied indignantly. “Chewie was the one going kamikaze, not me!”

Chewie roared. Ackbar slapped him. “You’re demoted!” he barked.

Chewie roared.

“For disobeying direct orders!” Ackbar barked.

“That’s not fair!” C-3PO protested.

“You wasted valuable lives on a suicide run–” Ackbar growled.

“We took down a dreadnought!” cried Han.

“Enough!” Ackbar shouted. “Lieutenant Solo, your Wookiee is on probation until further notice!” He stormed from the room.

“That’s it, I’m getting out of here,” Han muttered. “Come on, Chewie. We’re leaving this dump before we get into even more trouble.”

Chewie growled and shook his head.

“Come on!” Han snapped.

Chewie shook his head again and roared angrily.

“Fine!” Han snapped. “See you around, pal. I’m going to find Luke.”

Han stormed off to the hangar, muttering all the way.

#lmao #fanfic #the empire strikes back #tlj critical #the last jedi critical #long post #submission #queue are you

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larksinging · 7 years ago

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okay how about either chansaw wc au art of some kind or just some meta talking about their development? pray tumblr doesn't eat the ask this time,

okay i think you’ve properly left for the movies now so i can post this for it to be ready when you get back

meeks! i should have written this bit before i went to the movies and got exhausted, but okay. like i said with fate, youve quickly become one of my best friends. that’s not something i often do. i’ve had a rough year and your support through it has made more of a difference than i can say. you ended up sorta of being the catalyst for a number of positive changes in my life, and i am incredibly lucky to call you my friend (thanks, homecoming!)

so here’s a quick storyboard and some meta:

“two thunderclan assholes ditch apprentice duties to go lay around in the sun”

okay cursed asked because tumblr sent it to the void the first time, but alright lets do it

starting with canon stuff, veronica and heather c have this really… interesting dynamic. heathers does this thing where it starts off building itself up like a basic high school drama, which obviously positions heather c as the antagonist, but then jd swoops in like “hey! i was the antagonist all along! you’ve been punk’d” (so to speak). but as a result, heather and veronica’s dynamic is built up really quickly and really dramatically. i wouldn’t go so far as to call them foils, i don’t think they quite fit as that, but there is definitely a hell of a dynamic there. i also like to draw on the movie more for some of that because the movie seems to imply that they’re actually pretty close? or at least heather seems to hang out with veronica more than the other heathers, which is… theres a lot to unpack there. anyway ive always thought their dynamic has a lot of potential that never gets explored because Plot

sooo i am absolutely here for them being given a chance to actually improve their friendship and help each other out? i know a lot of people are harsh on heather for acting shitty during canon, but i am inclined to be willing to give a teenager girl thats clearly in a bad situation more of a chance. ive always been a big supporter of the concept that all the heathers have the potential to be better if just given the chance, ala mac. situations like denny that given chandler a chance to actually have that potential to be a better person are one of the best justifications for rp, tbh.

though there is a lot to be said for denny in general for the whole cast, really. getting away from the suffocating oppressive situation in canon to someplace at least a bit better with something vaguely resembling a support net is probably the best thing that could have happened to any of them

heather and veronica’s development on denny has been… well, super rewarding, to say the least. honestly their dynamic has been great since the word go, since even from their first meeting their canon dynamic was flipped by veronica having gone through everything and heather finding out about what happened. the fact they so quickly managed to latch onto each other and actually become best friends after everything is said and done is really sweet. maybe bittersweet? seeing girls support each other through rough times is one of my favorite tropes, especially in rp.

actually their friendship was something that’s always come across as super natural on denny. i don’t know if i’ve ever said, but i really enjoy how casual their freidnship can be, like there’s a lot of little moments or references to offscreen stuff of them just naturally and lowkey spending time together, doing normal stuff, and just gravitating to spending time with each other. having big dramatic moments is one thing, but dynamics that also lend themselves to fun background moments are my favorite. also i harp on this friendship stuff because i think the fact that they are such close friends on denny is a huge factor in their (future) relationship. relationships should be based in friendships generally, but then you get ships like the friendship part is so important (just gals being pals!).

honestly their dynamic can be summed up by the fact that (prior to datingplot, at least) they were actually really good about apologizing to each other. for every time they snap at each other, they always manage to pull it back and find ways to make up for it/smooth it over with each other. even their Big Fight during datingplot has a good resolution. i am so here for them being able to open and communicate with each other because they just trust each other that much

im not gonna go into detail too much on their dynamic during datingplot, since i could write a whole post on just that. but it does give me an opportunity to talk about how i love their little moments of physical affection, especially during more emotional moments. as much as we joke about character likes madeline seeing them and being like “hm”, i think their private moments of affection really speak to how well they work as a supportive dynamic. really, the basis for veronica/heather in denny is based on them being constantly supportive and reassuring of each other. anyway datingplot brought this up because i appreciate the little nuance of them awkwardly dropping away from physical affection any time ratchet comes up. whoops!

it’s hard to say exactly how their dynamic as an actual romantic relationship will pan out, since a lot of their dynamic is built on… kind of letting them go with the flow and find that natural rhythm from set up situations, but! i think its relly good for heather, again, to have another relationship that’s actually healthy and not based on the gross heteronormative standards of back in their world. and for veronica it’s good for her to get a chance at a healthy relationship with someone she already trusts really deeply, since i think that’s an important aspect for her recovery too.

one of my favorite things about their whole dynamic is how… slow and careful it is, in a lot of ways. sure, they fell into a close friendship pretty quickly, but there’s been a lot of buildup of just slow trust and, well, pining. subconscious pining, is that what you’d call it? there’s something sad in how likely it is that they’ll still be very private even when they do start dating, given all the factors and past experiences and where they came from i imagine it’d be… difficult for them to be open about that kind of thing, initially. but there’s also something really reassuring about them getting the chance to slowly feel more confident about that kind of thing in a pretty safe environment like denny. they have a lot of things to overcome but they’ll get there

on an ending note: “chansaw” is the best shipname ever

#long post cw #denny is a cursed place #friend gifts #<3 enjoy #and merry christmas #rorykillmore

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sadrien · 7 years ago

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goodbyes & hellos

on ao3

im so so so late but hey this is for first day of prompt week for @thinkoutsidethelovesquare!!!! day one: wrong number

this was a lot of fun tbh and ive been dying to write this ship. alyas texts are italicized, adriens are underlined on ao3, just bold here bc tumblrs a butt. shoutout to @reyxa for the title <3

enjoy!

Alya narrows her eyes at the new message that lights up her phone. It’s an unknown number that she doesn’t recognize — not that she’s given her number to anyone recently — and it’s also seven in the morning . Anyone how knows her at all should know that she doesn’t wake up before at least nine on the weekends. (And that has nothing to do with the fact that she doesn’t sleep during the week and tends to go to bed after two in the morning.)

She groans as another message shows up on the screen. She squints and lets the messages flow in, figuring she can tell the person they’ve got the wrong number after they’ve finished whatever they have to say. Or she can decide that it’s unimportant and ignore it and go back to sleep.

She likes her second plan the best.

unknown number: Hi!

unknown number: Just wanted to let you know the start time for today has been moved from 10 to 9:15

unknown number: My father has a meeting at 1300 so he wants to get it all done as soon as possible

unknown number: And I know you mentioned wanting to have him on set yesterday

unknown number: I hope it’s not too much of an inconvenience! Your agent should be calling you soon, but I thought I’d give you a heads up

Alya squints at the screen. She doesn’t want to care but she’s curious. And curiousity killed the cat and all that but she’s used to letting her nosiness get the best of her.

unknown number: agents???

unknown number: 1st of all srry u have the wrong number

unknown number: 2nd of all were u talking to a movie star or smth???????

unknown number: book writer??

unknown number: what kinda person needs an agent

unknown number: Oh I’m sorry! I must’ve gotten the wrong number from someone

unknown number: I’m really sorry if I was bothering you

Alya rolls her eyes.

unknown number: u woke me up but its chill cause now im curious

unknown number: Curious? About what?

unknown number: way 2 keep avoiding the question

unknown number: ???

unknown number: u said the person u meant to text has an agent

unknown number: how fancy r they

unknown number: Oh! She’s a model!

