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aknosde · 3 years

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Omnes Una Manet Nox

The chronologically first installment of my Reyna Swap AU, Alea Iacta Est // Reyna Avilla Ramírez-Arellano // Fluff & Angst, but minor on the angst // the night before Reyna disappears // tw: mentions past minor character death // light swearing // 4.4k

ao3

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“That went well, didn’t it?” Jason asks with that familiar, absently intense energy. They’ve just descended the steps of the Senate after their monthly meeting with the consuls.

The two consuls, in their late thirties, oversee all of Camp Jupiter. Of course, the legion manages their own grounds and budget, under Jason and Reyna’s command, but the little oversight they do get is from the consuls.

Johnson was one of New Rome’s praetors, a few years back. He doesn’t care much about the legion, being from a legacy family and largely skirting his training and service, and he never ceases to make that known. Malhill is the one that always gets under Jason’s defenses. He’s good on policy, good on veterans, good on kids, everything that they could want. But he was the legion’s champion only ten years ago. A direct son of Apollo, a talented archer but an even better bender of light, a legion praetor, and he’s had his eyes on Jason’s career since day one. Reyna’s seen the way he eyes Jason whenever she and Jason are in New Rome, already pegging him for a consul position once Jason’s old enough.

“It went well, Jace,” she says. “Your mission plan is flawless, the only thing that could make them happier is if you’d go on it.” She regrets the words as soon as they’re out of her mouth.

Her remorse is tangible, visible in the line of his spine, the way he taps the place in his pocket where Ivlivs would sit if they were not inside the Pomerian Line, the subtle flick of his wrist.

Not for the first time, she thinks about Mount Othrys. Everything it took from her. Sometimes when she sleeps–not often, but enough–it plays over in her head. But something is always wrong.

She’s leading the charge, but suddenly it’s Jason next to her instead of Michelle. Or Jason and Michelle run into the throne room, but when she closes the door behind them it locks. She makes it into the throne room, slaying all of the Dracaena, but when she enters Atlas is holding Jason over his head, instead of fighting him hand to hand. On the good nights, Michelle isn’t dead when she bursts through the door, on the bad, she watches Michelle die. The one constant is Jason, gold ichor dripping down his face in a horrific mask. When she and Jason land the killing blow, together, she can always see it.

He doesn’t talk about it, of course. Not about Michelle, not about his election, not about the mountain. But she can see it weighing on him through the big things, like how he hasn’t been out of camp borders since the battle, and the small things, like how he glances up at the stars, as if one will come down and crush him any moment.

She rolls her right shoulder, feeling the ligaments shift, as if it will rid her of the thoughts, prepare her for a topic of conversation that often hits a little too close to home.

“Did you hear how Johnson pronounced my name? He’s even worse than you.” Maybe the small huff of a laugh Jason expels is worth it. “‘Miss Ramírez-Arellano,’” she continues, in a nasally imitation of the consul.

“I don’t say it that badly.”

“You say it like a white boy who didn’t know Spanish was a language until two seconds ago.”

“Ramírez-Arellano,” he says, better than consul Johnson, but she still hates hearing it. That girl is long gone, the only thing connecting her to Reyna is Hylla, and although Reyna loves her sister, she’s grateful for the distance that keeps Hylla from being a constant reminder.

“‘We were– were very, erm, dazzled, by your most recent proposition.’” She continues the impression until they are walking through the Praetorian Gate, Jason half hanging off her shoulder and giggling like they’re thirteen again.

He has a nice laugh. A friendly one. It seems to feed off of her volume, her effort, fluctuating the longer he goes. He shouts at her to stop several times, but he’s doubled over in armor, snorting, and all she wants to do is make him laugh like this forever.

It only gets worse on the steps of the Principa, when he decides a good revenge plan is to trip her. The building is dark like the rest of the legion. Two lamps, invisible under the light of day, flank the double doors, but the light is faint and barely makes its way to the stairs, washing everything in a pale yellow. She side steps his foot–his sneakers have reflective decals on them for the sake of the gods, he’s an idiot–but he’s shifted his weight so much that he ends up tripping himself.

