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familyvideostevie · 11 months ago

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living high until that fatal day

a/n: i never do this. literally, never. when i'm not here i'm writing stuff that's not x reader for ao3 and this is a fic i posted over there. it's a time loop story about joel and ellie. @bageldaddy told me i had to post it here. without her this fic would not exist. thank you so much, bea. so, here we go. if you read it, thank you. let me know what you think. joel miller & ellie williams gen fic. 7.5k words warnings: Time Loop, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, kind of???, it resolves, Suicide, only in one of the loops!, Canon-Typical Violence, joel gets stuck and has to figure it out, Father-Daughter Relationship, thoughts about sacrifice and love, POV Joel, mostly, this one is kind of intense folks, major character death tag is cause well the loop ends one way or another, gonna diverge at the end, but it ends well!!! i promise, also this is pretty firmly game but hbo folks should be okay!

summary: joel finds himself stuck in a time loop of that day in salt lake city.

Joel lies to her.

He's got dried blood under his fingernails and his shoulder aches from the kick of the rifle and he's so, so tired.

But he lies to her.

If he was a smarter man he'd have thought of something better. Told her that the hospital got raided or they had a FEDRA mole, how the whole thing was a sham from the start. He doesn't know if she was awake for any of it. If the last thing she remembers is him reaching for her and failing to save her. If she remembers what it feels like to drown.

It's hard to look at her in the mirror but he manages. Just keep driving, hands tight on the wheel. Don't white knuckle, don't spook her. She's in the car. She's safe. He did it.

"We found the Fireflies," he says. She doesn't look at him. "Turns out there's a...a whole lot more like you, Ellie. People that're immune. It's dozens, actually."

There's a strange pull in his gut, a pull that he's felt a few times before in the moments before everything went south. When the soldier pointed his gun by the river, when Tess looked at him on her last day, when he fell off the ledge in Colorado. But he ignores it.

"Ain't done a damn bit of good, either. They've actually st--" Ellie closes her eyes, takes a deep breath. She doesn't look at him. "They've stopped looking for a cure. I'm takin' us home. I'm sorry."

She turns her back to him and the pull becomes a burn, becomes a black hole under his ribcage taking everything with him. He blinks once, twice, wonders if he got shot and didn't notice, if he cracked a rib and it punctured his lung, if --

The road in front of him disappears.

He can't see a damn thing -- not like the lights went out, like there is nothing to see. There is nothing in front of him at all.

Then, Joel wakes up yesterday.

___

He jolts awake with a strangled yell. Ellie kneels over him, the rifle he taught her to hold slung over her shoulder. It's just past dawn based on the color of the sky and how he can make out most of her face, her withdrawing hand and her unimpressed but slightly concerned frown.

"You were talking again," Ellie says. "Nightmares?"

Joel tears his eyes from her and thunks his head back down on his crumpled up jacket. The trees stretch high above him and he tries to get it together so he doesn't spook her.

They’re camped within sight of the highway. Salt Lake City has been looming for days now and Joel doesn't want to take any chances. The ring-road is almost clear, dotted here and there with cars and a fair amount of supplies, enough that Joel suspects people haven't been here for some time. If this is another Colorado State situation, he's going to have to put Ellie in a car and take them back to Jackson before she does something stupid.

She's fine. Well, no, not quite. Things aren't the same and they never will be but he can tell she's doing her best and he won't ask more than that. Their pace has slowed this week and he's having a hard time figuring out if she's sliding back into some sort of post-Colorado haze or if she's nervous about actually arriving in Salt Lake.

God knows he's nervous as hell.

But every day she'll walk as far as he tells her to and won't complain. He knows she wants to get there. They have to get there and it has to work -- because he doesn't know what they're going to do otherwise.

She asked him a question. Nightmares. Joel sits up and drags his hand down his face.

"Somethin' like that."

Ellie shrugs and starts to clean up their camp now that he's awake. He still hates letting her take watch, but she needs to feel in control of things, so they split it most nights. She hums a little bit as she works and he has hopes that today might be a good day.

But that dream... It comes back in flashes: the giraffes, the tunnel. Ellie hanging from the side of the bus because she jumped to save him, her small frame sinking slowly, just out of reach. The crack of her ribs underneath his hands. The hospital. The Fireflies.

Joel gets up, rolls his shoulder at a phantom pain and looks down at his hands. Crusted with dirt and nothing more.

Jesus Christ. He's losing it.

They set off.

The blue hospital sign seems to shine in the spring sun all too soon.

"This is where we get off. Let's go, kiddo."

Joel talks even though he knows she's not listening. He talks to take his mind off of the echo that sits at the base of his neck with every step. Has he told her he'll teach her guitar before? He's been thinking it for months.

Ellie trails behind him, kicking rocks and half-heartedly searching cars when he asks her to. She heads for a faded blue sedan but he stops her.

"Blue one won't open, don't bother."

The look she gives him makes him think about what he just said. "How do you know that?"

He blinks. How does he know that? Before he can explain it, Ellie shrugs and keeps walking.

The disinterest is new and it doesn't sit well with him. She's been through a lot, more than any kid deserves, and they're almost there. He figures it's worse today because of that.

"I dreamt about flying the other night."

Joel's stomach twists. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Go on, tell me about it."

She tells him about her dream, about how it felt to fly and then fall, and he is dizzy with deja vu.

"I've never been on a plane." Ellie looks at him like he can tell her what it means. Like he has any damn answers at all. "Isn't that weird?"

Joel hums and swallows the lump in his throat. The bus terminal. Ellie, drowning. Firefly after Firefly in his path. His hands flex around a gun that isn't there.

"Well, you know. Dreams are weird." It tastes like a lie in his mouth but he can't figure out why.

It gets worse when they find the bus station, when she runs off in search of something that's got her smiling. Her small hand reaches for the giraffe, her eyes bright, but Joel feels like he's watching it through a fog. He knows what she's going to say before she says it.

"So fucking cool."

Joel has seen a lot of weird shit in his life but whatever is happening here is leagues above the rest. It bumps up against something in his brain, like the answer is just out of reach but he can't fucking get there. Always a step behind when it counts.

Ellie hands him a picture of his dead daughter and something in him comes dangerously close to snapping. Instead of gratitude or sorrow or anything that would make sense, he's terrified.

He's fucking terrified because this happened. Which means he knows what comes next.

But there's no time to worry about it. They pick their way through the tunnel, through the runners and the clickers and the fucking bloaters. The pressure on his neck gets heavier, gets almost unbearable. He's strung tighter than he's been in years, like the walls are closing in on him and there's a timer he can't see.

When they get to the rapids, he waits for Ellie to get to the other side of the bus until he jumps on it but it dislodges. The dam in his head breaks and he yells, screams at her to run, to leave him, but she jumps on the bus anyway.

She drowns.

Joel doesn't doubt that the Fireflies are coming -- he hears them -- but he doesn't take his eyes off of her, doesn't stop the chest compressions until he's knocked out.

The rest of it is a blur, his sense of reality already warped by his need to get to the operating room. To save her.

Joel picks them off one by one, floor by floor, hardly taking note of how familiar it all feels. He doesn't even give the surgeon a chance to speak before he's dead, a bullet between the eyes. He knows they'll make it to the elevator. He kills Marlene. He drives them away.

He lies.

He wakes up yesterday again.

___

It takes a few days before Joel purposely deviates from what he's thinking of as the script. His head feels like it weighs a thousand pounds when he wakes in the clearing, Ellie's eyes on him.

He thinks about it as they pack up camp. Can he get them out of here? Would that be allowed? The rules of this aren't clear to him but he figures it can't hurt to try. They could turn around right now and make it back to Jackson in a week or so.

He watches Ellie carefully arrange her things in her bag, watches her stop to admire a butterfly in the branches above. He watches her and tries to see her alive and not pale on an operating table.

"Ellie," he says. "I got a bad feelin' about this."

She loves to tell him he's overreacting but today she crosses her arms and sits back on her heels. "What do you mean?"

Her scream as she falls into the water. Her ribs cracking beneath his hands. The piercing alarm in the hospital, her body warm but limp in his arms.

"What if we waited?" She frowns but he keeps going. "Went back to Jackson, rested up. Took a break. Come back in a few months with a bit of a crew. Tommy'll give us some guys, hell, I bet he'll come with if you want --"

"No," Ellie says sharply. There's an edge to her voice he hasn't heard in a long time. "Joel, shut up."

"Ellie --"

She stands abruptly, takes a few steps back. "I said no." The look on her face tells Joel he's already lost. "Are you -- are you fucking kidding me? You want to go back? Now?"

He sighs. "Just to rest up. We don't know what we're walking into --"

Ellie throws her hands around in disbelief. Her eyes look wet. Christ, he's made her cry again. He promised himself he wouldn't do that.

"We don't know if they'll still be there."

"We don't know if they are there."

"And we won't find out if we fucking run away like cowards!"

Joel stands. "I don't want another Colorado State situation, Ellie --" Her face shutters. Mistake.

"Don't bring up Colorado," she growls. "You don't know what that was like."

Damn right he doesn't. He knows by now what happened but he'll never know how hard it was for her to survive when he was busy dying on that mattress. But he has to try something or they'll just end up here again tomorrow. Yesterday. Whatever.

The idea of her suffering makes his hackles rise, makes his blood run cold

"Can I finish a god damned sentence?" he snaps. Ellie is undeterred and snaps back.

"Not if it's going to be about leaving. We-- I -- we're not fucking leaving. Not after everything. We can't."

Joel sighs and drags a hand down his face. This girl. He's trying to save her and she can't see it. There's no way to make her see it and it's his fault. She should know by now that he'd do anything, anything, for her. He lost that battle a long time ago, probably longer ago than he'd like to admit.

"I know," he tells her. "Just...if you want to give it all up, to go back, we can. We don't have to go through with this."

Ellie's eyes are blazing and her tone is disappointed. It cuts deep. "Yes we do. I thought you'd understand that, Joel."

He follows her this time as she stalks down the highway towards the hospital. No mention of six strings, no dreams about planes. They catch the giraffes but she doesn't stick around to watch them for as long. It's a different kind of loss to be without her smile, her laughter. Joel wishes he'd never opened his god damned mouth.

"I'm sorry," he says. "For earlier." Ellie pauses on the stairs and half turns to look up at him. "I know it's important to you."

She sighs. "I know you mean well." Joel closes his eyes. He knows what comes next. "But there's no halfway with this. Once we're done, we'll go wherever you want, okay?"

He plays his part for the rest of the day, just to get it over with.

___

Next time, Joel waits until they're watching the giraffes to try something different.

"So," he says. "This everything you were hoping for?"

Ellie gives him her half-smile. "It's got its ups and downs, but...you can't deny that view, though."

He seizes his chance. "Wanna go down there?"

She perks up. "Really? Do you think they'll let us get close?"

"They might. Let's try."

They manage to backtrack a little bit and end up on the field. It smells like a zoo but Ellie is thrilled to be so close so they post up on the roof of a rusty FEDRA Jeep. Two of the giraffes end up eating out of the tree right above them. Ellie holds her breath.

"They just...don't care, do they?" she whispers. "How long do you think they've been here?"

She leans into his side and cranes her neck to watch one of them use its tongue.

"Don't know," he says. "Big ones could've been from before. But the tiny one s'probably younger than you."

"So cool," she says again. "They're from a zoo, right? I wonder if anything else lives in the city."

They've been sitting here long enough that the sun has started to set. Joel allows himself to hope.

"Might be. What do you say we spend the night here and look on the way to the hospital tomorrow? Daylight'll do us better."

Ellie chews on his suggestion. "I guess," she says. "Are we safe here?"

"Should be." Joel has no idea, frankly. He sure as hell wants them to wake up here in the morning. He wants to make good on this idea, wants to show her something else that'll make her smile. He wants this to be a bizarre, unexplainable day that he'll forget about with time.

"I'll keep watch."

They set up camp crowded against the fence so Joel can see the whole field. The giraffes leave them alone and Ellie falls asleep quickly after they eat.

In the quiet open air the dread in his gut returns full-force and he knows he's wrong. Again.

A branch cracks and he whirls around, rifle in hand to find three men pointing their guns at him through the wire. They might be wearing Firefly jackets but he can't tell. He doesn't care. Joel dares to look at Ellie for a second and sees she's still asleep.

It's a mistake.

One of them follows his gaze and his eyes widen.

"Holy shit," he whispers. "She looks like who Marlene said --"

"Shut up," the second one hisses. "On the ground, old man."

"How are you gonna get around that fence, hotshot?" he says. "Ellie. Ellie, wake up."

She blinks a few times and sees his stance. scrambling to her feet with her knife in hand.

"Holy shit. What the fuck?"

"Get behind me."

One of the soldiers points his gun at her.

"Don't move."

It's chaos after that. The guys shout at each other.

"Don't point it at her! Don't you remember the fucking briefing?"

"You hadn't even joined when we got here, you don't know. We've been looking for her for months --"

"If you shoot her we're all dead --"

Joel locks eyes with Ellie.

"When I say run, you run. Okay?"

The fear in her eyes turns to determination. Brave girl, he thinks. I'm sorry. He waits for the idiot pointing at her to look away and takes a deep breath. What's one more day?

"Run!"

Joel doesn't check to see if she obeys before firing through the fence. The rifle is incredibly powerful at such a short range and where there was once a head there's only mist. Joel clears the chamber as fast as he can and gets the second one in the shoulder but he's not fast enough for a third and before he realizes it he's on his back in the grass.

The Firefly's assault rifle litters Joel's chest with bullets but he doesn't feel it until he tries to take a breath and nothing comes. It's like he's underwater.

At least he didn't make her cry this time.

Joel isn't much of a believer in anything but he decides fairly quickly that he's in Hell or something close. God knows he deserves it.

His sins are countless, his ledger dripping with red just like his hands. They will never be clean. What he can't figure out is how he got here. Did he die somewhere in St. Mary's? Is the real world somewhere else beyond his reach, now? If he died then what happened to Ellie?

He tries to make tallies in the bark of a tree on the edge of camp but they disappear every time he wakes up. He makes do with his own slowly unspooling brain. Two, five, ten.

Ellie is much the same every time but somewhere around day twenty she asks him about it. "How do you know where everything is?"

They're in the bus depot before the tunnel. He's taking them quickly around the tents, putting off Ellie handing him a photo of his dead daughter. It's muscle memory at this point. A pair of pliers here, some rags there. A half-empty but uncracked bottle of hooch behind that blood-stained bed, some bullets under that overturned partition.

"Just payin' attention."

"I pay attention!"

Joel uses the excuse to grin at her. It's hard sometimes to remember that she has no idea what's coming, that he can and should be good to her every chance he gets. The violence has already started to blur together in his mind. Killing everyone in the hospital is by far the easiest part of this fucking loop. These parts are harder.

"Didn't say you don't."

"I feel like that was a double negative."

She's still energized from the giraffes and he knows she's working up the courage to talk about Sarah, but right now he wants to spend time with her. He spots the Firefly medal tangled in the shattered floodlight and points it out.

"Ellie," he says. She's at his side in seconds, looking up at him with eyes brighter than he's seen in weeks. "Wanna get that down?"

She gives him her classic why are you like this look. "Are you going to be weird and pick it up?"

Joel shrugs and leans on the rotting tank nearby. "Just want to check your aim."

"My aim is really fucking good and you know it!" Even so, she picks up a brick from her feet and palms it, eyeing the silver circle before winding her arm back and hurling the brick towards it.

She misses. Maybe three hundred miles and a trail of dead bodies ago she'd have stormed off, embarrassed and pissed. But she just makes a face at the still-swinging medal and then looks at him. "How did I miss that?"

He pushes off the tank and scoops up a glass bottle. "Sun s'probably in your eyes." Joel stands next to her and eyes the target, trying to compensate in his mind for her height. "Stand here." Ellie moves over in front of him and he hovers his arm over her. "Can I?"

She nods. Joel presses the bottle into her hand and she takes it as he maneuvers her with a hand on her elbow until she's got the trajectory he thinks will work.

"Now?" she asks. "Feels pretty fucking similar to what I was doing."

"Just trust me. Throw a little lighter than last time. And higher."

Ellie sighs, but once he steps back she does as he says and nails the medal hard enough that it drops to the ground. She whoops and turns around, hands high in the air and a wide smile on her face. Joel tries to breathe through how easily she puts her faith in him.

"Fuck yeah! Did you see that?" She holds both hands out for a high five and he obliges.

"Sure did. Nice job, kiddo."

When Ellie hands him the picture of Sarah, he pulls her in for a hug. He half expects her to shove him off but instead she allows it, twisting her hands in his shirt as he cups the back of her head.

"Thank you," Joel says quietly, thickly.

Later, when he finds her on the operating table, he presses his lips to her forehead for an extra moment before picking her up and heading for the elevator.

