#maria is a badass and I love her | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mimasroom2 · 3 months ago

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Accelerating fury

A Hunger Games Ellie au

In this specific au the hunger games didn’t end with Katniss,, just bc I wanted this to take place after ^•^. I mainly focus on the reader/you until the parade with all the costumes and chariots, but I PROMISEEEEE Ellie comes into play😭🙏 plz I just love to yap. This isn’t the plot of the original Hunger Games! It’s very similar but I did tweak it to be different so! Know that if you read!

Reader is from district 8 (textiles)

Ellie is a badass from district 2 (masonry)

((Btw the photo of the dress I included is the dress that reader wears,, I am OBSESSED w Lolita fashion !!))

C/w: uhhh it’s the hunger games sooo… death? No smut in this one (everyone throws tomatoes at me). SLOWWWWWW BURNNNNNN. If you don’t like yapping and plot don’t read😭 No use of Y/N. Cursing bc ms collins couldn’t😘 Strictly lesbian reader.

W/c: 5k

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It started like all the stories you had ever heard. The same girl from every year, Maria Miller, gave her speech about the Hunger Games. How everyone was oh so excited for this year. Apparently President Snow and the gamemakers had something special planned, as if they don’t say that same thing each time.

You scoffed, and crossed your arms as the same video began. After all this time you basically had the thing memorized. ‘War. Terrible war.’ you repeated to yourself. The few friends you had snickered to the side of you, and you playfully bumped them to get them to shut up. There were so many capitol officials here today. The peacekeepers were easily more than tripled. They wanted absolutely no distractions from Maria - they saw today as regal as the balls you hear about that go on in the capitol. You looked down at your clothes and smoothed them out. Thankfully since your district was textiles, you actually had something decent to wear, unlike the kids you see from district 12.

And you were well off enough to only have your name entered the minimum number of times, not more times for food like some of your friends with large families had to do. You only had this year, and then next year, and you were done. They cut you off after you turn 19, and then you never have to worry about the Hunger Games again. Well, unless you happened to get pregnant and have kids. But there’s no chance that was happening. You’d rather play dead at a necrophilia convention than have sex with a man.

“Well, as usual, ladies go first.” Maria snaps you out of your endless stream of thoughts and you look up to see her hand already rustling in the bowl of names. You reach over and hold the hands of your friends at you side. Your friends have a tradition of holding hands during the reaping. You’ve been doing it every year, and none of you have been picked. Knock on wood.

Maria digs around in the fishbowl full of names, you look over nervously at your friend Riley. She’s one of the people who had to enter more for extra food. You gulp and look ahead as Maria begins her painfully slow process of opening up the paper and reading the name.

It started how every living victor describes it. They say the more you hope it doesn’t happen, the more likely it will. The more you repeat ‘please don’t say my name’ in your head, the more likely your name will be called.

Maria opened her mouth and your blood went cold. You felt that horrid feeling one only feels when something disastrous happens. You had only felt it once before, when you late girlfriend was taken away by peacekeepers, about two years ago. At least you weren’t the one being dragged away to be hung. At least then you knew you were going to survive.

Everything around you went fuzzy as dissociation swept in. You couldn’t hear your friends gasping, or Maria calling out your name a second time. You barley felt the ones you loved letting go of your hands, until you realized you were carrying yourself down the rows and rows of people right to the stage.

Your thoughts about mundane things drew in as you stood there waiting for the male tribute’s name to be called. You thought about your cat, and your friends. The plans you had made for the rest of the week. The new job you were going to start soon, after you had the courage to quit your old one.

Before you know it, Maria is already back at the mic and talking to the crowd, “Everyone, please give a big hand to the tributes chosen to represent district 8 in this year’s Hunger Games!”

You didn’t even see the male tribute come up. You slowly look to your right and see a guy named Jesse. You’ve met him before, went to school with him and took a job together. You knew him, but you didn’t really know him. That would probably make it easier for you, if he was one of your friends then you’d be obligated to protect him. At least when he dies you can keep going. Fuck, now is not the time to think about that. You mentally scold yourself for being so grim.

Right now you were following an Avox down winding staircases and hallways to meet your stylist. You’ve heard rumors saying she’s supposed to be one of the best, always coming up with unique and astonishing outfits every year. I mean, that makes sense, she was styling outfits for the textiles district after all. The Avox leaves you in a little room to wait.

Suddenly the door opens and a girl steps inside. She looks only a few years older than you. “Hi. I’m Dina. I’ll be your and Jesse’s stylist.” She actually holds out her hand, and you shake it. She grabs a stool and sits down in front of you. “Now, I’m guessing they already told you about sponsors, right?”

You nod. Your mentor, Tommy, already told you all about them on the train to the capitol. You’re trying to use your organization skills from your job to your advantage. You’ve been thinking about what angle to take: wether you should paint yourself as a smart stow away or a sexy young lady. No matter what you thought of, it had already been done before. Even if you had never seen it televised yourself, your mom and dad had told you stories passed down of a beautiful singer from one of the first games who poisoned everyone, the man who used the force field to his advantage who then made the gamemakers mad, and the girl from a few years ago with the bow and arrow who did everything to save the one she loved.

“Great.” She claps her hands together. “Tell me a bit about yourself. I like to take direct inspiration from my tributes in order to give you guys the best shot.”

You can’t say anything. You just stare at her. The way you pictured it, only frilly old people worked in the capitol. This girl seemed so.. normal. No fancy jewelry, no over the top hairdo, no long spider lashes. She’s not even wearing work clothes.

“How did you end up here?” You ask. You’ve been wondering, but you never meant to actually say it out loud. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that, you don’t have to answer.” You look away from her.

“Wow. No one’s uh.. ever asked me that before.” She laughs shyly and when you look up, she’s nervously fidgeting with the bracelet she has on. She clears her throat, “My older sister took care of me when my parents died. This used to be her job. We had family debt, so when she died, I took it on.” She sighs, “That’s about it.”

“I’m sorry about that.” You try comforting her. There’s really no use. There’s no cameras here. It’s just you and her. You really don’t have to please anyone, but you’ve decided in this moment not to be overtly cruel just to win. If you were going to do it, you were going to do it right.

She smiles softly, “Thank you.“

“Uhm, do you seriously not have a plan yet? Like, for what I’m gonna wear?” You try getting back on track, there’s really no time to waste. If you do this wrong, you only have a few days guaranteed left to live.

She smiles, “Nope. I do my best work in the middle of the night. There’s a reason why everyone oohs and ahhs at my designs.” She winks.

“And there’s a reason you haven’t been fired yet.” You try testing the waters.

“Damn, you sly dog. Gonna have to let Tommy know we got ourselves a wild one.” She laughs and rubs your head, like how dads do.

Huh. If all capitol citizens are like this, this is gonna be easy.

The next day, you and Jesse briskly follow the same Avox to get dressed in whatever Dina cooked up for you.

“She uh, she ask you to talk about yourself too?” Jesse prompts, keeping his hands in his pockets.

You nod, “Yup. Quite the character huh? Not really what I was expecting when I picture a capitol official.”

You glance over, look him up and down, and snort. He couldn’t have been bothered to change out of his pj’s. “Hey don’t look at me like that.” He throws his hands up. “We’re going straight to get into costumes. Needa save my energy for the arena.”

The mention of the arena makes your heart drop. You were so entranced by the yummy food and cool technology you forgot why you were in the capitol in the first place. Jesse goes silent after that, keeping his head low as he continues to follow the Avox. You don’t know why, but you just now realize he must be scared too. You also realize you never actually told Dina about yourself, so you assume she must have taken inspiration from some of the conversations you guys had.

You guys finally arrive and meet Dina in front of a dressing room with huge mirrors. “You’re up first, Jesse.” She smiles and pats him on the shoulder. They disappear into the changing room, leaving you to sit with your own thoughts on a little chaise. You hear Jesse laugh, and think about how nice it would be to get to know him under different circumstances.

“Heya, stranger.” A voice says from behind you, and you instinctively jump. You turn around and see Tommy, your mentor. “Woah there, games haven’t started yet.” He chuckles and you laugh a little. He reminds you of your dad. He won his games awhile back. He’s getting old, and his wife, Maria, is the one who called your name at the reaping. You didn’t realize the two were married until you were bad mouthing Maria, about how she just had to pick your name, when he showed you his ring. You apologized profusely, and he was very kind. He even said that’s not the first time that’s happened since he’s become a mentor. You sure lucked out. The people on your team almost seemed like family, even though you only met them a few days ago.

“What’re you doing here, Tommy? And where’s Maria?”

“Maria’s talkin’ to the gamemakers. She basically runs us here in the district 8 level. Even me.” He crosses his arms and chuckles. He really is like a dad. “Yeah, but I’m here cause I honestly don’t have nothin’ else to do. Only reason I’m still alive is cause I won my games, so now I gotta tell you how to win yours.”

“What about Jesse?” You tilt your head and ask.

He keeps eye contact with you, “I meant Jesse, too.”

“Oh.”

He pauses for a second. “Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it. Good girl, keepin’ your head in the game.” He pats you on the back, a little too hard.

Before you can cringe at the exchange that just happened, Jesse walks out in an all white aristocratic outfit. The shirt has so many ruffles you can’t even count. Must be a pain to iron. The pants are high waisted but are tailored to fit him perfectly. There’s a white bow tie with pearls on it, too. Everything is so simple, yet so fancy. You can tell Dina used some really expensive materials. Probably the most expensive she could find. Jesse even has a little white cane to go with the look.

He does a little spin for everyone watching. “Cool, right? Almost breaks gender norms a little.” He smiles and blushes softly at Dina, who looks proud.

“It’s called Ouji fashion. Used to be real popular couple hundred years ago.”

She faces towards you. “Alright. Now it’s your turn.” She grabs your hand and leads you into the dressing room, “Yours is called Lolita.” She explains.

“Is this all for a certain occasion or anything? Like they’d go to a fancy dinner and wear this?”

“Nope. For fun.” She grins widely and holds open the curtain for you.

Your jaw drops. “Wowww.” is all you can say.

The most gorgeous dress you’ve ever seen in your entire life rests on a mannequin in the middle of the room. You swear to god, you might actually cry. Working in textiles, you could only dream to even ship out a dress as pretty as this.

It’s all white, like Jesse’s, but what it lacks in color, it makes up in texture. There’s so many details to it. Your head spins trying to figure out how the hell Dina did all of this in one day. It’s got this beautiful big skirt that looks like it can swallow you whole. Long sleeves that flare at the end. And lace everywhere. There’s absolutely every accessory you could ever wish to own: earrings, necklace, little lace gloves, stockings and heels. Not to mention the headdress with pearls all over it to match Jesse’s tie.

You carefully reach out to touch the fabric, almost like you expected it to melt, like snow. “I’m wearing… that?”

Dina pretends to look around the room. “Who else could it be for?”

She talks as she helps get you undressed and into this thing. “I think it really says something about you guys. Like, ‘Hey. We’re from textiles alright, and we don’t play around. We’re here to knock you off your feet!’ Well, both figuratively and literally.” You try smiling a little, but every time someone mentions other tributes, you feel sick.

Once you’re finally in the outfit you walk out to show Tommy and Jesse. Dina opens the curtain back up, and everyone gasps as you slowly walk out. Maria’s there too, and she immediately runs up to hug you.

“Alright, guys.” Dina claps her hands together. “It’s go time.”

You and Jesse stand together, slowly looking at all the tributes.

“Fuck,” he mutters, “There’s so many of them.”

You nod. “They seemed so small on TV…” you trail off as you look around at each costume. They just keep getting better and better, but you think Dina was right in getting to know you and Jesse. You think your costumes fit you the best.

Everyone’s in a blob, so you can’t tell who’s from where. Dina shows up behind you and leads you two to the 8th carriage. Before you get on, she points around and tells you who’s from which district.

“Sorry, Dina. I’ve never been around horses before.” Jesse says as he tries to get up into the carriage.

“You’ll get used to it.” Dina smiles, and goes to take her place backstage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the 81st annual Hunger Games! I’m your host, Caesar Flickerman, and today we are awaiting the tributes for the famous carriage parade…”

As he drones on, you can’t help but keep looking at the female tribute Dina said was from district 2. You scoff to yourself, she must be a career. The capitol should, in theory, make them illegal. But they love the drama they stir up. You take a deep breath, flattening out the dress near your hips and fluffing up the skirt, all while keeping your eyes locked on the girl a few carriages in front of you. This has to be perfect.

Jesse sees you staring her down. He nudges you a little, “Her name’s Ellie.” He starts, even though you didn’t ask. “Saw it on tv on the train here while you were sleeping. Supposedly she got blackmailed into volunteering. Her dad fucked with the wrong crowd and this girl threatened to kill him if she didn’t volunteer. At least, that’s what I heard anyway.”

You simply hum in response, closing your eyes and continuing to make your dress look as neat as possible.

Not satisfied with your response, Jesse states, “She’s pretty, right? Not my type though.”

You look up at her again. “Yeah, no. Not my type either.” You lie through your teeth. Damn, if you had seen this girl anywhere but here, you’d wanna be buried in her thighs. What, who said that! You clear your throat and try to focus. It’s gonna be easy. Just wave and flash that pretty smile and the sponsors will love you.

You see the first carriages start to go, and you hear Caesar announce, “And they’re off! Wow! Look at them go!”

You take one more deep breath before your carriage starts to be pulled out of the shadows and into the stadium.

“Would you look at that! District 1, never failing to impress.” Caesar goes on, he sure can make anything sound like the best thing ever. “And here comes district 2. I hear we have a bit of an outlier this year.”

All of a sudden, the girl, who appeared to just be wearing a normal suit, spreads her arms out and metallic wings emerge. She doesn’t even smile. She just smirks, and the crowd goes wild.

You look up on one of the big screens and finally get a clear view of this Ellie girl. She’s wearing just a plain black suit, and behind her are those giant metallic wings. You squint your eyes. The camera zooms in and you see the wings aren’t just made of hunks of metal, they’re made of guns. Your jaw drops, but then you remember you’re on live television, so you immediately straighten up.

“That’s crazy.” You mutter to yourself, but Jesse must have heard it because he nods in agreement.

“I love it, I absolutely love it!!” Caesar goes on, and the crowd never stops cheering for her, even as more carriages come through.

You take your eyes off the screen and look at her in front of you. She’s absolute eye candy and she doesn’t even look like she’s trying. Your stomach and chest twist out of jealousy. If these people don’t cheer for you and Jesse just as loud… there’s going to be a problem.

Finally, it’s your turn. There’s big lights shining on you as you emerge into the light of the stadium. You wave your hand like how you and Dina practiced in the mirror. You want to give almost a regal look, so you give a small, elegant wave. At the same time, Jesse raises his cane to the crowd, almost like he’s saying ‘Hello. How do you do? I’m very fancy, yes. I’d love it if you sponsored me.’

“How charming! Oh my, I love it! That is amazing!” You smile when you hear Caesar praising the two of you.

You reach the middle of the stadium, and bust out the move you know is sure to get a good reaction: you smile wide, but keep it classy, and start blowing graceful kisses into the crowd. When you’ve done that enough times, you pick up your skirt in one hand, put your other hand up to your heart, and bow graciously.

The crowd absolutely eats it up.

You come back up from the bow and look in front of you. You can’t even hear what Caesars saying, because you lock eyes with Ellie, who’s turned around to stare at you. You can’t exactly tell what her expression is, because she’s so far away, but you swear you can hear exactly what she’s thinking:

‘I’m going to kill you.’

That night, you lay awake in the plush bed of the room you’re staying in. Maria keeps saying ‘your room’ ‘your bed’, and it honestly annoys you a little bit. They’re not yours. You’d rather be back in district 8, in your own actual bed. You roll over, trying to get comfortable, as you need to sleep and conserve all your energy for the games. Oh shit. The games. You groan, reaching over to grab a pillow and hugging it to your chest. Why are the games still a thing? They should’ve ended years ago. You remember there was almost an uprising all over Panem. That girl Katniss maybe? Your brain is too foggy, you can’t even think straight.

You hug the pillow tighter. And what was with that girl Ellie? You made a mental note to watch her during training tomorrow, to see what she does.

You sigh, and reach up to rub your head. Now with thoughts of Ellie, there was no way you could sleep.

“How’d you sleep?” Jesse asks the next morning. After breakfast the two of you walk with Maria to the training center. She keeps telling you that if you’re on time, you’re late, so you guys always end up at every place at least 15 minutes early.

You shrug your shoulders, “Fine I guess.” You don’t want to tell him that you couldn’t really sleep, or all the nightmares you had, or what you had to do to stop thinking about Ellie.

“It’s weird. It’s way too quiet.”

You look up at him. “Where?”

He gestures around the ginormous building, “Here. In my room.”

You laugh a little, “Oh, so it’s your room now?”

“Cmon. You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Oh, look. We’re here.” You nudge Jesse a little, trying to lighten the mood. He just shoots you a disappointed look.

You, Jesse, and Maria sit side by side on a little bench outside the training center. There’s already a couple people there, but not too many. Now that you’re closer to the other tributes, you can really evaluate them in your head. You look at them one by one, saying things to yourself like ‘Oh I could definitely take him in a fight.’ And ‘I’d feel bad but that 12 year old would get absolutely hounded.’

As each new pair of tributes arrive, you do the same thing. Eventually, everyone is there but two.

The head trainer comes out and taps her foot. You look around. Of fucking course it’s her. The one person you actually wanted to see. You hear a laugh in the distance and look up to see Ellie, her mentor, and the district 2 male tribute casually walking to join the rest of you. Huh. You’d think she’d wanna be here early to scope out her prey or something.

You slowly look her up and down, you hope she locks eyes with you so that she knows you’re staring. You cross your arms and mutter to yourself, “I could take her.”

Jesse seems to have a talent for hearing you when you don’t mean to, because he asks, “In a fight or…?”

You gasp and punch him. You both laugh, and you feel grateful he’s not the vengeful type.

The head trainer explains all the rules for today, and even though you hate being here, it’s actually pretty cool to see how it all works.

You and Jesse decide to split up. You’ll focus on survival, and he’ll focus on combat. Then, when your time is halfway done, you’ll come together and tell each other what worked and what didn’t, and you’ll switch.

It’s a pretty nice plan, considering some of the tributes from the same district are already starting to get sour with each other and split up. You hope that doesn’t happen to you and Jesse, you’re actually starting to really like his companionship and company. You sigh and start to look around at what to do first. There’s the plant matching game, the fishing area, or maybe you should focus on shelter instead of food?

You start to head over to the makeshift tent area, when something off to the side catches your eye.

You see Ellie all by herself, squatting in the area where people learn to make fires, with a little switchblade. You cock your head to the side, and look around. No one’s paying any attention to her.

All the other careers from 1, 2, and 4 have already teamed up, like they always do early on. They’ve come up with a game where if you fall on the monkey bars, or can’t shoot a perfect arrow, you have to stay behind an extra 3 seconds by the cornucopia.

It’s absolutely fucking stupid, and they even go and win almost every year. You glance back over at Ellie. Her hair is in a messy half up half down style, and somehow she makes the weird training suit you guys are forced to wear work.

Your breath starts to quicken, but you say fuck it and go to talk to her anyway.

You shuffle your feet a little so that she knows someone’s coming. Now is really not the time to scare her. “Too bad we had to end up here, huh.”

She seems a bit shocked someone’s actually talking to her, with how quickly she looks up at you. “What?”