Alya’s eyes widen. The most famous person she knows is that thirteen year old that was in her school who has ten thousand subscribers on YouTube because she makes lyric videos. The second is a boy who has a few thousand instagram followers because he has nice abs and lots of white boy clothing and muscle shirts.

unknown number: u kno a model????????

unknown number: Uhh

unknown number: I’m not sure how much personal information I should be giving to a stranger

Alya sighs. So close.

unknown number: its fine dude (dude? u good w that? lmk if u arent) i getchu

unknown number: u can just stop responding if u dont wanna talk

She locks her phone and slides it back under her pillow. She stares at the ceiling for a few more minutes, wondering if she’ll be able to fall back asleep. As much as she’d like to take the train back to dreamville, she can’t. Because now she’s awake and now she’s wondering. And once she stops wondering, she doesn’t stop.

She’ll probably stop thinking about this random wrong number in a few days and in a few months, she’ll forget about them entirely but…

Ugh.

Sleep definitely isn’t an option anymore.

Leaving her phone in her bed, she pads to the kitchen, twisting her hair up into a messy bun as she does so. No one is up yet — of course they aren’t, it’s seven on a Saturday and everyone is taking advantage of every precious minute of sleep they can get — so she has the run of the house to herself.

So she makes herself some coffee and a bowl of cereal and turns to television on. Her initial plan is to just leave it on whatever channel that’s playing when she first turns it on, and luckily the twins were the last ones to use it. Saturday morning cartoons. Score.

Alya stirs sugar in her coffee as Cyber Chase plays in the background. It’s not much more than background noise, it’s the middle of an episode and she doesn’t really know what’s happening, but she does snort at a few of the bad jokes.

“You’re up early,” her mom says before dropping a kiss on the top of Alya’s head.

Alya hums. “Got a few text messages and they woke me up.” She notes how her mom purposefully avoids eye contact as she opens a cabinet. Alya rolls her eyes and eats a spoonful of cereal.

“School friends?” her mom asks carefully.

“Yes,” Alya lies. Better than her mom asking more questions. The biggest one being why were you talking to a complete stranger?

“Are you going to see them before we leave?”

Alya glues her eyes to the TV. “If they’re around.”

Her mom makes an unimpressed sound and Alya resists the urge to roll her eyes. She texted a few of her friends the other week, but the conversation was awkward and stilted. They all had the same sort of idea about cutting ties.

Alya sighs and puts down her spoon, twisting around in her seat to face her mom. “I promise I’m talking to them.”

Her mom gives her that look— the one where her lips purse and a crease between her eyebrows that’s becoming more and more permanent; the one that says she wants to push for more details, but won’t unless they’re volunteered first. Which Alya is not doing, thank you very much. “If you say so, honey,” her mom says, turning her attention to the breakfast she’s making.

Alya stares down into her cereal bowl.

Time to evacuate to her bedroom.

She finishes her cereal as quickly as she can without choking and dumps her bowl and spoon in the sink as she passes it, taking her coffee with her to her room. New plan: curl up in bed with her laptop and hope her mom just leaves her alone until they move.

Alya’s almost forgotten about her phone by the time she flops onto her bed. It vibrates almost as soon as she opens her laptop. She frowns as she pulls it out from under her pillow.

unknown number: Dude is fine for me

unknown number: He/him pronouns please

unknown number: Thanks for asking I really appreciate it, actually

unknown number: People don’t always ask

Plan trashed. This is a better plan.

unknown number: she/her for me

unknown number: and no prob man

unknown number: i wasnt gonna assume ur gender

unknown number: ok that mightve sounded bad but i didnt mean it in a bad way like the ‘lol dont assume my gender’ way jerks do sometime i meant it in like a genuine

unknown number: if u have smth u wanna say u should say it because i am very tired and i can go on for a while

Whoops.

Alya can’t say she’s known for her stellar first impressions but she usually doesn’t ramble her way into an awkward corner. She mindlessly flips through apps as she waits for a response.

unknown number: Don’t worry about it! I didn’t take it the wrong way or anything

Alya smiles to herself as she responds. He keeps leaving her openings which is nice. Based off his initial reaction, she thought he’d shut this down as fast as possible.

She realizes this is probably a little weird. But it’s the most exciting thing to happen to her since school let out so…

unknown number: so whats up stranger??

unknown number: b4 u ask im just sitting in my room doing nothing but text u so thats my morning

unknown number: I actually have work soon, so that’s fun

Alya raises her eyebrows. She forgot age was something else she didn’t know yet.

unknown number: oo work that sounds fun

unknown number: what do u do???

unknown number: I work for my dad, it isn’t anything special

unknown number: But it gives me something to do with my time so I don’t mind that much

unknown number: If I randomly stop responding without warning, that’s why

unknown number: good 2 kno

unknown number: can i ask what u do 4 ur dad or is that 2 personal

unknown number: I uh… I just do whatever he needs me to do

unknown number: I don’t get paid or anything but

unknown number: ay it still works as a resume builder

unknown number: Yeah exactly!

unknown number: thats cool that ur dad can get u a job!! my mom and dad could never w their jobs so i just suffer

unknown number: not that thats any different from what i would do anyway as a teenager

Alright, perfect. She’s brought up the age question in a really clunky and awkward way. Better than nothing.

unknown number: Oh how old are you?

unknown number: I’m 15

Alya lets out a sigh of relief.

unknown number: ayy same!

unknown number: just ur fav teenage superhero blogger

unknown number: doing nothing with her life

unknown number: You like superheroes?

unknown number: yeah!! i love comic books. you??

unknown number: I don’t have time to read many but yeah! I’ve always loved Spiderman

unknown number: wonder woman is my g i r l

unknown number: superheroes are just so cool

She waits a few minutes before she decides that he must have gone off to work. Bonding over superheroes, that’s good. A shared interest. She scrolls through their conversation, rereading some of the earlier messages before she creates a contact for him. She makes the name ‘stranger’ and leaves it at that.

It’s not like they’re meeting up or anything. Even if he is an ax murderer, can’t kill her if she never sends him her location.

Alya spends the next couple of hours avoiding her mom as much as possible. She takes her sisters to the park and then goes to the library after she brings them home.

She doesn’t want to talk about it.

She’s clicking through a webcomic that she missed a few weeks worth of updates when her phone buzzes. She glances down, expecting it to be a text from her mom asking if she has any plans or to do chores or something, but is pleasantly surprised to see a message from her stranger.

stranger: Sorry about that, work ran long

stranger: Admittedly, I don’t know very much about Wonder Woman, but she looks very awesome

unknown number: !!!!

unknown number: when ive got more time remind me to tell u all abou t her

unknown number: and to rec some comic books even if u dont have time

stranger: Is she your favorite?

Alya sits back in her chair. This conversation is going to be a long one.

Alya finds herself randomly texting her stranger for the next few days. He doesn’t always respond quickly, but he responds eventually, no matter how weird her original message.

That’s more than she can say for most of her friends.

