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astaralys · 4 years ago

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A Frozen modern AU oneshot

Oneshot collection can be read on: FFN | AO3

[Backstory chapter, direct continuation of oneshot #3, Searching] In which Anna officially moves in with Elsa.

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Anna sifts through the stranger and collects details like flecks of gold buried in the sands of time.

When she follows her sister through the airport and realises she still has to look up even though Elsa is only wearing flats: Wow, she's taller than me.

When Elsa tries to help her with the luggage and nearly drops it on her own foot: … But not exactly stronger. Got it.

When they get into a small white car: Oh, she does drive.

When Elsa struggles so badly to merge lanes she misses their exit on the freeway: Oh my God. She can't drive.

Anna tries so hard not to grip the door handle for security that she can't remember what she spends the ride rambling about. Her sister is mostly silent, all hums, terse nods and white-knuckled hands on the steering wheel. Anna tells herself it's because all of Elsa's focus is going into keeping them on the road, and not because Elsa, like, hates her or anything. That's absurd.

Right?

When they reach the city, Elsa's driving suddenly improves; Anna suspects it's because there's so much traffic they're barely moving. Sitting at a red light (Elsa slammed on the brakes when it turned yellow), Anna is so captivated by the bustle beyond her window that she nearly misses her sister tentatively asking, "Do you have your license yet?"

Anna snaps her head around too keenly, and winces when she sees Elsa flinch. Is she scared of me? "Sorry? Oh—my license? Ah, no, I kinda, um, failed the test. Twice. But I know how to drive!"

Elsa blinks, and Anna panics—crap, she thinks I'm a total dunce for failing twice—but then the lights go green. Almost immediately, the car behind them honks impatiently and startles them both.

Seeing her sister's shoulders tense up again ignites something inside Anna. She twists in her seat, stares straight through the rear window, and glares at the other driver. She can't tell if they can see her, but she likes to think it was the heat of her wrath that sent them scurrying into the nearest side street.

"What a stinker," Anna huffs as she turns back around. Then she remembers that it's not Kai in the seat beside her, and flushes as she glances towards Elsa. "Am I embarrassing? I'm embarrassing, aren't I? Hans always says so—i-in a nice way, of course. Like, you know, 'you adorable dork' or—"

"You're not embarrassing," Elsa says quietly. There's a pause as she carefully navigates an intersection. Then, "Hans is a friend?"

Oh, Anna realises. I'm not the only one playing detective.

"He's, um, a little more than that."

Elsa's surprise manifests as an especially jerky stop at a pedestrian crossing. "You're dating someone?"

The urge to defend him rises from nowhere. "You'll like Hans! He's a perfect gentleman with the sweetest sense of justice. He just graduated from law school. And he likes chocolate and sandwiches, just like me."

He didn't like you moving across the country, a niggling voice reminds her. Anna purses her lips and pushes the thought to the back of her mind.

"I'm sorry. That question came out strange." Elsa glances at Anna, adding softly, "Sometimes I forget that you're not five years old anymore."

"Well, we're lucky you remembered today, or you never would have found me in the airport. Waaait a minute… why didn't we just go to the information desk and tell them to make an announcement?"

To her surprise, Elsa laughs. "Haven't you had enough of that for a lifetime? You used to get lost every time we went shopping with Mom and Dad."

The memories come flooding in like a storm carving up a forgotten river. "Hey, you got lost all the time, too!"

"You got us both lost all the time."

The warm glow fills Anna's chest and remains there as Elsa turns into a long driveway leading down into the basement of one of the tallest apartments. Elsa takes a full five minutes to park, and then they're zipping up in the elevator.

Following Elsa down the plushly carpeted hallway, Anna discreetly pinches herself. Ow. It's actually happening. It doesn't matter that Hans planted that horrible question in her head ("You haven't lived with your sister in over thirteen years, Anna. How do you know she even loves you anymore?")—she's here. Elsa's here. They'll be coming home together from now on.

Then they reach the door at the very end of the hallway, fitted with one of those fancy keyless locks, and as Elsa reaches for it, she seems to remember something and says rather awkwardly, "It's your birthday."

She forgot.

It shouldn't be so surprising—Elsa hasn't been there for thirteen years of birthdays. Their parents would always give Anna 'a present from Elsa', but Anna knows how hard it is to pick out something for a sister she sees once a year at Christmas ("She likes books," Grandpa replied every time Anna called for research). And Elsa's presents are always a little too perfect, as if she still sleeps on the top bunk and can't escape twelve-year-old Anna gushing about skateboards. And after Anna noticed that, it became harder to ignore the voice that kept wondering if those presents were really from Elsa—a voice that is now smugly saying: I told you so.

"Y-Yeah! It was actually two months ago but time sure does fly. It was a super fun day—Hans and I went to an amusement park. I spent, like, two hours at the bottle toss trying to win this cute Baymax plushie. I've got it in my suitcase; I'll show you later. It's the best cuddle buddy ever."

This gets her an odd look from Elsa, but a beep from the lock distracts them both. Elsa opens the door. She steps back, gesturing shyly for Anna to enter first.

"There had better not be a trapdoor in there," Anna jokes. She doesn't know why she's nervous about this moment. It's a door. It's open.

She steps through.

Her first thought is that everything is minimalistic and very white. An open kitchen with an oak splashback against pale tiles. Cream carpet visible through a glass coffee table sitting in front of a light grey leather couch that looks more like a recliner for one than a place to watch Netflix with friends or sisters.

Even the bookshelves standing sentry on either side of the wall-mounted television contain neat rows of books with the stark pages facing outward. Anna opens her mouth to make a quip about finding any books—but then her curious gaze falls on the small dining table with its single placemat and chair.

Why does this detail hurt so much?

"This place is amazing! I bet myself ten bucks that you had great taste." Even Anna can tell she sounds too loud, too bright. "Remind me to treat myself. I'm craving chocolate fondue right now. Actually, scratch that. I'm always craving chocolate fondue. Any good places around here? Please say yes."

She hopes Elsa still likes chocolate and building snowmen.

Elsa hovers by the shoe cabinet, her left hand loosely gripping her right elbow. "Yes. I'll take you someday. Would you like to see your room?"

Anna catches herself on the verge of saying something stupid like 'Of course! It's the whole reason I'm here.'

"That's the bathroom." Elsa points to a door at the end of a short corridor, then gestures to two other doors on either side. "My room. Your room. I was only using it as a study, so it's very empty after I moved the desk to my room. We can—"

"Relax, sis! I'm so easy. All I need is a—" Anna throws open the door. "—bed."

It's literally the only piece of furniture in the room.

"Woooow. You really weren't kidding about empty, huh?"

Behind her, Elsa sounds apologetic. "I wasn't sure how you wanted to set it up, so I only got a bed. If the mattress is too hard or too soft for you, we can exchange it tomorrow. Or if you don't like the view, you can take my room instead. It really doesn't—"

"I love it." Anna spins around with a grin. "This means we get to go shopping together! But let's get IKEA to deliver to us, yeah? Your Mini Cooper can only fit, like, two-thirds of a flatpack. Ooh, I've seen apps that let you drag furniture onto photos to see how the room looks with—" She's interrupted by a shockingly huge yawn. "Goodness, 'scuse me. Where was I? Right—apps… Elsa? Where are you going?"

Her sister returns with the suitcase. "You just got off a plane; change into something comfortable and get some rest. Dessert and furniture can wait until tomorrow."

"But I'm not—" Another yawn swallows up the rest of Anna's sentence. "—sleepy… Okay, fine. But promise you'll wake me up for dinner, or my rumbling tummy will wake you in the middle of the night."

Elsa promises, and then the door closes with the softest of clicks.

Anna listens, but there's carpet and her sister moves so quietly that it feels like she's back in the big house. Alone. Except she's not.

She checks her phone. Nothing from Hans. She sends him a quick message to say she's arrived at Elsa's place, then looks around at her new room, and decides not to add a photo.

Her suitcase springs open as soon as she unlocks it, spilling her life across the floor. Gerda helped her pack, but none of her neat folding survives the trial of Anna digging for something to sleep in. Anna changes into pyjama bottoms and one of Hans' shirts.

Then her gaze catches on a grey, threadbare sweater.

There's a cartoon graphic of a single slice of pizza. The rest of the pizza is on her father's sweater; a matching Father's Day gift that immediately became a game of chicken. If one of them wore their sweater in the house, the other had to wear theirs, no matter how sweltering the day. It drove her mother crazy. "Can you two please stop wearing those long enough for me to wash them?" she used to sigh.

Now, pulling the sweater over her head, Anna realises in the darkness that it's the little details. It's the fact that their sweater streak was still unbroken when she answered the door to find two police officers solemnly waiting. It's electricity and phone bills that continue to pay themselves, because direct debits don't care that Anna's parents are gone. It's not being able to send videos of Elsa's horrible driving to the group chat because no one else will see them.

A knock on the door startles her. She whirls around with her head still stuck in the sweater and—oh no, bad idea.

"Anna? I forgot to give you… are you okay? I heard a loud noise."

Lying winded on her back, Anna wheezes, "Nothing! My shirt just fell."

"That was very loud for a shirt."

"Yeah, um, that's because I was kind of in it."

The door opens as she sits up. "Did you break anything?" Elsa asks as she helps Anna get her head through the sweater.

"God, I hope not. Keep all your favourite mugs away from me. Actually, keep all your expensive stuff away because I'm ridiculously uncoordinated. As you can see."

"I meant bones, Anna. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh." Anna lets out a laugh, rubbing an elbow. "Totally fine. Super thick skull. What did you forget?"

Elsa gestures towards the bed, where she's placed a stack of bath towels. "To give you towels in case you want to take a shower first."

"Thanks. Wow. That's… a lot of colours."

"I wasn't sure which ones you liked."

Anna blinks at her sister. Who might have given her a spare room with nothing but a bed, yet bought towels in literally every colour of the rainbow, just for Anna.

"Oh, and this." Elsa holds out a silver key. "In case the keyless lock fails for any reason. There's a panel you can slide down to open the door normally with this key."

The key feels both light and heavy in Anna's hands. She flashes Elsa a grateful grin. "I'm going to use this every day because that pin code looked so long, I'd forget it every day."

"I don't think you will."

"Hah. You don't know how bad my memory is." And Elsa really doesn't know, does she? There are so many things they don't know about each other.

But then Elsa cocks her head to one side and says, "You can't forget it. I told you: it's your birthday. Month, date, year."

When Anna stares speechlessly for too long, Elsa hurriedly adds, "When I moved in, I was told not to use my own birthday because it's too obvious, so the first thing I thought of was yours—b-but we can change it to your phone number if that's easier for you. Or maybe… Anna? Are you okay?"

The details Anna has collected scatter as she throws her arms around Elsa for the second time that day. Except this time, it doesn't feel like she's hugging a stranger.

When Elsa awkwardly rubs her back, Anna wipes her eyes on her favourite sweater and thinks: That's my sister.

#I actually wrote this before I finished the last chapter of TNU #and then deadass forgot all about it #I am a goldfish #frozen fanfiction #frozen modern au #snow sisters #elsa #anna #these days are precious #my writing

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somekindoftuber · 6 years ago

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vld youtuber AU

youtuber AUs are really fun so here is my take (with klance):

Shiro runs a channel where he restores/repairs motorcycles. It’s really popular because he has a great on-camera presence and soothing voice, not to mention he’s very good looking. He has the facial scar and white hair and has mentioned that he’s a veteran, hence his prosthetic right arm. Keith works with him, and Shiro always introduces him in the intros of his videos, saying, “And my brother Keith is here to be my right hand.” They have a fairly large following, posting weekly videos. Keith mostly stays quiet, except to answer Shiro.

Lance runs a music channel that’s half comedy and half serious, playing guitar and ukulele. He does acoustic covers of songs that should be impossible to do acoustic versions of, and sometimes does comedy lyrics of popular songs. He also posts blooper videos where his cats interrupt him or knock over the camera. He posts one or two times a week, his videos are usually short. He also streams games on Twitch, usually playing music and making people laugh over the mic.

Shiro sometimes does Q&A videos to answer fan questions. Keith usually doesn’t participate, except in the video about their pets. Shiro introduces their two cats, and Keith’s dog Kosmo (who’s a Blue Bay Shepherd mix and is absolutely massive).

Shiro’s channel pops up on Lance’s recommendations one day, and it’s the pet video. Shiro’s cats are in the thumbnail, a giant black shorthair and a long haired red tabby, so he clicks. He instantly likes this guy, his cats are cute, and the quiet, scowling brother in the background with the giant bear-dog is fun to watch. So he subscribes. He finds out that he really likes their videos, despite knowing absolutely nothing about motorcycles. Shiro makes it easy to follow, and he even learns a thing or two.

Lance hears a song he recognizes in one of Shiro’s videos and gets an idea. He gets his guitar and does a comedy cover of the song, making it about repairing motorcycles. He’s proud of the silly lyrics, not able to keep from snickering a few times, and posts the video. He shoots the link over to Shiro, and crosses his fingers.

Two days later he gets a response. Shiro comments on the video saying that he loves it and it made him laugh. Lance is over the moon, and keeps watching Shiro’s videos and commenting on them. Shiro sometimes comments on his and it’s great. As the months go by, Shiro becomes something of a hero to Lance. He’s cool and confident and everything Lance wishes he could be.

Not to mention that his broody little brother is really, really easy on the eyes. Keith is gaining a fanbase, his wiki page full of what few scraps viewers can find about him - including a blurry screenshot of a moment when his shirt rode up to reveal an nondescript tattoo on his hip. There was a good deal of speculation as to what it was of. Not that Lance read that particular reddit thread. Or commented on it. (“I bet it’s a wolf,” he most certainly did not write. Several people agreed.) Who can blame him? Lance likes puzzles and mysteries. What’s more mysterious than a youtuber who never talks and has all of his social media on lockdown?

Lance gushes about Shiro’s channel one night to Pidge, who’s finishing undergrad. Casually as ever, she says, “Yeah, I know Shiro, he’s an old friend of Matt’s.” and Lance loses it. Demands to know more, demands that Pidge set up a meeting. Pidge rolls her eyes, and says maybe, maybe during spring break.

Lance decides to do a charity stream, like he does often. He asks some of his youtuber friends to help promote, including his best friend Hunk who runs his own casual cooking channel (Hunk never shows his face but his videos are still really fun). He tweets about it, feeling pretty good. His last stream went really well and they hit their donation goal. When Lance checks twitter the next day, he’s absolutely beside himself to see that Shiro has retweeted his stream link, saying “My buddy @LanceyLance is doing a charity stream! Check it out!” He may have bounced in his chair and flapped his hands a little when he read that.

The stream goes super well. They surpass their donation goal by hundreds, and he gets a lot of chat messages from people saying they found it via Shiro. Once it’s over, Lance composes an email to Shiro to thank him. He considers mentioning what Pidge says for several minutes before deciding to just go for it. He finishes his email with “PS - I think we have a friend in common?? My buddy Pidge - Katie Holt - says she knows you. Or are you a different Shiro?”

He sends the email before he can second guess himself.

Two days later, he gets a reply, and Shiro confirms that he knows Pidge since he went to high school with her older brother, commenting that it’s a small world. Lance plays it cool, but doubles his efforts to get Pidge to introduce him to Shiro.

“Spring break,” she repeats, then yells at Lance to let her finish her paper.

It’s almost two months until then, so Lance occupies himself with making videos, streaming, and watching Shiro’s channel. Keeping an eye on where Keith pops up in the videos, silent and intense. When late March finally arrives, Lance packs a bag and piles in the car with Pidge for the five hour drive to her hometown, which is apparently also Shiro’s hometown. Pidge’s parents welcome him, and it takes an entire day of nagging Pidge to get her to call Shiro. He’s free the next day.

They head across town to Shiro’s garage and Lance is stoked. So stoked. And as Shiro comes out to meet them, he’s struck by one thing: Shiro is far taller in person than he looks on camera. He shakes Lance’s left hand and shows him around, the bike they’re working on, the cameras, the editing software he still uses, even though it’s a little outdated.

Lance is halfway to asking Shiro if he can meet his cats when the door opens. “Shiro?” a voice calls. “They’re roping off the west side of the street for something. Do you want me to move your --”

He stops when he spots Lance, and Lance sort of feels his breath stop in his chest at the sight. Running gear, hair pulled back, skin glistening with sweat, and a sleeveless shirt with a pair of earbuds hanging out of the collar.

It’s Keith. And Lance has to remember to breathe, because like his brother, he’s taller in person, but he’s also hot. Like crazy hot, goddamn. Even drenched in sweat with his hair sticking to his face and neck and flushed from a run, he’s stupidly gorgeous. The videos absolutely do not do his eyes justice, not even a little, all sharp and intense and deep blue.

He’s just sort of standing there stuck, but thankfully Pidge rescues him with a loud clearing of her throat. Then Shiro swoops in and introduces Lance to Keith. He’s quiet, like in the videos, and slips away as soon as Lance’s attention is elsewhere.

Once Keith is gone, Shiro asks Lance if he’d like to be in a video on his channel, and holy shit. He agrees before he even knows the details, and Shiro laughs. They agree to have Lance come back in three days to film. Right when they’re leaving, Keith re-emerges, showered and changed. Lance waves goodbye to him and hopes Keith doesn’t notice the way Lance’s eyes sweep up and down his body.

Lance spends the next three nights pouring over his guitar.

When he goes over to Shiro’s to film, he’s almost bouncing with excitement. Shiro goes over what they’ll be doing before they start. Lance is downright giddy as Shiro does his intro and calls Lance a “special guest” before they get started. Lance is mostly holding parts in place or passing Shiro tools as he works on the old bike they’ve been hired to restore, but it’s still fun, even if he’s sweating within the first half hour. Keith hovers in the corner, off camera, playing with his phone and looking bored. By the time they finish, he’s covered in grease and exhausted, but happy. Shiro stops filming and they take a break, cracking open a few beers.

Before it’s time to leave, he gets the okay from Shiro and sets up his own camera, bringing out his guitar. He wasn’t sure if he’d have the guts to do this, but Shiro smiles at him, and it all feels okay. Lance turns on his camera, does an intro, and begins to play. It’s an original song, one he wrote just for the occasion over the last few sleepless nights. It’s about new friends and fresh starts and connecting with others and maybe it’s a little cheesy, but it’s heartfelt, and the acoustics of the garage somehow bring it all together. And when he finishes and shuts off his camera, the awed look on Shiro’s face is absolutely worth it. Even Keith looks a little surprised, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair.

He says goodnight to them both and goes back to the Holt family home, showers and changes, and goes to sleep feeling like it’s Christmas and his birthday and the first day of summer vacation all at once.

Pidge has to go back to school to resume classes eventually, and Lance is her transportation, so he has to go too. They stop by Shiro’s garage one last time to deliver a tupperware container of fresh baked cookies, courtesy of Mrs. Holt, and Shiro shakes his hand again. When Lance says goodbye to Keith and shakes his hand, he swears he sees the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. Something he’s never seen.

He spends the entire five hour drive back with excitement buzzing in his veins. He can’t wait to edit and post that video.

CONTINUED IN PART TWO HERE

#AUs #youtuber AU #text post

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illwork4anime · 4 years ago

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18 please!

Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Yes! So I will use my WIP Done with Love

ORIGINS

ORIGINALLY THIS STORY WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE ShikaSaku.

