#this is now a whole plot reference iykyk

[dubiousduskwight]

Day 17: Sally

Within a bell the weather had turned, and when the blizzard descended the Fellows had scattered.

After the excitement of Matthieu’s shot, a few had balked at the prospect of chasing down a wounded karakul, lest they find themselves someplace unexpected like a wolf’s den. Those who could teleport back to the city had done so, offering their goodbyes. A few others, those without the ability to turn themselves into aether as a casual matter, averred and said they would see the others back at the Gates of Judgment, and keep a few spaces open at the coal hearth for them.

The remaining half-dozen, Matthieu among them, had set out to follow the blood in the snow. Aubineaux had seemed driven, and the rest seemed curious. In a typical hunt, they either caught their prey in the first shot, or they missed and it escaped. Matthieu had been curious in turn, and asked how many, exactly, they had caught in the past. Gaspardieux was cheerful in admitting to nothing, and Alort far less so. Ophoix insisted that he’d caught at least three bateleur, and the largest was stuffed over the mantle of his home; some teasing resulted, as others were sure the third of those had managed to fly away. Constant refused to elaborate, saying it didn’t matter.

None of them bothered to ask Aubineaux. They knew the number was high, though he kept few trophies at home. But even Matthieu had received dishes of spiced mutton from the tailor’s spouse in the past when she’d had “too much to serve at home.” All agreed she was an excellent chef, and all had wondered at what quantity was too much.

“You’ll want to keep the horns, of course,” he had said, walking a yalm or two ahead of the group at a brisk pace. “A catch with horns like that, that’s worth keeping on the mantel. Damned fine first catch.” Stopping at once in the snow, he glanced down at the bloody tracks. “Do you have a butcher? If not, my Fleurelle can do her best.” “I’d like that,” Matthieu raised his voice in reply to Aubineaux. “He’s animated,” he muttered to Constant beside him in passing. “Compared to before. I never see him speak this much in the shop.” “Only once there’s a catch,” Constant replied. “Then he’s all cheer.”

Perhaps he could serve the dish to Edda, Matthieu thought.. Whether she’d frown in disapproval at his taking up arms and catching his own food, or clasp her hands in delight at the accomplishment, he couldn’t yet say, but he certainly hoped for the former. “But perhaps we should gather it quickly? The snow’s picking up.”

All save Aubineaux glanced to the sky. It wasn’t often that the cloudwatchers were wrong, but sometimes the aetherial currents would have their way and there was no accounting for it. The wind had picked up around them, causing all to hug their arms to their coats as it tried to cut through thick wool and leather and chill them, and the snow was falling with increasing intensity. Matthieu could still see his boots pressing into the snow.

“It won’t be long, promise you that,” said Aubineaux. He alone kept his eyes forward, snow piling on his shoulders and falling into his hair without being brushed away. “A shot like that, it should have tired or bled out. Truss it up, carry it back to Whitebrim, and warm up while the weather clears.” His spirits kept up those of the others, and they chatted amiably among themselves, never noticing that they had to raise their voices more and more above the wind. When a quarter-bell had passed, Aubineaux stopped them in their tracks. “There we have it.“ He gestured to a tipped-over ball of black fleece in the snow, where the trail of blood, now only a faint set of light markings hidden among falling snow, ended. “Alort, Ophoix, help me trust this. We’ll have to work fast. You just stay back, Mr. Buison. We need to be quick about this.”

Keeping his arms close to his chest, Matthieu stood still in the snow, shifting weight from one leg to another to keep his blood moving while the three hunters procured rope from their supplies and prepped the karakul to be carried. “I should have thought to bring a fire shard.”

“I’ve a spare.” Gaspardieux offered a small, softly glowing reddish-amber rock to Matthieu, who accepted it with a grateful nod. The warmth in his gloves was a small thing, but a relief. “This doesn’t happen often, to be sure, but it’s good to be prepared.” “Better still to head back now, I think,” he said, waving his hand to Aubineaux, who rose with the trussed karakul slung over his shoulder. Their view was shrinking by the moment as clouds descended further and the wind whipped snow in greater and greater speeds. Gaspardieux held up another shard in his hand, where the glow cut through some of the fog. “Follow along, if you please,” he called out, and turned northwards. “We’ve done this before, don’t worry.” His brow beetled together as he looked out the sky. “Although this is a bit worse weather than the last times.”

“How much worse?” asked Matthieu, holding up his own shard for added visibility.

“A fair bit.” Gaspardieux looked between Matthieu and Aubineaux’s group. “I’ll hang back a step to create a line. You stick with Constant. Once we get to the main road we should be fine, just keep heading north.”

Taking a few steps back, Matthieu was surprised by how quickly the carpenter fell out of sight, save for the glow of the shard in his hand. Rather than keep it upright for the entire journey, he chose to hang the shard on the back of his coat, where they could see it easily, checked for Constant at his side, and headed north.

Without easily estimating time, the trek was drudgery, one foot lifting heavily in front of the other to make a deep impression in the snow as he marched forward. Wind buffeted Matthieu’s face and left his cheeks and nose chattering and red until he pulled his scarf up over his mouth. Surely he would see the copse of trees where they’d waited by now, he thought, or the road up to Whitebrim Front.

“How do we know it won’t be snowed over?” he asked of Constant. “The road, I mean.”

He had no reply. Looking to his right, he could see Constant was no longer there. When had he lost sight of the man? Stopping in his tracks, he looked around in the haze of wind. Behind him, he couldn’t see Gaspardieux’s shard, though the warmth on his back confirmed his own was still present. Otherwise, around him there was nothing, only snow and wind.

It occurred to him that the Fellows who had taken their leave and teleported away early were the sensible ones, and that he had been very foolish to rush out into the snow with the others for the sake of a mutton dinner and a pair of horns. All of this was unnecessary; he could close his eyes, gather his aether, and in a flash be back in the Firmament, sheltered and safe. The others would have done the same by now, if their prize weren’t keeping them in place. And they would have abandoned the karakul as well with the weather this bad. It was a shame about the loss, but there would be other hunts.

He was certain of this. And he was certain that all of them were able to teleport themselves, and that the shard on his back was unnecessary.

Without pulling down his scarf, he cupped his hands to his mouth and started calling out the names of the Fellows into the storm, hoping to hear a cry or see the glow of Gaspardieux’s shard. He shouted until he could feel himself going hoarse, and his eyes stung from the wind and ice.

For a moment, there was a lull in the wind, and his voice carried cleanly. He heard someone, but he couldn’t place who. Then there was the crack of someone’s rifle, and a shriek. It was the only sound he could focus on, and he ran towards it, half-stumbling through the snow in broad, leaping steps until he felt nearly out of breath.

When it seemed he might faint, he willed himself to continue, until at last he came upon the group, standing in a scattered semi-circle. There, the body of a wyrmling had freshly fallen into the snow. Both the azure of its scales and the blood from a bullet hole helped it stand out.

