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gamerwoo · 4 years ago

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[Tales from the Pack] Joshua: Second Chance (Part One)

Characters: Joshua x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, angst, possible character death, a little bit of fluff but it’s like angsty fluff

Word count: 1,837

Summary: After his mate died, Joshua always blamed himself and never wanted to imprint again. However, fate has other ideas when he meets you: a young, energetic werecoyote that’s quite the opposite of him. He insists he doesn’t want a new mate – nobody’s even sure if he’s ready for a new one – but he can’t ignore his instincts.

Next | Second Chance Masterlist

a/n: things in bold are in english. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!! hi i know everyone has been awaiting this series from tftp in particular. and while i wish i could say im updating this regularly,,,,,i cannot. there’s no definite update schedule, im just doing it when i can. i wanted to wait until i had all the parts written but im impatient. but i hope you’ll enjoy this series even with the slow updates, and i hope it lives up to expectations 💜

“Where’re we going?” Joshua grumbled as he followed slightly behind Hansol and Kyung, the younger boy’s hand wrapped around hers.

Joshua was going with them to the doctor without actually knowing. Kyung knew better than to tell him before they left because she figured the grumpy werewolf would just tell her no, not really caring whether he was unable to heal or not -- even though that was very clearly a bad sign that he had overexerted himself.

Kyung thought maybe Joshua would be a little less...angry all the time once she got to know him, but Joshua was stubborn well before he’d even met her -- he was just bad at shoving his stubbornness and anger down.

“I promised I’d get my back fixed if Kyung decided to stay, and you said you’d go if I went, didn’t you?” Hansol reminded his brother with a smirk over his shoulder. “We’re gonna go see that doctor we were told about. What was her name again?”

“Minjee,” Kyung replied. “Not to sound rude but...Josh, why don’t you want to see a doctor?”

“I don’t really care if I can heal or not either way,” he replied flatly, “but I said I’d get help if Hansol did. So...here we are.”

“Here we are...” she repeated in a mumble.

Joshua simply followed the mated couple in silence as the alpha led them to Minjee’s, being the first to knock on the door. It was a girl -- as expected -- that opened the door, bowing politely to the group before smiling brightly at the darker skinned girl in front of them.

“Kyung!” she exclaimed as she gestured the three of them in. “I haven’t seen you in so long -- I suppose that’s a good thing, though. How’ve you been? Your pack hasn’t mentioned you.”

“I’m not actually in that pack anymore,” Kyung told her with a shrug, her ‘cool’ exterior coming back in the presence of an old friend. “I’m an alpha of my mate’s pack now.”

Minjee seemed impressed, eyebrows raising with a smile, “Wow, look at you. How’d the sudden change happen? Jiung must be proud.”

“He’s actually...passed away.”

The doctor’s face fell, placing a comforting hand on your upper arm, “I’m sorry for the loss of your brother.”

Kyung nodded, “I’ve been grieving, but it’s been easier with my mate. Minjee, this is Hansol, and his brother -- er, our brother, I guess -- Joshua.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Hansol said as he nodded to her. “Our brother, Soonyoung came in before with a human girl to talk about fixing us -- I’ve got silver burned into my back, and Joshua’s the healer that can’t heal anymore.”

“Ah, yes, the healer!” Minjee’s eyes lit up as she nodded excitedly. She looked to Joshua now. “Your power still hasn’t come back?”

“No,” he replied. “I thought just resting would help but...nothing.”

“I see,” she hummed, eyeing him over before looking back at Kyung like she was their mother that took them to the doctor’s office. “I’ll do a quick look over and then see what I can do. It’s almost time for me to close up, and I have to go out of town for a few days. I won’t be able to do anything until about a week from now, but they’ll be fine until then if they’ve been fine this long.”

“That’s okay,” Hansol shrugged as Joshua replied, “No worries.”

“Alright,” Minjee breathed with a warm smile, grabbing some gloves from nearby, “then let’s get started and see what’s going on.”

Even though you were never careful, you wanted to blame this on shitty luck. You were too carefree and excitable, so you ran and ran and didn’t see the trap. So with you trapped under a net with little prickles that you were sure were laced with wolfsbane from how fucking awful you felt -- that was an understatement -- all you could do was wait for hunters to come find you before death took you itself. Honestly, you hoped the latter would come first.

You faintly heard footsteps coming toward you as your vision went out of focus, your eyelids becoming too heavy to keep up. You sensed a presence beside you, the body crouching down to get a better look at you.

“What do we have here?” a female-sounding voice asked, but it sounded far away and muffled to you. “Is this another werewolf?”

“I can’t tell,” another female voice replied in a sigh. “Sura, do you have any ideas?”

“Doesn’t smell like werewolf to me,” a male voice said. “It definitely is some kind of were-creature, though. This thing wreaks of wolfsbane and it’s clearly affecting her. I’d say...coyote, maybe?”

One of the women sucked in a breath between their teeth before saying, “Prajya, help me get this net off of her -- it’ll be heavy but I’m afraid to let Sura touch it.”

Slowly, you felt the weight of the net being lifted off of you. You could also feel every little barb stuck in you being pulled out, and you whimpered softly from the stinging pain that covered your body.

“Minjee, will she make it?” the second girl asked as you were lifted into warm arms.

“No,” the male replied, “probably not.”

“The house isn’t far from here,” the first girl insisted. “We just have to hurry.”

But you were out cold before they even took the first step.

Josh and Hansol weren’t really sure why so many people wanted to go with them into town that night for them to finally get fixed. Suvi was understandable since she just enjoyed going into town, and Soomin made sense since she was basically their resident know-it-all when it came to werewolves. However, Wonwoo wanting to tag along was weird because Wonwoo didn’t like leaving the house, much less going into town. They figured maybe it was because he wanted to make sure Soomin would be alright, but she was already going to be with two werewolves and a girl who had gone into town plenty of times. She was in good hands, but whatever made Wonwoo happy.

“Are you nervous?” Suvi wondered, looking up between Hansol and Joshua as she walked.

“I don’t know how they’re going to fix my back, so that’s a little concerning,” Hansol decided, “but I’m more excited.”

Joshua just shrugged, “Eh, not really.”

“Try not to be so excited, huh,” Wonwoo commented.

Joshua did like his power. He liked that he was able to help people with it. However, it didn’t benefit him -- as in, it didn’t make his own personal healing any better than anybody else’s in the pack -- and it wouldn’t be needed if his pack wasn’t so stupid and got themselves hurt. It wasn’t fun like Seokmin’s or Chan’s or Kyung’s, and it wasn’t interesting like Jihoon’s or Soonyoung’s or Hansol’s or Minghao’s. It was boring -- kind of like Wonwoo’s or Seungcheol’s.

Suvi was the first up to the door, knocking before she took a step back to wait. The door was answered by Minjee -- as always -- who greeted them with an almost pained smile.

“Hello,” she greeted them. “Before you come in, I’d like to apologize. My partners and I have just gotten home, and one of our patients... Well, she won’t make it.”

Now that she’d mentioned it, the wolves could just barely hear the faint, slowing heartbeat from inside the house. But they could also smell that it wasn’t the typical werewolf. It was something they’d never smelled before, but it still wasn’t completely human.

Joshua also picked up on a scent that was very familiar but also so very different from anything he’d smelled before.

“We’re just trying to ease her pain until she passes,” Minjee continued, letting the small group into the house. She turned to look at somebody else who was helping with the aforementioned girl. “Sura, could you put a curtain up around her? Prajya, I’ll need you to help me with--”

Minjee stopped when she noticed Joshua stop in the doorway, his body going rigid. His golden eyes were spotting red and locked on you, hands balled into fists.

You were dying; his mate was dying. Again.

“Josh...?” Wonwoo spoke up, placing a hand on the older boy’s shoulder.

Joshua’s thoughts and opinions on re-imprinting were out the window when it registered that the girl quickly losing her life was his mate. The only thing he could focus on was you and saving you -- but he only knew one way how.

“She’s not dying,” he stated, walking straight through the small crowd and over to you where your pulse was just a moment away from completely dying out.

“What?” Minjee asked, watching him as he approached you with a set jaw and narrowed eyes.

“I’m not going to let her die,” he said louder, letting his hands hover above your body.

Joshua was too focused on trying to somehow get his powers to come back to him that he wasn’t paying any attention to Hansol and Wonwoo’s conversation over their surprise of their brother imprinting for a second time. Truthfully, nobody thought anybody would come after Lilly since Josh was so against it. But then again, imprinting wasn’t something any werewolf could control.

Joshua mumbled to himself as he tried to will his power back. He was concentrating so hard but nothing was happening. No faint glow from his palms, no color coming back to your face, and your heartbeat was still rapidly decreasing by the second. It wouldn’t be long until it was gone all together, and then there would be nothing he could do.

“C’mon...c’mon...” he grumbled, closing his eyes as his eyebrows creased together in concentration.

“Your powers won’t suddenly work,” Minjee spoke up, watching from where she stood by his pack, wanting to give the werewolf space -- especially since she was preparing for him to be grieving for the mate he’d lose before actually having her.

“They have to!” he snapped.

He refused to lose you. If he lost two mates -- even if he didn’t properly meet or know you -- he was sure he wouldn’t be able to take it.

With his last bit of energy he had in his body, his palms faintly glowed to life, spreading a tingling warmth across your body. His healing power was starting to cleanse the wolfsbane from your system, and your heartbeat was starting to become stronger and more stable. Hearing your heartbeat louder in his ears made Josh want to cry. But he didn’t have the energy for it.

As you let out a cough and a girl with brown skin rushed over to sit you up so you could empty your system, Joshua collapsed onto the floor, knowing you were alive and would hopefully stay alive. He put his everything into saving you, and he didn’t know if that would kill him, but he knew it was worth it.

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theoriginalladya · 4 years ago

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Intimacy Prompts #20: a hand written note for rydenko.

from this list

on AO3 here

Thank you so much for this one! Sorry it took so long - I had an idea, but I got side tracked by other things! :) Enjoy, my friend! And thank you for asking about them!

Setting: Andromeda Galaxy

~~~

It all begins as a joke.

Once his status as Pathfinder is officially recognized, the Initiative administrators cannot act fast enough to guarantee they have Kaidan Alenko on their side. As the Nexus slowly opens, finally coming out of hibernation, the administrators agree they need to do something. So, they give him an apartment.

Scott has his father’s quarters back on the Hyperion, most of the others have their own quarters or stay on the Tempest, but all Kaidan has available to him is a cryo-pod, one that’s no longer useful now that he’s awake. He doesn’t ask for anything, doesn’t even drop a hint. Tann reminds him of others back in the Milky Way, even acts similarly, but he’s a crafty one, too. In a move that is supposed to look as if the Initiative cares about their Pathfinders, they assign their lone Pathfinder an apartment. Whether or not they actually do care about him and the role is beside the point.

Kaidan, who detests being used as a political pawn but recognizes he can do nothing about it, hates it on sight.

Okay, so maybe hate is too strong of a word. It isn’t the orchard back in the BC Interior, that’s for damned sure, and it’s a far cry from shared barracks during his Alliance years. He has a room on the Tempest, so it he has some choice about where he can stay. But this… this tiny cubicle that they are calling an apartment? Four walls, open spacing, barely any room to turn around without bumping into something? There is absolutely nothing homey about it. Home, is something he’s still searching for.

That lasts about three weeks, until the day Scott drops by when Kaidan isn’t there and instead of messaging him to meet up elsewhere, leaves a handwritten note slipped beneath his door. Kaidan almost misses it when he gets back after his meeting with Tann, Addison, and Kesh. Just a small slip of paper – where had Scott found actual paper? – written in black ink. A hint of white on an otherwise light-colored floor which is barely discernable. Something about it catches the corner of his eye, though.

K – Stopped by to see you. Catch you later. Scott

Kaidan reads it twice, just in case he’s having hallucinations thanks to the burgeoning migraine before setting it on the corner of his desk, thinking to send a reply via omni-tool. But the meetings with Tann and the others are taking their toll, and even with SAM’s assistance, the pain is such he forgets until the next morning, at which point he decides to just head on over to the Hyperion instead.

Of course, Scott isn’t there.

Scott – Was in the area and thought I’d save you a trip. Better luck next time, right? Catch you on the Tempest. K

The Tempest is scheduled out the next morning and, as typically happens aboard the ship with last minute things to do and distractions of all kinds, neither he nor Scott thinks to mention the messages to the other; almost an ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ sort of thing. End of story.

Except, it isn’t.

The weeks pass, more notes appear at the apartment and on the Tempest or Hyperion. Small ones. Silly ones. Eventually, Scott starts leaving small sketches of different people on them – quick things, some cute, some ridiculous, but always they leave Kaidan smiling.

A caricature of Tann speaking with Addison and Kesh mimicking him behind his back even as Tann’s head is blown up twice the size of the others.

A small cartoon of Suvi in the galley, laser focused as she points to different Heleus rocks and explains their different tastes to a very confused looking Drack while Lexi stands in the doorway scolding her.

A stick figure sketch of Kallo and the several of the Tempest at various stages of the ship’s development.

Kaidan cannot hide his amusement at a more realistic looking sketch of Cora and Liam as they lean against one another in the back seat of the Nomad, fast asleep. He remembers the incident clearly, from their last visit to Elaaden. Even as he stares at the sketch, he swears he can hear their soft snores echoing in his ears as he tacks it to the wall over his desk next to the others.

Not to be outdone, Kaidan starts leaving quotes in his messages to Scott; from books, movies, and other inspirational sources he’s come across. He’s been collecting them for years, long before he ever left for BAaT. Most are saved on his omni-tool, but he has two small, leatherbound journals filled with the most meaningful ones he’s come across. They are about the only thing he was able to bring with him from home when he joined the Initiative.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. (1)

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. (2)

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. (3)

Fear profits a man nothing.(4)

With each successive note between them, Kaidan learns a little bit more about Scott. But the whole situation changes drastically after their adventures on the archon’s ship. On the way back to the Nexus and after Lexi has cleared him, Kaidan does something he hasn’t done in centuries, if ever…

~~~~

The buzzer to his Nexus apartment sounds, but Kaidan doesn’t bother to answer it. It’s Scott, and the man has his own key. The buzzer, he supposes, is Scott’s polite way to warn him that he’s arrived. The fact that Scott uses does it now of all times tells Kaidan something more; Scott is pissed.