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONLY ITASAKU. LOOK HOW FAR WE HAVE FALLEN BECAUSE I FELL HARD FOR SHIKA.

Literally never considered the pairing until this.

This story started with the Itasaku oneshot that is the prologue. Then I wrote a drabble that was just the hospital scene, but a little different. It had Kurenais daughter coming in wounded. Sakura saves her and goes to the waitingroom to find Shika a mess. It's the end of her shift so she takes him out for a drink. The end.

Then I decided, no I want to write a proper story. So I combined them, with Shikamaru only there because of his big brain AND THATS IT. NOTHING ELSE. So I added...They talk. Shika owes her one bigtime. Asuma would have haunted him forever if she died. So, Sakura says - I know how you are going to help me out. Help me train and I am going to get Sasuke back all on my own. Work with me on a strategy. The start of the chapter was a flash forward to an event I can tell because its a spoiler! Basically, Sakura is captured and trying to escape. This helped add some suspense to the exposition and make a boring capture time more interesting by breaking it up.

BUT then I decided to redo it completely. Because I fell in love with shikasaku as a later pairing.

Also - all those Kakashi moments - ACCIDENTAL. I wrote that healing scene in the library on a whim and now here we are. Originally, just supposed to be Shika and Itachi.

DELETED/REFACTORED SCENE

One additional diversion was the scene in the art gallery. That originally didn’t have the genjutsu at all. It was an argument outside in a part. But I wanted to make it relevant to her training, so I put it in the gallery. In the alternate scene, it started because Sakura confronted Shikamaru about how he had kissed Ino before and wanted to know what kind of kiss it was. Here it is in DRAFT FORM:

“Oh, Sai!” Ino’s voice shatters through the moment. Ino bounds up behind Sai, throwing her arms around him in greeting.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding from me.” She says sweetly.

“Beautiful, I was not hiding, I assure you.” He says, face looking phonier than before. Why did Ino get a nice nickname, while Sakura got stuck with Hag? Ino beams at him for it.

“I missed you, silly. Let’s go to the movies Friday, so you can make it up to me.” Ino says sweetly.

Sai turns to Sakura, “What do you think, Sakura? Shall we go?”

Ino glares at her, as if she’s invited herself while Sakura puts her hands up in surrender.

“Um, actually Sai, I have training with Shikamaru on Friday night. I won’t be able to go.” Sakura lies.

“Is that what you’re calling it,” Ino grumbles under her breath.

“Apologies, Ino. We will have to try another time.” He says to her.

“She won’t mind if we go without her,” She says sweetly, then grinds out in a threatening tone, “Right, Sakura?”

“Right.” Sakura squeaks.

“According to my reading, the Hag is socially obligated to agree in this situation, though her true feelings could be to the contrary. It would be perceived as a slight to go without her.” Sai responds, looking rather proud at his insight.

Sakura cringes as Ino’s intensified glare.

“Then why don’t you just bring Shikamaru along, Sakura.” Ino offers, “Then we can have a double date.”

Again, the way Ino says it give Sakura no room to disagree, but she does anyway.

“I’m not going on a double date.” She says firmly.

“Forehead, let’s just talk for a second over there.” Ino says, grabbing her arm too tightly and dragging her out of hearing distance.

“Don’t ruin this for me, Sakura. I’m super close to sealing the deal on Sai and I’m not about to give that up because you made some phony sisterhood pact to yourself to swear off men forever.” She whispers furiously.

“It’s not about my completely legitimate pact. I have way bigger things to worry about right now than going on a fake date.” Sakura hisses back. Danzo’s disappointed expression rises up in her memory, along with his gentle reminder of her deadline. She shakes her head, “And don’t kid yourself, Ino. Sai has no idea you’re even interested in him.”

“Then you understand why I need this!” Ino argues back.

“Even if I wanted to, I’d never get Shikamaru to agree to this.” Sakura says, trying a different angle.

“Ha!” Ino lets out a shrill laugh, “That’s what you’re worried about.”

Sakura glares, “Yes. The last place he’d want to spend a Friday night is fourth-wheeling a date with you and Sai.” She’s not sure that’s strictly true, but is hoping his lazy, reclusive track record works to her advantage.

“Fourth-wheeling isn’t a thing, and you know it.” Ino disagrees, “And he’d go if you asked him. He’d show up in civilian clothes with his hair down if you asked him to.”

“Yeah, right.” Sakura scoffs, but blushes at the image that pops in her head of him running a hand through his loose hair. She shakes her head and says with more bite than she means to, “It doesn’t matter who asks. The answer will be no.”

“Then you’d better convince him.” She says, jabbing a finger in Sakura’s shoulder. “You still owe me from the time I pretended to be your lover to get that stalker fan boy to stop bothering you.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you do to that!” Sakura protests.

“See, I did it out of the goodness of my heart, so now’s your chance to repay me, because that’s what girlfriends do.” She smiles with a shrug and turns back to Sai to answer without waiting for Sakura to respond.

“Sai, she’s in!” She giggles, skipping back over to him, “See you Friday, Forehead!”

_____

Even though he said it wouldn’t, Shikamaru’s waiting for her outside the theater out of uniform that Friday. His black pants look pretty much the same, but his well-toned arms are on full display in a mesh tee-shirt and a long green vest that brushes his thighs. It probably has the Nara clan symbol on the back.

“Look at you, Muscles,” She teases him, glancing pointedly at his exposed arms. He lets out an annoyed huff, but his cheeks go pink, “I thought you weren’t wearing your civilian clothes tonight.”

“It would have been more troublesome to stick out that to just change,” He sulks. She can’t keep the smile off her face.

“Ino and Sai here yet?” She looks around but doesn’t see them.

“Not yet.” He’s still blushing and looks to the side when he says, “You look nice too.”

She lets out a surprised, “Oh, thanks,” looking down at the outfit she found in the back of her closet. It had been hard to find something that was fancy enough to say ‘date’ for Ino but casual enough to say ‘friends’ for Shikamaru. The simple cream tank top, with a more generous neckline than she was used to, tucked into a plain red skirt did the trick.

“Forehead, Shikamaru!” Ino calls, jogging up with her arm looped through Sai’s.

“Here we go,” Shikamaru mumbles, pushing off the wall he’s leaning against.

“Hey, none of that attitude,” She scolds. If she was taking a night off, it was going to be worth it, dammit, “We are here to have fun. Even if it kills us,”

“It just might,” he breaths out as Ino bounds up to them.

“You actually showed up. I honestly didn’t think you would,” Ino says with an obnoxious laugh. She eyes Ino’s crop top and short purple skirt and suddenly feels like her neckline isn’t so racy after all. Sai’s outfit is just as bad, also in a black crop top with low riding pants.

“Why am I the only one not wearing a crop top?” Sakura says pulling at the bottom half of her shirt.

“Hey,” Shikamaru says sharply, gesturing to his shirt, “This is not a crop top.”

“Might has well be,” She jokes, poking his abs through a hole in the mesh.

“Stop that,” he complains, grabbing onto her hand.

“This is going to be so fun!” Ino says, looping her arm through Sakura’s and dragging them inside. Shikamaru doesn’t let go of her hand until Ino pushes him and Sai into the line for tickets.

“Why can’t you just get your own stuff, Ino?” Shikamaru grumbles. “What a drag.”

“You’d know why if you ever bothered to go on dates, Shikamaru.” She answers, sticking her tongue out at him. He flushes pink and glances shyly at Sakura.

“Beautiful is right. Traditionally men are the ones to pay for date activities,” Sai says, no doubt trying to be helpful.

“She’s totally taking advantage of you, man,” Shikamaru says, shaking his head and turning to walk up to the counter.

“I don’t understand,” Sai says, following behind him. “A date is still an equal exchange. Don’t men usually receive payment in the form of sexual favors at the end of the night?”

Sakura hears Shikamaru let out a strangled groan. He grabs Sai by the back of the head and starts whispering something urgently to him.

She can’t help but laugh at Shikamaru’s reaction.

“Isn’t he the cutest?” Ino gushes. “He’s like a lost little puppy.”

“He’s something.” Is all Sakura can think to answer.

Ino’s eyes turn mischievous and swing to Sakura. “So you got Shikamaru to come. Who was right again?”

Of course, Ino wanted to get in her I-told-you-so about it being relatively easy to get Shikamaru to come.

She tries to make it sound more trouble than it was. “Yeah, well you don’t know what I had to promise to get him to come here, Ino-pig.”

“Oh my, Forehead!” Ino lets out a scandalized giggle. Sakura’s face heats, realizing Ino took it sexually. “On the contrary, I want to know every saucy detail.”

“It’s nothing like that!” Sakura says, but Ino is unphased.

“Just as long as it’s nothing naughty in the theater. It’s all fun and games until you’re halfway through a hand job and a worker shines a flashlight on you with your hand down some guy’s pants in front of a theater full of judgy middle-aged women who clearly don’t understand the concept of spontaneous romance.”

“That’s so specific,” Sakura says suspiciously. “Please tell me that didn’t actually happen to you.”

“Yes, well,” Ino waves of her comment, “Learn from my mistakes Sakura. But more importantly, don’t mentally scar me by getting freaky with my teammate while I’m 2 seats down.”

“I should say the same to you!” Sakura says, blushing further, but Ino doesn’t make any promises.

Shikamaru and Sai return. Shikamaru looks more disgruntled than ever.

“That was the most troublesome conversation I’ve ever had.” He grumbles under his breath to her, low enough for Sai and Ino to miss. But as Ino passes, he says, “You owe me two times now for that.”

Sakura flushes. Although Sakura knows he means 2 weekends, Ino doesn’t. She wiggles her eyebrows and Sakura wants to sink into the floor from embarrassment.

He hands her a ticket with ‘Illusion of Silence’ written on the front, and she asks, “What are we seeing? A horror movie?”

“It was that or a sappy romcom. Just remember I chose the lesser of two evils.” He says and takes her hand again, leading her to the theater. It feels a little strange to be holding hands, but she doesn’t say anything. The trailers haven’t started yet, so they have no trouble finding their seats. The theater is mostly empty anyway, probably not a good sign for the movie quality.

She sits down between Shikamaru and Sai.

“Sakura, how is what you pass off as sketching going?” Sai asks.

Pass off. She suppresses the urge to smack him across the head. That kind of thing was frowned upon in these types of establishments.

“Terrible. I think Kurenai-sensei gave up on me.”

Kurenai had barely kept from laughing at Sakura when she’d shown her sketch book. It was pitiful, and while there had been a small improvement in Sakura’s visual genjutsu, Kurenai had decided to move on to a different topic. She still had to keep up the activity, but just not as her main focus.

Now they were working on non-visual genjutsu. Sakura found this a lot easier for some reason. Inducing pain, sounds, tastes, smells, all of that was just chemicals moving around the body. She understood those. She’d dealt with those before.

While she’d been extremely glad for the change in topic, she couldn’t manage to look forward to her lessons anymore. It was hard not to look at Kurenai differently after learning about her secret affair with Kakashi. It was a difficult feeling to explain, but every time she remembered it, her chest grew heavy, like something had reached inside her chest and squeezed a fist around her heart. She grits her teeth just thinking about it.

“I told you giving up was the best option,” Sai says sweetly, “No reason to waste your time improving a hopeless skill.”

“Shut up, Sai. A student is only as good as their teacher and you were absolutely no help.” She grumbles.

“Hey, don’t blame Sai because you can only draw stick figures. Some people just aren’t born to be artists like he was,” Ino defends, sending a starry eyed look at Sai and resting a hand to Sai’s arm. Then she pulls him into a conversation about what his ‘artistic genius’ has be working on lately.

“Is it really going that bad?” Shikamaru asks referring to her genjutsu training. His eyebrows are drawn in with concern.

“I don’t know.” She grumbles. She doesn’t want to admit it, but from Kurenai’s reactions, she felt it was going that badly. She wasn’t improving as fast as she should be. It seemed like something on a fundamental level just wasn’t clicking. “I try to do what Kurenai is instructing, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. We are so different that sometimes its hard to understand what she wants from me. Plus, it doesn’t help that genjutsu is so subjective.”

“Why don’t we work on it together next week. It might help to get a fresh perspective.”

“Really? That would be amazing,” She says with a smile.

“Of course.” He takes her hand again, rubbing a thumb across the back.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Shikamaru.” She says, squeezing his hand back.

“Let’s not find out,” he jokes, try to be nonchalant but he’s beaming from the comment.

Sakura lets out a yawn, “Let’s not.”

“You’re not going to fall asleep on me, are you?” He teases.

“No, I’m fine.” Sakura lies. She’d had practice with Team Guy this morning at 6am but had stayed up until 2am doing research. Physically, she was running out of steam fast. As the lights dim, she finds it harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

Shikamaru shakes her awake. Sometime during the opening credits, she fell asleep on his shoulder.

“Oh, sorry,” She says, groggily. Then whispers, “What did I miss?”

“Everything,” he answers with a smirk.

“What?” She hisses, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

He shrugs, “You needed the rest. The point was to relax tonight, right?”

“I guess,” she grumbles.

“The movie sucked anyway,” he says standing.

“That was so scary!” Ino gushes to Sai. “I’m so glad you were here with me, Sai. I felt much safer.”

“It was not really that scary, Beautiful. No reason to be afraid of pictures.” He says confused. Ino huffs.

As they leave, Ino insists on a walk in the park across the street, but within minutes, she’s slipped off with Sai. The suggestive wink tells Sakura everything she needs to know about her plans.

Even just being friends with her, this was uncomfortable. Shikamaru actually was interested at some point. She wondered what he thought of all this.

“How is this not extremely weird for you?” Sakura asks.

“What do you mean?”

“Well didn’t you and Ino date a while back?” She explains and Shikamaru looks at her like she’s grown a second head.

“Tsh, no. Definitely not.”

“Well, you liked her though, right?”

He’s pouting, and reluctantly says, “Years ago, maybe. It wasn’t a big deal though.”

“But you guys kissed.” She counters. That seemed like a pretty big deal to her.

He stiffens and goes bright red, “Can Ino not keep her mouth shut about anything?”

“See, it is weird,” she says. But he doubles down.

“No, it’s not.” He disagrees crossing his arms, “That barely counts.”

But now she’s picturing the worst. A grating feeling rises in her chest at the thought of Shikamaru and Ino kissing and she has a strange compulsion to ask just what counts as barely counting.

“Barely counts how?” She says. She’s not able to look him in the eyes, so she trains her gaze on an ice cream cart across the park.

“I dunno, it just does.” He shrugs.

“Because it wasn’t good?” She offers. She hopes it wasn’t good.

“No, it was good,” He says defensively.

“That’s not what she said…” Sakura says skeptically, peaking at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Whatever,” Shikamaru grumbles. He’s scowling, “I can kiss just fine. She’s just trying to cover up that she’s the one who initiated the whole thing in the first place.”

“She did?” This surprises her and somehow it makes a difference.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Shikamaru states, picking up his pace. She strides right along undeterred.

“Well did you, like, want to kiss her?”

“I guess. Why does it matter?”

“Because!” She can’t seem to put the why into words. It’s just a queasy feeling turning her stomach. Even though it’s not the full truth, she offers the explanation, “You made out with your teammate, that’s a big deal.”

He stops short and turns to fully face her.

“It isn’t a big deal and we didn’t make out, okay.” He clarifies.

“Then what was it?”

“Just a kiss, Sakura”

“Well yeah, but was it a long, passionate kind -,”

“So troublesome,” he grumbles into the sky.

“Or just a quick -,”

She’s cut off by a warm pressure on her lips and her mind goes blank. As soon as she realizes what’s happening, it’s over.

Shikamaru pulls back a few inches, hands still cupping her face and searches her expression for her reaction. He kissed her.

“That’s all it was.” He murmurs, eyes dark and voice low. Her breath catches in her throat, the queasy feeling in her stomach grows magnitudes greater.

“Obviously I’d do things a little differently now,” He murmurs and his eyes flash, daring her to ask just how.

She should say something, but she couldn’t even if she wanted to. Her mind has snagged on the previous moment. The only additional thing she can seem to process is the warmth of his hands on her cheeks and his calming scent of pine and earth. She’s completely rooted in place by the heat in his chocolate brown eyes. It stokes something inside her. Maybe it is curiosity because she wonders what she would feel if just leans forward those few inches.

They bounce between her eyes and her lips, battling between waiting for her reaction and what she can only think to describe as desire. It only takes a few more moments for the latter to win.

He leans forward to capture her lips again, lingering longer this time. Its careful or rather experimental, testing her for a response she can’t seem to give. Again, he pulls back, studying her face. Again, from the moment his lips touched hers, her mind is just wiped blank, unable or unwilling to process it. Whatever he finds in her expression is enough.

His hand slides to the back of her neck and he kisses her again, deeper. Her eyes slide shut without conscious thought. She feels his other hand ghost down her side, stopping at her waist and pulling her closer. Her hands go to his chest to brace herself.

The pressure has him pulling back, checking over her face. He’s looking to see if she’s asked him to stop, she realizes, and a gentle warmth settles in her stomach. This time, his lips brush softly against hers, begging her to return the pressure and its so sweet, so unsure, that she reacts without thinking, relaxing into him. He pulls her closer, tension she hadn’t noticed draining from him and sighs against her mouth.

Finally, her thoughts are coming back to her, returning each slow, tender press of his lips against hers. The queasiness in her stomach settles into a gentle warmth and she relaxes into him. This is nice, she decides. It’s comfortable. Not great, not terrible.

It different than she’s ever felt before. Her heart isn’t beating out of her chest, she’s doesn’t feel butterflies in her stomach and she isn’t so caught up that needing air is secondary to feeling him against her.

Fine. Just fine.

Suddenly she thinks, shouldn’t it be better than just fine? Shouldn’t she be lit up inside, butterflies in her stomach, reluctant to separate even for air? The warmth in her freezes over.

“Stop,” She gasps, pressing against his chest. He steps back, and the distance seems to return more of her mind to her. The ball of ice in her stomach grows colder.

What was she doing? This was Shikamaru. Her closest friend, and she needed him like she needed air. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t get wrapped up in romance again and have everything between them fall apart. Because it would fall apart. That’s what love did to people or at least to her.

“That was a mistake” She finally decides. It was a mistake and they could forget about it and move on like it never happened. But Shikamaru’s face falls. He looks scared, she thinks.

“Don’t say that,” he begs, but she just shakes her head wrapping her arms around herself.

“I can’t do this,” Then looks into his eyes which are breaking in front of her.

“You don’t have feelings for me,” he tries.

But that’s not right. She felt something for him. He was so important to her and she’d be lying if she hadn’t found him attractive, but it didn’t quite feel like love. At least not how she’d loved Sasuke.

Even if it did, she didn’t want that anymore. Love only led to heartbreak and loss and she couldn’t lose him. Shikamaru was her only refuge in her storm of a life and she didn’t know how she’d stay afloat without him.

Words are pouring from her mouth, and she’s not even sure they make sense, but she can’t stop them.

“I-I don’t know how I feel. I just – I can’t lose you and if we do that, eventually we’ll screw everything up and I’ll lose you. I just can’t, Shikamaru. I can’t. I need you.”

Hope shines in his eyes. It’s a rejection, but not for the reason he feared. “You won’t lose me.”

