#like legit leverage fic anyway

[formosusiniquis]

The thing is that Leverage Consulting & Associates is, on paper, a legitimate company. Or it was a legitimate company at one point. It was founded by Harlan Leverage III, that’s how Hardison set it up and we know that he’s good at setting up the paperwork to make something look legit.

So with that in mind, I propose the following.

Parker is getting better at the people thing, the strange people thing. She’s good with the boys, they’re her boys. They get her and she gets them, usually. There isn’t the thing that Sophie is always talking about, conventions. Expectations that she has to know how to meet. It’s easier with a con, there’s a goal she just has to figure out the right things to say to reach the right end. It’s like a dialogue tree in one of Hardison’s games.

Meeting with clients is harder. Having to work out what they think they want and what they really want. It’s a mess of implications and vaguely stated desires. She doesn’t know why everyone can’t just say what they’re really thinning. She tries to have Hardison or Eliot there with her, to translate the innuendo that she knows she misses or correct her misinterpreting of a facial tic. But Eliot is running recon on the mark that they’re about to take and Hardison is working on one of his projects to help fix the world.

So it’s just her in the brew pub looking for Steve, a middle school teacher for the hard of hearing whose school is getting shut down. She finds him at the bar, the hair is, as Eliot would say, distinctive.

“Mr. Harrington,” he startles when she taps on his shoulder. Maybe Eliot is right and she’s not making enough noise when she walks.

“Yes, hello, hi.” Nervous, he’s nervous, that much she understands what to do with.

“Hello, I’m Parker, we-”

“Parker?” A question she thinks, it ticks up at the end like one. But he hasn’t actually asked anything.

“Leverage. You contacted us about your school.”

“Oh,” he brightens, maybe he thought she was confused or a stranger. “I didn’t know it was a family business.”

This was another thing she didn’t get, the weird connections people made. How the thing that she said turned into what he said. That confusion must be plain.

“I did some research, tried anyway, my sister-in-law is pretty handy with the computer stuff.”

They’ve run a lot of cons, sometimes pictures do pop up of them in the middle of a grift, Hardison’s crawlers are good but the internet is changing, apparently. It makes sense, in a way, that he might have seen a picture of her with the boys.

Eliot and Alec are her family. Nate and Sophie too.

“We are. A family business. Does that matter?”

He smiles, a real one, she knows what that means. “No! I think that’s fantastic. Family is important to me.”

“Great. Now, Mr. Harrington, what can you tell me about what is going on with your school.”

The con keeps them busy for several days, but at the end she’s excited to see Mr. Harrington again to tell him the good news. She likes this part, maybe more than the gloat. It’s like the opposite of money, the ephemeral way the joy and the gratitude on their faces can’t be hoarded.

“Thank you, Ms. Leverage, you can’t imagine how much this will mean to the students. It’s amazing that the business has stayed in the family since the 1900’s.”

It’s such a strange thing to say that she isn’t sure how to answer. So she defaults, “We’re just glad we could help.”

He leaves not much later, joining up with a man that she knows from the background check is his husband.

Alec and Eliot slip behind her once he’s gone. A quiet and subtle presence, until Alec can’t help but break the silence. “Parker Leverage. It has a nice ring.”

And it isn’t hard to admit, “It does, doesn’t it?”

[pandarson]

Get To Know Me

Rules: Answer and tag nine people you want to get to know better and catch up with.

thanks @harrowitzer for the tag!

Favorite color(s): pink, specifically #ff00e3 because it kind of sparks joy when I’m starting a drawing

Last Song: Circus by Britney Spears

Currently reading: ASM Vol 2…. But like so so slowly. I think I’ve gotten through an issue in a month lol (I keep drawing instead so I can’t be too upset)

Currently watching: Oh, lots of stuff. Leverage, the Expanse, just finished up IWTV season 2 not too long ago, rewatching Steven Universe: Future, but me and my roomie kind of put that on hold when the spideytorch server I’m in turned me on to Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994) and I. Fucking. Love. It. Peter’s so yappy and inwardly monologing and whiny and it’s so so so good for it.

Currently craving: Was craving some pistachio ice cream recently so I got that. Really hit the spot.

Coffee or Tea:  BOTH!! I like coffee more, but to pretend I’m not a lover of tea is nonsense. In fact, with the right tea you can totally get the coffee experience. In fact, if I had to choose for one to continue to exist and one to not, it’d probably be tea that I’d deem worthy of continuing on because it’s such a diverse drink anyway.

Hobby To Try: Well I like drawing, so I’ve been sort of dipping my toes into comic making. I made probably my first real legit little comic (like four panels nothing crazy but more than I’ve done before) about a young Peter B Parker and bisexual panic moment. Might post it on my art blog at some point. Spent a bunch of time practicing Peter’s facial expression too to get comfortable with drawing him and find an easy style for comics

Current Au: Uuuuuh the story I’ve been building for my version of Peter, I guess. I got a crazy ass bullet point list that keeps getting bigger as I figure out where I want to place things and then I RP with my partners about it or write little connecting fics. (I’m more of an RPer than a fanfic writer. To those of you brave enough to share your work, I salute you. You inspire me)

tagging: @transgender-catboy @hongzhizhu @anarchyspider @slightlydepressedmelon @enigmacatinspace @kahlannightwing @hiitspath @jazzums @zacolyn

and probably like so many others I could tag, but whoever wants to

[faorism]

thinking about @bisexual-enby-jellyfish talking about the lack of time travel fic in the fandom, and got me thinking that since canon is satisfying, instead of fix its, we gotta have break its.

BITTERSWEET CANON COMPLIANT PONDERINGS AHEAD

canon lev:red era and pardison is out on a mission for alecs non-leverage side hustle, and they are going to a specific town which they remember distantly eliot talking about it, from years back, how that was a moment of decision for him early in his military career. it was there—eliot admitted when he was feeling especially vulnerable, with a smile that was supposed to be funny but really wasnt—it was there that put him on the path that lost his soul. that comment has a lot more weight now, after eliot saying he has lonely he has been for years (which still haunts parker), and how apparently he told sophie he cannot be redeemed (which is now haunting hardison), and because of all the hitting eliots body is starting to betray him (which scares them both). maybe before they left, they had a tense argument. eliot wanted to go with them, but pardison was like?? you legit told us this is #trauma for you, no. and eliots shrug of a response to what it would put him through sat ill with them.

the memories of eliots unhappiness gives pardison the willies but they try to move on, but something feels... off? anyway MAGIC the resonances of eliot's soul-ache draw the two in to a long abandoned military coup base and they get sent back to around 20/21ish eliot (with alec around 35, the age difference between them but reverse in of s1).

they dont meet right the second they land, but its close: eliot finds pardison in the active base, and he rescues them because he thinks hardison and parker are his retrieval targets. (parker... was under the impression eliot wasn't able to get in time to save the real target in his timeline?? hardison just grumbles uhh.... multiple universes are a headfck irl.)

eliot is on an extended mission, one of his first serious solo ones, one that is clearly testing him out for recruitment for special ops. so hardison and parker can't be whisked away and has to stick around eliot For Reasons with an assumed identity. pardison realizes that eliot's mission can be better resolved (aka little/no bloodshed) with a con, and they convince eliot to go along. they aren't there long per se, but there is a lot of thrills and suspense and tension and idk plot stuff, i hate plot stuff so imagine that's happening in the background.

throughout it all, hardison and parker treat eliot like they normally would... which is utterly familiar and intimate, which throws young eliot. and by throws i mean seduces accidentally. eliot gets all heart-eyed, which hardison and parker don't notice right away because they miss their home time, but also eliot just always kinda acts like that. eliot is falling so hard but he tries to be respectful because obviously pardison is together, but a man can dream...

hardison and parker have Talks about how important it is to not change the past, as much as their presence undoubtedly has changed something. but as much as hardison is genre aware, it's harder for him. the rawness of eliot's confession—that he doesn't think he can ever be redeemed—sits heavily on hardison. and he also is like... why are we here, why were brought back? maybe we are supposed to heal a hurt, right a wrong, maybe... parker just wants to go home.

but she is the one who breaks. eliot is shot at and hurt while protecting them, and the screams from parker and hardison are just... gut wrenching. and as hardison is patching eliot's shoulder up and parker is wiping down eliot's dirt and sweat-drenched face, eliot is like... something aint right with you two. hardison tries to deflect with a joke, but eliot is like, no. you... know me. you care about me. please—he interrupts, when hardison is about to deny harder—the truth. and hardison and parker look at each other. she nods so hardison tells him. some of it, but enough. he tells eliot that they know him from the future. they work together, but it's more than that. parker and hardison arent sure how they came back, but they know some of the why. maybe. they are gonna help eliot, and maybe they get back to their time. maybe not. but they aren't gonna abandon eliot here if they can help it.

eliot gets quiet and is like... do you... are we... and hardison furrows his brows. eliot decides to be brave, braver than he may have ever felt before (and thats saying something) and he asks, are we together? and parker is like, yeah he just told you, we are a team, have been for years, we're family and eliot is like no not... hardison and parker are like what?? and eliot just shakes his head and is like, when you say family, you mean...?

hardison pauses from his stitching to say, you two have a permanent kill switch for my computers in case i go evil mad scientist. and parker says only you and alec can look over my harnesses before i jump. i don't double check your work anymore. hardison says you... and what can he say that would make sense to this eliot? what would have the weight? you let us take care of you.

eliot's eyes go wide, hardison's observation landing just right, and here is where parker meets her limit. dont enlist, she says

and eliot, stunned, tries to make a joke to cut the tension choking him: he looks over his gear and is like, little late for that, darlin'.

and parker is like, don't join black ops. go to aimee back as soon as you can.

parker breaks because... parker sees this eliot, this softer version of himself and parker loves eliot, her eliot, but also this one. she didnt know what eliot had lost but now she knows. she knows and she has the power to do something. she can't hoard eliot away when things can. be. better. for. him. she knows what make us us, but...... us is a lonely eliot. us is an eliot that feels damned. us is an eliot who deserves so much more, everything, anything. they can promise him robot bodies, but there's something else they can give him. a life beyond what he... what he had to make with them. a life with whatever eliot calls a soul.

hardison gasps parker but doesn't disagree with her, and if eliot had doubts they were from the future or had some special knowledge about him, this was proof enough.

and what'll happen if i dont?

parker hugs herself tight: you can have a good life, el. the one you want.

what do you know what i want? and god, he sounds so much like their eliot but also so much his twenty/twenty-one years.

it's what you've told us, hardison says.

and what about what we got? parker and hardison don't say anything. i don't think its enough? i ever say that? exactly that?

