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thepringlesofblood · 5 months ago

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Murderbot Citations

I'm writing a giant research paper on the murderbot diaries and how Wells contrasts utopia & dystopia in her worldbuilding to deepen both sets of lore. So, I have made a LOT of citations.

Like, a LOT of citations. I can't even begin to describe. and it has been a royal pain getting them all on the computer, formatted correctly, with page # and book attached.

So. I decided to publish my giant list of citations online in case anyone else wants to do posts/papers/projects on the murderbot diaries and needs formatted, direct quotes with page numbers attached. (Also to feel like all this work has been for more than just my own academic needs.)

TLDR: A compilation of quotes from The Murderbot Diaries with page numbers attached, ready to be adjusted to the citation style of your choice & used as in-text citations where you see fit to put them. Enjoy!

ASR = All Systems Red

AC = Artificial Condition

RP = Rogue Protocol

ES = Exit Strategy

NE = Network Effect

FT = Fugitive Telemetry

SC = System Collapse

I use 'mb' as shorthand for murderbot

It's mostly ASR, with some NE and FT thrown in, but I put all the abbreviations in case I wind up coming back and putting more citations here

My list is organized according to how I'm writing the paper (all ones about surveillance here, all the ones about contract slavery there, etc.), so the page numbers are not in order, and there might be a repeat or two, but they are in book order. some of them might be repeated bc I had them formatted in lists like "all quotes related to ___) and some quotes relate to multiple things.

if you're looking specifically for gender-related mb quotes, @worldsentwined made a wonderful post collecting them a while back. I also have a few other murderbot posts that have quotes in them that might not be here, including a reblog where a bunch of lovely people added extra citations onto my original post. I hope you find what you're looking for!

All Systems Red

“I had been on contracts where the clients would have told me to put the bleeding human down to go get the stuff.” (15) ASR

“There were groans and general complaining about having to pay high prices for shitty equipment. (I don’t take it personally.)” (31) ASR crossover w slavery

“My education modules were such cheap crap;” (34) ASR

“I’m not refundable.” (49) ASR

“(You had to check everything out and log any problems immediately when you took delivery or the company wasn’t liable.)” (52) ASR

“It was all company equipment though, per contract, and all subject to the same malfunctions as the crap they’d dumped on us.” (58) ASR

““The company could be bribed to conceal the existence of several hundred survey teams on this planet.” Survey teams, whole cities, lost colonies, traveling circuses, as long as they thought they could get away with it. I just didn’t see how they could get away with making a client survey team—two client survey teams—vanish. Or why they’d want to. There were too many bond companies out there, too many competitors. Dead clients were terrible for business. “I don’t think the company would collude with one set of clients to kill two other sets of clients. You purchased a bond agreement that the company would guarantee your safety or pay compensation in the event of your death or injury. Even if the company couldn’t be held liable or partially liable for your deaths, they would still have to make the payment to your heirs. DeltFall was a large operation. The death payout for them alone will be huge.” And the company hated to spend money.” (90) ASR

“The organic parts mostly sleep, but not always. You know something’s happening. They were trying to purge my memory. We’re too expensive to destroy.” (116) ASR

“The company required this as a security feature if you wanted your base to be anywhere without open terrain around it. It cost extra, and if you didn’t want it, it cost even more to guarantee your bond.” (124) ASR

“Okay, the problem is, I’ve mentioned this before, the company is cheap. When it comes to something like a beacon that just has to launch once if there’s an emergency, send a transmission through the wormhole, and then never gets retrieved, they’re very cheap.” (137) ASR

“I said, “This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” It’s an automatic reaction triggered by catastrophic malfunction…. “Your contract allows—” “Shut up,” Mensah snapped.” (139) ASR

“…we’re cheaply produced and we suck. Nobody would hire one of us for non-murdering purposes unless they had to.” (34) ASR

“In a smart world, I should go alone, but with the governor module I had to be within a hundred meters of at least one of the clients at all times, or it would fry me.” (37) ASR

“I walked out a little way, past a couple of the lakes, almost expecting to see something under the surface. Dead bodies, maybe. I’d seen plenty of those (and caused plenty of those) on past contracts, but this one had been dead-body-lacking, so far. It made for a nice change.” (44) ASR

“This is how we fight: throw ourselves at each other and see whose parts give out first.” (69) ASR

““Dr. Mensah,” I said, “this is a violation of security priority and I am contractually obligated to record this for report to the company—” It was in the buffer and the rest of my brain was empty.” (73) ASR

“The DeltFall SecUnits hadn’t been rogues, they had been inserted with combat override modules. The modules allow personal control over a SecUnit, turn it from a mostly autonomous construct into a gun puppet. The feed would be cut off, control would be over the comm, but functionality would depend on how complex the orders were. “Kill the humans” isn’t a complex order.” (75) ASR

““Because if the company wanted to sabotage you, they would have poisoned your supplies using the recycling systems. The company is more likely to kill you by accident.”” (81) ASR

“I said, “I did not hack my governor module to kill my clients. My governor module malfunctioned because the stupid company only buys the cheapest possible components. It malfunctioned and I lost control of my systems and I killed them. The company retrieved me and installed a new governor module. I hacked it so it wouldn’t happen again.” (81) ASR

"“Do they really expect to get away with this?” Ratthi turned to me, like he was expecting an answer.” (105)

““They may believe the company and whoever your beneficiaries are won’t look any further than the rogue SecUnits. But they can’t make two whole survey teams disappear unless their corporate or political entity doesn’t care about them. Does DeltFall’s care? Does yours?” (105) ASR

“Freehold meant it had been terraformed and colonized but wasn’t affiliated with any corporate confederations. Basically freehold generally meant shitshow so I hadn’t been expecting much from them. But they were surprisingly easy to work for.” (26) ASR

“The other good thing about my hacked governor module is that I could ignore the governor’s instructions to defend the stupid company.” (48) ASR

“I had a moment to feel betrayed, which was stupid. Volescu was my client, and I’d saved his life because that was my job, not because I liked him.” (79-80) ASR

“One saw me and Ratthi and said, “Again, this is irregular. Purging the unit’s memory before it changes hands isn’t just a policy, it’s best for the—” (143) ASR

“Maybe it would work out. This was what I was supposed to want. This was what everything had always told me I was supposed to want. Supposed to want.” (147) ASR

“Murderbots aren’t allowed to ride with the humans and I had to have verbal permission to enter. With my cracked governor there was nothing to stop me, but not letting anybody, especially the people who held my contract, know that I was a free agent was kind of important. Like, not having my organic components destroyed and the rest of me cut up for parts important.” (14) ASR

“I’m always supposed to speak respectfully to the clients, even when they’re about to accidentally commit suicide. HubSystem could log it and it could trigger punishment through the governor module.” (15) ASR

“…if it monitored the governor module and my feed like it was supposed to, it could lead to a lot of awkward questions and me being stripped for parts.” (31) ASR

“I had worked for some contracts that would have kept me standing here the entire day and night cycle, just on the off chance they wanted me to do something and didn’t want to bother using the feed to call me.” (33) ASR

“I don’t know why I was dancing around the word. Maybe because I thought she didn’t want to hear it. She’d just shot a heavily armed SecUnit with a mining drill to get me back; presumably she wanted to keep me.” (76) ASR

“Then Mensah said quietly, “SecUnit, do you have a name?” I wasn’t sure what she wanted. “No.” “It calls itself ‘Murderbot,’” Gurathin said." (82) ASR

“To them, talking to me was like talking to a hopper or a piece of mining equipment.” (127) ASR

“I know I said SecUnits aren’t sentimental about each other, but I wished it wasn’t one of the DeltFall units. It was in there somewhere, trapped in its own head, maybe aware, maybe not. Not that it matters. None of us had a choice.” (132) ASR

“Guardian was a nicer word than owner.” (148) ASR

“I’ve purchased your contract.” (145) ASR

“He said, “Good news! Dr. Mensah has permanently bought your contract! You’re coming home with us!” (141) ASR

“I’m off inventory.” They had told me that and maybe it was true.” (145) ASR

“SecSystem records everything, even inside the sleeping cabins, and I see everything.” (30) ASR

“I was supposed to check their personal logs periodically in case they were plotting to defraud the company or murder each other or something…” (57) ASR

“One of the reasons the bond company requires it, besides slapping more expensive markups on their clients, is that I was recording all their conversations all the time, though I wasn’t monitoring anything I didn’t need to do a half-assed version of my job. But the company would access all those recordings and data mine them for anything they could sell. No, they don’t tell people that. Yes, everyone does know it. No, there’s nothing you can do about it.” (27-28) ASR

“Now they knew their murderbot didn’t want to be around them any more than they wanted to be around it. I’d given a tiny piece of myself away. That can’t happen. I have too much to hide, and letting one piece go means the rest isn’t as protected.” (33-34) ASR

“No one would be shooting at me because they didn’t shoot people there. Mensah didn’t need a bodyguard there; nobody did. It sounded like a great place to live, if you were a human or augmented human.” (146) ASR

“If there’s a chance we can save lives, we have to take it,” Pin-Lee agreed.” (57) ASR

“They were the first clients I’d had who hadn’t had any previous experience with SecUnits” (40) ASR

““You have to think of it as a person,” Pin-Lee said to Gurathin.” (95) ASR

“”It is a person,” Arada insisted.” “I do think of it as a person,” Gurathin said. “An angry, heavily armed person who has no reason to trust us.” “Then stop being mean to it,” Ratthi told him. “That might help.”” (96) ASR

“Overse added, “It doesn’t want to interact with humans. And why should it? You know how constructs are treated, especially in corporate-political environments.”” (107) ASR

“”You know, in Preservation-controlled territory, bots are considered full citizens. A construct would fall under the same category.” He said this in the tone of giving me a hint. Whatever. Bots who are “full citizens” still have to have a human or augmented human guardian appointed, usually their employer; I’d seen it on the news feeds.” (112) ASR

“Ratthi smiled at the console. “Because Dr. Mensah is our political entity.” He made a little gesture, turning his hand palm up. “We’re from Preservation Alliance, one of the non-corporate system entities. Dr. Mensah is the current admin director on the steering committee. It’s an elected position, with a limited term. But one of the principles of our home is that our admins must also continue their regular work, whatever it is. Her regular work required this survey, so here she is, and here we are.”” (111) ASR

“Ratthi came over to see if I was all right, and I asked him to tell me about Preservation and how Mensah lived there. He said when she wasn’t doing admin work, she lived on a farm outside the capital city, with two marital partners, plus her sister and brother and their three marital partners, and a bunch of relatives and kids who Ratthi had lost count of.” (147) ASR

“Ratthi sighed. “Oh, yes, they know. You would not believe what we had to pay to guarantee the bond on the survey. These corporate arseholes are robbers.”” (112) ASR

““Because the scanners suck corporation balls,” Pin-Lee muttered.” (42) ASR

“Of course I need you. I have no experience in anything like this. None of us do. Sometimes humans can’t help but let emotion bleed through into the feed. She was furious and frightened, not at me, at the people who would do this, kill like this,” (107-108) ASR

“I said, “This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” It’s an automatic reaction triggered by catastrophic malfunction. Also, I really didn’t want them to try to move me because it hurt bad enough the way it was. “Your contract allows—” “Shut up,” Mensah snapped. “You shut the fuck up. We’re not leaving you.”” (139) ASR

"I had flashes off and on. The inside of the little hopper, my humans talking, Arada holding my hand." (140) ASR

“We had a problem at the hatch of the big hopper where Mensah wanted to get in last and I wanted to get in last. As a compromise, I grabbed her around the waist and swung us both up into the hatch as the ramp pulled in after us. I set her on her feet and she said, “Thank you, SecUnit,” while the others stared.” (99) ASR

““I know you’re more comfortable with keeping your helmet opaque, but the situation has changed. We need to see you.”” (103) ASR

““It’s usually better if humans think of me as a robot,” I said.” (103) ASR

““Maybe, under normal circumstances.” She was looking a little off to one side, not trying to make eye contact, which I appreciated. “But this situation is different. It would be better if they could think of you as a person who is trying to help. Because that’s how I think of you.” My insides melted. That’s the only way I could describe it. After a minute, when I had my expression under control, I cleared the face plate and had it and the helmet fold back into my armor. She said, “Thank you,” and I followed her up into the hopper.” (104) ASR

“They were saying things like I didn’t even know it had a face.” (21) ASR

“Arada and Pin-Lee didn’t try to talk to me, and Ratthi actually looked away when I eased past him to get to the cockpit. They were all so careful not to look at me or talk to me directly that as soon as we were in the air I did a quick spot check through HubSystem’s records of their conversations.” (39) ASR

“They had talked it over and all agreed not to “push me any further than I wanted to go” and they were all so nice and it was just excruciating.” (40) ASR

“That was when I realized they weren’t ignoring the possibility of sabotage.” (43) ASR

“This is why I didn’t want to come. I’ve got four perfectly good humans here and I didn’t want them to get killed by whatever took out DeltFall. It’s not like I cared about them personally, but it would look bad on my record, and my record was already pretty terrible.” (60) ASR

“It was nice having a human smart enough to work with like this.” (67) ASR

“I do a half-assed job sometimes, okay, most of the time, but Pin-Lee had checked, too, and she was thorough.” (71) ASR

“It was starting to occur to me that Dr. Mensah might actually be an intrepid galactic explorer, even if she didn’t look like the ones on the entertainment feed.” (73) ASR

“I hoped they hadn’t been stupid about it, too soft-hearted to kill me.” (77) ASR

“My clients are the best clients.” (78) ASR

“But I think the fact that the Unit has been acting to preserve our lives, to take care of us, while it was a free agent, gives us even more reason to trust it.”” (80) ASR

“Overse sounded mad. “It told us about the combat module, it told us to kill it. Why the hell would it do that if it wanted to hurt us?”” (81) ASR

“Before anyone else could move, Mensah said, calm and even, “SecUnit, I’d appreciate it if you put Gurathin down, please.” She’s a really good commander. I’m going to hack her file and put that in. If she’d gotten angry, shouted, let the others panic, I don’t know what would have happened.” (84-85) ASR

“She continued, “I would like you to remain part of our group, at least until we get off this planet and back to a place of safety. At that point, we can discuss what you’d like to do. But I swear to you, I won’t tell the company, or anyone outside this room, anything about you or the broken module.”” (86) ASR

“Of course she had to say that. What else could she do. I tried to decide whether to believe it or not, or whether it mattered, when I was hit by a wave of I don’t care. And I really didn’t. I said, “Okay.”” (86) ASR

““We have to shut it down, or it’s going to kill us.” Then he winced and looked at me. “Sorry, I meant HubSystem.”” (86-87) ASR

“Then Arada came up and patted my shoulder. “I’m sorry. This must be very upsetting. After what that other Unit did to you . . . Are you all right?” That was too much attention. I turned around and walked into the corner, facing away from them.” (87) ASR

“I should keep my mouth shut, keep them thinking of me as their normal obedient SecUnit, stop reminding them what I was. But I wanted them to be careful.” (92) ASR

““If a strange survey group landed here, all friendly, saying they had just arrived, and oh, we’ve had an equipment failure or our MedSystem’s down and we need help, you would let them in. Even if I told you not to, that it was against company safety protocol, you’d do it.” Not that I’m bitter, or anything. A lot of the company’s rules are stupid or just there to increase profit, but some of them are there for a good reason.” (92-93) ASR

[I cited this whole conversation bc I wasn't sure exactly what bits I wanted to use. apologies for the giant block text.]

“Ratthi’s expression was troubled. “But surely . . . It’s clear you have feelings—”” (54)

“She looked up, frowning. “Ratthi, what are you doing?” Ratthi shifted guiltily. “I know Mensah asked us not to, but—” He waved a hand. “You saw it.” Overse pulled her interface off. “You’re upsetting it,” she said, teeth gritted. “That’s my point!” He gestured in frustration. “The practice is disgusting, it’s horrible, it’s slavery. This is no more a machine than Gurathin is—” Exasperated, Overse said, “And you don’t think it knows that?” I’m supposed to let the clients do and say whatever they want to me and with an intact governor module I wouldn’t have a choice.” (54) ASR

“I’m also not supposed to snitch on clients to anybody except the company, but it was either that or jump out the hatch. I sent the conversation into the feed tagged for Mensah. From the cockpit, she shouted, “Ratthi! We talked about this!” I slid out of the seat and went to the back of the hopper, as far away as I could get, facing the supply lockers and the head. It was a mistake; it wasn’t a normal thing for a SecUnit with an intact governor module to do, but they didn’t notice. “I’ll apologize,” Ratthi was saying. “No, just leave it alone,” Mensah told him. “That would just make it worse,” Overse added.” (55) ASR

Network Effect

“Humans in the Preservation alliance didn't have to sign up for contract labor and get shipped off to mines or whatever for 80 to 90 percent of their lifespans. There was some strange system where they all got their food and shelter and education and medical for free, no matter what job they did.” (35-36) NE

“...it was a natural mistake on Arada’s part. In Preservation culture asking payment for anything considered necessary for living (food, power sources, education, the feed, etc.) was considered outrageous, but asking payment for life-saving help was right up there with cannibalism.” (201) NE

“There were "free" bots wandering around on Preservation, though they had guardians who were technically supposed to keep track of them.” (27) NE

“Plus, it was Preservation and there were no scanning drones, no armed human security, just some on-call human medics with bot assistants and “rangers” who mainly enforced environmental regulations and yelled at humans and augmented humans to get out of the way of the ground vehicles.” (24) NE

"Over the comm loudspeaker, Dr. Ratthi said, 'It is a person!'" (16) NE

“Even the individual humans’ feed signatures only contained info about sexual availability and gender presentation, which I didn’t give a damn about.” (13) NE

“If this went wrong I was going to feel really stupid. The Targets would finally show up and be all “What the hell was it trying to do to itself?”“ (305-306) NE

“That’s one of the reasons Me 1.0 misses its armor.” (293) NE

“You and Amena were right. 2.0 was a person. It wasn’t like a baby, but it was a person.” (340) NE

“The damage to its organic tissue and support structure is easily repaired.” (132) NE

“- because it thought you were dead. It was so upset I thought-Oh, hey, you’re here” (227) NE

“Amena’s voice said “No, it doesn’t like to be touched!”“ (335) NE

““No, it says it’s fine,” I heard her relaying to the others on our comm. “Well, yes, it’s furious,”” (12) NE

"It's not aliens, 2.0 said. We knew it wasn't aliens, I told it. It countered, We were seventy-two percent sure it wasn't aliens. That was an outdated assessment but I didn't need to argue with myself right now." (314) NE

Fugitive Telemetry

“Preservation had two economies, one a complicated barter system for planetary residents and one currency-based for visitors and for dealing with other polities. Most of the humans here didn’t really understand how important hard currency was in the Corporation Rim but the council did, and Mensah said the port took in enough in various fees to keep the station from being a drain on the planet’s resources.” (79) FT

“The Preservation Alliance has a weird thing about food and medical care and other thing humans need to survive being free and available anywhere.” (35) FT

“The employment contracts for Preservation citizens were pretty simple, because their planetary legal code had so many in-built protections already. (For example, humans and augmented humans can’t sign away their rights to their labor or bodily autonomy in perpetuity; that’s like, straight-up illegal.)” (12) FT

“Preservation has high safety standards so we passed through two air walls before we got to the cargo ship’s hatch.” (70) FT

“Right now Aylen and the other officers were explaining to their individual Targets what rights they had as detainees in Preservation Alliance territory. (It was a lot of rights. I was pretty sure it was more rights than a human who hadn’t been detained by Station Security had in the Corporation Rim.)” (85-86) FT

“As part of the rights thing, Aylen had told Target Five the scanner would be on, which I thought was playing way too fair,” (89-90) FT

“Station Security was only allowed to keep the Lalow for one Preservation day-cycle before they either had to charge the crew with something or let them go.” (106) FT

“You need a surveillance audit.” (145) “Some of those systems are under privacy lock, we’d need a judge-advocate to release their access records,” (146) FT [these are together bc its a line of dialogue from mb, a huge monologue about what a surveillance audit is, and then Indah's response, which is the thing I care about for my paper]

“Most of the station’s clothing supply came from the planet, where human hand-made clothing and textiles were so popular there was hardly any recycler-produced fabric. (I told you Preservation is weird.)” (22) FT

“The colony ship hadn’t just been left to rot; the humans liked it too much for that…Pieces of clear protective material had been placed over the occasional drawings on the bulkheads, and on the pieces of paper stuck to them and covered with scribbled handwriting and faded print. Feed markers had been installed by Station Historical/Environment Management with translations into Preservation Standard Nomenclature.” (123) FT

“…you’re on a giant spaceship that has been meticulously preserved as a historical artifact. If they still had intact lunch menus from however many years ago, the chances were good they still had the safety equipment.” (125) FT

“Station Security isn’t armed except with those extendable batons (they don’t even deliver shocks, they’re just for hitting/holding off aggressive intoxicated humans) and the officers are only issued energy weapons when there’s actually an energy-weapon-involved emergency.” (72) FT

“…they were here to assess the damage to the transport and try to repair it. (Apparently on Preservation this would be free? Gurathin said it fell under what they called a traveler’s aid rule. In the Corporation Rim, the transport would have had tp sit there damaged and racking up fines until its owner or an owner’s rep arrived.)” (55-56) FT

another "couldn't decide so the whole dang thing is here"

"For a name, I could use the local feed address that was hard coded into my neural interfaces. It wasn’t my real name, but it was what the systems I interfaced with called me. If I used it, the humans and augmented humans I encountered would think of me as a bot. Or I could use the name Rin. I liked it, and there were some humans outside the Corporation Rim who thought it was actually my name. I could use it, and the humans on the Station wouldn’t have to think about what I was, a construct made of cloned human tissue, augments, anxiety, depression, and unfocused rage, a killing machine for whichever humans rented me, until I made a mistake and got my brain destroyed by my governor module." (28) “I posted a feed ID with the name SecUnit, gender = not applicable, and no other information.” (29)

#original post #mb #murderbot #tmbd #the murderbot diaries #citations #murderbot meta #fugitive telemetry #network effect #all systems red #system collapse #rogue protocol #artificial condition #exit strategy

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nelliebachesneg · 1 year ago

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S13 Alternate Ending Headcanons, Because What TF Did Epsilon Mean, Exactly, By "Deconstruct Myself"?

