#up until i break out the canonical experience that starts him in the direction of the winchester's years before even meeting them.

[sardonic-the-writer]

hi friend sard! question inspired by my brain deciding this is the absolute best time to start trying to write a coming of age story despite having so much work to do / catch up on and having one of my finals tmrw: how would ezra act in a coming of age story? this could be a more realistic one, like him moving schools as a kids, or one with supernatural :] elements, like development of powers or traveling to another world or smthn

interesting one! honestly if there were ever going to be a coming of age movie staring or even featuring ezra, it would be of a summer camp type situation. the whole shebang. he's a camp counselor trying to find a way to occupy the hot summer hours, make new friends his age, all while beating the heat. the movie would be spent either with him as the comedic side relief to the two other counselors that are obviously the stereotypical love interests, making friendship bracelets with the kids, or just straight up being the protagonist that ends up finding himself amongst buggy weather and spilt soda.

or at least that would be the plot, if it wasn't for the last hour of the movie that is spent focusing on the slaughter of the camp, ending in him falling down a well escaping from said slaughterer— the likes of which has fangs and fingernails sharper than knives

[honey-minded-hivemind]

For the One of Us au, the power of visions of past and future that u mentioned could have a lot of potential.

I imagine Reader has little, or maybe no, control over when, where, or what when it comes to their visions. They could get a vision of the end of the world while in algebra on Tuesday and then a vision of their friends' past dates while in the Danger Room on Wednesday.

For the big, important visions, like future attacks or potential threats, they warn the adults and the rest of the team, but for smaller visions, they leave it on a need to know basis because their friends need to learn and make mistakes. Tho reader may nudge them in the right direction.

I'm sorry did I say nudge? I meant SHOVE cause a reader with visions would ABSOLUTELY NO CHILL AT ALL.

Their powers aren't useful at all in combat. Everyone else can do something in a fight. But Reader doesn't, so they make themselves useful in everyday life.

The group knows Reader always has their best interests at heart, but it always throws them for a loop when their normally sweet friend suddenly starts acting really protective and aggressive.

When Duncan starts dating Jean and everyone tries to be polite, except for Scott and Reader. Scott's reasoning is obvious, and his dislike is mostly harmless. Reader? Is about 5 seconds away from biting Duncan and is actively crashing dates. (Reader knows he's a racist bully ass. They know what he'll do.)

There's a solid month where Reader kept crawling into Kurt's bed, snuggling him and following him around. At first, he just thinks they're just being cuddly, then everything about his birth and his mom and the experiments come out. Then, it's like oh, that's why.

Reader gets a vision of Logans past and has to deal with the fact they know more about this man than he does.

They get a vision of Jean getting kidnapped by Fred and decides to NEVER EVER LEAVE HER ALONE EVER. Seriously Jean how does this keep happening to you?!

Reader approaches Rogue first out of everyone cause they know she's Kurt sister and so desperately wants to show her she's not alone.

Ooooooo... I don't known if I'll choose this as the canon power for Reader in 🍁One Of Us🧡, but let's explore it for a minute, shall we? (If you want to explore the other potential powers and help figure it out, I'm okay with it! I like when anons and hivelings do so! Thank you for this ask, @sugar-soda!)

Reader is such a worried, odd friend. They seem to always know something about you, no matter if they've met you or have ever even heard of you. They sometimes stutter or mumble- other times they're loud and assertive- sometimes they're sweet as pie and cuddly- and sometimes they glare daggers at you like you murdered their goldfish. With Reader, no one ever knows what to expect.

Duncan, the school football star, for example, is given death glares, is given at least three shovel talks (complete with an angry/protective Scott for back-up), he's given notes telling him to break up with Jean or else, he's told to be a better person or he'll regret it, Reader outdoes him in the poetry club (he joined to impress Jean), etc. . The consensus is Reader, the school's go-to life advice person, despises him, and no one knows why... (Then Duncan amd Jean break up, and now everyone knows Reader knew somehow those two wouldn't work together...)

Reader is gentle and open with Rogue, the school goth girl and lone wolf, on the other hand. They hold the door open for her, they ask if she needs a break during group projects or study sessions, they scare creepy students away from her, they offer to walk her home when the Brotherhood teens left her a few days, they even give her space if she asks for it. No one gets it; why bother with someone they don't even know or seem to get along with? Until the next week Rogue is with the Xavier teens, eating lunch and sharing classes and being overall friendly amd cordial, and once again Reader seems to have known it was possible to be friends with her (the school wonders how that was possible...)

Then Reader tries to share food with Todd, who has an odd (really gross) smell and who steals from others, and no one in any clique can figure out what Reader is up to now. They just leave food for the toad-like teen, then go about their day. Todd eats it, enjoys it, and there's always three meals each day waiting by or in his locker, enough for him, and then later, enough for the other boys at the Brotherhood home. The Xavier teens can't figure out why, neither can the school, but Todd knows, and tells everyone to not mess with his friend/buddy, be it the jocks or the bullies or even his group (turns out the Brotherhood don't have a lot of money for meals, so Reader pulls together their cooking skills and leftover ingredients to make them enough food for each day. Todd knows this, and accepts it as a sign of friendship; Xavier in the end ends up sending them money for a food budget so Reader will leave them alone...)

Logan, tough as nails and deadly as a wolverine, is struggling with his nightmares and wakes up at night, not able or willing to fall back asleep, and wanders into the kitchen late at night. Except Reader is also there, and keeps him company, pushing a plate of meat over to their teacher/guardian and saying they couldn't sleep either. It becomes a ritual every Thursday night, the two of them sitting in silence sometimes, or watching some old western movies, sometimes Reader even opens about their past, saying it's okay to not remember certain parts of their trauma, and it's just as okay to one day remember it. If Logan needs a hug, they give it, if he needs quiet, they give it, if he's about to go out, Reader warns him to not chase stray cats or to jump headfirst into the unknown (the teens find it strange, and so does Logan, up until when Logan destroys the remains of the Weapon X labs and connects the dots Reader knows more than he does about his past, yet he's not mad, just worried about what they saw...)

H*ll, Reader even sees the past of Sabretooth during a mission where they fought the Acolytes and end up in a cave-in, and all they can do is stare at him with sad, haunted eyes and apologize for what he lost and what he's had to go through (the Acolytes think it's creepy at first, Magneto is suspicious, and at first Sabretooth is angry- until Reader reveals they know his life was hard, and they don't know the depth of how it feels, but they know what it feels like to be abandoned, and it isn't fair, even to him... and surprisingly he let's Reader walk away unscathed...) (Xavier and Storm and Logan then decide to keep Reader away from the more deadly adult members of the Brotherhood, in case their powers aren't as welcomed the next time...)

(You can bet if Reader says something, after awhile the teens start to listen and try to go down what they think is the right path... Of course, Reader is trying to stay on the path where everyone is happy and okay and alive, which is hard, considering how traumatized everyone else is, and how scared they are to lose the people they view as family... which does include Reader...)

[firewolf111]

Hello!! If you’re still doing these-

Could I maybe have like a Prinxiety one please?

Maybe angst and then a happy-ish ending, like the others are being jerks to Roman in just the canon-ish fashion, and he like gets upset (I headcanon, for example, that sometimes this happens and he goes nonverbal), and Virgil notices and kinda quietly goes to help him calm down? Idk just the first thing that popped into my head, if you do this, do what’s comfortable/what you want‼️

Thank you for reading this!! Have a good day/afternoon/night😁

Thank you for the request! <3

Took me a bit and turned out much longer than planned. But I hope you enjoy!

Also, I based Roman's troubles speaking off of my own experiences, so it may not be perfect.

Roman stands with his hands clasped in front of him. It's a basic meeting to discuss video ideas, yet his hands fidget with each other and he fights the urge to pace. Each flip of the page has him closer to giving in to that urge. The silence is loud, only interrupted by the occasional hum of thought and the flipping of notebook pages. He is on the verge of giving in to the need to break the silence when finally someone speaks.

Logan: None of this is usable.

Roman: *freezing as his blood runs cold* Pardon?

Logan: I said, none of this is usable. Were you too distracted by your frivolous daydreams to listen? That would explain the lack of quality in this work.

Patton: I'm sure it's not that bad.

Silence once again returns as Logan hands the notebook to Patton. Patton flips through it. His expression is one of hesitant disappointment. The truth is in his eyes, though it is clear he is reluctant to admit it. He hands the notebook to Janus, who until then was watching the whole thing with an unamused expression, opting to check his gloves instead of even bothering to look in Roman's direction.

Patton: Hey, Jan? What's your opinion?

A small anger flickers in Roman's chest briefly before sputtering out. He shouldn't be surprised that Patton is asking for Janus's opinion instead of offering his own. It means he can simply agree without having to be the one to break the bad news. It's a familiar dance, though it didn't use to be Janus he would ask, he had become the most common side he'd ask recently. He wishes Patton would just outright tell him he is a disappointment instead of playing the good cop, bad cop game he does.

Janus: Hmmmm. Logan is right. None of these are useful. Best to toss them and start again.

Roman: But-

Janus: There isn't much argument to make. It'd be quicker to just start over than to try and fix these. The viewers do expect a video soon. I doubt you'd want to disappoint them.

Roman: Well, no-

Patton: Well, there we go. Problem solved!

Roman: Hold on-

Logan: I expect the new ideas by the end of the week.

Janus: Well, this was eventful.

Virgil: *glancing between Roman and the others who have began packing their stuff up and preparing to end the meeting* Hold up guys-

Roman: You're not listening to me!

Everyone freezes and looks at him. Surprise quickly gives way to frustration, disappointment, and annoyance.

Logan: Now you don't need to throw a tantrum.

Roman: I'm not throwing a tantrum!

Janus: Mhmmm. Clearly not.

Roman: Well, it's not my fault you guys are out here talking about my ideas when you don't know what it takes to make them. You wouldn't know a good idea if it knocked on your door and introduced itself.

Patton: Now, Roman, let's play nice.

Logan: *scoffing* Clearly, you're the one who doesn't know what a good idea looks like if you think this *Gestures to the notebook* counts.

Roman: Do you know how long I worked on those?

Janus: Hm. Clearly not long enough.

Roman: You stay out of this, snake!

Patton: Roman!

Janus: Well I may be a snake, but you're the one throwing a hissy fit.

Roman: I am not throwing a hissy fit!

Patton: I mean...you kinda are. But that's okay! You're upset that your ideas aren't as good as you expected them to be. Of course, you're upset. But how about we channel that energy into something more productive.

Roman rubs his palms against his pants. Leave it to Patton to treat him like a child. He wants to scream. He wants to cry. He wants to run and hide. He wants to show them what a tantrum really looks like. His eyes remain on Patton's. He doesn't move or speak. He remains quiet, like a good little child.

Virgil: Guys. Don't you think you're being too hard on him? Surely, they weren't that bad.

Roman: Thank you, my violent violet.

Virgil: No problem. Though, don't let your ego get too big. Your singing is still annoying.

Roman: *rolling his eyes* At least I can sing. You sound like a dying cat.

Virgil: *opening his mouth to retort* Oh yeah. Well-

Patton: Roman! Now that was rude. Apologize.

Roman: What?

Patton: You heard me. Apologize.

Logan: And perhaps apologize to the rest of us for the time waste. Especially since you can't seem to be bothered to stay on topic.

Roman: But Virgil-

Patton: No excuses, mister.

Virgil: Guys. It's fine. I'm not at all offended. Besides, I was the one who pulled him off topic.

Logan: That's kind of you, Virgil, but Roman needs to take responsibility for his own actions.

Roman: *sighing* Fine. Virgil. I'm sorry for insulting your singing. I do actually quite like it. And I'm sorry for getting off topic and wasting your time.

Logan: Good. Now, back to the discussion. You are going to have new ideas by the end of the week. Correct?

Roman: But-

Logan: And these ideas will actually be usable and decent?

Roman: *swallowing* Of course, but-

Janus: *scoffing* You might be asking too much of him there, Logan.

Roman: *glancing at Patton, who says nothing*

Logan: Maybe. But does this sound agreeable to you, Roman?

Roman takes a breath before he becomes aware of the fact that his tongue feels like lead. He goes to speak, but only air comes out. He begs, not again, not now.

Logan: Well?

He tries. All he has to do is force the words out. He's done it before. Just force the words out. No matter how hard or uncomfortable. He manages to get his throat to move and his mouth to form the words, yet his vocal cords refuse to work. He can talk. He knows he can talk. He has forced himself through this before. It's all in his head.

Janus: I think you hurt the Prince's feelings and now he's giving us the silent treatment.

Logan: *sighing* Real mature, Roman.

It takes a few times, but he manages to get a few words out

Roman: sor- *he swallows and takes a deep breath* sorry. Was lost in thought.... *he takes another breath* I'll have it done by the end of the week.

