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beewitched-blr · 2 months

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Deity Reading for @childofflamesandmoonlight

Deities who showed interest: 1. Eir 2. Freyja 3. Hades 4. Hecatea 5. Loki 6. Óðr 7. Thoth 8. Zeus

To begin a connection with Eir, it’s important that you not only look after your own emotional state, but that you connect and help those around you. Don’t ignore yourself and your well-being but try reaching out to others. Offerings in nature are also welcomed here. Your intuition here is also very prominent and meaningful. If you feel a strong urge to follow a specific idea, do it! The more you open yourself up to those around you, the more Eir will be interested in pursuing this connection. Try finding that balance of looking within yourself but also the happiness of your loved ones.

Eir warns that you shouldn’t become too attached to negative forces in your life. You need to find your own personal voice and use it to overcome the bad that is trying to surround you. Let go of your vices and take back the pen to write your own story. There is a sense of almost a rebirth of sorts for you personally. It’s important to be at the forefront of your destiny. Trust in your intuition and try doing some cleansing sessions to get a clear head throughout all of this.

Eir suggests that you cleanse your life and allow yourself to begin an awakening. Following that path may have twists and turns but you will definitely be able to get through it all. You need to learn how to balance your emotions and stop letting other people cloud your judgment when it comes to thing in your own life. It’s important that you open yourself up to connection as it’s an important part in your life. You also must trust your own judgement and understand that your opinion and feelings matter.

From a connection with Eir, you will be presented with many opportunities. This could lead to a feeling of being indecisive however, this connection also emphasises the idea of you learning how to speak up for yourself and gain a deeper understanding of your wants and needs. This could be a very fruitful connection for you. There is an air of comfortability and certainty around working together helping your confidence levels in general. Overall, this seems very positive.

To begin a connection with Óðr, you need to follow your material growth and become the most confident version of yourself. You most likely will also receive an emotional message/sign from them. Work on understanding your personal ideas, emotions, and strength. This way you’ll feel lighter than a feather and finally feel confident in multiple areas of your life which is just what Óðr wants to see in you. You have so much potential, and it can be a hard ask but, you must grab it and charge forward in life with it. They want to see you be self-assured and exactly where you belong in life.

Óðr warns that you need to be more charitable. Especially when it comes to those whom you love. You also need to understand that it’s okay to express your feelings with people and will help you connect to more people this way. Reach out to people and try giving people chances if they so deserve them. Throughout all of this you will end up playing a very Important role within so many others’ lives. The way to become truly at peace and even feel a little accomplished in your own life is to become a staple in others.

Óðr suggests that you reflect on your personal achievements and the roots you’ve planted in your life. Whilst self-reflection is important, do not dismiss your personal goals and wants for the future. You are able to look both ways. Another suggestion is that you do your best to truly connect to your emotions regarding everything, especially your family, whether that be blood or chosen. You should also work on self-care and treating yourself in a manner that you’d treat someone else.

From a connection with Óðr, you will feel a higher calling that will help you along your way in your journey. An awakening, if you will. This connection will clear up the confusion and hurdles that you must face. It would be a path that is long and winding but one that they could help lead you through to happiness and understanding your true potential. You will have to put in the work but you’ve got the potential to do so. This is definitely more of a connection that would help you personally rather than with any relationships with others.

To begin a connection with Hecate, you must really want to. This connection requires total commitment. Another thing is to learn how to balance your emotions and your life in general. Doing some shadow-work is very much encouraged here to reflect on yourself and your life. You also need to keep that personal spark within your homely life. It’s important that whilst you must give thought on the past, you live in the future and are happy and excited to see what’s next in your personal journey. Complete trust in the relationship is needed but you also must keep a tight hold on who you truly are.

Hecate warns that there may be some hard times in your life, especially when it comes to homely matters. However, it’s extremely important to stop looking at the glass half empty! Justice and peace will come through and you will blossom into the best version of yourself through your sheer emotional strength. You need to stop doubting yourself and accept that you deserve more in life. Self-sabotage is a big worry here so you must make sure that you get rid of any of those habits and don’t let that inner-saboteur win.

Hecate suggests that you listen to the sounds of the universe and learn to fully trust your intuition because it is strong. You must also remove yourself from petty communication such as fights and drama. This will help you reach a feeling of true peace much sooner. You are incredibly strong, in every way possible, even if you don’t see it. You shine so brightly in others lives, it’s important that you start to see that shine yourself. Don’t be distracted from what you want because of self-doubt or a lack of confidence, you can do this.

From a connection with Hecate, you will learn what it means to harness your power. There may be some difficult communication times, but these will be able to be worked through. This connection will put you at a starting position in your spiritual journey but in the best way possible. You’ll also understand how to tap into your emotions and express yourself openly, happily, and honestly. This will help you feel more confident and powerful. Overall, this connection seems extremely positive.

To begin a connection with Zeus, you must escape the place you’re in now. It’s important for you to break free of what others think about you. There’s also a message that you need to connect more with your emotions and don’t ignore them; they’re important and will help you along your journey. Once you’ve gotten out of your own head a little bit, pursue what you truly want. There may be a lot of ideas bouncing around but there’s a new one that you should really hold onto and leave the others aside for now. Taking control of your own life confidently and happily will help this connection immensely.

Zeus warns that in this connection you will be starting from the very beginning, and it will be a long road. He trusts that you would be able to handle it though. There’s a warning to stop ignoring your emotions and letting other people take centre stage in your life. You need to care for yourself in every way possible and continue on your spiritual adventure with confidence and compassion. There’s also a note here on making a decision that you may be delaying. Use your voice.

Zeus suggests that the best way forward for you could be to start afresh, in a way. Allow negativity that clings to you to let go. The past is in the past and it’s important that you work on your independence. Start to understand and acknowledge your emotions as you will find positivity within it all. Your future looks bright, you just need to work hard on what you want and build yourself, and those around you, up. The more you work on yourself and your life-choices, the closer you’ll be to achieving the happiness that waits for you.

From a connection with Zeus, you will go through a lot of mental battles. You will be fighting for what you really want in life and if you can push through it all, then you’ll end in a positive space that you have created for yourself. You also may feel a sense of loneliness in this connection so if you do proceed with a connection, make sure that you keep an eye on how much you’re communicating and working with others. You must be weary not to isolate yourself from people who will not just help you but love you.

Notes: - A decision to be made - The number four - The Judgement card drew multiple times

#purchased reading #deity reading #deity readings #deities #deity #witch #witches #witchy #witchery #witchcraft #witchblr #witch blog #witches of tumblr #deity witchcraft

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x-neurodivergent-reader · 2 years

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Learning From You (Loki x Autistic!Reader) - Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Learning From Him (coming soon)

Anon’s request: “What ab the first time loki meets an autistic person, and at first he says some kind of offensive stuff but hes not overtly ableist (he’s just confused) but he wants to learn more and eventually they get close?”

Summary: When he first met you, Loki assumed that you were merely a shy, but polite person. But as he spends more time around you and notices your differences, not only do you challenge those preconceptions, but you show him that even a mortal can teach him something new.

A/N: It’s finally here! Despite the long wait between the last chapter and this one, I hope everyone who’s read this fic has enjoyed it. I also have a little extra thing that I’ve started writing, for which I’ll be posting a preview in a bit, so keep an eye out if you’re intrerested!

The reader here is gender-neutral.

Content warnings: Mentions of meltdowns, mentions of the Battle of New York, feelings of insecurity and self-doubt from both Loki and reader.

Tag list: @agent-barnes40 @christineblood

Attending one of Tony’s charity events wasn’t quite what Loki had planned to do for the evening, but he was dragged into it by his brother for the sake of maintaining his “reformed” image.

He did a decent job of appearing less exhausted with the noisy attendees around him than he felt, although he would have preferred to let his actions as an Avenger speak for themselves – especially since, despite Thor’s assurances to the contrary, his presence clearly wasn’t going to boost his rocky reputation. The evening was spent with him either sticking to the sidelines to avoid any attention, or with Thor attempting to drag him into conversations to boast about his little brother’s improvement, with people who were very clearly still wary of him.

Loki appreciated the effort, he supposed, but he truly would have rather just spent the evening in his room.

Between how awkward everything had been for him so far, and Loki being someone who was used to spending his time either by himself, or with a select few whom he found bearable, there came a point where he absolutely needed to go somewhere less hectic to breathe. Luckily, there were others in the tower – including the exact person he hoped to visit – who had moments where they felt the same, so Tony had a designated quiet room for exactly that.

You had spent the entirety of the party in that room, allowing for you to stay away from the noisy crowds and potentially chaotic drunks, while being within a reachable distance for any of your friends who wanted to chat with you, or even just make sure you were all right. If Thor had noticed just how unhappy he was at the party a lot sooner, Loki would have already visited you, himself.

He ordered a glass of water for you from the bar – just in case you needed a drink – and with the partygoers becoming a little tipsy, it was finally easier for him to slip away unnoticed.

Stepping into the quiet room, Loki found you sitting on the milk-white couch that curved around the coffee table in the centre, a weighted blanket in your favourite colour spread over your knees as you read a book – one that he had recommended to you, he noticed, with a warmth blooming in his chest. You looked up as you noticed someone entering the room, and smiled brightly when you saw that it was him.

“Hi, Loki…” You greeted him, before your eyes widened when you both heard the sound of a glass shattering and someone yelling from the next room. “…what the hell was that?”

Loki didn’t need to look back out into the party to know, quickly yet carefully closing the door behind him to escape it, and approaching the area where you sat. “Thor – enjoying himself a little too much, evidently.”

You quietly thanked him as he handed you the glass of water, and took a sip while he sat down next to you, careful not to sit on your blanket. He had noticed that you aren’t fond of people touching your things, so he waited a few seconds for you to move part of it away, so he had room to relax against the velvet cushions.

Over the past several months since you had met, you had easily become his favourite person to talk to in the tower – while small talk and other social norms didn’t always come easily to you, he felt comfortable around you. He felt secure in the fact that you never had any malicious intentions towards him, as he talked with you about various little things in that space away from the festivities.

It had been a long time since he’d had someone he could truly relax and enjoy his time with. While he had tried not to let you get too close up to this point, he was feeling more and more like his growing trust in you wasn’t misplaced.

He hoped you would never prove him wrong.

Of course, after a while, you had to ask about the situation he had come to you to escape from, as you worried about how long you had been keeping him. You took another sip from your drink before asking, “You were hanging around Thor tonight, weren’t you? Does he know you’re in here?”

“I certainly hope not,” Loki deadpanned, “he has been parading my efforts around all night, as though they would matter to anyone. I had to get away from it.”

Your gaze softened, empathetic yet saddened by his words, as you set the glass next to your book on the dark coffee table in front of you. “It sounds like he’s proud of you, at least. But I can see how it feels bad to not get the response he’s trying to encourage.”

“Indeed.” Loki crossed his arms, sighing as he leaned back into the cushion behind him. “He means no harm, but it’s pointless. Few people on this planet would be willing to look past how I destroyed New York, none of them would want me to be their saviour, and I can hardly blame them. It’s naïve of him to expect that they would see ever see me as an equal to the Avengers, no matter how many missions I go on to protect them…”

Loki trailed off, taking a breath to calm his slowly growing agitation. As much as he liked you – no matter how strange that still felt to admit to himself – he had never told you about why he did the things that he did. You knew nothing about his true heritage, or Thanos’ influence, or the sheer amount of mental turmoil he was enduring the whole time.

He never brought up most of it to anyone. Not only because it would be seen as him making excuses, but also because he simply didn’t feel ready to delve into it yet. Perhaps he would open up to you in time, but for now, he would keep the specifics to himself.

“…but still. There is no point in dwelling on it. Especially since it turned out that not everyone feels that way.” He smirked at you, hoping to ease the tension the conversation had started to carry. “It could certainly be worse, all things considered.”

“I guess…” Your fingers fidgeted with the blanket thoughtfully, as though you were trying to think carefully about how to word your thoughts. “…people are within their right to not forgive you, but I think you deserve to have your efforts to help people be seen, too. You’ve worked really hard and done a lot of good since you came back to Earth, so you deserve more credit.”

Loki swallowed the lump that started to form in his throat, looking away as he shifted awkwardly against the ivory-coloured cushions. While he wouldn’t expect you to discredit those who were affected by his past actions, he found himself struck by the sheer honesty in your statement – how, despite everything, you genuinely believed that he deserved a chance, and were more than willing to say it aloud.

Not many people throughout his life would have done the same.

“…Thank you.” He murmured, feeling unable to formulate a better response in that moment. He hoped the heat in his cheeks – whether from embarrassment or something else – wasn’t visible to you.

“Of course,” you replied, looking down at the soft material in your lap, “it really sucks to feel like nobody believes in you, so I want you to know that I do.”

Loki furrowed his eyebrows as he looked back up at your averted gaze, his wariness about where the conversation could go shifting into concern for you, and the implications you, perhaps unintentionally, brought forward.

“You’ve felt like this, too?” He asked, and your eyes widened, as though you realised that you had said too much. He felt his heart sink when you shrunk in on yourself and nodded reluctantly. “Why? Your skills are valuable, and you seem well-liked. People clearly appreciate you.”

You looked embarrassed about the conversation now being directed at your own insecurities, as your body started to rock gently, though whether it was to soothe your own nerves or simply out of instinct, Loki couldn’t tell.

“Those things don’t matter if something happens to make me overwhelmed. Especially in a job like this – it could take just one wrong move to cause something to happen that turns me into a liability. Something like, say… having my earpiece knocked off in a fight…” You looked down, fingers timidly fiddling with the blanket in your lap.

Loki’s face softened, understanding where your feelings were coming from. He recalled how shaken you were after Natasha’s lecture that had followed that particular mission – hearing her say how you, or someone else, could have gotten hurt because you decided to split off without warning. He remembered the anger he felt on your behalf when he saw you slip away to somewhere quieter, knowing that you were likely about to have a second meltdown.

No matter how much time had passed since then, all he could think about that situation was that you deserved better. And after everything you had said and done for him, he refused to let you go any longer without hearing it.

“Perhaps there are moments where you can become… compromised,” he admitted, “but that does not make you a liability. If the right people didn’t think you were capable enough to work in the field, you would never be allowed to. You needing those accommodations doesn’t change that.” Loki glanced away from you, as though averting his eyes would shield you both from the vulnerability. “You deserve for people to believe in you, too.”

You smiled shyly, thanking him quietly enough that he almost didn’t hear it. It was recognisable that you weren’t entirely used to hearing such things be said so openly, either – almost as much as Loki wasn’t used to saying them.

His willingness to try and do so, he realised, reflected just how much he did care for you.

Loki decided to stay in that room with you for the rest of the evening; the festivities would always go on without him. Regardless of whether or not anyone else cared about his presence at the party, or his validity as an Avenger, it didn’t matter to him for the rest of the night. Your appreciation was enough to ensure that.

You saw Loki for who he truly was, and he felt like he knew you in the same way. He has and will continue to learn many things from you, and he has accepted and respected you with your differences, rather than in spite of them.

While he didn’t feel ready to fully open up about himself yet, and would continue to deny the chance to for some time, deep down he hoped that, should he confide in you about his own differences, you would accept them, too. It was a dangerous thing to want, but once again, you had given him reason to have faith in you.

For now, however, you both simply talked about anything and everything else, until the celebrations died down.

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aparticularbandit · 4 months

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For Fake: Chapter Three

Summary: America lied about having a girlfriend to get her moms off her back, but when they want to meet said girlfriend, she asks her good friend Viv to step in and help.

VIv Vision/America Chavez

Chapter Rating: G. Fic Rating: T.

AO3

previous chapter / next chapter

The diner fills as they grow closer to suppertime, but Viv doesn’t notice. Well. She tries not to notice, just like she tries not to search for information on everyone who comes in, every time the little bell above the door tingles. But she can’t stop herself. It’s an impulse, knowing what she does, even if America says they’re safe, even if America has been here long enough to be a regular – to have a usual order.

The worst happens when America waves to a boy about their age with oily, unkempt black hair and a golden horned crown that he removes and sets on the bar once he sits down. Instead of waving back, the boy gives her a flirtatious wink. (That’s really what does it, more than anything else.)

“That’s Loki,” Viv leans forward and hisses out. “How are you friendly with Loki? He tried to take over the whole world—”

“Yeah, well, he’s a really cool guy when you get to know him.” America lounges back against her seat, one arm spread across the back of the booth, and gives Viv a look. “And how would you know? You’ve never met him.”

