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heliads · 4 years ago

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Meeting the Parents

based on this request: “Racetrack x reader where she is filthy rich so he goes out to dinner with her family and they don’t like him. He then teaches her what it’s like to be poor? Kinda like the titanic scene??”

masterlist

Race stands before you, nervously tugging at his shirt collar. You can tell he’s wearing his best clothes, and he’s even forgone his usual newsboy cap to make a better impression. Tonight, after all, is the night he’ll meet your parents for the first time.

You and Race had been dating for a few months now. It all started when your best friend, Katherine, had dragged you along to the lodging house so you could meet the newsboys of Manhattan. You had only gone so you could finally meet Jack Kelly, who she’d been talking about for what felt like forever, but you were instantly distracted by the sight of a newsie with golden curls. He’d been talking to one of his friends, but the second you’d walked through the door he had stopped and stared, all conversations forgotten. Your eyes had met across the crowded room, and in that moment, you knew that this boy was going to be the death of you.

It hadn’t taken him long to ask you out, in that usual flirtatious way of his, and it had taken you an even briefer moment to accept. Race flirted with every girl that crossed his path, that’s just what he did, but once he met you, everyone knew he had finally found someone he truly cared about. You two were so in love that it felt like even Romeo and Juliet were simply vague shadows of what you felt when you were with him.

Before long, your parents began to question why you came home with a grin and a blush, and why they kept hearing voices from your room late at night when you should’ve been asleep. Eventually, they found out that you were dating Race, and so they arranged to meet him tonight. Thus, Race is panicking.

“I’se just worried, you know? I’ve never been to a restaurant this nice, and your family is filthy rich. I mean, you could probably buy yourself an island or something. How am I supposed to tell them I’se a newsie?”

You laugh gently and straighten his collar. “First of all, I think that’s a bit of an overstatement. Second of all, if they see even a quarter of what I see in you, they’ll be more than happy. We just have to make it through one dinner, and then we don’t have to hide our relationship anymore. That’s good, right?”

Race sighs, then turns to face the door. His hand wraps around yours, squeezing for the briefest of moments as if to give him one last boost of strength, then opens the door for you. “Here we go, darlin’.”

You and Race make your way through the maze of tables, trying to find your family. Race is doing his best not to stare at the ornate chandeliers and gilded portraits hanging on the walls. He treads delicately on the fine carpets as if they’re made of crystal. “I feel like I’m a bit out of my league here, Y/N.” You can’t help but laugh at the awestruck expression on his face. “Don’t get too caught up in the decorations. I see them.” Race nods in readiness, then walks with you to your family’s table.

Your father smiles when he sees you. “Y/N, dear, there you are. And this must be-” “Anthony. It’s nice to meet you, sir.” You do your best to hide a smile as Race shakes your father’s hand. Race doesn’t often use his real name, he must be trying his hardest to impress your parents. This idea is confirmed when Race guides you to a seat and pushes in your chair.

With a slight movement of her hand, your mother indicates for the waiter to bring some drinks for all of you. “So, Anthony, it’s lovely to see you at last. How ever did you meet Y/N?” Race smiles, and only you can see the nerves still emanating from his every move. “Uh, I met her while I was at work. A friend of hers introduced us, and I’ve been in love ever since.”

You turn to Race, beaming, but your father leans forward and continues the interrogation. “Ah, a workplace introduction. That’s how I met my wife, actually. I’m a banker, at the Manhattan Alliance down the street.” He smirks coldly, letting his statement sink in. The Manhattan Alliance is one of the biggest banks in New York, so Race definitely feels the pressure growing at the table. “What do you do again, Anthony?”

You hold your breath. This is the one question you had hoped they wouldn’t ask. “I, uh, work with the New York World.” Your father raises an eyebrow inquisitively. “Ah, the newspaper. I know Pulitzer, he’s a good man.” You stifle a grin as Race does his best to not say anything. To the newsies, Pulitzer is anything but good, and hearing your father speak of him as if he’s a saint is taking all of Race’s strength not to break his composure.

Your father continues speaking. “I was talking to Pulitzer just the other day, actually. What is it you do with the World?” Race goes rigid for just a moment, then tilts his head casually. “I work with raising profits for the newspaper through, uh, studying distribution patterns and management, specifically focusing on regions within Manhattan.” Race speaks as confidently as he can. You two have been practicing this line all week to make sure he can translate being a newsie into seeming wealthy. It actually sounds pretty good, if you could say so yourself.

“I understand, I understand.” Your father nods, leaning back in his chair. “What you mean to tell me is that you’re a mere newsboy. No amount of prepared speeches can hide the truth, which is that you are nothing but a street rat, who should be under no circumstances fraternizing with my daughter. Yes, Pulitzer told me all about you. It sounds like you’ve been seen with him, Y/N, and he was eager to tell me just what I would be getting into.”

Your head flies up. “Father! Anthony is perfectly respectable, and what’s more, I love him! Please treat him with the courtesy he deserves!” Your father just shakes his head, a cool glare emanating from him. Your mother speaks up beside him. “You know this won’t work out, Y/N. Please, just get rid of him and let’s move on.”

Race stands up. “I can see I’m not wanted. Well, Mr. L/N, I may be ‘just a street rat’, but I will always love your daughter, no matter how cruel her father.” You stand up too. “I can’t believe either of you. I’m going with him.” Race takes your hand, and as the two of you flee the restaurant, you can hear your mother calling your name.

The second you leave the stuffy restaurant, you turn to your love in despair. “Oh, Race, I’m so sorry. I never thought any of this would happen.” He kisses your cheek softly, then shakes his head to dispel your worries. “Trust me, none of this is your fault. That’s just the thing about rich people- they never want to dirty they’se hands with us commoners. That’s what I like youse so much, Y/N, because you never cared about the money.”

You smile at that, and let Race lead you further away from the restaurant. After you find yourself heading down twisting streets, you realize you have no idea where you are. “Race, where are we going?” He grins, then pulls you down another side street. “If we can’t have that date with your family, we’re going to have fun with mine. Come on, Y/N, it’s just a little further.” You shake your head, laughing, and keep going after Race. You feel like you would follow that boy for forever.

Before you know it, you’re at the lodge. You can hear the distant sounds of music coming from somewhere inside the building, and when Race throws open the door, you’re enveloped in the sounds and sights of what feels like a festival. The newsies are all there, worn out but joyous after a long day of selling. One of the newsboys, who you believe is Albert, makes his way through the crowded room towards the two of you.

“What’cha doing here, Race? I thought you had that date?” When Albert sees you, his eyes clear. “Ah, there ya are.” He takes you in, still in your elegant gown. “You know, if you ever get bored of Racer here, I’d be more than happy to take care of youse.” Race shoves him, and Albert falls back, laughing. “As if I’d let the likes of you anywhere near Y/N.” He turns back to you with a grin, then holds out his hand. “Besides, she’s already dancing with me.”

You accept his hand, still taking in the sights of the room. Boys are crowded into the different areas of the lodge, some talking, some dancing, and some providing a beat by drumming on whatever empty surfaces they can find. All in all, it’s one of the most hectic scenes you’ve ever witnessed, and yet somehow one of the best.

Race leans in close to you, straining to be heard above the din of the room. “See, this is all we need. No mansions, no diamonds, no millions. Just the drums, some friends, and a good time.” You laugh at that, feeling the entire day's stresses run away from you. The aura of pure, unbridled joy surrounds you. Without strict social norms, without imposing parents or gossiping wives, you can at last breathe and let yourself have fun. Here, you can finally be yourself.

Race takes your hand and leads you to the groups of dancers. He places his hand on your waist, keeping the other clasped around yours, guiding you to the beat. The steps are slow at first, but as the boys drumming start to get more excited, the two of you move faster and faster until you’re breathless, both from dancing and from laughing. Race lets go of you to spin you, and the two of you spin around and around until the walls are tilting and you have to cling to Race so you don’t fall over.

The room seems too hot to think straight, what with all the boys packed together, so Race leads you to a balcony. The cold night air is a balm to your flushed skin, and you breathe it in happily. “See, we may not have millions, but we do manage to have a good time.” Race declares, leaning against the balcony’s railing next to you. “That you do. I don’t think I’ve laughed that much since I was little.” Race looks over at you, the moon shining in his curls. “That right there is a crime, darlin’. You’se got a smile that’s too pretty to hide away.” You glance away from him, blushing, but Race turns your head back with the tips of his fingers so he can kiss you. You kiss him back, rejoicing in the feeling of him next to you and wishing that this night could last forever.

#newsies #race imagine #race x reader #race imagines #racetrack #race higgins #racetrack imagine #racetrack x reader #racetrack imagines #newsies imagines #newsies live #newsies broadway #newsies x reader #racetrack higgins

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sparky-is-spiders · 4 years ago

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So. About that PoT and OotS Rewrite...

This is that PoT OotS rewrite I was talkin’ about earlier. Some stuff has changed.

I’ma start with Lionblaze, because I find the concept for his character to be the most interesting.

Lionblaze: From a young age, Lionblaze is kinda a prodigy. He’s an excellent fighter and hunter and everybody is convinced that he’s gonna be a great warrior, maybe even deputy. He IS the son of the current deputy and the grandson of the current leader, after all. When the Clan hears about the prophecy from Jayfeather, Lionblaze and everybody else is so certain that he’ll play a starring role in it. He hasn’t discovered his powers yet, the way Jayfeather and Hollyleaf have, but he’s convinced that they’ll reveal themselves. It’ll happen annny day now, he’s sure of it.

But he never gets any powers. Sure, he’s a skilled warrior, but it’s pretty obvious that that’s all he’ll ever be. He manages to hold out hope until he’s assigned Dovepaw as his apprentice. Dovepaw, who can read moods so easily. She appears in his dreams one day, and that’s when he realizes: he isn’t anything special, and he never was. He was always just another warrior, while Jayfeather and Hollyleaf keep moving on ahead. He becomes distant from his siblings and clanmates, and struggles to mentor the cat who took his place and the powers that were supposed to be his. This is when he’s recruited to the Dark Forest. Soon, he realizes what their plans are (more on those later), and he and Ivypaw team up to become spies and maybe sabatoge their plans before its too late. They tell their siblings everything they know, and the bridges that Lionblaze burned start to mend. He realizes that, even without powers, he’s still important, and he can still play a role in stopping the Dark Forest.

Jayfeather: Jayfeather is distant from everyone and always has been. He can sometimes be seen talking to cats that aren’t there, and he can predict some events with startling accuracy. Every time he sleeps, he hears thousands of different prophecies, and he can never tell if they’re important or not. But there’s one that he hears, over and over and over again. There shall be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws. He doesn’t understand it, doesn’t know why he hears it so often. He’s still a kit at this point, and one day Squirrelflight (who’s visiting them in the nursury), hears him murmuring it in his sleep. She takes him to see Leafpool, who takes him to see Firestar. He is told in no uncertain terms that he will be a medicine cat. Firestar announces this prophecy to the whole clan, declaring his three grandkits to be the three in the prophecy. Some are skeptical, but between Hollykit’s supersenses and Jaykit’s strong connection to StarClan, they slowly become convinced.

As Jaykit becomes Jaypaw, life becomes even harder for him. The ghosts of old medicine cats are always whispering rebukes and advice and stories in his ears, and all he wants is for them to shut. Up. He has constant visions in his dreams of things that have happened, things that are happening, and things that will happen. When he first visits the Moonpool, the voices in his head become so loud that he flees. He hates going to the Moonpool, and dreads the night of the half moon. It never gets easier.

Jayfeather gets on fine with Lionblaze, but he’s much closer with his sister. Hollyleaf has similar problems to him because of her super senses, and the two often sneak out of camp to find the quietest parts of the forest. They then spend hours sitting beside one another, basking in the pleasent silence and stillness. Lionblaze joins them every now and then, but he often gets restless and leaves. This habit starts during their apprenticeships, but continues well into their adulthood.

As the Dark Forest battle approaches, Jayfeather gets more and more visions about it. He sees thousands of different outcomes. He watches his clanmates win and lose and live and die. At first he throws himself into his work to avoid thinking about it, but he doesn’t succeed. Eventually he just holes himself up in his den, rarely eating or drinking, and fighting himself to keep his eyes open. The instant they close, even just to blink, more images flash across his mind. When he hears about what Lionblaze and Ivypaw/pool are doing, he freaks out even more. Finally, he breaks down and tells them what he’s been seeing in his dreams. When the invasion finally happens, Jayfeather is able to guide the clans into making the best, least damaging and most effective choices.Warriors still die, sure, but it isn’t the massacre he saw happening so often in his dreams.

Hollyleaf (and also the entire plot, apparently): Hollykit has always been a nosy busybody. It doesn’t help that she can hear every conversation every cat has ever had within the clan territories. She is a firm believer in the Warrior Code, and she believes that her power was gifted to her by StarClan in order to make sure that everybody follows the code. She’s ambitious, with plans to become leader in order to enforce the code. The Dark Forest tries to recruit her, but she knows who Tigerstar and Thistleclaw are. She knows what they did. She refuses to compromise her morals for the sake of her ambitions. She’ll become leader without the help of murdery rulebreakers no. 1 and 2, thank you very much.

The prophecy just strengthens her convictions. She was chosen by StarClan! She and her siblings will save the clans from themselves. She can already see it! Hollystar, noble leader of ThunderClan, with Lionkit as her loyal deputy and Jayfeather as her noble medicine cat. She’s a little jealous of Lionblaze, popular golden boy. But that’s fine. They’ll see her worth in time. They’ll all see.

When she hears the truth of her parentage she has a breakdown. How can she uphold the Warrior Code if her very existance breaks it? She does not kill Ashfur, but she does flee into the night. She travels to the Tribe, joining their ranks and becoming a Prey-hunter. All is well for moons and moons and moons, until a certain gray apprentice is born and Yellowfang visits Hollyleaf in her dreams. Yellowfang essentially tells Hollyleaf to get her head out of her ass. The last member of the three is born, and it’s time for Hollyleaf to return home. She talks to Stoneteller about her dream, and Stoneteller tells her that the angry cat with poor dental hygene is right: Hollyleaf has been an admirable member of the Tribe, but her place is and always has been with her clanmates and her siblings. Hollyleaf says goodbye to Stormfur and Brook (who she was good friends with) and she leaves.

She fully intended to go back to ThunderClan, but then she hears something going on in WindClan. Dissent. Rebellion. And, worst of all, mentions of the dark forest and the cats training there.

Onestar is an ineffective leader, and cats are starting to take notice. They hate his stupid wars and assholish attitude. He never listens to any of them! And he puts his own pride before the needs of the Clan. The younger WindClan warriors and apprentices are convinced that Onestr is horrible. A pair of charismatic young tom by the name of Houndleap has promised to make them strong. Houndleap will help them rise up against Onestar and replace him with a real leader, like Breezepelt, who seems to hate Onestar the most.

The older warriors don’t like Onestar to much either, but the whispers of these young cats scare them. Surely they wouldn’t murder a leader? Even if he was a terrible one like Onestar. Isn’t it lucky that they have a cat like Snowtuft to rely on? One who shows them how to defend their leader, and which cats they can’t trust? So handy! Sure, he’s in the Dark Forest, but he just wants to help. And he can’t have been that evil, or they would’ve heard of him, they way they know Tigerstar and Brokenstar.

Hollyleaf hears these whispers and hushed conversations, and she knows what she has to do. She has to save WindClan and Onestar! And that’s how she finds herself in the WindClan camp, requesting an audience with Onestar.

She’s obviously not welcome in WindClan, but Onestar doesn’t care. She’s one of the ThunderClan prophecy cats! Firestar’s precious grandkit is in WindClan, offering to become a WindClan warrior. Onestar couldn’t resist this brilliant opportunity to one-up ThunderClan and Firestar. Hollyleaf is now Hollystorm, warrior of WindClan and right hand man of Onestar.

Her relationship with Crowfeather could generously be described as frosty. Her relationship with Nightcloud is a dumpster full of turds that is on fire. Her relationship with Breezepelt is a planet made of turds that’s flying into the sun. Her relationship with Heathertail is... complicated. They hate each other, except they seem to be the only two cats who want to help Onestar (I really ike ace!Hollyleaf/storm, but I also kinda like Hollyheather in this specific AU. They hat each other, but at the same time, they’re the only ones they can trust, and I love that dynamic. But I also like Heatherbreeze! AHHHHHH).

Hollystorm’s place in WindClan came with a few caveats, of course. First: she couldn’t talk to anyone from ThunderClan, ever. Second: She had to swear on her life to defend Onestar at all costs. And third: she would spy on the other clans. She hates spying, and she tries to be as unhelpful as possible, but it’s a careful balancing act, and sometimes she has to bite the bullet. She’s doing the right thing, she’s sure of it. But she’s equally sure that she’s doing it the wrong way. And she’s also sure that Onestar was a horrible choice as a leader!

During her time in WindClan, she bonds with Ashfoot. She respects the wise and intelligent deputy, who seems to hold on to her convictions even while dealing with Onestar. Hollystorm tells Ashfoot why she joined WindClan, and the deputy develops a huge amount of respect for her. This warrior had the ground ripped from beneath her paws. She left her home and her family, and when she decided to return, she realized that something was wrong, and she chose her principals and doing the right thing over her old friends and family. As both are certain that Onestar would be hugely offended by the idea that amybody would dare rebel against him OR that he would banish half of WindClan, they decide to team up and take matters into their own paws. They try to get the other warriors on their side. Roughly half of the older warriors and a few of the younger ones agree to stop seeing their Dark Forest friends. But many WindClanners are still visiting with Houndleap and Snowtuft. Hollystorm and Ashfur realize that, if they want to save WindClan, they’re gonna have to take matters into their own paws. It’s time to pay ThunderClan a visit.

Both Ashfoot and Hollystorm hate the idea of going behind Onestar’s back, but they need advice. Hollystorm has heard conversations had by her siblings, heard Firestar’s gathering announcements about the Dark Forest. ThunderClan knows something Hollystorm doesn’t, and she needs to learn what it is fast. Things are speeding up, the WindClan warriors are getting ready for another civil war...

