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kazscrows · 2 years ago

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Six of Crows Reread 🪶

Chapter 38: Kaz

I have been waiting to get to this chapter-

This is going to be a long one so settle in and buckle up

I’m not kidding this one goes for ages—

He’d gambled on Matthias’ feelings for Nina, but he’d always liked those odds. The real risk had been in whether or not someone as honest as Matthias could convincingly lie to his mentor’s face. Apparently the Fjerdan had hidden skills.

Kaz is a Helnik shipper you can’t change my mind

And lmao he thought Matthias wouldn’t be able to lie basically because he’s “too good”—

He reeks of decency, right?

Kaz throwing up the bombs to fell the sacred ash is… something

I made a post about this last night

He had lock picks and extra pellets of that weird knockout gas they used earlier in the cells in his gut too—

Oh he learned to do this via a fire breather magician

I guess it kind of makes sense

But then Kaz notes that the magician died due to poisoning himself accidentally—

Man (meaning Kaz Brekker) is insane

He remembered Inej standing on the embassy roof, aglow with some new fervour he didn’t understand but could still recognise – purpose. It had suffused her with light.

She was glowing to him

He’s so proud of her

I’m so proud of her

I really like that we got to see exactly where everyone was when the black protocol bells began

Gives it that heist movie feel of recapping the mission but from other points of view

Does that make sense? Do you guys know what I mean?

He’d waited, counting the minutes, but there was still no sign of Nina or Matthias. They’re in trouble, Kaz had thought. Or you were dead wrong about Matthias, and you’re about to pay for all of those talking tree jokes.

Imagine the plan failing because Kaz made fun of Matthias one too many times

That would have been tragic

He quickly tries to think of a way to get to the treasury but…

Would he be going to help Nina and Matthias or just to grab the target?

Luckily we don’t have to find out

Hopefully he’d choose to help his new friends

I like to think he would

He’d been about to call out to them when the explosion hit, and everything went to hell.

They blew up the lab, he’d thought as debris rained down around him. I definitely did not tell them to blow up the lab.

I love when Kaz thinks things like this

It happens at least once more in Crooked Kingdom

You’ll see when we get there

I’m thinking about a line from the auction

Kaz hoped the Shu boy he was holding on to was a surprisingly young Bo Yul-Bayur and not some hapless prisoner Nina and Matthias had decided to liberate.

I mean.. you never really know with Nina

The voice of god. There was always truth in legend. Kaz had spent enough time building his own myth to know.

Woah this just made me think about Kelsier from Mistborn

Has anyone here read those?

Sometimes Kaz and Kelsier are pretty similar, but also polar opposites

They both run a thieving crew so there’s the obvious similarity

Kelsier loves to smile though so there’s a difference (he smiles out of spite, but it doesn’t really matter right now)

Water had a voice. It was something every canal rat knew, anyone who had slept beneath a bridge or weathered a winter storm in an overturned boat – water could speak with the voice of a lover, a long-lost brother, even a god. That was the key, and once Kaz recognised it, it was as if someone had laid a perfect blueprint over the Ice Court and its workings.

What god do you serve? Inej had asked him. Whichever will grant me good fortune. Fortunate people didn’t end up racing ass over teakettle beneath an ice moat in hostile territory.

He’s already starting to think about Inej

Also side note: “Fortunate people didn’t end up racing ass over teakettle” is just a really funny line-

He thinks that while tumbling blindly down a freezing cold river in the dark

Survive. Survive. Survive. It was the way he’d lived his life, moment to moment, breath to breath, since that terrible morning when he’d woken to find that Jordie was still dead and he was still very much alive.

Pain

I’m gonna cry

Kaz tumbled through the dark. He was colder than he’d ever been. He thought of Inej’s hand on his cheek. His mind had gone jagged at the sensation, a riot of confusion. It had been terror and disgust and – in all of that clamour – desire, a wish that lingered still, the hope that she would touch him again.

Hope doesn’t have to be dangerous

It’s beautiful really

When he was fourteen, Kaz had put together a crew to rob the bank that had helped Hertzoon prey on him and Jordie. His crew got away with fifty thousand kruge, but he’d broken his leg dropping down from the rooftop. The bone didn’t set right, and he’d limped ever after. So he’d found himself a Fabrikator and had his cane made. It became a declaration. There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken. The cane became a part of the myth he built. No one knew who he was. No one knew where he came from. He’d become Kaz Brekker, cripple and confidence man, bastard of the Barrel.

He really does go after Pekka brick by brick

He didn’t let his limp define him

He used it to sculpt how others saw him

They see him in the exact way he wants them to

In a way it made him stronger

I just want to copy paste this entire chapter

But the flashes of memories Kaz is getting:

Hot chocolate with Jordie and his warning to let it cool

Himself signing for the Crow Club

His first time seeing Inej, in purple silk, and with kohl around her eyes…

When he gave her her first knife, it had a bone handled hilt

She named it Petyr…

Her crying after her first kill and him ignoring the sobs…

Do you think he regrets that? What if he’d tried to comfort her instead..?

Kaz remembered her perched on the sill of his attic window, sometime during that first year after he’d brought her into the Dregs. She’d been feeding the crows that congregated on the roof.

“You shouldn’t make friends with crows,” he’d told her.

“Why not?” she asked.

He’d looked up from his desk to answer, but whatever he’d been about to say had vanished on his tongue.

The sun was out for once, and Inej had turned her face to it. Her eyes were shut, her oil-black lashes fanned over her cheeks. The harbour wind had lifted her dark hair, and for a moment Kaz was a boy again, sure that there was magic in this world.

“Why not?” she’d repeated, eyes still closed.

He said the first thing that popped into his head. “They don’t have any manners.”

“Neither do you, Kaz.” She’d laughed, and if he could have bottled the sound and got drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.

Oh window scene my beloved

I’m stronger than this, he told himself. My will is greater. But he could hear Jordie laughing. No, little brother. No one is stronger. You’ve cheated death too many times. Greed may do your bidding, but death serves no man.

The sound of water is Jordie’s voice for Kaz

A twisted tragic version of him

He’s trying to hang on and survive so he things of his revenge first

But it doesn’t work…

Only thinking of Inej saves him

He hopes she’s alive and that she escaped

He thinks about how if she’s trapped he has to live to safe her

The ache in his lungs was unbearable. He needed to tell her … what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn’t pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. That without meaning to, he’d begun to lean on her, to look for her, to need her near. He needed to thank her for his new hat.

I love this beautiful broken boy who’s decided to try

The water pressed at his chest, demanding that he part his lips. I won’t, he swore. But in the end, Kaz opened his mouth, and the water rushed in.

Imagine an episode of the spin-off ending like that

That ends part 5, onto the final part!

Part 6: Proper Thieves

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transitranger327 · 8 months ago

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Ehn’yuste: the Three Ways, Chapter 4: Building Ranks

Summary: A flashback to the beginning of Sabine’s journey as a Jedi. In the present, Shin and Sabine contemplate their future. Sabine offers guidance to a struggling Bo-Katan.

Notes: This chapter kept growing longer and longer, until I couldn’t finish a scene. Then I realized I could just move the scene to the next chapter. So I did. Did you know there’s an S in Vizsla? I didn’t!

A Mando’a glossary is in the end notes (below the cut), but you should check it out, I did a bit of linguistics

Eight years before the Ignition

The former Jedi stepped off onto a cold desert moon. The remnants of the Jedi holy site still breathed, but it was a halting, wheezing breath. She couldn’t bear to venture to the crater formerly known as the Holy City. Instead, Ahsoka turned to the outskirts, where the crew of the Ghost were assisting the remnants of Gerrera’s Partisans trying to expel the remnants of the Imperial presence. Not exactly a welcoming place for a meeting, but she supposed it would do. As she approached the rebel camp, she heard familiar voices shouting from tents. “I’ve been playing with explosives since I was a TODDLER! I know EXACTLY how much rhydonium we’ll need for a bomb that size!” She saw a Mandalorian woman storming out in a huff, whose mood improved immediately upon seeing the former Jedi. “Ahsoka! You made it!” she said as she embraced an old friend. Sabine radioed her crewmates to join her in the Ghost, then turned to Ahsoka, “Come on, let me take you to the family.”

The freighter-turned-rebellion symbol was at once familiar and yet distinct. Kanan and Ezra’s absences were palpable, yet a new kind of joy had begun to take their place. The former imperial Kallus (she was looking forward to learning how he became a turncoat) had taken Ezra’s old bunk, and Zeb seemed to be a lot warmer to his presence than the young Jedi. Rex now seemed to be living on the Ghost full time, and he was using Kanan’s old room. And this new member, Omega, well…

“Commander! Ezra told me you survived Malachor, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw you with my own eyes.” “Rex, what did Kenobi always say?” “Yeah yeah, I know, ‘your eyes can deceive you’, but not all of us have force powers. Anyway, this is Omega. Omega, this is Ahsoka, my old commander I always told you about.” “Another sister? Older, I sense?” “Wait how did you know?” Omega was surprised, very rarely had anyone guessed that correctly. “Like I said, looks can be deceiving. Anyway, so glad to meet you.”

Allegedly, Omega was staying with her brother in Kanan’s room, but more of her personal effects seemed to be in Hera’s room. A story for another time, perhaps, when they didn’t have war plans to make. After making their plans to liberate the Kyber mines, the crew began to ask what Ahsoka had been up to. She began to explain her recent travels, “There has been some disturbances in the Force lately. Not significant exactly, but concerning. Sabine, Ezra said you were with him when he visited the World Between Worlds. Can you tell me more?”

Sabine thought back to that day, the last days of Lothal’s occupation. The last days she saw her dad and brother. “Ezra and I were investigating the Empire’s looting of the Lothal Temple. We discovered a mural, one that could be changed to open the gateway Ezra used.”

A mural would line up with what Ahsoka had discovered on Malachor. “Can you show me the mural?” She assumed Sabine had made either a copy or her own art inspired by it.

As Sabine went to her room to grab a sketchbook, Omega worked up the courage to inform Ahsoka of her own personal history. “For 3 years after the Empire started, there was a secret cloning research program focusing on m-counts. Kids my age and younger subjected to a bunch of medical testing. My brothers and I staged a breakout that destroyed most of the research, but do you think it could have anything to do with what you’re dealing with?” She hoped she wasn’t making a bad impression, and had learned how to be a bit more tactful since meeting Ventress all those years ago.

Ahsoka was intrigued. “It’s certainly possible. The Empire has a habit of kidnapping kids who would’ve been Jedi younglings. Would you be willing to put me in contact with the ones you rescued?”

An offer to be in contact with a Jedi for more than just generic rebellion? Omega leapt at the chance, “Of course, some of them still live with us.”

Sabine returned to the commons, sketchbook in hand. She projected up a page featuring a charcoal illustration of three figures. “The mural looked mostly like this, but the arms of these three moved depending on if the gateway was opened or closed. The imperial leading the looting was convinced they were gods of some sort.”

Ahsoka frowned. “He was right. I’ve met those gods. They called themselves The Ones: Father, Son, and Daughter. The Son was the embodiment of the Dark Side. The Daughter was the embodiment of the Light Side. The Father attempted to keep them in balance. I found a mural of just the Son, deep in the Malachor Temple. It helped me start to piece together how these mysteries work.” Sabine asked what happened to them. “They’re dead. But their legacy lives on.”

—

As the impromptu conference came to a close, and the crew of the Ghost dispersed to prepare for the fight, Sabine lingered with Ahsoka. She was trying to find an angle to ask for Ahsoka’s…help? Guidance? Tips and tricks‽ “ugh why does this ha—”

“Sabine, do you have something you want to ask me?” The Mandalorian’s silent pleading could’ve been noticed by anyone, but the Force made it much easier for Ahsoka to sense the intentions. Curiosity, not sorrow.

For a moment, Sabine was thrown mentally off balance. She had known Jedi could read minds, but it had been more than a year since a Jedi was close to her (The Skywalker kid was off hanging out with Rogue Squadron), and she had forgotten. So the story started spilling out of her mouth “EzraGaveMeHisLightsaberOkay? AndAnd, ItFeelsLike, LikeHeWantsMeToUseItOkay? iHaveDarksaberExperienceBut, ButItDoesntFeelEnough?”

Chuckling, Ahsoka replied. “All right, okay, slow down. Does the lightsaber call to you?” Sabine’s face changed, as if digging deeper into memory than she was used to, then nodded “Yes.” Smiling, Ahsoka proposed a solution. “I may not be able to train you as a Jedi, but I’m more than willing to train you how to connect and wield a lightsaber. Especially one as connected to you as a parting gift from family.”

—

One and a half years after the Ignition

Two Jedi were meditating together. If you had told either of the them two years earlier that they’d be meditating with their wife, neither would’ve believed you. For Sabine, the idea of meditating was far-fetched, much less meditating with someone else. “Been there, tried that” had been her mantra when it came to the Force. Shin had no such misgivings. Steeped in the Jedi traditions of her master, she had a deep connection to the Force. But a wife? She had never fallen so deeply in love as she had with Sabine. The taunting of enemies had become a teasing between lovers so subtly that she had barely noticed the change. The more they competed, the more compelled to each other they had felt. And now their spirits were intertwined, feeling the air and the water and the beskar and the trinitite around them together, a small pocket of a thriving world.

But Sabine sensed some nagging doubts in her wife’s mind. “Cyar, what’s wrong?” A simple question that could be answered as simply or complexly as Shin needed.

The question was unexpected. Shin didn’t think that those feelings were notable for even a Jedi to sense. But if anyone was good at reading people, it was her wife; an abnormal Jedi whose strength arose in relationships and attachments. “I love how we’re teaching each other. I really do. But…I think I need to find a Padawan of my own. Like you and Grogu.”

“Waitwaitwait, Grogu isn’t my padawan. He’s just…” Sabine tried finding the right word, but the implication of being a traditional Jedi had short-circuited her.

Shin decided to fill the space. “Baby, the Dins practically live at our apartment now.” Sensing her wife’s defensiveness, she pivoted. “We can call your mentor-student relationship something different, if you want. But I would like to also be teaching someone new. I think the Galaxy can use more Jedi.”

The ideas started solidifying for Sabine. “Are you suggesting we start a new Jedi Order?” A small smile and nod came from Shin. Sabine started brainstorming out loud, her preferred method of planning. “I think we can do that. It would still have to be Mandalorian. I don’t think I can disentangle my heritage from my training. Which means family and relationships would be allowed and encouraged.”

A laugh emerged from Shin, “Well I certainly wasn’t planning to be hypocritical. I definitely want to be your riduur.” She kissed her wife, with all the feelings of love and support she could offer. “But we would need a temple. We can’t just have everyone in our apartment.”

Sabine remembered something Ezra had found. “Temples tend to be built around vergences in the Force. What about that small one Ezra and Jacen discovered? Were you able to learn anything about it?” After her brother and nephew found an anomaly, she and her wife occasionally visited, trying to understand what and why it was, but Shin was also researching historical documents to learn more.

“I think it was Tarre Vizsla’s childhood home. Something about his connection to both the Jedi and Mandalore left a small knot in the force there.” Shin understood the immense irony of starting an order where you didn’t have to choose between Jedi and Mandalore at the place where that choice was first made. “Do you think the Vizslas will give us any trouble for wanting to use one of their family’s homes as a Jedi temple?”

“Didn’t the old Jedi Temple have a massive library? If we established our own library there dedicated to preserving Jedi and Mandalorian history, and made it open to everyone, maybe they would see the temple as an honor to their family and not a desecration.”

