#one of them convinced another bear to start a gang war

[infinity-crafter]

The main discord server I'm in just had its first major event after years of just existing.

Everything is one FUCKING fire and everyone is a damn bear.

And the reactions have been... diverse, to say the least.

These being some of my favorite ones

[tokrev-roses]

Pieces

Mikey’s s/o gets/got hurt by a rival gang – Headcanons + tiny drabble

Genre: Drama, tiny bit of Fluff and Angst

Warnings: Mentions of abuse, bruises, and fighting. Nothing too heavy or graphic, since this is rather short

There is so much room for all kinds of scenarios

Mikey goes to war with gangs, that hurt the friends of his friends so you can imagine what hell would break loose, if someone comes for his partner

First of all, is Mikey able to intervene while it still happens, or does he find it out afterwards?

If he arrives at the scene and the are still bullying you, standing around you in a circle, he will not hesitate and destroy each and every last one of them

I mean it

Mikey protects the things that are important to him with his life, not able to bear losing them

But that sounds more romantic than it really is

You will have stand there and watch as he punches one after the other

He is in total tunnel-vision, the damage he causes far more severe than what they did to you

Since you’re usually not involved in the rougher gang stuff, It would be the first time you see the Invincible Mikey, Leader of Toman, with your eyes

And let’s be serious: the brutality would shock you

besides your better judgement, you go and try to stop him

Your voice fails to reach him, he hears it, but it is dull muffled, as if under water

You do not dare to touch him

Only if you finally scream, begging him to let the bloody face of the middle schooler go, he would be freed from the shackle of his dark mind

Mikey knows his demons, he himself fears that numbness inside of him, although it comes in handy for things like this

And now he doesn’t know what to do, bloody kid beneath him, your tear-stained face in front of him

He is genuinely terrified and frozen

Now it is on to you to take the pieces and put them, put him back together

Mikey needs people to do that for him, he cannot do it himself

Take his hand, lead him away, lend him your strength

As I have mentioned in another post, he is someone who needs emotional guidance, so please guide him

Talk about this, tell him, that he overreacted, tell him what he should have done, do it right after the incident. It will be one of the only times when lets his guard down completely, when he will take your words in. he might not fully understand, might even question you, but deep down he absorbed every word, and he will think about it for the next days and weeks

Different scenario if he were to find out later

 You tried. You tried to keep Mikey away from you. You faked to be sick, convinced your parents to let you stay at home, told Draken, that you had the flu and that he should, under no circumstances, let Mikey come close to you.

Why? You asked yourself. Why not just tell him and let him have his way with the guys that harassed you on your way home. Show them, what he was capable of.

The answer was simple: You wanted to protect Mikey. From those vile people, from starting a gang war just because you couldn’t protect yourself, but most of all to protect him from himself.

You had seen his wrath, deadly determination in his eyes, stone-cold darkness freezing his soft features. You didn’t want that to happen.

Your mirror reflected a gloomy existence, unsure, whether the short lie would do the job. Those bruises would take longer than a day to heal, that was for sure. The bruises on your wrists were a morbid tattoo of the big hands your abusers kept you in place with. Similar marks could be found on your jaw, where they had used equal force to keep your face up.

It was impossible to convince your parents a second time, they hardly believed the badly acted coughs and headache this morning. And Mikey was like a satellite, revolving around you, showing up when he deemed fit, not when it was convenient. And Draken was only able to do so much. Mikey had the last word.

The piercing sound of the bell made your heart skip a beat. You had a queasy feeling, and the soft voice of your mother confirmed your suspicion

“Hello Mikey, have you come to see y/n?”

Draken had failed and now you were doomed.

--------

Silence. 5 Minutes had passed since his arrival and no one had said anything. Draken had left the room 3 minutes ago, unable to bear the awkward tension in your room.

You couldn’t do anything but stare at your feet, a wet layer lingered on your eyes. You were ashamed. Ashamed for lying to him, ashamed, that he had come her, bringing all kinds of medicine in plastic bag, ashamed that you were so weak to begin with.

You took all the courage you had left and looked up into his face. You were met with a Mikey you knew to well, a Mikey you hated to see. His tense jaw and straight lips weren’t the scariest thing. The black orbs, absorbing every light, cold and hard, just like the person they belonged to.

The bag fell on the ground as your body collided with his. You were used to make the first step when it came to Mikey, but this was the hardest on yet. Your arms stayed limp beside you, and so did his. But your face was hidden in his neck, while he laid his head on yours, the weight being nothing but comforting.

“It is okay, you know. I’m fine.”

Your soft words were met with silence. With anyone else, you would be worried, scared, that the person would be too angry to speak or too disappointed to answer. Not with Mikey. It meant he gave you a chance. He listened.

So, you told him what happened. That those guys messed with you, but that you managed to run away. You told him, why you lied. That he shouldn’t make your problems to his problems. You told him the name of the small street gang, because you knew he’d ask for it anyways.

“Mikey. I don’t want you to fight them. Please.”

Silence. Again.

He thought about your words. Considered them, questioned them, and came to his own conclusion.

Your wrists interlocked behind his back, to make your silent plea more prominent.

He mirrored your actions, like always, like your Mikey does.

There was no blame, no accusations, just Mikey, you, and your beating hearts.

“Y/n. Tell me.”

“Hm?”

“Tell me…what you think. Always. Don’t keep your thoughts from me.”

He could feel your hesitant nod.

“And I won’t be able to keep your promise. We will have a talk with them.”

Disappointment was about to flood your mind when he continued:

“Me, Ken and you.”

And the negative feeling turned into relieve. Because there was no way you would let him lose himself in his dark place while you were around. You collected his pieces and glued the back together. That was your purpose, that was, what he needed.

 So, I didn’t really understand whether you’d prefer headcanons or a fully written scenario, so I went for a mix. If you are unsatisfied, please let me know and I will write something else!

Wishing you a happy day,

Rosalie 🌹

[thedelusionreaderbitch]

Kanej x gn! Reader - Falling

A/n: So I know I haven't been posting lately and I'm so sorry! I have like 11 drafts (in my Tumblr alone) and I couldn't get any of them done and I don't know why! I also used the Dear Evan Hansen seen Did you fall? As an inspiration!

Warnings: TRIGGER WARNING!!! Suicidal reader, falling, heights, suicidal thoughts, mentions of death, language, I think that's it? You have been warned!

Summary: In a heist, you decided to let go

I do not own shadow and bone six of crows or its characters! I also do not own dear Evan Hansen because some of the dialogue came from that! On another note, I also did not make/do not own this image!

Your hand slipped from the ledge and then you were was falling.

Your know Inej had fallen many times, it's practically part of her job description. You had to make mistakes to get better so falling and tumbling was just how it worked, of course, she hadn't any more. Any of the stories she's told you have all been from the past. Kaz had fallen too, he jumped off a building and that's how he injured his leg, but you don't think any of their stories have lived up to this.

Your hair is flung back behind you, and you really have no control over your body. It should seem like your going down but that's not what it looks like, it looks like your floating up. You try and spread out your body so you would slow the speed you were falling at but it's no use.

You try and scream but at the rate that your falling it gets caught in the air and even that ability is taken away from you like so much air fills your lungs.

You don't close your eyes and try to imagine what your life could have been. After all, the only reason you weren't on the ground, safe with your friends was that you had just robbed and gotten Nikolai back Strumhond's ships. You might as well enjoy the view.

Luckily for you, there was a beautiful sunrise in the distance and the clouds seemed to be placed in all the right places like the framing around a picture.

Though it was ironic because it showed that life would go on after you died because death was inevitable for you wasn't it? Your life was just another spec in the universe barely even making a dent in anything.

A bitter thought comes to mind; at least you wouldn't have to deal with all the shit trauma you would have had to go through. The reason you had 'slipped' from the ledge was no coincidence.

The air around you started to get heavy and you could see the bottom of the earth coming closer and closer. It's then where you close your eyes and your mind forms two people - Kaz and Inej.

Your girlfriend and boyfriend would... Gosh, they would probably wreck the world till they found out who made you fall. Only their search would end up empty.

You didn't want to leave them like this, not really yet they had each other. Would good were you? You were always just an extra understudy, you were never good at something you were just... Average.

And why would you want to live in this saint's forsaken world any longer?

Mentally you brace yourself for the impact; you probably wouldn't even feel a thing. You were so high up that the force of you hitting the ground would make it so you would die on impact.

You don't. You don't end up hitting the ground the rough and welcoming grass and dirt of the earth signifying your end. Your freedom, no you find yourself face-first into a ginormous cushion on a flying boat.

Groaning you look around only to find that this is definitely Nikolai's (or Strumhond's) ship. And there were some frazzled-looking Crows coming right towards you.

Fuck. Fucking shit- Nope, nope you were not going to talk about this. No one needed to know! It was only a little high...

You had almost taken your own life.

The facts come full force at you and you have to calm your breathing so you don't have a full-on panic attack.

"Y/n!" Inej comes full force basically flying towards you as she leaps through the air as graceful as a cat and lands right beside you. Suddenly she pulls you into her arms and you have to remind yourself to embrace her because you feel so numb.

"I'm okay." You croak and it comes out a little teary but to everyone else, it had sounded like you were afraid of what might have happened but what you really were afraid of was what did happen.

Inej helps you off the cushion even though you are pretty sure you sustained little to no injuries. That thing was fucking soft.

"Y/n." It comes out shaky and your eyes meet Kaz's and they aren't lined with tears like Inej's but his voice wavers and holds the fear of the man who would do anything not to be scared like that ever again.

He limps over to you both and surprisingly pulls you both into his embrace.

This time you don't feel numb no - you feel fucking guilty.

Finally, all three of you pull away and when you meet Kaz's eyes again you know he knows.

By the Saints, this is just your luck today, isn't it?

"What happened," Kaz says slowly like he's talking to a child.

Okay, and that's why you didn't want to tell anyone because you weren't a child and you weren't making this shit up! He couldn't just undermine you because he thought you need some support 'that way!' That's not what you need!

It's not going to make it any better.

"I fell." You say crossing your arms taking a few steps back from Inej and Kaz.

"Kaz let it go." Inej's voice isn't light it's that commanding tone she uses to the people on her ship. She's never used that tone on us, sure maybe that mother tone but not that tone.

What's happening to us?

Kaz sets his hard gaze on Inej willing her to take a step back but she stands her ground of course she does.

Am I the reason we'll fall apart?

"Really? Is that what really happened?" Kaz utters and he turns his gaze towards you. It's hard and angry and he isn't Kaz Brekker or Kaz Rietveld anymore, he's Dirtyhands. And your just another opposing gang member he's trying to get information out of.

"Yes!" You shrink away from him becoming smaller and smaller till you hit the wall of the ship.

Inej seems to have caught on to what Kaz is assuming and she looks at you in surprise and shock.

"Y/n... No, no you can't have..."

"Why don't I believe you?"

You are pressed up against the wall now with Kaz and Inej in front of you, keeping you in your place so you don't or can't run away.

It was always meant to be Dirtyhands and the Wraith wasn't it? You were a fool for thinking they could ever love you. They would leave you wouldn't they? If you told them the truth.

Everything would be lost.

"I was... I was holding on!" You nearly yell like your trying to convince yourself that you didn't let go of that ship. That you almost won the war within yourself.

"Then I lost my grip on the ledge and I just... I was falling."

It's Inej this time who speaks and she gently places a hand on your shoulder.

"Did you fall or did you let go?"

The question hangs in the air and you see now that they weren't Dirtyhands and the Wraith, no. They were concerned, worried, and afraid they were going to lose you to yourself.

"I let go." You whisper looking down at the floor of the ship not bearing to be able to look them in the eyes.

You shove them out of the way but you couldn't just run away, it was a fucking flying ship for fucks shake! There was no getting away, and you didn't feel like flinging yourself off Nikolai's ship.

So you just stand by the railing as silent tears slowly roll down your face the only thing that recognized your suffering.

Out of the corner of your vision, you see two people come up beside you on each side. You don't say anything you don't even look at them, you just look on at the sunrise and how it's almost forming into a beautiful sunny day.

"I'm sorry." Inej whispers and you hesitantly takes your hand and you can't help but let her.

You look over to Kaz and for once in your life, all his guards are down and you can tell he's also sorry. But you could also tell that he was so, so afraid.

"Please don't leave us."

Its barely said yet you can hear it clear as day and he takes your other hand looking at you with pleading eyes.

Looking over to Inej her eyes held the same beg, the beg of forgiveness, and the beg of safety.

Your beautiful Crows.

"I'll try."

"That's all we ask." Inej states as she and Kaz move closer to you and you all look at the sun. And what's beyond.

Words 1463

-thedelusionreaderbitch

Shadow and bone taglist: @kaqua @rika90 @thefandomplace @musical-theatre-obsessed-dumbass @gallysonegoodlung @navs-bhat @sumsebien @dontjudgeabookbythecover @brekker-zenik @alohastitch0626

[alfredosauce50]

Hi! I was wondering if you could do some Romano + Prussia x royal reader (separate) headcannons? I'm a sucker for a good forbidden romance and would be happy to see what you want to do with it. Thank you!

Yes, of course! Sorry for the kinda late response--I got carried away writing other things. What a coincidence that I've been doing a lot of exploring in fantasy! The reader is referred to as she/her.

Forbidden Romance Headcanons - Prussia and S. Italy

Prussia - The earnest pickpocket and sheltered princess

Unfortunately, Gilbert is on the wrong side of history. As an albino, he's been an outcast ever since he was born. In an age of superstition and class divide, his parents had no problem abandoning an extra mouth to feed. Especially when they were a demon with magical powers. Left to fend for himself as a baby, he only ever survived thanks to the generosity of an old neighbor. When they passed away due to old age, he had to get on by himself on the streets. Stealing, lying, whatever it takes to get some quick cash. And he's been doing it ever since he was five.

He loved fairytales ever since he was a kid. His guardian always told him these stories before bedtime, after all. They said it was good luck to give the princess a flower, and he remembered this a few years later during the royal parade in town. Pushing through the crowd of onlookers, he held out a small dandelion hoping you would take it. Before the guards could swat him away, you took the flower with a smile. All you remembered from that time was a small and dirty face gleaming up at you. And, of course, a pair of striking red eyes you would never forget.

In his adolescence, he became a thief with quick hands. It wasn't until he took on the most dangerous job of all did he make himself a public enemy. Stealing the royal family's jewels. And he would've gotten away with it if he wasn't forced to take a detour through the princess's bedroom. Unbeknownst to him, you were wide awake. Immediately, you recognized him as the little boy from that day. Without thinking, you hid him in your wardrobe until the guards left. That was the start of a strange friendship forged between two people from two worlds--a dirt-poor criminal and the well-loved princess of a thriving kingdom.

He visits you from time to time by climbing up the side of the castle. When he first did it, you practically throttled him by his collar, screaming, “Do you have a death wish? They'll throw you to the lions if you get caught!”. He simply responds with, “The awesome me never gets caught! That's why I'm here, ja?” Soon, this becomes routine until you learn to trust him.

Gilbert loves gloating about his adventures as a street rat, whether it's about singlehandedly beating up gangs of bullies or outrunning the palace guards. As a sheltered person of royalty, his stories reflect experiences alien to you. But it opens your eyes to things you've never seen, and it's very fascinating.

If he's not telling grossly exaggerated anecdotes of his greatness, he'll bring in board games and cards he “borrowed” from his friends. You've never played with them before as your parents deemed them unrefined. It fills him with pride to see you enjoying yourself so much, especially when he's teaching you how to play.

You don't go out very often, so he always brings back little trinkets and souvenirs. When you found out he stole them all, you would hit him on the head and tell him off. “Where did you get these from? Stealing and giving these to the princess--do you know how stupid that sounds?” Then, you would pinch his cheek until he tears up and admits his wrongs. “I-I thought you would like them, okay? I wanted to give them to you as a present...” The next day, you would accompany him to the shops he robbed and pay the owners back.

He gets upset and embarrassed when he realizes those gifts aren't gifts at all. Not when you paid for them yourself! One of the ways he shows affection is through giving gifts, but that unfortunately clashes with not having money. So he's eager to make something out of himself, even if he has to work as a bottom feeder and face unfair treatment for what he looks like. When you find out, his boss gets one hell of a time dealing with you. After that, he uses whatever small amount he earned to buy something for you.

As he grows out of his old habits, he becomes more honest. In fact, he's so determined to prove himself that he shows up one day with a homemade board game scribbled out on a spare piece of parchment. He's nervous and twiddling his fingers, and that's when you know you have to help him get back onto his feet. He's so touched by your kindness that he shows you a secret he's been hiding forever--he can do magic. It's one of his skills that let him become so good at stealing in the past.

After some practice to touch up his abilities, you try convincing your parents to let him work in the palace as an all-rounder. With the magic dancing in his fingertips, there's nothing he can't do. He has a green thumb, good reflexes, and the horses in the stables listen to him better than the caretaker! He can't forget that you encouraged him to let go of his doubts and previous identity as a petty thief. There's nobody in the world he looks up to more.

On the night of your eighteenth birthday, he's invited to a ball to celebrate. Once again, he finds himself anxious to see you in your dress, especially when he's quite glammed up himself with his suit and hair slicked back. While you teach him how to dance, he tells you he looks ridiculous. But you think otherwise and make it explicit. That's when Gilbert realizes he's completely smitten with you. He embarks on another journey to improve himself until he thinks he deserves you.

South Italy - The plebeian pâtissier and renegade royal

War has ravaged the kingdom and eaten into the state's reserves, leaving inflation rates at an all-time high. The suffering middle and working-class take it up to their rulers in a coup d'état, killing the king and queen. And now, they're searching for the princess amidst the chaos of an ungoverned dominion. Romano couldn't be more indifferent to such a cause, only ever caring about putting food on the table. He works day and night helping out his family's bakery, making what he can to get by. However, he's forced to take a side when he finds a girl on his doorstep on the verge of starvation.

Unable to turn away someone in need, he nurses you back to health. However, he does so with spite, wondering to himself why he has to give what little he has left to a princess. When you feel better after a few days, he's eager to send you off but changes his mind as you leave. Romano can't bear to let you face certain death, or worse, knowing how bitter the townspeople are about the unpopular war. So he welcomes you back with a sharp sigh with his head turned away. “Alright, alright, you can stay. Now stop making that pathetic face, you spoilt principessa--it's depressing.”

