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lovely-necromancy · 3 years ago

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A Cure for Insomnia CH 1.

This is a reader insert I originally started posting on AO3. I’m cross posting here because I know some of the fandom still lives here.

Quick Disclaimer:

This is a fic I'm writing for my own comfort.

I was inspired by RaeBees (you can check out their works over on Quotev and AO3), and how they characterize the "proxies". Having always seen the characters different than most of the fandom I've interacted with I never really shared my thoughts until now. This work is only placed in the Creepypasta tag so it reaches its demographic. However, I am fully aware of the fact that no main character is considered a Pasta.

It may also appear to lean more Toby X Protag in the beginning but end goal is protag with all three, and Brian and Tim already in a relationship. How I picture it now is a slowburn but Toby and Protag will be in a friends with benefits relationship before either has any feelings, so I think that counts. Some may be confused by the asexual protag tag but it'll be explained in story, as an Ace myself I get frustrated with media that only show one version and say it goes for us all. That being said I don't represent the whole Ace community but I hope to provide a bit more representation for some others out there.

Protag will be depicted as agender, and will have a few tics that stem from their Autism. Again I don't speak for any others with Autism but I hope to provide some representation for those in similar positions.

Tags will be updated as the story progresses. Canon-Typical violence and mental health issues are to be expected if you feel uncomfortable with those aspects I advise you to not engage. This story will also have a lot of NSFW themes and scenes so I highly discourage anyone under the age of 18 from viewing this work. You will get warnings on chapters with NSFW and I will make it skippable as well.

I'm also very nitpicky and gave the main characters birthdays just because it irritates me when it gets mentioned once and you have to do the math or imagine your own conversation when a birthday was too close to a character's.

Tim January 1st, home state Alabama

Toby April 28th, home state Virginia (saw this years ago no clue if it's accurate)

Protag May 13th, home state Virginia

Brian May 23rd, home state Alabama

Connor the service dog July 18th, home state Kentucky

I've referred to Protag as Protag here but in story they're referred to as YN.

Everything felt impossibly dull; your senses, the dark room you're currently in, the noise coming from the fan just to the left of the bed on which you laid. Turning to the window beside your head you stare out into that weird midnight summer sky. More of a gray than a true dark blue night, cast in an orange glow that made the night seem closer to day than it truly was. While the time was just half past twelve, you felt it may have been more accurate to say it was closer to four in the morning.

You're exhausted but that true sort of exhaustion where whatever energy you have left buzzes all around. It consumes your entire being, dances between being deafeningly loud in your ears to giving you twitches in your legs. You'd laid down hours ago thinking you'd be tired enough to sleep once your tics started to spasm in closer intervals, but to no avail were you able to rest. That buzzing preventing you from dreamland. Maybe the hum of your body was right, you didn't really need to sleep, you just wanted it to feel normal.

Knowing the battle had already been lost you push yourself off the bed and grab a pair of shorts off the floor. Slipping them on you contemplate your options for the night. Going into town was out since it was Sunday...well Monday now, but there would be nothing but bars open and you were never one for drinking. And as fun as a drive sounds right now, you feel the buzzing in your bones grow stronger, you need to move. A late night hike should keep you occupied, with it being so quiet and the middle of the night you wouldn't even have to take your headphones to cancel out the sounds of other people, you aren't likely to run into many people tonight.

Deciding on a hike you grab a mask and car keys and make your way to your yellow Kia Soul. A going away present from your parents that they gave you the moment you got your driver's license after your 24th birthday. Having anxiety throughout your life you'd never been in the head space to start driving till later on, and while you still don't enjoy driving you are pretty good at it even with your “late” start. Surfing through radio stations as you let the car warm up you find your latest obsession, it's a conspiracy theory podcast that someone in Kepler managed to blast through the limited air ways of the town. Impressive considering Kepler was in a radio quiet zone and even cell phones couldn't work in the small town, luckily you lived just outside of the zone so you could send texts and call your parents every weekend.

It seemed today's episode was a rerun, Mothman: Murderer, Man, or Myth. It was actually one of your favorites, the paranormal stories tended to be more entertaining than hearing about how a man could murder sixteen people while working as a cop ruining evidence to lead the others off his trail. Humans could be more vial and cruel than any little gray alien from the future or tall Fresno Nightcrawler could ever be. And they weren't as entertaining to hear about, nor were their exploits as impressive. You could always see patterns, either connecting clues first or finding connections no one else saw, it was never hard to tell where a certain case would lead so you'd always end up disappointed in humanity when they overlooked such obvious clues. Though that often led you down a path of deep diving for information to see just how obvious it was, more often than not you'd find that the most logical conclusion was shady public officers. After investigating so many cold cases you're sure if you're ever in trouble you'll never involve the police, in the end they'd probably just ignore you and rule your case closed if anything ever did happen to you.

'I'd haunt them if they did.' You decide and you shift gears and begin driving to the Monongahela National Forest, as the timeline of Mothman sightings and events play out before for your ears.

Instead of going through town and possibly loosing the signal of the show, you drive on the old dirt road that runs along the very edge of the town, partially covered in trees. This over grown road is the main reason Kepler doesn't see many visitors, the second someone makes their way onto it coming off the interstate they floor it until they see civilization. Over the few months you've been here you've nearly been run right off the road by spooked tourists, trying to escape whatever ghouls their wild imaginations created. The only real thing on this road was a mini mart gas station, and even though it was shady as hell the cashier didn't bug you too much when you came in in the dead of night. Plus they had a cat, how could you not stop in and say hi to little ole Magnolia?

Speaking of which you should probably get a drink for your hike, you could already feel your throat drying out. Turning into the parking lot you're happy to see no other cars around, putting your face mask on you make your way inside. As usual the store is dead at this time, and Ronnie is manning the desk. What's unusual is the man also behind the counter, he has dark brown hair that he's tied into a small and low ponytail, thick sideburns frame his face. You immediately take note of the slight imperfections of his face, most would see the slit in his eyebrow as following the current trend or even just a genetic thing, but you can see the slightly off color of a healed scar that starts just above his eyebrow and ends mid eyelid, he has a few smaller discolorations on his crooked nose, you'd guess he's had it broken at least twice.

Briefly taking a glance to his brown eyes before looking away, today is not an eye contact day. Nodding in their directions, the best acknowledgment you can give right now, you make your way to the freezers. From the freezer section you can hear Ronnie “explain” you.

“That's YN, a regular mainly at night though. A bit skittish and rarely ever says more than 'thanks have a nice day'” Even though she's whispering you can hear everything. Including the high octave her voice takes to mimic you, it feels more like mocking.

If being mocked hadn't already put you on edge the eyes boring into you have. The eyes may not be roaming over your body but the icky crawling of your skin sure makes it feel that way. The feeling of being put under a microscope has always made you sick, the stares, the leers and sneers, and the judgment just makes you want to implode on the spot. Cease existence, be swallowed into the abyss. You're about to set yourself into an anxiety attack with all these thoughts.

'Mask, mask, mask' you repeat over and over in your head, it's the only thing you can focus on. You are wearing a mask, there is one thing they can't perceive, the face is the most important for humans to perceive, your mask protects you.

Without looking you pull a water bottle from the cooler. You don't think you like this brand but the sports mouth makes up for it, and you can't focus enough to grab another. As the imaginary spiders crawl their way under your skin and your breath hitches you make your way over to the counter head down, never looking up at the employees beyond the counter. Your vision is blurring in time with the beating of your heart, you can't tell if it's due to nerves or from being up for five days in a row.

“Hey YN, how're you?” Ronnie asks, her tone is different from the past times you've been in. It's higher and has a lilt in it that you'd expect from a teasing friend. But Ronnie isn't a friend and has never spoken to you like this, you hate it. You nod to politely move on with the process, between the crawling of your skin and the buzzing underneath it you feel sick. And you're now very aware of the existence of your eyelids, you try to focus on ignoring that awareness. You need to move.

“Hmm, that's good. Anyway this is Tim! He's just started so go easy on him.” you hear the sound of a hand hitting fabric and assume she's patted Tim's shoulder as she introduced Tim to you. Why was she doing this, what purpose could introducing you two have? You nod again, was anyone going to ring you out?

“Hi, this all?” a deep voice asked, it isn't extremely deep more of a standard baritone that has a slight raspy quality, probably a reformed smoker. You don't smell cigarettes currently so he could've quit after years. Unfortunately despite your efforts to stave them off your blinking tics emerge. Making it difficult to keep your eyes open for longer than a nano second.

Startled and ticcing you look up and catch his eyes, you see pity in them, before casting your glance back to the counter. You can never tell what's worse people seeing you as weird or seeing you as something needing to be fixed. Nodding again, Tim tells you the total; a dollar fifty eight, and you hand him two dollars from your wallet.

Tim doesn't ask if you want the receipt or a bag, he prints out the receipt and hands you your change. The change goes immediately into the cat food fund for Magnolia. She got diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago and having worked in shelters and pet stores you know just how expensive her prescription food is. After folding the receipt into your wallet, Tim gently slides the water bottle over to you.

“Have a good night.” he says it so low and gentle, as if he thinks you'll shatter in front of him. As kind as the gesture seems, you aren't that fragile...or maybe you are if you have to keep repeating 'mask' over and over in your head to ground yourself. With a final nod you turn and make your way to the door, and just as you open it you hear Ronnie call out.

“Awwww, c'mon YN at least say 'Hi' to Tim.” You really don't like how she squeaked out 'hi'.

Taking a deep breath you prepare yourself, you'll show them both you can do this simple task. Even if you can't stop blinking long enough to see straight. Once you've steadied yourself you turn and look at Tim. He's sending you a look that says 'You don't have to' all that's missing is a slow head shake to complete his unease with this “peer pressure”.

But you can do this you can say 'Hi, Tim.' Two words super simple, nothing complex like 'Hi, Tim, nice to meet you.' and so much better than the option of your next meeting saying 'Hi, Tim. Sorry for spazzing out the other night.'. Yup you can do this just breathe, you open your mouth and...and you've forgotten what to say. Looking like a deer in headlights, well at least the tics stopped, you say the first thing that pops in.

“Mask.” You've said it loud and clear both cashiers heard you.

Tim stares with wide eyes and you see Ronnie failing to hide her laughter. Out of all the ways this could've gone this was probably the best outcome for her. The blinking has started up again, this time growing more frequent. You can't even hold your eyes open, to the two cashiers it must look like you're in pain or crying. And while you want to die of embarrassment, crying is a bit of an extreme for you.

So with red face and the inability to see you leave through the door, and try to make your way back to your car. Once in you lock the doors, switch the car on, and rest your head on the steering wheel. Out of every way this stop could've gone, being perceived by a new comer and Ronnie was not what you expected. While this hadn't been the worst five minutes or so of your life, it definitely would be another thing keeping you up at night for the next twenty years.

Calming down in the cool quiet dark of your car your slowly brought back to the world by the beginning of a new episode. This one talking about the Tailypo legend. A favorite story of yours from when you were a kid living on the coast of Virginia. So with yet another deep breath and the wave of nostalgia, you pull out of the parking lot and slowly coast down the old dirt road. Heading yet again for the Monongahela forest.

It's nearly two in the morning when you roll up to see an RV parked by the forgotten entrance of the park. It isn't surprising at all to find an RV out here since the Monongahela Forest is one of the most beautiful parks you've ever been to. You also don't think anything of them being parked by this unused entrance because you use it all the time since finding it accidentally. Figuring they just wanted to camp and be left to their own devices rather than use the RV sites and be bothered with other campers here for the summer.

Climbing out of your car you notice the RV isn't new by any means but it isn't a total rust bucket either, looks like it's been passed around throughout the years. There isn't anything to suggest it's been here a while, nothing left set up outside, must have just gotten into town then. You do happen to notice dog tracks around the sandy dirt you've parked in, good to know they have a dog before you slammed your car door. Closing the door gently behind you so you don't startle a pup and wake up it's owner or owners, you make your way through the woods. No real direction in mind, with no real thought in your head. Just the thought of moving and to keep on moving.

You could walk the same path every time you came through and always find something different. In fact that's exactly what happens, you're almost positive that you've deepened the imprint of the path just from walking through several times a week. Following the same winding path you usually do, climbing over the fallen tree, and through a scattering of blueberry thicket's you find yourself on the edge of one of the forest's many streams. It's your favorite spot in the forest so far, and about as far as you've gotten considering these hikes of yours take place during the dead of night.

The wind picks up and sends a chill through you, taking that as a sign you slide down to sit by the stream. Vans placed to your side as you sink your feet into the cool water. It's peaceful out here, so cool, and quiet, save for the slight noises the stream makes, various bubbling and drips. You try to think on things like your recent move, your job, the embarrassing 'mask' incident, just life in general. But you can't seem to form a single thought, this happens a lot, you've recently been conscious of the fact that you've been running on auto pilot for the past two months, hell a lot longer than that. You think everyone must get like this from time to time, but you think you've always been this way. Keen to dissociating and slipping in and out of existence.

It's quite nice really, except for the times like right now where you'd love to figure out why the silence in your head is so painfully loud. The more you think on it the louder it gets and the stronger the buzzing under your skin feels. And right now the static in your mind has been getting louder and louder for the past few minutes. You feel your head jerk to the right of it's own accord, moving back in place it happens for a second time, and then a third, then jerks up, before jerking a forth time to the right effectively cracking you neck.

“There we go.” you mumble, you can relax a bit as the verbal tic indicates the end of this round of tics.

Sighing you look at the sky...that can't be right. The sky has been painted it's fresh baby blues for the day, but again that can't be right. You just got to the stream, that path is a thirty minute walk meaning it should be just about two thirty in the morning, but the sky suggests it's five or six at the latest. Reaching for your water bottle you find it empty next to you. You didn't fall asleep you know that much, perhaps you did dissociate tonight. Well this hike was disappointing if you knew you were going to dissociate you'd have saved yourself that embarrassment and stayed home. Maybe done some painting or tidied up.

Sighing you push yourself off the ground, collecting you vans you're about to put them on when you notice a figure off in the distance. You freeze out of shock and stare at the figure, it stares back. The figure is about ten yards away, god your near sighted ass should really remember to not leave your glasses in the car when hiking. The figure starts to make it's way to you and after a few steps you realize it hasn't moved from it's spot. Rolling your eyes you ignore the hallucination.

You'd really needed to get sleep last night, today is day six of no sleep and though you haven't had many episodes these past few days, you have a feeling they'll start to get more prominent today. Hopefully tonight you can manage to get some rest, the longer you go without sleep the more realistic the hallucinations become. But for today you're content with the knowledge that it's just shadow like beings that you'll be seeing.

After putting on your shoes you start the thirty minute hike back to your car. You're thankful for the weather in Kepler, nothing like back on the coast. Here you can go for a morning hike through the forest while a gentle breeze passes by and the sun starts to give the area a pleasant warmth. Back on the coast you couldn't run and grab the mail without getting drenched in moisture from either sweat, humidity, or a mixture of both. The coast sucks, hell Virginia sucks altogether, you're glad to be in Kepler.

“I want to go home, home.” you say out of nowhere.

Before you reach the entrance you hear barking, oh the RV campers must be up. Should you be careful not to scare them, or just walk normally and say 'Good morning' in passing, maybe just nod your head in greeting. Oh and you've stopped just beside the entrance as you got lost in your rambling. You didn't mean to come to a stop here, and as you try to move you notice how silent it's gotten. Did the dog go inside, maybe they've already passed...no it's too quiet for that. No the silence is oppressive like the one you deal with nightly, there's a reason for the silence. The situation's making you feel uneasy, but that could be the sleep deprivation talking.

You're about to brush it off and move when you hear a whispered, “Seriously man, I don't think anyone's out there. Let's get inside.”

There's a noise of agreement before you hear shuffling. Oh no, you zoned out and now you look like a weirdo stalker. Just perfect, maybe if you wait around a little more you'll seem more normal or at least feel normal. Not knowing how long to wait you walk along the tree line for a bit, looking at the ground as you do making sure you won't step on any snakes. In you quest to not step on any snakes you spot something suspiciously off white. It seems purposefully buried under a dead blueberry bush and some fallen branches.

Having listened to too many true crime shows, you know better than to implicate yourself in a murder. Grabbing a stick off the ground you gently brush the foliage away from the supposed corpse. No way, you can't believe your luck, it's an actual fucking skull. An intact skull of a deer! That is so cool, you've only seen taxidermists on TikTok getting so lucky and finding these dudes. Since the jaw bone is connected by tissue it of course isn't with the skull but maybe it's close by? Clearly this got planted or hidden by someone, maybe they were planning on pranking a friend by 'uncovering' a skull later. Oh well, finders keepers and all that, you have way better plans for this guy, hopefully you can find that jaw bone.

You set off searching through the foliage and near by bushes with the branch while holding the skull in your other arm. After searching about three feet around and finding no more bones you decide that this is the only part of the deer's skeleton in this area. A little disappointed but still thrilled with your find, you decide it must be a good time to go back to your car.

Surely you won't look weird now. You a little forager with their treasure in hand. Looks like you'll be busy cleaning, then bleaching, and cleaning these bones today. Is that the order to treat found bones? You aren't sure but you can look into that later. Placing the skull in the trunk so it doesn't roll about and get damaged you make sure it's secure before closing the trunk and getting into your car and locking the doors.

Not once did you notice the pairs of eyes that had been watching you. One watching as you found the deer skull, and the other set seeing you place bones into your car. They kept watching as you fiddled with the radio while the car was starting up. They watched as you pulled out of the sandy dirt lot and drove back down the old road a little faster than before now that you could clearly see.

#creepypasta fanfic #ticci tobyx reader #brain thomas x reader #timothy wright x reader #masky x reader #hoodie x reader #reader insert #no clue if I'm reaching a wider audience than AO3 but I'll try this out #Crossposted #as of now 13 chapters are over on AO3 if you wanted to read #other wise I'll post a chapter every 3 days on here until I catch up with AO3 #Ao3 has priority #A cure for insomnia

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dotnscal · 4 years ago

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BAD THINGS HAPPEN FILL - TAKING THE BLAME

this is my first ever fill for @badthingshappenbingo ! the prompt was obi wan + taking the blame -- it sort of ended up being very oddly cody centric, but i still hope you enjoy!! also send more prompts (characters or ships!) they’re fun!!!

fandom: the clone wars, prequel trilogy

featuring: cody, obi-wan, and a bit of anakin

words: 2.9k

“Cody breaks the news about casualties to General Skywalker. Obi-Wan steps in.”

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29349840

OR READ IT HERE! :

disclaimers: i know NOTHING about war and it shows. no idea how battle strategy works so if you know anything about that... close your eyes for that part.

anakin might be ooc. he has issues and in this case they come from a good place but they’re just... misdirected

have fun reading! send me prompts!!

also if you want to read with italics and fun formatting please read on ao3. it is 1:23 am and i want to post this but i have class at 10 and no energy to add italics into this </3 sorry i love you </333

Cody takes a deep breath, straightens his posture, and reaches forward to turn on the holo.

Almost immediately, blue light flickers to life in front of him, casting the inside of the empty command tent in its glow. It might have been enjoyable to look at—far more enjoyable than the mud and dirt Cody’s been dealing with for the better part of two weeks now, at least—but what takes up his attention are the two figures now projected before him, one with arms crossed over his chest, the other standing at attention a step behind and to the left.

“General,” Cody greets, the eyes under his bucket glancing from one figure to the other. “Captain.”

Under more relaxed circumstances, he might’ve risked using the name of the man he’s known since birth, the brother he’s fought beside for some time, now—but these aren’t relaxed circumstances, and Cody’s better than most at sticking to formality.

“Commander,” General Skywalker greets, the corners of his lips turned down in noticeable wariness. If only he knew. “You have a report for us?”

Right to business. It’s necessary, in a campaign like this, but that doesn’t make it any easier to brace himself for what he’s about to disclose, or for how he knows Skywalker will react. He takes a moment to breathe in the safety of his bucket, the solitude of the command tent, before he nods an affirmative.

“Yes, sir.” Get it out, Cody, just get it out. “We managed to take the hilltop about two standard hours ago, and the Separatist forces have been drawn back to a new front. However, we… encountered strong resistance, and we suffered severe casualties as a result.”

It was already silent, but now, tension seeps into the air. Behind Skywalker, Rex shifts almost imperceptibly— imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t a brother, maybe, who didn’t know him so well, but Cody sees it, and he, too, braces himself.

Skywalker doesn’t miss a beat, frown deepning. “How severe?”

It’s moments like these that Cody is beyond glad for his bucket. “Severe, sir,” Cody repeats, unwilling or unable to say much beyond that. He hasn’t even written the formal report yet, the casualty forms and the requisition requests for the new shinies—he’s just coordinated the digging of the graves, the making of the memorials. “It wasn’t—”

“Commander,” Skywalker interrupts, a certain intensity to his eyes that Cody’s seen only a few times. It still makes him feel breathless, and not in a good way. “I want a number.”

A number. Cody has the numbers in his head, has already committed them to memory, but speaking them aloud…

“Fifty-three confirmed, sir,” he says, as evenly as he can manage to. “One hundred thirteen unaccounted for.” Idly, Cody remembers that he’ll need to start organizing the search effort for the bodies, once the burials are done—if they’ll even have time for a search effort before their next deployment, but Cody hopes they will, hopes they’ll be able to find and bury each brother properly—

“How many from the 501st?” Skywalker’s voice is curt, and Cody sighs a silent sigh.

This had been his worry, at the outset of this campaign. With their own numbers down, the GAR had approved the 212th to temporarily borrow some of the 501st’s men—men who were now dead, who had died away from the brothers that meant the most to them.

Kriff it all.

“Twenty-nine confirmed,” Cody managed, ignoring how dry his mouth, his throat, felt. “Seventy-two unaccounted for.”

Something changes in Skywalker’s expression. A flicker of something Cody’s only seen once or twice shines in his eyes, in the sudden stiffness to his body. The first time he’d seen it, he’d quietly patched into Rex’s HUD channel, asked if there was something that he needed to know about the General, if Rex needed transfer forms—but he’d been promised that everything was alright, that whatever was going on with Skywalker, it wasn’t being taken out on Rex.

Unfortunately, it looked like the time had come for it to be taken out on Cody.

“Commander.” Deep breaths, Kote. Skywalker stands stiff as a tower, arms crossed firmly over his chest, lips almost in a scowl as he stares at Cody as though he’s nothing at all. “Do you want to tell me why my men are dead?”

It comes from a good place. Cody knows this. Skywalker cares for his men, the same as Kenobi does. Rex has told him as much, and any man in the 501st would promise the same. Only he cares for them differently, and it’s a difference that Cody isn’t used to, no matter how hard he tries to catch up. Kenobi cares for his men, does all he can to protect them—and Skywalker does all he can to hurt whoever’s hurt them.

In Skywalker’s mind, behind the anger Cody can feel even through the holo, Cody is the one who’s hurt them. Forget the clankers—Cody might as well have been the one to take a blaster to them, for all it matters to Skywalker.

He takes another deep breath.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Start with the condolences. It makes things easier when he has to give this news to Kenobi, and Cody hopes it’ll do the same job now that he’s breaking it to Skywalker. “As I said, we were facing heavy opposition. There was artillery positioned at the top of the hill while we were attempting to take it.” Cody forces himself through the words he’s rehearsed, the words he’s carefully chosen and prepared, but Skywalker’s expression doesn’t change one bit. “We had planned a flanked approach, but found that it wasn’t suited to the terrain, and I decided—"

“Forgive my commander, Anakin.”

A voice, melodic and smooth, speaks from behind Cody, and he might’ve jumped, alarmed at how easily Kenobi’s entrance slipped under his radar, were he not so utterly focused on trying to minimize Skywalker’s anger.

Obi-Wan steps forward, standing now at Cody’s side, and Cody’s grateful for his bucket again as he gives the Jedi a bewildered glance.

“And forgive me for my tardiness. I’m afraid I was held up, helping with the wounded.”

Tardiness. Cody blinks. Kenobi’s not late to this meeting.

Kenobi wasn’t invited to this meeting. Nor was he supposed to know about it until after the fact.

