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outerloop · 7 months

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Finding the Beat: The Music of Thirsty Suitors

We’re continuing our deep dive into Thirsty Suitors by exploring the development of the music and sound design that you’ll hear while playing.

Thirsty Suitors has a colorful art direction and it only made sense for us to bring that same level of vibrancy into the music and sound of the game. We wanted our world to have a unique feel to it and you’ll hear a mixture of hip-hop, South Asian, and Carnatic influences throughout your time playing.

This week, our Composer, Ramsey Kharroubi, and Sound Designer, Anne-Marie Weber, talked about their approach to creating the unique sound for Thirsty Suitors.

The Inspiration for Thirsty Suitor’s Unique Sound

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If you’ve been following Thirsty Suitors for any amount of time, you know there’s a lot of different elements at play. We have turn-based rpg battles, step-by-step cooking segments, and wild skateboarding areas for you to explore. With some many different experiences, we needed to make sure the music and sound effects complimented the eccentric gameplay.

Ramsey talked a bit about the key elements of the sound in the game, “I think percussion in general and as an instrument really embodies the sound of the game. The beat is always driving the soundtrack. Given the nature of the rhythm based gameplay with the cooking, skating and suitor encounters.”

He went on to explain how this percussive flair bleeds into the sound design as well, “The on screen actions are also denoted by percussive sfx courtesy of Anne-Marie, which appropriately complement the hectic music, which itself is using a lot of traditional South Asian instruments. Rhythm and percussion is an important instrument in South Asian and Arabic cultures and it’s something I relied on heavily here to design the aesthetic.”

It’s safe to say that when you play Thirsty Suitors, you’ll be bobbing your head along to the wide-array of tracks in the game. In addition to great instrumental tracks, there are also a few songs in the game with vocals to accompany them.

We’re proud of what we achieved with these tracks. Here’s what Ramsey had to say about these songs, “It was a journey to find a vocalist who could sing in the Tamil language, do western vocals, and Carnatic singing. We had a few people reach out but nothing stuck. I’d say for almost half the project it felt like we were never going to find somebody,” Ramsey explained. “Suddenly we found Pri, or rather she found us and she ended up being great. She brings so much to the game's soundtrack.”

It’s no secret that in order to make the amazing games you love and play everyday, years of time is spent to bring them to life.

Throughout the time, many developers' lives change and morph and all of that is reflected in the work. “It’s amazing to me that during this game’s soundtrack gestation period I lived through a whole pandemic, moved from NY to WA, and experienced a number of different life events. The whole soundtrack feels chaotically similar to my life in that it’s a reflection of my own journeys.”

Finding the Right Balance

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As with any avenue of game development, it’s not all sugar and rainbows. There are a number of challenges involved in creating anything for a video game. For the music and sound design in Thirsty Suitors there were a few places that Anne-Marie and Ramsey pointed to as interesting challenges for them to figure out during development.

Ramsey had this to say, “The balance between conversations, voice acting, and “battling” in the Suitor encounters was challenging. Making sure that the music flowed between the conversation bits and the action bits dynamically, and specifically accounting for voice acting including length of conversations was important to ensuring the whole game sounds better. Also encounters are locked in a certain tempo range of 100-120 bpm for player actions during battle to sync up with the music. Making sure the Suitor encounters were musically cohesive with the voice acting, narrative elements, and sfx was the most challenging aspect.”

What’ll you’ll find when you play through the game is a great balance between the vocals of the amazing voice cast we have alongside some of our music tracks that have vocals as well. These moments really elevate these battles while not becoming intrusive to the story unfolding in front of your eyes.

Anne-Marie agreed with Ramsey on some of these challenges, “While I've worked on a lot of other games before, it was my first time working on an RPG. In playtime it's actually one of the shorter games, but it still surprised me how large and complex it wound up being even within that smaller scope. There's a lot of bespoke work in each of the boss battles, and cooking as well.”

Channeling the Sound of the 90s

The world of Thirsty Suitors is largely inspired by 90s era aesthetics and vibes. You’ll see that the skateboarding elements of the game we talked about in a previous blog looked very similar to old skateboarding session videos of the time. You’ll also notice that our main character, Jala, goes everywhere with her trusty Walkman music player.

We wanted the music and sound of Thirsty Suitors to call back to some of these nostalgic nods from the time. Ramsey gave some insights into where the inspiration for the music in various locations in the game started.

“We felt a surreal version of late 90’s to early 2000’s music would fit Jala’s headspace the best. The game’s music is very much written from the perspective of Jala. So for me, being a child of the 90’s, the music I watched on MTV was my go to reference point. For example, the Skatepunk and the skatepark in the game are inspired by the Beastie Boys, which I’m a big fan of. Destiny’s Child, Garbage, TLC to name a few inspired some of the Suitor battles.”

There are much subtler ways that these sounds of the 90s and early 2000s work their way into the game. Anne-Marie spent a lot of time researching sounds of the era and incorporated fun sounds where she could. She told a fun anecdote about how Jala’s phone sounds came to be.

“Since the game is somewhat set in the 90s, it was the era of custom ringtones, so we made old school ringtones for each of the Suitors. I found my old Nokia 3310 and got it a fresh battery. Ramsey kindly provided me with some midis of the suitor themes, and with that I went and recreated them in the phone's composer, then played them back on the phone and recorded that for a super authentic sound. Really maybe it was just an excuse to revisit a bit of my childhood and play Snake again though.”

All throughout Thirsty Suitors–whether it's the music, sound, art, narrative, or gameplay–small nuggets like the anecdote above can be found. These personal touches are what bring the humanizing element to Thirsty Suitors and reflect the human hands that labored to make the game you’ll be enjoying very soon.

Ramsey had something to say about his general approach to creating music that speaks well to what we’re getting at in this blog:

“Music has the ability to bring worlds to life. For me as a composer, what excites me is to facilitate that aliveness, the intangible to the tangible, the abstract to the concrete, by creating a sonic language that appropriately fits the experience. I’m not saying I have succeeded every single time in doing that, but I always keep it in mind. I approach every piece like its own special project. Which means I want people to enjoy it outside the game as much as they enjoy it inside the game. So in regards to a game where everyone in all the disciplines has poured their hearts into and everyone truly believes in the project, players should know that a lot goes into every tiny aspect of its design and the intent is truly for memorable tunes.”

Game Development Tips

Anne-Marie and Ramsey both provided some tips for folks trying to get into sound design and music composition in games. Here’s what Anne-Mare had to say:

“Just get out there and start creating. There's so many online resources to learn anything you want these days, and so many free tools to start with. And once you have started making things, get out there and tell people about all the things you've learned, and learn from all of your peers doing the same process. Tools and techniques and processes are forever changing, and only by sharing does music and sound in games continue to reach new heights.”

Ramsey echoed a lot of Anne-Marie’s sentiments too, “If you’re passionate about music/sound in games and want to get involved, just start. Follow your dreams etc. There is a lot you’ll have to learn on your own unfortunately and nobody really shows you. That’s the main struggle, but there's ways to minimize it. Once you get the hang of it things get significantly easier to navigate.”

Outerloop Games Recommends

This week we asked Ramsey for a recommendation to give you all and he chose the 1974 Gene Hackman film, The Conversation.

Here’s what Ramsey had to say about it: “One of my all time favorite films is The Conversation with Gene Hackman, in which he plays a surveillance expert. The movie deals with themes of privacy, security and paranoia. It has a ton of attention to audio and sound and really blows me away how the audio is intertwined with the story and the script. The protagonist is also a musician within the movie and it’s really well done. I think as far as classic cinema is considered this one rarely gets a mention especially for how much it uses sound to tell its story.”

Thirsty Suitors Releases on November 2, 2023

We recently announced our release date with a sizzling new trailer that we’re excited about. You can check it out below:

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LIj46_R62M&t=4s

If you’re excited about Thirsty, we’d appreciate it if you Wishlisted the game on Steam, it helps put the game in front of more eyes.

Wishlist on steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1617220/Thirsty_Suitors/?snr=1_5_1100__1100

You can also join our Discord, and follow us on Twitter @outerloopgames.

Thanks for reading, until next time!

#Youtube #thirstysuitors #video games #indie games

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elains · 3 months

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Hello:) Did Rhys truly yell at Nesta who saved him his mate and son? And did Cassian just stood there while someone (and I don’t give a shit who) disrespected his WIFE??????? Why on earth would he be written like that? He is a SHAME and Nesta deserves MUCH better. I at least hope Feyre was mad for somebody to disrespect her sister. And on another note: was this crossover necessary or essential? Because if not, I would LOVE to jump to the next book from ACOSF and ignore this shameful part… (sorry to venting but I hope you understand ;)

Hello!

Haha yes, I get, I myself sometimes feel like screaming to the wilds about these books and I'm fortunate to have friends who are willing to listen to me. No harm done, nonnie. But answering your questions:

Yes, Rhys did yell at Nesta.

Yes, Cassian more or less stood by the sidelines, caught between Rhys and Nesta. YMMV if Rhys and Cassian were justified, made sense or didn't.

Feyre did tell Rhys to knock it off, though it unfortunately happens off-page so we sadly don't get to see it.

The Crossover: necessary or essential? Absolutely not. We could have easily learned the part that concerned CCity in CCity (the Starborn, Theia), and the part that concerned ACOTAR in ACOTAR (Fionn, Illyrians, the Courts). They would complement each other and if you read both series, you could get a bigger picture. But that's not what happened.

The Crossover is looking to be way more relevant to ACOTAR's future plot set ups than it was for Crescent City. If you don't want to jump into HOFAS, I'd suggest maybe looking for points that will be relevant to the next book. Some of them will be relevant.

You know what, I may do something like this myself LOL

#HOFAS SPOILERS #Lacie talks hofas #anonymous #answered

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siesporamor · 1 year

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What are your opinions on all of the main couples in SL?

LMAO, it took me so long to answer this ask, but I just have so mant thoughts. I'm not sure if the question is about endgame couples, so I'll just talk about whatever I want.

Putting this under a cut because I'm not a monster.

Lutteo is... fine. I don't hate them, but I also don't like them. Leaving aside my own headcanons for the characters, they just don't work for most of the show. Matteo in seasons 1 and 2 is a complete asshole who doesn't deserve Luna. Just to list some of the shit he does: flirts with her while he's still with Ámbar, kisses her without her consent, sometimes borderline harasses her, is a dick to her best friend, prioritizes his career over their relationship even when he ends up hurting her, never listens to her perspective and assumes all of her criticism is in bad faith. I especially can't get behind the s2 storyline, where Luna is incredibly upset by Matteo's behavior—saying he doesn't have a girlfriend during an interview and staging PR relationships, or insulting Simón live—, but he brushes it all off with the excuse that it's essential to his career and tells her she's envious of his success. And he's somehow surprised that Luna would defend her childhood best friend when her boyfriend publicly humiliates him online?

That being said, when Matteo finally becomes a decent person in s3, I think they mostly work as a couple (still don't ship them). At that point, though, does it really matter? I'm not going to forget the first two seasons. If Luna absolutely needed to end up with somebody, because amatonormativity, she deserved someone better.

Lumón is objectively the best Luna ship. They're childhood best friends and know and take care of each other like nobody else. Still, when I see such an adorable m/f friendship, I grab onto it and would rather it stayed platonic, because there's enough romance in medias.

Simbar gives me life. I'm honestly obsessed and, as I've already said, they're one of my OTPs and the reason why I started watching Soy Luna. Ámbar and Simón are characters I already love on their own and they complement each other so well. They have a great premise (dating-someone-for-a-revenge-plan trope, my beloved <3), a believable enemies to friends to lovers arc (also a favorite trope of mine), fluffy banter, delicious angst and tension, domestic scenes to balance it out, great chemistry, and the actors work their asses off in emotional scenes. They communicate, support and respect each other like a healthy couple would do. Simón is the first person to see the good in Ámbar and push her to be the better version of herself. Ámbar also challenges Simón and his perspective. While a bit dramatized for narrative purpose (don't date people to fix them), that's what a relationship should do (says the aro who's never even had a date in her life).

Gastina may not be endgame, but they are in my heart. They're adorable, have excellent chemistry, and them bonding over shared interests is both realistic and cute. While cliché, I like the FelicityForNow plotline and I think it gave Gastina a solid basis that makes it impossible not to root for them. Forever mad about the route s3 took, especially because it didn't have to? They had Gastón's actor available for a couple scenes, they could've filmed the finale with him or just slapped a clip of him onto a tablet screen, then keep his and Nina's relationship going through texts, it really wasn't that hard. To me Nina goes to college in Oxford and they get back together again, I will accept no other option.

Pelfi is such a sweet ship! It's a bit of a Simbar 1.0, in the sense that Pedro formed a genuine friendship with Delfi and helped her become a better version of herself. Even if Delfi back pedaling in s2 was random and made their relationship arc a bit weird, narratively speaking, I always enjoy these two. They're such cuties and them staring at each other with heart eyes in s3 >>>

Yamiro is considered a main couple, I guess? They can be cute, but I'm not particularly fond of either Yam or Ramiro and I also headcanon them both as gay, not to mention they hurt each other and argue a bit too much for my taste.

Thanks for the ask, I hope I interpreted the question correctly!

#lutteo #lumón #simbar #gastina #pelfi #yamiro #soy luna

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auclamenza · 2 years

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Burn my soul

Pairing- vampire bts member× yn

Warnings- mention of sexual abuse, death, obsession, lot of angst

Pls forgive if I did any mistakes!

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You saw yet another shooting star last night. Your grandma said wishing something upon seeing them makes the wish come true yet you don't see his approaching figure. She said that the your small town holds many secrets while braiding your hair which you dismissed as folktale as a child. But now you pray for her words to come true more than anything else.

But no matter how long you look at ice caped shiny mountains they don't budge and tell you the secret they are hiding. No matter how much you look at the birds chirping they don't tell you whose sound they muffle by their singing. No matter how closely you listen to the blowing of wind they don't tell you who are they blowing away from.

It would have been better if you are not stuck in the whirlwind of your thoughts. You wanted to go back to your previous life where you going to work and taking care of your sick father filled your daily routine . But destiny had different plans. You have tried so much to forget about that day but your soul flourishes in his memory.

You feel it in your heart and your entire being. The way his aura swallow your existence in your dream till the point your body struggles to breathe and you wake up drenched in sweat. You remember hearing his voice in your dream which set every nerve of yours on fire. You remember the tug of string which seemed to connects your hearts when you were about to finally see the face of your savior in your dream.

Sometimes you can feel his presence. you suspect if a pair of eyes watch your every move. You suspect if someone follows you from work.You suspect if someone accidentally left your favorite snowdrops on your doorstep when it was meant for somebody else.You suspect if someone whispered something in the ears of the wild dog when it was ready to prance at you when you were returning from forest late at night.