Ok so I’ve had this idea spinning in the back of my brain since, what, 2016? But when Epsilon died, he said “the fragments I’ll leave behind” would get the Reds and Blues through the fight, and then there’s a flash where it seems like each of Epsilon’s fragments corresponds to one of the Reds and Blues. So my thought at the time - and on-and-off again since - was that Epsilon gave a fragment of himself to each of the Reds and Blues to help them win the fight. Then when the fight was over, each of their suits would have had a piece of Epsilon. These pieces would have been fragments of a fragment, though, so they wouldn't have had an interface like Epsilon did; they would have just been really finicky, specialized, supposedly helpful computer programs that would sometimes do things that were more funny/annoying than helpful. These programs would have activated after the fight. List below.

Church's messages, then, would be him explaining what the programs do and why he gave them to each of his friends (as well as saying his last goodbyes). He would also convince his friends not to put him back together again because the time they figured out how to do it and/or got the equipment for it, his fragments would have developed too much on their own to fit nicely back together - and even if something did come back it would not be the Epsilon they knew before.

Now I don't want to get into a debate over whether or not this could even be canon because tbh I couldn't care less, but I am curious to know if anyone has a different take on what kind of program Church would give each of the characters. Is there an aspect of someone's character I missed? Are there things a sci-fi-bullshit AI can or can't do that I'm forgetting about? Does the theme of each program make sense?

So yeah, let me know in the notes if you've got the time!

(Btw which character gets what fragment is based mostly on positioning in that scene at the end of S13, as well as headcanons from the amazing fanfic Mind over Matter by kineticallyanywhere on Ao3.)

Grif: Omega.

The theme: Take control of your life or someone else will. If you let that go far enough, you won’t like how it turns out - but also remember that a little help isn’t a bad thing.

The program: literally controls every aspect of Grif’s life inside his suit in the exact way he hates - i.e. organizing his saved files in a way that makes it impossible to find what he wants, setting alarms that wake him up just as he's falling asleep, constantly reminding him to exercise, making his suit heavier and heavier the closer he gets to the mess hall, randomly contacting Matthews and Sarge, etc. The program can also jump from the suit into the surrounding wireless network, specifically cameras and radios, to keep an eye on him when he’s out of the suit. The program can report his behavior (in increasing order of severity) to Sarge, Wash, and/or Carolina if it feels like it. Simmons and Carolina have the manual override code in case of emergencies, though; the program isn’t smart enough to distinguish between a firefight and Sarge being a jackass. (It’s a spoken code word. No it’s not “code word”.) I'd like to think that a lot of how the suit messes with Grif has to do with Simmons because what is an RvB headcanon without Grimmons. The thing is, all of the things the program does are reversible if Grif just takes the time to go into his suit's settings and do that. If he makes the effort enough times, the program will cease.

Simmons: Sigma.

The theme: Loosen up. Realize there’s more to life than seeking the approval of others - but also don’t disregard others completely.

The program: Listens in on orders from Sarge, Kimball, Carolina, and Wash. If it determines the order to be bullshit, it cuts the call and immediately radios Grif or Donut instead. It also prompts Simmons at multiple random points throughout the day with the question, “What do you want to do?” and “Why?” If Simmons inputs with a satisfactory answer, spoken or written, the program will generate suggestions for how to accomplish that task. Its programming also allows it to respond to Simmons’s anxieties, though if it gets fed up enough it will call Grif or Donut because Church could only take so much of that. It is able to sync with Simmons's robot parts to keep an eye on him, much like it does with Grif. Also like Grif's program, it will cease once it sees an improved pattern of behavior.

Sarge: Delta.

The theme: Creativity needs to be tempered with logic. Sometimes you need reality check - but don’t let that discourage you from trying new things.

The program: In a way, the antithesis to Simmons’s. If Sarge starts muttering about a hare-brained scheme, e.g. fighting gravity, the program will annoy him into sharing the details. It will then either give him a list of reasons why that’s absurd and challenge him to justify his reasoning, calling (in order of severity) Grif, Simmons, Wash, or Carolina if it can’t talk him out of it - or it will help him pull it off, because this is a Church program, and Church would absolutely want to help Sarge mess with the rest of the guys. As a result this program has a lot of Church’s residual personality programming in order to make those judgment calls, which kind of forces Sarge to bond with Caboose and thus has the added bonus of helping Sarge further overcome the ‘Red vs Blue’ mentality. This program's reach does not extend outside of Sarge's armor.

Tucker: Epsilon

The theme: Losing people does not make you a bad leader, nor does it make you a bad person. Don’t obsess over your grief and failures. Take the time to feel it, of course, but then move on knowing that sacrifices are made out of love and faith.

The program: Helps Tucker keep track of Caboose, mostly. It may sound weird but I am literally thinking about the “you need something to take care of” thing from the first John Wick movie. Tucker doesn’t have a “chat” feature like Simmons and Sarge do, since the goal is to move on, but the program does automatically connect him to Wash when he meets a certain set of concerning criteria because Wash gets it. The program will also alert Carolina and/or Wash whenever he steps out of line, as a kind of revenge for all the times Tucker called Church out - and should the fallout be entertaining enough it will be broadcast to everyone on Chorus. No one's reactions to such broadcasts are inherently hostile, showing Tucker that he doesn’t have to worry about too much judgment from others for his flaws. (Side note, the program cannot run the Meta’s suit - at least not while running any extra equipment.)

Caboose: Eta and Iota

The theme: “No matter how many friends you do lose, you can always make more.” Just. Just watch “Caboose’s Guide To Making Friends” again (and try not to cry, again).

The programs: Yes, Caboose gets two, and yes, it’s because Church cares about Caboose and actually wants to show it this time. The remnant of Eta is specifically for communication, particularly with Wash and Tucker’s programs so that it can help Tucker help Caboose and help Wash keep track of his team, but it also makes sure that every single one of Caboose’s friends can know where he is at all times. Meanwhile, the remnant of Iota is essentially an outreach program for Caboose. It connects him to Sarge, Donut, and Dr. Emily Grey, helping Caboose make more friends - and yes I am talking about robots, but also potentially squishy people too - through an appointment calendar, “google translate”, and a step-by-step manual for creating safe robots. Both programs work together to alert everyone when Caboose encounters something potentially dangerous that he will inevitably also befriend; between the two of them is an entire database of criminals, dangerous flora and fauna across the galaxy, and other hazards. That way they can hopefully identify whatever Caboose has decided is the next member of the family.

Lopez: Doesn’t actually get a program, but he absolutely gets a full software upgrade before Epsilon deconstructs and the ability to mess with everyone else's programs (to a point). This includes the ability to speak English though I feel like Lopez would more likely have the language in everyone's suits change to Spanish in an attempt to make them learn it because he's stubborn like that.

The theme: Lopez is his own person and deserves to be appreciated and understood.

Doc / O'Malley: Also doesn't get a program, but Epsilon does make it so everything done in Doc / O'Malley’s suit is automatically and unstoppably recorded. That way, when either personality blacks out (assuming that happens) then they can see what the other one did. He also downloads several actual medical textbooks, including the DSM5, into Doc / O'Malley's suit.

The theme: Knowing yourself in both body and mind is important, because you are important. I imagine this is also Epsilon's way of saying sorry for what happened the last time an AI was in Doc's head; though it wasn’t Epsilon’s fault, he would still try to alleviate some of the consequences of that because he gets it.

Donut: Gamma.

The theme: Sometimes you need your jokes repeated back to you. It is important to understand how others see you and how your words affect them so that you can help both them and yourself grow - but don’t deny who you are in the name of that growth.

The program: Essentially a journaling program, somewhat customizable and with the ability to convert physical journal pages into a digital format through the camera. The program also analyzes the journal entries for double entendres, highlighting them and explaining the meaning. It will also record Donut’s conversations and do the same thing with his spoken words, playing the recording back when Donut is alone. Thus Donut learns exactly what he's saying. Donut can then use the program to double check either written or spoken words, because the program can simulate the reactions of the Reds and Blues to Donut’s words, effectively giving Donut the tools to be the master of communication between everyone (read: everyone’s unofficial therapist) should he choose to be so. It also tracks online deals for wine, cheese, nail polish, and every other material comfort Donut likes so that he can more easily take care of himself, too.

Wash: Theta.

The theme: Trust that you are, in fact, a badass both despite and because of what you've been through - but also a human who deserves all the love in the world both despite and because of what you’ve been through.

The program: Lets Wash be in contact with the Reds and Blues (including Carolina) at all times. It’s like a marauder’s map that lets him always see where they are and contact them if he wants, and it works across planets and solar systems so long as nothing is actively jamming it. Epsilon wants Wash to never be without a family again. However, Epsilon gives him a choice of whether or not he wants this program, because Wash never really had a choice about Church before. The choice is his real last gift to him. (And of course because Wash has already forgiven Epsilon for everything, he wants to be able to use the program, but it still takes a bit for him to get to a place where he feels like he can, but it feels like an opportunity to make amends that they really didn’t get while Epsilon was alive, and this is Epsilon’s way of saying sorry and also that he cares about Wash, and Wash cared about Epsilon so he actively tries to overcome that barrier of letting a fragment of a fragment of an AI into not even his brain but his suit, and UGH MY HEART I’M GONNA CRY--)

Carolina: She doesn't get a program, because Church has always believed that she doesn’t need an AI - or even just a program from one. To give her one would imply she’s not self-sufficient, and Church would never dare disrespect her like that.

The theme: Carolina is awesome by herself, and she deserves to give herself permission to be part of a family (the Reds and Blues). Church gives her a really nice message telling her all that.

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fruity-phrog · 9 months ago

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I'm an impatient mf so here's what was going through my head during the pleasurable hour I spent making that:

(also, I don't touch on why Paul, Bill and Hannah are where they are, because they're the favourites so it's a given)

(also also, I worked very hard on that analysis. But it is long. Read more at your own risk)

Pokey is the most obvious. He wants conformity. He wants the entire world to be in agreement over everything, to be nothing more than a singular organism, and for his voice and thoughts to dictate what that organism looks like. That's why Jer(i)ry and the Chasity's are there - they want their beliefs and ideals to be forced upon everyone. The D's, Ruth and Hidgens are just there for their love of drama, though Hidgens and Ruth are also united under the idea that everyone agreeing would lead to a better world.

Blinky was really fun to analyse, because I had to go beneath the surface (and buttress opinions that were formed entirely through fanfiction). He's an eye, watching over something literally called Watcher World. Over all, he wants knowledge - he's a gossipy bitch. He wants to know what every single one of his carnival players are doing, and wants to watch the entertainment they set up for him. He wants control. Not power, specifically, but to feel completely at ease, knowing that he is aware of everything around him. That’s why Grace, Charlie, Nora, Jonathan and Pamela are there - and, come on, Solomon literally bugged his daughter’s phone. Howard is the President of the USA, he knows more about everyone than anyone else, and Richie was being bullied because he didn’t know what to do and not to do. Of course they would benefit from a deal with the Watcher With A Thousand Eyes.

Then there's Tinky. His motives are different from the others, because his main motive is chaos and fun. He wants to have fun, and so Barry Swift and Ted Spankoffski - two people who seem to thrive off of chaos and dysfunction - are perfect for him. Stopwatch can literally control time to a degree, and Cineplex Mall Teen feels like his life is a time loop. Andrew is there for obvious reasons, as is Jenny. Sherman and Sheila both manipulate time and act outside its reach to some degree, and if anyone's going to make a deal with a Lord in order to go back in time, it'll be the Houston boys.

Nibbly…Nibbly was fun. I really liked analysing Nibbly, because you’ve got to look not into his motives, but into the acts of the characters he focused on. Linda was chosen as Honey Queen because of her ruthlessness. She was willing to hang a woman to get what she wanted, and that’s exactly what Nibbly liked. Nibbly chose Honey Queen winners - winners who were specifically singled out as wanting "Bigger and better things". He values ambition, demolition, tunnel minded obsession. Linda, Ezekiel, Gerald, Kale, Roman - they all demolished everything in their path for their goal, even if they didn’t want to, as in the case of Kale. Sometimes it wasn’t even a bad thing - Spitfyre was just fighting for her family, Becky was fighting for her freedom, Ziggy was fighting for their liberty. But it remained that they persisted until they won, and inadvertently caused damage in the process - mostly to themselves. And, I’m gonna be honest with you, I meant to put Lex with Nibbly, too.

Wiggly is probably the easiest - he wants power. Not just control, like Blinky or conformity like Pokotho, but power. The ability to make people do what he says but not in the sense of the Apotheosis, but in the sense that they are scared of him. He feeds on wrath and emptiness and anger and uses it to make people obey him. This makes Jane, Max, Willabella and Zoey perfect candidates. His thirst for power is why I put Cross, Eddie, Miss Tessburger and, honestly, Gary Goldstein on there. Frank is there because he almost single-handedly caused the Hatchetfield outbreak of Wiggly and Lex is there because my finger slipped.

And Webby. Sweet, kind Webby. Good hearted or not, she’s still of the same blood as her brothers, and the effect she has portrays that. Webby represents justice, sure, but at a cost. For her I’ll just give examples. MacNamara could have shot Paul and got the hell out of Hatchetfield, and he could have left Howard in the Black and White - but both times, he believed in the goodness of mankind and died because of it. Ethan vowed never to let someone hurt the Foster girls, and died because of it. Miss Holloway continued to battle against the Black and White to protect the children she met, and (basically) died because of it. Steph and Pete refused to let Max continue killing nerds, and were prepared to die because of it. Emma came back to Hatchetfield because of her love for her sister, and died because of it. Even Greenpeace Girl sacrificed a lot for her views. Webby represents morals so unbreaking they kill you, a compass so rigid it leads you off a cliff. People who keep promises, protect those they love and believe in the goodness of humanity to a fault. And I.

Am so unwell about it.

Assigned all of the Hatchetverse characters a Lord. I will fight for this tier list. Seriously. Debate me on this. I'm right.

BTW, Webby wasn't a "they are too nice they'd never fall for a lord in black" copp out, but basically my idea of Webby representing a sense of justice so strong it harms you.

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jojotier · 6 years ago

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Really quick update on random projects I have going on for gk fics, under the cut so as to not take up too much space:

- On The Subject Of Character Bombs, like I’m planning with Tsukishima- Honestly it’s a toss up on when this first character bomb will be done, just bc one of the five fics to be uploaded at once (Frost Heart, a story taking place in siren au) is getting up to 8-10k in length, and I wanna keep it a oneshot

- I may replace Frost Heart for the moment with a second TsukiKoi canon divergent oneshot idea I’ve had, Tightrope, which includes Koito tightrope walking Tsukishima to safety over a ravine

- For now the plan for TsukiBomb is:

1. Eat Up: Heiji Koito, in Sado for a military parade, confounds everyone when he glosses over dozens of noble families and seemingly snubs military kids by inviting Tsukishima, the hated son of a murderer, to eat with him instead. Also includes Baby Otonoshin, aka the Grumpiest Infant Alive

2. Update on the Tsukishima with Dog fic but it’s kinda become a Monty Python skit because Ogata is inexplicably stuck in a tree. He won’t say he’s stuck though. Mostly an exercise in walking the thin line between Tsukishima’s survivor guilt upon meeting Tsurumi again after months and seeing that the brain damage is still being treated, his rightful bitterness over the military venture and essentially being used, and a lighthearted tone to keep it from slipping too far into despair.

3. A vaguely canon-divergent fic where Tsukishima defects to Sugimoto’s group, set after 190; told from Shiraishi’s POV as he kinda tries to help Tsukishima with the obvious existential crisis he’s going through with a lot of vaguely disarming talk and a drop of alcohol. Also focuses on Sugimoto and Asirpa, with their sibling relationship and the connection they have, untainted by Sugimoto’s brain injury and acting as a foil to Tsukishima’s implied thoughts about Tsurumi, since I’m versed in neuroanatomy and know for a FACT that the same injury isn’t going to cause the exact same effects, particularly when the base personalities are different

4. The second half of that TsukiKoi modern boxer’s au- much less trauma on Tsukishima’s end, a lot more lighthearted banter, and Koito being encouraging in his kind roundabout way as he tells Tsukishima to stop giving those weaksauce punches Jesus Fuck give me all you HAVE already

5. Frost Heart, which goes over Tsukishima’s sudden introduction into the world of magic, Harry Potter style. Kind of. I mean, there’s no magic school, and he doesn’t even know he has magic. He meets a mermaid Igogusa, they help each other survive as they learn more about the other’s species, and he slowly learns that he has an innate ability over water magic, bit by bit. Which is a bit complicated, since as a kid, Tsukishima is deathly afraid of deep, open water... It’s a mild coming of age story, basically, with a lot of magic elements, and it’s a balancing act, since Tsukishima’s father lurks always just off screen...