Viv comes up with a lie quick, one that would be easily believable. “No one else wears horns like Loki’s,” she says, although she’s hesitant in tone. She nods to the crown set on the bar next to him. “Those make him obvious. Blatantly so.”

America nods. “Mmhm.” She drums her fingers on the back of the booth. “You’re still doing that Wikipedia stuff, aren’t you?”

“I do so much more than Wikipedia, America.” Viv huffs with disgust, crosses her arms, and leans back against the booth.

“Yeah, but you’re still doing it.” America clicks her tongue against the back of her teeth. Then she leans forward and taps the table with her pointer finger twice. “The first thing you do in a new universe is learn who you can trust—”

“I believe you told me the first thing you do is find food.”

America rolls her eyes. “That, too. For sure. But you learn who you can trust, and you can trust people here!” She taps the table again. “Also there’s great food, so. Best of both worlds, you know?” She flashes Viv a grin, one that Viv doesn’t return. Eventually, her grin fades, and her voice softens. “Look, you trust me, right?”

Viv nods silently.

“So don’t worry about it! Not like anybody recognizes you anyway.” America’s gaze shifts, first down and then back up, as though gauging Viv’s appearance again. Then she smirks.

Viv can’t counter that. She tugs her lip between her teeth and glances down at her own dark hands, at her pink and green painted fingernails, at her normal clothes without any indicator of the family to whom she belongs. Without a second thought, she reaches up and pulls her mom’s necklace out from under her shirt, fiddling with its charm. “Wanda will.”

America blinks. “What?”

“Wanda will,” Viv repeats, unable to meet America’s eyes but also unable to miss the way America’s brows raise sharply. “I met her once. She and Agatha…they helped my father and me when….” Her voice trails off, and she gives a shake of her head. “I never met Agatha, but Wanda…Wanda said she needed to talk with me. So I listened.” One corner of her lips curves upward in a fond near smile. “She saved my dog.”

“Sparky?”

Viv nods. She doesn’t say it – doesn’t really want to get into the specifics of everything that happened. It’s impossible to talk about how her mom killed her dog while they were supposed to be under some form of house arrest, how Viv had gone downstairs to find both of her parents gone – her father to confront her brother’s murderer, her mother to confront her father – and found Sparky’s body crushed and broken on the floor, twitching from electric synapses that hadn’t been able to stop, synapses that prickled against her vibranium skin when she’d picked him up and carried him to her room. She’d hated her mother then.

Sometimes, a part of her still does.

“What happened to Sparky?”

“I would rather not say.”

“And to you and your dad?”

Viv averts her gaze, refusing to meet America’s eyes. She rubs her arm in a self-soothing gesture but doesn’t say anything more.

Out of the corner of her eye, America shifts. “Does this have to do with your mom? And….” She doesn’t say his name. Probably because she can’t remember it, if she was ever told in the first place.

For all that Viv doesn’t like to speak of her mother, she likes to speak of Vin even less. She doubts that she has ever mentioned him by name. “I do not want to talk about it,” she says, finally, “but I thought you should know, in case that throws a kink in your plans.”

America presses her lips together. She thinks about it a long time, an action that grows more and more uncharacteristic of her the longer it takes. That alone sits uneasy in the pit of Viv’s stomach, and she fights the urge to say America should have chosen someone else – even Kamala – if that would be easier for her. But just as Viv decides to speak, America opens her mouth. “I’ll—”

“Here ya go.” Dottie appears as though out of nowhere, and America shuts her mouth so quickly that she must have bitten her tongue – she certainly winces as though she has. The waitress sets a platter covered with—

Viv’s eyes widen. “Oh, for the love of—”

“Chocolate covered potato pancakes, drizzled with hot sauce, and with a dollop of mashed pears on the side.” Dottie sets a second platter in front of Viv. Then she takes a woven bread basket from atop her serving platter and sets it between them. “And a servin’ of ‘Merica verified pizza balls. To share.”

“Pizza balls?” Any thought of what America might have been trying to say before is now gone, as is any thought that they would return to that conversation before eating anything at all. She snatches a cheese and pepperoni encrusted ball from the basket as Dottie walks away. But before she pops it into her mouth, she nods to the plate in front of Viv. “Joey figured it out!” She leans forward conspiratorially. “Sweet potatoes. Not normal potatoes.”

Viv blinks twice. “Did he try this with ‘normal’ potatoes first?”

America scrunches her face up and makes a tongue out expression of such disgust that Viv doesn’t press further.

When America was thirteen years old, she became afraid.

It wasn’t any particularly world – or multiverse – shattering fear. Her eyes didn’t suddenly glow with life-preserving panic, and she didn’t get sucked into yet another universe where she would have to learn a lot of new rules and find a lot – or even just a handful – of new people to trust with herself. She just…became afraid.

All of those universes, all of the experiences she’d had, all of the things she’d learned and internalized, all of the smaller things that she’d found and loved – America realized she was already forgetting some of them. Forgetting friends that she would likely never see again. Forgetting how some universes differed from each other because the memories just blended together sometimes. Forgetting the different, unique foods she’d had.

The foods aren’t really the important thing. They never have been. But being able to recreate them is a little bit like recapturing her past and bring elements of it to her future.

She just doesn’t know how to cook.

But there’s something beautifully intimate in the diner – in the way Dottie listens to her stories, the way Joey listens to her descriptions of foods she’s had and tries to recreate them, even the way Viv trusts them enough to eat something based on America’s memories.

America tries not to stare too hard, and it’s easy to keep herself distracted with the pizza balls, which taste not exactly the way she remembers them, but close enough to it that they’re passable (and they’re still pizza balls, so they’re still far superior to most other foods). But every now and again, she looks up, sees Viv enjoying the sweet potato pancakes drenched in chocolate and hot sauce, and her heart warms. Then Viv catches her looking, and she stops checking. That’s super awkward, after all.

Still, America can’t help herself from asking, when Viv is done, “What did you think? Did you like it?” She shoves the mostly empty basket of pizza balls over to Viv. “You had one of these, right? Aren’t they the best?”

“They are more than adequate.” Viv stabs another pizza ball with her fork and takes a bite out of it. “Certainly far superior to Hot Pockets.”

America groans. “Hot Pockets are such trash. They’re just, like, pizza Poptarts. And Poptarts suck.”

“Poptarts suck,” Viv echoes with a confused look.

“Yeah! They suck!” America may not be a foodie – what even does that word mean, anyway? – but she definitely has strong opinions on food. She’s pretty sure that’s okay; she knows more about multiversal cuisine than anyone else, so she knows food better than everyone else. What it tastes like, what works together and what doesn’t. It’s just remembering all of it that’s hard. Which is why she’s so insistent when she says, “You’re eating them wrong! You have to pop it into your mouth! Like this!” And she takes a pizza ball and pops it into Viv’s mouth.

Well. She throws it at her with the understanding that Viv will catch it in her mouth, which is basically the same thing.

Because Viv does catch it in her mouth, despite America’s absolutely horrible throw, which is great because that means she doesn’t want to waste food. Her cheeks swell out as she chews, or she’s coughing but trying not to spatter chunks out all over everything, and when she’s finished the full ball, she chugs on her root beer, breathing hard. Then she shoots a look at America. “Do not ever do that again.”

“What, you mean this?” America takes another pizza ball and throws it at her, but instead of catching it in her mouth, Viv catches it with her left hand. Her eyes gleam a matrix green before she throws the ball back at America, who tries to do the really cool thing and catch it in her mouth like Viv does, but misses. The pizza ball splatters against the booth.

Dottie shoots them a look that makes America flush. She places a hand on her customer – an older guy with a crooked nose that America’s never met who sits across from a woman with a lightning-shaped scar large through a fake eye – and then leans forward to mutter something in the ear of the woman before making her way over to America and Viv. Probably something like, “Excuse me, I need to take care of something,” only in Dottie’s voice and not nearly as formal as Viv likes to talk.

“Shit,” America says under her breath. “Shit shit shit shit shit shit.”

“Alright,” Dottie starts before she even makes it completely to them, “you two lovebirds gotta stop that flirtin’—”

“We’re not lovebirds—”

Dottie ignores that remark. “Started a food fight, gotta get out of the diner. Them’s the rules.”

“Aw, c’mon—”

“Now, don’t you aw, c’mon me, little Ms. America.” Dottie doesn’t glare at America but doesn’t look at Viv, either. “You know how messy it’d get in here if there was a real fight? Bar would break. All the glasses and plates. Everythin’ would get knocked over. People’d start usin’ their powers and—”

America grins. “That actually sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Fun for you, but a lot of shit for me and Joey and the other girls.” Dottie knocks her knuckles on the table twice. “Now, I’ll get ya some to-go boxes if ya need ‘em, but ya gotta pay up and get out.” She places a hand on America’s shoulder and leans down to speak in a much softer voice. “Just for now. Feel free to come back tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” America stands, pulls an even wad of cash – ones and fives, mostly, so it’s not like a real wad of cash; she just doesn’t fold them into any sort of coherent anything – out of her jean jacket pocket, and sets it on the table. “C’mon, Viv. Let’s go.”

Viv glances down at the wad of cash and without even picking it up says, “That’s more than enough to—”

“Yeah, well, Dottie’ll put it on my tab, right, Dottie?” America doesn’t even look up, just shoves her hands into her jean pockets. She knows that’s not necessarily true – Dottie’ll take some of it for a tip, maybe a good chunk of whatever’s left, since she’ll have to clean up the booth and that’s really not fair to her – but every so often, on a really bad day, Dottie says that what she’s got’s for free. And she never says it’s on the house, which sounds like pity, but always says America already paid for it with all that extra money she leaves lying around. She likes that better. It’s nice.

As America makes her way to the door, she hears Viv behind her, apologizing to Dottie for their foolishness. She scowls. Some first date, she thinks, before immediately correcting herself. Not a date.

Viv pops another pizza ball into her mouth. She’s not sure they actually taste better this way. It’s just an overwhelming explosion of flavor, which admittedly might be better if she wasn’t interested in tasting the finer notes or flavor combinations inherent in the—

Okay, sure, no one in their right mind is trying to do that with a pizza ball, but that doesn’t mean this is the best way to eat them.

Outside, it’s grown dark. Viv doesn’t feel the cold, but she can see the small puffs of cloud her warm breath leaves in the air as she walks, the slightly bigger ones that America’s breath also leaves. She notices America shiver and regrets that she doesn’t have a jacket or something like that to drape about her shoulders, even if another jacket on top of America’s standard denim jacket would look odd at best, obnoxious at worst. “Would you like one?” she asks, holding out the basket full of additional pizza balls.

(She does not tell America, who’d stood outside a little while waiting on her, that she’d gotten an additional order to go. No one would benefit from that information. Least of all America herself.)

“Nah. I’m good.”

America stops only a little way further down the sidewalk, lets out a huge puff of air, and looks up at the stars. “You know, sometimes I think I did better out there. In the multiverse. Just jumping around, you know?” She holds a bare hand up and looks through her fingers at the expanding galaxy. “It was fun.”

Her tone suggests it absolutely was not fun, but Viv will not call her out for that.

“With your moms,” Viv says, not so subtly changing the subject back to what it should have been the entire time, “have you told them anything specific about your girlfriend? Do I need to look like anything, act like anything?”

“No.” America shakes her head, lets out another sigh, and shoves her hands back into her pockets. “Probably could’ve told them we broke up, but, like, it’s the holidays? What asshole breaks up with their girlfriend right before the holidays?” She fakes a grin, one that doesn’t reach her eyes. “At least wait until you get the presents. Then peace out, you know?”

Viv offers half of a shrug. “Letting them get upset over a fictional jerk of a girlfriend seems like a much easier situation than the one you are currently in.”

“I guess, but I didn’t….” America’s voice trails off, and she mimics Viv’s shrug before she starts walking again, boots kicking up drifts of snow. “Agatha’s not great when she’s pissed, and I didn’t want to piss her off. She’s always weird around the holidays anyway. She won’t tell me why, though.”

There’s no way for Viv to know anything that a woman she has never met has gone through, but she knows exactly what it is to be weird around the holidays and have no way to explain it, no way to let that weirdness go away. She doesn’t mess with the charm about her neck, but she thinks about her mom, and she shivers.

America, of course, notices the shiver immediately. “You cold?”

Viv shakes her head. “No. Just thinking.” She picks one of the pizza balls up, squeezes it just enough for some of the sauce to break through the thick layer of cheese, and then sets it back in the to-go box, closing it. “I’ll be human for them,” she says, finally, “so Wanda doesn’t—”

“Nah, don’t do that.” America turns just enough to nearly meet Viv’s eyes. “It’ll be fine.”

Viv’s heart aches. “That will be very bad when we break up.” She tilts her head and meets America’s eyes. “Unless you are planning to continue this fake dating thing for a much longer time.”

“I’ll tell them we broke up whenever you want,” America answers. “Except right now, because that’d totally put a crimp in the plan.” She grins again, and again, there’s no mirth in it. “Got a day that works best for you?”

Viv shakes her head. “No. I will only need to tell Father enough ahead that he won’t plan some sort of holiday activity for us. He sometimes springs ideas.” He didn’t do that before, but she doesn’t say that. Doesn’t want to say that. Her lips press together into a thin little line.

America nods, accepting all of this. “I’ll text you, then. The date. Need to talk with my moms and set something up.” She rolls her eyes. “And anything else.”

That little note of frustration sinks a little too hard. It shouldn’t. She doesn’t like America like that. But for someone who is trying to help out a friend, America is making aspects of this frustratingly hard.

So Viv punches her arm and offers her a bright smile – one that she knows looks weird on her, but she tries anyway. “It was a good first date,” she says as soon as America looks up, “for not a date.”

America’s brows shoot up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

In a movie or a story or something, Viv might take this moment to lean up and kiss America’s cheek. But this isn’t either of those things, and she feels uncomfortable with the very idea. So she holds her to-go box of pizza balls to her chest and flies off. Still, when she shares them with her father later, she smiles at the way he pops one full on into his mouth, laughs at his disgusted look when sauce splatters out all over him when he picks one up a little too hard.

It’s nothing, but it’s something.

That’s enough, really.

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cinnamon-harry · 2 years

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Heyo! Do you write starfox? The eros whom Harry played? If you do! Could you do one where reader is odin daughter/son? Like sister or brother of Thor and loki?

hellooo!! unfortunately i do not write starfox (if i’m being honestly i’m not exactly sure how to navigate around his character with just that little snippet at the end of the movie😭) so if anyone knows of a fic like this pls drop it in the inbox :))

BUT i see u and i see the vision. funny enough, i was actually thinking abt this the other day, so i now raise you this: starfox/eros x reader with enimies to lovers trope✨

long ass blurb thingy/word vomit under the cut!

initially, when i thought of this plot, i had imagined the reader to be the daughter of heimdall, but honestly this could work with odin as well (you’ll see why)

I would also like to add that in this plot, thanos happened, so he did kill heimdall (your dad) and as a result, this is slightly what fuels your resentment towards eros bc, as we all know, he’s thanos’ brother. however, eros does not know this information about your dad and you don’t tell him.

so basically reader, the daughter of heimdall, somehow ends up being stuck with eros on some kind of mission type deal. at first you push past the fact that his brother literally killed your father and chose to at least give him a chance to get on your good side, but you find yourself irate by his cockiness and lewd behavior towards you (he makes it very clear that he thinks you’re attractive).

eros has, on multiple occasions, tried to use his powers to seduce you, but with your powers and heightened senses (inherited from heimdall) you can tell when he attempts to do it, so you never fall victim to his tricks. cue this tiny little spiel i conjured up whilst thinking abt this:

right, so then you two carry on, you don’t quite get along but you’re a pretty good team when you work together. there’s little moments where eros actually won’t be such a dumbass and is a little sweet and you find yourself starting to look at him differently.

whenever the two of you are in battle, he carries his joking mannerisms onto the playing field and at one point it puts you in danger, risking your life, and you snap at him, have a little fight yeah yeah.

and then finally at some point during your mission, someone brings up thanos killing your dad and eros is shocked to learn this new information. he walks after you when you storm off and confronts you about it. cue this little thingy i wrote:

and then a lot of sappy sob shit happens and from there on out the two of you are pretty civil with each other, with the occasional snappy comments. then eventually you admit your feelings, things unfold and you two somehow end up together.

and of course there’d be little sprinkles of smut here and there, maybe a little hate fucking but yeah that’s pretty much all i could think of😭

#starfox/eros x reader #starfox x reader #eros x reader #marvel #harry styles blurb #harry styles #harry styles fanfic

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bluelockednyx · 8 months

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Am I the only one who's worried abt Rin in PXG? Like it's looking to be an absolutely chaotic team, with Karasu, Zantetsu, Tokimitsu, Nanase and Shidou all in one place, all managed by a 17 yr old. ( lights a candle for loki's sanity). But Rin currently has 7th place in Nel.