Though you vaguely remember seeing his silhouette before going unconscious, you knew he had heard your cry of help. He had sensed the danger that had befallen upon you when in an instant your senior turned into an assaulter ready to take advantage of your naive trust. You didn't expect your senior manager to physically assault you beside the river bed after you denying his manipulative coaxing and inappropriate touches. You couldn't believe the vile words his tongue produced which once had complemented you. It was then you couldn't fight his strong arms and his forceful lips on your neck and cleavage that you mustered all your energy and shouted for help. It was not before he laid you on ground with the help of his heavy figure preparing to take you raw while having his knee between your naked thighs you heard something coming towards both of you. It was then the bone chilling storm began to blew and your eardrum hurt by the animalistic roar that cracked the thin layer of blue ice covering the river.Your assaulted scurried away from you as the speed of the blowing wind only increased. Your barely opened eyes recognized a silhouette piercing through the icy strom. Suddenly you felt rib crushing ache in your chest as you soul struggled to become free and then the last thing you remembered seeing his shiny red eyes before going into days of slumber.

As you told your experience to the concerned officials while laying on hospital bed you only saw their dismissive looks. They shut you down as they shut others down who say having encountered a canine human by the icy river. All the stories fall on deaf ears when they say some mythical creature saved their lives. The things you saw were termed as hallucinations. But all those voices were not capable to answer how the body of your accused is nowhere to be found.

You don't why he denies coming to see you again no matter how many times you visit the place of your first encounter. Every dawn you find yourself sitting by the river hoping that maybe the place is frequently visited by him. You yearn to just take a glimpse of his silhouette again. He never answers your endless pleas of saving your soul from the suffering of being away from him. Yet your legs walk you to river Bank believing that one day you will hear his heavy breath along with flowing of river water.

Your teary eyes don't convey the emptiness you feel in your chest as you stare at the mountains now outside of your window guarded by long conifers. But false to your belief a pair of ruby eyes stare at you longingly from the forest as they water from guilt. His heart throbs when he remembers your soft hands slipping from his leading you to fall in the mouth of death a century ago. The longing you feel is better than again getting tangled in the black webs of his heart. In his mind this was the only way to protect you even if it meant slicing your heart a little..

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chellyfishing · 9 months

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i haven’t done a what i’m playing/watching post in awhile so let’s do that (no spoilers)

(thanks for finally fucking adding a read more button in mobile, jeez)

been watching nge with phil for a bit, we’re quite near the end and would be done by now if i hadn’t had to press pause cause my mental health unexpectedly got real bad 😔 thank u bestie for your patience with me 🙏 i’ve been promising to do this with her since forever and i feel pretty shitty bringing it to a halt like this lmao.

last night bella and i started watching channel zero on a whim, we’re nearly through the first season aka teeth child the child made of teeth. i don’t know how intentional some of the humor in this has been but i’ve actually guffawed out loud at some points. i feel like it is somewhat meant to be a bit cheeky and dark since it’s kris straub-derived, you know in that way when something fucked up happens and somebody smiles and says “everything’s fine” as if you didn’t see the fucked-up thing with your own two eyeballs. that kind of funny. (“these are tortillas.” you know what i mean.)

we also binged good omens season 2 in one afternoon. uhh i really enjoyed it. i liked how it decided to tell a smaller story this time. you know how so often in shows and things the stakes have to keep escalating. and good omens started with the literal end of the world so they were like hm. let’s just scale it back and tell a love story or two. all on this one little street. like… it feels like fun supplementary material to the first season. like a tie-in novel kind of thing if that makes sense. i dunno it just feels kinda like… the right move. it makes it more, dare i say, human and personal, which kind of dovetails well with the themes of the first season. like a little complement. and ofc. the casting and acting are just so exemplary. i have a crush on every boy.

we’ve also watched some movies. i’m not sure i remember them all but here are the most recent ones:

i watched the heathers musical (a proshot is free with adds on roku). here’s a confession: i’ve never seen the movie and didn’t fully know the plot other than murder? so i was like hm maybe the teen suicide satire was not the best choice for a bad mental health episode. but anyway i watched all of it. the performances are really good, especially heather chandler who just ate every scene and knew it. the songs were pretty good too, dead girl walking and i say no were probably the best ones. ohhhh and i loved the actress who played martha, she was flawless. it was pretty fun(?) but weirdly like… sincerely uplifting for being a dark satire. more has been written by people who know much better than me about the “musicals for teens” trend so i won’t go into it but it feels like this is an extension of that.

i also watched legally blonde the musical (uploaded probably not legally to youtube from when it aired on mtv in 2007 so the quality isn’t amazing but it’s perfectly watchable). it is a lot of fun. a couple of weird added-in race things? but again, it’s from 2007. oh but i hated paulette’s intro song and i just don’t understand why they decided to do… that with her character. just a baffling choice. the actress was really good though. we also did some dissecting about how they gave elle less agency in her own empowerment in favor of emmett doing it which wasn’t a great choice!!!! anyway definitely not as good as the movie but very fun as a supplement to it. and dogs!!!!

i saw the autopsy of jane doe for the first time. it was a pretty good time! some really good spookenings and lots of little fucked-up things happening, which is what i like in a horror movie. i’ll definitely watch it again.

we watched infinity pool and i just don’t know exactly how i feel about it! i prrrrobably won’t watch it again actually, but not because it was bad, just because it was like, ah well that was an experience, but not one that needs to be repeated. the themes and ideas were good and executed in an interesting way, i think ultimately it’s just not exactly For Me. however mia goth as always is perfection. remember when i saw emma period and i said harriet stole the show. i was ahead of my time.

we also watched influencer which might kind of be a new favorite! such good acting especially by the lead. just loved all the choices it made, most of which i was not expecting. a good fucking time tbh. also absolutely gorgeous scenery, every frame a painting truly.

a little while back i watched gone in the night with winona ryder. i need to stress that i watched this in two halves a couple days apart cause that really drove home how fucking off the rails this movie gets in the latter half. the first half is a pretty standard intriguing mystery and then the second is just like let’s answer all these questions in the most out-there way possible short of bringing anything supernatural or aliens into the mix. not a good movie i’ll be honest!!

i really want to see talk to me, which will maybe be on streaming next month but probably only for renting/“owning” blah. also red white and royal blue drops next friday! i think that’s gonna be a fun time with the girlies.

i haven’t really read anything lately, i started a book a few weeks ago but haven’t really had the mental fortitude to focus on it.

as for the games i’ve been spending some time with my switch lately. i’ve messed around quite a bit in zelda, did my third divine beast. i have to admit, guys. i just really fucking hate the weapon degradation system. combat in general in this game just isn’t a thing i enjoy at all. it’s very hard for me to get stuck in which is why it’s taking so long to finish it. i have to spend so much time breaking and changing weapons and i just really really don’t like that. and then hitting with the weapons isn’t fun and then they break again. which is a shame cause i like so many other things about it. exploration is like my favorite thing to do in games. if it wasn’t so bogged down by the stupid weapon system i’d be having a lot more fun. idk why this choice was made. it wasn’t a good one. at the very least they could have made things not be SO brittle so that it’s not SO VERY MUCH of the gameplay. but anyway. I like collecting all my little items and making little gear upgrades and throwing things in a pot and seeing what comes out, especially when it makes that little noise that means you did real good.

i also have finally got back to hadesgame. I remember why i stopped!!!!! because i feel like i’m hitting my head against a wall and not actually getting any better!!!!! but i have done lots of little side things, upgrades and relationships and prophecies and things. plus it’s just a really good time sink, which i’ve kind of needed lately. i could switch on god mode at any time, but i know i can succeed without it, i just… don’t know how. cause i am constantly not succeeding. blaaaaaaaah.

(playing it has made me need to listen to hadestown several more times tho. as an aside.)

i also started kentucky route zero. i like it a lot so far, but it’s like reading in that it’s not an instant gratification colors and noises game, it’s something i gotta focus on, so it’s been a bit slow. still, definitely my shit and i’m looking forward to seeing where it goes. might have slightly spoiled myself trying to find out if the dog dies but. whatever. the journey not the destination.

i’ve probably watched more stuff but i don’t really remember it. that’s probably the bulk of things from the last couple months anyway. happy august ig.

#deep thoughts

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matan4il · 1 year

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Good morning, hope you are having a pleasant November! Love your blog, especially treasure your recent post about Buddie and Captain Swan! It’s made me want to binge OUAT for the umpteenth time. Anyway, what I wanted to ask you today was, do you agree that Buck and Eddie have such beautiful balances of vulnerability/protectiveness in their personalities that complement each other almost perfectly? Like, sure Eddie’s the older one and the dad, but especially in season 5 we saw just how much he needs support and somebody to lean on every now and then, even if it’s hard for him to admit/accept. And sure Bucks the youngest of the crew, but we’ve seen him step up without hesitation and show bravery almost to the point of recklessness when somebody he loves needs him, physically or emotionally. I just think it’s so amazing

Hi lovely Nonnie! :D I adore autumn, it’s my fave season, I hope you’re having a wonderful November, too! And thank you, I am SO grateful for the kind words about my meta! *hugs* I’m especially happy that you liked my Buddie vs Captain Swan post, it’s one of my fave ever, I had so much fun with it! If you do rewatch OUaT and feel like sharing any thoughts, I’m here for it!

Oh, without a doubt! It has only become clearer and clearer over the seasons how much these two men do for each other, how much they choose each other and make each other better, how they’ve become each other’s home, the beacon of light in the storm that guides the other to a safe shore, and helps with doing the right thing even when it’s hard, with healing when it doesn’t seem possible, with just being a happier version of themselves.

I think that’s why I like the ‘battle couple’ trope so much, because at its finest, it’s not just two people fighting together and having each other’s back on the battlefield, they embody that for each other off the field as well. And Buddie have both forms covered so perfectly. The “battlefield boyfriends” part I think is obvious, so allow me to just highlight again, when Buck is distraught over his parents in 404, Eddie is the one who listened to him, and made him feel seen, understood and valid. When Eddie broke down in 513, Buck was the one to be there for him and help put him back together. When Eddie and Buck were still weighed down by a sense of commitment to their romantic partner, it was the other guy who was there to help point out the right direction, Buck being there for Eddie in 502 and Eddie for Buck in 518, allowing them to find the strength to walk away from a r/s that was making them miserable. Not only are they perfectly balanced, Even the timing of this shows how much they’re interlinked. These two are meant to go through everything together and come out the other side stronger and more bonded than ever.

Thank you again! Hope you have a great day! And as always, here is my ask tag! xoxox

#buddie #911meta #buddie meta #911 meta #9-1-1 #evan buckley #eddie diaz #edmundo diaz #evan buck buckley #ask #anon ask #fandom love #kindness #911onabc #911 on abc #911abc #911 abc

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novasdarling · 3 years

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hey there!! i just rlly love ur feitan content! esp the recent one!! will u write about reader being jealous and insecure when feitan taking in a new fem victim, fearing that he might replace her? thank u so much! hav a great day/night!!

Sure! He'd probably love it. Anything that hurts you a bit and gets you closer to him. Hope you enjoy it, I think I changed it a little, but I tried to stick to what you asked.

Jealousy is Killing Me

TW: Kidnapping mentioned, Torture scenes, Chains, Yandere behaviour, Cuts, Female Reader, Noncon touching, Stockholm Syndrome.

The rain sounded so sweet against the windows from upstairs. One of the rare joys you were gifted when Feitan left the basement door open. If only he granted you to see the rain once again, feel it on your skin. How long had it been since you had even been outside, or rather low long had it been since you were let outside. It had to be months, maybe even a year? Time was hard to tell down here, the only time you knew how long it had been was when you overheard Feitan mention the date or season when talking on the phone. But you couldn’t remember the last time he mentioned the date, had been a few weeks ago? A few months? You weren’t sure, to be honest. But at least the last time he mentioned it you realized you had been gone, stuck here, for about 6 months.

The basement wasn’t nice, it was cold and dark. Which made sense, after all, it was where Feitan did his work. Forcing you to watch, to see exactly what he does when he needs to get details out of somebody, or when someone pisses him off. Closing your eyes never helped, Feitan just instructed you to keep them open unless you wanted to find yourself on the table. Dismemberment, cuts, removing organs one by one, you had seen it all. The worst was when he expected you to complement his work once he was done. Even if it meant forcing yourself to swallow the bile rising in your throat. Feitan was proud of his work and he expected his little love to be as well.

While the table was the last place you wanted to end, being in your position wasn’t exactly that much better. Feitan liked to ensure you were “safe” when he was gone. To make sure you couldn’t get away. Your ankle was cuffed and chained attached to the wall. It was a longer chain, allowing you to move around a bit. Mainly for being able to get to the table when Feitan asked you to help or to admire his work. You knew in his own sick little way he cared, he made sure you had somewhat of a bed to lay on when he was gone. Always kept it clean, warm. Left you food and water. It was these little touches of affection that caused you to admire him in some sick way. To allow him to touch you a bit without flinching back too much. But it wasn’t enough for him. You could see in his eyes he wanted more form you.

Footsteps were coming down the stairs, it sounded like two pairs. Great, Feitan was bringing more work home. Work he’d want to show off to you. As the door opened you were met with Feitan’s dark stare, followed by some poor victim attached to a chain. It was best to avoid eye connect now, it was always easier when you separated yourself from them in case he forced to assist. Easier when you felt like you hadn’t made a connection of some sort with the poor person. They were led to the table and strapped down. There were no pleas of help or mercy, at least not loud enough to be heard. They were probably drugged then. Feitan hated when he had to drug them, according to him it made them less “fun”. The clink of the tools, Feitan’s voice demanding answers, then the first scream came. Your eyes shot up when you realized it was a women voice. The worse part was when you realized she looked a bit like you, just with shorter hair. The more you stared the more you saw yourself on that table. Saw yourself in this poor lady. There was no separating yourself from his work now.

This had to be some kind of psychological torture. Basically watching yourself being cut up by the man who swore he was doing what he was doing for the sake of love. If he even knew what love even meant. Feitan must have seen the resemblance because he didn't look as amused as usual. His cuts were shallow compared to others. He tried to ask questions, but every time she screamed or begged for mercy he seemed to grimace a bit. Maybe you were reading too much into this, Feitan didn’t seem to mind torturing you when he first took you. Most were shallow cuts, but some were deep enough to leave scars. Especially when he insisted on branding you, leaving his name carved on your thigh. Anger suddenly crept into you, why was he showing so much more desdain to hurting her than he did when he was slicing you? Why does she get the little pity Feitan seems to be able to poses while on that table? You sure didn’t. All you got were commands to sit still and behave, or on his better days a tender touch or kiss after the injury. Never mercy like this.