He messes with the order of things a little bit. Tries to make their morning last longer, tries to stay watching the giraffes for an hour or so.

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Watching Ellie drown over and over fucks with his head more than the hospital does because he can't stop it. At least while he's leaving behind corpse after corpse he knows that she's asleep upstairs, waiting for him. In the tunnel, he knows that the only way out is through, but she has to fucking drown first.

He gets sloppy.

He forgets about the runners in the side rooms when he ducks in to avoid a clicker and takes a step too close. Ellie is behind him as always and he shoves her back blindly as three runners slam him against the metal railing of the stairs before he can reach for his gun. He's too surprised to feel anything, but their breath smells like rotting meat and something worse, something that makes his eyes water.

Joel searches the room for her and finds her -- pale-faced and terrified, already reaching for her knife. He tries to say her name but it comes out as a scream when one of the runners goes for his shoulder, jagged teeth ripping through his shirt in an instant.

"Ellie -- run, Ellie -- GO --" He begs her to leave him but his voice stops working as his throat is ripped out. The last thing he sees is her horrified face as she raises her pistol.

And then he wakes up yesterday.

___

It occurs to him on day 30 -- if he's keeping track accurately -- that he's got one of the smartest people he knows at his disposal. Kid's got an encyclopedic knowledge of space as well as science fiction stories. He asks her while they're still on the highway, stalling though he can see the blue H sign from here.

"Y'ever read stuff about time?" No reply. "Ellie?" She's staring at that deer again. "Ellie."

"What?"

"You read any stories about time back in school?"

"Uh, sure," she says. She tugs her sleeves over her hands and catches up to him, eyes on the ground. "Why?"

"Saw a weird movie 'bout it once. Somethin' reminded me of it this mornin'. Guy gets stuck in a...shit, what did they call it?" Joel peeks inside an RV and smells rot so he leaves it be. "He lives the same day over and over."

"A time loop!" Ellie sounds more excited about this than anything they've talked about for days. "Those are so fucking cool. Scary, though. I feel like I'd go crazy."

Joel drags a hand down his face. "Yeah," he says. "How do you think you get outta one?"

"Well, how did the guy in the movie do it?"

"He stopped bein' an asshole," he says. Ellie laughs.

"Well, we know that's not possible for you. Guess you're fucked."

"Guess so," he mutters.

The H sign is close enough that she'll see it any minute. He wishes for the hundredth time that they could just stay out here all day, just talking. If he had a guitar he'd play for her. If he had a fucking car he'd put her in it and turn around, even though it wouldn't do any good. They'd just end up right back here because he can't fucking figure out how to get out of this.

"I think you just have to change, right?" Ellie says. She's looking at the photo of an airplane on the bus. This time she doesn't tell him about her dream. Is he losing pieces of her, already? "I guess it doesn't have to be about yourself. Maybe something you do, or something you say. It's the universe telling you to make a different choice, right?"

That's the fucking thing. The choice isn't an option. It's not even a choice.

The one thing he hasn't tried and will not try is leaving the hospital when Marlene tells him to. He'd rather die a thousand times, rather live this shit show over and over for the rest of eternity than let them cut her brain out. They will not touch her while there is still breath in his body.

He'd do it all over again. He will.

Joel tries a hundred things and they don't work.

After his conversation with Ellie he decides to really fuck with the day. Doesn't matter, right? So long as she's not put in any extra danger he considers it. He begs her to walk away, get on his knees and pleads with her throughout the day. Doesn't work. She just gets pissed at him like that first time and he doesn't push it because he can't bear to see her cry. He lengthens their morning in the clearing, fakes sick or says the rifle is jammed and needs cleaning. That goes south, too, when a pack of runners wanders through the woods and straight into them. They make it to the highway and have to miss the giraffes because they're running.

One time Joel spends all day zig-zagging them around the city to avoid the tunnel. The Fireflies find them much the same way except they shoot him on sight and grab Ellie right out of his arms as he bleeds out on the cracked asphalt, her screams echoing in his ears.

Another time, he ties them together in the tunnel with some fraying rope and they both drown.

Killing Marlene early gets him a bullet in the head and not killing her at all gets him back where he started, no change.

Joel even begs the doctor to run more tests first, to try blood, to try anything, but it takes too long and the alarm sounds and he's cornered in the operating room before he can grab Ellie and go.

Nothing fucking works.

But what is there left to change?

His mind starts to fray. He loses count of the loops and it becomes hard to detach himself from the slaughter. Not even the good moments -- Ellie's laughter, the awe in her face when she sees the giraffes, her jokes and her muted but still sharp sarcasm -- keep him afloat. He's lost, adrift in a sea of blood and bullets and it starts to eat away any humanity that was left in him.

The blood of hundreds, thousands maybe, is on his hands and he feels nothing.

Once and only once does he get there too late. Everything else goes like it always does but maybe he took too long on the first floor, maybe he took too long picking the guys one by one instead of using the assault rifle, maybe maybe maybe.

When Joel gets to the pediatric ward he knows something is different -- he can hear a buzzing sound, something loud and unnatural. The stale air is thick with something metallic, tinged with death. The buzzing stops and he finds his feet glued to the floor outside the operating room. Voices on the other side of it, murmuring and the clink of metal on a tray. Joel's hand shakes when he reaches for the knob because he knows whatever he finds on the other side is going to kill him.

But he opens it because he has to. The doctor is at the sink this time, the nurses nowhere to be found. Ellie's body is covered in a sheet, blood seeping through the fabric. Joel looks away. He just stands there, his heartbeat loud in his ears as the world ends.

The first time his daughter died, Joel thought he could will it not to be so. He held her as long as he could, whispered her name with her blood drying on his hands until Tommy begged him to get moving.

This time, he knows it's true and he knows there's only one ending.

He raises his gun at the doctor who is now leaning on the edge of the sink. The door swings open and the nurses return, eyes wide and vibrating with the energy of a job well done. He swings over to them and kills them both with quick headshots. The doctor has barely turned around when he's dead, too.

Joel breathes, ears ringing. He manages one step closer to the operating table but his knees buckle and he goes down hard on the cool tile. His vision is blurry. Is he crying?

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm so fucking sorry, baby." He angles himself so he won't get any blood on her and then presses the barrel of his gun to his temple and pulls the trigger.

If Joel was on the edge of losing his mind before, now he's laser focused. He doesn't pull any more shit. He settles back into the loop, savoring Ellie's laughter with the giraffe and gunning down every sorry motherfucker in his way at the hospital. He will not get there late ever again.

So when Marlene says something different the next time around and he almost misses it.

Ellie is dead weight in his arms but she's warm and he can see the rise and fall of her chest. The hospital was messier than usual because he rushed this time, cutting down the Fireflies like it was his last stand. There's blood in his hair and crusted under his fingernails and his shirt is beyond ruined.

"Are you going to tell her what happened here?" Marlene presses her hand into her side, blood leaking from around her crimson palm. "Are you going to tell her what you did?"

He lies to her.

Every time.

It's never occurred to him to try something else. Even though he's changed almost everything about this damn day except that.

Because Joel knows what happens if he tells the truth. He knows what that will cost him.

And he doesn't know if he'll survive it.

He's afraid. Joel doesn't want to lose her and if that makes him selfish then so be it. He wants to take her back to Jackson and give her a bedroom of her own and as many stupid comics as she wants and three meals a day for the rest of her long, peaceful life. He wants her to grow up and grow old.

He'd kill a thousand more Fireflies to make it happen.

He'd damn the whole world.

Because he loves her and it fucking hurts.

This girl and her puns and her comics and her god damned bravery and her bleeding heart. He doesn't want to lose her.

But is this, whatever this endless hell is, is it fair to her?

If it's breakable, if he has the ability to get them to tomorrow, to get them to Jackson, to get them home, shouldn't he? If he loves her shouldn't he give her a life even if he's not in it?

Joel gently arranges Ellie in the backseat and shoots Marlene in the head.

For a few seconds Ellie thinks she's in the car on the way into Pittsburgh. The hum of the old engine, the rocking motion of the truck. But -- wait. She's lying down. The car smells...musty. And she's cold like she's wearing a dress and --

"What the hell am I wearing?"

She flutters her eyes open. Different truck. Backseat. Is she in a...hospital gown? What the fuck? Where is she?

"Just take it easy," Joel says. Okay, so she's with Joel. Something in her chest settles. She must be safe. "Drugs are still wearin' off."

Drugs? Ellie pushes back into her memory and tries to find something, anything that'll give her a clue as to what's going on here. They were in the bus tunnel. The water was rushing, Joel jumped on the bus and it started moving and she...fell into the water?

It's a blur after that. More of a blank, really. Did they get to the hospital? Did they find the Fireflies? Based on her weird fucking outfit it sure seems like it.

"What happened?"

Joel's eyes flick up in the rearview mirror to look at her. "Let's get you into some clothes, first. Then we'll take a break and I'll tell you everythin'."

He sounds tired. More tired than he's ever sounded, frankly, but she can't imagine why. And he can't seem to stop looking at her like she's going to disappear. Like he hasn't seen her in ages.

"Okay," she says slowly. "Where the hell are we going to get those?"

"Your bag is on the floor by your feet." Joel veers off the highway down an exit ramp and Ellie sits up. Her head feels light for a second and then really heavy so she braces her hands on the seat in front of her and takes a few deep breaths. "You okay, kiddo?"

"Yeah. Fucking...drugs, I guess. What'd they do that for?"

"They ran some tests. We'll talk about it."

Normally she'd push him but something feels off. Ellie tries to get a good look at his face but she can't, not from this angle, and not with her head fucking pounding like it is. She's missing so much time. It makes her skin crawl, makes her heart race. Joel is here, she tells herself. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

He parks them at the edge of a cemetery and gets out of the car to stand guard while she changes out of the gown. Her last pair of jeans, apparently, and a grey t-shirt with a few holes in the collar. She wishes she had a sweatshirt or something to wrap around herself, to pull over her hands and feel covered. But beggars can't be choosers. At least someone put her shoes in her backpack.

Joel doesn't turn around when she opens the door but she sees him stiffen.

"I'm done." He looks back at her and she finally sees his face. "Jesus Christ, Joel, what happened to you?"

It's not just the blood. Sure, he's got dried streaks of it on his neck and in his hair. Ellie glances at his hands and sees it crusted under his fingernails, too. But he looks wrecked. Older, somehow. He looks like something terrible happened, the way she remembers his face when he fell from the balcony in Colorado, when he found her in the burning restaurant. But somehow it's worse.

He's looking at her like he can't believe she's real.

"Alright." Joel lowers the rifle and ignores her question, clearly. "Didn't see anythin'. Should be fine to sit here for a bit."

"Are you going to tell me what the fuck happened?"

He moves like he's going to drag a hand down his face but thinks better of it. "Yeah," he says. "I am."

Ellie swings her legs so they're hanging out the door. Joel leans the rifle against the truck and crosses his arms. "You're making me kind of nervous, man."

"Just...promise me you'll hear me out to the end."

Yeah, something is going on. She doesn't like it.

"Uh, sure."

"What do you remember?"

Good fucking question. "The tunnel. The bus and -- water. I fell in, right?"

Joel nods, clears his throat. "Jumpin' on the bus was dumb. Don't do that again."

She snorts. "Yeah, okay. Point taken. But I was afraid you were going to drown!"

"You did." He delivers the news in a flat tone she doesn't like. She drowned?

"Are you serious?"

"I got us out of the water and tried to get you breathin' again." Ellie realizes her chest is sore. She imagines Joel doing compressions like they showered her in school, imagines his panicked face, his hoarse voice calling her name. Fuck.

"Did it work?"

"No," he says. "Fireflies found us first and knocked me out."

"That doesn't make sense." She frowns. "They knocked you out?"

Joel shrugs. "Just tellin' you what happened."

This isn't how she imagined it would go. She never told Joel, but for weeks she's been thinking about waltzing up to the hospital and telling them who she is. She pictured Joel telling her jokes while she got her blood drawn, pictured him staring down nurses and doctors while they made the cure. She figured it would take a few days, maybe a week, and then they'd be on their way back to Jackson. She had hoped Marlene might be there, too. She has so many questions about her mom.

"What did they do with me?"

Joel looks troubled. "I...don't exactly know. It was a while before I saw you again."

It makes her skin crawl. He must be able to tell because he keeps talking. "I'm sure they just ran some tests while you were out. They brought you back, made sure you were breathin' okay."

"Tests?"

"I'm gettin' there." She feels like he's having a hard time looking at her. Something close to but not quiet dread sits heavy in her stomach. What happened?

"Joel..."

"I woke up inside the hospital. Marlene was there. Told me they didn't know it was us, that they'd been waiting." He pauses, drags a hand down his face. "You didn't wake up or nothin'? You sure?"

Ellie shakes her head. She doesn't remember anything after the tunnel.

"Well, she told me they could do it. They had a doctor who could make the cure."

The air rushes out of Ellie all at once. "Are you fucking serious?"

"And then she said..." Joel chews on his words and looks away from her. He looks angry.

"What did she say?"

"Makin' a vaccine...would've killed you."

The bottom drops out of Ellie's world. It's like a hundred doors in her brain open at once.

It would have killed her? Are they sure? Did they do enough tests? Were they going to? Why didn't they wake her up? Were they going to ask her? How did they get out?

She swallows them all and manages just one in a broken whisper. "What did you do?"

Joel looks right at her. "I stopped them."

If Ellie wasn’t already sitting down she thinks her legs would give out. She knows that Joel meant what he said to her in Silver Lake. Knows that he'd do anything for her.

But this?

"What do you mean?" He shakes his head. "Joel. What do you mean, you stopped them?"

His shoulders slump. "They told me to leave and I refused. And I made sure no one can follow us to try again."

Static builds in her ears. She can read between the lines. She speaks Joel now. He killed them all, that much is clear to her. He killed them all, Marlene, too, probably, because she was supposed to die to save the world. Hot tears sting her nose and gather at the corner of her eyes.

"But I -- but we -- I was supposed to...I'm the cure!"

"You're a person. You're a kid. Don't matter what's in your brain, you ain't dyin' for --"

Ellie pushes out of the truck and to her feet. Joel steps back to give her room but she knows he probably wants to touch her, to reassure her. The anger fills her, makes her face hot and her heart race.

"Who said you get to make that choice? If they said I had to die maybe I should have? Then it would mean something --"

"Your immunity ain't the thing that matters most. You are. So I picked you," Joel yells.

She's really crying now, huge heaving sobs that make it hard to talk, make it hard to convey how angry she is. "Well, you picked wrong, asshole."

"I ain't gonna apologize for it. I'd do it all over again, the exact same way. Every time." Joel's expression is as serious as it gets. He used to look this way all the time. No nonsense, no room for argument.

She tries to find the words anyway but they don't come.

"Now, you've got some options here," he says. "I think the best one is for us to go back to Jackson. I know Tommy'll take you in, and --

She laughs, or tries to.

It sounds like something bitter and awful to her own ears. First he tells her she was supposed to die today and now he wants to leave her?

"Are you fucking serious, Joel? You want to leave me again?"

Joel's brows pinch together. He looks pained. Good. It feels like her chest is caving in, like her lungs aren't working right anymore. This must be what it felt like to drown in the bus terminal, to sink slowly, to fade away entirely. She read once that drowning was supposed to be peaceful. This hurts.

"I want you to be safe," he says. "Jackson is the best place for that. I don't have to be there if you don't want me there --"

"I didn't fucking say that!" she yells. "I -- Jesus, give me a fucking second, okay?"

He stands by the door as she paces back and forth, tugging her hands through her hair.

She was supposed to die. But she didn't. There's no cure. And it sure fucking sounds like Joel didn't leave any option to try again.

He traded saving the world for her.

It's too much.

"What do you want, Ellie?" Joel sounds like he's been awake for days. Like he's in pain, like he's being hollowed out. He sounds like how she feels.

She digs the heels of her hands into her eyes.

"I want none of this to have happened! I want us to go back to this morning and I want us to not have gone into the bus tunnel and I want you to have asked for tests first, I want them to try something else. I want Marlene to tell me why they didn't wake me up. I want to do it again but differently, I want things to be different, I --"

Her words break off into a sob. "Ellie..." She opens her eyes and finds him reaching for her. His shirt is stained with dried blood but she steps into his hold and his arm wraps around her.

"I don't know what to do, now," she whispers.

Joel exhales a shaky breath. "I know you wish things were different. I wish things were different. But they ain't."

They stand there, his hand dragging up and down her back. She listens to his heartbeat and remembers those nights in the basement when she thought it would stop any minute.

"Fuck," she whispers, then pulls away. He lets her go. "Fuck, Joel."

He sighs. "Yeah, kiddo. Fuck."