Pretty sure bro's going through some stuff, Esp with the last panel we had was of him looking out at the sea deciding to change. Thoughts on Pxg?

I've always thought reddit was not the best place for fandom analysis in comparison to tumblr. But it's the complete opposite for Bllk 😭.

With the exception of you and a few people, everyone in tumblr is either in Character × reader mode( these kids are teenagers..)or Isagi× everyone mode and idk which is worse( Isagi would actually hate how they see him tbh,we see how he treats kaiser when he babifies him). But Reddit surprisingly has great football and character analysis.

Off topic but I just found out Leonardo Luna is 27 and he said THAT line to 16 yr old Rin in the world 5 match.

I know I'm more concerned about Karasu's blood pressure than Rin himself, proper, lmao.

I'm personally not worried about Rin, because of my opinions about what direction Rin's character arc should be heading towards, and I'm of the opinion that Barou's development with Ubers (working together and developing decent relationships with his teammates and mentor) supports my reading of Kaneshiro-sensei's intentions with the story.

PXG is going to be so fun because of who's there. Gonna assume you read my meta, since even the choice of who is in that team serves my guesses of the direction of Rin's greater character arc, that is, he has to learn to communicate with others and develop proper relationships with them to become the best version of himself possible, in service to the narrative's end goal of Japan's World Cup win + Isagi becoming the number one striker.

Tokimitsu - Rin's former teammate whom Rin trusts and has shown concern for Rin before. Nanase and Zantetsu, people who are less good at strategies and tactical gameplay whom Rin will have to communicate his thoughts to, to get them on the same level of understanding. Karasu is one of the few other characters whom we know played for a youth team instead of a school like Rin, and like Shidou, he's also a rival to Rin, with just as good as, or maybe even a better understanding, of game tactics and strategies. Finally Shidou, who Rin has a lot to learn from in figuring out his ego independent of Sae. That Loki is their master is just the icing on the cake for me.

A little bit more on Loki: his overall character seems level-headed, and in the extra materials from the official Blue Lock game he actually gets along all right with Rin, all things considered.

If it helps, Rin won't fall off that easily to the wayside. Anime merch sales may vary (god there are some HIDEOUS merch of him) but he is consistently popular amongst the JP manga reader base, and that's what matters the most, really. Not to mention Rin still has to reconcile with Sae, and if my guesses are correct, defeat the Spanish team (either U20 with a possible rival(s) that defeated Sae, or Spanish team/Real with Luna), while Isagi takes on either U20 France with Loki, or France with Loki + Noa/Bastard with Noa.

If it's not obvious yet, I would really, really like to see Team Japan with Isagi face off against France with Loki + Noa.

asjkl; the series is about football, anon, and tumblr is more USA-oriented in userbase, imo, so it's just generally less popular tumblr-wide as a sport. Also, Blue Lock's premise turned off a lot of traditional sports animanga fans, because the spirit of it, especially in the early stages, is a huge deviation from the usual friendship and team building that has come to define the genre as a whole.

Enthusiastic reddit bros who like football have really come through for readers like me who really does not care much for it (TQ for analyzing the minutiae of character movements in-game + what moves/techniques they use).

Eh, leave fans be. My only beef with characterxreader fans is they wind up clogging up the character tags and don't use the read more, which I especially despise because some of them are stupid long to scroll past. Use the block button liberally if parts of the fandom annoys you, anon, otherwise, just take a break and find something else to fixate on.

I recommend Gekkan Shoujo for a fun time, or for something even more mind-numbingly dumb with all the flanderization of typical anime tropes, Baka to Test. If you like a slightly more serious shoujo fantasy with action/adventure, I would recommend Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden.

When Luna was first introduced I thought he was around 25. 27 surprised me a bit (I didn't think he was older than Adam lmao), but not much.

Luna's the first person who's said such sus words to Any character in the series, and he was basically the beginning of all the increasingly sexual lines in the manga. Before this, the gayness was more in a pure love kinda way (re: Bachira -> Isagi and Reo -> Nagi -> Reo). He also feeds into why I think Isagirin is the ship to look forward to, because the blatant?? Sexualisation??? Of Rin, of all people, whom Isagi attached the motif of heart to. And I've said this before: most of the other characters get pretty obvious and blatant fanservice scenes, but Rin's is weird.

#niki answers asks

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paragonrobits · 1 year

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My Circle of Exalted characters I am currently plotting out, one of whom is not an Exalt, badly summarized

Infernal Slayer, a gremlin lady and absolute weird little wretch. her solution to everything is punches that nuke you with hate lasers. eats everything, including the things that are not possible to eat. whenever she powers up she mutates into a variety of weird freakazoid monsters. perpetually horny, gluttonous and weird at all times. is the single nicest person you’ll ever meet and believes the best in people, including her Yozi masters, the jury is out if she is hopelessly naive or if the same experiences that got her an Infernal Exaltation gave her such low expectations of humanity that she expects way too much goodness from the slightest signs of not being a complete garbage heap. She’s what happens if you make the Hulk, Asura from Asura’s Wrath and Hellboy do a fusion dance, and filter the result through Steven Universe while desperately trying to reconcile the narratively inappropriate powers of Endless Horror with the attitude of It’s ME, EVERYONE’S FRIEND

Solar Twilight. A cat beastfolk or some kind of cat-adjacent wyld mutant constantly apologizing for her existence to the point of naming herself after the garbage you get rid off after smelting because no one wanted it. She’s actually really good at a lot of things from punching to teaching to crafting All The Things, and she still feels like she needs to be Better to be worthy of the Sun’s favor (Though the jury is out if the Sun actually had any input this time).

Lunar Full Moon. Was originally a beastman of a vaguely tyrant lizard disposition but managed to create a human form after Exaltation; he didn’t have a deep seated hatred of his body, he just felt like it. His spirit shape is a tyrant lizard, he’s just the hugest buffest guy you ever did see, and he deliberately puts on a variety of personas and fronts to mislead enemies or troll people for giggles. He’s essentially Grimlock from Transformers translated into Exalted terms (albiet not as an Alchemical, even if that would make more sense); he’s a very smart guy who weaponizes an assumption of him as a rampaging brute specifically to pull one over on enemies. Is quickly developing a reinassance man and polymath vibe.

Dragon-Blooded Air Caste from a confederation of nomadic tribes living way out in the Wyld, and consequently does not know or care what the Immaculate Order is or why people assume she should be yelling at those obviously chosen by the gods (or at least god-adjacent glowy things) as anathema or whatever. A shaman and dealer with spirits who is trying very hard to maintain an air of professionalism and suppress her desire to be extremely sassy all the time. She’s also what they technically call ‘fucking huge’ because her tribe regarded mutations as an indication of innate talents and nothing more, and she’s got the Giant merit, she’s ten feet tall and disappointed in how doorways are so closed in. Has a bone to pick with a Deathlord that is a very blatant stand-in for Sauron.

Lunar Changing Moon, spirit shape is a spider. THIS LADY. OH MAN, THIS LADY. she is just goddamn weird and gremlin, even worse than the Infernal. Her favored ATtributes are Intelligence and Dexterity, caste is Appearance and Manipulation, and this winds up creating a weird mad scientist witch who loves terrifying and seducing people at complete random, stealing forms and tricking enemies into feuding against each other, and duping foes into attacking duplicate fakes who were carrying way too much firedust. no one even knows where she gets it or why she likes explosions so much. She’s really looking forward to learning Charms to make her other forms big so she can turn into a spider the size of a tyrant lizard, hide in someone’s palace and jump out going ‘BOOGA BOOGA!’. She’s heavily inspired by Loki, specifically the older stories of him that we got.

Alchemical Jade Caste; a proof of concept prototype of the Dragon-Blooded that remained in Creation and woke up as a result of shadowland incursions and desperate refugees accidentally hitting a ‘You Got The Touch’ button. She’s a perfect Champion and arguably shaping up to be a leader of the Circle as a whole, assuming they don’t just decide things at random. She’s especially clueless as to the political realities of the Age of Sorrows as all she has to run on are the vague memories of her past lives, which are all firmly remembering the Dragon Kings running the show and she’s a bit concerned how things seem kind of... more screwed up than she might have liked. She’s otherwise an ideal heroine, though just as goofy and weird as the rest of the crew, and a highly versatile wunderkind. She’s basically a cute robot mom version of Optimus Prime, though she’s got a ways to go before she can go all giant robot. (using Transhuman Manifold Implants for the size increase Alchemicals can get isn’t quite the same.)

Dragon King sleeper of the Anklok breed, arguably the most experienced of the bunch though what remains of his conscious recollection suggests that he was something of a laid-back sage before he went to sleep. He’s honestly not sure; something went extremely wrong with the chamber holding him in stasis, and a lot of his previous skills, memory and abilities have been severely damaged. They’re still there, just... locked away, only gradually coming back. The languages he DOES speak are either lost or scholarly curiousities, leaving him having a very difficult time communicating with anyone, but he’s nonetheless managed to amass a bunch of followers and he feels obligated to look after them, and he’s managed to pick up a Solar Eclipse ally despite his gentle hints that she should go back and be a proper heroine to her city-state rather than trying to be his disciple. Leaning towards being a bit of a crafter with an atypical interest in the Solid Earth, Growing Wood and Shaping Wood paths, which are being narratively justified as him gradually remembering the Paths he DID study in his old life. (The current assumption is that he was a very serious scholar and savant, and will in turn teach the interested members of the Circle the basics of artifact creation and manse building later on.) He’s basically Spear from Primal as a dinosaur-man, to the extend of inevitably going to get a white jade/adamant spear as a gift once the circle gets powerful enough to feasibly make something like that.

(Every single one of them has at least one cat familiar, regardless of how little sense it makes. Some of them are air elementals that take on cat form, others are regular cats that have been gradually mutated, and others are perfectly ordinary cats. but this is a Circle of weirdos who have cats. And one of them that IS a cat. Possibly. Depending on how you look at it. Ironically its neither of the two Lunars.)

#exalted #OCs #queued #i've been hesitant to actually share info about the because while i've been doing this project since December of 2022 #im wary of how it will feel to actual lore and all that #STILL WHY THE HECK NOT #i love these weirdos

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yaytomhiddlestonyay · 3 years

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I have been an extremely bad fan, and hadn't already gotten disney plus, so finally got that organised and got mah brain into the right mode to sit down and watch.

WOOOOOOOOO YEHHHHHHHHHHH

#loki #loki show #marvel #tom hiddleston #disney plus #wooooooo what fun what fun #multiple lokis and their different histories and nuances #such fun seeing another loki as a foil holding up a looking glass to Our Loki #oh gosh what fun to see loki finding his way into everything becoming all wibbly wobbly and timey wimey #i hope my poor little brain can keep up reasonably well ehehehe #oh dear god such fun seeing tom get to do so much loki #and so much frustrated dejected fucking little brat loki ehehehe #but then his little thrills and perk ups when he realises something new and clever ehehe #and poor little mobius what dark secrets will he perhaps learn of the tva #but also what things will little loki learn and from whom #oooh i liked that eerie apocalyptic vibe #lets face it apocalypses are fun. ehehe #i mean as long as youre not one of the idiots living in them #oooh i liked that camera work and point of view movement switching in that big long continuous single take thingy i dunno what you call that

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raifenlf · 3 years

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Why Loki’s Sylvie Is A Mary Sue

So I am firmly in the camp that Sylvie on the Loki series was/is a Mary Sue. The last episode made me feel better and like maybe the show was doing a thing where they were faking you out that she was a Mary Sue only to show she was actually sort of a bad guy and I liked that. But all the recent interviews make me think the show wants to go back to her being a Mary Sue.

But I feel like when I call her out for being a Mary Sue people tell me what are you talking about, she’s not a Mary Sue, bad things happen to her, etc. But that doesn’t actually make her not a Mary Sue.

Also, before we start, I know some people find Mary Sue sexist. But I personally use the term for guys and girls. I don’t use the term to belittle women. I use the term to criticize a poorly written character.

And I know Mary Sue is often used to describe fanfic characters. But to me, this series is kind of like a fanfic because the writers took a character who had been in canon MCU material for ten years and then created characters around that character. So, I kind of review it like I would a fanfic. It’s very different than if the writers had created a brand new show with all of their own new characters.

Anyway, if you are not totally familiar with the Mary Sue term, then check this out:

I know the term Mary Sue probably means different things to different people. But I have always used these guidelines when I write my own fanfic to make sure my characters never come off as a Mary Sue.

This article really gives you a full scale of what a Mary Sue is. If you start reading it, you’ll immediately see why Sylvie is. But I’m going to take out the parts that most fit Sylvie just to highlight why I believe she is a Mary Sue. I apologize for this being so long.

Mary Sue Character Traits

Personality

Erm... what personality? The typical Mary Sue doesn't have one per se, because she isn't meant to be a character; rather, she's an entity by which the author makes cool stuff happen.

I feel like that is Sylvie in a nutshell. She doesn’t have a personality. I feel like even though she ate screentime, I still don’t really know her at all. The writers love to say she’s badass. That’s not a personality.

Sometimes when I am writing stories for fun and creating new characters, I like to take surveys as my fictional characters. Like the kind of surveys you’d see in a magazine, like personality types, what’s your dating style, etc. I figure if I don’t know what my character would do in any of those situations, then I need to keep working on my character. And if I was trying to fill out a survey pretending I was Sylvie I would have no idea what to answer because she doesn’t have a personality. She’s just “cool”.

What little personality a Mary Sue has isn't as important as how other characters react to it. No matter how shy or socially awkward Mary Sue is supposed to be, other characters will be inexplicably drawn to her

This is so Sylvie. Loki falls in love with her...why, exactly? He falls in love with her in the big Nexus event moment...why? Because she had a tough childhood? Mobius spends like two seconds with her in a car and goes from hating her to saying she’s his favorite Loki. For. No. Particular. Reason.

She's extremely persuasive; everyone finds her opinions to be better than their own

She enchants Hunter B-15 and then immediately Hunter B-15 makes it her whole entire life mission to back Sylvie up.

And occasionally she'll be a complete asshole...This can manifest itself in several ways...The author wants to write a badass but doesn't know how. This leads to a character who mistreats everyone around her and is never called out on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior.

Sylvie talked down to Loki and treated him like garbage for all of episode three, but it was never portrayed as a bad thing and we never got any impression Sylvie later felt bad for the way she treated Loki

The author doesn't know how to hold back the character, meaning that she will succeed at practically everything. This means that when she encounters rules or authority figures who would otherwise prevent her from doing what she wants to do, she rolls right through them (and they praise her for her "boldness" in defying regulations). If a bad guy is violent and aggressive, she can beat him by being more violent and aggressive (with all that entails). It's impossible for her to go overboard because she's protected by Protagonist-Centered Morality.

Sylvie is shown as a kid to immediately be able to grab a Tempad and run away. And she can kick ass way better than Loki, for no known reason. She is always able to fight back against the TVA when they attack her. And she can kill lots of innocent TVA agents but it’s okay because TVA bad, Sylvie good.

Skills

She will always be superior to the canon characters, regardless of what canon has established they can do or whether it makes any sense.

Whose skill was needed to defeat Alioth? Sylvie’s. Of course. Sylvie needed to teach Loki her skills in order for him to succeed (!). And again, she is literally called the superior Loki.

Relatedly, there's no effort to her skills. She never actually trains or learns anything to become more powerful; she just wins the Super Power Lottery, or is a freakish natural learner, or is just Inexplicably Awesome

We’re told Sylvie literally taught herself magic. She literally taught herself to enchant people. That. Makes. No. Sense. Like, I have so many questions. Like, why would it even occur to her to teach herself that? And how???????????? This is really lazy writing.

Canon Character Relationships

Mary Sue is often designed to hook up with another character, often as a form of Wish Fulfillment. This isn't that bad in and of itself (okay, it is kinda weird), but Mary Sue accomplishes this without any sense of realism. She just grabs her lover's attention straight away, and their relationship will never face any obstacles or tension; it's true love from the start and nothing else. The biggest giveaway is if the love interest is explicitly the author's favorite character, and she essentially "cures" him of all the angst that ails him (at the expense of his characterization).

