#okay i need to shut up about reborn now i literally need to leave the house in 25 minutes and im not even dressed yet byyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[timegears-moved]

sick and twisted

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

Oh look more headcanons

Who'd have guessed

Not me for sure

Okay sorry I'll shut up.

I'm highly music-driven and have been for many many years of my life.

And I'm presently unreasonably obsessed with The Fratellis after suddenly remembering they exist after like fifteen years of not hearing a single one of their songs. Don't ask me, it just happened a couple months ago and I decided not to question it.

So this is really stupidly niche of me, but these are their songs/lyrics that I associate with the Best Boys™, in a Character X Reader sense. The songs that are typically playing halfway on repeat when I'm writing any of them lately.

The song-links go to Spotify. It's not necessary to listen to them, the lyrics here are the main catalyst, but if you want to listen I'm not going to complain.

no but please I hope you like the music that I like I have no one to talk to about it and as a half-assed musician it's literally killing me and

Anywho.

Zoro

Living in the Dark

I was nothing less than torn, crying out to be reborn

Come back, baby, you could make me happy,

Maybe you could prove me wrong

You're the only one who could ever save me,

Maybe you could prove me wrong

I've been living in the dark down here too long

The song itself is far more upbeat than I'd generally associate with Zoro, but the lyrics speak to me on his behalf. The upbeat tempo is the equivalent of what you do to his heart when you're near him; it's strange and unfamiliar, but it's nice. He's iffy about being close with anyone, and he won't admit it out loud but he wants to be.

He's been alone for years, for damned near all of his life, and you're like the light at the end of that tunnel. He might try to push you away or be aloof and impersonal at first because the thought of being vulnerable frightens him a little, but he wants to be proven wrong. He wants to let you in, and he's willing to try.

Sanji

Sugartown

I get the strangest sense we were lovers past-tense

Like a dog in heat I just can't be indiscreet

And when I see you there, I whisper my prayer, so sweet

I'm getting shakey on my feet, I'm incomplete

And if you just can't do me right

Then, honey, please, do me wrong

I'll be your one man band, I'll be at your command

Just say the word and I'll be your Renaissance man

This entire damned song is the anthem of Sanji. It's like a 1950's bop, the type of song that you can't help but smile at. It's sweet and cute and pining, just like our favorite chef. He's just utterly obsessed and hoplessly devoted to you and every single thing you do. He can't keep his eyes or his mind off of you at any given time.

Just the sight of you entering the room takes his breath away, puts stars in his eyes. He would do or give absolutely anything to have you and to keep you forever, and he's going to make sure you know it.

Shanks

Babydoll

Babydoll, do you believe they'll catch you when you fall?

And when morning comes, the sun is gonna shine

Don't forget, your minor keys your half-lit cigarette

'Cause when morning comes, I know that you'll be mine

So let me in

I'm ready to beg and to sing for my sins

Not leave it to chance and sweet coincidence

I don't know. The soft yet slightly playful tone of the song in general just screams Shanks to me for no reason I can completely put in words. This particular portion of the lyrics is what I associate most with him.

He knows he wants you, and he wants to make sure you know it. Not to beat around the bush about it, but not pressure you either. Just make sure you know how much he cares about you and be as gentle and sweet as possible to prove it...and he knows it's going to work, and that you're already his whether you know it or not. But jfc also imagine that goddamned voice of his calling you babydoll please excuse me I need to go touch grass now

Mihawk

Medusa In Chains

I'm not your miracle man, I'm not your spirit guide

Before this whole thing began I had some sense of pride

Just one more night with your lips, your company is hard to eclipse

Weak-kneed, yes indeed, guardanteed, make my heart bleed

Give me a reason to breathe, don't let my sun go down

I'll make you stand and recieve, I'll be your sacred ground

Be my Medusa in chains, petrified

Only your beauty remains

The entire song. The ENTIRE SONG screams Mihawk to me. Slow-burn and seductive from start to finish. I get the same exact chills from this song that I get when he delivers that "Magnificent" line.

Lyrically relevant too. Falling for you in spite of his pride (and he has a LOT of pride to get past). You're like nothing he has ever experienced and he's utterly and hopelessly addicted to you. As much as he wants to fight it, he can't. In the same breath that he's trying to push you away and retain some grip on himself he's also pulling you back for more. He hardly even knows who he is anymore when you're near.

[fandomscombine]

No, Not Like This [Part 2]

George Weasley x Reader

BG: Rewatched the New Girl S2x15. You know the one with the ICONIC Nick and Jess 1st  Kiss? Now make it the reader and Geroge!

a/n: This second part follows more on their realization of what tf just happened. As did in S2x16. (so they don’t have scenes together, just their brains going into overdrive thinking they screwed up. don’t worry I’ll bring them back in pt3 hehe but first here’s some chaotic fun!)

This part’s voices of reason are.... Cho and Fred!

WC:1330

Read PART 1

>>>MASTERLIST<<<

>>JOIN MY WRITING CHALLENGE!<<

George made his way back up to his dorm in a surprising cool calm manner. It was not until late the next morning did what he did sunk in.

What George had thought was a very nice, vivid dream- one he wish he would have the courage to act upon in real life, had actually happened, he panicked.  ‘OH MY GOD! OH MY-YOU KISSED HER! YOU IDIOT!’

Fred, who had just arrived in their shared dorm, toast in hand, laughed at his very dishevelled twin queries. ‘Kissed who?’

‘Y/N. I kissed Y/N’

‘ohhh…’ George’s forwardness made Fred drop his toast. ‘FINALLY!’ He exclaimed, scooting George over.

‘wait What?’

Fred places his palms under his chin. ‘Now tell me how this all went down. Y/n made the first move, didn’t she? Please tell me she did or else I owe Ginny 5 galleons.’

~

While George had a rather peaceful slumber, you on the other hand, did not.

Twisting and turning, mind still stuck on the same sentence. Ranging between the perplexity of ‘George Weasley kissed me?’ to the absolute euphoria of ‘GEROGE WEASLEY KISSED ME!’ .

You touch you lips, gently as if by the feeling of his lips on yours would be washed away if not treated with care.

‘I meant something like that. I didn’t wanna kiss you because of a game. I want to kiss you because you mean something to me’

His parting words echoed in your head.

You Mean Something to Me.

That means he likes you too right? He has to… the boy literally said it…well in the bare minimum implied it. Who in their right mind would deliver a world-shattering kiss to someone they do not fancy?

Though there is one slight detail that could offset this whole theory……

He walked away.

The boy kissed, professed his feelings then exited.

And people say that women are enigmas.

You sighed, you definitely need a fresh pair of eyes here.

The alarm clock on your bedside table flashes 6:39am.

‘Great…’ You muttered, the stupid kiss has kept you awake, overthinking for almost 4 hours.

Rolling over, you layered on a hoodie to your pyjamas. ‘Well, she would just have to deal with me this early.’

You silently make your way out, trying your best to not wake any of your roommates.

In your desperation, the fact that the Ravenclaw’s common room location albeit not a secret, it had completely flown pass your head that they had no password but rather a riddle.

‘Please, can I get an easier riddle’ you pleased to the eagle knocker.

‘Which came first, the phoenix, or the flame?’

You huffed, ofcourse it won’t go easy on you.

‘How would I know?!’ you scowled. The door not granting you entrance just further adds to tour irritable state. How many more things had to be confusing? First George and now this!

‘I wasn’t there! You didn’t even give me a time frame, you stupid door! Ouch!’ Recoiling back in pain, you were sent aback whether be it from kicking the door or it getting back at you for mocking it, you weren’t sure.

‘Give me the full picture. Like is the Phoenix dying? Then the phonics came first than came the flame. If not then it would be vice versa, only a pile of ashes is seen from which a phoenix would be born… or reborn.’

Gosh, were you thankful that it’s too early in the morning for someone to see you rant to a door.

‘You know what? Whatever!’ You sighed in defeat; you would just have to hide from George during breakfast.

However, as you turn to leave, the most extraordinary thing happened.

‘OH My---’ You gawked at the now opened door. ‘It WORKED?!?’

‘It was a valid argument to the constrains presented.’ The eagle knocker remarked, ‘Now it you please, enter quickly, you are letting a cold draft in.’

‘Th-Thank you.’

You’ve been into the Ravenclaw Common Room before and the rows of floor to ceiling bookshelves never fail to intimidate you.

Your eyes land upon the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and the surrounding intricate tapestries, the soft glow of the sunrise transforming the circular room into a gallery fit for a palace.

‘Y/n?’ A voice called from the dark staircase.

‘AHH!’ You placed a hand to your chest. ‘CHO! What the heck?!? Don’t scare me like that!’

‘What are you doing here? How did you get in?’

‘OH uh… I ranted.’ You told her honestly.

‘You ranted.’ She said in disbelief.

‘Yes. But more on that later, I have more pressing matters.’ You stated, shaking the poor girl. ‘I NEED ADVICE CHO. CODE RED.’

‘CLEARLY.’ Cho sassed, dragging along to the sofa but you stood your ground. ‘y/n?’ Her tone now softer upon seeing your distressed face.

‘George kissed me.’

‘Whaaaaaaaaa?!’

~

You are utterly grateful for Ravenclaws minding their own business, a handful of early risers had gone out for breakfast passing you by. Ravenclaws no doubt has multitude of questions on what a Gryffindor is doing in their common room but had decided to not go down that rabbit hole and are more intrigued in guessing what breakfast specials there’d this last meal before Christmas break.

Though the more straightforward answer could be seen on Cho’s face.

It is too early to be dealing with this, but a friend is a friend. Though that doesn’t mean it stops Cho from internally swearing that her eyes are going to be permanently crossed from keeping up with your pacing about.

‘George kissed me and I didn’t even kissed me back-’ Pacing left, you recounted the previous night. As if sensing Cho call your bullshit, you caved.  ‘okay fine! I kissed him back!’

Plopping face down onto the sofa, voice muffled by the pillow. ‘Is that what you want me to say?’ you demanded.

’I literally haven’t said a word for like over an hour’ uttered Cho matter of factly.

‘Sorry…’ You gaze up at her, pouting your lips as to make her forgive you faster before resuming to your grunts of ‘stupid George Weasley.’

Observing that your rant was over, Cho needed actual details in order to best help you. To help you out of this sticky situation or better yet some….realization, introspection…..That would be up to how honest you are with yourself. ’How was it though, was it…?’

You flop unto your back, mindless playing with your fingers as you recall, ‘It was like I was hit with a bunch of Cheering Charms.’

‘Really?’ Cocking her head, she continued.  ’George was that good? How did he do it then?’

‘He just,’ Okay how were you to describe that magical moment? Wracking your brain but no words could do it justice. ‘He just like, grabbed me.’

‘uh huh’

Cho was unconvinced, so you decided to act it out.

Still lying down, you reach to the ceiling, clenching into fists. ‘and he took me, I mean it was strength, confidence.’

’mm hmm’

You brought your arms close to you, letting your eyes shut as you did so. ‘It was firm, but tender.’

 ’oh damn.’ Cho gasped.

‘oh yeah’ You hate how hot your face has become in a matter of seconds. ‘I saw through space and time for a minute, but that’s not the point.’

‘oh man what are you gonna do?’ Prompted Cho. This was it, the homerun, she thought.

‘I don’t know.’ You truthfully say. There are so many uncertainties, you genuinely don’t know. Wrapping yourself into a ball, you slip of the seat.

Leaning forward, Cho does the last trick on her list. The question that has been implied but left officially unanswered. ‘I mean do you…like George?’

You fake vomit. Your automatic defence system taking over. ‘bah yuck George? Ahhhh’ You tried to play it cool, chuckling.  ‘Nooo!’

You’ve never told a soul! You and George are the best of friends-that’s the story.

Yet Cho’s unnerving brow challenges that narrative.

Halting, you swallowed.

‘Yes.’

~

Part 3, at the burrow will be coming up. So yeah.

It was supposed to be in this but I got carried away and got more inspiration from S2x16 where Nick and Jess had moments of albeit very panicked self-realization on the meaning of the kiss.

Taglist for this fic ‘No, Not like this’:

Thanks also for the support in part 1 and interest in reading more of the fic!🥰

@l0ttadreamz​ @vintagecherrypie106 @remmyswritings @jenniweaslee @iluvharrypotter172 @miaafrances @strawberriesonsummer @stressisakiller

Taglist [All/General]: @gruffle1​

[aitarose]

SKINNY LOVE | ZUKO

PAIRING: Zuko x Reader [fem]

PLOT: Years and years of build up, only to lead to absolutely nothing. Y/N’s constant emotion was confusion, and there was no changing that when it came to Zuko’s feelings.

WARNINGS: angst

WORD COUNT: 1.6k

A/N: my best friend says he might have feelings for me, and i’m so stressed right now i’m going crazy. so here’s a little fic that literally explains our entire relationship and these are all my raw emotions ew. also this is almost word for word our conversation tonight

MY MASTERLIST

Their cycle seemed to be infinite, running in circles on the same track over and over again throughout the course of their lifelong friendship. The friendship that had been more confusing than the most trivial question in the entire world.

Y/N had always considered feelings to be straightforward. Something that could be determined with a simple yes or no answer, rather than continuous strife and struggles, arguments and silence.

She knew what she felt, and she wanted other’s to know that. Communication was no fare for her when it came to anger, sadness, and love—especially when it came to love.

Zuko on the other hand had what some would call troubles in the aspect of emotions. He’d bottle up all of his stress and worries, bursting like a volcano when they’d release. 

After years, decades of friendship and unspoken feelings, Y/N still didn’t know where she stood with the newly crowned Fire Lord. They’d danced around their relationship for what seemed like forever, him never truly speaking the words she’d always wanted to hear.

And after so many rounds of psychoanalyzing his words and phrases, the responses he’d give her after she’d try her best to pour her heart out to him, Y/N was beginning to grow sick of their routine.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love him anymore, she was just so unbelievably tired of it all. Peace was the thing she needed most. Inner peace with herself, her appearance, her confidence.

All the things that she’d never fully realized due to her constant focus on Zuko and only Zuko. The things that made someone unique, what made them them. She was lacking them, and the only way to grow was to distance herself.

So, distance was what she gave him. Y/N moved around the world, never settling in one nation, finding new cultures and traditions to enjoy and bringing them back with her to the Fire Nation every now and then.

During her little conquest, Zuko had found his place beside Mai. Comfortable in his own little bubble, never taking any risks outside of the familiarity of his daily life. He hadn’t grown up—that was the first thing Y/N had come to notice as her feelings were reborn.

It’d taken her two years to move on from him, two years to find love for herself and take interest in people other than her best friend—but the minute she heard that he ended his relationship with Mai, they’d come flying back.

All of her former insecurities pounded in her mind, screaming in her inner monologue, refusing to give her a single second of silence. Y/N was out of breath, completely lost in the sea of her own thoughts.

She and Zuko had stayed in contact over the years of her adventure. Constantly writing letters back and forth, telling each other about their day, their new friends, and whatever was remotely interesting in their lives. 

Although she hadn’t physically seen him in so long, Y/N still felt a connection to him. A connection that pulled her like a magnet the minute he stood before her, smiling his dopey, crooked grin.

When he’d wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into the tightest hug she’d ever been a part of—Y/N’s heart quite literally dropped, falling out of her body, and rolling out into the ocean. 

Her chest was tight, it was almost as if she felt like she was choking on a food that was stuck in her throat. Something that was refusing to come out, no matter how hard she tried to say those three little words—I love you.

And Zuko, himself, hadn’t settled her storm by any means. If anything, he’d encouraged it to rage on, encouraged it to continue to torment and demolish all the self respect she’d grown.

Whilst Y/N had jokingly spoken out the idea of them being together, he’d practically driven her to insanity. “What if I wasn’t joking, Zuko?” She wondered, freezing in disbelief at what she was saying. “What if I did feel that way?”

In response, Zuko simply laughed. His eyes pinched shut, a wide smile overtaking his mouth in amusement at her curiosity. “I don’t believe you, Y/N.” He rolled his eyes, playing with their intertwined hands. “You don’t actually feel that way.”

At that, a light scoff escaped Y/N’s lips, her face becoming contorted and annoyed. “Okay.” She started, shaking her head at the conversation she was about to trigger. “Well, what would your response be if I did?”

Zuko’s looked in her direction, his amber eyes meeting her steely ones. “You’re really baiting me, aren’t you?” His face went a little pale at her slight nod, a large gulp running down his neck. 

“It wouldn’t be a no.” 

Y/N’s smile dropped, her expression growing blank as her heartbeat began to jump out of her chest. What he’d just hinted at was her getting what she’d always wanted, the thing that she’d dreamed of since she was only five years old.