You couldn’t hide your anger, your brows were furrowed. Your face almost looked like you were in pain. This was a different Feitan, a Feitan you wanted for yourself. Not for this random girl. Probably some girl who had information for the troupe. Your eyes were now locked on Feitan and her. You wanted to look away, but for some reason you were unable. Your anger only got worse when you realized between questions and cuts. Feitan seemed to be caressing the girl. He looked so gentle touching her, even if it was followed by a cut of his knife. His hands lingered on her thighs and stomach. Fingers gently gliding over the skin. You wanted that, you wanted Feitan to be tender with you. It had been weeks since he even tried to touch you. Most likely due to the last time he had attempted to further than just a touch, you had begged him not to. Since then, he had barely talked to you even. This wasn’t fair, you didn’t mean to be rude to him, you were just scared. Now you realized just how much his touches meant. How much you craved his tenderness.

“What is it?” Feitan had addressed it at you. He was staring at you now, ignoring the girl. His face was blank, though you could swear there was a bit of confusion on it.

“I-I…nothing.” Feitan had appeared at your side extremely fast. Analyzing your body language and face. You could tell he was trying to figure out what you were thinking.

“Tell me.” Was it worth angering him and saving your pride? No, you wanted him to be tender with you more. You wanted the Feitan you had seen glimpses of.

“Is she dead?” Feitan lowered his body to the ground to be face-to-face with you. One of his hands shot to your side, squeezing a bit.

“No, soon. Now tell me.” He was probably going to figure it out eventually anyway. Better to tell him the truth before he forces it out of you.

“I, I just don’t get it. Why were you touching her?” Now you were sure confusion was on his face.

“The knife was.”

You shook your head. “No, you were touching her” your voice was barely a whisper. Even if the girl was a stranger and would probably be dead soon you didn’t want her to know you were jealous of how he touched her. “You were being gentle when you weren’t cutting her. Why?” It was tense between you two. He just stared and you stared back. As much as you wanted to look away, it was too difficult to break eye contact. Feitan nodded.

“Jealous.” It was more to himself than to you.

Suddenly he had uncuffed your ankle. Sweeping you up into his arms. Before leaving the room he paused at the door. Grabbing a knife he swiftly shot it towards the girl, hitting her directly in her forehead. She was dead. As Feitan took you up the stairs back into the warmth of his place his left a tender kiss on your forehead.

“Your all mine.”

As sick as it was, that was all you wanted. You wanted tender Feitan, you’d learn your lesson. You needed him, needed his touch, his kindness. You should have accepted him earlier was all you could think as you leaned into his embrace and nodded. There wasn't any use in denying him anymore.

#yandere #yandere feitan #yandere feitan x reader #yandere phantom troupe #yandere hxh #yandere feitan portor #feitan x reader #feitan hxh #feitan imagines #feitan hunter x hunter #feitan portor #feitan #hxh headcanons #hunter x hunter #yandere hunter x hunter #phantom troupe #yandere anime #reader insert #nova writes

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tenthgrove · 3 years

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MUAH ur blog is deadass like crack to me everytime u post I'm like "YUPP QUALITY CONTENT ALERRTTTT" bestie could a please get some hc of our fave hitman teams reaction a a new fem teammate who is very girly and very feminine, only to turn very hostile and dangerously cold around her targets and people who disrespect her teammates 💐. Thank you and love u loads /p 💖 💖💖

La Squadra x Two-Sided Reader

La Squadra x Reader, Platonic/Romantic, SFW

Formaggio- At least at first, Formaggio misunderstands you. With the sweet and girly way you act around him, Formaggio can’t help but treat you like any other pretty girl (though crucially one he likes) he might hang out with. The first time he sees you kill his reaction is shock. He isn’t sure what he expected to happen but it wasn’t that. After he’s calmed down and the danger is clear, Formaggio can’t do anything but laugh. He absolutely adores this feisty new side to you, but it’s just so unexpected he can’t help himself. If you end up as his girlfriend he loves to parade you around to both friends and enemies alike. Having such a sweet doll who gets so dangerous for him fills him with pride.

Illuso- Early on, your perceived weakness makes you a target for Illuso’s bullying. It’s nothing too severe as Illuso is never really mean to his teammates on purpose, but it’s clear he doesn’t take you very seriously as an assassin. When he learns the truth, his pride causes him to (badly) try and shake it off like he never doubted you in the first place, but it’s clear he’s astounded by the way you leaped in to save him. After that, Illuso seems distant for a while, but the truth is he’s deep in thought. Illuso isn’t the type to confess his attractions easily, but that doesn’t mean there’s no hope for you to be together. As your boyfriend, Illuso loves to give you opportunities to show off your more dangerous side, whether that be from planned missions or just taking you into a shady bar to see what trouble comes your way. You’re very precious to him, and even if he sometimes forgets to show it, he makes up for it the rest of the time.

Pesci- It’s a perfect match! What more could Pesci ask for than someone to complement his docile nature on a normal day, whilst also standing up for him during a dangerous one. In a sense, Pesci is a lot like you, but it takes the peril of someone close to him to bring out his more assertive side whereas your switch flicks much easier. It’s doubtless that Pesci will be a good friend to you, and any romantic prospects have a high chance of succeeding as well. The love between you will make for a sweet and gentle romance, while also turning you into even more of a formidable force if your timid boyfriend is ever threatened. That said however, perhaps Pesci could end up learning from you about when it’s a good idea to stand up for himself. You’ll certainly have Prosciutto’s thanks if you can manage it.

Prosciutto- You have a personality he can certainly appreciate- graceful and chic by default but capable of knuckling down to business when a mission requires it. His only qualm is that he’d rather you didn’t get so overtly defensive of him. He can handle himself, and the way you act so viscerally provoked when he’s threatened could make an enemy think otherwise. Prosciutto would much rather you focused on yourself and your own problems mid-gunfight. Even still, you’re among the most bearable of his teammates to work with, by a long shot. Prospects for a romance are very good, as you have a personality that attracts him while also being someone he can rely on in regards to his work.

Melone- You certainly make a change from the rest of the squad, and Melone likes that. He is instantly drawn to your girly colours and innocent habits. When he finds out how you really are when push comes to shove, he is even more intrigued. That sort of strength would be perfect for raising a junior… or even, perhaps, a real child. La Squadra might have to reign him in a bit on occasions, but rest assured Melone would never actually do you any harm. A romantic relationship would most likely arise out of Melone’s frequent attempts to charm and entertain you. The gentle domesticity of the ensuing relationship would blow the rest of the team away, none of them having ever pictured Melone as being capable of such a thing.

Ghiaccio- He likes you a lot as you’re way nicer to him than some of his other teammates, while also holding a sense of professionalism he appreciates on the field. It’s particularly assuring to him as he can trust you not to get yourself hurt around his stand, which makes you one of the better people for him to work with, One thing he wants to learn from you is how you switch so controllably between your usual more amicable demeanour and your dangerous one. He genuinely wants to learn to control his temper, and thinks emulating you could help with that. In terms of romance, Ghiaccio is most likely to confess feelings for you in the heat of the moment mid-mission, while you’re in one of your deadlier moods. Looking into your face and saying those things while you’re acting all sweet for him would just destroy the poor man’s nerves.

Risotto Nero- It’s quite a well-hidden secret, but Risotto adores the sweeter things in life. He likes the idea of having somebody to look after and to greet him with smiles and laughter. The greatest barrier to this dream has always been the dread of endangering the person he loves because of the life he lives. To know that you can handle yourself reassures him greatly, and the second he realises the duality of your personality, he gets an instant crush. Risotto enjoys going on missions with you just to be quietly amazed by your strength and confidence. The way you jump to defend him makes his heart flutter every time. If you do choose to take him as your lover, you might find yourself becoming almost like La Squadra’s mum, a warm, feminine figure at the side of your formidable capo.

Sorbet and Gelato- With the domesticated, near paternal demeanour with which they treat those close to them against the absolute unfettered chaos that breaks loose once they’re alone with a victim, they can understand you perfectly fine. When they first met you, they were nonetheless friendly to you but feared you might break under the pressure of this occupation. You can imagine their joy when they learned how wrong they were. All in all, Sorbet appreciate someone who can stomach them in their sadistic moods, while still being a joy to be around the rest of the time. In the event you find yourself as their third, you’ll be a power thrupple feared by all of Passione. And the best part is that once you’ve finished carving up bodies, you can curl up on Gelato’s lap while Sorbet gets a bath ready.

#la squadra #formaggio #formaggio x reader #illuso #illuso x reader #prosciutto #prosciutto x reader #pesci #pesci x reader #melone #melone x reader #ghiaccio #ghiaccio x reader #risotto nero #risotto nero x reader #sorbet and gelato x reader #sorbet and gelato

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suite43 · 3 years

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this was a commissioned peice of writing for @princemai . If you're interested in a commission, dm me!

Adjusting to life after the war was never going to be easy. How do you coexist with the people who've been trying to kill you for millions of years? It didn't take a nihilist to think that the peace wouldn't last.

Bumblebee counted himself pleasantly surprised that, well, something seemed to last. Peace wasn't the right word, but at least it was less "endlessely killing each other" and more "the entire universe hates us and we can't really blame them". But for the most part, these days, things were peaceful.

That didn't mean it was easy.

You wouldn't call it easy to wake up next to the closest thing you'd ever had to an arch-nemisis wrapped around you. You wouldn't quite know what to do with the fact that as much as he hates to admit it, he's afraid of the dark. And you wouldn't blame yourself for waking up sometimes afraid that you'll find a knife at your throat.

It wasn't easy. But it was peaceful, more or less. Because when Starscream kissed him in that way he did almost every morning, gentle and still half-asleep, Bumblebee could nearly forget he'd ever thought of the mech next to him as dangerous, and a part of him would wonder why it hadn't always been like this.

But then they get up, and the day would go on, and even though there's peace now, there's a lot of history, and Bumblebee can't help but feel like they're both just waiting for everything to turn sideways.

Bumblebee wants to trust Starscream. And he does, on some level at least. Immensely so. Enough to have trusted him with the fate of the universe. But every argument, every time the banter hits just a little bit too close to home, every time Starscream slips back into a crueler, more violent version of himself, Bumblebee wonders to himself if maybe this is it. After all, it wasn't really that long ago that they were shooting at each other.

Starscream has the same thoughts. Obviously, he won't admit it, but it's easy enough to see through his acts once you know him well enough - When did Bumblebee start to know him well enough? How the hell did that happen? It all feels so fast - But sometimes when there's a certain tension in his wings and his fingers curl up ever so slightly and his eyes shoot around, planning his escape, Bumblebee knows that Starscream is just as scared as he is.

It's not always like that. There are moments when they're alone where it feels like none of that matters. They sit together on their couch and they're quiet as they both do their own thing, and Bumblebee shifts to lean against Starscream's shoulder and Starscream wraps one arm around him, his hand idly tracing small circles on Bumblebee's plating, and it just feels right. Bumblebee feels more safe there than anywhere in the universe, curled into the side of one of the most dangerous people in the universe. In a moment like that, he'd tear his spark out and put it in Starscream's hands if he asked him to.

But... It wasn't that long ago that he watched people he loved die at those hands. Those same strong, clever hands that slotted perfectly into his like they were built that way, like everything in their lives had led them to this specific touch. Bumblebee wasn't a big believer in destiny but sometimes everything would line up just so, and if he'd been slightly more of a romantic he'd've called them soulmates.

It was this confusing blend of love and hate, of forgiveness and grudge and grief and adoration that didn't make sense at all and yet when Starscream knows exactly what to order him when they go out it makes perfect sense. And, somehow, it works out.

They've never really talked about... well, whatever this is. It's clearly a relationship, at this point. It's hard to argue for 'just friends' after that many rounds of... well, you know what. It's equally as hard after catching each other after god-knows-how-many nightmares, after thousands of late-late-night conversations, after the way that making each other laugh became the easiest thing in the world, after the way that they would whisper sweet complements between each other like a secret because it was far too embarrasing to say loudly.

So yeah, it was a relationship. But "open, honest communication" was not exactly in Starscream's skillset, and, well, Bee wasn't really sure he wanted to talk about it either. Putting a name on it felt. Dangerous. Like it'd ruin it. There'd be too much pressure, too much commitment, too much... truth. It felt like confessing something that he wasn't ready for.

It was one thing to sleep with Starscream. It was another to, say, kiss Starscream. It was a third thing to literally sleep with Starscream, to trust the second-least-trustworthy person on Cybertron to be with him at his most vulnerable. But to be dating Starscream? To introduce Starscream as his partner? As his conjunx? That was a world of different things that Bumblebee was absolutely not prepared to handle.

What was he supposed to say? Oh, by the way, this is my conjunx. He's killed more people than my brain can even comprehend, but he also saved the universe that one time so it's totally cool now, don't worry!

But he loved him, and that was the problem. He loved Starscream so much, and he wanted everyone in the universe to know about the funny, thoughtful, brilliant person that he loved with all his heart.

And didn't it mean something that Bumblebee had seen Starscream at his absolute worst, and still decided that loving him was worthwhile? It wasn't like Bee was just flailing at the whims of his emotions, he chose to be here. Well, not the first time, that had just kind of happened. But after that, he'd chosen to stay, because loving him seemed worth the trouble of hating him, right? And Starscream was getting better, and that was a good thing.

And who was he worried about knowing? The handful of people Bumblebee would've bothered to tell if they did get married already knew the situation, and it wasn't exactly like either of them were really public figures anymore. The government job Windblade had gotten to keep Starscream busy was mostly just paperwork, and aside from the odd job here or there Bumblebee didn't do much. He'd basically retired. So they weren't going to be the talk of the town or anything. Besides, it's kind of old news, there'd been rumors of them doing something together pretty much since the second the war ended. It wasn't true then, but by now the scandal had kinda worn off and it was more of a "yeah, no shit" kind of gossip.

Still. A decade or so of closeness didn't really feel like long enough for a lifetime commitment, especially after what, four million years of hating each other beforehand?

But... Life is shorter than you expect it to be, right? They'd both died once over the course of this whatever-it-was. And the second time, they really had thought it'd stick, and Starscream sorta-haunting him from another dimension or whatever seemed like it was a permanent commitment, and that didn't scare Bumblebee at all. It sounded nice, not having to be alone again. This was like that, except he could be alone, sometimes, because neither of them could walk through walls or locked doors anymore so all he had to do for some privacy was tell Starscream to politely fuck off for a bit, which was a plus, right? Way more pracitcal.

"Can't we talk about this in the morning?" Starscream complained, eyes half shut, snapping Bumblebee out of his train of thought.

"What?" Bumblebee asked, confused.

"I don't want you to propose while we're drunk and you're rambling, idiot," Starscream was laying in Bee's lap, nuzzling his face into Bee's stomach plating. They were holding hands. When did that happen? "We can talk about it later."

Oh, shit.

"How much of that did I say out loud?"

"I dunno, you talk a lot. You're keeping me up."

"Shit. Sorry."

"S'okay. Your voice is nice."

"Oh." It was quiet for a minute.

"It's okay if you hate me. I get it," Starscream said.

