#le oc questions

[zivazivc]

“Your hair…

“Les…

“Leslie.”

“Mmhm?”

Les barely stirred in his sleep and the iridescent golden speckles in his dreads already started to dull and the rest of his hair started to darken. It was as if a large cloud had just passed over them and blocked out the sun during this uneventful, pleasant afternoon nap.

Floyd snapped out of his surprise, but only partially as he fisted the desaturating hair in a thoughtless attempt to hold onto the fleeting moment. But much like sand, the harder he squeezed the quicker the color and shine drained between his fingers as Les roused.

Sensing Floyd’s distress, he quickly lifted his head.

“What’s wrong?”

Floyd felt tongue-tied, still stunned from what he had just witnessed. He was staring at Les—the familiar dark-haired Les that he knew all the quirks and details of better than the back of his own hand—, and who he was now trying to picture with the out-of-nowhere sparkles and saturated brightness. But he hadn’t even noticed the change appearing, and by the time he realized what he was seeing, it was already gone.

“Your dreads…” he finally blurted out, “they were golden.”

The crease of worry between Les’s brows smoothed out into a more relaxed look of confusion.

“It’s just a dirty yellow-green color,” he said while glancing to the right, at his three dreads flopping over the side of his face. “But I guess it sometimes looks a bit like gold in the—”

“No, I mean for real. And your hair was bright,” Floyd cut in, “like, as bright as mine.”

Les hesitated, trying to process Floyd’s steady wide-eyed expression, before pulling a strand of his dark purple hair in front of his face. He inspected it carefully but decided it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary the way Floyd claimed.

“My hair’s always been this shade. Are you feeling okay?”

[recreationalfanfics]

Yandere Adventure + Yandere Femme Fatale: Trying to Escape Them

tw: yandere, obviously. Drugging the reader. Murder (not towards the reader). Manipulation (Let me know if I forgot anything!).

Yandere Adventurer/ Jesse Reeves:

- Considering that he's escaped many death traps before, he is a very skilled escaped artist who will use that knowledge to ensure that you won't really have a way to leave him.

- The same traps he has to escape from are the same traps he will use from you. From the typical darts in the walls to the disguised pit in the ground covered with leaves and foliage, to a giant stone ball you have to run from before it crushes you. Not that he'll let that happen, he'll obviously rush to save you and be your hero.

- Taking care of any injuries you sustained, he'll scold you about being more careful with yourself and say that's the reason why you need to stay with him because if you can't get across a snake pit, how will you ever take care of yourself in the real world? You just roll your eyes and shake your head.

- Let's say you've been training to beat all of his traps, though. You appeal to his ego and ask him to tell him stories about how his adventures, tricking him into telling you stories about how he got past those traps, and everytime he has to save you and scold you, you're making mental notes to yourself and one big day, you manage to escape.

- He's not sure if he's impressed or angry because on one hand thats pretty hot but on the other hand, that's really concerning because it means that he can't leave you by yourself as much anymore and he'll have to replace his traps.

- As for tracking you down, it is really not that hard honestly. Even if you managed to be thorough enough to cover your trail, it's literally his job to find things that aren't able to be found. From stalking you, he's aware of all the places you'd want to go and all of the places that you're naturally drawn too. He'll know enough about you to also know how long you'd be able to run before you'd need to rest. Not to mention that due to his adventures, he has many contacts over the world and knows many shady people who are willing to do anything for the right fee.

- You'd have at least 2 days before he finds you. Maybe half a day if you're lucky. When you go into the temporary hotel room you're staying in, the door suddenly closes behind you and Jesse leans against his flicking his hat up. His lips are giving you a tight-lipped smile and his eyes are silently mocking you, clearly amused that you believed you could actually escape him.

- "Aw, darlin', if ya wanted an adventure, ya could'a just asked! When your better behaved, I'd be more than tickled ta take ya anywhere ya want. But adventure's over now, its time to go home."

Yandere Femme Fatale/ Scarlette Le Claire:

- She'd rather not kidnap you in general but if you force her too, you will not escape her clutches that easily. She will contact her father and he will send some of his men to gaurd her apartment where she keeps you locked up in, their harsh training makes it easy for them to ignore your pleas.

- However even if you manage to get past them, they are not allowed to put a hand on you, they must notify her immediately. If she finds you and sees any bruises on you or injuries, she'll make sure that whoever does so pays.

- She is a little delusional. Why would her cœur ever run away from her? You must've gotten scared by something, she can make the guardsmen where something less threatening than black suits like maybe onesies or cute fluffy mascot outfits to put you at ease! Even if you do say it's your idea, she wouldn't be able to understand that because you'd have no reason to leave her. Someone must've influenced you!

- If you want avoid a bloodbath, try to keep your distance from other people. Anyone who helps aid you will be taken care of so they can't identify you. She won't ever tell you about her killings, she'd hate for you to worry your pretty little head about it, but one night she comes home covered in blood but she assures you it's fake, awkwardly coming up with a lie that you pretend to believe out of fear.

-Deep down, she knows you're trying to leave her and that you're scared of her. That's why she doesn't ever approach you straight away, instead, she'll pour some sleeping powder in your drink or something and when you finally begin to feel it's effects, your eyes are fighting to stay awake when you see her handsomely dressed figure walk towards you.

- You black out as you feel her gloved hand on your face, her touch caressing you softly as her eyes stare at you adoringly. You looked so peaceful and precious like this♡

- "Such perfection. Il est temps de rentrer à la maison, mon cœur.♡"

[singeamon-arts]

Question, How did Vesparose and Blitzwing meet?

I’m still kinda working on it but here’s my concept:

Vesparose accidentally transwarped to Earth (she uses that ability for energon deliveries), but due to a cooldown period, she was kinda stuck there for awhile. Unfortunately, the Decepticons captured her and quickly discovered she would glow whenever AllSpark fragments were nearby.

Blitzwing was assigned to work with her to go find the fragments, even though he wasn’t thrilled about it at first. Finding her relentlessly cheerful and optimistic attitude and positivity really annoying. However, over time, her warmth and unwavering kindness started to grow on him, much to his own surprise.

They’re very dear to me! ^^

[lilias42]

5 : en train de faire une activité récréative (spa, cuisine, jardinage, etc…)

Cours de cuisine avec Lamine ! Mercedes est ravi de pouvoir cuisiner avec son ancêtre, et Léonie a réussi à tirer Bernadetta jusqu'au réfectoire, même si cette dernier a peur de la difformité et des serpents de la Brave, surtout vu toutes les histoires qu'on raconte autour d'elle dans l'Empire avant qu'elle ne se fasse convertir qui la décrive comme un monstre empoisonnant tout ce qui l'entoure mais, au fur et à mesure de la leçon, elle arrive à sortir car ce qu'elle raconte l'intéresse et que Lamina est très patiente, même si elle est très stricte sur la sécurité.

Comme vous l'avez sans doute deviner, il s'agit de la Brave de Lamine et l'ancêtre de Mercedes directement arrivé du passé pour découvrir sa descendante, Lamina, Brave de la Guérison !

Pour ceux qui arrive en cours de route, petit point de contexte ! Dans ma fanon, il y a deux générations de Braves : la première génération entièrement composé de sorciers (l'ancêtre de la magie actuelle qui est bien plus puissante mais est aussi très dangereuse et déforme le corps de ceux qui lui survive à vie) venant de peuples différents tout juste arrivé à Fodlan après le Déluge de Sothis pour vaincre les agarthans. Ils sont de très bonnes personnes et qui ont plusieurs miracles à leurs actifs pour aider leur peuple (ex : Lucius Fraldarius Pertinax, Brave de l'eau dont le peuple débarque de Sreng, a rendu l'eau du lac éternellement pure et elle ne peut pas porter de maladie ; Kelon de la tribu Rieganos, venant à l'origine d'une cité des côtes de l'Almyra actuel, a fait en sorte que les vents dans la baie de Derdriu soit toujours favorables...). Ils ont reçu l'emblème de force après avoir été vaincu par Némésis qui les tuent à petits feux, et qui vont être tué par l'armée adrestienne qui pense qu'ils sont des alliés de Némésis par erreur et manipulation des agarthans. La deuxième génération est composée de leurs enfants, des humains normaux mais nés avec un emblème majeur, qui rejoigne Némésis pour se venger des adrestiens qui ont assassinés leurs parents, tout en ayant pour but ensuite de passer Némésis au fil de leurs Reliques étant donné que c'est lui qui a refilé l'emblème qui les empoisonnait lentement à leurs parents. ça permet d'expliquer pourquoi d'un côté, les Braves sont présentés comme ayant rejoints Sothis (1ère génération) avant de la trahir (2e génération), les parents et les enfants ont été fusionnés au fil du temps et de la tradition.

Si le surnom sous lequel elle est le plus connu actuellement est la Voix Guérisseuse, elle n'aime pas tant chanté que ça. Elle peut utiliser sa voix pour guérir les autres grâce à sa sorcellerie mais, elle s'en sert surtout pour attaquer, notamment pour manier son poison. Quand elle chante, le poison qu'elle secrète se disperse dans l'air et va infecter ses ennemis qui meurt souvent très vite à cause de ses toxines très puissantes. Elle ne voulait pas associer quelque chose qu'elle aimait à un outil de mort alors, elle a pris la chanson comme moyen d'atteindre ses cibles (un peu l'inverse de Pertinax : il adore chanter mais quand il se bat, il est très silencieux pour ne pas associer sa voix à la mort). En plus, ça permet de prévenir l'ennemi qu'elle est dans le coin et que s'il veut continuer à vivre, il doit s'enfuir très vite vu qu'il ne survivra pas à sa toxine.

Sa véritable passion, c'est plutôt la cuisine ! Elle adore cuisiner de bons petits plats et tester de nouvelles recettes alors, dans le futur avec autant de nouveaux ingrédients, elle ne va pas se gêner et régaler tout le monde ! En plus, on est vers la fin de sa vie alors, il n'y a plus trop de risque à ce qu'elle s'approche des autres.

En effet, étant donné que sa magie consiste à la base à pouvoir soigner et qu'elle est médecin, elle a aussi dû apprendre tout ce qui avait un lien avec les poisons, n'importe quel remède ayant une part de toxicité s'il est mal utilisé. Elle peut également "absorber" les maladies et les blessures en elle afin de soigner les autres, son immense capacité de régénération lui permettant de guérir extrêmement vite (même une décapitation ne la tuerait pas tellement son corps se régénère vite et s'est renforcé pendant 1000 ans, et il faut passer ses écailles avant). Cependant, à force de travailler là-dessus, une des fiertés qui est apparu en elle est la capacité à produire des toxines qui ne lui font rien à elle mais, qui sont mortels pour à peu près tout ce qui l'entoure. Son sang notamment est un poison mortel pour à peu près n'importe quoi, même d'autres sorciers du même âge qu'elle et même des nabatéens auraient du mal à l'encaisser. Pendant une grande partie de sa vie, elle dégageait ces toxines en permanence et ne pouvait approcher personne par sécurité, à part en utilisant constamment ses pouvoirs pour contenir le poison, ce qu'elle ne peut pas faire en permanence à cause de la concentration que ça demande. Au fil du temps, elle a pu mieux contrôler cette fierté et peut désormais retourner auprès des autres sans risque, sauf si vraiment elle se met dans une colère noire.

Elle profite donc de ça et du voyage dans le temps pour pouvoir s'approcher de sa descendante et de ses amis de Garreg Mach, même si elle est consciente d'être très effrayante mais, c'est une personne gentille et altruiste, même si elle ne plaisante clairement pas sur la sécurité, qui a vite su les mettre (entendez Bernadetta, je voie bien Léonie et Mercedes être très cool avec le fait de parler à une femme serpent, et c'est surtout dans l'empire qu'on efface tout l'aspect difforme qui est censé être la marque de leur barbarie qui disparait une fois convertis, là où dans la tradition faerghienne et leicester, les fiertés restent et sont même des éléments importants dans la représentation des Braves).