Both of them seemed to be frozen in the moment, neither knowing exactly what was going on as they weren’t aware of what their feelings for each other were. Their lives had become so different, they’d become so different.

Zuko was a leader now, a person that needed to have stability and assurance in his life. He was a traditionalist, he needed rules and regulations to live in harmony with himself and his people.

Y/N, however, was a free spirit. She knew what she wanted in life and she’d be sure to make it happen. Commitment and social standards weren’t on her agenda, as she didn’t have one.

But when it came to Zuko, Y/N would do anything. She’d drop her goals and dreams if it’d amount to one minute of true happiness in his arms. Her love for him had grown toxic, it was poison in her brain.

Poison that could also be considered pure. A feeling of actual and real love for the prince that she’d known for her entire life. Everything about him contradicted itself, the stress he made her feel was practically indescribable.

“Are you being serious?” Y/N was on the verge of hysterically laughing, she was so appalled by Zuko’s response. Her face was bright red, dancing on the line of embarrassment and anger. 

Zuko let go of her hands, his palm running over the back of his neck. He shrugged, sheepishly smiling as he looked everywhere but at her. “Yeah.” He sighed, pursing his lips. “That seemed like the wrong answer.”

“No.” Y/N’s neck snapped to turn to him, her eyes searching for his own. Her voice became breathless, her lungs nearly gasping for air. “Go back. Are you being serious, right now, that your answer wouldn’t be a no?”

As Zuko shook his head to signify that he wouldn’t reject her question, Y/N almost toppled over in shock. “So, figuratively speaking, if I had feelings for you—you wouldn’t reject me straight on?”

Thirty seconds was what it took for Zuko to answer her. Half a minute of earth shattering patience that Y/N had to endure before she heard his simple words. “No, of course not.”

“But what does that mean?” Y/N was now itching for closure. She had to find out what this all meant. What it meant for their past, their present, and the future of their relationship.

“I would have no reason to reject you, that’s what it means.” He simply shrugged, expecting the conversation to be over by now. The talk of feelings was wearing Zuko out, causing a large yawn to form on his features.

He was tired, exhausted at the discussion of romance and secret pining. Communication simply wasn’t his strong suit, and while Y/N fully knew that, she continued to press further.

“You don’t get it, Zuko. You’re confusing me.” She explained, waving her hands out in front of her face. “So, you wouldn’t reject me, but you also wouldn’t say yes to a confession?”

Y/N was pushing him to his emotional limit. The mental blockade that always formed in his brain, beginning to cancel out his words. Zuko’s headspace was starting to empty, sleep being the only goal in mind.

“Those do really contradict, don’t they?” His eyes had begun to drop, opening and closing. Zuko’s body was now resting on Y/N’s, most of his weight being supported by her stature.

Y/N led her best friend towards his living quarters, still having a million questions at the tip of her tongue—whilst only one made its way out. “What does it all mean? You never said what it means.”

As she opened the door to his bedroom, Zuko let go of his hold on her. He gave her a toothless smile, weary from his low energy, and closed the door, giving her a final glance through the crack of light.

“It means that I’m tired, Y/N.” His eyes held her gaze, sending her waves of confessions in a single glance. “I’m tired and I can’t give you all that you need right now. Perhaps we can continue this in the morning.”

But with morning, came no confessions. No discussion of what had gone down the night before. It was as if they’d never been together at all, as if it was just another night between two platonic friends.

In reality, Y/N didn’t believe that she’d ever be worthy enough for someone like Zuko. Someone who seemed to be so unbelievably perfect for her in every way, shape, and form.

Maybe the best way to end this constant cycle would be to disappear. To leave him be, in his own happy little life, away from herself. She’d learned to live without him once, there was no way she wouldn’t be able to do it again.

The only problem was did she really want to live a life without him?

TAGS: @practicallylivesonline​ @cherryskyies​ @shell-bells-ringding​  @xapham​ @mochminnie​ @bombardia​ @xxspqcebunsxx​ @missmorosis​ @mysticpeacecrusade @akiris​ @simpinforsukka​ @protect-remus​ @kaylove12​@lammello​ @user12345321 @duh-dobrik​

[chunhua-s]

davi dabi dude 🤍 big fat congrats on reaching 200!! i bet you will very soon hit even more milestones and i'll be coming back to get a taste of your beautiful fics for myself👉🏼👈🏼

as you may or may not know my favourite boy is atsumu and you wrote this beautiful soulmate au for me, which also happens to be my favourite au🥺🥺

so uhm ah... what do i do soulmate au eith atsumu part two but hit me with some toothrotting fluff?😳

anyways, don't divorce me, i love you🦊

runa suna bro 🥺 thank you for requesting bb!! and thanks for always brainrotting with me, i love swapping braincells with you over these men 😌💕 and pleasepleaseplease, bb, know that if anything else, i absolutely adore you, okay??? you’re such an amazing person and you deserve the entire universe and if i could i would give it to you! i know peachy and nona feel the same as well — we value your time and company, never doubt that for a second! anyways here’s your fluff!! i literally spent all of today thinking about this and i hope you’ll like it! this time it’ll be from tsumu’s perspective, and though it’s not necessary to read it, the first part of this request would provide some background if ever anyone wanted it. i’ll leave a link for you guys to see! 🥰 ily runa bb — and as always, i hope you and everyone will enjoy reading this!

WRAPPED UP IN YOUR ARMS ➽ ATSUMU MIYA x READER

genre: fluff (with a smidgeon of comfort)

au: soulmates (part two of with our fates tangled together — although you don’t need to read it first before reading this!)

warnings: implied sexual content towards the end

some days, atsumu thinks, are easier than others. the days when he can make you laugh, when your smiles shine brighter than any star in the night sky, he treasures them like tiny little gems, collects them in the palm of his hands and holds them close to his heart. those are the days where he can feel his chest soaring on such an intense feeling of happiness that his brown eyes will shine on diamond tears as he holds you in his arms and kisses the top of your head. those are the days that write their poems along his skin underneath your touch and kiss him with a tenderness he can’t imagine coming from anywhere else but you.

but the truth of the matter still stands: atsumu knows that he’s hurt you before. he can see it in the way your gaze sometimes fall from his face, lips pressed together as you suddenly pull away from him as if you’d been burned. he sees it in the way your hands tangle themselves in your red string, how your fingers twist together with the insecurities that he’d torn into your skin over the years. you haven’t fully healed, it’s painfully obvious to him, and it fills him with a kind of regret that causes his food to turn sour and for every breath he takes to taste like poison.

today, you’re curled up in his living room, wrapped up beneath one of the blankets he’d bought for you. your eyes are glazed over, unseeing as you fiddle with the red chord tied around your pinky finger: each tug of it pulls on his own end so that he can hear the worries of your heart on secret whispers. the sight of you is a hand around his neck, clawing at his skin and drawing blood from searing wounds. every pluck on your string is a second that tightens like a vice until he can’t breathe, and all that’s left in atsumu’s body is the dull echoes of doubt and fear that you unknowingly give to him — fear that perhaps he’d soon cast you aside like he once did, doubt that your bond wouldn’t last long, and that the happiness you feel would crumble apart and vanish like sand between your fingers.

atsumu forces himself to breathe under the hands around his neck, shuts his eyes for one, two, three beats of his heart, before he moves himself forward — slow, careful steps disappear beneath the grey carpet, as if any sudden noise would violently tear you from your pedestal and cast you down to shatter like fine china. and so, when he’s close enough, he gently reaches his hand to hold yours, lets his fingers tangle up in your own and with the little web you managed to make between them. he watches your eyes light up when you see him, just like the moon riding over the still surface of the ocean, it’s as if the sight of him restored your oxygen and taught you how to breathe again.

“atsumu,” he hears you whisper on a breathless sigh, a smile blossoming tenderly on your lips as you hold his hand between your own, letting his warmth sink into your cold skin. he returns your affections with a gentle press of his lips to your forehead, a hand brushes away the pieces of hair that fell over your face like a curtain as he gently tilts your chin upwards to meet your gaze. you’re glowing under a golden light, radiant in your image and burning your place into his heart with an insistence he could never ignore.

“c’mere,” he gently urges, pulling you to your feet so that he can hold you closely to his chest with one hand: the other reaches into the pocket of his pants so that he can grab his phone. you can’t see him opening the youtube app with your own arms wrapping entirely around his midsection, the fluttering of your heart traveling down the red string that binds the both of you together and making itself at home right in atsumu’s throat — like the beginnings of a melody he only hears when he’s with you.

he wants to listen to that melody for the rest of his life.

“you remember that song you sent me last week?” when he looks down at you, he sees your face falling into that cute little pout you get whenever you’re thinking of something — and gods, he’s told you so many times how adorable you look when you get like this — before you slowly nod, lifting your gaze to find his. he smiles down at you as his thumb presses the video he was looking for, before he places his phone down on the coffee table and wraps his arms around your body, just in time for the familiar strumming of the guitar to fill up his living room on the evening breeze. he watches your expression melt into one of adoration and what he can only describe as unadulterated happiness as your eyes meet his. “i’ve been listening to it all week,” he confesses on a soft chuckle, it rumbles in his chest and courses through your lungs like liquid gold as he pulls you into him and rests his chin on the crown of your head. slowly, he sways his body with yours, gently rocking the both of you back and forth to the melody that surrounds him and you.

“telll me what stopped you, what led you, what touched you, what turned you on?”

atsumu drags in another long breath before he speaks next, the words so quiet that you might not have heard them had you not been so close to him. “i’m so sorry for how i treated you before...”

he feels your pull back slightly to look up at his faces, but he doesn’t meet your gaze. he can’t, because he knows that he’ll see nothing but understanding and forgiveness in your eyes — he can’t look at you and accept those sentiments when he doesn’t believe he deserves them. you should be angry with him. you should hate him, call him out on his selfish behaviour and hurt him just like he did to you: the words churn in his head and burn his throat like vodka — they sting and leave a horrible taste in his mouth.

“you don’t have to say sorry to me anymore, atsumu.” your voice is filled with all the tenderness in the world: it causes atsumu’s eyes to burn with tears hen desperately tries to fight away. but when your palm comes to rest on his cheek and his brown eyes — the brown of his cinnamon scent, of autumn leaves and warm cups of coffee — it becomes harder to hold them back. they fall from his lashes and draw lines down your skin, and on those marks, you’re able to see every single shard of regret that stabs his heart and every thorn that tears his skin. “none of that matters anymore, hm?” you hum, “we’re fine now — we have each other. we’re together now.”

atsumu falls apart.

he brings your face to his with both of his hands and melts against your lips, tries to pour every ounce of affection he feels so that it envelops you with angel wings and teaches you to soar above the clouds. your lips are so soft against his that he feels his own heart calling out for you, chanting your name on an endless mantra that fills up every thought in his mind and forbids you from ever turning away from him. i love you, i love you, i love you— it’s all unsaid between his lips, but he feels you returning it all to him when your fingers sink into his hair and when your hands pull him closer. i love you, i love you, i love you— it marks his skin as he pushes you down against the sofa and climbs on top of you before returning his lips to yours, devouring you with a desperation that can only be satisfied by your touch. and you, you’re more than happy to give yourself to him. you give to him every cry of his name, every kiss across his skin, every reverent touch of your fingers as he collapses into you. in the throes of your devotion and love for him, you seal your fates together and become reborn, so that your bodies intertwine and fill the quiet night with the songs of adoration and pleasure.

that night, the two of you become one, and you learn to let go of your hurt as atsumu forgives himself for hurting you.

davi hits 200 followers — haikyuu!! au writing event! 💕

general taglist: @aiiishiiiteru @bootylikepeachy @tsumue

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[lovelylogans]

honey, you’re familiar (like my mirror)

prologue: (re)birth

see next chapters, notes, and warnings here!

“We all experience many births and deaths in a life.” —Jonas Maliki, Sense8 

EMILE

Emile Picani has always loved children, but, as a cis man, he had generally contented himself with the fact that a woman would eventually bear them (as he pieced together the whole oops, all gay! thing in his mid-to-late teens, he mentally altered that to through surrogacy) or that he would adopt children with a loving partner someday.

He had really been very, very content with the idea of never giving birth. He had been perfectly fine with the idea of never giving birth. He would really, really love it if he were not giving birth right now. But as it is—

“Does psychic birth count as birth?” Linda asks, tilting her head; she’d chopped off her hair in her kitchen a month ago, so now it swishes along her jaw. The loss of a foot of hair doesn’t mean her hair is any more tamed than it was when it was waist-length, back when they’d first seen each other face-to-face.

Emile moans in pain, rolling face-down onto the couch to press his face into the cushions, blocking out all light; the pressure and ache behind his eyes that’s been mounting for days is almost as bad as it had been when he’d been born. Reborn. 

Sensate birth is so confusing.

The weight of another member of his cluster dips the couch cushion near his feet.

“I would be this close to leaving if the call to visit wasn’t so strong,” Andy groans, and then the sound of someone hitting him; Missy, he’s sure.

“He is having our weird psychic niblings,” she scolds from where she sits beside Andy. “We need to be here and support him while he’s in the birthing bed, as moral support!”

“Not actual birth,” Emile groans into his couch cushion.

“Hey, Emi,” she continues, ignoring him, “you can’t tell if one of them is in Greece yet, can you? Try and aim for one in Heraklion, I never get to go to Crete and I want to go sightseeing!”

“Or Manila!” Linda calls. “But that’s more for my convenience than a vacation.”

“I’m pretty sure you can’t pick where you’ve got your psycellium-connection children, but if you do, aim for Brazil for me so I can meet one,” Nate says, with a hand still awkwardly on Emile’s back in an attempt to comfort him, and Emile is so grateful to him for being with him through the whole of this psychic labor he could cry.

Well. He’s pretty sure he’s already crying from the pain, but.

“Do they count as children?” Andy says, then, “well, I guess you don’t know how old they are yet, do you. It could be a super early activation, so you could end up with a bunch of kids. Or, wait, hey, how funny would it be if you ended up just plucking late activations from retirement homes?”

Emile reaches blindly for the nearest cushion to block his ears. He can tell through feeling that it’s the Mickey Mouse one, but even as he places it over his head the texture skitters under his fingers—a pen, a soft blanket, thick paper, a cold glass sweating with condensation, back to a cushion—and he goes about blocking out Linda and Missy’s chattering about hoping one of them is in their respective countries, so they can be the weird psychic aunties they’d always been meant to be.

Another voice that manages to actually startles him this time, and blurrily, barely comprehensible beyond the pain, he thinks that should probably be how he knows the birth is close: ever since they’d all gained some form of equilibrium, after their own birth nearly ten years ago now, he’s never, ever been startled by the appearance of one of his cluster, ever.

“Ditto on telling me if you end up getting a Canadian,” Brian says, and Emile manages to peek out from his cushion to see Brian crouched on the floor in front of him, beside Nate, smiling at him as if nothing’s wrong, even though he can feel Brian’s nerves roiling alongside his own. “B'ezras Hashem, they won’t end up with only Missy as an auntie, eh?”

He lets out a laugh that sounds more like a sob and he has to squeeze his eyes shut against the pain, then, the pressure behind his eyes unbearable, like all the water of a dam pressing unerringly against the littlest crack, waiting for it to burst.

“Where the hell are you, Remy,” he can hear Toby snarl—when did Toby get here?—and Nate’s hand rubs soothingly up and down his back, shushing Toby.

“Of all the days to take a blocker off-schedule,” Andy tsks. “You should all listen to me, we knew that could be a worst-case scenario—”

“Not his fault,” Emile chokes out—if this could be equitable to normal, human baby birth, Emile might think that the stress of Remy catching sight of someone entering his café and immediately blocking them all out before anyone else could notice might have been what triggered this labor to come on so sudden and so strong.

“No, ‘course not,” Linda says in a soft, soothing voice, nearly drowned out by the sound of fabric smacking against skin; he’s pretty sure that Missy’s hit Andy upside the head with one of his couch cushions, and that’s confirmed when he hears Missy hiss “that is his boyfriend what is wrong with you for bringing that up right now” “well he did!” “oh my God, Emile is literally giving birth right now, this is not the time—”

A particularly strong surge of pressure and Emile clenches his teeth against a scream of pain—sunlight in his eyes flowers in his nose rocks scraping his hands—and his bickering cluster falls immediately silent, and still, and scared, a moment of silence before their thoughts come rushing in—what if this goes why didn’t harley tell us it could be like where is he it’s his damn boyfriend need to help them is he going how is this going to work harley where are you

“It’s okay it’s okay it’s okay,” Nate chants, rubbing a hand up down his back, and Emile actually sobs, this time, because it hurts, it hurts so much, he feels like his brain is exploding.