"I don't hate you," Bee responded, blinking a few times, trying to shake off the feeling of spinning. "I like it when you're here."

"But you kind of have to hate somebody a little to love them, right?" Starscream shifted, staring up at the ceiling, head still resting on Bee's stomach. "I mean, it's hard to be with someone all the time. Especially when you're stubborn and stupid, and you do stupid obnoxious things and I hate it. But if you weren't those things I hate, you wouldn't entirely be you. And I don't just like parts of you, I like you, and I can hate things you do while still knowing that it's you, and I love who you are. Even when we piss each other off. It's still you. Right?"

"Do you think i'm stupid? I'm not stupid."

"You're missing the point."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Stop apologizing so much. I hate it when you apologize." Starscream's hand squeezed his a little tighter.

"Oh... uh. sorry."

"You make me feel... like..." Starscream just kind of trailed off.

"Yeah, I know. you too... uh. I mean. you make me. uh. you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"This is good, right?"

"Mmm, it's gonna feel shitty in the morning, but right now it's good."

"What about after tommorow?"

"I don't know. Ask me then."

"Hm."

"I don't have a plan, Bee. That's not normal for me. But I don't need you to tell me it's going to be like this forever, because it probably won't be. Things don't work out like that for us. But right now, for the first time in my entire life, I'm genuinely satisfied. Can we just enjoy that? I don't know how to be happy, Bee. I don't know how to handle it. But I'm trying to make this work. We can go back to shooting each other tommorow if that's easier for you, but right now, I'm happy."

"Yeah? Yeah. Me too. God, I'm happy," Bumblebee pulled their joined hands up, pressing a kiss to Starscream's knuckles where they intersected. "I'm happy that you're happy. I want you to be happy."

"I know," Starscream said. He muttered something else, but it was quiet and slurred and Bee couldn't quite make it out. In his head, Bee imagined it was something along the lines of I love you.

#the prompt was 'so why arent bee and starscream conjunxed' and i got to go from there #it was interesting! this is pretty stream of conciousness so i hope its interesting to yall as well!#red.doc #starbee #maccadams

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sepublic · 3 years

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Speculating on Carnage...

So you’re telling me is that all I have to do is suck Eddie Brock’s Blood like a vampire, and I’ll have my own unique, home-grown symbiote friend develop inside of my body??? Eddie pal, you don’t mind handing over a blood transfusion, do ya...? Though I guess it’s possible that Cletus has the luck of being compatible, and most people who’d try this would reject the blood and die...

Still, the fanfic and OC potential! And I guess Cletus growing the symbiote within his own body, which I’ve always wanted to see, allows his own human form to be fleshy and fluid too, hence creating entire holes in his torso to avoid bullets!

Which suggests that he’s mutated into a human-symbiote hybrid (a concept I’ve always been interested in ngl) rather than just a human-symbiote bond... Which could mean that he has no symbiote of his own to interact with, alas!

But with the motif of “one is the loneliest number”, it’d make thematic sense for Eddie and Venom’s arch-nemesis to differ that way... Eddie and Venom came from different worlds and merged together as one, but still distinct personalities.

But Carnage really IS just Cletus, his own body mutated with alien symbiote properties and abilities- I don’t think you could remove e symbiote from him, because he IS part-symbiote, his own DNA has changed to be part-symbiote!

Human and symbiote are one to the point they can no longer be differentiated. There is no relationship, no host- Cletus has become the parasite itself, and I wouldn’t be surprised if as the film went on, it becomes more abundant that his human state is more a guise for his true, alien form.

And while Eddie and Venom learn to cooperate, and might have their messes and disputes from that... Cletus is by himself. I could see him flaunting about how he is ‘one’ and ‘whole’, ‘pure’ and in harmony with himself, Cletus/Carnage doesn’t NEED anybody, he’s better that way! He can go solo and not he fettered by working things out with others.

That could lead to some fun reflection about the idea of going solo for Eddie and Venom, given how this film is clearly set up to be their couples counseling. IS Cletus better because he’s alone, would the two of them be better going their own ways...? Only to realize that YES they have disputes and messy conflict, but their bond is worth it in the end, and it makes them more than the sum of their parts!

Yeah Eddie and Venom have to deal with each other, but they’ve got each other’s backs! They have support! Cletus, he’s alone... Because one IS the loneliest number, after all! Carnage has nobody he can rely on... Maybe he’ll strike an alliance with Shriek, but I doubt it’ll turn out well.

If the trailer is alluding to Cletus having his own past breakup, then he really would just be a bitter reflection of Eddie and Venom on individual levels, as someone who never learned to compromise with his own partner, and is bitter and dejected for it... Acts like he’s tough and better off, but even THIS creep can’t deny the humanity within him that yearns for a connection!

And as we see with Venom, you don’t even need to be human to desire a bond with someone else... That’s a universal desire, and no amount of mutation, ‘ascension’, nor distancing himself from his own humanity will ever change that.

Sorry Cletus, you might revel in being a freak of nature, but you’re still a person by the end of the day and will always be, with all of the needs and fallacies of one! Rewriting your own DNA with that of an alien and having powers, embracing a new name and identity, won’t change that fundamental truth...

Because changing one’s self-perception is just even more proof that you’re a person with identity issues, defined by your loneliness and ostracization, that disconnect from others! Because I wouldn’t be surprised if Cletus, even before the mutation, played with the perception by others and himself, of ‘Cletus Kasady’ as some sort of inhuman being, a monster... An identity he embraced, especially with frustrations over not being able to find anyone else like him, nobody else twisted!

Which just adds to his complex in trying to latch onto Eddie with his whole “You and I aren’t so different” rambles. Perhaps, deep down... Cletus desires to find and resonate with another kindred soul, and is leaping at that opportunity. Somebody who GETS him, someone else who is also an ‘other’, but for all of Eddie and Venom’s freakiness, they still fit with others, and ‘play by the rules’.

I’m sure Cletus thinks he’s being very clever and independent and special, not being bound by societal obligation and norms... But he’s also very much lonely for it, and that refusal to work with others is WHY he’s lonely.

He’s only really pushed others away, and there’s much more difference between him and Eddie-Venom, then Eddie-Venom and the rest of society. It’s not about alien blood, it’s about a certain concept of who you ARE as a person, and Cletus is very much a different kind of person- Albeit, alas, still a person!

...Of course I could just as easily be completely wrong and looking too deeply into this, getting carried away with this fun idea for Carnage’s character- So we’ll just have to wait and see, and I look forward to how this film turns out, and how Venom’s arch-nemesis is handled as a true parallel/foil to him!

I hope Carnage is a worthy villain to truly complement/accentuate the hero and vice-versa, make them BOTH stand out together! Poetically, as more than the sum of their parts, protagonist and antagonist together in a twisted dynamic, a ‘symbiotic bond’ within the narrative, so to speak. I’m sure Cletus will make note of and get off on this type of observation, and EAGERLY embrace the relationship as much as his new identity!

#Venom #venom 2 #venom let there be carnage #venom movie #carnage #Eddie Brock #cletus kasady #venom symbiote #carnage symbiote #meta #speculation #analysis #theory

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sirensmojo · 3 years

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"KINDRED",3 - Tommy Shelby x Reader.

Summary: Tommy meets a librarian that he discovered to be the chief of an underground organisation. Needing man enough allies to dirty their hands in the battle against Oswald Mosley, he shakes hands with the devil. Feelings intertwine with business, a mix that leads to unalterable ends...

Warnings: Swearing, drugs, romance, drama & cheating.

Word Count: 5K

❰ Previous Chapter

*Shelby Brother Company Limited, Birmingham*

“Michael’s a pain in the ass.”

You and Tommy were seated one in front of the other in Tommy’s office, it was almost midnight.

You both stared at each other after your affirmation, the need to formulate words obsolete, when all of a sudden, a hiccup hit your throat.

“Wow.” Your brows raised, along with your free hand, patting over your chest.

Only the booze could bring them to talk, but they would forget everything the next morning, or that, they pretended so. Everything the other would say was rooted in the other’s heart, as a prize.

“I could maybe try something.” You calmly spoke, as if a flash of thunder lightning struck some idea into you.

You two had dirty hands and were capable of taking care of yourselves, but those past three, you got each other’s back.

Without knowing it, you were keeping a close eye on the business of the other just in case.

If the Peaky Blinder found something wrong concerning your business, he would take care of it, in the shadows of course.

No need to tell you he quite cared when he wasn't sure himself.

It was also working the other way, you had ears at each side of the continent, you what had happened to the Shelby politician without him telling you, and straightened back up every shaky thing.

“ ‘Bout what?” Tommy asked, pouring some more whiskey in the cup resting in your other hand.

‘The two partners trying to get rid of Mosley’ had become an excuse. The silence each brought to the other was addictive, and the days between each meeting only amplified that obsession.

“Speak sense to his wife. Given the situation, I think both the weak and tuff points of Michael’s scheme are her.”

Tommy frowned, thinking deeper about what you told. You weren’t entirely wrong, he doubted Michael would’ve betrayed him without the support of somebody.

“He was pushed to one side, a little push to the other one will make him think right.” Y/L/N got further.

An evening meeting was programmed weekly.

You started meeting at the library during the first week. Then, the Shelby Brother Company Limited’s office, catching the attention of another member of the Shelby family.

“You think it’ll be this easy?” The peaky blinder asked, sprinkling ash onto the ashtray that was on the table that separated you two.

“It’ll have to.” You responded.

Polly was the first one to confront Tommy directly about the presence of a very well dressed woman far too often in the offices.

“Her hair is nice.” She added, smoking on her cig looking intently at Tommy's gleaming eyes at the mention of the so-called “librarian”.

Because that was how he presented Y/N. A girl from an aristocratic family searching for exoticism and bought a library.

He and you were to work together solely due to his status at the House of Commons, none more none less.

But the Gray woman knew better, even if she refused to push the matter further.

“May God keep Arthur away from her, he’ll eat her for his lunch.” Pol’ tease before she shook her head at her own statement as Tommy coughed away this whole discussion.

(...)

Three knocks could be heard on the Gray’s room door in the Midland hotel.

The entrance opens, “Told you I’ll join you in a minute, Gin--” Michael’s voice stopped as soon as his wife abruptly pushed her shoulders to his to enter the room.

“What are you doing?” One of his hands was in his suit pocket, the other one grabbing the door handle.

She hassled to the phone, dialling a number without even glancing at the Gray.

“Gina?” Asked the man, looking intently at the movements of the woman, blinking slowly.

She refused to address him, waiting patiently until the person she was calling responded.

“What is going on? What do you mean our contacts were offered another deal?”

Michael went closer, and as he was sitting on the desk chair, leaning backwards on it, he started to understand what was going on.

“Anyway, we can still offer them to prosper durably, that man can’t say the same, right?”

She rolled her eyes at herself after remaining silent for some minutes, she was listening to the individual at the end of the line.

It was more than clear she was done with everything.

She wasn’t even slightly “happy” to be in the shit hole that was Birmingham as she, herself, qualified multiple times. The only reason she was here was that Michael didn’t want to properly betray his cousin.

He convinced her to come here and resonate with Tommy about a “normal succession”, but she knew damn well it wouldn’t work. Why would he give everything he spent so much time to gather under the pretext of succession?

Tommy wasn’t the type to give up things, for any reason.

And now that they were away from New York, their allies already started to forget about their promises…

Why did she even agree to let Tommy a chance?

“He didn’t fall for Michael’s plan. We will have to do it our way.” She seemed happy at least, to finally be able to handle the matter how she wanted to, which was the only good news about this call.

When the receptionist asked for her at the restaurant, she’d expected to be told all was ready there and that Michael would only have to give the order for the plan to begin. But no.

Gina hung up the phone before she lifted her eyes to her husband that was staring at her, patiently waiting.

“It was my uncle, some man going by the name of Haynes met with all of our contacts, offering them a greater alliance directly with the Chinese, without needing us as intermediaries.” She finally spoke.

The younger Gray looked away, clenching his jaw as a hand came over his face. He let out a long sigh, his body voicing his displeasure. But his wife’s hand came on his shoulder as she leaned on his back, and murmured near his ear:

“But. He says it’s looking like the perfect time to launch plan B, baby.” She grabbed his chin as she turned around to stand in front of him.

“He says it’ll show them we can also ‘bang’ if it’s needed. It’ll be like showing our hand, and in this case, this is the thing to do.”

One of her hands was on Michael’s thigh as the other was still holding his face so he was looking at her. It was a way to say “focus on me” without actually saying it.

As the man was diving into her brown eyes, it seemed she succeeded at keeping him from thinking too much. She gave answers before he could even formulate questions.

By his silence, Gina surmised Michael still wasn’t sure about the plan.

“We did it your way Michael, coming all the way up here to your cousin’s chaotic decisions. Things need to get in order, baby. And it seems like you’re the one that cares enough to do so.” The words left her mouth so lightly as she straightened up and turned her back to her husband.

“We need to go back to America as soon as possible. You promised our child will be born there.” She added, glancing at him above her shoulder.

(...)

Arthur and the boys had convinced Tommy to relax at the Garrison after a long day. Even though it was the last thing he wanted to do, he slammed the doors open to a packed place.

Ahead of them were approximately twenty women, all dolled up as if coming from the Eden club in London. Very short hair with the golden headband with feathers, embroidered pearls on their cotton dresses made it known they were from high society.

Some of them were dancing in the middle of the room, while others were singing on the counter zigzagging between glasses and bottles.

It was the first time Tommy had seen most of those people.

He was actively searching their faces trying to locate the reason for their presence when his eyes confirmed his thought. You were dancing, turning on yourself holding the hand of a taller woman.

You had on a black & red dress going down to your knees with a black and gold headband that flattened your hair, forcing your finger waves to frame your face. Your slow and haunting movements were wrinkling the fabrics, complementing your silhouette.

As you were spinning around, the fringes of your dress were flying in the air as well as your hair, adding to your alluring dance.

Your cheeks, certainly reddened by the alcohol and your half-opened eyes due to you boozing with the huge grin that illuminated your face, made Tommy’s eyes twinkle. As if it was a beautiful night sky full with stars he was looking at.

“Who’s that Tommy?” Arthur questioned entering right after the Shelbys head.

“Get in the room, I’ll bring the bottles.” Tom’s low voice ordered as he motioned to the little room near the counter.

Finn and Isaiah hassled to the room without wasting any more minutes, too appealed by the idea of getting drunk while Arthur leaned to his brother’s ear.

“Look at that butterfly Tommy, isn’t she lovely?” He asked after he caught the reason for Tommy's order.

The latter dismissed the discomfort with a rough cough, turning to his brother.

“What about you fetch the bottles, eh?” He simply put, and that was enough for Arthur to leave it there.

“Whiskey for the peaky boys!” He exclaimed as he patted Tommy’s shoulder. He managed his way behind the counter, after which, he took what he was searching for and disappeared behind the large doors of the little room he closed behind himself.