parker and hardison want to say yes, but they can't. they also cant quite say no. both hurt. the lack of clarity burns.

as parker and hardison try to find the words to convince him, eliot just sighs. in your time, did i even tell you i love y'all two?

and parker... okay, look there's a lot going on and she is very very sad and she is always very very shocked. so she responds, you don't love us.

eliot gets that... that fucking martyr smile of his: the way you treat me? respect me? and... you two are gorgeous. funny. smart. there's no way i aint in love.

and parker is like. you can't know that.

eliot is like, i can because im halfway there myself. more than halfway, if im honest.

and parker and hardison are... floored. no, you can't love us, hardison repeats. he is sure of this. he has to be.

eliot: future me or now?

hardison: either. both. eliot, you can't love us. eliot can't. that... that doesn't make sense. no. god, what have they been doing for fifteen years if... no. god no. if eliot loved them, he would have said something. they would be together. no. this eliot is so green and young and unbroken and... this eliot doesn't know their eliot. he's wrong. he... has to be.

eliot frowns. so i trust you with everything i am but i aint in love, you aren't enough, and... and you want me to take a different path. away from y'all

hardison: it sounds awful when you say it like that.

eliot: it doesn't sound like a good situation, from where im sitting

parker: we just want you happy, eliot. even if it means we cant have you.

eliot sobers. nods. i won't promise you i will. but... i will consider it.

and that's what parker and hardison want but they are just… spooked. but so is eliot. he withdraws and says he has it from here. hardison and parker try to insist they need to help, but eliot gives them a stare down until they take the out.

after that... things are heavy. but the con is rolling along fine, and above all else, they are professionals. as the con is wrapping up, parker is planning out the last details about the gloat and she's like, we won't be there but you should... and they are like oh. yes. that.... that's gonna happen. that will be when they leave.

the con goes well until inevitably they hit a snag, so when they are gonna break up for separate parts of the con, the departure is on a much more sudden time frame than they expected. they three look at each other because they know they won't see each other again, not like this. maybe not ever again.

as parker and hardison try to find the words to leave eliot behind, eliot just sighs. i told you i would consider leaving the army but you gotta answer me and don't lie.

parker: anything

eliot: is there a time you are alive now because i was there? not... not any hitter. specifically me.

oh. tear well up in parker's eyes. not fair.

because parker thinks about a sunken cavern of ice. that one shouldn't even count, any other hitter would probably have just told her to leave the body from the beginning. parker does not care. eliot saved her in more ways than just convincing her to climb out of the cave in the end.

and hardison thinks of that second day, technically the first twenty-four hours.... thinks of eliot pulling hardison up before the warehouse blows up. maybe the choreography of the day would have meant hardison didn't fall, or maybe he did live but was injured, or maybe a million things. eliot steadied hardison, was his friend, his confidante, the one who held him first when hardison came up from the ground.

so the answer yes then?

parker: it's not that simple

eliot: why can't it be?

parker makes an unhappy sound. the time is running out. they need to get to position. now. but...

hardison holds eliot by the neck, as eliot once did him, and says. you once told me all i had to do was to show you the way and you would save the world for us. we want to show you the way to save your soul, whatever it takes, whatever happens to us, because... that's what love can look like, too. we just want what's best for you, whatever that looks like. just think about it. okay?

eliot looks like he wants to resist, but hardison squeezes desperately, trembling.

okay. i'll think about it.

hardison draws eliot close, into a hug. thank you.

eliot clutches him back. goddammit, he whispers, no explanation.

parker is there when hardison pulls back an inch. eliot hugs her too, and says into her ear, make sure he doesnt get into too much trouble without me, alright?

parker does not say anything at first. says, goodbye, eliot, with their cheeks squeezed together, that's how hard she's hugging him.

bye, park.

and so.

they part.

they finish the con, and parker and hardison are so incredibly anxious about what the repercussions are gonna be (they are willing to take them, for eliot) and also are already like, mourning eliots place in their lives because they love him

they finish out the con and they feel the tug and they get back to the present. its done. they did it.

parker and hardison are shaking and things seem similar enough, that means eliot had to have chosen them.... no, no, they can't get their hopes up.

......they had to have found a way without him. they had to, because that's what eliot would have wanted from them in exchange for his soul.

but just as they get their bearings, there's a sound just a little away. they stiffen; parker gets ready to fight. but it's...

oh.

eliot holds them close and he's like, god, it's been weeks i've been checking every day

you can't be here, hardison says

you promised you would consider it, parker says, distressed

and eliot... doesnt respond with confusion, i... knew it had to be around now if it really was you but i was never sure it was real before

parker, face tucked squarely into eliot's neck: you remember us?

i didn't or... i didn't include you in my mission report. there was no proof yall existed and then the next deployment, the very next one, they... they got me. held me for months. i was convinced yall were a fantasy to give me hope. over the years, i thought maybe, maybe it was... but no, it couldnt be. but since y'all vanished, it's been coming back. eliot's fingers dig into them where he's holding them. its been coming back, ive been remembering, and ive been here, waiting

hardison, tears flowing: we told you to go home. we warned you. you could have been okay.

eliot pulls back to meet hardison's eyes: when you left, i imagined my life if i went back. it... wouldve been nice. married to aimee, likely, but that would've never lasted. not forever. too the same, all passion and no patience. mightve gone to work for my dad. itd be comfortable. a decent life.

parker: it would have been good. safe. you would have been happy.

eliot shakes his head: i chose the army first, before you showed up. it was always gonna be what i did. i was stubborn, then, and i didnt understand the scope but i was following it to its ends.

hardison: so it was all for nothing.

eliot: no, fuck. no. you showed me a way to keep my soul, but whatever happened to it, a way i couldnt take, but i at least knew, somewhere deep inside... eliot stops, tries to untangle them.

hardison: what did you know?

eliot: i'm here that's what matters

parker: please

eliot: even then, i knew at least... my soul might be lost but i would always know where my heart was

parker: oh. you love us

of course, darlin'. eliot swallows.

you never told us

you never told me

hardison: we didnt want you to leave

eliot: i never wanted to give you a reason to push me away

parker: we're so stupid.

hardison puts his forehead to eliots. like really really stupid. you said you liked us because we are smart, but we're so dumb, man

theres so much to resolve. so much doubt, so many feelings to untangle, too many misunderstandings to air... but for now, when eliot laughs and says at least youre still pretty, and hardison huffs offended before trying to tickle eliot saying oh did you say petty? i heard petty did you hear petty parker? and parker is like, oh i think i did and they overpower eliot with tickles and ninja attacks that lead to cuddles and kisses.

and the soul-pain will always linger for eliot, that won't ever go away. not quite. but in the warmth of their silliness on a spot that once hurt so bad, there... their laughter brings something that has been there longer than eliot knew to look: a heartsong of devotion, of care, of love... and that? that wont ever go away

[thegeminisage]

Identity Porn for the Never Have I Ever ask game, please?

HIII thank you so much <333

IN FACT I HAVE WRITTEN IDENTITY PORN! i think How Arthur Got His Groove Back 100% qualifies for this trope. merlin himself essentially has all the same beats that a classic comic book superhero does - secret powers that would endanger him and those around him if discovered, secret identity (emrys) that he wants to tell people about and can't which ruins his love life (in the fic, arthur is his semi-love interest; it's preslash, but it centers around their relationship), the object of his affections talking about his secret identity right in front of him (they have MULTIPLE conversations about emyrs even though merlin IS EMRYS), tragic backstory/dead parents that has something to do with his powers (rip balinor), exhausted from leading a double life, a big secret identity reveal, even an old guy mentor! actually if you count the dragon merlin has two old guy mentors, it's just that they both suck so fucking bad. and lots of that isn't even really specific to my fic. favorite identity porn excerpt:

euhehehe i love to have fun and be evil. i think this is probably objectively the best-written thing on my ao3, aside from of course @cambionverse

i'm not sure how i'd go about writing another - don't really like AUs, so unless that sort of thing is baked into canon the way it is in merlin i don't think i no wait stop the presses i just had an idea. well it's not my idea specifically i've seen it tossed around a lot on tumblr but whatever. essentially common trope/fanon that eliot leverage is still killing people in season 1 of leverage before he decides being good guys is serious business. this is the oldest trope in the world but eliot getting assigned to keep an eye on nate's team bc moreau feels threatened by them (i actually have a hard time buying he would do this, even though it's a very popular fanon, but just roll with it) and he's like getting closer to them but he always has to sabotage them on jobs where their success would hurt moreau in some way (I KNOW literally nothing they do would effect moreau but we're gonna pretend) but they KEEP SUCCEEDING ANYWAY. and eliot is like what the hell. is being good bad guys legit? hey (he's asking moreau this while they're fucking or something) is it legit to be good bad guys? have i made real friends while pretending to make fake friends? and moreau is like if you be real friends with them i will have chapman cut their fucking brake lines. and eliot is like got it and he continues to go to these meetings and wonder aloud who keep sabotaging these random ass cases and then nate figures out the cases are all connected with moreau and eliot is like Oops and then he and hardison do the pool thing and it all comes out and he decides to switch sides because he's in love w hardison and parker and he's tired of doing evil shit for moreau. so like canon essentially except eliot's conscience doesn't start working until season 3 and they spend the first two and a half seasons not knowing the Ultimate bad guy they are tracking has been making them fancy ass dinners and being their bodyguard and being their little pet hitman. and hes just kinda batting his eyelashes like who me? and then going home to stare at his blank apartment walls in all-consuming existential dread. yeah.

[ASK MEME]

[skaald-of-the-hearth-fires]

Hm, okay, I can see that.

I'd argue Logan was in jail in Lion's Arch, an independent city from Kryta, and what his actual motivation was was 'retrieval of a holy relic' (Sohothin), so that rather recommends him for Seraph Captain than otherwise :P (mostly joking btw). But I don't think a foreign arrest has any bearing on whether you're hired for head of the army in your native kingdom. In fact, as head of the army of a kingdom, being in jail in foreign countries sounds like part of what you might be signing up for, depending on how that goes. Also he totally cleared his record with LA anyway, completely legit and above-board, AND came back to save them from Morgus Lethe. Extremely friendly relations all around, I'd say.

I'd also argue he DID work hard to get where he did. He was a hero. He killed dragon champions. He got the whole asura gate to Ebonhawke set up that way. Then, when Dylan FAILED to protect the queen by being a typical best-and-brightest fighter, Logan SUCCESSFULLY protected the queen by leveraging his international contacts AND by proving that he'd BECOME a best-and-brightest sort of fighter. He also proved his loyalty to the reigning Krytan monarch OVER other, foreign interests (DE). Sounds like a perfect shoo-in for Captain, although I'm sure it disgruntled Caudecus, a few high-rankers who were hoping for the job, and perhaps made civilians scratch their heads a bit.