Yeah, so...this one should be pretty obvious to anyone who watched the show. Loki literally falls in love with Sylvie immediately, and then he suddenly turns from “villain” to “hero” just because of loving her. And this was definitely at the expense of his characterization. And Loki just knows he falls in love with her. There’s not even any moments of hmm what do I feel for this person? It’s just true love, immediately.

She will be related to a canon character in some way. This (marginally) helps explain such phenomena as her being a Copy Cat Sue and other characters accepting her so easily.

Sylvie is a Loki variant. They use this to help explain why Loki is drawn to her and why their falling in love immediately “makes sense”.

Most characters give her more heed than they normally would. The good guys never stop praising her

Seriously, it was so over the top and OOC for Loki to gush over her. He literally tells her she’s amazing. They don’t even make it subtle.

Characters' previously established personalities change in reaction to her. Proud, arrogant gimps suddenly acknowledge her superiority in everything. Reckless youths will listen to all her advice. Responsible leaders will defer to her instead. Villains will obsess with her to the detriment of all else. Extremely competent characters will become stumbling buffoons who require her help to do anything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters whom the author doesn't like turn evil and insult her. They all become unnaturally focused on her in some way.

Again, Loki’s whole personality changed in reaction to her. He became a buffoon who needed her help to enchant the Alioth because of course he couldn’t do anything without her! Hunter B-15 goes from doing whatever the TVA said to fighting the TVA just because of Sylvie.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is without exception a single-person Spotlight-Stealing Squad. The entire story hinges on her existence; if you removed her, there would be no story.

Sylvie undoubtedly drove the whole story this season. It all became about HER meeting the TVA heads because of HER trauma. Loki’s life was only saved at the beginning because the TVA was trying to capture HER. And SHE was the one who started the whole multiverse (!).

Mary Sue is The Chosen One, even if the setting already has one. There are many ways she can accomplish this: she can be a Sailor Earth type who "shares" the position with the canon hero; she may be vaguely "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" (i.e. do all the work except the final blow so that the prophecy is still technically correct); or the canon hero may be revealed to be a Fake Ultimate Hero all along. Being the Chosen One doesn't necessarily involve her being a God-Mode Sue, especially as authors become aware of the phenomenon and try to avoid it, but it does make her critically important to the world and allows her to continue stealing the spotlight without the "god mode" label.

HWR wanted Sylvie to come with Loki in the end, like she was chosen all along right alongside Loki. Like one of the most important characters in the entire MCU is now this character who we only met a few episodes ago.

Most Sues have an unusually Dark and Troubled Past. It's often used to create a Sympathetic Sue, but any type of Sue can have one

They tell us, over and over, how hard Sylvie’s life was because she was kidnapped by the TVA in order to create sympathy for her.

She almost never does anything wrong. In the rare instance that she does, it's usually; (a) a way for the author to disclaim her being a Mary Sue by introducing a single imperfection (that has no bearing on anything anyway), and (b) designed to show her smarts by making her feel instant remorse, and she'll be Easily Forgiven anyway:

So this one hopefully will not come true, as a lot can change between now and when the show is taped. But if the show goes on the way the behind the scenes team is talking, Sylvie immediately felt remorse for betraying Loki, and Loki has already forgiven her and is desperately looking for her. Ugh.

Alternatively, she is more than capable of doing something wrong, be it in general moral terms or something that goes against whatever code she abides by, and she maybe even frequently does so, but don't expect the other characters or the narrative to ever acknowledge or comment on it in any real capacity. If the other characters do call her out, expect them to be treated like they're the problem for daring to criticize her at all.

Mobius calls her out for killing people, but Sylvie immediately says he’s a bad person and then Mobius agrees, because, of course.

She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome; i.e., she has a trait or backstory that sets her apart from her group or race.

She is the only female Loki, thus making her the special one among all the Lokis in episode five.

Presentation

In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her.

The camera would follow her in fight scenes rather than Loki.

Mary Sue Tropes

Okay, so there are specific Mary Sue tropes that Sylvie is. One of those is Copy Cat Sue, which I think was referenced before.

Copy Cat Sue

A lot of fanfic writers...start to write something because of their passion for this character, but they find something about the character that doesn't mesh well. Maybe they're the wrong gender or are otherwise not close enough to the author's expectations...In any case, rather than put them through the Possession Sue process, they just get a Clone-O-Matic™ and out pops a Copy Cat Sue...the character might be intended as a replacement for the canon character, but without whatever icky traits the author hates. They'll then rob the spotlight, prove the canon character to be unworthy of his/her position, and either relegate the character to obsolescence or, perhaps, even remove them entirely.

Sylvie is basically a clone of Loki, she is a variant. But she absolutely robbed the spotlight of Loki’s, and they literally call her the superior Loki. I mean, they are literally not even being subtle about this. And there was a feeling by myself (and a lot of other viewers) that Sylvie might ultimately replace Loki in the MCU.

Black Hole Sue

Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.

Sylvie really does suck up all the plot and Loki definitely behaves outside of his personality just to fit the Sylvie show.

Jerk Sue

A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.

Once again, Sylvie is basically a jerk all of episode three, but you’ve got Loki falling over himself to call her amazing in just the next episode.

Relationship Sue

A Mary Sue who exists to be the perfect mate for a specific character...this character has everything in the plot conspiring to enforce this One True Pairing...in Fanfiction, they are the perfect beloved of a canon character.

They literally have Mobius speculate that Loki falling in love with Sylvie is so extraordinary that it causes an entire Nexus event, that’s how huge this One True Pairing is (!). And Sylvie is the love interest of Loki, the only character who had been around before the beginning of the series

TLDR: Sylvie has all the tropes of a classic Mary Sue character. So calling Sylvie a Mary Sue isn’t being sexist or just randomly hating on the character. If you use common Mary Sue characteristics to examine the character, she just has too many of these characteristics to ignore.

#loki negativity #antisylvie #loki critical #loki criticism #antisylkie

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7soulstars · 3 years

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so glad you opened requests again! can I request an avengers x reader who has huge white wings ,but doesn't know how to fly ..maybe they found her in a hydra base locked in a cage, scarred and frightened and they took her in. thank you 💞

Hey Darling! Thank you sooo much for sending in a request and for being so patient! I really love this idea and I'll try my best to give it justice it deserves. I really hope you enjoy it ! Love you !

Alate

...............

Pairing: Avengers x Avenger! Reader

Warnings: Reader is traumatised, ANGSTY AF, Overprotective Bucky, OOC Stephen, Avenger Loki (I just love him OKAY !), Floof

Summary: “Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”– Socrates

...............

Alate; having wings or lifted up in flight.

Soaring she moved like the wind would. As if even the winged gods and angels followed her path. Legs dangling she watched the lit up city beneath her, recalling her past.

It had been a regular enough mission. Ambush, Steal Information and destroy base. Natasha, Scott, Steve, Wanda, Loki and Tony moved as the rest directed them through the ear piece in their ear. Scott had managed to break in first through the main door of the warehouse with Wanda following suit. Loki got Tony and Steve in through the back and Nat, well, she slithered in from the top. Then came the problem. The files weren't in the fucking warehouse but at least 30 Hydra Agents were. But then again it never was a big deal when you had even half a handful of superheroes and a villian turned vigilante inside together. 10 minutes and half were either dead or barely alive. Just when they were about to leave Tony noticed the basement. Scott was made to go first since he wouldn't be noticed by anyone. And he definately did not expect to see what he saw.

"I don't like this. Nope."

"What the hell are you talking about Lang ?"

"Get in here !"

"No you tell us what is going on !"

"THEY'VE KEPT THIS GIRL PRISIONER AND HER STATE DOES NOT LOOK GOOD. WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR BULLSHIT ONE OF YOU GET HER OUT !"

"...........Stark blast the door open..........."

"Don't have to say more Capsicle"

There was a boom and the lead door fell open, almost squashing Scott who yelled a 'watch it' before sizing up.

What they saw was what Peter would say ‘Does not pass the vibe check’

It was a metal box. Only the front covered with bulletproof glass, that was covered with perspiration and probably high amounts of dust. Chains made of lead bound her limbs. Her mouth was muzzled, hair matted, bruises and cuts everywhere, cloth covered something protruding from her back and it looked like it hurt. She cowered into a corner of the box, glaring at the newcomers, visibly terrified as her body trembled.

“What kind of -”

“Sick bastard ? Demon Spawn ?”, Tony continued for Natasha.

“We need to get her out of here”, Loki said grimacing at the way she was being treated.

“She won’t come with us voluntarily.....When, Pietro and I were being controlled by Hydra....We complied so we were never tied down like that.....But the stronger, dangerous ones are.....abused.....Brainwashing probably didn’t work on her....so they may have subdued her and she probably won’t react well to us....”, Wanda said. She felt sick to her stomach at the girl’s state. Old memories came rushing through.

Nat agreed, trying to figure out how to get the other out. They all stood there silently wracking their brains as Bucky and Sam who had stood guarding the outside came in because the others were taking too long.

“ We need to leave they probably called for back-”, Bucky stopped to look in the direction of the cell, “Y/N ??”, he looked shocked as he moved to touch the glass seperating the two. The girl desperately tried to shuffle near to him, struggling with the chains holding her in place. It almost looked like he had forgotten about anyone or anything as he tried to break the glass holding her in. Loki helped in a way too. He somehow unlocked all the chains and the muzzle with his magic. The cloth from her back came loose and there was a bright light blinding everyone for a second. They were wings.....The whitest anyone had ever seen.

The ride in the quinjet was a rather troublesome one. Y/N would hiss at anyone who even tried to mildly interact with her, flinching everytime someone moved and clinging onto Bucky’s arm as she buried her head into his chest. Everthing scared her. The machines, the people, every single thing.

Bucky looked at her in pity.He was angry that he could never get her out of that hellhole. He was angry at himself. You see, Y/N was kidnapped and brought in by Hydra at the mere age of 10. She met Bucky for the first time at the mere age of 16.

She was one of those who didn’t listen. One of those cases where a brainwashed Soldat was thrown into their cell to discipline them. But she was also one of them whom he refused to bring himself to harm even in that state. She had helped him once. When he was badly injured as he was thrown into her cell . She had looked past her fear and wrapped a scrapped part of her dust ridden gown around his hand. That was the last he had seen of her. He had thought they got rid of her.

Nat had tried. To make the girl at least glance at her. She finally succeeded on offering her food. It made Nat feel a weird kind of warmth something she hadn’t felt ever.

By the time they reached headquarters Y/N had familiarised herself or at least tried to with everyone. Wanda had helped her in and out of the shower. Nat had brought her clothes. Loki kept apparating and magic-ing stuff to amuse her. Satisfied with a smug look on his face when she let out a soft gasp of excitement.

Next part was the difficult bit. Equipment everywhere. It recalled the girl of enough horridness. Steve had hesitated and asked if a full health checkup was necessary immediately and it turned out that it was. But Bruce was gentle. At that moment Y/N wondered if such gentleness had ever existed and if it did, why hadn’t she gotten a nibble of it.

Tony had stopped Peter and Thor from attacking the girl with their golden retriever personalities as he constanly kept inquiring to F.R.I.D.A.Y about her origin. Scott and Sam had bickered making Y/N giggle as she sat by Loki and Bucky. For the first time in her life she felt at peace.

Stephen Strange met Y/N a month after her rescue all after winning a bickering contest with Tony when the rest of the Avengers suggested it in the first place saying that ‘It’s not only unfair to him considering his position in the team but he can also help her.’

See the thing is that Y/N didn’t know her true potential and the irony is that even with wings she had no idea how the fuck to fly.

Stephen liked her. Wong did too. She was quiet and spoke only when necessary but there was kindness and fascination in her eyes. She had tried her hand in sorcery and she was learning. Fast though not as fast as Stephen it was surprising.

Her wings were heavy It was understandable why she didn’t try flying. But Stephen tried. Oh how he did and though embarassingly for him he had also asked the others for assistance but it never seemed to work.

Y/N had felt what the meaning of being called an Avenger for the very first time and that it was filled with loss and pain. She had looked around her as she threw the magical golden whip at the enemy. Nat was limping. Steve struggled. Peter was down on his knees. A pack of little screams had alerted her as she looked to see a set of civilians at whom guns were being cocked at. She had leapt. Without thing of the consequences as Bucky had yelled a painful no. She lept right in front of the group,Her wings shielding them when she heard the shots go off. She waited for the pain but she felt nothing but little jerks. The battle had turned silent. Everyone had stopped to look and take in what had had happened. Her wings had ricochetted evey single bullet. Hitting them backing into the ones who had fired them in the first place. And for the first time that she had flapped them she felt herself lift off the ground as the shone a blinding white.

Y/N recalls Sundays. The days when everyone sat together at Stark Towers as they lean on Y/N’s wings watching movies peacefully with occasional perks of laughter.

Shimmering gold and green flashed beside her as she sat recalling on top of the building. A hand placing a book by Socrates in her hand. “They’re waiting and I’m tired of being pestered. Come on, let’s go”,he snarked earning a giggle.

She finally knew what the quote meant. She was lucky to be Alate.

--The End --

Finally done! I am so sorry for delaying all the requests I’m really going through a very important and stressful phase of my life. (One which practically determines my future). Thank you so much for being patient and I really hope you will enjoy this fic! Feedback is appreciated and please like, reblog and comment if you like my work to support me! I have made changes in my fic request list so do check it out! Please do not plagarise my work!

~Love, Hri

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dontcallmecarrie · 3 years

Note

Hey, I vicariously live in my imagination to escape from the reality.

So, I have been wondering about the Rogues reaction to Tony defeating thanos, the IronSmaug, taking over the world etc...

Have a go at it, if you are interested.

It's also fine if you dont.

thanks, I really, really needed the distraction. it's been. an interesting week. not in a good way.

tbh, the whole 'what does Team Cap think about this mess?' thing in TWiFFON is...something I had originally been torn about, and everything that's been happening ever since means I keep finding myself going "do I have the energy to tackle this? lol no".

For some context, because you probably know my stance on this sort of thing but I prefer redundancy just to make sure we're on the same page: once upon a time, I honestly, genuinely did like the Avengers. All of them, and yes, that included Wanda [...for less than an hour, but still].

Back when I still had faith in the writers, I was constantly going "...okay, so when are these guys going to stop acting so OOC? Where tf are they planning on taking these character arcs?" and just being disappointed at each turn— but I stuck around because I liked the potential. Steve "what do you mean punching fascists isn't cool anymore?" Rogers, Natasha "my past is a tire fire and I'll just leave it at that" Romanov, Clint "where's Loki? Let me at him!" Barton and the rest of the group had their good points, and I gave myself a headache trying to figure out wtf was their thought process when the time came for them to do their thing in TWiFFON.

It wasn't fun, I only did it because it was absolutely necessary... and I still ended up receiving complaints.

Look: for me, character bashing is exhausting. I have enough going down in my life that I don't have any interest in writing it, and over the past few years I've seen more than one of the fandoms I follow/lurk in become salt mines that have me going "...okay, if you hate it so much, why are you even here?"

When I write, I try my best to emphasize the 'actions have consequences' thing I learned long before I hit puberty; but that doesn't mean I'm up for anything beyond that. Again, I used to like these characters, so seeing the levels of suffering canon— and some writers— put them through just has me stepping back for a moment.

But TWiFFON attracted a lot of people who were pretty far out there in terms of what they wanted, some of whom got very very pissy when it wasn't the story I wanted to write, which is...probably like 99% of the reason I'm still burned out on that AU. Apart from the recent personal life bs that means I am Not Up To Dealing With any hypothetical rando that shows up in my inbox, because normally I could not care less about what people think but my energy levels are. Um. Not great atm. Not sure I wouldn't bite anyone's head off if they wanted to start something right now, tbh, or just ragequit writing for a while because I have way better things to do with my time than deal with random internet assholes.

...apologies for the tangent, but now you know why that situation is one I'm normally kinda reluctant on tackling.

As for what I'd originally headcanoned:

Back before things hit the fan, I'd originally planned to have some little interlude snippets of what Team Cap's been dealing with. Mostly, it would've forced them to acknowledge that for all none of them liked or trusted Tony, he was basically just the personification of what the rest of the world thought of them.

Nobody respects them, anymore, or trusts them; Clint'd be in very hot water and sleeping on the couch for a while, and Hank Pym would never let Scott hear the end of his involvement in this whole thing because Hank hates the Stark name and the English language cannot concisely articulate just how pissed off he was that he had to publicly thank Tony.

