#not meant to be judgement either I just personally can’t get behind ships with big age gaps or involving characters who grew up as family

[daenerysstormreborn]

I was scrolling through someone’s blog and saw that she’d made a post shitting on people shipping Podrick and Sansa and insinuating that people only do it to spite other shippers and because they don’t ship her with Jon????? Bestie please this is such a niche ship why are you going out of your way to attack it? And sure I do not ship her with Jon but many of the people who reblogged my Podsa post DO like bffr does anyone actually ship something out of spite?

[everlarkficexchange]

Everlark Fic Exchange. PROMPTS

Springtime Edition 2021.

These are the prompts we’ve received so far.

Crossed out prompts have already been selected and are being turned into fics!

A huge ‘Thank you’ to everyone who’s taken the time to come up with an idea and send it our way. Your prompts are the heart of the Exchange. Without them, our authors wouldn’t get to write all those beautiful fics. So, please, keep them coming!

You haven’t sent anything yet? Don’t worry, there’s still time. We’ll be receiving prompts until March 7.  Don’t be afraid to inspire us!

Prompts:

Prompt 1: “No, I noticed just about every girl, but none of them made a lasting impression but you.” (Peeta’s pov of the girls who made impressions that didn’t last and the ones Katniss made that did.) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 2: “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity” - When they are assigned to the same group in middleschool Home Ec class, Peeta seizes the opportunity to pursue Katniss using all his well-honed family bakery and salesmanship skills. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 3: I would like to see some everlark where Finnick walks in on them or Johanna and the there victors make fun of them for what they heard [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 4: Trope: Jealousy Katniss. Modern AU Katniss Everdeen sees his ex boyfriend as the date of one of her coworkers in the company party. She shouldn’t care, because she broke with him, one year ago and still.... when their song plays, against her better judgements, she finds herself dancing with him. [submitted by @alwayseverlark]

Prompt 5: Peeta and Katniss were both rescued in the arena and Peeta shares a bunk in D13 with Finnick - Finnick was sleeping and Peeta and Katniss doesn't see him there in the dark hours while they are tangled in lust and desire - either when everlark is doing it and realizes finnick is there or maybe finnicks POV as he is listening silently or even telling Johanna about it the next day - maybe he even stops them mid fuck with a snide sarcastic remark it's up to you [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 6: Modern AU. High School or College Everlark. Make the “booth Kiss” but Everlark! Peeta is the big brother of Katniss best friend, and she never imagined rule number #9 would become a problem. “Rule #9: Relatives of your best friend are off-limits.” [submitted by @alwayseverlark]

Prompt 7: Prompt: Butthurt emotionally immature Peeta acts the asshat manwhore around Katniss when, in misinterpreting her, he believes that she thinks he’s not good enough for her. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 8: Age gap. Peeta and Katniss are cast as the romantic leads in a show (tv, film, stage, or even a commercial). Of course they cast someone half his age. Peeta can’t help falling for her anyway. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 9: Canon-Divergent/ In Panem D12 “I waited for you” he said but she dint’t reply. He pressed for an answer he knew he deserved, “under the rain, Katniss. I waited for you, under the rain... why would you do that?” / “I can’t do this anymore, Peeta” / “Bullshit, you can but you just don’t want. I thought you were brave!” he yelled at her looking for any reaction that will give some hope. His tears threatening to run down his face. / She didn’t move, and she didn’t correct her, so he ran away and slammed the door behind him. / “I love you” Katniss said to an empty room. [submitted by @alwayseverlark]

Prompt 10: Canon Divergent. When Peeta is rescued from the Capitol and brought to D13, he’s forgotten everything related to Katniss. The Capitol has erased his memories: no Valley Song, no bread, no games, ... nothing. It’s the perfect opportunity for Katniss to let it go, it’s what every tells her... but she still kisses his pearl goodnight. [submitted by @alwayseverlark]

Prompt 11: Prim is marrying before starting her dream job as a pediatric surgeon in another district. 30-something Katniss is proud, thrilled, and yet bereft when her entire life was lived for Prim. She’s never even dated. Has Peeta been waiting for this moment to make his move? Or do they meet at the wedding? Or when her friend drags Katniss out of her slump to a party or on a wild vacation after convincing her to quit her jobs and start a new life? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 12: Fae Katniss. She’s been with him his entire life, so Peeta simply accepted that no one else could see her, thought other people had their own Katniss. She’d been called his imaginary friend and later a crutch, a figment of his imagination, a delusion. Dr. A asks him to make a “real” friend, ignore Katniss, try going on a date. But Katniss won’t be ignored. And a jealous Katniss is a force. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 13: Katniss is “just one of the guys” and the only girl in school who’s never been asked for a date by any of these guys. One day she’s “discovered” by a modeling agency and whisked to the Capital. She returns 3-months later with a new look, new found confidence, and cash. How will Peeta deal with the new Katniss and all the attention she gets from everyone?  [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 14: Peeta is 17 when it comes out the only thing his mother ever cooked was the books; he loses his home, his family, his roll in the community. Katniss is 17 when she loses her only reason for living. What brings them together? How do they help each other survive? What forces work against them? When do they accept the other as ally, as friend, as lover? Canon divergent. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 15: 16-yr-old Peeta’s family moves away. 10 years later he returns and buys a foreclosed upon fixer-upper. When does he learn it belonged to Katniss’s family? She still lives there and hides from him, observes him, haunts him, and ruins all his romantic dates when he’s trying to impress women by making them dinner. Does she learn all she needs to know about him and fall in love before he discovers she’s real and living with him and the one who’s been ruining his love life? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 16: canon divergent, arranged marriage. Many, many years after the rebellion, old victor and mockingjay Haymitch living alone finally starts accepting help, hires teenagers Katniss to bring him liquor and pick up packages and Peeta to bring food and do some chores. The old man sees how the 2 could be good for each other, and being strategic, manipulative, and an old romantic fool with regrets over “the one that got away,” he writes a will leaving his huge fortune to Peeta and Katniss on the condition they have a big romantic wedding within 30 days and live in his mansion caring for his Effie Rose Garden (“Creamy buds unfurl to reveal a memorable heart of buttery yellow, dusty apricot and zesty orange. From a cupped bloom, Rose Effie gradually opens to a perfect rosette, showcasing her splendor.”) And geese.  [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 17: AU, supernatural. “The Monkey's Paw" retelling - 3 wishes are granted (to the owner of the monkey's paw, either Katniss or Peeta) but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. Will the last wish make things right? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 18: enemies to lovers. Katniss ruins Peeta’s relationship or his shot with a super hot woman. Peeta ruins Katniss’s shot at great job or security with potential fiancé. Other series of embarrassments and cockblocking type events? Will they start sabotaging each other for revenge? Will they have angry sex or will it dawn on them that they’re actually attracted to each other first and make everything awkward before they instead have a sweet vulnerable moment and slow reverent love-making? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 19: based loosely on retelling of biblical Jacob and wives Rachel and Leah in that polygamist Peeta is husband to both Katniss and Prim. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 20: Peeta works in ER or long-term care facility. Katniss called in from next-of-kin list and has to decide whether to pull the plug on Prim. They argue over value and meaning of life, over spiritual beliefs and doubts of afterlife, over everything. What will she do? Will this event in this one room be the only thing they ever share, or will the bond they forge through this emotional event be the beginning for them? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 21: Graduating senior Katniss finally accepts an invitation to one of Madge’s wild, unsupervised parties completely unprepared for what goes on in them. Everyone at the party notices her for different reasons from jealousy over the way she looks to suspicion that she’s going to tell parents about the activities to desire to ruin her good girl reputation. Peeta has never missed a party - how does he react to seeing her there? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 22: Their creative writing assignment is to write a short story or poem and to illustrate it as a sketch, painting, animation, with puppets, anything goes. Classmates Katniss and Peeta base their works on the exact same shared experience! (such as the burnt bread, the dandelion, the meadow at sunset, something else entirely). Reaction? People think one of them copied the idea off the other or that they worked together. But Katniss and Peeta realize that the other one remembers, and it meant something to them, too! Will they finally talk? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 23: social media type craziness enemies to lovers. Katniss and Peeta each host a YouTube channel rapidly growing in popularity, Peeta focuses on baking and Katniss on wild game cooking, a competition for audience share becomes personal after they both bake a meat pie recipe, viewers begin to rabidly support their favorite or to ship them together hard, they start to hate each other without ever meeting, maybe they get forced into interacting for a charity benefit, things get ugly, maybe one or both has significant other who react badly to the shipping hype? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 24: While no one expected Katniss to show up to graduation right after her mother passed away and her sister died, they were surprised that she disappeared completely, and even more stunned when she reappeared years later to claim the town’s only apothecary as the last living family member. What compels her to take it over? Where has she been? What kind of welcome does she get? How does she feel about returning and about town life? What’s been going on with Peeta, is he the baker, is he single, a dad, how’s he been all these years? Will talking with him be awkward? Has he changed? Who has Katniss become? Does she seem different? Will she stay? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 25: Katniss is the new girl at this school, transferred to get a better education. Everything about her is alluring, even more so because she doesn’t see the effect she has. Seems everyone is in a clique. She learns that some people are mean and compete like it’s a fight to the death. How does she survive this new arena, learn to identify friends, and stay true to her values under this pressure to fit in? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 26: MJ canon divergent: Prim was not killed. Gale and Katniss attempted to get back to how they were before the war, but he realized he already lost Katniss' to Peeta - heart, body and soul. Any POV. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 27: Everlark in a Tangled!AU, with Katniss as Eugene, and Peeta as Rapunzel (without the super long hair...he has lovely, curly blond locks that heal when combed along to the song...but boy uses a rope to get people in/out of the tower!) [submitted by @albinokittens300]

Prompt 28: Modern AU: Bestfriends!Everlark took their shot at being lovers. But Katniss introduced Peeta as her "bestfriend" to a guy in a party (she was not used to calling him boyfriend yet). He was furious. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 29: I want to request a fic where Katniss and Peeta almost lost their first child and it just made their love and relationship even stronger. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 30: Peeta is Katniss’ tantric yoga teacher. She joins the class on a dare from Johanna and is committed to attending for 3 months. She hates it...at first. Smut happens. [submitted by @mrspeetamellark]

Prompt 31: Peeta Mellark, breakout star and heartthrob has just been cast in the newest highly anticipated fantasy epic (think like Jon Snow in GoT....or whatever because this is just a prompt) His character is highly skilled with a sword and absolutely lethal with a bow. Him and the rest of the cast have to do three months of intensive training prior to production. How will that go with him having a massive crush on Katniss Everdeen, weapons expert and fight choreographer? [submitted by @nightlock-89]

Prompt 32: Katniss Everdeen, famous musician hates posing for photoshoots whether it's for an album or a magazine with the exception of celebrity photographer Peeta Mellark who seems to always know the way to get the best shots. [submitted by @nightlock-89​]

Prompt 33: Based off the movie The Vow except it's Peeta who wakes up to find out he's married to his childhood crush Katniss Everdeen with no knowledge of them ever even dating. [submitted by @nightlock-89​​]

Prompt 34: Modern AU where a forty year old Katniss has shut herself off from the world from fear of getting hurt. After her sister dies she realizes how isolated she is and now wants to open herself up to love, but hasn’t a clue where to begin. Everlark HEA - the details of how they meet and what Peeta’s been up to are entirely up to you. :) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 35: Katniss and Peeta tet to have a date night but the babysitter calls for some "disaster" at home (a burst pipe or something, nothing serious). [submitted by @booksrockmyface]

Prompt 36: Katniss and Peeta are both single parents. They meet while chaperoning a field trip. The rest is up to you! [submitted by @mrspeetamellark]

Prompt 37: Forbidden romance AU: Katniss is the school principal. Peeta is a new teacher fresh out of college. Age!gap Everlark. Smut happens. [submitted by @mrspeetamellark]

Prompt 38: Both Katniss and Peeta are rescued from the arena, and Peeta’s entire family makes it safely to D13. How does everyone get along? (Perhaps the older Mellark brothers have a “chat” with Gale? Or the Hawthornes, Mellarks and Everdeens meet up for the first time at dinner and a fight breaks out? Does anyone have anything to say about the beach kiss?? Prim? Rye? Gale? Will Katniss stick by Peeta or avoid meeting the expectations she set with that beach kiss and declaration of “I need you”?) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 39: Katniss has been bumping into the same stranger (Peeta) for months. When they get stuck in an unfortunate situation together, she decides to be the first to say hello. [submitted by @eiramrelyat]

Prompt 40: Katniss is finally, after a long fight with infertility, expecting their second baby. She plans to share this news with Peeta in a big way. Just some sweet, happy Everlark excited for their second toastbaby! [submitted by @albinokittens300]

Prompt 41: based on high school musical. katniss as gabriella, the smart, great singer and shy girl who starts a friendship w the football star player of the school peeta mellark after singing together at a new year's day's party. could be based on the events of one or all three movies. just some light, fluff high school romance and a very hea. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 42: Group of friends. Economic disaster, no jobs; eventually in desperation someone in the group suggests making a porno for $, the idea takes off, as they work on a script and put out ideas, alot becomes clear, like who has kinks, who has tried a lot, and that one is an inexperienced virgin. Does the writing experience have consequences to the group dynamic, will they actually film and sell it, will they stay friends? Are any couples or siblings part of the group? Are secrets revealed through brainstorming? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 43: After getting her to agree to be his girlfriend, Gale calls Katniss frigid for not being ready for more than handholding and chaste kisses. In effort thaw her faster, he makes an appointment with a team of sex experts, Mellark, Mason, and Undersee (offering MD diagnostics, individual and couple counseling, sex surrogacy help). The professional team breaks under strain of dealing with jackass Gale. Katniss breaks all ties with him and learns in working with the team that she wants sex and just how she likes it. (Is it M/F, F/F, 3-way...) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 44: First-date Everlark. How do they know each other? Who asked who? How do they prepare? Where do they go? How old are they? Does the first date end with a kiss? Pancakes? Request for another? Is it perfect or a disaster so epic they actually have fun and agree to a second first-date? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 45: Peeta works security (peacekeeper? police?), Katniss is a protester (rebellion? BLM?) or a civilian (rebel?) or a local translator in her village. Do they know each other at all? Work together? Fight on opposite sides or meet at common ground? What threatens them? Are their feelings real? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 46: They really do toast privately in CF - katniss wearing an orange dress for peeta and peeta making cheese buns for katniss. They wanted something their own. No one knows about it and there’s no baby (as far they know) but how would this change their relationship? How they make their decisions? Would anyone actually believe they’re married when she gets to district 13? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 47: Katniss and peeta have a secret semi-relationship prior to the 74th games resulting in a child. Katniss’ family hides it was her pregnancy and pretends its mrs everdeens - assuming katniss went to cray or something. What happens when both katniss and peeta are reaped? Will peeta learn of his child? Will anything change during the games? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 48: Mrs. Mellark survived the bombing of district 12 because she was squatting at Peeta’s house. How does this event change her and how does this effect Everlark? (Does this count as an eligible prompt? I just think it would be a great dynamic!) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 49: Age gap. Peeta is a kid in love, driven to enlist, returns as amputee, expects no woman will have him, let alone Katniss. She has become a skilled healer, comes to care for him. He makes her heart full again, she renews him. Age becomes irrelevant. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 50: Fae Peeta or some other supernatural. Mellarks are secretly fae and Peeta meets his mate *Katniss* on the first day of school. katniss is human and it’s dangerous for them to interact when they are so young still. Peeta is forbidden to interact with her until the 74th games - where he will do everything he can to save her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 51: Katniss and Peeta unknowingly have super powers. Anything beyond regular human is rare or unheard of in Panem. For some reason it manifests in both of them and comes out as they both fight to protect each other’s lives in the games. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 52: An AU based on Casper The movie from 1995 (just rewatched this movie, it gaves me so much EverLark vibes^^). Katniss comes to live in an old house alone or with family. Peeta is a ghost staying in this house for who knows how long. He doesn't remember much of his living life. The house is full of secrets. They try to discover the story of Peeta and of course they fell in love ! How can it be a happy ending ? 😉 [submitted by @dreamingreaderuniverse]

Prompt 53: Peeta has a harder time after the 74th games then anyone realizes. PTSD, the virtual abandonment of his family, and Katniss’ lack of interest in him, he’s in a bad place. He puts up a front when around Katniss and Haymitch, but things come to head when he gets an anxiety/panic attack while on the victory tour. Katniss is there for him. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 54: Madge has hosted “Beach Week!” ever since her family acquired the multi-dwelling retreat years ago. Katniss never had the $ to go, but with Madge relocating to Paris, Katniss lets Madge cover her share of the expenses with the promise to make it the best! week! ever! Katniss assumes Madge means taking a turn at karaoke or *gulp* going skinny dipping by moonlight. She learns that Madge and her many guests shed all inhibitions, especially with this being their last chance to go wild. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 55: Arriving in D13, it’s quickly discovered that Peeta will never be the same. Mixed with a failed high jacking, and a brutal beating, Peeta’s brain will never be the same. He’s childlike and mostly nonverbal, but Katniss still sees her Boy with Bread and will protect him at all costs.[submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 56: Peeta wasn’t highjacked in MJ. He was tortured, but not set against Katniss. After Peeta’s warning to D13 he receives the punishment for treason: he becomes an avox. [submitted by @kiinghanalister]

Prompt 57: Girl Scout Cookies come to D12: real world trackerjacker venom to a proud 4th generation baker. Is his own daughter a new scout? Is he asked to lead the fundraiser? Does troop leader Katniss come by with her scouts asking to set up a sales table in front of Mellark Bakery? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 58: Katniss’s grandchild is full of questions: why does grandpa walk funny? why is your yard have only dandelions when everybody else only has grass? why can’t I pick the prim roses - they’re yellow, too ... did you know I could eat this many cheesebuns? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 59: Katniss dad is a victor he won his hunger games and is a mentor. Peeta is reaped for the games and Katniss begs her dad to help him win the games. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 60: Quote prompt: I can see in his eyes what I've done is unforgivable ... "Who can't lie, Peeta?" (Maybe Katniss and Mrs Mellark manipulate situation to get what they think is best for Peeta, sacrificing relationship and destroying trust? Does he leave for years? Does she ever apologize enough to renew a friendship? Was he forced to live a different life than what he wanted? Or does he live his dream life but without Katniss? Is he happily married with kids when she sees him a few years later? Or is he an old bitter man who never loved or trusted again?) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 61: The Hunger Games is real - you can go home with your winnings to live HEA. Katniss and Peeta celebrate with sex. Unfortunately, the beauty treatment chemicals stimulate the gonads, and Katniss finds she’s carrying not just one Mellark baby but eight. They’ll need more $. Haymitch suggests a reality tv show. Everyone must play a roll to earn a salary - Mrs Mellark plays the loving grandma (off camera, she’s still a mean bitch), who else will take on a tv persona? They jam in many ridiculous product placements. They slap their logo onto anything they can sell to capitolites. How far will they go to keep those baby butts in clean diapers? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 62: Katniss is the football team’s new kicker and the league’s first and only female player. It’s their first road trip. She’d heard stories about what goes on from head cheerleader Madge and piccolo player Delly. Katniss deals with locker room issues, getting respect she earned for her skill, handling the culture of drinking and casual sex, dealing with possessive girls jealous of her time with the guys or others influencing her to change her look or her attitude, finding what makes her happy and what is real. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 63: Enemies to lovers; Katniss and Peeta are rival business owners (located right next door to each other). A blackout during a snowstorm pushes them together and they are forced to face their true feelings. Do that really "hate" each other, or is their intense desire for one another manifesting itself in other ways? Before the night is over, they find themselves locked in the other's arms. [submitted by @ameliaodair]

Prompt 64: Katniss and Peeta are in a scary car accident - bring on the angst! With happy ending of course :) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 65: 74th games - Katniss is being cornered by a male tribute (whoever you want) early on in the games. She doesn’t have her bow and he’s larger and stronger. He quickly over powers her but he’s not looking to kill her - he has more nefarious ideas. Peeta finds them and doesn’t hesitate to tackle the tribute off of Katniss and kills him in rage. Katniss doesn’t leave Peeta’s side after this moment. How does this change Katniss and the rest of the books? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 66: A story told in pictures. Like, Instagram of their stuff only, as Katniss and Peeta get in to college, change roommates, suffer loss, move on, eventually see their stuff together when they cohabitate, or maybe start there and go through drama of breakup until find way back together. (Like the supposition that your garden looks overgrown is a clue that your husband is having an affair type of idea). [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 67: 🌈❤️🦋Katniss and Peeta are the cutest couple!🌸❤️🦄Everbody hates them. Everyone tries to break them up, for their own reason, using their own methods. Damn it, it only makes their love stronger! It ends in some triumph, like celebration of their golden anniversary or other great fortune. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 68: Katniss always wanted to be a mother, she just never wanted to admit it with the Games hanging over everyone’s heads. So when the war is over and everything is real for Katniss and Peeta, she’s wants to start a family with Peeta. Only- Peeta has never wanted kids. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 69: It’s the start of the holiday shopping season. The Hunger Games Victors’ big public event is attending the grand opening of a huge new toy store where they are presented with hottest must-have new toys: action figures of themselves. Afterwards, they start playing with their dolls. Johanna’s is quickly naked. Is Finnick’s anatomically correct? Anyone jealous of Katniss’s doll coming with the Cinna Collection accessories? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 70: Everlark AU Where the Heart Is (movie) - heavily pregnant Katniss is abandoned at a Walmart in the middle of nowhere by her baby daddy. Homeless and with nowhere to go, Katniss secretly bunks at Walmart each day. One early morning she goes into labor and is discovered by the blue eyed and kind employee Peeta who immediately jumps in to help. Admitting to having no one or place to go to Nurse Effie, Katniss finds herself and her baby the reluctant charge of Haymitch Abernathy. [submitted by @kiinghanalister]

Prompt 71: Magic of Ordinary Days AU: 1940s, Katniss is a single pregnant girl. Desperate for her daughter not to have a child out of wedlock, Mrs Everdeen contacts a priest who in turn knows a young man who just may be willing to help. Sweet, kind and shy Peeta stayed home to take care of the family farm when his beloved brother went to war to never come back. He’s always wanted a family but rural small town life gives little chance to court. He hears of Katniss’ plight and graciously offers to marry her and raise the child as his own. He does everything he can think of to make a home for Katniss and the baby. How does Katniss take it? How does their relationship develop? Will they fall in love? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 72: Post MJ Everlark Parallel to the CF Scene that takes place after the jabberjay hour. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 73: Katniss looses a baby before they have Toastbaby one [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 74: Con man Peeta has an elaborate operation fleecing money out of unsuspecting wealthy victims. Why does he do it? Is it a Robin Hood type operation to redistribute money to the underprivileged and marginalized people? Or is it more selfishly oriented? He can’t do it alone and hires Katniss as a “research assistant.” Authors choice as to what exactly her role is. Does she help select the victims? The recipients of the funds? Or is she involved in planning and executing the cons? Does she help him discover the errors of his ways if he’s doing it for himself? Whatever the plan is, falling in love is not part of it and when you lose focus of the plan, bad things happen. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 75: Black swan style AU with Peeta as Odette and/or Odelle. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 76: Vignettes from a mother’s eye. Everlark through the eyes of Mrs Everdeen, Mrs Mellark, Mrs Hawthorne. One of them or any combination of the three. Canon compliant or any AU. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 77: Married Everlark are coworkers and their marriage is on the rocks. They’ve been sleeping in separate rooms. Divorce looks inevitable. On a business trip, there is *dramatic pause* only one bed. Does the forced closeness lead them to really talk for the first time in months or does it drive them further apart? Smut not required. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 78: Everlark in their twilight years. What do their relationships with the toastbabies look like? Are there grandkids? [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 79: This holiday is dumb, Katniss says every year even as Peeta goes all out with the traditions, decorations, themed baked goods, cajoling Katniss to partake in activities. Now there’s a toastbaby on the way and for some reason, Peeta doesn’t do any of the things he usually does for the holiday. How does Katniss react? Relieved? Or does she realize she actually loves his zeal and tries to spark the spirit back into him? Writer picks the holiday and level of cheesy fluff. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 80: How does that work? They were roommates and best friends. When they meet a couple who has a common law marriage, Everlark starts to wonder if it applies to them too. Go angsty or fluffy or crazy, wherever the muse takes you. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 81: Shakespearean style AU in the vein of Still Star Crossed. Katniss and Peeta were not the famed star crossed lovers. Someone else was. But while the deaths of their best friends are still fresh, Katniss and Peeta find themselves in an arranged marriage to hopefully heal the rift. Tell me their story. Any time period or setting welcome. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 82: Everlark + Taylor Swift. I'll make it easy. Any song, write a fic based on it. Are Katniss or Peeta the songwriter, or the ones living out the ending? [submitted by @archersandsunsets]

Prompt 83: Katniss gets stung by tracker jackers post mj, Peeta take care of his wife [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 84: Elementary School - the beginning of having a “girlfriend/boyfriend” - Katniss’s best friends (Maggie and Gale) are the “it couple”. She really doesn’t care - she can sit with her friend Jo at lunch and hangs out on the monkey bars alone. Until a new boy comes to school! [submitted by @winegirl65]

