#so where are my alien hero snippets

[kaeyas-beloved]

To Hold and Be Held

Characters: Alhaitham, Diluc, Kaveh, Xiao

Summary: Who is holding who and why and when?

Genre: Fluff/Angst/Comfort + Snippets

CWs: gn!reader, angst/comfort in Xiao’s and Kaveh’s, only proofread in a half-assed kind of way

To be held by Alhaitham is not rare but not common either. This act of intimacy happens primarily in the late hours of the night and the wee hours of the morning. It’s the times when he just can’t be bothered to let go of the pleasant warmth you give off as he stays snuggled in the covers, nowhere near ready to start his day. It's in the moments where you take a seat on the opposite side of the couch, sometimes even the other couch altogether, unwilling to disturb your lover as he reads. Yet, somehow, not even five minutes later the man will find his place beside you, eyes never leaving the page as he guides you to lean against him.

And even when you've found a comfortable position for the both of you, Alhaitham's arm remains in its spot around you.

To hold Diluc is to hold the weight of worlds because that is what he himself does. He carries the lives of everyone in the city when he takes up his place as the Darknight Hero, he manages a whole industry from its product to its staff, ensuring that both are properly taken care of. Most of all, he takes care of you. You who shall not see another day of harm or sadness if he has anything to say about it, you who shall always be loved by him.

To hold Diluc is to temporarily allow him to not shoulder these responsibilities, to let him relax, be loved and just be Diluc.

To hold and be held by Kaveh is like looking at the sea crash onto the sand then recede - sometimes there is more sand, sometimes there’s more water. This is an accurate way to visualize your relationship, sometimes Kaveh holds you and other times you hold him. To hold Kaveh is to let him know that just because he is sad doesn’t mean he has to hide it, least of all from you. Holding him means to shield him from the world just for a little while. To hold him is to let him calm down from venting or ranting, be the topic about Alhaitham or some client. To be held by Kaveh, however, is like drowning in happiness. If he’s holding you, the chances are high that he’s smiling earnestly, laughing at either something you’ve said or a situation he’s retold.

If you’re holding each other, the chances of him being happy are indisputably high. Really, if you’re holding each other, it’s no longer a chance that he’s content, it’s fact.

To hold Xiao is like holding a baby bird or glass figurine, so fragile and to be handled with care. Xiao is the furthest from being weak when it comes to physical or mental strength, but even he will one day succumb to the years of sorrow weighing on him, crumbling until it’s almost impossible to get back up. So to find him curled into himself, his agony hanging heavy and all-consuming, it’s only natural for your first instinct to be to embrace him. He’ll tense in the beginning, perhaps always remaining unaccustomed to physical affection, but the longer you hold him, remaining by his side and letting your warmth seep into his bones, the more the darkness backs away to where it came from.

It’s a long war to be fought, but in this instant, you can be sure you won this battle.

Tag list: @spoopy-fish-writes // @that-enby-alien // @xenuuu // @mariposa666haruka // @quackquackmfs // @saishin-michiyoshi // @ajaxstar // @genshin-impact-writings // @ventisweetheart // @lordbugs // @lemontum // @akiria12167 // @ari-the-wr1ter // @dontmindmebeing // @xiaos-wife // @irethepotato // @milkwithspiceyicecubes // @stygianoir // @stage-lucida // @x-zho

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[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets: Free Day Thursday

As per the poll results, we are giving Damas stress via Just Plain Silliness. It builds character. Not that I needed an excuse to Inconvenience Characters in the first place 😆 it's become my favorite way of writing anything. Not Angst or Adventure, but Aggravation of Character in ridiculous ways 😂

This falls into the Trespasser au (last "episode" of that found HERE) a bit before the second Arena fight in the game.

The king of Spargus, Jak decided, was a killjoy.

For a city where strength and survival were supposed to be the most important traits, he sure didn't like any of Jak's demonstrations of strength or survival.

"You can't race Leapers in the middle of the market."

"Don't swim over the reef."

"Stop antagonizing the monks."

"You can't race Leapers on neighborhood roofs, either."

"If I told you not to swim over the reef, why would you assume I'd be okay with you feeding the sea monster?!'

It was like he was vehemently opposed to the mere concept of fun.

Jak folded his arms and tried not to roll his eyes while Kleiver complained about the scuffed up suspension and undercarriage on the Dune Hopper. Sure, he'd cut it a little close on the broken bridge, but he'd gotten away with the artifacts and left the Marauders in a two car pile up, so who was the winner, here?

Not Jak, apparently.

Damas listened to Kleiver yell about how he'd have to redo the entire suspension -- a gross exaggeration -- and how there was half a metalhead stuck in the undercarriage. Now that, Jak hadn't known about. When had he run over a metalhead?

"Hey! We didn't do that!" Daxter protested, "How do we know you didn't put that there last time you drove?!"

"Because I don't take the Hopper if I plan to do a run down Turquoise Canyon!" Kleiver snapped.

Damas steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and examined the damaged vehicle.

"One of these days, kid, I swear to Volcan-"

"What?! I got the job done, didn't I?" Jak protested indignantly. "Did you want the Marauders to get their hands on a functioning power cell?"

Damas’s jaw tightened so much that his mouth appeared to be folding inward. He inhaled slowly, and let it out again, ears twitching while he was very obviously counting to ten.

"There are no jumps in the canyon," he said slowly, "So how did you manage this?"

Jak shrugged nonchalantly. "The 'rauders chased us out to the ruins," he explained, "Ran out of turbo, so I had to get creative with the jump."

Kleiver started swearing very creatively under his breath. Damas turned an interesting shade of red.

"That does it."

The king grabbed Jak by the channeling ring and near dragged him out of the garage before Kleiver could clobber someone with a wrench.

"One more stunt like that out of you," Damas threatened, "and I'm entering you into an apprenticeship. Let's see you foment chaos with an actual structure in your day."

"You're not gonna do that," Jak scoffed.

Damas’s eyes narrowed. "Try me."

Jak did not take this nearly as seriously as he ought to have. In fact, he seemed to regard the threat as more instances of Damas "worrying too much". Damas did not worry too much! If anything, he wasn't worried enough about the insanity this young unknown relative had brought into his city! More than one advisor or guildmaster had been privy to the king muttering darkly, "I'm either going to kill him, or start training him myself. I'll let you know when I've figured out which."

And of course, Jak kept being Jak. Climbing the Arena walls because he saw a Precursor orb someone had dropped. Messing around with some kind of evil alien satellite on the beach. Inciting other inhabitants of the youth barracks to join foot races in the barrack halls in the dead hours of night. And he seemed to regard all of this as perfectly normal behavior. It was like all the impulses he'd had to shove down in Haven, all the ways he'd had to be perfect to fit under the yoke of that terrible word, hero, everything came crashing down in Spargus. He had almost no limits here, and that kind of freedom seemed to awaken a wildness that was above the paygrade of the dorm supervisor.

It came to the point where Damas was actually allowing the kid to go out into a sandstorm, just to get some of that boundless energy out! It wouldn't have been his first choice. Or even his tenth. But the storm rolling in was much larger than anything else they'd seen that summer. And for all his recklessness, Jak was their fastest driver.

"Four scouts have not reported in," the king told Jak and Daxter. His face was grim. "Two just set off their emergency beacons. At the rate this storm is going-"

He shook his head, cutting off his sentence.

Daxter had worried that Spargus would be another Krew situation at first. But here was the king of the cranky lizard-riders, flipping out because a handful of scouts -- one of the lowest ranks in the city -- weren't accounted for before a deadly storm.

In Haven, their absence wouldn't have even been noticed until roll call.

The old timers in the market were right, weren't they? "King's eyes see all." This guy watched everyone like a hawk, didn't he? Daxter wasn't sure if that bothered him, or if it just reminded him of Jak.

He supposed that was fitting, considering the two were probably related, no matter how in denial Jak seemed to be about being an Heir of Mar.

"Where's the Crawler right now?" Jak asked.

The mobile sandstorm shelter wasn't invincible, but it could take a lot. That would be the scouts' best bet.

Damas looked out the windows, glaring at the dark clouds as though he could hold the storm back by sheer force of will. It took a moment to hear his voice over the water.

"The Crawler is in the steppes at the moment. She's not a fast vehicle, Jak. I need you to get those scouts to either the Crawler or the city."

"I will."

Damas turned a stern look on them both.

"No stunts. These are people's lives we're talking about."

"I know!" Jak sputtered, a little offended. "And I won't bust the car up this time, so Kleiver can give it a rest."

"No. I'm serious, boy," Damas warned, "If it comes down to abandoning the car for shelter or trying to drive in the storm, you leave the car. Do you understand?"

Jak huffed. Damas had seen him outrun sandstorms before! What was so bad about a slightly bigger one?