“I will.” She insists. Now she’s the one that’s scared. She torn between needing the comfort of his embrace and wanting to keep him at arm’s length. She settles with taking a step closer and grabbing the opening of his vest. “You’re the most important person in my life. I don’t want anything to change between us.”

How can she explain it to him? How can she make him understand?

“Nothing will,” He whispers, hand coming to her face again. But she can see the gears turning in his head. He’s looking at her like a shogi piece now, something to outmaneuver, outthink to the outcome he wants. Anger flares up in her.

He strokes a thumb against her face, eyes settling again on her mouth.

“Don’t,” She snaps, turning her face from his palm. She needed to leave. They just needed some time apart and he’d realize he was just caught up in the moment or something at they’d put this behind them.

“I can’t. I just need a minute.” She says disengaging from him and striding off.

“Wait, Sakura!” he calls, but she doesn’t. He swears under his breath.

She needed to put some distance between them, she needed to time to think, but she if she left alone, he’d just follow her. Ino and Sai approach then, Ino clinging to Sai’s arm. She doesn’t want to talk with Ino, doesn’t want her judgy questions, so she strides up to her next best option.

“Sai, we’re getting ice cream,” She says, dragging him toward the stand across the part.

“Sounds enjoyable,” He says with a smile, not at all minding the interruption.

Ino on the other hand lets out an annoyed, “Hey!” but doesn’t fight her past that. Sakura and Sai are out of earshot before she has a chance.

Ino crosses her arms, icily looking Shikamaru up and down.

“You are really screwing this up, aren’t you?” Ino says with a smirk.

Shikamaru scoffs going red and snaps, “Like you’re doing any better.”

To which Ino lets out an indignant “Hmph!”

Sakura stops in front of the ice cream cart and gets them both a chocolate cone. Eating her feelings sounded wonderful right now.

“Shall we make some small talk now?” Sai asks with a smile. She groans.

“You don’t ask to make small talk, Sai. You just do it.” She explains, taking a lick of her chocolate ice cream. Its cold and sweet, but in a different way than Shikamaru had tasted.

Shit. Stop. That wasn’t allowed.

“Okay, so what are you doing after this?” He asks and it sounds like a pick-up line he probably read from a book on interacting with females. She rolls her eyes. Still, she’s thankful for the distraction and reminds herself this is still better than Ino.

“I’ll probably go back to the archives tonight and finish reading a few documents” She answers, talking another taste of her ice cream. Sai steps in front of her and she stops short.

“Did you not find the message I hid for you?” He says looking worried.

“What message?” She asks, confused.

“The one on the picture I gave you.” He says with a frown. Right, the picture of his brother. Is he talking about the numbers and symbol he signed in the corner? “You should go straight home tonight, Sakura.”

“Why would I do that?” she asks, growing annoyed that he won’t just get to the point.

“I cannot divulge that information.” He says robotically. She freezes.

“What did you just say?” she asks him to repeat.

“I cannot divulge that information.” He repeats and his eyes look urgent. It’s the phrase he uses when he’s close to triggering his seal. The message was about Danzo.

“Sai, what’s the message? What do you mean?” She grabs in shirt and pulls him to her, but he can’t answer.

“I cannot divulge -,”

“I get it!” She snaps at him. She has to ask it differently and her mind is racing a mile a minute over the possibilities.

“You said I shouldn’t go to the archives, right?” She tries, going back over his words.

“Yes, you should just stay home tonight.” He repeats.

“So, the message has something to do with the archives?”

“I cannot divulge -,” he begins.

“So, I’m right? You can’t tell me because I’m right.” She deduces quickly. “The message is about the archives. Is it a clue? Can I find it in the archives?”

“I cannot divulge that information.” He says, but this time seems to fight against it. “Don’t go there, Hag. You shouldn’t -,”

“Stop calling me Hag!” She bites out, unable to sensor herself, “I don’t care what I should or shouldn’t do. I’m going.” She releases his shirt and starts down the road.

“Wait!” He grabs her arm, “Listen, you shouldn’t -,”

“Was it important? Your message?” She interrupts.

“Yes,” he says, “but -,”

“Then I’m going to find it!” She says pulling her arm from his grasp and shoving her ice cream cone into it instead. She’s determined and sprints down the path. Sai had finally given her a clue about Danzo, and she’s not going to let this piece of information slip away.

“It’s not safe!” he calls, but she’s already disappeared into the night.

Reading this, I feel like this was better...hahaha oh well.

#ask #thanks for the ask!#dwl #done with love

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threewaysdivided · 5 years ago

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Yo hey!!! I just read through your YJ:DW series and I absolutely love it??? So much??? You write absolutely marvelously and have such a wonderful devotion to characterization and everything feels very Real and Natural. Your pacing is most excellent, you really know when things need to be lingered on and when they don’t need much more than a passing mention. And g o d I absolutely adore how you characterize so many characters, but particularly Danny. Like, he’s still the same Danny from the-(1/?)

show, but he’s changed in very particular ways that really match with what he’s been through. He’s very cautious and nervous and frightened after everything that’s happened, afraid to trust, to let people know too much. And that makes sense with everything he’s been through! He’s been on the run for so long, settling in one place definitely chafes at him. More than he feels it should, but it does. And like! He’s so wary and on edge with meeting the Team and the League members. I am def- (2/?)

-initely looking forward to seeing even more of their interactions. And like!!! The team’s reactions!!! Are so well thought out and just fantastic. Like, how Robin is aiming for a mix of normalcy and just a touch of protectiveness. And M’gann is curious and welcoming and doing her best to be Team Mom without being overwhelming. And how Wally is so intensely disbelieving and flippant QND almost abrasive to Phantom. I really wonder how he’s going to change in his approach to Phantom,- (3/?)

-like if he’ll dig his feet in even further to the point of rejecting reality in an attempt to maintain the reality in his own mind, or if he actually will start considering the science behind ghosts possible. I’m so excited to see how that develops. Also, aside, can I just say I loved getting Black Canary’s perspective on things with the last chapter? It revealed a lot more of Danny’s proper abilities and strengths than ya’d necessarily be able to piece together with a younger perspective-(4/?)

-and it just really helps develop the dynamics of everything even more. I’m wondering if you’re going to end up giving Danny enhanced strength or not, and if so to what degree, as an aside, explaining a bit more why he might be pulling his punches. I also wonder if he has any hesitation with fighting living folks who aren’t actively trying to hurt him, seeing as he mostly has experience fighting Ghosts and Hunters. Also also, I’m just so excited to see them all go on a mission!!! (5 or 6/?)

-Aaaah I could keep gushing for a Good While but I’m forgetting how many asks I’ve sent and I don’t want to bother you toooo much, so Imma just finish with you write beautifully and I’m So EXCITED to see where you go with things and like aaaaaaaaah, ya kno!!! (6 or 7/ 6 or 7)

Okay, first things first, you are absolutely not bothering me. You found a piece of free content that I put up and - with no obligation or expectation - sent me six messages detailing how much you liked it, and that’s Delightful. It made my morning. ‘Bothering’ is more than welcome on this blog. Encouraged, even!

We’ve got a lot to cover so let’s get to it:

Danny’s Characterisation

Danny’s character has been a bit of a challenge to balance at times but I’m pretty pleased with how he’s shaping up. There was this trend I noticed back when I started where - even in fics I really like - people had a frustrating tendency to swing him too much in one or the other direction; either turning him into a confident wise-cracking hyper-powerful hyper-skilled Troubled Badass™ who everyone respected even if he was humble about it, or into a Sad™ Broken™ Tormented™ cinnamon roll who just wanted love and who trusted and is trusted by every hero with minimal persuasion, when really he’s somewhere in the middle.

He’s a hero, yes, but he’s also a teenager. He’s experienced and competent, but it’s in the self-taught way that leaves him with rough edges, blindspots and a lack of technical skill. He can be a good, confident leader when the situation calls for it but he’s also someone who reads as fairly socially introverted and canonically has personal self-confidence issues, anxious and depressive traits and really wants to be accepted by his peers. He’s friendly and funny and likeable but lacks social experience in a casual setting and can struggle with expressing his feelings, knowing the right thing to say/ do and being open with people. He’s not just one or the other. He’s both.

I also really wanted to explore the Death and Secrets plot points with more emotional detail. It felt like a lot of the time in stories where he lost his family, Danny would either stall out in a tormented Grief State right until a Power of Love/ Friendship-prompted revival toward the final act, or he’d be sad for 5-10 short chapters then bounce back to his old self and go off with his New Family like it ain’t no thing. With Deathly Weapons I want the characters to have to grow and come together naturally; to earn their healing and show why/how they’d come to like and trust each other, or decide that the other person is worth making the investment.

The Team

It’s kind of funny in hindsight but the Team’s development was a oddly late addition to the planning. Which was fine for Arc I - being very Danny-centric - but then, as I was brainstorming Arc II it kind of hit me that if I was going to call this fic Young Justice: Deathly Weapons I should really try to showcase what I liked so much about the series. And then I realised how much Danny’s experiences (canonical and DW-verse) and Team Phantom paralleled different members of the S1 cast, and how much character exploration potential there was to be had. Arc II is basically just 8 teens looking at each other and going “We’re not so different you and I” in various settings for 20+ chapters.

There’s this nice quote from Stieg Larsson that I think sums up how I see both Danny and the different members of the Team fitting together:

“I’m not going to compete with you. I’m better than you are at what I do. And you’re better than I am at what you do.”

All of them have at least one thing they’re good at, and at least a few weaknesses that other members can cover. Their skills are complementary, their personalities and experiences are complimentary and none of them feel redundant in being there. And with the extra challenges a DW-verse AU opens up, it creates a space where Phantom can slot in without having to displace an existing well-established member.

It also makes revolving perspective a lot of fun as I can tag in whoever’s mindset and perspective best fits the tone and information that needs to be delivered, rather than risking any one character losing their characterisation to their role as de facto narrator.

Despite how he’s acting right now, Wally is actually one of my favourites. Needless to say there’s a lot more going on with our resident speedster than simple garden-variety ecto/paranorma-phobia, but that’ll be explored more in the chapters Flashpoints, Combustion and Equilibrium.

Training and Powers

Bruce and Dinah both make fun writes because they’re adults with more maturity and experience, which makes them great sources of diegetic exposition and perception that the main Team wouldn’t carry as well.

I’ve gotten a few questions about Danny’s powers in that chapter and how close they play to canon, so I should probably clear that up. First thing is that DP’s canon is very wibbly wobbly about Danny’s power set (Is it super-strength letting him lift that or is he touch-transferring flight to make it weigh less? Are those ectoblasts actually fire or was that just an animation flourish? Can he teleport or is he just really fast and invisible? Does him lifting a rake that one time mean he has telekinesis or was it just a quick sight-gag?) so I’ve had to make some calls with grouping and sometimes dropping or altering edge-case powers to create a system that makes sense. The other thing is that Chapter 17 is Danny explaining the things he consciously uses on the job and exploring how they compare to similar DC powers, rather than detailing out every single aspect that makes him different from regular humans. (Kind of like how you wouldn’t bring up your own lung capacity, 20/20 distance vision or excellent patellar reflex unless someone drew your attention to it). The chapter mostly serves to do some character set-up for later and drop some needed exposition so that Danny won’t have to be breaking the flow of future missions to explain very basic facts about his abilities the first time he uses them.

As for pulling his punches, some of it is certainly to do with him being uneasy about fighting breakable living beings when he’s used to ridiculously tough Ghost Beasts, and some of it was specifically due to who he was paired against. But again, that’s something we’ll explore in future chapters.

Pacing and Writing

At this point I can only put this down to lots of planning, drafting and taking inspiration from the styles and structures of some very, very good published authors. Quite a few chapters started out as simple exposition dumps or time skips before I realised that they’d have more value expanded out into full entries of their own. (My drafting process = step 1: write too briefly, step 2: balloon to massively bogged down self-indulgent explorations, step 3: reign it in to something readable).

Books I definitely took stylistic influence from:

1. Steig Larsson’s, Swedish crime-mystery series The Millenium Trilogy. Lisbeth is one of my character references for writing both Batman and Robin.(NOTE: Hard MA+ rating, cw for explicit discussions and depictions of misogyny, homophobia, violence, gendered violence, sexual assault, stalking, drug use and Nazis. Good books but Discretion Advised.)

2. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.General influence/ reference for prose and imagery, especially for the tone of Roads to Safe Places (ch.15).(Beautifully written story about humanity, but set in WWII-era Germany so be advised that Nazism, Nazis, War and Death feature heavily.)

3. Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller ChroniclesGeneral influence/reference for style and prose, YJ:DW Ch. 15′s title is a deliberate call out to the same title in Chapter 18 of KKC Book 1.(Fantasy books with some fantasy violence and a little bit of sex but nothing especially shocking.)

I’m just so excited to see them all go on a mission!!!

Me too! Quick question though:

Just one? Or are all of these okay? 😏

Now that I think about it there’s a weird dearth of story missions outside of the one needed for set-up in most YJxDP stories. Not sure why. Anyway, Deathly Weapons is a beast, we’re going to do at least 10. I gotchu fam.

Aaand I think that’s everything. Thanks for dropping in, feel free to stop by anytime. Hope to see you around! ❤

#young justice: deathly weapons #chapter 17 #In which I meet a wonderful person #strangelady1331 #3WD answers

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xmagicxshopx · 5 years ago

Text

⏳ Chaos ⏳

Genre: Idol Life, Fantasy Adventure, Romance, Comedy Rating: PG-13 Warnings: mild language, Tae’s dad is a jerk Pairing: Taehyung x reader Notes: demigod!bts au but also idol!bts. Single quote marks ‘ ‘ are for thoughts and double “ “ are for talking. Additional Notes: I know a lot of the idols’ activities are not chronologically correct but just go with it. XD

Tagging: @temptaestions because she’s a cutie who requested something fun~

Summary: Kim Taehyung of BTS just wants someone to go with him to the Seoul Fashion Week event. But when everyone else is busy, he’s left with no choice but to hire an escort.

“Sorry, buddy. I’ve got a movie I’m just starting to film. But maybe try Tiffany? She always goes to those. Never misses a year.”

“Ooohhh. Sorry, TaeTae. But I’m actually in America right now on tour. Maybe next year? I’m super bummed I’m missing it, though!”

“Hey, Tae! Ah--- Sorry, my friend, but I just started promotions for my solo. You’ve listened to it, right?”

Call after call, friend after friend, it all had the poor boy coming up short. All Kim Taehyung wanted was for someone to go with him to the Seoul Fashion Week event so he wouldn’t have to go alone. Now.....One would think that living with six other guys and a contact list long enough to circle the globe three times......Surely someone was available?

Namjoon was too busy being Bangtan’s amazing leader. Jin claimed he’d rather watch paint dry. Yoongi was napping and you don’t dare wake Min Yoongi when he’s napping. Hoseok was already treating himself to a spa day.

Jimin would have gone but Jeon “The Brat” Jungkook snatched him up first. They were off doing lord knows what. That of course left the youngest out too which was fine because he had horrible fashion sense anyway. The kid’s closet had to be nothing but t-shirts three sizes too big and baggy pants to go with them. Oh.....and bucket hats.......

Since his six brothers were unavailable, Taehyung resorted to his long list of idol friends. This proved to be futile as he went down the list faster than he expected. Everyone was just so gosh darn busy. Whether it be acting, touring, solo promotions, and even military service! It never ended! However, when he was just about to give up while on the phone with his good friend from VIXX, Hakyeon, it was then that the darker skinned male spoke up.

“Try hiring an escort. You can’t go wrong there.”

“An escort?”

“Yeah! Basically you contact a company who specializes in that kind of stuff. You know, someone to keep you company for an event of your choice. You tell them what you’re looking for and they’ll hook you up with one of their employees.”

The young man sat there at the end of his bed as he thought about it. Sure, Taehyung knew of those types of companies but he had never ever considered using one before. Then again, he never really had a reason to. He had always been surrounded by either Bangtan or his other famous friends. There was never any need for a complete stranger.

“I’ll think about it. Thanks for the idea, hyung. Stay safe out there, okay?”

“Will do, Tae. Good luck with everything! Gotta go. Duty calls.”

Just like that, the young lad was left alone once more. He sat there fiddling with his phone in his hands as he contemplated on whether or not he should seriously consider the idea of hiring an escort. A complete stranger. Granted, Taehyung could be quite the social butterfly, but still. Given his extreme social status, would it be safe? What if he got stuck with some employee who was a crazy fan? There was so much that could go wrong here.

Then again......There was also a lot that could go right. Just like with anything else. He had to weigh the pros and cons and decide from there. Even though he could get stuck with someone crazy, he could also end up making a new friend. Perhaps the person would be pleasant and professional? Not to mention he really really didn’t want to go alone.

“Oh why the hell not? I won’t know till I try, right?”

That was how Taehyung found himself just a few days later standing in front of his full length mirror. He adjusted his tie as he tried to decide if it was the one he actually wanted. Did it go with the rest of his outfit? Did it complement his suit jacket? His hair? Should he go crazy and color it before the event?

While he bustled around making sure he was completely ready, he thought about his escort. Upon calling, he had been 100% up front with the receptionist and explained that he had no idea what he was doing. They simply asked him a few questions and mailed him various forms to fill out and sign and poof, instant companion for the event.

During the small questionnaire, Taehyung was asked if he had a preference of male or female for this event and he spoke up honestly that it didn’t matter. He just wanted polite company that he could gush about fashion with. So it was no surprise to him when he got an email confirmation from the company stating details that his escort was a female in her early 20s.

The plan sounded simple and looked simple on paper. Have a nice meal in a secluded place to help break the ice, go to the event, have a good time, and part ways. But Taehyung was smart enough to know that it wasn’t going to be quite that simple. Again.....So much could go wrong or it could go right. Only time would tell. Speaking of, it was time for him to head out.

“I can do this.”

To try and keep things as secret as possible for as long as possible, the plan was to have a BigHit Ent vehicle take him to the back of the agency building where he’d meet his companion for the day. He’d then hop in to join the escort company’s vehicle where they’d drive to the restaurant of his choosing.

He wasn’t a complete idiot. Taehyung knew the minute he arrived at the carpet with the escort that the media would go crazy. All he asked was for a nice, quiet meal with this stranger beforehand. Being sneaky and secretive like this was the only way he knew how. Sometimes being a idol was very exhausting in the sense of trying to enjoy simple things such as a nice meal with someone.

The closer he got to the agency building, the more anxious and nervous the poor boy was becoming. He figured his companion for the day would be pretty but would they match? Hence why he kept his outfit fairly neutral as far as colors go. He appreciated the company but this was a fashion event and he really didn’t want to arrive looking like a mismatched pair of socks.

This was it. They were here. Time to get out and face the music. Taking a deep breath to help center himself, Taehyung climbed out of his agency vehicle and made his way for the back of the limousine where he carefully opened the door and climbed inside.

“Greetings, Mr. Kim. I am your escort for today.”

Whoa. You were absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the shape of your face, eyes, nose, lips. Despite you sitting down, he could tell you had amazing curves. That was when he finally took in your attire for the event. Thank goodness! It would appear either yourself or the company he hired you from was knowledgeable in the fashion industry. Dare he say, the two of could end up being the best matched guests there today.

“He-Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

You had to admit, when the company you worked for explained that you would be assigned to thee Kim Taehyung of BTS, you were a little surprised. Upon hearing that it was for the Seoul Fashion Week event, you did your research and was glad to see that it paid off. He seemed pretty impressed by the look on his face. You found it cute and endearing.