He told her the truth and that means something. It hurts, it hurts so bad, and it doesn't absolve him of anything, but that matters.

"I'm so angry with you," she says. "I don't know how to forgive you for...for...saving me."

It sounds stupid as she says it but Joel nods solemnly.

"That's alright."

"But I..." She wants to get this part right. "Let's go back. To Jackson. We'll figure it out there. But you...you have to swear to tell me the truth. Just like this. We have to be honest with each other."

Joel meets her gaze without blinking. "I swear."

Ellie takes a deep breath. The anger, the horror, the disbelief at what he's done settle a little bit. She has no clue what comes next, but this is a start.

"Okay."

Joel wakes up.

His back hurts and his shoulder aches. It's dark, darker than it should be, darker than it's been for hundreds of days.

Ellie is asleep in the backseat of the truck.

It's tomorrow.

thank you for reading. let me know what you thought!

#the last of us fanfiction #i dont know how to tag this #the last of us #bea this is your fault!

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scoonsalicious · 8 months ago

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Unwanted: Chapter 17, Unanswered - Pt. 2

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, Pocket embraces her inner Karen (just a little bit)

Word Count: 1.1k

Previously On...: Word on the street is that you and Steve are a Thing. You try to give Bucky a head's up that it's all bullshit, but he's not answering his phone. That can't be bad, right?! RIGHT??? 😬

A/N: Time for Pocket to set the record straight! (ALSO! Surprise, besties: Three updates tonight! - 445, 5, 515 EST)

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when I update, please enable notifications from my Blog page!

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Sadly, tag list is closed; Tumblr will not let me add anyone new. If you want to be notified when I update, please Follow me for Notifications!) @jmeelee @cazellen @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @blackhawkfanatic @buckybarnessimpp @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @pattiemac1@les-sel @dottirose @winterslove1917 @harperkenobi @ivet4 @casey1-2007 @mrsevans90 @steeph-aniie @bean-bean2000 @beanbagbitch @peachiestevie @wintrsoldrluvr @shadowzena43

Tumblr will not let me directly tag the following: @marcswife21 @erelierraceala @jupiter-107 @doublejeon @hiqhkey @unaxv @brookeleclerc

You’d never had an opportunity to meet Lisa Galvin, head of the PR firm that exclusively represented Stark Industries, but you figured that, if she could handle the public relations nightmare that was Tony Stark, you were obviously in good hands.

“Ms. (Y/L/N),” Lisa said, rising to shake your hand as you were shown into her office, “it’s so lovely to finally meet you. I’ve heard such good things.” Her firm’s suite was on one of the Tower’s mid floors, and was bright and spacious, but lacked any real sense of character or personal warmth. Given that Galvin & Associates represented all of Stark Industries, plus every Avenger, you kind of expected the space to be a bit more… colorful.

“‘Pocket’s fine,” you said, sitting down in the chair she offered you. “Thanks for meeting with me on such short notice.”

Lisa smiled. “My pleasure. Though, we wish you’d come to see us much sooner. In terms of a PR footprint, you’re practically a ghost! We could do so much for your public image, if you’d only let us, dear.”

You looked around, wondering who the ‘we’ was that she was referring to, as it was only the two of you in the room. “I actually prefer it that way,” you told her. “I highly value my privacy, and I took my job to create and innovate, not to become public property.”

Lisa pursed her lips, as though she could think of nothing more disdainful than wanting to remain out of the public eye. “Well, to each their own, I suppose,” she said, her voice betraying that she very much did not agree with you. “Now, what is it you wanted to meet about?”

“I’m sure that you’ve seen the articles by now,” you told her, something about her beginning to rub you the wrong way. “You wouldn’t be very good at your job if you hadn’t.”

“Ah, yes,” she replied, and if she heard the edge in your voice, she didn’t acknowledge it. “The ones about you and our very own Captain Rogers! Congratulations, I might add! Just delightful! What about them?”

“I want to issue a statement refuting them,” you said.

Lisa looked at you as if you asked her if she wanted to go out and kill any and every puppy you could find. “But Pocket, my dear, why? You must understand that being romantically linked to one of the most eligible bachelors in the entire world– nay; throughout all of history can only increase your public approval ratings. Do you know how many of my clients would literally kill to have exposure like that?”

You widened your eyes. She was slightly scary, like a deranged Effie Trinket. “Well,” you began slowly, “first, there’s the fact that it’s not the truth. I am not now, nor have I ever been, romantically linked with Steve Rogers. And second, and most importantly, I’m deeply committed to someone else, and I don’t want him getting hurt by these lies.”

Lisa rolled her eyes at you. “My dear, in the court of public opinion, no one gives a damn about the truth. It’s all about optics. And given the public’s engagement with the articles that have been posted since the gala, the optics you and the Captain present together are divine.”

“Yeeeeaaaah,” you drew out, “I really don’t give a shit about optics. I’d just like the record to reflect the facts.” You leaned forward, putting your elbows on Lisa’s desk as you looked her in the eye. “And if you’re not going to do that for me, I’ll speak to Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark about finding a new firm for the company that can.”

You smiled your “did you forget exactly what my position was in this company?” smile; not one that you used very often, as it tended to give you the ick, but you felt it was more than appropriate, given the circumstances. It wasn’t uncommon for people to underestimate or dismiss you, or think they could intimidate you or bend you to their will due to your small stature or your relatively young age, or just because you were a woman. It didn’t hurt to give them an occasional reminder.

Lisa looked properly concerned. “Well, I – there’s no need for that!” she spluttered. “I see no reason Mr. Stark needs to be involved. It’s a simple matter of having you write out a statement, after all. From there, my associates will send it along the AP wire, and to the outlets that wrote the articles, asking for a retraction, or at the very least, that they publish your response.” She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a legal pad. Handing it to you, along with a pen, she said “Just write the basic sentiment you wish to get across, and my team will tweak it into something befitting a proper press release.”

You raised an eyebrow. “I’d prefer to have my statement in my own words, thanks,” you said, before bowing your head and beginning to write:

While Ms. (Y/L/N) greatly values her friendship with Captain Rogers and admires all he has done for his country, she would like to clarify that they are not now, nor have they ever been, involved in a romantic relationship of any kind. Ms. (Y/L/N) is involved in a committed, long-term relationship with another party and kindly requests that her privacy in this arena be respected, and she be left to continue living her life as a private citizen.

“There,” you said, handing her the sheet of paper. “That should do it.”

Lisa looked it over and nodded her approval. “It will do,” she said. “It’ll go out straight away; I’ll do it myself.” You nodded and, thanking her for her time, stood and turned to leave. “Oh, Pocket, dear,” she called to you. You turned, wondering what more she needed from you. “Just for the sake of curiosity, when you wrote you were already in a long-term relationship, who were you referring to? Is it someone in the Tower? I only ask because it may become a relevant issue at some point in the future.” “James Barnes,” you told her proudly. You loved him, and you honestly didn’t care who knew it.

Lisa clutched her chest as if you were attempting to steal her pearls. “The Winter Soldier?! Oh, my dear– you better pray that little nugget never gets out, because if it does, you’ll be running back here in tears, begging me to fix your ruined public image.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky x female reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky buchanan barnes #james buchanan barnes #mcu bucky barnes #james barnes

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carterstarlight25 · 8 months ago

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Hi everyone! So I been thinking hard on a rather unique 3way crossover that I been considering about writing. Please feel free to give me your input.

The 3 way crossover consist of DC x DP x Halo Infinite. With the ships being Jason and Danny (Obviously). Master Chief and Bruce as the second ship to be included. And Tim Simping for Katrina. (Cortana 2.0 from Infinite)

I see these possible dynamics being cute as Chief will learn how to be human, and how to love. Him and Team Phantom Finding Family. Also I don't mean the bull Chief pulled in the god awful Halo TV Show!

Bruce will learn that killing isn't an act of God. It isn't you kill once, and become a mindless murderer. That there is a difference, between a Soldier doing his duty to protect humanity and his loved ones. And a mindless killer, enjoying the horror of its victims as the bleed out with please for mercy. Effectively stealing their innocent lives... Oh also learn to not be as emotionally constipated after Katrina effectively out smarts him into a therapy session with Jazz Nightingale. (Last name changed after she saved Danny from the their parents lab…)

Danny will learn what it means to be apart of a family. And how screwed the GIW are.~

Jason, finds out he’s ghost pregnant and a heavy underdeveloped Halfa. All while the Pit becomes a full ghost that he ends up birthing. Which is gonna be a Dinosaur that will be Jason’s “Nightmare.” To his Fright Knight. (I am really wanting to go for Altispinax, or Spinax Vivosaur from Fossil Fighters series. But idk, might just use the Giga from Jurassic World Dominion. Just to change it up from what I seen people have the Pits become.

How Chief comes into the story however, would be introduced via Clockwork leaving a very obviously placed Halo Infinite Xbox Game case with a unmarked disc inside it. In an Alley Danny was taking refuge in. With a sticky note of course. And a few chapters in, when he was alone in Wayne Manor decided to play the game. And by Play. I mean go ghost and jump into the game. But of course. With his Fabulous Phantom Luck (trademark pending.) A new power began to make itself known as the code latched on him on his way out. Bringing Master Chief and Katrina to life in the real world, with all his memories and Katrina with the entire UNSC Database.)

While that’s how I plan to bring in Chief and Co. the main gist of this will be an all out battle, to destroy the GIW. Outlaws, Sirens, Chief and the entire Batfam Team up.

Despite the JL repealing the Anti Ecto Acts. A few Private donors continue to find them to get their hands on Ectoplasm. The League of Assassin’s, Lex Luthor. And of Course Vlad Masters will be the main villains connected to the GIW.

I can see Jason and Chief getting along like wildfire. And when Bruce finds out Jason is one leading the squad his kids, trying to get them to go on a date with Master Chief. It leads to some funny moments I would think. And of course can’t forget Chief reluctantly surprise appearance in Civies at one of Bruce’s Gala’s. (I kinda wanna make him wear Olive Green suit and dress pants. Black Bow Tie with a white under suit. Black belt. And an Olive Green Military Cap to hide his Neural Implant. Maybe having all his Medals from the service pinned to his chest. At least the ones that match ones in this universe. So not all of them obviously.

And Jason would absolutely catch his father freeze up when he sees the handsome Spartan.

For looks regarding Chief’s face since we don’t know what he looks like. I was thinking Caucasian Male, short brown hair that could be the right height to spike it up at least. Not a complete buzz cut. Rather bright blue eyes. That do not glow like Danny’s. But at least around that color. Of course he will have some scars on his left Temple, his lip and across his right eye. Freckles too. His muscle mass would of course be a bit more built then Jason. Which says something. But, you know. Super Soldier and all. (Update: I did in-fact Draw it ^^. If you want to see. Let me know if you wanna see Master Chief in a suit at the Gala ^^)

The Ages I was gonna go for was as follows.

Alfred: Immortal (Thanks Clockwork!)

John (Master Chief): 46yrs (I know it’s not his cannon Age. But it’s what I want for the story.)

Bruce: 45yrs

Barbara: 29yrs

Dick: 26yrs

Jazz: 21yrs

Jason: 21yrs

Cass: 20yrs

Sam: 20yrs

Danny: 19yrs

Duke: 19yrs

Steph: 19yrs

Tucker: 19yrs

Val: 19yrs

Tim: 18yrs

Ellie: 14yrs

Damien: 12yrs

Katrina: 6 months old

And that’s the little Fanfic I been thinking about. Of course it’s just an idea. but I think it would be fun to write.

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kirbybecomesastarwarrior · 2 years ago

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Birth of the Lone Swordsman

Scenario: Meta Knight passes his exam to become a Star Warrior but is rejected in joining the Holy Knights (A.K.A Knight of the Round table). Arthur claims BS that his student wasn’t allowed to join his squadron by the Ancients and elite but Meta has made up his mind.

I tried to give the comic an old flash back feel sorry if colors look weird. listen to “ I will make you proud” from tangle the series for emotional effect to fit the theme...

Yeah I know I keep writing MK Angst Kirby ain’t happy either.... (reaction at the bottom/ lore explanation at the bottom.

In the story, I gave a prelude to MK’s past of almost getting killed the moment he was born, because he was born from the fountain of dreams without a warpstar but they find out later that he came from N.M.E which MK was his first attempt in destroying the Fountain of Dreams. When MK didn’t obey Nightmare he sent him through the fountain as a living bomb and was supposed to be dead on arrival. The Ancients and other Star Warriors saw this and were going to kill him off N.M.E’s mistake.

But one lone Star Warrior seeing that he was a young boy stood up for him and plead for his life, Sir Arthur. The leader was someone else at the time Sir Uther (an OC who I will introduce into the story). He was one of the four legendary warriors and was the first winged astrals to be birth from the fountain of dreams. His persona is based off the Uther from Merlin the T.V. series (which was my fav. show back then) And if you watch you know that he’s basically the @sswhole of the series basically just replace his hatred of magic with N.M.E and we have yourself the corrupt leader of the GSA. But unlike in the series he is not Arthur's father but his mentor and when he stepped up to defend Meta he was pissed.

He straight up told him that if MK turns corrupted or a traitor he’d kill him personally. The Ancients agree to this and assigned him guardianship of MK... which was a first. Usually when a puffball is born education is done by the Ancients (MK wasn’t a baby like Kirby I’d say preteen) and are assigned a senior knight when they are ready. But none of them wanted to raise him since his birth did not come from Void so it was solely up to Arthur.

Little MK was still shivering when he was out of the fountain, so the red cape was what Arthur wrapped around him to keep him warm. Unlike Uther who was strict and cruel to him when he was his protege; Arthur tried his best to be a good role model for MK. Though Uther influence was strong and to this day Arthur still fears him which is why he made sure to keep MK on the right path... unintentionally hurting him.

You see the whole time he was training MK he always would encourage him to just hide and conceal his wings. And when MK’s “dark powers” would peak he would immediately correct him (especially if Uther was watching) while he knew he meant well MK couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by his teacher’s action. But Arthur promised him that this was the right way to do it and if he continued they’d surely see that he was capable of being a great hero. And Arthur made sure to nourish and nurture that little hope in his heart to motivate him through the hardship. But unintentionally putting pressure on him to be the perfect soldier. (Similar to Tai Lung and Shifu) But instead, MK is fueled by a lack of self-worth to do better rather than out of pride like Tai Lung ...

MK already knew of the pressures that were on Arthur so not to burden him MK just kept quiet about his feelings. So what if his teacher winced a bit when his wings peaked out~. While his intentions were good his methods were not right. Still, MK adored his teacher and was extremely grateful to him. And promised him that “he’d grow up to be his right-hand man and fight right by his side.” He knew Arthur cared about him, but still felt upset he would ignore the other side of himself... This was also fueled by the fact that part of Arthur still feared Uther, but also wanted his old teacher’s approval (Uther is truly the worse).

Which got worse over time MK’s powers got stronger which made it more difficult to hide them. This brings us to this seen in the comic, MK takes is final exam he passes but the Ancients and the higher-ups don’t want MK to join the elites. During this time they were looking to make the next generation of legendary warriors which would be under Sir Arthur (basically Arthur’s knights of the round table). But they didn’t feel comfortable that the cursed star would represent them. So they passed him, MK was indeed a Star Warrior but his position was up in the air.

Arthur was ready to fight for him but MK had enough and the feelings he had bottled up all these years ago come out. (shout out to MK's old design) This was a very significant turning point that broke student and master. MK’s red cape while mismatched to him was supposed to be a symbol of hope for him; which was the intention Arthur meant to give... but to MK which became something he could never be. It breaks Arthur’s heart to realize how much he failed his boy... MK felt ashamed and thought he failed Arthur in turn.

He completely shut down being accepted by the higher up/ the Ancients and not wanting to trouble his teacher any longer... he continued on as “the Lone Swordsman” of the GSA. Basically acting as a bounty hunter doing sole missions... Eventually when the GSA started accepting drafts/volunteers.

These made up the front liners of the GSA (the first to be killed) which MK is tasked to train them, this becomes a blessing in disguise on both ends for this is where MK meets his first real friend Jerca and his future-found family. Hope nothing bad happens to them...