[darkst4lker]

crawling back to you. // sirius black

marauders era!sirius black x slytherin!reader

plot: sirius and you had been forced to be engaged by your families with the intention of maintain blood purity since you were twelve and he was thirteen. as time passed you became very close in an attempt to survive the situation together but you didn't expected him to leave you behind when he escaped from his family home. months later you decided to follow his steps and like clockwork, you were on the doorstep of the potters, crawling back to sirius one last time. tw: fem!reader, ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LENGUAGE!!, a lot of fluff, mentions of smut (nothing graphic), trauma, abusive families, forced engagement, very slightly unhealthy romantic dynamics between reader and sirius, a lot of angst and trauma bonding. maybe a bit of ooc sirius. low caps on purpose. notes: hiiii, this was supposed to be a christmas special but i didn't got to post it on time lmao, please enjoy it. this has a couple references to some songs!! iykyk, also my apologies for being so slow with requests i swear i am working on them i just can't help writing a thousand things at the same time. AND YES there's another sirius one-shot in the making that will be ready soon!! stay tuned!!

your steps were quick even in the cold, cruel snow. it was christmas eve, and a fast look to the clock on your right wrist announced that in two hours would be midnight.

the truth was that you never left your home this late without your parents. and for the first time the wand with a dragon heartstring core hiding in your sleeve didn't provide the safety feeling it did inside of hogwarts.

godric's hollow was full of christmas lights in every house, but the tears that left your eyes proved that you weren't in the mood to acknowledge the beauty of that special night. unlike the last sixteen years in your life, christmas felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

nervousness flooded your guts, doubts of the possible resolutions surrounding what you were about to do. the violent and suffocating memories of better times, or worst times (if you looked at it from the perspective of the person you shouldn't have fallen in love with) were destroying your insides.

and not to mention the ghost of the choice you made, lingering on your face in the form of a bruise you dear mother had planted on your cheek just like a loving kiss.

the irony of the matter was that your mother was the one to blame for all the things that were happening.

she had personally arranged your engagement with sirius orion black when you were twelve. she had made you fit into pretty dresses for all the parties in the black family home. she had taught you to care for him, to like him. she put sirius in your life and now that you loved him, fulfilling her desires, she hated you for it.

but your loyalties were set, and there was no turning back now.

you remembered the night you met sirius, in his family house. grimmauld place was full of pureblood friends of both of your parents and your whole families.

in a display of respect, your parents had put you in a lovely and quite formal black dress. the corset was uncomfortable for a girl your age but for your mother, you tried.

you always tried.

you were born trying.

and in the moment you saw sirius, who you had seen before in hogwarts but never paying enough attention, a sigh left your lips.

sirius was beautiful, dark. an obscure aura surrounded his face features, proving in an instant he had inherited all his family traits and even perfected them. yet the detail that stayed in your heart was the rebellious look on his face that never left even years later.

his eyes spoke in a secret language, subtly announcing he was a miracle of nature, the lion who was born in a snake nest.

and you quickly understood him. from the way his tie and hair were a bit messy, to the glass of wine he "accidentally" spilled on his mother. you noticed every act of silent revolution, and in some way you adored it.

almost by the end of the night, your parents left the both of you alone in the living room while his parents made a tour of the house for the guests.

to sirius, the first words you said to each other were always haunting his home and when he left, he carried them his chest like a knife, a vestige of resilience.

“i'm sorry.” it was the only words you could say. if sirius was angry before, you managed to escape from his temper radar.

he looked at you, a tortured sigh leaving his lips. his eyes now meeting yours and clouding your brain for a moment. the mesmerizing effect the sound of his voice provoked in your guts prophesied the sweet fate you would suffer one day.

“i'm sorry too.” he answered.

the two of you stayed in silence. you were quite aware that sirius was starting to be known in hogwarts as a player even if it was in an innocent way. he was at the age when hormones spoke by themselves and following their counsel, sirius flirted with every person who caught his eye, that leading to some broken hearts.

you were not one of the people he would be interested in and you knew it.

he did not mess with slytherins and he had made it clear thousands of times. the known fame of being blood purists and dark wizards catched up with every kid who followed the serpent path even if you liked to think you were not like that because if you really weren't, most of your friends were.

in the end, you were associated with lucius, narcissa, evan and barty. you had hanged out with regulus multiple times, they were your friends and sirius obviously believed you were exactly like the most of them.

another pureblood perfect girl, raised to be tied to a man, bear an heir and die in the resentful solitude of her own home after a long unhappy and painful marriage.

but you knew from the start that you hated just the idea of it, even if was the life your parents planned for you. in your eyes, every single one of the things surrounding this kind of living was completely and utterly fake from the very beggining.

it was a game flooded with unhappiness, made to drain the life out of boys like sirius and sacrifice the girls like you by throwing them to the hungry wolves of motherhood.

yet, sirius had the typical greed of a young man and you wanted him to live the teenage love you craved to experience too. knowing this, you believed you had found a common ground, a piece to move on this board to save the both of you and help you stick together.

you clinged on this hope for dear life before speaking again.

“we don't need to love each other. i won't mind if you keep dating people .” you said, now avoiding his deep eyes. “the only thing i ask in return is for you to not treat me like an enemy.”

and that was the last thing you said to him before your parents appeared to announce you were leaving, bringing you back to the cold reality outside sirius presence.

after that night, you assumed he would ignore you in school but he didn't. it was a slow process for the both of you but after some time, he showed he now cared for you and you reciprocated.

the couple of times you were sick in the nursery, sirius would come around to check on you and he always brought you chocolate frogs. if he was irritated after losing a quidditch match, you would join the marauders and take him to hogsmeade to cheer him up. for now, you were just two kids supporting each other.

but things took a turn when the rough love your families had caught up with both of you. when your parents pressured you if you didn't had perfect grades, sirius would hug you. and when his parents got angry with him for just being him and sent threatening letters, you would hug him back.

sirius made you realize how abusive were your family and his, and how awful were your blood purist friends.

“someday i will leave my house.” he said to you one day while you were having lunch together in the gryffindor table. he didn't seem like he was joking. “and you need to leave too.”

“i don't know sirius. i'm not strong or brave like you.” you answered. “i won't last outside my home, i love my parents.”

“you can't tolerate those assholes telling you what to do all your life.” he always answered when you had that same discussion. “they're going to ruin you in the end.”

and every single time, you fought back the urge to say that you were already ruined, that this was the life you had.

after a year you became friends, you thought. and when you reached your fourth year, it was clear you both were growing up. he got awfully handsome and a part of you started to fall for him.

every time the feeling invaded your chest, you dismissed it, because you knew he could never love you by just looking at your life, parents and friends and even less if you added the situation you were in.

yet, he was still a man, and you started to caught his eye.

a new tradition settled between the both of you: once per week, you would have a date. more like a date, it was an excuse to hang out together and talk about your problems. it was all friendly, you said to yourself.

it was in one of those "dates" where things would get even more messy than before.