It hadn’t been a deliberate exclusion on Cody’s part. But Obi-Wan was taking their losses hard enough already, and Cody was convinced that the last thing he needed was to be met with anger from the one person who meant more to him than anything else in the world. It was an easy conclusion to reach—Cody would take care of it, bear the brunt of Skywalker’s anger, and inform Kenobi after the fact. It was, after all, just another duty.

Now, though… despite how careful he’d been to keep Kenobi out of this conversation, Cody can’t help but be selfishly, horribly relieved that he’s here now.

“Obi-Wan,” Skywalker greets tersely, Rex giving a nod from behind him. His posture hasn’t lost any of its stiffness, but the curve of his lips is somewhat less severe. Kenobi nods at each of them in turn, and Cody stands dumbly at his side.

“As I was saying,” Kenobi picks up, smooth and calm and polished, ever the negotiator, “you’ll have to forgive my commander. I’m afraid that we’ve seen quite a lot of action in the past few days, and he may have forgotten some of the details of our campaign.”

Cody hasn’t forgotten shit. Somehow, he gets the distinct impression that Obi-Wan is fully aware of this—but he doesn’t challenge his General on his words, instead remaining cautiously silent, waiting to see where he’s planning to take this conversation, while Skywalker casts a wary glance Cody’s way.

It’s better than the glares he’d gotten before, at least.

“I believe Cody was detailing our efforts to recover the hilltop from Separatist occupation,” Kenobi begins crisply, pausing for a moment to wait for Skywalker’s nod before he continues. “As he mentioned, the terrain complicated our initial plans of a multifaceted approach. Due to this and many other complications, I made the decision to utilize a forward charge.”

For one long, long moment, Cody is utterly thoughtless, struggling to process what Obi-Wan’s just said, what he’s just done.

After another moment, he has the sense of mind to brace himself, to prepare for the full extent of Skywalker’s upset, to hear whatever harsh criticism and rebukes he has to offer.

Nothing comes. Instead, Obi-Wan clears his throat.

“At the moment, it was the only maneuver available to us.” Cody dares to look up, dares to take in the way Skywalker’s expression has softened just barely, the way even Rex, stiff and still, seems slightly surprised for Kenobi’s words to not have been met with an outburst. “I deeply regret each and every life that it cost, but I assure you and your captain that your men died as heroes, fighting alongside their brothers, and that the others and I will do all we can to ensure that they are treated as such.”

Another beat of silence. Cody watches Skywalker’s throat bob as he swallows, and then watches as he nods just once. He still doesn’t speak.

“I’ll be able to discuss the matter in more detail later,” Kenobi promises, and Skywalker deflates a little bit more at that, some more of that stiffness fading away. Silently, Cody marvels at how the hell his general is accomplishing all this. “Until then, though, my commander and I have some more business to see to. I trust that you understand, Anakin.”

“I understand,” Skywalker repeats, his gaze wary but not overly hostile as he looks over at Obi-Wan. He glances at Cody for a moment, expression hardening just so—but when he looks to Kenobi again, the hardness melts away once more, leaving just a solemnity that still feels out of place on Skywalker’s face. “I’ll talk to you later, Obi-Wan.”

Skywalker turns, gives a nod, and behind him, Rex moves to a panel, presses a button. The holo in front of Cody flickers out a moment later, Rex and his general just gone, just like that, and Cody finds himself staring at the space their blue projections previously occupied.

What the hell had just happened?

Beside him, Kenobi sighs, lifts a hand—then rests it on Cody’s shoulder, just for a moment, over his armor as though to console him, before letting it drop and stepping away, and finally, finally, Cody snaps out of it enough to find words.

“General—” Kenobi’s already moving to slip out of the tent, but he pauses at Cody’s voice, leaving Cody to tense up, realizing at once that he hadn’t actually planned what he was going to say.

“Wait.”

He hates how foolish his own voice sounds, so uncoordinated and unlike himself. Kenobi turns, but his brow is furrowed with that concerned look he wears more often than not, and he blinks at his commander as though nothing at all had just happened.

“Is everything alright, Cody?”

Again, Cody feels himself grasping for words, struggling to speak what he feels. In the end, he goes for simplicity.

“You didn’t have to do that, sir.”

Kenobi raises an infuriating brow, his expression the picture of innocence. “Do what, exactly?”

Cody’s confused, and his heart is still beating too fast, and all of it makes him far less careful about what he says, more willing to speak freely in the way Obi-Wan always insists he feel free to do. He swallows.

“Lie, sir,” he replies, somehow feeling a need for breath. “It wasn’t your decision to attempt that charge. It was mine.”

He’d been the one to first bring up the idea, huddled with the General and five other men behind an outcropping, knee-deep in mud with blaster fire ringing in his ears. He’d suggested it, trying desperately to find a way out of their current predicament. It had been his plan.

Obi-Wan’s expression softens, just for a beat, and he steps forward. “You may not see it that way, Commander,” he says softly, too softly, just soft enough for something in Cody’s chest to twist, “but I do.”

Cody’s at a loss for words again, but he can tell that if he doesn’t say something, Kenobi will turn to leave once more—so, desperate, he says the first thing that comes to mind.

“But I brought it up, sir.” He’s not usually so insistent in any matter, and certainly not in front of his general, but there’s something in the other man’s eyes that makes Cody’s throat feel thick with the need to speak, to say something to take away the distance in his gaze. “It was my suggestion. I made the plan. It’s—” A heartbeat, loud and clear in his chest. “It’s not your fault.”

Fault. It’s the trickiest part about war. Cody likes to think he’s come to terms with the fact that no matter what choices he makes, no matter how many hours he spends poring over strategy, his men, his brothers, are going to die. It’s what they were made to do, and he grew up knowing it—though that doesn’t make it any easier to face, any easier to silence the what ifs that come at night, all the ways things might’ve been different, the ways he might’ve saved just one more brother—

But Kenobi. Kenobi takes it harder than Cody’s ever seen, and now, it seems, is no different.

He almost flinches at Cody’s words, and the commander sucks in a breath at the sight, at the flash of vivid hurt he sees on Obi-Wan’s face before he quickly recovers, before he covers it up again. One deep breath, and it’s like Cody never said anything at all, Kenobi’s face returning to a practiced, careful calm.

“I appreciate your sentiment, Commander,” he begins, voice still quiet and distant in a way that grips Cody’s heart. “Truly, I do.” Cody doesn’t doubt it, not when he can see the sad sincerity in Kenobi’s eyes—but there’s more coming, and Cody braces himself.

“However,” Kenobi says, swallowing again, almost imperceptibly. “I’m afraid that I was the one to give the order to initiate that charge. I believe that makes me far more culpable than you.”

Cody blinks, unbelieving, because Kenobi can’t be serious about this—but kriff, that look is still in his eyes, shining blue-grey and looking right into Cody’s heart.

“General.” Cody puts the same intensity behind the word as he might’ve if he were admonishing him for escaping medbay again, or trying to evade the medics. “It was my plan.” At a loss, he shakes his head again, staring at the other and imploring him to feel his sincerity even through the bucket, to see the truth of the matter as it stares at both of them. “If anyone is to blame, sir, it’s me, not you, and—” He swallows hard. “General Skywalker should know that.”

For one brief, fleeting moment, Obi-Wan smiles—a sad smile, with none of his usual lightness. Somehow, it’s worse than the sad look he’d been wearing before. “It was my order, Commander,” he says faintly, meeting Cody’s gaze head-on. “And it is my responsibility to accept the consequences.”

Cody stares, baffled—accept what consequences? General Skywalker’s anger, or the burden of requisition forms, or the guilt, the kind that’ll suffocate you at night—before he can manage to respond.

“But sir,” he insists, that boldness from before back, boldness that he would never dare to utilize were it not for stakes like these, for something as important as his general is to him. “General Skywalker—”

Again, Obi-Wan smiles sadly, giving just one mild shake of his head to cut Cody off—and again, a careful hand raises to rest on his shoulders.

“Better that he’s mildly upset with me than putting an undue burden on you,” Obi-Wan says gently, with a ghost of that mirth he usually carries so effortlessly. It fades after a moment, just as his hand falls away from Cody’s shoulder, and Obi-Wan replaces it with solemnness. “I’ll deal with him,” he promises. “And I’ll see that your brothers are taken care of.”

His words strike something deep in Cody’s heart, something he hadn’t known was there. He knows, of course, what Obbi-Wan means—the burials, the recovery efforts, the wounded, all of it. He’s done as much before, has always cared for his men deeply enough to help with that sort of thing, but now—now, it’s so much more, and Cody doesn’t know what to say.

“General,” he says, something in his tone pleading, hoping that Obi-Wan will hear him, will break free of whatever burden he’s placed on himself, or at least let Cody carry it with him—

But Obi-Wan’s eyes only sadden further, and he bows his head just so, taking a step back.

“I’m sorry, Commander.” Another step away, and Cody’s words burn at his throat, the urge to tell him not to go, to wipe away all of his doubts, all of the blame he carries, to tell him that there’s nothing to be sorry for, it’s not his fault—

Obi-Wan manages a weak echo of a smile, meeting his gaze one last time. “I’ll do better, next time.”

A promise—a promise that he doesn’t need to make, something Cody already knows, deep down in his chest, but before he can tell him that, his general’s gone. The tent’s entrance flap swings slightly in the wind, and Cody stands, alone and with a soreness in his heart that hurts more than he can explain.

#tcw #star wars #badthingshappenbingo #codywan #fuck it. putting it in the tag #cody #fav cody #obi wan kenobi #fav obi wan #commander data #fic #clone wars fic #there. thats good.

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fandomsilhouette · 4 years ago

Text

they’ve got a bad reputation (they’ll get a standing ovation)

The spotlight clicks on, floods the stage until the shadows are sent scampering away, every flaw and every fear in sharp contrast for the audience to feast upon; but what horrors lurk where the darkness prowls, trapped at the edges of the script like handcuffs around the actor? May life mirror art at the best of times, the worst of times.

Happy @felinettenovember, y’all! We’re back to terrible o’clock writing times with @musicfren, who is collaborating with me on this fic-turned-mechanism-through-which-to-preach-on-the-spot-Hamlet-analysis. He’ll be posting the second part on his account tomorrow, during which the bulk of my meta nonsense is going to come through. Are you following him yet? @emzurl spoiled this whole story with their art and @dumpsdoods simply spoils me with theirs.

Part 1 below. Part 2 upcoming.

“Alright, take ten, my dudes! We’ll go from Act III, Scene 1 after you get some snacks and chill.”

Marinette lets out an amused laugh as she thumbs through her copy of the script, ignoring the throng of hungry students pushing past her, desperate for this grueling 5 hour rehearsal to end. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but certainly not of this play. Nino makes a good director, she thinkst: loud, relentlessly positive, able to carry the sagging energy of an entire unwilling highschool production on his shoulders.

But alas, poor Nino is fighting a losing battle. Everyone knows that the point of this play is the obligatory report they will all have to write for their literature class at the end of the week. Almost no one here can act, and Marinette’s arms are beginning to grow tired from carrying up the entire play. With scarcely a week left it looks like most people are planning to coast the rest of the way to a clean C+. The part of Hamlet still has not been cast.

Akuma attacks have pushed back the discussions they were meant to have on the play, and Bustier couldn’t cancel the major assignment for the unit; instead, she had told them to analyze the play through the role of their choice after embodying it for the few weeks it took to rehearse and perform the production. Their in-class discussions have been condensed into a take-home paper on top of the already obligatory theatre performance and pretty much everyone knows that Bustier would be lenient on them just for that. And Nino knows they know, and Marinette is starting to suspect that he is itching to “chill” like he keeps telling them to.

Marinette chews on the corner of her pencil, running a finger over the veritable bloodbath of neat pink notes she’s crammed into the margins of every page. She’s on in the next scene, and she wants to make sure she’s got all the nuances of the character, her character, exactly as she plans to bring her to life. Looking over the script, Marinette starts to regret not typing the notes to begin with: her entire essay is definitely already fully composed. Maybe Max will consider building her an application that can scan the document and transpose it to a word processor as editable text…

“Give me your hand, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.”

Marinette looks up to see Felix quoting Shakespeare, trying very hard to look inconspicuous in his black stage-hand clothes, wheeling a stand of fake swords almost as tall as he was. She watches with some amusement as he struggles to set it upright, and makes absolutely no move to help him.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you on stage any time this week,” she says, sticking her tongue out and being far cuter than it had any right to be. Felix, sweating, scrambles for a riposte.

“I hadn’t expected you out of the home ec room at all. Shouldn’t you be half-drowned in fabric or something?”

She sends him a quizzical look. He wonders if the akuma attacks have scrambled her memory. “Because...you’ve got costumes to work on? As the play’s costume designer?”

“Oh, I’m not doing costumes this year, actually.” Marinette laughs awkwardly. “I’m not even sure what I would write about if I were.”

Felix stares at her. The sword he was carrying slid out of his grasp with a dull clang.

“...what are you writing about as a stagehand?”

Felix decides to pretend the last few moments were a fever dream and focus on answering this one very reasonable question. “I’m looking at the blocking and the prop placement and the lighting and how it impacts the effect of the character portrayal on the audience and what information manages to get conveyed to the audience.”

Marinette offers a suitably impressed ooh at this. “How far have you gotten with it?”

“Darling, we don’t even have a Hamlet. The titular character. I’ve done nothing.” Felix offers the most deadpan look he can muster and startles at her giggle. “What, how far have you gotten?!”

Marinette flashes her script at him, more notes than dialogue at this point.

“You are possibly the only person in the class thinking anything even remotely deep about this play. What is all that for?!”

“Hopefully for a handwritten notes to editable text conversion app.”

Felix only narrowly avoids gaping. What?! “...is that what’s scrawled on every corner of that script you’re clutching?” He grins crookedly at her, and her traitorous heart skips a beat.

“...oh! no, um, those are my notes. For… my essay? I’ve written out the character analyses into where the text supports my arguments and… um… yeah.” She flushes with the realization that 1) that was completely out of context for him because 2) he cannot, in fact, read her mind.

“...Marinette, for what do you possibly need notes?”

“...to play my character?”

“Oh, wow, are you playing a guy? Impressive, tiny girl.” He rakes his gaze down her body and Marinette is flushed for a whole new reason now. She pushes to her feet and doesn’t bother to care about the swords she knocks over.

“I’m not, actually.”

“Why?! Who is there to play among the female characters? Marinette, I took you as someone who plays characters of worth.”

She looks up at him, eyes wide with dangerous innocence “Are female characters not valuable?”

“I-- no, that’s not what I meant and you know it! Shakespeare is historical, and male-centric, and writes women who do little more than parrot the views of the men around them if they get any dialogue at all. There’s no substance there! Who are you possibly going to play, Gertrude? Ophelia?!?” Felix’s tone makes it very clear what he thinks of the only two options she has available to her.

Marinette sweeps past him coolly, her hair whipping against his cheek. “I am playing Ophelia, actually.”

Stumbling, Felix turns and gives her a wry grin. “Oh darn, I’m sorry for your loss.” He makes a valiant effort at replicating her stuck out tongue, not that Marinette is looking. It’s for the best: it’s not nearly as cute on him.

“Excuse you?” Marinette halts in her tracks, shadowed amongst the heavy curtains of stageside. Her voice echoes hauntingly around the empty theatre.

“...c’mon. Ophelia does less than Gertrude. She even has fewer lines!”

With great restraint, Marinette manages to do nothing more than turn to face Felix, trembling with repressed rage. “Does less? Ophelia is the only person in this play who does anything at all that isn’t driven by a madman’s plot! Ophelia is the only person in this play who can pull Hamlet out of insanity, even if for little more than a moment.”

Frustrated, Felix tosses the nearest item at her and growls when she catches it neatly. It’s a victory when she stalks off across the stage to the opposite wing, gathering her notes and settling herself neatly in a prim fury. She’s wrong, she’s wrong, she’s wrong. He whirls around and starts rearranging everything she knocked over, grumbling under his breath.

“Ophelia is the only character in that play who makes zero choices of her own. Even her death was a result of her tripping into a lake.”

There’s a crashing sound, and Felix spins back around to see Marinette bolt upright, tempestuous in her temper. Felix may have gotten a bit too loud with that last statement.

“How can you say that? That’s the most significant choice she makes in the whole play!”

Felix can feel the irritation rising, hot and ugly in his chest. Why is she being so stubborn? Marinette makes a gesture at him, quick and angry from the other side of the room. Felix squints and tilts his head, struggling to what she was doing from across the stage. Then all at once it hits him.

“Do… do you bite your thumb at me?!” He splutters in indignant incoherency, his grip tightening on whatever he’s holding until the plastic grooves bite into his skin.

“I do bite my thumb at thee, sir.”

Felix steps onto stage, glaring. Marinette matches him step for step, glare for angry glare. Nino gasps, cowers, and then grabs his camera.

The class, milling around aimlessly as their ten minutes ticked to an end, comes to a collective halt. Nino sheppards them out of the way of the camera’s shot. They flock without protest to the edges of the theatre, terrified to watch this trainwreck unfold, terrified they’ll miss even a second of it. The die has been cast. Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?

Nino can only hope that the set backgrounds manage to come out of this intact.

#Notte Writes #Notte Collabs #Fanfiction #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #ML #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous: Adventures Of Ladybug And Chat Noir #Felix #PV Felix #Felix Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Felix/Marinette #Felinette #Theatre Consistent Dramatics #Grievous Insults (To A Nerd)#Meta Parallels To Hamlet #Fluff #Felinette Month 2020 Day 14 #Felinette Month 2020

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awhilde · 4 years ago

Note

heyy idk if u do requests but can you make more kaeya headcanons? i really loved urs!! it can be angst or fluff idrc <34

fighting alongside kaeya -- a drabble

help sorry for the wait! i've been really busy lately with school but i hope this is okay nonetheless <3 i'm posting on my phone rn and the format is probably going to look really bad but :D i'll change that later. sorry abt it not being a hc, i felt like that kind of format would have been a little icky with this content but i’ll be sure to post more genshin hcs in the future! thank you for requesting!!!

neways,,, here is : the drabble

as a fatui, your interests settled not within the complex arrangements of snippy political meetings nor the sense of superiority that came with the job, but stemmed instead from the thrill of battle.

as a polearms user, you were usually fighting front lines, head and center, wherein your body was subjected to the constant risk of death. it is inherently clear that any misshap on the battlefield was sure to cause the loss of a limb, sure to render you useless in the field. perhaps, though, this was the element that had hooked you into such an establishment, where the line drawn between right and wrong were blurred.

every arrow that whisks past every vulnerable patch of skin, millimetres too close, every claymore that shook the ground by your feet and every wound from an elemental attack left your blood buzzing in your veins and a grin etched on your face.

the truth of the matter was, regardless of whatever the fatui delved themselves into, you stuck with then despite knowing the consequences. this statement held true especially during this era whereupon you were sure the fatui had stumbled upon something outworldly this time around though, what other organization could possibly satisfy your need for danger? the knights of favonius? don't kid yourself, there was no way such a stiff and boring group could offer you such joys in life.

so you had declared to yourself. but the moment you stepped foot into the bustling city of music and freedom, your perspective wavered.

"first time here?" the man with the blue hair asked.

your eyes examined him over your glass of wine (the bartender saying something about dandelion wine?), before nodding. "yeah, what's it to you?"

the man twirled his drink and laughed. "no need to be so hostile, we're just exchanging greetings. what kind of citizen would i be if i didn't greet a visitor to my homeland?"

your eyes traced the short distance between your chairs before sending him a narrowed glare. "awfully close to a stranger, aren't you? where's your sense of danger?"

"you could say i'm quite confident in my abilities. if you need a bodyguard for when you walk around town, i'm always available." the wink he sent you made you snort.

"as thankful as i am, i'd have to pass." you stood fro your chair, intending to settle your bill and leave.

"are you sure? they say the city gets dangerous when it gets darker."

you headed towards the door, aware when you feel a presence follow you from your seat. "surely you have something more fulfilling to do than bother random people?"

"ah, i'm simply worried about a friend exploring an unknown city. where's your sense of danger?"

you laugh and turn to him, a weary smile on your face. "you could say i'm quite confident in my abilities." and with that, you left the noisy tavern behind you, letting the jingle of the bells signal your departure. despite how comfortable you had felt around the blue haired man, you knew connections with other people never lasted, especially because of the person you were.

"now," you muttered to yourself, the city of freedom welcoming your stay. "where do i go from here?"

the blue haired man never appeared in your mind again, the short conversation dissipating as quick as it had occurred. instead, you were fairly occupied with some dragon business you had been sent to settle, and a certain green haired god you had been sent to dispose of. fatui lacked the skill of anemo and it was an understatement to say you were excited to meet in combat with the bard.

he certainly proved difficult to catch, escaping time and time again through the help of a mysterious blonde individual and their floating companion.

strange.

excitment was quick in morphing into surprise however, when your eyes fell on the man in front of you in the present time, deep, deep into a dungeon. his own widened as they rested on yours, an easy grin sliding onto his face.

"have we met?" he said.

you brandished your weapon in front of you, defensive in your stance. "can't really say. you don't seem particularly memorable."

the girl beside him, adorned in red, nudged his side. "do you know them, kaeya?"

kaeya shrugged. "you heard them. apparently not."

you gesture dismissively off to the side. "step aside if you don't want to be killed. i only came for the bard."

the odd outsider stepped in front of venti, your target, and shook their heads. their hands crept to the hilt of their blade with a gleam in their eyes. neither kaeya or the girl made any decision to move.

"nope! paimon says you have to go through us first!" the floating creature taunted.

you smirked, pulling out your polearm. "i was hoping you'd say that!"

not letting the group of four utter another word, you leapt into the air, twirling your weapon above you. the surprise in their eyes as they followed your body sent adrenaline pumping. upon impact, you swiped at their feet causing them to jump back.

"oi, that's not fair!" paimon complained and you made a jab at her, purely to shut her up. your polearm clanged against the metal of a sword as you did so, knock in your aim off course. frost covered your fingers as you withdrew and you shook them off with a smile.

"cyro?" you asked.

kaeya grinned back. instead of replying however, he darted forward, causing you to raise your weapon in defense. his eyes caught the movement and hit your blade front on. the blow was strong enough to send you a step back, and you gritted your teeth against the pressure.

you eyes wondered to seek out a weak spot when you noticed one if his hands had left the hilt of his blade.

with one swift movement, his hand pressed against the side of your stomach, freezing the fabric of your shirt. you hissed at the sudden pain, and pushed your strength into one singular blow, knocking him out.

you cradled your side with a crooked smile. your target switched from venti to kaeya in that moment, channelling your elemental power a tad bit earlier than you had expected.

but, well, the fatui would just have to deal with it.

electrical powered fuelled your polearm, the rush of sheer energy tingling your skin. sending a series of attacks at the approaching kaeya, you allowed the super conduct to double the damage done to his health. similarly, your health dropped with every injury, a byproduct from your own attacks.

eyes identifying an entry, you ducked under an incoming attack and thrusted your weapon into his stomach, halting just before the metal touched his skin. your breath condensed in the close proximity, panting from the combat.

kaeya looked down at you with interest. "was there something else you needed?"

you frowned. "i have you trapped and the first thing you do is joke? what's wrong with you?"

he jokingly raised his hands in the air, you drawing slight satisfaction in the way he hesitated while doing the action. "i would be more concerned but you seem to have no real interest in killing me. this i understand, i am rather beautiful."

your blade poked his skin in warning. before you could snap back with your own retort, and the fiery words at the back if your throat would have been enough to do so, the earth beneath your feet trembled. your head whipped up to check your surroundings, settling on the door that had now opened. the other members sheepishly stood beside the key to the door.

