#so naturally i try not to make eye contact but my god my defense mechanisms have no form of distinction

[d1anna]

……..

[skinnywalker]

Online (Aaron hotch x bau male reader) part 1

"He is skilled. Really, really skilled. Like world-wide criminal catcher skilled."

Hotch starred down at the green folder sitting patiencelly on his desk. It's side was clipped with the handsome face of it's personal, the newest bau team member. A 20 something professional who had taken down multiple dark web killers successfully.

"He seems promising."

Promising was an understatement but that was exactly how Hotch wanted to seem. Unimpressed. He knew how good someone so young had to be to gain a reputation in the FBI, Spencer was living proof, but he was different.

"Tell him to come in."

Hotch feels a slight pang in his stomach. He is anxious. He really can't figure out why. He's delt with insane murderers and pedophiles but the idea of a good-looking smart man in his office alone makes him clamy.

He enters with a knock and at once hotch knows why he felt scared. He's pretty in person. He looks like a painting of someone who you don't know but can't help but recognize. His eyes sprakle in the over head lights like stars in the winter. He runs his tongue over his lips to wet them and Hotch feels the air sucked right from his lungs.

It's like he's a teenager all over again.

"How has your first day been?"

It's a useless question but one Hotch has never asked. Something is making him act nicer. Warmer.

"I really like the team here. Everyone is so helpful and on task. You run them well."

Compliments don't get to Hotch yet he feels himself flush.

"Thank you. I do my best."

"I can tell."

God damn he was smooth. Hotch could feel the room getting smaller around him as he forced himself to keep eye contact.

"Garcia gave me a slight run down on your background but I want to hear from you."

"Oh well, want do you want to know?"

Everything.

"I want to know what you think your strengths are."

He chewed his lip thinking.

"Well you probably know about my time on the dark web but recently I've been doing integrations."

"Fo how long?"

"Almost a year?"

"Are you good at it?"

He smiled. Hotch shifted slightly in his chair. He wanted to see him in that smile and nothing else.

"Youre a professional, test me."

"Ok, tell me everything about me."

He cocks his head still smiling.

"You're strict but not out of nature rather you prefer complete order and the best way to keep it is to control your team and most importantly yourself. You love your people but you make yourself cold to them as a defense mechanism. You're divorced, a single parent of one young kid and judging from the crayons in your pencil mug they are an artist. You love them which is why they are never at your work and why you block off parts of your calender for their events. You hate the way people treat the younger generation which is why you made everyone called Dr. Reid Dr. Reid instead of Agent and most importantly you liked me from the moment you saw me which is why you haven't been taking notes despite the notepad in front of you."

Hotch holds eye contact with him unspeaking for several mintues before speaking.

"It seems you've already had much experience but you'll still be working with our teach runner Garica."

He smiles and gives his hand to shake. The room is silent till he leaves and Hotch is left standing alone. He's never met and agent like this and truth be told he for the first time is really nervous.

Nobody has read him that well on the first try.

[lokiskitten]

Uwu can I pls have sebby stepdaddy au pls ☺️

Happy? Bruh 😭

Sebastian Stan | late night stalking

Sebastian Stan x fem!reader

plot : Sebastian has been your step father for a couple of months now, and unfortunately isn’t the most respectful lad out there. One night, you decide to sneak out, but unfortunately come home to Sebastian waiting for you in the kitchen.

warnings : poor environment, smoking, mention of drinking, cursing, abuse, age gap, stepdad x stepdaughter intercourse, unprotected sex, non/con, clothed sex, choking.

Disclaimer : I do not know nor claim to know Sebastian Stan personally.

**THIS IMAGINE CONTAINS NON/CON, please block or simply ignore if it’s not your cup of tea. All hate will be deleted/blocked.**

The door of your house opened without you needing to use the key, which didn’t particularly alarm you as alcohol still managed to soak up your entire system. Sloppily, your feet led you towards the stairs which would allow you to regain your bedroom, where you planned on having long hours of rest. However, right as you passed before the entrance of the kitchen, a familiar voice held you back from going any further. “Where the fuck’ you’ve been?” Sebastian asked as he hid in the shadows of the nearly dark kitchen. Only the light coming from the nearby street lamp allowed you to get a peek of his impressive features.

His voice was raspy, deep, which could only indicate that he had been waiting for you since a couple of hours now- probably passing time by drinking and smoking those bloody cigarettes he always carried on himself. Of course, he wasn’t going to be extremely gentle after you made him wait hours into the dark and silence. Your step father was an asshole, really, and you still had a hard time figuring out why your mom had decided to allow him to move in here with what was left of your broken family. In fact, you had a hard time trying to figure out how your mother manages to fall for him in the first place.

“I was just at Grace’s.” you lied, knowing damn well that you’ve in fact been attending another one of your friend’s party. Sebastian nodded in an unimpressed manner, bringing the half smoked cigarette to his lips before taking a rather large puff which he expelled by his nostrils. “Not bad, not bad... come here.” He answered, getting up from where he had been sitting after taking care of letting the rest of his cigarette down in the ashtray. Scared that you would have to face the consequences if you didn’t obey, your feet slowly started to lead you inside of the kitchen. Though, you stopped a couple of feet away from him for safety.

As Sebastian’s body continued to near you, his hands traveled up to the back of your neck which he held in a rough manner. You winced, though tried your best not to show weakness as your only defensive mechanism was to avoid eye contact. “Don’t you dare to fuckin’ lie to me you little brat.” He breathed against your face, the scent of alcohol coming from his mouth making you cringe. Though, for once, you couldn’t help but feel the need to stand up for yourself. Unexpectedly, your hands pushed against his chest, causing his body to back away from yours.

“You’re not my father! Give me a god damn break.” The words escaped your mouth in a stern and dry manner, body turning around as you were meant to divert towards the exit. Unfortunately Sebastian, who hadn’t particularly appreciate your little feisty move, was soon to harshly take ahold of your wrist. Within seconds, your stepfather had you pinned against the counter, bum pressed against his crotch as he kept control of both your wrists. His face neared your neck, nostrils breathing in the natural perfume that your hair created and which drove his ripe senses absolutely crazy.

“You look so much like your mother.. but better. I like your youth, your energy.” Sebastian purred in your ear as his hands now started to unbuckle his leather belt which he obviously couldn’t wait to remove. However, his hands were trembling lightly- probably a side effect caused by the great amount of alcohol he had ingested during the evening. “I bet your tight cunt will feel just right wrapped around my cock.” The older man breathed out against your ear as you barely managed to hold your saddened and shameful tears back. You knew exactly what was to come, and it made you feel terrified.

It wasn’t the first time that your step father would dare to lay his hands on you, wether it was physically or sexually. But as always, you went with it, being aware that you didn’t have the required strength to fight back. But mostly, you did not feel like disappointing your mother- even tho a part of you was convinced that she knew about what her boyfriend would make you go through, and you hated her for not doing anything about it. The thing is, she was probably as terrified as you were face to the abusive man.

Once Sebastian was finally done sliding his pants and underwear down to his mid thighs, it was now your turn to be deprived of your protective layer of clothes. Harshly, his shaky yet dominant hands travelled to the front of your crotch where he started to unbutton your pants. Once he had gotten over this first step, Sebastian managed to pull your pants and panties down in one go, his feet spreading your legs apart as one of his hands generously began to pump his girth up and down in an attempt to harden it and prepare it for this none consensual intercourse.

As the tip of his member penetrated inside of your clenching cunt, a fainted whimper escaped your lips as Seb’s hands both took ahold of the counter. He didn’t hesitate to immediately slide in balls deep, his warm scrotum pressing against your slit as one of his arms securely wrapped around your stomach. Through time, you had grew used to those interactions and managed to naturally stretch to the point where the older man’s cock thankfully wouldn’t cause you too much pain anymore. Taking in a couple of breaths, Sebastian waited for barely a few seconds before starting to sloppily thrust against your bum, groans escaping his lips as his eyelids closed shut.

Tiredness reflected through his lazy movements, though the man remained pleased to feel himself inside of your squirming self. Unfortunately, you had to go along with it, remaining as silent as you could as your step father continued to move back and forth against your fragile body. Eventually, your walls began to naturally moisten in order to ease the process- something you had no control on but yet pleased your step father. “Getting all wet for me now, aren’t you?” He spoke, enhancing his own ego, both of his arms now wrapping around your body as one of his hands even started to squeeze your neck.

His tip bumped against your sensitive cervix, regular movements creating friction for his girth to enjoy. And right as you believed that you couldn’t handle it any longer, your stepfather’s nutsack twitched, member following the lead as warm and sticky liquid sprayed out of his urethra to land into your womb, staining your pulsating cervix. The grip he held onto your body tightened, shaky movements coming from his hips as he made sure to remain deep inside of you until he had completely emptied his balls.

Breathing against your ear, cum flowed out of your entrance after Sebastian had finally agreed to pull out of you. “Fuck..” he cursed before laying a kiss against your neck, moist lips leaving a wet spot onto your skin. Lazily, the grown man moved back, hands pulling his pants back up before stacking his loosening member inside of his underwear. Remember about the cigarette he had left behind, his arm reached out for the ashtray from where he picked up the leftovers of cancer stick.

Being aware that he was now done with you, you managed to shamefully pull your jeans back to your hips before tiredly exiting the kitchen in order to regain your bedroom for a well deserved night of rest.

Thanks for reading! I highly appreciate comments and feedback so don’t hesitate to leave some! Have a good day💜

[lassieposting]

Do you have some HC for Ghastly grieving for skulduggery?

Asking for a friend

GOD @thats-so-craven and i were just talking about this actually

Okay, so. thats-so-craven has a headcanon (which I love) that up until his Surge, Ghastly had lowkey Sensitive tendencies, because he's from an old family of powerful seers. He never sees the world ending, but like. Sometimes he'll get a bad feeling, and decide to walk the long way home, and avoid a fight without quite knowing why. It gets more powerful as he gets older, and closer to his Surge. Being a natural Sensitive is inherent, so it never completely goes away. The dreams and visions become weaker, and rarer, and are virtually eradicated by the Surge, but an untrained Sensitive has no control over what they see, and no ability to stop it.

Like, Ghastly is the one who says this. He grew up with a Sensitive for a mother, he knows that not everyone crosses over cleanly if their death is traumatic. Skug died alone, he died in agony, and he died full of hatred. How could he possibly rest easy after that?

Anyway, after Skug's death, Ghastly starts Seeing him.

It's almost comforting, at first? He'll look up from his work, and for a moment he'll see Skug sitting in front of the fire, trying to warm himself. Or, as he's packing up Skug's things to send home for safekeeping, out of the corner of his eye he'll catch a glimpse of Skug sat on the bed reading a book. Skug drags his own memorial and everybody at it - "Ugh, look at Guild, the greaseball, what's he doing here? He never liked me anyway! Oh, and there's my brother, haven't spoken to him in fifteen years...that hairstyle does not suit him, has anyone told him he looks like a pillock?" - while Ghastly is caught between laughing and sobbing.

If he's a ghost, he doesn't seem particularly vengeful or corrupted.

But the thing is, Skug isn't dead.

Not properly.

Skug - the soul - is still attached to his bones, lying in a bag at the bottom of a river. He's in that awful situation coma patients can end up in - he's conscious, he knows what's happening around him, but he can't move. He hasn't figured out how to drag himself back fully into the land of the living yet. He's just tethered to a body that no longer works.

And Skug is not fully human. He has a defense mechanism that isn't human at all. A defense mechanism inherited from a father whose prime power is mind manipulation - in other words, a Sensitive-based ability.

Subconsciously, he's reaching out for help. The Sanctuary's trained Sensitives all have psychic shielding, and he's not experienced enough to get around that. But Ghastly hasn't had Sensitive feelings since his Surge, and his mind is totally open.

But the longer he spends in that river, the more frustrated he gets, the more angry he becomes that he can't make Ghastly understand what he needs or how to find him. And the more frustrated he gets, the less control he has over what Ghastly sees as his subconscious takes over. So the "haunting" goes from mostly benevolent and chatty, to staticky and frightening.

Ghastly will see him at the foot of the bed in the middle of the night, rotting and decaying from a soaked, waterlogged corpse to a skeleton. He has awful dreams about Skug drowning. When he looks in the mirror, Skug might appear behind him, soaking wet, saying help me through water gushing from his mouth, and then he'll disappear before Ghastly can ask with what. Vile - the part of Skug that isn't human - is trying to bring him help, but this is the closest he can get to explaining what's happened and where he is. He doesn't know where he is.

Of course, this doesn't make Ghastly realise he's still aware, at the bottom of the river. It just makes him cry himself to sleep. He believes Skug has become a vengeful ghost, and he's punishing Ghastly because he blames him for his death - because Ghastly sure as shit blames himself.

Eventually, he makes an appointment with a Sensitive - one he's not related to, he couldn't stand how much this would upset his mother - and has a wall built in his mind to protect him from outside interference - similar to what Cassie and Argeddion do to Val.

Abruptly, the hallucinations stop.

The delayed grief hits Ghastly all in one go at that point. While he was still able to look up and catch sight of Skug, however briefly, it didn't really feel like he was dead. Now he has to come to terms with the fact that Skug is gone - forever. He's never coming back. They'll never see each other again, and forever is a very, very long time.

This is. Equally awful for Skug. For however many years he's been in the river at this point, Ghastly has been that one little point of contact he's had. The one thing to occupy his mind, the one way he could still interact with the world. Even after losing everything, he still had that bridge between them.

But now that bridge is gone, and there's a giant wall on Ghastly's side, and he's mentally pounding on that wall begging Ghastly to come back, to listen, please, he has to understand.

And Ghastly can't hear him anymore.

So he spends the rest of the time until he figures out how to start moving his body again lying in that bag. Silent. Alone. Frozen. Small wonder necromancy felt safe and familiar, after that.

Highkey, this has longterm consequences for both of them. It's the first step of distance between them once Skug comes back. Up to that point, they were inseparable, told each other everything, were so involved in each other's lives that Ghastly was practically a third parent to Skug's son. But this is the second time in a very short period where Skug desperately needed Ghastly and Ghastly (through no fault of his own, but Skug doesn't feel that) failed him. When he returns, he's backed off considerably. The trust isn't there anymore. Ghastly will be talking quietly over the campfire, telling him that he missed him, he was lost without him...and all Skulduggery can think is You're a liar. You're a liar.

So when Ghastly comes to Skug and tells him to watch out for Abyssinia, says, "She's manipulating you, she's bad news, we can all see it," Skug looks at her, at the woman who tells him I love you, darling even though there's nothing loveable left about him anymore, who understands how angry he is and encourages him to vent it, who validates every bit of betrayal and resentment, then looks back at Ghastly...and tells him to watch his fucking mouth when he's talking to a superior officer.

And we all know where that leads.

[thecarrieonokay]

Macgyver 5x10 Rewatch: My musings...

Hey guys. I was so completely distracted by Mac’s golden retriever puppy face at the end of the episode that I’ve basically forgotten everything else that happened. Any excuse for a re-watch, am I right?

So. Here are all the things I missed the first time round, in case anyone is interested. And no. I’m not done talking about how awesome Bozer is.

-First off. The opening Macsplain has LAYERS. “Pressure”? “... Something beautiful and strong that I really hope I can replicate...” Dude. Some things are better when they form NATURALLY. *cough* Riley *cough* [FYI. This is not a dis at lab diamonds. No blood diamonds for me, ta very much.]

-On that note. Are we all just going to collectively ignore the fact that Mac pulled a FULLY CUT diamond out of that chamber?! Yeah. That’s not how that works but... cool. cool.

- Also, Boze. My one disagreement with you this ep. If my dude told me he MADE me a diamond I would combust on the spot. OF COURSE HE SHOULD TELL HER HE MADE IT HIMSELF!! THAT’S MAC’S BRAND, DUDE!!

-The war room is like the inside of Russ’ head. I would hate to live there. “Darling” to one of the rando Phoenix guys. Love it. But “donkeys”? Not a thing. Even in England.

-The first time we’ve ever actually SEEN their comms and how they work. Guys... I think these are going to be relevant...

-Yellow filter... we must be in Mexico! (oi. WHY?!) And my film brain can’t ignore the space between all the extras. Covid y’all...

- Only a psycho would wear trousers that short. Must be... yep. It’s him!

- I REALLY wish I hadn’t know that Andrews was going to be in this ep. I feel like his appearance would have had slightly more impact.

-”So you wanna play.” Dastmalchian playing with his favourite toy. And he JUMPED A MILE when Mac got hit by that car... dude was genuinely concerned.

-”Yes that’s definitely it isn’t it.” Salty Russ is a mood. I love it.

- Mac on a bike. More of this please Macgyver gods.

- Guys. It makes total sense that the FBI didn’t loop Phoenix in on Murdoc’s break-out because the last time they tangled with the FBI Phoenix illegally broke Andrews out of prison and then LOST HIM.

- Andrews makes a painting reference. Nice touch.

-”Magnitude Murdoc” HOW DID I MISS THIS THE FIRST TIME?! IT’S HILARIOUS.

-”Aw shucks. I really thought we had it there boy scout.” I want this on a t-shirt.

- “The only thing I have up here are cigarette butts and chewing gum (beat) and ROCKS.” How did I miss THAT the first time too. Dude uses the rock in his pocket. Excellent script.

- Oh Riley. V. deliberate & CONSTANT use of past tense for her to hide behind.

- Desi’s face here was important. She’s not in any way angry... which is her default defense mechanism. She just feels for Riley.

- I know we all really want to know this but WHAT ELSE DID RILEY SAY ON THAT RECORDING?! Must’ve been bad because she wanted to preempt their reactions.

- Ring emerges from pocket and THIS IS THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE THEY’VE LOOKED ALL EPISODE. And that’s saying something.

- I love that it’s Bozer and not Russ that spots they connection with the symbols.

- Desi is a fucking badass. AND Desi & Riley get to work together against Andrews & Murdoc. Plus Riley gets to throw tools at Murdoc. Yaaaas get him gurl!

- Did Andrews kill Leland? Is that implied??

- Phoenix support team all filing into the war room to watch the showdown.

- “...Truly only worthy companion.” I still maintain that Murdoc would not have gone through with killing Mac. He loves playing with him too much.

- I think the Phoenix staff were in the room solely so that BOZER COULD GET A LITERAL ROUND OF APPLAUSE for saving the day. He deserves it. BOZER IS MVP.

- Subtle change in expression when Riley says “I decided to bury it until the feelings went away.” Mac’s thinking wheels are in motion.

- Riley exhales like it’s a huge weight off her shoulders to talk to him.

- Desi. “Do what you feel is right”. She’s scared. She’s trying to bury it. But a ‘clean slate’ is easier said than done. I GET IT. And for the first time in a while I really empathize with her character.

- HIC brings huge gravitas to Russ. In less competent hands his apology could have felt hammy. It wasn’t. It was poignant and moving.

- This ending. The moment Mac realizes he can’t pretend nothing’s changed he doesn’t even hesitate. He needs to talk to Riley so he just DOES.

-CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT HE WALKED TO HER PLACE! How close does she live?!

-“I gotta ask”- No eye contact. But he doesn’t stumble over the words either.

- “Did they go away.” - SUCH eye contact and a zoom shot no less... and THAT’S the GOLDEN RETRIEVER MOMENT RIGHT THERE. Gurl He’s asking if you still love him! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! (obviously I know it’s not that simple but surely she can’t lie to that face for long...)

Okay. I feel better having gotten all of that off my chest. Now back to my WIP. If you made it this far... THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO MY RANT!! <3

[devak66]

Blood for the Blood Prince

eyyyyy i did this thing. finally finished

word count: 1559

story idea from: @pawesome28-x

if anyone has ideas for prompts for this au, dont be afraid to send them my way

Cold. Not as cold as his home in the arctic but that doesn't make this place any warmer, snow crunches underneath the piglin’s boots. This visit was simply to check on rumors he had heard, that there was a country being founded nearby. Techno knew he should have gotten Philza, the other member of Syndicate, but he assured himself that it wouldn't be needed, this is just reconnaissance. If things go bad he will call Phil, but he doubted it would get that bad.

A few minutes of walking later, he heard another set of footsteps. Fuck, had someone noticed him already? Techno quickly ducked behind a tree, thinking that maybe this other person did not spot him. The crunch of footsteps in the snow continued, ok… so he wasn't seen. Techno peeked out from behind the tree and saw… Ranboo. He wasn't dressed in anything warmer than what he casually wears… but something was off. Not just the lack of warm wear despite the snow surrounding them… his eyes had a bit more of a green tint to them. His walk was so much … less natural. When he would turn, he'd simply pause and alter course before continuing to walk. While he was looking out from his spot, he noticed one other thing… someone else. Tubbo was watching from afar, much less hidden then the hogfolk were. It was obvious that Tubbo noticed them because there was a strained moment of eye contact. 

After a while of just... staring at each other, Tubbo went over to Techno, glancing over at Ranboo, who was still calmly walking around. “What are you doing here??” The younger of the present two asked

“I have my reasons, what’s going on here?” Techno cut straight to the chase. Ranboo was acting strange, Techno wanted to know why

“In all honesty, i have no clue” Tubbo admitted “This has been happening for a bit… I think he’s sleepwalking. It's very interesting”

“If he’s asleep, why are you hiding?” Techno raised an eyebrow at Tubbo

“I.. didn’t want to accidentally wake him up. I was doing research on how he acted… i thought if i knew about how he acted, then i could find out why” Tubbo said, then realized something “why are you hiding?”

“Just looking around, making sure there’s no government” Techno said, Tubbo’s face grew pale at hearing that. Techno didn’t hesitate, moving past Tubbo, heading towards the hybrid “I doubt there’s any reasoning behind what he’s doing, he’s just sleepwalking. Come on, let's just get him somewhere warm before he freezes out here…” Techno reached out a hand to the hybrid, who’s ears had perked up subtly at the voices. The moment he felt the hand on his shoulder, Ranboo suddenly turned around, startling Techno, who reflexively reached for his axe. Ranboo glared at this potential hostility, a growl growing in his throat, that green tint going to a much angrier red one. Techno took a hesitant step back “what the..” This isn’t the ranboo he knew. This isn't the smiling hybrid who would spend hours of time to make him an axe to replace the one he had lost when destroying L’Manberg. This Ranboo had pure rage and thirst for blood boiling in his eyes. 

In a sudden moment, Ranboo lunged at Techno, pinning the piglin to the ground, knocking the wind from his lungs. Tubbo panicked from his spot in the trees “I forgot to mention. We found out what his other half is! It’s.. wait. If his Enderman half caused him to sleepwalk, or as I’ve been calling it, enderwalk, his dreamon half might be causing him to be like this”

Techno regained himself, kicking Ranboo off of him, pushing the much lighter foe a few feet away. Getting back to his feet and getting his axe in hand he shout to Tubbo, “the fuck is a dreamon?” not taking his gaze from Ranboo. Before his own eyes, the ender hybrid’s body started to change. Those slightly tinted eyes went solid red, his fingers growing claws. 

It took Tubbo a moment to respond. This is a bad situation but information wise… this is great! Maybe he can guess what specifically caused Ranboo to transform that first time with Fundy. “It’s a powerful entity, getting its name from, obviously, Dream.” Ok ok ok. Stay calm. Why did he get hostile..? Techno touching him? No… not really… wait.. techno had reached for his axe “they can hide among humans but usually have features to show they’re not normal, other than an innate weakness to prime water” it… couldn’t just be that… Why did he start his transformation? Techno.. had kicked him off and taken his axe. It… can’t be that… could it be that simple

“Can you tell me anything more useful? Weaknesses?” Techno was using his axe to try to keep Ranboo at bay, even using using the handle, held longways, trying to keep the hybrid from biting him

“There’s the weakness to prime water, but I don't want to hurt him… hm… wait! He can’t pass tilled soil” Tubbo grinned, this could be good. And he thinks he knows why Ranboo transformed. Progress!

“Great” Techno said, very focused on not getting mauled “do you have a hoe or is that useless information” 

“I have a hoe” Tubbo said “I’ll till a circle and we can make a plan” Tubbo said, taking out his hoe and set to work making a safe circle for them in the dirt “ok. It’s ready” techno nodded and with a sudden shove back with the axe to make Ranboo stumble back, techno took the chance to rush to the safety of the circle. He could have easily defeated Ranboo, but he didn’t want to hurt him. Ranboo rushes after Techno when he attempts to escape, but immediately stops when he gets to the edge of the circle of the tilled soil.

“So what's the plan?” Techno asked “how do we get him back?”

Tubbo kept his gaze on Ranboo, who was walking around the border of the circle, looking for a break. An opportunity to attack. “Well… um… there’s the problem. We can't…”

“What?” Techno demanded

“This isn't the first time he transformed, i think i know why he did as well, but based on what Dream said when i visit him-

“Why am I not surprised you visited him?” Techno muttered, he was getting a headache, mainly since the voices were very conflicted. Some were yelling ‘Blood for the Blood God’, as usual, but others were yelling to ‘Protect Ranboo’, so he’s having some fun.

“It was simply for information. He said that we can't snap him out with words, but he… also said that he could train him to not go to this mental state as much… but it would take him being let out of prison. i know he didn’t lie because i had a bit of information i could use against him” Tubbo focused on making sure the circle in the ground stayed safe and that Ranboo couldn't attack them

“One, I’d like to know what that information was, and two, i could train Ranboo” Techno said, quite nonchalantly

“What?” Tubbo looked at Techno, very surprised by what he had said

“I’ve dealt with voices trying to make me kill for basically my entire life, i’m sure i could help Ranboo with this” Techno shrugged, slightly mesmerized by that rage fueled red in Ranboo’s eyes “also i’d like to know what you told Dream to make him cooperate. anything else useful would be great as well”

Tubbo was at a loss for words, nodding “I said to dream how I knew that Ranboo’s his brother. A-“

“Wait WHAT? Actually no. With how often Dream is trying to be ‘sneaky’ and watch Ranboo, this makes sense. Continue”

“He said the reason Ranboo transformed back might have been because he was tired” Tubbo said. 