“It’s my understanding we’ll be eating first, Mr. Kim?”

“Ta-Taehyung is fine. There’s no need for being formal. But, yes, that’s right. I thought we could maybe take that time to smooth over any awkwardness.”

“You mean like right now?”

You smiled at him and couldn’t help how adorable he looked all flustered like that. It was more than obvious that it was his first time using such a thing as an escort company. Not that you were here to judge. The same warm smile still on your face, you decided to help break that ice cube of awkwardness and asked casually,

“Where to, Taehyung?”

That seemed to be enough to snap him back to reality. Blinking a couple times, he pulled himself together and with a soft cough to help clear his dry throat, he looked between you and the driver and said casually,

“Yes. There’s a nice place that’s secluded just down the road a few blocks from here.”

After stating the actual name of the restaurant, the driver instantly knew where the young man was referring to and so began driving from the back parking lot, out onto the streets. Trying not to seem as awkward as initially, Taehyung looked over at you and smiled a bit timidly.

“So how long have you been in the escorting business?”

It wasn’t till the words had already came flying out of his mouth that he considered the question might come across as being insensitive or rude. Just as he was about to backpedal and apologize, you perked up with a smile and replied casually,

“Not that long, actually. I’m in my early 20s and I applied as soon as I was of age. I still believe it was my looks that got me in and not my smarts.”

“Well----If I may say, you really are beautiful. Gorgeous even.”

You thought he was extremely cute with the way the tips of his ears were turning pink. After watching so many interviews and following BTS in the news and your free time, you never would have imagined that this young man would be nervous about anything. But then again......Even Kim Taehyung of BTS was human.

“Thank you, Taehyung. And you look handsome as always.”

The small talk ended sooner than the young man would have liked. Thankfully it wouldn’t be long before they could pick things back up as he was now carefully getting out of the vehicle and jogging around to help you out of the car but you had already beaten him to it; getting out yourself.

“What’s with the pout, Taehyung?”

“I was going to be a gentleman and open the door for you.”

You smiled warmly at him only to nudge your head towards the restaurant entrance; silently telling him to follow you. It was now more obvious than ever that the poor boy was a first time user. Still smiling, you explained casually but with a tone of endearment,

“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble, Mr. Kim. If you know what I mean.”

The gears were turning and you could practically hear them as the greeter out front passed along two menus to another employee and they had the two of you follow to somewhere further back in the restaurant. A place far more secluded to where no prying eyes could watch you.

Upon sitting down, the employee placed down the menus and politely explained who their server would be and was off in a flash. It wasn’t till he finally had a chance to sit down that he looked up at you sheepishly; understanding clearly hitting him now.

“Thanks for.......I never even thought about the media seeing us like that.”

“It’s okay, Taehyung. Your heart was in the right place and that means a lot. In my few years at the company, you’re the most sweetest client I’ve ever had.”

The way you worded things gave him a huge reality check. One that he probably needed. Client. That’s all he was. This wasn’t a date. This wasn’t a date. He had to keep reminding himself of that. It was his own fault, really. Choosing such a nice restaurant like this to have a nice meal before heading out. But.....did he want this to be a date??? Why was he even thinking about that right now? He knew darn well dating wasn’t plausible for him right now.

“I think I’m going to take the salad. It looks good.”

“Hmm. Sounds good. What else are you getting with it? Their steak looks good.”

“Oh I’ll be getting just the salad. Nothing else with it.”

For the first time since meeting, it was now your turn to become sheepish and nervous. Usually there wasn’t an issue. Mostly because your clients didn’t care. You were just a bag of flesh meant to look pretty on their arm for a number of random events. But this man right here......he was different. Kim Taehyung was definitely different.

He stared at you with furrowed eyebrows and a look that was the perfect mixture of worry and confusion. Sure he had said the salad sounded good but that was just him being polite. He had been here plenty of times and he’d seen the salad you were referring to. There was practically nothing to it. There was no way that was going to fill you up for the rest of the day.

“Wh----”

“I’m really not that hungry. So I’m going to eat light.”

As if higher power was against you today, your stomach growled an ungodly sound and you wanted nothing more than to fall through the floor and never see the light of day again. Oh how the tables have turned. There you sat with a huge pout on your face while he looked amused but was trying to remain cool about it.

“Look----It’s the company. I have to retain a strict diet and certain weight if I want to stay employed.”

It was highly unprofessional but the words just came flying out of your mouth before you could think it through. Not to mention Taehyung carried this aura about him that just made it so.......easy. He was so easy to talk to. He held a special warmth in his eyes that practically begged you to open up and spill all your worries and fears.

“Oh gosh---I’m so sorry, Tae. I should have never told you that. I----”

“Screw the company.”

“H-Huh?”

“I said......Screw the company.”

There the two of you sat. You in shock and him giving you a stern but......There was something else in his eyes that you couldn’t quite place. Regardless, you could tell he was serious about his words. Gosh were you blushing??? Kim Taehyung was definitely your most interesting client so far. That’s for sure.

“Eat what you want.”

“But----”

“No buts. Part of my request was that I have a nice meal with good company. You work for me today and I want to see you eating whatever you want.”

He had no idea where this sudden boldness was coming from, but he found himself leaning back into his chair with his hands clasped behind his head; cradling his skull and a smug smile on his face. Now this was the Kim Taehyung most people were used to seeing. In a warm but teasing tone, he asked softly,

“You wouldn’t want to disappoint your client now, would you?”

Oh he was good. You had to give him that. What a sly young man he was. Biting your bottom lip and glancing back down at the menu, Taehyung knew he had already won the battle. It was honestly ridiculous, though. What kind of......well.....who was he kidding? It was all about looking the prettiest and thinnest these days. It was sad but the harsh reality all the same.

“The steak does sound pretty delicious.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Good choice.”

With that, drinks were ordered and two steak meals were placed. You sat there in disbelief and it was evident all over your face. There was a split second where the poor boy thought maybe he had sent you into some kind of frozen state of shock. Blinking out of your stupor, you cleared your throat and spoke up softly, almost timidly.

“Thank you.....”

“For what?”

What exactly were you thanking him for? Even you yourself weren’t sure. But as you sat there and thought about it while sipping on your ice water, you cleared your throat once more and replied slowly as if still thinking about it,

“For treating me as a real person and not someone you hired to keep you company.”

The whole atmosphere seemed to soften as your words lingered in the air between you. Never before had you spoke such words during a job. Then again.....there was nothing normal or routine about this particular work order. No. Kim Taehyung made sure of that. Said male sported a soft and warm smile as he spoke just as much,

“That’s because you are a real person.”

The rest of the meal went by fairly well with no more awkward confessions about your job being less than perfect. Although Taehyung did learn that you actually went to school for cosmetology and that you’d one day like to try and get a job as either a hair or makeup stylist. The young man found you interesting and often found himself ignoring his meal just so his full and undivided attention was on you as you spoke.

The ice had definitely been broken and the two of you were on your way to the event. In fact, things were so chill between you two that you had actually started calling him Tae or even TaeTae. It was cute how his ears tried to turn pink every time you said it. Yep. Out of all the work orders how had ever fulfilled, this one was definitely your favorite. You could get used to being Taehyung’s escort.

“Wow......That’s the best meal I’ve had in.......”

“Since you became of age?”

The two of you looked at each other and soft laughter and chuckles filled the vehicle. Nodding, you sat there buckled up but gently patted and rubbed at your stomach. How long had it been since you felt so warm and full before? Gosh you could totally take a nap right here. However, sleeping would have to wait because you still had a job to fulfill.

“So are you into fashion? I hope this won’t be boring for you.”

You lightly waved your hand as if to swat at a fly while shaking your head. Wanting to further explain, you spoke up casually,

“I have specific tastes but I have no doubt that I’ll be able to appreciate the work we’re about to go see. Honestly I’ve always wanted to go to this event but I’ve always had to work.”

Relief internally flooded through the boy’s veins as he listened. Good. Good good. The last thing he wanted was to sit there next to someone who was incredibly bored with something that he found extremely interesting. Dare he say it but......It was almost like you were......perfect for him.

As he expected, the minute he arrived at the outdoor carpeted entrance, cameras were all over him. He wanted to give you a glance but fortunately one of the media employees was practically demanding that the two of you look at each other. Finally given the perfect excuse to check on you and see how you were holding up with his fame, he was surprised to see you doing very well.

Your smile was warm and bright and so.....natural. Was it a genuine smile or one that you reserved for work? If Taehyung was any kind of bold, he’d love to ask you the minute they got a moment alone but nope. Too chicken. Not gonna go there. The media kept asking who you were and how long you had known the idol but you kept things professional and just remained silent. You were good. Really good.

“Wow. Sorry about that. They were crazy out there.”

With soft laughter, you simply shook your head and leaned over to speak so that you could be heard over all the noise.

“You’re Kim Taehyung of BTS, it’s to be expected.”

The event went smoothly. Both of you just as adamant and into it as anyone else. The young man watched your eyes light up with the most beautiful kind of innocence he had ever seen. You were like a child as you watched model after model walk down the runway. Whenever Taehyung would explain a certain piece to you, he could tell you were listening with your full attention; genuinely interested in what he had to say.

Yep. You were perfect for him.

“Wow! That was so much fun, Tae! I had no idea fashion could be so exciting!”

You were giddy and it was one of the most adorable things Taehyung had ever witnessed. It was as if you were literally high on happiness. Your smile was brighter than the night sky as the two of you sat in the limousine driving back to the BigHit agency building. For some reason.....his heart was sinking the closer they got. It was then that he suddenly asked,

“You wanna go somewhere else? I........I’m not ready to......to say goodbye.....”

It was bold. He knew it. You knew it. You both knew it. Yet....You wanted it too. You weren’t ready to say goodbye either. This had been the most enjoyable day of your life in several months. Years even. It didn’t even feel like a job at this point and the young man certainly didn’t feel like a client. No. This.......This felt like a.......like a.......

Date.

And you were here for it. All of it. Shamelessly so. Even if you were playing with fire, it didn’t matter because clearly the young man wanted this too. Smiling widely, your eyes softened and you nodded gently before speaking up in an honest tone,

“I’m not ready either. Where do you wanna go, Tae?”

Call him crazy. Call him insane. But Taehyung knew exactly where he wanted to take you. It was gonna be a long shot but he was practically itching to show you. To show you a part of him that only few other people knew about. A part of him that sometimes.....He wasn’t always so proud of. But still. He wanted you to know.

“It’s something inside the agency building. But you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone, okay?”

Grinning widely and feeling more than adventurous, you held out your pinkie finger and the young idol immediately linked his with yours. It probably seemed silly but he held a lot of respect for the famous pinkie promise.

Before either of you knew it, the vehicle was stopping once again in the back of the agency building and this time you allowed the young man to open the door for you. Giggling like a schoolgirl, you allowed him to help you out and tugged down your dress to help keep it smooth against your skin. You had since then changed out of your expensive heels and into comfortable flats that still matched your dress.

“Come on. I can’t wait to show you. Under the impression that you’ll believe me, of course.”

“I don’t see you having a reason to lie so of course I’ll believe you, TaeTae.”

Oh you say that now but he couldn’t help but remain nervous. Thankfully his palm wasn’t sweaty as he held yours while guiding the two of you to the elevator located in the lobby. Your heart was pounding with excitement and anticipation. However, upon standing in front of the contraption, you watched him turn towards you and asked softly with the utmost sincerity,

“Do you trust me?”

For a slight moment, your mind went straight to the gutter. Despite his seriousness and sincerity, you couldn’t help but immediately picture the two of you making out and even going further in an elevator. But-----That was ridiculous! If he wanted to do that with you, it could have been anywhere far better than an elevator. Mentally shaking your head, you blinked up at him and nodded immediately.

“I trust you, Taehyung.”

His smile was bright and warm as he gave your hand a squeeze. It was meant to be reassuring but honestly you were still trying to get over the fact how.....comfortable, you were with the idea of making out with him. Where was your head? He was your client! Get your act together! Gripping his hand back in return, you watched him press the button and the doors immediately opened.

Walking in, still hand-in-hand, you watched him press a button that would have looked like a normal button.....Had it not looked like a pyramid. Hmm....That was interesting....and oddly familiar. You glanced up at him to see that he looked a bit nervous. As if he were second guessing his decision. But all he said was---

“Hang on tight.”

Still caught off guard, you ended up letting out a soft scream of surprise when the compartment suddenly jerked and started ascending at a much faster speed than a normal elevator should go. Not thinking anything of it, you latched onto the male and he gently encased you in his arms. If you weren’t so disoriented, you would have thoroughly enjoyed the embrace.

And suddenly-----It stopped. It stopped with a soft ding.

The doors opened and sand immediately started to blow into the compartment. There was a nice breeze and a warmth that encased you like a warm, fuzzy blanket on a cold winter’s day as you finally opened your eyes to look behind you. Whoa.

Sand. There was sand everywhere! And pyramids! Beautiful structures withstanding the test of time and all of them tipped with gold. Real, pure gold. The river flowed and the water looked crystal clear against the sun’s beautiful rays. Wow. Wow wow! You could hear people in the distance. Some trying to sell their merchandise while others were just having normal conversations about their day.

You were in Egypt.

“You’re a demigod?!”

“Wait----You believe in demigods???”

“Dude! I’m a demigod too!!”

“What?!”

Okay. Hold the phone. Stop the presses. Everything was happening way too fast and things were escalating quickly. The poor boy looked utterly lost and confused, perhaps even frozen with shock. Meanwhile, you were glowing. Glowing with happiness at this sudden realization. He was perfect for you. He was everything you wanted in a guy. Not only was he fun to hang out with, but he shared a secret same as yours. Well......almost.

“Yeah! I’m the daughter of Aphrodite! You know----The Greek Goddess. She’s my mom!”

Well dang. This was definitely not how the idol saw things going. Granted he wasn’t complaining. Heck, this was going to be way easier than he thought. But the whole idea that he was staring at someone who was just like him.....It was pretty surreal to say the least. Smiling a bit timidly, he spoke up with honesty.

“No wonder you’re so beautiful and pretty. It’s in your genetics.”

Despite having heard similar compliments, you still felt your face growing warm. It was just the way he said it. Or was it......the fact that it was him who said it? Either way, you enjoyed it and ended up smiling timidly. Turning around to face the view, you asked in an almost teasing manner,

“So----Gonna show me around?”

With that, he took your hand once more and this time you boldly laced your fingers together. This was definitely no longer an escort job and was a full blown date. Or at least that’s what you were calling it. Not that you’d tell him that. Thankfully he didn’t make a move to untangle your fingers. So perhaps he liked it too?

“Wow! This place is so cool! Look at all the pretty jewelry!”

“Kook???”

Taehyung had decided to take you through town first. Mostly to help buy him some time. The thing was.......while your Greek mother was something you could be proud of......The poor boy wasn’t exactly.....proud of his Egyptian bloodline. Of all the gods and goddesses that could have been his parent, he had to be the lucky guy who got stuck with the infamous god of chaos. Set. And he was not excited to tell you that.

Thankfully he found another distraction and it came in the form of one Jeon Jungkook.

The younger male turned around upon hearing his name and his doe eyes grew wider; clearly not expecting to see one of his band mates here. Let alone seeing him with someone else. Jogging over to the two of you, he sported a sheepish smile upon seeing you; clearly unsure of how to approach the situation.

“What are you doing here, Kook?”

“I um----Well I um........I’m here to see dad. I want to get my girlfriend a puppy for her birthday and I figured if anyone could help me pick the perfect pup, it’d be him.”

“Your dad is Anubis?!”

Before you could attract anymore attention than you already had, the two boys started to drag you off towards the palace entrance; both looking a bit embarrassed and maybe even a bit mortified. Oops. Well you couldn’t exactly help it. You were in shock. It was two for two now with both Bangtan boys being Egyptian demigods. What were the odds. Once inside the palace foyer, the two males turned to you and nodded with the youngest speaking first.

“Yes. Anubis is my father. But.....Who are you?”

“I’m a friend of Tae’s and also a demigod. My mother is Aphrodite.”

“Ah cool. Well it was nice to meet you. Have fun here in Egypt! I’m gonna track dad down. See you guys later!”

Taehyung stood there in surprise while you politely waved goodbye to the other boy. Why hadn’t you been more honest and explained that you were just a hired escort to keep him company? Furthermore, did you really consider the two of you friends? Why did that thought make his heart flutter? Gah. Too many questions.

“So---Who’s your Egyptian parent? You haven’t mentioned them yet.”

“Well I----”

“Ah! Nephew Kookie! Good to see you!”

Oh lord. Speak of the devil.

The voice came from just down the hall and it was the last voice Taehyung wanted to hear. And poor Kook. Glancing over at you only to see you wearing a confused expression on your face, he offered a sympathetic smile and stated softly,

“We should probably rescue him. Come on.”

Lightly jogging alongside each other, you were now more than grateful for switching into your flats. But your cocktail dress was definitely making you stand out among all the other town folk. Even in the palace. Actually, since when had Taehyung ditched his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt? Wow......he looked really good that way.

Rounding the corner, you were met with a sight that you could only dream about. There stood small-looking Jungkook as not just one, but two Egyptian gods towered over him. It wasn’t that the youngest member of BTS was short. Heck no. He was one of the taller ones. It was just that the two gods were that tall.

There stood in all their sun-kissed glory, was the Egyptian gods Anubis and Set. Anubis, the god of embalming and determining who was worthy of the glorious afterlife. Head of a jackal. And then there was Set. Lord of chaos. Head of an anteater. You knew from your studies that these two gods had an.....interesting history. But it was the words that left the anteater’s mouth that rendered you speechless.

“Well, well, well. First I get a visit from my beloved nephew and now my own son graces me with his presence. To what do I owe this rare occasion?”

“Hello, Set.”

You should have kept your cool. But it was impossible now. Your initial reaction was to look over at the young man next to you. Oh poor Taehyung.....His father was Set? One of the most evil gods in Egyptian history??? Your heart immediately throbbed for him. It was true what they say, you can’t pick your family. Just as you were about to reach out for his hand, the mischievous god asked playfully,

“Are you here to tell me I’m going to be a grandfather? Hmm?”

Well that was a fine start to a father and son conversation. You were now extremely warm and it wasn’t from the sun’s rays. Next to you, Taehyung was on the verge of boiling over. But before either of you could say anything, the other god came to your rescue.....with the help of his godly staff in his hand. A staff made of pure gold with a jackal head as the topper.

“Ouch! What was that for?! It was a legit question!”

However, Anubis paid him no mind and Jungkook had to bit his lower lip to keep from snickering in amusement. While one god was gently rubbing at his head, the other was kneeling with his head bowed as he spoke with a grace that only a god could pull off.

“Daughter of Aphrodite. Allow me to welcome you to the glorious sands of Egypt. And furthermore, I would like to apologize for my......colleague’s inappropriate behavior.”

“Again---It was a legit question for a father to ask his son.”

You wanted to ask the jackal headed male how he knew you were the daughter of Greek decent but chalked it up to probably just being a god thing. Smiling sheepishly and subconsciously sticking closer to Taehyung, you nodded and spoke up a bit more timidly than you would have liked.

“It’s okay. I get it. A father’s curiosity.”