Well, I probably deserve it after what happened.

He’s tempted to not answer, to see if Scott leaves a note, but decides not to risk it. Opening the door, he steps to the side to allow the younger man in. Scott remains silent, though his body language screams in a way that Kaidan easily recognizes. Taut, tense, his lips tightened in a thin line, the way he won’t look directly at Kaidan… It’s one side of a conversation Kaidan’s been on many times, albeit hundreds of years before and in a different galaxy.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” Scott demands, blue eyes sharp and snapping with anger. “Any idea what could have happened back on the archon’s ship if SAM hadn’t been able to resuscitate you? You-you could have died back there!”

Opting to let the younger man get it out in one fell swoop, Kaidan bides his time. Well, except for one point of clarification. “I did die.”

Scott growls in the back of his throat. An honest to goodness growl. Kaidan can’t help the small smirk that twists at his lips as a result. When Scott steps forward, invading his personal space, Kaidan does something he usually doesn’t do; he goads him. “What? It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Not helping the situation!”

Kaidan isn’t certain if he should be worried that SAM is, so far, remaining silent in his head. “I needed to get us out of there,” he argues instead. “How else was I going to –?”

“You? Why did it have to be you? Why is it always you?” Scott tosses his hands in the air and turns away, frustration building until his biotic corona flickers around him. Still grumbling to himself, he turns back, glaring at Kaidan. “What the hell am I going to do if I lose you like that?”

Kaidan sucks in a breath, recognizing the pain. Sure, things between them have improved since their arrival in Andromeda – no place to go but up, right? – but this…? This is a reinforcement of what he’s hoped for ever since accepting Alec Ryder’s offer.

Or am I reading too much into this?

On their private channel, SAM replies, “You are not, Kaidan.”

Scott still prowls around the room as Kaidan asks, “Can you come over here for a minute?”

“Why? So you can die on me a third time?”

Petulance is not a good look for Scott, and Kaidan has to bite back a laugh; as much as he wants to set it free, it would do more harm than good just now. “I want to show you something.”

Scott grumbles some more, even as Kaidan heads on over, but eventually he follows. When he arrives, Kaidan hands him the letter. “Read this.”

The blue-eyed glare returns, heavy with suspicion. “What is it?”

“Just read. Please.”

Scott waits another moment, two, then drops his gaze and starts reading. For several minutes, Kaidan waits patiently, watching. The letter isn’t long, but Scott is taking his time reading it, but Kaidan knows when Scott reaches the end because the younger man’s spine stiffens, his shoulders roll back, and his head snaps up as he darts a quick look up at Kaidan. “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.(5)”

When Scott says nothing else, Kaidan prods, “So, what do you think?”

Scott is quiet for a minute. It’s difficult to read his reaction because he keeps his back to Kaidan the entire time, slightly hunched in the shoulders, utterly quiet. “Do you mean it?” he asks, voice soft as if having trouble pushing it out.

“I always try to say what I mean, Scott.”

The younger man turns around, his face a surprisingly neutral mask. Considering how difficult that has been for him in the past, Kaidan is impressed. “So, you’re saying you consider yourself the luckiest man on Earth or, in this case I guess, the Nexus, because you survived?”

Ah, so that’s the problem. Reaching over, Kaidan settles a hand on Scott’s cheek. Scott leans into it, then apparently thinks better of it or at the very least realizes what he’s doing and pulls back. But that’s okay. Kaidan now has a far better sense of what he is working with. Running his thumb along the corner of Scott’s lips, he says quietly, “I am the luckiest man in Andromeda because you are here with me.”

Tension immediately flows out of Scott and he visibly sags a bit. “And you really mean that? Because look, I get that my Dad talked you into all of this without checking with me first, and –”

Kaidan slides his thumb over the top of Scott’s lips to silence him. “I really mean that. This has nothing to do with your dad, but everything to do with you….”

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

(1) The Godfather, part II

(2) Winston Churchill

(3) Maya Angelou

(4) 13th Warrior

(5) The Pride of the Yankees

#intimacy prompts #ladya writes #rydenko #scott ryder #kaidan alenko #straight on til morning #mass effect #mass effect andromeda #mallaidhsomo

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jupiter235 · 4 years ago

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WIP....wait, it’s actually Wednesday??

Tagged by the forever awesome @jeannedarcprice. Have another excerpt from the Days Gone AU I’m working on. This is a part of one of Gil’s memories that’s going to appear at some point in the fic (I don’t yet know where, though.)

~Start of the “freaker virus” outbreak, Boston, Massachusetts:

It was meant to be a two-week visit to America. Two weeks to visit my friends and more importantly, to spend time with Meri. Then Vetra and Suvi’s wedding was meant to be near the end of it, then they’d get on a plane to their honeymoon while I caught my flight back to London.

But to Hell with all that, of course.

All flights were grounded mere hours after my arrival. That was when Jill really began to worry. Meri picked up on it, I know she did—kids aren’t stupid, after all. I did what I could to try and soothe them both—probably used some sappy drivel or something about how this all couldn’t last. Doesn’t matter, because it didn’t really work, anyway.

The next day, Vetra calls. She and Suvi were moving their wedding up to that afternoon.

“She’s terrified,” Vetra had told us on the phone. “She’s convinced that if we don’t do it as soon as possible, then we may never get to. And I think she’s right.”

Suvi knew a preacher that was willing to perform the ceremony at the last minute. So it was just the preacher, his wife, me, Jill, Meri, and Sidera at the preacher’s house. We’d all tried to get in touch with everyone else who was supposed to be there—some weren’t answering their phones, and some were just too far away to make it in time. We all tried not to think about it, honestly.

Then the news just started getting oh-so-much-more cheery. That the hospitals were already beyond capacity wasn’t new. That the dead were starting to number in the millions wasn’t new either. That those who hadn’t died were turning into cannibalistic monsters also wasn’t.

What was new was that the ones who were turning were gathering together into what they were calling “hordes,” and no one seemed to know how to contain them. So they were running rampant everywhere, invading entire towns and killing whoever couldn’t run away from them fast enough. They’d stopped keeping track of the number of infected people, so many were getting sick.

Then the hordes started overrunning the large cities. Evacuation orders started going out. I think it took about two days before the news channels all stopped broadcasting. Then phone calls stopped going through.

I think that was the point where I knew that shit was seriously fucked now.

Meri had started staying closer and closer to me, her hand sliding into one of mine at random times. I could tell she was trying to not be scared. I wanted to tell her it didn’t matter, because we were all scared.

I had always thought she’d been so small for an eleven-year-old. When I would look at her, meaning to reassure her with some ridiculous and pointless platitude, it would die in my mouth.

My daughter was afraid, and I had to help her to not be.

So all I could do was hug her and hope it was enough.

I think it was about the time that the cellular towers stopped working that Vetra, Suvi, and Sid came over. They were leaving Boston, and they wanted us to come with them. Jill and I only glanced at one another. Decisions like this never really called for a debate between the two of us—we both always knew when we were in agreement with one another. Meri, smart girl that she was, seemed to know what the decision was before either of us had said anything and ran straight to her room to begin packing.

We followed their example; one backpack each containing a change of clothes and the barest essentials, with the hope that we could get more wherever we were going. Jill didn’t even bother locking the door when we left. She never said anything, and no one else bothered mentioning it, but that was when we all knew that we weren’t coming back. And several of her neighbors had had the same idea about leaving—several of them were packing their vehicles, others were walking like we were.

We wound up at the NERO refugee camp just outside of Boston. And it turned out we’d left just in time; word had begun circulating around the camp that they’d given the order to evacuate the city. People would be flooding the place within hours.

And they did just that. It didn’t even take a day before they had to start turning people away. The rumor was that they were being diverted to other refugee camps (were there any others to go to? Assuming they could even make it…) but some people had their doubts.

There was another rumor going around that NERO had executed a bunch of incoming people in their cars.

Vetra, Suvi, Sid, and I would find out later that that one was not a rumor, but a fact.

We’d all been at the refugee camp for a rather uneventful couple of days when shit went from bad to worse. Vetra was off somewhere trying to negotiate information out of anyone that would talk to her, and Jill had started working with the NERO scientists at the camp who were trying to come up with anything to try to help treat the people that were still getting sick. Suvi and I were trying to keep Sid and Meri entertained with a game of cards when we’d started to notice Meri was looking more and more pale and listless.

“I’m fine,” she said when I asked.

It was Sid who’d reached over and felt her forehead. “No you’re not, you’re burning up,” she pointed out.

I’d never truly felt that feeling of pure dread creeping down my spine before. First time for everything, I suppose.

The cards were forgotten as I picked Meri up and the four of us went to the medical tents. She was immediately put in a bed and hooked up to an IV. And Jill and Vetra had appeared from wherever they’d been.

The doctor diagnosing Meri with the virus was pretty much a formality. A cruel one, at that.

I wanted to punch him.

It wouldn’t have helped anything.

I held Meri’s hand instead. Jill held her other hand.

I don’t know how much time passed before the two NERO soldiers suddenly appeared, but I think it had only been a few hours. Meri had passed out not long after her diagnosis, and slept fitfully the entire time. But next thing I knew, there they were, armed and everything.

Then they told Jill that they were flying all of the scientists to another location, and demanded she come with them immediately.

“Hell no!” she’d protested.

“We don’t have time to argue,” one of them said. “Besides, your kid’s either gonna turn or die soon, anyway.”

“She said no, you prick!” I said. I could feel Suvi’s hand on my shoulder.

“She doesn’t have a choice,” the asshole argued. I hadn’t seen his partner move, but suddenly they had Jill by one arm and were tugging her away from Meri’s bedside.

“You fucking son of a—“ I started forward when they’d grabbed her, but was immediately cut off by the two rifle barrels suddenly pointing at me. I could feel Suvi clutching at my arm now.

“Turn loose of the girl and come with us,” the other asshole ordered, “Or I shoot your friends.”

“Gil, Suvi, it’s okay,” Jill said, pressing a kiss to the back of Meri’s hand and putting it down, and I could feel a surge of rage welling up at my helplessness to stop any of this.

“We’ll stay with her, we promise,” Suvi said, and before we could do anything else, Jill was ushered out of the medical tent.

I hadn’t realized that complete silence had fallen over the medical tent until I heard Vetra snarl “Motherfuckers” after the NERO guys left with Jill.

“Where are they taking mom?” Meri suddenly asked, and that was also when I realized she’d been awake for most, or all, of that confrontation.

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” I answered, taking her hand again. That was when I realized a third, then a fourth, thing.

“Where are all the doctors?” someone at another bedside said.

“They’re all leaving,” Sid answered the tent at large. There were gasps and denials, and several people ran outside to confirm what she’d said. I glanced up at her and Vetra as they arrived at Meri’s bed, and that was when I noticed they had all of our backpacks.

“It’s true,” Vetra said. “I heard one of them mention that there was a massive horde headed this way. We have less than ten minutes to get the hell out of here.” More gasps and denials went around. Then someone came back.

“She’s right,” the woman said. “All the NERO people are gone and I just saw the last helicopter take off.”

“What the fuck??” someone else shouted.

“Where are we supposed to go?” a third person demanded.

Not that anyone had an answer, of course. Suvi reached down and started unhooking Meri’s IV, and several other people started moving around.

And then

“HORDE INCOMING!!!! HORDE INCOMING!!!!!” a man ran by the tent shouting.

#mass effect: andromeda #gil brodie #vetra nyx #sidera nyx #suvi anwar #gilder #fan fiction #days gone au

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forlornmelody · 5 years ago

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Take Your Girlfriend To Work Day

Rating: E (it’s smut with a little bit of plot thrown in)

Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda

Ship: Sara Ryder/Suvi Anwar

Summary: Sara Ryder has Concerns™ about taking Suvi with her on a mission. But she's always wanted to show her the badlands of Kadara. What could go wrong?