Each word feels like it was dragged through his teeth and forced from his mouth, but he got it out. He can speak. He was just being over-dramatic. It doesn't matter if he had to force every word and overthink each syllable. He can speak. He just has to stop faking.

Logan: Good. Glad we figured that out. If that's all, I believe we can finally call this meeting to an end. An actual end this time.*He gives a pointed glare at Roman*

Roman just simply nods. He doesn't think he could argue again even if he wanted to. As everyone leaves, he heads to his room. Too wrapped up in his thoughts and the weight on his tongue, he doesn't notice Virgil's concerned looks as he walks away.

The door gets looked behind him as soon as he is in the safety of his room. He flops onto his bed and curls up into a ball under the blankets. He should start on coming up with new ideas, but he doubts he could focus at that moment. He'll start tomorrow.

The silence sits heavy in his mouth. It weighs down his tongue. He swears he can feel it slipping down his throat and curling up uncomfortablely in his chest. The silence converges on him. It squeezes his head and drills into his ears. It weighs heavy on his shoulders. Silence runs through his blood and veins and he hates it. Hates the way it feels tangible on his skin. He wants to claw the quiet away, to force out the words if only to get rid of this feeling.

He remains in his misery for 5 minutes, though it felt like an eternity, before there is a knock on the door.

Roman opens his mouth to respond, he isn't sure whether "come in" or "go away" would have been what came out, but it doesn't matter as nothing comes out. He exhales and opens his mouth to try again before deciding it isn't worth the energy. He reluctantly stands and opens the door, mentally preparing himself for a lecture from Logan or a "I know you can do better" speech from Patton, or even just some simple mockery from Janus. Yet, what greets him at the door is none of those things. It's Virgil.

Virgil: Do you mind if I come in?

Roman is tempted to turn him away, but he longs for the company to drive away the silence. Especially if it's Virgil. So, instead, he steps back and gestures Virgil in.

Virgil: *entering and watching Roman close the door* Are you okay?

Roman opens his mouth to speak, wanting to assure Virgil he is fine. He just has to force the words out. He can speak. There is nothing keeping him from speaking. He has forced himself out of moments like these before. He just has to speak. Just speak. Force it out. Suffer through it. Just. Speak.

And he almost manages to force out the words before Virgil stops him, realization clear in his face.

Virgil: You're nonverbal right now, aren't you?

Roman shakes his head. Because he isn't. He can talk. He's just being over-dramatic. There are people who are actually nonverbal or semi verbal. He was just being over-dramatic. He can talk, which means it isn't actually him going nonverbal or having a verbal shutdown. He can talk. He can. He just has to force it out. But he can talk.

He opens his mouth to tell Virgil that much when Virgil beats him to it.

Virgil: *opens his mouth, ready to argue before shaking his head* Okay. Do you want to talk right now?

Roman pauses. Was not speaking actually an option? Forcing words out seems like so much energy and it wasn’t the most comfortable. He wouldn't necessarily mind not talking. But would Virgil be okay with that?

Roman: *shrugs*

Virgil: That's okay. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. Do you want me to stay?

Roman: *nodding without hesitation*

Virgil: Okay. Do you want *he holds up one finger* silent company,*he holds up a second* comfort, *he holds up a third one* or a distraction?

Roman: *flips between two fingers and three, torn between the two options*

Virgil: Both comfort and a distraction?

Roman: *nods*

Virgil: Okay. How about we cuddle and watch a movie?

Roman: *considering it for a moment before nodding*

Virgil: Disney?

Roman: *giving him his best "do you even have to ask" look*

Virgil: *understanding the expression and chuckling* Fair enough

It doesn't take long for them to get the movie on and to curl up under the blankets. Roman ends up curled up against Virgil's chest, one of Virgil's hands carding through his hair as the other holds him close. As the intro plays, Roman can feel the heavy weight of silence slip off his skin and he no longer feels the need to force himself to speak. The room is filled with music from the movie. He breathes a deep breath and feels at peace, even if his tongue still remains lead in his mouth. He simply whispers airy whispers beneath his breath as the first song plays. He doesn't bother forcing himself to hum or sing or even bother making the words into something more than a simple breath. He just let's the quiet rest gently on his tongue, and he is at peace.

He doesn't need to speak. Virgil understands.

[try-set-me-on-fire]

just really needed a hug sort of hug

for the soft prompts <3

Uhhhh this is a little angsty and vibey sorry about that! Set a few years in the future in a world where the lightning strike had bigger and longer lasting impact on Buck than it did in canon. Send me soft prompts! The rest I’ve done are on a03!

Eddie is pinching the skin by his elbow, the shiny part where it's new. Well, a few months old at this point, Chimney supposes, but he still gently smacks the man's bicep as he passes him to sit at the table.

"Quit it, Diaz."

Eddie makes a face at him but he puts his hand flat on the table. He then makes another, more stressed out face, and waves the hand in the air in a vague but emphatic motion.

"I want to call Buck again."

"You were on the phone half an hour ago."

"Yep." His palm presses into the wood again. "I am aware of that."

Chim hooks his left ankle over his right knee. "You two ever get word…"

"Every test came back fine- within normal- they didn't find anything. They have no fucking idea why his blood pressure dropped like that." Eddie crosses his arms. "Between the two of us we've funded the Los Angeles ambulance budget for the fucking year and the best advice anyone had was for him to 'rest and drink plenty of fluids.'"

"Shit."

"Mhmm." Eddie's knee is bouncing anxiously, and he looks exhausted. He has looked exhausted, frankly, since a fourth story floor went out from under him in June and he gained the dubious honor of being the first member of 118 A shift to sustain third degree burns. He doesn't pinch at it again, but he's gripping the scarred bend of his arm tight enough that it might fall under Buck's strict instructions to tell him to leave it alone. "He shouldn't have been back at work yet."

"He seemed fine, Eddie."

Eddie exhales, shaky and unpleasant. "He seemed like he was getting better from the flu, and then Chris found him on the kitchen floor. He seemed better on Thursday and then-" he shakes his head, breathes in, blows the air out slowly. "I've told myself that a lot today - he was ok when I left this morning, he’s fine, he’s texting me, it’s going to be ok. But he was ok when I left those mornings too." He blows out air again, and it whistles through his clenched teeth.

Chimney thinks Eddie wouldn't appreciate it, but he thinks very hard and loud that the universe should give the Diaz family a fucking break. He extends his leg so his boot taps into Eddie's.

"He was doing so good- he felt good in a way he hasn't in a long time." Eddie makes direct eye contact for the first time this conversation. "We were talking about him working towards recertification. Coming back here. He really does love the call center and he’s good at it, but he misses being a part of the team, still. And then-" he makes an unhappy little sound. "He exhausted himself taking care of me and now this… We can both say 'healing isn't linear' until our mouths bleed but he’s almost back to where he was right after the strike and- and he's disappointed, I know he is and just- just not knowing what life is going to be like one day to the next- It's just been… a rough fucking year." Eddie's mouth turns up in a real grimace of a smile. "But we have experience with those. So… we'll just keep getting through it."

Two memories play out in Chimney's head.

First: A beach day, sometime in the first summer after Buck and Eddie were married. The jeep had arrived first, but as Chimney did what Maddie referred to as his Dad Jog to the trunk of his own car to start unloading he noticed that none of its occupants had got out yet. From the place he was standing he could see Buck, lit up golden in the afternoon glow, twisted sideways in the passenger seat and gesturing wildly as he talked, absolute glee written all over his face. Eddie in the driver's seat and Chris, unbuckled in the back, leaned their whole bodies towards him like plants seeking photosynthesis. Chim had wondered if the sun had been lonely before it had planets to orbit it, and then laughed at himself for being poetic, and anyway he wasn't sure that's the order the universe formed in. Buck would know, he'd have to ask him.

Second: Thursday, when Buck had made it through pneumonia like a champ and then gone back to his job at dispatch only to take a nap in the break room that no one could really wake him up from. It gets more ethically dubious by the year for any of the 118 to treat each other what with their tangled web of marriages and less official family ties, but Maddie had sounded panicked over the radio, and they’d been the closest first responders, and Chimney is certain that even if they weren’t nothing could have stopped them from coming for their brother, son, husband. Chimney remembers Eddie kneeling in front of the couch, the exact quiet tone of his voice as he’d said “Honey, I’m right here,” and the lethargic movement of Buck’s hand coming to weakly grip his shoulder. But the real thing, the clip that’s going to stay in his mind forever and repeat without permission, is looking up from establishing a line in the ambulance and watching how Eddie was curled down towards his partner as he tried to keep a flash of blue appearing between fluttering eyelids. Eddie was talking and Chimney doesn’t remember any of the words because he was also stroking his thumb over Buck’s brow and Chimney can’t stop thinking that he has never seen a human being touch another that gently.

Eddie’s phone buzzes and he looks at it, huffing a laugh and scrubbing a hand over his face. “He’s asking about pasta shapes. Wait- is he in the kitchen?” He frowns and hits dial, and the phone only gets out a single ring before Buck picks up.

“Hey,” his voice drifts, tinny, into the room and Chimney feels some tight little thing in his chest relax a little.

“You better not be cooking, Buck, you’re on speaker so I have back up if I need to yell at you.”

“I’m not, I’m not,” Buck laughs. “I’m exploiting child labor.”

Distantly, Christopher says “Hi, dad.”

“And you’re not helping at all?” Eddie raises his eyebrow and Chimney bets Buck can see it, miles away at their home.

“Chris is doing all the work, I swear, and we’re just gonna dump on the sauce I made, uh- Wednesday? Tuesday? Whatever, I can supervise boiling water. I didn’t even pick a pasta shape, c’mon, farfalle or fusilli?”

“Fusilli. You should be resting, Buck.”

Buck sighs, staticky over the speakers. “All I did today was move from the couch to the kitchen table, and I walked very slowly. I’m wrapped in a blanket and everything.” There’s a faint rustling sound and then Buck continues in a quieter voice. “I promised I’d tell you if something felt wrong. I’m alright, Eddie.”

Eddie bites his lips, and then takes the call off speaker and steps towards the kitchen. “You’re ok? You feel alright?” He spins his silicone wedding band around his finger as he listens. “Yeah. Yeah, before you wake up, probably.” He says “Buck” and Chimney always wondered how Eddie said that name and made it mean so much, folding in care and exasperation and adoration like he’s laminating butter between layers of dough. “Alright, I love you. I love you. Yeah. Tomorrow.”

He hangs up and as he exhales the alarm goes off overhead, because of course it does. Eddie starts towards the stairs but Chimney hurries forward and grabs him first and pulls him into the tightest hug he can. Eddie clings onto him for a moment, and they can only spare seconds for this attempt at comfort but he looks grateful when he pulls back, looks a little less tense.

"I love you, bud," Chimney says, and Eddie actually laughs at him as they head down the stairs. Chim swipes at the back of his brother in-law in-law's head as they pull on their gear and load into the engine and Eddie dodges with the practiced ease of a man with siblings. When they're in their seats and headed to the scene, though, Eddie leans forward and knocks his elbow into Chimney's knee.

"Love you, too." Eddie smiles. Three silhouettes in a car. A gentle touch. Things are going to be ok.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Several Sentences Sunday

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

Season 7 FANON FanFic: Buddie Multi-Chapter - Hiatus Reading: “I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

Chapter 29 will be posted soon.

This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

Currently 28 chapters completed: 1.77M Words; Rated: Mature

One chapter will be posted at a time.

#1 {Previous snippet}

#2 {Previous snippet}

___________

I'm excited to finish writing Chapter 29 because at the end of Chapter 28, it was early in the morning and Buck and Eddie were lying in bed having a serious conversation about whether Eddie's going to delay the pursuit of his second paramedic certification, the ACP-C. Buck doesn't want him to give up his dream, especially now since they know what caused Buck's bradycardia and he's on medication. He's doing better and even though he's still grieving, he believes once he passes the last two stages of grief, Frank may clear him to return to work but he's still not sure if he wants to go back to being a firefighter. Also, Eddie's FMLA ends on January 31, 2024 but the question is will he extend it or return to the 118?

Additionally, Chris is still dealing with one of his classmate's lack of participation in their video game project and it's stressing him out. Furthermore, during their last group therapy session, Buck had a conversation with Captain Jeshan Mehta and he asked him if they could meet so he can get an objective viewpoint from someone about whether he could be a captain someday with the LAFD. He decided not to ask Bobby since he doesn't believe he'll give him an objective viewpoint because in September 2022, he told him he needed more life experience. Things are getting interesting as the Diaz family gets closer to their "New Beginnings".

__________

Here's a little more from Chapter 29 of Buck and Chris while they're inside of Super Target.

___________

“I’m not… ”  Buck replies but he trails off when his Apple Watch beeps.

“What’s that?”

“None of your damn business!”

“I have an Apple Watch too and that sounds like a heart monitor warning.  I guess it makes sense that you would be wearing one since your heart stopped last year.”