Just as the anteater shouted a thank you, the other three males in the room all said at the same time as if rehearsed,

“You’re being way too nice to him.”

“Oh come on! At least someone here likes me!”

“And now she’s leaving. Goodbye, Set.”

You could tell from the way the poor man’s jaw was clenched that now was not the best time to argue. With a sheepish smile, you gave everyone a wave and spoke timidly but politely,

“It was lovely to meet you all.”

Anubis had since then risen once more and was wrapping a fatherly arm around his son Jungkook who politely waved back at you. Meanwhile, Set just had to get one last jab in as he waved dramatically and shouted after your retreating forms,

“Likewise, daughter-in-law. Let me know if it’s a boy or girl! I love baby showers!”

While you were still a soft giggling mess and a blush to match, Taehyung waited till he was long out of ear shot and groaned with embarrassment. Now down a completely different hallway and even on a different floor of the palace, he pulled you to stand in front of him and you could see just how embarrassed he really was.

“I’m so sorry about him. I was really hoping we could avoid him.”

“TaeTae. It’s okay. He’s your father. The odds of us not running into him were going to be very slim to none.”

You could tell there was something else bothering him and your eyebrows subconsciously knitted together. Letting go of his hand only to gently rub at his upper arms in what you hoped was a soothing fashion, you asked with genuine concern,

“What’s the matter, Tae? Talk to me.”

“It’s just......You don’t think I’m like him, do you? That I’m like......Like my father?”

“What? No! Not at all! You’re nothing like him. What makes you say that?”

Rather than answer you right away, the young man instead decided to take your hand in his once more and started leading you both in a new direction. It was only until he reached a balcony that you realized the sun had settled and stars were starting to pop up in the night sky. Letting go of your hand so that he could lean on the railing, he finally answered your question.

“It’s just......demigods are supposed to harbor traits from their godly parents, right? You for example. You look absolutely gorgeous. And Kook? He has a way with dogs and I know it’s because of his dad. Me? What do I get? I get urges to create chaos. I want to cause trouble.”

He paused for breath before continuing.

“But I don’t want that. I don’t want to cause problems for others. I want to help people. That’s why I enjoy being an idol so much. Because I get to help people with my music. I sing and it soothes people. I don’t want to become a monster like my father.”

It was silent for what felt like minutes when really it was only a couple seconds. For a split moment, Taehyung felt that perhaps he had said too much.

“Oh Tae......”

The moment felt incredibly intimate for just being an escort but you could care less. Acting on pure instincts and emotions, you found yourself wrapping the poor man up in a hug. A hug that he returned immediately. There was something extremely comforting about being in each other’s arms like this. Again, probably too intimate for a client but it didn’t matter to either of you. This was what the both of you wanted. You wanted each other’s company. More than just professionally.

ONE MONTH LATER.....

“Kook----I swear. If you don’t sit still you’re going to end up looking like the bride of Frankenstein.”

“I can’t help it! It tickles!”

It had been one month since your day with Taehyung. You’d never forget how the two of you stood on that balcony in ancient Egypt and he asked you to quit your escorting job so that you could come work as a stylist for BigHit Ent. At first you played it off thinking he was just being silly but nope. He was dead serious.

There was a mutual attraction there and the two of you wanted to get to know each other better. Taehyung voiced his feelings about how he hated seeing you starve yourself just because of a job. Not to mention he had discovered earlier that day during the meal that you wanted to pursue a career in what you went to school for. So it only made sense for you to agree and take on a job at the very company he worked for.

Today your members were Jungkook and Yoongi. Out of the two, the elder was a piece of cake but the youngest always managed to squirm like a worm. Meanwhile, your boyfriend was smirking next to him as he watched you struggle. Catching his side glance, you whined and pouted while saying as you tried to apply more eyeliner,

“You hush over there. Or I’ll make you look ten times worse.”

With a sudden sigh of relief, you waved your hand that still had the brush and said with just as much relief,

“Okay, you’re finished, dog boy. Now go play with Tannie while I work on Yoongi.”

Just like a kid, the doe eyed male hopped out of the chair and started his search for his little distant cousin as he liked to often refer to the pupper as. While you watched for the cat eyed male to take a seat, you carefully leaned on your boyfriend who chuckled softly and rested a loving hand on your cheek.

“Being your guys’ stylist is exhausting. How do you all do this every day?”

“Eh. It’s not that bad really. It became a lot easier once you started working here.”

“You’re so cheesy. Shush it before I shove this eyeliner pencil up your nose.”

“That’s got to be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

The two of you laughed and you itched to kiss him. But then again there were plenty of cameras and not to mention you didn’t want to mess with his makeup. Your coworker and fellow stylist was amazing at what she did and had taught you way more than any class would have. So you could appreciate her hard work and didn’t want to ruin it.

Taehyung couldn’t have been happier. He’d have to ring up Hakyeon and thank him for the suggestion of hiring an escort.

Who would have thought, right?

#taehyung fanfic #bts fanfic #taehyung fanfiction #kim taehyung #bts taehyung #taehyung bts #taehyung scenario #taehyung #bts scenario #bts scenarios #bts fanfiction #demigod!taehyung #idol!taehyung

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seoulscenarios · 6 years ago

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Mark Lee: Homecoming

Genre: superhero au

Member(s): NCT’s Mark Lee

Word count: 1.5k

Summary: just mark lee as your friendly neighbourhood spiderman

Authors note: very much inspired by Tom Holland’s Spiderman whomst i LOVE and ADORE and very much self indulgent

-So, you all know the drill, bitten by a radioactive spider, get superpowers and suddenly you’re saving Queens from weirdos and saving cats for old ladies

-That was Mark Lee’s life, except well, he’s a high school senior with a secret identity

-The fact that he moonlights as a superhero makes him jittery at school when he can hear the kids talking about his latest romps as “spiderman”

-Part of him is really proud of what he’s achieved ever since that damn spider bit his hand about a year ago but also,,, if his older brother Johnny ever found out that he routinely threw himself off buildings (sometimes even for fun) well,,,, Mark doesn’t want to think about it

-So yeah, his makeshift hero getup was shoved under a loose floorboard of his bedroom floor that he swears to Johnny that it’s fine and they don’t need to get a repairman in to fix it

-Sure,, his outfit wasn’t much, just a hoodie with a spider motif sprayed over it and some lycra pants and shorts worn over it but it was practical and comfy and also very easily replaceable bc he could fish old things out of the junk or at charity shops

-But after meeting Mr Stark, he got a super cool and exciting new SpiderSuit and it makes him feel very much like an official Avenger even if Mr Stark says he’s not

-Hiding his bruises and scratches from Johnny was extremely hard, especially when he had to come up with more and more outlandish excuses and he just smiles awkwardly as his brother got the first aid kit to wash out the grit from that ghastly cut on his arm

-Honestly, it was such a hard thing to keep a secret from his brother

-He was extremely close to Johnny, who took care of him and is now his legal guardian after their parents moved away and never got in touch with them again, so keeping such an important secret was the WORST thing for Mark

-He wanted to be so truthful to his brother who had sacrificed his whole life and career to look after Mark but he also enjoyed this other, somewhat glamorous life that he really enjoyed keeping a secret, it was something he didn’t have to share it with Johnny

-And as much as he loved Johnny, he was incredibly overbearing and involved in as many aspects of Mark’s life as he could

-So, he just shut up and let Johnny rant about his day at work or let him fuss over him because that was way easier than trying to convince Johnny that it’s okay for him to be swinging around Queens or fighting Captain America and Black Widow in Germany (Johnny thought he was on a trip to Switzerland with Tony Stark to attend some kind of conference)

-But outside of his “superhero” world, Mark was the most uncool and nerdy kid you could imagine

-He loves physics and maths so much, studying in all of his spare time and making computer programmes and coding in his lunch break instead of going to the school cafeteria

-Thought, if he was being honest, if he actually went to the cafeteria someone would probably trip him up or knock the tray of food out of his hands “accidentally”

-(Not to mention, Johnny would pack him lunch to take with him that he normally he’d munch away at in his classroom, even if it wasn’t the best sandwiches he’d ever eaten)

-He had his enemies, picking on the nerdy, quiet, skinny boy seemed the best thing for the school bullies especially Flash but he was just kind of used to it now,,, besides if Flash ever found out if he was the Spiderman,,,, well,,, he’ll just keep it a secret for now

-But the thing he liked most about school

-You, his best friend ever since you bumped into him, knocking both of your trays out of your hands because you were too busy trying to balance your comic and food tray as you were navigating the cafeteria and you immediately apologised but Mark apologised even more until he saw your comic and got very excited that you read the same comics and since then you had been best friends

-You bonded over comics but you definitely didn’t know that your best friend was the Spiderman whom you ADORED and in actual fact you were a huge fan of the Avengers and absolutely gushed about them to Mark all the time

-Unbeknownst to you, Mark had only just returned from the airport where he made his “debut” in the Avengers thanks to Tony and did in fact kinda know them maybe he wasn’t sure on their actual relationship but he did like Mr Rogers even if he did have to fight him Mark has MAD respect for Mr Rogers

-He just let you gush about your love for the heroes, knowing that you admired him in not just his spidey persona but him in real life too

-It just meant that keeping it a secret from you even worse than from Johnny

-Like the amount of times he nearly accidentally revealed himself to be your favourite superhero was actually so unreal he’s more shocked that you haven’t actually figured it out yet

-But, of course, this is Mark Lee

-The nerdy, bashful, shy superhero with a blabber mouth and easily forgets the details of his normal life when he’s out superhero-ing

-So when he goes out one night, kicking some leftover cronies of the Vulture that still roamed the streets of Queens he swings in to his open bedroom building with a few cuts littering his face

-As he swings in, he rips off his mask and shrugged off his hoodie before trying to open the loose floorboard

-Trying is the keyword here

-Because lo and behold, you were actually stood on the floorboard holding your joint Lego project you’d been working on for weeks (a work in progress Millenium Falcon), mouth wide open as you realise that your best friend is actually the Spiderman

-“Uh… Y/N ? Please don’t drop the Millenium Falcon but uh, hi… I guess you figure it out… I’m Spiderman ?”

-“I hadn’t noticed thanks, wanna prove it?”

-“Um… shouldn’t you be more worried that I revealed my secret identity to you by complete accident?”

-“Shoot a web”

-And he does,,, much to your surprise as he bound your hands to the Lego, accidentally using a bit too much force and breaking some of the pieces off

-But to Mark’s surprise, you’re really not that shocked that he’s crusading as The Spiderman you had been admiring for ages and it really calms his anxiety about this whole situation because if there’s one thing Mr Stark taught him was to keep his identity a secret but knowing that you’re not that bothered and seem more interested in the biology and chemicals that the spider who bit him in the first place and the fact you wanted to meet Thor and Captain America

-With you knowing meant that Mark was way more relaxed and joking around about his nightlife, making everyone around you think that Mark had a badly behaved pet

-And sure, sometimes he rocked up to yours with serious cuts all over his arms and chest and he was so sure that you were going to turn him away and the fact that you kept a spare set of clothes and a first aid kit and cleaned up and made him sleep at yours that night, you soothing him as nightmares took over him

-He would always apologise in the morning and it made your heart break

-“Mark, you’re never a burden to me, if anything… I’m grateful you trust me so much so don’t ever, ever try to hide anything from me… I’m here for you both as Spiderman, but more importantly for you, Mark Lee, a kid from Queens”

-“Thanks Y/N”

-“So when are you introducing me to Thor, it’s been a while and it’s taking a toll on me to keep your secret…”

-“Y/N for the last time I haven’t even MET Thor, so how can I introduce you to him?”

-“FINE, then maybe your precious Mr Stark”

-“That’s more plausible now can we watch The Goonies finally?”

coming up soon will be a bang chan scenario which has been a WIP for ages as i just haven’t had the time to fully invest in it yet :(((

hope you’re all happy and healthy and hydrated! the air quality in korea is super bad at the moment so im trying my best to stay as healthy as i can

love, admin leigh

#nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct imagine #nct mark #nct mark lee #mark lee #nct mark scenarios #nct mark imagines #nct mark imagine #nct u mark #nct 127 mark #mark lee scenarios #mark lee imagines #mark lee imagine #mark lee as your neighbourhood friendly spiderman #youre welcome #i didnt know i needed this until i spoke to gemma about it

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tarotdeckshuffle · 5 years ago

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Hi! I love your headcanons, they are very creative and fun. Every time I read my day it becomes less tiring. If not bothered I would like a story with Ardyn & Reader or Old Noctis & Reader in an AU in which they are pirates (you know, in Pirates of the Caribbean style). Please and thank you.

Hi! I’m so glad you like my writing! That’s all I could ever ask for! ^^

So, I’ve actually been thinking about a Pirate AU since Sleepless Waters. I couldn’t get this image of a pirate Ravus on a swaying ship, mid battle, reaching out for someone (Luna, a merReader, a pirate Reader…idk), all done in the art style of the Pillars of Eternity II cover out of my head. I really imagine the Sleepless Waters’ world where Niflheim is a pirate nation, sort of like the Principi in Pillars, but with a lot more power, and Tenebrae is an island nation. Ravus joins the Niflheim Principi to save at least some of his homeland. But idk…that was pretty tangential to your request lol…

In other news, I think I’ll go with Ardyn for this and sort of tie it into the story I had in my head for the Eos of my mer/pirate/whatever AU. This is only an introduction to what would likely be a hate to love sort of swashbuckling story. I don’t know what I’m doing, so if you like it, please let me know and I’ll continue it!

Word Count: 1400

Heads up: Violence and cursing because…well, they’re pirates.

Taglist: @idiotflowerex, @laststory1013, @sayaoqueen, @jophinabean, @mysme-already

If you like what you read, please consider supporting me on Patreon or buying me a Ko-fi!

Favor of the Seas

Ten years. Ten years and countless lives it had taken you to get where you were today. You had been slitting throats and conning fools to work your way to the top. It took horrible jobs aboard even worse ships and a few close escapes, but you figured it all out.

You had always been a crew member to a Niflheim captain. You could traverse the pirate nation’s small island capital, Gralea, like it was charted on your hand. You used every trick the island had taught you to worm your way onto the crew of the next “up and coming” captain’s ship. You knew that these were the people with the biggest egos and would be the easiest to steal from. After all of those years, you finally obtained your own ship.

You were the captain of a junk you had commandeered from a merchant’s son. Sure, she was meant to go towards the armada of Niflheim, but she still needed a captain. As soon as you had her, you set about refurbishing what had been a vehicle of moderate luxury, to a pirate’s dream. You had her oak decks stained charcoal and her cannons upgraded. Her sails were replaced with fine, crimson silk. Now, she flew bloodied colors and bore the name “Angel’s Favor” as she outpaced every other vessel at sea.

As a captain, you had quickly garnered respect and fear. Your small crew was motley, but experts in every field you needed. Their personalities had gotten them kicked off of other vessels, but together, you made a unique family; albeit, one prone to murder, theft, and mayhem.

Your place among the Niflheim captains was secured, as was everything you had ever wanted. Your distant family was safe under pirate protection with monthly sums supplied to them from your raids. As a captain, you were a recognized member of a disorganized but militarized nation of bloodthirsty scoundrels. All you had to do was occasionally fulfill one mission for the Council and they’d leave you and yours alone.

Ten years of learning and playing this game, ten years of slicing your way to the top, ten years of fetching every head or trinket the Council requested, and now this.

Now, they wanted you to take this idiot aboard.

He was some “advisor” to the head of the Council. A man by some unknown name who had appeared out of a storm on Gralea’s coast. Tavern rumors said that his pockets were lined with ancient treasure and his mere words could end a man’s life.

He had garnered the favor of the Council by somehow knowing exactly when, where, and how strong the next great storms would be, and even told the Council how to navigate through them. No one had believed him, until a ship actually made it! When asked how he knew, the strange man answered that it was because he had created the storms! You thought the whole idea was ridiculous, but somehow, the head of the Council already believed this fool and was planning on using the cover of the storms in a great push against the mainland.

You knew a war was on the horizon, but you hoped to be on the edge of it. Somehow, fate had other ideas.

This strange man had requested a vessel for a “reconnaissance mission.” In fact, he specifically requested the Angel’s Favor. You had wanted to blow into the Council’s chambers like a tempest, hell bent on keeping your ship for yourself…but you knew that was suicide. Your current plan was to throw this idiot overboard as soon as you were out of sight of Gralea. He made it to shore once, perhaps he could do it again.

You stood on the old docks of Gralea as the sun began to peak over the sea. Your drowsy crew silently loaded this voyage’s supplies, being careful to avoid your ice like gaze. You were staring into the darkness of the dingy fort before you, waiting impatiently for your “guest.”

Finally, as the sun was half risen, you saw a dark figure materialize in the shadows of the city. He walked with a swaying stride down the docks, his great coat flowing behind him. As he came closer, you could make out more lavish details about his persona, from an unnecessary amount of layers to his clothing, to the new boots on his feet. Finally, he stopped before you. With a flourish, he removed the battered tricorn from his head and bowed to you.

“A fine marrow to you, my good captain!” He straightened, pulling his hat down on his head.

“Do you have whale shit for a brain? You’re late and you’re taking MY Angel. Don’t use that god’s damned flowery talk on me.” Oh you wanted to kick in this man’s roguish smile, but you were still in Gralea, and that was liable to get you killed.

“I beg your greatest pardon, Captain! I assure you, I’m not here to commandeer anyone’s vessel, I merely hope to…accompany you.” His words made you want to punch him a slight bit less. “After all, I will be needing your expertise on this journey.”

“And where the hell is this journey supposed to be to?” You couldn’t deny the charm of this man, but you had used such tactics as weapons for far too long to fall prey to them.

“Wherever the wind and the stories take us!” This overdramatic man was waving his hands about.

“No.” Your reply caught the man off guard. He choked on his own breath.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I was told we were going to the Sea of Lucis. That’s all I agreed to. Your wind and stories fuckery will have to be aboard another vessel.” You crossed your arms over your chest. There was no way you were letting this fool take you for a years long expedition into nowhere.

“But…Captain!” Finally, this monologuing actor was at a loss for words.

“No.” You repeated. You could see a small bead of sweat on his forehead. Good, you were making him work for this.

The man huffed and pulled himself to his full height. “Then I shall be forced to report your hostility and incompetence to the Council.”

“Be my guest! What do you think a group of pirates will do with a man who runs back crying for his mother to intervene in a squabble?” You were bluffing. You knew there was a chance the Council would come after you for not bowing to their new pet. They would track you down, murder your crew, and take your ship, if they found you.

“They will listen to me!” The man’s voice didn’t waiver. He had a lot of nerve standing up to a pirate captain on the sea.

You leaned in closer to him, whispering in his ear. “Will they?” A double bluff. By the six you hoped he had a worse hand than you.

The man sighed, letting his chest deflate. You rocked back on your heels, a smug grin gracing your face.

“Then it seems we are at an impasse…shall we table this discussion for later?” The stranger raised an eyebrow at you

“Fine. We’ll talk after you do whatever it is you’re doing in the Lucian Sea.” A bell rang on the deck of your ship. “Looks like the important cargo is loaded. You’re next.” You beckoned him aboard with a flourish of your hands.

“Ah, you wound me, dear Captain!”

“Good,” you cooed, smiling at him. “And enough with the pet names. The name’s Captain [Y/N].”

