#she then tells him she's spider-woman and he dumps her | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

forever-rogue · 5 months ago

Note

Ok, just got an idea of tasm.

What about a first introduction with May, like reader is so anxious about meeting her and when she finally does so she realizes May is so sweet with her 🥺

Aunt May being so sweet with Peter's girl just got me ✨😭

AN | No, but May is the best! She’d absolutely adore Peter’s girl❤️

Pairing | tasm!Peter Parker x fem!reader

Warnings | Language

Word Count | 2.5k

Masterlist | Main | Peter

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A million thoughts were racing through your mind; unfortunately none of them were good. You were about to meet the most important woman in Peter’s life, beside you, and all you wanted was to make a good first impression. You had no clue what you would do if she didn’t like you. You’d probably be dumped and heartbroken.

“Stop being stupid,” you groaned at your reflection as you fixed your hair. You wanted to look perfect without looking like you were trying too hard. Ugh. You were definitely overthinking this. It was supposed to be a simple dinner, not some sort of life changing event. But…it kind of was. For you anyway.

“Hey Bug,” you hadn’t heard Peter let himself into your apartment. When you looked up, you found leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest as you met his gaze in the mirror, “you look beautiful.”

You relaxed at his words, letting out a soft sigh as you turned around to face, “are you sure? It’s not too much or not enough?”

“It’s perfect,” he took a few steps closer to you, “you could wear anything and it would be perfect.”

“Shut up,” you gently pushed at his chest but he didn’t budge, instead only softly laughed, “I’m nervous, Pete.”

“Don’t be nervous,” he cupped your face, brushing his thumb over your cheek, “there’s no reason to worry. May is going to love you - she might even end up loving you more than me.”

“I hope she likes me at least a little bit,” you whispered, leaning into soft touch, “what if she doesn’t for some reason?”

“That’s impossible,” he pressed a kiss to the crown of your head as you huffed at him, “trust me.”

“I do…mostly,” you leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips, “but you know, the whole not telling me about the fact that you were Spider-Man doesn’t help your honesty credibility.”

“To be fair, Bug, I didn’t and wasn’t going to tell you,” you raised an eyebrow at him as his cheeks flushed lightly, “I mean, I was going to eventually…but you beat me to it.”

“You weren’t exactly subtle, Peter Parker,” you remembered the evening you discovered his alter ego like it was yesterday, “you came into the bedroom in the suit and bleeding profusely, remember? Or did you lose too much blood and forget?”

“I remember,” he mumbled softly. It was one of the first nights you’d stayed over at his apartment but duty had called; he left in the middle of the night while you slept soundly in his bed. He’d intended to be back and next to you in bed before you even woke up. Unfortunately it hadn’t happened that way at all, “it was…not how I planned on telling you.”

“Nevertheless, you lied to me…sort,” you waved your hand around before leaning against the counter with a heavy sigh, “so what you’re doing that to me now and you just know May will hate me?”

“I…” he paused for a moment, incredulous at your little theory as you pouted at him, “do you really think I’d do that?”

“No,” you sighed softly, your shoulders sinking as he pulled you into a hug, tucking you perfectly into his frame, pressing a kiss to the top of your head, “I just want this to go well, Pete.”

“It will,” he rubbed your back in soothing circles as you mumbled something against his chest, “it’s just May and me. Nothing is going to go wrong.”

“Fine,” you finally gave in as Peter chuckled softly, “let’s just go and do this.”

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You walked up the steps to May’s house, clutching on Peter’s hand tightly; if he was superhuman you might have even broken it. In your other hand was a bouquet of flowers that you’d picked up just for May. Your heart was beating so loudly you were positive that Peter could easily hear it. Once he knocked, you listened with bated breath for the door to be answered, trying to see if you could hear May coming.

And yet, it still took you by surprise when the door was gently opened and there stood May Parker, the woman, the myth, and the legend herself. She was a smaller woman but she had a giant presence about her; you could see how much Peter loved her just from the way his lit up, “Aunt May!”

“Peter,” he gently let go of your hand and wrapped her up in a giant hug that caused her to chuckle at him, “it’s good to see you, sweetheart.”

She pressed a kiss to his cheek before shifting her gaze over to you. You half expected to see some sort of judgment, but in reality you saw nothing of the short. If you thought she softened for Peter, she was even more gentle with you.

“Hi Mrs. Parker,” you held out the flowers to her, hoping you didn’t appear too intimidated, “it’s nice to finally meet you.”

She said your name, so warm and tenderly, before taking the flowers and pulling you into a hug as well. There must have been something in the Parker family that caused all of them to give the best hugs; Peter probably learned from her, “it’s so good to finally meet you. It feels like it’s been so long and Peter never shuts up about y-”

“Alright, alright,” Peter’s cheeks pinked as you looked at him with a huge grin. Your heart felt like it was going to burst with all the affection that you had for these two people, “let’s, ugh, get inside before it gets too cold.”

“Oh Peter, don’t get all shy,” May wrapped her arm around your shoulders before leading you inside, “I think it’s wonderful that you have some to love so much.”

You flashed him a grin over your shoulder as you stepped inside the Parker home; he was a very bright red that gave you enough pause to hang back and press a kiss to his cheek.

“Peter, can you please put these beautiful flowers into some water for me,” the kitchen and the entire house smelled absolutely divine. You’d been told that she was a good cook and that almost made your mouth water in excitement, “dinner’s almost ready.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” you couldn’t help as but cast curious eyes around the kitchen and dining area, looking at all the photos that were hung up and items that were displayed. A photograph of a young Peter caught your eye as you walked over to it and looked at it closer. He was super cute as a kid and you couldn’t help but wonder what your kids would like…you hoped that you’d get to find out one day, “oh my gosh, Pete! You were so precious!”

“Peter really was the cutest and sweetest boy,” May agreed as Peter looked mortified; he wished the floor would open up and swallowed him whole, “he was such a good boy.”

“Wonder what happened?” you teased as May laughed. Alright, you already liked her a lot. Your nerves were still there, but they weren’t nearly as bad as they had initially been.

“Oh haha, you’re so funny,” he stuck his tongue out at you, before instinctively going to set the table. May had really raised him well, “one day I’ll get to see your old pictures and we’ll see how you like it.”

“It’s so fun to tease you,” you walked back into the kitchen to help May, “besides, maybe one day our kids will be that cute.”

It was no secret that Peter wanted a family one day, and you’d both agreed that you wanted at least one child together. Your comment definitely caused Peter to feel a certain type of way and his eyes grew wide as he looked at you. He was definitely going to hang onto this feeling later when it was just the two of you. May, meanwhile, made a small sound of agreement, “you two will have adorable kids, that’s a given.”

“Oh,” your entire face warmed up as you stole a glance at Peter. He looked a mixture of both excited and embarrassed, “well I guess we’ll just have to wait and see one day.”

That seemed to quell them both as your stomach exploded with butterflies. You knew that Peter would be a great father one day and were equally sure that May would be a wonderful grandmother. You felt lucky to have them in your lives; but then, you’d known that Peter would be something special to you from the day you met him.

May hummed in content as you helped her to finish dinner. She had such a warm and calming presence and you already loved being around her. It was easy to fall into a rhythm and pattern with her and before you knew it, the three of you were sitting around the table and eating dinner. She was an excellent cook and it was such a welcome thing to behold a home cooked meal.

Afterwards when you were all stuffed, Peter helped May with a few things around the house while the two of you cleaned up.

“You know,” her voice was tender and gentle as she dried the dishes that you had washed, “I haven’t seen Peter this happy in a long time. It makes me happy to see him doing so well. He deserves it.”

“He does,” you agreed softly, “he makes me really happy too. He’s a good man and I…I’ve never met anyone like him before. He’s special to me.”

“He’s always been a good boy,” she agreed, looking into the living room and finding him softly speaking to himself as he moved some furniture around for her, “it was hard for him, with what happened to poor Gwen, and it took a long time for him to be himself again. I was worried I’d lost my boy too, but slowly over time he got better. And then, when I noticed just how happy he seemed, he told me about you. Well, when he first met you, I should say.”

“I met him and we were friends for a long time before we started dating,” you looked at her in confusion but she only responded with a knowing smile. You inhaled softly as you looked over at your boyfriend. He must have felt you looking at him because his gaze quickly shifted to yours and his entire face lit up, “oh. Oh.”

“Mhmm,” she put the last of the dishes away before giving your arm a small squeeze, “needless to say I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.”

“Oh May,” you blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over before hugging her. In truth Parker fashion, she hugged you tightly and rubbed your back in soothing motions, “I’ve been so nervous and excited to meet you. Peter speaks so highly of you and I understand why. Thank you for being so kind and welcoming. Peter is amazing and he always says he owes it to you. I can understand why. You’re both great.”

“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” she promised softly, “as far as I’m concerned you’re family, sweetheart. If you ever need anything or need me to have a word with him, just let me know, alright?”

“I will,” you beamed at her, “I will.”

“Hey May?” Peter walked into the kitchen sheepishly, “did you, umm, make dessert by chance?”

“Of course I did,” she tutted at him before exchanging a look with you, “I made your favorite.”

“Yes!” he kissed her cheeks, “you’re the best.”

“And don’t you forget it!”

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

By the time you and Peter left May’s it was late; you hadn’t expected to be gone for so long but it was just so easy and fun to hang around with Peter and May. Peter held your hand, a knowing little smile on his face as got into the cab to go back to your apartment. You, naturally, had a big tote full of leftovers to take with you.

You’d fallen asleep next to him, resting your head on his shoulder. He was reluctant to wake you up but he did so gently before scooping you into his arms and carrying you upstairs. You wrapped your arms around his neck and held on tightly, burrowing your face into his chest.

“That wasn’t so bad was it, Bug?” he asked as he set you down and bent over to help slip off your heels. You felt so incredibly warm and fuzzy at the sweet but simple gesture, “you lived.”

“Shut up, Parker,” you sighed gently as he pressed a kiss to your ankle before standing back and towering over you. You moved to take off his jacket and hung it up by the door, “I think you might be officially demoted to my second favorite Parker.”

“Wow,” he put his hand on his chest and sighed dramatically, “that’s hurtful baby. I should have known better than to introduce the two of you. My favorite women are ganging up against me already.”

“Never,” you reached for his hand and started to pull him towards your bedroom. You were tired and all you wanted was to cuddle up with him. He easily obliged, lacing his fingers through yours, “you’ll always be my favorite, Peter Parker.”

You quickly stripped off your clothes before tugging at Peter’s and getting him down to his boxers. You’d worry about your makeup and everything else later. Peter pulled you into his arms as soon as you were both lying down and under the covers.

“What am I your favorite of?” he whispered, causing goosebumps to raise up on your skin as he ghosted his fingers along your soft skin.

“My favorite everything,” you replied as thought it was the most obvious thing in the world, “my favorite best friend, my favorite boyfriend, my favorite superhero…all of it.”

“You’re my favorite too,” he pressed a kiss to your shoulder, “in case that wasn’t obvious.”

“Hmmm,” you hummed in content, “will you stay tonight? No Spider-Man-ing?”

“Yes,” he gave you a gentle squeeze, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Unless it’s an emergency.”

“Unless it’s an absolute emergency.”

“Good,” you horribly stifled a yawn before settling further into the pillows, “love you, spider-boy.”

“I love you too Bug.”

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker x fem!reader #tasm!peter #tasm!peter x you #tasm!peter x reader #andrew!peter #andrew garfield

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yourmumsweirdshit · 2 years ago

Text

An Idea - Part 1

Gwen Stacy x Reader

Masterlist

“I can’t believe her!” Captain Stacy yells in frustration as he slams the front door behind him. “Who?” You ask peeping your head out Gwen’s room. “Spider-Woman, who else gets my dad like this?” Gwen snickers as she walks past you and into the kitchen as her dad glares at her. “That’s not funny, she’s a vigilante, and she leaves a huge mess wherever she goes.” He sighs as he takes a seat at the table. “I’m sure you’ll catch her sir.” You respond in attempts to cheer him up. However, Gwen, enjoying her fathers suffering, keeps the conversation going. “I don’t know why you’re so mad about this Dad, she’s literally doing what you’re doing; helping people and then leaving. Practically doing your job for you.” She sighs as she opens the cupboard looking for snacks.

“She wears a mask, I don’t because I have nothing to hide, she does, and if she doesn’t, why wear a mask?” He asks as I agree with him nodding my head to which Gwen raises her eyebrows at me. “You’re not seriously agreeing with him on this, are you?” She says, scoffing as she pulls a box out and shutting the cupboard. “I do understand what he’s saying.” I say before a cheer comes from George. “Yes! Thank you! See, someone around here sees things clearly.” Gwen rolls her eyes as she goes to fill up a glass of water. “To some degree.” I say, slowly finishing off my sentence.

“Noo, why would you say that Y/N, I thought maybe someone round here would have a chance to go to college.” He says making my eyes widen. “Woww.” I respond dragging out the word as he laughs, Gwen almost spitting out her drink at her Dads response. “That was good, I’ll give you that.” She says walking up to her dad and passing him a cup of coffee. “Low blow to me but I’ll take it.” She says patting his shoulder as he chuckles. “Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week.” He responds making Gwen roll her eyes once more. “Come on Y/N.” She says as she grabs the box of snacks and walking past me, pulling me into her room with her and shutting the door behind her.

“Here, catch.” She says as she throws a pack of chocolate to me before opening a large pack of chips and dumping it into a bowl. “Thanks.” I say as I take a piece off the block and throwing it back to her. “So, you never did say where you stand.” Gwen says as she takes a seat on her bed, bowl in hand as she puts a chip in her mouth. “What do you mean?” I ask as I take a seat beside her, also grabbing a chip from the bowl. “About Spider-woman. What are your thoughts on her?” She asks making me laugh.

“So you can tell your dad I’m on your side?” I ask as a large smile takes over her face. “So you are on my side!” She says loud enough for her dad to hear. “Shhh.” I whisper putting my finger to her mouth and looking back at the door to have any indication that he heard Gwen’s words. “Are you trying to have me kicked out and never welcome here again?” I say to which Gwen laughs at my words. “Sorry, sorry. She hates Spider-Woman Dad.” She responds making me shake my head. “You’re a loser.” I say as I get up and move to her desk, grabbing the chocolate bar as I take a seat on the spinning chair.

“So continue, what are your thoughts?” She continues, ignoring my words. “Why? You wanna know if I’m in love with her or something? Or maybe you are; wanting to keep her as the topic for so long.” I tease to which she raises her eyebrows unamused. “Yes, I’m in love, you caught me.” She says sarcastically as she dramatically falls back onto her bed. “Come on, what do you think of her.” She asks as lays back on her elbows.

“What do you mean, like her age and theories and stuff?” I ask leaning forward to grab the bowl from beside her. “Yeah why not.” She says as she sits up, her back against the wall. “Well I think she’s young.” I say to which Gwen cuts me off. “Our age?” She asks straightening her back. “No, maybe someone a bit older, finished high school at the minimum.” I say to which she raises an eyebrow at. “Why do you say that?” She asks as she grabs a pillow and places it in her lap.

“I’d put her in my prayers if she goes to high school or college because I’m already drowning in enough school work, and this girl’s doing that and saving people on the side, as a hobby? I’d honestly feel so bad, I’d do her homework for her.” She laughs at my words. “Do my homework then.” A smile on her lips as she glances at the pile of papers on her desk. “You are hilarious.” I say with a dry laugh to which her smile widens.

“If I was Spider-Woman would you do it?” She asks making me look at her homework once more. “This is how I know you can’t be Spider-Woman, because if you can do all this, hang out with me and Peter, be part of the band and be top of the class, while also being a hero on the side then you’d be psycho.” I say as I roll around her room in the chair. “Well she is a superhero.” She responds, putting emphasis on super. “And on top of that she does have powers”

“But like, how do we even know she has powers though, she could be like Bruce-Wayne, rich and smart. So smart that she’s created a technology to stick to walls or create synthetic webbing, it’s like her own grappler.” I say referring to the uprising trend of creating superhero comics based off animals. “What if her webbing was organic, and she could actually just stick to walls?” She responds making me continue on. “Then she’d have holes in her wrist and I’m sure someone would know then.” I say glancing at Gwen’s wrist. “But then that means she’d have no friends, so I guess that means that you could be Spider-Woman.” I smile as she scoffs. “Rude.” She says crossing her arms. “Guess someone’s not getting answers for their homework tonight.” She smirks as my eyes widen.

“Wait, no, Gwen. I’m sorry.” I say as I stop moving in the chair. “Gwen please, I’m so sorry, you’re friends with everyone, you have so many friends.” I say as I slowly try to scoot the chair closer to the bed. “You could totally be Spider-Woman. You’re as amazing as she her, as wonderful as her, as super as her.” I say as I drop on to floor, as I hold her leg, begging her as she now sits at the edge of the bed. “You’re 100% as beautiful as her.” I say looking up as she raises an eyebrow, trying to contain the smile tugging at her lips as she pushes me off her. “Hell, I know you’re even prettier than her.” I say as I take my seat back in the chair. “Piss off.” She says as she looks away, trying to hide the faint tint of pink in her cheeks. “Love you!” I say adding to the fire, smiling as she groans and pushes her face into pillow.