They request an audience with Firestar in the middle of the night, and it is granted begrudgingly. Hollystorm tells them about the unrest in WindClan, and Firestar tells her everything he knows about the Dark Forest. Lionblaze, Ivypaw, and Dovewing join them and tell them all about what Tigerstar and Thistleclaw are doing. Hollystorm is horrified to hear about this. She always thought of Lionblaze as whiny, egotistical, and spoiled (even though she loved him). As awful as she feels, hearing about the ways in which he’s risking his life and reputation, she’s also so proud of him. Together, they realize that the Dark Forest is in every clan. How could they not be? Firestar decides to call an emergency gathering.

Before they leave the camp, Hollystorm demands to see Jayfeather. She was always so close to him, and the fact that he was not at the meeting concerns her. When she hears about how isolated he’s become, she is shocked and appaled and she races into the medicine den. They get into an arguement over, well, everything that’s happened to them. When they finally finish yelling at each other, Hollystorm takes a deep breath and apologizes. She relays the things she’s learned about the Dark Forest in WindClan, and Jayfeather tells finally breaks. He confesses to the others about the visions that haunt his mind day and night.

They leave before the sun rises so that they don’t get caught by Onestar. Ashfoot sends Hollystorm back to her den. Later that day Ashfoot tells Onestar that she met with Firestar, and that the ThunderClan leader has called for an emergency gathering. Onestar is furious. How dare his deputy betray him like this?!? She does her best to calm him down, tells him about the Dark Forest cats who are manipulating his warriors, and he makes his decision. Every WindClan warrior who he doesn’t trust is to be exiled. In other words, half the clan (including Ashfoot) is getting kicked out. Nobody is happy.

The exiled cats refuse to leave. They dedicate their lives to WindClan, and this asshole kicks them out because of what his deputy says??? No. No no no no no. Not happening. Several of the older warriors who are still meeting with Snowtuft are among the crowd being exiled, and they have had enough. They were going to defend Onestar, but maybe he doesn’t deserve that if he’s gonna make stupid decisions like this. It isn’t long until a fight breaks out.

Hollystorm and Ashfoot are conflicted. Onestar has truly hit rock bottom, but they hate the idea of fighting against him. They eventually choose to fight against him. They hate the idea of turning on a leader, but Onestar has proven to be undeserving of his place.

Onestar and his defenders lose. The young warriors choose Breezepelt as their leader. Breezepelt hates Hollystorm for her heritage, and he hates Ashfoot for being Onestar’s deputy. Both are exiled, along with Onestar’s remaining supporters. They go to the gathering island for the emergency gathering.

The three clans and the WindClan exiles (minus a few who are sticking wih Onestar) meet to discuss the Dark Forest issue. Hollystorm notes that many of the other clans are expiriencing unrest, including ThunderClan.

The other clan leaders are shocked by what happened in WindClan and afraid of what Breezepelt might do at Houndleap’s demand. Several members of the other Clans confess to being visited by Dark Forest cats. Hawkfrost and Mapleshade are in RiverClan, and Clawface and Brokenstar are in ShadowClan. The clans realize that the Dark Forest is using them and tearing them apart to weaken them so that when they strike, the clans will be fractured and weak.

The clans unite as one under the joint leadership of Blackstar, Firestar, and Mistystar, with promises to keep each other updated. Warriors are encouraged to stop meeting with the Dark Forest cats, and to report everything they know to their leaders.

The Dark Forest, realizing that the clans are prepared for them and no longer fractured, decide to change tactics. Hollystorm spies on WindClan, discovering that Breezestar has invited many rogues and loners into WindClan to replenish their ranks for the coming war. WindClan patrols routinely invade the territories of the other clans, stealing prey and attacking patrols. Hollystorm can hear them approaching, and Jayfeather can predict the most likely attacks, but cats still die.

Soon, the other clans decide that enough is enough. They decide to ambush WindClan under the cover of darkness on the night of the new moon. While they’re at it, they send out a group to search for Onestar. But when they enter the camp, they find it deserted. The WindClan medicine cat, Antpelt, warned of their approach, and the cats are all set for an ambush, so silent that not even Hollystorm can detect their presence. Jayfeather bursts into the camp and warns then to retreat just before the WindClan warriors leap out of the shadows.

The combined might of the clans is not enough to fight of WindClan, not with its new rogue army, not during a surprise attack. They suffer heavy losses and retreat.

Jayfeather warns them that the Dark Forest is liable to strike back any day. The clans are weakened, and they have many warriors at their command. The clans move to the ThunderClan camp. It’s small but easily defendable, and they set to work shoring up its defenses.

Hollystorm misses WindClan, she finds. She didn’t notice, but it grew on her. She suspects that, once this whole mess dies down, she may return. She’s given up completely on her dreams of leadership. ThunderClan doesn’t feel like home anymore, not the way WindClan’s moors did. And Onestar would probably never even take her back, nevermind appoint her as his deputy. But she’s still determined to be the best warrior she can be. Maybe she can’t be a leader, and maybe the clans don’t need to be saved from themselves, but they do need her to do the right thing. Not spying or accusing cats of breaking the code, but fighting the real threats, the real dangers. She needs to save the clans from the Dark Forest, to take WindClan back from Breezestar, and make sure that it doesn’t fall into the claws of Onestar. Because sometimes the code can be wrong, and sometimes a bad leader needs to go.

Before the battle, Jayfeather tells her not to protect him. If she tries, she will die. She promises not to, but plans to try anyway.

She’s able to warn the clans of the approach of WindClan and the Dark Forest. The ThunderClan camp becomes a bloodbath, and Hollystorm finds herself in the middle of it. She moves to the medicine den, defending the medicine cats, the injured, the elders, and the kits. She fights side-by-side with Lionblaze and Ivypool. When Hawkfrost confronts them, she kills him, but is seriously injured in the process. She is brought into the medicine den for healing. Jayfeather is furious that she didn’t listen to him and terrified that she might die. The voices of those ancient medicine cats whisper in his ear, but this time they help him focus. They guide him gently and he manages to save her.

Onestar and Breezestar fight it out too. Just when it looks like Breezestar is about to lose, several WindClan warriors pounce on Onestar. He is killed multiple times, and soon his soul departs to StarClan.

Firestar still has his dramatic confrontaion with Tigerstar, and he still kills him. However instead of being killed by a tree, Firestar dies of the wounds he recieved in the deadly battle.

When the battle is over, the leaders demand that Breezestar step down. At first, he wants to resist, but he then realizes that many of his clanmates have either swapped sides or abandoned him entirely. He and Nightcloud abandon the clans and do not return for some time. Ashfoot becomes the new leader of WindClan, and she reunites WindClan. She names Harespring her deputy.

Hollystorm decides to follow her. She will always love her brothers, and she has finally reconciled with Squirrelflight and Leafpool after the battle, but WindClan is her home now, and she would never feel comfortable anywhere else.

Coming up soon: Dovewing, Ivypool, and some extra stuff! (What happened to Ashfur, who mentored Hollyleaf and Lionblaze, more Ashfoot stuff, etc.)

#power of three #omen of the stars #warriors #warrior cats #warrior cats au #lionblaze #hollyleaf #jayfeather #firestar #ivypool #dovewing #ashfoot #ashfoot is probably the fourth cat in this AU #I may just dump the whole fourth cat thing #it doesn't really work for any of the characters in this AU so far #the hollyleaf favoritism au

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luna-whiskers · 5 years ago

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Can you talk about Ace/Danburite? I personally always found him really fascinating. Here we have a person so removed and outside of this whole royal conflict (cause that's essentially what this war was based on) and yet he's the one before any of the main players who awakens first and remembers everything? Such an interesting concept, he offers such a unique prospective as a regular civilian in both lifetimes caught up in all this political intrigue I kinda wish more had been done with him?

Ace is a fascinating character! I think fandom tends to discount him because there is this perception that liking/being interested in Ace and what he brings to the story means shipping him with Minako, which I’m not on board with at all. If anything, respecting Ace as a full complex character lends weight to the level of trauma that Minako endures through him.

It’s interesting that Ace was set up as a sort of AU Tuxedo Kamen. Not only is he a mysterious masked man who sometimes appears to assist Minako in fights, but he occupies that shady third party zone that Mamoru appeared to hold in the early Dark Kingdom arc–not quite a good guy, but seemingly not quite a bad guy either. This both primed audiences to expect him to be good in the end despite questionable moments along the way, and once again pushed Minako’s story to run parallel to Usagi’s, with wildly different results.

It’s no surprise that this played with Minako’s emotions. Just the fact that he’s a hot teenager would have been enough to attract her to him immediately, but Ace repeatedly showing up to assist her just continued to validate her emotions. And Minako Aino, particularly the Minako Aino of her Sailor V days, desperately craves validation. One of her very first actions in this manga is putting a ribbon in her hair because her crush told her it would look nice. Ace showed up enough to make her believe he really cared about her specifically.

Ace’s approach to selling himself as a girl’s ultimate dream is exceptionally Minako-like. He makes Kaitou Ace into a TV character, just as Sailor V became a video game character. A TV character who not only fights crime as she does, but who lavishes gifts on girls and does their homework for them.

Ace is set up in direct conflict with Venus’s loyalty to Princess Serenity. He has fashioned himself to be Minako’s ideal boyfriend in every way – handsome, famous, with eyes only for her – and to be with him would mean living Minako’s dream life as an idol herself. And yet still, she hears Princess Serenity calling for her.

What’s murky is how much of a villain Ace really was.

The Kaitou Ace persona was so distant from his identity as the Dark Kingdom soldier Danburite that his own underlings did not realize that they were the same person. Much like brainwashed Prince Endymion in the first season of the anime continuously undid his own plots, Danburite set up situations to attack Sailor V, only to stage a public rescue of her as Ace. He urged her to indulge in a life of stardom, only to give her a film script designed to make her remember her life as Princess Venus. He made declarations of love but refused to believe her sincerity when she tried to do the same.

Was Danburite himself waffling on how he felt about Minako? He had everything he wanted already. The princess he had always pined over was head-over-heels for him. But she still wasn’t Venus. She still wasn’t really the princess he remembered. And there is something very bitter about his refusal to accept her love declaration, like he already expects her to reject him in the end, and is self-destructing the relationship before she can.

He rejected her first declaration of love, but accepted her second one. Why the second one? Because that is when she rescued him. This is what makes me think that Danburite was pulled in two different directions, that the part of him that was a Dark Kingdom soldier was at odds with the part of him that was Adonis. Danburite should have accepted Minako‘s sentiment the first time if he really wanted to manipulate her into staying with him. It’s only when she protects him, the way that Venus once protected Serenity, that he can let himself get carried away with his own feelings for her.

Danburite is fascinating because he is, as far as we’re aware, the only completely non-royal perspective that we have of the Silver Millennium. The cats, while not royalty themselves, were part of the queen’s inner circle. Beryl, while possibly coming from humble origins, was at the center of the final conflict.

Danburite – Adonis – was outside of it all entirely. He was a humble soldier. He never knew Venus, or Serenity, or Prince Endymion. He did not even serve any of them directly–the closest he may have come to any of them was Kunzite. And what Adonis tells us of this world from his perspective is fascinating.

For example, Adonis tells us that Venus lived in Magellan Castle until she was sent to live on the Moon, something that has long been a source of discussion in fandom (did the senshi always live on the Moon with Serenity or did they live on their home planets?).

He tells us that there was a war on Earth, and that the Venusian soldiers were sent to help. Not against Earth, but allied with it. This is a huge shift from what was previously understood in Sailor Moon canon–either Venus alone, or all of the Silver Millennium planets, were allied with Earth at least for this particular war. Who were they fighting? Did the fight with Metallia begin on Earth?

His memories show Venus and Kunzite together, and present-day Danburite served the Dark Kingdom under Kunzite. Did all the armies of Venus fall under Metallia’s influence along with Earth’s? Did Venus watch with horror as her own people attacked the Moon?

More than anything, it is clear that Venus’s status was unreachable to Adonis. She was this distant goddess to him.

Ace’s ending is ultimately bleak. He thought he could have changed destiny to allow him to be with the princess he always dreamed of. Realizing she still will choose her duty to Serenity over everything he hoped to offer, he completely reverts back to Danburite, and attacking her. His final love fortune is telling her that her love will always be hopeless, because she will always choose to fight instead. This is Adonis’ legacy: hardening Minako to battle, making her no longer question her priorities.

Good or bad, Adonis left a mark on Minako that she never really got over. Was he manipulative? Undoubtedly. Evil? Probably. But there was a lot going on with him, and he fleshed out the world in a huge way.

#sailor moon #sailor v #danburite #kaitou ace #sailor venus #sorry this took so long!#I knew I'd have a lot to say and oh look I did #meta

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lyravellas · 6 years ago

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and many more

Kravitz does not have a birthday.

Obviously he had a birthday at some point, years and years ago, but he certainly doesn’t remember it anymore. That’s just kind of what happens when you’re a. dead and b. the grim reaper for an extended period of time. The situation doesn’t lend itself particularly well to maintaining a steady social life, much less yearly celebrations with friends. The Raven Queen is very nice, but she doesn’t really know what birthdays are. Kravitz isn’t completely sure if she was ever actually born. The metaphysics of Faerun is a somewhat headache-inducing situation.

He mentions all of this to Taako during a lull in the conversation one night, while the elf is draped idly across both his lap and the sofa in front of the television. Taako is not an easy person to dumbfound — being a universe-hopping, planet-saving, wildly successful chef and wizard can do that to you — but this information absolutely blows him away. Kravitz would gloat about it, but he’s too busy dealing with an immediate, rapid-fire line of questioning from his boyfriend: how old is he, exactly? (He’s not sure.) Does he know what month his birthday was in? (He doesn’t.) Does he even remember the last time he had a birthday party? (He does not. He can’t even remember what he had for breakfast this morning. This is a lost cause.) Taako speaks with his hands like he always does when he gets excited about things, punctuating each question with exclamations like “How did this happen, Krav? How?!” and a few emphatic statements of “What the fuck!” as prestidigitated sparks shoot wildly from his fingertips.

Once Kravitz has reassured his boyfriend that yes, he did have an actual birthday at one point and no, he didn’t spring fully-fledged from the brain of the Raven Queen when he was born (“Sweetie, what the hell?”), Taako reclines back down into his lap and hums thoughtfully to himself. He runs a finger absently through Kravitz’s hair out of habit. It sends a few wayward sparks fizzing gently about the reaper’s ears.

Then Taako excuses himself rather abruptly by launching his entire body up and over the back of the sofa with a wholly unnecessary levitation spell, startling both Kravitz and their cats in the process. After a solemn apology to James Buffett Jr. and Stinky Fur Man, Taako waves his stone of farspeech wildly around his head and declares that he needs to take a call (“Do you mean make a call, darling?” “I never make calls, I only take them.”). He then departs the room with a flourish, after tilting Kravitz’s head back for a lingering kiss that leaves the reaper feeling more than a little light-headed.

Taako is gone for several minutes. Kravitz becomes preoccupied with staring very hard at the wallpaper and trying to remember how old he actually is. He is unsuccessful. He develops a very bad headache in the process.

When Taako finally returns, he throws himself dramatically back onto the couch (and into Kravitz’s lap), and declares, “Alright babe, you’re gonna share mine.”

And Kravitz says “What?” because it’s been ten minutes, he has a headache, and Taako is pretty to the point of being very distracting.

The elf tucks the stone of farspeech back beneath the collar of his shirt and snaps his fingers (which forces Kravitz to tear his gaze away from the mesmerizing strip of skin at the curve of his boyfriend’s collarbone). “You’re gonna share my birthday. I went and talked to Lulu about it, and she says it’s fine. She’s excited about it, actually, even though I don’t think she’ll ever let me live this one down.” He sighs dramatically. “Ch’boy always used to complain about having to share a birthday back when we were kids, and now here I am asking her for a plus one. The things I do for love.” Taako pauses and then squints up at his boyfriend. “Krav. You doin’ alright up there? You’ve been kinda quiet.”

Kravitz is experiencing a very large number of emotions in a very small period of time.

He recognizes excitement almost immediately — if there’s one thing that he remembers about birthdays, it’s that they’re a lot of fun. And now he gets to experience his with the people he loves most in the world. The thought of spending a day surrounded by Taako’s endearing grandstanding and Lup’s infectious laughter sends warmth whispering through his silent veins.

There’s also a little bit of fear, because he was at the twin’s last birthday and so he knows exactly what can happen at their parties. And if he and Lucretia have to explain to the authorities why the entire city of New Phandalin levitated into the air for exactly twenty-six minutes again, then he is absolutely going to come back to life just so he can die again.

But for some reason, he also feels sad.

He hasn’t thought about things like this, like birthdays and balloons and parties, for years. It’s just been him and his job, alone except for the distant lights floating in the never-ending expanse of the astral plane, for as long as he can remember. The Raven Queen used to gently encourage him to try going out and meeting new people, but all of her well-meaning attempts had steadily diminished over the years as he’d continued to rebuff her suggestions.

Kravitz’s greatest fear has always been this: if he lets himself get tangled back up in the world of the living, the weight of all the things that he failed to do before joining the Raven Queen’s retinue will eventually crush him.

For far too many years to count, he’d refused to let himself believe that there might be any option besides cutting himself off from the material plane entirely. But now this beautiful, lovable elf, who is too loud and too brash and too proud sometimes (and who he loves more than life itself), has taken him by the hands and pulled him headfirst into something he hadn’t even let himself realize he’d missed.

He can feel a strange wetness gathering behind his eyes; a sensation that feels comfortingly familiar, yet still somewhat alien after all the years that time has spent moving steadily on without him.

Taako sits up and puts his arms around Kravitz and just holds him silently for a while. He gets it. Both of them do. Loneliness leaves scars that re-open at the strangest times.

They stay like that until Kravitz finally lifts his face from where it’s buried in Taako’s shoulder, and James Buffet Jr. takes the opportunity to hop up onto his lap and curl into his arms to make sure he’s okay. Then they sit together on the sofa as the television drones gently on in the background and talk about plans for their next birthday: about how great it’s going to be, about how Merle is not allowed near the flower arrangements, about how Barry is absolutely not allowed to raise any members of the fantasy Beatles from the dead to perform. Eventually, the few wayward tears give way to laughter instead.

Their next birthday is legendary.