He totally worked hard to get where he is. As I'm showing in my fic, Logan being a hero (in his own right, not just bc he's a Thackeray) and Captain of the Seraph make him just BARELY, at a STRETCH, eligible for marrying the queen. That's why Caudecus' opposition is so significant. Logan worked hard to be an internationally-acclaimed hero, and now he has to work even harder to in this specific goal.

He's a commoner who now has access to the queen - that's social mobility based on merit, which is something pretty rare in medieval-style cultures but by no means a bad thing, and 100% something I'd expect from Anet.

However, I do agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY that this love story didn't make much sense AT ALL (at least for the attention they gave it) since Logan's win condition in the game is "LEAVE the queen and convince Rytlock he won't run away again" which... wow OK, Anet, make sense much? Now in the book, Jennah says "I don't need another polished courtier", she likes having a rugged hero. So SHE actually AGREES with the narrative saying Logan has to leave, and she tells the player she wants Logan to be able to make his own decisions (aka... won't call Logan away again). The problem is resolving... whatever it is that keeps Logan glued to Jennah's side. Overprotectiveness, co-dependence, sexism (as is implied in S3, that he's realized she can take care of herself, as if he didn't know before)... it's not REALLY explored, especially not in the PS, why he wants to stay as Seraph Captain when the whole narrative is pushing him to leave. If there was more time + resources to address this story so that could be explored and Logan could have an actual emotional arc about it, yay, but there wasn't (or it wasn't used on him).

THATS WHY (OR 1 REASON) IM WRITING FIC ABOUT IT.

Like I rather PREFER when Anet fudges a story bc then I can apply logic-brain to "how SHOULD this have gone" and write fic about it. Which is my happy place, so yay. (Anticipating maybe perhaps having a lot of fic ideas when I play SotO, lol.) But that doesn't apply so much to structural things like "Logan's whole entire backstory should have been different because it's OOC for him" like... a backstory defines what's OOC and what isn't. My fic is about saying "here's how EVERYTHING EVER actually DOES line up and look pretty and be a good story, at least if they'd bothered doing it justice and not counting the stupid retcon the one time".

And that's why I keep arguing with you ig lol 😆

Re: DW again, I'd argue that HOT for DW was the equivalent of the book for DE. Highly functional time for everyone. Then DE has their PS era, which matches DW's S3 era - divided, falling all over themselves, failing left right and center. There was a discussion in the GW2 reddit discord recently about what was S3/POF about, and yeah everyone agreed it was all a big hot dysfunctional mess, the Commander is suicidal, nobody sticks around for longer than 3 minutes and the Commander has to run off to Elona to face the god of WAR by THEMSELF. Basically, yeah, the group of nobodies was functional in HOT... but they fell apart quite wildly too after the fact.

In fact, I'm tempted to argue that DW mirroring DE in this way was done on purpose. Rather than being an unfortunate repetition or redundancy, it tells the same story again, and honestly that has value. People read the same stories again and again. Humanity has liked that for thousands of years.

Also that's a really good point abt the parallels between the Commander and Braham, I really wish that had been explored more (in the same vein as wishing his guild got more attention, or Braham-Logan dynamics and differences and similarities).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Guild Wars 2 is a story about UNITY. It's message is "yall guys stick TOGETHER or it won't go happy for you, and if you do you can literally slay Elder Dragons" and telling us in different ways. So we see it in DE - when they stick together and work together they Do Things (book), when they don't the world falls apart (PS) but other people step up (Comm, Pact, DW), and when THEY stick together it goes well (S1, S2, HOT), and when they don't it's awful (Pact in HOT, Comm in S3, DE/DW in S3, Comm in POF, Braham in POF), and when they do its good (S4), and even when OTHER people get into fights and disagreements it doesn't go well for them either (IBS) and when you bring them together it goes well (IBS, EOD).

Sticking together and playing nice is Tyria's SUPERPOWER. Its what enables them to rise to level of dragons, gods, evil dictators, and The Literal Void Itself, and WIN.

Which makes healthy, respectful, mutually enjoyable interpersonal relations THE most important thing in the world!

AND IM BAD AT THAT. I'm autistic, social interactions are HARD for me! Keeping and maintaining friends is stressful! So that kinda hits hard! That's why my protagonists (other than Logan) who KNOW that's what the story is STILL HAVE A HARD TIME WITH IT. BC THEY'RE AUTISTIC TOO.

See look at that, there's me also getting off track lol :P don't worry about it I'm fairly sure this is the getting-off-track website lol. ITS ALL GW2 IDC LOL.

anyway yeah: the story of DE getting together again in the PS mirrors the story of the Pact getting together and that all is what enables them to fight.

You said it "doesn't lend its self to the story they need to tell. Which is the races need to come together to beat these elder dragons. But their differences come between them. Even the best and brightest couldn't do it. What hope is there? They are inspired by the pact sure and help take down Zhaitan but they just helped."

I think it massively does. Logan's love for Jennah is directly what comes between him and Rytlock (and by extension, the rest of DE). Resolving those differences is the primary angle of the story Anet is trying to tell - that their differences come between them but you REALLY need to work through those because that's the win condition of everything ever.

And that's goes into Anet's IRL message of, like, equality and diversity and accepting people who are different from you, and not being toxic, and figuring out how to interact on a level, friendly, polite field with everyone else, because that's the secret to world domination peace.

Anyway it all goes back to my original point in my OP, which was ANET PLEASE ACTUALLY TEACH US *HOW* TO DO HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS VIA THE COMICAL TRAGEDIES OF DESTINY'S EDGE.

I mean, Anet even does it in LOOT MECHANICS. Your resource nodes aren't competitive! There's no kill-stealing! Everybody gets event participation! You get rewards for rezzing ppl! And so GW2 is noted for having one of the most friendly playerbases ever!

They embedded the moral of the story into the game mechanics, this is why I say video game development is an art on par with literature and music and art! They can pretty please show us DE getting along and learning non-toxic relational behaviors 🥺🥺🥺

Anyway /endrant lol

Anet does a lot of cool stuff and has an amazing vision and an awesome game, I'm just. ALWAYS rooting for them to do it better. I have unfailing hope (like Trahearne) and I guess they just have to hit their 23-year mark first ;) and I'll keep writing fic in the meantime bc honestly they have the best game on the market. I may be biased but hey :P Trahearne my beloved ♥️ though shadows fall, still the stars find their way :))

Anet could have done SO much with the Destiny's Edge split-up. How to deal with toxic friendships, how to healthily respond to blame and guilt, how to distance yourself if necessary...

Not necessarily by PORTRAYING those things (DE is as dysfunctional as it gets), but by showing the opposite, the bad habits and thoughts we fall into.

The sheer contradiction of "I miss them but I'm glad they're gone."

Like those relationships were SO GOOD and then they got SO BAD and like. That should be talked about more.

Anyway there's another chapter of Reforging the Edge coming out today, so stay tuned!

[dairogo]

Fic idea I won't write:

Some guys get hired to kidnap Mustang's blonde Lieutenant. Halfway through the fic it's revealed they got Havoc.

("Do you think they meant us to take Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"Look, it wasn't specified, and she's beyond our capabilities - just look at her record in Ishval. We're not going to be able to get her.")

The guy who hired them figures he'll call for Havoc's ransom anyway, but probably won't have as much leverage as with Mustang's legit aide and suspected lover.

Mustang still goes super rampage on them, because it turns out he is just like that for his whole team.

The fic ends with Mustang carrying a swooning Havoc out of the kidnappers' building as it burns behind them.

[lastoneout]

You know I think if Cyllene knew the player character was going to get exiled ahead of time, she probably would’ve packed akari’s things and put a sword in there. As a treat.

(And to prevent herself from running it through Kamodo)

Also I see a lot of stuff for dad!laventon, as we should, but not as much mom!cyllene. Especially with the female protagonist.

this ask came at a great time cuz I've been thinking about Mom!Cyllene w Protag!Akari SO MUCH oh my GOD I adore them

Also yeah I feel like Cyllene was like 2.5 seconds away from murder the entire time the protag was exiled legit the only reason my girl held it together was cuz she knew she would be more help to Akari leveraging what power she had in the village than if she had gotten kicked out alongside her. I honestly like to think--and have incorporated this into my fics about her--that Cyllene lost a LOT of respect for Kamado during that arc. Not enough to make her give up on the Galaxy Team and their mission, but I don't think she would have been able to look at him the same way after it became clear that he was the type of guy to cave to his paranoia and make super fucking irrational decisions just bcs he was afraid.

I figure even more of that respect would have gone out the window if she found out that Beni threatened to kill the protag, since Beni seemed to be Kamado's real right-hand man and was acting under his orders(even though I'm not sure Kamado would have been cool with murdering a kid, I think Beni went that far on his own), so it's probably for the best that she not find out about that lmao like Beni says at the end that he has to move on to find his own home and I have no doubt had Cyllene known it would have been more of a "I have to get out of here before Cyllene tries to kill me" situation.

But yeah nah I love Cyllene being a mother figure to the protag, regardless of it being Rei or Akari tbh(I mean like this fic was basically just me channeling that energy lmao) and I def have like...at least three wips on the back burner all about Cyllene being like "this is my kid now" about Akari. I refuse to believe she wasn't ride or die, especially given how she acted during the exile arc. The game didn't go too serious with it but she def seems like she had dedicated her entire life to the Galaxy Team and STILL was willing to risk everything to help the protag out, since I doubt she would have gotten off easy had Kamado(or Beni) found out what she was up to.

And yeah she would have absolutely sent Akari off with everything she needed to survive, including a sword lmaooo

Anyway yea, Mom Cyllene lives in my head rent free I adore her and the potential relationship she has with Akari and/or Rei.

[heyyylittlemo]

Small details in 19 Days that keep me up at night

((That I feel rarely gets talked about))

-Mo Guan Shan & The Zodiac Magazine

This chapter was pretty early on in 19days—So that must mean Mo Guan Shan has done this a lot more since, right??😳 and he didn’t even rlly know HT that well at this point so...he must be in heat on the low for HT by now 🥵🥵

So it canonically confirms at least a base physical attraction from the start—and c’mon if this isn’t the most relatable thing ever. Soon as I get an attraction to someone I’m a bit piqued to find out their zodiac. Mo Guan Shan’s hidden curiosity for HT is lwk so cute.

It def suggests that MGS has an under the surface lvl (where he can’t even detect it) pull to understand and get closer to HT.