“I’ve already warned you but I’m going to say it again just in case you missed it.  If you ever come near my son again, it’s over for you!”

“Hmm, you know if there weren’t any security cameras in this damn store, I’d do whatever’s necessary to stop your heart again but this time, no one would be here to restart it.”

“If you think you’re bold enough, just fucking try it and watch me break your damn neck.”  He sternly replies.

Suddenly, an unknown voice booms from behind Buck.  “Excuse me?!  Is everything, ok here?!”

Neither of them look in that direction but Buck believes it’s a security guard because he can also hear Chris’ crutches.

“I meant what I said… if you ever come near my son again, I’ll kill you and that’s a promise.”  He whisper shouts with so much venom in his voice he knows they understand he means business.

They plaster a fake smile on their face, look over Buck’s shoulder at the security guard and says, “Yes sir… everything’s ok.  We’re just catching up but I got what I came for so I’m leaving now.”  Then they smirk at Buck, turn around and walk away.

Buck keeps watching until they leave the aisle, then he turns around and before he has the chance to focus, his knees buckle but he manages to remain standing.  When he looks at the security guard, he sees a tall man with big muscles and he also sees Chris is not too far away from him.  He’s standing with a woman who’s wearing a red shirt with khakis pants and he can see her name tag too.

His vision starts to close and everything around him starts to look fuzzy the same way it did the morning he read Malone’s letter.  He feels it as his heart rate plummets and he knows it’s happening because his Apple Watch starts continuously beeping.

“Buck, are you ok?”  Chris asks in a high pitched voice.

His knees buckle again but he manages to stay upright.  His chest is hurting and he can feel the tug of death trying to take him back to a place he doesn’t want to go.

While maintaining eye contact with Chris, he forces himself to say, “Chr—is, Chr… call—call… dad for me… and—and ask… him to come quick… pleaseee!”

He watches as Chris removes his phone from his pocket and he also sees two people swiftly walk past him, the security guard and the employee.

“Excuse us coming through!”  A tall man with snow white hair exclaims.

He approaches Buck, stands in front of him and greets, “Sir, my name is Dr. Keith Dawson, I’m a cardiologist and I work at Cedars Sinai Hospital.  Me and my daughter, Ashley Dawson, she’s a nurse practitioner at First Presbyterian, we were on the next aisle and we heard your Apple Watch beeping, so we rushed over.  Are you having any chest pain?”

Buck’s eyes are wide, they’re filled with tears and he can tell he’s profusely sweating but he’s having a hard time speaking.

“Nod, if you can hear me.”

He nods.

“That’s good and thank you for responding.  Now I see you have a medic alert note attached to your watch, do you mind if I read it?”

He slowly shakes his head no.

Dr. Dawson quickly familiarizes himself with his medical information but when he notices Buck start to sway, he asks, “Sir, can you help me lay him down please?” 

The security guard moves and he gets to Buck just in time before he collapses.

They lay him down on the floor and Ashley hands him the sweater she’s wearing over her scrubs and the security guard removes his jacket.  Dr. Dawson puts the sweater underneath his head and the jacket underneath his ankles.

Buck’s fighting, he’s trying to remain conscious but with every second the pull at the back of his head gets stronger and he knows he’s going to lose consciousness soon.

Dr. Dawson is checking his pulse and he loudly asks, “Does this store have an AED?”

When Buck looks at Ashley, he forces himself to say, “I—I need someone to—to protect my… son!”

Ashley looks at Chris and asks, “He’s your dad?”

“Yes.”

“What’s his name?”

“Evan Diaz but he goes by Buck.”

“Thank you.”

When someone hands Dr. Dawson the AED, the Target employee who’s standing with Chris walks closer and she has Chris right by her side.

“CHR—IS?”  Buck cries.

“Buck! I’m here and I’m on the phone with dad.”

“Sir, my name is Kelsy Stromer and I’m the store manager.  Your son is safe and he’ll be with me until the ambulance arrives.  I’ll make sure he rides to the hospital with you.”

“CH—RIS!”  He says one last time as his eyes close and the darkness takes him.

What's going to happen next? 🤷🏽‍♀️

Is Buck going to wake up this time? 👀

Did the person threatening him and his family leave the store or are they still watching? 🙃

___________

Fic Summary: Months after Buck and Eddie were hit by the same lightning strike; they’re still struggling with the aftermath of it.  But before they make their love confessions, they’ll spend time getting to know themselves as individuals first. Eddie learns to enjoy the simple things in life as he participates in activities on his own and with new friends while Buck learns the rest of the 31-year-old deep dark family secret about his conception and birth. Their journey to forever is still a work in progress but once they finally admit they’re in love with each other, everything that follows their love confessions will be cataclysmic.

__________

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Eddie makes a new friend while Buck receives devastating news regarding the sperm donation he made for Connor and Kameron.

Chapter 2 - Buck does a lot of research to learn more about the abnormalities found in his red blood cells and Eddie starts a new therapy journey that’s all about him and not the traumas he’s experienced.

Chapter 3 - After more than a month, Buck and Eddie finally spend time together outside of work but it doesn’t end well and they part with a lot of uncertainty regarding their places in each other’s lives.

Chapter 4 - Eddie has a few realizations about his life which causes him to consider moving back to El Paso, TX while Buck continues to be reminded of his past which causes him to take an impromptu road trip across America.

Chapter 5 - Both Buck and Eddie have difficult conversations with their parents and Buck finally learns the truth behind the reason why his mother despised him while Eddie finally tells his mother about the way she tries to control him.

Chapter 6 - More than two weeks after Buck pushed Eddie away after suggesting they needed a break; Eddie decides to try again. Eddie’s there for Buck when he’s at his worst just like Buck was there for him when he was at his worst and he won’t let Buck give up.

Chapter 7 - After Buck’s mental breakdown, Eddie has his back the same way Buck had his when he had his own breakdown more than a year ago.  They share several vulnerable and emotionally intimate moments with one another and they begin to realize their small, sweet and caring gestures matter just as much if not more than any grand gesture ever could because these are the foundations of a long-lasting love relationship.

Chapter 8 - Buck, Eddie and Chris all have their own therapists and during their sessions, they reflect on their pasts while they’re in the present so they can prepare for their future together as a family.

Chapter 9 - Buck and Eddie are there for each other when Buck has to testify as a witness during the trial.  But by the end of it, they’ll both realize their individual and shared traumas are going to keep resurfacing until they talk about them, deal with the fact that they’re in love with one another and face the fact that they can’t live without each other.

Chapter 10 - As Buck and Eddie finally begin to confront their past traumas, they realize how much they need each other to fill in the gaps of their memories.  Additionally, the universe screams at them for what appears to be the one hundredth time so Buck can realize he doesn’t have to ‘find it’ because he already ‘made it’ and Eddie’s reminded tomorrow isn’t promised and he doesn’t have to die alone if he doesn’t want to.

Chapter 11 - A “virga” or dry thunderstorm is in the forecast but once the rain starts, the thunderstorm happening outside won’t be able to match the storm brewing inside between Buck and Eddie.  It’s the universe’s final scream and when the tumultuous winds begin to blow, they’ll have one last chance to hold onto everything they’ve built over the last six years or they’ll lose it all forever.

Chapter 12 - Buck and Eddie have always shared a deep physical attraction and an emotional intimacy that’s unmatched but now that they’re in a relationship, they’re learning how to navigate the romantic intimacy they’ve been waiting for six years to explore. The love they have for each other is a once in a lifetime, soulmate, love of their lives type of love that transcends space and time.

Chapter 13 - While navigating the newness of their romantic relationship, Buck and Eddie take advantage of every moment they spend together. As their individual lives, people from their pasts, time constraints and the possibility of losing each other again make attempts to interrupt and interfere with their journey to forever, they love, care for, support and hold onto each other even tighter to withstand it all.

Chapter 14 - Buck and Eddie can see the lights at the end of the tunnels regarding the results of Buck’s Cancer Screening along with everything else they’re dealing with. But are the lights they see exits to the tunnels or are they headlights on different runaway trains that are speeding towards them in an effort to interrupt their forever?

Chapter 15 - Buck and Eddie have known they were exactly who the other one wanted in a partner since they met six years ago when they agreed to have each other’s backs. They’re in a romantic relationship, they’re both preparing to ask the other one to spend forever with them and by the end of the seventh week into their relationship, together they will plan their most important and greatest adventure for their future.

Chapter 16 - As Buck and Eddie begin to prepare for their marriage ceremony that will take place in Rome, Italy in December 2023, they start planning their first international adventure as a romantic couple. Even though Chris is still the only person they’ve told about their relationship, several people who know them have already witnessed the love they share and as the days continue, others will witness it too.

Chapter 17 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to departing Los Angeles for their international adventure, a moment in time will remind them; life is fragile, tomorrow isn’t promised and every second of everyday should be cherished because everything can change in an instant. The result of that realization will cause them to hold onto each other even more.

Chapter 18 - As Buck, Eddie and Chris prepare for family gatherings before and during the Thanksgiving holiday, the “Santa Ana Winds” start to blow and all sorts of expected and unexpected familial drama ensues.

Chapter 19 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to their wedding day, the universe begins to align everything so that some of their parent and children's relationships are strengthened while others come to an abrupt end.

Chapter 20 - With only 14 days remaining until Buck, Eddie and Chris depart Los Angeles, CA traveling to Rome, Italy, for their first family adventure, an early morning conversation about “tying up loose ends” helps Buck and Eddie realize there are still several things left unfinished on their ‘To Do’ lists. The question is will there be enough time to complete all of them?

Chapter 21 - Buck, Eddie and Chris are finalizing their ‘To Do’ Lists, double checking their itineraries and packing their suitcases in preparation for their trip to Europe so they can board their flight that departs Los Angeles, CA on Friday, December 15, 2023 at 3:25PM.

Chapter 22 - While Buck, Eddie and Chris spend the first 8 days of their European family adventure in Italy, their primary reason for going will be fulfilled as well as several others they hadn’t considered or anticipated.

Chapter 23 - As the Diaz Family continues their Italian family adventure, they’ll say, “Ciao” or hello and goodbye to a lot of things almost immediately after they become an official and legal family.

Chapter 24 - After Buck, Eddie and Chris arrive in London, England on December 24th; the Diazes immediately start preparing to spend their first family Christmas together. During their stay, each of them will hear a few choice words that will be the life raft to get them home to complete their searches to be seen and to be found.

Chapter 25 - After spending more than two weeks in Europe, Eddie, Buck and Chris are back in Los Angeles and they’re getting ready to attend Maddie and Chimney’s New Year’s Eve party. During the event, they have plans to make two surprise announcements but the question is, who’s really going to be surprised, the Diaz family or their found family at the 118?

Chapter 26 - Buck and Eddie are once again faced with their greatest fear of losing each other but this time it could be permanent and if it is, then they won’t be able to spend the rest of their lives together.

Chapter 27 - After Buck resumes therapy, he’ll continue to face the fact that he “DIED” in March 2023 and during those sessions, he’ll learn about the 7 stages of grief. As he continues his healing journey, Eddie will be right by his side just like he promised and the Diaz family will start to deal with their three minutes and seventeen seconds loss as a family.

Chapter 28 - Two years ago, Eddie was asked, “What are you afraid of?”; twice, once by Frank and once by Buck but he only answered one of them without deflecting. Since that time, he’s been to therapy and him and Buck got married but the question resurfaces when Frank asks Buck the same question and Buck asks it of Eddie for the second time. However, when Buck asks, his reasoning will be about something else entirely.

Chapter 29 - Will be posted soon.

__________

Read chapters 1-28 are available on AO3.

Continue reading on AO3

[spite-of-the-grifter]

TMA fears as ASMR concepts

Disclaimer: I wrote this months ago in my notes app. This is not proofread in the *slightest*. So. It's gonna be shit. Lol. Enjoy, ig.

Also not canon compliant whatsoever so don't complain about that because I know.

-Michael Distortion: (POV: you're in the spiral) it's just 15 minutes of Michael whispering the same "baby sharchivist dododododo" tune and then him getting killed by Helen in the last minute.

-Nikola Orsinov does your skincare routine but it's just a direct parody of the Victor Van Dort does your Nails video where instead of the bts poster, the "blanket" is a black and white circus poster (see: Danny Stoker) that crumbles to ash when he puts it on. Also at the end she tries to do a "chemical peel" she found on "the internets". Michael comes in at the end and PRESIDENTIAL ALERT THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTINNGGG.

"Why are you screaming? that's very rude, you know. Especially after I talked to your BOSS for you. And that was NOT an enjoyable experience. He's such a tool >:(("

"Spill the tea, archivist" "oh sorry, did you want some? Sorry ...too bad. You can't have this :33" "WHERE ARE MY MANNERS??" *sticks pinky finger out* "there! Much better"

-Jane Prentiss' GRWM but she doesn't have any other clothes so it's just "time for the fit check!!" *Camera cuts to her dress for one (1) second* then her makeup is just dirt, dirt, and "the worms love you."