The moon is directly overhead and also on fire for the better part of thirty-five minutes. An entire building in Rockport gets transmuted into a fourteen-layer birthday cake. The Raven Queen shows up — making several individuals in attendance nearly pass out in fear — in order to wish everyone a happy birthday, and also to figure out what exactly a birthday actually is. She walks around arm in arm with Istus, who brings everyone hand-knitted sweaters as presents. All of the clergymen in the nearby vicinity collectively shit themselves in amazement.

After the festivities are all over and everyone has returned to their respective homes, Kravitz and Taako find themselves back on their sofa, with the radio in the background reporting softly on the ridiculously ostentatious display of fireworks that had lit up the skies over Neverwinter that evening.

“How was your very first birthday à la Taako, cupcake?” Taako asks Kravitz as the latter flops down onto his lap. “Actually quick side note, we definitely have to figure out how old your ass actually is at some point. Not that it’d make much of a difference, since you’ve got the whole spooky scary skeleton thing going on at work most of the time, but I want to see the look on people’s faces when I tell them that my boyfriend is over six hundred years old.”

“That’s an adventure for another time, I think.” A smile creeps across Kravitz’s lips. “Lucretia just finished putting out the moon. I don’t think Faerun can take any more excitement in one night.”

“Boring, but fair.” Taako sighs in mock disappointment. “That leaves yours truly with the responsibility of ‘final surprise of the night’, then.” He snaps his fingers and a perfectly wrapped package materializes in the palm of his hand, accompanied by a glittery puff of magical confetti. “Ta-da! Faerun’s favorite wizard does it again.”

Kravitz clears his throat. “Not to one-up Faerun’s favorite wizard, but...” he trails off as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small, clumsily wrapped package.

Taako puts a hand over his heart and pretends to fan himself in shock. “Betrayal! Upstaged by the love of my life! I’ll let it slide it this time, Krav, but next time...” He continues his mock tirade as he lifts the gift out of Kravitz’s hands and leans forward to press a kiss to the side of his jaw. “Next time I’m talking dozens of major images, plus a Taako original dance number! Me, popping out of a chocolate fountain, dressed in lingerie that is not from Fantasy Costco! Just you wait.”

Kravitz raises an eyebrow and manages to keep a straight face. “Consider me warned,” he says, as Taako begins unwrapping the package. Kravitz’s fingers move toward his own gift, but he pauses and watches with bated breath as his boyfriend tears off the final layer of wrapping paper.

Taako lifts the lid off of a tiny brown box and peers inside. Even Faerun’s favorite wizard can’t manage to keep the shock off of his face.

“It’s not a... this isn’t a proposal,” Kravitz says quickly. “We don’t have to... you know, do anything in the near future, if you don’t want to, it’s just sort of... it’s a promise? Since we talked about it, and I—”

Taako uses one hand to take the ring out of the box and the other to press a finger to Kravitz’s lips. “Yes. Yes, of course, you gigantic nerd. I love it. I love you.”

Kravitz scoops Taako up into a wordless hug, spinning him around while simultaneously trying to land kisses wherever he can reach, smiling as the elf lets out a peal of laughter.

“So the way I see it, we’ve got two options.” Taako wraps his arms around Kravitz’s neck as the reaper sets him back down onto the ground. “Option one: we get hitched next Tuesday. We invite everyone. We party, ride off into the sunset, and then bang. Easy peasy.” A mischievous smile spreads across the elf’s face. “Or, option two: we play the long game.”

Kravitz’s grin maches Taako’s. “An extended engagement, then?”

“Lup and Barold refused to admit that they even liked each other for years. It was torture.” Taako rolls his eyes. “But we’ve got all the time in the world, hot stuff! So let’s drag this out. Be as lovey-dovey as possible. Really make ‘em wait for it.”

Kravitz laughs. “But... not for too long,” he says, reaching up to rest his palm against his boyfriend’s cheek.

“Not for too long,” Taako agrees.

#taz balance #taz #the adventure zone #taakitz #THIS HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FORGIVE ME #I JUST MISS THEM #taz fanfic #lauren's writing tag

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rebornghostgirl · 5 years ago

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Character Sheet!

Basics FULL NAME. Athena Tesla Scott

PRONUNCIATION. Uh-the-na

NICKNAME. Nutjob, thena, crazy science girl

GENDER. Cis female HEIGHT. 5'5

AGE. 14 when she died, but has grown to 19... Her body accommodates from a 14 year to a 19 year old body as well as mentality. Making the character appropriately 18+.

ZODIAC. Aries SPOKEN LANGUAGES. English, High school German, Bits and bytes, Gaelic.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 ! HAIR COLOR. White EYE COLOR. Both are silver eyes... Dark brown in life

SKIN TONE. In ghostly form she's a very darkish blue. If she tries to seem more lifelike she's a chocolate skinned black girl. BODY TYPE. Very thin and pettite, she forgets to eat and is in her lab reading to really have some weight.

ACCENT. Oof, she has a british/Scottish accent that mixes in with a southern one. VOICE. An alto. Often sounding bubbly and cute. Shaky at times, but when she yells she sounds more stern.

DOMINANT HAND. Ambidextrous at birth. POSTURE. Hunched over something always. A book, computer, invention, most of the time you'll always see her back till she turns to you and pops it. Other than that she stands up in a relaxed posture.

SCARS. She has scars on her hands and fingers from hurting herself with her science experiments. Her thighs have slashes from a related experiment. She has a stabbing mark in her back from the betrayal of someone she thought was her friend. She has scars that look like lightning covering her body starting from her left arm and coarsed it's way to her left shoulder and torso. All scars are covered by her attire minus the hands.

She doesn't like to talk about them.

TATTOOS. None BIRTHMARKS. None MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). Her white short hair as well as her eyes are one. She also sparks from her body when she emotes and it changes color for each mood. She can have multiple colors for mixed feelings. Red for angry, orange for hunger, yellow for happiness, green for sick, blue for sadness, indigo for tiredness, purple for thinking, white for excited, black for fear, pink for lovesick. When she's neutral she emits gray and teal sparks.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 ! PLACE OF BIRTH. In the basement of a university science lab. HOMETOWN. London

BIRTH WEIGHT. 6pounds, 8 ounces BIRTH HEIGHT. 16 inches

MANNER OF BIRTH. Natural, mother had help from medical students.

FIRST WORDS. Safety glasses on...

SIBLINGS. Aries and her dog pallas which she considers a sister. Adoptive brother Timmy whom she adores.

PARENTS. Dr. Zeus Washington Carver and Dr. Metis Curie (Yes my greek mythology fans or/and science history buffs you are sensing a pattern with the names here)

Adoptive parents are Sen. George and Madame Maddie Scott

Beauregard Ghast: the Ghost Host

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. Dr. Zeus is a power hungry mad biochem scientist hell bent on world domination. He believes that since the world is burning up that he shall be its savior; unfortunately thaat plan involves killing millions of innocent people.

Dr. Metis was a fresh biochem graduate and fell in love with him before she knew of his evil tendencies. She got pregnant and had twins: Athena and Ares. Zeus was angry and lashed out at her at the news imploring she gets rid of them, but Metis wanted them and when they where born Zeus forged her signature to give up the babies and she dissapeared without a trace. Its unknown where is she today.

Ares grew up in a abusive orphanage while Athena was adopted into a life of luxury. But it didn't made her happy. Her adoptive father and mother was neglectful to her and her little bro, Timmy. George really just wanted the people of colors' votes.

In death Athena found the haunted mansion after seeing a Disney ad. Where she found Beau and he has became her adoptive father who loves and respects her. She loves him dearly.

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 ! OCCUPATION. College student, bio major...

CURRENT RESIDENCE. Gracey Manor, aka The Haunted Mansion. She uses her portal gun to attend Monster's university. (She goes there because she can *blows raspberry*)

CLOSE FRIENDS. Ares (recently they used to be enemies), Pallas, Drossy (kind of, she has a feeling she doesn't like her), Caitlin: the butler of the mansion(low key calls them mom),

RELATIONSHIP STATUS. Single

FINANCIAL STATUS. I could write she's a ghost she don't need money but nah... Right now she has 3 dollars and is in thousands of dollars in debt. Thanks college!

DRIVER’S LICENSE. Apparently she does have a licence for every vehicle you can think of. But she drives wild and has a lead foot.

CRIMINAL RECORD. None, but her science antics has caught the attention of the FBI numerous times, unbeknownst to anyone. I mean the girl went to space numerous times. Secretly, she steals alcohol from the cellar...

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ! SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Pan ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. Pan

EMOTIONAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch

LIBIDO. High. Really high. I mean... To the moon high...

TURN ONS. Sensitivity, hugs, impressing her with extensive knowledge. Telling her that she's yours and yours alone, Role playing that she's your slave with safety words. (Trying to keep it kinda pg), Any roleplaying with safety words, exploding stuff in a lab. Finding a new piece of scientific knowledge. Mutual pleasure

TURN OFFS. Lies, breaking a promise, not making sure she's all right with anything, the partner isn't having any fun, hurting her sensitive areas. Mentioning her scars.

LOVE LANGUAGE. Introverted and shy, she's not an easy one to get close to. She has walls and barriers around herself, but once she trusts you and has fallen in love. She loves you to death and will protect you fiercely. She makes sure you're all right before herself, even if its not good for her. She's very cuddly and will hug, kiss, and cuddle you as much as you want. She does want your attention though and will squeeze her way near you to get it. She's a little yandere-ish but not psycho and will give you some space. But its the obsessive clingy behavior that makes her in the catagory. Tootie from the fairly odd parents is the best example.

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. She's a little yandere-ish to everyone she loves so she always wants to spend time with them and will over protect them. This is due to her neglectful parents emotionally abusing Timmy and especially, the death of Pallas. But she can be reasoned with and she will try to control her anxiety. She apologizes constantly and doesnt want to harm anyone so she makes sure everyone is alright. Other times She's a little distant but only cause she thinks you need space.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 ! CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. 'Lucky Orb ft. Hatsune Miku' or 'Contact by Daft Punk' couldn't pick

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. In the lab doing science s***, or in her room doing homework. Or She's all over the mansion exploring, taking samples, trying to figure out that interdimentional staircase, in the pool. Gazing at the organist from afar. Playing with Pallas. Riding her motorcycle. Binge eating food, scowling Ebay for Hatsune Miku figures and stuff. And then passing out, sleeping for hours after doing all of that for 2 days straight.

MENTAL ILLNESSES. Depression and anxiety.

PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. None

LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED: Left brained. But does lean a little to the right.

PHOBIAS. Insectiphobia and Arachniphobia... Just all bugs... Fears that her loved ones will get hurt by her hands or by something else she could've protected them from. Fears that She's useless and crazy.

SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. Off and on. Some cases she knows something is going to work and is proud. Other cases she thinks she's going to fail and that she'll get yelled at again. She's working on it though. Learning how to fail, why its ok to make mistakes, that betrayal isn't the end of the world. That yes bad things happen but good things will too.

VULNERABILITIES. Physically: Her sparks can give her location even when invisble. She hasn't figured out how to control them yet. They can also catch something else on fire and electrocute somebody else. If its bad you can smell her burning.

Weak knees... Go for her legs.

Emotionally: Go for the guilt trip. She can easily be made to think something is her fault. She can also be manipulated into thinking 'rationally' and may end up doing a henious act when she thought she was doing good. Easily pressured to do anything you want especially if it will 'help' people.

TAGGED BY: @asktheghosthost

I tag @unto-myself-together @aliypop @r0bofactory @inkandfeatherdusters @catinabag @ask-the-hatbox-ghost

And anyone who wants to to it.

#original charcter #charcter sheet #athena #athena scott #ill do the zombie in my icon later

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bwbeedubs · 6 years ago

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Fake Happy

Based off @xaphrin baby AU

“Of all the rooftops in Jump City...” he announced his presence to the Sorceress who stood at the roof’s rail. “You had to choose the one I’m on.”

Whipping around to face him, her hands glowed with her magic. Her features pulled back into a grimace as her eyes glared on, ready for an attack at any moment.

Jason tsked at her as he calmly walked to the rail. “Don’t worry, Little Bird. I’m not here to hurt you.”

“And you think I’m going to believe that?” She shot back not letting up.

“I was here first, wasn’t I?” He offered. “Why would be here before you to attack when I didn’t even know you were coming?”

“You could be staking out a target.”

“On this side of town?” Jason snorted, looking at the graffitied, worn down neighborhood below that reminded him all too much of Crime Ally back in Gotham. Sighing, he leaned his elbows against the bannister and shook his head. “That’s below my pay grade, princess. Try again.”

“You’re still a wanted fugitive,” she answered, her shoulders dropping, slightly.

Hmm, she doesn’t want to fight either… Well, that’s a relief.

“I’m sure I am but I’m, also, a fairly certain that you don’t want to fight me right now just as much as I don’t want to fight you,” Jason said, raising a bow towards her.

She held her posture for a moment. Two…Before she exhaled and dropped her arms, her magic dissipating back into her fingers. Tiredness seeped into her form, her shoulders slouched as if she held the weight of the world on her shoulders and her face forlorn. She sighed again as she resumed her pose against the rail, her head down at the street below them.

“This better not be a trick, X,” she muttered into the night air. “I’m in no mood.”

Smirking, he nodded his head in thought. “Is there ever a time you’re in the mood?”

“Never.”

Her response was so quick, he couldn’t help but let a small chuckle out before looking back out at the horizon - above the street, beyond the city, and over the water to the bay that sat her home beneath the full moon. The smell of the sea air mixed with the smell of the city mixed with the scent pupuseria down the street wafting together to create a signature scent all it’s own… it was heavenly and kinda reminded Jason of home...

Home… Where was home?

Shaking his head at that thought, he looked over at his current companion. Staring over at that same horizon but a hundred thousand miles beyond it, she stood so unbelievably still. He would’ve thought she was a statue had it not been for her thumb rubbing over the band on her left ring finger, her mind somewhere else. Perhaps even further than her stare.

Jason stood back as he looked on, helpless to observe her as his curiosity over this Little Bird grew. He never got a chance to look at the Bird so up close and so relaxed - for lack of a better word, so naturally he would seize the opportunity to watch her in a natural state. Especially as intelligent, guarded, fearsome, and gorgeous as she was, he just… had to.

And damn, was he curious in all that he saw...

“Can I help you?” He heard her say, her tone snapping his eyes up from her legs and to her face. Her eyes still staring a thousand miles ahead. “You’re staring pretty hard over there.”

He shrugged, looking back at their view. “I was observing.”

“Which is another word for, staring,” she retorted, bringing another small chuckle to his throat. “Keep your observations to yourself, X.”

“I would, if you weren’t so interesting to look at,” he smiled. “And I mean that in the most flattering of terms.”

She snorted. “That can’t mean much, then.”

He scoffed, clutching his chest. “Oh! You wound me!”

“You’ll survive,” she answered, and if he didn’t know any better, he would say he heard a tiny lit to her voice.

But he did know better… Didn’t he?

Looking down at his hands, he cleared his throat. “Observing people is an occupational habit. It’s kinda like breathing at this point. Sorry.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug. “Nightwing does it too so I’m used to it. I just like giving people shit.”

He barked. “Ha! My, my, who knew that Little Bird had such a potty mouth!”

“Say anything to anyone and I’ll send you to a place not even the Lazarus Pit can bring you back from.”

He paused. How… How did she-?

“I have a tendency to observe people too,” she answered before he could ask. Turning to look at her, he saw her watching him from the corner of her eye. A small smirk donned her face before she set her eyes back on their view. “Welcome back from the dead, by the way, Jason.”

“How…?”

“Empath,” she answered as easy as if she was ordering lunch. “Everyone has a default energy signature that’s as personal to them as a thumbprint. Since I met you before you died, I knew it was you the moment you showed up.”

Feeling as if the rug from under him had been snatched from beneath him, sending him reeling to put the pieces together. If she’s known this then, does Golden Boy know? Does Batman know? But if they knew, then, they would’ve showed up for him a long time ago. “You haven’t told anyone.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

“No,” she sighed. “Death and regeneration are very personal and strange things. Figured you needed some time. I didn’t expect it to take it this long though but nonetheless, I respect your need for space.”

He pressed his lips in thought, taking all of this information in. There were so many things he wanted to ask: Why hadn’t she told them? Why wasn’t Bird Boy and the Ol’ Man appearing out of the shadows to take him in? What did she know about dying and coming back? How come she spoke of it as if she had been through it? So many questions… yet very few did he want answers to.

Another moment passed before he reached for the button behind his ear, his mask folding away to reveal his face. Seemed kinda pointless to have it up when she already knew who he was. “I thought it was a little too easy to convince you to let your guard down...”

Raven nodded her head, her eyes still unwavering from the cityscape. “Lucky you.”

“Hmm. That’s not an adjective I would use to describe me,” he mentioned, offhandedly, as he followed her gaze out, deciding all those questions needn’t answered… For now.

She hummed. “What would you prefer, then?”

He pretended to think. “Attentive.”

“Back to that, are we?” He heard a sort of playfulness in her voice. “Alright, I’ll indulge you. What did you observe?”

Without missing a beat, he answered, “ I noticed you keep rubbing your thumb over your wedding band…”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her motions still.

Ah, so he was on to something…

And while common sense told him to stop and not push her any further, curiosity egged him on. “Your voice is hoarse… more than normal, which tells me you’ve been yelling. As I mentioned earlier, you let down your defenses entirely too easy earlier and even though, you knew I was a relatively friendly face, you wouldn’t have done that so fast even if you’re tired - which, you are. You, basically, outed me out the coffin, after years of knowing it was me when you could’ve just let me live in ignorance, which tells me you need a friend. Goldie and Bats ain’t here, so it’s not a trap so I guess that friend, tonight, is me.”

Turning his head, he looked at her with an all knowing look. She was still frozen, not once blinking. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. A second breathed by. Two. Three. Four, and after the fifth, she finally inhaled.

“That’s… Presumptuous of you.”

He raised a brow. “Am I wrong?”

Another pause plagued between the two. She nibbled on her lip as if she was trying to keep everything that was pent up inside her from pouring out. He turned his gaze down to her fingers, still twisting the ring around her finger as if she was channeling all her frustration into one solid thing; as if she was at war within herself.