—

“Stars, I really need more advisors.” Bo-Katan sat on her throne-turned-conference-seat, exhausted from the sheer amount of decisions she had to make. Her beloved Armorer was willing to advise, but even she looked to the Manda’lor for final decisions. A younger her, the one that joined Death Watch, would’ve relished in the power. But now the weight of tradition was starting to crush the Duchess, and most people were unwilling to share the burden if they couldn’t have all the power for themselves.

Footsteps approached the old throne room. “You’re stressed.” A woman in purple and teal walked thru the doorway. “I would ask if you have time for me, but I know you’re ani’ures’hukaan”

Bo-Katan snorted, “trying to Jetii’layari?” She had been friendly with some Jedi for years, but occasional caf meetups with Ahsoka was very different from multiple self-avowed Jedi running around on Mandalore. Even as she grew more accustomed to them (Sabine was a family friend, after all), most of her people were still unsure. Whether it was traditionalists who opposed Jedi on principal, the remnants of her sister’s faction who hated their hypocrisy, or the select few who were close enough to think the Jedi could’ve helped during the purge and didn’t.

“No, you accidentally sent me your entire schedule for the next week and it’s booked.” Sabine hoped she could ease some of the stress Bo-Katan was under, so showing off her Jedi skills wasn’t an option. “How did this not happen when you were governor all those years ago?”

The older woman sighed, “You might be too young to remember, but we used to have an elected assembly. We had a council and a prime minister, the duchess never ruled alone.” She tried to not feel hurt while remembering her sister. “Gar Saxon and the Empire destroyed all that. We never knew peace afterwards. We had to function purely as a military, and look where that got us.” Her souring mood would’ve been evident to anyone, but she knew Sabine could feel the deeper despair. “Even now, everyone looks to me like I’m their general and not their duchess.” She felt two hands on her shoulders and another forehead press against hers.

“Hey, hey, hey, ner vod, you’re fighting too many enemies alone.” Sabine could tell Bo-Katan was surprised by her physicality, but not opposed. She reached out in the Force, not to communicate, but to build a sanctuary where Bo-Katan could feel safe while vulnerable.

She felt safer the longer Sabine remained. “I want to do the most I can to rebuild Mandalore, but the more I succeed, the more work there is.” For some reason, it was now easier to rummage thru her feelings. “I love Mandalore and I love that we have so much history and I’m scared that if anyone else tries taking over they’ll try ignoring all of that in favor of their personal vendetta.” Tears started silently dripping out of the corners of her eyes as she tried to catch a breath. “Stars, why am I crying over this?”

The younger woman heard that thought loud and clear, but tried to craft a response that wouldn’t come off as knowing-too-much. So she produced a small handkerchief from a belt pouch and offered it to Bo-Katan with, “it’s okay to be overwhelmed with running an entire planet.” She watched as Bo-Katan wiped away her own tears, then continued. “I find it helpful to meditate; to clear my thoughts and refocus my energy, both at the beginning and end of the day. Even the middle sometimes.” When Sabine saw the older woman’s grimace at the thought of doing something Jedi, she added, “this isn’t just sitting, legs crossed, connecting to the Force. It’s also spending time free from distractions, like target practice alone. Ahsoka and her master often meditated by tinkering with machinery. I’m willing to bet the Armorer achieves a similar state of mind while smithing. It’s all about letting go of your conscious self and acting on instinct.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” mused Bo-Katan as she relaxed back into her throne. “That’s nice, but I only have a finite amount of time in the day. Do you have any suggestions for my practical needs? Not just my spiritual ones.”

Sabine understood the gravity of Mandalore’s situation, and considered how similar it was to the Rebellion. “Elections for an assembly would take a while to set up. Why not start with a council of the heads of each clan?” She realized, too late, that this would mean more responsibility for her. “Then we build a consensus on how an assembly would run.” She glanced at her chrono, and saw her meeting with the Vizslas was fast approaching. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your work.”

“Hang on you can’t just come in here, listen to me pour my heart out, and walk out!” Bo-Katan was now shouting at the unexpected departure.

Sabine retorted from across the room, “Actually Duchess, I can!”

“Once a rebel, always a rebel I guess,” Bo-Katan sighed, before realizing she had no idea what Sabine was up to. “Wait, why did you come here in the first place?”

“Shin and I are planning on starting a Jedi temple, just wanted to let you know!” The doors to the throne room closed behind her.

“Stars, she’s gonna be the death of me.”

—

Deep in the Unknown Regions

A Mirialan man was strapped to a hospital bed. His blood was slowly being drained for Imperial research. He bore stitches where large tissue samples had been taken. His only hope was that his longtime friend would be able to find him before it was too late.

—

Mando’a Glossary: Cyar: love Riduur: spouse Ani’ures’hukaan: in over your head. This one I spent a lot of time on, because it really wouldn’t make sense for a Mandalorian to say “swamped” because there are no swamps on Mandalore. So I figured “exposed during a fight” would make sense, so this is literally “completely without cover” Jetii’layari: showing off Jedi powers, lit. “Jedi-swagger” Ner vod: “my friend/sibling”

#wolfwren #ehn’yuste #sabine wren #shin hati #ahsoka tano #bo katan kryze #tbb omega #mando’a #sapphic star wars #sw fanfic #ao3 #ghost crew

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willowhatter · 2 years ago

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Spoilers for Mandalorian s3 finale

Do not expect in depth analysis it’s currently just past 10am and I am not fully awake. I’m going to start this off with my likes as if I went straight into my negative thoughts about this episode then this would just be a block of everything I did not like and we would never actually reach my positives.

Axe Woves I always found him extremely self-centered and for the past week I was one hundred percent sure he was some sort of spy. Just because I didn’t like him I had no basis to actually build this theory on just my pure hatred for the man. This episode proved me wrong in a good way and he redeemed himself a little.

Another thing I enjoyed was Grogu finally getting to use the force a bit more than just to do his Yoda flips. I always felt like they never used Grogu’s use of the force to its fully potential and I’m glad that had its time to shine with the team up with his dad.

Obviously I liked Din officially adopting Grogu. It took the man long enough. It does leave me wondering if Grogu’s parents are still kicking about and if so where. But I honestly don’t care to much I’m just glad Din finally saw that he needed to adopt him.

The Darksaber being destroyed. I liked that. I feel like it was always going to be an ongoing repetitive issue if it had not been taken care off. Obviously I’m sad we aren’t going to see any more fight scenes with it but its good that it’s gone.

In a way I feel like it being destroyed shows that a new age of mandalore is upon us. The Darksaber I feel always signified that mandalorian’s could never let go of the past that they were always looking back over there shoulder at what once was. But the saber being destroyed shows that the old ways were never always the best ways and that they need to let go and move on.

Dislikes:

The first thing I didn’t really like is a small gripe and doesn't really matter but Grogu using the force to shield Din, Bo and himself from the fire. It’s not that he wasn’t really capable off it. I’m just surprised by the fact he was well enough to do it. Like he is only small and he clearly struggled in TBOBF to calm down the beast in that, after all he took a nap after it. Surely he would be exhausted and would pass out after it?

I feel like it was to easy to defeat Moff, not that I don’t think it was realistic that they took him down that way. It could very well off happened like that. My problem with it is, is that it had been building up to it for the past few seasons and he was taken down in like an hour or two star wars time. Like there wasn’t much planning or nothing it was just guns and big explosions.

Din not being at the great forge lighting. He could have been there and then gone and done all the other stuff. It was a short scene it wouldn’t be that hard. He was one of the sole reasons that even managed to happen. If Din hadn’t nearly died twice in the second episode then continued to support Bo there would be no great forge lighting. He deserved to be there. I did like the scene minus that.

No goodbye or good luck scene between Din and Bo. I could not give to craps that they aren’t together like I like the ship yes It’s my fav ship of the show. But I knew that the likely hood of it becoming real was slim to none. But they had been side by side throughout the entire season and pretty much this episode and there was nothing. Well you could say the small nod in the living waters scene was it but no I don’t think so they deserved better.

I am thankful I watched this episode in the morning and not at night other wise I would not have slept I would be to busy trying to figure out how I would have done this episode.

#the mandalorian #spoilers #din djarin #bo katan #dinbo #grogu #star wars

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dis-harmony · 2 years ago

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~General Headcanons of Jade Poet~

(Hey harmonies/guys, sorry how I haven’t posted TI in a while b/c a week ago, I was too obsessed with Disney animations and I had so much fun with it. Also I had plenty of things to do last time and I’m very busy so that means I don’t have time to post more TI anymore. I don’t quit TI, I’m just saying I need a break from that. Again, I will be no longer posting or available with Treasure Island b/c I’m so very busy for something else like Hololive or other cartoons I can do, but they’ll be back someday later. Anyways I’m back, I’m doing a headcanon now. Enjoy!)

Jade was an 18-year-old goth boy who interested in goth books and histories from the past. He’s not much older than Anchors.

His two sidekicks were Blind Pew and Black Dog, and uh…the weird airheaded dog, Pew’s pet. Get over it. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

His rivalry is Anchors, he always planned to invade him for dangerous pranks like gun fighting, bombs, stealing, explosions, and etc.

He’s pretty evil to everyone like he’s trying to bully his enemy especially Jim.

He’s very sneaky and disgusting. Besides, he would want to tease people whenever they do their own thing in front of him, he wants to borrow their hobbies and be interested with it.

He mostly dislikes when he get pulled with a collar by people. Seriously, he hates being touched whenever anyone want to do something with him. It’s like he’s a sheep while being pulled by a Bo Peep with her cane.

He doesn’t like having love interests because it’s not his own thing. He didn’t want to have a girlfriend and a family life when growing older, he’s always sensitive about the future. He’s not too affectionate.

He’s also the same thing as Black Dog, he wants to find the map and just take one to know where he’s going with his henchmen. Guess what, he’s a thief who likes stealing limited things.

He enjoys gothic cultures and everything about this, is dark to everyone, not only what he does. He gets angry whenever anyone disrespects his hobbies, he would want to do his punishable pranks for them.

This is going to be the weirdest thing you’ll ever hear, he doesn’t sleep on mattresses or beds. He sleeps in a Christian cross ✝️ which he’s comfortable with it, he’s the only who doesn’t sleep on beds. He might rest his head down while he stand there in the air against it and snore.

Also the craziest thing, and we repeat crazy, Jade doesn’t use curse words out loud. He only mutter himself with bad words, closing his mouth like, “Jesus Christ”, “Son of a b”, or “WTF”. He doesn’t say anything like that because he’s not comfortable saying it in front of everyone but he does muffling it when using swear words, hardly getting out of his mouth and you can barely hear him or EASILY hear him.

#Treasure island #treasure island 1988 #treasure island oc #headcanons #general headcanons #blind pew #black dog #jade poet

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skye-huntress · 2 years ago

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Atelier Ryza Anime Reaction

Episode 4: Sunken Mine

I remember this so called test in the game. I suppose it was a big deal but the only thing I could focus on was the ore Empel is asking Ryza to find. Koberinite is a material used for synthesising the second tier of metal ingots, which can than be used to synthesise the second tier of weapons. Although, I don’t know if we’ll actually be seeing characters switching up their weapons, especially since the third and fourth tiers are just the first and second in different colours.

I can understand Tao’s exasperation, but Empel isn’t teaching him to read just so he can hole himself up in his library all day. It’s a practical skill useful for exploring and investigating ruins, which is wasted on Tao if he can’t even manage to get around or protect himself.

Yes, prepare. That thing you completely failed to do last time.

You can tell Ryza plays favourites with Klaudia when she wants her to stay home where it is safe but thinks nothing of dragging along the reluctant bookworm on her adventures.

And there’s Bos again with his arrogant, condescending attitude. And Lumbar who is really just a wimpy little henchman who is only confident enough to run his mouth when standing next to Bos.

“This sword will carve a path to my future!” Really? That sword? It looks like it is past due to be scrapped. If he tries to fight a golem with that, it’ll probably break.

Of course she was planning on making bombs!

That bomb is kind of sus. I think she screwed up somewhere. Also, you’re going in a cave! In this case, bigger is not better!

I’m seeing a line on Lent’s sword that’s probably going to be a break line.

Surely it isn’t hard to figure out why it is called the Sunken Mine. It’s a cave with precious ores that is also close to the shore.

Yes, Ryza, you need to be the most careful. You’re carrying explosives in a cave of unknown structural integrity with low visibility. If you trip, you might end up killing everyone in the explosion and/or the resulting cave in.

Hitting a golem is at least easier than a puni. They’re bigger and not nearly as nimble. Still, they’re pretty resistant to physical attacks so hitting them would put a lot of stress on Lent’s sword.

Finally, they call Tao out for the lack of effort he’s been putting in to improve himself. So far, he’s contributed nothing on any of their excursions, leaving Ryza and Lent to do all of the work. Out of the three of them, his weapon is actually probably the most suited for busting golems.

Now they’ve hit the sunken part of the Sunken Mine.

I see what they’re doing with that flashback. For those not in the know, I wonder what they’re thinking when they see it.

What is that?! I see, so this is what they think a larger golem would look like. In the game, they just reused the same model of smaller monsters for the larger versions. This kind of design and size is what you’d expect of one of the bosses though.

Idiot, you’re in a confined space, with limited air. The smoke doesn’t have anywhere to go, so not only is it harder to breath, you’ve lost visibility. And the sound would just be bouncing off the walls.

It seems Ryza overdid it when she made her bomb. She doesn’t have the experience yet to judge how powerful she makes things.

See, Tao, there are actually practical uses for the knowledge you were given, so you’re not completely useless. Plus, now he is curious about what he can find outside of his library.

Ryza, we see what you’re trying to do, and it’s not working. Tao and Lent have acknowledge where they were wrong, the least you can do is own up to your own blunder.

Empel is no one’s fool.

It’s funny how part of the problem is that Ryza is better at alchemy than she realises.

Empel is right, it was neither the time or place for her to test out a new item she made, especially when she herself acknowledge it was larger than she intended. Ryza needs to be more responsible with what she creates and how she uses them.

#atelier ryza

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ca-8 · 4 years ago

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Yakko x Reader Scenario: When You First Meet

'This is it. The beginning of the end.'

Gripping on the straps of her backpack, (Y/n) exited the bus and stared up at the water tower that displayed the famous Warner Bros. logo. As expected, it emitted a smug aura onto the entire area; however, surprisingly, there was a slight twinge of mystery to it as well. But she didn't have time to ponder about it, so she only gave it an uneasy look and headed straight for the entrance.

Her heart stopped. She knew the place was going to be busy, but it was like an entire New York City packed in one section! So many writers, producers, actors, large men carrying heavy sets, every type of person working in film was scattered all over the place. It was like an ocean, with the people as marine life doing what they're designed to do, and (Y/n) being the puppy that was abandoned at sea.

The moment it all settled in, an involuntary realization invaded her thoughts. 'I don't belong here.'

The young girl reminded herself to breathe and rushed over to a vacant wall, then pulled out her phone. She had already sent her mother about a thousand messages telling her she was here, but since she hasn't responded, a few more shouldn't hurt. Fingers rapidly typing away, she bit her lower lip, already wishing she had stayed on that bus.

"Oh, you're just gonna love it!" Her mother's squealing voice had already filled her skull. "You're so talented, I know you're gonna fit right in."

'Yeah, standing around all day with a bunch of people I don't know while doing something I suck at is exactly how I wanna spend my summer.' She let out a soft sigh. 'It's fine. Just shut up and make her happy, (Y/n).'