#Meta Knight #MK #metadad #kirby #Sir Arthur #sir arthur kirby #kirby right back at ya #Hoshi no Kaabii #kirby fanfic #fanlore #GSA #kirby of the stars #meta dad #sir uther

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cinderswife · 1 year ago

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currently rotating rose red around in my brain so here's some outfits i designed for her (this is pre-meeting cinders btw)! bonus design notes under the cut :3

nude

i knew immediately that i wanted rose to be short and built like a brick shithouse. she is dense and compact and impossible to knock over. also, she gets to be a bear girl because everyone in my ouatis au is an animal eared person. its a fun concept i saw trawling the tumblr tag and i have decided it is very canon.

absolutely covered in freckles

yes those are top surgery scars. very recent in fact! its a cross between unrealized gender things and the pain of breasts that are just. too big. always.

her tail is usually too small to be seen from this angle but i wanted to show off her tiny red puff

most of her scars are from military combat with the exception of the top surgery scars and the one on her left hand which came from when she punched a window at the age of 15 defending snow from one of their dads getting super duper upset b/c snow was starting to date

she is 4'10" and so proud of it. will kick your ass if you're a dick about it

pajamas

nothing much to say here, she just. doesn't care all that much. tank top and sweat pants are the perfect combo of temperatures for her.

also she wears heart patterned boxers and we love her for that

military work uniform

do you know how hard it is to design a military uniform when you don't usually give a shit about the military. i spend so many hours going down worldbuilding subreddits and forums before i figured out something i was happy with. anyways! this is a non-combative officer's work uniform (aka the uniform rose wore when she was commander of the prison cinders was in). i picked red because it's the color most strongly associated with cole's army, but i figure that soldiers in combat would have better camouflage built into their uniforms.

the patch on her left shoulder (the one with the deer) is the symbol for colonel. it's also mirrored on a smaller scale on her breast. cole's army uses animals to mark higher ranks

the other shoulder patch marks her current assignment

i liked white as an accent color because of its prevalence in the album. also it looks nice!

the sleeve stripes and the chevrons both indicate that she is a very important officer

the other patches on her breast are the simplified coat of arms for her noble house (the house of grimm) and all of the medals she has earned in her 11 years of service

military dress uniform

the fancy version of her uniform for Events and Public Appearances. it's a bit darker in tone for the sake of visual interest and has a lot more accessories. this one was a nightmare to color i stg but i'm super happy with the way it turned out.

you get to see all her medals! she has complicated feelings on them but they are shiny and look very nice so.

the stripes, chevrons, and deer are all the same as the work uniform for some easy visual shorthand of her rank

the only time rose will ever wear a tie or any other neck decoration because it's regulation.

i liked the way a black undershirt looked over a white one, no other reason lol

the bear medal is because the bear is a symbol of her noble family. most people have a cougar of some sort instead.

the sword and the lion are both special awards granted specifically by cole. the lion in particular came from her first deployment where she accidentally changed the tides on the invasion of the perrault (cinders' planet) and became a war hero/propaganda piece at 19

the boots have buckles. they are never quite tight enough and its annoying.

casual dress

off duty, rose wears crisp, well tailored masc outfits. she knows how to dress herself to look effortlessly important due to being raised noble but she doesn't think too hard about it.

she wears shorts instead of full pants whenever she can get away with it. snow hates this.

no she is not buttoning up all the way. why would you make her put this much effort into it. she's hotter with it undone

fun fact: i initially made her vest and shorts green but i decided that blue looked nicer

fancy dress

i've elected to go with a 1700s inspired look for the nobility. it's very fairytale-esque and also allows me to have fun with it! i wanted to do more embroidery, but i wound up not having the patience for such a thing. ah well, what i've got looks nice enough.

rose usually wears cool colors in her formal outfits. this purple is a particular favorite of hers because it goes really nicely with her hair and ears without being obnoxious

once again, rose out here avoiding any sort of neck accessory or hat. accessories that annoy her for $10,000

the lilac undershirt is not connected to the off-white trousers it's two separate pieces.

the gold accents cut a very striking figure and also look very pretty <3

the boots are supposed to be longer and pointier but idk how well i pulled that off aha

she's very handsome and i love her

#the mechanisms #ouatis #once upon a time (in space)#rose red ouatis #planet's doodles #im really proud of this btw outfit design is not a strong point of mine but i think i really pulled it together for rose #please love and appreciate my blorbo #verse: dog star in ursa major

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legofanguy · 1 month ago

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Destinytober day 20 ghost

A Destiny fanfiction for @d2artevents event Destinytober day 20 ghost featuring my Destiny ocs and give their origin stories.

While he and his fireteam have some time off from missions, Gen the titan guardian ask his fellow guardians, "I have been curious, guys. When did you first meet your ghost?" The two guardians and their ghosts look at each other as they wouldn't know that they would be asked that question which Gen said, "I understand that your ghosts first come to you when they bring you back to life, but I want to know where you first meet as well give their names? I share mine and Red stories to be fair."

Sarah-08 the Exo guardian tell her tale, "I don't recall my past life like you guys except for some lose memories of me getting some citizens out of a building that were collapsing and I didn't make it out. I don't know how it was since I die, but Salem found me later one and bring me back to life. While he is a good friend, my ghost was a bit of snarker and I did recall a old TV show of a teenage girl living with a talking snarker cat named Salem, so I named my ghost in honor of that Salem. After getting to the city, I painted some lighting bolts on him to symbol my role as a warlock."

Artume the Awakon guardian is the next one to tell her story and she begins, "Remus found me in some battlefield and it was nightmare for me as I don't know if I was dreaming or was really alive. As me and my ghost wander on the battlefield and dodging enemies, I choose to named him after Remus from a legendary figure in one of the few memories I have left along with me growing up poor. Since my name has connection to that age of myth, I guess Remus name is a good fit for him."

Gen the human guardina now tell his origin story to the others, "When Red bring me back to life in the ruins of Old Russia, I found dogtags on me that have the name Gen and it said that I was a soldier, which allow me to remember some parts of my past since as I was a soldier for humanity against the darkness during the fall of the golden age and I did in battle. I guess ghosts like Red was unsure if it would be safe to travel to where that battle took place to find guardians due to the enemies there, but Red told me that some of the other ghosts whose found their guardians were teasing him." and Salem said, "Oh yeah, I remember that. We used to call ghosts whose don't find their guardians sparky as they are just new sparks from the Traveller and didn't prove themselves yet. Finding a guardian is a rite of passage for us ghosts." Gen soon continue his story, "Well, while getting around Old Russia, I found a old flag with the color of red and it feels important to me, so I named my ghost Red before I give him the coat of paint. If we didn't find that ship, we both wouldn't got out of there alive."

#destinytober #destiny #destiny the game #destiny 2 #destiny oc #destiny ghost #destiny guardians

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stardust948 · 8 months ago

Note

🌈💧🌀🌤️

ask game for teasing wips/upcoming projects

🌈 Share something soft/fluffy from your WIP.

“Honey! It’s okay. It’s okay.” Warm hands cupped his face. “Breathe. I got you.”

The world slowly dialed back in, centering on slitted golden eyes staring intensely at him.

“Ursa…” Ozai pulled her into a tight hug. “You’re alright…”

“Me?” Ursa let out a nervous laugh. “You’re the one who…” She leaned her forehead against his. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“Forgive me.”

“No.”

Ozai laughed slightly. They leaned in for a kiss when the door flew open and two very worried dragon children pounced him.

“Daddy! You’re okay!”

‘We were so scared!’

“Careful! He’s still recovering!” Ursa scolded.

Ozai paid no mind to the sharp pain as he hugged his precious children, alive and well. Ursa hugged his back. Ozai shifted some and the two shared a kiss. He was so relieved the nightmare was just that. A nightmare.

By Agni, he was going to make sure it stayed that way.

💧Share something romantic/hot from your WIP, or just something sweet if it's gen.

“Once you’re released from prison, do you want to…live together again?” she mumbled the last part.

“Want to what?” Zuko asked.

Katara flushed. “Nothing.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s our last night together. I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Nothing you can do will ruin it.”

He gently kissed her forehead. Katara closed her eyes as his lips lingered.

“Katara…” Zuko rasped.

“Yes?”

“Will you wait for me?”

She kissed his scar then pulled him close. “Yes.”

Zuko buried his face against her chest and wrapped around his arms around her. Warmth spread all across his body, igniting his inner flame.

“Will you stay with me?” Katara ran her cool fingers across his chest. “If only for a night?”

“Yes.”

He kissed her neck, growing more excited as she shivered. The feeling from the strange dream was back but so much more intense. Raw. Alive.

“Zuko…”

“Katara…” Another kiss. “I love you.”

Hands wandered lower, inviting him closer. “Say it again…”

Zuko surrendered. To the feeling. To his body.

To her.

“I love you… I love you… I love you…”

🌀Post the fic summary for a fic you haven't written/published yet. It can be hypothetical or something you really plan on releasing...

Summary: Through experiment with firebending moves, Katara learns how to summon thunderstorms. Where there’s thunder, there’s lightning. And lightning with no control is a danger to it all. After a terrible accident, Katara swears to never summon storms again unless they find someone who can control the lightning.

Someone who wasn’t Zuko that is.

🌤️Share your favorite piece of dialogue from your WIP.

“My name is Lee and these are my children.”

He turned and only Zuko, Katara, and Sokka. Ozai’s stomach dropped. Where was Aang?! Of all the times to run off!

“Which are?” The soldier pressed.

Ozai’s mind went blank. “Lee Jr… Ty Lee and… Lee the third.”

Sokka’s face twisted in confusion but before he could say something sarcastic, Ozai spoke up.

“My youngest. Mute from birth, poor thing.”

Sokka’s jaw dropped.

“A bit slow too.” Zuko smirked.

“But we still love him!” Katara pinched his cheek. “Who could say no to that face?

Sokka gave them both the dirtiest look possible.

“Children, huh?” The soldier glared at Zuko’s scar and the Water Tribe siblings’ dark skin. “Aren’t you all a <em>colorful</em> bunch.”

“If we’re done here-“ Ozai started.

“Not quite. Lift your head.”

Ozai tensed. Before he could make a move, Aang jumped in front of him, large straw hat obscuring Ozai’s face.

“Lee where are your manners?! How could you forget to introduce your dear old dad?!” he spoke in a ridiculous old man voice.

“My apologies… <em>Dad.</em>” Ozai cringed on the inside. “This is-“

“Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third!” He jabbed the soldier in the chest. “But that’s Mr. Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third to you!”

“Uh…” The soldier balked.

“I apologize for my father. He can get a little high strung sometimes.”

“Oi, watch yer mouth!”

Aang smacked Ozai’s head with his staff.

“Ack!” he rubbed his head then shot daggers at a smug Aang while the others snickered.

Oh he was so going to get it later.

“Now what’s the hold up here?!” Aang twitched his bushy mustache. “Back in my day they respected elders with the highest regard! Ya bow ya head, say yes sir, please and thank you, and offered to carry their bags. Did I hear any offers yet? Youth these days! Back in my day-”

“Okay okay!” The soldier sighed and waved them off. “Just stay out of trouble.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, young spark.” Aang jabbed his chest again. Ozai ducked as Aang swung his staff again then hobbled off. “Come along now sonny. I need to treat my sweet grandbabies to mountains of candy apples and shaved ice!”

“Coming Grandfather!” Katara and Zuko ran after him followed by a pouting Sokka with his arms crossed.

“Let yer old grandpappy show you how it’s done!”

“Careful Dad.” Ozai forced a smile. “You know you can’t eat that stuff anymore.”

“Watch me!”

The soldier massaged his growing headache.

Mixed families were so weird.

Thanks for the asks!

#long post #mutuals #answered ask #fanfics #wips #zutara #urzai adopts the gaang au #dragon au #writing #star's writing #urzai

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cherrybombfangirlwrites · 2 years ago

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my writeblr (re)introduction

Hi, I'm Anna. I've been on the writeblr side of tumblr since June last year, and I figured- new year, about time for a new intro. I'll be doing new WIP and character intros as well very soon.

About the Author

20-something years old / She/Her / Aroace

A burntout gifted kid, (sorta late diagnosed) Autisic and ADHDer

my sideblog for nerdy and fangirly stuff (mainly about my ocs and fanfics about them) is @cherrybombfangirl that i'm currently trying to revive

Favorite Movies: Captain America: The Winter Soldier /// Wonder Woman (2017) /// Wonder Woman 1984 /// Lilo and Stitch /// The Amazing Spiderman 1 & 2 /// Black Widow /// Ghostbusters (the entire franchise, all of it) /// LEGO Batman /// Megamind /// Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (what other two movies?) /// How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy /// The Nightmare Before Christmas /// Coraline /// Boxtrolls /// Enchanted /// The Little Mermaid /// Maleficent /// Princess Bride /// The Great Mouse Detective /// Anastasia /// Ocean's 8 /// Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2 /// Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves /// Dead Poet's Society /// Puss in Boots: The Last Wish /// Rogue One: A Star Wars Story /// Nimona ///

Favorite Books: Trollhunters /// Land of Stories /// Micheal Vey /// Percy Jackson series /// How to Train Your Dragon series /// Peter and the Starcatchers /// Cry of the Icemark /// Reflection by Elizabeth Lim /// The Unwanteds /// Alex and the Ironic Gentleman /// The Hunger Games Trilogy /// Mysterious Benedict Society /// Dealing with Dragons Series /// Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill /// Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Xhao ///

Favorite TV Shows: Tales of Arcadia: Trollhunters /// Tales of Arcadia: Wizards /// How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge /// Supergirl /// Ninjago /// The Mandalorian /// Kenobi /// Lockwood and Co. /// A Series of Unfortunate Events /// The Dragon Prince /// She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (ND Stevenson’s Reboot) ///

I like to write big casts, with lots of diversity

My characters tend to be very aro/ace coded and adhd/autism coded because I like to project onto my characters a little bit too much

been dreaming up little worlds with little characters in my head since i was little, started writing fanfic at 12, and finally started to draft out my ideas last year

I love love love fantasy and sci-fi, especially the more high stuff, but i like low/urban fantasy and sci-fi. more realistic fiction isn't really my cup of tea, if there's no fantasy or sci-fi elements it doesn't do it for me

My WIPs

Fractured Stars Falling

Intro /// Playlist My dark fantasy, 9 book series of very queer retellings. Including people of color, mentally and physically disabled, and many flavors of queer representation. Themes include trauma and how we deal with it, and tropes include magic that can kill you, chaotic found family, and 'i would kill for you' romances. And it's possibly going to have a prequel series about my thousand year old wizard who is an AuDHDer and a burntout gifted kid and how she got to where she is in the series. Tags: #wip: fractured stars falling

The City is Ours

Intro /// Playlist My low fantasy, 5 book series about a bunch of chaotic teenage superheroes. More people of color, physically and mentally disabled, Jewish and Muslim, and lots of different queer representaion . Themes include forgiveness, are you the hero of the villain, and tropes include domesticity between the action, teenagers being teenagers, and the checkov's civilian. Tags: #wip: the city is ours

Galaxy Destroyer

Intro /// Playlist Previously known as Before the Stars Burn Out, this is my high sci-fi book series about a bunch of morally gray criminals and the "i tried to kill you" to found family pipeline. Like my other wips, lots of representation, including people of color, disabilites of both the physical and mental, and different kinds of queer representation. Themes include what really defines good vs bad, what to do when the system is broken and the two solutions you are presented with suck, and tropes include space criminals accidentally adopting a baby, humans being space orcs, and cool laser gun battles in space. Not sure if it's going to be a trilogy or duology yet. Tags: #wip: galaxy destroyer, wip: before the stars burn out (for older stuff)

unnamed witchy wip

Intro (coming soon) /// playlist (coming soon) a one-eyed (and it's actually disabling) aroace witch. her two familiars, a white cat and blue crow. on the run from a cult of witch hunters that are taking control of the realm by storm. she befriends an undercover witch hunter, no knowing his identity. the witch hunter has an arc with their faith crisis and getting a redemption arc where they end up saving their new friend the witch. Themes include the abuse of religion and finding friendship (but on a very personal level), and tropes include snarky familiars, very personal stakes for the characters, and platonic soulmates. Probably going to be a standalone. Tags: #unnamed witchy wip

unnamed historical fantasy vestal virgin wip

Intro (coming soon) /// playlist (coming soon) it's a baby wip that I don't much on yet. All I know is that it's going to be about one of the vestal virgins in Ancient Rome actually making contact with Vesta (the roman version of Hestia), they become besties and end up protecting each other both from the human and mythological. Also I'm going to get dragons in there somehow. much platonic soulmates <3. Probably going to be a standalone as well. Tags: #unnamed vestal virgin wip

edit: i removed taglists from this post because there is a tag limit, i have them saved somewhere else tho!

#writeblr intro #writing #writeblr #writers of tumblr #creative writing #original writing #hello there #introduction #new year #writing community #story writing #writers on tumblr #female writers

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a-very-sparkly-nerd · 4 months ago

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will i wake tomorrow from this nightmare?

Claudia has accepted that she can't bring her dad back. But she can talk to him, and all she needs to do it is the blood of a Moonshadow elf. Please note: TW's for whump, torture, blood, and probably some other stuff, too. If it's not your cup of tea, do click off and find something else to read; we have lots of wonderful authors in this fandom, so you'll no doubt find something better suited to your tastes.

