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recurring-polynya · 4 months ago

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Bleach Returns 2024 - Day 7 - Aftermath

This was the first thing I started for Bleach Returns 2024, and the last thing I finished. For theme weeks like this, it's always nice to have ideas that can fit under more than one of the prompts, in case you have to switch it around. This one could just as well have ended up under "Unlikely Pairs" -- they day I turned out to have skipped, but I needed the extra time, and I think it fits better as an "Aftermath" story anyway.

In any case, I have held the belief in my heart for ages that a truly underrated part of the Blood War was the fact that out of everyone in the Gotei, the only two people that got to see Komamura's wolf-man form were Iba and Hinamori, and I wanted to know if they ever talked about it later. I accidentally wrote it in the present tense, so it came out about a thousand times more melancholy than I intended it to be, but I'm actually pretty happy with how it came out. Consider this my Komamura Tribute Fic: you were a real one, sir, and for, like, 30 seconds you were a total smokeshow. Somehow I doubt you truly gave up your heart for good.

Rated T for one mild curse and endorsing lying to your boss | read on ao3 |

---

"Why are you asking me?" Rukia frowns. "Renji is a perfectly adequate liar." And your friend, she doesn't add.

Hinamori has an answer for this. She would have preferred to ask Renji, too. "He's too nice," she explains. "I know that I'm really bad at this, and he'll tell me I'm fine when I'm not. This is important. I need to do it right."

Rukia screws up her face and for a moment, Hinamori worries that she feels insulted, either on her own or on Renji's behalf. It's usually pretty rude to come up to a person and ask for their help in crafting a convincing fib. Hinamori knows Renji well enough-- she knows Rukia well enough now-- to expect that it would be taken as a compliment. But maybe not.

Rukia huffs. "You're right," she grumbles. "He's always been like that." She sighs expansively. "But if he were capable of running a team grift on his own, we never would have met, so I suppose I can't complain." And without any further preamble, she launces into a dissertation on the theory and practice of lying.

Hinamori blinks as she tries to take it in. There are fundamental precepts. There are classic techniques. There is ontology. There are hand-movements and eyebrow wagging. Hinamori should have brought a notebook, not that she could manage to get it all down. A lot of what Rukia says sounds like something Renji would say, but with far more conviction. He always used to say that he learned most of his chicanery from Rukia, and for the first time, Hinamori starts to believe it.

Rukia stops abruptly in the middle of an illustrative anecdote that has something to do with Kurosaki Ichigo's gym teacher. "What, exactly is the falsehood you need to fabricate?"

Hinamori tells her.

Rukia squirms for a moment. Momo realizes that she doesn't know if Rukia was asked to testify at any inquiries regarding her own captain. She wonders if she should have asked Renji after all.

"Look," says Rukia, in a way that is somehow simultaneously gruff and delicate, "Hinamori." She clears her throat. "I know it's extra weird because he's the Captain-Commander now, but you can just lie to Captain Kyouraku. It doesn't have to be convincing. He will ask you the question and you can say what you need to say and he'll write it in the official report. Whether or not he believes you is unimportant. He wants you to lie."

"I know," says Hinamori. "But I don't want it to just be a nod and a wink. Captain Komamura wouldn't have liked that. He was a good captain and a kind soul. Iba told me that he often tried to help people save face. I want to do a good job on my lie, for him. For Iba, too."

Rukia's brows furrow. She sets her jaw. "Your heart is very big, Hinamori," she says. "There are special techniques for lying with your entire heart. I will teach them to you."

"Thank you, Kuchiki-san," says Hinamori.

---

"Shortly after I became his lieutenant," Iba says, facing forward, standing at his fullest height, "my captain informed me that, in the case of his death, he had arranged a special exemption from the standard funeral rites for Gotei captains. He said that, if it was within my power, I should make sure his body was returned to his people."

"That is correct," the Head-Captain agrees. "Werewolves have a different path through the resurrection cycle than we do."

It takes Iba a moment before he is able to continue, but when he does, his voice is steady. He speaks in the cadence of a Lieutenant Delivering a Report. They can all do it. They all do do it. Momo does not remember anyone ever teaching her how. It just comes with the job. Iba's voice is naturally a little froggy, which Momo has noticed before, but it's even more evident when he is forgoing his usual tough guy turns of phrase.

Iba describes the damage sustained by his captain's bankai during the battle with Sternritter E. He makes a remark for the record about the unique relationship between Captain Komamura and his bankai. In this case, Iba says, the damage was more than Komamura could heal, would ever be able to heal. Iba states that by dismissing his bankai, Captain Komamura was able to eke out a few more hours of his life, but that his end was inevitable. This is why Iba and his captain did not regroup with everyone else, and why they declined medical assistance. Iba fought Soldat with his captain until the bitter, bloody end. At that time, zombies had begun to appear on the battlefield, and Iba felt it vital to deliver the body of his captain to the werewolf clan as soon as possible, so that it did not fall into enemy hands. That is why there is no corpse. "But my captain died honorably, in battle," Iba concludes. "I was there when he fell."

It takes some time for Head-Captain Kyouraku to finish up his note-taking. Lieutenant Ise is faster at transcription, Momo thinks, but she is not here. There is so much to do these days. She must be busy with something else.

Kyouraku's eyes scan quickly over his notes. "Thank you, Lieutenant Iba," he says. "Very complete. I don't think I have any further questions."

"If you think of anything later, please don't hesitate to ask, sir," Iba replies.

Kyouraku turns his gaze to Momo. "I understand you are able to corroborate portions of this, Lieutenant Hinamori?"

Momo straightens her spine and clears her throat.

You are telling a story, Rukia reminds her. Parts of that story are true and parts of it are not. Start with the parts that are true.

Hinamori tells the story of fighting her way through the Soldat-flooded city, trying to rejoin her captain. It is their practice to maintain distance when he is using his zanpakutou, but she likes to be within shouting distance. In case he needs her. She talks about seeing the columns of light and feeling the burst of strange, acidic reiatsu as the Quincy unleashed their Voll Stern Dich. She does not mention the way her feet were already moving even before she felt her captain's reiatsu plummet.

One of the things that makes you a bad storyteller, Hinamori, is that you always needs to add in extra detail, even when it doesn't add to the story, even when it makes you not look great. Especially when it makes you not look great. It's like you're always afraid of people thinking you are lying, so you want to lay everything out there up front.

This is still the part that is true, and Rukia said it was important to build up some momentum, so Himamori allows herself the indulgence of being a bad storyteller. If I tell the true parts poorly, she reasons, the lies will be less obvious.

"When Captain Hirako was injured, I made a poor decision. I wanted to save my captain. I thought I could get the drop on Sternritter E. I thought I could fight her fire with mine." Hinamori swallows. "Captain Komamura saved me. I know he wanted to go on and fight Yhwach, but he stayed back to protect me and my captain. I know it's not really relevant to this inquiry, but I would like it added to record anyway, if possible."

"Captain Komamura was always looking out for others on the battlefield," Head-Captain Kyouraku murmurs as his brush makes soft swishing noises over the paper. "I've made a note. Please continue, Lieutenant."

It's not a lie to not say something. It's just editing. Hinamori had wanted to tell Kuchiki the thing, the thing she had to edit out, but Kuchiki didn't want to hear it. Kuchiki had, in fact, put her hands over her ears and sang "LA LA LA LAAAA" until Hinamori gave up. It had been a little bit rude, in Hinamori's opinion. You want to tell me because it feels like a secret, Kuchiki had scolded. It's not a secret. It's extraneous information. Throw it in the trash. Burn it to a crisp. Forget about it forever.

It sure feels like a secret, the thing she had seen. She tries not to think about it, afraid that if she does, it will leave a hole in her story the size of a werewolf and the shape of a man. Instead, Hinamori continues. "Captain Komamura ordered me to take Captain Hirako and leave. I wanted to stay. I wanted to help. But I had seen her explosions, and I knew he needed the space. He went to bankai as I left."

"You didn't actually see them fight, then," Head-Captain Kyouraku surmises.

"Captain Komamura's bankai is--was--very large," Hinamori states the obvious. "As I left, I could see it taking explosion after explosion. I could hear and feel the bombs. They were deafening. I shouldn't have, but when they stopped, I… I looked back. I saw Captain Komamura's bankai crumble to pieces. It did not seem like a thing that would be possible to survive."

"Indeed," agrees the Head-Captain. "A great loss for the Gotei."

"Agreed, sir."

Iba draws in a long breath, but says nothing.

"Anything else, Lieutenant Hinamori?"

"No, sir. That is all."

"Captain Hirako has declined to give testimony. He said he didn't think he had anything to add."

"Probably not, sir. He was unconscious for most of it."

Kyouraku nods as he finishes writing. He puts his brush in the holder, and folds his hands. "Thank you both. I'm sorry we had to go through all this procedure for something so simple as a death in battle, but he was a captain, after all. Usually, the Central 46 would hold a hearing, but I think this--" he pats his stack of paper-- "should suffice."