Several attempts of calling and texting later, no response. (Y/n) sighed again, and her eyes wandered over to the bustling crowd. 'No way. Absolutely no way.' But if she wanted to get the day over with, absolutely yes way.

First, she walked up to a lady looking down at the clipboard in her hands. "Um, excuse me," (Y/n) said.

The lady's head snatched up. "KYLE!" she yelled, her eyes now ablaze with fury, "YOU IDIOT! THAT GOES IN THE WAREHOUSE ACROSS THE STUDIO!" And like there was nothing but a breeze behind her, the lady stomped off to the poor soul that had to face her wrath.

The breeze took a step back and ran around the corner. 'Maybe I'll find someone else instead…!' (Y/n) stopped and spotted a man sitting on the steps that lead to the entrance of a small building. She swallowed whatever was left in her mouth and reluctantly approached him.

"E-Excuse me, sir?" she stuttered, hoping her voice was louder than the last time. As she got closer, (Y/n) noticed he was chuckling, and his gaze was glued onto a small piece of paper.

"I...I did it…!" he said. She yelped and shrinked back when he suddenly jumped to his feet. "I FINALLY DID IT! WE'LL SEE WHO'S REGRETTING THE DIVORCE NOW, MARGARET!" And with a manic laugh, the man dashed into the building.

'...Or maybe I'll just find it myself.'

It wasn't too long before (Y/n) got herself lost. Despite the help of maps that were stuck to some of the buildings, all of them seemed exactly the same. It was like a maze, and with each passing minute, she was more and more convinced that there was no finish line. Even worse, her mother was too busy to respond to anything she sent her.

'Oh, what should I do?' (Y/n) thought for the thousandth time. No matter how hard she pinched or held them, her arms refused to stop trembling. Not too long ago, the outside of the studio became deserted and she'd hate to walk in a warehouse and possibly interrupt something important, so asking for help again was out of the question.

...Or, perhaps it wasn't.

A tiny, hopeful smile crossed (Y/n)'s face when she heard the sounds of frustrated grunts around the corner. It was the first time she was so relieved to see a stranger.

And thank god that stranger was a security guard. Though she wondered why he had a giant net in his hand, she shoved the curiosity as far in the back of her mind as she could and reached up to gently tap his shoulder.

"Um, excuse me sir?" she asked as loud as she could.

His head whipped around, revealing angry eyes and a scowl that said he was ready to kill. But right as his gaze landed on her, it changed within an instant.

"Oh, hello!" he said with a bright smile.

(Y/n) blinked, cocking her head. ‘What was this guy up to?’

"I'm sorry to bother you, but do you know where (M/n) (L/n) is filming? I'm her daughter, (Y/n), and I'm trying to look for her. She's not answering her phone either."

His joyful expression slowly melted into a confused one. "Uuhhh…(M/n) (L/n)?”

“Yes. She’s a part of Animal Kingdom? Do you know where that’s being filmed?”

“Oh! I know there’s a zoo around here called Animal Kingdom! I don’t think you’ll find it in a film studio, though.”

(Y/n) frowned. “...No, I mean the show. Aren’t they filming in a warehouse today? Do you know where that is?”

“Who’s ‘they’?”

Her eye twitched, and she was just about ready to drown the entire studio in the nearest ocean. “N-Nevermind, I’ll just-”

As if the universe wasn’t satisfied with tormenting her enough, the security guard suddenly launched up into the air and flew into the sky. Right before her eyes, the heavens were coated with explosives of every color that ever existed.

“Oh my god!” (Y/n) yelled. ‘Who strapped fireworks on that guy?!’

“Oh, I knew you’d love it!”

Her eyes were ripped from the loud fireworks show as she was immediately smothered in a hug. “It’s so nice that another girl’s here! All the other ones here are either too busy or just keep shouting about a restraining order for some reason. I dunno, but anyway, I just know you're gonna love it here! Anyway, my name’s Princess Angelina Louisa Cantessa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the third! But since we're friends now, you can just call me Dot.”

This confirmed it. This was a trap set up by her mother to deliberately drive her insane, because how else can someone explain the nut jobs and talking dogs in pink dresses?

A combination of those two things happened to be clutching her head and digging her face into hers. “...Huh?” (Y/n) mumbled.

‘Dot’ jumped off of her and smiled widely. “Sorry about Ralph by the way. I figured out you were coming at the last second and I really needed someone for your welcoming gift.” she said.

(Y/n) glanced up at the sky where the fireworks were slowly dying down. “Um...Is he gonna be okay?” she asked.

“Of course he will!” her backpack said.

The teen screamed and threw her bag on the ground. A hand popped out and unzipped it with impossible ease, then a taller boy version of Dot jumped out, pulling up his long brown pants and flashing a grin.

“H-...H-H-How did you…?!” (Y/n) stuttered, pointing at him.

“What? Never heard of cartoon logic?” he said, approaching her. “And Ralph’ll be fine. His skull’s so thick, concrete’s the last thing that can kill him.”

“What-?”

“Anyhow,” he walked over to Dot and put an arm over her shoulder, “The name’s Yakko, this here’s my beloved baby sister Dot, and this is-” He stopped, staring at the empty space to his left. He leaned into Dot, whispering, “Say, uh, you don't mind looking for Wakko, do ya sis?”

Dot glanced at (Y/n) for an uncomfortable moment and suddenly shot her brother a glare. "I've got eyes all over this studio, Yakko," she warned, slowly stepping away.

Now (Y/n) certainly knew she didn't see pairs of eyes appear around every inch of her sight. 'Oh god, I didn't breath in drugs on the way here, did I? Actually, that would explain whatever the heck's going on.'

Yakko smiled as he watched his sister leave and turned to (Y/n). He walked closer to her, and she realized that his half-lidded eyes had a strange glint in them. “Sooo, your name’s (Y/n), right? A pretty name for a pretty girl.”

(Y/n)’s face heated up. ‘First I get lost, then see a guy get blown up, and now some other guy’s flirting with me? ...To be honest, this is still better than what Mom had planned for today.’

“So what brings ya’ here?” he asked.

“O-Oh, well, my Mom was supposed to give me a tour of the studio, but I’ve been giving that to myself all day. I tried finding her, but I’m pretty sure I’m nowhere near it by now.” Her eyes wandered over to the ground, but a realization made them perk back up and over to Yakko. “Hey, do you happen to know this place by any chance?”

“Know it? Please, my sibs and I live here, we know this place by heart and soul!” He mumbled something else, along the lines of “Basically made our hearts and souls”.

Her heart jumped; finally, a piece of good news. “Really?” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

He nodded. “So where do ya’ need to go?” Before she could answer, he pulled out a piece of folded paper and moved in so close, their shoulders were smooshed together. Yakko unfolded it, and it turned out to be the biggest map (Y/n) has ever seen. “Well, from here, you’re gonna need to take a right and continue straight until you get to the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts exhibit. But be careful, I heard some of them escaped, and if anyone asks if you’ve seen any of them, don’t tell them I gave one to Dot as a late birthday gift. Anyway, you take a left from there, then a right where you’ll see the lot where they used to shoot Game of Thrones. Now this is only a rumour I’ve heard, but I think some of the producers are still on that set. If you happen to see them, do not, I repeat, DO NOT mention season eight, or maybe just don’t mention the show at all. Actually, don’t even look at them. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn’t even go there at all, just keep heading straight until you get to the D.C. Universe lot. Then you just take left there, then a sharp right over over, then you keep going straight until you get to here, turn up over there, turn right there, and then you’re there. Did ya’ follow all that?”

(Y/n) stared at his face, which was practically radiating with enthusiasm, and she felt her eye twitch again. “...No,” she said, shaking her head.

His smile dimmed, but it became just as bright as the sun again a split-second later. “Ah well, maps are gettin' old anyways,” he said, throwing the map over his shoulder. “WAKKO!!”

And, low and behold, another anthropomorphic dog popped out of nowhere, and (Y/n) was starting to question if there was an army of them hidden somewhere. But she had to admit, it was pretty cute how this one was dressed in an oversized blue sweater and red hat.

“Tablet, please,” Yakko said politely, holding out his hand.

‘You're not gonna walk me there-?'

Wakko suddenly held his head back with his cheeks puffed out, then leaned into Yakko’s hand as he forced out a small object from his mouth. After an incredibly uneasy moment, a tablet glazed in spit was in Yakko's grasp. While he praised the little guy, (Y/n) forced back the urge to vomit.

“E-Ehhhh…?” She couldn’t say anything else while her gaze frantically went back and forth from Wakko and the regurgitated tablet.

“Oh! Where are my manners?” Yakko said. “(Y/n), this is my dear little brother, Wakko. Wakko, this here’s our new special friend, (Y/n).”

“Hello!” Wakko greeted, who was suddenly in her arms. “You’re really pretty!”

“Ehh? Thank you? I guess??” she said apprehensively, and finally managed to make eye contact. Despite his...quirks, he's actually a little adorable... She let herself grin a little.

The moment of semi-peace was ruined when she took notice of Yakko’s narrowed eyes. “ALrighty, (Y/n)!” he said loudly, grabbing his little brother by the collar and gently setting him on the ground. “Animal Kingdom, right? Let’s get ya’ right over there.” He moved right beside her and taped the screen a couple times.

“Um, what’re you doing exactly?” she asked.

“Doing what every person does to get somewhere nowadays.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her against him, and (Y/n) flinched from his touch. “Please keep your arms, legs, and personal items inside the tablet at all times.”

Just when she was about to question him for the hundredth time, he pressed the screen again, and her vision became nothing but white. Her body felt like it was launched into a tornado; a strong force of wind thrusted her back, and somehow, the boy’s arm kept her from flying off from his side. A second later, her feet were back on the ground, the sky was where it needed to be, and reality was back in place.

Except for (Y/n)’s mentality.

She stumbled around, trying to find her balance as the world unbearably whirled around her. Finally, she shook her head, and quickly turned back towards Yakko, whose face tried to tell her whatever happened was perfectly fine and normal.

“What was THAT?” she yelled, staggering towards him and gripping his shoulders.

And he still had the audacity to have that 'why-are-you-freaking-out-so-much-we-do-this-every-Friday' smile. “Thank you for attending Warner’s Travel Tours! I would say my Agent Ralph’ll take your bags, but I left him alone with my sibs, so he’s probably in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by now.”

(Y/n) could only stare at him. Her mind was twisting and turning, trying so hard to make any sense of what happened but only making her headache grow larger and larger. And then, her thoughts just went blank.

She smirked. Then giggled. And a few seconds later, she had burst out laughing whilst holding her stomach. (Y/n) looked back up at Yakko, wiping a tear from her eye. “Th-Thank you…” she said, catching her breath.

His smile had grown and she thought his white cheeks were red for a moment. Yakko had opened his mouth, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a net suddenly covering his entire body. Ralph was behind him, his skin and clothes burnt and ears practically smoking. “You’re coming with me, Warner!” he said.

And yet, Yakko only grinned. Like physics was his enemy, he disappeared from inside the net and appeared sprouting from the security guard’s back, cheerfully waving at (Y/n). “I’ll see ya’ around, yeah?” he said, then ran around the corner with Ralph sprinting right after him.

(Y/n) giggled and reached for the straps around her back. But when she only felt the (f/c) fabric of her shirt, her smile dropped, and a deep sigh escaped her lips. “Great…” she whispered.

“(Y/N)!”

She gasped as a pair of arms squeezed the life out of her. Her mother spun her around to face her gleaming smile, which was immediately replaced by an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get your texts! That scene took forever, but I’m glad you found your way here! You’re so smart! Anyway, I know we don’t get as much time now, but there’s still so much we’ll be able to see!...”

She rambled on and on and on and on. Her daughter’s shoulders slumped and she followed her to where she wanted her to go, but the frown on her face didn’t last long when she remembered the fun she had just a few seconds ago. ‘Maybe this summer won’t be that bad.’

#is this how you write him lmao #i love this boi so much #animaniacs #cartoons #x reader #fanfiction #the reader in this is like 15 dont worry lol #im bored #yakko warner

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firefrightfic · 4 years ago

Note

How would you rank batfam members in terms of different skills (hand to hand, weaponry, defectivity, strategy e.t.c.)?

Oof, this is a hard question, and one I'm a little hesitant to answer, because the truth is they're all phemonally good at all of those things. It's part and parcel of what they do as Bats. They're all great detectives, acrobats, martial artists etc. in a way that I don't like to try and divide them too much along those lines, especially as too often I see fandom running with one of these things (e.g the idea that Tim is the only great detective out of the bunch) to the disservice of the others.

Instead, I'll just note the few areas where I think some of them do stand out over the rest.

Dick: Acrobatics, by simple merit of it being something he's done since the time he could walk, and because he comes from a family of acrobats.

Jason: Guns. By simple merit of the fact he's the only one of the Batfam who uses them regularly. I'd also argue he has the best all round skillset out of the Batfam (aside from, begrudgingly, Bruce), thanks to the years he spent travelling round the world learning everything he could at the hands of the undisputed masters of those skills. Martial arts, weapons, explosives, poisons, languages etc. He's the master of surprising the rest of the Bats with some obscure skill/knowledge at random moments.

Tim: Bo staff. It's official DC canon that he is the best martial artist with this weapon and I think we should all respect that. He also just edges out the rest in raw intelligence, strategic planning and detective skills for me, but falls a little behind the rest in being able to improvise on the fly.

Damian: Swords, probably. Again, because he as raised using them. Also, give him a few more years of growth and I'd say he'll pass the rest of them out as a martial artist overall for the same reason. That is, except for...

Cass: 100% the deadliest hand to hand combatant out of the bunch. Her ability to read people gives her a distinct advantage over the rest of them, and I will stand by the fact she can beat anyone in a straight up fight, including Bruce.

Babs: Computers and stuff. It's her speciality. None of the rest of them have ever pursued working with tech to the depths she has as Oracle.

Steph: I think again she's a good all rounder, like Jason. Also super good at improvising and thinking on her feet. Honestly her and him are so similar in my head. She just needs to go on her own world

I'm sorry, I don't know Duke well enough to say for him >.>;;

But again, I really want to make clear that they are all masters of these things. They have to be, or they could never do what they do and survive (which is why I loath it so much when DC canon tries to put them into the boxes of the smart one, violent one, chirpy one etc. and when it always nerfs their abilities the second they're around Bruce).

#asks #I saw you say 'Batfam' and heard 'Batkids'#batfam #batkids

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lokis-army-77 · 4 years ago

Text

If You Please

Chapter nine

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 2200

This is technically a reader insert but without the (y/n) and all that. She also has no name mentioned so feel free to imagine as you please.

Follow the reader through the events of the Captain America movies and experience her love for Bucky Barnes.

Warnings: angst, mention of death

<< Previous Next>>

Masterlist

It was nearing the end of December when we were given our first HYDRA takedown mission. The Howling Commandos, which was what we were calling the group of men that Steve and I helped put together, were eager to get back to the fighting. In the past month, we had all grown fond of each other, which was needed if we were to work as a team in the heat of battle.

Howard had given Steve and me our new uniforms a few days beforehand, although the dark royal blue, I still felt more comfortable in my old army uniform. I wore the suit only to ease the peace of mind of both Steve and Bucky, who were both afraid of me possibly getting hurt on these missions. Unlike Steve's uniform, mine had no stars and stripes, just some places where the seams had been piped in a light stone gray color. Howard also made sure to make a belt that would hold both my twin pistols and the bo staff when it was separated into two separate pieces.