He relays a few house rules as conditions for keeping you around. You have to help him with chores. Cooking, cleaning, sewing, everything. Considering you always had someone doing those tasks for you, you're hopeless at it. He'll swat your hand and show you how to do things right with an annoyed scowl. “No, no, no, no, no! You're doing it all wrong. This is how you do it. What do they even teach you in that palace, huh? Books? Maths? Books about maths? Well, they won't keep you alive, you know!”

Because he's so observant and strict, he's a good teacher, and soon, you get the hang of everything. Before, he had to open his mouth to correct you every few seconds, but now, he can just watch you do his work with his arms crossed. It's a little demeaning to have someone watch your every move, but inside, he's relieved you're finally fitting in and not a complete waste of his time and resources. In reality, he never wanted to send you off and hoped he could just handle an extra mouth to feed. Not that he'll ever tell you.

When you're out and about, he makes you wear a cloak to hide your identity. When he's forced to interact with people, he'll hold you close and play everything off without arousing suspicion. Even if your hood falls off, he won't react--he's screaming inside in panic, but he's a great actor when he needs to be. You're totally not the princess, just a crazy similar doppelganger. The cloak is there so that people don't make a fuss. When they leave, he'll turn to you and scream how much of an idiot you are. But really, he was just worried to death--and you have a feeling he was. So you hug it out and leave him cussing with a red face.

As you two grow closer, his cousin Antonio notices how much he cares about you despite his efforts to hide it. It's a problem. He approaches him and warns that if people found out he was hiding the princess, he would get killed with her. Romano heats up and screams, telling him that he already knew what he got into the second he let you into his home. When he's asked why he's still keeping you around, he responds with, “It's not fair that her parents fucked up, and she has to face the consequences. Just like how I never wanted to run this stupid bakery--I wanted to be a painter, not burn my hands in the kitchen all day!”

Unbeknownst to him, you overhear the conversation. The next morning, he discovers that you're gone and loses his head. While he's screaming and crying, he's swarmed with the possibilities of what happened to you. He's a bit of an overthinker, but his paranoia is deserved--were you taken away in the middle of the night? Are you even still alive? He spirals down a path of self-loathing until he confronts how much he misses you, then his regret of never being frank with his feelings. Romano didn't understand what he had until he lost it. To say this was a wake-up call--to be more honest with himself--would be an understatement.

A week later, you return unscathed. Turns out, you left to stay with the owner of a paint shop owner your family always supported and bought from. You present him with a gift of some high-end oil paints, brushes, and canvases. When he sets them all down, he'll pull you into a tight hug, and once again, tell you how stupid you are. While he has you in his coils, you smile to yourself as you pat his hair, happy that you also got something in return. Some transparency. “I just thought I'd give you something... For all the trouble.” You'd say, and he'd shush you with a few hard kisses. “You were never a trouble. I wanted you to stay, so I'm more to blame than you.”

As the political situation of the country calms down, so do the anxieties of angry neighbors pounding on his door. You return to his home much to his content. Now that you're just as good as him at icing cakes, you spend more time running the bakery. This gives him some time to paint, and he can't be happier. Once you both get settled, he discovers another hobby on top of making art. Making coffee! The bakery evolves into a café lavishly decorated with his paintings, and it becomes the most popular establishment in town. You both realize how overrated it is to want to be anything more--you never bring up your title ever again.

[gloomybabygirl]

{in my head pt.2} Poe Dameron x smuggler!reader (soulmate au)

series masterlist 

last part  *  next part

a/n: hi everyone! I can’t thank you enough for all the love on the first part of the series!! I was actually super nervous to post it and had my friends beta read it an unhealthy amount of times, so the feedback I’ve gotten has been wonderful :) p.s. the series tag list is open, send an ask or message if you want to be tagged for the rest!

warnings: alcohol consumption, soulmate trope, poe not clearing his throat, cliffhanger, I haven’t proofread this yet 

timeline: I never established this so here we go! this is set between force awakens and last Jedi! so we’re still on D’Qar ladies, gents, and nb friends. however Miss Rey has not yet traveled to see Uncle Luke 

word count: 4k oops

songs used: mr. loverman - Ricky Montgomery & the chain - Fleetwood Mac (kinda? I just listened there's no singing in this part lol)

summary: you and Poe spend some time bonding, you go on your first mission 

You loved being apart of the Resistance. Waking up on D’Qar every morning was a blessing in your eyes. You had a purpose here. You’d never stayed on one planet for so long. Being on the run was your norm for the majority of your life. It was too dangerous for you to stay on one planet for too long (or stay in one region for that matter). The humid Jungle was the closest thing you’d had to a permanent home since you were a child. 

That is, D’Qar was the closet thing to a physical home you’d had in years. There was one person that had no trouble making you feel at home. You could be stuck in carbonite on a bounty hunters ship and hearing your soulmate’s voice wold make you feel safe. His sweet song felt like coming home to the warm embrace of a lover. 

But you hadn’t heard it in weeks. And it was starting to worry you. There had always been that nagging voice in the back of your mind telling you that he’d found someone else. But now that voice was trying to convince you of something much worse. You don’t know what you’d do if you’d spent all this time waiting for your person only to find out that something awful had happened to him. 

You’d rather find out he already belonged to someone else. 

You did your best to push the dark thoughts away, locking them in a box in the back of your mind. You couldn’t let yourself linger on the idea of him being dead or it would drive you insane. 

There were three people that did a magnificent job of keeping your mind off of all the negative thoughts. On days when it felt like the weight of the war was resting solely on your shoulders, your friends were the ones who could help you bear it. They were always there for a joke or a long talk, if that's what you needed. Of course you were there for them as well. It was the first time you’d allowed yourself to have people in your life that could rely on you. 

Days like today were your favorite. The weather was finally starting to cool down on the swampy planet, making the outside air somewhat tolerable. Everyone you loved was on base, safe and accounted for after a successful mission. Every time one of them left the base you felt as though you were holding your breath until they came back. But now, in Poe's small quarters with Rey and Finn, you felt the air return to your grateful lungs. Poe had devised a plan to hit up Maz’s on the way back from the mission and snagged a few bottles of jet juice, which you and the rest of the gang were all happily draining  in his quarters. The alcohol was just beginning to burn in your stomach and your head was the slightest bit fuzzy. You took your time soaking in the scene of your found family spread out on the cold permacrete of Poe’s room. 

Finn’s boisterous laugh rang out as his best friend finished telling every one about his adventure and a half to get the jet juice. Finn was especially fond of the tangy, red alcohol and was on drink number four down the hatch.

“Only you, Dameron,” Rey laughed to herself, gently taking the half full bottle out of Finn’s hands. His face of protest caused another round of laughter to erupt around the small room. He looked like a child that was denied a sweet by their parent. 

Finn fell back against the permacrete, his head making an awful hollow sound as it hit the ground. He didn't seem to feel it and decided the floor was his new best friend for the night. Rey got up from her position against the wall and began to pick up the empty bottles scattered around the room. 

“Looks like the jet juice served it’s purpose,” you commented, nudging Poe in the side with your elbow. Finn was now curling into the fetal position, trying to use a rug as a blanket. 

You had your legs resting over Poe’s strong thighs. He patted the side of your leg where his hand had been resting, carefully moving your legs off of him. “I better help him back to his room. Someone has to make sure he doesn’t end up running naked through the tarmac trying to fly an X-Wing,” Poe said. 

“I’d should head back to my quarters too,” you stood up to put your boots on, but Poe stopped you. 

“Actually, do you think you could wait here till I get back? I have something I want to give you,” Poe winked at you, helping Rey tug their friend to his feet.

You couldn't help the way your heart sped up at his words. And you definitely didn't miss the eyebrow raise Rey shot you from the door. 

“Yeah, I’ll just hang with BB-8 till you get back.” 

A low voice bellowed out from the door, “OOOOH HE GOT YOU A PRESENT! How romantic,” Finn was apparently trying to wake up the entire base with the way his voice was booming off the walls. You were sure he hadn't meant for that to come out so loud. Or to come out at all. 

Everyone went silent. You and Poe pointedly looked away from each other. His cheeks flamed red. You pretended to be preoccupied with the frayed laces on your Resistance issued boots. 

Rey looked between the two of you and then broke the awkward silence with: “Aaanyway, let’s get you to bed Peanut!” She sounded too cheerful, trying to reduce the awkward energy that hung in the room. Being force sensitive you could only imagine how she was perceiving the situation. She and Poe hauled their inebriated friend out into the hall, desperately trying to shush him as he was now singing. You hoped his poor soulmate wasn't trying to sleep. 

_ 

Finn clapped Poe on the back hard when they finally got into the drunk man’s room. Rey had helped Poe get Finn to his quarters but had dipped when Finn requested to be helped into his pajamas. They were close, but not ‘undressing one another’ close. Poe was itching to get back to his room and see you again, but he helped his buddy none the less. 

Finn was finally laying in bed when Poe turned to leave. 

“Are you okay?” 

Poe hesitated, then turned on his heel. “Yeah?” he furrowed his brow at the unexpected question, “Why?” 

“You haven’t been singing.” Finn was suddenly serious. 

Poe’s face softened when he realized what Finn was so concerned about. 

And he was right, Poe hadn’t been singing. It wasn't hard to miss, everyone on base noticed. The man who used to use every spare moment to sing to his soulmate had gone quiet. People actually missed hearing his voice all the time. Echoing through the halls of the base or out on the tarmac mixing with the whine of X-Wings taking off and landing. Finn wasn’t the only person worried about Black Leader. Leia had even mentioned something to her surrogate son a few days back. She enjoyed his singing more than anyone. She said it was a sparkle of hope during a dark time.

But the truth was, Poe didn't feel like singing. Guilt was the main thing keeping him from inflicting his voice on people whenever he could. How could he sing to his soulmate when he was fighting off feelings for someone else? He was doing everything in his power to stop you from being at the forefront of his mind all the time, but it was hard when your smile was his favorite thing to occupy his mind with. 

“I miss my lover, man.” 

He did. He missed his soulmate, whoever they were. He missed randomly hearing their soft voice humming through his mind. He missed the way he felt when he would sing to them. It was the closest thing he had to actually being with them, talking to them. He missed that he used to long for them. Lately that unconditional, blind love was being clouded by someone else. You. 

_ 

“Tell me more stories about your Dad.” You were sitting cross-legged on the floor across from where BB-8 was nestled in his charging station. He had been beeping and booping at you for the last half and hour as you waited for his father to return. 

The droid animatedly jumped into another anecdote about a recent mission he had gone on with his favorite person. He rattled around in his charging station, whirling his head around and beeping rapidly at you. 

“He did what?!” you asked the little orange droid as the blast doors flew open, revealing the man in question. You turned to face Poe, mouth still agape at the droids admission to you.

“Who did what?” Poe asked confused, walking into the room. The droid then decided he was done charging and rolled over to Poe for scritches. Poe kneeled down and gave his favorite little guy some love, looking at you for an answer. He laughed at the way you had your arms crossed and were giving him the same look Leia gave him when she found out he’d gotten into a dog fight.

BB-8 beeped adamantly at him. 

“Maker, Beebs, you told her about that?” He glanced nervously at you, only to find you were now trying to suppress a laugh. He was soothed by that damned smile that was burned into his mind. 

“Unfortunately for you, I can understand BB’s binary perfectly. Now I know why you have to work on your ship so often,” you teased. “You’re not exactly tender with her.” You were trying to keep up your facade of being angry with him for being reckless. You were failing, your smirk giving you away. 

Why did the fact that you understood BB-8 give him heart palpitations? His droid was absolutely going to get him into trouble with you one day. Apparently he can’t be expected to keep secrets. 

Poe ignored your jab and  walked over to sit behind you. 

“Close your eyes,” he demanded softly. 

“No, I don’t trust you. What kind of weird creature are you about to put on me?” you asked, twisting your torso to see him. 

He cocked his head at you, “Would you just have a little faith in me? I have something special for you.” He laughed. You narrowed your eyes at him but closed you eyes and turned around anyway, your smile growing bigger every second.

“Besides, if I was going to put a creature on you, I’d do it on front of more people,” he taunted. 

You laughed humorlessly at him, “Always the attention whore.” You heard him playfully shush you. 

Poe took a deep breath, silently grateful that you couldn't see the way his hands were trembling. He reached up and removed the silver chain from around his neck for the first time in years. He then carefully slipped it over your head and watched from over your shoulder as his mothers ring came to rest at your sternum. 

Deep breath. “Open.” 

You immediately turned toward him, a look of shock on your face.

“Poe what is this?” you asked, alarmed by the ring resting delicately on your collar bone. 

Poe's warm eyes held so much softness in them, you thought you would bust into tears right then. You turned to face him fully, confused as to why he just put this piece of jewelry around your neck. 

“A good luck charm,” he whispered, admiring the way it looked on you. 

“Is this the chain you wear every day?”

He nodded, still giving you that look that made you feel like the only person in the universe. 

“Then what's this ring?” The bottom of the silver chain was always dipped below his collar, if the ring had always been there, you’d never seen it. 

“It was my mother’s wedding ring. I wear it every day, take it on every mission, even sleep with it on. One day I’ll give it to my soulmate when I ask them to marry me, but for now it serves as a good luck charm for me,” He explained with a sad edge to his voice. 

You had become close with Poe Dameron in the last few months. While a large portion of that time was spent with Finn and Rey, you also had spent a few late nights just the two of you. He had a knack for making you laugh and you would often stay in his quarters long after the others had retired. Deeper conversations were far and few between, the two of you preferring to spend your time together in a fit of hysterics. It was strange to see this man so serious. There was no twinkle of mischief in his eyes tonight. 

You suddenly felt suffocated by him. His face was a mere few inches away from yours and you could feel his cool breath fanning across your face. His large hands rested on your knees, giving you a light squeeze and snapping you out of your haze.

“Poe are you sure you want to give this to me? I can't imagine how important it must be to you.” You reached up and stroked the smooth metal. 

“It’s the most important thing in the word to me. But I want you to have it for your first mission. Since I’m not going with you to help you when you accidentally shoot yourself in the foot, I want you to have a piece of me there with you. And what better to give you than my good luck charm?”

You felt your tears spill over, streaking hot and wet down your face at the sincerity in his voice. You couldn't believe he wanted you to have this piece of him with you. He was becoming one of the most important people in your life, and him sharing something so special with you meant the world. 

You were going down a slippery slope. If you weren't careful, you could fall in love with this man so easily.

“Poe, thank you. I don't know what to say,” you reached forward, pulling him into a tight hug. You nuzzled into his neck, letting the scent of leather and engine oil envelop you. He reached one arm securely around your waist and brought the other up to gently cup the back of your head. He took a deep breath in without meaning to, overwhelming his senses with you. He didn't want to pull away and had to hide his disappointment when you did. You kept your hands on his shoulders, squeezing slightly. 

“I promise I’ll bring it back safely so you can give it to your soulmate one day.”

_

The next few days were a whirl wind of meetings, briefings, more meetings, caf breaks, and did you mention meetings? You spent more time in the command room with your team than you did anywhere else. You forgot life existed outside the confines of the dirt walls.

But you were ecstatic that Leia trusted you with such an important mission so soon after joining the Resistance. Plus you couldn’t be more grateful for the people that were joining you for this mission. 

Finn was excellent for morale and a very smart man when he needed to be, unless of course he had jet juice in his system. Miss. Force-User Rey was always a good person to have on a mission. You brought a sense of craftiness to the crew, thanks to your smuggler skills. And Chewbacca was the only one (besides Poe) that Leia trusted to pilot the Falcon. Plus, he had a soft spot for smugglers, making you a new favorite of his. 

The one person you wished you could add to this team was Poe. His pilot skills would have been a great help to Chewie, he was talented with a blaster, and he was easy on the eyes. But he had a more important solo mission with BB-8 that Leia needed him on. He didn't make himself completely scarce though. He often came in and out of the Command Center, having his own mission to plan with Admiral Akbar. He made a point of bringing you caf every time too, he knew exactly how you liked it. 

You were terrified for your first mission as it was, but not having Poe there made everything ten times more dangerous in your eyes. 

The ring he had let you borrow was becoming a source of comfort. Whenever you got anxious about the mission you found yourself fiddling with it. The smooth metal was slightly worn in one spot on the band and you ran your fingers over it repeatedly to calm yourself. Something you caught yourself doing unconsciously on a number of occasions. 

The plan was simple. The Resistance had gotten word of an ex First Order official on the planet Ryloth, less than a parsec away from Tatooine. You and the rest of the crew were to go there and see what information the old Commander could offer you. Simple. But that didn’t stop you from needing to cover all your bases. Every single thing that could have possibly gone wrong had an escape plan to coincide. You were as prepared as you could be.

Your favorite part of the plan was your mode of transportation. As an ex-smuggler, you’d admired the Millennium Falcon and it's pilot for years. You’d heard every story surrounding Han Solo and his old piece of junk. Seeing it in person, let alone flying on it was something you’d never thought would be possible. But here you were, boarding the infamous ship. 

Finn and Rey brushed passed you, Rey laughing at the look of awe on your face as you were frozen in the doorway, the ramp hitting you on the ass as it closed.

You took your time walking around the hull of the Falcon. Taking a moment just to think about the adventures she’d been on, the places she’d seen. You laughed fondly to yourself as you remembered your favorite story. You reached out and placed a hand tentatively on the wall of the old ship. “So this is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs?” you called out to your friends.

“Twelve,” Finn and Rey chorused from the cockpit, mixed with the indignant cry of your favorite Wookie. 

“Okay, twelve! Sorry, sorry,” you laughed and joined your friends in the cockpit. 

_ 

Poe was exhilarated every time he was in the air. There was nothing in the world that gave him the same feeling. This man was more comfortable in a cockpit than he was on his own two feet. If it were up to him, he’d never come down. 

But there was someone pulling him back to solid ground, like a magnet. Someone he couldn’t stop thinking about no matter how badly he wanted to exile them from his mind. He couldn't ignore your gravitational pull. He hadn't seen you in several days, you having returned from your mission two days prior. His mission was a success and he couldn't wait to tell you all about it. Leaving out the dangerous details that BB-8 was sure to fill you in on later. 

He was nervous to hear about how your mission went. It was a simple enough task, but he couldn't help but worry about you. He hoped his good luck charm was as comforting to you as it had been to him these last few years. He felt naked without it, this having been the first mission he hadn't taken it on. He found himself reaching up to stroke his finger across the band of the ring he had worn in from playing with it when he got nervous, but then remembering he'd given it to you. The idea that you were wearing a piece of him around the base made his heart leap in his chest. 

He was practically giddy when he leaped down from his X-Wing, already rushing to find you. 

Cool it Dameron, you have a soulmate waiting for you. 