She texts him as she’s sitting on the counter in her kitchen, stirring a pot.

unknown number: hey stranger whats up

stranger: Just reading, you?

unknown number: making box mac n cheese

stranger: Sounds fun

unknown number: yeah im gonna eat it straight from the pot

The three dots bounce on the screen as the stranger takes his time with the next message. Alya snorts and turns off the stove, straining the pasta and moving to the fridge to find butter and cheese. He’s found his words by the time she’s letting the butter melt in the pot.

stranger: Straight from the pot? Why?

unknown number: because i live life on the edge

unknown number: and also because im too lazy to clean the dish later

stranger: You know what? That’s fair

Sometimes, Alya thinks that she probably shouldn’t think about someone who she doesn’t even know the name of as often as she does, let alone text him as much as she does. But sometimes she’ll see something, and she’ll immediately think of him. Or she’ll just be randomly upset and feel the strong urge to pick up the phone and see if he’s available to vent to.

She knows it’s kind of weird, but she can’t help herself.

One night, at around two in the morning, she finds herself messaging him.

unknown number: hey did i ever mention i was moving

She’s almost asleep, slightly more okay than she was before she sent the text, when he responds.

stranger: You haven’t but we also don’t talk about where we live

Alya stares at the screen for a long moment, the bright light in the darkness making everything on the screen blur into nothing. She just feels kind of numb.

unknown number: yeah

unknown number: like 8 hours away from where i live now

stranger: Wow that’s a big move

unknown number: yeah

stranger: I’m guessing you don’t want to go?

unknown number: not really

unknown number: did u know ur my only friend right now

stranger: I am?

unknown number: me and my other friends sort of cut ties

stranger: The internet exists

stranger: Phones exist

stranger: FaceTime and Skype both kind of suck, but they exist

unknown number: yeah i guess

unknown number: i guess its just too hard for any of us to try

stranger: I have no idea how far apart we live

stranger: We’re doing just fine

unknown number: yeah

unknown number: yeah ur right

One of Alya’s small comforts that comes to mind whenever she thinks about moving is the fact that she’ll have her phone on her and a portable charger. Her stranger will be with her every step of the way.

He’d managed to get her to talk to some of her friends. She doesn’t really think it’ll last once she’s in Paris, but the attempt is nice. And it gives her other people to talk to for the rest of the summer.

It’s too early in the morning when they leave for the last time for her to get really emotional about moving. All she has the energy to do is to take a picture of her old apartment, caption it ‘one last goodbye to marseille’, and save it before sending it to her friends over Snapchat. Before she falls asleep against the car window, she texts it to her stranger.

She wakes up to a new text among the goodbyes from her friends.

stranger: Have a nice car ride! I’ll let you know when I get back from work <3

Alya hides her smile from her sisters and screenshots the text for later.

She texts him from the floor of her new bedroom while her dad starts moving boxes. They’ve been in the process of moving for a while now, shipping most of their things to Paris beforehand. Now all that remains is the actual unpacking.

Alya doesn’t have the energy for that. She just lays on the floor and stares at the ceiling for a while. Then she picks up her phone and sends him a text.

It’s been about an hour since they last talked. She’d talked to him for a good majority of the car ride, only stopping when he was busy and ending the conversation when they arrived so she could get her things out of the car and help her sisters with theirs. She’d sent him a picture of her empty bedroom and said ‘let the unpacking begin :P’. He’d responded with a ‘Good luck!!’ and ‘I’ll let you get to work!’

Alya’s thumb hovers over the send button for a few seconds. She’s never really pushed him for any sort of personal information before.

New city, new Alya. Or something.

unknown number: hey just wondering

unknown number: what do u have me in ur phone as??

unknown number: i have u in here as stranger

stranger: Your contact name?

stranger: Uh awkward but you don’t?

stranger: You’re the only one I just have the number for, so I know who you are that way

Alya reads his texts a few times before she responds. She doesn’t know what she expects in return, but she figures she has nothing to lose.

unknown number: im alya

unknown number: in case u were wondering

stranger: Hi Alya

stranger: I’m Adrien

#adrien agreste #alya cesaire #alyadrien #outsidethelovesquare #miraculous ladybug #my fics #oof its done

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echoflowertea · 8 years ago

Note

Ive had this idea on my mind for a while. What if Sans stumbles upon a human that can do magic, and of course he's wary, so he keeps an "eyesocket out for them", but the more he watches them the fonder he grows of them.(turns out they're a huge dork)

better late than never, right?

….right?

(hope you like this, i had so much fun and i kinda got carried away with it)

read me before following!

Pairing: Sans/Reader

Summary: Given the complicated history between monsters and humans, wariness of each other is nothing personal. Well, except between you and Sans. That’s very personal for one big reason: you can use magic.

Aftermoving up to the surface, Sans sort of noticed that he’d been more reservedthan usual.

Hecouldn’t really blame himself for that. Trust…was a hard thing to muster.Especially when he spent most his life watching not only over his brother, buthimself.

Itwasn’t as if the Underground was a harsh place to life. The camaraderie ofmonsters was simply more prevalent than it was on the surface. Humans had somuch to learn. They focused more on what was different between them than whatwas the same. Despite being trapped on a small planet in the middle of nowhere,they still managed to create new wars over old ideologies.

…well.Maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh on them for that. After all…monsters heldon to a certain kind of hatred for so long that it warped their realities andmorals, too.

Back tothe point: Sans wasn’t as friendly to humans as he was to other monsters. He hidit well with casual banter and whacky jokes. Anything to make peoplecomfortable with his presence. If he could make himself seem safer by puttingon a façade, then he would do it with the fakest smile he could muster.

But…livingon edge all the time was tiring.

Especiallysince nothing had changed. When he was part of the sentry back in Snowdin, hewould watch the world go by and keep his upbeat attitude for his brother.

Now,everyone he interacted with – aside from Papyrus – received the same treatment.Keep the humans away. Make sure your SOUL was locked up tight. And never letyour guard down.

Evenhere, in the park, he couldn’t rest his bones. Seated on the bench, the sunraining down on his bleached skull, there was still a prickle of uncertaintyflitting down his spine. He let his eyelights go dark in his sockets, relishingthe warmth of this heady summer day, and absorbed every shred of stimuli thatswept through him.

Flinch.

“Whoa!Are you okay? I’m so sorry!” you shouted, having nearly mowed down theskeleton.

Thegaggle of dogs continued to sniff and prod at him with wet, slimy noses,snuffling at his clothes and their tails growing stiff from pinpointing thesource of the smell. You had your hands full. Literally. Their leashes weretangled up and around your wrist and fingers.

He hadto admit, for a dogwalker, you were bold. Rollerblades strapped to your feet,wristguards and a helmet to keep you safe. You were already drenched with sweattrying to keep up with them, but luckily the tanktop and shorts were there tohelp you cool off from being worked so hard.

“heya,pups.” Sans reached out and patted one of them on the snout. They immediatelyreared back and barked playfully. “heh, yep. figured you’d get a kick outtame.”

“Sorryabout that,” you repeated, burning from both the weather and sheerembarrassment. “I didn’t even see you here. The park is usually empty this typeof day since it’s during school.”

“yeah,guess both of us don’t have that commitment then, huh?”

“Nope.I’m living the dream, as you can see.” You nodded to the group. “I work atthe…well, it’s a nonprofit organization for rescued dogs. Maybe you’ve heard ofus. ‘Bark Over Bite’?”

Hehadn’t, but nodded anyway. “sure have. doin’ great work out there.” He figuredas much, based on how comfortable the pups were with you.

“Anyway,gotta get back out there. I’m on a tight schedule. Thanks for not scolding me!You wouldn’t believe some of the nasty things old people say when you get intheir personal bubble. I’m guessing you’re a little on the younger side, then.”You smiled politely. “See you!”