Team Cap overall would also start to fall apart at the seams as more and more stuff came out and ey, turns out the leader they'd trusted and broken international laws for had lied to them.

By omission, sure, but honestly— do you think that'd go down well? The "oh yeah, I've known my brainwashed friend killed his parents since DC but I am not going to tell him unless I'm forced to" thing?

I don't know about you, but I for one highly doubt Sam Wilson would be okay with that. Or Clint, for that matter, and the list goes on because the more time passes, the more stuff keeps coming out of the woodwork and for the first time in years, they're forced to deal with it.

One of the things I planned to include in the sidefic can basically be summed up as "the curious case of Bucky Barnes": that is to say, what'd happen after he's taken into custody, and poke lightly at the clusterfuck we're unpacking here. Tony, feeling bad for losing control in the bunker, would basically go "shit I fucked up but I also never want to see him again but he's an even bigger mess than I am, that's a whole lot to unpack so you know what? I'm just throwing out the suitcase entirely here, have all the resources for support and help and if I ever see you again, it'll be too soon".

...to sum up, it's messy af. SI Legal would feature heavily because his particular case means he needs a team of lawyers, what with the 'former POW who's trying to recover from All The Trauma' thing, and the 'so I literally was just trying to buy some damn groceries when you guys dragged me into this', and Tony basically went "hey, so if anyone wants to help him, uh, I kinda have some interest in this one. Fair warning, dude probably killed Kennedy while mind-controlled, with our luck".

And along the way, there'd also be some of that one subplot I'd cut due to pacing issues: specifically, the one dealing with prosthetics.

Remember how Miriam Sharpe said her son would never walk again? Yeah, we'd be revisiting that: her family'd get a letter or something inviting them for clinical trials, and meet Rhodey in passing as he's using his own leg braces to get around because he's still healing. Bucky would get a few design offers for a free replacement for his arm, and it'd probably end up being a collab with Wakanda because T'Challa feels bad for his role in that mess as well.

So Team Cap would be seeing this, seeing how everyone's acting and reacting, and the way one of their own is getting all the help and support Stark Industries has to offer and realizing that yeah, they messed up. Big time.

...depending on my salt levels and how close we're sticking to canon, I was thinking this'd go one of two ways.

Either they'd double down and just go "ugh, Tony is a supervillain and we can't do anything about it!" while TWiFFON marches on and then later go "...you mean he did it by accident?!", or...

Well, canon's proven character development and continuity isn't really in their writers' vocabulary. So my original idea of 'they're forced to deal with the reality of the situation, acknowledge they messed up and slowly move on with their lives' would've been very unrealistic.

Again, most of this is intentionally vague, I had not been keen to tackle that mess in TWiFFON in the first place and the way things exploded on me means I really, really don't have the energy to do so now. Not when there's far better things I could do with my time, like mess around with AUs where people actually get along, or knit, or— well, the list goes on.

#The War is Far From Over Now #From the Other Side [A Terror To Behold]#thinking aloud #I got an ask!#Naught replies #replies #behind the scenes

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fairykimseok · 3 years

Text

Drowsy nights and the white wolf

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Original Character (Kaitlyn)

Summary: Being an avenger is one thing, being an Avenger with Bucky Barnes is another. A little story of how Kaitlyn met Bucky

Gender: would say fluff with a little action, oneshot

Warnings: a mention of blood

This is written with the intention of being Bucky x reader but I just had to name the character. Time wise it is set along the events of TFATWS

Disclaimer: Marvel owns Avengers, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and all its characters

Before I tell you my story maybe I need to introduce myself. My name is Kaitlyn, I am short of special as my mom liked to say and…I might be an Avenger.

All started in the battle of New York, I was in one of the buildings Loki had taken over, with my mom and a few other people. I don’t really remember what happened, I only know Loki had touched me with his Scepter. I woke up the following day at the hospital, the building we were in had collapsed killing everyone but me. I was 16 back then and that was when I first met Natasha. She was the one who had pulled me out of that building and she kept visiting me in the hospital, she sort of became my family when everyone was gone. Short after when my powers started showing up, powers that were the legacy of Loki and the infinity stone, our sessions started. She would train me in hand in hand combat and I would try to master my powers.

She wanted me to go to the avengers’ compound and I had visited a few times, I had a room next to Wanda whom I had met on a few occasions. But that was when the Civil War between the Avengers started, and Nat went hiding. We would still meet sometimes with Cap and occasionally Sam.

And then the snap happened, and I blipped and when I came back, she was gone. My only family was gone. I called Sam as soon as I found out. He told me I could still join the team just as Nat wanted, that they had a new building as the old one was destroyed.

And that is where I am right now, in the new Avengers compound with whom is left here. Mostly me, Rodney, and Banner. Sam comes and goes, Dr. Strange, Clint, and Scot has stopped by sometimes and they frequently video call with others that are far away.

It is sort of lonely here, but I try to focus on my training. It is not easy being the only one with my kind of powers. Dr. Strange has helped me some with that and Banner had run some tests on me to see how they could progress. I get my “military” training with Rodney and when Clint is here, I get the “spy” training.

Oh right, my powers. Well you could say I have a thing with ice. Provided that there is water around I can create ice in whatever form I want and use it accordingly. I am still very sloppy and most of the time it is only a thin layer, but I am getting better.

It was a typical day, I woke up, got breakfast in the shared kitchen, visited Banner in his lab and went to the gym for my training. One of the first things Nat had told me was that I need to be agile, to be able to move fast even in the most difficult situations, so my morning routine had a variety of ballet, yoga or pilates.

“Looking good”, I heard someone at the door. As I turned, I realized it was no other than Sam.

“Hey Sam, what’s up? It’s been a while”, I said, going to my bug to drink some water.

“Thought I would stop by to see how you all here are and also to drop a friend who I think would help you a lot with your training”, he said.

As on cue Rodney entered the room with one more man, he looked around the room before his eyes landed on me. I knew who he was of course, who doesn’t.

“Bucky this is Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn this is Bucky. Don’t worry he is not dangerous just very old”, Sam joked which led to him getting a punch in the arm.

“Nice to me you”, Bucky said with a slight nod of his head.

“Nice to meet you too”, I managed to say in a stake of a mild shock. No, I wasn’t scared of him, I never had been. Cap had told me enough of his stories with bucky back in their days to know that this man is not dangerous even if he had been brainwashed most of his life.

“Bucky can help you with close up combat. If you are going to learn, better learn from the best.”, Sam offered. “We gonna let you at it and come back later with Rods. You gonna be ok old man?”, he asked before leaving, closing the door behind them.

Bucky only eye rolled as he properly entered the room. He unzipped his jacket leaving it at the bench, his vibranium arm echoing in the empty room. “Alright, let’s see what you got. Try to hit me” he said positioning himself in the middle of the room.

“Hit you?”, I asked confused, approaching him.

“Kick me, punch me, hit me. Whatever”, he shrugged.

Whatever, I thought. How? How do you hit the winter soldier? I took a few more steps, going closer all while I was thinking which could be the best approach, how could I attack him. At first, I just tried to punch as naïve as it looked. Of course, he just stopped my hand midair with his. I tried more complex moves, some of those Nat used to do, wrapping my legs around his neck and trying to elbow him on the head, I found myself pinned to the nearest wall his metal arm in my neck. His grip tight. He got flustered for a moment and for a moment there I really saw the assassin he used to be. He loosened his grip and let me down, mumbling an apology.

“How old are you again?”, I asked out of breath.

“Physical or mental age? Actual or birth wise? Kinda difficult question to ask”, he said with a faint of smile but maybe it was my imagination because it lasted for too short.

“Current?”, I offered.

“Something around the early 30s. Or 106, who counts?” he shrugged. “Again”

We went on and on, each time finding me in a helpless situation. I was pretty sure Ι was covered with bruises in every place possible.

I don’t even know how many times we had done the same thing when I got the idea that hey, I got powers. I let him tackle me into a headlock and when he was about to loosen his hold, I touched the metal arm, ice spreading all over it. I took the mere seconds it took him to realize what was going on as a chance to elbow him in the ribs and punch his jaw. He took a step back and smiled not even fazed by my hits.

“Good, but next time count on your strength and not your powers yet”, he said.

“Do you even feel anything?”, I asked defeated, nothing seemed to hurt him.

“It takes a lot more to make me feel anything”, he grinned. “And ice is not one of them”

“I left you here to learn from him and you go and freeze my man?”, Sam exclaimed entering in the room.

“I am fine”, Bucky said waving his metal arm twice before the ice broke and fell on the floor.

“Once a popsicle always a popsicle,” Sam joked earning a death stare from the older man. “How did it go?”, he asked looking at me

“No broken bones, so I guess good”, I shrugged.

“We have a long way ahead of us”, Bucky said getting dressed. “I am out”, he nodded before disappearing.

“So how was it really?”, Sam asked again, examining me.

“I think I barely touched him. My whole body is sore, and my pride is wounded.”

Sam laughed. “That’s why I brought him here to you. The people we are going up against out there are not easy, they will try to kill you without a second thought. You can always use your powers, but you told Nat you wanted to be like her. If you still up for the close combat, he will be here from now on. You may train with him whenever you want. If not, you are still free to stay here and train on your powers.”

I looked at him with realization. Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough. I was feeling so lost without her. “No, I want to try”, I promised with determination.

“Good. Now go, get ready we will all get dinner together before I leave”, Sam left too, and I was left alone in the room.

I sighed heavily, trying to get up I felt the pain running through my body. I was going to be so sore tomorrow.

-----------------------

Days were passing by and I hadn’t seen him anywhere which on one hand was good because I don’t think I had improved since our first encounter and on the other it made me wonder where the heck he might be? It is not like the compound is huge for me to lose him. I reasoned that he could be on a mission with Sam and that is why I hadn’t seen him, after all Rodney wasn’t here either.

Apart from the hours of training I did through the day, I had started running some laps in the late hours. It is when the humidity in the air is the highest here, so it makes me feel more at ease with my powers. I was running again today, just a few laps around the compound, when I stopped at a clean spot.

I breathed in the humid air allowing my body to absorb as much water as it could from the atmosphere. I tried to catch my breath as I heard a bike running down the entrance of the compound towards the building. For a moment, I was perplexed as who it could be before I realized it was him, returning from somewhere. He headed to the garage. I didn’t even know he had a bike, but I decided to return at my task no point on focusing on him.

I closed my eyes again, opened my arms in an L shape and tried to focus, focus on my surroundings, on the water in the air. I took a deep breath as I tried to expand the cold emanating from me. I tried to crystalize as many water particles as I could around me, turning the humid air into a frozen one.

And I tried to expand it as much as I could. That’s when I felt it, the other presence close to me, in between all the cold a warmer figure. I turned at once defensively, ice-like awls flying towards the direction of the intruder only to stop a few centimeters away.

“I am sorry”, I said as I made them disappear. “I didn’t know it was you”, my body relaxing a bit.

He stared at me unfazed, as if he wasn’t even scared, I had almost pierced him throughout his body. He stared at me dead in the eyes and I couldn’t really understand what his look meant. It was like he was studying me. “It’s late, you should better go in,” he said before turning and heading back to the building.

“How long have you been standing here?”, I yelled at his retreating figure.

“Enough,” he yelled back without even turning.

I followed him with my eyes until he disappeared behind the doors. I took another deep breath as I headed back myself. There was something about this man, so mysterious, so distant yet I felt being drawn to him.

--------------------

Wednesdays are usually gun days, I would do the training with Clint, trying different guns and basically learning how about anything could be a weapon if you use it correctly. Hell, one day Clint decided I had to try the bow, but it went terribly. In my defense my eyesight sucks so how was I supposed to do well?

Clint hadn’t been here for a while, so I went to the training room alone, picked a gun, set the target, wore the protective gear, and started shooting. Surprisingly I wasn’t that bad at shooting, I give myself credit, even though I still lack on technique and consistency.

I was halfway through when I felt eyes on me again. I turned to face the room and sure enough I saw him leaning on the door frame. “Not bad,” he commented as I removed the protective headphones.

“Thanks”, I said feeling self-aware, I don’t know why I was getting so nervous around him.

“Need to relax your shoulders a bit” he continued as he walked to pick a gun and went to a nearby booth. “You are going to dislocate it otherwise”.

I nodded as I watched him go, he didn’t miss one, switching between hands and meters away from the target. I was impressed but don’t tell him.

“So, guns are your thing”, I said as he stopped.

“I wouldn’t say I have a thing, just too many years of experience, but if I had a thing, I guess it would be knives”, he said thoughtfully.

“Show me”, I challenged without even thinking.

He gave me a funny look as he picked one, moved back to the booth and while still looking at me threw the knife head on to the target. He didn’t even blink.

He shrugged and I think I saw a hint of smugness there. “Practice makes perfect”, he said as he turned to leave the room. “Keep on practicing”.

“Good to see you too”, I mumbled to the empty room. Cause it was good to see him, wasn’t it? I did want to see him. I had found myself almost searching for him in the days that he was nowhere to be found. I had seen photos of him in the news and back in those years he did seem dangerous but now, with the haircut and his general stance he seemed more like the Bucky Cap was describing in his stories albeit still very distant. Would I entertain myself with the thought that he was hot? I mean, the beard, the toned muscles, the mystery, the eyes, oh those eyes. Nah, I shouldn’t think of that.

“Focus”, I murmured to myself as I started shooting again.

-------------------

I was back in the gym where we first met, doing my flexibility exercises as he entered the room. He walked straight to me, his eyes never leaving mine. I got up from the floor I was sitting. I was so drawn to him; I couldn’t take my eyes of him. We were too close now, bodies almost touching. He looked down on me and I felt my body shiver. He brought his hand to my cheek and caress it, and I melted to the touch. I raised mine to touch his hand as I followed the muscles all the away till his shoulder and then his face. He used his metal arm to guide me closer to him by my waist. And then he started leaning, our breaths coming as one, lips almost touching…

I woke up with a start, my heart racing a like an f1 car in Q3. I was sweating. “It was just a dream”, I said as I tried to catch my breath. “A very vivid one”.

I looked at the clock on the night stand it was still 3 in the morning, but my glass was empty. I got up, sighing, intending to go get some water from the kitchen. As I left my room, I heard some soft, almost incoherent, music coming from the end of the corridor. I walked towards it, recognized the tune as something from the 30s or 40s maybe, I turned at the end of the corridor and there was faint light coming from a crick of the door of the room in the right.

I wondered who could be up this late at night and I picked in the room. It was luminated by a small lamp on the desk. A pickup next to it and a few records stacked in the bookshelf behind. He then moved into my line of vision. Drink at hand, shirtless, only his bottom pajamas on. I gulped at the sight of his bare torso, not a good combination with the dream I just had. I noticed the scars on his body and those where the metal was fusing with his torso.

He was sipping his drink, occasionally humming to the tune. This must have been the most human I had ever seen him and then it hit me that this is a very private moment for someone like him, with the kind of life he had, and I was intruding. I turned to go to the kitchen as I originally intended, unbeknownst to me at the time that he had noticed my presence.

-------------------

“Your favoritism is showing”, Sam commented as he followed Bucky’s look.

It was one of those days that we had visitors in the compound. I was just outside the building on the front yard, with Hope and in the middle of the very tiring martial arts session.

Bucky was leaning of the living room windows that had just the perfect view of the front where me and Hope were.

“I don’t get what you mean,” Bucky said to Sam, his eyes still on us.

Sam laughed. “Come on don’t play dumb. It is not so subtle when you mention her while on missions neither how you look at her when she doesn’t.”

“How do I look at her?”, Bucky asked finally turning to look at Sam.

“Well, intently the least. There is some longing, some what if in there”, Sam explained.

“You know it’s true,” Rodney added coming into the room.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Bucky exclaimed finally leaving his spot from the window and sitting on the couch. Anyone could see he was started to get annoyed.

“You know if Steve was here, he would tell you to go for it”, Sam pointed.

Bucky glared at him before hissing “I hate you both”.

Sam laughed loudly.

-----------------

I had just finished my session with Hope when Sam approached us.

“How you doing ladies?” he chirped.

“Good”, Hope beamed, “It went pretty good”.

“That’s always great to hear”, Sam approved and they both smiled at me making me blush.

“I am gonna head back in”, Hope said, “Is Scot here yet?”

“Yeah he just came with Cassie. You all gonna stay here for lunch?” he wondered.

“Sure thing”, she nodded before heading in.

“So how is it going with you? How it’s going with my boy Bucky?” Sam asked shifting his attention back to me.