“sirius.” you called him while you walked.

the hogsmeade streets were covered in thin snow, and you had insisted for hours to go to honeydukes but he had been too distracted in zonko's to hear you. now that you were outside, you were desperate to get something sweet.

“i know, honeydukes.” he answered, smilling. “i heard you the first million times you said it.”

“that means you were ignoring me!” you complained, taking your hand to your chest in a gesture of obvious fake offense. then a smile betrayed your little act. “you didn't answered at all inside there!”

sirius softly laughed, and you couldn't avoid noticing the way his leather jacket made him more attractive than you already thought he was.

“oh please, (y/n). you were being awfully persistent and i'm not a man of patience.” he said, jokingly. “would you have rather for me to shut up my beautiful future wife in front of everyone?” sirius added with certain sarcastic tone in his voice and then, he proceeded to softly ruffle your hair.

all he said was an obvious joke, because he was messing with you. there was not a single hint of seriousness on his words and yet they went straight to your chest, making your heart painfully skip a beat.

after a while, you finally entered honeydukes and he decided to wait outside to smoke while you bought sweets. in the exact moment you were about to exit the store with a plastic bag full of candy hanging from your hand, you casually saw through the store windows how sirius flirted with a girl you had seen in hogwarts multiple times. just as you opened the door to come back to him, he gave her a little peck and she left quickly like a breeze passing by.

it was not the first time you had seen something like that, nor the worst. many times before you even saw him making out with different people in hogwarts, but this had never happened in the middle of one of your weekly dates.

after that, you were incapable of hiding your new found bad mood the rest of your date, and sirius suggested in a caring gesture to get back to the school. of course he didn't knew why you were suddenly irritated, but he did noticed that something was happening and his first guess was that you needed to rest.

while you walked back to hogwarts, the bomb in your chest exploded. you stopped on your tracks and sirius walked a few steps before turning, a bit worried.

“hey, (y/n)." he said. "are you oka-...?”

the sudden sound of your voice interrupted him.

“are you really that good kissing girls?” it was the first thing that came out of your mouth. the words came out bitter. “or everyone says that because you just look good?”

“what?” his reaction was truly sincere in the amount of surprise he felt. that was probably the last thing sirius expected to hear from you, but he kept listening.

“seriously, i want to know. are you a good kisser?” you insisted. “because your brains are surely not enough to have the whole school crushing on you.”

“are you calling me stupid-...?”

“i am asking why every single person who made out with you has to talk and show off how good you are.” you continued, still bitter. “because i don't wanna know, and i don't wanna hear it or see it. and i do think you are stupid indeed.”

of course you didn't really took sirius orion black for a stupid man, it was the anger in your throat talking shit you did not thought with the sole purpose of making him feel a bit bad.

sirius made a pause before talking, all the puzzle pieces suddenly falling into place and slowly revealing the motives of your fury. if you were another person he would probably stormed off by then, but you weren't.

and he surely was kind of enjoying this.

“(y/n), are you jealous?”

his question punched you in the face with the strength of a storm.

“no.” you quickly answered. a prideful word that slithered from your tongue in a desperate try to not appear vulnerable, until you fucked up by adding a question. “but why do you have to flirt with girls on our weekly date? you can't wait to get to hogwarts at least?”

a playful smile settled itself on his lips and you noticed he saw right through you. he always did, in some way.

“so you are jealous.” sirius stood with his arms crossed, looking at you. in a matter of seconds, you felt disarmed.

“of course not, why would i-...?” a desperate gasp drowned in your throat at the feeling of getting caught so quickly.

“for a slytherin, you're a terrible liar.” he said, shutting your words off. “but you're right, i'm sorry. i shouldn't have done that in our date.” he was still smiling like a tease.

“i-i-...” you stuttered. suddenly, words wouldn't come out of your mouth.

your heartbeat was feral, and the way he calmly dismembered your worries made it all worse.

“you know, love, if you wanted a kiss you just had to ask for it.” sirius bet was high, he knew it. but he could see that you both needed this.

you felt your brain malfunctioning over his words yet you stayed prideful, not wanting to bend your dignity for him.

“i don't want-...”

suddenly, sirius approached you with brutal impulsiveness and got his final revenge for the multiple times you had interrupted him minutes ago. his lips met yours so fast that you dropped your bag of candy in the bare floor before your hands moved straight to hold his face.

he held your cheeks too, keeping you close as he took control. you were now trapped on sirius spell, and he surely proved how good of a kisser he truly was.

your first kiss, now layed on his heart forever. it would be another thing for him to treasure in the deep core of his soul when he ran away from his house years later.

after your mouths separated it was clear that your irritation was gone. the look you gave to him in the close intimacy of the moment reminded him of a deer with big eyes.

“look at you, it this what it takes to soothe you?” he teased. “a couple of kisses and you're back to normal?”

you started to like the thought of marrying him.

“shut up, siri.”

it was in that exact moment when your relationship took a step further and making out in empty classrooms in the middle of the night at least once per month became a normal thing between you.

yet you knew he did the same with almost every walking girl on hogwarts so your illusions never grew because they were dead from the very start. it was okay. you didn't needed any exclusivity from him, sirius was feeding all the feelings you didn't fully notice you had and he was enjoying his teenage years.

it is okay, you repeated all the time to yourself. thinking about him with another person made you awfully jealous, but it was really okay. everything was right.

you didn't loved sirius black. yes, you liked him, he was handsome, mysterious and charismatic. the obscure aura that surrounded him still had its claws firmly dug into your skin since the first time you met him but still, you didn't loved sirius black.

or at least that was what you convinced yourself of.

then you got to fifth year and your parents and his got awfully persistent with the fact that you needed to remain a virgin until your wedding with sirius. the truth was, you believed that chastity until marriage was a lame and unimportant tradition of pureblood families but before the year ended you and sirius were absolutely tired of your families reminders about "the importance of purity".

in a new form of revolution, sirius got wilder every time he was alone with you.

your nights became the tale of a stygian lion hunting a dragon snake and sirius firmly believed he was hooked up to your venom made of a soft, sweet serenade of kisses drowned in moonlight. but the innocence of it would die one specific night when he sneaked you into the gryffindor dorms while the students were partying in the common room.

you watched everyone drink and dance the night away while going up slowly by the stairs, sirius holding your hand. remus and james gave you a fast yet playful stare from the sofas of the common room and then you looked at sirius, who was distracted.

in that moment, like a melancholic joke of fate, sirius turned his head for a second to look at you. it was quick and barely noticeable but it was there, almost like orpheus guiding eurydice trough hell with the sole purpose of saving her yet carrying enough love inside of him to not resist the ought of looking if she was still there, with him.

once inside the dorm sirius slowly guided you to his bed and made sure to kiss your hands, arms, face and almost every part of you he could reach. he took care of all so you could only focus on feeling every single act of love executed that night.

he sneaked his hand between your legs and talked you through it softly, compelling you to fall apart into his arms. he held you tenderly when he went inside you, trying his best to not cause any pain and whispered sweet nothings in your ear as he guided you to your release.

it felt like if he had devoured your soul while allowing you to do the same to him, a ritualistic exchange that from that moment on, stayed on his skin like a tattoo.

you had your first time in sirius arms, and when the sun appeared through the window, you knew that hurting you would never be part of his rebellion.

crying in each others arms after spending nights togehter also became more and more common as he started to fight more with his parents. as your fingers played with the dark locks of his hair before you felt asleep, it was clear that the doom for both of you was near and you could feel it.