She has done it. It's over. Kuchiki was right. It was barely a lie. It was a careful arrangement of true things. Hinamori feels like she has run a thousand miles and bench-pressed the Soukyoku. She wants to throw up. She wants to go to sleep for a million years.

"It was an honor to serve under him," Iba says.

Hinamori has no regrets.

---

Okay, it turns out that Hinamori does have regrets. Not about the statement. She receives a short note from the Captain Commander several days later informing her that the ruling of "Killed in Action" has been accepted, and thanking her again.

She wishes she had said more to Iba.

Hinamori is very busy these days. There have been three wartime actions in the last two years, and for once, Hinamori has come through relatively unscathed. She wants to make the most of this by helping everyone she can. She and Captain Hirako take on paperwork from the Tenth while its leadership needs extra treatment to purge out the last after-effects of the zombification. It's only fair. Hitsugaya has done enough of the Fifth's paperwork. She goes to PT with her Third Seat, who ended the war with a pair of prosthetic legs. She volunteers once a week at the Pop-Up Mess Hall the Ninth has been running to help out the squads whose facilities were destroyed, or who simply can't spare the manpower (also, the Ninth has a lot of talented cooks, and it's as good an opportunity to socialize as you can get these days). She tries to make time for all her friends, but especially the ones who are injured or grieving or overworked.

Hinamori is friendly with Iba, but she's not sure they are friends. He's not quite part of the close-knit core of the lieutenants that she hangs out with. He has his own friends, she's sure. He's pals with Abarai (who isn't?) and Madarame, who finally showed up to a lieutenant's meeting this week, even if he did so with a facial expression like he'd just drank a glass of slugs. Hinamori just isn't sure…well, it's not that those guys aren't sensitive to each other's feelings--scratch that, Madarame is definitely not sensitive to people's feelings--but Hinamori can't help but wondering if anyone has extended Iba any sympathy that didn't come the form of a moment of manly, stoic shared silence or possibly a punch on the shoulder.

Hinamori intends to swing by the Seventh shortly before the end of the work day. She isn't sure how this is going to go, and she wants to leave her options open. Her plans are derailed slightly when, on her way out of the door, she runs into Ise with a pile of new forms and feeling chatty to boot. By the time Hinamori walks into the Seventh's administrative building, it is half an hour past quitting time. The hallways are already pretty empty, and even as she knocks on Iba's door, Hinamori resigns herself to trying again tomorrow. "Lieutenant Iba?" she calls tentatively. "It's Lieutenant Hinamori. Are you in?"

"Ah, yes! Come in!" Iba's gravelly voice calls back.

Hinamori slides the door open and steps through. Iba is hunched over some paperwork. "Sorry!" he says. "Just a moment! I'm trying to finish up--there!" He looks up. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant Hinamori?"

For a long, long moment, Hinamori stares at him.

Iba has brown eyes. He blinks them once, then suddenly scrabbles around on his desk, shoves over a pile of forms that looks suspiciously like the one Ise just foisted on her, grabs his sunglasses, and crams them on his face. "Sorry!" he croaks. "Sorry!"

"No, no!" Hinamori waves a hand frantically. "It was my fault! I didn't-- I didn't see anything!" Her stomach clenches. Why is she always seeing things she isn't supposed to see? She looks away, frantically, and her eyes land on the floor next to Iba's desk. There is a pillow there, and on the pillow, a handsome dog regards her judgmentally. "Oh!" she says. "Hello, Goro!"

Iba clears his throat. "He's, uh. I don't keep him in here all day. He just had his dinner, and I'm going to take him for his walk as soon as I…" He looks at his stack of papers and then looks at Hinamori. "I'm sorry, what did you need? Are those more new forms?"

Goro puts his chin on his paws and sighs.

Hinamori looks down at the pile of paper nestled in the crook of her arm. "This?" she says, trying to get her thoughts together. "Oh! Right! No, no new forms! I got some flyers printed up for my weekly meditation circle! Do you remember, I mentioned it at the last lieutenants' meeting?"

"Oh…oh, yeah," Iba manages. "Yeah, that's not really my…"

"For your squad," Hinamori emphasizes. "I was hoping you might be able to post them in a common area. Or you could hand them out to anyone in particular you thought might benefit. Everyone's working so hard and dealing with so much right now. It can be, well, sort of a subtle way to suggest that someone takes a little break. I got a little stipend from the Fourth, so we have snacks afterward, now!"

Iba nods. He obviously does not need even one more thing to think about. "Ah, okay! Yeah, great idea! Thanks, Lieutenant Hinamori."

Hinamori slides the stack of flyers onto an extra table that Iba has pulled up next to his desk, apparently for increasing its paperwork-holding capacity. "You can have someone deal with these tomorrow," she says gently. She kneels down to scratch Goro's head. "Are you doing all right, Iba-san?"

Iba misinterprets her and immediately begins to bluster. "All of this looks much worse than it is! I'm getting the important stuff done! Ask anyone in Squad Seven--who have been champs, by the way! You see how empty this place is? It's because I make everyone go home on time, that's why! They'd be working night and day if I didn't make them take a rest. Maybe I'll send the whole lot over to your meditation whatsit!"

"That's not what I meant," Hinamori cuts him off. Unlike the Head-Captain's office, this is a place where she doesn't need to be parsimonious with the truth, so she goes on to say, "I only brought those flyers over as an excuse to come see how you were doing. You must miss him so much, and you can't even talk to anyone about the way it really happened."

Iba's mouth opens as he starts to say something, but then he closes it again. "I do," he says finally. He jerks his head towards an extra chair sitting along one wall. "You wanna pull up a seat?"

Hinamori does so. "Have you…heard anything?" She knows that Captain Komamura is still alive because Iba told her when he came to ask her to testify at the hearing. When he came to ask her if she would help him tell the story the way Captain Komamura would prefer it to be told. All the same, she is wants to let Iba be the one to say it out loud first.

"Ah, one of his relatives is a regular at the weekly market outside the eastern gate. There was a letter." Iba is silent for a moment. "He's healed up from his war wounds. He says there are some faces he's glad to see again." Iba reaches down to scratch Goro around the ears. "The cousin, he sells mushrooms, actually, really good mushrooms, I guess they sniff them out of the woods or something. Anyway, he says that, ah, well… they're happy to have him home."

Hinamori feels sadness settle on her chest like a stone. She barely knew Captain Komamura at all, but she knows he must have overcome so much in order to join the Gotei, in order to live in the city. She loves Junrinan, and yet she remembers feeling the cold terror that she might be sent back there after…when it seemed unclear whether she could still be a shinigami. "I'm sure it will be an adjustment," she says slowly. She wishes she could think of something else to say.

Iba regards her for a long time. "You get it," he says. "I can tell." He groans and leans back in his chair. "Aaah, Hinamori, you're right! It's been agonizing not bein' about to say anything! Everyone thinks I'm sad 'cause he's dead, and I gotta pretend that's true, but I'm actually sad 'cause all I can think about is his wolf-mom given' him a bunch of grief about wastin' his time on shinigami shit!"

"Does he have a wolf-mom?" HInamori asks, suddenly curious.

"Hell if I know! He never talked about werewolf stuff, so I've just been coming up with stuff in my head. I'm sure it's all wrong."

"I feel like if he has a wolf-mother, he would love her very much," Hinamori said. "He seemed like that type."

"You're right, Lieutenant Hinamori," Iba said, wagging a finger at her. "You're absolutely right." He cleared his throat. "While you're here. Listenin'. Well--there's something I been wanting to say so bad I feel like I'm gonna explode sometimes. You, ah, don't mind, do you?

"Of course not," Hinamori agrees. "Go ahead."

Iba leans forward, crumpling some of his paperwork. One side of his mouth curls up into a boyish grin. Goro looks up, curious. "He was awesome, there at the end, wasn't he?"

"Oh," says Hinamori, "oh, my, yes."

"For the length of that fight, he was immortal. Untouchable."

"I will never forget how I felt when I saw his bankai," Hinamori blurts out. "It gave me shivers."

"I know! It was absolutely incredible. I've--I've been working on my own bankai and I just…it's never going to be that."

Hinamori tilts her head to one side. "It might be," she says.

Iba frowns thoughtfully. "He gave me something to shoot for, for sure. What a captain he was!"

"Mm," Hinamori nods, thinking about captains she has loved.

Iba looks away for a moment, then looks back. "Hinamori, I gotta ask. You saw my captain. In his human form."

Hinamori is momentarily shocked to hear the secret thing, said out loud and in such a casual way. "Yes," she says eagerly.

"He was…he was, like, better than average on the looks scale, right? I'm not…I'm into ladies, you know, I'm not much of a judge of that kind stuff. But, like. Wow."

"Oh, yes," Hinamori, who is generally very circumspect when offering opinions on other people's look. "He was--well, that's not really my type either but--" She clears her throat primly. "Whew!"

"Whew!" Iba agrees.