Hedidn’t bother saying anything back, already relieved you were gone.

Sans wascontent to spend the rest of the afternoon by himself, like he’d planned, butyou obviously had other plans.

“WHOA!Slow down, guys! Wait!”

Evenfrom this far away, he heard the sheer panic in your voice. Something that sentan unpleasant skittering along his bones. He glanced over and saw how wobblyyour stance was, how your muscles strained as you did your best to come to astop. But the full weight of your horde of dogs was enough to tear you fromthat hope and put you back into a dangerous reality.

Sansfollowed your trajectory and saw where you were headed. There was a small crowdof kids with ice cream cones wrapped in their sticky hands, lapping at thetreats. They spotted the dogs and decided to call them all over with theirafternoon sweet as an incentive. Between the high-pitched cooing and thewhooping and cheering as the dogs zeroed in on the ice cream, Sans saw a recipefor disaster.

“HEEL!SIT! STAY! GUYS, PLEASE!”

By somemiracle, you’d managed to stay upright despite the leashes propelling youforward at breakneck speed. Sans stood on top of the bench to get a betterview, his SOUL flaring to life in the middle of his chest, and his fingersready to snap into action despite how little he really cared.

In asplit second, he felt the CRACK! of magic.

Yourbody turned light blue. So did the dogs. And kids. Their SOULs were drawn outof their chests, so heavy and thick with excess magic that they ran in slowmotion. None of them knew what was happening to their bodies so they allhesitated…just long enough that you passed through each other.

Hecouldn’t believe it.

Sans didn’tdo that.

So whodid?

Hesearched around but couldn’t find any other monster. It was just humans here.

At theend of the path, you had managed to stop long enough to tear the rollerbladesfrom your feet. You’d met a rough stop by crashing into a tree and floppinginto the grass, but the dogs were completely fine. The kids were shocked. Shakenup a bit. Some of them jumped up and down and shook out their limbs as bestthey could, at least not hard enough to have the scoop of ice cream fall fromtheir cones.

Sansscanned the perimeter but for some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off you.

Maybe itwas because…

You werethe one who used the magic.

No.

Way.

Youapproached the kids more calmly this time. The dogs panted and wagged theirtails, licking the fallen ice cream cones and tears from the kids’ faces. Theteacher, who must’ve stepped away for just a minute to help another kid with abloody nose, saw the commotion and rushed over.

“Arethey all trained? Will they bite?”

“Nah.These are our best-behaved dogs. Err, I mean, they’re still learningboundaries, but none of them are aggressive and work closely with kids.”

Sanswatched you check the kids secretly for wounds. And then…

“Hey, Ithink I’ve got a few leaves in my hair.” You approached a child with a slightscrape on their elbow. “Can you help me get it out?”

Shenodded and reached up, pudgy fingers tangled in your locks. You winced from herrough handling, but she managed to grab one. It looked…especially green. Almostlike fresh grass sprouting in the spring after a long, earth-quenching rain. Andafter she took it, it almost…faded away. Her scrape didn’t look so red anymore…wait, where did it go?

If hehad a stomach, it would’ve dropped.

“See youlater, puppy!” one of the kids cried. “Bye bye!”

Youwaved and the dogs followed you, satisfied with their midmorning treat and theoverwhelming affection of the kids.

Sanswasn’t going to ignore this. It was crucial information.

A human.Could use. Magic.

Andmaybe it wasn’t that well developed. Maybe you were just the freak product ofsome ridiculously recessive gene soup. But he knew one thing: humans with magiconce wrought havoc on monsterkind hundreds of years ago. If they had theadvantage now, who knew what kind of selfish, horrible things they couldaccomplish?

“WHEREARE YOU GOING TODAY, SANS?”

“headingover to the animal shelter.”

“OH,EXCELLENT! I HAVE SOME EXTRA CANNED FOOD THEY MIGHT USE. FRISK DROPPED IT OFFBECAUSE TORIEL MADE THEM GIVE BACK THE PUPPY THEY TOOK FROM THE SHELTER. NYEHHEH HEH! IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT, I DON’T THINK…ANIMALS ARE DRAWN TO THEM. ITHINK THEY CAN SENSE WHEN KIDS ARE GOOD. DON’T YOU THINK?”

Sanspoked at his breakfast. The milk in his cereal bowl bubbled at him in response.

“you’reawesome, bro. i’ll make sure to ask if they want it.”

“HOORAY!THEN EAT UP. YOU’LL NEED YOUR STRENGTH. I’LL LOAD THE FOOD IN THE BACK OF YOURMOPED. MAKE SURE THAT THE TRUNK IS LOCKED THIS TIME.”

Papyruswas busy on the surface. Which was good. He had his own business going and madea lot of friends. Sans knew that his brother would flourish so long as he heldon to his boundless optimism and confidence. He met so many cool people in townafter seeking out friends, and Frisk introduced him to the more proper way ofexpanding his social network. By now, he had far more friends than he didstrangers in his life – and Sans was very proud of him for that.

Sans, onthe other hand, mainly kept in contact with old pals through his phone. He andToriel texted often. Alphys tagged him in bad memes on Undernet. And he wasalways typing up bad jokes on the selfies his old buddies took.

Forright now, he worked by himself on some independent science projects. He neverthought he’d jump back into it, but after Undyne bought him that kid’schemistry set as a joke one year, he was determined to create something thatwould knock the big grin off her smug face.

Heparked in front of the place and managed to pull the box full of food out. Hewas sure that the shelter wouldn’t reject the donation.

Theatmosphere inside was…nice. Seemed like a clean and friendly enough place. Therewas a playpen off to the corner where several puppies were barking andwrestling with each other. A cat seated on top of the counter stared at him, slowblinks and all, as it repositioned itself to lean toward the bell at thecounter.

Ring me! it read.

He didas he was told, but not before setting down the box on the ground so hewouldn’t have to deal with it any more.

“Coming!”

Herecognized your voice. He hadn’t expected you to be here today; he thoughtmaybe he’d snoop and try to pick up on some clues. Not that you would actuallyshow up. He really hoped that you didn’t—

“Hey!It’s you!”

—recognizehim.

Yougrinned and leaned over the counter, your hair in disarray. It looked like oneof the animals had gotten sick all over your shirt. That or it was paint. “Niceto see you again. I’m glad you decided to check us out! What can I do for you?”

Sansbent down and brought up the case full of food. “got some donations for ya,courtesy of my bro. he was real touched when i told him about what you do, sothis is from him.”

“Oh man,tell your brother he’s the best!” You reached over and snatched it from himwithout any hesitation. You must’ve been used to hauling dog food back andforth, because you didn’t even flinch from the added weight in your arms. “Hey,he should stop by sometime. The dogs would probably thank him personally. Howdoes he feel about wet puppy smooches?”

That gota smile out of him. “eh. think he’d rather they don’t. he’s got a thing aboutaffection.”

“Ah, noproblem, then. We’ve got some oldies here who don’t wanna do anything butcuddle. Did you want to take a tour?”

“ok.”

Hewasn’t sure why he said it. He meant to do some light spying and then take off.Not interfere with what you were doing. Maybe he was just curious because hewanted to see the extent of your powers.

As faras he knew, you could do two: blue and green magic. That was more than what hehad control over, and it was unheard of for anyone to use more than one. Whatwas your deal?

The restof the building was basic. There were a few acres of land in the back with atall enough fence that the dogs couldn’t jump over it. Lots of worn toys strewneverywhere. Drool around every corner, some pictures of the dogs that some kidsdrew hanging over their beds. It smelled bad, and the place looked like it’dseen better days, but you were trying your best to keep it together.

“crazywhat happened yesterday, huh?”