“Uuhm, good, I guess. We haven’t talked much but he has offered a few advices here and there which helped me for sure. I was pretty sure he hated me at the beginning”, I laughed.

“I am telling you he hates everyone, but I think it might be far from true in your case”, Sam winked. “But anyway, keep up the good work and who knows you might come with us in a mission soon.”

I looked at him perplexed but didn’t comment on it.

Later during lunch, I tried to pay more attention to Bucky and it did seem that he wasn’t so comfortable in a room full of people but I did notice that there were times he was looking at me for no reason.

-------------------

True to his words, Sam did invite me to a mission about a month after he said so. They were happy with my progress which gave me the confidence I needed to try more. There were still a lot I needed to learn, and they thought that if I was part of a simple mission it would also give me the experience of handling difficult situations.

I had a fitting with Banner who provided me with a suit, he had coordinated with Shuri for this. It was a black one with blue details, small lines in the shoulders, abdomen, and wrists. My palms and fingers were free so that I would be able to use my powers easily and of course it had parts of vibranium protecting the vital organs of my torso. The part I liked the most was the neck as there was extra fabric which I could use to cover my face up till my nose. I braided my hair in a French style, took the gun and in ear com that Sam had left for me and I was ready to go.

“Nervous?”, I heard Bucky asking me as he joined me at the front yard. We were waiting for Sam to come with the Quinjet and get us. He was also dressed in his suit, with an one-sleeved jacket, leaving his metal arm exposed.

“More than I would like to admit”, I replied.

“It will be fine, we got you”, he assured me.

Up in the Quinjet, I spend most of my time in awe with how it was. I had never been into one and I was marveled.

“So, the mission is to get to the convoy and get the asset out. The asset is a scientist. We plan on ambushing them based on the route they are supposed to follow. I will stop them, and we attack. Bucky and I will take care of the guards and all you need to do is take the guy and go away of the rest of us”, Sam started explaining the plan, showing a map on the screen. “If everything goes according to plan, we will be there way earlier to map the area. Clear?”

“Hmm, how are we going to go there? I wouldn’t assume there is a place to land there”, I pondered.

“Parachutes”, Sam simply offered, studying the map. “We plan on landing around here. And as soon as we get the asset, we have this place here as an exit point. Just a few km away.”

“For us, he would be flying”, Bucky accused him.

“Not wanting to be that person, but I have never used a parachute”, my stress levels were increasing by the second. Not only I was in charge of another person making it out alive, but I had to jump of a plane, not to mention my fear of heights. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Don’t worry we will jump together”, Bucky offered which unknowingly to me earned a playful wiggle of eyebrows and a look of approval from Sam. Bucky on the other hand only glared at him.

When it was almost time for us to jump, we started getting ready. Sam left first, flying to the place to make sure we didn’t have any company. It was the first time I had seen him with Cap’s shield, and it was not as weird as I expected it to be.

“You ready?” I heard him ask.

“As ready as I can be”, I smiled nervously.

“Look it is your first time and it is reasonable to be nervous. But it won’t help you down there. You are ready just believe in yourself. We will be there, and we won’t let anything to happen to you. Ok?” he comforted me giving me a pat on the back. And there was something there in his eyes, a bit of worry, of determination, I couldn’t really tell but I believed him.

“Ok”, I said with confidence. “So how do we jump?”

“Well, since you have no experience, we will do this together. Here tie this in your belt and around your waist and clip it to my belt”, he proceeded with wearing the parachute and fixing the ties and held as together. This was the closest we had been since the first day that we trained together. I had made the mistake of looking up at him as he checked the equipment. We don’t have that much of height difference which has as a result my eyes to be at the same level with his lips. Which was a great distraction for my nervousness. “You can put your hand here to be steadier”, he said as he guided my hand to get in between the ties of the parachute at the front of his chest. “And the other should probably go behind my back”, he suggested.

“Ok”, I said as I did what he proposed. I did feel steady like this, but it was super close. I could smell his cologne from this distance.

He took a step behind and an agent opened the airplane door for us. “Want to count to 3?”, he asked, wrapping his hand around my waist holding me closed.

I did make the mistake to look at him in the eyes which created a new kind of tension, but I nodded. “One..Two….AAAAAAhh”, I screamed as the jerk jumped of the plane without a notice. I hid my face in the crook of his neck as we were falling, letting him take care of the rest. The one instruction they had given me was to stay as still as I could so that he could guide as without problems.

And somehow miraculously I felt my feet touching the ground and him starting to untie as from the parachute. “See we made it”, he remarked with a rare smile.

I let a loud breath. “I can’t believe we did. Now what?”

“Sam you copy? We are moving to the meet up point”, he talked to his in-ear com as he gestured me to follow.

“Copy”, I heard Sam replying.

We walked carefully to the place we were supposed to ambush them. Sam informed us that he could see the convoy coming. The asset being in the 3rd of the 4 cars.

We had positioned ourselves as we saw the cars turning towards our direction. As they were passing by us, Sam shoot the first one causing a collision and the rest came to a stop. “Go go go”, I heard him over the radio.

Sam was already flying towards our direction eliminating as many guards as he could. A lot more people than I expected came out of the vehicles. I saw Bucky running easily taking out the first 3-4 guards that came out of the last car as stealthy as possible. Sam threw him the shield and with a jump Bucky swiftly caught it and landed on top of the Jeep that was supposed to have the asset, starting to shoot.

I run behind him going to the other side of the car where I could see an man trying to hide. With the guards of the car gone I was able to take him “Follow me”, I shouted taking him by the shoulder and leading him to the forest in the direction of the exit point.

But as I turned to go that way, I saw another vehicle coming to us, probably a backup. They were driving fast directly at us. “We got company!”, I yelled in the com getting the others attention. I tried to shoot at the driver, but the windshield was bullet proof.

Sam flew past by and shoot at the tyres. Even though the van crashed to the side a bunch of guards came out and started shooting at us. “Kaitlyn, go!” Bucky yelled moving past me.

I took the asset and started running in the forest unfortunately though a few guards saw us and started following. The first bullet flew right past me and I stopped abruptly. “Get behind me”, I demanded as I tried to shield him. I created an ice shield as thick as I could to shield us both. The guards kept shooting as I tried to take steps backwards. I drew my gun and tried to shoot back getting one of them on the leg. My shield had started thinning as bullets kept coming to our direction. One passed through and I felt like it hit me, but I didn’t have the time to think of this.

I looked up on the trees to see how heavy they were with snow and I got an idea. I lifted my hand and closed my fist as the snow fell heavy on the guard. I lowered my shield to see if the danger had passed and thankfully there was no one else. Sam flew next to me and Bucky came behind running. “We are clear”, Sam confirmed. I looked back at the man hiding behind me, he wasn’t hurt which was the point so that meant I had done a good job.

We took him to the exit point where the Quinjet was waiting. I sat down at a sit to catch my breath. I had never used my powers for so long and I felt drained now the adrenaline levels were falling.

“You are bleeding”, Bucky exclaimed as he run towards me, kneeling in front of me and taking my arm in his. There was a hole in my suit, and there was a scratch on my upper arm I hadn’t even notice. There was some blood there, but it had mostly dried. “How did this happen?” he asked.

“Hmm, I am not sure I didn’t really feel it, but I think there was a bullet that passed the shield I had made”, I flinched into the touch.

“We need to clean this”, he answered with worry as he went to take the medical kit. He kneeled again and cleaned my wound, patching it.

“Thank you”, I whispered as he sat next to me. I took in his state, eyes closed, sweat dripping from his temple. There was something raw in him like this yet so beautiful.

“Good work Kaitlyn”, Sam patted me in the back. “We are proud of you”.

“Thanks Sam”, I smiled.

We left the asset to a safe place where some agency they didn’t care to tell me, would take him and put him into some kind of protection. We flew back to the compound.

“Are you staying?” I asked Sam.

“No, I got something to do. See you guys in a few days”, he waved before flying away.

I turned to look at Bucky “Come, let’s get in”, he responded.

I followed him in, each going to our respective rooms. I took a bath washing away the blood and tiredness. It was long into the am hours and I couldn’t get myself to sleep after all this. I headed back to the living room, gazing out at the night sky. A few stars visible.

“Here, I made you this”, Bucky said, and I jumped in shock.

“I didn’t hear you coming”, I faltered taking the mug he offered. It had some hot tea.

Bucky grinned. “It’s linden and chamomile. Will help soothing your nerves”.

“Thank you”, I smiled bringing the mug to my lips.

We stayed silently for a few moments, sipping our drinks, and looking out as night shifted.

“I am sorry I didn’t protect you”, he started.

I turned to look at him “Bucky, I- there is no need to be sorry. I…I didn’t expect you to. You had to fight so many people and protect yourself. I was just clumsy, and you were there the whole time. Hell, we jumped of a plane and walked out alive,” I laughed to show him that I was just fine.

“Still I told you that I wouldn’t let you get hurt and you did”, he countered meeting my eyes. There was dare I say hurt in there.

I took a step closer, taking his hand to mine, which took him by surprise, his eye fixating there for a moment. “Don’t worry, I am really fine. I am glad we are all ok”, I said squeezing his hand lightly.

He cleared his throat as he removed his hand. “It’s time for some sleep. Good night”, he said.

“Goodnight Bucky,” I responded as he turned to leave, and turned my attention back outside.

“Kaitlyn?”

“Yeah?”

“You can call me Buck”, he encouraged and with a small smile he left.

I was left standing there with my mouth open, not knowing what to do. Ι bit my lips not knowing how to handle the new emotion of excitement I was feeling for no apparent reason. I went to my room and slept a peaceful sleep.

----------------

There had been a month since our mission, I was still training daily, each day feeling more confident with my skills and powers.

Sam and Bucky were in another mission for almost a month now, we didn’t really have news of them. Last time we had checked they were in Prague. Ι was worried, I didn’t want to admit it to anyone else but I was listening to the news everyday wondering if they would be mentioned.

“Hey Bruce”, I greeted as I entered the lab. “How is it going?”

“Hey kiddo”, he greeted back, leaving whatever weird thing he was working on.

I walked around the lab indifferently, “Any news from the guys in the field?”

“I spoke with Sam yesterday, they somehow ended in Madripoor. I personally haven’t been there, but I hear it is an interesting place. They met Sharon in the way”.

“Who is Sharon?”, I perked up.

“Oh, you probably haven’t met her. I only met her once briefly a few years ago. She was a friend of Steve’s and an old agent of Shield”, he explained.

“I see”, I said thoughtful, for some reason the idea of a woman travelling with them in troublesome situations didn’t make me feel very at ease. I mean if she was a friend of Steve’s, was she also a friend of Bucky’s?

I tried to shake away any unwelcome thoughts that came to my mind.

“Thank you, Bruce. Want to try the new blasters?”, I asked trying to channel my energy to something else.

--------------------

It was a Saturday evening; it was raining, and it was relatively cold. I was in my room, listening to some music and absentmindedly looking out the window. My tea still warm in the mug.

I heard a knock on the door that shook me out of my trance. “Yes”.

“Hey”, I barely saw a head behind the semi closed door. “May I come in?”

“Please, come”, I smiled to the familiar face. “When did you return?”

He got in closing the door behind him. “Half an hour ago probably. I just wanted to check up on you”, Bucky said scratching the back of his neck.

“I am good”, I offered going closer, my eyes try to take all his features. “Is this a bruise? Were you hurt?” I tried to reach with my hand right below his eye where I could see some shades of purple and yellow, but he stopped me midair.

“Yeah but it is nothing. Don’t worry. I ‘ve been worse”, he gently lowered my hand not completely leaving it though as our fingertips were still touching.

“That doesn’t really make me feel better about it. Neither should you. You shouldn’t get hurt”, I shook my head in disagreement.

He snorted. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry”, he smiled and for moment I think – I THINK – my legs turned to jelly. A bit my bottom lip and his eyes darted there directly.

I opened my mouth to say something, but words weren’t really there.

“It’s late”, he said. “I ‘ll see you tomorrow”. He opened the door and left with a last smile.

---------------

A few days had passed, we had shared some training sessions. I had run into him in the kitchen a few times in the morning where I would go to make breakfast and he would usually drink coffee with Rodney before they both left for a meeting they did with the rest of the team that was spread around the world.

Sam stopped by occasionally and they could train together or go on a mission together. I was worried why they hadn’t asked me to go with them again. I had been to a few simple ones with Rodney but never again with Bucky and Sam.

That day, it was late at night and I had just come back from my evening run. I took a shower and after drying up I endeavored to the kitchen to find something to munch on. He was sitting at the living room, the only light coming from the full moon outside. Soft music was playing and he appeared to be playing with a knife. He was throwing it in the air and catching it again and again.

At first, I thought whether I should approach him or not, maybe he needed some alone time. I went to the kitchen and got some almonds and water. I thought that maybe he would hear the noise and either come or leave if he wanted to be alone. When I was done eating, I gave a look to the living room to see if he was still there.

Naturally my eyes went straight to the couch that I had left him but found nothing. Only then I noticed that he had moved to the windows and he was looking at me. I jumped “You scared me”, I muttered.

“What are you doing up at 3 in the morning?” he asked.

“Right back at you? I was just about to go to sleep”, I retorted getting away from the shadows of the kitchen and closer to the windows. The moon light was accentuating his features. He had a week-old beard and was wearing a simple black t-shirt and pj pants.

“Tried the sleep, didn’t work. Came here to relax”, he explained while still looking at me intently.

“Do you want me to make you something? A tea? Some milk?” I offered.

He moved from the windows and met me halfway. “No, I am fine”, he murmured. He brushed a few stray hairs with his hand and put them behind my ear. His eyes never leaving mine. “Didn’t really tell me why you were still up”.

“I – I came back from running and wanted to eat something before I go to sleep”, I could feel his breath merging with mine, and I was feeling so lost.

He brought his metal arm to my waist and with his other arm he caressed my cheek. Ι couldn’t but lean into the touch, momentarily closing my eyes.

He started leaning towards me when a noise came from down the corridor. Someone had opened their door and was making their way to us. He immediately broke contact, gave me one last look, and left. “Sup Banner?” heard him saying somewhere away from my line of vision. I was just left there, frozen, not knowing what to do and utterly confused.

“What are you doing in the dark kid?”, Bruce asked, and I almost jumped.

“Ah you know, night cravings. Going to sleep. Goodnight Bruce”, I faked a yawn and practically run to my room.

------------

The next day I intentionally went for breakfast later than usually. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see him yet neither did I know what to do if we met.

Of course, with the good luck I always have, I almost fell on him as I turned to enter the kitchen. He caught me as to not fall murmured an apology and left which as I saw from the kitchen, he rode his bike and left the compound whatsoever.

I spend the whole day in the training room unleashing all my nerves using my powers. At some point Bruce had to come to tell me to stop because the temperature in the compound had decreased by 10 degrees and apart from the room I was using, crystals had form in two rooms radius.

I apologized and we spend the rest of the afternoon trying to unfreeze the rooms and increase the temperature. Thankfully the compound has top notch systems.

I ate a quick dinner right after and locked myself in my room.

I was laying in my bed, cocooning with my blankets, watching a movie when I heard a knock on my door. I looked at the clock, it was almost midnight. “Who is it?”, I questioned.

“Bucky”, he cleaned his throat, the nervousness in his voice evident.

For a moment I pondered if I should really go and open or not but my curiosity and well the eagerness got the best of me. I got up and unlocked the door, opening it enough to see him. “Can I come in?”, he wondered, anxiously giving looks to the rest of the rooms in case anyone showed up. I just moved aside for him to get in without saying anything, wasn’t sure what to say either.

I moved to go and sit back on my bed and he followed but hesitated to sit, he only did when I gestured him to. He cleaned his throat again. “This isn’t easy for me”, he started and I then felt bad, because I was giving him the silent treatment but I was failing to understand that for a person like him, that had been through so many horrible things it surely wasn’t something easy. I relaxed a bit and gave him a reassuring look as to proceed.

He fidgeted a little more before he tried again. “Firstly, I need to apologize for how I left yesterday, I just panicked. You know it is funny because Steve had told me that I had my way with the ladies back in our time but all this”, he gestured between us, “is fairly new to the current me. And I pretty much have no idea what to say or do”.

“Well, thank you for apologizing”, I smiled and took his hand in mine to show him that everything was ok, and he could feel more comfortable. He clenched back which I took as a good step. “You can always start by telling me what you feel, if you want”.