- I do want to do similar “Character Bombs” in the future, where I drop like 5-7 fics all at once centered around one character, and the next one I wanna do is Asirpa- but that one’s taking me a long while, because I want to do some canon compliant things with her exclusively with other Ainu characters, and it’s taking a lot of research and careful review of ideas. I’ve already revised or outright scrapped quite a few ideas, but one that I’m sure of is one where a little Ekasiotonpuy (Asirpa) spends time with Inkarmat, telling stories and teaching magic...

- Another is “Ozoni Wars”, a modern little ditty where Shiraishi and Sugimoto compete with two different styles of ozoni to impress our young judge Asirpa and her Huci, trying to prove that either Kanto or Kansai style is OBVIOUSLY the best kind of ozoni. Might be SugiShira, but probably not, just to focus it more on Asirpa

- The more immediate project that you might see update in the next few days is Vainglory, with more SugiShira shenanigans! More magic! Kumagashi trying to come through and trade a seemingly powerful artifact for an Ainu artifact produced centuries ago (protected and kept new by magic, of course), meeting carefully mistrusting eyes from quite a few in the kotan...

- Another one you may see in the next month is a new Sinfonietta Paper for siren au, centered around both TsukiKoi and the golden trio separately coming to hunt down the same magic sea creature- a sandbar hag, leagues long and only coming from the depths of the ocean once every 25 years- one group to plunder a few of the magical artifacts on its long back, the other to take a strip of tail meat...

- I wanna do an Edogai centric fic exploring how he began his grisly “hobby”, the beginning scene based in part off of the time I went to a cadaver lab and worked with the dead bodies when I was 17. I’ll never forget that med student who flippantly told me that oil based soap gets the smell off your hands, or how giddy the instructor looked while pulling up those mostly mummified intestines...

- I currently have two out of three possible choice paths fully planned out for Phase 2 of the Starchasers upload- it’s taken a bit, mostly because I’m trying to determine which items a reader doesn’t necessarily have to find to reach a good ending at the end of Phase 4 and what options may lead to a reader having a harder time in Phases 3 and 4, elevating the struggle to reach at least one of the Good Ends- it’s not impossible, it’s just a little more difficult, depending on what you’ve chosen previously

- Of Phase 2 the trees I have fully planned, with the list of possible chapters, are the First One where Sugimoto and co. are outside the space station and choose whether to wait for something to pass or explore immediately and ending with landing inside the station, and the Wait path, stemming from if you choose for Sugimoto and co. wait for whatever might be outside the ship (if there’s anything) to come into view or pass.

- I just have the “Explore Immediately” tree of branching options to plan out for phase 2 and then I can start writing in earnest.

- I’ve also decided to implement a “morality” system which more or less decides whether or not Sugimoto is allowed to adopt Asirpa as family by the end and am planning a possible SugiShira dating sim element to later phases

- Formatting for Phase 1 is going to be a Bitch, so I’ve decided to put up a checkpoint chapter that will be deleted once all the text has been officially uploaded, after which I’ll start linking all the chapters together

- Art is hard. But I’m doing it. I’ll do it for you, Starchasers

#golden kamuy #long post #the nightly grind #just organizing my thoughts mostly and also setting this out there in case anyone like #might find a fic to look forward to in the future

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poke-me-with-a-stick · 2 years ago

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Chapter 8 of 'Artificial Wingman'!

For the full story, click Here!

I had a bit of a difficult time writing from Jazz's pov, but I tried my best and hope it's as good as the rest have been so far!

Enjoy!

---

After what felt like days, but was most likely only a few hours, Jazz saw the clock tower in the distance. A sigh left her as she disengaged the autopilot and took over steering, pressing her foot on the gas pedal just a bit too hard. The Speeder lurched forward, everything inside flying forwards with it, startling her enough to let up on the pedal. Now going at a more appropriate speed, she maneuvered the craft through the green and purple landscape until she reached the tower's small island.

The doors, wide and tall wooden sheets that fit perfectly into the blocked stone arches, sat open wide. A gesture of welcome, she knew, but the effect was mostly ruined by the fact that the top of the tower was made up of four large stone arches. An easily accessible way into the tower considering the lack of glass panes and general lack of gravity in the 'zone. But a gesture Jazz appreciated. It meant that he knew she was coming, and though his seemingly endless knowledge of everything in and out of the zone made an odd sensation course through her, Jazz also knew that the Ghost of Time wouldn't have opened the doors unless he was willing to help her.

Carefully, she flew the Speeder through the opened doors and landed it on the smooth stone floor. The redhead took a moment to collect herself, while simultaneously praying to whatever entity listening that the Ancient wouldn't be in a 'riddle mood', as Danny called it. Pushing open the door, she straightened her spine and unfolded from the Speeder, blueberry scones in hand.

Out of the Speeder's sound dampening walls, the sound of ticking grew prominent. The sound reminded her of an echo-y grandfather clock, a sound she remembered from her visits to Grandmama Fenton's as a kid. She followed the sound up the stairs and to the top floor, where she knew the ghost would be.

Just as she predicted, the Ghost of Time floated in the center of the room, a small smile visible on his cloaked face as he watched his screens. She only had a moment to catch the look before he turned his head towards her. "Right on time." He chuckled as he waved his hand, all of his screens going dark. Gesturing with his hands he invited Jazz deeper into his layer. "Would you like to join me for some tea?" He asked.

He shifted from man to a child as he led her over to a small nook, a tea set already placed on the table. Jazz handed the scones over to the ghost as she tucked herself into one of the wooden chairs, smiling pleasantly as he opened the box and hummed in appreciation. She watched as he settled on the other side of the table and poured her a cup of tea. Taking the moment to organize her thoughts, the woman busied herself in doctoring the tea with sugar and cream, ignoring the worrying green tint as she took a small test sip before nodding to herself and taking a longer drink.

Across from her, Clockwork did the same, meticulously spooning in sugar and cream into his cup before stirring and Sipping.

Jazz let the silence continue for a moment before setting her cup down on the matching saucer it had come from. "As lovely as this is," She began, "I'm afraid that I'm not here on a social call."

Clockwork nodded. "Yes. You're looking for young Daniel, aren't you?" He phrased it like a polite question, but Jazz knew that that wasn't the case here. Nothing this being said could be taken at face value, Danny had warned her of that the first time she met him.

She nodded, taking another sip of her tea. "Yes. He took a trip to another dimension, hoping to try something he found. He was supposed to come back yesterday, but hasn't. If he were anyone else, I wouldn't worry, but. Well, he's Danny." They both shared a small smile at that statement. "But, I'm sure you already know that." She raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to say otherwise.

The ghost let out a small laugh as he shifted back into an old man. "I am well aware of Daniel's situation, yes." He admitted to her. "But I can assure you that your brother is in no danger."

"While I believe you, I would still rather talk to my brother myself." Jazz bit back a sigh and prayed the ghost would help her without a fuss. Most of the ghosts Danny had introduced her to hadn't been as kind, let alone patient, when it came to favors.

The ghost took another sip of his tea before floating out of his chair. When Jazz started to stand, he gestured for her to remain seated. "Excuse me for just a moment." His incorpreal body tilted towards her as if to mock a bow before he dipped through the floor.

When he floated back up, now carrying a sheet of paper, the woman had a scone lifted to her mouth. It was quickly set down on her plate, forgotten the moment it left her hand. Instead, she found her full attention on the ghost.

"Before anything else," his form shifted back to that of a young adult, the paper being carefully hidden behind his back. Not as effective when you're not solid, but Jazz gave him an A for effort.

She had already prepared herself to accept some sort of deal from this meeting, so his words didn't surprise her all that much. Instead, she tilted her head and waited for him to continue.

"When the time is right, give this to the young Robin that follows your brother." He brought the paper out from behind him and handed it to her. The toxic green paper was old, almost scroll-like in its age, and had what looked to be some sort of summoning circle etched carefully into it.

Gently tracing the inked lines, she looked back at him. "What is this?" She asked curiously.

He was silent for a moment. "You already know what it is." He told her. "But, if you really want a hint, I suppose you could say that it is a failsafe. Should you find your brother in an unreachable spot." His cryptic words made her frown slightly, but she filed it away for now.

"Is there anything else I should know?" She asked instead. The ghost hummed as he floated back towards his screens, the grandfather clock in his chest ticking slightly louder as he shifted back into an infant.

"Your brother will have a difficult decision to make soon. And he will try to make it himself, without having all the information."

His serious tone was out of place, contradicted by his current form, but Jazz ignored the part of her that shifted uncomfortably. "When he comes to you for advice, and he will come to you, tell him to follow his heart. His heart leads to the best outcome."

Jazz puzzled over that bit of information. The way the ancient phrased it almost made it sound like Danny was in love or something. Then again, knowing Danny, he probably was in love. A troubling fact when he had left home with a love potion of all things, but surely Clockwork would tell her if it was important?

Standing, Jazz moved towards the old ghost. "I'll do what you ask." She told him honestly. He nodded, his seriousness dissipating slightly.

"Very well then. You'll find a clear path to the Dimension you seek just outside the clock tower. If you wish to catch it, I suggest you hurry. I'm afraid that this is as much as I can help you, though."

"This is more than enough." Jazz told him as she speedwalked to the stairs. "Thank you, Clockwork."

She was down the stairs before he could respond, missing how he turned back towards the screens observing as Daniel grabbed at someone's hand, fingers covered in salt and oil. She missed the secret smile that grew on his face as he watched the scene play out.

Jazz found the portal he meant as she drove out of the clock tower, a large and strangely colored swirl that broke up the usual green and purple of the Realms. A deep, midnight blue color that was covered in wisps of black and gray, almost smoke-like in the way they swirled.

She didn't even hesitate to drive straight into it. The sensation of exiting the zone rippled through her, making her veins buzz and her ears ring slightly. Scrunching her nose at the feeling, she shook her head slightly and looked around her new surroundings.

The first thing she saw was concrete. Gritty gray floors, and metal walls. Light filtered in through dirt stained windows near the roof, illuminating abandoned pallets and ripped tarps. She knew a warehouse when she saw one.

Grabbing her bag, she hopped out of the Speeder before turning back and snagging the keyring. A few button presses, and the vehicle vanished from sight with a singular beep! Even after watching Danny and Tucker work on that feature, she still felt the tingle of amazement watching the hunk of metal fade from view without so much as an outline.

Turning away from the marvel, she wandered around the dust-covered space until she found an exit, leading her into the salt and smog tainted air of a city's docks. Her eyes burned at the pollution, but she adjusted to it quickly. Wiping her eyes and fighting the newly appearing itch in her throat, she walked towards the high-rise city in the distance.

It didn't take her long to reach the city, and barely an hour into her arrival she found herself wandering the filth-ridden alleyways it had to offer. Her bag thumped rhythmically against her back and the Boomerang digging uncomfortably into her spine as she traversed the underbelly of the city in her quest.

It was only hours later, when she was beginning to question if Clockwork had sent her to the right place, that she felt it. It was faint, as if a distant echo, but it was undoubtedly something Ghost related. She paused, closing her eyes and stretching her senses out in search of the source. North of her, about seven blocks. The feeling of creeping frost that was cold, yet it was accompanied by the sensation of a warm hug. Her brother's presence, she knew immediately. She lived with him, after all. It was a feeling that accompanied every morning at breakfast, a greeting after coming home from school.

Jazz took a moment to sigh in relief, before focusing back in on her brother's presence. It was moving, she realized after a moment, heading further into the city at a steady pace. Frowning, she tried to focus in closer, pick up a path or something he could be walking.

Her concentration was interrupted by a warning from her other sense blaring his her mind. Eyes snapping open, she ducked and spun, throwing one of her legs low to sweep the legs of her attacker. Her foot struck true, sending the would-be mugger stumbling backwards with a pained huff as his breath left his lungs.

Readjusting, she dropped into a loose fighting stance, waiting for the man to right himself and come at her again before diving, sliding past him and kicking a pressure point behind his knee. Her attacker dropped, clutching his leg and groaning in pain.

He apparently had no sense of when a fight was lost, as he stumbled back tonhis feet rather quickly, his leg threatening to buckle as he charged at her. Sidestepping his clumsy attempt at a punch, she delivered one of her own to the side of his jaw, the bone under her fist making a slight cracking noise that she could only hear with her slightly enhanced sense of hearing.

The man dropped for a final time, out cold as a deep purple began to form in the shape of her knuckles. Jazz couldn't stop the satisfied huff that escaped her as she stepped dantily over the man. Her satisfaction quickly turned to annoyance, as she realized that the fight had allowed her brother to become out of reach of her enhanced sense. With a dissaointed sigh, she turned back the way she came, disappearing easily into the long shadows as she made her way back to the Speeder for the night. 'I'll try again in the morning.' She told herself. Her chest ached at being so close yet so far from her brother.

—

Jason stood on the rooftop overlooking an alleyway, his jaw hanging open as he watched the tall, redheaded Goddess of a woman dissappear into the shadows. Shaking his head clear, he dropped down into the alley and made his way over to the criminal.

A kidnapper, one he had been tracking for a while after busting a human trafficking ring about a week back, layer out by a beautiful woman. The irony didn't escape the anti-hero, a dry smirk overlaying his face. He let out a low whistle of appreciation as he caught sight of the deep purple and blue bruise on the man's jaw, shaped almost like a heart. There was no way the man had escaped this fight without a fracture at the very least.

Quickly tying the man up and setting a signal for the police to follow, he turned back to the direction she had walled off in. There was zero sign she had even been there, besides the goon she downed. Hurrying up to the rooftops didn't wield any answers either, no trace of the woman anywhere. He wanted to search for her, get her name, 'Maybe her number too…' but he was called away by Oracle hacking into his comm and redirecting hum to an armed robbery in progress.

He hoped to find her again, but for now he had a job to do. Besides, if she was going around taking down petty criminals like a pron he had no doubt they would cross paths again. Especially if she kept wandering around Crime Alley at night.

—

Danny felt something at the edge of his consciousness, a slight tugging that was familiar to him. Before he could try and focus on it however, a warm hand latched onto his, causing his chest and face to warm, while sending his brain into another small meltdown. He wasn't sure exactly when he started to have this reaction to Robin's touch, but no amount of telling himself that it was just logical to hold hands while walking around a dangerous city at night calmed his racing heart.

'Stop it.' He told himself. 'In three days he will probably lose all romantic feelings for you.' His heart clenched painfully at the thought, but Danny refused to let what if's cloud his judgment right now. If it was all temporary, then he would just enjoy it while it lasted.

—

Back in the ghost zone, Clockwork smiled at his screens. Everything was happening just as it should be.

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(I know there might be some typos and/or Grammer mistakes, but it's okay because I tried my best.)

For the amazing people who follow the story so far, as well as the lovely person who made the prompt for it: @halfblackwolfdemon @manapeer @xxwintrynightzxx @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 @blu-lilac @academicpurposes @secretdestinywerewolf @passivedecept @naluforever3 @postit-nope @spiteismymiddlename @2t-productions @plague-daisy @feet-achy @bubblecookies16 @thesapphiredragon13 @justwannabecat @magicalcollecter @adeniumdream @amuseofminds @lupagrim @readerkayden @dr-syko-pharm-4 @ladythugs @angelheartgamer @markthespot68 @kyrianclawraith @michikoy-yuki @servasvictoria02 @your-emo-nightmare @vala-dreams @scarlett-green-rose @t1dwarrior-of-earth @charlie-the-frogie @akikoyuii @mysticalcomputerdetective @roseuniverse999 @im-totally-not-an-alien @thefearfullone @weird-droplet-309 @jaytriesstuff @raventao @jacquelynwinchester @dragongoblet @tlise21 @longlivethefallen @the-archer-goddess @temple-of-jalebi @adepresseddwightsblogofjunk @plainly-colorful @the-legal-shipper @49saltpeppershakers @igotafewbadideas @tumbling-darkling @sparklygardenbouquet @sarcastic-yami @blueneko9314 @starscreamlover @liedboutmurder @do3y @roze-realm @some-mildly-happy-human @yinari-uchiha @azuera @chaoticmistake @altairsarts @kawaiikenna @heartsong18 @thetoyboxs @tricksovertreats @mnemovoid @lim4b3ans @horribly-lost-and-gay @keimiwolf @dryeraseslime @joey394

#danny phantom #dc x dp #danny phantom x dc #batman #batman x danny phantom #danny phantom x batfam #danny phantom x damian wayne #dead serious #love potion #miscommunication #anger management #Jazz is here!#Artificial Wingman #read on ao3

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astaroth1357 · 4 years ago

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Demon Brothers React to MC Getting Kidnapped by Lesser Demons.

Watch out for minor first half spoilers!!

Lucifer

Kicking himself because he has to find out through Mammon that the MC is missing and he didn’t notice their absence himself.

The second the alarm gets raised he gets into a state somewhere between coldly rational and extraordinarily furious.

Definitely still level-headed enough to rally and organize his brothers for a search party but there's nothing but seething rage just rolling off of him the entire time. Probably-could-have-made-another-Satan type rage.

How well he keeps his composure will be based entirely on how long the MC is MIA. The first hour or so will be mostly put together but past that he'll start to slowly unravel as the panic takes hold.

At one point he even gets snippy with Diavolo over the phone and that's when you KNOW that he's reaching meltdown mode.

If he's the first to find the MC, his #1 priority is to get them away from whatever scum grabbed them and take them to the closest safe place he can find. He'd scoop them up so fast they won't even know where he came from, just whoosh! How'd I get on this roof??

Only once they're out of harm’s way will he circle back and deal with their kidnappers personally. You better be sure any damage done to his human will be reflected a thousandfold back onto their attackers. Probably coming back to the MC with some blood on him and is not going to care.

Relieved to have the MC back but restricts them from going out alone after a certain time now for their own good. If they need something that badly, they can come to him.

Also strings Mammon up by his toes that night for losing them in the first place.

"By the time Cerberus gets to you, I'll be sure you're only my table scraps…"

Mammon

The first to notice that the MC was being oddly quiet (thank their father for his text spamming habit) then found their stuff scattered and abandoned at RAD.

Told Lucifer right away and, oh boy, he is a mess: talking a mile a minute, punctuating his sentences with expletives, on the verge of tears, whole nine yards.

He left his human alone for what?? Like five minutes, if even, to go to the library and get themselves kidnapped?! What kind of guardian is he?!?

Already searching the place top-to-bottom without being told where to go or what to do.

He actually ends up a strange inverse of Lucifer. While Lucifer will start panicking more over time, Mammon will start panicking less as his fear escalates to all out anger. Give it a few hours and he’s not even going to be able to keep his demon form under control anymore.

You know this boy is legging it across the entire Devildom himself waving around some kind of hand-drawn "Have You Seen This Human?" flyer looking for any leads at all.

If he were to find the MC first, his first action would probably be to plant his foot right in the face of whoever took them. Hard. Then repeat until their skull’s a caved-in mess on floor. No mercy this time, just pure protective rage.

Following the fight, you'd think he was just reunited with his lost puppy. Lots of crying, hugging, and blubbering out apologies even when the rest of his brothers show up.

Would pretty much be glued to the MC's hip for at least a week afterward and makes more of a point to hang off of them in public now. They're his human after all, can't have anyone else getting the idea of pulling a stunt like that again.

"MC!! What'd ya go runnin' off for?? We're goin' home after I take out this trash, got it!!"

Leviathan

Wouldn't really want to believe it at first because it just feels too unreal, like, the same thing happened to Henry in Episode 86 of TSL when he was kidnapped by enemies of the Lord of Fools and it was up to his true friend to track him down…

Suddenly remembers that Henry was also tortured while he was taken and that really sets in the panic.

Unsure of how to help at first because he knows he's just a useless shut-in but Belphie of all people is the one to remind him that he does have one big advantage over his brothers: a fucking navy.