"oh."

the time it took for your limbs to move was not enough, for it had only taken you a moment to blink before the tables turned and you found yourself under the man you once held captive.

he had dismissed your polearm in your moment of surprise and fallen into you, using his hands to push your shoulders to the ground.

your breath left your lungs at the impact and your weapon flew from your hand, clattering as it met the floor.

kaeya looked down at you with the ease of a predator. "hey. funny how the tables turn, huh?" despite being defenseless, he remained above you, even when the rest of his group joined him by his side. it is only when paimon questioned his motives does he stand, making sure his hands never left a part of your body, something he deemed necessary so as to not let you escape.

paimon cocked her head at the sight, at the smug kaeya and at you who looked furious at the treatment. "well, looks like the fatui will be joining us."

you snorted. "what makes you think i'll be helping you?"

paimon looked down at your hand which laid limp in kaeya's grasp. "paimon thinks it doesn't look like you have a choice. looks like kaeya's taken an interest in you."

kaeya sent you a wide smirk.

you huff, turning away from his blue eyes that saught to gauge your expression. but your hands never left his, your eyes never looking for an exit, not even when the group began to move into the next section of the dungeon. something about the warm atmosphere of a carefree group whose only worries were that of becoming emergency food settled the roar for bloodlust. you found yourself cozy, an experience you hadn't felt since your childhood. you no longer held onto your polearm as if it was a lifeline, no longer enhanced your senses as you walked, no longer stood firm and upright.

it felt like it suited you, you who had only just escaped the age of 19.

and when the battle against stormterror fell upon you and the group, you found yourself fighting not for the thrill of spraying blood into the atmosphere, but for the synced dance you and kaeya created as you fought back to back.

#kaeya #genshin kaeya #kaeya fluff #kaeya drabble #requested #kaeya x reader #kaeyagenshinimpact #genshin #genshin impact #unedited #gender neutral reader

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reapers-carino · 4 years ago

Note

You’re back! Can I request Sigma and fem S/O relaxing in each other’s arms either after a mission or after he gets out of talon. maybe a little angst and maybe a lot of fluff

Siebren had been stolen from you.

You both were astrophysicists that worked as co-researchers at The Hague, the classic story of colleagues turning into close companions and then clumsily and casually falling into love. Your relationship wasn’t like the vids, however. No, it was...comfortable. Eccentric. Full of excited hypotheses or bickering on theories, debating on what experiments you should run next, late nights at the lab together morphing into slow dancing and takeout while systems tested and calculated. You gently prodded the man to sleep at your apartment and not the in his office on a cot, coyly explaining at the time a well rested scientist ran much better work…and you had a California king. He relinquished soon enough. It had taken a while for your fellow researchers and lab assistants to find out; you nor Siebren flashy or loud about relationships, preferring a brief kiss on the cheek and hand holding to speak as loud as an official declaration. Once the news had swept through the lab, several of your colleagues joked that you had pulled the older man into your orbit, Siebren always answering back affectionately that it may be true because ‘you shined as bright as Sirius’. It still made a hot blush burn up your face and down your chest when you thought about it; the way he unabashedly showered you in love and affection constantly renewing the butterflies you had felt when you first fell into love with the man.

The day Siebren had made his breakthrough, the two of you had been cuddling in bed, the near seven foot tall man completely wrapped around you, you both enjoying the feel of each others skin after a shared post-coital shower. Quiet classical music played from the speakers as you had cuddled further back into the man, the hum of his voice like a purr against your back as his hands idly did mental calculations on your thigh, skin tingling at his gentle touching. You felt him pause, head tilting up to ask him if he was stuck and needed to talk it out but the man had gone stock still before briskly sitting up and speedily going through the solution to successfully subvert the universe’s pull on gravity so that it could be harnessed. Your brow had furrowed as you went over what he had said, calculations flying through your own mind before your eyes had widened and you threw yourself at the man. You kissed him and called him brilliant and then demanded he immediately write all of that down. From there it was a whirlwind of gaining government grants to approvals for him to study at the International Space Station until the day it came for him to say goodbye. He had pressed kisses against the top of your head, your temples, your cheeks and chin and nose before ever getting to your lips, promising to video call you as soon as he had made it and every night after that.

And he had been a man of his word. The two of you would talk every night for at least an hour although often more, recording the calls so you both could go over notes or suggestions or calculations the other gave or just to hear one anothers’ voices when the distance became too much. The night of the final test, Siebren had set up his camera as he always had, excitedly notating out loud every step he was going through so that the moment could both be recorded and all steps captured could be formally notated. You giddily watched on the holo-screen at home, dressed in one of his sleeping shirts and holding a data-pad to make any notes that weren’t directly stated. You remembered how your heart had swelled with pride and excitement, knowing he would soon be back on Earth and in your arms and celebrated for the greatest breakthrough in astrophysics since the discovery of Proxima b.

Both of your eyes grew with wonder as the field he had perfected began to form a black hole, tears welling up in your eyes as the ball of pure black pulsated calmly. Siebren’s eyes briefly lifted to yours before dropping back down, a slow smile of amazement growing on his face as his fingers undulated, the black hole responding in turn. Tears burned in your eyes as he began to laugh, describing out loud the pressure he could feel pressing back but with a turn of the hand the field was able to contain it and pull it back. Minutes felt like eons as you watched Siebren manipulate the black hole, twisting and turning and growing and shrinking the orb until his brow furrowed hard. Electric began to crackle near the base of the containment field before Siebren began to yell worriedly.

‘Density! Mass! Momentum! It is too much to hold onto!’

‘This is wrong! The field is failing!’

You screamed for him as you watched the orb pulsate then split, panic settling in as objects around the room began to lift and fall around Siebren, the man’s voice rapidly switching between yelling and babbling in Dutch and English and Swedish and German. Devices that weighed several tonnes began to float in the air as if they were as light as feathers, listing left and right behind the man as his scream got louder and softer. Hands shaking you watched helplessly as whatever the camera was attached to became undone and started to float, Siebren going still before his eyes lifted to the screen and locked with your eyes.

‘Mijn universum’

Sound cut from Siebren’s side, the camera still recording as objects kept rising and falling, only stopping when it appeared security ran in and grabbed the man. All you saw before the connection was cut was Siebren’s lab bathed in emergency lights, everything that had once been floating falling unceremoniously to the ground with something crushing the camera. With your heart slamming in your chest you called the emergency line given to families, explaining to them what you had seen, even sending them the recording that you had of that night. They placated you with saying the man was undergoing treatment for injuries sustained during the experiment, refusing to show him to you or give you any detail of what actually was wrong before pronouncing he had succumbed to his wounds. You refused to believe it, remembering how the man had looked when you had last seen him; uninjured but confused, rambling but still physically sound. You tried showing the video to anyone who would watch, refusing to believe the official reports of his death but you were ignored, mocked. You were a respected member of your field but how could you know the affects of a black hole on the human body? What reason would the government have to lie about this? It was sad you had lost someone dear to you but ‘you had to use your brain’.

You were eventually driven out of your field, mocked and pitied for being overcome with grief and ‘losing all grasp on logic’ due to your loss of Siebren. Despite all this, you never gave up hope, clinging desperately to the idea that the man was still alive, the ridiculous unscientific notion of ‘the heart knows’ spurring you along. For years you came up empty handed, the near decade of searching weighing heavily on your shoulder before the universe finally gave you a bone. A former university colleague extended a hand, Moira O’Deorain, saying that she believed your plight and that she would love to help you…as long as you could help her in return. You had accepted immediately, asking no questions of the who or what, utterly relieved that someone finally believed you and that the burden wouldn’t be one you had to bare all on your own. Even when you found out the organization was Talon, you didn’t back down, jaded by the fact that so much of the world had turned their back on you when Siebren had needed them. If they could help you find him or find some semblance of closure, anything they asked of you would be more than worth it.

You had been tasked with designing a battle suit per their specifications; one capable of withstanding a constant flux in gravity, something that could convert kinetic energy into a body shield, and one that could stand an immense amount of pressure, possibly greater than that found at the depths of the ocean. You worked diligently, the suit familiar to the one you had been tasked to create years prior with Siebren in preparation for his own experimentation in space, your heart aching as you put in fail-safes that could have possibly protected or saved him from harm. You kept your head down, never really introduced to any other personnel in Talon other than the science department and only catching glimpses of the more infamous faces of the organization. Genuinely you didn’t care to make friends, you wanted to fulfill your end of the bargain so that they could fulfill their own. It took several months with the technology they had available, but you had finished the preliminary design of the suit, telling Moira you simply needed to tailor the suit to wearer and it would be completed.

She had responded with a cryptic, ‘He will be liberated soon enough.’

You had thought nothing of it, expecting another jailbreak similar to that of Akande Ogundimu, working quietly in your lab to tweak and update the suit so whomever wore it could make no complaints. They didn’t waste good technology on non-intellectuals so at the bare minimum it had to pass your stringent standards. Your back had been turned when they had brought him in, classical music floating through your lab softly, helping you focus on tweaking the pin on one of the minicontrollers minutely to correctly an insulation and cooling issue. The rasping voice of the ‘Reaper’ began to chip at your concentration, your hands stilling briefly as he snapped orders to bring him inside. You had let out a long suffering sigh, placing your instruments down and began to pull off the magnifying headband to face whoever was entering your lab before freezing at the sound of one voice.

“Th-that melody…where am I?”

You remembered it felt like you had been punched in the chest, every ounce of air stolen from you as you ripped the head lamp off and stared at the door with wild, tear-filled eyes. Just pass the doorway, flanked by three of Talon foot soldiers behind and the Reaper in front was Siebren. Somehow he had stayed the same and yet had changed so much. The man was dressed in what looked like an orange jumpsuit, several emblems denoting him as ‘SUBJECT Σ’, wrists and ankles adorned with chainless shackles. Augmentations had been carved into his face; his cheekbones and forehead and temples now adorned with metal that made your heart ache, wondering how much pain he was in when they were inserted. His face was still his but…his cheeks had become somewhat sunken and swollen bags resting beneath his dull, spiritless blue eyes. But what had shocked you the most is how the man was floating at least a meter off of the ground, all surrounding him seemingly unconcerned by his ability to completely subvert Newton’s law of gravitation. Stumbling forward, you remembered when Siebren eyes fell to yours, the man’s eyes going round as he spoke your name barely above a whisper. He dropped to the ground and when you surged forward, he took you into his arms and you held onto each other as if either let go the other would float away.

And this is how you both found yourself working for Talon. They had tethered you both to the organization by using the other as collateral. Siebren, or Sigma as they preferred to call him, would never leave if he could not leave with you and you were a grounding source for Siebren and would never leave his side after your time apart. Neither one of you were fighters or soldiers, you were scientists, but something had changed in Siebren after years of isolated experimentation and repeated exposure to his new found abilities. Battle was an experiment and while not always preferred, he would do what he must to keep testing the new hypotheses that both he and you came up with.

Today, at least, the fighting was over.

You stood on the flight deck, watching as the hovercraft began to touch the ground, pushing off of the stair railing that you had been leaning on. The team had recently moved to another base in Australia, the Outback providing swaths of land that was ignored by the country’s government, Talon quickly creating a state of the art facility within a year. Plumes of reddish brown dust expanded outwards as the ship doors opened, the half dozen or so foot soldiers walking out soon followed by the ‘A-team’. You gave a respectful ‘good evening’ or ‘hello’ to those that passed, warmly squeezing Moira’s shoulder before walking past them and towards the straggler.

“Welcome home”, you said warmly, a genuine grin creasing your face as you looked up into Sigma’s eyes. The small frown that had become his neutral expression melted away as his eyes met yours, the tension in the man’s body seemingly melted away. Slowly he went from floating a meter off the ground to hovering a few centimeters off of the ground. Taking one of his gloved hands in yours you let him lead the way. “The mission was a success?”

“Mmm I believe so”, he stated, humming low in his throat as he briefly recalled. His hand gently squeezed yours as the two of you walked through the bay doors. “It appears that I may be able to increase the range of Gravitic Flux but it seems to require further experimentation.”

You bobbed your head in agreement, mentally notating that for training later. But for now, you wanted to make sure he could unwind after being away for the last few days. Lacing your hands with his you began to take charge as Sigma’s feet finally touched the ground, turning and smiling mischievously at him as you tugged him through the halls.

“Woah”, he huffed out, a quiet chuckle following his words as you tugged him along. “What’s the rush…and we’ve walked pass the lab.”

“I know my love”, you hummed back as you kept marching forward, turning towards the personnel quarters and your shared room. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh then please lead on”, he answered, a quiet lilt in his voice as he began to float once more, stumbling as the load of him got even lighter.

Turning you shot him a playful glare as you practically skipped down the hall, turning until you got to the ‘A-teams�� quarters, the master’s sized bedrooms a treat for the eccentric members of the battle team. For a terrorist organization constantly on the run, it was odd how their pockets seemingly never ran dry and how they never had to ‘rough’ it in anything less than a four star hotel. Still, you didn’t peek too far behind the curtain, happy to fulfill the role of nothing more than a personal scientist and to reap the benefits that came with being the ‘Sigma’s girl’.

You hummed quietly as you pressed your hand to the biometric scanner, twisting on your heel and pulling Siebren by both hands down grinning wide as you stared up at him. The light had returned to his cerulean eyes, his cheeks no longer sallow or sunken but filled by months of meals you personally requested of the kitchen staff and your own clumsily made stroopwafels. He seemed….happy again. You didn’t know what the government had done to him while he had been locked away but the hacker woman, Sombra was her name, had given you some details and it seemed he had been isolated away from others for most of his time. Once he was brought on to the base and allowed to interact with others, to talk and move freely and actually be human, the man you fell in love with came back to you piece by piece.

Siebren floated lower, pulling your hands back so they could carefully wrap around his body and gently grabbing you by the waist to float you the rest of the way to the room.

“So what do you have planned this time mijn schatje”, he inquired, one of his bushy brows lifting inquisitively. You giggled quietly as you lifted on shoulder in playful innocence.

“You’ll have to open the door and see”, you answered lackadaisically, knowing the ever curious man wouldn’t hesitate to find the answers that he wanted the answers to.

He pressed you closer to him, his arm locking around your waist so he could use his free hand to press to the biometric scanner on the door, the man pausing for a moment as the scent of food escaped.

“Is that…”

“Mhmm”, you answered, leaning up to place a gentle kiss on the underside of his chin as he looked in the room in astonishment before looking down at you with pure adoration. “I know it’s summer here but I wanted to give you a touch of winter from home. I don’t know how but the omnic chef, I think her name is Tulip, was able to get her hand on actual rookworst. So I asked her to make some boerenkoolstamppot and oliebol when I heard you two were on your way back.”

You and Tulip had made sure to put the meals under one of those special serving platters that suspended the meal with hardlight; the meal still piping hot and the dessert protected from condensation. A grin grew on your face as you soaked in the look on his face, the man slowly pulling his eyes from the food an down to you.

“Mijn universum”, he breathed softly, slowly lowering to the ground with you, his hands resting lightly on either side of your torso. His thumbs rubbed slow circles against your side, the pads of his gloves pressing into you slightly. “Thank you…”

“You are more than welcome my love”, you hummed softly before taking a small half step back from him and grabbing one of his hands with both of yours. Your thumbs gently ran over the textured pads, glossing over the oppositional gravitational channeler, fingertips dancing up to gently pull it off. “Here let’s get you out of your uniform and enjoy a good winter meal. Oh, and I’ll turn on our melody.”

“Yes that does sound lovely.”

Siebren smiled as you hummed the chords to the song that had been stuck in his head for years, the melody that had played in the lab when the singularity had happened that had given him a glance into the future. It had played on loop, obsessively taunting him with a beautiful, comforting tune, so familiar and yet so far away, comfort teasing him in it’s harmony but never quite settling. This had been the first song he heard when walking into your lab, the first song he had when he had been liberated, the first song when his universe began to come back together. The AI of the room took over, it soft, feminine voice ringing out.

“Now playing, ‘My Universe’.”

#Sigma #Sigma Overwatch #Overwatch #Overwatch fic #Overwatch fanfic #Anonymous #overwatch headcanon #siebren de kuiper #readerxsigma #sigma x reader

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scottymcgeesterwrites · 4 years ago

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Final Fantasy VII Review

Year: 1997

Original Platform: PlayStation One

Also available on: PC, PlayStation Store

Version I Played: PlayStation One

Synopsis:

The Shinra Electric Power Company rules over the city of Midgar, and the eco-terrorists AVALANCHE stop at nothing to try and prevent the life essence of the planet from being used as energy. Barrett, leader of AVALANCHE, hires a mercenary named Cloud Strife for their bombing mission on a Shinra Mako Reactor. Cloud doesn’t care much for the greater cause and only wants his pay. But then, after a mission goes awry, he meets Aerith, a flower girl who is the descendant of the Ancients. He quickly finds himself wrapped up in the greater conflict against Shinra.

Gameplay:

Final Fanatasy VII utilizes magic spells via Materia – little orbs that come in a variety of colors pertaining to the natural elements. You can mix and match them on your weapons and equipment, which gives you access to different spells and stats. All your equipment varies with the number of slots for how many Materia orbs you can put in. Leveling up not only upgrades the character but the equipped Materia as well.

Final Fantasy VII also uses an ATB system but is known for introducing Limit Breaks – finishing moves that build up after the character gets hit over time. Final Fantasy VI had a prototype called Desperation Attack – but it was very rare as it only appeared when your character had 1/8 of their total HP, and there was a 1 in 6 chance of performing the Desperation Attack after selecting Attack. I actually had no idea that was a thing until long after I finished the game, and never experienced it when I played Final Fantasy VI.

Graphics:

Out of all the Final Fantasy games, I have to say that this one has not aged well. It has the worst graphics of the entire series. The battle and cinematic graphics are passable.

(Most of the graphics power seemed to be put in Tifa’s, uh, bosom.)

But the characters in towns, the overworld, and in-game cutscenes are incredibly blocky. PC versions are supposedly sharper, but the PlayStation One version makes it nigh impossible to see any facial expressions.

The graphics are definitely a product of its time. I always say that the beginning of 3D gaming was essentially like puberty – awkward and full of zits. It wasn’t yet at that stage where it could be aesthetically pleasing. We marveled about it when it was first released, yes, but then we cringed in retrospect.

The environment backdrops however are probably the strongest points, where they capture the industrial nature of Midgar, the reactors and other such buildings.

Story:

Final Fantasy VII became legendary the minute Square released it. Every aspect was memorable. Part of it could be due to the fact that it was the first Final Fantasy game to enter the 3D realm. Another part was Tetsuya Nomura’s character designs, which hit the cool meter to the point of sub-zero.

The cinematics blew our minds. The opening action scene with Cloud, Barrett, and the rest of AVALANCHE attacking Shinra’s mako reactor is the most memorable opening to a Final Fantasy game. Period. Final Fantasy games really do know how to start at the right spot, no matter how good or bad the overall game is. The opening is always the best part.

Then there was the motorcycle chase. Cid’s airship. The gun fights. Battles with Sephiroth. The extra stuff to find, like summons and extra bosses. So much was jam-packed into the game.

But the story was the primary factor in making VII famous. It’s definitely one of the better ones. Man, the story became so famous that even gamers who haven’t touched a Final Fantasy game knew the major spoilers. It is the equivalent to knowing Darth Vader’s line, “I am your father” without having actually watched Star Wars.

Aerith (Aeris in the English releases) Gainsborough – the innocent flower girl who holds the secrets of the Ancients – develops a romance with Cloud and fucking dies at the end of Disc 1 by the main villain – Sephiroth. The scene shocked everyone and practically made headlines. Everybody has seen the horrible image in one way or another.

It seems to me that since Final Fantasy V, the stories have gotten more and more used to main character deaths, ultimately transforming into a heavy-hitting TV series rather than simply a video game series. In other words – it matured. Looking back, Final Fantasy IV appears to be child’s play and a prototype of later dramatic storylines with fully realized worlds.

Final Fantasy VII was also the first Final Fantasy game to create a world much like ours – one with cars and trains and airplanes and machine guns and even cellphones. The main city of Midgar reflects industrialization at its worst, with miles of slums and claustrophobic cities. Shinra Electric Power Company is a reflection of capitalism at its worst - a single entity in charge of so much that it’s pretty much the government. For the first time in a Final Fantasy game, you play as characters who dance between the morally ambiguous line of terrorism and activism. Funny enough, the theme of neglecting the planet resonates with us now more than ever. This game ended up being rather prophetic about the uncontrollable growth of corporations.

While the story is memorable with many intriguing elements, the plot itself is a tangled web. In my opinion, they really hashed in so many things that it’s easy to forget crucial details. It’s not straightforward, but at the same time everything does connect by the end. While Shinra is the driving force as a whole as the villain, Sephiroth takes over, then you learn about his backstory and then with the evil scientist Hojo and the extra-terrestrial Jenova and then “Weapon” and then the planet’s history and this and that and the other thing.

If I were to put Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII together and contrast them, as many gamers do, I would find that Final Fantasy VII is the summer blockbuster and Final Fantasy VI is the Oscar winner. Final Fantasy VII started introducing the sappy romance subplot to the series. A love triangle forms among Aerith, Cloud, and Cloud’s childhood friend Tifa. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a love triangle, the writing is like watching middle schoolers trying to express their feelings. Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IV treated any romance with dignity and realism.

But maybe I’m being a bit harsh. After all, Cloud Strife did go through some suffering as an adolescent. His backstory clearly drives his antisocial behavior, so that becomes a good arc.

The goofiest but memorable part of the story deals with Don Corneo and Wall Market and running around store to store doing tasks in order to free Tifa from Don Corneo. It ends with Cloud needing to cross-dress as a woman to get inside Don’s mansion. Because, you know, it’s not like Cloud can just break in with his sword and Aerith’s magic or anything like that. But whatever. It’s anime.

The recent Final Fantasy VII Remake for the PS4 seems to streamline the story, and actually enhances the emotions they were trying to deliver in the original. I will be talking about the remake in a separate post altogether since I’m almost done with it at the time of this writing. But there’s a lot that I want to say about comparing and contrasting the remake and the original.

The latter half of the plot takes a couple weird turns. At one point, Cloud became catatonic and confined to a wheelchair.

That part of the game became the sluggish part for me. Sephiroth also tries to confuse Cloud, which confused me. Cloud apparently suffers from some alternate subconscious mumbo-jumbo and like. . .ungh. I get an aneurysm thinking about it sometimes.

Complicated plotlines like Final Fantasy VII start showing up from here on out in the Final Fantasy series. The trend of bishonen characters also begin here, bishonen being the Japanese term for “beautiful boy.” Cloud and Sephiroth have that look. The series starts hashing in sappier romances and much more of an anime feel.

Final Fantasy VII ultimately marked the start of a new era for the series – introducing both cool and overused tropes.

Music:

Hands down the best Final Fantasy soundtrack of all.

The entire soundtrack of this game is memorable. The opening tune, with its light twinkle when the stars show up, is enough to make any gamer know exactly what that’s from.

With a story set in a more modern world, we have music that is more modern. After Final Fantasy VI had a more serious and operatic score, Uematsu displayed his love of progressive rock here. The motorcycle chase incorporates a lot of synth, which was fitting for zipping through the streets of Midgar. However, Final Fantasy VII is the first Final Fantasy game without that familiar starting bassline for the battle them. The battle theme is instantly recognizable but also radically different from its predecessors. It’s dramatic and displays danger.

Meanwhile, the boss theme is one of the best boss themes in the series, or any video game really. It’s an electrifying progressive rock piece, and it’s my personal favorite boss theme.

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The more instrumental pieces are somber, given the dreary atmosphere of the planet. The world map music is very different from its predecessors. It’s romantic one moment, soaring the next, and then dips into foreboding terror. I guess that sums up the story of Final Fantasy VII.

And we cannot leave out One-Winged Angel, which I will talk about below.

Notable Theme:

Without a doubt, One-Winged Angel – played during the terrifying final battle against Sephiroth – is the most memorable piece of music in Final Fantasy VII.

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It may very well be the most popular song of the entire series. Nobuo Uematsu was inspired by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It’s a whopping 30 something minute classical piece. If you look it up on YouTube and browse through it, you can definitely note the similarities. However, Uematsu didn’t want some boring classical introduction to the piece. He wanted to add the destructive impact of rock. The theme has a very distinct stamping-your-foot-down quality to it.

I had noticed a certain piece-by-piece feel of the song and that’s exactly how Uematsu composed it. This is the only song that Uematsu has composed where he created several tunes in his head and then rearranged them to make a single comprehensive song.

If you want to get technical, One-Winged Angel is the first Final Fantasy song with lyrics. The chorus sings in Latin about Sephiroth’s burning anger, with some lyrics actually taken from the medieval poem Carmina Burana. It sounds fantastic when fully orchestrated.