Techno got an idea “that i can do, cover me for a moment” he grabbed one of the many sticks and dead branches that littered the ground. He sat on the ground and used his axe to make the ends a bit cleaner, then he worked on taking off the smaller sticks on the edge. After a while he had a makeshift bo staff “I’ll make a better one later, but this will work for now” He put away his axe and measured the weight of the staff in his hand. It could be a bit heavier, but he didn't get the chance of finding a better stick

“What are you going to do?” Tubbo asked

“You said if he gets tired he’ll turn back, right?” Techno replied, tubbo nodded in response “I’m going to use this and fight against him without hurting him. I get some combat practice, which never hurts, and i can tire him out”

Tubbo nodded quietly “before you go, I should say something. I think he started to transform as a defense mechanism. He lashed out because he saw you reaching for your axe, then he started to transform when you kicked him off”

Techno sighed “well i guess this will be fun” he said as he stepped out of the circle, he wasn't going to let the fact that this looks like Ranboo, this is something he has to do

[skinfeeler]

on spinoza and his contemporary courtiers

benedict spinoza, to any cosmopolitan with any academical acumen at all, reads as extremely normal. for the time however, he might well be called prescient. in a sense, he did nothing special: he simply steadfastly and without apology applied all methods of histiography to religious texts considering them as sources like any others, and it could be said that he helped pioneer the idea of a text as not simply containing itself but also everything about and around it. i’ll spare you the derrideanisms and the pithy barthes quotes, but this unfettered approach of what real scholars now consider self-evident was enough to unify the contemporary organised religious societies against him both in terms of shunning and censorship. if there is such a thing as an atheist virtue, i believe it must be ‘irreverence’: when they insist something is special and beyond the regular methods of philosophy (that chief of sciences), we must deny them. i believe that spinoza exemplified this.

the unfortunate thing is that he first laid this out in his tractatus theologico-philosophicus, a work in which he perhaps optimistically believed that if the authorities at the time could respect philosophy being utilised in service of religion — as descartes, who simply believed his philosophy to make a more robust foundation of religion than ‘aristotelean’ scholastics — they could respect it for its own sake. to this end, he still spoke of ‘god’ when in his ethics, he spoke of ‘god or nature’. the entire work is an extremely obvious double-layered obfuscatory work, and those who believe that it’s a ‘theological work’ should maybe learn what a determinate negation or sublation is— the thing is, given that maybe now, aspects of his thought have (in some locales, conditionally) been integrated in some strands of religious thought, the fact is that at the time he was universally reviled as an atheist, and in many communities (across all religions) in which the disenfranchised (including all children) have no access to, way of knowing about, or are taught faculties to engage with and ‘progressive’ and philosophically ‘sophisticated’ attempts at theology like those based on spinoza’s philosophy, he still is reviled as such, so he’s ours, you can’t have him, fuck you.

even so i must ruefully acknowledge that he still took on one facet of contemporary organised religious thought both before and after he started to strategically align himself more with protestant interests: while he rejected supernaturalism, he never really rejected the clergy, which manifested in one specific idea: he posited that while the truth is complicated, the masses (the laity, if you will) ultimately need guidance and simple truths that apply most of the time, and that spiritual impetuses are good enough for those who can’t do better, that it’s not necessary try to make them think for themselves. this much was the ineluctable product of his prior and lasting belief in the necessity (and thereby authority) of clergy and meant to validate it. maybe this was a tactical consideration, but it was a poor one, because his thought endures: i have had many people say the same to me. “oh, skinfeeler, people crave frameworks and not all of them can do what you can.” no note of what might happen if we might all try and emancipate people into postmodern notions of thought which may be a bit more difficult but will ultimately not leave the most disenfranchised of us behind, or of the fact that maybe many people are incapable of thinking in abstract, complicated ways exactly because organised religions have damaged them in that regard or punished them for trying, of course. no, it’s all spineless lack of ambition and a barefaced denial of epistemic injustice.

the thing is, these people when they speak to me never imagine themselves as the hapless laity. no, they are speaking to me cleric to cleric, sage to sage. they imagine themselves the parent, not the child. the thing is that even children are so much smarter than we give them credit for. someone who thought themselves a pedagogue told me that in their field it has become so obvious to me that children can ‘reason like adults’, just with a lot more glitches and heuristics in their thought. on the nose this looks very charitable and egalitarian, but why that second clause? do adults not have glitches and heuristics in their thought? what nonsense to insinuate they don’t. i have spoken to so many adults in my life, especially female family members who were never even given a chance to articulate what they meant to in discussions or to formulate their thoughts into something tangible and real. when i speak to them, however, explain certain methodologies of thought with patience, eventually they can work with them. what i like even more, though, is when they speak to me in their own language, their own philosophies defined on their own terms that reveal themselves as they manifest through such conversations with me: and in my experience, just about anyone can do this, the masses have wisdom if only you’ll let them. those spinozists i speak of are simply the other coin of the people who tell them they aren’t fit to work with the book, and they are just as wrong.

it’s superiority in the cloak of benevolence, pure and simple. i’ll admit to having been seduced by it myself at points: should we be surprised when all my arguments for people’s emancipation are met with lavish and glib praise of my ostensibly unique and special faculties? here i’ll say, now and forever: i’m not. i’m not special. there are, of course, people who are so broken that they can no longer work with anything but truisms, people who are stuck in feedback loops of the psyche from existential fear, internalisation of bigotries, the works, where they are not able to escape and use that which all of us have been endowed by, but this is not a transcendent or qualitative issue, it’s circumstantial and contextual: it was caused by something. this, however, tends to form the second line of defense of religious spinozists: “yes, what these people do to each other, their women, their children is horrific, but they don’t do it because of their faith, they do it because of the ways they have been damaged and what they may or may not rightly fear to happen if they neglect to speak as they speak or do as they do unto others and especially those they are in power over, such as parents unto children.” (which is to say, abuse those their religion has put them in a position of power over, impress them into their religions, dominate them.)

this obviously ignores the fact that even such things as defense mechanisms and threat models are codified in a certain way and not only of traumatic but also intertwined ideological nature as of course, exploited by those who are most powerful and least in danger in these communities. following from candid sociological analysis to real and actual values, you can never excuse the entanglement of personal anxiety about faith and existence with the practices of say, child abuse, such as the account of that one mother i read who admitted that when she saw the ‘spiritual hollowness in her son’s eyes’ her own faith was fading away for her— what a horrific and unforgivable thing to say about your own apostate child for not going along with the song and dance that you believe he must, even if ultimately she realised that to integrate others into her own sense of safety and certainty like that was unconscionable. unfortunately, most parents will never be allowed by their congregations to come to such conclusions about their families that make up these congregations, or in the case of the congregation that expelled spinoza and had him shunned, not by the religious state that needed the congregations that made it up to not allow behavior that disturbed larger and common religious precepts that bound together the contemporary civil religion.

regardless, respecting those objections i have compromised, at times, to paraphrase across various conversations i’ve had:

“if you say so, very well, but then decisions on what should happen in the future with regards to nations, and congregations, and families should be in the hands of the disjunction of those sets of people who we regard as qualified, with our conversation left without (but about) those others, with the hope that neither civil religion or more conventional organised religion will eventually be undone and unable to produce such tragic cases. we will respect their pain and lot in life and seek to understand where it comes from to be able to undo it and not have it be visited unto others, but we won’t factor it into our ultimate understandings and judgements, since as you say, they are unable to partake. of course, none of this requires ‘repression’ and in fact that is more often than not counterproductive and sociological considerations of what cause such outcomes are paramount before any particular action taken, with absolutely none of this belonging to the state or any other organised repressive organ as working through clerical or parental authority, as with any form of disenfranchisement.”

this is never taken well— i suppose there is some incredible nuance somewhere i must have been missing when i still entertained such deeply dehumanising, nonsensical, and unambitious notions at the behest of my religious contacts, or maybe they just didn’t like what they saw in the mirror.

[jamiedc-they-them]

Sibling Duty Part V (Platonic)

Requested Imagine: “I absolutely LOVED reading Sibling Duty part 4! I also love the route your taking with Y/N and her relationship with Daisy. Would you mind writing part 5 (still set in season 5) where Daisy is trying to repair her relationship with Y/N and she tells her about what Deke said with her destroying the world, making Y/N hate Deke even more? You are the best writer ever! 💖💖💖💖💖”

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You had landed in a bumpy manner. But, to you, it didn’t matter, you were here. You were on the earth that was broken by god knows what. Seemed flying wasn’t either of the two’s (Coulson and Daisy) forte.

However, you were here, so that was all that mattered. You got yourself back up off of the floor, Simmons coming over and helping you up. However, she grabbed your arm, and felt you flinch just a little at the contact. She immediately moved to a different part of your body to lift up instead.

Once you were up, she gave you a look filled with apology’s and concern. She hadn’t exactly forgotten about your reaction to her in Kasius’ home. You knew she wouldn’t let it go; it just wasn’t in her caring nature. You were friend; one of her best friends, and you were hurting from something.

She knew that you and Daisy were on unsteady ground, but she saw that you were shaky with everyone. Hell, even Fitz to a degree, despite having followed him to the future and what not.

Still, she knew that this wasn’t the place nor the time.

 Entering the Zephier, you took in the familiar space. You brightened as you saw a familiar face too.

“May.” You sighed in relief as you went over to the woman and hugged her, she returned it gently. When you pulled back, she finally realised that you weren’t with them since the start.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” She asked, slightly worried as to why you were here and not back in the present day.

She saw your smile wobble a little, but you held it, “We came here to save you, obviously. Can’t leave anyone behind.” You said, but she could tell those words still felt a little foreign to your tongue. She saw how your voice wobbled a little like your smile.

She looked back over your shoulder to Coulson, who shrugged, telling his friend to leave it for now. She did but sighed as she did so.

“Hey, Y/nn?” You turned to the voice of your sister, seeing her play with her fingers a little in a nervous fashion as she slowly walked up to you. You only kept quiet and watched her, letting her take her own time to gather herself and say what she wanted to say.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” You knew you didn’t have a lot of time to get back home, but you didn’t talk as you debated it.

“I have something I need to tell you….I need your help with something.” She confessed. However, she then stopped herself when she saw you finch at a BANG! That occurred outside the ship, “Wait…are you ok?” She asked, putting a hand on your arm; one that you immediately grabbed with your hand tightly.

“Ow! Hey!” She said, grounding you once again. You looked at your hand and gulped, releasing it, and watching as she shook it and then massaged it.

“Can we – can we talk about this later?” You asked, gulping as you took a long breath.

“Y/N, I don’t think we can wait any longer for any of this. I need your help, you need mine. That’s the promise we made one another.” She said, trying to get you to open up.

“Yeah, well, that was before all this bullshit. That was before you went into the future and I was –” You stopped yourself before you let it slip.

“Before you did what, Y/nn?” She prodded, concern growing and growing by the minute.

“Nothing, nothing. We don’t have time to play therapy right now, Daisy. We have more important things to do.” She was hurt by your words, her eyes showing just that. Your eyes showed pain at both causing her hurt and whatever was going on with yourself.

As Daisy went to answer, Coulson approached you both, “Girls, let’s not lose each other, alright? We’re a team, we stick together on this. Y/N, take a walk for a minute.” He ordered you. You saw that he understood what you were doing but was going to allow you to do it for the time being.

As said previously, he kept an eye out on you. Before you met the team, you’d do this. He knew it was a coping mechanism and reaction to things.

You nodded, grateful for the order and walked away.

“What are you doing?” Daisy hissed at Coulson. The father figure turned to the youngest daughter.

“She just needs a minute.” He said.

“She needs therapy, Coulson.” She snapped in response.

“You’re right, we all do. But we can’t get that right now. Once we get out of here, we will once all this is said and done.” He promised her. But she only kept her sight on where you just were.

 You didn’t really know where you were going. To be honest, you were just walking blindly with no real goal or area to go to. That was, until you came across the path of Deke. The man sat on his own, back resting against a fencing for a small room; he looked lonely, he looked sad.

“What’s got you so down?” You asked, stopping, and leaning against the wall.

“You ever feel any distain towards your sister, despite being so tight?” He asked, looking distant as he said the words.

You gave them some thought, actually having a moment to think despite everything going on.

“Not really hate or distain, just more discomfort.” You admitted.

“How come?” He asked, still with a distant gaze.

“We just grew apart after something drastic. Then I get fucking kidnapped and end up in a….different world.” You said, trying to scurt past the issue.

“The Framework?” He guessed. You looked at him in shock.

“Exactly that, how did you know?” You asked in one breath.

“Played around in that myself, place to have some me time and be all woe is me. My own dad was never the best, I damned him for a long time. Now, really all I want is for him to walk through that door,” He finally looked at you, “But, I’m glad you have your sister. Even if she was the one that got us in this whole thing.”

“What do you mean?” Becoming defensive.

“She broke the world apart with her power.” He said, bluntly. Before he finally realised, “You didn’t know.” He said with some pity.

He expected to be thrown against the wall, but instead got a conflicted look on your face. You even had tears in your eyes, “How long ago was that?” You asked, voice cracking as you did so.

“A while.” He said, not exactly knowing how long it was.

“And you knew the whole time?” You asked in a tone that held a sense of anger to it.

“I did….But, I thought she told you.” He said as a justification for him coming right out with it.

“Ok.” Was all you said as you walked away, leaving a more dejected Deke as he slumped back against the fence.

“Nice going, Deke.” He scolded himself.

 Daisy was sat on a crate, swinging her legs to try and pass the time. However, she stopped when she saw you holding a box in your hands. She gave you a small smile, one you returned.

You approached her holding the box, placing it next to her before sitting on her other side. She looked from you to the box, slowly moving her hand to the first aid box and opening it.

“So, Daisy, Deke told me something interesting,” Your sister slowly looked to you in slight fear as you continued, “You broke the world apart.” You decided to just rip the bandage off.

“…He’s right.” She said, confirming his words.

You nodded, “We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.” You promised her.

She looked at you in disbelief, “Y/N, we can’t –”

“We’re going to,” You said, firmer, “You told me that I’m not a monster, you aren’t either.” You assured her. You took her hand in your own and gave it a squeeze. She smiled with a tear smile as she returned it.

She was happy your shaky bond was starting to heal itself.

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As Daisy started to tend to her wounds, Coulson and May both approached you with news about Robin. Turns out, it wasn’t the best news in the world as to what the person that you and Fitz knew as a young girl who had now turned old had to say.

“So, the lady who sees the future says that there isn’t one? Super.” Daisy said as she put the bandage on her arm.

“Unfortunately, Robin’s not much for specifics. Anyone who has the answers is either unreliable, dead, or wants us dead.” Coulson bluntly stated.

“So, status quo.” You chuckled at May’s response.

“Yeah. The homicidal blue bastards are the most pressing issue. We made a pretty big splash when we broke out of the Lighthouse.” Daisy said as she handed you the box as she stood up. You closed it and joined her.

“Hope Mack and Yoyo are holding their own. We’re gonna come to blows with Kasius soon. Only question is, who strikes first?” Coulson asked.

“Empire?” He looked at you with a smile at the question, but he shook his head. He recognised that defence as well.

He looked to Daisy as he spoke, “We have Y/N, but it’d be nice to have Quake back with us when that happens.” He said in honesty.

“Won’ be quaking anything with this thing on.” Daisy said, gesturing to the inhibitor in her neck. You took a step back as the parents looked at their youngest child’s issue. However, he still gave you a look over his shoulder. It was one you were used to, message and all: We’re going to have a talk about you.

Did you appreciate it? To a point. But you had a handle on it your trauma, or at least as best as you could. After all, you didn’t see Fitz breaking down over it and crying to Jemma. You had to stay strong for the team and fight your demons on your own; you had made it this far doing it, so.

“Have Fitz and Simmons take a look. We’ll keep working with Robin, see what else shakes loose.” He told her.

“Copy.” The youngest of you all said as she grabbed the box and walked away, giving you a small smile before she went.

As soon as she left, your smile dropped as you turned to Coulson, knowing the discussion he’d try and have with you. Well, what made it worse was that May was there too, the woman that had seemed to of adapted to your many ways to try and escape these chats.

“You wanna tell us what’s going on?” It was the us that made you looked at him with confusion, shifting your eyes between the two people that were the only real somewhat stable parental figures you had ever really had in your life.

“I flinched a little Coulson, it happens. My old homes weren’t exactly a walk in the park.” He nodded at your words, but knew you were avoiding something.

“I know, kiddo,” He softened his voice and continued, “But, this wasn’t that. This was something else.”

“Trauma’s trauma, Coulson. I was due another….attack anytime soon.” It was May that spoke up to that.

“You’re not on a timer, Y/N. Don’t ever think that way about what you’ve been through.” She said in her caring, but stern voice.

“Too late.” You said meekly. You then turned away, unable to continue it and have a pity party when so much more was going on right now.

Still, you felt the stare of the two as you walked away, feeling their gazes on your back, feeling the concern and care for your wellbeing.

You were fine, Daisy was not.

 “The inhibitor’s embedded itself in the greater auricular nerve.” Jemma said as she found where the inhibitor was. However, her tone suggested that it was anything but good.

“Ok….” Daisy trailed off, looking at her scientist best friend for a deeper explanation.

“Removing it requires sophisticated tools and a trained neurosurgeon, either of which we have. Even if we did, the slightest error could paralyze you from the neck down.” Jemma said, going that level deeper and sighing as she finished giving said explanation.

“Ok, so we leave it alone, then.” Daisy said with her own sigh. She looked to you with an annoyed look, but it wasn’t aimed at you; she was frustrated with all this, you knew that.

“Can’t do what he said you did that way, huh?” You said, trying to find some light in this, “Better keep your power in than out. Besides, you can hold your own anyway.” Daisy rubbed her eyes as you spoke.

“Thanks, Y/nn’s.” She said, meaning them as she gave you a grateful look and smile.

   Fitzsimmons had seemingly found you a way home; with a piece of the Monolith that Coulson and May had found seemingly fitting into a device that was made for it to fit it seemed.

 “So, you’re the sister, huh?” Vigil asked as he saw you waiting outside for your sister as she spoke to Robin. She always seemed to have a way with kids, maybe it was the fact that she never had a parental figure until she was in her mid to late twenties that drove her to make sure that other kids had something like that; had that love and care.

You knew you were with that with the younger people on the team, even those that had loving parents (or just one, in Fitz’s’ case). Still, she went in, and you waited for her. Besides, she knew Robin better. And that was fine.

“That’s me.” You said, watching him with distrust. There was just something about him. He seemed to have this desperate survivor feeling about him. You had been that too, you had done stuff to get by too.

“Hm.” He said, “I do wonder though why I don’t see you here.” He said, getting your attention.

“On what?” You asked, it seemed to be the question he wanted, as the next moment a video appeared on the laptop: the video started with footage of a Quinjet before a familiar figure walked out of it.

“There she is.” He said, pointing to Daisy on screen as if you’d miss her. You leaned in, watching the screen with an intense gaze.

“That was the last time anyone ever saw Daisy Johnson alive. At least, until right now obviously.” He said as he pointed to the curtain that cut you both off from your sister.

“Then what?” You asked, in a soft voice.

“Well, by all accounts, the city had been evacuated. No one there. After Quake walked in, 12.8 on the Richter scale, then the world cracked like an egg.” He told you.

“How could I --.” Daisy said, standing by your side now instead of behind the curtain, she watched it with pained eyes.

“That’s the question. But when you looked at this moment and all the suffering that took place after, you can’t help by wonder…if it could’ve been prevented.” You looked at him with a suspicious look, slightly pulling Daisy towards you just in case this would go the way you both seemed to be prepared for it to go.

It did, with more of his friends showing up behind you to block you off. The fight then started; with Daisy going for the two while you went for Vigil. As you swung, he blocked and slammed his own fist into your face. It sent you back to the wall. He then put his hands around your throat, cutting you off from air, “Maybe this is why you aren’t there.” He said as you continued to lose air.

He was pushed away from you the next moment as Daisy sent him back with a punch, before restraining him. She gave you a quick look to make sure you were ok, but Coulson was checking on you as May ran to a then shot Robin.

“Breath.” He said to try and coach you.

“Don’t……….you………….think………….I’m………….trying?” You said with breaks in between, trying to do just that. He just pat held your shoulder as you slowly caught your breath and regained your senses.

“Y/N, are you ok?” Daisy asked immediately once you got everything under control. She had just returned from putting Vigil wherever she put him. She had made a b-line right for you after that. She had replaced Coulson, you realised once you opened your eyes again.

You gave a nod as you sniffled, “Yeah, just winded.” You said, but she detected the slight tremble; she had heard the words Vigil had said to you and made sure to hit him once as revenge for it.

“You?” You asked. To an outsider, it would be your own concern (to your credit, part of it was, she gave you that) but, to her, it was you deflecting it and not wanting to dive into his connotations. Sure, she had the question herself about where you were in the video, but she didn’t know Vigil would try and kill you as well. She knew that it had to have an affect on your somehow.

Despite being agents that seemed to dance with death every day, she knew that everyone had their breaking point.

She was just scared that you were approaching yours and wanted to talk you off of a metaphorical ledge before it reached that place.

“Daisy,” You said, grabbing her arms securely as you saw the conflict in her eyes about how to proceed. She put her own arms upon yours as a way to show that she was listening, “I’m still here, ok? And I’m ok, really. But, right now, we need to get the hell out of this place and get back home, ok?”

She nodded, knowing that you were right. Still, she appreciated the squeeze you gave to her shoulders before walking to help with fixing the ship.

 It took a little bit, but it was up and running for the most part. As you took off, Daisy had to release the anchor. However, as you went to help her, she shook her head; Coulson even forced you back down int your seat, “Stay down, Y/nn! I got this.” She yelled to you as she slowly made her way to do just that job.

“Trust her, Y/N. She can do this.” He told you as she ship started to shake and sparks started to burst, making you all cover your heads.

“I do! I just don’t want her to be alone in case something happens!” You yelled back as more sparks started to go off.

Simmons yelled an apology, but you were all busy trying to cover your heads and keep yourself safe. You were so close to using your ability to do just that, but you knew that doing so would probably leave you unconscious. You couldn’t do that, not in this type of situation.

However, you didn’t need to worry about that, as the ship then took off, giving you all the chance to save your friends back in the Lighthouse.

 You had entered the lighthouse once more to find said friends. As you travelled further in, Deke offered to secure the machine that would get you home. However, he seemed to know the self-sacrificial ways you and your sister had, “When the other side of you is a frigging hero that can’t help themselves but do good, then be great. The world needs those people to make it home.” He told you both. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Coulson looking at the three of you with a smile.

You looked at Deke, “Maybe you weren’t as bad as I thought you were.” You admitted.

He looked at you with a small smile, “Yeah, well, guess we all have surprises that we don’t tell everyone.” With that, he left you all to go do what he promised he would do; protect the machine.

 Then you got to an elevator, one that would take you to the others. However, as you entered it, you saw that Daisy hadn’t entered it with you.

“Daisy, can’t waste time.” Coulson said, seemingly oblivious to what she was doing.

She met your eyes, knowing that you knew, “I’m not coming.” She said, despite the crestfallen look on your face.

Coulson walked forward a little, “I know you’re scared about going home.” Daisy corrected him.

“No, I’m terrified. Look around. Billions of people, gone. If there’s a chance that I’m the cause, I can’t go.” She explained to you all.

“We can get through this, together. You don’t even have your powers anymore.” May argued.

“It’s only a matter of time, and you know it….Y/N does.” She said, softening her voice at your name as she met your now teary eyes.

“If there’s an emergency or if one of you are in danger, I will need them, we will find another way.” She assured you all, “If I go through that portal, you know it’s the beginning of the end.”

“I don’t. We don’t even know you did this.” Coulson was now getting desperate.

“I was right in the epicentre.” She said, bluntly.

“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself because your scared of what’s to come.”

“What’s to come is the end of everything.” Daisy exclaimed, desperate for you all to let her go.

“If you can change the future here, you can change it from back home.” May said.

“But we know his solution works! We can stop this today.” Was Daisy’s response.

“No, it’s not about today. It’s about tomorrow. Even if we solve this problem, the world is never safe. The job goes on, we go on….Please.” Coulson begged her.

“Maybe I don’t go with you. You know it’s the right move.” Your footsteps broke her eye contact with Coulson. You took a place next to her.

“You don’t go, I don’t go.” You said. The other two watched you both have a silent conversation, an argument, even. They watched as you silently did that, eyes widening and nudging of heads. Finally, however, she nodded and sighed.

“Coulson, as agents of SHIELD, you have trained us to fight. Now, we are making our stand….here.” She said, accepting your help.

“May and Y/N trained you to fight. I taught you to leave.” Coulson said as he was raising his ICER. You, however, beat him to it, shooting your sister instead with your own. You grabbed her and held her in your arms.

“Y/N –” Coulson said, most likely to try and comfort; you, however, were having none of it.

“I got her, let’s go.” You said, in full agent mode.

 So, with Flint rebuilding the Monolith, you could go back home. But now you had a terrified Daisy in your arms who was willing to do anything to stop the world from breaking apart; you were terrified of what that would include.

“Let me take her.” Coulson offered, holding out his arms for Daisy.

“I got her –”

“Y/N, just let me help. Please.” You sighed, but gave into his want, placing your sister’s body in his arms.

You were going home, but now all of you now more frightened than ever.

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You had landed, you were home. You were back on solid ground that you actually recognised. You could almost kiss the thing in pure joy, but you then remembered why you were here. Coulson laid Daisy on a table as he started to give out orders to find where they were and try and find a way to set up shop.

As they all left, it was just you and Coulson remaining, “You didn’t have to be the one to do that, you know?” He said to break the silence.

“Someone had to, she saw you raising yours. So, I stepped in.” You waved off his thanks, only keeping your eyes on your sister.

“Thank you….for doing that. To be honest, as strong as my voice was, I wasn’t sure if I could actually go through with it.” Your leader and friend admitted to you. You just nodded as you kicked the floor with your shoe.

“You’re welcome.” You decided on saying, giving him a timid smile.

As Coulson went to say something more, Daisy awoke.

“Which one of you ICE’d me?” She asked as she closed her eyes again to try and help the headache.

“That’d be me, sorry.” You said with honesty.

“Yeah, not gonna lie, was kind of hoping you’d forget that part.” Coulson’s words held a slight amused tone to them, but an apology was still in those words.

“Sorry to disappoint.” She said as she finally sat up, with your help. She looked around, finally realising where you were, “It looks the same, but we’re….we’re home, aren’t we?” She asked.

“Surprise?” You weren’t even sure if that would work, but you tried; even putting your arms out and shaking them like a showman.

“Did you really think after everything we’ve been through, us three, that there would be any universe in which we’d leave you behind?” Coulson asked, usual soft smile on his face.

“Even with all the risks –” You cut her off.

“Shut up about them, we don’t care, Dais.” Coulson continued for you.

“We need you here.” Daisy looked at you both with a soft look and nodded.