Linkage: clicky

Note: Written for FallingOverSideways over at @spectre-requisitions-exchange. Now that reveals have happened, I can finally share this all with you!

-*-*-*

Sara would give Suvi the entire galaxy right now. The way she stretches across the tangled sheets, the light of a distant sun making her hair glow like fire. How the light glistens on her sated body, and catches in her eyes like the pools on Kadara. It’s probably why Sara sticks her foot in her mouth while her breaths are still ragged.

“I wish you had been there with me.”

Suvi’s smile vanishes and Sara feels it like a pain in her gut. “Sorry?”

Shit. “I’m not mad.” Sara swallows, pushing an errant lock out of Suvi’s eyes. “It just would’ve been nice to have you on Kadara with me, before the vaults went online.”

“When the water was toxic with sulfuric acid?” Sufi’s brow wrinkles like it did when she poured over the Scourge data, looking for solutions to a big-ass problem.

Just keep digging your grave and lie in it, Sara. “I mean. I loved the look on your face when you looked over the data I gathered.” Sara traces the line of Suvi’s swollen lips, smug knowing their romp made them that way. “It would have been even better for you to see it in person.”

Suvi’s lips twist as she bites the inside of them in thought. “I’m sure there’s still useful data for us. Maybe we could go together next time?”

“I would love that!” Sara rolls them so that her hands are braced on either side of Suvi’s pillow, and she peppers her face with kisses, imagining them swimming together in a hot spring, or a cold one, with bikinis on, or not. Drying off on a ridiculously large beach towel and licking that now potable water right off her--

“You’re going tomorrow, right? Maybe I could come with you.”

Sara’s lips freeze on the hollow where her neck meets her shoulder, and Suvi giggles at the slack-jawed expression she gives her. “Tomorrow?”

“Aren’t you going to Ditaeon to talk with Tate about trade?”

“...Yes.” Christmas Tate’s not what sets the Pathfinder's heart racing. It’s not his colony, either. It’s all the mayhem around it. Sara can all too easily imagine an eiroch crushing her girlfriend against a boulder or rylkor whipping her off a cliff with its tail. She needs to find a reason for Suvi to stay behind. Maybe she needs more arms training? Or they could wait until they fit her with some armor? Watch some training vids?

“Why don’t I go with you?” Suvi trails her fingertips down Sara’s spine, and suddenly she’s spineless.

“Sure!” Sara says brightly. This is a bad idea, isn’t it?

----

Turns out Cora’s not much different in height or build than Suvi, so the human commando loans her a set of armor, and a manual on how to care for it. Suvi walks around in it stiffly, and Sara would find it comical were it not for how the components accentuate some of Suvi’s best features. As much as she shouldn’t, not right now, Sara can’t help but imagine removing it piece by piece as she kisses her senseless.

“Worried about me, Ryder?” Suvi says as they make their landing.

The airlock disengages, and Sara looks around for any sign of danger. “Just don’t lick any rocks,” she says wryly.

“But--”

“No, Suvi.” Both her and Vetra say it together.

“Fiiine.”

-----

Suvi loves Kadara. Or maybe she loves being on the ground for a change. Either way, Dr. Suvi Anwar sits on her knees, scanning a small rock, and Sara Ryder can’t look away. The sun catches in Suvi’s flame-colored hair, making Ryder wish she had brought her here sooner. She aches at the soft smile on her face, the warm glow in her blue eyes. Ryder’s in the middle of pulling out her omni tool to take a picture when--

Sara. There are weapons warming up behind you. It appears they are aiming for you, Vetra Nix, and Dr. Anwar. I suggest--

“Got it, Sam.” Sara Ryder says nothing to Suvi, only dropping her in a tackle and ruining the picture-perfect moment. Actually, whatever exiles who were shooting at them ruined the moment, and the thought makes Sara’s blood boil.

Suvi squeaks from underneath her, but she doesn’t protest, especially after the first rounds hit the rocks behind them, and their shields shimmer with the ricochets. “Pathfinder?” she whispers cautiously.

“Exiles,” Sara growls under her breath. This is not how she pictured pinning Suvi on Kadara.

“I thought--”

“They’re still around. Still wanting to shoot us, apparently.” Sara shoves Suvi behind a bolder, and squats next to her, pulling out her pistol, and deploying her combat drone. It dashes over, firing beams at their assailants, the cool evening air warming in its wake.

Vetra looks at Sara sideways. “Really, Ryder? A drone?”

“What? Peebee showed me how to use it last night.”

Suvi glances between them, her eyes widening. “Sara?”

“It’ll be fiiiine.” On cue, the drone crumbles to the ground. Peebee will kill her later. “Well, shit.”

“We’re doomed.” Vetra sighs, powering up her assault rifle.

“Oh ye of little faith.” Sara switches to her shotgun, firing off shots while her biotics cool down.

Suvi giggles, and Vetra groans. “At least one of us is having a good time.”

Ryder really shouldn’t have brought Suvi with them. A little skirmish like this rarely fazes her anymore--more like target practice than a fight worth worrying about. Waste of ammo, really. But her heart thuds in her chest and her neck and shoulders tighten up at the thought of a bullet hitting the scientist next to her. Suvi’s so gentle, and kind. She’s not made for violence like this. Sweat gathers beneath Sara’s hard suit and her under armor, and itches around her joints. Her arm aches and her temples start to throb. Just a little bit longer---

There.

One exile remains, a sharpshooter with a sniper rifle that tries to pick them off like drops of water torture. Ryder ducks back behind their bolder, counting the seconds between shots. One Andromeda...Two Andromeda...Three--

Sara Ryder charges full force into her enemy, smashing him with a nova that sends his innards flying every which way. Turning with an adrenaline-fueled, shit-eating grin on her face, Sara looks at the boulder, craning to see the look on Suvi’s face. “Not bad, huh?”

“RYDER! MOVE!”

The ground rumbles beneath Sara’s feet, throwing her off balance. Enemy Krogan.

“Shit!” Ryder screams as the berserker hauls her up in the air. Blood rushing to her head, Sara looks down at the battered Krogan growling up at her. “I thought I put you down already.”

“RAAAAH.”

“Shit’s right! I’m out of ammo.” Vetra glowers, letting out a litany of Turian words SAM can’t translate.

Don’t panic. Just grab your pistol and--One problem. It must have fell from her holster when she left the ground. The Krogan swings her back like a wet towel.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

Her biotics won’t fire--still cooling down. Ryder’s neck and temples still flare with heat.

Sorry, Suvi. I--

A shot rings out, and Ryder sucks in a breath, bracing for a bullet wound.

The Krogan drops her, and Sara rolls out before his body falls on top of her. What the hell??

Her eyes meet “SUVI??”

Nudging the Krogan’s body with her toe, Suvi blows the steam off the barrel of her pistol, and holsters it. She glances down at Ryder, a shy smile on her face. “You alright, Sara?” Suvi reaches out with her hand to help her up.

“Damn, Anwar. Didn’t know you had it in you.” Vetra comes out from behind the boulder, brushing herself off.

Sara doesn’t take her hand, too busy doing the math in her head. “Who taught you how to shoot?”

“Drack. He took me out on Elaaden. Said it would help my skills as a geologist if I learned how to shoot rocks.”

“Of course he did.” Ryder groans as she stands, checking herself for injuries. Her shoulder throbs from being yanked around like a rag doll, but other than that. “Anything I should see Lexi about, SAM?”

My scans indicate nothing but some swelling and inflammation. Though a visit would--

“I’ll see her later, SAM.” Sara has an idea. “Hey, Vetra. I think the Nomad needs an oil change.” She walks over, rummaging through the storage compartment for a very conspicuous picnic basket.

“The Nomad doesn’t even...oh. Yeah. I’ll get right on that.” Turians don’t roll their eyes, but the way her mandibles twitch, Ryder bets Vetra would be right now if she did. Swinging into the driver’s seat, she starts the engine, and Sara scrambles to get the storage compartment shut in time.

“Catch ya later!”

-----

“Do you ever miss them?” Their picnic long over, Sara and Suvi stretch out on the blanket, watching the sun set.

“My parents?”

“Yeah.”

“All the time.” Suvi stares out across the lake, and Sara gets the feeling she’s not watching the clouds change color.

“How did you find the strength to leave them?”

Suvi says nothing, and Sara wonders if she went too far as she listens to birds call in her silence. When she finally does speak Sara strains to hear her over the lap of the shoreline. “I couldn’t stay behind when there was a whole galaxy out there to explore.” She looks at Ryder, sorrowful, but without regret in her eyes. “I was miserable when I considered staying behind. My parents could tell. I was making them miserable with me.” A small laugh escapes her mouth. “It was them who told me to go. Told me they’d miss me if I left, but they’d miss me even more if I stayed with them.” Her smile slips away, and Sara would give anything to bring it back.

Think, Ryder, think. “Nice shooting earlier. You saved my life.” Sara runs her fingers down Suvi’s cheek, holding her breath as she waits for her face to change.

The smile doesn’t come back. Suvi pulls away, looking off towards Kadara Port. “Sara, I don’t think violence suits me.”

Sara drops her hand. “Oh.”

Suvi immediately draws it back to her cheek. “Don’t get me wrong. I admire what you do--the risks you take, the hard decisions you make.” She closes her eyes, taking a settling breath. “But I’d rather make my hard decisions in a lab, not with a gun.”

“I understand.”

Biting her lip, Suvi dares to search her eyes. “You do?”

“Yeah. We’re different. I’m better out in the field kicking ass, and you’re better in the lab…. doing...sciency stuff.”

Suvi’s laugh spills from her mouth like a bubbling brook. “Ryder.”

“I mean it.” Sara takes her chin. “I don’t want you to change who you are just to please me.” She’s already nose to nose with her before Suvi realizes she’s being kissed. And Sara wouldn’t have it any other way.

While Suvi’s usually slow to kiss back, when she does, she makes up for lost time, always. She presses in, already reaching for Sara’s hair tie, pulling her hair out of that perky ponytail and winding her fingers through her hair. The motion pulls Sara closer, tighter against her mouth and she can’t help but part Suvi’s lips with her tongue, grabbing the collar of her uniform in her fist, and holding her close.

Their hands and mouths move like binary stars, so close, but never close enough. Sara groans in frustration as her fingers roam across Suvi’s lab coat, searching for that elusive zipper. Suvi giggles, taking her hand and guiding the zipper down with her, her eyes dark with want. As the uniform falls from Suvi’s shoulders, Sara traces her tongue across her now bare skin, smiling at her goosebumps and drinking in her sharp breaths. Each freckle pattern forms new constellations, and Sara writes the racy mythologies to go with them.

In Suvi’s sighs and goose-bumped skin, Sara finds a paradise better than the Initiative could have ever hoped for. She unhooks her bra, and finds the path between her breaths, scanning the terrain with her eyes and making contact with her hands. Suvi arches into her touch, and Sara smiles against her skin. “You mean the world to me, you know that?”

Suvi opens her mouth, but her sweet nothing is lost in her moan as Sara’s lips close around her tit. She should really take her time. They have little to interrupt them here, with the Tempest far away and Sam scanning the perimeter for trouble. But it’s been days since Sara had the chance to make love to the center of her universe, and so she dives headfirst into the gravity well, pulling the rest of Suvi’s uniform down with her.

“I’ve missed you,” Sara whispers, trailing her lips down Suvi’s stomach.

“Ryder. You see me every day.”

“Not the same thing, and you know it.” Sara gives her a pointed look, and she can’t help but smile at Suvi’s parted lips. She sits up, running her fingertips up and down Suvi’s thighs, outside and inside, gently nudging them apart.

Suvi sucks in her breath, and Sara pats her skin as she leans down. “Breathe, Suvi. I swear the air here is safe.”

“Shh, you.” Suvi chuckles.

Sara breathes in the scent of her pubis mons, grinning wickedly. “Make me.”

Suvi’s eyes widen, and for a moment Sara wonders if she should apologize, but then Suvi’s fingers grip her by her ponytail, pressing her between her legs and it is glorious. Holy shit holy shit holy shiiiiiiit. She never took Suvi for a dominant one, but Sara definitely want to explore more of this side of her. Tasting her, Sara gives her folds those nice long licks that Suvi loves so much. Her pushup routine comes in handy as her lover writhes beneath her. Just as Suvi starts to moan louder, Sara pulls back to wet her finger.

“Is this too much?” Suvi asks breathlessly.

Her own mouth feels dry, and Sara reaches over to gulp some water from her cannister. “Not at all. Keep going.” She blushes at her own words.

Suvi pushes her hands away, sitting up. Sara blinks, watching her go. “Actually, I have new experiment I want to run by you.” Grabbing Sara’s shoulders, Suvi presses her onto her back.

Laughing, Sara replies. “Oh? What’s your hypothesis?”

“That you’ll love me sitting on your face.” Suvi’s cheeks redden as much as her hair.

“Mm, that’s hard to quantify.” Sara smudges her lips together playfully. “But we can try it.”