Needless to say, Claudia had been through hell and back. She’d lost her leg and her pride and her family, and even Aaravos, who was supposed to be able to do anything, that was the whole point, couldn’t do anything to bring him back.

For the third time. Claudia couldn’t help a scoff, shaking her head and wiping her stained palms on the fabric covering her thighs. She’d always been persistent– stubborn, more accurately.

“You can talk to him,” Aaravos murmured by the flickering firelight, the stars under his eyes and dotting his skin twinkling prettily like rhinestones. Shortly after he’d escaped, before that first barrage of arrows had rained down, he’d shrunk to average human size and led their escape into the smoldering woods surrounding the kingdom.

He could change his size, for the most part, he’d explained. It turned out his bells-and-whistles entrance was probably scripted and rehearsed, long-awaited. Aaravos had a flair for the dramatic– he carried glitter around in his pockets.

She whipped her head up, ignoring the tensing grip on the cloth between her shoulderblades. “I can what?”

“You can summon his spirit,” Aaravos elaborated, waving a hand to turn the fire from orangey-red to magenta and smiling softly. Claudia couldn’t help wondering if he’d done this with his own daughter millennia ago, the flames her favorite color. Had she clapped her hands and kicked her legs, giggling and fascinated? Had she known how deeply and truly her dad loved her? “Talk to him. If it will offer you closure.”

She soldiered to her feet. “Well, obviously I’m gonna do that! Why didn’t you tell me before?!”

He looked down. “I did not know if…” A sigh escaped, deep and velvety and sending tingles up her spine. “If I can offer you closure, I will do it. Everyone deserves that bare minimum.”

“Is it closure, though?” Terry piped up, the first words he’d said since he’d mumbled about going off to gather firewood, still traipsing away even after Aaravos assured him that with him, they wouldn’t need wood. “Won’t it just hurt you? Can’t we let the past stay in the past?”

“No, Terry!” Claudia snapped, then recoiled at herself. She got down on her knees next to him, reaching for his cute little four-fingered hands. She bit her lip apologetically. “Sorry. I’m sorry, Terr-bear. But if this can help me, if I can even just say goodbye… I have to. You understand, right?”

He was silent for a long time, slipping his hand from her wrist up her arm and to cup her face, a warm touch she eagerly leaned into. “Tell me it will help you,” he requested– no, begged. “Look at me and tell me it will help you, that it will only be one time, and I’ll support you.”

But where was the Terry who’d trusted her unconditionally?

Viren owed her a life he didn’t have to give anymore, so the very least he could do was hear her out and take her yelling at him, let him know that what he did to her was fucked up at the very least.

And it was such a small price to pay, too.

“It will help me,” she told him, tousling his hair even as she was unsure of if the words held any real truth. It had to help her, because what could she do if it didn’t? “It will be this one time, and then-” She swallowed. “Then, whatever happens is what happens.”

He kissed her forehead, drawing her into a standing embrace and supporting her when she turned to look back to the Startouch elf. “Then I’ll stand by you.”

“What do I need for it?”

“Wait,” Terry interjected, holding out a hand he pointed accusingly at Aaravos. “Why aren’t you doing it?”

He smiled almost apologetically. “Only the mage who performs the spell can lay their eyes upon the deceased.”

Claudia squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. It’s just one. What do I have to get?”

He flicked his hair back. “Just one thing: the blood of one between life and death. The blood of a Moonshadow elf.”

Read more on ao3

#my fic #tdp fic #tdp s7 speculation #claudia tdp #this gets really dark you guys #so i was trying to write smut but then i wrote whump?#idk man #giveusthesaga #continuethesaga #ao3 #fanfiction #aaravos

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triglycercule · 4 months ago

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i really need to rant about hi3 and the quest i just played. warning this is NOT mtt related but i just really really REALLY needed to get this out

AHHHHHH OH MY GOD i have NOT PLAYED honkai in a month since lantern came out and now im back because of the new event with part 1 characters but OMG??? OMG???? THAT THELEMA LANTERN QUEST!!!!!! THAT SHIT WAS SO FUCKING FIRE WTF THEYRE SO GAY FOR EACHOTBER. prideful powerful and confident queen x the mentally dead inside but still determined office worker/battle soldier. WHAT THE HELL???? WHAT THE HELL i was TWEAKINF OUTTTTT DURING THAT QUEST. THE RIVALRY..... THE TENSION..... I WAS WAITTTING FOR THELEMA TO PULL LANTERN TO TBE SIDE AND TJEN THEH START MAKING OUT SLOPPY STYLE I LOVE WOMEN. AND THEY HAVE AMAZING SYNERGY IN BATTLE TOO???? the way that lantern cares for thelema even if its just in a "langqiu doesnt want to lose one less person" and thelema takes it personally and tries to refuse due to her pride???? THE WAY THAT THELEMA REALIZED THAT LANTERN COULD TELL SHE WAS GONNA LIE FROM TBE MOMENT THAT ONE QUESTION POPPED UP. THAT'S SOME MIND READING PARTNER SOULMATES SHIT RIGHT THERE. AND UGHHH THEY HAVE SIMILAR COLOR PALETTES AND THEYRE OPPOSITES ATTRACT. LANTERN IS SELFLESS AND STOIC AND FOCUSED WHILE THELEMA IS SELFISH (in the way that her way of fighting against shadows is quite literally just indulging in having fun) AND SHE'S EXTRAVAGANT AND RAHAHHHHHHHH. i dont understand how people could POSSIBLY ship songque x thelema when LANTERN IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE!!!!!! theyre so gay,,,,,, theyre SO FUCKINF GAY,,,,,,,,,,, women.... lesbibains....... lesbian....... gay....... theyre so cute together...... they would NEVER fucking get along..... lantern literally says it herself that she and thelema are two different worlds apart but she still tries to say sorry after offending thelema for disrespecting her pride in her identity. AND THE WAY THAT THELEMA CALLED HERSELF LANTERN'S MASTER OHHHHH MY GOOOODDDD THE TOES WERE CLENCHED!!!!! THEY WERE CLENCHED THAG WHOLE FIGHT!!!!!! and the teasing little rivalry comments where thelema was like you hesitated. have you been a hired gun for so long you forgot how you liked to relax and lanterns just like .... or when thelema said she didn't know lantern knew how to comfort people OH FUCK ME!!!! I FUCKING HATE THESE TWO HOW MANY MORE LESBIANS CAN THEY SHOVE INTO THIS GODDAMN GAME. IM ALREADY OBSESSED WITH HELIA AND CORALIE. I ALREADY SHIP MYSELF WITH SENADINA (me x senadina CANON CANON CANON) AND NOW I HAVE FUCKING THELEMA X LANTERN???? oh i cant. thelema and lantern and songque poly except songque is thelema's side bitch and lantern is too nonchalant to really care and she and songque are actually besties (i havent even finished the rest of the quest yet i just..... i think i have a type for character ships but idk. idk but thelema reminded me of nightmare a little bit. and lantern dust. does this mean anything. should i start shipping dustmare (HELL NOW you will NEVER catch me shipping dustmare. if you see me shipping that ship it is NOT me that is a imposter that you need to shoot. actually dont shoot bring it to me and then i can befriend myself and then date myself. yeah thats right i would date myself. i ship more than just sanses yk,,,,,) i got too caught up in that quest with thelema and lantern that i had to rant on the goddamn murder time trio account because i have nobody else to rant too (new school year Please give me friends. maybe friends that i quite possibly might even like being around but anything PLEASE i cant live with no social life it's actually killing me)

anyways thelema x lantern canon. helicora also canon. me x senadina canon because we danced in a dream and did swimming classes and live together and she's so sweet i wish she was real. so glad honkai devs already gave the players a self insert so i dont have to come up with ideas for me x senadina. ugh i love honkai impact 3rd. rant over back to relevant content

OOW btw i think i'm just gonna start posting one jk fashion au 4koma weekly. because i don't think i have the motivation to do more than one in a week and it'll be a nice way to get me drawing through the rest of summer. it's 3 am i really should get to sleep but i wann keep playing honkai impact 3rd so my sleep schedule is gonna have to take the hit LOL!

#real tricule #guys this has nothing to do with the murder time trio im sorrh #also this is about honkai impact 3rd.... i know its a gacha game for middle aged men but its my favorite game ☹️#i just love good women ships so much i have to rant about them #why have i gotten so much more attached to the part 2 valks than part 1 hello #i wish i had a hi3 friend who could remind me to consistently play yhe game #even tho iv been taking long breaks for a while now bc im getting bored i still really love this game

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cruelfeline · 2 years ago

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In Tanta We Trust Trailer Assessment

So, as some of y'all already know, a gameplay trailer for the Forspoken DLC dropped this morning, along with a small article providing a little more information.

Trailer is here. Article is here. Both are required foundational material for this post.

I'm going to try to organize my thoughts in some sort of reasonable manner, but I am having Many Thoughts, so it might come across as haphazard. I'll try to provide a little bulletpoint summary of major takeaways at the end.

Also: so much of this is just me theorizing. Any and all of it has a good chance of being false. I'm just trying to make sense of All of This... so don't mind me if it turns out that I'm super wrong. Chances are, I am!

Anyway... let's just get into it.

New Enemies

The trailer provides us with clear views of some of our new enemies, namely the Rheddig.

The Rheddig are very clearly bird-themed. Feathered headdresses, feathered shoulders to their armor, and a bird-like mask that @phoenixiancrystallist already called. It's a little difficult to get good detail on the rest of their outfits; our best close-up views happen during the very opening of the trailer while Cinta is absolutely demolishing them, and things move a bit too fast for me, personally, to get much detail. However! An important point:

The Rheddig soldiers appear to be able to use magic.

And it's not Cuff's magic. It's not metallic and golden, as one might have expected. Rather, it's this sort of cyan-blue color. We see it twice, I believe used by the same soldier: first to imbue their spear with this cyan-magic, then to summon the spear back after throwing it. I think. The camera cuts make it a little hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure that's what happening.

So that's interesting. Given that this looks like a generic Rheddig soldier, not some sort of "special enemy" type individual.

Next up is this fella.

It's very difficult to discern from a still shot (I encourage everyone to go watch the trailer for this), but this is a winged enemy who has some sort of... I'm not sure... maybe pieces of something? maybe birds? floating around it, at waist-height. Again, too much movement going on to be able to easily tell. The wings appear to be like standard bird wings with visible feathers. Ah, and the legs and feet! Well. There are no feet. But the legs appear to be made out of strands of twisted material that end in points rather than feet.

The way they're designed is very reminiscent of Nightmares, namely the Riven Carcasses.

Finally, we have... whatever in the world this is.

Honestly, I have no idea. It's huge. It's reptilian. It has wings and a tail, but both seem to be either covered in or at least partially comprised of golden metal displaying Rheddig symbolism (the sunbursts, for example). Same with the little helmet it's wearing. I can't tell if this is a regular fantasy animal that has been outfitted with armor, or if it's some sort of early, proto-Breakbeast, or what. I honestly have no idea.

Frey's Magic

We know that Frey gets a new set of spells to use in this DLC, but until this trailer, we didn't really know what they might be.

Now... well, good gosh, but I have some theories. Let's first take a look at some of the demonstrated spells.

We've got this AOE business that first lifts some enemies into the air, then appears to crystallize them into golden metal. It's hard to glean from still images, but watch this moment in the trailer. Those Rheddig in the second image, are actually frozen into their positions, like statues. It doesn't, however, seem to be permanent. In the trailer, Cinta comes in to do a follow-up attack, upon which the golden statues regain their human form and can move again as normal.

We have this golden spear that, when thrown into an enemy, likewise solidifies them into a statue of golden-metallic crystalline whatnot.

Traversal spells appear different, too. We've got this instead of Zip and Spin; no longer does Frey appear to use Sila's fire magic to grab onto the... very golden-looking crystals; rather, she uses a golden line. While she's doing so, her body seems... very reminiscent of Susurrus' metal when he's in humanoid form. Which is. Interesting. And while I was intrigued by her using her left hand here at first, when I went in-game and used Sila's Zip a few times, I found that Frey actually uses both her right and left hands for the spell. So that doesn't seem crucial here.

We've got this gravity-type spell. Frey starts off attacking a floor-bound enemy (of which there are several) with a golden sword - which seems very similar to Sila's sword, but clearly the wrong color - and ends up forming with appears to be a small black hole that subsequently ends up drawing her foes in. Very interesting in that, even though gravity magic is being used, we have no sign of Prav's powers.

Finally, we have this. Frey appears to gather a ball of golden energy in her right hand. She tosses it at the downed reptilian enemy, and it appears to... I'm not sure. Enter the beast? Gather energy? It's a little hard to tell with all the particle effects. Whatever it does, it ends up forming huge metallic spikes that seem to either erupt from the creature, or stab into it, or a combination of the two. And these metallic spikes look very similar in composition to Susurrus' humanoid form's metal.

Frey's Arms

Small observation here, but it has to be said: not only is Cuff - as we know him - gone, but the sunburst symbols he's been replaced with seem to be progressing along Frey's body. At least, that's what it seems like to me, given that Frey has them only on her right arm in some shots and then on both arms in others. It's obviously hard to tell the timing based on random in-game combat scenes, but this here:

This, I feel, is very likely the beginning of the DLC. It appears to be a cutscene. It involves Frey down (article states that she arrives in this time period injured), and it seems like an appropriate introduction to Tanta Cinta. If that's the case, and this is the opening, then it's very clear that Frey does not start out with any marks on her left arm.

It follows, then, that whatever is going on with those marks is progressive; she starts with a few marks on her right arm, and then they spread.

Frey's Magic and Arms: Discussion

So, let's just take a second here to address the most glaring aspect of all these new spells: they're golden. They're golden, and they appear to be metallic in nature, and some of that metal looks very similar to either the golden metal-crystals of the Break, or to Suss' body, or both.

Which leads me to one of my current theories regarding what's happening with both the spells and Frey's arms: something it going on with the bond between Cuff and Frey, and it's causing his powers to bleed into hers.

Crystalline gold metal is a symptom of the Break. And what is the Break but a mucked-up mix of Tantas' and Susurrus' powers? That's what we see on the Breakborn and the Breakbeasts (one of the bears' entries even describes the gold as crystalline). It's what we see in the Breakshards.

I don't know if this is intentional (on Frey's part) or not... though I personally worry that it's not. I worry that Susurrus is enacting his plan to drive Frey mad, except it's less about ruining her mental health and more about actually infecting her body with his essence. In the process, she gets access to his magic, but eventually... eventually, he takes her o ver. Or kills her. Whatever.

Mind you, it's also possible that this is a voluntary cooperation between the two of them, but... ehn. I'm not an optimistic person.

Especially with those lines in the DLC article: "[Frey] also learns a grim truth about herself" and "...Frey sets out to discover the truth behind these events, save Athia… and perhaps also herself." It wouldn't surprise me if that grim truth was that she's being taken over, or dying, or otherwise unable to live with a whole-ass demon contained in her body.

I am Concerned. Let's just leave it at that.

Tanta Cinta

I actually don't have much to say about Cinta. She's not a focal point for me in this, though her combat style, with the toranas liberally used, is looking excellent. I can't say too much about her spells because they're just too particle effect-y for me to make easy sense of in this trailer.

However, she apparently slits throats. Which is neat.

Where Is My Son

So, obviously, the most important thing to me, personally, in this DLC is Cuff's status and involvement.

Thus far, we haven't heard his voice, or had any mention of him in any of the written promotional material. Nothing. If I'm assessing the above screenshot correctly, he doesn't seem to be on Frey's right arm at this point (suspected opening) of the DLC. Maybe... it's hard to see. Anyway: no sign of Cuff.

Which is reeeeeally weird. Like. Either they've just cut him out of this - which I guess is not impossible but also would be (a) super strange and (b) crushingly disappointing to me personally, or whatever is going on with him is spoiler-y enough that they don't want to mention him for fear of giving story away.

It's uncomfortable for me, though. Not even any little birds when Frey does her strange new spells... I miss my wrist idiot!

I really hope they didn't just replace him with Cinta for the DLC, though I'm prepped for it. If that's the case, then I shall be a sad little lynx without my sassy commentary buddy for my playthrough. Hope he makes it through :<

The Gloaming

At the very, very end of the trailer, we have Frey asking someone what "the gloaming" does, to which an unfamiliar male voice replies: "It destroys Athia, of course."

There's no indication of what The Gloaming is. In terms of definition, "gloaming" refers to twilight, or dusk. That time of the evening when it's not quite fully dark yet, but the street lamps have come on, and you can't see as well in the waning light.

But what it is in-game... no idea.

I don't know if it involves how Rheddah has used Cuff, or if it's a totally separate thing. Don't know if it's a plan, or a machine, or a creature, or what.