Tom stayed there, looking at you for some time trying to understand which one of the facades he had seen was the real you.

You were now sitting on your friend's lap, legs crossed, your lips were alternating between a long cigarette holder and a glass of what Tommy surmised to be whiskey knowing the character.

Giving up on searching for an answer, he turned his heels and joined his brothers as if nothing had happened.

(...)

Coming out of the car, you looked both ways before crossing the street and joining the large wooden door, a hand in your suit’s pocket, the other leading a cigarette to your lips.

You pushed in the door and were met by two pairs of eyes. A tall young white man, with a dark-skinned one, wearing berets.

Without second glancing at them, you confidently walked to the stairs at the end of the large room, making this place your own.

Your heels resonated on the cold hard ground, and as they did, each man in the building turned to you, staring in both awe and confusion.

Coming down the stairs, you passed by the three little training rings before you sat down at a little table in front of one of them. It was two men fighting, one who had a luxuriant moustache hiding his upper lips, freckles sprinkling his face.

He was screaming at the other one with a thick Birmingham accent, “Come ‘ere, boy.”

“Hit me! Hit me!” His tone was louder each time.

The poor man ahead of him didn’t dare to punch, which he certainly regretted after he received a strong right fist in the jaw.

Only a couple punches later the loud man succeeded at putting down the other that was wincing in pain.

“Yeaa” The moustache man exclaimed before being interrupted by one of the two boys you saw earlier.

“Arthur! There’s a--” He stopped dead at the sight of you, and you put your cig in between your lips as you got up, beginning to applause.

The sound resonated against the walls as no one was making any noise. You grabbed back the cigarette with your fingers and moved closer.

“Do you fight? I know great opponents,” you paused, feigning to think. “not so sure they will stand even for a round with you.” You clicked your tongue, tilting your head.

They both looked at you up and down for a whole minute before the named Arthur opened his mouth, even if still struggling to properly breathe, he smacked his lips as his hands went flattening his hair.

“Searching for exotism, love?” He grabbed the towel he was handed by a small chubby man with a hat. “Bet you liked what ya see.” Arthur decided to make it normal for a woman to come to sit and watch men fight.

“Indeed.” You let out, a curious gleam in your eyes.

He turned to the man on his side that leaned in his ear, murmuring something.

Arthur let out a deep “Hmm” before he got out of the ring.

He glanced at you and decided to keep up the talk.

“I don’t fight like this, it’s just for---”

“Fun?” You interrupted him, your eyes still fixed on his figure. His stare encountered yours before he put on a shirt. He grabbed the filled cup off the table.

“Curly, Tommy needs you in Charlie’s yard. Finn, you go with them.” He was pointing at the men and to the door up the stairs as if dismissing them.

So the man handed him things was going by “Curly” and the boy, Finn.

“What you doing here? It’s not some place for you.” He buttoned up his pants.

You scoffed at his affirmation, leading him to look up at you.

“I like some good fights, is that forbidden, Mr Shelby?” You came nearer, throwing the rest of your cig in his cup.

You were standing right in front of him, taking the bow tie hanging on the half wall of the ring and slowly led it to his neck. He took a step back, but you stepped forward, blocking him against the ring sides.

“You know Tommy?” Arthur felt the need to say something, the situation being extremely odd to him.

You gently put in place the bow and looked up to Arthur’s face, from his pale skin to his eyes. You stayed there a whole minute, analyzing his soul throughout the blue spring sky of his glassy eyes.

“I’d like to see you fight more. In real rings, Arthur. Why don’t you use the boxing place, it’s not far from here.” You turned your heels, walking back to the chair.

He looked at your figure, his eyes blankly fluttering for a moment. Needless to say, the minute you stared at him was displeasing, he was feeling as if he was robbed of something.

He ignored the warning and grabbed his boots, before he installed himself on the other chair around the little table, wanting to hear more about your offer.

“You fight good, but with some real training you could be something else.” You offered him a cigarette that he refused.

You were testing him from the very moment you put your feet in this cave, from checking how to open his mind was to his relation with poison such as cigarettes.

And now that you know everything you need to know, you could offer something.

“You’re some sort of agent?” He asked, intrigued.

You shook your head “Did you ever imagine women fighting? Just like you did, perhaps slightly better” You questioned, teasing him on the end.

His only response was to look at you in disbelief, and you bet he didn’t even understand what you told him.

“There is a world that exists, right here in Birmingham. Wanna go out and see?” You motioned your head toward the door, inviting him to agree with you.

It wasn’t that hard to convince the elder Shelby brother, he was always open to seeing more of life. Even if that meant to beat the shit outta people, get drunk, fuck the whole city or drowning in drugs.

The thing with Arthur was that he wasn’t careful enough, what told him it wasn’t a trap and that he will not get kidnapped or even killed if he followed you? Nothing. Nothing was ever sure with him, but leaving on the edges was something like his daily prayer, so of course he said yes.

Why in the hell would he say no? Tommy could do without him today.

(...)

Tommy had an unexpected visit from Churchill himself. It seemed like the latter had taken a liking to the head of the Shelbys.

“Do what you have to do, Mr Shelby.” Were Churchill’s words toward the reason for his visit, Mosley.

Indeed, he had thought out a concrete plan. And surprisingly, it was thanks to the books you sent him over the weeks, it was almost worth getting harassed by her over the primar book.

The plan was simple, Mosley will make a speech a week and a half from now, the 6th, in Bingley hall. Taking advantage of an anti-fascist demonstration during the rally, an old war comrade named Barney will shoot, and to be cleared of any suspicion, Thomas will be standing right next to Mosley at the time of his death, making sure he’ll take the head of the fascist union.

Today’s meeting was to explain details of the plan and what needed to be done before the d-day, but Tom didn’t see his brother during the entire day and when he’d asked the boys he was responded that Arthur stayed training some more.

It was hard at times, even for him to understand his older brother.

Not that he wanted to, but normally Arthur would never miss a meeting. The only times he didn’t show up were when he was overwhelmed with dark thoughts, and it wasn’t the right time for something like that to occur.

He decided to come to the pub, hoping to see his brother there, drunk, but not in a random cave trying to end his life.

Tom opened the Garrison’s doors, coughing at the amount of smoke coming in his face. He squinted his eyes, at first searching for a fire, but the more smoke entered his nostrils, the more he recognized the smell of apples and red fruits.

“Arthur, what the hell?” he called.

The place was crowded but Tommy’s eyes were focused on his brother, installed at the table near the windows.

He walked to the table and motioned to the windows. “Open one of these.” He ordered, but his brother didn’t see nor hear him. He was too occupied smoking on what seemed like a pipe with a long tube from where came the smoke.

“Oi!” Tommy yelled.

As everyone around the table turned to him, his eyes met with someone he would’ve never expected to be here.

Y/N was previously actively discussing with some girls when someone shouted into her ear.

You stared at Tommy for what seemed an eternity, he doing the same, both asking themselves what the other was doing here.

“Tommy!” His brother exclaimed, louder than he needed to. But this one was too occupied looking at you to even glance toward his brother, that well noticed the stare between you two.

Arthur managed to get up and pat his brother’s shoulder, welcoming him properly.

That’s when he turned to him, incredulous. His icy blue eyes were piercing his brothers, relentlessly.

“Welcome to the new Birmingham, brother!” Arthur seemed ecstatic. “Did you fucking know there were women fighting too, Tommy?”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Arthur.” His brother shook his head, still looking at him.

“Boxing, he saw women boxing for the first time.” You entered the conversation to Tommy's displeasure. He looked over you blankly.

“What the fuck is this?” He pointed to the thing Arthur was smoking from previously.

“It’s called a hookah. Or a shisha in percian.” You responded even though he decided to ignore you for who knows what reason.

“Come on, brother, it’s the good life, isn’t it?” Arthur asked, seeing the face of Tommy next to him.

He ultimately pointed back to the windows, “Open those.” Was all he said before turning back and leaving the pub.

“Sergent Major!” You authoritatively called, the heavy Garrison’s doors making a thud as they closed behind you.

The stars were twinkling dimly in the bright sky, cleared of any cloud. It added phlegm to the frenzied atmosphere between the two individuals.

He was already walking in the opposite direction but immediately stopped at the mention of his Small Heath Rifles’ rank.

Thomas turned back. “What did you say?”

You decide to ignore him and start walking to him.

Each of your steps snapped with the fortitude of an army. And the fineness with which you balance your weight from one foot to the other could bewilder the fiercest individuals, that, he knew.

Not a single ounce of hesitation nor apprehension in your movements.

But the most unsettling thing Tommy found about you was your facial expression. It wasn’t closed off or concentrated, quite the reverse, the spark settling behind your iris could light up any type of darkness and you were undoubtedly giving slices of life to each person you would smile to.

The addition of your features creating a delicate dimension where it was possible to believe the best things could happen.

At that moment, Tom wished he hadn’t seen you at that library. You were something he couldn’t overfly even if he dared to. But for some reasons he wasn’t able to move on, swayings seizing his entire being, physically as well as mentally.

There was just something about this, him and you.

“What the hell did you think, you that act like the most intelligent of all fucking Birmingham and beyond. My fucking brother doesn’t need none of that!” Tommy wasn’t screaming, but you could hear in his deep tone the anger rooted in his throat.

“He doesn’t need it or you don’t want him to have it, Thomas?” You calmly stated, which made him turn his back at you, passing a hand over his face.

You were pushing him to the edge and that made you laugh, which you didn’t even try to muffle.

He turned back to you, eyebrows raised.

“You wanted this.” He pointed you with his index.

He was accusing you of wittingly driving him crazy and you couldn’t even deny it.

You grabbed his finger with your own hand and pushed it down without releasing it.

“No, I counted on it.” You started, your lips curling into a smile that didn’t escape Tommy’s gaze.

“Life’s a succession of wars, Tom. But soldiers too need to relax.”

No one had ever put a finger on that nerve, but here he was, gazing longingly into your orbs, your words resonating within him.

You wasn’t only talking about Arthur and the fact he needed to be distracted to stay away from dark thoughts. You were also talking about him, that didn’t have to take care of everything as you were there now to handle some of it.

“I promise you I know what I’m doing.”

He leaned backwards, looking at you with an unreadable expression.

Why were you promising things now? The last time you two were that close, it was you that ran away, and now you were the one initiating things to drift from professional to personal.

You sighed and looked down. That’s when you realized both your hands were locked together.

You frowned, remaining silent. You were shocked, but not as much as you should. You weren’t totally stupid, the feelings settling in you were pretty clear once you stopped pushing them aside.

Soon enough he followed your stare, noticing the thing as well.

Both of you released at the same time, looking at everything but the other.

Tommy coughed, fighting the will to be the one saying something in this situation. But he didn’t want you to escape him again this time.

“I’m dealing with Arthur, you don’t have to put your nose in my affairs. It’s not part of the deal.”

You’d preferred he hadn’t spoken. You rolled your eyes at yourself before throwing him the “really?” look.

“You can’t even deal with Michael and you’re telling me you’re dealing with Arthur.” You scoffed, putting a hand on your lips to muffle the sound of your laugh.

His body relaxes at your gigglings.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re foolin’?” You couldn’t hold the laugh back any more.

He didn’t respond, nor act on what you just said. He just stares at you, filled with joy at the simple sight of you being vulnerable.

A smile drew at the corner of your lips when you stopped mocking him.

Your eyes fluttered of wellness, as he was just standing close, doing nothing else than breathing.

Tommy grabbed a cig and put it in between his lips, but you hassled to steal it and lock it between yours.

He glanced at you, raising his brows. He was done with you that was for sure. But not in a bad way. You were playing a game and you won the match.

He came lightening up your cig as watching you take a deep and slow puff on it.

You started to walk, going deeper into the street and he started to do the same.

(...)

Michael and Gina were coming back from the restaurant. It was the first time the husband took his wife out to eat in Birmingham as she, obviously, wasn’t a fan of the city.

They didn’t see the time’s flying and it was already ten when they reached the wide glass doors of the hotel.

As they entered it, they noticed it was almost pinched black inside, the only source of brightness emanating from little orangish lights hanging on the walls behind the counter.

Michael glanced left to right at the place, no one to be seen, or so he thought. It was only when Gina stepped foot in, that he glimpsed figures coming out of the dark spots.

They were moving fast, getting nearer the American woman before his husband could do anything to protect her.

“Gina!” Was all he said before she disappeared outside the front doors of the hotel along with the individuals.

(...)

Tommy stops the engine looking straight ahead.

You were looking outside the window, to your large mansion. You managed to glance at the man before opening the door. You were gauging his reaction, almost testing the water all while maintaining the silence.

As the tension couldn’t get higher, you stepped out. You began to move away from the car when you heard its door open, followed by the clearing of a throat you knew too well.

Tommy’s steps on the gravel came nearer and nearer. When you turned the keys in the lock they were right behind. You opened the heavy wooden entry and got in, letting the door open.

The man entered behind your and turned his back at you, closing the door. When he turned back at the entrance, Y/N had disappeared.

He stepped deeper in the house, and joined the living room, where he glimpsed at your figure, your air resting at your back, your fingers over a note on the table.

Tom got closer to you, grabbing your elbow with the tip of his fingers, looking at the paper you seemed focused on.

Done.

You quickly glanced around, as if making sure you were alone. You then turned to him, raising your palm to his cheek, a gentle touch that he didn’t expect, making his lids slowly fluttering.

You took a step forward, leaned towards him and fondled his nose with the end of your own before leading your fingers to his lips.

You closed your eyes, rooting yourself at this moment and forgetting about the library, high society, Mosley, Michael and everything that stood between you.

He was the one to initiate the kiss, the call for you being louder than any other things at the moment. One of his hands slid to the hollow of your back as the other was grabbed by hers.

Fingers intertwined together, breath mixed, lips pressed against one another, heartbeats speeding and a thousand seconds later, you pulled away, slowly raising your gaze to Tommy’s.

The weight this kiss meant dropped on Tom’s shoulder as he, without hesitation, came to taste again the sweet flavour of your lips. You gasped at the connection, the eagerness of the feeling inside your stomach being fed.

You were breathing loudly in his mouth, your hands now grabbing Tommy’s clothes shamelessly.

They both knew there was no turning back and that things got more complicated than they needed to be, but none of them pulled away nor hesitated for even a slight second.

Following Chapter ❱

#peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinder fanfic #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby x you #tommy shelby x y/n #peaky blinders fandom #peaky blinders fanfic #thomas shelby #thomas shelby x y/n #thomas shelby x reader

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marveldc-imagines-hub · 3 years

Text

Subtitles: Episode 6, All-New Halloween Spooktacular!

Subtitles Masterlist

Summary: Halloween is afoot in Westview and it’s a must to partake in the festivities. Unfortunately, things are a little rocky in the Maximoff house with Wanda’s brother Pietro visiting, [Y/N] moving in, and Vision and Wanda’s rough patch continuing. Can Halloween relieve some tension at home or will things continue to crumble?