“Too bad we had to end up here.” You repeat yourself.

Ellie stares at you. “Least it’s not the quarter quell.” She says flatly.

You swallow, surprised that her voice is higher than you expected. You realize you’ve never actually heard her speak before, and you pictured her voice to match her face: rough and a little mean.

But it’s sweet.

You just laugh awkwardly and agree. You don’t want to seem like you’re towering over her, so you sit down on the ground next to her. She only continues playing with her switchblade. You try to sneak another glance at her, and you notice she has so many beautiful freckles up close.

“You do know how to make a fire, right?” You decide to break the silence and ask.

She sighs, “Of course I do.”

You gesture to the pile of sticks and wood in front of her. “Let’s see it then.”

Ellie just stares at them. You guess she’s probably trying to figure out what to do first. “Right. Of course. Fine.” She says, shaking her head. She grabs two sticks and tries to rub them together.

You gently place your hand on hers to stop her. “You need to make a nest first.”

She blinks at you. “Like for birds?”

You laugh a little, “No, silly. Here…” you grab the sticks out of her hands and place them down to build a nest for the fire. Ellie watches closely to what you’re doing. You hold out your hand for the knife Ellie’s holding, and she reluctantly gives it to you. You carve the end of one stick into a point, and then twist it into a log until the fire starts. “There.” You say, and look at Ellie.

She slowly looks at you. “Just never had to make one before.” She mutters.

You don’t mean to stare to be rude, but her green eyes are almost sucking you in. She seemed so cool and able during her first appearance in the parade. But now that it’s just all the tributes together by yourselves, she’s acting almost… apprehensive. I mean, it doesn’t really matter. The goal is to appease the sponsors and mentors, so they can send you gifts in the arena. There’s really no point in making friends if you’re going to kill them.

“I’m sorry about what happened by the way.” You suddenly spit out. You mentally slap yourself for being so awkward and having no rizz.

Ellie sure seems to have a habit of just staring at people until they elaborate.

You inhale sharply, “With your dad.”

She sighs and shakes her head. After a few moments of pause she replies, “Yknow just cause I’m from 2 doesn’t mean I’m a career.”

You nod, you didn’t want to say you could tell in case she got mad and tried to kill you early.. “Yeah… but, it’s not like you had to be here.”

She hugs her knees closer to her. “I mean. I kinda did, actually.”

You cock your head to the side, “What do you mean?”

“To make a really long story short,,, I was forced to volunteer or else my uh, dad Joel, would have died. This girl named Abby has had it out for me. She put her name in like, hah, fucking 200 times for so she’d get called. Told me if I didn’t volunteer to take her place she’d uh… yeah she’d kill Joel.”

You can’t really hide the way your mouth drops. “Shit, man. Wow. That’s- yeah, I’m sorry.” You were never really good at consoling people.

She mutters out a quick ‘thanks.’ You think it’s so quiet it could classify as a whisper.

Ellie goes on, “I mean.. everybody now thinks I’m this total badass cause of the parade. That wasn’t even me. That was my stylist,, hell, he told me what to do and when to do it to get the best reaction.”

“You did look really cool during the parade, to be fair.” And you’re not even lying. You were sure all of Panem was losing their shit as soon as Ellie raised her arms.

She looks at you and softly laughs. “Hah. Yeah, I’m just tired of relying on other people and taking away their credit, yknow?”

You nod. You never really imagined she could be so… thoughtful.

Even though you’re in a death game, you mentally slap yourself for not having proper manners like how you were taught, “Oh wait. I never introduced myself. I’m-“

Ellie quickly puts a finger up to your lips to tell you to shut up.

“I know who you are. I saw your reaping too. And who couldn’t forget that dress you wore.” She whistles, looking you up and down.

Now it’s your turn to stare at her. The conversation is going better than expected, and you hate to say it, but you couldn’t get rid of that butterfly feeling in your stomach. You hoped that if you didn’t win, it was Ellie. And if she did happen to die, it was quick.

You can’t help but look at her lips, although you look up at her again when you ask, “Why are you being so nice to me?”

She looks into your eyes and mutters, “Because you’re the first person who’s actually made an effort to talk to me.”

Part 2 :3

𓆟. ° .• .𓆝 .• ° . 𓆟 . ° .• .𓆞

#ellie williams #tlou2 #ellie the last of us #wlw #ellie x reader #ellie x fem reader #lesbian #ellie tlou #the hunger games #hunger games #the hunger games au #tlou au #jesse tlou #dina tlou

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nataliasquote · 1 year ago

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Double the trouble [pt.2] | n romanoff

Double the trouble au: part 1, part 2

Summary: Natasha and Wanda's teenage twin daughters are a lot to handle, but despite their differences and arguments, there's nothing they wouldn't do for each other

Warnings: none

Pairings: WandaNat, O!C x Valkyrie, Y/n x Bucky Barnes

wc: 3.7k

note: thank you for all the love on part 1!

— ⧗ —

"I'm home!" Isla called out as she stepped through the front door, her bag and coat slipping into a pile on the floor. She'd get yelled at about it, but that wasn't her problem right now.

Wandering into the kitchen, thumbs typing away to her group chat, she almost walked straight into Natasha who was stood in the doorway.

"Thank you." The Russian said, plucking the phone from her daughter's hand. Isla looked up to protest but bit her tongue as she saw her mother. "So that's how I get your attention. Got that Wanda?"

"Noted." The other mother teased, winking at Isla who just groaned.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was just checking details for the party tomorrow." Both Nat and Wanda's eyebrows shot up at the mention of a party. It was the first they'd heard of it.

"Party?" Nat asked, taking a seat at the kitchen counter. "What party?"

Isla wandered over to the fridge and grabbed a can of Dr Pepper, opening it at arms length incase it sprayed in her face. She'd made a habit of doing that ever since she was 11, when Y/N shook a van before handing it to her and it went everywhere.

"I was just going to ask you if I could go to a party tomorrow night?" She smiled sweetly, fully turning on the charm for her skeptical moms.

Natasha narrowed her eyes. "Who's party is it?"

"Maria's."

Wanda's expression softened as she heard the name. They both knew Maria was a good kid, albeit incredibly feisty. It was no surprise she got on so well with their girls. "And who's going?" Natasha was the picky parent, always asking questions on their whereabouts. It was the inner spy taking control.

"Everyone I guess?" Isla said with a shrug, taking a sip of her drink. She hopped up onto the countertop and Wanda went to protest before thinking better of it. She might as well have it recorded with how many times a day she tells the twins to stop sitting on the counter. Nat often joked that she was a broken record.

"Is Y/N invited?" Isla nodded as she took another sip. "Speaking of which, where's your sister?"

Isla smirked immediately, a playful glint in her eye. "Bucky took her to go and get ice cream." She had to suppress her grin as much as possible, but Wanda and Natasha still saw straight through her.

"He's still trying to win her over?" Nat asked and Isla nodded, eyes wide.

Wanda's jaw dropped. She loved a bit of gossip. "Y/N still hasn't said yes? I thought she said that weeks ago?"

"You know how Y/N is with her feelings," Nat said with a sigh. "She keeps them closed off from just about everyone. That poor boy must really like her." Isla nodded in confirmation as if to say 'oh he really does'.

"Sounds like someone else I know." Wanda said with a knowing look, making Nat roll her eyes.

"Hey, I was a spy. There's a difference!"

"Clearly not," Wanda shrugged. "She's your daughter, now look!" She stood up from her chair and made her way over to the fridge to start on dinner, kissing her daughter's head as she passed.

"So, Ils, any news in your love life?" Natasha asked, clearly trying to steer the subject away from herself.

The red headed teenager shrugged shyly, suddenly not open to talking at all. Natasha smirked at her body language, knowing there was something to hide.

"Okay spill, cmon. Who's the lucky lady?"

"It's nothing." Isla defended, a blush rising to her cheeks. "She doesn't really know I exist either."

"Who is it?" Wanda had joined in now. Both women were curious to see what their daughter's taste in women was like.

"Well, there's this girl in my science class called Valkyrie and she's just- effortlessly cool, and badass, and she takes no shit from anyone-"

"Hey, watch the language misses." Wanda pointed her wooden spoon at Isla, who clearly wasn't paying attention. Her mind was lost in the images of Valkyrie in her mind.

"Wands leave her alone, she's in love." Nat teased, earning a swat with a tea towel from her wife. "She sounds amazing Isla. Have you spoken to her at all?"

Isla shook her head dejectedly, suddenly very interested in the skin around her thumbnail. "And it's no use. She's too cool for me. I'll just look weird if I try to talk to her."

Natasha watched her daughter's deflated body language and stood up to give her a hug. She pressed a kiss to her soft red hair and just held her for a moment. "Is she going to be at the party tomorrow?" Isla nodded into her mother's chest. "Then talk to her. You've got the perfect opportunity there. Plus, dress cute and she won't be able to miss you." Pulling away from the hug, Nat sent Isla a small wink, which instantly put a smile on the girl's face.

"Your mother is right, you know. No one cares what happens at a party. Just talk to her, dance, do whatever you want to. Then she'll see just how cool you are too."

Isla grinned at her moms, feeling completely surrounded by love in that moment. "You guys are actually the best. I got so lucky." Nat ruffled her hair before she was swatted away by Isla.

"Well at least one of you is getting women! Wands, we did something right!" The couple high fived like a pair of children and Isla just her eyes playfully. "I never thought we'd have a boy in the house."

"I have to make up for Y/N's straight-ness somehow." Isla exclaimed with a wink. Her comment made Wanda turn around, her hand resting on her hip.

"Y/N? Straight? Do you even look at your sister?" Isla shot her a questioning look and Natasha laughed.

"Ils, your sister isn't straight. She's definitely got some bisexual going on. I mean... the rings, the braids, the leather jackets- she's not straight."

"But- Bucky?!" Isla protested.

"Bisexual, honey. She can like both."

Isla thought for a moment, clearing trying to remember the vibes that her sister gave off. I mean, cmon, it's not like they saw each other everyday and lived with each other. "Okay yeah," she said after a long pause, "I see it."

"Good." Natasha glanced at her watch on her wrist. "There's about 30 minutes until dinner and then I need you down here to set the table. Sound good?"

"Yup." The teenager scurried upstairs after grabbing her bag and sat down to scroll on her phone, or do "homework" as she'd told her moms earlier.

Roughly 10 minutes later, Y/N wandered through the door, a soft smile on her face. She mirrored her sister, leaving her coat and bag by the door and wandering into the kitchen for a drink.

"Ah, you made it back alive. How was it?" Natasha had to keep her curiosity to a minimum, not wanting to pry too hard and make Y/N clam up. But she didn't need to worry; the girl seemed far too loved up to notice. Not that she would ever admit it.

"It was good. They had the best mint choc chip I've ever tasted!"

Wanda smiled and turned away from the pot she was stirring. "And how's Bucky?"

"He's good." Y/N's attempt at being casual was given away by the heavy blush that crept up her cheeks. "We had fun."

"Just good?" Nat teased, earning an eye roll from her daughter.

"Mama he's just a friend."

Both women shared a knowing look and Nat tried to stifle a small laugh. They were fun moms, always teasing and joking with their girls whenever the opportunity arose.

"Sure, mhm, just a friend."

Y/N groaned loudly, clearly done with this topic of conversation. "Okay, whatever. I've got homework to do." She turned to leave before Nat caught her attention, stopping the girl in her tracks.

"Oh, Isla told us about that party tomorrow. You guys can go but we want you home by-"

" -home by 2am. Yes we know."

"Good. Or I'll turn you both into pumpkins." Wanda teased, making Y/N roll her eyes before she disappeared upstairs like her sister did.

Natasha opened up her laptop and began typing away to finish off some emails she had been replying to before her girls came home. She had a wide smile on her lips and Wanda couldn't help but gaze lovingly at her wife.

"I can feel you staring at me Wands. Don't burn the food please."

"I'm not staring, I'm admiring. And I'm not you either. I don't burn rice." Wanda blew a kiss across the room to her wife who turned around rather offended at that last comment. "It's just cute seeing you so happy."

Natasha quickly glanced at the staircase, careful that neither of the girls were coming down. "It's the joys of young love." She commented wistfully, scraping her chair back to go over to her wife.

Wanda was about to turn back to the stove when Natasha's gentle grip on her hips kept her in place. The Russian pressed their bodies together against the cool countertop and slid her arms further around so they connected behind Wanda, pulling her even closer.

"You make us sound old, saying that." Wanda whispered, eyes darting between her wife's captivating eyes and full lips.

"We've got two almost-adults. We are old." Nat placed a gentle kiss to her wife's lips, not missing how Wanda relaxed into her touch even more. "You're still just as sexy and beautiful though."

A blush crept into Wanda's cheeks and it felt as if they were teenagers again, just in love as their daughters are. "Just stop talking and kiss me."

"Yes ma'am." Nat obeyed her command and connected their lips once more, this time not pulling away. They'd mastered the art of a silent make out, not wanting Isla or Y/N to hear them upstairs. This one was gentle, tongues slowly swirling around each other as Nat pressed her hips into Wanda, trapping her against the counter. Wanda had moved her hands up to cup her wife's face, the simple gesture setting butterflies off in the redhead's stomach. It was the smallest actions that sent her all giddy.

"You know," Nat husked, sliding her hands lower down Wanda's back as they pulled away momentarily. "We've got a free house tomorrow..."

She trailed off, allowing Wanda to piece together the images in her mind. The Sokovian shook her head at her wife's mischievous smirk. "Natasha Romanoff, you have such a dirty mind."

"Oh tell me you didn't think about it too."

Not wanting to confirm or deny, Wanda just kissed her hungrily again, taking Nat by surprise. Part of her wanted to continue this make out session, but with dinner cooking and the possibility of being walked in on, it didn't appeal to her. "Okay, you're distracting me here. So go, I've got dinner to make." She swatted Nat's ass as the redhead shook it as she wandered back over to the table, her tongue running across her lips, still savouring the taste of her wife.

"I don't need to be kissing you to do that." She wore a cocky smirk and Wanda wanted nothing more than to swipe it straight off her face.

"Damn right you don't. But if dinner burns, you're explaining the truth to the girls." That shut her up and Wanda smiled triumphantly and turned back to her cooking as Nat suddenly became very busy in her emails.

"Just you wait until tomorrow." Nat mumbled under her breath, her mind now anywhere but those damn emails.

— ⧗ —

"Blue or green?" Y/N asked for the third time as Isla continued to shrug. She had two different dress options for the party and so far she was miles away from picking one. "Isla please. Blue or green?"

Her sister sat on her bed clutching a bottle of white nail polish and was carefully painting her toes. She eyed the dresses carefully, imagining them on her sister. But they were both cute, so she just shrugged.

"I don't know. They'll both look hot. Just pick one."

Y/N groaned, clearly getting frustrated. "Just pick a colour. Blue or green?"

"Green will make your eyes pop." Came a soft voice from the doorway. Both girls turned to see Nat casually stood there, leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed. "The blue is pretty, but the green is gonna make you look even more amazing."

"Green it is then." Y/N said with a satisfied huff, hanging the blue dress back in her closet. Nat let herself into the room and took a seat on the edge of the bed, careful not to mess up Isla's nails.

"How are you girls getting on? Nearly ready?" Well, they both weren't dressed, but they were supposed to leave in 30 minutes and Nat knew just how often the women in that house rushed to get ready. She came to give them a gentle push, but also to see if they needed any help.

"I just need to wait for these to dry, then I can get dressed." Isla ran a hand through her perfectly curled hair. "Oh and touch up my make-up."

Nat nodded and fixed a curl that had got caught around Isla's earring, earning a grateful smile from her.

"Do I put my dress on and then do my makeup? Or the other way around?" Y/N was full of mini dilemmas today; clearly she was putting a lot of pressure on tonight. Maybe for a certain guy...

"Does your dress need to go over your head?" Y/N shook her head. "Then do makeup first. Then you can stay comfy." Y/N slumped down onto the floor and grabbed her make up bag, preferring to do her make up infront of her large, full length mirror instead of the smaller one at her vanity.

Soft music played from the tv and Nat just smiled at how domestic it all felt. Although the girls had separate rooms, they often came to get ready in Y/N's which was closer to the bathroom. Despite frequent bickering and small arguments, the twins got along well and it was a sweet sight to see Isla curling Y/N's hair.

"I'll leave you girls to it then. Who's picking you up?"

"Clint said he'd call because it's on his way. I think his mom is driving us there and back." Nat smiled softly. They'd always got along well with the Barton family, having been friends with them since the girls were small. Clint was one of their closest friends, and Nat could see why. Even she found the boy funny and witty, despite his rubbing jokes sometimes.

Nat stood up and moved back to the doorway, turning around at the last second. "Okay, well, don't be too long. Your mom and I have got a couple of bottles you can take. But don't go mad tonight girls, okay?" The twins answered her in chorus, reassuring her that they would be okay. They had smart heads on their shoulders and had built up enough trust with Nat and Wanda to gain the privilege of having alcohol at parties. The parents weren't super strict, but they wanted to keep the girls safe. Naturally.

25 minutes later, both girls were by the front door, pulling on shoes and quickly checking their hair and make up infront of the large mirror on the wall. Y/N was getting frustrated with her converse laces and was huffing slightly, pulling them so tight it looked as though the laces might snap.

A loud honk came from outside and Isla peered out of the window to see Clint leaning over the steering wheel of his mom's car, much to her distaste. She dashed out of the front door and down the porch steps, yelling goodbyes to her moms who just laughed as she left.

Nat pressed a pack of ciders into Y/N's arms, along with a bottle of vodka. That was always in plentiful supply in the house, so one bottle meant nothing.

"Be safe, don't do anything stupid." Wanda said to her youngest, pulling her into a quick hug despite Y/N's protests to leave. But her struggling was pointless so she accepted the hugs and kisses before making her escape towards the car.

Both moms watched the black Audi pull off the drive and they hugged each other close before closing the door. A cunning smile made its way onto Natasha's face and she quickly turned Wanda around and pushed her body against the closed door.

"A promise is a promise." She said, her voice dropping a couple of octaves. Sounding even sexier than usual.

Wanda gulped, feeling her heart rate speed up as Nat's lips trailed across her collarbone. She knew she was going to be worshipped tonight; her wife certainly knew how to make her feel good.

— ⧗ —

3 hours in and the party was in full swing. The living room of Maria's house had been cleared to create a large dance floor, teens crammed together as they jumped to the music.

Y/N leaned against the far wall, a red solo cup clutched in her hand. She was tipsy, but not as wasted as her twin sister who was heavily making out with Valkyrie in the middle of the dance floor. The sisters caught each others eye and Y/N pumped her fist, earning a middle finger from Isla who's lips were still locked with her crush.

Laughing to herself, she took another sip of god-knows-what and wandered out into the garden, longing for some fresh air and peace away from the thumping bass. Although she was a dancer, parties and dancing weren't her thing. She felt too stiff and awkward, but outside she swayed lightly to the beat, helped by the alcohol rushing through her system.

"It's nice out here." A voice spoke from her right. The tipsy girl looked over her left shoulder before quickly switched to her right, a blush forming on her already flushed cheeks as she saw a familiar figure approach. Thank god for the dim lights.

"Yeah." She'd be kicking herself at that lame response, considering who she was talking to. "You okay?"

Bucky smiled, leaning on the back of one of the metal garden chairs. He looked hot, his shirt unbuttoned down to the centre of his chest and his hair gelled slightly but still the soft brown colour that Y/N had grown to love.