Plus, he had to see the General before anything. Was he so clouded by his need to see you that he forgot he was fighting a war? 

A twinge of guilt hit him hard in the stomach, forcing him to take a deep breath and remind himself of the person looking for him somewhere in the universe. He let his feet take him down the familiar dirt path to the Command Center. The soft, damp earth caused his flight boots to sink slightly with each step.

He flooded his mind with images of what his future could be like with the person the galaxy had chosen for him. A small home on Yavin IV. Children he could teach how to fly the same way his mother taught him. A safe, quiet life with no threat of the First Order. No threats at all. He stored these images in the back of his mind for when he needed a glimmer of hope during the war. But lately he was using these daydreams as distractions from you. 

He stepped into he large room where Leia was addressing General Akbar and a few other pilots that had also just returned from a mission. 

When she caught sight of Poe her forehead created in confusion and she abruptly dismissed the debrief she was in the middle of with a wave of her hand. As they shuffled out of the room, several of them shot Poe sympathetic looks. 

What the hell was going on? 

“Commander Dameron, what are you doing here?” The General asked, walking over to him.

He hesitated, unsure as to why she was asking a question with an obvious answer, “I just landed from my mission, General. I’m here to debrief.” 

Leia dropped the General persona and gently caressed the pilots face, running her thumb over the stubble she resented.

She had always been like a second mother to Poe, and he like a second son to her. Their relationship was something special and unique. Something she thanked the Force every day for. However, her unexpected shift from serious Resistance leader to caring mother made Poe nervous. 

“I thought Finn or Rey would have been waiting on the tarmac to tell you.” 

Now he was starting to panic. What was he missing? What happened? 

“Come with me,” Leia softly implored, grabbing his calloused hand and yanking him out of the room. She tried to flood him with calm though the force connection she made with him, but his anxiety was too overbearing.

She continued explaining as she pulled him through the base, “The mission went south. There was no ex Order Commander on Ryloth. It was a set up. When they landed, there was a fleet of ‘Troopers waiting for them, ready to capture them and bring them back to the Finalizer for my son to interrogate.” She tried to keep her voice even for Poe's sake.

Poe was really panicking now, starting to pick up his speed. He squeezed Leia’s hand, begging her to continue. 

“They got out relatively unscathed. Chewie stayed on the Falcon so they were able to get away quickly. But Poe,” she stopped in her tracks, jerking Poe back to a halt. She looked him in the eyes, worried for what his reaction to her news would be. 

“Poe, the new recruit was badly hurt. They were shot in the side with a blaster and lost a lot of blood. They’ve been in the medbey unconscious for two days, but they’ll be okay,” she finished. 

Poe wordlessly turned and broke out into a run towards the medbay. Leia watched him go, knowing he needed to see you more than anything in that moment. She had felt a connection between you and Poe. She knew he wanted to wait for his soulmate, but she also knew that finding them was not likely. Part of her wished he would give in and let himself fall in love with you. Soulmate or not, she wanted him to be happy. 

[akaluan]

Prompt: As always, Erich/Kisuke(/Alexis?) 32, 25

(32: Flirting under fire, 25: Time travel Erich/Kisuke(/Alexis?))

“This is not quite what I had in mind when you said ‘let’s go back in time and fix things!’” Erich shouted as he swept his arm out, emerald reiatsu trailing from his fingertips and lingering as brilliant streaks that suddenly flared bright-bright-brighter—

Shinigami and Quincy froze as the ward settled around them, locking them in stasis until they either gathered the strength to break free or he released them.

It wasn’t the best solution, but it would have to do until they could finally sort out how the hell to stop, well… whatever people wanted to call this goddamn mess.

(Would he even be born after all this meddling?)

(Whose bright idea was it to stop the Quincy purge?)

Erich grimaced and flicked his fingers, trying to shake the growing numbness in his hand at the blatant overuse of power he’d been indulging in. He was stronger than most combatants on the field, but there were so many combatants that his chosen method of crowd control was tiring.

“Aw, but it’s turned out so well!” Kisuke shouted back as he smoothly ducked away from Kyoraku’s blade and traded places with Alexis. He cast a glance at Erich, lips quirked into a tiny, pleased smile, and said, “I always enjoy the sight of you showing your strength. It’s… inspiring.”

“You seriously think this has ‘turned out well’?” Erich snapped, trying to ignore the shivery curl of pride-pleasure-want that Kisuke’s words caused; now was not the time for such things, and he wished Kisuke would just… not.

(But oh, it felt so good to be seen, to be appreciated…!)

(No, he needed to keep his mind on the battle at hand!)

He absently sent another stasis ward at the handful of Quincy and Shinigami that had decided to try to gang up on him; points for (temporarily) getting along in the face of a common enemy, but it had been a long time since run-of-the-mill foot soldiers could get the jump on him.

(Even if he was being distracted.)

“Maa, I think we’re getting there,” Kisuke said with a touch of laughter, even as he flicked his hand to send a silent kido at Ukitake. Whatever it was, it made the Captain hiss and withdraw, shaking his off hand as he gave Kisuke a narrow-eyed look.

Ukitake pursed his lips, then let his blade dip just slightly out of form as he said, “I’m not certain what you believe you’re doing—”

“Correcting a grave mistake,” Kisuke interrupted airily.

“Correcting genocide,” Alexis bit out as she slid inside Kyoraku’s guard, grabbed his shoulders, and yanked him down as she drove her knee into his stomach. Judging by the way Kyoraku gasped and hunched over, she’d also coated her knee with reiatsu.

(Poor bastard, that was never an enjoyable experience.)

(Alexis was damn good at fighting dirty.)

Ukitake blitzed past Kisuke, blade up and eyes hard—

Erich locked blades with the infuriated Captain, muscles straining against the raw power that Ukitake could bring to bear, and said, “We aren’t here to kill you.”

“No?” Ukitake asked sharply, gaze darting over Erich’s shoulder before refocusing on him. “I’m not quite sure I believe that.”

Erich shrugged. “Believe what you will. I’ve killed no one so far and your partner will be fine.” He eyed Ukitake’s stance thoughtfully, then twisted his body around and in, free hand reaching for Ukitake’s wrist—

His Ukitake would never have fallen for something so obvious, but this one… this one didn’t have the same sort of experience. This one hadn’t spent over a year sparring with him almost once a week. This one didn’t know his tells, or his habits, or anything about him, and…

He felt no shame in capitalizing on his own familiarity with the man.

His hand closed over Ukitake’s wrist. Squeezed just so—

Ukitake inhaled sharply as he flinched, hand spasming and zanpakutou dropping—

Erich caught it by the tsuba before it could fall too far, then disappeared in a burst of hirenkyaku and landed at Kisuke’s side. “Willing to listen to us now?” he asked idly as he carefully ran blut vein down his arm and took a firmer hold on the blade itself, unwilling to offend Ukitake by even the pretense of turning the man’s zanpakutou on him.

Kisuke leaned in, warm breath ghosting over Erich’s ear, and whispered, “Showing off for me, Erich? I certainly appreciate it.”

Erich swallowed and turned his head a bit to glare at Kisuke, feeling his cheeks heat as he did. “Will you not?” he hissed in exasperation.

“But you look so good like that,” Kisuke murmured, then laughed and ducked away when Erich tried to elbow him in the chest. “Maa, Erich-san needs to learn to take a compliment!”

Erich sighed, unable to resist casting a long-suffering look at Ukitake as he did; the man smirked at him in response, an edge of familiar playfulness about him that dissipated a moment later when Alexis appeared at Erich’s side with Kyoraku in her grip, constructed ropes tying his arms behind his back.

“Look, I’d rather not keep fighting you,” Alexis declared, expression stern as she stared at Ukitake. “You’re outmatched, and with us here this effort to exterminate the Quincy is doomed to failure.” She nodded towards where Kurosaki was in the midst of combat with the Soutaicho and added, “Besides, once Kurosaki-kun finishes his fight, I have no doubt your leader will call it all off anyway.”

“You truly think the Quincy will accept that?” Ukitake asked, curious-skeptical-considering as he examined the three of them and then the masses of frozen fighters all around them. “They seem no more pleased to see you than we do.”

Erich cast a thoughtful look at the combatants that he’d frozen and flexed the fingers of his free hand;  even with Tessai going around and adding a seal atop his ward, thereby taking some of the burden from him, he couldn’t continue to use his powers so flagrantly. He had enough strength left to hold his own against Ukitake or Kyoraku, but not both, and he had yet to sense the Quincy Clan Head on the field.

(Whether that meant the Clan Head wasn’t present or had already been killed, he didn’t know.)

(He didn’t even know who was supposed to be the Clan Head in this time!)

(No one who survived had ever spoken of it to him, or written it down anywhere he could find…)

(Damn the Shinigami for the destruction they had wrought!)

“I suppose they don’t,” Erich finally said, then shook his head and straightened his spine, chin tipping up as he fixed Ukitake with a steady look. “But it doesn’t matter. I was a Clan Head at one point and I will make them listen if I must.”

(Hopefully the Clan Head wasn’t dead.)

(Hopefully they listened to him instead of fighting him.)

(Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully…)

Erich bit back his worries and flexed his free hand again, trying to chase away the lingering numbness of overusing his power. He couldn’t afford to drop his guard around Ukitake, even with Kyoraku captured and the man’s blade in his hand; Ukitake was a cunning opponent who would do nearly anything for those he cared about, and right now Erich was not one of the people he cared about.

Ukitake stared back at Erich, wary-thoughtful-wondering as his gaze traveled from Erich’s face to the careful way Erich was holding his zanpakutou, then over to Alexis and Kyoraku. “You know us,” he said slowly, thoughtfully, as his aggressive stance began to fade. “You know us and how we fight. You’re Quincy and you’re working with a Shinigami.”

“Ex-Shinigami, thank you,” Kisuke interrupted with a sniff. “I prefer the Living World these days.”

Ukitake hummed and swayed back a bit, arms crossing over his chest as he fixed all three of them with his best Stern Captain look. “Ex-Shinigami, then,” he said agreeably, even as his gaze never wavered. “You are aware, however, that there are… problems with how Quincy—”

Alexis cut him off with a rude noise, then bared her teeth when he gave her an unimpressed look. “Then work with us to fix it,” she snapped. “We unmake Hollows because they unmake us! But because we barely register to you, it’s us who are in the wrong instead of them!”

“That’s not—”

“What you meant?” Erich cut in ruthlessly. “I don’t care what you meant. I don’t care what rationale you’re using to justify destroying an entire people, but I refuse to let it stand. We’re neither perfect nor innocent of bad deeds, but we still deserve a chance to live.”

Ukitake pursed his lips and looked away, body rigid in the way that Erich knew meant guilt was eating at his friend’s conscious.

(War was one thing, they all understood war, but this…?)

(This wasn’t war.)

“You’ll need to convince the Soutaicho of this,” Ukitake finally said, slanting a sidelong look at Erich  as he did. “I am not averse to stopping these fights, but neither Kyoraku-san nor I am in control of this.”

“Kurosaki-kun will sort it out,” Kisuke said with a light grin. “He’s persuasive like that.”

Erich adjusted his grip on Ukitake’s zanpakutou, trying to ignore the growing buzz of displeasure against his senses, and asked, “Do you surrender?”

Kyoraku started and stared up at him with wide eyes, then quickly looked back to Ukitake. “Jyuu—”

“I do, so long as you swear not to hurt us,” Ukitake spoke over Kyoraku.

“We won’t,” Erich agreed easily. “Though I hope you understand that I’m not returning your zanpakutou until all the fighting is done.”

Ukitake grimaced but nodded. “I figured as much.”

Erich carefully constructed a temporary sheath around Ukitake’s zanpakutou and hung it from his belt. “Thank you,” he said as he rubbed at his tingling hand. “And your friend?”

Kyoraku heaved a sigh and sent Erich an exasperated look as he said, “Do I really have any options, here?”

“Agree to surrender and I’ll let you up,” Alexis told him.

“You’d just… let me go?” Kyoraku asked her, clearly befuddled by the suggestion. “But—”

“I captured you once, I can do it again,” Alexis answered with a shrug. “So, yes or no?”

“Anything to get out of these ropes,” Kyoraku joked, flashing a grin up at her as he said, “I normally don’t let anyone tie me up until the third date, but I’ll make an exception for a beautiful lady like yourself.”

Alexis scoffed and rolled her eyes as the ropes binding Kyoraku’s limbs dissolved back into reishi. “Trust me,” she drawled, “if I wanted to play like that, you’d know.”

Erich snorted in amusement at Kyoraku’s flummoxed look. “She doesn’t fluster easily,” he told the man dryly, then shook his head and turned to scan the sky; he needed to find the person leading the Quincy side so he could… speak with them about the battle. There were a few options if he was going by power levels, but based on his experiences…

(There.)

(That one.)

He pulled strength into himself, replenishing his power, and then darted forward, arrowing towards the Quincy he’d singled out.

(He needed to stop this battle, stop this war, and then… and then…)

(It was time and past for the Quincy hidden in Seireitei’s shadow to fall.)

(He refused to allow his people to die, even if he had to slay the progenitor of those very people.)

(He swore it.)

[curls-cat]

OTP AU challenge!! geralt/jaskier/yennefer

Oooh yes please geraskefer

Coffee shop AU: Who is the barista, and who frequents the coffee shop? Yennefer frequents the coffee shop, for certain. She’s a big important lawyer or ceo or something, and she comes in every day for her coffee because she needs her fix. (this might be influenced by the lovely fic “Our Colors so Bright and Brillant” but I love the idea of struggling musician Jaskier. So like. Episode 2 Jaskier. He hasn’t hit his stride yet. He’s working at a coffee shop to make ends meet, and he’s trying to convince the owner to let him do like, open mic nights or something.) And Geralt... if he works at the coffee shop, it’s just so that on the weekends he can go live his horse girl dreams at one of those therapy ranches. If he DOESN’T work at the coffee shop, he works full time at the therapy ranch. He doesn’t interact with the riders much, just the rescue horses. Does this AU exist? Jaskier flirting SO HARD with two of his most regular clients?

Highschool/College AU: Who is the straight-A student, and who’s the backrow slacker? Yennefer gets straight As and has to work her ass off for it. Jaskier gets As in nearly everything without working at all, and the minute he has a class he’s not naturally good at he gets very pouty about it because he never learned how to apply himself. Geralt is good at three subjects because they’re his special interests and he just. cannot bring himself to care about the other subjects. Probably if this is a high school AU the Wolves are all being fostered by Vesemir but everyone thinks they’re like, in a gang? Because they wear matching clothes and they hang out all the time.

Rivals to loves AU: Who takes their rivalry seriously, and who is half in it just to push the other’s buttons? Ooh okay so like. With the Yenskier part of this obviously we have the canon Yennefer who is just here to have fun, who is better than Jaskier and KNOWS it, and Jaskier who is super invested and wants to, some day, just once, one-up her. With Geralt/Yennefer in a rivalry AU, tho? You know that scene in the opening of the Incredibles where Helen tells Bob he needs to be more flexible? That. Their rivalry is JUST sexual tension. (ooh now I want a superhero/incredibles type modern au) I liked what you said about a Geralt/Jaskier rivalry where Jaskier is just in it for the lolz. And Geralt is so tired. So, so tired. And annoyed. But he will not let Jaskier know. But Jaskier already knows.

Enemies to lovers AU: Which one switches sides? Not Geralt. Ooh, double agent Jaskier who’s feeding info to both sides and only in it to save his own skin until he falls in love with both of them and now he’s trying to save THEIR skins, and then Yen switches sides because she never really believed in her cause anyway, and who cares about Geralt’s cause, either, there are no Right Sides in a war, but Geralt cares SO MUCH and has this MORAL COMPASS, and it makes Yen and Jaskier both want to be BETTER so they join him.

Soulmate AU: Who is eager to meet their soulmate? Who absolutely does not want to meet their soulmate? Jaskier is the only one who wants to meet his soul mate. The other two have so much baggage. Geralt doesn’t want to tie anyone else to him, and Yennefer doesn’t want to NEED anyone. Jaskier, though, is like, “someone who’ll stay with my annoying bastard ass? TWO someones?”

Single parent AU: Which one is the single parent? (Alt. if they’re both single parents: Which one is open to starting a new relationship from the start? Which one is never planning on finding love again… Until they meet the other and are instantly smitten?) Jaskier and Ciri are trying to parent trap Yennefer and Geralt back together. This would be easier if Ciri had a twin. So instead... Yennefer has been dating casually, but she’s not interested in monogamy or anything serious. She and Jaskier go out sometimes. Geralt does NOT want to see anyone else since his last relationship crashed and burned. But there’s Jaskier, and he and Ciri get along so well... and Geralt is lost. Cue shenanigans in which Jaskier and Ciri scheme for all three of them to see each other

Doctor AU: Which one is the longsuffering doctor? Which one is the patient? The only doctor AU I have ever experienced is the tv show House so bear with me this one will be less detailed. Doctor Yen. Geralt who keeps getting hurt and telling increasingly unbelievable lies about it. Bright young resident Jaskier who genuinely wants to help and has the SLICKEST bedside manner. Yen knows he’s actually an asshole tho.

Bodyguard AU: Who is the bodyguard? Who are they protecting? Which one is secretly pining for the other? Bodyguard Geralt, ofc! And Yen can either be a big important person or another bodyguard who works for a DIFFERENT company and sometimes their charges will be in the same place and they can have clandestine meetings... Except Geralt’s latest responsibility is A Handful of a viscount’s son who won’t stop screwing married people so Geralt can’t get a moment to himself because he doesn’t trust Jaskier not to get MURDERED. And then this happens: Jaskier: You’re extra grumpy today. Why? Geralt: I have a friend in town. Jaskier: Go see them! Geralt: I can’t. I have to stick with you. Jaskier: I could... come with you? And then they all fall in love.

Pirate AU: Who is the pirate? Who is the member of the royal family who did not sign up for this? Yen the pirate, queen of the seas. Geralt her sometimes-lover who lives on land mostly and disagrees with her piracy but agrees that the people she’s stealing from are, for the most part, dickheads. Jaskier the captive who is really more trouble than he’s worth.

Childhood best friends AU: Which one was super obviously in love with the other the whole time? Who was oblivious until they were older? Jaskier. Jaskier who falls in love with everyone with a pulse flirted with both of them the WHOLE time. But Geralt didn’t take him seriously because how was he supposed to know what was real flirting and what was just Jaskier? And Yen KNEW but she thought maybe if she ignored the problem it would go away. Thanks, this was FUN! And now I want to write ALL these aus T-T Ask me about AUs for more ships!