Sensing her unease, he began to open his mouth to recant his curiosity when she spoke again.

“Things have been… Trying… lately.”

He waited another second before prodding her for more, moving closer to her. “Things?”

“My marriage,” she answered with a sigh. “We’ve hit a rough patch.”

Jason nodded, turning his gaze to the Tower as if he could somehow see the object of her irritation. “And how long has this rough patch been going on for?”

Pause. “Too long.”

“A few weeks?”

“Too long.”

“Months?”

��Too long.”

“A year?”

Silence.

Oh…

“Wow…” was all he could muster up to say, considering his words, carefully. “That’s…”

“Bad,” she finished for him, finally dropping her eyes to the ground, her energy changing from somber and distant to something more… unpredictable. “It’s bad. It’s…really bad. It’s shit. That’s what it is. It’s…. Shit.”

Pushing herself off the railing, she began to pace, her hand flying up to her brow as she rubbed there. “Shit, it’s all going to shit. And I don’t know what I can do to stop it. I mean… we’ve tried everything. Everything. We’ve read all the books. Gone to therapy. Gone to holistic therapy. Taken time off. Taken time a part. Had relatively scheduled date nights… And sex-”

“Scheduled sex?”

Raven nodded. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s fairly common when you’re with someone long enough. It’s just…”

“Not working?” He finished for her.

Her response was only a heavy sigh, walking back beside him at the bannister and staring back out at the horizon. He watched with rapt attention as she tried to pull her emotions back behind her normally, carefully, curated wall. But he had seen the break and now, he was acutely aware of the cracks there. He could see how long and how hard she had been keeping it all together and how tired she was.

And how alone she truly felt… A loneliness that reflected his own, if he dared say it.

To wander around a life, not meant to have lived. Trying to find a new place and purpose in the world, and yet everything done somehow felt… Wrong. Nothing ever filling the dull space that lied in the center of the chest, just wedged between lungs, growing larger with every deep breath in. Unable to find the words to speak the feelings into existence and unable to find anyone to relate to or talk to or at the very least, listen.

To be understood.

That type of lonely… It ate away at the soul, piece by piece until there was nothing but the void left. And to have thought to have found someone who did seem to understand not understand could only make things much worse.

“I don’t know what else to do…” she spoke so softly, if he hadn’t been watching her, he wouldn’t have known she said it. Her tone almost broke his heart as his eyes moved down to her lone hand between them.

He knew he shouldn’t do it. He wasn’t allowed to. Who he was and who she was… Hell, he was sure that he wasn’t allowed to talk to her like this. And yet… they were both so incredibly lonely.

Looking back out to the horizon, he removed his left glove and slowly slid his hand over to hers until their pinkies touched. Seeing her head turn from the corner of his eye, he held his breath, afraid she would slap him away. Afraid he was crossing a line.

And he was. This whole conversation - this moment - was crossing all the clear cut lines between their two worlds. But maybe they could forget all that... just this once...

He couldn’t finish the thought as her hand moved further on his, her fingers curling over his just so. As if he was the only one to keep her from floating away into that far off place she continued to stare out too. Her fingers on his felt like… magic. And not the type of magic, she usually hurled at him but the kind of gentle magic felt when they’re understood and touched for the first time. When was the last time anyone had touched him gently and platonically, he wondered.

Letting go of the breath he held, he relaxed, turning his hand over to hold hers fully - damning all the lines that made them different from each other. He was not her enemy tonight and nor she, his. Tonight, they were two lost and lonely souls still just trying to be heard. And tonight, he was willing to listen, just as she was willing to listen to him.

Licking his lips, he turned his head towards the scent of the pupuseria down the street. Food always made him feel better...

Squeezing her hand, he looked over at her and nodded his head towards the place.

“Hungry?”

#TAKE THREE #Jesus I can’t do anything right #oh well #take this #i don’t know what it is #but have this dumpster fire #raex #xrae #baby au #based off of Xaphrin’s baby au #mmmmmmmlaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh #pre baby au

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dramarising-replacement · 7 years ago

Text

What we REALLY learned from BotE lore

I know I’m about a month too late for this but…. (Dadmin feel free to put a keep reading here if you think it’s too long)

Jailbreak- -Tundra??? Skydancer??? Eating fish??????? There’s like 6 different plant food granola ration items that would keep just fine??? -Either the breed diets are more of a preference or the writers just forgot their own lore, I’m inclined towards the second but the first is a plausible in-universe plot bandaid

-Dragons have surnames and with little exception they’re all warrior cats adjectivenoun shit. Because of course they are.

-Feathers can be unusually thick, apparently -Isolated beastclans unaware of/apathetic to the uprising are a thing -Most of the icefield is too dangerous to fly in -The fortress of ends is far from the only prison location -New location: Dripcave dregs -Icefield’s government so far seems to consist entirely of the (very harsh) prison system, so i guess the southern icefield is ice age america -[Racial tensions intensify] -Dragon money is accepted by at least some beastclans -Racial tensions not helped by language barrier -Rations stashed at key points along the mountains -Tundras become amnesic when stressed -Who/What the wardens are does not seem to be common knowledge -Oh hey look a new canon breed for one of the flights that only has one breed which isn’t very popular, which has unique lore, and a design that perfectly matches with many people’s wishes for “Something like a tundra but fiercer”, that i guarantee will be eternally left right next to couriers as “Perfectly good breeds that will never be implemented and the admins will never even tell us why” -They don’t seem to know much about other breeds -Like genders, for example -They also might be psychic -May or may not be ageless on top of that -Tundras are descended from them, which means at some point in the distant past some left for the surface and stayed there, which means these things are perfectly capable of joining surface society again -It seems a lot of the deities have disappointing giant first children that they want to hide/kill to bury their shame Ten Eyes- -New location: The Oculus of the Eleven -Like if the UN was also a wizard council -So far implied there haven’t been any major interflight wars for at least a few generations -Leylines are Serious Business™ -SMARK -SMARK -Mirror pack instincts are very strong -Dragons supposedly don’t have computers, but the leyline monitor things sound an awful lot like computers -Crystalspine mountains grow in response to ambient magic -Oculus seems to have been anticipating eventual sabotage of some variety for a long time -Age discrimination -Not only are dragon/beastclan racial tensions insanely high, but racial tensions between flights and breeds seem to be immense as well -Mirrors revert to base aggressive animal instincts when stressed -Even if they act like they’re friends they all actually hate eachother and will totally throw eachother under the buss at the first sign of trouble -Dragons know about the two arcane apocalypses(the first of which wasn’t technically the arcanist’s fault because he wasn’t fucking born yet but that’s a rant for a different time) -Mirrors can be blinded by enough heat -Uuuh -Uuummm -What, you wanted useful bits on what it’s actually like in arcane in general? Fuck you, have this rushed and thinly-veiled segway into lightning’s bit that takes place entirely inside an isolated dragon UN base with no elaboration on the outside world Temper, Temper- -Fire has kind of an Industrial revolution/great depression theme going on -Funding cutbacks -Railways confirmed -Imported materials confirmed -Racism again -Economic class divide -Angry coatls puff their feathers -Fire treats their working class like shit, and apparently has been for a very long time -Vocal Accents confirmed -I have no idea why Haemil isn’t overwhelmed by heat signatures all the time if just a few angry people was enough to blind Beatrix -Worker’s guilds are a thing. We have no idea how they work, but they’re a thing, and they have some amount of power. -Only the blacksmiths can withstand the great furnace -Volcano heartshaft -Dragons have explored at least as far down as the upper mantle -“Forgemasters” who seem to be greedy slavedriver corporate aristocrat types -Forgemaster council of some sort exists, and apparently is the closest there is to a central government -There’s a main cavern where the great furnace’s blacksmiths work and it has a big-ass gate on it -Fire tundras crop their fur and still get burned anyway -Ashfall wastes are the main exporters of tools and weapons -So, who wants to break the news to Por and Ventik that they literally cannot physically speak to eachother? -I suppose you could make the excuse that one of the others is translating, but i think they just forgot their own lore again. -Ashfall provides the tempest spire with bolts, rivets, and sheet metal -Arftificial scarcity to drive up demand is a thing in sornieth’s economy -Also, international economy is a thing -Apprenticeship is a thing -Giant bellows in the great furnace, operated by big tattooed imps who may or may not be exaltees -Non-arcane archmages -Other flights are required to construct sanctums whenever concentrations of magic are found -The Oculus doesn’t have anywhere near as much power across sornieth as it thinks it does-their efforts are easily foiled pretty much whenever the local government feels like it -They don’t seem to be very well-respected or even liked anywhere either -Magically-charged magma (and presumably other things) exist, and have useful scientific properties -Government’s first reaction to discovery of new resources/tech is to use it as an excuse to lay off most of their already-struggling workforce -Government cover-ups are also totally a thing -Apparently, tundras rarely frown -Parties of blacksmiths are sent to chart any caves discovered -Steel crates -New location: Flintlock Fumaroles -Professions are often handed down through families for generations -Individual clans are capable enough of reliable communication for a worker’s strike of this magnitude to be assembled in only days. -Flamecaller isn’t really present, and has fallen almost entirely into legend -You don’t have to be a skydancer to sense high levels of magic -There’s another volcano now, apparently even bigger and badder than the great furnace -Everyone’s been fired(lol), There’s a worker’s revolution going on, and there’s a whole new fucking island, all of which i’m sure will never be spoken of again. -If you claim it they will come A New Direction- -Ashfall wastes and Scarred wasteland are visible from the plateau -Dis place high yall -Dragons have trouble flying in stagnant air -Dragons sometimes rob couriers -Couriers run in an awkward waddle -The twisting crescendo is sentient, capable of appearing as a dragon, and, apparently, female -The windsinger can send magic statues in the mail or something idk i’m not sure anyone entirely knows what’s going on there -Windmills confirmed -That’s it -This one’s kinda simple -What, you wanted more useful detail on what life in the plateau is like? Fuck you, have this folk tale-sounding glorified space whale aesop Kindred Crossing- -At some point in the past, light and shadow made a failed attempt at an alliance that involved building portals that seem to only be able to activate during a lunar eclipse with the correct keystone like some lonely mountain shit(At least if admin comments on the forums are to be trusted) -Apparently the technology to make said portals was lost and the incident was forgotten about -Somehow this created the hewn city by bleeding the two together. Why shadow doesn’t have an unusually light-y area near the portal, i don’t know. -New location: thorndark altar, for all your cliche cultist needs -Lots of shadow pool and moon-related religious stuff -Creepy cult clans confirmed -Shadow goo smells like shit -Shadow goo puts out feeding tendrils -Awful mothers confirmed -Action figures confirmed -Whiny edgy teenagers confirmed -Some sect of shadow religion that multiple clans apparently follow involves elders in robes passing around candles with purple flames, creepy cultist chanting, and throwing prized possessions into the goo -Presumably this “sacrificing prized possessions” thing is not an isolated practice -“Voidling” seems to be an insult or derogatory title of some sort, in other news awful mother is awful. Something tells me her son being such a screwed-up asshole isn’t entirely his own fault. -“It’s not like he’ll remember it anyway”- That’s racist -The descriptive phrase “Dark hovels” is telling. Make of it what you will. -Lots of crazy ancient shit like this is absolutely hidden under pools and growth throughout the tangled wood -There are specialists trying to map the hewn city -I can’t help but feel like the specific wording of the description “A primitive hook-shaped runestone” says a little bit and the light flight’s attitude -Shadow flight has assassins specifically for the purpose of ruining light scholar’s work Ancient Fascinations- -Preservation guild is a thing, and presumably other guilds of similar function are too -Archeology confirmed -Most places still rely on torches and candles for light -Secretaries are a thing, which also means all the things that necessitate secretaries exist -Some weird monsters or some shit like that have popped into existence under dragonhome, and apparently are turning people into fossils or something -The things in question looks sort of like beastclans. Maybe undead second age creatures? -Government coverups: Archeology guild edition -Organizations take funding from wealthy sponsors -Imperials can be just as self-important as pearlcatchers -A very ominous, mysterious, wealthy, anonymous organization that if fiction has taught me anything can’t be up to any good -Even in fantasy dragon land you can acquire just about any historical artifact for your private collection by throwing enough money at it -What, you wanted more on what dragonhome is like for the average dragon? Fuck you, here’s a boring ametuer SCP story taking place entirely in an isolated archeology site. Workplace Hazards- -Lightning farm has monitoring equipment -Uhhh -Ummmmmm -Flying in storm bad -Shock switch is a real thing…? Maybe…? -Computers don’t exist yet, everyone still uses papers -… Even though that lightning farm monitoring equipment from just a few lines ago sounded an awful lot like a computer -Errrrrrr -Electrical engineer guild…..? -The shifting expanse does in fact have money -Cactus tea? Cactus fucking tea? -Aaaaaahhhh…? -Whelp lightning has effectively just withdrawn from the dragon un, secretly declared war on them, and pissed on their embassy just for good measure. you know, just in case the whole “Antithesis of all magic and nature, making them effectively the closest there is to a shade faction” thing wasn’t enough. -Unless the lore in the next one does a complete 180 and it turns out this is fine somehow or it’s because of a secret conspiracy unrelated to the flight or something, lightning is now likely THE designated antagonist faction and enemies with the entire world -Oh nooo sciency scientists with no morals are gonna destroy the world again with their scientific hubris!1!1! No bad things would ever happen if those darned scientists would just stop messing with nature and poking around where they don’t belong!1!! -Yeah, salary cycle.. That’s certainly……. A word……. That probably means something…… Which is never explained…. -Scientific scientists destroy non-sciency things because of science reasons, Next up our special guest Vulcan with “Emotion is illogical and must be destroyed” -Have fun being the designated wholly evil faction, nerds. Technology eats your soul. -What, you wanted lore that provided any insight whatsoever into what the expanse is like on any level, or at least something that didn’t spend every line it could going out of it’s way to emphasize how one-dimensionally amoral everyone and everything here is? -That’s stupid -You’re stupid -Fuck you and that train you rode in on -Here, have a bland thinly-veiled tacked on continuation of arcane’s story that pointedly goes out of it’s way to avoid introducing any significant new elements whatsoever because that could potentially humanize lightning on some level and interfere with our pushing the totally irredeemable mad scientists that need to be wiped out for the good of the world narrative, set almost exclusively in an equally bland extension of the dragon UN building that gets knocked over to make an evil hubris reactor because scientific scientists sciencing sciencly oppose all non-science. -Watch as all lore from now on is about how everything is lightning’s fault and they’re the enemies of all life or something -durr hurr science is scary thomas edison is a witch The Seed and the Sickness- -Plague and nature getting lumped together for no goddamned reason, as usual -If the excuse is because they’re twins then light and shadow should get lumped together too, light’s story is certainly short enough and they’re already semi-connected -Plague and nature have had an armistice for thousands of years -Why yes, let’s trade nukes every decade. How could this possibly go wrong. -Plague dragons have lots of scars and war paint and wear bones confirmed -Earth flight mediates because of course it does -Dragons know about the first battles of the plaguebringer and gladekeeper -Scarred wasteland is humid -Nature dragons tell horror stories about it -Quarantine zones for testing diseases -Plague actually specifically develops and tests diseases -Nature dragons can’t live in the scarred wasteland without special measures -Bonerguards -The behemoth is sick, possibly, maybe, it’s not entirely clear, probably just hallucinations -Secret ninjas poisoning ambassadors -“Be strong, survive” -Bone spears. *immature giggle* -Nature magic can do some pretty gory, fucked up stuff. Impaled corpses hanging from trees, anyone? -It’s nice to know the admins are allowed to write about shit like that but even having an argument written in a playermade bio puts it in the danger zone -Weaponized carnivorous plants -Plague breath is toxic gas and yellow goo -Other plague magic includes giant rotting membrane cocoons -Nature and plague are probably gonna go to war again, and might drag earth into it too -Now there’s a sick lady with a plant-nuke fused to her out there somewhere -In plague, if you’re hurt, too bad. Medical treatment is for the weak. Either you survive your open wounds or you don’t. Plague dragons covered in bloody bandages are not lore-freindly, because bandages mean they weren’t strong enough to tough it out themselves. -Also implied that plague looks down upon the dead in some way

-Plague also DEFINITELY hates doctors and medicine -Ohh nooo EEEVIL plague conspiracy involving the plague ambassador -You thought there would be equal sections for both ambassadors? The plague ambassador’s section is all of 3 sentences long and only exists to tell us how evil she is. -What, you wanted lore that expanded on what it’s like in nature in any significant way? Fuck you, have a bland sabotage plot that takes place entirely in the scarred wasteland with no mention of anything at all in the viridian labyrinth. -What, you wanted lore that expands on what it’s like in plague in any significant way? Fuck you, have a bland sabotage plot that takes place entirely in an isolated nature embassy with no mention of how anything outside it works. Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow- -Pearlcatchers have slings and bags to carry their pearls -New location: shoredeep presage -Divination caves that direct the tidelord’s prophecy bubbles up from the deep for rite-of-passage rituals -Prophets have multiple levels of rank based on age -Water dragons carve handholds to use in areas with strong tides -Divination requires specific rituals seemingly similar to alchemy, along with a blindfold and special chant -Braziers made of dried coral and shells -Dragons swim with their wings -Not all water dragons have divination powers, and the ones that don’t seem to be considered lesser -The first prophecy is meant to be carried to your grave -Dragons breathe water. With their lungs. -Fishing shacks exist -The weather in wind has a direct effect on the weather in other flights, in this case leveling the whole damn water flight because the crescendo decided it wanted to spin the other way -The crescendo also does not have a monopoly on the “gigantic magically-charged supercell” game, it’s just the most consistent one -Giant whirlpool. Maybe the spiral keep collapsed? -Prophecies tell you whatever the fuck they feel like telling you, not what you want them to -All the currents in the ocean have also changed thanks to the reversed wind -Fish daddy’s not talking anymore Raising a Family- -Did you really just use a Necromancer pun? Is the next line going to be about doing it on a budget? -Very short -So short it may as well be fused with shadow’s like they did with plague and nature -Emperors generally have extremely simple, childlike minds, with varying levels of decay, and are often deliriously happy -Always hungry -Think of eachother as siblings, it’s unclear if they really are or not. Technically siblings of multiple elements are possible if their parents traveled a lot. -Have fragmented and hazy memories of their past lives -Something about “Mother and other siblings”, possibly lightweaver -Hewn city has a border patrol -Emperors with less then 4 heads DO have enough juice to go apocalypse mode, despite what the encyclopedia says -The only one i genuinely enjoyed and felt was well-written -Except now there’s a fucking hydra-zombie rampaging through light flight. i’m sure that won’t be a problematic place to leave a cliffhanger dangling for months at all. Voices- -Leafmom’s worried, Germmom’s pissed -Droolmom thinks this is the funniest shit she’s seen in 10,000 years -Something’s wrong with sornieth’s molten core, i think -Icepop bragging about his limited edition Cthulhu collection -GLITTERMOM NO YOU RACIST FAVORITE-CHILD-PICKING BITCH I SWEAR IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO THOSE MURDERNOODLES -Noddledad don’t give a fuck -Daddy Cave Johnson definitely sanctioned this evil scientific hubris reactor. Goddammit Cave. -*Space dad creepily floating outside everyone Else’s window with binoculars* -Earthdad got a playmate, but they don’t seem friendly -*Goes around putting up missing posters for tidepapa*

#Drama #Dramaadmin #Dadmin #Rant #Flight Rising #Cursing #Sarcasm #Staff #Festival #Lore #Long post #Forums #Petty #submission

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cormetria-blog · 7 years ago

Text

It’d been a simple assignment; reconnaissance on Earth for the rumored existence of The Blue Lion and what Marmora operative failed at reconnaissance? It was the core of their organization, intelligence gathering, if nothing else. Far from enemy lines, Earth was an easy target, too; there weren’t any nearby Galra to try and intercede and Earthlings were considered primitive beings against the bulk of the universe.