-Simon Fairchild and Michael Crew giggle with each other while huddled together and whispering/gossiping and asking "should we do it, should we do it?" "Yeah yeah let's be bad" while shushing each other while occasionally interacting with the listener for 5 minutes and then the rest of the video is just them torturing them via the ocean (them holding you underwater for 2 minutes with muffled gurgling bubble noises accompanied by underwater ocean sounds and silent panicking), throwing you into the sky at extreme velocity (sounds of air blasting your eardrums for a solid 3 minutes before an airplane hits you full force and you fall back into the ocean...which is another whole minute of falling and panicking.), and then the rest of the video is just them laughing while basically using your limp, dazed body as a kite.

-Elias Bouchard beats you with a metal pipe ASMR.

-POV: Gerard Keay breaks into your house at 2:27 AM and ransacks it looking for a LEITNER "WHERE TF IS I- oh. You're awake..Hi." before leaving through the window but he can't make himself fit through so it's just a full minute of him struggling and awkwardly laughing while apologizing over and over. All this time, he's wearing so much eyeliner, he looks like Jeff the Killer. You point this out and he just goes "Oh! Thank you! :D"

-"Buried Alive ASMR: You Get Buried Alive. You are getting buried alive. Someone is burying you. Alive. It is peaceful." (Unnecessarily long, redundant title for what's just screaming that gets slowly muffled as the video goes on and more dirt is piled on top of you before you start to sound content and just. Go to sleep. At that point. Snoring.)

-The Vase eats your boyfriend in the other room. It's just sounds of porcelain and snoring and fleshy eating sounds with ear eating but it slowly progresses to sounds that make less and less sense until it's just the skeleton sound effects from Minecraft.

-POV spiders crawl all over you. They have covered your door in spiderwebs. You fall asleep crying but wake up to being choked to death via spiders crawling inside you and blocking your windpipe.

-Jared Hopworth, the Boneturner, turns your bones with sounds of squishy flesh moving around in the background. At the end, you get eaten by The Monster Pig™ and meat (lol) the body of the missing clown.

-You get sacrificed to The Desolation. Sounds of distant screaming is heard in the right ear while sounds of maniacal/pained laughter is heard in the left. Fire crackles throughout the woods.

-You are getting chased by something. You get stalked with a lot of tension at the beginning; sticks cracking, creepy giggling, devious sounds all around. Your breathing is uneasy, but then the sounds stop and you breathe a sigh of relief and go back to stoking your campfire. Something growls and finally says "evening" and starts counting down. From 5. You bolt away from your campsite downhill for 2 minutes breathing heavily and fast before you trip on a stick and tumble down the mountain getting hit by trees and sent over rocks. You're about to pass out, but then you hear sniffing and growling in your direction and you get back up with an "o shit" and hide in a tree. When the monster sniffs out your hiding spot, it can't reach you. The rest of the video is slightly muffled Gangnam Style.

-POV: Peter Lukas kidnaps you, throws you in a sack, and you are put on a ship to a deserted island. This part is just sounds of boards creaking and boat rocking sounds while you fall asleep to the sounds of Peter's VERY heavy snoring. You're both startled awake by distant "land ho!" And a very gruff Peter's voice talking to himself going "I'm up I'm up ugh". Rustling of the bag is heard while he picks you up and fumbles around with you. You're getting passed around and jostled a bunch. At one point he burns his toast. Sounds of intense crunching can be heard from this along with him saying "elgh" as if disgusted. Finally, he brings you to the deck and throws you overboard onto a deserted island (your bones break and you scream "MY LEGS") before you can hear him far away saying "alright, set sail, we're done here." You manage to get out of the bag (you are wincing, the drop heavily contorted your body) and the sun shines at you while birds squack above and the coast crashes onto the shore. You slowly lose your mind.

-POV you're in the War™ and get shot in the arm and fall into a cave with one of your comerades. You guys shakily and awkwardly attempt to make small talk as you both bleed out on top of several hundreds of other corpses. The Piper is heard in the distance getting louder. When he finally gets to you after taking your friend, you fall into a bottomless pit while he's up there yelling "OH FUCKING COME ONNNN." When you get out on the other side after a minute of silence with faint sounds of "I will remember you" plays quietly through the silence. When you get out, Mike and Simon are snickering before you cough up blood when they start bursting out in laughter being like "I'm sorry I'm SO sorry really but it's JUST. SO FUNNY."

-POV: Robert Montauk is preparing to kill you, sharpening his tools and humming and whatnot before Julia comes in and asks what her dad's doing. While he's distracted, you escape the shitily tied knots and run through pitch dark while he chases you with an axe. "COME BACK. COME BACCKKK. YOU FUCKER I NEED YOU. FUCKER." You run into a church. Manuela Dominguez tries to apprehend you. It doesn't work. "Where the hell's Fairchild when you need him?"

Robert bursts through the church and gets pissed at you for making him scream curse words that his daughter could hear. Throws the axe at you. He misses. Now you have a weapon. You charge at him but fall through another pitch black hole where none other than yours truly are on the other side of it laughing their ASSES off just DYING. "OK. OK Whooooo. We SWEAR that was the last of it hahaha" "haha yeah just some guys bonding over a good laugh, you understand."

-The End. Just. An end screen.

You're dropped into Season one Jon's office and they (annoyed) take your statement. Typing sounds are heard while you frantically go "then the old guy..a-nd then the other old guy then the 2 old men and. And. Worm lady. Skin. Chemical peel." As they mumble "uh huh, yeah. Heh, heard that one before. No go on, go on." When statement ends, you leave but stay at the door to eavesdrop while they skepticize like "this man needs some antispychotics and he needs them NOW. Ugh. My job is utter buffoonery. MAHTIN."

You turn to walk away but get ambushed by Elias Bouchard. The last sound of the video is just a metal pipe hitting you over the head.

[tillwehavefaces]

I have literally never posted about Buddie before, but I want to add my two cents to the whole Buck/Tommy debate. I know there are mixed feelings and both sides have valid points, but to those who were expecting a Buddie kiss this soon - I don't get it?

Ever since I found out abc had picked up 911, I was and remain cautiously hopeful for Buddie endgame - in fact, the kiss makes me far more hopeful than I was a week ago. Because the truth is that if they'd gone straight for Buddie, it would have been bad storytelling. Offensively bad storytelling.

Hear me out. I agree with y'all that the storytelling that's happened up until now makes it clear that Buddie are in love with each other. I also happen to think that the storytelling that's happened up until now makes it clear that neither of these himbos have any clue that they're in love with each other, or that they even could fall in love with a man.

And it's not for lack of opportunity, if the writers had wanted to go that way, obviously! There's was Buck's reaction to Eddie being stuck in the well and Eddie making Buck Christopher's guardian in his will and both of them almost dying and Eddie having a literal breakdown over all the trauma he's repressed and they've both been to therapy and they've both broken up with women who were all wrong for them ... I could go on and on.

But not only did the writers not take any of these opportunities to make at least one of them realize their feelings for the other might not be platonic (certainly, no explicit indication on screen), but because fox was so afraid of losing viewers if they made both their supposedly straight male firefighters queer, they doubled down on Eddie and Buck seeing their relationship as platonic. Every time one of them went through some kind of life-changing experience and questioned deeply held beliefs about themselves yet never questioned their sexuality, it made it seem less and less likely that *anything* would make them realize they might be queer and in love with their best friend.

Honestly, I think if abc had gotten the show at a different point, they might have been able to go straight into Buddie. For example, a season earlier? Eddie's just gotten through a ton of trauma with the help of a therapist and is returning to the 118, and it would've been easy to write a storyline where he's realized his feelings for Buck and tries to do something about it. Or maybe right after Buck's near-death experience. But they both got through those traumas and started dating new women, as oblivious to the love right in front of them as ever. And that's how S6 ended.

So I don't think there's anything abc could have done to convince me that either one of them suddenly realizes how they feel without something happening. If that Buck/Tommy kiss had instead been a Buddie kiss, I would have loved it, but I wouldn't have really believed it. It wouldn't have felt genuine.

Excuse my nerdy science brain, but it's like inertia - Buck and Eddie have both been going in one direction for so long (the 'we're straight best friends!' direction) that it's going to take some kind of force to knock them off that path. It can't be near death experiences, cause they've both been there and it hasn't worked. It can't be finding new girlfriends or breaking up with said girlfriends. No, it's gotta be something really obvious.

That force is Tommy. A canon gay character who recognizes Buck as queer even when Buck doesn't recognize himself as queer. Who (unknowingly) forces Buck to confront that part of himself by kissing him, which will in turn force Eddie to confront his feelings and reaction to seeing his best friend and co-parent now dating a man. I can't say for sure that Buddie is coming, but I honestly think this (not Tommy specifically, but a queer man who is outside the whole Buddie situation) is the only way to tell this story in a way that makes it feel true to life, given the mess that fox created.

[missvelvetsstuff]

With Friends Like You, Who Needs Enemies?

Steve Rogers x Reader, Steve Rogers x Natasha, Reader x ????

Reader is a mutant with the ability to turn sound into light who was 'adopted' aka stolen as a child by Baron Von Strucker to use for experimentation. She was given a form of the Super soldier serum so in addition to her mutant abilities she also has super strength, enhanced senses and healing. When he starts experimenting on his volunteers, the Maximoff twins, she tries to convince them to escape with her but they tell the Baron that she's planning to escape so he doubles her cell security. Steve and reader met when the team recovered Loki's scepter from Strucker.

She falls in love with Steve and becomes good friends with Nat but they aren't the friends she thinks they are.

Notes: Here I go with a new idea because I'm stuck on my wip's. Reader has powers like Dazzler from the X-Men, plus a form of the serum.

Steve and Nat are not great people in this.

This story is canon adjacent except that Thanos never happened.

Warnings: none yet

Prologue

Starts at the beginning of AOU

Steve looked around the room, seeing a woman who disappeared behind a wall. "Second enhanced, female. Do not engage"

A tall, beautiful woman in raggedy clothing approached him with her hands up. "Captain America? Are you here to help us?"

Steve noded but kept his guard up "We're here for Loki's scepter but I can help you. Do you work for Strucker?"

She shook her head "No, he kidnapped me when I was young. He helped me learn how to control my abilities but also experimented on me. He wanted me to be a weapon. I just want to go home"

While they were talking Wanda snuck up on them and forced Steve into a memory. Y/N created a light bright enough to shock him out of it.

Steve shook his head and once it cleared stared at her "How did you do that? What abilities, exactly?"

She shrugged "I'm a mutant. I can turn sound into light. It used to be random but I've learned how to make a laser and how to hypnotize people. Strucker made me learn how to break people out of the witches hex, in case she ever turned on Hydra."

Steve nodded "Well let's get you out of here" into his comms "Third enhanced, female. Not hostile. I'm bringing her with me." He looked at her "I'm Steve, what's your name?" She told him and he nodded "Follow me"

Tony nodded, breaking out of Wandas hex "I have the scepter, let's get out of here."

When they made it to the quinjet Y/N was quiet and stayed out of the way while they worked on Clint. She hoped the Avengers were better than Hydra, they couldn't possibly be worse.

Once they arrived at the tower, Y/N was taken to medical to be checked after Clint was being treated but was only found to be exhausted, malnourished and dehydrated. Dr Cho advised starting with a bland diet and rest for a few days, then a check up before starting on other foods and light exercise.

Nat introduced herself "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before but my friend....."

Y/N nodded "It's ok, all of you were coming down from a fight. I know how that can feel."

Nat looked at her warily "Thanks. Let me show you to your room. You can take a shower while we get some food for you. There are some sweats in the dresser that you can wear until we get you some clothes. We will be in the conference room. in 30. We need to debrief you and Nick Fury wants to meet you. He's not here today but will probably drop in soon."

Y/N looked surprised "I'm no one but I'll tell you what I can."

Nat showed her the room "If you need any help you can ask Jarvis. He's Tony's AI and helps run things here. Just ask him for directions." Nat looked at her, concerned "You're safe here and we'll help you figure everything out."

Y/N looked around the room, more like a suite and more luxurious than she had seen in many years. Strucker kept her in a small, cold cell that had been made so she couldn't use her powers to get out. She hadn't had a proper shower in ages, usually they just blasted her with cold water once a week.

The shower was heaven and the hot water never ran out. There were some high end toiletries and plush towels, she hadn't felt so good since she didn't know when.

She dried off and put the sweat shirt and pants on, they were so soft and felt wonderful on her skin. She found a pair of slippers in the closet and was ready to face everyone. She looked up at the ceiling "Jarvis?"

"Yes, miss?" She jumped at the disembodied voice.

"How do I get to the conference room?"

"Exit this room, turn left and follow the lights"

"Thank you"

"Of course, miss."