Prompt 85: Arranged Marriage!Everlark. (Not medieval necessarily but ‘old time’ setting) Peeta and Katniss have been betrothed since they were children, but have only seen each other through portraits/paintings. Both grow resentful of their arranged marriage, and act up against it; K being as wild and unladylike as possible: hunting, wearing trousers, riding bareback; P being a rake, silver tongue con artist, etc. A month before their wedding, they meet at a The Hub (black market/pub/whatever disresputable place you want it to be) and bet at arm wrestling against each other. Is it love at first sight? Do they armwrestle each other? Do they recognize one another? Will there be smut because ‘hey, we’ll be marry in a month anyway’? Writers choice! [submitted by @alliswell21]

Prompt 86: Katniss is married to Gale, but they have an open marriage. Gale sleeps around and has other girlfriends, but Katniss is only intimide with her best friend, Peeta - extra brownie points if Everlark have toast babies or Kat leaves Gale for Peeta. Thank you! [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 87: Katniss is desperate for a job. She applies for a job with the following description, even though she isn’t fully qualified: We are looking to hire a Data Analyst to join our data team. You will take responsibility for managing our master data set, developing reports, and troubleshooting data issues. To do well in this role you need a very fine eye for detail, experience as a data analyst, and a deep understanding of the popular data analysis tools and databases.Peeta’s just doing his friend a favor, applying for a job he’s definitely not qualified for in order to keep an eye on his friend’s crazy uncle.What happens when Katniss and Peeta are the only applicants for the job of data analyst to Supervillain Haymitch? Will they find a way to both get what they need? Do they stick to the job description or discover that there’s much more to the phrase “Others duties as assigned”? What about Haymitch? His nefarious plans always go awry, and actually don’t seem all that evil, but perhaps with the help of his two questionable new data analysts, he can finally expose two-faced Superhero Coin for the dastardly villain she is. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 88: Peeta designs “toys” for his adult shop. He hires Katniss to test his products, she has to fill a questionnaire for feed back or something of the sort. One day she comes in complaining that one of the toys doesn’t work; Peeta thinks she’s not using it properly, so he sits in to watch her try it once more... “to take notes”. She is indeed using it wrong, so he steps in to show her the correct way. [submitted by @alliswell21]

Prompt 89: If Prim and Peeta are never reaped, and Mrs Mellark and Prim die after the 75th Games, and widower Mr Mellark marries widow Mrs Everdeen, what would happen to Katniss? We know from the book that her mom would leave her. And, what would Peeta do? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 90: The Olympic committee is selling sponsorships and heavily advertising the upcoming games. The most photogenic of each sport is asked to pose for pics and attend functions, film commercial together, do some interviews. What sports represented by Katniss, Peeta, others? Required to look cozy? Animosity behind those smiles? Competitiveness? Banter? Any secrets? Do they have a “breakfast club” ending? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 91: Katniss senses something is amiss before the bakery door opens: chaos as Mr. Mellark incapacitated (throws out back?) on one of their busiest days! Mrs M never acknowledged K before, but they desperately need kitchen help, now! And K is more than capable of working hard. A bargain is struck to clean up and follow all other directions thrown at her in exchange for bread and coin. Hard negotiations? Peeta’s reaction? Is it Katniss and all 3 boys in the back? Do the older 2 know her? Any talking? How does the long day go? Does it end well for Peeta? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 92: Years later, the blocked mine shaft is finally cleared, and the bodies are recovered. Will recovery of her father’s remains help Katniss or make things worse? Will the community do anything to honor the men? Will the Everdeens get any personal effects, did he leave a message for Katniss? Will there be evidence that leads to prosecution and $ settlement? Will Peeta, Gale, community, mom, Prim be there to support K? Who can she talk to? Is she changed? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 93: Mr Hawthorne doesn’t die in the mine explosion. It’s he who Katniss meets in the woods and becomes her hunting partner, and eventually a father figure when he starts offering advice on what to do once she graduates. He sees how the baker’s son acts, but he has 3 sons who need strong, hard-working and skilled wives, and he saw Mrs E leave town life behind. Peeta never sees K with Gale - what impact does that have on him? Does Mr H speak of rebellion or does he stay quiet on the subject? Does Katniss see the Hawthorns happily married and modify views on marriage if not on raising a family? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 94: Chris Pratt was a “kick ass” door to door coupon salesman. That could be Peeta! Vacuum cleaner sales, and he has to come in for a demonstration! He’s charming, but does his pitch earn him a sale? Does his cleaner choke on all the cat hair from buttercup? Does the powerful unit suck up something of value? Is it even her house or is she house sitting and wasting his time? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 95: Peeta is also rescued or ah least when he is saved from the capitol he isn’t hijacked which leads to katniss and peeta finally dating - Johanna and finnick still make fun of the happy couple about being so “pure” and one day they have enough - either they purposely do the deed loudly or something in front of them or whatever it is, make it steamy! Or.......peeta exxagerates and tells finnick and Johanna what they have done together in an attempt to prove how unpure they are and Katniss overhears and finally does all the things peeta was explaining [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 96: The Games ended with the rebellion years ago, but now you can “experience all the excitement for yourself at Disney’s newest theme park The Hunger Games! Take a wild train ride into a real replica arena! Experience the thrill of virtually racing to the 3-D weapons pile then trade your kill count tickets in for arcade prizes! Flex your muscles swinging real replica axes and swords! Try on costumes, or enjoy a spa day at Beauty Base Zero! Enjoy an all-you-can-eat meal at The Cornucopia Buffet!” So, who wants to go? Or, who works there? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 97: Everlark cuddling. That’s it. That’s the prompt. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 98: Toned, nubile, athletic Katniss and Peeta are hired as stunt and body doubles for a couple of famous film actors who have been liberally airbrushed for the promo pics. The $ is good. No one can know. A lot of nudity. No dialogue, just well timed grunts and groans. One talks a lot when nervous between takes. Some embarrassing moments. Friendship and trust built over time. When it’s over, can they walk away? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 99: I want a smutty filled fanfic in d13 if Peeta wasnt hijacked and or captured. Are they in a relationship? How does this change Katniss’ relationship with Gale? What does Johanna think of it all? Does Finnick make fun of them but slap Peeta on the back? Does Mrs. Everdeen have an awkward conversation with Katniss about birth control? Does anyone overhear or walk in? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 100: Can be modern canon compliant divergent or whatever but with Johanna and Finnick and or Haymitch talking about Everlark and what they have or haven’t done yet. They all make a bet to see who is right and how far the star crossed lovers have taken there physical and emotional relationship. Extra points if Finnick knowingly smiles at Peeta or Everlark tells them who is right. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 101: Artist Peeta’s niche: option 1: pets - portraits dressed in period costumes with or without owner, or perfectly painted on sugar cookie, other medium? Does Prim want it, or does Katniss surprise gift it to Prim? Buttercup or Lady? In studio or outdoors? Is K indulgent or exasperated? option 2: uptight Katniss discovers that Prim had erotic boudoir photos taken of herself, and neither she nor photographer Peeta told her! She would have stopped Prim. Who is Peeta to katniss? Is Peeta insulted by what she spews out about his job and art? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 102: Peeta and Katniss are both made to wait outside the principals office. One of them in trouble for getting into a fight. The other ? Conversation started by the one not seething. As the hour drags on, they discover common ground and attraction. Suddenly, principal opens office door, and the moment is gone. Do they find way to each other at school? Or in big high school, do they happen to see each other years later under very different circumstances? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 103: Nonhijacked Peeta in d13 needs advice from Finnick about well, you know, how to fuck a girl. And well Katniss goes to Johanna or Annie for the same thing. Will Finnick and Johanna and or Annie tell each other about Katniss and Peeta asking advice? Will they purposely sabotage Everlark by giving them funny bad advice? Will they purposely and awkwardly talk about it at lunch with Gale there? Up to you but make it funny and hot [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 104: Everlark before the quell starts to get intimate, when it dawns on them that Katniss doesn’t want to get pregnant and frankly, either does Peeta however this is something they want to experience. So what do they do? Ask Panem’s biggest heartthrob Finnick for some condoms. Hopefully when the victors have training the next day at lunch, Finnick hasn’t told anyone. Hopefully....😏 [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 105: Katniss is lucky enough to be upgraded to First Class on a flight home to visit her mother and younger sister. Little does she know that onboard is one of Panem’s most important, and consequently, most handsome men, and he takes a shining to her. [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 106: Peeta is a pearl diver/diver/oceanographer. He’s been looking for the perfect way to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Katniss, and thinks he’s found it when he discovers a rare pearl under the sea. The problem is, Katniss isn’t the only one who appreciates his find. [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 107: When her boyfriend cheats, Katniss gets her revenge by making a pass at her boyfriend’s greatest enemy. She only intended to flirt with him to piss off her cheating ex, but things spiral out of control, and they wind up in a dangerously passionate entanglement. [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 108: Everlark fall for one another over a blood transfusion. It happens not once, but twice. His blood runs through her veins, and now hers runs through his. What are the odds they would save each other’s lives? [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 109: Haymitch as a matchmaker. Nuff’ said. His matches are always disasters, but one time, he gets it exactly right when he sets up his neighbors, a stoic girl with a braid and a lonely, blond baker boy. [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 110: A group of bachelorettes/bridesmaids kidnap groom-to-be, Peeta Mellark, in order to convince him that he's marrying the wrong woman, and that he should, in fact, be with their friend and fellow bridesmaid, Katniss Everdeen. [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 111: Peeta is a struggling post-graduate art major. He finally finds a place he can afford because the landlord cuts him some slack on the rent. One day, his landlord becomes ill/injured and his daughter/niece takes over. Peeta's instantly smitten with her, but she insists on the full rent. Will Peeta find a way to pay his sexy landlord? Can he also win her heart? [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 112: Katniss's family owns a Mexican restaurant. Peeta and his friends come in, and he's immediately captivated by her. He keeps coming back, hoping to win her over, but he makes the mistake of inadvertently insulting her/her family. Can he make amends? Will she ever go out with him? [submitted by @mandelion82]

Prompt 113: she’s the man au featuring katniss and gale as the twins, peeta as duke, and madge as Olivia. [submitted by @thegirlwhowokethedreamer]

Prompt 114: Inspired by THIS picture I found - finnick understands Peeta and katniss' love for one another in his point of view [submitted by @everlark-always]

Prompt 115: Post mockingjay, everlark picnic in the meadow, with child or without whatever you feel I just want happy thriving everlark post war [submitted by @everlark-always]

Prompt 116: Hades Peeta and Persephone Katniss fanfic. Maybe Katniss is being abused or needs a reason to leave Olympus and Peeta provides that for her or Peeta just takes her. Peeta may bit of a douche or even dark!Peeta but the two warm up to each other eventually. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 117: Dark!Peeta fanfic where he is a stalker, kidnapper, or serial killer. But he does all of these things because it’s his way of protecting Katniss and ensuring they will be together. Katniss finds out in the end and chaos ensues [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 118: Under the Tuscan Sun AU: Reeling from the breakdown of her marriage due to her partner's infidelity, and struggling to follow up a successful book release, Katniss's friends book her a trip on a bus tour through Tuscany, Italy, to try and help her move on. When she accidentally ends up buying a villa in the Tuscan countryside, she finds not only new inspiration but a new chance at love in the form of her blonde-haired contractor, Peeta Mellark. [submitted by @thelettersfromnoone]

Prompt 119: what if Katniss and Peeta didn't get interrupted by finnick that night on the beach in the quell? Would they have kept going? Would the outcome of the night change since that new relationship step where they absolutely would have refused to be seperated? [submitted by @everlark-always]

Prompt 120: In the blast in THG, Katniss loses hearing in BOTH ears - she's miraculously able to hear the announcement of the 2 tributes from the same district (maybe it's just super muffled??) how does katniss handle the rest of the games without her hearing? how is peeta able to communicate with her? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 121: Secret lovers!Everlark, aged 20s: They've been a group of friends with Gale and Finnick. Katniss has always been "one of the boys" and seemed uninterested with boys... until Peeta and she had this drunken confession night and they've been hiding kisses and touches since. Summer in a few weeks, they want to go officially together to their annual beach trip, and they start planning how to break it to their friends gently... especially to Gale whom she turned down in college. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 122: a day in the bakery with Peeta and Katniss ... could be modern or in Panem ... I’ve just been watching a lot of Korean cafe videos and I need detailed descriptions of cake and cute couple moments 🍰 [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 123: wholesome late 1700s Austen-esque romance with local country pastor Peeta (a la Henry Tilney) and his pretty, windswept parishioner, Miss Katniss Everdeen (a la any Austen heroine) with the angelic singing voice and dandelion trimmed bonnet [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 124: The war is over, Peeta has been home for 6 months and things have been gradually better between him and Katniss. Just as Katniss starts to realize how much she needs Peeta things begin to fall apart and he is quick regressing into the tortured Capitol mutt. The Doctors say there is no hope. Katniss convinces Beetee to break into Peeta's medical files and discovers things about Peeta's mother noone knew, especially Peeta. Can this new information be the key to bringing her Peeta back or will it destroy both of them. [submitted by @emazura]

Prompt 125: Peeta Mellark has just started school with a disability (physical, metal, etc.). How will his best friend, Katniss Everdeen, help him through the year and navigate bullies? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 126: The Wedding Year AU. K & P meet and start dating. Early on, they learn that between the both of them they're invited to a lot of weddings (for friends, coworkers, family, whoever), even in the wedding party for some. They decide which ones they'll attend, and these weddings are spread throughout the year. The thing is K has commitment issues and isn't sure if she's even the marrying type, so how does this year of weddings play out for her and P? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 127: AU - Peeta is has two older brothers, a loving but weak father, and an abusive mother. How can the older boys comfort five year old Peeta after his mother’s attacks? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 128: broken katniss post mockingjay - super depressed about everything and the weight of what she went through is finally sinking in with no war to distract her. Peeta comes back and takes care of Katniss - either Peeta Katniss or even Haymitch’s points of view [submitted by @everlark-always]

Prompt 129: AU Inspired by the Greek and Roman mythologies, where the Games take place in an amphitheater/arena turned into a labyrinth. How often do the games occur? Are there mythological beasts/mutts? How do Katniss and Peeta survive? Or do they not? What happens after they leave the arena? [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 130: Sheep herder Peeta and quiet seamstress Katniss. That’s it. That’s the prompt. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 131: okay well somebody’s gotta do the inevitable Everlark/WandaVision crossover ... but it’s gotta end happy or I’m gonna be very upset [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 132: Katniss and Peeta are musicians writing songs about one another unbeknownst to the other. Specifically Taylor Swift's cover of Untouchable, Katniss writes about Peeta. Peeta writes Jump then Fall (maybe change it up a little) about Katniss. Please & thank you! [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 133: The victory tour is live-streamed and mandatory viewing for each district. What no one expected however, was for Snow to know Peeta was the words behind Katniss - the one he couldn’t control. When peeta starts talking about rue and thresh in D11, snow issues the command and everyone is shocked when a bang rings out and a red spot starts rapidly spreading on Peeta’s chest. Reactions and the aftermath! [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 134: Katniss and Peeta in an FLR marriage, Peeta is bisexual and so Katniss has a lot of boyfriends like Cinna, Thresh, Gale, Finnick with whom they have sexy times. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 135: Princess Katniss Everdeen was forced to marry King Snow's son Cato, to ensure that the people in her kingdom didn’t die due to famine. Too bad she falls in love with Cato's personal sex slave, Peeta Mellark. But his time in the royal harem and that with the prince has made him too broken to even consider about love. Will Katniss be able to soothe his bettered soul? What happens when the king finds out? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 136: Katniss Everdeen never had a student as unruly as Peeta Mellark. She wants to spank the hell out of him. What happens when he finally submits himself to his hot and sexy bio teacher? [submitted by @everlurked]

Prompt 137: Millionaire Katniss Everdeen is a porn film maker. Too bad she has to hire, watch and edit two of the sexist man on earth Peeta Mellark and Finnick Odair having sex when she finds out that she might be having a huge crush on Peeta. But she thinks that they are in a relationship. Will she take a chance when Peeta tells her that he is bi and actually Finnick and him are friends, comfortable with each other to do such intimate things for money and not so subtly hints that he likes her too? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 138: Katniss realizes her feelings for Peeta on the train back and is honest with herself and Peeta about how real it was for her - the beginning of a real relationship after the games [submitted by @everlark-always]

Prompt 139: Young Katniss discovers a wolf cub caught in one of her traps while hunting with her father. They bring him home to heal and Katniss falls in love with his gorgeous blue eyes. He joins the family and becomes Katniss’ new hunting partner. As he grows, Katniss discovers the orphaned wolf’s secret. Werewolf!PeetaBonus: Jealous Gale (As friend? Hunting partner? Your choice) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 140: The west side of the village is surrounded by a vast forest that no one dares to enter. There’s a legend that states anyone who enters will die in the hands of the wolf that can’t turn back into a man. Katniss doesn’t believe this but when she reads a book, the curiosity gets to her and the only one that she could trust is the drunk man of the town. Witness her encounters this cursed being and how everything in this town isn’t what it seems. #werewolves #magic [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 141: Okay. So texting is wonderful, isn’t it? Katniss is thrilled that she can talk to people without actually talking, especially across the room when that one person you want to talk to is in a different conversation/group than you are. (This can just be fluffy, but as an added bonus, maybe it’s also a way for someone to get *flirty* - or more - with their convo, making her blush like crazy, and the people in her group wanna know what’s going on, why are you blushing..... Or even reversed where Peeta ends up blushing at something she sent. Though he would probably just grin and look up at her unabashedly, which she chided him for later because it’s a dead giveaway. OR! Katniss receives an unwanted text/set of texts from someone - named or not idc - and someone like Finnick or Jo, Gale, maybe Prim, or even Peeta - beast mode activated - sees it over her shoulder and loses their shit and starts taking over the conversation in a ridiculous and hilarious way, unbeknownst to the person responding, and to Katniss’ chagrin. Maybe even as a group, and Katniss just cannot get her phone out of their hands. (I feel like Haymitch, Cinna, and Effie would add their hilarious two cents here and there but also I have no idea how that would work. Idk. This is also known as “The prompt for something I want to write but I don’t write sexy because I’m an awkward turtle but I still want to read this”. You know. Thank you in advance to anyone who read this and/or takes it on.) [submitted by @everybirdfellsilent]

Prompt 142: An Eon ago, the powerful seer got sent a prophecy that shook the world where it stood. "The joining of the purest soulmate will bring the gift that will change the world." (Can be changed to sound so much better)Throughout the years, the prophecy has been misconstrued and manipulated to their owe benefit. Is Katniss the child, the prophecy warned or is there more to that? #Magic #Soulmates [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 143: Katniss moves into a new town for her new job when she catches the eye of the VP of the bicker gang. How long can she resist him and can she truly fit into his life? #HotPeeta [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 144: She has a night of fun before the start of the semester. She meets this guy, they hit it off that they sleep together. But when she shows up to her class the next day, she sees the guy again. But he’s her professor and he’s way older than she originally thought. #olderPeeta [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 145: She moves in with her aunt and uncle when her parents dies in a small town. After suffering through trama, Katniss slowly starts to get better with the help of her family (aunt, uncle, cousin) and the Mellark brothers. But when things starts happening to her and the people around her, it’s revealed that she and almost everyone in the towns are apart of the werewolf pack and that one of the Mellark brothers is her mate. #werewolves [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 146: Katniss and Peeta Mellark as the "Biggest Family of District 12!" #allthetoastbabies [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 147: An Everlark fic inspired by e.e. cummings poem I Carry Your Heart [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 148: When a wolf pup runs towards Katniss while in the forest calling her Mama, she doesn't know where they came from and how can she understand them? Is she going crazy? Who's the father? (Its the hot hunk that she meets a day later) #werewolves #toastpups [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 149: An Everlark fic based on the real life story of a kitty becoming best friends with a neighbor (I will post the video link in the comments of the answered ask). Is Peeta depressed? PTSD? Grieving? (Please no divorced/widow/single dad storyline though unless it's like adoption). How does Katniss ultimately bond with Peeta and be a healing light for him in addition to Buttercup? Tension tension tension. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 150: Katniss + Peeta idiots to lovers, modern au best friends secretly pining for one another. Ever the dynamic duo and short on cash, they decide to participate in a couples study. Who's the therapist? (Haymitch?) At what point does the therapist assigned to them realize they aren't even together? And does the therapist realize one or both is in love with the other? Big bonus points for a "It's you. It's always been you." moment. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 151: Pandemic!Everlark. It's their first zoom date and stressed out, overworked Katniss FALLS ASLEEP (maybe they were watching a show together?) Peeta stays on the line and draws her. What happens after Katniss wakes up to a sheepish Peeta with a breathtaking portrait of her? [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 152: Enemies to lovers modern au. Katniss emails her group of new hires the training guide to review before they start on Monday. Monday morning just before she's set to meet with the group of trainees Katniss finds an email from new hire Peeta Mellark, attached is the training guide. Completely edited and rewritten. Lots of fuming in their first meeting and total tit for tat hijinks ensue. Torture us with the rivalry please. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 153: Best friends!Everlark who have always been in love with one another. Katniss is in a pretty serious accident, of course Peeta visits her every single day. He notices that every time he enters the room her heart monitor beeps due to elevated heart rate. He notices and finally mentions to a mutual friend (Madge? Finnick?) how it's sweet that she gets excited to see her friends, said friend rolls eyes and is like uh yeah ok "friend". Peeta's all what? Cue suspicion so next time he visits her he takes it a step further and gives little touches (brushes her hair back, strokes her cheek, grazes her arm? LET IT BURN) to see what happens. Sure enough her HR skyrockets. Tell us all the sweet and suspenseful details :))) [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 154: Soulmate au where your soulmates injuries and scars show up on your body tinted in their favorite color. Katniss through the years as she discovers new marks, pondering what it could possibly be, finally figuring out that her soulmate is being hurt way too regularly and in very specific places. Do her parents figure out Peeta is being abused? How do they find and "rescue" him? Or does Peeta live his whole childhood being abused before turning 18? Does he runaway? How do he and Katniss find their way to one another? [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 155: Just a really sweet meet cute of skateboarder!Peeta wiping out the first time he sees Katniss. Bonus points for her being a skater too.[submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 156: Post MJ: Toastbabys perspective from in the womb throughout pregnancy. Bonus points for post birth moments. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 157: Miscommunication. Katniss texts Peeta that she needs some 🥖. Peeta thinks the breadstick is a euphemism of her asking him for sex. How do things play out? [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 158: CF AU: Peeta gets drunk with Haymitch after the quell announcement. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 159: High school au with popular girl, valedictorian, great at sport and then there is Peeta Mellark shy, awkward, sweet but not so good in academics with a huge crush on Katniss. Will she even look at him when she already has tall, dark and handsome Gale by her side? Typical high school drama ensues. [submitted by @everlurked]

Prompt 160: Katniss witnesses a potential crime in progress and gets in contact with law enforcement. Thanks to her tip, a travesty is adverted. But why did the perpetrator seem to recognize Katniss? And when did the baker’s boy become a head FBI agent? [submitted by @kiinghanalister]

Prompt 161: Katniss is texting back and forth with her older boss (who is hott and recently divorced) about a deadline. She's also bra shopping and taking photos to send to Johanna to get her opinion when she accidentally mixes up the recipients. She notices that she just hit send on the photo to Peeta by mistake (her boobs look amazing by the way, bonus points if it's sunset orange) Mortified she texts "shit, wrong person" What happens the next day at the office. Does Peeta think the pics were for a boyfriend? What's he thinking about during the staff meeting? Will Katniss be able to show her face? [submitted by @nightlock-1989]

Prompt 162: Peeta is actually the Mr. Mellark Mrs. Everdeen left behind to marry her true love when they were 18. They parted on good terms but Peeta just had to get out of town never knowing Mr Everdeens first or last name. 22 years later he returns and falls in love with frequent customer Katniss (who is of age) He brings out the playful side in her and she makes him feel young again. Katniss, who doesn't have a great relationship with her mother, doesn't tell her about the older man she's dating. While running errands, Mrs. Everdeen bumps into Katniss and Peeta, who happen to be engaged in a playful game of grab ass. Shock sets in for everyone. Does Mrs. Everdeen think Katniss is Peetas midlife crisis? Does Katniss' young age begin to nag Peeta? Huge bonus if Katniss freaks out because she realizes Peeta has fucked both her and her mom. [submitted by @nightlock-1989]

Prompt 163: Golden Age of Hollywood AU: Songbird Katniss finds herself signing a contract with The Capitol Productions, a major force in the studio system, after a casting agent hears her singing at a nightclub. Her first project is a musical with a handsome Capitol film star, Peeta Mellark. But while they agree to an engagement as fodder for film promotion, the fine print on their contract never covered the relationship becoming real... [submitted by @thelettersfromnoone]

Prompt 164: Peeta is a handsome prince, fleeing his evil stepmother, who has stolen his rightful crown. Katniss is a skilled tracker, taking bounties to send the money back to her struggling family. Will the well-respected hunter make good on the bounty, or will her heart have a different plan? [submitted by @thelettersfromnoone]

