#superstition is like on a musical level so good that i stop knowing what to do with myself | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kindness-ricochets · 3 years ago

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I’ve been seeing a lot of thoughts and hc of autistic wylan lately and you seem to also be a fan of the concept. May I ask why? Exactly? I could definitely kinda see it but wanna hear you thoughts you’re always so eloquent

Hey there anon! Sorry for the delay—I’m guessing you already found an answer to this elsewhere while I was off Tumblr for a bit, but just in case, here are my thoughts. This will be heavily personal, but… well, you can’t very well ask an autistic person about autism and expect neutrality!

Autism is different for everyone and can be difficult to pin down, so while Wylan is arguably autistic, he misses several beats that for me would have made him definitively and undeniably autistic. For example, when the bells start to ring, triggering black protocol—I work in a place with a lot of bells and am frequently caught too close to one and normally press my hands over my ears until it’s over because that sound is like shrapnel raking across my insides. All of them. Not just the ear and brain parts. Wylan doesn’t have that sort of visceral reaction, but that may just mean he doesn’t have the same sensitivities that I do, or to the same level. He also never, that I recall, eats meat—as weird as that might sound, eating meat is incredibly complicated with heightened sensitivities to taste and texture. I’m not sure how old I was when I realized it was strange to get up from the table to spit out my food because it viscerally repulsed me. So it might be that Wylan is autistic and has different experiences than I do. Those are things I would include in a story as major indicators of a character being autistic. This might also mean that his father’s way of raising him taught him to hide unusual reactions and stimming behaviors. It’s not that much of a reach to assume a man who tried to abuse the dyslexia out of his son would take the same approach to autism. (More on autism and abuse later.)

So while I’m going to lay out why I read Wylan as autistic, that’s why I think it’s valid to read him as not being autistic as well. Both are valid.

A final caveat, I am well overdue for a reread of the books, so I likely left something out or could have found better examples. Take this as a few of my reasons for a personal headcanon. Anyone who feels differently, that's fine! We can each read things our own way :)

1 - Hyperfixation: The way Wylan loves music

Most of the Crows’ backgrounds color how they see the world: Kaz’s shrewdness, Matthias’s tactical thinking and superstition, Inej’s faith and Suli wisdom, etc. That’s a sign of good character writing. But very little of Wylan’s upbringing seems to have influenced how he sees the world. It comes closest when he thinks about how his father would scorn his new friends, but we never see that scorn from Wylan.

The way a hyperfixation feels, it’s like you’ve always lived in a close parallel world, never fully been a part of the other one where it seems like everyone else lives, but suddenly there’s this bright shining piece of your soul laced through the other world. It lets you connect, it lets you exist in their realm, and you can’t help but filter everything new through that lens because it’s the brightest, most wonderful thing. (I had been between hyperfixations for a while when I started a new job; six months into that work, I read Crooked Kingdom. One of my coworkers thought I had fallen in love, it was that marked a difference.)

So, combining these: Wylan never really acts like he was part of his father’s world, and indeed is in some ways separate from the other Crows, but he parses everything through music, his hyperfixation. He sets words to music to remember them, like he does with the contract. Even his own anxiety is made sense of through music, when in his first narrated chapter, he sets it to music: what am I doing here what am I doing here…. When he’s overwhelmed, his thoughts are “a jangle of misplayed chords”. The Crows have backgrounds that influence how they react to the world, but Wylan’s hyperfixation is his means of experiencing and understanding the world.

2 - Literal thinking: Wylan responds to exact words

In this post, I went into detail on the line where Wylan suggested waking up men to kill them. Wylan is generally unsupportive of killing people—Oomen, Smeet’s clerk, his father… he advocates not-murder in each of these situations. Accepting his aversion to murder, his suggestion to wake men up and kill them seems like a genuine reaction to Jesper saying he doesn’t want to kill unconscious men. Wylan takes things literally.

This happens the most with Jesper, probably because Jesper talks to Wylan the most. Nina and Matthias don’t really register him past how he might be useful, Inej is usually quite direct, and Kaz is very deliberate when he speaks with Wylan. This really interests me because Kaz tends to vary his speech more than the others do, he adapts more to being around other people. He jokes a little with Jesper, spars with Nina, speaks more openly and more sharply with Inej, and he’s precise with Wylan. Kaz may not know what autism is, but he recognizes what’s effective with Wylan.

Another example is when Wylan is sketching the Ice Court plans and Jesper says it looks like a cake. There are plenty of valid responses here: pointing out that concentric circles look like lots of things, that it’s just a sketch, telling Jesper to stop looking over his shoulder. Instead, Wylan says that the Ice Court is sort of like a cake. That… doesn’t sound like something Wylan would normally say. He’s not addressing the whole situation, he’s addressing the specific words Jesper said.

One of the most heartbreaking examples of this (to me, anyway) is with Marya. Wylan does the same thing with his mother, when she asks if he’s there for her money and says she hasn’t got any, and his response is, “I don’t either.” We understand as readers that what Marya is communicating here is that she is so accustomed to being utterly ignored unless she is being used, and if she told Wylan that no one visited but to take advantage and she assumed he was here for the same reason, he would say it wasn’t the case. But he just responds to the immediate statement.

There are a lot of examples of this.

3 — 0% perception, 100% creativity

Wylan can identify things that don’t make sense or that he doesn’t understand, but at the beginning of the series he can’t make leaps, only ask questions. On the Ferolind, he wonders about the source of water at the Ice Court; though Kaz doesn’t say as much, he was clearly wondering, too, because he eventually figured out the underground river. There’s an interesting parallel here where, in the beginning of Crooked Kingdom, Wylan asks a question about how they’ll break into Smeet’s and Kaz tells him to use his eyes instead of running his mouth—at which point Wylan is able to figure it out. I don’t think this is because he never tried before, though, but because no one ever bothered to teach him. Kaz can be harsh but he gives harsh corrections rather than harsh rejections and Wylan learns from him.

It’s hard to understand the world for people with autism. The world is designed and run by and for people whose minds are fundamentally different from ours, whose thoughts and experiences are unlike ours. Imagine trying to learn English or Spanish or Mandarin or any other spoken language if your first language was olfactory. That’s sort of what it’s like for someone with autism to just get dropped into the world and expected to figure this out.

This can be attributed to Wylan’s upbringing, but I disagree with that because none of the others were brought up in the Barrel, either, and Wylan doesn’t understand trade or politics with any special skill. Kaz wasn’t born in the Barrel, but he managed to go from “stealing is wrong” to “wrong isn’t my concern” real quick; Colm Fahey didn’t raise his son on gambling and firefights; the Ghafas never expected their daughter to be away from the family. Only Nina has relevant training—and even that’s precious little, she left school way too early. The others figured it out; Wylan needed a bit more help. He also seems surprised by the way his father conducts business. Wylan takes things on face value—like the time he’s surprised someone would do something, simply because it’s unlawful. This is something he expresses to a group of gangsters. He’s never been taught the way of any world and these things are not intuitive to him.

But Wylan isn’t stupid.

He doesn’t know how to understand the world, but he does understand how things go together. Given a pointy diamond, a handle, and a screw, he cut through Grisha glass. He carries flashbangs and magic napalm, he recreates military hardware—Wylan understands how to make things interact for a specific result. But to me the most telling thing isn’t just that he puts together chemical pieces, it’s that he figured out Jesper controlled bullets. He saw the pieces and put them together.

Wylan can understand when things don’t make sense, but he can’t make sense of them—yet when he understands things at their basic level, he understands them without preconception, for what they are. This is a very autistic way of thinking about things, it goes back to the literalism. He can’t make the leaps of logic other people can, but he also doesn’t make the assumptions they do—“I’ve never heard of a bullet Grisha, so that’s not a thing” vs “Well Jesper’s an almost impossibly good shot and he controls metal and bullets are metal, so why not?”

4 - Broken brain/body connection

Wylan’s great at chemistry and drawing and playing flute or piano—but he’s something of a disaster other times. This is in particular contrast to the other characters, all of whom are physically adept. Meanwhile it’s a challenge for Wylan to climb a rope ladder and he spends a full paragraph trying to figure out what to do with his hands. It’s easy to say, well, he’s used to a sedentary lifestyle, but at this point he’s not. He’s worked in the tannery for months. He’s just physically awkward.

I have less to say on this point only because it’s about something I don’t fully understand myself. I don’t really understand what it would be like to have a body that just… does things? Like normal stuff? Without tics and stims. No idea. Only that Wylan’s discomfort in and seeming lack of mastery of his own body feels very relatable to me.

5 - Abuse

One of the most familiar things about Wylan is how he has been so thoroughly abused and broken down that he’s afraid to do or say much of anything. Again, this is a place his background can be an obscuring factor. Of course Wylan didn’t think to blow up the walls when the first met the parem-juiced jurda and got trapped, he’s a spoiled rich kid! Except, he also startled when Jesper said his name later. Wylan didn’t hesitate because he was spoiled, he hesitated because he had no confidence.

He also thinks Kaz would laugh at him for playing music at his mother’s grave. Now, personally, I can’t see Kaz laughing at Wylan—being indifferent, thinking it’s pointless sentimentality, shaking his head, maybe commenting sharply that they need to go if they don’t have the time. But not laughing. Kaz is a snarky, sharp-edged jerk sometimes, but he doesn’t go out of his way to criticize, he just lets people know when they inconvenience him.

Wylan has been trained to identify attention as negative by an overbearing abusive father who literally saw him as less favorable than a demon. Now, that may have been hyperbole, but Jan criticized everything he could about Wylan—art, music, emotion—and made clear that he was worthless and competent to nothing. (Jan Van Eck can suck a rotten donkey dick but that’s neither here nor there.)

A lot of people with autism experience levels of bullying that have similar impacts. Or as the kids these days are calling it: we go to school. We go to school where we are weird. Where we look weird and move weird and talk about weird things and there’s a whole little bevy of asswipes to makes sure we know it. I got teased more for playing Pokemon and sitting alone reading than the kid who pissed himself onstage at assembly. (This was before Pokemon was cool. I’m old.) And that is not unusual for autistic kids. It’s also not unusual for this to be compounded by relatives or even parents who may be trying to help but don’t understand and can make things even harder.

So we can’t read social cues and we’re taught at a vicious age that everything that comes naturally to us is wrong. Imagine trying to interact in society with that background. There is no guide and most advice from neurotypical people isn’t actually what they mean. It breaks you down.

Wylan’s anxiety isn’t definitive of autism, but isn’t something that was incredibly familiar as someone whose neurodivergent experiences created a strong level of anxiety.

6 — High Compassion, Low Social Competence

Wylan isn’t very good at making friends. In fact, none of the Crows likes him much in the beginning, and only some of them soften toward him by the end. (Matthias and Nina come to respect his skills as a chemist but neither seems to particularly like him.) But you can see throughout the books that Wylan wants to connect with them and be one of them, he just… isn’t. He’s off-beat. He’s weird. He asks questions and mimics behaviors (trying to be cool and tough like Jesper, saying “mission” like Matthias does, imitating Kaz’s scheming face) but he doesn’t quite get how to adapt.

But he still cares about people. Not just them. Everyone. He cares about the people they leave in the ditch outside the prison wagon, he cares about Hanna Smeet, he cares about Alys. He cares about the people who’ll take a hit from Kaz’s sugar caper.

Wylan’s awkward social skills have undeniable big autism energy. I posit his compassion does as well. This is simply who Wylan is, and that means being someone who cares about everyone. I have nothing to back up that this is related to autism. I can say that it’s like me. (Not to brag.) I can’t turn off the part of my brain that says everyone matters. Individuals can opt out of that compassion, but they have it by default. There’s a certain agony in feeling a pull toward and love for just about everyone and yet an inability to develop meaningful connections with them, and that keen loneliness… it just burns.

Again, it’s not definitive of autism, but it’s very similar to an autistic experience.

I said in the beginning that I didn’t think Wylan certainly had autism and I stand by that, but he is a powerfully honest reflection of many people who do. So he can be understood to have autism, and that’s part of the reason some people have that headcanon.

#six of crows #wylan van eck #autism #actually autistic

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deathonyourtongue · 4 years ago

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Resurrection | 10

Summary: A ragtag team of Spec-Ops operators are brought out of retirement for all the wrong reasons. When the dust settles, only the best will be left standing. Pairing: Pablo Schreiber x OFC, Henry Cavill x OFC (listen, she gets with the whole team, okay? Don’t lie, you would too.) Word Count: 2.6K Warnings: Nothing much really. A/N: The one you’ve all been waiting for! 😈

As the unofficial dad of the team, none of us are surprised when Rick floats the tab not only for dinner, but for the strip club afterwards.

“You gonna give us money for working girls too, pops?” Dom jokes as he shuffles past, collecting the money Rick’s doling out and patting his shoulder gratefully as he does so. It’s the same with the rest of the team, each of us getting enough money for two lap dances if we choose to, although I have a feeling we’ll end up pooling our funds towards the end of the night for a group dance.

We’re good and liquored up by the time we make it through the doors of Prowler, the bass of the music reverberating through our chest as we file into the VIP area, two bottles of champagne there to greet us. Sitting between Max and Jake, it’s not long before I have a glass in my hand, raising it to toast a reunion none of us imagined possible.

“To the walking dead. If you two fuckers ever go off on your own again, I’ll personally drag you back and kill you both. Love you guys.” Rick grins as our glasses clink, all of us nodding our agreement.

Before long, I feel a head slump on my shoulder, and looking down, find Jake, eyes at half mast. The realization that this is the first time he’s probably been able to relax since everything happened is a sobering thought, and in that moment, I want nothing more than to drag both he and Benji back to our safehouse and curl up with them until they both get as much sleep as they deserve. Logically, I know this is the only respite we’ll get until Wallace is in the ground, but it doesn’t stop me from wishing for more.

“You should get up there and show Lil’ Miss Daddy Issues how it’s really done,” Jake grins, giving me a wink to make sure I know he’s kidding.

“As tempting as that is, I feel like my time’s come and gone,” I laugh, shaking my head and earning a raised eyebrow from Max.

“I’m sorry, I thought I heard you disparage yourself, love,” Max comments during a lull between songs, one hand scratching at his short hair before he gently strokes a lock of mine behind my ear.

“It’s the truth. I’m not built the same way I used to be. And I’m definitely not as flexible.” Giving him an appreciative smile, I stroke his cheek in much the same way I had Jake’s, though Max nuzzles into my touch far more.

“Bet Max is dying to find out just how flexible you are.” Jake smirks, earning a light swat from me just as one of the girls comes around, offering herself up for a lap dance.

“If he wants to, it’s his,” I grin at Jake as I hold up my night’s allowance, figuring if I can’t beat ‘em, I may as well join ‘em.

Both Jake and Max’s eyebrows go up as I shift in my seat, making room for the dancer to grind in my lap. As the music thumps through the nearby speakers, the redhead slowly takes off her top, giving all the boys a front row seat.

Discreetly watching their reactions, it’s easy for me to spot the fact that out of all the boys, Max is the only one who seems ill at ease with the situation. It confuses me, because a few weeks prior, he was in the same position I’m in, and was only bothered when I took the girl away in favor of dragging him along on this mission. Although I’ll be the first to admit that his behavior’s changed in the last little while, this feels like another level, even for Max; like a breaking point.

Before I can even determine what to do, Jake flashes a $100 at the dancer and pats his lap, giveing me a kid-in-the-candy-store grin. Shaking my head, I’m about to say something, when I feel a tug on my hand. Looking to my left, I find Max standing and motioning his chin towards the exit, looking for all the world like this is the last place he wants to be.

I shoot a quick look back to the rest of the team, doing my best not to laugh as I find them entranced by three different girls, all of them vying for the attention of men who aren’t over 60 and actually know how to dress. Satisfied that they’re all occupied, I let Max pull me under his arm as we step outside, the comparative silence of London at night one that makes me instinctively shake my head to clear it.

“Where we going?” I smirk, my voice a little sing-songy as Max looks both ways before jaywalking us towards the direction of the safehouse.

“Home,” he smiles, tucking me back in. Although the stroll through the more historic part of town is a nice change of scenery, there’s no missing the fact that both Max and I are keeping our heads on a swivel, both of us keenly aware of everything that’s led us here.

Scanning our thumbs to get into the safehouse, I only manage to get my heels off before I feel Max pull me close, our lips colliding gently.

“Hey,” I murmur once we both pull back for air, my hands cupping his bearded face and forcing his gaze to lock with mine. “Are you sure? Or did I misread and you’re just planning another movie night?” I ask softly, not wanting Max to go any further than he feels comfortable with.

“If yesterday taught me anything, it’s that we don’t often get second chances, and that I may very well have been wasting what could be my only shot. That, and well...I love you, Carmen.”

I must recoil a bit, because a look of disappointment crosses Max’s face.

“Max,” I start, holding onto his face with just a bit more firmness, not wanting him to assume the worst. “In our line of work--”

“I know all about the superstitions and the old wives’ tales, Carmen. I just...After this I’m out, and I hope you are too. I want to enjoy what’s left of our lives, you know? Don’t want to keep looking over my shoulder forever.”

“I was out until this happened, so I understand, but Max..Me? Really?”

The tension leaves his face in lieu of a relieved and joy-filled smile, Max pulling me close and kissing me deeply. I sink into his arms, his mouth moving against mine without hurry as he walks us back towards my room.

I kick the door closed, hearing the woosh of the automatic lock behind us at the same time that Max’s calves hit the bed frame. Smirking, I push him back, enjoying the confusion on his face.

“I’m not exactly Mrs. Robinson, but I just might be trying to seduce you,” I joke, lifting one leg onto the chair across from the bed and slowly pushing down one of the thigh highs I’m wearing while simultaneously putting on some music, hellbent on making his first time as memorable as possible.

I watch Max sit up, his eyes roving over my body as he leans back on his elbows. Never has a man looked at me with more hunger and more love, and I know that tonight will either end quickly, or cause us both to walk into tomorrow’s meeting a little sleep-deprived; I’m hoping for the second option.

Though I have as many questions as I’m sure all the guys do when it comes to Max and his situation, I put them aside, focusing instead on being present and reading his body language for any sign of anxiety. Swaying my hips in time with the music, I come close enough for him to reach, only to pull away just before he can, sticking my tongue out teasingly as I slowly strip for him.

I make sure to face him when I drop my bra, not missing the tent in his slacks or the adoring look in his eyes. Max sits up further when I straddle his thighs, his hand slipping up my back as his lips find my breasts on instinct. I let my eyes close as he takes his fill, grinding against him without shame, learning how his body responds to mine.

Blindly, I push Max’s jacket off his broad shoulders, my fingers finding the buttons on his shirt soon after, a soft inhale escaping me when I feel his teeth gently nip in just the right spot. Raking my hand through his curls, I pull back just enough to admire a body I know he’s worked hard for.

Max uses my distractedness to his advantage, flipping us around so that my back is against the mattress. I let out a whoop of surprise, laughing softly as I watch him practically tear his clothes off, leaving only his black boxer briefs on, the thin fabric leaving little to the imagination. If the bulge is any indication, he’s big, and I’ve got my work cut out for me.

I motion for him to come back to me with both hands, and he obliges with a big grin, kissing his way up my body even as he pulls off what’s left of my clothes, leaving only my g-string intact. Neither of us hesitate as we eachother’s lips once more, Max cupping my breasts while I let my hand slip over his bulge, feeling a tingle go through me when he responds with a shiver and a thrust closer.

Pushing him back so that he’s sitting on his heels, I let my gaze flit between the waist of his briefs and his own blue orbs as I slowly pull down the material. His cock springs out, hard as marble and my eyes go wide, having expected the length, but not the girth that comes with it.

“Suddenly, your call sign makes so much more sense,” I shake my head with a smirk, waiting for Max to tug his briefs the rest of the way off before I take hold of his hips. Eyes meeting his again, I kiss through the thick thatch of hair that leads from his belly button to his base, feeling the jolt of anticipation go through him.

Max cards a hand through my hair as I lick my way up to his tip, a soft sound of enjoyment leaving my lips as I collect the precum drooling from his slit. I can’t help my smile when Max inhales sharply, the reaction making it clear that he’s been honest about never being with anyone.

Holding onto his muscular thigh with one hand, my other gently cups his sac, rolling gently as my lips seal around his shaft. Max’s breathing increases as every lick and suck brings a new feeling he’s never experienced before.

“Oh fuck!” He pants out, gripping my hair a little tighter as I take him all the way down, swallowing around his head before pulling back with a gasp of my own. I can’t help but moan as I lick down his shaft once more, popping his balls in my mouth to further tease him.

I can feel Max get close as his muscles contract, and with one last lick to his tip, I lay back, waiting to see what he’ll do. Max doesn’t hesitate, nearly diving between my legs, eyes wide with need. His enthusiasm earns a giggle from me, one that’s quickly silenced as he kisses over the sheer material of my g-string. Sitting up, I stroke my fingers through his curls, appreciating how good his mouth feels against my most sensitive area.

A soft moan escapes me when Max pulls the thin fabric aside and lets his tongue slip through my folds, the feeling reminding me of our deeper kisses and causing the same weightless sensation he’s so good at making me feel when we’re cuddled in bed. I lay back, putty in his hands as he lifts my legs over his shoulders, taking off my final piece of clothing as he does.

“Darling?” Max’s voice is hoarse but gentle, the question in his tone equal parts uncertain and hopeful.

“Bare, babe. Want to feel nothing but you inside me,” I answer, having already felt the swollen head of his cock brushing against my entrance; it’s one of the most arousing sensations I’ve experienced in a long time.

With a kiss to my calf, Max pushes his hips forward, groaning softly when he slides in with ease. I can’t help but reach up and cup his face, smiling as I experience the moment with him. Knowing how long he’s waited, I don’t take it lightly, honored to be his first.

“Feels so good inside you,” he whispers, eyes still wide, as though any minute he’ll wake from his dream.

Biting my lower lip, I can’t help but roll my hips, grinning ear to ear when my movement elicits a choked noise and a look of utter bliss. The growl Max gives me sobers any laughter, and before I can even open my mouth to squeal, his body is covering mine and his hips are rutting.

My mouth falls open in utter shock as Max cocoons my body in his arms, his lips searing every inch of skin he can find, while his thrusts push me up the bed an inch at a time. I can almost see stars at the crown of Max’s head as he brings me up so that I’m nearly seated on his thighs, his cock going even deeper and making the breath catch in my throat.

His lips find mine for a torrid kiss, Max’s pace picking up as he shifts the angle once more, making me moan loudly as his hips grind into my clit while his cock sweeps my g-spot relentlessly. There’s no doubt that Max’s need is primal, born from years of waiting for this very moment. Our gazes meet and I can’t stop myself from cupping his face, seeing beyond the lust to the depth of his feelings beneath and knowing that after tonight, nothing will be the same.

Max comes with a cry of my name, and I follow suit, gasping and jolting my hips, having never experienced an orgasm as intense as the one he’s given me. By the time he rolls us to our sides, our bodies still connected, tears are streaming down my face.

Everyone’s heard about the elusive orgasm so good it makes you cry, but I never thought it was true; until now.