Whatever it is, one thing is really apparent: people want to destroy Athia. Not conquer it, not take it over. Destroy it. Which is really, really harsh. Like... I've seen so many stories where countries are being taken over and, say, assimilated into an empire. But this doesn't appear to be that. Between how Cuff behaves in the main game, and this specific trailer line, it really seems like someone truly wants Athia to not exist. Which is much more interesting than simply wanting to rule it.

Closing Summary

All right. That was a lot. Let me see if I can just bullet-point my main feelings/observations...

the Rheddig wear highly bird-themed armor and appear to be able to use a cyan-colored magic

one of the enemies that fights alongside the Rheddig has avian wings, can fly, and doesn't appear to have feet

Cuff is either totally gone or has changed into a different form characterized by metal line and sunburst markings on Frey's arm; said markings appear to start on her right arm and eventually spread to cover both arms

it's impossible to say whether Frey can still use all of her Tanta magic; the spells showcased in the trailer appear to have a gold, metallic theme and crystallize her opponents into golden metal; this appears very similar to the Break's effects to me

Frey learns a "grim truth" about herself; no idea what this is, but my main worry is that it has something to do with Cuff infecting and destroying her, something involving how her new spells seem Break-like... basically, I worry for our daughter's safety and our wrist idiot's ability to function without killing her

I don't know know what The Gloaming is, but I assume it is not good; I likewise do not know who the man speaking at the end of the trailer is, but I assume he is not good

basically: I want my wrist idiot, and I would like him not to kill his only source of metal polish

All right! I think that's all I can manage for now. I'm sure I'll end up having more thoughts as the weeks go by... maybe we'll luck into some more content reveals!

If not, then we've only got three weeks to wait until this launches c:

#forspoken spoilers #in tanta we trust trailer

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justagirlwriting · 2 years ago

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Goddess Interrupted - Chapter 5

Warnings: Mentions of death, torture, blood, nightmares, and cursing.

Pairing: Bucky x Reader, Steve x Natasha, Tony x Pepper, Wanda x Vision, Bruce, Thor, Loki, and Sam, T’Challa, Shuri, Okoye

Word count: 1939

His hair hung from his face in such a delicate manner as he slept in his little hut. I had arrived a few minutes ago to ask him if he wanted to take a walk with me. But with how peaceful he looked I chose not to bother him and let him get the sleep he needed. I walked out of the hut and into the sunlight. I thought back to the memories I saw last night in Bucky’s mind. One of which was when he got to see sunlight again. The feeling of the sun on his face, what little there was showing, caused him to smile under the mask. He was quickly reminded that this was temporary, and he would soon have to go back underground. I savored the sunlight making a mental note to never let it be underappreciated. “Can you tell us where you learned those fighting moves?” Okoye asked me as she walked up to me. Shuri was standing to her left and T’Challa was on her right.

“If I did, I'd have to kill you. It’s a secret I promised myself I would take to my grave. And a very full grave it will be.” I walked towards them moving the conversation away from Bucky so he wouldn’t wake up.

“Is the soldier awake?” T’Challa asked. I shook my head, “Ah well he needs he rest anyway. I do wish you’d enjoy your stay just a bit more. Wakanda has always been welcomed to you and yet you've never explored it?” A question I am sure he's been dying to ask. Wakanda is full of such amazing and Earth-shattering inventions that would blow the minds of so many engineers and scientists.

“Wakanda is beautiful. Her beauty deserves to be shared. And ever since I helped you and you opened your borders to me, I’ve waited for this moment.” I replied to the king who understood just what I was trying to say.

“What is your point? What moment?” Shuri looked puzzled. Though I could understand, she’d never been in love like we had with the desire to experience something new with the person you love.

“You know for being the smartest person in Wakanda you can be a little slow sometimes,” the King looked at her laughing.

“The moment is Bucky being here. I want to see and experience Wakanda with him.” I held a handout to her. And she took it without hesitation. “I have experienced many things in my long life. Some of which I will never get another chance.” I closed my eyes and showed Shuri what my home planet looked like. Her face lit up and she laughed. “Others I hope and pray I will get to share with others.” I showed her the ocean full of colorful fish and coral. How the sun’s raise danced in the water and how the seaweed drifted with the water. Then I showed her space. The vast stars and colorful gasses that looked bright and alive. “But with Bucky I want him to get and have anything good and amazing that this new life of his offers.” I let go of her hand.

“That was beautiful. You saw all of that?” The big smile that formed while I showed her what I had seen never fell.

“I lived in the golden palace for 200 years. I lived amongst the stars for 900 and I lived in the oceans for 7. I have lived a life full of breathtaking beauty and amazing wonders that I wish I could show you Shuri.”

“So she gets to see all those ‘beautiful and breathtaking things’ and we just get to stand here and wonder forever?” I held my hand out to him. “I’m only joking, I'm sure Shuri will tell us all about it on our way back.” I shook my head in agreement.

“Are you coming with us?” Okoye asked me. I sucked in a breath and looked out into the forest.

“No, I think I am going to go for a small walk in the woods.” We said our goodbyes and they turned back to the palace. I looked back at the hut and heard Bucky still sleeping. I started my walk toward the woods. Shur, Okoye, and T'Challa were not too far away from me when a golden ring appeared around my feet. “GUYS!” they turned to me to see what I was seeing. “WHAT THE F-” I fell through the ring and landed in a room.

I looked up as the ring closed, “Y/N, are you…” T’Challa was cut off. I got to my feet and turned around to see a man wearing a red cloak and a blue suit of some kind. I was about to charge him when a figure in the corner of my eye moved. I faced it and found Thor. I was frozen in place the last time I saw Thor. I had gotten into a screaming match with him that almost ended with the both of us in the S.H.I.E.L.D. infirmary.

“Sister.”

“Don’t you dare sister me. You asshole.” A new ring of golden light appeared above us. And a man in a black suit fell through and landed on the ground. “Is this something you normally do?” I turned to the wizard.

“I have been falling for 30 minutes,” I recognized the voice immediately. Loki, my other lying and deceitful brother. He raised to his feet.

“You can handle it from here,” the wizard says to Thor.

“Yes, of course. Thank you very much for your help.” Thor shakes the wizard's hand. As another ring appears besides the wizard.

“Good luck,” the wizard whispers to Thor.

“Handle me, who are you?” Loki conjures his daggers ready to murder the fucking wizard that brought us both here. And honestly, I don’t blame him.

“Loki,” Thor attempts to calm his brother. I stand there staring at all of this not caring what happens just wanting to get back to Wakanda, to Bucky.

“You think you’re some kind of sorcerer? Don’t you think for one minute you, second rate....” Loki charges at the wizard.

“Alright, bye bye” the wizard moves the golden ring toward us. Loki falls into the grass and Thor, and I are standing there as the golden ring disappears.

“No no. Gods Damn it. Thor what the hell did you do I need to go. I can’t be here with you. And not just because I loathe your guts.” I storm towards Thor. “Get me the hell back.”

“Y/n?” Loki has gotten up and is staring at me. “You’re alive?”

“Oh shut the Hel up. I know this routine Thor played stupid when I saw him for the first time since. I know you knew so don’t even try.” I am beyond fierce with these too. But my eye catches something much more blood boiling.

“What are you…. looking at?” Loki looks at where my eyes have landed. I look around and it's only him. Our father, the bastard that destroyed my life. I storm over to him, anger rising higher and higher with every step. Thor following closely behind me, “What...? Ugh” Loki taking his spot at the end of the line.

“You! You low, evil, manipulative, lying, waste of useless trash,” I grab him by the back of his collar and throw him to the ground. Thor picks me up and hands me to Loki so he can help our father up off the ground. “Unhand me you vile ugly frost beast.” I wiggle and squirm in Loki’s hold, but he doesn’t let go. “Thor, you bastard tell him to let me go. Or I swear you are next.”

“Y/n. I’m sorry.” I hear my father speak. “I thought I was doing the right thing. Doing what I had to do for our kingdom.” I stopped moving and after a beat Loki let me go. “I never thought you’d come back.”

“You sold me to him. You forced me to endure 900 years of never-ending pain, and suffering. Made me believe that my family didn’t care whether I lived or died. My soul shattered into pieces because of you. My mind broke and my heart grew into stone. You are the reason I will spend eternity in Hel when I die.” I grabbed his collar, Thor and Loki going to grab me but stopped when I stopped.

“You won't, I'll make sure that the gods let you into Vahalla,” He spoke, cutting me off. “I didn’t know….”

“Bullshit. Why else would he have wanted me if it wasn't to turn me into a weapon. His own weapon. He wanted power and control, and you handed me to him on a silver platter. You could have won that fight with me on your side but instead you were scared of me so you threw me away. And you two let him, agreed to let me be taken from my mother and my home.” Thor and Loki looked at me then at each other. Tears slipped past my eyes, reliving the pain all over again had my chest aching.

“No, they didn’t. I lied about that too,” Odin spoke.

I smacked him across the face. “So, on top of everything you turned me against my own brothers? Why?”

“I needed you to believe that you had nothing left to live for so that you’d die easier.”

“WHAT?” the boy spoke in unison. I let go of Odin and took a step back.

“Yeah, after I escaped, I landed back home. Father had me taken to the Bifrost, away from everyone so that no one would see their princess be beheaded. But you miss understood what drove me then. It wasn’t hope, no that was lost long, long before I showed back up.” Odin looked up at me, finally meeting my eyes. “It was rage. And everything that you told me drove me to want to prove you right. Prove all of you right. You believed me to be a monster, so I became one.”

“You killed all those guards.” Thor started putting the pieces together. “You said it was the dark elves.”

“I’m sorry.” Odin pleaded with me one more time. I wasn’t going to waver when my mind was set.

“Y/n, why didn’t you call out to us for help?” Loki's puzzled face staring at the back of my head.

“I did. He blocked all messages that came from me to you, Thor, Mother, anyone. He put me there and he wasn’t going to let me tell any of you what really happened.” Thor and Loki didn’t know what to do. So they stood there and stared at their father.

“My time is coming to an end Y/n. I am truly sorry for everything I did to you. If you could find it in your heart…”

“Heart? What heart?” I squatted down to eye level with him. “For an old dying man who realized that this is his last chance to make amends before he dies.” I leaned in whispered, “Oh, that heart died the day you sentenced me to Thano’s torture.” I heard Loki suck in a deep breath. “But I'll tell you what. I'll let you go to Valhalla to plead my case and when I come for you. You better be waiting, because if you're not I will rain Hel fire on every inch and soul in Valhalla until you are handed to me.” Tears were staining his cheeks, but my heart wouldn’t break or move at the sight. I turned away from the dying old man and walked into the grassy plains. Thor and Loki sat down with their father and talked. After a moment or two he sparkled and drifted into the sky.

#marvel #shuri #okoye #tchalla #bucky #bucky x reader #thor #loki #dr strange #odin #fanfic

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polizwrites · 1 year ago

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WIP Update - 1 Aug 2023

Another pretty darned productive writing week! I touched 5 fics (3 WIPs & 2new works) for a total of 2647 words - almost half of which were on a single fic.

On Ao3, I posted:

Chapter Four of A Sugar-Coated Pill - my WinterIron No Powers Omegaverse Sugar Daddy AU

What Happens in San Francisco ... - Eddie|Venom outsider POV (secret Stucky)

Gathering Intel - Winter Soldier!Bucky mission fic

When This Issue's Gone - No Power AU Stucky crush & reunion fic

Tony Stark Bingo Mark VII - July Round Robin - Avengers Tower fic with insecure!Tony --> eventual Stony.

On Tumblr I posted:

The Dead of Night - Bucky's history with insomnia and nightmares.

A mini-ficlet prompt fill for "getting furious when someone takes advantage of the other’s weaknesses" (Rhodey x Tony)

I have 17 semi-active WIPs 😬 with my current deadlines being the Tony Stark This or That, Hot Bucky Summer and Stony AUgust events, which all wrap at the end of August.

See below cut for what I’m working on/planning to work on - arranged more or less by bingos/challenges/etc. As always, feel free to send me prompts or plot bunnies as well as asks regarding any of these projects or any other WIPs I’ve got out there. Interaction really helps feed the Muse and keep me motivated!

Seek & Destroy Collab

After reading @psychiccatpanda‘s amazing Morguna and the Green Queen, I got the itch to explore the Soldier’s POV and talked Faustie into collab’ing with me! We’re working on a new part of the series, and I’ve contributed about 900 words towards the 2500-ish we have so far. Going to see if I can squeeze any of my BBB squares into this fic.

July Break Bingo [JBB_23] (Ends 31 Jul)

I got my blackout on my 3x3 bingo card! Masterpost

Hot Bucky Summer [BBE_HBS] (Ends Aug 30)

Another @buckybarnesevents event, this time with weekly smexy prompts. My goal is to complete at least two fics/chapters per month for this challenge and have actually filled/will fill three of the 4 weeks for June and July so far.

Week Nine: FREE – cheated a bit and went back to the Week Three prompts.: (“Where do you want me?” + in my lap) - filled with Chapter 4 of A Sugar-Coated Pill

Week Ten - "Long Day at Work?" + Massages/Back Rubs -- going to try to squeeze this into Chapter 4 of Technicalities to post this Friday (4 Aug)

Week Eleven - “Give me a color” + Green/Red/Yellow – This works well with the upcoming Chapter Three of Finding Something Fresh - Beta!Sub!Bucky and omega!Dom!Steve work on pre-scene negotiations. It is crossing over with SVB Comforting Insecurity - it’s drafted at 1162 words and will post on 11 Aug.

Week Twelve - “Who’s My ___”+ Good Boy - I still have my TSB KINK: Concubine square along with SAUB's Gentle Dom... for a possibly Stuckony fic - but who gets to be the lord over his two handsome concubines, tho? Would need to have it written by either the 18th or the 23rd.

Week Thirteen - FREE WEEK - another previous prompt use - Week None's "How do you want me?" + Tied Down crossing over with SVB Tied to A Bed, ACB Sex Toys and CABB Licking Lips squares for Chapter Four of Finding Something Fresh. This chapter would post either 8/25 or 8/30 - I've got 147 words toward it so far.

Tony Stark This or That [TSTOT_23] (Ends 31 Aug)

Excited to see this event (hosted by @tstot ) come back! When you sign up, you get a card with 10 prompts in pairs - so to complete the card, you create five fanworks. I have two prompts posted and two ideas so far.

* 1a - Love Letters brainstormed with @somesortofitalianroast and Meg during the @buckybarnesbingo Discord party and will be combining this with my BBB Fireplace prompt for a 1980′s No Powers WinterIron fic where they discover that someone’s writing them both the same love letters.

4b - Disaster - Crossover with CABB Skydiver AU and Week 1 of Stony AUgust - Profession. - Falling For You -- Rhodey talks Tony into trying out skydiving - Sam and Steve are the instructors for their tandem jumps, but things don't go quite as planned. I have the basic fic sketched out and am shooting to have a 600-800 chapter done and posted by the 5th - with a second chapter following soon after.

Stony AUgust (Ends 31 Aug)

This weekly prompt challenge is run as a part of the @stonyauniverse bingo, but you don't have to be participating in the bingo to play along!

Week 1 - Profession - Chapter One of Falling For You - see TSTOT Disaster above

All Caps Bingo [ACB_R1] (Ends 30 Sep)

I’ve got fifteen completed fics, three WIPs and will be pursuing the One Fill, One Bingo Challenge for Row 5. "Man, shut the hell up!", Alpha Bucky Barnes, James Rhodes, Humping, Competitive Idiocy

* N2 - Sex Toys - Filling this with Chapter 4 of Finding Something Fresh - see HBS Week 13 above.

* G1 - Isaiah Bradley - Planning to add more to The Fist, Defeated. (possibly present day)

* G2 - Nesting - This works with the upcoming Chapter 5 of Sugar-Coated Pill where Bucky and Tony finally get together. I’m combining it with my TSB “Are you there yet?” and WIB Blowjob squares. It’s sitting at 1229 words and will post sometime in August.

* G3 - Established Relationship - planning to fill this with Chapter 2 of Half of the Flesh and Blood That Makes Me Whole - a Bucky POV remix of at least the first part of Take What Was Wrong (And Make it Right), which is current sitting at 52 words. I’m expecting at least one more chapter, possibly two, depending on how far I want to take the remix.

* O3 - Pararescue Sam Wilson - may try to squish this into an expansion of A Rising Star - a previous Flash Fiction Friday fill.

* July Adoptable - Mate Induced Heat/Rut – Posted Chapter 4 of Sugar-Coated Pill.

Sam Wilson Bingo [SWB_R3] (Ends 15 Oct 2023)

I have four fills and one WIP - I need to work on cross fills between this and the All Caps, Bucky Barnes and Captain Bottom bingo!