Word count: 7,760

Warnings: None! Just maybe a possibly poorly made Rocky Horror Picture Show reference because I’ve never actually seen it, lol. Also a slight change in format because I just realized now that Tumblr wasn’t taking my page breaks between scenes; sorry for that in previous episodes.

Taglist: @madamevirgo @ravennight41 @multifandomgirl16 @cyanide-mustard @badasspolygenderfriend @austynparksandpizza @sophster1881 @haileyybird @maceidelic @alexpress @angelvinella

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~~~

Living in Westview after having your memories partially restored was a very strange experience and you quickly realized why Vision would “turn people back off” after jogging their memories; things just didn’t quite make sense when you had the combined knowledge of the outside world and the bubbled Westview and it was almost more confusing and uncomfortable to experience it this way. For example, you couldn’t be sure whether it had been days or weeks since you’d regained your memories and Wanda and Vision had decided to have you move in with them, or why all of Westview had changed from an 80s aesthetic to a 90s one. What was especially weird was how people would randomly stop and talk into space as if they were talking to a camera in a TV show, but there was nothing to see when you looked in that direction. With your memories not fully intact even now, it hadn’t done much to help your and Vision’s investigation into what was going on in Westview or outside of it either—before whatever Wanda had done to Westview, you were a bit of a recluse and had suffered dementia in the past, so what memories had been returned was mostly irrelevant—and Wanda, who was still perfectly happy with living in almost ignorant bliss, wasn’t much help. The two of you continued seeking out the strange and trying to put pieces together but it was becoming increasingly difficult and the chaos of making space for you, Wanda’s brother returning, and now Halloween wasn’t helping.

There was also the desire to ignore it all and go back to playing house. Like now, as you were heading back into the house from the backyard—you had been finishing up repairs on Vision’s failed attempt at building the kids a treehouse—when you heard Tommy and Billy chatting. Their voices faded in further as you opened the back door.

“Wrong!” Tommy was saying into space. When you looked, there was still no person, no camera like in a sitcom. “Halloween’s about candy. And scaring people, but mostly candy.”

“Where’s your costume, Tommy?” Billy asked his brother. As you stepped inside, he looked over Tommy’s head at you and smiled.

“This is my costume. I’m the cool twin.”

You put your hands on your hips and made an exaggerated surprised face in Billy’s direction, pretending as if this was the first time you’ve ever heard Tommy tease his brother. Billy’s smile widened slightly before he looked away, acting like you weren’t there except for a glance or two. Tommy didn’t seem to notice your presence quite yet.

“What does that make me?” Billy said.

Tommy hummed and cocked his head to one side; you could almost picture the flashback going on in his head before he looked back at Billy and replied matter-of-factly, “A dorkasaurus rex.”

“Not a real dinosaur,” Billy said with a scowl, then went back to his task of scooping his and Tommy’s lunch into bowls.

“And mean,” you piped up.

Tommy squealed and jumped away from where you were standing behind him. He spun around and almost flung himself into the kitchen counter but jerked away just quickly enough. Then he stumbled back in the opposite direction, resulting in running into your legs. Or, he would have, if you hadn’t caught him by the shoulders and stopped his floundering. He looked up and you with wide eyes.

“Oh, hey, [Y/N],” he said casually, trying to cover up his embarrassment with coolness.

“Heya, kiddo,” you chirped back with a smile. You ran a hand over his hair and leaned down to give him a peck on the forehead. He responded with a grossed-out face and a “Blech!” so you decided to mess up his hair by ruffling it. You grinned as he flailed his way to freedom, then pointed and said, “Don’t be a little shit to your brother.”

Tommy grinned, most likely because of your use of a curse word, and attempted to flatten his hair back in place.

“[Papa/Mama/Nopa]!” Billy, who was much less like his uncle and much more like his parents than Tommy, was perfectly fine with getting a kiss on the cheek after trotting over and throwing himself into your waiting arms, despite still making a face when you did so. He laughed when you hauled him into your arms and cradled him like a baby, something you didn’t get to do nearly enough before they’d aged themselves up, and happily kicked his legs.

Tommy rushed over to be included and you adjusted to holding Billy around the stomach with one arm and picked his brother up with your other. Holding them both with their backs against your chest now, you spun around a few times and the boys laughed and kicked their feet out. You were careful to swing them high enough off the ground that they wouldn’t hit anything and hollered, “My boysss!”

Then a snore came from the living room, reminding you that there was still someone in the house that didn’t wake up at a reasonable hour. You made a cringing face at the twins as you stopped and they covered their giggling mouths while you put them down. They scrambled back over to the kitchen counter to finish getting their food while you paused and looked over at the couch with hands on your hips. “He sure knows how to sleep, huh?”

Pietro Maximoff had shown up on Wanda and Vision’s doorstep the same night you’d regained your powers, the same night that they’d asked you to move in. As soon as you’d seen him in the doorway from your blanket nest on the couch, something about him was off. You were aware that you weren’t supposed to know him yet by Westview rules, so it wasn’t all that strange that he didn’t recognize you from Sokovia—or maybe you just hadn’t been as memorable to him as you had to his sister, which would make sense since he wasn’t the one you were kissing and sleeping in the same bed as—but what mainly bothered you was that the face in front of you and the face in your memories didn’t match… at all. Westview’s Pietro was a completely different person than the one you remembered from a HYDRA testing base, you had been sure of it, although now that you’d lived with the man for however long it’s been, this new face was becoming interchangeable with the old one in your mind. Not only was the confusion about his appearance weird but there was something about his energy that was just wrong; when he’d introduced himself to you that night, you’d seen and felt yellow, burnt at the edges by a soul-sucking black, radiating from him.

All this to note and nothing to come of it so far. Pietro was a bit of a troublemaking deadbeat, albeit a good-natured guy, who slept on the couch and didn’t wake up until anywhere from noon to four in the afternoon. He got along well with the twins, especially Tommy, and other than seeming disgruntled about him taking up space, Vision didn’t seem too bothered by his presence. Wanda didn’t seem threatened or bothered by Pietro being around at all either, except for worrying about him causing trouble; she hadn’t reacted any type of way to him showing up on her doorstep that night at all, other than inviting him inside, which was the only reason you were able to relax around him for the time being.

Tommy and Billy walked past you with bowls in their hands. You gave them each a pat on the head as they went and only stopped Billy to complement the Halloween costume that he wore. He smiled and asked what you were wearing and you were surprised to realize that you hadn’t yet come up with one. You told him to keep a suggestion in mind and sent him after his brother, who was looking on at the snoring mess of a couch-Pietro in admiration.

“Man,” the longer-haired boy said, “he even snores cool.”

You made a face. You weren’t so sure about that.

“I’m gonna wake him up.”

“Don’t!” Billy startled, holding his twin back with a hand on his chest.

Tommy grinned. “You scared?”

“He’s our uncle. Why would I be scared?”

“‘Cause it’s four o’clock in the afternoon and you’re secretly afraid he’s a vampire.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

You looked on at the bickering boys with mild amusement while you got yourself a fruit from the kitchen until movement from the couch drew your attention. Pietro, who was awake now, was slowly shifting around and getting into a sitting position. When he was where he could see you, he gave you a smirk that spelled out nothing but trouble, then winked. You rolled your eyes but stayed quiet.

In less than a minute, Pietro went from tangled in his blanket on the couch to standing in front of Tommy and Billy, yelling something about blood. The boys unsurprisingly screamed, and then the three of them were running around the living room in Halloween-fueled chaos.

You stood at the kitchen counter, cutting your fruit of choice into slices and unreactive other than a little smile toying at your lips.

“Oh,” came a mildly irritated voice as Wanda descended the stairs from the house’s second floor, “somebody better be bleeding, broken, or on fire.”

You attempted to catch a glimpse of her from your place in the kitchen but all you could see was a flash of a red cape. You grinned and hurried to finish slicing and clean up so you could join the others in the living room.

“Whoa, Mom,” Billy said, “Are you old Red Riding Hood?”

There was a moment of silence and you could easily picture the surprised look on your partner’s face before she responded, “No, I am not old Red Riding Hood. [Y/N]’s mother made my costume. Said something about a goddess…?”

Just as you were coming around the corner with your bowl, Wanda trailed off and leaned in your direction for confirmation. You had to force yourself not to stare at the simple but delicious costume she wore, the form-fitting red unitard and pink leggings, for the sake of the other company in the room. Instead, you walked over and slipped an arm around her hips underneath the cape and gave her a nod. “Aphrodite, specifically. She was so excited to hear about my girlfriend that she just couldn’t help herself. Gorgeous and powerful costume for a gorgeous and powerful woman, yeah?” You paused to give Wanda’s shoulder a smooch and waggle your brows at her, much to the twins’ and Pietro’s grossed-out dismay, before you adjusted Wanda’s headpiece and continued, “This rendition of Aphrodite, I think, is actually from a drawing I did of her as a kid, because yes, I was never not a nerd. Mom was so focused on you that she practically forgot about me.”

You knew that for the most part, the story wasn’t true. You knew that beyond the barrier of Westview, your mother was in so state to do such work, nor could she remember you if she wanted to, but something was unnaturally comforting about putting that aside for the time being.

“Wow,” Pietro started, his tone unimpressed, “That is so…”

“Rad!” Tommy exclaimed with a grin.

“…lame.”

“Lame.”

Wanda huffed a bit.

“If it means anything,” you said, pecking Wanda’s cheek, “I think it’s quite well-made.”

Hidden from view behind her cape, you gave her hip a light pinch. That earned you a light slap on the wrist and a look that was equal parts warning and teasing.

Pietro made a gagging noise. “I think it’s worse than the costumes Mom made us the year we got typhus.”

You quirked a brow in Wanda’s direction but as Tommy had done earlier, she tilted her head and stared off into nowhere as she presumably thought back on the subject. Then she squinted and shook her head as she said, “That’s not exactly how I remember it.”

Pietro nodded in understanding. “You probably suppressed a lot of the trauma.”

Well, that was entirely out of left field. You tucked that away in the growing mental file titled “Why New Pietro is Weird.”

Tommy, Billy, and Pietro then broke off into their own conversation. Tommy and Billy went to sit on the couch and eat their food and Pietro went to go get something of his own, while you and Wanda moved out of the way of the stairs.

You took a slice of fruit and popped it into your mouth, then offered her one. She took off one of her long, red gloves and happily took it.

“You do look just… very attractive in that costume of yours,” you said in a low voice after you finished your fruit.

“Is that so?” Wanda gave you another flirty look and casually shimmied her bare shoulders at you and scooting a bit closer. “I can’t wait to see what both of my partners have in store for me.”

You winced slightly but tried to cover it up with a questioning look and a tease. “Was that—? Is that—? Is this flirting, Mrs. Maximoff?”

You couldn’t get anything past her.

“What was that look?” she said, then gasped. “No. [Y/N] [L/N], fashionista, lover of all things bright and colorful and weird, doesn’t have a Halloween costume?”

You glance away, embarrassed. “I’ve just been so busy with moving and getting my house on the market, and it’s been hectic here at home… I forgot! Oh, speaking of which—” You raised your voice a bit. “Billy, costume suggestion?”

“A wizard!” Billy chirped from his place on the couch where he and Tommy were now setting up a video game.

“A ninja!” Tommy suggested.

“A spy!” Pietro hollered as he walked back out of the kitchen with a bowl in hand, which he should in your direction. “By the way, sibling-in-law, mind super-sizing this?”

You scowled at him. “I very much do mind and that’s not at all how my power works, thanks.”

Tommy paused what he was doing on the couch and mumbled, “That would have been such a good idea…”

You rolled your eyes and turned back to Wanda with raised hands and a curious look as the boys settled in to their own world again. “Thoughts? Three ideas, right there.”

Wanda hummed thoughtfully and slowly looked you over. The way her eyes traveled down your body made you shiver.

“Or,” you said quieter, setting down your now-empty bowl on the table behind you and slinked your arms around Wanda’s waist, “I could just be a devotee that is very invested in their work with their goddess, who does their absolute best to follow Aphrodite’s wishes…” You paused and waggled your head a bit as you thought. “Or, you know, a scientist or something.”

Wanda hummed and her hands absentmindedly explored your chest. Before you could focus too much on the way heat followed the path of her fingers, she suddenly perked up and pulled them away to clap once and then waggle her pointer fingers at you. “I know!”

“Oh?” Even as you said it, you felt Wanda’s magic take effect on your current casual work outfit. While the magic wasn’t affecting your body at all, you could feel the tickling of magic and fabric twisting and brushing against your skin.

As you watched, your outdoor clothes transformed into a costume. The sleeves of the simple and somewhat dirtied T-shirt you wore twisted down the length of your arms until they ended at cuffs that were adjustable via silver buttons. The color of the shirt darkened and changed and became red and honey yellow plaid, and a line of usable silver buttons erupted down the center of the shirt’s front; the collar of the shirt flared and stretched into a folded collar of a button-up dress shirt. Not only did your shirt change but another layer appeared on top of it, this being a suede black and white dappled vest whose pattern looked like it was trying to mimic a cow while also trying to avoid infringing on said cow’s copyright. You felt a light pressure around your throat, then something bump against the base of your neck, and upon further investigation, you found a red handkerchief tied around your neck and a dark russet cowboy hat hanging from a leather tie. Your long shorts lengthened and changed color and material into denim jeans, accompanied by a thick leather belt with a large buckle, conveniently accented with a swirling design that involved a W and a V, and two gun holsters that were occupied by plastic versions of the weapon. Finally, on your feet appeared brown cowboy boots with golden spurs to match a golden, comically fake sheriff’s star pinned to your chest.

A couple of thoughts popped into your head as you examined your outfit. First, you couldn’t help but make the connection between the specific shades of red and yellow used on your outfit and the same shades that your partners’ powers took on, plus the WV brand attached to your waist; it was enough to make you snicker. The other thought was how familiar the costume looked, despite mild design changes.

“Am I a knockoff Woody from Toy Story?”

Wanda blinked. “Not… my intention but we did take the boys to see it a couple of weeks ago, so.” She shrugged, then brightened again. “What do you think, Sheriff?”

You leaned back on your heels and rested your hands on your belt—then snorted at how you easily fit into standing like someone out of an old Western movie. Narrowing your eyes at her you said, “Why?”

“It’s fun,” Wanda stated simply, then added, “and colorful. And…” She stepped closer and toyed with the hem of your vest. With a lowered voice, “… I like the cowboy look.”

You forced the smirk pulling at your lips to keep at bay, instead squinting at Wanda and waving your hands around generally. “Is this— Is this your thing? Is Halloween what does it for you?”

Wanda turned her head away as she laughed out loud, which may have brought attention to the two of you if Tommy, Billy, and Pietro weren’t too busy hollering over their game.