In an act of surprising backbone, he more or less demands a full fleet of ships from Diavolo and (honestly to his shock) he gets exactly that to comb the Devil’s Sea while looking for MC. Lotan even helps out!

If he were to be the first to find the MC (presuming they are indeed on a boat or something cause 🤷‍♀️) those kidnappers really shouldn't have challenged the third strongest brother in his natural element, eh? Those who aren't automatically lashed in the face or flung overboard by his tail get hung by the leg over the edge of the ship for Lotan to pick off one by one.

Sails back to shore with MC booming with pride that he of all people finally got to be their hero! Will literally be so happy if MC ever brings it up again, doesn't matter how much time has passed.

Things would settle back to normal pretty quickly after that, but he now checks up on the MC a lot more often and will even leave his room for them if they need to go somewhere and don't want to go alone. Can't have this turning into a rerun, you know?

"You hurt my only friend… So drown."

Satan

One guess how the Avatar of Wrath took the news. It's not swimmingly.

Unless your definition of "swimmingly" is a murderous rampage of toppling furniture, breaking windows, and swearing to curse right about anything that moves, in which case aptly put.

He gets stuck in an anger-induced tantrum for a bit before finally getting snapped back into coherent thought by Belphie and putting those mystery novels of his to good use. Smart boi takes second to Lucifer himself in the search, suggesting good locations for his brothers scout based on what clues they have to go on.

Of course, he's not content to just to call orders from the sidelines and is out searching himself like he's on the goddamn warpath. Doors? Who needs doors? If anything the hole I made in your wall is more efficient.

Should he be the first to find the MC he would coolly and methodically subdue any kidnapper he can get his hands on, release his human, and bring them home as soon as possible. They've been through quite enough today and don't need to see anything he's got planned for the bastards later.

But the second that Diavolo puts them in the castle dungeon, you best bet that Henry 1.0 is going to the LEAST of their worries. Who's ever wanted to play a life or death game of hide and seek with a giant snake and the incarnation of Wrath itself? First one caught gets the "quick" death! Any volunteers?

Might give the MC a mild scolding for going out when they shouldn't have but otherwise is just happy to see them back and safe. May act extra soft towards them for a couple days, just until the nerves of the situation finally wear off.

"Don't mistake this for mercy. I assure you, I don't know the meaning of the word."

Asmodeus

Highkey freaking out, like, almost as hysterical as Mammon when he hears the news.

Being the Avatar of Lust, he of course knows there's a whole lot of creeps out there in the world and he is utterly terrified that his poor MC has fallen victim to one at that moment.

For once, all thoughts of himself and his looks are out the window. What? It's past 2am and MC is still gone? I can stay up another hour! Dry shampoo and a washcloth counts as a shower, right? Who the fuck cares, where's MC?? Somebody find them already!!

Pools his contact list with Satan's and starts reaching out across the whole Devildom asking for people to be on the lookout and offer tips. Also begs Solomon to use his magic to help in the search (which he's more than happy to do anyway because he cares about the MC too)

If he were to find MC first it'd be one of those rare cases where he'd be seen really truly enraged. No cute banter, no playful flirting, just telling those worthless scum-vats exactly where they belong and exactly how he's going to put them there. Is it any surprise that he's also madsick with a whip?

Crazy relieved that MC is free, but now it's on them to help him clean up and get back to his prettiest self. I mean, he worried himself half to death while they were gone! All this dirt and sweat going to take three, no four, bathes to fully clean off!! Best hop to it~♡

"Touch them one more time and I'm going to set fire to whatever landfill trash like you crawls out of!!"

Beelzebub

It can't be happening. It honestly can't be happening. First he loses Lilith and now MC?? He can't lose two. He. Can't. Lose. Two.

Pretty much the mantra going through his head as he tears the Devildom apart with his bare hands.

It's 1000x worse than how he gets when he's hungry because at least then he might stop when he finally gets fed. Now it's either find MC or wait until he collapses from exhaustion and hope he doesn’t leave the whole realm a smoldering crater before he gets that far.

There's no reasoning with him either, the best the brothers can do is steer him in a direction and let him loose.

If he found MC first he probably wouldn't even realize it for a bit, he'd just keep attacking whatever or whoever is in front of him on his path of blind destruction. It'd take the MC literally flinging themselves at him or throwing their arms around him to snap him out of it but then it's back to sweetheart Beel.

Hugs ensue. Really tight hugs. Probably a few tears and apologies too (even if it’s not really his fault at all).

Woe to anyone who tries going for the MC once he’s sure he has them because they WILL be broken then eaten. He’ll encourage his human not to look, but some things just have to be done.

Would absolutely carry MC back home and refuse to put them down until the others force him to. The floor may as well be lava planning on taking them away from him too.

Wouldn't care as much about personal vengeance as his brothers as long as MC is safe. He'll trust that his family will more than punish the kidnappers (though chances are he already took a chunk or two out of a few of them during his rampage anyway).

Protective instincts up by 100 after this, though Belphie usually steps in and eases him back a bit when he's about to get suffocating. MC never travels without a buddy now, ever. He just can't risk it.

"MC, I-I'm sorry… I just couldn’t lose you too…"

Belphegor

Keeps the coolest head of all the brothers on the outside, but there's a cold fury building up in those eyes.

Pretty much takes charge of whipping everyone back into gear with a combination stinging remarks and heavy duty guilt tripping. May not be the nicest method, but it's effective.

"Asmo, grow a freaking spine and do something useful for a change! Mammon, this your fault to start with so you ought to be breaking your ass to find them! Satan, watching you is getting embarrassing, pull yourself together and think like you're good at it!"

His harshest criticisms get saved for Lucifer (big shock) but he only dishes them out when he sees his older brother really losing his grip or teetering on losing hope. If the “mighty firstborn” can’t keep it together then why should they even listen to him in the first place?

When he's not administering "motivation," he's keeping tabs on Beel's progression through the Devildom and trying to minimize the damage there. He's the only one that can get through to him long enough to change his course if necessary.

If he were to find the MC first, well, unlike Satan he doesn't have the forethought to save the torture for later. It's happening right here, right now, and you better bet that being the last born doesn't stop him from being a force to be reckoned with.

Waits with the MC for his brothers to catch up to them and deal with any stragglers. May cuddle with them and look like he's trying to take a nap in the meantime, but in truth he's still very alert, on edge, and ready to absolutely wreck shit if anything gets too close to them.

Though it doesn't look like his lazy ass goes through the same protective streak as his brothers, he's a lot quicker to try and convince the MC to stay home now. No out and about=less chance of getting nabbed. Plus he keeps his favorite pillow, win-win. 😏

"What about your worthless lives makes you think you deserve my mercy??"

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios #shall-we-date-obey-me

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bifrosted-flakes · 3 years ago

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So I’m probably not going to finish my selkie!martin and siren!jon au bc I’ve unfortunately lost inspiration :( the good news is I’m gonna put all my ideas in this post in case anyone wants to write it/wants to use an idea in their own fic

Martin is a selkie but doesn’t know it, he gets dreams of swimming in the deep ocean and has this sense of absence of *something* but can’t figure it out

Jon is a siren. His grandma was human and he was raised on land so pairing that with his asexuality he generally feels like a really crap siren.

Tim is a werewolf and Sasha is a harpy but I didn’t really put much thought into that

Basira, Daisy, and Melanie all work under the Hunt and basically act as vigilantes/researchers for the institute (hunting down information and people)

In this AU the magnus institute is more like a place that collects the stories of non humans and helps them get set up with anything they need (safe shelters, lawyers, therapy, the Hunt tracking down their abusers, etc) oh yeah and Elias doesn’t exist

The institute is also a sort of alliance between entities, in this au the different species of non humans all exist under different powers and generally folks under the same entity have similar traits and powers though some can fall under multiple like shapeshifters who are both Flesh and Distortion and sirens who are both Vast and Eye

Artifact storage is found by going through the tunnels (don’t bother trying to navigate them properly, if you want to end up in storage you’ll get there… somehow) and is a domain of the Stranger. Some people have tried to measure the distance between it and the archives but their measurements said that they should be both under and old opera house in London and in the middle of Russia.

The archives don’t always have statements to process so they often help out in other departments. Sasha and Martin like to help with organizing artifact storage. Sometimes Martin helps them transport artifacts through Helens tunnels (they’re best friends in this au and she and Micheal are twins)

In the background of the fic there’s a whole movement of ending prejudice against non humans

England is an island so it’s mostly humans and those under the Vast but nowadays it’s a bit more mixed with other powers

The basic plot is kind of just Martin thinking he’s pining one sidedly and feeling out of place as one of the only humans at the institute (he’s wrong on both fronts) and Jon trying to court him in the selkie way he researched and getting frustrated when Martin doesn’t react (he knows Martin is a selkie bc they’re both Vast and also Jon has some Eye powers)

Martin finds his coat when taking his moms stuff the the charity shop after she decides to go into a nursing home

He lends Jon his coat one night bc Jon forgot his coat and Jon basically short circuits, this leads to Jon thinking they’re dating and Martin thinking he’s just hopelessly pining for his pretty boss

This sort of comes to a head when Jon kisses him on the cheek when Martin brings him tea and Martin just turns into a fucking tomato. Jon has to explain to him that he thought they were dating bc Martin gave him his coat and didn’t reject his selkie courting and that he’s sorry he misunderstood. Martin is like “first of all: I’m very into you and would love it if we were dating. Second of all: what the fuck do you mean I’m a selkie??????”

So yeah they’re all stupid and there’s a happy ending yayyyyyy

#jonmartin

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elvensorceress · 3 years ago

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sunrise

(the 5x03 episode coda we all deserve)

Inspired by @eric-dierr ‘s post

on AO3

There’s finality to the sound of the door shutting behind her, but the weight of more years than he’s ever known her disappears as soon as she does.

He can breathe again. He can relax. He doesn’t have to play a part. He doesn’t have to fake picture perfect, too-exaggerated-to-be-real happiness. He can finally take his home back.

The irony of his disaster kitchen is not lost on him. But he starts with a message, because it needs to be said, and he hates the idea of hurting anyone. Least of all hurting someone the way Buck was hurt.

Done. It’s over.

Is what he sends. And then goes to strip the beds and cycle the laundry and wash his whole fucking house of anything touched by her. It’s only a few minutes before he receives a response.

it go ok? r u ok?

He could be better. He could have a clean house and a clean mind and he could simply enjoy curling up with his son and finally spending time with him. Fixing everything has to come first.

It was fine. Probably. Who knows. You make it home?

Once the sheets are washing, he turns to the kitchen and who does this to someone else’s kitchen and just leaves it? He digs out gallon sized ziplock bags and fills them with the assortment of muffins and other baked goods. He’ll have to make a note to himself to take them to the station on his next shift. At least he won’t have to pretend to like bland, flavorless cooking anymore.

He checks his phone and it’s been a good ten minutes without a response, so maybe Buck decided to nap or cook or… Oh, god maybe his girlfriend is there.

At least there’s not much of anything in Eddie’s stomach right now because it twists and he’s nauseous and of all the people Buck had to pick her and it’s just… none of his business but Buck could do so much better. He deserves so much better. Though the idea of Buck with anyone is not something he wants to think about. Not that he wants Buck to be alone forever. He’s been so lonely and Eddie knows he desperately wants to be loved. But no one is ever going to be good enough for him, no one can know him well enough or love him the way he needs, he should be adored and cherished and treated like the most precious thing in existence because he is.

And that’s the most Eddie wants to think about on the subject.

He starts by unloading the dishwasher and then has to restart by organizing his cupboards back the way the dishes and cups and silverware are supposed to be organized. Halfway through the third cupboard, his phone chimes.

idk. technically. what r u up to?

He reads it and rereads their whole conversation, and sighs heavily. Buck could take his own advice. But then they’d both be alone again. One of them should at least have something? He starts typing and hesitates and knows his typing must have appeared and notified Buck that he’s working on a response. But. Should he?

Fuck it. Why not.

Cleaning up my disaster. Want to come over?

The response is immediate.

Yes

It’s another moment where he can finally breathe again. In that case, he unloads the clean dishes into a mostly empty cupboard and tries to tackle the dirty dishes in the sink before Buck shows up and sees the mess made of his kitchen.

disaster?

Is the next message that pops up on his phone and Eddie contemplates sending a picture, but some things are better left a surprise.

You’ll see.

It takes him less than fifteen minutes to walk through the door and the kitchen is only partly under control. He hears Christopher excitedly exclaim, “Buck! Buck is home! You’re here!”

And Buck’s near giddy reply of, “Christopher! You’re also home!” He laughs and Eddie has to see them.

He grabs a kitchen towel to dry his hands and finds Christopher clutched tightly in Buck’s arms, melting onto his shoulder much like he did at the station a few days ago. They both have their eyes closed tightly, swaying as if there’s joyful music only they can hear. Eddie wonders what it might take for him to hear it as well.

He swallows hard and can’t look at anything else.

Christopher lifts up and presses both of his small hands into Buck’s cheeks. “I missed you, kid.”

Buck laughs again but his eyes look glassy even though there’s something about him that is radiant sunshine after years of being lost in a cold night. “I missed you, too, buddy.” He sets Christopher down but bends to leave a kiss on his forehead. When he looks at Eddie with that glowing sunrise of a smile, Eddie can almost believe in hope and happiness and the future.

It makes him want to believe real love is still possible. That there is something, someone, in existence who might make his heart want and need and bleed love in every incarnation.

Buck lets Christopher go back to playing and follows Eddie into the kitchen. Where his expression immediately turns into something horrified. “What in the,” he glances in the direction of the other room, shuts the door and mouths quietly, “Fuck happened here?”

“I told you. Disaster.” Eddie tosses his kitchen towel onto his shoulder and returns to the kitchen sink with soaking cupcake pans.

“But,” Buck says, supremely distressed. “My kitchen.”

“I’ve been working on it,” Eddie promises. He needs to scrub down and wash away everything.

“She wasn’t even here that long. What the hell did she do? Who does this and just leaves someone else’s house like this?”

Eddie shrugs but gives him a smile. He can finally smile. A real smile in his own home. It’s almost strange now, but it’s possible. Then again, it’s always real when Buck is around. “That’s exactly what I thought.”

Buck shakes his head and goes to the cupboards to finish organizing them properly. He knows better where everything is supposed to belong anyway.

With Buck’s help, it doesn’t take long to reorganize and wipe down the entire kitchen. They put new sheets and blankets on the beds and Eddie does a quick cleaning of the bathrooms while Buck vacuums and tidies the living room. They bring the dried laundry to Christopher’s room to fold and put it away and start a load of all Eddie’s work clothes, and only then does Buck turn to him and put his hands on Eddie’s shoulders.

Eddie tries not to go weak at the touch. It feels like an eternity since they’ve hugged, since they’ve been home, since they’ve been close.

“Thank you,” Buck says softly.

Eddie looks at him, unsure, uncertain, and longing for something they can never have. “For what?”

Buck bites his lip and tears well in his eyes. “For not being Abby. For being you.”

Eddie takes a deep breath and very lightly rests a hand on Buck’s chest. Over his heart. “Thanks for being you.”

Buck bends his head and Eddie holds onto him, pulls him closer so Buck’s forehead rests against his own.

It’s so easy to believe now. He can almost feel it with how they’ve grown together, built this together. There’s something so close it feels inevitable, but he knows it’s something they chose for themselves.

When they let go, they join Christopher on the sofa and cuddle together closer than they ever have. So close Christopher wriggles out from their tight grasp because they are interrupting game time, okay? Buck looks at him for a moment but curls against Eddie’s side anyway and drifts off as they’re stretched on the couch together.

His house his clean. His life has a new page, a fresh start, it can be anything. But he knows, no matter what, they’ll have each other and their son. It’s all his heart has ever wanted, and this time, it feels as if they will have it.

@oneweirdcryptid @ashavahishta @captain-flint @phantomqueenmorrigan @loveyourownsmiilee @oldsouldreamer85 @arrenemris @fleurdebeton @rosefairyirl @holydrogo-n @free-byrd @insaneoldme @oatflatwhite @favouritealias @idealuk @racoonsa @ethicalconflictdiaz

(If anyone would like to be added to my tag list, let me know or go like this post 💕)

#buddie #buddiefanfiction #911fic #911 spoilers #buck x eddie #jenwyn fic #idk I haven't even watched the episode yet because #do I really need to???#no but #buckley diaz family #rights #they belong in the season's 3rd episode so #here you go #family cuddles because reasons

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stillness-in-green · 3 years ago

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Hi. What are your thoughts on Lady Nagant? Personally i believe she was handled rather badly.

My usual apologies, first off, for letting this sit so long, anon! Holiday season means I've been cramming giftfic writing into every spare waking moment, and I knew answering this was going to be a rant. This is, in the end, perhaps not as meticulously organized as it could be--I have a lot of thoughts, and they all spiral off into things I've talked/complained about before--but I hope this sampler platter of commentary satisfies your curiosity in any case.

The Pros: I really like Nagant conceptually; I think her design is fun; I like her interplay with Overhaul.

The Cons: She is completely squandered; her character through line makes no goddamned sense; she is perhaps the most emblematic character there is of Horikoshi's total lack of understanding of what extended solitary confinement does to people; she's a clear depiction of my worst fears of how Horikoshi will handle all the issues he's raised.

Hit the jump for the expanded thoughts!

So, I know a lot of people had issues with Nagant--that she hadn't been foreshadowed well enough, that her motives/loyalties didn't make sense, that her backstory was just too much, and so on. I'll concede that she could have been foreshadowed better, but I have exactly zero problems with any of the rest of those alleged issues. Like, if you can buy the existence of Tartarus in this setting--indefinite solitary confinement with zero enrichment and the constant threat of violent death for quirk use, no requirement that it only hold duly tried and sentenced inmates, wardens that talk about the people in their care as monsters in human skin and casually complain about all the protests about human rights violations they're always facing--I do not in any way think a covert government assassin is a bridge too far.

Why didn't anyone notice that people were going missing? Well, why would they? Nagant wouldn't have just been acting alone. Oh, sure, she had to be the one to fire, but I very much doubt that she had to do all her own cover-ups. She probably had a clean-up team of some sort, people to dispose of the bodies and any pink-and-blue evidence left behind, and to doctor crimes scenes as necessary for whatever narrative the HPSC required. I also doubt that Nagant would have been out there committing multiple acts of premeditated murder every single night; it's quite easy for me to imagine that, like Hawks, she mostly did hero work, but then got periodic assignments when the HPSC needed something done on the sly and had done enough investigatory groundwork that they could send her in for a quick assassination, rather than an extended infiltration. I imagine there were quite a few people whose job it was to both get the pieces in place and tidy the board after, and Nagant was just the quick, bloody middle.

And it makes sense! One of the things I thought was odd in the wake of Mr. Compress's big identity reveal is that Harima Oji, Robin Hood figure extraordinaire, is considered an infamous villain despite having a career brief that reads like a folk hero's. If, however, the (proto?-)HPSC realized back then that Harima had a point but that they absolutely could not openly acknowledge said point lest they undermine the public confidence, then of course a covert response is what they went with, and a demonizing of Harima after the fact. I never had the slightest problem believing Nagant's role/backstory.

I also have absolutely no issue with her being willing to throw her lot in with AFO. She never says she thinks his rule's going to be all flowers and sunshine, after all; she just doesn't want the happy pleasant façade going back up, and thinks it won't if AFO wins but will if the heroes do. Makes perfect sense to me. The woman's spent 15+ years in apparent solitary confinement for what she probably could have argued was self-defense, after spending somewhere in the neighborhood of a decade--the greater part of it as a minor!--being manipulated with a smile and encouraging words by a man 20+ years her senior. No shit she doesn't want the system rebuilding itself.