"Better now that you're here." He knew that game was risky, but all this chasing around had made him tired. He wanted her, so he was going to get her. He stared at her for a few moments, eyes raking up and down her figure. She looked stunning. Her simple green silk dress hugged all the right places, accentuating her small waist and long legs. Her hair rested perfectly down her back and Bucky had to swallow thickly a couple of times.

"You're a flirt." She laughed, taking a sip of her drink and frowning as a droplet rolled down her chin.

She tried to wipe it away but Bucky got there first, gently taking her chin in between his thumb and forefinger. He tilted her head towards him, making her entire body turn with the moment. Neither of them uttered a word, their eyes meeting like something out of a cheesy rom-com.

Bucky's thumb swiped across her lower lip slowly, collecting the spilled drink and brushing it away. He gazed into the forest green eyes staring back at him, admiring the tiny flakes of brown that lit up from the outdoor lanterns above their heads.

Y/N's breath was caught in her throat. She'd been dancing around Bucky for weeks, too scared to face her true feelings about him because the thought of that terrified her. But the alcohol in her system has cleared her foggy mind, bringing forward the thoughts she'd been pushing away.

She took a daring step forward, closing the tempting gap between them that spoke louder words than the music blaring inside. Nothing else seemed to matter as Bucky tilted her chin up and brought his lips to meet hers in a tentative kiss.

It was only peck before they pulled away, but something clicked between them both and their lips met once again, this time fuelled by more passion and lust, the nerves somewhere far away.

Y/N looped her arms around his neck and he slid his hand round to cup her cheek, careful not to disturb the kiss.

The whole world had melted away, meaning that Y/N failed to hear her sister stood behind the glass doors, jumping up and down and screaming with Valkyrie, Clint and Maria who were all ecstatic over the kiss that they'd been waiting for for months. They cheered loudly, high fiving each other with wide grins.

Clint handed Maria a $20 with a groan, his smile disappearing as he realised he lost the bed. The party host tucked the money into her bra and walked off with her head held high. Tonight has been a successful night.

— ⧗ —

After a rather rowdy car ride back home, Isla and Y/N stumbled out of the car, the latter thanking Clint's mom for the ride as the eldest made a 'run' to the front door.

She didn't even take her shoes off before she glanced around the house like a meerkat, desperately searching for someone to scream the news to.

Catching sight of the moms sitting at the kitchen table, Isla came crashing over, completely drunk.

"Mom! Y/N kissed Bucky!" Her voice was far too loud for 2am and both mothers winced slightly at the volume, before smirking at the news.

A very exhausted Y/N trailed in afterwards, her hands raised in protest. "No! That's not the only thing that happened!"

"Mom! I made out with Valkyrie!"

#natasha romanoff x daughter!reader #natasha romanoff x reader #fanfic #wanda maximoff x daughter!reader #wandanat #bucky barnes #wandanat x daughter!reader #marvel #king valkyrie #wanda maximoff x reader #double the trouble au

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e-vay · 25 days ago

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My In-Depth Review of Sonic X Shadow Generations (Spoilers!)

I completed Sonic X Shadow Generations so I'm ready to talk about it! Remember, these are just my personal opinions about the game, so don't take this review as me saying that my opinion is "right." I'd hate to accidentally spoil the game for you, so all my thoughts are below the cut:

Did you mean to click "Keep Reading"? I warned you, there's gonna be spoilers here! One last chance to back out...

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Okay here we go!

THE SHADOW PORTION

Let's start with what we've all been hyped about: the Shadow portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations. If you single out the Shadow story of this game, I think it is an absolute masterpiece! Everyone who worked on it gave it their all, and it clearly shows. I'd give it a 9.75/10.

THE GRAPHICS

The visuals of this game are STUNNING. These new models for Maria and Gerald Robotnik are perfection! I am so glad they went with the more 'cartoon' style for the human models, similar to what we saw in Sonic Unleashed. They feel like they belong in this world among these peculiar looking anthropomorphic animals, but they aren't so odd looking that they feel goofy. They found a perfect balance and I couldn't be happier with them. Speaking of character models, to see all the bosses throughout the years in this new high definition was a sight to behold! Though I do feel nostalgia for the lower-poly version of the Biolizard, it was great to see it as the creators originally envisioned. It went from this loveable (and admittedly silly-looking) salamander to a truly intimidating and disturbing looking beast. The animation is superb. The characters move so fluidly and the poses are dynamic and striking! The frame rate makes everything look and feel fast and smooth which is exactly what you'd hope for in a Sonic game. I also appreciated the variety of poses/animations even just for the different stage ranks. I found myself purposely replaying stages to get different ranks just so I could see the different animations Shadow had regarding his "performance" evaluation. That really adds to the replay value! I am a graphic designer for a living, so of course I have to gush about the design, too! The graphic elements that appear before, during, and after each stage are straight up BADASS! I love the 2D animated flame that appears along the stage name and the color scheme and sharp lines are so appropriate to Shadow, and are a very strong contrast to Sonic's graphic elements that are colorful and round in shape. These are small details that most people might not outright notice, but it really enhances the overall aesthetic of the game.

THE STORY

LOOOOORE! Sweet nectar of the gods, we were given so much more lore with this game! Even though the Shadow portion of this game was fairly short, they jam-packed a ton of information and I am forever thankful for it! If you didn't do so while playing, I highly recommend playing again and talking to the NPCs regularly for little nuggets of lore. I was initially worried that this was going to be a rehash of the same 'origin' story we've heard a dozen times already, but that was not the case! Instead of focusing entirely on the tragedy that happened on the ARK, we got to learn what life was like on the ARK while times were still good! Learning that Shadow didn't used to be confident at all, to the point where Maria basically doesn't recognize this confident version of him that we've all known him as. And that Shadow never did his homework??? HA! I loved the confirmation that yes, Maria WAS INDEED the person who gave Shadow his name, and the meaning behind it was EVERYTHING TO ME! (Also works so well for my my AU. IYKYK hehehe) Plus all the Robotnik family history?! MARIA HAD A LITTLE SISTER?!?! She'd be old now, if she's even alive, but will we ever meet her? Will Shadow ever meet her (and would he even want to, or does he feel like that chapter of his life is closed now)? What was she like, and how did Maria's death impact her and her parents??? I hope we'll find out some day! Plus getting to learn a little bit more about Gerald's sons was exciting too. Will more Robotnik family members make appearances down the line? What do they think of Eggman's misdeeds? I'm so curious for more! It was heartbreaking in the best way for Shadow to get to interact with Maria and Gerald again, especially knowing he can't do anything to change what will inevitably happen to them. His sense of desperation paired with the growing affects that Doom's powers were having on him really had me worried about what was going to happen to Shadow's state of mind and overall well-being. It was amazing to see the toll it was taking on his body and his mind. In particular, I'm thinking of the scene where Shadow goes to fight Sonic and you see him having to actually restrain himself and go easy on Sonic. I thought it a great scene to demonstrate how easy it would have been for Shadow to just give in to the rage and take Sonic out without hesitation, but his willpower was able to win in the end. I have heard some people saying they're disappointed that Shadow lost his Doom abilities by the end of the story, but I think it made complete sense for the story. Black Doom is insistent that Shadow isn't 'complete' yet and he has to be more like him in order to be 'perfect.' But that isn't true! Shadow is already the ultimate life form, especially because there's more to him than his Black Doom DNA. By rejecting Doom's influence in the end, that was Shadow's true evolution. He's perfect as he is. Obviously I could gush forever and ever about all the Shadow and Maria scenes, but words aren't going to do it justice. It was just so moving to see how different he is when he's with her. In fact, at the end of this game I believe this is the first instance we ever see a true, genuine, heartwarming smile from Shadow and it DEVASTATED ME! We are used to his smirks, but when he's trying to reassure Maria that everything's going to be okay, we get to see him truly smile and we aren't seeing Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform or Shadow the Destroyer/Weapon, we are seeing Shadow the Brother and it felt like the warm embrace of a security blanket. God bless the writing in this game.

THE ACTING

The acting in this game is incredible from a visual and auditory performance. The animators really pushed the acting of the character models and you can feel Shadow's transformations throughout the game and the toll it's taking on his body. The emotions are cranked up to the max and they didn't pull any punches. In the past, Shadow was often limited in his portrayal of emotions, but that wasn't the case in this game at all. We saw anger, we saw resentment, we saw panic and sadness, and affection. There was so much thought put into the shaking of his hands, the gritting of his teeth, the shrinking and dilating of his pupils, all to show what's going on in his head without even resorting to words. SO MUCH ATTENTION was put into how these characters moved and interacted with each other and it truly tugged at my heart strings. There were too many wonderful moments for me to break down, so I will just single out one for now and applaud the creative direction and the animators for these scenes as a whole. There's this moment right near the end of the story, when Shadow is trying to stop Gerald and Maria from disappearing for good. His gestures are wild and panicked, his pupils and irises are small due to fear, but then Maria simply frames his face and rests her forehead against his. It's subtle, but Shadow's eyes widen and then return to their regular size and everything from his stance to how his shoulders fall show what a calming presence Maria has and how she helped (and will continue to help) him find his inner piece. Those performances are going to stick with me forever! Mike Pollock as Gerald Robotnik was truly *chef's kiss* MP is such a fantastic actor with great range. Though his voice is easily recognizable, the manner in which he speaks as Gerald is so different compared to Eggman, that you couldn't mistake the two characters even just by listening. We have been so used to only hearing from the angry, driven-insane-by-grief Gerald that it was so refreshing to get to see and hear the calm, brilliant, caring genius that created The Ultimate Life Form. P.S. I'm going to be crying over hearing Gerald call Shadow "son" for the rest of my life, thank you very much. I don't care about the future crimes he commits, we got to witness Shadow's father in this game and I'm weeping. Kirk Thornton is not my favorite Shadow. That being said, he really gave it his all and I was pleasantly surprised by what he accomplished. One of the performances that surprised me the most was Mephiles! This is a credit to the writers as well as the voice actor. The sense of wild desperation in his voice as he fights to even 'exist' in this timeline was so visceral and terrifying. Sure the other villains had their "I'm the best, this world belongs to me" lines, but Mephiles' voice lines were on a completely different level to me. What a treat! Lastly, if you can, please replay the game in Japanese! Kōji Yusa's performance is STUNNING. Ooh I'm getting shivers just recalling his voice lines while you're playing through the stages. I don't mean to discredit the English voice actors, but I think this game is even better when listening in Japanese. Give it a try yourself!

THE MUSIC

This is a Sonic game we're talking about, of course the music is going to be fantastic! The score did not disappoint one bit. It was great to hear all the callbacks to songs in the past as well as new tracks that were catchy and enjoyable even after playing the stages several times. "All Hail Shadow" has always been one of my favorites, but the new instrumental version used for majority of this game was so haunting and eerie. It was a delight to my ears as well as my emotions.

THE BOSSES

I loved the chosen bosses for Shadow's story. It was great fun to revisit some of the more iconic baddies throughout Shadow's history, and even though some of the gameplay was the same, the battle would then shift and offer the player something new. However, it's actually the boss fights where I dock the game a few fractions of a point. The boss battles were far too easy to defeat, and I actually found them easier and easier as the game progressed. I beat Mephiles and Devil Doom so quickly that I didn't realize their fights were over already. One could argue this was intentional by design. After all, throughout the story Shadow is evolving more and more into the 'perfect' killing machine. It would make sense that the more Doom Abilities he acquires, the weaker these bosses would seem. Still, as a life-long gamer, I appreciate when I have to actually work to achieve the ending of a game. I would have liked more of a challenge.

OVERALL GAMEPLAY

Whether you're roaming about White Space or you're actually playing through stages, the Shadow portion of this game is an absolute blast. Even having played the Shadow the Hedgehog game (which I'm a fan of, btw), I feel like this game really gave you a better feeling of what it's like to be Shadow. I LOVED that I got to use Chaos Control way more than ever before in previous games. If you had the ability to stop time, wouldn't you take advantage of it every chance you could??? The opportunity to use Chaos (and Doom) Spear as frequently as you wanted and Chaos Control almost constantly really shows how formidable of a character Shadow is and just how different it is to play as him compared to playing as Sonic. I loved the 'free-roam' aspect of White Space compared to the 2D version in Sonic's story. Hunting for rocket parts or figuring out how to unlock collectibles was a lot of fun and let the player really explore these new Doom abilities to the fullest. I'll admit that I struggled with navigating some of the Doom abilities, but even so I still had a ton of fun. I already mentioned replay value, but before you even have to go about replaying the game, there is SO MUCH to this portion of the game! The amount of stages, challenges, collectibles within stages, FINDING the unlockables USING the collectibles you obtained from stages, even the mini challenges available AFTER you've completed the key challenges (I'm talking about the bell that's located above the challenge portal), all of it made for a ton of opportunities for play. I found myself wanting to take on every quest instead of begrudgingly going through it just because I'm a completionist.

My biggest gripe is that the game was too short. Am I greedy for wanting more? Probably, but I can't help it. The developers gave us a ton of content in the Shadow story, but I still would have loved to have a full length game of just this gameplay. I managed to complete the Shadow portion in a few hours, and that was even with me leisurely taking my time to get collectibles and get S ranks for stages before progressing through the story. I miss the days where games took much longer to complete. But hey, I'm a nostalgia-prone 33 year old, so I guess that's to be expected of me haha.

THE SONIC PORTION

Here is where Sonic X Shadow Generations loses more points for me, which is a shame because I think it's a great game overall. Admittedly, I was disappointed when I first learned that the Sonic portion of the game was just a remaster of Generations. I had really hoped we were going to receive something new to help elevate SXS Gens as an entirely new game, instead of just "Sonic Gens + Shadow DLC".

Don't get me wrong, the stages in Sonic Generations are fun to play. However, when you go from playing Shadow's story to Sonic's story, Sonic's side drastically pales in comparison in my opinion.

My other complaint is that for a remaster, they really didn't improve Sonic's portion of the game significantly (at least from what I can recall, as I haven't played the original Sonic Generations since it first came out in 2011). This was a missed opportunity to correct more of the drawbacks of the original game. However, I will admit there are some minor changes that were made that I was thankful for. Let's start with the positive before I point out some of the negatives.

THE STORY

As mentioned earlier, I acknowledge that Sonic Generations is just a remaster so it makes sense that the story didn't change much. That being said, there were some small changes that I did really appreciate and helped improve the story. One of the things that always bothered me about the original Sonic Generations was how indifferent/annoyed Sonic was regarding his friends. I mean, the story is about time being erased! His friends and home are literally getting removed from the fabric of time and Sonic seemed more inconvenienced than concerned. In more recent games, the writing has really focused on the value Sonic finds in his friendships and found family. He always has his signature cool, aloof attitude, but I think the writers in recent years have successfully showed just how much he cares about his group, whether the games were serious (Sonic Frontiers) or silly (The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog). The story wasn't drastically changed for Sonic X Shadow Generations, but some altered dialogue and blink-and-you-miss-it edits helped to cut that jackass attitude from the original and gave him more realistic reactions. Especially by having him respond when he rescues everybody this time! It never seemed right when Tails was first rescued and he's trauma dumping on Sonic about how awful the experience was and Sonic just sits there in silence haha. At least in the new version, Sonic reassures Tails that he's safe now. Also, huge kudos to whoever decided to alter that scene where Sonic is shoving Amy away by the face. I always hated that. Ship or not, you don't treat your friends like that when they're throwing you a bday party!

This is me getting nitpicky, but there were a few things I had really hoped they were going to improve, but remained untouched:

THE GRAPHICS

I was never happy with the visuals of this game outside of the stages (the visuals within the stages are great!). The colors are extremely oversaturated and the characters are way too intense and some are even off model (ex: Amy is so blindingly vivid magenta in this game instead of her signature blush pink. What the heck?!). What's worse, the cutscenes during the birthday party scenes are SO GREEN. The light bounces off the neon green landscape and reflects onto the already oversaturated characters, giving them an unappealing green glow. I get that the Sonic world is not realistic, but it felt like the scenery in these cutscenes made it look like we were watching a bunch of toys interacting on a playset instead of characters living in their world. Sure the visuals during the levels are great, but it's a real disappointment when I'm specifically not looking forward to the cutscenes in a game. I wish they would have tweaked that.

THE ANIMATION/GAMEPLAY

I have zero complaints when it comes to Act 1 (the "Classic" version) of the different stages. These look great, play great, and if you've played classic Sonic games then you can appreciate how identical the map of the level is compared to the originals. The issue for me lies in Act 2, aka Modern Sonic's gameplay. For the most part these levels are good, but there were a couple of small things that always bothered me that I was sincerely hoping they'd fix (and they did not). There are portions of Modern Sonic's gameplay that is SO. SLOW. I'm referring to when you are jumping from one Grind Rail to another, or when you are sliding under an obstacle. These animations are so bizarrely slow and make absolutely no sense when your character is running blindingly fast. I don't understand why they didn't use this opportunity to fix those animations. When you're playing the Shadow side of the story, his animations are constantly fast moving and appropriately paced. Why wouldn't they apply these physics to the Sonic side?

As a whole, the Sonic portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations is still a fun game, but I think it could have used a little more attention to help it feel more balanced compared to the Shadow portion.

This game also has some notably fun DLC and the promise of more DLC in the future! I have my Sonic side of the story set to the Sonic Adventure Legacy skin and Sonic Jam Legacy skin and they are so CUTE! They win all the nostalgia points! I'll be honest with you, I have never been a fan of Terios' design hahaha. BUT! I love that they made a Terios skin for this game so players have the chance to play as him if you choose and we get to see how he was intended outside of the initial sketches we've all seen. (Still, y'all can keep your Terios skin. I won't touch it LOL!). And I am OVER THE MOON ECSTATIC for the upcoming Movie Shadow addition to the game! I still can't believe they got Keanu Reeves to voice lines for it! I'm sure it will be a small thing, but I am on the edge of my seat to see what that will be like.

Overall, I'm super happy with the game as a whole and I enjoyed every minute I played of it!

If you read all of this, thank you for reading! Again, my opinion isn't fact and if you disagree with what I had to say, that's totally fair. And if you haven't played the game yourself, please go play it and see what you think for yourself!

#sonic x shadow generations #game review #my thoughts #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic trash #review #spoilers #sonic x shadow generations spoilers #my rambling

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comicaurora · 1 year ago

Note

thoughts on Castlevania: Nocturne?

HO BOY WHAT A RIDE

ok to start off, the short list of things I wasn't a huge fan of

The dialogue was a little bit wack in places; Richter's extremely badass "there's something you've forgotten about belmonts, I'd forgotten it too" line fizzling out into "ok I was gonna do a one-liner but eh fuck it" was a pretty representative example. Kinda snapped me out of the scene when I was otherwise hella invested

Erzsebet's dumb onion haircut

this is a nitpick but solar eclipses are only visible from very small areas of the earth because the moon's shadow is much smaller than the earth so even if Erzsebet is magically holding the moon in place it'll only produce eternal night in like a third of france

castlevania let even one mom survive a season challenge 2k23

On to the good stuff!