 She had stayed behind while you went out to investigate the first “omen” of the oncoming destruction. So, you and the rest went out, while she stayed behind. You turned to her when she said that she would be staying, “Daisy –”

“Y/nn, I need you to trust me. The others need you out there, alright?” She said, putting a hand on your arm. You sighed, but nodded and gave in, walking off with the others.

So, you went with them while Daisy stayed behind on the computers. She ate some of the snacks that Noah, a Chronicom in the Lighthouse, had stored. So, she took them and ate them as she tried to find out what she could for you.

“May I ask you something?” Daisy hummed a yes, “In all my years of observing the human race, I’ve never seen two family members try and push each other way like the two of you do.” His words gave her pause for a moment.

“We have some things to work through, I’ll give you that. I wanna help her with whatever’s going in in her head, but I can’t right now. I’m a danger to everyone, and she’s hurting. So, I thought to send her with the others for some company.” Noah only nodded at her explanation.

 You had found a van and were driving in it. As you did, you and the rest of the team talked about how much worse the situation could be. For a moment, it was a nice cathartic moment, to talk about everything you had been through as group, as well as individual ups and downs.

“At least it’s not the watchdogs.” You said, adding your own thing onto the ever-growing list.

“Was that who you went after when you left?” May asked, softening her voice a little.

You nodded, “Bobbi was there too, you know?” The rest were quiet as they listened to you, “She helped me with that last job I did. Well, call it job, more like attack really.” They gave it a moment to fully digest the reasoning now of why they found you where they did, in a barn with a bunch of dead an unconscious Watchdog members around you.

 You had made it to the place where the light was coming from, and it was Piper. It was nice to see your friend again. However, as you went to secure the item, guards entered the room and held you all at gunpoint, you had been betrayed by her.

A fight broke out, with you all taking on the guards and being able to do a bit of damage, but most of the time got thrown around. You were holding your own with your ability, but they seemed to just either not go down, or those that did just got replaced with more of the bastards.

Finally, though, it all stopped when you heard Elena gasp. You all turned to her and your eyes widened at what you saw: Elena with no arms and only rivers of blood where those once stood.

The masked individual that had done it had only walked away from you all as you grabbed Elena and ran out as fast as you could. Well, they had, you were frozen in your tracks.

“Y/N….” You heard a voice say your name and other things, but you couldn’t focus on that; you could only focus on the blood of your friend.

“ – Need to move.” The voice said again, before a hand took you arm, and you were moving. You heard your footsteps, but the main thing you heard was your breathing.

You heard voices of friends whiz past you as whoever was holding you got you through to the front, “Is she ok?” or, “What’s wrong with Y/N”? were the main ones you heard. However, whoever was pulling along didn’t answer, the just continued to pull.

They sat you in a seat, before going to fly. The sound around you was still high pitched, like an annoying air horn by your ear constantly going off. You closed your eyes and tried to breath in way that didn’t shake and make tears appear in your eyes.

Opening your eyes once again after that long breath, you saw Jemma Simmons crouching in front of you, holding your hands and running a thumb over them to try and ground you. You saw her mouth move, but her words were still not fully coherent to you.

You then felt a hand on your back, gently rubbing it; it was Fitz. You focused on the two best friends you and Daisy had known for what you wished your whole life; two people that wouldn’t give up on either of you no matter what it seemed.

You let yourself have this moment with your friends; let them comfort you and help you through this, despite their own worry for your mutual friend that was currently bleeding and could maybe be dead.

 Daisy was awaiting you at home, she gasped as she saw Elena armless as she the woman was rushed past her with the others following. However, Jemma stopped and looked at Daisy with worry, “Y/N is still up there. She hasn’t said a word since we got back….Maybe you can talk to her.” She suggested, before leaving to help her other friend.

Daisy took a breath, one of bracing. She then made her way up the ramp, seeing you sat in a chair. You were crying, but not sobbing, just crying. It crushed her to see you like this, to see you spiralling so much and still withholding things from her and the others.

From what you said when you met Deke, she knew that you and Fitz had been through something awful, she knew that it didn’t just go away at a click of fingers. All she wanted, though, was to be there and help you get through it. To help you reach the other side.

She went to were you sat, taking a seat next to you. She thought back to when you were both at the pool, both struggling to process that HYDRA had blindsided you all and pretty much brought SHIELD to its knees.

She tried to reach out to do what she did then, hug you and comfort you. However, this time it went differently.

As she reached out, you recoiled, standing up and moving away from her. She looked at you with bit of shock, but then she saw the anger in your eyes. Despite herself, she looked down a little sheepish; you had never really played the pissed older sibling card before. Now, it seemed you would.

“What the fuck?” You sneered; yeah, you were playing the card alright, “I mean, you say the world will end if you leave, then stay and this shit happens? I mean, come on!” She just watched as you threw your arms up in the air in exasperation.

“I was doing this to protect you, I had to stay.” She said in an uncharacteristic quiet voice.

“I don’t need protection, Daisy, we needed you out there. I needed my sister to have my back. I – if you were there, maybe this shit wouldn’t have happened –” She defended herself at that accusation.

“No, I would’ve hurt you or someone else –”

“I have been hurt already Daisy! Plenty of fucking times; I can take it!”

“But it doesn’t mean you should!” She argued. She knew all about being hurt before, god knew she did. But she didn’t also have another separate life full of it’s own pain to contend with either.

“Hey!” Coulson yelled, making you both stop and look at him, despite heavy breathing as you were both getting worked up. You were both slowly getting angry. Coulson knew you both had a bad temper at the best of times; and, especially in these times, he hated to see what your worst would look like.

“We don’t get through this by turning on each other.” You scoffed at his words.

“This isn’t turning on each other, this is spy-sibling arguments.” You said, gesturing between you both.

“I get it, alright? Tensions are high right now; we all need a break. We will get one after this, I promise you.” He assured you; you both took a moment to stop and try and calm down.

“I’m sorry.” You both said in sync. If he was being honest, it kind of freaked him out. But he had gotten the result he wanted out of interrupting you both; that being getting two people he cared about a lot to stop fighting and work together again. His two daughters falling apart was always something he feared.

 As much as he had gotten you both to stop tearing each other and yourselves apart, the same couldn’t be said for himself. Not with what was going on with himself. Not with the deal he made with the Ghost Rider to get rid of AIDA and bring that chapter to a close.

That was when the fear dimension opened; that was when his secret came out and pushed Daisy further away and pushed her further towards snapping. You fought back tears at Coulson’s news. However, it was the fear dimension that brought something to you that you didn’t expect.

 May and Coulson had just had their heart to heart about what was going in with him, when they saw you hit the floor after having stumbled around the corner, what they saw was the fear that was on your face.

“Y/N, what is it?” May asked, having reached you first and put a hand on your shoulder as she helped you up from the floor. Your eyes were wide and breathing all over the place. You tried to answer, but you could barely get a word out as the person you were running from came from behind the corner.

It was Daisy, just….not. This was a Daisy that carried a pistol with intent to her you; they knew that their Daisy wouldn’t do that.

When they looked at you; the fear stricken you that was now hiding behind them, they knew who this Daisy was. The Framework Daisy that sold you out.

“Y/N, stay behind us.” You already were, but Coulson sill reminded you. You didn’t think twice, you only did as he asked.

“Just give me Y/N, and I can leave.” Framework Daisy told the two that were protecting you.

“Yeah, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.” Coulson said, giving a faux pout at the end of it.

It only enraged her, with Framework Daisy raising the pistol. However, it was then grabbed by the real Daisy, it was struggle between the two. The shots went off, with May and Coulson pulling you down to the floor for cover from the bullets that had rang out.

As Daisy struggled, she slammed her head into her faux self, “Not using your powers, I see?” Faux Daisy taunted her.

However, the real Daisy only pulled the trigger on her Framework self. As soon as she did, she then turned to you and dropped the pistol. She ran over to you, falling to her knees in front of you.

“Are you ok?” She asked in panic, cupping your face in her hands, “Y/N, I need you to look at me,” She begged of you, “Y/N, hey! I’m right here, I’m right here.” She said in a (attempt at) soothing voice as she pulled you in for a hug.

 You didn’t open up for to her, you only sobbed and slowly got your breathing back under control. You had then all piled into the main room of the Lighthouse, you all watched as Coulson made his way down the level that held the tear that brought all those fears in. You watched him walk through it, at least for a moment anyway.

The feed then died. It left you all in the dark and left you all spiralling further. You just stood back and watched as your friends all yelled; Daisy was arguing that you couldn’t just do nothing, while everyone else wanted nothing but to go down there but knew the risks.

Finally, she looked to you, “Y/N, please.” She said in a begging voice, even walking towards you and putting a hand on your arm, “Please, we need to go get him.” She was tearing up, but she was also angry.

You watched with pity as you uttered your response, “I’m sorry, Daisy. It’s too dangerous.” You said it in a soft voice.

 You then had a moment of peace, a wedding between your two best friends. Jemma had asked for Daisy to be her maid of honour, while Fitz had gone for Mack as his best man. You didn’t mind that at all, you had been gone longer than Daisy had after all.

But it was a nice moment, a rare moment of peace with nothing bad happening.

Except, that was soon shattered the next day.

 Fitz hadn’t been sleeping, barely if at all. It was taking a toll on him, he was snapping more often, he was yelling and slamming his hand against the table more and more in growing frustration.

However, he also knew what it was like to have a demon inside of you. For you both, it had been in there for ages; just personified in different ways. Yours was through your power, his was through his alter persona.

That persona then showed itself to him; one that then had two targets, one to torture, and one to torment.

He had found Daisy, tied her down to an able to take out the implant in her neck. It was needed, but he was the one that seemed to be wiling to do what was needed.

“Where’s Fitz? Where’s the real Fitz?” She begged, terrified and only wanting her brother to come back to her.

It was then that you were led into the room at gunpoint,  “No….No, no, no, no. Fitz, Fitz! Please don’t do this, please let her go!” Daisy begged as a few tears fell down her face. You both looked at each other with broken expressions.

“Take a step, and you get shot. Not a kill shot. Well, It won’t be if Daisy lets me do what I need to do.” He threatened. Daisy was still terrified, out of her mind terrified. Her eyes widened as she looked at you; you were scheming. She knew you were trying to find some way to get out of this. To stop him.

You looked at your younger sister, nodding in an assuring manner. You gave her a smile, a timid one, but a smile. You then moved three words that in any other situation would make her feel warm and fuzzy at your sisterly affection and tell her that your dynamic was back on track.

This did the opposite.

“NO!” She screamed as you went forward, a shot was fired, and she was forced to watch you hit the ground with a wound on your chest. Blood hit her face, your blood. Fitz even looked horrified at the events that had just transpired.

“Y/N….Oh my – What did you do?!” He said to the doctor side of himself. You were focusing on not passing out, on trying to still find a way out of this on your own.

You could only let out chocked gasps as Daisy cried out for you as you heard more footsteps and then a gasp.

“Please, Fitz…. She’s dying.” You heard the broken voice of Jemma Simmons beg her now husband.

“I –” You heard Fitz say, before he seemed to realise that it was just him in the room and not the doctor. It was all internal and not external.

“No, no, no!” You heard your sister cry as Fitz started the procedure. You, however, finally felt the void take you and have darkness consume you.

 When you came to, you were in your room and in your bed. You looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. As soon as you tried to sit up, your chest flared with pain.

Your door opened, and Melinda May entered; for once, emotion was on her face. It was a worried look that then sparked some joy when she saw you alive and well.

She took a seat next to you silently, “Daisy’s been worried sick about you. We had to stop her from coming in here herself and quaking you awake.” She said in the hopes of lightening the mood. Your face, however, went to concern.

“Where is she? Is she ok? Is she –”

“She’s not doing the best with everything. She’s gone into leader mode and shut herself out from feeling a lot of the time. When she does, it’s full on. Like when she saw Fitz right after she heard about your condition.” She told you, deciding not to hold anything back.

Your head hit the pillow as you let out a sigh that then turned into a kind of sob, “Fuck.” You cursed as you put your hands to your eyes as if that would stop them. May watched you with a look of pity and sadness.

“I just wanted to protect her from this shit.” You admitted as you then put your face in your hands and slowly slid them upwards, then through your hair, “Some kind of shitty sister I was, huh? All she wanted to do was help and I –” You stopped as you gulped back more tears and looked around to try and keep them at bay.

“You’re right,” You looked at May, “You’re right, she did want to help you. We all did. But we knew it would take time. She’s willing to wait for as long as you need, she and the rest of us just don’t won’t you to forget that we’re here.” She told you.

“What happened while we were gone?” She asked, wanting to know more than ever. You looked at her with pained, but for once didn’t stop yourself.

“We were locked up, May. Fitz, he stressed himself with finding you guys; I was just locked in a cell that they never opened again. They were more interest ed in Fitz. So, my power clawed at me over and over again. I did a Daisy and made it all internal; now I don’t know when it’s gonna explode, I just know it will.”

“We can help with that, you aren’t alone in this, Y/N. Granted, Daisy will know more. But, that’s not the point; we’re a team, we help each other. It’s not just a one-sided thing.”

She gave you a moment to register her words, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to tell this to the other Johnson.” She said with a slightly teasing smile. You returned it.

“Hey, May?” You called out as she started to leave, she turned to you, “Could you grab Daisy’s laptop on your way out, please? I might not be in the field for a few days, but I still wanna help as Jemma does her whole doctor thing.” May gave you a smile and nodded.

You smiled too, finally ready to be helped and helped at the same time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Where you as good as your sister? No, but you were still decent on computers. She had taught you a thing or two, just a lack of experience was holding you back really. That was now going to, maybe, be remedied. You ran recon as the others went out.

“Y/N, thank god. Are you alright?” Daisy asked over the comms as you entered via your laptop to aid them on their mission. They were going to collect Polly and Robin; you were providing recon for them.  

“You know how Doc Simmons is Dais, she’s keeping me alive.” Daisy, despite everything going on and her own declining mood, let out a chuckle at your words. It helped her a moment.

“Yeah, I now how she can be.” She said with a smile, remembering back to when she was shot.

You watched as she met the younger version of Robin, the one that didn’t bleed out in May’s arms. The one that May had apparently helped raise.

You watched as they took Robin back and tried to coax something out of here, the only time she reacted was to May. You softened a little as you watched the young girl hand May a sheet in a calm manner. You watched as she gave you all a clue as to where Coulson was. The man was with the woman who had taken you, a woman called general Hale.

 Jemma had stopped by one more time, smiling at you as she entered, “How are you Y/N?” She asked, both as a doctor and friend as she changed your bandaging once more.

“Better, you?” You asked, trying to get her to meet your eyes. When she wouldn’t, you grabbed her hand in your own, “Hey,” You said as you squeezed it, “I’m not pissed at him. It was a part of him he had locked away and that showed itself more when were locked up. God knows I know that.” You confided in your best friend.

She squeezed your hand back as thanks, “What’s your thing?” She asked in a slightly worried tone.

“My power. But, once this is all settled, I know Daisy and I need to have a talk to sought all this shit out. Or at least to start to.” Jemma smiled, happy two people that were pretty much sisters to her were moving past their angst with each other and how it could all go back to somewhat normal.

 However, that all, literally, came crashing down when everything stared to spiral. You were forced to watch a young girl, the one who had chopped off Elena’s arms, die in a brutal fashion by revenge from the woman. The girl’s name was Ruby, and you saw your sister keep holding out hope that the girl could be turned into a good agent. To be honest, you agreed.

Still, you were forced to watch her bleed out on the floor.

Then General Talbot (a prisoner of Hale’s) turned out to be conditioned by HYDRA and was a kind of mole to steal Polly. He broke out of your base using his new powers.

Then the real bombshell came, you only had enough of the Centipede serum (a serum you had came across before) to either save Coulson or end Talbot. Now you were pretty much stuck in a place of two extremes; either you let one of your closest friends die and save the world or save him and doom the world.

Your sister went to argue her point, when you came to the door, having made your own way there, “Y/N, you should be resting.” She told you in a tone that reminisced your tone when ever you got annoyed at her (one she had barely heard but seem to perfect anyway).

“You think I’d let you guys make this type of decision without me?” You asked, throwing or own two cents in on saving Coulson. You knew it was selfish, but it was honest.

 However, May had broken that chance, literally by breaking the type that held the mixture that they needed to kill Talbot with.

Daisy, after calming down, went to you and hugged you, “I’m so glad you’re ok.” She said with a muffled voice into your shoulder, she put one of her hand’s to your hair, you hugged her back.

“I’m here, Dais, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere as long as I can help it, alright?” You pulled back and looked her in the eyes, “Now, I need to help out here, alright? But I’ll be with the others, you kick is ass for me, yeah?” She nodded and giggled.

 You did as you promised, going with Mack and Fitz into the building to find Robin and Polly. You liked not having to do this alone anymore, being with your friends on equal levels instead of putting one on the other.

As you entered the room, you found Robin, just not Polly. Mack, however, jumped right in despite your callings out for him not to do so.

Fitz and May then entered. However, as they did, May turned to you with that motherly look in her eyes as she looked from you to Robin, “Take care of her.” Was all she asked of you. You knew what it meant: get her out of here.

You nodded doing just that.

 It had come at a cost, however. Fitz, or, this version of Fitz, had died, buried in the rubble, and impaled in the side.

However, as much as Daisy had been scared by Fitz, you knew she wasn’t mad at the version was alive; she wasn’t hurt by the version that was alive.

Although, as you laid on the crate below her feet, eyes closed as you got some rest, she had a thought as she drank from her glass as she watched you.

You had a younger version of yourself still out there.

May then descended down to you both, smiling at the sight, “You had the talk yet?” She asked, taking the glass that Daisy offered to her.

“A little, she told me about how lonely she was. It hurts, knowing that while we were fighting for our lives, she was losing the will for her own.”

“Well, we’ll all be back together one day. Until we are a….you know, again, I know you’ll make up for the lost time.” Daisy nodded.

“You’re damn right we all will.”

She finished her glass as she looked down at you again. She knew you’d both take a while to fully talk it all out. But she knew you’d get there.

You were family, a healthy one. You would work through it. But you also knew that the others had your backs when it came to this as well.

Because that was what family did. They help each other.

[flying-nightwing]

Decorum (1/3)

Oh hey! With the recent marvel abominations (read: endg*me) I have turned to DC for some comfort and I was not disappointed. So here’s my first attempt at writing something of the DC universe. So uh, enjoy the fruit of my procrastination. Pls like, reblog, comment, lemme know what you think.

Part 2

Pairing: Dick Grayson x Reader, eventually Jason Todd x Reader

Number of words: 2569

Warnings: lots of angst, arranged marriage, rich people lol, few swear words, mentions of cheating.

Summary: Being married to Dick Grayson is not as glamorous as everyone else in Gotham would think, especially since you both hate each other. But unbeknownst to him, his absence does have consequences.

The limo was silent. It always was, aside from the casual buzzing of Dick’s cell phone every three minutes or so. It was always the same story, you’d get ready in silence, in your seperate rooms, then meet in the vehicule already. The ride would be quiet, devoid of eye contact, or god forbid, remarks on the other’s effort on their evening attire. Yours was always the best, thought forward and flawless. Dick’s was pretty much the same every time, with the exception of a minor variant not to be caught dead in the same outfit twice. 

Imagine the blow to the Wayne’s reputation if he did. 

Then, you would pull out the smiles for the cameras the split second before the limo door opened. He would get out first and offer you his arm, beaming like he actually liked you. You would walk the red carpet at his arms, as if he allowed them outside of the public eye. You would mingle with the high society of Gotham and rave about how great was the fundraising, and how great was Bruce Wayne. How great was the company going with your father’s investments, and just how great life was with your husband. The women would tell you all about how your couple was such a match in heaven, but the jealousy behind their eyes would be a little too obvious. After all, you did secure Dick Grayson as your husband. The Boy Wonder, the Golden Boy, Gotham’s favourite son. 

Yeah, isn’t life great.

And at the end of the night, after empty-smiling so much it hurt, you would climb back into the limo, take your seat as far as each other as possible, and return to your normal routine of avoiding each other. You knew he blamed you for forcing this union on you, even though you were the only one to voice your disagreement on it. Wayne Industries had suffered a blow after a prolonged absence from Bruce--one of them, anyway--and your father had so generously offered to help with the bailout. It came to a condition, however, one that would cost both you and Dick your freedom. But isn’t it just was the high society does, what they’ve always done? Personal feelings don’t matter, only money and reputation do. And Bruce, well, Bruce really needed that bailout for some reason. You were surprised, usually he had a tendency not to ask for help and do it himself.

There must have been some interest he had to protect at all cost.

You found out what put him against a wall a year later, at the same time you discovered that not all of Dick’s night escapades were dedicated to seeing Barbara. You had understood soon enough after your marriage that Dick would always be Dick, and set an accord with him that as long as his affair didn’t reach the public, you would turn a blind eye to it. But the bruises and haunting look in his eyes--whenever you could catch them--told an alternative narrative. You weren’t dumb, you put two and two together, with him and Bruce’s similar disappearing patterns. All this time spent in silence left a lot of space to observe, and observe you did. 

And your theory was that he knew the second you discovered. The shift in both of your attitudes was unspoken, as everything else was, but it was there, visibly and prominent. At first he would send you questioning glances when he thought you weren’t paying attention, as he was trying to figure out why you hadn’t lashed out, or as to when exactly you would sell him out to the police. Then, he stopped sneaking back in at the early hours of the morning, him and Bruce even sometimes discussed vigilante matters with you at ear range. Hushered, but not hidden. He even let you tend to his wounds that one time, no question asked from either of you. It was the closest you got to him before he shut you out again.

“What did I do this time?” 

His sighing voice snapped you out of your thoughts, and your eyes trailed from the window to him. You were back in the limo after the gala, and oh, he had spoken. Unusual thing for him to do, but his accusatory tone was anything but. You met his eyes half a second, then went back to looking outside. You couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but it was better than looking at him.

“You weren’t subtle” You hummed, and you felt the shift in his attitude. He knew as well as you did what you were talking about. “I can take a lot of shit you do, but I won’t let you publicly humiliate me”

“Come on” He scoffed dismissively. “It’s not like I went over there and made out with her”

“Those people are vultures” Your tone turned harsh as you looked back at him. “You’re lucky nobody noticed you straight up ogling at Barbara this time, or the scandal would already be out”

“Ah, yes. Your precious reputation” He rolled his eyes. “God forbid anyone taint it”

“Not just mine, but yours and Bruce as well” You raised your chin in defiance. You didn’t care if you were being an asshole to him, you weren’t the one acting like one in the relationship, if there was any. “Remember that if I leave, I leave with the money”

“Aren’t you tired of making that threat every times?” He asked sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “You could at least come up with a new one”

“I could, it’s not for the lack of source material” You mused, and he tensed. “But I won’t. And you know why?”

He didn’t answer as the car came to a halt.

“Because I think of myself as a decent person, and despite how you’re behaving toward me, I will never stoop so low as to attack your dignity” You spoke firmly, quickly. You barely noticed Dick recoiling in his seat; never you had been so direct, so dry with him. You pushed the door open, and paused. “You better start managing yourself, because I’m done trying”

With that, you slammed the door and left him stunned in the car.

---------

“Mr. Grayson could not join us tonight?”

You turned around and smiled at Mr. Fowley, one of the generous donator to the Wayne foundation. They always asked about him, and you got pretty good at coming up with different excuses every time to justify his absence.

“Unfortunately, he and Mr. Wayne had to attend to a very important board meeting regarding the passing down of Wayne Industries assets when the time comes” You answered easily. It had become a second nature to you to cover for him ever since you said I do. “He was very sorry not to be able to attend”

He wasn’t. 

“That’s unfortunate indeed” He sighed. “I wished to give him my gratitude for solving the mystery of my lost paintings”

Dick had solved the disappearance of one of the most impressive private collections of original Monets in North America. And obviously, it only made him more popular. But you had to give it to him, he was a fantastic detective with a flair for finding what others couldn’t. 

“Then I will make sure to pass your praises along to him when I see him later” You nodded. “Thank you for being here tonight, Mr.Fowley. I hope you enjoy the night”

He had been the fourth guest to ask you about Dick. At the beginning of your marriage, it made you incredibly angry, but now you just accepted it, what else could you do? He would never be a presence you could count on, and you learned to deal with it. So when the gala ended, you were once again left to close the place alone. The cleaning crew would take care of the bigger mess tomorrow, but you were still responsible of the keys. 

It seemed like forever until you reached the garage. Your car was the last one, obviously, since you decided to drive yourself. It had been your wedding gift from Bruce, a one in the world car that made head turns wherever you went. And after that almost fiasco, you needed to do some damage control and remind the high people of Gotham of the status quo. You truly ever rode the limo if Dick was there, anyway. You climbed in and started the engine, leaving the place tired and slightly annoyed.

However, halfway home, your engine decided to turn off, making you pull over on the side of the road. The car slowly rolled to a stop, seemingly having shut down completely. Not even your headlights responded, and it made you worried. No smoke was coming out of the hood, no strange odour reached your nose either. With a huff and your annoyance growing, you waited fifteen minutes and tried again to start the car.

Nothing.

You looked outside, seeing nothing around in the darkness. You tried to call for a taxi, but none of them were any close to your area. Or it would have taken at least two hours, as the lady on the other end of the phone so kindly told you so. You were left with one option, and it didn’t make you happy. But you knew nothing about car mechanic, so you did not have a choice. You reached for your phone and stared at it, deliberating if you really needed to call him. But reason got the best of you, so you swiped your phone open, went to your contact list and pressed Dick’s name. It hadn’t rung twice that it sent you straight to the voicemail. He had declined your call. You tried to call again, then again. The fourth time, it rang, and rang, until you reached the voicemail again. He hadn’t declined it this time, he only ignored it. You rubbed the bridge of your nose and sighed at the cold, impersonal robotic voice on the other end.

You have reached the voicemail of: Dick Grayson. Please leave a message after the dial tone. 

“Dick, uh, it’s me. My car has broken down on the road 49, about twenty minutes drive from the mansion. I tried a taxi but I’m literally in the middle of nowhere. Could you pick me up? … Call me when you get this”

And you hung up. You waited fifteen minutes, checking your phone more often than you cared to admit. It was getting cold without heating, and he still didn’t call you back. It was too early for patrol, so he wasn’t gone yet. He was probably with Barbara, as usual. He had probably shut down his phone so it wouldn’t disturb them, he was probably pissed at you too.

Asshole.

You got annoyed, so you changed strategy and called someone else. If Dick wasn’t going to answer the god damn phone, a different Wayne would. You scrolled down your contacts and found Jason’s name. You didn’t hesitate as you launched the call, and he picked up at the third ring. 