Suvi crawls over her, and Sara groans as her scent overwhelms her senses. She whispers her name into her folds, sliding one finger, then two into her warmth. Gasping, Suvi grinds against her, gripping the top of her head. Sara fingers faster and harder, sucking on her clit until Suvi’s nails dig into her scalp and she calls out her name.

The sun’s far too bright when Suvi rolls off her. “Holy shit. Holy shit,” Sara swears breathlessly.

“Mmhm.” Suvi kisses her sloppily, running her hand down Sara’s side. “And what are...mm... our findings?

Sara laughs into the crook of her neck. “I think your hypothesis may be right. But further tests are needed.”

“Mm.” Suvi presses a finger to her lips, looking up at the clouds as if the answer might be found there. “Perhaps we should increase our sample size?”

That notion jolts Sara off her back. “You mean like a threesome?”

“No!” Suvi laughs so loudly Sara swears the whole valley can hear them. “I meant you. Sitting on mine.”

“Oh.” Sara stretches. “Maybe next time.” She kisses the pout right off Suvi’s lips. “Right now, I want to kiss you while you…” She grasps Suvi’s hand, guiding it between her legs. “While you…. demonstrate your expertise on the subject.”

“Sara!” Suvi shakes her head in mock humility. “I’m hardly an expert.”

Sara leans over, stealing another heated kiss. “Then maybe you should…” She can’t help her laugh. “....do a more in-depth study?” Their laughs sink into moans as Suvi trace and probes between Sara’s legs, putting just the right amount of pressure to make her beg.

Suvi grins against her mouth, teasing her long and light, until Sara’s gripping her so hard, she swears she’ll leave bruises. Thank the stars Suvi wears long sleeves. “You like it rough, Sara?”

“Yes, please. Please.”

Suvi’s teeth graze the skin of her neck in reply, hooking her fingers inside her and beckoning her to come undone.

Maybe it’s minutes, maybe it’s hours later, when Sara’s always pushing Suvi’s bangs out of her eyes just to watch them fall again. “Y’know. I definitely learned something today.”

“What’s that?”

“I should bring you planetside more often.”

#mass effect andromeda #suvi x ryder #suvi anwar #sara ryder #melody writes #lemon #spec recs 2020

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dgcatanisiri · 5 years ago

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I don’t know if I make it clear or not when I’m ranting, so for the sake of clarity, I just want to be clear on this.

I am 100% aware that often times, the queer content that we GET is the best that the creators involved can manage. That there are people hovering over the shoulders of every content creator of any major and mainstream production that is even trying to offer queer content and going “but does it HAVE to be that obvious? We have a bottom line to think about.”

I’m gonna take a common punching bag around here - considering the fact that fans had to demand that it be patched to allow gay male players to have equal content to all other pairings, and that there was a fight to keep the lesbian character a lesbian and not a bisexual option, I’m willing to believe that Gil’s story in Mass Effect Andromeda was a wound of triage - his story is so bad, his content so inconsequential to the overall narrative, because at least that allowed them to keep him in the game, or keep Suvi as a lesbian. He becomes bad representation, because the alternative is no representation.

As much as I argue for all bi LIs in BioWare games (in all games, truly), I at least understand where they’re coming from in saying that they want to have representation even if they’re disappointing people who aren’t happy with their choices. It’s not the argument I believe in, obviously, but I do get where it comes from.

It’s why I try to avoid actually targeting writers on the matter - even when it comes to Dorian, a character I’m highly critical of, I focus on the WRITING, not the WRITER (it’s a subtle distinction, I suppose, but it is there). And I’ll often just say “BioWare” instead of naming any singular writer on the subject - even when the head of the project is queer, even if they populate the people working on it (”it” in this context being any creative endeavor, we’re moving beyond BioWare in specific here), with queer people, the ones who hold the pursestrings, who finance things and make the final decisions on how much they’re willing to support them... They’re the ones going “but no, don’t do that!”

It’s a great idea to have a cast full of queer, where no one is straight. Actually GETTING that, though, is virtually impossible, ESPECIALLY if you’re just trying to establish yourself, but even when you’re a major name. Because yeah, you might be able to throw some weight around and argue in favor of things, but you’re still going to hit the wall. And you need to know when you’re going to hit the limit - when to pick your battles, give here today so you can fight there tomorrow.

I recognize that sometimes, the best they really can give is what comes off as half-hearted, barely there, blink and you’ll miss it, because it came down to that or nothing, and they wanted to at least TRY - maybe they could be the stepping stone that led to more.

I mean, I think that’s part of the reason why I honestly just took the Voltron thing in stride, calling it a net win, both the Adam thing and the fact that Shiro got paired up with a barely there character in the finale. Like I pointed out at the time, Shiro was arguably the main character of the series, and he got to end the show not just marrying another male character, but kissing him on screen, front and center. Additional elements notwithstanding... That was a big deal, not even just in a franchise marketed to kids, but in the action adventure genre as a whole. Gay characters aren’t THE LEAD in this genre. At most, they’re a plucky comic relief sidekick, and they certainly don’t get a front and center kiss.

And, as I said back at the time, it isn’t a race where there’s one path for the whole queer community, whatever letter of the alphabet soup you identify with. EACH letter has its own path and set of hurdles - it’s why I was kinda irritated with all the “THAT’S how you do it, Voltron” stuff that went around when Adventure Time ended with the Bubblegum/Marceline kiss, because this was their final episode, while Voltron did TRY to have the character out DURING THE COURSE OF THE SERIES, not in the final episode.

Like... Okay, understand that I’m going to generalize/broad stroke things here for simplicity’s sake, I remember the cheering on Tumblr when Korra ended with Korra and Asami holding hands - Tumblr lost its shit. To me, the reaction to things surrounding the Shiro thing made it come across as Tumblr seeing the equivalent of that Korra/Asami moment, and yet tearing it apart, because, hey, the lesbians had been able to get their foot in the door, isn’t that enough for “the gays”? Shouldn’t that now be the new baseline?

But there’s a difference in “for wlw” and “for mlm,” just as there’s a further difference in “for trans,” “for ace,” “for enby,” for whatever letter or groupings of letters under the queer umbrella you choose. And I’m not saying that it’s any easier for wlw on representation - usually, if lesbians have better “representation” in a given piece of media, it’s less “representation” as it is “fetishization for straight men.” (And let’s not even go near the can of worms that comes from that subject in regards to characters on shows targeted to kids...)

All I’m saying on this is that there is absolutely hurdles still to go for wlw representation, but the hurdles that pass there aren’t automatically passed for any other category under the umbrella.

And all of it comes down to how willing those always-conservative honchos will respond. Even the best intentioned of them will often come down to the concept “but what if this negatively impacts our profits?” Because you can’t keep producing if you can’t make money with it. Somewhere along the chain, you WILL run into the type of person who wants a justification for queer content, and isn’t satisfied with “because people are queer.” They’ll use any justification THEY can to prevent it, from “there’ll be censorship in major markets” (meaning anything from the global economy to just the midwestern area of the US) to “but we don’t want to make controversy” (and, since Disney still gets away with advertising “the first gay character” in their movies, I sadly see that one...), and whittle down what they’ll allow, then cut it down even further in the editing room after the fact.

And I recognize that the situation isn’t going to improve at any noticeable rate. No, not even when “the boomers” die off. Not unless we see a MASSIVE structural shift in society (and, for all my hopes of what kind of soul-searching people will do during and because of the quarantine, I’m not about to hold my breath). Mainstream content is, sadly, a kingdom of nepotism.

So, yeah... I fully understand that, if the representation ends up being bad, odds are, that’s because it got watered down in the name of just being able to make it into the final product. It’s probably at least nine-tenths of why the queer narratives I complain about in my “another angry queer rant” tag end up being repeated, instead of getting new ones, because those are considered the “palatable” queer narratives and perspectives.

It’s a massively complicated chain of complex push and pull dynamics that no single content creator or piece of media will ever fix. The realistic (and depressing) perspective is that, truthfully, this is all a fight that will outlast all of us, and our descendants for generations, because this is arguing the very power structure.

Like the saying goes, when a group has historically had all the power and privilege, other groups gaining equality feels like losing something.

#dg rants #another angry queer rant

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juupajaa · 5 years ago

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Hi there 👋 can you tell us some of your favorite expressions in different languages? I saw your comment about not having the word "obviously" in Finnish and I'm curious what are your other favorite words/phrases like that! Thanks love, you're the best 🙏♥️

Hi! You sparked a massive rant from me and now you gotta deal with it. Here's a bit about English and how different it is from Finnish (which is my native tongue).

Yall have the smoothest "matter of fact" language and I can't get over how proper and assertive English is and often I'd rather use English when I'm talking in my day to day. I also suffer a lot with "Oh g0D I know exactly what this English word means but what is it in Finnish???" which is rather common these days among the younger generations.

When I try to talk formally in Finnish I sound like a bitch and every Finnish person will look at me like I am a bitch. The only time "proper" Finnish is acceptable is when the president is giving a speech and even then we really have to focus in order to understand what the hell he's saying. I have been in court and even there the proper Finnish is sometimes out of place.

In lots of ways Finnish is still a very nature/simple life oriented language and we have a lot of loan words from other languages such as Swedish and English. Very basic words like "context" and "diagonal" do not always exist in Finnish, so we just kinda took them from yall and made them sound Finnish, "konteksti" and "diagonaali". If you'd strip Finnish from all these loan words, you'd end up with a language that mostly deals with agriculture, nature and matters of the heart, and not a single word of bureaucracy, industry, intellectualism, barely even enlightenment. There's actually some concern over the increasing amount of loaned words. Especially among the youth, loaned words are starting to replace purely Finnish words. One example: "miss out on something" would be roughly translated to "jäädä paitsi jostakin" but it's becoming more and more common to say "missata jotakin". I use the verb "missata" quite often and I don't even remember when I would have last used "jäädä paitsi", simply because it's so much easier to just say "missata".

So with like half of our vocabulary being loaned from other languages, the Finnish language has very distinct tones that we use in different situations. This goes for most languages, but in Finnish it truly feels like there's several different versions of the language that you have to learn. In addition to words that are confined into one tone only, there are integral words like "I" that have different spellings depending on what tone you're using. "I" for example turns from formal "minä" to a casual "mä". Lets have an example sentence "I don't know". Formal: "Minä en tiedä". Casual: "Mä en tiiä" Both are correct, but the other is official and other is practical. There's even a poetic version: "Tiedä en". You would never use it in your day to day, but it is perfectly correct in a poetic setting. So here are our tones:

Poetic, which mostly uses true Finnish words and it sounds dramatic and beautiful, but it can't be used seriously in daily conversations, only in art forms or sometimes if you're talking with a lot of passion. For example, "suvi" means summer, but this word is only used in poetic Finnish. The casual/formal word for summer is "kesä". They literally mean the same thing, but you can only use "suvi" in poetic Finnish.

Casual, which is what we speak and write most of the time. This tone is quick and practical, but not grammatically correct or official. We literally call it "speech language" because it is accepted as the norm, but you would never use it while writing an email to your boss, filling out official forms, writing essays/books and so on. Lately casual Finnish has become part of the art world tho, but it's still very different from poetic Finnish.

Proper/formal Finnish or "book language" as we call it. This is the tone you use when casual Finnish isn't acceptable. This is usually only used in written form and very very rarely in speech. As I said, even in court, which is about as serious and official as you can get, formal speech can feel out of place. In my case, the judge only used it when she was making a statement, but generally she used casual Finnish when taking part in the conversation.

But wow I wrote all this and I haven't even answered the question. I'm sorry I don't have a lot of these words ready on command, but here are some more examples I could come up with.

Words I wish I could find the same impact or nuance in Finnish:

carbon/coal (we use the same word for these two)

gender/sex (same thing as above)

ignore

procrastination

actually

fantastic

stuff (noun)

condescending

feed (in social media, such as your Twitter feed. We say "fiidi" but it isn't a true loaned word, it's straight up English in the middle of a Finnish sentence.)

Some Finnish words I suffer with because the nuances are lost in translation:

taulu (a painting, except it means ALL framed (or unframed) pictures, painted or otherwise. Basically if it's flat and you put it on display on a wall, it's a taulu)

tarjeta (this verb is impossibly hard to translate but basically "to be content with/to be able to bear the current temperature of the weather". "Ei täällä tarkene" would mean "it's too cold in here/I'm not ok with this (cold) temperature")

puuhailla (again, a terribly difficult verb to translate, but basically "to do something unspecified" This word has a very lighthearted tone to it and I love it so much. I remember an amusement park from my childhood called Puuhamaa, which would be translated as "the land of doing stuff")

I wouldn't be a true finn if I didn't add "sisu" to this list (it means endurance/willpower. For example, someone who can stay a long time out in the snow and cold without complaining about it has a lot of "sisu"

pakkanen (temperature that is below 0°C. Our version of Jack Frost is "Pakkas-ukko" which literally means "a cold weather dude"

A cool fact u can drop at a dinner party: the Finnish language has about a hundred words for different types of snow and ice 😎

#answered

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space-whalesharks · 5 years ago

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Gil/Scoot - Surprise Kiss

Scott hated Andromeda.