Youpaused. Finished stacking the cans in the cupboard. “Oh, the kids? You sawthat?”

“yeah.it’s real lucky no one got hurt.”

“I know.I should’ve been more careful.” Your voice was soft now. “Sometimes it’s hardto control…the dogs. You know. And they can be a little…wild, when they’redistracted. I think all they need is…practice? I can help them the best theycan.”

“soundslike you’re stretched thin here.”

“Kindof. One of our supervisors quit. He moved away to retire somewhere warm andtropical with his husband. Not that I blame him. But that means longer nightsfor me! Which, I don’t mind, I practically live here. And overtime pay isgreat. Still kinda lonely though.”

Hestared at your dejected expression.

“But Imean. Anyway. It’s not that big of a deal.” You shoved it all aside. But evenfrom here he could see the uncertain waver to your SOUL. “So, uh, where do youwork, Sans?”

“rightnow i’m takin’ a break. who knows. might end up teaching a few courses down atthe community center. but eh. besides that, don’t really got a plan.”

“Man,that’s so cool. I mean. You seem pretty well put together. I never would’ve guessed.”

“heh.uh, thanks?”

Itstarted to get dark outside. Sans hadn’t learned much about you in terms ofwhat your magical skill was like, save for the very clear uncertainty from yourawkward runaround about yesterday’s near mishap. So this was a bust.

“I gotta get back to painting this new playroom.I’ll see you around, hopefully.”

“yeah.see ya.”

From thecorner of his eye, he watched you stare hard at the blank wall you’d been workingon. Your clothes were a mess, the paintbrushes frayed, and it looked like you’dall but given up on trying to preserve the floor from your wrath. In the middleof it all, you managed to let out a weary sigh and push yourself to finish.

Sansheaded home and found Papyrus already setting the table for dinner.

“SANS!HOW DID IT GO? DID THEY ACCEPT THE FOOD?”

“yep. agirl at the front desk told me to tell you that you’re super cool for thinkin’of them. think you’ve got a new fan.”

“WOWIE!I SHOULD STOP BY AND GIVE HER ONE OF MY GLAMOR SHOTS. IT WOULD HELP SPICE UPTHE BUILDING! EVERY PLACE IN THE CITY NEEDS A PIECE OF PAPYRUS, BUT ONLY THEMOST HONORED WILL RECEIVE IT!”

Beep.

“YOURPHONE IS MAKING NOISES AGAIN. IS IT ALPHYS?”

“thinkso.” He drew the text up to read it and respond before he shoved his phoneaway.

aly aly oxenfree: snas, i found theinfo ur lookin 4!!!

snas: ok, so what’s the deal?

aly aly oxenfree: the organization islegit. right now there are only 3 employees. they pay a little above theminimum wage, but rely on public donations and fundraisers to keep their doorsopen.

snas: and the girl?

aly aly oxenfree: found out where she lives.that’s about it. are u sure that u saw what u said u did?

snas: i’m sure

aly aly oxenfree: & u don’t wannatell toriel???

snas: gotta make sure she’s ok withmonsters before all that.

aly aly oxenfree: she can take care ofherself, oh my god

snas: yeah but she’s too nice sometimes

aly aly oxenfree: & ur not?

snas: g2g

Maybe itwas cowardly to snoop around while you were at work. But he had to know justwho it was that he was dealing with.

Yourapartment wasn’t too far from the shelter. It was probably a ten-minute walk.Not the best neighborhood, but not the worst either. It looked like you livedalone. And you forgot to close the curtains before you left. He was just luckyyou were on the ground floor.

Inside,your place was somewhat of a mess. Wrappers and empty fast food containerspiled up in the kitchen. Your décor was a little…weird. Lots of figurines andcollections from various fandoms. Alphys would’ve gotten a kick out of this ifshe came.

In thecorner of the room, almost indiscernible among the thick layers of dust, was astatue of a figure so familiar it made him sick.

A humanmage.

So thatexplained it. You knew about your magic use. This wasn’t some sort of weirdcoincidence where you were discovering your powers. You had stacks of librarybooks around the statue – maybe references about the history of your talents.Maybe techniques to help you refine your craft.

Whateverthe case, this only furthered his suspicion that you needed to be kept incheck.

Itdidn’t take him long to get to the shelter.

“Hey,it’s you!”

“name’ssans. here for a job.” He planted the flier on the counter. “you still needhelp takin’ care of the animals?”

For themost part, you were always suspicious of people that wanted to work at yourshelter. Mostly because so many people had flaked out before. It wasn’t easyintroducing a lot of traumatized dogs to new people.

But Sansseemed different, in a way. And not because he was a skeleton or a monster. Itwas…more because of his attitude. A little laissez-faire. A little cynical,from what you could tell. Despite all of that, he seemed genuine in his desireto work with all the dogs. It…wasn’t as if you could afford to turn anyone elseaway. Not when the flu was going around and the person covering your days offwas sick to their stomach.

“So…whatmade you wanna apply here?”

Theinterview was incredibly informal since you were the only one who could giveit.

“seemslike a neat place. you’ve got a good thing going. met some of your pups, and ithink all they need is some tlc.”

“Do youhave any experience with pets?”

“coursei do. we got our own dog back home. he mostly sleeps in my room.”

“Aww,cute. So, let’s go through some scenarios…”

Sufficeit to say, Sans passed with flying colors. He was so damn charismatic despiteacting so casual. It was an admirable trait.

“Whencan you start?”

“you gottime to train me today?”

“Sure!Let’s do it!”

You hadalready given him a tour, so some basics wasn’t that bad. Showing him the chartof all the dogs’ diets, where the food and water was kept, the schedules witheveryone’s exercise and play time. Sans approached them carefully and alwaysrespected their boundaries, especially when you included him in the scheduledfun.

Over thenext few weeks, Sans performed way above your expectations, which was alreadyhigh to begin with. But you noticed something…weird.

For one,Sans would barely make eye contact with you. Hey, everyone had their issues andinteracted with the world differently. But it felt like he was so engaging withpossible foster parents and adopters. Not you. Which kind of hurt yourfeelings.

Second,he never wanted to hang out with you after work. Which. Okay. You sort of understoodwhy he wouldn’t, since work and personal lives were easiest when kept separate.But he was so cool with you before, when you first met, so you wondered why histune had changed.

Third,and weirdest of all, Sans was never alone with you. If you needed his help withsomething, he would find another task to do and complete it on his own. Therewas no small talk between you anymore. If anything, it felt like he was keepingyou at arm’s length on purpose. As if he was just around the corner, observing butnever engaging. How weird was that?

“Hey,Sans. You want to grab something to eat?” It was bath day for the dogs, whichmeant you were in no position to cook tonight. Not with your aching body. “Iknow this really cool place down the street.”

“thanksfor the offer, but i’m good. my bro is comin’ to pick me up. we’ve got a dinnerto get to.”

“Oh.Sounds awesome. I hope you have fun.”

You wereputting on your shoes when the door burst open. “SANS! THE CAR IS RUNNINGOUTSIDE AND YOUR FAVORITE SONG IS ON! WE HAVE TO HURRY BEFORE IT’S OVER!”

Whoa!

Who was that?!

Well,obviously it was Sans’ brother. But he was so TALL. He and his brother lookedlike exact opposites. You expected another slouchy monster with a weird senseof humor, definitely not this ridiculously handsome and cool dude who peered atyou like you’d just grown another head.

“YOU!!!”

“Me???”

“YOU!!!I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU.” He dug into his pocket and grinned as he handed itto you. An autographed picture of himself. “I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE PERFECTMOMENT TO GIVE THIS TO YOU.”

“Wait asecond, you’re the brother who donated food to my pups?”