There should have been no resistance. And for a while there wasn’t.

She’d been on Earth for a handful of weeks. Dry and particularly barren, she wasn’t all that impressed with the terrain. A disappointing fact given the circulating stories of the planet; the land itself was depicted as impressively large and diverse in its show of elements, and while her confining strip had been rather wide, sands that stretched farther than the ability of her vision, there wasn’t much in the ways of diversity, though.

Maybe it was just the limiting nature of her assignment. She’d been set to land on coordinates provided by Kolivan; This is where the energy is coming from. You’ll go in and scope the area to try and pinpoint the Lion’s location. Report anything that seems strange, and remember, our priority is to keep the Lion hidden out of Galra reach: do not try and engage it.

Krolia respected Kolivan; he was a level man firmly devoted to his cause, playing all cards with a seeming mercilessness, stitched expertly by wisdom, that granted his every whim. He’d taught her a lot, too, and so she tried her best to abide by his law.

She supposed the wildlife was interesting enough; little critters that skittered across dusty surfaces and winged beasts that glorified a shockingly blue sky with piercing song.

The sky. An absolute treasure.

She’d been used to atmospheres that absorbed the grizzliest of hues; reds, yellows, purples, and a never-ending array of dark. Wearing at her hopes with its signal of a galactic tyranny, planets mined and festering with the commands of poisonous regimes, it’d been a palette she’d learned to despise.

Earth, though, offered something lighter, clearer; that shocking blue. A confection of powered clouds that swung free against endless light, steadily escalating to an explosion of momentary red, breathless climax of the day as sunshine pulsed with its last glows, until finally, an inevitable cooling towards a navy that glittered hypnotic, moon shine and stars. She’d come to place great value on this sky; image blessed with a fleeting gift of freedom, an absence of toxicity.

Inevitably, she’d encountered something else that gave her freedom, too.

“So. The weapon you’re lookin’ for… is a lion—” he starts, tone rough like the sand crunched under the soles of their shoes. Sometimes it seemed like Tex was born from the fine-grained terrain, conceived by the canyon’s salted core. He was a compilation of rough sediment; dark eyes, chipped features, and calloused touches that made one shiver. His stares could be the dry patches that exhausted breath on long days, and his words the prickled skins of cacti. He had an attitude as malleable and moveable as a rock worn ridge, and a smile that gleamed more blade than her own weapon when pressed.

But there were little utopias between his seams, unhidden yet tricky; the buried streams that sometimes drummed like rivers, offering a rich and rare vegetation she couldn’t help but pick from.

“Yes, a lion,” she repeats, exasperated. And with that simple smack of her lips she’d broken Marmoran law, had revealed the depths of her mission—only after he’d proven his worth, of course. The two had met a few days after her crash through Earth’s atmosphere; she’d been camping out in her craft, tangled in a myriad of lively technology, when he’d stumbled into her territory.

“Shit—wait, I ain’t trying to start anythin—!”

“Who are you?” She’d growled, her every last demeanor an imposing threat, daring him to give her the slightest cause.

“Tex—argh—Kogane, I’m—I’m a engineer at a nearby school…Swear, I was just passin’ by, Miss…”

She’d been viciously skeptical, cautious, and released him after a thorough assessment had revealed that his person posed not a single danger. His ensuing reaction had been a wide-eyed wonder, and she was mildly impressed that he hadn’t scurried off screaming, or worse, attacked—she wasn’t fond of killing, but if the mission called for it…

“You ain’t from around here,” he’d hummed after gathering his wits, expression relaxing into something easy and thoughtful; a lazy smile and curious, wondering, eyes.

“Isn’t that obvious?” She’d shot, arms folding over a glowing chest plate.

“—A magical lion,” he elaborates, following the narrow path gutted into a cool and moist cave.

“It’s not magical. It’s powerful. Very powerful. That’s why I need to find it—”

“So the enemy don’t. ‘Cause if they do, bad things happen. That about it?” Tex concludes, reaching the end of the cave, bristled over by unyielding stone.

“…Yes,” She concedes, touching a dusty wall. There’s a tremor of a pulse, energy she can feel at her fingertips. We’re so close, she thinks desperately; the end of this war. It rattles in her chest.

“…You ever gonna give me anymore than that, Kro? Or is that gonna be it?” The words bounce firm off the cave’s dim interior, pull her hand back as she tenses, looking at him.

He’s done so much for her. Given her food and shelter, fixed the communications on her craft, and helped her map this endless, foreign land in more than just geography. He’s done so much, and she’s fashioned him with scraps of information.

But it’s still more than she’s allowed, and so she settles.

Her gaze holds steady as it’s used too. “Don’t waste our time by asking questions you already know the answers too.”

Tex turns back, catches the ethereal glow of unnatural eyes, and smokes with flashing brown like cinders. “Only time I’m wastin’ is mine. The hell’s the point of me doin’ all this if you can’t give me the basics? For all I know, you’re playin’ me into some kinda trap—”

Krolia growls, the accusation slicing sharp at her core, and the distant echoes of energy fade. “If you don’t trust me then leave.” It’s short and sharp and final, but there are a thousand things floating through her mind, the height of which resound; the truth is danger. The truth makes you a target, Tex.

She turns to leave.

Her feet carry her out of the cave, deliver her into the crisp of twilight. The sun radiates heat that percolates the canyon’s deepest corners, and she basks in the touch of gold. It soothes her hurt, soothes her worries, reminds her of the fires from home.

To the side rests Tex’s bike, fresh and black paint that glimmers under the dying sun. Moonlight does it better.

Inevitably, strong arms encompass her waist. They drag her back into a frame that barely reaches the breadth of hers, but she settles after a pulse.

“Let’s get home,” he says easily enough, the dim of the cave swallowing their worst. “Don’t think we’re gonna find that magical lion tonight, anyways.”

The cutting breeze of the ride back, set against the display of a melting sky turning towards celestial dark, brings her a rush of freedom, intensified only by the man she molds too.

#random scene i wanted to do between krolia and tex #.....i caved to fanon and called him tex ok #anyways #here's this #kinda long drabble #bc i needed a break from hw #▆ ★. ch. – ❝ memories like the embers of a fire // drabbles. ❞

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thevaloroushearts · 7 years ago

Photo

"Alyx, look, the rays...! Do you see them...?"

"Mm'yep, sure do, sis... sure do..."

Cloudy skies, lowering temperature, gentle chills blowing across the cityfolk of Altiel... the cooler seasons were arriving, meaning many citizens were bundling up and readying themselves for the holidays. Shopping, staying warm, making memories with photoshoots, families walking together... no matter the lowering temperature, there was still a sense of warmth bustling about...

"I'm not certain why, but seeing rays of light breaking through winter clouds... it's such a gentle yet inspiring sight..." the normally sheepish Gardevoir commented with a tender tint of excitement, ears lifting as she felt her artist fingers twitch her finger across an open page in her sketchbook.

“Yeah, it’s kinda pretty I guess...” Meanwhile, the pale Gallade just looked on towards the sea, his gaze seeming... disinterested...? This didn't go by Oriel unnoticed, of course...

"Brother?"

"... Yeah?"

"... Pardon me for saying so, but you seem distant... is everything alright? You've grown passive as of late..."

"Eh, well... it's just, we've been working here for a while, doing all these fights and whatnot, raising money to make our ends meet..."

"Yes...?"

"... I guess I've just been wondering..." Alyx just rubbed the back of his head as a pessimistic sigh left his lips, "Don't get me wrong, Oriel, I'm thankful we've gone this far, it's just... As psyched as I am, I was just wondering if we ever will... , or at least, if we did go to see them, if something would make things take a turn for--"

"Heeey li'l bro, hey li'l sis! What're YOU two doing out without your li'l jackets, hm? Heehee~!"

Well that was a pleasant change of pace. The twins ears shot up as they caught the wind of a very familiar doting sisterly voice, with Oriel being first to turn her neck and see their adoptive sibling Lixue hopping over ever-so-cheerfully, sipping a cold beverage.

"Ah, Lixue! Hello again!"

"Hiya hiya! Have you two been standing here this whole time? C'mon, we live in Altiel! Go walk around the city! See the sights! What's gotten my lively li'l bro Alyx and inspired li'l sis Oriel staying put like this? It's not like ya!"

"Ah! W-well, erm, we're just--"

"Catching our breath and taking in the sights for once. Day off and all, sometimes all we just need is fresh air, y'know?"

Lixue could only giggle. "I could believe Oriel saying that, but YOU needing a break, Alyx? Heehee, you have the stamina of a Mudsdale! That's just silly!"

"Erm, Lixue... where is Masou...?"

"Hm? Oh!" She stuck her tongue out as she took a sip of her lemonade before giving a little sigh. "He's just back at the League, thinking to himself as usual."

"The guy's gotta get out more... can't go isolating himself all the time, y'know? Hasn't he beaten himself up enough yet...?"

Way back at the ABL, the Hellfire Hoodlum himself was perched upon the ceiling of their fighting organization workplace, looming over the city. His own version of sight-seeing, perhaps? Akin to what a nightwatcher would do, at least. The reptile let out a steamy hiss as a whispy trail left his nostrils, gazing down at the cityfolk while allowing himself to be lost in his own thoughts.

<< Mmh... this view of the city...>> he thought to himself, tail idly swishing about as he hissed behind his collar, <<... perhaps one day I'll allow myself to actually enjoy it, once my debt is repaid... >> A disgruntled yet brooding exhale left his mouth, wanting to uncover his head to welcome the breeze, but he held himself back, as if fighting temptation, or perhaps refusing for another reason...

As his eyes wandered, he noticed far off in the distance that the vacant block of space far away from the more lively part of the city had but a few souls attending to it... an area that gave a chillingly silent vibe.

---

"..."

A somber wind howled lightly around the tall dark knight as he glanced down at his subject, as a sigh echoed within his mask and helmet.

"Two years..." he muttered to himself, "... nearly two years now... how time flies..."

Zarathos remained still, unmoving not unlike a statue, as his thoughts continued to escape him...

" ... To think, had I not allowed something so... primal... so arrogant..."

The rest of those would-be words died in his throat, replacing the remnants with harsh mumbles. At a loss for what else to say, Zarathos pledged a hand powerfully to his chest, letting out an adamant snarl.

" ... rest well, soldier..."

Unbeknownst to the Bisharp, at least yet, there were two other Altiel citizens that happened to walk by the entry to this somber field, looking on at the terrifyingly tall warrior from a safe distance.

"... Erm, how long do you think he's been there...?" a soft, concerned male Bisharp's voice uttered to the other.

"Ah, that I cannot say, mein Freund..." retorted the girl, holding a hand up to her mouth. "I... try to avoid areas such as these, yet seeing him here all by myself makes me wonder..."

"I agree, it's a somber place, but the fact that the Champion is all the way from the Battle League, here, all alone...?"

"Pardon me, but what are you two unlikely onlookers doing?"

"GCK--!" "ACK--!"

Takeshi and Eira nearly leaped at the sound of being addressed from behind, the Medicham behind the both of them merely chuckling in amusement. Adjusting his glasses, he continued to prod.

"Are the two of you here to spy our notorious battle-reigning brood? My my, how unusually rude of you two! Even the champion can't get a moment of peace during such glum displays of consciousness. I highly doubt you two came to merely stare at the dead from a long distance?"

"O-oh! I was just, er, fetching supplies for the Kirikuisine! Food supplies!"

"And I was, er, making my way to the Blue Moon Cafe!"

"The Blue Moon Cafe is not this many blocks away from the ABL, madame. And why come here when the food supermarket provides superior ingredients in the other direction for your quaint little foodshop?"

Just before the two could answer, they felt a burning glare pierce them from the distance.

" ... How long have you been there?" snarled the champion at his unwelcome 'audience.'

Needless to say, Takeshi and Eira were quick to make their ways away, but not before awkwardly waving to Zarathos and then each other.

"T-to the food market with me! Ahaha, farewell!"

"Oh of course! Take care, Takeshi!"

The Medicham just rolled his eyes and shook his head, raising a hand peaceably at the dark champion before walking off. <<Very well, leaving him to his charmingly depressing payment of respects is fair enough I suppose... my curiosity would only be squandered in a place such as this.>>

---

" ... I'm sure he'll be alright~!" Lixue remarked before sidling up to her adoptive siblings, tilting her head with a cute smile. "C'mon, cheer up Alyx! Masou does enough frowning for the rest of us, you don't have to stay so quiet! C'mon, let's see a smile," insisted the icy Lucaritales before hugging her adoptive Gallade brother.

"Nnh, Li, please--"

And then Alyx's blood sister joined, smiling up at the bladed brawler in hopes he would listen to the words of Lixue. Al could only sigh and give off an awkward grin.

"C-c'mon Oriel, Lixue, you're embarrassing me out here..."

"Heehee, you're beyond embarrassment at this age, Alyx!"

"There's that smile..." Oriel chimed with a little giggle. “How ironic, is it not? You’re usually the one who consoles me...”

"Hah, alright alright, ya win. I've just been thinking a lot that's all, but I guess I'll spend more time seein' sights as usual.”

"Yee~! There we go! Great idea! Let's walk around Altiel together!"

"I-If you're alright with that, Alyx...?"

"... Heh... sure, why not."

---

(( The Valorous Hearts is back! This is a soft boot; a continuation from the older archive blog, with some tweaks to designs, stories, motives and other details! Most relationships, unless desired otherwise, will remain canon, but some have been redone/adjusted! Some questions can be re-asked, feel free to ask which ones! ))

#gallade #gardevoir #lucario #bisharp #scrafty #togekiss #medicham #alyxgallae #orielgardevoir #lixuelucario #masouscrafty #zarathosbisharp #takeshibisharp #eiragardekiss #vihaanmedicham