[fly-pow-bye]

What’s Airing On Cartoon Network? (October 2020)

While trick or treating may not be recommended, to say the very least, we can still celebrate the Halloween season in spirit with new episodes of a lot of shows, most of them premiering every weekday. Also, a certain Cartoon Network Latin America series finally shows up on Cartoon Network US thanks to a crossover with Victor and Valentino. See you after the break!

(Update: Completely missed a rather important omission: a new Gumball...clip show.)

The Amazing World of Gumball

Wait, The Amazing World of Gumball has a new episode?! Not really, it’s just another clipshow just like the Darwin’s Yearbook episodes. A spooky clipshow!

October 5th:

Gumball Chronicles: The Curse of Elmore - When Gumball's schoolfriend Leslie finds an old videotape, the creepy mystery of Elmore's ghostly past unfolds. Featuring spooky and hilarious clips from the first six seasons of "The Amazing World of Gumball."

Apple & Onion

October 12th:

The Eater - Apple & Onion take on a monster in a parallel universe in order to get back home. (7:00 PM)

October 13th:

Apple & Onion's Booth - Apple & Onion must save their favorite booth at Pizza's Diner from a Texas oil tycoon. (7:00 PM)

October 14th:

Ferekh - Apple and Onion have to get Falafel's beloved rooster back from scientists. (7:00 PM)

October 15th:

Pat on the Head - Apple must unhypnotize Onion before they can cook for a very important guest. (7:00 PM)

October 16th:

Falafel's Glory - Apple & Onion must win a trivia game to get the world's largest pizza. (7:00 PM)

Bakugan: Battle Planet

October 4th:

Bakugan Battle League, Tokyo Edition/Battle Royal - It's the start of the Bakugan Battle League - Toyko edition! The first round will be a Battle Royale style competition, where only half the competitors will make it through to the next round. Along with the Awesome Brawlers, the field of competitors is filled with familiar friends and foes. / The first round of the Bakugan Battle League - Tokyo edition continues. The Awesome Brawlers and their Bakugan battle their way through the challenge and face off against tough competitors. (6:30 AM)

October 11th:

The Second Stage Begins/Mechanoids Attack! - With half of the brawlers eliminated, the second stage of the Bakugan Battle league begins. This round will be a timed race to the finish, with all kinds of tricks and traps that will slow down even the best brawlers. / Mechanoids have crashed the second stage of the Bakugan Battle League, causing all kinds of havoc. The Awesome Brawlers will now have to race against the clock, battling competitors and mechanoids if they want to make it through this round. (6:30 AM)

October 18th:

The Other Fight - Eliminated from the Bakugan Battle League, Ajit is airlifted by drone to a massive cargo ship in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Now that he's on board the cargo ship, he must rescue Dan and Drago, and stop whoever is sabotaging the Battle League. / Dan and Ajit investigate the mysterious cargo ship that the eliminated Brawlers and Bakugan are being held on. Dan races to track down Drago, but along the way runs into a familiar face. (6:30 AM)

October 25th:

The Bakugan Battle League Dash/The Final Stage - With Dan and Ajit eliminated from the Bakugan Battle League - Tokyo Edition, the remaining Awesome Brawlers - Shun, Wynton, Lia and Lightning - race to complete the second stage of the competition. In order to make it to the final stage, the gang will have to pull together to defeat some tough competition. / It's the final stage of the Bakugan Battle League Tokyo Edition! The remaining Awesome Brawlers are ready to go, but just as the final round begins, the competitors are surprised with some unwelcome guests. (6:30 AM)

Ben 10 2016

Last month, it was We Bare Bears, this month, it’s Ben 10 2016 that’s getting a movie premiere.

October 10th:

Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie - The action-packed TV movie will focus around a blast from Ben's past returning to do double the damage on Team Tennyson and planet Earth itself, forcing Ben to go interstellar to save the day. Meanwhile, Gwen and Grandpa Max team up to help protect the world in Ben's absence. But when our boy hero is confused for the villain in space, Ben must figure out a way to get back to Earth to help save it! (10:00 AM)

Craig of the Creek

October 19th:

Trick or Creek - It's Halloween at the Creek, and Craig is on a mission to collect as much candy as humanly possible, but a spooky ghoul from the Creek's past threatens his haul. (7:00 PM)

October 20th:

Fall Anthology - In an attempt to finish a school project, Craig remembers some of his favorite Fall moments. (7:00 PM)

October 21st:

Afterschool Snackdown - Craig enters a food competition in the Creek, but worries he may be out of his league. (7:00 PM)

October 22nd:

Creature Feature - Craig finds himself being chased by a monster in the Creek that's straight out of the movies! (7:00 PM)

October 23rd:

King of Camping - The Williams family goes camping and Craig helps his dad prove he's the King of Camping. (7:00 PM)

DC Super Hero Girls

October 4th:

#SchoolGhoul - When Tatsu Yamashiro asks for help at a haunted all-girls academy, Barbara Gordon and Kara Danvers find themselves caught up in something much bigger than a ghost hunt. (4:00 PM)

Ninjago

October 4th:

The Skull Sorcerer - Separated from the others, Cole must trust his instincts and make the right choices to find his way to the surface to alert King Vangelis of the dangerous Skull Sorcerer. (7:00 AM)

The Real Fall - Cole, Princess Vania and Master Wu fall down a seemingly endless tunnel, into the bowels of Shintaro Mountain. (7:15 AM)

October 11th:

Dungeon Party - Having survived their fall into the mountain, Cole, Wu and Princess Vania befriend a motley group of survivors, called the Lowly, and are told the story of how they too ended up at "Rock-Bottom." (7:00 AM)

Dungeon Crawl! - Having joined forces with the Lowly in their quest to defeat King Vangelis, Cole, Wu, and Vania have to find a way out of the bottom of the mountain, a place said to be inescapable. (7:15 AM)

October 18th:

Masters Never Quit - Pursued by a magma monster, Cole, Princess Vania, Wu & the Lowly arrive at a mysterious temple deep in Shintaro Mountain, a temple which was once a training ground for Earth Elementals including Cole's own mother, Lilly! (7:00 AM)

Grief Bringer - Nya and Kai, who have become the respective leaders of the Munce and Geckles, attempt to unite the tribes in an effort to defeat their mutual enemy, the Skull Sorcerer, who schemes against them. (7:15 AM)

October 25th:

The Darkest Hour - Forced to flee by the arrival of Grief-Bringer, the ninja, the Munce and the Geckles take refuge in the Geckle Strong-Cave. But the bitter feud between Munce and Geckles threatens to tear them apart, just when unity is needed most... when they are about to confront the Skull Sorcerer and Grief-Bringer! (7:00 AM)

The Ascent - Cole, the Lowly, Princess Vania and Wu discover that the stone-mech is fueled by Elemental Power, and attach it to the mine-carts in an effort to blast their way out of the mountain to confront the evil Skull Sorcerer! (7:15 AM)

Teen Titans Go!

October 5th:

Ghost With the Most - When the Halloween Spirit is kidnapped, the Titans must team with Beetlejuice to save the holiday. (7:00 PM)

October 6th:

Bucket List - The Titans give Starfire a bucket list of activies to accomplish. (7:00 PM)

October 7th:

TV Knight 6 - Batman is forced to go to the department store with Alfred, but runs off to watch TV with Commissioner Gordon. (7:00 PM)

October 8th:

Kryponite - When Robin explains that knowing your weakness makes you a better superhero, Starfire journeys to find hers. (7:00 PM)

October 9th:

Thumb War - As the other Titans engage in an all out thumb wrestling war, Starfire tries to broker peace. (7:00 PM)

Total Dramarama

October 26th:

Ghoul Spirit - Gwen rejects the friendship of a friendly ghost. (7:00 PM)

Duncan Carving - Duncan takes advantage of a questionable Halloween legend to steal candy from his classmates. (7:15 PM)

October 27th:

Tu Ba Or Not Tu Ba - The class tries to help Chef achieve his dream of joining the world's most famous tuba band, Tubalicious, only to regret it when they realize how much they'll miss him. (7:00 PM)

October 28th:

Dude Where's Macaw - While trying to defend his elite gamer status, Chef uses an old cheat code that brings a dangerous avatar to life. (7:00 PM)

October 29th:

Way Back Wendel - Courtney must deliberately lose a challenge or let the entire world go back in time. It's a really hard choice for her. (7:00 PM)

October 30th:

Stingin' in the Rain - When Chef gets locked outside in a storm, the kids mistakenly assume he's a robber and decide to protect the Daycare...by any means necessary. (7:00 PM)

Victor and Valentino

October 5th:

Escaramuza - When Valentino's favorite Escaramuza team loses a member, he convinces Xochi to join the squad. He becomes her coach and will do anything to win the big competition. (7:30 PM)

Los Perdidos - When Victor joins a group of nighttime skaters called Los Perdidos, Valentino becomes suspicious of Victor's strange, new, vampire-like behavior. (7:45 PM)

October 6th:

Los Pajaros - When Valentino trades Huitzi's gifts for one of his own, the birds in town start to turn on him. (7:30 PM)

October 7th:

Get Your Sea Legs - When Victor gets teased for not being able to swim, he befriends a mermaid who offers to help - but at a cost. (7:30 PM)

October 8th:

Guillermo's Girlfriend - Victor and Valentino try to cheer up a heartbroken Guillermo by reuniting him with his lost love. (7:30 PM)

October 12th:

Starry Night - When Victor and Valentino embark on a camping trip in the woods, their friends start to act suspicious and strange. (7:30 PM)

October 13th:

Fueygo Fest - When Victor and Valentino throw the biggest kid bash ever, they realize they aren't the party planners they thought they were as things start to fall apart. (7:30 PM)

October 14th:

Folk Art Friends - When Victor and Valentino accidentally release some mischievous alebrije spirits, they must enlist the help of master mischief-maker HueHue to help catch them. (7:30 PM)

October 15th:

The Cupcake Man - When Victor's bad behavior gets out of control, Chata sends him to the one man in town who can set him straight - The Cupcake Man. (7:30 PM)

October 19th:

Villainy In Monte Macabre - In a crossover episode with the Cartoon Network Latin America series, "Villainous," Victor and Valentino team up with Dr. Flug and Demencia to try to find a squid monster who is disguised as a human in Monte Macabre. (7:30 PM)

October 20th:

Charlene Mania - When Victor attempts to have the perfect day off, the town's sudden obsession for Charlene gets in his way. (7:30 PM)

October 21st:

Old Man Teo - When Victor and Valentino are tasked to volunteer at an Old Folks' Home, Valentino becomes buddies with the oldest, crankiest person in Monte Macabre and helps him reclaim his youthful power. (7:30 PM)

October 22nd:

Poacher Patrol - When Don bestows Valentino the responsibility of patrolling the lake, Valentino takes it too far and stops who he believes to be a poacher - with disastrous consequences. (7:30 PM)

October 26th:

Lonely Haunts Club 3: La Llorona - When Valentino sets out to get a little privacy in the woods, Victor is bent on pranking his unsuspecting brother - that is, until Valentino goes missing... (7:30 PM)

October 27th:

In Your Own Skin - When Valentino is mocked for his lack of style, he's determined to get a designer hoodie to prove he has a sense of fashion, which turns out to be harder than it looks. (7:30 PM)

October 28th:

Ghosted - Victor makes a ghost friend but when she interferes with his shot at being part of the cool kids' Tlatchtli team, he must choose between the two. (7:30 PM)

October 29th:

Carmelita - Chata loans Xochi a car under the condition that Victor and Valentino can get rides when they need. However, the car becomes aggressive towards Victor and Valentino and attacks! (7:30 PM)

[homogrimoire]

Fun, Family, and Fishing

Fair Game Week 2020: Day 3 - Family / Weapons

Read it on AO3 here.

After months of planning, they were finally going on their camping trip, and boy did it take planning. It was a hard time to find a time where five adults were all free for a vacation. Eventually, they all decided to embark on their trip during the summer when Tai was free from his teaching job, and when fishing was in season. Qrow, Clover, Summer, and Raven just decided to use their sick days to get the time off. At first, it was just going to be them and Ruby and Yang, but then they begged their parents to let their friends Weiss and Blake tag along. They gave in quickly. They knew they could handle two more kids, and quickly met with the other kid’s parents to get the okay from them. To all the kids’ delight, they agreed. But then, all four of them ganged up on the adults to convince them to let their other friends, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren, join in on the trip. The kids were around so much they practically were family, but eight kids seemed like too much, so at first, they said no. Then they saw the children’s puppy eyes. Then they fell for the puppy eyes and pleas. Then they went to get permission from all the kids’ guardians. And then they modified their plans to include eight kids instead of four kids, which had first only planned for two kids. It was hectic, to say the least, but it all worked out. They ended up renting two RVs and getting more supplies than they could carry. After a day of driving and trying to keep middle school kids entertained, they reached their reserved campsite nightfall, exhausted and tired. They decided to begin their activities the next day. Tai and Clover were the first to wake, used to an early schedule. 

“Morning Tai.”

“Morning Clover.” They both began unloading the supplies for breakfast, though most of the cooking would be done by Tai. Clover wasn’t allowed to cook after the time he burned soup, which no one ever let him forget. The only thing he could cook well was fish.

“So, how was your night?” 

“Pretty good, all things considered. Team JNPR fell asleep pretty quickly, and Qrow too. He is pretty good with kids after all.”

“Team JNPR?” Tai questioned.

“It’s what Qrow calls Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren’s group.” Clover clarified. “He calls the girls Team RWBY.”

“Hmm, I’m gonna steal that from him. If anyone asks, I thought of it on my own.” 

“My lips are sealed.” Clover said as he motioned his lips shut.

“Anyways, my night was terrible. Try falling asleep while teenage girls giggle until midnight, AND, while Raven snores. I don’t know how Summer even fell asleep in the first place.”

“Damn. Well, at least we’ll have tents to sleep in tonight while the kids sleep in the RV.”

“Yeah, but I can only imagine what that’s going to do to my back.” 

“Oh Tai, you say that like we're old men. We’re only barely fourty.” Clover shook his head at the silly notion.

“I do crossword puzzles on my lunch breaks and you collect vintage fishing tackles.” He deadpanned, looking Clover straight into his eyes. Clover opened his mouth to refute the statement, but realized Tai was right.

“Okay. I see your point.” Clover conceded. There was also the fact that he was starting to gray on his sides. He liked how it looked though, and so did Qrow, whose hair was already colored salt and pepper. As Tai started breakfast, Clover took out the tent equipment. The next to awake were Ren, Nora, and Qrow. 

“Good morning Uncle Clover and Mr. Xiao-Long.” Nora greeted cheerfully. She and the other kids had started calling Qrow Uncle Qrow in elementary school when they started hanging out with Ruby and Yang and their cool uncle. He didn’t particularly like it at first, but soon grew accustomed to it. And when he married Clover, it was only natural that they would call Clover Uncle Clover. Needless to say, Clover felt honored and readily accepted the title, especially since he was an only child and therefore couldn’t have nieces or nephews. Ren, still waking up, had also given a respectful “Good morning as well.”

“Morning, and please tell me someone made coffee.” Qrow asked, his drowsiness evident. The drowsiness certainly wasn’t going to stop him from giving his husband a good morning kiss on the cheek though.

“Lucky for you, Tai did. I’ll get you some.” Clover went and poured him a cup of pure black coffee. 

“Thanks Cloves.” He said as he eyed the cup as if it held the secrets of life. Graciously, he took a sip. “Ahh, that's the stuff.” He smiled as he began to feel the drowsiness fade away. 

“Uncle Clover! Can I have some?” Nora asked with bright eyed innocence. 

“Uhh,” he responded at first. He didn’t really know if he should give her any, but got his answer from Ren who seemed wide awake now. Behind her, he mouthed “no” and fearfully shook his head.  “No.”

“Aww, why not?” she asked, deflated. 

“Because …” she stared at him as he tried to think of a reason.

“It’ll stunt your growth. You want to grow big and strong like your uncles, don’t you? Of course you do.” He quickly said before she could answer. “Here, have some juice.” He tossed her a box of some juice, which she caught.

“Thanks Uncle Qrow!”

“No problem kiddo.” She then moved over to Tai to see what he was cooking. Clover let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks you two.” 

“No need to thank us. We just don’t want Nora to run off in the wilderness and come back with a bear slung over her back.” Qrow told his husband as he took another sip.

“If you think she’s hyper now, you should have seen what happened in fifth grade when she drank an energy drink.” Ren, nursing a box of juice as well, said as he looked into the distance as if reliving a war memory. 

“I’m pretty sure it left poor old Tai traumatized. But hey, he’s still an elementary school teacher, so it obviously wasn’t that bad.” 

“I do not envy Tai’s work.” Clover replied as he sat down next to Qrow to take a break from unpacking. Next to wake up was Raven and Summer.

“Good morning. my wonderful wives.” Tai greeted them each with a kiss as he held a pan of cooking food.

“Too. Energetic.” Summer was obviously not a morning person “Need. Coffee.” She still had her eyes closed Raven guided her to a seat. She poured herself and her wife a cup.

“Morning Raven. You look great.” Qrow teased. She had a serious case of bedhead, which Qrow could not help but make fun of. 

“I will throw you into the river, and I will laugh when your eyeliner gets ruined, little brother.” She glared at him as she took a long sip.

“Jokes on you, I didn't bring any.” He laughed at her, as she could only scowl at him. “Besides, I’d just have my knight in shining armor rescue me.” He gave Clover another kiss, which caused him to blush.

“Aww, look at that. Qrow and Clover sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” teased Summer, who had turned back to her usual self thanks to the coffee. Now Qrow and Clover were both blushing. 

“Ha! Look at them! Nice one!” Raven exclaimed as she high fived her wife. Before anymore could be said or done, Tai announced that breakfast was done, and asked them to wake the rest of the kids. 

“This isn’t over, Summer.” Clover mocked as he motioned that he would be keeping his eyes on her, his cheeks still flushed. 

“Oh, I know.” she said as she smiled, excited for the antics that would follow, and went to wake up Team RWBY. While Clover went to wake up Jaune and Pyrrah, Raven and Qrow only glared at each other, occasionally taking a sip of their coffee. 

With all the kids now up, the real party would begin. After eating and mingling with one another, they changed into their outfits for the main event of the day: a fishing contest. Tai had decided that he would stay behind to watch the stuff. Ren, Nora, Ruby, and Weiss had decided to stay with him, since Nora and Weiss didn’t like getting wet, and Ren and Ruby didn't want to leave their best friend behind. When Tai told them they could help with the tents, Ruby screamed “Yay! Child labor!” which had caused all the adults to laugh, except for Tai, who looked sad and tired already. 