Y/N found the conference room with Jarvis help and could hear the team talking quietly, her name came up more than once which made her nervous. She entered the room and everyone stilled, which made her more anxious.

Tony looked over at her "Come on in, we'll see what we need to do here. I have to say you look much better now. I've never seen anyone look so good in sweats. Natasha can take you shopping for some clothes when you're up for it."

Y/N shook her head "Thank you but I don't have any money."

Tony smirked "Don't worry about that, it's taken care of.

Please have a seat. There's food coming for you."

She sat down where he pointed and looked around nervously. She didn't know much about the Avengers and could only hope they were better than Hydra. A plate of eggs and toast with a glass of Apple juice was set in front of her. She picked at it for a minute before diving in. Strucker almost never gave her real food, just some high protein paste that did the job but tasted awful.

Tony clapped his hands "Alright kids, lets get this started. Y/N would you like to start?"

She looked up at him, wide eyed with a mouth full of food.

Tony grinned "Right, sorry. Go ahead and eat and we'll come back around to you."

Y/N listened carefully to everything they said and tried not to eat too quickly. When they came back around to her she had cleaned her plate and wanted more.

"I'll get you more after we're done here, don't want to shock your system too much." Tony told her softly.

"Can you tell us some about yourself and what Strucker was up to?"

Y/N nodded "Like I told Captain Rogers, I'm a mutant. I can turn sound into various forms of light. I can hypnotize, make lasers or just a pretty light show when I sing. I was 10 or so when Strucker kidnapped me and started experimenting to see how my powers work. He also gave me some kind of serum that made me stronger, heal faster and enhanced my senses. Taught me to fight hand to hand. He insisted he was my father but when I got older, he did things to me that no decent father would do to his daughter.

Last year he brought the scepter and two people that he enhanced with it. Wanda can mess with your mind and her twin brother Pietro moves very fast. I tried to tell them how awful he was and talk them into escaping with me but their hatred for Tony Stark and the Avengers was too much. They told Strucker I wanted to escape and he locked me in a cell I couldn't get out of for the last few months. He released me when you showed up, hoping I would help the twins fight against you but I couldn't. I didn't want to be under his control anymore"

Tears were running down her face as she finished.

Nat rubbed her back gently "Do you know where you're from? Where your family is?"

Y/N sighed "I don't remember much. Strucker tried to erase my memories and they are pretty scattered now. I see flashes of another life but they are blurry and vague. I know I wanted to be a singer, taught myself how to make light shows to go with my songs. I remember when my mom saw me doing that and freaked out. There's not much after that except for Strucker and his experiments."

She sat back looking a little dazed "I'm very tired. Is it ok if I go rest?"

Tony nodded "We can talk more later. Once you're fully recuperated you'll have to come to the gym and show us your stuff. Captain, would you like to escort the lady to her room?" He saw how Steve was looking at her so wanted to give him a little shove.

Steve and Y/N were both quiet on the way to her room. She started humming without even realizing and a soft colorful haze surrounded her.

Steve looked at her in shock "That's so beautiful" his cheeks flushed "I mean you're beautiful, you know your voice and the lights"

She stopped "Sorry, it's a habit and how I comforted myself in my cell."

"No, no, don't be sorry. You don't have to stop, it just caught me off guard" they stopped in front of her door. "Get some rest and ask Jarvis if you need anything" he gently touched her arm and felt sparks which made him pull away quickly. "Yeah, uh, good night"

"G'nite Steve"

Chapter 1

[solradguy]

Mr. Rad Guy, I've wanted to get your opinion on something for a while now, and finally snagged what I was looking for on twitter. I normally don't pay any of those transphobic Bridget discourse peddlers any mind, but they bring up her appearence in the canon pachinko game Vastege as supposed "proof" that Strive's story direction for her is a contradictory retcon. This game's plot takes place just three months before Xrd's, and they claim that through her voicelines she is still insisting sternly that she's a man and not to call her cute, but also that she STILL hasn't broken her village's superstition at this point in time. This is the only image they ever have as so-called evidence, so I wanted to see if you know if these lines are legitimately in the game, scrapped content, or made up altogether. I don't trust these lunatics as far as I can throw them when it comes to telling the whole truth 🤨

This screenshot is from same manuscript of dialog that is in the lore server archives and in the GG VXT archive pack that I compiled and uploaded to Archive.org. As far as I know, these lines were all used in the game and no unused lines have been (or even could be) datamined. Two of the lines here are highlighted so I'm assuming they're the ones these dorks are using to try to prove their point. I've translated them.

First line:

I want to break the village's rule/law*, and return to the village as a young man.

*In the official localizations I think they might translate this as "tradition" or "superstition" instead of rule or law.

"Young man" in that line is 男の子 (otokonoko). Do not let anyone convince you Bridget is using the other otokonoko there (男の娘；"young man with a feminine aesthetic"). They like to do that a lot, argue that it's the one that uses 娘.

Second line:

Cute is uncalled for... I'm a man.

In conclusion: Yes. Bridget is using almost 1:1 recycled dialog in Vastedge that she used in XX and the spinoffs. The Twitter grifters' Google Translating was correct this time.

Vastedge's plot may take place only 3 months before Xrd, but Vastedge itself came out in 2013—8 entire years before Strive released in 2021. A lot can change in 3 months in real life, but after almost a decade most people are entirely different altogether (wrt Daisuke and his plot decisions). Also it's a friggin pachislot machine lmfao Like, are people really expecting something as earth shattering as a character as irrelevant to the general plot like Bridget suddenly stopping all of the action to explore her identity on a slot machine? I have no patience for these people anymore. They're just stupid and arguing because they have no hobbies.

There's also the fact that Daisuke originally planned for Bridget to be a cis girl until the very last minute. So if anything her coming out in Strive was just returning to the starting concept. He mentions this in the interview in the back of Artworks of Guilty Gear X 2000-2004. Translation by fairymisao.

(27)---The character Bridget, introduced in Guilty Gear XX, looks like a girl but is actually a boy, right? What was your intention in deciding on creating this kind of character? Ishiwatari: The creation of Bridget as a boy happened at the very last second; during development I was drawing him as purely a girl. It's just that when there is a need to give a worldly backbone (to the game), in order for me to try to not forget each character, and in order to revive the character, I give them my very heart. As a result, the creation of Bridget as actually a boy instead of a girl was because I thought he could become my alter ego. [...]

It's also important to note that Vastedge was the first thing ASW made for Guilty Gear after getting the full rights to the IP back from Sega after the Sega-Sammy merger in 2011 (which they had started to lose a bit before Overture's release in 2004). They were absolutely more focused on making something that would generate income and looked flashy than they were a compelling cinematic experience.

[thebreezelover]

Time for my yearly celebration of Brianna's birthday even though she has no canon birthday with a list of headcanons:

- For a second year in a row, I decided to post about Brianna's birthday on Dec 12, so you could guess that this is my headcanon birthday for her

- She wasn't a popular kid in her former school or Coates until she gained her powers

- No, she was just an average school kid, she wasn't even a track athlete (yup I disagree with some fans there, fast runner gaining the power of super speed is boring)

- However, she enjoys playing soccer and she learnt about her powers in a game one day, the rest is... history though for a short while (becoming a popular soccer player? more interesting)

- That was also when she caught Caine and Drake's attention, especially Drake, and they started becoming enemies since then

- She has humiliated Drake before, by ruining his science project (which btw is a cat torture experiment. she set the cat free by accident and it scratched him)

- She is also one of the naughtiest kid in both her former and current school (obviously, but I'll elaborate on how below):

she makes up her own swear words to taunt her teachers

she is late to class all the time even after gaining her powers. waking up late is her passion

same with her homework, though she might do it if she can answer it in a "creative" way, also it's messy

after gaining her powers, she steals from the school cafeteria a lot

and some stuff from other kids' dorms

and the teachers' office once when she ran out of pen ink

no, twice. she was caught the second time, right before the FAYZ started, so she skipped detention

Some headcanons that probably don't fit with the timeline of the books but i'll put them here anyways (as @dianaladrislovebot said in their headcanon post: pretend it works okay):

- She is a One Direction fan

- And Skrillex, Deadmau5, basically dubstep and dance, in fact she lost some interest in 1D after being introduced to dance music

- Mainly because she enjoys playing loud music at night and annoying her neighbors (more rule breaking!)

- Also she can play the piano keyboard, she taught herself in the school's music room, playing her favorite songs

Happy 27th birthday to my favorite character in Gone, Brianna!

[monstersinthecosmos]

Hi! I have a bit of an odd question. Do you think it’s possible to read your VC fics having zero familiarity with the source material? More accurately, how can I get acquainted enough with what’s canonically relevant in order to be able to read them? I am a long time fan of alllll your Sheith fics and have read them all so many times I can’t even count anymore. I saw you mention some similarities between Keith and Armand (?) in a comment and Immediately tried reading your latest VC fic but it went right over my head 😭. I can’t put into words how much I appreciate your writing - and how read to filth *I* feel when reading your stuff LOL - so I won’t try, but I hope you can tell it’s a lot. My latest rereading binge was set off when I saw you post about the new chapter of ttsr! on twitter and I lostttt it, I literally think about that fic every day (if you can give me any teasers at all about the next chapter, I will die and hopefully resuscitate when it’s posted). In any case, in the meantime, I’d love to read your other works. Any tips would be much appreciated. Either way, thank you so much for all you’ve already put out there. <3

dfasdhkgj oh my gosh WHAT A QUESTION AND IT'S SOMETHING IVE THOUGHT ABOUT SO MANY FUCKIN TIMES !! You're not even the first to ask! And I've answered in both directions because I've had VC people read my Sheith fics!!! OH LORD OKAY LISTEN LET'S HAVE A SEAT FOR A MINUTE. (Also thank you so much omg 🥹🥹🥹)

Okay to break this down!!! My main two ships I’ve posted about are either Armand/Daniel or Marius/Armand and they can BOTH be Sheith analogs imo, especially because I think Sheith fandom is SO fic heavy and we have so many sort of like established tropes and fanon for the way people approach Shiro! 

But starting with Armand on his own, here’s what you need to know:  He’s 500 years old but he was turned when he was 17! He’s always going to look like he did when he was 17 in 1497!!!!! He’s from the RENAISSANCE BAYBEE!!! But he grew up spending a lot of time in a monastery and he was ABDUCTED when he was like 14ish and SEX TRAFFICKED! And then he’s found & rescued by a vampire named Marius, who’s like 1500 years old and very lonely and looking for a companion! Marius is convinced that it will backfire if he tries to turn any old rando into a vampire and what he really needs is like a BLANK SLATE that he can groom for vampirism. When he finds Armand, Armand is so fucking traumatized that he doesn’t remember how to talk, doesn’t remember where he’s from, has no memory of being trafficked, etc. Marius is also feeling traumatized so he feels a connection to this person and decides THIS IS THE ONE and he takes care of him for a few years and winds up turning him. (They have a lot of sex and stuff it’s wild.) I actually wrote an AU based on it for Sheith one time on Twitter so this might also explain it!!!

((I'M EXTREMELY SILLY BC I ALSO SHARED THE ART BUT WITH RED HAIR TO BE ARMAND HAHAH))

Then blah blah a lot of traumatic shit happens, they get separated, they don’t see each other until the 1980s lol. Armand also spends like 300 years in a cult. And in the 1970s he meets DANIEL! And if you are aware the first book of this series is called INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, Daniel is the interviewer! He’s the one who interviewed the vampire!!!! And Armand STALKS HIM LMFAO and threatens him and they play a cat and mouse game. But then they start getting used to each other and kinda enjoy seeing each other and they wind up being lovers. This goes on for like TWELVE YEARS during which time Daniel is like slowly killing himself with alcohol because he wants to be a vampire so bad and Armand refuses to turn him. Eventually Daniel is like dying of liver failure or whatever and Armand turns him because he can’t handle the thought of losing him.

What I think Armand has REALLY IN COMMON with Keith and why they’re fun to write about is that like

- They’re both orphans and their experiences being orphaned and losing people at young ages really dictates a lot of their behavior and how they treat others. I think a ton of Keith’s characterization comes down to his abandonment issues and for Armand it’s the same. There’s some added drama with Armand because he’s a vampire so like, he’s so convinced that vampires can’t have meaningful relationships with their makers (because of his own maker) that he can’t bear to turn Daniel. It’s a lot like how Keith, in his human version, can’t get close to people and doesn’t even try to. Even looking like the entire time he’s with Voltron he really never bonds with anybody,  even way later in canon when he admits he doesn’t think any of them are friends. AND HOW HE FUCKIN HAS NO ISSUE LEAVING THE TEAM TO JOIN THE BLADES BECAUSE HE’S NEVER FELT SUPPORTED BY ANYBODY EXCEPT SHIRO? 