Prompt 165: Peeta gets with another girl after the war, while him and katniss are trying to be friends, thinking katniss doesn’t want him, but instead it only makes her insanely jealous. When she falls ill does Peeta come to her rescue or does he keep his distance to please his new gf [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 166: Peeta moves into a new town. It’s a small town but so lively but things starts getting weird when he starts encountering dead animals on his back porch. Looks like someone found their mate and is trying to empress him. #werewolfKatniss [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 167: He knows where she is at all times. What’s she’s doing and who’s she’s with. But lately she’s been hanging out with that guy for his liking and he needs to teach her and show her that she belongs to him and no one else. Her whole mind, body, and soul. !DarkPeeta #psychological #thriller #angst #mightnothaveanicehappyending [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 168: One thing that sets this community apart from the others is that is a matriarchy. But a lot of surrounding communities want to get in. When it is Katniss’s coming of age ceremony, the prophet tells her that she has the opportunity to choose a first husband from the neighboring community. Katniss was set on Gale but he became the third husband of (whoever you choose). Will she stick to her community’s men or branch out and get new blood? #olderpeeta [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 169: A Capitolite veiwer perspective on the 74th games, maybe running right up to the first day of the Quell. Do they notice Katniss or Peeta at first, or is it one of the other tributes they like. How do the Starcrossed lovers creep up on them. Maybe reactions to Rues death, or the victory tour ( if you want to go that far) [submitted by @darkhorse-javert]

Prompt 170: Superhero/Catburglar AU: The jewel-thief Mockingjay has evaded The Capitol's superhero, Captain Strong, for long enough, and the Merchants of the city have started putting pressure on the hero to bring the thief in for justice. The only problem? The Captain is the alter-ego of teenager Peeta Mellark, and his elusive nemesis is his high school crush, Katniss Everdeen. [submitted by @thelettersfromnoone]

Prompt 171: IndianaJones!Katniss and JiltedLover!Peeta [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 172: Secret Agent Everlark. Peeta and Katniss are undercover partners on a case in Istanbul (or what have you). They take names and kick ass. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 173: Peeta's POV in THG when he wakes up in the cave after Katniss injects him with the medicine to cure his blood poisoning, finding her in a very scary pool of blood. His perspective until she finally wakes. Canon compliant please. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 174: Victory tour AU/deleted scene, Peeta and Katniss walk along a beach in District 4, in a brief moment where they are alone, and Katniss tells Peeta why her favourite colour is green, and anything else you think would fit nicely into that conversation. Basically just Katniss opening up a little more. Either Peeta or Katniss POV. [submitted by @emilia206]

Prompt 175: Katniss hits the force field in CF instead - Peeta’s reaction [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 176: Peeta absentmindedly calls Katniss “love”. She doesn’t mind. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 177: Canon compliant Peeta's POV in MJ when the bombs go off in front of the president's mansion. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 178: A story based on THIS tweet. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 179: Prompt based on the korean drama “Lovestruck in the City”. Peeta as Jaewon and Katniss as Eunho and the rest is up to you [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 180: Capitol didn’t know hijacking but they left Peeta broken. He was sexually assaulted many times by Capitol buyers, both men and women. Will he be able to recover? How does it affect Katniss and Peeta's dynamic. Also Finnick plays a very important role in Peeta's recovery. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 181: After her parents death (possibly small pox?), Katniss goes to live with her mothers family. They accept beautiful blonde Prim instantly, but Katniss looks far too much like her Native American father. They sell her as a slave at auction to the Mellark Plantation. Even though she always works to the point of collapse, she is treated terribly by Peeta’s brutal mother. Does he help her keep in contact with Prim? or take care of her when the slave masters beat her? Does Mrs. Mellark sell her again? [submitted by @hope4hea]

Prompt 182: Canon Divergence Katniss gets caught hunting and whipped [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 183: Katniss is really pregnant in CF and forced by Snow to get an abortion [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 184: Horror-love story. Locals tell legend of “La Dame Mellark” who practiced Dark Arts, caused her family’s ruin, and haunts decrepit, facetiously-named “Mellark Mansion.” What if ghostly figure sometimes spotted in window and unexplained occurrences not her ghost but actually Peeta who survived fireball explosion with physical and emotional scars? Years later, Katniss new in town, either seeks shelter there, maybe looking for her sister’s missing cat? Is Katniss trapped or injured or on the run? Does her singing soothe Peeta when he slips from shy to explosive personality? Does he free her? Do locals storm property looking for her? Is Katniss the delusional crazy dangerous one who repels the attacking horde with explosion, then is soothed by gentle Peeta who promises to care for her because turns out Prim died long ago and Katniss never faced truth? HEA for them, maybe not for townsfolk. [submitted by @567inpanem]

[masterjedilenawrites]

The Helmeted Hunter: Chapter 17

Boba Fett x Reader

Chapter Warnings: Blaster fights

AO3 Link (In case you like it better over there, it’s okay, no judgement)

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Chapter 17: Only Improvising

The three of you, without saying anything, began walking into the shipyard as casually as possible, careful not to draw attention to yourselves as the stormtroopers got organized just behind. But one of the officers took notice just as you were descending an unfortunately noisy metal staircase and called out to halt.

Maz and Boba slowly turned to face the man as he approached, but you had another idea. Being the furthest on the steps, just far enough below the level to be hidden, you quickly slid under the railing and into an alcove in the wall. No one would be able to see you unless they were standing directly below and happened to look up.

You could hear the officer addressing your comrades above.

Who are you and what is your business here?

Maz Kanata, with my personal mechanic. We are picking up my ship and heading home.

Wasn't there another one of you?  

No, sir, just us. I came to catch up with some friends for the Festival of Stars, but one can only take so many days of that sort of thing. There was a malfunction with my ship's landing gear but Robert here has her all patched up now.

You wished you could see Boba's face as Maz gave him that pseudonym.

Sorry, but no flights are permitted to leave today.

Oh, but that nice man inside just gave me my access card.

Imperial orders, ma'am. No one leaves before these ships are inspected.

Inspected? Is this for safety violations? Because I can assure you Robert is one of the best mechanics in the galaxy. I'd fly home in a bucket if he was the one who made it.

Ma'am, please, I need you to vacate the premises. You can try again tomorrow once the inspections are clear.

Only a day? Well then it's certainly no safety inspection. I've dealt with enough scoundrels in my lifetime to know you must be on a man hunt.

Ma'am...

I can't imagine what sort of person you'd be looking for out here, but who am I to ask anyway. I'm just going to need some time to sort this out with that gentleman in the office. It'll be another day of rent to leave my ship here, and these outer rim yards aren't cheap, you know.

Ten minutes. Make it quick.

There was some shuffling as they left with the officer to head back to the entrance. And then it was just you and your thoughts.

Your thoughts were wild, running on an anxious energy that made all your senses feel on edge. You'd ducked into hiding on instinct. Even with a head wrap, you could've been recognized. Your concern had merely been self-preservation.

But now that you were successfully off the Empire's radar, you had the advantage, or rather, the responsibility to help your friends out, too. If these soldiers truly were looking for someone, it was not by coincidence. They had either found the Slave I and were on the hunt for a helmeted Boba Fett and his prized bounty, or had heard about Hondo's heist and were ensuring he couldn't run away. Neither of those options meant any of you could stay on this planet another night.

You'd first need to (somehow) get out of this alcove undetected, then you'd have to (somehow) help Maz and Boba sneak away while they still had that access card for the ship, and then you'd all three need to (somehow) get over to the ship undetected and (somehow) pick up Hondo before blasting out of here.

You could feel sweat pooling on your hairline under the scarf. Your eyes cast about, as if a plan of action would be written in the sky for you. You were not good with this sort of thing; the planning and scheming was much more Boba's forte.

But then you suddenly recalled something he had once said to you. Don't pretend you have a plan...You've only been improvising this whole time. He had meant it as an insult, but now it was giving you a new sense of self-confidence. You had been improvising this whole time, and so far, it had worked pretty well.

So without further thought or ado, you jumped out from your hiding hole and onto a concrete ledge below. The bag you wore across your body thumped heavily against your side, so as you scurried along the ledge, you dug into it to see what could possibly be in there. Your fingers brushed by your music player, your alphabet chart, and then landed on an object you instantly knew was a gun.

Boba had packed your bag early that morning, paranoid about missing the train again. You'd thought the extra weight was food or something, and had been too mad at him to check. But despite his own frustration with you, he apparently trusted you enough to give you his gun again. You decided to leave it in the bag for now, remembering all your failed attempts at using it back on Jakku.

You continued to slink around the shipyard, darting around corners and skipping up stairs. It was like your first days after coming through the portal. You had no clue where you were going, but knew you had to try going somewhere. Occasionally you'd catch glimpses of the entrance through some scaffolding, and all the stormtroopers piled in front of it. It was going to be next to impossible to help Maz and Boba get past them.

After a while you passed by a group of shipyard mechanics, some human and some droid, as they reluctantly set down their tools and were made to clock out for the day. You watched from the shadows as they swiped cards through the electronic gates that surrounded each ship, and then silently followed as they grumbled their way into a sort of locker room. Most kept their cards with them as they packed up, but a one had his strapped to a belt that he threw into a cubby before stomping out.

Maybe you wouldn't be able to get your friends over to a ship, but you could try getting a ship over to them.

Before the thought of piloting a massive spaceship could scare you, you slipped the keycard into your pocket and rushed back into the shipyard. You had your pick of vehicles, but realistically you'd have to pick one close by so as not to waste time running through the entire industrial space. You settled on a smaller cruiser nearby that seemed unassuming, in case you'd need to blend in later.

But no sooner did you start making a beeline for the ship did a line of stormtroopers start snaking their way down into the yard just in front of you. Two of them noticed and peeled off from the pack, ordering you to state your business.

You panicked and took off running, which ended up being a bad idea. They pursued, firing warning shots from their blasters, giving you flashbacks to the last time you'd run from stormtroopers. That time you'd ended up paralyzed on the ground. This time, you decided to try firing back.

Crouching behind some nearby boxes, you brought out the gun from your bag. You took one big breath before popping up and pulling the trigger.

Nothing.

You cursed and crouched back down, a blast nearly missing your head. The soldiers called out for you to cease firing as you fiddled with the gun, trying to find the safety. Their voices were growing closer. You finally found the switch and tried again, firing as many blasts as you could. The gun kicked in your hand more than you thought it would, throwing off your aim, and as the stormtroopers returned fire, you crouched lower and continued firing blind.

Suddenly, their blasts stopped. You peered over the boxes to see both soldiers fallen with one sizzling hole in each of their chest plates. Had you done that?

"I really need to teach you how to use a gun," Boba said from behind you.

His tone was disappointed, but his face had a touch more... concern? No, you were imagining it. You shook your head as he held open a door behind him. You wanted to say something snippy in reply, but the commotion was drawing more stormtroopers your way, so you swallowed your sass and followed him inside.

It was a hallway just outside the lockers you'd been in earlier. Boba jammed the door shut and led you down it, gun poised for action. He moved differently than he would in his armor, more cautious and stiff. You could tell he felt exposed and was trying to compensate. But you were relieved to have someone else carrying a gun for you.

"I got one of those access cards," you told him.

He looked over his shoulder with a cocked eyebrow. "Oh? Planning to steal a ship are we?"

"Commandeer," you said with a smirk.

He laughed a little, but you could hear his nerves through it. He really was having a hard time without his armor.

"Where's Maz?"

Boba poked into a room, found it empty, and moved on. He did this all along the hall. "She's taking the speeder out to Jedha City. We're pretty sure they're looking for Hondo. He must have finished the job early. She'll look for him and we'll pick them up."

A bang came from behind; the soldiers were trying to get through the door. You both sped up your pace, eventually running through the hall, unsure where it was leading you but trusting it'd take you somewhere deeper into the shipyard and further from the Empire.

The hall eventually led into a large break room of sorts, with news monitors lining one wall. There was a door on the opposite wall that appeared to lead back outside. Boba rushed for it, but you wound up stopped in front of one of the screens.

You could hear him call your name a few times, but couldn't tear your attention away from the images flashing before you. News of war, of the Empire forcefully expanding their influence to new planets in unknown regions. One such planet had resisted recently, and in return, had been completely decimated.

His hand on your upper back pulled you out of your shock just enough for you to whisper, "It's my home."

[pennypeabody]

Let me preface this rant by pointing out that I love Betty Cooper and my opinions are not a reflection of anyone else’s who may share my favourite character or ship. So the biased opinions you may have from viewing my username need to be rethought before you continue reading.

 What attracted Mädchen to the role of Alice in the first place was her complexity, which was promised from the start. The back and forth, the twists and turn. That has been a character trait that has been done on purpose to keep the character interesting. I see so many keyboard warriors tapping away making posts about how awful Alice is, and guess what? She can be, but so is every other character. The difference between Alice and a categorical villain is that Alice genuinely loves the people she holds dear to her. She genuinely loves Betty, genuinely loves Polly, genuinely loves Charles, genuinely loves FP, and because of her love for her children, and the man who owns her heart, that love extends to Jughead and Jellybean too.

 You can dispute this claim til the cows come home but let’s take a look at all of Alice’s faults and see what we can conclude here.

 Helicopter parenting:  From our very first introduction to Alice, she uttered the words that she hoped Jason suffered in his last moments. It was clear to us from the get-go that this woman hated Jason Blossom. It wasn’t until about 6 episodes later did we learn why she had such a strong reaction to this seemingly normal boy. Jason was a jock, he was a blossom, and he was the one who got her 16 year old daughter pregnant. Everything about Alice in season 1 screamed overbearing mother as though this was how she had been for a long time. Yes? She was strict and in the beginning the show was told in the point of view of teenagers, and us as an audience sympathise with teens with strict parents because we relate to that. We either are teens or have memories of those same experiences. We want to paint the parent as the bad guy because how dare this adult be such a downer on the fun these teens want to have, but as Roberto has so skilfully engrained into the character, we start to see Alice’s layers unfolding. In episode 1x08 we witness Alice experience heartbreak upon learning that her husband, who is supposed to be upfront and her teammate had gone behind her back and tried to force their daughter to have an abortion. She screeches at him because “you did to Polly, exactly what you did to me.” This is an underlaying problem we come to learn later with Alice. She has spent her entire parenthood experience trying to make sure that her daughters don’t take the same path she did. This was the first hint we got into why Alice is so protective of her daughters. She has tried for the longest time to keep them focused on school, to keep them away from the children of her peers who she believes will lead them astray. She spent her life turning the southside into villains, to protect her daughters and keep them from wanting to be involved with serpents, who bring her so much pain in her memories. 

 Her secrets: One of the first major secrets we learn from Alice is that in high school she ended up pregnant and sent away to the sisters of quiet mercy, just like Polly had been. We know this because someone from her past made it impossible for her to escape that secret, which is also a clear indication as to why Alice never wanted her family associated with the southside, or the Jones family. As suggested three episodes earlier, the dinner scene in 1x11 is another clue leading up to the reveal in the season finale. Alice becomes increasingly distressed as FP recalls an argument he witnessed in passing, one that he assumes would rattle Alice who has spent years concocting the perfect image. The old bitter feelings between the former lovers is apparent from this moment. He knows what will make her blood boil and he goes for it. He knows that Alice isn’t this perfect northside woman, and he realises her marriage isn’t built on love and perfection because he saw the two arguing viciously, about what we are to assume is related to the near forced abortion conversation that was hinted about in 1x08. Alice has more secrets than even FP is aware of, and since season 1 was a journey for Betty, one that included her discovering not only her town is filled with dark secrets, but so is her picture-perfect family. Her parents didn’t fall apart because of Polly being pregnant, they’ve never been perfect and FP throwing that in Alice’s face is yet another one of Alice’s fears. Much like her obsession with keeping her daughters safe from her own unsafe path, Alice has spent this whole time trying to make sure her daughters had the perfect upbringing, shielding even the most minute of problems from them. Even Jughead has commented in his narration on how ‘perfect�� this family seemed to be from the outside. This was a combination of Hal’s need to live a sin free life, and Alice’s need for control to avoid her own past interfering with her daughter’s road to a happy and successful life. The secret that hurt her the most to keep close to her chest is of course the existence of her son Charles, whom she lied about to many people. Her daughters never knew, which is the most understandable part of the entire secret. Her discussion with Betty about this revealed how much pain she had been keeping to herself and revealed the biggest and most revealing layer of them all. The bottom line here was that Alice had been living her entire adult life feeling guilt for giving her son away, and had been spending this whole time keeping her other children as close to her as possible to mask that pain. 

  Her relationship with Polly: As mentioned earlier we know that Alice and Polly have an extremely strained relationship. It is uncertain what we can and can’t believe about Polly before the pilot. Hal’s words to Betty when questioned about his eldest daughter may have very well been an exaggeration to sell the fact that she was sent away for her own good. What we do know however, is that Polly resents Alice. Any sane person can see this and agree she has reasons to feel this way. Not only was Polly sent away with the intention of giving her babies away, Alice stood by and let it happen. That cannot be disputed. (unless of course you have the personal opinion that Polly is an unreliable narrator) Polly being sent away meant she spent months believing Jason was still alive, when he had been dead. She didn’t get to spend her life with the father of her children, which is the issue with the biggest weight here. Alice did not kill Jason, but her actions alongside Hal’s, were a factor that came into play here and Polly will never forgive them entirely for that. Polly’s reaction was to stay away from her parents, and once again this is understandable. However we do see how this affects Alice who we know loves her children more than anything. She maybe deserve it to a degree, but Alice is a human being and that pain does reflect on her character. Polly’s later actions to willingly let her mother join a cult, which is now apparent that Polly isn’t a blind victim to brainwashing, but has made herself into a recruiter who wanted to torture her own sister, we can see that Polly is very much her father’s daughter. 

  Her disdain toward Bughead: I feel that this is a big reason why some people criticise Alice. This point is no longer relevant to the current storyline but it is still an important part of the story. At first Alice’s disdain toward her daughter being involved with Jughead came down to him being a boy of any description. If you factor in WHO Jughead is, the son of Alice’s own high school boyfriend, and father of her only son, you realise why she is so uneasy about this budding romance. Alice is so fearful of Betty following in her footsteps. Polly did. Polly got pregnant as a junior with the BMOC football player, and now Betty is dating FP’s son? Alarm bells went off. This is the woman who plans everything and wanted to fabricate the perfect life for her daughters. She already had one teenage girl end up like herself, and now Betty was literally involved with the flesh and blood of the boy she made a baby with. You can see Alice’s relationship with Jughead change over the 3 seasons. Season 2 had the most growth. She apologised to Jughead for her judgement of him and his serpent friends in 2x17. And in 2x16, she finally came clean to Betty as to why she was so on edge about her having sex with Jughead. This conversation was another stand out moment between mother and daughter and Alice letting Betty into her trust circle. In 3x02, we see Alice being upset with Jughead and many people have used that as an excuse to hate on the woman, but if you look at it from her perspective. Alice’s daughter had a seizure just hours earlier and was already running around trying to solve mysteries. Alice knows Betty better than anyone. She knows Betty inherited her need to get to the bottom of everything, and she knows in her heart that she can’t stop Betty’s curiosity. But Jughead? The boy who loves her daughter, and would do anything to protect her, which is something Alice can relate to. She can hold him responsible with the hope that he might actually listen and agree with wanting to keep Betty out of danger. 

 Her relationship with FP: The flashback gave us insight into this relationship to help reinforce what the show had already been showing for two seasons. In high school Alice was a serpent girl without any friends. FP was this popular guy who was living under a falsified image. He did not want anyone to know he was a southsider just like she was. We know he came from a rough home life, one with abuse and alcoholism, but he wanted to go places and become something more than that. Maybe Alice resented that about him, we can only guess as to how she felt about that side of things, but what we do know is that Alice is the one who ends up with the life FP always wanted, and his life stays the same. In high school FP and Alice started off as a hook up, that bred into feelings. We know from 3 years of experience watching Riverdale, that the Jones men, and serpents in general tend to struggle with talking about their feelings. FP never talked about how he felt in high school, and we still see him struggle with that in present day. He loves his son, but he doesn’t know how to express that. Alice on the other hand was head over heels for the boy who presumably took her ‘virginity’ but knows that he’s Mr Popular, and she’s just the southside girl he liked to screw under the bleachers. She ended up pregnant and the midnight club months were montaged to show us that fp and alice eventually got their shit together and became a couple. Now, what would a scared 17 year old girl who has never had a boyfriend, or possibly ever had a friend, do? Would she tell this boy who has only recently decided he had feelings for her to, that surprise we are having a baby! Or would she want to keep it to herself out of fear, just to try and hold onto the good she finally has now after so long of wanting him to finally express he has feelings too? We’ve all been there. We all know the feeling of being scared that this person who likes us back, will get spooked off at any moment. When the midnight club fell apart and they all went their separate ways, Alice made a choice, one that is arguably the wrong choice, but she found someone else who had the means to take care of her baby, only he never did. We don’t see much of what happened between high school and present day, but through Jughead’s narrations we know that Alice had spent many years publicly detesting the serpents and the southside. And what have we learnt about Alice? She is a woman who has been holding onto a lot of pain her whole life. Acting out against the people who she has an excuse to dislike, (they’re criminals, it’s easy) is her only outlet for her pain. At home everything is to be perfect. At work she can write whatever she wants about the serpents and the southside, because her readers will read and agree with her. That’s how Riverdale has always been. Northsiders have preconceived ideas of what the southsiders are like, and they don’t care enough to check whether Alice is accurate enough. She gets away with it.

 their children get closer, FP and Alice are then thrust back into each other’s lives. She has pushed and pushed for so many years and FP finally has his chance to push her buttons in return. In 1x10, he reminds her of serpent law and has a jab at her, almost taunting the woman for pretending to be something she’s not. She did the same to him in high school, and he finally had his shot to do the same. He’s hurt by everything too. They were fine together until suddenly it was over, and he was the one who drew the short straw. That’s how he sees it. His friend did him dirty and left him to rot in that trailer with a shaky marriage and beer bottles for company. Fred didn’t want anything to do with him professionally, and Alice kept attacking him and his serpents personally. The man had reason to want to bite back and he did so. The dinner Alice invited him to in 1x11, he had his second shot at speaking up to her. He was on his best behaviour and would have kept that way if it wasn’t for Alice taking a jab at his kid. One thing FP and Jughead have in common is their endless love for their children. They are both heavily flawed, but unlike a lot of Riverdale parents, they’d do anything for their kids. FP could take Alice berating him, but Jughead was off limits. He took a swing and it obviously hit her where it hurt. He knew her perfect life wasn’t so perfect and clearly Alice knew it too.

 we have Alice feeling comfortable to throw out some playful banter with FP as he finally got released from prison. The man is amused, and really you can’t blame his wrongful assumption that maybe Alice has softened just a little. Right? Then back at Pop’s she is back to her old shit, assuming he was going to be a serpent again. She is still the same judgemental Alice underneath, but he dared to be playful with her just to test the waters. He knows the old Alice is still in there and for the first time in a long time he is playful with her in return. Time passes and Alice is growing increasingly worried about her daughter spending time with serpents. Her fears are returning and FP is the one retiring, so of course the party being for him, makes Alice redirect her fear and upset onto the man. Her confrontation isn’t one of anger, it is one of her fear. She is scared and her public scene reflected that. She came in guns blazing ready to yell at him, but instead he does his best to calm her down. FP and Alice are always quite explosive and neither one gets exactly what they intended. FP accidently blurts out the suggestion of Alice leaving Hal, and Alice is left speechless. It isn’t the words spoken, but the unspoken change in atmosphere between them that speaks volumes here. Alice spent the conversation making up excuses not to attend FP’s party, but ends up taking his invitation seriously. We FINALLY see this woman let her hair down and be herself back in her old stomping ground. Alice misses the life she had where she could have fun and be herself, a person she doesn’t know anymore. We finally see her acting like someone we could all ENJOY. Until her fear comes true. Alice witnesses her daughter’s initiation into the gang she had spent so many years trying to scare her away from. FP clearly recalls the conversation earlier, and in an attempt to avoid Alice embarrassing the teen, he covers the girl up and distracts the audience with a speech.

 could have left straight away, taken her daughter far away from that serpent nest, but instead she wanted to hear what FP had to say first. His speech was the opposite of what she was expecting. He mentions her briefly, even looked right at her as he claimed his family turned his back on him. That’s when Alice couldn’t take it anymore. She can’t stay in the bar where everyone knows she left them behind. She turned her back on the serpents and FP once again.

came to Alice wanted a divorce. It wasn’t until then did she approach FP and want to pursue something. She could have done so earlier, but she did not. After sleeping together in 2x17, Alice finally felt happy again until FP got cold feet and iced her out. We literally saw her put her guard down. She was flirting with him, inviting him to come and see her perform. That was Alice holding onto one last bit of happiness and he hurt her again. And you know what happened after that? She spiralled. Gladys came back and Alice wasn’t stomping all over that failed marriage either. FP didn’t want anything to do with the woman known as his wife. Every scene they had was either him ignoring her or being irritated by her actions. Alice was not a home wrecker by any means in canon. She defended FP and Jughead when FP talked down on himself saying everything that went wrong in his family was his fault. We all know how much pain Gladys put Jughead and through, and Alice was the one who defended that boy which once again proves the point that Alice has grown to love and care for Jughead. Which is what I like to call, character development. 