Petit point conception :

Brave de la guérison et du poison oblige, j'ai pas mal basé ses fiertés sur un serpent, que ce soit avec ses grosses écailles ventrale sur sa gorge, sa peau recouverte d'écailles plus petites, ou ses iris en amande comme celle d'une vipère (même si ça se voie peu). Elle a aussi deux crochets à venin dans sa bouche qui se rétracte comme ceux d'un serpent. J'avais aussi pensée lui faire avoir un corps de femme jusqu'à la taille puis une long corps de serpent histoire de pousser le délire des fiertés qui vont avec son âge, elle a quand même 1 000 ans... puis j'ai vu la forme lumineuse de la fille bourrée dans FEH et j'ai compris que ce n'était PAS une bonne idée. Elle garde donc ses jambes. Par contre, son nez s'est aplati avec le temps et ses oreilles ont pratiquement disparu, encore une fois comme un reptile.

Elle a aussi des serpents dans les cheveux un peu comme Méduse, même si c'était surtout pour rajouter des fiertés, et renforcer l'aspect effrayant. Ses serpents pouvant être très long, elle s'en sert pour récupérer des objets léger loin d'elle, lui servir d'yeux supplémentaire (même si c'est avec une vision de serpent), tâter l'air grâce à leur organe de Jacobson / voméronasal (organe qu'elle a aussi dans sa bouche avec une langue bifide), et effrayer l'ennemi, encore une fois parce qu'elle n'a pas envie de tuer des gens si elle peut les faire s'enfuir, elle a pas que ça à faire de ses journées et elle veut surtout soigner les gens. Ils n'ont pas d'autonomie propre mais, ils sont utiles, comme dans le dessin où ils restent proches de la nourriture pour vérifier tout le temps si elle ne l'a pas empoisonné par accident.

Pour ses quatre bras, c'est une fierté qui est très pratique : vu qu'elle ne pouvait pas se faire assister dans son travail quotidien à cause des toxines qu'elle dégageait (même quand elle donne une potion à quelqu'un, elle fait toujours attention à purifier tout ça par prudence et ne pas empoisonner les autres, et elle doit aussi y penser quand elle doit faire une chirurgie si ses pouvoirs ne suffisent pas). Elle a donc tenter de développer ses pouvoirs pour avoir des bras en plus et a réussi vu que ça ne se contredisait pas avec sa sorcellerie de base.

Enfin, ses habits sont basés sur cette reconstitution de vêtements féminins daces exposée lors de l'exposition temporaire "La frontière inconnue de Rome : Celtes, Daces, Sarmates et Vandales au nord du bassin des Carpates" en 2012-2013 au musée Musée celto-romain de Manching en Allemagne. Pour son pendentif, je me suis basé sur ce bracelet. Même si ce n'est pas très sérieux de se baser sur Wikipédia, cela m'a un peu dépannée pour le coup, surtout que la photo est plutôt bien sourcée pour une fois. Et pour son nom... comment dire... déjà que c'est la croix et la bannière de trouver un nom thraco-dace masculin vu que la Dacie s'est romanisé très vite (j'utilise cet article comme référence), autant à ce niveau-là que culturellement - vu ce que Trajan leur a mis, tu m'étonnes -, et que je me suis mis à cette évènement assez tard, j'ai pas encore fait beaucoup de recherche sur Lamine... je suis allée au plus simple, le nom de sa famille était son prénom car tout le monde se disait "fille de Lamine" et le nom s'est juste "fodlanisé" en remplaçant le A final par un E.

[dirtfullofwork]

Talofa pele! Just a quick question! So since like, Nigel and Ruz are like friends right now! I was curious of how Ruz reacted of meeting with Nigel's bully from his Ex-Team (The Shadow Company I mean!)?

Like remember, Nigel use to work with Graves before being transferred into Kanoa's team. And while he was working with Graves, he use to get bullied by his Lieutenant named Kapo

Kapo is pretty toxic to be honest. Doesn't even care of how much he hurt someone.

And imagining Ruz seeing Nigel's reaction of seeing his bully. Like he was scared to see him. What will she do or how would she reacted if Nigel get bullied by him again?

Apologies for making this long. I'm just SO curious of how their friendship works between them! And it's okay if you don't want to answer this or answer it later on! I understand!

Talofa! Thanks for the question—no worries about the length, I honestly love long questions of them!

So, knowing Ruz, she’d be fiercely protective of her friends, especially Nigel. Seeing Nigel’s reaction upon encountering Kapo would definitely stir something in her, especially since she’s familiar with the rough dynamics of military teams and knows how toxic a person like Kapo can be. And Nigel dosent deserve to have someone like him.

If Ruz were to see Nigel look visibly shaken or scared, her first instinct would probably be to step in and confront Kapo herself, making it clear that his past behavior won’t be tolerated. Ruz is no stranger to dealing with difficult personalities, and I can imagine her using her sharp wit and tough demeanor to put Kapo in his place without escalating things unnecessarily—unless Kapo continues to push, in which case she wouldn’t hesitate to stand her ground. She would probably push him away and tell him to back off .

If Kapo tried to bully Nigel again, Ruz would absolutely encourage Nigel to speak up and stand strong. She’d remind him of his own worth and help him find ways to push back against Kapo’s influence. Ruz might even subtly offer Nigel tips on handling someone like Kapo without feeling helpless. Since she is really over protective with her colleagues and friends

Their friendship means a lot to Ruz, and seeing Nigel in any sort of pain or discomfort would bring out her loyalty and protective instincts even more. It could be a powerful moment that brings them closer, especially if Nigel sees Ruz standing up for him. She’d likely feel that no one deserves to go through that kind of treatment, least of all her friends. Even if he was a ex shadow

Hope this answers your question! It’s so fun thinking about how their dynamic works 😄😄

[birbboi1496]

Does your CTCD OC Oscar have anything that he likes? I would bet that he does like some stuff that his two dads like. For example, Katz likes spiders and torturing his victims and Le Quack likes money, jewels and valuables

Oscar’s number one favorite thing is music. Specifically electronic music. He listens to several albums from multiple different artists all the time. It’s his favorite thing to do in his downtime. He’s always open to trying new things as well. Some significant things he came to enjoy doing is learning how to cook and bake with Katz, or play with the train set Le Quack owns. Oscar also enjoys collecting things, as he collects a lot of mixtapes. Le Quack is always more than happy to get him whatever he wants to fuel any of his interests.

[the-sparks-of-creation]

Depends on your definition.

Henry Stevenson reanimated the dead, therefore cheating death.

Mary Robert was brought back to life, therefore cheating death.

Victor Shelley betrayed Henry, Henry has a lot to do with death. So Victor also cheated death. (bit of a stretch but whatever)

The only one who hasn't is Laura Le Fanu. She's 100% dead.

Which OC has cheated death?

[may12324]

Sometimes Juniper also does science. Magic science. Just girly things.

Juniper is an Oc for a webcomic I am writting. She is a fairy princess, and does questionable things. and makes out with hot lady knights. Le sigh. The dream.

[basilepesso]

"Vers 17h30 (16h30 GMT) un homme d'une quarantaine années a été interpellé «tout près de là» en possession d'une arme à feu, a déclaré à l'AFP Eric van der Sijpt, porte-parole du parquet fédéral belge. Une autre arme à feu a ensuite été découverte dans sa voiture, selon le porte-parole. «On ne dit rien à ce stade sur les motivations, ça sera l'objet de l'enquête», mais «on a probablement évité un attentat», a ajouté M. van der Sijpt, selon qui des centaines de personnes étaient attendues pour cet événement. Les premiers arrivants pour l'événement prévu à 20H30 ont été interdits d'accès au théâtre le temps que la police puisse inspecter les lieux, a rapporté l'agence Belga. La cérémonie a pu néanmoins se tenir, commençant avec environ une heure de retard. D'après les médias flamands, le suspect a conduit une voiture de location depuis la province du Limbourg (est) où il réside. Une personne de son entourage proche aurait prévenu la police, permettant l'interpellation." Article du Figaro : “Un homme arrêté près d’un théâtre accueillant la soirée Miss Belgique” (Aussi sur Fb, le 12/02/2 023) L’article a été transformé et mis à jour hier (nouveau titre : “Soirée Miss Belgique : un homme écroué pour «tentative d'assassinat terroriste»”), je le posterai probablement sur Fb et/ou ici. Il s’agit bien d’une tentative d’attentat terroriste, mais apparemment pas islamiste. BP.

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Catch My Breath

The first kiss.

Set in Christmas Eve 2022, after the events of Call of Duty Modern Warfare II.

Pairing : Simon “Ghost” Riley x Charlotte “Jade” Le Jardin (OC), Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x Eleanor "Ladybug" Graham (OC) Characters : Simon "Ghost" Riley, Charlotte "Jade" Le Jardin (OC), Captain John Price, Johnny "Soap" MacTavish, Kyle "Gaz" Garrick Eleanor "Ladybug" Graham (OC), Alejandro Vargas Word Count : ~ 9600 Warning : Fluff with a slight bit of angst, a touch of hurt/comfort, and good ol’ cursings.

Bulky McT 🧼 : ‘Dont forget to come to cpt prices house today.’

You : ‘Of course not. I’m still at the orphanage for christmas gifts exchange. As soon as I'm done I'll be there :)’

Bulky McT 🧼 : ‘Good’

Bulky McT 🧼 : ‘Gaz is making some bangin biscuits and scones’

Jade smiled at her phone as she chatted with Soap. Her mouth already watering from imagining the taste of Gaz’s cooking on her tongue. According to Soap’s and Ladybug’s testimony, his chocolate biscuits were second to none.

You : ‘Wouldn't miss it even if I die.’

Bulky McT 🧼 : ‘Alright. See ya.’

She bit her lip. There's one more question she wanted to ask though. She contemplated asking Soap this or not. 

Her thumbs moved across the screen slowly. 

You : ‘Is Ghost coming?’

When Soap had invited her to the dinner five days prior, all Jade could think about was whether or not Ghost would be joining. Their one week together in Las Almas made her feel… something. Something really, really good. Something she hadn’t felt in what felt like an eternity. He earned a friend in Alejandro, Rudy, Soap, and Ghost, especially, whom she’d thought of as a real piece of work back in Verdansk. Oh, how foolish she was. 

He was the best part about Las Almas. 

Dammit. What was she thinking?!

By the end of Chicago, after they eliminated Hassan, Ghost and Jade had traded phone numbers. Jade had his numbers and named it “💀💢 Beanpole 💀💢”, after the nickname she gave to him before they knew each other’s name. They haven’t texted at all. Ghost wasn’t the kind to text first, that much was clear to everyone who knew him. And neither was Jade. In fact, she didn’t know what to text him first. A “hi”? A… 

What else? 

What do people text each other when they’re trying to get to know each other? She had no goddamn clue. Well, she knew what to text when she wanted to get intel from an unassuming target, but she didn’t want intel from Ghost. 

She just wanted to know if he was okay, if he was fine, if the gash on his shoulder was healing well. Because of course, in her 29 years of life, a serious romance wasn’t a luxury that she could afford in her line of work in MI6. She took that lesson from her parents who literally had to ‘die’ first in order to even start. The point is, none of them texted first. They’re just another series of numbers in their contact list. 

An animation of dots showed up, indicating that Soap was typing. 

He’d typed for a few seconds before the animation stopped for a moment, and then started typing again. He must be changing his response. 

Bulky McT 🧼 : ‘If there's food he should be there.’

Oh? ‘... should be there’. That meant Ghost was not with Soap at the moment, and he didn’t know whether or not Ghost would be coming along. A week in Las Almas was enough for Jade to know that Ghost had grown closer to Soap as a friend-brother figure. The fact that Soap might not know his whereabouts was not a surprise, though. He’s the Ghost after all. 

But she couldn’t help but think, where was he? 

What did Soap type?

“Chacha! Can you help me a bit here? We're about to start the event!” 