“I’m sure Spider-woman, wouldn’t even let you do her homework, you can’t even do your own. You’d probably just come and steal them off me.” Her words slightly muffled through her pillow as I laugh. “Well that’s a good thing right? She’s now guaranteed the best results.” I say as she puts her pillow down and I smile wider at her faux smile. “And if I was Spider-Woman, what would you do next?” She asks as she grabs the bowl of chips off the table. “Then you wouldn’t need my help, because you’re so perfect already.” I tease as she rolls her eyes.

“And you forgot that she has super-strength, so her powers are real.” She mentions as I spin around in the chair. “Ah, true, I can’t believe I forgot about that one.” I say as she nods. “So if I was Spider-Woman, first thing I’m doing is throwing you out of this apartment.” She responds making my jaw drop. “You wouldn’t, you love me too much.” I say to which she raises her eyebrows. “And you’re sure about that?” She asks making me place a hand on my heart and lean back in the chair. “That hurt more than a bullet wound.” I say, clenching my fist around my shirt.

“You’ve never even been shot.” She says as I spin around in the chair. “Nothing can hurt more than you breaking my heart Gwen, my love is only for you.” I say as I stop the chair to make a heart with my hands. Her response to that is throwing the unopened pack of Oreos at my head. “Rude.” I say barely dodging the throw. “Sorry, not sorry.” She shrugs as she acts unbothered, the smile on her face saying otherwise.

“What would be something you’d have to do if you were spider-woman?” She looks up from her lap, awaiting my response. “The upside down kiss.” Unable to hide the smile on my face she raises an eyebrow? “The upside down kiss?” She repeats. “Yeah, it’s gotta be done.” I respond before saying something else. “You reckon spider-woman’s done it?” I ask to which she lets out a laugh. “Yeah, maybe. If I ever meet her, I’ll tell her to find you.”

A knock on the door pulls both your attention to the door. “Can I come in?” Her dad asks before Gwen gets up and opens the door for him. “Hey, I’m just letting you girls know I’ve got work in the morning so you might not see me when you wake up. But here’s some cash for dinner, or breakfast.” He says as he looks at the pile of snacks in the room. “Thanks Dad.” Gwen says laughing as she looks back at food. “Thank you.” I reply before Gwen shuts the door. “You hungry?” She asks with a smile on her face as she waves the cash in the air. “Always.” She laughs as she takes a seat on the bed. “Great, come here and let’s see what we can get.” She says patting a place on the bed beside her.

A/N: Also shoutout to the person filling my inbox with kind messages, appreciate it ❤️

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dr-spencer-reids-queen · 4 months ago

Text

Solitary Man: Part One

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Summary: You're feeling more like yourself for the first time in forever. You're not going to let anything spoil your good mood.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

"We're all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life." - Tennessee Williams

You feel good. For the first time since you got released from prison, you feel like the weight of the world isn't lying on your shoulders. You're still required to go to therapy until she deems you fit to be on your own but you're not dreading going to her anymore. You actually look forward to it. You feel safe in her office and feel like you can talk about anything without judgment. You trust Spencer with everything you're telling your therapist, but he's strictly Team Y/N and will side with you on anything. You need your therapist's unbiased opinion and advice.

You're sitting at your desk staring at your open notebook wondering what to write. You've rewritten every single nightmare you have besides the rape. You don't know what you can write that will make what happened better.

Spencer walks into the bullpen and sees you tapping the end of your pen on your notebook. He walks behind you and places a hand on your shoulder. You look up at him with a smile as he runs his fingers through your hair.

"Are you okay?"

"Doing better now."

"Why is that?"

"You."

Spencer leans down and kisses you Spider-Man style, one of your favorite positions.

"Come on, we have a case."

You leave your notebook at your desk before following Spencer to the briefing room where everyone else is. There is already a picture of the most recent victim and her crime scene.

"Her name was Tanya Hill. She was twenty-nine and a bartender. She was found two days ago in Edgewood, New Mexico. She's the fifth woman in over six months to be found dead in a ditch off the I-40 and I-25," JJ explains. "All were manually strangled and none were sexually assaulted."

"Well, maybe the act of strangulation is what gets him off."

"Where were they abducted from?" Emily asks.

"All over."

"Well, they're not just crossing state lines. These cities are hundreds of miles apart," Derek says. "That's a lot of bodies. Why is it taking so long to be invited?"

"We haven't been invited. We found this on the HSK database," Hotch says.

The HSK is the Highway Serial Killer database. With someone crossing state lines like this, they don't belong to one county or jurisdiction, therefore, landing themselves on the HSK database.

"Well, a lot of police departments won't want this problem," Derek says.

"The geographic profile shows that only one of them has it. They just don't know it yet."

"How do you know that?" Rossi asks Spencer.

"Because he has a comfort zone based on the direction he was heading when he dumped the bodies. All five cases point to our unsub heading to Edgewood."

"Now so are we."

You make sure to pack your notebook in your go-bag before heading to the jet with the rest of the team.

"Clearly this unsub doesn't care about his victims being found," Derek says once the plane is in the air, "or he knows he can't be linked to them."

"The ME report supports that first theory. Matching DNA was found on all five victims but not in any database. It's also in keeping with the victimology and abduction sites."

"Which is what?" Emily asks your boyfriend.

"Target rich and offender-friendly."

"The time of death from the time of abduction varies dramatically in each case. Some lived twelve hours, others twenty-four before they were killed."

"What's he doing with them?" JJ asks.

"He's not having sex with them. There are no signs of torture or even restraints. What was the matching DNA?"

"Skin," Emily answers Derek. "That and metal shavings were found under the fingernails of all five victims. Tanya only had one nail left. It looked like whatever she was in, she tried to claw her way out."

"JJ, have Garcia match victimology and abduction sites to HSK findings for the last year," Hotch says and she nods. "If he sticks to this timeline, Edgewood is about to discover another body."

As soon as the plane lands, you, Rossi, and Spencer go to Tanya's dump site, Hotch and Emily go to the ME's office, and the rest go to the police station to get set up. The cars whiz by you on the highway and you admire the way they are going about their lives without a single inclination that there is a dead body here. Sometimes, you wish you could be them.

"So, she was abducted thirty-two-point-nine miles west of here, which means if they drove the speed limit, they got here in thirty minutes or less," Spencer says.

"So, how long's it gonna take either of you to get in that ditch?" Rossi asks.

"Get in that ditch? I got shot in the knee, remember? My doctor said I'm not allowed to do any climbing."

"It's a ditch."

"New boots, huh? Italian leather?"

"I'll do it," you roll your eyes playfully.

You carefully slide down the hill before reaching the place where the body was found. She's not there anymore but you can see the remnants of her using the energy she left behind. She is lying in the fetal position, hiding from anyone who passes by her.

"From here I can be seen by any passing vehicle," Rossi says.

"I can't. She was dumped at night so he wouldn't be seen by anyone."

"He drives up, dumps the body, and leaves. Job done," Rossi says.

"I don't think so," you shake your head.

"Why?"

You kneel down next to the woman and study her features. If you didn't know any better, you'd think she was sleeping.

"All five victims were found posed in the fetal position with their right arm palm-up and left arm palm-down. It's almost child-like and comforting like what a parent would do for their child."

"Do you have any ideas why he'd stage them this way?"

"No." Rossi nods and walks away, leaving you alone with Spencer. He starts to move down the hill to help you back up but you put a hand up to stop him. "Don't you dare. I got this." When you get closer to the top, you take Spencer's hand so he can help you the rest of the day. "I'm going to rub mud all over his shoes later."

As you're walking back to the car, your phone rings. Spencer rubs your arm before continuing, leaving you alone to take the call. You smile when you see your dad's name and picture.

"Hey, Dad!"

"Hey, sweetheart. I have some time, I figured I could come down to you and hang out. I'm sorry I haven't been available since you got released. I have been super busy with work and the kids."

"I'd like that but I'm in New Mexico right now on a case."

"You're still with the FBI? They let you come back?"

You don't know why but that question makes your skin crawl.

"Yeah. I'm innocent. They saw that." Your dad doesn't answer to that. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," he grits out. "Again, sorry, I'm under a lot of stress."

"Yeah, I get it. Look, if you're still available, I'd love to hang with you once I'm back in Virginia. I can bring some of my friends so you can meet them."

"Your FBI friends?"

"Dad, stop it. You'll love them. JJ is like my best friend, and Penelope is super quirky and fun. Emily is a bit intense but you'll come to like her."

"Great! Can't wait! I'll bring your mother. I'm sure she'd love to meet them, too."

It's like as soon as you mentioned they are girls, his mood brightened. He doesn't like Derek and Spencer but you're not sure why. You say your goodbyes and walk to Spencer and Rossi who are already in the car. You don't mention this to Spencer knowing it will only upset him.

Hotch called Rossi to explain to him what he and Emily found at the ME's office. Yes, to be considered a serial killer, there has to be more than one body but if you look at a slightly larger area than just Edgewood, there are five bodies--all strangled, all staged, and all dumped. The fact that all bodies seem to be heading toward Edgewood, Hotch thinks that this place has to mean something to him like he grew up here or he lives here now.

Not only did Tanya have evidence found by DNA and metal fragments under her fingernails, but she also had diesel fuel on her clothing. Now, that's not unusual since she was found on a highway, and a lot of semis drive by it. However, all of the victims had table sugar rubbed on their clothing. Table sugar, well-known by truck drivers, is used to absorb diesel fuel.

That's how he's transporting them.

You know another murder is coming but didn't know it'd come so close after arriving in New Mexico. Not only is there another murder but a witness was left behind. You and Derek break away from the main group to investigate it with Sheriff Frank Sanders. He struck in the middle of the night at a rest stop that's now crawling with police.

"Garcia says there are seven hundred and eighty-two truckers working and living in this county," Derek says.

"That's too many. We have to narrow down the specific routes."

The sheriff leaves the witness' side and walks over to you and Derek. The witness left behind was the daughter of the woman who was kidnapped.

"The daughter, Courtney, confirmed that he was definitely driving a big rig. She wasn't able to make out any logos or see the plate."

"I'd like to talk to her," you say. You're about to follow the Sheriff when you look into the treeline to your right. There is a woman standing there but she isn't alive. "Derek, this is a dump site. The mom was an opportunity kidnapping. Check the woods. There's a body out there."

Derek doesn't have to question you and calls forth some officers to help him with the sheriff. You walk over to the daughter who is sitting on a picnic bench with an officer. He leaves to give you two some privacy and you sit next to her.

"Hi. My name is Agent Y/N. I'm with the FBI and we're going to do everything we can to help bring your mom back. Now, can you tell me anything about the semi you saw? Any distinguishing marks?"

"I wasn't looking. I was texting. I heard a truck start. When I went to the bathroom, she was gone. How are you gonna find her?"

"There's a good chance he's gonna stay in Edgewood."

"Why wouldn't he just run?"

"Because he always comes back to Edgewood. Your mother is the first woman he's taken from here."

"We were just driving through. We live in Phoenix. Mom was just trying to get me home so I could go to tryouts. You have to find her. She's all I have," Courtney cries.

"You should come down to the station." your phone rings and it's Derek. "Excuse me." You step off to the side and answer it. "Hey, where are you?"

"You were right. There is a body. Go south into the woods. You need to see this."

You excuse yourself from Courtney and walk over to the spot where the sheriff and Derek are. You look down and see the woman you saw standing by the tree line. You kneel next to her and put your hands out, not touching the body. You close your eyes and allow her energy to paint a picture of her final moments. She's inside a metal room. She's terrified. She claws at the walls but she can't get out.

"She was trapped inside a metal room. I don't know if the walls are made of metal or if there was some kind of aluminum shield like what you'd use to keep heat out." You look down and see what's underneath her fingernails. "She has metal shavings underneath her fingernails. He comes here to dump her body and stumbles upon Nancy. He didn't wait a minute between victims, and he left her daughter as a witness."

"What's going on here?" Sheriff Sanders asks.

"That's what we need to find out."

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds angst #criminal minds series rewrite #criminal minds season 5

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angel-of-the-moons · 1 year ago

Text

Part of the same ask from 💐 anon: Link

Love, Your Biggest Fan

Pavitr Prabhakar x Super Fan!Fem!Reader

TW/CW: There is an attempted mugging, but mostly fluff

A/N: Tumblr was stupid and erased the whole fic I wrote the first time so I have to attempt to rewrite it from memory, now. Thanks, phone.

🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷

"I bet he's really handsome underneath that mask of his!" Your best friend sang as the two of you walked, eating your shaved ice as the sun began to set.

"Eh." You shrug noncommittally, eating the last scoop of your flavored ice.

"Oh, come on!" Your friend groaned. "I bet he's suuuuuuper handsome! What do you think he looks like?"

"I don't see why you're so hung up on him, he's just some guy." You scoff softly.

"Just some--" She shook her head and looked at you like you grew an extra set of eyeballs and a pair of antlers.

"He's Spider-Man!"

"Exactly. He's just some guy with superpowers. These days, they're a dime a dozen." You say, rolling your eyes, dumping the empty cup in a trashcan you passed, your friend doing the same as you come to a stop, a fork in your paths where you must separate.

"Ugh, you are the only person I've ever met that isn't interested in him!" She said, shaking her head. "You're probably the only woman I know who doesn't wanna see his face under that mask!"

"Like I said..."

"Just some guy in a costume, yeah yeah yeah." Your friend snorted, shoving at you playfully.

"See you at the lecture on Monday. Don't forget to bring your notes. You know that Pavitr guy is gonna forget his again, and ask you for yours."

"Yeah yeah." You grin as she walks away.

You couldn't tell her. How could you? What would she say? Would she make fun of you?

You did care. You cared about Spider-Man a lot.

You had an online forum on a website that you ran. You even did some amateur investigative journalism, writing columns on him and delving articles to quell the lies that the press tried to smear his reputation as a "potentially dangerous vigilante" with a "disregard for proper law".

You hope, if he'd ever seen your posts, that he considered you an ally in a sea of people who tried to dismiss him as reckless.

You cursed your absentmindedness when you realized just how late it had become. You watched as shops closed, and people filed into the safety of their homes for the night; streetlights buzzed to life, casting an eerie orange glow as the sun disappeared beyond the Mumbattan skyline.

You were still a good ways away from home.

There was an alley you could take, that cut a shorter path to your apartment building... You could take that. It would be faster.

🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷

Taking the alley was a stupid, stupid move.

You never take a dark alley when the sun went down. Especially not in this neighborhood.

That was how you found yourself in the situation you were currently in; pressed against the wall, a hand over your mouth and a large knife pressed to your gut.

"Shut up and give me your bag. Now." The man growled.

You felt panic rise in your stomach as the knife glimmered too brightly in the dimly lit alley.

You became frantic, and bit down hard on the man's hand, making a mad dash in an attempt to escape as he reeled away, cursing at you.

You let out a shriek as your feet pounded the pavement, and we're suddenly yanked back hard by the straps of your backpack, thrown to the ground so hard that it knocked the air out of your lungs.

"I was gonna let you go." The man growled. "I wasn't gonna hurt you. But now, I'm gonna teach you not to mess with me, missy!" He raised his hand, the knife poised to strike at you as you tried to desperately skitter away on your hands and feet.

But as you watched the knife swing down, it snagged on a string of silken white. It was suddenly ripped out of his hand and tossed back into the alley somewhere, clattering uselessly to the ground.

"Now didn't your mama ever teach you it's not nice to harass a nice lady minding her own business?"

Your jaw dropped when you saw him. Here he was. In the flesh. Up close.

Spider-Man.

He was hanging upside down, suspended by a web that appeared to be coming from one of the golden bracers on his wrist, his other hand pointed and ready to fire another wad at your attacker.

But frankly, the man looked like he pissed himself as he ran away, panicking.

"Ha! Talk about a coward! Not so big and scary without your knife, huh?" Spider-Man called out, jeering the man as he did a magnificent flip and landed on his feet.

He walked over to you, leaning down and he held his hand out for you to grab.

"Sorry that had to happen to you, but lucky for you I was here to stop that jerk!" He said, his voice bubbly and happy.

"Oh! I... Th-Thank you..." You peeped, taking his hand.

It was very warm. Or maybe it was just you. Was your hand sweating? Oh god, don't make an idiot of yourself, don't faint. Don't make an idiot of yourself--

"Anytime! I--heyyyyy! I know you! You're that girl who writes all that nice stuff about me online!"

Don't faint. Don't faint...

"I... You... You know who I am?" You balk.

"Yeah! Your writing is good! You should consider doing it professionally!" He giggled, his chocolate hair bouncing.

"Oh, I..."

"Hey, do you have a phone?"

Yeah. You were gonna faint.

"I... I do?" You say, fishing it from your bag and holding it out for him.

"Can you unlock it?" He hums.

You enter your pin and hand it over to him, blushing slightly when he sees that your home screen wallpaper is fanart of him, and he giggles softly.

He finds your camera app and opens the front-facing camera, hooking his arm around your shoulders and points the camera at you.

"Here! Say chaaaaaai!" He sings, smiling widely beneath his mask.