“Ah! A pleasure, Captain! I am Ardyn Izunia, at your service.” He bowed, again, this time taking your hand and kissing it.

You could feel a blush start to burn your cheeks, but hid it the only way you knew how: By snatching your hand away and slapping this dramatic idiot across the face.

He didn’t fall, but he was stunned. “I…deserved that,” he muttered.

“Looks like we’re in agreement about one thing, then. Now move your ass.” Ardyn hurriedly strode up the plank before you. You had to admit, this man had a dark charm to him, but that made him all the more untrustworthy.

With slow steps, you paced the deck of your ship. With excitement and grace, you called out orders, adding a “please” to the end of each. Your crew was smiling and working on hurried feet, bringing the ship to life. Within moments, the Favor took to the seas.

(Well, folks. That’s it. That’s your introduction to this world I’ve been dreaming of. If you liked this and want more, please let me know! Some of my other chapter fics weren’t super popular, so I’m a bit hesitant to start something new if no one wants it.Also, if you want to hear about Pillars of Eternity (I or II) and why I love them and why you should play them, just message me! I’m always happy to gush about my other favorite games!)

#ffxv #ardyn x reader #ardyn izunia #ardyn lucis caelum #pirates #pirate au #fanfiction #pillars of eternity #fanfic #asks

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dcarhcarts · 6 years ago

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This.....is the 1000th post on this blog, and I definitely waited until that could be true to post it, and that’s honestly? Very fitting. Seriously, you guys are a m a z i n g and I have literally never done a milestone before so I can’t tell you what it’s supposed to look like?? But we’ve somehow Miraculously (tm) managed to reach 100 followers and - anyway, this is going to be me very unprofessionally gushing about everyone because....I love you all and you’re all amazing aaaaaa. I’m??? Literally so blessed to have made friends and write with all of you. Y’all with multiple blogs, I’m only tagging once so I don’t spam your feed ok? And - as usual, this is going to get Long, because everything I do gets Long apparently. I tried to do it chronologically but IDK how well it worked oops.

THE LOVES OF MY LIFE, THE SUN IN MY EYES, MY MOON AND STARS

@ccrrupticn / D!!!! you are?? literally the reason I made this blog?? Without you, this thing would n o t mcfreaking exist omg!! You’re such an amazing writer (seriously, you manage so many muses and you give them all such distinct voices??? witchcraft???) and also so ???ridiculously kind! I love gushing to you about our Kids and you’re honestly A Saint (tm) for dealing with all of my blog construction/life related breakdowns, my crazy crossover headcanons and crashing into your inbox rambling about musicals <3 I miss talking to you so hmu whenever you come back if you want!!

@personnages / Lynna!! You’re like an Actual Angel. I think you were the first person!! who talked to me?? And You were So Nice and Welcoming that you literally soothed half of my fears coming into rpc like immediately?? You basically helped me figure out how diminutives work and you’re responsible for me adding at least 3 of my muses and I cannot tell you how much I love you and every time you pop onto my dash/feed/discord/etc, it just makes me happy inside <3 Definitely 100000% will follow you to every blog (if you’ll have me lmao) regardless of fandom!! i’m super excited about all of our ship/friendship roulettes and you’re just an absolute joy to talk to.

@nikolacvnas / LYDIA goodness you are a W O N D E R. Probably the best? Historically based blog I’ve ever encountered, and definitely one of my favorite parts of the Anastasia rpc!! The care and research and attention to detail that goes into your portrayals are a s t o n i s h i n g? Your Tatya is divine, your Maria is So Lovely and I Cry For Joy that you write Dima honestly. I’d been eyeing your blog for a little bit before I made my own - and I was honestly a little scared of you when we started cause you are a GODDESS and I am a potato, but then we talked??? and you’re hilarious and a ridiculously kind person and I love you? And of course, I love your dog (the cutest in the universe).

@mythostold / LESLIE~ Different blog, same story~ Man, I’ve been following you since maybe day two of this blog being active? No matter which fandom you end up in and which muse you write, you have such!! good!!! takes!!! For one, I love reading your meta posts??? Like you’re just so incredibly passionate about your muses?? And your writing style is so good aaaaaaa it’s so atmospheric. And on top of all of that - you’re??? such a sweet and incredible??? person??? And I love talking to you boo <3

@lifeawoke / NAT BBYSWEET <3 <3 <3 I have told the story of how I did a victory dance when you followed me to d e a t h probably but it’s t r u e your writing is amazing and your blog is amazing and y o u are amazing! You are the Natasha to my Sonya, and literally every time you send me a musing I’m like immediate-goofy-grin-heart-eyes???? It’s honestly a crime we don’t have more threads but like you’re an absolute joy to talk to and meme with and I adore you/your portrayal of beautiful bratty Natasha even if she drives my Sonya up the wall <3 You are Definitely the Funny Mutual lololol I crack up so much talking to you <3

@valianceearned / CARP you’re an amazing person/writer and holy h e c k am I impressed by your OCs!! They’re all so well thought out and developed? Your bios are so detailed and so much love and care is put into all of your characters. And your writing is so Lovely and it’s also very aesthetically lovely like holy heck the amount of work you put into both the content and the formatting? I am agog, I am aghast!!

@gearsandlevers / Callie!!!!! YOU ROUND ALL THE CORNERS I STRAIGHTEN THE CURVES!! love your kids so much. Your Violet is a delightfully clever and likeable kid, your Evan might have literally walked off the stage two seconds ago, and you’ve put so much thought into your cinnabon stoner Henry. Your dialogue is amazing and I love our headcanon sessions lobbing ideas back and forth with you!!

@spareisms / HEY MAGGIE GUESS WHAT YOU’RE WORTH MELTING FOR!! You’re like the sweetest person alive??? How are you an Actual Real Life Disney Princess?? Your Anna is so well characterized and multi layered and I love how she an be so flawed but so brave and just how human she is. I’m very excited for your Anne Shirley too!! You’re a great writer (and a super sweet person aaaa) and I love you!!

@gcneralvaganov / Deanna, I have just one question: How? Have we only known each other for like 2 months???? It feels like my dash would literally be incomplete without you?? You play such deeply complex and incredibly flawed muses with such a great depth of respect and humanity. I love all of our AUs (we.....probably have a dozen by now), our long fix-canon tangents, and....look the inevitable conclusion to this whole thing is that we should....basically just write Anastasia tbh??? You’re incredibly funny and kind and talented and I’m so glad I yeeted myself into your IMs that first time 2 months ago! I love you, I love your muses, (Dima and Anya love their Dumb Boyfriend), and I love writing with you!

@ncvaflows / ALEXA YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND YOU. You??? Unlocked Ultimate AU Mode Ro and it’s like I c a n ‘ t stop?? First off, I cannot believe we literally own the same books and like the same barbie movies. How are we not literally the same person?? (Maybe w e ’ r e Anneliese and Erika lmao). Honestly from day 1 you’ve been so welcoming and lovely and I’m so glad we crashed into each other’s IMs yelling at top volume about random ya lit/movies/aus!! I adore literally all of your OCs (is everyone a b s o l u t e l y sure they’re not canon??? hmmmmm a Mystery)???? In the words of Li Shang, “You WRITE GOOD????” Anyway you’re amazing and I love you <3

WHILE IT’S DEFINITELY MY FAULT FOR BEING AN ANXIOUS BEAN WE REALLY NEED TO TALK MORE OFTEN CAUSE I LOVE YOU

@curtainrisen / Rebekah, dude, you’re a wonder. Your muses??? So diverse, and your voices for them? Super on the nose and amazing. I love your Helene and how human she is, and I really gotta toss more of my kids at you (Super excited for Duke!!). You’re real chill to meme with and I love talking/writing with you!!

@heartlosttravelers / Tor!! I love that you stan Raoul de Chagny So Hard ( the pure cinnamon roll boy deserves it honestly) and you’re super cool and great to talk to! All your muses are a m a z i n g and I always love the read when you pop up on my dash!

@damerusse / Marie!! You’re hella chill. Your memes???? 10000000% actually legendary. Meming with you cracks me The Heck Up. Lily is forever the puppy dealer, that is all, thank you, gnight. Ok for real though - your Lily is pretty Legendary too and you really got all that Spark and Fire right down. You’re amazing, and I love stalking your threads on my dash!

@lionhvrted / Fortune, my buddy my pal, we really be Out Here making Jane Austen plots even m o r e rom-com. Like. How did we manage that??? We might be literally magical lmao. We don’t have a ton of stuff going on at the moment but I love our dumb pining kids and I love the justice and humanity you give to your Caroline, and Fitzy loves his (future) wife.

@guvernantka / P R U E I already love our Exasperated Big Sis / Annoying Lil Sis / LITERALLY WHO EVEN ARE YOU YOU SMELLY DUMBASS LIL BRO IN LAW dynamic. You have the Best Sense of Humor (tm) and I’m always catching you when it’s like 12 in the morning here so I’m always cracking up silently in bed trying not to wake my roommies up.

@anastcsie / I LOVE OUR ANGRY SMOL AND DIRTY TOL YOUNG-BUT-OLD MARRIED COUPLE AND THEIR OLDEST DAUGHTER NAMED MARIA ALREADY. I love your Anya and how feisty and fiery she is (Dima, needless to say, loves his wife) and I love how chill (and hilarious!!) you are as a person. We do have a tendency to turn into angst monsters 24/7 but honestly that’s half the fun!!

@asundrop / Polly!!!! ok so I know we haven’t really done anything w/ Raps (yet muahaha) BUT b o y was I hella excited when I found someone willing to yell about CDrama with me??? Thank you for being the Eternally Stoic/Always Annoyed Ancient God to my Tiny Dumb Fox Princess?? I love them and I love you (you’re hella cool) so there!

@moretreasurewithin / KAAAATE goodness it’s only been a couple of days but I’m So Comfortable talking to you already? You’re just honestly really amazingly kind and I love screaming about Anastasia with you. We gotta get more going but I love your Dima and Maria Already (tm) and I love your sense of humor (here’s to torturing Dima with ties!!) and I can’t wait to get to know you better!

@annastrxng / AAAA somehow I managed to chat with you and then?? We never got anything going and it’s definitely mostly my fault cause of that High Anxiety (and also the fact that I got Immediately Busy) but you are literally So Nice and The Most Understanding and super great to talk to!! I hope we get something going in the future!!

@soulcrossed / ROSE we have the same name I keep forgetting this lmao BUT ANYWAY. All your muses?? Amazing. You gotta throw more of them at me. Your Sophie?? Are you Actually Diana Wynn Jones in disguise?? I love our crazy au/headcanon sessions and I love/hate that you’re The Worst Enabler and I’m inevitably going to end up with the other two Hatter sisters on this blog lmao.

I HAVEN’T TALKED TO YOU TON YET BUT HI!!! YOU SEEM CHILL!!

@alonecour / @steeledstark / @professor-of-predators / @sclskinn / @dulcettc / @volaticoux / @frxncaise / @argelfrasterr / @i-wrote-myway / @zharptiitsa / @villainsfall / @anyaromanovarp / @agoodandloyalrussian / @aliquisinter

AND EVERY ONE OF Y’ALL AMAZING PEOPLE OUT THERE I’M ADMIRING SILENTLY FROM AFAR EVEN NOW BECAUSE I CHICKENED OUT OF TAGGING YOU LAST MINUTE CAUSE WHAT IF YOU’RE LIKE “LMAO WHO IS THIS WEIRDO TAGGING ME??” (p.s. this is 100000% permission to slide into my IMs/like a plotting call/etc. I honestly think y’all are hella cool and probably love you already)

#follow forever #( milestone )#( ooc ) ✵ ~ CHANDELIERS AND CAVIAR ~ /#((................you know i made more friends than i thought i would coming into rpc as an anxious smol))#((I LOVE YOU ALL YOU'RE ALL AMAZING))#((thanks for putting up w/ me & my Super Anxious Self))#((ok i'm just gonna post this before i forget and reblog something and miss the 1000th post))

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maevefiction · 6 years ago

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Your Light in the Mist - Chapter 46

A little over an hour later, pleased I’d remembered that Tom and I needed to remove our rings before opening the room door, I was being escorted to the Hokulea Suite by Simon the Loud and Annoying, my hair still dripping wet, dressed in cut off sweat-shorts and my X-files T-shirt. He was gifting me the details of all the fun he’d had last night with Anne, gushing over her wit and demanding that we all head to New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2017 because he needed her to show him her favorite haunts IN PERSON or he’d never forgive himself or me until my stomach rumbled and I felt a rush of saliva in my mouth, wrinkling my nose at the queasiness that followed.

“We need to detour, dude. Bridezilla requires nourishment prior to prettification.”

He huffed, rolling his eyes. “Really? Really? It’s already after one, and…”

I crossed my arms. “And…what? And you want me to dry heave my way through the vows?”

“Ewwww…Maude. So gross.”

“Whatever. Stress plus hunger is not a good combo for me, apparently. Not going to make the same mistake as yesterday. We’ll still have three hours or something, and if that’s not enough, you can just find me a veil somewhere and I’ll wear it all evening long. Problem solved, am I right?”

“Well, since I am, frankly, rather fearful of what will become of me if I dissent, oh yes, right you are.”

“Mmm hmm. And about that whole Mardi Gras business…have you forgotten that you’ll have two screaming, squalling, pooping machines in your midst by then? Sounds like a less than Ideal experience to me, especially the trans-Atlantic flight part.”

His hands flew up to cover his mouth briefly, then extended open, palms out, to either side of his face. “OH MY GOD YOU’RE RIGHT BABIIIEEEESSSSSS…” He inhaled, then exhaled deeply. “So you really don’t think we can just, you know, bring them with us?”

Shrugging, I took him by the arm and began walking toward the lounge. “Truthfully, I have no fucking idea, and though you obviously have vastly more experience in this department than I do, I’m reasonably sure that’s listed under ‘Super Mega Dumbass Scenarios’ in the parenting handbook.”

He stopped short, and when I turned to him the expression on his face was a mixture of jubilation and pure terror. “When Roland was a baby, I was working so much that Lisa handled…well, everything, essentially. Now I’m going to, like, BE LISA, and the question is, CAN I be Lisa? And with double the poop machines?”

I wrapped my arms around him, kissing each cheek in turn. “You don’t need to be anyone but you, Simon. Because you’re amazing, and you know what? If anyone can pull off bringing two infants across the ocean to do Mardi Gras with Anne Rice, it’s you.”

He squeezed me tightly. “Thank you, Nice Maude.”

“You’re welcome. But if we do end up going, you should know that I am absolutely, positively taking a different flight.”

Snorting, he let go of me and took two steps backward, waving. “Au revoir, Nice Maude.”

I was still snickering as we entered the lounge, wherein I voraciously inhaled two waffles laden with raspberry syrup and whipped cream, two scrambled eggs, four pieces of bacon, a toasted everything bagel with butter, half a melon, a tall glass of orange juice and two cups of Kona coffee, which, after trying it the very first time, I knew I never wanted to live without. A giant blech escaped me as I rose from the table, which struck Simon as so hilariously funny that I wound up sitting back down to wait for him to get a grip, and just as he was able to quasi-communicate it happened again, and then we both completely lost our shit. Those moments are some of life’s best, when the most ordinary thing suddenly becomes a source of incapacitating amusement, and when it turns infectious…even better.

It was going on two-thirty when we finally arrived at the Hokulea Suite, and I could hear the faint thumping bass of what I immediately recognized as Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ through the door. Veronica was a huge fan, attending every show she could manage, occasionally discussing her dream to somehow find herself as the Lady’s stylist, even if only for a single day. And in this particular instance, ‘occasionally’ meant every time one of Gaga’s songs came on. I couldn’t see Veronica when we first entered, but I could hear her singing, so as Simon headed one way toward his dressing area I followed the sonic trail and discovered her behind one of the far screens working on Anne’s makeup. The sight of Anne high up in the director’s chair, hair hidden beneath a shower cap, body wrapped in a black plastic cape and her bare feet tapping on the tiny rest made me smile widely. She’d been through so much in her own life, yet here she was, still going, still enjoying, still loving, still…living. I felt a pang of regret that I’d shut her out for so long…despite all our differences and disagreements, she was the closest thing to an actual mother I’d ever had. If it weren’t for her encouragement and support, I might have never started my own business, and if that hadn’t happened, my path and Tom’s might never have crossed. I blinked, noticing that both Anne and Veronica were staring at me. Anne reached out to pat my upper arm.

“Love ya, kiddo. Thanks for letting me be a part of all this…I always prayed you’d find someone who’d lift you up and…”

I interrupted her sentence with an embrace so strong I was afraid I might crush her. “Thank you for that. I did. He does. I love you too.”

She chuckled, and as I pulled back the smirk on her face alerted me to what was coming next. “Maude Gallagher, has my sense of hearing failed me or did you just thank me for praying?’

I pointed my index finger first at her, then at Veronica. “Never speak of this again, either of you.” I paused for dramatic effect. “So, anyway…where would you have me go, fine friend and Chief Beautification Enforcer?”

Veronica snorted. “To your designated private but not really private at all temporary staging area. I’ll be done with this one’s makeup in a few minutes, then I’ll come get to work on you. Everyone else is done…well, not me, but that won’t take long.”

“Because you’re naturally gorgeous.”

She smiled. “Born This Way.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’d quote a meaningful Gaga lyric back at you but the only thing that comes to mind right now is p-p-p-p poker face and that always makes me think of poke HER face and…yeah. I’m gonna walk away now. Bye.”

The director’s chair taunted me, all tall and spindly, begging me to climb in so it could tip itself over and dump my ass out onto the ground. If I were a director, I’d demand something leather and cushy with wheels so my personal assistant could push me around the set. Sighing, I checked the mechanisms responsible for holding it open, making sure they were on the up-and-up before I slipped off my Birkis and clambered aboard. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, though I forced myself to remain as still as possible, just in case. A few minutes later Veronica arrived, Telephone now cranking at an unreasonable volume. I removed my T-shirt so she could cape-drape me, and while she worked on my eyelids I nodded off for a few seconds. The short spell was broken by her sternly warning me that if she had to start the process all over again because I’d been up late doing god knows what she’d make me look like one of the Kardashian sisters and that was the end of Maude’s Naptime Session. After makeup came hair, which was going to be all drawn up in a large bun that rested just above the nape of my neck, enclosed in a silver wire cage that was fastened in place with six large silver bobby pins. I couldn’t actually see anything other than the components as they came together, though, because Veronica insisted that I wait until I was fully dressed before looking at myself in the mirror. I managed to remove myself from the chair without incident after Veronica took off my cape, and then followed her instructions to strip down the rest of the way. We’d discussed underwear previously, deciding that a thong would be best, so I’d put a white silk one on this morning, not giving a single thought to the fact that my ass might bear bruises that were unmistakably the marks left by grabbing hands. I let my shorts fall to the floor, hoping there was nothing to see, but her snort as she looked my way after hanging the cape on its hook caused me to instantaneously abandon said hope.

“Well, well, well…you WERE up late doing god knows what, weren’t you?” She drew closer for a better look, emitted a low whistle, and I could feel my cheeks flush. “Honey, your man has some huge hands on him. Oy, I feel like I should cross myself or something for where my mind went next. Anyway. Let’s hope they don’t show through the fabric.”