“I’m just curious,” you carried on. “It’s fine, I just need to know! For future consideration. Depending on what the preference is, I might just have to put on a little Rocky Horror Picture Show— which isn’t exactly Halloween but you know what I mean.”

Wanda continued to snicker and lightly swatted your chest. Her gaze drifted to look past your shoulder and almost at the same time, you picked up the sound of footsteps making their way downstairs; the last member of your household was finally arriving.

“Now what is going on here?” Vision’s chipper British voice was music to your ears as he made it to the ground floor.

You and Wanda shifted your attention to him—and you immediately started laughing. Vision’s green bodysuit paired with a golden cape and wrestling shorts, and the lopsided paper gem stuck to his forehead to cover his real one, was just too much.

“What?” Vision said, sounding offended, as you had to lean against the table behind you while continuing to cackle. While you looked at him through teary eyes, he put on his best fighting face and threw up his fists to make a few boxing motions. “You think it’s smart to laugh at a world-famous wrestler? I’ll show you!”

You continued to snicker but forced yourself to settle. Wiping your eyes, you quipped back, “We’ll fight and then I’ll use my lasso to tie you up, seems fair to me.”

That made Vision, who was still taking a little time to get used to your boldness, freeze.

One of your favorite things about Vision’s awakening, as you liked to call it, was the gradual change in personality that had come with it. Regaining your past and your abilities also brought a great bout of self-confidence. You couldn’t be sure whether this had been your personality pre-Westview or simply a product of finally putting together a lot of the foggy pieces you’d once been missing but either way, you certainly weren’t complaining. You were still awkward and sometimes just a look from either of your partners could make you turn the color of a strawberry but at least you could manage a tease or flirt without immediately cringing in on yourself, and you certainly weren’t afraid to initiate a smooch.

“Behave,” Wanda scoffed in your direction. She gave Vision a comforting pat on the shoulder, which seemed to set him back on track.

“You started it,” you said with a grin, then stepped closer to try to straighten the fake diamond to no avail. “So. Wrestler?”

“Cowboy?” Vision questioned.

“Sheriff, thank you very much.” You tapped on the badge to make a point.

“My apologies.” Vision said in a teasing tone.

“My wrestler and my cowboy,” Wanda said with a pleased smile.

You squinted at her again. “Seriously. Wrestlers too? I’m fascinated.”

Wanda slapped your shoulder.

Three of you must have caused enough ruckus to break up the house’s other trio because then Pietro appeared at your sides.

“Woah!” the silver-haired man said, “Sweet costume, bro-ham-in-law.”

Your nose scrunched up in a mild cringe. Ew, hated that.

“Let me guess,” Pietro went on, “uh, traffic light.”

Vision sighed. You snorted.

“Half-shucked corn?”

Also a good one.

“A booger!”

And back to ew.

Vision rolled his eyes and gave a begrudging “Yes.”

Pietro fist-pumped the air and danced away in victory.

“By the way,” Wanda said, “thank you for humoring me and wearing this ridiculous get-up, honey.”

“Well, there were no other clothes in my closet, so…” Vision trailed off with a suddenly somber expression, only to break into a teasing smile a moment later. “You are incorrigible, darling. I know you have a secret thing for wrestlers.”

You cackled again as he and Wanda got closer and continued to coo at each other in a way that you found equal parts cute and disgusting. You moved away from them to collect yourself, only to catch their attention.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Wanda said teasingly, “you’ll get your pony-talk too!”

“Please,” you begged with a shaking head and shaking hands, “dear god, no.”

Then Vision waggled his brows at you, hit you with a bad Southern-British combo accent and a pointed “howdy” and you screamed before breaking into laughter yet again.

Vision laughed with you before turning his attention to the boys, while Wanda walked over with a grin and to help you off the ground.

“What do you say, boys?” Vision hollered. “Who’s ready for that first hit of high fructose corn syrup?”

The kids and Pietro kept hollering over their video game.

“I hated every second of that,” you said to Wanda as she helped you to your feet.

Wanda gave you a playful pout, then her smile returned as she straightened the handkerchief tied around your neck. When she was satisfied, she moved the hat from behind your back and onto your head. “You chose this.”

“Mm.” You hummed and nodded while fixing your vest. “I did in fact do that. Lucky me, two for one nerd deal.”

“So, about that Rocky Horror idea…”

You stared at her, bewildered. “What has this day done to you?”

Vision’s attention slowly refocused on you and Wanda as he was getting nowhere with Billy and Tommy, though his eyes still lingered on them and their uncle. “Wanda.”

“Yes, dear?” Wanda chirped, turning her smile to her husband.

“Never told me much about your brother,” Vision said with eyes still trained on the three. “I had no idea he’d be so…” He trailed off as the two boys and one man-child started shotgunning sodas; Vision made a face and gave a thumbs-up as he continued sarcastically, “…great with kids.”

“Yeah,” Wanda replied in a tone that shared his exasperations, “He’s just… full of surprises.”

At this point, you were watching the trio as well. After a pause, you piped up, “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I think he’s a wonderful role model. Such manners.”

You received the gaze of two pairs of narrowed eyes. You gave them a cheerful smile and quirk of your eyebrows in return.

Vision rolled his eyes and began making his way to the door. “Well, you have fun tonight, darling. [Y/N], will you be joining me later?”

“That’s the plan, beanstalk,” you said. You pinched and tugged the stretchy fabric of his bodysuit and let it snap back into place, earning you a glinting glare.

Then Wanda was following after him, confusion wiping the happy expression off her face. “What? What do you mean? You’re all dressed up and ready to go, where the two of you going?”

Vision stopped faux-boxing your hands away as you continued to try to pick at his outfit to wave his arms around his head. “I’m undercover! Halloween is bacchanal for adolescent trouble-makers and the neighborhood watch is the only thing that stands between the trees and the toilet paper.”

“No,” Wanda said and her eyes blinked rapidly in the way that they did when she was trying to comprehend something that didn’t seem right, “that’s not what you’re supposed to—”

“What?” Vision interrupted in a stern voice, with a pointed look.

“Well…” Wanda crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. Her bewildered eyes darted in your direction just briefly before she turned a scowl on Vision. Lowering her voice a bit, she said, “You didn’t tell me you had plans.”

Vision’s hands rested steadily on his hips and his eyes pointed dull daggers back at her own; it was a stand-off. “Well, I am telling you now.”

I should probably step in, you thought.

“It’s their first Halloween. You have to be there.” Wanda’s gaze turned on you, as did Vision’s in the same moment. “And you too?”

Oh boy.

Your eyes bounced between your one partner’s gaze and then the other’s before it settled between them, where you could see Billy, Tommy, and Pietro’s gaming session had slowed. Billy was talking into a nonexistent camera and you could pick out enough words that what he was talking about were his mom and dad. Pietro was glancing around like he was supposed to be doing something and he even began to stand and make his way over—before you hit him with a warning glare and mouthed “no” that had him glued back to his couch seat.

“Not to throw shade at Vision,” you offered, stepping closer and directing Wanda and Vision a few steps farther away from the rest of the household, “which I’m not doing, FYI, but I will be around for most of the festivities. A surrogate Vision, if you will.”

Both of their gazes softened a bit and Wanda opened her mouth to start her tri-parent inclusive spiel but you smiled and waved both her and Vision off.

“I know already, I know, I was just teasing. Wanda, my love,” you continued and turned your attention to her as you moved your hand from her shoulder to her own, “Vision is a neighborhood watch member and I do believe that all the dads of the cul-de-sac are taking part in… watching over the neighborhood during Halloween. You know how kids—and crazy uncles—can be. And I’m just trying to offer my help because let’s face it, I still haven’t exactly made the best of impressions like you two have managed to.”

Wanda tilted her head from side to side, no doubt remembering your interactions with Dottie that she was present for or perhaps your horror stories of previous attempts at impressing the watch, before giving a resigned nod.

“So, I’ll be here, Pietro will be here, Vision will be around and just doing his job, and everything is going to be fine and fun and… the bomb— Ew, did not like that, and if I ever say it again, please send me to the gallows or whatever cowboys punish people with.”

“Guns, usually,” Vision mumbled.

You snickered. “Well, mine are plastic, so my bad, but anyway—”

Wanda huffed a bit gave you a dismissive wave before you could ramble further. “Fine, fine. But you have to promise that we’ll at least spend the night together afterward.”

That last part was directed at Vision, who responded with a nod. Then he cupped a yellow gloved hand around the back of her neck and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Of course, I promise, darling.”

Wanda, still upset, reacted very little but she didn’t stop him.

Vision straightened up and directed his attention to Tommy and Billy, who were back to loudly playing their game. Making an ominous gesture with his arms as he backed towards the door, he said to them, “You have a spoo-OO-ooky time tonight, kids.”

“Goodnight, Dad!” Billy hollered, with Tommy saying “Bye, Dad” at the same moment. Neither boy looked away from their TV screen.

“Wanda,” Vision said softly to her, “be good.”

As he passed you, he leaned down to give you a peck as well, but you caught him by the cape and kissed his jaw first. As you pulled back, you grumbled, “Be back, Vis.”

His gaze quickly trailed across your face before he gave you a nod and a kiss on the lips. Then he stepped away—and jumped into a strange, half-pouncing pose and said, “I smell crime,” before shuffling his way out the front door.

“I smell bellyaches in the morning,” you said to no one particular as you shut the door behind him.

Wanda trailed after you, frowning, and her hand lingered on the door.

“Hey.” You took her hand and brought it to your lips to kiss each fingertip as she turned your attention to you. “It’ll be okay.”

Now Wanda’s eyes traced a path across your face before meeting your eyes. “How can you be so sure?”

You replied simply, “I have faith in you and Vision more than I do in anyone else.”

Wanda nodded slowly and took her hand back. She turned around, was greeted by Pietro with a scary face and a bottle of shaving cream in each hand, and screamed. She jumped back against you and you circled your arms protectively around her waist. She scolded her twin, “Don’t do that!”

Pietro snickered. “Where do you keep your water balloons?”

“What?” Wanda’s brows furrowed. “We don’t have water balloons.”

“Where are we gonna put all this shaving cream?” Pietro asked, raising the large cans for her to see. He glanced at you where your chin was resting on Wanda’s shoulder.

You gave him a slight nod, then lightly jutted your chin in the direction of the kitchen. “Backyard,” you mouthed, “Shed.”

Pietro grinned.

Wanda scoffed and gave your cheek a light swat. “Don’t encourage him!”

You snickered and smooched her cheek.

Tommy walked over with an opened plastic bag in hand; Pietro used this as an excuse. Pointing a finger at the boy, he said, “It was Billy’s idea.”

“I’m Tommy.”

“And I’m heading back to the house,” you added in. You peeled yourself away from Wanda after giving her a couple more teasing kisses, despite Tommy and Pietro’s gagging responses, and continued, “I’m going to try to get a couple more boxes packed, want to be done by the weekend. See you in an hour or so?”

“How dare you leave me with these monsters,” Wanda said goodnaturedly.

You shrugged as you opened the front door and began backing out of it.

“Don’t worry,” you said, then gave your partner a smirk and a wink, “you’re a goddess, after all.”

===

You were humming casually as you walked down the street. You kept a close eye on Tommy and Billy as they walked slightly ahead of you, chatting about candy, and a familiar tug in your stomach told you that Wanda and Pietro were still walking just behind you.

Suddenly Tommy and Billy ran off. Pietro yelled the mildly concerning encouragement of “Unleash hell, demon spawn!” Wanda let out a worried holler of your name but you were already heading after the boys.

“I got ‘em!” you hollered with a wave over your shoulder. You jogged after them and scooped them into the air from behind, shaking them around as they giggled. Setting them down again, you followed them up to a house, narrowly avoiding other kids and parents. “You’re not supposed to run off, you know.”

“It’s okay,” Billy stated, “Mom will take care of us.”

“Yeah,” Tommy agreed, “she’s magic!”

You snorted. “That doesn’t mean give her a harder time just because of it.”

The three of you reached the opened door of the house. An older woman dressed as a fairytale queen stood in the doorway, holding a bowl full of candy goodies that she lowered for Tommy and Billy to grab from. You glanced at them to see Tommy shoveling twice as much candy as he should into his bag and rolled your eyes before looking back to the woman. She smiled and said, “Good evening, Sheriff, how’s patrol going?”

You put on your best Southern accent and responded with a tip of your hat, “All’s well, Your Highness. Nothing can get past me and my band of… wizard and lightning bolt.”

Finished with their looting, Tommy and Billy spun around and ran back to their mother and uncle. You gave the woman another hat tip before running after them, chuckling.

“Next house, Mom!” Tommy cried as the three of you reached her and Pietro.

“What am I,” you huffed, “chopped liver?”

“You,” Pietro replied pointedly, “don’t have super speed. Whaddya say, boys? How about you let Uncle P maximize your candy acquisition, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tommy exclaimed, “kick-ass!”

“Language,” you warned with a tousle of his silver-painted hair. You stepped over to Wanda’s side as Tommy grasped Billy’s hand, then reached out for Pietro’s.

“I feel the need,” Pietro started.

“For speed!” Tommy finished. They grabbed each other’s hand and then the three of them were gone in a silvery blue streak.

“Kick-ass,” Wanda said. She stared at you incredulously.

“I see the double standard I’m setting,” you stated. “Also, we’re going to regret letting them leave.”

“Probably.” Wanda gave you an empathetic pat on the shoulder, then spotted someone behind you. She made her way around you and walked over to Herb, who wore a fantastic Frankenstein’s Monster costume, and you walked after her. “Oh, hey, Herb.”

“Oh, hey, Wanda, [Y/N],” Herb responded.

You noticed as you got closer, waving absentmindedly, that he had a wire in his ear, probably set up to communicate with the other neighborhood watch members. You wondered if Vision had thought his cover through and actually told anyone that he was going to help out the watch tonight.

“How’s the patrol going?” Wanda asked.

“Eh, quiet so far,” Herb replied, only for a crackle to sound in his ear. He asked for the two of you to hang on for a moment, then put a finger to his ear. “Say again. All the candy has disappeared?”

As if on cue, Pietro and the twins went zipping by behind him, leaving no candy in their wake. You and Wanda exchanged nervous glances.

“And now all the jack-o’-lanterns have been smashed,” Herb continued. “And now everyone’s covered in silly string?”

“I said we’d regret it,” you muttered to her.

She anxiously looked about, trying to follow the streak flying up and down the street. “[Y/N], honey, could you maybe…?”

“I’ll get the pumpkins and silly string,” you offered, your powers already beginning to warm your fingertips, “you get the candy?”

“Deal.”

Wanda pretended to fix her hair and used the action to mask a subtle power-conjuring gesture. In response, the insides of bowls and bags being held by the people around you began to glow red as their candy was replenished.