He loved his sister, loved doing things for her, loved adventuring and loved meeting people, but hated Andromeda as a whole.

Being unconscious, then almost dying three times during his first six months there could do that to a person.

But it turned out the Archon’s boss was a mean motherfucker, who, upon meeting Scott and Kara, thought it would be fun to throw him around like a ragdoll. He had promptly been knocked out cold after that, and when he woke up, he was back on the ship, Harry and Lexi both fussing over him, and Kara was bruised up in the next bed over, but she was alive.

They had almost fucking died again.

Was it too early to retire? Would anyone judge him if he tried? How long before near death turned into actual death? Could he say he lived life to the fullest? What the Hell could he do to make sure he did, just in case?

Gil came rushing into the room a couple of moments later, and Scott figured if that wasn’t a damn sign, he didn’t know what was.

He got up and waited for Gil to check in with Kara first - it was only fair. They had met first, they had become best friends first, they had said ‘I love you’ to each other first, the works. All they had ever done was flirt back and forth.

Then again, there was one first that he could beat Kara to, and have for himself.

So when Gil had looked at him and crossed the room to check on him, Scott had surged up, thrown an arm around his neck and kissed him - pain in every part of his body be damned.

It only took Gil a moment to respond in kind, leaning into it, opening his mouth to Scott and tangling a fist in his shirt for good measure. It was over too soon when the pain eventually started to win and he pulled back

Lexi looked between them and opened her mouth, only for Harry to grab her arm and pull her outside the medbay, murmuring something about ‘leaving the lovebirds alone’ - and that Suvi ‘owed him twenty credits.’

They were silent for a while, then Gil scoffed. “That was on your bucket list, was it?” he teased.

Scott shrugged. “Yeah, kinda. One of the last things though.”

Gil scoffed. “Yeah?” he repeated, before he got a better hold of Scott’s shirt. “Then let me motivate you to rearrange the next one,” he countered before he pulled Scott into another kiss.

#Gilder #Scott Raylan Ryder #chyrstis

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ramblingandpie · 6 years ago

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The First Annual Vortex Hot Wings Championship

Since Chiles and other spicy peppers aren't a big agricultural priority, it's been ages since Suvi has had something decently spicy. When The Vortex announces that they've discovered an Andromedan alternative, she jumps at the chance to joint a hot wings eating competition. Set after the game.

1448 words, rated G, Suvi Anwar/Female Ryder

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17748242

It started innocently enough, as so many things do, with an e-mail from Suvi requesting that Ryder stop by. Suvi still sent e-mails as though Ryder didn’t stop by every time she was aboard the Tempest to, if she was lucky and Suvi wasn’t in the middle of something, steal a kiss. Although they shared quarters now, they both kept unusual enough schedules that seeing each other that way was no guarantee.

Suvi held the datapad out for Ryder’s inspection. “Ryder. Can we please try to make it to this? It would mean the world to me.”

The flyer had clearly been put together by someone with no concept of design, but Ryder quickly gathered that it was some kind of eating contest. “I didn’t realize you had a competitive streak in you.”

“It’s not that,” Suvi corrected. “It’s just that even though I know they brought along the materials to grow it eventually, capsaicin isn’t a priority right now due to its low nutritional value. Researchers found a plant on Havarl that has a similar effect on humans, and found a way to distill it so that it’s only mildly toxic.”

“M-hm. So. You’re only going to poison yourself a little bit this time?”

Suvi scoffed. “Ryder, so many things we eat are poison! Capsaicin itself is very much an irritant. Botulism has medicinal applications. Don’t get me started on alcohol.”

“Okay, so you want to join this eating contest because you just want to try it? I’m pretty sure we can arrange for that any time. I am the Pathfinder, you know.”

Suvi scowled. “I don’t just want to try it, Ryder. I want to enjoy it. Do you know how long it has been since I’ve had good spicy food?” Ryder shrugged. “Not since we left the Milky Way. No, I don’t want to eat it. I want to indulge in it.”

Ryder sighed. Suvi so rarely asked for things, and this was clearly important. “We’ll be there. Go sign up.”

Suvi beamed. “Thank you, Ryder.” Ryder kissed Suvi’s forehead. Truthfully, she would do just about anything to get Suvi to smile like that.

***

The contest took place at The Vortex. The rules were simple. Nothing to drink, and they would bring out progressively spicier wings for the contestants. A large pitcher of beer and a full cup of beer were placed before each participant, and when they drank, they were out.

They started with eight people. By the third wing, half had folded. This was clearly not for amateurs.

Liam put an arm around Ryder’s shoulders, clinking his beer mug against hers. “She’s really going for it, isn’t she?” he said.

“She sure is,” Ryder replied, taking a sip of her own drink.

Suvi had not even broken a sweat, and was smiling as she graciously accepted the fourth plate. It had two wings that were coated in an unnaturally bright purple sauce. The contestant to her left took one bite and began coughing almost immediately; he chugged his beer and left the table, head hanging down in defeat. The woman to her right was beginning to sweat and turn pink.

Suvi closed her eyes and clearly savored the first bite. She finished both wings, and then licked her fingertips clean. As she waited for the next set, she gave Ryder a double thumbs-up. The bar was too loud for them to hear each other over the heckling and whooping of the crowd. They hadn’t even been able to get a spot very close to the table, as the event had turned standing room only.

Lexi sighed. She had insisted on coming along just in case the initial evaluations were incorrect about the toxicity levels. “I don’t understand it, Ryder. Alcohol, at least, I can understand. Why this?”

PeeBee shrugged. “Lighten up, Lexi. Some people just like to live dangerously. Though I’d never expect that of Miss Obsessed-With-Rocks over there.” She jerked a thumb in Suvi’s direction. “I’m just disappointed it doesn’t work on us. Anan said it just tastes like wet grass to us.” She grimaced as she said it. “Yuck.”

Ryder laughed. “If Suvi is right, we should have actual oldschool hot sauce in another two or three years, once they’re able to get a good crop of chiles grown.” The entire ride from Eos to the Nexus had involved being regaled with information about growing cycles different peppers.

“That sounds amazing,” Liam said. “I mean. Great that we have something in the meantime, but I don’t know if I could get over the color.”

There was a deep, rumbling sound from Jaal. “I have seen you eat purple foods many times, Liam.”

“But they’re not supposed to be spicy!” Liam protested. “Purple foods are sweet, like grapes and plums and Kool-Aid.”

“I think this is something about humans I will continue to not understand,” Jaal concluded.

Up at the table, the number of competitors continued to dwindle.The contest quickly came down to her and one other by the sixth plate, a clearly stubborn woman whose hair clung to her forehead from the sweat. Suvi was beginning to get a little tinge of pink to her cheeks.

They set the seventh plate down. Suvi paused and took several deep breaths. Her competitor looked at the plate, a little green at the gills.

Suvi picked up the wing, closed her eyes, and took a tentative bite just as the other woman ran from the table in the direction of the restroom.

The bar broke out in cheers and hollers so loudly that Suvi dropped the wing right back onto her plate.

“We have a winner!” Dutch announced, stepping beside her. “Suvi Anwar, your Havarl Hot Wing Champion! Suvi, stand up and greet your adoring crowd!”

She froze as if in shock. “But I-” she gulped. “I haven’t finished this plate yet. And it is really, really good!”

***

Back on the Tempest later, Suvi and Ryder managed to both have simultaneous downtime. Ryder had already told SAM to go to standby so that they could celebrate.

“I just kept trying to close my eyes so I could enjoy it and not pay attention to the others,” Suvi said. “I didn’t even mean to win.” She set the small makeshift trophy down on Ryder’s desk.

“But you did,” Ryder said. “And I hope that satisfied your craving.”

“Oh, it did!” Suvi said, a broad grin on her face. “It’s not quite the same flavor profile, but definitely hits the same points. And Dutch said he’d keep a note of the last one I had so that he can make me a batch special anytime.”

Ryder smiled. “Good. Then you’ll need to actually take some downtime in order to get them.”

Suvi blushed. “I know it’s important. I’m working on it.”

Ryder shrugged. “No worries. But come here. Let’s enjoy this moment to celebrate.”

Suvi walked over to where Ryder sat on the bed. She straddled Ryder’s lap. “Is this what you had in mind?”

“Something like that,” Ryder said, and leaned forward for a deep kiss.

The next few seconds were bliss, until Ryder pulled away. “Oh my god, oh my god Suvi, I love you but I have to stop. SAM?” she called.

“What’s the matter, Ryder?” Suvi stepped away, eyebrows furrowed with concern.

“Oh my god it burns. SAM, fix it. Fix it please.”

It took a brief moment for the realization of what had happened to dawn on Suvi, and in that moment, Ryder’s face went from a grimace to calm.

“Too much for you, eh, Ryder?”

Ryder’s words came out slowly and awkwardly. “Ip’th nop bunny.”

SAM began to speak from Ryder’s desk to explain. “In order to numb the heat and pain receptors, Ryder, I had to numb your entire mouth. I recommend keeping it numbed for several hours so that the reaction can run its course.”

Suvi began to laugh.

“Ip’th nop bunny!” Ryder repeated.

“It’s kind of funny,” Suvi said, as she sat next to Ryder and wrapped a hand around her waist.

Ryder leaned her head on Suvi’s shoulder. Suvi stroked Ryder’s hair. “Feels okay, now, though?”

“Yeth.”

“Good. I’m sorry I laughed.”

“Ip’th othay.” Ryder paused. “Ip ith pind ob bunny.”

Suvi giggled. “Maybe we’ll just call it an early night, then, hm? Give you a chance to heal up.”

Ryder sighed.

Suvi continued. “And. I promise that I won’t eat them unless I know you’ll be busy.”

“Pank yuu.”

“You’re welcome, love.” Suvi ran a hand through Ryder’s hair. “Besides. It’s good to know the great Pathfinder has weaknesses. Who knew you could defeat the Kett but can’t take on a plate of spice?”

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #suvi anwar #fic #my fic

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gamerwoo · 4 years ago

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[Tales from the Pack] Hansol: Fire and Ice (Part Eight)

Characters: Hansol x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, angst but it’s actually not too angsty, i wouldn’t really call any of this fluff necessarily but it’s definitely not super angsty, mentions of not eating bc depression, mentions of death and suicide

Word count: 2,701

Summary: You’ve always been one to let your emotions get the best of you – your power reflects that – and you’ve never been good at expressing them. That’s why you always thought you’d be awful with a mate, but you never thought things would be this awful.

a/n: things in bold are in english. also since people have been asking, at the bottom of the tftp info list, there’s a list for jiung’s pack. i didn’t think remembering their names and such were really important for the story but people wanted to know who they were and requested i add it anyway. if there’s any other info you’d like me to add, please let me know!!

Previous | Next | Fire and Ice Masterlist

As expected, you were gone when Hansol woke up on the couch. He checked his room and saw a note on the nightstand, along with Chanseong’s ring. The necklace, however, wasn’t there.

Please give this to the pack. They deserve something of theirs as much as I do.

-_____

Hansol put the ring in his pocket before grabbing a jacket and some shoes to go out for the day. He figured he could make it to their house and be back in time for lunch, so he started off as soon as he was ready to go.

As he got to the door, Soonyoung stopped him, “Suvi and I went and spoke to that doctor the other day -- the one Hanbin’s pack mentioned to us. She said she can take a look at you…if you want.”

Hansol nodded, “I’m still thinking about it.”

“When will you decide?” Soonyoung sighed. “We all know it’s hurting you.”

Hansol couldn’t deny that even having on a very thin t-shirt still irritated the silver in him, but he wasn’t going to fix it until he was sure there was a good reason to.

“I’ll decide when _____ decides,” he stated before leaving the house and going toward Hanbin’s.

As expected, it only took a few hours in his human form. The ring was safely in his pocket, and he checked every so often to make sure it was still there. He didn’t want to touch it too much but he wanted to make sure it wasn’t suddenly lost or something.

Besides giving the pack the ring, he wanted to get a few things for you. Maybe some of your clothes or belongings you didn’t take, probably a few more shirts of Jiung’s just so you’d have other things that smelled like him. Maybe he’d even get one of his blankets or something just so it wouldn’t lose his scent as quickly. He just wanted things that would make you feel more at home with his pack, even if you only decided to stay with them for a short amount of time.

The fact that you were pushing him away hurt, but what hurt more was that you were unhappy. Hansol didn’t blame you, not at all. He knew you were pushing people away to cope, and people coped it different ways. Like you, some people preferred being alone rather than surrounded by others. Your brother had died, then his mate confessed to only you that he was going to kill himself, you were expected to step up and be an alpha, and everyone had been yelling at you to make decisions since the moment you woke up. He didn’t blame you for acting the way you did, even if you were pushing him away, too. He wanted to give you space to heal, hoping you’d come to him when you were ready.

But even if he wasn’t really the one who killed your brother, he understood your anger and frustration. From what your old pack had told him, you were known for bottling up your emotions until they burst, and you acted without thinking of consequences. You didn’t know how to make sense of what you felt, and you needed something or someone to blame and take your anger out on. Everyone who came near seemed to be a target, but he at least understood why you felt so angry. As long as he understood you, he didn’t think anyone else needed to.