“You would think that it is easy”, he snorted, yet he intertwined our fingers. “I just feel better when I see you and when I am with you. And I feel excited every time we meet. And I feel eager for the next time”.

“Well if it helps, I feel the same”, I mumbled.

His shoulders seemed to relax a bit to the sound of my words.

I lifted my arm and tried to turn his face gently to look at me or else he would make holes to the floor from how intently he was looking at it. I smiled and he grinned.

“So…”, I started.

“So, we could maybe try and spend some time together one of these days…”, he trailed off.

“Well, it is not like I have something to do now… we could always start with watching a movie?”, I questioned.

“Yeah I would like that”, he smiled.

We picked a movie and sat on the bed, at first apart but as the movie was progressing, in between laughs and comments, we came closer and ended up cuddling. I am not sure when but at some point, I fell asleep in his arms.

“Sshh, go back to sleep”, he whispered as he was trying to get up and leave the bed, my hand instinctively holding him in place.

“Don’t go”, I mumbled, eyes still close.

“I can’t stay here, and you are asleep”, he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I opened my eyes, as awake I could be “Stay”

He looked me again, eyes full of adoration. I could see he was thinking of it. I sat up, and gently pulled him close to me so that he could sit back again in the bed. “Stay”, I repeated.

“Ok”, he said “I will”.

He moved to remove his sweater and close the lights and came back to the bed. I moved enough to make him space and he got under the blanket, the mattress moving under the extra weight. I looked down at him and a feeling of completion, of happiness filled me. I couldn’t believe that those blue eyes were staring back at me.

For a moment I wasn’t sure if I should do it, if I was overstepping but my eagerness took a hold of me. I leaned in, placing my hand above his heart, feeling it moving fast. He looked at me inviting, his hand moving to my cheek, guiding me closer. I stopped just centimeters away, our lips almost touching, to give him one last look, as if I was asking for the final permission. He closed the gaped and I felt the softest lips against mine.

After a moment we parted and he caressed my cheek. “Sleep now.”

I laughed at him but obeyed, getting back in position, my head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around me. And just like this we fell asleep.

--------------

After this night, Bucky was a totally different person. He was constantly smiling to me, hugging me with every chance he got, kissing me when he thought no one was looking. And in the compound, he was totally different, he would help me clean around, sing while he was doing chores.

Sure, there were also some bad days when he would wake up in his sleep screaming from the nightmares and I had to hold him in my arms and remind him that everything was in the past. That no one was here to hurt him and even if they tried, they would have to go through me first. After a while he would usually calm down, we would lay down again, he would put his head on my chest, and I would caress his hair. He, then, would fall asleep and I would let him sleep as late as he could even if he would be grumpy about it afterwards.

But everything felt so dreamy. And I would trade everything in the world for a smile of his.

#bucky barnes #Sebastian #sebastian stan #bucky barnes x original female character #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #bucky fic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x reader

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imagine-loki · 3 years

Text

Hiding in Plain Sight

TITLE: Hiding in Plain Sight

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 12 Final Chapter.

AUTHOR: wolfpawn

ORIGINAL IMAGINE:Imagine coming from a line of nobility or royalty and being in an arranged marriage with Loki in an attempt to strengthen your kingdom / alliance with Asgard. You’re not entirely on board with the idea but figured that the best you could do was to get to know your fiancé. You form an agreement with Frigga for you to pose as Loki’s personal servant for a few months so you can get to know who Loki really is – beyond the veil of his responsibility to the Asgardian throne, behind all the masks he wears when facing the public, to really know who Loki is behind closed doors as you slowly fall for each other.How long will you keep up the ruse with the God of Lies?

RATING: General Audience

NOTE: final chapter

Loki scoured his desks and shelves for those letters. When the knock came to his door, he gave a nod to Tatianna to open it. The maid, who had been working diligently with him in search of said letters, rushed over to check it was who she had been sent for. “The Postmaster, Lord Johan, Your Highness.” She introduced as the Postmaster came in.

“Lord Johan.” The Postmaster bowed. “Prince Loki, I came as soon as I could.” “Thank you.”

“How can I assist you, Your Highness.” “My brother has informed me that three letters were brought to my rooms over a period of months from the Ljósáfar palace.”

The Postmaster’s eyes widened. “You did receive such, Your Highness. I organised them for your rooms myself as I do all the mail for your family. They even had the name of the sender on them, the Princess Raven of Alfheim. Such fine writing she has too. Artistic and neat.”

Loki nodded and took little heed of the statement, It was well-known that the Postmaster was a graphophile, he supposed a few millennia of looking at different handwriting would turn almost anyone into one.

“I have never received them.” The Postmaster’s mouth opened to speak. “I am not, for one moment, suggesting you to be telling me falsities, Lord Johan, I know of the due care you put into your work but also I know you have entirely no reason to lie.”

“On two of the three occasions, they came alongside other post. On the final one, it did not and I ensured they all made their way to your rooms. Because of their importance, I placed them in the centre of your desk rather than the usual place.” Loki’s eyes widened and he looked at his desk, which was kept clean for when it was needed for work matters but there was nothing on it at present. “It begs the question then, where did they go, and why would anyone do such a thing as to move them?” He looked at Tatianna as he spoke. The maid shook her head slightly. Loki did not suspect his maid. He questioned her for a moment upon returning to his rooms, asking her if she recalled such letters but she stated that she did not. He had no reason to suspect her, she did not have anything to gain from dishonesty and she had even been readying the rooms in case Raven was to be joining Loki in them. She had tidied shelves in case she too was a reader and had books to join Loki’s. She had gone through each and every item of clothing of his that she could find, discarding the damaged, repairing others making room for the new princess. If anything, Loki suspected she was half excited to have a woman to assist tending to. She loved fashion and hair meaning having a princess to assist with events would undoubtedly be something pleasant for her. “Tatianna, have you tried behind those scrolls?”

“No, Your Highness, I will try now.” She darted off to do that. “Do not forget, Your Highness, Her Majesty insists you turn up for dinner. Missing lunch was unacceptable, missing dinner is...well…” “Let me guess, if I do not turn up, I will have Gungnir force me to turn up?”

“Something to that effect.”

Loki rolled his eyes at his parents’ attempts at threats. “Very well, you keep searching.” She nodded and did so. “Where in the realms are they?” Loki muttered to himself. * The prelude to the dinner did not fair as badly as Loki had worried that it would. For most of it, he spoke with the Ljósáfar princes, all of whom seemed amiable in their own ways, but what he did notice was his mother looking worriedly at him, though he barely acknowledged her unless she spoke to him directly as he did not want to embarrass his family and that there was no sign of Raven.

When dinner time arrived, he began to feel insulted that she had been able to avoid it while he was being forced to endure it. The fact that it was a public dinner made it all the worse. The whole realm would hear the announcement of the forthcoming wedding and she was not even present. What also caught his attention was the Vanir that Thor was clearly speaking within an intimate manner before the meal but who was sat down separately for the meal. He recognised her. She was of good personality but little on looks but she was from a powerful house and Asgard’s tie to Vanaheim had to remain strong so he suspected that she would be announced as Thor’s betrothed as soon as Loki’s marriage ribbon was tied. Raven was of far better looks and he knew from her knowledge of literature that she at least was not without a mind but he still felt angered by it all.

Thinking in his own mind, he heard nothing of the talk around him. It was only when he noticed a severely tense atmosphere around him that Loki got pulled from his thoughts as a shadow came into view beside him. At first, he thought the tense atmosphere was from Raven, who finally decided to grave them with her presence but after a moment, seeing her meek demeanour, he noticed she was the subject of the tense atmosphere, not the instigator. Sitting beside him, she did not even try to look at him or engage him in any manner.

“It’s good to see at least that your brothers and parents disapprove of your actions,” Loki growled lowly to her as the noise around them increased, allowing them some privacy to speak.

“My parents do not care in the slightest about that. They were more worried about me embarrassing them by learning to sew and such than anything. They were simply glad that I was no longer there being of age and unmarried.” She stated in a monotone that still seemed to seep sadness.

Loki frowned slightly. “So what has them all looking at you as though you are a disgrace?” His curiosity got the better of him.

“I should not be in public at present. It’s disgraceful. They disagree with your parents insisting that this dinner go ahead, they felt it should have been postponed.”

“I am very much inclined to agree with that sentiment. Though, I doubt our reasonings are the same, are they?”

“I very much doubt it.” She toyed with her hands.

Loki watched the action carefully, realising she had been doing so with nervousness and anxiety clearly for at least the day if not longer from the marks on them. “You will pull the skin off if you keep doing that.” She stopped and put her hands to her side. “I’m curious, what happened to the woman that stormed my room today and called me a...was it a pretentious prick?” Raven’s eyes widened and she looked around at her parents, praying to every Norn that they had not heard.

Loki studied her reaction. Thor’s and his mother’s words coming to the fore of his mind. They were both right, he didn’t like this more than he disliked a woman that would snap back. He didn’t like being called a pretentious prick but the silent and moping creature next to him was a thousand times worse. “So, you have left two things unanswered, how you shamed them enough to want them to call off this dinner announcement and where you hid the woman that barged into my rooms?” Raven said nothing for a moment, her tongue toying with her teeth as she considered her answer. “I should not have done that and I sincerely apologise for having done what I did to…”

“Norns, stop. I don’t want to hear it. Just answer my questions.” Loki hissed.

“Because I am bleeding.” She said nothing more and waited for his reaction, awaiting disgust.

Loki did not comprehend as to what she was referring to for a moment. He was going to insist that she head to the hospital wing for herself when it dawned on him what she was referring to. In his own mind, he thought to make a comment about it explaining her attitude towards him but he knew that was a cheap excuse. She had stated several times she was told off by her parents for being sarcastic and outspoken. Even when they were waiting for dinner to begin, her brothers had made comments on her behaviour being seeing as unlike other Ljósáfar women. “I am failing to see how that affects things. I am aware it is not an overly pleasant situation for a female but there are surely some things that can assist?” Raven gave a small smile at his innocence to the situation. “In Alfheim, high-born women are not seen while bleeding, or pregnant, or not until she is a certain date past childbirth, it’s seen as shameful and dirty.” “But they are basic parts of being female.” Loki didn’t even think over his reply, it came straight out of his mouth before he could process it. He looked at her, seeing the agreement in her eyes making him realise her earlier words on trying to see if she could be forced to continue such a life and how much they actually meant. Suddenly, he realised there was some sense to her actions. Insane as they were. He knew his and Thor’s lives were restricted by their positions in society, but what Raven was describing was nothing short of a form of imprisonment to him. “Obviously, it is different here. Mother did not retire from court until she was almost due my brother and myself.” He didn’t know why he used that example, she made it clear she did not like the idea of even having children but he wanted to settle her some bit.

Raven merely nodded.

As Loki was going to ask her about the letters, Odin rose to his feet silencing the room. He spoke on and on of the honour of hosting the Light Elves, the sharing of ancient magical knowledge and other such things, how they have been allies through several wars, nothing, of course, on the ones they were adversaries and other such words. No one spoke through the Allfather and when he ceased that speech, there was a cheer and raising of cups and tankards. When he spoke of the marriage, Loki gave a slight nod, as would be expected, while Raven looked around in a manner that she hoped offended no one yet knew it would offend her family terribly. When another cheer was made and another drink was taken, the talking began in earnest.

Raven seemed to think to do nothing but swirl the contents of the cup.

“Have you had mead before?” Loki found himself talking to her both out of boredom and curiosity.

Raven shook her head. “It’s nice, though.” She kept her voice down.

Loki pursed his lips. “Could the woman from today who sassed me please come out? Is there a button that activates her or is it only until a certain time of day, then at night, this meek creature emerges?” Raven’s eyes flickered toward her father, which Loki caught. “Ah, that explains things.” He leant closer causing her to shift slightly in her seat. “As of tonight, you realise you are supposed to adhere to Aesir norms, not Ljósáfar ones. Now, I need to discuss a matter with you.”

“Regarding?” “Some letters.” Raven frowned at him. “It was brought to my attention today that you sent letters to me before this...charade.” Raven looked at him suspiciously. “I did. Three.”

“Yes, Thor mentioned and the Postmaster confirmed.”

“And going by your reaction, you doubted this?” “I never received them.” Raven could not help pursing her lips in disbelief.

“I did not.” “You leave all of your post on that platter, you never miss anything. I saw that myself.” Loki studied her carefully, seeing the disbelief in her eyes. “You think I discarded them without reading?” “You read everything, this I know.” “I never received them.” He stared straight back at her, his rich green eyes willing her to see he was being truthful. “The Postmaster placed them on my desk but I never got them.”

“All three escaped your notice?”

“It appears they did.” “One I would believe, three, I am sceptical.”

“So was I when I heard such for the exact same reason,” Loki admitted. “Did you move them when you came?” “I...They would not have still been there by the time I came.”

“But you did not see them in the room, since you organised things in it?” “No, you’re not listening, they would not have still been in existence. I used paper made with Cat’s Claw oil, meaning…” “It dissolves within a month,” Loki completed. “Why, though?”

Raven nodded. “Yes, I did not want private correspondence with headed paper to be at risk of forgery, so I use that oil. Don’t you?” “I will now.” Loki could not fault her logic. If anything, he was embarrassed he had not thought of it. “What did you write?”

“Nothing too taxing. What were the best books to understand Aesir court and history best? I had heard you were an avid reader, so who you enjoyed? What other hobbies you had, nothing too intimate. The first and second were similar as I thought you had not received the first for whatever reason. The last was a tad more abrupt. Then I stopped trying.” She toyed with her hands again.

“You’re damaging your skin.” Loki admonished. “I am sorry your letters went unanswered. I don’t know what happened to them, I will find out but I did not ignore them.” “I believe you.”

Loki could see she meant it. “If I had seen them…”

“We could be dealing with a different situation right now. Not that it excuses my actions.”

Loki nodded slightly.

“I am sorry for what happened. I truly wish I had not done such. But thank you for your concern also.”

“Concern?”

“When I told you I would be leaving your service and I seemed upset, even though you were upset, you were adamant that if I was being mistreated, I could tell you. Even when you felt terrible for yourself, you showed concern for me, even when you did not like me. I think it showed me so much about you.” She gave a small smile. “Even if you think little of me as I truly am.”

Loki was going to challenge that but he saw the slight smirk and playful glint in her eye. “Norns, you switch between two different demeanours faster than the Bifrost travels realms. It will be exhausting to keep up with.” “I think you forget that I know what you are like. We will be suffering together.”

Loki chuckled to himself, thinking that this situation may not be entirely terrible if they tried. Seeing the hopeful look on Raven’s face, he suspected with some work, perhaps they could.

Raven found herself looking at a certain someone staring at her disapprovingly in the crowded room. She took a moment to realise just who it was before giving the other woman a raised brow. For her part, the other woman seemed genuinely startled as to the Light Elf she had previously spoken down to. With Loki’s interest in the princess and the princess knowing full well who she was and what she had said, she knew there was no manner to get into her good graces under false pretences but also that the Light Elf knew full well about everything and could ensure she kept a close eye on such, so she looked at her food again.

#Loki #others #submission #submitted fic #chapter 12 #wolfpawn #hiding in plain sight

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spoopy-fish-writes · 2 years

Note

chilly its 3am and cus i cant sleep i must ask u

what would happen if anne, raph cus he dont deserve it(derogatory) and maria were transported into ikesen or ikerev👁👁👁👌

Ajdjhajdsdjhe this has actually been on my mind for a while. Also love how you didn't forget to throw in that little fuck you to Raph wkahdks

Anne would take over Hideyoshi's role immediately and he would finally get a break while simultaneously following her everywhere she goes because "There is no fucking way someone is just nice enough to take care of a whole castle of idiots" but she just is and Maria is just being pissy over the fact that she can't spend time with her brother and copes by out pranking and teasing Mitsuhide and continuously hinting at the existence of Anne's notebooks while being really cryptic abt the fact that they have all kinds of shit written in em from war strategies all through the 13-1800s and how to make shoes which drives Mitsuhide insane because he has no proof it exists because Maria is cryptic and also acts very differently around him alone than she does in general and Anne isn't stupid enough to leave that kind of future info out in the open

Anne acts as a stand in therapist for them because, hey, it wouldn't be the first time and somehow manages to, with Sasuke's help, being about multiple peaceful gatherings for all of the separate groups when shit goes sideways and they all find out that Sasuke's been doing what he was doing while Maria acts as a somewhat agreeable mediator to make sure no one dies.