It had taken a little over a year for our group to take out all of the Hydra bases Steve had pointed out on the map. The way we had worked, flowed like a well oil machine. All eight of us had our specific roles and we played them well. Bucky was our sniper, he hid out in the trees or on top of opposing buildings, watching for danger and alerting us when he did. Once he had you in his iron sites, he never missed. Gabe was our machine gunman, he came in for the heavy artillery when we needed to smoke the enemy out. Jacques or Jac, as we all liked to call him, could only speak french to Gabe and me, he was great at hand-to-hand combat but tended to be a little more reckless than everyone else, which was why he liked to do the more risky tasks. Jim was our tech guy, he had taken a few of the enhanced HYDRA weapons and put them to good use on the battlefield, he also ran our radio transmissions and dealt with helping me get feedback on HYDRA’s movements. Falsworth was one of the best explosives makers I’d seen in the field. He could create a bomb out of almost anything you handed to him. Dum Dum was our ace card, he was strong, handled guns like he was born to, and fought expertly. Steve was our leader, but I stepped in as second in command as needed. Lastly, I was our go-to on the stealth side of things. I snuck up on the unsuspecting, took them out, and gathered all the intel that could be useful to us. Getting in and getting out was my job, but I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty once in a while.

Now it was February of 1945 and we were standing on a freezing cliff waiting for a train carrying unknown materials to HYDRA. Steve, Bucky, and I stood at the edge of the cliff while Dum Dum and Jac winched in the zipline cable taught. Gabe and Jim were listening in on the transmissions from Dr. Zola on the train to a HYDRA commander, and Falsworth was looking out into the canyon with his binoculars.

“Do you two remember when we all rode the cyclone at Coney Island?” Bucky asked.

I shook my head in a laugh before rubbing my gloved hands together and brought them to my mouth to try and warm them up. “How could I forget, Steve threw up all over the new white oxfords that took me forever to save up and buy.”

“Hey, I said I was sorry!” Steve exclaimed.

"Well, I hope this isn’t payback for forcing you on it.” Bucky looked out into the distance, shaking nervously. I grabbed his hand and brought it to my lips and kissed it. He looked over at me and smiled.

“They’re headed this way and fast. Zola just got confirmation to open up the throttle.” Gabe called out.

“I can see them, they’ll be within distance in a few minutes with how fast they’re going,” Falsworth stated as he moved his eyes away from the binoculars.

“Well, I guess it’s now or never boys. Do you all remember the plan?” I looked to Steve, Bucky, and Gabe who would be the only ones with me on the train, they all nodded. I moved closer to Bucky and leaned up to kiss him, “I’ll see you when this is all over.”

“Be careful Doll,” he whispered into my ear.

“You know I will.” I turned from him then and grabbed onto the zipline handle. I would be the first to go down because it was my job to try and get the train stopped as fast as possible.

As the train came closer I jumped and skidded down the long metal line. I watched as the train moved quickly under my dangling body. Letting go of the handles, I drop, not so gracefully onto the engine car. There was no way in from the top like there were on most trains, it was completely smooth. Carefully walking toward the front of the engine, I noticed the gunner flaps open on the sides. They looked big enough for me to slip through. So without a second thought, I went straight for the left one.

Slipping down into the car I thought it was weird that no one was in sight. I grabbed both separated sides of my staff out of their holders and brought them up. The conductor's room was cut off from the rest of the car by a large metal door with a small glass window. I walked up to the door and listened carefully. I could hear most of what was going on thanks to the enhanced hearing the serum gave me.

“Stop them! Fire again!” Someone yelled. I quickly glanced through the window and saw only two people, one guard, and Zola. “Shoot him again! Kill him now!” He yelled again. Without waiting another second, I backed up and kicked in the door. It swung open and I strutted in. Both the guard and Zola turned around in shock.

“Now, you’re going to either step away from the control panel willingly or I can force you to do it, either way, works for me,” I said as I walked over towards the armed guard who was pointing his gun at me. “And you can drop your gun.” The guard looked to Zola and then back at me before lowering his gun to the ground. I picked it up and threw the sling over my shoulder. I grabbed the pair of handcuffs the guard had on him and bound his wrists, pushing him assertively to the floor. I then walked over to Zola and bound his wrists with the cuffs that I was carrying. I sat him down next to the guard.

At that moment Gabe came crashing in through a window above me, out of nowhere. “You know, you sure did take long enough. I've already got this handled.” I said as I went over to Zola and cuffed him with my own handcuffs.

“Hey, it takes a minute to walk down the length of a fastly moving train. Steve and Bucky are fine, so everything seems to be going smoothly. The Colonel and the rest of the special forces group are waiting for us on the other side of the tunnel.” he said as he took Zola's place at the control panel.

Soon the train started to come to a stop, we unloaded Zola and the guard, placing them in the custody of the military officers who had met us on the other side of the tunnel. I waited patiently in the falling snow for Bucky and Steve to make their way out of the train. I walked around to keep myself from freezing as I waited. As I walked to the other side of the train I noticed that a giant hole had been blown out of the side. I turned away when I heard someone call out my name.

Steve stood at the front of the train with a solemn look on his face. I ran over to him and gave him a hug. “What's the matter, Stevie?” I asked, concerned. He just shook his head and looked blankly at his hands. “Where’d Bucky go?” He didn’t answer me, just kept looking at his hands. I snapped my fingers in front of his face to try and get his attention. “Hello, earth to Steven. Where is Bucky?”

“I tried. I really did, you have to believe me.” He choked out. I moved away from him slightly, giving him a questioning look.

“Steve, what do you mean? You aren't making any sense.”

“He was right there, I almost had him, but.” He stopped mid-sentence.

“What happened to Bucky, Steve?” I raised my voice. He pushed me away from him but said nothing. “What happened to him!” I yelled out. Something bad had happened to my fiancé and was going to find out what. I stepped back closer to Steve and pushed his chest hard. “Tell me!”

“He got knocked out of the train. He held onto the siding and I went to pull him up but he was too far out of reach. He slipped before I could get closer to his hand.”

“No. No, you’re lying to me.” I could feel my eyes burning as I tried to keep the tears from falling. “This isn’t funny Steve, where is he?” My voice shook uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry, I really tried, but he’s gone.” Steve choked out the words. I hit him hard in the chest as I started to cry. I hit him over and over again.

“Don’t just stand there, bring him back,” I sobbed out. The tears were streaming down my face now, almost freezing instantly in the cold wind. I went to hit him again but he just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him tightly. “Bring him back please,” I begged, crumpling to the ground. Steve followed suit, in order to not let go of me. “I didn’t even say I love you to him before we started the mission.” I gasped out. It was getting harder to breathe as I kept sobbing into Steve. He sat there quietly petting my hair as I kept murmuring to myself.

The only man I had ever loved was just ripped away from me. I had so much of our lives planned out, from our wedding to when we died of old age together. Now all of that had been taken and I felt empty inside, I was just a hollow shell. My ears were ringing and everything around me sounded muffled like I was underwater. The world started to dull and I just closed my eyes.

I woke up in a hard bed with a bright light shining into my face. I blinked my eyes several times before I could even open them properly. I looked to my left and there sat Steve in a small wooden chair.

“Glad to see you’re awake, how are you feeling, all things considered?” He leaned in close.

“I feel like I just woke up from the most terrible nightmare, only the nightmare is real. How are you dealing with it? He was your best friend.” I laid there, numbly playing with the fraying edges of the blanket.

“Did you know we can’t get drunk? I tried when we first got back to London. You’ve been out cold for three days.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “If you’re feeling up to it, we’re having a meeting about finding Schmidt in thirty minutes.” He stood up, grabbed my hand, and squeezed it before letting go and walking out of the room.

I felt the tears coming again as I sat myself up. To my right was a small table with a glass of water. I took the glass and gulped the contents down. Being awake without Bucky here was worse than dying. I contemplated for a good while if I was going to join the meeting, My only motivation to get up and dressed was the thought of killing Johann Schmidt.

I made my way through the halfways of the base quickly. The meeting had started ten minutes ago. The doors were closed when I got there, so I threw them open. They slammed into the wall, which startled the whole room. I could feel the pity in their eyes as they all turned to look at me. I just held my head up high and walked to the open seat next to Steve.

“What did I miss?” I questioned.

“Schmidt is hiding out in a base in the Alps. We have just under twenty-four hours to find him. We're gonna hit them head-on.” Steve relayed to me.

“Okay then. I’m coming with you.”

“Are you sure about this?” Peggy asked with concern all over her face.

“Most definitely. I want to be the one to kill Schmidt.” I was set in my way and no one was going to stop me.

Tag list: @ginger-swag-rapunzel @underc0vercryptid-reads @geek-and-proud @intothesoul @leyannrae

#james buchanan barnes #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x female reader #bucky fic #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x rogers!reader #winter solider x reader #marvel fic #marvel fanfiction

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migeviellardi · 4 years ago

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Out Of Comfort

Genre : Adventure, Action, Humour, Hurt/Comfort

Summary : 2 years after the 'you-know-who’, Donnie struggles to adjust with the new way of life. The precarious science blocks are back haunting him, putting him in total stress while he tried his best to keep up with the new team play and co’ord.

Chapter 2 A New Start

Welding felt relaxing, the sound of tiny sparks are like a music to Donnie’s ears. It might not be a real music, but it’s melodious nonetheless. Donnie lifted up his googles, leans back to catch a break. He almost done fixing the hover shell, not the one from yesterday, the one that he kept fixing and fixing away, despite there’s nothing wrong with it.

The one he used last night was a prototype of a new model. It still looks the same as the old ones, but he did made a few upgrades on them. It was definitely frustrating when it got busted. He’s planning to use it more since it felt lighter than the old one. But, now he needs a new shell to wear on a patrol.

He looks at the battleshell charging station. What left there was his worn down Spider-shell. Below it was none other than his wrecked and broken shells that he hadn’t repair, yet. He let out a sad sigh, he looked around him to find that his lab are somewhat cleaner, much cleaner than he remembered. Usually the lab was littered with piles upon piles of inventions, blueprints, scattered metal parts, and energy drinks.

Now, it seems as if it was untouched. The sleek metallic purple walls with LEDs are still looks fresh and new. The floor was free from dust due to the roombas roam freely without bumping into any tech pieces. And the workbench,....empty. Only his old battleshell that he kept tinkering that are currently there. Also, a cup of coffee.

Donnie about to take a sip when he realized it was ran out. He inspect the glass and saw small coffee drips down the mug got frozen in place due to a long time exposed to the AC. How long have he been there without refilling his coffee? Does he been getting the science block again?

Putting down the mug, he rubbed his tired eyes in frustration. Was he being unproductive on purpose? What is he doing here? Why can’t he finish anything?

“Hey.” the voice made him jumped, he looked back to see Leo stood on the doorway. “Whoa, it’s okay. Just a little old me.” Leo held his hands out. Donnie frowned, he turned back to his hover shell.

“What do you want, Leo?”

“It’s training time, Don. Better not coop yourself up in the lab, or I’ll let Raph drag your shell to the Dojo.” Leo ordered as he left towards the Dojo. Donnie sighed heavily, he stood up and followed him. He admit, there’s nothing else he would do, science blocks are the worst and it became a daily routine ever since their Lair was smushed to smithereens. And, the fact that he hate to obey the words Leo told him to.

He wasn’t questioning his leadership skills. If Donnie allowed himself to be honest, the Slider actually knows what he’s doing, good at it in fact. Raph at first had a hard time to adjust, now the former leader putting his trust to Leo, even Mikey approved. Donnie, however, still adapting.

It wasn’t because that he hate to admit it, it just doesn’t sits right putting the leader role to the one who usually pulled some poor one-liners out of spite and keeps bugging your work with some pranks, jokes and poking on things that could cause explosions like it was some kind of a job, because if it is, he good some pretty good records he might get himself some promotions.

And now, the true color of the team seems to emerge. We got the Leader, The Muscle, The Heart and The Brain. Although, The Brain more likely The Brain-Dead one. Stupid science block keeping him from thinking straight, not much idea that pops out other than upgrading, or upgrading the upgrade, or upgrading the upgraded upgrade.

It might be some improvement for anyone, but for the one with the giant science head-cannon looming inside his head, that’s barely even an add-on. He’s unproductivity hurts him, as if the genius inside suddenly just wanted to stop, no more mad scientist mambo-jumbo. He felt it once again, the feeling that he had gone rotten, expired, outdated.....useless.

Seriously, what will he be for the team without his big brain? What can he do other than getting kicked in the booty several times that let your little brother saves your sorry butt?

If once again, he got knocked down and having Mikey, of all people saves him, he’s going to lose his mind.

###

“Alright, my sons. Now, let us begin to--Purple, where’s your battleshell?” they stared at Donnie in his bare-shell. He rolled his eyes, dejected.

“I’ll be fine, Dad. I’m not going to hurt myself.”

“Nono, my son. I believe you, it’s just....weird seeing you without one.” Splinter simply said, trying not to offend his purple son.

“Well, it’s in repair, and my shoulders are getting tired. So....” Donnie didn’t have to finish his sentence to earned a nod from his father.

“Verywell, then. Let us start,....now!” as on cue, the whole Dojo became dark. The brothers immediately forming back to back formation, weapons at their hands, full caution. “Hamatos carries essence of life, the Ninpo. Or what most common people called them, mystics.”

Raph sense a movement to his right, Splinter came in with a kick. Mikey saw the offense, he blocked the kick, swung his nunchaku to Splinters head. The rat dodged it with ease. Upon landing, Raph coming in clutch with his fist. Splinter jumps back into the darkness. “Some may think that it is the most essential in fighting.”

The turtles back to their formation, listening to every sound to pinpoint the next attack. “Others, prefer something else.” a tail emerge from the darkness. Donnie shielded himself with his bo, the tail wrapped around the wooden weapon. Donnie expected the attempt of pulling, he pulled harder, forcing Splinter to show up. Leo anticipated Donnie’s strategy, he swung his sword at the same time Donnie ducked.

Splinter didn’t expect the timing between the two, but he flawlessly avoided himself from being cut in half. Splinter pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it onto the ground. The smoke caused them to cough, which means distractions. They have no choice but to bail on their formation.

“There will be a time where mystic powers will do no good.” Leo sense presence near him. He ducked down to escape another kick. “So, you must focus on your own ability.” He tail swipe Leo’s katanas, leaving him unarmed.

“Agility.” Splinter increases his speed, offering punches and kicks towards the turtle. Leo dodged every attack, seamlessly evading and parrying every blow. He counter-attacked Splinter’s punch, delivering a fist to his face. Splinter caught his hand and kicked Leo away, disappearing into the dark.

“Strength.” Raph blocked a powerful kick out of Splinter, pushed him back a meter. Another tail swipe, Raph let it wrapped on his hand and threw his dad away.

“Speed.” Splinter took a punch from what seems to be Mikey’s fist. Splinter blocked his next punch, only met with a swipe kick a second after. Mikey swung his nunchakus with unimaginable speed. Splinter steps up his game to blocked a series of attacks that his youngest son often called it ‘Razzmatazz’. He manage to grabbed both nunchakus and threw orange from the fight.

“And, Instinct.” Donnie dodged a powerful kick launches towards him. He swings his bo just in time to meet Splinter’s punch. Once again, he disappeared. Donnie waited, trying to hear the footsteps. Behind you! He turns to blocked another powerful kick, this time it was too much to hold, it sent Donnie flying to a nearby wall. He winced and panted, adjusting his weight to his bo.

