#suspicious acquaintances to friends to inseparable platonic soulmates to ???

[goldeneyedgirl]

Ficmas24 Christmas Eve: Variable Stars

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Gosh it's gone fast.

Tonight, I've decided on the first section of the new chapter of Variable Stars. Why? Because it's been a flustercluck of a day and I'm still not happy with part two of the STL AU.

I also have five other requests to work through, so there will be some random snippet drops in the new year ;) Plus NYE fic is a tradtional part of Ficmas.

But for now, Variable Stars. I cannot wait to post this entire chapter, I'm really excited with the 'new' direction that this fic is taking.

I hope your holidays are beautiful, loving, and restful and that you all get to indulge in your favourite foods with your favourite people!

most wanted. It’s the ice forming in the river again that reminds her that time is passing.

It's easy to forget; she assumes it’s the same for all of them - a lack of sleep and of change means that everything falls together in the end. But she should ask Jasper, in case that’s another one of the things that makes her different.

(There have been a few things over the years, that have made everyone pause and look at her like she’s from another planet. Now she checks with Jasper about the things she’s not sure about, just so she doesn’t seem foolish.)

But whether or not time passing feels the same for all the Cullens, it has passed and things have changed. She’s really not sure when it happened.

When it stopped being the Cullens’ house and it stopped being Jasper’s house and it started being hers too. When she started seeing her own face in the photographs on the walls; when the other family members called for her, and she wasn’t just an extension of Jasper.

She knows the house - which step is cracked because one of them stepped down too hard (there’s been a lot of damage lately, so they’re all gingerly avoiding it in the hopes it can hold out a few weeks so that Esme doesn’t get too mad); which bathroom never has hot water after midnight. That Carlisle moved all the travel books from the top-most shelves in the library down to her eye-level so she could take them without lingering. And that the refrigerator - full of Carlisle’s samples and experiments - always lets out something like a sigh around three in the morning, as if exhausted.

She knows that Esme is fiercely protective of her garden - that the stepping-stones are there for a reason, and that most days, Esme values the lives of her rose bushes more than any of them. There’s a greenhouse that’s about to be built so Esme can protect her more precious plants (Emmett and Bella are already forbidden from entering the hallowed halls). And in the years that she’s been with them, she’s never ever heard Esme say a cruel word to any of them.

Bella sulks if anyone is in the hammock when she wants to use it. (She also knows that Emmett and Rose are banned from the hammock because of what they did to the last one.) Edward’s piano in the side room - the music room - was his human mother’s, and it’s the thing he prizes more than anything else he owns.

Carlisle has a strange relationship with his father’s crucifix, seeing it as a symbol of all that he resented from his father but also a symbol of forgiveness and betterment in his own life. Emmett keeps a worn, hazy photograph of his youngest human brother in a frame in the room he shares with Rosalie - the only memento he has from his first life.

(She could say what she knows about Jasper, but that’s everything; it’s woven into the fabric of her universe. He’s her very best friend. She knows him. The scar he worries at on the palm of his hand when he’s thinking; the way his left pupil dilates just before he has a flashback. The way he hunches over to read and write - he probably needed glasses as a human. The way he holds her, so tight, like she’s going to be torn away… She knows him, right down to the bone, the same way she knows herself.)

Peace is a funny thing; it feels steady and solid but she’s so intensely aware of how easily it could shatter; like the ice in the river. Eight vampires in one place is a recipe for disaster; she never forgets that, even if it feels like the others do. But for now, she just savours every single moment.

It’s home. She’s finally home.

—

Once, a long time ago, Jasper sat on a bucket outside a dilapidated mansion in Monterrey and watched the sunrise.

Peter, his brother in all the ways that mattered, was long gone with the girl he proclaimed he loved. That he cared about enough to risk it all in whatever hell on earth lay beyond the borders of Maria’s territory.

And those parting words he left Jasper with lingered in the air. Can’t you tell, Major? That I’m telling the truth? That I love her? The look of horror and pity on Peter’s face stayed with him as well. The words cut deep because he couldn’t. He was too far gone, too sunken into depression and violence and control, too used to lies and double-speak to trust anything that he was being told.