I even like the approach of her being super jaded but still comparatively kind towards Overhaul. I might question the verisimilitude of it, but from the reading I've done, it's not uncommon for people who've spent a lot of time in solitary to lose the ability to empathize with people who haven't, themselves, experienced solitary. If she sees Overhaul as someone similarly broken, I can buy that she wants to look out for him--not because she was a hero and her kindness is a sign of her buried Heroic Heart, but simply because, whatever stunted human compassion remains to her, Overhaul triggers it. (But that doesn't mean she won't drag him around and talk roughly to him and use him as bait.)

So yeah. I really enjoy Nagant from a worldbuilding perspective, and I like her personality as it's presented to us…

…All the way up to Chapter 315, which is where it all falls apart.

There are, to begin with, issues with the fight mechanics themselves. Deku should be having difficulties with parallel processing, but for some strange reason, even though lip service is paid to that issue, neither the relatively new Smokescreen nor the on-its-first-outing Fa Jin give him enough problems for Nagant to land a hit on him square. Black Whip is now treated as such a solid substance that Deku can detach it from his person, despite the fact that it apparently wasn't solid enough that he was worried about Shigaraki decaying it (and through it, him and the other people he was holding) back at Jakku.

Deku, a studious kid but not one who's a genius with numbers, is somehow able to precisely calculate trajectories (despite the fact that Nagant can curve bullets) and distances (despite the fact that it's dark and raining and Nagant can fire at different velocities). Further, even though Nagant clearly has a level of control over the shape her gun takes--sometimes it has a tripod, sometimes a sight, sometimes hideous bulging to boost aforementioned velocity--Deku breaking it once puts it out of commission instead of just meaning she has to put it away and then reform it again good as new.

But that's just logistics quibbling. The worse problem by far is how incoherent her characterization is. I joked about this with friends a while back but it really does boil down to this:

Nagant: Your hero training beat one thing into you above all others--that you can't let people die on your watch.

Deku: *doesn't let Overhaul die on his watch*

Nagant: *shocked Pikachu face*

It makes no sense to me that Nagant should be impressed by the (alleged) strength of Deku's ideals. None. The fact that some teenaged hero student is an idealist in exactly the way she believes he has been trained to be does not in any way invalidate her stance. Her entire contention is that the current system enables some people to live in blissful ignorance while all the dirty work gets shoveled off onto others. Deku gives her a couple nice lines, but I can think of no reason that nice lines would work on someone who says in that very moment that platitudes make her want to puke.

And Deku's words are platitudes, however much he might believe them in the moment. Remember, that whole fight accompanies the return of Overhaul, the man who explicitly called out Shigaraki as lacking a defined plan for how to achieve his grand goals! Deku is the same--he doesn't offer Nagant any specifics, not the smallest scrap of a concrete, practical action plan, just a lot of vagary about "fighting by our side" and "bringing light to the dark." Yet somehow, he doesn't get called out for it.

And frankly? For a kid who's so allegedly driven by a mad desire to save, he sure does fall back on talk of "dealing with" Shigaraki the red hot second All For One gets under his skin. Nor does he have the slightest shred of compassion to offer the psychologically shattered Overhaul, despite earlier claiming to regret not having been able to understand the man. But sure, Deku's the kid who's got the spine, gumption and political savvy to take on the entire system All Might and the HPSC have built and rebuild it to be more willing to try to understand villains rather than just beat them down.

Platitudes. It's those sorts of platitudes that are at the heart of my fears for My Hero Academia: that Horikoshi has raised all these legit issues, put faces on them via people like Nagant and the League and post-Tartarus Overhaul and the heteromorph giantess and on and on and on, but ultimately, he won't know how to actually address them with the appropriate gravity. Instead, we have gotten and will continue to get moments like these:

Deku's idealism winning over a woman presented as loathing idealists by doing exactly what she expected him to do, just slightly faster than she expected him to do it.

The desperately shallow attempts to engage with the real pain and loss suffered by the civilians, typified by a girl telling a crowd of refugees, any number of whom she herself might have pulled out from under the rubble of their collapsed homes, that "only heroes" are covered in mud and blood.

The neat disposal of nearly all of the 115,000 dissatisfied people who made up the MLA and the wildly illegal dissolution of their actual, legitimate political party.

The alleged fact of half the hero population of the country dying or retiring despite the fact that, conveniently for the audience, of all those hundreds upon hundreds of dead or retiring heroes, exactly one of them is a character that the audience could reasonably be expected to have any significant emotional attachment to. And the next-most relevant character after Midnight is Death Arms. I'm sure he has his fans, but come on.

The writing-off of villains in whom Deku and Friends can't personally find any redeeming value in favor of the """villain trio"""; pretending that saving three (3) villains with known sad backstories and personal connections to the main characters indicates any systemic change whatsoever.

The worrying possibility that the extreme bigotry faced by heteromorphs will be addressed by Shouji showing up to be the model for reform by being a good kid who's not too angry or too radical about it (which just so happens to translate to him never showing anger at all and bending over backwards to fit into the status quo).

The fact that the most significant threat to the heroes' moral high ground, the HPSC, was neatly dealt with by Clone Re!Destro without a single good-aligned character ever having to lift a finger to oppose them, much less risk actual license revocation and the criminal arrest warrant that gets issued against vigilantes the cops no longer feel like tacitly ignoring.

It's just…my god, I just don't get how the worldbuilding can be so nuanced and interesting while every attempt to engage with and address the issues raised by that worldbuilding is so facile. My problems with the war arc were mostly about my character favoritism. Everything since? Ties back to the egregious speedrunning and handwaving the series has been doing of all the conflicts it spent 300 chapters setting up.

Nagant, obviously, didn't have 300 chapters of set up, but she represents the darkest heart of Hero Society while, at the same time, her fate jumpstarts Deku's slide into his own darkest hour. For any of that to work, she needed so, so much better than the perfunctory treatment the narrative gave her.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #bnha critical #bnha meta #lady nagant #my writing #stillness has salt #stillness answers

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wonder-kid-pugh · 4 years ago

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This isn't Funny - (Rose Lavelle x reader)

Not really up to my usual standard but I thought I would post it anyways? Hope you like it.

April 1st also known as the worst day of the year for Rose Lavelle.

The day was just an absolute pain for the midfielder. It didn't help that being apart of the Uswnt also meant putting up with the multitude of pranks that you risk the chance of stumbling apun. Being teammates with people like Sonnet, Kelley and Pinoe didn't help either.

But they were nothing compared to Y/n

Y/n L/n, Rose's beautiful, lovely girlfriend was the worst prankster on the team. No one was safe from her pranks not even Rose herself. Rose was able to reel her in once they started dating minimizing the amount of pranks she pulled. She was able to keep her in line with the threat of no cuddles or kisses. It did help that Y/n's love language was touch and she would absolutely die if she didn't get her daily cuddles from her girlfriend.

But April Fool's was an entirely different story

April fool's day was the only day she had complete uncontrollable reign over her pranks. Within reason. Rose wasn't that dumb to not to set some ground rules. So when this camp happened to roll around on April 1st it was safe to say that everyone was on high alert for one of Y/n's pranks.

Rose gently cracked open the door to the meal room. She pushed open the door fully before quickly stepping out of the door frame. But she scrunches her face when nothing happens. "It's all clear!" She hears someone inside the room.

Rose pokes her head in to see the majority of the team are down eating breakfast. Rose walks in septical of the lack of pranks, "Nothing?" Becky shrugs, "We already checked the entire room as far as we know it's prank free". Rose frowns before shaking her head, "That's not possible. Y/n loves classic pranks there's no way she didn't at least put a bucket above the door or something!"

"Maybe she slept in too late to set it up" Alyssa suggests sipping her coffee. With a quick scan of the room Rose shakes her head again, "She was already gone when I woke up I thought she would be down here". Carli hums, "Now that you mention it. It does seem too quiet down here". Christen sends the midfielder a reassuring smile, "I'm sure she's fine Rose. I'd say she's just setting up some elaborate prank to pull on the team". Rose hesitantly nods, "Yeah probably".

Waving goodbye to the older players of the team she quickly grabs some food before heading over to her usual table. "Hey Rosie" Mal hums as she sits down across from her. "Hi" she says back while digging into her scrambled eggs. "Where's the devil you call a girlfriend?" Kelley asks.

Kelley, Sonnet, Pinoe and Ash were common targets of Y/n's pranks. Purely because when she first joined the team they saw her as the perfect target for their pranks. So Y/n saw this as payback and as it as justice for all the times they pranked the rest of the team. Rose secretly knew it was because she was staking her claim as best prankster on the team but she wouldn't tell them that and start a prank war because that wouldn't end well for anyone.

Rose bites the inside of her cheek, "I don't know..." Lindsey groans, "She's probably out setting up all her pranks for today". Mal pouts, "I hate April Fool's Day. I somehow always stumble into one of her pranks".

She did. She always somehow finds a way of walking into one of Y/n's pranks meant for someone else by accident. Like the time she borrowed Lindsey's hairdryer only to get a face full of flour.

They started strategizing straight away. It was common knowledge that Y/n loved classic pranks, all the old school ones. She always made sure to pull at least one every year. But then she always upped the antee with a more elaborate prank which would leave the team in stitches on whichever poor soul happened to stumble into it.

But as they started discussing ways of avoiding Y/n's pranks, Rose couldn't help but feel nervous. By the sounds of it no one had seen the forward yet today and that didn't sit well with Rose. Hoping to ease her nerves, she texted her hoping to at least know she was okay wherever she was. But as it was getting closer to the end of breakfast and there was still no sign of her and still no text telling her whereabouts, that's when Rose started to freak out slightly.

"You okay Rose? You seem really fidgety today?" Alex asked as she passed the midfielder who kept glancing at the door. Rose bites her lip, "I'm fine it's just I haven't seen Y/n all day". Alex gives her a small smile, "I'm sure she's fine she's probably setting up some pranks somewhere". Alex balances Charlie on her hip, "I just hope she doesn't have anything planned for me". Rose waves her off, "She doesn't. She said she didn't want to risk Charlie getting caught in the crossfire and thought you earned a break with your pregnancy and all". Alex grins and at the mention of Y/n, Charlie started to gurgle happily while clapping her hands.

Kelley whines, "What? That's no fair!" "Just because Charlie has Y/n wrapped around her finger..." Sonnet grumbles. Rose rolls her eyes at the two but Alex purses her lips. "Now that you mention it, it is weird...Y/n promised to take Charlie today while I organized some business stuff" Alex say to Rose. Now this causes Rose to frown.

One thing that everyone knew was that Y/n adored Charlie. She absolutely loves the child. She was always the first to volunteer to babysit her to give Alex some time off. And Charlie was always happy to see Y/n. It was extremely cute to see the two interact and it was clear that Y/n would do anything for the littlest Morgan.

And Rose wasn't going to lie, seeing Y/n with Charlie gave her major baby fever and found it extremely attractive.

Now this causes Rose to frown, "What? That doesn't make sense. Y/n never misses a chance to play with Charlie..." Alex shrugs, "All I know is Y/n said she would take Charlie after breakfast". This didn't ease any of Rose's nerves.

Mal sends her friend a reassuring smile, "I'm sure she's fine Rose. Maybe she just forgot. You know how she gets on April Fool's". Rose sighs, "Yes but she would never forget about hanging out with Charlie. And she still hasn't answered any of my texts".

"Okay how about this. We give it an hour and if Y/n still hasn't shown up, we have a look around for her" Sam proposes. Rose bites her lip but nods, "Fine".

But one hour turns into two and Y/n still hadn't showed up. And even after searching the entire hotel, none of the team had found their missing teammate. "Nothing?" Rose asks as Christen, Tobin, Becky and Alyssa, the last group walk in. But they all shake their heads. "Sorry Rose still no sight of her" Tobin sighs.

"There isn't even a sign of a prank anywhere" Pinoe frowns. "That's unheard of for Y/n" Crystal comments. "She still won't answer her phone" Tierna sighs after trying to call the forward again. Everyone was quiet wondering where their lost teammate could be.

"Okay hear me out" Sonnet starts causing everyone to look at her, "could this be some complex prank Y/n planned? To get us all worried about her 'missing'" But Rose was quick to answer.

"No she wouldn't do that. She loves pranks but she wouldn't take it this far" Rose says adamantly. "Has anyone tried her apartment?" Christen asked. They all look between each other.

Christen sighs, "Okay let's go". Rose bolts up and is already out the door before anyone could stop her. Thankfully camp was in Utah this month. And due to Y/n playing for the Royals she had an apartment here for during the season.

Rose had a spare key just in case of emergencies which she decided this was one of them. But even as they walked in, Rose already knew she wasn't there. Y/n had a thing with silence. She grew up in a house with 4 brothers. She never got a bit of peace and quiet. She hated silence. It's a reason Y/n always carried earphones with her. When things get too quiet she starts playing music to fill the void. So when Rose walked into a quiet apartment she knew Y/n wasn't here.

Rose takes this time to try and call her again. But she sighs when the call rings out and goes to voicemail. When the voicemail beeps Rose sighs and rubs her temple, "C'mon Y/n this isn't funny anymore. I'm really worried about you. Please call me back". She ends the call and looks around the apartment for any clues where her girlfriend could be.

Christen and the others just send her sad looks though when they search the entire apartment but find no trace of the girl. Rose felt like tearing her hair out.

But then her phone rang

She didn't even check it before she was fumbling to answer it, "Y/n?!" But instead of the cheerful voice of her girlfriend, she heard a woman speak down the phone, "Is this Rose Lavelle?" Rose squeezes the phone tighter, "Yes this is she". "I'm calling as you are the emergency contact for Y/n L/n. She was brought in earlier today for a head injury".

Rose clasped her hand over her mouth trying to stop the gasp from leaving her mouth. "Is she okay?" "She's okay. A little roughed up but she'll be fine". Rose lets out a small sigh of relief, "What hospital?" After finding out what hospital she was at and telling the team they were quickly off again. Rose was already jumping from the car before Tobin had even come to a complete stop.

Rose rushes up to the reception, "Uh hi I'm the emergency contact for Y/n L/n. I got a call she was here?" The nurse nods and checks the computer before smiling at the midfielder, "If you would follow me".

Rose followed closely behind her. When she walks into the room she sees Y/n smiling dopely at her, "Hi!" Rose stares at her stunned for a second before she takes three quick strides to her girlfriend.

"Ow!"

Y/n pouts as she rubs her arm that Rose just hit, "Why would you hit me? I'm literally in a hospital!" Rose sniffles as she slaps her arm again, "Do you know how worried I was? Why haven't you been answering your phone?" She frowns as she takes Rose's hand in her, mostly to make sure she didn't hit her again, "My phone is shattered I couldn't answer it the screen was too destroyed".

Rose's eyes drifted up to Y/n's forehead to see stitches above her right eye and a bruise blooming on her jaw. Her hand lifted up to touch her forehead but Y/n flinched away. Rose frowns, "What happened?" Y/n pursued her lips, "I was jumped when I went out this morning to get supplies for April Fool's".

Rose frowns as her hand grazed over her bruising jaw but this time she doesn't flinch away and instead nuzzles into her touch. "I'm sorry for worrying you" Y/n whispers kissing the pad of Rose's thumb affectionately. Rose shakes her head, "I'm just glad your okay".

Y/n grins at her girlfriend, "I know it looks bad but I totally kicked their asses". Rose couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sure you did babe". Y/n raises an eyebrow, "Seriously I totally had them. They got lucky that there was two of them and they caught me off guard. Otherwise it would be them here and not me". Rose giggles and kisses her forehead gently, "Whatever you say tough guy".

"You know we would have enjoyed our prank free day if we weren't so worried about you" Sonnett teases. Everyone laughs while Y/n pouts, "I can't believe I missed April Fool's Day! I had so many good pranks planned!" The older players shook their heads at her while the younger players silently cheered at they wouldn't fall victim to her pranks.

"I know you missed April Fool's Day but I might know something that would cheer you up" Alex says stepping forward. Y/n's smile immediately brightens as she sees who sees the small child in Alex's arms, "Charlie!" The littlest member of the Carrasco Morgan Family gurgled and babbled happily and made grabby hands at the forward.

The team watch as Y/n blows a raspberry against the child's cheek causing her to sequel. They watched happily as their now found teammate plays with the small child. Rose couldn't stop the smile spreads across her face as she watches her girlfriend play with Charlie. She couldn't help but think how great Y/n was with kids. Even though she scared the shit out of her today.

The one thing Rose did know was Y/n would be a great mother.

#rose lavelle imagines #rose lavelle x reader #rose lavelle imagine #rose lavelle #uswnt imagine #uswnt x reader #uswnt imagines

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onceupona-chaos · 4 years ago

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SJM setting up a forbidden romance

(And why I think ACOSF was written to set up Elriel)

This is my interpretation and obviously an Elriel post. So if that's not your cup of tea, be warned.

I made this post to basically organize my thoughts and then I decided to post it (lol). Here I talk why I think Elriel will be endgame based on my perspective that SJM already set up a lot of things that point to Elriel and a forbidden romance.

ACOSF is the first book of a new trilogy, which means SJM wrote it with an overarching plot in mind that we began to know in ACOSF. So whatever happens in ACOTAR5 is a direct consequence of the events in ACOSF.

For example, SJM won't kill Koschei and write another plot. She made her decisions when she was writing ACOSF and the overarching plot already started to be established.

I already made a post talking about the plot. I think Elain is the only character that can move the plot forward, because she's Made, therefore she can find the fourth trove and she has a connection with Koschei, which combined with how little we know about her and her powers makes her the perfect main character. But here I want to talk a little about how Sarah wrote ACOSF preparing Elain's character in terms of romance and how she set up a future forbidden romance.

At this point, it is canon that Elain is Azriel's secret, I'm not going to talk too much about, because you can check this amazing post here.

SJM structured the first book of the new trilogy around the ideia that something is deeply tormenting Azriel to the point he can't sleep and then we find out he has a secret. The bonus chapter made it canon: his secret is Elain, so there's no going back from that.

Just from the book, we know that there's something wrong with Elain and, whatever it is, she is hiding it.

Elain had already departed with Feyre, claiming she had to be up with the dawn to tend to an elderly faerie’s garden. Cassian didn’t exactly know why he suspected this wasn’t true. There had been some tightness in Elain’s face as she’d said it.

Alright, so the regular reader knows something is up with these two characters. (That alone is already a reason for the next book be about them, but moving on)

But when ACOSF is read with the perspective of a future forbidden romance in mind, we understand precisely why SJM needed us to know some very specific information.

Azriel's personality traits

SJM highlighted specific personality traits of our bat boy:

Az had a vicious competitive streak. It wasn’t boastful and arrogant, the way Cassian knew he himself was prone to be, or possessive and terrifying like Amren’s. No, it was quiet and cruel and utterly lethal. Cassian had lost track of how many games they’d played over the centuries, with one of them certain of a win, only for Az to reveal some master strategy. Or how many games had been reduced to only Rhys and Az left standing, battling it out over cards or chess until the middle of the night, when Cassian and Mor had given up and started drinking.

Sarah made a show to tell the reader the fact that Azriel is competitive, so she needs us to remember that.

That whole scene had one job: to emphasize that Azriel is competitive and strategist.

Now, if Azriel is giving up on Elain and moving on to another character, why bother to let the reader know he doesn't give up easily? If he is going to just give up on the only female that is making him get over his five hundred years passion, why bother to write a scene where he spares with Cassian only to tell the reader that?

Mostly important, why tell the reader that in countless times, Azriel seemed to be loosing, but he turned things around and won?

He's a strategist. Don't forget he planned his strategy for the snowball fight for a year.