The lights turned on, Splinter ran towards him. “I’m fine!” his voice sounded a bit too loud. Splinter flinched, he’s unsure if the pain was bearable, but he knows well how stubborn his purple son can be. He decided to let it go, “You did better, my son. If you did not block that last kick, you might get yourself hurt even more.” He thought that he should apologize, but he didn’t think purple would appreciate that.

“Alright, take a break all of you.” he put both of his hands on his back, cracking it forward. “Ugh, while I tend to my bad back, you may have some spar with each other.” he walked away while rubbing his back.

“Hey, Raphie. Wanna spar with me?” Mikey asked excitedly. Raph smiled, accepting the challenge.

“Sure thing, Mikey.” Raph readied up. Mikey activates his mystic chains and whips the nunchaku to Raph, wrapping his whole body. Raph blinks before he was pulled away.

“AAAAHHH!!!” a lod crash was heard. Leo smirks at the scene. Donnie gathers back his bearings and prepared for the sparring.

“Leo?” the slider slowly turns with his smug face. Donnie’s on his pose, “Care to join?” giving him the serious look. Leo kept his usual expression as he readied himself. Donnie strikes first, jabbing his bo to his head, Leo tilted his head to dodge. Donnie swings, Leo parried them with his katanas. He gave more barraging swings, Leo’s agility gives him the advantage. He dodged, parried him with literal ease.

Leo still using the same face. “What’s wrong, Dee-man? Can’t catch little Leo?” Donnie frowned. He swung, Leo blocked and kicked him in the gut. Donnie yelped, Leo sent another kick to the face. Donnie fell to the floor, shaking his head from the mild headache. Leo knelled down, “Aww, had enough already?”

Donnie growled. He swung to his leg, Leo had expected that. He got up and sent more swing barrage, this time a lot faster and more frantic. Leo parried a lot more on this one, but didn’t change the expression on his face. Donnie downward, Leo blocked it. Eyes meeting eyes. “Come on, Don. Is that all? I can definitely fight you blind-folded.”

Donnie’s patience grew thin. He didn’t have to tell him that. He knows he can, and he might will one day.

Donnie pushed him back, now anger are definitely involved. Leo step up his game some more every time Donnie pulled off some new combos and new speed and variety. Donnie looked at him in the face.

Shut up.

He was parried by another sword.

Shut Up!

He can’t beat him.

Shut Up!!!

He’ll never catch up to them.

Shut UP!!!!

He’s not good enough.

“SHUT UP!!!!!”

Leo flinched. Donnie panting hard, hands gripping tightly to his bo. Eyes fixated at Leo, as if he’s ready to kill. Raph and Mikey stunned by Donnie’s shouting.

Donnie growled for real, this time. The deep reptilian growl filled his throat with his fang showing up menacingly. Donnie engaging his predator side, Leo held out his hand.

“Okay, calm down, Dee. There’s no need to continue this with violence. Okay?”

“GRRRR!!!” Donnie attacks Leo with full intention. Leo no longer wanting to fight, he dodged every move Donnie makes. It was fast and chaotic, more like trying to hurt rather than spar.

“Donnie, STOP!!!”

“GRAAAHH!!!”

Raph blocks Donnie’s bo. “Donnie, knock it off!!!”

“Please calm down!” Mikey plead. Donnie ignored them all, he charged at Raph with blind rage. Raph dodged the jab, throw his fist at Donnie. He didn’t dodge, letting it hit his face. Donnie growled deeply, eyes as sharp as needle. Raph was stunned, he didn’t expect Donnie to accept the hit. He felt guilty for hurting his little brother.

Splinter ran back after being called by Mikey. “Purple!!”

Donnie saw an opening on Raph, he charge in while Raph refused to move. Leo tackled Donnie and pinned him to the ground. He refused to back down and squirmed his way to freedom as Leo gripped his limbs for dear life.

“Donatello!!!”

Leo, Raph and Donnie startled by his father’s voice.

“Enough!” Leo froze for a little while, he let go of Donnie once he felt no resistance. Donnie layed down, panting. He suddenly really exhausted. All that anger took too much energy out of him. He slowly hoist himself up to a sitting position. Splinter approached his purple son. Carefully assessing the damage around the turtle. There’s a bruise on his right cheek, might be caused by his oldest son as when he meets his eyes, he can see the guilt he’s facing.

“Purple? What is up with you?” Donnie refused to talk or making eye contact to his father. Splinter can still feel anger looming around him. Did one of the brothers ticked him off? What provokes him?

“Donatello!”

“I DON’T KNOW, OKAY!!!!” he yelled. Splinter jerked up by the sudden loud voice that felt louder to his rat ears. Donnie noticed that he went too much. “I...I just--” Donnie can’t hold back the tears that began to form in his eyes. He looked down to obscure it.

Splinter was surprised seeing his son cried. The brothers reacts the same way. Devastated seeing their usual emotionless turtle broke into tears.

Splinter held out his hand, “My son,-” Donnie swatted away his hand and ran straight to his lab. Not even the call of his name from his family can get his attention. He closed the iron-forced door of his lab, locking it immediately. Donnie sat under his desk, hugging his legs to his chest as he burst to tears. The lab was eerily quiet, the only sounds that are presence are his and the sound of his family trying to reach for him from the other side of the door.

He felt vulnerable having to broke down like this, he hates it. The way the others desperately trying to get him to open the door made it worse. He wasn’t supposed to show his weakness at the time, he’s a Hamato, a descendant of heart o’ steel. And steel has a lot influence with tech, his thing. He supposed to be able to control his feelings.

Now, his meltdown would definitely stuck in the topic for a while in this whole family situation. He knows he’s having trouble, yes he does. And he knows he needs to keep up with the others. He knows, he’s the smart one.

He tried his best, to keep up, to adjust, to be stronger, for everyone’s sake. But he can’t let his family help him with that, they all helped enough. He can’t let them once again drag their butts to fix his problems for him, no. Fixing is his thing, and he can fix his own problem by himself. Just uh, not now. He needs more time, to figure things out. His family just need to be patience, they can handle the waiting game. They’ve done this before, just like waiting for the drill out of its beta version.

He also, needs to be patience. Everything’s going to be alright, he’ll figure it out. He have to. For everyone’s sake.

###

The rest of the day passes by, quietly. Donnie had refuse to talk or eat, he sent Shelldon to grab some drinkable sustenance for him. He can handle being hungry, but thirst must be dealt with. As he recalled some research he found out that living beings can survive hunger for at least a week as long as they have enough supplies of water. Although, he can’t say the same about coffee, but not like it’s bothering him.

He waited for Shelldon to come back with a drink, his lab door still close but no longer locked. Once in a while his brothers visited him as he succumb to his depressions in his favorite purple hoodie, concealing his swollen eyes as a result from the earlier’s mental breakdown.

They talked, though they tried not to bring up of what happened in the Dojo. Leo, most of all, had a hard time keeping it cool. The red-eared slider guiltily apologized for making fun of him in training. Donnie might not talk about it, but he willing to forgive him. It wasn’t Leo’s fault that he had problems, he needs to stop playing the Blame Game.

“We love you, Don. And nobody can change that.” Leo said.

“I know.” Donnie simply replied.

His thought was broken by the sound of whirring from the purple drone who he manage to salvage, thankful that Shredder didn’t think twice and explode his core memory.

“Yo, Dee. I got the coffee for you.” the drone informed enthusiastically.

“Thanks, Shelldon.” he quietly accepted the coffee and took the first sip before once again continuing his currently favorite activity, staring an empty desk. Shelldon’s cheery attitude turned into worry as he watched his creator’s constant solitude. Slumping his upper body further back into his gaming chair, holding the coffee mug in both hands.

“Dude. You okay?” he asked for what seems like the tenth times by now. The response stayed the same.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Shelldon wasn’t happy with the answer, but he shrugged it off. He took out his lanky robot arm and grabbed something that sitting on top of him.

“Mikey told me to give you this.” he held out a box of pizza at him. “You should at least eat something, Donnie.” he plead. Donnie stared at the pizza then at Shelldon. The look of worry annoyed him. Great, even a robot is worried about him. But he knows better that Shelldon is not just a robot. He’s a family, part of the Hamato, the drone has feelings and conscious of its own.

Donnie accepted the package, he took a slice and eat it. Shelldon--although not quite visible--beaming away that he had accepted the offer.

“Thank you, Shelldon.”

“You’re welcome, Dee!” Shelldon flew off to the other side of the lab, knowing that he’d done his job. Donnie chuckled quietly as he gone. It’s weird to think that the drone behaving like a kid, which was the intention of installing the emotion-settings in the first place. He can’t remember the last time he acted like one, those days of constant playing, troublemaking and have no care in the world. He said it before; it was messy but gosh, it was fun.

Then, he heard the lair suddenly began crowdy. He didn’t realized that the door was opened, did Shelldon forgot to close the door? How could an AI forget something? Donnie have no mood to stand up or command anything for now, so he let it be. He heard a distant sound of clip-clop from hooves in the lair. The only mutant he knows that is involving hooves is Baron Draxum. What is he doing here? And the sound of chit-chats heard along with it as well, especially some faint female voices and his dad.

They all having a chat out there. How long they’ve been in this states? Why haven’t anyone informed him about visitors? Then again, he’d been cooped up in this lab and desiring for some temporary isolations, of course they haven’t inform him.

Not wanting to bother with anything about it, he continued sipping his coffee and chomped down more pizza into his throat. Not much he can do for now, other than listening the distant inaudible voices. Not even bothering to look up to the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer to the lab.

“Hey, big guy. How’s it going?” April leans her body to the door frame, keeping it cool.

“’m fine.” he answered again, too often now that it sounds more like a chanting spell. April offered a sad smile as she bring herself to sit beside the purple genius.

“Wanna talk about it?” she asked softly. Donnie sipped his mug as a sign that he refused her demands. “I see. Well, we wanted to hang out together as family to the hidden City.” she told.

“Last time we did that we got thrown in jail.” he bluntly respond.

“Well, yes. But things are different now. Now that we stopped that ‘you-know-who’, they pretty much removed the bounties from our heads.” she added, definitely sounding more excited than before. Donnie still can’t trust the sudden change, although he does agree the treatment for doing so after that horrible incident, he didn’t expect anything from the Yokais but pay some respect for sparing them from the devilish evil claws they called Shredder.

“Still, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Remember that time where we trust that spider lady for taking care of ‘you-know-who’, and look what she did, total havoc, everywhere.”

“Well, at least she did help out with locating the....uuuh....”

“Empyrean.”

“Yeah, that. If it wasn’t for her, we might not be able to save the day and,... You know what I mean.” she reluctantly continued her sentence. Donnie can tell why, he also didn’t want to think of what happen if they can’t find where Shredder had kept their father hostage. Can’t probably sleep knowing if they were too late, Big Mama was indeed offer a huge help even though she’s only can help telling them the location.

Although, the point still stands, she wasn’t a type of person that can be easily trusted. Things happened because of her, and they suffered the most of it. Can’t believe he wished that he should’ve listen to Leo the first time, probably one of the reason why he can be such a good leader.

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe it that way. But I promise, I got some good hunch today. Everything will be fine. You can blame me if anything goes wrong in your way, okay?” And there it is, the classic humble April. The very things he envies the most out of her, dare enough to take the blame and always be there with positive attitude.

And, yes, April always had a strong hunch, it never failed them and they all knew that. If she thinks everything will be fine, then it will indeed.

“So, do you trust me?” she stood up with a big confident smile on her face. It somewhat contagious and made him smile as well.

“Of course, you’re the only human that I trust in this world, April.” he responded, with less tense or sad tone.

“What, you still don’t trust Casey?” as on cue, a loud non-feminine female voice shouting in the background, followed by what sounds like his brothers shouting back at her. Donnie grimaced at the behaviour of that girl. Ever since the former Foot-clan helped out with defeating Shredder, the group immediately warmed up to her. Except for Donnie.

He still respected her for saving his father, however he never had any connection with the girl. Her risk-loving-fight-adoring attitude giving his big bulky brother, Raphael a worthy friendly match. She didn’t even flinched by his loud thundering roar, if by chance she roared right back. And her chaotic energy is enough to keep up with Leo and Mikey.

Donnie didn’t share much with such connections, in which he easily-predicted, the girl hates science. Although, she does find his inventions as cool and awesome, she might thinking about exploding it in place though. Leo would be proud.

Also, she’s terrifying, not as much as April, but she gave him too many goosebumps for the past years.

“In theory, she might be the last person to be trusted when it involves ‘safety’. Please don’t tell her that!” he semi-whispering, not wanting her to charged in and wreck something explosive in his lab.

“Your secret safe with me.” she gestured a zipping motion across her mouth. Donnie chuckles, “Now, come on. Everyone’s waiting. You don’t have to take your hoodie off if you don’t want to.”

Donnie smiled at that, he stood up and let April grabbed his hand leading him to the group. “Thanks, April.”

“Anytime, Dee.” she grinned at him.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt fanfiction #oc crossover #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #fanfiction #fanfic

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

Genji Heavy Industries (Part 1) Preparations

The MC doesn’t play a major role here, because there’s not much role to play. But she has a lot to say and lots of THOUGHTS.

The book is funny and I’ve kept the humor of the original novel. I also like that the MC here has a genuine sense of humor that makes her likeable and relatable to the rest of the boys.

ENJOY

There are several luxurious private rooms on the third floor of the Takamagahara for private party guests, and the spending amount is, of course, much higher than the card seats on the first floor. A guest can't go to the third floor without throwing a few million yen a night.

The music inside the room where Chu Zihang and Caesar were hosting was deafening. You knock loudly to be heard.

"Little Sister, is that you? Don't come in!" Lu Mingfei yelled from inside. He sounds breathless, panting. In fact, when you press your ear to the door, all you hear is his heavy breathing and grunting from physical exertion. Your heart beats faster and your cheeks flush as your imagination runs wild with what must be happening. You back away from the door. You've been up to your ears in man-meat for hours so it wasn't a stretch to conjure images of Chu Zihang and Lu Mingfei embracing passionately. Poor Nono. Surely Caesar wouldn't be unfaithful to her, right? You bring your fist to your lips and your heart squeezes in sympathy.

The door swings open and Caesar appears. He's stripped down to his underwear. Your eyes snap to the gentle curve of Caesar’s crotch, which, in your alcohol-addled mind, seemed to bulge out to enormous proportions!

He grabs your arm and drags you inside, slamming the door behind you.

Women were lying side by side on the floor, their dresses in disarray. Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang are breaking a sweat to drag all the bodies around.

“What do you need me to do?” You stammer and glance away. Were you going to end up on the floor too?

“Just wait until we’re finished. How was your time downstairs? You seem a little tipsy. How much did you drink?” Caesar picked up a woman and settled her gently back on the couch.

“I’m not sure. I think someone kept refilling my cup.” You twine your fingers. You can't turn around and look at him in his skivvies. Nono would probably laugh at you and the rest of the girls in the Student Union might resort to mob violence!

Lu Mingfei hissed. “What? That’s awful! Someone should do something about that! Those brutes didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

You shake your head. The room tilts and you try to hide it and the fact that youre suddenly breathless. “No, nothing like that. They were just… um… Are those women drugged?” You change the subject as the memories of the physical proximity of Diamond's and Chance's lips to yours, Calypso’s unopened rose and Armani’s lustful glare spring back to mind and combine with Caesar's sudden full frontal to create a sexual kaleidoscope you couldn’t handle.

"Strong sleeping pills plus strong alcohol. They have to sleep at least until tomorrow morning." Caesar shook a small pill bottle.