The last ones to change into their fishing outfits were Qrow and Clover. Everyone expected him to look the most prepared because the man had been fishing most of his life, and he did look the most prepared. A fishing vest, with his signature pin tacked on, cargo shorts, and shoes with good grip were all immaculate, despite years of use, save for the shoes that were recently bought. He looked like he was about to enter a fishing contest, save for one particular part of his clothing: his hat. It was a gift from his fathers on his twentieth birthday, much like his prized fishing pole that he lovingly monikered after his favorite bird, “aside from Qrow” he would often clarify, the Kingfisher. Naturally he carried the fishing pole and wore the hat with pride. What made the hat so unaligned with his outfit was the fact that it said “Men want me Fish fear me” on it. Stepping out of the RV with Qrow, Clover saw Raven do a double take. Once she was able to make out the words on the hat, she began to die of laughter, which caused Summer to turn to look at what had made her wife laugh so hard. As a result, she began to laugh as well, calling her husband over in between laughs. Soon, he was dying of laughter as well. Qrow took in a deep breath and exhaled.

“You’re lucky I love you.”

“I know, and it’s all thanks to my good luck charm.” Clover sing-songed as he kissed Qrow on the cheek. He tried to hide a smile, but failed miserably. “Come on Qrow, let's go win our fishing contest.” Raven And Summer began to laugh even harder. 

“You hear that Rav! They think- They think they’re gonna win!” They continued laughing. 

“Laugh all you want now, we’ll see if you’ll be laughing later when you’re eating the fish we caught.” Clover taunted.

“I hope you like the taste of defeat, ladies.” Qrow said cooly, as if he and Clover already won.

“I’m sure they will. Now, let's get going. It’s already noon.” With that, Clover led the way to the river, Qrow by his side, the kids in tow playing around, and Summer and Raven behind the kids, recovering from their laughing fit. Soon, they arrived at a place where the deep river forked, one path remaining deep, the other turning shallow. As the kids played in the shallow area, the adults set up their fishing rods and chairs, one of them periodically going to the nearby shallow area to check in on the kids.

“All set!” exclaimed, the first to finish setting up. He stood back and admired his handiwork, everything neat and orderly. With that, he cast out his line, and waited. Next to finish setting up was Qrow, but only because he had Clover help him. Immediately after was Summer. While she wasn’t nowhere as talented in fishing as Clover, she was still a force to be reckoned with. Lastly was Raven, who was decent at fishing with a pole. And so, they waited, chatting about current events, their jobs, and the kids.

“So thats where Ruby learned about child labor, huh?” asked Qrow.

“Yup.” Confirmed Summer. “Speaking of Ruby, she recently asked when she’s going to have some cousins, and frankly, I wanna know too.” The two men began stumbling over each other’s words, explaining that they talked about it here and there, but never really seriously. 

“Now’s as good a time as any.” Raven spoke. “You’re both about middle aged, have stable jobs with a good retirement plan, and you have us to help you out if you ever need it. After this trip, think about it maybe.”

“Wow Raven, that’s ... actually some good advice. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Clover. I dragged it out from the kindness I keep in my heart.” Raven joked, putting a hand over her heart.

“You have a heart? I wouldn’t have ever known.” said a smug Qrow.

“Fine then, fuck you. I just wanted to have another person to tell all the embarrassing stories I have about you.” She angrily, almost comically, cast a line back into the water.

“Hey, watch you’re fucking language, there’s kids nearby.” Clover reprimanded, pretending to be serious. They all just laughed. The loud children were too far away to be able to discern their words.

“Eh, but seriously, thanks Rae, we’ll think about it.”

“If it helps, just know that I would make a great auntie.” 

“I’m sure you would, Summer.” Qrow replied, mostly focusing on the fishing rod.

“You know, there is one thing we talked about.” Clover teased, immediately grabbing the attention of the two women. 

“Oh, yeah! Names. We were thinking either Basil, or Bluebird.”

“Those are nice.” Raven replied. 

“They are. I get Bluebird,” Summer stated, “but how did you decide on Basil?”

“Like my namesake, it’s another plant that can bring good luck.” Clover clarified.

“Ahh, I see. Oh! Clover! Look!”  Summer shouted. His pole had hooked onto something, and after a bit of fighting, Clover reeled in a decently sized fish. 

“Think you could top this?” Clover asked Qrow specifically, with a wink and a smirk on his face as he put the fish in a bucket of water. 

“I mean, I have before.” He replied, unphased. It took a moment for the women to catch on to what he said. Once they realized, they made sounds of disgust and made sure it was known.

“Ugh! Gods have mercy on me!” Summer screeched in desperation, covering her ears.

“I wouldn’t waste my breath if I were you. Trust me, I know. You know how many times they didn't show me any mercy in college.” Qrow shuddered at the memories of him accidentally walking in on Raven, Summer, and Tai. They resumed their normal conversations and soon slipped into comfortable silence, each of them catching a fish now and then, except for Qrow. By the time lunch rolled around and the kids had eaten and resumed their playing, Qrow had still caught nothing. Currently in the lead was Raven, though Clover had wondered why the fish weren’t as big as they usually were. He just chalked it up to luck. 

“Fuck it.” Qrow said. He rolled up his pants and waded into the river. Clover watched in curiosity as his husband stood still with laser focus in knee deep water. Soon, his curiosity was replaced with awe as the man shot into the water and resurfaced with a fish that put him in the lead. Clover wouldn’t have said it out loud, but seeing Qrow glistening in the river with a big fish in his hands was kind of hot.

“Qrow where the hell did you learn that!? That was amazing!” After Qrow placed his catch in his bucket, he was met with a kiss on the lips.

“Looks like I better catch more fish if this is my reward, huh?” Qrow asked, knowing the answer to his question. Clover whispered his answer into Qrow’s ear. Apparently, he did not know the answer. His face got visibly redder, and he quickly went back into the river. 

“Don’t think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.” Summer repeated to herself. 

“I think I know how to help with that.” Raven walked over to Summer, gave her a kiss, then walked into the water. Needless to say, it worked. Soon, after Clover and Summer caught another fish, too small to dethrone Qrow, Raven striked, and reemerged with two fish in hand, one big enough to take the lead. “We learned lots of things back when we were a part of that traveling tribe. Some of us learned better than others.” Suavely, she tossed the smaller fish back into the water and replaced the fish in her bucket with the bigger one as Summer cheered her on.

Sibling rivalry mode was in full swing among the pair. Mostly in silence, they continued their contest. Qrow managed to catch a bigger one, but was dethroned by Clover, which he didn't mind. Meanwhile, poor Summer remained in last place. She was starting to lose hope, until something that seemed particularly big got hooked onto her pole. By then, Raven and Summer had left the water and had packed up most of the stuff. She fought with it, slowly but surely making progress. However, as she was fighting the fish standing up, she slipped, sending her into the center of the river, where it was deepest. Summer had lost her rod, but had fortunately felt someone tug her back to the surface. As she broke the surface, she gasped for air.

“Oh Raven, my love, you saved me. That’s what a real knight in shining armor is like Qrow!” Her eyes still closed and cradled in a set of arms, she moved to give her savior a kiss, but felt something that something was off, and stopped. “Wait a minute…” she reached for the chest area and gave a light squeeze. They were thick,  nowhere as  plump as Raven’s, but thicker than Qrow’s. She knew that it could only mean one thing. She rubbed her eyes and opened them to face Clover.

“A real knight in shining armor huh?” he asked smugly. She gave a small scream and squirmed about, falling back into the water.

“None of you saw or heard any of that!” she yelled, pointing a finger at all of them. Her heart dropped when she saw Qrow on shore, holding his phone, the camera light on. “Oh gods no.”

“I did say it wasn’t over, remember? This’ll make for a great video to show everyone.” 

“You monster!” she yelled as she pretended to try to drown the man, though that would be difficult, considering he practically grew up in water. Meanwhile, Clover was laughing and Qrow was laughing as he ran from Raven who was trying to steal his phone so she could protect her wife’s honor by deleting the video. However, their antics were interrupted.

“Mom! Uncle Qrow! Look what Blake caught!” Yang shouted from down the river. In the distance, they could make out what looked to be a large fish.

“Holy fuck...” Qrow stated in awe.

“Don’t tell me...” said Raven, also awestruck. “Hey!” she shouted at Clover and Summer. “Meet us down the river with the kids. You’ll want to see this!” 

“Oh boy...” Clover knew that with this family, it was bound to be something interesting, to say the least. He and Summer swam over, seeing the figure Blake had dragged in becoming clearer and clearer. They could also see Raven checking Blake to make sure she was alright as Qrow untangled the line from the caught fish.

“No. Way. “They both said in unison. Once they reached shallow enough water, They ran to confirm that Blake was alright, and that she had indeed caught the fish that threw Summer into the water. Blake’s shyness was evident as her friends showered her with praise.

“Blake! Where did you learn to do that!? That was amazing!” asked Yang, proud of her best friend. 

“That, its nothing.” she shied away, pushing her wet hair out of her face and turning her head to hide a blush. “I’ve been doing it with my mom since I was young. Really, it’s nothing spectacular.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short kid, that thing’s half your size. That’s nothing to sneeze at.” said Qrow. He had had low self esteem for a long time, and wasn’t about to let any of the kids put themselves down.

“That is very incredible Blake, but try not to do that again without letting us know. We just don’t want anything bad to happen.” clover explained.

“Yes, of course, I’ll be sure to let one of you know next time.” she stated.

“You do know what this means, right Blake?” asked Summer.

“Uhh, no?”

“It means you won our fishing contests silly! You caught the biggest fish! You Win!” Blake was confused at first when she was picked up by Raven and placed on her shoulder.

“That also means you get to lead the victory parade, little champion.”

“Ooh, mom, pick me up too!” Yang exclaimed. She wasn’t going to refuse. She had seen how close the little champion and her daughter were getting. It brought her comfort to know her daughter would be with such a strong person. Once the equipment and dinner packed and ready for transport, they marched back to their campsite, the children shouting Blake’s name as she was carried in front.

“Damn, what are the Belladonnas feeding her?” Clover wondered. 

“Pure protein, by the looks of it.” Summer replied.

“Well, at least she’s alright.” Qrow said.

“Yeah.” agreed Summer and Clover.

The sun was beginning to set by the time they returned. By then, they were all beginning to feel tired and hungry once more. Tai and Clover made sure to make the fish mouth watering delicious. The served the first piece to Blake, whose mouth was watering at the sight. While the kids ate and Yang retold the story of how her bff caught the beat, the adults chatted some more. After dinner, they all roasted marshmallows and told scary stories. If anyone had asked Clover if he had yelped and grabbed onto his husband’s arm when an ominous howl coincided with the climax of Tai’s scary story, he would say it didn’t happen. Everyone else would beg to differ, especially Qrow. As it got later, the fire died and the kids who wanted to sleep outside retired to a tent, while the kids who wanted to sleep inside retired to the RVs. While there was room for the adults in the RV, they wanted to appreciate the cool air and beautiful night sky. 

“Hey, Clover?”

“Yes, my Lucky Charm?”

“It’s been a nice day with you, and them.” Clover hummed in agreement.

“It has. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” They laid together in comfortable silence for a moment more, taking in the starry sky through their clear-topped tent. 

“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” Qrow asked. Clover turned to face him. His deep crimson eyes shone a unique brilliance that was incomparable to anything else. Qrow had just looked so serene in the light of the moon and stars and the darkness of the night. Clover found himself enamored. 

“Most beautiful sight in the world, if I must say.”

“Clover, I swear, if you’re─” he stopped mid sentence as he turned his head to see Clover staring right at him, obviously caught up in admiring his dark-haired husband. Qrow softly smiled back. Together, they silently admired each other. 

“You know, I do think of you and your family as the best thing to ever happen to me. Never had a big family, and I’m pretty much all I have from my side of the family now. I guess I just appreciate you and your family a lot.”

“Our family, Lucky Charm.”

“Hmm?” Clover said, surprised.

“Our family. You’re as much a part of it as anyone else here, and we all love you just the same too.” Bewildered. Clover couldn’t think of a response. He was so used to the loneliness that he hadn’t really considered he could be a part of a family again. He moved closer to hug Qrow, who readily accepted him. He buried his head into the crook of his shoulders. And Clover wasn’t going to lie. He was crying a little. However, Qrow’s scent helped comfort him, as well as Qrow stroking his hair and the knowledge that he had a family.

“I love you Qrow.” Clover’s voice came out a tad strained, though it was almost undetectable.

“I love you too Clover.” With Qrow humming a song, Clover fell into a peaceful sleep. Soon after, Qrow fell asleep to the calm rise and fall of his husband’s chest. In this sleep, Clover had a dream, though he only remembered an image from it. Tai, Summer, and Raven were in it, as well as all the kids, albeit slightly older. Qrow was standing right beside him, their hands intertwined. In between them were two children who he could not discern. Yet, he felt happy, he felt like he was where he belonged, he felt love.

[duker42]

Hello! I absolutely loved “Never Forgotten” (I didn’t request it) but I was wondering if you could give it a sequel where some time passes (maybe the war even ends idk) and y/n is pregnant again? And she and Levi are a lot more nervous this time because of what happened before but the baby is born healthy this time? I’m one of your followers who’s always requesting the domestic fluff so you KNOW I need that happy ending 💖

***FLUFF!!! 😍😍😍

💜Family💜

Y/N started down at the paper in something like horror. She felt a pang of sadness as she remember the one that had been lost. Levi had been right. The child they had lost so early, still in the womb, had never been forgotten. 

She walked down to the familiar office in a daze. Her mind replayed those precious few months were everything had been good with her pregnancy. Tears started filling her eyes, she didn’t know if she was strong enough to risk this again. 

Walking into his office, she relaxed a bit at the familiar smell of lemon, beeswax and tea. Then there was the subtly spicy, woodsy scent that was all Levi. The raven haired man looked up from his desk, where he was going over the latest reports from beyond the wall. 

The Titans had been eradicated. The worst portions of the war was over. They had discovered the truth of their world and now had to deal with the issue of how to address the threat from Marley. But for now, there was a peace that hadn’t been felt in years. 

“Y/N, what’s wrong? You look constipated.” He frowned at the look on his lover’s face. As she came to stand beside him, he pushed back his chair and pulled her into his lap. 

She didn’t answer him, just handed him the paper she had been given in the infirmary. He silently took it. When he read the words, his grip on her waist tightened. Graphite eyes looked at her, softening as he let the paper fall as he cupped her cheek. 

“How do you feel about it?” His voice was gentle, worried.

She looked at her lover and answered honestly “Terrified.”

“Me too, Y/N.”

~~~~~

For people to say that Levi and Y/N were nervous about the pregnancy was an understatement. Levi, hovered, watching her like a hawk. Sleep became even more erratic. He would wake up in the middle of the night and check her, pulling back the covers to make sure that there was no bleeding. 

He had insisted that she be checked every week. Even going so far as threatening the doctor with a beating if he didn’t see Y/N. Commander Hanji had understood his concern, easing the hurt pride of the doctor and ordering him to carefully monitor the pregnant soldier. 

~~~~~

As the time got closer to the mark where Y/N had miscarried their first child, she grew more emotional. Levi would have to constantly reassure her that no matter what, they would get through whatever happened together. He would sometimes find her in their room, holding the first baby outfit they had purchased, three years prior and cradle her new baby bump, crying. Those days hit Levi the hardest, bringing him back to those early days after the miscarriage where everyday was new tears and self doubt. 

The anniversary of that awful day was always emotional for both of them. This year was a day that Y/N curled up in their bed all day. Levi ignored his duties and stayed right beside her, only leaving their quarters for tea and to bring back meal trays. Convincing her to get in the shower was an accomplishment, and he found himself holding her under the water while she shook. 

~~~~~

After that time had passed, the pair grew more optimistic. It was like a wave of relief had passed by them once that benchmark had been met. 

Y/N had finally started to tell others about the pregnancy. The squad finally understood why Captain Levi was acting like Mikasa fussing over Eren. The kids were excited to find out that Y/N and the Captain were expecting again, eager to see what the product of the two soldiers looked like. Most agreed that the child would have the inky black hair of their stoic leader. 

~~~~~

When Y/N’s belly began to really swell, that was when it really clicked for the pair that they were going to have a child. She squealed in excitement the first time the baby kicked her, running over to Levi and shoving his hand against the stretched skin of her stomach. He was disappointed when the little bugger didn’t perform for him, settling down and not letting him feel the movement. 

Nights were spent talking to her stomach. Y/N watched as Levi rubbed it gently, his sharp eyes watching intently for any movement while his dry voice talked nonsense to their child. “Hey brat, stop kicking your mum and then leaving me hanging. I want to see how hard you can hit.” She watched the small smile ride across his face as he was rewarded with a sharp jab against his palm. 

He told stories to her stomach. Things that Y/N had never heard. Amusing times in the Underground when Isabel did something crazy, or Farlan had to be a peacekeeper between Levi and other gang members. He told their child of the brave people they had known over the years. The sacrifice they had made, their very lives, so that he/she could venture outside the walls without the fear of being eaten. Mike, Nanaba, Ness and Erwin all were talked about during the late hours.

~~~~~

They were all prepared. Every possible baby item imagined had been bought and stuffed inside their quarters. Levi had experienced a mild panic attack when all the items had been brought inside from the wagons. There was so much stuff! How could one little shit machine need so much? From what he knew about babies all they did was eat, sleep and shit for the first few months. 

He finally calmed down when they had found a place for all the shit they had brought in. Y/N had just laughed as she watched him move around the room, muttering to himself as he organized. He hadn’t bothered to do much more than glare at her and then ignore her. 

~~~~~

When the time came, panic washed over Levi for a split second when her water broke. He had seen blood for a split second where there was just water leaking from her. Their trip to the infirmary wasn’t the rushed, screaming affair that it had been so long ago. Y/N had insisted on walking there, much to Levi’s irritation. Pausing along to the way to bend over and gasp as another contraction robbed her of the ability to move. He was right there beside her, holding her as the sensations washed over her. 