"I got it, I got it," he grumbled.

Damas glared.

"No. Stunts. You get back here in one piece."

"Okay, I got it already!" Jak groaned.

"Jak-!"

"I know, Dad!" Jak complained.

An instant later his eyes widened.

The water suddenly seemed much louder than usual.

Daxter wasn't even sure any of them were breathing.

Three pairs of dramatically widened eyes darted back and forth between them as silence built up like steam under pressure. It was going to erupt sooner or later, the question was how.

Damas made a very small, strangled noise in the back of his throat.

Jak snapped out of his moment of horrified realization.

"Uh. I'll let you know when everyone is accounted for!"

He pivoted and bolted for the elevator before Damas could see his entire face burn crimson.

A guard at the back of the chamber opened his mouth to comment and in one rushed tangle of syllables Jak hissed,

"Youdidn'thearanything!"

Damas didn't blink for a good two minutes after Jak had left.

He didn't move for a good two minutes.

He stood exactly where he'd been, staring blankly at the empty elevator shaft.

The captain of the tower guard, an older man named Cephus, left his place by the windows to lean into Damas’s peripheral vision. He waved slightly, and the king finally blinked.

"Are you alright, sire?" Cephus asked.

Damas made a curious wheeze before speaking through a groaning inhalation.

"Oh no."

"Hm!" Cephus stroked his long beard. "Guess the wild one imprinted on you! Do I offer congratulations or condolences?"

Damas nodded slowly and stiffly.

"....help."

There could not possibly have been a worse time for the monks to finally send him the results of the blood test.

[helenaheissner]

Comic Review: Green Arrow by Joshua Williamson Volume 1: Reunion

As a longtime Green Arrow fan, I had been looking forward to reading the first trade paperback of the current ongoing series by Joshua Williamson for a few months now. Williamson's been having something of a moment lately- his also ongoing run on Superman has been widely-lauded and very much enjoyed by me personally, and while I've not yet read his Batman & Robin series, the snippets I've seen online make it look very much up my alley.

In the wake of a recent event storyline titled Dark Crisis (also written by Williamson, and which I've not read either), Oliver Queen, rich brat turned hardcore survivalist turned bow-wielding man of the people superhero, is missing, stranded on an alien world for reasons he knows not why. So he does what he does best: survive.

The drive to survive is something I consider an inherent part of Ollie's character: he's motivated not by a desire for justice, vengeance, or familial obligations like many other DC heroes, but by an iron will to survive implanted by his being stranded on the not-so deserted island of Lian Yu for several years. He wants to survive, by any means, and he wants that for everyone around him as well. That is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, because sometimes by choosing survival over all else, he neglects to let himself truly live the life he wants with the family he has built, or otherwise cross moral lines for the sake of his (admittedly very noble) concept of a greater good. That dissonance is a huge part of what drives this six-issue opening act. Because while Oliver is doing what he does on the other end of universe, his family- specifically his adoptive son and former sidekick Roy Harper/Arsenal; the on/off love of his life and mainstay of the JLA, JSA, and Birds of Prey, Dinah Lance/Black Canary; and his illegitimate biological son, former Buddhist Monk turned co-Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.

It's on their hunt that they find trace of Roy's presumed-dead daughter by an unrepentant supervillain, Lian, and a touching father-daughter reunion happens... Only for Lian to suddenly vanish in a rush of light, and rematerialize on the same world where Oliver has been stranded.

Let's talk about the Arrow Family for a moment, shall we? The Arrow Family is freaking great! Oliver and Dinah are genuinely one of my favorite ships in all of comics, Roy is a Teen Titans mainstay who's undergone some of the best character development in all of comics, Connor is a brilliant example of a legacy superhero done well, and Oliver's adoptive daughter and other sidekick, Mia Dearden/Speedy, as well as his other-other sidekick and much younger half-sister Emiko Queen/Red Arrow, are two of the most criminally underrated heroines in the DCU. But due to several questionable editorial mandates and a few baffling writing choices over the past twenty or so years, the family has been scattered. Lian was straight-up dead for over a decade in real time, Connor and Mia were stranded in the proverbial comic book limbo after a continuity reboot in the early 2010s (long story), Roy and Dinah were on the outs with Ollie at various points in the past two decades, and while Emiko has gotten to hang around pretty consistently, the character wasn't created until 2013 and didn't became her big brother's sidekick until 2017. And this is without even getting into all the instances of Oliver being an idiot about his personal life and isolating himself from his family in the process.

This comic makes that a driving tension in a very literal sense- something is causing the members of the Arrow Family to teleport away from each other when they're near each other, causing Oliver to conclude that the only way they can all survive is to be apart.

He's wrong, of course. And he realizes he's wrong. And I won't spoil why, other than a very clever reveal of just who from Oliver's personal history would want to mess with him, as well as setting up a new potential archnemesis for the entire Arrow Family going forward in Amanda Waller (which, frankly, is a move that makes so much sense thematically it's surprising it took so long for someone to try it, given the potential contrast between Oliver's humanistic progressivism and Waller's authoritarian patriotism). What I will say that when truly pushed, when truly forced to choose between survival and family, Oliver sticks to his guns (so to speak) and chooses his family, chooses to take a chance on all of them being together no matter what risk there is for something to go wrong. Because when you're hardwired for survival above all else, the idea of letting someone, anyone, let alone a whole family of someones, into your heart is TERRIFYING. But Oliver Queen is not a coward, and he wants very much to be able to prove wrong all the many, MANY people who think that he is a bad man. He wants to be able to look in them in the face and tell the unblinking truth when he says 'no, I am a good man. Fuck you.'

And he does. And it is GLORIOUSLY CATHARTIC.

This book also does emotional beats very well. We get two parent-child reunions in this story, between Roy and Lian and then later Ollie and Connor, and both of them bring on the warm and fuzzies something fierce as these people who have been through so much together put aside all the hurt feelings and bad memories and are just thrilled to see each other once more. And then there's Ollie and Dinah's reunion... Let's just say I swooned. I swooned something fierce when my OTP got a spectacular (and rather hot) kiss scene.

This book also does banter and superhero lunacy very well (Roy and Peacemaker getting into a shoot-off becomes a plot point, and Oliver fights literal alien corporate fat-cats while in space) while still balancing it all in real emotion and a compelling personal story with personal stakes. It's aided by superb artwork from Sean Izaaske, who not only provides fantastic panel layouts, action scenes, and facial expressions, but also does several fun stylistic shifts when representing different periods in Ollie's history. It builds on established lore and character arcs without actually requiring you to know the storylines they originally came from (which is not always easy in superhero comics). Basically, it's very, VERY good, and I recommend it highly.

***

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[explorersaremadeofhope]

I would like to know more about both your Star Trek Terror fic and your Crozier hates tinder fic please 🙏

omg okay so like, these are both a bit old, star trek terror fic is proper old, i think i wrote it in 2021, but im still hoping!! i had so much fun just working out the worldbuilding on that one and how the different characters slot into different roles, but then i ran up against my old nemesis The Actual Plot and was like 'hmm ok, i think i need to know a bit more about Star Trek TOS lore for this', aaaand that's where i stalled. it's fitzier, but like, eventually. very eventually. you'll see why from the snippet 😂

crozier hates tinder fic was me going 'why is there almost no modern au romcom rossier fic' and then having a very funny convo with some folks on discord about science nerds on tinder. that one mostly exists in vague outline form with a scene or two written out plus random details like 'james ross owns not one but several tacky early 2000s mugs from various places in the southern hemisphere, preferably with penguins on'.

snippets mostly below a cut because they got long (sorry about that)!

Star Trek Terror:

francis raised his brows, but said nothing. ignoring fitzjames' confused expression, he turned his attention back to the file in his hand. "i see from your service record that you've received several commendations for bravery in engagements with the romulans and the klingons." he looked up. "out of curiosity, do you speak klingon? or romulan?"

"ah, no, sir," fitzjames smiled apologetically. "i'm afraid i don't."

"i see. so your expertise lies primarily in firing at alien races, not communicating with them."

it wasn't a fair question, nor a fair conclusion. clearly taken aback, fitzjames blinked in open surprise. "sir," he began carefully, "i believe my qualifications -"

"your qualifications, commander fitzjames, are perfectly adequate. even impressive. for war." francis fixed him straight in the eye and held his gaze. "but don't let the repurposed nature of our ship fool you. we are a survey vessel. you will appreciate, no doubt, that the primary goal of any exploratory mission is to avoid bloodshed, not to excel at it." fitzjames drew breath to speak. francis ignored it. "put bluntly, commander, we don't particularly need a war hero. what we need is someone who knows how to calibrate a spectrometer correctly."