“Best looking Wayne son on the phone, how can I help you?”

“Jason” You chuckled at his humour. At least someone was having a better night than you. “I was wondering if you could come pick me up. My car broke down in the middle of nowhere and Dick won’t answer his phone”

“Ah, living up to his name once again I see” He hummed. He was also aware of Dick’s second type of night time activity. “I am so sorry, I’m actually out of town taking care of… Something. Isn’t Daddy Dearest around? Or Alfred?”

“Justice League matters” You sighed. “Only Dick can reach him during those meetings. And Alfred’s with Bruce”

“I can try and call someone” He suggested. “I have a few people that owe me favors”

“Thank you Jay, but uh, I think I’ll walk” You nodded to yourself. You knew the road well enough to make your way home. “It’s not that far”

“I do not agree with that but I can’t stop you either--hold on” His voice hitched, followed by a grunt that wasn’t his. It sounded like he was punching a guy, but you didn’t ask. It was Jason doing Jason stuff. You waited patiently, occasionally hearing glass and wood break. Nothing out of the ordinary, if you were honest. It didn’t freak you out anymore. “Listen, I-- oh fucker! I gotta go, but call me when you get home, okay?”

“Will do” You couldn’t help the small smile on your lips. Jason had always been the best, in his own weird way to cheer you up. “Thanks Jason”

“You’re welcome” He huffed. “Be careful”

He ended the call after that, probably off to finish his important business. You shook your head and put on your coat and scarf, grabbing your purse and your keys. You got out, locked the doors and began walking on the side of the deserted road. You picked your phone again and dialed Dick’s number once again, waiting for the inevitable voicemail.

“Dick. It’s me again. Don’t bother coming, I’m walking home. Hope you have fun tonight”

You hung up and shoved the phone in your pocket, along with your hands to warm them up. You walked at a brisk pace, remaining aware of your surroundings at all time. You didn’t live as a Wayne without knowing the basics of self defence, and that became much more clearer as to why once you found out about the vigilante thing. Both Bruce and Jason had made sure you weren’t totally defenceless, despite the fact that you had no affinity for combat like them. You didn’t fit, only your money did. 

Perhaps it was why Dick had always disliked you.

But that basic training was enough to make you notice something wasn’t right. Only your footstep on the gravel echoed into the night, but you had that nagging feeling that you weren’t alone. You looked behind your shoulder, but nothing was there still. You kept going, but your hand reached for your phone in your pocket. With your senses focused on your surroundings, your fingers found Dick’s contact, and you waited for the voicemail again.

“Dick, I think I’m being followed. Please call me if you get this”

Then you hung up again. The feeling only grew as your pace quickened, your eyesight now only focused forward. You didn’t have the guts to look behind you. You tried to call a few other time, hanging up before it got to the voicemail. You were terrified, you had to grab Dick’s attention even if he would be pissed at you for blowing up his phone. 

“Come on, come on” You muttered to yourself as he still didn’t pick up. Then, the sound of rocks crushing behind you made your heartbeat stop for a second. Someone was definitely following you. You pressed the call button one more time as you started running. Footsteps took after you, and you knew you were done for.

You have reached the voicemail of: Dick Grayson. Please leave a message after the dial tone. 

“Someone’s behind me” You said in a hurry as they got closer and closer. “They’re gaining on me and--”

The sound of your phone hitting the ground ended your voicemail.

[prurientpuddlejumper]

A New Arrangement [Part 5/9]

<- Part 4 | Part 6 ->

Summary: There is nothing unprofessional about your entirely professional relationship with Frederick Chilton.

1,100 words

“Ooooh, got a hot date today?” Roxy wagged her eyebrows suggestively.

“What are you talking about?”

”You always look super cute on days you see,” she silently mouthed mask guy, and punctuated it with another brow pump for good measure.

“Oh my god,” you waved her away, “It is so not like that!”

She laughed impishly, slapping her desk. “You just turned so red! You’re totally into him!”

“I am not! Do not go telling everybody that!”

“What?” she stopped giggling and batted her lashes at you innocently. “So he’s a hermit. He’s super rich. Go for it babe, live the dream.”

Your eye twitched, and she started laughing hysterically again.

You were not attracted to Frederick Chilton. How could you be attracted to someone you’d never even seen? There was a headshot of the sleeve of his book, but it was impossible for your imagination to imbue that staged black-and-white photo with life, or apply it to the man in front of you. He was just a voice behind a mask.

That voice, though.

It was so soft, like the velvety chestnut fluff of a teddy bear. You felt caress over your skin rather than heard it. And it was so carefully spoken, his grammar as unnaturally formal as the cover letter of your first resume out of college—nerves jittery at the prospect of being rejected yet eager to show off your education.

Sometimes his vowels would stretch out like a cat, yawning and flexing its round toes, giving his words an air of drama. This happened especially when he was being smug or petty. You first noticed it while discussing his desire to have a hall named after him at the university his old rival worked at.

“He dumped me for a man he claimed was ‘going places.’ Now he teaches,” he said, stretching the word. “I would like him to give his little lectures in Chilton Hall. That should really piss him off.”

You joined him in wringing your fingers with spiteful glee as you did your best to make it happen—you couldn’t imagine what idiot would dump him. Actually, scratch that, you could. The way he flaunted his money, his massive ego, his penchant for the dramatic… it was all rather douchey. But douchey in a charming way that charmed you. Maybe because you saw that the puffed-up ego was just a defense mechanism. A small lizard displaying a large frill around its neck to startle predators. Behind the bluster was a sweet, scared man you would never tire of spending time with. 

Not that you were attracted to him. 

You weren’t, you groaned to yourself, head on your desk as the last hours of Friday ticked by. Getting someone’s name on a college building was not easy, or cheap, and did not exactly fall within the standard purview of end-of-life-planning. At all. You were exhausted.

“Karaoke tonight?” a message pinged on your screen from Roxy.

“Yessssss,” you eagerly typed back. “Get me out of here.”

Having plans only made the rest of the day crawl even slower. Your focus wandered. You imagined Dr. Chilton just-so-happening to be at the same bar and hearing you belt out a love ballad that would make him blush behind the mask.

But you knew you wouldn’t see him until your scheduled appointment next Tuesday.

How could you be attracted to someone who never left his house? If he walked into the bar dressed up like the phantom of the goddamn opera, everyone would stare. Then again, like he said, people would stare no matter what he was wearing.

How bad could his injuries possibly be? You googled “severe burn” and quickly closed the browser. Bad. The answer was: pretty bad. Not as bad as they could be, though. He had functioning eyelids that you could see behind the mask, which meant he was fortunate they were not fused together like melted candle wax.

You cleared your search history for the third time that day. Your manager did not need to think you were obsessed with a client. You were not obsessed. He was just… fascinating.

Karaoke was a distraction, but all the noise and crowds and drinks couldn’t get your mind off him. Four days felt like an eternity. He would be alone that whole time. Unless he has more physical therapy, you thought angrily. Why were you angry? You weren’t! It didn’t help that Roxy kept teasing you, prying about eccentric mannerisms you regretted ever telling her about. 

She wasn’t wrong. He was weird. You couldn’t like someone that weird. Mask aside, you would think he’d wear something more comfortable than a suit in his own home, but he obsessively needed to maintain his image. His status. He couldn’t be seen without his mask on: literal and figurative.

Frankly, he looked ridiculous.

Though, anyone would have to admit, it was also rather sexy. Crisp pressed slacks, a stylish shirt and tie, and an audacious mask. Stretched out on a leather couch. It was like some millionaire anonymous sex thing, and it sent the occasional shiver down your spine toward… regions you would not discuss.

You shoved the thought down.

It wasn’t as though he felt the same way toward you anyway. He’d made his disinterest abundantly clear, and trying to seduce him would be callous to his recovery. Being burned had left him physically weak, frequently exhausted, and devastatingly shy. Sex was the last thing on his mind. It was a miracle that was willing to touch you at all.

He could touch you now. He had touched you. You touched! It happened the session after he invited you to sit next to him so you could more easily share the laptop screen.

As you sat beside each other on the couch, your legs touched, as legs are wont to do in the natural course of sitting. He flinched away the first time, but the cushions were soft, tending to draw you in toward each other where your weight made a deep depression. The second time, he left it there, the warm steady pressure of your legs pressed together raising goosebumps that were thankfully hidden under long pants.

The next meeting, he leaned against you to see the screen. Your fingers brushed over the keyboard, and something awoke. A sleeping tiger.

He needed physical contact like he needed air to breathe. He attempted to be discreet about it, but you could tell he was always sitting as close to you as possible, touching you “accidentally” as you passed the laptop for him to sign a document.

He was so skittish. So careful with every touch, growing bolder little by little only as you reciprocated, sighing as his shoulder grazed yours, leaning into it. Then his hand, casually falling onto the couch cushion between you, next to where your hand rested. A pinkie extending. Yours extending back.

The couch was more comfortable than the office chairs, but sitting for any length of time was still challenging. One day, he seemed particularly weary and was starting to zone out.

“You can lay down if you need to. We can do it like this,” you indicated for him to put his legs over your lap, so you could both still see the computer. He did. Your hand rested on his knee, and he didn’t flinch or brush it away.

Next time, it was his head that was in your lap. 

The filling out of forms and projecting of expenses turned more and more into cuddle sessions. You learned with a thrill of pleasure how solid his chest was, how broad were the arms always hidden under stiff sleeves.

There was nothing unprofessional about it. He got tired easily. It was perfectly natural that you should be comfortable relaxing together. It was easier for both of you.

There was nothing unprofessional about it.

It wasn’t as though he liked you. He was just a little touch-starved, and some friendly cuddling was healthy. You didn’t like him either. Maybe your heart raced a little when he was near, but who wouldn’t be nervous around a weird mask-guy? And if you looked forward to your meetings all week, you were just attached to him as a client.

You were attached to him as a client.

The reason you could do your job, so steeped in death, and still sleep at night was because you didn’t bond with people easily. You weren’t cold—you were kind to clients, sympathized with them, and wanted to help them—but you didn’t think about them after clocking out. This was different.

As your last appointment rapidly approached, you were never in your life more certain of how much you were going to miss somebody.

[youngbugandtonystank]

I LOVED your meta-analysis of Tony in endgame! Can you do the homecoming edition with tony's facial expressions and feelings? thank you! x

Hi!

Of course, I’m sorry I took so long.

Well, Homecoming is my favorite irondad movie. Yes, it’s an irondad movie for me. We get to see the paternal side of Tony. It’s not a surprise for me or anyone that Tony can get paternal, you can tell he loves kids and gets along better with them than with most adults. He’s a natural on this.

Let’s start with the fact that Tony had a long emotional journey in Civil War, from getting nostalgic with clearing traumatic memories of his parents with technology, Charlie Spencer, his guilt over Ultron, the Accords, fighting with the Avengers to finding out the truth about said parents and getting betrayed in the process.

All of this.

And the first thing he decided to do after all of this?

Make sure Peter gets home.

Now, the most important thing you should notice about Tony in here is his posture. Look how relaxed and happy he looks, look at the way he’s sitting. After recently getting betrayed by a close friend, this is how he behaves around Peter. This is enough for me to believe that he blindly trusts Peter and that scares him. Since the moment he met him this is the thing that impressed me the most about their relationship. How easy things come for Tony when it comes to Peter. Trust is the main one.

Of course, it’s not all unicorns because this is Tony Stark. He probably noticed how quickly he was to trust Peter and how he behaves around him so he uses his typical mechanisms of defense to fight this.

One of my friends pointed out for me that on many occasions Tony tries to avoid eye contact with Peter.

Typical mechanism. Avoid eye contact, put on his glasses, mask on.

And that is not the only effort he made to put a distance between him and Peter, he uses the ‘’hands-off’’ mentor attitude and puts Happy like a wall between them. Look at his hand gestures, he’s trying to make this something casual. It’s his way of putting up a wall.

Also, this is not how we open the door for someone else, ok?

There were other ways to open the door for the kid.

And as soon as Peter is out of the car:

After a while of not getting in contact with the kid, Peter; the danger magnet he is, gets himself in trouble and we discover that Tony receives alerts every time the suit's emergency parachute is activated or when it exceeds a certain altitude. We also discover Tony has a tracker on Peter’s suit and it’s not afraid to admit he put everything necessary in the suit. 

At first, he doesn’t appear to be shaken up by the fact that Peter almost died a few minutes ago but this is because he’s trying to remain calm. In the Homecoming Novelization, they give us the reason why Tony is in that place:

“So where are you?” I asked, looking around suspiciously. I half expected to see a drone in the sky spying on me.“India,” came the response. “I thought I’d hit up a Hindu temple. Center myself. That sort of thing.” Wow, I thought. I guess when you have Stark money, you can do stuff like that. “Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would have drowned.”

He’s trying to center himself. After saying ‘’Please, forget about the flying vulture guy’’ and trying to make Peter understand he needs to stay on the ground for his own safety and Peter failing to understand this, this is his dad reaction:

The angry-anxiety outburst. This man was having an anxiety attack throughout this scene. After not succeeding in getting a guarantee that Peter is going to be out of harm's way, he goes into fight-or-flight mode and releases this little explosion. When you’re on your way to an anxiety episode that is very close to turning into a panic attack your body starts interpreting your anxiousness as a signal that you’ll need to stand your ground or escape from what you believe is a danger. What it’s most interesting to me in this is his reaction after the outburst. He’s not only confused as to why is he so angry or so fatherly invested in this kid, but he’s also experiencing his mind going “blank” as the fear and worry take over.

Almost like he’s asking himself ‘’Why am I acting like this?’’ ‘’What the hell was that?’’

And then saying: ‘’Sorry, teenager’’. Dad af.

And then we fully get to see what he’s trying to stay calm from. THIS. Anxiety can trigger this reaction. I believe what Tony is experiencing here is some sort of mechanism of physiological tremor caused by anxiety. This is how awesome RDJ’s performance is. He understands his character so much he can make these little decisions and add more depth into the character.

After this, he tells Peter it’s not too early to start thinking about college, since he went when he was 15 so for Tony, it’s never too early and he knows Peter is a genius kid. He understands Peter and he even acknowledged this when he said this: ‘’Listen, I know school sucks. I know you want to save the world. But... you're not ready yet.’’ 

Then he calls Peter to tell him the FBI was about to ambush Toomes and his people but he also took the opportunity to congratulate Peter for his job on Washington. I love the sheepishly way he’s doing it, like this is new territory for him. 

But Peter at the moment is not appreciating the compliments because he has other things in mind. This is the moment you realize both of them are on different grounds. What many people don’t realize is that Peter is not only seeking approval, he’s trying to find a way to ensure his stay in Tony’s life. Notice how he asks Happy what’s going to happen to him when he realizes Tony sold the tower (He can feel Tony slipping further away from him) or when he tells Ned that he’s never going to come back to school since Tony is moving the Avengers upstate and blindly believes that If he brings Toomes to justice Tony is going to offer a place for him (He takes drastic measures). 

Meanwhile Tony is trying hard to be there for him but still at arm's length. He gets a little offended when Peter doesn’t appreciate that effort and brush that off like it’s nothing. You know the thing that actually warms my heart? When he remembers the little stuff about Peter’s life. While Peter is trying to win his place in Tony’s life, Tony already has Peter in his heart, whether he knows about this or not.

Remember those conversations you have with your parents over the phone and they hear some weird background noise and they demand to know what’s going on? This is Tony in here. Also, the fact that he knew that Peter quit band six weeks ago. lol dad much?

Then the famous ferry confrontation. This is exactly the moment Tony lets Peter know in a very direct way he cares and a lot. Since the moment Peter accuses him of not caring, he doesn’t take his eyes off of Peter. 

He’s using anger as a way to let out the stress and worry he has over this kid. The little sniff, the way he continuously walks toward him, etc. He’s tired of being worried and explains to Peter that he’s the only one keeping faith in him because of how young he is and the more he explains, the more scared he gets. 

When things get to the point where he can’t stand it, ‘’it’s not working out’’ / = ‘’It’s not working out for me’’, he demands the suit back and dramatically says that this is something permanent. That this is a ‘’forever’’ decision. He believes that if he takes away the suit Peter is going to stop risking his life. And this decision probably hurts him more than it hurts Peter judging by the way he can’t even look at the kid when he asks for it. 

He heartbrokenly explains to Peter that if he dies then he feels that is going to be on him. He feels responsible for Peter and it’s heartbreaking because this is coming from him. This is not some misplaced way to fix things or a way to repair some old wounds. This is not his responsibility, he can easily go to this kid’s aunt and tell her what’s going on so she can deal with it but instead, he realizes he got emotionally attached to this kid and therefore no matter if he’s in the suit or not, Tony is going to feel responsible. Because he cares. Because he has a soft spot for him. Because he already has a place in his heart.

The way he grips his arm, another way to tell he’s on the verge of anxiety, again. And then he admits what’s been on his mind since meeting Peter: He wants him to be better than him. He already chose him. He wants him to be his better version. He recognizes Peter and him are similar in ways that scare him but he wants the flaws he sees in himself to disappear on Peter. He doesn’t want Peter to be like him. And he demonstrates this in the self-deprecating way he expresses it: 

Then Peter goes and still risks his life with or without the suit and Tony gets Happy to drive Peter to Avengers upstate. The first thing Tony does? Apologize to Peter for taking the suit and at the same time, he lets him know he did something wrong therefore he had it coming. Something he probably never got directly from his father; an apology and proof that he actually cared. 

He makes sure Peter knows he’s proud by fist-bumping his shoulder lol, side-hugging him and telling him he wants him on the team by showing him his new suit. 

Can we talk about this for a moment? Is this Tony’s version of putting the kid’s accomplishments on the fridge? He was going to show this to a lot of reporters and people when Peter ‘’announced’’ he was going to be an official member of the Avengers. Can we also acknowledge the fact that Tony keeps track of Peter so much that he knows bloggers write about spider-man and this time he’s bringing the big guns by picking up 50 real reporters to the case? D-A-D.

Then he gets rejected lol. Something he probably expected it. There’s no denying he felt rejected but not because Peter doesn’t want to be part of the Avengers, the part he feels rejected from is the ‘’mentoring’’ part. He did mention that with a little mentoring, Peter could be a real asset. He wants to be that mentor and now he’s ready to be more close to him.

He even takes the mask off.

But he still can’t keep eye contact with him, something he still does in Infinity War. Apparently, Peter’s big puppy eyes are lethal weapons for him. He can’t stand the admiration and gratitude coming from this kid’s gaze. He’s not used to this.

This is what I love the most about Homecoming. Proud!dad Tony. AT the end of the day, he’s proud that Peter chose to do the right thing and stay on the ground. He knows Peter is going to be the best out of all of them and this is the most gratifying accomplishment for him. 

Thank you for asking! I was going to make one from Peter’s POV, if you want it, please tell me! 

[wolf-pearl]

Alright I really want to talk about my theories concerning eternatus. Especially since most of the theories I've seen about eternatus assume that it's evil. This is going to be a very long post, so I'll put all the full explanations under the cut.

Here's the short version of everything under the cut:

Eternatus is not complete.

Eternatus could be pieced together with wishing stars in a similar way to how zygarde can be constructed from zygarde cells.

Eternatus represents the universe and the concept of infinity/eternity.

Eternamax is not natural for eternatus.

Eternamax eternatus is not a hand, it's either a hydra or each finger is an eye :)

Eternatus went on a rampage after escaping the power plant because the process of using eternatus for energy was actively harming it.

2 possible explanations for how Rose found eternatus.

Rose was reviving and mistreating eternatus (something out of character when compared to everything we know about Rose) because he didn't realize that eternatus was alive until he was in too deep.

@criticaaaaaaaal ​‘s theory on the connection between eternatus and eternal floette

Why did eternatus start the original darkest day, and how did eternatus end up torn to bits in the first place. 

Theory 1: the eternatus we see in game is not complete. I know that I've talked about this before and so have others, but since this is going to be a collection of most if not all of my eternatus theories, I might as well include this. My list of evidence for this theory is as follows:

it doesn't have every wishing star and piece incorporated into it, and those are literally pieces of its body. Case in point; Sordward and Shielbert stealing enough wishing stars from Sonia's lab to not only forcefully dynamax a large number of pokemon, but also drive one of the legendary wolves mad. That would take a lot of wishing stars.

It is skeletal, but then when it is eternamaxed it is not all that skeletal. Perhaps an echo of its original appearance?

ok, but it's a SKELETON.

if you have watched it move in the poke camp, you may note it both moves like an eastern dragon and moves painfully slowly. Perhaps it is attempting to replicate how it used to move when it was whole, and it's sluggishness is due to moving via magic and sheer force of will instead of tendons and muscles. That, and lacking large portions of its body is probably causing it to be in agony.

I have some thoughts on how eternatus ended up missing parts of its own body, but that's something I'll come back to later in this post.

Theory 2) eternatus can be constructed from wishing stars in a similar manner to how zygarde can be constructed from zygarde cells. The basic idea is that if you were to collect enough wishing stars together, they would coalesce into eternatus' core. This would probably take a truly massive number of wishing stars. Alternatively, there could have been a unique wishing star (vaguely reminiscent in function to a zygarde core) that was originally eternatus' core. This 'core' wishing star would merge with any wishing stars it came in contact with, eventually reigniting into an active eternatus core. In either case, giving this newly reformed core more wishing stars would cause it to grow and eventually develop into eternatus.

Theory 3: eternatus represents the universe and infinity/eternity. I've seen people asking about this occasionally on this website, but I haven't seen a lot of actual theories. I've come to the conclusion that eternatus is an embodiment of eternity and the universe because a) it's name, and b) it's eternamax form is a spiral galaxy, with its core representing the super massive black hole found at the center of every galaxy.

Theory 4: eternamax is not natural for eternatus as well as excruciatingly painful, thus why we can't eternamax eternatus in game. My thought is that originally eternatus could gigantamax itself as a last resort self defense mechanism. However if eternatus attempts to use that ability it goes horribly wrong due to its body no longer being complete. Instead of gigantamaxing eternatus basically turns inside out as eternamax. Some evidence:

it's triggered by OVERLOADING its core. You know, that thing that is most likely a mini star/powered by nuclear fusion (or possibly worse, powered by something eldritch). That can't go well.

eternamax eternatus looks like its body has completely broken in ways that it shouldn't. The "hand" is actually its head TURNED INSIDE OUT, its spine has been pulled apart, its wings(? I honestly don't really know if that's what they are) are floating around the spiral, and its claws are currently floating in a ring around its core.

This could give a lore reason for why you can't eternamax eternatus; it is physically excruciatingly painful for Eternatus, and it would be cruel to force them to.

Theory 5) eternamax eternatus is not a hand, and the "fingers" are either eyes or heads. I already made a post about this that you can find here. It's real cursed. My own curiosity lead to my downfall, so now I must curse others with this knowledge.

Theory 6) eternatus went on a rampage after escaping Rose because using it for energy actively harmed eternatus. Although it's never explained how Rose was going to use eternatus as an energy source, I think it's pretty safe to say he planned on draining energy from eternatus' core. Problem is, all of eternatus' energy comes from its core. Eternatus is probably kept alive by the energy of its core, so draining its core would be draining its life force. That would definitely cause eternatus a lot of pain. In all likelihood eternatus was probably lashing out because it thought its life was in danger.

Side note: I've seen some people suggest that the reason eternatus went on a rampage is because it was being force fed wishing stars. Personally I think that it's more likely that eternatus can naturally reabsorb wishing stars into its body. It's never really implicated that Rose was specifically feeding the wishing stars eternatus, he only says he gave the wishing stars to eternatus. If you can just throw a bunch of zygarde cells together and they'll become a 10% zygarde, I don't see why eternatus wouldn't be able to osmosis wishing stars into itself.

Theory 7) how did Rose find eternatus. I originally talked about this on a thread by @bl00diedhell. You can find their original post here! Anyways, I have 2 different options for how Rose found eternatus: 

One possibility is that Rose had been collecting a large amount of wishing stars in hopes of running experiments on them. It was known that wishing stars emit energy, so maybe he was trying to see if there was a way to use them as a renewable energy source. Eventually Rose would have accidentally stockpiled enough of what are literally pieces of eternatus’ body for it to reconstruct itself. One moment it’s a pile of wishing stars, the next they’re glowing and clumping together until poof: you now have one sickly looking god. Or at least eternatus' core.

Another possibility focuses on how Rose owns the galar mines. If I understood the lore correctly, then the glowing gems all over the caves are used for fuel. Not only that, but considering how much time Bede spends hunting for wishing stars in the mines its more than likely there are a lot of them down there. It could be possible then that eternatus had been hibernating somewhere inside the mines. Maybe while excavating a new tunnel the miners open up a sealed cavern with a hibernating Eternatus within. It would probably look similar to the cocoons of yveltal and Xerneas. Something like that would get reported, so Rose would come to investigate.

Theory 8) Rose abused eternatus for power because he didn't realize that eternatus was alive until he was in too deep. Before I explain further, I'd like to credit @swapauanon for bringing up the idea that eternatus was originally just it's core at the start. You can find the thread with their theory along with my original post about my theory on why rose abused eternatus here.

Firstly, let's talk about how out of character Rose's actions towards eternatus are. Everything we learn about Rose in game points to him caring deeply for all of the inhabitants of Galar, both human and pokemon. He’s even the one who gives the player the “pokemon are our friends, partners, and family!” spiel at the start of the game. So it makes zero sense that he would ignore all of his principles and abuse eternatus for an energy source... Unless he didn't know that eternatus was a living being. This could be possible for a number of reasons:

The closest comparison for reconstructing eternatus from wishing stars is zygarde. But zygarde cells have features that make it clear they are alive, notably their face. This is not true for wishing stars. They appear to just be rocks, no features that could reveal how they are actually alive. There is nothing about eternatus core that proves it's alive either.

the legends of the hero and the darkest day do not at any point hint that the darkest day was actually a living pokemon. This means that Rose wouldn't have gotten any evidence or warnings about eternatus actually being alive by reading galar's legends.

Although there are some rock type pokemon that at first glance don’t particularly have any living characteristics, I can’t think of any that don't at least have a vague caricature of a face. And as I've mentioned already, wishing stars don't even have that.

Unlike both zygarde cells and any rock type that lacks obvious living features, wishing stars and eternatus' core are completely immobile on their own.