Mo Guan Shan dreaming of He Tian

I know it was passed off like a “joke” and a “nightmare” but cmon this gay as hawlll

Who DOESN’T dream of their crush?? Dreams usually are about things we heavily think about and/or what we thought about before bed—and I can’t help but to think OX was onto smth

Not to mention, this has high bottom-denial energy. Literally. Like he was soooo trying to avoid getting a shot at the docs bc it was in his ass, why??? Like sir...ur fragile masculinity that was created from ur inner homophobia towards ur own bottom reality was def crashing at that second

N Why he got pain in his tushy??? In this dream?? N ppl bullying him like that abt it lmaoo who irl be saying those things?? Things like “aren’t in the guy who got a shot in ur ass” and “haha I’d like to see you with ur ass in the air~” even tho the translation and the way it was written can be said to mean that these bullies are literally finding it funny that his ass was in the air I have a feeling it was censored and rephrased to hint at its actual implications,, I feel like these guys were actually trying to jokingly solicit Mo in gay acts thru him bottoming—in reaction to the needle butt-scenario. I feel like OX wants us to read between the lines.

And if you see it that way, it really makes it seem like Mo is having a sexuality crisis here. And I think it’s what OX was building up to around that time bcuz it was around after the kiss happened.

It rlly makes me believe MGS genuinely thinks getting a shot in his ass will somehow societally and with unspoken words “expose” him and miraculously express to others that he likes it up the ass—bcuz u cannot tell me that dream and what those bullies were saying weren’t his damn paranoia demons talking

I think a dream interpreter could stretch it enough to say that the bullies are a metaphor of his own insecurities towards his homosexuality and particularly towards his upcoming bottoming feelings. Like he’s legit scared of a hospital needle in his butt—this is not straight behavior. And then we have He Tian to the rescue—(and do you see his look and his flirtatious line) and omg he’s gripping the shit out of his ass in the dream. He’s both being bullied for his bottom-ness and guilty-pleasure getting one rubbed out by He Tian. Like ok, have ur cake and eat it then bitch.

Mo Guan Shan Staring at He Tian

This was a moment leading up to the kiss. MGS was staring (probably admiring while also judging and heating up over HT) He Tian while he was playing BSKTBall—and As a BL writer myself can’t help but to think HT noticed MGS very not-straightly stare at him with a sort of sexual attraction he had towards him on the field.

Like cmon?? I doubt OX writes lines like these for no reason.

I feel like...at least irl...The eyes usually give it away if someone is interested in you or not. you can always see if someone is checking you out and noticing you in a different light like it just has different vibe and feel to it. OX was def trying to show and not tell with this panel that MGS has noticed HT and stares at him in the way we all hope he does. We don’t really get to see and (and I guess it keeps us on our toes and keeps us wondering if the little redhead could actually be falling for HT)—so it’s very subtle, but it is there, and once you notice it you’re like d a m n this makes the kiss scene so much more hopeful (at least for me).

I think this was the push that gave HT hopes to kiss MGS in the first place and it gets overlooked. How do you think HT own curiosity peeked? I think as a community we often think abt Mo and how he developed feelings or will develop feelings for HT but rarely do we ever questions The Who what when where and how He Tian came to like Mo himself. I have my own feelings about them that I can’t explain in this post, least it gets off-topic, but I think it’s very important.

I think his comment “Do I really disgust you that much” makes more sense in this context, of MGS giving HT some reassurance through non-verbal ques. HT was already under the impression that MGS was egging him on with his staring so it can warrant some of He Tian’s confusion. HT probably is pursuing MGS bc he probably senses some lvl of homosexual tension from Mo, and it’s exciting to him. Not only that, but MGS is exciting in his character. So I think HT was also relatively new to this venture and kinda spontaneously kissed Mo out of his own curioustes to explore their attractions and to get a grasp of what Mo was feeling.

It also makes me think HT and MGS experienced some undeniable pleasure or unspoken moment that could not be denied within the kiss as attraction and when MGS then decided to go agaisnt that with violence it only further hit HT, who knew MGS was lying to himself. I mean, it’s a classic BL moment. The two kiss, obviously feel smth (probably couldn’t show much of that due to censorship so had to pass it along as a 100% unsatisfactory exchange) and then one, feeling too much all at once and isn’t comfortable with their confirmed suspensions abt their sexuality—denies everything to the other causing further tensions especially sense both know how eachother really feel despite the others denial. And then the rejected one downplays the kiss’ seriousness to soothe their ego knowing full well the kiss meant smth. So they both internalize what the other said and both feel rejected, but both actually liked it. It’s a classic.

I truly feel that if it wasn’t due to censorship, that the kissing scene would’ve looked a lot more consensual than so forceful and wrong. Like it would’ve been taken as an tension filled “experimentation” that we see a lot in BLs and it only further ties into why MGS would be so bashful whenever the kiss is mentioned, and why HT can use it As a leverage over Mo (“don’t make me kiss you again”) bcuz it brings them back to thy moment where HT experienced some “answer” between Mo and that answer was fulfilling even tho it cannot be fulfilled and probably HT is hoping that maybe one day if he teases him enough about it they can share another kiss one that is a lot less rushed and now that they are closer, will lead to a better result.

Anyways those are my speculations. And I actually have written a short story based on these assumptions(focused on the kiss—and it’s also leading up to a jealously fic) but ofc I haven’t written it in ahwile haha. Just thought it was worth sharing since I noticed 19 days has been updating pretty “eh” lately.

[vickyvicarious]

i hope ur ok with unprompted asks abt leverage bc today i am like this :-( because someone is posting hate on the OT3 in the OT3 tags. (not as a mistake either, they refused to use the right tags) tbh i am so so excited for the revival but this modern-day-esque toxicity is what i've been worried abt the whole time.

THE POINT OF THIS ASK: they said something that is wiggling in my brain, and i figured you may have a good perspective since i know you like the OT3 and are aware of/comment on fandom/media racism. they said the OT3 is popular because of fandom racism, because hardison is black and fandom wants to focus on the white guy (eliot). i think if this were true then people would just ship parker/eliot like ive seen people do in other fandoms not make an ot3? but wanted an opinion from another person?

Totally cool to send me unprompted asks! Whether Leverage or whatever else. And first off, sorry to see you've been experiencing nastiness in the OT3 tags. I personally never have, but maybe that's down to me not actually knowing what the commonly used tag is? I legit just found blogs to follow who post enough thiefsome content for me, and pick up more here and there, but I dunno where most people post stuff. leverage OT3? parker/hardison/eliot? hardison/parker/eliot? hitter/hacker/thief? something along those lines probably, I've found some stuff tagged under each but have no clue what the 'main' one is. (Also I came up with my own name for them and post my own stuff mostly under that so I really got no clue what most people do, haha.)

Anyway, I digress. On to your main point - well, I will give a disclaimer first. Pretty much the entire time I've been on tumblr I've mostly been in a happy fandom bubble and not even noticed a lot of the nastier discourse. Probably down to the way I pick blogs to follow and then mostly stick to my dash? But anyway, that remains true for Leverage. And in fact until I started my rewatch I was never really involved in the fandom, despite loving the show. I actually haven't read much fic yet either. So there's probably plenty going on I'm not aware of.

That being said, yeah I would agree with you that generally I think if this was racially motivated then people would just ship Parker/Eliot. I don't think people usually default to poly relationships, so I don't really think that is a good argument against one. The only exception I would say is if there's a huge trend of people shipping the three of them together, but only using Hardison as a prop for the other two. You know, if fic focuses mostly on Parker and Eliot and Hardison is just around to be supportive and not given the same level of depth, that kind of thing. However, in the fandom interpretations I have personally seen of the thiefsome, that isn't really the case. It can't hurt to be aware of trends if you do see them, but I don't think you gotta worry too much about this one.

People can be mean. Try not to let it bother you, maybe blacklist if possible (though I guess that ain't if they're intentionally using whatever the main tag is) or build your own happy dash bubble to retreat to. The people I reblog a lot are really nice if you need a starting point! ^_^

Edit - check in the comments for some other perspectives. Seems like there is a tendency to focus on Eliot more, though perhaps not in a straightforward a way as that person was saying? (I dunno what they were saying exactly though so I can't really speak to that.) Doesn't mean we should stop shipping all three but we can be more aware of how we do so, and make sure not to skimp on giving Hardison his fair share of emphasis! (Parker too obviously but you get my point.)

[milenadaniels]

Hi! I saw your tag on your informal buddie lap makeout poll (Which, exceptional scientific inquiry. Cannot wait to see the results. Especially if it leads you to write something...)

Anyway, what is your thinking on lonestar and a potential buck +e ddie sex scene? (FWIW, I don't watch LS. I tried, but just could not. Not yucking anyone's yum, just didn't work for me.)

Curious what you think?

Thank you! The study is going well, I look forward to analyzing the results in depth!

(Please note: after three hours of writing out this response, I realize I may have misunderstood your question 😂 If you meant "what do you think a buddie sex scene would look like given tarlos", please let me know and it would be my genuine pleasure to describe that in great detail. What follows is not that.....)

I have been thinking about the potential of a buddie sex scene more than I ought to, I'm sure. You could say I've been a smidge preoccupied since realizing all the legit sex scenes in the show happened in season 1/early season 2. In seasons 3/4, the closest I think we've gotten to textual sex is Madney having sex to induce labour and that consisted of Maddie throwing her shirt at Chimney from off-screen.

Someone on that post (can't find it now of course) said that 911 Lone Star took over the original 911 later time slot and thus took over the ability to have sexier content.

As someone who hasn't watched a television show live in like 5 years, your ask has prompted me to do actual research to confirm this 🤓 According to pogdesign, 911 currently plays Mondays at 8pm and 911LS plays at 9pm which supports the theory.

That said, it kind of strikes me as weird that 8pm is considered too early for sexy content? But maybe I'm just out of touch with cable television??

So I did more research! So much research omfg this took 3 hours of my life. 😅

First we define the issue at hand

I'm defining a "sex scene" as a scene that involves two or more people mackin' on each other with any of the following:

the beginning of clothing removal onscreen

the movement towards a bedroom or bed

getting into someone's lap as a sign of escalation

post-coital pillow talk or cuddling

actual shots of naked skin and writhing (softcore porn essentially)

So 911 got moved to 8pm. Do any other 8pm shows have sex scenes?

CW - The 100 🔥 (I know there was a minimum of 2 wlw sex scenes, though they may have been post-coital)

CW - Riverdale 🔥🔥 is another teen show that I don't watch so I youtubed "Riverdale sex scenes" and I'm led to believe at least one couple is banging semi-onscreen well into season 4 (it has 4 seasons???)