“THATWOULD BE ME, PAPYRUS!!!”

“Whoa.”That was all you could muster before he reached out to shake your hand, whichyou returned warmly. “I’m gonna put this on my list of STAR donors! Is thatokay?”

“A-ABSOLUTELY!”He put his hands up to his chin and you laughed at the faint blush dusting hischeekbones. “I WOULD EXPECT NOTHING LESS, FOR I AM THE MOST GENEROUS OFPEOPLE.”

“Seemslike it. Hey Sans, your brother is just as awesome as you said he was! He’sgetting washed up, I think, we were knee-deep in soapy water all day.”

“YOUHAVE DONE WONDERS WITH HIM. ONCE UPON A TIME HE USED TO FEAST ON CRUMBSIN-BETWEEN COUCH CUSHIONS BECAUSE HE WAS TOO LAZY TO GET A NEW BAG OF CHIPS.”

“Uhhh...”

“INDEED!NOW HE IS ACTIVE AND HELPFUL HERE. I HAVE YOU TO THANK FOR THAT. YOU MUST BE ANINCREDIBLE TEACHER!”

“Ah, I’mokay….”

“I HAVEA SPECTACULAR AND AMAZING IDEA!!! PERHAPS YOU COULD COME WIH US TO DINNERTONIGHT. WE WILL HAVE LOTS OF FUN!”

“bro.”

Papyrusglanced over. Sans stood in the doorway, suspicion written all over his face.

“you’rehere early.”

“YUPPIE!I CAME TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE PRESENTABLE. BUT GIVEN YOUR WORKLOAD TODAY, I’LLGIVE YOU A HARD PASS. OH! I WAS INVITING YOUR COWORKER TO COME WITH US. I’MSURE THE OTHERS WOULD LOVE TO MEET HER!”

“Oh, Idon’t know…” You chewed on your lower lip. “I—I uh, don’t think Sans will wantme there.”

“WHAT?PREPOSTEROUS. YOU TWO ARE COWORKERS. SANS HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE TO THE PEOPLEHE WORKS WITH. IN FACT, HE WAS VOTED ‘FRIENDLIEST SKELETON’ IN SNOWDIN! ONLYBECAUSE I RELINQUISHED MY TROPHY TO HIM, OF COURSE.”

Youcouldn’t believe what you were hearing. Sans? Being nice and amicable with hiscoworkers? Treating them like friends? Seriously?

“SO IT’SSETTLED. WE’LL GO TO THE BAR TOGETHER! I CAN GIVE YOU A RIDE. COME WITH US.”

You knewSans didn’t want you there. But you were starving. And it would be nice to getout of the house. Your couch was going to have buttprints soon with how muchtime you spent there.

“Sure.Thanks, Papyrus!”

“NOPROBLEMO. YOU CAN RIDE IN THE BACKSEAT! LET’S GO!”

Oh. Theair was tense. Sans was souncomfortable the entire ride there. Which…you really didn’t understand. Was heembarrassed of his friends? Of the place? Or…was he embarrassed of you?

The barwas one you’d walked by probably a hundred times. A cozy place that wasn’t toobusy at night, at least not enough that you wouldn’t be able to hear yourselfthink.

“I’LLINTRODUCE YOU. THIS IS ALPHYS AND UNDYNE. THEY ARE VERY MUCH IN LOVE!!! I HAVETO TELL EVERYONE THAT BECAUSE IT EMBARRASSES THEM. TORIEL IS UNABLE TO MAKE ITSINCE FRISK HAS THE STOMACH FLU. HAVE YOU HEARD IT’S GOING AROUND?”

“Yeah,my other coworker caught it not too long ago. She got over it, but now she’staking care of her kids.”

“SKELETONSARE LUCKY THEY’RE SAFE FROM CONTAGIONS. OH. UNDYNE, ALPHYS, THIS IS THE HUMANGIRL THAT SANS WORKS WITH AT THE SHELTER!!!”

It wasawkward at first, sure, but Papyrus did his best to make you feel welcome.Alphys and Sans were texting on their phones all night. You were…likeninety-nine percent sure that it was to each other. Maybe they were in a groupchat with this Toriel person to check up on her. Undyne wasn’t reallyinterested in you very much, since she was watching a swimming competition onthe TV. Papyrus was the one to engage you the most, asking you all sorts ofquestions about working at the shelter.

“ANDWHAT IF THE DOGS ARE RESTLESS? HOW DO YOU HELP THEM?”

“…shesings to ‘em.”

What.

“I—Idefinitely do not,” you laughednervously, taking another long drink. “I just take them for a little walk,that’s all.”

“heh.not really. she’ll sing ‘my only sunshine’ to ‘em and snuggle with them intheir rooms.”

“Idefinitely DON’T do that?”

“yeahyou do. they like her voice. mostly ‘cuz she gets so passionate.”

“PASSIONATEHOW?”

“shedances, too. then they howl with her.”

He wasexposing all your secrets! What the hell! You made sure to only do that kind ofshit when he said he was going on break!

“THISSOUNDS ADORABLE. STOP, I CAN’T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS.”

“didn’teven tell ya the best part. she has nicknames for all of ‘em. and she trains‘em to give high fives to people when they take a lot during adoption drives.”

“W-what?”Alphys giggled. “That’s so cool!”

“It’sreally not a big deal…”

Sanscontinued, not bothered in the slightest by your panicked protests. “she makesflower crowns for ‘em, too. most of ‘em let her put it on and then she takesphotos for the website. then she backs out on uploadin’ ‘em because she thinksthe crowns aren’t good enough.”

“It’sbecause they eat most of the flowers in the backyard or they wilt them!”

Sanslocked eyes with you. The suddenness of his eye contact was jarring, to say theleast.

“youcare a lot about those animals. that’s real clear.”

“Oh…um.Thanks.”

“juststatin’ the obvious.”

Aftereating a hearty meal, which Papyrus insisted he pay for in exchange for youdealing with his brother at work, he offered to drive you home. You agreed.

“OH! IWANT TO WASH MY HANDS. IS IT OKAY IF I USE YOUR BATHROOM?”

“Sure.Come on in. Uh, mind the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.”

Theapartment was quiet, too much for your taste. You always needed the TV on tomake it seem less lonely. Sans was lucky – he had a sibling to share his lifewith.

“OKIEDOKIE, BE RIGHT BACK!” Papyrus dashed off after you pointed him in the rightdirection. It was…nice?…to see him so enthusiastic about proper hygiene.

Sansstood in front of your bookshelf. A collection of all sorts of things that youwere interested in. He seemed to fixate specifically on a leather book wedgedbetween several young adult novels, though he wasn’t going to mention anythingto you.

“That’s…um.Well. I borrowed that from the library that closed not too long ago.”

“the precision of magic control, huh?”

“Um.Yeah.”

Awkwardsilence.

“Monstersare really cool. Being able to do magic. It’s normal for you guys. For humans,that sort of thing was debunked a long time ago. Now people are only beginningto understand it. Hopefully we can learn more from you.”

“hopeso.”

Youflinched at the coldness to his tone. “Sans?”

“yeah?”

“Do younot like me?”

Hepaused for a moment, but didn’t even bother looking at you. “what makes you saythat?”

“Just afeeling. It’s okay if you don’t. I’m kind of weird. I talk to animals a lot, Ispend most of my time playing around, and I work my ass off to give away dogsthat I really do love and am attached to. It’s kind of dumb. The two of us havegrown up in different places, so…I can see why you’d have a hard time gettingalong with me.”

Sansreached out and plucked the book from the shelf. There were scribbled notes init.

“why doyou read about this kinda stuff? looks like it’s been here longer than we’velived on the surface.”