There are so many flickers of sensation, all the time, flickering from his own couch to the floor of Nate’s office to Linda’s kitchen table to a fancy apartment to Andy’s balcony to a dark silent bed to a grassy field to sprinting along the sidewalk past a patisserie to ears popping on an airplane on wait go back go back that was Remy Remy—

But it’s snatched away on a brisk wind on a blast of air conditioning on a cocoon of warmth under blankets on on on on on

it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay, his cluster says as one, it’s okay it’s okayit���sokayit’sokay—

Nate squeezes his shoulder, and Emile sucks in a desperate breath of air, distantly aware of his own body, the fact he’s writing on his back, now, the heels of his hands digging into his eyes, his throat aching like he’s been screaming, Nate’s hand on his shoulder Missy’s fingers twining with his Linda touching his wrist Andy holding his ankle Brian’s hand on his knee. And he feels anchored.

And then Remy bursts into the apartment, and Emile bawls at the sight of him, the force of it making all of the cluster reach for Remy as one.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Remy pants, skidding to a stop at his couch, “fuck, I’m so sorry, baby—”

“Hurts,” is all Emile can say, and suddenly his body and the entire cluster has shifted—Remy lying behind him, his arms wrapped around Emile’s chest to keep him upright, his cluster touching his arms, his legs, his chest.

“I’m here,” Remy whispers, carding back Emile’s sweaty hair. “I’m right here, babe, I’m so sorry, I’m here now. I’m here.”

“It hurts,” Emile whimpers. “Rem, it hurts so much.”

“I know, I know, I can feel it,” Remy whispers into his ear, rocking him back and forth. “Em, you’re so close, baby, you’re almost done, you’re amazing.”

Emile, blindly, reaches out to clutch his hand and Remy is always, always there to take it, letting Emile crush his hand.

There’s a pull, now. He can feel it, a full-body pull, and—

“You got this,” Remy whispers. “Emile, honey, you’ve got this. We’re right here with you.”

You’re right here with me, Emile thinks, dizzy with the relief of it, finally, all of them, EmileRemyLinnyBrianTobyNateMissyAndy, you’re right here with me, and he lets himself be pulled.

And his brain expands.

“Remy, I see them,” he whispers. “I see them…”

The lights are off here, the only lighting from the moon, illuminated the massive apartment furnished in sleek black lines and bright golds, a man tossing and turning, facing Emile.

The man glances at him, rolls away, pauses, then rolls back abruptly; in the low light, Emile can see the scar slashed across his cheek, bisecting a birthmark. 

“Oh,” Emile whispers, his throat clogged suddenly at the sight of this man—he already knows that his name is Janus, and he is brilliant and cut-throat and lonely and dangerous and Emile loves him already. “Oh, they’re beautiful. You’re beautiful, my dear. My darling.”

Emile reaches for him, and Janus opens his mouth, brow furrowed, about to ask, but Emile is pulled away before he can.

He is suddenly drenched with sweat under hot lights, a conglomeration of cameras in the distance, and he squints to where the boom microphones are held directly aloft—this is Roman, who has his head tilted toward a man in a baseball cap, deep in conversation. Emile glances back over his shoulder and sees a city skyline—old, and beautiful, and familiar because Emile’s been here. Or one of his cluster had been, anyway.

For all that Roman looks so involved in the conversation, Emile can feel the exhaustion of a long day’s shoot, the weight on his shoulders, the constant itch to reach for his phone, to scan the news. Roman’s brow furrows and he looks up, directly meeting Emile’s eyes.

“Are you lost?” Roman says uncertainly, and Emile smiles at him.

“No,” he says. “I was looking for you.”

“Who are you talking to?” The man in the cap asks, and Emile is pulled away.

He’s on a plane and his ears are refusing to pop. Emile grimaces in sympathy, even as he’s glancing over to the man sitting beside him on the plane. Well, slumped, to be more accurate, trying to get some sleep and failing miserably. Emile’s eyes ache with commiseration.

“Sorry,” Emile says sympathetically, remembering his own sleepless days after rebirth.

The man squints out at him, tugging off his purple headphones. “‘Scuse me?” He says, his voice accented—African?

“You’re probably not going to be able to sleep for a few days. Or, um. Not sleep well, I should say.”

“...I’ve had jet lag before,” Virgil says, and yes, he has, hasn’t he?

“Congratulations,” Emile says hastily, already feeling the pull. “A doctorate’s a very big achievement, you should be proud of yourself.”

Virgil’s eyes go wide, and he shrinks back a little in his seat.

“How did you—?”

And Emile is not trapped in a plane anymore, but he almost wishes he was.

“Jiminy crickets, it’s cold,” Emile says aloud, wrapping his arms around himself, because jeez louise it is cold!

Logan freezes from where he is examining a telescope to ensure it’s in working order. 

“The supply ship isn’t due until next week,” he says. His voice is very even and measured. “That is the only opportunity for strangers to get onto the island.”

“Supply…” Emile repeats, before he learns—remembers? “Oh. My goodness, you’re researching in Antarctica?!”

He is! He is researching in Antarctica! He’s a space researcher who is so good at what he does he got to go to Antarctica to study even more in-depth! Gosh, Emile has birthed a smart cluster, there are at least two doctors here! 

“...Am I hallucinating?” Logan asks himself very quietly.

“No!” Emile says hastily. “No no no no, goodness, no!”

Logan’s eyes narrow. “That is… precisely what one would think an induced hallucination would say.”

Emile’s about to explain, but he’s pulled before he can; he has a feeling that Logan’s going to need the most in-depth scientific explanation the Archipelago has accrued over the years.

And he is in a brightly decorated room, with soft toys and lots of colors and the letters of the alphabet winding around the room; a big, tall man is kneeling on the ground, carefully easing a backpack onto a child who couldn’t be more than five.

“All right, Livvy-Lou, we got it all figured out now, don’t we?” the man says brightly—his name is Patton, and he is soft and loving and beautiful and so very sad. 

A grin bursts out on the child’s face. “Thank you, Mr. T!”

Patton smiles, flicking one of her braided pigtails into place so that it doesn’t get tugged by her backpack straps, and gently nudges her along her way before he glances up.

“Hello!” Patton says to Emile brightly. “Are you a—?”

And then he falters.

“...you’re not a parent,” Patton says slowly. “Are you?”

“Well,” Emile says. “I suppose it depends on how you define ‘parent,’ and also, whose parent you think I am.”

Patton’s eyes crinkle with a smile. “What an odd way to answer that question.”

“You’re about to have a lot of odd days ahead of you,” Emile says, “I mean, a lot,” and—

A man sitting hunched under a tree is cussing to himself, even as he eats food he’s gotten from the trash, and his eyes widen at the sight of Emile, already rising to a half-crouch, ready to run.

“Oh,” Emile says. “Oh, goodness. You’ve gotten yourself into quite a situation, haven’t you?”

Remus snarls at him wordlessly. 

Emile frowns a little, his heart aching with terrible concern, not all of it his own. “Is that all you have to eat?”

“Fuck off,” Remus spits, and—

Emile gasps, back in Remy’s arms, back in his apartment, his cluster all staring at him, wide-eyed.

“So?” Missy urges. “Greeks? Tell me you got a Greek.”

He looks at her, and he thinks of the cluster he has just brought into the world, and he feels such a surge of overwhelming joy that he can do nothing but laugh.

His cluster laughs with him, and Remy lets out a huffing breath, hugging him close and kissing his temple, and Emile sighs, closing his eyes, exhausted but still smiling, smiling, smiling.

In London, in Mexico City, in the air between Baltimore and Pretoria, in Antarctica, in Monterrey—

He hopes they all hear it.

Welcome to being sensate, my loves.

[s-creations]

Return the Flames - Chapter 4

All at Dead Bird Studios knew of Amos' (The  Conductor's) ability. How the owl could suddenly erupt into flames if  angered enough. When the studio first opened, Dominic (DJ Grooves) was  told that Amos had his ability under control. Nothing to worry about. No  possible loss of anything from an open flame.

A few years later however, and that control seems to have lessened to a dangerous degree.

It should have just been a simple, week long drive to fix the problem. It really should have been.

Dominic should have asked a lot more questions and should have been prepared for a twist ending.

_________________

Fandom: A Hat in Time   Rating: General Audience   Relationships/Pairings: The ConductorXDJ Grooves   Warnings: Eventual depictions of violence, slow burn relationship, named characters, attempt of an accent, being hunted down, a race against time (sort of).

  He couldn’t believe that had happened. He didn’t mean to start that fire. There was so much anger building up for so many weeks. That reporter was just the final straw. What finally broke the dam of build up emotions. But he didn’t...that fire was so unnatural. And it came from him!

 “Amos.”

 The owl jerked away from the touch on his shoulder to find Dominic. The normally ‘calm and collected’ penguin appearing frazzled in the driver’s seat.  They had stopped by the side of the road, a good distance away from the town. A dense forest surrounding on either side. It was clear the desert, and more importantly that dinner, was far behind them.

 “Amos. We need to talk.”

 He really didn’t want to. He instead exited the car and walked towards the forestline, leaning against the closest tree. Another car door closing announced that Dominic had left the vehicle as well.

 “You are not allowed to pull that stunt and then decide to shut down like this.”

 “We agreed, no questions.”

 “Which was made before you burnt a building      to the ground    .”

 “Aye, ‘m aware this looks bad!” Amos snapped back, facing the penguin. Who looked just as frustrated and angry about this situation at Amos felt.  

 “Don’t think you’re getting out of this. I knew you were having issues, but nothing this serious. That was...you’ve never don’t anything like that before. Was that even fire? And it went up so quickly.”

 “I know. ‘M very aware.”

 “But what was that?”

 “I don’t know. It’s never been that bad before!”

 “You set a building on fire!”

 “I know that!”

 “I thought you said you had better control over this?”

 “I-I thought I did! I just- I already had- That’s not…”

 Dominic frowned as Amos flailed around, starting to pace as the owl clearly scrambled for some sort of believable answer. “Amos...Amos look at me. I need you to explain to me what happened. That was not your normal fire...and it grew far too quickly.”

 “...Aye.”

 “Then tell me what happened.”

 “...I was angry.”

 “I’m aware of that! But what about the fire Amos.”

 “What about the fire!”

 “Why was it so different.”

 “I don’t know-”

 “Yes you do! Amos...I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I had been aware of how damaging it could be.”

 “It’s not-”

 “Do you want to go back and see the damage you’ve done? This is a level of danger that I don’t think either of us can handle.”

 “I can-”

 “No, you can’t-”

 “Would ya let me answer, ya peck neck!”

 “Can you give me clear answer?”

 “I don’t know.”

 “That’s not good enough Amos.”

 “Well, what do you want me to say!”

 “The truth! An explanation! Something, anything just to know we aren’t going to accidentally set anything else on fire!”

 “I can’t… I don’t know what to expect from this.”

 “Amos-”

 “I don’t know Dominic!”

 “Did you know this would be dangerous? Maybe we should have gone to find an expert instead of traveling halfway around the world!”

 “And where do ya expect to find and expert on Phoenix flames!”

 Silence fell between them. Dominic looking shocked, Amos down right terrified.

 “...Phoenix flames?”

 “I didn’t- ya didn’t hear that. Just, forget it.”

 “I don’t think I will forget our discussion about a mystical flame that has the capability of destroying anything. Even more so if it’s hurting you and makes your emotions further unstable!”

 “What are ya talkin’ about unstable!”

 “You set a building. On. Fire. Because of your anger. You even admitted it!”

 “Aye...I did…”

 Dominic stood with his arms crossed, letting out a heavy sigh when the silence stretched between them. “Since you don’t feel like sharing information at the moment, let me piece together what I can. You, somehow, have a Phoenix flame burning in you. Which has slowly been increasing for I don’t know how long, but it’s becoming dangerous. Enough so that apparently you have to either force it back down with cold. Or release it. With the latter being the most worrisome as the flames you’re able to create can burn hotter and faster than any normal fire.”

 “You can’t go to any doctors because, you’re right, there are no experts on this. As this is not a normal topic to study. So, going to this mountain will help in some way that even you don’t fully know why. How’s this going so far?”

 Amos, who had crossed his arms as well and was hunched over, merely nodded. Receiving no other forms of confirmation, Dominic continued.

 “There are two parts to this that I can’t figure out about this. How did you get this ability and why is the flame, that is yours, harming you. It’s clear that you’re in pain, so don’t you try and deny it. But why would-”

 “What does a Phoenix's do when they’ve become old or are severely injured.” Amos voiced weakly.

 “They burst into flames to burn their own form and are reborn from the ashes.” Dominic casually answered, only to pause in realization as to what he’d just answered with. Wide eyes of fear returned to the ow, who was still shrinking away.

 “Amos...are you...dying?”

 “No… Aye? ...I really don’t know. I still am a mortal, but I have an otherworldly ability. If I become…if I burn, I believe I will die.”

 “Which is why you wanted that day before we left to settle your estate. To make sure Amelia was set. In case…”

 “Aye.”

 “...Do you know how much longer you have?”

 Amos shook his head. His crossed arm tightened around himself. “It’s soon.. I can tell that much. It’s harder to keep it at bay...as you’ve seen.”

 “And the way to help this is at the mountain?” Dominic sighed as Amos nodded again, “Then we need to get going.”

 Another silent nod. Dominic walked forward and gently placed a hand on Amos’ shoulder, gently directing the owl back towards the car. They get back in, pulling away as Amos voiced one last piece of information.

 “It’s my father.”

 “I’m sorry?” Dominic looked over.

 “The Phoenix...technically my father.”

 “Ah...alright.”

 They drove off in silence.

 ________________________

 “Sir, the fire is out. Finally.”

 Fire Chief Marelo nodded weakly, eyes still scanning over the ashed foundation. In all the years he had put into fighting fire, this was by far the worst he’d ever experienced. They weren’t able to get close and nothing they quite literally threw at it worked. And the flames. That’s what terrified him the most. Flames of pure red, of physical anger, engulfing the once pristine restaurant. It was an absolute mess and one that he wasn’t sure he could explain to the major without sounding insane.

 “Let me guess. It burnt itself out.” He grumbled weakly.

 “Uh, yes sir.”

 “Was anyone harmed?”

 “No. The building was the only thing lost.”

 “At least there’s that. Rope off the rest of the area and we’ll start our report. There’s not much we can do here.”

 “Sir!” Marelo looked up as another fighter rushed over. “There are some, uh, visitors that want to speak with you.”

 “...Alright. Lead the way.” The chief was honestly expecting to see the police waiting for him at the tape. What he was not ready for was a flock of crows. Or a murder to be more accurate. Marelo couldn’t tell if this was a warning or not. It was honestly hard to tell where the black feathers stopped and the black trench coat began. All Marelo could truly see were their white eyes and their beaks that stuck out.

 “Hello...gentlemen. What can I help you with?”

 “Yes, hello, fellow governmental department. We have been informed you are the leader of this scene. Is this correct?” The (possibly) head crow spoke.

 “Yes...that would be me.”

 “Then I will make this brief. My fellow birds and I are part of the C.A.W. which is a special department of the government. The same one you work for as well. Fellow government department. We have arrived after hearing the reports of a strange fire that transpired here as this once eating establishment. We arrived to look around.”

 “I, wait, what? Caw? I’ve never heard of your ‘department’ before.” Marelo flinched when a badge was quickly shoved into his face. He was given the briefest moment to look it over to confirm it was authentic before it was taken away.

 “We will be looking now.” A flood of crows crossed below the tape and began scurrying among the wreckage.

 “Hey, wait, hold on! I didn’t give you clearance to be here!” Marelo snapped.

 “We don’t need clearance. We are clearance.” The crow responded.

 “I don’t even understand what your so-called ‘department’ does!”

 “We are C.A.W. The Crypto-hunters Advocating for Well-being.”

 “...What?”

 “Tell me, chief, the fire that happened here. It did not go out by usual means. And by that I mean, water did not put it out.”

 “Yes, that’s true.”

 “And that fire burned hotter than any of those that you’ve seen before. With it even seeming to be a solid color.”

 “How did you know that.”

 “Because this is an unusual, very rarely seen fire. Only held by beings of a higher power.”

 “...What are you talking about?”

 “Fellow C.A.W. member,” Marelo jumped as another crow spoke up from behind him, “We have found what was needed from this scene. We are on the okay to leave.”

 “Good. Thank you, fellow government department, for letting us look around.”