"Um, chai?" You say, grinning into the camera.

He snaps the selfie, and promptly hands your phone back to you.

"Here you go! A little thank you for being so nice online!" He chirps.

"Oh, um, it's no problem, I... You didn't have to..."

"Hey hey! Anything for my biggest fan!" He winks at you.

You stow your phone away in the confines of your bag.

"Do you want a lift home? I wouldn't feel right leaving you to walk by yourself at night, especially after what just happened to you!"

"Eh?"

You didn't have a moment to process before he scooped you up, princess-style and flung out his wrist, swinging you through the sky of Mumbattan.

🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷

You laughed as Spider-Man set you down on your balcony, your legs almost like jelly as you wobbled.

Spider-Man was laughing too.

"Now, was that, or was that not way better than taking a taxi?" He joked, his hands on his hips as he bounced on his heels.

"Way, way better." You smile at him.

"Hah! Knew it! The Spider-Man express!" He winked.

You brushed your wind-touseled, untamed hair out of your face, tucking a strand behind your ear.

"Thank you." You say. "For everything. Not just saving me, but... Like, everything you do. I... I know not everyone thinks highly of you, but..."

"Oh! Uh..." He bounces on his heels, swinging his arms a bit awkwardly. Wait. Was he embarrassed?

"Anytime! It is my job after all!" He chuckled.

"Thank you." You say again.

"Well, uhm. I, uh... I should go!" He says, turning away.

"Wait! Will I... Will I see you again?" You ask, grabbing his arm.

His eyes go to where you gripped him.

"Without a doubt. Gotta pay the gal who says good things about me a visit from time to time, right?" He giggled.

"I... I'll hold you to it." You nod.

He winked and did a backflip off your balcony, swinging on a strand of silk with a loud whoop.

As he disappeared into the cityscape of Mumbattan, he reminded himself to forget his notes on Monday.

#💐 anon #answered #pavitr prabhakar x you #pavitr prabhakar x reader

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rottenpumpkin13 · 1 year ago

Note

Random idea! This might be too far out of an idea, I apologize: what if there was an AFAB Soldier(second class) who is a close friend to the firsts, Zack, and Cloud, and they found out AFAB soldier friend has a crush on another soldier? How would they react and would any of them get protective over their friend? Would any of them be able to sniff out her crush? Or would it constantly be a *Spider-Man pointing at Spider-man meme* situation?

Not too far out of an idea at all! Do you mean if she has a crush on a SOLDIER who isn't the trio+Zack? She'd have a squad of wing men.

*Sephiroth and friend enter a room where her crush is. Sephiroth points with his full extended arm to her crush*

Sephiroth: Is that the one you were telling me about?

Friend: SephiROTH

*Friend and Genesis are standing around when her crush approaches them*

Genesis: Oh goddess he's coming! Act natural!

*Genesis proceeds to fake-faint and throw himself on her. She's forced to catch him. Crush walks by and looks at them funny*

Friend: What was that about!?

Genesis: Now he sees you as a strong woman capable of taking charge of a fallen man. Trust me, guys like that.

Friend: GeneSIS

*Angeal teaching Friend a recipe because the way to a man's heart is through his stomach*

Friend: Are you sure this will work?

Angeal: Definitely *dumps an entire bottle of rum into the recipe* drunk men agree to everything.

Friend: ANGEAL.

*Friend is chilling around when Zack and Cloud approach her*

Zack: We did it! We solved your problem!

Friend: What!?

Cloud: We told your crush that you like him.

Friend: And what did he say!?

Zack: He was so happy! Turns out he likes you too and plans on confessing this afternoon!

Friend: You're kidding me!

Cloud: Who knew Kunsel would've turned out to be such a romantic?

Friend:

Zack:

Cloud:

Friend: Kunsel?

Zack to Cloud: Ah crap, wrong guy!

#ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #sephiroth #genesis rhapsodos #ffvii crisis core #final fantasy #angeal hewley #final fantasy vii #cloud strife #zack fair #asks

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grigori77 · 8 months ago

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Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 93

Nord VERSE? Hmmm ... where's this going, then? Reboots? Oh gods ... a million dollar idea? Yeah, and worth NONE of the pennies ... an "impendent" woman? What's that, then? "Crusty" ... yeah ... ohj boy ... wow, even Ashley can't keep a straight face ... oh wow, this is just THOROUGHLY derailing itself ... that was ... yeah ... so awful ... XD

Matt's evacuating the seat! Alert! Alert! Aabria has arrived! Yay!

FINALE of the Crownkeepers? Oh fuck ... not a good sign ... not at all ... AAAAAAAAAAND just stright into it ...

Aabria vows to knock away Matt's Bless no matter what ...

Ojh boy ... Dorian and Dariax are the only ones with ANY idea of what's going on and even then the ain't seeing the same thing ... oof ... meanwhile the Spider Queen is DETERMINED to finish this NOW and it's really not good ...

Wow ... Opal is currently trying to TALK THIS EVIL DEMONIC BITCH OUT OF MURDERING EVERYBODY ... yeah ...

Yeah, reckon it's safe to sday Spider Queen IS scared. ALL the gods will be scared right now ... oh, so she's gonna kill two of them NO MATTER WHAT? Oh no, THAT'S not at all acceptable ...

Did Opal REALLY just SPRITZ the Spider Queen? You spritz Lolth? You spritz her like the cat?

14 points of Psychic damage? ARGH ARGH ARGH ...

She ATTACKS hope? Now that's just CRUEL ...

Dick-adjacent? Hmmm ... Morrighan, what are you planning? Oh, she's gonna cast Bane on the spiders? Okay ... yeah, do it, do it ... yeah, no, spiders are NOT insightful beasts ... ABSOLUTELY hits ... ooh, Divine Smite? Yeah ... no, spiders are just NATURALLY armoured, it's an exoskeleton ... a weird fluorescent purpleness? Huh? Oh fuck, she's ENRAGED IT ... and it's SPITTING on her ... shit! Oh thank the gods for that dex save ... that was almost SO BAD ... yeah, KILL that horrid beasty ... another Divine Smite? Yeah ...

"Fuck Aabria"? Yeah, 6th Edition IS "weirdly mean" ... LOL

Whoa! Inspiration! Always cool ... WHY are you fighting? Hmmm ... oh okay, a godly lore dump ... maybe not the BEST time for this ... oh, so it has direct relevance, of course it does ... Georgina? Oh yeah, Opal's original name, okay, that's cool ... also O.O ... gods yes, TELL HER!!! And now she's just getting WARNED OFF in immense fear ... wow ...

Dorian! Help you bro! Oh, so the Double D are inventing baeball? Hmmm ... Chromatic Orb? Whoa ... Doirian bringing out the big guns! Oh yeah, I should THINK 26 would hit to spider ... 17 points of Thunder damage ... oh wait, WHAT? And now Matt literally MANIFESTS Dariax ... oh wait ... NO, not Cyrus! Shit! Now HE'S taking all that voltage too ... fuck ... yeah, Dorian just IMMEDIATELY flies to his brother ... or AS CLOSE as he can get this turn ... bloody game mechanics! Wow, and now the illusion's REALLTY doing a major number on him ...

Fy'ra CANNOT see Opanl ... this is not useful ... oh boy ... offered an ultimatum by OMISSION by the Wildmother ... hmm ... DOES SHE give herself over ENTIRELY? Yeah, okay, this is just getting heavy ... godly familial discord ... hmm ... spending a ki point might do it, yeah ... oh yeah, Fy'ra is CRAZY smart ... okay, and now she's JUMPING ON OPAL HEAD-ON ... oh boy this feels SO DUMB for such a smart lady ... Step of the Wind, then ... and FIREBALL?!!! Holy fuck ... but Opal COUNTERSPELLS ... crap! yeah, I'm not surprised that Fy'ra's actually RELIEVED that didn't work ...

Fy'ra shouts "I accept!" and Dariax is now extremely confused ...

The Darkness is dispelled? Okay ... that's a relief, at least ...

It's Ted's turn? interesting ... yeah, Ted's just going to BACK HER UP right now, right? Please? Oh, right, sounds like that's NOT a good idea, then ... crap ... so Opal speaks to the others ... oh balls, THIS doesn't sound good, what's happening NOW? O.O No, not the Double D! Oh wait, no, that's not so bad ... make them make out, that's not so bad ... oh ... please be gentle,. Opal, please just ... do what you can ... "Just walk away. Go see Orym." Oh yes ... that might do it ... yes, this IS totally a mercy right now ...

Whoa ... the spell lasts for TWENTY-FOUR HOURS?!!! Holy fuck ...

NOW Ted's going ... oh shit ... a Crit Fail? Ouch ... yup, Ted's loose ... balls, no, not the reverse psychology ... oh yeah, she's TOTALLY unleashing on Morrighan now ... THREE attacks? Fuck ... one miss, but the next hits high and ... OH FUCK ... a bloody NAT20 ... 21 points of slashing damage from the first ... oof ... and another 23 points of THE WORST possible damage, that is some NASTY sounding shit ... AND a con save ... crap, yeah now she's POISONED ... the effects of THAT are pending, apparently ... but somehow she STILL has her Haste on ... amazing ...

Now it's Opal's turn ... very gently she casts Banishing Smite on her ... oh wow ... on the back of her knees? How the hell is she gonna do that? Oh, it doesn't hit anyway ... hmmm ... oh, so it DOESN'T cast yet ... but ... sdo wait, it's still primed but she can't actually USE IT? Huh? I'm so confused now ...

Dariax is DEFINITELY trapped in the spell, clearly ... so he's just casting Cure Wounds instead ... yeah ... 23 points back to everybody? Nice ... and now he's booking it away as fast as he can ...

Matt FINALLY remembers the Wizzkids plug! Yay!

Cyrus is being IMPALED by spiderlegs? Fuck ... wait ... is he DEAD?!!! Are you fucking KIDDING ME?!!!

The other spider jabs Morrighan while she's distracted? Ouch ... oh ... NO!!! NOT THE GEMS!!! SHIT!!! And now Opal no longer remembers her original name? Oh man ...

Whoa ... Fy'ra's taking a seriously LETHAL wound? NO!!! NO NO NO ... fuck this is so bad ...

Holy fuck ... Opal DOES NOT KNOW WHO TED IS ANYMORE?!!! SERIOUSLY?!!!

Oh what the fuck is THIS SHIT?!!! Oh that's just SO WRONG ...

Cyrus REALLY IS out? Fuck ... a Death Save with disadventage? Crap ... yeah, he is now DYING ...

The new MEGA spider atacks Cyrus ... an AUTO Crit? Really? Fuck ... no ... Cyrus is DEAD. Fuck ... no ... no no no ...

Morrighan IMMEDIATELY senses that, as she would, of course ... yeah ... oh man ... the Matron is HIDING the worst of the knowledge from her ... oh man again ... she pulls a Rabbit Hop and goes STRAIGHT for the big ass spider ... full charge ... two attacks, both hit ... another Divine Smite ... of course ... just the WRATH of the Matron ... yeah, she EVISCERATES this thing on the spot ... yeah, definitely, no glory, this is just COLD ... but she grabs the last of the dick gems, at least ... what does she see? What memories are saved?

Erica is just DESTROYED right now, totally ...

Yeah ... Cyrus was a moron, but he was OUR moron, and he was such a total sweetheart ...

Oh wow ... the fight's just GONE from her now, Morrighan just wants to run ... oh, that's ... FASCINATING ... so she takes Cyrus with her as she goes, because she's a Paladin of the Matron ... wow ...

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE indeed ... yeah, Dorian is just BREAKING ... his brother's dead, what do we EXPECT?!!! Yup, that's it, he's just leaving same as Dariax ... 7th Level Geass? Huh?

Oh, it HITS ... holy fuck ... this thing has to KEEP ATTACKING the Spider Queen for A WHOLE YEAR, without ANY chance to shake off the compulsion ..., holy fuck ...

Yeah, the Spider Queen is PISSED ...

But Dorian's grief is TOO STRONG ... wow ...

Oh shit ... how much IS Fy'ra actually aware of right now? Is she on her own in carrying on the fight right now? Opal is just BEGGING HER TO MESS HER UP AS MUCH AS SHE CAN ... okay ... this is about to go SO BAD ... wow ... Anjali is SO ANGRY right now, she really is ... whoa ... Fy'ra just GRABS THE FUCKING CROWN ... she completely NAILS the strength chekc ... are you kidding me is she REALLY just ripping that evil thing off right now?

Matt is so completely in the zone right now, clearly ... the boy has ONE functioning braincell right now ...

Negotiations? What?

Circlet of Barbed Vision? Wow ...

Oh wow, I love how snarky Lolth is all of a sudden ... XD

DO NOT roll below a 20, Anjali ... a TWO? What? Oh fuck ... wait, okay, maybe this is salvagable ... 9 points of piercing damage ...

So this is a take them both or not at all kind of situation? Interesting ... Intimidation check with advantage? Okay ... with Matt's help, then ... 21 ... nice ... oh wait, is this ACTUALLY WORKING?

Opal doesn't want this for her, but she has NO CHOICE in the matter right now ... oh yeah, this is just HAUNTING all of a sudden ...

Soooo creepy, Aabria ...

Oh yeah, that's it, there's NO WAY Fy'ra's leaving her now ... this is getting SO VERY TRAGIC ...

Wow, the Spider Queen REALLY doesn't like the Wildmother AT ALL, does she? LOL

Dariax is now AT THE BOTTOM of the cliff ... and he sees Cyrus dead ... oh fuck ... oh yeah, he's off, definitely ...

This really IS IT ... the end of the Crownkeepers ... fuck ...

And now for a very painful epilogue ...

Dorian and Dariax head for Zephrah ... yeah, of course they do ... they're just moving in silence, then ... okay ... then the Compulsion's gone ... hmmm ...

Yup, the bigger picture takes hold once more ... fucking Ludinus ... and then they're there, in Zephrah ...

NOW they finally get to start mourning at last ... ouch ... "tropes" ... oh, here we go ... ah yeah, here we go, BARD LESSONS ... XD

Matt: "It is awful." Aabria: "Fuck you, gimme a Performance check!" Matt (rolls): "It's not as awful as you'd think!"

Oh boy ... Dariax's first public busking session ... I am SO nervous right now ... wait ... what ... IS HE RUNNING OUT on Dariax? Are you kidding me? Please tell me he's not doing that ...

Oh, I see ... he's just being anonymous in the moment ... drinking it all in ... this place ... it's beautiful ... oh, and it's KEYLETH!!! Hey! And she SEES HIM anyway, even though he's invisible ... and NODS ... oh ... wow ...

And now THIS is where she chooses to call it for this session ... wow ... I mean it's beautiful ... but now Aabria's gone ... nuts ...

Time for a break, then ...

Soooooo ... it's just Robbie left, at the table ... hmmm ... I guess that means it's just Dorian and Dariax alone here, then ...

Keyleth's now speaking to him directly ... okay ... that's just so totally Keyleth, straight to mothering mode ... I love her so much ...

Here we go, yeah ... just tell her everything, Dorian, she'll understand ... oh yeah, could they get Cyrus' body back? yes ... good, that's good ... meanwhile these two DEFINITELY need to just recharge, clearly ...

Oh yes, and TOTALLY they need to get to Orym and Fearne ... yes ... but yes, rest and resupply, definitely ... and yes, of course she's happy to indulge them in both. I really do love her so much ... oh yeah, it makes total sense that Dorian responds so positively to this. Yeah ...

"A shared solace and grief" ... oh yeah, totally ... makes perfect sense ... meanwhile ... oh yeah, she's still got a lot to deal with, definitely ...

Dorian receives Orym's Sending Stone message ... wow ... and he responds: "I'll be there." Oh man ...

Oh, okay ... looks like this might be their chance to tag along ...

Ah yeah ... this is A LOT to dump on him all in one go, surely ... and an invitation, yeah ... he doesn't hesitate, either ... oh, here we go, resupply such as they can in the time, at least ...

The tree! Yeah, here we go ... and it opens up ... yeah, so they're going RIGHT NOW, definitely ... straight through, then ...

Ruidus in the sky ... great ... that's still as creepy as ever ...

"Seven figures"? Wait ... already? Really?

They're all there ... but ... no ... no, they're not ... that one's NOT somebody he knows. FCG's not there ... oh man ...

HERE THEY ARE!!! BACK AT THE TABLE!!! WITH ROBBIE!!!

Proper reunion ... it's been SO LONG, but FINALLY ... SQUEEEEEE!!!

Orym doesn't even WAIT, does he? He just jumps right on him. Fearn's close behind ...

Catching up ... yeah ... and now ... oh fuck ... broaching the subject of their loss ... their fallen comrade ... oh man ...

Ah yeah ... Evoroa ... this'll be interesting ... nobody here's seen a Bormodo, after all ... wow ... that is SO OBNOXIOUS of Dorian ... WOW ... but he likes her. Awwww ... :3

Yeah ... how DOES the situation lie right now? Yeah, reckon they COULD use some rest after what they just went through ...

oooh, this is NICE ... cosy comfy, just what the doctor ordered ...

Cool transformation ... yeah, she;s definitely showing off a little there ... points for a dramatic entrance, at least ...