"with all due respect, sir," said fitzjames, once he was sure francis had finished speaking, "i think you'll find i have the requisite scientific training to apply for this post." he'd uncrossed his legs while francis was speaking and now sat ramrod straight. his mouth was pinched, his dark brows drawn together.

francis waved that away with a flick of his hand and a shake of his head. "this isn't a twelve-month patrol tour along the neutral zone, commander. we will be five years in deep space. sometimes uncharted space. in that situation, a man's merits on paper will matter far less than his personal qualities."

there was a pause in which fitzjames lowered his gaze to the floor, his jaw working. when he spoke again it was to a point just above francis' shoulder. the affable buoyancy had drained from his voice, leaving a gravel harshness which francis privately suspected was far more genuine. "i respectfully posit, sir," said fitzjames, "that you don't know my personal qualities, seeing as we've only just met."

francis' smile did not reach his eyes. "be that as it may. i'm afraid my decision is made, commander." he set his padd aside and folded his hands on the table. "thank you for your interest. and good morning."

Tinder fic:

“Well,” says Blanky flatly. “That's sexy.”

But as he reads over the message one more time, Francis’ heart is actually slowing down from its panicked gallop – his dread replaced with sheer relief at being given a topic of conversation he's fluent in.

“No, no, it's fine,” he says absently, staring at the words I'm thrilled we matched. “I don't mind.”

“Aye, you wouldn't, would you. What the hell are–” Thomas peers at the screen more closely. “Pinnipeds?”

“Seals. Well. Not just seals.” Francis looks up. “It's one of those things – all seals are pinnipeds but not all pinnipeds are seals. You know?”

Blanky regards him with the look of a man who absolutely does not. "Right."

After staring at his phone for a few moments longer, Francis opens the keyboard. 

Hi, he types out with deliberation. Thank you for – no. That comes off a bit pathetic, doesn’t it. Backspace. 

Thank you; likewise. Exclamation point? Does the full stop look dour? Cold? But he’s never been much of an exclamation point man. Likewise – I’ve always wanted to visit Antarctica. What

He stops typing, seized by a sudden fear. Hurriedly erasing the message draft, he looks up at Blanky. “Can people see me typing on this thing?”

“Fuck should I know, Francis? I’ve been married for twenty years. – Give us a minute, though.” Blanky pulls out his own phone and writes a text. Less than a minute later, his phone pings. “Hannah says aye. Also wants to know if I'm cheating on Esther.”

[ganonfan1995]

totk spoilers

just thoughts on totk thus far

I keep seeing ppl say they've done away with the triforce in totk...but like....im 99% sure that's what the secret stones are supposed to be.

The triforce itself is comprised of the combined power of the royal 3.

But they also seem to work 1:1 like the triforce did in like LTTP.

Also there's 8 pieces which calls back to LoZ 2.

I'm not done the game yet, but totk seems to rehashing a LOT of older lore mixed with more recent lore. Notably, this game feels like its primarily touching on the first 3 games, plus OOT, with some of the better ideas from SS.

You see implications of who the gods truly are (apparently colonizing aliens who descended upon the land to mine its resources...which was something implied in SS quite blatantly???)

But it also adds context to the original 3 goddesses, implying that they had been ancient Zonai who posed as gods to the original inhabitants of Hyrule. Later becoming dragons and mythologized after thousands of years. (also me pogging that the light dragons stoney spines are the same colours as the goddess plumes!?!?!?? idk what that means but cool?????????)

I also don't know if they touch on this later, but it really seems like the Sheikah, esp the ancient Sheikah, were Hylians who specifically followed in the footsteps of the Zonai. I think this makes sense, and ties them to previous games where they were a tribe/clan/family of ninja who were closest to the gods. And since Zonai fancy themselves gods (or at least the ancient Hylians did, I don't think they were tbh) , this kind of clarifies that relationship/connection. Maybe they have a specific tie to Mineru, which would reiterate their bond to the royal family. But that might be over complicating things, since at least in botw they're just like, straight up ninja. But who knows, maybe not??

Also the young dumb idiot energy that Rauru brings is great. Big fan of young fucko who thinks he can be a good king but inherently fucks up because that's impossible, girl ur a monarch, is super interesting. wanna take him by the ears and look him dead in the eyes like, buddy you legit should not have taken those fucking stones out and just lived a quiet life in the woods...but then we'd be without a game. 🙄

I'm still collecting the slabs, the small snippets you get of both he and Sonia's relationship and characters are so fun. Sonia is also great, wish we got a bit more of her tho.

I'm really enjoying Ganondorf, he's a bit understated, but it's been interesting to see him younger than we ever have, right before the unification wars, head full of poetry and ambition. Why he green tho???????

Also really interesting how they've loosened the whole "hylia" stuff in favor for just "goddess"

Very much loving that Link is no longer a knight, but a swordsman who travels around helping people out. Total folklore/fairytale vibes, 10/10!! Also I feel like I'm connecting to him much more in this game, I really could never get behind the devout knight energy. He's a folk hero, he's here for the love of the game, and so am I!

Also mfw "Link...interesting...I look forward to meeting him." my man's been pining to meet ME for thousands of years, confirmed. I read homestuck, I know a black-rom relationship when I see one. (swooning)

[gryphonlover]

Did I hear you have a Vigilante AU????? I looooooove superhero/vigilante AUs O_O I haven't been able to find any in this fandom and I have been starving for one.

Is it public? On Ao3 or something? Or is it still cooking in your head (or docs I suppose)?

Do you have outfit ideas?? Capes or no capes? What flavor of superpowers are you going for? (everybody has one, freak accident, item that gives powers ala magical girl style, etc.). Are their identities going to be secret from one another or are they all going to be one big team from the get-go? Are they going to have codenames that aren't just "Legend" or "Time"? Is there going to be an overarching plot or is it more snippet-y? Are any items going to show up as supplements to their powers?

Anyways excited to see it. (Soory if that was a lot!)

Yep! I was actually waiting to answer this until I finished writing out that first bit about Legend & Wild meeting. I just got it posted to Ao3 this afternoon. All my works are set to only show to registered users right now because of the recent issues with AI and spam. However, I'm happy to post it here on Tumblr as well if anyone would like that.

I've also linked posts in which the vigilante AU is discussed. It's mostly my notes on characters for now, but that's where the bulk of the information is right now. Anything that's not written down yet is either still cooking, or I forgot.

Vigilante AU mentioned in DAILY BRAINROT 1st time

Vigilante AU mentioned in DAILY BRAINROT 2nd time

Vigilante AU mentioned in DAILY BRAINROT 3rd time

Vigilante AU mentioned in DAILY BRAINROT 4th time

There are a few superhero/vigilante AUs in the fandom already, but it is difficult to weed things out on Ao3 when the bulk of the AU tag is canon divergence. I actually have a list on hand, so I'll copy-paste the links in for you.

Fierce Hero 9 by @crazylittlejester

Linked Universe Incredibles AU by @skyward-floored

We Will Find You, Wherever You Are by Tessa_Reads

Empty Streets Full of Life by Owlface612

I have to admit that outfits are sort of my weakness. I'm not very good at coming up with ideas for clothes, and never have been, so I don't have solid ideas yet. But there will probably be no capes. Personally, I enjoy wearing capes, but I have to agree with Edna from The Incredibles on this one. It's just asking for an accident to happen. Warriors and Sky are going to have to figure something out for their scarf and sailcloth respectively, or leave them at home.

I'm trying to keep things down to 1 power per person for the sake of my sanity. (Four is the likely exception.) I haven't really thought about the origins of everyone's powers yet, beyond deciding not to include magic or aliens as a general rule of thumb. What I'll probably use is a combination of science experiments and genetics.

They're all separated in the beginning except for Sky, Twilight, and Warriors. They're roommates and know about each other's powers (although Sky is in denial about his own). The first person Wild meets is Legend, but doesn't meet him in his civilian attire until a little later. They live in different apartments in the same building. Wind and Hyrule both meet because the same underground group is trying to snatch them up. Time is something along the lines of Twilight's godfather/emergency contact, so they've known each other for a very long time. The rest is going to be a chain (pun intended) reaction like dominoes, I think.

I've been avoiding codenames because I haven't decided yet. I think it's going to be a mixed bag in the end, though. Wild's legal name is Link, but they don't really like it. Sky definitely goes by Sky as a civilian, but I have no idea why. It's just his name. I'll figure it out eventually.

For now, I'm just going to write whatever bits and pieces pop into my head and go from there. I don't have any specific plot lines or character arcs in mind, but there will probably be a little progression between general developments. I don't have an outline, and I'm not planning beyond collecting oneshots together in the same place.

Legend almost definitely has items because he's Legend. His power is also a milder enhancement that requires some degree of supplementation and creativity. Without any items, he has to focus on using parkour and martial arts like kickboxing to be effective, and he also can't take very heavy hits because he doesn't have any natural armor or resistance to blunt force. Item use is going to end up varying on account of who has access to what when and how much I can cram cool fantasy stuff into a science fiction setting.