 “I didn’t allow for anything! And what exactly did you find?” Marelo watched, with mouth agape, as the crows ducked back under the tape and walked away from the scene. The murder packed closer together as they parted the crowd easily. All watching with varying shades of confusion as the flack moved towards the horizon.

 “Um, sir? Did you want to start on that report?”

 Marelo nodded slowly, still watching the retreating crowd of crows. “Yeah...and we need someone to tell us what the actual peck the C.A.W. is…”

[readbythestarlight]

c2e105

Nord by Nordwest huh

The fact that Taliesin can keep a straight face during all this, while Liam and Travis and Matt are losing it

"Cyber abacus"

ASHLEY NOT YOU TOO xD

I love how they play the "Taliesin is an ancient Fae being" even when he’s being a super hacker

I need some of Ashley’s colorful jackets

[[MORE]]

Oooo can she poof them to Vokodo’s lair?

Oh maybe not no

C: "I would love to see a door open into a tree"

Cad: "well most doors used to be trees"

Oh my god Jester wants to put the dragon turtle against Vokodo alskslskak

God I love her

Listen listen what if y’all polymorph the dragon turtle into something small, get him inside, and have him fight Vokodo

Y’all are coming up with so many crazy clever plans

Did y’all forget about the spell booby trap bombs tho those were cool too

I was gonna say, they might not all want to leave at all

And some might want their ships so that’s true

I feel like if they’re not careful Vilya is going to be fairly unimpressed with them and their disregard for people’s possible livelihoods, especially after the situation against the ghost guys

Like, brining the Dragonturtle in to fight Vokodo is cool, bringing him in to destroy ships to (hopefully) lure Vokodo out is bad, especially because there’s no guarantee it’ll even work

Idk I just feel like this is a fun but irresponsible plan

Suddenly the Dragonturtle sounds like Orli xD

See the only problem with half the M9 being in love with Jester is that they indulge her ideas sometimes even when they’re not the best

B: "does Vokodo even care about the ships?" THANK you Beau why didn’t you ask that before Jester told the turtle where they are

I don’t think Vokodo cares so much about sentimental value. If that were the case Nott’s flask, Cad’s shield would have been worth more to him. And he would have insisted on Beau’s bracers.

Jester: makes a cake feast

Me, immediately: "I want a feast

I want a bean feast

Cream buns and doughnuts

And fruitcake with no nuts

So good you could go nuts"

Jester is much nicer than Veruka but that verse fits so well

Pancakes hell yeah

"It’s been so long since I had a pancake"

Vilya is a woman after my own heart

I scanned Sam’s QR code he’s such a nerd

Aw Jester sweetie

J, crying: "I am not sad"

Baby girl

"What if it were just you and him? Like the old days?"

"I don’t think that’s a bad thing."

Jester, honey </3

Someone hug her!!

I’m glad she’s telling them the truth about the Traveler knowing about Vokodo

Listening to her make excuses for him is hard

I can’t believe Jester’s story is almost actually about her literally getting out of a cult

TravelerCon

Traveler.... Con...

"Also if he hurts you I’ll kill him" Beau xD

It’s "everybody loves Jester" hour

Y: "I’ve never had pancakes before this is amazing this is like my new favorite thing"

F: "you haven’t touched your bugs much"

Y: "that’s because I’m eating all the pancakes"

Beau didn’t Dairon kick your ass last time y’all squared off?

Wait

WHY

The everloving fuck

Didn’t they have Vilya tree-door them off the island for the night so they’d be safe and then just tree-door them back in the morning??

Oh?

Yasha dream?

Gasp!

Feather!

AYO STORMLORD WASSUP ITS BEEN A WHILE MY DUDE

Come on Yasha come on Yasha you can do it you can do it!!

"Do not run for yourself. Overcome what falters. And rise stronger."

REACH IT BABY GIRL YES

oh frick

"I will look up at it and I will just say... ‘I do not want this fear anymore’, and I will stand there and sit for it to hit me"

Baby giiiiiiirl

"Of broken chain link, tethered and tangled beneath you"

I! AM! CRYING!

"Show me you can be reborn"

"....Okay."

Wings wings wings?

"Like flowers blossoming" oh my god I’m weeping

YASHAAAAA

Full, angelic <3

No

Don’t go back, baby girl.

Fuck I was afraid he was going to say it was Zuala

My heart

"I crouch down, and I put my hand out—"

"I have to go."

And she leaps UP

oh god I’m cry

"I’m proud of you"

"Don’t let me be a shackle"

*sobbbbbbb*

I’m an emotional wreck rn

Have them a false sense of security there for a sec Matt Lol

Oh, it’s Caleb’s turn...

Instead of wasting the spell tight away they should have tried to explain it to him and see if that helped first

Okay but they were all tied together so like how did they take it away and hide it

I hope they get a LOT of treasure to make up for all this lost diamond/residuum dust

Stop wasting messages! Just leave him alone!

I’m glad tbh I just don’t think this was a good idea

Please just go fight him y’all are just making it more complicated at this point

I really hope they didn’t just destroy someone’s only way to get out

Like obviously it’s important to save everyone first but I hope they find ways to make sure they don’t just send someone home with no way to support themselves

Also I cannot believe this works

Like why would he care about the ships??

Y’all are gonna have blown up ships and gotten the town destroyed probably

Here we go

See IF they successfully drew him up they’d have missed this map

And now really all they’ve done is pissed him off in advance

Poor Yasha. Somebody get her something to boost her wisdom

Wisdom saves galore

Wait why did polymorph bounce off??

Also where did the plan of “bombard him with banishment” go

Ooo clever Veth!

Ooooo nice! ASTRAL DREADNAUGHT WOOOOOO

Lightning in water, would that be bad?

Oh my god did they banish her???

Wtf

So Vokodo must have some feat that allows him to deflect spells when he makes the save

This feat is the WORST

Yayyyy Yasha!

Okay so banishment is NOT working

Everyone like “Liam are you gonna bring Beau back??”

Wait

He’s gone

But he’s got their stuff??

Caleb’s necklace of protection?? Veth’s flask? Yasha’s other sword?

Being!

Him!

Back!

Okay wait this is gonna be bad isn’t it

WHAT

OMG

THE BEST NAT1

Holy SHIT?!

Daaaaaamn GO CALEB

that’s amazing holy shit

Now get that treasure!

Damn that was intense

I’m so glad they brought Vokodo back to just destroy him

L: “Ooo like the ring girl?”

T: “SHUT! UP! There is no association to that!”

I hope they can at least find Caleb’s ring

Will the island be back to normal-ish?

Probably not?

Anyway I’m glad they just went down and fought him because that was amazing

Oh fuck y’all so listen he was being persued by a city? And the tower was probably part of the city. And Matt said that tower looked similar to the ruins outside Roshanna (Gordranus?)

You know, the one destroyed during the calamity?

What if

What iiiiiif

I mean it’s just a theory but what if

[schrijverr]

I Wrote My Own Deliverance

Chapter 9 out of 10

Alexander Hamilton is reborn as Alex Hambleton. He is desperate not to make the same mistakes twice, but it seems he is stuck in the narrative, unable to get out. Familiar faces pop up all around him as he attempts to keep his previous life a secret and write himself out of the story.

On AO3.

Ships: Alex/John/Eliza preslash implied

Warnings: none, but tell me if I missed anything or if you want me to tag something!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

Alex had attempted to sleep his misery away. He had hoped to wake up when it was all over and he could pretend he had not just done that again.

Overwhelm them with honesty always felt like a great option, until you had spread the word and were waiting for the reactions.

However, no such luck was in store for Alex when he awoke to the sound of someone banging loudly on his door. It took a moment for the yelling to register, but he quickly identified it as Angelica when she yelled: “Alexander open this door right now, because I will not hesitate to kick it in.”

He jumped out of bed and called something out to her as he stumbled over, blanket hanging over his shoulders, his hair still a mess from running his hands through it all night, bags under his eyes and a weight on the slump of his shoulders.

When he opened the door, he was met with more people than just Angelica. Behind her stood Eliza, Herc, Lafayette and John, all with crossed arms and stern expressions on their faces.

If they expected him to react the same as before, they were sorely mistaken. He was tired and emotionally drained and he did not have the energy to create an aloof mask. So when he saw them all standing there, he did what any sane person would have done and broke down into tears as he sank to the floor.

Immediately the lecture they had in store for him was forgotten as they sank down to wrap him up in a hug as he sobbed a thousand apologies into their clothes.

After a while Angelica took control of the situation and managed to usher them into the dorm, before they attracted too much attention. She also situated Alex onto his bed, pressed tightly between his friends, with Eliza and John on both sides and Herc and Lafayette next to them, while Angie set to make some tea.

“I’m so sorry for not telling you all.” Alex said, wiping away his tears after he had finally gotten his breathing under control.

“Hey, it’s okay, Alexander, it’s all okay.” Eliza petted his hair, but it just made more tears fall out of his eyes.

“No, no, it’s not,” he protested, voice still broken, “I fucked up again, I made you all sad by ignoring you and it was all for nothing anyway, I still messed up and I’m probably going to stay a fuck up for the rest of my life even when I try so so hard, it’s just never enough.”

“Alex, stop that.” John told him, he realized that kindness was perhaps good, but not if they couldn't snap him out of it.

“Stop what?”

“Stop beating yourself up over trying to be a better person and succeeding.” he answered, taking pride in the fact that he had reduced Alexander ‘A-Hundred-Words-Per-Minute’ Hamilton to silent gaping imitation of a fish on dry land.

When he finally managed to gather his words, he softly whispered: “Succeeded?”

At that point Angelica came back and pushed a warm mug in his hand as she counted on her fingers: “Didn’t cheat, didn’t ruin someone else’s life in an attempt to save your reputation and tried to do what was best for your friends even if the conclusion on how to do that was wrong. You already ‘changed the story’, as you put it.”

“But what if it wasn’t enough?” he asked, “What if no one believes me and Washington gets fired and he hates me and then I never get to see him or Mama M again and you all still have to yell at me for being a shit friend, which is true, and I am left alone and-”

“Alex, I love you, but please shut up before you talk yourself into a panic attack.” Eliza cut off his ramblings.

It seemed that it was enough for Alex to completely shut down and he just stared into another dimension, face riddled with shock and disbelief.

“If zat is truly the worst thing you can come up with then rest assured, mon petit lion, I can - how you say - ah, repel these thoughts.” Laf offered, “If no one believes you, you can actually prove you are Alexander Hamilton by registering.”

“Yeah, and Washington fucking loves you dude, so be chill on that front.” Laurens added, “Same goes for Martha, if she’s still the same.”

“And we will yell at you, but we’re not going to ditch you.” Angelica finished.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked.

Both John and Eliza pull him in for a hug as they whispered: “Of course we’re sure.” “We missed you.”

“Sorry I never said I remembered.” Alex apologized again.

“Well, one pro of being a chronic over-sharer with the world at large is that you don’t really have to explain.” Herc was teasing him, that was Hercs teasing voice and Alex had never been more happy that he was being made fun of.

The sound from his throat was a mix between a sob and a laugh as he confessed: “I missed all of you so much, it literally hurt to not say anything.”

“We believe you.” Eliza told him and both she and Laurens hugged him tightly.

They formed a cuddle pile and started up the The Fellowship of the Ring while Alex was busy being overwhelmed by what his life was right now.

When the fellowship had just arrived in Moria, Alex cleared his throat and said: “I think I’m ready for the yelling now.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Angelica warned him before getting up and taking a deep breath: “How dare you give in to your big ego and throw away your life in a duel when you wife and living children needed you. How dare you leave us all behind for honor when we needed you, you dumb fuck.”

“It was a dick move to not tell me who you were when I found you again, Alex.” John did not give him a moment to react, “I missed you so fucking much and then you pull that shit, break my heart all over again.”

“While I understand and forgive you, it was, as John eloquently phrased it, a dick move to not come to my aid in France.” Lafayette told him and Alex shrunk under his gaze.

Eliza took over: “It was difficult when you left me with the children and it took a long time to forgive you and it hurt even more to see you without you knowing me. And knowing in hindsight that you did, does not make it any better.”

Alex was ready for the ground to swallow him and he wanted to nothing more then for this to be over as he turned to Herc, who shrugged: “It sucked that you didn’t come around more? I don’t know, dude, I don’t have that much beef with you. Except that I had to deal with these two dramatic assholes without you.”

The two assholes in question both let out an indignant ‘Hey!’ as Alex snorted, already calming down a bit.

It was quiet for a few more seconds then Alex said: “Can I talk now? I know I’ve already written everything down for the world to see and all that, but I have been thinking for years about what to say if I had the chance, so…”

John grinned and said: “I never thought I’d say this, but I’d love a Hamilton speech right now. Do your worst.”

“I resent that.” he fired back, before turning to Herc, he wasn’t ready to face Eliza yet, “Sorry, I allowed myself to get swept up in the world of politics so much that I did not make time to see you. It was both snobby and shitty and you deserved better than that.”

Herc gave him some finger guns, which settled his nerves slightly.

Then he moved to Lafayette: “I want to say sorry for never coming for you. I know that politically it was the right decision, but I should have come for you anyway. I promised and then I left you. Even if I argued for neutrality against France, I could have taken a break to save you for personal reasons and the fact that I didn’t speaks of my asshole-ness.”

Lafayette gave him a tight smile and forgiving eyes, but he didn’t say a word. Alex couldn’t tell if it was because the other had realized that if Alex were interrupted he might be unable to start again or because Laf did not have the words to reply.

He turned to Angelica: “I have attempted many times to figure out what to say to you, but I never really know. You were the sister I never had, the support system I shouldn’t have taken for granted, yet I did. I can never repay you for being there for Betsy. So, thank you.”

She patted his shoulder and smiled encouragingly. As much as she could let her temper run wild, she could always be the rock he needed and he was so very grateful for her.

Then he found himself face to face with John. For all the speeches he had written for Laurens, when actually faced with the man, he grasped at straws.

“My dear Laurens,” what other way to start was there? “I cannot begin to express how all my words left me when I saw you alive once more. It pained me that I could not be there when you died and that our promise to see the war through together could not be fulfilled.”

He was reverting back to his older form of speech, but he was hardly noticing it: “We have left so much unsaid between us that breaking the silence seems terrifying, yet I hope that one day you can forgive me for not immediately sharing the delight of finding you in this life.”

“I cannot say how this life we’re making for ourselves will pan out.” he added, “The world is different and I cannot yet say if our stories will be, but I hope we can build upon a relation passed and see where the road takes us.”

Laurens took his hand a squeezed it. There were tears in both their eyes and neither said a word as they stayed liked that for a second, before Alex cleared his throat and turned to the last person in the room.

He had written so much for Eliza, but the only thing he could bring himself to say was an apology: “I know I can never apologize enough for all that I did to you, but I want you to know how incredibly sorry I am and how aware I am that I can never truly apologize for everything I have done.”

“It’s okay.” she said, sweet smile on her face, “It wasn’t for a long time, but you are not him anymore and you are still a good man. Finding out you’re poly did explain a lot.”

“Just because I’m poly doesn’t mean cheating is okay, not to mention telling the whole world about it.” Alex interjected, stereotypes were shit, “Being poly is also about communicating, which is every relationship to be honest.”

“I know, dear.” she cut off his verbal essay before it could begin, “What I meant is that it explained how you still looked at me like I was the world, even after everything. And how your eyes would sparkle when you talked about John, while still having the same look for me.”

“Oh.” sometimes he wondered why he was known as eloquent.

She smiled and repeated: “Yeah, oh.”

Herc piped up: “She and John started the POHC after the party. It was kinda sad, but also kinda sweet. We mostly avoided them.”

“Shut up, Herc.” John hissed, blush on his features, while Alex asked: “POHC?”

“Pine Over Hamilton Club.” Herc grinned, it seemed his spying tendencies had turned into a need for gossip.

“Not the point.” Eliza interrupted, also blushing, “We’ll talk about it later, for now, lets focus on the situation at hand. Did Washington know you were going to do this?”

“Yeah,” Alex snorted, “I’m not doing that without consent two times. I’m an idiot, but I’m not stupid, you know. Mama M wanted to push for a lawsuit, but telling someone you will sue them if they breathe a word is about the same as telling them they’re right.”

“That sucks, mon ami.” Lafayette said.

“Tell me about it.” Alex smiled back, “Though we’re still considering pushing a lawsuit when we have the board on our side. I don’t want to dive into it without being registered.”

“You’re going to register?” Angelica asked.

“I have to, Angie.” Alex said, “If I get called for the board then I have proof, and I know they will call on me to explain, so better get it over with. The only reason I haven’t yet is because I didn’t want to do it without asking you guys.”

“Why?”