“shh, everything is okay.” it was almost the tenth time you said that same sentence in the dark of night, holding sirius head against your chest as he silently cried. “i'm here, siri. we're going to be okay.”

“i just can't understand why they have to do this.” he whispered. “they don't see how much this is hurting us?”

you caressed his hair and his arms locked around your waist.

“i'm not sure what is crossing our parents minds.” you answered. “but i know we're going to survive this. together.”

sirius hid his face against you. his tears had stopped but his face was slightly red.

“one day i'll run away, and i will become a rockstar. and you will write and publish all the books you want.” he said. “we'll be free, i swear it on...”

he took a moment to think his next words.

“on...?” a weak smile settled on your face.

“on james. or maybe his mom.” sirius joked. “maybe on both of them so it's more important.” he laughed softly still having a sad undertone on his words.

you did the same as him, and your fingers interwined with his hair almost like rewarding the way he had managed to make you laugh.

“please don't leave without me.” you pleaded and words came like a whisper but sirius wasn't there to hear them, because he had fell asleep on your arms.

before you could noticed how cruel of a prankster fate can be, when you started your sixth year sirius instantly fleed his home and moved in with james potter.

chaos infested your families. your parents and his were livid, your mother was desperate to find you a new fiancé and sirius started to completely avoid you in hogwarts.

no more kissing, or long nights in each other's company. no more talking and sharing your worries. sirius made clear that you were now in different sides of the coin, and it destroyed your whole world in a second.

but at the same time you were in pain, the situation had woken a fierceness in your insides that you believed you had inside since you were born, but it was repressed for the sake of the peace in your family.

you were furious with your parents for controlling you, with sirius family for what they did to him, and with sirius himself for leaving you behind.

and that was the reason you were now approaching the potter's home carrying all your luggage in the cold snow of christmas eve.

the truth was, you didn't know what you were exactly expecting or seeking. what you did know was that you wanted sirius to look at you in the eyes one last time and acknowledge your existence, your presence, your tears.

you wanted him to know that even if his family didn't care, you were in pain because you did.

so, with your heart in your throat and your soul hanging from your hands, you knocked at the door and patiently waited.

you were freezing outside the house but it didn't mattered anymore. the motivation in your chest eliminated all the doubts you could ever have.

when the door finally opened, james potter face received you. he had a smile on his face that almost faded in disbelief when he saw you.

“oh shit- sorry, hello (y/n).” he said, clearly surprised but polite. “are you okay? can i help you?”

“sorry james, i don't mean to intrude this late on a day like this one” you said, a certain weakness clouding your voice in melancholic chords. “can i speak to sirius?”

james looked at you, not really knowing what to say.

“i- yes, sure.” he finally answered. “do you want to come in?”

“no, it's okay. i don't want to be invasive.” you said. “it'll be really fast.”

the boy in front of you sighed and fixed the position of his glasses. then he gave you a weak smile.

it was not that james didn't liked you because in fact he did, he just had the fear that you were here to convince sirius of coming back home.

a quick and more detailed look at your bruised face, and he realized that was not the reason you were in his doorstep.

“i'll go get him, give me a second.” was what he said before entering the house again, leaving the door a bit opened.

you peeked briefly and a warm light recieved you along with the smell of food, making painfully obvious that you hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

a few seconds later, sirius appeared completely opening the door in a fast and almost desperate move like if you were going to vanish if he didn't got to you quick enough.

james was behind him, distant to the conversation but still supervising to defend his friend if necessary.

“(y/n)” said sirius, looking at you like if you weren't real.

“merry christmas, siri.” you said, greeting him. the first words you both exchanged in months.

the nickname pierced his skin with violence, the vestiges of you and him were standing strong like an unforgettable oath in the corners of his brain.

your face was wet by tears, a red subtone clouded your face because of the cold and the bruise on your cheek was getting more purple as time went by. his eyes met yours, speaking that same old secret lenguage you now understood. then, you took a deep breath.

“what happened? what are you doing here?” he asked, confused and quite worried. “who hurted you? where are your parents?”

“i ran away from home.” you confessed, answering every single one of his questions from just one clean shot. the sentence painfully twisted sirius guts into oblivion and he stayed silent, thinking what to say.

he wanted to take you in, bring you to live with the potters, shelter you from the cold, heal your wounds and kiss your forehead even if he knew it wasn't that easy. you continued speaking.

“i don't expect you to welcome me into your life again, i assumed you wanted to distance yourself from the part of you that obviously includes me.” you started saying, measuring every word. sirius sighed. “but before we don't see eachother again, i need to tell you what i feel.”

there was a brief silence, and you swallowed back tears.

“i have imagined a thousand times what could be the result of coming here and speak about this, none of them had exactly a happy ending because i know by heart that you don't feel the same as me.” every word hurted you more than you thought. “but now that i've burned to the ground everything i once believed in and followed your path, i have nothing more to lose.”

sirius looked at you and again, he saw righ through you. an understanding smile appeared on his lips, inviting you to continue.

“im listening, love.” he dared to say, noticing you were struggling to continue.

you took another deep breath before speaking.

“i've hated my parents since i was born, im sure of it. and just like you, when they trapped us in this mess, i was livid.” that was it, words started to come out one after the other. “but i was trained to endure so i tried my best to get along with you like my mom taught me. she always said to me that love wasn't important when it came to duty, and that my duty was to learn how to love you, respect you and give you kids. and if i didn't wanted to obey, she would hit me.” you sobbed, and sirius took a couple of steps closer to you.

the nasty mark on your cheek made clear to him that obeying your mother was exactly what got you that bruise. a bruise earned out of devotion for sirius, even if he didn't fully knew it yet.

he used his hand to fix a hair that kept falling on your face, and dismissed one of your tears carefully with his thumb.

“i know you're thinking how terrible that is, because i thought the same every single time she explained it to me and yet, i tried to follow her words the best i could. and after getting to know you better and speaking of our shitty parents, i started to feel things. i was too young to notice but i know now that i've been going trough this for ages.” air got stuck in your throat, you talked too fast. “and i know i am giving it way too much thought, but my point is that i love you. and i've been doing so not long after i met you. i died inside everytime we layed on your bed and you spoke of getting away from your family because even if it was by the will of our sick, twisted families, i really wanted to marry you.”

sirius wiped your tears again, giving you all his attention.