When he had finally eased her down onto the bed, he was relieved. The doctors took over and he sat by her side, holding her hand and wincing as the screams of agony progressively got louder. He wanted to take her pain away, bear the burden himself and save her from what she was experiencing. But all he could do was wipe her brow and let her crush his hand. He did so willingly. 

~~~~~

Their child was absolutely beautiful. The dark black hair was thin and fine. The red scrunched little face was twisted in anger as a howl pierced the air. Swaddled in soft clothes, their son had been presented to Y/N. Announced to be perfectly healthy, Levi had watched with relief as Y/N had pulled the blanket away and counted the fingers and impossibly tiny toes. A large calloused finger reached out to touch the smooth new skin of the baby. 

Y/N’s breath caught when she looked at Levi. His ashen eyes were filled with unspilled tears of wonder. The largest smile she had ever seen on his porcelain face. She covered his hand and brought it to rest on their new son’s warm body. Looking into each other’s eyes, they smiled, grateful to each other for this amazing gift. They were a family.

[elisaphoenix13]

Sugar Rush

Tony had no idea what he was walking into when the elevator doors opened at the family floor. Chaos was the first word that came to mind but it was a good kind of chaos. All of the kids were sitting around the table decorating cookies, some of the avengers were as well, and the rest were roaming the kitchen helping make the cookies. The engineer wanders over to Stephen who was adding ingredients to the mixing bowl, and kisses his cheek before wiping away a smear of flour on the sorcerer's opposite cheek.

"Honey, you have-"

"You're wasting your time. They'll just put some back." Stephen interrupts and Tony raises an eyebrow after he wipes the flour away.

"Who will?"

Quill swipes his fingers through the flour on the counter and spreads it on Stephen's cheek as he passes by to grab more cookies. He whistles as he takes the baked goods over to the decorating table and Stephen gives Tony a look that clearly said 'I told you'.

"Clint started it and I gave up after the third attempt to get my face clean." He elaborates as he adds sugar to the mixer.

Tony chuckles. "Who are your flour attackers?"

"Clint, Nat, Harley, and now Quill."

"What's the occasion?" The engineer asks as he adds another swipe of flour to his wife's face who sighs in feigned annoyance.

"Diana wanted to make cookies that she could decorate and it turned into this."

Tony looks back around the kitchen and dining area at their friends and family and smiles softly as he watches Peter smear some frosting onto Cassie's cheek, Nat and Steve eating a finished cookie while laughing about something, Quill...well it was really no surprise to find him periodically smear icing onto Scott's face before licking it off as he helped bring cookies yet to be decorated to the table, Laura and Wanda helping to keep the dining table clear of the decorated cookies, and so on and so forth. Clint and Sam were tossing candy into each other's mouths, and Bucky helping Stephen with the baking bit.

The rest of the team, like Natasha and Steve, we're enjoying the cookies and having conversations. Stephen did at one point subconsciously wipe the flour off of his face, and immediately, Sam stopped throwing candy at Clint to do what Quill did not two minutes before. Stephen didn't even bother making any kind of verbal complaint.

"You were looking too clean there Mama Bear." The Falcon says with a smirk and Stephen rolls his eyes.

"We can't have that." He says as he takes the dough out of the mixer and sets it on the floured counter in front of Vision who starts using cookie cutters on it.

While he did that, Stephen put the bowl in the sink and gathered the dirty dishes that were no longer being used so he could wash them. Tony grabs the ingredients and helps put those away, purposely keeping the flour out, and wipes down the counters, avoiding Vision's workspace of course. When that was done, he took over washing the dishes when he noticed Stephen's hands trembling more than usual and kisses the man's cleaner cheek.

"Go eat a cookie. I'll put some water on the stove so you can have tea." Tony says softly and Stephen nods before walking over and taking the empty seat next to Nathaniel.

At the mention of tea, Wanda switched over to the duty of making Stephen his tea as she was one of the very few who could make it correctly, and Cooper offered up a decorated cookie to Stephen. The sorcerer takes it with gratitude and a smile, and watches the kids and a couple of the Avengers decorate some cookies. Happy surprisingly was roped into the shenanigans as well, Diana sitting in his lap decorating a cookie with purple icing as the bodyguard conversed with Rhodey, and then Pepper arrived. She walks over to Tony with a manila envelope and then looks around once the engineer stacks the last of the dishes and dries his hands to take the envelope.

"Fun day?" She asks and Tony shrugs.

"It was all the princess's idea. Sit down and have a cookie."

Pepper smiles. "I have a few minutes to spare."

She walks over to the table, greeting Diana with a kiss on the top of her head before reaching over to Stephen to wipe away the flour on his cheek.

"Stephen, you had-" The flour was barely cleaned off when Steve stepped in to reapply the flour.

Stephen props his chin in his hand and raises his eyebrows at Pepper's appalled expression. "I am well aware of the flour. Thank you though."

"I can see that now." Pepper says with a giggle. "Make sure Tony gets that paperwork done by Wednesday please?"

"Of course."

"Here Auntie Pepper!" Diana holds up the cookie she just finished, thankfully not drowning in frosting.

"Thank you sweetie." Pepper takes the cookie and looks back at Stephen before reaching out toward his clean cheek. "They got you here too."

Stephen furrows his brows. "They didn't-"

The sorcerer freezes when Pepper pulls away with a smirk, and Peter looks over at him before howling with laughter. Everyone looks to see what has the teen in hysterics and they burst into laughter when they find a dark blue smear of icing on Stephen's cheek. Pepper grabs a second cookie as she says goodbye, and disappears onto the elevator as the sorcerer wipes the icing off. Scott only attacked with green frosting to replace it.

"I hate you all." Stephen grumbles and gladly accepts the tea Wanda brings over for him.

"Green is fitting." She says and the doctor ignores her.

The next couple of hours pass with the same usual attempts to slyly clean his face, only to have someone jump in and replace whatever had been cleaned, and he gave up again until later. All the cookies were decorated, things were put away, and the kitchen cleaned as everyone retired into the living room to continue their day with some movies. That was when Stephen could finally clean his face and stay clean and settled onto one of the couches next to Tony. Or more like laid across Tony's lap with his head on the armrest and his feet across Rhodey's lap. He purred when his husband gently ran his fingers through his hair, and they waited as everyone settled onto the floor or the couches.

Halfway through the first movie, Tony noticed some of them started to doze off and he soon figured out it was because of Quill. The celestial actually had a sugar crash and had fallen asleep, and his snoring started up, but it of course came out sounding like an overgrown cat purring. Scott, of course, was one of the first to pass out as he was sitting back against Quill, but it wasn't just soothing to Scott and Cassie, it was soothing to pretty much everyone. So not only did they have Stephen with his calming scent of tea leaves and incense, but now they had Quill's soothing purrs.

This family was insane.

Tony grabs Clint's empty beer can and chucks it at the pirate's head, who jolts into awareness. "Wake up Porcupine! You're putting everyone to sleep!"

"Sorry." Quill responds drowsily and everyone that had been dozing off shakes their heads and returns their attention to the movie.

"Tony." Stephen whispers, and the engineer grabs the sorcerer's trembling hands when he holds them up in a silent plea, gently working them over.

The lull over everyone soon breaks when movies turn into games, and everyone was pretty competitive. Stephen and Tony were content to watch at first, especially when the first game ended up being Uno. At the moment, Peter was looking terrified, and Quill was looking smug.

"Dude, please don't! You still haven't made up for sticking a gun to my head!"

"Are you still on that?"

"It was extremely traumatizing to hear the stupid things come out of your mouth too."

Quill narrows his eyes and immediately places a plus four in the discard pile. "Just for that I'm definitely doing it. Draw four, punk."

Peter grumbles and draws four cards, and the many people playing quickly make their turn until it gets back to Quill, who gives Peter another smug grin. Another plus four is placed on the table and Peter gawks. "OH COME ON!"

Quill laughs as the teen draws four cards yet again, and a reverse war temporarily breaks out between Cassie and Sam.

"You know, I liked that move so much, I'm gonna let you go again." Sam says as he puts down a red reverse.

"That's nice, but you can go." Cassie puts down a blue one.

"Seriously, I insist." Sam puts down another red one and Harley screeches after the third repeat.

"How many of those do you have?!"

After the two hour game of Uno, a game that Lila won, they moved on to Twister. The coffee table and couches pushed aside, the mat laid out, and those not currently participating surrounding it. They could only go four people at a time and right now the four were Natasha, Scott, Harley, and Wanda.

They were all really good at it and Quill actually had to excuse himself to the balcony when he saw how flexible Scott really was. Under normal circumstances he would have just dragged the man away, but it was a day of team bonding and there were innocent eyes. Tony mercilessly teased the god of course. Harley was the first to fall, and Wanda followed shortly after, but the game kept going for another ten minutes until Scott finally caved and returned to his wheezing husband's side. Quill was being a little overdramatic, but Tony teasing him certainly wasn't helping.

"It's a little unnerving to see how flexible some of our friends are." Stephen says and Tony looks over at him with a wicked grin.

"It's too bad you can't play. Everyone would see how Mama Bear can bend."

Stephen blushes hotly. "Tony! There are children!"

Twister was played for a couple more hours until the kids retired to bed and the adults could bring out the alcohol and the adult games. The adult game being the usual Never Have I Ever, and both Stephen and Scott were convinced they were being ganged up on.

"Never have I ever...given a handjob under a table." Natasha says and not only did Scott and Stephen take a drink, but so did Tony, Quill, and Laura.

"Never have I ever done it in a secluded corner where anyone could walk in and see me." Sam says and everyone stares at Scott and Quill when they take a drink.

Tony holds up his hand. "Hang on...when and where was this?"

Scott covers his face and Quill shrugs. "The last gala."

"Wait...was that power outage your fault?" Clint asks and Quill answers with a grin, causing Tony to burst into laughter.

"Just to make Quill drink again, never have I ever lost control of my powers." Wanda says with a smirk.

Quill wasn't the only one to take a drink.

So did Stephen.

Scott stares. "Wait...what did you do?"

Stephen looks away with a blush. "I may have broken the light bulbs in our lamps and set our curtains on fire."

Rhodey was actually the one to laugh. "Damn Mama Bear."

"Don't forget the part that you somehow managed to blow out the power to the tower." Tony says and Quill raises his hand.

"Actually, that was me."

[sweetsmellosuccess]

Sundance 2020: Day 2

Number of Films: 5 Best Film of the Day: Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Zola: Back in 2015, a Twitter user named @zola began a long, outrageous thread concerning a wild road trip she had been on with a woman she had just met at the restaurant where she worked. The plan was for the two of them to go down to Florida for a long weekend to dance at strip clubs and make a bundle. What followed was an absolutely insane odyssey of horror, involving pimps, guns, gang bangers, and someone jumping off a balcony. Directed by Janicza Bravo, with plenty of snap, crackle and pop, the film stars Taylour Page as our long suffering narrator and Riley Keough as the brazen, hopeless Stefani, who leads her newfound friend into the depths of hell. At its root, it’s a funny, if not sporadically chilling sort of chaotic joy-ride, with Zola’s commentary peppering the proceedings, along with a bevy of social media pings and whooshes (as another critic pointed out, the tweet whistle is half the soundtrack). Bravo pulls out a creative bag of tricks and gags  —  including a propensity for Scorsese-like screen freezes, while she describes one character or other  —  all of which gives the film a zany, madcap quality that imbibes the film with plenty of zing. Riley, a trashy southern drawl in her back pocket (just hearing her call Zola “beech” endearingly never ceases to be amusing), takes to the character like James Franco took to his role in Spring Breakers (a film with which Zola shares a certain Florida-crazed DNA), and Page makes an adroit straight person, taking in the insanity all around her, but despite these amusements, it’s really only skin-deep. There’s no deeper sense of anything, which, while in league with its source material, also puts something of a cap on just what the film can achieve.

La Llorona: if the source of all horror, cinematic and otherwise, is, essentially those elements that make up the human condition, than guilt is one of the more powerful evocations from which to draw. Jayro Bustamante‘s horror film is a timely political allegory set in Guatemala, as an aged and deposed former dictator general (Julio Diaz) is being tried for genocidal war crimes, his family, wife (Margarita Kenefic), daughter (Sabrina De La Hoz), and young granddaughter (Ayla-Elea Hurtado) are all forced to huddle up in the general’s mansion, as throngs of outraged citizens hold a neverending seething protest outside. What’s more, the General, now a slightly shriveled old man, seems to be coming unglued, hearing someone sobbing in the house whom he is convinced is a Guerilla assassin. When his mainly indigenous staff catches wind of this  —  the crying female spirit  —  they quit en masse, leaving the mansion badly understaffed, until a young, new woman (Maria Mercedes Coroy) arrives, leaving the General further discombobulated, as the nightmares and visions he and his wife endure begin to coalesce into an unnerving climax. Apart from everything else, Bustamante’s film is about the searing power of empathy  —  the General’s wife starts the film as a racist, uncaring mouthpiece, but gradually gets her layers of denial stripped away from her  —  and the powerful idea that one’s actions, even if unpunished in the material world, still have dire consequences.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always: Eliza Hittman has made a trilogy of sorts with her first three films. In 2013’s It Felt Like Love, a young teen woman in Brooklyn convinces herself to pursue a callous and contemptuous boy in order to lose her virginity; Beach Rats (2017) follows the trevails of another Brooklyn-based teen, as he attempts to pursue his interest in men while continuing to maintain his bro-heteroness. In her new film, she has moved the setting to a hardscrabble town in rural Pennsylvania, but her characters remain familiar. Autumn (Sidney Flanigan), a dour-faced high schooler has discovered to her horror that she’s pregnant, and too far along to get an abortion without her parents’ cosign, something she wants to avoid at all costs. Enlisting the aid of her cousin, the feisty, resourceful Skylar (Talia Ryder), the pair head off to New York, where Autumn can get the procedure without her parents’ knowledge. With little money and no earthly clue about the city, the two young women are forced to endure a vagabond lifestyle, spending the nights on train platforms, or endlessly going from station stop to station stop, until Autumn can be properly treated. Hittman’s eye for detail and emotional complexity  —  her characters can rarely articulate anything their experiencing  —  is incredibly acute, and she pulls tremendously understated performances out of her two leads. In the film’s most searing scene, Autumn goes through an exhaustive intake interview with a sweetly caring counselor. Shot in a long single take, the back-and-forth covers the most basic details of Autumn’s life and also some of her most buried pain and trauma. The camera stays fixed on her face, as she is asked to finally unpack some of the misery she has worked so hard to tamp down, and the result is one of most devastating sequences you will see this year.

Black Bear: What to make of Lawerence Michael Levine’s meta-within-meta film in which the first half is a specific sort of indie drama in which a young couple (Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon) living up in a glorious lake house away from New York get visited by an actress-turned-director (Aubrey Plaza), there to work on a new project; and the second half is, essentially, the Noises Off-like behind the scenes riff on how the trio (now with the actresses’ roles switched) worked together to produce a variation of the film we were just watching? In part one, dubbed “The Bear in the Road,” Plaza’s character is territorial and coquettish, instantly attracted to Abbott’s lonely musician, and enticing him into disavowing his care for his pregnant partner. In Part two, “The Bear by the Boat House,” Abbott is now the film’s director, and Plaza is his wife, also the star of the film in which she is now the clingy partner, as Gadon arrives from the city on a visit. There is a lot to unpack here  —  or, alternatively, there isn’t terribly much at all, depending on how you see it  —  it being the kind of film that begs for further viewings to untangle its many layers. Whether you will want to put that sort of work into it is unclear. Still, the leads are all tremendous  —  Plaza, light-years removed from her “Parks & Rec” days  —  is a revelation of ferocious, billowing emotion, and Levine is clever enough with his structure to keep things rolling along.  

The Night House: The Midnight slate at Sundance, as with most such designations at other festivals, is by nature a roll of the dice. Some nights, you’ll find something absolutely brilliant (The Babadook, The Nightmare), many other nights, something a good deal less so. David Bruckner’s ghost story isn’t close to one of those conceptual masterpieces, but does offer some serious jumpscare thrills en route to a far too explicated finish. Rebecca Hall plays Beth, a grieving widow, whose architect husband just left their modern manse overlooking a lake to shoot himself in their wooden rowboat. Obsessed with trying to find why he might have done such a thing, Beth slowly begins to unravel his dark, secret life, even as her dreams become waking nightmares of visions, blasts of music from their downstairs stereo, and seeming visitations by either her husband or another dark force from behind the veil. With a sadistic sound design that periodically shocks your system, and a beseeching performance from Hall, who carries this film from first frame to last, Bruckner’s effort dutifully serves up enough genuine creepiness to earn your attention, even if the story slowly devolves into something out of the Final Destination franchise.

Tomorrow: Utilizing a slightly more sane pace, I start the day with Dee Rees’ Shirley; check out the much lauded doc Boys State; get my ‘80s on for The Go Go’s; and finish up with Miranda July’s long-awaited next film, Kajillionaire.

Into the frigid climes and rarefied thin air of the spectacular Utah Mountains, I've arrived in order to document some of the sense and senselessness of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Over the next week, armed with little more than a heavy parka and a bevy of blank reporter's notebooks, I'll endeavor to watch as many movies as I can and report my findings.

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts: 4x05-- The Gang Goes to War

under the cut

This episode starts with Caleb and I don’t totally hate it. This means the writers are doing a good job with him so far. I’m surprised I feel that way considering I loathe the plot he’s here for. 

This is the first case heavy episode in ages and I have more thoughts on the fact that somehow the space from 6x19 has become military court than I do on the case. As always, that’s not to say it’s bad (tbh, this case was the exact right blend of simple and captivating it reminded me of old school TGW). It’s just to say I have literally nothing to add.

Lucca’s off to visit Bianca. She is still extremely uncomfortable with very wealthy people. 

Oh, a mention of babysitting! Kind of sad I’m surprised. 

I forgot to mention that this ep is on the shorter side, almost network length. Woo! 

Lucca describes her life as “I have a toddler. I’m trying to make partner.” Remember how last season either Lucca or Rosalyn (or MAIA hhahahahhahahaahahhahaahahahhahahahaahahhaahhaah) were going to be made partner and that plot just vanished?

Lucca says that of work, family, fitness, friends, and sleep, the three she’s chosen are work, family, and sleep. I believe it. Though we’ve seen Lucca exercise probably more than most TGF characters? But that was before she had a baby. 

If you leave your phone on while you’re on a plane and someone places a voice call would your phone actually ring? 

Marissa TOTALLY has a crush on Caleb.

Oh, a Francesca mention AND a mention of Lucca and Marissa being friends?! The continuity fairy likes me today!!!!!!!! 

Caleb threatens to quit (I think he knows he wouldn’t be taken up on that offer) unless Mr. Firth lets him take a month for this case. Come on, Caleb. This is TV lawyering. This case will take two costume changes and you know it! Months are a thing for real lawyers. 

Diane and Adrian aren’t in their offices, so when Firth finds a partner to assist on the military case (I do not understand why this is a thing he is doing in the first place, but alright), it’s Liz. How conveniently awkward!

(Adrian just isn’t in this episode-- he is apparently at a conference in New York-- and Diane is barely in it, and I’m fine with that. LET LIZ AND LUCCA SHINE!) 