Every character, even the nastiest antagonists, being clearly and consistently motivated by core traits that sometimes lead to them switching between opposing and helping Team Good Guy, I lost it when Olrox smoked his way into Casa Good Guy to give them a plot device in the most unnecessarily threatening way possible

Love that Richter's brand of snark is a blend of Trevor and Sypha's, he's just as sassy as Trevor but all his quips show Sypha's chipperness. Also love that he copes with the Belmont Trauma by constantly deflecting and light-heartedly downplaying The Horrors until he finally cracks

Maria's cute lil pokemon

Richter getting his magic back!! What a beautiful scene, what good animation, what powerful shots

Richter's unique fighting style! As soon as his magic comes back it's All Throwing Hands All The Time and I really appreciate how anime protagonist he is about it

ALUCARD'S RETURN

Edouard's singing being so good it keeps giving people their souls back, also one of the most gorgeous night creature designs ever put to paper

Annette's entire deal is so profoundly powerful and I love how they're using her ancestral magic to expand on the ramifications of Castlevania's "all legends are true" undercurrents

This show feels extremely focused on the specific political landscape of the historical period it takes place in unlike Castlevania's more loose historical setting

The THEMES of colonialism and vampirism being one and the same

Olrox being like "oh you want to make a new world empire of absolute conquest? heard that one before" and somehow none of the other bad guys pick up on the subtext of "and it was FUCKING BAD"

Sekhmet-Erzsebet's cape shoulder-halo thing being the Egyptian sun-on-a-boat symbol is subtle and it slaps

"who's dracula" lmao

#asks #not aurora #media recs

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zefirith · 6 months ago

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We all know how Mihoyo took huge inspiration from Bloodborne to create part of the design for Arlecchino, specifically from Lady Maria (top left)

BUT!

I never saw people mention or talk about how her boss form (the second phase) is very similar to another souls game boss, Sister Friede.

The stance, and especially the weapon, are clearly a huge reference of her from my point of view

Plus, all 3 of them share one move that is very unique :

Mihoyo made Arlecchino based not only on Lady Maria, but also Sister Friede from Dark Souls 3, two characters that I like a lot💕 Gotta love devs just for using them as a reference to make Arle so badass😌

I love her and women a normal amount🙏🏻

#lady maria #bloodborne #dark souls #sister friede #arlecchino #genshin impact #arlecchino genshin #mihoyo

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arlana-likes-to-write · 1 year ago

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Live Bait

Part 2 of Rescue by Lauren Daigle

Summary: After spending time with Maria and Natasha in Norway, they've decided to bring you to the Avengers Compound. Unfortunately, your life remains complicated and wild as you try to navigate living with the rest of the Avengers and the possibility of meeting your father.

Relationship: blackhill x daughter!reader, Winter Solider x daughter!reader, Avenger x reader (platonic)

Warning: mention of death, mention of Red Rauma/HYDRA abuse, anxiety, kidnapping, injuries, gun shot, gambling, angst with fluff,

Word: 9.3k

Sneaking back into the States was something out of an action movie and a bucket list item you didn’t know you had. Your face had to be hidden to avoid facial recognition from nearby cameras and if you had to speak with anyone you mimicked an English accent. It was high stakes but it was so much fun. Finally, you landed on the helipad of the Avengers compound. Your body was shaking with excitement and nervousness as Natasha and Maria completed their post-landing routine. “How are you doing kid?” Natasha asked. You knew you couldn’t lie to her right now. Your poker face wouldn’t be convincing.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” you admitted. Your leg was shaking, bouncing up and down. Natasha stood up from the copilot seat and walked over to you. She knelt in front of you, holding out her hands with her palms facing up. It was a new addition to your relationship with the Black Widow. You would place your hands on top of hers and you would keep them there until your emotions were under control. It helped you more than the breathing techniques. It grounded you. Your hands were clammy when you placed them on top of Natasha’s.

“Tell me what’s going on,” you liked the feeling of her hands. They were warm, calloused, and rough against yours.

“I-” you stopped and gave yourself a moment to collect your thoughts. “What if they don’t like me?” You whispered. She smiled, rubbing her thumb across the back of your hand. “And I want them to like me but I know I can be difficult,” you made yourself giggle.

“They are going to love you and if they don’t I’ll punch them,” you smiled, and your leg stopped bouncing.

“She may have a better punch than you, darling,” you looked at Maria. She was walking over to you. “They’ve been very excited to meet you.”

“My sister and best friend will be the first people you meet and you’ll meet everyone else when you are ready, okay?” You nodded, taking your hands off of hers.

“Okay,” you sighed. “Sorry about that. That was-”

“You better not say stupid,” she pinched your sides playfully. You giggled and stood up, walking with the couple to the ramp. The New York sun shined on the ramp and at the bottom was a blonde and a brunette You let out a shaky breath, put your best poker face on, and followed them. You stayed behind the couple, letting Natasha hug the blonde and Maria greeted the man.

“So,” the blonde said, you were surprised by the thicker Russian accent. “You’re my niece.” “I am,” you said, keeping your eye contact with her. Her eyes were a similar green to Natasha’s. “So you’re my aunt.” She smiled, and a fondness grew in her eyes at the title.

“I am,” she repeated. “My sister says you are kind of a badass,” your body heated up at the compliment. You looked at your mom.

“Are you talking about me behind my back?” She rolled her eyes, throwing her arm around my shoulders.

“I like bragging about my kid, sue me,” you smiled, finding yourself leaning in her embrace. “So my sister is Yelena and that handsome devil is Clint.” Clint rolled his eyes.

“You’re an idiot,” he deadpanned but his face softened when he looked at you. “It’s very nice to meet you. Why don’t we show you around?” The compound was amazing! You found the place massive compared to the RV you were living in. You were a little upset it took Natasha this long to show you this place. There was so much room for activity, you loved the gun range. The whole training facility was your favorite.

“Where is everyone?” Maria asked when you reached the end of the tour. You sat at the kitchen counter while Natasha made you a peanut butter sandwich. Clint sighed, pouring a cup of coffee.

“We wanted to create a divergent to ensure you guys got back into the States safely,” Natasha glanced at her friend. “They took the bait and the team is hoping they get lucky. They’ve been gone for 5 days.” Your mom placed the sandwich in front of you. You were hungry but the idea of people you didn’t know fighting to keep you safe made your stomach twist.

“They’re gonna be okay, right?” You questioned.

“Yeah,” Natasha nodded. “They’ll be okay.” She wasn’t lying. You sighed, taking a bite of your sandwich.

“Nemnogo krasnyy (little red),” Yelena said. You titled your head when no one acknowledged her. You pointed to yourself. She nodded.

“What did you call me?” You questioned.

“Little Red. You like?” It wasn’t the worst nickname you’ve heard so you nodded. “Do you want to play in the shooting range?” Your eyes grew wide.

“Yes!” You jumped off the chair. “Let’s go.” You followed your aunt to the training area.

“She better be in one piece, Belova” Natasha’s voice called after you as you both broke out in a run.”

After dinner with Clint and Yelena, Natasha found you lying on the couch with Maria. You were resting your head on Maria’s lap, watching a movie. The Black Widow slipped next to her girlfriend. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight. It wasn’t under the most ideal circumstances that her family was together, there was still a real threat to her and your life. But she was happy to have this time together. You shifted on the couch and pulled the blanket over you. “Do you want to go to bed, dorogoy (sweetheart)?” Yelena put you through an intense workout, you almost fell asleep at dinner. It was nice to see you smile and joke around with Clint and Yelena. She was excited to see you interact with the rest of the team. You groaned, leaning into Maria more.

“Wanna watch the movie,” you whispered. Maria chuckled.

“We can pause it and watch it tomorrow,” she ran her fingers through your hair. “Yelena put you through the wringer, didn’t see.” You sighed, flipping on your back to look up at the couple.

“It was fun,” you said. “But my body hurts.” Natasha laughed, pausing the movie.

“Come on, buttercup,” the Black Widow stood up and pulled you off her girlfriend. “It’s time to go to bed,” you nodded, rubbing your eyes.

“Night Maria. See you in the morning,” she said goodnight to you and you followed the Black Widow to the room they deemed as yours. You crawled into bed and Natasha pulled the blanket over you.

“Are you still nervous to meet the rest of the team?” Natasha watched you think it over. You sat up and put your hands out with palms facing up. Without hesitation, Natasha placed her hands on top of yours.

“What happens if the Avengers can’t catch him?” You asked instead. “Will I be hiding for the rest of my life?”

“That is a big ‘What if’ because we will stop him,” it was a hefty promise to make but Natasha wasn’t going to stop until you were safe. “You won’t be hiding forever. Once he is dealt with, you can do whatever you want. Your life will go back to normal,” you nodded but Natasha knew there was more on your mind. She squeezed your hands. “Come on, what else is on your mind?” You sighed.

“What is going to happen to him?” You asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Fury will probably want to speak with him to try to get information on HYDRA but after that, I’m not sure.” Natasha was conflicted. There were moments during training or missions when Natasha saw the man behind the monster HYDRA created. You nodded, removing your hands from hers. You laid back down and Natasha fixed the blanket around you. “Remember what I said, okay? I’ll be your shelter and armor. There is no distance I won’t cover to get you.” She pushed a piece of hair behind your ear.

“Okay,” you whispered. “Night Mom,” Natasha smiled. She was never going to get tired of you calling her that.

“Goodnight sweetheart,” the Black Widow kissed the top of your head. She stayed until your breathing slowed and you were fast asleep. She hoped you didn’t notice how scared and worried she was. Her small family was finally whole again. If she were to lose you when she just got you, she worried who she would become to get you back. But she couldn’t let those thoughts consume her. Right now you are asleep and safe. She only focused on that.

The smell of cinnamon woke Natasha up. She felt around in the bed and found the spot next to her empty and cold. Figuring it was her girlfriend in the kitchen, she got out of bed, put on when of Maria’s long sleeves, and made her way to the kitchen. Maria was engrossed in making French toast she didn’t hear Natasha walk up behind her. The Black Widow put her arms around her waist. “I could have cooked, baby,” she kissed her girlfriend’s shoulder. Maria leaned back in her girlfriend’s embrace.

“Fury woke me up,” she flipped the French Toast that was in the pan. “The team got back late last night. He wants to have a meeting.” Natasha stood next to her, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Are they okay?” Maria nodded.

“The usual cuts and bruises but they are good,” but the sigh Maria let out worried Natasha. “According to Fury, there is some tension between Stark and Rogers.” That wasn’t new. The due always seemed to be getting underneath each other’s skin. Natasha frowned.

“Did he elaborate?” Maria shook her head. “Cool,” she deadpanned, sipping on her coffee. “When’s the meeting?”

“20 minutes,” she glanced towards your room. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted her to be there.” Natasha sighed.

“I’ll go wake her up and ask her,” she kissed Maria’s cheek and sat the coffee mug on the counter. When she opened your door, the sight made her smile. You were still asleep, on your stomach with your arms hugging the pillow you were using. Natasha knelt next to you, a gentle hand on your back. “Sweetheart, wake up,” you didn’t. “Wake up.” You groaned, opening your eyes. You blinked a few times, your mind and eyes still laced with sleep.

“Morning,” you mumbled, stretching.

“Morning,” she smiled. “So I know it’s early but the team went back last night and there is a meeting in about 20 minutes. Do you want to be there?” You blinked at her, giving your brain a chance to process the information.

“Do you want me to be there?” You questioned and sat up. Natasha sat down in front of you.

“I want whatever you want. You can come or go back to bed,” you bite your lip and pick at the edge of the blanket.

“Can I stay here?” You whispered. The Black Widow nodded.

“Of course,” she smiled. “Maria is making breakfast so eat when you are ready.” You nodded with a smile but Natasha could see that you were hiding something. She wasn’t going to force you to talk and hoped you would come to her when you were ready. So, she stood up, kissed you on top of your head, and walked to the door. Before she left, she glanced at you one more time. You were lying back down, pulling the covers back over you. Natasha heard you let out a small sigh.

Gently, she closed the door behind her and rejoined Maria in the kitchen. A stack of French Toast was made. “She’s not coming,” Maria looked up from the report she was reading as Natasha took her coffee and a piece of French Toast from the top stack.

“Is she okay?” Natasha shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’m worried this is happening all too fast,” Maria nodded and closed the report. She rounded the kitchen island to stand in front of her.

“It’s gonna be a tough adjustment, we live with a cast of characters,” the redhead smiled. “But she is resilient and strong, just like her mama.”

When she walked into the conference room, it was thick with tension. Steve and Tony were on opposite ends of the table. “Romanoff, Hill, it’s good to see you both states side. Fury said. She looked at the team. No visible injuries. They looked tired, hell even Vision looked exhausted.

“Glad to be back,” she sat down next to Wanda. “What do we know?” Maria sat down next to her, placing a hand on her thigh.

“Yesterday the team had the opportunity to capture the Winter Solider,” Fury said.

“That dude can punch,” Pietro said, rubbing his jaw. Oh, Natasha knew the strength behind the Winter Solider.

“But it was not a complete failure,” Fury pulled up a picture of the Winter Solider. Natasha saw Steve fidget out of the corner of her name. “We have a name. His real name is James Buchanan Barnes,” Natasha’s head snapped to look at Steve but he refused to look at her. “Which until last night, we thought was killed in action in World War II.” Her head was spinning. She couldn’t believe it.

“Steve-”

“Did you know?” The question stumped her. Of course, she didn’t know. “I mean you could have known and not told us,” Steve finally looked at her and she hated the look in his eyes, like she was the enemy. “You have a daughter that we knew nothing about.” Her jaw clenched.

“Watch your tone, Rogers,” Yelena threatened.

“Oh cut the shit, Capsicle,” Tony said. “Romanoff lying is no surprise. She and Belova were trained for that but what what is your excuse?” The conversation shifted away from the Black Widow to the billionaire and soldier.

“This is different,” Steve tried to defend himself.

“Bullshit!” Tony slammed his hand on the desk. Maria squeezed Natasha’s leg when she flinched from the noise. “We find out your long-lost buddy is alive and the whole team is ecstatic for you. Turns out I overhear you and birdie,” he pointed to Sam. “That your buddy killed my parents and you weren’t going to tell me.” Oh. OH. The tension between the two now was explained. Natasha saw Steve clench his jaw. “FRIDAY, play it.” Fury stepped out of the way as the screen behind him began to play a video. It was raining and a car slammed into a pool soon a motorcycle pulled up. The Winter Solider rounded the driver’s side where Howard Stark was on the ground. He beat the man and placed him back into the car. The same fate was met for Maria. The video ended and the room was silent. “So,” Tony broke it. “What do we do now?” Natasha found it odd that after all these years the video of the ‘car accident’ surfaced but she needed to keep the team together, it was their only shot of stopping him.

“I didn’t know, Steve,” she kept her voice steady even though she was sure he could hear her heart pounding. Her green eyes were trained on the table. God, she wanted to avoid this conversation. “In there and when I was assigned to missions, he was Winter. Sometimes I could see the man he was before HYDRA got to him but then they would reset him and it would be gone.”

“Reset him?” Rhodey questioned.

“Reset him how?” Sam added. That godforsaken chair. Natasha could still see it, hear his screams in her ears. Maria gave her leg another squeeze, it was the only thing keeping her in this room.

“Sestra,” she looked at Yelena. Her green eyes showed her concern. Natasha sighed.

“It’s how they keep him under their control,” she looked at Steve. “Let me guess, he didn’t recolonize you,” the soldier nodded.

“He didn’t even recognize his name.” Her eyes went back to the table.

“Because he’s Soldat to them,” the name tasted vile on her tongue. “HYDRA has this chair. They would strap him to it and electrify him,” she barely heard Tony let out a quiet, ‘Jesus’. “If we went on a mission on Saturday, he would get reset on Sunday and in training on Monday he would have no idea who I was,” Natasha tore her eyes away from the table to look at Tony. “I am deeply sorry for what happened to your parents but it wasn’t him. Someone made him do that, he had no choice.”

“None of us did,” Yelena added on. Natasha saw Clint whisper something in her ear. The blonde nodded.

“So what do we do?” Wanda questioned. “They can’t stay in hiding forever and the longer he is out there more people are going to get hurt.” She was right. You were his mission and that meant he would stop at nothing to complete it.

“The most logical option is to set up a trap,” Vision said, leaning back and folding his hands. “So we can have control over all variables.” The Black Widow placed her hand on top of Maria’s.

“He won’t come out again unless it’s believable,” Rhodey added on. “It has to involve his target.” You. You offered to be bait but that was out of misplaced trust and anger.

“Sedlala by ona eto (Would she do it)?” Yelena asked.

“Ty khochesh’, chtoby ona eto sdelala (Do you want her to do it)?” Clint clarified. Natasha’s gut instinct was to say, hell no, and they could find another way. But she that every option would be covered.

“English would be preferred,” Tony rolled his eyes.

“I’d like to come up with another option before we use her,” she said, cringing at the way she said ‘use’. It made her think about her time at the Red Room. The Windows were seen as objected to being used. She sighed. “I understand you are putting your life on the line for a child you haven’t met yet.”

“Yet?” Same questioned, smiling. “So we can meet her.” Natasha nodded.

“Yes soon,” she said. “But thank you I should have said that sooner.”

“We are family, Nat,” Wanda looked at her then to Tony and Steve. “Sometimes we keep things from each other because we think it’s for the best but at the end of the day, we will always be there for each other.” Tony huffed.

“Yeah, yeah, put the witchy powers down, kid.” Tony stood up and made his way over to Steve, holding out his hand. “Let’s go save him, okay?” Steve looked at the extended hand to him then Tony’s face.

“I’m sorry,” he took it. “I should have told you as soon as I found out.” The billionaire shrugged.

“It’s in the past, let’s work towards a brighter future.” The previous tension seemed to evaporate and Fury informed them that they’ll have a meeting soon to come up with a plan. But the team deserved to rest. One by one they began to trickle out but Natasha stayed sitting, she heard the unspoken words Fury wanted to say.

Soon it was Natasha, Maria, and Fury left. The director smiled the closest thing to a smile. “I’d like to meet her,” he said. “If she’s comfortable with that.”

“FRIDAY, where is she?” Natasha asked the AI.

“She has gotten out of bed and is watching cartoons,” FRIDAY advised. “Should I inform her that you would like to see her?”

“We’ll come to her,” Maria said. “Let her know we’ll have a guest.”

A guest. That was all the AI said to you which gave you a heart attack, not expecting another voice. The door of the small apartment opened and you paused the show you were watching. Your mom and Maria walked in with a man wearing an eye patch followed behind him. “How was the meeting?” You asked. “Did they get him?” Natasha shook her head.

“But we did find something out,” she said. “I’d like you to meet Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD.” You stood up, whipping your hand on your pants before you shook the man’s hand.

“It’s good to finally meet you in person, kid.” you smiled.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” you let go of his hand and followed the group into the kitchen. You sat on a bar stool while Nick poured himself some coffee and the couple plated the leftover breakfast. “So what happened?” You asked.

“We found out his real identity,” Fury said, taking a sip of coffee. “His name is James Barnes, a-”

“Steve Roger’s best friend,” you cut the man off, eyes slightly wide. “I thought he was killed in World War II,” your mom raised her eyebrow at you. You shrugged. “I paid attention in history class.” It was your second favorite subject in school.

“That is what everyone thought,” Maria said. “Until the team confirmed his identity this week.” She sat down next to you. “Which has caused some tension,” you looked between the couple, asking an unasked question. Natasha sighed.

“Steve believes I knew his true identity and kept it from him but I didn’t know,” you frowned, seeing the truth in her eyes. But you saw the hurt too that his teammate lost trust in her.

“That’s not all,” Fury said. “Turns out the Winter Solider is responsible for the death of Howard and Maria Stark.” Oh. That complicated things.