Goro whines and puts his paws over his nose. Iba laughs, the kind of big hearty one that comes from getting something off your chest. "I know I've already taken up too much of your time, Hinamori, but, uh…I don't spose you'd like to help me take this guy on his walk?"

Hinamori smiles. "I'd love that."

#bleach returns 2024 #my writing #momo hinamori #tetsuzaemon iba #sajin komamura #rukia kuchiki #it's been a fun week and it was a pleasure to participate!#thank you to everyone else who made such great stuff and to all the kind people who liked and reblogged! 😘

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year2000electronics · 1 year ago

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Welcome to the Brotherhood

just a little blurb about how i think shimmer entered the brotherhood au village :]

(brotherhood au belongs to @0ketlyn-s and @tea0w0stache , shimmer belongs to me)

Shimmer wouldn’t exactly call herself a “globe-trotter”. Sure, she had been near a lot of the different troll kingdoms, but each of them had their own complex cultures that she never really felt herself committing to all that hard. She wasn’t stingy about any of their music, no, it was just that… Even if she had lost the ability to sing her music properly, she was still a Pop Troll, deep down. The music she loved got stuck in your head, tunes with a catchy chorus and a consistent beat that wasn’t too focused on beeps and boops or country twang.

Her time spent just barely mingling with all the other Troll tribes had at least gotten her enough engineering know-how that she was able to make her autotuning choker work. That made her feel a little less like she was totally broken and alone, but… Even then, she could tell she longed desperately for a place she could call “home”. She had fled Pop Village in shame many years ago, so she was always reluctant to come back, but…

…There were people she missed there.

Maybe, just maybe, if she came back and shamefully admitted that she knew nobody could ever love her like this, especially not after running off, John and the others might throw her some pity and let her hang out with them as friends again.

Of course, the only problem with that is when she asked around, every troll who’d ventured to the Troll Tree said that the place had been abandoned for years. So where were they, then?

“I think maybe a cave somewhere?” One of her bounty hunter friends had guessed. “But there are a lot of caves out there. Don’t quote me on that.”

Nobody ever needed to bother the Pop Trolls. Very few even wanted to, considering they were the ones who were notorious for overpowering other peoples’ music. With the hint of just “a cave”, Shimmer would be spending a lot of time searching. But… What other choice did she have? The heart wants what it wants- and right now, what it wanted was home.

Of course, on the day she finally found that cave, well… Things didn’t exactly go how she expected.

Shimmer hadn’t even gotten that far into the cave when she felt something brush against her leg- a tripwire of some sort. Caught off guard, she yelped, falling flat on her face and right into a net. The sound of it all sent ripples through the rocky area, as a gaggle of trolls immediately rushed over to her area. They all looked… incredibly unhappy to see her. Some of them were fraught with fear, others alight with anger. Each tried to question her at once.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

“She’s come to hurt the village!”

“She’s gonna sell us out to the Bergens!!”

“Did one of the outcasts call her??”

“Wha- no!” Shimmer grunted, trying to claw her way out of the net. “I’m not doing ANY of that! I’m literally FROM here!”

“You say that, but you didn’t know where all our tripwires were? Yeah. right,” One of the trolls scoffed.

“These weren’t HERE before!” Shimmer groaned in frustration. “Will you people just- LISTEN?!”

“Why should we listen to you?” Another fired back. “You’re a stranger!”

Shimmer’s eye twitched as this chicanery continued. She didn’t remember the village being THIS cagey… What had HAPPENED when she was gone? No matter what she said to them, they’d push back twice as hard, and it soon felt like she was going to be stuck in this net for good. However, something started to happen- she saw the crowd beginning to shift slowly, parting reverently as if to let someone in. She squinted, trying to get a good look at the newcomer.

Walking with a poised sense of patience, the man took careful yet confident steps, leading with his chest. He wore a set of eye-catchingly red garments, the scarf that wrapped around him and trailed down his arms resembling the wings of an angel more than anything. And his face… Oh, that face…

…

Was that… her ex??

“Everyone, settle down, settle down-” John Dory urged, trying to calm down the small group of trolls that had gathered with a frown. “What’s going on here?”

“It’s an outsider, John Dory!” One of the trolls cried in a panic. “She was trying to enter the village! What do we do with her?!”

John’s gaze steeled as he stepped closer to the net, trying to get a good look. “Show me.”

He was met with no resistance, and Shimmer’s heart nearly stopped as he set eyes on her. This man was… far different than the boy she once knew. He spoke like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the way he stared- his eyes were precise, like needles of sheer determination that pierced anyone they bored into. It made Shimmer go radio-silent as his eyes finally registered her. But then… his icy gaze began to change. His brows softened as his eyes met hers, and his pupils dilated. He stepped closer, almost as if he couldn’t believe she was real. His face got dangerously close to the net, as she leaned onto the edge of it, staring back at him with bated breath.

“Shimmer…?” He asked softly, reaching out a hand to try and grasp the net, only to seemingly back off out of nervousness.

Shimmer had to say something, she knew it. Something, ANYTHING, just to break the growing tension between them, the watching eyes as they both continued to stare at each other like frightened deer.

“...You’ve changed,” She whispered.

“I know,” He replied, brows furrowing slightly. He kept his cool, though, leaning forward slightly as he gave a glance at her own apparel. Her hair was in a sloppy ponytail, and she had given up on making herself look presentable, wearing a signature baggy sweater. “...So have you.”

John turned to the crowd, tilting his head in Shimmer’s direction. “What are you all waiting for? Cut her down! She’s one of us- we sang together back when I was in BroZone!”

The villagers leapt into action, clamoring about how they didn’t realize she knew the village savior and how that tie was very important to the village hierarchy or something. One of them went at it with a butterfly knife, cutting her free as she fell to the ground with a THUD. Dusting herself off, she looked up, only to see John extending a hand to her. She took it, letting the shorter troll lift her up. Once she stood up, though, the two of them continued to lock eyes, unable to tear away from each others’ gazes.

“Why’d you come back, Shimmer?” He asked. He tried to keep the question hovering in neutral territory, but there was a strong negative mix of emotions bleeding into his voice. Pain, shame, loss…

“...No other place felt right,” She admitted, pressing her forehead against the net. “Please, John- I don’t know why this place has changed so much, or why you look so… different… but- I’m lost. In every damn sense of the word. I don’t know who I am anymore.” The words stung to admit.

“I… I just thought maybe… Some old friends might… be able to help an old hag out,” She finished, trailing off. Her cheeks grew hot, her mouth stung. The onlooking villagers just made the entire ordeal so much harder. She broke eye contact with John, staring at the ground as if she was a child about to be punished.

John swallowed hard, wringing a hand around his scarf. He seemed deep in thought on what to do, glancing around at the others.

“Well-” He began to speak, combing his hair back. “We don’t usually… do this. But- so long as you promise you can be trusted, follow all the rules here, all that… Then I’m sure we can find a spot here for you.”

Shimmer let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“...Thanks, JD. I… I owe you one,” She said, cracking a wobbly smile.

“Of course,” He replied, stuffing down any feelings that may have risen up because of her, and defaulting right back to a serene smile, clasping his hands together. “Welcome to the village of the Brotherhood, Shimmer.”

Their eyes met one more time. Shimmer immediately got what he was trying to say by revealing the name of the village to her- Brotherhood. The BroZone boys she once knew had grown into men, with, apparently, a grandiose amount of social status. In essence, he had just told her some vital info: First, to expect a lot of changes from the village she once knew, and second… that he made the rules around the village, so she should really watch out for him.

Yeah.

No problem.

She could do that.

#trolls #brotherhood au #look at my writingggg #shimmer

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angel-of-hunky-doryness · 1 year ago

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How Disney (Unintentionally) Created The Most Sympathetic Disney Villain

Yes, we're talking about Hades. So strap in, folks, this is gonna be a long one.

It may or may not come to a surprise to some of y'all that Mr. Hot head is my favorite Disney Villain. His charm, his sass, and above all his sarcastic one-liners, what isn't there to love about this walking-talking wheeling and dealing Mephistopheles archetype with the most basic villainous ambition of taking over the world.

Okay, fine, the cosmos. But at the end of the day, Hades has a very cut and dry appearance in Disney's Hercules. He doesn't even have nearly as much screentime as other Villains as I had previously believed.

First appearing quite apropos in the shadiest corner of Olympus ready to raise hell and all manner of chicanery just to incite misery to a newborn baby, only to exit stage left to cue the villainous side-plot with a bit of prophetical verse thrown in for good measure. A plan comes into being and he orders a hit on the aforementioned baby, only for the hit to fail despite y'know being the yutz in charge of the land of the dead *cough cough*

18 years pass and suddenly Hades has to completely 180 his plans, focusing not on his intended target of Olympus but the prophecy hero he thought he already axed. And so he unleashes a horde of monsters upon the city of Thebes as a result. The Titans are freed for some reason, Olympus is easily defeated and rescued, and then so is the plot device- I mean the Titans, and Hercules gives Hades the one punch man treatment, and so Hades is left to reconsider his life choices for all of eternity swirling in the Phlegethon/abyss. Pick your poison, either work.