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rainbowcicada · 7 years ago

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My SNS Imaginary Movie

Instead of a fanfic, I present to you, an entire movie that played in my head one night around 3am that had me laughing my ass off. This is my daydreaming in bed, shonen, SNS movie! Im not trying to write this as a proper fanfic, but only as how the fun happened. Synopsis: Our heroes are losing the fight against an Otsutsuki alien freak. Naruto loses Kurama! Sasuke is blinded! And they are trapped in another dimension. There, they are given the opportunity to embody Yin and Yang and turn the tides of the battle. But being Yin and Yang is more than they've ever imagined! My Imaginary SNS Movie: Sauce and Nardo are fighting a freak of an Otsusuki. The alien ass had ripped kurama out from Naruto. Sasukes in bad shape too. He's lost his right eye and only has his left eye with rinnegan. To make matters worse, their combined attacks weren't having any affect on this Otsutsuki. Hinata (whats she doing there?) used byakugan and sees that Narutos chakra is fading! He's dying! She's cries out to Sasuke that he's drawing his last breath! Sasuke instantly stops fighting the alien freak and runs to Narutos side. His only thought was to take Naruto to another dimension, even if it's a timeless unmoving dimension, anything to stop him from dying! His rinnegan activates, a portal opens, he leaps in with Naruto completely disregarding who ever else is on the battlefield! (sorry hinata) But as they are warping through, the Otsutsuki reaches through and rips out Sasukes left eye! The bastard adds the rinnegan to his personal collection on his arm as the boys disappear in the rinnegan warp. Our heroes are trapped in an unknown dimension. A blind, bleeding Sasuke confirms that Naruto is still breathing. His goal to enter a dimension with a different laws of physics seems to have worked. Somehow in this dimension a jinchiruuki doesn't die when it's separated from its bijuu. Something to do with time? For Sasuke, it feels like unknowable days pass by in the darkness. He's slumped over Naruto, just listening to him breathe. His blood, on Naruto's chest. Naruto finally wakes up. Sasuke snaps out of a daze and apologizes to Naruto. He says he's failed him. Sasuke- It doesn't matter that I've brought us to this timeless dimension, without my rinnegan, this is now our place of eternal rest. But Naruto doesn't seem to mind. He cries out how beautiful this place is. Sasuke had no idea there was even a PLACE to look at. A blue sky, a forest, and a temple. This dimension seemed to be a tiny planet, like in DBZ. Naruto is grateful that Sasuke saved him and he's confident they'll get back home somehow! But first things first, Sasuke needs a new pair of eyes!! It was sometime before Naruto notices the local wildlife. Cute, adorable, innocent harmless creatures......They kinda look like frogs. Hes horrified about what he's about to do!! But...for Sasuke...He kills a frog creature and rips out its eyes and screams as if it was his own eyes he was ripping out. Sasuke is hugged up against a wall and uncharistically freaking out because he has no idea why Naruto is screaming. Sasuke- Naruto? Naruto- Gamabunta forgive me!! Naruto offers him the bloody frog eyes to Sasuke, without telling him the source of the eyes. But neither boy has any idea how shinobis just magically transfer eyes anyways. But Narutos already committed and these frog eyes in his hands aren't any use to him. He assumes that maybe you just shove in the eyeballs while applying lots of chakra. He does so!! Both boys scream!! Sasuke bears through the pain and tries to connect his chakra to his new eyeballs. It works. Sasuke looks around him and notes that all the colors look different. He goes to a pool of water and sees his reflection...... Sasuke- Frog eyes..... He sighs and thanks Naruto anyways. But this doesn't solve their situation. They're still trapped in another dimension and without rinnegan. They explore the temple grounds. The temple door is sealed and flanked by two statues. The temple had a name, the temple of Indrashura and Ashindra. Naruto comments that name sounds familiar, but Sasuke already has a good hunch to what it means. He notes that one statue represents Yin and the other Yang. (dun dun dun!) The boys believe that maybe the old sage of six paths created this temple and if they can figure out how to enter it they can once again have Yin and Yang release. Naruto would be able to heal Sasukes eyes to their natural form. And Sasuke would be able to awaken rinnegan again. They stood by their respective statues, but no amount of poking and prodding the statues would make the temple door open. After trying everything they could think of, the boys exhuast themselves and take a mental break. But time is funny here. Hours feel like days, which feels like weeks, which feels like months. Sasuke spent most of his time meditating for the answer, obsessively!! His single goal was to activate rinnegan. He barely noticed what Naruto was up to. Naruto on the other hand was just trying to LIVE. I mean, he's not the one that needs to awaken rinnegan and what else can he do? He just wanted to enjoy his time here, with Sasuke. But Sasuke was being over there, meditating, far away and distant. It was frustrating! Why can't Sasuke just be here and now? And this tiny unchanging planet, the lack of stimulation was driving Naruto insane! Until one day, Naruto can't take it anymore! He curses the damn blue sky that's always blue, the glowing bright sun that's been in the same position since forever, and this green forest, it would be nice if it was another color for a change! Sasuke realizes Narutos really snapped and tries to calm him down. In doing so, he unknowingly steps on a yin yang seal that they simply hadn't noticed before. Suddenly the cheery sunny sky transforms to night. A full moon shines over a darkened autumn forest. And the fluffy innocent creatures transform into monsters!! The boys were stunned! The monsters come charging at them. Naruto and Sasuke give a each other a quick nod and can't help but smile. Beating up monsters that magically popped out of nowhere together? That sounds like fun! Monster after monster they slaughter! Releasing their pent up frustrations. The monsters just kept coming back, as if it was a game loop. Sasuke was both challenged and exciting to relearn how to fight without sharingan. After what felt like days, they grew tired of battling. Sasuke instructs Naruto to step on the YinYang seal. When he does, the world magically returns to its former sunny setting. At least they learned something about this world. But still the temple doors won't open, and still, Sasuke doesn't have rinnegan. They experience more time passing by and Sasuke became emotionally withdrawn. He felt it's his fault that they're in this strange dimension and could barely look Naruto in the eyes. Sasuke- I'm sorry you're stuck here with me, of all people. Was usually all Sasuke could manage to say. Naruto had enough of his obnoxious sulking! Naruto- Idiot! Don't you understand yet how I feel! I'm grateful you saved my life. I'm happy, that of all the people in this damn Universe to be stuck with, I get to be stuck with you! He slams his hand onto the Yang statue! Naruto- Sasuke..I..! The Yang statue starts to glow. Naruto jumps back startled, and the statue deactivates. Sasuke's eyes widen. Sasuke- Of course! I'm an idiot! He understands now what they need to do and stands by his Yin statue. But Naruto doesn't understand why the statue was activating when all he did was slam his hand on it, like he has done before. Sasuke explains. Previously, when they tried to activate the statues Naruto had his thoughts focused on Yang and Sasuke had his thoughts focused on Yin. Sasuke- Yin and Yang exist within eachother. At the heart of Yin is Yang and at the heart of Yang is Yin...Thats why...we need to think about the other... Naruto smiles widely and nods his head - YOSH. Sasuke tries to hide his smile but really can't. They place their hands on their respective statues. Naruto- For Sasuke... Sasuke- For Naruto... The temple doors open. (And now the movie playing in my head is about to get weird yo!) To be Continued

#sns #sasunaru #narusasu #kinda a dream #my own #kinda a fanfic

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thechocobros · 8 years ago

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“SEE LUNA SAFE TO ALTISSIA” - part 5

Pair: Nyx Ulric / Lunafreya Nox Fleuret

Previously: AO3 LINK

Words: 6297

Plot: Luna and Nyx didn’t fell in the Empire’s trap, Nyx didn’t had to use the ring and he survived. What would have happened if Nyx really had the chance to ‘see Luna safe to Altissia’, like he promised to Regis? Here the part 5: Nyx and Luna take a little break, and even if Nyx knows by now that Luna hides a secret, he just can’t help but staying at her side, supporting her. Even in front of the Lord of the Storm.

Personal Comment: this time the chapter is longer than I expected, yet I decided to not split it in two. I hope you like the romance because I will kinda push it from now on ;) Thanks as always to @loveiscosmicsin for being my beta reader and @ramibriidge for the love and the amazing arts (this time it’s really amazing OMGGGGG love it!)

Nyx streched a bit in the bed, rolling over to his side. The sleep was good for once and he never felt better. How much time pass since he slept this well? He didn’t remember. Actually, he couldn’t answer on why he felt so good now.

A thought crossed his mind and the image of Titan from afar appeared. That Titan. Oh, right, he and the princess infiltrated the Disc of Cauthess the night before and she forged the covenant with the Archaean. Now that they were back in the motel, they were having the rest they deserved.

He quickly opened his eyes and found himself in a motel room with dark green walls and a not-so-pleasant odor. He was sleeping with heavy blankets over his body and not far from where he was, there was another bed where Lunafreya was resting.

He finally remembered what happened after they faced the Titan: they were both exhausted when they barely arrived at the motel. They didn’t even ask for separate rooms. They just accepted to sleep under the same roof so they wouldn’t have to arrange the schedule again. Anyway, they both fell fast asleep with their clothes still on their backs.

Nyx sat on his bed and rubbed his eyes. He checked the clock: it was 9AM. He didn’t actually sleep long, just six hours.

He looked at the princess, covered in her blanket, the hands tucked under the pillow. She had a very calm expression, her face still dirty from the debris from the Disc, her hair loosely tossed on the sheets. The morning light was literally make her shine as if she really was the moon and Nyx lost track of time watching her. He stood there like that for awhile, maybe thirty seconds, maybe five minutes, he couldn’t tell. But it was relaxing.

It wasn’t the first time he had slept next to a girl -- he grown up with his little sister, Crowe was in the same military unit as he was that it wasn’t unusual to bunk up on the field, and he also had several one-night stands. But whatever the relationship was with those girls, he never would have stay the entire morning watching them sleeping. With the princess now, it was different.

He shook his head. What the hell was he doing? He hid his embarrassment with a silent laugh, then he stood up and headed to the bathroom. He had a cold shower - which was greatly appreciated - and watched himself in the mirror’s reflection. He adjusted his braid and checked the wounds of the precedent day and—

Wait. Wounds. Where were his wounds? He touched his left arm, then his face, going as far to check his limp. Everything was gone. He was perfectly healed. How…?

He rolled his eyes and sighed. He quickly pulled a t-shirt on and walked out. The noise he made slamming the door woke Lunafreya up, sparing the Glaive the effort of waking her up himself.

“What happened?” Still half-asleep, Luna spoke with her delicate voice. She really wasn’t a morning person.

“You healed me.” Nyx crossed his arms and tried to look pissed. He wasn’t really mad, of course, just worried.

“Excuse me...?” Luna rubbed her eyes and then watched him.

“I specifically asked you not to heal my wounds. Yet, I woke up as good as I never was.”

“You make it sound like a terrible thing.” She yawned.

“It is!” he replied, opening his arms.

“How? You’re healthy and in good shape now!” She mimicked his gesture in a very funny way. Nyx really had to make an effort to not start laughing.

“I’m serious, Princess. Even though you will never admit it, it is clear as day that healing people takes a lot outta you. And whatever that is, I don’t want to be the cause of it.”

“I could say the same for you! I don’t want you to fight and get hurt because of me!” She paused, averting her gaze briefly before noticing the Glaive’s stance didn’t change. “It looks like we both are not very happy with the way we use our bodies to save each other, and yet here we are. And we are a team, Nyx Ulric. From now on, I’ll let you help me only if you’ll let me help you.”

“I..” Nyx put the hands on his hips, dumbfounded. “I am your guardian! It’s my duty to protect you!” He tried to say.

“Yes and I’m your future Queen, so it’s my duty to act in your best interest.”

Nyx turned around and then faced her again, frustrated that the royal card was pulled on him. “You can do your talking very well, I’ll give you that.”

She did an half-smile, and with some self-satisfaction, boasted, “You know, politics and my adept navigation in compromises.”

“Please, don’t do it again.”

“What? Speaking like a politician or healing you?”

Nyx smiled and sat in the bed in front of her with his elbows on the knees.“Both.”

“I can’t promise anything.”

“Man, you’re stubborn as hell, really.” Again, she smiled like he was complimenting her. “So, how do you feel?”

The question make her concentrate back to her health and she tried to listen to her body. “Tired as I expected.”

“Nothing new then.” He grimaced. “So, what do you want to do now? Take a day off, sleep all day? Maybe you deserved it, you know, after speaking with deities…”

Luna thought about it for a few seconds and then she fell back on the bed. “I’d love to, but we have to go after the next Astral. The Lord of the Storm. Ramuh.”

“Yeah, wow, sounds like a lot of fun, but if you’re tired, you’d better get some rest. There’s still time. Surely the prince hasn’t even figured out what he has to do. Probably he’s still having fun somewhere with his friends.”

Luna looked somehow surprised hearing that. She sat upright again and fixed the Glaive with an inquistive stare. “Why are you saying that?”

Nyx hesitated one second and then decided to share what he heard. “Someone may have told me he was in Hammerhead with his friends the other day. Having fun. Joking around.” Luna frowned a bit, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t look upset, only surprised, and that pushed Nyx to add, “He’s still a kid, Princess. Give time to him and he will do what he has to.”

“You…” She started, slowly at a question. “Have you ever met him?”

“The prince? Well, yeah, of course. Sort of. It’s not like I ever had a drink with him, but I did escort him sometimes. It was part of my job, when I was not in the battlefield against the Niffs.”

Luna suddenly looked sad and shy. “And what is he like?”

Nyx felt uncomfortable. “You know, it’s weird you have to ask me to describe your future husband.”

“I know, it’s just…” She started, looking even sadder. “I didn’t have the chance to meet him in the past twelve years and all I know was what he wrote in the notebook. And trust me when I say Noctis isn’t a really entertaining storyteller.”

“So the marriage really was arranged.”

“Yes but I really care for him and—” Luna stopped when she noticed she was giving to much away. Nyx was staring at her, waiting her continuation, a respectful expression on his face, he really seemed to care. Yet, he was not allowed to. Nyx wasn’t her best friend. He was only her bodyguard. “It is of no consequence,” she said, standing up. “I’m going to refresh myself. Would you mind to… go out and find me some Ebony, please? If you can…”

Nyx crossed his arms and scrolled his shoulders.“Okay, I’ll go but …” He looked at her with his insightful grey eyes, “You shouldn’t keep everything for yourself, Princess. You need to talk to someone, and the longer we’re in this road trip, the more you’ll need a friend in where you can put your trust.”

He stood up, gently patted on her head like she was a little girl, and walked out of the room.

Luna crossed the hands over her heart, her fingers casually caressing the necklace in a moon’s form that he gave to her and her face grew hot. Since he was so kind to her, she felt so ashamed for not telling him the truth, for not telling him a lot of things in general. She looked for the Ring of the Lucii in her pocket, not only to remind herself if it was still there, but also to remember the duty she was born into. She suddenly felt herheart ache too, a feeling that she hadn’t particularly felt towards anyone, a kindled connection. Her breath was stolen away for three long seconds. She glanced at her hands and saw her veins in her wrists turned black before the blue faded behind pale flesh. She gritted her teeth and sighed.

“I’m sorry, Nyx. I’m so sorry.”

For so many things, she didn’t even know what exactly.

Nyx took a little longer for coming back with the Ebony, and he found out that Luna went back to sleep again. She must have been really tired, he thought. He drank his coffee alone on a wooden chair, watching her from afar. Again, he found her so beautiful that it was calming, but not only that. She was so distant now, too. She was clearly hiding so much from him and all he wanted in that very moment was to burn the distance between them and being the only person in the world she could trust. In the end, frustration and boredom ruined his day.

Nyx didn’t have other choice than allow her to sleep until late afternoon. When he finally decided to wake her up, he touched her arm and shook her a bit.

“Mh? Oh no…” She said, understanding immediately what happened by only looking at his face.

“Well, maybe we still have time for dinner.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up before the sunset?” She tried to sit up but Nyx carefully pushed her down again, easily winning over her.

“Because you needed rest and you would never admit it.”

“We can leave now.”

“During the nighttime? Oh, no, we won’t. I’m not in the mood to fight daemons now.”

Luna hid her face in the pillow, but watched him with an accusing eye. “So why did you wake me up now?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I told you. We’re still on time for dinner. Not hungry?”

Nyx insisted for her to wear a foulard again. It gave him some peace of mind not compromising the Oracle’s identity when they’re out in public.

Luna didn’t argue too much because she found it cute, almost felt like a diva with it. She had to complain when she found out where he was taking her though. “I don’t know if this is the right place for me…” She began, looking confused.

Nyx laughed at her expression. “You mean, it’s not appropriate to take the mighty and graceful Princess Oracle to…” He cupped a hand around his mouth in a hush-hush manner before whispering with a freakish expression equating to an iconic mascot, “…Kenny Crow?”

Luna covered her ears and smiled back. “This is so creepy, please stop, I hate that bird!”

“Oh, now this is interesting. The model of harmony and piousness here is actually saying she hates a living creature?”

They were passing next to the bench were the statue of Kenny Crow was positioned and Luna looked at it with digust. “Please stop.”

Nyx couldn’t, she was just too cute to watch, all frightened by the creepy mascot. Teasing her was actually funnier than he thought.

“Don’t worry, Princess, I solemnly vowed to be your bodyguard and see you safe to Altissia. The big bad bird’s not gonna grab you on my watch.”

Luna glanced at him with disbelief in her eyes and they both entered in the restaurant. That really wasn’t the place for a princess, and yet it was funny to see her there, ordering some fries with mayonnaise at the counter.

Nyx got closer with the excuse of helping her choosing the menu. “I’ll have a hamburger instead. You should try it someday, too.” He whispered at her ear.

She was all red, the whole situation was so new and weird for her. “Okay…”

“You never had a burger?”

“I… Guess… Is it something typical of Lucis?”

Nyx laughed, shaking his head. “Common staple cuisine at diners and drive-thrus. Oh man, what did they feed you with back in Tenabrae? You never lived if you never had a burger.”

In the end, they were both sitting on the table, one in the front of the other, Luna with her fries, Nyx with a giant hamburger, sampling from each other’s dish. Nyx kept teasing her for awhile but stopped when Luna began to answer back, tired of being mocked. Suddenly they were such in a good mood they didn’t stop laughing for the entire dinner time. Nyx told her a lot of funny anecdotes about the food back in Galahad, about him and Libertus stealing it from the market, and about the way they were caught by their mothers right after. And again, he told her about Galahad, the beauty of that forgotten land, about the nice little house they used to have there.

“Selena was having a garden in the back, full with all sorts of weird flowers. She had a thing for botany and I never understood why. Me and Libertus prefered to go out. The parties took place on daily basis, you know, chatting up girls and eating trash food.”

“That would explain why you took me to Kenny Crow.”

Nyx gave her a beautiful large smile. “Yeah, it looks like I didn’t lose my bad habits.”

“You know what? I had a beautiful garden in Tenabrae too. I collected flowers there but my favorite ones were sylleblossoms.”

“Awesome. My sister and you would have got along well!” He said that smiling, but he turned sad in the end. “Yeah, really licked.”

Luna understood she was truly enjoying his smile only when she saw it disappearing from his face.

“You surely were an amazing brother, Nyx” she said, her voice delicate and comforting. “You still have something to fight for. You have to find Libertus, right? And then, when Noctis will reclaim his throne, you’ll have your homes back. You all will have a home to build a new future.”

Nyx glanced at her. “You sure? You mean, you’re gonna fire me as soon as all this is over? Might need a bodyguard in times of peace, too.”

Luna smiled, looking at her fries like they suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world and said nothing. She didn’t have an answer to that. She didn’t want to talk about her future.

Nyx lengthened on the table and tried to meet her eyes again. “Maybe you can come to visit Galahd instead. You’d love it.”

Luna smiled, looking amused.“Maybe...” She whispered. “…Will you show me the lake full of leeches you were talking about?”

“Hell yeah! And we’ll throw Libertus in it!”

“Poor sir Libertus!”

They laughed again and finished their dinner. When they had to go back to the motel, there was some embarrassment this time. They slept in the same room two times already, but after a dinner like that - something that incredibly felt like a date - it was weird to enter in the same chamber.

“I’ll ask at the reception if they have another free room.” Nyx said. “Let you have some privacy.”

Luna agreed and was actually relieved when they told him the room next to hers wasn’t occupied. At the same time, watching her Glaive moving in another room was surprisingly sad too. She was truly enjoying the evening in his company and maybe she didn’t want it to end.

“I’ll knock at your door at 7, so we can leave soon” Nyx explained, when they were in the corridor. He probably didn’t want to end their good time so soon either. “I think it’s about time you tell me where the next deity is.”

“Somewhere near the Malacchi Hills.” Nyx tugged his ear.

“We’re not far,” he said. “I’ll wake up earlier to buy some things like potions and stuff this time though. I’d prefer you to save your energy for emergencies.”