Chic/Charles: Alice had spent so long feeling so guilty about giving her son up, and when Hal was firm in saying they shouldn’t meet this son that Betty tracked down for them, Alice agreed. This gave another glimpse into how Alice wasn’t the only one who was controlling. Alice may have been trying to monitor how her girls lived their lives, but on the flipside, Hal was the one who had final say here. She secretly tells Betty she does want to meet her son, and Betty takes her to meet Chic. This boy who is living in Charles’ apartment. Alice didn’t force Betty to find this boy, or to invite him into their home. Betty did this because she wanted her mother to stop being depressed. She loves Alice. This is one of the examples of how Betty has done the wrong thing for the right reasons, which is exactly how Alice and Betty’s relationship works. They do what they can to help the other, but it’s not the right thing to do, and suddenly Alice fans hate Betty, and Betty fans hate Alice. The bottom line is that Betty and Alice love each other so very much, and both Lili and Mädchen would tell you that too. Alice had spent over 20 years longing for this boy, so of course when a boy the right age, and similar features to her own, and her daughters shows up and acts the part of her son, of course she is going to believe he is her son. Chic clearly had his own mommy issues and attached himself to Alice too. People often overlook the Chic situation, when the bottom line is that Alice finally had her baby boy back, and she had been through so much traumatic pain from their separation that she was clinging to that relationship. You cannot blame the woman for holding onto it for dear life after so many years of pain. She believed her own child had killed a man to save her. So of course, she would cover it up. If it had been Betty killing someone, she would have done the exact same thing and we all know it. She wanted Betty to stay out of it. She told her to go to bed, but Betty wanted to help. All of the claims that Alice was a drill sergeant who forced others to be involved is just not true. Alice was handling it on her own but those who love her got involved to help. She didn’t want outside help, but Betty and Jughead involved FP. She did not think “Oh let me call up FP who is on parole and guilt him into helping me.” Either. And she was so heartfeltly sorry to him for his son being involved too. She wanted to believe that Chic was her son, but when he wasn’t and she found out the truth, she owned that and once again she protected Betty. She told Hal she acted alone. She didn’t bring FP or Jughead into it either.

 learning that Charles had ‘died’ her first instinct was to go and tell FP the truth. She knew then how wrong it had been to keep it to herself and wanted FP to know. She didn’t do this for sympathy, she even expected him to be mad at her for it, but he wasn’t. The man was clearly hurt but he was not angry with her. Season 3: We can all agree that season 3 was the worst Alice we have ever seen. The writers were so inconsistent and didn’t know what to do with her. Betty is arguably the main character of this show. I know it’s based on Archie, and Jughead is the narrator, but Betty is the main character. This comes down to Lili’s amazing talents and being able to run with whatever the writing throws her way. This pays heavily into why Alice and Betty’s relationship is the way it is. Mädchen and Lili have both said that they want the mother and daughter to just get along instead of this back and forth nonsense, but the show wants Betty to have the most difficult life ever, and with her father being a serial killer, having her mother be an obstacle is something that comes with the territory of them both being played by the most talented cast members. Season 3 Alice was so inconsistent to a point where I stopped watching. Alice giving away Betty’s money made me sick, even Mädchen hated that storyline. The writing was so bad that we got whiplash trying to figure out if Alice was brainwashed every episode or not. And since they decided she was an informant, we are now being forced to believe that she was undercover this whole time. Which makes it more difficult to excuse and make sense of her actions. 

  The bottom line is that Alice wanted Betty to stay away from the cult in the end, which once again shows that she wants to protect her children. She wants Polly out of the cult. She wanted Betty to give up on saving her. It’s very hard to analyse a season that wasn’t written consistently. And I do not fault anyone for being angry at Alice’s actions in season 3. However that season is over and they started a new direction, one that is now canon. So choosing instances from season 3 to hate Alice for things she hasn’t yet done in season 3 is premature and a waste of your precious time. Hate Alice all you want, but she’s not the villain you want her to be. Alice is the way she is because it makes Betty’s stories family motivated, which is exactly what Alice’s been this entire time. Alice would do anything for her children, just like Betty would do anything for her family, and her boyfriend. 

[softlywithhissong]

I’m calling bullshit on your hate.

STOP STEREOTYPING SANGWOO FANS!

I am a Sangwoo fan. I am also a Bum fan. A strange dichotomy, I know.

Both of these characters exhibit problematic behavior, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a fan of them, either individually or simultaneously. Does being a fan of either of these characters mean that you support these damaging behaviors in real life? NO. Calling out people who support REAL LIFE crimes is fine, but calling out people who are trying to enjoy being a fan of a FICTIONAL character IS NOT OKAY. You are clearly not helping real life people by doing so. You are being judgemental and self-righteous, shaming people to feel superior and patting yourself on the back for it. You not only contradict yourself several times, but you also act entitled to hate real people for liking something you personally don’t, have the arrogance to proclaim what the author “better not” do, and wish ill on real people. The hypocrisy is appalling. Do you not see the irony? You are not protecting people from real life abuse BY HATING ON REAL LIFE FANS of a fictional character. You are in fact engaging in verbally abusing real life people. It doesn’t matter what the character does; it’s fiction. Are there real people existing out in the big wide world who do crimes or support criminals? Yes, but to generalize, stereotype, and basically accuse FANS of being as bad as the people who do this or to conflate us and lump us together is disgusting, illogical, and highly offensive.

How can we “still stan his ass / this ship”? We can because the beauty of fandom is that you get to pick and choose what you like. You get to twist it up, turn it inside out, and make it into an AU parody of itself. ART IS SUBJECTIVE. It’s about what individual thing each and every one of us found gut wrenching or what pulled at our heartstrings. Don’t invalidate what other people found or resonated with just because it’s not the same thing you did. People fear different things. People emphasize, magnify, and conversely minimize different things based on what concerns each of us individually. That’s okay and people shouldn’t be shamed for having a different opinion. After all, being a fan is a form of opinion. And opinions are not facts. Don’t confuse the two; you holding an opinion does not make your opinion a fact.

Fiction is about emotional catharsis. It doesn’t matter that stealing a car or killing a dog are not crimes worthy of the death penalty in real life - I wanted to see John Wick kill all those fuckers for killing that little puppy.

And NOT ALL MEDIA should have a healthy or happy ending. Was Romeo and Juliet’s double suicide a healthy ending? NO. It was a tragedy! Tragedies have an important place in media. They often serve as cautionary tales. If you want another cliched boring “bad guy dies/goes to jail” ending, WHY ARE YOU SHAMING FANS WHO WANT SOMETHING DIFFERENT? You have an endless supply of your preferred ending. Go watch one of the thousand CSI/detective/cop procedural shows. They are everywhere. While I enjoy psychological thrillers (AS RARE AS THEY ARE), I am also a fan of some great detective shows and murder mysteries. I could recommend so many fantastic ones. But some of us want a unique ending for Killing Stalking, even if that means something “unhealthy” by real life moral standards. It was labeled a psychological thriller, after all. Not a mystery. Not a detective story. It was also labeled BL, and even if it gets a twisted/unhealthy ending because of the psychological thriller genre, it still qualifies because twisted BL is still BL.

I do not excuse Sangwoo’s abusive treatment of Bum. I’m often disappointed and angry on Bum’s behalf. And while I find it difficult to believe canon Bum would be in a healthy relationship with anyone (and I would love to make a post about how I see his fondness for frogs as symbolism for his relationships), I still have the ability to enjoy the possibilities of a healthy fanon-based relationship or even appreciate the grim take of a tragic and/or twisted unhealthy ending. This is how I still ship Sangbum in certain contexts, but not always, because context matters and it depends. I know that sentence sounds ridiculous, but that’s how it works! Because it’s OKAY TO SHIP FICTIONAL UNHEALTHY SHIPS. Because it’s fiction. And if people can vent their issues through the written word in order to not do so in real life, good. Many people find reading/writing therapeutic. Some authors write a lot of problematic behavior as angst. Do they deserve hate? NO. There are plenty of instances when I have shipped a healthy ship but not shipped it (and in fact wanted them not to end up together) in certain fics because I felt the fic had portrayed an unhealthy relationship. But did I send hate to the author of that fic when that ship ended up together anyway? NO. Just because it ended in a way I didn’t like didn’t give me or anyone else the right to spread hate or shame over a fictional story.

Also, as a Bum fan, I do not appreciate seeing any victim blaming of Bum. There’s some out there (including your despicable “Bum better not” comment), but at least this hate is not anywhere near the amount of Sangwoo hate. As a fan of both characters, I can see that there is clearly so much more Sangwoo hate out there. And it’s fine to criticize, dislike, or even hate Sangwoo as a character, but it’s NOT OKAY to hate on his fans. He is a fictional character, but his fans are real people.

I am a fan of Sangwoo because he is an intriguing, complex, and well-written character. He’s got flaws. All characters do. And I understand his flaws are pretty damn big. But I understand that he’s a fictional character. I would never support a real person committing such crimes or abuse. So, frankly, while you may find my being a fan “annoying” - I will not be shamed or hated upon.

To quote my sister, “In the safety of fiction, we can deconstruct the complexities of what’s morally gray.”

In other words, exploration through FICTION, discussion, and debate are welcome. Hateful posts are not.

This is a long post, so I’ll put my further calling bullshit on arguments made by haters behind a “Keep Reading” link:

Also, the criticisms for being a fan because of “fetishizing gay men” are bullshit. Firstly, anything anyone finds hot could be labeled “fetishizing” which is ridiculous. Secondly, some fans are gay men who are not “fetishizing” - they are simply enjoying the story even if it is twisted. (It’s okay to be a fan of a story that portrays an unhealthy relationship; not every story is meant to be a moral standard.) But also, this bullshit argument is just reducing people down to a ridiculous stereotype used to stifle women in fandom. This has been used through the ages and it is wrong. Are there possibly straight women out there objectifying gay men the way straight men would objectify gay women? Yeah, there’s probably some. But I’ve been in fandom a LONG time and this is not representative of fans in general, let alone all female fans. How about you let women consume all forms of media they find identifiable, cathartic, containing unique storyline with complex flawed characters, or even (gasp) entertaining? Stop shaming people. And maybe especially - don’t resort to misogynistic tropes to do so. I think it’s safe to say that fans (including female fans) generally tend to be a fan for more than just a character’s appearance and body parts. There’s usually character traits, personality quirks, things that draw you to go beyond casual reading/watching into becoming a fan.

Personally, I identify with stories portraying gay relationships equally as much if not more than with stories portraying heterosexual relationships. Maybe that’s because I’m bisexual, but I don’t think so. I believe that straight people can also find themselves identifying with the story and the struggles portrayed - no matter what the sexual orientation of the pairing portrayed.

You think I only like portrayals of gay men rather than women? No, I like both. Killing Eve is a fantastic example of a fandom that I would love to see grow! I despair at how small the fandom is compared to my usual fandoms, but it’s new! It can grow and I can’t wait for season 2. The harsh reality, though, is that f/f ships tend to be smaller fandoms. This may be due to so few well-written female characters in general throughout media - though, this is improving and having more female writers in media helps. Killing Eve has great characters and really great writing, so hopefully they can buck this trend and grow a decently large fandom featuring f/f ships. Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe from Legends of Tomorrow are a pretty big ship, which is heartening, and Xena/Gabrielle from Xena Warrior Princess were an absolute juggernaut back in the day (kudos to anyone who recognized Xena from my main tumblr’s icon).

You think I only like hot men? Or that I excuse the actions of killers who are hot men? NO. I watched The Fall with Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan, where Jamie Dornan played the serial killer and NO - I was not a fan of his character, let alone attempted to excuse any actions by his character whatsoever, even after they explained his tragic backstory. And You on Netflix is just too obnoxious in my personal opinion for me to even watch. But I’d never take time out of my day to hate on any fan who enjoys it.

Calling out problematic stuff in media is fine, but don’t use it as an excuse to spit vitriol and hate at fans who you disagree with.

P.S. Seriously, ask me for recs of good detective shows/murder mysteries. I’ve got so many I could recommend that are way better written than most. Want a female detective? I’ve got plenty. Want a gay male detective? Got it. Want a murder mystery twist where the murderer wins? Got that.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest Chapter 12 Review

Oh my god... What the heck is even going on?

So our cover page is Natsu and Lucy, and Natsu I hope you enjoy that brain freeze.

So we open on Jellal confronting Touka. We learn like how Avatar was devoted to black magic there was a group devoted to white magic. Now this is cool, but literally if you watch the anime recently, that arc was done in 5 episodes. So this feels really odd on how much effort is being put into it.

Like if there was like something tying into Tenrou or hell edolas, that make more sense, given all thee time on it.

So Jellal describes White magic as a philosophy of nothingness, which that doesn’t make sense. Fans of yugioh gx might compare this the darkness and light in that series and how darkness led to creation while light was subjugation. But Black magic is clearly about ending life or manipulating life. I guess you could dumb it down to all life, but literal Ankherseram black magic is portrayed as nothing but death. So wouldn’t white be about life? I guess nothingness as life without personality isn’t wrong,  but this feels like a stretch.

Also, Mashima said anyone could learn any type of magic. So why is that an abnormality? Like if this was Black Clover where you are assigned a single affinity that be one thing.

Suddenly Laxus steps in, and want to make this clear. I don’t exactly hate the idea behind this. That Laxus wants to defend someonew ho is a part of his family, given his new found view on FT, and its using the family aspect of FT on its head. Someone bad could be using FT’s family mentality for personal benefit. Which is interesting.

Okay, well Jellal has a reason, she is  suspect and as a guild master he has authority to take her in. However, Laxus you of all people know that people in your guild will still harm it.

On the one hand im torn, the shounen loving half of my brain wants to see this fight. But the logical half says that these two are mature adults with enough common sense to take this to the run knights. And confrontation is over after this page.

Yeah for a chapter named after the two, its got very little to do with theem. Instead.... The worst thing in the chapter happens. We cut to Diablos’ ship and we see this.

Yes you are seeing this right. For people who were saying I was to harsh, calling this a submissive Erza fetish that Mashima is putting out, I ask you read this chapter.

You know I can’t tell if Skullion means this is temporary as in terms of magic, or temporary as Kyria will grow bored, but I do know that this is nothing but sick and tastess. Also props to Madmorel for having some class to be disgusted by the perv in the group. Like that is becoming a rarity these days.

We are guided down to the lower deck where natsu and wendy are being held, the motion sickness keeping them in check.

I’ve been putting this off long enough, its time to rant. This is bull shit. People told me, i was too harsh on mashima, but at the least I thought this was some sort of temporary thing that was meant so Kyria could get a win in a fight, but this might be some permanent magic effect feels disgusting.

Now, people say that this happened cause people would rag on Erza, called Erza fights awful, and that now Mashima is going in the complete opposite dirction. You didn’t like strong erza, fine! Here’s weak Erza, you happy cynics?

But that’s not the case. People didn’t like Erza because she was “too strong” she was someoone who went from this amazing badass female character, to this static friendship speech spewing tool that never truly got any development. Its painful for people to see a character like Erza not grow after she had developed so much in ToH, but it just was never followed through. All the times she won just felt like a poor spectacle without any character behind it.

Now you could say an erza who needs to get her strength back could be character development. No. Cutting away a person’s strength with “magic” is not character development, its forced regression. Its the author literally creating an unrealistic situation bcause he has no idea what to do with her  after ToH, hell he can’t even fully commit to a love story between her and jellal.

When Erza came onto the scene, she was cool, in control, yet could over react at times. To see her be pushed to her lowest by ToH and then recover and face midnight in OS, is peak Erza character shining through. That this is how erza’s development deserved to be treated. But Watching Erza crawl on the ground, be spanked, and cry for mercy like a hentai doll, all because of plot convince magic is so gross to me. Its ejecting the Erza that we all love and stripping her of all that personality just for this.

So if you blame this development on people who were too hard on Mashima about how he was writing Erza, I, a critic and very judgemental person, find this worse than any of the nakama power or skimpy armors.

Erza being trapped in Kyoka’s sex dungeon was bad, but you know what, EErza actievly resisted it. She didn’t want to be there aand tried to fight back. It wasn’t handled well, but that t least felt like whatt her character would do in this situation. But this was forced upon her and this is nothing more than an Erza made for this arc.

Also, lets step out of this and look at this from the meta perspective that this is also extremely lazy. In Eden’s zero there’s a villain who is all about subjugating women right now, and Mashima couldn’t be bothered to not let that bleeed into his other work. If that doesn’t scream creately lazy, than I don’t know what will. Also that frog thing in Eden’s zero is actuaally better giveen the fact he’s not mind bending away personality, he’s forcibly turning them in statues to do with what he pleases against their will.

Im not saying this cause im anti ecchi or that im anti  mashima, im anti such a hack story writting device that weather you stuck it out as a fan of erza’s till the end of FT or liked her at first but than soured on her, I ask, would you tolerate this? I’m not claiming ownership of the character of Erza, but I am asking do you think that this is worth a character arc because our author couldn’t think of anything better to do with her. You know if you knew Erza was so strong,Ad that in actuality she would sweep away most threats, why did you bring her? I honestly would’ve preferred Jellal and Erza being out of the action cause they had a kid or something. Erza having to pick between biological family and her guild family seems like a better direction to take her character in than this.

To see Erza cry because someone’s magic made her into a slave is so lacking in power than say the sheer emotional weight of watching simon die. Like this is shit is just awful.

We cut to Luccy and here is where I get to credit thee art. Sure Lucy is in a bikini, but what matters in frame is the wounds on her legs. Which is a nice us of having aa skimpy dress and not sexualizing it.

We get a flashback of Lucy realizing Kyriaa took her friends and this is where I give Caramille a big fuck you. Oh sure, this did happen after they showed up, but Diabolos clearly was going to find the place eventually and more importantly, you did fuck all. Like, go screw cause you have contributed literally nothing.

We find out that there is another ship in the area and that Gray is okay because he was saved by you can guess who...

Okay on the one hand, this definitely seems like Brandish’s kind of entrance, but on the other. Fuck you, Hiro. Like she just passed by and saved Gray? Hw? The entire ocean was either freezing or evaporating, what is your range? Also, who is in charge of Alverez? Yajeel? Oi...

Post Chapter Follow up: Its easy to say why I don’t like this chapter. I feel so sick by the sheer amount of laziness and disgust in the slave Erza plot. Like, my god this is so wrong. Not because of the subject, human slavery makes sense in a series aimed at teenagers, but the sheer disrespect that Hiro treated this character, made my blood boil. At the very least in Alvarez, Erza still seemed like she was the same character from beginning of the series.

People who follow me weekly on this review series are probably going to ask when I will stop harping on this Erza thing. Well each week, it  somehow get worse and more gross.  First time it felt like a cheap win, second it was bad use of domination, now this is full blown fetish material.

As for the brandish thing, I know why she is here, Lucy is literally not strong enough to handle 3 DE’s by herself with a few exceeds, and I’d accept that Brandish reentering the series. But maybe leave out Gray? I guess you could say that this is a subversion of the Musica captured by Doryu, but this feels lazier. You could’ve just made this a big “step up Lucy plot,” but no, had to save Gray, even though Skullion should’ve notice when his magic didn’t actually ash up Gray. Plus think about, if they save save Natsu and Wendy this arc and beat these three dragon eaters, wouldn’t some added bit of tension to the quest be finding diablos’s hideout and saving Gray from the “dinner table?”And I was cool with the kidnapped gray thing, but no, we had to have kidnapped everyone else.Also if he was made small how did he survive the water? Like he’s the size of a pin, he’d drown.

Now the stuff with Laxus and Jellal is actually fairly good Its an interesting take on FTs standards vs the consequences of their past when we are suppose to be rooting for Touka to be extracted. And involving two characters that really have been in the moral gray spectrum make them the most qualified for this subject matter. While i definitely didn’t like the Touka plot at first from how disconnected it was from everything (and it really is kinda shoed in on this point) it still is the more interesting plot. It has more intresting ideas than, “more dragons” and is involving the characters that come off as the most interesting.

Final Verdict: 3/10

There is clearly some interesting idea at work here

However, the way the plotline for the dragon portion of this arc has become a mess

I don’t use this phrase lightly, “Erza literally deserves better than this”

Plot convince playhouse at its finest

[gal-liveblogs]

So we start off Homestuck 2 with a picture of space. Got some green space clouds. So far nothing I would not expect. Though I see there also appears to be a spaceship of some kind, zooming through all this space. Would this be Dirk’s ship?

. . . Yep. That’s defiantly Dirk’s ship. I’m sure Theseus has some really deep, literary meaning, but the reference flies right over my head. As does most of Dirk’s references. He’s too smart for me.

I find it funny that Jake continues the tradition of emblazoning his face on his things. We saw his alt-self of Grandpa Harley doing at all the time. Dirk, of course, has to scribble out the face of his ex.

Dirk. Dirk, are you wearing a villain cape right now? Is that what you’re doing in this moment? Dirk, please.

He is totally wearing a villain cape, complete with tattered edges. He is also wearing a Heart gi, because Dirk is nothing if not anime.

Jesus Christ, I already see the paragraphs of orange under this. You’re gonna make me read all this, aren’t you. Dirk?

Dirk proves to be as verbose as ever.

So did Dirk really write out all his narration on physical pieces of paper and scatter them over his desk? Did he do that just to be Extra, or is that something he has to do as an Author now? Do they only count in the narrative text if they are actual text and not just his own thoughts?

Whatever the case may be, Rose interrupts his soliloquy.

I have it on authority that decanting is sometimes necessary to ensure a wine is at its best. I like to think that the same was ultimately true of her.

Decanting of a person’s soul sounds particularly ominous, thought I can’t express the exact reason why.

ROSEBOT: I just imagined you wearing an apron over your god tier outfit and almost felt my facial fuselage buckle in such a way as to approximate a fleeting smile.

Glad to see being a robot and also assimilating all her possible selves Rose remains a sass queen.

DIRK: Alright we get it you are literally a robot.

DIRK: No need to keep pointing it out every chance you can get. I got enough of this with the Auto Responder.

ROSEBOT: I'm just playing along.

ROSEBOT: One of the fundamentals of bad science fiction is that any artificial beings must make their inorganic nature known at every juncture they can.

DIRK: Do overly precise and completely meaningless statistics that you pull out of your ass on the fly also count?

ROSEBOT: Oh absolutely.

ROSEBOT: That's one of the first things you just sort of spontaneously learn when being booted up.

ROSEBOT: For example, I've calculated that by making these remarks I have raised the base level of amusement in all my conversations by 36%.

DIRK: Well I don't personally find them very funny.

Dirk has some trauma with robots pulling out bullshit statics. Which makes it all the more fascinating he continues to build robots that can have free thought.

Jesus Christ, it wasn’t just the lighting, Dirk’s shades really are orange now. Hussie may not have known about Kamina when he designed Bro, but Dirk always wearing Kamina glasses has just become a part of his character. So much so that they are even colored like Kamina’s instead of black now. I have to wonder, had Kamina not been a character that already existed or if people hadn’t kept pointing out that Dirk/Bro wore shades similar to an anime character, would Dirk be so anime? Is being anime just a character trait that Hussie gave him because of a funny coincidence and he wanted to play up the joke, or was he always intended to be so anime?

Also is that trashcan literally an inferno?

ROSEBOT: I just thought you might like to know that we're getting pretty close to your chosen crash site.

Do they not know how to land the ship? Does the ship not have landing gear? Do they need to crash for narrative reasons and otherwise would be perfectly capable of landing normally? Is Rose just making a joke?

DIRK: Wait, crash site??

Oh, good, Dirk is as confused as I am. So that rules out narrative reasons.

ROSEBOT: A landing gear appears to have fallen just a little outside the realm of vital.

So lacking landing gear it is! God damn it, Jake.

DIRK: (God DAMN it English.)

Ha!

ROSEBOT: Don't be such a chud, Dirk.

I am afraid to ask what a chud is. Is that like a cuck? I don’t know what a cuck is either. I am also afraid to ask what a cuck is.

ROSEBOT: She's functionally mortal, remember?

Yeah, that really sucks that Karkat, Terezi, and Kanaya all lack godtier. Karkat would complain about his lack of flight abilities, but I’m surprised Terezi or Kanaya never brought up this fact. Especially Kanaya, what with her marriage to Rose. Kanaya would eventually grow old and die, leaving Rose to keep on living. Of course, Rosebot has decided to leave her loving wife behind so in this particular case that point doesn’t matter.

DIRK: You mean to say that you don't think we'd be in peril if it came to it?

DIRK: There's nothing about our situation that strikes you as falling within the bounds of precarity, as far as the rules are concerned?

ROSEBOT: Oh. You're right. I suppose I hadn't thought of that.

ROSEBOT: But I think we can remain calm in the knowledge that nothing particularly heroic is going on right now. At least, not that I'm aware of.