Dorian tells them what happened ... yeah ... this is ... a whole lot of heaviness ...

And then the story of FCG's last stand ... man ...

Aww, the crystal dancer! Awwwwwwwww ... :3 Yeah, Dorian would TOTALLY love that ...

BOO PREDATHOS!!! Yes.

And now Laudna's pulling out dead stuff ... it's business as usual for Dorian again ... he loves her but she makes him uncomfortable! It's adorable! :3

Is he staying? Dorian: "If you'll have me." YAY!!!

Ashton: "This is how ska starts." XD

The conversation just got a whole lot more serious ... oof ...

Oh yeah ... Deni$e ... yeah ... XD ...

The pronunciation of Predathos ... oh, I love it ...

They need drink. Lots of drink. Drink is necessary ... much alcohol, please ... nice one, Ashton.

Ashton interrupts Keyleth and Evoroa's conversation. Hmmm ... wow ... that was brief and intense and ... interesting ... back to alcohol ...

Ah yes ... the changes in Ashton and Fearne both ... yeah ...

Yes. To Letters ... time to get shitfaced ...

And that is it for the night. Perfect place for it, really ...

Adn ROBBIE'S BACK!!! I'm so happy ... it's been TOO LONG ...

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bastardhalfspider · 1 year ago

Text

about ashley parker barton as told by ashe

MAIN VERSE / MAIN SETTING -> The Wastelands Earth, inspired by the original Marvel Wastelands material and original version of Ashley Barton, now being developed by @crisispider & @oceansfirst's as an original character. Ashley Parker-Barton is a half-OC child of Clint Barton and Peter Parker || she will have a 616 verse // crossover verse // spiderverse // multiverse // time travel verse, open for interaction -> so everyone love on her too

❝ Fuck, fine, I'll do a futzing origin story. You can call me ASHE, or Ashley's fine too I guess. My alias? That would be just Spider. ❞

❝ My birth is kind of a strange story. My sperm donor is Charles Bernard Barton, which I'm sure SOME of you may know the name. Trickshot once, complicated brother of Hawkeye? ⸻ No one really knows the story, it's all word of mouth from the chick who hadd my egg or whatever, DAD WHO RAISED ME has her name or whatever ⸻ ❞

❝ Anyways, turns out Barney blew up his life or something. Chick he was living on a private island with dumps him and keeps the islandd for her, her kids, and these FREAK kids that got dropped off by DAD WHO SHOULD BE DEAD ⸻ So, Barney Barton is some-fucking-where until he meets this girl and she gets pregnant with me, and than she doesn't tell him and he's gone anyways. ⸻ I did mention my story is a fuggin' shitshow, right? ❞

❝ She decides she wants to keep the baby, which really maybe she should have regretted that earlier than she did ⸻ TASTELESS JOKE? You should see the world I come from now ⸻ Girl thinks she's gonna keep me until, well, she has me. She's holding this baby me in her hands, and must realize shit, this kid's unlovable or something. Remembers that the dick who got her pregnant had a superhero brother, and takes me to Clint Barton and Peter Parker's residence, and well? ❞

❝ Maybe the only happy part of this story and I don't even remember it since I was like four months old or somethin' ⸻ Turns out Dad 1 and Dad 2, were talking another baby. See Dad 1 had a kid already from his ex-wife, who like he tell me Mary Jane Watson is my god-mom or auntie but whatever, so I literally fell in their lap. Woman didn't even really give me a name, she tried. ⸻ They name me Ashley ❞

❝ Now the Parker-Bartons are a family of four and half, or three and half. My big sister Mayday's got three parents, or two and a half. However, you wanna count it. Clint and Peter, married. Clint being the bonus dad to Mayday, when she's with her Dad, our dad and I'm ⸻ something there too now. Adopted by my technically blood-uncle, but I'm suppose to call him Dad or Papa, and adopted by Dad, Peter Parker. ❞

❝ This is all stories told to me by Dad, that's the Spiderman one, I never knew Hawkeye. HE DIED, or so we thought. I was just a toddler, not old enough for memories when V-DAY happened, and the entire country than world went nuclear. Heroes being slaughtered left and right, Spiderman took me, big sis Mayday, and Mayday's mom MJ and went deep underground and into hiding. ❞

❝ WE SURVIVE. Spiderman technically dies that day, because if any villain knew Spiderman was alive. He'd be one of the largest targets. Dad thinks his husband, that's Hawkeye is dead. ⸻ So I get one Dad, HIM, one parent. I also get my sister Mayday, but like she's the good kid. The lucky one, she had three parents and a baby sister, and only lost one. I had, well, her and DAD. ❞

❝ Dad gets Mayday's mom somewhere safe, and we go to visit her every few months over the years. Mayday's always had powers, so staying stationary too long could be dangerous. SOMETHING, SOMETHING, SUPER VILLAINS WOULD KILLS US. ⸻ I'm just extra luggage, but I grew up learning everything from Dad, and like I do love him a lot, 'kay? ⸻ So now you're looking at me and like why the spider suit, how'd you get powers thought you were some normie. ❞

❝ When I was eleven, I was dying. Losing a lot of blood, and Mayday and Dad are a mess about it ⸻ Dad takes a risk, saves me and transfuses blood to me. That's how I got the powers, Dad's mutated blood mutated me. Saved my life, made me more durable. I still can't stick to walls like Mayday or Dad could, but whatever. ❞

❝ The world's been fucked for most of my life, getting worse, Vilians fighting over territory, corpses of dead giants, Amerika turning into a wastelands. Dinosaurs from the savage lands loose, wild symbiotes, mollods, thing keep getting worse. Gangs popping up, country turning to dust and this is happening everywhere. ⸻ I don't think I'm a superhero, Dad tries to tell stories, so does MJ when we visit for Mayday to see her mom. ⸻ But I like the stories about the suit, about the heroes, and Mayday's in agreement with me. ❞

❝ So we both made our own spider suits, matching, and like Dad thinks its risky, stupid as well, but like if anyone comes for Spiderman? You bet our asses we could take them, and I'd lob off their heads ⸻ Mayday likes the suits cause she believes in superheroes, what they stood for. I like them cause I feel powerful behind the mask, cause I don't really know who I am under it. ❞

The symbol/logo I mashed together for Ashley Parker-Barton.

No official hero name besides Spider or Ashe is accepted.

#ABOUT -> Adopted Daughter of a Hawk and a Spider #ABOUT -> The Wastelands #ABOUT -> The Parker Bartons #ABOUT -> Verses

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lancely-blog · 5 months ago

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Destiny’s Twin—A Multidimensional Fantasy [Excerpt]

All text copyrighted ©️ 2007 by Lancer Gareth Bailey

Snipwiddle and Tips (part 1)

“Up to your prankins again, I bet! Prankins is all your kind’s got a lot o’ mind for. Bother me! Why, I’d have had more sense to send the cat to fetch spores than the likes of a dusty little crumbubble like you, Tips!” She flailed her arms, continuing her tirade. “Prolly stoppin’ to tie up the shoelaces of every child on their way to school, weren’t ya? Maybe tripped up a few old ladies on their way home from market with their baskets full of eggs and apples!”

Tips shot across the dim room, dropping a bundle of dirty black weeds onto the table near the burbling cauldron, narrowly avoiding a wild swing of Snipwiddle’s broom. She cast a venomous glance at the crusty old hag, then swooped around the room again, landing on the sill of the cracked window above the sink.

“Ungrateful old bag! Next time, dig in the muckety guck yourself for your precious black daffodil spores, though I doubt you’d find any! That’s the last of it.” Tips waggled her left hand toward the bundle she’d dropped on the stout wooden table at the center of the moldy old cabin. “It doesn’t grow anymore. Spider says it’s ’cause there aren’t enough of us to pollinate it. There are only nine of us left.” She sighed heavily, her eyes dropping to her lap, her face taking on a sad, hopeless look.

“Well, we’ll just have to make sure this batch counts, won’t we?” Snipwiddle’s voice softened for a moment, then quickly returned to its usual sharpness. “Besides, don’t go believin’ everything that no-good numbskull brother of yours says! He’s so full of hot air, I might mistake him for a dragon fartin’ on me when he starts talkin’ his nonsense!” She spun around and picked up the bundle of black weeds, heaving a breathy sigh. “Yes, we’ll just have to make sure this batch counts.”

“Is it enough?” Tips asked, slowly floating closer to the center of the room where the old crone stood hunched over the giant cauldron. The enormous iron pot was filled with a gelatinous grey sludge that barely boiled, even though it was no longer over a fire. The odor emanating from the pot reminded Tips of a dead rabbit left in the sun for days, mixed with the smell of earwax. It was nauseating. She couldn’t imagine drinking such a vile concoction. She counted her blessings that she hadn’t been one of the chosen.

“It will be enough for this batch.” Snipwiddle looked a bit distressed as she shuffled over to the shelf just above and to the right of the sink, where her mortar and pestle sat. She grabbed both and began crushing the tips of the dirty black weeds into the little stone bowl, not bothering to clean off the dirt or the dust that had accumulated. Her blank expression betrayed her thoughts.

“You’re worried that we’re out of ingredients,” Tips observed rather than asked. “How many will this batch allow to travel?”

“Hard to say.” Snipwiddle replied bleakly as she dumped the black powdery substance into the cauldron and set the mortar down on the old wooden table. She reached across the table, grabbed a long iron staff, and thrust it into the pot, stirring slowly clockwise. “The potion takes different amounts for different folks. No way to tell until we’re at it how many we can send with this batch. Five, maybe seven. This liquid has to boil down to this level,” she pointed at a line on the inside of the iron bowl, “and then it will be ready. It’ll take the rest of the afternoon.”

“One of them will find him, I know it.” Tips offered, though not quite convincingly.

“We can only hope,” came the reply as Snipwiddle’s back was turned to her. Then the old woman spun around again and threw her right arm out, pointing at Tips. “Inform the elders that the last of the witch’s brew is beginning to steep. They must prepare the travelers and be ready by tonight. This is our last chance. Now scram and leave me to my business!”

Tips leapt into the air, twisting through the crack in the window, and darted off into the steadily brightening morning sky.

Snipwiddle turned away from the dusty window and walked around the far side of the bubbling brew to sit in her rocking chair. The chair was covered with a brightly colored patchwork quilt that appeared to be incomplete. The top portion of the quilt was done, meaning all the colored scraps of cloth had been sewn together, but underneath it was unfinished. There was no cushioning or covering to hide the scrap ends or threadwork. Nonetheless, the quilt was a beautiful piece of work and gleamed brightly in contrast to the dark, monochromatic moldy old cabin.

The old wooden rocker gave a squeak and a groan as she sat her weight into it, pulling the quilt over her shoulders. She took in a long, deep breath and began shallowly rocking forwards and back, giving a slow, methodic beat to the room.

“Out of ingredients indeed,” Snipwiddle mumbled to herself as she swiped away a tear rolling down her cheek, “in more ways than one.”

As the beat of her rocking reverberated through the floor planks and off the walls, she closed her eyes and began a soft, breathy chant that was barely audible even to herself.

“Butterfly wings and baby’s breath, poison from a bee,

I suck the tonic out like syrup from a tree.

It sucks from me my life force. It exacts its toll from me.

I give it force for potency when taken internally.

It opens up the doorway through which the mind flows free.”

As she repeated the lines of the incantation over and over, a faint smoky swirl enveloped her, spinning around her like an infant tornado, lifting her hair in the current and whipping it around, yet without enough force to disturb her rocking. The quilt in her lap whipped as the force of the wind increased and rose upward toward the rafters, leaving her hair to fall haphazardly back onto her hunched shoulders. Her eyes remained closed, and her chanting continued.

The force drove outward toward the walls of the cabin, smashing into them, sending books flying off shelves and window panes rattling, struggling to hold to their mounts. Ricocheting off the walls, the smoky wind began to move about the cabin, spinning into a larger circle, leaving Snipwiddle in the calm eye of the storm. The air began to crackle as if supercharged with electricity and about to ignite in a firestorm.

The air itself seemed alive and sentient. It collected power as it spun around and around. It howled in fury as it searched for a vent, an exit, some way out of the cramped confines of the cabin to continue its escalating violence but found none.

Suddenly, the smoky current swirled and dove down into the giant cauldron with enough force to send it swaying from side to side. It teetered there for a moment as the rest of the room fell into a dense silence. The winds had all subsided. The creak of the rocking chair had ceased. Snipwiddle’s chant had ended. She sat there in her chair, silent and still, her eyes closed, her beautiful, multicolored quilt covering her lifeless body from chin to toe.

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shadowsshowdown · 2 years ago

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution Shadow’s Showdown 36

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The Broken Ones.

Detroit. Laura's apartment.

Connor didn't want to stay the night and although it was hard for him to leave Laura alone he had to go. Unfortunately, he had a tremendous amount of responsibilities at the company that needed to be done before the new year. He was tired and should get at least a few hours of sleep. He also didn't want to tell the hacker about how difficult it was for both him and Adam to defend her from Pritchard's wrath. The situation had long since gotten out of hand anyway. As soon as the man left, the hacker started looking for airline connections to Sweden. She hoped that no one would find her there, if anyone would look for her at all. For a brief moment she allowed herself to be charmed by a thought that maybe she meant something, that she was part of some whole, but she quickly realized that she got dumped. The world was still spinning and she was stuck. She felt like an animal thrown into a tar pit. Day after day she sank further and further, and no one really cared, except maybe Connor.

She was happy to find that in just a few hours she would be sitting aboard a plane. Fortunately, she'd gotten a paycheck, which she spent on the trip and at least a week's stay in Uppsala. What would happen after that? Somehow she cared little about that. Laura immediately started packing her things. She planned to take Stalker with her. It shouldn't be a problem, after all he had all his vaccinations and tests up to date. The woman could not fall asleep, she kept seeing Adam's face. It was everywhere. On the ceiling, reflected in the window, she could see it on her pillow. She was tormented by his scent, felt the look of his gray-blue eyes on her and his fingertips gently teasing her skin with every touch. The smile twitching at the corner of his mouth like a drop of water on a spider's web, the hot breath on the nape of her neck and that wonderful taste of his lips as he unhurriedly kissed her. She must forget every one of those little things. To abandon everything she's managed to build. Adam Jensen, ex-SWAT, Security Chief at Sarif Industries, Grumpy Cerberus is a thing of the past.

A little after eight in the morning she was already sitting in the cab that took her to the airport. Images scrolled past outside the glass window like frames of a movie. She met Adam there and he helped her carry the groceries. This is where she walked with Connor. To The Jack Daw she walked to eat lunch with Faridah. There in the distance is the Camarilla club. Rupert sitting in the Crann Tara. Screaming Francis, even he evoked sadness. By nine o'clock she was already aboard the plane. Stalker meowed loudly to express his displeasure at being separated from his sitter, but there was no other choice. The seat next to her was taken by a businessman with a complexion orange from self-tanner and carelessly combed hair of the color of scrambled eggs. He was terribly unpleasant to the staff, but the stewardess had to smile at him. She had about twelve hours of flight ahead of her with a connecting flight in Paris. At a time like this, she missed VTOL terribly.

Sarif Industries. Connor's office.

The man sat behind a desk with piles of papers towering on its top. He was busy correcting mistakes that others had made. Now he understood Laura, who went through this every day. Since she had disappeared he had taken over her duties and had to deal with Francis' whining, which was now worse than usual. He could feel and see the preparations for the great ball at every turn. His friends were constantly talking about what outfits they would wear and who they would go with. Connor at first wanted to invite a girl he met in Washington, but she preferred to go with Simon, who goes to the gym every spare moment. Yes, he could envy his muscles but not his brain. He would have loved to go with Laura and was going to tell her so. When he had dealt with fixing half of major mistakes, it was almost lunchtime, so he saved everything he had done so far and turned off the computer.

As he walked down the hallway he heard more and more excited voices talking about Washington and invariably about ball. Connor sighed loudly as he saw Adam coming from across the hall. They both stopped exactly at Laura's office door noticing that it was apparently locked.

"You spent the night with her you should know where she is," the Security Chief muttered ominously, intertwining his arms across his chest.

Connor noticed the extreme hostility not only in his voice but also in his posture. He was almost certain that if they were in some side alley right now he would be facing an outburst of aggression from the ex-SWAT.

"You're wrong, Jensen. I don't jump into women's beds. If you want to know I left her at night even though she insisted I should stay. As usual, you see what you want to see instead of the truth."

Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought. His comment was inappropriate, unprofessional. The fact that he was no longer in control of himself frightened him.

"Forgive me, I shouldn't comment on matters that don't concern me," he replied, trying to correct the error. "I came because Laura usually solved my problems without Pritchard's involvement, but I see she's still not at work." "Unfortunately," the man shook his head with resignation. "I thought she'd show up today, though." Connor didn't tell him that the hacker was in a pretty good mood when they were left alone. "I called her but I keep hearing that the number is temporarily unavailable. She must have left somewhere just don't know where," he lied because as soon as he found that Laura had left, he immediately became certain where. "So unfortunately I’m the only person that can help you. Shall we go to my office?" he asked, emphasizing the invitation with a hand gesture.