“but with time i changed my mind. i don't want to marry you because we have to but because we have the desire to do it. i really just want you to be happy siri, but before leaving me like that you need to tell me because-...” you sobbed again, and sirius caressed your cheek, soothing your cries. “you need to know that your parents, your brother, your cousins; they may not care but i do, i desperately do. im in an awful pain because i care for you so much that when you left everything fell apart in my life, and now im once again crawling back to you like i always do, hoping that you may want to have me.” you finished your monologue, one that you practiced a thousand times before this moment only to end up saying everything by heart and not by practice.

when you ended up talking, your body finally gave you proper permission to burst into tears. sirius recieved you in his arms by hugging you tightly and that was the first moments of warmth you got after a long time.

“shh, it's okay. you're okay now.” one of sirius hands caressed your back and the other went tenderly to your hair. “i'm sorry i left without saying anything and i'm sorry i ignored you in hogwarts.” he apologized, holding back some tears because seeing how you were crying was starting to make him to cry too.

“i really thought that you would be happier and better marrying someone picked by your mother because i had nothing to offer and being seen with a blood traitor would had ruined the image you once valued.” he continued. “i-i know it's a stupid reason, but what you said years ago sticked with me. you said you weren't strong enough to leave your parents, and i knew you loved them and didn't wanted them to be disappointed so i decided you didn't needed to get your life ruined because of my selfish choices”

“b-but we talked about us running away before.” you answered, raising your head to look at him.

“we did, but once i did it i got so scared-.. ” tears finally won over him and he sobbed. “because i had nothing to offer you, not a home, not a way to protect you and even less money. i would be ruined if it wasn't for james and his family.”

you held him more tightly, as if you were about to melt with each other.

“and the cherry on top was that i truly believed you didn't loved me.” he admitted. “i was convinced that you didn't wanted to marry me under any circumstances. leaving was also my way of freeing you from us.”

you broke the hug for a moment and just like he did the first time he kissed you, you suddenly pulled him closer to smash your lips against his.

for the first time in a long time, sirius black was genuinely surprised. he grabbed your face and you kissed him softly, showing him the love you spoke of was real.

all his doubts vanished in the cold wind, almost like sealing an oath of devotion. nothing in your sixteen years of life would had prepared you to reveal the secrets you've held inside your heart, but now that you did it and he did too, there was no turning back.

you quickly understood that your place, your home, your family, had always been sirius. the only person who understood the living hell you were going through and who did his best to make it better just like you did with him.

finally, the tale of the the snake and the lion was getting a resolution and they were now finding their ways back to each other's hearts like a forgotten mantra coming back from the death to be recited one more time.

“i love you, sirius.” was the first thing you said when you separated.

“i love you too.” he answered, still holding your face.

after a moment, when the both of you finally stopped crying, sirius interrogated you about where were you going to spend the night.

you didn't planned to stay at the potter's that night, but james had listened everything from where he stood and being the blast of sun and sweetness he was, he spoke to his parents and in an instant you were spending christmas in a warm and big house with sirius, james and his family.

that night in sirius room, the two of you layed together like many times before. his head on your chest, arms on your waist and your fingers playing with his hair while your other hand sweetly caressed his back.

this time was completely different though, because the whispering conversation wasn't about running away from your parents or his. this time, for the first time, you spoke of what you felt for each other.

“i love you forever.” he said in one moment. your heart jumped of emotion.

“i love you too, siri.” you answered.

he sighed in your chest.

“you don't know how much i awfully missed you” sirius admitted, moving to kiss you innocently on the neck.

“i missed you too, more than i thought i could.” you said, closing your eyes, ready to sleep intertwined with him.

those were the same exact words you would repeat to each other years later when you finally reunited again, after fate violently separated the both of you and your thirteen year old godson, harry potter, managed to reveal the truth behind the man who betrayed his parents, proving sirius innocence.

and once again you would hold him in the deep night, now inside of grimmauld place, the very house he was raised in.

the house who saw your love being gestated in the middle of a poisoned river.

but now, you both were cleaning the violence, the traumatic memories and the haunted voices out of every wall; writing in the ceiling that a love this strong may never die.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS!! i do think the ending is awful oh my god i might change it. anyways, be safe. xoxo.

[apenapaperandadoofus]

From the mom reacting to TGCF I bring you: my mom reacting to MDZS part 2

So she has been reading pretty much alone since I was in final exams, but lately we’ve been able to get back to reading together.

TW: my mom sucks at names (and I do too with MDZS leave me alone)

She really likes Jin Ling and thinks he’s cute HOWEVER she did laugh at him for not having friends for a whole minute LMAOOO

WWX is still Huevi-Chan or Egg-Chan in English.

She now really loves Lan Zhan especially when he got drunk for the second time, she would not stop laughing and kept saying “I caught you!”

I also showed her that scene in the manga and she broke again, she couldn’t stop laughing

She said “hm this is really slow isn’t it? We don’t know anything about their backstory yet.” And I’m like yeah mom this one feels like a slow burn bc TGCF was speed running a courting pFT those two didn’t lose any time.

With the whole (forgive me for not knowing the names) A-Ying (the blind girl) really Evil Guy and Blind Guy, she did not know the Evil Guy was the Evil Guy and thought it was Blind Guys friend for a bit and was flabbergasted when I told her.

She felt super sad when Blind Guy cried and killed his friend

However it doesn’t seem she hates Evil Guy? She said she felt a bit bad for him but still didn’t like him.

When WWX was making the paper person she said “WAIT IS HE MAKING FRIENDS FOR JIN LING SINCE HE DOESNT HAVE ANY?!” MOM LEAVE HIM ALONE AHSHSHS

ALSO ITS SO FUNNY SHE KEEPS CALLING LAN ZHAN A SILLY BOY OR A DUMMIE LMAOOO

Like when the whole headband scene happened and I showed it to her in the anime (after we found out in the book what it meant) she was having second hand embarrassment and saying “oh no this dumbass”

She REALLY likes WWX and his little bastard chaotic energy she found the whole garden flower lady thing really funny

Also LXC (is that the abbreviation? LWJ’s brother lol) is now referred to as “El Cuñis” or the in law.

Also was flabbergasted at Mo XuanYu being in love with JGY and she was like oh I understand why you keep making La Rosa del Guadalupe jokes (it’s a Mexican soap opera with different themes each episodes and SO MANY of them involve siblings or half siblings being in love which iykyk and those two are NOT the reason I keep mentioning it lmao she’s gonna be shocked when she finds out)

But then immediately she forgot and was like WAIT WERE JGY AND MO XUANYU TOGETHER!? And I had to remind her they were half siblings.