In Advent Children, the animated sequel to Final Fantasy VII, the music is accompanied by hardcore metal. This new rendition really illustrates the destructive power of Sephiroth. Uematsu changed the lyrics for Advent Children. They are more original now. I specifically noticed the lyrics “Veni, veni, mi fili”, which translates to “Come, come, my son.” Sephiroth is inviting you so he can kill you.

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Uematsu has stated that the original orchestration didn’t sit well with him. As I suspected, Advent Children’s hardcore metal version is the one he preferred, the one he would have composed had he the technology at the time of Final Fantasy VII.

Verdict:

Another must-play for any RPG fan, even if you think it’s overrated. It’s a must-play because of its popularity, in the same way that people are wide-eyed when you say you haven’t seen Star Wars or such-and-such other popular movie. It’s a whole lot of fun, especially in the scenes that involve other forms of gameplay, such as the motorcycle chase and even a battlefield strategy game in protecting Fort Condor.

Direct Sequel?

Yes – first there was the CGI movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

I actually watched Advent Children before playing Final Fantasy VII. I had already known most of what happened in the game and Advent Children became a monumental craze when it first came out. Everybody was talking about it. Watching the sequel before playing the game skewers your interpretation of things. My first impression of Cloud was that he was always whiny and angsty, and meanwhile Tifa kept nagging him to move on. I felt really bad for Cloud losing Aerith.

Then when I actually played Final Fantasy VII, I saw that Cloud starts as this badass mercenary. Tifa is spunky and clearly is the better choice (IMO) but Cloud is enamored by Aerith after only meeting her briefly. WHAT? Cloud. Bro. Make a move on Tifa, you nitwit. Tifa is AMAZING.

Square Enix then continued the story with Dirge of Cerberus – Final Fantasy VII. This video game sequel focuses on Vincent Valentine, a fan favorite of the original game.

Let me remind you about something – the original game revealed Shinra’s inner deep secret experiments, namely with Sephiroth and Jenova. Dirge of Cerberus introduces an even deeper research team within Shinra called Deepground. I don’t know about you, but it already sounds like the start of a terribly redundant string of sequels, like how the Jason Bourne movies keep revealing an even deeper level of conspiracy theories. Vincent’s mysterious background is now fully revealed. He is defined by – guess what? – another angsty lost lover story, this time with a woman named Lucrecia. Now, okay, look, maybe I’m just being a dick about these types of love stories. But when it keeps popping up within the same series in the same manner, I start asking if you have anything else to offer on your menu.

Lastly, there is the prequel for the PSP – Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Of all the games in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core has received the most positive reception. If anything, play that after playing Final Fantasy VII before bothering with anything else.

Oh, and of course there is the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which we thought wasn’t going to happen for the longest time but they finally released it in April 2020. More on that later after I finish it, and after I post my entire series of Final Fantasy reviews!

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flutteringdreams-matw · 3 years ago

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Out of Time (12)

First/Last Read on AO3 Word Count: 6922 Previously: Danny and Sam narrowly escape. After a brief recovery Danny heads back to the city to lure Dan back out. Now: Fight! Angst! Teamwork! Duplicates! Link to the next chapter will be in the replies once posted. As always - please let me know what you think!

Valerie shot wildly, dodging the green blasts from the ghost gracefully in the air. He snarled menacingly, turning into a puff of green smoke to avoid it. Wasting no time, she brought out three cubes around her and charged the cannons for when he reappeared. "Come out, spook!" she yelled, eyes darting around. She heard him chuckle from somewhere behind her.

"Even in this timeline, you still have the same insults," Dan taunted. He became visible, launching a large ecto-blast at the back of her head. One of the cubes turned, blocking the blast with one of their own. "What's this?" his eyes narrowed as Valerie turned, smirking.

"Don't underestimate me," she threatened. The other two cubes discharged, sending two blasts of pink toward him. Dan put up a lazy shield as they hit it.

"Never would Valerie," he replied with a slimy smile. "Though even with your new tricks, you're still no match for me."

Valerie growled, taking out her ecto-launcher and took aim. "Maybe," she conceded, "but what about her?!"

Dan looked up, enraged as he saw a small ghost, grinning as she held his cape. "Hi there!" she said cheerily. She moved, dragging him with her as she threw him toward a rooftop. Valerie followed his trajectory and fired, hitting him square in the chest and sent him crashing downward. Dani flew next to Valerie, smiling with her arms crossed. "Capes - too easy."

Valerie chuckled at her confidence. "He's no pushover though," she warned, looking at her wrist at what was left in her arsenal. "I'm almost out of grenades and he's still not staying down."

Dani frowned, looking down toward the rooftop where the ghost landed. "Who is he anyway?" she asked out loud. "He has Danny's logo on his chest, but I've never seen him before."

Valerie raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Isn't that some family trait? Like a crest or whatever?"

The young ghost didn't have a chance to answer, with a roar Dan shot upward and shot three strong ecto-blasts toward the pair. Dani flew in front of Valerie, putting up a shield as the latter starter to fire small rays. Dan dodged them with ease, flying until he was above the girls and inhaled.

Dani's eyes widened and quickly pushed Valerie to the side, darting in the other direction as Dan released the sonic waves of his Ghostly Wail. Both girls covered their ears as they dodged, watching as the attack demolished some buildings beneath them. As Valerie flew back to Dani's side, astonished, Dan turned around, red eyes narrowing at the two ghost fighters.

"Who are you?" Danielle demanded, green eyes glowing.

Dan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I should be asking you that question. I definitely don't remember a younger Phantom in my timeline." He sneered at her. "Let me guess - one of the Cheesehead's pet projects?" Danielle growled in response as his smile grew.

Valerie charged her hand blaster, aiming it directly at the ghost. "Answer the question - I'm more than happy to shoot you all the way back to the Ghost Zone."

Dan laughed. "Really? Don't recognize me?" He threw his out dramatically. "You'd think accusing me of ruining your life everyday for - what? - two years would imprint my face into your mind."

Regardless of what you think I am…. Dan is much, much worse.

Valerie's eyes widened as Phantom's words came back to her. "Phantom?" she asked.

Danielle's eyes glowed neon. "Liar!" she screamed. "You're not Danny!"

Dan laughed again. "True!" he goaded. "Not anymore. The Danny Phantom you know is somewhere, judging from the broken shield. It's only a matter of time before that goes - he's beaten. Now all that's left is-" a large pink blast hit him from the side, cutting off his speech with a yell.

"I always told you to grow up Daniel," Vlad taunted as he entered this battle. "I never meant it to be so literal."

Dan held his side, glaring darkly as Vlad floated over to the girls. "Wow, he called you. He must be desperate."

Vlad rolled his eyes. "Please, I've been in this town for months now. Can't have you ruining all my hard work." Red eyes turned briefly to the two girls beside him. "Truce?"

Danielle scoffed, looking away. Valerie sighed reluctantly. "For now." Vlad nodded and turned back toward the evil ghost.

Dan just smirked. "You're kidding me right?" His hands lit aflame as he charged at his three foes, all dodging quickly and on the attack. Danielle's feet lit up green, sending a wave of ecto-energy toward Dan with a strong kick. It hit him dead on, but he was unfazed, flying at the girl with surprising speed. Vlad tackled him, both ghosts exchanging blows evenly. Valerie charged in, hitting Dan with the front of her board and electrocuted him.

Dan snarled madly, creating a blast of ecto-energy outward, sending the girl spiralling away.

"Valerie!" Danielle yelled as she raced after her friend. Valerie managed to steady herself as the half-ghost reached her. Vlad sent another shot of energy toward Dan, sending him flying. He steadied himself, quickly launching himself back at the old hybrid.

Valerie took aim, trying to hit the older Phantom as Danielle flew toward her. "You okay?" she asked, floating beside the sled.

"Would be better if I could get a clean shot," Valerie shot back bitterly. She moved her bazooka in time with the fighting ghosts, attempting to hit the flame haired ghost with no avail.

Danielle let out a low whistle she watched Dan and Vlad clash, pink and green energy explode in the air. "I never thought I'd be rooting for Vlad."

Dan threw a large ecto-blast at the older hybrid, sending him flying back toward the girls. The Phantom smiled, a twisted grin on his face as he watched Vlad steady himself in the air. Red eyes looked down toward the town and then back at figures in front of him. "Pretty good," he sneered. "But what can you do to protect them?" He inhaled again, aiming for the ground before letting out a ghostly wail. Vlad quickly put up a shield, protecting the two teenagers behind him and the town. Danielle followed suit, attempting to stop any more of the city from falling apart. The wail reverberated against their shields, pushing the half-ghosts further backward.

Valerie's eyes darted from the ghosts defending her to the ground below, unsure of how to help in this situation. The attack is too strong she thought irritably, flying closer to Danielle to help steady her. The ghost girl nodded in thanks, grunting in exertion as she held the shield strong. Plasmius was pushed backwards more, feet touching Danielle's shield as he continued to hold off more of the wail. If Masters can't hold this off, how the hell are we going to beat him? Valerie frowned, looking toward the evil Phantom in hopes to get to a weak spot. The wail covered a large area - nowhere for her to get above it. A small crack appeared in Plasmius' shield, making Valerie gasp. "Don't you dare let him through!" Valerie yelled to Plasmius angrily.

"What do you think I'm doing girl!?" Plasmius retorted, pushing back against the wail. More cracks appeared on his shield.

Valerie was about to retort, but gasped as she noticed a familiar figure above them. Reluctant relief bubbled in her chest as she recognized the ghost flying towards them.

Danny flipped in the air, right foot turning almost white, and with a yell sliced through the wail with electric energy. The blast cut through quickly, knocking Dan backward with a yell in anger. Danny stopped a few feet in front of Plasmius, hovering protectively. With another yell he flung his right hand outward, creating another wave of the same white energy toward Dan. It hit true, sending the older Phantom flying further back. Danny faltered in the air, panting as he gripped his side, looking around for the next threat.

"Danny!" Danielle called, racing forward to her cousin's side. "You're okay!"

Danny grimaced, holding his side tighter as she came towards him. "More or less," he grunted. Danielle frowned worried, floating close to his head as composed himself.

Valerie floated next to Plasmius, mouth agape as she watched the two Phantoms ahead of her. She had just watched her arch-enemy single handily stop a powerful ghost who had almost taken out the whole town in its tracks with one attack. He looked dishevelled; his normal white hair was matted, jumpsuit torn revealing half healed injuries and was half covered in sickly green ectoplasm. She glanced at Plasmius, who watched emotionless before she flew ahead. "Took you long enough," she said finally with an edge in her voice.

A playful smile graced Danny's lips. "Getting worried?" he asked. "Gee- I'm touched."

Valerie scoffed. "As if, Phantom."

Vlad floated over, watching Danny closely with a frown. "That won't hold him back for long, Daniel. I take it you have a plan?"

Danny's face hardened, green eyes glancing in the direction that Dan was sent flying. "He can't reach the city," Danny told them. "We need to bait him out of town or stall him until the Fenton's Ghost Shield goes up." Danny looked briefly at Plasmius, frowning at the unasked question. "Those shadows are going to cause a lot of damage on their own - let alone if Dan goes down there. The fact he can still use the Ghostly Wail means we haven't weakened him enough."

"Why don't we just take him out?" Valerie said angrily, changing one of her empty blasters for one that was full. "It's four against one. You just blocked that damn scream power, right? We can take him."

Danny made a face, opened his mouth to retort when an angry roar echoed across the sky. Danny narrowed his eyes, watching as Dan barrelled his way back toward them. Plasmius put up a shield in front of the teens in anticipation, but Dan stopped short, glaring at his younger self.

"Still alive then," Dan snarled, red eyes glowing slightly. Danny said nothing, bristling in anger. Danielle looked between the angry ghosts with unease.

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" Danny countered.

Dan's lips curled upwards in a crude smile. "Tell me, how's our little friend doing? If you're here, then she must have-"

"You missed," Danny cut him off, green eyes glowing menacingly.

Dan's face was shocked for a moment, before he laughed darkly. His eyes looked the boy over, gaze resting on the large amount of dried ectoplasm on his suit. "Oh, I don't know about that Danny." The teen in front of him stiffened, eyes widening a fraction before schooling his features again. Danielle and Valerie moved in line with Danny as Plasmius dropped the shield. "Seems like some good came from our little game; I told you it was a matter of time before I got through your little shield."

Danny growled in response. Vlad gave the two a calculating look, trying to figure out what happened in their earlier encounter. "This is as far as you get," Danny told him, readying himself for an attack.

Dan laughed again. "Another round?" he taunted. Dan split himself into four. "Then let's up the stakes."

Danny looked to his companions as they flanked his sides. "If you have a shot," he told them quietly, "take it." Before anyone had a chance to react, Danny flew forward, right eye turning blue and arms ablaze with electricity. He collided with one of the Dan duplicates, tackling it down further to the ground with a yell.

:-=-:

Tucker swore under his breath as another section of the town became infested with Dan's shadow army. "Quadrant five!" he said sharply into the Fenton Phone. A roar from one of Frostbite's army sounded in the distance as he watched some more of the yetis leave the outer ring of FentonWorks to the affected Quadrant. "Clockwork - is there any sign of Dan?"

The Time Master looked up to the screens from the chair he currently sat in. "Above the city," he said gravely. Time had stopped again, weakening him than before.

Tucker swore again. "How about those shadows; are we keeping them at bay?"

"There's so many of them Tucker!" Jazz replied irritably. "You try blowing up evil shadows of your baby brother's ghost!"

Tucker winced. "We can do this," he said as he typed in more code into the ghost shield program. "I'm almost there." He refused to think of Danny's shield being broken. He needed to get this done to help his friend. Ethelwulf will find them. He'll be okay.

"Tucker's right" Maddie replied. "We can and will."

A terrible wailing sound came through the Fenton Phones, making Tucker wince as he threw it out of his ear. He gasped, looking up at the screens and saw Dan above the town, directing the attack downwards. He paled, about to put the phone back in his ear to warn the Fentons when a bright light cut across one of the screens. Hope bubbled in his chest as Clockwork leaned forward with wide red eyes.

"Is that…" Tucker asked hopefully. He scrambled at the console, grabbing his Fenton Phone as the wail died down and the booming voice of Jack Fenton coming through.

"Danny! It's Danny!"

Tucker let out a large breath before he laughed, listening to Mrs. Fenton and Jazz's cries of relief. "He's okay!"

They had hope again - Danny was back and he was fighting.

:-=-:

Danny threw another energy blast at Dan, ignoring the angry throb in his core. The spectre dodged, gaining speed for Danny with blazing fists. Danny's eyes widened slightly, flying upward before stopping. His hands crackled with electricity and braced as Dan ran into him. The energy exploded as they collided, both Phantoms gritting their teeth as they pushed the other. The force of the energy knocked them back, both flying back. Green met red, narrowing as they assessed each other before they both went flying toward the other.

Danny and Dan clashed violently, neither giving an inch as they flew above the city. After the fourth time, Danny's hands became blue, hitting Dan with a large ice blast and knocking him away. He snarled as he stopped in midair, glaring up at Danny and panting tiredly.

From his place above, Danny did the same, only vaguely aware of the battles around him. Danielle wasn't fairing badly; using her size and speed to move quickly around Dan's duplicate and get in a few shots. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her wrap her legs around the duplicate's neck and flipped - using her body as momentum to send the duplicate barrelling to the ground. Plasmius and the duplicate in front of him traded quips, attacking every so often with an exchange of ghost rays or punches. Valerie seemed to be struggling, electing to use her energy cube blasters, sled and hand to hand combat.

Danny grunted as a strong wave of electricity moved through his body. Not now he thought bitterly. I can do this. I have to do this. He heard Dan laughed scathingly, bringing the boy's attention back to the foe in front of him. "What?" he asked darkly, green eyes glowing in anger.

"Core Energy," Dan replied with a smirk. Danny's brow furrowed in confusion. "I knew your core was strong but to use it? Against me? How a year changes things."

Danny didn't reply, breathing hard while continuing to glare darkly at his evil self. He had been lucky so far not be hit. Focus. Get him away from Amity. He eyes darted from the ground to the forest they were in earlier.

"Too bad it won't help you. Let's see how you avoid it."

Danny only just managed to dodge, flipping backward as Dan appeared in front of him. Red eyes glowed darkly as blue flames swiped at the teen. Danny yelped, continuing to dodge as Dan forced him back.

"Behind you!"

Valerie's warning came too late as a duplicate slammed into him, stunning him in place. A second later, an explosion of blue flames hit him square on his chest, sending him flying back and hitting a building. The bricks dug into his back as he curled in on himself. The next thing Danny knew, Dan's hand was around his throat. Danny let out a strangled cry, white gloved hands grasping at his captor.

"Daniel!" he heard Plasmius yell out in alarm.

"Danny!" Danielle cried at the same time.

Dan let out a low laugh, his blue face moving to Danny's struggling one. "Here we are again," he said with a snarl. "Your pitiful attempts to change the past is tired Danny. How much longer can you keep this up?"

"Let him go."

Dan's eyebrows rose incredulously at the voice. Holding the struggling teen firmly, Dan turned his head all the way around. Valerie floated on her sled, her rocket launcher aimed directly at the two Phantoms. "Really? Didn't think you cared whether he died Valerie. Aren't all ghosts evil?"

"Oh, they are. He's just the lesser of two evils," she replied frostily. Valerie tried not to think about how necks should not turn all the way round as she stared him down.

"Evil?" Dan asked, smiling slightly. "If you want to label me as evil, I guess that works. But Danny here? Oh the things he could do if he just gave in."

"Val-rie. T-ake the sh-shot!" Danny ground out, his movements slowing down. Dan snarled as he turned back to his captive.

"I think that's enough out of you," he hissed, tightening his hold around the boy's neck. Danny let out a strangled gasp, choking as he tried to get enough air. "I wonder what Valerie would say if she knew your little secret."

Valerie's eyes widened at the evil ghost's words but put her hand on the trigger of the rocket launcher. "Last chance ghost - don't say I didn't warn you!"

Dan laughed, his other hand creating blue flames around it. "I'd like to see you try," he goaded with a roll of his eyes. "In the meantime, Danny and I have some unfinished business." He brought the flaming hand to the boy's chest, pressing it against the large, half healed burn. Danny made a sharp, strangled cry of pain as a bright ring of light appeared at his waist. It sparked dangerously, attacking the teen.

Valerie gasped, moving her hand off the trigger as she watched Phantom fight whatever the older ghost was throwing at him. That's… no. No. He can't be.

"Valerie what are you doing!" Danielle yelled to her. "Take the shot!"

She couldn't. She would hit them both. And if he's… I can't destroy him. The ring of light didn't move like Danielle's did; it stayed in one place, sparking dangerously. It was wild - almost electric rather than the gentle glow she had seen before.

A blast of magenta energy hit Dan in the back, making him cry out in pain and letting Danny go. The teen floated against the building for a moment before he fell downward. Dan snarled angrily, attempting to go after his prey but Vlad slammed into him hard. The older hybrid punched him in the face, followed by a strong kick into the duplicate Danielle was fighting. It disappeared, leaving Danielle staring at Vlad absolutely flabbergasted. "Get Daniel!" The young girl flew after Danny's falling form at top speed, whooshing past a still stunned Valerie. Vlad threw himself at the evil Phantom, fangs bared and bright magenta energy shining brightly around his wrists. Dan's eyes widened in alarm, quickly darting out of the way from the onslaught. "Stay still!" Vlad yelled, hitting the ghost in the chest and sending him spiralling into a building.

Dan looked up with narrow eyes, a feral smile on his lips. "You know, I always wondered which one of us was the better ghost. Maybe it's time to find out."

Red met red, both capes billowing in the wind. "Ms. Gray," Plasmius called, not looking at the hunter. "Get to Daniel." The two ghosts collided with an explosion.

:-=-:

Dani reached out to Danny's gloved hand as she barrelled downward. She willed herself to go faster, stretching herself as far as she could go until she caught him, pulling him upward to stop their descent. They were around the fourth floor of the office building when she steadied them in the air. "Danny!" she called urgently. There was no response. Frowning worriedly, she pulled his arm around her neck, floating in place as she looked him over. Danny was unconscious, wheezing with small breaths. A nasty bruise was darkening around his neck, mixing with an older one. His chest was raw with a nasty burn, destroying most of his emblem on his jumpsuit. A ring of light appeared around his waist again, sending sparks of strong ecto-energy throughout his body before they disappeared. "Danny…" Danielle whispered worriedly, biting her lip. She looked around, before she flew toward the office building.

Danielle turned them intangible, flying toward the back of the floor and leaned her cousin along the wall. He didn't stir; the wheezing becoming worse. "Come on Danny," Danielle told him quietly, shaking him gently. "You've taken worse hits right? Wake up?" Tears came to her eyes as he didn't respond.

A wall exploded, making Danielle turn with an ecto-blast at the ready. Angry tears reflected under her intense green glare. When she saw that it was Valerie, she dropped the ecto-blast and flew at the girl. Valerie caught her as Danielle tried to hit her. "Why!" she cried. "Why didn't you take the shot!?" Valerie stared, at a loss for words. Danielle scoffed angrily and flew back to the downed Phantom. Her anger left her as a deep sense of sadness came over her. "Wake up. Please."

"Is…is he?" Valerie asked in a small voice. Danielle shook her head.

"He's still breathing," she said quietly, shaking him gently. His skin was too warm. "But he's not waking up."

Valerie walked over to the two Phantoms, guilt consuming her as she looked at the boy's injuries. "What did that ghost do to him?"

Danielle sighed, frowning. "I don't know," she replied. "I couldn't really see from where I was. It looked like -" Danielle cut herself off, an angry scowl directed at the girl. "You could've stopped it! You had a clear shot."

Valerie said nothing, still staring at the unconscious teen. "I couldn't shoot," she said quietly.

"Why?" Danielle asked.

"My question exactly." Both girls turned at Plasmius' voice. He looked a little worse for wear, but once his red eyes found Danny, he flew forward, checking the boy over gently.

"I thought you were battling the creepy doppelganger?" Valerie queried with an edge in her voice.

"Duplication," Vlad said flippantly, frowning slightly as he put his hand on Danny's forehead. "He's burning up."

"He hasn't woken up," Danielle told him worriedly. "Not even a sound. Is he going-"

Vlad's mouth became a thin line, stopping Danielle's train of thought. "Water," he instructed, looking at Danielle. "The coldest you can find. Ice too if possible." Danielle looked like she was about to argue, but with another glance at Danny, she nodded and took off somewhere in the office building. Vlad turned his gaze at the other teenager in the room. "Locate the thermostat on this floor. Crank the air conditioner."

"Don't you have, I don't know, bigger priorities than being cozy in an icebox?" Valerie asked, arching an eyebrow.

Plasmius scoffed. "The other one hasn't noticed that I've left," he said with a wave. "If you don't get the air on, that ghost will be the least of our worries."

Valerie narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Vlad's eyes glowed in frustration. "Later. Just do as I say."

Valerie scoffed, retracting her sled and moved through the office. It took her a few minutes, but eventually she found the small white object on the wall. She turned the dial quickly, turning the temperature down all the way before she headed back to the two ghosts in the back of the floor. Plasmius was quiet, inspecting the boy's injuries closely with a frown on his face. As he came across the burn on his chest, he made a noise of disapproval.

"Brownie Brittle!" he swore softly, his brow furrowing. Valerie was slightly surprised how much he sounded like Vlad Masters in that moment.

She brought her hand around her shoulders, rubbing them up and down as the temperature got colder. She leaned against a cubicle, a slight frown on her face as she observed their interaction. Valerie watched as Plasmius muttered something under his breath to Phantom, but the teen still remained unconscious. She swallowed slightly. "I would have hit them both," she said quietly.

The older hybrid raised an eyebrow in her direction. "That's not stopped you before."

She sighed. "I know," she said. "What did he do to him?"

Plasmius opened his mouth to respond when Danny finally stirred, coughing. "Daniel?" he called softly. The boy in question groaned, his face scrunched as he coughed again.

"Found some!" Danielle yelled, flying back at top speed with a couple bottles of water and what appeared to be an ice bucket. "There was a kitchen a couple floors up."

Vlad nodded. "Give him some water, slowly," he told her. He took the ice from the girl, picking up a few pieces and put it on Danny's burns.