I love answering questions about my projects and silly little stories, so if you've got any more questions about this AU or anything else I've been working on, feel free to drop them in my askbox. :) I don't often get this type of ask, so it was honestly a treat, and I've been looking forward to answering it all day.

[omniblades-and-stars]

🍕 ❤️ 💚 🧠 for Korak and Crash pls I’m having a weird day and they’re comfort characters for me

I'll bring you the good stuff for our beloved saints Crash and Korak just for you Korbs.

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

Crash: I already answered this elsewhere, but now I am on my phone because I have to pretend to do my job, so I will copy it here.

"There is an elcor street food vendor on Omega that serves the best food out of a giant pot that Crash has ever tasted. She doesn't know what's in it (he must have told her a hundred times, but she's pretty sure it changes every time), but it's delicious."

Korak: OK, I made up a food one time and I can't even remember if I fucking named it because of who I am as a person. Basically, it's like a goulash, heavy on that one little snippet of world building Bioware gave us about there being a spice called ignac native to Khar'Shan, and full of all sorts of delightfully weird alien veggies. Korak is also quite fond of sukiyaki he's found.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

Crash: I gave an answer for Crash already, but she's such a joyful person, let's hit you with another. (I am coming up with this off the dome by the way.)

There was a young turian kid living on Omega who she knew well because his family lived in the same building as she did and he was often left unattended (latch key kid sort of situation). One day he comes to her crying because he can't find his ragged little stuffed varren toy.

Well, she went looking for it and found it pretty easily, the little scamp had dropped it just outside and it had gotten kicked out of the footpath. But instead of just giving it right back to him, she set up a little adventure/mystery for him to go on with her to rescue his toy.

They went mucking through the jungles of Sur'Kesh (the back alley behind the mega-complex) but alas! He was not there! So they trudging through the deserts of Tuchanka (an abandoned lot in front of an empty warehouse) and broke into the crumbling ruins of the evil krogan warlord's secret base (the warehouse) where they had a very intense imaginary battle to rescue the stuffed animal. Burn took a nasty wound to the snout, but our little turian hero was there to save the day and patch him up!

The best thing about this story is that her little buddy grew up and got off the station before it dragged him down or killed him like it so often does for so many others.

Korak: The first Nos Astra sunrise that Korak saw when he and Aumellio left Omega behind together. It was a simple thing. They were staying in a cheap hotel, didn't even have a place to actually live yet, all of their possessions condensed into a few not very large boxes. But leaning against a balcony rail together, watching a new beginning literally light up before them.

Cheap hotel coffee tastes really good when there's hope on the horizon.

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Crash: You know, it's an interesting thing to think about, how krogan perform gender. The examples we get canon-wise in game, krogan society is deeply gendered at least culturally. The women have their own clans, their own spiritual practices even. Crash rejected all of that. She left Tuchanka which it seems like not very many krogan women do. She wears armor and has no desire to live like the women on her homeworld do. But she still identifies as "female" for whatever that might mean. If we base all of what we know of krogan females on Urdnot Bakara, one might say she's gender non-conforming at the very least.

Though I suspect all of this is just another failure on Bioware's part to include non-cis-male aliens in their initial world building.

Crash is firmly asexual and aromantic. (She does however like romance stories but she won't tell you that.)

Korak: Korak is a cis dude, and he's very much a gay man. There's not a lot to elaborate on there, he's a pretty simple guy.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

Fuck how am I supposed to choose?

Crash: I think my favorite thing about Crash is how sure she is of herself and her joy. She made a conscious decision a very long time ago to live in a way that made her happy, made her feel fulfilled, and she does it with all of her hearts because she knows she's doing what she wanted all along.

Korak: My favorite thing about Korak is that he's actually a bit of a sweetheart and he's so lost trying to be a good dad, but goddammit he is giving it all he's got.

Plus he's kind of a hunk.

[tiltingheartand]

secret agent man pt 2: electric boogaloo 👀

OKAY SO. this is actually a fic for the adventure zone: amnesty! and a sequel to be careful what you say (or you’ll give yourself away). (side note: sorting chronologically, this is the first barclay/stern fic posted on ao3! and like … i’m 100% sure that that’s because the few that were posted before mine were multi-chapter ones that updated, but still. i’m proud of myself for it.)

so the basic idea of the fic this would be a sequel to is: what if the guy who shapeshifts into bigfoot and the federal agent desperately trying to get proof bigfoot is real (to the detriment of his own career) went on some dates?

but i wrote it when the show was still on, before the story ended, so i also eventually got curious: what happens after the end of the story? because by the end, in canon, stern knows that barclay is bigfoot (and also that he’s an alien; it’s a whole. thing.) and that he’s been bigfoot the entire time they’ve known each other, and that a lot of the people living in this town are also aliens, and … there’s a whole The Veil Has Been Pulled Back thing going on.

but also, crucially, barclay and stern don’t actually get together in canon until the epilogue, but there’s a big chunk of time in there where barclay and the rest of Our Heroes have to go live a different place than they were because stern calls in the feds, so nobody talks to stern for Quite A While. and then things more or less immediately kick off into the climax/ending, and then the epilogue is months later, so we never actually see stern’s immediate response to all the everything, or barclay’s, which i find to be a real goddamn shame.

(also, it’s possible this won’t ever actually get written all the way, because i would really, really want to re-listen to the whole thing, but i’ve already tried that once and i couldn’t actually finish it, because i knew the ending was coming up and i was so dissatisfied with the ending for a number of reasons, so … yeah. who knows honestly.)

and anyway, a snippet, because it turns out i had significantly more of this written than i remembered:

“You’re worried about being rude?” Barclay can’t help but laugh, although he knows he’s the one being rude now. He can’t help himself. “I think we passed that a while ago.”

There’s another pause. It goes on for longer than he expects. “Look,” Tom says, “I know I have a lot of apologizing to do. I did a lot of shitty things and I refused to think about them too hard and I hurt a lot of people, either directly or indirectly. I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you,” he says, and it’s such a cliche, and Barclay doesn’t want to believe him. 

He’s pretty sure he already does. He’s pretty sure he’s forgiven him, already, for all the things he’s planning on apologizing for. Breakups are so much easier to handle when they’re just because the love runs out. This is so much messier. 

“Just ask,” he says. “I can take your intention to apologize as a given, for the time being. Then you can just lump them all in together.”

(ask me about any of my WIPs, if you’d like!)

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

Four More Years

(just wanted to post this lil suntan snippet of a new Omori timeskip fic/college AU i'm working on! it is silly and soft and not even a little bit tragic, bc my heart can only take so much. canon-compliant, post-good end, lookin at ~10k words)

Kel bursts onto the scene in typically noisy fashion. “Sunny! Suuunnnnyyyyy! Do you have headphones on again? C’mon, finish up, I’m starving!”

...He’s lucky he’s cute. If he wasn’t, Kel would be very unpopular with Sunny’s classmates. But even art school kids can’t bring themselves to hate Kel. It would be like hating a big friendly dog just because it stepped on your mixing palette and tracked paint all over the floor. The worst he gets is a few exasperated glances, and most of those bounce off his thick skull.

They buy Kel a couple of tacos to tide him over and then mosey over to Sunny’s apartment. Kel’s big idea of the week is to make a bento and deliver it to Hero at work. Apparently Hero’s been too busy with his residency to cook, and Kel thinks he’d appreciate a home-cooked meal.

“Cool,” Sunny says drily. “Where are you gonna find one?”

��Hey!! I can cook!!”

“Sandwiches.”

“Sandwiches are good!!!”

They’re still about a half mile from home when they get ambushed by the most beautiful armchair Sunny’s ever seen. It’s rich black velvet with a gilded frame and it has paws, thick wooden legs carved into clawed, sturdy cat’s paws. Sunny closes his eyes. “Ohhh…”

“You need it, huh?”

“Kel,” he says pitifully, pawing at Kel’s arm. “Kel, can you please tilt it on its back legs. I’ll never ask for anything again.”

“Easy!!”

The bones of the chair must be solid teak. Kel has to throw his weight into it just to get the front paws off the ground. But when Sunny crouches down to get a look, another little moan creaks out of him. Oh, god. They do. They really do have toe beans.

So of course they have to drag the chair the whole way home, because Sunny is 100% certain that if he takes his eyes off it, it will walk away without him. But again, this chair is ungodly heavy. Kel can barely shift it, so Sunny actually has to help, instead of just pretending. He’s not used to doing manual labor, so they stop and rest maybe every twenty feet.

The armchair is big. It’s designed for one person, but it’s definitely big enough for two, if the two people in question are very comfortable with each other. Which they are. They always have been.