Jensen found with horror that he was beginning to like Connor despite the fact that they were competing for the same woman. He could not deny his self-control and great skill, yet he knew as much about him as he had about Laura when they first met. His personal file was very sparse and contained only basic information.

The Chief of Security did not refuse a cup of coffee when Connor made a polite suggestion. They sat in front of the monitor discussing a few more issues related to Megan's speech and security matters at the ball. Connor sensed the sadness in Adam's voice despite his efforts to hide it. After talking for over half an hour, they said their goodbyes in a slightly less chilly manner than usual.

For the next quarter of an hour Connor rhythmically pushed his back against the back of the armchair while sitting. Under his nose lay a horizontally placed red company pen held by a raised upper lip. His thoughts circled around Laura like a flock of vultures. In fact, he had lied to Jensen when they were sitting in the hacker's apartment. He could have found her without much effort but he didn't want to. Not because the ex-SWAT was his competitor, in fact he hadn't expected such immature behavior and impulsiveness from Adam. Laura needed silence and calmness so that was the reason for his lie. Their confrontation always ended badly as he had observed. It was possible that they shouldn't be together. Now she had run away again and he was going to find out the reason without letting anyone in on it.

The Jack Daw.

Adam decided he had to act, somehow convince Laura to come back. He knew that if she disappeared then Uppsala was the obvious place to go, and Faridah was his only hope of getting there. So he sat at his table drumming his fingers nervously on the table top. A bowl of already cold soup stood in front of him. He had the impression that he was suffocating. The smell of the herbs seemed to be extremely intense, and that made the memories even more vivid. Today, even this silly game of shooting at him with cereal stuck in a straw was amusing. He could bear it very patiently and with a smile if only Laura were here. He pulled the sleeve of his brown sweater off his wrist with the index finger of his right hand, glancing at his watch. Malik was never late. The wait was driving him crazy.

"Hey Adam. Sorry I'm late, but everyone's been crazy with the flying lately," she tried to explain. "Faridah this Malik that. Fly here bring that..." She broke off wrinkling her brows. The grim expression on the Security Chief's face worried her. He looked like he had gained at least a dozen years. "What’s going on? I see it's something serious," she encouraged sitting down across from him. "Laura is gone," he said quietly at which the woman visibly twitched. "Because she's stupid," growled Malik. Jensen shook his head. "She's monstrously lost, just like I am now. It was like old times in Washington for a while, but then she backed off again. She wants to protect me, I know that, and that's why I have to do something." "I don't share your commitment however it is your decision. I just don't know what I can do." "She definitely flew to Uppsala. It's the only place where she feels safe, yet she's aware that I can find her there. I feel that this may be a sign. Maybe... I don't know..." "You're getting your hopes up too high," she sighed. "Unfortunately, despite my great and sincere wishes, I cannot take you to Uppsala. When I look at the flight schedule it makes me sick. I'm flying to DC in less than an hour then back and another flight. I'm sorry, I really am." "I understand," he replied shortly, though it wasn't what he expected to hear. "The end of the year was always hard, and now it's even worse. Even I have a monstrous amount of things on my mind."

The Chief Pilot wanted to reply, but was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Malik, I'm listening. Yes. Of course boss, I'm on my way," she said ending the call. "You see for yourself, I have to go. Stay safe!" the woman stopped in half step. "I can ask any of my subordinates if they have a gap in their schedule."

"I'd rather keep strangers out of this."

Faridah nodded and went. Adam tried to force himself to eat the cold soup, but gave up. Even more depressed than before, he paid for his lunch and returned to the company.

Sarif Industries Headquarters.

The rest of the day was no better. Jensen again did not manage to separate his bad mood from his work, and several of his subordinates were reprimanded as a result. Yes, they had made some big mistakes, but they had always managed to explain everything without resorting to final solutions. Adam's rage grew whenever he reminded himself that there was no way he could be in Sweden today. The usual flight would take too long, and besides, he would not get any time off now. It was after five o'clock when he closed the office and left the company. Returning home did not satisfy him at all, so he decided to visit Crann Tara. He silently hoped that he would meet Rupert and apologize to him for ruining Christmas. His hope was soon extinguished as soon as he descended the stairs with a glass of whisky and his coat thrown over his arm. The Scot didn't come, and the reason was all too obvious to Jensen. He was about to sit down in his usual place by the stairs when he noticed Connor sitting a few tables away. The man did not notice him and Adam preferred it to stay that way. In half an hour he had read several dozen pages of a book about Wallander, but he did not really remember what happened in it. He put the reading down on the table and rubbed his temples. The glass of whisky remained untouched. Connor noticed Adam right away, but hoping for luck he pretended otherwise. He needed time to make a decision that could prove fatal if he played his cards wrong.

Sweden, Gamla Uppsala.

It was late evening in Sweden, but Laura could see perfectly like a cat even in the dark. The reception was already closed, but the notice on the door said that in case of emergency you could call so after about a quarter of an hour the light on the first floor came on and the same woman who had rented the cottage on their previous visit let her in. She was also kind enough to rent her the same two-bedroom building for the price of a single. On the way Laura did some shopping and went to eat in Valhalla. Sipping hot tea she found that even Pritchard had stopped pestering her with phone calls. The loneliness was slowly starting to bother her, but most of all the lack of Faridah. She could always straighten out her twisted thinking and give good advice. Their first meeting was not very friendly, but with time everything changed. She finished her herring sandwich and went to pay, leaving soon after. She still could not understand why she had chosen Uppsala and not, for example, Berlin.

The woman stopped in front of the entrance to the cottage. Everything seemed to be as it was then. She is about to open the door and hear Faridah's indignant voice. She would cross the hall and look into the far corner of the living room where Adam would be reading Wallander while pretending he hadn't eaten a kanellbule at all. Although the interior had been cleaned up after the last guests, she still felt like she could smell the scents in the air that accompanied their last stay. She occupied Adam's room and it wasn't a matter of chance or being drunk, just deliberate action. Immediately after unpacking her things, she took the phone for not-so-legal activities and turned it on. The screen briefly flashed a blue light before going black again. She had made the decision she felt was best and right. She preferred to sacrifice herself instead of Adam, Joe, Connor or Faridah. Kratos would find her here, of that she could be sure. She even decided to make it easy for him. Laura tapped on the surface, and when the touchscreen keyboard appeared, she typed two words:

"Knock, knock." "Who is there?" the phone answered. "Crunchy_Sh4d0w." "Welcome home."

Columns of random characters in various shades of blue ran down the screen. There were letters of the alphabet written in different languages and numbers.

"HAL 9000, send a message to @Peter_Englert. Content: Fresh Pizza is waiting to be picked up. When you are done shutdown," she said.

The phone screen flickered on and off. Laura hoped Kratos was still using the account. If not, she would have to wait a little longer. When she opened the drawer of the nightstand placed next to the bed she noticed a slightly crumpled Golden Icarus cigarette box, and the last cigarette in it. Her hands suddenly began to tremble. She remembered her answer to Adam’s question.

"I know it's silly, but I imagine we exchange a kiss then, and there is nothing more wonderful in this world than the touch of your lips."

Longing enveloped her in the cold chill of the bedding, she felt like it was dripping from the ceiling onto her face and running down her cheeks in salty drops.

Detroit, Crann Tara.

Connor thought things over a few times concluding that even if they had no sympathy for each other, he should help Adam and share what he knew. So he decided to make the first move on the chessboard. The man stood up, grabbed his half-full mug of beer and the black down jacket thrown over the back of his chair, and moved toward Adam, who was stubbornly trying to read.

"Mind if I sit down?" he asked, though he knew the answer anyway, but at least Jensen would get a snap on his nose. "There are plenty of free tables," the Security Chief muttered, turning a page in the book. "I need this particular one," he insisted. "You care about Laura as much as I do."

Only now did Adam's gaze travel up along Connor's grey and black jacket stopping at his serious face. After a moment's consideration he nodded permissively to him. The hacker set down his pint, placed his jacket on a nearby chair and sat down across from him. "I managed to trace Laura's phone, she's now…"

"In Gamla Uppsala," Jensen finished in a dispassionate tone. "I knew that all along." "And you're sitting here instead aboard a plane?" he couldn't help but stick a pin in him. "Listen to me carefully," the ex-SWAT's tone turned unpleasantly husky. "If you came here just to mock me then you better get out of here." "Sorry, that was stupid," the hacker admitted. "Faridah won't be able to fly and Sarif won't give me time off now so a nearly twelve hour flight is out of the question," he explained. "My pilot is free, he can fly whenever you want, but hear me out first," he asked completely calmly. "Sure, I can do that much for you," Adam muttered, sipping his whisky. "I don't know what has put you two so far apart, and in fact I don't want to know, but if Laura is avoiding you then think what will happen when she sees you. Assess your real chances of success on this trip. That's all."

Jensen rubbed his temple then his chin, trying to analyze his words rationally. So far, only anger and the desire to compete had spoken through him. Maybe he should get over it? Maybe what he sees is just a figment of his imagination?

"We haven't really had much time to explain anything. Uppsala is a special place and most of all it's peaceful," it was only when he finished speaking that he realized he had just revealed too much. "So you've been there before," Connor remarked but got no response. "Well in that case I'll call my pilot right away and find out everything," he continued, reaching for his phone in his inside jacket pocket. "Wait," he stopped him with a word and a gesture of an open hand extended toward him. "First, tell me what you want to do." "Let me start by saying I really want to help you. I'm not interested in any personal gain. If you are able to trust me then I will fly to Sweden and bring Laura back to Detroit, or at least try to. What you do next and how you do it is of no interest to me." "What are you better than me at?" asked the ex-SWAT lighting a cigarette. "I can use the right arguments too." "In one simple thing. Laura doesn't want to see you and will run away again."

Those were painful words, but very true. Currently, he was the last person she would want to see, much less talk to. He could look for arguments, try to deny it, but Connor was right. If anyone could convince Laura to come back, it was him. Connor could feel the fierce battle going on in Adam's mind right now and he felt sorry for him. He'd never been in a relationship with a woman. He hadn't had the time or circumstances to do so, but he couldn't believe it was so hard for two people to communicate. Especially since things had been very different before.

"I know you care about her. I can see that," he said quietly. "Don't try to be my friend," growled the Security Chief. "Fine, then forget about this conversation," replied the hacker reaching for his jacket. "Wait," stopped him in mid-motion. "All I want right now is for Laura to come back. She'll be safe here." "Safe? What do you mean by that? Is she in danger of something?" he inquired. "I just want to keep an eye on her." "Adam, please, we're adults so don't play cat and mouse with me," he insisted. "Suppose your guess is right then I won't divulge her personal affairs anyway. If she wants to, she'll tell you herself what it's all about. "You're right, it’s not my concern. And if you say too much Laura would lose confidence in you.”

All that could be heard in the falling silence were the sounds of conversation coming from upstairs and the ringing of glass. Adam wondered what to do. On the one hand, Connor was his only solution, on the other he had concerns that he might be lying to him.

"Deal," the Security Chief finally said. "He's your pilot anyway, so my opinion doesn't really matter." "Yes, it does. If you hadn't allowed reason to prevail right now you'd be sitting aboard a VTOL and probably still be back today," he stated firmly. "I should go now. Before the travel, I have to inform Pritchard that I will be working remotely which won't be so easy. Anyway, you know yourself. I'll call the pilot right away," he explained getting up from his seat and dressing his jacket. "Will you at least let me know when you're there?" asked Jensen with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Of course. If I can't call, I'll send a message. You'll know everything." "Thank you," he said sincerely, though that was also what decency demanded. No matter what his intentions were, he was willing and able to do anything. "You'll thank me when Laura is in Detroit," he replied, nodded goodbye to Adam, and left.

Connor's apartment.

A quarter of an hour later, he entered the cozy but small apartment that was in perfect order. Connor took off his shoes and put them against the wall in a perfectly learned move half an inch apart. He then carefully hung his jacket on a hanger, which he tucked into the closet. He did the same with the jacket earlier pulling out his phone. Finally, he slipped fluffy slippers depicting the heads of St. Bernard dogs onto his feet and walked to the living room across the graphite-colored carpet. Before taking a seat on the simple blue sofa, he put the phone down on the glass top of the coffee table and turned right into the bathroom. While washing his hands, he made each motion exactly twenty-eight times. Only when he was absolutely sure they were clean did he go to the kitchenette, where he poured himself a glass of orange juice and finally took a seat on the sofa. Before reaching for his phone he looked at the clock set on the opposite cabinet right next to the flat fifty-five-inch television. He figured it wasn't too late, so he dialed Markus Manfred's number.

"Hey, it's me, Connor," he began in a cheerful tone, not at all in keeping with his pedantic nature. "Listen, I have an urgent matter to attend to and I need a pilot." "Where are we going? I need to see if I can make it. You know how things are at the company now," he said with a heavy sigh. "I know it all too well, but maybe a flight to Gamla Uppsala will cheer you up a bit?" "Gamla Uppsala," he repeated. "Sweden, if I'm not mistaken. Short days and probably snow. I like it," he admitted and fell silent for a moment. "I'm not free until after fifteen tomorrow. I have a few other flights before then. I've switched with Malik to give her at least some relief." "Sure, I understand. It's even a good thing because I have a conversation with Pritchard ahead of me," Connor sighed. "Then I' don’t envy you. Laura got under his skin with that sudden disappearance, but good for him. It's just too bad it's the others who get hurt. Okay, I gotta go because North's about to kill me with her gaze." "Greet her from me. See you tomorrow."

After the conversation had been over, Connor took a shower and dressed in grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt with RK800 written on it and # 687 899 150 underneath and marched straight to his bedroom.

All chapters can be found: [AO3], [dA], [Wattpad] and [Tumblr]

#Deus Ex #DXHR #Deus Ex Human Revolution #Adam Jensen #Shadowfanfic #crunchy-shadow #Shadow's Showdown #Nifriel #I never asked for this #Fanfiction #Evie Dormer OC #Joe Mando OC #Cyberpunk #Writers on tumblr #Chapter 36: The Broken Ones.

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kurt-wagner-official · 2 years ago

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Post #74: NM issue 37 and UXM issue 203 and Secret Wars II issue 9

This issue takes place during the time skip in the middle of SWII 8. Home alone, the kids are hanging out watching movies. This is another place where coordination between writers was clearly wonky, because apparently they went out and fought the Beyonder, got beaten, and are now just chilling. The chilling comes to an end when Dani has visions of grim reapers over the entire team, except Berto, who isn't there. I really like the touch that each of them has a different reaper based on their own beliefs about death; for example, Amara's reaper is Pluto, and Warlock's is his father. Dani flies off on Brightwing, terrified and hoping that she can draw the omens off. Meanwhile, Berto is in the city. When he sees a young girl trapped under a piece of construction equipment, he jumps into action and lifts it up. But before the emergency workers can get her free, he loses his grip. Luckily, She-Hulk arrives just in time and lifts it with ease. Berto feels like a failure yet again, although one of the old construction workers tells him that without him the girl would be dead. He leaves and decides to go find his mother. Back at the mansion, Sam finds and convinces Dani to come back. She doesn't tell him about her visions, but when the Beyonder appears on the lawn she knows what it means. The Beyonder tells them that since they refused to merge with him in harmony last issue, he's going to kill them. He starts with Illyana, who begs him to only punish her and spare her friends. But after disintegrating her, he moves on to her friends in one of the lost horrifying sequences I've read yet. He first destroys Xuân's mind, then turns off Amara's power and drops her and Sam in a pit which he closes, crushing them to death. He beats Warlock near to death, and when Doug tries to give him part of his lifeforce to save him, he incinerates them both. Rahne falls to the ground praying to God, but the Beyonder disintegrates her too. As all this happens, he mocks them by feigning pain at their attacks only to rise back up like the monster in a horror movie. Dani refuses to fight back, knowing they never had a chance. She gets on Brightwind and flies into the air so she can see the sun one last time before the Beyonder turns her to dust. As the final nail in the coffin, he wipes all memory of the New Mutants from the minds of the world. This is just the test run for his plan; he's going to wipe away the multiverse to get rid of chaos and restore order to his solitary existence. This is by far my favorite tie-in I've read. Claremont uses the Beyonder as a plot device to tell a chilling horror story. I can only imagine how shocking it must have been on release day. Although I have enjoyed some of the tie-in issues, this is the first one that has me really excited to see what happens next, even though I already know.