“What’s wrong, love? Did I hurt you?” Max’s voice holds a razor’s edge of panic, and though I manage to shake my head and smile, the tears won’t stop.

“I j-just...I’ve never...Y-you love me?” I stammer out nonsensically, burying my face in Max’s chest as I feel his arms tighten around me.

“Yes, darling, I love you. I’ve loved you for a very, very long time. I’ve just been too chicken shit to do anything about it until recently. I love you with all my heart and I’m not sure I’ll be able to spend another day without you.”

I look up as Max brushes my hair off my face, finding his gaze filled with the same tenderness, love and devotion that I’ve seen in his blue orbs time and time again over the years. My face finds his chest as the sobs come once more, Max chuckling softly as he holds me close.

#pablo schreiber #henry cavill #pablo schreiber x ofc #henry cavill x ofc #resurrection #deathonyourtongueoriginals

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emerald-amidst-gold · 3 years ago

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For the HC ask game: Fane + 🐈‍⬛?

KITTY! o3o ...If you can't tell, I love kitties. X3 But the question is, does Fane? *waggles eyebrows*

Most animals are wary of Fane. Sixth sense and all that. That doesn't mean Fane doesn't like them though. He doesn't like to interfere with nature and the creatures in it, but the who shtick with Fane is he's a dual being. Mortal body, draconic mind and occasionally, vice versa.

And who else is a dual being? Why, Cole, of course! Have some shenanigans! >:D

Fane ascended the stairs to the battlements that hugged the tavern. He usually took this route to enter the building, the front door always eliciting either deathly silence or drunken cheering. It depended on the day. And today, he wasn't really in the mood for either. No, he wasn't in the mood for anything, not his sister, not Inquisition business, and not even his sky. He just needed...to be alone, but not alone.

He needed Cole. He needed someone who understood what it meant to fight a struggle against your very nature, very existence. And it would seem, as he slipped through Bull's...quarters and through the door that emptied out into the loft that the spirit always occupied, that the thought was mutual.

"Cole?", Fane called, shifting his eyes around in search of the young man. He spotted neither hide nor hair of the compassionate being, but that wasn't unusual. Cole disappeared or just blended in, even in plain sight. "Cole, you around?"

"Yes."

Cole's voice echoed from deeper in, not in his usual corner, but around the railing, closer to the far wall. Fane blinked, letting the door to Bull's room shut with a bang, but the noise below, music and cheers, drowned out the harshness. Not that he cared, honestly. Noise was natural in Skyhold, but most couldn't hear it, the stone sang, the perpetual autumn colored trees chimed.

Fane descended the stairs, floorboards creaking from his weight and he had to stave off a grimace at the thought of his form. No, he wasn't going to spiral. The whole reason he had come seeking Cole was to stop that from happening by...whatever. Talking? Cole rarely said much, but he listened and that's what Fane needed. Solas listened, but he also talked, and while Fane adored and was grateful for those words of wisdom, he couldn't handle them today.

Though, it would appear Cole was choosing to speak a bit today, albeit quietly and...contentedly?

"Cole, what are you--?", Fane went to ask as he rounded the railing's sharp corner, spotting a wide brimmed hat and a crouched down form that was one of the spirit's go-to positions. He halted immediately upon hearing a 'mew'.

Every vigilant eyes darted every further downwards, towards the source of that tiny sound, and they widened when he saw a swishing tail, emerald eyes that were...so like his own, and black, black fur, sleek and shiny. Cole's head was bent, chin resting upon his bent knees, seemingly watching the creature calmly.

"The cooks chased her away.", Cole said, shifting a bit as the cat rubbed against one of his legs. "But not the other ones. It was because of her fur. They didn't like it."

Fane blinked, resting one of his hands on the railing. "Her..fur?", he asked slowly, confused. Why would one cat be chased away and not the others? Weren't they all a threat to scarfing food away? No matter how long he lived, how much he observed, some things were lost on him.

Cole nodded, reaching a finger out so the cat could investigate it. "Bad luck.", he muttered. "Why does a color mean 'bad luck'?"

Those words had light shining into Fane's understanding and it made him let out a sigh. He understood now. The cat Cole was now petting, tentatively, unsure, had been shooed away because it was black. He knew that superstition and yet it had slipped his memory. Typical.

"It doesn't.", Fane said, finally finding his legs again and slowly, slowly made his way over to where Cole was, trying not to spook the tiny feline.

Animals were skittish with him and he didn't blame them, but it still hurt to see fear. Thankfully, this cat seemed..docile, only peering up at him with its tail straight up in the air, the tip flicking curiously. It made Fane smile a bit, but it dissolved as he heard the spirit murmur once more.

"Then, why?", Cole asked, obviously confused. Fane couldn't see his eyes or his face, but the compassionate man's voice told all. The one time a voice spoke louder than eyes to him.

Fane frowned. "Because instead of trying to understand, people are content to take baseless assumptions as fact.", he said, bristling a bit as his own words hit a chord. Words, words were always bitter upon the tongue when they rang as clear as bells, unearthed his own experiences.

"Like they do with dragons? Like they do with you?", Cole asked, blue eyes finally making an appearance from the curtain of blonde hair that obscured them. They reminded him of Mhairi's, but they sang with songs of the Fade, spoke with only one emotion; compassion.

Fane nodded slowly. "Yeah.", he affirmed before deciding to gingerly lower himself down to Cole and the now approaching cat's level. Against his own mind's protests at being possibly being rejected, Fane reached out to the misunderstood creature and gasped quietly as it immediately butted into his hand, unafraid, but knowing.

Cole let out a little laugh. "She likes you.", he said, pulling his knees up tighter to his chest and actually fully seating himself upon the floor with nary a sound. "She understands that you've been misunderstood, too."

Fane hummed, eyes going hooded. "Does she now?", he questioned, stroking the little ball of fur's head with a few fingers. It purred and chirped, content and pleased with being responded to positively. "That's...comforting. Did you bring her here?"

Cole shook his head. "She followed me."

"I see.", Fane muttered, suddenly feeling calm and somewhat tired as he continued to stroke fur that made other's startle with fear and sneer with revulsion. He chuckled a bit as the cat came closer, pawing at one of his knees, asking for something. "Demanding, aren't you? All right. Fine."

With a careful movement, Fane set himself down upon the floor, crossing his legs and only shaking his head with a tiny smile as the black cat crawled into his lap, kneading and purring happily. Cole watched the whole display, silent, but just as calm.

"You're quiet, quelled. The torches extinguished, the blackness comforting just as fur is.", Cole rambled off, head lulling to the side so his cheek was resting on his knees.

Fane nodded, leaning back a bit to rest against the railing. "That sounds about right.", he snorted a bit, confidently stroking the curled up cat's silky fur. "Odd. To think I would find comfort in black."

"She's not black to you. She's blue."

"Nislean.", Fane murmured in Elvhen, voice deep to his ears as tiredness invaded his quieted mind. "Nislean. You're right. I see it in the shimmer and the glint." He gazed down at the female feline, smiling a bit more when he saw she was beginning to doze. "Nislean."

"What's it mean?", Cole asked, curious, unknowing.

Fane hummed, closing his eyes. "Blue.", he translated, sighing out heavily through his nose. "It means 'blue'."

"...She likes it. She wants to be a 'blue' cat."

"Mm.", Fane hummed, smirking even as sleep called. "Then, her name will be 'Nislean'."

"...She helps you.", Cole stated, a smile in his voice.

"You both did.", Fane muttered, reaching up lazily to place a hand on Cole's head softly. The spirit locked up a bit, but relaxed soon enough once understanding reached him. "Thank you, Cole. Thank you for helping me. Always."

He felt Cole's head bow a bit, akin to how a child being praised would do due to be embarrassed by it.

"...I'm glad it helped.", the spirit whispered. "You understand me. I want you to be understood, too."

Fane chuckled tiredly, letting his hand fall from a hat bearing head. "One day, Cole. I promise.", he said, inching closer and closer to the Fade with every breath. "One day..."

One day, the world would hold blue. There would be understanding, clarity, serenity. And hopefully, it would be the same for him. But for now, black was just as good as his consciousness ebbed away. Within the ever changing scape that greeted him, emerald eyes and a swishing tail met him in turn with confidence, unafraid and understanding as it chased after him along paths that echoed of all that was lost and all that could be gained, grounding him and keeping crimson at bay.

***

Head canon: Fane names every cat that wanders into Skyhold after a color. Cats calm and soothe Fane and he actually finds them fascinating since they like to sit atop perches and gaze down at what's going on. Just like he did. X3

Thank you for the ask! <3

#ask #dragon age #oc: fane lavellan #cole #head canon established!#nislean the cat!#fane 'i now have two tiny creatures' *motions to yune and nislean*#an army of cats and baby dragons #that's how fane will assist! >:D #...i have some weird thoughts XD #thank you for the ask! X3

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evabellasworld · 3 years ago

Text

Storm of the Republic

Chapter 14

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

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Summary: When Tup murdered General Tiplar during a battle, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex dispatched Ahsoka, Fives, and Yara to solve the mystery that was plaguing the Clone Army. Meanwhile, Senator Padme Amidala contacted Commander Fox, Commander Tori, Riyo Chuchi, and Dipper to help her continue investigating the death of Palpatine, suspecting that Dooku was behind the evil plot. But when Dooku send an ISB agent to stop them, the team had to race against time to search for the truth, which could alter the course of the galaxy.

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Holding a torchlight in her hands, Tori had Frieda on her baby carrier as Fox and Riyo held each other’s hands, navigating through the darkness in the streets. The last time she was in Level 1312, there were neon lights and street lights that brightened up the streets. There were also people walking on the streets, filled with all kinds of emotions and turmoils.

Level 1312 was also the place where she would buy her favourite whiskey after a hard day on the battlefield. The convenience store she would hang out in also had her favourite instant noodles, which Lira and Eva loved very much.

Lira loved the cheese flavour, while Eva preferred carbonara. Both of the noodles were spicy, but they didn’t mind it. After all, both the twins had spicy food since they were three years old. Their biological mother introduced them step-by-step, which worked for them.

Now the convenience store she saw was empty, with only womp-rats wandering around the abandoned building. The fridge that stored her favourite drinks was cleared, along with the shelf that had her instant noodles and snacks. The roofs were destroyed, with only broken cement and stones left behind.

The streets were also eerily quiet, reminding her of a scene of an apocalyptic movie. Last she was here, it was filled with rotting corpses and blood on the tar road. She even remembered seeing a severed head and limbs belonging to a civilian. It still sticks to her mind whenever she’s in combat.

Frieda was found in the dumpster at the alleyway, covered in dirt and cuts. Tori wondered how many other Frieda’s were killed during the battle between the Republic and the Separatist, with no one mourning for their loss.

“Mama, why is it so dark here?” the little asked, wrangling her arms around Tori’s shoulders. “Are there monsters coming to get us?”

“The Empire cut off electricity here,” she answered. “Before, there were people living their lives here. Now, everything is broken here, so they have to go somewhere else instead.”

“But are there monsters here?”

Dipper laughed. “No, kiddo. There are no monsters here. Though they do exist, they can’t survive in a street like this.”

“Then where would they go then?”

“Somewhere safe from people like us,” Fox turned to Frieda, squeezing her hand. “So don’t worry about them, alright? You’ll be safe and sound with us. If anything, monsters are more afraid of us than we are.”

“Yes, Uncle Foxy,” Frieda nodded, making his heart flutter.

Shifting his focus on the streets, he continued down the road with Riyo glancing at him with a pleasant look on her face. “Well, this is not as bad as it seems,” she commented on their current situation.

“Really?” Fox let out a smirk. “I thought you would fear the dark.”

She shook her head. “I’ve walked in a street like this back in Pantora. There was not much electricity on the outskirts back in the days, so over time, I had to get used to it, you know. It’s not a simple process, but I managed it in the end.”

“Didn’t you tell me once that if you wandered at night, you might end up meeting an evil spirit?”

“Well, I did, but I never believed in those superstitions anyway,” Riyo brushed them off. “Adults would only say that just to keep us home after sunset.”

“People do that?” Dipper asked, interrupting their moments together, much to Fox’s frustration.

“Well, adults do that sometimes,” she frowned. “They would make up superstitions and scary stories just to keep us kids in line and most of the time, children would fall for that, but I didn’t, and I turned out alright.”

“That’s dumb,” Tori remarked. “Why can’t they just be more truthful instead of lying to their kids?”

“Maybe because they thought kids won’t listen to them.”

“That’s just utter nonsense. Kids would appreciate it if their parents or guardians were more transparent with them instead of beating around the bush.”

“I agree,” Fox spoke. “If I was the kid, I would rather listen to my parents telling me the truth instead of listening to stupid superstitions.”

“Right?” Riyo exclaimed. “When I have a child, I will never tell a superstition just so I can get them to listen to me.”

The Marshal Commander gleamed at her promise. Since they were able to be open with their relationship, Fox looked forward to the future, where they would have a family together like Tori.

He would prefer a little girl like Frieda so that he could answer all the questions his daughter would ask him. Even if he doesn’t know the answer, at least Fox could have a long discussion with his child, just like how he would have one with the mother of his child.

“I know you’ll be a splendid mother,” Fox said to her, as they stepped onto a large platform, which will take them to the surface of Coruscant. Riyo gave a smile of approval as Dipper pushed the button, making them go up.

“You’ll make a good father too, Fox.”

As they were about to kiss each other, Tori let out a fake cough, covering Frieda’s eyes with her hands. “If you’re going to kiss, please do it once we’re at Senator Amidala’s place.”

“Does anyone ever tell you that you’re a party pooper, Tor?” Fox narrowed his eyes. “Because you always ruin the fun for others.”

“Well, I’m not a mirror, Foxy,” she curled her lips in a mischievous grin, making Dipper snort at his commander’s remarks.

“Do you need ice for that burn, Commander Fox?”

“Just shut your traps, will you?” Fox looked the other way as he avoided their gaze, much to Tori’s pleasure.

When they reached the surface, the four of them gasped at the lack of light in the giant metropolis. Seeing the city lights go off made Fox and Riyo shiver, as they were used to the brightness from every corner of the skyscrapers.

Even the bars and nightclubs weren’t blasting music like it used to. Similar to Level 1315, the upper-level was just the same. There was no one wandering in the streets except for battle droids, which were patrolling in the streets.

Noticing their presence, Fox gestured to them to show their chain codes to them, hoping they wouldn’t seem suspicious in an enemy territory. “Good evening,” he straightened his posture, his eyes fixed on them. “What can I do for you?”

“Why are you out here on a curfew?” one of the B1 battle droids questioned them. “All citizens must be indoors from 7:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.”

“Well, we just arrived from Corellia and we’re on our way to visit our family.”

“Let me see your chain codes.”

Giving a nod to his team, all of them did what the droid ordered, without saying a single look. Taking one look at their identification, the patrols bobbed their heads among themselves before returning it to them. “You are clear to proceed. Have a nice day, citizen.”

As they were left alone, all four of them breathed in relief. “Thank goodness they didn’t notice a thing,” Tori said. “Otherwise, we would be screwed by now.”

“Those droids are dumber than I thought,” Dipper jokes. “I wonder how long until we’re exposed.”

Before Tori could answer him, Riyo waved at them, pointing at a hover taxi in front of her. “Our ride is here. Hop in.”

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bts-reveries · 5 years ago

Text

daddy diaries

Jimin and Yuna. Now together as husband and wife. The wedding was beautiful and there wasn’t a dry eye that day! You bawled your eyes out as you watched your two friends vow to be together forever and have their first kiss as a married couple. The anxiousness of seeing Yoongi was long forgotten. Too busy focusing on the couple and the cute little flower girls and ring bearers. But that doesn’t mean your eyes didn’t wander to his figure as you watched him walk down the aisle and stand next to the other groomsmen. You hated how good he looked in a suit.

Now, it’s the reception. The couple shared a single table in the middle of the reception hall, giggling together and what not. There you were, sitting in a huuuuuge table for your group. Rina sat on your left, and Taehyung on your right. Right across from you was a smiling Hana. She giggled, pulling your attention away from the food over to her. You didn’t know why, but she just kept smiling at you. You smiled back, waving to her, not knowing exactly what was so funny, but you shrugged it off as nothing.

“Yn,” Taehyung says, pulling your attention away from what you were eating. The food was good and everyone was talking to each other, so you kept quiet to yourself, just thinking.

“Hm?” You replied, not knowing that every time you looked away, Yoongi’s eyes followed you.

“Aren’t you going to talk to--” Taehyung nods his head over to Yoongi’s. You shrink back a little and shake your head no.

“Why not?” he asks.

“I don’t know what to say? He kind of was the one to break up with me, you know.”

“Yes, but why not talk things out?” You shake your head again.

“I don’t want to talk, unless he does it first.” Taehyung nods in understanding. You turn forwards, but this time, a little hand pulls on your dress. Sian stands beside you, grabbing your hand and he pulls you up, dragging you to the dance floor without a single word, making you and Rina laugh. While you were distracted with the little one, Taehyung looks over at Yoongi and gives him a signal, then he looks over at Rina, mumbling a thanks. Rina winks at him, turning to talk to Jungkook, who was busy stuffing his mouth with food. So far, the plan was working out well. Taehyung may or may not have asked the whole group for their help. You would be surprised how good the kids are at keeping their secret.

“Sianie, you gotta do what I say, okay buddy?” Taehyung says, bent down to Sian’s level as he gets his hair curled by his mom. He tilts his head to the side, and Taehyung fills him in with the information.

“Do you like Yn noona?” Taehyung asks, instantly, Sian smiles, nodding his head.

“Ah! Sianie, don’t move,” Rina scolds, making Sian smile sheepishly, looking up from his mom to Taehyung.

“Well, do you like her enough for her to be your new auntie?” The question makes Rina giggle and Sian’s eyes wide. This time, he answers with a hum to avoid another scolding from his mom.

“Okay, then do what I say alright?” Sian smiles brightly, listening intently. Pretend spy, Sian’s favorite game to play with his dad, is finally coming in handy.

You couldn’t stop giggling as Sian pulls you to the center of the dance floor, cutely jumping around and dancing. The both of you look over at the table, laughing, when your eyes locked with Yoongi’s. You quickly look away and faced Sian instead. The small moment making your heartbeat intensely.

“Alright everyone,” a voice says over the loudspeakers. The two of you look over to the source of the voice. Jung Hoseok and Kim Taehyung. Tonight’s MCs.

“We will start the night off with a surprise performance from the groom himself,” Hoseok announces. Yuna’s eyes widened in surprise as she watched Jimin stand up from their table. A mic is passed down to him, and Yuna is already crying with tears of joy as the music began to play. Sian pulls on your hand, trying to catch your attention, and he grabs the other, swaying you to the beat of the song. You can’t help but laugh at his cute gestures. From the table, Rina was crying while taking a video of the two of you on her phone. While Jungkook laughed at her, grabbing a napkin and dabbing her cheeks, trying not to smudge her makeup.

“Daddy let’s gooo~” Hana says, pulling Yoongi up, according to plan. Yoongi knows exactly what she’s doing, and he follows along, letting his daughter drag him up onto the dance floor where the two of you were.

Hana smiles and waves at you, you smile back as you watch the father-daughter duo sway and dance next to you. You look up at Yoongi and the two of you lock eyes. You politely give him a smile, shifting your eyes back down towards the little man in front of you. Hana looks up at her dad and give him the nod, letting go of Yoongi’s hand and walking over to Sian. She looks up to you and asks if she can dance with him and your eyebrows rise in surprise.

“Yeah, of course sweetie, go ahead,” you say, watching Hana’s eyes light up as she takes Sian away from you. You let out a small sigh, awkwardly playing with your fingers as you stand there, next to Yoongi, watching Jimin sing to his wife. Yoongi had his hands in his pocket, shifting his eyes from Jimin, to you. He turns slightly to talk to you but right when his mouth opened, everyone began to clap, meaning the song’s over and it’s too late to ask for a dance. Yoongi sighs, you walk away to sit back to your seat and Yoongi’s eyes follows you. There’s a few hours left tonight, I still have a chance.

❀ ❀ ❀

The night was coming to an end, and unfortunately, the plan wasn’t going quite well. It was now time for the bride to throw her bouquet, all the single ladies gathered to the center of the reception hall, waiting to catch the bundle of flowers. Unlike the other girls, you weren’t as eager to catch the bouquet. It was just a superstition. Who cares if you catch it or not? You laugh nervously as the two girls in front of you start pushing each other, in a jokingly way of course. Well, I think they’re joking? You kind of want to catch it just so they can’t. You laugh silently at the thought.

“Are you guys ready?” Yuna says, turning behind her to look at you guys. She gives you a wink, what’s that supposed to mean?

“ONE,” she counts down.

“TWO--” she throws it. Not even counting to three, catching everyone off guard. Everything seems to happen so fast that all you knew was your hands were full. The girls around you gasped and your eyes widened. The bouquet of flowers resting in your hands.

“Aw,” the girls groaned, walking away from the area you were standing in. You were in shock and you turn to look at your friends, all of them smirking. You cocked an eyebrow at them and began to walk towards your table.

When you sat down, Rina looks at you, resting her head on her palm.

“You know what’s next don’t you?” She says mischievously. You furrow your eyebrows at her. A bunch of ‘woo-ing’ pulled your attention away from your smirky friend and you turn to the couple in front of you. Your eyes widened at the sight. There in front of you was one of your best friends, sitting on a chair, with her newlywed husband underneath her dress.

“W-what the…..” Rina turns to you once more.

“He’s removing the garter from her thigh. Haven’t you been to a wedding before?” You gulp, shaking your head.

“Oh, honey,” Mae says from the opposite side. “Good luck to you.” You watch as her eyes shift to the bouquet of flowers your holding. You don’t know why you’re suddenly nervous, but your heart starts to beat faster.

Taehyung walks over to the table, heading over to Yoongi. He bends down to whisper in Yoongi’s ear.

“Hyung, this is your last chance, don’t mess it up.” With that, Taehyung walks away, announcing the next game. Is it called a game?

“Now, all the single men out there, please come to the center.” Taehyung himself stands in the same place you were standing earlier. Seconds after, Namjoon follows, then Yoongi, then Hoseok, and a bunch of other guys you don’t know. Jimin smiles, playing with the garter between his fingers.

“Ready?” He says to the group. But it seems like he’s saying it straight to Yoongi. Yoongi swallows, watching intently as Jimin pulls back on the garter, shooting it up. All the men’s head tilts upwards, following the garter. Just like the group of girls, they pushed and shoved for the small piece of stretchy fabric. In Yoongi’s head, everything happened in slow motion. But to those who are watching, it couldn’t have happened any faster. Unlike the group of girls, the men congratulated the one who caught the garter, walking back to their seats. Leaving the one who caught the fabric standing in the center all by themselves. You can see the group simultaneously smile as the man turns around. Of course it would be him.

“Go on Yn,” Rina says, pushing you to stand up.

“What are you doing?” you whisper.