Jade looked up from her phone, her ginger hair falling on her shoulders as she tucked her phone back in her pocket, swiftly walking over to one of her co-workers, Esther, an elderly soft-looking lady who volunteered for the orphanage - her former orphanage. This place held a lot of bittersweet memories, and it made her who she was. 

Her legs brought her to one of the high ladders leaning onto one of the walls of the dining hall. She took many mistletoes from the decoration boxes and swiftly climbed the ladder, hanging the vegetation one by one with ease. 

“Do we need this many mistletoes?” Jade asked while her hands worked. “At this point we’re gonna kiss someone by accident.”

“Of course not, what are you talkin’ about?!” Esther’s loud laugh almost broke Jade’s ears. “It’s Christmas, Chacha. The church had an overflow of mistletoes from the donations. If there's a day where we can add as many mistletoes as we can, it’s now. Let's call the kids over.” 

“Alright. Let's start this shall we?” 

��

The sound of Jade’s boots rang throughout the pavement as she hurried over to Price’s house. She travelled by public transportation from Surrey as she didn't have a car with her (plus she’s not much for driving safely - fake driving licence and… all that). She looked down at her watch to see 7 PM as the cold night finally settled. Each of her breaths turned to clouds in the air, shivering as she didn't have her outer jacket with her right now. She’s never one to be unprepared, but after one of the kids got too excited about getting a Lego toy and spilt a whole glass of apple juice onto her jacket, Jade had to fight through the cold with her trusty turtleneck and only one layer of thin knitted jacket as an outer, clutching the soaked coat close to her chest.

Finally, after what felt like an hour of walking, Jade reached the front of Price's house, immediately knocking on the wooden door three times. She looked up at the massive three-story building made out of bricks, that had a good space in the front yard. The building looked old like a family heirloom, but she could tell that it was pretty much taken care of. There’s a pair of trees that had shed all their leaves for the winter and had a decent amount of vegetation on either side of the doors.  

Jade looked back at the front yard. There were three cars parked in front, and she assumed that one of them belonged to Price, the other two should belong to either Gaz’s, Soap’s, or Ghost’s. 

The wooden door opened. She expected Price as the owner of the house to welcome her, instead, it was Eleanor, Gaz’s very own Ladybug who immediately screeched on top of her head. “JAAAADEEE!!! You’ve finally arrived!” The medic bursted out of the door hugging her figure so tight Jade might’ve folded. A beautiful burgundy sweater around a tan shirt wrapped her figure perfectly, and of course, with her wavy dirty blonde hair tied on the back with the ribbon Gaz gave her, worn out as it could be.

“Hey Lady! I miss you so much!!” The ginger greeted warmly all the while trying her best to stay balanced on her feet or else she’d fall five steps down to the ground on her back. As Lady pulled away, she gave room for Jade to step inside the warm house, taking a glance at Jade’s look. 

“Whoa. You only wear two layers? You’re shivering!” 

“Yeah. Apple juice all over my jacket, but don’t mind it.” She chuckled as she took off her jacket and coat to hang them on a standing coat hanger on the side of the door, “Have the others arrived?”

“You’re the last one. I came early with Kyle to bake the cookies and help Price with the food. Soap came second bringing sacks of snacks and drinks, and Ghost had just arrived before you, about 45 minutes ago.”

That caught Jade’s attention, her heart beat a little faster just at the mention of his name. “Just? Isn’t the Captain’s invitation at 5 PM?” 

 “Yeah. It looked like he was coming back from somewhere though.” 

Somewhere?

Lady’s eyes half blinked, looking at her teasingly. “...Am I sensing something here?”

“What? No. No. It's just that he’s um… usually an on-time kind of man.” Jade tried her best to act indifferent, looking away from her to observe the doorway decorations.

“Oh really? I see, I see.” Ladybug nodded, “Because I might have heard some stuff from Kyle~” 

Jade’s eyes opened wide at the statement, her mind already racing at the thought of what Gaz had said to his girlfriend. “What did he sa–”

 “There’s me trusty Ginger!”

A voice which she could identify from a mile away as Soap’s, called to her. Donning the green military-issued sweater above his uniform, which he rolled to the elbow, he walked in both women’s directions with a chocolate biscuit in hand. 

“Well hello there, Ocean Eyes.” Jade softly hugged Soap’s ever-bulky body while he patted her back several times. “How's your arm? Healing well?” She remembered how Soap got shot by Graves in Las Almas and how both of them, along with Ghost, had to survive the Shadow’s manhunt in the city. Even in Chicago he had to force through it. 

“You’re one to talk. How's your side?” Soap pointed at her left side while munching through his biscuit.

“You got hit?! Where?!” Ladybug, who’d been in Urzikstan to help Farah and Alex for nearly a year after Barkov’s demise, hadn't been updated much about Las Almas. Looked like Gaz left that tiny little detail. 

“She did get hit.” 

“No! No no. I didn't get hit per se. We were… breaking into the Las Almas prison to free Alejandro and the Vaqueros - a little bullet missed my hip, but it did leave a teeny tiny graze.” Jade made a little gesture with her thumb and index fingers.

“It wasn't.” Soap retorted, which made Ladybug look even more concerned. “You almost fell from the prison walls during our escape and LT had to catch you and carry yo–”

“ANYWAY.” Jade tried to dismiss the conversation away from Ladybug’s growing unease. “It was quite literally us four against a thousand. So we had our own hits. It was a month ago, right? I literally walked my way here! See? Now. Where's the man of the house?”

“Thought you want to camp in that doorway.” Price's gravelly voice called from the living room, his head peaking out from one of the walls. “Come in and close that damned door will ya? The forecast said it’s going to rain snow unless you muppets want to shovel the snow.” 

With Jade closing the door, they all walked together towards the interior of the house, where the warmth from the fireplace radiated throughout the room cozily. And holy shit. The word ‘family heirloom’ could perfectly describe the house. Some of the furniture looked like it was carved specifically for the house, soft carpets covered some parts of the wooden floor, and portraits of whom she assumed as the former Prices hung on the walls. The exterior of the house didn’t do the property justice at all. Soap had said that this was the Captain’s own house which he’d left mostly abandoned since he resided in Herefordshire. She wouldn’t lie, if Price turned out to be a secret old money she wouldn’t be surprised. 

Jade’s eyes found Gaz at the kitchen island wearing the same exact outfit as Soap and Price, but with an apron around his waist while he pulled out another batch of chocolate cookies from the oven. Gaz noticed her presence when Ladybug approached him and pointed her way. “Oh, Jade! Come here and eat the salmon. You’re not allergic to fish aren’t you?” This sight of Gaz was pretty surprising for her. He seemed more cheerful and open around Ladybug, contrasting to his serious demeanour in the field. It was refreshing, to say the least.

Jade put down her bag on one of the sofas where Price sat on the edge of it, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands skilfully. “Nope, no allergies. Have all of you eaten yet? Sorry I’m late.” 

“We have, and apparently my Ladybug over here is a vacuum cleaner of food.” Gaz was replied with an elbow to the rib by his partner. 

Taking her own plate of baked salmon, Jade watched from just enough distance as Price, Gaz, Soap, and Ladybug played a game of poker on the desk. The atmosphere was tense from the rivalry but hearty at the same time, their laughs filled the room as Price caught Soap hiding a card on his sleeves, which resulted in a 50 push-up penalty for the Scot. Apart from the chaos, Jade couldn’t help but find herself trying to find that one particular big man. 

The memories of sharing sleepless nights together on the rooftops of Fuerzas Especiales base rushed down her mind. Those moments made up the few moments of peace that they could muster up from the chaos of Las Almas. Just the both of them, the night sky, two cups of tea, and the lights from the city of souls. All those times they spent together completely with his mask on. Only when he decided to take off his mask in front of the 141 and Vaqueros did she ever see his face. 

She’s good with faces. That’s an absolute requirement for her job. That image of his face was ingrained in her brain. How the black paints surrounded his surprisingly soft eyes, how the sun reflected his whiskey brown eyes and light eyelashes, the scars on his cheeks from wearing the mask, and his strong jaw. 

Jade only wished she could enjoy the actual sight of it once more. 

The former MI6 turned her head a number of times, making up blueprints of Price’s residency inside her mind. This house didn’t have a rooftop, and from the looks of it, all the bedrooms are located on the upper floors. Ghost likes looking out at the scenery, so he might’ve gone upstairs, broke into one of the many bedrooms and looked out on of the balconies as he sipped on a cup of tea. Considering how Ghost was, he’d break into his captain’s house without anyone knowing about it just fine. 

All the while the others were playing, Jade finished her plate of grilled salmon and found her way towards the kitchen sink to wash the dishes. She came the latest, the least she could do was helping cleaning the kitchen area. That task came to a halt when her phone vibrated. She was confused at first, but when her eyes read ‘Col. Vargas 🤠’ on the screen, Jade immediately accepted the video call. 

“Hola, Coronel! Como estas?”

“Hola, Compa! Muy bien, muy bien.” Alejandro's gravelly voice greeted her excitedly as his video showed on Jade’s screen. She could tell that the sun was still up in Mexico judging by the light on his face. He looks like he’s standing just outside his family’s house. Quite rare to see the colonel in other attire than his military ones, but as Jade saw his blue shirt tucked inside his blue jeans, she couldn’t help the snicker that came out of her mouth. She remembered that Alejandro had revealed to her privately that he had two beautiful daughters who lived in Mexico City with their maternal grandparents. “I’m in Mexico City with my family to celebrate Christmas. We’re about to head to church for the Christmas Eve sermon.” Alejandro continued in Spanish, but something caught his eye. “Wait, Jade. Where are you? Is that Soap?”

Jade lifted the phone above her head to help him see the place clearly, “Yes, that’s Soap, Captain Price, Gaz, and that’s Eleanor, Gaz’s girlfriend.” She said in his language. Her fingers pointed at each soldier as they slammed their cards on the table, chaos ensuing in the middle of them. “This is Captain Price's house in London. He invited us all for dinner, and now that it’s done, they’re playing poker, aggressively.”

Now it’s Alejandro’s turn to laugh. “I’m assuming they’re on their second bottle of whatever alcohol they’re consuming.”

“Yep. Looks like Captain Price is richer than he lets on. He has 4 bottles of wine from the 1800s! Can you believe it?!” 

Jade and Alejandro continued their video call, sitting in her former position on the sofa. Despite Soap’s slight dislike that they were conversing in Spanish as he couldn’t understand what they were talking about, Jade kept on going. Jade learned that Rudy stayed in Las Almas to rebuild and restore the city after the Shadows wreaked havoc, encouraging Alejandro to leave the city and unite with his family. 

“So. Onto the most important topic…” Alejandro’s voice sounded deeper and his eyebrows lifted. Jade had learned after a thrilling week working together that those were a sign that he was onto something cheeky. “Where’s the Ghost?” 

Again, Jade’s heart beat faster at the mention of his name, and her stomach grew warmer. Damn it. “Um, I don’t know where he is. He is here somewhere in Price’s house, but… I haven’t seen him yet.”

“He’s there? Have you tried the rooftops?”

“This house doesn’t have a rooftop. It does have a lot of rooms with balconies, though. But I didn’t see any open window from the outside.” Her head started to look side to side, “ I don’t know if this house has a back or side entrance, he might be somewh– Alejandro!!” Jade stopped when she realized that Alejandro was laughing his belly off. 

“You’re looking for him too, don’t you?” The colonel guffawed. “Aaah, You should’ve seen your face when you were explaining where he is to me.”

“That’s–” 

“Look. I wished you luck with him back in Las Almas. It’s only natural that I asked for ‘updates’!”