Issue 203 opens with a flashback to the night Anna absorbed Carol, a scene that we haven't actually ever seen. We finally get a more direct insight into Anna's thought process that night; she was just there to steal power to break out the Brotherhood, but Carol resisted in a way she'd never encountered before, and the transfer of both power and mind was permanent. Anna was unsure of what happened but could feel her mind splintering, and she desperately threw Carol off the bridge, hoping to somehow undo what she'd done. We know the rest of the story. As Anna flies by the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time since that night, she reflects on how after that night the person she was before was gone forever. She's a hero now, but she doesn't think she'll ever balance those scales. As she ends her monologue and flies off, we get a little expo dump; it's been a few days since last issue, and the X-Men, minus Kurt, who wasn't teleported over by the Beyonder, have been repairing the damage from their Sentinel fight. They've been living with Jessica Drew, the former Spider-Woman and a friend. Anna finds Kitty wearing Illyana's armor and wielding the soulsword. Kitty is the only person in the universe who remembers the New Mutants, and she tells Anna that when the Beyonder decides it's their turn they have no chance of survival. Rachel joins the pair and tells them she has a plan. She still has the piece of Beyonder power that he gave her, and between that and the Phoenix, she believes she can destroy and restart the universe to wipe out the Beyonder. But like Jean in the M'kraan Crystal, she can only do it if her friends offer their lifeforces as tethers. Kitty, with nothing to live for, agrees, and both Anna and the Carol in her subconscious offer themselves, as does Jessica when she walks outside and overhears. Rachel takes things a step further into villainy by taking the lifeforces of the sleeping Peter, Logan, and Max, but Ororo wakes up and realizes what's going on. She begs Rachel to stop, but she just forcibly absorbs Ororo and flies off. She teleports across the universe to absorb Xavier and the Starjammers before bringing everyone into the M'kraan Crystal. Years ago, Jean used the Phoenix to repair the cracks in the Crystal's heart, but Rachel plans to destroy it and unleash the super black hole that will destroy all of existence. She reaches into the Crystal to destroy it, but in the process, comes into conflict with the totality of existence and life just as Jean did. And when she does, she can't bring herself to destroy it. She reverses everything she's done, bringing herself and her teammates back to San Francisco. Her teammates tell her that she faced the same challenge her mother did and succeeded, just as Jean did in the end. The Beyonder appears and reveals that his plan all along was for Rachel to destroy the Crystal so he could be restored to his simple, happy existence before he new about life. He decides to take the Phoenix and do it himself, but Rachel floods his mind with the experience she had of touching every life in existence at the same time. For the first time, the Beyonder fully understands what it means to be alive, and he thanks the X-Men and vanishes, leaving us on a cliffhanger heading into the big finale. I'll keep this brief, because there's not much groundbreaking new stuff here, just the natural culmination of some arcs and themes that have been building for a while and that I've already discussed at length. A major theme in recent stories has been that the only way to avoid corruption is to get off your pedestal. But in this story, Rachel was able to bring the entire universe up onto her pedestal for a moment. Thematically, it was a strong issue, but the pacing was pretty rushed. I'm okay with that, though, because the reason for the rush is the presence of several gorgeous splash pages. My big complaint is that the X-Men didn't get a chance to interact with Xavier at all when they were all in the Crystal. Maybe Claremont wanted to keep his departure final, but in that case why did he include him in the story at all. This is the problem with tie-ins in monthly books; they're forced to serve two masters, the event and the monthly book, and there's just not enough panel space to do either one justice. Like at the end; when the X-Men are discussing what it means to sacrifice innocents for a greater good, Max brings up baby Hitler, but before he can really get into the conversation the Beyonder shows up and now we have to set up his arc for his series. It's a terrible system. But there's nothing to do except plow ahead through the finale.

The Beyonder decides to turn himself human, and for some reason he builds a huge machine to do it. To test it, he throws the essence of the New Mutants in, and they come out the other side resurrected but with blank slates for minds. All the other superheroes go to attack him, and he sends his New Mutants zombies up to slow them down while he turns human, then reverses the machine, then does it like four more times. There's about forty pages of fighting and the Beyonder having second thoughts until finally Molecule Man destroys his machine while he's in the middle of one of his transformations, finally ending this series.

I don't really have much else to say about this series that I haven't already. It was not good. It could have been a great graphic novel. But instead it was a nine issue mini that derailed every book in Marvel's line. I do like how it fits into Rachel's arc and the resurrection of the New Mutants. But those triumphs exist in spite of the event, not because of it, and the execution of the Rachel stuff suffers. I'm glad I read it, of course, but I'm very glad to be done and looking forward to much better things coming up.

#wes reads xmen

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jq37 · 2 years ago

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Twice Upon a Time - Neverafter Eps 4+5

Once Upon a Time and Down Came the Rain

Hey Y’all!

Happy New Year!

As I noted in a post about a week ago, I was home for the holidays with very little access to wifi so I missed a week–a very lore heavy and trippy week–and I am butting up against the drop of a new episode so, as promised at the start of this batch of recaps, I’m gonna do my best to catch us up without burning myself out and hopefully we’ll be back to normal recaps next episode.

So, first up, let’s quickly run through what everyone went through during their resurrections in episode 4: Once Upon a Time.

Pinocchio has perhaps the most harrowing time. After a quick chat with his ghost cricket conscience (bc in the OG tale, he straight up murders him, as one does) he is summoned by his very disappointed “mother”. When he sees her, there is a crack of light in the doorway from where he stole the doorknob but he caves and tells her that he found her house and gives her all the loot he took (knob, photo, knife). He’s really worried about his dad and even MORE worried when the stepmother uses Geppetto's blood to give him more power so maybe he’ll do better protecting Roz this time around (she seems to be on a diff plane with Gepetto, making Gepetto her only source of blood). Pinocchio is now a little more fucked up and he has a crow familiar that he’s not very fond of. Then he’s sent back to life but not *his* life. His stepmother throws him into a different version of the Neverafter (a darker one, which is the running theme of these resurrections) and he fully takes the place of the Pinocchio in this world. Yikes!

Puss in Boots gets a very meta sequence where he meets up with two other tricksters–Fox and Rabbit. They seem to be, in a very literal sense, the archetypal trickers you see in stories like Brer Rabbit or the Fox in Pinocchio (and it’s implied that in other versions of Pinocchio–Puss or really “Cat” is also the cat that leads Pinocchio astray with the Fox). At one point the Rabbit says “We have to work together for the rest of storytelling,” which is super meta. The Fox thinks he’s gotten a little too deep in his attachments to the people he’s messing with (which is maybe proven a bit true when he shows he’s still protective over Tomas) while the Rabbit seems a bit more on his side. Before he’s sent back, he gets some new gear (including wolf tooth daggers called “The Fangs of Isengrim”) and also sees a giant spider web which screams Anansi to me (especially now that I’ve seen ep 5 and know how many cultures Brennan is pulling from here).

Roz gets my fave sequence in which she meets Cinderella (Lou Voice: Another secret Black woman?) who gives this wild info dump. Basically, she says that because of the nature of the Neverafter, princesses tend to have special abilities–most relevant here, the ability to live more “once upon a times” than other people. Cindy and Snow have been looking for Roz for a while and it’s been hard because she spends 100 years of her story asleep and it’s hard to find a window to get to her. Cindy says that the Neverafter began when the Times of Shadow did and the powers that be don’t necessarily like this crossover thing that’s happening. She says that as she died over and over she began to become aware of her past lives and she realized that someone–namely the fairies–had been bending events so that things would always go a certain way. For instance, her mother would always die. So, she’s team free will. Roz is a little naive to all this talk, still hoping for a prince and a happily ever after (with Cindy very endearingly trying to be patient with her) when Roz (with a nat 20 Insight) starts getting flashes of her past lives–good and bad–and it all starts to click with her. Cindy tells her that she should meet up back with her friends. She says that witches can be helpful but she thinks in the end they’ll side with the fairies. She also tells her to look for a dancing mute girl near a beach (the Little Mermaid I’m sure) if she can. Oh and she also warns Roz that there are MANY Once Upon a Times but not UNLIMITED ones and they’re running out. She leaves Roz with some encouraging words about love being real even if their lives have been manipulated and then Roz wakes up covered in briars again. But, this time, she’s way more skilled because she got 7 fairy gifts in this version instead of 3 and she busts her way out via a combo of brute strength and calling swarms of animals to do her bidding.

Red awakens in a nice sunny forest with the Wolf and we learn that apparently, the Wolf told her to kill him before she got her curse, which is interesting. Anyway, the Wolf seems to be just like, an honestly kind of chill representation of The End. Like, he’s not killing you cause he hates you. He’s killing you cause It’s Your Time. He takes Red to a crossroads and to one path is a story where the woodsman comes and kills the wolf and it’s happier for her (though, she’d still be her in her current state it seems) and to the other path is an even more fucked up version of the story. It’s very Red Pill, Blue Bill. She asks to speak with her Grandma to help decide and the wolf leaves and her Grandma appears. With her Grandma there, she attempts to make a break for it, but when her Grandma starts down the darker path, Red notices her ears are a bit too long and suspects she’s being manipulated by the wolf. This doesn’t seem to quite be the case though. It’s like her Grandma just also has a bit of wolf in her. Or maybe they’re kind of the same person? It’s very trippy. Anyway, her Grandma tells her that her real friends will see the wolf in her and still love her and that she’s not a monster. Red chooses the darker path, of course, and finds herself at the edge of the cliff with a forest below. The Wolf is there again and begins violently dying–he has to die for Red’s story to start (a more violent version of the story btw, where she kills the woodsman which is not great for her psyche lemme tell you). Before he dies, he helps buff Red a bit and also says that there is something/one else connected to him in this version of the story (implied to be the 3 Little Pigs because Red hears snorting and also the Wolf is getting burned, like he does at the end of that story). Red demands answers from whoever is doing this and she wakes up in Pottingham in a stronger version of her body.

Gerrard wakes up floating in water with the shard still stuck in chest cause the narrative hates him. He is found by Turquina (aka the Fairy with the Turquoise hair, aka the fairy that brought Pinocchio to life). He fails horribly to pull it out (Nat 1) and Turq tells him to be careful, treating him with lots of princely deference. She is very helpful on the surface but seems to demonstrate what Cindy was saying about fairies being very manipulative of their narratives. She’s all, “It’s a good thing you were frogged the FIRST time but the SECOND time it shouldn’t have happened, that’s off script and we need to get it right”. Ger is basically on board–except for when she mentions changing Elody back. Then he’s like, “The problem isn’t Elody, the problem is everything else.” Also, when he offhandedly mentions Tim’s book, she seems a bit too eager to know more and he tries to cover it up. Anyway, Turq says the fairies are working really hard to put things right and she needs his shard but she can’t actually touch it so she needs him to take it out then leave it in a moonlit glade and a fairy will come pick it up. Also, she needs to bring him back to life but he’ll come back kinda more fucked up. But that’s OK! she says. It just needs to get worse before it gets better. Turq also says that they need to be careful because Roz may have been in contact with some troublemakers (aka Cindy and co). She says that if Ger helps her with this, the fairies will make helping him and Elody their top priority. He then wakes up in a darker world in a more froglike body with memories of Elody on a totally bloodied horse on the battlefield and knowledge that in this version of the story, instead of kissing him to turn him back to prince, Elody threw his froggy body against a wall. Fairy tales are wild y’all. And the shard is STILL in him because, again, the narrative hates him.

Finally, we come to Tim who is riding on the back of a kind golden goose. She’s strikingly similar to the gander, but…you know..not horrific. She tells him that he’s kind of like her brother and the yin to her yang. She can’t be where he is and visa versa. Good things follow her and bad things follow him. Tim still has his book as everyone else had their key items. The Goose tells him a bunch of info including that some fairies, all witches, and some princesses know what’s going on here. And I’m gonna break out the bullets here just so we can finish off these flashbacks:

The Goose says that the people in the book are happy but it’s not like a permanent solution.

In the world they’re going to, Jack isn’t his son. It is also the version where Jack does the beanstalk and giant killing thing.

The book is connected to the Goose and has more power than he can imagine.

Things can be brought out of the book.

Jack has way more stories than most people.

(Question: If Tim had no Jack in this version, I wonder what his first wish was.)

Once their conversation is done, Tim is dropped into his new story. He sees an illustration in his book of 8 fairies, and he knows all his friends are in this world.

Oh, and we never learn about what the red gems are about! Hate that!

And that’s the quick and dirty rundown of this ep. An important thing I wanna make clear in case it wasn’t. Every character except for Pinocchio is now running around with two sets of memories. Their past life and their new one. Got it? Cool. So now we can jump into episode 5: Down Came the Rain.

This is mostly a setup ep, so we’re gonna do bullet points again.

Everyone meets up in their new forms at a tavern called The Cock and Toad.

Roz is now followed around by a bunch of woodland creatures in a cloak as her body guard.

Red’s breath is a lot more big and bad now (she took 2 levels of druid because, as I always say, Emily NEEDS spell slots or she will DIE).

When Ger comes in, Red takes out the shard with a Nat 20.

Oh, also, everyone is level 3 now!

Everyone kind of catches each other up about what they saw in their visions more or less. Ger is a little cagey about Turq telling him to give her the shard but he’s too sweaty to hide his lie by omission for long and everyone is like nah we gotta put the shard in the book.

When Pinnochio describes the fairy that visited him when he had to lie–the shadowy one–Roz realizes it sounds a lot like the fairy who cursed her. Fairy overlap! I knew it!

Also there is a talking and very sad dish here w/ relationship drama (as in The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon) because this is Brennan and he can’t resist making something very silly very serious.

Tim gets the Dish to tell him his whole sob story in a corner of the bar and he disappears into the book in motes of golden light. In his book, the words “The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon” appear. Tim also feels like he’s reached the limit of what he can do with the book without giving it the shard.

At the same time, Pib is outside. One of the items he got from the tricksters is a spider ring that can lead him to any spider. It leads him outside to the Itsy Bitsy Spider. When he helps the little guy out, the spider tells him about a spider queen in the heart of the Lullaby Lands who is martialing her forces and cooking up some kind of dark spell that might be causing the lousy weather. She also seems connected to the gander. Also, he mentions she has magical artifacts (which seems significant considering their quest).

(There’s a mention of Hamelin which means the Pied Piper is liable to make an appearance).

Speaking of artifacts, everyone gathers in the barn near the tavern to get some privacy to put the shard in the book.

Roz finds some bear scat in the barn and it’s implied it might be from one of the Goldilocks bears.

The cow that jumped over the moon is also in this barn because sure.

Tim puts the shard into the book and the whole Cinderella story appears. Strangely, after the traditional end of the story, there are a couple of blank pages and then a picture of the shard. It’s like something more happened in the story that the book isn’t showing the text for but is showing the image (presumably where she stabs her fairy god mom). It’s also weird because it’s like the safe book is censoring the gruesome true end of the story but the carving of toes and stuff is still fully in there.

OK, so remember when they were told that once the book had the first thing it needed, they’d have allies? Well here we are at a VERY cool plot twist.

Tim hears scratching in the book like someone else is writing in it and sees the writing of someone who is trapped in a cave and seems to have their own book which they are trying to use to communicate.

Tim is able to write back to them and realizes that it’s Scheherazade from 1001 Nights!

If you’ve never heard of her, Scher is part of the frame story of the Arabic fairy tale collection 1001 Nights. She basically tells these stories to a king night after night to keep from being killed and at the end they get married. This story collection is where famous Arabic stories like Sinbad and Aladdin come from. I was SO pumped to get to this revelation because it’s so fun and meta.

Anyway, back to the actual story.

They exchange names and Scher (who doesn’t recognize Tim and vice versa) says she is trapped in a cave with some friends who include Sinbad (great fighter, annoying companion). They were supposed to meet a guardian who isn’t there. She seems to be in a similar situation to Tim where she’s in a world where things have gone wrong and she recently realized things about the true nature of the world.

But when Tim asks where she is, plot twist #2! She doesn’t know what the Neverafter is. She’s in a land called The Endless Nights.

This is ALSO super cool! Ever After to Neverfter and 1001 Nights to Endless Nights? Gosh, Brennan is really doing the coolest things with this narrative this season. This is really healing all my Once Upon a Time trauma AND my multiverse burnout at the same time.

Scher and Tim send each other images of what they look like (Tim’s is super buff because of Ally shenanigans) and Scher is like cool, we can send each other magic. She also sends a pic of the guardian that was supposed to be at the cave and it’s like a stone spider glyph. Pib is like, “Oh, hey I might have some info here,” and fills them in on his spider side quest.

Scher says she’d really appreciate the help and will help them as well once she’s out of the cave. She even mentions wishes and I love me a genie in the mix. Oh and she mentions there’s a dude named Aesop who also might have a book! (Aesop as in Aesop’s fables. Think Tortoise and the Hare and City Mouse/Country Mouse).

Before they head back, Tim (aided by Roz’s Speak with Animals) gets the cow’s life story and he goes into the book. Still no picture but the words “the cow jumped over the moon” appear in the appropriate spot.

En route, Red gets some Goodberries for everyone. Smart move since they’re heading towards a fight. Each is one HP.

Point of Order–Jubilee doesn’t exist in this version of the Neverafter which is concerning to me. Is the map just gonna keep getting smaller each time they die/fail or is it replaced with something else? Also, even though Jubilee doesn’t exist here, Cole (and Senator the ram) are still in the book.

They reach a crossroads and realize that they’re going to Tuffeton. (Tuffeton as in “Little miss Muffet she sat on her tuffet, eating her curds eating and whey Along came a spider who sat down beside her And frightened miss Muffet away.”)

Crow scouts ahead and sees a grim village with this huge hill. And at the base of the hill is a mine entrance with cobwebs.

Note: Via Cole in the book, Tim can always have Lesser Restoration Prepped. He does so when Pib is the only one to fail a Con check from traveling in the rain and Brennan says it prevents him from getting a red gem (but it wouldn’t have helped after the fact)

They follow Pib’s ring to the center of the mine.