- I think also that Keith deliberately makes himself unpleasant to people (ie: immediately stealing Shiro’s car) so that he can have some control over people coming in and out of his life. Like, if he pushes them away first they can’t leave him. And like with Armand, his cult years remind me of this too. Like in VC there’s a LOT of Catholicism in the themes of the writing and Armand was very religious when he was alive, and then he winds up indoctrinated by this cult. He spends 300 years living in filth, in rags, under a cemetery, not allowing himself any type of creature comforts because the cult believes that vampires are a tool of the Devil. In VC there’s a lot of themes of like, abstinence/absolution/penance and so I think there’s some thematic resonance here when it comes to like, forcing yourself to be uncomfortable because you think you deserve to be. And also just like, after a life of abandonment and trauma picking SOMETHING to have control over, even if it's not healthy.

- A huge theme in VC is also the concept of the vampire as the outsider, which is how the author intended it. So like all the ways vampires are on the outside of society or humanity is always kind of infused to the stories and I think same can be said for Keith being Galra!!!!! And in VC there’s always this thing about how like, the vampires all do terrible things and the stories still ask us to love them, and I think the vampires always eventually are just asking to be loved! They’re all just looking for love !!! And I MEAN. I MEAN???? KEITH????? 

- On a shallow note, smol angry bby lol 

- This is completely headcanon territory but I think they each have the same AUTISM CODING; both fandoms notice this lol. Just that they’re like, KINDA WEIRD AND PRICKLY? Don’t always understand social customs, often deadpan!  <3 Armand has a lot of sensory stuff in canon and I think we see this a TON in Sheith fic even though it’s never said specifically on the show that Keith probably gets sensory overload from his Galra traits.

So when it comes to fics, what I love about this is that like I’m sure you’ve noticed like there’s such a WIDE SPECTRUM of Sheith fic because they are so wholesome and support each other so much and are just such a beautiful ship? But then they also fit all the like smut tropes LMFAO like the size difference, the mentor/mentee, Shiro being daddy af, etc. So I think like if you were to read either of these VC ships you could sort of imagine a Sheith analog to make it make sense, whether you want it to be loving or if you just want NASTY DISRESPECTFUL SEX.  

Marius/Armand is a bit like canon Sheith in that there’s the age difference, the size difference, and it’s teacher/student. As an AU you can say: Shiro is an ancient lonely vampire who purchases a trafficked boy to be his apprentice. 

The catch here is like! Marius is a really polarizing character in VC fandom because he can be kind of an arrogant prick sometimes LOL. And he’s very obsessed with like, being patient and wise, and he tries REALLY HARD to be patient and wise but he’s actually kind of petty and has a temper. In a lot of ways, Shiro reminds me of like everything Marius WISHES he was. And like both characters are so obsessed with the concept of PATIENCE, even though Shiro is a bit better at it.

And Marius was ALSO abducted by DRUIDS 😭😩😩😩! Weird coincidence! But Marius was turned because he was taken hostage by some druids and forced into like a Wicker Man religious ritual where he was sacrificed to a vampire and turned against his will and he's real salty about it. IT JUST FEELS A LOT LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TO SHIRO, RIGHT? Except Shiro is like a modern person who knows how to do therapy or something.

So I think Marius/Armand fics could also fit the kinda Dark!Shiro trope that a lot of Sheith fics have. Like if you picture how Rifa or Aphor have written dark!Shiro LOL or even like how people characterize Kuron sometimes. Like, still Shiro, but, kind of a dark undercurrent happening. 

The other catch is that Armand and Marius get separated because they get their house raided by the cult (the one that eventually indoctrinates Armand) and they burnt the house down and it’s traumatic for everybody; Marius is severely injured and has to go into hiding for like 100 years to recover, and by the time he finds Armand again he just sees that he’s fully engaged with this cult and he decides to leave him alone and doesn’t risk trying to rescue him because he thinks Armand has like, found his place with them and he can't risk betrayal/rejection.

And like, this is never exactly in canon, but I just think it has so much to do with Why Armand is Like That, and why he has all these Daddy/Maker Issues, and 500 years later it’s why he’s so squeamish about turning Daniel and just cannot do it. 

SO I WOULD POSIT THAT THIS IS LIKE, THE DARK ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SHIRO ACTUALLY GAVE UP ON KEITH?????? Like Keith would be fucking crushed, he’d never be okay again !!! 😭😭😭

But having said that, depending what era a fic is set in, Marius/Armand PRE-DISASTER is very much Sheith when it comes to like Daddy & Mentor stuff and that type of vibe. ALSO, IN CANON, A LARGE CHUNK OF THEIR TIME TOGETHER IN THE BOOK IS THEM HAVING BDSM LOL. So there’s that. 

Now! Armand/Daniel, on the other hand!!! imo fits really nicely into like Sheith fic tropes/fanon like FERAL KEITH and DISASTER GAY SHIRO. So the AU would be this: Shiro is a nerdy journalist trying to publish a book about vampires, and Keith is a weird creepy vampire who stalks and fucks with him for years until they start liking each other, Keith becomes his sugar daddy, Keith likes to watch him fuck people and they cry a lot because Keith doesn’t think they can be together and he loves Shiro so much he refuses to CURSE him with vampirism because he thinks of it as a CURSE! They do a lot of kinky stuff and need each other but also sort of resent each other.

And in this situation! The thing about it is that in VC canon, Daniel is the person who HEALS Armand the most!! He learns how to be a person again because he has Daniel!!!! AND SO I JUST THINK THIS TOO IS LIKE, SHIRO IS THE ONLY PERSON KEITH CAN BE HIMSELF AROUND, THE ONLY PERSON HE CAN BE VULNERABLE WITH, THE PERSON WHO GIVES HIM STRENGTH AND HELPS HIM BECOME A BETTER MAN!!!! And in some ways I think Daniel is that to Armand, as well, even if it’s in a real fucked up toxic kinda way because of all the stalking and alcohol abuse and whatnot LOL but I think imagining Disaster Gay Shiro can sorta give you a primer! It kinda reminds of that Sochi fic where Keith is a vampire ??? The “You need to eat something” and he hands Shiro a fucking TOMATO?? That fic LOL. 

Another way I would TLDR this is like, with the dynamic you want, do you want Vampire!Keith with Human!Shiro (Armand/Daniel) or Vampire!Shiro with Human!Keith (Marius/Armand) ? It changes the power dynamic significantly. I think again within the spectrum of Sheith fanon and the huge culture of fanfics we’ve written that there’s so much space for both to fit as Sheith, like if you want feisty feral Keith or if you want like vulnerable uwu bby Keith. LOL. 

One last thing that I think is important to mention LOL is that in the VC lore, the vampires are asexual! Once they become vampires, drinking blood is like THEIR WORLD and it’s so much better than sexual gratification that they lose interest in sex. A lot of VC fic doesn’t honor this but I fucking adore it as an asexual, so if you do decide to check any of my fics out they're gonna be fooling around and not often penetrative sex, because that’s how it is in canon! The vampires will still play with their food and sorta get their pets off but they don’t actually stick it in LOL. 

So I talked a lot, I’m not really sure if this answers your question LMAOOOO. If you did try to read any of my VC fics I think this kinda gives you a primer for the relationship dynamics even if misc canon events get dropped or hinted at that might be out of context. I’m always very happy to answer questions if something doesn’t make sense!

Regarding my most recent fic, what I think you’d need to know if you want to take a shot:

It takes place around part of the book where Marius and Armand have a huge fight that ends in a BDSM scene of Marius whipping him and Armand crying and stuff and then getting off lol and then they go out to a banquet and Marius kills a bunch of dudes in front of him, and all the dudes are saying lewd shit to Armand about what they want to do with him and how they want to fuck him and etc. 

For Armand & Daniel’s canon, one of the things that happens is that Armand makes Daniel fuck people while he watches, so I decided to ask like, what if this habit is something he LEARNED from Marius, and so I decided to write a fic about Marius watching people fuck Armand after the banquet incident.

Marius has sort of a group home for boys he rescues (but Armand is his fav that he’s grooming lol) so there’s a few mentions of that, and one of the boys is called Riccardo and he’s Armand’s best friend! You’ll also see a namedrop of someone called Bianca who’s this local woman that Marius is in love with lol. 

In the fic there’s also some fuckery like name drops of Andrei (Armand’s given name that he doesn’t even remember) and Ivan (his father that he also doesn’t remember) and there’s a scene with “THE PARENTS” aka Akasha and Enkil. And blah blah LONG STORY LMAO but Marius takes care of The Parents, and they’re like the first ever vampires who are so old as fuck and bored that they’re just catatonic in a shrine where he keeps them safe. And he goes to check on them and stuff and he wants Akasha’s approval so bad and wants her to give him a sign that he should turn Armand and she just is hardcore ignoring him and he’s upset lol. 

Also if this helps to know, Armand’s name is Amadeo if you see that in fics. Same guy! He changes his name to Armand later when he’s a vampire.

If you check out any Armand/Daniel fics they’re a lot more straightforward, I mostly just write porn about them LOL!!!!!! The book kinda glosses over the twelve years that Armand stalked & then bedded Daniel so my fics are just like trying to think about more details about what went on or think about individual incidents that might have happened. 

So yeah! 

THIS POST IS A MESS, I HOPE IT MAKES SENSE LOLLLLLLLLLL 

I got into VC when I was like 12 years old so it was such a blueprint for me for stuff I like and Marius has always been my favorite character so I think it’s got a lot to do with why I like Shiro so much. And Sheith fandom is such a strong community of writers and I feel like I’ve really thrived there as a fic writer, but I still make time to write about VC because it’s like my main home that I’ll never be able to get over. And I could talk about this all fucking day, I am a disaster!!! 

Anyway thank you so much, this was such a nice thing to say. :D Please talk to me about Sheith and vampires any time and if you do decide to read any vampire fics you can always ask if the details are confusing! But no pressure at all man sometimes like I just do NOT get other ships LOL. Like there are authors I love to death and it’s like I’m reading another language if I try to check out their other fics. 

And finally, re: teasers………….  flattery will get you everywhere, my friend:

“Oh,” Keith says. His temple grinds against the wall as he turns, trying to roll the stiffness out of his shoulders. And if Shiro is going to pretend to be collected, Keith can do that, too. He can be embarrassed that Kolivan walked in on him getting his ass beat later, but he can play it cool. “Hey.”

Shiro’s eyebrow quirks and he motions towards his upper lip, some attempt to be subtle and polite, but Kolivan speaks over it.

“You’re bleeding,” he says. His arms are folded behind his back and he stands straight up, yellow eyes taking stock of him, of the bots, of the mess in the room. 

Keith sniffles. He tastes the blood in the back of his throat. The tip of his nose tingles again and he tugs at the bottom hem of his t-shirt to wipe his face. Cold air hits his exposed belly, and Shiro’s smell gets stronger as he wipes his nose. Less diluted by metalic hint of his own blood. When he looks back up at them, the reality settles in. And Shiro looks small next to Kolivan, but the two of them together make Keith feel like a complete child.

Shiro’s fingers fidget against his helmet some more, and he glances up at Kolivan, watching him for a moment even as he speaks to Keith.

“We just wanted to... check on you,” he says. Keith wonders what Shiro would’ve said if they were alone. And wonder if the adrenaline slowly creeping out of his body would leave him feeling this vulnerable all of a sudden. He turns away from them, finds his discarded baton on the floor and puts it away as an excuse to busy himself. 

“I’m gonna go to the med bay,” he says, to spare Shiro the awkwardness of having to tell him to. He wipes his nose on the back of his hand and peeks at the red smear left behind. He tries to blow his nose on the hem of his shirt, not caring that he’s being disgusting. When he looks back up, Shiro’s face is that same diplomatic-neutral, doing his best not to respond. 

Being around Kolivan isn’t like being around the Paladins, though. Not like Shiro has to pretend Keith isn’t his favorite. Kolivan had called Shiro his mate last night. 

Keith hadn’t told Shiro that, though. Hasn’t seen him alone since. He wonders what Shiro and Kolivan have been talking about. What went on when they watched Keith get brutalized for hours. 

He’s still trying to be professional, though. Maybe he’s being submissive to Koilvan. Trying to show they’re not too horny to function in a fucking war. 

Your mate. Hah. Keith had been too tired to worry about it at the time. Now, he looks back and forth between them, rolling the word over and over in his head. What a strange thing to say.

The silence is awkward, and he wipes his hands on the tops of his thighs. His pajama bottoms still, and he realizes he’s not wearing shoes. He should leave, and has the excuse to, but the two of them are shoulder to shoulder in front of the door. 

“AI is never going to teach you,” Kolivan says. It’s simple, the way he speaks. The pitch of his voice crawls across Keith’s skin. “This program is not smart enough.”

Heat rises in his face. He rubs at his nose again, fidgeting, tasting the blood as it drips down the back of his throat. 

Before he can think of anything to say, Shiro is smiling, gesturing. “It’s good for keeping everyone in shape. The weapons programs help teach them proper form.”