(Liz and Lucca are my faves, if that wasn’t obvious.) 

Awkward awkward awkward, fucking your boss is very awkward. I hate everything about this plot in theory and yet somehow like Liz, Caleb, and maybe even the idea of Liz and Caleb, but every time I think about the boss/employee dynamic my only thought is: NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Liz’s divorce! Continuity fairy has blessed me again!

I do really like Caleb. 

I somehow almost turned that last thought into a rant about Maia and I’m not gonna do that to y’all in this Maia-free season.

Rich people are getting away with more shit in Julius’s court. He’s resigned to it, until he meets his alter-ego from the play again. I get that they want to use this device to show why he’d change his mind so suddenly but omfg please don’t remind me of the last episode. 

My first thought was “maybe that long ass episode was even longer and this is a cut scene” but Julius seems to be wearing a different tie in this scene than he was before. Oof.

JUDGE KUHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Judge Kuhn. I think I said this last week but it isn’t often we get truly good, considered characters who want the best and actually take fair steps to see it happen. Judge Kuhn is great. 

And so is the actress playing her. Her expression as the seat shrinks-- which is some Kingsian bullshit-- makes the joke work. 

This episode relies a lot on that device Jane the Virgin loved where back to back scenes will be linked by a theme or a word. In this case, Julius and Liz/Caleb are both dealing with continuances. Yay for structure, even a simple case related structure!

“A sofa would have blown up here”... I can’t, y’all. “A conference table would have blown up here”. Is this a joke about coronavirus or a real need for more graphics or both? I lean towards it being a joke, but before I say that lemme play these credits side by side with last week’s… 

Okay so there are differences. Last week there was an aerial view of a wine bottle exploding while this week there’s a second one in the background. They replaced an exploding coffee set with the sofa text. There are some other differences too. But not enough to convince me they didn’t have footage they could have used. So I think it’s a joke.

Welcome back, season two Diane. I missed you, ya weirdo! 

(But like actually Diane is staring out the window at a bird, not doing anything or responding to questions. Why so weird?!)

Now that Diane isn’t hunting down answers on 618, she has “nothing to do.” Oh, suddenly no one in the world is in need of pro-bono assistance? Sure! 

Continuity on the SWATting, too! 

AND A WILL REFERENCE.This episode may be nothing special but it sure is endearing. 

Diane explains that Judge Kuhn is tough but fair and Will ended up liking her. That’s a pretty good summary.

Diane spots the woman who she dreamed was Weinstein’s lawyer in a meeting, drawing dots. Guess that’s one of the drawbacks of having windows everywhere. She chases her up the stairs to STRL and asks if they know each other because, and I quote, “I had a dream and you were in it. You were Weinstein’s lawyer.” HOW FUCKING WEIRD ARE YOU TRYING TO BE, DIANE? Are you microdosing again?! (This feels so season two.)

Props to this lady (do we know her name? Has it been said on the show) for taking that weird-ass comment in stride and joking she probably didn’t do very well. She needs a favor-- she has a case in front of Judge Cain and wants Diane to sit with her.

Diane asks about the dots. Apparently this lady draws-- and counts!-- dots. Hundreds of thousands of them. During meetings. Because it’s calming and nothing matters. See?! Season two! 

Lucca does get a little bit of work to do on vacation-- Bianca wants to buy the resort.

Case stuff happens.

Someone explain to me what the fuck this bright neon lighting in the office late at night is all about. Why is it so bright?! Why do the colors change!? Am I just supposed to accept this?! I suppose it’s no weirder than a woman who draws dots instead of taking notes-- and admits to it-- but WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I know there is supposed to be some sort of parallel between the case having an element about disobeying your superior and the Liz/Caleb dynamic, but as you will recall, I hate everything about the boss/employee plot AND find it incredibly boring so if you would like to see analysis of that parallel… I’m not your gal. 

Oh look I can see the office bathroom of Willicia sexytimes in Liz’s office

My god this lighting is distracting. 

It sounds to me like Caleb is in the legal field for idealistic reasons. I can’t get a sense of if wanting the country to stay the same is liberal or conservative or admirable or misguided but it’s definitely something. (I have a feeling he means “stay the same” as in “return to 2016” though.) 

Since she has not been in the military, Liz worries out loud that she hasn’t lived much of a life. This leads to flirting and intimacy and another hookup. Bleh.

Creeper from Kurt’s office comes to visit Julius and compliments him while basically telling him to keep quiet and be corrupt. He promises Julius the chance to move up the ladder and implies Julius should rule in favor of some rich donor. 

Julius, who, like all characters on this show and maybe just people in general, does NOT like being told what to do, promptly does the opposite. And he feels really, really, really good about doing the right thing. 

Case stuff happens.

Lucca now gets invited to play poker with a bunch of millionaires and celebrities. Lucca is highly uncomfortable. The names of the celebs are bleeped which is… not as clever as I think it was meant to be.

Also I’d be uncomfortable in this situation too. I’m just ready for this plotline to go somewhere beyond “Lucca is uncomfortable with rich people”.

Recapping goes fast when most of the show is case stuff.

In another throwback, Diane (lit by the weird lighting) is watching what looks like a parody of SNL allowing 45 to host? Or maybe it’s just some unfunny bit that goes on too long? Odd target for a parody at this point in time.

Whatever the point, it prompts Diane to start drawing dots of her own. 

Lucca’s luck at the poker game is fantastic. Bianca encourages Lucca to keep her winnings-- she wouldn’t give back a stuffed animal or goldfish won with someone else’s money at a carnival, would she? 

Case stuff, now involving 45, happens. This is a missing season two episode, I swear. 

Wow lol those establishing shots and stock footage do NOT convince me that Lucca lives in Chicago. Nor do they convince me that anyone involved with the show has visited Chicago.

Case stuff happens! 

Another Lucca and Marissa scene! Lucca asks what to do about her poker winnings. Marissa says Lucca should keep the money because Bianca doesn’t need it-- get Bianca a gift if she feels guilty. 

Diane sits next to the seemingly nameless lawyer and they compare their dots. Unfortunately for Diane, the case she’s decided to sit in on as a favor? It’s another case in front of Julius, and it also gets 618’d. How convenient for the plot! When Julius doesn’t go for it, Diane is intrigued and reenergized. She boldly goes to Julius’s chambers to suggest trading info about 618.

No matter how many times I write “618” in the context of Memo 618 I still think 618 = Loser Edit. 

Case stuff happens! It’s good for Caleb and Liz! 

MALCOLM GETS MENTIONED BY NAME! CONTINUITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Caleb and Liz continue the tradition of using meals as code for sex and now I have to watch them kiss. Pass.

Lucca gets Bianca a gift of a goldfish and a giant stuffed bear (a reference to their earlier convo about carnivals). Cute, but I still don’t quite get where this plot is going.

There’s a “Skye and Moon” logo on the plane. I wonder if that is the name of Bianca’s cosmetics empire.

Oh, it’s over. This episode was perfectly fine. Nothing challenging, nothing innovative, but a solid and enjoyable outing closer in length to the average TGW ep than the average TGF one. After last week’s long-ass episode, this is really all I wanted/needed. 

[readingquoteseeker]

Headcannon for the Immortal!AU that there is one way they can die: through their own hands. Not the “I put a knife in your hand and move it so I can kill you” kind of way, they have to actively come to the decision, and whoever created them made sure they can’t do it while being drugged or brainwashed.

But some people don’t need drugs or the methods of secret agencies to reach their goals. They just need their tongue and a few little tricks and then even an immortal can fall to the hands of a petty little human.

Everybody in the Crew was close to falling at least once. And one of them wanted to find out if he had wings and had to realise that angels weren’t real, even in their world.

Geoff couldn’t remember a time where he didn’t drink. It didn’t matter in which time he lived, humans had invented alcohol early enough, and he was enjoying himself. But he also saw the downsides of the poison, people around him dying because they lost control, because they got into fights or because their bodies just couldn’t take it anymore. With every friend he lost to the alcohol he felt like he lost a part of himself. He managed to stop. Until he met a person he thought of as his friend, who he started drinking with again. More than he ever did before. And one day the person got so much closer to reaching their goal, to rid the world of one of the beings who lived all those lives they didn’t deserve. The bodies of immortals are made to withstand time and so much more, but sometimes they just have to give in. after his internal organs collapsed under the weight of the alcohol, Geoff was sober enough to listen to the person and decided he didn’t want to bear the pain any longer. Apparently he wasn’t sober enough to be considered in a clear state of mind though, so the grave wouldn’t take him. Luckily enough, the person believed the one way they thought would work to be a lie, so they left. His body regenerated faster than it took his head to be completely clear, and Geoff decided to give himself another chance. He never touched an alcoholic drink again.

Jack had learned long ago that humans always thought they had a good reason to make others suffer. She herself wanted to do the right thing, to protect people she loved, to leave an impact on the world. If she had been given the responsibility of an everlasting life, she wanted to make sure it wasn’t wasted. And so she fought in too many wars to count, killed in the name of one cause after another, never feeling satisfied. Until she realised that there was never a good enough reason to unleash hell. She decided to help the helpless instead and worked in hospitals, helping wounded soldiers at the front, where humans were too fragile and afraid to really help. Even though the suffering she saw made her feel worse every time, she kept going. Because for the first time she felt like she was doing something meaningful. After meeting Geoff, she only helped occasionally, and after Ryan joined them they moved to America and she had more than enough work helping her little crew rule the city. But then World War One hit the world and she felt like she was needed elsewhere. Her crew was immortal after all, so she left them to play and headed to Europe. She helped carrying wounded out of the battle, saved people who would’ve died on the battlefield, she tried everything in her power to make this catastrophe a little less horrible. And then the poison gas attack brought her to her knees. She never would’ve thought to see wounds like these, to see those numbers of people suffer at the same time. She struggled with the purpose of her life once again, convinced that she would never be able to make up for all the horrible stuff humans thought of. Even worse, somebody who had seen her walking unharmed through waves of bullets aimed to get rid of the other side’s advantage. After talking to them one last time, Jack was on her way to a plane to get as far away from the war as possible and fall without the hope of wings to catch her. At the airport she met Geoff, who had come over from America to see if she was alright. The plane never took off.

 Ryan was used to betrayal. He just attracted people who for some reason thought the benefits of treason were worth the risks. None of them was still thinking that in the end, though. And he moved on, always being aware of the weak believes humans had, never really trusting anyone. Until he met Geoff and Jack and learned that they all had the same secret and a similar history. For the first time in hundreds of years, he actually felt like he had someone else to rely on. He promised to never let them doubt his words. But as an immortal Crew, they tended to attract the worst kind of enemies. Unfortunately, one of the opposing gangs was too well informed, and they knew how to take advantage of Ryan’s lucky capture. Of course his body took no lasting damage, but the drugs and the words with way too much reason behind them still managed to get to his head. They left him with his hands tied behind his back, a chair and a rope, after convincing him his betrayal had let to Geoff and Jack being captured. Even though deep down he knew the gunshots he heard couldn’t have caused their deaths, he still climbed the chair. The two others crashed through the door just in time to see him jump off.

 Michael loved the sound of being alive. He loved the laughter, the cursing, the music, the noises of cars, thunder, everything. Especially gunshots and explosions, because he didn’t need to fear those. He couldn’t stand silence. In his opinion, silence equalled to pause, and to pause equalled to miss something. If he was blessed (or doomed?) with immortality, he wanted to experience everything. He wanted to see the world, to take it all in and remember it forever. And then the Spanish Flu hit the world, and the world went silent. It didn’t matter where he went, people were dying or grieving. The world had become one big graveyard, and he had always avoided those. He heard way too many stories about the end of the world, even after avoiding the members of a certain cult who seemed to be everywhere. The doubt had been planted, and fearing he would be the only one left, Michael decided to go out with the loudest bang possible. One day, during his last test of the explosives, he saw a woman walking out of the collapsing building completely unharmed. After talking to her, he was relieved to know there where others like him, that he wouldn’t be alone after all. And although they parted ways shortly after that because Jack didn’t like his way of living for herself, he now knew there were people he could always turn to who were just like him.

 Gavin enjoyed watching humans explore the fields of science. He never helped, he never even took a job that came close to being scientific, because he felt like that would be cheating. They needed to figure out the facts themselves to really grow. And he cheered with them every time there was a new discovery. But he had always hated the downside, the fact that so many great ideas were used to kill people. The day the first atomic bomb was tested was the first time he doubted his faith in humanity. After the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki he felt like he himself was falling. Being unfortunate enough to have someone pretending to be his friend who recognised this as an opportunity to get him out of the way, he walked way too close to the edge. Ironically, it was the news of the development of the atomic watch that made him realise that humans would always find a way to use science for both good and evil, and that there was a certain calming balance in this fact.

 And then there was Ray, the one who actually took the last step, in the truest meaning of the word. To say he was tired wouldn’t do him justice, because there was so much more to it than that. Like the others, he existed since the first days of humanity; unlike the others, he had always felt like he was missing out on an important part of life. He had always longed for the thrill of death, the effect it had on the lives of humans. Nothing could satisfy this need, nothing helped him feel better. So he started thinking about ending it all, because every one of them somehow knew instinctively that there was this one way out. But before he could accomplish his goal, he met the Crew. And he didn’t forget his plans, but they suddenly weren’t that important anymore. He wasn’t alone, and the world had so much to offer for a group of friends who could be stopped by nothing but their own decisions. For a century, they lived life to the fullest. Then they decided to settle in Los Santos, to lay low for a while, a bit like going on a vacation. While the others enjoyed terrorising the city, Ray caught himself thinking about his old plans more often. As the others noticed him being more silent than ever, he told them about his longing. They were shocked at first, but every one of them had hit rock bottom once their lives, and they felt somehow honoured that Ray would talk to them about those thoughts. And after the first shock they started to understand him better with every time they talked. In the end, they accepted his decision, and bid him a worthy farewell the city would need years to recover from. They all stood with him on top of the tallest building in Los Santos, and he had never felt happier than after his last step.

[thecomicsnexus]

The Judge of All the Earth

WATCHMEN #3 NOVEMBER 1986 BY ALAN MOORE, DAVE GIBBONS AND JOHN HIGGINS

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

Doctor Manhattan is having problems with his relationship with Laurie when he multiplies himself and she finds out that 'one of him' had been working while she was being romantic with another. Laurie walks out on Manhattan, going to meet up with Dan Dreiberg.

Meanwhile, Manhattan's ex-wife Janey Slater is giving an interview with a news editor of the Nova Express. She states that she has cancer that she presumably received through connection with Manhattan.

Manhattan gets dressed and transports from his home to his television interview where he meets up with a government official named Forbes telling him what to, and what not to say. One of his questions that he cannot say is about his involvement with the Russians in Afghanistan. Then, one of the audience members is Doug Roth of Nova Express who ask Manhattan of his relationships with his colleague Wally Weaver, Slater, and his former nemesis Edgar Jacobi, if he knew that all of them had a fatal form of cancer, among others. Forbes quickly intervened and stopped the interview, but while he and Manhattan were leaving Manhattan became overwhelmed by questions. A very distressed Manhattan yells "I said leave me alone!" and transported everyone outside of the building.

Laurie meets up with Dan who gave her some coffee and they talked about her troublesome relationship and where she will stay that night. She decided on a hotel and walked him to Hollis Mason's place, but while walking through an alleyway they were almost mugged by a gang of knot-tops. They take out the entire group. Leaving the alleyway, Laurie decides to go find a hotel and to leave Dan alone. Once arriving at Hollis' place, Hollis shows Dan the interview of Manhattan's incident on television.

Manhattan arrives back at his home to find out that it is being quarantined. He decides that he is leaving, telling a soldier to leave a message for Laurie and his superiors. He said he is going to Arizona, and then Mars. He goes to the Gila Flats test base in Arizona, where he took a picture of himself and Janey Slater many years ago at a carnival. On Mars he explores in a childish excitement and then finds a rock to sit on.

Laurie goes back to the base to find that everything is being taken away by military personnel in hazmat suits and she is told by Forbes that she is ordered to undergo a cancer scan and is ask about whether she has put Manhattan in emotional stress. Unaware of Manhattan's incident, she is offended by Forbes for considering herself responsible for something until the man, deeply exasperated, snaps to her that she is no longer welcome to the base, since his superiors believe that Manhattan is not coming back in which his absence has severe global consequences.

The next day, Dan awakes from his bed to find Rorschach has broken into his home (again), whom shows Dan a newspaper with the front page of Manhattan's departure from Earth. This news also makes Rorschach being more convinced of his mask killer theory.

That night, the news vendor receives the evening edition and is shocked to read from the headlines. Anxiously, he gives the kid a copy of Tales of the Black Freighter for free, and even his cap. The headline he read is "Russians Invade Afghanistan".

Tales of the Black Freighter A young mariner is the sole survivor of a battle with pirates and wakes up on a deserted island where dead bodies are piled next to him. The mariner recalls the disaster of the attack and about thinks about the pirates of the "black freighter" bearing down on his home and his unsuspecting family. He then begin the arduous task of burying his shipmates throughout the entire day.

UNDER THE HOOD

Chapter V Hollis described the 1950's as cold and bleak, both for himself and for masked adventurers in general. The Minutemen have become irrelevant in society as their exploits were being reported less frequently and treated as a joke. Sally Jupiter have her daughter Laurie in 1949, when her marriage began to deteriorate. Her marriage ended in 1956, and since then Sally has been successful in raising her daughter. The Comedian remained the only member of the Minutemen who has been treated seriously in the eyes of the public partly due to his government connections, and was turning into a patriotic symbol.

During the height of the McCarthy era, the remaining active masked adventurers testified before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, and were forced to reveal their identities. The Comedian was excepted because of his allegiance. This doesn't present any immediate problems for most of the Minutemen, such as Captain Metropolis' outstanding military record and Hollis' service in the police force. But Mothman met with more difficulty due to his associations with left-wing friends during his student days. He was eventually cleared, but the investigations were both lengthy and ruthless, and Hollis speculates that the pressure may have prompted his drinking problem that later contributed to his mental ill-health.