“Well,” you said slowly. “I guess we have something in common.” The Black Widow snorted at your poor attempt at a joke. You smirked. “So to recap, the Winter Solider is James Barnes, Steve Roger’s long lost best friend who killed the Starks and is after me. This man happens to be my biological father, which I’m guessing the team knows?” You questioned.

“Yes.”

“Cool,” you mumbled, running your hands through your hair. “So what do we do?”

“We are working on that,” Fury said, pushing off the counter he was leaning on to walk over to you. You spun around in the chair to face him, keeping eye contact with his good eye. You kept your face neutral. He was reading you. The ends of his lip curled up in a smile. “You got a good poker face, kid.”

“So I’ve been told,” you said. “Now what do you want?” He shook his head.

“Nothing,” he said. Well, that was a bald-faced lie. “Not right now at least. We’ll be seeing each other soon.” He quickly left the apartment. You raised an eyebrow, looking back at the couple.

“What a weird dude,” you mumbled. The couple laughed. “This plan that is being worked on, does it involve me?”

“They want to set up a trap,” Maria told you. “So we can control every outcome.”

“But I told them that using you was the last resort,” your mom said. “And you can back out if you don’t want to do it.” You nodded.

“I know,” you were nervous. “If I can help I want to.” You wanted to help that was the truth. Each day he walked freely but you and others were in danger. That reality didn’t stop you from being scared. Scared for yourself. Scared for the team. Scared for Natasha on the possibility she would have to face him again. But were you ready? All your life you wondered and dreamed about your biological. Now all the answers were laid out in front of you and you weren’t sure if you liked it.

When the couple was done with breakfast, you helped clean up and you changed out of the clothes you slept in. “You don’t have to meet them right now,” Natasha said, opening the door for you.

“Well, I can’t stay locked away in my room forever like Rapunzel. Oh! That reminds me, we should watch Tangled. It’s my favorite Disney movie,” Natasha chuckled, rustling your hair with her hand.

“Sure, we can watch it tonight,” you fixed your hair before entering the common area. The Avengers were there. You found Clint and Yelena right away, the blonde offered you a small smile. You returned it. “Guys, I like you to meet someone,” Natasha got the attention of everyone in the room. Oh, there were a lot of eyes on you. Your mom introduced you. Wanda and Vision were in the kitchen while Tony and Rhodey were at the dining room table discussing something on a tablet. That left Sam and Steve on the couch. The blonde super soldier kept looking at you and then back to Natasha. His blue eyes would linger on yours. Tony whistled.

“You really said copy and paste with this one.” Before you could respond, a strong gust of wind spun you around and pulled you away from Maria and Natasha. A man with white hair had his arm swung over your shoulders.

“So this is the fresh meat,” he pinched your cheek.

“And this pain in the ass is Pietro,” Maria deadpanned. Pietro chuckled and sped off behind Maria.

“You love me, Hill.”

“Pietro,” Wanda warned. “Be nice.” He quickly moved over to Wanda.

“You do know I’m older than you.” You smiled, shaking your head. There was a set of twins in your class back in California. You wondered how your classmates were doing. What were they told when news of your parents’ death hit and you disappeared? How was Sarah or Agent Cruise? You made a mental note to ask Natasha about them. The conversation flowed naturally with the Avengers. They asked about your likes and dislikes and your life before all this. The anxiety you were feeling was melting away. Suddenly, Steve stood up and left. The room grew quiet as everyone watched him leave.

“What’s got his panties in a twist?” Tony asked. You looked at your mom and her eyes showed how conflicted you were. You sighed and followed the man, ignoring the call of your name. The soldier was by a pond that rested on the compound’s property. He was sitting on the deck, getting lost in the water. But you knew he heard you by the way his shoulders moved.

“Tony is wrong,” he said. “All I see is Bucky when I look at you,” he shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” You took it as an invitation to join him on the bench. Out of the corner of your eye, he looked at you and began to laugh. “Sorry, I know this isn’t funny.” You smiled softly.

“It’s fine,” you told him. “Sometimes all you can do is laugh about everything.” You sat back, folding your hands on your lab. “I was lucky that I was given to a loving family but it didn’t stop me from questioning who gave me up. Can you imagine my surprise when I find out the Black Widow and Winter Solider are my biological parents?” He chuckled. You finally looked at the man. “She’s telling the truth, she didn’t know,” Steve looked back at the water. “But I get it. It’s easier to blame someone else in this messy world.” He sighed.

“I blame myself not Nat.” You hummed.

“Can you tell me about him?” You asked. The super soldier was silent. You feared you overstepped but you allowed the man to gather his thoughts. There had to be a lot of emotions running around inside him. He discovered his best friend was alive but at what cost?

“Bucky was loyal,” he began. “He protected me and everyone around him that couldn’t stand up for themselves. He was funny, kind, and my brother,” Steve looked at you. “I guess that makes me your uncle.” You laughed, pumping your shoulder against his.

“Can I be honest with you about something?” He nodded. You saw a stone resting on the dock and you stood up to pick it up. It was flat, a perfect stone to skip. Summers were spent by the water. You would spend hours looking for the perfect rocks to skip.

“I’m scared,” you said, running your thumb over the smooth surface before skipping it across the pond.

“Why are you scared?” You turned around to face the blonde and leaned against the wooden post.

“That you and the team are going to get hurt protecting me,” you admitted. “I don’t want that to happen.” He smiled.

“It’s our job,” Steve said. “We signed up for this life.” You frowned, walked over to him, and held out your hand. He placed his on top of yours. His was different, it was warm and rough.

“You may have signed up for it,” you said. “Doesn’t mean I want it to happen.” He closed his hand and squeezed yours.

“We’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Okay,” you were sure if you liked promises. Once upon a time, your adoptive parents promised they would always be around but now they were gone. Would they keep their promises to you?

“That’s it!” Natasha heard Tony yell as she walked into the common area. She changed out of the clothes she wore on her date with Maria into something more comfortable. It was nice spending time with just her girlfriend and Yelena said she would keep an eye on you. She wasn’t expecting to walk in to see you, Tony, Clint, Rhodey, and Sam sitting around a round table playing poker. You threw your cards down and pulled the ‘pot of winnings’ closer to you. The pot was candy and Natasha saw you had the biggest pile. “Your daughter is a cheater.” You looked at the Black Widow, a twinkle in your eye and you unwrapped a jolly rancher.

“You’re a sore loser,” you said, popping the blue candy in your mouth. “Come on let’s play again.” The table groaned as you divided up your pile. Natasha chuckled and joined her sister at the kitchen counter. The blonde had a few files and a bottle of vodka.

“How long has that been going on?” Yelena glanced at the table with a smile.

“About an hour,” Natasha poured herself a shot. “She’s already beat Steve, Vision, and Pietro. Those idioty (idiots) think they can win.” Clint gasped.

“I heard that Belova.”

“You boys know she can count cards, right?” Natasha questioned. It was your turn to gasp.

“I knew it!” You ducked as a smarties got thrown at your head and grabbed the chocolate bar in the middle. Your laughter was music to Natasha’s ears as you jogged over to them and jumped in the empty chair.

“Mom,” you whined. “I was winning. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am, dorogoy. But we have to protect their egos.” You giggled and opened the candy bar. The Black Widow watched you glance at the folders Yelena was reading. Your eyes did a double take. “What is that?”

“I know that man,” you pointed at the picture. “He was at a few poker games.” Yelena closed the folder.

“These poker games,” Yelena said. “Where did they take place?”

“All over the city,” you told her. “Mostly at bars in the back room or warehouses.” The blonde looked at her sister.

“If we send agents to these locations we may find some HYDRA informants that could lead us to the Winter Solider,” she explained. “Do you think you can tell us where they happened?” You shrugged.

“I can try,” you said, taking another bite of the chocolate. “I was young when I went to some of them.” Natasha nodded.

“Run it by Fury,” Yelena cleaned up the folders and left to call the director.

“How was your date with Maria?” You asked once it was just you and her. The Black Widow smiled.

“It was good,” she enjoyed the one-on-one time with her but it was weird having dinner without out, even Maria said something about it. You smiled, breaking off a square, and handed it to her. Natasha took it. “Do you still want to watch Tangled or do you want to beat the boys again?”

“I will choose Tangled over anything.” Natasha chuckled, throwing her arm over your shoulders. You leaned into her embrace.

“It’s nice to see that,” you hummed in question. “Your smile, sweetheart, your smile.”

“Again,” Yelena ordered. You let out a shaky breath as Steve threw the metal shield. It bounced off the practice dummies and came towards you. You caught it the way Steve showed you, feet slipping slightly but you used the force to propel yourself forward and through the shield back. It took the same path as it traveled back to Steve. The super soldier caught it with ease.

“It’s fascinating,” you heard Tony say with a tablet in his hands. “She’s a mini Romanoff.” Yelena nodded and Steve threw it again. This time it was in a rapid session. Every time you caught it, you threw it right back and Steve did the same.

“Do you think Barnes and Nat could have passed down a version of the serum?” Sam asked. That was the theory they wanted to test after you outran Sam and could keep up with Steve.

“We won’t know until her blood work comes back,” the billionaire said. “But it does seem that way.” You let out a breathless laugh. It was another thing to add to your list.

“What the hell are you doing to my kid?” Natasha asked, entering the training room as you caught the shield for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Romanoff, come look at this,” she glared at Tony as she walked over to him. The billionaire showed her the tablet, her facial expression was unreadable.

“Stop using her as some science experiment,” she marched over to you, ripped the shield out of your hands, and threw it at Steve. “My pogovorim ob etom pozzhe (We will talk about this later). She glared at Yelena.

“Mom,” you said as she pulled you away from the other Avengers. “Mom,” you repeated. “I’m fine.”

“Sit,” she pointed to the chair. You did as you were told as she disappeared. When she returned, she was holding a first aid kit. “Does this look fine,” she held up your arm to show you the bruising. You didn’t have the heart to tell her that those bruises were the second round. The others already healed. She knelt in front of you, adding some cream to your arm.

“They are saying that you or Bucky passed down a version of the serum to me,” you watched the Avengers set up another training session this time with Vision and the Maximoff twins. Natasha sighed.

“Maria and I had a similar conversation in Norway,” you looked back at the Black Widow. Her green eyes were already looking up at you.

“How does that change things if that test comes back positive?” You whispered.

“It changes nothing, honey,” your mom said. “You are still my daughter nothing else matters.”

“But will that make me an Avenger?” Natasha shook her head.

“Just because you are different or special doesn’t mean you need to be an Avenger. It will always be your choice. I won’t or Fury or the rest of the team will not force or guilt you to join,” she gently ran her fingers over the bruises that were already beginning to heal. “When you get older and you decide you want to join the team, I will support you tenfold.” You connected your hands with hers and looked at the woman in front of you. In Norway, while the couple was asleep, you opened Maria’s laptop and searched for Natasha Romanoff. Quickly, you learned the things she was subjected to, and the horrors she faced to become the hero the world knew her as. Everything was not her choice. She was forced to become the Black Widow, forced to lie and kill, forced to have you, and forced to give you away. Her life choices were made for her, she wasn’t going to let it happen to you.

“Okay,” you smiled. “Thank you.” Natasha smiled and cleaned up the used medical supplies.

“Try to take it easy in training,” she kissed your forehead. “You’re gonna give your mom a heart attack.” You giggled.

“Yes ma’am. Be nice to Yelena. She made sure I was okay.”

“No promises,” she winked at you and walked over to her sister. You sighed, leaning back in the chair. What a weird life you were living.

Tony called you, Maria, and Natasha into his lab the following morning. He said that the test results were inconclusive due to him only finding fragments of the serum in your DNA when he compared it to Steve and Natasha. But the Black Widow told him that Widows were given different versions of the serum than the one they gave Steve. With this new information, a training schedule was made to prepare you. It was still uncertain if the Avengers were going to use you but you enjoyed training with people other than Natasha and Maria. Hand-to-hand combat with Steve, conditioning with Pietro (which you thought was unfair), and weapon training with Clint and Yelena. But your days weren’t fully spent dripped in sweat and your body aching, your mom made sure of it. You spent time with Wanda in the kitchen, played video games with Sam and Rhodey, and annoyed Tony in this lab. It was fun but you felt like you weren’t doing enough to help. The team met almost every day to brainstorm ideas, but they came up empty.

You were sitting with Yelena looking at the map of the city you grew up in to try to rack your brain where these poker games took place. You remembered a few spots; Ray’s Bar because the owner gave you sour candy and the warehouse by the pier because it smelt bad. You hated going to those games, the smell seemed to stay with you days after the game was over.

You sighed, taking a grape from the fruit bowl Wanda made for you. “What’s wrong Nemnogo krasnyy (little red)?” Yelena asked, continuing to type her mission request to Fury.

“It’s stupid,” a piece of cheese was thrown at your forehead. “What was the for?”

“Because if something is bothering you it’s not stupid. So talk,” You ate the cheese she threw at you.

“I feel like I’m not doing enough to help. I want to do more,” you slumped down into your chair. “I hate feeling worthless.” Yelena closed the laptop and stood up. You heard her approaching footsteps but you didn’t look at her until she was right in front of you.

“You are not worthless,” she said, kneeling to your level. “Your job is to stay safe. That is what the team wants, especially your mama.” You shrugged. Yelena tapped your leg. “What can I do to help?” Well since she asked…

“I want to read possible case files the Winter Solider has been connected to.”

“Absolutely not,” she said, standing up suddenly and going back to her laptop.

“Aunt Lena,” you called after her and was quick to follow her. “I know nothing about him. Wouldn’t it be smart for me to know everything I can?” She opened the laptop slowly. “Think about it. If you guys were to use me as bait it needs to be believable so for it to be believable I need to know everything about my target.” The blonde sighed.

“Your mother will kill me.”

“She won’t know I got them from you. I’ll blame Clint or tell her FRIDAY gave them to me.” She rubbed her forehead.

“Fine, I’ll get the files, okay? Just be careful.” You squealed, wrapping her arms around her neck.

“You are the best! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She shook her head, chuckling.

“I know I am. Now get back to work,” you stood at attention, gave her a mock salute, and ran back over to the map. It was a start and you were excited! The possibility of reading case files made you feel like a spy, like your mom!

You called it an early night, claiming you were tired from training. Both Natasha and Maria seemed to believe it so you had time to read the files Yelena gave you. She was right when they said they didn’t have a lot and many of them were speculated that the Winter Solider was responsible. He was that good, that deadly, that feared that if there were witnesses no one would talk. Sighing, you bit down on the pen you were using. This was your father. Steve told you that he was loyal and protective but in these files, you saw none of that. How much did HYDRA get rid of? “Hey, sweetheart,” you jumped as the door opened and had little time to put the files away before your mom walked in. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” you squeaked out. She glared at you as she walked into your room. Natasha picked up one of the files and read it over. Then another and another until all of them were in your hands.

“Where did you get these?”

“I found them,” you lied. You hated lying to her but you wanted to protect your aunt. “I wanted to learn more about him so I went searching,” she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I’m sorry.” Natasha sat down in front of you, the files on the floor but you refused to look at her.

“Can you look at me?” It took you a moment but you looked up at her. “I’m not angry, okay? I just wish you had come and talked to me about this instead of reading those. Those files,” she pointed to them. “Only tell one side of the story.”

“Steve told me about Bucky but I want to know about-”

“The Winter Solider.” She cut you off. You nodded. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

“I didn’t want to upset you. I know it’s a sensitive topic,” she gave you a sad smile.

“You could never upset me, okay?” She placed her hand on your cheek and kissed your forehead. She quickly moved next to you and pulled you into her arms. “So what do you want to know?”

“Anything you want to share,” in a similar fashion to Steve, she took her time before she spoke. You took her hand and began to trace the lines on the palm of her hand.

“He was Winter to me and some of the other Widows,” she began. “He was a strict trainer, very serious on missions, and quiet. Some days he terrified me but other days he was kind,” you heard the slight shake in her voice but you didn’t dare attention to it. “No matter what though he was extremely protective of me and the other Widows. If a mission were to go wrong, he would take the blame and accept the punishment.”

“Did you love him?” You found yourself asking. Natasha let out a shaky breath, you felt it on the top of your head.

“Not in the way I love Maria but in some way I did. In there, it was rare to see any kindness so when he should it to me I accepted it.” You spun around so you were lying on your stomach and looking up at her. You noticed her green eyes were glossy with tears.

“I’m sorry.” You said.

“Why are you apologizing?” You were sure but it felt like you needed to say it. Maybe you were apologizing for everything she went through. Did anyone tell her they were sorry? Sorry for taking you away. Sorry for forcing her to have you. Sorry for robbing her of her childhood.

“Just thought you needed someone to tell you that.” You whipped away that fell down her cheek. “Do you think I can sleep with you and Maria tonight? Those files were not child-appropriate.” A deep laugh was pulled out of your mom and you counted that as a win.

“Come on buttercup. Let’s go to bed.”

You were lost, unable to follow the conversation as you sat through another meeting to come up with a plan. Somehow Steve and Tony started arguing and your mom tried to stop them. Damn, your head was going to split open. “Enough!” Your sudden outburst got the attention of the room. You stood up from your spot in the corner and walked to the table. “You know damn well it won’t work.” Maria gasped.

“Steve doesn’t like that kind of talk,” you rolled your eyes at her. You looked around the table, Steve and Tony settled down in their chairs, and your eyes locked on Natasha. “Use me. I’m ready. I’ve trained, I’ve studied, and we know he won’t come out unless I’m there.”

“Sweetheart,” your mom pleaded but you held up your hand to stop her.

“I’ve thought about it, every possible outcome, and I know how dangerous he is. I mean I saw him murder my parents.” Tony mumbled, ‘Twins,’ under his breath. “But we have to stop him. The longer HYDRA has him the more people will get hurt. We have to save him,” the team was quiet, as they had a silent conversation with one another. But Natasha’s eyes stayed on you, afraid if she looked away you would disappear right before her eyes. “Come on guys,” you whined. “We got this! You are the Avengers, Earth’s mightiest heroes. You’ll protect me.” They were waiting for Natasha’s approval, no one was going to speak before her. You kept your heart steady and your poker face down so she could see everything. Finally, she sighed.

“I don’t like it,” she admitted. Then again who would? She was going to have to watch her daughter be live bait. “But she’s right, it’s our only option.” You smiled, nodding your head.

“How we do proceed?” Vision asked. “We must ensure the capture of Sargent Barnes and the safety of Miss. Romanoff.” You liked Vision. He was the only Avenger to call you, ‘Miss. Romanoff’, it made you feel more connected to her.

“Actually,” you raised your hand slowly. “I have an idea.”

“Little red,” you looked up from your phone. Steve was walking towards you with two men. The nickname seemed to spread once Yelena said it in front of the team. You heard it more than your actual name, it made you feel like a superhero. “I want you to meet some people.” You stood up and met the trio halfway. “This is Agent Brock Rumlow and Secretary Alexander Pierce.” You shook the men’s hands. You’ve seen them around the compound, a handful of times but you’ve never been introduced. “Agent Rumlow will be in charge of the SHIELD agents assigned to this mission.”

“I must say it’s a good plan. I was told you came up with it,” Pierce said. You nodded.

“Yes sir,” you said. “I knew the only way to ensure his capture was if it was believable and I was present.” Pierce smiled, you didn’t like it. A chill went down your spine.