As they’re traveling in the dark, Ylfa inadvertently mentally connects to the mind of a tusked boar. She feels fire and asks if he killed the Big Bad Wolf. The board says, “Friend.” A tear runs down his cheek. He says, “I am trying to–” then she loses the connection. Hmmmm.

This is a little out of order but Tim messages Scher again and she says that (1) the spider guardian she mentioned is someone she was supposed to talk to not fight so I’m wondering if actually is the same spider they’re presumably going to have to fight or maybe more of a good guy spider like Anansi or maybe a spider I’ve never heard of because I’m not as familiar with 1001 Nights. She also says that (2) in the cave she’s in there was a tapestry of a princess with a golden mace which sounds like Elody. That’s interesting because it sounds like multiverse bleedthrough.

They find a massive spider web in this mine but between Pib’s feline grace and roguish tricks, Red being shapeshifted into a spider, Crow being shapeshifted into a spider, and everyone else being very very careful, they are able to navigate to the center without getting caught! They have the advantage going into the next fight! Let’s hope they can keep it this time because it seems like every time they die, things are gonna get much worse.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #twice upon a time #neverafter #neverafter spoilers #phew just in time #like I said I am gonna do my best to keep up #but I get super busy sometimes #so sometimes you get a quick a dirty recap #hope it's still helpful!

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vendettaparker · 4 years ago

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What a Dumbass [P.P]

Summary: Peter’s mistake leads to you being injured.

Pairing: Peter Parker x Avenger!Reader

Word Count: 2.1K

Warnings: Swearing, like a substantial amount, suggestive content kinda, gun shot wound, and flustered!Peter

a/n: I really liked writing this. I couldn’t stop laughing at some of the dialogue. and the mistake peter made to cause the whole set-up of the story is so funny to me. like i can legit see him making this mistake. also, i’m gonna make a permanent tag list, so please send me an ask or message me if you want to be on it! <3

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Peter Benjamin Parker is a fucking dumbass. All the time mostly. Most of the time his dumbassery leads to a lot of annoyed avengers, a lot of clean up, and a lot of spilled secrets. Hence why like three people who definitely shouldn’t know he is Spider-man do. But every once in while his idiocy can lead to an unexpected happily ever after, at least until he fucks something up again.

This particular fuck up has yet to be determined as a happy accident or your new 13th reason. It all started when that spider bitch decided it’d be a good idea to watch some explicit content on his laptop. Now, this wasn’t particularly an unknown activity for him to partake in, since we all know about his little impromptu purchase in Germany, but unbeknownst to this dork, his aunt was in the next room over working on a tear in his suit. And to make matters worse, he accidentally just so happened to purchase a subscription using said aunt’s credit card that was pre-setup in his laptop.

Now May is a very understanding woman. Very sex-positive, very loving, and inclusive; the whole shebang really. So when she happened to catch this idiot doing what he most certainly shouldn’t have been doing, she wasn’t mad, just thoroughly disturbed. Then she got the notification about the purchase. That was a bit more taboo in her eyes. So Peter was grounded from patrolling for a week and his laptop privileges were revoked for two weeks. That was fucking merciful compared to what this whole fuck up put you through.

At the school that following Monday, Peter spent the whole first, second, fourth, and lunch period trying to convince you to take over patrol for a week. Sure, you could definitely handle it, not to pat yourself on the back or anything, but you were significantly stronger than Peter, so it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. But you just really didn’t want to. Peter had his ‘Peter Tingle’ to help him find danger, while you’d actually have to look. It just seemed harder for you to do than it would be for him.

“Why are you even grounded?” You sighed after Peter's 3rd time bringing up the possibility of you patrolling for him at lunch.

“He got caught watching and buying p—” Ned started laughing.

“Ned! Shut up!” Peter yelled, slapping his hand over his friend's mouth.

“How has your identity not been leaked yet, Jesus Christ.” You mumbled, giggling. You flipped through your chemistry textbook, writing notes to prepare for Friday’s quiz.

“Yeah, and how come you didn’t know May was home?” Ned pushed Peter’s hand away. “Where was your ‘Peter Tingle’ then?”

“She’s not a threat, dude. But shit, I really wish my tingle detected her.” Peter groaned, a deep blush covering his features. “Please (Y/N). I really, really don’t wanna leave Queens without any protection for a week. I’ll try to convince May to let me go out on the weekend, so really it’s only five days.”

“I guess I could help you out, but you owe me. I should really spend this time studying for my chemistry test. Iron bitch is gonna have my head on a spike if I fail another chem test.” You said, highlighting more notes.

“Okay! Delmar’s for a week, anytime, anywhere.” Peter said putting his hand out for you to shake.

“Make it a month, I know my worth.”

Peter hesitated, but eventually gave in, “Fine, but you better do a good job.”

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

So now you were stuck patrolling from 8:30 to 11:00 every night. It wasn't bad per se, and nothing too eventful happened. You stopped a small convenience store robbery, gave a few kids some tips at the skatepark, ran some errands for an old lady, and saved a cat from a tree. Thursday night was the real kicker though. Your night had barely started and you accidentally got in the middle of a drug deal between some smaller mob and a real messed-up junkie. This should’ve been an easy takedown, only six people in total that needed to be taken out, but like was mentioned before, you don’t have Peter’s goddamn, stupid fucking tingle. So after taking all six of the perps out you started to walk away after alerting the police. Unfortunately, one of those assclowns had come to, and grabbed the gun a few feet away from him and shot it towards you. The bullet went through your thigh and out the other side. Screaming in shock and pain, you used your own throwing knives and knocked the gun out of the mobster’s hand, then you proceeded to knock him out again with a few good punches to his noggin, maybe a few more, just for good measure. But this wound would need to be cleaned and stitched up. And if you went back to the Tower, Steve and Tony would give you an earful about “watching your surroundings” and “being more careful”. So in a moment of pure adrenaline and desperation, you texted Peter.

You: are you home

Spider-Dork: Yeah, why?

You: i’ll be there in 5

Spider-Dork: What? Why? Is everything ok?

Spider-Dork: Hello??? (Y/N)????

(Y/N) declined (3) calls

Spider-Dork: Answer my calls idiot.

Peter’s texting and constant calling was cut short from a crash in his room.

“(Y/N)? Is that you?” Peter called from the couch in the living room.

“Yeah, can I borrow a t-shirt?” You called, fumbling around accidentally knocking over another lamp. “Oops, sorry!”

“Uh, yeah sure. In the closet!” Peter called back pausing his show, prepared to make his way over to you.

“And some sweats?” You called back, blood dripping all over Peter’s hardwood floor.

Peter got up to make his way to his room. “Yeah, second drawer on the left side.” He said as he made his way to his bedroom. Knowing you were in there, most likely changing, he knocked. “You decent?”

“Nope, not really. I need a pair of your boxers too, though.” You called through the door, now seeing that the blood splattered on your underwear as well. “Also, bring the first aid kit when you come in.”

‘What? Why?” Peter said in a more stressed tone, pushing his way into the room, completely ignoring the fact that you were very much not decent. “Holy shit.” He said seeing you out of your suit, in your bra and underwear, blood dripping down your right leg, pooling onto the floor. Your hand, red and bloody, pressed onto what he only assumed was the wound and blood seeping through your fingers.

“Bring a mop too.”

Peter ran out of the room to grab the first aid kit, plus some extra bandages and a cleaning solution. When he came back in he found you in the same state, standing in the middle of the room, eyebrows furrowed in pain, clutching your right thigh.

“What the hell happened?” He gasped, motioning for you to sit on his bed. You hesitated, not wanting to mess up his sheets. He seemed to notice your thought process quickly adding, “I have to wash my sheets anyway.”

“Gross.” You mumbled, scrunching up your face in disgust and finally settling down on his bed.

“Move your hand and tell me what happened,” Peter said kneeling on the floor next to the bed, positioned right at your hips. You removed your hand, bloody instantly seeping onto the bed. Peter winced looking at the hole in your leg, quickly grabbing the peroxide and dumping heaps of it onto your leg, much to your distaste.

“I got shot.” You stated as he cleaned the blood around the hole with alcohol pads.

“Well, no shit. I mean by who and how?”

“Mobster. Sneaky bitch got me while I was walking away.” You winced as Peter inspected the wound further.

“I need to stitch this up. Did it go all the way through?” He said lifting your leg to look underneath for an exit wound.

“Yeah.” Peter found the exit wound and held your leg up with one hand, pouring peroxide on the back of your thigh with the other.

“You have to be more careful, (Y/N)! This looks really nasty.” Peter scolded, setting your leg back down and prepping the needle and sutures. “What if this was in your chest? Or—or if you didn’t get here in time? You could’ve bled out!”

“Well sorry that I don’t have your stupid tingle to help me out when I’m being fucking shot at!” You yelped, gripping the bedsheets.

“You don’t need spidey sense, you need fucking common sense,” Peter mumbled, stitching his first suture.

“What the fuck did you just say?” You looked at him incredulously.

“I— uh, nothing.” Peter huffed, focusing back on stitching you up.

“This is your all your fault, to begin with!” You accused, shifting uncomfortably, due to the needle constantly being stuck into your leg. “You’re the one that begged me to go on patrol for you! You’re the dumb bitch that got caught watc—”

“Ok! Shut up! For God’s sake, you’re never gonna let me live that down.” Peter groaned, finishing up the last stitch. “Flip over.” He commanded, pushing at the side of your waist to help with the movement.

“Well, it was fucking dumb. Don’t you check to make sure nobody’s home? God, we all know you’re a vocal bitch too.” You said, fully situated on your stomach.

“What the fuck is that suppose to mean!?” He gasped, prepping another needle.

“You’re a sensitive boy.” You shrugged, wincing when Peter started his next stitch.

“I-I am not sensitive! I’m emotionally and physically staunch!” He defended, going in for another stitch.

You just raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Sure, whatever you say, babe.” You winked at him, blowing an exaggerated kiss.

“You're a jerk,” Peter mumbled, finishing up his stitching job. “A jerk with a fucked up leg.”

You hummed, quite amused. Peter got up and started to collect his medical supplies. He shuffled out of the room to put everything away. When he returned you were trying to get up and walk, wincing at every slight movement.

“Here, let me just—” Peter lifted you up, bridal style. A small yelp coming from you when a sharp pain shot through your leg. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Can you help me get dressed?” You said as he walked you over to his desk and set you down in his desk chair.

“Sure.” Peter blushed, painfully aware of your lack of clothes. He picked out some clothes from his closet and drawers. He helped you into them, wallowing in the uncomfortable silence, taking in each whimper and wince from you whenever he brushed against your thigh.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry.” He sighed after you were all dressed. “This is my fault.”

You looked at his distraught face, feeling bad for initially blaming him for the events of tonight. “No, Pete. It’s fine. I should’ve made sure all of the guys were knocked out.” You put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“No, I should’ve been more careful when I was watching that stuff. I have my spidey sense, I would’ve been able to avoid getting shot. It’s not your fault that you didn’t get bit by a radioactive spider.”

“Pete, really, I’ll be better by next week anyway. It’s fine.”

Peter shook his head, sighing. “I just feel so bad, I shouldn’t have forced patrolling on you.” You hugged him and rubbed his back soothingly. “It’s my fault you got hurt.”

“Peter stop. It’s just an unfortunate accident.” You mumbled, hugging him closer. “It could’ve happened to anyone.”

“But it didn’t happen to just anyone (Y/N), it happened to you. And I caused it. I-I don't know what I’d do if something ever happened to you. What if it was worse?”

You sighed, pulling away from Peter and cupping his face, seeing the regret and shame pooling in his eyes. Without much thought, you pulled him closer, slowly connecting your lips in a sweet kiss. Truly getting lost in the feeling of his lips against yours, the feeling of perfection.

Peter’s eyes widened in shock for a moment, before he was kissing you back, reveling in the feeling he’s been dreaming about for months. You finally pulled away to catch your breath. Peter flushed at your actions, unable to stop the wide smile crossing his features.

“Sorry,” You mumbled sheepishly, “just needed to shut you up for a second.”

“Maybe I should talk more, just to see what happens,” Peter smirked, pulling you in for another shorter, but just as sweet, kiss.

You hummed against his lips. “I really like you. Even when you're a dumbass.” You sighed against his lips.

“The feeling is mutual.”

“Rude. I’m not a dumbass.” You gasped in faux offense.

“You’re the one with a bullet wound.” he deadpanned

“You’re the one who got caught watchin—”

“(Y/N)!”

#avengers #peter parker fluff #peter parker x avenger!reader #peter parker x reader #spiderman x reader #spiderman x avenger!reader #spiderman fluff #tom holland spiderman #marvel #marvel fic #peter parker fic

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chokemewanda · 4 years ago

Text

Peter

Masterlist

Reactions Masterlist

Warnings: swearing, sarcasm, mentions of assault, blood, violence

Peter doesn’t know Natasha Romanoff at all. Or so he thinks.

Peter didn't know Natasha at all. She was the most mysterious woman he'd ever met and everything he learned about her had never been directly from Natasha but through hearsay or facts from the others that had known her much longer.

He never heard her joke and she always seemed to be tense. Steve had once told him that the most expressive part of Natasha's body was her face. Which threw Peter for a loop because well duh? Obviously. Steve had only laughed and shaken his head when Peter explained as much.

"You're looking for all the wrong cues. Her eyes and her smile won't tell you anything." Her forehead, her jaw, how she holds her head were all apparently the keys to unlocking the truth that was Natasha Romanoff.

Peter presumed Steve had gotten a little silly in his old age and paid no mind to him, continuing on in life knowing that she would always be an enigma.

Finding out that Natasha had a girlfriend was so far from left field that it had blindsided him. He never would've even considered that the woman who flirted with every man who stood still for long enough wouldn't even be into them. It threw him for a loop.

Not in a bad way but in the same way, finding out that Steve and Bucky were a thing had thrown him. He had expected both of them to be straight. He had his ideas about Tony, a thought or two on Clint and he even wondered about Wanda. He never suspected that he was wrong.

But then again he knew better than that and he shouldn't have presumed anything of the sort. People just loved people in his eyes.

The thing was, Natasha had just barely reacted when she found out you had been taken. He would've been buck wild, inconsolable. She just accepted it without even checking to see if the intel was right.

"You're wrong," Wanda told him from below where he was scrabbling across the ceiling, eyes on the ground below. The glow from her hands illuminated the pathway and gave him a chance to call out anything for her to beware of. "I've felt grief. What she felt was more."

Peter went over her reaction again in his head and wondered how on earth she contained that kind of emotion. He knew her history, everyone had since she dumped it all out for everyone to see along with all of Shield's databases. He supposed it was something she learned.

"If you knew how to read her you would know different. Only Steve can see her." Wanda explained, fingers twitching as she unlocked a heavy metal door and pushed it aside letting Peter continue uninterrupted in his path.

"Big step, right over that wire there." Peter guided and she stepped over it gracefully, fingers glowing. Peter webbed two cameras in this hallway before beckoning her through.

The eyes on the inside had given them directions right to you and they followed them as silently as possible. Which wasn't hard because about ten minutes into the attack they'd been joined by the roar of The Hulk.

It was the first time Peter had seen Banner eager to join the fight. It was another clue into the depth of Natasha's relationships with the others and he wondered idly was he the only one that didn't know her.

"She thinks of you both as the Spider Twins ever since Tony referred to you as that once." Wanda offered and Peter smiled. Spider Twins. He liked that.

"Two motion sensors up ahead," Peter warned, guiding Wanda through their timed rotations and she stepped quickly and nimbly. They were almost twenty-five minutes in and as far as Peter could tell, undetected.

He thought of Natasha again, of how worried she must be about you. Peter recalled the picture Hill had shown them and laughed to himself again. He never would've picked you out of a lineup for Natasha but he liked that she had someone. He hoped dearly that she got to be herself with you. That she didn't have to control every thought.

"Approaching the holding cell now." Peter tapped his com and heard a shaky breath that could've been from anyone as he dropped to the floor and Wanda began unlocking the door. It slid open and revealed a medical bed and an unholy set up of IVs and you.

Right in the center of the bed, restrained and petrified. You attempted to shuffle away with your limited range of movement and Peter held his hands up hoping to calm you. You were whimpering behind the gag and Peter made his way closer to take it off you.

"Please, I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me." You begged. Wanda slipped her com out of her ear and pressed it into Peter's hand.

"We're with Natasha. We're here to help." Peter told you gently but you shook your head, tears running down your cheeks.

"That's what they said before. They told me she sent them to help me. She hadn't." You sobbed, inconsolable. "She'd never let anyone hurt me."

"Put the com in her ear, Peter." Natasha urged, grunting while fighting. Peter held up the small earpiece and you shuddered away from his hands.

"Please don't." You begged and Peter looked over his shoulder to Wanda.

"This is an earpiece. Natasha is here, fighting for you. You can hear her through this." Peter explained and he saw the hope twinkle in your eyes before you shut it down. It hadn't even been six hours and this was how you were. He couldn't imagine what you'd been through.

"You're lying. You're using her to hurt me." You cried so Peter apologized and caught you off guard, pushing the earpiece into your ear.