“Keep fighting the good fight, hermano.”  “To the bitter end, my brother.” Soap handshook the Mexican colonel and sergeant as they were about to leave Las Almas. He then turned around and tapped Ghost’s shoulders twice, heading towards the rear end of the aircraft to unite with Price and Gaz. The lieutenant though, stood still on the tarmac a few steps behind Jade.  “Good luck amigos y amiga.” Jade hugged Rudy warmly, tapping her back a few times before holding out her hand to handshake Alejandro. Instead of a handshake, Jade saw a wide grin on Alejandro’s face and opened his arms wide, indicating that he was waiting for a hug as well. “Come here, Hermana!” Jade chuckled, expecting that a handshake wouldn’t be enough for the Mexican. She obliged by stepping forward and warped her arms around Alejandro’s figure.  What Jade didn’t see though, was how Ghost’s body tensed slightly behind her. Alejandro sneakily observed the man’s movement, looking visibly uncomfortable. No matter how skilled Ghost was at appearing as still as he could, Alejandro could see that this skill of his just disappeared when he was in Jade’s presence. Before Alejandro let go, he lowered his voice and spoke to Jade’s ear. “Que te vaya bien con el fantasma.” ‘Good luck with the Ghost.’ Jade blushed profusely when she translated that sentence in her mind, stepping away from the hug to punch his shoulder lightly “ey!!” She looked over to his side, finding that Rodolfo was also grinning ear to ear.  “I mean it, Jade.” Alejandro spoke in Spanish, tilting his head as a sign that he was serious. Jade’s head nodded in surrender a few times. As much as they wanted to converse more, her job wasn’t over yet. Her legs started to walk backwards, “Gracias, Alejandro, Rudy. Cuidate.”   Alejandro observed as she turned around, finding Ghost’s waiting figure right in front of her. She then tapped his chest plate once, jogging her way towards Price, Gaz, and Soap on the aircraft. That sight made the colonel scoff, glancing at Rudy, who looked as amused as he was. Just as Ghost was about to turn around as well to join his teammates, Alejandro called to his name. “Ghost!”  The lieutenant turned around.  “No te pierdas carnal!” “A huevo!”

“The both of you have forced me and Rudy to watch a telenovela the entire time! Please tell me that you’ve at least done something together after Chicago.”

“We traded numbers…” She said nervously.

“And then? Did he text first?”

Jade grimaced, expecting that Alejandro wouldn’t react well to her next response. “We… haven’t texted at all.”

“NO MAMEEESSS!!” Ale facepalmed on the video call like he just watched the Mexican national football team fail to score a goal in a World Cup match. “Ghost… I swear… you need to do better.” 

Jade stood up and walked over to the kitchen aisle yet again and put her phone on a leaning position on the wall, hoping that Alejandro’s shout of despair didn’t reach the other soldiers. “Well– what if he doesn’t want to continue this… whatever’s going on between us?” she grabbed a white mug and a cocoa mix, putting in 3 spoons of the choco powder inside. “You’ve seen how he is. I don’t want to hope too much.” Jade confessed to the colonel, pouring hot water on the mug and stirring the contents with a spoon until the sweet aroma hit her nose.

“Oh you don’t know that yet, right?” Ale replied, “Do you want to have a relationship with him?”

A relationship with Ghost? 

That sounded crazy to say, but if she's being honest with herself, yes. Yes, she did. 

“Yeah…” She started to walk towards the hallway on the side of the kitchen with the warm mug. The walkway looked narrow and led to the rear side of the house. She guessed that if this conversation was prolonged, they were going to need a place where Soap wasn’t shouting his lungs off. Her green eyes looked to the end of the room, where a wooden door similar to the front door was present in front of her. A back door perhaps?

“Okay. Now one of you needs to start. Ghost clearly isn’t starting because he’s a stupid, bad man. But maybe you can convince him that you’re worth his time.”

Worth his time? “How?” 

“Start by finding him.”

The former MI6 walked towards the back door and glanced over the glass parts where the outer side of the house was visible. Just then, she registered a man with a large frame, sitting on the stairs of the back porch. He wore the same attire as the rest of the SAS members - their military uniform covered with a military-issued sweater, and layered further with a familiar black jacket that she’d seen before in Chicago. The man had a mask over his head, but she could see that it was currently lifted up as he took a sip of what she assumed was bourbon. 

That’s definitely Ghost.

“Jade? What happened?” Alejandro asked curiously as she stopped speaking earlier.

“I found him.” She muttered.

Alejandro’s lips curved, slowly forming a smile. 

“The floor is yours, Jade.”

—

*5 hours earlier*

Johnny : 'LT. You’re coming, right?'

Ghost looked down at his phone, staring at the message that Johnny had sent him, not planning to text anything back. 

He hated Christmas. No, he didn’t hate decors, the bright lights, the red, green, and white that coloured the streets and buildings around him. No, he’s not petty like that. He’s indifferent to it. 

What he hated was how the month of December always reminded him of the darkest part of his life. 

He lowered his phone and tucked it inside his pocket, going back to the sight of his family’s gravestones right in front of him. His mother, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. 

Ghost remembered the blood; the foul stench hitting his nose as he stood frozen, witnessing the lifeless bodies of his family – all surrounded by the colourful lights of red, green, and blue from the Christmas tree that they were decorating. If only he realized sooner that his enemies wouldn’t settle with torturing him. If only he wasn’t so naive and thought that his battles were done as soon as he was home. How wrong he was. 

How fucking wrong he was. 

Ghost’s tears had dried out a long time ago. Every Christmas Eve he always visited their graves. He’d cry for the first three years, but now he’d settle with staring at the stones, not a word coming out of his mouth. Just him, alone with that memory.

His phone vibrated again. Johnny’s still messaging him about the dinner at Price’s house. Ghost closed his eyes in annoyance and sighed, taking his phone and turning it on to find a few messages.

Johnny : ‘Captain said not to disturb you during Christmas week’

Johnny : ‘Idk what you’re doing now’

Johnny : ‘but I hope you’re enjoying yourself’

Ghost moved his thumb on the keyboard screen, wanting to text Johnny that he was not coming and to stop messaging him. 

Johnny : ‘Also’

Johnny : ‘Jade’s coming’

His thumb paused right above the send key. 

Fuck. 

Why did his heart beat faster suddenly? What was this warmth in his stomach? His memories of his family’s death disappeared, and suddenly all the moments with Jade came down rushing through his mind. 

The moment when they met – where they shot at each other in Verdansk, leaving a permanent mark on his left ear – The sleepless nights in Las Almas, the meaningless conversations, their moments in battle together. How beautiful she was when she kept her calm during pressing and stressful situations, the grace in her movements…

Fuck. 

Fucking hell.

Ghost had read Price’s invitation two weeks before in their group chat. He already made up his mind from the beginning that he wasn’t coming. He never really enjoyed parties or any form of gathering at all. That’s how he’d been living for three decades of his life. Why did that one mention of her name from Johnny instantly change his resolve just like that? 

He didn’t reply to Johnny at all, only leaving the two blue check marks indicating that he’d read Johnny’s messages. 

And that… was how Ghost ended up sitting on Price’s back porch. The crescent moon was high in the sky. Little bits of snow started to fall down alongside the windy weather. For the first time of the day, he had his skull-painted balaclava up to his nose in order to take a sip from his glass of bourbon. 

When he had arrived at Price’s front yard with his sedan, Ghost saw the amused surprise in Price, Gaz, and Lady’s faces, but he also took a glimpse of Johnny’s smirk on his lips. The sergeant now knew the way to his heart, and it infuriated him. God damn him.

The sun was already long gone by that time, and he could see that the others were already in the midst of eating their dinner. 

He’d sneakily taken a glance around Price’s luxurious house.

No Jade yet. 

Ghost had conversed for a while with Price, took his own plate of baked salmon, poured himself a glass of bourbon, and excused himself to the back door. For an hour and a half, he sat right there, slowly sipping on his alcohol. Just as he thought that she wasn’t coming and that Johnny had lied to him, the wooden door behind his back opened.

He turned around and found the woman herself.

Jade. 

Her ginger hair was braided like usual, but stopped on the back of her head, letting the long hair run freely down her back and shoulders. The deep red turtleneck which usually looked out of place in warm weather such as Las Almas currently fitted perfectly on her figure. A green pair of wide pants hung from her hip, letting the fabric run freely downwards instead of wrapping around her legs like the jeans he’s used to seeing her wearing during their mission together.

Ghost caught her green eyes, reflected by the moonlight, and he could easily tell that she wore some sort of makeup. What the name was he couldn’t bother to remember, but she looked… beautiful.

His heart was already beating pretty fast from the alcohol, but now it’s going even faster, and don’t even start about the butterflies that were flying rampant inside his stomach right now. 

She only stared at him, her breaths turning to cloud along with the vapour from the cocoa mug she was holding. For a few seconds, they stayed like that, until Jade finally started.

“Why aren't you inside? It's cold.”

Can you miss someone’s voice? Apparently you can, judging by the unexplainable sense of relief that washed over him after he heard her voice. The last time he heard her voice was back in Chicago, a month ago. He then turned around again, facing Price's plain backyard to try hiding any signs from his exposed mouth that she might read. The former MI6 had this scary skill to read every body language of any person. Sure, he had a mask up to his nose, but he wouldn’t take any chances.

“I don't like parties.” He replied.

“It's cold.” 

“Better than whatever's going inside. And I have my friend right here to keep me warm.” He slightly lifted the bourbon glass, shaking it slightly to make the content swirl.

Jade hummed. She observed his glass and noticed the alcohol. For all their nights in Las Almas, Ghost always drank tea, never alcohol. Of course, they were in active duty, so drinking liquor could cost them so much, but he'd said himself that he pretty rarely drinks, since Ghost had confessed that he liked being in control of what he did. She wondered why he was drinking, but she let it go. Instead, Jade stepped two stairs down, and sat beside Ghost’s left, drinking her own cup of hot chocolate.

“Why are you here?” Now it's Ghost’s turn to start. 

She wondered how to answer that. If she's being honest, the answer would be ‘to be with you’, but she deleted that response in her mind.

“I… don't really like parties.”

“…You don't look the type.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What’s ‘my’ type?”

Ghost took another sip from the glass, “Likes being around people. Gets your energy from a communal space.”

The former MI6 scoffed. “Fooled you right there. Maybe it’s just me, but being around people automatically sets me in observation mode. Don’t get me wrong, I like people. It’s just tiring.”

“Hm.”

Another few seconds of silence, before she continued. “What about you? Why are you here?”

“Gets noisy inside, especially if Johnny's starting to lose his grip on reality.” Ghost immediately answered, almost like he expected Jade to ask him that. “He’s a screamer.”

“Hey how's your graze wound? It's healing well right?

Jade suddenly asked, which surprised Ghost. He glanced at Jade, finding the woman herself looking straight into his brown eyes. He should admit, her face so close to his caught him off-guard, releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, creating a cloud in the air. Ghost then took a sip from his glass again before answering. “Yeah. I changed the dressing every once in a while. It's just a scab now. “ To be honest, he kind of forgot about the wound on his right shoulder. It was disgustingly painful during their time in Las Almas and Chicago considering how he must carry the chestplate and his gears on that shoulder. The memory of Jade tending to that wound of his at the safehouse came rushing down his brain.

“Okay, that's a relief then. Just make sure you don't scratch it or it'll open again.”

“I know the drill, Midget, I’m not a kid. This isn't my first rodeo. What about you?”

“Wh-what about me?”

“Your hip.”

The former MI6 sucked both of her lips between her teeth. “It’s fine.”

“Fine how?”

Jade now looked at Ghost’s brown eyes, intensely gazing at her own. He wasn’t taking ‘It’s fine’ as an answer. He was always an intense person. She suddenly remembered the feeling of being safe in his hands when he carried her towards the van, arms under her shoulder and knees when she couldn’t bear the pain in her hip any longer. 

How Ghost had slept the whole night, in a sitting position on a chair beside her bed in the safehouse with his mask on, staying right by her side.

“Oi. Midget. I’m asking you.”

That snapped her out of her thoughts. “Huh? Yeah! It’s a bit itchy at times, but I can manage. It’s healing well.”

That answer seemed to finally satisfy him. “Hm.”

Jade went back to her hot chocolate, but Ghost didn’t leave her. He could see her shivering a little bit in the cold. The tip of her nose and ears had turned rosy.

“You cold?”