* B4 - Natasha Romanoff - Maybe add on to my Card Sharks drabble, where SamNat & Steve conspire to create a polycule with Bucky? this idea crosses over nicely with my BBB KINK: Seduction mission square

* G3 - Joaquin Torres - see ACB Pararescue Sam Wilson above.

WinterIron Bingo - [WIB_R1] (Ends 16 Dec 2023)

I have twelve fills completed and two WIPs for this brand-new bingo event that I’m helping mod! Along with crossfilling against my other bingos, I’m going to try to combine my B column squares for the Iron Soldier badge (complete a bingo with a single work). – Alpha Tony Stark, “That was not my intention.”, James Rhodes, Alpine loves Tony and Blind date. (Tony POV remix of A Sugar Coated Pill?)

* N1 - Bucharest – I think I can fold this into a future chapter of My Love is Vengeance - where a young!Tony and a recovering!Bucky have been kidnapped by Hydra, who still thinks Bucky is the Soldier.

* G2 - Eye contact during sex - This will come into play in Chapter 6 of A Sugar-Coated Pill

* G4 - AU: College Students – looking to expand Beaten to the Punch with some backstory on Bucky and Tony as science camp counselors to fit with this square - will also cross over with my WFB Volunteering Together square.

* O2 - Blowjob - Chapter 5 of A Sugar-Coated Pill – see ACB Nesting above.

* O5 - Gentle – use this poem as inspiration?

Stucky’Verse Bingo Round 1 - [SVB_R1] (Ends 22 Dec)

Seven fills, three WIPs and a couple of ideas - I need to review my card for potential crossfills and other idea sparks.

* A1 - Harem - crossover with CABB Secret/Forbidden Relationship - Bucky and shrimpy!Steve are both concubines - they love each other more than their lored.

* A4 - Fairy Tale Curse - this seems custom-made for a continuation of Beyond the Beast😁 Nothing written yet, other than some Vague Ideas.

* B3 - Tied to a Bed – Chapter Four of Finding Something Fresh - see HBS Week 13 😁

* B5 - Comforting Insecurity - Chapter Three of Finding Something Fresh - see HBS Week 11.

* D4 - Edging - Chapter (more likely Five) of Technicalities -

* Adoptable - Things Have Changed – Filled this with When This Issue's Gone - No Powers AU roughly based on the J Geils Band song "Centerfold" It crossed over with my JBB Mutual Pining square, came in at 1955 words and posted on the 31st.

* Aug Monthly Prompt: Shy Bucky – filling this with for Chapter Four of Technicalities - see HBS Week 10.

Bucky Barnes Bingo - [BBB_R5] (Ends 10 Jan 2024)

I’ve got ten fills, three WIPs, and a couple more Vague ideas.

*B2 - KINK: Seduction Mission - might add a new chapter to Card Sharks - where Sam/Natasha and Steve finish what they started to get Bucky onboard for a poly partnership.

* U1 - Never the fall that kills you - I've got a WinterIron hanahaki fic idea for this that I want to play with.

* U3 - Fireplace - see TSTOT Love Letters above

* C2 - Yelena Belova– The plan is to use this prompt in the next chapter of Peresmešnik, (aka Three Avengers and a Baby), which is currently sitting at 1100 words (400-ish of which are mine).

* C5 - Marriage of Convenience/Pretend Couple - next chapter of Lady Natasha’s Consort and Lord Steve’s Companion. Not quite sure where to take this next at the moment. 😕

* K3 - Magic - Aro!Bucky sickfic idea?

* Y1 - Gentle Sex -upcoming Chapter 5 of Sugar-Coated Pill – see ACB Nesting above

* Y2 - [image: IW Bucky with the good hair] A Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF198 What Comes Next] was a perfect match for an idea I’d already been playing around with to fill this square. Getting Prepared -(updated title = Preparations) an A:IW missing scene set between the time that T’Challa and Okoye come for Bucky and the moment he sees Steve again. I will post it to Ao3 sometime in the next month or so.

* Y3 - Alpine - see WIB Iron Soldier combo.

* Y4 - Forgotten Things - using this for Chapter 4 of You Can’t Stop It With a Gun - it’s sitting at 116 words at the moment.

* May Adopted - Insomnia - finally got this filled with The Dead of Night, which also filled last week's Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF211 An Old Friend] along with my JBB FREE square. It came in an 317 words and will post to Ao3 before this event ends.

Tony Stark Bingo Round 7 - [TSB_R7] (ends 15 Feb)

Four fills and two WIPs, with a couple of ideas in play.

* S1 - Galaxy - possibly use in final chapter of Never More to Go Astray ?

* S4 - “Are you there yet?” -upcoming Chapter 5 of Sugar-Coated Pill – see ACB Nesting above

* T1 - "Tony, no. Tony, yes!" - filled this with the July TSB Discord Round Robin fic - Tony feels badly about having missed an Assemble call; turns out that's not all he missed. My part came in at 302 words.

* T5 - Shawarma - possible crossover with SAUB Canon Divergence – Battle of New York-related?

* A2 - KINK: Concubine - possible crossover with SAUB Gentle Dom and HBS Week 12.

* A4 - Historical - possible crossover with SAUB AU: Pirate?

* R1 - Animal Transformation - DemonPanda shared a fun prompt on the WIB server - Tony as a short-haired werewolf who needs to cuddle his pack members for warmth.

* R4 - Playing Games - filled this with my part of the Tony Stark Bingo Mark VII - June Round Robin– where Bucky and Tony suggest a scavenger hunt at the Sanctum Sanctorum. My part came in at 327 words.

* R5 - Doppelganger/Evil Twins - this will probably cross over with my Stony AUniverse AU: Crack square as I have a semi-silly idea for it, inspired by seeing a T shirt of mine in a mirror.

Stony AUniverse Bingo [SAUB_R1] (ends 15 Feb)

Another brand-new bingo I’m helping co-mod! One fill, two WIPs and several crossover WIPs and ideas already!

* S2 - AU: Crack - see TSB Doppelganger/Evil Twins

* S3 - AU: Wings - see ACB Established Relationship

* S5 - Accidental Baby Acquisition - see BBB Yelena Belova

* T1 - AU: Fantasy - CoffeeOwl shared a really cool dragon!Steve/indebted!Tony prompt in the ACB Discord server that I may be playing with for this.

* T4 - AU: Canon Divergence - see TSB Shawarma above.

* N1 - AU: Spy - I want to expand on/add backstory to Keeping All My Secrets Safe Tonight from the Stony Drabbles challenge earlier.

* N2 - Mutual Pining - crossover with CABB Royal Knight?

* N3 - Gentle Dom - see TSB KINK: Concubine above

* N4 - AU: Pirate - see TSB Historical above.

* Y5 - Broken Bone - crossover with CABB C2 - Black Eye for Chapter Two of Falling For You - aka the aftermath of the Stony skydive.

Captain (America) Bottom Bingo - Round 2 [CABB] (ends 28 Feb 2024)

I forgot I signed up for a 3x3 card for this bingo until it dropped into my mailbox on Tuesday! 😁 At any rate, I've already got several crossover ideas and one WIP!

* A1 - Licking Lips - Chapter Four of Finding Something Fresh - see HBS Week 13

* A2 - Secret/Forbidden Relationship - see SVB Harem

* A3 - AU: Skydiver - Chapter One of Falling For You - see TSTOT Disaster.

* B3 - Royal Knight - see SAUB Mutual Pining.

* C2 - Black eye - Chapter Two of Falling For You - see SAUB Broken bone.

Warm and Fluffy Bingo - [WFB] (no end date)

I got my card from @warmandfluffybingocards back in February but really hadn’t done much with it - however, I’m picking it back up for some crossover possibilities!

* O5 - Volunteering Together – see WIB AU: College Students

————

On other creative fronts: I have a Spider-Man Stuffed With Character figure in progress for an upcoming con. I will be making an announcement about commissions sometime in August so if you’re looking for one of a kind gifts for birthdays or other celebrations, check out Stuffed With Character over on Facebook for a full list of my designs (now over 100!). These soft stuffed figures are mostly Marvel and monsters, but I have some Star Wars, Star Trek, DC and Disney figures as well. Plus I love to take custom design requests for any fandom!

#writing stuff #wip wednesday #wip update #shameless self promo

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dc-ocs-200x · 1 year ago

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FILE

Trigger Warnings: Beginning of Backstory delves into kid fights (like dog fights but with kids), murder, and imprisonment.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

General Information

Name: Wrath "Lucias"

Nicknames: Lu, Luce, Luci, Lu-Lu, Little Soldier, Braxie

Age: Melina years worth, physically appears to only be 22-24

Species: Embodiment of wrath, immortal being, once was a Cambion

Gender: AMAB, identities as agender

Pronouns: it/its/itself

Sexuality: Demisexual panromantic

D.O.B.: October 29th

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio ♏️

Alignment: Bounces between Chaotic Good and Neutral Neutral/Neutral Good depending on if it's angry or not

Classification: Alpha

Physical Appearance

Skin color: White with a reddish-tan tint

Hair Color: Half black (left side), half white (right side)

Hair Style: Doesn't put much effort into its hair, often leaving it messy looking, it's length often stays just below it's ears (per Cain's demands) but it has had it longer and shorter before

Eye Color: Red

Wears: Much like it's hairstyle, Wrath isn't fussy over what it wears, when it's in control of its outfits it usually goes with comfortable shirts, sometimes a hoody, and pants (grunge style pants either ripped, with chains, or with deigned patches), however when asked, it has been known to wear the more formal taste of it's uncles choices, frilly button ups and all

Personality

Personality: Wrath is the walking form of 'if looks could kill'. To be the barer of the sin of wrath, it is surprisingly calm and not one to immediately jump into conflict. When it is worked up, however, all hell breaks loose. It has a surprisingly big heart for that sin as well, willing to take on all the responsibility of everyone's safety against anyone or anything. Emotions are not Wrath's forte, seeing as it had been taught to suppress them from a young age but it has worked on better expressing itself, throughly interested in the emotions it can feel and how far those feelings can go. In pair with not being good with its feelings, it doesn't express them too much as a means of intimidation, it wants strangers to be weary of it, and in turn of its family, as a means to protect them. While having a stronger build due to its powers, Wrath is extremely skillful and agile, very light on its toes mainly from its days before it was sin barer of wrath. While not popping up all the time, Wrath can be extremely sensitive especially with its past as it can remember every fight it has gone through, every face of every child its fought (and killed), every outcome of the fights, on those days it tends to be more secluded and moody, though it tries not to make it obvious not wanting to worry its family. It has a photographic memory.

Likes: Cuddling, being held, cooking, protecting others, learning, being read to, emotions, rain and mud puddles, playful wrestling, coloring

Dislikes: Being seen as weak, nightmares, it's photographic memory, having its picture taken, pettiness, not having some kind of control over its emotions

Fears: Hurting others, being heavily reminded of its past, being seen/called evil, mild fear of strong storms

Quotes

Quote 1: "If you have something to say, then say it out loud, jackass."

Quote 2: "I am being nice. Do I make you angry, uneasy?"

Quote 3: "Preferred pronouns?"

Quote 4: "Alright, Lu. A bit easier, huh?"

Quote 5: "By choice. They can respect me regardless of what I go by. Can you?"

Quote 6: "So... we kinda have that in common, Uncle Cain? Your mark and my mark, as a reminder?"

Quote 7: "Stop asking me questions, I hate to see you cry."

Quote 8: "We are one in the same. Oh, you take all of the pain away."

Quote 9: "She.... she was... sweet... always looking out for me... tried shielding me from dad and his ways.... but, as he put it 'she couldn't do it forever'... she'd hug me close and tell me things about the human life every night. But every night it was something different. Lullabies, stories, sometimes she'd ramble random facts until I fell asleep."

Relationship With Other Characters

Envy "Raven": One of Wrath's best friends and one of two sins that it's willing to be a little more open with in regards to its insecurities and fears, Wrath refuses to let anyone hurt a hair on Envy's head and it dares anyone to try, it is willing to take Envy's vents, even going as far as to provoke his anger just to help his mood, letting him wrestle with it.

Pride "Athena": Sees Pride as its little sister making it protective over her, especially as it saw Envy and Pride practically glued to the hip when they all were children, it enjoys letting her fuss over its hair and outfits, gladly going along with whatever she wants to put it in.

Greed "Lux": Has a bad tendency to regard Greed like an immature child, often expecting him to break his toys and whine about it afterwards that said, Wrath does find something endearing about it, truly seeing Greed as it's baby brother.

Gluttony "Nyx": Like all the other sins, Gluttony was the youngest sibling it grew up with for a while, so that automatically makes it a lot more protective of her, this is where it's big sibling tendencies shine the brightest.

Sloth "Salem": The Yin to Wrath's Yang, Salem gets to see all sides of Wrath, except for its utter rage (something Wrath thankfully doesn't feel much of these days and is something it doesn't want to show Sloth, worried it will either hurt or scare them), the two balance each other out extremely well, Sloth being the only person that can quickly calm it back down.

Lust "Darcey": More often than not, these two do not get along, Wrath sees Lust as an annoying nuisance, and while Lust doesn't have a thing against Wrath himself, he definitely doesn't help his case by teasing it, that said Wrath still will not tolerate slander against Lust's name and is more than ready to protect and defend him.

Cain: Cain and Wrath do not always see eye to eye, that being said, Wrath is more than prepared to step up to defend Cain against anyone taking it as 'no one gets to say you're a piece of shit except for the people that live in this house', and Cain does hold plenty of endearment towards Wrath himself, finding its wrathful and even violent tendencies entertaining at times.

Abel: Abel was another adult that helped Wrath with its emotional regulation, while not quite to the extent Satan is due to Abel being a rather gentle soul, he was the best adult to calm it down, especially when it was still young, even now as an adult when it feels itself growing agitated but it's usual sources of comfort are busy with their own things, Wrath will be content to go and be simply held by Abel for a short time to settle itself.

Satan: While these two started off extremely rocky, they have an amazing relationship now, Satan helping teach Wrath some kinds of emotional regulation and ways to calm its anger, Satan is the one adult it feels understands its feelings and can help it the best.

Freyja: Sees Freyja as a part of the family, wholeheartedly, it doesn't think there could be anyone to better fit in with their ragtag bunch, and suit Pride so perfectly, that said it is a creature of few words towards her, not that Wrath is much of a talker to anyone.

Mina: Wrath throughly impressed and interested about Mina, seeing as it was one of the first to see that she was a lot more sneaky and clever than she let on, and then being able to survive Greed and his temper tantrums, it will playfully dismiss her as just as childish as Greed seeing as she is his 'playmate' but there obviously is a lot more respect for her than it let's on.

Achilles: Just like Amityville, it automatically took Achilles somewhat under its care, it's not the most present mentor but it is very willing to teach Achilles what it can, especially in regards to his demon powers having seen all of it in Hell, it was the first to point out that his wings are a weapon and not just in the sense they allow him to fly, it also offers what it can in regards to emotions controlling one's physical strength and how to balance the two out.

Amityville: As mentioned, Wrath became somewhat of a mentor to Amity, just as it is for Achilles, also teaching her about her demon powers especially in regards to her tail which also is not just there for decoration, it got to know Amity a little bit easier due to them having a lot of one on one time during the nights, with them both being night owls, it helps out whenever and wherever it can also in regards to emotions, it may not be good at expressing its own but there's no denying it has done its studying.

Backstory

Wrath was born to a woman, Clementine, who wanted children but was unable to have any, leading her to make a deal with an incubus who promised her a child, what the woman didn't realize was she was signing away her life. As soon as she became pregnant, she was locked away in Hell by said incubus. The pregnancy was rough and resulted in Lucias. The first year was as normal as things could be in Hell, but by age two, Lucias had its natural demon abilities peeking through as well as advancing far past the average human two-year-old making its father, Frollo, decide it was time for some 'fun'. He signed Wrath up for a local fight in Hell, 'kid fights' as they were called where demon children of all ages fought each other often times to the death, but at the very least severe injury. From there, that was what what its life consisted of. Training and fighting. It's only break from the horrific cycle was the nighttime, the only time Clementine was able to see her baby. She'd hold it close and soothe it to sleep with talk of the human world and what it was like, sometimes singing lullabies to it, sometimes random facts, stories, whatever she could think of at the time. This, tragically, came to a hard stop when Frollo finally fully drained Clementine of her life-force. He locked her away from Lucias and he forced it to continue fighting for his and other Hellish beings amusement. This was its life until it was about 11 when Cain and Abel got ahold of it. It being framed almost as a kidnapping Lucias was extremely weary of them at first, when it became immortal it took the illness better than most of the other kids, going practically comatose through the first day and sleeping it on and off through the second. Once better was when it first attacked Cain, but with Abel helping talk it back down, Lucias was able to begin its road to being the sin barer of Wrath. It first met Sloth when Cain and Abel brought home their limp body. Wrath was immediately fascinated and infatuated, often sneaking into the room even when not allowed. It was practically glued at the hip once it was able to be.