“The lucky lady who caught the bouquet, please come to the center,” Hoseok calls out. Knowing exactly that it’s you. He had a devilish look on his face. Holding tightly to the flowers, you nervously walked up to the center where Yoongi stood. He gives you a soft smile and you smile back.

“Here, sit,” Taehyung says.

“Huh?” You say in confusion.

“Sit,” he repeats. You followed, and sat down slowly. Still unsure as to what was happening.

“Now, to those who don’t know. This lovely lady is a new addition to our family, Yn, and you all know Yoongi.” Taehyung announces.

“Are you ready to put the garter on Yn, hyung?” Hoseok asks Yoongi through the microphone. Your eyes widen.

“E-excuse me what did you just say?” The two bachelor in front of you both held mischievous smiles. They both nod towards Yoongi and walked away, leaving the two of you alone.

Suddenly, music blasted through the speakers. Careless Whisper, yeah, that song. Thanks Tae. You groaned as you watched Yoongi slowly walk towards you, bending down on one knee. He gently wraps his hand around your ankle, placing it on his knee, slipping the garter around your foot.

“USE YOUR TEETH,” you heard from the crowd. Yoongi laughs and it makes you slightly nervous, but you laugh it off. He slips the garter farther up your leg, heat started rushing up your face when his hand slipped underneath your dress. You can feel how hot your cheeks were, you probably looked like a tomato. You glanced over your table and all of your friends were filming this embarrassing moment. How much further is he going to go up??

Which feels like forever, Yoongi finally got up, the crowd cheers and by ‘crowd’, I mean your table. Everyone else just clapped. Hana comes rushing towards you and she tilts her head in confusion.

“Where did the scrunchie go?” Yoongi laughs, bending down to pick up his daughter when Jimin and Yuna came towards the two of you.

“Wait, we need to take a picture!” Hana runs in between you and her dad, smiling already for the picture. You catch Yoongi take a glance at you and he shyly wraps an arm your waist. You all smile as Taehyung takes a picture of the five of you, a new song was playing in the background now. A much softer and slower song. Couples began to stand and dance around you. Mae had her arms around Jin’s neck. Namjoon had Moonji in his arms as they swayed back and forth. And Rina and Jungkook slow danced together like a high school couple at prom. You look around you and aww’d at the cuteness of your friends, when you felt a certain someone’s gaze on you. You turn to Yoongi and he held a hand out, you’re almost hesitant to take it.

“Wanna dance?” He asks, you nod, slowly, finally taking a hold of his hand. The first time in a long time. He pulls you through the group of people, settling in the middle. He places your hands on his shoulder, while his rested on your waist. The both of you feeling the music for a bit before he started talking.

“I’m sorry,” he says. You smile softly at him and shake your head.

“For what?”

“Not explaining. You know, breaking up with you all of a sudden. I should’ve talked to you first before doing anything. I’m sorry if I hurt you.” You shake your head.

“It’s okay. You mind explaining now? Or..”

“Hana. She wrote on the list the night of her birthday,” he explains. You nod, letting him just talk instead.

“After I put her down to sleep, I found her list and she added one final wish that night. Something I wasn’t able to fulfill that fast.”

“What was it?” You asked as Yoongi sighed.

“She wanted a new mom, and of course that meant you.” Your mouth fell into an ‘o’ shape. You’ve been having a feeling that Yoongi didn’t want to see you anymore because you were in no match to be Hana’s mom. Or not good enough to be one.

“It’s not like you wouldn’t be a good mom. You’re already a better one than Hana’s real mom,” he laughed. It’s like he heard what was on your mind.

“What do you mean a ‘better’ mom?” You questioned. It was the first time you heard about Hana’s mom. No one really talks about her, you don’t know what even happened with her. But you always thought she’d be a sweet person, giving birth to such a sweet girl.

“Hana’s mom and I were on an on and off relationship for a really long time. But when we finally decided to permanently end it, she found out she was pregnant. She didn’t want any part of it but I convince her to keep the baby. I just had to promise her that after she gave birth, we were to never see each other again. She didn’t want to look at Hana after she had her. She left right when she could and she didn’t turn back. She said she wasn’t ready and she wanted to follow her dreams instead. She went abroad after Hana was born, she said I was holding her back from her dreams and didn’t want to ever stay with me ever again. I didn’t really have big dreams then anyways, so I stayed home taking care of Hana and provided for her. The boys and their girls all helped me throughout this time. Hana really changed me for the better, which makes me love her even more.” You stare at him with wide eyes, overwhelmed with his explanation.

“Oh-- I-i’m sorry,” Yoongi laughs, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry, that was like.. a lot and I didn’t even get to my point.” You shake your head, telling him not to worry and continue.

“So, my point is. Throughout the little time I knew you, you’ve been a much better mother than my ex could’ve been. You gave Hana a chance without me asking, and you loved her unconditionally just because you wanted to. I was just too scared that everything was happening to fast you know? We weren’t dating for that long but it seemed like my daughter already wanted me to marry you. And you know, I wouldn’t mind that. But I was just worried that if something goes wrong, it would affect Hana way harder now since she’s old enough to understand. And the longer we’re together, the more painful it’ll be when it ends, and I didn’t want it to end that way--”

“So you didn’t give me a chance.. Just like Hana’s mom didn’t give her a chance?” Yoongi swallows and nods.

“Yes, and that was my mistake. I realized that I was just doing the worst thing that someone has ever done to me.” You nod, listening intently for what he’s going to say next.

“So I wanted to do what she didn’t.” He looks you in the eyes, trying to see your reaction. You nod for him to go on.

“I want to give you a chance to be my daughter’s mom. Of course, if you give me a chance to be yours.. again.” Your eyes squint as you smile, and you nod in approval. Without a word, you finally mustered up the courage and confident you were lacking this whole night. You looked down to his lips and back to his eyes. He does the same and you both knew you had the same thing in mind. The song was finally nearing its end, as what you can hear, and you meet Yoongi half way. Your lips touch, your hands moved up to his neck, and you smile into the kiss, realizing that it was your first one.

When you pulled away, the both of you let out a small laugh.

“Aish, finally,” Taehyung groaned. “I’ve repeated the same song at least 3 times already.” The both of you smiled sheepishly and you pull your hands away from Yoongi’s neck.

“Alright everyone, it’s time for the bride and groom to make their speeches,” Taehyung announced. As Jimin and Yuna stand up and take the mics from Taehyung and Hoseok, Yoongi grabs a hold of your hand and takes you back to the table. This time, he takes Taehyung’s seat besides you and he kept his hand interlocked with yours. You looked down at your intertwined hands and you look up to see a smiley Hana. She winks at you and you can’t help but laugh. Was this her plan all along?

❀ ❀ ❀

So the night ended with the newlywed couple’s thank you speech. You watched everyone leave, and the seventeen of you stayed back to hang out. All of the kids, minus Haneul, were eating the wedding cake, which kept them busy while the adults all sat in one table, eating and chatting the night away.

“I can’t believe you stole our thunder,” Jimin says, pushing Yoongi’s arm.

“What do you mean stole your thunder? No one paid any attention to us but you guys,” Yoongi pouts. You laugh, hugging his arm and resting your head on his shoulder. It was true.

“But your guys’ attention is the only one I wanted,” Jimin says, squinting his eyes.

“I’ll get the attention back,” Yuna says, putting down her fork, smiling at Jimin before facing the group.

“How--”

“We’re pregnant.” As soon as the two words left her mouth, everyone’s eyes grew wide. Jimin started choking on some chicken.

“What happened to waiting until the wedding Jimin?” You asked, cracking a smile, happy for your two friends. Jimin started to nervously laugh. I’m guessing he’s just finding out too.

“But babe,” Jimin said, “what about the honeymoon baby?”

“Honeymoon baby?” Yuna asked in confusion.

“Isn’t honeymoons for making babies?” Jimin asks innocently. Jungkook laughed and shrugged.

“I don’t know man, but it’s too late for that now,” Jungkook says getting up to give Yuna a hug and congratulate her.

“Wah~ Jimin’s a big boy now,” Hoseok laughed, downing a glass of wine.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this baby was made in your house hyung,” Jimin smirks, mimicking Hoseok’s gesture, downing his own glass. It was Hoseok’s turn to choke.

“Wait.” You say, slowly realizing something. “Yuna, how far along are you?” Jimin turns to her, eager to find out as well.

“Mmm, about.. A month or so?”

“EW.” You yell, covering your mouth in shock.

“Yn? What’s so ew about that?” Mae asks in confusion.

“Wasn’t the only time you stayed over Hoseok’s house was at the party? The first day I met all of you?”

“Yeaah…?” Hoseok says slowly, trying to follow along with what you’re trying to get to. The two were just trying to avoid any eye contact at the moment. You placed a finger on both sides of your head as you closed your eyes trying to let everything sink in.

“Are you okay?” Yoongi asks you in slight worry.

“Congratulations to the both of you and I love you both dearly, but are you saying that you two made love while I was sleeping in the same bed the night we met.” This time it was Yoongi who choked on some water. Immediately, Hana came running towards the table carrying a juice pouch.

“Daddy! Are you okay? Drink this,” she says, aiming the straw for Yoongi’s lips.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine honey. I kind of choked on some water so drinking this is probably not going to help,” Yoongi says in between coughs. So instead, Hana went on an alternative and began to wack Yoongi’s back with all her might. When are we not this chaotic?

❀ ❀ ❀

After the night has ended, and the kids were knocked out, it was time to part ways. You all said bye to the married couple, tears were shed, most of them being Taehyung’s. Jimin and Yuna are going on their honeymoon for two weeks. You ended the night with hugs, tears, and congratulations on the baby and the marriage. The group was overfilled with joy and you can’t believe that there’s going to be another addition to your huge family. It was a great feeling.

“Taehyung, can you watch Hana for tonight? I’ll pick her up from your place in the morning if that’s okay,” Yoongi asks as he carried a sleeping Hana in his arms. Her head was on his shoulder, drool threatening to spill over his nice suit.

“OoohH, are you going to try to steal Jimin and Yuna’s thunder again and make a baby of your own,” he winks. “Wah, hyung, I never expected you to be so competitive about love.” Yoongi scoffs.

“Shut up, we’re not planning on having a baby so soon, we’re just catching up on dates. I want to take her out somewhere.”

“This late hyung? Are you sure you’re not planning on doing anything--” Taehyung looks down at Hana to make sure she was asleep before saying anything he wasn’t supposed to. “You know,” he winks at Yoongi twice, biting his lip, “I mean, Sian, Hana, and the Park baby wasn’t planned either.” Yoongi rolls his eyes.

“You’re annoying, you know that right?”

“Yes, and you love me for it,” Taehyung says, taking Hana from Yoongi.

“Have fun on your date hyung,” he winks, walking to his car and leaving Yoongi behind. Yoongi lets out a scoff which was half a laugh when you walked up behind him.

“What was that all about?” You asked. Yoongi shook his head.

“Nothing. He was just being Taehyung.”

❀ ❀ ❀

daddy diaries

❀part twenty-eight: use your teeth❀

→ singledad!yoongi x baker!reader

a/n: i know i posted the next au’s masterlist, but daddy diaries is not yet over! i hope everyone liked this part, sorry it’s kinda long and sorry i’m a sucky writer haha, i hope you’ll still like it tho :) also, thank you to those who are already excited for one night light! i can’t wait to start it for you guys to read!!

taglist: @dammit-jjk @io-is-lame @yoongistruth @passionate-hedgehog @rjsmochii @live-2-fangirl @mizz-kraziii @sugarrimajins @yoongismainhoe @toobroken4u @littlemisssuga @chims-dimple @moon6rop @baojinnie @dearbangtan07 @snowythellama @oneweirdbean @abrupt-aesthetic @aejae-ssi @joanc24 @mayumioutloud @beanstalkyoongi @maaayleee @sparky-isnt-a-vampire @ultimitae (it wont let me tag u :(( )@raconteurgirl @thebleuprince @jayhope88 @lylanie12 @triviayoongles @oh-worm-yee-haw @adriennemichelle98 @weasleys-wizard-weasleys @minhyunie-lovely @ajhdr @parkjiminstan16 @cherryicy123 @take-u-2-an0ther-w0r1d @chilloutlatin @lyndseygoregasmxo @moonynessx @yoongiismytruelove @hispoutylips @hellboundblogger @yoongims @velvetaroma @chims-kookies @taetaetata1230 @knjhype @kisskissshutmydoor @sayanne @ineveryflavor @monsterwoosboo @karissassirak @lysjeon

taglist is closed! sorry everyone :(( if you want to be notified when i post, you can turn on my post notifs by going to my blog, clicking the person icon and clicking ‘get notifications’ [at least on mobile]

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ladyshilya · 5 years ago

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2020 January Witch Challenge Part 1

Finally getting around to doing this had a pretty bad case of winter blues. Legalized weed has been helping with it.

Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome & Ancient Egypt

I decided to do three of the societies since they are the ones, I love the most. I know there are a lot of similarities in their societies especially from conquering each other. I have never really done in an in-depth study about magic during these times. I know they were all Polytheistic societies who prayed and gave offerings to their Gods. I know Oracles existed especially in Ancient Greece and were often considered to be blessed by Apollo. The Greeks and Romans had the Goddess Hecate who was Goddess of moon and witchcraft. These are societies where religion, science, and politics were all merged.

I skipped really doing the daily life sections mostly because I love Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. I know a good amount of their daily life since I am planning on writing a novel or novels set in these times. They mostly have 3 class structures of the upper class, merchant class, and poor. Upper class has the most money, most political influence and most of the power. There were a lot of marriages done for politics and power. Members of the merchant class can be wealthy but not all of them were. The upper class often did what they could to limit the power of the middle class. The poor usually the one with the small homes or the not the best land for farming. There were the poor that lived by each other in something like a community. They would help each other as best they could.

Slavery was as a thing usually people who were conquest of war or kidnapped. Purchasing of slaves did happen as well. As will most all cases of slavery, they were considered to inferior and treated horribly. There is a very consistent history in how slaves are treated throughout history spanning all the way back to BC. They would have the chance the to buy their freedom which was usually easier for those who worked in a merchant trade. Sometimes some could be given freedom after serving in the army. Ancient Egypt did give their slaves more rights such as letting them inherit land. They were able to marry and own personal belongings.

Women barely had rights and often had to deal with whatever their husbands wanted. In Ancient Rome a man could keep his mistress in the same house where his family lived. Most often if there was a divorce then the husband had to give back the woman’s dowry. If she was a widow, then she was often expected to marry within the family so they could keep the land and money. In Sparta in Ancient Greece women there had more right as in they could own land and do physical training. Women did have some better rights in Ancient Egypt where they were able to own and inherit land. They were even allowed to learn a skilled trade and they could divorce their husbands. Which is not really something women were able to do in Ancient Greece or Rome. There are some rare cases where it happened, but they were few and far between. Women who were prostitutes where often divided by the ones in a brothel which was the lowest. They also had the higher-level ones who were educated in music, culture and even some politics. They resembled more of what someone would consider an escort.

For these lessons I was most curious about the role magic played and if it differed from what I have been thinking this whole time. I find the history of magic to be rather fascinating especially way people treat magic and those who practiced it.

Ancient Greece:

When: 12th – 9th BC

Where: Greece and various colonies around the Middle East, Europe and Africa which includes Egypt. What role did magic play? Magic was practiced by people who specialized in magic. They had the Goddess Hecate was the Goddess of Moon and Witchcraft. Circe was a sorceress mentioned in fiction who was proficient in herbalism and could turn people into animals. Usually practiced by both men and women. It was something separate from religion. What was the most used form of magic (e.g. curses, weather magick)? They did spells, enhanced drugs, love potions, binding spells and cursed items. They created amulets which contained the spell that was cast. Like the Ancient Egyptians they kept a record of spells on papyri but this was done more by those who were Graeco- Egyptian then Graeco-Roman. Graeco-Egyptian were considered Hellenistic and they would add Egyptian elements to their religious practices. What was the public perception of magic? Was it endorsed? Hated? Magic did have an association with death and evil mostly to separate it from religious practices. Magic was trying to achieve more selfishness and power while religion was uses for the benefit of society. Religious rituals were used to give favor to the Gods and asks them for divine help. Magic did not always have a religious or scientific base. There were spells cast that did evoke Gods or ask for their favor. There were the Oracles of Dephi who were priestess of Apollo who where gift with the powers to translated messages from the Gods and prophecy.

People in every class level would seek out help from those who practiced magic for various aspects in their life. There were many people who would wear amulets for good luck or protection. There has also be cases of finding curses with the death because people believed they could take the request with them. Also binding dolls have been found buried with the dead.

There were cases of people who were killed because they practiced harmful magic. They did have laws against those who killed with magic. Plato advocated punishing those who sold spells and cursed tablets. While there were other philosophers who thought magic should be eradicated. Necromancy was illegal but people would still practice it in secret. They would often build temples where they thought an entrance to the Underworld was. They temples were often dedicated to Hades and Persephone. People often sought the dead because they believed they had the ability to tell the future. What was the public perception of those who practiced magic? There were the Magi were more than just magical practitioners but were also considered to be masters in mathematics and science. Since magic did carry a slight stigma to is often those who practiced where members of the poor class. What similarities do you see between their magic and modern witchcraft? What differences? There are some similarities to modern timed where people are still casing spells and curses. There are people who still fear magic believing it was evil even today. Necromancy still has stigmas to this very day. There are still people who seek out those who know magic or divination for help and guidance. There is a lot more acceptance of magic and divination in modern day so there are some making a living with their gifts. Magic is often associated with specific religions unlike before where they were seperate. People who practice today even worship the Greek Gods. There are a lot of ways that are still similar because people often pass down ideas of superstition and fear.

Ancient Rome

When: 8th century BC – 5th century AD

Where: Italy, much of Europe including Greece and the United Kingdom, most of the Middle East and Africa including Egypt. What role did magic play? Magic was practiced by actual practitioners, but it was also done by everyday people. Magic was usually used for political, legal or economic gain. It was also used for protection, all children wore amulets to protect against death. They did blend magic with their religion. They also worshiped the Goddess Hecate like the Greeks. What was the most used form of magic (e.g. curses, weather magick)? They created amulets which were imbued with the spell casted. People would pay to have political rivals killed by those who knew magic. They would also use magic in the cases of love, chariot races, legal cases, health and fertility. There has been evidence found of binding spells, magical gems and cursed objects being used. People would as seek protection from the supernatural elements such as the evil eye. It was common for parents to get amulets for children to protect them from death. Some magic was used in rituals that would evoke the Gods Incantation were performed for various reasons often written down on papyri and found in various inscriptions. Exorcisms where also performed as was weather magic and sex magic. There would also practice divination of animal entrails and with using animals in general. What was the public perception of magic? Was it endorsed? Hated? The Romans took over the Greek Gods and renamed them when they conquered Greece. There were laws against magic that killed.

Most people regardless of social class used magic. They would often get items form magical practitioners who would set up a stand outside a temple. Magic was often found in medicine, alchemy, astrology and divination. It was a major part of daily life.

The Roman government did have concerns about magic in 510 BC – 476 AD there were laws in place banning the practice of magic. Often anyone found practicing would be persecuted. It did not stop people from practicing magic. What was the public perception of those who practiced magic? I was not able to find much on how people felt about those who practiced magic. Some people were skeptical about those who performed magic. Since it was used for so many reasons in everyday society. It would stand to reason that people had a favorable outlook. It is also human nature to fear what they do not know so I am sure there were people who feared it. Practitioners of magic could be found in all class levels. What similarities do you see between their magic and modern witchcraft? What differences? Shops where people can buy magical items is similar today. It was more widely used during Ancient Rome. In this day an age people do not have amulets done for their children to prevent death. This was a very common practice against everyone. It is very rare to see people call on magical practitioners for spells and talismans for various aspects on their life. It is similar that the practice of magic can be found with any social class. People still perform certain rituals and spells for various aspects in their life.

Ancient Egypt

When: 3050 BC – 30 BC and Roman occupation from 30 BC – 641 AD

Where: Egypt and most of western Africa as well as small area of the Middle East located nearby. What role did magic play? Magic was called by two names Heka which was used by everyone. Akhu which was used by stars and deities. It was through heka that symbolic actions could have some effects. People drew Heka as a person since it was not uncommon for the Egyptians to personify things. Heka might also be the name of a God, there was conflicting information. Priests were the main practitioners; they were the only ones who could read the ancient tomes, so they were the guardians of the knowledge. For a long time lector priests were the ones who protected the Pharaoh and would help lead the dead to be reborn. The priest who served Sekhmet were known for healing magic. There were the scorpion charmers who would get rid of poisonous reptiles and insects. Midwives and the wise women were also known to incorporate magic in their skills. Protection-makers were the ones who usually created magical amulets. Most rituals were done in the temple without an audience. There is evidence to suggest that people practiced their own style of magic at home. What was the most used form of magic (e.g. curses, weather magick)? The Ancient Egyptians were known for casting curses. There are many well known cases of curses on the entrances to tombs. Magic rituals often accompanied their funeral process. It was not uncommon to people to be mummified with amulets. They would create amulet which were covered in symbolism. Members of all the classes could be found wearing amulets. Magic was used for healing, protection and potion making. The Ancient Egyptians were among the first to record spells and incantations on papyri. It was not uncommon to sure those who practiced magic to use wands. What was the public perception of magic? Was it endorsed? Hated? Magic was approved by the state and only foreigners were usually accused of using evil magic. Since most of the people were not very literate all written spells were considered prized possessions handed down in families. Magic was performed in the temples every day. What was the public perception of those who practiced magic? Magic was a very much a huge aspect of daily life with everyone practicing some form of it. The perception was positive until the Roman’s took over which caused things to change more to their views of magic. What similarities do you see between their magic and modern witchcraft? What differences? The biggest difference is that everyone believed in magic. All people were practicing it from royalty to slaves. It was done in the temples every day. Fear was used to keep people relying on magic. While we have priest and priestess that perform magic in religions its not to extent it was in Ancient Egypt. This was a world that completely believed in the power of magic. Like today they had people who practiced in their homes which is probably the most common way people practice now. They too handed down spells within families which is also something that happens today within some families. The use of magical talismans for luck and protection can still be found today.

This was fun to do because I learned a lot. Ancient Egypt was closest to what I had been expecting its culture to be based on everything I already knew. While Ancient Greece surprised me because I had not realized that separated religion and magic. They were less accepting about magic then I had previously thought. Ancient Rome had been more accepting of magic then I had originally thought. I had not been expecting the selling of magical items and making sure all children had a talisman. It was interesting to look at three cultures that were relatively similar in how their societies were run to view magic so differently. At the end of the day it will often come down what those in charge believe. If the individuals are willing to go against those power and believe something different.

#2020witch #2020witchchallenge-jan #janwitch #Solitary witch #ecletic witch #beginner witch #2020witchchallenge

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 5 years ago

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Antonio and Pablo Agama headcanons

Leoncio Renato Braganza-Olmos was a dashing cavalry officer, just recently promoted when he met Altagracia Luna Quelempan-Agama,a healer working in the army camp. It was during an army dance, this being the years before Shuriki, and the camp was celebrating its recent victory. Like a classic fairytale, their eyes met across the room. He introduced himself and bowed, they danced, and fell head over heels for each other. Their backgrounds were quite different with Leoncio coming from a long line of esteemed army men much like the Villalobos of Avalor City. In fact, the Villalobos family was one of their greatest rivals for the Olmos family wanted to move out of serving the borders of far away villages and achieve glory in war on foreign land or against dangerous malvagos that seemed to attack the city.