All of this put together would result in Rose not having any reason to think eternatus is alive. He didn't realize he was trying to use a living pokemon as a power source, he would have thought he was just harnessing the natural power of a special material. It probably took a long time and a lot of wishing stars for eternatus to start resembling a living being, and even longer for it to start responding to its environment. By the time Rose realized that eternatus was a pokemon, he might have felt that he was in too deep and had poured too much time and resources into trying to use eternatus for power to turn back.

Theory 9) @criticaaaaaaaal 's theory on how the eternal flower floette is connected to eternatus. This theory belongs to @criticaaaaaaaal! Seriously this theory belongs to them, all I did was help them patch up holes in the theory with my obsessive knowledge of eternatus and built a bit onto it. You can find the thread about their theory here! Anyways let's get to the theory.

Let's start with some necessary background info: one of eternatus' pokedex entries states that it came to earth 20,000 years ago, meaning that it was on earth for 17,000 years before starting the darkest day. That means it would be reasonable to believe that eternatus was a wandering legendary for that time. Skip to 3,000 years ago, there is a massive war in kalos that kills AZ's floette. AZ decides to make this ultimate weapon to bring floette back. Thing is, this kills thousands of innocent pokemon in the process. So, if AZ was willing to kill thousands of pokemon, who could say he wouldn't kill a legendary too? Maybe AZ captured eternatus and began using parts of its body to power the machine, but due to eternatus being immortal this doesn't kill it. The machine imbues floette with eternatus' power, making floette immortal. After the machine is activated, eternatus escapes and starts the darkest either as retribution for what AZ did to it, due to being too compromised to control its own power, or both. Here's a list of evidence to back this theory up: 

Junichi Masuda confirmed in an interview that the reason AZ is so ridiculously tall is due to the power of his ultimate weapon affecting his body. This could definitely be used as evidence that AZ was using eternatus to power his machine, as eternatus' power causes living things to get huge.

AZ's ultimate machine requires a legendary to function. In X and Y Lysander uses yveltal or Xerneas, it's possible that a different legendary could have been used by AZ.

Kalos and galar are based off of France and the UK, respectively. That would make them geographically very close. If Eternatus was a wandering legendary,  it could easily travel between kalos and galar.

Both the war in kalos and the darkest day occurred 3,000 years ago.

There are some striking visual similarities between eternatus and eternal floette.

Theory 10) possible reasons why eternatus started the darkest day, as well as how eternatus became incomplete. I’m putting this into one theory because my ideas on how eternatus got torn to bits and why eternatus started the darkest day are deeply connected. First off, let's start with some important info. as mentioned before, one of eternatus’ pokedex entries states that 

“It was inside a meteorite that fell 20,000 years ago. There seems to be a connection between this Pokémon and the Dynamax phenomenon.”

There’s a lot to unpack there. First, this means that eternatus was on earth for 17,000 years before causing any problems. Something big must have changed for eternatus to start the darkest day. Second, it doesn't explain why eternatus was with that meteor. That leaves open some possibilities.

It's possible that eternatus was struck by the meteor and then dragged to earth with said meteor. The combination of the initial impact with the meteor,  burning up while entering earth's atmosphere, and then crash landing would almost certainly cause some serious damage to eternatus. This could explain why eternatus didn't leave; it was too injured to do so. However, this probably wouldn't cause the catastrophic damage necessary for eternatus to be literally torn to shreds, not to mention how it would be rather difficult for eternatus to start the darkest day while literally completely shattered. Nonetheless, eternatus could definitely have sustained enough damage for a relatively small amount of wishing stars to be scattered. That also means people could find those wishing stars and discover their power. 

To sum all of that up, 20,000 years ago eternatus gets struck by a meteor and dragged to earth. The combination of being hit by the meteor, entering earth's atmosphere, and then crash landing results in eternatus getting damaged, preventing eternatus from leaving earth. This damage also caused a relatively small amount of wishing stars to break away from eternatus and scatter around the galar region and possibly other nearby regions. Due to wishing stars inherit power, they would become a rare and sought after resource. 

So here is where this can go in different directions. 

Option one draws from @criticaaaaaaaal 's theory. After Floette dies, AZ begins working on his ultimate weapon. Since he was a prince it would be likely that he had access to a small amount of fallen wishing stars. AZ decides to attempt to use the wishing stars to power his machine. He may have even gotten promising results from experiments, something like being able to breathe life back into floette's dead and dried flower. However, his small sample of wishing stars didn't have enough power to bring floette back. So AZ decides to try and get more directly from the source: eternatus. AZ manages to capture eternatus and harnesses the legendary's energy to power his machine. How he does this I'm not entirely sure, but one possibility is AZ may have cut open eternatus's chest to get direct access to its core. No matter how AZ went about harnessing eternatus' power, doing so critically injures eternatus, destabilizing its core. After the machine is activated, eternatus escapes and attempts to gigantamax. However due to its now unstable core and extensive injuries something goes wrong. Instead of gigantamaxing eternatus undergoes eternamax, setting off the darkest day. 

Option 2 draws from what the tapestries in hammerlocke leave unsaid. It's stated that the tapestries tell the story of the creation of a kingdom in galar. But who was in control of galar before the darkest day? It's very unlikely that there was just simply no civilization in galar before the darkest day. So let's say there was a different kingdom. The king of this kingdom may have been seeking to increase or legitimize his power. Considering that the current known lore of calyrex is that it used to rule over all of galar, it's more than possible that a human king would feel threatened by a powerful legendary such as eternatus. Maybe the people of galar revered eternatus, and that fueled the king's insecurity even more. So the king decides that to protect his own claim to power he needs to get rid of eternatus. The king raises an army and sets out to ambush eternatus. Eternatus is caught off guard and vastly outnumbered in the ensuing battle, and is grievously wounded. In a last ditch effort eternatus attempts to gigantamax, but their core overloads due to their injuries, causing them to eternamax instead.

With either option the end result is the same. The darkest day begins, and the 2 heros and the legendary wolves come to defeat eternatus. Upon its defeat, eternatus' body is beyond the breaking point. The strain of the unnatural transformation brought upon by eternamax, it's unstable and overloaded core, and numerous injuries causes eternatus' entire body to shatter like glass. Wishing stars are scattered all across the galar region, some being thrown into orbit, eventually to return to earth years later. The energy eternatus generates now freely pours out, and over time this culminates as power spots and raid dens.

Hi! If you managed to read all the way to the end, all I can say is holly noodles thank you so much for reading my long rambles! It's been bothering me for a while that so many people just assume eternatus is just a big bad evil villain. I don't remember this much animosity for any other legendary, and there is literally a legendary that is the embodiment of death. And guess what? The embodiment of death is actually just a silly birb that likes sweet pastries and wants to be pet. 

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 2

Zero and @eternalfarnham are Looseleaf and Saelhen du Fishercrown, a mothfolk animist and a half-elf conwoman. A botched heist forces Saelhen to keep up her fake identity and embark on a quest to places unknown, with Looseleaf to keep a watchful compound eye on her. This time, they prepare to set out for the jungle city of Thunderbrush.

[Campaign log]

It's less than a week after the incident with the pit under Yoshimimoto Plaza. Looseleaf returns to school with Saelhen in tow, and Looseleaf's roommate Oyobi spends some time training them up in basic monster self-defense- the two of them are now level 2! Saelhen gains a Cunning Action, and Looseleaf embarks on the Path of the Mutable Spirit. (There's no combat this session, so more on that later.)

In spending some time with Looseleaf's roommate, Saelhen picks up on... certain nuances.

looseleaf: what you know about your roommate is that she is very friendly and outgoing. the reason she's barely home most of the time is that she's always out partying or fighting or otherwise living it up on campus, and she's pretty well-known and popular amongst the student body. she's technically Martial Arts but takes a few Natural Arts classes, including your archaeology class. she wants to be an adventurer and join the Deathseekers' Guild, and she's taking multiple periods of Severe Zoology to learn to fight monsters. she thinks you in particular are adorable and has probably invited you to various social gatherings. she seems kind of spacey and unreliable, though, and doesn't seem to take you seriously.

saelhen, what you know about looseleaf's roommate is that she a freak nobody else seems to pick up on this, since there's not a lot of other elves at Blacksky, but you can tell from the way she wears her clothes and how she interacts with strangers to the uninformed observer, her fashion sense is sort of rugged and sporty and normal to an elf, her usual outfits are the equivalent of going around dressed in torn booty shorts, a spiked choker, and an ahegao t-shirt she is very obviously making a statement, and that statement is "i can do whatever i want, and if you have a problem with that you can [insert grossly offensive euphemism here]" her super-smiley friendly attitude is clearly part of this- she is breaking every single rule in the elf book, going right for the friendship throat in every social interaction and ignoring every single nicety that's supposed to precede friendly contact she acts a little different around you- like, she expects you to be in on the joke she's playing on everyone around her. she'll say something seemingly innocuous that's a actually a horrendous boundary violation in Kanzentokai, and then look at you with an expectant smile, to see if you appreciated the hilarious prank she just pulled. being around her is like being in the studio audience for a cringe comedy sitcom

Why are we learning so much about Oyobi? Well, partially because I can't help but overthink every single bit character, but also for reasons that'll become clear shortly.

After a few days, Saelhen and Looseleaf are invited to the Provost's office, up at the top of Blacksky Tower. (Ominous sort of place, for a faculty building- hewn out of a single chunk of sparkling black stone, oldest building on campus.) They are not invited to sit- the office contains no chairs.

Provost Hamori Los has good news for them! The people she's had secretly monitoring Saelhen for the past few days- did she forget to mention that?- have determined, by triangulation, that the arrow on Saelhen's bracer is currently pointing in the direction of Thunderbrush, deep in the giant-spider-infested jungle. So that where they'll be going, on a fun field trip!

Looseleaf could not be happier about this. Or less happy. She's really got precisely the amount of unhappiness that she's obligated to feel about giant spiders, being a giant moth.

Luckily, they won't have to trek through the jungle- Hamori has arranged for transportation via the ferry at the town of Cauterdale, which should allow them to bypass a treacherous trek into the depths of the Remoline Rainforest. They'll each be provided 100gp as funding for this academic enterprise- and Headmaster Goodcrest of Thunderbrush Metropolitan University has agreed to provide lodging for them on arrival. Everything is handled for them- so there shouldn't be any problems!

There is one more thing, though- all the different schools want in on this trip, so one school doesn't get all the credit. They're required to bring along a representative from the School of Arcane Arts and the School of Martial Arts, on top of Looseleaf from Natural Arts. And on top of... the representative from the School of Restricted Arts.

This dude is named Vayen, and he's not much for conversation. Or explaining what he's even doing here. Or doing anything besides skulking a careful distance away from the party, staring and listening. What does the School of Restricted Arts even study, again?

Anyway, Looseleaf has someone in mind from Martial Arts, so she leads the party to the School of Arcane Arts to do some recruiting! After being chewed out by Two-Brains for trying to post notices outside the official student notice board, she puts up her ad:

It's not long before she gets a bite!

Orluthe Chokorov is a cleric-in-training, under Diamode, the Goddess of Family. He's been enrolled in Arcane Arts at the insistence of his family... but he seems to think he's a "fake", and is desperate to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it means he passes his classes without having to actually... be able to do whatever it is he's taking classes in. He says he can fight, though- in fact, he's eager to fight! He once beat Bud Chestplate, did you know?

There are perhaps less delinquent candidates they could go with, but there's something nice about a party member with secrets Saelhen could use as blackmail.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...rest assured that I shall be the soul of discretion. As will Looseleaf." "Though I fear that deception of this sort does not come easily to me..." Looseleaf: "Noeru, if he doesn't want to get into it, he doesn't have to- oh my god."

Having recruited Orluthe, the party heads back to Looseleaf's dorm to ask Oyobi about the Martial Arts students- maybe she has some idea as to who would make a good candidate for the trip!

(This isn't me foisting her on the players, though I did suggest it- after the party of two squishies got wiped in the first encounter, I offered them the chance to put together two NPCs who they'd get to control in combat. Their character sheets were more or less created by the players, and I matched their mechanical requirements to NPCs. We may end up having multiple characters per PC, later- this is sort of a trial run.)

With a cleric(?) and a ranger on the team, plus whatever Vayen is that he won't tell them, they're feeling ready to hit the road- right after a shopping trip.

Saelhen buys...

1x bag of 1000 ball bearings

1x traveler's clothes

1x hooded lantern

15x doses of insect repellent salve (much to Looseleaf's great offense)

2x uses of sealing wax

1x tinderbox

fuck it, 4x more bags of 1000 ball bearings

Zero: 'what are you going to do with five thousand ball bearings' 'when the time comes, i'll know'

Looseleaf buys...

1x pint of oil

1x bag of 1000 ball bearings also

5x healer's kits, to distribute to the party

1x pouch of various plant seeds

1x map

Notably absent is any food, since they have Oyobi in their party- she's a ranger with the Goodberry spell. (I've reflavored it to just mean she's good at foraging and always has rations on hand, because holy crap, Goodberry rules-as-written is totally worldbreaking- why would farms exist?)

During their shopping trip, Saelhen manages to get Oyobi alone, without the rest of the party. Oyobi's shtick has been fun, for her, as someone with very little regard for elven rules of politeness, but... it's still a little much. She asks Oyobi to tone it down.

Oyobi Yamatake: "I mean, I thought you had to no-sell it to keep up the fake noble act- I didn't think it was actually getting you!" "That's priceless, oh my god." "What's there to take a 'break' from, anyway? What's wrong with just living?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Primarily, the fact that I really need not to twitch in front of the Provost's silent murder goon." Saelhen jerks a thumb over her shoulder, then belatedly checks to make sure that Vayen is not in fact literally right behind her. Benedict I. (GM): Make a Perception roll? Saelhen du Fishercrown: aw, hell, he definitely is, isn't he

She rolls a 13, and no one in particular rolls a 17. So, everything is fine. They keep their voices down, anyway.

Oyobi Yamatake: "I mean, is it really a problem? Can you really not keep a straight face?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "I mean, I can." Saelhen sweeps a hand over her face and is the picture of serenity. "Why should the lady Noeru de la Surplus concern herself with small lapses such as these?" "Surely someone shall find it in their hearts to forgive all trespasses." Oyobi Yamatake: She snorts. "Okay, I get your point." "But really, don't you think it's weirder for an elven noblewoman not to react?" "You don't think he thinks it's suspicious that you take it all in stride?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "The character is admittedly kind of a freak. I'm making allowances. I mean, this is fun and all, but if no one sees through the bit at all and I'm stuck in it long-term, which it seems like I am, it's like..." "Just being back in Kanzentokai, except worse, because no one is making me." "And drow catch a lot of crap anyway. They don't need me to teach them that elves can be assholes." Oyobi Yamatake: She frowns. "You can't make me try to keep up with the rules, y'know. I'm not going to put up with that garbage ever again." "But I can tone it down with the..." "Y'know, the stuff I'm going out of my way to do, if that helps." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "The wink-and-nudge, yeah. That would help." Oyobi Yamatake: She sighs. She seems a little put out by all this, but pretty quickly puts her happy face back on.

Meanwhile, Looseleaf and Orluthe seem to have lost track of Vayen. It doesn't take them long to find out where he went (well, after Looseleaf rolls a nat 1 on investigation and accidentally pisses off an old lady she mistook for Vayen). Turns out... he's hiding behind a statue of Ccorde, spying on Saelhen and Oyobi.

Looseleaf doesn't buy his crappy excuses, but also... she isn't altogether opposed to the concept of spying on "Lady Noeru de la Surplus", who really ought to have someone keeping an eye on her. So, she just hands him a medical kit- a kit she happens to have used her animist class feature Soul Link on, so she knows where it is at all times. (She's done the same to the bracer.)

Now, with the shopping done, it's time to hit the road! They have a couple options: go on foot, or requisition some giraffes.

(In this world, they domesticated giraffes instead of horses. Why? Because it's a fantasy world and why not?)

The city's main giraffe rental is run by the Ecumene of Understanding, based out of the Temple of Andra. You can rent giraffes for free, as long as you're willing to serve as a courier for the Ecumene- their convoluted legal system requires them to send mail between cities frequently, and they've only got so many clerics on hand. So, anyone wanting to travel the roads can receive a delivery quest from the Ecumene, and rent mounts for free in exchange!

They meet with the Bishop of Understanding of Oyashio, Sarat Aerens.

Aerens has a simple request for them: in addition to visiting Thunderbrush's Temple of Andra with a mail delivery, they're to bring back a report from said temple on the whereabouts of the Siren's Arraignment, a ship that departed from Oyashio and never arrived at its next destination, Snowhold. There's suspicion that the Siren's Arraignment never departed from its supposed origin of Thunderbrush to begin with, either- so the Ecumene put some clerics on the job to investigate, and the party's job is just to relay their message.

With that, they're given giraffe passes, and directed down to the stables, where they find the stablehand, Updraft, having some difficulties.

Benedict I. (GM):There's no one at the pickup window, but there's a sparrow aarakocra just behind, trying to get a giraffe several times her height to get up and out of the damn water trough. Updraft: "...not a bath, ye stubborn git!" "Ye drink from that, lackbrains!" "Y'really want t'be tastin' yer arse?" Looseleaf: OH I CAN HELP WITH THIS FINALLY, A PLACE WHERE I CAN APPLY MY ADVANTAGE ON ANIMAL HANDLING

Looseleaf uses her Soul Read ability to tune in to the giraffe's feelings and recent history, and discovers that someone fed it a hot pepper and it's in, um, anal distress.

Orluthe volunteers to do some healing to the giraffe, with his Lay On Hands ability. Is... that a cleric thing? Do clerics do that? Probably. In this world, clerics perform magic by inviting their god directly into their mind to borrow their brainpower and work miracles directly, and it sure looks like he does that when he does his healing. He channels a god, for sure!

Benedict I. (GM): As he touches the giraffe, you see his body begin to glow, and his facial features are overlaid with another face. "...A giraffe?" "A waste, I suppose, but... perhaps it'll win us some favor." The voice he speaks in sounds more feminine, somehow.

Some religion checks reveal that this doesn't seem quite right for a cleric of Diamode, the goddess of Family. But hey, healing's healing, right?

With that, they're able to get their giraffes no problem- and next time, they'll be on the road to Thunderbrush!

[backandimbamon]

part I

Before, Damon thinks it’s okay because there’s really no plausible reason to stop Bonnie from drinking another tequila; she’s having fun at this party plus he has never seen her drunk so it gives him a pretty valid pass to say what the hell, what could go wrong?

He’s got a Hawkeye out anyway, making sure she won’t have any Britney moments in her tiny dress or no horny dickhead lays a finger anywhere near her. He’s feeling like the proper bodyguard, way more handsome than Kevin Costner could ever dream of, and his little Whitney Houston is perfectly under his control.

The first notion that maybe Bodyguard Damon did not have drunk Witchy Houston in control occurs when she kisses Caroline. Sloppily. But Caroline is in a slightly better state than she is, which doesn’t say much, so they both laugh it off like it’s just a friendly shoulder to shoulder hug. Now his curiosity is peaked as to what activities they partake in at their slumber parties. He smirks.

Then she approaches him, eyes glittering with mischief and (anger?) as she pokes a finger in the bridge of his chest and says, “You. Dance with me. Now.”

There’s no slurring or anything so she can’t be that messed up, he finds her little antics amusing. “Woah witchy, slow down on the tequila. It’s making you a bully.”

“It makes me wanna fight.”

She stares him in the eyes with her brows set low like she nominates him to be her punching bag.

“So you were fighting Caroline just now?”

“What?”

“That make out session?”

“Really Damon, you blow everything out of portion.”

“Everything out of proportions, Judgey. You’re clearly not smarter than a fifth grader.”

She sends another thump to his chest, right in the center and frowns. “Shut up.”

Truly, he thinks she’s adorable.

And yes, she must be extremely tipsy because he’s never really seen Bonnie dance before outside of the Slow Dance Side Step or a casual sway to mid tempo music but now he’s watching her dip it low, and swing her hair to a r&b artist singing runs about her body. And he can’t look away.

Baby, I’m talking crazy I,

Need you right in my space, for now

Need it, baby I’m late, but I

Still can check in with you

“I loveeee this song,” she draws out and grabs Damon’s wrist to come closer to her. He doesn’t put up much of a fight. Not because he enjoys it or anything, he just doesn’t want to harm little witchy.

He’s shocked because he never realized she could be so sensual, the lights are purple and she’s staring him directly in the eyes with this look of freedom that makes him wonder what chamber of secrets she keeps locked in her closet of skeletons. She turns around, back facing him and intertwines her hands with his, winds her waist in the seat of his pants and he knows for a fact that his cheeks are aflame. He’s never been this tense in his life, it’s almost like he’s been staked- Bonnie is dancing on him and he’s letting her because his mind is allowing him to think that she’s really, really, realllly sexy in this moment. What the hell.

The realization is a whisper in his mind; to admit to himself that he’s been hit with a heavy wind of attraction towards Bonnie leaves him feeling a pang of something uncomfortable in his stomach. Like he’s betrayed himself, searching for something in someone else that was always blatantly there in her.

“My mind, my mind and my body,” Bonnie soulfully sings along, breaking his concentration. “My mind, my mind and my heart.”

She faces him again, grinning and finger combing the wildness out of her hair. He watches her watch him as she pulls him close until they are chest to chest, tilts her chin up and braces herself on her tip toes, to say into his ear “You’re like this irresistible, ancient, hot vampire who can’t dance.”

He’s taken aback, one because of the compliments and two because of the insults. Plus, he’s still stuck in the trance she’s placed him in and he begs to differ because he can dance, he’s just not trying to now.

“Yes I can.” He can’t take the defense out of it even if he tried.

She gives him space again to throw her arms up to the music, obviously not interested in hearing his rebuttal. Her skin is dewy from her body heat as she comes back to him, and holds on to his back as she continues to sing along.

I don’t know what it it

I can’t tell you what it is

But you got me going crazy,

Sex with you is so amazing,

Her heartbeat is at this lazy languid pace, he can feel it pulsing against him, as she hums her way through the next line of the song and he pretends that there isn’t this nervousness that’s crawling on his shoulder from being this close to Bonnie while she’s in an unpredictable state. She’s already intensely touchy feely and it’s a tad unsettling. His prime role is Space Invader yet here she is. Draped over and around him like a careless scarf.

He can sense her body weight growing heavier, guessing a sleepiness must be washing over her as she barely muffles a yawn.

“I like you a lot, Damon,” her voice is heavy, lips brushing against the shell of his ear.

He hates himself for feeling something bubbling up and settling over him. In his being is this deep satisfaction that Bonnie is seeing him through a lens she would never admit to out loud under nearly any circumstance. He knows he is an attractive guy, and he knows women are aware by the way they vie for his attention when they sense his presence but Bonnie is different. There are countless times he feels the witch bite back on a compliment.

Tonight, however she’s delivering heady flirtation and admittedly, he’s giddy. It makes him feel victorious even if she is a little tipsy and tired.

She bats her eyelashes and once again he finds himself stranded in the hazy focus of her green eyes.

“God, you’re so pretty. Take me home, pretty boy.” she says, and he is quick to comply.

The drive to Bonnie’s dorm is quiet, he thinks she’s asleep but when he looks over there’s a pensiveness in her expression as she observes the passing street from the window.

“You okay?”

She nods, then nestles into the seat. Her eyes trace his scarily stunning features subconsciously and she admires the way his short hair cut complements his bone structure so well.

“I like your hair when it’s like this,” she hums. Her fingertips race through his scalp and he nearly swerves.

“Are you okay?” Bonnie echoes in response to his jerkiness.

He almost rudely says “Of course, witchy.”

“Sheesh, you pretty much gave me whiplash yet somehow you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset.” He replies flat-toned.

“I should be the mad one, I wanted to leave here with someone who could put me to bed in an entirely different way.” She smooths a fingertip over her bottom lip.

“And what way is that?” His brow lifts and it reminds her of a see-saw.

“In a way a friend can’t.”

A challenge drifts like smoke in the vehicle, then decidedly settles in their clothes and hair. The suggestion in Bonnie’s voice and demeanor leaves him feeling something he doesn’t want to admit to himself.

He can’t leave it alone. The metaphoric mic has dropped and Damon must pick it up because he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t.

“But I’m your best friend.”

A vision of him pinning her up against the walls comes so intrusively that it’s stuck. It sits on his guilty conscience like water trapped in the ear.

“And? So is Caroline.”

“You made out with her tonight.”

“Now it’s your turn?”

Damon’s eyes are stuck between the glowing dividers in the road as he shakes off her words dismissively. Sober Bonnie wouldn’t push a subject like that, wouldn’t bait him into saying the thing that’s lying under his tongue.

He deflects with humor. “Maybe I’m jealous.” But he says it like it’s the most unbelievable statement in the world.

Lapis eyes on emerald.

“Maybe you are.” With a finality more conclusive than a period.

He’s in the middle of parking when she shuffles around in her seat, brings her face to the side of his and pecks his jaw.

Just like that, a press of warm lips on cold skin. He has no time to react.

And even after he parks, he looks ahead, unable to make eye contact. She doesn’t even move back to her seat, just hovers like a cloud, lashes swiping his cheek, before leaning in again and lightly biting the side of his neck. Her magic is there, inside him, in that spot.

He makes a sound so pained with want that he wishes someone could cuff his hands behind his back so he can do nothing but exist.

Such a small gesture of lips and teeth is like cutting into the thick cake of their bottomless sexual tension and serving it on a platter to the starved. Her scent alone consumes the space in his car with agave and alcohol. The natural smell of her lotion. The fruity smell of her lip gloss on his neck, right where that bite mark isn’t disappearing.

Nice to breathe you, Bonnie.

She is everywhere and not and he is just there, wrestling with the alternative parts of himself. The parts that would totally take advantage of a moment like this. Eat her alive or sex her to death?

He shakes his head like it could rid him of his nature. It somewhat helps. “Bonnie.”

Said cautiously because if that bottomless cake isn’t removed in enough time, the hungry man will tear in savagely, bread crumbs clinging to lip, icing boiling in stomach acid.

She snaps back in her seat like a taut rubber band. Very quiet.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.” It’s a mechanical response.

He’s too busy wrestling his mind to respond. Damon cannot trust himself to think.

He ends up in her dorm because she needs him; she’s wobbling when she walks and it’s dire that he’s with her so no filthy predator assaults her. She needs him in her presence because her steps are wobbly, she honestly could fall down the stairs and die at any moment so he trails after her like a curtain blowing in the breeze. One cautionary arm outstretched and wrapped safely around her waist. She’ll thank him in the morning.