Alright, cool, glad I got that out of the way. Oh, hold on, my sponsor, is giving me that beady eyed stare to remind our lovely audience that Meg was also an unfortunate victim in Hades' scheme. We'll get to Meg and Hades' relationship in a future post, but to summarize, Hades' treatment of Meg is far, far harsher and has tons more animosity than Hades and Hercules- the titular character mind you- ever had.

But I digress.

Despite, Hades' antagonistic role in the film, there are many, many nuggets that Disney gives that allows the audience to sympathize with his lot in life.

In his very quick introduction- it's a Disney movie the plot has to establish quickly cuz animators have lives too. Insert obligatory pay animator's fairly line here.

We have what I like to call Exhibit Alpha: The Introduction.

Now Disney Villains are no strangers to a dramatic introduction.

I couldn't find the exact gif of Maleficent appearing, but I ended up putting the one above because it proves my point. Everything about Maleficent strikes fear in the hearts of her audience. Everyone is watching her every move because they know she's a formidable threat.

When Hades makes himself known, the Olympians aren't scared or spooked like King Stefan and the 3 fairies were when Maleficent first appeared.

They're annoyed.

To them, Hades is the weird uncle no one invited, but shows up anyway. If anything, it looks like the gods have dealt with him before and know how to put on the cold shoulder to get him to leave faster.

The only one oblivious to all this is Zeus who invites him to stay and enjoy the party. But Hades isn't an idiot. He's very aware of the chilly reception he's getting and declines with this one-liner:

Keep this line in mind, we're going to circle back to it.

Zeus then proceeds to meet Hades with a quip right back and a very punny one at that, earning the first laugh since Hades arrived, and one at Hades' expense.

A laughing fit ensues and Hades storms off in a quiet rage.

A short scene indeed, but it tells us a lot about Hades, Zeus, and the gods.

Hades is an outcast.

Boo-hoo, homeboy just needs a girlfriend. Maybe a flaming flower-picking one, but that's neither here nor there.

Now, the interchange between Zeus and Hades makes it very clear how Hades started to become excluded from his family. Hades is absent to a lot of social gatherings and most of it is because of his job. A job that deals with stiffs, the dead, the dearly departed, however you wanna slice it.

Now before you say- well he was scheming to take over the cosmos on his free time, what do we see in the very next scene?

Over 5 billion souls served. Hades is a busy guy and the movie makes it really clear that even in his spare time meeting with the Fates, the work is piling up. Maybe that's why he's a fast talker, he's always moving and grooving so he can get some time to relax.

Yeah, yeah, we saw him smite some of his people on his small world boat ride, but considering we only see one god working in the underworld, he doesn't have the time of day for them and after eons of this drudgery he's gotten quite apathetic to their pleading.

The shades are just as doomed as him really.

Now we're going to gloss over a few scenes and move to Exhibit Beta: The Thebans.

Hold the phone, Hades isn't even in this scene.

My point exactly. Hades is a bit busy amassing a horde of monsters. Hecc, none of the disgruntled Thebans even mention a monster in their list of disasters. The Monster Mash party starts after Hercules rolled into town thanks to Meg after her failed recruitment of Nessus.

So what does that tell us? Whoever causes floods, earthquakes, fires probably caused by lightning incited these disasters not Hades. Hmm, on a weird side note, I don't think Hades' brothers, the earthshaker or god of storms, fit those descriptions at all.

All these disasters were happening while the Olympians did nothing. It wasn't unheard of for the ancient greek gods to send wayward mortals to do their bidding and help people or free them from monsters, so why does Phil put it upon himself to take Hercules out for the hero life? (Yeah Disney should've included the presence of other gods working on earth to make them out to really be responsible and helpful, hell maybe have Hermes fly in congratulating Herc for completing his training and direct him towards Thebes)

It's almost like Hades is the only god who's present or aware of the woes on earth. Sure he adds to it, but are the Olympians really lounging about doing nothing in this movie?

Exhibit Gamma: Storming the Palace

....

I have no words. Zeus and Hera could've been doing paperwork?? Looking out for their son??? Have a meeting with the Pantheon and that's why they're suddenly blindsided by the Titan attack???

Hades, though sassy, though sarcastic, and just a bucketful of ruthless and malicious described the Olympians to a T.

Hecc, the Olympians had no idea the Titans were out destroying the world until they were literally on their front doorstep. If Hades had told them to destroy half of Greece, they would've done so before the Olympians noticed.

And it's so contrived, but the only reason Hades lost was b/c Hercules shows up and frees some of the gods. Like if one other god was not on Mount Olympus they could've come save the day. But every god was there. Make that a fanfic y'all. ONe where the one god who was- I don't know confined to their island or something wondering where her mother went and so she has to gather all the nymphs and natures spirits to save olympus or some drivel like that.

Hermes had to sound the trumpet like judgement day to get the gods rocking and rolling. And that's not even considering how Hades gets punched into oblivion.

Exhibit Delta: Revelation 20:14 (NIV)

The one god who did his job has been thrown in prison??? Zombie apocalypse??? Is that you??? Where's Shawn when you need him???

Confine him to the underworld, Wonder Boy. Get your Greece Lightning father to take care of business in a flash. He'd get you Meg back in an instant. Just ask nicely. We know Psyche is in attendance. Meg deserves it after all she went through.

I know it's more dramatic, but the world of Hercules is absolutely screwed. Talk about a happy ending with terrible implications for the state of the world. Meg and Hercules are going to die and be sent to an afterlife with no deity to even send them to Elysium, and that's if Hades comes back at all.

*Takes a long drink from my pina colada*

I didn't mean for this post to turn into a hate show on the Disney Olympians. I'm just, I always knew Disney messed up hard on this movie. And yes I adore the hell out of it, but making a villain more sympathetic and likable than the hero? When I started writing this I didn't think it would get this bad, but the more I looked into it?

I haven't even touched how Hades has the worst employees, having to put up with his imps? The Titans who don't even know where the tallest mountain is?

For all his manipulation with Meg, Hades did give her everything he promised her. He's a devil sure, but he's a god of his word. He couldn't even force Meg to seduce Hercules, he had to convince her with some extra added relinquish your soul type bit. Hell, he was even willing to negotiate with Hercules after hurting his dog.

To finish off, even with those nuggets sprinkled in, at the end of the day Hades is a villain through and through. Yes, he's fun, yes, every single one of his lines is an improvised banger, but that's kind of the point.

One of the directors of Hercules once described Hades as being the type of evil that's attractive. Drags you in with promises of honey until you find yourself drowning in mercury. He's Mephistopheles offering you a Faustian deal, Satan with the apple, and this author trying to advertise their terrible fanfic that delves into this very topic.

I remain ever yours, dear readers.

Till next time.

#disney #disney hades #hercules #disney megara #disney hercules #my rambles #greek mythology #greek myth #zeus #disney villains #hades #persephone

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ballsalsda · 1 year ago

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Homestuck Leprechaun Romance Theory

I have a theory on leprechaun romance so let’s go

If you look at the chart you will see the heart and diamond. We know the heart is the equivalent of matesprits and I think the diamond is also the equivalent of moiralliegence.

The 4 leaf clover is on the same row as moirails so I’ll guess that the row is associated with luck. The reason for this is that not only is the 4 leaf clover associated with luck but moiralliegence is the soulmates quadrant.

We know that leprechaun romance is "esta8lished in mutual chicanery, such as the exchange of pranks, coy riddles, slapstick shenanigans, and games of chance" so I will assume the luck row is expressed by games of chance.

I’m gonna guess that the first column is based on "silly attraction" when you want to do silly shit with someone.

So this is what our chart looks like.

I’m focusing on the moon next. The moon shares the same type of attraction with moiralliegence but shares some aspect of the relationship with matesprits.

I will guess that the row with the heart and moon is about trust and bonding. I will also guess that the column with the moon and diamond is about protection since that is what moiralliegence is about. So the moon involves trust and wanting to protect someone.

I’ll assume a moon partner is trustworthy and protects the other person. They are a good person you can trust with keeping secrets. I think a moon relationship would be expressed using riddles.

Next I’m gonna be focusing on the balloon and rainbow. I think a key aspect of the bottom row would be casual rivalry.

For the balloon being silly and rivals would mix in the form of pranks. For the rainbow protection and rivalry sounds a little contradictory, but it’s more lighthearted and the person being teased doesnt take it too seriously.

So for the rainbow its like pranking and making fun of them, but getting protective when someone else does.

I’m going to stop adding bullet points from now on.

This is what the chart looks like now.

I think the last column is an obsession. So the star would be trusting someone a LOT, which could be taken advantage of to form an unhealthy star relationship. A pot of gold relationship could be considered similar to a kissmesis. I dont really know what the horseshoe would be since soulmate/luck + obsession is a weird combination.