“It seems you’ve forgotten how much of spying is waiting for the right moment. People don’t engage in their evil deeds when it’s convenient to you.”

Cassian rolled his eyes. “I stopped spying because it bored me to death. I don’t know how you put up with this all the time.”

“It suits me.” Azriel didn’t halt his sharpening, though shadows gathered around his feet.

When I read this for the first time, I honestly hadn't understood the meaning of the shadows gathering around his feet and it clearly had a deeper meaning.

But reading again, SJM used Cassian's character to emphasize that Azriel waits for the right moment all the time. Not only when he is spying. Being patient, calculating, persistent are arguably Azriel's strongest personality traits, at least the ones that are highlighted in ACOSF. Sarah is letting us know Azriel plays the long game and doesn't give up.

Every information SJM is giving us regarding Azriel (and Elain, more on her later) is essencial for a forbidden romance story. If you know what's going on with these characters, all pieces of information just... click together.

Elain's personality traits

This is a bit more complicated, mostly because Elain is passing through an inner change, which means being prepared for her arc.

However, SJM compared Elain to Azriel in ACOSF:

“Elain was the only one who guessed. She caught me vomiting two mornings in a row.” She nodded toward Azriel. “I think she’s got you beat for secret-keeping.”

We already know from ACOMAF that Elain is good at secret-keeping. But here SJM not only reminded us that, but she compared Elain to Azriel in secret-keeping, emphasizing both of them are probably the best in secrecy among the IC.

Remember: these two characters are clearly hiding something in ACSF. It's not a coincidence that SJM compared them in this case.

She scanned Elain from head to toe, wondering if she’d been taking lessons in stealth either from Azriel or the two half-wraiths she called friend.

SJM compared Elain's abilities to Azriel's (and his spies) not once, but twice. And if you take into consideration the previous books, it's not the first time she compares these two characters.

Both of them showed defiant behavior

Defiant: refusing to obey authority

Elain:

“What happened.”

When Rhys spoke like that, it was more of a command than a question.

Elain waved a hand in dismissal before flinging open the veranda doors and striding into the open air.

And of course, he have that fight with Nesta. Nesta isn't exactly authority, but she was described as "Elain's guardian", which means their relationship was at least a little hierarchical.

Azriel:

“No,” Feyre and Rhys said at the same time, in the same breath.

Azriel’s eyes shuttered. “I wasn’t asking for permission.”

“We take no risks,” Feyre said, voice flat with command. “Pull all your spies out.”

“Like hell I will.”

Honestly, is this the guy people are thinking that's going to give up on Elain because of Rhy???????

SJM deliberately let us know about them getting over their previous LI

I've seen a lot o people arguing that "they can't be endgame, because the first couple never is".

But... are we forgetting that they were in love with two different people before?

When Elain met Azriel she was deeply in love with Graysen, and he was still into Mor. The readers didn't even know about Mor sexuality then.

Until ACOFAS, we can see that both of them are not entirely over their LI yet.

Elain:

“I don’t want a mate. I don’t want a male.”

She wanted a human man.

Azriel:

Azriel choked on what I could have sworn was a laugh, his normally shadowed face lighting up as Mor bustled in.

Az, to his credit, gave Mor a smile of thanks, a blush creeping over his cheeks, his hazel eyes fixed on her. I looked away at the heat, the yearning that filled them.

However, we get to see that they are slowly getting closer. Azriel shows he's uncomfortable in spying on Lucien, Elain's throat bobbs at the sight of him, he seeks her out to wish happy Solstice, she gives him a present, they stay up past three in the morning talking and on and on.

Months go by. We already knew they are getting closer and then we have this:

Elain:

She knew Elain had given her maidenhead to Graysen a month before they’d been turned Fae. Elain had been glowing the next morning.

Elain cocked her head. Didn’t dissolve into the crying mess she usually became when Graysen came up.

Elain was glowing: she was in love, happy. She loved Graysen. And now she is getting over him. Not only that: SJM made sure to tell us she has had sex before (and enjoyed very much lol). Elain is clearly being prepared for her arc in terms of character development, plot and romance.

And Azriel:

Mor no longer sat beside Cassian, draped herself over him, and Azriel … those longing glances toward her had become few and far between. As if he’d given up. After five hundred years, he’d somehow given up.

Few and far between. It's a process for both of them to move on. At first they were friendly and then it became something more.

Azriel didn't wake up one day, realized that his brothers were mated to Elain's sisters and went: WAIT A MINUTE I WANT ONE. I would argue he showed interest in Elain since their first meet, just like Cassian showed interest in Nesta. However, Nesta and Cassian weren't in love for anyone else, differently from Elain and Azriel.

Also, Elain and Azriel are very much quieter in comparison, so... it makes sense that they needed more time to get closer and be romantic interested in each other.

But again: why bother to tell us both of them are moving on from their previous LI? Why tell us Azriel doesn't give up easily? Why tell us they are both good at keeping secrets and are hiding something?

SJM knew exactly what she was doing.

#pro elain #elriel #pro elriel

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multiplefandomsblog · 4 years ago

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Celeste x reader x Kirigiri SFW & NSFW head-canons

request; celeste x reader x kirigiri? :o

warnings; fluff, i really don’t think there’s any explicit warnings in the sfw part, nsfw section: handcuffs, edging, i didn’t put any explicit descriptions of sex nor scenarios, degrading names, gn!reader, vanilla, mention of vampire roleplay, biting, unedited.

note; sorry i took so long!! I had to study their wiki pages and shit to remember their characters, its been some time since I’ve played THH. anyway, thank you for requesting. also sorry if this was a bit lazy, i feel like i didn’t do this one as well as the others, i’m really sorry.

≈SFW≈

◊ Okay, I feel like Celestia would be the one to spoil the both of you rotten. She’s always buying all three of you matching clothes so you could go out together looking ✨fly✨

◊ If you or Kyoko ever tried denying her outfits, she’d be a bit flustered and upset though she wouldn’t show it. Buuut eventually, you both cave in because you can notice the difference in her attitude, however slight it may be.

◊ “S/o, Kyoko, my darlings. I may have gotten carried away, but I think you both would look wondrous in these- Oh. You don’t… want them? I see. *sad face* Alright then, I guess I’ll just… I..” Yuuuup, you broke her. Congratulations, you jerk.

◊ Whatever gender you may be, it doesn’t matter, she will buy you a huge fluffy dress (But if you’re not comfortable with it, she’d totally be willing to get you something else).

◊ Celestia calls you both her darlings. She’s always saying hers, or mine in front of your names and/or pet names.

◊ Kyoko isn’t big on pet names, whether she’s on the receiving end or serving; though she doesn’t mind it when either of you calls her one. Just nothing too ridiculous, she’ll flush an adorable shade of red but scold you for it later. She prefers just calling you both by name.

◊ The caring one of the relationship would either have to be you or Celestia. Kyoko doesn’t take care of herself too well, as she’s very passionate about her job; so passionate to the point where she forgets that she’s human and that her very human body needs food and sleep.

◊ Celestia takes care of herself extremely well, I imagine she has a very strict skin routine and diet. But since she’s also passionate about her job, I imagine there would be times where a round of gambling goes extremely long or tie, but she’d be very adamant on winning so she’d go a little over the top and stay there for days, weeks if she had to.

◊ That being said, they are both very passionate about their jobs so I feel that they are unfortunately prone to neglecting you at times. But don’t worry! They always make it up to you 10x more, and it’s always worth it.

◊ Kyoko would probably make it up to you both by trying to be a bit more affectionate with you. She is well aware that she isn’t always affectionate, so she thinks if she gives you guys a bit more affection, you’ll forgive her? ...Please?

◊ Bbgirl is trying-

◊ Most likely though, she’d talk to you first. A formal apology and everything, if you’re lucky, she’ll buy you a stuffed animal or flowers as she apologizes.

◊ Since Celestia is just, a very fancy and aesthetic person, I feel like all dates with her would reflect that same fancy aesthetic. She goes out of her way to set up a fancy table at a reserved place where none of you can be disturbed. Expensive teas, china, scones, sweets, those little stands with the layers of pastries; she has it all ready for you two.

◊ You’d all be sitting on cute chairs sipping tea in cute cups, butlers at your every need, it’s a really cute almost dream-like date. Kyoko would talk about her cases(leaving out things that are confidential of course,) you’d talk about everything and anything, and Celestia would just quietly listen to you both talk, a small smile adorning her face. She loves taking care of the both of you, the reason why she has dates like these are for,

She wants to spend time with her darlings because she misses them.

She wants you both to relax and destress, she hates the idea of either of you overworking or forgetting to take care of yourself.

◊ Though if you’re not into that, the closest thing that isn’t fancy or organized(though it would take some time for her to practice not being organized) would be a picnic date. With a very very wide blanket. That’s thick. And lots of bug spray.

◊ Dates with Kyoko would probably be short coffee breaks, she doesn’t have a lot of time sadly, so halfway through the date, she finishes her coffee and leaves early, leaving you and Celestia to spend the rest of the time together.

◊ Dates with her would mostly just be when all three of you go to bed, talking about each other’s days or just talking about stuff that has zero meaning as you all fall asleep.

◊ It kind of makes her a bit upset when you and Celestia have an inside joke or seem a bit closer; as much as she loves seeing you both happy with each other, she can’t help but want to be in on it too. She feels a bit guilty for being so busy with her job.

◊ So when she does feel a bit left out, I think a way to make her feel more included would be small little ‘I love you’ texts while she’s working or even better, surprising her by picking her up on her lunch date to get a quick lunch.

◊ I think something domestic Kyoko enjoys a lot, is when either of you cooks a bento for her. You can really cook something terrible for her, or even ugly, she doesn’t care; she loves it so much. It’s the thought that you would cook for her that gets her. When she comes back home, the first thing she will do is thank you and hug you real tight. It’s one of the more rare moments where she actually displays feelings of love and gratitude.

◊ Despite getting judgemental looks from Byakuya and aw’s from Hina, in the end, Kyoko doesn’t care one bit. She will eat and enjoy the food in its entirety, she doesn’t care if it affects her reputation as a cold person, she just wants to eat the food.

◊ Though she is unfazed by practically everything, she gets a bit taken aback that you cooked food for her, the shock is evident on her face when you hand it to her before she goes, or drop it off at lunch hour. I don’t think she ever had anyone cook meals for her, or at least, doesn’t remember it; so she’s always pretty shocked when you do. She feels her heart palpitate a little louder and maybe smiles a little smile when you’re not looking. She appreciates it a lot.

◊ Though Celestia doesn’t cook, I think you’d have to be the one to cook for Kirigiri. Celestia enjoys gyoza a whole lot, so if you were ever to cook gyoza for her… well, she’d probably be brutally honest about what she thinks about it. Though she’d give you constructive criticism, and eventually you’d get it right through trial and error and Celestia’s taste buds.

◊ Celestia isn’t big on public areas for dates, like movie theatres, for example. If you ever wanted to watch a movie, she’d probably rent an entire movie theatre for just you three to chill in. As you can see, she’s not too big on being with large groups of people, or just anywhere that isn’t exactly ‘clean’.

◊ I don’t think either of them would be one for PDA either. Other than mild flirting from Celestia, you all don’t do PDA at all. But there’s this intimate vibe that you all seem to share that has people assume you’re all on a date together. It’s like this bubble, it’s quite peculiar.

◊ Celestia would never lose her cool because of you both, only for you both. But even so, she avoids losing it in front of your eyes. If she ever had to fight someone for you or intimidate them, she would probably ask you to go occupy yourselves with something else so she could go off without hesitating.

◊ Though if she was ever about to lose it and either of you notices it, a simple hold of her hand calms her down immediately. Her rage wordlessly disappears. She’ll even give you guys a small little forehead kiss in thanks.

◊ Kyoko’s an ‘it’s the thought that counts’ kind of person. So whenever you or Celestia spoil her with expensive gifts, she’ll enjoy it but she’s a bit concerned about how you’re spending so much money on her. She honestly prefers handmade gifts; whether they’re crafty or a bit imperfect, she cherishes them more than you know.

≈NSFW≈

◊ Oh boy. *cracks knuckles* here we go.

◊ Kyoko hides her moans and expressions, she was raised not to show any unsightly emotions and so, that(sadly) comes into play in bed.

◊ Oh but Celestia teases her until she does, to get that satisfying plead out of Kyoko Kirigiri of all people, it drives her near mad in love.

◊ Kyoko is definitely vanilla, and would probably want to stay vanilla. There aren’t many things she’s into, as a result of not knowing any kinks. I don’t think she’d be too willing to try any kinks either. Unless you explain it to her, then maybe. Just maybe.

◊ Kyoko is a soft dom- HAH just kidding! The moment you admit just a little bit of top energy on her, she submits easily. Not in the typical way you’d think, but she’d let you do all the work, you’d have to guide her. I don’t think she has any sexual experience, so she’d have sex relying on you both(for once).

◊ That’s where Celestia comes into play. I don’t know if this is canon or you know, but I head-canon that she has a surprising amount of sexual knowledge and kinks.

◊ Kyoko isn’t the biggest fan of you and Celestia having intercourse without her, as I mentioned earlier, she does get a little left out, so knowing that you left her out of something as intimate as sex gets her mad for a couple of days. Even holds a small grudge.

◊ But it wouldn’t last long, you both would eventually make it up to her since she doesn’t exactly enjoy discussing her feelings, you would have to be the one to speak up first.

◊ Celeste would definitely ask you both if you were ever interested in trying out role-play with her, specifically; vampire role-play.

◊ Speaking of vampires, she really enjoys it when you lightly bite her. Not enough to leave a mark, if you leave marks on her she’ll get mad. Though she enjoys leaving marks on you both, she enjoys those short moments where someone stares at you guys’ hickeys and she just,, gives them a knowing, intense glare.

◊ Celestia isn’t big on degrading you both unless it’s something like, “My good little mutt.” Degrading names, sure. But not full-on degrading. She lies all the time but lying about this doesn’t sit right with her, she doesn’t want to hurt you both in any way.

◊ Celestia enjoys being praised, it definitely gets her to spare you an orgasm if she’s edging you. You really have to praise her about everything about her for her to actually let you get off; although Kyoko is known to be silent, Celestia somehow gets her to plead for her. As a result of teasing lies like, “If you don’t obey, you won’t get to get off darling.”

◊ Celestia dominates both of you, simultaneously. Kyoko doesn’t have enough confidence in her ability to please you both to top, and unless you are somehow able to overpower her, she’s always going to be the one who orders you to do things.

◊ I can totally imagine Kyoko littering millions of butterfly kisses on both your bodies, but they’re so soft and cute you both start to giggle a bit. “Why are you laughing? Is it bad?” She looks genuinely confused and a little sad- and then that both shocks you into showering her with reassurances, any leftover lick of laughter completely vanished.

◊ Celestia is a huge tease- like, just, the biggest tease. She’ll hover her lips over yours, blow at where you need it most, foreplay lasts longer than you would want it to, but in all honesty, it definitely makes the first stroke of pleasure well worth it. All that anticipation, build-up, is all worth it as she finally gives you what you want.

◊ Kyoko is more intimate, every moment with her is just, so full of love it gives you whiplash from Celestia’s little fun. She always has a hand on your back. It’s such a soft and fleeting touch, you both sometimes wonder if it’s even there.

◊ Something I could imagine happening is Celestia just- pulling out soft hand-cuffs from nowhere as a surprise for the two of you, asking you to tie her up. Seeing as how Kyoko is usually around handcuffs often from her detective work, she’s a little confused as to why people would get turned on from that or even introduce that to the bedroom. It’s the last thing she’d expect. She’s a bit nervous to use them(receiving and serving), and doesn’t see the purpose, but when she caves in and says yes anyway, she finds she actually likes them?

◊ She wouldn’t admit it though. And it definitely ruins her image of handcuffs; any time she sees a perp in handcuffs, she can just see the pleased looks on your and Celestia’s faces.

◊ Celestia would look down at you with this red gaze that leaves the two of you utterly speechless and aroused, even as she’s bottoming, her piercing gaze reminds you who’s in charge.

215 notes · View notes

shurisneakers · 4 years ago

Text

shut in [8]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: cursing, implied abuse, death, implied ptsd, injuries, guns, anxiety

Word count: 4.2k

A/N: oh my god oh my god sam stans how are we feeling djkghdfjkhgdf. no thoughts only sam wilson in ep1 of tfatws <333

i also appreciate feedback so if you would like to, please consider dropping me an ask or comment ly guys!!

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

“Hey, I’m just going to step out for today.” You looked up from the doodle you were making on the corner of the paper. “Catch you later? Just find me if you need anything.”

“You okay?” You automatically sat up straighter, blanket creasing under you. Something was amiss in his body language.

“Yeah, just-” He seemed like he was struggling for words. “-Brooklyn.”

You didn’t get what he was making a reference to until it suddenly dawned on you.

It was the codeword he had suggested right at the beginning of your time in the house. If he was in danger you were sure he’d tell you, at least an inkling of information.

But no, this was for some time alone, further confirmed by the distant look in his eyes.

“Oh.” You blinked. “Take all the time you need. I’ll be here if you need.”

He gave you a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, turning around and leaving the room.

You were left staring after him, the drawing you were making of the house layout discarded on the bed. You were working on strategies, vantage points- anything that could help in case something went wrong.

Was it because of the dumb ‘moment’ you had shared two days ago? It didn’t seem like it because he hadn’t brought it up at all and God knows you would never. Was it something else that had happened, something you did?

Stop overthinking. He probably just needs a day to himself.

You had spent almost a month in each other’s company and he had never once complained. He had a tendency to be petty about minor inconveniences, like you trying to watch a movie when his favourite segment on the local news channel was going on. He liked the cooking show they hosted.

He had never made it a point to specifically tell you that he needed some time to himself, much less use the word.

“Get yourself together,” you whispered to yourself, shaking off the nagging feeling you had.

If he had an issue, he would have voiced it. He never shied away from doing that before and you knew he wouldn’t start now.

You forced yourself to think about something else, grabbing the copy of American Gods you had already gone over once before but were subjecting to a reread. Opening the page you had last left it at, you were determined to distract yourself.

Nearly twenty minutes later and exactly zero pages since you had started, you realised that no matter how much you forced yourself to get into it, you went over the same line over and over again, not a single word registering in your head.

“Motherfucker,” you groaned, letting the book fall on your face. You took a long look outside the window, mind drifting.

It was a nice day out. Maybe some sun would help.

You lifted your legs off the bed, taking your book with you to the kitchen. You could get a nice sandwich-- the same as the last three fuckin’ weeks but you digressed-- a glass of water, and you could sit outside for a while. A mini picnic.

You opened a new packet of sliced bread, taking two out before stopping. You pondered over whether you should make him a sandwich for when he returned, knowing that he didn’t eat lunch before he left.

You thought about it for a good minute before rolling your eyes, pulling out two additional slices to make him one as well. It was just a sandwich. It wasn’t a big deal.

Tucking your book under your arm, you carried your lunch and a glass of water to the patio around the back.

The wind rustled the leaves and the sun wasn’t harsh. The low buzz of insects was the only sound that kept you company.

The air was crisp and you instantly felt better than you had all day in the room.

Setting your stuff down on the bench, you sat down, inhaling deeply.

The book suddenly didn’t seem so impossible to complete as you tried once more, slipping into the pages easily. Even after you finished your food, you continued to lounge about there, too engrossed and content to move.

You didn’t notice the afternoon go by, evening coming and going just as swiftly. You swatted at the occasional fly but nothing else bothered you.

It felt like summer break. At least what you thought it would feel like. You never had one, being homeschooled about things from various people in the organization. There wasn’t a singular, long break. You were just forced to adapt.