Bonnie looks like a tiny ballerina, as she plops on her bed, then stretches. Her limbs lengthen but his eyes are trapped in the half dome of her back arch. They slide down curvy brown legs to pointed toes that accuse him, the intruder, who is still standing and tense. She finishes her lazy stretch with a roll of her shoulders, one strap of her dress slips down.

“Hey,”

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry about what happened.. in the car.”

He sits next to her. “Oh that thing? Don’t worry about it, Bon Bon.”

“Yeah. I’m a little-“

“Drunk? No way!”

“Tipsy, Damon. And I get kinda. You know.”

His brows stitch in mock confusion. “Kinda...?”

“Damon.”

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re such a child,”

“Says the one who can’t say h-huh-hor-“

“Stop, Damon,” She nudges his shoulder and tries to fight the laugh from creeping up her throat. She poorly executes a pout. “Seriously. It’s been a really long time.”

“I’m celibate until Elena wakes up. I’m sure you’ll get laid before you’re an old cat lady.”

“We both know your sex ventures make mine look juvenile.”

“Jeremy is juvenile in general.”

She swats him.

“Can’t you like magical-woo-woo yourself into an orgasm?”

“It’s not better than the real thing.”

Damon is fighting so much suggestive imagery floating around in his mind of Bonnie and The Real Thing.

“You still have time.”

“But what if I die next year?”

“You won’t.” His expression hardens.

“Damon, you don’t know that.”

“I know I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You don’t get it. It’s like Caroline gets to do whatever she wants, Elena was able to do whatever she wanted. They are both free in ways I’ve never experienced. I’m Bonnie. Just Bonnie. My magic is the only thing that I feel a deep soul-tying connection to, but I can barely call that mine. I want to be desired and worshipped and I want to explore.”

“Then do it.”

“I can’t!”

“And why the hell not?”

“Because you, Stefan, Caroline, Alaric, Tyler, Joe, Kai, Klaus, Elijah, Katherine, you’re all my life! Both living and dead, Damon. Elena is my life!”

Silence.

“There is no room for me, my love life, my orgasms, my magic. My mother, my father, my gram-“ She frantically swipes at the tears trailing her visage. “All of that is gone. It was taken away from me.” Her voice shudders with emotion and Damon Salvatore feels like shit. She buries her face in her small hands and cries.

There’s a new feeling of guilt creeping up his shoulder. Nothing can rid him of the filth he feels now, the years he’s allowed himself and others to use his best friend without thinking twice. Forcing her power unto them like it was communal. She, of all people, did not deserve that. Not one bit. The space where she bit him burns.

“Damnit, Bon.” He scoops her up in his lap carefully because of her short dress and slides the strap that had fallen back up. His hand rubs her back lightly for comfort.

Bonnie Bennett is here, crying in his arms and he can do or say nothing because he is part of the problem. He cradles her and toes his shoes off because he will not leave her here alone.

a/n : i am very very excited to see where this story leads me (:

[arigatouiris]

daughter of artemis // p.p — [12]

c h a p t e r  t w e l v e

Pairing: Peter Parker x Demigod! Reader [Female pronouns]

Warnings: swearing; angst [a lot of it]; greek mythology rewritten [completely my interpretation of it, oops]; slightly based off the games god of war and assassin’s creed odyssey; hurt/comfort; cliche; fluff [on later chapters sometimes]; mentions of sex and gore; slight alternate universe

Follows events after Endgame, but Tony, Natasha, Steve, Loki are alive in this universe.

Author’s Note: OKAY THIS CHAPTER WAS WHAT STARTED DAUGHTER OF ARTEMIS GUYS. Okay so this is the chapter I pictured first, because my mind strangely never works chronologically. So there’s a lot of Greek mythology here, which is all my personal interpretation, and forgive me if I’ve made some errors, it’s all fiction and in good fun! There’s mentions of abuse in this chapter, so please please discretion advised. 

Word count: 5469

12 // δειλός coward

❅

(y/n) had always been curious about her father. Artemis never told her much, and even when she was a child, her mother would brush off topics about her father as quickly as they came. Now, (y/n) understood that this was because Artemis was trying to protect Tony and Pepper from Zeus because Zeus had always been angry about Artemis having broken her vow. However, what she didn’t understand was why her mother even slept with Tony in the first place? Especially if she didn’t love him.

    “Why you?” (y/n) asked, narrowing her eyes, witnessing Tony’s suit turn into a small cube.

Tony then turned to her, blinked at her question and gave her a shrug. He had no idea, and was as clueless as she was. It was as if her mother had played a game neither of them knew anything about, and here was Tony and his biological daughter, coming face to face with nothing to say. Seeing her sit on the ground, Tony nodded to himself once before sitting himself down next to her, sucking it up and knowing a conversation was due.

    “Your mother never told me about you. We never met after… after the art gala.” Tony placed his arms on his knees, looking down on the ground between his legs.

    “I know,” (y/n) said, but since her voice was dry, she almost choked. “It was to protect you.”

    “Wow. At least someone was thinking of doing the protecting for once.” Tony mumbled, sarcastically.

(y/n) narrowed her eyes at him, and the two met each other’s gazes once more. Tony observed her, noticing how similar her features were to her mother, but there was a distinguishing feature that no one could mistake. Her eyes. She had his eyes. Tony immediately looked away at the realisation.

    “Do you always joke around about everything?”

Tony chuckled, finally understanding the situation. This girl, if he had met her when she was 13, would have been a child with no parent, no motive, all the confusion and anger of losing her mother, desperately in search of a parental figure because that’s what children do. If a child got lost in a supermarket, they look for the parent. It was everywhere in nature, and she was Artemis’ daughter, nature personified. Tony was guilty, but he was also genuinely sad; sad that he had no part of her childhood, and met her when she was clearly rejecting him, not wanting him around because he was a dead weight to her, a null void in her struggle for her own version of justice and purpose.

Now that he was a father to Morgan, a child he was completely aware of, Tony understood how painful her childhood might have been—after losing her mother and before. From what he had heard from her uncle, and Natasha, she was never really loved in Olympus, and losing the only beacon of hope in her life, she came searching for another. And then the blip happened. And then this prophecy.

    “It’s a bad trait, glad you don’t have it.” He finally said, bringing himself out of his reverie.

Tony looked at her for a long second, his eyes scanning every part of her face. He wanted to hold her right then, and even if his arm stung, he ignored the pain. Whether he knew it or not, his heart knew about her; this, he was sure about. Maybe, Artemis had slept with him because she knew it would be (y/n)’s face he would see after snapping Thanos off the face of the universe. Maybe, (y/n) was there for a reason and even if she was not, Tony wanted nothing more than for her to be part of his life now that she was there.

    “How do you know what traits I have and don’t?” Tony heard her respond to his question, cocking her eyebrow, and in the meanwhile, watching her lovingly.

She might be 18 years old, but she was definitely his child. The way he was feeling right then proved it; her fingers looked small all of a sudden, fingers that were supposed to wrap around his own as he guided her through a zoo or a park. Her hair was wild but it suited her, and he couldn’t admit how similar in feature it was to his own. She had his jawline, she had his eyes, and he couldn’t tell if he was pushing it, but based on the memory of her in the place he went to after the snap, he could tell that she had his smile.

    “Good point,” He said, now looking at her curiously. “Then tell me what they are.”

(y/n) shook her head like it was a defense mechanism. He was trying, she admitted that. He tried to get to know her and be there now that he knew about her; he was trying right now. He had been looking for her ever since he heard the news that he might be a father to her. Artemis may have wanted that, but she had started this path when he was not in his life; and even if she doesn’t blame him, she knew he was too late.

When she becomes a goddess, there would be no use for Tony Stark in her life.

    “Natasha must have told you everything, right?”

Her pressed her hands together to prevent them from shaking. Her heart was beating rapidly, and her stomach flipped with every breath she took. Her anxiety levels were off the charts, and her eyes watered with every blink. (y/n) had never felt this sort of fear, the fear that doesn’t claw at your skins but wants you to drop everything and not hide. The fear that tells you that everything you’re doing and have been doing was for naught, because the reason you came to this place is sitting right next to you.

The fear that didn’t allow her to embrace her father.

However, Tony noticed her fingers when they shook. Tony noticed several things about her that he probably would never have noticed in a person before. He had always been observant, but this was his daughter! Her fingers were shaking, she was avoiding eye-contact, she was sitting in a crouching position, trying to hide her physical self from him; all of the signs that displayed that she was nervous sitting there with him, nervous for the first time not because he was a genius, playboy, millionnaire, philanthropist, but merely because he was her dad.

    “You can come live with me, (y/n). We can figure everything out. We’re family.”

    “How is that possible?” (y/n) frowned. “So, you find out that you have a kid who’s like 18 years old, and you don’t care who they are? You want them to live with you despite everything?”

This time, she was looking at him. Tony also observed something; that moment before tears formed in your eyes, she was going through that.

    “I missed those years in your life, kid. And I never knew about you. If I did, I’d have done things differently, you’d have done things differently—”

(y/n) shook her head, interrupting him. She licked her lips and stared at the ground, hanging her head low.

    “What’s stopping you?”

    “Everything.” (y/n) said, but not entirely honestly. She was thinking of the little girl that introduced herself as Ironman’s daughter. She was thinking about how happy Tony was that Morgan was safe.

Tony had a daughter. Tony had a beautiful wife. Everything in his life was perfect as it is, and what she was, was an unwelcome burden banging on his door. She wasn’t something he wanted, she wasn’t something he was even prepared for. And it wasn’t a choice. He was merely surprised with her as a daughter, and being the amazing person he was, he accepted her; but it wasn’t entirely his call to make.

Even if Tony’s gesture of accepting her was noble, she couldn’t accept his gesture. Pepper had asked her to come home as well, but there was nothing she could say that Pepper would understand. Tony was strangely flesh and blood; and was in threat at the moment, because Zeus could attack him at any given moment.

Staying with him, living a life as his daughter—this would only cause more harm. Zeus had made sure (y/n) lost everything. She never had a life in Olympus to begin with, and with the death of her mother, she was quite literally nobody. She was a demigod in a world where Gods declined. She was less than human.

Zeus had always played a major part in her life—the reason she lost her mother, and why her uncle left even if she did yell at him, and in many ways, she had lost her own life because of Zeus.

When she was wallowing in self-pity, she almost didn’t hear Tony say, “I might not know your traits, but this one’s mine.”

(y/n) blinked confusedly and looked at him. Tony smiled at her before continuing, “That stubbornness that you’ll do what you think is right.”

Her heart began to beat so rapidly that it began to hurt her chest. (y/n)’s lips quivered and a weak ‘Go away’ came out of her throat. Tony placed his hand on her shoulder and brought himself close. He could see how the tears were forming in her eyes now, how her lip quivered, how she was struggling to not accept him back even if she wanted to. Tony saw all this but also knew that it was still her call to make.

    “You’re my daughter. And, (y/n), you might not know this but,” Tony sucked in a breath of air and blinked a couple of times, “After I snapped Thanos off the face of the universe, I should have died. And I would have, if not for you.”

Her eyes widened. She was confused.

    “I saw you. I was in a weird field, there was nobody there. I saw no one. Not Pepper, not Morgan, not fucking Cap, or Peter, but you. I didn’t even know you at the time, but the sight of you, God… It made everything alright. You looked up at me, wearing this… this black jacket, your hair all over the place… You looked up at me and smiled. And that kept me alive, (y/n). You kept me alive.”

Maybe that’s why he looked like he had seen me before when I first saw him, she thought before blinking her tears away. She couldn’t tell him this but she also had a vision of him just as she came into New York. Of him and Pepper and Natasha and Peter.

Tony let go of her shoulder and pulled back, and stood up. He gave her one last look before getting into his suit wordlessly. He had said everything that he had to say.

And he really, really hoped she made the right decision.

❅

Apollo had never imagined that walking the halls of the palace of the Gods in Olympus would make him nauseous. He had been feeling gassy all day, he blamed the takeaway from the other night. It was a strange nuisance for a God, to be given the same mediocre ailments that men had.

He noticed how the walls were bizarrely empty. He had hoped to find any of the Gods out, doing their thing, enjoying their luxuries or trying to woo his sister Aphrodite. However, there was something morbid in the air that made Apollo understand that Olympus was not just empty, but in a phase of collateral shutdown. He rushed to the main hall and saw screaming Gods, one after the other, demanding Zeus’ presence.

Apollo noticed a drunk Dionysus and waltzed over to the ex-demigod for answers.

    “Where’s Zeus?”

Dionysus laughed before shrugging. His hair had a wreath that needed to be changed, and his white flowy outfit had stains of wine. He was not always a drunk person when Apollo met him, but the Sun God knew Dionysus’ habit of drinking when he was stressed.

    “We don’t know,” He said in a singsong voice. “That’s the reason for the commotion!”

Apollo turned to spot Demeter, throwing Zeus’ vases to the ground, screaming with each throw.

    “Demeter!” Apollo exclaimed before heading to her, “What happened?”

    “Zeus happened,” Demeter said, throwing another vase to the ground. Zeus had plenty, all stacked up from era to era, in a nice big shelf that was showcased at the exit of the main hall. “My stupid brother is a bloody coward of a King, hiding away when the prophecy draws near.”

Apollo blinked a couple of times before putting the pieces together. However, Demeter turned to him suddenly and blinked. She was a beautiful goddess, with radiant dark skin and flowy curly hair. Her eyes were amber, like honey, and freckles adorned her face.

    “You had nothing to do with the demigod child, right?” Demeter asked, stunning Apollo.

    “Uh,” He gulped before backtracking. “No. Of course not. That was my sister’s doing, not mine.”

He hated lying to Gods. They always figured it out. A moment later, he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he spotted Athena, his heart fell to his feet because there was no hiding things from her.

    “My lady, if I may borrow the Lord of the Sun for a moment?” Athena asked, smiling sweetly.

Demeter shrugged before getting back to breaking vases.

    “Athena, I—”

    “How is (y/n)?” Athena asked, when the two of them were a bit distant from the rest.

    “She’s… She’s—”

    “Let me guess, she wants to end Zeus’ life?” Athena asked, cocking her eyebrow.

    “Yes! Yes, I mean, thank goodness someone understands—”

    “Apollo, focus.” Athena said, standing up straight, folding her arms in front of her chest.

    “Right.” Apollo said, nodding once.

Athena wasn’t considered a beauty, but Apollo always found people who didn’t think she was beautiful were odd. In his eyes, Athena’s beauty rivalled his sister’s, brown eyes, brown skin and brown hair—which most people considered were plain, but in his eyes, they were gorgeous.

    “Speak to Hera,” Athena said, “Zeus hides because two of his henchmen have died at (y/n)’s hands. The last one still stands. I’m sure you know why Zeus made them in the first place?”

    “To serve as his guards?”

    “Apollo, I believed you were much smarter than that. He made them because he runs from fights. Zeus is no warrior. Ares, before he was banished, was his right hand man. Hades went against him because he knew of Zeus’ truth. Zeus has immense power, but no wit to contain it or use them.”

Apollo didn’t know if he had to feel offended, but what Athena said made sense. But, he didn’t know how this would help his niece. A hand fell on his shoulder, and Apollo turned to Athena’s determined expression.

    “Find Hera. Now is the best time to speak to her. After that, you will know what to do.”

Nodding, Apollo headed over to Hera’s chambers; he knew she wouldn’t come out if Zeus’ name was being chanted for his disgrace. She would lock herself in, as she always did, staying away from every God and Goddess who had anything to do with her husband. A husband, Apollo wondered who definitely didn’t treat her right.

She didn’t open the door when he knocked, but Apollo could feel her in there. With a little force, the door budged on its own, and the Sun god went inside to find Hera’s back facing him, herself seated on her bed. Just as he was about to call out to her, she turned to face him from the side and Apollo stilled. His eyes widened slowly, and his heart fell to his feet. Hera’s usually clear skin was adorned with bruises, and she had a black eye on her right eye. Her lip was bruised and bleeding, which indicated that this wound was fresh, and her luxurious gown was torn in places near her shoulders and hips.

    “Queen Mother—”

    “You dare walk into your Queen’s chambers without announcement?” Hera snapped, not frowning too much because Apollo figured it hurt her.

Her expression softened when Apollo knelt beside her, his gaze fixed at her eyes. Hera looked like she was crying, her expression hiding a thousand battles, battles from so long ago. Zeus had done this, this much he was sure of. Tears slid down Apollo’s cheek and he felt Hera wipe them away.

    “You’re too old to cry, silly boy.” Hera’s low voice stated.

    “Mother.”

It was customary for every child of Zeus to address Hera as ‘Mother’. It was easy for everyone to despise Hera for her power obsession, for the way she got jealous over Zeus’ lovers and killed the mortal lovers that he had slept with. Hera certainly had terrible traits that made everyone believe she must not be a Goddess, but as a Queen? As a Queen, Hera was the best option out there. She was judicious where she had to be, she was righteous and proud, and even if Apollo and Artemis were not her children, even if most of the Gods in Olympus were not her own, Hera never did them wrong. She treated them coldly, she would brush off their advances, but she would commit no crime to hurt them or wrong them, unless asked.

    “Freedom is more important, is it not, mother? Forget being Queen—”

    “What Queen am I?” She let out, looking away. Her voice broken and low. “Queens are merely wives of Kings, and Zeus is no King. Zeus is a pathetic man-whore, irresponsible overgrown child.”

Apollo shook his head and spoke, “You are Queen of Olympus, now and forever, Queen Mother. Many disagree with you, but you have never backed down as a ruler. But, the way Olympus has been running is unfair.”

Hera did not meet Apollo’s gaze. There’s nothing I can do, she thought, brushing away every bit of hope that she may have had left.

Apollo on the other hand, finally understood what Athena meant. Zeus has immense power, but no wit to contain it or use them. The only thing left was for him to translate this to his niece.

❅

Apollo visited his niece that evening, just as the sun set. He found her where she would usually be, at her rooftop, sitting by the edge. It was as if she was almost expecting him, when she didn’t seem too surprised by his appearance.

    “I’m very sorry—”

    “What do you plan on doing to Zeus?”

It felt strange for him to address his father by his first name, but what he had learned changed things and put them into perspective. His gaze was narrow but sharp, and (y/n) merely blinked at his random question.

    “I’ll kill him.”

This answer’s wrong, he thinks before speaking, “The prophecy doesn’t say you’ll kill him. It said you’d dethrone him.”

    “It didn’t say that dethrone didn’t mean killing.”

    “Hera. We were wrong about her. I was wrong about her. She was forced to send her henchmen after you, she was forced to do a great many things because Zeus cannot do it himself. Zeus constantly abuses her, commands his power over her, and it is Hera who—”

    “She tried to kill me, and it seemed like it was on her own accord, uncle.” (y/n) interrupted, scoffing.

    “She is who she is because of Zeus.”

    “Do not justify her behavior because of the abuse she went through. What about me? What about my mother and the things she said? Hera is the reason my mother didn’t go to Zeus!”

    “Hera is the reason the prophecy is still intact! Zeus would have killed Artemis—”

    “Uncle, what are you on?” (y/n) asked, her eyes widening.

Apollo stopped abruptly. He looked at his niece disbelievingly, almost as if he didn’t even recognize her. Here was a standing, living, breathing embodiment of rage and pain gone wrong; manifested in ways that it shouldn’t have. Zeus was primarily responsible for this, too. And by behaving this way, she was playing into his game. However, there was no way she would listen to Apollo with the way she is now.

Taking a deep breath, he did the one thing he thought would help.

    “The Boar is with Zeus. And Zeus is nowhere in sight. He abandoned Olympus, (y/n). All the gods are raging because they demand an explanation and as King, he is not there. Can you see why?”

(y/n)’s eyes widen at her uncle’s words. Those actions sound like the actions of a… She couldn’t even think it.

Those actions are that of a coward.

❅

Peter Parker normally didn’t have to worry about crashing into things because his spider senses kept him just that aware. However, when something crashed into him that day, while he was on his way to see (y/n), he was sure that it was not his fault. Whatever had crashed into him, had crashed into him intentionally. There was no coincidence.

Landing on the top of a roof, a few roofs away from (y/n)’s, Peter got up on his feet and saw a large man, holding what looked like an Olympic pole.

    “Who’re you?” Peter asked, the voice through his mask vibrating.

The large man ran to Peter without warning, and just as Peter jumped in the air to avoid being hit, the man hit Peter with his pole and brought him to the ground. He then hit Spiderman once again with the side of his pole, before Peter webbed away. Landing a few feet away from the man, Peter noticed the sign on the pole.

That… Peter’s eyes widened. That looks like a javelin.

The large man threw the javelin at where Peter was standing, and Peter barely dodged it. Jumping to another roof, Peter rushed to (y/n)’s, knowing her dagger was the only thing that could bring this monster down. After hearing the warning that Zeus would go after Mr. Stark, Peter was slightly confused as to why this creature was attacking him instead. Was it because Zeus witnessed him standing alongside (y/n), when she killed the second henchman?

That must be it, he thought before landing on her roof, her uncle and (y/n) right there. (y/n)’s eyes widened when she saw Peter, but before he could say anything, a javelin landed to where he was, Peter having dodged again, but barely.

    “The Boar?” (y/n) said, gasping, coming into her stance.

A moment later, just as Apollo was about to say something, the Boar’s javelin lodged itself into him, pinning him to the wall. Light escaped from Apollo’s wounds, with him screaming in pain. (y/n) yelled before running to him, but another javelin prevented her from moving from the spot.

He’s creating javelins from thin air? She thought before noticing the Boar land on her roof. It was the same creature that had hit her with the javelin, the scar for which she still had. Her hand unconsciously brushed against her wound before she grabbed her dagger with her right hand. Let’s finish this once and for all, she thought before running to him. The Boar used his javelin to beat her to the ground, but (y/n) hopped into the air and dodged the attack, only to be brought down with a smack from the Boar’s left hand.

Peter immediately sent a signal to Tony, not wanting to let this fight escalate. For some reason, he knew that this would be a difficult fight, the Boar seemed formidable, and strangely, (y/n) seemed a bit sloppy. It was as if she was attacking in anger, and attacking blindly, which caused her movements to slow.

Getting back on her feet immediately, (y/n) jumped onto the Boar and wrapped her legs around his arm and bends it, however, her knife fell to the ground as she did so. Peter immediately uses his webs and grabs the knife, before throwing it back to her, as she jumped down and caught the knife. Turning to the Boar, she tried to attack him, underestimating his speed, as the Boar brought her down to the ground, and kicked her in the chest, shattering a couple of her ribs with just one kick.

He kicked her again, earning a loud scream from her, but he felt Peter jump at him, punching his face. Peter shook his hand after punching him once, it was as if he was punching stone. The Boar grabbed Peter by the back of his neck and threw him to the ground, before trying to kick him. Peter moved aside, shot a web at the Boar’s face, and tried to slide him to the ground by kicking his legs, but that didn’t work. Peter turned to (y/n) and noticed she was unconscious now, after having taken direct damage from the large creature.

Turning to the Boar, who was struggling to get the webs off his face, Peter tried to think of what could be done. Just before making a final move, a large energy beam shot from behind him, directly to the Boar, sending him flying backwards. Peter noticed Tony there, wearing half his suit, as he directed Peter to an almost unconscious Apollo. Peter ran to where Apollo was, before pulling out the dagger using his webs.

Apollo instantly rushed to the Boar, and teleported away from there, without another word.

❅

When (y/n) came to, her first thought was Peter Parker. Opening her eyes felt like a task, and when her vision became clear she noticed Morgan staring at her intently. The child’s face was inches away from hers, and (y/n) groaned once earning a giggle from the girl.

    “Hi… Morgan.”

Morgan smiled before saying, “(y/n). You’ve been sleeping for four days now.”

    “It’s been four days?” She said, wincing when she tried to move.

Morgan moved back and stood by her bed, smiling at her. (y/n) smiled back weakly before falling back to her bed, unable to move. Her chest hurt and burned, she was sure she had broken several ribs from the impact of the Boar’s kick. She couldn’t remember anything after that, but she assumed that Peter must have brought her to Tony’s, since he was her living family. She wondered if her uncle was alright, after being impaled by the Boar. But, if she was here and the sun was shining, Apollo must be okay.

    “It’s been pouring for four days.”

So the sun isn’t shining, she thought before wincing once more. If it was raining then Zeus was trying to find her. Looking around, she saw the white walled rooms, resembling a hospital room, with the right equipment fit everywhere. If she didn’t feel like she was dying, she knew she’d have tried walking around.

What she didn’t know was how Apollo returned and let Tony know a few things. For a brief second, Apollo told Tony to keep her away from the rains.

After struggling for a bit, (y/n) sat up, winced for a whole second before earning a click of the tongue from Morgan.

    “You’re not supposed to be moving.” She said, folding her arms in front of her chest.

    “They told you to watch me?”

Morgan smirked before saying, “I’m not supposed to be here.”

(y/n) chuckled before rolling her eyes, “Two of a kind.”

Getting out of bed took the life out of her, as she walked to the door of her room, which overlooked the living room. She could see the windows and the rain on the outside, and she could see the people gathered at the living room. Natasha, Tony and Pepper sat there, apparently talking. Making her way to them, to at least demand an explanation as to what she was doing there, she noticed Pepper freeze.

    “Morgan! Did you wake her?”

Pepper rushed to (y/n) and made her sit on the couch immediately, earning a couple of coughs from the girl. Everything hurt, her feet, her stomach, her chest and she was starting to have a headache.

    “You’re supposed to be sleeping.” Pepper said, almost as if she was scolding her.

    “What am I doing here?”

    “You were resting after being beat up, kid. That’s what.” Tony said, seriously.

He wasn’t adorning the usual sarcastic tone like before. Something had changed.

    “Your uncle asked us to keep you away from the rain.” Natasha said, looking at her.

    “That’s none of your—”

    “You fight now, you die anyway.” Tony said, snapping.

    “When did he…?” (y/n) asked, about her uncle.

Pepper sat beside her and said, “It was after we got you. Peter sent us a signal indicating you were under attack, and after Tony came, Peter and Tony got you here. Your uncle seemed fine, and took that creature away somewhere.”

    “Back to Olympus.” (y/n) said, raspily.

    “You’re in no state to travel.” Tony said, glaring at her.

(y/n) wasn’t about to argue. She knew how weak she felt. Leaning back against the couch, she felt Pepper place a hand on her forehead to check for a fever.

    “The fever’s lifted, but you’re in a lot of pain.”

    “No kidding.” (y/n) said, chuckling dryly.

    “Who said she didn’t have my sarcasm?” Tony said, spreading his hands at his side.

Natasha glared at him. Pepper looked at the girl before saying, “Peter came here everyday, (y/n).”