ALSO ONCE AGAIN MY MOTHER SURPRISES ME WITH HER PREDICTIONS! First Jun Wu now this?! See, I asked her before the JGY reveal who she thought was the one behind all this and she says “oh the fan guy” (NIE HUAISANG) HOW DID SHE FIGURE THAT OUT MOM WHAT THE HELL

When we were reading the whole Nie Mingjue bit and stuff at one point one of the characters says something mean and she says “wait who’s that again whats he saying? Oh that BASTARD!!!” Which was funny

At JGYs ‘betrayal’ where he killed a higher up guy she was also flabbergasted like OH HES PURE EVIL

And now every action the Wen’s or JGY take she’s like that one Arthur fist meme like “those meanies”

Apart from that she doesn’t have any characters she really hates lol, but it’s fun seeing her shocked reaction every time a small plot twist happens.

But for now I think that’s all? She’s getting now the hang of the names thankfully, and since now we’re reading together I’m able to correct her easily! She seems to be enjoying it a lot, in fact she said after we finish the TGCF donghua we should start with MDZS buuut I don’t know if we should go for the donghua or live action, I’ve heard it’s pretty good!

Anyway that’s all folks see ya next time ✌️

Also here are the character nicknames or what she refers to them as:

WWX: Huevi Chan

LWJ: Lan Zhan, the boyfriend, the lover, the Juan (bc of Hua Cheng)

Jin Ling: the child

Lan Sizhui: the obedient child

Lan JingYi: extroverted/emotional child

Jiang Cheng: the angry uncle

Jin GuangYao: the ✨evil ✨uncle

Nie MingYue: the corpse, the head, the Nie Huaisang’s dead brother

Nie Huaisang: fan guy

Wen Ning: ghost

[iminahole247]

For You, I Want to Sing, but I Have No Mouth

A ShockOp plot outline/scenario ideas using songs based on @keferon Mech Pilot AU

This pairing has been eating me alive so I decided to write so I don't have to bottle it up any longer. Enjoy this New Year's gift 🎁

DISCLAIMER: The characterizations are mainly based on collective and selective headcanons and personal views and understanding. Some OCs will be included. Don't take them too seriously.

Also, some songs I skimmed from my playlist will be referenced for scenarios that are brought to mind, not in order of events. I just love the 'what ifs' and what happened in between for this pairing. If there's nothing after a song, then the scenario(s) is self-explanatory.

Using music just helps the creative process you know. There'll be more additions as I straighten my thoughts out.

Est-ce que tu m’aimes - GIMS (the translated lyrics speak for themselves)

Look Around - Under the Boardwalk (it’s a cute song and it could be akin to the Open Arms scenarios)

Run to Me - Clarence Coffe Jr.

Oh My Love - The Score (Orion’s POV)

Would You Fall in Love with Me - EPIC: The Ithaca Saga (Odysseus as SW, Penelope as Orion; probably when they meet in the afterlife or something)

LET THE WORLD BURN - Chris Grey

We Become We - Journey to Bethlehem

Raise This Barn - My Little Pony (A big stretch but this is where the imagination and headcannons comes in. Shockwave was an orphan for a while til he was adopted by a pair of farmers, Leonard and Tommy [Leonard in reference to Lanard Toys for trademarking right to the name for a while during his Bay Movie appearance, and Tommy in reference to Takara Tomy being one of the creators of Transformers]. The farm was his home, even when he went off to pursue his studies in the city, he might not be big on people but he holds his family close enough. Rebuilding after a certain natural disaster brings him home, which knocks out having a family gathering for the next decade cause that’s a lot of relatives he won’t remember but to help his dads is all that matters, especially in their old age)

Can't Help Falling in Love - Kina Grannis

To Build A Home - Patrick Watson (during some quiet moments on the farm when he brings Orion for some fresh air from the that place, Shockwave taking a moment to breathe too, maybe showing his dads’ cows too, Fluffy Ears hitting it off with Orion, watching from the side sending looks at him, oh does his heart get lighter when he returns the same look through eyes that cling to all the hope in the world for the both of them, he pitied and envied for those eyes, at least in a way they were his)

Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (there was no way either of them could, this world doesn’t allow such a luxury, but maybe in another universe, another life)

More Than You Know - Axwell /\ Ingrosso (for the both of them)

Open Arms - EPIC: Cyclops Saga (could symbolize their contrasting outlooks, open arms for a more optimistic future in spite of their situation even for a moment, cause what’s the point if you don’t stop to smell the flowers and admire the stars)

Fix You - Coldplay or Danny Olson & Jadelyn

We'll Meet Again - maruwhat

A Million Miles Away - Belle (from Orion's ghost to Shockwave)

Yuri on ICE - Taro Umebayashi

Magic - Sia (stargazing outside of the mech or outside in the wilderness, where for now the world consists of him Orion and the stars above, but it goes unsaid that they’re each other’s whole world, for better and for worse)

The Line - Twenty One Pilots (they feel JayVik coded to me, like if Viktor survived but couldn’t revive Jayce or something like that)

Happy Ending / Sewer Home - TMNT Mutant Mayhem (some form of happy ending, it feels out of place but they're together at last, somehow)

Wu Ji - Xiao Zhan & WANG YIBO (the YEARNING)

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Scarlett Johansson & Bono

DREAM BOY Album - Morgan Clae

Count Me In - Liv and Maddie

Fantastic - King Princess (iykyk)

Until I Found You - Stephen Sanchez

KISS OF DEATH - Mika Nakashima (pilots with giant mechs, codependency stuff and romance and angst in and out of the cockpit)

Great Balls of Fire - Miles Teller (rare moment of Shockwave singing in the hometown bar, Orion was there singing along with his arms around him, a little bit drunk; Orion might not be able to sing as well later on down the line from deteriorating lung damage, doesn’t mean he won’t get to hear Shockwave sing to him every now and then)

Beautiful Things - Benson Boone

I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany (that one time they fooled around in the cockpit, luckily no one was there to witness, or not)

More Than Anything (Reprise) - Hazbin Hotel (moments of comfort and reassurance after a trying test or battle)

Good Old Days - Macklemore & Kesha (reminiscing)

Classic - MKTO (Orion’s POV again)

Independent Together - Caleb Hyles & CG

Carnaval Del Barrio - In the Heights (morality at a low but a musical number does wonders, even to progress their relationship)

Accidentally In Love - Counting Crows (Orion’s POV again, cause he fell first and hard)