“Oh my GOD do you really think…” I craned my neck in order to see her face, saw a wide smirk upon it, and realized that she was totally fucking with me. “Dude. Not cool. NOT. COOL.”

She grinned. “I know. I also know I should be sorry, but I’m not. Take that bra off while I get your gown out of its bag, please and thank you.”

My phone chirped, and I bent down to fish it out of the left front pocket of my shorts. It chirped three more times before I stood up and unlocked it, and for a moment my heart fluttered, wondering if another bout of ugliness awaited me. Thankfully, what I found were four messages from Melanie.

The Big Day is finally here! – Melanie

Everything is in place and just as it should be. Two videos to follow. See you soon! – Melanie

The first was of the ceremony site, white chairs on either side of the purple carpet facing the ocean and the arbor. We didn’t want an arch so we’d chosen a more minimalist, almost Oriental-style construct. It was rectangular, four thick, squared poles forming the bottom, connected at the top by two flush pieces at the sides, two extended beams across the front and the back. All had been painted white, the front and back beams wrapped with alternating purple and green fabric that draped down the sides. Large square glass containers had been fastened to the front poles using three strips of burnished silver sheet metal and filled with purple orchids, lady’s mantle, and flowering comfrey. More purple carpet lined the bottom of the structure, and she’d started filming at the far end and walked up the aisle and, of course, waterworks once again loomed. I closed my eyes, breathed in, then out, then again and again until I calmed down because, makeup. The second video was of the Paddle Room, and it was…perfect. Exactly as I’d specified, right down to the books specifically chosen for each table. Another message came through, and I exited the file to view it.

PS - don’t be concerned if you notice the cake isn’t included. That needs to be a surprise. – Melanie

I typed out a reply, my shaky hands making it extra challenging.

It’s all perfect. Totally perfect. Thank you so much for doing this. Amazing. Surreal. Everything. – Maude

Another chirp.

You are very, very welcome. So happy you’re happy! – Melanie

I put my phone away, bra still in place when Veronica returned. She rolled her eyes at me, and I undid the hooks and tossed it onto the chair. The mini-dress came first, followed by the silver gladiator sandals, then the maxi-skirt. Veronica sighed heavily, smiling.

“Maude, you are…breathtaking.”

My left eyebrow rose. “In a good way, or in a Seinfeld you’ve-got-to-see-the-baaaaaaaby way?”

“Come see for yourself, why don’t you?” She held out her left hand. “You have to close your eyes until we’re there so you get the full effect. I’ll lead you.”

“M’kay.” I reached for her, closing my eyes once I’d established a firm grip, silently hoping that this was indeed a simple walk to the mirror and not an instance of ‘surprise the bride’ because I was in no condition to handle that sort of fuckery.

After navigating what I assumed was the center area of the room Veronica stopped me, let go of my hand and turned me around, speaking only a single word.

“Open.”

I tilted my head downward and let my eyelids slowly lift until I was staring down into my own cleavage. Exhaling, I began to raise my head, higher and higher, and then…there I was. Maude Gallagher on her wedding day in her wedding dress ready for her wedding ceremony and wedding reception. She was me, but…not me. The woman in the mirror appeared to have just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine spread, and I found myself reaching out to touch her because that woman couldn’t be me, wearer of ancient T-shirts who sniffed items of clothing found on the floor to judge by scent if they were acceptable to wear just one more time before washing them. My fingers connected with the surface of the mirror and I gasped.

“It IS me. Holy. Fucking. Shit.” I heard laughter, but I was too busy studying my reflection to acknowledge it. Veronica had dressed me for my dinner at Daniel with Tom, and there had been some serious wow factor then for sure but this…she’d coordinated my eye shadow with the bridesmaid dresses, a gradient from purple to green starting at eyebrow level with a faint overlay of silver. The liner was black, and my lashes were darkened with black mascara, impossibly long and thick, yet somehow still appearing natural. On my lips was a shade of deep maroon-purple, again matching a component of the bridesmaid dresses, thinly lined with a dark green which should have looked awful but…didn’t. It worked, and worked well. Paired with the style dress I’d chosen and the silver-crowned bun, the overall effect made me feel like I could absolutely, positively land a role in the next Star Wars film as Leia’s progeny and that was right off the fucking charts, man. Right. Off. I turned to the woman with limitless talent next to me, shaking my head back and forth slowly.

“Veronica. VERONICA. VER. ON. ICA. You’re like…you’re a fucking SORCERESS. For real. Really. I can’t…I just…thank you. Thank you.”

She grinned, pointing her index finger at me. “You’re very welcome, dear darling Maude. Now don’t fuck it up before we go out there, okay?”

I snorted. “Listen, I’ll do my best, but you know the face probably won’t last through the ceremony and the dress is doomed to be destroyed at cake time, if not before. Better get some pics for your portfolio while you can, my friend.”

“I will. But first I have to make myself presentable.” She turned to Emma, Sarah, Trudy and Anne, all of whom had gathered behind me. “Ladies, please keep the bride out of trouble while I’m gone.” They laughed, nodding, and Veronica disappeared behind one of the screens just as Simon emerged from behind his own. He screeched at the sight of me, hands raised to shoulder height, palms facing me, fingers spread widely.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD LOOK AT YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! MAAAUUUUUUUUUUUDEEEEEEE! SPACE PRINCESSSSSSSSSSS!”

I screeched in return. “I KNOOWWWWWWWWWW! AND LOOK AT YOUUUUUUUU!”

He smirked as he spun in a circle. “I. AM. FABULOUS.”

“YOU ARE! SHOULD WE STOP SHOUTING?”

“PROBABLY!”

He air-kissed my cheek. “Poor Tom. I don’t think he’s prepared for this level of gorgeousis spectacularity.”

The thought that I’d soon be walking down the aisle with Simon at my side, seeing for myself just how prepared Tom was, took its place front and center in my mind, and as I assessed whether or not I’d be able to cope with such a thing, the realization that my father was absent in all of this slammed into me, and hard. My gaze turned toward the floor, and I closed my eyes tightly to shut out everything around me. He’d been gone for so long, and while I thought of him often, it was always briefly, the moment tinged with fondness for a memory, a touch of sadness, and a wish that he’d found peace. This time, it was fury, and a longing so intense it was physically painful. He’d left me alone in this world with a mother who had no love for me whatsoever, and he’d never know me as I was now, the woman I’d become, the things I’d accomplished, and on this day when I was celebrating the love I’d found, he was a corpse in a crypt in New Orleans when he should have been here, giving me away, sharing a father-daughter dance. He’d never know Tom, never know our children…and they’d never know him. I understood the why of what he’d done, but the fact that it, to me, his child, his ONLY child, felt like such a wasteful, selfish act was inescapable. He’d chosen himself over all else, including me, and here I was on my wedding day, with his death on my mind and threatening to override my happiness. Which I was NOT going to permit…too many moments had been stolen from me already. This was MY time now. And my life. And my god, what an amazing, beautiful life it had become. I swallowed, inhaled, exhaled, and then swallowed again, beating the sorrow and rage into submission. I felt hands grasp my forearms and I opened my eyes to find Simon staring at me, his own eyes full of worry, and when I smiled his face changed and he breathed a sigh of relief, his voice soft and low as he spoke.

“Want to talk about it?”

My head shook back and forth slowly. “Ghosts. I’m over it. Thank you.” I twisted my wrists so my hands could clutch his forearms, linking us like a snake eating its own tail. “Thank you for being willing to walk me down the aisle, Simon. It means so much to me, more than words can say. I love you. Like, a whole lot.”

He nodded, acknowledging that he understood, knowing me so well that what I’d been thinking about was perfectly clear to him. “You’re very welcome. I love you too. And bitch, if I cry and get droplet marks all over this very fine suit and ruin your wedding photos, that’s all on YOU.”

We both giggled, and just as I opened my mouth to explain to the women standing around me Melanie walked through the door and announced that we were fifteen minutes from go time.

****************************************

A row of white screens had been set up to one side of the ceremony site in order to block any possible viewing of me prior to my grand entrance. No one had seen the bridesmaid dresses yet either, but apparently no one was concerned about ruining that surprise because they were all allowed to peek around the barrier and comment on how incredibly handsome Tom looked, and also how he was fidgeting more than a kindergartener who needed to use the bathroom but didn’t want to miss story time. As part of his sound system, Sammy had set up a microphone at the far end of the site and outdoor speakers throughout, and I could hear strains of native Hawaiian music, though it was muted by the pounding of my own heart in my ears. Instead of using the traditional walk-in song, I’d decided to go with a version of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ that I’d seen on YouTube…any version moved me to tears, but this one made me sob like a baby. Which, in hindsight, might not have been the wisest choice…but it was so beautiful, and the timing was perfect. It was an orchestral performance in a town square, starting with one lone bass player, with additional groupings being added as the piece progressed. The faces of the crowd were full of enchantment and wonder in the video, experiencing the sound of notes put together by someone long ago in the present and amongst other humans, all feeling…well, just FEELING. That was the point. In the moment, in harmony, so ALIVE. As Melanie signaled for everyone to line up, the Hawaiian music stopped, and in the silence that followed I tried to imprint the moment, the quiet, the before…and then the sound of the bass began to resonate, and it was really, truly go time. The wedding party would have the duration of the instrumental portion to reach their places, and Simon and I would start our walk when the soft chorus began, hopefully reaching Tom and Luke, whom we’d decided should remain at Tom’s side since Simon would be with me, just in time for the pause point before the escalating chorus and finale began. Ken and Anne were first, followed by Ben and Veronica, Chris and Trudy, Guillermo and Sarah, then Hugh and Emma. Simon proffered his right arm for me to hold, and I shifted the bouquet of purple orchids and lady’s mantle to my right hand in order to take his arm with my left. We rounded the corner just as the singing began, and all of our guests rose from their seats as I took my first step forward, then froze in place as I witnessed Tom’s knees buckle at the sight of me, Luke grabbing him by the elbow in an attempt to steady him. Simon tilted his head sideways in order to whisper in my ear.

“Don’t freak out, honey. You can do this. Keep. Moving.”

And I did. I don’t know HOW, but I did. Everything and everyone other than Tom was a blur, our guests, the wedding party lined up, Tom’s chosen people on the left, mine on the right, the judge, all of it…except for my husband, who was already my husband, but not yet my husband as far as anyone else was concerned. There he was, in his black suit and white dress shirt with a purple waistcoat I knew I’d see more of later when he ditched the jacket to dance, his silver pocket square jutting out in a perfect triangular point, black patent shoes practically glowing in the sun. I watched him shake his head and mouth the words ‘oh my god’ over and over before he smiled at me, the tears in his eyes threatening to spill over, followed by a hand across his mouth, then a silent ‘I love you’ and a grin that grew ever wider as I drew nearer. And then there I was, with Simon releasing my arm and Tom taking my hand in his, not even noticing that my bouquet had somehow gone missing when I raised my right hand to wave like a child at my beautiful man and managed to squeak out a single word.

“Hi.”

He waved back, voice cracking as he returned the greeting. “Hi.”

I heard a whooshing sound and briefly thought I was dying, then realized the noise had been everyone sitting back down in their chairs. The judge cleared his throat, and we turned to face him, backs to our guests. Today he was wearing a proper suit, which startled me because my addled brain had been expecting the tuxedo T-shirt. It was dark green linen, with a white shirt and bow-tie, and I wondered if it was a coincidence that he coordinated with our color scheme or if Melanie had requested that he do so. He smiled at us, then began speaking.

“We gather today in this place of sea and sky and sand and sun to join the couple who stand before me in matrimony. That word, it’s a significant word, an important word, but what it represents is most meaningful…two individuals who feel a profound connection between them, both physically and spiritually, a connection from which stems a deep and abiding love so powerful that the two seek to become one. To become… a family, not to which they’re born, but one which they choose to create.” He paused briefly, then continued. “Thomas William Hiddleston and Maude Gallagher, is it your wish to marry each other on this day, June 29th, 2016?”

We nodded, speaking in unison. “Yes.” The urge to say ‘absofuckingloutely’ had been overwhelming, and I was super proud of myself for exercising some self-control.

“Then let us proceed. It is my understanding that you’ve prepared your own vows?” Another nod from both of us. “Please turn and face each other. May I have the rings?”

After panicking for several very long seconds because I had no idea how we were handling that bit for this ceremony, I spotted Luke stepping forward and passing them to the judge, who in turn gave Tom’s to me. I sighed in relief, having hoped that’s how it would play out this time around as well. I reached for Tom’s left hand, which I’d released as we’d turned, and grasped it with my own, pretending to wipe sweat from my brow with my right hand.

“Well thank the universe for small favors…I SO didn’t want to have to try and come up with something after this one had a chance to speak. “ I hooked my right thumb in his direction, noting the soft chuckles that emanated from our friends and family as I met Tom’s gaze. “One year ago, I drove out to Talk Story because I, book nerd that I am, couldn’t resist the prospect of maybe, just maybe, finding that long-sought first edition of The Gunslinger. I didn’t…not that time, anyway…but I did find One Hundred Years of Solitude. Which, looking back, is so over the top ridiculous, because…that’s what the life I’d lived before that day feels like since you appeared in those stacks, trying to go all incognito and using a certain bullwhip-toting archeology professor’s name as your alias. Up until then, to me, you were that incredibly talented actor whose social media accounts I used as an example of what NOT to do in my lectures. But in your presence, seeing you, then and there…gotta be honest, I kinda lost the plot for a few seconds.” A round of laughter from our guests ensued. “Which was, you know, totally unacceptable. No thank you, hard pass, Maude is better off alone. But then you followed me outside, and then you KNELT on the sidewalk in front of me…deep down, I knew I was a goner when I let you have one of my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup peanut butter cookies, but my jadedness persisted. For like, a few hours. And that night, in my hotel room…which is now OUR hotel room…when you tucked me into bed and spent the night…when you stayed…that was that. There you were, the other half of my soul, and finally, I’d been made whole.” I’d managed to not cry, but tears were running freely down his cheeks. “So, Dr. Jones…are you ready for the life-long adventure of being my husband? I don’t have an Ark or a Holy Grail, but I’m pretty good in bed, and I promise to love you with all that I am and all that I’ll ever be.”

He nodded, wiping away tears with his free hand. “I do love a grand adventure…and I’ve never been more ready for something in all my days.”

I turned his left hand over, opened my right one, then slipped the band onto his left ring finger. “Well then, with this ring, I thee wed. Off we go!”

Tom let go of my hand in order to hold his up high, grinning proudly as he moved it slowly back and forth to show off his new accessory to the crowd before turning his attention back to me, taking hold of my left hand, then bringing it to his lips and placing a gentle kiss on my knuckles. The judge placed my ring in Tom’s open right palm, his fingers closing tightly around it as he stared into my eyes, and I knew the vows he’d planned on using had gone right out the window, because he was re-writing them right then, crafting with his heart and soul words that would likely echo my sentiments. Following a slight nod that indicated he was satisfied, he began to speak.

“One year ago, I drove out to Talk Story to pick up a book I hoped would assist me in playing a role. I was in a rush, as Luke had scheduled a meeting I wasn’t expecting. In an attempt to avoid being recognized, which would have slowed me down and made me late for, as I’m sure Luke will confirm, the millionth time, I donned a baseball cap and Hawaiian print shirt as a rather crude disguise. When I walked through the door and saw the staff wearing Loki shirts, I panicked…and then, I saw you. And, like you, I lost the plot. It was as if the heavens had opened up and the sun shone on you and you alone, lighting my way. I followed the path, finding myself standing behind you, thoroughly unable to form words as I watched you choose your books so very carefully. When you spun around I thought you might slap me, but instead, you recognized me, understood my plight, and solved my problem. When you called me Indy…well, how could I NOT follow you outside and beg for your number?” I snorted. “I was completely bent out of shape that I had to leave in order to make that damn meeting, which I had no desire to attend in the first place, because all I wanted to do was be near you, to talk to you, to get to know you. The entire ride back to this side of the island all I thought about was you, and I was telling Luke that this was it, you were THAT woman, MY woman, as we walked into Kauai Pasta and…there you were. You were the person Luke had set up the meeting with. Of all the people in this world, it was you. Over the next few hours, I fell in love with you at least a hundred times, each instance pulling me deeper and deeper until we parted company and…I couldn’t bear it, so I turned up at your door practically in the middle of the night with tea and truffles. And later, when I stayed…I knew I never, ever wanted to leave. In seeking out something to help me play a make-believe role I’d already been cast in, through some miraculous alignment within the universe, here I am stepping into the real-world role of a lifetime, the one I was born for…that of being husband to you.” I’d managed to swallow back my sobs, but hot tears were dripping down and off my nose. “So, Ms. Gallagher…are you ready for the life-long adventure of being my wife? I’ve no Sankara stones or crystal skull, but I’ll always have truffles at the ready, and I promise to love you with all that I am and all that I’ll ever be.”

I nodded. “You had me at truffles. Plus, you’re really good in bed. Sign me up and let’s roll, baby.”

He turned my left hand over, opened his right one, then slipped the band onto my left ring finger, absent of my engagement ring, which was currently residing on my right hand. “Well then, with this ring, I thee wed. Off we go!”

We looked to the judge, who had placed both hands in front of his chest, palms together. “By the power vested in me by the state of Hawaii, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

There was no waiting for permission…our lips were locked before he even finished his sentence, and if it weren’t for Simon poking me in the ribs we would have missed our exit cue. Ode to Joy’s divinely loud chorale had begun, and Tom and I started upon our first official walk as husband and wife, our guests all on their feet, applauding, cheering, and whistling as we worked our way to the white screen, where we waited for the rest of the wedding party to join us. When the tempo sped up, they ran towards us, and Tom picked me up by my waist and spun me around…it was such an incredible moment, a happy moment, the kind you want to freeze frame and go back to again and again, one you wouldn’t mind having as your very final thought on this earth. And then, it was over in a flash as I desperately signaled for him to put me down, making my way behind the screen just in time to barf on the impeccably groomed green grass.

Just as it had the day before, my stomach purged itself until it was empty, and afterward I felt perfectly fine. Tom surrendered his pocket square so I could wipe my mouth, and while I dabbed at my lips I noticed no one else was around. He placed a hand on my bare back, smiling softly.

“I shooed them back around the screen. Figured you wouldn’t want an audience.”

“Thank you. That was…bizarre. Have I reached that age where spinning makes you puke? But I wasn’t spinning yesterday, that was stress…so, is EVERYTHING going to make me puke now? Or is it a stomach virus? Because I was really queasy earlier before I ate.” I looked down at my dress, and the mess I’d left on the ground. “Well that’s disgusting. Sheese. But, the dress appears to be unscathed so, commence picture time. Though I’d kinda like to bush my teeth or at least rinse, and I guess I could use some more lipstick…”

“Why don’t we go back to your dressing area so you can freshen up?” His smile was still the same, which struck me as odd, and I felt my mind wander into ‘oh my god is there something really wrong with me and I’m the only one who doesn’t know it’ territory. I nodded, and he kissed my cheek. “I’ll go let everyone know we’ll be back in a bit – they can head in to the Paddle Room with the guests, then come back out when we’re ready to do group shots before our session with the media.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

When he returned from around the screen I could discern from his expression that something was absolutely up, which made me freak out even more. He took my hand and we walked the short distance to the Hokulea suite in silence. After we were inside, he went into the kitchen, grabbed a Coke from the fridge, then sat on the sofa to our left and motioned for me to sit down next to him. I did so, as carefully as possible, suddenly dying of thirst and wanting what was in that can more than anything else I could think of. He popped the top and passed it to me, and I drank three-quarters of it a few long, loud gulps then wiped my lips with the back of my hand.