Danny gasped in pain, coughing again as the ice melted. Danielle brought a bottle of water to his lips, tilting his head backward. He drank the water readily, wincing and coughing when Danielle would take breaks. Eventually, the coughs became less frequent as Danny started to breathe normally, wincing slightly if he moved.

"Daniel has an ice core," Vlad told them, watching Danny's chest rise and fall. "I don't know what happened before he came back here, but it was injured somehow. That evil Phantom has a heat core. Essentially, he just shot flames into the boy's core - if it melts… Danny Phantom would become a shell of his former self. Or worse… become like that monster we're fighting."

"So we're putting out the fire?" Danielle asked, frowning. Vlad nodded. "Do you really think that could happen? I mean - its Danny."

"I'm right here… you know…"

All three occupants gasped, looking at Danny. His eyes were still closed, moving with a wince as he sat up against the wall. His voice was low, a little raspy and raw from the attack.

"Danny!" Danielle exclaimed, moving closer to him. The boy winced at the volume of her voice. "You okay?"

Danny's eyes opened with a glare and a frown directed at his cousin. "If feeling like you've been sat on by an elephant is okay… then yes."

Danielle glared back. "Just asking. Considering I just had to save your ungrateful backside from eating asphalt," she retorted.

The two ghosts glared for another two seconds before they broke out into small grins. Danny nodded, signalling his thanks, before he winced again, rubbing his throat. He grimaced, curling inward slightly as Vlad put more ice onto the burn.

"Lie still," the older half-ghost ordered. "We need to get your temperature down."

Danny turned Plasmius, green eyes clouding in thought. "Dan?" he asked.

"I've got him occupied," Vlad assured. When the boy relaxed slightly, the man frowned. "Daniel, you can't go on like this. I warned you before - you're not thinking clearly. These injuries -"

"Are healing," Danny interrupted closing his eyes for a moment as he gripped his side. "You told me to use those Ecto-Enhancers for an emergency right?"

"Yes, but not to fly back into battle!" Vlad exclaimed angrily. His ghostly aura flared dangerously. "You're lucky they're still working at all! I described like an energy supplement boy, did you ever think what would happen when you crashed?"

Danny opened his eyes, glaring at his arch-enemy. "I'm fully aware of what my limits are," he said coolly. "I told you Vlad, Whatever it takes."

Vlad let out a suffering sigh, putting more ice on the boy's burn and pressing it a little more firmly on his chest. Danny let out a cry of pain, grimacing heavily. "Clearly," he replied sarcastically. Danielle glared at the older hybrid as she moved to steady Danny's form. "If you can rest here for a little while, you should heal enough to head back to FentonWorks without needing another dose," Vlad continued. His face softened slightly as he watched Danny recover. "Dan did something to your core little badger. You already know what happens when a heat core melds with an ice one."

Danny sighed, shaking his head. "He's not trying to kill me - not yet anyway," the boy said softly. Green eyes met red as he continued. "He's keeping me like this to bring me to the edge. He's trying to break me down before wasting me - finding some creative ways to do it too."

Suddenly, Danny gasped, body going rigid as a bright ring of light appeared around his waist. The ring shot white electricity throughout his body; Danny screamed, only vaguely aware of his name being called. The transformation rings moved slightly, trying to get him to transform, but green ecto-energy joined the white electricity and attacked the boy some more. His back arched up away from the wall, Danielle and Vlad attempting to keep him still as the white light moved back toward his middle. Danny managed to clench his teeth, and with a desperate yell of exertion managed to make his transformation cease. He hit the wall, vacantly looking at the ceiling as he gasped for air.

Danielle looked between Vlad and Danny with wide, fearful eyes. "What …" was the only word she could say as she grasped Danny's shoulder. Vlad's red eyes also widened, watching the young hybrid try and compose himself. The man opened his mouth to say something, but a different voice beat him to it.

"You're... like them."

Vlad and Danielle both stiffened, turning to the forgotten ghost hunter apprehensively. Valerie's eyes were wide, no longer leaning on the cubicle as she stared at the injured ghost in front of her.

"Come again?" Vlad asked nervously. Danny's gasps were slowing now, chest heaving less as he started to regain composure.

"Phantom," Valerie said quietly, moving a few steps towards the three ghosts. Danny flinched slightly, as if he only realized the girl was there. "He's… you're… you're human. Aren't you?" Valerie continued to move as if in a daze, eventually kneeling down at Phantom's feet. "That ring of light is just like Danielle's when she transforms." The half-ghost in question cursed under her breath, worriedly looking at her cousin for any sort of response. Vlad's eyes narrowed in accusation at the hunter, but said nothing. Danny continued to look at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact. "You've known who I was since the beginning. I… I know you… don't I?" Danny stiffened slightly, finally recovering from his failed transformation attempt and acknowledging the situation he was in. He swallowed slightly, his silence confirming her suspicions. "I do know you. You go to Casper High right? You're -" she gasped, her suspicions clicking into place. "Oh my God - I'm such an idiot! It's so obvious!" Danny closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable.

"You're Dash Baxter!"

Danny's eyes flew open at accusation as all three half-ghosts let out a small sigh of relief. He looked at Valerie and blinked, twice. His mouth twitched as he met her eyes. A small laugh escaped his lips. Then another. He couldn't help himself - Danny burst out into uncontrollable laughter. His laugh was light, freeing and most of all - contagious as Danielle joined in, followed by Vlad. The three hybrids laughed while Valerie scowled, turning red in embarrassment as they continued laughing.

"Which one is he?" Vlad asked, chortling slightly as he recovered. Danielle watched with a smile as Danny continued to double over in fits of laughter and held his side. She shrugged, shaking her head as she gave a sympathetic glance to Valerie.

"The…" Valerie started, watching with a confused frown as Phantom continued to laugh. "The quarterback -"

"Football?" Vlad asked incredulously. "Oh Ms. Gray, I thought you were more observant than that."

"He's… you're not?" Valerie asked weakly.

Danny's laughs turned into coughs, wincing slightly as he looked up at Valerie in amusement. Vlad looked at him worriedly and helped him sit up. "Dash Baxter?" he asked hoarsely with sparkling eyes. He looked like he would burst out into laughter again. "Wow Valerie - in what world do I remind you of that idiot?" He grunted slightly as he moved. "No Valerie - definitely not. Good nightmare fuel though."

"So why did you light up like a Christmas tree?" Valerie pressed, pushing through her embarrassment.

Danny sighed, glancing briefly at Vlad and Danielle before he answered. "I told you, he did something to my core. I think he's trying to keep me in ghost form."

Valerie's eyes widened slightly at the small confirmation that she was partially right as Vlad continued. "My thoughts exactly - you're more durable in this form. If he's not trying to kill you, I'm sure he's trying to make it easier for when he does."

"So he's blocking your transformation somehow?" Danielle asked with a frown. "But why? It'd be easier to take you out as a human?"

"If that's all that he cared about, yes," Plasmius continued. Red eyes widened as they found the dried ectoplasm on Danny's lower body. "Daniel, you can still… feel your human self? Right?"

Danny's eyes widened at his words, nodding without hesitation. "Yeah! I'm not…" he trailed off, unable to say it.

Vlad exhaled in relief before he stiffened. "Butter biscuits!" he exclaimed, turning to the exposed wall Valerie had created in alarm. He held Danny down, feeling the boy tense.

"Are we finished playing?" Dan's voice floated down to them. He was nowhere to be seen, but his voice reverberated around the building. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice Plasmius? Still too much of a coward I see."

Danny tried to move, but Danielle tightened her hold on his shoulder, making him wince. Valerie shook her head at him.

"Phantom, he's trying to get to you," she reminded him sternly.

"You think I don't know that?" he retorted angrily, trying to push himself up.

"Probably saved that sorry excuse of my past," Dan continued. Danny's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How is Danny doing? Still alive I hope. I mean, I would hate for him to miss what's next."

Danny stilled, listening intently as the girls watched him closely.

"Danny, you listening? You don't want something bad to happen on your watch. You must be past your limit by now - so it'll be interesting to see how well you can multi-task. I think it's time to pay them visit, don't you?"

"No…" Danny whispered, paling slightly. Vlad looked back to the teen worriedly.

"Daniel?"

Danny got up quickly, managing to stand for a few seconds before he faltered. Valerie and Danielle caught him by the shoulders. "He's… he's going after," he tried to say, attempting to regain his balance.

"I've been looking forward to this," Dan stated. "See if you can keep up."

Dan's voice disappeared, leaving the four occupants staring at each other. Danny tried to stand again before he fell to his knees with a strangled cry of pain. Valerie, Danielle and Vlad knelt around the boy as he made a move to try and stand again.

"Danny - stop please!" Danielle begged, watching as he tried to strain himself.

"My… the Fentons," he ground out, looking wildly at the three people in front of him. "He's about to go after the Fentons."

"Why would he do that?" Valerie asked. "I mean, they're probably the only other people out there with ghost weapons. Besides, he said them - not Fentons.

"Daniel," Vlad said gently, his tone causing the boy in question to look him. "You're injured. Going out will get all of you killed. The best way you can help right now is to recover."

"I can't," Danny told him, distraught. "I need to help them."

"Then we'll go instead!" Danielle told him earnestly. "Vlad's right, you can barely stand, let alone fight. We can hold him off."

Danny looked at the three of them before he gripped his side again and nodded. He hid his face, hiding the conflicting emotions across his face. "Okay," he conceded.

Danielle, Valerie and Vlad let out a breath as they accepted their victory.

"Dan can split into four right?" Valerie asked. "So one for each Fenton?"

Vlad shook his head. "I doubt he'd go after Daniel Fenton - the boy would be at FentonWorks I'm sure," said, adding an exaggeration on Danny's last name.

Valerie frowned. "Wouldn't that make him the perfect target?"

"Have you seen FentonWorks right now?" Danielle asked with an eyebrow raised. "It has a ghost shield and a ton of ghosts protecting it - almost like a fortress. I flew over there earlier."

Valerie opened her mouth to retort, but the billionaire continued. "If we split up, we can tackle the other three. It's doubtful that the FentonWorks shield will hold for long, but it will slow him down. I'll take-"

"Jazz," Danny cut in, finally looking up from his kneeling position. "Vlad you need to go to Jazz; she figured out who he was last time. She's the most in danger."

"Not to mention, I wouldn't trust you with Jack or Maddie," Danielle added bitterly. The older half-ghost glared at her. "I'll go to Jack - I remember seeing him earlier."

"And I guess I'll go to Maddie?" Valerie asked, frowning. "I still think we need to watch out for that fourth Phantom. I don't trust him."

Danny shook his head. "Frostbite and his people are there," he assured. "They're more than capable in defending FentonWorks - especially if Tucker can finish the improved Ghost Shield. That fourth duplicate - if there is one - is waiting for me. Please - don't let them die."

Valerie blinked, before she nodded. She made her sled appear, floating slightly in the air as she looked at Phantom. "Don't think this is over Ghost Boy. I'll figure you out eventually. Don't you dare think of dying on me before I do." She flew off, leaving Danielle and Vlad behind her.

Danny tried again to stand, managing to take a few steps toward a cubicle before faltering, grabbing the divider for support as his knees buckled. Danielle bit her lip nervously, glancing at a stoic Vlad beside her.

"I know the Ecto-Enhancers are still working," Danny told them softly, not looking in their direction. "I can feel it but it's not enough." Green eyes finally turned, looking at the two desperately. "Don't let him win."

Tears swelled in Danielle's eyes as she nodded, flying forward to give her cousin a hug. The boy returned it with one hand, desperation turning into resolve as green met red. Danielle broke away and jumped into the air, flying to find Jack Fenton.

Danny and Vlad stared at each other for a long time before Vlad sighed. "Daniel," Vlad started, worry starting to crack through his stoic façade. "Stay here - we'll be back before you know it. This is not goodbye."

Danny smiled wryly. "I didn't know you cared Vlad."

Vlad stared silently for a few minutes. "You are the only other one like me," Vlad said softly, making Danny's eyes widen. "And you're fifteen. I will not let you die." With that, Vlad swung his cape around and vanished.

Danny slid to the ground, leaning heavily on the cubicle wall with a soft groan. He could rest, recover a bit before he tried to lure Dan out again. Or Tucker can finish that damn shield. He sighed, leaning his head backwards as he relaxed slightly. He was feeling better, relieved in part that his family would be fine. Ethelwulf has Sam, he thought. Frostbite will protect Tucker. My parents, Jazz… they're good. There was no one unaccounted for.

Blue sparks came to life around him, a soft groan escaping his lips as yet another time vision appeared before his eyes. He was so tired. Danny gave in, thankfully only reliving when he found out what happened in the alternate timeline.

The statue of the Fentons, Sam and Tucker, all smiling looked down on him as he came to. An epigraph on the large pedestal reads "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN". He read it out loud, wincing slightly as he realised he was bound by something.

Something caught his attention on the side. There was another statue, this one of Lancer off by itself. The pedestal had sunk into the ground so that it read "MR LANCER - GONE".

As the sparks subsided, he sighed tiredly, closing his eyes in hopes to rest a little. It lasted all of two seconds as Danny gasped, eyes flying open and any semblance of fatigue being pushed to the side. There was someone unaccounted for.

He had forgotten about Lancer.

#cartoons #danny phantom #fanfiction #danny fenton #action #adventure #cross posted on ao3 #no phantom planet #But his parents know #ecto storm series #Out of Time #multichapter #Fight #Dan vs ValerieDaniVladDanny #100th post

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sassybirdmanandhisangstywife · 4 years ago

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Surprise surprise, I have another chapter. And this may come as a shock to you, but this chapter does NOT end with Diaval passing out. Look I know it was cliche, but he was gonna pass out anyway, it felt like the best ending. But hopefully there won’t be any more of that, for this fic at least. Instead, you get this poor bird running around going grey and not being able to relax for even a second. I feel so bad I’ve wronged my birdboi. Oh well, what happens happens. Hope you enjoy the flashback! Also, does anyone know how to attach my other chapters to the new ones I post, without reblogging? You know, the little numbers at the bottom where if you click on them they show that chapter? 1 for 1, 2 for 2, etc. I’d really like to do that, as it would make finding the full fic much easier. Thanks, I hope you like reading this!

Chapter 4

I leave her side for 5 minutes.....

I woke up slowly, well rested but somehow more exhausted then ever. Always a fun feeling. Looking around with half open eyes, I noticed no one was in my sight line. And I mean no one. No fairies flittering through the grass, no waterbollergs having me wake up to a mud covered face, nothing. I don’t think any part of The Moors has ever been this silent. So naturally, I felt immediately cautious. Maybe it was just that having humans in The Moors was such a sight that everyone had gone to see them, I reasoned, exiting the healing pools. That seemed........like I was coming up with an excuse to desperately keep the probable reality of an attack or betrayal from my brain. Fabulous. Can’t even get five minutes of peace around here. Walking from the pools, I began to search for anything (or anyone) that could give me answers to whatever the hell was going on. How I wished I could turn into a raven ri- HUH!?

I cawed loudly as I frantically flapped my wings. I was a-a RAVEN! How!? Was Mistress around? Why was she hiding from me??? I frantically circled the area, searching for Mistress, or anyone who could’ve transformed me. After a short while, and expending a large amount of my newfound energy, I had a quite worrying realization. I did it. I transformed myself. Shit. Shit shit SHIT!

Which is quite the confusing thought. How am I, a mere raven, able to shift my form all of a sudden? Allow me to explain........

19 years ago.......

“Mistress?” I asked, bandaging her wounds with my newest healing tincture.

“What is it Diaval?” She responded, wincing at the pain she was trying to hide.

“Is there any way you could allow me to shift myself?”

Mistress became still as the stone ruins all around us. Suddenly whipping her head around (and most likely regretting that move as soon as it was made), she snapped

“And why on earth would you ever need that power? Do you plan to leave in the near future?”

I was appalled at this statement.

“What!? NO! I merely meant that if we were to suffer from an attack this severe again, and I was in raven form, you might not survive.”

“Do you truly think me to be so weak?” Mistress asked, an edge to her voice, and murder in her eyes.

I sighed.

I loved my Mistress, probably more than I should, but this defensiveness was getting quite old.

“No Mistress.” I said tiredly. “But in instances like today, the humans surprised us. We didn’t expect them to be able to get over the thorn walls, let alone past Balthazar and his warriors. They snuck past those, and all our other, defenses, and sprung themselves on us when we were distracted. And since they got the drop on us, they had the chance to get enough iron on you to render you incapable of using the amount of magic it takes to transform me. If I were in raven form, or most forms other than human at that, you might not have survived. Luckily I was human, and we’re both able to fully recover because of that, but we can’t always rely on that form being available in situations like this. We should have a- what’s the word? Not-success safety?”

“A fail safe?” Mistress asked, eyebrows raised.

“Yes! That.” I said, gesturing towards Mistress. “A fail safe. A way for me to turn human at will. Not always, but in crises such as today.”

Mistress appeared thoughtful, hopefully pondering my idea. Not that I expected her to take my thoughts into account, but a raven can hope. By the time I finished bandaging her various injuries, moving on to my own, she still hadn’t given a response. It was worrying, for multiple reasons.

I decided to risk it.

“Mistress?” I asked, lightly touching her shoulder. She jerked back, seemingly jumping out of her thoughts.

“What?”

I just looked at her.

“Um, what did you think of my idea?”

Mistress’ eyes widened ever so slightly, a move I’d learned not to mention, as she was not one to deliberately show her emotions.

“Oh, yes, that.” She replied, gathering her thoughts. “I think it sounds like a..........somewhat reasonable idea, to an extent.”

Oh great.

“To what extent Mistress?”

“Although I admit there are times when I am....overpowered, they are rare occasions. If a battle does not escalate to the level of danger that could threaten my life, you will be unable to shift. If any situation somehow manages to be life threatening to myself, then you can shift into whatever you want, as many times as you wish.”

I exhaled deeply. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it w-

“-But it must be me who determines whether the situation is life threatening or not.” She finished.

Brilliant. It’s as if she threw my idea out altogether. Mistress is a prideful creature, more so then most, and it will come as a true shock if she ever admits her life is in danger, let alone that she needs saving.

Well, at least I tried.

“Whatever you say Mistress” I said, turning back to my wounds.

Present day......

Oh ravens. This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good at all. How long have I been out for something like this to happen? The magic Mistress used should only have left me unconscious for as long as I needed healing, and my injuries weren’t as severe as to need more than a day’s rest. Did the humans betray us? It doesn’t seem that unreasonable, but the humans, or at least the royal guard, seemed to accept Aurora’s leadership, regardless of how different her opinions were from her father’s......HER FATHER!

I shook myself off. No, that was impossible, Mistress killed him herself. He couldn’t fake his death in front of her, nor would he want to. His mind is too far gone for that.

But if it’s not Stephan, what could possibly have gone so wrong? And how was I to figure that out in time to save her?

An idea sparked in my brain.

Well, I guess it’s time to go back to old habits. Let’s go world, I’ll take it all on.

My Mistress, and secret love, is in danger.

#maleficent #diaval #balthazar #this poor man #i’m sorry #why did i do this #i feel bad now #pining #he just needs a hug #so does she

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alice-grace-and-ava · 4 years ago

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Chapter 2:Rage You Damn Nerd

Three American transfer students join your favorite characters at UA high. Come see as they face the challenges that come with training to be a hero while battling their demons from their past. It’s time for them to push past their boundaries and go plus ultra!!!!!(sorry I’m terrible at descriptions)

English Thoughts Japanese

HI! This is Alice, and I wanted to go ahead and post this! Grace wouldn't let me stop doing the tags until it maxed out.................I would rather drink unsweet tea than do that ever again. Anyway enjoy!

Alice

“ Listen Alice” I nod my head and my eyes lower back to his chiseled abs “ look here” Vlad king snapped his fingers in my face to bring my attention back to him.I'm currently sitting in his office, which is all of the teachers, and we are the only ones in the room. His cubicle is littered with fanart, a coffee cup, a mysterious bowl of some type of food, and a computer with a cat on the home screen.Why would a very well-behaved girl like me be in the teacher’s office? He wanted to make a deal with me but from how this is going so far I’m not sure I’m going to like it.“ If you behave, and I mean no hitting on me or other students- don't give me that look!” I feel myself deflate in the chair.“ You don't understand!” I flap my arms in defiance. “ And how do I not understand the fact that you won't stop calling me names, and quite frankly poor Shiozaki cant handle it any more” he challenges. I cross my arms and huff “ It's not my fault that everyone in the class is whiny babies” Vlad leans his head on his desk and is visibly exhausted.

“ Oh, Alice!” I jump from my seat as Present Mic appears, he holds a cup of jasmine tea in one hand and a stack of papers in the other.

“ Mic!” I excitedly respond, he smiles then notices Vlad King's exhaustion.

“ Hey, Hey, Hey my guy what’s wrong?” The other loud blonde in the room questions.

I slap the dying man on the back trying to show that he's okay, but he completely collapses onto the desk with an oof

“ Oh, that's not good” I quickly retract my hand and jump back.

“ What happened Alice?” Present mic sets his stuff on the desk and crouches down closer to the nearly dead man. I look away shyly “ He wants me to make a deal with him” I complain, and with a look from Mic I whine out the rest “but he wants me to stop flirting and making inappropriate comments!”

“ Man Sekkijro you can't make Alice change her style like that, we try to help the students stay true to themselves and that's who she is so let her be herself”

What the hell Mic, I stand still and look away, I hate it when people try to act like this.

“ Listen Vlad king,” I say boredly, my morning now ruined by sympathetic people, and he jumps up to attention at my change. “ Let me come and go as I please, I'll do the bookwork, don't worry, and then I'll stop interrupting your lessons with my comments.” The look of relief on his face is laughable.

“ Yes! As long as you do your schoolwork you can skip class as much as you want!”

I smile widely “ Deal!” I step closer to him and pat his chest “ but that won't stop me from acting up outside of class hours'' His skin drained of all color, Present Mic doubled over laughing. I took this chance to snatch his tea and skip out of the class, yes I skipped out of the room.

I shut the door and stand in the hallway

It’s cold like always……….

*RUMBLE*

I feel a light shake and immediately felt around for the girls, relaxing more once their presence was stable. Grace seems to be in class while Ava on the other hand…

I smile, she’s by herself on the west wing- The wing known for its amazing vending machine- wanting my mood to lighten I reach out for her more.

I hone onto her sunflower energy and a twinge of power flows within myself

Grace

To say that the school day so far has been boring would be an understatement. The only interesting part of the day was when I got to repeatedly correct the present mic about slang terms in English class. I don't understand why I have to take that class anyway. It's an easy A, or it would be if the slang that Present Mic was trying to teach wasn't from the 80s.

After English with the present mic, it was time for lunch. The entire school seems like it’s on the same lunch schedule so the lunchroom was packed. I was having trouble finding a seat when I heard someone yell out my name. When I looked around to find the owner of the voice I saw a group of kids from my class looking in my direction. Kirishima was holding his hand in the air and waving it around excitedly.

I made my way over only to find that the only available seat was next to Bakuhoe. Reluctantly I placed my tray down and moved my chair as far away from his as possible before I sat down and began to eat my food. I could practically feel the entire group’s eyes staring into the side of my head. I glanced up from my food and was met with four curious faces looking at me. The first one to speak was the pink girl. “Hi, I don’t believe we’ve formally met. I’m-” “You’re Mina Ashido, the boy with the blond hair with the lightning bolt is Denki Kaminari, black hair is Sero Hanta, the redhead is Eijiro Kirishima, and the punk next to me is Katsuki Bakugou.” They all stare at me with various looks of surprise on their faces. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was supposed to put the last name first wasn’t I?” The one to speak up was Sero. “No- well yes, but I guess we weren’t expecting to know all of our names.” I glance around and see them all nodding in agreement except for Bakugou. “Let’s just say that where I’m from you learn names and faces pretty quickly for safety reasons.” Kaminari was the one to speak up next. “Why do you need to-” The sound of Into the Unknown resounds from the pocket of the shorts that were under my skirt. When I finally can get the phone out I see I have a text from Ava asking me to meet her in her classroom and to bring my backpack. “Sorry to cut this lunch short but I have to go meet my sister.” Mina excitedly jumps out of her seat and scurries or to me before stopping directly in front of me.”You have a sister that goes here?!” I place my hands on her shoulder and push her back slightly. “Yea I have two. Technically we’re not blood-related but in the words of Supernatural “family doesn’t end in blood.”