You didn't know how to deal with the suffocating realisation of knowing there were so many things you missed out on. It grew the longer you spent time away. You just shoved it away, forcing yourself to deal with it another day.

He comes back when the sky is slipping into shades of orange, a backpack on his shoulder. There was a patch of sweat around his neck and his head was hung low as he walked.

“Hey,” you hoped it didn't look like you were waiting for him. It could easily be taken as you camping out there, waiting for your husband to return from a hard day in the fields.

Sam looked up at your greeting. You noted that the bruise on his nose was starting to change colour but the swelling had reduced from how bad it used to be.

“Left you a sandwich on the counter if you’re hungry,” you added. He nodded in acknowledgement, making his way up the stairs and into the house without another word.

You let out an exhale, feeling a little better knowing that he was at least back in one piece. No reason to believe otherwise other than the anxiety you had developed over imagining the worst case scenarios.

You picked up your book again, intending to finish off the last bit before you went back inside for the day.

About half an hour later Sam re-emerged from the house, your attention snapping to him as the door opened and shut. He had changed into a new pair of clothes, looking a little cleaner like he was fresh outta the shower. He had a sandwich in his hand that he had already taken a few bites out of. You wondered if it was the one you left for him.

You didn’t expect him to take a seat next to you on the bench. He didn’t look at you or open his mouth to talk so you followed suit. You continued reading, or at least tried to, as he just sat there, finishing his sandwich without any kind of other interaction.

There was a strange tension he wasn’t addressing. He instead leaned back, arms crossed behind his neck to support his neck and closed his eyes. His foot tapped against the wooden floor and rather than getting annoyed, you found solace in the repetition.

“They recruited me on this day,” Sam said to no one in particular. His eyes were still closed and his feet still tapped against the ground. “Parents died when I was a kid, I got shifted around orphanages and homes a lot. Finally Ransone had someone pick me up.”

You closed your book softly, setting it down beside you. That’s what was bothering him.

Secret adoption is what they called it officially in the business, but around the organization it was just known as the recruitment process. Every record of Sam being alive would have been destroyed to maintain anonymity.

To the world he just… disappeared.

It was a day that clearly brought with it so much pain. You were too young to remember when you joined, and no one had kept track either. You supposed it was for the good.

It was supposed to be a happy day, one filled with new beginnings. Maybe that’s what he would have thought when he got picked. It’s what you did.

“I’m sorry,” you said, not having anything else to offer. You relieved your memories everyday in your head. Having a morbid anniversary of sorts would no doubt drain the life out of you; remembering one singular day that would trigger the rest of the decisions you made in your life.

He didn’t say anything in return. You turned your attention to the sky, finding it easier to look at that than the disturbed look on his face.

“Do you regret this?” he asked out of the blue.

“All of it,” you replied, without skipping a beat.

“Every single one, huh?” Sam’s one eye opened to peer at you.

“It wasn’t up to me to take someone’s life away.” You were just a child. You knew nothing other than what you were taught; so then why was it so fucking hard to forgive your past self for straying into this. “Even once I realised that I couldn’t leave.”

You didn’t form any relationships while you worked with Ransone. Whoever you did allow yourself to care for ended up dead or worse, sometimes as a cruel lesson to not make friends in the organization you worked in because all they served as were distractions and liabilities. Others were plain scum; people who you knew were using you but you didn’t care. The loneliness hurt worse.

“What about you?”

“I’d give anything to go back and change things,” he admitted. He didn’t have a say either. It didn’t make things easier.

“You regret all of ‘em too?”

“Mostly,” he said. “One of them I don’t.”

“That one must have deserved it then,” you deduced. It was the only logical explanation you could think of; the worst of the worst.

“Nah. I let him go.”

It took a while to register what he said.

“What?” You twisted your body to look at him.

“First mission I ever did.”

His hands were shaking lightly, barely holding on to the gun. This wasn’t what he was taught. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

He had already managed to get his way into the house through the back. His partner had taken care of most of it and Sam only had to knock people out. He hadn’t had to kill anyone yet.

But now his partner was injured outside the door. Quick shot to the leg, a punch in the face and he was out cold. Sam was already in the master bedroom by the time it happened. He had no idea about where his partner was, only the crippling fear of being left alone and the nerves from the threat posed to him if this didn’t go right.

He knew he didn’t have enough time. He had only a few minutes to kill him and get out of there before his family returned.

The man itself was sitting at the study table, his back towards Sam. Just pull the trigger and get out of here. It was deadly silent.

“I know you’re here to kill me,” the man said suddenly. Sam nearly jumped but instead tightened the grip on the gun.

“Stay where you are.” He sounded confident.

“I’m not planning on going anywhere.” His chair swiveled around, letting him face Sam. His hair was white with a beard that matched. He was dressed down in his pajamas, a robe covering him. He didn’t look nervous.

“Stop talking.”

“You’re younger than what I expected,” the man observed, not paying heed to what Sam was in. He was a considerable distance away. “You’re not even legal yet, are you? I got kids, I would know.”

Sam didn’t say a word, only lifted his gun up to align with his forehead. “I said, stop talking.”

“I’ve made mistakes. Several, actually,” he mused, “It’s why your boss sent you here. I’ve accepted my fate.”

“Then it should be easy.”

“Oh, it never is,” the man chuckled. “It doesn’t get lighter. You learn to ignore it but it’ll weigh on you for the rest of your life.”

Sam’s jaw clenched. It would get easier. It had to.

“I doubt that’s what you heard, however,” he continued. “Ransone’s a bit… unstable. It’s in his blood, but you- you don’t look like you could live with it.”

Ransone’s history was well known enough that rival gang leaders knew it too, apparently. The man would have been delighted at his infamous reputation.

Just shoot him. Just shoot him and end this.

“What’s your name?” the man asked, taking a sip from the tumbler he had in his hand. “You’re going to be the last person I talk to. It’d be nice to have a name.”

“Sam,” he whispered, inwardly cursing himself.

“Sam. That’s a strong name,” the man said, clicking the roof of his mouth with his tongue. “Are you sure this is what you want to do, Sam?”

It wasn’t.

“I don’t have a choice.” He hated how defeated he sounded. It was a weakness.

“They want you to believe that. It takes away your freedom. I would know, I’ve used it.” The man smiled, setting down his glass. “I’ll tell you this though, Sam. You always have a choice.”

“Stop talking, man.” Sam pulled the safety off.

“Once you go down this way, there’s no way you can escape. Someone will always have to die; either him or you.”

“That’s not true.” He could leave at any time. He just needed-

“You’ll see for yourself.” The man leaned back on his chair, resigned. “But for now, go ahead. I’ll make it easy for you.”

He simply closed his eyes and sat back.

You waited for Sam to continue.

“Couldn’t do it,” he said, shaking his head lightly. “Son of a bitch got in my head and I knew what he was doing too. Told him to get the fuck out before my partner shot him in the face.”

“Does Ransone know?” You were still reeling from the incident he recounted. You didn't know what else to say.

“Holds it over me every damn day,” he scoffed. “Some fucked up way of saying that I owe him one.”

To be frank, you were surprised Sam was still alive to tell you. Everyone knew that Ransone forgiven the first mistake someone made, but this was huge. If it were anyone else, he would have had someone try out a hundred different ways to push Sam to the brink of death and back; having him begging for the release that death would bring.

“He hasn’t ever cashed in that favour?”

“He did. Had me take out the leader of the Ten Rings after that.”

“So then why did you still continue?”

“I did something extremely dangerous a couple of years ago that he found out about recently. Used that to get me to come for this mission.”

He didn’t elaborate what he meant and you didn’t ask him to. You supposed it was a story for another day. This was heavy enough.

“He wants to get rid of me as much as I want to get away from him, trust me. We’re the weird, toxic relationship those self-help Instagram pages warned you about.” Trust Sam to make a dumb joke during a conversation like this. “Probably the only time someone from the gang let their target go and not died.”

That wasn’t as true as he thought he was but you didn’t want to seem like you were one-upping him. You didn’t want him to think you were making this about you.

“You remember the big break you were talking about?” you tread carefully, gauging his reaction before you continued. “The one that pushed me up the ranks or whatever.”

He gave a small hum of acknowledgement, bringing his hands from behind his head to fold across his chest.

“Similar story, ‘cept Ransone doesn’t know.”

“What?” His eyes shot open. “How?”

“I was so tired of him treating me like a child. Everyone around who joined after me was out there doinghardcore missions and I was stuck with petty shit.” You didn’t know any better. You wished you had. “So he told me if I made it through this one, he’d send me on more.”

This wasn’t your first mission. You had handled hits before, mostly in the shadows, from a distance.

This was different. It was broad daylight, waiting behind a wall near the gated entrance of the house for a car to pull up.

A challenge, Ransone had posed, with strict instructions to do it in broad daylight. If you got out of this undetected, he’d consider sending you on more sophisticated missions.

“Highly stealthy. They’re dangerous,” you were warned. “You won’t know what hit you if you’re caught off your game.”

The low rumble of the car outside the gate alerted you of your target’s arrival. The gates weren’t going to open, the guards were dead.

The car stopped, waiting for the path to open up. When it didn’t the car’s engine slowed to a stop. The man in the driver’s seat got out to open the gate, giving you a clear shot.

You took a deep breath, clenching your eyes shut for a second before taking aim.

The body hit the gravel and you quickly made your way to the car. You could see the woman in the backseat gaping at where the man was standing a few seconds ago. She was struggling against the door, trying to escape.

She finally succeeded, the door opening suddenly as she stumbled over herself trying to get out.

“Stay there,” you commanded. She slowly looked up at you, face white as a sheet.

“Please,” she croaked. “Don’t hurt us.”

“I’m sorry.” You truly were.

Her face changed, dropping the facade immediately. She just looked on in acceptance, not making an effort to move. Manipulative. She almost had you convinced

You held the gun over her, pulling the trigger. A single shot. Her body slumped over.

You stared at her in silence, expressionless. You let out an exhale, tucking the gun back into the waist of your pants, stepping over her body to leave.

A small, staggering breath made you stop in your tracks. It was so slight you barely heard it. You took a step back, trying to trace where it came from.

You ducked your head to peer into the car, your heart stopping. Your hand instinctively reached for your weapon.

“What the-” you muttered, facing a boy who looked only a few years younger than you. He was staring straight ahead, muscles in his jaw tight.

The son wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be abroad, according to the case file. Unless there were two of them you didn’t know about, this boy wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Listen,” you began, but he didn’t look at you. Just stared straight ahead, body trembling. He was scared. He didn’t show it.

“Show no mercy,” Ransone’s voice rang in your head.

“He’s a child,” you murmured to yourself. Your gun felt heavy in your hand.

Show no mercy.

You could only imagine what would be in store for you if you returned to Ransone with some tale of sympathy. This boy was only a few years younger than you. He didn’t have anything to do with this.

Show no mercy.

“Kid,” you called out. He slowly turned his head. “Go on. Get out of here.”

“What?” he asked, voice hoarse.

“Leave. You can’t be seen if someone comes back,” you urged. “I won’t be able to help you.”

“You killed my mom,” he jeered, unmoving.

“I’m sorry. I had to.” Your voice was quiet. Your hand clutched at the hood of the car to keep your balance. “But I don’t want to hurt you. Go.”

When he didn’t shift, you slammed the hood of the car, scaring him enough to pull at the door and stagger out of the car.

You turned your back to him, not waiting to see where he was going. The more deniability you had, the better.

“Did he make it?”

“He did,” you divulged the information you had found out a while ago. It was a messy confrontation to say the least but you got out unscathed.

“And Ransone doesn’t know.”

“There’s no record of this kid. He thinks he was at boarding school.” You shrugged. “Wasn’t going to correct him either.”

“If he did find out-” Sam trailed off.

“I’d be dead,” you concluded. “Being his favourite wouldn’t matter.”

“Why was it such a big deal, this mission?”

“She was a part of a major gang that Ransone was losing to.”

Sam just nodded knowingly, looking ahead again. You knew he’d done missions like this as well. Things like this were common so it didn’t need further elaboration.

“This job sucks,” he let out.

You gave a short laugh. That was an understatement.

“I want out. Can’t keep doin’ this for much longer,” he continued, however, to your surprise. “Don’t wanna keep doin’ this.”

You bit your lip, eyebrows knitted in concern. “You will.”

“How?” You hadn’t seen him like this before, this hint of desperation in his tone that left as quickly as it came. “I’ve tried, everything just comes up short.”

“I’ll help you.” You wanted to, God you did.

“You gonna kill him for me?” He looked at you. “‘Cause that’s really the only way out of this.”

If you were pushed to the limit, if he was on his knees in front of you and there was a gun in your hand pointed at him; would you be able to pull the trigger? Would you be able to kill the only constant you’d had for more than half your life?

“I can’t,” you muttered, dejection making its way into your thoughts.

“I know,” Sam said softly, “I wouldn’t ask you to either.”

You took a moment to observe him. The sun did him good. There was a soft glow to his skin, the colours of the sunset dancing in his dark eyes. Laugh lines were becoming more prominent around them, only adding to its charm.

He was a good man. He deserved better.

“I’ll find a way,” you sounded determined, “I promise.”

You didn’t say that very often. Your word didn’t mean a lot to people in the business, but it seemed to, to him.

“Thank you.” He appeared taken aback but didn’t show it in his words.

You simply sent him a smile, a reassurance. You knew what you had to do, just weren’t sure how.

He was right. There wasn’t a way out of it other than the one he proposed, but it wasn’t an option. You had to find another.

You would. You’d figure it out.

“It’s Cinnamon, by the way,” he said without any context.

You looked at him in question.

“My embarrassing nickname.” This was not where you saw the conversation heading but you were delighted all of a sudden. “My ma used to call me that all the damn time. Mortifying.”

“Cinnamon and Buttercup.” You didn’t bother hiding the grin that spread across your face. “World’s best assassins.”

“If that name ever leaves this conversation, I’ll know who to murder.”

“You couldn’t even if you tried,” you said playfully, nudging his shoulder.

He shrugged, face relaxed. “T’was worth a shot.”

An unintentional pun you snickered at. You didn’t tease him any further, just filed the name away as a memory. Maybe you’d use it later.

“Have you ever let anyone go after that?” You didn’t want to keep coming back to this conversation but you liked having someone to relate to.

“No.” Sam shook his head. “Didn’t want to test my luck.”

“Me too.” One had been enough. You lived in fear for so long, waiting for someone to pull the plug and tell him what you’d done. That fear only grew everyday, finding a place at the deepest corner of your mind to fester.

“It’s what I meant when I said Serpentine had a motive to want me dead,” Sam said, piquing your interest once more.

“Huh?”

“The man I was supposed to kill- he was their old head. He disappeared after that and no one heard from him but it pissed off everyone, right from Ransone to their stupid gang’s janitor,” he explained, your eyes going wide with every word. “So the irony is, if we’re right, I might have led us into this situation. They’re looking for revenge.”

“Holy shit,” you uttered under your breath.

“I just assumed he died of old age if someone didn’t get to him first. He looked like he was one birthday away from the grave anyway.”

“How are you still alive, Sam?” you asked in wonder.

“I’d do it again.” He laughed, a deep one from his stomach.

He was reckless, clearly. Happily and unashamedly so. And if you continued to hang out with him after this was over, he’d probably get you killed in some stunt or two.

But maybe you’d deal with that if the time came.

He leaned back again, this time no creases on his forehead from stress. He looked at peace.

You sat together in silence. You occasionally stole glances at him as the sun set in front of you, a small smile on your face.

You leaned your head on his shoulder tentatively. You could feel him tilt his head to look at you and you prepared to have him ask you to move.

It never came. Instead, he scooted closer to you, letting you rest against him more comfortably. Your heart skipped a beat; barely but surely.

A realisation quickly hit you, suddenly before consuming you. Your stomach sank.

“Fuck.”

Next part

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biillys · 3 years ago

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idk something something billy hitting that thing w his car on that dark as fuck night, getting out to see what the hell just happened and staring at the seriously injured but still somehow alive remains of the thing and being like. what in the actual fuck.

what the hell is wrong with this town.

the creature whimpers pathetically but also growls whenever billy gets too close, and billy doesn't wanna like. fucking die or anything. so he makes to walk away. but then the dog lets out another whine, and turns out, billy's not actually that heartless, so he turns around and he picks that fucker up, shoves it on the backseat, climbs in the drivers seat, and realises he's got absolutely no clue what to do next.

he sits and stares at the cracks in the windscreen for a moment, already painfully imagining the rest of the damage that's probably been done to the camero's side and front, and lets the anxiety and shock set in. starts to tap his fingers on the steering wheel whilst contemplating best case scenarios becos, like. he's Fucked.

he's so fucking fucked.

"you broke my car, you know how much this shit is gonna cost me?"

biting his thumbnail for a second before taking a few deep breathes, he tries to come up with a plan. once his heart calms down a bit and his breaths start coming easier, he realises his phone's sitting right beside him, ready to call or google what ever he wants. the entire world and internet at his fingertips.

first things first, definitely not calling anyone. what the hell's he gonna say, "yo 911, i think i just hit some chupacabras fucked up cousin with my car, where's the closest vet?," fuck no.

googling though, googling could work.

turns out, googling 'fucked up flower face dog' doesn't get you many realistic results, and the creature in the backseat's getting quieter and weaker the longer billy sits there and does nothing, so billy flicks out of his search and brings up youtube, types in 'how to stitch up dog in emergency,' starts the car, and floors it.

neil and susan have already retired to bed by the time he gets home, which is good becos billy can't think of a single good explanation for this. he parks his car as close as he can get to the garage, opens the loud as fuck door as quietly as possible, regretting every time he shrugged off putting the WD-40 on the rusted hinges like neil asked, and drags the dog out as gently and as gracefully as he physically can.

once the dog more or less flops and falls out of his arms and onto the floor, billy grabs the first aid kit, internally bitches out max for never restocking it after her skateboard stacks, and up-ends the box onto the ground before finally stopping to take a look at this thing in the actual light.

"well, shit."

taking a deep breath, then two more for good measure, he presses play on the youtube video and hopes for the best. watches the key parts of the video a few more times before he grabs the things he needs, and starts to move in close.

the dog growls, showing a hint of teeth.

an entire mouth full of teeth.

"fuck!," billy falls back flat on his ass then takes a quick second to double check he hasn't just been eaten alive. finding all limbs and organs intact, he shakes himself off and gets straight back into it.