“The whole team does this?” Kolivan asks.

Shiro looks from Kolivan to Keith, then back. Keith sniffles again and pinches at his nostrils.

“We have team exercises,” Shiro says. “Keith puts in some extra time on his own.”

Kolivan’s eyes sweep over the room. It twinges in Keith’s stomach, wondering if Shiro can tell where Kolivan is looking. He has to ask later, when they’re alone. But there’s that eerie feeling that Keith gets, in his spine, that he can read Kolivan’s eyes, even without pupils. It makes him wonder what Kolivan even sees. How he sees. 

And the idea of it dawns on him, the possibility peeling back and back that maybe one day he’ll be able to ask Kolivan about it. When they’re alone.

For a moment his mouth feels dry. He looks between the two of them again and it sets in that… he’s different now. 

Not just literally, like he’s an alien. Besides, he was an alien the whole fucking time and just didn’t know it. No, it’s the knowledge of it. Today is the first day he knows it. And it’s never going to be the same after this. Not really.

Being out here is fucked up. Getting involved was an accident. But. He’s here now. And here’s Kolivan, and Keith can ask him questions, and get to know the others. 

Shiro sneaks him a look, while Kolivan is inspecting the weapons rack. It’s an Are you okay? kind of look. 

Keith chuckles. He grabs a water as he starts heading towards the door. Claps Shiro on the arm as he passes by.

Who the fuck knows anymore. 

🫡

[tenuuchlegch]

Okay, to start off what I especially love about Odtsetseg's and Estinien's dynamic, is mainly how it developed in the HW expansion. You see, my wol is no melee dps thus she did not go through the lancer/dragoon quest line like others did. Rather the post-ARR scene is where they were first introduced to one another, and from that point they kind of unintentionally helped with breaking some biases they had towards the other's culture or people. Both parties came from worlds/settings that were historically at odds after all. From the moment he stepped in that door though, xaela found herself intrigued by this seemingly aloof fighter. It was not love at first sight mind you, but she did feel he was more skilled than others so there was a near instant respect there.

Then they traveled to end the Dragonsong war, while au ra felt she could do nothing with that situation involving the eye, there were some attempts made to take his mind off it and enjoy the simple moments. They may have been brief or some even unsuccessful, but auri woman figured it would be better than to have his mind be so clouded all the time.

Then he info-dumped his whole tragic backstory to all of them and Odtsetseg was shocked. Despite all her past experiences, xaela never once considered that she would encounter an Eorzean who... at least had a very solid idea of her pain. It was a revelation that kept her up late that night, playing the morin khuur in a mournful tune. I'd like to think that Estinien approached her as well and she actually started talking about the fall of her tribe for the first time with him. This was such a big step for her, because up until that point she never really talked about it or her past in general. There was just so much pain behind it, she did not know where to begin.

I would like to think it was at this moment that there partnership/friendship truly cemented, as they became a 'ride or die' duo would go through hell and back in order so they may not face further tragedy. Odtsetseg even cracked a jest when she saw the dragoon's face for the first time. Gasping dramatically, before saying "Estinien, you are beautiful!"

Now for Stormblood. While the two did not canonically have direct contact with one another, I do think Estinien may have been encouraged by Odtsetseg's friendship to check out the steppes more. The dragoon also frequently preoccupied former Hotgo member's thoughts, though she did not think much of it at the time.

As for post-ShB, when I tell you Odtsetseg was both surprised and relieved to see the dragoon again. She was just dealing with so much stress, with Elidibus shenanigans, the scions' safety and the whole debacle with Emet Selch weighing heavily on her mind, it was a lot. So seeing such a familiar and friendly face made her overjoyed. She even tackled-hugged the elezen before he exited Mor Dhona, in happiness. Naturally, she was completely onboard with him becoming a Scion and was really impressed with how he handled Tiamat.

Then there came EW and OH BOY- did those feelings hit her like a truck. Even if he was fairly new to the Scions' whole situation, his perspective was such a nice change of pace for her compared to all the trauma/chaos ensuing. That particular night in the Baldesion annex is when she finally realized 'oh crap. I have a thing for him' and it only got worse from there. She was devastated, when Estinien disappeared at Ultima Thule. However she could not let despair overtake her, so au ra merely shed silent tears as she squeezed Alphinaud's hand. Luckily, things worked out in the end.

It was during the whole void arc post-EW that Odtsetseg got into the mindset of "I need to ask this man out once, or I WILL die." Even if he says no, Odtsetseg figures it's better than to let these... feelings she developed fester.

[moondane-lovers]

Palette, Rainbow, and Comet for Pluto! (OP s/i)

*rubs hands together* HOOOOHHH WEEE!! I'm on fire tonight, someone stop me good god. There's a LOT of text here.

🎨 Palette: Paint a picture with your words! What is a scene featuring yourself/self-insert that would fit into the source of your f/o? It can be anything!

Have some classic Enies Lobby antics!

"Holy shit, I did not expect that. You okay?" Pluto was pleased to know that their arms had gotten even stronger since settling in here, because if they weren't, there would be a dead body at the bottom of the stairs. Instead, she was holding onto the back of the security chief's collar with an iron grip with one hand, the other hooked tightly around the railing. Spandam's brain was still catching up with his near death experience, one minute he was walking along without issue and then he was flying down the stairs. Now, he was motionless, held in place by the... "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, that's the funniest shit i've ever seen! Did you get rescued by his bleach scented guardian angel again?" Jabra howled, unable to contain his laughter from the top of the staircase. "S-shut up! Unhand me at once, you foul Janitor!" Spandam yelped, skittering down the remainder of the stairs and catching his breath, legs trembling and heart pounding from the fall, absolutely, definitely the fall. "Glad you're okay sir." Pluto rolled her eyes, ignoring Jabra as he passed by. It didn't work, as he leaned in to annoy her, jabbing their shoulder with little regard to personal space. "Sir? You gotta stop that brown nosing crap if you want to-" Pluto casually held up a spray bottle of bleach in his general direction with their finger on the trigger. "No thanks, actually!" He gulped, then quickly made his way down the rest of the stairs and promptly fled. "He has no manners... um, I appreciate the er..." Spandam stuttered, attempting to compose himself as Jabra flew on by like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. He tried to make eye contact and then broke all over again. "I-I have a meeting to attend, you'd best not slack in my absence!" He pointed an accusatory finger at her before absconding after the agent, too flustered to think. Pluto just sighed and carried on cleaning, he really needed to watch where he was going.

🌈Rainbow: What was the happiest moment in your lore for you/your self-insert? Who all shared that happiness with you in canon?

Being able to retire early and build an in-house art studio! It was true liberation for them. (Thanks Luffy! Refer to comet btw)

☄️Comet: What was a moment where you/your self-insert really shined? This can be a badass moment, a moment where you felt important to the overall lore, or just a really cool and important moment!

Mentions of abuse and self defense-murder below, so move by if needed.

So, the biggest lore drop/well kept secret by them was that they were actively abused by a vice admiral for the majority of the time they worked at HQ-someone she looked up to as a guide up until it started. Being sent to Enies lobby was his way of trying to break her and make her beg for his help to get sent back. That didn't happen and by the time she was transferred back to HQ a week before the Straw Hats hit Enies Lobby, said vice admiral had quickly lost control over the situation, got super pissed and proceeded to get caught doing a lot of shady shit in the meanwhile. She only had to deal with him for a few weeks before he fled and became a wanted criminal, seemingly ending that era.

Except about two years later on a mandatory vacation from work, she ran into both the Straw hats AND Cp0 on a neutral island (insert funny "this is the movie that would happen if they were canon) and shit gets REALLY crazy really fast with said ex vice admiral and his crew being the main threat. The big moment? She kills him through wit. It's the final act and everyone is separated and fighting the good fight, then Spandam tries to protect her and gets the shit beat out of him. She goes in and stabs the fucker with Funkfreed and he just laughs at her for thinking that would do anything at all.

It turns out having an elephant reform inside of an open wound DOES do something called tearing you apart. That was the moment she'd been waiting for her entire adult life, and it was the most horrifying yet cathartic moment for her. She was able to retire after that with the bounty money as well, which helped her really start her life for real. Also her and Spandam began talking again after all this as they hadn't since she left Enies Lobby, and they eventually sloooooowly got together officially in the aftermath.

[mingos]

in canon, what was the private aftermath of killing roci ? was doflamingo having any regrets… 🤔

　　　furious sulking, in my opinion.

the crew most likely peeled out of there, got tsuru sufficiently off their trail, and doflamingo holed himself up in his captain's quarters with five bottles of wine & direct orders not to speak to him unless it's an emergency because he was going to lose his shit otherwise.

mostly basing that on his reaction in ep. 721; how he loses it on law, starts screaming about 'how dare you mock me', shooting him eight times and, when the gun ran out, trying to shoot him nineteen more times. it's because law humiliated him by placing such high value on corazon and low value on him.

honestly, i think that's doflamingo's kryptonite: humiliation (which makes sense; he's a prideful person, and the enemy of pride is humility). pretty much everything & everyone he's bitter about seems to tie back to the fact that he felt humiliated by them:

betraying him (thinking you're smarter than him); rosinante, violet

challenging him (thinking you're stronger than him); law, luffy

denying him (thinking you're "too good" for him); crocodile, mary geoise

that's why betrayal is such a big deal to him: the idea of putting your trust in someone & them stabbing you in the back is kind of humiliating, isn't it? it implies you weren't intelligent enough to "see it coming", were taken advantage of, or that someone thinks they're "better" than you by doing itーwhich wouldn't ever sit well with someone as arrogant as doffy. people who humiliate him have to pay the price.

-

　so, i don't think he regretted it, necessarily, (rosinante was ultimately standing in the way of his survival, which is all that mattered to doflamingo at the end of the day) but that doesn't mean he was happy about it either.

not only because he already had a specific purpose in mind for rosinante & now that wasn't going to happen (side note: ....does doffy not know you need medical knowledge for the fruit to work? was he planning on just forcing him to learn medicine after he ate it? man didn't even know how to break law's fever), but because he's a possessive person & possessive people don't like having to give up their things. especially not on his own terms.

we see it when monet & vergo die; he's sullen & annoyed, and a lot of people have construed that for genuine love for them but i really don't see that as the case.

i believe he can experience "love" and "fondness" for people & things, but 95% of the time, i see it as being "love" in the same way that you "love" your favorite collectibles, or your favorite nice [x] that you own. you like to stare at it, admire it, put it in a protective casing, clean it if it gets dirtied/scuffed, brag about it, learn basic knowledge about it, take pride in owning it, are selective with who you lend it out to, tie specific memories or feelings to it... but, at the end of the day, it's still an object.

　if you lost it tomorrow, you might be upset for a few days or weeks (depending on its value and/or the memories attached), but.... eh, it's no big deal. not the end of the world. just buy another one. it's only a [x].

so, while he'd eventually "get over it" (until law threw it back in his face again years later), i can definitely see him being more effected by it in the moment than with other deaths. there's probably something somber, too, about the "finality" of killing your last living relative.