Alice

“Oh hello Alice, I just ate my last bag of cookies sorry. If I knew you were coming I would've given it to that cute kid…..”

I am sitting on the bench in front of a vending machine Ava is sitting cross-legged to my right surrounded by food.

“Cute kid?” I smirk and poke her shoulder, she grabs my shoulder and leans in close.

“You have no idea how adorable he is, fluffy hair! Big ground eyes! And freckles, he has freckles!!”

I burst out laughing and reach up to pat her head, glad that I chose to visit her because she can entertain me.

“Why are you laughing?” she wines out

“Because you’re amusing”

She huffs and opens up a honey bun to eat it, I stare at the cup of tea in my hand,

“Alice, what’s wrong?”

Ava leans her head on my shoulder.

I glance down at a snickers bar, and a certain pomeranian pops into my head.

“Alice?”

“It's nothing Ava, nothing at all, in fact, can you hold this cup please”

I smile innocently and watch as she takes the cup without hesitation

We stare at each other

I grab a snickers bar and get the fuck out of there.

“ALICCCCEEEE!!! THAT’S MINE”

I hear her scream, then a crash of the coffee cup smashing into the ground.

Sorry Mic

I start running through the halls, fear creeps into me as I hear her running up behind me.

I hear her footsteps quickly closing in on me.

Dang, it! I should’ve rethought this, I know how fast she is, and yet I thought this was a bright Idea. A CHILD!

I reach out and grab the small purple-haired kid by the collar and yeeted him over my shoulder.

“Oh hello there goddess”

Glancing over and see the purple kid stuck to Ava, she tries to pry him off but he only continues to stick on her.

I laugh at my victory, knowing whatever Ava will try to do to get back at me Grace will stop.

I keep my walk at a fast pace, noticing how I can hear the voices of students grow louder. I open silver double doors and look around the room. A very nice cafeteria is filled with students, they sit at nice comfortable booths and chat. Scanning the room looking for my next victim

“ WHAT DID YOU SAY YA NERD!”

I smile as I hear a dog bark out annoyingly, the students sitting in the booth close to me quickly got up sensing my intentions. I calmed myself and plastered a smile on my face, I turn to see the Pomeranian sitting with 4 other people ( even happier when one of those is my dear Pikachu). I sneak towards the group, closing in behind the cute static brain, Mid rant the mutt stops and looks at me confused causing the others to look. Denki of course doesn’t notice as he is concentrating on his food, I wink at the group.

“ Pikachu I choose you!”

I yell and throw my arms around his neck. He lets out a scream and then goes into a coughing fit.

Everyone starts laughing, I slap my fellow blonde harshly on the back to assist him in not dying.

“ So who’s your friend?” the redhead asks as he wipes his eyes.

I climb over the booth and slip in between Denki and the redhead, right across from the mutt, I throw him a smirk.

“ Ah, this is-”

“ Wait a damn minute you’re the annoying brat that-”

“ I’m Alice, I just transferred from America- Also I’m Pikachu’s friend!”

I interrupt the mutt and throw my arm around my now proclaimed friend.

“ What’s your last name?” the pink girl questioned.

I remove my arm and clap my hands together to rest my chin on them.

“ I don’t have one, and who are you Pinkie Pie?”

Sensing my tone the redhead jumped in.

“ Sorry, it’s just our friend said she has two sisters that go to school here, so we just wanted to know.”

The mutt aggressively set his juice box down on the table and they stared at him.

“ Didn’t you hear her, they’re not blood-related so of course the last name isn’t the same.”

Ahh he gets bonus points

I laugh trying to change the mood.

“ Well, I’ll introduce everyone-” I interrupt Denki

“The first name only, I’ll only remember it”

He grins and points at the kid with weird elbows

“ Sero”

“Flextape”

“Mina”

“Pinkie Pie”

“Eijiro”

“ Shark - and or Shark bait ooh ah ah”

They stared at me, the mutt chokes on his juice.

“Should I even try if you’re going to give us nicknames”

Denki lets a breath out as I continue to smile, he points at himself

“Pikachu?”

I nod my head, he hesitantly then points across from him

“Mutt”

I don’t miss a beat.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!!”

“Mutt” I respond with a smile and seeing how he’s at the perfect level I slip the Snickers bar towards him on the table.

“It’s okay your not you when you’re hungry”

He turns to stone, then as if he was a newly awakened volcano he exploded. Everyone at the table jumps up as he starts to produce explosions.

“Welp gotta blast” I grin out and holding my hand out to give Pikachu a high-five, then leaping across the table and now on the run for the second time today.

I weave in between students standing in the cafeteria, standing in shock as they watch 3 people try to restrain a rabid dog.

I slip through the doors and a laugh escapes me as my daily entertainment has been fulfilled.

“ Oh it’s you”

I look to my left and my biggest smile of the day creeps on my face.

“Best Boi!” I jump to hug him, he stops me by placing a hand on my head, I let out a whine as I struggle to touch him.

“You’re very loud today” he states boredly.

“Yes of course I am! I was playing with the dog and also stole some candy, which I tried to give to the dog but he didn’t want it” I pout, Shinsou doesn't even look surprised at my confession.

“ Did you at least have lunch?”

I stop trying to hug him and stood up straight, dread fills me “ Grace is going to murder me”

I whisper to him, he chuckles and reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a slice of lemon bread.

“ Can’t have the problem child dying”

My eyes widen as I stare at his outstretched hand.

“You’re stalking me”

“what - You know what I’m not even going to try to argue with you, but why would you assume that”

I swipe the package from his hand and beam at him, “because it’s my favorite snack”

He stands there, head empty no brain,

“Oh, Alice there you are! I was wondering if I could have my cup back, its a limited edition DJ Khaled cup”

I look at shinshou with a guilty look, Present Mic appears down the hall strutting my way

“Gotta blast again! By best boi”

I salute him and put the bread in my mouth, like a true anime girl, and hop out the window escaping.

Grace

When I met up with Ava there was a weird purple ball stuck to her skirt and she needed to get her spare skirt out of her locker. As it turns out Ava needed my backpack because she accidentally put the slip of paper with her locker combination in one of my folders, but the one folder she needed was at home. We ended up spending a good 10-15 minutes looking for it before we finally went to her teacher. Who was nice enough to give me a pass to class because I was running late. I made it to class five minutes after the bell rang but luckily the teacher wasn’t there yet. Just as I placed my pencil pouch on my desk the door to the classroom slams open to reveal All Might, the number one hero standing on his toes with his hands on the door frame. He leans forward so that his weight is supported by his hands, and he’s standing in what seems to be a pose imitating flying. His cape flows into the classroom, and if I look closely I can see the fan positioned in the hallway behind him that he’s using to provide the breeze for his cape.

“I am here!”

The sound of excited murmuring begins to resonate around the classroom. All might does a weird march as he makes his way behind the teacher’s desk

Sir why are you walking like you have something stuck up your butt.

“Welcome to the most important class at U.A high! Think of it as heroing 101! Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good!”

All might places one of his feet on the chair and turns so that his back is faced to us while he flexes to make his muscles even larger than they already are.

“Let’s get into it! Today’s lesson: pull no punches!” All might holds up a card that just says BATTLE. The class begins to talk in an uproar of excitement. “Hell yea finally some action!” Bakugou’s loud voice in my ear sends a sharp pain through my skull. I turn in my seat so that I am face to face with him. “Bitch! Do that again! Yell in my ear again and see what happens to you! I know how to hide a body. They’ll never find you.” Bakugou slams his hands on his desk and gets closer to my face “ Are you threatening me!” A small smirk works its way onto my face. “It's not a threat. It’s a promise. Now if you don’t get out of my face I promise that I will punch you in yours.”

Before he can say anything else several slots in the wall open and shelves of number cases slide out. “ Part of being a hero is looking good so in each case is a costume based on the information that each of you provided before school started” the class once again starts to murmur in excitement. “ Young Grace, your hero costume just arrived this morning from your old school, so it is not with the rest of the classes. You will have to stop by the office to grab yours, so you are excused to go and collect that.”

It didn’t take me long to get my costume and by the time I got back to the class the last person was grabbing their assigned case number and I was being ushered in the direction of the changing rooms.

After everyone was changed we made our way to the training ground beta. I couldn’t help but look around at everyone’s costumes. A green figure caught my attention. Is that midoriya? What the hell is he wearing? His costume was interesting, to say the least. It looked sort of like a mutant bunny. Wait a damn minute. Why does his costume look familiar? I try to figure out what or who his costume reminds me of until I feel a presence next to me when I look I see no one until I glance down to see Mineta standing way too close for comfort and staring at the exposed skin of my thigh. “Man, I love this school.” My face scrunches in disgust, but before I can do anything All Might begins talking again. All Might! My eyes dart back and forth between Midoriya’s costume and All Might. The more that I look the more the similarities stick out. Did he base his costume on All Might?

“Alright, newbies each of you will step up and choose a letter from this box. This will determine what team you will be on. Since we have an uneven number of students one team will have three people instead of two.” One by one my classmates found their teams until it was my turn. I reached in and felt around until I finally was able to grasp a sheet of paper. Please not the same team as that pomeranian.Please not the same team as that pomeranian. I opened the slip and low and behold I’m on the same team as Katsuki Bakugou. Begrudgingly I walked over to Bakugou and Iida to wait for the rest of the class to finish drawing for their teams.

Once everyone was paired up for teams, All Might reached into the two boxes that had been sitting to the side labeled hero and villain. He raises his hands into the air in an extravagant manner while holding two balls. One with the letter A and the other with the letter D. “Team A will be the heroes and Team D you three will be the villains. Now go to your starting positions. The rest of the class and I will be watching. If things go too far I will stop the fight.” I follow Iida to where we need to go, but we each stop at All Might to get an earpiece so that we can talk to each other.

Iida, Bakugou, and I were placed in a large room to guard a weapon. As we wait for All Might to announce the start I hear Bakugou grumbling to himself. “Yo hedgehog. What’s got your panties in a twist?” He doesn’t even spare me a glance. “Do you think that damn nerd has a quirk?” Iida speaks up before I have the opportunity to. “ Do you mean Midoriya? Of course, he has a quirk. How else would he have gotten into U.A. otherwise, and you saw him at the entrance exam.” Bakugou clenches his fist and the smell of caramel floods my nostrils. The static of the earpieces being activated sounds in our ears. “Let the battle begin!” Bakugou is the first to move, heading for the door right away. Iida starts to wave his hands around in a wild but robotic manner. “Bakugou where are you going? We need to stay-”“ You two just stay here and guard the weapon.” With that, he disappears into the hallway. “ Don’t worry Iida I’m still here.” He turns and looks down at me before his face turns a bright red color and he swiftly turns his head to look away from me. I glance down to try to figure out what has him so flustered, but I don't see the problem. When I look back at him he still refuses to look at me. “th-tha-. Let’s-um- let’s move everything out of the floor so that when Uraraka and Midoriya come Uraraka can’t use her quirk.” After he gives instructions he just begins to move things around, while still avoiding looking in my direction. “Iida?” He hums while still moving things around. “Are you okay?” I start to move things around and off the floor. “I am fine Jackson, but thank you for your concern.” “Are you sure? Because you were really red.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see his back stiffen. “I am fine, I assure you.” I don’t believe you but I’ll leave it alone.

It takes us about ten minutes or so to move everything out of the floor and put them where Uraraka can’t use them. As we wait Iida starts to mumble to himself about how to be a good pretend villain. Slowly he starts to get louder until he’s taking in a boisterous voice in a stiff or of tone. I can’t help but to chuckle at his antics, and he turns and looks at me wide-eyed as if he had forgotten that I was here. He goes to speak, but I raise my hand to silence him when I hear something. It’s quiet for a moment before the faint sound of shuffling can be heard. “Did you hear that?” Iida looks at me with confusion written all over his face. “No, I did not hear anything.” The shuffling sound happens again. “There it is again.” Iida looks around. “Maybe it was Bakugou.” I continue to look around to try to find the source of the noise when a faint scent hits my nose. “ It’s not Bakugou. It doesn’t smell like caramel. It’s like a softer smell like flowers.” Iida looks around smelling the air. “Are you sure I don’t smell anything” I continue to observe the area before I spot a pink shoe peeking out from behind a pillar. “Trust me Iida if there is anything I am confident with it’s my sense of smell. And I'm also confident that Uraraka is currently hiding behind that pillar over there by the door.” A small squeak comes from the girl.

As I go to take a step forward the building begins to shake and I end up on the floor. “Dammit, Bakugou! What the hell are you doing.” the earphone stays silent. “Bakugou I know that you can hear me!” A growl can be heard from his end of the line. “Shut the hell up. I’m handling my job. You handle yours.” The sound of static fills my ears, and I turn around to look at Iida. “Did-did he just turn his earpiece off?” All that he offers is a blank expression. The building shakes again this time a few pieces of the ceiling fall and we have to cover our heads. Once the building settles and debris no longer rains I wait a moment before I stand just to make sure that the building won’t start shaking again.

I start to dust off my pants when I notice movement out of the side of my eye. I look over to see Uraraka moving from her place behind the pillar and start running towards the weapon. “Iida!” The sound of his engines fills the room as I charge forward towards the brunette. “Got it!” I throw myself forward and tackle Uraraka before she can get any further. It becomes a mess of hands flying between the two of us. Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! You are not pennywise and we don’t all float here! The building shaking again distracts me for a moment, but it gives her an opening and she places a hand on my arm while activating her quirk. Slowly the floor starts to get further away, and I try to reach out to grab anything that can steady me without success. Instead of floating straight up like I had expected, I can feel myself start to float in the direction that Iida and I had been standing. Suddenly I feel my stomach sink and my body is no longer weightless as I slam down into the floor knocking all of the air out of me. I’m gonna remember that.

It takes a moment for me to regain my breath, but when I finally do Iida reaches his hand out to help me up. The sound of Urarka talking into her comm reaches my ears and I look over to see her grabbing onto a pillar. What are you- the building begins to shake again, but this time stronger than before. “Iida I would grab onto something if I were you.” Before either of us could move a giant explosion blasted up through the floor. To keep my balance I grabbed onto Iida. When the explosion stopped a cloud of dust remained. Something seemed to be moving within the dust and I squinted to try to make out what it was. The shape of rocks moving towards us became more apparent and the two of us ducked to cover our heads. From behind us, we heard the sound of Uraraka cheering as she came in contact with the weapon.

“The hero team wins!” It is what it is. The three of us walk down to the ground level where a medical bed is taking Midoriya away to Recovery Girl through the giant hole in the side of the building. All Might stands there amongst the rubble watching as the bed carries away one of his students. He turns to look at the remaining four of us and leads us in the direction of the observation room. The class is silent as we walk in. All Might walks to his chair and turns to look at the four of us. “While the heroes may have won this fight the true MVPs were Iida and Grace.” Mummers fill the room as our classmates talk amongst themselves. “Does anyone know why?” Momo steps forward. “The two of them discussed a plan to ensure that their opponent was at a disadvantage. They were aware of their opponent’s skill and prepared for it. They were aware of their surroundings, Grace especially. While it is okay to separate sometimes on a mission it is best to stay together, and that is what they did.” I glance over at Bakugou, but he’s looking down with his hands clenched into a fist and his teeth clenched. All Might called for the next group to go, but I didn’t pay attention to who was next, instead I chose to sit in the corner of the room and take a nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After everyone completed the training exercise All Might excused us to go change and head back to the class. I was the first back in the classroom. Rather than sit at my desk, I perched myself on the windowsill to watch the world outside. Slowly everyone began to trickle back into the classroom, all except Bakugou, and the classroom began to bustle with noise once again. The door to the classroom opens and I turn to see who it is. Midoriya stands in the doorway with his arm lightly wrapped up. Everybody crowds around Midoriya, but I remain where I am staring out the window.

A familiar head of blond hair emerges from the school. I move to grab my bag, but before I leave the window I notice a head of green hair that can only be midoriya chasing after Bakugou. The two of them seem to talk, well Midoriya seems to be talking, Bakugou seems to be yelling. Bakugou turns to walk away again, but All Might appears practically out of thin air. Bakugou keeps his back to the two of them as All Might talks to him. The interaction doesn’t last long before Bakugou starts to walk away again. All Might and Deku stand there for a moment before All Might places a hand on his shoulder and leads him back into the building. While Bakugou is still in sight I grab my backpack off of the ground and throw the window open. I jump out Alice style and a familiar tingling sensation radiates between my shoulder blades as a pair of blue and purple butterfly wings sprout. I flutter over just behind the angry blonde and will my wings away. I walk a little faster to stand beside him and then slow down so that I can walk beside him as he stomps away like a little gremlin. He doesn’t look over at me, but I can tell that he knows that it’s me. “What the hell do you want?” What do I want? Why am I even here? He's not my friend. He's not even an acquaintance. I step in front of him and stop causing him to stop as well. For the first time, I offer him a small smile. “Let’s go grab frozen yogurt. My treat.” I don’t give him time, I just grab his wrist and drag him to the shop that I saw on the walk to school this morning.

When we get there the young man at the front counter greets us in a bubbly tone as he hands us our cups to go fill up. I filled my cup with coconut froyo topped with strawberry boba, coconut shavings, and three cherries. when I walk to the register bakugou is already standing there with his cup half full of chocolate with some granola and a single cherry.” you sure that’s all you want? I don’t mind, Ava usually gets two full cups when I pay so if you're concerned about the price being too high don’t worry about it.” He scowls at me a growl bubbling up from the back of his throat.” Shut the hell up and weigh your cup.” I place my cup on the scale and raise my hands in mock surrender.” All alright, alright I was just being nice.” I reach behind me to grab my wallet out of my bag. When I finally find it and turn around to pay I see the clerk handing Bakugou money.” What are you doing? I was gonna pay for your stuff.”Bakugou shoves his money angrily back into his pocket and yanks his froyo off of the scale.” I don’t need some damn extra paying for my food when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself. Now grab you shit so we can go.” Bakugou doesn’t even wait for me before he walks out of the shop. I turn and thank the guy behind the counter before I grab my froyo and follow after Bakugou. We walk in silence as we eat until in the distance I spot a park and dash toward it.” Hey, where the hell are you going!” I spot a trashcan and as I dash past it I throw away my cup but continue my path to my destination. When I reach the object behind my excitement I throw down my backpack and practically throw myself into the seat of the swing. By the time Bakugou reaches me I've obtained a pretty good height.” What the hell was that!” I close my eyes as the wind whips past me.” I haven’t been on a swing since I was a kid! My mom used to bring my sisters and me to the park all the time before-.” A memory flashes behind my eyelids and I snap my eyes open. I stop kicking my legs and my swing slowly loses momentum until it just slightly sways. Bakugou looks at me with the same scowl on his face but a gleam of curiosity sparks in his eyes.” Why don’t you sit with me. Not on the same swing of course, but it’s a nice day out today. the fresh air will do you some good.” he looked down at me like I was stupid for a moment. To be honest, at this moment I feel stupid. In the end, he sits down on the swing.his swing slightly sways as he rocks back and forth on the heels of his feet.

A nice silence settles between the two of us that lasts for maybe ten to fifteen minutes before Bakugou breaks the silence.” Why did you invite me to get frozen yogurt with you?” I look over at him, but he’s looking straight ahead. “First of all, just say froyo dude. And I guess you just seemed like you needed a pick me up.” He looks over at me, his signature scowl plastered on his face. “So what is this out of pity or something! I don’t need pity from some damn extra! I don’t need pity from anyone!” In his tangent, he stood from his swing and moved in front to stand in front of me. “ Woah, Woah, Woah. who said anything about pity. Because I know damn well that word never left my mouth. Did you hear me say ‘oh poor Bakugou’? No cause those words never left my lips. I tried to be nice because even though I don't know what it is that made you mad, frustrated, or whatever emotion you're feeling I know what it’s like to be suffering by yourself. When you're so blinded by whatever you're feeling that it feels like you're drowning in it, but I also know what it’s like to have someone with you even if it’s just sitting in silence together. I was trying to be nice, but you wanted to be an bitch. Do me a favor and get your head out of your ass because it ain’t a hat. Now if you excuse me I’m going home.” I push past him and grab my bag as I begin the journey home.

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sylveranty · 5 years ago

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Wayhaven Chronicles Book 1 - Professional Stats Guide

A guide listing all (and only) choices that affect the four professional skills of the game The Wayhaven Chronicles: Book 1 by Mishka Jenkins, @seraphinitegames: People, Combat, Science, Deduction. Some of these choices will also affect other stats like personality stats, but I won't mention those changes.

A short guide how to avoid receiving a certain scar is included at the end.

Natalie Sewell has compiled a nicely written guide like this last year. You can find it here: https://nataliesewell.tumblr.com/post/186640159470/wayhaven-chronicles-skills-guide

The main difference in my guide is that it adds by exactly how much your skills will be affected with each choice, and it lists some more opportunities for stat increase.