DIRK: ... Right.

Not sure if Dirk’s meaning flew over Rose’s head, or if she’s just choosing to ignore the possibility of Just deaths as a joke.

That doesn't mean this (*gestures to the narrative*) isn't still going to be a thing, though.

I don’t know why, but this tickles my funny bone.

All in all I think you'll find, as far as narrators go, I'm an excellent... hm. On second thought, maybe that's a bit of a problematic phrase. Yeah, yikes, that one's got a sordid history. Best we steer clear of it. We're all lucky I'm around to make those kinds of sensitivity judgements on everyone's behalf.

I’m glad you can recognize that Homestuck fans all have a fight or flight response that that memetic phrase, but I don’t appreciate you patting yourself on the back for being sensitive when you, as a narrator, could not use Roxy’s correct pronouns once they came to light.

It's time to get this story back on the rails, back to what it was always supposed to be. I know it, and you've somehow always known it too. There was something else, some other route that Homestuck was meant to take but then didn't, a way that wouldn't've spent so much time dicking around with stuff nobody cares about. Like seriously, why did we all have to sit through talking about everyone's most intimate and private feelings for two hundred thousand fucking words. That would never have happened in Act 1. Where did it all go wrong?

So Dirk’s grand plan is to go back to the asinine tomfoolery of Act 1? To do away with character relations and feelings and have people messing around with their sylladexes? I must say, I never would have expected this from the likes of Dirk. I thought he was all about the complex thought processes and inner turmoil.

Thank you for returning the narration to classic black, Dirk. It’s so much easier on the eyes.

Channelling my full potential as an ascended player of Heart, I expand my consciousness to commune with the boundless force of collective willpower that is the internet.

Wow, who knew Heart players could become the internet. I mean, I guess it makes sense. The internet is just a collection of people, and Heart is all about the soul. 

I was really hoping the command box he made would be an actual command box. I missed out on the Homestuck days of old where the command box was a real thing. It would have been fun to be a part of that myself, but I understand the fandom is just too big for that ever to be feasible again. That’s why it was done away with in the first place, and that was when the fandom was smaller.

The writers came up with e good command, though.

Yeah, I have a feeling Dirk is going to decide to ignore this command and stop taking suggestions. Either that, or he’s going to inform us that he is not making Homestuck, he’s making Homestuck 2.

But I should have known better. People think you can run a story like this? This must be just about the stupidest idea anyone has ever come up with. I'll just have to make up the commands myself from here on out. Seemed to work ok for the other guy.

Yep, pretty much what I expected.

Oh Jesus Christ, what even is this room?

O.K., let’s take things from the top. Looks like we got the beta kids’ entry items, as well as their Aspect flags from Prospit and Derse. Why does Dirk have these things? There also appear to be some cruxite dowels next to them, but they are any of the colors we’ve seen before.

WOAH, HOLD UP, Are those Dave’s copies of SBURB? Or are they Bro’s? Clearly Dirk has just collected a bunch of items from various points in Homestuck’s timeline like some sort of museum. For what purpose, though?

Oh my god, there’s a Tab watering can. I assume it was alchemized, since Dirk mentioned earlier using alchemy to make his rad new shades. I wonder why Dirk has that Skaianet poster on his wall. I would have thought he’d want nothing to do with anything Jake had his fingers in. Then again, there also appears to be a kotatsu with Jake’s bedspread in the middle of the room.

I can’t tell what the green thing is next to the mutated kitten. Or what that other green thing next to the robot horse is either.

OH FUCK ME THERE’S A ROBOT CAL IN THE PROCESS OF BEING MADE. DIRK, NO. WHY. YOU HAVE THE NARRATIVE CONTROL NOW, YOU SHOULD KNOW CAL IN ANY FORM IS BAD NEWS.

Is that... Is that an anime body pillow there at the bottom?

I also keep my FLORA OF THE SUCCULENT PERSUASION in here, so's I can keep an eye on them.

Dirk grows succulents... That is not a character trait I expected of him.

> Continue

[arcanacouncilrp]

       event two     -      may 15 - may 28

                      first.

      28 August 1691 — It has been twenty-seven days since everything changed. The disappointment, the rage, the betrayal, the sense of loss; all of it has faded into a dull, thumping, pure loneliness. I’ve been travelling aimlessly for over three weeks; it’s the only thing that’s kept me sane. Carriages and ships pale in comparison to my old methods of travel, but all that’s gone now. If I’m to be one of the people now, I suppose I’m meant to suffer their wearisome normality.

     I landed in Norway early this morning, after bartering a ride from a fishmonger. The crew was polite as one would expect, but it hardly made up for the smell. The locals seem used to it; I received no odd glances or upturned noses, but I also didn’t stay in town for long. The forest felt much more inviting than their taverns. Loneliness is my curse. An eternity of it. Perhaps the others were lucky.

     After I settled in a clearing and built my fire, I heard a rustle in the trees. A clowder of long-haired cats emerged. They had stone cold eyes; hard-looking. Feral. Perhaps they smelled the fish I’d made a bed of on my voyage against the flames. They studied me, and I didn’t falter. Once, I’d have been able to speak with them, but those days have passed. One broke the line, overcoming its hesitation. It continued to hold my gaze as it made its way over, slowly and with a predatory gait. When it was close enough, I offered it some salted meat. It didn’t trust me, but hunger won out. No sooner had it plucked the meat from my fingers did it disappear back into the depths of the trees. The other followed with it.

                                                               I was alone again.

     But an interesting idea lingered with me long past the sun setting behind the leafless branches. The Ancients left me my creation powers. Why don’t I… create? Why hadn’t I thought of it before? My companion didn’t have to be human. Witches had familiars once, right? That’s all I am now, isn’t it? 

     It took a lot out of me, bringing him into being. But he’s beautiful. A spitting image of my mystery friend that had visited in the afternoon. He also enjoyed the salted meat, and the warmth the fire had to offer. He told me his name was Balfour. Who was I to argue?

                               Perhaps I won’t be alone anymore.

                     before.

     Two weeks have passed since the initial discovery of Feiyan’s absence, as well as the flicker in magical gifts. Not to mention the grab for power. Emotions have calmed over the short time, but the weight of it all has hardly dissipated. No one has really moved on, but some seem more intent on finding answers than others.

     Death has taken to his dog form, using its keen sense of smell to search The Lair. He goes floor by floor, noticing nothing out of the ordinary until he reaches the suites. Something incredibly old and remarkably feline fills the air, emanating from beyond Feiyan’s door. Knowing Billy rarely leaves the library, Death barges in, coming upon a feral-looking grey cat with long hair and bright teal eyes. They stare intently, and Death starts barking.

     The Tower and The Empress both run in, hopes high, and Justice follows not long after. “Oh, great,” Justice mutters sarcastically, a sentiment The Tower shares.

     “What have you morons done with her?” the cat replies in a gravelly voice that shocks only Death. The Empress calms the room, but not before giving the cat a quick scratch behind the ears and a small smile.

     “Welcome home, Balfour,” she whispers. A voice rings from the doorway as Death shifts back to his human form. The Fool, having heard the commotion, appears to ask what the hell is going on. Justice suggests they convene The Council.

     Balfour sits in the middle of the Council table, everyone else in their seats, listening as intently as one can to a talking cat. He explains what he is: a creation of Feiyan’s. Who he is: her oldest living friend. How he is: pissed at the idiocy of the group in front of him. The Empress speaks up, interrupting what she knows could be a barrage of insults from the irascible cat she grew up with.

     She explains that Balfour lived with them when she was young, The Tower quickly chiming in that he is far from a friendly house cat. The Empress continues: he often came and went just as Feiyan did, but one day he left and did not return. That was nearly seventeen years ago. Balfour interrupts her then, telling the group he has his own thoughts and agenda just like the rest of them, and had some things he had to figure out.

     “About two weeks ago, I knew something was wrong. We’re connected, Feiyan and I. I’m a piece of her soul, and I could feel her in pain. So I ask once more: what did you imbeciles do? Where is she?”

    That hushes the room, but only for a moment. Questions begin flying. Feiyan is hurt? She’s alive? Where is she? How do we get her back? Balfour hisses to silence them, his frustration - and concern - is clear. He tells them the only reason he has returned is to find out where she is and why the scent of danger lingers in the air around them, and until a clue surfaces, he has no information for them beyond this.

     “And what have you all been doing in her absence?” he sneers, piercing gaze leveled around the table at all of them. No one answers immediately, forcing The Empress to speak up and explain their dispute over decision-making power.

     With that he leaps off the table, making no effort to hide his irritation at the Councilors. “You are supposed to be the best of the best,” he tells them, his tone an uncanny reminder of the way Feiyan spoke, “yet you squabble like children as the world decays around you. Either put yourself to good use, or do not bother me.”

     Tail held high, he’s out the door, ending the meeting without another word. The Councilors look at each other for a moment longer before breaking away. Some go looking for Balfour, desiring to aid him; some seek out friends for comfort, or to laugh off the absurdity of the whole situation.

                                            They have no idea how outrageous the day is yet to be.

                    now.

     Hours later the Councilors begin to notice their magic behaving strangely, though most write it off as their nerves getting the better of them. 

                                                                                 Until they can’t.

      Death finds The Fool lost in his fears over the Council’s permanence; attempting to cheer him up, Death takes the form of a kitten, barking insults and orders just as Balfour had. Quickly, though, he realizes the problem on his hands. He can’t change back - or at least, not to the form he is trying to take. The Fool might have laughed at him, but his own control over his powers wavers, sending him to new places at random as if he was a child once again.

      Wheel of Fortune has never had this many unlucky things happen to him in a row before, which naturally leads him on an ill-advised adventure to test his newfound bad luck. Things are supposed to go his way always, so what could possibly be wrong? On his little adventure he gets caught in the crosshairs of The Chariot’s malfunctioning magic, and suddenly his feet leave the ground. Frustrated by her loss of control, The Chariot is already doing everything she can to regain it, but Wheel of Fortune’s attitude does nothing to improve her concentration.

     The Devil is not trying to summon anything, yet things from fleeting thoughts keep appearing around her. It isn’t that big an issue - the clean-up may not be fun, but she can only do so much to help with that - until her rogue powers put The Tower right in her path. Having fought hard over the years to master his gift, he hasn’t accidentally set anything on fire… yet. Mostly. But the harder the Councilors fight their loss of control, the worse it gets.

     Judgement, who had taken to the astral plane to get away from the pandemonium of magical talking animals, cannot seem to find his way back. The Magician finds him in a trance and moves to shake him awake, but the contact slams her spirit into the astral plane with his, leaving them caught between worlds with seemingly no escape, and their bodies abandoned and empty laying in The Lair.

      A storm closes in on The Lair, so The Star goes out to take control and let it pass, but his powers only seem to make it worse, whipping the rain into a thundering frenzy. Strength catches a glimpse of his struggle through a window and runs out to help. Big mistake. Combined, the two of them valiantly fight against the storm they are feeding - and begin to worry they run the risk of the Potomac rising and flooding their home.

     The High Priestess is not just drowning in others’ emotions - no, his predicament only gets worse. Happening upon The Emperor in the library, the two quickly discover that neither of their powers are working properly. The Emperor bursts into uncharacteristic tears, her frustration at the day’s events amplified by The High Priestess’ out of control powers. She tries to will him to turn it off, but her persuasion doesn’t work quite as planned, and her magically-induced mood swings do not get any better.

     At first, The Hanged Man doesn’t notice a huge difference in his powers. He’s still moving faster than everyone else, and that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Until he struggles to control his own speed, that is. One minute he’s darting around, the next it’s as if he stepped in quicksand. He seeks out the nearest person he can find for help, but The Hermit is having troubles of her own. Her visions overlap with her present, and she’s struggling to wade through what is real and what isn’t, but she hears The Hanged Man’s voice and knows she has to help, if she can.

      The Moon finds herself ejected from her sleep much too early, and in her annoyance she seeks out The Hierophant in the infirmary for something, anything, that could explain her problem and make it go away. A new issue quickly arises: The Hierophant cannot seem to keep her eyes open very long around The Moon, and every time she dozes off, her dreams start up loud and chaotic, drowning out both their worries for the moment.

    Justice and Temperance are arguing when they leave the meeting, the former not trusting Balfour at his word due to past history, while the latter attempts to point out they’re being stubborn. The Sun follows close behind attempting to mediate but failing miserably. What actually works is the three stumbling upon an unconscious and seemingly unwakeable Judgement and The Magician. Worried, the three take the bodies to The Hierophant, hoping she can wake them, but as she herself struggles to stay awake, she discovers her healing powers are not responding.

     The Empress had gone to her garden just after the meeting for peace and comfort, and for a while she was left unbothered. Then, her plants begin to grow. And grow. And grow. Utterly out of control, she tries to stop them, but her powers do not respond as they should. The Lovers, upon seeing the commotion, runs to help, but she actually makes matters worse. She can’t control her mimicry, let alone the chlorokinesis, so between the two of them, they become trapped in a maze of greenery.

     Mayhem reigns well into the next day, until a subtle shift in the air restores everyone’s control. The storm ceases, objects stop floating, and The Lair is (mostly) untouched by flame. No one is any closer to discovering what caused the malfunction, but Balfour reappears to confirm one thing: this cannot have been a good sign for the future.

Happy plot day, councilors, and we hope you enjoy Balfour! He’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Our first event was such a lovely success, and we were so thrilled to read through everything you all came up with. Although this new event is starting, feel free to continue any threads you are still working through from the first event. For this event, the magical malfunction lasts approximately 24 hours, so your threads with event partners can occur anytime between the afternoons of May 15th and May 16th. This event will last about two weeks through May 28th, so you are also encouraged to begin reactionary threads about the power fritz and Balfour himself! We have more in store for you with this sassy cat, so stay tuned and happy plotting!

[noradarhkpalmer]

walk away

Title: walk away

Rating: T

Pairing: Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer

Warnings: Kinda anti-Legends

Summary/Notes: Ray is becoming incredibly frustrated with the Legend's treatment of Nora since she joined the team. It finally all comes to a head after a mission and he says some things he may regret.

idk where this came from but huge help to @princesstomaz and @timetravelingpalmer way way back when i originally wrote this to help me figure out how to effectively writer angry!Ray. Also unrelated to my fanon from my Palmer family stuff.

ao3 link: here

“If you had just actually told me the damn passcode, I would’ve been able to get in.” Nora huffed indignantly and stormed onto the bridge with the rest of the Legends.

“We did!” Sara replied.

“Not the most recent one apparently!”

“It changes every night!”

“Yeah and you didn’t tell me that or the new word!”

Ray held up both arms to keep the women from attacking the other. “Guys… it was just a miscommunication, we’re all alive, and history is fixed let’s just move on okay?”

Nora sighed and put her arms across her chest. “Fine.” Nora turned around and walked down the hallway towards her and Ray’s room.

Ray didn’t join her right away which gave Nora time to change into leggings and pulled on Ray’s Time Bureau softball team sweatshirt. It always made her laugh when she looked at him, gave them something light to talk about, and it about near swallowed her. She loved it.

She sat on the bed and pulled her legs underneath her. She knew exactly why the mission went wrong. It wasn’t because of a miscommunication, it was because of an omission of communication. Nora was purposefully left out a mission briefing and she knew it. She couldn’t exactly prove it but this was now the fifth time this had happened. She was almost costing them the mission because of something they neglected to tell her. Nora sighed and rubbed her face with her hands.

She watched as the door opened and Ray stepped inside, still dressed in his tux from the casino. He looked damn good. It was hard to compartmentalize her thoughts about how good he looked when she was completely and utterly still pissed at his teammates.

“Hey…”

“Hi…” She smiled sadly at him.

“I’m sorry about the team.” Ray started changing into his own pajamas and Nora turned to give him his privacy. He settled onto the bed next to her and he touched her arm gently. “They have reservations…”

“About trusting me, I am more than aware.” Nora sighed.

“Just give them time, I’m sure they’ll come around.”

Nora rolled her eyes. “Yeah and pigs fly.” She chuckled. “Let’s just go to bed, okay?”

“Nora… do you want me to talk to them?”

She shook her head. “No, don’t worry about it.” She waved him off.

“Okay… if you say so…”

xxxx

The next morning Ray walked onto the bridge and suddenly it went quiet. His brow furrowed and he made a full stop, Nora nearly crashing completely into his backside. She looked around at the Legends and crossed her arms over he chest.

“Did we miss something?”

Sara shrugged. “Nope we were just going over all the ways the mission could’ve ran smoother. If you, you know, hadn’t messed it up.”

“You didn’t give me the new passcode.”

“You didn’t ask for it,” Zari chimed in.

Nora shrugged. “I didn’t know to ask for it.”

“Well you should’ve,” Sara replied.

Nora rolled her eyes. “If you guys are done blaming me for everything that went wrong with the mission last night we should see if there are any fresh anachronisms.”

“We’ve already located it and made a plan.” Sara moved towards Nora.

Nora raised an eyebrow. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

“You’re staying behind as QB, you don’t need to know the full extent of the plan.”

Ray sighed. “Guys, come on, just tell her, what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that if she knows she could turn around and sabotage the missions, like really sabotage them. She already has no problem mucking them up when she only knew the little information she did know.”

Ray pinched the bridge of his nose. “Maybe she's been ‘mucking them up’ because you guys are only giving her bits of information.”

“Well we can’t trust her with the rest.”

“Well I trust her!” Ray closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. He never got this riled up, at anyone, ever, but the team was treating Nora like she barely existed and he was not going to stand for that. He was tired of feeling like he was the only person in her corner. He was happy to be there, encouraging her, wanting her to do better, be better, but it pissed him off that the people he had considered family for the last three years was doing everything in their power to make sure she had setback after setback.

Sara took a step back at Ray raising his voice. It wasn’t threatening or angry but it was just louder than any of them had been since the conversation started.

“You guys need to give her a chance!”

“We give her chances every time we risk our lives by letting her off this ship with us and she blows almost every one of them.” Sara rubbed her temples.

“Sara, you know for a fact that that’s not the…” Ray tried to cut her off but she just cut him off instead.

“Listen, Ray, I don’t know what all you have going on but it’s only a matter of time before she betrays each and every last one of us. Including you.”

“I’m RIGHT here,” Nora said completely frustrated. “I don’t need Ray to defend me. You guys make it harder on yourselves because you consistently leave me out of mission briefings. I don’t care if you want me to QB, that’s not the problem, the problem is that you guys have conveniently arrived to this conclusion after I made a mistake that you caused.”

“Any and all mistakes you make you bring on yourself, take some personal responsibility,” Sara replied.

“Oh bullshit! She took responsibility! She went to jail! She did her time! She’s here actually trying to help and trying to make amends for what she did, but she’s just pointing out that you’re making it really hard for her. I know you don’t need me to defend you, Nora, I know but this… guys… this has gotta stop… you guys have done a lot worse than she has.”

“She broke time, she was a demon vessel, Ray, and we only broke time for a good reason. Not to release a time demon.”

“She was manipulated her whole life and under the influence of a demon, it’s not all her fault and besides she did her time in prison, and now she’s out trying to continue her path to redemption. Almost every last one of you has been on a path of redemption since I met you, why doesn’t Nora get the chance to follow hers?”

“Because she’s not one of us, Ray. She never has been, and never will be.”

“That’s because you won’t let her!” He was raising his voice now. “Nora is an asset to this team, she has been trying so hard to make a better life for herself. Name one thing she’s done that hasn’t been a direct result of a ‘miscommunication’ or her just being a bitch back to you, Sara.”

Nora stood there, speechless. She did not ask for any of this. Ray did not need to pick between her and his teammates. She wouldn’t let him. She was just as equally speechless at hearing him say the word “bitch” because she was so sure she had never heard him say anything worse than “dammit” or “hell”.

Sara took in a deep breath to keep her own cool. “She is a risk. Bottom line. She can’t be trusted.”

“Well, I trust her with my life, I think that should have some weight given that I’ve been on this team from the beginning.”

“Ray, don’t let your personal feelings for her cloud your judgement for what’s best for the team.”

“What are you talking about, Sara?”

“You guys share a room, you’re almost always going off together on the missions, so don’t let the giant schoolboy crush you have on her be the reason this team is put at risk.”

“I’d fight for her whether or not I was in love with her.”

Nora swallowed hard. Did that mean he was in love with her?

“I don’t believe you,” Sara said.

“Well believe me cause I know she doesn’t feel the same so me standing here in love with her, doesn't mean anything, so why would I still be defending her? That’s right because she is an amazing person that none of you guys have bothered to get to know. You ignore her when she’s not on the mission and you treat her like crap on the off chance you do talk to her. I’m sick of it. Sara, I’ve known you for a long time, maybe the longest, I’m disappointed in all of you guys but you, Sara, especially, I thought we were family and I thought that meant you could trust my judgement. You guys will not treat her like this anymore. Is that clear?” Ray’s hands were now balled into fists, knuckles white.

Nora had never seen him this angry. And there was the small fact that he was in fact in love with her… he had admitted it right in the middle of defending her.

Sara stepped away, unclear if angering Ray further was a wise decision. “Let’s all cool off, we’ll talk about this later.”

“No, we’re not leaving this bridge until you guys promise to treat Nora with more respect.”

“I’m not going to give your girlfriend something she doesn’t deserve,” Sara argued.

Ray ran a frustrated hand over his face. “She’s not my girlfriend but if she was we’d both already be out of her, I’d take her somewhere tropical, disappear for a while, because you guys all really suck right now. So either you start treating her better or I walk.”

“Ray… come on, you seriously wouldn’t…” Zari stammered.

“For her? I would, watch me,” Ray replied and stormed off the bridge.

Nora’s heart was beating faster than it had in any life or death situation she’d been through. Ray had defended her. Ray was in love with her. Ray would literally walk away from this team for her.

Sara looked over at Nora, guilty and slightly scared probably because of Ray’s outburst. “We’re doing a mission briefing in six hours, be there or you’re staying behind as QB, Darhk.” Sara walked down another hallway to her room.

The team dispersed, leaving Nora by herself on the bridge. She knew what she needed to do now.

xxxx

Nora quietly opened the door to their room and saw that Ray was on the bed, facing away from her. Nora walked towards, unsure of everything now. Their balance had been upset, not just because he had lashed out at his teammates but because she now knew how he felt.

“Are you getting your stuff?” He asked. His voice was thick with pain, she wondered if she got to look him in the face if she would be able to tell if he’d been crying or not.

“No, why?”

“I figured you wouldn’t want to share a bed with someone that thinks of you as something more than a friend.”

Nora circled the bed and sat down next to him. She took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers. “Why would that make me want to leave? You do it every night.” She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and hoped he would understand what she meant.

Ray looked up at her and her suspicions were confirmed. He had been crying. “What?”

“You share a bed with someone that thinks of you as something more than a friend. You haven’t left yet, so why would it be different for me?’

Ray let out a choked sob. “You… you feel the same?”

Nora smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I am totally and completely in love with you, Ray Palmer.”

“You are?”

“Yes… now are you going to kiss me or are you going to keep asking me questions?” She smirked.

Ray leaned in and tentatively pressed their lips together. Nora could feel his hesitance and simply used her arms to pull him in closer. She pulled away for a short breath and then kissed him once again, this time it was languid, open mouth kisses that Nora was sure never wanted to stop doing.

They finally pulled away some minutes later and pressed their foreheads together.

“I have one more thing to say then I promise I will shut up and you can have your way with me.” Ray chuckled.

Nora, intrigued, pulled away and raised an eyebrow. “Yes?” She asked and absently played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“I love you, too, Nora Darhk.” He smiled and pulled her in for a deep kiss.

After all of that, the yelling at his team, crying over Nora not loving him back, finding out she did. Ray was exhausted. That was how he found them both napping in the middle of the day. Nora was curled up next to him, back against his front and his arm was wrapped around her waist. Nora was already asleep, happy to be held in his arms but ray, no matter how exhausted, couldn’t sleep. He stared down at Nora, so incredibly giddy that she returned his feelings. He wanted nothing more than to tuck her in his arms and never let anyone harm her ever again. Ray pulled the covers over them and kissed the back of Nora’s head. She muttered ‘I love you’ in her sleep and snuggled back into him.

Ray placed his arm over Nora again and pulled her close, he buried his nose in her neck, breathing in her scent. It was like a sedative for his anxious brain and he was finally able to lull himself to sleep, holding the love of his life in his arms.

Nora woke sometime later, perfectly curled into Ray’s arms. She felt safe and loved and protected. She also felt incredibly hungry. Nora chuckled as her stomach gently rumbled. She looked back at Ray who was still sound asleep. She hated the thought of waking him. She gently rubbed the arm that was securely around her waist, unsure it would soothe him into a deeper sleep or wake him up.

It seemed to be the latter because she felt him shift behind her. Nora moved onto her back and looked up at him.

“Did you have a good nap?” She asked and passed a hand through his hair.

“Amazing.” He leaned in and kissed her softly. “Especially knowing when I woke up I got to do that.”

Nora smiled. “I don’t think I’m going to let you go a day without kissing me now that we know how each other feels.”