“You’re a brave kid,” he said and the four of you began the walk to the conference room. It was the final meeting, to make sure all the Ts were crossed and Is were dotted. Rumlow trailed behind you, Pierce, and Steve.

“Are you not scared?” He asked. “The Winter Solider isn’t someone to be messed with.” You hated his tone but you brushed it off, there were other things to worry about.

“Terrified,” you admitted. “But I know all of you have my back,” Steve opened the door. “Right, Agent Rumlow?” You asked him, refusing to enter the room. He smirked.

“Right, Little Red.” Oh, you hated the way he said your name. You walked into the room and sat between Natasha and Maria. Immediately, your mom grabbed onto your hand and squeezed it. You squeezed it back.

With the plan in motion, you were starting to feel sick to your stomach. The busy New York streets were doing nothing to calm your nerves, even though you could pinpoint the SHIELD agents stationed around you. This was your plan after all. For the past few days, you were sending text messages to your ‘friends’ back home and claimed you hated living with the Avengers. You double-downed and said they were holding you against your will. Tony made sure your messages could be seen. Finally, a number you didn’t recognize messaged you and proclaimed they could get you away from them. A plan was made for you to sneak your way to New York City and meet at a cafe. Unbeknownst to your mysterious contact, the Avengers were in the loop. You would entertain the man until the Winter Solider made his appearance. As soon as he was there, you were to get to a predetermined location and a SHIELD agent would get you away from the fight.

You were given no coms. The only thing you were given was a bracelet with a tracker on it that your mom gave you. You sipped on your hot chocolate and played with the piece of jewelry. You wished you could hear your mom’s voice but you knew she was watching. So was Maria, Yelena, and Clint. “Hello,” you jumped at the sudden voice, hitting your knee against the table.

“Sorry,” you whipped the hot chocolate you split. “You startled me.” The man laughed and offered his hand. You shook it as he sat down. He wasn’t what you were expecting, glasses, long black hair, and tattoos. He chuckled.

“It’s fine. I can imagine you are on edge with everything going on,” you nodded as the man put a briefcase on the table.

“It’s been a crazy few months,” you admitted.

“Parents murdered by the Winter Solider and kidnapped by the Avengers,” you took a sip of your drink, it was still hot. “What made you want to get away from them now?” He asked.

“I just miss my friends,” your voice shaking was a good choice. You deserved an Oscar for this performance. “I miss my life before all this,” he opened the briefcase. “I want to go home.”

“I’ll get you home, sweetheart, trust me,” it happened rather quickly. The man reached for your hand and with his free one he had a small syringe. You had to admit it was ballsy, attacking in such a public location. But you were quick to pull your hand away and splash your hot chocolate on the man’s face. In his panic, you jumped over the metal fence and heard the man speak frantically in Russian, no doubt to the com he was wearing.

You got flashbacks as three black vans came rushing down the street, and innocent civilians dove out of the way. But you stayed, you needed confirmation. The man overcame his shock and jumped over the fence. He swung at you. You grabbed his fist and used his momentum to throw him over your body. With his back on the ground, you delivered a quick punch and he was out cold.

The vans stopped and there he was. An assault rifle was in his hands and his metal arm was shining in the sun. His eyes were glued to you as HYDRA agents poured down the street. You thought it was overkill but their attention was diverted when Tony flew overhead, blowing up one of the vans. That was your cue, you turned around and ran.

You thanked every conditioning session Pietro put you through because you made it to the alley in no time. “Little Red,” you sighed as you saw the SHIELD agent.

“Agent-” his name died on your lips as a gunshot went off and his body slumped to the ground. A hand went around your mouth before you could scream and a sharp prick on your neck made your eyes water. You tried to fight the assailant as he dragged you to a van, over the bodies of the other agents that were assigned to protect you. Whatever they injected you became too much, your eyes began to close as they threw you in the back of the van. The last thing you felt was them ripping the bracelet off your wrist before the world went dark.

You woke with a start. You dreamt that you were falling, screaming for someone to help you but no one was there. In the dim light, your eyes adjusted to the room, no cell, you were in. There was a toilet, a door with a caged window, a mattress you were lying on, and stood in the corner was him. The Winter Solider. You jumped to your feet and faced him. The sudden movement caused your head to spin but you remained standing. His eyes were cold, void of any emotion. If he knew who you were, he gave no indication. He looked at you like he was staring right through you. “Hi,” you squeaked out. God, your heart was beating so fast. Rattling against your rib cage. There was no way he couldn’t hear it then again you could hear his. You focused on it, the slow pace of his heart. You let out a shaky breath then another. Soon your heartbeat matched his and you looked at his face, half of it covered by that mask. There was a small spark in his blue eyes that quickly disappeared. He was impressed. “Where am I?” This time your voice was steady. Instead of answering, he closed the distance between you and him. You fought every nerve in your body that called out for you to run. But you stayed. Even when he towered over you and tried to force your back against the wall.

You were terrified, fear crept deep within your bones, as his eyes looked over every detail of your face. Was he trying to memorize it or find a memory? You weren’t sure. With his metal hand, he gripped your chin. You were surprised at how gently his touch was. “Who?” He grunted out, you almost missed it. Did he ask you who? What the hell was that? He could have added so many more words to make a thought. Instead, he asked you who? Before you could question him, the door opened and he was back in his corner. Four heavily armed men entered the room.

“Well, well, well,” you knew that voice. “Look whose finally up.”

“Rumlow,” you said as the SHIELD agent walked in followed by Pierce. “And Pierce.” What was going on? They worked for SHIELD, they were the good guys. Your stomach dropped at the realization. They beat you, you met someone with a better poker face than your own. You hated cheaters.

“The whore’s daughter is smart.” Rumlow chuckled. Your blood boiled but you had to be smart. You were given a losing hand and you weren’t ready to fold. Pierce held up his hand to silence him and stepped closer to you. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the Winter Solider move. The rest of the room missed it.

“What do you want from me?” The man grabbed a hold of your chin, forcing your head side to side. Winter grunted in the corner, this time the room heard it.

“Looks like she has a guard dog already,” Rumlow teased. Pierce dropped the hold he had on you, your jaw sore.

“Welcome to the new world order,” he said. “Hail HYDRA.”

Sorry! I know another part is annoying but this was getting really long. Good news is a lot of it is written soo I'm hoping to post it on Monday, maybe Sunday. Enjoy!

#blackhill x daughter!reader #blackhill x reader #blackhill x you #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x daughter!reader #natasha romanoff x reader #avengers x reader #blackhill #maria hill x reader #maria hill x daughter!reader #maria hill x natasha romanoff

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bobbin-buckley · 23 days ago

Text

What I think Dating Carol Danvers is like:

Cairo Danvers x Fem!Reader

Summary: Just headcanons about dating Captain Marvel! With some little Drabbles added in

Warnings: Fluff and maybe some mentions of sex, some mentions of violence

Carol

Reader

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-Definitely live together, wether it’s on your home planet or in a ship that maybe Talos or you savaged

-Always scolding her when she gets hurt, though she doesn’t mind it. She sometimes gets small injuries on purpose just to be babied by you

-Having you watch her do her training, she loves showing off to you. Fury finds it laughable whenever she messes up, but you find it cute

-Got either a dog or cat together, she seems like the kind of person to like both

-Loves it when you play with her hair, she won’t admit it but she also loves the little braids you put in her hair

-Sometimes (all the time) whenever you’re on your period you have her use her powers to soothe your cramps, though she’s skeptical about it and scared she’ll accidentally hurt you. You continuously tell her she won’t

-^^To add on from this, she’ll also warm you up whenever needed. She’s basically a heated

-Can’t cook. So it’s all on you to make dinner, you never let her in the kitchen

“I’m just getting a snack babe…”

“How can I trust you won’t turn the toaster on?”

“……please?”

-You helping her remember her childhood and before the crash with Maria and her daughter

-Being pretty protective and keeping an eye on you whenever in the galaxy, she’s afraid you’ll end up getting hurt somehow

-At first when you guys started dating, she was afraid to show you what she truly was. Her abilities an all, she didn’t want you thinking she was a violent person. But you thought it was kickass and fell in love with her more

“You don’t…mind the fact I am genuinely like the sun?”

“I think it’s pretty badass, and you are hot both ways.”

“…..thank you…” *Internally screaming*

-Super gentle during sex but let’s you make the decision of how you want it to be. She’s honestly a bit nervous for the first time

-Her and Maria tried to convince you to learn how to fly a ship but you refused, (they both understood)

-Offering to babysit Monica with Carol when Maria is busy. You three end up lighting fireworks off the roof and watching scary movies that’ll make Monica sleep with her mom the next couple of nights

-Becoming best friends with Fury because he’s great

-She seems like the type to be pretty cuddly, and loves to give neck kisses

-She even will take you on dates on different parts of the galaxy, Star gazing is her favorite. She’s secretly an expert at the constellations and knows everything about zodiac signs. Nerd.

“Did you know They Babylonians divided the sky into 12 areas, and each area with a name, figure and meaning. Like the word ‘zodiac’ comes from a Greek term for ‘sculpted animal figures’.”

“You’re such a nerd…”

-Whenever your sad it makes her sad so she does her best to cheer you up, and it always works whatever she does

-During workouts she has you sit on her back as she does push-ups just to test how good her muscles are. (Another way to show off)

“Babe…you’re quite heavy today….”

“Are you calling me fat?!”

“N-no! Not at all!!!”

-Had accidentally burnt you one time and couldn’t stop apologizing or kissing the wound

-She seems like a boob and ass girl equally tbh

-Gives you the mom look with the crossed arms and hip stance when you’ve done something wrong or stupid

-May seem dangerous and mean but literally such a sweetheart

-So soft with you, Fury makes fun of her for it sometimes

-Would never forgive herself if you got hurt

-Overall I think Carol is a pretty good girlfriend, she doesn’t try to become a workaholic. She just saves the galaxy when she needs to, always coming back to you…with at least a scratch or two

“How’d you even….? You know what..never mind.”

*Currently has five splinters in her hand* “I fell….”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/n: I know what I said about taking a break but I just started getting into Marvel and just watched Captain Marvel and fell in love with Carol so here we are.

I’d take absolutely any requests!! But I’ve only seen half of Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, Captain America so just give me time to catch up 😭 (it’ll take the rest of my life)

#wlw #captain marvel #marvel #carol danvers #carol danvers x fem!reader #carol danvers x reader #carol danvers x you #carol danvers x y/n #fem reader #marvel women

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beevean · 2 months ago

Note

You know what that badass panel of Maria reminds me of?

It reminds me of the part in Mega Man 4 where Kalinka Cossack just fucking runs out between a superpowered android and her father in a big ole murder mecha and tells them to Stop

The fact that she even enters the room before Proto Man does has the vibe that she like, wrenched herself out of his grip to do that, and for how simple it is graphically (because NES) that moment is *incredibly* badass when you actually think about it from an in-universe perspective

Maria Robotnik 🤝 Kalinka Cossack ^ Very brave and strong-headed little girls

that's it that's all

I FUCKIGN LOVE WHEN CUTE KIND GIRLS ARE GIVEN A CHANCE TO BE BRAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

like Maria was already cool in my book because she finds the Artificial Chaos cute (don't get your tastes but you do you boo), and of course we know she had plenty of inner strength because she pulled a page from Lisa's book and used her last words to urge Shadow to make people happy. But this is just the rawest way to prove how much Maria cares for Shadow 💖 and it's mutual! They just love each other 🥺

But you know what, I never stopped to think about Kalinka, but yes had the game been made at the time of full cutscenes the impact of her standing Mega Man and her father would have felt more.

Now it gives me big "Amy standing in front of the OP hedgehogs who made mincemeat out of Sonic with his telekinesis to tell him to knock it off" energy lol. wait i need to

perf 💖

#sonic the hedgehog #maria robotnik #amy rose #megaman #kalinka cossack

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xshingie · 3 months ago

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Richter Belmont Character Profile and Analysis: The deconstruction, and subsequent reconstruction of what makes a hero.

A common character critique that many video game and show fans have of Richter Belmont in Castlevania Nocturne is that he is a weak character; not worthy of being a Belmont on the basis that he's physically weak, not as physically strong nor capable as Trevor. All he does is cry and run away, not being able to carry a fraction of what it means to be a man, merely a shadow of what a Belmont should be.

And sure, all of that is true. But there's more layers to Richter. So join me while I go on a deep dive on what he's accomplished so far... and where I want him to go to fully realize his character arc.

Richter Belmont: From Beginnings to End of S1 Nocturne

We meet the first young Richter accompanying his mother Julia. He remarks, "I thought I was supposed to fight evil, I thought that was the whole point [of being a Belmont]." This statement summarizes a simplified view of what to him, what it means be a Belmont. When they both encounter Olrox, Richter confidently states, "You've made a big mistake. My mum's going to slice you in two." Even in the beginning of the fight, he is gleefully cheering her on, undoubtedly expecting that his mother will easily slay Olrox just like any other vampire he's probably seen his mother do multiple times.

But alas, as we all know, Richter's precocious worldview as he knew it is pulled under the rug that day.

As @ifishouldvanish so incisively calls to attention in their post, Julia Belmont's last words to Richter are not, "I love you" but "I'm sorry, Richter." What is Julia exactly saying sorry for? Not being able to protect Richter? Not being able to protect her family? Not being able to live up to the ideals/image that Richter had in his mind as Belmonts being infallible in their ability to slay vampires? That the last image that he will have of her, someone who he had always seen as undefeatable, brutally slain right before his eyes? This is the last image that Richter has of Julia, and my subject interpretation is this lasting image unconsciously permeates his character motivations, inhibitions, and fears -- fear of (1) being unable to protect his loved ones, or (2) living up to the legacy of what it means to a Belmont, or even perhaps, (3) what is the inevitable outcome of what will become of any Belmont.

When we are reintroduced to Richter now as a young man, we witness an exemplary display of his fighting capabilities. A slight smirk on his face, his suave and showy fighting style with his whip and throwing knives, as he bodies two vampires while barely breaking a sweat. It comes easily to him, he isn't physically challenged in this encounter at all. The accompanying score is heroic, swelling in triumph.

On first appearances, it's like yes, yes! This is what us fanboys signed up for and are here to see -- this is what it means to be a Belmont -- this badass action hero, stacking an endless body count of vampires and monsters! No wonder fans were so utterly disappointed that Richter ran off like a crybaby when he was needed the most -- and I can certainly understand this disappointment, some fans want to keep it simple -- they just want to see a Belmont kicking night creature or vampire ass in an incredibly display of action sequences.

But is that all there is to being a Belmont?

As we get to observe Richter outside of combat, we start to peer through behind the bravado. He is a bit of a smartass, with a penchant for sarcasm. He deliberately makes it a point that he doesn't believe in anything -- not in any deeper purpose, ideal, or cause. And that he’s perfectly content with how things are. All he needs to do is protect Maria and Tera. Any opportunity or question presented to him that starts to encroach on his deeper purpose (why he fights), or his past (why he can’t do magic anymore) -- is deflected with flippant remark, or a statement that he’s perfectly content with how he is.

Richter: "I don't believe in destiny." Maria: "You don't believe in anything." Richter: "I believe in you and your mother. I believe you're the kindest and most courageous people in the world. So I don't need to understand the things you believe in, and I certainly don't need to believe in them too. I just need to stand by you. Always.”

Maria: Why do you kill vampires then, if you're so uninterested Richter: Because it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Annette: We're all descended from Gods. We just have to learn to draw from their power. Richter: I'm quite happy with my whip and knives, thank you.

Even when Annette and Edouard ask around for Belmont, he shifts his gaze uncomfortably and doesn't directly acknowledge being the Belmont they’re looking for. Perhaps he's ashamed of carrying the Belmont surname now. Perhaps some part of him wants to forget that he is a Belmont, from a long proud ancestry of vampire hunters who have accomplished legendary feats and here he is -- the only thing he’s actually done up to this point is run away like a scared little boy. By having run away from the gravesite of where his mother died, this encounter is a thorn of what he had left behind, having strayed from the path he really was passionate about undertaking when he was a starry-eyed kid.

When you think of an archetype of a hero, is it about the count of feats they accomplish? Sure, these regaling tales are impressive, but I would argue but the true heart of what resonates with audiences -- the ones that endure in our hearts are the ideals, principles, and values that the hero stands behind -- whether it's standing up for others, standing behind a purpose that they are championing for. The Belmont formula of heroes have been relatively straightforward in their objective -- defeat Dracula, or whatever iteration evil takes (note: @aquilaofarkham has a great analysis of Richter's video game counterpart in their wonderfully written essay with how post-Dracula, the Belmont purpose/expectation is subverted).

Herein lies the problem. Because Richter has resigned himself to live a life where he doesn't want to attach himself to any abstract ideal, purpose, or value, telling himself and others that he's perfectly content with how his life is; he doesn't have any real principle to stand behind, he doesn't have anything to fight for -- living a life devoid of meaning. He doesn’t believe in anything, he doesn’t fight for anything beyond the bare minimum; because if he believes in something (or someone), that would mean you care. And if you care about something, something that is important to you, that means you will inevitably lose it, just like how he lost his mother. Just like how he lost this image or ideal of what it means to a Belmont.

We have effectively a shell of a heroic protagonist in form, but not in any meaningful way. Not so dissimilar when Richter runs into Juste, who is also a shell of what he used to be.

Juste: Evil will always win, Richter. Whatever it is, evil. And it's everywhere. It will always be stronger than us. And you can kill this or that devil. A Lord Ruthven, a Dracula, maybe even an Olrox. But there'll always be more, more and worse. And they'll murder the people you love. No one around you are safe. Evil will always win.

The inevitable outcome, this cycle that many Belmonts have experienced before -- sure, you get to defeat the next great evil (or Dracula for the umpteenth time). So what’s the point of all of this? Why even try?

Richter: Because I had to. I have to live. There are people I love. Pity that it didn't work out like that for you. I'm am much younger than you, that's probably what it is. Juste: Yes, that's probably all that it is.

Richter's last words to Juste are intriguing -- neither a definitive conclusion nor does it provide any narrative satisfaction. Juste's statement still stands: there's always going to be another bad guy around the next corner. But for the present moment, Richter has gained his confidence, his newfound purpose back.

Later, when Richter recaps to Annette his realization that coincided with his magic re-awakening:

Richter: When I had nothing to hold onto and everything was gone, I remembered the things that make me who I am. The hopes, the pain, and the shit. The love in this house. And I supposed for the first time, I really made a choice about the kind of person I want to be. A Belmont.

Richter is ready to reclaim the Belmont surname, and finally stand behind who he truly is, stepping up to become the hero. He's found his purpose, so he states -- to protect the people he loves.

This quality of Richter is what I find most admirable, and ultimately his most heroic trait. That when it comes time for him to step up to the plate to protect the people he’s decided to accept into his inner world, he will 110% put himself wholeheartedly selflessly on the line. He may be afraid, but he will show up when it ultimately matters protecting his loved ones.

Now this is where my opinion starts to differ -- while Richter’s power-up is one of the most triumphant moments in the show and appears conclusive in how he states that he’s not going to let himself be afraid ever again; in my opinion, it is ultimately is a hollow one because in my opinion, he’s still dodging what is making him uncomfortable. Note how Annette touches on the fact that it’s not a bad thing to be afraid, that perhaps the better approach is to look inward what you have on the line at stake.