Had I Not Seen the Sun - Robin, Chevy (post-battle moment, surviving another day, )

~~~~~

Headcannons and scenarios (I know most of these are not as angsty but the lot of you can make it up tenfold so how about some more soft stuff):

- For living in civilization for all his life, Orion isn’t up to date with the ‘pop culture’ but at least he has Shockwave to show him the good tunes, like classical and synth

- That one time when Orion got him a stuffed cow teddy with a recording of Fluffy Ears’s moos for his birthday. Since when did he have the time to acquire he still doesn’t know

- In their mech, they’re a beast on the battlefield. It might not have been amazing compared to the current mechs and pilots, but they’ve lasted this far with just the two of them for a reason. Got a marksman’s eye and the strength to rip the faces off those tentacled fuckers. Sometimes Orion forgets to take it down a notch outside the battlefield.

- Afters years of piloting evolving mechs, it takes a toll on the both of them, especially for Orion. Fatigue and back pains riddle him, along with a certain accident that caused him to wear a mask to not further damage his lungs. It also made his voice more deep with a certain timbre that gives Shockwave a soothing feeling compared to Orion youthful and lighter voice before.

- When Shockwave isn’t in piloting, he’d be in a lab overseeing the other operations on mech tech and poking at the Quintesson corpses. Orion had Ironhide to converse with and try as he might, he hasn’t had a chance to successfully evade Ratchet hawk like supervision. When Shockwave was working on the down times from attacks, there would be a myriad of medical tests and checks that would be at best tedious and “unpleasant” at worst. Post-medical exam cuddles are mandatory for them, behind closed doors of course.

===

I’ll add more when I’ve gathered my thoughts and straightened them out. You have other songs for them or any other headcannons for Shockwave and/or Orion Pax, share what additions you have for these tragic old gays.

[nikoisme]

odyseus in space au ? pls tell me more about it

So i have two separate aus: one is inspired by the spacecraft, and the other is the interstellar au (which is pretty much the plot of interstellar, with some changes)

So in the au inspired by the aircraft (which is the one i refer to when i say simply 'space au'), odysseus is sent on a mission to go to the moon for.... reasons, that i have frankly not really thought of hahaha. Athena is the one walking him through the project! She's kind of like 'authorizing' the whole mission, really. Both of them are, however, aware that there is a very big chance that odysseus might not make it back. Now, when he tells telemachus and penelope of his job they of course are not buying it. But eventually,, they reluctantly, painfully agree. However, he does not tell them he might not make it back. He cannot break them like that. But, before his departure, he leaves them a note in which he explains everything.

So, odysseus is out of the atmosphere, everything is going well, communication is working. The landing, though, is not so smooth, and a bunch of shit goes wrong with the spacecraft as it lands awkwardly, sideways almost. In the process, odysseus badly injures his leg (iykyk wink wink). For a few weeks, odysseus manages, but his resources run out. Food, oxygen, batteries. He has tended to his leg as much as possible, but the spacecraft is still damaged, and the injury has greatly affected him in trying to fix it. Athena keeps up with him through all of this. They both know that he will not make it back, despite all the light-hearted jokes of them looking back fondly on this time. It would be something to laugh over, another mess they will get out of, as they always have. The temperature on the moon drops, and there is almost no way for odysseus to keep warm. He tells athena, briefly, to watch over penelope and telemachus. Athena knows what he means by that. She tells him she will. He stares at the earth as his limbs grow numb and stiff. He tries for a small wave, a smile - he promised telemachus that his father will wave at him from the moon. When his family looks up at the moon, he will watch over them. And eventually, odysseus does succumb to the freezing temperatures. There is grief, regret. He knows penelope and telemachus have read the note by now. He hopes they can try to forgive him. But, as his vision starts to pitch black - they are the final image in his mind, and all he feels is love, warmth.

This is the general idea! I did not talk a lot about the characterization and details, i just wanted to get what i was going for across. So it's a bit more fleshed out in my head haha. Also it will make more sense if you're familiar with the journey of the actual spacecraft, as it's very much based on the whole thing. Keep in mind i don't know shit about spacecrafts, so i am just,, dancing around terms and stuff.

[starified-lizzy]

I really don’t want to do my Psych essay, so here’s a list of all the FNF AUs I have made since coming up with the OG, extensive au.

Edit: I should mention, if you want to use any of these ideas (EXCEPT FOR MY OG AU) for your own fanfic/plot, go ahead! All I ask is you credit me and even ping me so I can see your take on it! 👀

Starting off; OG au, Just because I can. Started off as Corruption mod brainrot, turned into a whole ass au with a fully functional plot line that I am SEVERELY procrastinating on because ✨frighten✨

I want you to keep in mind that a lot of my au’s after actually spiral from my main OG au.

Then we have an Avatar: The Last Airbender au. I basically said “fuck Korra, she don’t exist” and made Blue(BF) the water bending avatar. The plot line is changing from what I originally had it, but here’s everyone and their bending skill that I have come up with so far: (also more airbenders exist because yeah)

Blue(BF); water bender. Also the avatar

Sophie(GF); fire bender (and so are her parents).

Pico; earth bender, with an affinity for metal bending

Nene; air bending. She gives me gymnast/acrobatic vibes so yeah.

Darnell; Fire bender with blue flame and access to lightning bending.

Cass; combustion. Idk, I don’t care for Cassandra or her goons much, but it felt right.

Cyclops; earth bender, affinity for metal bending

Hanzo; non-bender but is a Chi blocker.

Alucard; air bender. He feels like an air bender to me.

Spirit; water bender

Soul; is Blue’s little animal guardian thing. Whatever the fuck Korra’s polar-bear-dog thing is is what Soul is. Melanistic with little white freckles down his back and pale blue eyes, but still the polar-bear-dog thing.

C; a black cat with a missing eye. Yes, I shit you not. Just a genuine fucking black cat with an attitude problem. Blue saw him and went “he’s mine now.”

- then is my FNAF security breach au. The story for it is a bit all over the place, but Blue is 12, and got lost and the Plex. Everyone else are robos lol

- next one is actually based off of the game Lethal Company. THATS RIGHT, A LETHAL COMPANY AU- but it’s almost nothing like how the game functions. Basically, Blue is a child when he gets trapped on a moon (fuck if I can decide which one-) and it’s basically like- he’s human but, he gets raised by the monsters (some monsters being Soph, Pico, Ne, and Darnell, among the actual game-monsters) so he’s liek- a monster by association.

- a Day of Dragons au. Because yes. I like dragons; and I like the funky beep boop game so, immediately mashing them together once I realized I can create shit from it lmfao

-this one is actually inspired by another take on FNF and Hazbin Hotel. Because I love the show. Alastor is surprisingly goofy. ANYWAYS- the reference it has to the other take on FNF(idk who’s take it is, but I love it plz lemme know who’s au/take it is so I can credit them) is that GF(Soph, in my case), is an Angel, and BF(Blue) is a demon. Pico and the others are thrown around at random depending on how I end up deciding they fit so they’re kinda unknown rn, but those two for sure.

-last au i recently came up with and kinda adore, is an apocalypse au, but instead of zombies, it’s just monsters. Like- each monster is different from another, but they all have a basic element that determines their overall design. Like the basic Fire, water, air, and earth, but it also includes ice, metal, life, necrotic(death), shadow and light. And when a human gets bit by one of these monsters, they too become a monster. I already have a general beginning plot laid out for this it’s kinda sad lmfao

Anyways have these memes from PhantomFear’s server. IYKYK