“Well I’m glad to hear that because I don’t want to go a day without kissing you.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She stroked his cheek. “I want to thank you for what you said back there. To your team. You don’t need to walk for me. But I am overwhelmed and grateful that you love me enough that you would if it came down to it.”

“We could get away from here, go to my beach house for a few days, I meant that.” He smiled.

“That sounds lovely but I think you need to face your team. If you still want to after that then we’ll talk about it.”

“Afraid of what might happen if it’s just the two of us?”

Nora purred, “mmm it’s you who should be afraid. If I have you all to myself there might not be a lot of Ray Palmer left to do the Legends much good.” She grinned and pulled him in for a kiss.

“Well that’s good to know.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t mind that. I’ve been doing this for a long time and now that I have you… it all seems not as important.”

“Ray I’m not going to be the reason you stop being a Legend. You love it.”

“No I’d be the reason. I’ve tried so many times to start my happily ever after and each time it’s failed. I threw myself into the Legends because it was easier than dealing with that pain of never finding love and I still somehow almost found it but then lost it.” He stroked her hair and thought of Kendra. “I don’t want to let life slip through my fingers again.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that we should leave, get married, start our lives.”

Nora’s eyes widened. “Ray we only just admitted how we felt. We don’t even know…”

“We already live together, have a good routine. We’re just basically adding in kissing and saying I love you.”

Nora thought about it, knowing he was right. “Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Let’s get married.” She smiled. “We can get married and get a house and fill that house with tons of kids.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Because I don’t want to let life slip through my fingers either.” She kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

“Really? You wanna do this?” He grinned. “I love you so much.” He kissed her deeply. “Let’s start our lives with that vacation. Maybe we can look at houses while we’re on vacation and come back house hunt.”

Nora grinned. “That sounds perfect.”

Two years later

“Come on, Sydney, come on sweetie! You can do it! Crawl to daddy!” Nora grinned at her squirming baby boy. Tori, a year and a half toddled over to Nora and Tori caught her, settling her carefully in her lap. She had only found out she was expecting again and didn’t want to jostle herself too much, which proved difficult given how often Tori loved to jump on her.

She watched her baby boy scoot with determination over to Ray who had his phone out, ready to record their son’s crawling. Sydney finally settled on all fours, looking determined and started crawling towards ray.

“That’s it! Go baby go!” Nora cheered. “Go to daddy!”

Sydney crawled with determination over to his father, dragging his blanket in tow until he finally reached his father and held out his arms to be picked up. Ray stopped recording and picked his son up, close to tears and peppered kisses all over his face which made the baby giggle.

Nora observed father and son and kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “You used to be that little, Tori-Bear.” Nora pulled her daughter close, hoping their children would stay little forever. She couldn’t believe this was her life sometimes. After all of the years and pain she was sitting here with her daughter in her lap, her husband close by with their son in his arms on their living room floor of their home, with another one on the way. Thinking it all through left Nora breathless.

Ray looked over at his wife, seeing her lost in thought. He noticed she’d let her hair grow back out, it was about as long as it had been in Berlin. That was really almost four years ago? He studied her and tried to overlay ever memory he had of her in Berlin. She had been determined, stubborn, angry even, wanting nothing more than to prove her dad right, to be his equal, for all the wrong reasons. By the time all was said and done he’d see her grow. He remembered how his throat had tightened at her “Torture isn’t the answer” statement to her father, echoing his words from hours before. He knew in that moment she could be more than just a pawn in her father’s game and a demon vessel for greater evil. She could be amazing. She was amazing. She was here playing with their children on their living room floor, being a phenomenal wife and mother. That wasn’t all she was, she had been an amazing Legend when they were full time, a great asset to their team. She had also picked up her art during her time as a stay at home mom. He’d seen her create the most beautiful images. Ray watched as she tickled Tori and the little girl squealed, secretly loving it. Finally, Nora caught onto Ray staring and smiled at him.

“See something you like, Mr. Palmer?”

“I see something I love, Mrs. Palmer.” Ray moved closer to her with Sydney in his arms and kissed her softly. “I see my two favorite girls.”

Nora leaned her head on his shoulder and gently booped her son’s nose. “And I see my two favorite guys.”

Ray kissed Nora’s forehead and wrapped an arm around her. “I never thought my life would be like this. I gave up thinking that it could be this good a long time ago.”

“Me too,” Nora replied quietly. “I thought my fate was sealed when I became Mallus’s vessel and now here I am mom to not one, not two, but three babies, well… one is on the way but it still counts, and I have a husband that loves me, really loves me, and I’m safe and have a home. I never thought I’d have that kind of security after my parents died. And you gave that all to me.” Nora lifted up her head and looked into Ray’s eyes. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to repay you for that.” She kissed him, slowly, savoring their moment.

Ray pulled away and pressed their foreheads together. “You’ve more than repaid me.” Ray gently took Tori and sat her and Sydney in his lap. “You repaid me by loving me, marrying me, giving me these beautiful children with more to come, you’ve made every single one of my dreams come true. You don’t owe me a thing, just allow me the privilege to continue loving you and being there for you till death do us part.”

Nora blushed and kissed him again. “Well I think that can be arranged.”

[datela-vodenit]

A Night Out (2/3)

Continued from this part

Taren gave her a small smile to give her comfort before taking her hand and power walking away from the clothing shop. His eyes darted around the many storefronts of Hei Xing, paranoid that another stray shot would make its way towards them. His hands were clammy and his teeth were gritted. Who could’ve made that shot? And why at them? He had just hoped the perpetrator was scared off after their missed shot. The aurin became distracted by the smell of spiced meat cooking over a flame. He slowed his pace to until he stopped right outside the source of the delicious smell - it was a small vendor cooking meat over an open flame. He nearly drooled, pointing towards the stand, asking Kalua, “Wanna try there?”

Kalua kept her grip with Taren's hand throughout his sudden lead. She too had felt the rush of anxiety get to her after the shot, but such feelings were slowly subsiding, feeling better as she squeezed Taren's hand a little through their zigzagging among the crowd of merchants and customers. Everything seem to become a blur until the crackling of burning wood and the smell came over her senses. And hearing the sound of Taren's voice brought her back, the meat on the open flame sizzling against the fire. "Let's~" as the two came closer, they could see a group of customers around. They were watching the cook turn over smaller skewers of meat on a square grill, while the larger pieces were rotisserie to one side of their makeshift booth. Some of the customers were already eating, having been there earlier, talking and chatting amongst themselves. Kalua licks her lips, having a better view of the meat, eyeing how the sauces were glistening in the light, who knew being almost shot at could get one hungry?

Taren eyed a slice of charred meat, twisted on a stick and covered in a savory sauce. His closed his eyes and breathed in, smelling the spices decorating the cooked surface. Digging into his pocket, he shoved a fair amount of money towards the vendor, gleaming , “Two of those, please!”

—- Davvik now thought it best he was in the clear, so he began his surveillance of the odd pair again. He caught up to them, ducking behind a line of people at another nearby food vendor. His eyes squinted as he continued to watch them take a seat on a bench with their dinner.

---

Kalua marveled at the well proportioned chunk of meat that was skewered to her stick. Her fingers pinched firmly at either end of it, while golden yellows marveled at the delicious looking piece of meat in the middle. “Thanks for the treat, Taren~” She chimed before sinking her teeth into the juicy morsel. If close by, one could hear the sound of a very contented groan- accompanied by the very contented face of the drakeness. Kalua chewed thoroughly, obviously enjoying her portion- the end of her tail wagging back and forth indicated as much. “Oh my gooosh....”

Taren was almost finished with his skewer, munching away at the meat like a savage. However, he felt a little... awkward - he had never felt that way eating in front of anyone. He realized his mouth was bulging, covered in grease from his almost finished food. He quickly swallowed and vigorously wiped at his mouth. This time around, he gave slower bites, sitting up straight. "Yeah, right?" He beamed, his own tail wagging at an excited pace. "This stuff is great! Now this is the kind of food I'd never get if I was still stuck on that ship." As he finished the last bit of meat on his stick, he inched his way closer to Kalua, setting his elbows on his knees. "So..." He began, ears twitching in curiosity. "Can you tell me more about the arkship you were on? What was it like?"(edited)

"I'd imagine they're all just space food.. I mean, space food is great.. but not as great as this-" Kalua bites into her skewer once more, working her way from left to right, little to no sauce messed her visage. She was skillful in that way, having learned to eat in that 'proper' Cassian way her father always reminded her of. As she licked her lips, hearing her compatriot's voice next to her, golden yellows laid down to Taren's curios expression and she couldn't help how endearing he looked in that moment. Taking another bite of her skewer, Kalua took a moment in silent remembrance to her visits on the Destiny. "Really, really big. For one." Soon finishing her meat, she gently tosses the wooden stick to the bin next to the bench before wiping her hands on a handkerchief she kept on her person. "High ceilings, probably as tall as 7 stories? Each floor consists of main hallways that spread into smaller rooms, each one meant for purposes like engineering, sustainability, recreation..." she shrugs, smiling down at Taren. "Your usual necessities."

Taren's eyes were wide with glee as he listened to Kalua. "I'm. Totally. Jealous!" He exclaimed, not realizing how close he was leaning into Kalua. "Well, I'd imagine Dommies get all the perks of space life anyways." He drew back, tail wagging with curiosity as he thought of how similar or different both Exile and Dominion arkships could be. Rarely anyone from his crew had the chance to be on the Gambler, but he always heard people talking about what it would be like. Taren drew his gaze back to Kalua and gave her an innocent smile, "One day I'm going to sneak my way into the fancy life of the Dominion. Not so much to act like a rich stuck up, but yah know, cause some mischief here and there at a party or something." His expression of snark turned to one of annoyance as he picked up his tail and grumbled, "Although I can't do much with this thing stuck to me. I couldn't even pass as a freakish chua." --- Davvik was... confused. Here were two kids from opposing sides and they're not at each other's throats. Taren was smiling and the draken was casually talking with him... like the war doesn't even exist. No, he shouldn't be so judgemental, he's seen plenty of cross-faction friendships and yet... most of them haven't turned out well. His brows furrowed at the draken, the only thing she'd bring Taren was trouble. He can't let his little boy get roped into this…

---

Kalua couldn't help but smile at Taren's obvious enthusiasm. Even if he was mature, as he proclaimed himself, she still couldn't help but correlate his excitement to that of a child, eyes bright and genuine-- not that was a bad thing at all- quite the opposite really. It was a big breather to all the seemingly dark and heavy things that were going on outside of their little outing. Moments like these with friends, she definitely cherished a whole lot. "Haha, sneaking into fancy Dominion life is quite a feat. Even I have a hard time keeping up with all the rules sometimes..." Her smile only widened at his desire of wanting to cause mischief, "Well I think it would be very much needed. Those guys are so stuck up I swear they have bees in their butts..." Kalua took a moment, at Taren's words to observe his tail. True it was quite... spindly compared to Chua's. Which were more thick in width. " Haha, probably not. But your tail is cuter I think. Furry and the hue of it is quite pleasing to the eye~"

Taren had to stare at her for a moment, a look mixed between confused and surprise. However, his tail hit his face before he could say a word.  The aurin flinched, whapping his tail away is if it were a pet of his. He gave a small chuckle as he settled, pushing his hair further behind his cheek. "Ah hah hah! Uh, well-" He blurted out, trying to regain some sort of sense. He was taken aback by such a small compliment, leaving him not knowing exactly what to tell her. Should he be smoothe or genuine about it? Taren didn't give himself enough time to think about it, so he instead sputtered out, "It's- uh... It's all natural color, baby! I mean- uh, heh heh... So, uhm.. so yeah!" With the added finger guns and crooked smile, he felt that he had sealed his doom of ever being an adult in the eyes of Kalua. With one last cough, he pushed his hair back over his face and pushed his shoulders back, swinging his legs below the bench. "So..." He began, turning away from Kalua. "What is the show we're seeing again? It ah... slipped my mind."

Kalua couldn’t help but be bemused by Taren’s rapport. She only continued to smile at him, turning her body some towards him as he looked the other way. Peering as best she could at his face from her spot, she leaned back to recall the show they were to watch. “It’s a show about the first Exile rebellion, when the lower-caste fought with their oppressors. With a rap twist!!” She said with a laugh, cheery and rich with just genuine excitement. “I’d thought you’d like to see something like that, the theme is pretty heavy but the content is anything but boring.”

Taren’s ears perked as he listened to her explanation, his face growing brighter by the second. “That sounds totally cool!” He exclaimed.

Kalua twirls a couple of fingers through her bangs, idling with her thoughts, “I heard it’s been really popular on both sides, though the Dominion populace won’t admit it...” She turned to face him again, moving a hand to gently pat his shoulder, “I want our first hang out to be good! ... well without having get shot at,” she chuckles weakly, running her fingers through her long bangs.

As she mentioned the whole “shooting” thing, Taren gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. “Hah hah hah, yeah! Definitely didn’t want to end up blasted to kingdom come.” He tilted his head as he thought about it. “I wonder where that came from. Not exactly the kind of guy who’d have a target on his back.” The aurin pondered. His gave a short chuckle and smirked at Kalua, “Well, except for maybe one guy, but he’s got other problems.” Taren looked up at Kalua with a sorrowful gaze, knowing that she could’ve been hurt in the blast. “I’m at least glad it didn’t hit you. If you hadn’t backed up, you’d be worse off than that burnt shirt!” He glanced off once more, a hint of pink seeping onto his cheeks. “You... You are too nice to be shot at, heh...”

Golden yellows kept attentive to his face as he spoke. Idly wondering what he meant by some of those things, especially this 'one guy,' but felt she shouldn't ask such a thing, especially when she didn't know Taren's boundaries. They were just getting to know each other after all- their conversations should be light! To start out with. Kalua's ears perked lightly at his words, the drakeness herself couldn't help but let her lips grin. She moved a hand to pat at his hand that rested on the bench, in thanks for his words. "Awh... Taren, thank you. I would say the same about you~" Giggles escape her lips before she continued to speak, "Maybe someone's gun just went off haphazardly.. I'm sure no one was targeting us specifically."

Taren gave a slight chuckle at her compliment. His brows furrowed, "I'm not sure, Kalua. Something tells me that was... a calculated shot and I don't know why." He looked around the market, a sullen expression on his face as he continued, "Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I could... I could be..." The aurin's ears flattened against his skull. Did he... did he see something? Someone ducked behind a corner as he took notice of the figure. He tilted his head in confusion, pointing a finger at the direction he saw the shady form. "Did you see that?" He asked, a hint of panic in his voice. "I swear I just saw someone staring at us and just duck behind that corner." --- Davvik heaved in a breath as Taren turned to face him. He quiclky ducked behind the corner he was situated in and clutched his chest. He thought Taren was too busy being deep in conversation with the draken to notice him. He dared not take another glance at the two, knowing they might still be watching him.

---

"Hm?" Kalua blinked, turning her head as Taren pointed in the direction of this supposed figure. She frowns, staring at it for a moment before shaking her head, indicating no. "I don't see anyone..." But the thought of someone watching them scared her, honestly. Subconsciously moving her body closer to Taren's. She didn't like this feeling.

Taren frowned, not liking the situation one bit. He leaned towards Kalua and whispered, "We should start heading to the show. I think I've had enough of the market." He stood up from the bench, his eyes darting every which way in case he saw the same strange figure. He was not expecting this night to... have so much tension. He hoped to the highest beings out there that this had nothing to do with a cross-faction relationship. He's heard all the stories from his father, how dangerous they were and how some of his colleagues ended up behind bars for supposedly having "traitorous tendencies." And while most cases were proven right, some had probably gone to far in Taren's eyes. What did he know though, he was just a kid at the time...

Kalua only nodded in agreement to his suggestion, standing up with him as the two headed in another direction that led back to the main plaza area. Throughout their trek, Kalua couldn't help but take a glance around as well, but she tried to brighten things up a little, keeping that smile as she noted the many booths they passed on their return. Still, she couldn't help but think back in the back of her mind about what Taren said- about someone watching them from the shadows... Upon arrival to the plaza, it looked more packed than usual, seeing as everyone was making their way to the theatre, the stairs filed with patrons as they entered into the glass pyramid. "Ohh- we're right on time! Come on, Taren-!" She grabbed his hand this time, pulling him along towards the building.

Taren practically leaped over each step as Kalua dragged him into the theatre. He had never gone to an actual theatre in his life, only having time to watch shows on the holo-screens at home or on his datachron. He was in awe to say the least. The room was ginormous with the stage at the end, people chatting amongst themselves. He was so far into a trance that he didn’t realize he was holding onto Kalua’s hand for perhaps a bit too long. Taren glanced at their hands, then up at Kalua, a blush on his cheeks. He quickly let go and cleared his throat, pointing to a pair of empty chairs, “There’s a spot over there! Let’s go grab them!” —- Davvik made his way into the theatre - begrudgingly handing over his pistols, as well as buying a ticket, at the entrance. He scanned each row of chairs, having trouble making out any features that belonged to his son. However, he spotted two horns making their way down the steps. He glowered and decided to take a seat in the corner. He slumped into the plush chair and crossed his limbs, grumbling to himself over the price of the ticket.

---

Kalua hadn't noticed as Taren led them towards a pair of seat some ways in the middle, giving a good view of the entire stage. She nodded, following her furry compatriot, eventually settling down in the plush seating. It had been a while since she gone to the theatre, of course the shows were more... high-art and classy, expected of the Dominion. But something like this was a bit more casual, all walks of life, regardless of their personal ties with Dominion, Exile, and those in between-- there was something more jovial about it. All of them coming together to see a show, it was like the war didn't exist. "Hehe, they're so soft! I can definitely relax in this..." She shifted her tail behind her so it wrapped some around her waist and hung from the edge of her seat.

Taren kneaded the soft material of the seats, trying his best to smile. Although after those two encounters at the market, he can't bring himself to be in a relaxed mood. His tail drooped over the chair, slowly slumping his way down the chair. His eyes lifted towards the ceiling of the theatre, hoping the show would start soon. --- Davvik's expression softened seeing Taren slump down into his seat. He felt bad for having to stalk im like this, but it was for his own good. The mordesh was just so afraid that the draken would be up to something, but so far... nothing was actually happening. Was he just being overbearing on the situation? Something in the back of his head was telling Davvik that he was right to be worried for his son, but then again, he's been on Taren's back even since the aurin landed on Nexus. Maybe he should ease off... The lights began to dim, everyone was silenced. Davvik heaved in a rugged breath and focused his eyes on the stage. Perhaps he should let the two be…

[thatishogwash]

A Pirates Black Heart

KuroDai Week 2018

May 12, Day Six: Disney AU / Ghibli AU

AO3

This is Dreamworks, not Disney, sorry!

“So, how do we even get to Tartarus?”  Koutarou asks, leaning over several maps spread out on the deck.  Tetsurou has told him many times how bad of an idea it is to have their maps up on the deck but as always, Koutarou tends to have selective hearing whenever Tetsurou is giving advice.  Which is a shame because Tetsurou gives the best advice, no matter what his crew says.

“People die in Tartarus Kou.”  Tetsurou slapped down another map.  “We’re going to paradise instead.”  A set of islands far enough from civilization that no one would hunt the pirates down but close enough that there would be plenty enough booze and companions for everyone.

“You’re going to abandon your friend?”  Koutarou asked, disbelief in his tone and face.

“You and I both know that the king is not going to let his youngest and most beloved son be executed.”  Tetsurou leaned his hip against the table, pointing once again to his chosen map.  “Tooru gets sent free, I don’t get executed, and we all get to spend some time under the sun!”

“We are pirates, we are always under the sun.”  Koutarou motioned to the sun shining brightly above them.

“Think of the women and men!”  Tetsurou tried once more.

“They are cannibals Tetsurou.”  Koutarou deadpanned.

“Exactly.”  Tetsurou said with a wink.  “Set course.  Boys, we are going to paradise!”  His crew shouted cheers as Tetsurou made his way below deck, away from Koutarou’s judgemental eyes.  Tetsurou kept him around because he was big and was clearly one of his best fighters, but also because Koutarou acted as his conscious in some situations.  This wasn’t something Tetsurou needed to be talked out of.

Tetsurou hadn’t stolen the Book of Peace, the God of Chaos Daishou had and then set Tetsurou up for the fall guy.  It was Tooru’s own damned fault for substituting himself in Tetsurou’s place, as if Tetsurou would ever willingly set foot in Tartarus.  And what was he supposed to do if he actually managed to get there?  Fight a God?  Bargain with him?

Tetsurou’s stride faltered as he heard noise from his quarters.  He knew all his crew was on deck, sailing off into the wide open sea they called home.  So who was making all that noise?

Tetsurou stepped lightly, his booted feet silent on the wooden floor.  He knew every inch of his ship and knew exactly where to step to keep himself hidden.  Mostly he used it to sneak up on his crew when they were slacking off.  He had never had a stow away before.  Most people knew better than to try and sneak aboard a pirate ship.

Tetsurou eased around his doorframe, the door being propped open which wasn’t unusual.  He trusted his crew and knew they wouldn’t steal from him.  Well that wasn’t true, sometimes they made bets to see if they could steal something without his notice but that was only when they had been out at sea for several weeks and boredom was riding them hard.

“This can’t be that sword, that sword is centuries old and would be delicate- oh.”  A soft voice said from within, clearly not trying to hide themselves as they stepped around Tetsurou’s quarters.  Tetsurou’s heart did some powerful acrobatics in his chest, which hurt and was unwholly unpleasant and unwelcome.

Daichi was the last person Tetsurou wanted to see.  What was Tooru’s betrothed doing in Tetsurou’s cabin?  Why did it have to be Daichi of all people?  The Gods knew what they were doing when they created the young Ambassador.  Tetsurou had thought that the moment he saw Daichi step off the boat and watched Tooru walk down to meet him.  It was then that Tetsurou took the first ship out of the harbor and never turned back.

Daichi was the most beautiful creature Tetsurou had ever seen and he was always meant for so much better than a gutter rat like Tetsurou.  He was marrying a prince after all.

“Wow.”  Daichi breathed out in excitement.  Tetsurou pulled away from the room, pressing his back against the wall and trying to control his ridiculous emotions.  Some part of Tetsurou, an admittedly large part of him, was thrilled that Daichi found his quarters so interesting when he had been surrounded with wealth and treasures since he was born.

The other part wanted Daichi gone and there was only one way to do that.

“Ambassador, I think you might have gotten on the wrong ship.”  Tetsurou said after leaning against the doorframe.  Daichi pulled himself up to full height, which was still shorter than Tetsurou.  Both times Tetsurou had seen the other man he had been dressed in his finest.  The clothes he wore now were clearly of good material but they were relaxed, travelling clothes and fit him rather nicely.

Tetsurou told himself to pull his eyes away from Daichi’s admittedly nice shoulders and concentrate on the man himself.

“I’m exactly where I need to be.”  Daichi put his hands on his hips and attempted to stare down Tetsurou.

“Oh really?”  Tetsurou raised his eyebrows and purposefully pressed into Daichi’s space, making the shorter man look up at him.

“I’m here to make sure you do what you promised to do.”  Daichi said, which pulled the wind right out of Tetsurou’s sail.

“I didn’t promise anything.”  Tetsurou shot back, stepping around Daichi to sprawl out on his bunk.

“You made a promise to get the Book of Peace when you allowed Tooru to substitute himself for you and you left!”  Daichi was something to behold when mad.  He was still unerringly polite, a lifetime of being a noble was hard to break even when met with a pirate.

“If you ask me nicely I might drop you off somewhere civilized enough to take you back home.”  Tetsurou threatened, turning over on his side and ignoring Daichi though he could feel the other man move closer.

“You are exactly the man I thought you to be.”  Daichi stated scathingly and Tetsurou turned to him.

“Oh?  And what kind of information have you gathered in all our numerous meetings?”  Tetsurou asked though he knew he shouldn’t.

“You’re the kind of man who runs away, and it’s a good thing you have no heart because I don’t think I could sleep at night knowing I let my friend die when I could have done something to prevent it.”  Daichi said simply, as if he knew Tetsurou at all.  Tetsurou pushed to his feet, feeling oddly fired up.  He couldn’t remember the last time he was so upset, normally he was the one upsetting people.  “I suspected the worse but I came prepared.”

“You did, did you?”  Tetsurou asked, turning to Daichi and raising his eyebrow when the man stepped closer.

“I know what a man like you wants and I’ve come to offer it to you.”  Tetsurou took a step back and felt a lump in his throat as he looked Daichi up and down.  Thick thighs, trim waist, broad shoulders, muscular arms.

“Really?”  Tetsurou’s throat felt parched.  Daichi stepped closer again before holding something up.  Tetsurou was so caught in the dark depths of Daichi’s eyes, noting the different shades of brown to make up the color itself, before he realized that Daichi was holding a rather large gem.

“I’m willing to speak your language.”  Daichi easily handed over the gem that was about the size of Tetsurou’s finger.

“How much do you have?”  Tetsurou asked as he tossed the gem up in the air and easily caught it.  Daichi surprised him again by grabbing his hand, turning it palm up, and depositing a small mound of gems into it.  “Huh.”