Extra Information

It's immortality tattoo is placed on the very center of its back, right on the spine which is said to be the most painful spot.

Wrath was originally named Abraxas by its parents, but when Cain and Abel found it, it came up with the first name it could and that eventually stuck. Wrath doesn't mind as it feels this seperates it from it's dad.

It has a scar on its right hand in the shape of a bite mark which it got from when it bit Cain upon still being new to the House of Mysteries.

Is (currently) the only sin that I've adapted to the Netflix version of Sandman, Lucias being a living embodiment of wrath made in order to keep the Waking world's wrath at bay.

While being Satan's sin barer of Wrath, Wrath also is the ruler of the Anger ring of hell.

During its time as a fighter it has seen children like each of the sins die, sometimes even by its own hands.

It has two full on fangs in place of its canines.

When it and Cain get into altercations (very rarely does it happen) both more try to restrain the other into submission more than hurt the other seeing as Cain's mark means Wrath gets hurt seven fold and Wrath is strong enough to cause a lot of physical hurt to Cain, neither want to see the other hurt though.

Despite how they look, Wrath's horns have a kind of velvety texture to them, it's also a bit of a pleasure spot for it in the same response a cat gives to being pet.

Wrath's powers include super strength and super stamina, it also has some lower grade demon powers like energy manipulation but it's been so long since it has used it that it would take some time and energy for it to tap back into it.

A very distinct speech pattern of Wrath's includes skipping letters in its words (some examples I've done in my writings include: 'nimals, suppose', and what're).

Has a love hate relationship with fire.

It's adoption day is celebrated August 5th.

It was the second child obtained but is the oldest in age.

Little Soldier is its special nickname from Cain and Abel, neither are really sure who started it but it simply stuck.

Playlist

You're Not Welcome, Naethan Apollo, 2:30

Mama, My Chemical Romance, 4:38 (♡Theme Song)

Hell's Coming With Me, Poor Man's Poison, 3:32

I Am Damaged, Barret Wilbert Weed & Ryan McCartan, 1:25

My Demons, STARSET, 4:47

Surface Pressure, Jessica Darrow, 3:21

Picrews made of it (not all include its horns or split hair because they weren't an option for the picrew)

One of my favorite Tik Toks of it (Very hard choice because I loved almost all of its)

Defending Cain against someone (idea gotten from the original Dreaming comics issue #8).

Tags: @p3achgutz-blog

#dc #dc next gen #dc next gen oc #dc next generation #dc next generation oc #dc oc #oc #original character #original child character #dc wrath #wrath oc #oc wrath #wrath dc #wrath #lucias #the it of inferno

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becauseplot · 9 months ago

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Hohh wednesdays are busy for me so that + brainfog tuesday + physics hell = lots of Things needed to happen yesterday, but im back :D

Ehehehhehe more Factorial fic for me to chew on. Even if I have no idea what's going on I'm sure I'll like it for at least the writing.

Love my gel pens so so so much. Love using them up completely to write. When I was in middle school, I was gifted one of those big ol pen packs of like forty fuckmillion cheap gel pens in every color imaginable, and I burned through them so fast while writing. I kept them all in the bottom of my backpack and the collection grew to the point where I could just pull out a literal fistful of used-up gel pens going like ":D" to weird out my friends.

Oof sorry you're under the weather. Hope you get to feeling better soon :( And yeah goddamn your sister to reiterate I am scared of her but she sounds awesome. I've got an older brother who is also very cool---headstrong guy, which both helps and hurts him lol. He's trying to become a bartender and honestly, it sounds like the perfect job for him. He's very personable and just loves to talk to people and get to know them, and bartending would be the perfect job for someone who just loves to People.

Tbh it wasn't until more recently that I could say that my brother and I are friends. We argued a lot as kids and then for a good number of years he was just...kinda someone who lived in the same house as me. And then. Idk I guess somewhere between me going off to school and both of us individually working/going through some Stuff we finally got to know each other? And he's like, actually my friend now. And last year he made it clear that he truthfully, genuinely cares for me and will be there for me and ueueuueueue 0(-( I've never really had anyone in my corner like that before. Like my parents are great and I love em to bits and I've had some amazing close friends, but there are some things that you cant tell your parents and there are some things your friends cant help you with, ya kno? (URGHH im getting choked up thinking about this /pos thinking of my brother as my friend still feels so surreal to me.)

Also he's a poet! And like a really fucking good poet holy shit. Like I knew he loved songwriting for a while and had performed at slam poetry nights but I didn't realize how good he was until he performed one of his pieces for us at a family function and I was. Floored. We talk about writing and word choice on occasion and most of our texting conversations consist of funny posts we send each other. It's nice.

Ghost child getting a gentle ending this is all I wanted for him <3

Ohhh chaos! There is a lot going on there, really looks like everyone is scattered trying to get a handle on the situation, ohh absolute nightmare. The detail of Pac with the Doctor who is armed is suchhhh a good one. Really illustrates their dire situation, where the person who heals is forced to take up arms. Traditional war says "honor code---don't kill the medics, leave the wounded alone" but this war does not give a shit about any of that. (which happens irl. which makes this feel very, very, very human despite the nature of their circumstances.) (or perhaps it is because of the nature of their circumstances.) (i remember watching a bit of a show abt an alien invasion starting in different locations all over the world, and at some point an American soldier, a man from an invaded middle-eastern town, and the man's family were driving away in a car having escaped the aliens for now, and the American soldier commented to the man about how the man's wife and children in the back seat seemed relatively calm despite Everything that had happened and Everything they had seen because, you know, alien invasion. and the man replied that this is hardly the first time that they've been "invaded" by "aliens". and i think about that a lot.)

Archivists so beloved fr. You're right about Cellbit having to take care of Phil, it's so interesting watching Cellbit have this borderline identity crisis about if he's a "good man" or if he's actually capable of being gentle and using his hands to heal instead of hurt while he's like actively wrapping bandages and helping Phil. and Phil is just sitting there like "awww yeah Cellbit my trustworthy friend my friend whom i trust i put my life in your hands because i trust you yesyes". On the other way around, Phil---always has food on hand, values sleep, health potions up the wazoo when he can get his hands on 'em---taking care of Cellbit---lives primarily off of coffee, sleep is a naught but a distant memory, most likely got a deep-seeded walk-it-off complex from his time in the war---also has potential. late night in the Order Phil looking at Cellbit walking in looking half-dead and Phil asking him if he's alright and wrestling out of Cellbit the fact that Cellbit hasn't eaten yet and hasn't slept in however many fuckin days, Phil staring at him like "damn bitch you live like this?? go to BED man holy shit" Alternatively, Phil sees Cellbit is doing badly but Cellbit brushes it off until Phil mentions he left something in the other room and Cellbit's like "oh i got it" and stands up from the table a little too fast and [WINDOWS SHUTDOWN NOISE]. (<-this has been living in my head for too long i just gotta string some more coherent plot along w it) I'm more silly with them tbh but they live in my head. Cellbit regaining conscious to Phil being like "yeah i think youre done for the night mate" and Cellbit being like "idk what youre talking about im literally awake now i didnt even hit my head" "because i caught you dumbass" "look im good i promise, we can keep going" and Phil giving him a Look "...im messaging Roier" "no, wait--"

Just,,, thinking about pre-purgatory and both of their histories, Cellbit growing up in a warzone and Phil's nebulous "survivalist" background. They both push themselves but Cellbit is terribly self-destructive with it. Phil, having lived a long life, knows better how to pace himself and take the breaks when he can so he can be prepared for when shit really hits the fan, meanwhile Cellbit over here trying to brute force his way through an ongoing crisis, soldier on, fight or die run or die kill or die, it's always the worst case scenario. And Phil looking at him and thinking, "Does he know he doesn't have to give 100% all the damn time? Does he know that's not how you survive a crisis?" Little does Phil know that surviving the crisis is not always part of Cellbit's plans. Idk chewing on them.

The ingredients for an Archivists AU/fic are still on the counter I just gotta get them organized into something coherent and then I can tell you more. But the idea that it'll center around is "Marginal acquaintances forced to work together because reality is being weird and there is Something Going On and no one seems to notice it but them." (Issue: I don't typically write mystery like at all. If I ever write it, it will be Difficult.)

Yeah time with friends! My pre-uni friends are by far my closest ones. I don't rly have anyone that I'm close to here at university (making friends here is. hard. and. still an ongoing process.) so I'm looking forward to spending time w them.

They deserve ALL of the blankets and hot chocolate and X-factor on the couch. The world hurts them enough :(((

Ohhh Duchess sounds interesting :0 by "your NPC" do you mean you played her or you just wrote her or both? Just to be clear lmao im curious.

Really sucks not being able to study archeology bc shit health :( but at least that corpse knowledge is being put to good use.

Tbh I don't ever watch reality TV. Like, ever, I hate it, it's boring. However, during finals week last semester, between study sessions and exams one of my roommates would watch Hell's Kitchen and I'd drop in every now and then and watch some of it with her and we'd laugh at how dramatic it was and how shitty the contestants were to each other and cuss out the assholes. Loads of fun.

God I love hugs too. Absolute horseshit that your health prevents you from getting one >:/ I haven't had a hug from a friend in *googles* 67 days. When I see my friends during spring break I am going to full-body tackle one of them and force them to just lay on the couch w me. Gonna take a nap on them. They won't move bc that would make me sad and they wouldn't want to do that because then I'll revoke their kneecap privileges :>

I know nothing about Pokemon but I trust your process :thumbsup: Man idek what videogames i played as a kid lmao what did i even do? I think i just played Minecraft, Kirby Mass Attack, Mario Kart, and various Mario Bros games on loop. Much much much later I just played Breath of the Wild over and over and over and over. Hence my well-loved but currently abandoned botw au(s).

Adding Eric's Song to the list! Epic. Shooting one back at you: How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20. My personal end-credits song tbh. Makes me insane. I took an Apocalyptic Literature class (ALSO an incredible class with an incredible prof) and it gave me a new appreciation for it.

finished ep 10 of osnf (long post under the cut oh lord)

crying sobbing kicking over chairs screaming CELLBIT IS AN EVIL EVIL MAN WHY WOULD HE DO THAT. FOR WHAT REASON. POR CUAL RAZÓN. LO ODIO. <-said with the utmost adoration and respect of a writer but the fury of a fan who just had to endure all of that my hearttttt 0(-(

god fuck i have thoughts and feelings regarding episode 10 of osnf. obviously. i don't even know how to start.

okay. first of all the way that he was able to orchestrate the like 57839 different POVs of the nightmare happening at the same time was actually pretty smooth, all things considered. being able to forcibly mute/deafen the others is a good thing to be able to do yesyes.

second, im losing my mind over how he hides the fact that "it's all a dream" WITHIN the "it's all a dream" trope by having the creatures be manifestations of dreams/guilt in "reality" themselves. idk if i'm making any sense, but like, you get it, right? like, it's the fact that we thought we had already discovered the dream-based deceit in the segment because of what the "Hotelier" told Joui at the start of it, but it turns out that THAT was a red-herring of sorts for the TRUE dream-based deceit, that EVERYTHING was a dream, not just the creatures. god there are fucking layers to this im foaming at the mouth that's soooo good.

i guess that's what makes the "it's all a dream"-style trope present here feel less cliche. because, you know, it is a trope, and it's not really a trope that i'm fond of, but because there's actually more going on, it feels less cheap. what certainly helps is that the fact that it's roleplay, so the reactions from the characters are so much more raw, and there are some irl stakes (character dead = out of the series = can't play anymore). that definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat.

edit: something i forgot to mention—what i dislike abt the “it’s all a dream” trope the most is that it is very easily something that can be so, so cheap. all angst, no stakes or consequences, no lasting impact on the plot on the characters. however, not only is there a “physical” impact via several characters losing SHITLOADS of sanity (something not easily recovered) but we get to see a little more into the psyche of the characters. which i suppose is often the point of the “it’s all a dream” segments, but this dream—one with a lot of references to past major character death and itself contains major character death—rings especially true for the themes of the series: the world they live in is dangerous, and the work they do is lethal. people have and will die. and they do and will feel guilty, reguardless if they are at fault. it’s not a horrifying death dream just for the sake of being a death dream, it feels grounded in their reality, and i love that.

third, man he did not hold back. when Arthur was being beaten to a pulp by not!Brúlio, i was actually in shock, i was screaming. plus, i think the fact that Cellbit rolled a 001 when not!Brúlio attacked actually helped to hide the fact that this was a dream. it made it look like it was bad luck rather than the segment was designed to kill the characters (well, at least until he revealed that the damage was 1d4+1d6, but i'll get to that later).

gosh the narration of how not!Brúlio killed Arthur. holy shit. i don't. i don't even have words, that is DEVASTATING. that is probably one of the worst ways for a person to go. i know it's a dream but if i were Arthur i would be emotionally fucked up beyond belief. beaten to a bloody pulp by the father who once loved you so much, screaming at you for abandoning him and that it's your fault he died a horrible death. and then he drops your body on the ground like you're nothing but a pile of useless meat. god. damn.

and then Liz. ohhhh Liz. i just. i was devastated. her whole struggle with Alex, the man she treated so horribly. yes it's true the real Alex never would have said these things to you, but how do you know he wasn't thinking it? that he didn't want to? that what not!Alex says doesn't hold some truth? christttt. and of course the way she dies: in complete agony. and did she forgive herself? because, unlike with not!Brúlio, the creature turned into that weird wispy black thing just as she died, and i would assume that means she forgave herself (if those rules even apply considering this was all a result of the parasite's deceit (holy hell my brain is melting i am the man with the hand on the conspiracy board)).

fourth: the 1d4+1d6 thing! when he read that out, i was stunned. that is a LOT of damage considering all of the characters have ~10 HP. with an extreme roll, that's basically an insta-kill, or it's easily a two-hit-kill. i thought Arthur was unlucky, but when Liz also went down, i was---well, devastated, at first, because that's Liz, she's my absolute favorite and i love her, but i started going through all five stages of grief at once, and at some point i arrived at "no that can't be right" because Cellbit is a good writer. and to deliberately construct a scenario where it would be VERY hard for a character to survive while still in the middle of the story? yeah. and yknow the fact that there's still 6 other episodes fhdsjk. (then again the series continues regardless if a character dies and i haven't looked at other episodes' thumbnails or anything like that for this exact reason. so. i was going in as blind as i could reasonably be.)

in any case, realizing and connecting all of this and then hearing the "Hotelier" start yelling at Joui right after Liz died explicitly blaming him for it sealed it for me: this is a trick of some sort. this is a dream sequence of some sort. these aren't real deaths. (a smaller part of me was still scared that they were real because i know that Cellbit does not shy away from killing off his players' characters, if op and opq are anything to go by. but i digress.)

and then the characters turned to black goo. and i just about threw my computer. rip Luba who got absolutely targeted by the GM lmfao.

anyway uhhh that's about it regarding the dream sequence! loving luzidius!joui and how he just keeps switching back and forth. ((and it further supports my little side-theory that the mysterious blond woman last seen with Team Kelvin was a luzidious we win these.)) i was surprised to see Liz thinking it was so cool when she's been so suspicious of everything in Santo Berco since she got here, but i think she could definitely be using it as a distraction from what she just went through, and honestly she's just happy to see Joui is okay. (the way she gave on up words and just hugged him, the way she held his face in her hands, the way she dragged him down the hall to show Thiago and Thiago was just telling her to fuck off (/aff) because he was getting dressed, my heartttt i love these three, mentor-mentee dynamics my fucking beloved)

also new outfits! sweet! istg the new outfits are so Cellbit's way of apologizing for putting his friends through that. "hey sorry i killed your character in the most emotionally devastating way possible it will happen again wOAH LOOK AT THESE NEW CLOTHES AREN'T THEY SO COOL YOU SHOULD TRY THEM ON!!!"

i've been having mixed feelings about the sudden setting/genre change since the group arrived in Santo Berco. i really, really loved the urban horror-fantasy vibe that they had going on in op and the first 8 eps of osnf, but evidently, this is good as well. the genre is most definitely still horror yippee. i definitely miss the urban-modern setting, but i think i can get adjusted to this. (i'm just,,, not the biggest fan of the auto-heal crystals im sorry i had to say it they feel too op i know their use is limited to visiting the doctor but knowing they exist lowers the in-world stakes for me im sorry---)

anyway, ep 10! you beautiful monster! i have been typing for an hour! i need to go eat food! k bye!

#hhough i have so many assignments lol #and a midterm cries #okay i get working now

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