[anatrik]

First thoughts:

Lavender haze feels like Lover and Future Nostalgia’s incredible love child.

Maroon is about Harry. There’s too many 1989 references for it to be anything else. This chorus reached into my chest and punched me in my fucking heart. Also I need a compilation of Taylor saying fuck for mental health purposes

Anti hero is everything I expected it to be. Its me. Hi. Im the problem. Its me.

Does anyone else feel like the verse of snow on the beach is just like the verse of the way I loved you???? Also no lana verse?🥹 why no lana verse?🥹 i cri

Track 5 felt so not sad until she dropped her voice for ‘you’re own your own kid you always have been’ and then I died😂 and then the ending is so uplifting You’re on your own but you can do it and yk what now that Taylor said it, it does feel possible 🥹

Who tf is singing on Midnight rain? Oh wait taylors back oh wait who tf is back now?

Can I ask you a Question? My god so passive aggressive I love itt

Vigilante shit has my hair on end omggg. The beattt. I don’t dress up for women I don’t dress up for men I dress up for revenge. Any dude who does a girl dirty this year is just asking for it. She’s going to destroy you with these lyrics all over her ig stories

Bejewelled. One word shimmer ✨ iykyk. Bejewelled is if the bad bitch of reputation stopped giving a fuck. Major Anthem.

Labyrinth. If it rises fast it cant last😭 we’re back to soul crushing I see. Oh the eldritch horror from midnight rain is back on its cameo shit.

Karma. Fuck yea go straight for the jugular babe. Give us everything. Karma is a cat purring in my lap? Me and Karma vibe like that? Fuck YES QUEEN. Karma IS your boyfriend. Hell shes your handmaiden.

Sweet nothing. There’s something about songs Joe writes that really get me. Its just so cuteeee. I spy with my little tired eye🥹

Mastermind? Already? No? We cant be done???? This is a love song?? Wtf😂😂😂😂. Plot fucking twist.

Vigilante shit and Maroon have me on the ground for different reasons both good ones though. Ughhh I love this album so so muchhhh

Album as a whole completely defied my expectations. I was expecting a sad, crying in my bedroom vibe and its more of a manic in the bathroom of a club vibe like yk she’s going to go home and fall apart in the worst way but this is that moment when shes running on pure fumes and manic energy

[lea-andres]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ancient aliens."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why would I lie about that?" 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Dinah…"

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

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

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

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

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

"Don't crash."

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

[muramasas]

actually wait quimcourse is essential romeo deenstaynight lore i need every1 to know what happened or i'll die.

tl;dr all the way back in ~october 2020 this guy (he ended up being a sucky person as w like. half the people involved here) made an untagged tumblr post abt a bizarre + awful tma fanfic he found once which was 100% abt the author's self insert-ish oc having sex w every man in the podcast and uhm. in tma there was a character named mike crew whose whole deal was p much a trans allegory but like. possibly unintentionally. and there's an important plot point abt how he used to try and cover as much skin as possible bc of this massive scar he was trying to hide but after he began serving this evil god* (*oversimplification of the century) he began to embrace it and started wearing loose revealing clothing and it doesn't sound like that's that important but the way ppl describe him in-podcast is used to help understand the timeline and it's a bigger deal than it seems. and this guy. the one who made the post. his whole brand was centered around mike crew. so the part of the fic he made fun of was the fact that it had mike crew post-serving the evil god* wearing a turtleneck and leaving it on during sex. and also briefly mentioned another character who's like immortal* (*oversimplification) and from the regency period referring to the main character's pussy as a quim despite otherwise speaking entirely modern english.

and so in december of 2020. the author found the post and started harassing him, everyone who'd ever interacted w him more than once, and everyone who so much as alluded to the situation bc she's uncannily good at tracking down every post so much as vaguely mentioning her. the drama was stupid, one-sided and memeable and she was v pressed abt how her use of the word quim was justifiable and so every1 just sort of let this unfold for the night and then blocked her once it stopped being funny. the next day i made a joke abt mike crew's turtleneck to a blog called straighttma which was like. a tma parody* (*not quite) blog which speculated on what the podcast would be like if it were heterosexual. y'know. typical terminally online lgbt teenager shit. and added a little 'iykyk' to the end. a lot of ppl didn't know so i ended up giving a tl;dr in the notes.

fast forward to january when she found the post and started harassing me for misrepresenting her (made a joke in the REPLIES (NOT EVEN A RB. THE REPLIES) abt just how much cooking show rpf is on her ao3 profile. bc actually it was just inappropriately tagged master chef au rick sanchez/stan pines fic. bc that's such an improvement and so much different. and so everyone memed on her for a few hours and then realized how old i was (i was 15 but like. my bday's in november so it'd only been 2 months and the younger end of 15 is wayyy different than the older end of 15 so like. i was a Baby here) and got stuck on the fact that she (age 37) was being superr inappropriate towards me (bc again. this all started bc of a smut fic) and blocked her again bc it wasn't funny anymore. and then she blocked me before i could block her. presumably so she could still read my blog.

so then i made a joke abt her blocking me meaning that i could call her a motherfucker now (bc i'd been. wayyy too polite to her bc i was obsessed w everyone liking me at the time) and pinned it to my blog. then march rolled around and guess who took issue w being called a motherfucker and THREATENED SUICIDE OVER IT before dropping off the face of the earth for several days and siccing her fiance + sockpuppet account on everyone for 'possibly driving her to suicide' (100% done to frame herself as the victim here). she was fine and came back a few days later when every1 was ignoring her and i got so worried abt this woman over 2x my age who'd been stalking me for 2 months (she brought up things i'd posted which she had no business knowing esp considering i was blocked so she had to have been deliberately opening my blog) that i got physically ill bc of it.

then in like. may/june she decided to unblock me for a second time a couple days before i got a mysterious anon accusing me of cyberbullying. i dmed her a bit . she once again outted herself as stalking me . and i was. too nice once again. if only 15 year old me wasn't afraid of using the words 'raging cunt' and also made a post abt her being back then went offline. in the brief time i was offline it turns out she'd made another quimcourse-dedicated blog and started self-identifying as quimberlyann (a nickname we gave her derived from a word that means pussy btw. just a reminder.) and trying to reclaim the situation. she got lightly memed on bc by this point in time every1 was sick of her and then disappeared and has since deactivated. batshit crazy situation which i sometimes look back on fondly bc of the sheer wtf factor and also bc she was. so damn quotable. but then whenever i start to do so i remember the feeling of sobbing alone in my room bc i thought i might've killed a woman who had nothing but bad intentions regarding me and i'm more angry at her for deliberately pulling that stunt (bc that's exactly what it was. she had an active sockpuppet at the time. she was faking the whole way through and had planned it out in advance) for the sole purpose of hurting me than anything now. esp since i'm now old enough to recognize that's exactly what it was. and more than anything i'm mad that we parted on somewhat amicable terms when like. i hope she thinks of me as frequently as i think of her and i hope that just once the guilt from what she did to me makes her feel half as bad as she made me feel that night.