“Because if I am verified, then Washington will have to be verified and then everyone will look at the two ‘Great Founding Fathers of the United Sates of America’ and by extension everyone near them with a name resembling someone they knew.” Alex explained, “Of course you can avoid it by not being friends with me again, which I totally get and I don’t blame you if you don’t want to be associated with me.”

“Oh non, Alex, I will never let mon petit frére go.” Lafayette hugged him tightly and it was good to be in the mans arms again. He had missed his brother in all but blood.

“Yeah, not cool that you think we’ll drop you again.” Herc scolded him playfully, “We’re cooler than that.”

“I can handle them if they come after me.” Angelica said fiercely.

“And I do not doubt that.” Alex told her, “You are terrifying and I want to be on your good side for the rest of my life, but maybe take some time to think about it.”

She glanced at him and smirked: “I never thought I’d see the day when Alexander Hamilton tells me to pause and think like he was Aa- Oh my god, you have been roommates with Aaron Burr for over a year!”

[arigatouiris]

Catching Feelings — Connor [04]

Pairing: Deviant! Connor x Reader

Word Count: 1700

Warnings: Swearing, angst, fluff, clumsy!reader, timid!reader (not for long), mentions of anxiety, inappropriate boss behavior (basically Gavin being Gavin)

Author’s Note: I am so sorry about the sudden hiatus that I went into. It’s been a terrible couple of months, and I didn’t know how to cope. Finally, I pushed myself into writing a chapter, albeit a small one. Hope you enjoy~

Also, those who want to be on the taglist, just send me an ask~

Summary: Connor has a revelation. 

Chapter Four: Love

○

When (y/n) woke up that morning, she thought of Connor. 

It was a strange, fleeting feeling—almost as if she was caught with something she wasn’t supposed to have. She opened her eyes, scrunched her eyebrows a tad bit, before allowing herself to get up and sit up. She suddenly thought of kissing his cheek, which she had just yesterday, and thought of witnessing a shy version of Connor after she did that.

However, a random thought entered her head and wouldn’t leave. She knew she had to now confront Connor or her peace would be lost.

When she reached work that day, Connor was already there. Hank was nowhere to be seen, and thankfully, neither was Gavin. It wasn’t as if she hated Gavin, it wasn’t that at all; it was just that he was difficult to work with sometimes, and from the past few days, Gavin’s difficult status was a bit ongoing.

As soon as she spotted Connor, she ran over to him and slammed her hand on his desk, startling him. Connor smiled at her, but before he could greet her,

    “Connor, I am so sorry.”

Connor blinked a couple of times.

    “What for?”

Suddenly, she felt her cheeks warm up. She avoided his gaze before clearing her throat.

    “I just… I kissed your cheek yesterday… I just threw myself at you. It isn’t right. I need you to understand that I am so sorry—”

    “(y/n), I don’t understand why you are apologizing.” Connor sounded genuinely surprised.

(y/n) had no idea how to explain consent to him. She blinked a couple of times, stared at his face for inspiration and waited as if the answers would come to her on their own.

    “See, you can’t do sexual things to someone if they don’t want it. I mean, consent is… consent means… suppose you didn’t want me kissing you on the cheek and I kissed you on the cheek, it’s wrong of me because I do it according to your consent. You have the right to decide if you want it or not.”

Connor made an ‘o’ and nodded twice. A second later, a cheeky grin appeared on his face, a grin that did little to calm (y/n) down. Her stomach flipped when Connor’s eyes met hers.

    “You didn’t go against my consent, (y/n). I liked it very much.”

Her face reddened immediately and she was sure Connor noticed. He had noticed every single time she blushed, there was no way he wouldn’t notice now. There was something so eerily attractive about the android right then, with his smug smile and his charming face. She cleared her throat and awkwardly walked away, earning a chuckle from Connor.

He couldn’t believe how cute she was. He understood what consent meant in terms of approval, and it was something he believed applied only to humans. However, a simple gesture from her end proved him wrong once again. He didn’t have to be human to appreciate and feel these emotions.

He looked at her once more before turning away and smiling to himself. He didn’t understand half the things he was feeling, but she had told him that no one did. And that it was okay not to know.

Throughout the day, Connor felt her eyes lingering on his form. He would find her staring at him when he went to get Hank his morning coffee; he could see her steal glances at him when he spoke to literally anyone else in the station. He could feel her look at him when she would get up to get herself some coffee. He wondered if she had something to say, but he knew that if she did then she would come say it. No, this was something else.

    “Lieutenant,” Connor whispered, once again feeling her eyes on him. “Lieutenant.”

Hank grumbled before looking up from his work and then at him.

    “What is it?”

    “I think something is very wrong.”

Hank narrowed his eyes at his android partner, “What do you mean?”

    “(y/n) has been looking at me all morning, but hasn’t come to say anything to me either to let me know if something is wrong. Is someone threatening her?”

Hank turned to see (y/n) look in Connor’s direction, and as soon as Hank turned to look at her, she looked away immediately. Hank sighed, wondered if this was High School, and then turned back to his partner with a deadpan expression.

    “Son, I think she’s got a crush on you.”

Connor couldn’t choke on anything, it was impossible for an android to choke, however, right then he felt like he was. His jaw dropped open a bit before he cleared his throat of absolutely nothing.

    “I don’t think….”

    “Look, Connor, I have no clue how a girl can even begin to think of you sexually, but she’s been looking at you, has been nice to you, smiles at you all the damn time like a freaking clown, so yeah. My guess is she’s got the hots for you. Either do something about it or go break her heart.”

This time, Connor gasped.

    “I would never harm her in any physical way. To break her heart, I’d have to be barbaric. I don’t see why I would ever cut open her chest—”

    “It’s an expression, twat.” Hank said, putting his hand up to stop Connor from rambling.

○

Connor observed [Name] when she got up for lunch. 

She didn’t meet his gaze much after being caught once (or more than twice). He noticed Gavin wasn’t around, and Hank was busy taking a nap, which gave the android enough time to go over to his newfound obsession and talk to her about what suddenly went wrong. And about the crush… He was certain he had to ask her, but for some strange reason, Connor didn’t want to.

He watched as she got up, a sandwich in hand, and headed to the cafeteria. There were so many things about her that was strange. Strange, not in a bad way, but in a way Connor found intriguing. He was experiencing so many new things, so many new receptors that behaved in ways he never knew they could. She filled her bottle and sat down, by herself, a fact that made Connor feel strangely warm and sad at the same time.

When it got too much, he felt that strange need again. The need to touch her. He recalled whatever he had spoken to her the other day, about androids opting for a new update and upgrade that allowed them to feel pain and pleasure, that allowed them to age and shut down mechanically—simply because Simon, the creator of the upgrade, was in love with a human man.

In love.

Love?

Connor watched as she ate the sandwich, the piece of tomato stuck halfway in her mouth and halfway in the sandwich, as she struggled to chew without breaking the sandwich in a miserable half. He chuckled as he noticed her drop her sandwich to the paper napkin below, failing to eat the way she wanted to. He noticed her look around if anyone observed her, and when her gaze met Connor’s, two things happened.

Her eyes widened.

And Connor reached to a conclusion.

Love.

He walked over to where she was sitting and sat across from her, a soft smile adorning his features.

    “Hello, [Name].”

She avoided his gaze a bit, before mumbling out, “Hi, Connor.”

There was a silence that followed but it was not awkward. Connor couldn’t take his eyes away from her, and when she looked up and blinked a couple of times, he swore he felt reborn.

    “Why do I feel this way…” He whispered unintentionally.

    “Feel what way?” She asked, her eyes widening.

Connor then did something completely unlike him. He sighed.

    “Connor?”

    “Yes, [Name]?”

She tilted her head a bit and watched as his smile grew. She was more than confused now. Her heart was beating rapidly and she was mentally cursing herself for feeling that way about an android, but seeing how he was responding to her at that second confused her beyond belief. She narrowed her eyes a bit before attempting to reach out to Connor’s hand, wanting to know if what she thought was actually happening.

And when her hand touched him, Connor’s gaze shifted to the contact before he turned his hand around and instinctively grasped hers, shocking her. She let out a soft gasp before looking at him with a worried expression, and Connor’s eyes widened.

    “Connor, are you…?”

    “When I’m with you, I can barely understand what’s happening to me. I feel all these receptions, these… emotions, emotions that I am not supposed to feel. You do not treat me like an android, [Name], and I think this has a lot to do with that. I believed there was sadness, warmth, and happiness but I never assumed I could feel a combination of all three.”

    “Maybe this is why so many androids wanted those upgrades.” Her voice was a whisper.

    “I am still trying to be a great detective.” He sounded so sad.

She didn’t say a word to his response. Connor grasped her hand tighter before entwining their fingers together.

    “I want to find out what it takes to be an android before I can allow myself to fall in love with you, [Name].”

She stared at him as if he was crazy. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe, it’s because he’s an android experiencing all those primary emotions for the first time, he could feel them a bit stronger than actual people. And if that was the case…

Then that would mean that she, a regular intern, was Connor’s first love.

○

series taglist:

@ggukachuu @rainbowsithlord @pan-puff-pride @tanya-diggory @toocoldoutsideforyou @margaret-mortem @ohhhhhhsweetfandomofmine @pandacookieowo @maajikcrossing @inthemarveldumpster @iwannabemorethanme @creation-magician @icetealemonade @saphirepearl

[mca-attack21]

Riverdale: Deadly Definitions 4

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3

The next day would be one of the most important of this story. Because it was on this day that apologies would be made and friendships reborn. It all started in the common room before school. Two girls, neither of which you recognized had approached Cheryl harassing her about lying to the police. 

Then Reggie spoke up “You don’t have to worry about Cheryl. It is never the popular ones. It always the loner outcasts. The nobodies in the background who have a weird obsession with murder. One of the freaks like Jughead or Y/n.” 

“That’s enough Reggie” Betty called.

“What was it like Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason, you didn’t do stuff to the body, did you? like after?” he added.

“It’s called necrophilia Reggie, can you spell it?” Jughead shot back. 

Reggie got up and went for Jughead, but Archie stepped in the way. “Shut the hell up Reggie”,

“What do you care Andrews?” Reggie questioned.

“Nothing. Just leave them alone” Archie answered turning back to the vending machine. 

“Come on Jughead, let’s get out of here.” you said dragging him out of the room.  

“Doesn’t surprise me though, that little bitch of yours has experience? With her parents.” Reggie called after the two of you.

“That’s it” Archie said before punching Reggie. Jughead stopped in his place. He couldn’t believe that he said that. To mess with him was one thing, but to say that about you. When he registered the fight (which had earned Archie a black eye) and turned back to make sure you were okay, you were already gone. He went to look for you, but was dragged off by the principal along with Reggie and Archie. 

“Who and what the hell was that?” Veronica asked.

“Y/n, Jughead, Archie and I were best friends until Archie and Jughead had a huge falling out. I chose Archie’s side and Y/n said that she had to be there for Jughead. She and I tried to make it work, and she wasn’t mad at Archie. But then a month later her parents died in this really suspicious accident. Anyways, Archie and I went to the funeral, but since then the four of us have hardly spoke.” Betty explained.

“Wow. Were her and Archie ever a thing?”

“No, he was like her brother. She always knew how to get to him and bring him back down to earth. I think that is why he took it so hard when she went with Jughead. Obviously, he understood, but at the same time he thought she would have his back.” Betty continued.

“Old habits die hard” Veronica continued and the conversation took off to her date and Betty’s plans for the pep assemble.

---

To say that you were upset would be the understatement of the year. See there are very few people who knew the details of you parents death. Even though they had been ruled freak accidents, you had always believed there had been foul play involved. You had blamed yourself because you didn’t see any signs. You couldn’t even remember the last conversation you had with them. Back then you spent the majority of your time with your friends. You had assumed you had more time. Whatever. Reggie was an idiot who was probably high. You tried to calm yourself down and to think logically. But it was no use, so instead you decided to let it all out, which was exhausting. 

---

Archie had made it home and was icing his eye when his dad showed up. “Please tell me that you weren’t in another fight with Jughead.” he halfheartedly joked.

“Actually it was with Reggie” Archie said.

“Am I allowed to know what it was over?”

“It was about Y/n. Reggie said something about her parents. He took it too far Dad.” 

“Well, as far as reasons go, I guess that is a good one.” Mr. Andrews answered, “is she okay?” 

“I don’t know, Jug and I were forced to go to the Principal's office. He’s out looking for her now.”

“You know this is the most we have talked in a long time” 

“Well, can I ask you something else? Completely unrelated.” Archie asked

“Sure Son, what’s on your mind?” 

“There is this girl that I have been seeing. And something happened. I want to do the right thing, but this girl says that it will ruin everything. And it could mess things up, but how am I supposed to pretend that not doing the thing that I know I need to do is the right thing when it isn’t?” he asked.

Mr. Andrews returned a blank stare trying to follow what Archie had just said. 

“Never mind,” Archie replied, “I know that didn’t make any sense.” 

“Listen. You will do the right thing, even if it is the hard thing because that is who you are Archie. And if this girl is trying to talk you out of doing what you know is right, maybe she is the wrong girl to be worried about” Mr. Andrews answered.

“Thanks Dad, I have to go get ready for the Pep Assembly.”  he said as he went upstairs.

‘Have you heard anything yet?’ he text Jughead.

‘No, you?’ Jug sent back.

‘No, I hope she’s okay�� 

‘Me too, I keep you posted’

It was at the Pep assembly that he saw Miss Grundy and informed her that he would be going to Sheriff Keller in the morning and would keep her name out of it if at all possible. He was then waved over by Jughead who informed him that you had sent him a text that you were okay, just needed to clear your head, and would be at Pop’s later that night. Archie was so grateful to know that you were okay.

-----

You were sitting at Pop’s drinking a milkshake and snacking on fries when Veronica and Betty came in and asked to join you.

“I don’t believe we’ve actually met, my name is Veronica Lodge.” she greeted offering her hand. 

“Y/f/N Y/l/n. It’s a pleasure to meet you” you answer shaking hands.

“I’m sorry about what Reggie said earlier. Are you okay?” Betty asked.

“Yeah I’m fine, I just overreacted earlier.”

“Okay, I know I don’t know you, but you had every right to react like that. Reggie was a complete ass. If it were me, I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk away that easy.” Veronica added.

“Thanks Veronica, that means a lot” you say smiling up at her. 

“Is it just me or are the three of us going to be best friends now?” She asked.

And the three of you spent the next ten minutes getting to know each other and making plans to continue to get to know each other. Then two people walked into the dinner looking around for someone. 

“Looked what the cats’ dragged in” Veronica laughed.

“Are you guys going to join us?” Betty asked.

So Jughead sat next to you and Archie pulled a chair up to the end of the table. The five of you talked for hours. Telling embarrassing stories from your past, discussing classes and teachers, being normal teenagers for one night. By the end of the night, any dissonance between Jughead and Archie had completely disappeared. It was like the good old days, but with a new and interesting addition.

Jughead had went home and Veronica and Betty left together shortly after. So it was just you and Archie. The two of you had decided to start walking to his house, where he insisted you crash until morning. After all, there was a killer on the loose and his Dad missed you, etc. 

“I’m telling Sheriff Keller tomorrow. About Miss Grundy.  You and my Dad convinced me.” he said.

“I’m glad Archie, I knew you would do the right thing.” 

“Thank you for that” 

“For what?” 

“For always believing in me, even when nobody else does. For being there for me, and listening to me, and reminding me of who I am when I forget. I was such a shitty friend to you. After that fight with Jughead and you didn’t deserve it. I should have been there for you more with your parents. I-” he started.

“Archie it’s okay. Your here now” you interrupt. 

“I am. So if you ever want to talk about anything. Or if you need literally anything, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.” he said as he opened the door to his house.

“Archie it’s almost 1 am on a school night, where have you been? I’ve called you like four times” his dad lectured from the kitchen.

“Sorry Mr. Andrews, that is my bad. We were at Pop’s catching up and lost track of time” you answered. 

“Oh Y/n, it’s great to see you.- Archie go grab some blankets and a pillow for Y/n.- How have you been?” he asked redirecting his attention to you. 

You were about to answer when you were nearly tackled to the ground with love. “Hey Vegas” you cooed. 

“I’m good Mr. Andrews, we can catch up tomorrow. I don’t want to keep you up when you have work. Plus it has been a long day” you yawn. 

“Okay kiddo, get some rest” he said. 

You nodded and went to the couch were Archie laid out a blanket, pillow, and a pair of pjs that you had left there almost a year and a half ago. Seeing that he still had them made you smile.