“Hm? No! No, not at all. Why?"

“You're shivering. And where's your jacket? A single layer of sweater won't help with this fucking weather.”

“Well– About that. I was at the orphanage for Christmas gift trading earlier before coming here. One of the kids got… too excited and spilt apple juice all over my jacket, so I had to take it off.” She admitted. 

“What, you're gonna freeze yourself to death here? It's 1 degree out.”

“I don't want to be insiiiide.” Jade whined, almost childish. A sight Ghost would never admit he found cute.

“Your survival instincts are out of the damn window. I thought you were a seasoned MI6 black agent.” Somehow he found more ways to ridicule her.

The ginger scowled, pouting her lips before standing up “…Whatever, I'm going inside”

“Fuckin’ hell– stay. Stay here. Sit back down.” Ghost’s swift hand grabbed her forearm a bit too harshly, prompting her to balance her hand as a drop of her hot chocolate spilt out to the white snow below. 

“Why? You want me to freeze to death?” Regardless, she sat back down, closer to his body now.

“You're the only company I've got that isn't annoying. So stay here.” Ghost unexpectedly moved his arms to take off his black jacket, revealing his green sweater underneath, and much to Jade’s surprise, his arms loomed over her and rested the dark clothing around her shoulders. Her bewilderment failed to hide itself when his hand patted her shoulder a couple of times to set it in place. “There. Better?”

Wow. It’s… warm. And most importantly, It’s his warmth. 

One of her hands left the warm mug, softly tracing her fingers along the hem of the jacket to tuck it closer to her chest. “...Better.”

Shit. Ghost didn’t know the sight of Jade beneath his jacket would create more butterflies to fly like bees inside his stomach. In an attempt to suppress it, he sighed, leaning back and closed his eyes to take a deep breath. 

…before he opened his eyes, finding a mistletoe hanging right above them, placed neatly. And purposefully. It’s like a damned grenade trap. “…Fuckin’ hell…”

“STOP SWEARING!!” Jade exclaimed, annoyed at his shortage of vocabulary. “You've said those words twice in the same mi– What are you looking at…?” Jade looked at Ghost, who was leaning back while his head hung backwards on his neck. 

She looked up as well, finding the mistletoe that made him swear. “…oh, blimey.” There was not a single Christmas decoration on the back side of the house but this one. Price was a person who had a high attention to detail, but Christmas decoration was not one of them. Heck, he barely decorated the house at all. That thing was hung far too strategically.

Both Ghost and Jade were thinking of the same thing.

Soap. 

Ghost sighed, “Just ignore it.” 

“But it's bad luck though.” Jade thoughtlessly said.

“You don't really believe that, do you.”

“Well I don't! It's hanging vegetation. Still, I'm saying it could be true.” Her hands gestured at the mistletoe above her.

“What, you want a kiss?”

The woman gasped, almost offendedly. “HUH? KISS YOU??”

“Who else is underneath this fucking mistletoe?” 

She joked, trying desperately to hide her panic at the thought of kissing him. “A ghost.”

“Fucking funny. Also what's with you? It's just one kiss.”

Jade stopped speaking. Her eyes widened as she pursed her lips. “Um…. I just don't…”

Confusion fell down Ghost’s half-masked expression, quickly reading her reaction, until he got to the conclusion. “...Don't fucking tell me you haven't had your first kiss yet.” 

When he saw how Jade couldn’t respond anymore, Ghost pinched his forehead.“Bloody hell... Then why did you say you want it?!”

“I NEVER SAID I WANT IT??? I just said that the bad luck thingy could be true!”

“Well fuck us for five hundred years then!” 

“DAMMIT– OKAY!! KISS ME!”

Those words perplexed him, not realizing that he was practically glaring at her that his eyes might come out of its socket. The ever-present black paint around his eyes didn’t help to ease the tension either. Jade herself didn’t know which thunder slapped her that she said those words. She wasn’t the kind of person to just spout things without thinking of the consequences first. 

Ghost observed Jade’s face, trying to read her expression, to see whether or not she was joking or serious. Because in the deepest part of his heart, he’d hoped that she was joking. But even deeper, he hoped that she wasn’t. “…you don't mean that.”

Jade wondered if her mouth had disconnected from her brain. What she was saying came out literally the opposite of what her instincts were. “You heard me. You can kiss me. Just a peck though.” What was she thinking? This was NOT what she wanted to say. Or was it? “How many women have you kissed?” Aaand now she’s prying onto his past? Great job, Jade. 

He used to be young, that’s for sure. Despite his father and brother mocking him and his mother for it, he used to go to school and met a few women during his learning days. Only two of them, though, and that was all before he got into military. He didn’t know what commitment was back in the day, and his ‘girlfriends’ didn’t know that either. “...a few.” 

“Were they experienced?”

“Probably so.” 

Okay, so he had some experience. That somehow made her feel easy. “Well… I have zero experience on the act. So… be gentle, okay?”

“…Fine.“ Ghost breathed as he put down his almost-empty glass on the stone staircase behind him, finding Jade doing the same. 

The coldness of the wind prickled her skin, making her realize that this was not a dream. He’s about to kiss her, and it’s from a mistletoe. Out of nowhere, she remembered the overflow of mistletoe that the orphanage received earlier. Could that be a sign? Either way, she snapped back to her current state, where Ghost was visibly looking at her lips, and that sight made her heart drum twice the speed. At this point, she might explode. “Okay. So… what do I do? Do I tilt my head a little, or do I open my lips just a little bit? Should I lean in to kiss you too?  Or like–”

“Just. Stay. Still.” Ghost shut her up before she could blabber more.

“Okay okay okay”. 

Jade watched Ghost secure his mask up to his nose, revealing his mouth. When she glanced at his lips, Jade could see a tinge of red on his cheek, but she could dismiss that as a reaction to the cold or from the alcohol he was drinking. When he leaned in slowly, Jade could see him so close, the closest he's ever been to her. His eyelashes were longer than she's ever realised, fluttering against his skin, the little healed scars on his face–

Jade sucked her lips into her teeth, "WAIT WAIT WAIT." Making the man flinch and pull away in confusion.

 "What?! Do you wanna do this or not?!" Ghost exclaimed.

"I do, I do! It's my first time! Just–”

“I said all you need to do is stay. Still.”

“I've never done this before, literally! I'm 29 and I've never kissed someone!”

Ghost fell silent as Jade hid her face on her palm.

“…I have never fallen for anyone before.” She confessed. “I wanted my first kiss to be with the one and only, and now… “ Her hands wildly gestured to the mistletoe above them, “someone happened to put a mistletoe right above us.”

Jade was a lot of things. A formidable fighter, a dependable ally, a brave operator who’d jump from a cliff with you, a spawn of the devil herself when she does her thing. However, at that moment, Ghost didn’t see any of those at all. All she saw was a vulnerable woman, curled up in a ball because she couldn’t fathom the concept of a single kiss.  

After a few moments of him letting her collect her thoughts, Ghost muttered, “…Jade, if you're not ready, then we can just pretend that it doesn't exist. You don't have to.”

“You know what?” She tapped both of her knees with a considerable force, like she just made up her mind about something. “I gotta start somewhere right? Besides, when I finally kiss my man, I need to work on my kissing game.”

Ghost couldn’t help the scoff out his mouth. And… ‘her man’, huh? That could be a dream. “'Kissing game'?”

“Yes! Gotta…know what it feels like, at least?”

Ghost observed her expressions yet again. The woman in front of her was looking at him like she’s about to surrender her life to his hands. What, was he about to shoot an apple above her head? To him this was just a kiss after all.

Or was it?

Jade wasn’t his girlfriends during his younger days. She’s an extraordinary woman like no other. 

“…Okay. Look. We're gonna do this slowly. I will do all the work while you can just stay there. Does that work with you?” Ghost started, looking at Jade in the eyes.

She put on the bravest face she could muster up and proceeded with a nod.

“Say it.” The deep timbre of his voice sent shivers down her spine, because of course, it wasn’t enough for him. 

“Okay, Ghost.”

“Good. Close your eyes, Jade. Just calm down. Trust me.

As she closed her eyes, she breathed the cold winter air deeply before letting them out. Now that her vision was no more, her other senses had heightened. The sharp cold air stabbing her skin, the smell of hot cocoa on her hands, the faint scent of something that could only come from Ghost's jacket wrapped around her shoulders. 

For a good amount of time, she didn't feel anything other than her surroundings. Jade was expecting something on her lips. Anything from the man that was sitting right in front of her, but none came. She was about to open her eyes and call his name, until something touched her chin, lightly lifting her head to face upwards. And just then, Jade finally felt a soft, tender kiss on her forehead. His lips stayed there only for a second before they parted with her skin, yet it felt like she longed for it for more than eternity. No one has ever laid their lips on her skin before. No one. 

What she was expecting was something on her lips, not her forehead, so when Jade was about to open her eyelids, again, he stopped her by putting his fingers on her left cheek, tenderly sliding them from her rosy cheek to the back of her ear, taking the stray strands of her red hair with them. The hands that killed, that murdered many so more could live, were gingerly touching her face with an unexpected amount of softness. She didn’t know his hands were capable of doing such delicate movements, and neither did he. 

Before she could register what was happening, she felt him getting close again, and for the second time, her expectation betrayed her when Ghost kissed her cheek, just right under her eye. The kiss lasted longer than the one on her forehead, yet Jade couldn’t find any reason to complain. If anything, she wanted his lips to stay on her cheek longer than that. To feel him closer, to feel him more. 

Ghost’s fingers moved on backwards from behind her ear, going through the wilds of her undone hair and finding its place on the back of her head. Heart racing, Jade was expecting another kiss that was not in the designated place. However, when his deep, raspy voice softly said to her, “I’m going to kiss you now.”, she found herself giddy with her eyes closed. Part of her wanted to open her eyes and see what was going on right in front of her, but the other part stood strong against it, not wanting to ruin the moment. 

So when she felt him closing in, Jade gave all control over to him. She relaxed herself, letting Ghost gently pull her head closer to his, to at last, close the distance between their lips.

 It was the softest, slowest kiss possible, filled with unsureness on her part, yet with a sense of certainty and confidence from him, and because of that, Jade let him do his part, leading the kiss to the point that it was enjoyable and… lovely. 

The kiss lasted for only a mere 5 seconds at most, but it felt like hours. Ghost reluctantly pulled back and saw that Jade had already opened her green eyes. Her face was painted with shyness and shock, a pleasant one, as she saw that Ghost had removed his mask entirely, his face right in front of hers, his brown hair still a bit dishevelled from removing his balaclava.

Jade was a heavily trained warrior and an exceptionally skilled individual who stayed calm in times of distress and emergency on the battlefield, a force to be reckoned with, and could be an absolute menace when she wanted to be. Now, seeing the same woman like this – dazed, wide-eyed, a blushing mess, and taken aback by a simple kiss – The sight made him smile softly. 

If only she'd known how long he'd wanted to do that to her.

Palm still resting on the side of her neck, he asked her, “How was that for a first time?”

Jade looked like a robot losing its ability to function. There were no words in her brain to respond to his question. Scratch that. It looked like she didn’t even register what his question was. 

Seeing her so flabbergasted made him let out a deep chuckle. “Midget. I’m talking to you.”

That bastardized nickname snapped her out of her thoughts, making her blink rapidly, seemingly trying to sort her jumbled brain. Jade looked at the man who just claimed her first kiss right in his dark, brown eyes. 

He’s still right in front of her, face looking at her delightfully with a sweet smile, not like the usual dark, ready-to-kill gaze. It’s almost like looking at a different person entirely. 

“Uh… Umm–” Jade couldn’t form words.

Another chuckle, “You okay?”

"...this is a weird request, but" A pause, "Can you… do that again?"

Never in a thousand lifetimes, he would ever expect that answer from her. "...You want me to kiss you again?"

"Yeah. Can you do that?" She spoke with a low voice. "Please?"