Her heart flipped at the mention of Peter. He had saved her life twice already, a lot more than that if she included how he had always helped her, ever since she had set foot into New York. And his brown eyes dragged her to every corner that screamed that she was making a mistake.

    “Peter came and saw you every single day, funny because I thought he said he didn’t know you that well.” Tony spoke, looking at her.

A moment later, “She kicked that lady’s ass!” Morgan’s voice screamed, earning a laugh from (y/n).

    “Morgan!” Pepper scolded instantly.

    “She did not learn that from me.” Tony defended.

A while after, (y/n) went back to her bed and lay down. There was very little she could do at the moment, but the best thing would be to heal as fast as she could. Closing her eyes, she thought of Peter and how helpless she must have seemed. She hoped things would have been different; she dreamed that she was a human girl and could finally tell Peter that she liked him. She wondered how different her life would have been if not for this prophecy.

When she was about to fall asleep, Peter walked into the room. He stood by the door, his mask not on his face, and gave her the look she had always seen on him, even before meeting him. It was the same look, the look that screamed at her to not go, the look that had started her obsession with him.

    “Peter—”

She didn’t notice him run to her. What she noticed was how all of a sudden, his hands were caging her cheeks and his lips were pressed to hers. Her eyes widened, her heart jumped out of her chest, and she could feel Peter’s hands shaking as he held her. But, just before she was about to kiss him back, Peter pulled away.

    “I’m sorry.” (y/n) looked at him, confused. Her face felt like it was on fire, but she ignored the feeling for now. “I was… I was so, so scared. When that thing was beating you, and I couldn’t do anything, I thought… I thought…” His voice broke, and Peter’s hands were shaking at her cheeks.

Pulling back, with Peter’s hands still on either side of her cheek, “Please, don’t leave, (y/n). Stay here, with me.”

At that second, it made sense. She wondered from five years what that look meant—what it meant when Peter’s eyes told her not to go. It was not telling her not to go, Peter’s eyes, from the very second she had seen them in her vision, were begging her to stay.

Suddenly, she remembered funny details that she thought didn’t make sense. She remembered Peter saying a name after hearing her hum a song her mother used to hum. Peter had called out the name of the song, and had promised to make her listen to it someday.

And right then, staring into Peter’s eyes, she heard her mother sing it.

If you’re lost, you can look and you will find me.

Time after time.

❅

series taglist:

Those I could not tag, I’ve added your urls here!

@maddie-laufeyson​, @mscoloneldanvers​, @https://dancing-flame.tumblr.com, @daughter-of-stark​, @spider-mendes​, @nerdyandproudofitsstuff​, @someonekeepstakingmyusernames​, @alina-margaret​, @yourwonderbelle​, @viarogers​​, @https://huangsushii.tumblr.com, @eridanuswave​ @oliviaisnotlistening​ @mizpotatobiscuits​ @editsbyjenny​ @abbieroseb​ @justtrynagetthroughlife​ @secretlittlewonders​​ @missmulti​ @shallowshawnshallowshawn.tumblr.com  @eunoiametonia​ @adistiany​ @justletmesleeptillidie​ @ppunderoos​ @myheartonthemove​ @heir2chaos​ @honeybutterparker @truthdaze @mvmakki @-thatgirloverthere-@growingthornz @freddies-fried-chicken @jinxedleohttps://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/wrongyuckie @gogoca @kewl-r​ @death-by-viola​ @losersunitetonight​ @hungoverhellhound@ro2424@https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/blackkookiebunn @absmiles123@fxckingfat @ludwigvonbaethoven @xbabykookiix @madds-lolo @uwukinawa @sunflowernightss​ @diamonddia-mond @5knee​ @imsuperawkward @smileyishere92 @awkward-youtube-trash @spiderbabyx @theshortegg @samthesnoop 

[fuzziekins]

The Post-Frozen II Dream You May or May Not Have Asked For

After seeing Frozen II again last weekend i had a dream about some potential events post-movie. This is my attempt at writing a more detailed story version of that dream based off my thread of tweets. It’s actually not as long as i thought it was gonna be and is in less detail than usual for me and while it differs slightly from my typical writing, for the most part it’s still pretty a pretty simplified idea. And just that - an idea. Not really any spoilers for the movie unless you count the subtle mentioning of how the movie ends with where Anna and Elsa are. And maybe one other brief scene. I can’t speak for how accurate the potential of this sequence even is let alone if i was true enough to any of the characters but here’s hoping you enjoy it! ❄️❄️

Autumn in Northuldra was so different from Arendelle. Arendellians had their own process of transitioning from summer to fall. Fashions changed. Decorations went up. But in Northuldra, before Elsa’s eyes she could see the season change. It was steadier. And, perhaps to the naked eye, the change could occur in the blink of an eye. But the Northuldra were in tune with nature; they could sense and see the little things. And slowly but surely, so could Elsa. The leaves began to change their hues and the breezes were beginning to return, slowly putting an end to summer’s humidity. It was relaxing. The peace that Elsa felt living in the forest could no longer compare to what it was like living in Arandelle.

“Enjoying the view?”

Elsa tilted her head, watching Yelena approach from behind. A soft smile crossed her face in response.

“As are many of my people,” Yelena commented. “Some still cannot believe the clear sky. I myself had almost forgotten what it looked like.”

“A lot has certainly changed in a year,” Elsa observed. “Oh! And I must thank you for helping to teach me the ways of the Northuldra. I know it’s been...a process.”

That wasn’t to say it as a negative; there were things that made both Arendelle and Northuldra unique. Still, once in a while something came up in which Elsa had to relearn. Something that was perhaps more prominent in Arendelle compared to Northuldra. Or that meant something completely different.

“It was also a process dealing with the soldiers for over thirty years,” the elder reminded her. “However that was during a time of darkness. There is no comparison.”

Elsa furrowed her brows slightly. “May...may I ask you something?”

To that, Yelena nodded.

“When we first arrived here, you nor the soldiers could stand the sight of each other. Yet when the Earth Giants came or the fire raged, it was the people that mattered rather than from where they hailed. Why was that, if there was such hatred?” she inquired.

“We have had our differences. And yes, the war has brought out the worst that we saw in each other,” Yelena acknowledged. “But in moments of crisis such as that, our goal was the same - to survive. For that brief moment our feelings did not matter. Because in nature there is no hatred. It does not dictate who thrives and who suffers because of who we are or where we come from. That, we determine on our own. The Northuldra work with nature; we try our best to remain in tune with it. And that is why we try to follow such thinking.” She gestured behind her, taking note of a pair of men with a reindeer. They were grooming it while occasionally stealing glances from each other. One appeared to say something, causing the other to laugh in response. “Nature knows no judgment, nor do the spirits. We may live as we desire, love as we desire. So long as our connection to the forest and the spirits remain in tact and we are respectful of them, as well as each other, that is all that matters.”

And yet no matter how short or long Elsa has referred to Northuldra as her home, the beauty of it and its people never ceased to amaze her. She could not help but bask in the moment, continuing to feel such acceptance in a way that had always seemed to be lacking in Arendelle.

The winds increased slightly, resulting in Elsa’s locks lifting from her shoulders. Blinking, she ran her fingers through them and then turned her head. A folded paper crane began descending in front of her. That could only mean one thing - Anna. Elsa’s smile grew; though they no longer resided together it seemed as though they were never truly apart.

“Thank you, Gale.”

She gently removed the note from Gale’s hold, allowing the spirit to continue on her way. Gently unfolding the sides, Elsa began reading.

“Anna and Kristoff are hosting a family dinner and game night,” she summarized. “It’s tomorrow night. I suppose they wanted to do something before the wedding planning became overwhelming. Anna says I should bring someone along; you are all family after all.”

“How thoughtful,” Yelena complimented. “You will leave in the morning, I presume?”

“Yes. And only for a couple of days,” she promised.

“Why don’t you invite Ryder and Honeymaren?” Yelena suggested.

“I would not ask Nokk to carry more than one other person. That would not be fair to it,” she answered. “Nor would it be fair for any one of the reindeer to leave you or their home even for a short amount of time. The next time they go, that everyone goes is, at least I believe, for Anna’s wedding.”

The leader nodded in understanding. “Very well. But, if memory serves, Anna and Kristoff got on nicely with the siblings. They might enjoy seeing one another again. I recommend at least asking. I believe Ryder is with a group of the reindeer.” Yelena turned to return to her people, rolling her eyes in the process. “After all, where else would he possibly be.”

---

“Ok. Ok. You can do this.”

“Of course you can.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I believe in you Ryder!”

“But what if I mess up? Again?”

“Maybe you’ll get her to laugh this time.”

Honeymaren shook her head. Watching her brother converse with the reindeer, especially in such ridiculous voices, was typically either entertaining or frustrating. In this particular case it was certainly the latter.

“Maybe you should quit while you’re behind,” she suggested.

Ryder scoffed. “No way! This time I’m really gonna follow through! Even Walter thinks so!”

Honeymaren sighed. “I’m not sure what’s more painful. The fact that that you actually think you have a chance with Elsa or that you named the reindeer Walter.”

He held up a finger. “Hey! Walter wanted something unique and different, ok? And at least he actually believes in me, unlike my own sister.”

“I’m just saying, all of these so-called grand gestures of yours either seem to go over Elsa’s head or they fail miserably,” she commented. “What about the time-”

“We don’t talk about that.”

“Or the time that-”

“Or that.”

“Or when you got your foot stuck in the-”

“Never speak of that again!”

To that, the reindeer rolled his eyes.

Honeymaren sighed. “You’re a romantic. You mean well. I get it. But with all the times you failed miserably beyond belief with every other woman you ever remotely came into contact with...”

“Appreciate the sugar coating,” he commented sarcastically.

Still, Honeymaren continued. “What makes you think you have any sort of chance with Elsa? She’s the fifth spirit. She’s incredible. She’s powerful. She’s caring. She’s a protector. Not to mention she’s beautiful...”

“Yeah, ok, I’m gonna stop you right there,” Ryder decided.

Honeymaren bit her tongue as if that would help fight off the blush that she was sure was rising to her cheeks. There was no way Ryder possibly caught on.... Could he?

“You obviously know nothing about the inner workings of women,” he scoffed.

Was that a relief or an insult?

“I think I know more than you,” she responded in attempt to brush it off.

Ryder sighed. “You only say that because you hang out with her so much. I don’t know how you do it. Whatever you say to her or do with her, it’s like when you guys get together there’s no one else.” He leaned against Walter in disappointment. “I just...wish that could be me, you know?”

Honeymaren bit her lip. He wasn’t wrong...she and Elsa did hang out a lot...they had gotten close...they enjoyed each others’ company...but did Ryder have to say it that way? Like it was such a bad thing? Like it meant nothing? Unless...it did mean something?

Fortunately, the sound of footsteps approaching would get both of them off the subject.

Honeymaren shook the feeling off. Whether Elsa was coming or not, it was the perfect opportunity to end this uncomfortable conversation. “Maybe this is your chance.”

“Yes! Let’s do it!” Ryder cheered. “Walter, get ready!”

Walter knelt down, allowing Ryder to climb on him. Signaling for Walter to remain steady, Ryder attempted to hold his balance. He wobbled a bit, as he opted to stand on his back rather than sit. Once Walter was standing straight up Ryder puffed out his chest. He cleared his throat, doing a few tests to make it sound deeper. He placed his hands on his hips as if to strike a power pose. He closed his eyes, seeming to embrace the feeling as well as the anticipation of his next action.

“Elsa! Wielder of ice! Oh powerful spirit! Protector of our land! Goddess of my heart!” he declared.

Honeymaren hit her head, closing her eyes in embarrassment. “Oh my god.”

“Please! Weill you do me the honor of going ooooo-ooooo-aaaaaaah!”

Midway through his question Walter knelt down and Ryder took a step forward. However instead of stepping forward as if to put on the guise of a pungent reindeer king, Ryder lost his balance. Specifically, he somehow tripped over one of Walter’s antlers. The action caused the reindeer to jump back in shock which, in turn, resulted in Ryder tumbling forward with a scream. He ended up sliding through the dirt head first, landing at Elsa’s feet. The Ice Queen took a step back, bringing her arms up towards her chest as a defense mechanism. Certainly an improvement over using ice first, in her opinion. She bit her lip, staring at her now unconscious friend. There was a pause before she allowed anything to escape her lips.

“Is he alright...?”

Honeymaren rose to her feet. “He has a thick skull. He’ll be fine.” She approached Elsa, though took a brief detour at Walter. She rubbed his head gently. “Keep an eye on him and don’t try that again.”

Wasn’t that obvious? Walter grunted in response.

“So what’s up?”

“I’ll be leaving for Arendelle in the morning for a few days. Anna wants to have a family dinner,” Elsa explained. She paused briefly before shrugging her shoulders. “She has also extended the invitation. Would you like to come?”

Honeymaren blinked. “Me?”

“Oh, only if you want to of course,” Elsa responded quickly.

“No...I mean, no, not no. Of course I...don’t want to...not come....” Honeymaren paused, pondering over her choice of words. That didn’t sound right. She shook her head. “What I mean to say is, I’d love to.”

However, shortly after she answered her face fell. Honeymaren’s gaze tilted down towards her brother, who was still out cold. She couldn’t do that to him...could she? No, probably not.

“But...are you sure you don’t want to ask Ryder?” she asked.

Elsa scoffed lightly, almost as if she were responding to a joke. “I don’t need another Kristoff around. One is plenty.”

“But Ryder does get along with him and Anna. Actually he...” Honeymaren scrunched her nose. “He seems to idolize Kristoff for some reason.”

Elsa giggled. “I know. I don’t understand it either. But I’d rather take you. So?”

Honeymaren bit her lip. She stole a glance away from Elsa and placed her hands behind her back. A break from Ryder...just the two of them....

“Then I guess I can’t say no.”

---

“ELSA ELSA ELSA ELSA ELSA!”

Anna’s excited screams echoed through the streets of Arendelle as she rushed to greet her sister. Her hands clasped her dress tightly, lifting it up just enough so her feet could pound against the cobble. Passersby nearly jumped out of the queen’s way to allow her through. Once in a while Anna did manage to get out a “hi” or “excuse me” to someone she ran past, but as soon as the question escaped her lips her eyes darted straight ahead to the water. Sure she could see Elsa on Nokk approaching she returned to excitedly screaming for her sister. Once Anna reached her, Elsa had barely descended from the water spirit before the sisters were reunited in a tight embrace.

“ELSA ELSA ELSA ELSA ELSA! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I’VE SEEN YOU I’M SO EXCITED I MISSED YOU!” Anna exclaimed.

Elsa giggled. “I missed you, too, sis.” She pulled out of the hug, though only slightly. “But it’s only been a couple of weeks.”

Anna blinked. “Wait, what? No! There’s no way it’s been that quick. It was definitely way more time than that. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Elsa promised.

Anna bit her lip. “Huh....” She paused, eyes darting at the nearby surroundings before returning to Elsa. “Let’s never go that long again. Promise?”

“I promise,” she nodded. Elsa turned to Nokk, gently rubbing its snout. “Thank you for the ride. Keep an eye on everyone.”

With a soft neigh, the water spirit liquidized and galloped back into the water, slowly descending into its depths.

Honeymaren exhaled. “That was everything I imagined it would be.”

Anna excitedly grabbed her arm. “What was it like, riding a water horse? Or was it an ice horse? Or is it both? Was it wet? Cold? Magical? Dreamy?”

“What about riding me?”

The deep voice could have only belonged to Sven - or rather, Kristoff speaking for Sven. The two finally reached the women, Sven wasting no time in rubbing his snout against Anna followed by a petting from Elsa while Kristoff took a moment to catch his breath.

“You know...you could’ve just, I don’t know, waited? For me to get Sven? Instead of rushing ahead like that,” Kristoff said. He exhaled, toying with his shirt collar. “Man is it hot out here?”

“Sorry Kristoff,” Anna apologized innocently. “I just couldn’t wait to see my sister again.”

He narrowed his gaze. “Yeah, never would’ve guessed that.” 

“Nice to see you, too, Kristoff,” Elsa stated.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He climbed down from Sven and, once Elsa opened her arms, he gave her a hug. “Hi Elsa.” He followed the same suit with Honeymaren. “Good to see you again Honeymaren.” He then stepped back and went to hug a third person - only to nearly fall into the water in front of him. “Hey Ry....WHOA!” He stumbled briefly, waving his arms in attempt to regain his balance. He managed to bend his body back just enough to allow one foot flat on the solid ground. “Where’s Ryder?”

“He’s back home,” Honeymaren answered.

“Wait he’s where?” Kristoff’s face fell. He looked to his fiancee. “I thought you told Elsa she could bring anyone.”

“I did,” Anna nodded.

“But then where’s Ryder?”

“He’s not here.”

“So he wasn’t invited.”

“I don’t make the rules.”

“Who’s fault is that?”

Honeymaren sighed. “I should’ve fought more for him to come.”

“No, I made the choice who to invite,” Elsa replied.

“It’s fine. We’re all going to have a great time!” Anna promised. “Oh, you have to see what Oaken did with his shop! He remodeled, got new inventory, his family all started working there with him, oh and last week he told the funniest story! We have so much to catch up on while you’re here!” Squealing with glee, she led Elsa and Honeymaren towards the castle. Once again, Kristoff and Sven were left behind.

Sven let out a moan.

“I know,” Kristoff pet his friend’s head, “I miss him, too.”

“It was just so nice to have someone who understood me,” Sven replied.

“Yeah I...” Kristoff started but cut himself off. “Oh, and I don’t?”

---

“And the Snowgies are still working on repairing that barn window!” Anna laughed. “Sometimes I think they just end up falling asleep there. One of the stable boys was afraid he stepped in something no one wants to step in!” She quickly straightened her posture and then lifted her fork to continue eating. Anna may have still been quirky as ever, but she was still the queen. “True story.”

“I knew you would be perfect for Arendelle. I could have never made it this lively,” Elsa complimented.

“Yeah but we knew you would protect us from anything when you were queen,” Anna stated. “I could never do that.”

“Being queen isn’t all about being protective or in charge. Sometimes it’s just giving people hope. You do that every day,” Elsa assured her.

Anna’s smile grew. “Really?”

Elsa shrugged. “You did that for me every day when I was here. I was able to rule for as long as I did because I had you by my side.”

Anna’s hands jumped to her face. “Awwww Elsa!” she squeaked.

Beside her, Kristoff sniffled. He picked up his napkin and rubbed his eyes. “I promised I wouldn’t cry at dinner. It was just so sweet.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” Anna grinned, pecking his cheek. She sat back up in her chair. “Are there family game nights in Northuldra, too?”

“We’ve tried a few nights,” Honeymaren admitted, “but truth be told there are moments were many of us forget we’re not trapped anymore. So there’s still the expectation of the Earth Giants attacking.”

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Anna gasped. “I didn’t realize...”

“It’s fine,” Honeymaren assured her. “Some changes just still take some getting used to.”

“Is there anything we can do to make you feel more at home while you’re here?” Anna wondered.

“You’re letting me share this with you. That’s plenty for tonight,” she answered.

“But you are going to let me win at Charades, right?” Kristoff asked hopefully. “I mean let’s face it, with Olaf visiting Marshmallow and the Snowgies I’m at a horrible disadvantage.”

“Serves you right for letting Olaf rearrange,” Anna commented. Her gaze returned to her sister, who was delicately moving part of her salad onto her fork before indulging. It really was almost as if Elsa had never left. The way she was when she entered the castle again it was exactly like old times. Almost too much so. The way she remained poised. How she spoke so politely or elegantly, at times almost softly. The way she carried herself, almost as if she had so much to prove with all of Arendelle relying on her. The way her braid rested on her shoulder....

Wait.

Anna blinked. She hadn’t realized until now. The last time they saw each other, when it was just the two of them, Elsa kept her hair down. The way she had since becoming the fifth spirit. Why did she change it?

“Oh, Elsa...”

Elsa’s blue pools reached up and across the table. “Yes?”

“Your hair...”

“Is there something wrong?” Her hand reached up, gently caressing her braid.

“No, not at all. Just that....” What was a good way to word this? Was there a good way to word this? She didn’t want her to feel self conscious. Still though, it was almost like...like looking at a past Elsa. The Elsa that kept to herself. The Elsa that had so much to live up to. The Elsa that was still learning to control her powers. The Elsa that was Queen of Arendelle. “You...you can let your hair down.... I mean if you wanted to, of course. But it...it suits you.”

Elsa’s hand moved down, towards the bottom of her hair where the final knot was tied. “Thank you. I suppose it’s....” She stopped, furrowing her brows in the process. It was almost as if she, too, was unable to find the correct words. Ultimately, she shook it off. “Alright then.” She gently untied the bottom knot, her touch light as she began to undo the ones that followed. A few later, Elsa looked to Honeymaren. “Could you? Please...?”

“Oh...sure,” she nodded, a bit taken aback. Shifting her seat back slightly, Honeymaren turned her body so she was facing Elsa’s back. Almost as delicately as Elsa undid the first knots, Honeymaren began untangling the rest. And in front of her Elsa sat with her eyes closed, still poised as always, and yet almost at ease.

Anna watched the interaction between the two of them. She tilted her head, eyes following Honeymaren’s motions. How she was careful not to pull too hard. How she gently caressed Elsa’s blonde locks after undoing them. How her eyes were glued to them, focusing on every inch, every detail, every motion. Almost like she was taking in the moment to last. And not once during any of that did Elsa flinch. The woman who was once so guarded, who kept herself so apart from everyone else, who was once even nervous to hug her own sister. She, too, was at ease. When was the last time Anna had seen Elsa like that? Was there a time where anyone had ever seen Elsa like that? Let alone with anyone? She raised an eyebrow, thinking back. But nothing came to her. That is, until....

“OOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

Elsa’s head darted to Anna immediately with wide eyes. The action caused Honeymaren to let go of Elsa’s hair and jerk back. Even Kristoff stared at his fiancee wide eyed, holding his hands up in defense and dropping his fork.

“Anna what’s wrong?” Elsa gasped.

“Nothing,” the redhead squeaked.

And though her voice implied one thing, most likely a lie, her wide lit up eyes spoke nothing short of pure delight.

“But you’re making that face,” Elsa observed.

“What face?”

“The one that you do when...”

“I don’t make a face.”

“Yes, your excited face that...”

“No don’t have that.”

“Oh how does Olaf describe it...?”

Kristoff raised an eyebrow. “Like she’s about to explode because she has to go to the bathroom so bad?”

There was a moment of silence.

Then Elsa scrunched her nose. “Yes...that’s the one.”

“Nope don’t know what you’re talking about hey Kristoff can I see you in the other room for a sec kay thanks let’s go we’ll be right back!” Anna breathed out as fast as she could. She grabbed Kristoff’s arm, pulled him out of his chair and dragged him out of the dining hall. Once they were in the next room, enough out of eyesight and earshot, Anna began excitedly jumping up and down.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!”

“Uhh....” the blond stared at the queen, taking in her sudden burst of glee. “Can you...maybe...stop making that face?”

Anna folded her arms, narrowing her gaze. “Ok first of all, I do not make a face like that and you also said my face is adorable no matter what. Now that we’ve got that covered....” Letting out another squeal, she tightened her grip on Kristoff’s arm. “OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT?”

“See what?” he shrugged.

“THAT! Them! Her!” she exclaimed.

“I don’t follow,” he shook his head.

Anna exhaled. “Ok maybe you haven’t noticed because it has been a while, but Elsa NEVER lets anyone gets close to her.”

“Uh yeah, I knew that,” Kristoff replied as-a-matter-of-factly. “She has to be the one to initiate for anything. Why do you think I always wait for her first? As much I love ice, I don’t want her to actually make me ice.”

“Ok yeah, fine, she has to be comfortable enough around someone to even want to invite them,” she acknowledged. “But do you know what this means? Elsa is comfortable! With another person!”

Kristoff raised an eyebrow. “And....?”

Anna groaned. “Kristoff you don’t understand Elsa like I do. She doesn’t let anyone get close to her. No one really ever stood a chance of being anything to her. And now, just now, she was sitting in there, in that dining hall, asking someone else to touch her hair and actually letting her do it! No reaction. No nerves. No hesitation. No...no.... Nothing!”

“Are you jealous?” he smirked.

Anna furrowed her brows. “What? No. Of course not! It’s just....” Her eyes wandered back in the direction of the dining hall. “I know this is going to sound crazy but...I think...I think maybe Elsa likes her. And...I don’t know, maybe...maybe Honeymaren does, too.”

Kristoff stared at her blankly. There was a lull. He gave no other reaction save for standing in front of her like a statue, arms folded and empty stare.

“So what are you, like a love expert now?” he asked half joking.

Anna grinned proudly. “Yes. Yes I am.”

He moaned. “Have you been hanging with my friends again?”

“Yes but that’s not the point,” she brushed him off. “The point is, I know my sister better than anyone. I’m the only one she lets come close to her. No restrictions. No hesitations. No questions. I’m there and she...she just lets me. And I think....” Cautiously, she poked her head around the corner hoping to even for a moment steal a glance at them. It didn’t look like they were saying anything, at least not verbally. But Honeymaren did look to her side at Elsa. However when Elsa reached for her glass of water, her brown eyes darted back to her food. And for a brief moment, one that should have lasted longer, Elsa seemed to gaze at Honeymaren from the corner or her own eye. “I think Elsa should have that with someone else, too.”

Kristoff’s face softened. He gently placed a hand on Anna’s shoulder, turning her back to face him. He meant no ill will nor to seem like he didn’t believe Anna. That much she could see in his face. But there was still doubt. Why should there be when Anna had to be right?

“Look, I’m not trying to put you down. I would never. And I know you mean well and that you’d do anything for Elsa. She’s the most important person to you. I know that, I accept that, and I would never question it,” he explained. Pausing, he softly exhaled. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up is all. Your intentions may be out of love, but that doesn’t mean they’re what Elsa wants or needs. Or that it’s true.”

Anna smiled softly. She knew she could count on Kristoff to tell it to her like it was. He trusted her and he believed her. He just didn’t see everything from her perspective, and sometimes Anna needed that. And it was ok.

She placed her hand over his, giving it a light squeeze. “I know. And that’s why...” her tone quickly shifted from loving to confident, “I am going to talk to my sister!”

To that, Kristoff chuckled. “Yeah, since that worked out so well the first time.”