But Kel won’t sit down.

“It’s all you, dude!” he insists. “Don’t stress it! I’m barely even tired!”

Sunny’s forehead furrows. “We can both sit, though?”

“Seems a little crowded, haha!”

“I could just sit on you.”

“Aw, you don’t want that. I just came from the Y. I’m all sweaty.”

“...You could sit on me?”

Kel looks genuinely moved. “Aw, Sunny. Buddy. My best friend in the whole wide world. I would crush you like a bug.”

“I’m not fragile,” Sunny mutters. “You’d have to do a lot more to break me.”

And Kel, for no reason that Sunny can think of, turns beet red.

Stuff like that keeps happening. Kel is acting totally normal, and then suddenly he turns weird. At the party last night, Kel moved to sling an arm around him—like he always has, for the past twenty years—and then visibly stopped himself on at least four separate occasions.

“He won’t even sleep over anymore,” Sunny sulks. “Last night he slept on the couch. But Basil’s bed is big enough for all of us. If he wanted more space, my bed was empty.”

“Ohhhh,” Aubrey says. “Okay, yeah. I got it. —Oh, sorry, was that it? Or did you wanna give me a little more context?”

He turns away from his work for just long enough to glare. “Explain.”

“Yeah, it pretty much sounds like he likes you, dude.”

Sunny frowns. “As a—”

“No, not as a fucking friend. Are you an alien? Obviously I meant he’s, you know. Attracted to you, or whatever. ‘As a man.’ Lmao.” She actually says lmao, pronounced like, luh-mao.

Sunny looks down at himself. “...Are you sure?”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short, kid. You’ve got that whole dark academia thing going. You know, the piercings, and the… sweaters, and all pale and malnourished and shit.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

[starvels]

the many revelations of the making of the superhero community polycule map, ft. an increasingly complex notation system

i'm thinking something akin to an expanded polycul.es, with categorization and notation methods for any (or all!) of the following

any associated teams of an individual relationship designation, type, and status (sexual, romantic, kink, alterous, "whatever sounds fun," open, closed, exclusive, hierarchal status, perpetual, spontaneous, "exes so turbulent that it's essential knowledge," tentatively back together, zealously back together, etc) primary powers & abilities (non-hero, combatant, unenhanced, technological enhancement, mutant, mutate ± source, other biological enhancement, magic user, empath, telepath, specified/nonspecified elemental kinetic, shapeshifter, alien, interdimensional being, extradimensional being, etc) anything else one's heart may desire and/or find amusing

i would greatly enjoy at least one discovery of an unexpected relationship (regardless of whether it's because they have been involved, because they haven't, or due to the manner of involvement) or at least one person with an incredible number of current and/or former relationships, but mostly i just want to see where your mind goes kdjskdjskd

(prompt inspired by true events-- earlier this month i met my partner's partner, who then introduced her partner and partner's partner, and at some point it was revealed that that person's partner, who is five down the line from me if you're trying to keep track, has five partners of their own?? i do feel it's relevant to note that before the events of that day, i was only aware of the existence of the metamour, who i had not met, and the fact that they're also non-monogamous. evidently, it's much easier to end up in a large polycule than any prediction i could have come up with. aromanticism win? emphasis on the question mark)

polycul.es is a really cool tool! it might be something i fiddle with in the future but tbqh, i wonder how i would do with trying to order things like so, as i'm notttt a hugely ordered person? kdjfnbkjdnb i do make character notes for longer (20k+) fics, but its like.

seemingly very ordered planning thoughts for RSTV! but when you open the files its just

which is just snippets and not really any concrete, fully formed organized thoughts lol.

but ! i do find the idea of a vast complex, silly and ever evolving polycule amongst the various teams compelling. there's a couple of tools for hockey fandom where people have gone through and you can see the relationship mapping and degrees of interconnectedness amongst players and that's what i imagine this to be. could be a 616 canonical version and a fanon version where everyone is real gay and fancy free. i feel like it would be really delightful.

reminds me of that chaotic relationship post i did about the richards/dr. doom/namor/steve/tony.

so! in response! i could maybe do summat like that again if folks like it, yus!

fun for you on the discovery of five degrees of poly tho! congrats on the bacon 🥓

--

answering what pairing/porn trope/kink you wish i would write 👀

[lea-andres]

An Espnah oneshot/snippet thing no one wanted, yay~ I wrote this instead of finishing up the next chapter of WtDMtN, I'm sure everyone's thrilled, LMAO.

Although this does contain my lore's explanation for Smash Bros AND the Olympic Games games! Because those being canon amuses me. Along with Sonic knowing/being Santa.

Espio being a knight is not canon to my lore (...maybe... I'm tempted, tbh), it's a reference to SonicSong182. Iykyk, and if you don't you should remedy that. SS182's fucking great.

Dinah can't quite match I believe it was 17(!!!!) languages Espio apparently is fluent in according to MoStH, but she qualifies as multilingual. Latin and Japanese are the main two in here. I'm a dumbass American who only speaks one language, I cannot guarantee the 100% accuracy of anything ever.

Yes this is part of my plot to manifest Espio and Rouge as being 100% playable in the next Olympic Games game lmao. I want them, leave me alone.

"So… explain to me this whole Olympics thing again." Dinah requested, as she and Espio sat down on a bench by the rink entrance to pull on their ice skates.

"Where did I lose you?" Espio got his on first, and began doing some light stretches.

"Back at 'The Super Mario Bros are real'."

"You really struggle with the whole 'other dimensions and other planets' thing, don't you?" He teased, getting up and getting out onto the ice to do more stretches. Dinah finished lacing up her skates, and looked up at him to respond.

"Yes I do, because you know how often that comes up when I'm digging artifacts out of the ground?" Espio couldn't resist, forcing himself to keep a straight face, he locked eyes with Dinah, and said as evenly as he could manage.

"Ancient aliens."

"Adversus solem ne loquitor, you fucking moron!" She practically snarled back playfully. He burst out into laughter as he returned closer to the rink, holding out his hand to assist her. Dinah got up, a little wobbly in balancing on the blades, and took his hand as she made her way to him.

Once she got onto the ice, Espio launched out more toward the center, doing several tight spins and twirls before stopping sharply. The spaniel had stayed behind back at the wall, leaning against it as she watched him with an amused smirk. He blinked in confusion. Usually Dinah was all for jumping straight into an activity with him, eager to at least keep up if not try to top him. Why was she holding back now?

"Walk me through this multidimensional Olympics thing again. How did Sonic meet a video game character again?" She asked instead. He just nodded as he skated back toward her.

"Okay, so apparently Sonic got this letter in the mail. And when he opened it, it teleported him to this nexus where many great heroes across the multiverse were hanging out and having a low stakes fight club."

"Is this at all like Sonic's claim of going into that book and becoming King Arthur?" Espio smirked at that.

"I had been meaning to ask you for your professional opinion of that. Is Sonic the one true king?"

"Sonic gets points for sheer gall, but… I significantly doubt it." Dinah smirked back. Shifting so he was now gliding backwards away from her again, Espio continued.

"Anyway, Sonic met Mario there. Apparently WE'RE a game in the Mushroom Kingdom, so he was just as floored to learn about us as we were him."

"Are Sonic's games good?" Dinah raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Plus minusve," Espio waggled his hand, shifting again to now be sweeping straight toward her again, completing the large circle. "It's a… polarizing topic over there, even amongst the fans."

"Ouch." The spaniel shook her head with a laugh.

"So, they became friends, apparently Tails and the Mushroom Kingdoms' best scientists got to work on connecting our dimension and theirs, and Sonic's friends and Mario's friends get together for a friendly Olympics inspired competition."

"And you've competed?" She continued to watch him circle back and forth before her. 

"Not… officially. Typically I've been invited to compete in a single event as a Rival, but I'm hoping to make the cut this year-"

"Whomp whomp…" Dinah giggled. Espio pointed at her in mock irritation.

"Don't make fun of me, I've been busy! I've got ninjitsu training, cases that pop up, whatever bullshit YOU throw at me-"

"Your mysterious part time job you keep vanishing to?" She continued to smirk teasingly.

"Oh right, that's related to this! So, I met Princess Peach at these interdimensional get togethers, and-"

"Is she as hot as she is in the games?" Espio studied Dinah's face for a bit, trying to gauge why she was asking that.

He decided to cover all bases: "You're not going to try to pull my boss and I will NOT invite her to a threesome."

"Your boss?" Dinah repeated, adjusting her glasses. "I didn't realize the Mushroom Kingdom was in the market for Shinobi."

"They're not, to my knowledge. Princess Peach knighted me and I've been serving as a guard in her castle-"

"No you haven't!" The spaniel interrupted in amused disbelief.