"what, you gonna stitch your own side up with those opposable thumbs you got?," his palms are sweaty and his voice nearly cracks, but mostly he keeps his shit together. "that's what i fuckin' thought, fuck me." he mumbles as he threads the needle, thinks that he probably should actually check himself out too.

ain't no way he's sitting on his garage floor playing surgeon, operating on a dog that has yet to be discovered by the entire scientific world, without some major brain damage.

a concussion at least.

eventually all the cuts that billy trusts himself enough to handle are stitched up and the wounds are as clean as they're gonna get and billys throwing away as much evidence as he can. the dog lets out a few more whines before it lies still and silent, but its chest is still rising and falling, so maybe billy's found his fucking calling.

idk idk uhh billy w his bff the demodog, which he names sunflower, cos she's got a face like a sunflower <3 sunflower makes decent progress, gets stronger and healthier with time, but the camero really did a number on her, so she never quite gets back to her full strength. billy tries to release her back to her natural habitat — aka, he opens the door — a few times, but she's not welcome back in the pack anymore, survival of the fittest and all that, so she just comes straight back, knows all of billy's regular haunts. billy's still none the wiser about the upside down, just thinks that satan himself put him on speeddial for petsitting, and who the fuck is billy to argue with that.

would like to think about when max finally discovers sunflower, which happens in like the second week, becos billy cant hide a full fledged fucking alien for shit.

very spiderman pointing at each other dot jpeg with billy trying to pretend he's got control of the situation and 'you can not tell anyone about her, do you understand?' and max going from fucking speechless to furious like 'can't tell anyone? can't tell anyone? i'm not even meant to be telling you about the demodogs!' cut to them both looking at each other in shock then 'demodogs?!' 'her?!'

anyway, eventually the yelling gets repetitive and aimless, so they begrudgingly decide to talk rationally like civilised siblings, and finally some information gets shared. max makes billy start, becos she's the one that's signed various government nda's and she is not dealing with the fallout of blabbing about this stuff without knowing what shes blabbing for, and then billy spends 15 minutes yelling at her for being stupid enough to sign shit handed to her from the fucking government.

so, billy tells her what he knows. which isn't much factwise, but sunflower wise? he's got a lot to say. she's his buddy. turns out, tacky fridge magnets were right, dogs really are a mans best friend. especially when they're not even a real fucking dog.

max is not chill with this. she's seen those fuckers up close, seen the damage the leave, the deaths they cause. fought them with her bare hands. seen what happened with dart and dustin.

she understands that demodogs can imprint on humans, but it's not enough, they're always gonna have their natural instincts and behaviours. living along side humans isn't apart of that, not longterm. she tries to rationalise with billy, make him understand the danger that literally the entire town's in just by this creature being here.

and billy hears her, okay, he fucking gets it. but he's tried to get sunflower to leave. not that hard, of course, but like, he put in a solid effort. straight up just locked her out of the garage. opened the door an hour later to see her laying in the shade, waiting for the door to open. watched as she picked herself up and wandered straight past him, settling on top of the pile of shitty clothes he's never gonna be able to salvage, and gave him the evil eye. billy doesn't even know if she has eyes but it was just the general vibe of it all, and that was that.

at some stage, you've just gotta give in, y'know.

reluctantly, they compromise. max wants it dead, billy just wants her to go to her home, that's why be stitched her up in the first place. so, they set up a plan. drive her to where billy originally hit her with his car, and hope she finds her way to a portal to go live free in the upside down.

they sneak out in the middle of the night, get her in the backseat, and drive.

it's a 7 minute drive at most, and billy drags it out to last a full 12 at least. max gets twitchy about it, constantly turning around to make sure sunflower's still there. billy gets tense. when they eventually pull to a stop, max immediately jumps out. billy rubs a hand over his face before getting out and following.

sunflower does not budge.

"it has to go, billy."

"heard you the first twenty fucking times, max."

they try. they both really fucking try. max pushes, yells, offers up her hands to sniff like she has a treat, like she'd even know what a demodog would like, nougat aside. gets more and more frustrated the longer they're out there. billy watches and waits, gives max time to exhaust herself, before crouching down and sitting against the side of the car, door open. talks gently to sunny, no raised voices or physical force, just waits her out.

she crawls out eventually and slowly lowers to take a seat beside him. max watches on with distrust written all over her face.

"can you chill the fuck out already? you literally just tried to push her out of my car and she did nothing to you. calm the fuck down."

"yeah, well, i figured if she hasn't attacked you yet, i should be fine."

billy stares up at max with a twitch of the lips, a barely there smile, the first one max has seen in days.

"you said 'she'."

max blows some hair out of her face and mumbles something about billy being a shitty influence before stepping in close, impatient.

"okay," she leans down and makes a move to grab her, "she's gotta go, billy. can we please get rid of her."

billy smacks her arms out of the way before max can fully grab her, bitching about how ‘her side’s fucked, shitbird, do you want her to eat you? fuck,’ and gently gets his hands scooped underneath before lifting.

#sunflower STAYS and grows on max slowly but surely everyday #to the point where billys like. guess ill go fuck myself. not like i saved ur roadkill ass from death or anything.#and max. who is wearing a matching sweater with sunflower she bought online as a JOKE is just like.#[flips him off and slams bedroom door in his face w an angelic smile on her face; sunflower sleeping in her room.]#the only reason susan and neil havnt discovered sunny is cos max is now involved and is a hell of a lot better about being stealth #billys so fucking jealous #uhh when the party eventually finds out like truly months later and has a communal absolute cow over it #max is just like 'billy taught her how to play dead last week; watch this. she also scratches neils car on command.'#also. heather knows. sunny LOVES her.#i should've actually just dropped this in lucs inbox actually #nqff #m

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nerdzzone · 3 years ago

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Only For A Moment: August

Summary: A series of shorter one shots from Chris and Whitney’s life together throughout the pandemic. Some happy times, some harder times, some fluff and some things a little more sexy - they work through it all as they try to get settled in their new and blossoming relationship.

Chris Evans x OFC

Part of the Once Bitten/More Hearts series

Only For A Moment: July

Note: I’ve had a super busy day, but I wanted to get this posted so I edited it really quickly. Please forgive me if there’s any little mistakes!

Thank you to everyone who has liked, reblogged and commented! Hearing your thoughts really makes my day!

-----

August 2020

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who actually enjoys moving - especially if that move involves a three year old who feels the need to be very involved in the packing, but is also incredibly easily distracted. And even more so when that child's father is almost just as distractible and, despite his insistence that he'd stay focused, does more to hinder the whole operation than help.

That was the situation that I found myself in at the end of the first summer of the pandemic because we were moving in with Chris.

While I was hesitant at first, it made the most sense and neither Grayson nor I were particularly eager to return to our tiny little apartment. I still felt that it was pretty early in our relationship for us to be living together, but we'd survived so far and moving back seemed like it would do more harm than good. Grayson had settled in nicely at Chris' house and another big change - like making him go back to having two homes - seemed like it would be very disruptive.

But moving came with it's own challenges.

After our conversation a few months earlier, Chris had told all of his most trusted friends about our change in relationship status. That came in handy as a few of his buddies - who had trucks - had volunteered to help us move things the last weekend of August, but packing had me feeling overwhelmed. I'd managed to give most of the furniture away - between our friends and Chris' family - but we still had way too much stuff.

It was on that Saturday morning that I found myself sitting in the middle of Grayson's old bedroom almost in tears. I'd packed up his mountain of toys the night before only to find Chris and Grayson unpacking several boxes the next morning while I was trying to finish up in the living room. Apparently, Grayson had wanted a certain toy that I'd already packed and instead of telling him to wait because he had several other things to play with that weren't boxed up, Chris helped him look for it.

He was trying to be helpful, thinking that repacking a few things would be easier to deal with than a meltdown from Grayson, but it had been a long, tiring week as I tried to get everything organized and their actions almost pushed me to my breaking point. I scolded them both and banished them to the little playground just outside the building while I set to work cleaning up their mess.

Almost twenty minutes later, I heard a knock on the front door as it creaked open. I poked my head out of the room I was in - ready to send the boys straight back outside - only to see Chris' oldest and closest friend, Tara. She was masked up for safety and knowing how sweet and helpful she was, she was a refreshing sight. I'd met her several times, mostly when Grayson was a baby and I lived with Chris, and she'd been a calming and encouraging presence back then so I was definitely relieved to see her during another time of high stress.

"Hey," I smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought supplies," she informed me, holding up a tray of iced coffees. "Chris called and said that he thought you could use some help."

"You're a lifesaver," I groaned with pleasure as she put down the tray and handed me one of the drinks. "I need this, thank you so much."

"You're welcome," she returned my smile. "How's the packing going?"

"Not bad now that the boys are outside," I laughed. "It's pretty much all done, I think. You never realize how much junk you have until you have to pack it all up."

"Oh my god, I know. We moved last year and it felt like the piles of things we had to take was never ending."

"It's crazy," I agreed. "Especially with all Gray's stuff. I thought we did a good job of not spoiling him, but he has an insane amount of toys."

"I can imagine," she cringed. "But I have no plans all day so just tell me what you need help with and I'm all yours."

I thought for a moment as I sipped the coffee she'd brought me until I had an idea.

"Actually..." I started, feeling a bit sheepish. "Would you be willing to take Grayson for a bit? I know it's a big ask, especially while he's so excited, so feel free to say no."

"Are you kidding? I'd love to take him!"

I let out a breath of relief as I felt my body relax.

"Thank you so much. I really need Chris to help me carry these boxes and he's been so preoccupied with Grayson that he's been no use at all," I explained. "It's a big change and he's worried about him being freaked out by it all, which I totally get, but I need him to focus a bit too."

Tara laughed and shook her head.

"I get it, don't worry. I know what he can be like," she assured me. "I'll go down and get Gray now and send Chris up here."

"Thank you. You're the best, Tara."

She waved off my gratitude and insisted it was no problem before leaving me to turn my attention back to what I'd been doing before she arrived.

Once Grayson was in the safe care of Tara, Chris was much more useful. We were packing things with impressive speed and when it was almost time for his friends to show up with their trucks, we started moving things down to the lobby of the building to make the loading process quicker.

I was a tad nervous about the whole situation as I hadn't spent much time with most of Chris' friends and I didn't really know what they thought of me. I hoped they'd be understanding of our situation and give me a chance, but if he really had been pining away for me all these years - thinking that I didn't want to be with him - I worried that they'd think I was selfish and heartless.

Those worries, combined with my stress about getting everything organized, had me still feeling rather on edge. It didn't help that the creepy maintenance man that I'd warned Chris about was watching us like a hawk. I could feel his eyes on me every time I stepped foot in the lobby and the sensation made my skin crawl. I just wanted to get it all done and over with as fast as possible so we could get away from him, but Chris had clearly noticed him too and I could feel his annoyance rising as well.

He held it together until our last trip down when our spectator really crossed a line. I was bending over to place some boxes on the ground when I could have sworn I heard a groan of pleasure from behind me. I snapped back up to standing and looked over my shoulder to see the man with a smirk on his face and his eyes fixed on me. It made my stomach churn, but Chris was immediately by my side, his arm sliding around my waist. Before I could even question what he was doing, he pulled down his mask and then my own, cupped my jaw with his hand and pulled me in for a kiss.

It was a rather passionate embrace and I was surprised as he usually wasn't one for public displays of affection. Then it hit me why he was doing it and I felt a flash of annoyance run through me as he pulled away. There was a smirk on his face as he rested his forehead against mine, but all I could muster was a frown.

"Do you think he got the hint?"

I scoffed at his question.

"I think he got enough pictures to pay his bills for the next few months," I huffed, keeping my voice low so we wouldn't be overheard. "Are you done marking your territory now?"

Chris looked taken aback by my harsh tone and I sighed as I slipped out of his grasp and headed to the door. I wanted to see if his friends had arrived yet and get away from the creep, but Chris followed and wasn't prepared to let our conversation drop.

"What, so I'm not allowed to kiss you in public in case someone sees?" He asked once we got outside, his own annoyance coming through. "I thought you didn't care if people found out about us?"

I stopped walking and spun around to face him.

"I don't care," I snapped. "But I'd rather not give some pervert the chance to profit off of us just to save your wounded pride."

Even with his mask pulled back up, I could see Chris' jaw clench with frustration.

"He was being disrespectful. I was standing right there and he moans while staring at your ass? C'mon, he's a fuckin' asshole."

Another flare of anger washed over me as I fought to keep myself calm enough to explain to him why what he'd just said was almost as frustrating as the actions of the man who'd been ogling me.

"He was being disrespectful," I agreed, my voice steady despite my rising temper. "But to me, not to you! It doesn't matter if I have a boyfriend or not, he shouldn't behave like that towards any woman! I don't deserve to be respected because of you, I deserve to be respected because I'm a human being who has a right to feel safe in their own apartment building."

Chris' shoulders dropped as he took in my words and visibly calmed down, but I was still feeling wound up.

"Shit, Winnie, you're right," he relented. "I don't want anyone to treat you like that ever, not just because you're my girlfriend. It just pissed me off that he had the balls to do that even in front of me."

"So kissing me like that to send him a message was the best solution you could think of? Like, 'don't touch this one, she's mine'. It made me feel gross. I don't need you claiming me in public to scare off creeps, thanks."

"I didn't mean it like that," Chris insisted, looking slightly wounded by my scolding. "I'm sorry, I was being an idiot."

"Okay," I shrugged, somewhat blowing off his apology. "We should go to the parking lot. Your friends might be here."

"Are we good, Win?" He asked, clearly not as eager to let the subject drop. "I want to make this right if you're upset..."

"I'm fine," I sighed, knowing that was only half true. It was only half his fault though, the stress of the day overall was more to blame and, at that point, I just wanted it to be over so I could have a nice big glass of wine. "Let's just go see where your friends are."

He didn't argue as I walked off and when we turned the corner into the parking lot, his friends were all there lined up in the visitor's spots. I forced a smile despite the fact that it was hidden by my mask and waved as we walked over.

"Hey!" I greeted them. "Thanks so much for doing this. We really appreciate it."

"Ah, no worries!" Jon assured me. "But, are you really sure you want to move in with this guy?"

"Yeah, we were just talking," Zach continued. "And it feels a bit Stockholm syndrome-y. He confines you to a house and suddenly you fall in love? Seems a bit suspicious."

"Wow, guys, glad you're on my side," Chris laughed. "I wouldn't have asked you to help out if I knew you'd try and change her mind!"

"We just want to make sure we're not committing any crimes here," Luke insisted. "I don't want to be an accomplice to anything and we're all scratching our heads about what she could see in you."

Chris shook his head at their teasing and I tried to push our earlier discussion from my mind as I giggled and slid my hand into his. I felt him tense up in surprise at the gesture, but he relaxed as I squeezed it and leaned against his arm.

"There's no Stockholm syndrome here," I assured them. "It just took a pandemic and the constant threat of impending doom for me to come to my senses. I'm just lucky Chris was silly enough to wait for me."

Chris chuckled and leaned over to place a kiss on the top of my head as his friends rolled their eyes.

We quickly went over the game plan for the day once the initial greeting was over and as soon as his friends turned to head towards the building, I dropped my hand from Chris'. I knew I was being petty and sulky and from the sigh that fell from Chris' lips, he did too, but I couldn't help it - I needed some space to work through my cranky mood on my own. Luckily, Chris seemed to figure that out pretty fast and left me to my brooding as we followed his friends and got to work.

It didn't take us as long as I expected to load all the boxes into the trucks, but that was probably the benefit to having a team of strong men helping you move. Once it was all unloaded into the spare bedroom at Chris' place where I had been sleeping at the start of the pandemic, Chris broke out a few beers for his friends and fired up the grill while we waited for Tara and Gray to arrive. It was a beautiful, warm evening and perfect for an impromptu barbecue to thank all Chris' friends and it was a great opportunity for me to bond a bit more with some of the most important people in Chris' life.

Grayson knew them all better than I did, but we had some concerns that the lack of socialization would make him nervous around the now somewhat unfamiliar faces. But he put those worries to bed almost as soon as he arrived as he was the life of the party. He was thrilled to see the three men who were sitting in the lawn chairs dotted around our yard - in an effort to keep everyone somewhat distant from each other - and the cheer they let out as soon as they saw him made me think they were just as excited. They seemed to really adore him and he thrived on the attention. It warmed my heart to see the genuine care they all had for Grayson - it was wonderful to know he had so many people in his corner - and I was relieved when that care was extended to me.

Any doubts that I'd had about them accepting me were quickly pushed from my mind as they seemed to be just as eager to get to know me as I was to get to know them. They were all lovely, kind people and I wondered why I ever expected anything else from the people in Chris' inner circle.

They left as soon as Grayson's bedtime rolled around - partially because we were all tired from our long day of moving boxes and partially because we all knew there was no way that Gray was going to agree to go to bed while the party was still going. Once they were gone, he demanded Chris tuck him in so I tidied up in the kitchen while he handled bedtime.

As soon as I'd finished putting the last few dishes in the dishwasher, I felt his arms around my waist.

"Hey," he whispered in my ear, his chin resting on my shoulder. "Thanks for cleaning up."

"You don't need to thank me," I smiled, turning in his arms so we were face to face. "It's my house to keep clean too now, even if that's still weird to think about."

"Weird in a good way?"

"Definitely," I nodded. "It's felt like home here for a while now. It would have been awful to go back to that little apartment."

"It would have been weird for me too," Chris agreed. "I can't imagine being in this big house without you guys anymore."

"You'd have to move all your friends in," I teased, using it as a segue. "Who, by the way, are all very nice."

"Yeah?" Chris grinned. "You think so?"

"I do. I was a bit nervous about it," I admitted. "In case they resented me for how our relationship unfolded, but they're great."

"They never resented you at all," Chris chuckled. "Pretty much everyone who knows about our first night together was on your side about that and they've been pushing me to make a move ever since."

"Well, that's good to know."

Chris nodded and continued.

"They all really like you. Jon gave me clear instructions to not fuck it up."

I laughed at that, but felt a wave of relief.

"I appreciate their support."

"Well, you definitely have it."

Chris leaned down to press his lips against mine and I melted into his body, feeling the exhaustion from the stress of the day start to hit me. We stayed like that, just holding each other for a few minutes until Chris broke the silence around us.

"Can we talk about earlier?"

My stomach churned with embarrassment at the memory, but I nodded.

"Of course, we can. I'll start by saying that I'm sorry."

Chris leaned back slightly, just enough to look down at me with his confusion written all over his face.

"You're sorry? Why are you sorry?" He asked. "I brought it up so that I could apologize to you."

"You don't need to," I assured him. "I get why you did what you did. I just don't deal with stress very well and the whole day was overwhelming me. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"You don't deal with stress very well? I never would have known!" His words were laced with sarcasm as he smiled down at me and I laughed, gently smacking his chest in protest. "But seriously, I deserved a good scolding. You were absolutely right with what you said, I shouldn't have handled the situation like that."

"I appreciate that you can see where I was coming from," I sighed. "But there is no perfect way to handle a situation like that, really. It's best just to ignore it, but then it feels like you're letting the gross guy win."

"Well, if we're ever in a situation like that again, I'll follow your lead," he insisted. "But I can't say that I'll just ignore it. I might just punch the guy out for being a creep."

I laughed again before shaking my head.

"And then whoever is watching will have a different kind of picture to sell to the trashy magazines."

Chris cringed at that comment.

"I'm sorry. Do you really think he took pictures?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "But if he recognized you then I'd be surprised if he didn't."

Chris nodded, clearly getting lost in thought for a moment before he spoke again.

"And you really don't care if proof gets out that we're together?"

"I don't," I insisted. "I don't like the idea of some pervert making money off of us, but I don't care if people know we're together. It might be good for people to get used to the idea now, when we're hiding at home all the time anyway. By the time we can go outside again, no one will care enough to take pictures of us."

"That might be wishful thinking," Chris smiled. "But I'll do my best to keep you out of the spotlight."

I matched his smile and stretched up to place a kiss on his lips.

"I'm sure it'll be fine."

As I predicted, the creepy maintenance man did take pictures of us and he did sell them to some trashy magazine. The internet was horrified, the hearts of fangirls all over the world were broken and I was called every cruel name under the sun. There were rumours that I trapped him with another baby and rumours that I was a gold digger - just using Chris for his money so I didn't have to work during the pandemic. The general reception to the forced confirmation of our relationship was pretty abysmal, but nothing worse than we expected and at the end of the day we didn't care.

All the people who truly cared about us were happy for us and that was the most important thing.

September

Tags: @maggotzombie @moonlacebeam @mizzzpink @zaylaugh @flowery-mess @flowerjewels @njrronaldo7 @hockeychick10 @partypoison00 @theladybiers @sidepieces @firoozehmoon @patzammit @sparkledfirecracker @mytbel0st @chvntelle-99

#chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fan fiction #once bitten/more hearts #only for a moment

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