Hooded Justice remained the only masked adventurer who refused to testified, on the grounds that he was not prepared to reveal his true identity to anyone. When pressed, he vanished. Hollis presumed that the Hooded Justice retire rather than revealing his identity. But almost a year after Hooded Justice vanished, the New Frontiersmen publish an article about the disappearance of a circus strongman named Rolf Muller, who quit his job at the height of the Senate Subcommittee hearings. Three months later, a badly decomposed body was found washed up on the coast of Boston. The body was identified as Muller's that was shot through the head. The article further stated that Muller, whose family was East German, had been on the run for fear of being uncovered during the Communist witch hunts, and implied that Muller was executed by his Communist superiors. Hollis speculated that Muller and Hooded Justice are the same person, but find this troubling to accept his fellow costume fighter was a spy, and leaving him to wonder who had killed them. This has took Hollis a long time to realize to accept it as a mystery.

Another problem that contributed to the downfall of costumed adventurers was the absence of costumed criminals. These criminals turned in their costumes along with their careers, but some opted for a less extroverted and more profitable approach as "ordinary men in business suits" who ran drug and prostitution rackets.

By March of 1960, Doctor Manhattan came, whose presence make the term "masked hero" and "costume adventurer" obsolete. Hollis recalled how the public reacted with feelings of disbelief of an actual superhuman being with incredible powers. The presence of Manhattan made Hollis to conclude that the regular heroes are replaced. In the closing months of 1958, Ozymandias first appear after busting a major opium and heroin smuggling racket, and earned a reputation amongst the criminal fraternity for his boundless and implacable intelligence and a large degree of athletic prowess.

Hollis first met Manhattan and Ozymandias during a Red Cross relief in June of 1960. His encounter with Manhattan was described as a strange experience which lasts for a short time until it almost seems normal. It was then that Hollis decided to retire his heroics and opened his own auto repair business. Soon, he was visited by a young admirer who proposed to borrow his identity as the new Nite Owl. After visiting his admirer's home and seeing his technology that will be use on the war on crime, Hollis permitted. Hollis also learned of Sally Jupiter's daughter, who was also carrying on her mother's legacy. Hollis conclude that the super-hero has become a part of American life for better, or for worse.

REVIEW

Tales of the Black Freighter is still the thing about Watchmen that I don’t like. I understand “why it’s there”, but it doesn’t make it more entertaining to me.

There is one thing that I can take home of that, and it’s the relationship between the news vendor and the young reader. When I started reading comics, newsstands was the only accessible place for kids to get them. As a result, you would cultivate some sort of friendship with your local news vendor. That is very similar to what we’ll see during Watchmen. It is interesting that this comic book came out through the direct market (I assume because of its content, quality and lack of bar code), so that relationship is a bit ironic.

Narration in this issue is sometimes coming from a comic-book, and other times it’s other people’s dialogues. Usually when people talk, we see something that tends of be the opposite of what they’re saying.

This is the first time we see full frontal nudity in the comic. According to the annotated version, this may very well be the first time in a mainstream comic-book... but I hardly doubt that. Even for mainstream, this is 1986.

To be continued...

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Severed Bonds (Chapter 12)

Summary: Edge, Jedi Knight, is lost in a Galaxy without the Jedi Order and the only one left to him is one who already betrayed them all.

Tags/Warnings: Spicyhoney, Star Wars AU, Darkfic, Angst, Minor Character Deaths, Friends to Enemies to ?, Hatesex…?, Trauma, Implied Possible Insanity, Rough Sex, Lemons, Mentions of Prostitution,  Violence, Possessiveness

Severed Bonds: a Spicyhoney SW AU

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4: Interlude | CH5 | CH6: Interlude 2 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | 

Read Chapter 12 on AO3

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Read it here!

~~*~~

The mines were never empty.

No matter the hour, whether or not the dual suns were in the skies, there were workers of any species in the long tunnels that snaked beneath the ground. Digging for the rich dorium ore, alone or in groups, working as many or as few hours as they cared. All that mattered to the Company was the amount of ore they brought in and each worker took company credit for their pay.

It was accepted for goods in the little mining town and no other place in the galaxy, keeping them trapped by their own funds on this desolate planet. That and the stims they could purchase with their credits and when a worker fell in one of the dank tunnels, sickened from breathing in the ore dust or simply dead, there would be a mad scramble for their half-filled bucket.

And the cycle continued.

One worker, a Kel Dor by their distinctive breathing apparatus and face mask, worked long hours every day, filling only slightly more buckets of ore as any other.

They worked alone and the thugs that preyed on the solo workers followed them the first few days, eager for a fresh victim.

Only to halt in confusion as they seemed to vanish within the depths of the mine, leaving the would-be thieves to fight amongst themselves over who allowed them to get away.

Two days after their arrival, something happened within the gangs, a bloody affair spoken of in whispers, and no further attempts were made to follow them. They were left alone to fill their buckets, hours of backbreaking work for a pittance and if they were given an extra credit or two at the ore exchange, no one stood close enough to notice a subtle flick of a hand or a low, persuasive murmur through the voice synth.

The mining town was in truth little more than a few rows of shanties manned by rotten-tooth proprietors selling cheap goods and stims. They came out only to shriek at any miner who collapsed by their shack, kicking them vigorously and spitting curses. Until the unfortunate either stumbled out of the way of their ire or were otherwise dragged away by the stoic cleaners, their bodies cast into one of the large, open pits scattered across the wasteland.

The Kel Dor stopped at one of the food stalls, using their credits to purchase a few containers of greasy noodles and packages of the thin, bland nutritional wafers. Another stall sold them a few jogan fruits with only a few dark places softened with rot.

Normally the Kel Dor would set his packages into a rucksack and be on their way with that, but this day they paused, considering. Finally, they made a last purchase, a small grease-spotted box that they added to the rest.

No one paid them any mind. Most of the others were scurrying to purchase their daily stims and food was an afterthought. All of them scrawny, skeletal beings who would be replaced by others who looked the same, an endless line of spiritual twins who would mine the ore till death replaced them with the next.

The Kel Dor went past them, the huddled groups already sagging to the ground in chemical bliss. They walked out of town to the dusty outskirts where few lived. On a rickety rack, a speeder was locked into place along with sparse collection of other vehicles and any brave enough to lay a hand on it earned a nasty shock for their trouble.

The Kel Dor straddled it without concern, shifting to guide it over the cracked, parched ground out into the wastelands.

When they were out of view of the ramshackle town, a small droid wriggled free of a side pouch, chirping happily as it clambered up to nestle into the rider’s lap.

The droid earned a gentle pat for the effort, and they rode on with only the roaring motor breaking the silence.

The first sun was creasing the horizon when the ship came into view. They pulled up next to it, parking the speeder within the protection grid before the Kel Dor stripped off the respirator, peeling away the mask to breathe in great gulps of sweltering air.

Edge wiped wearily at his sweaty skull despite the filth of his gloves. The arid climate was all the more unpleasant for having to wear a disguise, but it worked well enough.

Plenty of species needed a breathing apparatus in different environments. No one had given him a second glance here past gauging how easily he would be robbed, and those looks had been easily dissuaded with a little subterfuge and Force persuasion.

He gathered up the day’s supplies along with the sweaty mask and started for the boarding ramp.

“Shall we join Rus for dinner?” Edge asked, pausing to allow BD-7 a chance to scramble up and sit on his shoulder.

It made a rude sound at that and Edge struggled not to laugh, if only to keep from encouraging it. The little droid hadn't grown any fonder of Rus over the weeks they’d been here and took any opportunity it could to lay siege on his ankles. Rus’s boots were covered in a fine collection of little scuffs and no amount of Edge’s scolding could convince BD to stop.

For some reason, Rus found this hilarious, never lashing out at the little droid. Small, strange things could spark his temper, but always he nudged the little droid aside without leaving so much as a scratch, striding away from the string of chirping abuse that BD-7 hurled at him daily with nothing more than a chuckle.

That odd acceptance wasn’t enough for Edge to trust them alone while he worked. BD-7 always traveled with him during the day, keeping guard over their vehicle while Edge gathered enough ore for the credits they needed.

It was exhausting work even with a judicious use of Force, but physical labor Edge could manage. If the credits were barely a quarter of what a laborer would earn on a civilized planet, they were in no position to negotiate. What was more difficult was walking past the other miners, feeling the aura of death around them, their lives leeching away in hard work and an endless cloud of mind-fogging drugs.

He couldn’t help them. Even if Edge spent all his hard-earned credits on extra food, they wouldn’t accept it, slapping away a generous hand if it wasn’t holding out a stim.

All he could do was earn enough to keep them in meals and fuel. His work at least gave them an appearance of legitimacy, for whatever it was Rus was doing in the late hours certainly was not.

Most nights after their evening meal was shared, Rus would take the respirator and speeder, heading out to earn credits his own way.

Not sex, Edge didn’t think. Rus came back to him bearing no unusual bruises, and always with republic credits rather than company ones, adding them to their stash.

He didn’t ask how Rus was earning credits. Better, perhaps, not to know when he unable to claim Rus, at least not the way he did Edge.

Love, Edge could allow, offering it for Rus to cast away or silently accept, depending on his mood. Jealousy Edge could not let take root; his unsettled emotions were difficult enough to deal with during his daily meditations. Rus’s bones belonged to no one but himself.

The opposite was not true. A claim had been laid down on Naiver-12 that Edge did not refute.

That Edge belonged to Rus would have upset him, once. Once he would have been disgusted by the very idea. These days he was more than willing to give over his body to Rus, opening to him, only to him.

Unequal, yes, and Edge didn’t care. Rus’s body was for anyone and his body was only for Rus. He’d accepted that from the beginning.

But their minds and souls were only to be shared with each other. Edge’s soul would accept nothing less and he could feel Rus’s acceptance of that every time they opened their bond.

His body was not his soul, but even with that unspoken agreement, it was still a relief to know no one was laying rough hands on Rus those nights.

Sharing the respirator, on the other hand, was a minor annoyance, but until they could afford another, it would have to do. It did make Edge wonder what Rus had done wearing their shared face that turned the thugs’ gazes of greedy interest to fear when they saw him. Not enough to ask.

But breathing in Rus’s scent every morning, the sweetness of his sweat, was not unpleasant. It lingered for the first hours of his day, a small comfort in the midst of hard work.

There were baths in the encampment, but even if Edge dared stripping down to reveal his bones, he wouldn’t want to bathe in filthy, stagnant water that probably held countless diseases. A sonic shower was better than slow death from plague, if only barely.

There was a sanitary station directly next to the ship’s entrance. Edge stripped out of his jumpsuit and sent it down the cleaning chute for the morning, stepping beneath the quick, uncomfortable sweep of the sonics. Bare, he walked to their quarters, BD-7 clinging easily to his shoulder, only hopping off reluctantly when Edge dressed in his robes. A thin protection to face his…lover?...but better than nudity.

Only then did he make his way to the galley.

Rus was lying on one of the benches at the table, his long legs sprawled off the end. He didn’t sit up until Edge set out the food containers and the heavy, rich scent of cooked food filled the air.

“what are you killing us with today?” Rus asked at last, swinging his legs under the table.

He snagged one of the flimsicard containers, pulling out a noodle with his bare fingers and slurping it noisily. Rus only laughed when Edge slapped the back of his skull unhesitatingly, dropping an eating utensil in front of Rus with a pointed clatter.

“the creche master isn’t here to scold me,” Rus said coyly. A subtle dig, that one. He must’ve slept well while Edge was gone to be more playful than cruel.

There was some relief at that, outside of the tiny cut of his words; Rus’s nightmares were growing steadily worse.

On the nights that he didn’t run his mysterious errands, he always woke screaming, his sockets blank and dark, whatever memories haunting him concealed behind a wall in his mind.

He seemed rested enough today. Perhaps sleeping in the daylight hours was better for now despite the heat of the suns testing the cooling systems. Anything was better than waking to those awful screams.

Rus was making steady progress on the noodles and Edge opened his own container, suppressed hunger breaking free of its bonds.

The noodles were just this side of too salty, but the broth they were swimming in was satisfyingly rich. Slices of some fungi floated in it and the vegetables were unknown but crunched with alluring freshness. A meat option was available but Edge never ordered it. Unknown vegetables were acceptable in most cases, unknown meat, almost never.

The nutritional wafers were put away with the other preservable supplies. The small, grease-stained box, however, was pushed silently over to Rus.

Who opened it with wary curiosity to reveal a small, sugar-crusted cake. It cost an entire credit on its own, an almost unknown indulgence on this planet that Edge bought on impulse. Rus had always had a sweet tooth.

Rus didn’t comment on the cake, but his moan of appreciation as he devoured it spoke volumes. When it was gone, he licked a bony finger and dabbled in the box for the last of the crumbs. This time Edge let his lack of manners go. It might be some time before there were sweets again.

It was a pleasant meal, all things considered. So Edge was taken off guard when Rus abruptly asked, “what were you going to do after they killed me?”

“What do you mean? When who killed you?” It wasn’t uncommon for Rus to wander off on a mental tangent, leaving Edge struggling to catch up.

Rus slanted him a sideways look. The darkened circles beneath his sockets were ones of permanence, and his eye lights were coldly amused. “the jedi, of course. the council sent jedi to kill me.”

“I wasn’t there to kill you.” It was more truth than not.

Not enough. Rus’s smile curled into a sneer. “how charming, you were going to save me, were you?” He shook his head, pityingly. “do you really think that was the plan for the others?”

No. He didn’t. But he was sick of playing the role of enemy, sick of being the villain in Rus’s story. Distance gave some clarity and there were wrongs committed on both sides between them, Jedi and Sith, Edge and Rus, and Edge was weary of being the whipping boy. A cracked skull and the loss of all the Jedi was enough penance for anyone.

“what were you doing there?” Edge countered.

“me?” Rus looked at him in surprise. “my master sent me to javin for negotiations. it was beneath my skills, to be honest, and it seems he somehow forgot to tell me not only about the jedi hunting me down, but also about his little plan with the clone troopers.” He tutted sadly, but his fury colored the Force around them with bitter heat. “mind must be going, poor old thing.”

Rus’s grin was sour. “what i am sure about is that i wasn’t supposed to survive that little rendezvous. either the jedi were supposed to kill me or the clone troopers. you and i should be dead, jedi….ouch! stop, you brat!” Rus reached down and there was a clang from the slap of bone against metal, not nearly as loud as it could have been. “i wasn’t threatening him, i was stating a fact! would you mind calling off your watchdog before i kick him into a black hole?”

It was an idle threat but perhaps better to not take chances.

“BD-7, come here.” For a wonder, he did as he was told for once, sullenly trudging over to Edge. Honestly, he hadn’t realized droids had the capacity to glare before meeting this one.

But oddly, the growing tension was broken. The glowing rage in Rus’s eye lights dimmed to something thoughtful.

“why don’t you put your pet in a time out,” Rus said suddenly, “and you can come over here and fuck me.”

“You told me we were planning our next move tonight.” But the flare of heat in his soul and between his legs was willing to postpone.

“i am,” Rus licked his teeth, and the banked heat in his sockets was enticing rather than alarming. “i think better when i’m relaxed.”

By the time Edge wrangled the small, furious droid out the door, the empty food containers were scattered on the floor and Rus was atop the table, bare femurs spread and his legs dangling off the end from his bent knees.

Edge leaned over him, bracing his hands on the table, eye lights trailing over those slim, scarred bones. Rus tipped his skull up for a kiss and his heated amusement turned to confusion when Edge didn’t take it.

“You were right,” Edge told him, low. “If I couldn’t save you, I was going to kill you.”

“ah, there we are,” Rus only smirked up at him, a glittery shine in his eye lights. “well, according to jedi thinking, by killing me you would be saving me. what about now? have you learned to think for yourself, yet?”

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Edge tried. It was a promise they’d shared before, both of them, broken time and again. It shouldn’t hurt when Rus called him on it.

“awww, you’ve already hurt me plenty, haven’t you, sweetheart.” And the laughter beneath those words was a wound of its own. “but if you’re promising not to kill me, i may take you up on it.” The sudden softness on his face, uncertain gentleness, sent another pang through Edge’s soul, a more tender wound. “thinking on your own, though, that takes a while, jedi. took me a long time. now, are you going to fuck me or are you waiting for me to top?”

Edge didn’t answer, couldn’t find the words for any part of that. Instead, he slid down, cutting off Rus’s startled protests by pressing his face to the softness between his legs, his cunt softer than any other part of Rus, even his soul.

He buried his tongue in that sweetness, over and over, until fingers were scrabbling at his skull and Rus was swearing in broken gasps. Until Rus braced a foot against his shoulder and pushed, only enough to give him leverage to pull Edge on top of him.

Both of them fumbled together at his trousers, fingers tangled with fabric and each other. When his cock was finally free, Edge wasted no time, only briefly slicking through those wet folds before pressing inside.

“ah, yes…fuck…hard-harder!” Rus slurred out. He didn’t wait, wrapped both legs around Edge’s pelvis and tried to drag him in.

Edge resisted, pressed in deep, waiting as Rus pleaded and clawed at him, waiting until that hoarse, begging voice broke.

Then he slowly withdrew, only to plunge back in in one long, hard stroke. Rus wailed as Edge rode him relentlessly, driving into him while Rus begged without shame. Their bodies crashed together, the table creaked and screeched with every thrust, jittering across the floor. Until it hit the wall and there it thumped, once, twice, and Edge threw his head back with a harsh groan as he came in that wet, trembling heat.

Gasping, he sagged down on Rus, ignoring his frustrated swearing. With effort, he managed to work a hand between them. Edge rocked his pelvis in short thrusts even as he softened inside him, circled the hard nub of his clit with a thumb until Rus shuddered, hands and cunt tightening convulsively as he toppled over his own peak.

Then there was nothing but panting, their sweat mingling as Edge managed to rise up shakily on his elbows. Rus didn’t quite respond to his soft kiss, parted his teeth drowsily but his tongue was lax against Edge’s coaxing one.

He didn’t protest when Edge shifted, breathed out a contented sigh as Edge carefully withdrew and fastened his trousers. Only snuggled into Edge’s arms when he picked Rus up, kicking aside the crushed food containers to carry Rus to their bed.

Edge set him gently onto the blankets and it was only a moment’s work to pull off his own robes, settling next to him. Their bond wasn’t opened, but softened, inviting a light press of thoughts and Edge did, curling up against Rus’s mind as he did the same to his body.

But the nightmare still came. Rus woke screaming in his arms and all Edge could do was hold him, soothe him with useless words.

Slowly, Rus settled. His body, always and never Edge’s, was thin and trembling beneath the blankets. His mind was a brick wall. Lying in the darkness, holding him close, Edge could only wonder at what was hidden behind the closed shutters of Rus’s mind.

Perhaps it was time to find out.

-tbc-

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