“Isn’t that a little dangerous? Sounds like a great way to make them sleep forever!” You recalled heroin and vodka was strictly forbidden because combined someone could easily commit suicide.

“I made sure it was alright.” Chu Zihang said, straightening a girl’s skirt. "We have about eight hours between now and tomorrow morning, enough time to get to and from Genji Heavy Industries. We ordered enough champagne before we came in so that no waiter would come in to check on us during that time. And these women were so drunk before they arrived, they won't remember what happened tonight."

He straightened his back and moved to the next. “By the way, did you give out any Star-flower tickets? I would have watched but, as you can see, I had to work.”

“No… no tickets.”

“Little Sister’s purity is as strong as Fort Knox! I’m so happy!” Lu Mingfei sighed with relief. “Don't worry, we’ll be out of here before anything happens!”

“That’s a good strategy in any case. You don’t want to show your favor to anyone in the first episode…” Chu Zihang gave a sage nod and moved to the next lady.

Lu Mingfei bristled. “What kind of lewd advice are you giving, Senior Brother?”

“So what’s the plan for the Genji Building?” You ask. You calm down and feel tired and tense, but seeing them working so hard despite having one of the busiest nights at Takamagahara was inspiring. The couches looked soft and inviting but you wouldn’t look weak in front of them so you continue to stand and try to look energetic.

"Uncover the skeletons in Hydra’s closet. And while we’re there, blow shit up." Caesar lit a cigar, the firelight illuminating the colored makeup on his face.

"There are 15 pounds of C4 explosives in the equipment box, is that enough?" Chu Zihang took out a packet of Play-Doh-like stuff from the box.

You recognize the packets. They’re dark green and can be arbitrarily pinched into any shape. They are easy to carry and easy to use. As the world's worst terrorists, according to Hydra, C4 plastic explosives would fit your needs.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! What are you doing with explosives out? We are turning into the kind of people on the wanted list step by step!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed.

"We are wanted by the police department for smuggling nuclear fuel, terrorist attacks and raping young girls. As long as we don't do that last thing, we're not on the wanted list yet." Caesar fastened the leather sheath of the Dictator on the outside of his thigh, the Desert Eagle in the holsters on both ribs, and the eight magazines filled with Frigga bullets on the side of his waist, "It won’t be that bad. Chu and I are just going to blow up Kaguya's storage core. Kaguya is the first line of defense for the Hydra Clan. We blow it up and Hydra will go blind. Norma can take advantage of the opportunity to regain control of the network within Japan."

“Caesar?” You ask.

“Yes, hun?”

“Am I also wanted for raping girls?” You give a dry smile.

He shoots you a genuine grin and snorts.

"Do not rush to change clothes, we have to leave some evidence." Chu Zihang said.

"Almost forgot." Caesar took off his weapons and re-dressed in the slim purple suit, "Good thing I didn't take off my makeup."

Chu Zihang fished out a cell phone from a guest's bag and handed it to you. “Here, take our picture.”

“Got it.” You say.

Caesar sat down on the sofa, dragged a woman to his side and pressed her to his body. He stuffed a microphone in her hand, and took a microphone himself, as if he was singing.

Then Chu Zihang sat in the middle of the guests wearing a conical hat singing birthday songs, and Lu Mingfei pretended to accompany guests drinking and playing craps. Chu Zihang and Caesar pantomimed topless arm wrestling.

For each photo, Chu Zihang and Caesar adjust the phone time, so that the guests will wake up and, after checking their phones, they’ll think they spent an unforgettable night with the beautiful boys! But, unfortunately, they can't remember any details because they drank too much and can only imagine. Looking at the phones, you’re filled with a sad sort of regret that the boys actually didn’t have fun like this.

Lu Mingfei is full of panic, "If these photos leak out our reputation is finished! But we didn't do anything at all!"

"MC, help me check the fuses on this C4.”

You scurry over without hesitation. Caesar leans in close to you. “You know about this too, huh? First shooting, now explosives…?” He says with a grin.

“I can hotwire a car… or I used to be able to. Not sure if I can do it with the newer models. I can’t fly a plane though.” You look up at him. “I’ll be the cutest little terrorist right?”

“Are you hearing anything I’m saying?!” Mingfei whines.

“Are you sad because you didn’t do anything, but you now have a bad reputation?" Caesar looks bored. "Then do you want me and Chu Zihang to go out and wait for you for a while, so you can earn your bad rep?"

"Bullshit! From now on I'm going to fight alongside you guys every step of the way! You guys aren’t going to leave me to take the blame alone!"

Caesar hands you a bundle of clothing. “Here. Put these on and get ready to go.”

You take them and quickly duck behind the couches, pulling your dress over your head and slipping out of your heels. You unfold a skintight black bodysuit that fits you near perfectly and a trench coat with the splendid Ukiyo-E on the lining, made to look like they are from the Japanese Executive Department.

“Here. Don’t use them all at once.” Caesar draped a belt with a pistol holster and pouches of ammunition over the couch. Your heart warms at the side of this deadly weaponry more than the rose of Calypso. You were finally being trusted with a gun.

When you step back around, you're fully equipped. Your tired haze is gone and your mind is only on the mission again.

Chu Zihang put his sword on his back, slipped into a black trench coat and screwed a black baseball cap on his head. Caesar is also in a black trench coat and was covering his face in dark makeup to conceal his fair skin.

"Isn’t it a little too risky? We can barely speak Japanese. How are we going to impersonate the Executive Board? People just have to ask us something complicated and we'll be exposed!" Lu Mingfei said.

“I know it’s hard but you could try keeping your mouth shut…” You grumble, screwing on the belt. Just putting on these dangerous weapons brought you away from the Takamagahara summer of love to the cold winter of Siberia.

"MC, be nice…” Caesar chided.

“Of course we can't break in. Genji Heavy Industries is a heavily fortified building, as tight as the Japanese Self Defense Force headquarters. Caesar and I spent a few days researching. It is a general office building from the first floor to the twentieth floor, and above the twentieth floor is the office area used by the Hydra. Access is by access card, and there are security guards patrolling. Those security guards are all armed. Even wearing the clothes of the Executive Board, an unfamiliar face may be questioned. Not to mention, that without the help of Norma, I cannot make access cards." Chu Zihang spread out a hand-drawn map, "The only possibility is to sneak in from the sewers and enter the so-called 'inner district'. There is no access control system in the inner district."

You remembered that they had taken the elevator down below ground when you visited the Genji Heavy Industries and you saw the huge sewer system in Tokyo. The submarine dock of the Iwarui Institute was located in a giant twelve-meter diameter pipe.

“Shouldn't the inner district have a tighter security network than outside?" Lu Mingfei looked completely unsure.

You’re not confident either. Looking at the map, with only one way in and one way out, you get the sense that the moment something goes wrong, you’re going to be trapped inside with the enemy. The pipe was deep and led to the ocean. Given the volcanic activity down there, if you had an opportunity to use your soul skill you might be able to open an alternate tunnel like a lava tube to escape or even block this pipe with lava on the way out. The problem is your Soul Skill is not instantaneous.

"No one knows what the security system in the inner zone is, but at least we can avoid the people coming and going by going through the inner zone passage." The map Chu Zihang drew by hand was a map of the sewer system in Shinjuku district. His finger moved along the spider web of sewer pipes, "There's a sewer right below Takamagahara. We'll follow it east, bypass under the Shinjuku subway station, and shortly after entering the main channel, we'll see Genji Heavy Industries. Total length is two kilometers."

"It’s like we’re just going to wing it right? But come on, This isn’t some My Little Pony Ride. Genji Heavy Industries is like a rushing river, we'll be up a creek if we make one misstep."

"How can we know if we don't try? If we get caught, we’ll kill our way out." Caesar said gently.

"Hey! Of course you two Robocops can easily kill out! Have you considered that there are still civilized and weak students in the team?”

“Mingfei,” You say softly. He looks over at you, genuinely frightened. "You think I'm weak? Who has the biggest body count for this mission?"

“Little Sister, how can you smile in such a situation. Have you lost your mind? You of all people should be on my side…”

“Don’t you remember what I did in the streets of Chizuru?”

Mingfei frowned, recalling how you killed over and over. “But it’s not right for you to be doing things like that.”

Chu Zihang confirms your assumption. “Her Soul Skill is the first one that I’ve witnessed that is truly S-Grade.” Chu Zihang rolled up the map. “Her control of it is impressive. Her ability to misshape the earth will help us find a way out by creating a new tunnel underground if necessary, and we have scouted several promising escape routes. Not only that, Royal Fire could take down the Internet Cafe’s wooden structure, but it wouldn’t be able to shift the Genji Heavy Industries building. But her ability is likely to do it. Right, MC?”

You nod gravely.

“If it comes to that, we can threaten the entire building. They were extra proud of that building and probably wouldn't want to lose it in a tragic earthquake..” Caesar smirks.

“I still don’t like it.”

"Then you'd better stay and take care of the girls. Watching over a dozen unclothed and sleeping women alone in a room late at night is a job for a frail scholar, right?" Caesar shrugged.

"Am I such an unkind and unrighteous person? Can I watch you two go into the dragon's den and wait here by myself? Don't answer that. Just give me a gun!" Lu Mingfei was once again bold and firm, though he gave an owlish glance at the women.

"Very well! We in the Student Council never back down from a fight!" Caesar drew out a heavy Beretta 92FS and threw it to Lu Mingfei, "I”ve been waiting to give this to you. Thirteen-round magazine, the first nine rounds are Frigga anesthesia ammunition. The back four rounds are specially designed to deal with dragons. Mercury core, blunt armor-piercing ammunition. Don't use that kind of bullets against humans or hybrids. Although mercury is not that deadly to humans, it’s troublesome after contamination, and the armor-breaking warheads will leave penetrating wounds on ordinary bodies.”

"Will there be any dragons in the Genji Heavy Industry?" Lu Mingfei thrust his gun into his back waist, "I say just load them all up with Frigga tranquilizer rounds."

“MC was the last witness to Lenin's last voyage when a dragon embryo was sunk in a Japanese trench. They tried to kill her once before to hide what happened that day. The Japanese Hydra leader speaks with the same Russian Accent as the MC and then turns on the Academy as soon as he thinks we’re dead at the bottom of the sea? And then tries their hardest to capture us in Chizuru? And now tries to pin us down in Japan…”

Caesar looks down at you. “MC… you were invited on this mission for a reason. I intend to find out why. I think they’re after you… more than they are after us.”

#Dragon Raja

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chadillacboseman · 4 years ago

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Tired of Being a Fighter - PART ONE

Pairing: Axe Woves x F!Reader (no actual pairing in this first part!)

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: Violence, death.

Summary: Bo-Katan has become a woman obsessed with taking back the Dark Saber and will stop at nothing to reclaim it. Things come to a head, violently, one night, and Axe makes the difficult decision to leave her service. Left with no path and no oath to honor, he is unsure of what to do with his life until a fateful trip to Nevarro...

A/N: Did I write this to explain why he was absent in the finale? Maybe. Did I have to desperately try not to write with a bar as a setting?? Also maybe. Enjoy.

This will likely be like a three or four parter 😬

----

The night was cold on Lothal, and the streets were bustling with those returning home from their jobs at the local factories and warehouses. From his rooftop position, Axe could see the building he had been assigned to watch- waiting for their target to enter so that he could signal the other Nite Owls to begin the assault. In the alley below, a figure moved through the shadows and approached the large warehouse door before rapping, loudly, four times in a distinct rhythm.

Axe trained his night vision on the figure- a Rodian, eyes nervous and darting as if he expected to be attacked at any moment. Axe tapped his comm unit on and hailed Bo-Katan.

“Target is here. Looks nervous-”

The door opened with a pneumatic hiss and the Rodian entered a dimly-lit room. Axe could make out at least three figures inside before the door shut and the sound of jetpacks rumbled behind him. Bo-Katan and Koska landed softly on the rooftop, their armored boots surprisingly soft on the concrete.

“Where is he?” Bo-Katan’s voice crackled through her vocoder, impatient and full of venom as usual.

“Inside,” Axe had grown accustomed to her vitriol, “At least three others in there with him.”

There was silence for a moment before Bo-Katan spoke again.

“We’ll blow the door open, take them by surprise. Keep the Rodian alive, but kill the others.”

There was no point in arguing with her, Axe knew that by now. In her quest for Moff Gideon and the Dark Saber he carried, she had become reckless and gripped with an all-consuming rage. Since they had taken down the Imp cruiser on Trask, the missions had become more dangerous; Axe found himself patching wounds and repairing his armor more often than he liked.

But Bo-Katan pushed them harder each time.

Axe knew tonight would be no different. He hardly had time to think of the possibilities as his two companions leapt from the rooftop and jetted down to the alleyway. Axe landed behind them as Koska placed an explosive charge on the door and set the timer for ten seconds. As she hit the igniter, the three of them jogged for cover behind the opposite building. The beeps of the charge grew more rapid and Axe braced himself; there was a half a second’s pause, then the door erupted into pieces with a bang that shook the street.

“MOVE!” Bo-Katan gestured to the door and they moved quickly, drawing their blasters and engaging their thermal visors. Through the smoke, Axe could see four figures huddled near the center of the room, and one on the floor closer to the door. A blaster shot clipped through the smoke, narrowly missing Axe’s helmet, and he dove for cover behind a shipping crate as his companions followed suit. The haze began to clear and Axe glanced down at the figure on the floor- a human, dressed in the clothes of a warehouse worker, emblazoned with the Torrent Industries logo. A civilian.

“Shit-” Axe muttered under his breath before reaching out to grab the civilian by his boot and drag him behind the cover. He was still breathing- likely knocked unconscious by the blast.

“What the hell are you doing?” Bo-Katan screamed from her cover, blaster fire singeing the wall opposite her as their targets continued to fire on them.

“It’s a civilian!” Axe shot back, pausing to lean out from behind the shipping crate and return fire at the figures now visible through the fading smoke. One of the figures let out a yelp and fell to the concrete floor with a thud.

Axe silently prayed that he hadn’t just shot the Rodian.

“I’m moving out-” Bo-Katan moved, crouched, from her cover with Koska in tow. Axe engaged his jetpack and lurched forward, bursting into a jetted sprint. The smoke had cleared and he could see the Rodian now, crouched near a starship turbine.

“I’ve got the target!” Axe lifted from the ground with a leap and tackled the Rodian to the floor as Koska and Bo-Katan engaged the other three. He stood up and drug the target to his feet, producing a pair of stun cuffs and latching them to the trembling Rodian’s wrists. The last assailant fell to the floor with a strangled grunt and Bo-Katan turned her attention to Axe and his captive.

“Please-” the Rodian’s voice was brimming with fear, “Whatever you want-”

The butt of Bo-Katan’s blaster caught him in the jaw and sent him crumpling to the floor with a cry of pain.

“You know why I’m here, aruetii,” her voice was barely more than a whisper, filled with seething hate, "you helped to secure arms for the Empire."

Axe reached down and hauled the Rodian up by his jacket, planting him on his unsteady feet.

"I know you worked with Moff Gideon. And you will tell me where to find him." Bo-Katan moved closer to the trembling quarry as she spoke, her black visor trained, unwavering, on his face.

The Rodian let out a humorless chuckle, "You think I'd betray the Moff? Do you have any idea what he would do to me?"

Bo-Katan took another step forward and unsheathed her vibroblade, moving to hold it under his chin.

"It's nothing compared to what I will do to you," she tilted her helmeted head slightly, as though analyzing him, "have you ever seen a heated vibroblade at work?"