So to recap:

🩷 just basic romantic love, doing silly shit

🌙 protective relationship with trust and no secrets, riddles

⭐ obsessing over someone and trusting them a lot (almost to much), probably doing goofy shenanigans

🍀 like soulmates, lucky to meet, also doing silly shit like games of chance

♦️ like moirails, so protective soulmates, with riddles

Ω idk, but its luck + obsession so interpret that how you want (no horseshoe emoji 😔)

🎈 casual rivals, doing funny pranks on eachother

🌈 lighthearted jokes and pranks, but protective if the other person is bullied (like "only IM aloud to make fun of him")

[imagine pot of gold here] like kismesis, with obsession over rivalry, probably with slapstick shenanigans and beating eachother up (no pot of gold emoji 😔)

That’s my theory/headcanon on leprechaun romance

#homestuck #hs #leprechaun #homestuck leprechaun #hs leprechaun #leprechaun homestuck #leprechaun hs #homestuck the felt #hs the felt #the felt #the felt hs #the felt homestuck #homestuck theory #hs theory

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icouldhyperfixatehim · 22 days ago

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listen i know well enough to not make any steadfast series opinions too early but the heart killers has been really top shelf, and no matter what nigh inevitable third-act-episodes chicanery we're subjected to; i will not be forgetting fadelstyle in a hurry

#or ever tbh #some of the gmmtv characters of all time imo #the heart killers #for the record i do also like kantbison a lot it's just that fadelstyle are such tearaway beloveds #they have reignited some of my telly joy. got me obsessin and thinkin bout them all the time #liomsa

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ellekhen · 1 year ago

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A tale of suns, moons, and our lives in between.

🦋 Find me on Bluesky! @ellekhen.bsky.social 🦋

Stories centered around the journeys of the tiefling warlock Church, who seems intent on upheaving a cynical Astarion’s life of cruel and calculated chicanery. Whether it’s all for the better remains to be seen; but either way, Church isn’t going anywhere anytime soon — and Astarion finds he prefers it that way.

Pairing: Astarion x Male Tav

*~*~*~*

Tipping the Scales - [Complete]

Drown Out - [Complete]

The Sun - [Complete]

Mirror, mirror - [Complete]

High Hopes - [Ongoing]

Hand, Hearth, and Home - [Ongoing] Master Post

The stars in between. - [Complete]

When Your Mind's Made Up - [Complete] Master Post

Of Silk, Sun, and Sparks - [Complete]

Off the Record - [Complete]

*~*~*~*

To be the first to know about updates, bookmark and subscribe to the series page on AO3!

*~*~*~*

Other BG3 stories...

Heaven Is a Place On Earth - Gale x FemTav - [Complete]

A Psalm for a Fallen God - Gale x FemTav - [Complete]

No Hard Feelings - Wyll x FemTav - [Complete]

The Three Sides of a Silver Coin - M/M/M OCs - [Complete]

*~*~*~*

Other Fandoms...

Here Comes Trouble - Dragon Age | Neve x FemRook - [Complete]

Sleeper, wake up. - Citizen Sleeper - [Ongoing]

the gods wait to delight in you - Citizen Sleeper | Peake x Sleeper - [Complete]

*~*~*~*

For fic summaries…

Summaries

Tipping the Scales - [Complete]

Church knows something is just… off — wrong, even, when they’re together, but Astarion refuses to let him in. When the recalcitrant vampire spawn is left behind at camp, he has little besides his thoughts and regrets as company. Through fitful meditations and a few nudges in the right direction, Astarion begins to finally come to terms with his strange, complicated feelings towards the tiefling warlock.

Drown Out - [Complete]

During times as chaotic as these, something as simple as a bath can be a sanctuary most unexpected. All in all, the tiefling warlock — Church — wasn’t who Astarion expected him to be. He’s too soft-hearted for his own good, and yet fiercely protective of those he loves. For some inscrutable reason, the vampire spawn falls into that circle. In the aftermath of a disastrous reunion and ambush from Astarion’s “siblings,” Church tends to the rogue as he reflects on how far they have come as friends and lovers along their journey.

The Sun - [Complete]

In the aftermath of defeating the Absolute, Astarion has no choice but to retreat to the shadows. Fortunately for him, Church had already decided long ago to be by his side wherever that may lead. The pair find themselves descending into the Underdark in hopes of helping the thousands of vampire spawn they freed find shelter, a community, and perhaps eventually break the chains of their pasts.

However, living in the Underdark as the sole warm-blooded caretaker of thousands of traumatized spawn takes its toll on the tiefling warlock. After a shocking event within the community, Church struggles to stay strong for Astarion and his other charges.

While he is haunted by memories of past rejections and failings, Church finds solace in Astarion's constant companionship. Ever watching each other's backs, they remind each other of the memories that have made them both stronger, together.

Mirror, mirror - [Complete]

Years following the defeat of the Absolute, Church and Astarion have made a new life — a challenging, but happy life — for themselves in the Underdark. But after a ritual goes wrong, Church finds himself waking up in the arms of a different Astarion, in a world where a single decision led to a very different and devastating outcome to their story.

While the Astarion and Gale of his world work tirelessly to bring him back home safe, Church fights not just to understand this new world and how his lover has changed in it, but also to retain his sovereignty in mind and body so that he may find his freedom from the elf his other self once loved.

High Hopes - [Ongoing]

Rolan, Cal, and Lia have survived their exile from Elturel this long by growing up fast and watching out for each other. Still, they find themselves treasuring the moments of normalcy that are so rare during these dangerous times.

Along the way, they find themselves crossing paths with another tiefling - a warlock adventurer named Church who has saved them multiple times, but is shouldering his own burdens unimaginable to them. This adventurer has always watched out for them along their journey, but who's watching out for him?

A series of vignettes from the times where the siblings and Church's respective paths to survival have crossed, nurturing a friendship most unexpected.

Hand, Hearth, and Home - [Ongoing]

In their respective, wary calculations, Astarion and Church know that they very well could be the death of each other. Years after losing his childhood friend and first love, Church reminds himself not to get too attached. Sabotaging those plans is Astarion, who just won’t leave him alone — all in the name of using the warlock as a means to an end, of course. But when Church’s friend unexpectedly returns as a certain guardian in their dreams, it makes his already conflicted, burgeoning feelings far more complicated. And yet, as the trust between him and Astarion grows, Church learns to let go of the past that holds him back from embracing a brighter future — no matter how uncertain it may be here at the vampire spawn’s side.

The stars in between. - [Complete]

Years after the events of the game, Withers invites Church, Astarion, and their former companions back for yet another party — a festive, cozy, winter Simril celebration! Thrilled at the prospect of seeing all his friends together again, Church takes the opportunity to indulge in a nostalgic tradition of his old village. But once Astarion realizes that this tradition involves giving gifts, he desperately tries to come up with a last-minute gift worthy enough for his partner with help from their friends and a certain (former) god of death.

When Your Mind's Made Up - [Complete]

In another lifetime, Church helps Astarion ascend before impulsively following his lover into darkness — vowing that neither of them will ever have to be alone again. But when the warlock wakes up from his transformation, he realizes far too late that the person he trusts and loves the most has become yet another inescapable patron. And so, when the battle against the Absolute demands yet another sacrifice from the tiefling, he finds himself wondering… What more does he have to lose? (A companion piece to “Mirror, mirror.”)

Of Silk, Sun, and Sparks - [Complete]

In the four years since the Absolute’s defeat, Church and Astarion have faced both great peril and sweet victories by each other’s side. One such victory is being able to spend a relaxing time in Gale’s guesthouse in Waterdeep, where laundry day forces Church to make use of a gift from his betrothed — much to Astarion's smug satisfaction. But thanks to the arrival of their dear friend, the tiefling's relaxing, sunlit evening is about to get a lot more exciting — and magical.

Off the Record - [Complete]

Church is a journalist on assignment to interview a CEO of a renowned gene therapy company; however, unbeknownst to him, that company has just been acquired by his ex, the vampire ascendant Astarion. Ever the professional, the interview must go on... but inevitably, the tension and feelings come to a head, and Church has no choice but to stop the tape and do something about it. A Modern AU where vampires and magic exist alongside conventional science.

Heaven Is a Place On Earth - [Complete]

After speaking with Mystra, Gale returns to Connie's side back in the Stormshore Tabernacle. Although they are both still plagued by self-doubt, Connie and Gale's love, trust, and belief in one another lifts each other up, and an entirely different, pleasurable kind of worship unfolds upon Mystra's altar. (A gift for GrovyRoseGirl, the creator of the amazing, fierce Connie Lamalet.)

No Hard Feelings - [Complete]

Now that Mizora has allowed Wyll to tell his companions the story of his pact and subsequent exile, Irva’s heart begins to sink. After all, Wyll’s story leaves out an important detail — one she can recall intimately. A young man — a boy, really — stood slowly before her. His hand was remarkably steady as it retrieved his blade. His face, which still had spots and had been contorted in a scream just seconds earlier, was firm and resolute. Blood poured down his cheek from a destroyed, unseeing eye. Dagger raised, Irva didn’t know why she hesitated then… …and she doesn’t know why she hesitates now. In which Wyll happens to falls in love with a cleric of Tiamat — one he has unknowingly met before.