---

Before anyone knew it, the time for playing games as a family passed and it was time for bed. Elsa retreated to the room she once called hers. She took in all of her surroundings; nothing seemed to change at all. It was just as she had left it. Without a doubt, Anna had kept it exactly as it was for when Elsa visited. Though, the bed sheets were not completely made. Elsa covered her mouth, holding in a faint laugh. Of course Anna must have slept in Elsa’s bed once in a while. It was as close as they could get to each other without being under the same roof. But then, at the same time, it also relaxed Elsa. It meant that no matter how far apart they were, they were still sisters. They would always have something of each others’. Be a part of each other.

Stepping quietly towards the vanity, Elsa picked up her hairbrush. She ran it lightly through her hair, softly singing the song of the north in the process.

Aaaaah aaaaah

Aaaah aaaaah

The doorknob turned. Elsa’s body shifted, one hand lifting but releasing no ice. Anna poked her head inside.

“Am I interrupting?”

Elsa exhaled. She should have known. “Of course not.” She set her brush down as Anna walked in, holding something close in her arms.

“I brought you something.” Holding out her arms, Anna revealed Iduna’s scarf. The fabric unfolded slightly as Anna presented it, yet still it appeared as though little time had passed. Its condition had barely shifted since the passing.

“Mother’s scarf....” Elsa breathed.

Anna nodded. “It’s your turn to have it.”

Elsa shook her head. “Oh no, I couldn’t.”

“Yes you could. You can and you will. I want you to have it,” she replied.

“Anna I really can’t,” she insisted.

“Yes you can. No exchanges. No refunds. No take backs. This is yours to hold onto until I have a baby and then I get to pass this down and wrap her or him or them in it so they can always have a piece of Mother,” Anna said. She blinked. “Oh wow, what if I have a them?”

“Anna...”

“Sorry, getting ahead of myself.”

“It’s not that.”

“Oh good because I’m so not ready for a them!”

“About the scarf-”

“You should absolutely have it.”

“But I can’t take it from you.”

“It’s both of ours to give and take.”

“That may be so. But....” Elsa stepped closer. She placed her hands on the fabric and then gently pushed it back towards her sister. “This is all we have left of Mother. I’m reminded of her every day in Northuldra. It was her home. Where she came from. It was a part of her and now a part of us. I want you to be able to have her, too.”

“I do. Because I have you,” Anna promised. “You’re part of her. And I love you for that. For you.”

Leave it to Anna to always know the right thing to say. Even when they were kept apart, not once had Elsa felt a judging glance from Anna behind her back. When Elsa’s powers were revealed Anna showed no fear; she never once thought ill of Elsa. There was immediate acceptance. And there had been love, support, and admiration ever since.

But that couldn’t be all there was.

“This isn’t just about the scarf is it?”

Anna shook her head. She sat at the edge of the bed, patting the empty space next to her. Elsa obliged and sat beside her sister. “You were a gift to Mother and Father. And to me, because you got to be my big sister. And everything you did was for them. For me. You kept yourself away from us to protect us, because you never wanted to hurt us. You’ve spent so much time trying to be who you thought they wanted or needed you to be for Arendelle. Because it’s their home, our home. What it means. You’ve tried your best to stand for everything they believed in, to keep their traditions going. You’re the fifth spirit of the Enchanted Forest! You’re the bridge between us and the other spirits so basically you’re like the sworn protector of everything and everyone in it! You do so much for everyone around you. I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” she assured her. Elsa reached across, placing her hand on Anna’s. “I have you. Believing in me, encouraging me, and standing by me every step of the way. You are a gift to me, too, Anna. Because there was once a time when I feared we would never have this.”

Anna squeezed her sister’s hand. “But you don’t just have me anymore. It doesn’t just have to be me. You can let anyone else in, anyone that you want.”

As well as Anna meant, she didn’t understand. But then again, much as she tried or wanted to, she would probably never fully understand.

“It’s easier said than done. Not everyone looks at me the way that you do.”

Anna shrugged. “I...think I know of at least one other person.”

Elsa tilted her head. There was only one Anna. “Who?”

“Oh...you know....” Anna’s tone increasingly became more sly with each description. “Long, thick, brown hair. Usually in a braid. Doesn’t like to fight. Has a brother that talks to and for reindeer.”

Elsa blinked. There was only one person like that who could possibly fit the description. “Honeymaren?” But where did Anna get an idea like that? Where was any of this coming from? It wasn’t like Elsa had said or done anything. She never lead her on. She didn’t recall ever seeing such a look from her. Unless...had Elsa been giving off a vibe? One that she didn’t even realize? Just because they enjoyed each others’ company? Because they spent so much time together? Because when she was around her, Elsa was never the snow queen or the fifth spirit; she was just...Elsa. “I.... I’m not sure I understand. When...? How...?” She could almost feel her heart rate increasing, her powers reacting in response to her emotions. Elsa tried to think back; to something, to anything, that she could have missed. Had she even been that way with anyone else before? What did it mean? Was she...? Could she...? What if she was thinking too much into it? That had to be it. There was no chance that any other way would work let alone be allowed.... Would there? After all Elsa spent so much time alone; isolated from the people she cared about most. Maybe it no longer had to be that way but.... But what if on some level that’s how it had to be? How could she....?

But as quickly as the fear and nerves rose, they sunk. Any ice that was ready t stem from her hand practically melted away. Her powers calmed. Because there beside her was still Anna. Squeezing her hand. Supporting her. Loving her.

“You don’t have to be scared of letting someone else in,” Anna said softly. “You’ve spent your whole life doing what’s best for everyone else. You’re allowed to do something for you now.”

Elsa shook her head. “It is not that simple. Everything I knew growing up, so much of it I’ve had to unlearn. There are times where I have to remind myself not to shut you out. Some things are easier said than done.”

“But you have a choice now,” Anna said. “And if you’re not gonna say it then I will. You can’t possibly choose worse than Hans.”

“Oh!” Elsa gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand as if it would stop a laugh.

“See, I knew that’d get you,” Anna teased.

“Yes, that’s exactly why I’ve avoided men,” Elsa commented half sarcastically.

Though it was debatable if her statement was true or not, what Anna said was true - she knew exactly how to bring a smile to her sister’s face. But if only it were so simple to explain to Anna what a difference it was. How Anna made a choice with the best of intentions while Elsa’s decisions were out of fear. And though it could have been interpreted as coming from a positive place, it was also from a selfish one. Though Elsa wanted to protect those that meant the most to her, she also chose to allow her fears to consume her rather than letting others lift her up. It brought her to a place of darkness, one that she at times still fought against. As quickly as the Hans came and went, Anna rose with both Elsa and Kristoff. It was not the same. Perhaps there was a simpler way to show Anna.

Moving her hand and holding it out in front of her, Elsa began twisting her fingers. A few flurries began to fall, ultimately creating scenes with snow. The first was Elsa’s battle against the Wesleton minions at her ice palace. “Remember when my powers were first revealed? This is what they caused. People reacted from fear. They had never seen my magic before; and because I could not control it nor did they understand it, I was unwelcome. As the Queen of Arendelle, even as an Arendellian. Rather, I was a monster.” 

The next scene she created was one she saw at Ahtohallan, from the water’s memories. The snow showed silhouettes of King Runeard and one of the soldiers, specifically when he was explaining the meaning of his so-called gift. “Grandfather himself even stated that people who trust magic, who use it, who wield or support it in anyway, are a danger and cannot be trusted. That was why the war began. He could not accept what was different from what he knew, because he did not understand. What people don’t understand, they fear.”

Anna squinted, taking in the flashbacks. It was almost unbelievable that they were even real events because they were from so long ago. But then, Anna was also the kind of person who didn’t have a bad bone in her body. How could she accept, even knowing the facts, that these were true?

“I don’t get it. That was the past. That was....” She shook her head. “But if people can accept magic now then what would be so wrong or weird about accepting you with someone? Anyone?”

“Some people are closed-minded. It’s how they are,” Elsa sighed. 

“Is it like that in Northuldra?” Anna wondered.

Elsa reversed the movement of her fingers, forming a miniature Enchanted Forest in her palm. Within the miniature snowy trees there were faint hints of the other spirits as well as a few humans. “Yelena described part of their culture as following that of nature. Nature does not judge. The primary rule may be survival. But as long as the people respect nature, respect the land and the creatures in it, then we are free to live and love as we desire.”

“But Arendelle...” Anna started.

“Stands for many positive things,” she acknowledged. Elsa closed her palm, causing the snow to disappear into thin air. “But it is also a place where, if one does not ask then one does not tell. It’s like with my powers. People didn’t ask, so they weren’t told.”

The confused look on Anna’s face remained. “But....” She shook her head. “But I can change that. I can make it a rule that everyone can decide for themselves. They can say or show or do whatever they want. As long as they represent everything good that Arendelle stands for, as long as they’re not hurting anyone then why should what they do or look like or love matter?”

Elsa smiled softly, admiring her sister’s good intentions. “If only it were that easy.” Exhaling, she looked away. “But a rule does not change how people think. Not everyone would be accepting.”

Anna reached over, taking Elsa’s other hand. “They accepted you as their queen once. They still welcome you here with open arms. If they can accept you for your magic and love and admire you the way I do, then it won’t matter who you’re with or not with. You don’t have to live by our rules or for anyone. Just yourself. Whatever that is.” She then wrapped her arms around her sister, squeezing her in a tight hug. “You’re still the most incredible person I know. I love you.”

Elsa smiled, returning the embrace. Once again Anna was there for her when she needed her. Whatever it meant for Elsa, at least she had the most important person in her corner.

“What would I do without you? I love you, too, sis.”

---

What time was it?

Late.

And no matter what Honeymaren did, she couldn’t seem to get to sleep. Not that it should be a surprise. She was so used to sleeping outside, at least in some capacity. Even when the sky was covered somehow she always felt it above her. She knew that somewhere, deep in that mist, it was there. She just couldn’t get that same feeling in Arendelle. She felt...blocked, in a way.

But she was invited there. How would it look if she showed any discomfort? Acted as ungrateful for the invitation? She was welcomed with open arms. Some reaction.

Maybe she needed to wander. Tire herself out some more. Then it wouldn’t matter where she slept. So Honeymaren quietly exited the bedroom. She glanced briefly back and forth down the halls. No one appeared to be up. She hoped they wouldn’t mind her exploring.

It was huge. There were so many decorations, so many things, so many portraits.... Eventually Honeymaren found herself stopping in front of a pair. One of a young Anna and Elsa with their parents, and the one beside it representing the sisters, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf. Honeymaren took in the latter first. Everyone looked so happy. At peace. Even if, for that brief moment in time, there was nothing wrong with the world. They were together. Then there was the former. It represented simpler times. It was before everything became so...how did Anna describe it once...? Crazy?

Honeymaren’s eyes followed up the portrait, starting with Anna whose eyes led her to Elsa, then to King Agnarr, and finally Queen Iduna. Her gaze stood.

Iduna of Northuldra.

What must that have been like, Honeymaren wondered? For Iduna to have escaped the trapping and ending up in Arendelle? Secretly living all that time as one of them? Being separated from her people? From nature? Learning to be someone completely different?

But she wasn’t, not really. Because she and Agnarr fell in love. He knew that she hailed from Northuldra. That their people had become enemies. That there’d been no interaction between them for so long. Yet he still chose her. But in the end she had to hide who she really was. From her people. From her own daughters. Was that how Elsa felt for so long as well? Knowing she was so different but could never truly speak out about it? Always having to fear for fitting in? For acceptance? Truly neither Elsa nor Iduna should have experienced such a pain.

“Hi.”

The soft whisper came from out of nowhere. Honeymaren gasped quietly before turning to her right and seeing Elsa. Honeymaren exhaled.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“I’m alright,” Elsa promised. “What about you?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “I hope you don’t mind; I was just looking around.”

“Not at all,” Elsa said.

The two returned their gazes toward the portraits. Neither spoke another word. There was complete silence. But it was comfortable. Though there were a couple of instances in which Honeymaren wondered if she should say anything, she didn’t want to break it. Still, she pondered what could be going on in Elsa’s head. Did she maybe want to speak as well? What was there for either of them to say? But then again, were words even necessary? It was just the two of them. Nothing else mattered or even existed.

Eventually, however, the silence was broken.

“Come with me,” Elsa encouraged. She began down the hallway, and Honeymaren trailed behind her. They retreated into Elsa’s room. Honeymaren carefully closed the door behind her as to not wake anyone else. Elsa approached the door leading towards the balcony. After unlocking it, she opened the doors wide. A gentle breeze blew into the room. There was the faintest chill to it. Was that because it was so late? Or was it for another reason?

“I hope this helps,” Elsa spoke, “so you don’t feel cut off from the outside at all.”

“I’m sorry you have to go through the trouble,” she apologized. “Imagine if you brought Ryder instead. You wouldn’t have to worry about him at all. He would be completely amazed by everything here.” She then bit her tongue, “Of course then he wouldn’t shut up about it so you probably wouldn’t get any sleep.”

Elsa scoffed softly. “This is no trouble at all. Besides,” she sat on her bed and leaned her back against the soft pillows, “then we wouldn’t be able to continue our own family night traditions.”

Honeymaren folded her arms. “You really think I’m going to fall asleep just like that because you sing?”

“Why not? It works every other time,” Elsa shrugged.

Honeymaren shook her head, but obliged and sat next to Elsa. “I don’t know if I would exactly call it a family night tradition though. It’s not game night like you and Anna have.”

“No...but it has helped me,” the blonde confessed. “When I first settled in Northuldra it took a while for me to get comfortable and fall asleep. Then you sang the lullaby to me. And it made me think about my family. I felt connected to both my homes. And it’s been working ever since.”

“That doesn’t mean I fall for it every time,” Honeymaren stated.

Elsa gave her the faintest of smirks. “It worked well the other night.”

Honeymaren blushed and averted her gaze. “Well then...I guess we could give it a try....” She turned her stare back to Elsa, though her eyes moved down towards her shoulder. “May I...?”

Elsa nodded. Honeymaren waited for her to straighten her posture into a more comfortable position before tilting her head. She was sure she felt a slight flinch from her before making full contact, though that was no surprise. It was just like the first few times they did this. But as Honeymaren fully pressed her head against Elsa’s shoulder, she could feel it lighting and sinking slightly with every breath. Elsa was at ease. And so was Honeymaren. The brunette closed her eyes and focused on Elsa’s beautiful voice.

Where the north wind meets the sea

There’s a river full of memory

Sleep my darling, safe and sound

For in this river all is found

This must have been what Elsa meant. To feel out of place and far from the place she called home for so long, but there was this one thing that reminded her of both. The song that came from Northuldra, but the song that also gave her memories from the happier times of her childhood in Arendelle.

In her waters deep and true

Lie the answers and a path for you

Dive down deep into her sound

But not too far or you’ll be drowned

Seriously what was it with the dark, depressing warnings in lullabies?

Yes she will sing to those who’ll hear

And in her song all magic flows

But can you brave what you most fear?

Can you face what the river knows?

It really did remind Honeymaren of Northuldra. She could imagine herself gazing up at the sky. Watching the leaves blow through the wind. Eyes following the stars twinkling in the night sky. The soft ground beneath her, admittedly, with the occasional rocks or pebbles against her. Though her eyes were closed, she could feel the walls of the castle dropping. She concentrated on the wind. Maybe that was what was brushing up against her hand. Except it was warm. Welcoming. Protective.

And before she knew it, Honeymaren drifted off into a deep slumber.

---

Elsa’s fingers gently clasped the blanket beneath her. Her brows furrowed at the heat of the sun escaping into her room. It must have been morning. But she didn’t want to get up; at least not yet. She was so comfortable. Maybe it was being in her room...?

No. She had felt like this in the morning before, few if any at all from her time in Arendelle. This was a more recent sensation, something that was still a bit new to her. One that she didn’t want to shake. Why was that?

Elsa’s eyes fluttered. She squinted, adjusting to the sudden light. Across the room she could see her balcony. Standing there, staring out into the distance was Honeymaren. The first person she saw in the morning.

Elsa turned onto her back, focusing on the ceiling. Another good, sound sleep. She felt calm. Relaxed. Refreshed. She always did after nights like that. But it couldn’t have possibly been because of moments like that. Just because the two of them confided in each other, talked to each other, sang to each other. Anna had to have been so far off in her assumption.

But....

She placed her hand over her heart. It was steady. There were no nerves. No fear. No discomfort. Anna was the only other person who could make Elsa feel such a way. After all, who could she possibly have a stronger connection with than her own sister? Anna was the most important person to her. No one could ever take that place. No one understood or knew Elsa better than Anna.

Huh.

No one understood or knew Elsa better than Anna.

Did Anna see something that Elsa didn’t? Pick up on something? Notice anything at all? Elsa was so guarded; at times she continued to be. Was it possible that she had let someone else in without even realizing? But Anna was also an optimist. And a bit of a romantic. Was she simply overcompensating? Looking into something that might not even be there so that when Anna eventually started her own family Elsa would also have someone? Or was it because Anna balanced her out? She was able to see what Elsa couldn’t? What Elsa closed herself off to for so long to the point where she truly wouldn’t be able to recognize something right in front of her?

She turned her head, focus returning to Honeymaren. What would I do without you, she couldn’t help but think.

It was a thought that so often crossed her mind with Anna. She had just asked her that last night. It was the first time Elsa allowed herself to ask that of someone else. To realize that, at least to some extent, she had opened her heart to someone. Someone that now she couldn’t picture her life without.

Sitting up, Elsa tucked a few locks behind her ear. She stepped lightly towards the balcony, ultimately leaning forward on the banister. She kept some distance between her and Honeymaren if, for no other reason, because of the wind blowing through Elsa’s hair. She didn’t want it to hit Honeymaren.

“Good morning.”

“Oh...morning,” Honeymaren responded almost suddenly. She must have not heard Elsa approaching. “I got up with the sun. Force of habit.”

“I know that feeling,” she nodded in agreement. Elsa ran a hand through her hair. She proceeded to lift her other one, ready to tie her hair back into a braid, or even a ponytail. Then she stopped. She no longer had to present in a particular way. She didn’t have to keep a face nor represent the kingdom. She wasn’t someone who had to stand so poised, put together, and to an extent, stiff. She could be free.

Free as whoever she desired. Whether it was as the fifth spirit or simply as Elsa.

Realizing that, she released her hair to the wind and placed her hands back on the banister. “Did you sleep well?”

Honeymaren scoffed. “Are you asking permission to say ‘I told you so’?”

Elsa raised an eyebrow, fighting back a smirk.

At the unspoken response, Honeymaren let out a laugh. “Ok, fine. You were right. It worked, just like always.”

“Now I will say I told you so,” Elsa commented. Her head tilted, implying she was looking out towards Arendelle. However, the corner of her eyes was still on Honeymaren. Watching her stand so still. Probably basking in the breeze. Feeling the heat of the sun against her cheeks. Her bangs flapping gently against her forehead. Yet she didn’t lift a finger to even try to stop or fix them. What must that have been like, to not play with her hair? Had anyone ever...?

“Actually I was wondering...”

Honeymaren’s sudden inquiry caused Elsa’s grasp to tighten on the banister. She let out a faint gasp. The next thing she knew, she had frozen part of the railing. Icicles sprang from it, attaching Elsa’s hands in the process. That...almost never happened.

“Oh!”

“I’m sorry...”

“It’s alright.”

“I didn’t mean to...”

“I’ve got it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I just need to...”

“Is there anything I can...”

“No, I got it.”

Elsa managed to pull her hands out, cracking off a few pieces of ice in the process. She took a small step back, rubbing her hands. It was just a sudden burst of nerves, she told herself, you didn’t expect her to speak suddenly.

“I’m sorry. I surprised you,” Honeymaren apologized.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Elsa replied. “It’s not like the cold bothers me anyway.”

Not like anything suddenly became awkward at all.

“So...you were about to say something?”

Honeymaren blinked and shook her head. “Right.... I...I didn’t just get up to see the sun rise. Or because of habit. I was also thinking. About last night. The lullaby.”

Elsa blinked. Was it different because they were in Arendelle? Did she sing off key? Did it really not help Honeymaren sleep better? Many other questions ran through Elsa’s mind. Why could she possibly want to talk about that right now? Today of all days? 

There were likely a few responses Elsa could have conjured. Yet somehow the only one that seemed to escape her lips was, “Oh...?”

Honeymaren’s look softened. Her teeth clenched lightly. She was hesitant to continue. Was she fearful of hurting Elsa’s feelings? It wasn’t like she was going to suddenly launch a burst of ice because of her increasingly powerful emotions which almost completely dictated how strong her powers were as well as the way they were used in the first place.

Again.

She had control of them now.

Complete control.

She was fine.

“I just...I think...I mean, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now....” She looked at Elsa apologetically before closing her eyes. “I don’t think we should do that anymore.”

There was a heaviness in the Snow Queen’s chest. “Is...is everything alright? Was it something I did? Or said?”

“No. No, nothing like that at all. You...you’re amazing,” Honeymaren promised.

Elsa attempted to ignore the heat she felt in her cheeks.

“I just...” Honeymaren paused, biting her tongue. “I need to tell you something...”

Elsa’s heart pounded. She needed to tell her something. That sounded an awful like a confession. Was this...? Was she going to...? Was Anna right?

“Is everything alright...?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes...? I think so....” 

That didn’t sound very encouraging. It came across more as...conflicted. But there was no way she was going to say what Anna thought she was going to say. There was no way.

Unless Anna was right. And Honeymaren wasn’t sure if she should say anything. She must have thought Elsa wouldn’t respond. Or might, but negatively.

“I’m actually not completely sure if I should be saying this...but I think you should know,” Honeymaren admitted. She took a long, deep breath, leaving Elsa waiting in anticipation. “Ryder’s in love with you.”

Elsa’s head jerked back. Her arms went up in front of her. Her nose scrunched. She stared with almost a complete blank gaze. What did Honeymaren just say?

“I’m sorry.... What?”

Now it was Honeymaren’s turn to be confused. “Ryder’s in love with you...?” she repeated, though that time it sounded more of a question than a confession.

Elsa blinked. A long pause ensued.

“Since when?”

Honeymaren tilted her head. “You mean you had absolutely no idea?”

“No. No!” Elsa gasped. “Why would I?”

“He’s only been trying to impress you with these grand gestures for the better part of the year,” she explained.

“What gestures?” Elsa asked.

Her friend scoffed. “Where should I start?”

Apparently with the obvious ones?

Instead Elsa merely shrugged.

“Well there was that one time he rode in on one of the reindeer with a huge flower crown to present to you but you sneezed snow onto him, freezing him and the reindeer in place. He claimed he couldn’t feel his fingers for a week.”

“I only sneezed on him because I was getting over a cold. I had no idea he was doing anything.”

“He tried to invite you on a magical reindeer ride complete with a blanket on the reindeer for you that was supposed to remind you of your mother’s which would lead you to a sunset picnic on one of the ledges.”

“Why would I ride on a reindeer when I ride with Nokk?”

“He created a whole musical number involving multiple voices for almost all of the reindeer each describing something he loves about you and was only trying to serenade you with it at dinner.”

“That was singing?”

“The last time you came back after seeing the Earth Giants he welcomed you with a spectacle of tricks he spent two weeks training his reindeer for. But he ended up tripping, getting knocked down by one of their butts, falling into a bush and ended up scratching every part of him like a monkey for the next week.”

“I thought he was training to be a clown.”

“Then there was time he got his foot stuck in the-”

“No need to finish that sentence.”

Honeymaren held her hands up, waving them back and forth. “Ok wait, so you’re telling me that every single attempt Ryder made to impress you you just thought he was being a clown?”

Elsa bit her lower lip. How should she ask this without coming across as ill intentioned? “Wasn’t he...?”

Honeymaren paused.

“Ok, yes, he can definitely be a clown,” she admitted with a laugh.

“It’s just that everything he does with the reindeer...” Elsa started.

“Screams clowning?” she finished.

Elsa covered her mouth, attempting and failing to hold back her own laughter. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re not wrong,” Honeymaren assured her, laughter slowly fading. She let out a breath, taking another pause. She appeared ready to open her mouth to speak again.

But Elsa got the chance first, albeit with confusion in her tone. “But then...why would that make us stop what we do? The....” What was a proper word? “...Tradition?”

Honeymaren rubbed her arm. “Sometimes it just felt like...like I was betraying him, in a way. I saw how hard he was trying for you and...and I didn’t say or do anything. I just took up all of your time with us. What we do. I...I guess I liked having that time with you to myself.”

The admission brought a blush to Elsa’s cheeks. “I like it, too,” she confessed softly.

Now it was Honeymaren’t turn to blush.

And for that brief moment, despite how much they both wanted to, they couldn’t seem to make eye contact.

“And it’s...it’s not. A betrayal,” Elsa spoke. “You’re not being disloyal to Ryder. You’re not taking any time away from me that I’d rather spend elsewhere. There’s nothing wrong with us doing our thing together. Or anything together. It’s just....” What was a good word? How could Elsa remotely describe the sensation? Not even just the nights where she or Honeymaren couldn’t sleep? The time they spent together? The connection they had?

Huh.

The connection.

Them.

Together.

“....Us.”

That time, the two of them were able to make eye contact. It remained brief yet somehow felt like hours.

Finally, Honeymaren’s shoulders dropped in comfort as she exhaled. “So...you...don’t...like Ryder....?”

For the first time since returning to Arendelle, Elsa was asked a question she could easily answer.

“No.”

She glanced at Honeymaren softly and then made her way back towards her room. However, when she reached the door, she stopped. ‘No.’ Somehow that answer didn’t seem like enough. It was only part of the answer. Elsa took a moment, recalling what Anna had said to her the night before.

She can let anyone else in.

She can do something for herself.

She had a choice.

There was nothing wrong with who she was.

She didn’t have to live by anyone else’s rules or standards; just her own.

Finally, she recalled the latest lesson she learned from Yelena.

That everyone is allowed to live and love as they desire.

Maybe Elsa still wasn’t entirely sure of what that meant. If she couldn’t see for herself, if she still needed Anna to interpret for her, how could Elsa openly admit to something - her own feelings - beyond a shadow of a doubt? How could she undoubtedly fully give her all, anything and everything that she was, to someone else?

Despite all that, she was sure of two things. She was sure that she felt something. That Anna may have still been the most important person in her life, but she didn’t have to be the only one. That she was slowly but surely letting someone else share that title.

And that was why she was so certain of her correction. Or, rather a declaration. And why she was able to turn on her heel and face Honeymaren with such a confident stare. As their gazes met one final time, Elsa flashed her a coy smile and raised an eyebrow. Even if she was questioning anything else, if she still had anything else to learn about herself, there was one thing she could say with such assurance, ease, and just a hint of sass.

“I do not like men.”