Altagracia was a mestiza, a mixed race girl of indeginous tribes that prided themselves from descending from the great Maruvians and of the more pure blood Spanish descent. Altargracia was very much inspired by her indigenous side, working hard with others to keep their culture and knowledge of medicines and textiles alive. Though, there was not much discrimination for her mixed blood, as many actually wanted to learn the secrets of ancient Maru, people still sometimes taunted them for their superstitions and outdated ideas. Both their families cautioned them from getting married, fearing that their backgrounds would be too different.

However, the couple did not care. Their backgrounds meant little compared to their love for one another. She wanted to support him in his army battles and patch him up in the privacy of their own home and Leoncio adored his at turns intelligent and fierce wife who may not be able to hold a spear but could verbally spar with the best of his fellow soldiers.

Though the life of following army camp after army camp was tiring, they leaned on each other and were thanful to have the other by their side. Eventually came the day when Leoncio got a sword through his thigh. It broke stright through the bone and sidelined him for nearly a year. He eventually healed despite fears that he’d have to be amputed, but he would live with a permenant limp and had to retire from his life of sword. It happened to be excellent timing for Altagracia was pregnant with their first child.

They settled into Altagracia’s home village where Leoncio was aimlessly lost at first, unsure that he had any skills for citizen work but with Altagracia’s guidence and help, he found his way to work as a part-time picker on pepper plantations while Altagracia continued to work and sell her weaving wares and herbal medicines.

Their first son, Antonio Lautaro Agama-Olmos was born at dawn, a loud and robust baby. A direct contrast to their second son, Pablo Sergio Agama-Olmos who was born at midnight, similarly loud but skinnier.

The family was small but happy. Leoncio being a particularly proud father, trying to teach his sons fighting tricks and boast of his great victories. However, one day, Leoncio left without a trace. Perhaps he left because life in a small village bored him, maybe he had found another woman, or maybe he wished to start over fresh in Avalor City without the burden of caring for a family or the hauntings of his former officer glory. It could have been any one of these reasons but no one would ever know for he left no note.

Altagracia received no sympathy from her family who had warned her that a wealthy man like he might get bored with her, warnings she blithely ignored. She had more help from the Olmos’ who pitied her and felt similarly abandoned for Leoncio sent no word either to them. Besides it went against their honor to abandon someone who was part of their family. They sent Altagracia an “allowance” of sorts monthly and Leoncio’s younger brother, Fernando even offered to marry her to make up for his brother’s grievous actions and give the boys a father. Altagracia politely refused, her pain was too strong and she wished never to see any of her husband’s kin ever again.

Altagracia reluctantly accepted the money as she needed it for her sons, and packed up, took up her old name, and moved to the village over the plateau. (I imagine it to be very similar to Curicó in Chile. You know, mountains on either side, a central fertile valley for agriculture, humid and wet). She couldn’t stand the humiliation of everyone knowing her husband left her and wanted to start fresh even though the rumors and pitying stares still plagued her when she moved to the new village near Mesa Roja. Words traveled fast.

Despite the money sent to her, she couldn’t buy a house with enough space for all her weaving so she couldn’t open her own weaving shop. But Altagracia was determined to make do and used the stables that adjoined her home to house her looms and set to work by herself to create the most elaborate, quality ponchos, clothes and other items till she became the known as “la mujer de la telar.” The money the Olmos did sent them was set aside for special nonessential things like archery sets or a professional portrait since Altagracia decided any essential items like food or clothing, she would pay with her own work. Those luxeries Pablo proudly boasted about since it set them apart from their little less-off farming neighbors, and he’d often sell these goods for a price. That is until Altagracia found out and threatened to stop buying him things if he wasn’t going to use it himself.

Antonio had been 7 at the time, Pablo only 6, and if that one devastating event wasn’t enough. That was the same year that Shuriki came to power. Music and the old festivals were banned. Altagracia was one of the few people who was happy with this new arrangement since she’d much rather not be reminded of dances or anything happy like that. The boys however, were sorely disappointed by the thought of no more spring harvesting festivals with the children’s races or the games and such. And the addition of Shuriki’s guards patrolling the perimeters to quell any underground rebellions was an unnerving new normal to add to their lives.

Though the boys were too young to truly understand the full context of what was going on, they came today follow their mother’s mantra of “make do with what they have” and made their own fun without the festivals like marbles or pretending their were great trapeze artists like the traveling circus they saw or exploring their new home and the surrounding wild. Antonio’s particularly favorite game was pretending to find lost treasure which influenced his later career.

By the time Antonio was a teenager, he came to think of himself as the new man of the house. He saw how Leoncio’s departure affected their mother. She threw herself into her work, and doted on them more than ever. But she was so distrustful of others especially the rich who she now thought saw people like her as playthings or beneath them. He heard the rumors and taunts of other kids that “they” were the reason their dad ran away. And he vowed that he’d bring fortune to the Agamas name. They’d be known for something else than their disappeared dad.

The one obstacle to his big plan was his own brother. It seemed Pablo had inherited their father’s propensity for wanting glory and their mother’s sly tongue. He fancied himself as a poor man’s merchant (more accurately a con man) and had been cheating people out of their money with goods that he overhyped or stole from people for them to buy it back at exorbitant prices. Antonio often chewed him out for these things especially since it could reflect badly on their whole family but Pablo defended that they wouldn’t want their dear Mama to worry more than she had to, beside he was doing his part as a dutiful son to give her money any way he can. Even though he made plenty of enemies that way. Their neighbors, the Palomas, especially.

Their mother did notice the tension between both boys and often had to drop subtle reminders and wise proverbs like “Family isn't an important thing. It's everything,” or “The important thing in a family is not being together but being united.”

But they both possessed the same stubborness and their differences grew anyway. Antonio was a studious student, paying attention in class while Pablo often skipped because he felt there was no point. Most people didn’t use the lessons on geometry or English in their daily lives, they learned their family trade and that was that. He much preferred to wager and make bets with the boys and flirt. Antonio had also entertained thoughts of marrying girls he had crushes on but he knew that would doom his dream. Once he got married, he’d have to stay settled down and he didn’t want that so he staye dcelibate though many women, allured by his muscular build, did try to tempt him much to Pablo’s disgust (Poor Pablo, he wanted to be tempted. That's all he wanted!). But Antonio was different. Their teacher, Professora Risquez thought Antonio had potential, he had a passion for history and the stories of treasure hunters so she told him about the field of archeology. It sounded like a dream to him! Being able to find lost civilizations that told them of where they came from and what they did just like the ancient Maruvians.

He couldn’t get the kind of education at home. Not there where the highest level was 12th grade. Professora Risquez offered to sponsor him to go to the University of Avalor. He would live with her parents in their house in the city and he could pursue a degree in archaeological studies. It was a perfect plan and Altagracia was thrilled for her son, and Antonio was similarly thrilled. He was getting one step closer to his dream of bringing fame to the Agama name.

The only one who was less enthusiastic was Pablo who thought Antonio was acting stuck up and superior to him which he kind of was. This led to their first major fight, leading them to never speak to each other for the next twenty eight years.

Antonio hunkered down on his studies, but it had been quite a shock when he first arrived in the city. They had so many more modern convencies like carriages instead of carts and shops for everything and the port brought all sorts of peoples and stories of distant lands that he could never imagine. He even saw a professional circus that put the traveling circus he saw in his childhood to shame.

Then there was the actual university, the small school with its few teachers and lackluster substance had not prepared him for rigerous testing and academic tone of the unversity. But Professora Risquez’s parents had been former professors themselves and helped him with his study habits and time management. As for the kids, some were nice, some were snobs, a regular crowd of all kinds of people. Though sometimes those classist snobs sniffed at his “village peasant” accent and how fast he talked (Chilean spanish accents is known for being the fastest-spoken) so he learned to modify his fast to his slower, guttural sound.

It got stressful at times but the one thing that kept him going was the passion for archeology itself. Each book he read, he yearned to know more, to learn more, to go out and explore and find the routes himself which he did every summer, even managing to secure his first glimpse of fame when he found the Heiroglyphic Staircase of Maru.

Pablo stayed at home, helping his mom with selling her wares and occasionally take odd jobs about town. Eventually, he got bored with the poor provincial village and decided to set out for his own. Altagracia gave her blessings since she had enough money to get by on her own with her work and the allowance from the Olmos. Besides she felt that maybe it would encourage Pablo to grow up a little especially now that he was out of Antonio’s shadow. He offered his services as a salesman to various small businesses but often quit when he felt ready to wander again or because he wanted a larger cut than his employers were willing to give him. He also decided to do his own version of treasure hunting and find items from the trash or wild or sometimes laying around someone’s backyard and sell them, often adding they belonged to some famous royal or legend or had magic properties. Then splitting town before his angry customors found out they were tricked.

Meanwhile, as Pablo scraped by, Antonio was sending money and letters to their mother with each new discovery he found. He had gotten his biggest dream as a result with the fame and universities begging him to come vist and give lectures. He did so especially if Professora Risquez asked, but he found the fame wasn’t as appealing as he thought it would be. Lectures, especially preparing them, were boring and he didn’t sell his items rather he gave them to museums to study. He much preferred the thrill of the adventuring and the excitment of finding treasure than anything else.

Then came the day he ventured to Obsidian Island. He had been so sure of himself, having sort of bought into his own hype, and that this would be his greatest find yet. But he had not anticipated for the gecko curse to be real! He freaked out when he was first transformed finding his brain sharing the instincts of a gecko’s and he’d often be distracted by his gecko instincts. Which he had stayed in that form for years.

Meanwhile, Pablo had come home from his itenerite wanderings after his mother wrote to him to come back. He had been 5 years since she had last heard from Antonio. Pablo had no information to give her on that front, but it didn’t matter because she needed him now that her arthritis was acting up and it was harder for her to move. Eventually, she had stopped moving completely and needed to move around in a wheelchair. Pablo cared for her during her final days and then Antonio came back.

He finished his adventure at Obsidian Island, and no longer a gecko, he had to apologize and explain to everyone he had known what had happened. His first trip was to his dear mama who had wept with joy seeing Antonio alive and well and that he had not abandoned her as she had thought. Pablo was put-off. Finally, he had time with their mama but once again Antonio, the golden boy outshone him and “saved” the day.

The next day, Altagracia died, seemingly ready to move on after seeing her son again. Pablo and Antonio tersely arranged the funeral together, maintaing some politeness to each other. But that all exploded after the funeral. Pablo made some comment of how nice it was for the famed and renowned Antonio Agama to find time to visit and how he had done all the work when Altagracia was ill and Antonio made her think he had left them just like Leoncio. Antonio shot back that he didn’t mean to not contact them. He was a freaking gecko! Those were exnuating circumstances, and it wasn’t like Pablo was so concerned about his welfare since he hadn’t written him so much a letter since Antonio left for college. This left them in fury and they refused to talk to each other again.

Until the will came and both were given parts of that treasure map aka The Family Treasure. After the events of that episode and Elena’s song getting stuck in their head thus reminding them, they decided to patch up their relationship and spend more time with one another with Antonio even inviting Pablo to his next archeological adventure so they’d have plenty of time to talk or find more things to fight about, but they’ve come to sort of like it that way.

#pablo agama #antonio agama #my headcanons #my hcs #headcanons #elena of avalor

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johannesviii · 5 years ago

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Top 12 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2014

The “least good” of the three best years of the 2010s. This is still a top 12. Because I can, and I will.

I know. People also call it a bad year. And I think they’re wrong.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

New job, which is the one I still have currently. Also, I discovered Doctor Who in December 2013 and you know exactly what happened in 2014 because I dived head first into the extended universe as soon as I finished New Who and I’ve never really recovered since then. The end of the year was highly stressful, with my cat being sick, my father needing a very dangerous surgical intervention, and me being so stressed out I was basically unable to sleep for days. Might explain why there’s a lot of cute songs on this list, I needed cute stuff.

That year wasn’t very generous in good albums from bands I liked. Epica released The Quantum Enigma, and it was okay, Within Temptation had Hydra, and it was also okay, and Coldplay had the very underrated (in my opinion at least) Ghost Stories, a mostly melancholic album full of bittersweet post-breakup songs. So I’m left with no choice but to declare The Birthday Massacre’s album Superstition my album of the year for 2014. They had stayed at a consistent level since Pins And Needles so I wasn’t expecting anything better from them, but boy do they delivered. Here is Divide, it’s about a subterranean world and it might be a metaphor but as you know I’m very literal-minded! Here’s Beyond, about a lady falling in love with a strange woman who might be some sort of fae or supernatural entity!! I love most of the album and there’s only one subpar song on it. I know they’ll never get a crossover hit but they’d deserve it so much. Look at the state of the world. We’re so ready for a new mainstream wave of energetic, angsty, weird music. Just bring it on.

There’s only one non-elligible song that truely pisses me off this time, and it’s Traffic Girl by Indochine, another single from their Black City Parade album. It’s about a policewoman in North Korea who has to wave and smile at non existant traffic all day long and the song presents her as a modern hero. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album and I’m so mad it didn’t make the French year-end list.

Here’s a list of honorable menti-holy shit why is this list so long

Albatraoz (AronChupa) - Riiiiiight at the limit between catchy and annoying. But it’s blissfully short.

Chandelier (Sia) - I would like this more if it wasn’t that painful to listen to, I swear.

Magic in the Air (Magic System) - Insert my usual comment about these guys and their fun & happy songs.

Un Jour Au Mauvais Endroit (Calogero) - Great music, good lyrics. It’s still Calogero and I tend to dislike how overdramatic he usually is. Not enough to ruin that one song for me though.

Je Garde le Sourire (Black M) - This isn’t the last time he’s gonna appear in this post.

Prayer In C (Lilly Wood & The Prick) - A bit repetitive but in a good way.

Budapest (Georges Ezra) - A bit repetitive but in a good way 2, the return but in a completely different genre.

The Monster (Eminem & Rihanna) - We’ve now entered the songs which I considered putting on the list, and yeah, there’s a lot of them even if this is a top 12. “Bad year for pop music”. Yeah. Right.

Addicted To You (Avicii) - This is good, and the music video is great, and I want to stop feeling emotional about Avicii. Please.

Don’t Tell Em (Jeremih) - I. Uh. What the f█ck. Okay. There’s no way I can justify this. I simply adore this beat even if the lyrics are really, really bad. It’s just visually stunning and I really wish the song itself was better.

Photomaton (Jabberwocky) - I don’t think this would have charted without the success of Kavinsky the previous year. But still. Wonderful stuff. Well deserved.

Madame Pavoshko (Black M) - This was on the first version of the list but in the end I really had no room left for it. It’s a song about a guy telling his old teacher he made it in life despite the fact she labelled him a hopeless case at school. With such a premise, it could be an angry song, but no, it’s upbeat, sarcastic and fun. Wonderful stuff.

Le Graal (Kyo) - Kyo? Wait, you mean the embarrassing emo guys from my 2002 and 2003 lists? These guys?? They were back on the charts after ten years?? And suddenly everyone thought it was cool to like them again?? Including me??? Sounds fake but okay

Turn Down For What (DJ Snake) - The last cut. Stim music at its finest, sharp, aggressive and colorful. Everything I ever wanted from a hit song.

Well, that was long. Here’s the actual list.

12 - Wake Me Up (Avicii)

US: #22 / FR: Not on the list

“So wake me up when it’s all over, when I’m wiser and I’m older” should make no sense. You can’t get wiser if you’re asleep. At least that’s what I would probably say if I didn’t feel this. There’s a lot of times in my life I wished I could be switched off and woken up a couple of years later and be like “hello I’m back, I feel better now, what did I miss”. I totally get it.

The only reason this song is so low on the list is the drop. I don’t like it very much. The rest is damn good.

11 - Boom Clap (Charlie XCX)

US: #34 / FR: #84

Boom! Boom! Boom! CLAP. That song got me after its first seconds. Love its atmosphere, very cotton candy-like, very fluffy, with a sharp voice. Doesn’t work well if you listen to it on a loop, though, and that’s the only negative thing I can say against it.

10 - Stay The Night (Zedd)

US: #94 / FR: Not on the list

This on the other hand works very well on repeat and that drop is golden. I’m afraid I don’t have anything very interesting to say about it. It stayed on my playlist from 2014 to summer 2019, though, so that’s an impressive feat.

9 - Rather Be (Clean Bandit)

US: #41 / FR: #18

Several critics I follow have commented this song is 1) mostly meaningless 2) too perfect to say anything about it and I agree. It’s also too perfect to be really passionate about it, unfortunately, but still, very, very good stuff.

8 - Magic (Coldplay)

US: Not on the list / FR: #66

You already know I don’t really like lowkey emotional songs and I also hate the first act of Coldplay’s career, so why on earth did I like Ghost Stories so much and why is Magic making me feel so emotional, you ask? Well it’s because the music itself isn’t bland. It’s lowkey but rich, dense and colourful, and it works much better than whatever they were doing before with their slow boring songs. Also, I really struggle with dramatic vocal performances on quiet emotional songs (which is why I tend to have issues with Adele’s voice on some of her stuff), and here the balance is just ideal. Soft colors, soft textures, soft voice, this is like a colorful plushie you’ve lost for years and just found in the attic and it brings you to tears. I adore it.

Also the part of the lyrics that goes “And if you were to ask me / After all that we've been through / Still believe in magic? / Oh yes I do”, that makes me want to hug someone and never let go.

7 - Waves (Mr Probz)

US: Not on the list / FR: #15

This is completely hypnotic. It’s perfect to drive, to walk, to draw. to sit on a bench and look at the trees. It’s just wave after wave of pastel colors with a good beat and it washes away your anxiety slowly but surely. Therapeutic and beautiful without ever feeling bland. Wonderful stuff.

6 - Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson)

US: Not on the list (#1 on the 2015 year-end list) / FR: #3

Everyone loved it and I wasn’t an exception. You all know it and I’ve got nothing new or interesting to say about it. A ton of fun. Love the lyrics.

5 - Sur Ma Route (Black M)

US: Not on the list / FR: #7

If you’re wondering what’s going on in this picture, the guy is parodying a lot of famous movies or series in the music video. It’s a simple but super energetic song about trying to trace your own road in life and all the problems you encounter and how you can’t always count on people you thought were your friends. It’s very propulsive and motivating and it’s my favorite song from that guy even though he made a lot of good songs. Just great stuff. Check it out if you’ve never heard it.

Speaking of being on your own...

4 - Ain’t It Fun (Paramore)

US: #47 / FR: Not on the list

I miss hearing that kind of thing on the radio and yes, I’m aware that makes me sound like an old idiot. Oh how I wish this had been released in 2010 when I just started to work, that would have been perfect. I know the song is supposed to be sarcastic with the whole “ain’t it fun being on your own” angle, but yeah, when your life wasn’t great before, it’s actually liberating to “live in the real world”, even if it sucks at times, even if it’s difficult and you have responsibilities and all.

Also the music video is super cute. Love it.

3 - Pompeii (Bastille)

US: #12 / FR: Not on the list

I’m honestly surprised this is only #3 on this list considering how much I loved this one back when it came out, and don’t get me wrong, it’s still a song I love to this day, just... a bit less. Maybe it’s because of overplay? I’m not exactly sure considering #1 was also played very often and I never ever got tired of it. And it’s well written, and it’s not every day that you hear a song about two dead people talking about the wrath of the gods after their city was engulfed in ash.

So yeah. Not sure what happened there. I hope this band is eventually gonna have another hit like this one. Bastille, more of Pompeii and less of Happier, please.

2 - Dangerous (David Guetta)

US: Not on the list / FR: #8

A few months ago I heard Memories by Maroon 5 and I was instantly filled with a truely disproportionate amount of rage for such a bland pop song. See, I love it when music uses well-known classical tunes and completely changes their context and tone, but Memories doesn’t do any of that, it’s just the Pachelbel canon with some bad lyrics on top. So yeah, it’s a pet peeve.

Dangerous, on the other hand, is a song mixing a small loop of Toccata & Fugue in D minor and it basically uses it as an ominous pseudo-police siren in a song about illegally cruising a car with your possibly criminal, possibly gangster crush and not knowing if you’re scared, in love or feeling the thrill of adventure, or all of that at once. I. Love this damn song.

When the only bad thing I have to say about a song talking about driving at night way too fast is “eh this isn’t as good as Kavinsky”, you know you’ve found gold.

1 - A Sky Full of Stars (Coldplay & Avicii)

US: #51 / FR: #9

As much as I love Dangerous, there wasn’t any doubt about what would top this list. I’ve spent about ten lists explaining how my appreciation of Coldplay kept growing over time and four lists explaining how much I loved Avicii, and this song is the best of both worlds. The first time I heard it, I was driving and, no joke, I was so overwhelmed I had to park my car to properly concentrate on the song.

One day I will have to paint this song to explain how fantastic it looks and I’d have to use purple, china blue and pink watercolor inks and basically paint a psychedelic night sky full of little lights and yeah, this is basically another of these songs that are deeply satisfying on a synesthetic level, and it joins this very select club with the blue song called “Blue”, the song full of bright flashes called “Lights” and the song that looks like gentle pulsing lights called “Fireflies”. I’m trying (and failing) to learn how to play it on the piano. I know the chords, and I suck, but I’m very determined.

On top of that deeply satisfying visual, there’s the soft vocals so specific of the Ghost Stories album, and the very simple, very cute lyrics, and I simply hear “'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars, I'm gonna give you my heart” and I die instantly. This is high quality musical fluff. Come to think of it, this list is full of it, and this is the Ultimate Fluffy Song. One fluff to rule them all.

Sidenote, considering I fell into the DW audios right when this song came out, that’s one of my theme songs for Eight and Charley. Because of course it is.

Next up: The beginning of a progressive drop in quality but you wouldn’t be able to tell considering how long this list of honorable mentions is

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #long post #eye contact tw

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crazynekochan · 5 years ago

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Omegaverse Fantasy AU: There are two kingdoms, one far more prosperous than the other, but the less prosperous kingdom has an skilled army, and a climate & terrain that would make any sort of military campaign pure misery (like if you combined Russia in the winter with the Vietnamese jungle) so they keep the peace by consistent trade for magical resources and technological components that the less prosperous kingdom can’t really use that much but the more prosperous one desperately needs if they want their very advanced magic-tech to keep running.

In the less prosperous kingdom, Mechana, omegas are not very well respected and seen mostly as wanton hussies that need to be controlled lest they shame their families, excepting some border towns. Heck, in more rural and poorer towns, having only an omega child is seen as a sign of weakness on their sire’s part (it’s not true, but this is superstition; stuff is never true). Quite unfortunately for Kazuichi and Mikan, as they both live in those sorts of rural towns and their families take out their frustrations on them.