He strolled up to the deck and knocked on the door. He smiled politely down at the mate who answered. He vaguely recalled her name was Seongmi.

“Oh, you’re from that other pack,” the girl smiled politely when she recognized him. “How can we help you?”

“Actually, I have something for your pack,” he began, as Hanbin and Jaesang made their way over. “And…I was wondering if maybe there was anything I could bring back for _____?”

“_____ ran away to your pack?” Hanbin asked, a relieved smile on his face.

Despite what Hanbin probably assumed, Hansol’s expression dropped, shaking his head, “No, not directly. She… One of our mates – the banshee – found her trying to do harm to herself. We got lucky.”

“_____…” Jaesang sighed, shaking his head as he ran his hands over his face.

Hanbin waved the younger wolf inside, “Please come in, Hansol.”

So he followed the two wolves into the living room. Most of the mates didn’t seem to be home, save for Rika who was sewing up Hyojun’s shirt that was completely torn down the back. The wolf just looked up at you and grinned while Rika kept her eyes on the needle between her delicate fingers.

The rest of the pack was inside and seemed to just be resting, mostly. Baekhan was lounging on the couch with a mug in his hands, and Jinyoung was sipping from a bottle of whiskey as he spoke about something else entirely to the two wolves in the room. The only one who seemed to be missing was Rin.

“Hey, Hansol!” Jinyoung nodded as he lifted his bottle to the young wolf. “What brings you back here? Wait, _____ didn’t–”

“_____ is safe,” Hanbin stated.

Jinyoung nodded again, trying to settle his heart that had picked up as he took another sip of whiskey, “Good, good. So then why’d you decide to stop by?”

“I went back to the house the other night,” he began as he fished around in his pocket. “I was hoping to find…well, anything related to Jiung or Chanseong, and I found Jiung’s necklace and gave it to _____. But she left and note and said you guys might want this.”

He opened his palm to show the ring. Hanbin took it, a smile growing on his face as he realized what it was. Even Rika had stopped what she was doing to see what it was.

“Is that…?” her question trailed off, her voice soft.

“It’s the ring,” Hanbin chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ll be damned. We figured there wasn’t going to be anything left.”

“That’s probably not made out of any normal gold,” Hyojun nodded. “Actually...what temperature does gold melt at?”

Hanbin looked up from the ring, his golden eyes sparkling, “Thank you, seriously. Bringing this back means the world to us.”

Hansol nodded in reply.

“You wanted some of the kid’s stuff, right?” Jaesang asked as Hanbin handed the ring off to Rika for her to look at.

Rika rolled her eyes before examining the ring, “She’s still older than you, Jae.”

“And maybe some of Jiung’s, if that’s okay. I noticed she likes to wear his things, and I figured the sweater she’s been wearing is losing his scent. Maybe there’s something that’ll keep the scent for longer that’s less prone to getting dirty,” Hansol chuckled, carding a hand through his hair.

“Of course,” Hanbin nodded. “Follow me.”

The alpha led him upstairs, going to your room first. Hansol quickly went through and grabbed anything he thought you might need, stuffing it into a backpack that was hung on the back of your door. He made sure to grab the picture of you, Jiung, and what he assumed was the rest of your family, off of your nightstand as well, and one of you and a very large group of people – he assumed was the pack before so many died – before he left the room.

Down the hall, Hanbin stopped and opened a door. As soon as it was opened, Hansol knew it was Jiung’s because it still smelled strongly of the late alpha. He looked around a bit, noticing the place was less minimalistic than yours. It had a lot more pictures on desks and dressers, and even hanging on the walls. Clearly, family and pack were something Jiung treasured dearly. There were pictures of other people around Jiung’s age, as well as pictures of people who seemed to be from other countries just like the one he’d grabbed from your room. With Hanbin’s help, Hansol was able to pack pictures that seemed most important, such as ones with your family and old pack members you were close with.

The second thing he did was go through Jiung’s clothes, grabbing as many sweaters as he could since you seemed to like warm things – he assumed it was because of your firebending power – but also a few t-shirts. Hanbin also took the knitted throw blanket from Jiung’s bed and handed it over to the younger wolf.

“His mother knitted this for him and sent it with him as a birthday gift one year,” the alpha explained. “I think _____ will like this, and she’ll probably keep it someplace where it won’t lose the scent. But if she ever misses him and needs something else to feel close to him, you know where to find us.”

Hansol gave the older wolf a grateful smile, “Thank you, Hanbin.”

“You take good care of _____, okay?” Hanbin told him, clapping a hand on Hansol’s shoulder. “If you can do anything about it, don’t let her leave you. I know she’s not really mad at you, but she’s too overwhelmed to face her real emotions. Just…help her though them if you can.”

“I’ll try,” Hansol nodded with a sure look, “I promise.”

As he expected, Hansol made it back just in time for lunch. He went and brought everything upstairs, planning to unpack it all afterwards. You weren’t up there, so he assumed you weren’t home – at least he hoped that you weren’t home yet but you would be. So he left the backpack on the bed and went downstairs to wash up for lunch.

As he bounded down the steps, he could hear the pack talking with each other. They seemed to be adjusting nicely to the new house which made everybody happy. Suvi was so far unrecognizable – then again, word about her might not have traveled this far yet – Eunjin hadn’t been screaming as often – though she did one night but she said it was because she couldn’t “hear them” and nobody was going to ask what that meant – and even the wolves seemed to enjoy the larger space. The only person having a more difficult time was Jia just because she was still trying to memorize the layout.

“Hansol!” Yeji grinned as she walked over to him. Dirt was covering every part of her skin that was exposed, and her tail was swishing lazily behind her with some patches of fur matted down. “Do you know if _____ is coming?”

He just shrugged, trying not to let his face turn into a frown, “I’m not sure, to be honest.”

Yeji just scrunched up her nose, one of her ears twitching slightly, “Oh… Uh, well, try not to get too upset over it, y’know? She’s still…recovering.”

“Im Yeji!” Jihoon barked, frowning at the state his mate was in. “Go clean up, you’re not eating like that!”

“Relax,” she scoffed, turning to face her mate, “I’ve eaten off the forest floor before.”

“No,” he stated, grabbing her hand and bringing her to the bathroom. “You’re not eating while you’re covered in dirt. That’s disgusting.”

Hansol just chuckled at the couple and made his way to the kitchen where most of the pack was, and where the great smell of food was coming from. He hoped that maybe someday you and him could be like Yeji and Jihoon. He thought they were cute.

The pack started taking seats as they waited for food to be done. They typically took food from the stove and then went to wherever to eat it, but they only sat at the table to wait for it to be done. And sure enough, at noon, Soomin, Jun, and Mingyu stepped away from the stove to let the mates get their food.

And only a few seconds later did Hansol’s heartbeat pick up, and then a moment after that, the front door opened. The werewolves heard it as well, but the entire pack didn’t look until the door closed.

You appeared in the doorway, seeing lots of eyes on you which made your cheeks heat up involuntarily.

“…Hi,” was all you could think to say.

“Hi, _____!” Danbi chirped, and you thanked whatever higher being that she was there to make things less weird. “Glad to have you for lunch!”

“Yeah, come sit,” Mingyu smiled, waving you in.

As you entered the kitchen, you locked eyes with Hansol for a brief moment. He was looking at you almost in awe, like God had appeared right in front of him for afternoon tea, and you felt your face heating up even more. You cast your gaze downward as you went to take the seat between Mingyu and Eunjin.

“_____, you’re welcome to get food with the girls,” Soomin told you.

You just shook your head, replying instinctively, “Mates eat first.”

That was always the rule with your previous pack: mates, then both male and female wolves. You may not have eaten as much as a male wolf could, but you definitely ate more than any human.

So after all the mates got their food, Mingyu gestured for you to help yourself. However, you didn’t want to eat. You still had that pit in your stomach that just made you want to gag at the mere idea of food. You really just wanted to go crawl back into bed and hide, but you couldn’t do that here -- you did go back to Baekhyun just to let him know you were still alive because he panicked a lot when he woke up to you missing, and you considered just staying there again. There were too many people here to hide, and you were sure to get annoyed by the noise.

“I’m not hungry,” you mumbled, waving their concerned looks away with your hand.

“_____, you should really eat something,” Soonyoung spoke up. “When was the last time you ate?”

“When I was out,” you lied. All you actually did when you were out was hide to escape the noise and people to be alone. “I’m fine, seriously.”

So the males got up to get their food, taking basically whatever was left. You listened to the pack chat with each other while you silently watched them eat. Hansol sat on the opposite side of the table between Seokmin and Joshua, and you could feel his eyes on you the entire time. However, he didn’t try making conversation with you at all.

“So, _____,” Joshua began, speaking in English as he gathered food with his utensils, “mind if I ask what you’ve been up to lately?”

You just shrugged, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the town. I went to visit some old friends, went to see what’s changed, stuff like that.”

“And how are you…feeling today?” he asked, his tone suddenly more serious as he was referring to what happened the night before.

You just shook your head and didn’t say anything. He got the hint, though. You didn’t want to talk about it, and that was a feeling he understood. Although, you still couldn’t help but wonder how Eunjin got to you when she did. Did Jiung really manage to lead her there before anything happened? Was she sure it was him?

“Does Eunjin know who she’s speaking to?” you asked Josh, looking down at your plate. You would’ve asked her yourself, but you didn’t want to let the rest of the pack in on your conversation topic. “Like, is she aware of who they were before?”

“I think so, yeah,” Josh nodded. “Why, are you thinking about last night?”

Slowly, you nodded, looking up to meet Joshua’s curious golden eyes, “My parents believed in spirits and stuff. They also said that if you woke up from a dream with a headache, that a spirit was getting inside your head to talk to you.”

The older wolf just shrugged, “I dunno, _____. At this point, I kind of just believe any of that could be possible. I guess it’s up to you to decide if you believe, though.”

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theclumsyxeno · 2 years ago

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Future and Past Crossroads- Horus

In a dimension where the worlds of Mass Effect and SMITE have crossed, many gods have crossed to the Milky Way or Andromeda, and many have been injured. One of them, Horus, tried to escape a brutal battle with Set, but the donkey-Hound god had broken one of his wings, tossing him through a portal to the Andromeda Galaxy. Horus awoke in the cold darkness of space. He was grateful he didn’t need air but feared freezing to death. He shivered continually, his beak beginning to chatter. Praying to any deities higher than him that he’d survive.

….

On the Tempest, Ryder and his crew just left the Heleus Cluster, with Jaal Ama Darav in tow. As they flew, Dr. Suvi Anwar, one of the pilots, noticed something not far from them. She used the ship’s visual computer to zoom in, she gasped. Grabbing her fellow pilot, Kallo Jath’s attention.

He asked, “Is something the matter Suvi?”

Suvi looked at her co-pilot with a fearful expression, “There’s someone out there in space….” Causing Kallo to panic. The Salarian pilot to nearly fell out of his seat.

He gulped harshly, “Well, what are we waiting for?!” Suvi nodded and flew toward the person.

Horus was fading quickly, he struggled to keep his solid blue eyes open. He soon heard a noise and weakly turned his head to see something he didn’t recognize: a spaceship. Before he could wonder further, he slipped into unconsciousness……

Horus later woke in a pod, it was warm and held a honey glow.He saw someone approach and push a button, opening the pod. It was a woman, she was of Hebrew descent, with long brown to black brunette hair, and large purple eyes.

She asked softly, “A-are you okay?” Horus took note of her quiet voice and realized she was a shy person.

He chose his words carefully, not wanting to frighten her, “I am Horus…”He said softly.

She looked at the bird god, replying, “I’m Ahava-Adi Abadi,” She said still quietly.

Horus stated, “I’m doing better, I’m grateful to have been rescued.”

The woman smiled at him, saying, “Yes, me too.” She said looking up at the ceiling of the pod. Horus looked around as well, finding the pods were made from an unknown material that resembled metal or glass. Though he didn’t get a clear look as the woman continued to speak.

Ahava spoke, “You’re a new species… I’ve never seen anything like you before,”

Horus replied, “Well, I am…” He hesitatied slightly, “Am actually a God…” He expected the woman to either not believe him, laugh, or straight up leave. instead a glimmer appeared in Ahava’s eye.

She gleefully shouted, “You are?!?! WOW!” Horus was shocked by the sudden excitement from the once shy girl. She embraced the bird god, causing him to grunt in pain. Ahava gasped and pulled away, “I’m soooo sorry! I forgot about your wing. Let go grab some medi-gel.” Horus watched the woman leave, he sensed an innocence in the woman, he began to wonder how old she really was. Soon he heard fast footsteps, he looked up and saw Ahava return, with Medi-gel in hand. She stated, “Let see your wound.” Horus turned towards the woman. As she applied the medi-gel.

Horus asked, “I don’t mean to intrude, but… How old are you?”

Ahava responded, “Sixteen.” Horus was surprised by how young the medic was. He wondered how someone so young as on a ship, without her parents, what surprised him the most, was the fact, he was around the same age…. In god years at least. In human years he was well over 12,000 years old, hence his title as “The elder”.