No one ever finds out they're vampires and Anne is just feeling homesick because "I'm basically in the same century and I could go home but also I can't because im dead" but they end up just kind of going home after they've helped create positive relations between each of the groups yanno?

Similar thing happens in ikerev too except Anne goes with the red army and Maria goes with the blue at the very beginning. Entirely Maria's idea but Anne realises that it wasn't for no reason since that way they're literally learning more about this new world bc their ability to send letters isn't restricted and crows still really like Anne so they send letters over for her and Maria.

They both manage to gain permission to be outside on their own pretty quickly because they're both fairly agreeable so they're trusted more and no one thinks they can do much anyways.

They wander into the forbidden forest probably and find Loki and Harr, both of whom Anne promptly adopts and they all just live with each other in the forest. Black army is in shambles and the red army is wondering where their basically mother just went which neither Maria or Anne know anything about becauee,,, they're in a forest and then they go on to help Harr and Loki weed out the magic tower.

As usual, shot goes sideways when Maria and Anne try to tell either sent about it. For different reasons but neither wants to take the risk and go after them so, somehow, they're forcefully going together to take on the magic tower. Both Maria and Anne are outed as not human and almost kidnapped bc they have to fight the magic man but no one really minds in the end.

Again, they do just go home in the end after fixing things up a little and helping as much as they can to fix the damages and it's generally a sweet and sour ending

#I'm tired and this proly doesn't make sense but okay 😌#chaos 💜#chatting with my beloved moots 💜#spoops ocs #ikevamp anne boleyn #ikevamp nannerl

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the-witty-pen-name · 3 years

Text

It Happened on Sakaar Pt. 1

Mando x F!Reader; Loki x F!Reader

Rating: M; 18+ Only

Warnings: swearing, mentions of drugs, alcohol, and exotic dancers, grieving, angst, slow burn

Word Count: 3.1k

Summary: The bounty hunter’s most recent puck sends him across the Galaxy to an unfamiliar and artificial planet named Sakaar- literally the galaxy’s trash can. Sakaar is a bizarre planet, but so is his most recent bounty. Din is chasing a man he only knows as The God of Mischief. The reader lives on Sakaar as a scrapper, a similar trade to that of a bounty hunter and has a tangled history with the man Mando is looking for. Will the unlikely duo team up to capture the mischievous Asgardian or will the reader fall victim to Loki’s promises?

A/N: I had planned on writing this in a few days but as per usual I put off coursework to write this fic! So here it is a couple of days early. I am also working on the next chapter of Deadbeat as well as Rest so look out for both of those within the next couple of days! I also am working on an adorable Obi-Wan x Reader request I received a few days ago that will be coming soon as well!

This is unedited and if I missed anything that I should include as a warning please let me know! Thank you y’all!

Tags and Requests are OPEN

He promised.

And you were foolish enough to believe him.

You were foolish to think you were different.

You were foolish to think you really got to know the real him.

You were foolish to think that everything he told you was real.

You were foolish to think that when he told you he loved you he meant it.

You were foolish to think he’d come back.

You, a warrior, a fighter, defender of the throne of Asgard, lied helpless on the ground, broken in pieces as you’re told by Odin that Loki was gone.

And he was dead.

You mourned him.

The ache never going away, day after day, that stupid statue just another thing to remind you that he was gone.

He wasn’t coming back.

Until he did.

And you realized how much of a fool you were.

And you realized everything you thought you knew was a lie.

So you left.

You left with the promise you made to yourself that you would never return to Asgard.

In your rage, you were blinded when you demanded Skurge open the bifrost and send you to the furthest planet from your homeland.

The thought crosses your mind that if it had been Heimdall, he wouldn’t have let you go, talked you into reason and asked you to stay.

If it had been Heimdall, Thor would’ve caught up to you in time instead of just missing you when you left.

You didn’t know where you were going and you didn’t care. Your only thought was to put as much distance from yourself and Asgard as possible. You landed in a gross pile of debris when you first arrived, and from there worked your way up to one of the favorites of the Grandmaster- you were dubbed Scrapper 451 and second in most captures to Scrapper 142. Time works odd in space, you’d been there for three years- completely developed a new life under your new alias.

You’d bring in life form after life form to the Grandmaster, always pleasing him by bringing him potential fighters.

You worked alone, you preferred it. The only friend you had was Scrapper 142 and that was hardly a friendship- more just a rivalry you both had your fun with. There was a mutual respect, and a feeling about her you couldn’t explain, but that was it.

When you met Mando, you almost killed him. You had heard a tip from a local shop owner a ship had landed rather roughly, and you made haste to be the first one to investigate, determined to beat 142 if there was a capture worth making.

Carefully navigating your way through the wasteland, you had finally found the ship in question. It was a model you had never seen before. You stay crouched behind a pile of trash, your stun gun aimed at the ship waiting for it to open.

You stopped and lowered your weapon when you saw the armored passenger had a very small creature by his side. A baby.

You hadn’t seen a baby on this planet since you’d landed. Sure, people have children, but you had never seen anyone bring their child to Sakaar. All the children whom you’ve met, had been born there- no one with a child willingly travels to this part of the Galaxy.

A metal man and a green baby. You scoffed. What an interesting duo.

You took in the appearance of the armored man. Sakaar had a very basic premise that determined your survival. Are you a fighter or are you food? This one was very clearly a fighter. Not necessarily one that you think could be a gladiator- not the right type. But you could tell by the way he walked out of the ship, he was a force to be reckoned with. The baby was really throwing you off of your game. You could have this man halfway back to the Grandmaster by now if he wasn’t traveling with a kid. Sakaar has not yet made you completely heartless, as much as you tried to be. You decide to compromise your position, in a hope of being able to just talk. Learn why he’s here.

No one comes to Sakaar. It’s never on purpose. Lost souls are dumped here. Yet, this man seemed like he was the only creature to intentionally travel to Sakaar like he was just passing through. If you couldn’t bring him in, maybe you could at least salvage parts from the ship.

“What’s your business here?” You ask, from behind the pile where you hid. You could see him but he could not see you. You watch as his first move is to close the floating pram, protecting his child first as he desperately looked around for the source of the voice.

“I’m passing through,” he replies, looking around at his surroundings.

“Nobody just passes through,” you reply. “No one comes here on their own accord. No one leaves once they arrive. What is your business?”

“I’m looking for someone,” he says nondescriptly, further irritating you. You stand up, slowly, your gun still pointed at the man as you walk closer.

“Who?”

“Bounty”

“You’re a bounty hunter?”

“No, I came here for vacation.”

“Don’t be a smart ass.”

“Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“Who are you here for?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.”

“What kind of bounty hunter are you?”

“One of the best.”

“Oh really?”

“Don’t test me, Princess.”

“If I’m a princess what are you?”

“Knight in shining armor?”

“Are you really hitting on me right now?”

“Only if you’d want me to be.”

“Gods.”

You can’t see his face from under his helmet but you could feel the smirk he was making. He clearly didn’t view you as a threat and it really annoyed you. Maybe you came off too friendly? No, you’re still pointing a gun to his head.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“Scrapper 451,” you said blankly. “Who are you?”

“You can call me Mando.”

“Mando?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

“What kind of a name is Scrapper 451?”

“It’s a title.”

“Not going to tell me your real name?”

“Are you gonna tell me yours?”

“How-?”

“I’m not stupid.”

“What’s a scrapper do anyways?”

“Bring mouthy tin men in in exchange for a generous amount.”

“You’re a bounty hunter?”

“You could say that?”

“Are you going to turn me in?”

“That was my plan.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“The baby.”

“Slave catcher with a heart of gold?”

“I’ll get that on my tombstone.”

“Sooner rather than later I hope.”

“Ouch. Mando, I thought we were friends.”

“You know I didn’t mean it, Princess.”

“Who are you here for?”

“Someone who calls themselves the God of Mischief.”

You freeze, and you lower your weapon. You’re stunned. You hadn’t heard that title in years, and although you never forgot about it, you were great at pushing it back so far away where you couldn’t access it. The man is able to read your body language and can tell you know the man he’s looking for.

“He’s not here,” you finally manage to say, your knuckles turning white at how tightly you grip your blaster.

“He is here,” he says slowly, pulling out a bounty puck. Clear as day, Loki’s face shows up on the holographic screen. Your stomach churns.

“He’s not here,” you insist. “If he was, I wouldn’t be here. Trust me.”

“So, you know him?”

“Not at all.”

“Really?”

“Really,” you take a few steps backwards to walk away. “I wouldn’t stay on this planet long if I were you. Sakaar has a way of just pulling you in.”

“I think I can manage.”

“Get lodging,” you advise with a smile, “the next person who finds you out here won’t be as nice as me.”

With that you left, leaving the Mandolorian dumb struck. What was this planet?

Mando knew well enough to take your advice. With the Crest secured, he and the Child made a journey into the city.

Your words lingered in his mind. He knew you had information about the bounty you were withholding. He needed to run into you again. He reasoned with himself it was for the sake of catching the bounty, but part of him also wanted to see you again. He just wouldn’t admit it.

He found a place where he could get a room. An elaborate casino, with ornate decorations and loud music playing constantly. A large bar and lounge also attached. He received his room key and ignored the festivities that occurred in the bustling establishment- his first order of business to make sure the Child was settled and would be safe in the room. He regrets his decision to not ask Peli to watch him, but he knew he’d be distracted being so far away.

He figured he was far enough across the galaxy; he wouldn’t need to worry about those after his own bounty or the child’s. But he realizes that he forgot about needing a sitter. If he absolutely needed to, he could bring the child with him, but that was not ideal. Especially, since gauging your reaction at the mention of his new bounty, this didn’t seem like it would be any easy task. He sat down on the bed in the middle of the room, and pulled out the puck- reading over what little information he had.

He needed to find you again and desperately needed any information you’d be willing to share.

You were worried. There was no way Loki was here. You knew he wouldn’t have come for you, even if you thought about it when you first arrived. You thought if anyone would come after you, it would’ve been Thor, convincing you to return to Asgard and cleaning up another one of his brother’s messes. It hurt when no one from home reached out once in the last three years. However, you decided you were better off because if Thor had convinced you to return home, you’d have to face Loki again, and you were adamant on keeping your word you would not see him again.

***

His funeral was devastating. Although many on Asgard did not care much for Loki or his antics, the throne had lost a prince. It was a dark day. Weather on Asgard usually always seemed to be perfect, but on the day of Loki’s services, the God of Thunder was so distraught, he was unintentionally causing a gray and gloomy sky. Thor and you were affected the most.

You stood next to Thor as Odin spoke, but your gaze stayed fixated on the ground. It felt so unfair and you felt an indescribable amount of pain and loss. Your face was stained with tears, as was Thor’s, and you felt like you had just cried until you were physically unable to do so. He was gone and you couldn’t get him back.

Odin watched you solemnly throughout the services. He had told you that he knew how much his son loved you and how despite his absence, you are still considered family. He insisted you had an open invitation to be at the castle whenever you wanted. You could only nod and offer a very, very meek thank you.

You took advantage of that offer, and honestly, you knew you were overstaying your welcome under the palace walls. You found yourself coming, and spending the days in his room, trying to just feel him in anyway you could. You’d run your hands across the broken spines of his books, look at the kingdom from the view of his window, laying on the bed over the elaborate bedding to just try to feel him. You didn’t even know what you were hoping to feel, but you somehow thought this would help you be closer to him.

At events on Asgard, you continued to wear green, almost like your own twist instead of just the traditional black of mourning. It felt right to wear green in his memory, but it was nothing more than just another attempt to pretend like he was there.

You could imagine how he would react to seeing you wearing his signature color. When he was there, he looked at you like you were the only living soul in the room that mattered. He’d shower you were touches of affection and whisper nothing but praises to you, making you think he had actually loved you. This was back before you knew how foolish you had been, blinded by your own puppy love and your affections towards him.

***

You now sat in the lavish home of the Grandmaster. He always had hundreds of people in his home, a constant party, a group made up of Sakaar’s elite being entertained by drinking, drugs, or entertainment of sorts from his um… staff. Drink in hand, you sat cross legged on an elaborate circular couch lost in thought while a dancer performed on a table in front of the group you sat amongst. You didn’t even look up- you hated this part of earning the Grandmaster’s favor. You hated these parties with your whole being. They were hedonistic and you would avoid them if you had the choice. However, you knew the Grandmaster would take offense if you were not in attendance.

Music was loud, and there were many flashing lights. You couldn’t rely on any of your senses to navigate in a place like this, but that was intentional. The Grandmaster set this up on purpose. His parties were meant to be a completely immersive experience. It was probably great for those who wanted to be there, but for you, you wanted to escape and slip out as early as you could.

You weren’t interested in the company and you weren’t interested in the weird substances you didn’t recognize being passed around. You didn’t want to relax, and honestly, these attempts to relax always seemed to make you feel worse. Being sober at these events was invitation for horrible eye strain and a hefty headache.

“451! 451!” you heard a familiar voice call over the loud music in a sing song voice. It was the Grandmaster. He would be the only person at this party who would actually be looking for you.

“Grandmaster,” you smile, getting up and walking over to him. You kiss both his cheeks quickly as a greeting. “You look radiant,” you smile, the compliment going right to his head as they usually did.

“451! Look at you, let me see the ensemble,” he would say, talking a step back, and you would twirl once. It was a long golden dress that draped your body, with a plunging neckline. It was paired with golden arm bands and an elaborate gold necklace. You also had gold flakes throughout your hair. “Stunning,” he praised, “I wish 142 would be more involved like you 451- she’s the best, but ugh, she doesn’t know when to relax. Anyways, I called you over to meet a new friend of mine.”

“Are you replacing me, Grandmaster?” You say with a tone of mocked offense and it makes him laugh.

“451, there is no replacing you- you are the three B’s,” he chuckled, lightly guiding you over to another area of the party. “beauty, brawn and brains, a very rare combination indeed.”

“You flatter me, Grandmaster,” you laugh. If you went along with him to keep him happy, the Grandmaster was actually a pleasant creature to interact with. You had the ability to match his banter and he liked that about you.

“Anyways, anyways 451,” he says, as he remembers his train of thought, “I want to introduce you to someone. He’s devilishly handsome and talks like some stuffy aristocrat, he arrived here a couple of weeks ago and I was finally able to convince him to join us.”

“Did he say where he was from?” you ask curiously.

“Get this,” he chuckles, “Ass-guard. What a hoot, am I right? Anyways, there he is. We got to get whatever stick is out of his butt. I’m hoping you’ll help me to uh, loosen him up. Loki! I want you to meet one of my best, 451.”

Based on the look of surprise, you knew he didn’t expect you to be here. He looked like a deer in the headlights and it angered you that he was here. You felt your teeth clench, and you wanted to just get out of here as fast as possible.

“451 is one of the best scrappers I have,” the Grandmaster talks, “Of course, nothing compares to my Champion but she is ruthless. She’s second in the most gladiators she has been able to bring me.”

“Impressive,” Loki smiles, and you feel the urge to just scream. “I’m Loki, prince of Asgard.”

What an asshole.

“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty,” you say between your teeth. You could kill him.

“I’m gonna mingle,” the Grandmaster announces, “I’m leaving you in 451’s hands.”

“Please let me explain,” he immediately tries to say as soon as the Grandmaster is out of earshot. You scoff.

“I’d tell you to drop dead if you hadn’t already,” you spit, “Don’t talk to me. I want nothing to do with you. Get off this planet.”

“Please, just allow me,” he begins.

“Fuck off, Loki,” you snap, and make a fast exit. You leave him standing there bewildered and you watch how stunned he looks as the elevator door closes behind you.

You felt small again. Like all the progress you had made gone in a single instance, and you knew tomorrow you’d face the Grandmaster but for now you didn’t care. You craved a warm bed and sleep more than anything else in the world.

You had planned on staying here so you didn’t know how you were going to make it back to your little apartment. You assumed just walk. You weren’t armed and that was always a terrible idea on Sakaar. You didn’t have anything except a dagger that was fixed to your thigh under the dress you wore. You wished you had your blaster.

“You clean up nice, Princess,” a voice modulated voice you recognize says when the elevator door opens.

“Mando,” you say curtly, stepping out of the elevator.

“You clean up nice,” he states.

“Thank you,” you reply.

“Leaving the party so soon?” He asks. You nod.

“Not really my scene. What are you doing here anyways?” you ask, crossing your arms over your chest for a little bit of warmth.

“I received a tip that my target might be here,” he answers, you nod, not elaborating on that you knew for a fact Loki was upstairs. “Did you see him?”

“No, I didn’t.”

PART TWO

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