It may be cliche but the old adage has never resonated truer in this context: courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. That in spite of the fear, you make the choice to take action, rather than relinquish yourself to the destiny dealt upon you -- even if the outcome is fixed.

This Distance Between Us - Musings on Richter/Annette

[Note: this section below is specific to the Richter/Annette fanfic I wrote. This starts to deviate from canon into describing concepts I wish were properly realized/actualized, so you can just skip this section and jump straight to the acknowledgments at the end]

----

This Distance Between Us blossomed unexpectedly from what started out as character study/exercise for Richter. As I was writing from Annette’s perspective, I was struggling with Richter -- what drives him as a character, and why might he be drawn to Annette?

The concept behind the title is based on instances where Richter is very observant of Annette's various emotional states and appears deeply affected by them. There also seems to be hesitation on his end, as if he's struggling to find the right words to comfort her. His penchant for sarcasm, jokes, smooth comebacks are gone, replaced with a Richter who is hesitant, seemingly lacking adequate words to comfort her -- or even worse, when he wordlessly watches her tears fall, utterly frozen in place.

Like the core conflict Richter grapples with, it's not so much the lack of physical ability which limits him, but a psychological one. Because the truth is, how they've both lived their lives up to this point is vastly different. Despite their shared traumas of losing their mothers, Annette has lived her life having clawed tooth and nail for her freedom just to survive; in a way that Richter will never have the framework to understand nor comprehend what she went through.

The more I've thought about how Richter and Annette would interact... I feel that Annette would get on Richter's nerves a lot, since she demonstrated that she: (1) jumps impulsively straight into action driven by short-sighted emotions, and (2) says unkind things that cuts when she's driven by anger/grief. Because she's fought so hard for her freedom, she would have such an almost visceral reaction if anybody tried to command her to do anything... while I love Annette, her flaws are strong and in-your-face so the biggest writing challenge is like... despite all of Annette's bullheaded personality, how would Richter fall for someone like that? But conversely… What if that’s actually more satisfying, more compelling, that he falls for her -- all of her -- despite how difficult of a person she is? Now that’s a story I want to get behind.

This work is a manifestation of a personal wish-fulfillment (because OK, I totally wrote this because I wanted to work out how Richter would confess to Annette, and then they kiss and immediately start banging -- all on the same night oop No? Just me? haha). On a more serious note though, I took a slightly different branch of what I really wanted Richter's character arc to conclude on at heart -- a thematic reversal of Richter and Annette's 'something to lose' conversation. This time, Richter gets to ask her what Annette cares for deeply, and this time, he’s ready to step up and face what he spent his whole life running away from [metaphorically speaking], what’s he’s been unable to face this whole time.

Richter: Annette, I won’t run away. I won’t run away from what’s between us.

Why might Richter be drawn to Annette? Perhaps it could have been the time when Annette talks about fighting for the Haitian revolution, inspired by her experience of having survived and fought for something. As @amaramiyu points out in their post here, he is spellbound by her speech.

But honestly, the reason might not be anything particularly deep nor special either. It could be as simple as the fact that she’s just a girl who laughs at his lame ass jokes.

Annette: I knew you would be back. I was more concerned than I wanted to be. Richter: Oh. The muscles, huh?

Consistent with the themes of what it means to be a Belmont -- sure you get the champion the great heroic achievements of defeating foes, but alongside are the burdens/responsibility of carrying the Belmont legacy.

Richter didn’t believe in anything. Not in this damned revolution, not in utterances committed by pious idiots in the name of some God, and certainly not in any destiny beholden to him as the last descendant of the Belmont clan.

This perennial fear of dealing with sacrifice, loss, and grief that spans multiple generations (see: @aquilaofarkham's analysis, Dying Has Never Frightened Us Intergenerational Trauma, Healing, & the Burden of Legacy in Castlevania). I think this is the most compelling theme that Richter will always have to contend with. What will be the inevitable outcome of his own personal destiny? Is he just going to continue to fight, killing foes until one day he encounters a foe he is unable to vanquish, meeting his own end?

Personally, I wasn’t exactly 100% satisfied with the conclusion the show seemed to draw -- Richter realized he wants to protect people he loves, and that’s the source of why he got this magic back. I think what would feel more complete, to enable this full realization of his character arc -- he’s letting himself feel, by acknowledging that he cares for something -- or someone -- on a deeper level. Finding his purpose again is synonymous to finding something to believe in. Richter had lost something so deeply precious to him (his own mother, his own beliefs/ideals), but now that he’s found something precious to him again, he wants to hold onto it. Despite having experienced your world shattering before your eyes, you still want to hold onto any hope, any belief -- protect it dearly, because now you know just how fragile and precious another’s life is, how easily you can lose it just like that. That despite this ubiquitous fear, he still wants to hold onto this temporal moment between them, to hold onto her.

Because the truth is, Richter and Annette might not have a happy ending. Whether he might not be able to protect her, or if Annette leaves him to return to Saint Domingue. That despite all the fears swirling, hanging over his head -- whether fear of dying, fear of failing to protect loved ones, fear of his inevitable destiny/outcome, fear of not living up to the Belmont legacy -- whatever it may be, it would be more compelling that even knowing all this, Richter is still willing to take this leap of faith, this plunge.

Richter held onto her so tightly, cradling her head in the palm of his hand as she tilted back in shudders, her eyes flickering towards the heavens. Holding onto what he had to come to realize what he held so dear. Holding onto what he had come to realize what exactly it was he wanted to protect. Because he had finally found something he wanted to believe in.

Regarding the ending line -- What does Richter want to believe in, that he desperately realized he wants to protect? Well, I left that for reader interpretation. :)

Acknowledgments, Credits, and/or Further Reading

This is ramble actually just rehash, building from the groundwork of the following analysis of what others have already thoughtfully and elaborately laid out:

@aquilaofarkham / Hannah Richardson’s comprehensive analysis, "Dying Has Never Frightened Us Intergenerational Trauma, Healing, & the Burden of Legacy in Castlevania" of Belmont characters, both video game and show counterparts. | Google Doc | Ao3 | Tumblr --This essay is basically the backbone of this entire heacanon vomit.

@ifishouldvanish's tumblr post regarding Julia Belmont’s last words for the haunting fridge inspiration

@amaramiyu Amaramiyu’s tumblr post where she highlighted little details in the nuances of Richter and Annette’s interactions

And lastly, a huge thank you to YOU, from the bottom of my heart if you've managed to somehow read all of this! Either by reading this (or if you end up checking out This Distance Between Us), I hope Richter begins to endear you in your heart, just a little, and you will continue to cheer him on in his journey to assume the Belmont mantle.

Cheers! - Shingie

#castlevania nocturne #castlevania netflix #richter belmont

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lonnitamongus · 1 year ago

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A look at the victims of tcmg

With the new release of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game, we have been exposed to a terrifying and tense world with lovely brand new characters in addition to the iconic Sawyers. The victims, all original to the game, are just fantastic. Each of them has a rich backstory to them and more so, clear personalities!

Playing the game and playing a good amount with each victim, I have noticed some clear markers of personality in every character through their dialogue.

Sonny, my main, is a anxious yet steadfast kind of guy. He speaks timidly as a mouse, commenting quietly about how horrifying things are while trying to keep brave. Although in stature he is smaller than the other victims, Sonny is brave despite his greatest fears. He constantly amps himself up, urging himself to not loose hope and to get out of tough spots. I really love how Sonny, alongside Ana, are the friends that try to bring peace of mind to everyone else. Sonny isn't a leader but he is strong support to the other survivors and that fact shows even more in his ability to hear other survivors and the killers from far distances. He's a sort of lookout for the group, staying cunning and brave despite clearly being scared. Another thing I have to point out with Sonny is his connection to Maria. Sonny, alongside Ana, clearly want to find Maria the most out of anyone. Sonny constantly talks about how he recognizes the family members from his investigations. Sonny likely spied on the family members and is likely the one who figured everything out, connecting Maria's disappearance to the family. Sonny clearly was adamant on finding his friend and helping Ana out, he's a true friend.

Then there is Julie and... she is a completely different type of character but I love her for that. She isn't a resilient survivor or a strong willed person. In fact, Julie is like an innocent girl stuck in the worst place she could possibly be. Julie is probably the least hopeful victim in tcmg, she constantly comments on how they are all probably going to die and that there is no hope of them escaping. She is extremely fearful about everything happening and that's the dominant emotion that controls what she does. Julie may be extremely scared but that doesn't change the fact that she's way more adept towards survival than she might think. Her extreme fear helps her as because of it she is much more cautious and stealthy than any other victim. Julie is one of the more tragic victims in this game I feel, she always cries extremely hard when she gets killed and I hate whenever she dies. Julie is a sweet soul and the other survivors comment on that when they find her dead body. Connie for example says "Oh sweetie what did they do to you..." Julie to me is clearly a girl who is a sweet soul and wanted to help find her missing friend but she never thought it would go somewhere so horrible. Out of all the victims, she is the only one who regrets coming her and constantly says that they never should of come here. Julie is also super caring! She asks if the other survivors are hurt and she tells each other to stick together. I also love how she casually calls everyone babe, I think it's just a small detail since she is from California but I still think it's cool. She is an extremely scared person but still has a kind and caring heart.

Ana is probably my favorite character, she is just so extremely bad ass and is for sure the final girl of the game. Not only is she the youngest in the group but she is also the toughest. Not just because her toughness stat is crazy high but because Ana herself is a tough person. Out of all the victims, I'd say she is the most fearless and she uses that to her advantage completely. She fearlessly stands up to the family and she has such devotion for her friends and her sister. Everytime she attacks a family member she screams "This is for Maria" or "What did you do to my sister?!" She is a badass in everyway frankly and I love her for it. Her ability shows that too, SHE LITERALLY IGNORES PAIN BECAUSE HER RESOLVE IS SO STRONG. I mean seriously, talk about final girl. If Ana was armed with more dangerous weapons than just bone knives, she would bring hell upon the family I'm sure.

Okay now we have Leland, who is all around a pretty cool guy. He's loyal, strong, and caring. Leland however, is not tough. He literally whimpers on low health, if you want Leland whimper audio just play him for one game and there you go. Leland has a low tough stat and that shows in his personality too. Leland's voicelines suggest he isn't a very brave person but when worst comes to worst, bravery springs up in Leland when he would least expect it. He does great fighting back against family members better than he does sneaking around hoping they won't find him. I feel like Leland is a little self consious about himself, he doesn't think he has what it takes to survive when it actuality he does. He has a true heart of gold and wrecklessly, yet bravely shoulder charges those killers head on despite his fear.

Last but not least, Connie is our last victim. She's crafty and picks locks faster than Bubba can rev his chainsaw, we all know it and we love her for it. Connie is another character I love, although I think her true personality is dulled down a little in such a tense situation. Some of Connie's voice lines suggest she is a kind hearted and witty woman but most of the time she is completely focused on getting the hell out of here. Connie switches from being a kind friend to a girl with more survival potential than anyone could have guessed. Connie, like Sonny, is scared but at the same time she has the strength to mostly ignore it so she can focus on getting out. Perhaps sometimes too much however as her ability makes her too focused on locks to escape to realize the family is around her. I really like this about her though, it really shows how she gets in a tense situation.

Overall I have been loving the tcm game and it's victims are wonderfully fleshed out. It's really refreshing to see these characters, know their motives for being here and their vastly different personalities. It's really refreshing and it just adds onto the intensity of the game. I want the victims to survive and I feel horrible when they don't because they are all so likeable 😭 tcm is just a great game so far and I'm hopeful that the game will continue going strong and just keep improving.

#tcm game #texas chainsaw massacre #texas chainsaw massacre game #tcm #sonny williams #ana flores #connie taylor #leland mckinney #julie crawford #I've been loving this game so much!!!!!#Just examining how unique and full of life each of the victims are #I love that they all have motivations and clear personalities

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smok3r7 · 10 months ago

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Is Leaving Even An Option?

Joel x F!reader

Explicit, 18+

Six: Running Away // Joel’s Perspective

Main Masterlist & Series Masterlist - My Ao3

Summary: Your days have become one in the same, even with the terrifying reality of death right outside the walls of Jackson. You never thought you’d be in the situation you’ve been stuck in for seven years now, the daily abuse you endure has become an expectation. You take whatever your husband throws at you, literally and figuratively, because you’ve been trained to believe this is normal. But a new man, Joel, moves next door and happens to be friendly towards you, this causes your husband’s anger to worsen. Your mind starts a gruesome war with itself - can you leave him or do you stay until the inevitable happens?

Chapter Summary: After Joel met you, his whole life changed. Seeing all these events unfold from his perspective definitely makes the whole thing seem more real, and it somehow makes it harder for you to understand.

Word count: 6.3k

⚠️Warnings: mention of abuse from past chapters, fear of losing another loved one, quick mention of rape from past chapter (no description)

—

“Please, do not call her Mrs. Rossi,” Maria pleads.

“Why not? Isn’t that her name?” Ellie chimes from the living room behind Joel’s relaxed body.

All he does is slightly turn his head to the left and squint his eyes at Ellie to tell her to shut up, and she’s quick to shrug her shoulders as he turns back to face Maria, sorry!

“Well, yes, but… Nate, her husband, is an abusive piece of shit. She’s been with him for seven years now and for some reason,” Maria sighs as she shakes her head, “the poor girl won’t leave him. So just, please, don’t call her Mrs. Rossi.”

He nods as he takes a sip of hot coffee as he turns to Ellie once again to make sure she understands, “I’m not stupid, Joel.” He just shakes his head as he still stands in the kitchen that belongs to Tommy and Maria. Why won’t she leave if it’s that bad, floats around his head so much that he can’t help but ask Maria how bad this marriage actually was, before Maria goes down the rabbit hole of it all with him and Ellie.

—

How could someone stay married to such a vile person? It just makes no sense. After only knowing him for less than a year, she married him. I mean, what was she expecting to happen? She didn’t even know who he truly was.

What’s so special about this Nate? How did it become so bad without anyone noticing? Does Nate really hold that much power over her? Shit, clearly he does if this girl won’t leave him, even after beating her so badly she had a goddamn miscarriage.

Joel’s mind can't stop thinking about you and why on earth you would still be married to Nate, it’s simply unbelievable. And with knowing your history before Jackson, it boggles his mind even more because how can this woman who was once the most badass person, now become this weak, pushover of a woman - it just doesn’t make sense.

“She should be getting out of work soon,” Maria announces to Joel and Tommy, the three of them on the porch, watching the snow continue to fall.

“So I’m gonna have her bring you guys to the empty house next to hers, and look, I’m not saying you have to date her, but she needs a change in her life. So just maybe feel it out?”

“Maria, really?” Tommy starts with a laugh but it’s quickly turned into a cough when she looks at him.

“Yes, dear, she needs something more and I really think your brother and Ellie could give that to her!”

“Okay, look,” Joel interrupts, “I’ll give her a chance but if I get any vibe that she’s not digging for more, I’m leaving it at that. I’m not looking for a project.”

Maria nods, fair enough, thank you, and Joel gives a small nod back as he turns back to the snow again, the way the lanterns light up the snow covered street gives Joel a sense of security and hope. Maybe I can have a real life again, just maybe.

—

Wow.

That’s all that Joel’s brain can even begin to fathom about as he watches you walk up to the front porch with Maria where he and Tommy are.

Your beautiful facial features are what initially pull him into you, the way your eyes and nose move with emotion as you listen to Maria and how your nose scrunches and sniffs from the cold winter air is all just icing on the cake.

You haven’t even looked at him the whole time you’ve been chatting with Maria, but he guesses that's what happens after so many years of being abused when you do look at another man - even if it's just to meet someone new or become friends.

He quickly pushes those thoughts away for another time when he hears Maria introduce him to you and then you finally look at him. Joel watches how your breath catches in your chest, and he does the same but he’s a lot better at hiding it than you are.

Joel then reaches his worn hand out to meet your soft one, making sure to not scare you, to be gentle with you. “Nice to meet you darlin’” Falls from his lips with such ease, and he doesn’t even think about it, the whole world coming to a sudden stop as Joel stares at your beauty.

Your eyes shimmer from the the orange porch light that also illuminates your well-aged face, your subtle smile on the corner of your lips, the way your hair is covered in many snowflakes as they slowly melt into it, and all of this combined has Joel wanting to know more about you and how you ended up with Nate. If this is what you looked like after almost a decade of abuse, how gorgeous could you look out of it?

“Yeah, I can definitely do that,” You say smoothly as you continue to stare at Joel. He can’t help but smirk as he says, “Thank you darlin’,” with a natural wink to hint that he is somewhat interested, “gonna go grab the kid, then we can head out.”

—

Joel watches how your body goes rigid walking past your own house and the quick glance you give the mossy colored home. He notices the light through the sheer curtains of what he can only imagine is the living room, maybe even Nate.

Passing your home the three of you reach the navy blue house with a stunning wrap around porch and a huge oak front door. Holy shit - Joel never thought this day would come again, a time where he could be free of worry about death for him and Ellie. It’s such a relief to finally feel safe for once.

His heavy feet on the cream steps causes a slight creek as he slowly walks behind you and he takes a quick glance at your ass. God damn, you fill those jeans out nicely. You take a couple more steps before you reach the huge door and put the key in, pushing the door open and sliding to the side so he and Ellie can go in.

As you turn to him and hold out your finger with the key ring on it, your soft voice rings through his ears, “Welcome home.”

“I call dibs on the shower,” Ellie then shouts as she flies past the two bodies on the porch. This girl, I swear, Joel chuckles. Now it’s just him and you out in the freezing cold weather, and he wants to get a better look at you so he takes a couple steps, ending up across from you and he leans back on the railings for support.

“Thank you, sugar,” your head picks up at the sound of his voice.

Joel notices how your body sways back and forth between both feet, your feet most likely sore, your hands behind your back causing your army green jacket to tighten, and your face showing so much interest and curiosity.

“Will I- we be seeing more of you?” He quickly changes his words, not wanting to seem too desperate. His body language becomes sheltered, one hand behind his neck and the other in his jacket pocket, and he really doesn’t want to scare you away because for the first time in decades, Joel feels like something might come out of this.

The way your body and eyes are contradicting each other with innocence and lust has Joel feeling dazed, she is gonna be the death of me. You then innocently speak, “I sure hope so.”

You’re now only inches away from him, and oh, she’s just as hooked as I am. He takes a couple slow breaths that mesh with yours oh so perfectly. How I just want to grab your face and kiss you and give you everything you deserve, his mind is flowing with all the ideas of things to do for you, how he would make you breakfast every morning, let you do what you please, and treat you with the utmost respect.

Joel’s heart and mind are fighting with each other, his heart wanting to kiss you and his mind telling him it’s way too early for anything like that, even though you have shown you’re interested.

“Goodnight, Miller.”

“Goodnight, Sugar.”

No one moves. Not you, not Joel, both him and you are stuck on the porch, only inches apart from one another. He can tell you don’t want to go home, and why would you? If the light on in the living room is any indication of Nate waiting for you to walk in, Joel knows it won’t be any good for you.

Why do you have to go there? You know you don’t want to, you know you just want to stay here. But I know you’ll never ask, and there’s no way I can ask you - it’s just, too early.

He doesn’t want to send you back over to that so-called home of yours, but if neither he or you are going to ask, he simply must let you go for the night. The exhaustion of the past couple weeks of travel and violence is finally catching up to him, all he wants is to shower and lay down - preferably with you, but he’ll take what he can get.

“Goodnight, Sugar.” He smirks.