Bo-Katan ignited the blade and the Rodian's eyes flicked to it, nervously, as it began to thrumm and grow hot.

"A skilled Mandalorian could dismember their quarries entirely-" the blade glowed, ember-hot, in her grasp, "without letting them die."

The Rodian began to tremble at her words, and Axe tightened the grip on his jacket in case his legs gave out.

"The beauty of a vibroblade is that it cauterizes the wound as it makes it." Bo-Katan's visor was just inches from the Rodian's face, "So you won't bleed out before I finish."

She turned her visor to Axe, "Woves, hold him down." Axe obeyed without hesitation, moving to pin the Rodian on a nearby workbench.

"Wait-" the Rodian's voice was a strangled cry, tinged with hysterical fear, "I'll tell you!"

A chuckle cracked through Bo-Katan's vocoder and she sheathed the vibroblade. "I knew you would see reason. Now tell me-" she grabbed the Rodian by the front of his jacket and pulled him to his feet, "where is Moff Gideon?"

The Rodian produced a datapad from his jacket pocket and with the press of a button, a holo-projection of the planet became visible. "Here-" he used his fingers to zoom to a set of coordinates on the northernmost sector, "They have a hidden base built into the mountainside. Some kind of weapons lab. Lots of troopers and an AA gun on the roof."

"You made the right choice," Bo-Katan unholstered her blaster as the Rodian's eyes flicked between the three of them.

"I can go now, right?" His voice shook, but held a tinge of hope, "I mean, you got everything you w-"

The blaster shot hit the Rodian's chest point-blank and he dropped to the floor in a heap.

Bo-Katan retrieved the datapad from the floor as the smell of singed flesh filled the room. "We have our location. Let's go-" her words were cut short by a rustling sound from the front of the warehouse. The civilian was on his feet and moving toward them.

Bo-Katan drew her blaster and the civilian raised his hands to show he wasn't hostile. "He's a civilian- wearing a Torrent jumpsuit." Axe put a hand on her blaster, attempting to lower it, but she didn't budge. "I said he's a civilian-, Kryze," Axe raised his voice slightly as the worker froze in place, his arms still raised above his head.

"How do we know he wasn't part of this?" Bo-Katan's voice was steady- cold and calculating.

"I'm just a warehouse worker!" The civilian cried, "I worked late tonight- I had no idea what was happening. When the door blew it knocked me out and-" before Axe could stop her, Bo-Katan fired her blaster, striking the worker in the chest and sending him to the floor with a strangled cry.

"Haar'chak!" Axe cried out before he could stop himself, "He was a civilian! He was surrendering!"

Bo-Katan shrugged and holstered her blaster, "One less loose end."

"No-" Axe moved in front of her, anger burning hot in his chest, "You've gone off the deep end, Kryze. When this first started, I was with you. But you've lost your mind!"

Bo-Katan poked a gloved finger into his chest and shoved him backward, "If you're not with me, you're an enemy to Mandalore, Woves." She spat the last words out like a Voxyn spitting venom, and Axe knew she meant them.

"If this is how you plan to rule Mandalore, I want no part of it." Axe pushed her hand aside and moved closer, so his helmet was mere inches from hers, "And don't you dare try to stop me."

"If you do this, you abandon everything we have worked so hard for! You abandon your duty to your fellow Mandalorians!" Her voice was filled with her usual self-righteous fervor, but Axe had heard enough.

"I abandon nothing, Kryze. But you have abandoned reason, and you will pay for it."

Axe pushed past Koska and Bo-Katan and made his way through the doorway into the cold Lothal night.

---

TAG LIST FOR AXE:

@djxrxn

@jango-fettish

@lestrange2703

#star wars #axe woves #the mandalorian #tired of being a fighter

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lhs3020b · 4 years ago

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Steel Reign

I have some thoughts on the Steel Reign DLC for Fallout 76...

I finished "Steel Reign" earlier. It's the follow-up DLC to "Steel Dawn", but effectively they're halves of the same story. Neither of them stands up on their own. Honestly, they should have been released together.

Now that I've got to the end, I feel ... dissatisfied? It wasn't a terrible ending - it certainly wasn't ME3 levels of badness. What you did in the DLC had some relevance to what happened. However there were also some dropped elements. I let Sheena and Burk go at AMS, for instance - and as far as I know, that was it. Nothing further happened. I also let Tally the Unusually-Sane-Seeming Blood Eagle go at Vault 96; as far as I know, that didn't lead to anything either.

As for the finale, I ended up (very reluctantly) bringing Mad Doctor Guy (whose name I should be able to remember, but weirdly, I can't) in for trial. I got the sense that while the scientists he was working with were a long way from blameless, he was the critical bad influence, and possibly without him they could turn things around and be a force for good. (Also, my character uses, and even knows how to make, mutation serums, so it would be a bit hypocritical to say "no positive mutations for you, ever!") But, I felt discontent with this, and I'm not 100% convinced I made the right choice here. Still, with the Brotherhood basically keeping them under house arrest at Fort Atlas, it's fair to say they haven't gotten away with what they did, and hopefully they can be kept under control. Also, awkwardly, the one who makes the "the universities are gone" comment? She does have a point, however insensitive the phrasing was, especially given the way the Wasteland keeps sprouting new super-science hazards.

(Though, I do find myself wondering, where were these people during the first Scorched plague? If they'd offered their services to the Responders, perhaps they'd have got the vaccine ready in time for it to actually make a difference.)

All of that said, though, I also feel like there was a strong argument for simply gunning the Vault 96 Rusty Hacksaws Crew down. They had after all been involved in something quite horrible. While they agreed to stop doing it, and some of them did express some remorse, a couple of them also seemed to be quite without any hint of a moral conscience. The thing that eventually, decisively tilted me toward letting them live was that gunning down unarmed people was just a bit of an "are we the baddies now?" moment. But, I think you could justify it in this case, and not be 100% egregious.

As for Knight Shin, well, he had a tantrum and ran away. Apparently he's running all the way back to California, where he'll be having a whinge at the Lost Hills BoS Elders. Honestly, by this point I was 100% done with Knight Shin and his toxic mix of arrogance, self-superiority and obvious incompetence. (Throwing himself on the explosives, without even trying to disarm them first? Dumb, dumb, dumb!) Good riddance to him - honestly I hope a Scorchbeast poops on him while he's legging it across Appalachia.

As for Initiate Hewson, I think she’s now my favourite BoS character. She basically reacts to everything the way any of us actually would if we somehow found ourselves there. When she said she needed to go and sit down, I knew exactly how she felt!

The main highlights of Steel Dawn for me were actually the bar trip with Paladin Rahmani - that conversation with her was well-written, and actually humanised her quite nicely. (It also definitively established her as a more sane/pleasant person than Shin.) The sections with Aries through the tunnels were interesting, and I did get a laugh out of how quickly Rahmani's "go in disguise" plan fell apart.

One other bit of the plot nagged me: Marcia. While it was nice that Your Choices Do Matter, and it was nice that being compassionate and reasonable to her was worthwhile, I didn't really like the way that you essentially get forced to make a major decision for her. Personally I think staying with the Crater Raiders wouldn't be sensible - while the Crater crowd aren't Chaotic Evil like the FO3 and 4 Raiders, nonetheless they're still Raiders. But, it should have been Marcia's decision. Part of the whole point of her story was that she was reacting to a lifetime of other people interfering and trying to make decisions for her - which made it ridiculous that you have only two options at the end, and both effectively impose a resolution on her!

That said, when I spoke with her later at Fort Atlas, Marcia seemed a lot happier, so at least it worked out OK in the end.

So, that was Steel Reign. It was OK, I guess? It was nice to have some story content in Fo76 again and to have something to do that's not either chasing Events or remodelling my house, but I don't know? I still felt something was missing, if that makes any sense?

#Fallout 76 #Steel Reign #just some thoughts #posting about video game plots like it was 2014 again

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justforbooks · 5 years ago

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Little Richard. Prime force of rock’n’roll who made an explosive impact with songs such as Tutti Frutti, Good Golly, Miss Molly, Lucille and Long Tall Sally

Little Richard, who has died aged 87, was the self-proclaimed king of rock’n’roll. Such was his explosive impact that many of the baby boom generation will vividly recall the moment when they first encountered his assault on melody.

Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom! That first hit, Tutti Frutti, released in October 1955, was wild, delicious gibberish from a human voice as no other, roaring and blathering above a band like a fire-engine run amok in the night. We glimpsed a new universe. The Sinatra-sophisticats were slain with a shout. Enter glorious barbarity, chaos and sex. With a few others – Fats Domino, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly – Little Richard laid down what rock’n’roll was to be like, and he was the loudest, hottest and most exhibitionist of them all.

Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, one of 12 children of Charles, a bricklayer, and his wife Leva Mae Stewart. His family were Seventh-day Adventists and Richard learned the piano and sang gospel in the local church choir, but was thrown out of the family home at 13. He performed in medicine shows - with “miracle cures” promoted between entertainment acts – before hitching to Atlanta, where he signed to RCA Records in 1951, using the name Little Richard.

He recorded several undistinguished singles for them, including Every Hour (1951), but none had much impact. His optimism undimmed but his style still unformed, he tried the independent Peacock label in Houston, recording sides on which he began to reveal a delicate, elaborately filigreed vocal style that would resurface years later on slow gospel numbers. This same style would sometimes ornament his rock sides too, as on She’s Got It (1957), where that “got” is twiddled into 10 syllables.

These Peacock sides brought no success, and at the beginning of 1955 – the year that was to end in triumph for him – he returned to Macon and to washing dishes. He sent a demo to another indie label, Specialty, whose owner, Art Rupe, soon became so sure that Little Richard defined the future that he rejected Sam Cooke as too pallid.

Brought to New Orleans in September and given almost the same band as Fats Domino, Penniman went into the studio with the producer Bumps Blackwell, and came out with Tutti Frutti. The single was a hit with black and white audiences and sold 500,000 copies – despite the popularity of Pat Boone’s cover version released shortly afterwards – and reached 17 in the US pop charts and No 2 on the R&B list.

A cascade of frantic but tight hits followed, establishing Little Richard as a prime force in rock’n’roll. His piano work, crucial to his sound, was limited to hammered chords and skitterish riffing (he did not even play it himself on Tutti Frutti) but with that megaphone voice, falsetto squeal, bursting energy and powerhouse band, his records became classics: songs every local group played every weekend for years to come; songs the other rock greats covered; songs that fired the ambition of those artists who would change the 1960s, the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

Long Tall Sally, Slippin’ and Slidin’, Rip It Up, Ready Teddy, She’s Got It and The Girl Can’t Help It were all released in 1956. The following year, Little Richard recorded Lucille, Send Me Some Lovin’, Jenny, Jenny, Miss Ann, and the awesome Keep A-Knockin’. And 1958 produced the last great batch: Good Golly Miss Molly, True Fine Mama and a glorious pillage of the music-hall oldie Baby Face.

It is obvious now from the titles alone that a formula soon set in with these records. Back then though, it was just how Little Richard was: an unstoppable force. Within the flailing combustion of True Fine Mama we now recognise a conventional 12-bar blues; at the time we heard formless galactic meltdown. Similarly, we now see that his presentation was partly “outrageous queen”, his catchphrase “Ooh ma soul” pure camp. But these were cliches from the future. When rock’n’roll and Little Richard were new, his preening, boasting and benign lasciviousness seemed highly individual.

He was an inspiration to younger black musicians with white audiences. The young guitarist Jimi Hendrix learned a lot from backing Little Richard on tour; and as Richard once observed of Prince, “the little moustache, the moves, the physicality – he’s a genius but he learnt it from me. I was wearing purple before he was born; I was wearing make-up before anyone else.”

His sexuality was no simple thing. As he revealed in his candid autobiography, The Life and Times of Little Richard (1984, as told to Charles White), he fancied men and women, but most of all he fancied himself.

However, touring Australia in 1957, he threw his rings off Sydney Harbour bridge, renouncing the devil’s music for God. The performer who had once said of gospel that “I knew there had to be something louder, and I found it was me” now divided his time between bible school in Alabama and the Seventh-day Adventist church in Times Square, New York. He met his wife, Ernestine Campbell, at an evangelical rally in October of that year. They married in 1959 but divorced four years later.

Specialty kept the hits coming until 1959, when the long line ended with a game By the Light of the Silvery Moon. An era was over. Elvis had been drafted, Holly was dead. With God on his side, and Quincy Jones producing, Little Richard made the religious album It’s Real, for Mercury Records, billing himself “king of the gospel singers”. A 1962 single, He Got What He Wanted (But He Lost What He Had), fused old and new, its parables sung in vintage style: a steaming, raging, funny tour de force to equal Long Tall Sally. It was a minor hit.

He returned to rock’n’roll and Specialty, recorded Bama Lama Bama Loo (1964), and played Britain with the Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley and the Everlys. As the rock critic Nik Cohn testified, “he cut them all to shreds”. While in the UK he also made a TV special with the Shirelles (It’s Little Richard, 1964) – one of the rare times when rock was truly exciting on television.

I saw him live in this period, backed by the instrumental group Sounds Incorporated. He never paid them a moment’s attention, and was magnificent. When he stood on top of the piano, took off a ring and threw it into the audience, even those of us at the back with no chance of getting within a 100ft dived forward, hypnotised by this consummate artist.

But while the debut record from the 60s soul king Otis Redding was titled Shout Bamalama, Little Richard himself slid through failed comebacks, vainglorious live theatrics and indifferent re-recordings.

Exceptions included fine versions of Lawdy Miss Clawdy (1964) and Bring It on Home to Me (1966), while 70s covers of the Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There and the Stones’ Brown Sugar emphasised how much he had inspired those bands in the first place. Attempts to update himself brought small success and in 1976 he retreated back to religion. By the decade’s end he was a late but rapacious convert to drug abuse.

In the 80s, however, the world and Little Richard were ready for each other again, and in 1986 he appeared, smiling with Hollywood good health, in the hit film Down and Out in Beverly Hills. It says much for his unquenchable charm that so soon after his upfront autobiography he could remake himself as a Disney favourite, with an album of children’s songs and a TV series, on which a revisited Keep A-Knockin’ incorporated knock-knock jokes swapped with his new young audience.

In 1993, the 60-year-old gospeller had supposedly found Judaism but was also rock’n’rolling again. In 1996, wavy hair down his back, he was to be seen playing on a truck at the closing ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics, and, as gloriously incongruous as ever, in an episode of Baywatch, performing on the boardwalk, his eerily plastic-smooth face that of a 35-year-old.

Little Richard became embedded in showbiz, appearing frequently on American television, in roles and as himself, including as a judge on Simon Cowell’s Celebrity Duets in 2006. He voiced a Disney World pineapple, saw his hits recycled in ads and films, was the subject of a 2000 biopic, and recorded anew with partners from Bon Jovi to Elton John. As a preacher, he conducted weddings for celebrities including Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, and spoke at the funerals of Wilson Pickett and Ike Turner.

Gaining multiple awards for his pioneering early work, he was among the first to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986, and received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1993. Little Richard needed none of these awards or hall of fame citations to tell him who he was or what he had achieved. He knew that all along. He was one of the gods, and almost the last among them.

His health declined in the 2000s, and he had heart surgery in 2008, cancelling a planned European tour with Berry. In 2009 he had hip replacement surgery, after which he still performed, yet giving audiences the novelty of seeing him seated at the keyboards.

In 2013 he announced his retirement. His last appearance was while attending the ceremony at which he received the Distinguished Artist award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor’s Arts Awards in Nashville.