“This is so COLD and so GOOD. Mmmmm.”

Tom’s hand came to rest on my knee, his eyes first staring downward, then lifting to meet mine. “Maude, I’ve…over the past month or so…I...I’ve observed some…changes…in your behavior, and now, over the past two days, there’s been a physical manifestation…” The world started to dim around me, and I could feel my internal temperature rising as panic washed over me. “I just…I didn’t know how to broach the subject, so I haven’t and I still don’t know but…I think need to ask you a question and…well…have you been…are you…you know…late?”

My brow crinkled as my head tilted to the left. “Late? I don’t…what does that…late with, like, what? Or do you mean slow on the uptake or something, to which I’d respond with a resounding yes but I thought it was all the pressure but do you think I have dementia or a brain tumor or something? It’s okay, just say it…”

“Oh no. No, no, no.” He slid closer to me so our legs were touching. “Your period. Have you been late with your period. I know you’ve been expecting it, and it hasn’t arrived, and when I thought back, I don’t recall you having it for quite some time, so…”

Shaking my head, I put my Coke down on the floor. “By a few days, maybe. But my cycle’s been wacky since I went off the pill. Christ, you scared the SHIT out of me.”

He swallowed, wondering, I imagined, how to proceed because he obviously thought differently. I counted to ten silently, because for some reason I was fast on my way to becoming pissed off, then put my hand over his.

“Tom, I know, I can’t stand waiting for it to happen either, but it’s on my calendar and everything. I’ll go get my phone.” I stood, then walked back to where my shorts were bunched up on the floor and dug the device out of my left front pocket. As I sat back down on the couch, I pulled up my calendar and swiped back to May. “Yep, there it is. May 27th. So yeah, I’m technically late but I went 21 days in March and then 32 in April or something, so…” And then I swiped back to April. And then I swiped back to March, then back to April. Then to May, then back to April. And then, my jaw dropped open and I REALLY started to freak the fuck out. He just sat there, expressionless, while I tried to wrap my head around what I was seeing.

“I…I…I can’t believe this. April. There’s nothing there. No data. Not. There. I think…I think I…now that I’m like, really THINKING about it, it does seem like it’s been a while since I bought pads and I think maybe I put April’s dates on the May grid and that means May was period-less and that means…I’m late. Like late…enough. Wow. WOW. This is CRAZY. Tom. TOM. I thought you were hallucinating or whatever and here I am trying to prove you wrong but you’re like, not wrong, I don’t think. Okay. We can’t be sure until I take a test, right? And I don’t think I can wait until after the reception to know. I need to know. Oh my god. CRAZY. Can I sneak out of here in this outfit and go to the drug store around the corner without anyone recognizing me, do you think?”

He shook his head, the corners of his mouth turning up just slightly. “No, I don’t think that’s possible. Honestly, I don’t know how we’re even going to send Luke or Simon or someone else we’re comfortable discussing this with to purchase a pregnancy test what with the media lurking all over. Even if they’re dressed in casual clothing.”

We were interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by Melanie Hale’s voice, inquiring softly.

“Maude? Tom? Is everything all right?”

Tom and I looked at each other, and I gave him a double thumbs up. She was a local, not as overly-adorned as the rest of us, and the press had no clue who she was yet since we hadn’t mentioned her on social media as part of our effort to keep the wedding details under wraps. And, since she’d not mentioned a blessed thing either, I had complete faith in her ability to keep a secret. I shouted for her to come in, and when she saw us sitting down she placed one hand over her heart and said some seriously magic words.

“If there’s something I can do to help, anything…please, feel free to ask.”

My face scrunched up as I spoke. “Weeellll…now that you’ve mentioned it, there is this one thing…”

****************************************

After hunting down the lipstick shade Veronica had applied earlier and giving myself a fresh coat, I texted Simon and told him we were ready to have the bridesmaids and groomsmen join us back at the ceremony site for photos. Focusing on the task at hand was nearly impossible, my mind preoccupied with images of Melanie walking into a store, choosing a pregnancy test, paying for it, driving back to the hotel, then sneaking up to our room, using the key we’d given her to enter, and leaving it behind along with what she’d purchased as we’d planned. I attempted to estimate how many more shots the photographer would likely require before this session was declared complete and we were permitted to move on to the next one, all the while attempting to portray myself as a woman who’d just wed the love of her life, which I was…but now I was ALSO a woman who might be carrying his child, and trying to disguise the fact that the anticipation of confirming such a thing was driving me insane turned out to be a wickedly difficult challenge. Finally, it was over, and Tom and I headed to the same room the press conference had been held in yesterday to pose for the media outlets, all of whom had complied with our requests. A large backdrop had been positioned at the front of the room, a medium-grey gradient that was typically the first choice whenever someone specified ‘not the blue one’. They’d structured their positioning and rotation on their own, so all Tom and I had to do was smile and shift around to add some variety. One photog yelled ‘dip her!’ and I held my breath during the act, hoping I wouldn’t throw up at such an inopportune time. I didn’t, and even managed to spin around a little in order to make my skirt flare out without any repercussions. Tom had set his phone alarm, and when it went off, we thanked the group for respecting our wishes, then exited via the side door, closed it behind us, and held hands as we walked to the stairwell and up to our room. He released me to slide the keycard, and I followed him inside, then pushed past him to get to the gift bag on the bed. There was a card attached, written in Melanie’s overly-rounded cursive.

“Got you a few different kinds – that’s what I’ve always done. Fingers crossed for you!”

Melanie’s definition of ‘a few’ was six, apparently, because that’s how many there were, along with three plastic shot-glass sized cups. That she’d thought to use a gift bag to bring it all into the hotel was a testament to her thoroughness, and I stopped to seriously consider offering to pay the entirety of their college tuition for her kids, then decided that if Tom and I got and kept her name out there she wouldn’t need any help with that. At all. Tom’s arms slipped around my waist from behind, and I leaned back into him.

“Maude, I hope you won’t be upset with me if…”

“I won’t be. I’ll be disappointed…BEYOND disappointed…but I’m glad you brought it up. I had no clue. None. It might have been another month or two before I noticed, and this way, if I’m not pregnant and something else is going on, we can address it sooner as opposed to later. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway. Let’s do this. I hope I can use those cups to pee in, because the odds of me landing any on the actual sticks are slim to none.”

Four of the tests were supposed to show results in three minutes, the other two in five minutes. And yes, cup dipping was an acceptable substitute for stream-to-stick. Even still, I took off the maxi-skirt and hiked up my dress as far as possible before I went into the bathroom in order to avoid any unpleasantries…as any woman who’s ever endured a urine specimen collection will attest to, at best, you’ll wind up with a little on your hands. At worst, there will be none in the cup when you’re done and you’re back at square one. I was really grateful for that Coke and the length of time that had gone by since I chugged it, because I filled those cups like a fucking champ, handing them one by one to Tom, who placed them ever-so-gently on the counter. I finished my business, washed my hands, and we each dipped three tests, one in each cup, placed them on the other side of the counter in a tidy little row, then went out into the main area to wait. Neither of us spoke as we stood watching the countdown timer on Tom’s phone he’d set for five minutes click off the seconds, and when it reached the two minute marker I reached for his hand, my own shaking so badly I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold on to him. He grabbed, then squeezed as he exhaled heavily.

“Are you ready?”

“HA – no, dude. No I am not. But I think they can give false results if you wait too long so…”

He nodded, and since we couldn’t fit through the door side by side, we closed our eyes until we were both inside the bathroom. His voice echoed off the walls as he spoke.

“All right, open on the count of three, then…one, two…THREE.”

I counted two sets of pink vertical lines, two sets of blue vertical lines, one grey plus sign, and one ‘pregnant’ that I’d later insist blazed in neon purple showing through the little plastic window. Six tests, six positives. I counted once more to be sure, blurting out the very first thing that came to mind.

“Oh my fucking god, Hiddleston. You did it. You knocked me UP.” I turned to take stock of his reaction, but his face wasn’t where it was supposed to be so I tipped my head downward and discovered that he’d sunk to his knees and was white as a sheet. My jaw dropped, and I put my hands on his shoulders. “Babe, are you okay? You don’t look okay. Talk to me.” His head lifted slowly, eyes blinking rapidly as he started at me, his mouth hanging halfway open, still silent. “Tom?”

He reached out and wrapped his arms around my hips, then pulled me close, resting his head on my lower belly. In which I was growing a tiny human. I felt my body go cold, and as I began to shudder Tom rose, shifted the tests to the side, then picked me up and plopped me on the counter top. He placed his hands on the sides of my face, leaning in so his forehead touched mine.

“You’re pregnant.”

I nodded, his head moving with the motion as well. “I’m…pregnant. Pregnant. Is this real? How can this be real? Who finds out they’re pregnant in the middle of their wedding? Seriously. I mean…I’m pregnant. I…I can’t believe it. I really didn’t think it would happen, you know? And it happened and it’s like one miracle on top of another and I just…” I began to sob, full-body, noisy, grateful sobs. Tom leaned back and gently pressed my head to his chest, smoothing my hair, and I could feel his body heaving as he sobbed right along with me. As much as I needed to be as close as possible to him right then, the desire to see him was greater, so I leaned back and grabbed his lapels, still weeping as I spoke. “We’re having a BABY.”

“Yes. Yes we are.” He smiled through his tears and began to sing. “You’re havin’ my baby…what a lovely way…”

I screeched and covered my ears. “NO OH MY GOD NO TOM NO I HATE THAT SONG…”

He laughed, which made me laugh as well…at least until I remembered we had a reception to attend, and pondered if we should keep this news to ourselves, and, if we went that route, precisely how we were going to do such a thing while surrounded by all the people we’d be dying to tell.

#your light in the mist #chapter 46

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cerealmonster15 · 7 years ago

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3, 6, and 8 for the artist ask!!!

3 answered here!

6. tag your favorite artists/inspirations!

hell yes i love an excuse to gush over friends and mutuals and people i admire that i’ve never spoken to outside of leaving tags in their posts, he l l o :

@gdipalomo first of all, loving wonderful friend and extremely talented individual!! her art fascinates me with how much detail goes into every piece, and especially the backgrounds- those are GOALS. i love how everything she makes has depth and looks like it’s had a great amount of time and care put into it all. shes also incredibly supportive towards me about my life and my art and i adore her c’:

im counting writing as art and my pal @kidzbopmallcop is excellent at writing The Fanfics and does a good job with staying close to characterization and making sure each aspect of the story is well thought out and considered when putting it together. VERY COOL and shes a GREAT BUD

@mercuryblacksleg is so talented and lovely and has the best design ideas for characters!!!! he draws the cutest tiny old man sarge and merle,,, his red team art is a+ and also hes a great friend and i love him

@fandomescapades keeps making me CRY every damned time they post things, omfg. such a beautiful art style- i looove how they draw facial expressions and faces in general. their use of color is also just absolutely gorgeous and i want to stare at each art post for like 50 years….

@artsyorangeykay has really cool au ideas and draws them out beautifully!!!! they have a cool art style that reminds me of a cartoony kind of comic book, and they have lovely and well thought out looking character designs for their facecanons of rvb characters, and i love seeing the little comics they make to fit aus or people’s prompts!! their passion for their aus and how excited they get when people are talkin about the mermaid au with them is so refreshing and it’s always nice seeing new art from them.

@happyfunballxd has the CUTEST style of chibis. sometimes i remember their rvb baby au and i just. cry. the only thing cuter than chibis is baby chibis. then i remember their taz babies and i cry even more because THIER DRAWINGS OF BABY ANGO IS THE CUTEST THING YOU’LL EVER LAY EYES ON. i aspire to be that good at drawing cuties one day

@peteor is another bro who’s art style reminds me of cartoony comics and i love it! he draws great facial expressions, especially on babies. have you ever seen his grumpy baby drawings??? if not, youre missin out, bud. theyre seriously the best pudgey pouts and it’s absolutely beautiful

@cyborg-sabi has SUCH a cute art style with like, such soft wonderful features on everyone they draw. they have one of those art styles that feels safe and comforting to look at and makes me feel at home to see?? i cant really explain why, but i really like it

surprise another fic one but @mistevieous has such good writing and explores less popular characters and pairings in their works sometimes, and always inspires me to write more and work harder on what i’m doing when i read their stuff

and speaking of fics, @comefeedtherainn has the power to giveth and also taketh away, holy shit. they write characterization SO WELL it practically feels canon. there’s funny parts, sweet fluffy parts, and absolutely heart wrenching feelings-destruction angst. i still like to go back and reread certain doc/donut and church/donut stuff they’ve done, and every time i’m filled with so many good feelings. the angst hits right where it hurts, tho, so don’t let the fluffier ones fool you: they are powerful with writing fics and you have been Warned.

@amvial is such a wonderful delight of a human and always has such a gorgeous unique art style. i feel like every piece they draw is better than the last and i cri seeing their fun ideas put to picture. they also have a really unique way of working with color that works SO WELL and i want to learn the Secrets bc everything they make is absolutely mesmerizing and fills me with those Good Feelings

@washingtonsthrussy i still want to duel them for changing their url to that, bUT theyre still an excellent artist with a crisp beautiful art style. i love how they draw faces [especially them noses?? i love the noses. so cute] and i always wanna ruffle the hair of whoever they draw bc it looks so soft and Good

@epsilon-washington has SUCH a cute and wonderful art style that is always getting better and that ever increasing skill still AMAZES me !! it’s unique and so pleasing to look at- they have a good strong use of color and draw faces and heads overall really well, like i’m always re looking back at their art bc i cant stop staring at how skilled they are at drawing people’s faces and make everyone look so GOOD!!! i wanna learn that kind of skill ;0

@docdufresne scares me with how fuckin incredible they are at painting that goddamed halo armor and making it look so flawless, and even prettier than it does in the show?? beautiful use of colors and lighting, makin things look shiny and lively. and i LOVE how they draw faces too?? everyone is so cute in the little cartoon-esque doodles, and then the more realistic looking paintings just blow my mind.

@captainkonot HBHGBHBGHBH every time i read their blog title i wanna jam out to rocky horror lmfao. but omg anyway the art!! THE COMICS!!!! THE COMICS MAKE ME SCREAM theyre so fucking funny and good and creative and FUN TO READ i die. especially their rvb art omfg, i love love absolutely everything, the characters are so dynamic and expressive and full of life and personality and love and i ADORE IT!!!!!! looking through their drawings always makes me wanna go draw something and work on my techniques more bc im just so amazed at what they can do and how happy they make other people / me feel with their art. i wanna get to that level where i’m also inspiring people and making people happy like how their stuff makes me feel!! it’s an amazing feeling and i feel like there’s really some thing special with that kind of art! every so often i remember their drawings of caboose trying to hug sarge and felix and i DIE theyre the best things ever. also they make really cool original art here and there that’s always interesting to see!! it’s all very good and fun. go to their blog. experience the magic.

jfjjbjgjb a lot of people that inspire me are mutuals and/or friends lolol but there are also a ton i admire from afar

@papanorth also has like, phenomenal really interesting au snippets!! i’ve been super into that gym teacher wash au bc, as i’ve said, i LOVE au with kiddos bein kiddos. i love their art style, ranging from cute cartoony doodles to like, absolutely gorgeous paintings (do u call it painting if it’s digital? it looks like a painting.. imma call it a painting lol) with like, stunning use of colors and lighting that fills me with all kinds of emotions. im super inspired by their technical skill with how well they can draw people at an extensive range of emotions and have such like,,, Great Detail with facial features and anatomy and all that fun stuff. theyre very creative and filled with so many cool ideas, it’s awesome.

@toastyhat , ,, oh my god how could i almost forget toastyhat???? one of my absolute Favorite artsts like, EVER. p sure i followed them back in the homestuck days and was SO EXCITED when i’d gotten into rvb ~2 years ago to see that they were into that too. they draw for a lot of things i’m not familiar with but i always love seeing it anyway bc holy shit that SKILL is UNREAL. this is another one of the cases of “i love everything about how they draw faces and heads in general and i want to absorb this artwork through my face i cant stop staring at it” kind of scenarios. it’s beautiful and like, top level aspiration art goals, hoo boy. they also have really helpful advice tags and posts that i’ve gone creepin thru a few times and just, i love their blog, you guys.

i’ve been taken with @randomdraggon ‘s art since i got into rvb and found their wonderful donut/lopez art. SO GOOD to see such STELLAR ART for my FAVE RED BOYS and such a rare pair ;w; they have incredibly unique and GORGEOUS facecanons for donut and lopez and many others, and it’s cool seeing their overwatch art too. i’ve seen people using their 3D models for rvb animations, and as someone who’s finally started 3D modeling/animation classes in college, i’ve found that really cool and inspiring to see such neato burrito creations like that. i’m so mesmerized with their cool and creative art style and i dream of being half that creative and skilled one day.

i think @powerfulpomegranate drew a picture of like, a super strechy simmons and squash grif and it was like, the best thing i’d ever seen i laughed so much. they’re yet another person that absolutely astounds me with what a wide range of amazing skill they have with like, cartoony yet beautifully done doodles, to like, incredibley detailed digital paintings. i LOVE the wild facial expressions they can draw sometimes, and there’s also like, this soft sweet gif of animation they did once of tucker in the car with i think wash, caboose, and maybe junior was there? like, drivin late at night with a light flashing by and it was just. it was so gorgeous, yall. every time i stumble upon it i stare at it so long thinking about how every aspect of that was put together and how much time it must’ve taken, even for just a few seconds. it’s so soft and calming and comforting to watch, so Peaceful and beautiful. i love it and i love their art…also im pretty sure theyre the person who’s FC of smith made me think of gordon from thomas the tank engine and i’ve literally never been able to forget that LOL (it’s really good tho) (i love it)

okokok i think i should stop here bc im sure there are like 5000 people i could think of, but i went with the ones i see most often and think about a lot, but i assure yall i know of SO MANY MORE talented people and these are just the first billion of wonderful beautiful super skilled individuals that come to mind.

…anyway. other question.

8. show us at least 2-3 drawings from 1-2 years ago.

…CRIES. CRIIIEEESSSSS oh my god lol. i’m glad my older sketchbooks are at home bc there are some MESSY MESSES in there but heyooo, i can show you the firstish digital drawing i did of donut (like, when i first tried drawing with a tablet) from 2 years ago next month, and then the redraw i did a year later

oct 23, 2015, about a month into me finding rvb

and the alt version, hnk-

[fuckin weeps oh my god] [im so sorry]

then the next year, sept 14 2016 [the one year anniversary of me starting rvb]

hes not great but hes a hell of a lot better lmfao. part of it was finding a sharp pen tool in medibang/firealpaca, but also i just needed to Learn lmfao

and yknow. i was gonna wait a little more before redrawing this but since the hurricane may come and wreck our shit i might as well REDRAW HIM RIGHT NOOWWWW [sept 5, 2017]

i still have ages to go but im GETTING THEEERREE [im gonna make a separate post bc IMPROVEMENT]

lol sorry for such a long reply omfg, but thank u for asking!!

[x]

#HURK BLEGH #Anonymous #asks #LONG POST #SORRY OMG

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