"Why would I lie about that?" 

"I take back my professional opinion of Sonic's delusions of grandeur, that wasn't the most absurd thing I heard today." She continued teasingly.

"Come with me next time and I'll prove it!"

"So do you wear the mushroom hat and the diaper, or-" Dinah cracked up laughing at that, almost knocked herself over, then flailed to catch herself on the wall so she didn't wipe out on the ice. She adjusted her glasses and smiled nonchalantly, trying to play it off.

"I don't, I have proper armor." Espio narrowed his eyes at her slightly, noting what he just saw.

"Is the Princess still getting kidnapped by Bowser all the time?"

"It's been a bit since the last one, but… I guess?"

"You're a shit knight." Dinah teased.

"HEY-" Espio himself almost wiped out at that, letting out a shocked laugh.

"Can't stop one fire breathing turtle from kidnapping the princess?" She tsked playfully.

"You should stick to ninjitsu and detective work, Onmitsu."

"Just because you study knights of olden times in our world doesn't mean you're qualified to review my performance as one in another, Himawari!" He fired back playfully, snagging Dinah's arm as he skated past, pulling her away from the wall and along with him.

She lost her balance almost instantly, dropping backwards. Espio lunged to catch her, sliding across the ice on one knee, firmly cradling her head with one hand and gripping her waist with the other as he stopped her skull from cracking into the ice. She had flung her arms around his neck in her attempt to save herself, letting out a big gasp of relief when she didn't crash hard.

"Thanks, Onmitsu…" She breathed, a little dazed from the adrenaline rush.

"You… can't actually ice skate… can you?" He accused softly, giving her a look of suspicion.

"You never asked if I could, you just asked if I've been ice skating, which I have. Once." She pointed out, grinning mischievously.

"Dinah…"

"Is it a crime to want to ice skate with your Onmitsu?" She teased, one of her hands wandering up to stroke his cheek.

"It should be, if you're going to risk spilling your brains all over the rink to do so." He chastised, shifting his grip so he could scoop her up bridal style instead.

"I can make this work." He smirked, making sure he had a firm grip on her before beginning to skate forward.

"What work? What are you doing?" Dinah demanded anxiously, clinging to his neck and shoulders.

"Resistance training for speed skating events." He started picking up speed. Quickly adjusting her glasses before returning to tightly gripping his shoulders, she teased with a grin.

"Don't crash."

"I'm far less likely to than you are." She thumped his chest lightly for that, both of them laughing.

[dystopicjumpsuit]

I'm not sure how many of these you've already answered so I hope you don't mind me sending you a hand full! B F H K and Y for the fanfic game, also, I'm sending you all the happy weekend vibes your way cos you deserve it!

No problem at all! I love this game.

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

I work in academia, so I definitely was inspired by that when I was writing "Martyrs and Kings." Things like the endless deluge of administrative tasks, and also the gala scene with the lecherous donor--those were pulled straight from life (except my organization named a museum after him, not just a wing 🤢). Beyond that, I think most/all of my fics have some element of displacement or migration/diaspora. My family fled my home country when I was a teenager to escape cartel violence, so those themes of alienation and struggle to find a place that feels like home tend to work their way into most things that I write. Finally, I am bisexual, and I seem to include a lot of queer characters in my stories.

F: Share a snippet from one of your favourite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

I'm pretty happy with this scene in "Martyrs and Kings." I think it shows so much of Kix's charm, and I enjoyed throwing Maree off her game. I also liked the inversion of roles for Kix, the medic who now is getting medical "care" from someone who is very much Not That Kind of Doctor:

“Where else are you hurt?” she demanded.

“Nowhere,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

He took a hitching breath, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Take off your shirt,” she ordered.

He shot her a startled glance.

“What?” he asked.

“Off. Take it off. I know you’re hiding more injuries.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, rising to comply.

He shed his jacket and then slipped his shirt over his head with a tiny grunt of pain.

She hissed in a breath and unleashed a torrent of curses that made Kix’s mouth drop open in awe. The entire left side of his ribcage was covered in dark bruises.

“Will you teach me how to swear like that, doc?” he asked as some of the tension in his face began to ease. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

H: How would you describe your style?

Oh, that's tough! 😂

I think I'd describe it as introspective. I like to explore the characters' inner lives, and sometimes I do it to the detriment of the action. My next longfic will be more action-oriented, so I'm hoping to strike a balance there.

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

It's a spoiler for the next fic, alas! I will say that it gave me writer's block for two weeks because it hurt my feelings every time I opened the doc. 😭

Y: A character you want to protect.

Oh my god, every clone. All of them. Just let me gather them up like ducklings and take them somewhere safe and warm and happy. Most specifically, Echo and Gregor. I know I'm hyperfixating on them right now because they're the heroes of my WIP, but damn, they've been through enough. Let me protect them.

[prfctparis]

MASTERLIST OF YOUR’S TRULY

[some stories and such for my own original characters within various fictional universes such as star wars, marvel, lotr & others; others are fics focusing on canon characters. not all of these are on here, so i thought i’d make this and attach links just in case someone wants to read them :)]

ao3 account

1. STAY WITH ME, MY BLOOD Masterlist

summary: A DPxDC crossover AU where Danny and Athanasia are twins, Damian is their little brother, and Danny was adopted by the Fentons at age ten.

2. TAKE THE FEAR THAT I DON��T NEED Masterlist

summary: A Star Wars fix-it AU series that mainly focuses on my abundance of original characters while the actual fix-it happens in the background.

3. WITH FIRE AND LIGHT Masterlist [coming soon]

summary: The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings AUs involving an original character as the main character in each story.

4. LIFE’S A GREAT BIG BANG UP SERIES | AO3 Link

summary: Peter Parker gets sent to Gotham City in one last attempt by Doctor Strange to keep the multiverse from destroying New York City. It takes time, but he soon gains friends and family once again – including a living variant of his dad.

5. FAMILY ABOVE ALL ELSE SERIES | AO3 Link

summary: Stories of found families – both in the ‘long lost family member’ sense and the ‘a bunch of semi-responsible heroes and vigilantes band together’ sense, but also the ‘dumb teen friend groups’ sense – that will mostly focus on my original character, Alisa Barnes, and Peter Parker as they struggle through life.

6. AMATEURS AT WAR SERIES | AO3 Link

summary: The Voltron Lions can actually form into real lions, the team’s bond grows closer and closer, Lance and Keith gradually fall in love, and the Galra Empire attempt to steal the Lions time and time again. Just the usual in an intergalactic war against an evil alien race.

7. MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

Snippet of an original LOZ AU / OC Aesthetic for Alisa /

[one-spaceship-to-historia]

Writing Snippet #1

This is a discarded prologue. It is written from a POV that quite frankly had no impact on the story, it also doesn't help that I wrote this approximately five years ago now. It's also the second attempt at this sequence. It also portrays a discarded version of the character Auden, before they had finished unfurling into the being they are in the current narrative. Enjoy this clunky old piece of writing.

It started like any other day. 

  Well, at least it seemed to. She woke before the sun rose, was listening to the radio through her head set and looking out the hotel window. She was fully dressed, off in whatever fantasyland she’d been reading about that week. If at that moment I had bothered to read her expression. I would have noticed that she was frowning. But I sat up and sent my gaze into the adjoined hotel room where I could hear my other friends grumbling as they woke. I had called out to them, asking what today’s plan was. Asking her specifically what café she wanted to visit, because I owed her a raspberry tea. 

We had decided, being young and infallible, that going to the beautiful city of San Francisco after Graduating High school was a good game plan. A couple weeks pretending to be preppy shopaholic city girls. All while getting to see the sights with the eldest of our group being the tour guide. Then head off to college ready to start our next step in life. We drove in an older minivan that could seat the nine of us. Chatting, laughing, screaming, crying, yelling, and most of all singing our way from a small town east of Yellowstone a couple hundred miles to California. Nothing could go wrong, we had told ourselves and each other. We’re all together ready to take on the great big world of adulthood. 

We were oh so wrong. 

We had left the hotel that slightly brisk summer day, with smiles on our faces as we went to the nearest open book shop. We had a good deal of fun skimming the newer books, laughing at the clichés we were finding. Werewolf men and drama queens, fighting over some poor nerd who wasn’t even interested. Ha! 

 Now that I think about it, she didn’t laugh as loudly that day as she normally would. Her lips were extra red from her nervous chewing, as she walked the shelves with the books of legends bound in gold. The tales of heroes such as those were always a favorite. Her fingers had been gentle, as if she was saying goodbye to one of her art pieces. Her hair, once again cut short, hung in a messy gold curtain over her face as she looked at an antique copy of The Sword in the Stone. Her eyes had been sad. For something that I now know had yet to happen. 