In the more prosperous kingdom, Novoselic, omegas are pretty much the ideal mates and even common-born omegas can rise to the level of nobility through marriage. To abuse an omega is seen as a great disgrace, especially with the quite low omega birth rate making them very valuable as martial assets (though the omega has final say in who they marry, since they’re going to be stuck with their mate til death do they part). Some nobles are even willing to pay top dollar for the chance to mate an omega.

Seeing a golden opportunity to make some money (pranks and housing get expensive and half the organization was dirt poor before they joined), Kokichi and his organization DICE (which actually does have 10,000 members) create a business to bring omegas over from Mechana to Novoselic and arrange their marriages to high-ranking and/or wealthy sires, with the omegas getting full say in who they meet with and eventually mate, of course. No one’s quite sure if this is considered human trafficking, since the omegas are willingly going, but no one’s gotten arrested for it yet so it’s not against DICE rules.

The DICE agents in Mechana make habits of going into the regions where omegas are more likely to be treated poorly and they ask around about which families have omega children that they want to get rid of. When they find families willing to give up their omega children, they trade the kids for a hefty chunk of gold (which is a hunk of copper with some gold dust on it, of course) and then leave town when the omega is ready to leave (in the case of some highly abused omegas, right after the ‘gold’ changes hands). That the families most often suffer quite unfortunate “accidents” after the DICE agents are at least a couple miles away is a complete coincidence, they swear.

When the DICE agents (for this trip, Miu, Kaede, and Kaito, though they’re technically volunteers) come to Kazuichi’s village, Mr. Souda quickly volunteers Kazuichi up in exchange for the “gold”. Kaz would protest but defying his father rarely ends well and this is an opportunity to get away from his father and a village that has never treated well in his entire life, so he packs up his meager things and climbs onto the DICE covered wagon.

They head out and arrive in the nearby town where Mikan lives, while Kazuichi is lying on his side in the back of the wagon in pure misery from motion sickness, while Kaede is busy trying to use her healing music to help him fix it, if not stop him from barfing all over the back of the wagon (they have another town after this, then they have to get through the border and the smell stays in the wagon, no matter how much you clean).

Mikan comes aboard, very meek and shy, and quickly give Kaz some healing herbs that, while he’s still a bit dizzy, fixes his nausea. And when Kaz thanks her, she starts crying since no one had ever been that nice to her, much to the worry of everyone else in the wagon (Miu wishes she made the “accident” befalling the Tsumikis bigger, just for that).

Finally, they get to the last town on this trip, which is actually quite well off compared to the other towns in the region, the kind of town that Kazuichi and Mikan would define as a small city (it’s closer to a mid-size town, really). Miu is staying with the cart this time and is actually getting to know Mikan pretty well and has gotten on with Kazuichi like a house on fire. They’re in the middle of messing around with a test engine, with Mikan providing worried commentary, when they hear a massive argument approaching them from the town square entrance.

They turn and see that Kaito and Kaede are in the middle of a quite nasty yelling match with an alpha male with long dark hair and blood red eyes, while a brunette omega male is pulling on the mystery alpha’s sleeve to keep him from actually punching Kaito. As all the omegas are quite easily terrified, they hide and watch the argument by peering around the wagon cover hole.

The alpha is Izuru, who is very much against his brother going off with some shady alpha and beta woman to have god knows what happen to him. Hajime wasn’t really sold so much as he volunteered, since their family was greatly in debt and they very much needed the money they would get from DICE (Kaito and Kaede gave them actual gold after hearing their story), which Izuru vocally opposed all the way from their home to the square, where the argument has reached a boiling point.

Izuru notices Miu, Mikan, and Kazuichi peering at them from the cart (and they immediately go back into hiding because scary angry alpha) and gets angrier, convinced that this is actually an omega trafficking scheme (and it technically is, they haven’t worked out the whole “is this legal” thing yet). Because they’re causing a scene and this might actually turn into a fight, Kaede speaks up and suggests that Izuru come with Hajime as an escort, since that would prove that this isn’t a trafficking scheme (what idiot traffickers would bring the highly overprotective alpha brother of one of the omegas they’re trying to traffic, after all?). Hajime agrees to get Izuru to calm down, which makes Izuru reluctantly agree, giving threatening glances to Kaede and Kaito all while wishing their parents goodbye and getting in the wagon.

Kaz, Mikan, and Miu all scoot as far away from Izuru as they can in the (not very roomy) wagon, but Hajime is much more personable and by the time they reach the border checkpoint, they’ve all become friends. They get let through the checkpoint relatively quickly and, after another day’s worth of travel (by which point the herbs that Mikan gave Kazuichi have all run out and worn off, so now Kaz is suffering from motion sickness again), they all arrive at the DICE Matchmaking Service HQ (which looks a lot like a love hotel, something that makes Izuru distinctly unhappy).

They finally disembark and are greeted at the front by part-timers Komaru and Aoi, who usher them to the rooms that they’ll be staying in while the matchmaking process goes on. When the group has gotten settled, they have dinner and meet with Shuichi and Kyoko (who are the part of the screening process for the agency) after. They meet individually, with each omega telling the two detectives what they want in a partner (Mikan apologizing and crying all the while) and the two detectives note their reactions, special traits, and personalities to better check for compatibility.

When their meetings are done, the detectives wish the newcomers good night and head to Kokichi’s office with their findings. After giving Kokichi the basic rundown of each omega’s personality and appearance, Kokichi turns to his big board of sires and planned matches, looking extensively over it until he places some cautious pins and string connecting Kazuichi to Gundham (the princess’s best friend and the court animal trainer/sorcerer), Mikan to Ibuki and Chiaki (Ibuki (alpha, sorry) is a very famous bard and Chiaki is one of the most prominent gamers/mages in the continent, looking for a third in their relationship), and Hajime to Nagito (Grand Duke and the king’s nephew on his mother’s side). After looking over the connections, Kokichi tells Kyoko to tell Gundham, Ibuki, and Nagito in the morning that they’ve got a match.

Kazuichi and Mikan have never been in housing this nice or had food that good, so they’re really happy but scared about what the future may bring. Hajime and Izuru, who are still pretty cautious about this whole enterprise but needs to put on a brave face for Kaz and Mikan, who are much more nervous, act pretty happy too but when Kaz and Mikan are asleep, they have a quiet discussion about what would happen if this turns out to be a terrible idea. Izuru swears to protect Hajime before he gets hurt, they hug and then head to sleep, a bit worried and already preparing ways to escape with all of them alive and intact in case this goes sour.

(AN: And that’s where I’m ending it because good god, I need to sleep. I’ll probably send more asks about this Matchmaker AU, but this initial set is way too long for an ask chain. Please leave some feedback!)

—

Mod: I am so in love with this. I actually read this one a few times over the last few weeks. Though I always go “poor baby” when I read it, because I feel so bad for them all ;-;

Anyway, that is a very awesome idea and sadly the first time I saw it in such a way. I saw many prompts and fics with such omega matchmaking services, but they never were voluntary on the omega’s side. So it’s such a wonderful change to see one where it’s all about rescuing omegas from their bad homes and letting all the say in their hands

Kokichi would be so boss at his job at finding the perfect match, since he is after all a very analytical person and deeply caring, even if he never really shows it. But by god he would have the time of his life making the omegas’ shitty families miserable for mistreating their children for their dynamic (What would make it even more badass if we added in my personal HC that Kokichi would also be an omega, but that is of course up to you) Also great call to have Kyoko and Shuichi do background checks on everyone who comes into the matchmaking service to make sure that everyone is safe

Truth to be told, I could actually see Sonia funding DICE’s projects since she does have a high sense for justice. And also because her best friend and cousin are after all also trying to find a match through the service

I loved how you put in Izuru and why Hajime decided to go there. It fits them both well, and the thought of Nagito later on trying to court Hajime while Izuru is literally giving him death stares since he doesn’t trust him for a moment is funny as hell. Btw. there is no need to feel sorry for having a character have a dynamic that isn’t my personal HC. This is your story and I’m not some dictator who decides on headcanons ^^ So in short, feel free to change things up as much as you like ♥

I wonder how the courting of all the characters would look like, considering the background of how they met and especially their characters. I could imagine Nagito not feeling like he is actually deserving of someone like Hajime, while Izuru is as mentioned giving him constant death glares. Gundham is seriously questioning just what in god’s name made him sign up at the matchmaking service when he gets the note that they found a match, which he really doesn’t believe, until he meets Kazuichi and his brain just deep fries. While Mikan would probably hit it right off with Ibuki and Chiaki, however her trauma would be the biggest problem in their case

#submission #friendlylifecherry #soudam #komahina #nanatsumioda #omegaverse #omega matchmaking au #prompt

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cassiexbailey · 5 years ago

Photo

HOLY SHIT IS THAT [ KAT MCNAMARA ]?! Oh, wait it’s just [ CASSIOPEIA “CASSIE” BAILEY ]. Damn, [ SHE/HER ] looks good for [ 22 ], good thing that they’re [ BISEXUAL ], I might have a chance. I hear that they call them the [ NANCY DREW ] of the [ NORTH SIDE ]. I guess that’s because they’re [ INDEPENDENT ] and [ RESOURCEFUL ]. But I don’t think a lot of people know that they’re also [ SECRETIVE ] and [ STUBBORN ].

01. BASICS

Full Name: Cassiopeia Sebine Bailey

Nickname: Cassie, Cas, Teeny

Sex/Gender: Female

Birthday: November 11, 1996

Age: 22

Astrological Sign: Scorpio

Occupation: Private Investigator

Spoken Languages: English, French, Italian

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual; Heteroromantic

Birthplace: Riverdale, MA

Hometown: Port Townsend, WA // Chicago, IL

Relationship status: Single but complicated

02. PHYSICAL TRAITS

Hair Color/Style: Red-orange or blonde, depending on her mood; she was born with bright red hair, but when she was younger she used to dye it dirty blonde so that she’d look more like her mother; since she found out both of her parents were lying to her about who she was, she let her hair go back to it’s natural color. As for style, she doesn’t really style it often, but it’s usually either down, in a ponytail, or put up in a messy clip

Eye Color: Green

Face Claim: Kat McNamara

Height: 5′3″

Weight: 120 pounds

Tattoos: a large phoenix covering part of her back and left hip symbolizing her love for Greek myth but also as a means for covering up an old stab wound; a small ring of laurel leaves with ‘03/19/1980′ on one side and ‘06/12/2019′ on the other on the inside of her right arm, representing her mother { photos coming soon }

Piercings: Both her ears are pierced twice

Unique Attributes: coming soon

Defining Gestures/Movements: running a hand through her hair; bouncing her leg/knee when she’s nervous; cracking her neck and knuckles; drumming her fingers on whatever surface she’s nearby

Posture: Decent posture, but slouches from time to time

03. PERSONALITY TRAITS

Pet Peeves: { she has a lot okay? this isn’t even all of them } ignorance, lairs, cheaters, being chronically late, people who talk loudly on their phones, people chewing loudly or with their mouths open, people who walk slowly in the middle of the sidewalk or stop suddenly, line cutters, people who don’t use their turn signals, bad grammar, passive aggressive behavior (even though she’s guilty of this herself), people who refer to themselves in the third person

Hobbies/Interests: dance, writing, photography, criminal justice, reading, cooking, hiking

Special Skills/Abilities: private investigation, adaptable, researching, staying calm under pressure

Likes: sex, coffee, tattoos, photography, hiking, swimming, astrology, astronomy, nature, traveling

Dislikes: rude people, ignorance, fake people, cigarettes/smoking in general

Insecurities: losing people she cares about, not being good enough for someone { i’ll probably add more later }

Quirks/Eccentricities: coming soon

Strengths: coming soon

Weaknesses: coming soon

Speaking Style: coming soon

Temperament: she can keep a calm head in most situations, but she does have a bad temper

04. FAMILY & HOME

Immediate Family: Edward Bailey (Anderson) { father }; Sebine Smythe { mother }; Athena Bailey { adopted mother, deceased }; Sebastian Smythe { half-brother }, Sebrina Smythe { half-sister, deceased }; Bruce Anderson { uncle }; Blaine Anderson { cousin }; Darius Anderson { cousin }

How do they feel about their family? coming soon

How does their family feel about them? coming soon

Pets: None yet

Where do they live? She lives in a small one bedroom house in the neutral zone

Description of their home: coming soon

Description of their bedroom: coming soon

05. THIS OR THAT

Introvert or Extrovert? A bit of both, depending on the situation and people

Optimist or Pessimist?

Leader or Follower?

Confident or Self-Conscious? A bit of both

Cautious or Careless?

Religious or Secular? Raised Catholic, but doesn’t practice anymore

Passionate or Apathetic?

Book Smarts or Street Smarts? Both

Compliments or Insults? Depends on the person

Pajamas or Lingerie? Neither; she sleeps in a loose-fitting tank top and short shorts

06. FAVORITES

Favorite Color: dark green

Favorite Clothing Style/Outfit: coming soon

Favorite Bands/Songs/Type of Music: coming soon

Favorite Movies: coming soon

Favorite Books: coming soon

Favorite Foods/Drinks: coffee

Favorite Sports/Sports Teams: She doesn’t necessarily have a favorite team, but she enjoys watching hockey and football

Favorite Time of Day: early evening

Favorite Weather/Season: tied between fall and winter; she loves the cold

Favorite Animal: wolf

07. MISCELLANEOUS

Fears/Superstitions: not being good enough; people finding out who she really is and blaming her for Sebrina’s death

Political Views: she doesn’t really care to be honest; she doesn’t have a party declared, she votes with who she thinks will be best at the time

Addictions: coffee, sex

Best School Subject: English, History

Worst School Subject: Math

School Clubs/Sports: dance team

How does she get money? she owns her own private investigation business

How is she with technology? very adept; not hacker-level, but she can get by

08. PAST & FUTURE

Fondest Memory: learning to cook with her mother

Deepest, Darkest Secret: coming soon

Dream Vacation: coming soon

Best thing that has ever happened to this character: coming soon

Worst thing that has ever happened to this character: Losing her mother and learning that both she and Edward had been lying to her for her entire life

What do they want to be when they grow up? she is grown up, and she’s doing what she wants to do; that being said, married to someone who loves her for who she is. maybe a few kids.

Perfect Date: she doesn’t really have anything in mind for a perfect date. good food, good company. that’s all she can ask for.

09. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

triggers: mention of presumed KIA military status, drive-by gun violence, torture, murder, death

Growing up, life for Sebine Laurent had been anything but normal. Her parents had died at a young age, leaving her growing up as an orphan on the South Side. Early in her teen years, she fell in love with a young South Sider named Edward Anderson - the youngest son of the Serpents leader. The two were together for years, but despite this relationship when the Smythes came looking for a wife for their youngest son, Sebine ended things with Edward per her new in-laws demands; they shoved a hefty prenup in her direction demanding she not bring any scandal to the family name via her relationship with the South Side boy she had been involved with for so long, and she had begrudgingly accepted it in search of a better life.

Years passed without any contact between Edward and Sebine. She gave birth to two beautiful twins, Sebastian and Sebrina, and her life seemed perfect; her marriage was far from perfect, but she loved her family regardless. A chance encounter brought Edward and Sebine back into each other's lives, and the spark quickly reignited between the two of them. The Smythes knew what was going on between their daughter-in-law and her old flame, but they let it go. They had their picture-perfect family and their beautiful grandchildren. As far as everyone else was concerned, the Alexander and Sebine Smythe had the perfect family. Problems quickly arose, though, when Sebine fell pregnant, and it was clear that Alexander wasn't the father this time.

The family threatened to leave her completely desolate if she didn't end things with the Serpent once and for all, including giving the baby to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy once Sebine had given birth. They thought they had everything under control until Edward refused to be pushed out of Sebine's life for a second time. He had secret, grand plans to sweep Sebine away from her life in the North Side so they could run away to be together, but her in-laws intercepted. They gave Edward a counter-offer that was almost too hard to refuse. Sebine would never leave with him, but he could still have a piece of her; they offered to give him a substantial amount of money to get out of the gang-life that was expected of him in the South Side as well as to leave Riverdale with the baby and never return.

After trying and failing to convince Sebine to leave with him, Edward refused the Smythe’s offer at first, though instead of leaving town like they had asked, he simply took Cassie and left the North side. He returned to the familiarity of the South Side with his daughter, but instead of pledging his loyalty to the Serpents like he was expected to - like his older brother, Bruce, had done - he joined the Ghoulies alongside his best friend, Luca Gilbert. His brother was furious at this perceived betrayal, especially since Bruce had taken over the Serpents in the wake of their father’s passing in the years before. Knowing how angry Bruce was, Edward and Luca prepared for some sort of retaliation, but after weeks of quiet on the Serpents end it seemed as if it wasn’t going to come. In retrospect, Edward should have known better.

Time passed and a relative peace between the Serpents and the Ghoulies settled in. Weeks turned into months. Months into years. It was just long enough that Edward and Luca began to let their guard down, and that was all the chance that Bruce needed. He knew attacking Edward wouldn’t work - while Bruce was brutal and merciless, his brother was worse, and he knew Bruce’s few weaknesses. Hurting Edward himself wouldn’t work, and even he wouldn’t have touched his newborn niece, though he’d never admit that particular fact to anyone. Instead, Bruce turned his rage towards Luca and Derek Gilbert; Luca was Edward’s best friend, and he’d come to see Derek as a son himself. Hurting Edward by killing his family was the best kind of revenge Bruce could have come up with; he knew it would break his baby brother.

Two years of relative quiet between the gangs on the Southside passed, and then suddenly Luca and Derek went missing. Edward had searched for his family for a few days until he got the word from fellow Ghoulies that they’d found Luca’s body beside the river that runs through Fox Forest. He’d been beaten and clearly tortured to death, but they’d been unable to find Derek; from what they could tell, though, it seemed as if he had suffered the same fate as his father. From what he’d seen of the scene himself, Edward suspected that Bruce had dumped Derek’s body in the river as a means of torturing him even further. There would be no closure without the body, and Bruce knew Edward enough to know how much that would bother him.

Losing both Luca and Derek did exactly what Bruce thought it would have done: it broke Edward. When Bruce threatened to kill Cassie if Edward didn’t leave Riverdale behind him, Edward had no choice but to take his daughter and run. He didn’t stick around long enough to learn that police found Derek wandering through the woods alone days later. Instead, he went back to the Smythes. While they wouldn’t give him as much as they had initially offered, they still gave him a hefty amount of money when he threatened to make his affair with Sebine public knowledge. Taking the hush money that they gave him, Edward changed his last name and left the small town in his rear-view mirror with his daughter in tow. Moving them all the way across the country, Edward set out to put his past in the past and start over.

Cassie spent most of her early life in Port Townsend, Washington, a small maritime town located just north of Seattle, with absolutely no recollection of her early life in Riverdale. Edward wanted to get as far away from Riverdale as possible, and a small town located literally on the other side of the country seemed like the best option to him.

Six months after moving to Port Townsend, Edward met a woman named Athena working as an emergency room resident in the local hospital. He’d been working various protection details for important people around the city and had been stabbed while protecting someone. What started as innocent flirtation between Athena and Edward quickly blossomed into something more. She looked beyond the damaged and rough exterior to the broken man inside, and it was Athena who helped him begin to heal. She knew who he was and what kind of man he had been raised to be, and she loved him anyway. She treated and raised Cassie as her own, and she is the only mother that Cassie has ever known.

Shortly after Cassie’s ninth birthday, Athena took a job at a medical center in the South Side of Chicago, and before she knew it, Cassie’s life was being uprooted and moved back east. Edward took various jobs in an attempt to keep up the semi normal life he’d been living in Port Townsend, but eventually he fell back into the only life he’d ever known, working as an enforcer for a local mob group in the city. It was the only real talent he had, and while Athena didn’t necessarily approve of it she stood by the man’s side regardless as he fell back into the familiar role. As she grew older, Cassie began following in her father’s footsteps, though Edward’s way of life was the last thing either parent wanted for Cassie. With time, though, they came to realize that there was no stopping the young woman. Much like both of her parents, once she set her mind to something there was no way she was going to budge.

Shortly after graduating from high school, Cassie literally ran into the man of her dreams. Anthony had stopped by a local diner for lunch; the same diner that Cassie was working part-time in. She had been in a hurry and not fully paying attention and slammed right into the taller man as he went to take a seat at one of the booths; luckily, his reflexes were amazing, and strong arms caught her before she could stumble backwards. He was only home on leave for a few weeks, but it only took a few short weeks for Cassie to fall head over heels in love with the Marine. Their relationship took off faster than most, but even to those around them it was as if they’d been together for years.

Cassie and Anthony were together for six months before he asked her to marry him. Her parents weren’t exactly thrilled at just how quickly the two had gotten to that point - it was one thing to approve of it, quite another to be okay with your daughter getting engaged after such a short time - but they didn’t object to it. Both Edward and Athena agreed that Anthony and Cassie were good for each other; the fact that he was going to be serving an entire deployment before they actually got married also helped Edward accept their engagement a little easier.

Tragedy struck their small family, though, when a notification party showed up on Cassie’s doorstep one morning to inform her that Anthony had officially been declared as Missing in Action, and Cassie and her family were listed as his only next of kin. Given the fact that he was a member of a Delta Force team, there wasn’t a lot that they could tell her about his disappearance, but they were certain that he had been gone missing during one of their missions. He had been presumed dead, but they hadn’t found a body so they couldn’t officially declare him Killed in Action yet. Cassie was torn apart at this news, but Edward and Athena were there to help her pick up the pieces. Even still, she hasn’t dated anyone since; there’s a part of her that hopes Anthony will show up on her doorstep one day.

Despite helping her father whenever she could, Cassie still had her own life as well. She had her own passions and interests outside of following in her father’s footsteps. Cassie had always been a curious nature, and after spending years of helping people on the South Side (of Chicago) with their own problems she decided to make a career out of it. Cassie enrolled in a local college to study criminal justice, though she dropped out just a few credits shy of graduating when another tragedy struck her family once more.

Throughout his years as an enforcer, Edward had made more than a few enemies. He never worried about it until the day that one of those enemies came after his family. Athena had been waiting outside of a local, family-owned restaurant for Edward and Cassie to meet her there for a family night out - a tradition they had started when she began college - when she was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting; Edward and Cassie had arrived moments later, and Cassie’s world began to come crashing down around her. Athena bled out in Edward’s arms while Cassie watched horrified from the sidelines.

In the months that followed, Cassie’s life was turned upside down. Not only had she lost the only mother she’d ever known, but she uncovered a truth she’d never thought possible. Edward had never hidden the fact that Athena wasn’t Cassie’s biological mother, but he had always told her that the woman who’d given birth to her had died in childbirth. Cassie had always believed him - she’d never had reason to doubt him - until the day she stumbled across letters between Sebine and Edward. She hadn’t thought anything of them at first, many of them were from when they were teenagers and before she was born, but then - as she continued to read - she realized that they continued for nearly a year after she was born. Letters in which Edward spoke about how he still loved her, but he understood her decision to stay with the Smythes, and he would continue to send her photos of Cassie as she grew. Not only had Edward lied about her mother’s death, but he’d kept an entire family from her for years.