“So do we have a deal, Captain?”  Tetsurou should say no.  He should drop Daichi off at another port, somewhere safe that the sheltered noble could easily return home from.  Maybe he’d have Koutarou follow him to make sure he got home safe.  No, Koutarou couldn’t hide worth a damn.  Keiji would do a better job of it.

There was too much of a challenge in Daichi’s eyes, in his entire existence.  Tetsurou wasn’t willing to admit it but Daichi was partially right.  Tetsurou was prone to running away, he had started when he saw Daichi for the first time, when he realized the difference between Tooru and himself.  He had ran so he would be the one left behind.  He had walked away from the party when he had made a deal with the God of Chaos to steal the Book of Peace because Daichi had been there.  He couldn’t see Daichi and Tooru together, starting a life that had nothing to do with Tetsurou.

Tetsurou was a selfish bastard.  He was sure Tooru’s father would never let him die.  But he also knew if he turned Daichi away that would truly be the end.  There was no future for them either way but damned if Tetsurou wasn’t tempted to just have this time with the other man, to be able to hold onto these memories.

“You’ve got a deal.”  Tetsurou said with a smirk, fingers closing around the gems before quickly shoving them into his pocket.

[orrtala]

Space Family Relationships Analysis Part One

It’s a liveblog! I only finished season two, please no spoilers in the comments/reblogs!

(more character analyses)

(version for mobile users - if you liked the content please like/reblog this post!)

Some of these are short, some are shorter, but overall it’s pretty lengthy so under the cut we go!

Keith & Coran

Sadly there’s not much to go on, but from what we’ve seen Keith respects Coran, and in comic he, along with other Paladins, was absolutely ready to ‘rescue him’. Older Altean is a member of his newfound family just like the rest of them.

Meanwhile Coran looks out for Red Paladin just like for others and unlike Allura was not bothered by his heritage. He was also the one trying to get him away from fighting Zarkon. And there was of course the moment where Coran just barged into Keith’s room looking for one of Allura’s mice (I’m still wondering what did they take from him) and Red Paladin questioned him about Galra potentially being on Earth thinking the Altean would be the best person to know about that.

So as of now we can assume that they do consider each other family, even if they are not the closest to each other. Potential for future interactions? Coran is one of the people who can understand Keith’s loss best. Keith might pilot a Black Lion while Shiro’s gone but he’s still a Red Paladin at heart, and if Alfor is his predecessor, then Coran might have something to say about that. On Keith’s part he could reach to Coran for help with his new role on the team as well as ask him more questions about whatever stuff could come up with a future plot.

They could actually make an interesting duo provided they interacted with each other more. Coran is a quirky father figure of a team who helped Hunk with his character development, tried to poke at Shiro’s worries and make him relax, talked to Lance when wave of homesickness hit him, so why not some interaction with Keith who lost his parents and was lonely for big part of his life? Give them a chance to connect, writers!

Pidge & Allura

Voltron ladies! They… don’t get much screentime together.

Pidge and Allura didn't initially hit off. The introduction to the future Voltron team aside their real first interaction was during dinner which turned into the green goo fight. Altean was pushing them hard, belittled them, shot missiles at them and their Lions, and at the end of the day made them miserable not letting them eat. And Pidge snapped, which is understandable though…

“Oh, the princess of what? We’re the only ones out here and she's no princess of ours!”

…Well. That was rather harsh all things considered. Allura did lose her whole planet, race, civilization, and hearing these words prompted her to send a spoonful of goo right at her head. Keith reacted shortly after and soon everyone were covered in, ah, what they call “food” on the ship and the comment was forgotten after they finally get to properly form Voltron.

In “Fall of the Castle of Lions” upon hearing from mice that Pidge is a girl Allura's initial reaction was “wtq” but soon became “oh yes, maybe I'll finally get some girl talk on this ship”. Aaaaaaand it was pretty awkward. Green Paladin clearly didn't want to talk, offering some information about peanut butter and sweating (unrelated to the peanuts) and tried to escape but Princess insisted on getting information out of her. What she got was essentially “I want to save my father and brother and at least I have a shot at this unlike you” – she was just running her mouth this time and immiedieately asked for forgivness – and “I'm leaving team Voltron.” Yeah, that could have gone better.

During the Castle lockdown they worked together, both determined to save everyone, Pidge running around, destroying sentries, losing Rovers; while Allura told her what to do. After everything Katie decided to stay and told everyone, including the Princess, that she's a girl.

After that not much had happened between them, acting as teammates like with everybody else. There is, of course, a potential for future interaction, given how they both lost people they care about and with Allura becoming a Paladin. There's also a chance for bonding thanks to the Castle's machinery which Pidge is enamored with and Princess knows a lot about. And, well, Katie did wear a dress in a picture, so she might not be averse for some dress-ups, I bet Allura would like that.

Lance & Coran

Lance was the first person who interacted with older Altean and it didn’t exactly go well; Coran attacked Lance and when the Blue Paladin wanted to leave he was rather flippant about Coran, calling him “old man.” Later however Coran took care of him just like of the other Paladins even though they kept irritating him with failing training again and again.

During the party in the Castle the Cuban teenager got homesick, excused himself and Altean followed him. Lance in his Lance fashion opened up and they shared a sweet but also a somber moment where they talked about missing home. After Rover blew up Blue saved Coran’s life (though Coran apparently doesn’t exactly remember this fact) despite knowing him for a little time.

In later episodes they shared little moments. Lance wants to record a siren noise? Go ahead, son. “Lance, you didn’t meet any girls?” Getting the kid into cleaning the pods together, happy to tell him stories from the past and then clearly upset when Blue Paladin seemingly left.

I do expect to see more of these two in a future, Coran is a good person who he could talk about his insecurities (though it seems a little too… easy? But he is a choice here so,) the Altean could share some stories with him and Lance is a good choice if he wanted to find a person who he could share some problems with. Cause sure, Shiro and Allura have problems with opening up to others/don’t want others to know about their trobules but Coran? Most of the time even the audience doesn’t know if there is something that bothers him or not. I could use some more insight and some chat with Lance would be a nice opportunity.

Hunk & Keith

Back in S1 Keith had the least amount of interaction with Hunk when it came to his fellow Paladins. He knew Shiro, made a connection with Pidge, bickered with Lance. Meanwhile Hunk was the guy who, despite having a good read on people accused Keith of being a cold person, but was also the first person to hug him at the beginning and also tried to make sure Keith wasn’t too embarrased (making Keith smile the widest smile so far thanks Hunk.) What I think happened here is that Yellow Paladin not only didn’t have much contact with his Red teammate, but his view on him was most likely tainted by Lance’s opinions. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Keith, but he wasn’t his favourite person either. And Keith isn’t an open person, often coming off as a harsh one and can’t really convey his real feelings.

Then “The Belly of the Weblum” happened and we finally got to see these two in action together. It was right after everyone learned that Keith is part-Galra, Allura was giving him a cold shoulder, and now Hunk was asking him uncomfortable questions. “Hey, so now that you’re Galra you’re like different?” “…I’ve always been part-Galra, nothing has changed.” And, well… Yes and no. Keith is still Keith and Hunk didn’t really knew him that well. But at the same time mullet boy gradually opened up to others and here, he calmed his teammate down (in his own way,) even inititating a psyhical contact by touching his shoulder, and, at the end, praised him. Also attempted to make a joke which was the favorite point of this conversation for Hunk.

During their little adventure, despite not trusting the mysterious Galra Hunk decided to trust Keith’s judgement, though he had his own opinion. After everything was set and down he asked Red Paladin about next moves, again, trusting his decisions.

When Hunk said “I think turning Galra has made you a better human” he meant that he sees Keith for who he is and that Keith has accepted himself as well, that he’s more approachable now. And he trusts him.

I think the creators said that these two are the ‘unusal’ duo in the show, which, sadly, probably means we won’t be seeing them together that frequently. But I’ll be here, waiting, for any future interactions between these two. Like hugs. Hunk is the best hugger, Keith wants hugs. Please, I need it.

Lance & Allura

The first time we meet Allura she wakes up from 10 000 years sleep, falls down and almost breaks her nose if Lance wasn’t there to catch her. She looks up, asks for a name, and… surprising absolutely no one he flirts with her. The Princess in turn gets angry and attacks the newcomer with hideous ears, “How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin?” doesn’t understand how he could obtain the Lion. Which is emphasized later, during the Lion assigment. Allura is about to explain Blue Paladin’s qualities, Lance interrupt her with flirty remark and… yeah, she doesn’t look like a person who’s confident with Blue’s choice, is she.

Their interaction consists mostly on flirting. One-sided flirting. But most of the time he tries to lighten up the mood. Everyone is kind of worried when he stumbles out of the pod? “Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?” Allura huffs and everyone is like “yeah, he’s alright.” Allura is worried about Ulaz? He decides to stay behind with her. Allura thinks she’s responsible for Zarkon tracking them? Flirts with her to distract her.

And Allura for most of the time exasperated, but the only time I can think of where she turned angry is in comics (aside from the pilot, of course,) and one time she actually kind of picked up on the flirting, wanting to go to the mall as well.

Lance, while he might look like a hopeless flirt most of the time respects Allura a lot, absolutely okay with taking orders from her while harboring a crush. And here’s a thing; Lance’s fliritng is what he does, he does it to validate himself, he wants to be liked and Allura is a badass alien gorgeous Princess, what’s not to like here?

Princess is not interested in Lance in slightest, but aside from the beginning where she doubted him (and, let’s be fair, she doubted all the Paladins) she didn’t question his abilities and was friendly towards the guy. And, again, can only think of only two times she was angry at him.

Lance is a person who has set connection with everyone. He’s Hunk’s best friend, Pidge is a part of their Garrison Trio, he interacted with Coran a lot and while there’s a lot of work when it comes to Keith and him it’s obviously set up for better interactions later on. The only exceptions are Shiro (topic for the next post) and Allura. And with Altean piloting Blue Lion and joining the team? There’s a lot they could do together to understand each other better now! Allura as a new Blue Paladin will have to work like Lance at least to some capacity and she could turn to him for some help with that. Working together on field will be a new experience for them both. There could be a point where Allura talks to Lance about Red Paladin’s role, especially if it was her father who used to be one with Lance piloting Red now, although I’m not holding my breath for that. And, of course, there’s a matter of Blue Paladin’s qualities which are technically still unknown. Allura and Coran are the only people in team who have extensive knowledge about that, but it would be much more fitting if the Princess was the one who revealed them.

Shiro & Hunk

At the very beginning Hunk didn’t really know how to approach Shiro, vary enough to be the only one member of Garrison Trio to not shake his prosthetic, alien hand back in the shack, clearly afraid and unsure of it. He does catch on the fact that Shiro the most experienced and safest person around (duh) and thus proceedes to hide behind him whenever someone or something potentially dangerous happens.

In “Taking Flight” Shiro agrees about not letting anyone into the Castle. Sometime after Hunk takes Shiro on a side, and expresses his concerns about Rolo and Nyma. And Black Paladin listens, actually considers his words and explains his viewpoint despite the fact that our resident engineer seemed like a jerk a little bit.

There was also this little sweet moment where Hunk thanked Shiro in lifting Balmerans’ spirits up.

So yeah, there’s not much interactions between them, but from what we’ve seen there’s obvious mutual respect. Hunk, like other Paladins, recognized that Shiro is a leader from the day one, Black Paladin helped him before the character arc kicked in and Hunk gained confidence and stopped hiding behind him.

What I would like to potentially see is Hunk fullfilling his Yellow Paladin duties. Shiro has less interactions with legs than arms and given how Hunk and Lance are the support while Shiro hides his insecurities it’s not accidental. Except Lance kind of seeks Black Paladin and his attention, while Hunk has much more neutral stance here. As a Yellow Paladin Hunk is a good candidate to help Shiro and support him. Lend an ear, make him a plate of cookies, simple stuff like that. It’s just that Shiro would have to be the one ready to open up at some point.

Keith & Allura

We’ve seen them being stuck with each other twice in S1 (in first episode while waiting for other Paladins to come back with Green and Yellow Lions and when Sendak took over the Castle) and yet we’ve barely saw them interact with each other these two times. Though there are other instances where they react to each other through the season. In “Some Assembly Required” Keith wasn’t impressed with Allura pushing them around, was first one to really defy her during the dinner technically starting the goo fight (Keith got up and went about toy prisoners with Lance’s addition -> Coran told him to not speak like that -> Pidge made a comment -> Allura threw goo at the other girl -> “GO LOOSE, PIDGE!” - so thank Keith for a goo fight.) There were small moments, when he was staring and smiling at her in “Return of the Gladiator” and “The Fall of the Castle of Lions”, he ‘defends’ her in the former episode and she talks to him about importance of peace; and in latter she stares in bewilderment at his nunvill drinking and then joined him to protect Arusians. It’s heavily implied they decided on a strategy on dealing with Sendak while standing outside the Castle. Allura gets upset when Keith tries to open Lance’s pod early. He was also worried when she decided to join the team in “Collection and Extraction” and equally upset as others when she got caught.

Keith was the one who suggested leaving her with Galra, but he was clearly displeased by the idea and did it only thinking about bigger picture. And here’s a fun thing:

“You five paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe’s only hope. We are the universe’s only hope.” - Allura in “The Rise of Voltron”.

“Or maybe we shouldn’t go on this mission at all. Think about it. We'll be delivering the universe’s only hope to the universe’s biggest enemy.” - Keith in “The Black Paladin”

Keith basically followed what Altean Princess told the humans at the very beginning. What’s more Allura was shocked they rescued her, expecting to be left behind. Also, in a nature of parallel, Red Paladin defends Black Lion from Zarkon (alone) while Princess saves Shiro from Haggar (along with Hunk.)

So after S1 we had some basis for their relationship. Keith seems to care about Allura’s opinion a lot, taking her words to the heart on multiple occasions. Allura values Keith like every other Paladin and despite their few moments of irritation at the beginning they ultimately work together well and are more similiar than one would think.

Then S2 kicked and they got an actual arc together! It started in “Shiro’s Escape” where Keith going along with Allura for the most part about not trusting the Galra, only disagreeing with her at the end, after Ulaz sacrificed himself and he started having strong suspicions about his Galran heritage.

In “The Ark of Taujeer” when they catch each other essentially doing the same thing (except Allura planned on going back while Keith had his belongings packed with him.) Princess falls into his arms, the Paladin tries to lie his way out of this (keyword: tries) and they both ran away together to protect the team (which was a stupid decision but they came back so it’s okay,) had a talk about potentially trusting the Galra, were stuck together in space, and took a ride together in Red Lion.

Then the truth about Keith’s heritage came out and… …I talked a lot about how I understand Allura’s side of things even if Keith didn’t deserve that treatment. The big point here is that Keith suspected something about it and didn’t share it with her while during the pod journey she opened up to him. To add to that if Alfor used to be a Red Paladin as well it’s very probable that having a part-Galra successor was a sore point for her as well. Also she didn’t do much to him except gave him a cold shoulder for quite some time. Sure it was hurtful, especially given Red Paladin’s history with abandonment. She had to come to the right conclusion on her own and that’s what she did! It was a complicated situation and everyone in team recognized this.

Also there was a hug and there’s never enough of those.

They are similiar in many aspects, as proven by their selfless and self-sacrificing actions (sometimes in the same episode to drive the point home.) They both lost parents at some point and had to defy the artificial/vision father. Both value family a lot, both have trust issues and problems with opening to others. Also together they can come up with some bad decisions (the whole running away thing like… don’t do that.)

Of course there are also differences between them. People tend to like Allura, she’s a charming person in general, she grew up loved by everyone, lost her father recently (…well, okay, I know that 10 000 years is a rather long time, but from her perspective it wasn’t that long ago) and tries to be diplomatic, even if in personal relations she tends to fail. People don’t really warm to Keith that quickly, misinterpreting his actions and he’s hardly charming; it seems he lost his parents at earlier point in his life than the Altean Princess, missing the affection for a long time, and usually misses social cues no matter the situation and/or is told to calm down. Allura calms him down when he’s getting worked up.

At this point in their friendship they seem to understand each other in some capacity; if there’s anyone who could understand Keith’s loss now that Shiro’s gone Allura (and Coran, I guess, but next part will be about that) is the best bet. It’s going to be interesting to see them in future, especially given how Allura will be a Paladin and Keith is going to pilot the Black Lion. Though Princess still will be in charge of everything. Also they’re going to work together on the field, fighting.

Allura is also a person who had a glimpse of Keith’s self-doubt about his place in a team, reminding him that they can’t form Voltron without him and when she approaches him in “Best Laid Plans” she essentially tells him he has a family to come back to. So if Keith will have some doubts about that in a future Princess might be the one to recognize the problem.

Another potential plot point the show could take with them is Keith being a Red Paladin after Alfor (if the King was RP, that is.) Sure, Keith is going to be in Black, while Lance is going to pilot Red now, but ultimately we know who’s his real pilot. I can imagine amoment in a future where Allura compares Keith to her late father.

Pidge & Coran

While we didn’t see that much of them interacting they seem to be rather close.

“But I’ve made some great friends along the way. Coran is one of my closest. He’s always been there for me, providing a laugh when I needed it and teaching me so much about the vast universe - and some of it’s true!”

That’s what Pidge thinks about Coran according to the comics (and I didn’t screenshot this quote during liveblog because? I don’t know, clearly I need to rethink my life choices.) And she is clearly emotional about him.

In the show proper we’ve seen them interacting few times (Coran praising and insulting Pidge at the same time in “The Rise of Voltron”,“I have you ranked by height, okay?” Pidge looking at the Castle tech, interested what Coran has to say about it.) In “Eye of the Storm” they work together on the wormholer (although Coran got angry at Pidge mentioning his sickness haha) and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say they operated on Castle’s technology multiple times.

So it seems like unlike the other arm Paladin Katie was totally fine opening up to Coran in some capacity at least, and while there is some potential for future interaction I’m… not getting vibes of getting much here except working together a lot? I could be wrong though. It would be nice to be wrong about that.

Part Two Shiro & Kolivan  Keith & Lance Garrison Trio Keith & Shiro Paladins & Lions

(Garrison Trio, Keith & Shiro and Paladins & Lions will take up seperate posts, I’ll put links here when they’ll be done.)

[birdiethebibliophile]

{fic} Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed (part 1)

Word Count:  1.8k Relationship:  Lucien/Cassian Characters:  Lucien, Cassian, Rhysand, Feyre Warnings:  Depression, PTSD, also just a lot of regular Sadness

Here on AO3.

Summary:    Modern AU with Martial Arts Instructor!Cassian and Sad Artist!Lucien. This ship needs more love.

Notes:  I do not have direct experience with either PTSD or depression, so if I write something offensive/harmful, PLEASE tell me and I will take it down or change it right away! Thank you!

Shoutout to @squaddreamcourt for inspiring this with her work While We Spoke of Many Things and to @blogtealdeal for inspiring Photographer!Lucien with her lovely art.

__________________

The minute Cassian saw Lucien Kelly, he knew he was in deep shit.

“It’s the eye, isn’t it?”

Cassian blinked, suddenly aware that he’d been staring at the other man with an intensity that was bound to be noticed. “What?”

Lucien gestured to his face, to the vicious scar running in a vertical line across a glass eye with a striking golden iris. “I don’t blame you. It can be a bit distracting at first,” he said.

Don’t do it, Cassian thought.

Lucien smirked.

God dammit.

This was what he got for being a good friend. Feyre had been so persuasive – come on, Cassian, it’s just one night, Rhys and I haven’t been on a date in ages and I don’t like leaving him alone yet – like Lucien was their strange, ginger lovechild. Cassian hadn’t been able to say no.

It helped that he’d been only a few drops short of drunk off his ass. Her fault. She knew his weakness for good whiskey, and had invested in a bottle or two for just such an occasion.

By the time he was sober again, she cheerfully told him he’d already agreed to help out and both she and Rhys were sooooooo grateful, really, and that I’m sure you’ll enjoy each other’s company and that was that.

Cassian let the door swing shut behind him. “Have Feyre and Rhys left yet?” he asked.

“Only about five minutes ago.” Lucien fiddled with his phone. “There. They made me promise to send them a text once you got here.”

Cassian wondered idly whether Feyre had left the rest of that whiskey where he could get at it. He hoped so. He wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to make it through the evening without it. Why Feysand had chosen to leave for their date at four in the afternoon was beyond him. “Why can’t they leave you, anyways?” he asked abruptly. “You’re an adult.”

Lucien waved a hand. He was sprawled on the couch, long hair of a decidedly red hue haphazardly braided and flung over one shoulder. “Didn’t Feyre fill you in?” he asked, tone dripping with sarcasm. “I’m a danger to myself.”

Cassian’s eyes widened. “What, she thinks –”

Lucien cut him off. “Not what you’re thinking. She’s afraid I’m going to run back to Tamlin if she doesn’t keep half an eye on me at all times.”

Tamlin. Cassian knows that name, both personally and professionally:  Feyre’s abusive ex, and the twenty-something CEO of the biggest pharmaceutical company this side of the Atlantic. “You used to be involved with Tamlin?”

Lucien’s laugh sounded hollow and ironic. “Oh, don’t I wish. No, not like that. I worked under him, talked to other CEOs, negotiated business deals.”

He paused, but Cassian didn’t say a word, just slung his duffel bag onto a kitchen chair. “I did live with him,” Lucien went on after a moment. “But that’s it.”

Cassian managed to hold back a sound of disbelief. As if any man, straight or otherwise, could just live with someone like Lucien. He’d seen Tamlin a time or two – handsome in that old money kind of way:  gold hair and green eyes and a shoulder-to-hip ratio that would make comic book artists weep. Nothing special, though. Just another white guy with enough cash for hairstylists and personal trainers.

Lucien was different, with the scar and the fiery hair and the slim build. It would take an accomplished artist (had Feyre ever painted him?) to capture the way Lucien lay sprawled on the couch:  one smooth line sweeping down the length of his body and bespeaking a kind of otherworldly elegance. Old blood, Cassian would call it, not old money. Lucien looked like he should be stuck in a tower, or drawing water from a stone well and finding a magical being that would give him three wishes. Or maybe he was the magical being in the well.

“And yet Feyre’s worried you’ll go back to him,” Cassian said, sitting backwards in the kitchen chair alongside the one on which he’d thrown his bag. “Why are you here in the first place?”

“Feyre took me with her when she…” Lucien hesitated for a long moment. “…left. For good.”

“Why?” Cassian asked again, well aware he was prying.

“Why do you think?” Abruptly, Lucien picked up his phone again. Cassian took the hint and left him alone.

 It was some time before either of them spoke again. “You hungry?” Cassian asked Lucien. “Feyre told me to get takeout and charge Rhys’s account.”

Lucien shrugged. Over the past three hours, Cassian had noticed him growing more… listless. For the first two, he’d taken at least seventeen photos on his phone, read a few chapters of the paperback sitting on the coffee table, and listened to an album of some alt-rock band Cassian didn’t recognize. But once the third hit… Cassian had watched out of the corner of his eye, pretending to be taking notes on the Muay Thai video playing on his laptop. He’d watched when Lucien stared at the paperback for five minutes without turning a page, and when the other man dropped his phone on the floor and didn’t pick it up, and when he started rebraiding his hair but stopped halfway through.

“Well, I’m going to order Asian, I think,” Cassian said after another moment of silence. “Potstickers. Lo mein. Broccoli beef. The whole nine yards. Who knows when I’ll get the chance to spend Rhys’s money with impunity again?”

Lucien didn’t respond, besides a nod to show he’d heard him.

“Anything in particular you want me to order for you?” Cassian asked, and almost automatically, his voice dropped a few decibels to match Lucien’s silence.

Another shrug.

“Here.” Cassian picked up the take-out menu and walked to the couch. “I’m going to give you a couple choices, okay?” he told Lucien, making it clear by his tone and volume that the okay meant if that’s okay with you and not this is what’s going to happen now whether you like it or not. “And you pick one. The one that…” Cassian hesitated, thinking how to phrase this. “The one that sounds like you could eat it.”

After a moment, Lucien nodded, which caused the corners of Cassian’s mouth to tug up, if only slightly. “All right. You vegetarian or anything? You like spicy stuff?”

Lucien nodded, then shook his head.

“Vegetarian and not spicy. Got it. Looks like you still have some good options. How about…” Cassian studied the menu for a second. He had no idea what Lucien liked, apart from what he’d just communicated. “Okay, three choices.” He turned the menu around and showed it to Lucien. “Fried rice with vegetables, miso soup, or spring rolls?”

Lucien raised his hand and tapped on the miso soup. Then, after a moment, he tapped the spring rolls as well, and gave Cassian a small half-smile – the pale shadow of the smirk that made Cassian’s heart skip a beat earlier.

Cassian made up for it, grinning widely. “You got it. After all, Feysand owe you for leaving you with the likes of me.” He winked at Lucien, then headed back across the room to grab his phone and place the order.

 “We’re not friends.”

“Yeah, I know.”

They’d stacked the takeout containers on the coffee table. Every one of them was empty. Lucien had taken one look at the ridiculous amount of food they’d ordered and told Cassian – in a voice that was quiet but there – that there was no way he’d eat all that. Cassian had bet him twenty bucks that he could. (Cassian won, of course.)