Horus asked, “Why are you here?”

Ahava paused, and looked away. Horus grew worried by the girl’s silence.

Horus stated, “I am sorry for asking.” Ahava bit her lip and quivered slightly, but forced herself smile and looked back at Horus.

She said trying to hide the shake in her voice, “I-it’s okay…” Horus could hear the sadness in her voice. He didn’t understand why the teen was hiding what she was feeling? Was she lost and scared? Why was she on the ship? Horus wondered if she lost a parent, he knew that pain far too well. His gaze became sad.

As Ahava finished applying the medigel, she continued to hold back her tears, and tried to keep up her smile. Horus was curious though, why wasn’t she telling him whatever was bothering her, she must know the bird god would help. But something told him not to press. Instead he decided to try and talk to the girl.

Horus asked, “Where are you headed?”

Ahava stuttered, “Uh… I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”

Horus answered, “Because you seemed lonely, and scared. And I think it might be better than being alone.”

Ahava stared at the ground, not knowing what to say. She knew this was true, but her mother was dead, and she was saved and brought onto the Tempest due to the Kett destroying her home planet. She wanted to be strong, and didn’t want people to worry about her. Even though she wanted- no, craved comfort. She already felt she was burdening the tempest crew as it was, and wanted to be useful. She didn’t want to feel that she was interrupting their work with her problems. Horus sensed that she was afraid, and forlorn. She tried her best to hold back her tears.

Horus questioned, “Are you alright?”

Ahava replied, “Yea, I guess.” She gave a small chuckle.

The Falcon god replied, “Do you need to talk?”

The girl replied, “No.. Not really.”

Horus pondered, “If you ever do want to talk, I’ll listen.”

Ahava blushed, “You are too kind sir.. I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

Horus sighed, “I suppose you aren’t ready to tell me what's wrong yet...”

Ahava was surprised and felt a smile tug at her lips. Horus smiled when he saw a genuine smile.

Horus continued, “But… I promise you won't always feel alone. I can stay near you if you wish.”

Ahava looked up and smiled gently again, her heart filled with happiness. Horus smiled, glad she seemed more comfortable talking to him now. He stood up and stretched himself. Ahava watched in amazement as Horus did that. Watching his wings spread wide. She wondered what it was like to fly, to be high in the sky. But she chose not to ask. Once Horus stopped stretching, he turned to look at her again.

Horus asked, “Would you please show me what is going on?”

Ahava nodded and led the way out of the medical pod, taking Horus down the hallway into a larger area of the ship. It was brightly lit. There were many doors spaced evenly throughout the vast room.

The female gestured to the doors to her left, she explained, “These are our bedrooms.” Turning to him, she grinned widely, “We have several different living areas, entertainment, food. Everything you will need. We have other areas in storage, like our airlocks and cargo bays…”

She walked over to a door and opened it, she announced, “This is where all the supplies and equipment, is kept. It has everything you need!”

Ahava went to another door, “And this is one of our main living areas.”

They walked through to the other side, revealing another hallway which was also brightened by lights. They both looked forward to explore, until they passed another doorway. This time, Ahava pushed open the door, revealing two rows of beds. Horus blinked at the sight, noticing there wasn’t one bed in the middle.

The girl pointed, “That’s because those are for sleeping, and we have a lot of beds. We normally use two or three beds, sometimes a group. But we don’t need them anymore.”

She continued, “Now everyone has their own space. If someone needs somewhere to sleep, they stay here in the guest space… Although you’d have sleep by yourself…” She gained a sad tone. Horus took note of it.

He asked, “Is everything alright?”

Ahava stated, “I feel bad you’d have to be alone…”

Horus looked up at her, he frowned lightly, “Why? I’m sure we could spend some time together, we wouldn’t even need beds!” He joked slightly to lighten the mood. Ahava giggled a little, her smile returning.

…………….

Ahava ran through a war torn planet, in a white night gown. She ran trying to escape the Kett’s attack. She looked for her mother.

She shrieked, “MOOM! Where are you?!!” She ran into an empty room. She searched for any signs of life but found none.

Her eyes widened, and she began to cry loudly. She couldn’t lose her mother She was all she had left… She began to sob loudly as she collapsed onto the floor. A large explosion sounded, sending debris everywhere. It knocked her down. Ahava managed to get up and made it to her home, it was in rubble, she gasped and walked over the tumbled rocks that were once the wall. She saw her mother lying dead on the floor. She screamed out as she knelt beside her crying hysterically.

She begged as she tried to wake her. Her mother didn’t respond. She cried as she grabbed her shoulders and yelled louder.

Finally, a figure stepped out of the darkness. Ahava’s eyes shrunk; it was a Kett. He approached and went to hit her, she screamed.

……..

Ahava shot awake in her bed, gasping for air, it was only a nightmare, she shook, trying to slow her breathing. She ran out of her room, and kept running, She didn’t notice Horus’s worried form as she ran. He flew after her, and grabbed her, lifting her into the air. Ahava finally noticed how high she was off the ground. She turned, seeing Horus’ worried face. She broke and embraced the falcon god.

He held her tight as she cried against his shoulder, “You should never ever run from your problems…”

He placed his hand on top of hers, “It was a bad dream. You are fine.”

He held her tight, rubbing circles on her back, “You are safe now.” She leaned deeper into Horus, quivering softly. Horus remained in the air, flapping his wings.

Ahava weakly asked, “I-I wanted to ask… What is it like to fly?” Horus was surprised. Ahava continued, “We’re on a planet…” Her voice choked, Horus rubbed her hair softly. “… So does it hurt? Do you ever tire? What is it like?” Tears slipped from her eyes as she spoke faster, still shaking in fear, “What is flying supposed to feel like?”

Horus whispered in her ear, “It’s wonderful.” His voice filled with awe, and love. “And no one will hurt you while flying.” He smiled. “I will keep us safe.”

Ahava asked softly, “C-can you take me flying?”

Horus looked around, then said, “I think so. Are you ready?”

Ahava slowly nodded. After they left the Tempest and Horus took off quickly, Ahava held tighter to the falcon god. They flew through the clouds above Havarl below. They circled and dipped and soared through the sky. After some time, she started laughing, smiling happily.

Horus heard the laughter, a smile grew on his beak. He laughed along with her. The feeling of freedom flooded through them. They flew together, and soon reached the edge of the atmosphere, then swooped down low enough to see the ground. Ahava let out a yelp.

She cheered, “This is amazing!” Horus felt a warmth in his heart, seeing her smile. Any remnant of her fear from her nightmare had faded away.

The young god smiled and laughed lightly. “Yes, it is indeed! It feels incredible.” Ahava nuzzled her head into his feathered neck, closing her eyes. She felt the wind glide across her body, she heard the whistling from the wind in her ears. ‘This is what it feels like, to fly’ she thought happily to herself. She felt herself drift to sleep in the falcon God’s arms. Horus saw that she was asleep.

The bird smiled to himself, he turned around and flew back to the Tempest, once he returned and entered, He took her to her quarters. He laid her in her bed. He turned to leave, when he heard her start to whimper. He spun back around, realizing she was having another nightmare. He rushed to her side, sitting at the edge of the bed. He stroked her cheek gently with the back of his talon hand and murmured to her, “It's okay, you're safe. No one else will hurt you here, I won’t let anyone hurt you, alright?” Ahava still whimpered slightly, tears forming in her closed eyes. Horus felt beside himself. He soon laid in her bed, even though his feet hung off the bed due to him being too tall for the bed. He embraced Ahava, hushing her whimpers and tears. After a few moments, she relaxed more into his embrace and drifted back to sleep. Horus sighed with relief.

He stayed there for a long time, before he pulled himself from the bed and headed towards his quarters. Before entering, he called out to the girl , “Goodnight my princess.”

She gave him a soft snore in response, making his beak turn upwards, appearing like a smile. He headed to the “guest room” closing the door behind him, He removed his armor, leaving only his Shendyt. He turned off his lights. Closing the door, he climbed into his bed. He stared up at the ceiling and fell asleep.

………

Ahava yawned tiredly as she woke. As she stretched out her limbs, she realized something odd was missing. She sat up in surprise. Where is the falcon god? She asked herself as she looked around. She couldn’t find him anywhere, she jumped out of bed and started looking for him. She soon found him, snoozing away in the “guest room” , she huffed and sat next to him on the bed, hugging his large feathered leg, she pouted slightly.

Horus groggily opened his solid blue eyes as he felt the warm weight pressing him to the bed. He gazed down at the teen laying on him, smiling. Ahava looked up and saw Horus.

She said, “I never got to say, thank you.”

He replied, smiling, “It wasn’t a problem.”

Ahava crawled up and rested on Horus’ feathered chest. They lay there quietly for a few minutes.

“How do you feel?” He asked.

“Slept well, better than ever”, Ahava smiled, “Didn’t have anymore nightmares.” He smiled at her, glad she was happy, seeing Ahava smile made his heart skip a beat. He felt a need to keep her safe, to protect her from her nightmares. Its what a good ruler would do for his people. Horus rested a talon hand on Ahava’s head, and rubbed her hair. He didn’t know what she went through that caused such horrid nightmares, but he swore to himself to protect the teenage human from whatever else could threaten her. Gods forbid if Set somehow found his way here, Horus felt a slight anger thinking about the donkey god, how he killed his father, Osiris, and threw ancient Egypt into chaos. He refused to allow Set, to get anywhere near Ahava if he ever came to this reality. He vowed to protect her. He felt Ahava snuggling into his chest. She was so tiny compared to him.

She said, “I never would’ve guessed you were so fluffy.” Horus let out a chuckle at her comment, faint golden blush appearing on his feathered cheeks. The door soon creaked open, Horus sat up quickly, concerned of what or whom could be coming. Before he could do anything, Ahava stated, “Wait Horus! It’s only my friend!” Horus then looked down, he saw a small black and red creature, with green eyes. Ahava explained, “It’s a Zorua, a Pokémon. He’s my friend.” Horus’s expression softened as the Zorua hopped onto the bed and snuggled with Ahava. She petted the dark type Pokémon’s soft fur. “See Horus? There’s nothing to worry about.”

The falcon god looked down at the small, cute creature cuddling with Ahava. A warm glow formed within his chest, the urge to protect her was overwhelming. He gently stroked the little creature’s head, giving him a sweet smile, “Hello Zorua”.

Zorua tilted his head to the side, confused. Ahava laughed, “Zorua, he’s my friend, it’s okay.” The Zorua approached Horus, placing a paw on each of his claws. With that gesture, he said in a soothing voice, “Hi Horus.”

Oh…

Horus gasped, and stared wide eyed at the Zorua, “You…you speak?”

Zorua responded, “Yeah.”

Ahava explained, “He uses telepathy to talk.” Horus glanced back and forth between Zorua and Ahava. He stared wide eyed for several seconds, not believing what was happening. It shocked him that a little creature was capable of speech from its mind, and allow everyone around it to hear it speak.

He chuckled softly.

Ahava giggled, “What? Is that weird?”

Horus shook his head, “No, not at all. Your friend is incredibly intelligent.” His eyes lit up, his smile became even bigger. “May I touch you?” Zorua nodded and let out an inquisitive grunt.

Horus gently ran a claw over his face, causing him to purr. Zorua nuzzled into the palm of Horus’s hand, he purred louder. Ahava smiled, watching the two interact. She was enjoying their interaction, she could tell Horus liked Zorua, and Zorua liked Horus. It made Ahava happy to see the pair getting along so well. Especially with how Zorua had trust issues. He could easily recognize someone lying to him. He knew when someone wasn't who they appeared to be. But Horus was honest, and didn’t have anything to hide. She was grateful to see that, and smiled softly.

She said softly, “I am so lucky to have you as a friend Horus.”

Horus replied with a slight blush spreading across his beaked muzzle, “You are very welcome Ahava.”

Ahava grinned, “Well I guess we should go eat breakfast. The Falcon god nodded in agreement, Zorua hopped off the bed and looked at the pair.

Zorua asked, “Well are you two coming?!”

Both Horus and Ahava grinned. “Coming!” said the two in unison. They stood up and as Ahava scooped up Zorua, Horus put on his armor. The pair left the guest space and headed to the kitchen of the ship. There, Vetra Nyx and Cora Harper. The Turian woman and Human woman smiled. Zorua wiggled in their arms.

They greeted Ahava, “Morning sweetie! Did you rest well last night?” Ahava answered with a hum. Cora asked curiously, “So, what are you going to make today Ahava? We always like your cooking.” Horus was surprised,

He spoke, “I didn’t know you could cook.” Ahava nodded in response.

Zorua stated, “Her cooking is the best in all of the Andromeda!” Ahava blushed at her Pokémon’s complement. They continued chatting with Ahava while preparing breakfast, Vetra approached Ahava.

The Turian rested a hand on Ahava’s shoulder.

She whispered, “You doing okay?” Ahava turned to Vetra and nodded.

“Yep! Just needed a nap!” She said grinning. Vetra raised an eyebrow at her.

“I meant about… What happened on your planet.” Ahava bit her lip, but breathed.