NBC - Chicago Med 🔥, a procedural show not about teenagers and seems to have a least 1 couple with sexy scenes (the other Chicagos air at 9pm and 10pm) and I saw lap sitting for a hardcore makeout for the other couple!!!!! TIM TAKE NOTES!

NBC - Superstore 🔥, a half-hour comedy that played at 8pm on NBC, did have at least this one cut-away sex scene

So 2 teen shows, 1 procedural and 1 comedy all had something in the way of "sex scenes" while airing at 8pm.

But what if Fox the network is the sex-scene-killers??

Apparently Fox literally has only 5 scripted dramas of which the 911 is one and the others are:

The Resident 🔥🔥, a medical drama that plays at 8pm as of season 2 (9pm for season 1) and the main couple seem to have several sex scenes, but interestingly from what I can glean from YT, they may have stopped after s2 (though the couple stays together until at least s4 from what I can tell)

LA's Finest 🚫, a rebroadcast through Fox, it airs at 9pm and YT didn't show me any sexy scenes

Fantasy Island 🔥🔥 which plays at 9pm and looks to have sexier content based on the trailer

911: Lone Star 🔥🔥🔥 which plays at 9pm. Tarlos have had like 2 heavy makeouts/implied sex scenes plus a pretty hardcore-for-tv sex scene in the s2 finale

So it seems like even for Fox, the 8pm timeslot isn't necessarily what's vetoing the sex scenes in 911. But just to hammer that home, I did even more researching into the watershed hours, which is apparently the designated time broadcasters can show sexiness, but in the US that's 10pm to 6am so if the restrictions were such that they couldn't show any sex scenes before 10pm, Tarlos wouldn't have gotten that finale action (thank you, IRL bff who watched 911LS so I didn't have to!)

TL;DR - a summation of our findings

The 8pm timeslot is not the sex-scene-killer I once thought it was (see: all them filthy shows)

911 being a cop show is not a sex-scene-killer (see: dramas, procedurals and comedies all had sex scenes)

Fox is not anti-sex in their 8pm scripted dramas in general (see: The Resident)

Fox is not anti-sex homophobically (see: Tarlos, Hen/Eva)

However!! There seems to be a somewhat weird, somewhat isolated trend of Fox shows either cutting off or tapering off sex scenes (see: 911, The Resident) after 2 seasons or specifically after 2019.

So what are the theories (from least to most favourite)?

Theory #1 (Buddie loses 🚫): "Something" happened at Fox in 2019. The Resident is the only true analogue to 911 as it's also on Fox, also premiered in January 2018, also started at 9pm but was moved to 8pm (in season 2, not season 3 like 911). If my very brief googling can be trusted, The Resident saw a lot of sex scenes in season 2 (at 8pm) but after 2019 there isn't much to write home about. That lines up with what we've seen in 911. If something happened internally at Fox that changed broadcasting guidelines for 8pm, then canon Buddie will not get sex scenes unless the timeslot changes back.

Pros: It would be a hell of a coincidence wouldn't it?? Both shows airing around the same time, both stop showing sex scenes around the same time???

Cons: It's pretty weak, I can't find anything that supports "something" happening in 2019 that would affect an 8pm timeslot but not the 9pm one.

Theory #2 (Buddie loses 🚫): Sex as a short-term sales tactic. Fox uses sex in the first two seasons of shows to boost ratings and get people hooked because sex sells. But then, for whatever reason, they taper it off. If so, Buddie being canonized would not produce any sex scenes as we're far removed from season 2.

Pros: The Resident and 911 both stopped showing sex scenes after season 2 from what I can gather

Cons: If sex sells, why wouldn't it keep selling all the way to the bank?? There's no reason to stop something that's working.

Theory #3 (Buddie wins 🔥): Actors are the roadblock. Fox is fine with sex scenes at 8pm but the actors aren't comfortable! If so, Buddie sex scenes could be in the cards as both actors have had on-screen sex scenes previously.

Pros: Angela Bassett, Peter Krause and JLH are bigger names and they presumably get to not get naked on screen or simulate sex scenes if they don't want to. Aisha Hinds as a (criminally) smaller name wouldn't have had that kind of leverage in season 1, nor would Ryan Guzman in season 2? And Oliver Stark knew what he was signing up to to play a self-diagnosed "sex addict" so.

Cons: This is absolute, complete conjecture. I have zero idea what each of their comfort levels with sex scenes are or how that might relate to the writing/direction of their characters.

Theory #4 (Buddie wins 🔥): Stable canon relationships kill sex. Fox dramas use sex only pre-maritally to build relationships and the network or the showrunners/writers decide it's not as important once characters are in stable relationships/married. If so, we will get Buddie sex scenes as their canon relationship develops.

Pros: The Resident couple did get married post-season 2 I think? Athena stopped having onscreen sex after she married Bobby. Hen had sex but out of her marriage.

Cons: That's dumb, let married people bone. And we technically do have a Madney sex scene, tame as it was (but maybe they straddle of the line of stable but pre-marital???). Also if sex = building relationship, EddieAna have been excluded from that formula oops 😌

Theory #5 (Buddie wins 🔥): We're overthinking all of this. There hasn't been sex scenes past season 2 because the stories haven't called for it but when it does, such as the start of a new relationship, then we'll get some!

Pros: We haven't had any "new" relationships other than EddieAna since season 2 and their lack of intimacy is a glaring reminder they aren't well suited - they're not boning for plot reasons. While not strictly meeting the aforementioned definition of a "sex scene", we could use Albert coming out of Veronica's shower as a use of sex-as-relationship-building.

Cons: That's dumb, let married people bone, the sequel. Especially since HenRen is criminally neglected in terms of development and could use a fun playful sex scene.

So what have we learned?

Should Buddie go canon, 3 theories indicate we'd get some sex scenes for them, and only 2 say we wouldn't. The odds are in our favour. 🤡

I will do literally anything to procrastinate writing this damn fic that's been tormenting me for weeks. Please someone, anybody...send help...

[suddenrundown]

THOUGHTS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD WHILE I HAVE THEM MARINATING!

it’s long and rambly so under the cut:

-Ripperoni Naterooni. I guess that’s a good way to not totally destroy the memory of his character. They didn’t want to do Nate dirty and I respect that.

-Ok so the house is Sophie’s house not the ot3 house. Gotcha. Nice house, Sophie, it’s lovely. AS ARE YOU!

-it’s not the ot3 house but parker, hardison, and eliot are being the most domestic people inside that house oh my god they’re married. 

-no like, legit? they are married. It’s hard to pin down exactly what moment to talk about with them because like in literally every moment they were so married. You look up the dictionary definition of “married” and their picture is just there. The caption reads “3 people happily married”

-ELIOT! CALLED! PARKER! PARK! WHEN I TELL YOU THAT I HAVE VERY NEARLY WRITTEN HIM CALLING HER THAT IN FICS BUT DIDNT CUZ I THOUGHT IT WOULDN’T BE TRUE TO CHARACTER! NOTHING IS STOPPING ME NOW, BABY! ITS PARK ALL DAY EVERY DAY.

-Ok i guess let’s just get all the eliot/parker moments out of the way and then i’ll do the others. ok like uhhhhhhh they stood so close to each other all the time and also?? the moment where eliot was gonna go help sophie while she was crying during the con and parker pulled him back and just held him against the wall. off topic but at this moment i got a charlie horse in my leg and was in extreme pain trying to focus on what was happening and i had to pause it. BUT you know what? worth it. anyway, married.

-uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so hardison and eliot???? their handshake! the way they stood so close together! the way eliot kept making fun of hardison being a light weight? “i told you hardison! dammit hardison!” the banter? oh the banter.“OH WHEN HARRY WAS LIKE “what happened?” and they were like “WE HAPPENED!” OH MY GOD.

-Parker and Hardisonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn BABIES. The most obvious relationship of course, looooooooove how comfortable parker has become with physical contact, the way she pulled him in by the TIE!! LORD! oof. 

-shoutout to eliot and sophie, just because you know, you gotta. he’s most in tune with her emotions it seems. love that for them. they’re a special breed of friendship fo’ sho. 

-ALL the little callbacks and the character moments! Parker doing a flip for no reason other than she can, how bad she wanted to crawl through vents lol. Eliot telegraphing a fight before it happens and then doing it (woo!). Hardison just being the smartest man alive and just being so damn funny. Sophie having to pick up the pieces of herself after nate but she is still! so! capable! i believe in you ma’am!

-the plot?? im down for the plot! and harry! love harry needing to go on this road to redemption IM HERE FOR IT! IM HERE FOR IT ALL!

YAY!!! LEVERAGE IS BACK!!

[harringrovetrashrat]

Tagged by @disdaidal !!!  Thank you!  Omg I’m like 🥺💖🥺💖

So, I figure since I have so many things I’m working on, and no idea when I’ll actually finish them (outside of my Big Bang Project), I should share the bits of them that I do actually have dhfoiahfiosh

What we have are these:

A fic where Billy meets some older queer people while kicked out, and learns from them how to love himself

“So I’m guessing you’ve never met a queen before,” they said. Billy shook his head.

“I’ve never met any royalty.” Juicy laughed and it made Billy feel like he’d said the wrong thing until she looked at him again, practically beaming.

“Well honey, there’s queens abound in here. Drag Queens, specifically.” Billy’s mouth formed a small ‘o’.

“So, you’re a… man?” Juicy shook her head.

“Personally, I find man and woman too limiting. All gender is a costume, darling. I just think dresses are prettier than suits.”

“You haven’t been in the right suits,” Cindy said with a smirk. Juicy gave her the finger without looking.

“It’s called taste, sweetie.” Cindy just laughed. Billy stared at Juicy, feeling awed by them. They were so tall, toned and beautiful. Their skin was dark and glistened with the glitter they’d spread over it. “I’m sure you have taste, don’t you munchkin?” Billy couldn’t help it and he pouted.

“I’m not short, I’m average for my age,” he snapped. Juicy just smiled.

“I like you,” they said, pointing a long nailed finger at him.

A Cheesy Summer Camp Horror fic, with romance and comedy because Like.  Y’all know me.

“Let’s stop talking about her,” Heather cut in. “Let’s talk about this weekend.”

“This weekend?” Billy asked, perking up. “What about it?”

“Well, I was thinking we could celebrate the end of the first week with a skinny dip,” she said, eyes sparkling. Billy didn’t miss the flush that crossed over Robin’s face, though he wasn’t entirely sure who it was directed at. He definitely had a guess.

“I’m game!” Tommy piped up, grin wide, anger disappearing from his face. Billy rolled his eyes and snorted, but raised his hand, tongue running over his top teeth.

“Why not,” he said, giving his eyebrows a quirk. “I ain’t no pussy.”