Peter ran. He was glad he did. If he hadn’t destroyed Charlotte that night, she wouldn’t have survived much longer - not after her newborn strength ebbed.

But he remembers sitting there, watching the sunrise, and hoping that his brother was out there, safe. He remembers sitting there, feeling hollow and brittle, and wondering if there was anything else. From one war to another, it all blurred together until he was nothing but a machine designed to spill blood, to break bones, and leave behind a trail of bodies. There was nothing soft or kind about this life, and it was… he was just so tired, and it never seemed to end. There was no way out except the pyres. And every single part of him would resist that until the last moment. That’s just who he was.

There was never any hope for him.

Except…

“Jasper!”

Alice is there, stepping onto a stack of books, onto the arm of his couch, and then plopping down beside him. There’s something about her, about the way she’s here, wearing leggings and one of Bella’s t-shirts with socks pulled over the cuffs of her pants. She smells like home, like ozone and honey as always. There’s the warm halo of her emotions, of contentment and affection and protectiveness that seeps into him like the warmth of the sun.

“Emmett is insisting that he needs to teach me poker, and I don’t trust him at all.” Her eyes dart with amusement, the cards shuffling between her hands. “Esme said it’s a dollar buy-in only because of whatever happened in South Dakota? No one will tell me what happened. Come protect me?”

She doesn’t even have to ask. Alice is possessive over her small amount of savings, determined to figure out the stock market and investing so that she doesn’t have to ask anyone for money. He understands, thinks it’s important even, that she has her own foundation and security. But he’s going to miss her hunched over his computer, bossily informing him which items she wants to order. And the hugs when he relinquished his credit cards without protest.

“Just try and stop me - we can split the profits,” he says, and she beams at him. He’s reaching out to help her up the second she reaches out to him.

(And he wants to go back to his old self sitting in the dirt with no light at the end of the tunnel, and tell him it’s gonna be okay. That all the pieces are going to come together. He’s going to have a family, a place that is quiet and calm, a place without death and fighting and bodies. Peter and Charlotte are going to forgive him. And he’s going to have a person of his own, someone who makes him feel solid and whole and at peace. That he’s never known the security of another person until he met Alice. That if he reaches out, she will reach back without missing a beat. That if he has to throw a punch at someone, she’ll be right there to throw the next one. That he just has to hold on a little longer, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and everything will be better than fine. It’ll be everything he ever wanted, even the things he didn’t know to want.)

He follows Alice down the stairs, grinning as she begins taunting Emmett, the deck of cards flickering from hand to hand, like some kind of a magic trick.

(It’ll be perfect.)

[returntorule]

try as i might to keep it together why is recovery taking forever? fool the whole world, just until i get better i’m terrified i’ll be faking forever

hope of morning - icon for hire

Name → Emmet Closed character, played by Avery Age → 29 Occupation → Subway Boss Affiliation → Intepol Pokemon Team → Eelektross, Galvantula, Garbodor, Archeops, Durant, Togekiss Aesthetics →

Ethereal. First impressions leave others thinking of Emmet as otherworldly; his angelic complexion and delightful, selfless nature only fuel the image. Emmet is the warmth of sunshine, a stroke of inspiration, and the person who would drop everything just to lend a helping hand. White. A color of profound mourning. And so, like the tidally locked moon, only one of Emmet’s faces is ever seen. Silence is Emmet’s language now, and he dares not speak of experience nor sincere emotion. He has a tainted black soul forged in fire and an iron will hellbent on revenge.

Bio →

(sexual assault cw)

From the very beginning, Emmet and his twin were inseparable. They developed an extremely close relationship and put each other above all else. The two grew to become interdependent on one another. Together they breezed through any challenge that came their way and chose to pursue their mutual interest in technology and engineering in higher education.

Emmet developed a knack for generating elaborate designs. Always an idealist, he could easily picture how everything would come together in the end, but getting any process started was something he struggled with. Fortunately, Ingo’s talents developed to perfectly complement his own. Together, they were an unstoppable team and excelled in their classes and earned their degrees as certified engineers.

The two caught a lucky break after managing to make a name for themselves–they were recruited to design Nimbasa’s next big attraction for trainers. The two formulated a plan from what had previously been a passing thought, and saw to the design and construction of Gear Station. The project was a huge success, and after getting the establishment off the ground, the two became attached to it and have been running the station together since its opening.