In her anger, and after doing months worth of research on her mother and the woman’s family, Cassie left Chicago without a word to her father. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for in Riverdale or from Sebine, but she knew she had to see the woman in person.

10. HEADCANONS

Cassie absolutely loves to dance. She stopped dancing for a while, but now that she’s in Riverdale she’s started going to Jackie’s dance studio more often.

#gdhqintro #{ let me introduce myself | about }#[[ i'll finish this soon but it's mostly done ]]

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cowardsanctuary · 6 years ago

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fellas it’s theory time

is it theory time? it’s theory time.

In Inanimate Insanity (and other object shows I think?), objects are more often than not given abilities that correspond to what object they are. However, I’ve started to notice that some objects seem to have powers that... don’t necessarily suit what kind of object they are. Often these are for gags, but seem to be recurring nonetheless.

I’d like to posit that certain objects have superpowers. Not all of them are particularly noteworthy or beneficial, but something to keep in mind is that not everything is a “power.” Sometimes it’s just something they can do.

Could it be this deep? Probably not. But It Could Be.

Here are my theories under the cut!

I’m going to list everyone alphabetically, with this format:

Related Abilities: > These are things they are capable of because of the type of object they are.

Unrelated Abilities: > These are things they are capable of most likely due to skill development or personality.

Powers: > These are unexplainable magick-y things they can just. Do.

If an ability is bolded, that means it’s something I’m hypothesizing in earnest. If an ability is bolded* with an asterisk, that means it’s canonical. If an ability is italicized, it’s a jape that I’m making for the goofs.

Baxter:

Related Abilities: > Crab*: He is a crab. > Oh God: He Is Just A Little Man.

Box: Related Abilities: > Box*: He is a box.

Powers: > Nonliving: I don’t think he’s even alive????

Cobs: Related Abilities: > Dying - Cobs has the capability of perishing.

Unrelated Abilities: > Bastard^10 - Oh God Is He A Bastard > Extreme Intelligence*: He is vastly intelligent and skilled in the realm of engineering, but like an asshole bastard he invents Living Androids and still has the gall to give them planned obsolescence. I Hate Him.

Powers: > Being a little bitch: It’s unbelievable how much of a little bitch he is

Dough: Related Abilities: > Moldability* - Being a ball of dough, his shape can be molded and remolded within his material’s capabilities. In his debut episode, it appears that he can control this ability to some extent. It is unknown if mixing him with anything affects him in any way, especially since he’s dead now.

Unrelated Abilities: > Bastard - He is legitimately a bastard man.

Powers: > Ghost* - He’s fucking dead

Fan: Related Abilities: > Openable* - Like, y’know, a fan, he can open and close himself. Doing that allows him to pick up the breeze or stop doing that so he doesn’t fly into the sun.

Unrelated Abilities: > Being a Nerd* - Holy shit he’s an oblivious nerd and I love him > Blogging* - Not really a unique ability, but he’s more experienced with it than others because he. Does the it.

Powers: > None that I can observe.

Marshmallow: Related Abilities: > Edible* - Marshmallow, being a marshmallow, can be eaten. Like a kumquat! However, if you eat all of her, what the fuck man.

Unrelated Abilities: > Perfect Pitch* - Marshmallow can recognize and produce the absolute pitch of a musical note without reference (the production of such hinging on her range, however). As a (REALLY GOOD) soprano, she can also reach pitches shatteringly high. > Oh God Is Anything Real Anymore - Please Help Her

Powers: > (Unrefined) Anti-Gravity* - Most apparent in the 1st season, Marshmallow can inexplicably defy gravity, though sometimes this occurs outside of her control. (I’d like to think this is also why the Cherries accidentally catapulted her so far...) Apparently she’s been learning some pointers from Balloon! Though, since going to the mansion, I assume she’s going to need some pointers from Bow and Dough instead...

Microphone: Related Abilities: > Electrical Manipulability* - It’s less that she can control electricity outside her body, but more that she’s made with and extremely susceptible to the use of electricity on and/or near her. In Breaking the Ice, Microphone can be seen shorting out as she falls into the water.

> Simple Volume Control* - When she powers herself on, Microphone can increase her volume to tangible, and even harmful, levels. She returns to normal volume when powered off. She doesn’t seem to have much control outside of that (idk if she has, like, a volume knob or anything), but she knows how to use it effectively. > Refined Gain/Loss* - Like the comic! With a knob on her back, Microphone can increase and decrease the sensitivity of her hearing. She uses this to either tone people out or listen to quiet sounds (up close or far away)—most notably, Taco.

Unrelated Abilities: > music nerd* - she lov the musik > Lesbian - g, . . irl s., ????????

Powers: > None that aren’t related to her object.

OJ: Related Abilities: > “Rigid” Container* - OJ gets his namesake by having the Juice inside of Him. Since he’s basically a glass cup, he is capable of storing anything that can fit inside both him and his opening. However, OJ is prone to becoming dazed or ill if his Juice is diluted or lost—thus, being a “rigid” container rather than being just a container. It is unknown how liquids other than water affect him (since dilution is adding water to something, unless otherwise specified). > Shatterable* - OJ can crack and shatter, as demonstrated multiple times throughout Season 1 (and 2?) > Quasi-edible* - His Juice can be slurped. This does not kill him, but if he’s already dead, what the fuck, man.

Unrelated Abilities: > Straight Man - NO i don’t mean orientation—despite being acidic (SLAP), OJ tends to be a basic, everyday man. He’s debatably one of the most normal of contestants, simply being a guy who’s doing his thing (as opposed to being “normal” as his quirky personality trait).

Powers: > Winning a million dollars - Suck it Taco [THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY OJ GANG]

Paper: > He’s a dom

Pepper: Related Abilities: > Container* - She’s a pepper shaker, I hope she has pepper in her? She can also presumably store other things inside her that fit, though this hasn’t been done. > Shatterable* - I can’t remember which episode this was, but either Salt or Pepper has been shattered in the past? Assuming both are made of similar materials, Pepper’s container may be made of glass or plastic.

Unrelated Abilities: > Being a Teenager - like, like like like, like

Powers: > None that I can observe.

Salt: Related Abilities: > Container* - In a Season 1 episode opener, she mentions fears of bad luck after being tipped over and spilling salt. So yes, she has salt, I hope. However, besides the superstition, it doesn’t seem that she was bothered by losing a small amount of salt...? She can also presumably store other things inside her that fit, though this hasn’t been done. > Shatterable* - (copy-pasted from Pepper) I can’t remember which episode this was, but either Salt or Pepper has been shattered in the past? Assuming both are made of similar materials,Salt’s container may be made of glass or plastic.

Unrelated Abilities: > Being a Teenager - like like, oh my GOD, like

Powers: > None that I can observe.

Taco: Related Abilities: > Retractable Arms* - I mean, they don’t stretch out or anything, but Taco can hide her arms in her shell. Like a turtle. I guess it’s because of all the stuff in there?? > Shatterable* - As of Episode 13, it’s shown (but not mentioned) that Taco can crack her shell. > “Rigid” Container - A bit of an extension of Retractable Arms and her ~speshul power~, Taco can most likely stuff other things into her body. However, like OJ and Test Tube, removing what comes naturally with her body (lettuce & tomatoes and junk) or adding onto such could make her feel ill. (Thus the addition of “rigid:” she can contain things, but what she comes with is best!) No one has tried, so we don’t know for sure.

Unrelated Abilities: > Extreme Intelligence* - Taco is most likely the most intelligent and savvy of all past contestants, playing a persona to get the furthest in Season 1, and exhibiting enough knowledge to recreate and improve Test Tube’s inventions in Season 2. She seems to almost always have a plan... > Above-average Athleticism* - damn bitch she runn. In Inanimate Smackdown, she kind of just. Destroyed everyone. Yikes > Small - she’s small

Powers: > Hammerspace - hear me out on this. Throughout Season 1, Taco has been shown to be able to swallow an extraordinarily large amount of things (of various sizes) unharmed, and regurgitate them in perfect condition later on. I’d like to theorize that Taco has an infinite pocket dimension (well, the proper term is hammerspace) to store things. Mostly lemons. If not accessible by mouth, I guess she can just??? Procure things from her body??? I dunno man, she’s just an enigma.

Toilet: Related Abilities: > Flushing* - He can flush himself. I do not know where the water goes. > Container* - His bowl (and possibly his reservoir) has water! I doubt he minds being diluted (since he’s got Water), though I’m not sure the addition of other materials to his water would affect him much either.

Unrelated Abilities: > Just a Good Ol’ Chap - whom does his best and I love so much!!! > Cockney Accent* - He has one.

Powers: > Levitation and Flight* - To permit his hi-jinks despite his limblessness, Toilet is able to kind of just appear where he wants. He can control his speed of levitation, so it kind of looks more like flying. It doesn’t seem he has an altitude limit, though this (presumably) does not free him from the limitations of his mortality. However, he cannot teleport.

too tired to keep going, remind me to do apple, balloon, baseball, bow, bomb, cheesy, cherries, knife, lightbulb, mephone4 & mepad, nickel, (the entirety of) paper, paintbrush, pickle, suitcase, test tube, tissues, trophy, & yin-yang (OR send me asks and i’ll answer!!!),,,,, i’ll update this post with the rest as they’re made to keep them in one place!

i will give references and reasons for thinking these thingies if asked.

#theory #the coward speaks #osc #inanimate insanity #ii #the entire fucking cast i guess #power theory #we could make an AU out of this!!!!#though. if y'all want to know #the objects that i Think have powers unrelated to their object are:#baseball; bow; knife; lightbulb(ish); nickel; paintbrush; yin-yang(maybe?)#the ones i think have actual concrete powers instead of just being like. observations of things i thought were a little weird are:#bow; nickel; paintbrush #yeet!!!!!!!!!!#FUCK. mephone4 & mepad have confirmed powers

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friedesgreatscythe · 6 years ago

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If you had a chance to talk to the Seeds, what would you say and why?

god where do i start lmaofd jkdfsla

idek if any of these need an explanation, they seem pretty self explanatory to me. I know these are all questions, not statements, but this is what I'd want to talk about!

jacob: i’d probably ask jacob where he learned all the psychological stuff–was it in juvie? at the veterans’ hospital after the war? and why classical conditioning? like, i know it’s one of the first things you learn in psych, but what about it made something click in his brain? has he ever considered that his disastrous fixation on that is just a desperate attempt to heal and take control of his blatant PTSD?

why does he wear a rabbit’s foot? does he believe in good luck charms? what about superstitions? where’d he get the music box? did he have to get it custom made to play a goddamn song instead of a calliope melody?

WHAT BRAND OF CHAPSTICK DOES HE USE?

CAN HE YEET ME INTO THE LAKE IN FRONT OF THE GRAND VIEW HOTEL? I THINK HE COULD THROW ME PRETTY FAR

john: oh my god this fuckin guy. this. fuckin. guy.

who dared him to get that chair tattoo? where did he learn to do tats in the first place–was it a hobby? where did he and joseph bury the duncans? who owned the ranch before he moved into it? did he really want to be a lawyer? what would he have been if not?

WHEN WAS THE FIRST TIME HE FELL IN LOVE?

DID HE EVER FALL IN LOVE?

WHO WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO BREAK HIS HEART?

WHAT, EXACTLY, WENT ON IN HIS POSSIBLY STOLEN RANCH THAT WOULD EXPLAIN SCREAMING WALLS? I’M CALLING BULLSHIT ON THAT ONE, JOHN, I THINK YOU WERE TRYING TO SCARE ME.

and then the biggie: why does he think saying yes to pain will make it hurt him any less?

faith: tbh i’d be worried about how she’d twist what i say around–i can shittalk my way through these hypotheticals with the brothers, but faith’s somethin’ else, man. i’ve known and dated girls like her and they are forces to be reckoned with and always kinda spoop me.

but i’d ask her science-y and chemistry questions. i’d ask what her favorite song is. i’d ask about her dreams–what does she see in them? does she have any that come back? when’s her birthday? did she have any childhood pets? i’d ask her about her, who she is, not what she means to the cult. i’d want to remind her that there’s still a her somewhere below all that–maybe she doesn’t want to call it rachel, maybe she doesn’t know what to call it. but she still exists and that’s who i want to talk to.

joseph: tbh i’d probably lead in with “so how’d you get out of that hospital room after killing ur daughter?” and then get progressively more dire from there

does god ever say his name? what does god’s voice sound like? is joseph ever afraid that the voice will abandon him once he’s served god’s purpose? he said the voice was quiet when he was with his wife–does that mean god withdraws from joseph when he’s committed to some other goal/task? does that mean god prefers joseph to be alone, and lonely, and unfulfilled, because it makes him easier to command?

has he ever stopped to realize that both what he does and what he doesn’t do for his family leads to their continued pain/suffering? does he realize that there’s worse things than disappointing god, or what we think god wants from us?

when, exactly, did he lose all hope for the country as it is? what does he want the project to do once those seven years are up? are they going to rebuild society on all levels–cultural, agricultural, economic, political? can we assume it’ll be some sort of religious-based government, and if so, who’s in charge, and why, and how? is he just intending it to be some kinda cult-y commune with little infrastructure? does he not want it to get too large, because of the inevitable rise and collapse of civilizations?

why is the cult stockpiling so much explosive bliss in silos? why, exactly, do animals need to be blissed?

WHY IS HIS LUST TATTOO WHERE IT IS AND WHY ISN’T IT CROSSED OUT?

what was his wife’s name?

what was his mother’s name?

where did he get most of his scars, especially the ones that look new and raw and just recently sewn shut?

can i wear his sunglasses?

#i love this whole fuckin family ok #fjsdfkldskjl #far cry 5 #anonymous #krist answers

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universal-kitty · 6 years ago

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So I’m thinking about Borderlands again... Listening to music used in Borderlands... So I thought, why not go for it again? Explain my SI in one, comprehensive post, make another tag-series out of it (to go with my BnHA Edition one), and make it easier on us all, huh?

So here we go! Borderlands, the Self-Insert Edition! Featuring my SI, Rena “Gremlin” Marlow...and co.

Rena Marlow, a daughter of a brilliant scientist of their galaxy and a mother known- if lesser- by her photography of various planets and stars.

Brown hair parted down the middle with strands of brown hair that fall next to her face, in later years; in childhood, she just has fringe. Dark green eyes and wears glasses.

A happy, oblivious kid growing up. Liked to believe in fairytales, love at first sight, superstitions... A whole bunch of things. Very imaginative, in that sense.

Idolized her father. People seemed to adore him and knew him wherever he went. He spent long hours in his lab, making Rena daydream of all the cool things he was inventing back there. She was never allowed back there, usually, so she stuck to waiting around and staring at his lab door.

Eventually, he did invite her in, one day. Wanted help. The idea was so cool! Helping her dad with a project?! Wow!!! What cool thing would she get to work with?

...It wasn’t at all as pleasant as she’d hoped.

What he needed help with is all she’d ever know as “The Machine”. A smooth, pure white, helmet-looking contraption with lots of cords going into it, during the early days of her father hammering out the details of it.

It hurt then, too. Not being fully worked out, it tended to shock her a lot. Strapped down to a chair, she couldn’t go anywhere... Her father would carry her back to her room and- at some point- the process would begin again.

Carried on for a few months until it didn’t hurt anymore; it started...teaching her things. Suddenly, she knew all about oceanic life and could speak of it at a college level. Write her own studies on plant life. Her father was proud of her, The Machine didn’t hurt anymore, and even her often space-case mother praised her. It felt...amazing!!

Eventually the testing stopped, though. Her father brought in a guy to help and Rena was growing up, as the years passed.

In about junior high, she met a guy. Absolutely starstruck by him and settled on them being “soulmates” within a month or two... Not that it was just her saying this, mind you; her boyfriend certainly encouraged it.

Her friends were cautious, but supportive. Be chill, girl. Still a lot more in life, you know? Besides, considering who her dad is...?

Rena didn’t pay it much heed. Instead, more plans for the future! More dreams and secrets and quiet moments...

Well, until another few years later. Wandering the town at night, heading home...and spying that- just down the street- her supposed “boyfriend” was being sweet to some other girl, said he loved her, and kissed her.

It destroyed her. Her home life had never been stellar and she’d been hoping that with him...she’d be able to get out. They’d be a “happily ever after”.....

Rena instead decided to run away. That night. Get as far away from here as possible. Pack her bags, slip as much money and a little more as seemed necessary...and as a final knife to the back, steal The Machine.

It’s no secret it’s been killing other people, anyways. They can’t handle their minds being fed so much information, so it tends to backfire and rapidly destroy their mind... Rena’s never had that issue, though. Likely for growing with it as it evolved...so hers now.

Books it off-planet that night and goes as far as she dares within the next solar cycle or two.

Stays on another planet for a few months. Fakes an ID and goes to a local college... Who calls her out for being a daughter of Dr. Marlow anyways and practically sweeps her in with excitement.

Ends up acing everything far too easily, thanks to The Machine. But it all gives her a good starting point into the world ahead and a fancy piece of paper that basically says, “congrats, you understand what a Science is.”

At this point, understands: biological science (biology, zoology, oceanology), botany, geology, chemistry, ecology, and physics. And she’s just getting started!!!

Keeps running once more ‘til the funds are running low...and that’s when she finds Hyperion.

Initially joins under Tassiter, still recruiting people for Hyperion. He’s...doubtful of her true age, but accepts upon seeing what she can do when he allows her a trial run of things he wants to see done. Fast and experienced despite her face, he lets her join.

Enters R&D from that point on, at first as an on-hand assistant...before rising up to earn her own private lab and assisting with bigger and better projects. Rena proves herself worthy of it, and Hyperion bends a little to allow her, when possible.

It’s around this time, as they move into Helios and continue to set up, that an old crew hunts down Rena. They force her to accept their black-market deals or they report her back to her father... After all, they work for him, too, but are always lookin’ to cut a deal with the better side. Rena gives in.

The events of the Pre-Sequel go down. Rena largely keeps herself locked inside her dark laboratory, hiding away in one of her cabinets. It’s a terrifying, defining moment for her...and one that also helps survive the inevitable Jack takeover.

Honestly, that goes over like day to night for her. One minute, it’s still a “Tassiter” owned company, then before she knows it, Helios is complete and “Handsome Jack” owns the place. Well, okay then. Let her have her coffee as usual, oh Jack sir, and we’re all good.

Honestly, barely leaves her lab. Too much work going on. If not a Hyperion-issued project, then one of her own designs. She’s got a lot of room to work with and she’s gonna make the best of it, dammit!

Still manages to make a friend or two; meets Leah around this time. A very cheerful young woman who’s somehow dug ABBA out of their grave and is fond of “Dancing Queen.” Helps Rena keep in touch with her “feminine side” not that she sees much point to it...

They hang out a bit, anyways. It’s the only time Rena is guaranteed to sleep. Especially in a proper bed.

(Doesn’t sleep in the employee-issued rooms. Gives her paranoia of being alone; she’d rather be close to her work than stuck in a near-permanent panic attack.)

Her first pet project? Lizards. With a whole process of breaking down other key DNA sequences from other species. Why? Lizards....into dragons.

Silverstreak is her “main” partner. Silver dragon, with blue eyes. Incredibly bossy and sassy to the others; easy to assume their leadership position.

Other dragons include:

Apophis: Big male dragon, slightly bigger than Silver. Purple and gold scales, with four eyes total. An absolute jerk who tries to harass Silver, but they have none of it. Would kill a family for a cornchip, probably. And he doesn’t even like them!!

Dymri: Forest green dragon, with brown horns and a streak of fur down his back, with tufts on the bend of his forelegs and hind legs. Is now missing his left wing, due to Apophis ripping it nearly entirely off. (It ended up being amputated.)

Munda: Dymri’s mate. Ended up sprouting a lot more fur than he did, but in a more unusual color: green. Looks like a dappled forest with blue eyes and an attitude.

Poseidon: Blue, serpent dragon. Fairly big, though not as much as Apophis. Likes hanging out in water... That with his scale color, thus, the name.

Firestorm: A red, wyvern dragon. No arms, just wings, only hind legs. Red scales with bright green eyes. Truly a charmer.

Smokey: Firestorm’s mate. Dark scales that give off a black-grey color, which inspired her name. Red eyes. Has a tuft of fur at the end of her tail.

Sugar: Another female dragon named for her brown and cream-colored scales. Also a wyvern, with her hand-wings. Very sweet and friendly to anyone she meets. Small streaks of feathers from head to her tail.

Little Angel: One of the G2 dragons, along with three others of her nest. Has a broken horn on her right side. Black and white-splotched scales. A little trooper and totally not named after a certain siren...

.....Along with many more who are still unnamed to this date. From the first set (G1s) to the babies some pairs have had (G2s).

Cue the events of Borderlands, as Rena continues to raise dragons and serve Hyperion. Depending on who-what-where, this may be where some romances start their growth...but we’ll get to that later.

People continue to bother her. A nickname surfaces... “Gremlin.” Because she’s pretty short (at 5′2″ without her trademark heels), tends to be more active when most people would feel the need to sleep, and creeps around with a hunched back, more often than not. Truly, a gremlin among them.

Nothing really happens in this time period up ‘til BLands 2, in which Rena decides to perfectly time a trip to Pandora with a small group of scientists. Nobody’s really gotten personal with studying the Pandoran landscape, have they? So... Guess Rena will do it, then!

Only to find out why nobody has ever done that; raiders and bandits. Infiltrating the camp barely a week in.

Everyone is murdered. Rena escapes with the briefcase that holds The Machine, but is otherwise alone and stuck on Pandora.

Ends up trying to blend in, after a few weeks. There’s only so much an intelligent woman could do here...but how about one who acts like your typical psycho? Worth the shot, at least.

Slowly, the good scientist slips away into a woman masquerading madness while seeping into it, at the same time.

Pops is one of her first friends on Pandora. Someone she trusts...and a father figure to her. He’s a big man who knows hacking and coding, so she learns a bunch from him. They build robots together! It’s awesome.

From there, she gets introduced to this eye-guy waaaaaaayyyyy across the way over a call from Pops to that other guy. Rena ends up making him “Fly Boy” to do deliveries without leaving home.

Said guy looks out for Rena now, getting her new glasses whenever she breaks hers.

Made a few other bots in her time. One that only screamed “fuck” at the top of their lil’ volume, a fixed Claptrap unit with no sense of direction, and a bot named Sparky. But bandits destroyed him a few days into life. RIP, Sparky....

That nickname Helios gave her? Gremlin? Others call her that, now. All know of Gremlin!! ....Well, not all, but a lot.

Including Pyrotech and Meowzer. They run a small gang of bandits and are probably dating...? Gremlin still doesn’t know, either way, but she survived meeting them, so that’s cool.

Met another person who calls himself Scabbs. Largely because he’s got CIP (can’t feel pain; a marvel that he’s still alive when Pandora is your home planet) and so has a fair amount of scars and scratches... Ever since meeting up with Rena, she’s essentially adopted him and makes sure he’s got no life-threatening injuries.