Chapter 1 - The First Victim

How do you deal with the body? [[Look closer at the body.]] %+10 science [[“Do you know who the victim is?”]] %+10 deduction [[“Can they be covered yet? Give them a little peace.”]] %+10 people

The body will be delievered to Verda soon. [[#"Make sure 'she' is dead. She was a person, not just a body."]] %+ 6 people [[#"Hopefully it won't take long to find out more about it."]] %+6 deduction

Why did you join the police force? [[#…I wanted to help people and make them feel safe.]] %+30 people [[#…it was the best career in Wayhaven that could put my mind to use.]] %+30 deduction [[#…with my family so against the army, the police was the next best thing.]] %+20 combat [[#…nothing happens in Wayhaven; it seemed like an easy job.]] %+8 deduction [[#…I like a job with structure and defined rules.]] %+10 deduction [[#…this job allows me to use my scientific skills. There were no other jobs like that in the city.]] %+30 science

Chapter 2 - Investigating the Warehouse

How good are your combat skills? [[#I have decent combat skills; I hope it's enough to deal with whatever might be ahead.]] %+16 combat [[#I have good combat skills, but I'd rather not use them.]] %+30 combat [[#I have good combat skills, so I can deal with whatever is ahead.]] %+30 combat [[#I have decent combat skills, but I'd rather not use them.]] %+16 combat [[#Combat isn't my speciality; I'm much better at talking people down.]] %+12 people [[#Combat isn't my speciality; I much prefer to stick to the investigative side of things.]] %+16 deduction [[#I'm much more science-minded than combat-orientated.]] %+16 science

Exploration. The choices are worded slighlty differently depending on which place you head to, but this is the gist of them: [[#"I'm with the police."]] %+6 people [[#Ready myself.]] %+6 combat [[#Look closer.]] %+6 deduction

Verda calls. The victim's blood is odd. [[#"Is it contagious? Like a disease?"]] %+8 science [[#"And I was hoping for a nice, normal murder."]] %+8 people [[#"I need more than that. Unknowns aren't helpful."]] %+8 deduction

There is someone else in the warehouse. [[#Reach for my gun.]] %+10 combat [[#Tell them to stay where they are.]] %+10 people [[#Try to get to the car.]] %+8 combat [[#Ask who they are and what they want.]] %+10 deduction

What do you do after this confrontation? [[#I just want to go home and go to bed. I won't be of use to anyone tomorrow if I don't rest.]] %+8 deduction [[#I better check around the scene a bit first.]] %+10 science [[#I'll call the station and ask them to be on the lookout.]] %+8 people

What do you tell Tina the next morning? [[#"I don't know. One barrelled into me—the others seemed more interested in him than me."]] %+16 people [[#"There didn't seem to be any evidence of a murder."]] %+16 deduction [[#"I was pretty well prepared, but still, they got the jump on me."]] %+16 combat (if you checked around the scene) [[#"I got this off of one of the strangers." I show the collected blood sample.]] %+18 science

Chapter 3 - Meet Unit Bravo

The coffee machine is broken. [[#Try to fix it. I'm pretty confident with these kinds of things.]] %+16 science [[#Hit it.]] %+4 combat [[#Try to fix it. How hard can it be…for someone who's never tried before?]] %+6 science [[#Turn it off and back on.]] %+6 deduction [[#Leave it alone.]] %+6 deduction

Debrief Unit Bravo. [[#Explain about the victim.]] %+10 people [[#Explain the nature of the crime.]] %+10 deduction [[#Explain what Verda discovered.]] %+10 science [[#Explain about the limited resources available.]] %+4 deduction %+6 combat

If you decide to visit Verda, you will learn more about the blood. [[#"You think that's where the 'odd' blood came from?"]] %+10 science [[#"What does that have to do with the wounds?"]] %+10 combat [[#"How would a blood transfusion kill her?"]] %+10 deduction

If you did not collect the blood sample and did not turn it in for testing (you have to actively select the choice to give the blood sample for testing. The MC won't do it if you don't take the choice). If you didn't do that, you'll get these options at Verda's place. [[#"It's too much of a coincidence that the murder happens, and then these strangers show up."]] %+6 deduction [[#"I think the strange blood needs to be looked at further, over anything else."]] %+6 science [[#"It's all so weird—I'm a bit stumped about where to begin solving this."]] %+6 people

If you decide to head to the crime scene instead. You get this choice if you DID collect the blood sample and turned it in for testing. [[#"It can't just be coincidence."]] %+8 deduction [[#"You never know when any kind of information might come in handy."]] %+8 science [[#"It's an obvious link between the victim and the strangers. How can that not be helpful?"]] %+8 people

If you decide to talk to the witness instead. You get this choice if you DID turn in the blood sample for testing. [[#"That can't just be coincidence."]] %+8 deduction [[#"Great, now I have zombies strolling about town."]] %+8 people [[#"That seems somewhat unlikely, Verda. Are you sure the tests are right?"]] %+8 science

Chapter 4 – The Next Morning

The killer has acted worldwide. What do you think about that? [[#"You think he was trying to mislead authorities by killing all over?"]] %+8 people [[#"Someone who goes to that extreme must have a reason."]] %+8 deduction [[#"Then maybe location really has nothing to do with it."]] %+8 combat

Chapter 5 - Most Horrible News

You have to break the most horrible news to a mother. [[#Kneel down and comfort her.]] %+10 people [[#Wait until she's calmed down before doing anything.]] %-10 people [[#Move her inside quickly.]] %+8 people when with Nate | %+10 people with the others [[#Shift awkwardly.]] %-10 people

What do you focus to work on? [[#Focus efforts on finding a link between the victims.]] %+26 people [[#Concentrate on the oddities in the blood.]] %+26 science [[#Go over all of the evidence again methodically.]] %+26 deduction [[#Follow the occult angle Verda mentioned.]] %+16 deduction

Chapter 6 - Patrol

Do you miss patrolling? [[#"I miss being proactive. Detectives only deal with crimes after they've happened—not prevention."]] %+12 combat [[#"I certainly don't get to interact with people in town as much, which I miss."]] %+12 people [[#"I'm more suited to working through evidence than being out and about as an officer."]] %+12 deduction [[#"It gives me more time in the lab, which is something I enjoy."]] %+12 science

Chapter 9 – After Murphy

How did you first introduce yourself to Verda? [[#I'd introduced myself with enthusiasm, and the two of us hit it off straight away.]] %+12 people [[#His obvious intelligence was…imposing, at first, but I eventually realised he's a really laid-back guy.]] %+8 deduction [[#We were both focused on work, but got to know each other in time.]] %+12 deduction [[#Another science-minded colleague was just what I'd needed; we bonded over our shared interest.]] %+12 science

Chapter 10 – The Agency

Will you do the tests? Why? [[#Do the tests—I'm interested in the results myself.]] %+20 science [[#Do the tests—it's the only way to find out what's really going on.]] %+20 deduction [[#Do the tests—I need to know how to defend myself with this mutation.]] %+20 combat [[#Do the tests—I want to help them as much as I can.]] %+20 people [[#Don't do the tests—as interested as I am in the results, I can't risk it.]] %+16 science [[#Don't do the tests—I can work this out without them.]] %+16 deduction [[#Don't do the tests—I can defend myself well enough without them.]] %+16 combat [[#Don't do the tests—I want to help, but I just don't know the Agency.]] %+16 people

Chapter 14 – Relaxing at the Bakery and about Thralls

M takes you to the thralls. [[#"Those poor people…."]] %+12 people [[#"It would be fascinating to study how that works…."]] %+12 science [[#"So vampires use humans as toys as well as food? Jeez!"]] %+8 people [[#"I bet the Agency likes to keep a lot of things that way."]] %+8 deduction [[#"Keep an eye on the enemy. Makes good tactical sense."]] %+12 combat [[#"I guess that makes it easier to keep an eye on them."]] %+12 deduction

Chapter 16 – Attacked at Home

Fending off the thralls. You only get skill points if you don't yet have 40 skill points in the respective skill. [[#Fight the thralls.]] %+6 combat [[#Survey the scene for an advantage.]] %+4 science, %+6 deduction (only on M's route. On the other routes, ONLY %+6 science)

Chapter 18 – Entrapped by Murphy

Murphy knows more about your blood. [[#"Wait, you know what my blood does?"]] %+6 science

Murphy wants to inject his blood in you. [[#"You put that in me, and then what?"]] %+6 deduction

Follow up choice, "it should take this time." [[#"Don't you even care about the people you've killed?"]] %+6 people

Chapter 19 - Escape

You are alone with your bonds. [[#Try to wriggle wrists out of bonds.]] %+6 combat [[#Look for something to loosen bonds.]] %+6 deduction

To get bitten or not get bitten.

To avoid getting bitten by Murphy, you have to gather at least 3 "energy" points. Alternatively, you can successfully "Observe" the battle in the previous choice (combat or deduction at least 55) and then also avoid getting bitten.

You start with 0 energy at the point when you try to escape..

+1 through a successful skill check on the first choice (trying to escape the bonds, or don't risk it)

If you escape, +1 if you admit you can't go on. Don't push yourself.

If you stay, do not warn UB. Just keep quiet. Yelling is exhausting.

Final point for "try to stay out of the way" or successfully tending to your wounds (people 60, science 55). Alternatively observing the fight (combat/deduction 55)

If you do want the bites, obviously don’t save any energy. Wrist bite: [[#Try to hit out at him.]] Neck bite: [[#Dodge]], [[#Too shocked.]]

Murphy’s fate

He either escapes or gets captured.

To capture Murphy, you have to select a choice that fits your skills the best. You need at least 50 points in the skill. [[#There must be something around here that can help.]] at least 50 deduction [[#I just have to think harder about what's happening to Murphy….]] at least 50 science [[#It may not be much, but I can join the fight!]] at least 50 combat [[#I just need to get through to Murphy. Talk to him.]] at least 50 people

#guides #wayhaven chronicles #my guides #skills #wayhaven guide

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ishgard · 6 years ago

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I was inspired by some of the Emet-Selch trust member posts I saw going around and took a swing at the three Paragons of the Source. Tomfoolery and MAJOR SPOILERS for Shadowbringers beneath the cut. Also thank you to @twelveswood for putting these together for me!

Selection: “If I must.”

Job: Abyssal Celebrant - a variation on Summoner, he uses a number of typical Ascian abilities in tandem with summoning egis of various primals. (Is very partial to Bahamut.) His LB3, Demi-Ultima, is precisely that - though in visual the spell casts much the same as the true Ultima (without quite the massive Calamity-level destruction.)

Weapons: None, save for his summons and spells.

AI Behavior: Lahabrea will stay close to the current target (and always focuses the most powerful enemy), assailing it with a number of offensive spells alongside his summons. While this is arguably a positive, he’s also prone to staying too close at times, occasionally failing to avoid melee AoE’s while focused entirely on his enemies destruction. While he is capable of rezzing, he will never do so, even if he is the last person standing - he will completely focus on DPSing at all times. He is keen on being top DPS, and though you might not like it, he very well might be if you aren’t on top of your rotation and well-geared.

Battle Lines:

• “This will be your end!” - Starting Attack Line • “Fool!” - Using Specialty Skills, Variation 1 • (unhinged laughter) - Using Specialty Skills, Variation 2 - Summoning Bahamut • “You test my patience.” - Assisting an ally

Limit Break:

• “Struggle! Despair! Burn!” - Using Limit Break 1 • “Witness true power!” - Using Limit Break 2 • “For Lord Zodiark!” - Using Limit Break 3

KO’d:

• “Unto… oblivion…?” - Variation 1 • “It matters… not…” - Variation 2

Revived:

• “A mere setback.” - Variation 1 • “About time.” - Variation 2

BONUS: • When KO’d, Lahabrea, like the other Ascians, disappears in a plume of darkness which lingers on the field to be targeted via resurrection magics. • If the party idles, he begins to grow annoyed and impatient. After five minutes he will run to pull the next group of mobs or boss, and -if available- LB on them whilst laughing. • When partied with Elidibus and/or Emet-Selch, he will begin to banter in their native language; even without the Echo you will plainly understand he is talking shit about you. • At other times he engages the two in conversation, they appear to be annoyed and ignoring him to the best of their abilities.

Selection: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows, indeed.”

Job: Angel of Truth - a variation of Dark Knight, mixing in a slew of Ascian abilities. His version of ‘Unleash’ is more akin to ‘Ravenous Assault’ with a burst of purple crystaline structures impaling the enemies. The form of his ‘Living Shadow’ appears to be Hades (Phase 1) in miniature. His LB3 is ‘Whispered Oaths’ in which the shade of his true form (Phase 2) appears in its full splendor with arms folded around the party before vanishing, increasing defense.

Weapons: A large, jagged crystaline ‘staff’ that can and does double as a blade, carved with Zodiark’s likeness. That said, he only uses it intermittently and seemingly for ‘flare’.

AI Behavior: For a tank, Emet-Selch prefers to lag behind the rest of the group, doing the bare minimum initially to get any sort of aggro - fortunately, his damage output and enmity generation is naturally very high, so once they’re on him, they’re unlikely to be pulled away. He boredly does the least he can get away with, using few cooldowns as if to invite the chance to ‘escape’ from these ‘obligations’ (see: via K.O.) and will not avoid AoE’s or position mobs or bosses in any particular way. The only real upside is that he holds aggro very well once he’s got it and does a very high amount of damage.

Battle Lines:

• “Must we?” - Starting Attack Line • “See? I’m pulling my weight.” - Using Specialty Skills, Variation 1 • (bored and drawling) “Very well then, how about this?” - Using Specialty Skills, Variation 2 • “Whatever would you do without me?” - Assisting an ally

Limit Break:

• “Such fragile things, you are…” - Using Limit Break 1 • “If you die, don’t blame me.” - Using Limit Break 2 • (monstrous voice) “Behold, a Sorcerer of Eld!” - Using Limit Break 3

KO’d:

• “Preposterous… ‘tis but a scratch.” - Variation 1 • “Ah, to sleep… perchance to dream?” - Variation 2

Revived:

• “Oh my, well isn’t that embarrassing.” - Variation 1 • (monstrous voice) “I am bound… by cthonic law.” - Variation 2

BONUS: • When revived, the shade of Hades’ form can be seen and with that burst of dark energy he re-snares all aggro to him. • All of his mannerisms and most of his lines are delivered with utmost boredom and sarcasm. • If the party idles for five minutes, he will wander off and find a tree to sleep beneath. (If the party idles for ten minutes, he will port out and the dungeon will force close because that’s just how it works.) • He is capable of resurrecting party members if the healer is down with a snap of his fingers. (this prompts his ‘Assisting an ally’ line.)

Selection: “Very well. I shall play my part.”

Job: Emissary - a variant on scholar with Ascian offensive abilities, he invokes two strange crystal-like ‘elementals’ (oddly enough dubbed ‘Reavers’ despite their restorative natures) at a time that act much like fairies and do 85% of the work for him. He is content to observe, and intervene only when things look particularly dicey. His LB3 is Darkwing, which restores all party members to full health per norm, as well as erecting a magicked barrier which nullifies damage equaling 125% of the amount of HP restored.

Weapons: None, save for his summons and spells

AI Behavior: Elidibus prefers to hang back and observe, though he is arguably much more attentive than either of his other Ascian counterparts. While Emet-Selch is lazy and Lahabrea headstrong, Elidibus oversees all with patience, calm, and a calculating eye. His ‘Reavers’ arguably ‘overheal’, leaving little need for him to intervene in most fights, though he is careful to avoid any and all AoE’s and will seemingly see to mechanics at random - he deduces them all quickly, but he’s really here to see what you will do. All of his rezzes are instantly cast, but depending on how foolish an individuals death may have looked to him he may leave them there for a time. He will never rez Lahabrea, and exasperatedly resurrects Emet-Selch. While he will do very little DPS, he has decent damage output when he does.

Battle Lines:

• “Allow me to witness your might first hand.” - Starting Attack Line • “Reap, then, your reward!” - Using Specialty Skills, Variation 1 • “The shadows glisten...” - Using Specialty Skills, Variation 2 • “You’re not finished yet, are you?” - Assisting an ally

Limit Break:

• “Such a waste…” - Using Limit Break 1 • “Be grateful.” - Using Limit Break 2 • “Unto me, power beyond knowing granted.” - Using Limit Break 3

KO’d:

• “Such is the way of these mortal affairs…” - Variation 1 • “This can’t be happening…” - Variation 2

Revived:

• “Interesting…” - Variation 1 • “Your actions are… curious.” - Variation 2

BONUS: • When revived by the player character he is perplexed, and perhaps even pleasantly surprised. He may toss a few more heals your way. • Very attentive to all things, if he sees the same mistakes being made or mechanics being failed, he will give short but concise instructions, caught between disappointment and exasperation. • He remains silent and watchful no matter how long the party idles or messes around, sometimes making brief remarks like “Curious,” or “Intriguing.” • Similarly, he will sometimes call attention to secrets or bits of lore strewn about the dungeon. If/when the player character interacts with or reads these things, he will elaborate with further information.

#5.0 spoilers #emet-selch #elidibus #lahabrea #ascians #i spent too long on this already #if there are mistakes... r i p #i toed some weird line between #being serious and just meme and full of shakespeare and tactics refs

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horseluvr00-ff · 4 years ago

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A Place to Call Home | Chapter 34

Masterlist Here

Rating: T+

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Genre/Warnings: action/adventure/family | kidnapping, violence, strong language.

Story summary: It’s been a few months since the Battle of New York. Steve Rogers is acclimating to life when he crosses paths with teenager Katelyn Sanders, a SHIELD recruit and highly valued asset with a dark past. Follow Kate’s adventure from SHIELD asset to Avenger to wanted fugitive over the course of her youth and into adulthood with her Avenging family. Follows Infinity Saga and beyond.

Words: 7,208

Disclaimer: Majority of properties within this fanfic are owned by Marvel/Disney. My OC Katelyn Sanders, as well as a few other unaffiliated things within this fanfic are of my own creation.

Author Note: Relogs are welcome and appreciated :) Please no plagiarism or reposts on other platforms. Updates occur weekly on Fridays, however posts on Tumblr usually occur Saturdays.

Full story available on FFN and A03 here and here

Chapter 34 can be found here on FFN and here on AO3 in full.

Check out a portion of Chapter 34 below:

It's late in the evening, and Kate is out wandering the streets.

While one could argue it was more dangerous than walking around during the day when people were out and about - for Kate - the desertedness of the city made it easier to spot threats. The overwhelming nature of the day, when hundreds of thousands of people roamed the streets, it was difficult for Kate to focus. Walking around late at night however, with fewer people present, brought about a certain clarity.

While Kate's ability granted her many talents, it also made her hyper aware of a whole magnitude of things. Things most people didn't notice or perhaps didn't even have the courage to confront.

Picking up dinner with Clint earlier that day - Kate hadn't planned on doing anything out of the ordinary. Waiting for the agent to return from the restaurant with their takeout was the plan… Until she heard it.

An individual yelling out, proclaiming someone had taken their backpack. Attention already peaked; Kate had found herself pushing off the wall, heading down the sidewalk towards the closest alley before feeling her senses heighten. The sound bounced off walls and channeled her way. As if she had a sort of psychic map in her mind, Kate picked up a jog, making her way through the small maze of alleys until she heard the sound of heavy breathing pick up.

Breaking into a short run, Kate made her way around the corner, gauging her point of impact before running round the corner, left arm extended out she slammed it into an individual's chest, causing their feet to fly out before they hit the ground with a pained grunt-like yell.

Picking up the backpack, Kate had watched as the individual, looking only a few years older than herself, had quickly gotten up and ran away, more fearful than she had originally anticipated.

The whole ordeal had been over as quickly as it had started. The individual that had called out regarding their stolen property eventually ran up to her and Kate returned the property, mentioning that the one who had taken it had dropped it. No need to gloat.

Kate had made her way back to the restaurant quickly, hoping she hadn't been missed, only to see Clint on the phone and looking somewhat nervous.

Yeah, that hadn't been the greatest moment. Especially after Steve's reaction when they got back to the Tower.

Hands deep in her hoodie pockets, Kate continues to walk down the mostly empty sidewalk dimly lit by streetlights. There weren't many people out. The majority of them didn't look all that menacing, but her senses made clear which people projected ill-intent and which didn't. Raised heart rates and tense muscles were prominent in most of the individuals she passed, as if they thought they'd get caught any moment.

While her better judgment told her this wasn't smart, she also couldn't really remember a time when she did something like this. The last time she was "normal" she was probably seven years old. The amount of freedom people her age had- she didn't know… However she felt capable enough to be out here… looking for trouble to stop.

She tried not to dwell on that fact too much - the fact that she was out here late at night looking for trouble - some kind of bad to stop.

Turning down a different block, Kate keeps her eyes ahead but somewhat low on the sidewalk. She could feel eyes turn towards her as she passed people here and there. Pulling her hood over her head, Kate continues on her way.

Aside from the thundercloud over her head telling her she was asking for trouble, the city was somewhat comforting at night. It might be her subconscious understanding that she could handle any individual who may approach her with ill intent, but regardless of the fact, she felt a sense of ease walking down the street, the cold air soothing her.

A string of angered curses suddenly pulls Kate from her thoughts and her eyes snap upwards. Coming to a corner, she looks down the sidewalk seeing two people disappear into one of the alleyways.

"I- said no," A female voice; agitated.

Clenching and unclenching her hands in her pockets, Kate begins making her way down the sidewalk before slowing at the corner of the alleyway where the two people now where.

"You don't seem to understand that me telling you no at work, and me telling you no now, hasn't changed anything-" The woman's fist was curled up tightly, the man in front of her holding her wrist tight enough that she couldn't pull it away, but loose enough that he wasn't trying to fully restrain her.

"I paid you double, you owe me more than a private sh- Can I help you?"

Kate tilts her head lightly, the man now looking over his shoulder expectantly while eyeing her impatiently.

Kate's eyes move between him and the woman momentarily before the woman rips her wrist from his grasp and begins walking towards Kate, and then out onto the sidewalk. Her expression was one of annoyance and frustration but her heart rate gave away how fearful she was as she picked up a quick pace down the sidewalk.

The man was stationary momentarily, the tenseness to his body obvious - ability or not.

Cursing under his breath, he begins walking in the same direction the woman had, going to pass Kate and head down the sidewalk. He intentionally knocks her shoulder with his own as he passes her, causing her to step back a hair before turning to look over her shoulder.

There were certain aspects to her ability that made things not usually visible, known to her. Certain factors helped her to anticipate behavior. Muscle tension, walking pace, expression, even smell by means of odor changes. Fear, anger, and happiness can cause chemical changes related that give off different odors. For example, when someone is afraid, they may sweat, which gives off a distinct odor she can associate accordingly.

Turning on her heel, Kate picks up her walking pace to follow the man.

~0~

A Few Hours Later…

For Tony, sleeping was something becoming harder and harder to come by. It wasn't that he had… trouble. He just had a lot of energy. And ideas and random thoughts would also hit him at odd hours of the night, thoughts he had to act on in case he forgot them in the morning.

He had promised Pepper to give the workshop a break. While he was doing that- she never said he couldn't hangout on the communal floor doing what he most likely would've done in the workshop.

"Jarvis, how's it looking?" Tony questions, the only light in the area coming off the tablet in his hands.

"Diagnostics have been run, sir. Trials are ready whenever you see fit." The AI responds.

Tony chews on his bottom lip lightly for a moment, eyes searching the screen as he looks over the image present.

It was something he had been working on as a side project. Something for Kate. With the kid being around for the foreseeable future, he figured finding something they can work on aside from her ability would be beneficial.

She was an interesting character, Tony had to admit. He usually didn't let much visibly surprise him, but she was a curious individual and he was looking forward to getting her out of her shell. There were certain moments or situations where Kate would surprise him, give someone sass or show a confidence he suspected lurked just beneath the surface - something she didn't reveal very often.

"Sir, Katelyn Sanders is about to get off the elevator."

Tony's brow knits as he looks over his shoulder, eyes meeting the closed elevator doors before he swipes the images on his tablet aside.

"Where's she coming from?"

"The lobby, sir."

"... Uh huh." Tony's lips part slightly as he processes the statement.

This wasn't the first time Jarvis had informed him. Whatever it was the kid was doing - going out at night, she seemed to be coming back alright. It wasn't his place to necessarily scold her for her actions.

The ding of the elevator finally opens and Tony doesn't acknowledge the movement of someone walking out of the space before stopping. In the following seconds, Kate goes to disappear back into the elevator.

"Goin so soon?" Tony speaks up, tapping about on the tablet screen. "You're out kind of late, kid… Three a.m.? Good thing I was down here and not your pops."

A gentle scold… a suggestive scold; not a full on scold.

"I was jus-... I wanted to get some air" Kate responds. She sounded a bit closer.

"Could've gotten some on the balcony," Tony turns and eyes the teen with an amused smirk. She appeared anxious but accepting of the situation.

"Regardless of whatever this is I am now a part of; just make sure you don't do anything rash on these little adventures you're taking." Voice laced with a hint of concern, Tony continues to eye the teen, seeing her gaze elsewhere.

"Adventures? Plural?" Despite her controlled expression, Tony can hear the amusement in her voice and gives a little chuckle before nodding to the side.

"Well you looked like a zombie this morning, and we only watched that show til around ten," Tony offers.

At his comment, Kate clenches her jaw and takes a couple steps to the side, blocking his view of her face as she crosses her arms.

Alright, m'probably pushing her a little too much.

"I won't pester you, go get some rest Kenai."

Tony may or may not have a small list of nickname ideas for the kid. Nicknames for her weren't coming as easily to him. T-1000 was the next one that came to mind but… Calling the kid a terminator wasn't appropriate. Especially now that he knows more about her. Those details… Made his skin crawl. When he looked at Katelyn, he didn't see someone capable of racking up a body count greater than two dozen.

Hearing the teen question the nickname, Tony blinks his thoughts away quickly before giving her an amused smile and a shrug - brow knitting seconds later.

"You haven't seen Brother Bear? Bah- we'll get you caught up, don't worry. For now I gotta keep thinking of some nicknames for you." Tony mumbles, eyes still on the tablet.

Preferably ones that don't label you a killing machine… Unfortunately something I don't think it too far off from what that Doctor Gordon was trying to turn you into.

Kate is silent following Tony's words, but doesn't wait too long to head towards the stairwell.

Once the door closes, Tony lets the tablet fall into his lap, brow knitting gently.

"Jarvis, I need you to scope security cameras within a five block radius. I wanna know where's she's been going and what she's been doing,"

"Will do, sir."

The rest of chapter 34 can be found here on FFN and here on AO3. Take a peak to keep reading!

Stay healthy, stay safe, sending lots of love. <3

Masterlist Here

#avengers fanfiction #dad!steve rogers #Steve Rogers x Daughter!OC #tony stark #natasha romanoff #clint barton #bruce banner #iron man #black widow #hawkeye #hulk #captain america #shield #nick fury

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toast-the-unknowing · 4 years ago

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Lmaoooooo “when I grow up I’m going to have so much amnesia” pls just post whatever you’ve written over the last ten years I am so INTRIGUED

Well, the subject line is a Futurama quote, I can’t take credit for that, alas.