Now that you had a handle on your own abilities, it was easy to manage with no hand movements required. The power itself was fairly simple: you could transform matter from one form to another. It came with a couple of other quirks, like a heightened awareness of certain energies—such as Wanda’s magic or Vision’s overall synthezoid being—and being able to use that awareness to find a person if you focused hard enough and paid attention to the pull in your gut but overall, you didn’t find it particularly special and it was nowhere near as powerful as Wanda’s. You could also drain your powers if you used them too long or focused on them too hard, and had to keep a constant source of energy intake to keep both your body and ability’s energy in check; in other words, you were almost always snacking.

It was useful in times like these, though, where you had a target object or objects that needed to be covered up. All you had to do was focus—not too little and not too much, you found through trial and error; that was the trickiest part—and let the prickling heat coat your hands, and then thin wisps of black appeared to float around smashed pumpkins or entangle themselves with lines of silly string. Black turned to white as the transformation began to take place—silly string into fake cobwebs, Halloween-themed strings of light, or sinking into peoples’ clothing to become part of the pattern, and pumpkins into sturdier variations of themselves or other Halloween decorations—before white turned to red and then faded altogether.

You’d think at least one person of Westview would notice such feats of glowing magic and decorations appearing before their very eyes but no. The only indication that anything had changed at all was another crackle in Herb’s ear.

“Oh, nice,” Herb said in response to the talking in his ear, “everything seems to be all good now.”

“Huh, weird,” you said as you casually shook off the tingling sensation in your hands, “I wondered what happened.”

“Pranks, probably,” Wanda suggested after clearing her throat and dropping her hands. “Of course, the watch probably handled it. I’m sure Vision had a hand in it.”

“Vision?” Herb questioned. “Oh, he’s not on duty.”

Nice job, Vis.

“Oh,” Wanda said, “I… I thought…”

“Is there something I can do for you, Wanda?” Herb asked, suddenly staring intently at her. “Do you want something changed?”

Wanda became visibly uncomfortable and she chuckled nervously. “No. It’s fine. Nevermind.”

You eyed Herb; his eyes weren’t quite glassy but they stared with an emptiness that made your intestines twist before they snapped back to normal when Wanda indicated that everything was fine. You placed a supporting hand on Wanda’s back and slowly ushered her away as Herb smiled, waved, and walked off down the street.

“Strange,” Wanda said with a few rapid blinks.

“Very.” you agreed as the two of you walked on. “Are you okay?”

Wanda blinked once more, then stopped walking. “Did Vision lie to me?”

You slowed and turned to face her before stopping altogether. “Well, he’s technically doing his job.”

Wanda stared at you. “Do you know where he is? What he’s doing?”

You winced, then shook your head. “I don’t. I’m sorry. I told him that he should talk to you and he must have decided he didn’t want to ‘get me in trouble’ or something.”

Wanda frowned and mumbled, “What is wrong with us…?”

“I’m sorry,” you tried again as you anxiously toyed with the hem of your short vest, “I want to help.”

Wanda sighed and gave you a small, sad smile. “You tried.”

===

Later that night, while you and Wanda were back walking with the group, Tommy found himself to have developed super-speed like Pietro because of course, he had. As you’d done for most of the day, you tasked yourself with watching over the kids while Wanda used her time to catch up with her estranged brother. This time, you were watching Tommy zip Billy and himself around to test out his new ability while Wanda and Pietro wandered a little further down the street. Now that Tommy had an energy similar to that of his parents, even if you couldn’t see him, you could hone in on him and follow a familiar pull.

You were leaning against the side of the local cinema, which was currently showing The Incredibles—Westview had apparently shifted decades again—and attempting to make a mental map of Tommy’s speedy travels while using the compass-like pull when the pull suddenly yanked your attention upward. Your eyes shot open as you sought out the call of your attention and against the starless night sky, you could see a pinprick of familiar golden light hovering over a floating silhouette.

You glanced over to Wanda and Pietro, who were deep in conversation. Then a flash of silver light zipped across your field of vision; you stopped Tommy and Billy by turning a section of the street in their path to wet cement.

“Hey, no fair!” Tommy whined.

“My costume…” Billy mumbled sadly.

You tugged them out of the wet cement, turned it back to asphalt, and transformed the mess on their shoes and pants into grass clippings that could easily be brushed off. After doing so, you straightened up and took the toy guns out of your holsters. You thought about turning them into squirt guns and setting the twins loose, then decided that wouldn’t make you any better than Pietro and settled for transforming them into massive chocolate bars instead. You held them out to the twins.

“Take these,” you said, “and be on your best behavior for the rest of the night. Go with your mom and Pietro to the movie showing. Tell them I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”

Tommy eyed the chocolate skeptically before shrugging and taking it anyway. “Where are you going?”

“To make sure Vision gets home on time,” you replied. Tommy shrugged again and walked off, and you started to turn away when you felt a little hand grasp your wrist and the slight spark of magical energy that came with it. You looked down to see Billy staring up at you with wide eyes.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” he asked softly. “Mom and Dad?”

You took his hand and squeezed it. “Of course, hon’. If anyone can make something work, they can.”

Billy stared for a little longer before nodding. He squeezed your hand back, then dropped it. “Stay safe.”

“That’s the plan.”

===

You were following your inner compass to Vision, who was no longer flying overhead when you began feeling the weird sensation of something non-physical trying to clamber inside your head. You were tempted to try to block yourself from whatever it was trying to reach you but it didn’t feel threatening. Instead, it felt somewhat familiar and it felt scared.

You paused and try to figure out what exactly it was and as you did so, your head filled with radio static, struggling to get in tune. You focused harder, invited whatever was trying to connect with you to do so, and just as the familiarity clicked as Billy, the young boy’s voice rang inside your skull.

It’s Dad, Billy’s voice said and then the radio static was reappearing. Before it completely overtook him, you could hear, He’s in trouble.

Just as Billy’s voice and then the radio static disappeared from your head, a section of the barrier shielding Westview from the outside world exploded into view. From your previous experience with going through the barrier yourself, you recognized the warping of the static wall as trying to bend around something trying to leave to prevent it from doing so.

Burning heat suddenly flared in your palms, strong enough to envelop your entire arms and lick at your shoulders and neck. Then you were running to Vision’s aid, throwing bolts of glowing energy ahead of you to transform obstacles like trees and signs into harmless items that were no longer in your way as you beelined to your partner. While the visible section of the barrier was easy enough to follow, it didn’t tell you anything about the condition of the person it was fighting against. Instead, the normally steady pang that was now quickly shattering and fading told you Vision was not just in danger but dying, and fast. You attempted to quicken your pace further.

By the time you reached the edge of Westview, you felt sweaty and exhausted, and the numbness of falling asleep limbs was setting into your hands and arms; you’d overused your abilities. Still, when you saw that Vision was nowhere to be seen, meaning he’d managed to make it through the barrier, you pushed forward and started forcing your way through it as well. Although your powers were weak from overuse and nothing compared to Wanda’s they did help make the passage somewhat easier. Just before you broke through to the other side, you felt what could only be described as the magic version of the pullback of a wave before a tsunami was about to hit.

Then you were collapsing on the other side of the barrier. It was hell there—a high-tech military base was set up, trucks and soldiers were swarming around, a woman was being handcuffed to one truck by a familiar man—but all you could focus on was the body of your dying lover laying on the ground barely a foot ahead of you, pieces of him tearing from his body and flying backward to be absorbed by the energy field just behind you. You felt yourself choke out a sob from seeing him in such a state and forced yourself to crawl one inch, then two inches, then three inches forward until you could wrap a weak hand around his ankle and attempt to feed what little bit of energy that you had left into him. You drained yourself little by little of everything you had left until dark spots appeared in your eyesight and you didn’t have enough strength to lift your head or keep a tight hold on Vision’s ankle.

You were about to pass out when Wanda’s magic hit crashed into you like a wave and traveled outward. Then everything went black.

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robotslenderman · 3 years

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Sascha! :3

:DDD

SPECIAL INTEREST TIME, BITCHES

How I feel about this character

I used to not give a shit but then you sucked me into them how dare you

They are baby

Mass murdering horrible torturer baby

They've... been through a hell of a lot of trauma and have to process it. They were stuck in that trauma for centuries. Now Ilias is apparently back but he died in their arms, they saw him turn to ash and they have to be dealing with the trauma of that, too.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Ilias cel Frumos, Beckett (but like in a snarky enemies to lovers kind of way), and ofc my own OCs Rose and Nastasya. Wasn't sure about Nastasya/Sascha for a while but suddenly something seemed to click the other night and I think they'd actually work very well together -- their personalities complement each other, I think. Ilias is warm to Sascha's cold, extroverted to Sascha's introvert, but Nastasya is playful to Sascha's seriousness, joyful to their solemnity, vibrant to their reserved nature.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Even before Rose became a romantic partner I shipped the two of them nonromantically too.

Also I like the idea of Sascha being a tsundere Vitriolic Best Buds with Beckett.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I think that they would have responded far, far worse to the appearance of Elias Athanasios than I see fandom talk about (sorry, Ry XD). Like, not even as bad as I've mentioned before -- way worse.

(SORRY RY I'M HAVING A SPECIAL INTEREST MOMENT)

To start: there is no way in hell they're not dealing with hella trauma after the Dracon. That everyone agrees on, but lemme go into detail:

Like imagine not just seeing your lover die in your arms but being unable to really process it because your consciousness just got smooshed with someone else's, with someone who's mourning his own lovers and didn't really care about yours. Oh, and that person's a suicidal but also sadistic psychopath.

So you spend a few centuries torturing people, shit you wouldn't have done before except in extreme circumstances (if at all) and quite enjoying it, and then --

And then you get separated from the part of you that was okay with it because oh, it was actually the other guy who was cool with that stuff, and you were trapped with the brain of the guy who enjoyed everything you did and you felt everything he did as you did it and thought you wanted it, thought you enjoyed it, thought it was you who decided it, but because you were so enmeshed you don't know that you DIDN'T, maybe it WAS you, can you really blame the Dracon?

And maybe it was really you who made those decisions, because after that long fused together... sure, you're separated physically.

But are you really?

You've been together for centuries. After that long you can't have known where one of you began and the other ended, and it must have influenced your true personality. I mean, stick people in a room of people different to them and they adapt their personality and beliefs pretty quickly, like weeks to months, without outside influence.

Like, how much fucking worse would that be if you were actually stuck inside their head, for CENTURIES???

You're apart now, but in a sense you'll always be together.

Stick the both of you in a room and you'd probably talk like a pair of Creepy Twins. You'll finish each other's sentences because you'll both be on the same wavelength, you'll have the same idiosyncratic habits -- scratching your nose with the same finger of the same hand, tilting your head the same way when you think somebody's being annoyingly obtuse, tapping your fingers the same way on the desk when you're thinking.

You've been intertwined for so long that you probably have the same impulses now, the same thoughts, with only the most foundational aspects to the both of you separating you -- the Dracon's still got his sadism, and Sascha is still introverted, so that'll influence subtle differences.

But it'll be buried under seven hundred years of habits you developed together, opinions and thoughts and aversions and passions you developed together, working in sync for every second of existence, dreaming the same dreams, moving the same hands and fingers, doing the same deeds.

You were a gestalt. Are you no longer one just because you're apart? Are you really separated when you were one for so long? Are you even two people any more, or are you just one person with two bodies, now?

It's going to take decades to bring yourself back to a functional level after the identity crisis that causes, and that's not even counting the trauma of the Eldest, or the Dracon's trauma that you remember just as vividly as if it were your own, or the trauma of what Symeon did to you.

You will probably never, ever recover.

There's traumatic events people went through that follow them for decades that only happened over a few hours at most.

How can you come back from seven hundred years?

In a way, it would have been emotionally better for them to have stayed fused to the Dracon forever. At least they would have thought they were themself, then. At least they were used to it. At least they didn't have a conscience. At least they didn't feel as used because half of them was doing the using, if initially unwillingly. They were one; there was no conflict, just two people so in sync they may as well have been one.

Then to add insult to injury, right after the Dracon's pulled from you, a guy identical to the lover you witnessed die in your arms shows up trying to get your attention. That timing is suspicious AF, and any hope Sascha might have had of coming to terms with Ilias's death on their own time comes crashing down as this redhead just casually waltzes on in and just mashes Sascha's trauma buttons by existing, by looking just like him and acting like him and sounding like him and having the same interests as him and and and --

And now half of them is gone. But also -- not gone, never going, never leaving, who are they now? They're missing half of themself but also probably feeling like they'll never be their real self again. Were they ever really Sascha, when that was a name they took on side by side with the Dracon? But how can they be Myca when Myca is seven hundred years away, when he died the moment Ilias did?

Maybe it was Myca who died in his lover's arms, not the other way around.

I think on the outside Sascha would pretend to be furious at Elias Athanasios for posing as their lover, for having the gall to pose as someone they saw turn to ash, but deep down?

I think they're fucking terrified of him.

Because of the traumatic memories he brings back. Because he knows so much about Ilias and Sascha can't figure out who he "really" is and what his true motivations are.

Because after everything Symeon did, after everything the Dracon and the Eldest did, after the evidence in front of Sascha's eyes that Ilias was dead, dead, dead, how can they not be terrified that this isn't another attempt to manipulate them and put them at the complete and utter mercy of another Methuselah or Elder or worse for another few centuries, when they were only JUST set free?

Their nights as the Angel of Caine are done. They've been manipulated so long and now there's someone else using the person that they loved the most as bait to draw them out. Someone they know for certain did not survive. For their own survival, they can't do anything but disappear because given the forces that has had power over them before, they can't take any risks with this one. Sascha keeps trying to find out who he really is and if he's working for someone, what his angle is, but this time their brilliance is getting them nowhere and they cannot find a single scrap of a clue who Elias Athanasios really is, because all evidence points to him being the real thing but he can't be because THEY SAW HIM DIE.

And here Athanasios is, continuing to try to lure them out.

He's convinced Beckett, one of the smartest people Sascha knows, that he's the real deal.

He's convinced Rose that he's the real deal.

He's convinced Sascha's dumbass Vykosovich descendants that he's the real deal -- particularly the descendant that's their biographer, the descendant whose made it her life's work to know everything there is to know about Sascha Vykos. And Athanasios has direct access to her.

He's getting closer and closer to Sascha.

The walls are closing in again.

So, my unpopular opinion?

Sascha Vykos is the most terrified they've ever been in their existence.

(Second opinion, which I don't know if it's unpopular or not, but -- since they used their deadname for centuries before changing it I reckon they'd actually be pretty fine with Ilias still calling them Myca. But, you know, only Ilias, and anyone else gets turned inside out. Not even Rose would get that privilege.)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Not exactly answering the question but I am dreading the release of the V5 Sabbat book because I'm so scared they're going to completely ignore what BJD did with Sascha and go back to making them a villain.

Also worried that Sascha's canonically followed the Beckoning. I reckon they'd nope the fuck out of it after what happened in BJD. Something strange trying to manipulate them again? Fuck no.

#VTM #Sascha Vykos #headcanon #Ilias cel Frumos

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