“That is a sound plan.” She rested her hand on the door handle but didn’t open it. She looked at him again and stood still, making Nyx wondering if she felt the same or if she had something on her mind.

“Anything else... I can do for you, Princess?”

Luna’s face was so red now, she almost felt blood pulsing underneath her cheeks.

“No, nothing important, it’s just that… It was fun. I haven’t done anything like that in ages. So… Thank you.”

Nyx stared at her, not caring if he was shameless. He just wanted to photograph in his mind every detail of her in that very moment, when she was thankful and happy. She truly wasn’t in a very long time, he could tell.

“I thought you hated Kenny Crow,” he smiled, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, but I felt safe by your side.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m so much better than a restaurant’s crap mascot.”

Luna giggled and pushed the door to enter in her room, when Nyx hold her back, grabbing her wrist. He didn’t know the reason of that gesture, as a matter of fact he immediately let her go.

“I’m sorry,” he said, really mortified. He felt like such a jerk, but Luna puckered her lips.

“It’s fine. Goodnight, Nyx Ulric.”

He hesitated and then lightly waved at her. “’Night, Lady Lunafreya...”

Luna closed the door behind her and sighed. Her heart was somehow beating on a different pace, slower yet faster. That interaction had flustered her. She suddenly remembered something and gasped, turning back to open the door again.

She found Nyx there, ready to knock.

“Oh!” They said simultaneously and laughed.

“You first.” Luna gestured at him, calmly easing away from the embarrassment. Not one of their valiant moments to share.

“No, it’s just that I was wondering…” Nyx began, stuttering a bit, “If you never had a hamburger before, you probably never had a beer either, right? Maybe …?” He trailed off as he pointed at the exit.

Luna wide opened her eyes, very surprised but also pleased by the offer. “Yes, I’d love to. Well, it’s late but I slept until 6 PM and… I hope you will stop me before i get drunk though, otherwise you would be so…”

“Fired?”

“Yes, sort of. Discharged would be a more polite term.”

Nyx couldn’t believe she was actually accepting his invite.

“I’ll take the risk.” He was already biting his lip so hard it would have start bleeding very soon. “So, Princess,” he began, releasing his lip, “Shall we…?”

“Nyx, wait, there’s something I wanted to ask you before.” He stopped and waited for her to talk. She looked so serious now, it was difficult to guess what she was about to say.

Luna took a deep breath and then took out from her pocket a little chain, insignificant if it wasn’t the Ring of the Lucii in it. Nyx stared at it like it was a corpse or a death sentence.

“What is that suppose to mean?” he mumbled, surprised and confused. Actually, he really had a funny expression on his face right now.

“I was wondering… If you can help me in… bearing the weight of the future.”

Nyx froze and stared at her with wide eyes, not sure if what he was hearing was true.“Excuse me?”

“Last night, when I woke up the Archaean… I thought that if something happened to me, then who would have bring the ring to Noctis? Or what if I simply couldn’t have the strength to fulfill my destiny? I … I need someone to help me in this. Even though it may not be necessary, I need to know there’s someone helping me in my time of need.”

She held the necklace to him, but Nyx stopped her by holding her hand in his.

“No, I can’t do it. The power of this ring confuses me too much… You told me about the Old Wall. About the Kings of Lucis. They… watched Insomnia burn and did nothing! They were no kings! And I’m so mad about it. I can’t be objective. You should be the one holding the ring.”

“You’re right, the power of the ring is something beyond your control. But here’s the truth, it’s something beyond my control as well. In any case, it is our only hope. If Noctis doesn’t receive it, all our efforts… all our sacrifices will be vain. That’s the reason why you must help me. If I won’t be able to fulfill my destiny, please tell me you’ll be by my side, ending what I can’t.”

“If you can’t, nobody can.” Nyx really meant it. He was so genuinely convinced that she was the only one up for the task, he simply never doubted it. He never thought she would ask him something like that, because in his mind he already pictured her like almighty and unstoppable. But then a thought crossed his mind: he was expecting from her too much, exactly like the ill people who he used to deplore some days before in Lestallum. He swallowed. “And even if someone else could, that wouldn’t be me. It should be someone you trust.”

Luna’s eyes were almost wet when she admitted, “That’s why I am asking you.”

Nyx stared at that beautiful face, so different from the smiling one he saw just a couple of minutes ago. His stomach burned and his throat turned dry.

“You were planning to ask me this all along or it’s something you came up with now?”

“I do not jest, Nyx. I really trust in you enough to ask something like this.”

“We just met a week ago. I don’t think that’s enough time to go around waving a promise ring.”

She thought about it and realized that was true. Yet, that short time was so intense, it felt like ages. “It doesn’t matter. I trusted you with my life and you didn’t fail me. I’m sure you never will either.”

Nyx was about to give up, Luna could tell by the wavering strength he was using holding her hand. He looked down at the ring, fearing it but also admiring it. “So much trust in a person who dared to take you to Kenny Crow for dinner and who offered to pay you all the beers you want just so you can relax.”

Luna smiled, taking it as a yes. She got closer, so she could gently put the little chain around his neck. Doing so, she ended up caressing his collar and got herself lost for a short while. “Thank you.” She whispered.

“I…” Nyx said, closing his eyes and bit down on his lip. He grabbed her wrist and waited a second. “I don’t trust myself as you do, so please don’t give up. I’ll take the ring for a little while, but you should be the one to take it to the Prince. You can fulfill your destiny and you will.”

He looked at her and that was scary. Or better, Luna felt so terrified. His eyes were so deep and expressive, so intrusive and breathtaking, she barely knew how to react. She swallowed hard and stepped away, before she could do something nonsense.

“Very well. We should have that beer now.”

Nyx nodded, adjusting the necklace on him. It was really heavy, in a lot of ways.

“Yeah, I need it more than ever.”

Nyx wished he never accepted the ring. Having it on the neck gave him goosebumps every time he thought about it and also made him feel more responsible and less reckless. Now he understood why Luna wanted to entrust it to someone else.

He hid it under his t-shirt and left his motel room. The sun was shining through the corridor’s window as he knocked at the princess’s door, like their new daily routine included by now. “Milady? Are you up?” He heard a small noise, a grump and then her sleepy voice:

“…Kind of.”

Nyx smiled. “I’m going for some Ebony in the meantime. See you in five.”

When he came back with the usual coffee and croissants, she was at least awake and dressed up. She let him in and they had their breakfast.

“The cream in the Ebony for Your Highness.” Nyx said, giving the largest cup to her. “I chose this size because I thought you would need it after how much you drank last night.”

“Hey, you talk like I got drunk.”

Nyx raised an eyebrow and sit back on his chair, smiling at her beyond his cup. “That you did.”

“No, I didn’t” she replied, pointing at him with the finger. “I was just a bit tipsy.”

Nyx decided to let her win this time, even though he remained firm with his opinion. “Okay, enjoy your breakfast now because we’re not gonna stop until we arrive to our destination.”

“Can I change my clothes there?”

“If you insist in using that uncomfortable but fancy dress for your rituals, I guess we’ll have to. Titan liked it, didn’t he?”

Luna smacked him on the arm but didn’t change her mind about her Oracle outfit and was determined to use it whenever she could, even though she testified by now how much unpractical it was. That was her only request and Nyx couldn’t deny it.

They left very soon for the Malacchi Hills, their destination.

It was a beautiful day and they enjoyed every single breath of fresh air they got. They were both kind of thoughtful so they didn’t need to talk too much. They turned the music on and listened to it for almost all the time, only commenting from time to time their respective personal taste on the subject. It turned out they were both very elastic about music and didn’t mind to try new genres, so they kept switching from one radio station to the other in order to find find something they like. All of a sudden, they tuned into a radio conference which released the interview Luna conceded to Vyv a couple of days before:

“Thought I am still young, my blood is true. As my mother before me, I’ll work to bring peace to one and all. ...”

“That’s enough” Luna said, switching to another radio station.

“Why?” Nyx flatly complained. “The best part of your interview was coming.” Luna preferred to listen to a lame country song than crediting the Glaive of the compliment. Nyx glanced at her very quickly and then insisted, “You really did a great job in telling people what they want to hear.” Luna narrowed her eyes and waited, making Nyx smirk: “I mean, in giving people hope.”

“That’s an improvement.” She replied and then sighed to the distance, “I only hope Noctis will hear the interview and find encouragement in it …”

“Well, at least he’ll know you survived.” Nyx kept being distracted by her sad and thoughtful face. “Hey, you’re doing a great job in passing a good word or two to him, too.”

Luna smiled, acknowledging the way Nyx managed to ease her concerns again.

They parked the car near to a famous chocobo ranch and it took a lot of self-control for the both of them to not waste time with the adorable big birds. They had more important things to do and the night was too close to delay.

Luna quickly changed her clothes in the bathroom of a caravan - with a lot of obvious eye-rolling coming from Nyx - and then they moved on foot. Luna didn’t know exactly where to go, she just knew Ramuh was close. Nyx followed her and made sure she didn’t trip in that ridiculous dress. He started to worry only when dusk settled in and the light of the twilight was barely visible in the forest they entered.

“Your Highness, you sure this is the place? It feels like we’re gonna have some daemon-related problems here pretty soon.”

Luna didn’t say anything and kept walking, concentrate as she has never been. The humidity in the wood was so thick she started to perspire and breathed heavily. She was very weak already, but now the external conditions made it worse. She leaned down a tree log to catch her breath.

“Are you all right?” Nyx asked, gently touching her back. Luna grabbed his collar and use it to stand up again. She nodded and stretched her hand into the distance, summoning a trident. Nyx whistled and opened his mouth in wonder. “What’s that?”

“The Trident of the Oracle. It belonged to the ancestors of the Fleuret family, a weapon bestowed by the Draconian.” Then she smiled: “But now, it’s going to be our torch in warding off daemons.”

“Awesome, that’s my Oracle. Your ancestors would be proud of you!” Nyx commented and smirked, helping her walking. They arrived to a puddle, shining of silver and white under the light of the trident.

“This is the place.” Luna whispered, stepping away from Nyx and slowly entering in the small lake. Nyx reluctantly let her go.

“Be careful.” She nodded but then stopped and turned around to watch him in the eyes.

“Nyx, you have the ring, right?”

Nyx pulled out the necklace and showed it to the princess.

“Good. Please, whatever it may come now, don’t interfere. And if something bad happens to me–”

“Not going to happen!”

“No, you must allow it. I’m ready to take whatever it will be, and so should you.”

“Why are you even talking like that? Is speaking with a God that dangerous? They should be the protectors of the world, not cause more pain!” Nyx objected, opening his arms in a gesture of frustration.

Luna didn’t have an answer to that so she repeated herself again, “Whatever comes to pass, don’t interfere. If a stranger interrupts the ritual, the God may decide to not give his blessing to Noctis and we can’t have that.”

She didn’t wait for an answer this time and slowly slide into the water, which was cold and transparent. The trident began to glow even more, reaching the shining level of a sun. The white and soft material of Luna’s dress floated in the water like the tail of a siren, which would have been an appropriate description of her in that specific moment, since she was indeed intriguing like a siren, beautiful, yet powerful. And like a mythological maiden of the water, she started to sing.

Nyx stood in the distance ready to enter in action, but even from there he could hear the beautiful harmony which that song inspired. Maybe it was a prayer or maybe it was the inverse result of a lullaby, he couldn’t tell. It was probably an enchantment. Still, he would have listened to her voice forever. Forgetting all the anxiety he just had talking with her, he couldn’t do anything else now, but close his eyes and relax. He let the song overwhelm him with its emotional melody. Luna’s voice became soon all he could think about, the most beautiful voice he would have ever been allowed to hear.

Then, something happened. Nyx was a hundred percent positive that the night sky was clear yet suddenly bolts stroke out of nowhere and the frightening sound of thunderstorms filled the air with its terrible noise. This confused him and also made him rush towards Lunafreya, because something weird was happening in the spot she was standing: small lighting poles surrounded her, and even if it didn’t look like she was suffering, the sight of her illuminated by them was preoccupying.

Yet, in the moment Nyx started to run, he realized he couldn’t ever reach her because the bolts were systematically forming a barrier between him and her. He punched the shining wall and roared:

“Princess!” That unexpected situation turned out to be even more frustrating than his lack of magic. Luna was basically alone in the front of an unpredictable God now and he couldn’t have help her in case of need, rendering him to feel useless. “Lunafreya!”

Luna wasn’t listening. She kept singing her melody, raising the trident towards the source of the lighting bolts. It started to rain hard, so much that it was hard to breathe. Dark clouds gathered in the night sky and finally a huge human figure appeared. It had the appearance of a old man with a long white beard and the wise witty eyes. His robe was long and made of bolts and he carried a scepter in his hand. From all Luna could tell, Ramuh looked pissed in the beginning but as she continued to sing, he relaxed a bit, too. He took her in his giant hand to look her closer and then started to speak in an incomprehensible language. Luna sang her answer back and since Ramuh fell under the spell of Luna’s voice, the alliance was sealed very fast. The Oracle’s song was his most sensible weakness from yore. Luna learn that from her mother, so she could use that information now, without any fear to being rejected. While she held herself to the huge fingers which surrounded her, she already felt the cost of that alliance, the consuming burden that would have left her exhausted in the end. She inhaled a deep breath, grasping for air like she was trying to survive in spite of every odd. She closed her eyes, feeling the pouring rain covering every inch of her skin, leaving her soaking wet. She felt cold. It was so cold now.

Ramuh said something else and then gently put her down in the puddle, like he was dealing with an injured little bird. He downed the barrier which prevent Nyx from running in her help and the Glaive immediately took advantage of it and stomped in the small lake, refusing to let his water-soaked trousers weigh him down. “Princess!”

Ramuh looked at him and nodded, understanding that leaving the precious Oracle in his care was for the best. As Nyx took Luna in his arms, Ramuh moved away, slowly disappearing in the clouds. Yet, the storm didn’t stop and it wouldn’t have for days, as sign of his quick blessing for Noctis.

“Princess?”

Luna had fainted already, she couldn’t hear Nyx’s voice anymore. She was still holding the trident in her hand but her arms fell limp on the water, her beautiful song had ceased and so did her white magic.

Around them, suddenly there was calm, interrupted only by the regular noise of the pouring rain. Nyx was breathing heavily, agitated by Luna’s unexpected fainting spell. He hold her with one strong arm, while with the other he searched for every little sign of life on her face. He caressed her forehead and her cheek with urgency and then rested his thumb on her pale lips. Pale, too pale. “Please, Princess, tell me you’re still alive.”

His expression showed a deep anguish, which sucked away every hope in two only seconds. He felt so stupid for letting her go alone in that mess, and even though he mentally knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway, he just felt guilty.

He got even closer, resting his forehead on hers, almost hoping to sacrifice his breath to give it to her.

A selfless wish like that wasn’t necessary. Lunafreya gaspedbefore fainting again, her chest rose and fell with a vengeance. It was a horrible sight, but at least meant she was still alive. Nyx sighed in relief and caressed her lips more gently, to brush away the dirt. While he was moving away a lock of hair from her cheek, he swallowed hard, frowning. Looking at her now didn’t seem alike the day before. She was just as beautiful, that's for sure, but now she almost died for the chance to speak to a divinity and since Nyx couldn’t figure how could this even happen, he didn’t feel calm at all. On the contrary, he felt so scared, realizing he didn’t want to lose her. Yet, that he risked.

“Lunafreya…” Her name escaped from his lips in that moment of tension and Luna responded to it not waking up but grabbing the Ring of the Lucii on his necklace, like it was a lifebelt. Nyx nodded and pulled her closer. “Okay… Okay, Princess, hold on tight, I’ll take you somewhere warm and dry. You’ll be fine.” He lifted her up, putting upon himself all her weight. She wasn’t that heavy actually. “You are all flesh and bone, girl, remind me to feed you more carbs.” He murmured, knowing of not being heard. He looked around, feeling the rain slipping underneath his clothes, and closed his eyes.

The Glaive lifted his face to the sky, enjoying for a brief moment the sound of the storm in the distance. The adrenaline started to fading only now that the princess was breathing in his arms, but that didn’t help him to feel better. He wouldn’t have until he knew what was going on in reality. “Yeah, but I guess I’ll have to wait for that, right?” He asked, turning his face to watch her. Her expression was softer now, like she was simply sleeping after another long day.

Nyx smiled, but his smile was sad.

#lunyx #lunafreya nox fleuret #nyx ulric #final fantasy xv #kingsglaive #fan fictions #see luna safe to altissia #chapter 5 #obina writes and this is weird

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snippychicke · 8 years ago

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Monsters & Men--Nine

@idesinfection, @crowleys-poppet-queen-of-asgard @aislinsekhem @arcadiasblog

Title: Of Monsters and Men

Rating: Innocent (G)

Chapter: Nine

Go to the ---> First

When you had a feeling things had shifted, you had no idea how true that would prove to be.

A few days after that odd encounter, Nahuel once more demanded an evening walk after a boring day at McNally’s. And honestly, seeing Graves actually sounded like a better idea than usual. To have someone happy to see you, to see warmth in someone’s eyes directed towards you instead of the vacant, shadowed look in Credence’s, or the annoyed look that McNally had today when you had a very quiet yet intense argument about money and your apparent lack thereof. Honestly, the man was becoming worse than your own parents.

Just one smile. That’s all you needed. Just a smile and maybe a friendly hello, and it would make up for the gloomy day.

You gave the usual knock on the polished brass, and waited rather nervously with your hands in your coat pockets. It wasn’t long before the door opened with a slight click, but barely enough for Nahuel to slip in before closing again, leaving you a little lost for a moment.

W-what the heck? Your hand was a mere second away from knocking again, demanding an answer before you caught yourself. Maybe-maybe he had a busy day. Surly that was it. Tired and overworked as yourself, and you had just caught him at a bad time. Your hands slipped back in your coat pocket, though your feet were hesitant to leave, almost praying that the door would open again and he’d give some perfectly logical excuse as an apology.

Except it never came, so you begrudgingly left the brownstone, feeling a little worse than when you had arrived.