“Goodnight, Miller.” You bite your bottom lip which grazes him gently, you tease.

—

“I’m going to bed, G’night Ellie,” Joel yells down the stairs. Night, old man, he gets back, before he shakes his head and chuckles. This teenage girl is ridiculous, but she holds a very special spot in Joel’s heart - Ellie is his other daughter, his saving grace, his purpose.

As he shuts his bedroom door for the night, he can’t stop thinking about you and what is happening next door. Why didn’t I just ask her to stay over, repeats in his mind as he stumbles over to the king size bed that’s covered with gray sheets and a comforter. He sits down with a groan, his elbows rest on his knees and his hands come up to cover his face.

The image of you standing in front of him on the porch, only a mere inch away from him is ingrained into his eyes, it simply won’t leave him alone. He pulls his hands away from his face and stands back up, and his knees pop as he does, walking towards the window that faces your home and the only sign of life is from the one light on - please be okay.

How could he just let you walk right back into the lion's den? The feeling of guilt starts to creep into his mind and heart. If anything happens to you tonight, he’s gonna feel responsible.

—

“Joel, Joel!” Ellie shouts at him and shakes him awake.

“Better be important,” he groans as he slowly sits up under the covers, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

The sound of your name falling from Ellie’s mouth shakes him, he’s immediately up from the mattress and sprints down the stairs, Ellie right on his heels blabbering about how you showed up practically naked and with bruises all over.

He’s in pure terror at the sight of you curled up and shivering on the couch, your hair drenched from the snow, your face covered in blood and your left eye bruised, god damnit. He runs over to you and sits on the coffee table that faces your trembling body, the look on your face is disheartening, he watches as you tighten your arms around your bent legs.

As his eyes make their way to yours he sees the way your expression is a scream for help. Joel can’t stand to see you like this, all he wants to do right now is storm over next door and kick the shit out of this Nate kid. Who the fuck does this to a woman you’re supposed to love and cherish?

“You’re staying here for a little bit, sugar,” He bites through his teeth, wanting to control his rage in front of you.

He watches as you finally let it all go, as you start to blabber some sort of, thank you, caught between your sobs. Joel is quick to jump up and sit next to your shaking body, instinctively pulling you into his lap and starting to rock you as you continue to cry.

I knew not to send her over there, why didn’t I just invite her in? Poor girl, she doesn’t deserve this at all, not in the slightest. God, I could just go over there and kill that son of a bitch. How has no one done anything to help her? She’s so scared and weak, how is she still alive?

About twenty minutes have gone by, and your weeping has stopped but Joel watches your face as singular tears still roll down your cheek down to your neck. Joel can’t stop wanting to know what really happened tonight, and he needs you to say something, anything. Still staring at your figure in his arms, your head laying on his chest as it rises and falls in the rhythm of his, he asks what has been on his mind.

A moment goes by of silence, which Joel was expecting and completely understood - you clearly went through something incredibly traumatic tonight, enough for you to come over to Joel’s, to this man who is practically a stranger, and that alone says something.

He observes as you lift your face to look at him and you both stare into each other's eyes. His are soft and yours are sharp - should be the other way around. Joel feels this tear in his chest at the sight of you broken down to complete helplessness. I could’ve prevented this.

You hesitantly sit yourself up, still in Joel’s lap as he softly wraps his arms around your now sturdy body, just wanting to make you feel safe and comfortable. Okay, um, you start slowly telling him what happened and Joel just listens with intent - he needs to know how you ended up looking like this.

He can’t believe what he is hearing right now, she hid in her bathroom for three fucking hours? He ripped her hair, enough for pieces to be missing, gave her a black eye and bruised her whole body, old and new ones.

What a pig, a sad pathetic waste of a human life.

You’re hysterical by this point, hands flying as your voice continues to rise as you finish your dreadful story, but there’s one more thing you tell him that causes Joel to freeze.

“And I wouldn’t have been raped either.”

It causes this static sound to ring in his ears, the tears that have been begging to flow from his eyes finally roll down his cheek and disappear into his facial hair. Neither Joel or you have broken eye contact, and his eyes can speak more than his own voice can, he’s stunned into silence. I’m gonna kill him.

The sudden feeling of your soft hand on his cheek, as your thumb wipes away the trail of wetness from his tears, brings him back to the beautiful woman sitting in his lap. This woman that he feels he can help bring back to the old her, and that’s exactly what he’s gonna do.

—

Another round of the four seasons come and go. Joel and Ellie have insisted that you move in with them, both of them pleased when you accepted their offer. Joel especially, who never wanted you to step foot back into the hell you came from, even if Nate wasn’t there much - he knew that it held too many memories.

Over the last couple months, Joel and you decided to have a designated game night every Friday with Ellie, Tommy, and Maria. They would bring the food and Joel would supply the game for the evening, which usually ended up being some sort of card game.

“John Travolta’s right hand… Okayyyy,” Ellie drags out as she turns her head to look at Joel with a questionable look. Of course she doesn’t know who John Travolta is, he thinks as he takes a sip of his whiskey. When he sets it down and listens to Ellie continue, he looks over to you and sees you trying to hide your smile. That beautiful smile that makes Joel feel warm and bubbly inside, like a teenager on a first date.

Well it’s gotta be hers, he laughs to himself, you definitely do not have the best poker face, especially with some wine in you. Joel finds it cute when you get all ditzy after a couple drinks, it makes him feel warm because he knows how you weren’t allowed to drink with Nate, so the fact that you do here shows just how comfortable you really are.

“Having no legs, just toes,” Ellie reads, which is followed by you and Ellie bursting into laughter, both of you hitting the table and crying from reading the silly little white card, and Joel starts to laugh at you. She’s perfect.

“That’s the winner!”

“I win!” You shout as you raise your hands in the air and wave them around, and Joel watches as you finally act how you want to, not being scared to do so, there’s that girl Maria was talking about. He’s in complete awe of you and the confidence that has grown so much in the last year - shit, even the last couple months. It’s like you’re a new person, but still the same as before, you've just adapted your older personality with your newer one.

But just imagine a T-Rex with its baby arms and instead of legs, it just has toes, comes from Ellie as she does the baby arms impersonation and the whole table starts loudly laughing. Joel can’t help but smile, Ellie can finally have her teenage years back a little bit, more normal than out beyond the walls.

The conversation has changed, and Joel ends up blocking it out because he can’t stop thinking about the sight of you feeling free. The couple glasses of whiskey have made him feel like tonight could be the night, the night that the months of small flirting can come to an end and can turn into something else, just maybe.

It’s now or never, he thinks and he carefully sets his hand on your bare thigh and gives a soft squeeze. God, I just want to devour her. His eyes glance over to you and he pays close attention to how your body reacts to his new touch, and it pleases him to see the effect he has on you.

The way your chest rises and lowers, your eyes darting to his hand and back to him, the slow smile that grows on your face, then your hand laying on top of his with a gentle squeeze back. Yes, ma’am. A minute goes by of Joel not paying any attention to Maria’s complaining, all his focus on you and only you. He observes, discreetly of course, how you are slowly unwinding, moving close to your breaking point of just going upstairs. I gotta get rid of em’.

—

“Gotta say, darlin’,” Joel says as he slides his jeans off and moves to the head of the bed, “I like you in charge.” And he honestly does, it’s such a difference from your natural attitude that this has Joel attracted to you in a whole new way.

Joel is starstruck at your appearance, the way the green flannel hangs open showing off your sexy black lace bra that fits you perfectly, and he can’t take his eyes off of you. Your movements have Joel in a trance. When you straddle him, his hands almost have a mind of their own, the way they find their spot on your ass and they start to knead your soft skin.

All he wants to do is take care of you, by any means necessary, even if that means only you get the attention and love tonight - that’s perfectly okay with him. You honestly need this more than he does, and he knows that, so all his energy goes to pleasing you and only you. Joel has no problem with not getting anything in return, all he wants is for you to feel good, and honestly, he loves that you feel comfortable enough to be the dominant one. He’s gonna let you do what you want.

He loves watching how your face contorts from the pleasure his fingers give you, the way your hips roll with the rhythm of him. The little noises that escape your mouth have him in shambles, the way your hands snag his hair and it forces him to look at you while you kiss him - he loves it all.

“Let it all go, pretty girl,” Joel coos as you ride out your orgasm that has left you speechless, breathless, he watches how your body freezes and the broken moans roll out of your mouth into his. This is exactly what Joel wanted you to experience tonight - pure ecstasy.

—

The next morning, Joel gets up early and decides he’s gonna make you breakfast, that this is gonna become the new normal for you. He wanted you to have the best treatment here that you could possibly have. He finds some pancake mix and decides, why not, alongside some fresh fruit from your garden next door that you still attend.

“Ellie, can you grab the strawberries please? I’m gonna go grab her,” Joel asks as he exits the kitchen and heads towards the stairs. I really hope she enjoys this, he thinks to himself, and he really wants you to give this a chance because he knows that he’s not the only one who feels the connection the two of you have.

He softly knocks on the door so he doesn’t startle you, but when he doesn’t receive a response, he turns the silver handle. “Darlin’?” He asks to the empty bedroom, must be in the bathroom.

“Bathroom!” You respond quickly, but there’s a hint of something in your voice, something different.

He asks if everything is okay and the way you respond has him thinking you’re scared, or that there’s something you need or want to discuss, but he decides not to push it. He knows that you have your limits, and just by your voice alone, he can tell this is one of those times, so he dismisses himself and tells you that breakfast is ready.

“Hey,” Joel says to Ellie who’s at the dining room table eating her pancakes already, “have you talked to her at all today?”

“No, she’s been upstairs all morning,” she takes a sip of her orange juice, “why?”

“Okay, um- she just seems,” he waits a beat as he sits next to her, “something seems off.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Joel nods as he picks up his fork and tabs a piece of cut up pancake, and takes a bite just thinking of what possibly could be wrong. What happened?

After about five minutes, you finally come down the steps, and he can tell you’re trying to be quiet, almost mouse-like, but why? You don’t have to be scared here, you’re safe, Joel made sure you knew that and never thought any different. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case right now.

“Hi darlin’,” he chirps as you sit down across from him, “I’ll make you plate real quick.” And all you do is give a weak smile and thank you, and he’s sure that something is definitely wrong. You’re usually quick to say you can do it yourself or you just do it, and as Joel makes your plate and walks back, he looks at Ellie and she mouths, “I see what you’re talking about.”

The whole ten minutes you sit there, Joel and Ellie are trying anything to get you engaged in some sort of conversation, even if it’s stupid. But, nothing works, you just pick and pick at your plate, eating only a handful of bites. What the hell is going on?

Suddenly, you stand up and walk over to the sink but instead of setting your dishes in the sink, you just drop them next to it on the counter. “I’m heading next door to grab a couple things, and then I’m heading to the stables,” you coldly announce and continue to walk to the front door, grabbing your bow and arrow as you swing open the door and shut it behind you.

Joel’s at a loss for words - he can’t believe what he just saw. He thought the two of you had a really good time last night. Like, really good. Joel cannot recall anything negative from last night, game night went great, you two finally got past the flirting game that’s been going on - and oh, that’s it. It finally clicks, you’re not used to getting the attention during sex, sweet thing.

“What did you do, dummy?” Ellie breaks his train of thought from last night. He’s quick to turn his head back to her and just tells her, “Nothing, it all went great last night.” Ellie doesn’t need to know everything that went down between you and him, just not her business, he’ll just play it off as something else.

“Well,” she continues as she takes a bite of pancakes, “If I were you, I would head over there and try to talk to her. But y’know, that’s just me.”

Yeah yeah, Joel responds, like I wasn’t gonna do that anyways, he is almost frozen to his chair, he just can’t believe what events have unfolded right in front of his damn eyes. Why doesn’t she just talk to me?

“So, like, are you gonna go or what?” Ellie reminds him as she pushes his shoulder talking him out of the trance he was in. “Oh, shit,” he stands up, “Yeah, stay here. I’ll be back.” Joel is out the front door in a matter of seconds, heading to your old home you haven’t stepped foot in for months.

As he climbs your steps and reaches the door, he looks in the small window of the front door and he can see the lights on as well as the edge of the hallway closet door. There you are, he then brings his right hand to the door and starts to knock furiously because he has no idea what you’re doing over here, you haven’t been here in forever.

No answer.

God damnit, baby, he starts knocking again because he wants, he needs, to talk to you or at least, listen to what you have to say. Because he really cares and wants to know what is going on in that brain of yours, he wants to help you. With no answer coming from the other side of the door, Joel calls your name, followed by a weak, “I just wanna talk.”

His forehead falls to the window pane with utter defeat, why does she have to do this, she can just talk to me, she should know that by now.

After about three more rounds of knocking and calling out for you, Joel gives up, and he’s not sure what to do anymore. When you want to come back out, he will be right there to listen and hold you, he will be here for you whenever - Joel does not care how long either.

When Joel reaches the sidewalk covered in golden brown leaves, he thinks back to the last thing you said to him, I’m heading next door, then I’m going to the stables. That’s right, the stables, and Joel takes off running down Spruce St. towards them.

Joel passes Tipsy Bison and a couple guys yell out, “If you’re looking for the old lady,” that was your new nickname since people of Jackson knew you weren’t with Nate anymore, “She was talking to Vince about heading out!”

Joel stops his running and takes a couple seconds to catch his breath, “Are you serious?”

They group of men all nod their heads and Joel cannot believe what he just heard, no fucking way, she did not do that, he mumbles to himself. He says a quick thank you to the group and springs towards the stables because he really doesn't think that you left the safety of Jackson.

He notices how the padlock is still on the front doors of the barn, he quickly remembers the fenced area isn’t locked, so he runs back there and jumps over the little fence. When he goes into the stables and scans the barn for Dougie, he sees all the horses, except Dougie. No, no, no, no, he says to himself as he starts to panic.

She did not leave Jackson, no way. That’s just not possible, why would she do that? How could Vince just let her leave all by herself?

The same questions loop around in Joel’s head like a rollercoaster, and he just can’t seem to understand it all, everything seemed to be moving along smoothly last night, until this morning.

The next person to talk to was Vince. How could he let her leave alone? Bounces in his head as he leaves the stables and then hurries towards the front gate, this way he can actually see if you left or not. He scales the small fence and heads towards the big gate that lets people leave and enter Jackson.

As Joel takes a chance to catch his breath, he spots Vince as he takes the last step off the ladder to the top of the gate, there he is. Joel then yells out Vince’s name to grab his attention, as Vince notices Joel and the amount of distress he’s under, his face drops.

“What’s up, Joel?”

“Did she leave?”

As soon as the question leaves Joel’s mouth, Vince knows that something is up.

“Um, like, almost fifteen, twenty minutes ago,” Vince starts but Joel is quick to grab him by his collar and pins him up against the metal gate, causing his feet to dangle off the ground.

“And you just let her leave by herself?” Joel basically spits into this man's face.

“Sh- she told me that Tommy okay-ed it and that you were gonna be right behind her!” Vince rambles as he tries to plant his feet onto stable ground. However, Joel is so enraged that he isn’t thinking clearly, and although his conscience knows that Vince is innocent, his subconscious is not so generous.

Joel’s mind and emotions end up on autopilot. He wants to hurt anyone who he feels is responsible for you leaving Jackson. If Tommy didn’t yell out to him, Joel would surely have killed Vince right then.

Joel lets go of Vince’s collar instantly, and Tommy is quick to step between the two of them to stop whatever violence was about to unfold.

“Woah, woah,” Tommy questions as he stares at Joel, “what is going on?”

Joel can barely think, so many thoughts and questions are crowding his head, and he can’t think straight at all, not with you out there with no one. He knows you can take care of yourself, but it doesn’t hurt to have backup out there. That’s just the truth, and even Joel knows it and admits that.

—

It’s been just under a month of Joel searching for you, or any sign of you. He left Jackson that same day to find you. Joel was not going to give up on you, he knows way too much and cares too much about you, for you to just slip away without any explanation.

He has searched almost everywhere, traveling as much as a couple miles outside the radius of Jackson, but he’s had no luck. Until one day, when he finds the Motel 6 you and Tommy had talked about. Joel had a hunch that you would’ve gone somewhere familiar to you. As he searches the motel rooms, he finds about a dozen dead infected. This has got to be her.

It’s almost pitch black when he reaches the Motel, so he decides to stay in one of the rooms for the night and then pick right back up tomorrow. He doesn’t need to run into raiders or be infected this late in the night - that would just be stupid, he knows better than to do that.

Please, please, please be safe. I know you can hold your own, but please don’t be absolutely fearless. I just want to find you and help you, I just want to help you baby. He repeats to himself over and over until falls into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Joel is right back on his horse and continues East. He’s gotta run into you sometime, right? He ends up running into a group of raiders a couple miles past the Motel 6, a group of five middle-aged men who see Joel as a threat and not a friend.

However, Joel is not bitch. He takes care of the whole group without getting a single scratch or bullet wound, feeling oddly proud of himself for still being able to hold his own. But the feeling of victory is quickly washed away when Joel thinks of you, did you end up getting caught by this group, or even another one.

Joel’s mind is constantly on alert - he hasn’t had this much adrenaline running through his blood since before Jackson. It’s how he felt with Ellie; I have to protect her, she’s under my watch, I can’t just let her slip away from my grasp, she’s my reason to live.

The sun has started to set, the sky is a beautiful mixture of pink and orange, it meshes so beautifully it’s almost unbelievable. The different colors of oranges and reds sway on the trees with the wind as it softly blows, and it causes a chill to run down Joel’s spine.

“Just a little bit further, Rose,” he whispers and pats the side of his beautiful horse, knowing that he’ll have to stop some time soon since the sun is setting. Darkness is not the time to wander around in the nothings of the woods - it’s just not a smart move - but he knows that he has about an hour before the sky turns to pitch black.

She can’t be that far, right? It hasn’t been that long that she's been gone, there’s no way she would just leave Jackson like that. It’s the safest place to be in times like this, there’s no dictatorship and it’s peaceful, really peaceful. Why would she just pick up and leave like that?

About twenty minutes go by before he spots a small cabin about a couple blocks away. Please be there, he mumbles to himself. He softly kicks the side of Rose and she hurries her stride more than before, this has got to be it. Joel’s mind is racing, he’s pleading that you’re at this abandoned cabin. It would make sense, and he has a gut feeling that you wouldn’t up and leave Jackson completely.

When he gets about thirty feet away from the cabin, he sees a female with a bow and arrow pointing directly at him. The way the woman is standing he immediately knows who this is. I finally found her.

Joel jumps off Rose and starts to sprint towards you. He can’t help it, he finally found the love of his life, and he was never going to let you go ever again. He watches as you realize who you’re looking at and your bow drops to the ground, along with your arrow. She knows it’s me.

As he steps foot onto the porch and scoops you up into his arms and spins you around, a mixture of loving words spill out of his mouth.

“My pretty, sweet girl, I thought I lost you forever. What are you doing all the way out here?”

“I’m so sorry,” falls from your mouth over and over, and Joel can’t help but feel sorry for you. The fact that you felt the need to run all the way out here, all so you could simply just get away, was terrifying for Joel to think about. Because why, for the love of god, did you feel better running away than running to Joel for help?

What Joel takes away from this is that, although he knows that some things are more difficult and sensitive for you to work through, he also feels that you need to tell him about these things, instead of just running away.

Tags: @evyiione @oscarissac2099 @southernbe @pedrosfanny @orcasoul

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