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traversety · 2 months ago

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THE HEART OF CHICANERY: SIX

word count: 2,799

content warnings: mental health shit

CHAPTER INDEX

*****

The house was quieter than a graveyard when the boys came downstairs. “Strange,” Alan mused. “Did everyone leave? I know Dad’s getting the tree from a farm an hour away, but Mom wasn’t going anywhere as far as I’m aware.”

“Emergency grocery run?”

“Must be that, unless she’s taking Adrian and Millie present shopping for me. Which is unlikely. It must be an emergency grocery run. Oh well, we still have bread and Nutella.”

As Alan dove into the cabinets searching for the aforementioned items, Roman glanced out the window. Pale silver clouds coated the skies, casting Alan’s small backyard into shadows.

A chill slid down Roman’s spine. Something was wrong. Staring through the glass, Roman could feel something out-of-place lingering nearby, like an unwanted ghost crawling out from the grave. But this was his street. His turf. And it was the weekend, so it wasn’t the old haunts of the past coming for him for some unexpected reason. Alan had handled that issue a few months ago.

His heart sounding out a drumbeat of fear, Roman walked forward. His shaking hands gripped the sill so tightly his fingers protested with pain. A ringing sound filled the silence as his eyes examined the landscape, praying to God that his mind was playing tricks on him.

And then he saw it. It was hovering in the branches of a stately pine tree, easy to overlook, but it was there. A drone. A Society drone. In his best friend’s backyard.

Impossible.

Alan’s voice sounded like a distant echo. “Okay, I found- Roman? Are you good? You look like you’ve been glued to the ground and saw a ghost.”

The drone’s orange light blinked twice. Then it began to move slowly, extracting itself from the tree while trying not to draw any attention to itself.

Roman had a sickening feeling he knew what that drone was looking for.

“Alan,” he said, his pitch rising from a whisper to a shout. “Alan, I need you to get out of here or down on the floor. Leaving would be better.”

“Roman, please, is everything—”

“ALAN!” His blood spiked with adrenaline. Roman spun around, grabbed Alan’s sleeve, and lunged forward. They fell to the ground, Roman quickly pinning Alan on the carpet. “Alan, please, I need you to trust me. I know we have a vow of honesty, but I need your trust.”

Alan was gasping for air. With Roman’s knees digging into his sides, an elbow planted on his chest, and his free hand gripping the front of his pullover, the task was even more difficult. “Roman,” he coughed out, “I will always trust you. Even if you kill me, I will trust you with my dying breath.”

In an instant, Roman was on his feet, pulling Alan up with a fierce tug. “Then I need you to follow me.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw the drone careening towards the window. “Something’s out there, and I don’t know if it wants you or me.”

Before Alan could beg an explanation from him, Roman ran for the front door. He spared only a few seconds to throw his jacket back on and thank God he’d chosen slip-on sneakers. Alan was right behind him, hurriedly pulling on a pair of boots and tying the laces with practiced speed.

Roman threw open the front door. A blast of cold air swept through the opening, carrying the sound of a drone’s motor with it. Without a single word spoken between them, Alan and Roman sprinted into the snow. Alan took the lead as they ran on the ice-slicked sidewalks, easily outdistancing Roman and the Society drone madly trailing in their wake. His ears were flushed from the cold and his breathing was the gasping of an amateur athlete, but Roman couldn’t read Alan’s face and see if he was afraid. If anything, Alan would be more concerned about Roman getting hurt than himself. He understood that it was important none of them got hurt, but standing in the way of any bullets was the last thing Roman needed to happen to his best friend.

The whirring noise of the drone cut through the cold air, amplified by the silence the snow had brought. The crunch of footsteps and the hiss of hurried breathing provided a rhythm for the haunting atmosphere.

Roman felt like he’d been trapped in a cage and put on display to be laughed at. Whoever was watching this mad dash was likely amused. A Society member, running in dangerous conditions from a generally safe drone? Comedy, nothing but comedy. And to top it all off, Alan was bound to ask questions: how did Roman know about the drone? How did he know they needed to run? The veil of this Temple was possibly about to be ripped from the top down, and the prospect only gave Roman even more to fear.

A breeze started pushing on the back of Roman’s sweaty neck. The taste of blood and salt soaked his mouth. The drone must be getting too close. “ALAN, GO FASTER! YOU NEED TO GET AWAY FROM THIS THING!”

Alan turned around for a half-second. His face burned pink; his hair was frosted with frozen sweat. His chest was heaving from the excursion. “I’m worried about losing you,” he said.

“Don’t worry about me,” Roman called out between each gasp. “I can handle myself. Please, Alan, worry about yourself for once.”

Alan skidded to a stop, his fingers deftly curling around a signpost to keep him from slipping and falling. “I don’t want you to hurt or be hurt, Roman. I’ve seen you go through so much. I just want you to be safe, and being hunted like this can’t be helping right now.”

I’m just trying not to kill or be killed. Fragments of voices. an echo in empty stone hallways. That’s what it felt like, hearing those words in his mind.

“I know you’d do anything for me, Roman. And I’d do anything for you.”

You keep your hands off of him. Harm him and watch what happens to your miserable lives. This voice sounded a bestial snarl in a cavern lit by raging fires.

With a sudden jolt of heartache, Roman realized that, in his nightmare, he must have been referring to Alan there, when he was threatening his pursuers. I know you’d do anything for me, Roman. And I’d do anything for you. An oath, a river of blood, a loss of life or limb—or both. They would kill to keep each other safe. They would take vows of honesty to protect each other. And Roman had been breaking his promises since the day he made them. But like Alan, he wanted to keep everyone safe. Everyone being each other.

Roman’s gaze met Alan’s eyes, and for a moment they stared at each other, their breaths fogging together like twin cigarette smokes. Then Alan looked up. Roman’s gaze followed, and his heartbeat leaped into his mouth.

“It caught up with us.”

Roman had never been so close to a Society drone. Not since his first night. Not since the accident that had led to all the drones staying behind locked doors. It was surprisingly flat and square, about the same thickness (and perhaps two-thirds the size) as the copy of Brian Moore’s Catholics that Alan kept on his nightstand. The color was a rich black, and an orange light glittered from the top of the drone. Two small propellers jutted out on each side and a miniature camera lens on the front reflected the shine of the snow on the ground. It would be perfectly pocket-sized, Roman knew, when it was turned off, easy enough to hide in a small bag. When he first saw a Society drone, he’d been awed by the thing. Now it sent shivers down his spine.

“I think it’s filming us,” Alan said. “That’s probably why the light is on. I wonder whose toy this is.”

“This doesn’t look like any toy I’ve seen.”

“Well, come on, it’s not like it belongs to the CIA! It must belong to somebody we already know.”

“It could be anyone.”

“But why would a stranger be interested in us, Roman?”

“KIDNAPPING?!”

Alan chuckled. “No one’s kidnapping us. You’d find a matchbook and burn something a week into captivity. You’re too volatile to be a prisoner.”

At the mention of matches, Roman’s hands began to shake, and his mouth went dry. He knew these symptoms too well.

But they gave him an excellent idea.

“Alan, I am going to sound like a lunatic, but I need you to stay right here. I just came up with a terrible idea and I want to see if it works.”

“DON’T TRIP AND DIE ON YOUR WAY BACK!” Alan screamed as Roman dashed back to his house. “I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET IT IF YOU DO!”

*****

He stumbled to a halt outside his house, panting. He knew that Alan would’ve hidden what he needed before he showed up, so the only place to get it would be back home.

The front door was still unlocked.

Roman hurried through the house, not bothering to shed his coat and shoes. Throwing together a distraction like the one he had in mind needed to be done quickly. He couldn’t just leave Alan stranded out there.

When he left, his pockets held a few pocket-sized notebooks and a box of matches.

Alan was going to kill him for this.

*****

It was a horrible plan, thrown together at the last second and likely to scare Alan to death, but he didn’t have enough time for anything else. Even if he did have more time, he’d need his headset, and there was no way he was letting Alan see him disable a drone with a pair of wireless headphones. He had a lot of anxiety bottling up, anyway. Might as well pop the cork on it before it got even worse. Maybe the guilt from Alan’s disappointment would hurt less.

When he closed his eyes, he could feel something sharp and burning spreading across his shoulders and down his arms, almost like being stabbed in the back while drowning. His hands were shaking so badly that he had to latch his fingers onto the lining of his jacket pockets. He needed to breathe, needed the taste of smoke on his tongue, needed a searing breeze weaving its way through his hair and across his face. He needed to be free. This blind fear was going to kill him. He needed a light to see past the darkness. Wasn’t that why he started lighting fires? To burn off the pressure of stress, of fear and anxiety?