“Of course,” Adam muttered, rolling his eyes. Billy’s eyes snapped over and narrowed. “Isn’t it a little, I dunno, juvenile?”

“Oh come on,” Steve chimed in, munching on the cookie now, relaxing with the change of topic. “Maybe so, but it’s summer, it’s camp, why not, right? Start it off with a bang?” His smile was teasing, bright, and Billy found it hard to look away, hard to deny that smile what it wanted.

The Reverse AU where Steve moves to Hawkins with his father and step family, Claudia and Dustin, and Billy was adopted into the Mayfields

“I’m not--! It’s just midterms! That’s what has me all out of sorts.” He opened his notebook and tried to will his blush away. There was a soft thud and Nancy joined them.

“What has you out of sorts?” She asked.

“Mid--”

“Billy so has a crush on that new guy from New York,” Heather said. Billy made a noise of protest when Nancy smiled, leaning over.

“Oh he’s so cute! Truly impeccable taste you have,” she teased. Billy rested his head on the table.

“I hate both of you so fucking much,” he hissed.

“No you don’t,” they chorused.

“I do, I really do,” Billy replied.

Mermaid AU where Steve and Billy were young friends before being separated.  Steve tries to reunite them obviously

“I can show you a bunch of cool stuff,” Billy said, feeling oddly proud of himself. And well, the ocean was his home. And he never got the chance to really show it off to someone who didn’t already know it. “If I show you the ocean, will you tell me more about humans?” Steve nodded. “Like, why are all the ships girls?”

“Huh,” Steve said, tapping his chin with his finger. “I don’t actually know… Usually I think ‘cause a guy names them. I’ll ask my tutor. He knows everything.” Steve wasn’t a huge fan of Professor Owens, but he was nice enough. He let Steve find things to bring in and ask questions about, he didn’t get mad like Steve’s other tutors had when he had trouble reading. So even though Owens still pushed for Steve to focus more on his future, he was better than the other adults in Steve’s life.

“Tutor?” Billy asked. “What’s that?”

“Like a teacher,” Steve replied. “But like… Different.” In fact, Steve wasn’t totally sure what the difference was. Billy just squinted, looking confused.

“Different… how?”

“Uh, tutors are… are taller,” Steve replied matter of factly. Professor Owens was taller than Ms. Joyce had been, so there wasn’t anything to argue against that. Billy nodded seriously, making a note.

There was a ringing bell and a distant voice calling Steve’s name, making him sigh dramatically. It was already time? Billy’s ears twitched a little and he looked at Steve.

“What’s that?”

“That’s my nanny,” Steve said, mopey and pouting.

More of You’ll Find Me Looking Over the Edge of the World

“Oh, King Steve thinking about skipping?” Billy tugged him down, making Steve stumble as a fist started rubbing against his scalp and messing up his hair.

“Fuck, dude!” Steve cried, nearly dropping his tray. Billy just cackled, letting him go and shoving his hands in his pockets.

“No,” Nancy said through grit teeth. “He’s thinking about staying and taking--”

“He can’t go around looking like that,” Billy said with faux concern, eyes all worried as he leaned on the table with one hand and used the other to point at Steve’s, now fully messed up, hair. “I think Steve’ll have to take the afternoon, don’t you?” Billy turned to look over his shoulder, not seeing the way Nancy rubbed at her temples as Jonathan very obviously tried not to snicker. Steve almost felt bad. Billy knocked on the table with his knuckles, pushing up with a grin. “Don’t worry, I’ll get him home safely.”

“Get me home--” Steve began, but before he could finish his sentence, Billy was shoving him around and out of the cafeteria. Nancy sighed, shaking her head, giving Steve a look he knew would turn into a talk later. “Sorry guys!” Steve tossed over his shoulder.

Billy with a rat he named Max to piss off Max (he calls her human Max and she hates it)

“And what the fuck are you doing here?!” He asked her. Max, the little trouble maker, just squeaked at him, wriggling in his grip. “No fucking wonder I didn’t see you in Barbie’s house this morning, you decided to be a fucking Houndini, didn’t you.” She squeaked again, tail swirling and dragging along his wrist. He heard footsteps behind him and moved to shove her back into his jacket sleeve when Steve approached.

“You okay-- Oh!” Steve blinked, brows raised as he saw Max reach with her small, cute little pink hands to grab for Billy’s hard nipple again. “So…”

“Cut that out!” Billy hissed, moving her down to cradle her against his stomach. She settled in, but she was definitely hungry and would get restless again quickly. “I didn’t see her this morning but just assumed she was hiding in her little pile.”

“Me too,” Steve said, checking around the hallway for anyone who was late. Luckily, there was no one around to see them trying to hide a rat in Billy’s jacket. “How’d she even get out?”

“I mean, we are keeping her in a Barbie dream house instead of a cage--”

“Really? You’re gonna sass me now? After you insisted that she ‘live like the princess she is’--”

Stranger Than Fiction AU

“Billy, I swear to fucking god if you don’t get out there right now--” Billy stumbled out from the back, head turned to glare at Max, who was pushing him from behind. She pushed until he was at the counter, face to face with Steve. He glared, though his face was flush. Max crossed her arms. “Like we fuckin’ practiced.” Billy shot her another angry glance, but then looked back to Steve. Who was so confused.

“Max may have, uhm, brought it to my attention that I may have overreacted just the tiniest little bit.”

“That’s not at all right,” Max said under her breath. Billy swatted behind him without looking, missing her completely.

“Anyway,” he pressed on, “I just,” he sighed, pushing an errant curl behind his ear. Steve watched the movement before snapping his eyes back to Billy’s. “I don’t often take the chance to be nice, so I got maybe a little offended.” Max scoffed. “Okay a lot offended,” he said with an eye roll. Steve couldn’t help it; he snorted. Billy’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes lit up, like a kid who just learned Santa was real. Steve blushed, looking away, but he couldn’t hide the smile on his face.

“It’s okay,” he replied, turning back to look at Billy. The sun lit up the stray blonde hairs poking out of his messy bun, making a light halo around him. Steve had to catch his breath.

It was like looking at an angel, vengeful and dangerous, but exciting all at once. His eyes seemed to shine, bright and gleeful, but also full of mischief.

“It’s okay,” Steve repeated, feeling his face heat up more. “I would have taken them if I could. They were amazing.” He smiled, nodding towards the stairs. “I should get to it though. Last day and all.” Something sad briefly flickered over Billy’s face, but it was gone as soon as it was there, and Steve thought he must have imagined it.

“Yeah, good luck,” Billy said. Max was smiling, smug, and she punched Billy’s shoulder.

Leverage AU

“Well,” he said slowly, letting the trio shake off their shadows. “The lab closed.” This isn’t about the kid was the underlying message. “But, what’s happening now is that Mayor Kline accepted a lot of weird bribes. They’re from a company called Starcourt Industries. Now, that’s the name of the mall that opened, Starcourt, but what’s weird--”

“--Is that they didn’t exist for very long before suddenly popping up in Indiana,” Alec cut in. “It reads like one of our companies. General background, seems legit, but I did a lot of poking around most of this stuff leads to loose ends. It took a while to get there, so at first glance…” The group nodded. At first glance everything checked out, and even a little digging would provide a general cover that most people wouldn’t think to look past.

Of course, none of them were most people.

“So who are they?” Eliot asked.

“All of the loose ends lead back to Russia,” Alec said. “But nothing concrete or connected, just more companies that do really general stuff. It goes real deep.” The implications there were discomforting. Alec was a genius, and excelled in his line of work, but this kind of grand scale cover up meant one thing: this was bigger than just a few bad apples in a company. This was a plan.

“So who’s the client?” Sophie asked. Nate pulled up a picture of a grumpy looking man, mustache groomed and eyes hard, but kind.

“Chief Jim Hopper.” That got Parker’s attention, bringing her out of the funk she’d been in since the mention of San Diego and Billy.

“Like, Police Chief?”

“Yep,” Nate said, popping the P. “He’s the one who found the kid, found out there was something going on at the lab. Now, he’s positive something weird is going on. Knows he’s done everything he can to legally take the Mayor down, but the man has a lot of friends in high places, and Jim can’t do anything. And that’s,” he smiled, “Where we come in.”

That’s still merely some of what I have going on, but that’s what I’ll share rn. Anyway, tag me in ur WIPs! I’d love to read them :) tag ur it

[gabolange]

tagged by @aflawedfashion, a meme to get to know me.

four ships, in which i have a fucking type:

Moiraine/Siuan, Wheel of Time: Current obsession, hitting every single stupid button I have. Secret relationship! Canon secret relationship, that is loving and established and really fucking hot. Showing different selves to the world and to each other. Working together behind the scenes! Maybe a little tragic...but not yet, at least...and making the choice to be together despite all the obstacles. The unthreatening platonic partnership dynamic with Lan...signed, sealed, delivered, hi.

John/Delenn, Babylon 5: Lifelong forever everything. They are possibly my proto-ship: the history, the second chances, the day saving universe saving partnership, the married of it all. But also bonus Delenn living with what it means to love John and lose him and making that choice consciously and openly and anyway. They have my whole heart.

Nate/Sophie, Leverage: “I chose you.” Like, look. This here, the second chance, the doing the work to be better, the banter, the trauma recovery, the choosing. It’s my absolute kryptonite, and I have loved them since the day I met them and always will.

Lucien/Jean, The Doctor Blake Mysteries: So all the things I just said about Nate and Sophie I say about Lucien and Jean, except with bonus Jean, who is life changing and perfect. For Jean, choosing to be with Lucien, to completely change her life, to reject what society expects of her, to be happy even if happy doesn’t look like what she ever thought...extra kryptonite.

first ever ship: I mean, probably George and Kate on MathNet or MaryAnn and Logan in the BSC books. But will always really root it in Han and Leia in Empire Strikes Back and ever after. (First ship I read fic for: Worf/Dax on Star Trek: DS9. First ship I published fic for...Janeway/Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager.)

last song: Currently playing, “The Tower,” by Vienna Teng

last film: I do not know, but I think the next film will be Cats if I can get my life together today. #sulpadnenajah

currently reading: Other than a lot of WoT fanfic? Hah, as if. Next book needs to be The City of Brass for book club.

currently watching: I am slowly meandering through Vigil. And today we will find out if SOMEONE DIES OMG on Call the Midwife, which is honestly legit appointment TV.

currently consuming: Coffee. Twas ever thus.

currently craving: There is garlic confit simmering on the stove, and it is too early to be craving anything of the sort, but it smells lovely.

tagging in anyone who feels like a meme. also tumblr should accept HTML tags, because I default to <i> even all these years later and gah.