His eyes opened wide at her request. Confused, but amazed at the same time. Did that request mean she liked it? Her expressions said that she did, though. Or did she just want to make sure? Nevertheless, Ghost decided to oblige and leaned in again to kiss her. 

Jade closed her eyes again and felt his lips against hers for the second time that night. His kiss was as soft and as tender as the first time. This one, though, she decided to take in the feeling of his rough lips, the way he tilted his head to fit hers, the way his large hand lightly pulled her in and softly kissed her. All the sensations she felt from his actions became ecstasy.

Her hands lifted their way up to find Ghost's cheeks. Jade could swear she heard a small gasp from the man. Fingers gliding along the side of his face, she could feel his stubbles grazing her skin. It was such a surreal sensation, to think that this is the face of the man who got branded as a ghost, a myth, who wears the mask to hide who he is. Right now, she's having her palm on the skin of his face, and he allowed her to. 

No one had touched the skin on his face in years. No one ever managed to get their hands on his face save for enemies who sought to kill him and punched his mask before meeting their demise with his knife. The only form of touch he remembered was of his father, who was all but loving.

With the tip of her thumb, Jade traced the scars on his face. Her warm hands instantly built a gentle fire on his skin. The feeling of such a tender touch was almost like meeting a stranger to him. But if it's a stranger, why did he find himself missing it so much? Why did he yearn for it so? Her touch ignited a warmth that he never knew he needed. 

At that time, the woman he was kissing felt more like home than anything and anyone ever did. He felt like he could just melt right there and then. Here Ghost thought that he was the one kissing her, but now it was like she was the one casting some sort of magic spell on him. 

Soon, their hands moved, Jade’s hands left his cheeks and found his wrist who was holding the back of her head. He almost forgot the feeling of someone’s hand on his own, but before he knew it, he felt her other hand grasping his sweater, right above his heart, crumpling the cloth. As they went on, he couldn’t just stay still anymore. Ghost’s other hand also found its way to her back, lightly pressing on her. He wanted her closer, he needed her close.

Ghost snapped himself out of his thoughts and pulled back, catching Jade off guard. 

The both of them looked into each other's eyes as they caught their breaths, not noticing that they'd been kissing for the last minute. Faces extremely red from racing hearts and rushing blood, clouds of cold air escaping their mouth from the cold, for a moment they thought they knew this was just because of a single mistletoe, yet deep down, they knew this was something more. 

Not hearing anything from one another, Ghost took his hand back from her neck and waist as Jade parted her hands from him to her lips with her hands. 

The man spoke first, "You need more?"

"Yes– I mean– No! That was enough." Words stumbled their way out of her mouth. "Uh… So… that happened. I just had my first kiss."

Ghost couldn't help the smile, "I just stole your first kiss."

"No. You didn't steal it." She denied, "If anything, I'm glad you are my first kiss."

Hearing those words, Ghost could feel his heart racing again, the world suddenly felt warmer. 

"I'm sorry you have to kiss me, though. You've always hated me." Jade continued with a laugh.

"Who says I hate you?" 

That made her look at him, and what she saw was the most gentle face she'd ever seen him. Again, she didn't know he was capable of that expression. "If I hated you, I wouldn't ask you to stay, wouldn't I?" 

That's a true statement. "You're right. So we're past the "stay away from me" phase now?" 

"Our first meeting was in Verdansk. Situation was out of control and we were off to a bad start." He explained, "And we just kissed. We're way past that now."

Smiling, Jade pursed her lips before saying, "So… are we still friends?" 

"Friends?" He glanced at her.

"Yep."

"Friends then." Confirmed Ghost. 

"Who just kissed each other."

"Because someone hung a fucking mistletoe on the back porch." He retorted while gesturing to the decoration above them. 

The woman laughed out loud before looking at the man, who was also having a chuckle of his own. 

That's the first time she heard him – saw him – this happy. Had he always been this… handsome? She'd only looked at his face once before, which was when he revealed himself to the team in the Los Vaqueros safehouse in Las Almas, and then, never again.

But if this was what Jade could see beneath the mask – his happy face, the crows feet on the corners of his eyes, the corners of his lips turning upwards, and the fact that she just learned that he had shallow dimples when smiling – then she wished the mask could just disappear. Forever.

Because after this… he would  put on that mask again. 

This might be the last time she saw him without the mask.

When would she see him without it again?

Out of nowhere, some unexplainable force of will inside her made Jade lean in and left a peck on Ghost's cheek. 

The SAS lieutenant instantly looked at the woman, flabbergasted. 

Jade herself gasped loudly, covering her face in disbelief of her own action. She couldn't see it, but in his eyes, her face was as red as her hair.

Why did she do that? What made her do that?!

They swore it was the most deafening silence in their lives. Both of them stayed like that for a good 10 seconds, seemingly trying to make sense of what the fuck just happened.

"Oh my God… OH MY GOD. I’M SORRY. I’M SORRY!” Jade uttered in absolute panic.

Ghost stayed still in silence, his eyes wide open glaring at hers. 

Oh shit. Shit shit shit. He’s mad. HE’S MAD. 

“It– It's freezing! I'm going inside!" Jade scrambled to stand up, taking the cocoa mug with her and went to the doorway, before remembering that she still had Ghost's jacket on her shoulder. 

"Ja- Lottie! Wait–" He was about to stand up to follow her, but his words got cut by his jacket flying straight to his face. When he removed the clothing, she'd already disappeared into the merry party inside. 

Touching the part where Jade kissed him, Ghost slowly stared back at the falling snow in front of the porch. He hadn't worn his jacket yet, and somehow he didn't feel cold at all.

It's so hot. 

It's too hot. 

He buried his face in his palms, before running them through his brown hair. She didn't have to do that, didn't she? There was a mistletoe, they kissed because of it, and that was it, right? 

Then what was that peck for? There wasn't any obligation involved that required her to kiss him again. 

Ghost could feel his heart pumping blood faster than it ever did, faster than when he was on the battlefield, faster than when he ran laps every day. Butterflies were rushing deep inside his stomach, flying all around his insides like it just wanted to break out of his body.

He didn't know why, but if the kiss and her touch were a gentle fire that built slowly, that little peck felt like he just got struck by a damn thunder. 

Violently.

And yet, he was so happy about that little peck - weirdly more so than the kiss - Too fucking happy. 

Ghost grasped the sweater right above his heart before muttering to himself, 

"Fuckin’ hell…" 

Jade didn't melt his cold heart. 

She set it on fire. 

—

Price couldn’t believe the situation he was in.

His sergeants, Kyle and Soap, along with Ladybug, leaning on the back door of his house, looking at Ghost and Jade kissing at his back porch. Fucking spectacular.

“See, Gaz?! I told you–”

“SHUT UP Mate they’re gonna hear your loud arse.” Gaz nudged the drunken Scot’s rib to silence him. 

Nevertheless, the plan worked. Gaz and Ladybug was the provider of the decorations since Price didn’t have any Christmas Decorations in this house in London. When Soap arrived with a mischievous look on his face and told the couple about “Operation Red Skull”, they were automatically IN on it. 

And who would’ve fucking guessed? They made his house a home ground for matchmaking, and they succeeded. They weren’t his best subordinates for nothing after all.

Suddenly, Price heard a loud gasp from the three in front of him. His captain persona suddenly kicked in and stepped forward, shoving both of his sergeants to see the situation clearly.

There they saw Jade and Ghost, looking at each other, with Jade’s face looking like she was absolutely shocked. 

“Oh my God… did she just sneak another kiss to him?!” Ladybug exclaimed with a whispering voice.

“FUCK! I didn’t have a clear visual.” Gaz followed.

“I think it was just a peck to his cheek??” Soap added.

“Everyone fall back!” Price commanded, and just like muscle memory, they all scrambled back to the living room, taking their respective deck of poker cards and sat around the messy table to pretend like they were still playing.

Soon after, Jade herself opened the back door with a face that none of them had ever seen before – a combination of shock and embarrassment.

“Jade? You okay?” Lady twisted her body to see Jade.

The former MI6 nodded uncontrollably like a shaking head doll. “Huh? Yeah. Yeah yeah, I’m okay.”

Gaz and Soap were covering their mouths with their deck of cards, unable to hide their smiles. It looked like they were about to break into a massive laughter any second now.

What broke it was Captain Price, who suddenly asked Jade,

“Really? What’s that black spot on your nose, then?”

---

YEEEHHEHEEHEHHHEHE. Sorry for the long wait! Thank you for reading! Hope y'all enjoyed it! (❁´◡`❁)

Reblogs and comments are highly appreciated <3

[the-sparks-of-creation]

Okay so, I have so much to say. The characters are Henry Stevenson, Victor Shelley, Mary Robert, and Laura Le Fanu. They're all in a Frankenstein-y story together.

Since it's a Frankenstein-y story, I decided to go with classic horror authors and their characters.

Henry Stevenson: Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the book The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. A prominent character in this story is Henry Jekyll. Henry Stevenson has the first name of this character, and the last name of the author.

Victor Shelley: You may be able to guess where he got his name. Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein. A prominent character in this story is Victor Frankenstein. Victor Shelley has the first name of this character, and the last name of the author.

Mary Robert: She diverges from the pattern. As mentioned before, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the book The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, and Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein. Mary Robert has Mary Shelley's first name as her first name, and Robert Louis Stevenson's first name as her last name.

Laura Le Fanu: Sheridan Le Fanu wrote the book Carmilla. A prominent character in this story is Laura. Laura Le Fanu has the first name of this character, and the last name of the author.

I feel it's fitting for Mary's name to be decided differently than the others bc she's different from the other characters. She is the "Frankenstein's monster" of the story.

Can't forget Edward The Rat! Edward is a rat named after Edward Hyde from The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde.

#1: What is your OC's name, and why did you choose it?

[lilias42]

Suite : la colère d'Achille maitrisée AVANT que ça tourne à la Tragédie !

Suite de ce billet. Merci à @ladyniniane pour m'avoir parlé de ce passage de l'Iliade et m'avoir donné l'idée !

Comme j'en parlais dans le précédent billet, Kelon aide Briséis à s'enfuir avant qu'Achille ne puisse lui faire quoi que ce soit, mais il provoque la colère du prince d'Egine, même s'il arrive à s'en sortir grâce à ses camarades, en particulier de son amie Hélène, de la cité d'Egine (rien à voir avec Hélène de Troie).

Petit point conception de personnage !

Kelon : J'ai finalement décidé de mettre tout le monde en tunique qui correspondrait plus à l'époque mycénienne, histoire de rappeler qu'on est à une époque plus ancienne que celle de Pyrkaïa où on est vraiment à l'époque de la Grèce classique / fin de l'époque archaïque, et de l'époque de Metaheta où on est au début de l'époque mycénienne et où ses habits se rapprochent plus de ceux représenté sur les fresques du fort de Knossos (et comme on est avec elle, les habits représentés sont bien plus féminins). On est sur la fin de l'époque mycénienne / début époque archaïque alors, il y a des tuniques cousus et des habits plus drapés. J'ai laissé Kelon en psuedo-chiton car, même si on est à une époque où on porte plus de tunique, il a la composante "comment je fais pour m'habiller avec deux ailes énormes dans le dos ?" à prendre en compte alors, il a une sorte de tunique cousu qu'il enfile par les jambes, et tient autour de son cou avec une bande de tissu et deux fibules pour que ça ne tombe pas. Il n'a également aucun motif sur ses habits pour souligner sa pauvreté et sa différence sociale avec les autres personnages, il n'a pas les moyens d'avoir de beaux tissus avec de belles broderies comme les généraux ou les soldats venant d'une famille plus aisée. Il a aussi gardé son bandeau pour retenir ses cheveux quand il vole et rappeler Claude.