"It's me." Natasha's voice came through the com line more gentle than Peter had ever heard it. "Baby, it's me."

"You're not her. You're trying to hurt me again." You wanted to believe it, Peter could read it on your face. "Tell me something no one would know."

"There are three freckles shaped in a triangle on the inside of your left thigh." Peter couldn't help his blush until you sobbed again, shaking your head.

"They'd know that now." Peter's heart dropped and several gasps came through the com line as your words sunk in.

Wanda approached the bed undoing all the bindings while Peter began gently removing the IVs plugged into your skin.

"You once told me that if I was going to hell you'd murder God himself to come to join me because there was no afterlife for you if it wasn't with me," Natasha whispered quietly and you sobbed, pulling the last of the wires from your skin as you held your hand to your ear like you could protect the words.

"I did everything you said. They had the code word and badges and they knew our escape plan. I thought they were there for you." You explained in a rush. "I didn't forget any of the steps."

"I know, baby." She assured you. The Hulk roared loud enough to make you and Peter wince. "Trust Peter and Wanda. I do."

Peter's heart warmed at the thought of the most untrusting woman in the world letting him take care of the one she loved most.

You weren't able to wake, legs weak, and skin pale. You were sweating but your teeth chattered and Peter worried about whatever that had been giving you, casting his eyes to the half-full bags.

At his look, Wanda gathered them so that someone could analyze them later. He stood in front of you, crouching until he was at your eye level.

"I'm going to carry you. I want your permission." He explained and you nodded, wrapping your arms around his neck when he lifted you effortlessly.

"Where are you, Nat?" You asked quietly as Peter carried you from the room, your hand still covering your ear protectively.

"Fighting for you, baby. No one gets to hurt you and survive." She promised and you huffed a laugh.

"That's a long list you need to get through." You mumbled and Peter held you protectively, anger pumping through his veins at the thought of someone hurting you.

"She's got a team." Multiple voices assured you including a roar from The Hulk that sounded strangely agreeable.

"Told you, baby. The second you meet my friends I'm gonna have to fight for your attention." Natasha teased and you turned red. "Don't go running off with Parker while I'm busy."

"Not my kind of spider." You assured her, patting Peter's shoulder kindly in consolation. He only smiled gently, following Wanda.

Wanda turned to smile over her shoulder muttering about spider twins and Peter saw it a split second before she stepped on the wire.

He didn't have time to say anything, only react. He turned his back, shielding you as best he could while Wanda threw up a shield. The explosion knocked Peter and he twisted and did his best to take the brunt of the fall while Wanda worked on holding up the ceiling, her knees buckling at the strength she was using.

She did her best to guide the large lumps of cement and bricks to land away from them, blocking their exits.

"We might be experiencing some issues." Peter groaned and frowned at the silence the followed. He looked to you and you tapped your ear once, twice, three times before shaking your head. "Now we definitely are."

You were shaking a little and Peter sat up and pulled his mask off now that it was no longer serving a purpose. You looked him over before hanging your head and shivering again.

"I can't hear anyone," Wanda told Peter and he sighed pushing himself off the ground and reaching for your hand. You stared up at him before taking his hands and letting him help you stand.

"You are Peter Parker." You told him and he raised his eyebrows. "Nat talks about you a lot."

Peter was oddly endeared as he lifted you into his arms and he tried to fight his blush as you settled comfortably against him. He hadn't imagined ever being more than a passing thought in his team's head.

"Well, I think gentle is gone out the window. Let's start pulling walls apart." Peter grinned at Wanda who flexed her fingers and started pulling them apart. Cracks appear in the wall and Wanda strained and groaned. The wall begins to separate quickly but Wanda paused, listening to something.

"Help is on the way." She smiled gently and the wall exploded inwards. Wanda had a shield up and ready when The Hulk skidded to a stop sporting a beastly grin.

"Little girl." He grinned and held his hands out for you. You went willingly which didn't surprise Peter as much as it should have. You were a lot more trusting than Natasha appeared to be. Or maybe you just trusted her so much that you never thought to question someone she trusted.

Peter took hold of Wanda and swung after Hulk who barrelled through the holes he'd made and through one final wall, bringing them out into the fresh air where the team was waiting.

"Not quite the first meeting I'd had in mind." You explained as The Hulk let you down gently. You shivered in the cool air and a red jacket draped over your shoulders. You thanked Wanda as Natasha held her hand out for you.

You stumbled a little but took her hand, allowing her to pull you in close. "You always loved fireworks." She told you with a smile.

Hands covered your ears and you looked up from her neck in time to watch the building erupt, the heat from the blast turning your skin red but doing little to eliminate the chattering of your teeth, drawing a concerned look from Natasha.

"We need to get back." Peter urged and Wanda pulled the two IV bags from the pocket of her jacket you were wearing, presenting them to Steve. Peter stepped up, offering his arm to you and helping Natasha guide you into the quinjet waiting on the edge of the clearing.

"We took these from her room. That's what they were pumping into her." Wanda explained. You looked away from the bags to The Hulk who was still breathing harshly, hitting the ground with his fist every so often.

"Go to him. Peter will take care of me until you bring Bruce back." You urged and she nodded, leaning more of your weight on Peter who only chuckled, sweeping you up into his arms as he carried you earlier.

"What was it you were saying about me being Natasha's favorite avenger?" He asked and you couldn't help your laugh, leaning into him for warmth.

///

Peter hadn't known Natasha before today. But after taking you onto the quinjet and waiting for her to show up with Bruce he definitely appreciated her a lot more. She was with you in her lap the whole way home, her forehead creasing slightly when you continued to shiver and complain of the cold despite the fact that you were wrapped in blankets.

Her jaw clenched slightly when she touched your fevered skin and Peter finally understood what Steve had meant. He knew how to read you without ever using any normal cue offered. Because Natasha wasn't normal but she was human.

She had rocked you slowly from side to side as you cried into her neck, whispering something that had tears fall from her eyes and her hands clench into the folds of the blankets.

They'd broken in during the night, luring you out with a code word you and Natasha had agreed upon during the early days of your relationship. You believed them until you arrived at the base.

They'd stripped you of your clothes and injected you over and over with who knows what concoction all the while laughing when you'd called for her, begged them to stop.

Peter hadn't meant to overhear anything you had said, either had Bucky or Steve but there was no tampering down the anger he felt.

He'd never felt anger before like it and he worried about himself a little. He barely knew you but he'd set hundred of Hydra bases on fire for what they had done to you and the people he trusted.

They'd ruined countless lives around him. They'd been doing it since 1945 when they'd taken Bucky and hadn't stopped there. They'd taken everything Natasha could give, everything Wanda had and it still wasn't enough. They'd come for you.

When they got back to the Tower you had fallen asleep and Natasha had asked Peter to take you down to the med bay and assure you if you woke that she'd be there soon. He took the job with Conor, keeping you company even when the medical team began to work on you, taking blood samples while you slept, a little too deeply, which worried the nurses but your fever had broken at least.

Natasha made her way down almost an hour later with Bruce who was going to analyze the tests taken. He had come down from his high with startling clarity for the first time, usually a confusing mess after being the Hulk.

"Her blood results are resoundingly normal," Bruce explained and Natasha nodded, taking a seat by your bedside and pushing your hair from your face. She checked your temperature with the back of her hand and seemed to calm a little, her jaw unclenching when she found out temperature nearer her own.

"Her reactions on the quinjet could've been shock." A nurse supplied, filling out a chart at the end of your bed. "She went through a lot in a very small window of time."

"She's gonna be okay. She's a fighter." Natasha promised and kissed your forehead.

Peter felt safe in the knowledge that you were okay and went in search of Tony to see if he would write Peter a letter for being absent because if he asked May once more this week she was going to kill him.

He didn't come back to see you until the following day after school and he found Natasha asleep against your bed and you sitting up, your hands in her hair and a smile on your face. Your hair had been washed and cooler had returned to your cheeks making you look much healthier than you had the day before.

"Hey, there's my hero." You smiled and Peter chuckled, taking a seat next to you.

"Gonna make my head all big, talking like that." He told you and you rolled your eyes, returning back to looking at Natasha where she was sleeping. She must've been exhausted because Tony had been telling Peter that Steve and Natasha had only just returned from a three-day mission hours before being called out to help you.

"I used to think I'd never know her. An hour watching her around you and it all changed." He told you honestly. "I thought she was straight."

You only laughed before smiling. "Don't feel bad, I did too until she kissed me the first time."

"Took a few kisses to convince you, if I remember right. Not all of them on your mouth." Natasha sat up, shaking her head to get her hair out of her face and Peter flushed bright red.

"You'll traumatize the child." You whispered conspiringly and Natasha only laughed, pulling the table with your water on it close. The jug wobbled and tipped and three hands shot out to catch it.

Yours got there first. Not that it mattered, the grip you had used to catch the glass jug had been too strong, shattering the glass and spilling the water everywhere.

"How's that for reaction time?" You asked, shakily.

Taglist: @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @eldritchfloof @llamadramaonthefarma @username23345 @invictusbabey @gayarchnemissis @confusinggemini612 @blackxwidowsxwife

#natasha romanoff x f!reader #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff drabble #natasha romanoff blurb #natasha romanoff imagine #black widow x reader #Natasha romanoff x reader #Peter Parker #spider man #wanda maximoff #Bruce banner #the hulk #MCU

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sambvcks · 4 years ago

Text

crawl home to her, b.b. x reader

chapter one // body’s working on empty

summary: bucky isn’t as receptive to this new life of his as everyone had hoped. he’s cold, sharp-tongued, and closed off. except to the tenant across the hallway from him, who always wears pajamas and bakes a dozen too many of his favorite cookies

warnings: food, nothing too bad this chapter!

word count: 1.5k-ish

author’s note: i thought my marvel phase ended five years ago...here we are again. i haven’t written in awhile so please be kind! title and chapter titles taken from hozier’s ‘work song’.

[ read on ao3 | series masterlist | inbox | join my taglist! ]

[ NEXT ]

Five minutes into their first session, Bucky decided he was going to make Dr. Raynor’s job as difficult as he possibly could.

It wouldn’t be an impossible task, seeing how this whole ordeal depended on him opening up and talking, two things that he had abandoned decades ago. Her unwavering stare was nothing more than a challenge, these fifty-minute sessions once a week were nothing more than a slight inconvenience to his lackluster day to day routine. He would play along, do whatever exercises she asked, and feign stability until he never had to see her again.

“Since this is our first session together, we’ll take it easy.” She promised with a forced upturn of her lips before whipping out her notebook.

Suddenly, it felt like he was encased in bulletproof glass in Berlin again. He remembered that the last time he had been forced into receiving psychiatric help, it hadn’t exactly gone to plan. His chin fell to his chest, hands wringing together as he thought of any excuse to request a different doctor.

“Let’s begin.”

It was already getting too hot to wear leather gloves and his heavy jacket. New York’s heatwave was supposed to be the highest on record this year and while kids popped open fire hydrants in the street, Bucky would be settled on the hardwood floor in the back corner of his apartment, waiting.

Waiting for what, he wasn’t quite sure.

It was a fairly nice apartment, newly renovated and practically barren. Government issued and funded, of course, and he had spent the first night pulling the furniture from the walls to the center of the room in search of bugs and cameras. He found thirty-four, destroyed them under a rolling pin, and they hadn’t come to replace them. Message received.

The one thing he really liked about the apartment building were his neighbors. The price tag for a one bedroom was substantial to say the least and only older couples could really afford it. No children, no dogs, no outsiders. The only break from his undisturbed routine would be occasionally helping Mrs. Johnson down the hall carry her groceries as she struggled to get the door unlocked with her brittle hands.

They affectionately called him James and the older women were quick to get a hold of his arms, saying things like “They don’t make them like you anymore, James!”. He swallowed the bile prickling at the back of his throat as he nodded, and they moved on to telling him about their single granddaughters.

It was almost nice, his routine. Almost.

Outside of those small encounters, he spent most of his waking hours jogging in the park and cooking the same three meals. He had his appointment every Wednesday with Dr. Raynor, but that was it. He’d take two trains back to his apartment and wouldn’t emerge again until he needed groceries two days later.

It was when he was returning from one of his biweekly grocery trips, a paper bag settled on his hips, that he spotted you outside his door.

He stilled in the hallway, taking a quick step back to peek around the corner without being spotted. His breath stalled, his ears picking up your soft humming and the crinkle of plastic as you set a bundle of cookies at his doorstep, the only one without a mat. His eyes flicked to the other doors, where identical bags of cookies sat propped up, tied with blood red ribbons.

His shoulders relaxed. No threat.

The bottom of his grocery bag suddenly gave way, fruit rolling in every direction. Bucky fell to his knees, glove clad hands snatching up everything he could reach as quickly as he could manage. You were faster, though, and scooped up a plum that had rolled your way, offering it over as he tried to balance the rest of his groceries in his arms.

“Thanks.” He was quick to sweep past you, hand digging in his pockets for his key.

“James, right? Ms. Robinson downstairs is like, in love with you.”

“Yeah, but, uh-“ Dr. Raynor’s instructions from their last session rang in his head, as much as he tried to tune her out: make connections. “You can call me Bucky.” He cleared his throat. “And Mrs. Robinson is far too good for me.”

“Bucky it is then.” You trailed him down the hallway, “Y/N.”

Bucky tried to sneak a glance at you from the corner of his eyes, which was harder to inconspicuously do now that he had gotten a haircut and couldn’t hide his wandering eyes behind long tresses. Young was Bucky’s first thought. much younger than the other renters in the building. Bright was next, followed by much too smiley for a Tuesday morning.

Pretty, he admitted as he turned his back to unlock his door. Maybe in another life he would have lingered in the hall, his so-called effortless charm seeping through as you swooned at the very thought of a date with James Buchanan Barnes. But that life was long gone, and instead he rushed to retreat.

“Oh, don’t forget these.” You swooped down to collect the bundle of cookies you had left at his door, handing them to the hand that wasn’t delicately balancing the pile of groceries he still held against his impossibly broad shoulders. “Oatmeal raisin, super-secret family recipe.”

He was back in the doorway of his ma’s kitchen, watching his little sister balance on a wobbling stool as she struggled to crack and egg with her little fingers. He can so distinctly see the pale green of the cabinets, remember the fight his parents had when she begged for that shade of green while his dad had wanted white. Of course, she won.

“These are your brother’s favorite.” His ma whispered to his sister; her flour covered hands reaching for the age faded index card with their grandmother’s script detailing the ingredients. “Our family’s recipe. One day, you will make these for your children. And your children’s children.”

Rebecca, still so young and with a hatred for smelly boys deep in her bones, giggled at the mere thought as her fingers fished out the bits of eggshell that snuck their way into the bowl. She wiped it away on the spare apron tied twice around her waist, much too big for her.

Bucky would never see her grow into it. He would be drafted only a few months later.

In the meantime, he would bundle half a dozen of them in a tea towel and split them with Steve on the walk to the movie theater. Steve would begrudgingly admit that Buck’s ma made the best cookies, but his made the best brisket. They’d sneak in through the back door and do it all again the next weekend, until they ran out of weekends together.

“Oatmeal raisin are my favorite.” He admitted, accepting your offering like a stray cat does to the first scrap of food from a stranger.

“I think you’re the only person under the age on one hundred to ever say that.” You teased, backing away to the door adjacent to his, “Anyway, don’t tell me things like that. I’m a stress baker and with finals coming up…” You winced at the image of the dozens of batches you would surely be whipping up in the coming weeks.

“Finals?”

“Law school, one semester left.” You fished your own keys from your back pocket. Bucky barely held in the scoff at the shiny Spider-Man keychain that dangled from your fingers. “You?”

“Oh, no. I haven’t been in school in what feels like…a century.”

“Well, I’m all alone here and as much as I would love to, I can’t eat everything that I bake. So, expect a few dozen muffins and cookies every few days.”

“No arguing from me, doll.”

You both lingered in the small hallway, only a few steps apart, each leaning against your respective doors. Keys in each hand, with no intention of using them any time soon.

“Law school, you said? How do you afford a place like this?” Bucky was sure he was the only recently pardoned fugitive under this room.

“Well, this used to be my grandma’s apartment and it was handed down to me in a maybe no so legal way. If the landlord asks, I’m an eighty-year-old woman who doesn’t know how to work her answering machine.”

He huffed a laugh, mostly because that wasn’t particularly far from how he felt with today’s tech. The flip phone that Dr. Raynor had described as archaic sat heavy in his back pocket with only three names programed into his contacts. Don’t get him started on his television.

“Nice to meet you, Bucky.”

With that, you each stepping into your respective apartments. Bucky stalled at his door for a moment, listening as you locked and dead bolted your door behind you. He sighed, dumping his half-ruined groceries on his barren kitchen island.

The next day, he’d have another appointment with Dr. Raynor. This time when he’d say I’m trying, as he did each week, it wouldn’t be a complete lie. His phone buzzed in his back pocket.

2 New Messages

From: Sam

You coming up this weekend?

Don’t ignore me this time. He’s getting worse, Buck.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #marvel imagine #tfatws imagine #crawl home to her #sab writes

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