Half a year after Gear Station’s successful opening, Emmet’s world turns upside down. Romantic attraction is something he hardly feels and doesn’t understand, and he is notoriously bad at selecting romantic partners. More often than not, it is a frivolous arrangement of convenience to better reputations. He does not find kindness among anyone who holds status like he does, and Vincent is no exception.

What was meant to be a casual celebration of the station’s success turns into a nightmare, when Emmet unexpectedly sees the malice in his lover’s heart and is forcibly taken advantage of.

Little can be done to cover the bruises or the tremendous pain and turmoil Emmet finds himself in, and he attempts to seek justice. But when he places the report about the incident, he is accused of lying and promptly loses faith in the authorities and falls into a deep depression.

It eventually lifts when his disposition turns towards anger as he mourns everything he lost that night. However, by the time he feels functional again, it is far too late–every attempt to track down Vincent to retaliate is fruitless, and every indication reveals the strong likelihood that Vincent has fled Unova altogether, and gone back to his home region of Sinnoh, rumor has it to put his electrical engineering degree to good use.

There’s little Emmet can do then but brood and seethe. He declares that he’s fine, and closes that chapter of his life prematurely, speaking little of how insignificant and broken he feels, and swallows the growing negativity and anger, and constructs a flawless, convincing, cheery facade and becomes extremely selective in picking the people who need to know the truth.

But that vow to avenge himself never truly fades, even as he goes about the life he shares with his identical twin, and he uses his Double Battles at the station to vent some of his unresolved emotion.

It isn’t until rumors of Team Galactic’s return reach his ears, that Emmet has an even more difficult time remaining still and complacent with his work at the station–a job which he has been growing weary of doing–he felt a compelling drive to do something given the circumstances, but more importantly–to do something that might ease his mind.

He acts on an impulse, giving his twin brother little notice before he seeks out the nearest branch of the International Police, where he finds Colress, who functions primarily as a researcher, but still Emmet pleads his case, stating that he’s a powerful trainer, cunning in strategy and highly intelligent, and fully capable of thinking on his feet–the perfect sort of person to have as an agent.

His plight works, and he is directed through the proper channels of the organization, and with his reputation, he is accepted as an agent, and Emmet seems to excel in what little field training he’s been given, and finds himself assigned to exciting—– ….Desk work. Well, it isn’t what he expected. He’s still being tested, being assigned to investigate rumors of the very dead Team Plasma, of all things. He dreams of assignments of espionage, in particular–of getting close to Team Galactic, though not necessarily to fulfill the International Police’s wishes, oh no.

Emmet’s reasons are deeply personal: call it a hunch, but he is convinced he will find Vincent amid the ranks of Team Galactic. Only then can he finally have his revenge, and more importantly–find peace of mind.

For now, he exists in the interim between his position as a Gear Station Subway Boss and his low, entry-level position as an Interpol Agent, balancing his time between jobs while he waits for someone worthy to take over his title as a subway master. As time goes on, he aims to rise in rank in Interpol and sever his ties with Gear Station altogether.

Connections →

Ingo. Identical twin. Platonic soulmate. Ingo is Emmet’s closest and dearest friend, and the person around whom he has built his life. The two are largely inseparable and know everything about one another. They are an unstoppable team in every aspect of their lives, and together they can achieve absolutely anything they put their minds to. In all situations, they have each other’s back and care for one another above anyone else.

Grimsley. Close friend. Romantic interest. Perhaps it is against his better judgement that Emmet has decided to trust Grimsley, given the absolutely rotten reputation Grimsley has made for himself… But it’s been a couple years now, since Emmet first caught Grimsley’s interest and he has resigned himself to the fact that… Grimsley is nothing if not persistent in maintaining contact and companionship with him.

Colress. Acquaintance. Tense relationship. Despite being the person whom Emmet first contacted within Interpol, he remains wary and suspicious of Colress. He remembers all too well the role the scientist played in Team Plasma’s revival, and he’s noticed that Colress’s loyal coincides only with whomever provides the funding for his research–and he questions Interpol’s decision to bring him in, given that he could easily switch sides.