She replied softly, “I had a bad nightmare last night, but…” She looked at Horus, who was chatting with Cora. Ahava smiled and looked back at Vetra, “Horus comforted me, I slept so well last night.” Vetra smiled softly, the white turian was glad her human charge was doing alright. She gave Ahava one more pat on the shoulder and walked away, allowing Ahava to continue on breakfast. She approached Horus, who noticed the Turian quickly.

Vetra stated, “Name’s Vetra Nyx, and… Thanks for what you did for Ahava last night.” He smiled at the woman before replying.

“I merely did my job, don’t thank me”

Vetra rolled her eyes, and smirked, “I don’t know. I heard you calling her your princess. You seem awfully fond of her.” Horus’ beaked muzzle flushed, and tried to defend himself.

“I’m merely being polite…”

She cut him off with a smirk, “I can tell the way she looks at you, and how you look at her~” Horus huffed annoyed, his feathered cheeks gold from blush. Vetra continued, “I can tell she’s developing feelings for you. She normally doesn’t open up to people that fast. There must be something about you.”

Horus thought over everything that happened between them last night, and couldn’t help but agree with Vetra. He looked back at Ahava, who was gracefully flipping pancakes and Zorua kept trying to jump on the counter to eat the bacon that was freshly cooked, while Cora tried to pull him off, Ahava laughed at the whole thing.

. He turned to Vetra again. He told her, “I have to admit, I feel the same about her.” Vetra’s smirk widened. She winked, “I figured so.” Vetra’s smirk vanished, and a frown appeared, surprising Horus. She leaned in and whispered, “She’s lost a lot, her planet was attacked by Kett, and her mother and father were killed. She would’ve died to had we not headed to her planet when we did.” Horus was shaken by what he heard, no wonder she was so shy and quiet, her trauma was so bad. He looked at Ahava’s smile as Cora struggled to get Zorua to stay away from the finished Pancakes and bacon, he made a sad smile.

If Ahava wanted to keep that secret then there was nothing wrong with that. He wouldn’t force her to share anything unless she really wanted to. He looked at her once more and watched as she continued to flip pancake’s. His heart clenched as he felt sadness radiating off of her. Ahava was a kind hearted person, and he wished he could protect her from suffering like those monsters had done to her.

If only she would open herself up to him, he could take care of her without hurting her in the process.

A soft knock came from the door, making everyone turn towards it. A familiar face peeked inside. Pathfinder Ryder entered the room. He smiled.

“I smelled the pancakes all the way from my cabin.” He said stepping into the galley, and joining everyone else around the table.

Ahava placed the plates onto the table, she grabbed some syrup and poured some over hers. She glanced back at Ryder. “Good morning Ryder.”

He said warmly, “Mornin’, thanks for the meal.” He glanced at the others seated around the table. He smiled, noticing the newcomer, he waved. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Ryder.”

Horus stated, “It is a pleasure to meet you.My name is Horus.” He shook the pathfinder’s hand. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Ryder nodded and sat down next to Cora. He smiled softly as he took one bite and moaned. Ahava giggled lightly.

Ahava said, “I’m glad you like it!”

Everyone laughed and dug in. As they did, the other Tempest Crew members came and joined them; an Angara named Jaal Ama Darav, a Krogan named Nakmor Drack, a quiet human assassin named Inanis, an Asasri named Peebee B'Sayle, a human named Liam Kosta, and a wolf Faunus named Gil Brodie. They all talked and laughed around the table.

As they ate, Horus watched the crew members and their friendships in action. He found himself thinking about his home of Ancient Egypt, how loving his parents, Osiris and Isis were, despite the horrors they went through, how his half brother Anubis was loyal and wise. How his grandfather Ra was brave and protective. He wondered how they doing, and if they were safe, especially with Set running loose-

Horus shook those thoughts out of his head as he saw Ahava smiling softly as she ate.

She looked happy, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her bright purple eyes met his solid blue eyes, and a small smile spread across her face.

He returned it gently. Zorua also happily waved at the falcon god, which made Horus giggle slightly.

Ahava smiled wider, this smile, this light smile, reminded Horus of his Mother. It was soft and gentle, yet strong. He knew Ahava was a tough and brave girl, despite her trauma, and her laugh reminded him of his mothers’. She had the energy of someone that was just like him, as he went through hard times himself, his Uncle, the god Set had killed his father, Osiris, leaving his mother, Isis mourning and desperate to bring him back, his half brother, Anubis was so distraught, and His grandfather Ra was enraged by the betrayal. Horus shook those darker thoughts from his mind and focused on the tempest crew.

Zorua smiled brightly, “Hey Horus. Look! I’m eating food for real. The bacon is even cooked properly now. That means it’s really delicious!”

Horus smiled proudly, “Yes! You definitely deserved it Zorua.” Zorua beamed happily at the praise. Ahava grinned at the falcon god. Ahava’s smile seemed genuine. Horus realized he wasn’t alone in thinking Ahava had the brightest smile, and was surprised that she had shown such positive vibes towards him.

After breakfast everyone left the kitchen, still chatting as they did, while Cora and Vetra stayed to do the dishes. Zorua trotted behind Horus as he strolled slowly around the ship with Ahava. Ahava talked about the things she loved best, including Pokémon (including Ahava’s beloved Zorua). Horus listened intently as Ahava spoke, and couldn’t help but feel he already knew her well enough to talk to each other without having to say a word. They didn’t need words to understand each other. He chuckled a little under his breath, Ahava was a special girl, and he felt maybe, for now, it was alright to stay around the Tempest crew, especially Ahava.

@cosmolumine

#SMITE #mass effect #mass effect andromeda #Horus the younger #Horus Smite #egyptian mythology #Crossover story #long post

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amassingeffect · 6 years ago

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Ficlet Prompt Friday - Limits - mReyder

@trajektoria: could you write me a fic in which Scott in done with his job and Reyes helps him unwind?

Scott’s done his job a little too well and Reyes drives home an important lesson.

Warnings: post-Meridian (no spoilers)

Scott was officially done with today. Especially since it had actually started 72 hours ago. They were chasing down some leads on potential new homeworlds. Something about some of the settlers on Kadara wanting to strike out fresh and give Kadara back to the angara.

Keema had sent Reyes along in some official capacity to help the Pathfinder “ascertain the viability of planetary locales for both human and angaran suitability”. Scott was 99% sure Keema sent Reyes along so they would have some time, relatively undisturbed. And maybe to get Reyes out of her proverbial hair for a little while.

And it had been going well until they received an emergency distress signal and had to divert all the way to the Shojaon system. It was way worse when they got there and arrived at Pas-48. Kallo and Suvi’s initial scans showed that the kett had been busy building what looked like another facility, similiar in size to the one on Voeld. SAM estimated the structure to be about 45% complete. The distress signal had been sent by a small human-angaran mining settlement. A small settlement that had been captured.

Not on Scott’s damn watch. And hadn’t that been a fun debrief, with Scott asking Reyes to stay behind to ensure their extraction. Because with something like this, going in with Resistance tactics was the best bet. Small strike teams, quick and quiet and most importantly, gone before the kett put two and two together.

There had been two teams, with Scott, Jaal and Cora. Liam was running the other with Drack and a few other Resistance members who would meet them onsite.

Reyes, Vetra and Peebee would be the cavalry.

All Reyes had done was nod, but from the way his mouth tightened and he looked at Scott, he wasn’t pleased in the slightest. When Scott had announced it would take them at least 24 hours to get the job done, Reyes’ had narrowed his gaze but remained silent. Really not pleased then.

After that it was a flurry of prep, with them deploying soon after they arrived. No sense in losing the element of surprise and letting the kett bring in more reinforcements. Scott barely had time to take in the gorgeous auroras that filled the sky before he was fighting. The comms alternated between dead silence and the wild chatter that made battle.

It also took longer than a day. The kett really were trying to dig in and Scott would be damned if they set up another wretched exaltation facility. Anything to see that didn’t happen and to rub one in the Primus’ face.

SAM had given him warnings, that he needed to eat and rest, at least for a bit. All Scott had done was ask SAM to override things as safely as possible until the mission was done.

Thirty-six hours later, it ended with them extracting all the captured people and blowing the shit out of the half-built facility. It was like Voeld all over again but with the best of both things. The shuttle ride back had been congratulatory and they all looked tired as shit but exuding pride and sheer fucking victory. As soon as they set foot on the Tempest, SAM quietly asked,

“I recommend stopping by the galley for food and hydration before I release control.” SAM sounded like he was chiding Scott. “I believe Mr Vidal has enough painkillers on hand.”

Painkillers? Scott frowned a bit as he did as SAM asked. He had been living off damned biotic bars for the duration of the mission, something kinda real would be nice. As soon as he was in his quarters, he could see Reyes getting up from the couch to approach him.

“Please put your things down Scott.” SAM requested.

“I’ll be fine.” Scott started walking to Reyes.

“Very well. Engaging privacy mode and releasing now.”

Okay, that was new and… holy shit walking was suddenly too much. Everything but breathing was hard. He stopped moving, just trying to take stock. His legs felt worse than jello and the pronounced throb in the soles of his feet made walking seem impossible. As to his arms, he wasn’t entirely sure how he was still holding anything. Scott knew if he moved a single muscle, it would end very badly. Reyes moved quick now, taking things from Scott and dumping them on the coffee table before coming back and tucking himself under Scott’s arm and taking him firmly by the waist to help him to the chair.

“So, how brilliant was that idea of yours?”

The disapproval coming from Reyes was at official Alec Ryder levels. Awesome. Scott groaned, “SAM told you.” Hell, talking was legitimately the least painful thing right now. Walking these last few steps was beyond murderous.

“He requested I meet you in your quarters with a sufficient amount of painkillers to assist you after the fight. Of all the stupid…” Reyes just broke off into a flurry of agitated Spanish as he set Scott down and eased him into the chair.

All Scott could do was watch as Reyes carefully stripped him out of his armour, right down to his underwear. The armour and undersuit was neatly stacked off to the side to be dealt with later and there was even a small tub of water. Not that he liked it when his feet went in a few seconds later.

“Fuck, it’s freezing cold.” He was too tired to even pull his feet out.

“It’ll help your feet. Here.” Reyes popped two pills in his mouth and held the glass of water for him to drink from. “This is probably the stupidest thing I have seen you do. You keep pushing yourself too far.”

Scott managed a lopsided grin. “That’s me, King of Stupid Decisions.”

“That was not a compliment.” Reyes gave him a flat stare. “You should have taken more backup with you. And you definitely shouldn’t have pushed yourself so hard.”

Reyes sat beside him, picking up his hand and studying it for a moment before he started massaging the palm. Scott was honestly gonna say something. He could hear the worry in Reyes’ voice, see it in how he fretted and chided him. But all that came from his mouth was the most indecent moan ever because how were his hands that sore and Reyes just needed to keep working that magic.

When he finally worked up enough energy to lift his head and look at Reyes, there was a small smile on the other man’s face.

“I’m sorry,” Scott apologized. “C’mere. Your stupid boyfriend pushed himself too hard and can’t really move to give you a kiss.”

Reyes clicked his tongue in disapproval before he leaned in pressed a soft kiss to Scott’s mouth. Scott’s hand was forgotten in lieu of soft, feather-light kisses that left Scott wishing he had enough energy to just drag Reyes fully on top of him. When Reyes finally broke off, he nuzzled at Scott’s face with a chuckle.

“You should know,” he murmured. “Dr T’Perro is waiting to yell at you as well.”

Scott groaned, letting his head fall forward enough to rest against Reyes’. “No thank you, I’d rather have you raking me over the coals.”

“That’s a new one.”

“I can’t kiss and make up with Lexi.” Scott’s arm damned near screamed in protest as he moved it, cupping the back of Reyes head. “If I let you thoroughly bitch me out, maybe you’ll give me a full body massage?”

“So hopeful.” Reyes tutted. “What I had planned required full use of your limbs.”

“Such as?” Scott’s stomach clenched in anticipation.

All Reyes did was give Scott a positively filthy kiss, full of tongue and heavy breathing like he wanted to possess Scott’s very soul. But then he drew back, giving a soft kiss to the tip of Scott’s nose before he went back to massaging Scott’s hand like he hadn’t stolen the breath from Scott’s lungs.

“Later, querido.” Reyes gave him a look. “This is what you need now, not me eating you out and then making making you ride me.”

Jesus Christ… “I’d much rather that. Very much. So much more.”

Reyes raised a brow as he paused in his hand massage. “Stand up, then. Without SAM’s help.”

The one time Scott needed his body to listen, because the spirit was so damn willing. But his body just stayed in the chair, totally not listening or even thinking of co-operating. Reyes chuckled as he resumed the hand massage as Scott whined in displeasure.

“Then maybe this will be a valuable lesson.”

“That’s cruel, Reyes.”

“Oh I don’t know. Should get the lesson across nicely, I think.”

“So damn cruel.” Scott pouted.

“Love you too.” Reyes quipped back with a smile.

#mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #ficlet prompt friday #mryder #reyes #reyes vidal #mreyder #fanfic #writing #trajektoria

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