You changed into them and went back to the couch looking through your phone before going to bed. You sent Jughead a text telling him where you were. Then you received a text from Archie asking if you were okay or if you needed anything. 

Truth be told, you wanted to talk to him about your meltdown earlier. But this wasn’t the time. And it was probably better to just bury it and allow everyone to move forward. Things were finally good again.

‘I’m fine. Goodnight Archie, see you in the morning.’ you sent back before setting your phone down and drifting off. 

[deltaengineering]

Summer Anime 2019 Part 1: no more intros

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. / O Maidens in your Savage Season

❓ There’s an outbreak of puberty in a high school literature club and things get really awkward really fast.

✅✅ This doesn’t pull any punches with the horny content and it’s hilarious.

✅ I like the characters as well, they seem to have a bit more to them than normal but they’re still likeable.

✅ Nice looking and well directed.

♎ Mari Okada’s trademark blunt writing is still there, though it works better here than it usually does. She really has gotten a lot better since she started writing more personal stuff instead of just vague supernatural seishun feels.

 Dr. Stone

❓ A mysterious disaster turns everyone on earth into stone. Several millennia later some shounen characters are the first ones to awake and they do some caveman chemistry.

✅  The idea is pretty novel by Weekly Shounen Jump standards.

♎ I have to say that for a WSJ joint, the writing is fairly tolerable as well. It’s still dumb, but not insultingly so.

❌ But in the end, it’s still WSJ and you’re still just watching a bunch of terrible looking meatheads doing basic science on the level of a YouTube primer and shouting about how awesome that is using assorted catchphrases.

❌ And it’s on the same day as another shounen-ass shounen, to which it is inferior. More on that later.

Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru / How Heavy are the Dumbbells you Lift?

❓ Doga Kobo x bodybuilding

♎ This is possibly the least surprising anime of the season, because all you need to know is what the Japanese bodybuilding meme is and what Doga Kobo usually does. Well, there’s no loli this time at least.

✅ Not surprising + Doga Kobo = looks good

♎ It’s not exceedingly funny but it’s competent enough at comedic timing.But some one-note jokes (such as Akemi being thirsty for muscle) get old.

✅ Doesn’t rock my socks off but it’s alright for the time being. Pretty competent and with room for improvement with more characters.

Enen no Shouboutai / Fire Force

❓ A boy with a hero complex becomes a firefighter. Since this is a shounen universe by the author of Soul Eater, this is rather literal: Get ready to punch fire demons.

✅ You ready for some DUMB ANIME SHIT? Because this is a lot of that, in a good way. In particular is gets the tone right and is neither too clowny nor too grim. Mostly.

✅✅ Looks amazing. The production is top notch and the fire is especially impressive - it better be, because there’s a lot of it. The design is also good.

❌ Shounen writing rears its ugly head again. I don’t expect subtlety, but a dozen flashbacks to Shinra’s not-very-complicated backstory plus his incessant insistence on being A HERO are not a good sign at all. At least this time the blah is limited to the thematic core instead of everything.

✅ I was entertained for now, but I’ll have to see if the good production values can keep it up and make up for the simplistic core in the long run.

Granbelm

❓ Average girl becomes magical, summons a mecha and gets involved in a magical mecha fighting ring.

✅ This looks pretty neat, seeing as it is made by the Re:Zero team.

✅ Since it’s an original, there is much less LN jank in the writing though.

♎ Still feels mostly like a mashup of very generic anime tropes - reminiscent of Mai-Hime, of all things. It might go somewhere, but might just as easily not.

♎ In particular, it might start copying Re:Zero’s derpier aspects. It already has a fondness for the ragefaces.

✅ Since it’s not in fact isekai, it is allowed to throw shade on isekai.

Joshikousei no Mudazukai / Wasteful Days of Highschool Girls

❓ Some highschool girls chat about boys and whatnot.

♎ There really isn’t much to say about it, to be honest. The characters are okay but very archetypal, it looks average, and the humor is neither amusing nor particularly annoying. It seems to have a severe lack of personality - especially compared to Maidens, which is this show with the safety off.

❌ It is, however, just far too long. These kind of mild 4koma antics wear out their welcome at full length and without anything else it becomes tedious. All the segments feel disjointed and random anyway, so there’s really no upside to yawning through 24 minutes of it.

Kanata no Astra / Astra Lost in Space

❓ Several anime characters get lost during summer camp on a distant planet and have to find their way home in an FTL spaceship they stumble across.

♎ Speaking of archetypal characters - you couldn’t put together a more anime cast together if you were making a parody. You got your spiky-haired protagonist, dim genki girl, big boobed shy fujoshi, sparkling ikemen, brooding rival, androgynous twink, glasses wearing supergenius, a tsundere and a loli. They work very hard to establish this too.

✅ Apart from this ridiculous assortment of memes, Astra leaves a solid impression. The scifi universe isn’t completely nonsensical, and the concept has potential.

✅ It’s well put together too, with good direction and high production values.

❌ The only real negative is that Astra can’t shut up about its protagonist’s backstory. There were about as many repetitive flashbacks in this episode as in the first episode of Fire Force, and it’s only not as bad because Astra’s was double length. If this remains persistent, it may be more annoying than it’s worth.

Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e / to the Abandoned Sacred Beasts

❓ In a grimderp version of the American Civil War, nobody stops to think that turning people into murderous animal hybrids might not be a good idea and might leave some grudges after the war is over.

♎ Looks average at best. If it’s trying to be Fullmetal Alchemist, I have some bad news for everyone involved.

❌ This definitely can’t be taken seriously, because it’s so contrived and on top of it the tone is all over the place. It can turn from graphic massacres to funny hijinks to inhumane experiments on a dime. To work as intended, it would need a far more delicate hand on all levels.

♎ That said, by the end of it, when there’s a pileup of tragic betrayals and one CAIN MADHOUSE turns out to be a moustache-twirling villain with a cackle to match, it comes close to being the entertaining kind of schlock.

♎ Since this was only the setup, it might be worth it to find out what the actual plot is like going forward.

The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II: Rail Zeppelin ~grace note~

❓After getting punked in the fourth Heaven’s Feel, Waver decides he wants to try his luck in the viper’s nest that is the Clock Tower (if you did not understand any of that, this show is not for you)

✅ Fate has the moneybags and moneybags make shit look good

❌ I would like to watch a dark comedy about the backstabbing and incompetence at the Clock Tower - The Death of Kayneth, if you will. However, there are only the mildest traces of this in Case Files and it takes itself far too seriously.

❌ Since I bounced off this show the second time now (there was an episode 00 a few months ago) I don’t know if I want to give this show even more chances to prove to me it’s not heartachingly dull. It’s not really funny and there’s barely any action.

♎ That leaves character drama. I do like Waver but not enough to watch him mope about his bro Iskander being dead all day. The rest of the characters are a mixed bag and evidently not good enough to keep the show going on their own.

Maou-sama, Retry!

❓ 💩

💩💩 100% of all the isekai shit and nothing else. This is highly derivative and amateur even by the standards of highly derivative amateur isekai LNs.

💩💩 Looks like absolute garbage even at ep 1. I should be happy that no talent is going to waste here.

💩 The least offensive aspect is that our MMO-reborn haxlord picks up a tiny Ramrem for casual dadfeels. It still sucks and there’s another show this season that does this better.

Sounan desu ka / Are You Lost?

❓ Comedy short about girls stranded on a remote island learning basic survival skills.

❌ One girl is hypercompetent at survival, the others are not. Hope you think this is comedy gold cos it’s all we got.

❌ show bad

Tejina-senpai / Magical Sempai

❓ Girl with breasts is an enthusiastic amateur magician and is so bad at it that every attempt ends in some compromising position.

❌ We can only afford one joke per comedy short, okay? Do you think we’re made of money and/or talent?

❌ This one is quick on the draw with the segments at least, and crams in 6 instead of the usual 2-3. So it’s theoretically less tedious, but in practice it’s all a blur of unfunny either way.

❌ show bad

Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai. / If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord

❓ Handsome young adventurer finds an orphaned devil child in the forest. Dadfeels ensue.

✅ So this is the one that does Maou Retry’s core aspect better. And it does it quite well, in fact; it’s cute and wholesome.

✅ Basically it’s Sweetness and Lighting with JRPG questing instead of cooking. That show was alright.

❌ However, to make up for being good at something, know that it has absolutely nothing else. The setting is off-brand JRPG mush and not even attempting otherwise, the production values are pedestrian.

♎ Apparently this turns into a fantasy version of Usagi Drop down the line. I’m not one to mark it down for that now, but that doesn’t sound too great. However, it’s questionable if 1. the anime gets there 2. the anime goes there and 3. I watch the anime enough for the problem to even arise. It’s not that good.

[ayma-nidiot]

In the White Light - Prideshipping fic Chapter 6

Also on AO3.

Chapter 6 – Like A Red Rose

Huh? Where am I? Kaiba had reawakened in a place that didn’t appear to be his plane. To add to his confusion, his surroundings seemed unusually… tall. So, Alister has send me to a giants’ world, has he? Another hallucination… I know I’m still on the plane!

Just then, three boys began to storm in from the trap door above. “Oh boy, oh boy, some food! Finally!”

“Say, Tony, maybe we can play chess after dinner!”

“Okay, Dennis, I’m up to it! We deserve a break after what we’ve gone through.”

Is that… Kaiba had to do a double-take at the third boy who entered. He looks just like Mokuba…

“I don’t know about Aaron up there, haha!”

Aaron felt hurt by Tony’s words, but he eventually noticed Kaiba sitting on the table. “Oh? What a cute little dragon!”

L-Little? Kaiba growled and attacked, but all that came out was a tiny ball of light.

“Aww, he’s so cute!” Aaron picked Kaiba off the table and started to pet him. “Can we keep him?”

Brat! …Huh? Kaiba looked into a mirror nearby. Sure enough he was in dragon form, but no bigger than a housecat. Aaaah! I look like one of Pegasus’ toon monsters!

“No can do, man. We can’t afford dinner for four!”

“Hmph!” Defying his friends, Aaron picked some food off the tiny dining table and fed it to a barely willing Kaiba.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Dennis nearly threw a fork at Aaron. “You’re going to pay for that!”

“And we mean literally,” Tony added. “How about you and your new pet go get us dessert. Hahaha!”

Without thinking, Kaiba snapped back, “Are you brats always this friendly?”

“Whoah!” Tony dropped his spoon. “He can talk!”

You and me both, Kaiba thought, not impressed at his pipsqueak-sounding voice.

“Okay, we’ll get your stupid dessert!” As Aaron carried him out, Kaiba gave the boys one last snarl before they crossed the trap door. I won’t fall for any of this, Alister!

“Wow, a dragon that can talk!” Aaron sounded amazed as he walked out. “Maybe when you grow big and strong, you can finally squash KaibaCorp! All right, I’ll go find you some food while I go look for dessert, too!”

Ugh, don’t remind me… For once, Kaiba could keep his power-hungry tendencies in check, and was thankful for it. “Say, Aaron… When did all of this KaibaCorp nonsense start?”

“I don’t really know… It feels like it’s been forever.” Aaron jumped onto a nearby ledge. “Let me think… Gozaburo bought out our land about a year ago, then when we refused to move, he started attacking. That’s when I met my friends… I know they seem mean, but they work really hard just to find me something to eat. I kind of owe it to them to return the favour.”

“Oh, I see…” Kaiba frowned, feeling a little ashamed. My father… What a repulsive man he was.

“Hey, are you okay, little guy?” Aaron stopped walking.

“It’s… It’s nothing.” It’s also a good thing that I’m not wearing my usual clothes, complete with the KaibaCorp logo.

“Well, if you insist.” Aaron continued down the ledge. “We shouldn’t stay in place for too long, or Gozaburo’s men might find us. A lot of my old classmates had to go hide… I hope they’re okay. It’s a good thing us kids are so small, haha!”

Alister, I think I’ve learned a long time ago that my stepfather hurt you! I’ve seen enough!

Aaron’s next words disturbed any further thoughts. “Say, do you want to play chess when we get back?”

“Huh? Where did that… Er, of course! I was the best when I was young.”

“But you’re already young.”

Crap… Well, I’m not lying. “Wait… Aaron, look over there.” Kaiba nudged his head to his right, indicating a tower of smoke.

“Oh no! That’s where the hideout is! Quick, uh… What should I call you?”

“Seto is fine.”

“Let’s go, Seto! We have to save my friends!”

“Wait! It’s too dangerous!” Kaiba tried to break free and stop Aaron, but that only made him tighten his grip.

When he arrived at the scene, the entire hideout was in flames, and all Aaron could really see was the frame of the building. “Oh no! They might be trapped!”

“No!” Kaiba released himself from Aaron’s hold and pulled him by the collar, vigorously flapping his wings.

“Please, Seto!” Aaron’s voice sounded different this time.

“Mokuba?” Kaiba stared at the brief mirage of his younger brother before he could hear tanks nearby.

“Aah! It’s KaibaCorp! Quick, we need to find a new hiding spot!”

“Grr… Face me, Alister, you coward!” With a loud roar, Kaiba could not only feel himself grow, but also turn back into a human. “Let’s finish this duel!”

The mirage of Aaron disappeared, with Y-Dragon Head and X-Head Cannon taking its place. But the former didn’t last long, as with a quick blast, one of the tanks had taken it out.

“Hahaha! Feeling the burn yet?” At last, Alister had shown his face.

“What burn? Your mind games aren’t working anymore! See, your little illusion you call a ‘friend’ is already gone!”

“But it is no illusion. You see, those were my three best friends growing up. We also had a pet cat that Aaron and I particularly loved. He was one of the few happy moments in our lives back then… We all looked out for one another, and the cat even brought us a few scraps of food every now and then. But he died trying to protect us from a tank, and that’s when the tanks ran my other friends out of town!”

“…”

“So now you’ve had a taste of my past, and you’ll see how it feels to be attack by the tanks that ruined my life. Oh, and by the way, I thought I’d like to mention what’s happened in our current reality. I just used a trap card called Tank Corps, powering up my KC One Crayton and giving it 1500 extra attack points. I had more than enough to defeat your Y-Dragon Head and inflict 2000 life points of damage on to you. So now, I place a card face down. Your turn!”

“My Y-Dragon Head is down but not out! I use Monster Reborn to bring it back! Now say hello to XYZ Dragon Cannon! And thanks to its special ability, I’ll discard one of my cards to get rid of one of yours! Your Tank Corps is gone!”

“Oh!” Alister turned around as he watched the tanks around him blow up, leaving only the KC One Crayton in its place.

“Now, XYZ Dragon Cannon, attack!”

With six blasts of light, the XYZ Dragon Cannon struck its foe, creating a storm of light that took everyone back to the real world.

“Hm. I should have expected this brutish behaviour from you. You really are just like your father after all! That’s why… That’s why I’m going to end you today, so that people like you will get the suffering they deserve, and the less fortunate can live in peace!”

“Shut up, you- Aah!” Kaiba wobbled as the plane started to nosedive. Oh no… Mokuba! He’s in the cockpit!

“I wouldn’t worry too much about your brother if I were you. It’s a shame you can’t even protect him… Now you know how it feels. And you’ll suffer even more when I take your soul, then that of your precious pharaoh!”

Kaiba blushed, but still keeping up his usual anger. “What the hell do you know?”

“You saw what he did back there… He sees you as nothing but an enemy, a monster to save the world from. Do you really think he could ever fall for you?”

“That’s none of your damned business!”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.” Alister drew another card.

Despite how concerned Kaiba felt for his brother, Mokuba could handle the plane fairly well, even though he was so small. “Oh! Roland, am I glad to see you!”

“Mr. Mokuba! What’s the matter?”

“There’s no time to explain… Seto and I are on a plane that’s about to crash land! You gotta send help!”

“On it, sir!”

“Mr. Mokuba!” Another one of KaibaCorp’s employees came onto the video call. “I’ll help you fly the plane! Just follow my instructions word-for-word, got it?”

“You got it!”

“Push the buttons on the right…”

“Uh huh.” After following a few more instructions, Mokuba had barely averted the mountain ahead. “Yay! Now I can just put the plane back on autopilot and go see if Seto’s okay.”

Meanwhile, Alister felt so confident in himself, despite the heavy hit he just took. “I summon Kinetic Soldier in attack mode! I play Junk Dealer to bring back Science Soldier and Cyber Soldier of Dark World back with half of their original attack points! Next, I activate my trap, Soldier Revolt, to destroy all of your in-play cards and the cards in your hand when I have these three monsters on the field! Next…”

“There’s… a next?”