[unprocione]

name : rian!

pronouns :  he/him :)

preference of communication : discord! always discord, i constantly forget tumblr ims exist, and on discord i can remark things as unread, so i don't lose the notification if i can't reply at the time, which helps when i'm burnt out or if my attention span is particularly bad that day.

most active muse :  leon & only leon these days!

experience / how many years :  i've been writing on tumblr since late 2018! it feels like way longer, i started writing on tumblr when red dead redemption 2 was released and i was writing josiah trelawny while the game was actually still under embargo, scrambling to watch every new playthrough episode i could find while the fandom was setting up. i didn't actually play the game myself until it was released on pc in late 2019!

best experience : i had several really good experiences writing atlas/frank fontaine from bioshock in a western cusp-of-the-nineteen-hundreds american heartland verse, going into alot of topics like industrialism at that time, the american labour movement and american union history, strike tactics & the economics of greed. it was inspired alot from a show on the usa network called damnation that got cancelled, i did a ton of historical research and i mostly wrote with red dead redemption ii muses, did alot of worldbuilding with @sharp-teeth-and-wide-grins who is an excellent roleplay partner! i'm working on potentially setting up that verse again but from a different perspective for leon, because i miss it.

rp pet peeves : oh i have alot of opinions but i keep 'em to myself until you give me an opportunity. can't stand people getting cancelled for writing villains as the actual villains they are in canon, or characters generally as more complicated morally, especially when they're referencing content from the actual media and people are losing their minds because they're not the fandom expectation or easy ship material. so many people will have 'mun does not equal muse!!' in their carrds and byfs but will clutch their pearls if you even quote directly from source material, and then harass the fuck out of you, send hate anons, suicide bait, i mean we've all seen it happen or heard about it if it hasn't happened to us directly, definitely so if you're on this site for more than a year, so you know what i mean. i don't like people looking to my writing for moral directives or sifting through all my content to glimpse some kind of agenda, i think that's chronically online behavior. obviously it's different if someone is writing pedophilia or something but i just feel like i shouldn't have to make that disclaimer at all, it feels like common sense but if i don't say something i run the risk of someone messaging me like 'so you support so & so? kill yourself!' y'know.

fluff, angst, or smut : i like all of these in moderation so long as there's depth to it further than just being fluff, angst, or smut for no cause, you know? if it's not signature to our muses, if it doesn't fit narratively, and is just feel-good content, i just get bored, and having any of this in back to back to back to back threads of just one roleplay genre is like being smothered to death with chocolate cake, i only like a little bit once in a while otherwise i get sick of it, y'know.

plots or memes : plotting 100%, but even though i heavily prefer plotting, i don't often have the energy for it? even if i really like the other muse's portrayal. or, alternatively, i will do all of this plotting in my head, and just like. never act on it, or bring it to my roleplay partner, due to this weird ocd-adjacent anxiety symptom i'm trying to break now that i have meds to help me out, where i make alot of social rules and conditions for myself that just overall completely pens me up and isolates me. i don't know what it's called but i've just always had that and it gets in the way of what i love doing all the time.

long or short replies : i don't have a reliable perception of long or short replies! i'm happy with two paragraphs but i'll reply with like six or eight paragraphs average because once i get over my anxiety there's really nothing else stopping me and i like run-on sentences and exposition and scenery and internal monologues!! and i know it's not always appropriate sometimes too, like if we agree on a shorter thread for less pressure, but i've always had a hard time knowing where to stop with anything, i have no perception of an appropriate point to cut off? i need like. a reverse nanowrimo.

time to write : apparently 11:00 pm - 6 am est, since that's when i'm most productive lately.

are you like your muses : god i hope not. i did choose to write leon as gay though because, i'm gay myself and it was more comfortable for me, even though he's pretty heterosexual in canon, but that's less from me wanting to relate with him on a point, and more because i have had some really uncomfortable and bad experiences shipping with female muses who didn't respect boundaries in the past. whether that's projecting attraction on me as a person instead of my muse, or wanting me to write noncon or torture porn, and finding a way to take it out on me when i said no or tried to let them down easy, and it's one of those things where looking back on the memory of it gives me the same tight-chested feelings as alot of people get when they've been involved in intense drama and callouts and stuff. just can't do it anymore! maybe that'll change someday ^^

tagged by: @blitzkriegers & @omniterror thamk u both for tagging :) tagging: @ubcs, @sinibell, @valour-bound, @mycelae

[magicofthepen]

/this is so very on time/ characters: Romana, Sartia (redemption verse) ship: Mana/Sartia and Romana/Leela/Narvin (conspiracyverse)

I believe this ask is from a year or so ago, which means I’m very much the not-timely one. 😅

Romana — Redemption Verse

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: she is The Blorbo in whatever verse, but I've particularly enjoyed exploring her in the direct aftermath of Etra Prime in this verse. she pushes and pushes herself because she can't rest until the Dalek plan is stopped, until the prisoners are rescued. her trust issues are just as pronounced as in canon, but there's a slightly different flavor to them - because Sartia found and rescued her, Romana has all the more reason to believe that The Powers That Be on Gallifrey never really tried to find her. (since crucially, she doesn't know that Sartia only found her via working with Free Time and the Daleks.) she also has one (1) friend in the aftermath of Etra Prime, but it's a friend who sort of tried to kill her once, and she's swinging back and forth between holding Sartia at a distance and breaking down in front of her, as if daring her to use Romana's vulnerability against her. Romana is, as always, going through it <33

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: I feel like I should answer this only in the context of what's already happened in the verse, because we know who I ship with Romana in general. but at this point in redemption verse, it's really just Sartia - they have this terribly messy unspoken tension Thing going on that might be feelings and might be relief at having Someone, and they both are approaching their relationship as transactional, and Sartia's betrayal of Romana is haunting everything. and Something very nearly happened between them on the sofa late and night and that scene was so !!

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: at this point? Narvin, absolutely. I am fascinated by how she meets him much earlier and dislikes him much earlier - and it's a more personal, irrational dislike at this point. he is That CIA Agent who has seen her in a vulnerable position more than once, and she hates that. she very much wants to never see him again, but he keeps, unfortunately, turning up. and on the other hand, he is much more forgiving of her than in canon because he was the first person from Gallifrey who saw her only a couple days after she escaped, and he was there with her on Etra Prime during the mission and saw how she reacted and watched her push herself until she collapsed. them starting at this point where he's already seen her vulnerable, and she resents him deeply for it, is super interesting to me.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I don't really have any wishes for her personal story in this verse, because I want to just chase the ripple effect of the changes to canon. how will these different post-Etra Prime experiences impact her issues with trust and friendship? how will pushing for a mission to liberate Etra Prime - a mission that only succeeded because Sartia temporarily seized godlike power to wipe out the Daleks on Etra Prime - impact her as a politician going forward? how will not being the sole survivor of Etra Prime affect her? I dunno where these things could go, but when my writing brain kicks back into gear, I'm excited to find out.

Favorite friendship for this character: I mean, at this point it's Sartia, for all the reasons above. and my god it's a messy friendship, and Sartia is keeping massive secrets from Romana that would change everything, but she is also genuinely the only person looking out for Romana as a person right now. and Romana really needs that.

Sartia — Redemption Verse

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: oh I am rooting for her so very much. yes, things are gonna get worse for her at some point before they have a chance of getting better better - because she has spun a massive lie, and that will come back to bite her eventually. but the reason that's gonna hurt is because she isn't lying anymore about her motivations. she's had her realization that the intensity of her resentment for Romana was unfair - Romana didn't mean to hurt her, while Sartia definitely meant to hurt Romana on Funderell. Sartia has chosen where her loyalties lie, she's genuinely trying to rebuild something with Romana. to confront her own past and carve out a place for herself on Gallifrey. there is no sinister agenda. but there was an agenda once - she was an agent of Free Time before her world was tipped sideways. just because you want to move on from your past doesn't mean your past will let you.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: *gestures at my response for Romana* although because there isn't anyone else I naturally ship with Sartia, it'll be really fun to see if any other shippy dynamics do develop. but yeah her thing with Romana is the main one - the intense teenage crush turned deep resentment turned Complicated.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Narvin is also a strong contender here, given that they've already tried to kill each other, which I find hilarious - but actually, for me it's Brax. I love that this AU being canon divergent is a plot point - that Sartia changed time through force of will without realizing it, and now the timeline's gone off the rails, and all of Brax's careful plans that rely on knowledge of this particular timeline are at risk of crumbling. I love how this creates an inherent rivalry between them, but only Brax is fully aware of it, at least for now. and the other thing that gets me about Sartia and Brax is that, yes, they have this methodical vs. impulsive clash happening, but it's not a clash of equals. they may be (consciously or not) battling each other for control of the timeline now, but once upon a time, she was his student, and she asked him for help, and he dismissed her. she was collateral damage in the timeline.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: as much as there's a painful angst factor if she also becomes friends with Leela and/or Narvin eventually, despite knowing that they're both Romana's Friend first.....I do hope someday she's able to make connections with people who aren't also deeply tangled up in Romana. I think it would be good for her.

Favorite friendship for this character: see everything above about Romana and Sartia, although I'm really intrigued to see what other friendships (with canon characters or not) she ends up having.

Mana/Sartia — Conspiracy Verse

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: I mean, I already shipped Romana and Sartia in much messier ways, but Mana/Sartia was probably in my head when were first getting started with the verse. it's the innocent and sweet version of their relationship - first crushes, falling for your friend, no betrayals between them.

My thoughts: my children!! my main thought right now is that image of them grabbing each others’ hands on the steps of the presidential palace and running off into the night. they’ve been through so much, and they’re gonna go through even worse, but my god they are trying to look out for each other.

What makes me happy about them: Romana assumes their friendship is a lie on Sartia's end. Leela and Narvin are worried that whatever went wrong between prime universe Romana and Sartia will happen again. they’ve been thrown into another universe, they’ve had a big fight with each other. there is so much against them, and so many folks skeptical of their friendship. and they’re out here going fuck that, we’re sticking together. you’re my best friend. (I also love how Sartia has weird feelings about adult Romana’s potential love life, for reasons she has yet to unpack.)

What makes me sad about them: how they can never go home. they lost their world to the Daleks at such a young age. and their bond is so much more intense because of being survivors together, but it’s also a Lot to have one person be all that’s left of your world.

My wishlist: vampire hybrid Sartia and Pandora possessed Mana, of course, and all the inherent angst of both situations. I’m also super looking forward to them finding out what Sartia did to Romana in this universe, and how devastating that’s gonna be.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: they're like. the Time Lord equivalent of thirteen, so they've got plenty of time to end up with other people throughout their lives. but in the short term - I don't think there are any other kids their age in the story, unless I'm misremembering one of the OCs ages, and really, in this verse it wouldn't make narrative sense for them to end up with someone else.

My happily ever after for them: ooh now that’s a question. because they don’t have a home to go back to, but they’re always going to be out of place in this universe. possibly it’s them somehow being able to attend the Academy and then at some point running off to become renegades because they both still have that desire to see what’s out there. but while I can see them ending up not on Gallifrey (I have contemplated the idea of them being companions to the Doctor for a bit, and the Doctor experiencing the weirdness of hanging out with a teenage Romana and teenage Sartia—having actually been there on Funderell!), I dunno if they’ll get a lot of choice in the matter. especially if Sartia ends up part vampire.

Romana/Leela/Narvin — Conspiracy Verse

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: well, they are fundamentally the same as canon ot3 up to the end of series 6, so the answer is “when I binged series 4-6 in a day in 2019 and my brain went ah about the three of them.”

My thoughts: loving the opportunity to explore their tangle of relationships post series 6! it’s one of the two really juicy time gaps in the audios, and I’ve done a lot of ot3-centric post-Enemy Lines writing, so. and because we’re actually exploring the ramifications of rebooting Gallifrey and the new stress this creates for everyone—they’re in this weird place of having to go go go, respond to whatever crisis is in front of them, keep things under control. while at the same time, the three of them suddenly being back on their original Gallifrey and all together is quite an adjustment after many months away and many months of Leela living separately and only barely speaking to the other two.

What makes me happy about them: I love writing them in this “there Something between each of them but they’ve got various levels of self-awareness about it and aren’t gonna talk about it regardless” stage. the complexity and intensity of feelings between pair of them is its own distinct Thing, and they have too much going on to really unpack any of it, and I love unfolding this slow burn Thing. (I also think it’s hilarious that Sartia strongly suspects there’s Something Going On between Romana and Leela, even if she can’t quite articulate what that is, and Mana just as strongly suspects that there’s Something Going On between Narvin and Leela, and they’re all not wrong.)

What makes me sad about them: oh, it’s similar to Romana/Sartia in redemption verse, in that there’s a Secret waiting to detonate. I know I’m an angst loving person, I know I’ve already written a “Romana finds out what Narvin did” fic, but I’m also enjoying the romcom-vibes-in-the-middle-of-a-crisis, and I’m rooting for them, and of course Romana has to find out eventually what Narvin did.

My wishlist: mainly I just want more scenes with the various ot3 pairings! it made a lot of sense to focus on mixing and matching them with the kids because new dynamics to explore, and those scenes have been so good. but now that the kids have run off and they’re not gonna find them for a while, we have an opportunity to have scenes between them that focus on other crises, beyond the AU kids at large, or that look back at what they’ve been through together and really poke at the layers of what their relationships are like now. and lean into that unresolved tension thing maybe…..

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: they’re really the only people they could each end up with (in this verse)—they don’t have that emotional closeness with anyone else. they’ve been through so much together, they like each other so much, even when they’re completely disagreeing. if later canon follows a similar path, there’s one option for Leela, but I don’t think this verse will ever get to that point—and even if it did reach the Time War, I don’t think events will play out the same way.

My happily ever after for them: oh, I don’t think they get a happily ever after—unless something really bonkers happens with the multiple universes, the time war’s already been set in motion. there is a tragic endgame (unless I start bringing in my post-time war fix it headcanons). and I think a happily-for-now for them would be something like what I wrote for them in my post-Enemy Lines fics, but in the context of this verse: the crises spawned by the memory wipe are addressed as best they can, and simmer down over time. Romana learns to trust that young Sartia won’t betray Mana, which is a big ask, but also the only way I think she’d ever somewhat relax about young Sartia being out there on the planet or in the universe. somehow Narvin’s secret comes out and it doesn’t ruin everything in the long term. possibly Romana is less of an asshole about taking over the CIA. Leela gets closer to finding a place where she fits on Gallifrey—where she’s not just a tool of the Time Lords, but also doesn’t have to leave her friends. feelings get confronted in one way or another, which would definitely be awkward and messy and very fun to write, but I am rooting for them.