After dinner, Cassian had turned on the TV, flipping through channels at such a rate that Lucien reached over and snatched the remote. He’d turned on some sort of home improvement show and informed Cassian, in no uncertain terms, that he would get the remote back over his dead body – which, of course, Cassian had taken as a challenge. They’d had a brief fight that mostly involved tossing pillows across the room. It ended as suddenly as it had begun, when one of the pillows knocked one of Rhys’s endless knickknacks over with a crash and Lucien flinched. Cassian had pretended not to notice, but he slumped back into his chair with a huff and declared that it was too much work, and besides, the home improvement guys were using power tools and sledgehammers, so he supposed he could endure it for a little while longer.

“I mean it,” Lucien said sternly. “Not friends.”

“Whatever you say, Lucien darling,” Cassian said with a grin, borrowing Rhys’s nickname for Feyre.

Lucien scowled. “You’re entirely too big for that chair, by the way,” he said. “You look ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous? Or amazing?” Cassian knew full well he looked ridiculous. Feysand’s chairs were not meant for six-foot-five behemoths such as himself. Even Rhys – no lightweight himself – was half a head shorter than he was and had maybe a third of the muscle.

Lucien, on the other hand, fit in just fine. He was only a few inches shorter than Cassian, but half his size. “Ridiculous,” Lucien asserted, snapping a picture and tossing his phone to Cassian. “Take a look. You can’t deny it.”

Cassian caught the phone and turned it from side to side, pretending to examine the photo from all angles. “I’ll suspend judgement for now,” he said, tossing it back. “You into photography, then?”

“Used to be.” Lucien’s mouth tightened. “But, you know. It got so I didn’t have time. And then my camera broke…”

There’s an edge to his voice that told Cassian to leave it. “What do you do now?”

“Sit around – what did you call them? – Feysand’s place and be useless, mostly,” Lucien said sourly. “Take up space. Take time away from their jobs so they can drive me places.”

There was an awkward pause.

“I have a truck,” Cassian said.

Lucien groaned. “God, not you too. I don’t want your pity.”

“Good,” Cassian shot back. “Because you’re not getting it.” He sat up. “My studio holds weird hours, and it’s pretty close. Better than letting Rhys drive you around in that thing he calls a car.”

Lucien was silent for a moment. “It’d be an hour drive three times a week,” he finally said. “At the very least.”

“Shit, that’s nothing,” Cassian said with a grin. “Wanna bet that I can get Rhys to give me gas money?”

“I already lost one bet tonight.” Lucien stared at the ceiling as he thought. “Fine. For Feyre and Rhys. But this still doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

“Whatever you say.”

[animarosa]

Title: Heartlines

Chapters: 2/? [<PREVIOUS | NEXT> ] (cross-posted on AO3)

Rating: Explicit (eventually)

Warnings: None.

Pairing: Jaal Ama Darav/Sara Ryder (custom)

Notes: Thanks to @goodbibarbarella​ for proof-reading! <3

Chapter 2

“I see the benefit. Request granted.”

It had been nearly two weeks since Jaal had been granted permission to remain in the Tempest as part of the Human Pathfinder’s team. The fact that Evfra had granted his request elated Jaal and had confounded Ryder. Of course, she didn’t know Evfra as he did. Cold and aloof as he was, he knew his superior would not be difficult to convince, especially after Ryder had proven her intentions of helping to be genuine—even if Evfra didn’t trust her personally. Still, that didn’t stop his superior from warning him once more to be careful before he got back in the Tempest.

“Don’t let your guard down.”

Evfra had warned him, still Jaal found himself more comfortable and relaxed around this group of aliens the more time he spent with them. Especially their leader, Pathfinder Ryder...Sara. She was strange, so alien, yet she fascinated him the most. It seemed to him she was also taken with him. They mutually sought each other out, be it for simple curious talks, or tinkering together, as they were at the moment.

His gaze set upon her, watching her across the table where she sat, curled over her favoured shotgun, frowning while she took it apart to install a new mod. A smile crept on his lips, delighted by how she freely expressed herself–even if at the moment it was cussing at her shotgun mod for refusing to be installed correctly.

It got him thinking about how she seemed more expressive than other humans (well, the ones he’d met anyway and the others in the crew) and yet reserved under certain situations. When she was with her crew she seemed more open, relaxed even, easily embarrassed under some circumstances but not in others (for one, she was quite famous for shamelessly breaking into song at random moments).

On the other hand, she closed herself off during meetings with her Nexus superiors—though her body language exuded pure annoyance and at times contained anger in those moments when he’d been present for vidcom briefings.

Quietly he studied her–eyes drifting from her to his own rifle rhythmically. He pondered then on the endless questions he wished to ask her, an insatiable need to learn more about this curious human. It was then that a strand of hair fell out of her half-ponytail, prompting her to tuck it behind her ear, and he knew what his next question would be.

“Ryder,” he said, receiving a hum from her letting him know she was listening. “I’m curious about something...”

“Aren’t you always,” she laughed softly and winked at him when she looked up from her handy work. “What’s up, big guy?”

Jaal frowned, head tilting in mild confusion before he looked up...Nothing unusual there, he thought, wondering what she was getting at. “...The ship’s ceiling?”

“Oh. Oh no, it’s an expression,” she giggled and snorted, gesturing with her hands while she searched for the words to explain it. “Its an invitation to keep talking, like, ‘what is it’ or in this case ‘what are you curious about’.”

“Ah! I see, I see,” Jaal chuckled, making a mental note to always remember that humans used a lot of idioms. Seriously, he needed to make a dictionary of all the idioms he’d learned. “Sorry, your people have so many expressions and idioms it...can be hard to keep up. Not counting the turians, asari, salarian and krogan…”

“I know, right?” she nodded. Casually she leaned back in her chair and stretched out her arms above her head. “I can see how it gets confusing. Anyway, what were you curious about?”

“Ah, yes. Your hair actually. I didn’t think it appropriate to inquire on it before...considering…” he trailed off but she continued for him rather quickly.

“Considering we didn’t quite trust each other yet?”

He smiled. “Yes, precisely...How does it...feel? Does it bother you when it moves? Is it very sensitive?”

“Oh, no, it’s basically dead,” Jaal’s eyes widened at that, only prompting Sara to snort and laugh before hurriedly explaining, “So only the root is alive, the follicles. It hurts if it gets pulled but it hurts at the root, you know, our scalp. You can touch it if you want.” Sara leaned forward then, releasing the rest of her hair from her half-ponytail, shaking her head in front of Jaal.

“Oh...Alright,” he cleared his throat and removed one of his gloves. Carefully he patted her head first, feeling its texture overall before deciding to take a strand of hair. Slowly he threaded his fingers through it, marvelling at how it moved around his fingers. “It’s...soft. Hmm, moves so easily.”

Sara snorted, “And it gets tangled just as easily. There’s also different textures. Finer, thicker strands, curly, wavy, straight hair, you name it.”

“And the color spectrum, how varied is it?” he asked while inspecting the curious color of her hair. Darkest at the roots, seemingly a medium-dark brown, it led into a gradient of light blue and lilac.

“Mostly browns, blacks, blondes, reds,” she replied, sitting back in her chair. “And it progressively turns gray when we get older until it's all white.”

Jaal quirked a brow ridge curiously. “And blues? Lilacs?”

“Oh! No, this is a dye,” she laughed, curling a finger around a strand and inspecting it. Leaning her head forward again, she pointed at her hair roots. “See? It’s already starting to grow out. My natural hair is like a copper brown color.”

“I see. The dye is a decoration then?” he concluded.

“Yeah,” she smiled and suddenly her face lit up, coming to a stand while opening up her omni tool. Walking around the table, she pulled her chair next to Jaal’s sitting next to him. “I actually have a picture from before I dyed it, right before I joined the Initiative. Wanna see?”

“If you’d like to show me, I’d be delighted,” he grinned, touched by her interest in showing him what she used to look like.

Quickly she scrolled through a digital album, finally finding the picture she wanted and projecting it from her omni tool. “Here it is. What do you think?”

Jaal inspected the photo with genuine curiosity, head tilting slightly to the side. He recognized her face easily, fully grinning and posing by a window (seemingly from a ship) with a space station visible in the distance, one which the Sara in the picture pointed to. However, her natural hair color and long hair threw him off–it seemed he was used to how she looked now. True to her word, it used to be a copper-brown color, her hair reaching past her shoulders back then with layered bangs framing her face. It was...endearing to see her like that. Smiling widely, he switched between looking at her and the picture, something akin to adoration in his eyes.

“You looked different,” he commented, grinning back at the Sara in the picture. “But just as beautiful,” he said, as if it was the most natural thing to say to someone.

Sara’s eyes widened, a blush burning up her cheeks upon his admission. Awkwardly she coughed, avoiding his gaze. “You think...I’m beautiful?” she laughed nervously. “But I’m an alien...”

Jaal considered her reaction carefully, finding it curious how easy it was to tell when humans blushed. For a moment he thought it strange that she would react so bashfully, only to recall her species was more private in their feelings, which seemingly included compliments. “Yes. You may be an alien but I’ve learned to appreciate your beauty.”

“So…” she cleared her throat and despite her blushing, a mischievous smile drew itself upon her lips. “You only like me ‘cuz I’m pretty?”

“No!” he replied far too quickly, eyes widening as he hurried to explain himself further. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he only cared about only one of her many wonderful aspects. “Since we’ve been spending more time together, I...find that getting to know you better has been a gift. You are a lovely person, Ryder. You’re lovely, fascinating, a brilliant risk-taker, and smarter than you give yourself credit for. And though your humor stumps me at times,” he chuckled, “I find it very endearing. And quite funny once I understand the context.”

Sara seemed more than content with his words, smiling sweetly at him. For a moment she hesitated in what to do or say, crossing her arms over her chest, then thinking better of it, leaned against the table’s edge, fumbling again before resting her chin atop one of her hands and catching his gaze. “Well...I think you’re super great too, and smart, and considerate and…” she coughed, covering her mouth with her free hand and quickly whispered. “And handsome…”

It didn’t escape Jaal’s hearing however, and he grinned at her. “Thank you, Ryder. You’re...making me blush,” he cleared his throat, feeling his neck and cheeks burn up.

She laughed, “I can’t tell.” For a moment she was silent, simply staring back at him before she finally piped in all of a sudden, “So! What about your neck...flaps? Or your...crests? They sensitive?”

“The ridges under our crests are,” he replied, pointing to the bluish ridges between his crests. “And the insides of our...flaps,” he chuckled at the word of choice. “My turn for another question,” Jaal said, eager to touch upon his long list of curiosities about her.

“Shoot,” Sara said, reaching for her shotgun across the table to finish working on it.

Once more, Jaal found himself confused by her expressions. For a moment he was silent, considering what it meant. Shoot? Shoot what and why? He was embarrassed to think he would find himself asking her again what she meant. However, either because she was used to him by now or perhaps because she sensed his inner turmoil, Sara explained herself when he took too long to reply.

“It means ‘go ahead’,” she smiled warmly at him once more, no judgement in her green eyes when she glanced at him again. “Not literally ‘shoot’ something. Sorry, I keep confusing you, I don’t mean to.”

“Ah! Of course...Figured in context it couldn’t be literal,” he laughed, though he was immensely thankful for her patience with him. “Yes, my question. It’s about your name...or names. What does the ‘A’ after Sara stand for? Is it part of your family name?”

“Oh, no, the A stands for Ariadne, that’s my middle name,” she was quick to explain.

“Hm. A second name then besides your first name?” he quirked a brow ridge curiously. Afterall, angara only typically had one name besides their family name.

Sara nodded. “Not everyone has two names though, it's mostly a decision the parents make. Hey, sometimes we even have two last names. Technically I do, it’s actually Ryder-Harlow on my birth certificate and my ID. But for convenience’s sake everyone just shortens it to my dad’s last name.”

“Hm, that’s a lot of names,” he chuckled. “It occurs to me, I never asked what you prefer to be called.”

She shrugged, eyes shifting in thought. “I mean, Ryder is fine, most everyone calls me that. Well, now anyways, besides Pathfinder,” she huffed, annoyance written all over her features, “Just Ryder might be confusing when Julian wakes up though...Anyway, aside from Pathfinder business, people usually call me Sara. And those who are closer to me call me Ari, usually friends...and family. Mostly my brother’s fault, he always liked using my middle name and just shortened it to Ari and...it just stuck.”

Jaal smiled at that, wonder in his large electric blue eyes. It was endearing, to have several manners in which to be called, he thought. Especially the nickname her brother had given her. Which still made him wonder...“Which would you prefer I use then? Though, admittedly, I do love both of your names.”

“Oh, thanks! Umm…” she pouted, tapping her chin while she thought it over. “Which one do you like better? Sara’s fine but...You can call me Ari or Ariadne if you want...um…” Trailing off, she fidgeted with her fingers, playing with the sleeves of her hoodie.

“Do you consider us to be close enough for me to call you by your middle name?” Even he had to admit, he would love to call her by a name she considered reserved for people who were closer to her. At least, he liked to think they had been getting close enough to consider each other friends. Then there was the flirting, which he too enjoyed, and seemingly so did she...

Another blush graced her cheeks, fidgeting once more and pulling on her hood over her head...before pulling it off again, as if she thought better on it. “Umm...Well, maybe? Yes? I mean, we’ve been...talking a lot, lately, since the Moshae rescuing...business...Since Havarl, really...Ah…I don’t know, like I said earlier, I do think you are very interesting. And kind. And your personality is super lovely. And...Well, do you like being my friend as much as...I...do?” she fidgeted with her tools now, doing nothing in particular with them except tapping them against the table. “I-I mean, on my part, I would like to keep doing this...This getting to know each other better. Spending time together...Ah…You said knowing me better has been a gift and...well...I sorta feel the same way about you....So I guess what I’m getting at is you can use my middle name if you want...I welcome it...”

The more she spoke, the wider his smile got. It was lovely, he thought, how despite struggling more than an angara in expressing her feelings, she still made the effort, even if it was evident she was nervous, perhaps, on what his reaction would be.

“Humans tend to fear rejection,” he recalled Lexi explain when he’d inquired on human behavior. “So sometimes they will prefer to hide their true feelings instead of face the possibility of being rejected.”

Jaal would not reject her, however, quite the opposite. He found himself wanting to be around her more and more. If anything he tried to make her feel as comfortable as possible whenever she expressed herself so freely.

“Ariadne,” he smiled, liking the way her middle name sounded, how it felt natural for him to say it. More than that, it made his heart flutter when her face lit up when he said it. “Yes, Sara Ariadne, I do like being your friend as much as you do,” he answered her question which was lost in her fumbling words not a moment ago. “And I would like to keep building on our friendship.”

Her smile grew wider at that and she leaned towards him, nudging him with her elbow. “Well then, I’m glad we’re on the same page then,” she giggled and suddenly cleared her throat. Her mood seemed to change in an instant, looking quite serious out of the blue. “Now...I have something very important to ask you…”

Jaal was taken aback, confused, wondering if he had done something wrong by human standards. “Yes? What’s wrong, what did I do?”

“It’s more about what I did,” she replied and pointed at her shotgun. Pouting then, she gave him an exaggeratedly sad look and whined, “Please, help me with my shotgun, I have no idea what I did with this mod!”

For a moment Jaal merely stared back before he burst out laughing—indeed, she was more amusing than he thought. His laughing became contagious as Sara joined him and doubled over, laughing hysterically. Leaning against him, she wheezed and choked in between laughs. Finally, she cleared her throat and, while she squeezed his shoulder, she said, “Okay but seriously, I think I fucked up my shotgun. Jaal, it’s my favorite...Help.”

Sara sang to herself as she made her way from the kitchen late at night with snacks back to her room. Though she was dressed in her pajamas already, she still had emails to answer for the day.

“Sara, you have email at your terminal,” SAM announced the moment she entered.

“I know, I know,” she replied, setting down her snacks and drink at her desk, “That’s what these are for.”

“How would you answer emails with food and a drink?” SAM inquired.

“It’s gonna help my brain think and keep me focused,” she snorted, plopping down in her chair and getting to work. “Also I got the munchies, so…” It wasn’t surprising, considering the amount of running around they’d done the last few days in Kadara. Ugh, Kadara , she was probably the only one who hated it as much as Jaal. Yes, she needed the snacks, she deserved to treat herself.

Mindlessly she went through her long list of emails while she munched on her snacks, bored with most of the correspondence as many pertained to Nexus and Initiative matters. Too much dependence on her opinion, she thought with annoyance. Often she felt as many ‘problems’ brought to her could be resolved by the Nexus leaders themselves. Tann made it clear her position wasn’t above them so why even bother with consulting with her first? Some she answered at the moment, others she thought could stand to wait more for an answer.

Eventually she got to the ones she liked, those from her crew. Cora sending encouraging poems, Liam suggesting ideas on movies for the movie night they were planning, Drack sharing non secretive recipes with her, and so on. Lounging back in her chair, she propped her feet on the desk and sipped on her iced tea, making note to buy more of this angaran tea when they went back to Aya.

A Communication from your friend Jaal

“So cute,” she giggled, amused by the subjects he chose for his emails, always starting with the word ‘communication’. Thoughtlessly, she clicked on it while she continued sipping on her drink.

‘Probably something about the Resistance,’ she thought and started reading.

Dearest,

It was probably a bad idea to gasp with liquid still in her mouth, some of it being aspirated into her trachea. Instantly she choked, lurching forward out of reflex and going into a coughing fit. She was all but a mess, her body trying to keep the fluid out of her lungs while her heart fluttered just upon reading that first word on Jaal’s email (but also because she was choking).

“Sara, I detect a spike in your heart rate and fluid that has entered your trachea,” SAM, ever so helpful (no, really, she would be a mess without it) piped in

“Yeah,” Sara coughed, trying to calm her breathing and stop the coughing. “I felt that SAM.”

“Do you wish me to contact Dr. T’Perro?"

“No...no—I’m fine,” she wheezed, once the coughing subsided to something more occasional rather than constant. “Oh, Jesus...Oh, lord…” she breathed and composed herself best as she could, leaning forward until she was leaning against the desk to continue reading the email. Just wondering what came after ‘dearest’ had her blushing and her heart hammering in her chest.

In your culture, is “dearest” too strong a word to use when two people are fond of each other? And is “fond” too strong a word to use when two people enjoy flirting with each other?  

“HA!” she yelled in excitement and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. Not a moment later, there was a knock rapping against her door. She realized then that it had been less of a yell and more of a mix between a screech and a scream—it probably echoed in the hallway.

“Sara? Are you alright?” Cora called over the intercom, panic in her tone.

Feeling guilty, Sara sighed and told SAM to let her in. “Hey! Sorry, I was...being loud. I’ll be quiet.”

“You sure?” Cora quirked an eyebrow at her, inspecting her. “So you were screaming...because...?”

“Umm, yes, sorry, uh—” she suddenly became aware that the email was open in the terminal still...and Cora was now looking at it. “Ah! I choked!” Hurriedly she whirled back in her chair and twisted the terminal’s monitor around. “...It’s smutty fanfiction...You caught me…”

“Uh-huh…” the biotic had an amused glint in her eye and began walking back to the door. “So, I’ll leave you to that.”

“Thanks, Cora,” Sara laughed nervously. “I’ll try not too get too excited and be quiet.”

“Sure, Sara,” she called back. “Wish you could see the way he looks at you when you’re not looking,” Cora had quickly commented before the door slid closed behind her, laughing quietly to herself.

“Fuckin—!” Sara grabbed the closest thing her hand found and flung it at the door...A bunched up candy wrapper falling pitifully just a few feet from her. “Smartass…Anyway!” she turned her attention back to the monitor, twisting it back around so she could continue reading. “SAM, can you soundproof the room? Just in case...”

“Certainly, Sara,” the AI replied and she trusted he did so.

I enjoy you. Even now, I smile picturing your face. Angara are free with our emotions, and it feels normal for me to lay mine at your feet. I hope this is not too strange for your species and that you can comfortably accept them.  

I enjoy you—but more than that, I adore your strength and courage and beauty.

Your dearest,

Jaal

Sara found herself blushing madly, mouth agape and fiddling madly with the cords of her hoodie. She shouldn’t be shocked or excited for this email, after all, they had been flirting. Just the other day they mutually confided they wished to keep spending time together, to know each other better...She shouldn’t be so excited and yet she was. Why?

“Oh my god, what am I…” she started talking to herself, realization slowly dawning upon her features. “Holy shit...I like- like him...I’ve got the biggest fucking crush I’m such a dense motherfucker. I’ve got a crush, I like him, I like him so much, I wanna kiss him, holy shit…”

By now SAM was used to Sara talking to herself, she did it often and at times even in front of the crew—it wasn’t a rare sight. Yet, the AI found it in itself to step into her conversation with herself.

“Sara, why did you not realize you had feelings for Mr. Ama Darav before if you were flirting with him already?”

Whirling in her chair, she faced SAM’s orb on her desk, fully aware she didn’t have to do that but it felt better to frown at something rather than visualize it. “Because…! I don’t know, SAM, feelings can be confusing. Sometimes...I don’t know! I guess I was just happy enough to be friends with him that the thought of having something else didn’t occur to me…”

“Even if you flirted with him and he with you?”

“Yes! Sometimes people just...flirt,” she shrugged and pouted. “And...I guess I wasn’t sure how to...go about it, considering I’m an alien to him so...Yeah, seems right...My mind neglected the possibility to avoid being...Or feeling…”

“Rejected?” SAM finished the thought for her.

Meekly she nodded.

“Perhaps it would be wise to answer the email then,” SAM spoke again. “Unless you would prefer to ignore it.”

“I’m not gonna ignore it!” she huffed and turned back to her terminal. “You know you’re getting sassy lately, I’m rubbing off on you. Now shush, let me think on this.”

“Of course, Sara,” and with that SAM went silent, though she could picture it hovering over her shoulder with a teasing smirk on its face.

‘It’s just a crush you silly goose,’ she mentally chastised herself, fingers hovering over the holographic keyboard. ‘Don’t get too excited. Angara are just very feelsy...That’s all…But they’re also honest in what they say...’

“Agh, screw it,” she cracked her knuckles, steeling herself for what she would write. “Honesty here I cooooome!” she sang to a made up tune and got to typing.

Lovely sweet Jaal,

That’s not something I can straight up answer with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Because it is both a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’. Personally, it is not too strong for me...Mainly because I too am fond of you and I too enjoy flirting with you (I’m so glad flirting seems to be universal ;) )

Wow, you really meant it when you said getting to know me better is a gift. I guess what I’m trying to say is I do enjoy you, too. And I admire you and I think you’re great and I like being around you (but you already knew this didn’t you? I told you :p). You know what, honestly, I’m super stoked angara are free with emotions, it’s actually easier to deal with feelings this way (how did you say way back? you just deal with the consequences of expressing emotions freely? yeah, yeah I like that).

Your loveliest,

Sara Ariadne

PS. Thanks for fixing my shotgun again, I could kiss you! MUAH!

“And send,” she hit the ‘send’ button dramatically, the last thing her eyes saw before the message closed being ‘loveliest’ and ‘I could kiss you! MUAH!’, her eyes widening in horror, “NO!” she screeched, grabbing the terminal screen and shaking it. What was she thinking?! That was too much!...Right?

“Sara?” SAM spoke after minutes in silence.

“No, that last sentence was too much, god!” she let her forehead fall against the desk, groaning. She just had to write from the heart, didn’t she? “The thirst is real...Jesus…”

“Perhaps you could finish your drink now,” SAM suggested innocently.

“That’s not what I mean, SAM,” she whined. “It means I got it bad for Jaal. That I like him too much.”

“Oh,” SAM said, unusually short in its reply yet its tone seemed to carry some emotion. “From what I’ve gathered so far through your interactions with Mr. Ama Darav, I do not think he will mind.”

“Thanks, SAM,” she sighed and pushed herself away from her desk. “Well, that’s enough emails for today and that’s enough of today, I’m bushed. Night, SAM.”

Seeing as she was already in her pajamas, she merely pulled off her hoodie and jumped in bed. Oh her dreams would be interesting tonight, she mused, blushing at the possibilities. Honestly, a pervy dream involving Jaal would be a welcome change to the nightmares she had at least twice a week. She just hoped Jaal didn’t take that last line in her message as crossing a line.

Just as she got comfy under the covers, she frowned upon seeing the lights were still on. SAM usually turned off her lights the moment she announced she was heading to sleep and got in bed. Actually, SAM hadn’t said ‘good night’ as it usually did.

“Umm...SAM? Lights off please? Also you didn’t wish me good night?” Sara quipped, quirking an eyebrow at the blue hovering orb upon her desk.

“You haven’t brushed your teeth, Sara,” SAM replied instantly.

“Oh come on!” she huffed and kicked under her covers, glaring at the orb. “Come on, man, I’m comfy already!”

“Sara…” SAM didn’t have to form a complete sentence to let her know she would not have peace until she complied.

Sara whined but nonetheless yielded to the AI’s demands for good oral hygiene. “Ugh, fine.”