Youswallowed. “Well. Actually. Uh. The thing is…I want to learn about itbecause…I…”

A longsilence. Sans waited a few more seconds before he spoke.

“thatday, in the park. saw you use magic.”

“Youdid.” Of course he did. You weren’t exactly subtle. “It was so stupid. But Ididn’t know what else to do.”

“humansdon’t even have that ability any more.”

“Theydon’t. I’m a freak.”

Hewasn’t sure why, but his chest ached at that accusation. “nah.”

“No,really. I am. I’ve had magic for as long as I can remember. I’ve taught myselfso much. But it feels like all I ever do is hurt people with it. Unless I’malone. Then the only person at risk is myself. And it’s not like anyone wouldcare.”

Thatlast bit wasn’t what you meant to say. It just fell out.

But Sansclosed his eyes and stuffed the book back to its rightful place.

“that’swhere yer wrong.”

“I am?”

“yeah.”

Heturned toward you. Hands in his pockets. Eyes locked with yours. That signaturegrin of his fading to more of a grimace.

“Sans?”

“i gottaapologize. i got you all wrong. had this…notion of ya in my head. about whatyou’d be like. what kinda person you were. looks like i’m just…a bonehead.”

“It’sokay, Sans.”

“…”

“Wasthat a pun?”

“heh.”

“Ewww, Iregret this immediately!” you laughed. “I don’t wanna be friends any more.”

“aw,c’mon. throw me a bone here.”

“No???”

Papyruscame out to the both of you laughing. “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? HAVE I ENTERED APARALLEL UNIVERSE?! OH NO. NOT AGAIN!”

Sansgrinned. “relax, bro. we’re just doin’ what coworkers do. rib each other.”

“Get himout of my house!” you joked.

“OFCOURSE. I DON’T KNOW WHY I EVEN THOUGHT HE COULD BEHAVE HIMSELF!”

“Wait,Papyrus, no! I was kidding!!!” You chased after him as he carted Sans out thedoor over his shoulder, already starting what looked like an hour-long lecture.

It wasfunny how a simple forced hand could be the turning point you were looking for.After that night, Sans seemed…more like himself, if that made any sense. Hejoked more often, smiled more wholeheartedly, and…

Couldn’tleave you alone for a second.

“so howold were you when you first realized you could use magic?”

“Um,maybe four or five? There was this butterfly with a crippled wing. So I healedit with a shower of leaves. I thought I could show it how to fly and it wouldtake off again. Turns out I just used the leaves as a…conduit so I could usehealing magic on it.”

“so youknow green is for healing?”

“Yup. Ido read monster literature, you know. It’s helped me a lot.”

“ok.what about the blue magic?”

“Thatone came a little later. I almost got hit by some creep on one of thosescooters. He was trying to scare me and get me to jump into the lake to avoidhim, but I ended up choking. I just stood there when he came full force. Thenhe passed right through me.”

“neat.”

Youhanded him the fresh bowl of food as he dropped them down one by one. You’dtrained the dogs to all wait their turn eating, and spread the bowls across thelawn so no one would have an issue with you. And some careful redirecting wouldbe in order in case any of them decided to be greedy, but they’d been much morewell-behaved lately.

“So whatare we? Blue buddies?”

“heh.what?”

“Bluebuddies. We both have blue magic.”

“oh mygod.”

“Whaaaat.Don’t laugh at me, Sans! It could be a thing!”

“hey, ican think of something else that could be a thing.”

“Ohyeah? What?”

“you…n’me…” He started to sweat. Was he okay? Could skeletons overheat? “uh…heh…grabbin’those tennis balls we lost over the fence.”

“Shit, Iforgot about that. Let’s go right after the dogs are done.”

Movienights. Dog walks in the park. Touring the city’s restaurants. It was alluphill from there. Sans was always looking for an excuse to hang out, a far cryfrom what you experienced firsthand. He and Papyrus were experts with bluemagic, so a lot of the time you would stop by their place and learn more aboutcontrol and finesse. Papyrus was far more helpful in that sense, since he showedyou how to do things, while Sans just distracted you from the sidelines andtried to make you laugh.

You andSans took overnight shifts waiting for a new litter of puppies to be born. Oneof the strays you took in from the shelter this past week was pregnant andready to burst, but you just knew that the breed of dog was going to be hard toadopt out, so they handed them all over to you.

It wasabout four in the morning when you took the phone call. It was Sans.

“hey,you wanna come down here for this?”

“Yeah,”you mumbled. “I’ll be there.”

Fifteenminutes later, you joined him on the floor, at a comfortable distance from themother as she did her best to deliver her litter. Sans had his back against thewall, knees drawn up, watching the sight in morbid fascination. Probably not atall how monster deliveries worked.

“Youokay?”

“heh.sure.”

Youcould tell something was bothering him. “Are you sure? You seem a little out ofit. I can sort of tell these things now. You have different smiles.”

“do i?”That one was for amusement. “guess you would know. yer gettin’ to be a littletoo perceptive for me to pull one over on ya.”

“I guessI am.” You glanced over at his hand, which twitched against the cool tile ofthe sterile room. “Hey, Sans?”

“what’sup.”

“Beinghere with you is like green magic.”

“uh….”He stammered. “i don’t get it.”

“Feelsgood. Like…the feeling I get when I heal someone. It’s warm in a good way.Starts out in the center of your chest, then goes all the way down to the tipsof your toes…and your fingers.”

Sansnearly choked. He looked down and saw your hand resting on top of his. He couldsee his reflection in your eyes. Scared. Confused. What were you doing?

“And it’skinda weird, but blue magic too. Where you have to stop and take everything in,otherwise you might get hurt. You take your time and wait it out to see whereit goes.”

Oh man.He blushed. Hard. This was not happening. Was it?

“I thinkmaybe I might get experience with orange magic soon. Where you look at the pathahead and just…go for it. Because sometimes you have to be brave to progress.”

He didn’thave a chance to ask you if you were being serious, because you had promptlykissed him just hard enough that yeah,he knew exactly what you meant. Warmth. Hesitation. Excitement. All of itwrapped up in a bundle of static that settled in the center of his chest,sparking outwards and sending every last part of his body on fire.

Youpulled back. Lips swollen from the kiss. He hadn’t even realized this earlier,but your face was flushed too.

“whoa.”

“Whoa…isright. Is it…um…a whoa of approval?”

He couldbarely nod.

Youlaughed and your nose wrinkled, leaning forward to plant another one on him. “Oh.That’s good to know.”

At fivein the morning, eight puppies were born. Sans named them after all the magicaltraits. Of course, you gave them silly nicknames everyone would use around thebuilding.

At sixin the morning, you and Sans left the shelter. Your coworker’s shift startedand she would watch over the new mom and her pups.

At sevenin the morning, you both went out for breakfast. Apparently, there was even afight in the restaurant, but the both of you were so engrossed in each otherthat you hadn’t noticed. Sans picked up the bill and you promised you’d get itnext time.

At eightin the morning, Sans stood outside your apartment as you sealed your newrelationship with another long, ardent kiss. You struggled with the mechanicsof it still, but nothing a few bouts of awkward laughter wouldn’t fix.

Sanswalked on air as he made his way home to share the good news with his brother.Maybe moving to the surface wasn’t a mistake after all.