The slick cardboard of the matchbox sent a sickening trickle through his blood. How much longer was it going to be? A few minutes? It felt like an eternity, a thousand years spinning away into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

He would not regret doing this. He could not regret doing this.

I will not regret doing this. I should not regret doing this.

I refuse to regret doing this.

His shoulders started to tense.

Ahead of him, he saw Alan. He was still holding onto the signpost. The drone was slowly circling him. Not too much longer now. Seconds away. Just seconds before release.

Alan’s head turned in Roman’s direction. His eyes widened.

His plan was starting.

“Roman! You didn’t trip, right?”

He shook his head. “I’m okay. I’m gonna get that thing away from us. I need you to return to your house and wait for me.”

Alan smiled and flashed him a quick thumbs-up. It was working. His fingers curled around the box in his pocket as Alan started running towards him.

As he passed Roman, Alan suddenly stopped and grabbed his sleeve. A frown settled on his face, and dread shot through Roman. He couldn’t have realized that quickly.

Alan’s voice was thick with panic. “Are you going to do,” he said, “what I think you’re going to do?”

Roman tried to wrestle out of Alan’s grip, but it was like an iron chain locking him in place, a tether binding him to fear. “You’ve got your hands in your pockets, your eyes are too wide, your shoulders are tight—”

“I’m doing what needs to be done, Alan. There’s no other way to do this.” He pulled the matches out of his pocket, held them tight, and tried to unzip his coat. He succeeded, tumbling in a blink and sinking into the snow. The cold only increased the need for a fire. Three of the notebooks fell beside him, and he shoved them into his waistband. Too much time had already been lost. He couldn’t waste any more seconds.

Concern blossomed on Alan’s face. “Roman, you shouldn’t do this—”

Enough. He needed to let it all go. The bottle was starting to break.

“GO BEFORE YOU GET HURT!” Roman screamed, his voice ripping at the seams, frayed edges taking the place of neat hemlines. A nauseating brew of anxiety bubbled in his blood. “I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING! PLEASE, ALAN!”

Before Alan could protest, Roman was on his feet, racing toward the drone, his fingers fumbling for a match. He leaped in the air, grabbed the drone, and fell into that freezing white blanket for the second time in a few minutes. He forced the drone between his knees, then struck the match on his jeans.

Fire. A small light, but it was enough. A spark in the darkness.

He broke through the surface. No more drowning. No more fear blinding his eyes.

Freedom.

He pulled the notebooks free and held them in his left hand like playing cards. With his right hand, the match drew closer, the flames a moment away.

And then it happened.

Fire kissed the paper. Smoke drifted into the air, stinging his eyes and stealing his breath. It tasted acrid and flat; the absence of the anxiety was much more delicious.

The flames spread quickly, and Roman used his free hand to hold the drone, forcing the camera lens to lock on the burning books.

“Whoever messes with Alan,” he snarled, “messes with me.”

His fingers began to sear with sun-bright pain. He simply smiled. His breath came out sharp, fogged with freezing air.

He began to laugh. Chuckles soon gave way to maniacal screams.

He felt so much better already. Freedom. Manumission. Floating on the surface of the ocean. Release. It felt wonderful.

His hands were shaking, burning, hurting, his vision sparkling with a thousand stars, his head emptied, his lungs choking on smoke. Someone was shouting behind him, begging him to please, please stop, but how could he stop when he felt so much lighter—

In a blink, there was nothing but silence. A curtain pulled over the world.

Darkness had returned. But his relief was worth the pain.

*****

When he came to, he wasn’t outside.

Soft flannel sheets. Weak evening light streaming from the window. The sensation of something cool on his hands. Burn cream.

His eyes started to focus. This was his bedroom.

“Oh, thank God you’re awake. I was on my knees for two hours, begging God for you to wake up. All fifteen decades of the Rosary in one sitting, and then some. I know it seems ridiculous, but I was freaking out while you were out, Roman.” A bottle of holy water sparkled gently in the lamplight on Roman’s nightstand. Alan must’ve brought it along in case something serious happened.

Oh, Alan. “How… how long was I out?”

“Something along the lines of four hours. You woke up after, like, ten minutes and then immediately fell back asleep. You woke up as we were coming inside and stayed in this groggy state long enough for me to get you into a bed before you fell asleep. Don’t worry about your hands. I pretty much drowned them in burn cream, and you didn’t get hit too much.”

Roman finally turned his head to his left. Alan wasn’t looking at him.

“You’re more worried than you’re letting on. Come on, Alan, look at me.”

Alan turned. His eyes were brimming with tears and fear. “Roman, you had me panicking. I’m not gonna lie. I don’t know what was going on, and I honestly don’t care. But I will care the next time you grab a drone and light something on fire in front of it. I’m holding back the Inquisition right now, but if I see one more drone, I am asking questions, and I will hold you to your promises. Do you understand?” His voice was choking with concern.

Roman still felt no guilt for what he’d done.

“Alright. I promise.”

*****

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*****

ping list: @oligoweee, @ablank-art

#mona: text file #mona wrote some words #the heart of chicanery #writers on tumblr #my writing #tw mental health

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rynnthefangirl · 1 year ago

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My Top 10 Favorite Breaking Bad Universe Characters

1. Howard Hamlin - this one is kinda silly bc he is much less developed than other characters, but I can’t help it. His tragedy hits so hard, it took a character whom I didn’t really care about and made him my absolute #1 fave. Rest in peace Howard you deserved better🥺💔

2. Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman - Gilligould really took a look at their whacky comic relief lawyer in Breaking Bad, and said “hmm, what if we made him the absolute most complex and fascinating character in our entire fictional universe”. And then they did.🙌

3. Jesse Pinkman - God his story hurts. He had one of the best hearts in the whole show, yet he suffered more than ANY other character. His character goes from loveably silly to absolutely heart shattering. I hope he found some peace in Alaska.❤️

4. Walter White - I just can’t help but love this horrible horrible man. He’s goofy and ridiculous, but also insane and egotistical in the most entertaining way. What a great protagonist, he’s compelling when I am rooting for him and compelling when I am praying for his downfall.

5. Chuck McGill - IMO, the best antagonist in the whole BrBa universe. The Jimmy vs Chuck storyline was TOP TIER, Chicanery was a masterpiece of an episode, Lantern and Winner are just dripping with tragedy and sorrow and what-if's. And it's all because of Chuck. Rip Chuck, you may have been a prick but damn if you didn’t make this show the brilliant piece of television that it was.

6. Kim Wexler - no character gives me more mixed feelings than Kim. I always liked her in the early seasons, then I despised her in s6a, then my heart broke for her in s6b, and now I retroactively have so much more love and sorrow for her earlier self because there was so much good there and she could have been so much better and GOD Kim is such a tragic, amazing, well written character.

7. Skyler White - oh my god, my poor wife. You deserved so much better than what the audience gave you all those years. You were a queen, and so right about everything, and I am so sorry I didn’t see it before but now I will defend you until my dying day❤️❤️❤️

8. Lalo Salamanca - he’s just so insane and silly and entertaining. He steals every scene he’s in, and in my opinion added some desperately needed charm and charisma to the cartel side of the show. Legit was rooting for him against Gus, even though he killed my boy Howie and I knew he was doomed to fail.

8. Nacho Varga - Like Jesse, he went through so much despite having one of the most decent hearts on the show, and it all culminated in such a tragic yet powerful death scene. And I love love love the idea of the curse of Nacho Varga dooming Gus, the Salamancas, and the Cartel for their sins. His ghost looms over Breaking Bad, and makes both shows much richer as a result.

9. Cheryl Hamlin - she fascinates me, we see very little of her and yet I loved her scenes and want to know more. I'll also not tolerate Cheryl slander, we don't know what was going on in her and Howard’s marriage, and in the end she stood up for him when nobody else did.

10. Mike Ehrmantraut - to be honest, I'm not the biggest Mike fan. Not because there is anything wrong with his character per se, but I find it a bit annoying how the fandom idolizes him as a loveable grandpa/moral criminal when he actually is kind of horrible and not all that different from Walter. That being said, I do love what they were going for in BCS, showing his slow corruption as he keeps going back into the world of crime to avoid dealing with his grief for his son's death, culminating in that amazing scene where the show calls him on his hypocrisy and Manual Varga tells him 'you gangsters and your justice, you are all the same'. I just wish it was explored more explicitly in the narrative and fandom the way that Walt and Jimmy's moral corruptions are.

#breaking bad #better call saul #howard hamlin #jimmy mcgill #jesse pinkman #walter white #chuck mcgill #kim wexler #skyler white #lalo salamanca #nacho varga #cheryl hamlin #mike ehrmantraut

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aces-come-in-spades · 3 months ago

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FROM THE LIBRARY OF AN ACE OF SPADES: CHARACTER MASTERLIST

Please read all of the following information. This covers some basic in-universe mechanics and provides enough background information to interact with the characters, as well as some info on the characters themselves.

BE ADVISED: SEXUAL ASSAULT, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, AND TORTURE ARE DISCUSSED BELOW!