After a couple more stops, Fate found us crossing a street. Sometimes I swore I could see the magic that exploded from the oldest of my friends at that moment. After it was over, she told me that she had been looking up at the sky as a butterfly flew through her vision. That she had felt the pull on her right hand as I tried to pull her out of the way. The harsh sting of the man’s magic as he tried to teleport back to his home world, to avoid the car; when he slammed into her shoulder. Sending her into the car's path. How she registered the scent of the burning breaks. Acidic in my own memory. But she stressed, that wasn’t what had her attention as her body fell asleep and her soul was ripped away to another world. No she was focused on the horror and regret in the poor woman, who was driving the cars, eyes. 

Looking back. I think she knew that this was only the catalyst. That she had seen the aliens that morning while she watched the sunrise. That she had been waiting for it. I think that she knew she was going to lose her mortal life. I think she knew she was going to die that day. 

All I can say on the matter now is that wherever she was taken, when she came back she was a hero. Even if her scars told a different story. And as her friend I had just held on to the fact that she would return because I owed her a raspberry tea.

[bythepen98]

The more I see those spoilers and snippets of past chapters about the war with all of them fighting in mha, the more I think about how Izuku and the gang are literally still just kids doing their best to fight overpowered villains and dealing with all types of stress they weren't expecting for this early. Sure they have powers and have been trained for it (even though for most of them, its only been months to a yr?) but like....I look at actual normal 15-16 yr old kids today and try to imagine them in Class 1A's shoes fighting the big bad. Crazy to think about and shifts my world view little by little.

I also don't know why I'm surprised-pikachu-face at the concept bc teenagers power scaling and fighting ppl that even powered adults couldn't handle is a staple in shonen.

Team 7 and co were actually out here fighting an alien goddess but I didn't bat much of an eye at them going ham in their war. Probably has something to do with them being magic ninjas who were trained to kill at a young age while mha, despite the quirk business, feels more grounded(???not sure about the word. Basically it parallels the /real/ world more than Naruto's -obviously- so I feel the surrealness more clearly) bc it's a modern world where kids generally get to stay as kids, barring any unforseen incidents, until they enter a hero school.

Makes it all the more impressive that all the students in mha fighting have progressed so well with their abilities considering their youth and especially when they, to my current knowledge, don't have the kind of plot armor power scaling Deku and the villains (and maybe a select few other characters) do.

[flowerypeaches]

Mothership

“What is that?”

Hero stopped their approach, a positively bored expression on their face. “What are you doing?”

Their nemesis, who was currently pointing behind Hero with an incredibly overexaggerated look of surprise, rolled their eyes, “Uh, giving you your cue?”

“My cue?”

Villain sighed loudly, dropping the egregious pose. “You're supposed to turn your head, in a suitably dramatic fashion of course, search for what I was pointing at, only for it to be revealed a ruse, granting me the opportunity to strike you unawares so I may gain the upper hand in our skirmish.”

“Mhm, and why would I fall for something so stupid?”

“Because you are stupid?”

“...”

“Ow, okay, okay!” Villain held a hand to their nose, grimacing as it came back bloody from Hero’s rather crude punch. “See, this is what I was trying to avoid. No story, no drama, no excitement. What if I let you get a few good hits in afterwards?”

Hero replied by kicking Villain’s feet out from under them, knocking them onto the cold and cracked pavement. “Looks like I’m already getting a few good hits in.” They leaned over Villain, arms crossed. “Now, are we going to actually fight, or are you going to keep trying to direct your own personal soap opera?”

Hero waited for Villain’s patented snarky response, specifically about how soap operas are a valid form of art and Hero would be wise not to disrespect it, yadda yadda, but none came. In fact, Villain wasn’t even looking at them.

“Uh, Villain? You still with me?” 

Villain’s voice was barely above a whisper, “What is that?”

“Seriously? It hasn’t even been a minute and you’re really using the sa-”

“I’m not screwing with you, Hero, there’s something in the sky!”

Hero had to admit, Villain’s acting had gotten much better in the last thirty seconds, but no matter how real it looked, they weren’t going to fall for it. Villain might be messing around now, but Hero couldn’t forget that they were a criminal, and a dangerous one at that.

They reached down, pulling Villain, who was still staring into the sky, up by their collar. “Look, I get that you never got the lead role in the school play or whatever, and want to make the world burn because of it, but could you, just this once, take our fight seriously?”

“I think it's getting closer.”

Hero ignored them, “I’m tired of the other heroes telling me I have it easy because my nemesis would rather focus on projecting their monologue to all of the hostages than actually rob the bank they broke into to begin with.” Sure, Hero was thankful Villain’s obsession with the dramatic kept them from causing too much destruction, but they had their own reputation to uphold, and constant stalemates with the theatre school reject did not help! “Let me tell you what. If you go down to the station without a fuss, then maybe I can get you into one of the nicer cell blocks. You know, the ones with the view of the hills. Does that sound good? Villain? Are you even lis-”

Blinding light filled Hero’s eyes and ears, cutting off every train of thought and any plan of action they might have had before then. They looked up, and despite the harsh light making their eyes water, they could make out the vague shape of a disc floating directly above them.

Oh.

Oh no.

“Told you.”

Hero looked back down to their nemesis, who looked much too smug for the situation at hand, and sneered, “Maybe if you didn’t insist on playing drama club, I might have actually taken you seriously.”

Villain had the courtesy to drop their grin, squinting up at the…  “Is it getting brighter?”

It was, and that meant it was too late for Hero to prevent what was about to happen. Familiar cold heat ran through their veins as their limbs locked in place.

A safety precaution.

Definitely not to prevent anyone caught in the beam from escaping.

“Hero? I-I can’t move.” Villain said.

Villain.

They shouldn’t be here.

Hero’s eyes widened, realizing just how screwed they were. They tried to relax their hands, to let go of Villain, to shove them out of the beam, anything, but only managed to twitch their muscles, as if they were encased in a steel mold.

Villain seemed to be doing the same thing, though the trembling may have just been the fear. Any other time, Hero would have loved to see Villain’s mask slip. To force them to acknowledge that, yes, Hero was a real threat to their criminal livelihood. Instead, Villain acted as if Hero was a fellow actor, asking for Hero’s thoughts on new scenes they came up with, or excitedly talking about whatever had happened in their soap that day, a neon flashing sign that indicated they were in desperate need of friends. Did… did that mean Villain thought they were friends?

Not the time.

Hero gave up on their efforts, and let the looming dread wash over them. This wasn’t acceptance, no, they were just giving themself a moment to rest before they faced what was up in the ship. Oh, they weren’t ready.

Two enemies, encircled and entrapped in an ever growing light, locked eyes. 

“We’re so f-”

And as quick as it had appeared, the burning light and mysterious ship attached to it, along with Hero and Villain, vanished into the night.

.·°·.·°·.·°·.

Light surrounded Villain. The ambient noise of the city was replaced by a low, droning hum. Any sense of direction was lost as gravity no longer affected them. They were weightless, and, even in this world of superpowers, nothing made sense. Where did the city go? Why couldn’t they move? How were they floating? The light was all-consuming, and Villain would have thought themself lost in it if not for the deathgrip Hero still had around their collar. 

Slowly, the light faded, and Villain felt their own weight return to them. Their legs wobbled, and in an instant, whatever force that held them in place disappeared. They would have fallen if not for Hero, who still held them in their grasp.

“What just happened?” Villain said, though not really expecting an explanation.

Looking around, they could see they were now in a circular, silver chamber. Dials and switches and lights and symbols dotted the walls, communicating something or other, and the floor was, what was that, carpet? Villain shuddered. Honestly, it looked a lot like a cheap sci-fi set for a tv show that should have been cancelled three seasons ago than a futuristic aircraft capable of teleporting human beings.

“Oh, no, no, no.” Villain jumped at Hero’s voice, and stumbled as their anchor let them go to run over to a wall.

Not a wall. A window.

Villain blinked.

A window that showed… Earth? No, that couldn’t be right. If they were looking at the earth, that could only mean...

“Shit, we’re already in orbit.” Hero said.

Villain blinked.

They were in space. Space. That was impossible, right? They couldn’t actually be in space. But here they were, staring at the little blue marble with their very own eyes. Was the room spinning? Or was it the spaceship?

Villain ran their hands through their hair.

They were in a spaceship. A spaceship. That was impossible, right? They couldn’t actually be in a spaceship. But here they were, having been abducted by the UFO just seconds ago. By what? Aliens?

Aliens.

Villain forced their gaze away to keep themself from spiraling, instead focusing on Hero, who has since moved on from the window to the numerous switches and lights, tapping the wall and looking at the symbols that popped up. Villain didn’t understand what Hero was trying to do, it wasn’t like they could understand what any of it meant.