Which is lowkey hilarious, considering Scabbs has made it 17 years without dying, so he’s not exactly in need of a parent, but... He likes Rena, so it’s cool.

Stocks up on weapons, clothes, and masks. All looted from dead bodies and washed up a little. Rena herself as taken to wearing a black tank top, torn up into a crop-top look, a Marauder jacket, and altered, brown pants. Has boots for shoes. Where she got ‘em, nobody knows.

Is stuck on Pandora all the way ‘til Tales... In which she tends to join up in an attempt to get back to Helios and get all of her shit back.

With that covering the basics... Let’s get down to the AUs, then the shipping verses after that, ey...?

AU 1- AI Rena: There’s two verses for this AU. (As long as this post already is.)

Verse 1: Rena owns the Wildlife Exploration Preserve shortly before the events of Tales. However, she didn’t realize one of her pet projects wasn’t bonding to her properly. While going in for feeding and check-ups, the beast killed her and activated a failsafe that resulted in an AI version of herself being activated.

Rhys, having no concept of safety, jabs a port into his head to try and get information on more pieces for Gortys. Just like a time before with Nakayama, Rhys instead downloads a whole ‘nother AI into his noggin.

Now he’s got an Asshole and a Know-It-All Scientist taking root in his skull. The good news is Rena is much nicer to him than HJack is. The bad news is the two bicker a lot because of it.

Where Jack is blue with yellow eyes, Rena is a green holo with- at first- light, green-yellow eyes. Over time, her eyes shift to yellow, however. Nobody is sure why, but Rhys and Rena agree to blame Jack for it. (Who is proud at her matching him, but less thrilled to be blamed for something he didn’t do... Intentionally.)

Lots of Rena snarking Jack. He can touch her, being another hologram like he is, but he can’t hurt her. Turns out her processing power comes from The Machine itself, so she can easily overpower his cruddy design from Nakayama.

Has a side path where she can enter a basic, non-perfect android body to reboot the systems at the Preserve, but later needs to transfer in another, more humanlike model to function better.

....HJack is not pleased with her upgrades, considering she’s getting the better end of the deal than he’s got. Rhys isn’t impressed with that tone, either. >:/

Verse 2: The Machine takes it’s toll on Rena. Her mind could better withstand it’s power, having being an unwilling subject in the early days of it’s development, but... Even her mind can’t keep this up forever.

It starts with forgetting her name. Won’t answer to Rena, but Gremlin works.

Forgetting her nickname.

Slowly, everything she’s ever learned starts going away. Bit by bit, losing what memories The Machine gave her. Rage sets in around here, recognizing her memory is no longer perfect and putting her into a panic of self-awareness.

Memories of people slip away now. Often cries for her ex or where her parents are.

Eventually is confined to bed, where her brain is failing to the point it can’t remember to continue to make the organs function. It’s around this point that she finally dies.

Her personality and memories were embedded into The Machine; her final goodbyes to friends and loved ones. Her AI keeps people from using it after her and requests that it be destroyed soon.

Just like in the first verse, her eyes start out a yellow-green. Then a yellow... If not destroyed, AI Rena’s eyes will sometimes flicker to red, showing how deeply the corruption has started effecting her.

Either way, The Machine will be unusable. Just as how Rena believed it should’ve been.

Siren AU: An AU in which Rena was instead born a Siren. She sports green tattoos on her right side and often made them glow when she was younger, for her amusement and not understanding who she was...or her powers.

Not that her parents helped any. Her mother was just completely confused and arguments over what to do with her were had a lot. Rena’s mother wanted to get her checked out at a hospital. Her father believed she truly was a Siren and wanted to experiment on her.

The arguments eventually drove Rena away and- living on Elpis at the time- Rena began the first dip into her powers: summoning her Siren wings (in a light green tinge) and flying away...off Elpis! Taking a trip to Pandora in order to hide from her fighting parents.

Phasecommand- Her main Siren ability. When executing, her eyes roll back and it summons Pandoran beasts/animals to her side to control and fight her enemies. However, any creatures that don’t disperse afterwards can be considered enemies to her allies or her, if she accidentally hurts one.

When using Eridium, her tattoos will change into more of a teal color and glow more.

Likes the idea of people, but prefers the animals and Guardians. People are too much for her to handle...

Somehow still summoned little dragons...? Is only ever seen with ones the size of cats or lizards, but it’s presumed that- like her main verse- they’ll one day mutate to full, dragon-of-legend glorious sizing.

Dragon AU: In one of two paths, with either Rena being one of the dragons of Eridian times OR having accidentally turned into one of her own dragons.

Either way, her dragon form typically looks a little something like this.

The first verse has her being more curious and prone to friendliness...but ready to snap if she senses ill intent. Still, tries to be optimistic, at least. Rests within a cave near one of the vaults.

About the size of a two-story home, if not a little bigger.

Rena speaks Eridian, but has the capacity to learn present day English, if given the time to learn.

The runes on her body allow her to safely use Eridium. By using it, her systems can filter it properly into a variety of uses, from specialized fire to shape-shifting!!

Verse two is just...Rena being done with this bullshit. All these years of science, for what? To be stuck as a dragon?!? The only useful thing that comes of this is not only does she now understand the world through a dragon’s eyes, but their language, as well.

Turns out, the language of the dragons is actually original Eridian and not whatever mumbo-jumbo you hear most present day speakers go for. It’s an interesting bit to learn, however it’s debatable if the cost was worth it.

(Will eventually return to normal with an understanding of Eridian, but I like just putting my SIs through nonsense, too.)

otp; Science and Violence (Rena/Jack): As literally pulled out of the RP @punk-opossum and I did a few months ago!! Cause I basically consider that “canon” for this ship, now. (Okay, with a few bits I’ve added in, but LARGELY pulled from our RP.)

They’ve been around each other since the beginning, really. Rena oblivious and never noticing Jack, but he’s seen her around. Quiet, nerdy gal who bothers nobody and does her job. Is kinda cool, but no other opinions.

Then, we truck over to the events during Borderlands 2...and things get tossed around like pizza dough. [Note: Nisha and Angel are dead at this point.]

Starting with Jack bothering her workspace. Shooting her head of department and declaring her in charge of Literally Everything R&D now. Rena is just trying to fucking work, ohhhh my god.

Not only that, but Jack casually shoves the Destroyer project from Nakayama right into her hands, as well. Rena has never been more overwhelmed in her life....!

And that’s BEFORE all of the innuendos and Jack’s husky voice getting way too close to her ears!!

...So yeah, it definitely starts as what should’ve been a fling, but attachments get all sorts of muddled. Rena’s the sort of balance Jack finds himself craving and, well... He’s fucked, but giving her the little things she thought she lost when her ex cheated on her. So maybe...it’s okay?

Lots of Jack being thirsty while Rena’s trying to work. Or him being clingy when she wants to go back to work... Far as Jack’s concerned, his job is full of free time and is so boring without her around. However, Rena can actually prioritize her work and keep this company’s science division flowing, soooo.... Hmm.

Rena has the struggle of a lifetime, but she still ends up getting her trip to Pandora to do on-planet research...much to Jack’s paranoia and displeasure. (Which ends up being right on the money, despite his best efforts.)

Can’t believe Rena would be dead. They can’t find her body either, so like... Far as Jack’s concerned, she isn’t dead. Doesn’t mean he’s any more pleased or sane about the whole situation, though.

Jack goes full-tilt into madness, sending people hunting through Pandora to try and find Rena. Hilariously, they’re always close, but either she just left her camp or they pass right by her hiding spot.

They don’t find each other until a few years later, when Handsome Jack himself is personally tearing a town apart on Pandora, still engulfed in his hatred for the planet and presumably taking Rena from him.

He aims his gun at a kid, but freezes. Something about her little tanned face, dark brown hair, and...hetrochromatic eyes....has him frozen in his tracks. Then her mother comes running up, their eyes meet, and Jack nearly roars in realization.

She’s dirty as hell, hair messed up and toting new scars from Pandoran life, but that’s Rena...!! Who’s... Who’s the kid, though?

He nearly has another freakout at her assurance this little girl- Carina- is his daughter?????

He’d want to not believe it, but Rena consistently swears off having messed around with anyone else. Oh, and the fact Carina happens to have eyes like her papa. (But unlike his heterochromia, hers is central; a different color surrounding the pupil.)

With this, they kicked off most of Jack’s thoughts for the Warrior, instead Jack now focusing a large chunk of time for the fact Rena’s back, not dead, and was badass enough to raise and protect a baby on Pandora. Mother of the Year award?? Y’all know who it’s going to.

Carina ends up being Jack’s lil’ princess. The only reason she’s not a spoiled brat is cause Pandora does shit to ya and also Rena knows the limits of taking care of kids; so really, she’s mothering both Carina and Jack.

THOUGH BEFORE I FORGET!!! There is a subset of this verse where also Angel is alive, didn’t have to keep being treated like she was, and- while it was a bit late- still managed to get a better mother figure. Oh, and Carina still happens later in this same verse, so her mood improves even more to have a little sister.

...Jack is totally a little salty that Rena and Angel get on so well. He’s an ass, but does love his daughter, so he’s like a sulky cat, knocking stuff over and hovering around, hoping for attention and acknowledgement.

Rena keeps Jack in line those days, so...eventually Angel and her father get on a better foot than before and he’s very okay with everything and clingy to his family.

otp; Rulers of Pandora (Jack/Rena/Nisha): In which Jack and Nisha take in one of the local Hyperion nerds to spice things up... Only to decide, “naaahh, she’s a keeper.”

Took her into their fray around the early events of Borderlands. Where things are fun, but could be more fun... You know?

Jack’s seen Rena around before, but never gave her much thought... His mind is simply too here-and-there to keep notice for long when he’s trying to pick at more shallow aspects to bring in.

Nisha catches her eye, though, and decides she’s curious when Rena immediately looks away, blushing up a storm.

Turns out, Rena can’t handle Nisha. At all. Immediately turns into a klutz around her. Nisha finds it fucking hilarious and proceeds to drag her off to show Jack...who also realizes how hilariously awkward Rena is. They’ve taken her in, since.

Primarily still spends a lot of time up on Helios, but on occasion, will go down to Pandora to spend time with Nisha once HJack gives her Lynchwood.

Is definitely the little “pet” of the trio and is mercilessly teased by them for it, but anyone else messes with Rena? You’ve now got two of the six galaxies most lethal minds on your ass. Start running.

Nisha: I don’t like cute things. I kill cute things. Rena: cooing over some baby skag bc she’s an idiot Nisha: .........For fuck’s sake--

In other words, both Nish and Jack both soften up a bit for Rena. Which is a mistake for anyone else to see, cause while they’ll let their favorite nerd frolic in a field of baby animals, they’d still sooner shoot an annoying pest.

Nisha and Rena are the only ones to know about Jack’s true face under the mask. Nisha doesn’t really care, but Rena? Loves it.

Two Murderers and the Embodiment of Sunshine. That’s how you sum them up.

otp; love like fools (Rena/Rhys): I don’t know what Imma do with this anymore, but it exists as a verse, so I’m gonna heckin’ include it.

Met around the events of BLands/BLands 2. Rena had overworked herself on a project and was hiding in a break room. Cup of orange juice in hand and staring at it. Rhys couldn’t sleep, so he came in... They had an awkward conversation, but not much else.

Curious, Rhys starts stopping by the R&D department more and starts realizing the issue: she never takes a break or seems to get much rest. Work, work, work, day and night. Isn’t that exhausting??

So Rhys takes it on himself to get her food and drink. Mostly snacks, but whatever works. He also tries to ask about her projects, but it largely goes over his head when she starts doing her usual round of science talk.

He tries, though. So that’s nice.

His crush is obvious as shit as time keeps going on. Even his friends notice. Leah notices. Rena? Does not. She is oblivious as heck. Rest in pieces, Rhys.

Literally nothing happens there. Just Rhys doing his best to get Rena’s full attention with no luck. Right up to her eventual trip-and-trap to Pandora.

They don’t meet again ‘til the events of Tales! While wandering around the landscape, Rhys bumps into “Gremlin”, realizes she looks familiar and...

Rhys: ...Are you Rena? Dr. Marlow? Gremlin: Who...? WAIT A MINUTE!!! YOU?!? Rhys: Y-YEAH!!! YOU’RE ALIVE?!?

Everyone else is confused, but Rhys and Rena proceed to catch up. Meanwhile, HJack is making comments that are making Rhys’ face pink and trying to mentally shut the AI up before he says something embarrassing to Rena.

Which basically happens anyways, cause he excuses himself to walk away, thud his head into the caravan, then walk back trying to act like nothing happened. Where were we? #Concern from Rena.

She joins the troupe for fun times, being surprisingly okay when Rhys admits that HJack’s AI is like...inside his head. Just chillin’ there. Well, when not being usual Jack, but you know.

(In some variations of this, AI Jack was programmed to know Rena, so he’s twice as insufferable as usual. However, this isn’t often the case.)

It takes Rhys forever and plenty of nagging from HJack before he even tries to smooch Rena. And even when he does, it was still a terrible idea, cause Jack wouldn’t shut up. Thankfully, Rena’s still pretty chill about the whole thing.

Fiona and Sasha warm up to Rena over time, Vaughn’s heard about her from before, so they all pal up while Rhys has a crisis over HJack ruining his romantic life. It’s a nice break from freaking out around other people, at least.

Joins them on the trip to Helios. She needs to check up on her babies... It’s been so long....

An expert at sneak, a duck around cameras and back up to the old employee living quarters... It’s amazing what a brush, hot water, and a change of clothes can do for a person. (Gotta readjust to heels again, though.)

While Rhys and Fiona are taking over Helios to get the next piece for Gortys, Rena makes her way back to her lab. Not everyone is gone, but... A lot of the G1s have passed away and even a few G2s. Silver and Apophis stay strong, but have been slowly getting bigger in Rena’s absence.

Encourage the trope into an old, cleaned out nesting box and start figuring out her escape plan from there, trying to get in contact with Rhys and Fiona. Only for an eerily familiar voice to pour out around Helios...and announce Rhys the new leader of Hyperion?!

Shit. Shit, shit, shitshit- Now what? She didn’t think Rhys was gonna be in cahoots with Jack! I mean, yeah, he idolized the guy.... Jack embarrassed him a lot, but he still seem to think it was pretty neat...... Awh, hell. Still! Gotta get outta here!!

Ends up smoothly making her escape in a ship with some of her more friendly co-workers: Dan [the Man] (a pilot who used to fly HJack’s private ship; trans, demisexual with a preference for men who is a coffee addict) and Leah.

...And then Helios crashes not too long later. Dan is...less than impressed (internally freaking out, however) and Leah is basically having a panic attack.

Rena tries giving them advice for surviving on Pandora, but Dan later finds Atlas (now being rebooted by Rhys) and decides with Leah that they’ll join up.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, Rhys owns the place. Dan is brought on as his personal pilot (”Sweet. So, where’s the coffee machines around here?”), Leah is hired for PR, Cassie (a blonde lesbian who’s only ever done secretary jobs most of her life) joins later as his secretary...and Rena? .....Shit, Atlas doesn’t really...have an R&D department, do they...?

Rena nervously points out that- if he finds the muscle, they could retake the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. Take over, do some rebuilding and remodeling... Make it not only into Atlas’ new R&D, but also a way for Rena to continue her penchant of creating dubious creatures. Also because the dragons are only getting bigger as their generations continue.

Pyrotech and Meowzer decide to join in, along with Pops calling in a few favors. Bandits v. bandits to clean out the place and serve as muscle while WEP is getting remodeled. (Also, they’re getting paid, so other bandits looking for a handy buck hop on for the more beneficial side.)

Rena gets a new look to symbolize her Atlas change (a black, long cloak with a hexagon pattern on the inside, black tights, black heels, and an ombre, orange-red-to-yellow, turtleneck dress; hair is also pinned up)! Power couple of Atlas, basically everyone agrees. And kind of like in another verse, Rena keeps him in line....when he’s not having to do the same for her!!

Rhys: I’m not sure....making a monstrous, three-headed dog is a good idea, babe. Rena: I didn’t come here to make wimpy science, Rhys!! I came here to kick ass, take names, and do SCIENCE! But thank you for your opinion~ Rhys: ......oh no.

6-legged to 8-legged cats are realized under Rena’s flourishing arms. A three-headed dog. The dragons prosper and return to Pandora, honoring Rena as their Mother, as Silver- and later Apophis himself!!- have done.

She even creates an android in secret. Names them Aria and they have learning software. Everything about life, they must learn on their own. Starting with the Preserve, and then one day... Leaving home to formulate their own experiences.

Later in life, Rhys and Rena have a daughter, naming her Vela. (A reference to the trio of constellations that Carina is also a part of.)

Has about as much common sense for safety as her mother does. Rhys is terrified for her safety on the daily. Because of their lack of fear, Rhys tries to keep Vela with him at Atlas HQ more than at the preserve with Rena.

otp; nerdperion (Rhys/Rena/Vaughn): ...I mentioned it once. Then the idea snowballed from the initial idea and the “what ifs”.

Look, I can’t deny it. It’s the nerd trio that most only dream of. In their Hyperion days, you had the money man, middle manager, and the top scientist.

By the time of Tales, you have a bandit leader in his own right, an Altas CEO, and woman who is held back by only her set-in-stone morals.

Vaughn and Rena going on raids out on Pandora, protecting people and the Children of Helios. Perhaps even with the dragons as backup...?

Rhys constantly has to worry for these two dorks, but that’s why he has a steady wing in Atlas for healing stuff. A fair bit of research passed on from Rena, to be fair, but still.

Vaughn takes lessons from Rena how to ride beasts. Like dragons! Was it a good idea? Not really. But nobody got hurt, at least!!! And Rena also solidified the saddle designs for them, so that’s pretty cool, too.

Rhys is a little more boring on that side of the coin in the regard he’s mostly just running a company, but still. Vaughn helps out from time to time and Rena’s running the entire R&D division of Atlas, so.....

otp; scientific haikus (Rena/Zer0): In which my first crush from Tales lives on...and it’s a rather unlikely couple, honestly.

Starting right off the bat with the fact she never really knew about them until one of her Pandoran raids? They showed up to kill some people and then just kinda...disappeared.

That first meeting bothered Gremlin for weeks. Who?? Who????

Meeting them again...and again..... Never getting the courage to confront them out of fear. (What if they slice and dice her up, too?? She’s lived too long to get struck down now...) But despite that, she eagerly daydreams about the oddity...

Also, isn’t as sly as she thinks; Zer0′s been knowing, they’ve just been waiting for Gremlin to go first. Though, she hasn’t been...so that’s a bit of an issue.

Eventually, they make sure that their next target will be in an area they know Gremlin frequents. When she shows up...Zer0 finally gets the chance to introduce themselves.

Zer0: Finally, we meet / Finding you was difficult / My name is Zer0; pleased. Gremlin: .....Did... Are you speaking in haiku?! Zer0: :) Gremlin: ...holy shit; nice.

They strike up an odd sort of friendship from there. Meetings become random again, though Zer0 takes time to listen. They actually are able to call her Rena in private which is...nice. Kinda easy to forget that was her name before the whole “stranded on Pandora” bit.

Zer0 ends up enabling her collecting habits, too; brings back not-too-bloody clothes and trinkets they find while out and about on jobs. She gains quite the collection, thanks to that!!

Actually wanted to offer assistance when Zer0 took on the Gortys hunt, but joined up only later on and... HOLY SHIT, HYPERION EMPLOYEES!!!

It’s wild, seeing familiar faces and talking about the past. Zer0 has...some concerns, but otherwise trusts the group with Rena.

This includes their plan to invade Helios, in order to get the final piece Gortys needs to access the Vault of the Traveler. They’re not thrilled about her involvement in the plan, but Rena still knows a lot about Helios and the Hyperion system. Her going with ensures things will go even more smoothly, so... Who are they to deny their crush friend from helping others?

....And then they hear it all went to shit. Though they showed up, trying to find Rena among the wreckage... There was no luck. They get upset over this for quite some time, but without a body... Zer0 keeps a metaphorical ear out. Won’t believe she’s dead yet. Not yet.

Eventually, when Rhys gets in contact with Zer0 for help with the vault, they meet up again. Rena is ecstatic to see him again- having since become the head of Atlas’ R&D and gone hunting to assist with this, too- and Zer0 is just happy to be right; she didn’t die back then after all...

Is surprisingly handsy from there on out, flashing the smile or heart emoticons, a hand on Rena’s waist, etc.

Everyone else catches on to Zer0′s affections far faster than Rena herself does, that’s for sure.

Rena: It’s nice... I’ve never really had a lot of platonic affection, you know? Fiona, sighing: N-No, that’s not... How do you not see what’s going on, here?? Rena: .........what? Everyone: s i g h s Rena: ????????

They do eventually ask her out when nearly everyone on the team has them to spare them the oblivious misery, cause- once again- Rena sure ain’t gonna do it.

Also cause Gortys has been trying to ask about them dating anyways, so-?? Just do it???

Zer0 still takes a while longer to get the right words to say that fit their haiku format, but the actual confession...? Well, at least it feels like the right note to end an adventure on; seeing her eyes light up, smile breaking free, and hugging the other tight around the waist was good. Great, even!

...Though with Fiona and Rhys temporarily disappeared...who runs Atlas?

Thankfully, Rena knows Cassie personally and has her and another person- Dan, a pilot for Rhys’ personal ship (and once worked under Handsome Jack, as well)- back her up on heading Atlas for a temporary period of time.

Zer0 sticks around for a time, just to make sure a mutiny doesn’t rise up and try to take Rena down. They only back off once her guard-friends from R&D make their way over... Again, just in case.

Zer0 goes back to work not long after that, though makes sure to visit more often. It not only makes them anxious to not know how Rena is doing (if she’s still alive), but also because they’ve started getting used to her touch. Touch starved? Zer0? ....A little.

Starts even exposing her face around her, Rena admits. What they look like? Well, pffftt, she’d never tell~!

otp; i ruv you (Rena/Timothy Lawrence): Oh, it started as a joke...then I was in too deep and now it’s never been better~

Thanks to both of them being workers under the Hyperion brand, they end up meeting sooner rather than later.

Much like Jack, Tim noticed Rena around: sitting in the Hub and people-watching, walking by her lab... Things like that. Didn’t pay too much mind, but then...he got hurt. On his face.

Rena, being the oldest lasting employee not killed off yet by Handsome Jack, is given the old papers for the build of Jack doubles and given some people to work with by HJack himself in order to fix up Tim right.

It’s love at first appointment; she’s gentle, knows what she’s doing, and eventually he’s looking back to the usual. The little smile she gives as he left? ...His heart was racing for an hour after, he swears by it.

He starts visiting her more, after that. Whether because he allowed himself to get hurt or it’s after a mission and he’s got some extra free time before his next one... He hurries to that lab of hers in order to chat.

Befriends the dragons she creates happily. Silver doesn’t bond to him in the same way, but they tolerate him and will let Tim hold them. It’s so cool!!!

Then Rena admitted to him one of her other projects...wanting to create multi-legged cats. Tim was thrilled at the trust, nervous over the project, but Rena assured all would be well. The dragons have done wonderfully, so that will go well, too!