I am fond of several of the jokes in that story, but at the end of the day, it’s a mystery and I wrote 20k words of it without ever deciding what the answer to the mystery is. The odds I’ll ever bother figuring it out now are slim, especially since I look back and realize...you know...I’ve become a much better writer than I was 10 years ago and most of those 20k words aren’t great.

But some of them I like! So what the hell, why not, here’s some of my favorite bits from a Star Trek 2009 fic that will probably never otherwise see the light of day:

The whole thing with Kirk and Spock losing their memories on the same away trip is funny for a total of three seconds before it becomes utterly terrifying.

Okay, maybe there's about five minutes of Hikaru making himself sick trying to hold in laughter at the stunned stupid look on Kirk's face as he steps onto the bridge, the way that Spock mutters "what an ingenious invention" after they're beamed back to the Enterprise, but hey, Hikaru's only human. And now so is Kirk, stripped of that cockiness that comes from knowing he's survived all kinds of crazy shit that he shouldn't have, and so is Spock in a way, since he seems to have forgotten all his Vulcan mind-master training along with everything else.

And that thought is what wipes the smirk off Hikaru's face and has him exchanging sideways glances with Chekov, because they're right on the edge of Klingon space, Kang had sworn eternal vengeance against the entire crew the last time they'd seen him, and without Kirk's impossible ability to get them out of everything he gets them into, Hikaru doesn't like their odds of escaping a skirmish unharmed.

McCoy skips right over the part where anything about the situation is amusing and even skips over the "utterly terrifying" part and opts straight for angry yelling before the doors of the turbolift have finished opening to allow him onto the bridge.

"What the devil are you playing at now, Jim?" McCoy demands, striding up to Kirk and waving a tricorder at him that he can't possibly be reading, since he's too busy venting at Kirk's face to look at the machine.

The effect of this is apparently lost on the amnesiac Kirk, who looks over his shoulder trying to figure out who McCoy is talking to.

Right. No one told the Captain his name was Jim.

"We're doomed," Chekov whispers to Hikaru, who wholeheartedly agrees.

"More tests?" Hikaru asks Chapel. Hikaru hopes he sounds world-weary but in all likelihood he just sounds like a kid whining about not wanting to go to the dentist's. At least when he was a kid his parents would give him some candy to make the whole experience more bearable.

"You've failed them all so far," Chapel tells him.

"Doesn't being healthy count as passing?"

"Not in his Sickbay." She gestures over her shoulder at McCoy, who is ranting to the nurses that he washes his hands of Hikaru, complete with actually physically washing his hands, because McCoy has no concept of subtlety.

Maybe it was just the terrible psychological burden of working too long under McCoy that had made her a sadist. Hikaru had helped the med staff repair and restock Sickbay after a disastrous encounter with Romulans, and after two days of McCoy's crazy-eyes drilling into the back of his skull, he hadn't felt terribly generous toward his fellow sentient beings. Kirk, who always had to be perverse and do the opposite of what a normal person would do, had been invigorated by the experience and set some kind of mountain-climbing record on the next planet they stopped at.

McCoy must be having a field day, wherever he is; nothing makes him happier than a legitimate reason to be unhappy.

He winces and walks over to answer the door, to find Chekov's curly head bouncing around with an upbeat energy that makes Hikaru feel a thousand years old.

"What?" he asks. "Communicator doesn't work?"

"You didn't answer," Chekov points out, which is probably correct. Hikaru hadn't been aware of anything, much less the chirp of a communicator.

"You know," he tells Chekov, stepping back into his room so he can change into a fresh uniform, "when someone is annoyed with you, telling them how it's their fault doesn't make them like you any better. It just makes them more annoyed."

Chekov blinks big, hurt eyes at him. "You are annoyed with me?"

Hikaru just sighs and lets it go. "So what do I need to be told so badly?" he asks, slipping on a new pair of pants and pulling his shirt off. "I'm guessing that if it were good news, it could wait."

"We have Klingons," Chekov tells him, completely matter-of-fact, and Hikaru is never going to share with anyone, least of all Chekov, the fact that his immediate response to this was to think Russians really are that stoic.

His next thought is that he has to get to the bridge, now, so he sets off at a run with Chekov following along behind.

His third thought, that he never did finish getting dressed, takes its own sweet time occurring to him, specifically waiting until the doors to the Bridge open and Uhura looks at him, blinks her eyes at a momentary loss for words, and then smirks.

In retrospect, it will feel pretty good to have made Uhura happy about something in the middle of this whole clusterfuck. At the time, Hikaru just wonders how bad it could really be to eject himself out the nearest airlock.

"Had a disagreement with your uniform, Mr. Sulu?" Uhura asks. "Or have your just decided that today is a good day for swashbuckling?"

Hikaru plays it cool, because there are only so many options available for you when you show up to battle without a shirt on, and because there's an appreciative look in the eyes of more than one person on the Bridge that reminds him that his shirtlessness is not, in and of itself, anything to be ashamed about. "I wanted to be on hand as soon as possible to help with the situation, sir," he tells her, voice completely smooth. He falls into a formal at-ease position that draws the muscles in his chest tight, causing someone to whistle lowly.

The Acting Captain is actively fighting back laughter at this point; Uhura is going to give him shit about this for the rest of his natural life, but then again, Klingons, so Hikaru can't begrudge her trying to make the most of it now in case the rest of his natural life is only another ten minutes. "Mr. Chekov, please restrain your dramatics in the future," she tells him, and the ensign takes on a look of righteous outrage that is decades older than his face. "Perhaps you could have communicated to Mr. Sulu that another second or two's delay would not have been fatal."

"I thought it obvious, sir," Chekov says, primly. "No Russian would charge into battle in such a state of unpreparedness."

"Because they'd freeze to death on a summer's day," Hikaru mutters.

"How?" Uhura asks, with that same fake innocent tone she uses when she's trying to convince everyone at the table that she's got a shit hand, and dammit, Hikaru has fallen for that bluff too many times. After which he was often divested of an article of clothing, oddly enough, so the whole thing is starting to feel really familiar.

Kang is even willing to deal with someone who isn't Kirk, as long as Kirk is there to have accusations and insults hurled at him, which is some kind of horrible metaphor for command but Hikaru is still trying to force his jaws together and doesn't quite appreciate the many, many cosmic jokes that are unfurling in front of him.

Every single person on the bridge of the Enterprise who still has a brain freezes and darts their eyes to the view screen at the exact same second. Later that simultaneity would make Hikaru wonder why the hell the dancing had been so uncoordinated in the crew's performance of Pirates of Penzance, since clearly they are all psychically linked to each other. Or perhaps psychic connections require substantial motivational force. Few things are more substantial or more motivating than enraged Klingons, and – as every eyeball except two immediately takes in – they have one hell of an enraged Klingon on their hands.

"WHAT CHARADE IS THIS," Kang demands, spitting out 'charade' like it's the dirtiest word he knows. Apparently Klingon honor doesn't have much time for theater. Hikaru wonders what Klingons do for embarrassing social bonding in lieu of Pirates of Penzance.

"Oh, good, so we can tell them that we aren't responsible, they'll listen to that and act reasonable," McCoy mutters, before jabbing Kirk with something on the pretense of getting more brainwave readings. McCoy has been dragging Kirk around the ship with him all morning for reasons as yet unexplained. Hikaru's torn on thinking it's to cause more havoc, since every little thing that happens inspires a thousand pointless questions from the deposed captain, and thinking it's so he can stab at Kirk like some stress relief toy. It doesn't seem to be working, but modern science has not yet found a conduit big enough to channel McCoy's stress, so that would be asking a bit much to ask from a guy who needed help going to the bathroom earlier. (Hikaru made Chekov do it. That's what ensigns are for, right?)

Chapel had proclaimed the whole thing hogwash and said she would get around to it when she had a minute, and implied that that minute was going to be a long time coming, because apparently that attitude was handed down with command of Sickbay like the crown of a hereditary monarch.

Besides, there's the Klingons to consider, and even Scotty can't make hooch so strong it wipes out the memories of people on other ships. Probably. Hikaru will ask him about it when his memory is back, and they will write a paper together, "A Transwarp Theory of Moonshine", and it will ruin both of their chances of ever advancing up the command chain, which would probably suit Scotty just fine and would be the best thing to ever happen to Hikaru if it means he never has to deal with a mess like this again.

"When we get to the point where we're recruiting untested specialists from alternate dimensions to solve the problem, just leave me brainless," Chapel scoffs. "I don't want to know."

Hikaru scribbles a note to himself. Evil clones running the Enterprise becomes Plan Y; stealing versions of themselves from other dimensions becomes Plan Z. He thinks they have a better chance of un-fixing the teleporter to make clones again than of making it pull people from other dimensions.

Chekov bounds down the hall at him – speaking of teenagers – and apparently the gloom is rolling off Hikaru thick enough to strike down an enthusiastic ensign at fifty paces, because the spring goes right out of Chekov's step when Hikaru looks at him. His faces turns somber and he tugs on his uniform shirt like he's worried about wrinkles. Or maybe he just remembered that this is a catastrophe in the making and a little gravity is called for.

He nearly takes it too far, though, going for a salute and Hikaru thinks that if Chekov salutes him right now he will actually go insane. He intercepts Chekov's arm on the way up and drops it back down like its covered in nettles. Chekov looks a little confused about how to proceed from here, but hell, the kid's always telling them he's a genius, let him figure something out.

He picks up Chapel like a leech; when he refuses to stop in Sickbay she just attaches herself to him and starts talking every bit as rapidly as Hikaru is walking. He can't tell how she's breathing. Maybe she isn't. Hikaru feels a little bit like he isn't breathing, either, or that might just be his flair for the dramatic.

He gets distracted, too, by the nurse who is accompanying Chapel, holding several PADDS and a medical tricorder and struggling to hold it all and drop nothing and keep up on her rather short legs. Maybe they could slow down for her, but hell, Chapel's her boss and isn't worried.

Hikaru can't remember the nurse's name. That's a panicky moment, but no, it's just that she's new. Should he ask her name, he wonders, or would that be rude? As the captain, however temporary or inglorious the title may be, he should know everyone on the crew already.

At least the crew is making that easier on him by shrinking.

"Stress is every bit a real, medical problem, particularly among young men in high-pressure situations who think they're immortal." This comes with a side order of meaningful look.

"I assure you, Nurse, I am well-aware of my failings."

"And I'm seeing drastically heightened stress all over the ship. Heart rate, blood pressure, shaking, forgetfulness -- not amnesia -- emotional outbursts -- "

"Maybe the crew doesn't like having medical personnel hovering all around them." Hikaru jumps as the short nurse waves her tricorder over him, presumably getting a reading of his own heart rate, blood pressure, and emotional outbursts. "I'm open to any suggestions about how to lower the crew's stress levels, up to and including Ensign Chekov going door to door singing Russian lullabies."

"I'll put that down as Plan Z," Chapel says, and holy shit, can she read his mind? He makes himself think profusely repentant thoughts for his attitude the last two days and also for that time he sneaked a look at her hand at poker, just in case. Also, he probably shouldn't play poker with Chapel anymore, honest or otherwise, if she can read his mind.

That, that right there, is apparently what Chapel looks like when she is truly outraged and not just annoyed or sarcastic or feeling superior, which is a valuable piece of information and Hikaru files it away in the very sincere and fervent hope that he never sees it again.

"You know, just, some people," the Acting Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise mumbles into his shoulder.

"How did we get here?" Hikaru mutters. He's barely even realized he's spoken, so it's doubly alarming when Chekov jumps up and grabs his shoulders, shakes them violently.

"Sulu, no, you cannot have amnesia, too," the kid starts babbling. Why is it that his accent gets easier to understand when he's worked up? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Unless, hang on, has the kid been faking his accent this whole time? "Then I will have to take command of the Enterprise and while that is a thing I have dreamed of doing, it is no good to me if no one is around to admire."

#not a fic #my work #Anonymous

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ivory-haired-queens-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Unpopular Opinions: Fandom Edition

Hey none of you asked but I’m here to deliver so here are some unpopular opinions for the fandoms I’m in. Spoilers, duh.

Marvel:

I don’t like Natasha. Or Steve.

Pepper Potts is a top.

As much as I love Loki, his death was nessicary in Infinity War.

Steve should have killed Bucky in Civil War. He was a threat, plain and simple.

I ship Ironstrange/Supremefamily.

Clint should have died in Infinity War.

I love Tony Stark with my whole heart. (Not an unpopular opinion but you needed to know that)

I’m not happy with the end of Endgame.

10 years in the making....for you to do Thor like that?

Not because he’s fat or because he’s dealing with trauma, that’s totally acceptable.

What’s not acceptable is them making Thor into the butt of the joke because he’s fat.

I love the Antman movies.

I’m totally not biased because I loved lost.

(I’m kinda biased)

Shuri is the best Marvel character and would beat Tony Stark in a battle of wits.

(I’m so gay I love her.)

With as many years as Marvel has had the MCU, I am disgusted at the lack of diversity within the movies.

Like it’s 2019 and we JUST got a female empowerment scene in Endgame.

Like I want a gay superhero.

(We have a disabled one thank god. Love you Stephen.)

And don’t give me that Valkyrie/Captain Marvel BS because they never blatantly stated or showed it in their movies.

I want an Asian superhero bitch.

A superhero who is Muslim/Islam/and religion besides Christian.

I think that, as much as I hate Natasha and Steve, they should have been the ones that Bruce first sees in Infinity War. I know it set up the whole “earth is closed today” sequence but it didn’t make sense and was OOC.

I love Stephen Strange and he’s never done a single thing wrong ever in his life I would die for this man.

I like MCU Peter Parker over the origional movie Spider-Man.

Fight me.

I also like the Tony Stark/Peter Parker better than the Uncle Ben/Peter Parker so @ me.

The 100

I don’t ship Bellarke that hard.

Like yes, I think they’re obviously being groomed to end up together. I know the show runners will make them official before the end of the series. I’m not mad about that, I just don’t really care to be honest. It’s like, too obvious.

But there are some cute bellarke scenes

What they did to Monty was bullshit but what they did to Jasper was worse.

I feel no guilt whatsoever in saying that I think that killing all of Mount Weather was what they should have done from the beginning.

Yes, even the kids. Because if you kill their leaders, the men and women will fight back. The colony would have been left with a handful of adults, and a bunch of kids if the origional plan had worked. This is doomed to fail and honestly just killing them all would be better than seeing them kill eachother for food, power, whatever. If that makes sense.

I think that Finn deserved to die.

I think that Murphey deserves the world.

Charlotte fucking killed Wells. Yes she’s young but she knows better than to kill someone. Maybe not kill her, but we all know that Clarke wouldn’t have banished her like she did Murphey. Clarke has a gender bias because Murphey didn’t do anything and she wouldn’t have punished Charlotte as hard because she’s a young girl. I rest my case

Even though what he did was bad and wrong, I don’t think Murphey should have been banished. He’s right. They were all compliant and even excited when he was being hung, but when it’s a little girl all bets are off.

Like Bellamy brought the whole hostage thing upon himself because he fucking tied a noose around Murphey’s throat.

Again, not that what Murphey did was right. He didn’t have to act like that. Jasper didn’t do anything to him.

Also this segment is getting long but the show writers and everyone else just casually forgot that Murphey was TORTURED? Hello? Are we not going to acknowledge that?

I shipped Clexa with my whole heart.

Another actually popular opinion: what they’ve done to Raven’s character this season is bullshit. Her only role is Abby’s moral compass. This is the same girl who shuttled to earth in a Tin Can. She’s better than this.

What the fuck??? Happened to??? Jordan???

Like Madi stabbed him

And then they proceeded to not talk about it for like four episodes and then casually mention it in passing like “oh he saved Pria that means he gets to live”

Like they set up his character to be really important this season.

But he’s not.

I think that Murphey/Emori is the best ship.

I also think that Either Murphey or Emori or Both are secretly double crossing the Primes. (This comes out before the finale of season six)

They didn’t have to do Onyia like that

The opening of season three is so weak that I actually stopped watching the show around that time (I’d been watching since the beginning of season two) because there’s just nothing there in the first like 10 minutes and I couldn’t do it.

Maybe I’m just impatient but it’s bad.

I think that Octavia did the best that she could with what she had available and I think that’s she’s not a bad person for what she did with the fighting pits/cannabalism. And I know that if Bellamy had been in her place, he would have eventually done the same.

Kane was a whiny bitch in season 5.

Why’d the kill Diyoza(I can’t spell) like that?

I liked Joesephine. It was really fun to see Eliza Taylor be able to get a new character in the show. Also props to her for that last episode with pretending to be Joesephine and being Clarke at the same time.

I called the dude being Gabriel from the first time I saw him you peasants.

Octavia’s redemption arc this season is beautiful.

They did....that.....to Kane. I’m angerey.

Lost In space

Not enough people watch this show. (The Netflix remake or the origional)

Seriously guys it’s a good show.

Absolutely nothing is wrong with it.

I love Don West with my whole heart.

I love Dr. Smith with my half heart.

I love the robot with my two hearts.

I love Penny Robinson with all the stars in the galaxy.

I love all of them okay.

There are no plot holes, no inconsistencies, no faulty science and anyone who says (or proves) otherwise is wrong.

It’s confirmed for a season two which should air in like the December-February time area.

It’s a Netflix show so you can binge the entire season in like a weekend.

Seriously watch it.

The Umbrella Academy

Five x Delores is weird.

Luther x Allison is illegal.

Klaus deserves all the push pops in the world.

The handler is hot.

The Comission killed Dave.

Luther is the most boring, Unorigional, straight white guy character I’ve seen in a long time. I hate him so much.

Allison is a queen but her character is brought down by her weird relationship with her brother.

Tbh if I was Allison you know I’d be telling my kids that I heard a rumor that theyd go the fuck to sleep. Like that’s a good thing. Idk maybe I’m just a sociopath.

Istanbul not Constantinople being played over a scene where five murders a squad of Commission people is the greatest cinematic masterpiece ever conceived by man.

“Where are you going” “to save the world” “oh is that all?” Iconic.

None of these are really unpopular but the show writers seem to think differently.

Diego has never done anything wrong in his life like yaaaasss bitch kill your brother at yo daddy’s funeral!!! Work!!!

PaTcH

AAaAHh

Big Theif - Mary is the perfect song to play over Klaus returning from Vietnam.

Will you love me, like you loved me in the January rain?

It’s up there with Goodbye July.

Speaking of Goodbye July....

Z Nation

Many people haven’t watched it

It’s like if The Walking Dead and Zombieland had a baby....and then the baby did a line of cocaine.

It’s wild.

Watching Garnet die ruined every sliver of hope I had in humanity.

I have a special place in my heart for this show because it’s the first show that me and my mom would stay up and watch the new episodes air every Friday. It brought us closer and I can’t thank the cast and show runners enough for this.

So maybe I’m biased, but you should watch it.

Having Murphey switch from being an anti-hero to a villain back to an anti-hero and then to a regular hero, amazing. Astonishing. The peak of human existence.

Even though he’s not entirely human.

What color is Murphey today? Is he pale, discolored, grey, blue, red? We don’t know!

Roberta Warren is the Black Goddess main protagonist that we deserve.

Addison Carver is a functional Bi.

10k is tragic backstory central but other than that, his character development is pretty lacking other than him persuing love interests.

None of these are really unpopular opinions but I doubt any of you have watched the show. It’s on Netflix. Watch it.

Oooooohhhhh George.

Georgia St. Clair could stomp me to death and my ghost would still want to fuck her.

Anyways I’m gay

God damn I have a lot of pent up Gay energy.

Murphey and Lucy have a realistic enstranged father/daughter relationship and it’s heartwarming.

And then they killed her off to save him.

Honestly if you name a character Murphey they can only be assholish bad boys with a good heart deep down sorry I don’t make the rules.

Also if you name a character Murphey I will love them with my whole soul.

I’m so mad they cancelled the show.

I’m infinitely more mad that they named that disgrace of a show Black Summer and claimed that it was a prequel....but it didn’t follow the same cast and had they not advertised it as a prequel I would never have guessed.

Black Summer gives totally opposite vibes than Z Nation does. I get that black summer is supposed to be the worst time that the zombie apocalypse ever had, with cannibals and no food, but it feels like s completely different show.

It’s like if The Walking Dead claimed that it is a prequel/occurs during Shaun of the Dead.

Like....no. They’re....no.

Anyway watch it it’s good.

Detroit: Become Human

Connor isn’t the best character.

This is an unpopular opinion post deal with it.

Markus has to be my favorite.

Honestly this game is so good and not even just graphics-wise.

It’s the same robotic sentience story we’ve been fed for years, but this time it’s from the Android’s perspective and this time all they want is to be free. That’s it.

I fucking hate North.

Hank is literally if Rick from Rick and Morty were serious.

The only correct way to play Connor is to walk the thin line between deviant and regular A.I. Without leaving out Hank. The correct thing to do is make Conner deviant at Jericho.

The only correct way to play Kara is to protect Alice with every fiber of your being. Meanwhile, get close to her. Do not get caught, even if that means dissappointing her.

The only correct way to play Markus is to lead a peaceful revolution. Also tell North to fuck off.

The border patrol guy who either gets Kara and Alice caught or knowingly lets Androids cross the border is the best character. Forget about Markus, this guy sees either “oh fuck androids are killing people, maybe we shouldn’t let this one cross the border” or “Androids just want to be free and are peacefully fighting for this. Let this one and her daughter through.” I love him.

LUTHER.

YES DADDY.

anyway.

Let Out The Bear He Just Wants To Say Hi :)

Even though I think Conner is overrated by the fandom, I do like him.

But he’s not a pure innocent cinnamon roll either.

It depends on how you play, but he has really violent options so stop the “He wouldn’t harm a fly” attitude.

But he is cute.

The home screen for the game is revolutionary (no pun intended) and I hope future game follow suit in making the first impression of the game something cool.

Stealing clothes/money/the fence cutters is literally okay.

Also if you put Kara in white hair you can die.

If in your first actual play through you got the Kara lives at the recycling plant ending but Alice dies, you can die too.

I’ve never actually seen the steal money and go to motel option play out because it’s stupid, especially if you don’t steal clothes. Like that’s begging to be caught.

Stranger things

Billy Hargrove is bad and just because he’s abused does not make what he does okay.

Harringrove is gross and I’m gay so my opinion counts as double.

That being said, there are some really cute fics about Harringrove and I can see the appeal of “good boy falls for mysterious bad boy with a dark past and trauma”

I’ve said I’m gay this whole post because I say it a lot, but I don’t like actually labeling myself but I like girls and boys and everything in between and I say I’m gay kinda as a joke when girls are hot.

That being said...

Steve Harrington calling himself Daddy made me feel things.

Strange things.

Haha get it I’m making a joke to distract you from the daddy part.

Steve Harrington is a good person now, but he was still an asshole before and he can still be criticized for his past.

I used to be hardcore Jancy but after season three I feel like Nancy needs and deserves a break from boys so she can figure out herself and who she is now and what she wants to do without the weight of boys and boyfriends constantly around her.

That being said i still don’t like Nancy because she was flirting/slept in the same bed with Jonathan whilst obviously having feelings for him while she and Steve were still a thing. It’s not cheating but to me it’s close enough to raise red flags.

Robin is perfect in every way.

I don’t like Jonathan. He’s creepy in s1, fine in s2, but then is s3 he doesn’t do anything to or about his male bosses when Nancy is being made fun of because she’s a woman.

Seeing Nancy’s class priveledge/Jonathan’s male priveledge clashing was so cool tbh

Elmax > Mileven > Lumax

Jim Hopper, with all his faults, is still a caring dad.

Plus him threatening Mike made me laugh so hard sksksksks

Steve Harrington deserves the world and then some.

Low key I really want s4 to give in insight on his family life.

I also want him to get an apartment with Robin.

Robins cute tbh but for half the season I though she was a Russian spy. I guess I was wrong.

Mrs. Wheeler shouldn’t sleep with billy (not that she can now) because it’s wrong, but the reason she wanted to is because her husband is so boring and she gave up on her dreams to be his perfect housewife. She wanted a challenge with Billy. Instead, she should leave her pushover of a husband and find someone better.

Anyway Steve Harrington deserves the world.

Yeah okay hate me whatever.

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