---

Nahuel continued to lead you to Graves, but he was nothing like before. Now he was aloof; polite but distant. Each time, he either said nothing or offered a brief yet polite thank you as Nahuel made his way into the apartment before he closed the door. No more friendly smiles, or simple questions that led to flustered rambles. No quirky smirks that left you feeling flush. No offers to escort you home, no kisses to your knuckles. None of the Percival you had come to expect. The man that you loved.

You missed him. You saw him at least twice a week, but you missed him. And you were clueless to the sudden change. Was he that opposed to the Second Salemers? Yes, they were crazy, but it wasn’t as if you agreed with any of their ideals. You had simply expressed that odd feeling in your gut that something was amiss. You didn’t even really believe magic being a serious option.

Frequent fall rainstorms continued to depress your mood with grey skies as you worked at McNally’s, and the long nights at the club didn’t help either.

You were tired.

Overworked.

Miserable.

Stressed.

Worried.

Lonely.

“Hey Nahuel,” you muttered as the sleek cat trotted up the stairs of the fire escape, where you had taken refuge. No one would hear you crying out there, unlike the paper thin walls inside. The tawny cat paused for a moment, giving you a critical look before headbutting your bent knee, purring loudly as you reached out to him, making you smile. “At least you still like me,” you whispered as he climbed in your lap, acting as if he was starved for affection.

Rather like Credence. The young man that initially was hesitant, but once understood your touch wasn’t going to hurt simply curled into your embrace, or gripped your hand so tight it hurt. His actions spoke of such desperation, yet couldn’t say anything; because when you did, he only drew away from you.

He may not be much younger than you in years, but he inspired a fierce maternal instinct that was hard to deny. Yet, you couldn’t protect him. Just tend the wounds after the fact, and hope you could mend the emotional ones as well.

“I can’t do anything right, can I?” you confessed to the cat. “Can’t keep a friend. Can’t protect anyone. Heck the other girls here think I’m some weirdo and won’t have nothing to do with me. All cause I don't wanna rely on a guy. Heh, and here I am mooning over one.” There was a huff of laughter as you shook your head, “I’m a mess, ain’t I?”

Nahuel mewed in agreement, which earned a sharp bark of laughter from you. “You agree, huh? Well, let’s get this over with so I can come back for a good cry.”

There was an odd look in his eye, but he made no protest as you stood. He walked by your side instead of leading the way, which surprisingly helped ease the ache of loneliness. But didn’t help the sense of dread that replaced the nervous jitters that once consumed you as you approached the fancy brownstone. You didn’t want to see that detachment on the face that once made your heart race. The cold stony gaze that replace the warm, fond look in those beautiful dark eyes.

So, instead of waiting after giving the knocker one quick rapp, you turned and retreated. Nahuel yowled, but you ignored him for once, especially as you heard the door click open.

And yet, you still couldn’t resist pausing a few moments later when you reached the staircase, turning you head just enough to see down the hall. You expected it would be empty, but he was there, standing outside his door halfway down the hall. For a moment, you swore you something flash across his face; maybe regret, loss, something. But as quick as it came, it disappeared and he retreated back into his home.

So, this was how heartbreak felt like. Tears pricked at your eyes as you rushed down the stairs, but you didn’t manage to leave the building dry-eyed. Couldn’t make it off the block before your knees crumpled and left you sobbing on the sidewalk, unaware of strangers giving you a wide berth as they passed.

You were alone. Well and truly alone.

And Lord, if it didn’t hurt.

***

Nahuel protested loudly at the door, scratching at it. Or trying to, his nails scratching at the magical barrier that kept his own magic from opening the door. The tawny beast paced back to where Graves sat at his desk, jumping up in the middle of the heavy tome he had been flipping though.

Graves leaned back in the chair with a sigh, meeting the cat’s steely gaze with his own. “For the last time, Nahuel, no.”

The wampus argued by thrashing his tail, upsetting the piles of paper that sat around him. The papers floated in the air for a moment before settling back in their appropriate stacks, only to be disrupted again by Nahuel as he continued to glare at the wizard. “You can’t keep leading her here,” Graves argued against Nahuel’s silent demand. “It’s only making things worse.” Because each time he saw her, it about broke his resolve. Seeing tears form in her eyes, a broken expression on the face that was usually so sunny, smiling ear to ear.

But he would have never guess watching her walk away would be even worse. She may not have said a word, but he got the message clearly enough. She was done with this. With him. He would respect her wishes, as much as it killed him.

Honestly, what had he expected, befriending a no-maj? There wasn’t going to be a happy end to that scenario. In fact, this was probably one of the better outcomes. And maybe, if he kept telling himself, he’d actually start believing it.

***

Two weeks. Two weeks with no sign of Graves. Two weeks without a visit from Nahuel. Two boring, quiet weeks. You had wanted the drudgery of walking the cat home end, to stop having your heart broken every time. Except...except this felt worse. Seeing him, knowing he was okay...that was better than this complete absence.

“Um, ma’am,” Credence started, breaking you out of your thoughts, especially when he hesitantly used your name. “You..haven’t been...yourself lately,” he started, holding the broom tightly in his grip while his eyes carefully stayed on the straw bristles. “Are you mad about something?”

“Oh, honey, no,” you quickly reassured. “I’ve just been kinda down lately, that’s all.”

You had rather hoped the explanation would be enough, but here was a moment before he looked up, his eyes as dark as Graves but seemingly fathomless and shadowed. “Why?”

You sighed, putting down the rag you had been washing the windows with--it was after hours, thankfully, though a few people still passed on the sidewalks outside. “A-A friend of mine...well, he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore. And I don’t really understand why.” You didn’t dare tell him your suspicion that the simple little leaflet had caused the massive rift to form.

Something shifted in his dark eyes as he looked back down and resumed sweeping. “I’m sorry.”

You sighed again, “It’s not your fault. It happens sometimes, I guess. I just wasn’t prepared for it.” After all, everything had been going good. More than you could have hoped. You had felt you had been on the precipice of something special, only to have this happen instead.

You shook those thoughts out of your mind and shot Credence a small smile. “Hey, at least I got you, right?”

That got a shocked looked from him, which made your smile grow just a bit. A smile inched its way across his face as he bashfully looked away once more. “Y-yeah. You have me.” He froze as you impulsively breached the distance between you and pulled him in for a hug, this time for your comfort instead of his. His arms wrapped around you after a slight hesitation before he repeated himself quietly. “You have me.”

***

Wizards were idiots.

Nahuel lounged in the dying sunlight that filtered through the window, looking out over New York. It was common knowledge that most of wizarding kind were rather dim. Actually, all humans were, magical or not. They all thought they knew everything when honestly they were oblivious to the true nature of the world. Just like little children. He had thought this wizard had an ounce of intelligence; after all, he was one of the few that seemed to understand him.

But yet, here he was. That boy was suffering, the swell of dark magic becoming nearly tangible to anything with the slightest sense of magic that resided in the city. He had literally led Graves the one person that could help him save the boy, who could stop the dark magic before it grew out of control. Because when that power did become too much, when it finally erupted in all of its glory and not these small burst that only delayed the inevitable…. It would be impossible to contain. It would wreak destruction across the city, killing anything in its path.

It was Graves job to keep the city safe, yet what did he do? Stuck to that silly wizard law, even when it was plain to see his instincts were telling him otherwise. Somehow, he wasn’t connecting the dots, and Nahuel was starting to question if he even could. Perhaps he had put too much faith in him.

He wouldn’t let the boy die. He wouldn’t be responsible for hundreds, possibly thousands, of lives that would be lost. If Graves wouldn’t open his eyes and help, he would.

***

When you returned to your small little room after yet another depressing day, you were met with Nahuel was spread out on your bed, giving a small chirp as a greeting when you opened the door. You paused for a moment, surprised, and secretly delighted.

“What are you doing here?” You asked as you sank down on the bed next to him. He predictably gave no answer, but pressed his head against your hand with a purr so you would scratch between his ears. “Is Per...Is Mr. Graves out of town again?” Again, no answer, so you sigh and gave into the urge of snuggling down against the cat, letting his warm fur brush your cheek. “Well, I guess you know the drill. Just stay out of sight, okay?”

He gave a slightly affronted meow, making you laugh slightly. “I know, I know, how dare I imply that the great Nahuel would be caught.” Still, it felt nice to have him crashing with you again. Especially as you readied yourself for bed before crawling underneath the already warmed covers and feel his familiar weight settle along your back.

If Graves was out of town again, for whatever reason...you sent a silent prayer he would be okay.

#fantastic beasts and where to find them #fanfic #fbawtft #percival graves #reader x percival graves #percival graves x reader #reader/percival graves #credence barebone #reader

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tumblunni · 8 years ago

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HEY WOO! I’m inexplicably hyped again to work on Changeling Sim! So since I’m working on developing Anem, I remembered how I promised a while ago I’d go into more detail on the character relationships I listed on this meme. Its probably pretty silly to start with Anem as opposed to the main protagonist, but Anem is one of two main supporter characters so meh!

R E L A T I O N S H I P M E M E 2 M E M E L E C T R I C B O O G A L O O

Anem + Anem

Her relationship with herself is a low self confidence one. A relateable one that’s probably the most similar to me out of all of the cast! She’s extremely shy and worried about being good enough for everyone, always fusses over little failures that nobody else even noticed, always values everyone’s opinion higher than her own, and never notices her own positive traits. And she’s very self concious about her own cowardly nature, seeing herself as a secretly horrible person and always fearing she wouldnt be able to make the right choice if she was really scared. Would she just backstab her own friends to save herself? And she’s scared that showing her emotions of fear or sadness is ‘manipulative’, she has to always put on a serious and professional face. If anything it’s good that she’s so commonly spooked by human things, it means her new family gets to see her real self whenever she lets her guard down! However she’s actually a complete badass in battle, and her friends believe that she’s actually braver BECAUSE she’s always scared! If you’re a coward yet you still fight anyway, every single time, to protect your friends when you’re TERRIFIED OUT OF YOUR SKULL, then that’s far harder than anything else! She’s also a ridiculously effective butler, no matter how much she discounts her own skills as simply the minimum required for one in her profession. She can actually accidentally sound arrogant because of this, even if its rooted in self hate instead :P

Anem + Kiddo

I WILL PROTECT YOU WITH MY LIFE, MY LEIGE Probably the person Anem is immediately the closest too. Its mostly because the little half-human-half-fairy princess is the one Anem was charged with protecting, but as time goes on she begins to care about her as a best friend instead of just an employer. She trusts Kiddo the most since she’s the least human person in the room and thus least scary. And she’d heard so many great stories of how the mysterious lost princess is an amazing person, and so much is riding on her butler being the best butler ever. Which doesnt help Anem’s self confidence issues, she has NO CLUE why she was picked for the job or how she’ll manage to live up to everyone’s expectations! So she starts off kinda as a combination of hero worship and "I must be silent around you, you are the superior, you probably are so critical of everything I am doing, aaaaaa...” And Kiddo is practically wrestling with her to let her be her friend. Goddammit you’re gonna hug me and I’m not gonna rest until this day has come to pass!! On Kiddo’s side of things, Anem is initially her only friend her own age, and even when she makes more friends Anem is still the only person who really knows what its like to be magical, and can tell her more about the magical world. And Anem just starts to see Kiddo as this kind of ‘manic pixie dream girl’ archetype who jumped into her life and pulled her into a world of brighter things! Introduced her to so many human things she found so scary once, protected her from everything, helped her to love herself more, and was really the first and closest friend she ever had. (And really THAT is the reason Anem was picked out of all the knights to disguise as a butler and protect her. The knight captain wanted Anem to be able to live a more normal life for a little while, and make a friend.) Aaaaaaand ultimately Anem kinda starts CRUSHING HARD on our lil princess, and can be a potential romance route. Senpai, notice me~! Anem sees Kiddo as her knight that saved her from loneliness, Kiddo sees Anem as... well, a more literal knight. They balance each other well! They’re both brave at different things! After all, fighting giant monsters is way easier than talking to cashiers at the store, amirite?

Anem + Jack

A pretty awkward relationship! They’re kinda... only peaceful because they have to be?? Super tense, potential for things to crack at any moment. They probably would be friends if they were introduced in different circumstances, its really sad that they’re so distant through no fault of their own! Anem is bound by honor to respect her employer’s mother, who is thusly the alpha employer. But she’s still terrified of humans and doesn’t know how to relate to her, doesnt know if she’s to be trusted. Anem’s job is to protect Kiddo, she has to be suspicious of everyone and be prepared to fight even the mother if it looks like she’s a threat to the daughter... But Anem also doesn’t want to immediately jump to assuming Jackie is evil like she does with most human strangers. So instead its just incredibly awkward and professional. Anem acts like a robot and initially refuses to speak outside of her required roles as a butler. Her helpful commentary would be more cliche tutorial at first and then get more snarky and funny as she comes out of her shell~! And from Jackie’s perspective, Jackie is REALLY trying to befriend this poor kid. She’s very aware that Anem is young, even though Anem herself seems pretty unaware of it, and always judges herself to a higher standard than most adults. And Jackie also doesnt know how to relate to a fullblood fairy who’s terrified of all humans. She doesnt know how to say ‘please take it easier on yourself, I care about you’ without outstepping her bounds and scaring Anem off... But she tries her best to at least make it feel more like she’s simply a normal child doing a part-time job, instead of a slave contractually obliged to obey EVERYTHING even if she doesn’t want to. Jackie’s only way of being able to show affection is finding ways to make Anem go easier on herself, finding ways to lower her responsibilities and give her more time off. Trying to help her learn to say no... Jackie started off as an equally shy person during her childhood, and worked really hard to become this bombastic detective mama! And even then she still has her anxieties, and she sees them all reflected in this kid and has no idea how to help :( I think if Anem and Kiddo hooked up, Jackie would be absolutely over the moon to welcome her into the family and Anem would be like “??? where did this come from.” IT WAS THERE ALL ALONG, YOU SILLY THING!

Anem + Glenn

Another case of a human who wants to be Anem’s friend and Anem completely misunderstands it. Its a bit more dramatic with Glenn though! Anem has no reason to be forced to interact with him, she’s kinda out of the loop on who he is, so to her he’s just another stranger human who’s a potential threat to her beloved princess. She always comically misinterprets his various friendship attempts as ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS, leaving him confused and bereft! “I baked you a cake” “ITS A BOMB” *slaps it out of his hands as ‘hello darkness my old friend’ plays* And its especially sad because Glenn is usually a super stern guy who doesn’t initiate friendships easily, Anem doesn’t know how rare and genuine this is. They actually have a lot in common as the ‘serious duo’, and often end up together in comedic situations because of it. They’ve kinda already accidentally become friends even though neither of them knows it! Ultimately they do eventually become closer as a sort of inter-generational brotp or something? I think their friendship is more on equal grounds whereas Glenn and Kiddo see each other as adoptive siblings. And, well, in the romance ending Glenn would have a relationship like an overprotective brother meeting his lil sis’s new spouse, which is... kinda the relationship they already had before Anem and Kiddo even started dating?? Precognative awkwardness!

~Other relationships with non-main characters~

Anem + Nicnevin

Nicnevin is currently my beta name for the head of the royal knights, a badass stoic human-hating soldier who nonetheless has a soft spot and even her hate is motivated by loyalty to her queen and country. And to her little prized knight student, Anem! Anem’s been working as a novice royal knight since a very young age, and has never wished for anything but to finally join the army for real and fight for her country. Nicnevin deeply respects Anem’s amazing skill at the lance, but also worries that she’s rushing into a decision too fast on what she wants to do with her life, and has never had a chance to experience a real childhood. So she slowly ended up growing a real friendship with this brave lil rookie, and reccommended her for the butler/bodyguard job out of confidence in her skills and also a wish that Anem could have her worldview expanded and find the happiness she needed. And ultimately it was really lucky that she did, because all the anti-human propeganda ended up being grossly exaggerated and both Nicnevin and Anem regretted their actions in this war by the end of the story. By sending Anem off to find her destiny, Nicnevin found herself doubting her own destiny that she was so sure of... Also Nicnevin just really WILL NOT EVER SHUT UP about how amazing Anem is and how she’s the single most promising knight in the army and 100% deserves every good thing she’s ever given. No matter how much Anem insists on arguing that she’s a terrible person! Like... 90% of Anem’s friendships are categorized by Anem being completely oblivious to the fact this person sees her as a friend, and insisting she doesn’t deserve them. From her perspective she and her boss have a completely impersonal relationship and she’d be like ‘WHAT’ if you told her she was clearly the favourite. E-excuse me, what is this conspiracy theory bullshit???

Anem + Currently unnamed dad/parent figure of some sort?

Undeveloped idea! I was thinking maybe Anem’s dad could be a minor npc, working a job as the royal scribe at the palace. His personality is a nice and loving guy who’s a bit of a nervous wreck and a manchild. Someone who’s looked after by his daughter, rather than vice versa. But like.. not in a negative way or a comical way. He’s a well-meaning guy who really tries, but is suffering from mental illness and isn’t fully capable of taking care of his child anymore. His wife died in the war against the humans, and his mind was pretty much shattered afterwards. This family life is what led to Anem becoming so anti-human, joining the army to live up to her mother’s legacy, and picking up a lot of her father’s frightened behaviours due to his PTSD. But it also forged her into a truly brave and supernaturally competant child who’s been protecting him and will go on to protect so many other people! Ultimately the assignment to work for Jackie and Kiddo was a huge opportunity for this family! Anem sees it as a way to make enough money to look after her father, and enough fame to make it into the royal guard at last. And her dad sees it as... a nice exchange student field trip that Nicnevin kindly sent her on. Yeah, Anem didn’t want to worry him by mentioning the potential life-threatening danger of venturing into the human world that claimed her mother. ironically the humans she was assigned to ended up being nice people and her job pretty much IS a fun exchange program! Also dad has been getting a lot better, he finally managed to get back into the workplace and this scribe job is a pretty high position! Anem wouldn’t have been happy leaving him alone for so long if she didnt know he was doing okay. But still they send constant letters to each other, and whenever she gets a chance to see him again she’s ecstatic, even if it means she has to lie about what she’s been doing the whole time. Oh, and she also sends a lot of letters to Nicnevin, but that’s part of her job. Gotta report daily on any suspicious signs from the humans! “I found this ‘fork’ which may possibly be a weapon??”

#changeling sim #hella development yo

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