#sans #undertale #sans x reader #open request saturdays #Anonymous

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inonibird · 8 years ago

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Ok, I’m a babby-n00b fan (it’s been what, two weeks, three?), but I really frickin’ love the band The Dear Hunter and I want to gush about their music and I enjoy ranking things so...yeah, here’s me talking about my favorite songs from the Acts. (no major story spoilers)

Please feel free to completely ignore if you aren’t interested in my semi-coherent and less-than-sophisticated ramblings. X’D

First of all, if you aren’t familiar with these concept albums, the Acts (I-V as of 2016) tell the ongoing story about the life and death of a character known as “the Boy” or “the Dear Hunter”. Leitmotifs, repeated lyrics and reprises abound. Basically prog rock opera. *two thumbs up* I dig it, obviously. Picking a top 10 list is ROUGH, man, so I’m going to take a cue from the Nostalgia Critic and bump it up to 11. Even then, I have far too many honorable mentions. LOOK, ALL OF THIS MUSIC IS GREAT OK??? But these are my personal favorites:

11. “Life and Death” - “We stand here waaaaittiiiiinnnggg, waiting to diiiiiieeeee~” UUGGHH it gets me every time. Both the lyrics and the music itself capture something that is sweet, heartbreaking, depressing and yet hopeful all at once. The gentle piano reprise plays us out of one of my favorite Acts.

10. “Wait” - Probably the most…hmm, “popular-sounding” songs on my list. I tend to gravitate toward the theatrical numbers, and while this one plays out a bit more like a typical rock song, it’s really frickin’ good. REALLY good. I mean, it wouldn’t be on my list if I didn’t love it to bits. CHORD PROGRESSIONS.

9. “The Most Cursed of Hands / Who Am I” - This was not at all a song I was expecting to like, but LOOK AT IT NOW! All I had to do was keep listening, dammit. The slow build pays off around the middle, then it BOMBARDS you with bluesy awesomeness (as well as a fleeting, nifty callback to “Mustard Gas”; more on that one soon, haha) up through the groovy, slick “Who Am I”. Great combo.

8. “At the End of the Earth” - I usually measure my love of a song based off of how much I rock out to them in the car, and I’m less inclined to listen to slower tunes in that instance. That said, this one is just so poignant and builds up to a excellent, powerful jam. And guess what? Chord progressions. :B

7. “Mustard Gas” - "HERE THEY ARE!” *BUM BUM BUH BUM BUM BUH* This one blasts it out of the park with its orchestrations (dat brass), and we’re definitely getting into the “sing at the top of your lungs in the car” territory at this part of the list. The middle section is a delightful, unexpected treat sandwiched between the bombast. So yeah. War sucks. Song rocks.

6. “King of Swords (Reversed)” - This song was SO UNEXPECTED. The first time I heard it, I was actually pissed off. I didn’t even make it past 10 seconds, just skipped to the next track. When I finally went back and forced myself to get through it…well, color me contrite. That CHORUS. And the last 30 or so seconds of the song proper (before the outro) gives off such an awesome Jesus Christ Superstar vibe. This jumped so high on my list SO FAST.

5. “A Beginning” - This song MURDERS me. As the finale for Act V, it obviously packs narrative punch, and there’s no way I can have listened to the entire story so far and NOT be super emotional about this ending. It’s gorgeous. It’s powerful. It’s heart-rending. It’s a goddamn frisson bomb. And I cry every time. No, you don’t understand. EVERY. TIME. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that I cry easily (and I get extremely worked up about beautiful music), but damn this one hits me hard. All I have to do is THINK the words “Dear apparition” and WHOOPS there go my glottis and tear ducts. There’s also a cool parallel with Act IV’s closer, “Ouroboros”...but I think the melody works better here. ;)

4. “The Pimp and the Priest” - From the skeevy muted trumpet at the outset to the cringe-worthy concepts strung through the lyrics, this song ooooozes with mood-setting villainy. This is a fantastic introduction to the main antagonist (my favorite character, of course), and by far my favorite song from the first Act. That chorus STICKS, man. This one’s a gem. A gross gem. I love it. :’D

3. “The Poison Woman” - Hey, speaking of the Pimp/Priest, did you miss him in Act III? Well, I did, because I listened to all of this shit out of order. BUT YES, fortunately, the Poison Woman was here to fill the void. This is far and away my favorite chorus of any song. Casey’s voice sounds amazing up there in the stratosphere, and it’s just so much damn good, messed-up fun.

2. “The March” - Now, I understand this may not seem fair. This song is a mash-up of so many songs that came before it (many of which I haven’t even listed in my top 11; an exception being “Wait”, which took me an embarrassingly long time to realize)…but y’know what? I don’t care. This is such a fantastic integration of those themes and a perfect culmination of the Pimp/Priest’s character. Still pure villainy, of course, but twisted into something that feels almost righteous, given the spoilerific circumstances. I am head over heels for this one. The vocal arpeggios in the verses and just…the whole…mob scene vibe…so good…a triumph… *dead*

1. “The Bitter Suite IV and V: The Congregation and the Sermon in the Silt” - Who here is remotely surprised? This was my introductory song to The Dear Hunter and it will always be my favorite. I’ve loved villain songs all my life. I remember when I was a wee child, my friend and I were “playing the Little Mermaid” and I insisted that SHE be Ariel so I could be Ursula and sing “Poor Unfortunate Souls”. I mean, duh, right? Anyway, this song has everything that I love, not the least of which being an oom-pah baseline AND AN ACTUAL CONTRABASSOON HOLY SHIT SO GOOD. Theatricality, lyrics that verge on the edge of patter, incredible orchestrations, more of that delicious Vaudevillian vibe, the subject matter, the sleaze OH GOD THE SLEAZE, that frickin’ build-up/transition from The Congregation TO the Sermon in the Silt, “HEY HEY KID HEY KID GET A GOD”—I—just… *rolls around in the beautiful filth forever*

Honorable Mentions:

“The Writing on a Wall” / “Rebirth” / “Regress” - I couldn’t pick one. All three of these set the mood so well for their respective albums. Excuse me while I go harmonize with each of them right now.

“Moon / Awake” - It’s NOT FAIR that this song has so much crossover with “A Beginning”. But “A Beginning” is more significant to me emotionally, and I decided it would be a bit much to put this one in my top 11 list as well. Still, amazing bookends for the album. And I can listen to this without crying. Usually. :’D

“He Said He Had a Story” - This song is so wrong. So very, very wrong. I feel horrible for loving it as much as I do, but half the love is for how much it makes you HATE the character singing it. The other half is because it’s catchy as hell.

“Blood of the Rose” - Oh, look, an Act II song. I guess people really like Act II? Ehh. It doesn’t have the production values or symphonic lavishness that I adore in the final three Acts. Still, this mournful tango gives me chills.

“The Flame (Is Gone)” - An unconventional little tune, but those beguiling chord progressions, as well as the narrative significance...and when I realized what was happening in the song…no spoilers, but whoof.

“Blood” - IF ONLY FOR THE CLIMACTIC INTERWEAVING OF THE PIMP/PRIEST’S THEME. It’s so damn cathartic in the context.

“The Revival” - It didn’t seem right not to include this one in my favorites, being pretty damn villainous, but there is something about it that falls a tiny bit short for me. Maybe it just needs more oom-pahs? That said, the chorus is another winner.

“If All Goes Well” - I really, really wished I cared more for the first 2:25 of the song, because the rest is PURE GOLD. It’s beautiful. And there is more bassoon. Inoni approves.

Gosh, so much good music. And so many reprises that weave leitmotifs in and out of the narrative and really bring the story together as a fantastic, cohesive whole. So much love.

…Now do I have to rank the Acts? 8(

Nah. Nope. Can’t do it. III, IV & V are too close to call. Too good in different ways, too good for different moods. Just...all the love, yeah.

Anyway, guess it’s time to explore the rest of their music! So happy that there’s so much more to hear~ 83c

#Inoni Talks #aka rambles #about Music #The Dear Hunter #I left out a lot of songs I love but #I can't list them all #OR CAN I???#nah

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