He is survived by a son, Danny.

• Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman), singer-songwriter, born 5 December 1932; died 9 May 2020

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Little Richard #Richard Wayne Penniman

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fenrislorsrai · 5 years ago

Text

Bad Words, Good Deeds

They spent several days enjoying the unusually nice weather, eating out, talking about nothing too important, and figuring out what less obvious changes Adam had wrought. Crowley had gone to his flat first evening after dinner to water his plants and sleep, but had showed up slightly after dawn with warm croissants and coffee and had dozed off on couch with sleek steel travel cup in hand. Aziraphale had taken it out of his hand without waking him and spent the morning reading.

He’d made a soft joke of it when Crowley had woken and tried to apologize. “Oh that sunbeam there, it’s gotten you so many times before, what’s one more?” It got Crowley several more days as he stayed up late with Aziraphale and never quite made it back to his flat.

After nearly a week of that and after a late lunch, Aziraphale suggested they should probably stop by Crowley’s flat and pick up his mail and water his plants. Crowley had looked briefly stricken and mumbled something about dropping Aziraphale off at bookshop “Oh really, I promise I won’t spoil your plants while we are there.” The we seemed to quiet Crowley.

There was a ridiculous amount of mail in box which Aziraphale took and shooed off Crowley to go deal with plants. He pretended to not hear Crowley scolding them.

He sorted it on Crowley’s desk based on how it was addressed. He’d picked up mail often enough when Crowley was off doing some mischief that most of them were familiar, but it did give him a chance to see what various fronts the demon had put up. Most contained the word “consulting” or “management” in the title. All the names and businesses here were ones Crowley had before the whole Antichrist thing had started. If he’d made new ones since then, they weren’t in this pile of mail. Or he just hadn’t seen the point in bothering with long term schemes anymore.

He got to culling the actual junk vs what was probably mail. All the slick cards for equipment and services went. The auction catalogs and the fashion magazine stayed. Bills Crowley probably wouldn’t pay in conventional sense, but would want to be aware of the existence of, got added to the ‘keep’ pile. The bulky hand addressed and rather squashy envelope that smelled faintly of flowers went on top.

The junk all went in the recycling bin that Crowley had tried several different defenses of as being evil but none of them were very convincing. The one about recycled paper was used to make those awful brown paper towel that somehow never actually dried anything was as close as he’d gotten to justifying it as a “demonic plot”. Crowley’s muttering in other room was a more likely explanation as to its presence.

Aziraphale picked up remaining mail and stood in doorway watching Crowley finish up with watering. Crowley turned around and gave him a little huff. “Don’t you be coming in here spoiling them, don’t think I don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, my dear.” He tipped arm slightly to show Crowley greatly reduced mail stack and saw Crowley’s sudden interest at the hand addressed envelope. “Should I put it back on your desk or are we taking it with us?”

Crowley froze at question.

“Perhaps on the coffee table instead?”

“Yeah. that makes more sense if… if we’re staying. You’re not going to be bored?”

“I can go get us something to drink while you deal with this.”

“Good idea.”

Mail got deposited on the stylish coffee table by the even more stylish couch that was rubbish for napping on and Aziraphale went to go see what sort of alcohol Crowley had on hand. By the time he got back with bottle of wine and glasses Crowley had put away plant mister and settled on the couch. Aziraphale took the matching stylish and uncomfortable chair.

Mail got dealt with as they settled into usual routine of drinking and talking. There were various brief lapses in flow of conversation as Crowley paused to actually read some of the mail. The hand addressed envelope of carefully labelled seeds and notes sent them off on a long rambling conversation where Crowley did most of the talking about this particular collection of wildflower seeds he’d just gotten. This wasn’t exactly what he usually grew so Aziraphale was interested if this indicated Crowley had an outdoor plot somewhere else and this segued into Crowley apparently was going to use them in some kind of bombs??? And Aziraphale’s sudden deep concern had the demon hastily reassuring him they were more along lines of bath bombs not explosives. Which apparently involved tossing them anywhere he thought they might grow untended, like empty lots and ugly flat roofs.

Didn’t seem that demonic really other than the name. Crowley launched into a fairly convoluted justification of the whole thing’s merits as a wicked plan to cause property damage, attract bugs, and bedevil people with allergies while Aziraphale just got an increasingly fond look on his face at this.

“It all sounds very nice”

“I don’t do nice. That’s you.” It was a very familiar protest, with no real bite behind it anymore.

“Now you can, if you like.”

“I’m a demon, nice is not in my nature.” There was more certainty to that one, but an undercurrent of some other emotion as well.

“You’ve been doing nice things for a long time, now you just don’t have to come up with an excuse why for a report.” A pause and then much softer “No more reports at all. No more thwarting. No more Arrangement.”

Crowley inhaled sharply and sat up totally straight, practically humming with tension. He started to splutter something but couldn’t seem to get thoughts to form actual words beyond “Angel…”

Aziraphale looked at him, face softening. “I’m sorry. That sounded… I think we both need a minute.” He looked at Crowley to make sure he was watching and then bent over and untied shoes, taking them off and slipped them under the coffee table. “I am going to the kitchen”

Crowley stared at the shoes for a full minute while composing himself before taking his own off and carrying both pairs to closet. Aziraphale’s shoes got put in empty cubby in shoe organizer which he’d never filled. For some reason. He stared at empty suit hanger he’d also never used. He hung up his own jacket and vest on the one he did use and stared at the empty one fretting over if he should ask Aziraphale if he wanted to hang up anything. He left it where it was.

Crowley drifted back to kitchen and ended up hovering in doorway where he could watch Aziraphale cutting up two apples he most certainly hadn’t known were in his kitchen. The apples got cut into thin yellowish slices, carefully splaying them in attractive little whirl on cutting board next to two little stacks of slightly crumbly cheese slices, one white, one a reddish orange. Watched him carefully clean off the knife in tiny sink, dry it, put it away, hang up the towel neatly, and look over area for a moment. Crowley suddenly didn’t want to be seen lurking so pulled back, but apparently made enough noise to get Aziraphale’s attention.

“Crowley?”

“Yeah.” He tried to lean nonchalantly against doorframe.

“I didn’t think I took that long.”

“You didn’t. I just…” Crowley looked away. Slight little sniff as he tried to figure out what to say.

“I was coming back.” It was said so softly.

“I know” equally soft.

“Since you’re here, you can carry this.”

Crowley came into kitchen and picked up cutting board. “Apples, really?”

“From Adam, I think.”

“Was I supposed to tempt you with these?”

“Did you have someone else in mind?”

Crowley started to say something and then retreated to the living room, hoping Aziraphale didn’t notice flush. He put cutting board on the coffee table and refilled wine. He moved own glass to where it would be easy to reach before sprawling on the couch.

The angel meanwhile resettled on chair. No mention was made of where his shoes had gone.

Aziraphale took some of the apples and cheese from plate to try each separately and then together. Crowley shifted a little so he could watch Aziraphale’s face as angel considered each bite and occasionally made slight little pleased noise. The angel seemed utterly focused on that for the moment, so Crowley was a bit surprised when Aziraphale spoke.

“Would you take them off, please?”

“What?” Even through the dark lens, Aziraphale could see Crowley’s eyes widen, dart downwards, then back come back up to Aziraphale’s face in confusion.

“Your sunglasses”

“Oh. Right. Those.” Aziraphale made a slight exasperated sigh at that and then leaned back with a little hmm noise. Crowley fidgetted at that, not liking where this seemed to be going.

“I’ve always liked your eyes.” That really was not where Crowley thought the conversation was going to go.

“You don’t.”

“I do.”

Crowley made a face at that as the tone seemed a little bit as if Aziraphale was mimicking his own voice. “You just want to see if I’m lying.”

“Of course you’re lying, you’re talking.”

“Oi!.” he sniffed “...but s’true.” a slight little shrug.

“I just am not sure if you’re lying to me or to yourself.”

Crowley sat up straight, ready to protest and then froze and just slumped. Quiet. Then took his sunglasses off and held them out to Aziraphale while looking at the floor. Aziraphale took them carefully and tucked them in pocket, with a little pat.

Crowley tried looking at something that was not Aziraphale. The downside of a minimalist space was that there wasn’t that much to idly look at when avoiding looking at a person right by you. Who was apparently just waiting patiently and seeing him smile just a little when Crowley finally looked back at him… Crowley decided the only safe thing to look at was his own hands.

“If you can’t tell me something, you could just show me.” Crowley snapped back to looking at him and that was A Mistake as there was his earnest, but nervous, face.

“And what if I’m going too fast?” Crowley was very, very still.

“Well’ Aziraphale now got to be the one looking all flustered. “I’ve told you no so many times before and you’ve always stopped…. I trust you.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Then we’re both stupid.”

Crowley got up, circled round the chair. He grabbed Aziraphale’s lapels and pulled him up roughly, turning the chair at same time. He pulled him up on toes a bit so he could look him clean in the eyes. Aziraphale tilted his head a little and started to lean in…

Crowley pushed him back just a little and let him settle back down on heels.

“No.”

“No???” Aziraphale seemed a bit shocked. “But…”

“Showing.” He released lapels and smoothed them back down. Hands slid a bit lower and he started to unbutton Aziraphale’s waistcoat. Aziraphale inhaled at that, tensing up. His eyes started to move down to look at Crowley’s hands, but then he’d lose the eye contact that had been so hard to get in first place. They both watched each other’s faces, looking for that sign to stop, but it didn’t come. As soon as the last one was undone, Aziraphale grasped edges and started motion to shrug out of jacket and waistcoat.

“No.” Crowley pulled at both. “On” Aziraphale now got to look just utterly baffled. Crowley just ran hands along open edge of waistcoat, just feeling the fabric for now. He took a little steadying breath before running hands over Aziraphale’s chest so he could tug at the bow tie to undo it. Then make some little frustrated noises at it.

“Here.” Aziraphale brought his hands up to get the process started, tucking his hands under Crowley’s to help without fully displacing them. Once undone, Crowley just rested his hands on Aziraphale’s for a moment before slowly pulling them over to himself and resting Aziraphale’s hands on his chest. Then brought his own back to rest on Aziraphale, trembling a little. He pressed them flat against Aziraphale to steady them.

Aziraphale stroked Crowley very lightly with fingertips where his hands were resting. Crowley rocked forward into it a little, fingers digging into Aziraphale a bit more firmly, but not with purpose. “Please…”

Aziraphale kept his eyes on Crowley’s face as he worked at unbuttoning shirt with a far steadier hand. Now that he had some slight direction he seemed to have regained some of his composure. Careful, deliberate. Crowley started to unbutton Aziraphale’s as well, though with a lot more fumbling and urgency. He was light with hands, barely touching, like he would need to pull away at any moment.

He slowed as he got towards the bottom, then paused, finally looking down so he could see what to do next. A sharp inhale and then very slowly grasped shirt and pulled up to untuck it. And then had even more buttons to undo…

Aziraphale untucked Crowley’s with a bit more finesse. Aziraphale ran a careful hand across Crowley’s now bare stomach and rested his hand over belt buckle, watching face. A slight little head shake from Crowley and he brought his hands back up. Crowley’s hands hovered along edge of shirt, still not having touched skin except incidentally. Aziraphale made a slight motion like he’d shrug out of shirt and Crowly tugged at him again. “No. On”

Aziraphale blinked at him but let Crowley figure it out. Watched the demon try and keep his face schooled, but clearly was struggling with something.

Mind made up Crowley stepped closer and dipped shoulders a bit so Aziraphale got the hint and helped him out of his shirt. Aziraphale started to step away slightly so he could drape it on chair, but Crowley kept eye contact and grabbed one of his hands and pressed it back to his chest. “Stay”

Aziraphale kept one hand on him and lightly tossed shirt one handed and caught it on his forearm to fold it neatly in half. A simple movement, but elegant in execution. Aziraphale slid it off his arm and draped it across the arm of the chair he’d been sitting on.

Crowley took his free hand and pushed slightly on Aziraphale’s shoulder, then pointed at the couch. Aziraphale took a careful step back towards it, keeping hand carefully flat on Crowley. The demon wasn’t quite pushing into hand but was eager to move with him. Staying close, but not actually closing the gap just yet.

Aziraphale backed up til legs hit couch and then carefully sat down, sliding hand down Crowley as he settled. Scooted over slightly so Crowley would have plenty of space to sit. Who then mostly just collapsed into the space instead of actually sitting.

Crowley settled his free hand on Aziraphale’s shoulder then slid it down to rest on his chest, under the jacket but with waistcoat and shirt still between them. Took Aziraphale’s hand on chest and slid it slowly sideways to get it out from between them. As soon as it seemed Aziraphale would put hand around his back without guidance, he moved other hand to Aziraphale’s chest, just the shirt between them at this point. Aziraphale moved his other hand to settle into small of Crowley’s back and pulled very slightly. Crowley scooted closer but drew hands back a little so he was barely touching Aziraphale again. Watching face. A slight little bit more pressure from Aziraphale and that was it. Hands moved from outside to inside, just barely grazing Aziraphale’s chest before Crowley slid them all the way around behind and quickly pulled himself into lap.

A pained noise from Aziraphale made him freeze and then start to pull back just as fast. Aziraphale held onto him, not letting him go.

“Your knee.”

“Oh.”

Aziraphale shifted hands lower and grabbed Crowley’s belt to turn him half on his side so he’d take weight off the offending leg. Gave him another tug for good measure to pull him closer before settling hands back in small of Crowley’s back.

There’d been the slight pause, but the tug had been all the encouragement Crowley needed to get back on motion. He wasn’t going to be able to really fit entirely in Aziraphale’s lap but he was going to give it a damned good try. A little more adjustment and he had managed to worm his way into position where he had their chests pressed together, arms firmly wrapped around Aziraphale, and improbably half burrowed under Aziraphale’s clothes while they were still mostly on.

Aziraphale had kept a firm hand on small of Crowley’s back to pull him closer, but had used other hand to adjust edges of clothing once it became semi-clear what Crowley was trying to do. Once Crowley seemed to be settling more of his weight on him, Aziraphale eased up on pressure and switched to just lightly stroking back instead. He slid other hand up and ran his hand up into Crowley’s hair.

“OH.” Aziraphale paused. “Please...” So encouraged he made little circles on Crowley’s scalp and the demon pushed slightly into that making some small, contented noises. Crowley tried to mirror a little bit of that gentle stroking on back, but kept digging his fingers into softness of back instead, like he could pull Aziraphale closer.

Tension slowly drained out of the both of them as minutes passed. As Crowley just slowly melted, Aziraphale started to suspect he might end up with the demon falling asleep on him. The position and the couch weren’t entirely comfortable, but it was also very comfortable in an entirely different sense.

Crowley finally turned his head a bit so Aziraphale could see his face again, though mostly obscured by his own shirt.

"Couldn't have told you that. With words. Still not sure I could tell you. It’ll all sound stupid."

“Wanting to be held is not stupid.” Aziraphale gave him a slight squeeze.

“Oh… angel….” Crowley rubbed cheek against him. “This is so…. Nice. and a bunch of other four letter words. Good. Cozy. Warm. Soft.”

“And you’re not nice?”

“I’m not.” Crowley curled in, hiding under edge of shirt. He didn’t quite sound like believed that lie either.

“But you’d like something...nice.”

“Someone nice.”

“I think that could be arranged.”

________

Also available over on AO3. It has slightly better formatting over there!

#good omens #ineffable husbands #non-sexual intimacy #aziraphale/crowley #snuggling

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