Three deep breaths, and Villain made the best plan ever made in 24 seconds. They stepped up next to their nemesis.

“Hero?”

Hero’s hand was covering their mouth, muttering something to themself, and clearly not paying attention. Nevertheless, Villain continued, “Now, as much as I hate to say it, I think we may have to work together to get back on Earth.” Truth be told, in any other circumstance, Villain would have been ecstatic to work with their nemesis. Whether to defeat a worse villain or take down some other hero that had become corrupt, they would have welcomed the opportunity wholeheartedly. 

Why? Well, Villain would argue that it was more interesting, that their relationship, and subsequent fights, would have more dramatic tension. Definitely not because of any other tension that may arise from spending time together.

Villain puffed out their chest, “Lucky for you, I have decided to put aside our differences, and your lack of charisma, to take the initiative and save us both from peril. Yes, this does go against my better judgement, and yes, it may possibly be my most difficult role to date, but if it means I get to go back home in time to watch my soaps, then it’ll be worth it.”

Hero finally turned towards them, “Do you ever shut up?”

“Only for dramatic effect.” Villain said with an award-winning smile, earning an eye roll and a huff of annoyance. “So… what do you think we should do?”

“I thought you said you’d take the initiative?”

“Yes, the initiative in proposing we work together.”

“...”

Villain held up their hands, “Hey, hey, before you go punching willy nilly, why don’t you tell me what you were doing over here? Get anything useful from the flashing green triangle you were poking at?” They would have teased more, but Hero’s lack of response made them move on. “What are you thinking?”

Hero’s eyes flickered to the wall and back to Villain. “You need to leave.”

Villain blinked.

“Well, obviously we need to escape. We were abducted!”

Hero shook their head, “No, you need to leave. I’ll stay, and deal with-”

“What? And how are you going to figure out how anything works, huh? Even if you do, why wouldn’t you just come back with me?”

“It’s not that simple, I can’t re-”

A low, loud beep interrupted the enemies, and Villain turned their head in time for a wall opposite the window to open up and let someone through. Someone distinctly… humanlike. 

The person, an older woman by the looks of it, smiled brightly and opened their arms. “ .·°¯°·.·° .·°° ?”

That was distinctly not humanlike. It was like hearing someone speak through water, and an undercurrent of static scratched the inside of Villain’s ears. 

The woman—were they even a person?—walked closer, and Hero quickly stepped in front of Villain, shielding them.

She paid no mind, however, and spoke again, “ .·°¯°·.·° .·°° ,” looking expectantly at Hero, who, after a moment of hesitation, stepped forward. Her smile widened, and Villain was hit with a sense of deja vu. She pulled Hero close, and, were they hugging? Why was Hero letting her? What was happening? 

The woman whispered something to Hero, but it wasn’t like Villain could understand even if they tried. Hero turned back to Villain, giving them an apologetic smile before, “ ° .·°° ° .¯ .”

Villain’s jaw dropped.

Hero was replying to the woman. Which meant they understood her. Which meant they knew whatever language was being spoken. Which meant… which meant… Why were they abducted in the first place?

The danger presented itself fully to Villain.

They had been taken off the face of the earth by their mortal enemy, or someone who was well acquainted with them, at the very least, and had no possibility of escape. Villain considered themself clever, but trying to figure out how alien—alien!—technology worked was beyond them. They had to rely wholly on Hero, who, although Villain was loath to admit it, hated their guts. Hero could be plotting in front of Villain right now and they would be none the wiser.

Hero wouldn’t do that. Villain tried to reassure themself, because Hero wouldn’t send them off with some unknown alien being. They’d want to arrest Villain proper, right? Arrest and put them in some high security cell they’d break out of a month later. It was their thing. Villain didn’t want their thing to end.

Huh.

Villain shook their head, they’d have to examine and repress that particular line of thought later, because the woman was suddenly standing in front of them, startling Villain out of their thoughts. She reached out, clutching Villain's jaw with cold fingers, turning them this way and that. As if they were being studied. Was Villain wrong? Was Hero really getting rid of them?

“ ¯ .·°°·°¯ .” She said. Villain’s ears itched worse now that the woman was closer.

Maybe Hero thought they were doing Villain a favour, sending them off on an adventure, letting them create their own melodramatic space opera. Or maybe this was punishment for all the dated Space Trek references. Both were a possibility.

Familiar hands pulled Villain away from the woman and into Hero’s chest. They were not blushing.

“ .·° .¯°·°° !” Hero’s voice was raised, clearly upset at whatever the woman had said.

She, however, was unaffected by Hero’s outburst, gesturing between the two enemies with raised eyebrows, “ °·.°·.°¯°·. .” 

Hero shook their head, and Villain felt Hero’s grip tighten ever so slightly, “ °·.°¯ .·°°·.°°¯ .”

A strange noise came from the woman, sounding almost like… bubbles? It was clearer than the other times she spoke, and it was the way she moved that made Villain realize it was a laugh. She was laughing at Villain. Or Hero. Both?

Hero’s hands were shaking, and Villain couldn’t tell if it was with anger or fear. 

“ ·° .·° .” Hero was curt with her, and Villain recognized the tone from when they threatened to blow up City Hall. The tone that preceded their fights.

The woman seemed to recognize the tone as well, as she backed off a little, holding her hands up in a placating way. She gave Villain a small wave before nodding at Hero, “ ·.°.°¯°°¯° .· .·° .” and left, the wall closing up behind her.

The pair stood in silence.

Hero let go of Villain, letting them step away. Except, they didn’t. In fact, they did nothing of the sort. Villain spun on their heels and stepped forward, “What on ear–ugh, what just happened?”

“There, um, might be a slight problem.”

“Slight problem? You call this”—Villain gestured wildly around them, narrowly avoiding hitting Hero in the face—”a slight problem?”

Hero leaned away from Villain, avoiding their eyes.

“Care to explain? Anything? At all?”

“Where do I start?”

Villain’s theatrics, for once, wasn’t uncalled for. “Oh, I don’t know, how about the fact that we were abducted? That we are in space? Or, or!” Villain backed off, giving themself room to pace around the circular room and project their panic to an audience of one, “That there is an alien speaking to you, Hero, in an alien language, because no human could actually sound like that, acting like she knows you, and you, you reply to her? As if you know her too?”

“Yeah, that would be my… mother.”

“Your mother.”

Hero nodded.

“Your mother who lives in a spaceship. Who speaks an alien language.”

“Who is an alien.”

“Who is an alien.” It took a good second for the words to sink in. “Your mother is an alien?! Like, an alien from an alien planet?”

Hero nodded again.

Villain felt their brain short-circuit. “Does that mean…”

“That I’m an alien from an alien planet? Yes.”

Villain felt lightheaded. This was okay. This was manageable. This world-shattering, insane truth of the universe was perfectly manageable, and they were not going to spiral, not for one second. Deep breaths. One… two… three… Villain stopped pacing, facing Hero with the calmest expression the latter had ever seen on the former. “Okay, so now that you’ve had your nice little family reunion, we can go back, right?”

Hero’s face was a cross between a smile and a wince.

Villain’s expression twitched, but held firm, “And why not?”

“Well, my mother-”

“The alien.”

Hero tried not to get annoyed, but damn, did Villain make it hard. “Yes, my mother the alien. She, erm,” They groaned, covering their face with their hands, “She may have made a fundamental mistake about the nature of our relationship.”

“And what mistake would that be?” Villain grit their teeth.

“She may, perhaps, think that, we’re… dating.”

“Louder, Hero. Speak so everyone in the audience can hear you.”

“She thinks we’re dating!”

Villain blinked, completing the rule of thirds and simultaneously breaking their composure. So much for not spiraling. “Dating?” Their voice squeaked.

“Dating,” Hero nodded, “And-”

“There’s more?!” Villain turned away, back to pacing and practically pulling their hair out from the absurdity.

“And, the reason we can’t leave yet is because she invited us to dinner.”

Oh. Oh, no. Oh, no no no.

“What’s wrong? I thought you loved drama.” Hero said, failing to lighten the mood. “Aren’t family confrontations and misunderstandings the bread and butter of soap operas?”

“My love of drama left me when we left the atmosphere.” Villain glared at Hero with enough ferocity to start a fire.

Villain walked up to the walls, flicking the switches and turning the dials, to see if, miraculously, they could make the ship go back to the city. The lights blinked mockingly in response.

“Uh, Villain?”

“There doesn’t happen to be an escape pod on this ship, does there?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“We’re really going to have to do this, aren’t we?” Villain said, turning to face their nemesis.

“Unfortunately yes.”

Two enemies, both flushed head to toe from frustration and embarrassment, locked eyes.

And Villain, lover of monologues and soliloquies, came up with the most profound, most thought-provoking line they could think of.

“We’re so fucked.”

Hero was inclined to agree.