He got the chance to kiss her when she was patching him up again. He’d tried to lean forward, but she stopped him a moment to finish up...then, shyly, asked if he wanted to try that again...? He lit up and they both got into a hasty, messy kiss that had them giggling in delight.

...With that, their unofficial dating started! (Which HJack quickly knew about and considered doing something to one of them to end it, but overall decided if any news got out, he’d actually take Rena as his own and make his doppelganger regret getting into a relationship behind Jack’s back; capiche? Tim nervously agreed.)

Still... Her move to Pandora made him nervous. Especially since his next assignment was on Elpis, so if anything happened...!

Rena kissed his cheek and assured him she’d be fine. It would be very in and out; no need for worry!

When even Jack was troubled by the report that came in later, Timothy was up in arms ready to shoot down some psychos.

HJack: Like, nobody reported her body. Which could be a sign she’s not dead? But it’s Pandora; who knows? Tim, sweating and shaking: Please...just fucking shut. Up.

Backtalking the boss is bold, but Tim is all kinds of done with this news and needs to ditch for Pandora in order to find Rena. HJack allows this more out of interest for the “game” than anything else.

Timothy ends up- more or less- a sort of permanent presence on Pandora while trying to find Rena. Doesn’t much notice or care when Jack’s insanity summons the Warrior...or when he’s taken down. Besides, people spook more easily to hear Handsome Jack died, but see his masked face even still on Timothy’s own.

Not getting answers on where Rena is...stresses him out, though. Makes him bitter, that maybe someone did kill her... He expresses his anger in a bit of murder and then sulks more over how this is turning him into a lesser Jack after all... Makes the guy almost sympathetic.

But with a few years passing, Atlas suddenly rises up out of the crashed ashes of Helios...and if Tim has any hope left for the lost Rena, might as well go there, right?

He scares the shit out of Rhys, walking in looking like Handsome Jack in the flesh. (Not even his secretary tried to stop him, looking like he did; dirty and murderous.)

...Though it’s actually just some resting bitch face and determination. Tim ends up explaining everything and Rhys even more hurriedly explains that she’s not dead!!! In fact, he just sent her over with a group of hired bandits to the WEP! She’s going...to be heading his new R&D department, you know...

Tim almost doesn’t want to hope, but he jolts out of there faster than Rhys or Cassie can stop him and is rushing to the Preserve in hopes to catch her there and maybe help out in the firefight.

Ends up finding her in a car just outside, all tanked up and safe as she directs everyone to where they need to go...but oh shit, handle that on your own for a bit; there’s a guy outside the car. She walks a little closer...and screeches, stumbling back.

Tim: No, no!! Rena!!! It’s me, it’s Ti- Jimothy!!!! It’s me, not Jack! Rena: ......Timothy?

She hesitantly lets him in and Tim at least proves that- despite his appearance- he is definitely not Jack by patting her over, realizing she’s alive, and then kissing her breathless.

Rena explains her situation having gone by “Gremlin” up to this point and pretending to be a psycho on occasion in order to live. The new friends she’s made up until that point. Tim tells her about the years he spent trying to find her, hoping she wasn’t dead.

As self-promised, he cuddles her in his lap for a little while longer, then kisses her again and joins the firefight outside to clear out the preserve.

Hyperion’s fallen, Atlas is a rising venture... Why not? Student loans sure don’t matter anymore.

He largely stays with Rena at R&D; her personal bodyguard and more-official-than-in-the-past boyfriend.

She also makes good on the multi-legged cats, as mentioned in the past. Tim decidedly loves them just as much- if not more- as regular cats.

ot3; ??? (Maya/Rena/Krieg): So hear me out... I will never learn. This will be neverending. I’m just as disappointed in me as you are. Also, Tumblr removing line breaks is the bane of my existence. Fuck this website. ANYWAYS!

Rena...met Krieg, first. In passing. He was a part of the slag experiments, Rena works R&D.... You hear about this sort of thing. She did, with her sharp ears and too-caring-attitude, despite working for the most monstrous corporation in the six galaxies.

Still, she was never able to help him or anyone else... Despite desperately wanting to. Despite catching his eyes once, guilt eating her up from the inside. (A pity-look from another one of them, Krieg used to think.)

They didn’t meet again until much later, during the events of Borderlands 2: Gremlin stuck on Pandora while Maya and Krieg were deadset on dethroning Handsome Jack. Y’know. Her old boss?

Krieg almost doesn’t recognize her when he’s out wandering, but it’s seeing her dirty face that strikes a chord in his sensible side. He remembers her! One of Hyperion’s own... What’s she doing out here? Alone and without company...?

Not that Krieg cares; seeing someone who was in any way involved with hurting him sends him into a fit of rage, trying to attack her with all he’s got! Rena dodges, not understanding...until she realizes who this psycho is...

It’s the worst first meeting- putting his first interaction with Maya in the dirt- as she eventually bursts into tears trying to apologize to him. It startles Krieg to stop, listening to her as she’s pitifully curled up in the dirt, hands up in a show of surrender, apologizing to...him.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you back then!! I wanted to, I really did, but I... I couldn’t! I’m sorry, Krieg, I’m so, so sorry!!!!”

Maya returns to this scene unimpressed, giving a Look to Krieg before helping the still-sobbing Rena. They both take her back to her shambling little base...and Krieg stares at the coat on the wall. The last reminder of who she was...

It occurs to him, then, that they’re in a similar spot. He lost his mind to slag, becoming a psycho, his mind barely together...and Rena is losing her sense of self, too. Going by Gremlin to blend in, faking insanity to blend in...but how long of that before it all becomes too real? Before she changes for good, even without influences like he’d gotten...?

Maya is more than content to help and leave, but Krieg...feels guilty. It’s a rare show of clarity and kindness from the big guy...and that’s when Maya realizes she’s lost the battle before it’s even begun.

They do take down HJack eventually, but frequently stop by to check in on Rena from there on out. Krieg likes poking around and laying on the stolen mattress she has. Maya finds out she’s actually super smart...and it’s fun. It’s nice.

You grow to like- even love- Krieg for his lucid moments. Appreciating his more violent ones for the defense they provide, as well as the enemy-sweeping he can do. Her powers work well with his might.

Add Rena into the mix, it’s brains, balance, and brawn. It works out even better than Maya could’ve predicted....and yeah, she kinda ends up falling for the scientist, too. Would’ve never pegged herself as the polyamrous type, but... She and Krieg share the sentiments.

Rena and Krieg keep each other balanced. Maya doesn’t have time to baby anyone; she keeps going at her own pace. Anyone who wants to keep up has to pull their weight...but Rena is a natural nurturer. When she’s a little loopy, they use a language only they can really understand. (It takes Maya some time to adjust to.) When Krieg gets frustrated, she helps him through it. To get back in touch with his old self. It’s comforting. Very comforting.

Maya and Rena, on the other hand, share a lot of conversation about....anything and everything. Maya talks about her Siren powers and pieces of her life. Rena talks about her own life- a lot more openly- and the science she used to do on Hyperion. How proud she still is of those times. Maya’s endeared to those moments.

It also later comes in handy... When Maya needs to depart from Pandora to go back to Athenas some time later, wanting to further underside her Siren lineage. Pandora only answered so much, after all...

Won’t let Rena or Krieg join, but the two keep each other company in the meantime. Waiting for Maya to come back home.

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imaginetonyandbucky · 7 years ago

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Prompt: After everyone gets pardoned and let back in the country TOny starts working on Buckys new arm. It starts out tense but grows into a friendship, they both start to get crushes on eachother and then there hits a point where Tony needs to work on Buckys shoulder in the front where its easier to get to by sitting on his lap. Awkwardness and fluff ensues

Mending Bridges

The first time, they sat in silence whileTony worked, a silence made tolerable only by the music Tony had playing loudlyin his lab. Bucky had sent him an emailwith the problems he was having, and Tony responded with a date and a time. The second time, Bucky brought a book, butthe third time he forgot and eventually got tired of staring over Tony’sshoulder and pretending like his arm was being worked on by a robot or aninvisible fairy.“SoI was wondering-“

Withoutlooking up, Tony took out the screwdriver he’d been holding in his mouth andsaid, “We don’t need to talk,” which was really saying something becauseaccording to the other Avengers Tony needed to talk like people needed tobreathe. But Bucky got the hint and stared at the opposite wall of the lab, jawtight.

Healways remembered to bring a book and his iPod after that, but halfway throughone maintenance session Bucky steeled his courage and said, “I know you hateme, and I want to say that I’m okay with that. I understand. I mean, I didn’t mean for any of it to happen…”he trailed off, thinking of a dark gravel road in the middle of nowhere, andthen his little walk-up apartment in Bucharest, shabby but safe. Until Stevecharged in ahead of the cavalry and it was all blown to shit. “But it did. So. I’m sorry.” Bucky couldn’t bring himself tolook at Tony so he put his earbuds in, turned the volume up, and buried hisface pointedly in his book until Tony was done.

Thenext time Bucky came in Tony seemed unusually tense. Halfway through the session, Bucky had pausedhis music to pick something different when Tony started talking. “I don’t hateyou,” Tony said in a low voice, keeping his eyes on the wires in Bucky’s arm, wherea thin stream of smoke was coming up from his soldiering iron. “You’re just…a reminder. It’s hard to…” Bucky saw a muscle in Tony’s jaw flex. “Anyway. It’s not you. I’m sorry for making you think that.” He glanced up at Bucky and looked awayquickly when he saw Bucky watching him. “Andalso for trying to, you know…kill you.” Tony didn’t look up again after that, soafter a moment Bucky turned on a song at random and closed his eyes, feeling aknot of tension inside himself relax slightly.

Then came the day that Bucky let himselfinto the lab and there was a stack of books next to the chair where he usuallysat. He was reading the summaries on thebook jackets when Tony came up, cleaning grease off his hands with a shop rag. “JARVISsaid you hadn’t read those yet. You werereading one of his books last time, and, um, he’s one of my favorite authors, ”Tony said while he arranged the tools for working on Bucky’s arm, taking extracare to make sure they were cleaned and lined up neatly so that he could avoidmeeting Bucky’s eyes.

“Thanks,”Bucky said with smile, recognizing the gift for the olive branch that it was. “So, uh, what are we working on today?”

“Stevementioned a malfunction in your fingers?”

Buckysnorted. “He just said that because I’ve just been giving him the bird a lotthis week.” Bucky grinned when that surpriseda laugh out of Tony. He opened up thefirst book of the stack to hide his face when he found himself thinking holy shit that’s a beautiful smile.

(Watch out for the break, mobile readers!)

***

Afterthat Bucky found himself looking forward to the next session, even thoughwhatever was happening with Tony still felt fragile. He found himself reluctant to even mention itto Steve, having some strange superstition that talking about it would messthings up somehow. He’d already finishedall the books that Tony had loaned him from last time so he tucked them underhis arm and was scrolling through his iPod to find the band that he was goingto have Tony listen to when he glanced up and came to a dead stop.

Themusic in the lab was already up fairly loud, something with a lot of base thatBucky hadn’t heard before, and Tony was bent under the hood of a car, hipsmoving as he sang along. All Bucky couldsee was how those shop jeans seemed to barely be hanging on and how Tony’s tanktop was riding up as he reached deeper into the engine compartment, revealingthe dimples at the base of Tony’s spine. His mouth went dry when he helplessly imagined pressing his thumbs intothose dimples while he pinned Tony against the car, rolling his hips againstthat ass as he slid Tony’s shirt up and put his mouth on-

“Oh,hey Bucky.” Tony’s voice startled himout of his reverie so abruptly that Bucky jerked and the books under his armhit the floor. Bucky scowled, feelingreal smooth as he knelt to pick them up, glad that he’d had his iPod in hisflesh hand or he might have crushed it. Themusic in the lab died abruptly and Bucky heard Tony approaching. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Notyour fault,” Bucky said gruffly, fighting a blush as he handed the stack toTony. “I finished these, they were good.”

Tonysat them down on his desk as he led Bucky back to their usual work station. “I brought a new author I thought you wouldlike,” he said, handing Bucky a new book as he sat down on his wheeled stool.

“Theymade a movie about this one,” Bucky commented, recognizing the title.

“Yeah,it’s alright. The book is better, ofcourse.” Tony cleared his throat, and was rearranging his tools in a way thatBucky was starting to recognize as nervous habit. “So, um, I think today we need to take a lookinside the shoulder.”

“Ok.”Bucky looked at him blankly until he realized what Tony was trying to say. “Oh. Yeah, ok, not a problem.” He sat forwardenough to grab the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head.

Henoticed that Tony was being careful not to look at his chest as he rearrangedthe lighting around the chair and felt a stab of self-consciousness at hisscars. To distract himself, he went backto scrolling through his iPod. As Tonystarted removing some of the plates at the top of his shoulder, close to someof the worst of the scarring, Bucky handed him the earbuds. “I, um, found a new band you might like.”

Tonytook them with a look of interest and put them in his ears as Bucky pressedplay. After a minute, Bucky asked, “Whatdo you think?” He started to stop the music but Tony took the iPod out of hishand, looked at the name of the band, and slid the iPod in his back pocket ashe went back to work.

“Ilike it,” he said, offering Bucky another one of those beautiful smiles, andBucky found himself smiling in return.

***

“So exactly how many motorcycles did Stevego through during the war?” Tony asked randomly one day, squinting down at thetiny fuses he was replacing in Bucky’s arm.

“Oh my God.” Bucky put his book down andaimed a glare at the ceiling, as if he could see Steve’s guilty look throughfive stories of concrete. “Is he still throwingthem at people?”

“Yes!” Tony tightened down the last plate on Bucky’sarm and patting it unthinkingly, something that Bucky noticed he did to all ofhis electronics when he was done working on them. He hid his smile as Tony kept talking andturned to put his tools away. “I’m thinkingabout giving him a bicycle for the next mission.”

***

“Idon’t have to sit here and be insultedlike this,” Tony said with a scowl, pointing his screwdriver at Bucky.

“Yesyou do. You have half my armdisassembled on your work bench. Now asI was saying, the remake of Red Dawn isbetter than the original because-“

“JARVIS!Music, volume level nine!”

Grinningwidely, Bucky just spoke louder to be heard over the sudden screaming ofMetallica. “-And Apocalypse Now isjust an overrated adaptation of Heart ofDarkness-“

When Tony put his hands over his ears andstarted chanting “shut up shut up”Bucky wanted to kiss him so badly that it took his breath away.

***

Afew days later Bucky was leaning against the kitchen counter eating cereal outof the box and drinking orange juice out of the carton when Tony breezed in,throwing his suit jacket over the back of a chair. He rolled up his shirt sleeves as he headedstraight for the coffee pot with a flash of a smile and a “Hey, Bucky.”

Buckythought he grunted something in return but mostly he was staring at the corded musclesin Tony’s forearms and wrists as he cradled the coffee mug like it was water ina desert. Today he was wearing a deepblue shirt that made his dusky skin glow and a vest that emphasize the compact,lean lines of his chest and waist. Tony had loosened his tie and the top buttonsof his shirt, revealing the tantalizing hollow at the base of his throat. Bucky wanted to lick it.

Bucky swallowed with difficulty and forcedhimself to look away, trying not to feel self-conscious about his hair pulledup in a messy bun and the beat-up sweatpants he stole from Steve.

“Breakfastof champions?” Tony asked after he drained half his coffee cup in one go.

“What?”Bucky said stupidly, for a terrifying second wondering if Tony somehow knewwhat he’d been thinking about.

Tonygestured with his mug at the box of cereal still in Bucky’s hands. “Straight from the box? Didn’t want to do anydishes?”

“Oh.Yeah. That, but mostly because it aggravates Steve,” Bucky answered withoutthinking, distracted by the way Tony’s throat moved when he drank his coffee.

Tonyrefilled his mug and saluted Bucky with it. “In that case, carry on. I gotta run to another meeting.”

Buckyjust grunted again, staring at his feet so he wouldn’t stare at Tony’s ass inthose tailored pants as Tony walked away. Christ, he was in trouble.

Tonykept his cool until he got to the elevator, pretending to look at his phoneuntil he heard the elevator doors slide shut. Then he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cool metalwalls, replaying the image of Bucky looking like he had just rolled out of bed,eyes heavy-lidded, hair looking like someone had been fisting their hands in it. His voice had been a deep, sleep-roughenedrumble that Tony wanted to feel again under his lips. But more than the heat of want that wascurling in his groin, Tony had wanted to step into the circle of Bucky’s armsand tell him about his morning, to see if he could get one of those rare smilesout of him.

The elevator dinged, interrupting histhoughts. He let out a long breath andrealized that he might be in trouble.

And also that he forgot his suit jacketupstairs. Shit. No way he was going backup there and giving himself another chance to embarrass himself in front ofBucky.

***

“Bucky,”Tony said seriously, putting his hands on Bucky’s shoulders and shaking himslightly to emphasize how serious he was, “there’s no goddamn way the thirdIndiana Jones movie is better than the first one.”

“Twowords, Tony: Sean. Connery.”

“Ithink you just have a thing for silver foxes,” Tony smirked, turning away topush the button on the elevator for the kitchen. Bucky frowned for a moment until he realized whatTony was talking about, and then Tony watched with interest as his face gotred.

“So?”Bucky challenged. “It also has a better plot.”

“Whateveryou say, hot stuff,” Tony said with a grin, putting his hands in his pockets againstthe urge to touch Bucky again, maybe smooth a hand over the soft fabric of thet-shirt stretch over Bucky’s chest. He rockedback on his heels and looked at Bucky’s reflection in the elevator doors. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

***

“Canyou lay back?” Bucky felt a chill in hisstomach but he nodded and let Tony recline the seat. The farther back it went, though, the worsethe feeling got until he realized he was shaking.

“No!No, Tony, I can’t, I can’t. I’m sorry.” Bucky sat up and put his face in hishands. He took a deep breath and exhaledslowly, just then realizing that Tony was rubbing small circles between hisshoulder blades and talking soft and low.

“Youok?”

Buckynodded again but meant it this time. “Sorry,I didn’t – “

“Don’tapologize. I’m glad you didn’t forceyourself. Do you need to take a break?”

“Justa minute, I’ll be ok.” Tony’s hand was still a warm, grounding presence on hisback; he focused on that until the shaky feeling passed.

“Areyou ready?” At Bucky’s nod, Tony studied him for a moment. “Can you put yourarm up over your head? Like you’re trying to scratch your back?” When Bucky obeyed, Tony rolled the chair overto the work desk and grabbed the set of delicate looking tools required to getthe plates off the arm. But the angle still wasn’t working. Tony stood, but then he was blocking the light.His stool couldn’t get close enough because of the arm of the chair. After about ten minutes of gettingincreasingly frustrated, they both started realizing what needed to be done.

“Idon’t mind,” Bucky said when he knew they were both thinking the samething. His heart started pounding and hehoped Tony didn’t notice.

“Alright. I’ll try not to take long.” Tony bit his lipfor a moment, and climbed into Bucky’s lap, straddling his hips and leaningover slightly.

Buckypressed his lips tightly together and focused on looking anywhere but at the smoothlymuscled shoulders in front of his face or the line of Tony’s neck or the jut ofhis collarbones right within biting distance. He tried to get his mind off the warm weight shifting in his lap bythinking about – about- Christ, he couldn’t think of anything to thinkabout.

Tonyleaned over a little farther, intent on prying off one of the access plates,and Bucky felt the second that the chair started to turn over. He grabbed the work table with one hand andwent to grab Tony with the other, forgetting in the split second of panic thatTony was working on it. He ended upelbowing Tony in the clavicle, but they didn’t hit the floor.

“Ow,”Tony said, rubbing the spot, which was already turning red.

“Sorry,the chair-“

“No,it’s ok. Better than face-planting theconcrete.” Tony braced himself on Bucky’s arm and reached down to grab thetools he dropped. “Let’s try again?”

Buckynodded and exhaled, closing his eyes this time to try to avoid the temptationof Tony’s chest right in front of his face. He focused on his breathing whileTony worked, counting while he inhaled and exhaled like he was managing a panicattack.

It didn’t help at all. Because with his eyes closed he could feelhow Tony’s thighs were squeezing his hips tightly to keep his balance, how hisbreath was stirring the hair at Bucky’s temples, how his heart was pounding –

Bucky’seyes flew open and caught Tony looking at him.

“Youknow, normally this is the cheesiest line,” Tony said with a quirk at thecorner of his mouth, eyes dark as they met Bucky’s. “But since it’s you, I haveto ask. Is that a gun in your pocket, or…?”

Buckycleared his throat, feeling his face get hot. “Um, both? I’m sorry. Could you…”Tony nodded and rose up on his knees. After a second of staring at the tempting glimpse of skin where Tony’sshirt rose up over the waist of his jeans – Bucky had to bite his tongueagainst the urge to taste it - he squirmed enough to get the snub nosed pistolout of his pants pocket and set it on the work table.

“That’sbetter,” Tony commented as he settled back down on Bucky’s thighs, a lot closerthan he’d been before.

“Yeah?”Bucky had to agree. Tony smelled faintlylike some kind of woodsy cologne and grease. He wanted to bury his face in Tony’s neck to get more.

“Yeah.I was worried it was going to go off prematurely.”

Buckybit back a smile. “No, it doesn’t have that light of a trigger. It does have a quick, um, reload though.”

“Goodto know.” The heat in Tony’s eyes when he slanted an amused glance at Buckygave him goosebumps. His hand tightenedon the table to keep from grabbing Tony and pulling him closer.

Therest of the session was a pleasant torture; he caught on that Tony was teasinghim the third time that his hand brushed Bucky’s chest unnecessarily as hereached for the tools on the table. Bucky retaliated by periodically shiftingin the chair, flexing his hips and thighs in a way that always made Tony’s breathhitch and his heart race.

Hewatched as Tony closed up his arm, hands quick and sure and capable, and feltthe slight pressure when Tony ran a finger down the underside of his upper armto make sure that the fit of the plates was smooth and seamless. “There. Finished.”

“Arewe?” Bucky finally brought his arm down and settled his hands on Tony’s waistlike he’d been wanting to do for what felt like hours. Tony’s gaze was moving overBucky’s face, pupils blown, and finally settled on Bucky’s mouth, where he hadunconsciously been biting his lip while he waited for Tony to answer.

“No. You and I haven’t even gotten started,”Tony said, and then his hands were framing Bucky’s jaw and his mouth was onBucky’s, soft and warm. Bucky made anoise deep in his throat and tightened his hands on Tony’s waist as he tiltedhis head and licked at the line of Tony’s lips, groaning when Tony opened hismouth and pressed closer.

Aftera moment Tony pulled away and rested his forehead on Bucky’s, still staring athis mouth. “So. Wanna do dinner sometime?”

Buckycouldn’t help it. He drew back and made a look of mock surprise. “You eat? Ithought you survived on caffeine and spite.”

“Justfor that, you’re paying.”

- by dracusfyre (also on AO3)

#winteriron #tony x bucky #tony stark #bucky barnes #prompts #dracusfyre #Anonymous

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