[pumpkinpaix]

c, d, j, k, n, t ? (hehe i feel like this is a lot)

OH MAN OKAY *cracks knuckles* (or i would if that were a thing i did lol)

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

that’s actually hard! honestly, it’s more often the interpretation of a dynamic that will get me to hardcore nope out of somewhere rather than the ship itself. if you’re convincing enough, you could get me on board with almost anything, I think. on the flip side, it’s also SUPER EASY to turn me off of something with a single interpretation on a ship that I dislike. so you know! :D

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

honestly, see above! usually, I find ships get ruined for me due to fandom interpretations or popular stuff that eventually turn me off, not the base ships themselves.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

god u mean. all of them post 2012 when i arrived to this cursed land? :’D

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

you know what, legit, Parker, from leverage. Long Way Down Job? goddAMN

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

you know what, my last reply was really salty (here) so I’m gonna be a bit more fun about it!

1. wei wuxian being just as oblivious to his own bisexuality in modern aus as he is in canon because blessed that is SO funny

2. lan xichen raising lan sizhui, and how close their relationship is because lan wangji was bedridden for three years. you know lan xichen bore the brunt of his care for that time period and I would like to see it!!!! i would like to see how much they love each other, please and thank you!!! esp because like, I really feel like sizhui takes after lan xichen A LOT. he’s much more similar to lan xichen than lan wangi in personality, imo.

3. ouyang zizhen >:c

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

lan wangji is THE most beloved teacher in the cloud recesses. like, the kids both respect him and adore him. they think he’s so competent and they’re a little bit scared of his discipline (but in that “ah shit if we’re caught we’ll definitely have to do lines and it’ll suck” not in a “i am genuinely afraid” way) AND they think he’s funny. like. they respect him, but they also just LOVE him. they love his classes and they love going on night hunts with him, and they feel safe around him and they love his rabbits!!

like. lan wangji is the fun teacher. it’s like. ooh, sect leader jiang is gonna be there? you know it’s gonna be high drama hell yeah.

I think they love lan xichen too, but it’s much more distant, at least until post-seclusion when lxc is out of fucks to give and the juniors see him interacting with lwj and also other sect leaders and they’re like oh my god..... zewu-jun....... *0*

anyways, i love the twin jades, more at 11

(alphabet fic asks)

[mego42]

Can't help feeling this fandom is stubbornly clinging to an old gameplan? Because that episode was not about endings. It had one fic trope after another. It had Bellamy standing up against the previous most important person in his life FOR ECHO. It gave them a CL-esque love scene, except she's still alive and promising to come back. Bob has NEVER shown the level of emotion that he did with E. And overall, we were given every cue to view this relationship as more vital and resonant than BC.

Mmmmmm yeah no I both agree and disagree. I’m with you that Bellamy and E/cho love each other very much. I’m with you that Bellamy standing up to Octavia on E/cho’s behalf is significant but I don’t that necessarily automatically also means it’s..endgame? Is that what you’re arguing here? Significant is no guarantee of forever. Hello rising divorce rate. I also wouldn’t use a CL-esque love scene as proof that b/echo’s here for the long haul because…well. Sure E/cho is alive and promising to come back, that doesn’t mean it’s all going to be rosy. In fact, given that this is, you know, The 100, I would say it’s more likely exactly the opposite. Dramatic irony is a thing and this show is basically a contest to pile as much pain and trauma on the characters as possible. 

I’m not going to fall back on the whole I DONT BUY IT BC WE DIDNT SEE IT AND BC WE DIDNT SEE IT IT MUST BE DOOMED thing because the show is very much showing us how much they care about each other and how much both of them have changed (and honestly anyone who says otherwise just doesn’t want to see it which is fine, you do you, but don’t tell me it isn’t there because that’s just as transparent as the people who say they don’t see be/llarke and all y’all are exhausting). Telling a story with through shorthand cues that reveal what you didn’t see on screen is a completely legit storytelling technique (if you’re used to watching tv shows that start at the moment the protagonist is born and follow them through every moment of their lives in real time you may not realize that but most shows and movies pick a starting point and then reveal what happened before that point in shorthand) BUT at the same time, pretty much every be/cho moment we’ve seen has been couched in how very, very doomed they are.

I mean like, their first scene is all about how stuff isn’t going to change when they hit the ground and then literally everything has changed since they hit the ground. Clarke was dead, now she’s alive. Octavia is a completely different person than Bellamy remembered and he’s still struggling to understand her. The valley was going to be their safe space and now it’s been taken over by murderers (well, murderers who aren’t all of them). Harper lost the ability to speak. Everything has changed.

I loved their sex scene, LOVED IT. It was beautiful, it was hot, it was desperate, and it was also sad because both of them knew everything was about to change again and probably more significantly than it did before. We didn’t see their goodbye last time they split up, we did this time and Bellamy cried. Why? Only time will tell but if I were a betting person I would put money on it ultimately being a significant goodbye whether they realized it at the time or no.

That said, who knows! I’ve been wrong before and I will be wrong again (not about the bunker cannibalism though, that super happened). I, personally, would be cool with be/cho lasting through the season but I am not expecting them to. 

As for their relationship being more vital and resonant than be/llarke, 1) why does it have to be a competition? 2) did you miss the part where Bellamy leveraged a nearly three hundred person army for Clarke? I’d say their relationship is just as vital as it always has been to both of them.

ANYWAY, I don’t really care. I love be/cho, I love be/llarke, I love this season, I love all of the delicious potential angst on the table. Though the wall of text above maybe says otherwise, I’m really not here to talk anyone up or down and I don’t particularly care to try and change anyone’s mind about anything going on with the season, I’m here to enjoy myself. 

[shadowsong26fic]

Let’s Go Steal A Crossover: Part 1

No real plot here, this is mostly the background/backstory details.

Note/Disclaimer: this particular outline features an OC of mine and as a result is fairly self-indulgent. Because what else are crack outlines for?

That out of the way, here we go!

For the Leverage crew:

This is more or less in a S3 sort of environment--they may or may not be chasing Space Damien Moreau, but in terms of their team dynamic, etc., that’s where they are.

(Let’s be real, though, they are TOTALLY chasing Space Damien Moreau.)

(Who is, as in Leverage canon, very much a power-behind-the-throne kind of guy.)

(I.e., he is not a Moff or an Admiral or a planetary ruler or a sector governor or anything like that.)

(He just happens to have quite a few of them in his pocket.)

(He’s not affiliated with Black Sun or any of the Hutts or any other established syndicate, either. He’s his own thing.)

Nate--

He’s from a fairly prosperous Mid Rim world, went to a Core World university (probably either Coruscant or Alderaan).

The Clone Wars started right around when he graduated, if I’m parsing the timelines and ages right.

So, granted I’m making this up on the fly based on things I half-remembered, but while there are non-clone non-Jedi military officers, they’re mostly High Command types.

However, Nate does not have the background, experience, or connections for that kind of work.

He spends the War working for his home sector/planet's senator, as an investigator/learning about security/etc.

(How he manages to pull this off, despite his father’s legit Shady Past, is probably a Story in and of itself.)

Postwar, he goes into the private sector, working for an insurance company.

(Where he meets Sterling.)

(And Maggie.)

(And Sophie.)

Incidentally, while he doesn’t have the inside information to really disbelieve the late-stage propaganda, he’s a little Perturbed by exactly how quick and bloody the end of the war and the transition to the Empire was.

Something Is Not Right here, but he’s not sure exactly what, and is not yet so disillusioned to do anything about that doubt. But it remains, in the back of his mind, to resurface when everything falls apart.

This is, however, a large part of why he leaves public service.

From here, Nate’s backstory is more or less the same as in canon.

(I did toy with having Sam dead of Inquisitors instead for a while, but that would not translate right and, more importantly, is too mean to Maggie.)

(I love Maggie, have I mentioned that?)

Sophie--

What can one say about Space Sophie Devereaux.

...about as much as one can say about the canon version, honestly.

She’s Kuati, that much everyone knows for sure.

Whether she’s actually of the minor nobility is up for some debate.

(Yes, there was an equivalent of the King George Job)

She was in her early/mid-teens when the Clone War happened. Kuat itself seems to have been mostly untouched, but under heavy military guard because of the valuable shipyards.

She left Kuat three or four years postwar, and began creating her various aliases and legend.

(And occasionally working as an actress, of course.)

...yep, that’s pretty much what I have here.

Hardison--

Also pretty similar to his canon backstory, except that he’s slightly younger--probably closer to Jyn Erso’s age/two or three years older than the Skytwins.

Like Nate, he’s from the Mid Rim, but he’s from a planet that was heavily contested during the War.

(i.e., it ended up pretty bombed to hell)

(his parents died towards the end of the war, which is how he ended up with Nana)

His particular brand of invention/cleverness is particularly useful in a slowly-recovering warzone, though.

Parker--

Parker is actually from Coruscant.

The underlevels.

One of the kids who consistently slipped through the cracks, under both the Republic and the Empire.

Until Archie Leach found her.

And then unleashed her on the Galaxy.

And now, the fun part--Eliot!

Eliot is, in fact, a clone.

He was part of the so-called Last Batch; born (decanted?) about six months before the end of the war, so he never saw action during that conflict.

There were whispers, among the older cadets--the ones who were mature enough to hear echoes of a voice in their heads, who knew at least bits and pieces what the adult clones had done and why.

(The whispers are carefully, carefully encouraged by some of the adults who were able to fight through the compulsion. Not well enough, or fast enough, to save their Jedi, but damned if they wouldn’t protect their little brothers. Who will grow up to be men, not weapons. Which means that most of the Last Batch and varying proportions of the older cadets had their chips removed before leaving Kamino.)

(....and now I’m going to have to do something completely unrelated with the Last Batch and their relationships with their various older brothers at some point, aren’t they.)

Eliot, like most of his generation, goes into the Stormtrooper corps when he’s mature enough.

He stays in for a while--a good couple of years. He’s separated from his brothers, for the most part, but a few are with him. One by one, they die or desert--he covers for the ones who get away.

He’s the last. He bonded with a few of the non-clone troopers, and it isn’t until there’s no one in his unit he feels like he needs to stay for that he leaves.

(He promises himself, when he leaves that armor behind, that he’s not going to find himself in that situation again. He has only himself to look after now, and he is damn sure going to stay that way.)

He starts wandering, working as a bounty hunter/assassin for hire.

(He does have one brief, slightly surreal encounter with Boba Fett.)

(Who is Not Thrilled that one of the millions of men with his face is trying to do his job.)

Occasionally, he’s even hired by the Empire.

(Any jobs he does for them, he of course does from safely behind a mask.)

He spends some time on Mandalore, carefully connecting with his roots and finding plenty of work in that planet’s increasing unrest.