FROM THE LIBRARY OF AN ACE OF SPADES is a series of science fiction novels. Currently, only one book, The Heart of Chicanery, is in the process of being written. The other four books, a novella, and an anthology, are all still in the process of being planned.

The plot of the Library series revolves around a group called Society X (or the Society for short), whose members are able to manipulate technology in a seemingly supernatural manner. Roman Nilsen is one of the members of the Society... until he and his friend Jazz discover a prisoner named Logan, who begins to exploit the true story and motives of the Ten, the elites who control the lives of the Society's members.

Roman's mission is to find Logan's sister and convince her to free her brother from his imprisonment, all while living his daily life and lying to his next door neighbor and best friend, Alan, who he promised to never lie to. Eventually, another group, the Aviates, enter the scene and rescue Alan from a life-or-death situation, while Roman, Jazz, and Logan are all forced to run away and travel from city to city in an attempt to shake off the Society after the Ten learn about Roman and Jazz's attempts to free Logan.

In the Society, powers are programmed at random into microchips inserted into every member of the Society, and are activated when a pair of Society-issued wireless headphones and Society-issued gloves connect to the microchip. Most members do not know about the microchips and are taught that the powers stem from a mutation of DNA that the original members of the Society carried (as all members, with the exception of Roman, are born within the Society). Members are trained for ten years to use their powers, starting when they are eight and finishing when they're eighteen.

There are four power types in the Society: technokinesis, cyberkinesis, cyber-technokinesis, and "select skills."

TECHNOKINESIS is the ability to telepathically manipulate any device powered by electricity or dependent on electrically-controlled devices, such as cell phones, charging cords, or CDs. It's basically an incredibly specialized telekinesis that only works on electric and electric-dependent devices/objects.

CYBERKINESIS is the ability to telepatically operate electrical devices. Imagine operating a phone without ever having to come into physical contact with it. With enough practice, this power also automatically bypasses any passwords and security on a device, turning the user into an unstoppable hacker. The Society's training program allows enough time and training for cyberkinetics to utilize this ability.

CYBER-TECHNOKINESIS is a combination of technokinesis and cyberkinesis. They have both power sets, but are forced to go through extra-intense training in order to be properly skilled at the end of the ten-year training period.

"SELECT SKILLS" are a secondary skill that works separately from the previous powers, but they can't work unless one of the previous powers is present. These powers can be nearly anything, and even the most technically-minded members of the Society struggle to explain how these skills work. Roman can light objects on fire with a touch, Jazz can administer high-voltage shocks, and Logan can trigger illusions and explosions.

ROMAN KEITH NILSEN (#roman keith nilsen)

a paranoid artist with a gift for both lies and keeping quiet. he's incredibly shy and was diagnosed with pyromania when he was fifteen, which causes him to light objects on fire when his stress or anxiety is very high.

he found the society when he was eight. he decided to be difficult and wandered out into the woods alone on a cold snowy night and got very lost before running into the complex (society hq) and accidentally starting a surveillance drone! poor guy.

there's a crackfic college au you should ask him about because there is way more characterization in that.

(he/him, bisexual, pyromania. birthday november 27. cyber-technokinesis.)

likes: cryptids and folklore, lo-fi, painting, hiking hates: liminal spaces, physical combat fun fact: roman has no sleep schedule. like, at all. he's been known to stay up for four days in a row without sleep, consistently.

LOGAN VAILE (#logan vaile)

logan is the grandson of the society's founder, but hates being reminded of this. he shows his disdain for his family's prestige by wholeheartedly embracing every chance to (not in his words) "degrade himself," mostly through heavy drinking and chainsmoking. with his parents and grandparents both dead and his sister taken away, he has no one to rely on but himself, and grief is a hard thing to deal with alone.

after being forced to take on his father's role as a director of all espionage missions at 15 years old, he was locked away for shooting the highest of the Ten for attempting to sexually assault his little sister. now he's trying to seek revenge on the society, all while still being forced to play at a role he never wanted.

(he/him, straight demiromantic asexual, habitual smoker and drinker. birthday march 15. cyber-technokinesis.)

likes: dancing, horror novels, herbal tea, fiction podcasts hates: cramped spaces, fruit-flavored juice drinks fun fact: logan prefers to go by the code name pyre unless he really, really trusts who he's talking to

JASPER "JAZZ" VAN JANSEN (#jazz van jansen)

jazz was born into the society and selected to take a "special program" when he was ten due to a defect in his microchip that gave him the ability to shock people and prevented him from using a standard headset. the "program" turned out to be project nightmare, a streamlined training program designed to create deadly field agents. jazz was subject to a lot of physical and mental torture as part of the program, much to the dismay of the person who was forced to draw up the program for him.

as part of the project, jazz is forced to attend therapy before moving on to the actual training itself. an incarcerated logan is forced to serve as jazz's therapist, which is pretty sadistic, but logan was also forced to draw up the project entirely from scratch (it was that or his sister got killed). jazz sees logan and roman as the only people he can trust.

despite all of this, he manages to keep up a cheerful attitude, although sometimes he seems to act crazy and manic. this is due to the "agent nightmare" persona he was forced to adopt. he also has no clue how life outside the society works, and often says things without knowing the true gravity of the meaning (he calls himself a "terrorist" and an "anarchist" but doesn't know what either of these mean).

(he/him, straight, adhd + ptsd. birthday january 2. cyberkinesis.)

likes: white chocolate, board games, rainy days, getting to see the world/traveling hates: dogs, eyestrain colors fun fact: to designate him as agent nightmare, jazz has a barcode tattoo on the right side of his neck

ALAN HARPER (#alan harper)

alan is roman's next-door neighbor and best friend, but has no clue that the society exists until one new year's eve where jazz manages to escape the society and stumbles upon roman and alan talking on the sidewalk. when alan tags along with roman and jazz to break logan out of his cell, he gets shot in the side and eventually rescued by an enemy of the society known as the aviates, who his parents apparently used to work for

alan is slated (against his will) as a future leader of the aviates due to having an extra-strength microchip stolen from the society in his arm that his parents put in there when he was a baby. this microchip allows alan to use technokinesis without a headset and gloves. he's very pissed about all of this and wants to make sure roman's okay, but the aviates are keeping him close and won't let him go anywhere.

alan likes to know everything about the people he's close to, including any secrets they might be hiding. despite this being seen as very up-in-the-face behavior, he's so kind and charming that people still like him. however, he only has one actual friend: roman, who swore he'd never tell a lie to alan. which, of course, didn't work out.

(he/him, cishet but swore himself to virginity, basically a nerdy-looking normal white boy. birthday august 24. technokinesis.)

likes: physical media, thrift shopping, stargazing, helping people out hates: cilantro, arguments fun fact: alan is, in fact, catholic! (i needed someone i could relate to religion-wise but don't worry, he's a chill catholic)

ALTAIR SANDLER-MCBRIDE (#altair sandler-mcbride)

altair is a member of the aviates. he's mostly there to be a nuisance, but his primary jobs are taking care of the aviates' drones and keeping an eye on alan

he's very much unhinged. and is half jewish and half irish. and has a very strong accent (it's either scottish or irish, i can do it but i have no idea what to classify it as)

(he/they, gay, audhd. birthday december 1)

likes: video games, running, any caffeinated drinks, the aviate drones (he treats them like his siblings) hates: hot weather, golden oreos fun fact: altair has a male white pomeranian named azrael, and he loves the little guy to death

honorable mentions

AUGUSTINE "ACE" VAILE: (he/him, refuses to confirm his sexuality for me) logan's deceased grandfather and the founder of the society

COLLIN CROSS: (he/him, gay) altair's boyfriend

ANNA VAILE/AGENT AURORA: (she/her, straight) logan's sister

KEITO TSUNUKO: (he/him, straight): jazz's former combat instructor and one of logan's former superiors

honorable mentions open for asks

JAMIE WINCHESTER-SOMERSET & ELLIOT ROUSSEAU: characters that technically belong to @gala-xyzz (mod's irl sister) who have both met logan at some point in their lives (#jamie winchester-somerset & #elliot rousseau)

jamie (he/him, claims to be straight) is one of the aviates and is also the scion of a wealthy british family. his grandfather was very close with ace, logan's grandfather, and jamie is desperately trying to learn more about both of them. he spends his time traveling the world and getting chased around by elliot. he's also incredibly sarcastic, even more so than logan is.

elliot (he/him, has declined commenting on his sexuality) is a member of the nexus foundation and is also very much crushing on jamie (jamie doesnt know it yet.... or does he?). he's technically supposed to capture jamie but talks his way out of it by claiming to play a long game that will eventaully result in jamie's capture. he is an annoying perfectionist and prone to being a little hissy bitch.

#mona speaks #from the library of an ace of spades #the librarians speak #roman keith nilsen #logan vaile #jazz van jansen #altair sandler-mcbride #jamie winchester-somerset #elliot rousseau #THIS TOOK HOURS GUYS PLEASE LIKE THIS

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