“You bet there is! I now play Sky Union… Now get ready for my strongest monster, the Air Fortress Ziggurat! Not only is it strong – both naturally and from the Seal – I can summon a Robot Token for every turn it’s in play.”

“This is nothing…” Kaiba drew one of his cards – one that hurt him badly in the duel with Yami Yugi, but one that he couldn’t be more thankful for now.

“Seto! Please, stop this duel!”

Ignoring his brother’s pleas, Kaiba continued, “I use Pot of Greed to draw two cards. I place one card face down, and now my turn is done.”

“And so are you! Air Fortress Ziggurat, attack his life points directly!”

“Not so fast! My face down card lets me use your Junk Dealer, and I protect my life points with Judge Man!”

“So? You’re just delaying the inevitable.”

Kaiba could hear the faint sound of choppers in the distance. “The only thing that’s inevitable here is my rescue – and your doom.”

“So you even hide behind your army of cronies like Gozaburo! Raaaaa!” Alister’s anger grew more profound, increasing not only the Seal’s power, but also damage to the place.

“Forget about that snake! I’ll make sure you do with Soul Exchange! I know I can’t take your Ziggurat, but I can take the tokens! Then I use these tokens… as tribute for one of my strongest monsters! The Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”

“Seto, don’t!” Mokuba cried.

“Ngh…” Upon playing this card, Kaiba’s back pain and nausea started to set in.

“You know if you use that card, you could go mad again, right?” Alister teased. “Then you’ll turn back into a dragon and feel the pain when the pharaoh attacks you again. So you’re not going to win either way! It’s either become that dragon the pharaoh hates or lose your soul to the Seal of Orichalcos!”

With a strong mind, Kaiba managed to wear his pain off. “You’re wrong. I’ve made a vow today that I will stay strong and not let the curse take me again. But enough about me… Our monsters now have an equal attack power of 3000.”

“Hmm, such fighting spirit!” On his seventh turn, Alister spoke up, “I activate Toy Robot Box, discarding three cards to summon three more robots! I’ll use one of them to activate my Spell Canceller.”

“So stopping violence… with more violence. Maybe you’re the one who’s like Gozaburo. What would your brother say?”

“Y-You know nothing, cur! Now, my Ziggurat, attack his-”

“A wasted effort. I activate Tyrant Wing, giving my Blue-Eyes 400 attack points!”

“Way to go!” Mokuba cheered.

Mokuba… I’ll protect you. “Now I can take down your Ziggurat!”

Now I’ve only got 1000 life points… Alister thought as he began to lose hope. “You’re going to lose…”

“If you didn’t notice, you’ve got no monsters, and I’ve got my Blue-Eyes!”

“I didn’t mean the duel… If I have to lose my soul to Orichalcos, then I’m taking you and your fucking little brother with me!” Alister declared as the plane’s propellers stopped.

“You will do no such thing! I summon… The Fang of Critias! He fuses with my Tyrant Wing and Blue-Eyes White Dragon to create… The Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon!”

“No… No, it can’t be!”

“Tyrant Dragon, destroy those tokens and eliminate the rest of Alister’s life points!”

“Hah… Hah…” Alister panted as he fell to the floor in defeat. “I’ve… lost.”

“Alister!” Mokuba fully expected what was to come next. “No, don’t go!”

“Mikey…” Alister stretched out his hand with the Dyna-Dude action figure in it. “Mikey, forgive me… I’m not a good older brother… So I deserve… this…”

“Alister…” Even after everything Alister did to him, Mokuba couldn’t help but shed a tear for the man who just lost his soul.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to worry about him! This plane’s about to crash!”

“Th-Then we’ve got to do something!” Mokuba led Kaiba to the cockpit. “No! What are we gonna… Seto, look at your Duel Disk! It’s glowing!”

“Yug, look, your Duel Disk is glowing!” Joey alerted from several thousand feet below.

“Yours, too! Ah! Timaeus! Hermos!”

“Look!” Téa was the first to notice the crash-landing plane. “The dragons are saving that plane!”

“We’ve got to go see!” Tristan suggested. “Hurry!”

As the friends got closer to their destination, Yami Yugi noticed the third dragon as well. “It’s Critias! Could it be…”

“Yug, watch out! The plane is crash landing now!”

Aided by the dragons and the soft lakeside, the plane landed with only minor damage – something that Kaiba was certainly thankful for as he exited.

“It's...” Téa pointed. “It’s one of Kaiba’s planes!”

“Hmm?” Kaiba noticed Téa, Joey, and Tristan first. “Oh great, if it isn’t the Dweeb Patrol. What are you doing here?”

“Listen, rich boy, we’re the one who should be asking questions. Who is that you’re carrying?”

“…Just some guy I dueled on this plane.”

“By the looks of it, his soul… It got lost to Orichalcos, didn’t it?” Téa remarked. “Then… We’ve got to get him to the hospital, too.”

“‘Too?’”

“It’s a long story, but Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor lost their souls, too,” Tristan replied. “And all for some petty revenge.”

“Anyway, we were looking for you! Especially Yug over there, he was pretty eager to see you again.”

“Yugi… He’s here?” Kaiba felt the butterflies again – but they were the good kind now. “L-Let me see him!”

And just like that, Yami Yugi revealed himself to Kaiba once more, staring at him with a pleasant silence.

“Yugi…” Kaiba could feel his heart pounding as he took a step forward.

To his surprise, it was Yami Yugi who took the first approach – and a very emotional one at that. “Kaiba… Oh gods, Kaiba, I thought I had lost you for good!”

Kaiba didn’t know what to make about the fact that a pharaoh – a revered king – just knelt in front of him while crying.

“I’m… so glad… I thought I had failed to save you… I thought I had… Eh? What are you doing?”

In the midst of his thoughts, Kaiba had given Yami Yugi a strong hug, bringing him back to his feet in the process. That’s right… Ever since our first duel, I have felt this way. Even more than a rival, pharaoh… You are…

“…beautiful…” Kaiba pushed the long golden bangs out of the way to get a better look at Yami Yugi’s eyes. His eyes… I thought they were purple before, but they glow like a red rose.

“What? Kaiba, this isn’t funny- Mph!”

Any insignificant thoughts Yami Yugi might have had at that moment were stifled in Kaiba’s kiss.

[apiratecalledav]

Sandor Clegane: Champion for the Innocent aka Cleganebowl Was More Than Just Revenge

In a series like this, with a culture so very different from our own, we mostly stop judging characters by what they do and instead focus more on why they do them.

Character’s motivations and rationale are a driving force in this series. The ones who are acting out of love or other noble intentions are the ones the audience roots for.

Despite what Sandor tells Arya and Ray about hate, we know that it’s actually his paternal love for Arya that lets him be reborn into a second, (comparatively) happier life: He finds a true home with Ray and his flock and has peace for a time.  When they are taken from him, he is still able to make friends with Beric and reunite with Arya and help save Westeros from the Army of the Dead.

Speaking of the war against the dead, let’s look at who our biggest heroes are and WHY I think they were successful:

Beric and Melisandre. Two people who aren’t particularly close to anyone still alive, so they’re not really fighting for their loved ones’ futures. They also don’t believe there’s any kind of afterlife, so they’re not looking to have their souls redeemed or get rewarded. Their actions are purely for the good of humanity.  

Theon, who didn’t believe he could ever make amends for his mistakes and even told Sansa once that he didn’t want to be forgiven, didn’t come to Winterfell for redemption. He is not motivated by revenge either because the Night King hasn’t done anything to him. He’s there because he loves Sansa and Bran. Even though you can tell that every nerve in his body is screaming for him to bolt when the Walkers arrive and you can practically hear Ramsay whispering “Reeeek!” in his ear, he stands his ground. Because Bran needs him and Theon is going to do anything to protect him.

Edd, who once ran from the Walkers and left Sam behind, saves Sam’s life this time. Now Gilly, who has suffered so much, still has her husband (shut up, they are married) and the father of her children.

Lyanna Mormont, though but a child, is the leader of her people and she felt it was her duty to stand with them.

Jorah literally does not allow himself to fall while Dany is still in danger. He only succumbs to his wounds once he sees that the threat is eliminated.

And of course, Arya. Arya, who didn’t even really like Beric much, fights tooth and nail to save him and when she can’t, tries to ease his passing the best she can. And then when Mel gives her a bit of hope, Arya runs to save her baby brother and the rest of humanity, making sure Beric’s sacrifice won’t be in vain.   

If I were some kind of deity, that kind of selflessness, love, and loyalty would be the reason to decide that the human race is worth saving.

Sandor had a really hard time during the battle and struggled with PTSD and felt worthless. Even though he managed to keep fighting for Arya’s sake and helped save her, I think he was very disappointed that he didn’t do more or have some grand epiphany that explained why he survived for so long.

He looks more broken than relieved when he realizes that it’s over. At the victory party, he’s still clearly depressed. He pushes Gendry and Tormund away. He snaps at the girl trying to proposition him. And he drinks. A lot.

Like Theon, there’s a lot that keeps Sandor up at night. He is haunted by the things he’s done and by the horrible things he has seen and experienced and so has never let himself get really close to anyone. The way he is and the life he’s led are easily the result of growing up around someone like the Mountain. Violence and fear. His innocence shattered as a small child when his own brother shoved him face first into a fireplace and their father did nothing to stop Gregor, before or after.

There’s a lot of self loathing and guilt and regrets:

He’s talking to Beric but there’s definitely some projection up there.

From across the room, Sansa sees that Sandor is suffering and she reaches out to him. As they start catching up, Sandor has a lot of mixed emotions. He’s proud of her and impressed but he’s also devastated for her, too. If anyone understands the loss of innocence through cruelty, it’s him.

In his way, he tells her that he wishes he could have spared her from it and that he really wanted to do so. Even though he often derided and pitied her childish innocence, it was also something that he cherished and envied.  

I know a lot of people criticized Sansa’s line about how she’d have stayed a little bird all of her life without Ramsay and Littlefinger and believe me, I understand and it’s certainly possible that the writers are just insensitive jackasses. But within the context, I think it does make sense. When you don’t have a real concept of mental health, never mind psychology or therapy, I imagine that rationalizing trauma would be a coping method. 

And unfortunately, this is also all Sansa has ever seen: you stay naive and sheltered or you randomly get shoved out of the nest and the only thing you can do is pray that you’ll fly.

However, we shouldn’t forget that Sansa was not once a little bird solely because she was sweet and innocent. She was also very, very much in a cage:

Being able to use the connections she got from Littlefinger and Ramsay (the Vale, being close enough to reach Jon), she got to take back Winterfell and have a real home again. Then she got to make sure that those two got what they deserved.

Sandor spent most of his life building a wall around himself but Sansa found a way to make herself free. She may have a better poker face and she may be more cautious, but she’s still the same kind and caring person she's always been. She saw Sandor was hurting and tried to comfort him and didn’t let him scare her off. She even puts her hand on his and I think that might even be the first time we’ve seen anyone touch him out of affection.

When she leaves, he seems to be doing a lot of thinking and looks a lot less miserable.

The next we see him, he’s on his way to King’s Landing and is joined by Arya. They seem to wordlessly agree that Sandor will hold off the Mountain while Arya kills Cersei. Neither expect to survive but it will end the war and it will save lives so they’re willing to make the trade.

However, before they can reach Cersei and Gregor, it rapidly becomes apparent that it’s too late and that virtually everyone in King’s Landing is doomed.

Sandor points this out to Arya. But her chances of leaving safely probably don’t look all that good to her anyway and she’s so close to the last person alive she hates most. The person who is, in a lot of ways, the catalyst for all of her suffering. It’s natural that she’d want to take Cersei down with her.

It has some interesting parallels to her reunion with Melisandre. Beric, Sandor, and Mel were all once on her list but she forgave them and phased them out. Sandor and Beric ended up saving her life. But I think it’s likely she put Melisandre back on her list when she found out what happened to Gendry. She looked pretty pissed:

Even though it looks like she’s only a few moments from death, I could see her thinking “At least I can avenge Gendry before I die.” But Melisandre tells her she might be able to end this and it’s not even a question. Arya leaves her to focus on saving the people she’s cares about. But it’s different in King’s Landing. She’s not home. None of her family is nearby except for Jon and he’s probably okay. Her friends and family aren’t counting on her, at least not in the same way.

Cersei is going to die, it’s just a question of how. So Arya has to decide what really matters: Revenge or Justice? If Arya has to be the one to kill Cersei, then it’s just about revenge. If it’s just about stopping someone cruel in power, then Arya can go.

Now Sandor’s speech about how he’s only wanted revenge feels a little clunky (I personally believe that bit is pulled from Lady Stoneheart) but I think it’s easy enough to see it as Sandor not knowing how to explain all his feelings of guilt and purposelessness and loneliness that stem from Gregor to Arya, even if he had enough time.

It’s certainly clear from the way he gently cradles Arya’s head like a parent does for a baby, that revenge is not all he cared about. I also think he’s kind of mimicking how Sansa took his hand to comfort him and add sincerity, hoping to do the same for Arya.

Arya decides that revenge isn’t worth dying for and she’d rather have the chance to live. And considering how Cersei faced death with such a raw and pitiable fear and bone deep anguish, I think it’s more than fair to say that killing her wouldn’t have brought Arya any satisfaction anyway. Arya calls to him by name for the first time and she thanks him.

What I liked best about this scene though is how the Hound, on Cersei’s and Joffrey’s orders, brought the first bit of darkness to Arya’s world by killing Mycah. But with this scene, Sandor gives Arya a bit of light that (hopefully) will never go out. Kinda like giving back the last piece of Arya Stark that started splintering once she left Winterfell.

So why does Sandor still go after his brother?

Because he’s had a very difficult and sad life and he’s done a lot of things he wishes he could take back. And then on top of all of that, despite all odds, he manages to be brought back from the brink of death. And it must be for a reason, right? What makes him better than Mycah or Ned or the farmer and his daughter?

Now maybe it was some kind of divine intervention that gave him the idea, but I think it’s more likely Sandor just straight up decides that his purpose was to free the world once and for all from the Mountain. Unlike Cersei, who is a small and fragile mortal, the Mountain definitely is not. How many (more) soldiers would have to die trying to get to him before the dragon could? If it even could. 

I saw a lot of people decrying the eye squish as pure gore or shock value but not at all! It was a call back to the Mountain’s fight with Oberyn. Oberyn, who could have killed the Mountain years ago if he hadn’t wanted revenge more than he wanted to stop the Mountain from brutalizing, torturing, or killing anyone else ever again.

But stopping him is what Sandor wanted most, so much that he could even overcome his worst fears. Sandor had a lifetime of the Mountain maiming and murdering countless people: Ripping dozens of daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons, and brothers from their families; widowing who knows how many husbands and wives; and no one had been able to properly do anything about it for years and years. It’s why he stepped between the Mountain and Loras all those years ago. Only this time, Sandor has the strength and ability to stop him for good.

That’s why he succeeds where Oberyn failed.

Near the beginning, it seemed like the Hound was introduced as a method of instigating Innocence Lost. But throughout the series, we see him become a champion for the innocent, such as Sansa and Arya and even Loras. In the end, Sandor takes out one of the most vicious and murderous characters (which is saying something) who is practically synonymous with the loss of innocence through brutality.

Yeah, he did it for himself but he also did it for his sister and father and their missing servants, for Elia and her babies, the prisoners at Harrenhal, and so many others. He did it for everyone who could have come in contact with Gregor in the future. The knowledge that the Mountain would never harm anyone again is probably what gave Sandor real peace.

He just saw it as a bonus that Gregor got what he deserved and that Sandor--not the Hound-- got to give it to him.

[somniumoflight]

Crossover Idea #6 - My Hero Academia and Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Izuku and Bakugou end up reincarnating into the KHR world

Okay, so, the funny thing about me is that even if I’m not overly familiar with a fandom, I WILL read fanfictions from that fandom so long as they’re a crossover with a series that I AM familiar with.  And I’ve been reading a lot of KHR/BNHA fanfics lately because of that, and have thus become passingly familiar with Izuku/Deku (precious green bean who is also swole AF because crazy training regimen) and Bakugou (resident jerk who probably has major self-esteem issues hidden under that explosive shell).  

I have also read enough of that particular crossover to notice that whenever reincarnation or interdimensional travel happens, it’s usually the KHR cast ending up in the BHNA world and not the other way around.  Though those fanfictions I HAVE read that dance to that tune are awesome, there’s some missed potential for chaos there. Thus this dumpster fire of an idea: what might happen if members of the BHNA cast ended up in the KHR world?  

And of course, since they are the characters I am most familiar with in terms of personality at this point, my brain suggested I make Izuku and Bakugou suffer by having them be the victims of my crazy brainstorming.  Sorry, Deku, you don’t deserve this.  (Bakugou, on the other hand, definitely deserves a bit of suffering.)