Hélène (de la cité d'Etolie) : c'est un vrai personnage d'une version de l'Iliade ! Dans cette histoire, Hélène participe à la guerre de Troie, combat Achille et gagne contre lui au point de le tuer mais, Zeus ressuscite Achille qui la tue en retour. Bon, c'est une histoire qui sert surement à dire aux femmes de ne jamais combattre et de rester bien sagement à la cuisine MAIS, elle a quand même tué Achille le quasi invulnérable ! ça mérite d'être soulignée ! Ici, vu qu'on est à une période de transition entre l'époque mycénienne où les femmes avaient une place plus importante, et l'époque classique grecque où les femmes sont d'éternelles mineures à peine humaines et sans aucun droit ou presque, j'ai décidé d'en faire une engagée volontaire qui est là parce que dans sa cité, on laisse encore de la place aux femmes, même si ça reste exceptionnelle qu'une femme s'engage, et ça reste très dur pour elle et ses camarades car, ce n'est pas le cas dans toutes les cités, en particulier avec les généraux qui sont tous de très grands nobles ou propriétaires terriens où la condition des femmes... voilà, elle s'est dégradée assez vite car, ils n'ont pas vraiment besoin d'elles à part pour gérer la maison (ce qui est déjà une énorme tâche et responsabilité, ne l'oublions pas), là où ça a pris plus de temps côté peuple car, les femmes travaillent autant que les hommes pour subvenir aux besoins de leur famille, même si elles deviendront de plus en plus marginalisées avec le temps

ATTENTION ! Pour le coup, je ne sais pas si c'est comme ça que ça s'est passé dans notre monde ! Surtout que déjà qu'on a du mal à trouver des sources pour les élites, je ne vous parle même pas des gens du peuple ! C'est vraiment pour le fonctionnement de mon monde, ne prenez pas ça au pied de la lettre !

Hélène s'est cependant vite illustré pour être une excellente fantassine qui a un très grand esprit de corps et sait galvaniser ses camarades, tout en étant très apprécié par eux, en particulier les autres femmes. Elle est très amie avec Kelon d'ailleurs, elle le trouve gentil et intéressant, et lui apprend même à lire et écrire vu qu'il est analphabète de base (pas les moyens d'aller à l'école). Faut dire, en dix ans de guerre et de siège, ils ont eu le temps. A la fin, même si elle est là volontairement au début, elle perd de plus en plus patience en voyant la guerre s'éternisée, et pète littéralement un cable quand elle voie les généraux se mettre à se disputer pour une femme alors que leur camp vient d'être ravagée par la peste car, un des leurs s'est comporté comme un connard avec deux prêtres d'Apollon, y a des choses plus urgentes à régler ! Alors, quand Kelon va aider Briséis à s'évader, elle le couvre avec d'autres soldats de leur camp, histoire qu'elle puisse rentrer chez elle et éviter qu'une autre vie soit détruite. C'est un vol mais, c'est un vol pour la bonne cause donc, ça passe. Quand Achille menace de plumer Kelon, elle intervient et s'interpose entre eux, même si elle sait que normalement, Kelon a mérité de se faire punir pour son délit, elle sait qu'Achille ne fait qu'une crise de colère et veut juste massacrer quelqu'un pour se passer les nerfs. Kelon est son ami alors, elle le défendra, comme une phalange qui reste toujours soudés quoi qu'il arrive !

Pour ses habits, elle est d'une famille plus aisée que Kelon alors, elle a quelques motifs sur sa tunique : une chouette (ref + ref) qui est le symbole d'Athéna, et un vautour qui est un des animaux d'Arès, pour représenter qu'elle est une combattante complète, elle a autant l'intelligence d'Athéna que la force brute d'Arès. Elle porte également une tenue d'homme car, c'est bien plus pratique pour se battre. Je ne l'ai pas mis en armure car, c'est un duel qui s'est fait de manière impromptue et pour mieux montrer ses émotions vu que bon, l'armure complète de l'époque, ça ressemble à ça : l'armure de Dendras (reconstitution en dessin et reconstitution physique). Je lui ai juste laissé ses jambières en plus de son bouclier pour finir de la protéger et elle aurait pu encore les avoir. Pour son bouclier, il est basé sur une représentation des boucliers bilobés qu'on a retrouvé à Mycènes avec une grosse arrête centrale et cette forme de huit.

ATTENTION A NOUVEAU !!! JE ME SUIS TROMPE ! C'EST PAS HELENE D'ETOLIE QUI ARRIVE A LE TUER ! C'EST PENTHESILEE QUI ARRIVE A LE TUER ! Hélène, elle ne fait "que" le blesser ! C'est pas mal mais, je me suis emmêlée les pinceaux quand même !!! Je suis vraiment désolé pour ça, j'essayerai de ne pas refaire l'erreur plus tard !

Achille : pour lui, j'ai peut-être pas trop à le présenter mais, étant donné qu'il fait une colère car il ne peut pas avoir la plus jolie esclave du camp, qu'il tue quand même un de ses propres alliés car il s'est moqué de lui (car Achille est tombée amoureux de Penthésilée, reine des amazones, alors qu'elle est en train de mourir car il vient de la tuer, ce type doit revoir sa définition du romantisme !), et qu'il préfère aller mourir jeune couvert de gloire au lieu d'écouter sa mère qui a toujours pris soin de lui et de rester à Egine pour mourir vieux et inconnu, ce qui le fait regretter dans l'Odyssée (vraie anecdote, il dit à Ulysse en enfers qu'il préférerait être un valet de ferme [donc très souvent un esclave à l'époque, soyons clair] que d'être mort, y a fallu attendre qu'il meurt pour qu'il grandisse)... ouais, pour une version moderne du personnage, c'est très facile d'en faire un petit c*n égocentrique ne pensant qu'à lui et à sa gloire. Attention ici aussi, c'est dans les codes de l'époque : les héros grecs le sont car, ils sont à la recherche de gloire, ils ne sont pas là pour aider la veuve et l'orphelin. Si Héraclès fait ses douze travaux, c'est pas pour aider les gens mais, pour payer sa dette suite à son meurtre de sa femme et de ses enfants dans un coup de sang provoqué par Héra. C'est ça un héros grec mais, pour une histoire moderne qui suit des codes moraux et narratifs de notre époque, soit faut assumer à fond qu'on est vraiment sur les codes de la Grèce antique autant qu'on les connait et là, autant lire / écouter l'Iliade directement, soit on assume qu'on change des trucs pour en faire autre chose.

Je suis donc partie sur ça : Achille est un prince très fier de son rang, très fier de sa force, très sur de son droit sur tout, qui a également le comportement d'un sale gamin pourri gâté qui déteste qu'on lui dise non (merci Pélée pour le coup, Thétis est le seul parent compétent dans ce couple) et qui n'a aucun respect pour les personnes en-dessous de lui comme Kelon ou Hélène ou qui ne rentre pas dans l'idéal aristocratique de la force comme Kelon dont il trouve le pouvoir inutile, voir même Odysseus vu qu'il est plus rusé et veut que la guerre s'arrête pour rentrer chez lui retrouver sa femme et son fils, et très sanguin quand il s'énerve. Pour ses habits à lui, je lui a donné plein de motif pour souligner sa richesse, plus dans le style des vases à décors géométriques qui vont avec la période, tout en étant facile à reproduire sur toutes les pages. Le motif sur son bouclier de type tour est un aigle, pour rappeler Zeus (capable de se transformer en aigle et de mémoire, je crois que c'est un animal qui lui ait pas mal associé mais je peux me tromper, je me suis surtout appuyé sur mes souvenirs pour cette BD) qui l'a ressuscité dans la légende originale avec Hélène d'Etolie. Pour la forme de son épée, je me suis appuyé sur les reproduction de cet article (en accès libre) : "Les armes aux premiers temps de la Grèce mycénienne : marqueurs de pouvoir et de hiérarchie sociale". J'ai juste juste exagérée la taille des antennes de sa garde pour la rendre plus unique. La forme de son bouclier demi-cylindrique de type tour vient également de là. Etant donné qu'il est quand même censé être un des plus puissants guerriers achéens, il n'a pas de cicatrice, il n'a jamais été assez blessé pour en avoir une (et l'armure de Dendra aide, essayez de passer une forteresse de métal pareille !)

Odysseus : Ulysse retrouve son nom grec pour marquer que c'est un personnage qui est pas mal modernisé aussi. Si déjà dans l'Iliade, il fait tout pour ne pas aller à la Guerre de Troie en se faisant passer pour fou et c'est lui qui trouve la ruse pour en finir avec de Troie, ici, j'ai poussé le curseur plus loin en en faisant vraiment LE général qui veut en finir au plus vite avec cette guerre en négociant avec les troyens et qui n'est pas dans la course à l'égo qu'est cette guerre. Il veut rentrer chez lui car il a déjà loupé toute la croissance de Télémaque et que sa femme qu'il aime vraiment (dans le futur, Kelon le décrira comme l'homme le plus fidèle à sa femme qu'il a rencontré de toute son existences qui durera quand même mille ans) lui manque terriblement. Il a autre chose à faire que s'enterrer à Troie pour récupérer de la gloire au combat et du butin puis Hélène car c'est l'excuse pratique pour se taper dessus. Il est également un des rares qui arrivent à relativement bien canaliser Achille et qui ne se laisse pas impressionner par ses colères et ses coups de sang : Odysseus est un père, il a l'habitude des enfants capricieux, même si Télémaque est bien plus sage et mature qu'Achille. Il apprécie beaucoup les pouvoirs de Kelon car, il les trouve extrêmement pratique. On est en Grèce / équivalent de la Grèce en Almyra après tout, le climat est plutôt sec et pouvoir faire pleuvoir à volonté est une vraie aubaine pour les cultures, et il trouve ça bien plus pratique que juste augmenter sa force brute, surtout qu'il voie le potentiel futur de Kelon qui maitrise quand même la météo à 40 ans, alors quand il sera bien plus âgé, il risque de devenir extrêmement puissant. Il essaye donc de ne pas se le mettre à dos, histoire qu'il n'est pas de dent particulière contre sa cité.

Pour son design, je lui ai donné une barbe et tenté de lui faire des rides autour des yeux pour marqué qu'il est un homme d'âge mur, là où Achille qui est plus jeune et est donc glabre (Kelon a plus l'âge d'Odysseus, mais il continue à se raser de près car, son visage est encore assez juvénile étant donné qu'il vieillit bien moins vite à cause de sa condition de sorcier), et que le stress et la fatigue de la guerre l'ont fait vieillir bien plus vite (et comme on dirait : les bustes de grecs qu'on a, c'est des copies romaines et pour un romain, un grec, c'est un homme avec une barbe). Pour ses habits, je me suis basée sur cet oenochoé où il a un pétasse et une chlamyde (sorte de grand manteau) de voyageur, même si après coup, le manteau lui fait vraiment de grandes épaules... Pour les motifs, il s'agit de canard pour rappeler Pénélope / Πηνελόπεια dont le nom pourrait venir du mot "sarcelle, oiseau aquatique" en pré-grec, et de chouette étant donné que c'est le favori d'Athéna dans les mythes. Pour sa fibule, c'est un lys stylisée, de nouveau pour rappeler son mariage et sa fidélité à sa femme. Le motif en bas de sa tunique représente des grenades, qui sont un des fruits associés à Héra avec le paon et le coucou.

Ménésthée : roi d'Athènes à l'époque de l'Iliade, vu qu'il a tout petit rôle dans cette histoire, j'ai laissé Achille ne pas le respecter du tout et le prendre de haut comme les autres. Etant donné qu'il est le fils de Thésée, je lui ait donné des motifs de taureau sur son col afin de rappeler les exploits mythologiques de son père (même si dans la version Fodlan / Almyra, il n'a sans doute pas la même origine, c'est surement plutôt un sorcier dont les fiertés lui donne une apparence mi-homme, mi-taureau).

Agamemnon : figure importante de l'Iliade alors, les gens l'écoute mais, ça reste quand même un type très violent (le mec a quand même assassiné le premier mari de Clystemnestre et ses enfants pour pouvoir convoler avec elle et a été à deux doigts de sacrifier sa fille Iphigénie pour partir à la guerre, tu m'étonnes que sa femme veuille sa peau !) qui aime le combat alors, il a zéro souci à laisser deux personnes de son propre camp se battre pour résoudre un problème entre eux, même s'il sait aussi que les troyens ne doivent rien rater depuis leurs remparts. Il a des motifs de sanglier pour rappeler Arès et son caractère violent mais, qui n'est pas adouci par la présence de la chouette d'Athéna comme pour Hélène qui est bien plus pondérée que lui.