(There is a Story to tell here, I’m sure, possibly one involving Bo-Katan and/or Korkie Kryze...)

And, of course, he spends about six months working for Space Damien Moreau.

He occasionally, in his travels, has come across his brothers--ranging decommissioned Clone Wars vets, to older cadets, to others of the Last Batch.

He tends not to seek them out, though, and to avoid interacting when he can.

There’s too much baggage, positive and negative, with all his brothers of every generation.

Besides. He promised himself he wouldn’t put down roots with a unit or a team again.

Miscellania--

Their first job together runs much as in canon, and they settle in as a team and loosely follow the same overall storyline as in canon.

Nate knows damn well that Eliot is a clone, though he didn’t until they met in person.

(While he didn’t work directly with the GAR and never met any Jedi, he did meet several clone soldiers. It’s a hard face to forget, when you’ve seen it several times over the course of three years.)

Sophie figures it out, too--she met several soldiers assigned to guard the shipyards.

Their marks generally don’t figure it out, actually.

Not a lot is known about the Last Batch.

I mean, sure, if any of these industry/corporate titans actually thought things through, they’d remember that the clones were in production up through the very end of the war, so obviously something must have been done to the ones who were too young for combat at that point.

But, honestly, even if some part of you is aware/acknowledges that there are younger clones running around, are you really going to expect one to wander through your door pretending to be a chef/caterer or a pro baseball player or a country music star or an IT tech or...

(Parker and Hardison figure it out when one of their marks actually does identify Eliot as a clone.)

(They don’t particularly care, except Hardison remembers/learns about the rapid aging factor and starts using his downtime to try and find a fix for that.)

(When he’s not playing Space WoW, anyway.)

(Or helping Nate with whatever sketchy and underhanded Long-Term Scheme he’s got in mind right now.)

(They’re not on the black box yet, of course, but probably right now most of Hardison’s not-active-job time is spent on tracking Moreau.)

(He and Parker have probably been tossing ideas back and forth about robbing Kamino to try and find a fix, though...)

(Or at least the Last Batch’s records.)

(But that is a plot for another fic. And possibly one of the things they end up doing during the six-month break between S4 and S5.)

The Skytwins’ Team:

Here’s where the super self-indulgent part comes in.

So, this is technically an offshoot of an offshoot of Masks!Verse, which is a very near-canon AU (what I call an In Spite of a Nail AU) where Lavinia exists. Essentially, in Masks!Verse, nothing we see onscreen during the OT happens any differently, but there’s some Interesting Stuff happening elsewhere that sets up a different post-ROTJ timeline. Nothing at all changes until three years after ROTS, when Lavinia is born, and after that only things she’s Directly Involved In change, and most of that is internal Imperial power plays, at least through ROTJ.

(TFA more or less happens because I like it, but the road there is a little bit different and the canon I was operating from is locked there. I.e., due to what Lavinia and her daughter in this timeline end up doing, things go much more AU starting with the opening sequence of TLJ.)

Masks!verse, incidentally, is technically Lavinia’s core timeline, in that it’s the first one I created of the three base timelines I have for her (Masks, Precipice, and PT-generation), but that’s a whole separate conversation. It does probably explain why Masks!Verse has like a million variants/offshoots, though...

Anyway. Digression aside, this crossover actually draws from a Masks!Verse offshoot that I call the Lavinia Organa AU.

(You can probably guess where this is going.)

(It’s very much an Exactly What It Says On The Tin type thing.)

(And, honestly, could do with its own outline for the rewrite of ANH alone...)

But the Cliff Notes version:

When Lavinia is born/announced, Breha goes to Bail and says “we managed to successfully rescue/kidnap one Sith Lord’s baby daughter, we should rescue this one, too.”

They had never really decided on only having one kid, after all. Just at least one, and they wanted a daughter.

(It just ended up not happening in canon because of the need for secrecy/not wanting to complicate things and put Leia at risk.)

(I saw a meta post the other day that points out that Bail was clearly ready to take both Skytwins, but then Yoda said to separate them.)

(This may or may not have come up in primary Masks!Verse, incidentally, but there, they decided it was too risky and they had to focus on protecting the daughter they already had.)

(It’s arguable how much kidnapping was technically involved in adopting Leia. But they do just straight-up kidnap Lavinia. They also fudge some records and release carefully-timed photos and do not make any in-person appearances with her so they can claim she’s three months younger than she actually is.)

How do they pull this off? ...IDK, magic? Handwave for now, it is out of the scope of this project.

Leia and Lavinia grow up pretty close.

(Not that they never fight--they bicker constantly, especially in the years before Leia starts taking a more active role in the Rebellion and a more official role in Alderaan’s government.)

(Lavinia, at thirteen, isn’t really allowed to do much at that point, but she backs Leia in everything and helps a lot with the background research/legwork.)

A couple notable details: Bail and Breha decided pretty early on that they wanted to tell each of their daughters a shell of their bioparents’ stories, leaving out the key details but sticking more or less to the truth as best they could without putting their girls at risk.

So, Leia knows basically what she was told in canon--that her birth mother was a close friend of her parents, they didn’t know her birth father well, and both her bioparents died at the end of the Clone War.

That’s enough for her. She knows who her real parents are, and doesn’t especially care about her bioparents at this point. She has other things to worry about/deal with.

Lavinia is told that her birth mother died shortly after she was born, and her birth father was Not A Good Person and lost custody of her.

So, the thing about Lavinia--it’s less prominent in this AU because she had a functional childhood and parents who treated her like a person and not a spy/asset, but she’s very...the way she puts it in Precipice!Verse is that she doesn’t like walking into a room unprepared. And this shell of a story about her birth parents feels like the kind of thing that could bite her actual parents and her sister (and her) in the ass in a major way.

So, very quietly, around the time Leia starts working as an active Rebel agent, she starts digging into it, trying to identify her bioparents.

She doesn’t find any stories around her official age that match what her parents told her, and she doesn’t think they would lie.

But, she reasons, they might have skewed things or lied about her age to protect her from her biofather.

And then she learns Emperor Palpatine had a daughter, who died, who’s approximately the right age.

When she asks her parents about this, they don’t lie. They confirm it for her

(They would have done the same for Leia, if she had done the legwork and asked them point-blank, but like I said it’s not something she particularly cares about at this point.)

Lavinia then asks if she can tell Leia--they’ve actually been getting closer since Leia suddenly developed all these Adult Responsibilities, and the events of the Princess Leia novel happened.

This pretty much cements their relationship. While they still bicker a fair amount--they’re both pretty strong personalities, and not always compatible ones; Leia being a Soldier and Lavinia being a Spy, plus they’re teenage sisters who are fairly close in age--but they are Ride Or Die Full Stop from this point out.

By the time ANH actually rolls around, they’re both active Rebel agents--Lavinia works mostly with Intelligence and to a point with supply/other support forces, because she’s good at reading people and mapping interpersonal networks and figuring out who to approach, while Leia does more or less what she does in canon.

Again, the actually rewrite of ANH would be its own outline, so the important bits (with minimal detail in case I do end up doing this one properly at some point):

Lavinia and Leia are both on the Tantive.

Lavinia takes a shuttle/tender ship/something and separates, hoping to act as an additional decoy, that Vader will assume that the big ship is the Obvious Decoy and focus on her instead so Leia can get the plans to Kenobi safely.

Vader, of course, has the resources to track both of them so this doesn’t work.

Lavinia ends up tagging along on the Falcon and ending up on the Death Star with the others.

Everyone, including Obi-Wan, actually makes it off the station alive.

Lavinia was running around in the air vents for a while, and left behind a blood sample. On impulse, Vader runs it--he wants to identify all of Obi-Wan’s co-conspirators as quickly as possible and while there are no clear shots of her face on the surveillance footage he has, this is an available resource he can use.

Obi-Wan tells Luke and Leia who they are to each other (though sticks to the Certain Point Of View story about their biodad for the time being).

They have a moment of “...well, that explains a lot” and just accept it and move on.

So, at this point, there are some Key Secrets going on:

One, that Luke and Leia are the twin children, biologically, of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Naberrie Amidala.

People who know this: Obi-Wan, Luke, Leia, and Lavinia (they tell each other pretty much everything of this level of importance.)

Two, that Anakin Skywalker is now Darth Vader.

People who know this: Obi-Wan, Vader, Palpatine.

Three, that Lavinia Organa is Palpatine’s biological daughter.

People who know this: Lavinia, Leia, Vader, Mon Mothma (who they told in a “so this might be a Thing and we want to make sure Someone in High Command is prepared JUST IN CASE).

(They probably tell Luke before too much longer, but they do not share this detail with Obi-Wan.)

Right, so. Those are the Most Important Details for the purposes of understanding Let’s Go Steal A Crossover, I think.

Anyway, I’m drawing from this AU for two reasons:

(Or, three, if we include the fact that I Like It And I Can.)

First, it’s an easy way to get the Skytwins’ team connected/integrated with a minimum of Drama.

Second, because it’s kind of where the whole crossover concept came from. I was babbling at my very patient roommate about the Lavinia Organa AU (specifically about potential ESB/Cloud City plot points), and realized “lol, I could make a religion Leverage team out of this.”

“....WAIT I COULD MAKE A LEVERAGE TEAM OUT OF THIS!”

Here’s how it works:

Hitter: Leia. Who is a tiny ball of rage a lot of the time, and takes after both her bioparents in a large degree. She is definitely, definitely their combat specialist, even if she hasn’t really played that role in her previous work.

Hacker: Han. He’s the one who’s good at improvising tech, etc.

Grifter: Lando. Quick, act shocked.

Thief: Luke. Very different style from Parker, of course, but still.

Mastermind: Lavinia. Who, while not in any way going to use it as he did, inherited her biological father’s aptitude for strategy and manipulation.

The dynamic isn’t 100% the same, of course. For example, Lavinia may be the strategist, but Leia is more the team lead in the field. But it still lines up really great and then I started poking at the Leverage backstories above after the initial concept occurred to me and here we are.

Miscellania:

This crossover takes place in a vague “timelines mean nothing” sort of state. As I said before, the Leverage team is more or less in S3. We’ll say the Skytwins team is somewhere around ESB, though obviously the background leading them there is going to be Very Different.

The actual plot is going to start with The Two Live Crew Job In SPACE and go from there.

(Possibly getting more complicated, as we throw in Sterling and/or Vader and/or Obi-Wan and/or the Ghost crew.)

(In that last case, the Ghost crew never split up/Kanan never died/Ezra never went on a road trip with Thrawn and a bunch of space whales.)

And...that should cover it! Sometime this week (I’m hoping before Solo comes out), I’ll put up Part Two, which will cover the Actual Plot.