So, here’re some ideas for this crossover.  Again, I must reiterate, I am not overly familiar with BHNA’s plot, even if I am now somewhat familiar with the two main(ish?) character’s personalities and such, so these ideas will lean heavily towards the whole KHR side of things and not the BNHA side of things, and I might get some details wrong.

Izuku and Bakugou are both Pro-Heroes when the stories start, having long finished school at U.A.  I’ve seen posts about their relationship improving later on in the manga… barely… and I’m a sucker for the jock-and-nerd-friendship vibe of their relationship in fanfics anyway, so let’s say they were slowly but surely ending up friendly rivals again instead of whatever toxic dumpster fire they were before okay

Anyway, long story short some group of villains gets lucky and somehow manages to kill both of them while they’re on duty. Both Heroes are then reborn into the KHR world to the local equivalent of their parents from their last world.

Izuku’s mom is still Inko, but instead of being a civilian single mother Inko is actually the wife of the spare heir of a yakuza family who attempted a coup and failed badly, and is therefore under watch all the time.

The Bakugous, on the other hand, are also related to Yakuza through “Kaachan’s” mom, but they’re not directly involved with yakuza-type stuff anymore because they live in Namimori and as such are kept under watch by the Hibari family.

Inko is still friends with the Bakugous, but because she’s kept under firm watch by her husband’s family she hasn’t been able to take Izuku to visit them, and Izuku’s smart enough to realize that asking about them would probably get his mom in trouble, so he never brings it up despite REALLY wanting to see if Bakugou’s around too.

Izuku’s life is sort of normal apart from the “heir to a yakuza family” thing up until he’s like eight years old, at which point one of the other heirs to the family takes over and decides he wants to get rid of the spare heir and his mother so that nobody else has claims to the family. Inko ends up dead, (sorry Deku) and Izuku ends up going Flame Active as a Sky with strong secondary Lightning Flames.

Izuku ends up making a break for it after his mother’s death, and remembering what his mom said about the Bakugous makes a beeline for Namimori.

Bakugou, on the other hand, while all this has been going down, has actually been living a pretty good second childhood despite the lack of Midoriyas around.  Namimori’s pretty peaceful most of the time despite the number of Flame Actives and former mafioso and stuff living there.  Still, Katsuki was bored out of his mind for like the first five years of his life because after years upon years of fighting criminals and villains such a normal civilian life is just plain BORING to him.

This boredom eventually leads to him going kinda vigilante once he’s trained himself back up to snuff (as much as you can when you don’t have a Quirk anymore, which he’s pissy about), but since he’s still a little kid in a town full of criminals that’s pretty dangerous.  Eventually, though, some stupid assassin tries to off a little kid in town, Katsuki tries to stop him, he nearly dies, and then boom, Dying Will Flames activated.

Honestly, I was torn between having Bakugou be a Storm, a Cloud, or a Sky, because all those Flame types kinda fit him based on what I know of him from canon, but eventually, I decided the best thing ever to do here was make Bakugou have Wrath Flames because those are the closest the KHR world has to his Explosion Quirk, plus having him run around as a mini blonde Xanxus screaming DIE at everyone that pisses him off would give the mafioso glorious conniptions and probably make the Varia go WTF and it would be amazing

Seriously though, Bakugou and Xanxus are incredibly similar.  They both have similar anger issues, they both have similar power sets even without Kaachan having Wrath Flames, they both have similar verbal tics (“trash,” “extras,” all the cussing), heck they’ve even got similar physical appearances, what with red eyes, spiky hair, and both refusing to wear uniforms correctly (i.e. not actually giving a damn about fashion most of the time haha). Bakugou’s basically just a mini blonde Xanxus who decided to go into Hero work instead of Mafia work.

Huh, maybe I should make the two of them related or something.  I mean it’s not like we actually know much about Xanxus’s actual blood relatives, right?  Besides then we’d be able to make the Mafioso have yet MORE conniptions because “oh no all of Xaxnus’s being Xanxus is hereditary.”  

Anyway yeah Katsuki gets Wrath Flames, which he is delighted about because he’s basically gotten his Quirk back, and since he is who he is he’s not at all subtle about having those Flames either, which means he’s basically blowing shit up all over the place as soon as he figures out how.  This eventually results in Hibari – as in the one we know from canon – trying to bite him to death because he’s “disturbing the peace” or something and somehow one thing follows another and the two of them end up sparring a lot and hey would you look at that, Katsuki’s made a friend just as violent as he is for once.

During this period of time Bakugou also properly meets Tsuna, who was the kid the assassin that made him go Active was after, and though at first he doesn’t want anything to do with the kid (“he’s more useless than Deku was at that age, damn”) he eventually sort of ends up beating up the kid’s bullies when they’re off school grounds, mostly just because he can (and because he won’t admit that the kid reminds him a lot of Deku and definitely won’t admit he’s got a bit of a soft spot for people like that)

Eventually, though, the thing with Izuku’s family happens and the green bean stumbles into Namimori.  Some of the local thugs try to beat him up only to get pummeled by Lightning-enhanced fists, and then Katsuki turns up partway through the beatdown and yay, they’re finally actually reunited in this shit world, they’re not alone.

Bakugou ends up bringing Deku home with him and Deku basically refuses to leave and just kinda clings to him for long enough that Bakumom and Bakudad just throw their hands up and adopt the kid. He’s Inko’s kid anyway, it wouldn’t be right to leave him with a stranger, and having someone as sweet as him will help keep their son out of trouble, right?  (WRONG)

After Izuku turns up in town and things settle down a bit he proves he’s just as “crazy” as his new brother/best friend by being just as crazy about fighting as Kaachan is.  Hibari dubs him an omnivore after the first time he picks a fight with the shockingly swole green cherub and Izuku joins Katsuki in the whole vigilante thing they got going on

Also, Izuku kinda adopts Tsuna as a little brother of sorts, because he sees the same things that Katsuki did with the kid stumbling around and all the bullying happening, only instead of leaving it be other than beating up the bullies like Bakugou does he actually goes so far as to actively help the kid out, and ends up dragging Bakugou into the whole thing too.

So basically by the time Reborn arrives in Namimori Tsuna’s got two friends that will literally punch anybody who messes with him in the face, and also who are two former superheroes who do NOT approve of their little brother figure being forced into the mafia like this.  From then on a lot of canon events get de-railed because Katsuki and Tsuna are both playing a game of keep-away to keep Tsuna away from Reborn (or at least trying to, they’re still little kids at this point and he’s the World’s Strongest Hitman, so they’re giving him less trouble than they think they should).

Also when the Varia eventually roll into town Katsuki and Izuku are literally having none of that shit.  None.  Also this is when the Varia see that Katsuki is basically a mini blonde Xanxus and have their WTF moments galore, Xanxus included.  They’re not the only ones, nobody on Tsuna’s side of things was expecting a second Bakugou to turn up out of the blue.  (Tsuna: “Oh my god, oh my god, Katsuki-nii, there’s two of you!”  Bakugou: “Shut the hell up.”)

And that’s literally everything I have on the idea.  I love this idea a LOT, seriously, SOMEONE needs to write something like this even if I don’t.

[nitewrighter]

Could we mayhaps have some more Symmarah in the Star Wars AU? Please?

Previous Symmarah Star Wars AU is here!

I would like to thank Hera Syndulla and Amilyn Holdo for giving me the pass to do whatever the fuck I want with regards to hyperspace.

—–

“Not exactly a Serennoan pleasure yacht,” said Pharah, ducking her head as they headed up the boarding plank. “But she’ll get you where you need to go.”

“Provided we make enough credits to keep fuel in the tank,” muttered Winston, lumbering up behind them.

Satya bowed slightly to avoid the storage compartment going in as well. “The blue paint job is impressive, but it’s a bit… flashy for a smuggler’s ship, is it not?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” muttered Winston.

“Smuggler—Who said we were smugglers? We’re a legitimate freighter!” said Pharah with a short nervous laugh, “Smuggler…”

Satya arched an eyebrow and Pharah cleared her throat, “Well we would be a legitimate freighter without all those Hutt Space checkpoints.” 

“And the Umbaran Customs office,” muttered Winston, closing the ramp behind them.

“And the Umbaran Customs office,” Pharah conceded as they took their seats in the cockpit. They buckled in and took off from the spaceport, the Raptora arcing gracefully across the sky and breaking free from the atmosphere with only a few seconds of shuddering.

“So…” Pharah rolled her grip on the Raptora’s controls as they put more distance between them and the planet, “Core worlds, huh?”

“That’s not a problem, is it?” Satya tilted her head.

Pharah made brief worried eye contact with Winston before forcing a smile and going, “Not a problem at all,” said Pharah, quickly dialing in some coordinates into the ship’s hyperspace computer. They flew for a few minutes longer to avoid the gravitational complications of hyperspace before Pharah pulled down on the activation level. The stars at the front of their viewport streamed into razor-straight ribbons of light and the three of them jolted in their seats slightly at the force.

“Welp,” Pharah readjusted herself in her seat, bringing her hands behind her head in a relaxed postion, “All that’s left to do now is to settle in and wait for the next few hours before we drop into core worlds territory.”

“Thank you,” said Satya, leaning forward in her seat slightly, “You have no idea how much this means to me–well.. not just me—I mean—”

The ship suddenly jerked and shuddered and Pharah instinctively grabbed the controls of the ship to keep from being forced out of the hyperspace lane, “What was that?!” said Pharah, rapidly looking over the ships controls.

“Something fired on us!” said Winston.

“What?! We’re in hyperspace! We’re literally traveling faster than any ship’s cannons can fire!”

The ship jerked again and suddenly an ear-piercingly loud feedback came over the ship’s comms as everyone groaned and put their hands over their ears.

“WHAT KIND OF SHIP CAN SEND COMMS THROUGH HYPERSPACE!?” Pharah shouted over the feedback.

“Oh no…” Satya’s voice was soft, but the dread in it caught Pharah’s ear even in the roar of the feedback when suddenly a voice came out of the crackle of the Raptora’s comm.

“Stalwart-class freighter, designation: Raptora. This is Captain Sanjay Korr-Pahl of the Akasha. In concordance with the territorial holdings of the Vishkar corporation, you are hereby ordered to surrender custody of Senator Satya Vaz to us.”

“Senator?!” Pharah looked over at Satya in her seat.

“Vishkar?” said Winston.

Satya had broken out in a cold sweat. “They weren’t supposed to find me yet,” was all she managed to say, her brow crinkling.

“We have no interest in any of your other contraband,” Sanjay spoke over the comms, “Simply hand over the Senator and we will leave you to your business.”

Pharah muted the comm with an angry grunt.

“Well, if they’re just corporate and not Imperial remnants…” Winston started warily.

“You can’t! Please!” Satya leaned forward in her seat and put her hand on Pharah’s arm, “You can’t let them take me!”

“Why didn’t you tell us you were a senator?” Pharah’s brows crinkled at Satya.

“I figured the less you knew about me, the safer you’d be. I… I only needed a lift to the core worlds…” Satya inhaled, “I’m from a planet called Chalacta. The Vishkar corporation has an iron grip on my planet’s imports and exports–they’re practically the Trade Federation reborn. They’ve even gone so far as to monitor holonet dispatches so everything my people try to say about their situation is drowned out by propaganda! And they’ve cracked down even harder since the fall of the Empire.”

“Never a good sign…” said Winston slumping back in his seat.

“I was hoping to get help from the New Republic but… I know it’s not fair. I know you didn’t sign up for politics. But for the sake of my planet I beg you not to hand me over to them,” Satya squeezed Pharah’s arm and her gold eyes stared deep into Pharah’s, pleading, terrified.

“We won’t,” Pharah put her hand over Satya’s. She forced a smile. “You’re paying me to get you to the Core Worlds safely, right? What kind of legitimate freighter would I be if I didn’t do that?”

Satya smiled nervously as well, tucking her black hair back, “You pilots…” she said, glancing down demurely.

“Pharah…” Winston started warily, “If they can fire and send comms in hyperspace, we should probably think carefully about–”

The comm screeched and crackled and everyone put their hands over their ears as Sanjay came back online.

“I do not appreciate being ignored,” said Sanjay, “I was hoping we could negotiate like businessmen but I see the senator has infected you with her misguided ideals. No matter. Shoddy ships like yours blow up in hyperspace all the time.”

“The hell we will,” said Pharah, tightening her grip on the ship’s controls, she looked over to Satya and Winston, “Hold onto something.”

“Pharah–wait–you aren’t going to—” Winston started but Pharah veered the ship hard.

“I SAID HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!” Pharah hollered before shutting off the hyperspace drive and veering the Raptora out of the hyperspace lane. Everyone gripped their seats as the ship shuddered and whirled dizzyingly out of the lane into what seemed like a swarm of strobing colors through the viewport. All were slammed back hard into their seats from the g-force, grunting from the strain before Winston managed to bring a hand up from his side and activate the Raptora’s stabilizers to try and slow them down. The viewport went from a blinding strobe of colors to a sickening scramble of rapidly spinning asteroids and debris and distant planets.

“The controls! The controls!” Winston shouted as Pharah jerked forward and took ahold of the controls, trying to get back in control of the ship. Both Winston and Pharah manically alternated between steering and stabilizers to try and bring the Raptora back under control, finally, the ship slowed to a controllable somewhat controllable velocity.

“There,” Pharah panted, “See? That wasn’t so ba–AH!” She veered out of the way of an incoming asteroid before slamming down on the stabilizers again. She was breathing hard, gripping the controls of her ship with white knuckles. “Everyone okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” said Winston.

There was a beat of silence and both Pharah and Winston whirled around to see Satya slumped in her seat, her hair obscuring her face. 

“Oh no!” Pharah unbuckled her seatbelt and Winston took the controls from her as she scrambled over to Satya. “Satya? Uh—Senator?” Pharah brushed her hair back and put two fingers to Satya’s neck before breathing a sigh of relief. “She’s just passed out.”

“No wonder with coming out of hyperspace like that,” said Winston, “If I wasn’t used to your crazy piloting, I’d probably be passed out too.”

Something crackled at Satya’s side and Pharah glanced down to see that even unconscious, Satya was gripping something silver with white knuckles.

“Some kind of distress beacon?” said Pharah, clicking the comm channel open.

“Senator? Senator can you hear me?” A woman with spiky hair, large eyes, and goggles pushed up to her forehead appeared in a hologram, “Sena–Ah! You’re–! You’re not the senator.”

“Uh… hi?” Pharah said a little haplessly.

“Where’s Senator Vaz?!” the spiky haired woman demanded.

“She’s okay! She’s okay!” said Pharah, “She’s just… passed out.”

“Passed out?!” the woman’s eyes widened. Pharah shifted where she was seated to show Satya to the hologram, unconscious but unharmed.

“It’s just g-force…” said Pharah, glancing off.

“Stay where you are,” said the woman crisply, “We’re triangulating your location.”

“What? No–I can still get the Senator to the core worlds—” said Pharah, “I have this under control.”

“…except for the part where we just veered out of a hyperspace lane after being shot at,” said Winston.

“Shh!” said Pharah.

“Look,” said the woman, “We’re with the Rebel Alliance. We want the Senator to get to Chandrila just as much as you, don’t worry. We just figure you can use some backup.”

“Great,” said Pharah, glancing at Winston, “More politics.”

“Don’t worry. General Solo’s policies have granted a lot more leniency to uh… Free Traders,” said Tracer, looking around and clearly trying to case their ship. 

“We’re a legitimate freighter!” Pharah blurted out.

“Riiiiight,” said the woman, making a finger gun at her, “Look, you’ll be fine. Any friend of Senator Vaz is a friend of ours! We’ll be there soon!”

The hologram clicked off then. Pharah huffed and got back into her pilot’s seat, quickly clicking on the ship’s controls.

“Winston–How long to plot our next jump?” said Pharah, turning on the hyperspace computer.

“Our ship barely held together coming out of hyperspace and you want to put her right back in?!” said Winston.

“It’s definitely preferable to getting mixed up with the Rebel Alliance!” said Pharah, “Firing up the engines–”

A loud popping sound came from the back of the ship and they stalled in space, floating helplessly.

“…we burned all of our fuel on the stabilizers, didn’t we?” said Pharah.

“Yep,” said Winston.

“Ugggggghhhhhhhhh,” Pharah groaned set her forehead on the Raptora’s dashboard, looking almost as passed out as Satya.

“She seems nice, at least,” said Winston, “The woman on the hologram.”

“Not helping, Winston,” said Pharah.