[atlaculture]

Hello!! Firstly, I love your blog, thank you so much for providing such useful and interesting information! Secondly, how was pirate culture in the Qing dynasty? Especially in regards to their clothes. I'd like to make an Earth Kingdom pirate oc, so I've been taking some inspiration from Jiang from the comics and Ching Shih, a famous pirate, but I'd love to see any information you could provide about this topic! Thank you!

What a neat question! The pirate culture during the Qing Dynasty was really interesting. Since I know I have a lot of historical fashion fans following this blog, I'll show you the inspiration board I created first and then try to connect it to the Avatar world. If you're interested in the history of Qing-era pirates or the greater context behind my clothing recommendations, you can click on the "Keep Reading" line.

So what might the pirates of the Qing Dynasty have worn?

Since Qing Dynasty pirates spent most of their time in the South China Sea and docked along the China-Vietnam borderlands--- both the Qing Dynasty and the Tây Sơn Dynasty had employed these pirates at different points in time--- they were likely a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese culturally, if not ethnically. Their clothing would reflect this, as well as incorporating fabrics and cuts that would be suitable for a tropical climate. In general, their wardrobe would be very Southeast Asian in style.

Since you seem to be designing a female OC, I figured I'd make a collage of clothing and accessories that a Qing Dynasty lady pirate might have.

Headwear

Khăn lươn (Vietnamese Women's Headwrap) - Used to keep hair neat and out of the way. It's like a halfway point between a turban and a hairband.

Khăn mỏ quạ (Vietnamese Women's Headscarf) - A bandana that Vietnamese women would wear over their Khăn lươn to shield their hair from the sun. It literally means "Crow's Beak Scarf", because the bandana forms a triangle shape at the front.

Mũ chữ Đinh (Vietnamese Military Officer's Hat) - Many Qing Dynasty pirates would offer their services to the Tây Sơn Dynasty (Vietnamese) navy. I can imagine some pirates wearing these hats as a spoil of war.

Nón lá (Asian Conical Hat) - A traditional hat that is commonly worn in Asia by any profession that labors outside. It's probably the hat most associated with East and Southeast Asia.

Đinh Tự (Vietnamese Women's Hat) - A giant, wide-brimmed hat made from dried palm leaves--- it's basically an Asian conical hat on steroids. Whereas the nón lá is relatively gender-neutral, the dinh tự is considered a feminine hat.

Tops

Yếm / Dudou (Vietnamese/Chinese Halter Top) - Fun Fact: Its original purpose was to keep the belly warm, as the stomach is the sea of chi!

Áo gấm (Vietnamese Tunic) - A thin overcoat worn over the yếm. It's often fastened with a sash.

Áo bà ba (Vietnamese Folk Shirt) - A lightweight shirt with slits on the side.

Suoyi (Chinese Folk Raincoat) - A cloak made out of local materials such as palm leaves and grass. It was also worn by laborers in Vietnam, Japan, and Korea.

Bottoms

Kangkeng Le (Thai Fisherman Pants) - They're from Thailand, but I've seen them worn in other parts of Southeast Asia.

Váy (Vietnamese Skirt)

Miscellaneous Speculation

Kiềng (Vietnamese Gold Necklace) - Traditionally, gold or silver Vietnamese/Chinese necklaces were solid rings of metal, rather than being composed of small chain links like European necklaces. I imagine a powerful Asian pirate queen would wear at least three kiềng necklaces.

Tattoos - Since Confucian cultures traditionally considered body modification (including cutting your own hair) to be a sign of rebellion and criminality, tattoos would be the perfect status symbol for an Asian pirate! For a uniquely Vietnamese look, you could try incorporating ancient Vietnamese (Dong Son style) patterns to your design. Alternatively, they could have "protection charm" tattoos on their body, to ensure that the spirits watch over them while at sea or during battle.

Cormorants (Fishing Birds) - Historically, the fishermen of China and Vietnam have trained these species of bird to catch fish for them. I think it would be really cool if your pirate OC had some bird companions.

Weapons

Going to lean into the Vietnamese influence for the weapons as well. Most Vietnamese weapons were heavily inspired by Chinese weapons, but with uniquely Vietnamese touches. Generally, these weapons tended to have more tapered blades, metal engravings with floral patterns, and rattan-corded grips with smaller guards compared to their Chinese counterparts.

Dadao/Trường đao (Chinese/Vietnamese Machetes)

Jian/Kiem (Chinese/Vietnamese Doubled-Edged Swords)

Changdao/Guőm truòng (Chinese/Vietnamese Two-Handed Swords) - Fun fact: These swords were really popular with Chinese and Japanese pirates during the Ming Dynasty, as well.

Niuweidao - I don't think there's a Vietnamese version of Oxtail Sabers. Anyways, I've discussed Zuko's trademark swords at length elsewhere. They're civilian weapons that look very pirate-y to me.

Who would the Earth Kingdom pirates be? How would they make a living?

It has been shown that their is a Vietnam analog in the EK, as I've posted about before. The Swampbenders have some Vietnamese inspiration, as well. So the main base operations for EK pirates might have been that EK village that Zuko and Iroh begged in. Maybe the jerk that Zuko stole the swords from was a pirate.

Considering that Froggy Swamp denizens and other Water Tribers would probably be marginalized by EK society, I think their would be good reason for them to become pirates. Especially since waterbending would obviously be a very useful skill to have at sea. Also, since the Northern Water Tribe is shown to be a bit sexist, I could see the surprisingly not-as-sexist world of EK piracy being especially appealing to the ladies of the NWT. As far as EK natives go, farmers and fishermen who've been displaced by the Fire Nation would probably also turn to piracy. Similarly, jaded or corrupt Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation naval officers might switch to piracy, as well. What drives a person to piracy would definitely inform their clothing choices and weaponry.

Like the real-life pirates of the Qing Dynasty, Earth Kingdom pirates likely have no real national loyalties. If you paid them enough, they'd be willing to fight for either the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom. You also have to pay them off to cross their territory unscathed. Pirates raid merchant and military ships alike. For refugees who could afford it, they likely paid pirates to smuggle them into Ba Sing Se. Pirates probably also smuggled goods between nations, as well as drugs.

I also think Earth Kingdom pirates would worship water-related spirits, like Yue (+ the Ocean Spirit) or the Painted Lady. Perhaps they'd lay out offerings to spirit alters they'd have onboard or even "feed" the offerings to the seas themselves.

The Greater Context of Chinese Qing Dynasty Piracy

Who were the pirates of the Qing Dynasty?

The pirates of Qing Dynasty were predominantly made up of former farmers and fishermen. During this period, population growth in China lead to land shortages and many farmers lost their land either from being unable to keep up with rising taxes or outright theft from corrupt officials. Fishermen turned to piracy when fishing could no longer guarantee their survival, especially with European pirates and colonial ships invading their waters. In general, extreme poverty drove people to piracy.

Also, Chinese pirates were surprisingly more accepting of female leadership than men from more "respectable" parts of society. This is due to the fishermen roots of many pirates. Traditionally, when a fisherman died, his wife was expected to take over his boat and crew. Also, the two most prominent patron Chinese gods of seafarers are goddesses, Guanyin and Mazu.

What did these pirates do?

Qing Dynasty pirates were a unique fusion of bandit, mercenary, and drug smuggler. Obviously, if you planned on sailing through pirate-infested waters, you had better pay off the pirates to be left unscathed. Otherwise, your ship was getting plundered.

Qing pirates also offered up their talent for violence to the highest bidder during times of war. In the 18th century, Imperial Vietnam would frequently hire and train up Southern Chinese pirates to assist their fleets during naval battles. Those who earned merit during these conflicts would even be granted official military titles. In 1857, the Chinese government would even employ these same South Sea pirates to take down the Portuguese pirates terrorizing their waters.

Finally, as Qing Dynasty piracy reached its epoch at the same time as the First Opium War, Chinese pirates participated in a lot of drug smuggling. As pirates have no loyalty, they had no issue serving as middle-men in the profitable European drug trade.

Where were these pirates found?

The South China Sea was the stomping ground for Qing-era pirates, particularly the Gulf of Tonkin. In terms of ports and towns, they tended to spend a lot of time in the border areas where China met Vietnam. Remember that these pirates offered their services to both Imperial Vietnam and Imperial China, so they didn't exactly have national loyalties.

[the-sparks-of-creation]

All of 'em except Victor (second from the left) die to further the plot.

Though it is debatable whether or not Mary (second from the right) truly died, or if she was dead the whole time.

Laura (first from the right) is the only one who doesn't come back after dying. :)

Even Edward dies. (he isn't pictured)

which oc are you going to kill off?

[zivazivc]

Did Les ever dated in the past? Also is he with anyone recently?

Les quit school really early, like 10-years-old early, and he started working soon after, so he didn't really have friends his age. That kinda puts a buffer on a teenager's social and love life. Though there was something that happened at a house party once, that was, uh... a bad experience, and it left him with a lot of issues. Also, partially because of this, he's not really someone who acts on his crushes. So he never dated before.

But at one point the band spent a few months in the same location (dunno the reason yet, but maybe they weren't getting enough gigs and they had to take up some part time jobs for a while), and Les developed a crush on a bartender at a nearby club.

She's the only OC of mine who's visually a bigger weirdo than Les, and he definitely saw a little bit of himself in her, and hoping for someone with some shared life experience, it's what initially attracted him toward her and vice versa.

So they had a thing going on for a short time. It never developed into anything serious because sadly they are very alike, which means they are BOTH morons who are shy about making the first move. And after a while they came to the agreement that they were better as just friends.

Floyd with his persistent crush was not happy about the possible romance at first, but he ended up being happy for Les, and he finally decided to give his hopeless longing a rest, since the only good it was doing was growing a rift between his and Les's friendship.

Funny enough it was Floyd backing down which allowed the two to grow closer. Les lowered his guard since he no longer had to overthink if Floyd would interpret anything he did or said as some kind of flirting or act of love, and he no longer had to brace himself for any uncomfortable romancing coming from Floyd either.

They were already good friends since the start but they became much more casual with each other and began to understand each other on a deeper level as years passed. As Floyd got older and more mature, and became an equal with the rest of the bandmates, it was actually Les who fell for him, hard. He didn't really do anything about it though, but Floyd eventually realized this and you know he did something about it. Though Floyd's crush had gone from looking at Les as this cool experienced older guy when he was younger to now seeing him as a shy innocent teddy bear compared to his lewd self ksjhdkjs.

So technically they became each other's first proper all-encompassing relationship. And by that I mean that besides the lovey-dovey obvious stuff, they were also best friends and helped each other grow a lot. Also Floyd by the time they got together, already started a habit of hooking up with strangers at parties, so being with Les forced him to slow down and progress through a relationship slowly and at a healthy pace for someone his age (since you can't really get anywhere with Les without a lot of patience). And Floyd got Les to become comfortable with opening up and talking about his deep-rooted feelings. They talked about issues they faced, many of which were related to Les's childhood trauma, instead of him just ignoring or suppressing it all. (Floyd also opened up about his own family trauma with Les obviously, but he talked about it even before they got together.)

The relationship, especially at the start, could still be considered questionable from an outsider's perspective, but so was the band's lifestyle in general. They were good for each other during that period while they were growing up and figuring themselves and each other out, which is what matters I think.

It was honestly mainly Floyd's undiagnosed bipolar disorder that made the relationship suffer toward the end of Floyd's days in the band. It created a lot of trust issues between Floyd and Les, and also Floyd and everyone else, heck it even made Floyd distrust himself, since he and none else knew or understood what was happening with him. This led to a lot of misery and anger that he mostly ended up directing at Les, and it was what eventually made them break up and Floyd leave.