They stumble through the doors, still chuckling, and make their way across the great hall as quickly as possible. They must have gotten a new tender for the Principa, because the lights are off like they forgot that people actually live here. Only two people, but still. The darkness makes the place unsettling, and now she’s counting on Jason to keep her occupied. A job he seems all too willing to fulfill as he runs through the next set of doors, still in full armor, clashing against the wood.

Upstairs is worse, she decides. The abandoned lounge reminds her of her childhood living room. Any moment her father could rise from one of the low couches, ready to scoop her up and throw her in her room, that crazed look in his eye.

Something clangs and she jumps.

“What the heck is this?” Jason’s whisper-shouting when she catches up with him in the hallway outside their rooms. He’s partially on the floor–hands keeping him from being face flat–and something is crinkling under his knee.

For some reason all Reyna can say is: “Did you just say ‘heck?’”

“Shut up,” he whines, and she wishes the lights were on just so she could see his ears turning red.

“Of course, farm-boy.”

He’s sitting back on his heels now, she can see the object’s dark outline as he holds it up, rustling in his hands.

“Seriously, what is this thing?” he asks, looking up at her.

“A bag with my old clothes,” she says, squinting. “I was going to see if any legionnaires need some.”

“And you have it by your door so you don’t forget,” he says, explaining for her. In the stress of running for office, of war, she forgot the ways in which they are attuned to each other. She forgot that she doesn’t have to explain and defend her every little action to him. It’s sad that it’s taken her almost two months to remember.

He sets the bag back down, nudging it into almost its exact spot, and hefts himself to his feet with a sigh. His brow furrows once he’s standing, looking out into the middle distance, but he sees the quirk of her brow and quickly explains himself, “We have that meeting with the centurions tomorrow after breakfast.”

Jason is a social person. A true extrovert. He hates being alone, working alone, and the quiet that comes with both. So what he’s really saying is that he has work left to do and wants some company. And who is she to deny him that? “Do you want to work in the main hall, office, or my room?”

He grins, clapping his hands and then raises his palms to the sky. “Bedroom, praise Fortuna.”

“Five minutes, Sparkplug,” she says, bumping her shoulder into his own as she sidesteps him into her room. His eyes follow her as she goes, like she’s his North Star, and damn him for making her heart skip a beat, because in the empty space Venus’ words always echo. She stomps them down, before her face can fall, before the hollow silence can fill the hallway, and in their place she jams a smirk. “If you’re lucky I’ll even edit your speech.”

As her door clicks behind her she can hear him groan, “I just prayed to Fortuna.”

She stands with her hands on her hips, briefly surveying her room to decide what to do first.

Being praetor has its perks, like private bath and bedrooms across the hall from her best friend and king sized beds, but it also means she is no longer in the practice of keeping her space ready for inspections. Her comforter is pulled up, but her bed isn’t made, files are scattered across her desk and on her dresser, and her wardrobe is wide open.

She decides on doing everything at once, which involves a crooked path across her room as she shucks off armor, not bothering with her armor stand, and changes out of the nice clothes she wore to meet the consuls. All the while she turns on lights, puts on sweats, makes her bed, and tucks away files.

Jason knocks on her door five minutes later, that ever punctual bastard, just as she’s zipping her hoodie over her tank top.

“Help me, Reyna,” he says, holding a typed copy of his speech out to her in both hands like some sort of trophy. “You’re my only hope.”

She snorts, snatching the pages out of his hands. “Nice reference.”

He cocks his head to the side, brow furrowed, and she bets if he were actually a wolf one of his ears would be turned as well.

“You just made a Star Wars reference,” she says, but he looks just as confused.

“What’s Star Wars?” He asks warily.

She swears to herself in Spanish, because otherwise he’ll tease her about the legion’s anti-swearing policies, collapsing dramatically back on her bed, and sighs. “It’s a movie trilogy, wolf boy.”

“Ah.”

Another thing she forgot, apparently, is how little Jason knows about basically anything outside of camp. He says he arrived when he was three, and wasn’t even allowed into the city until he was eight, which apparently means he’s never been to a movie theater.

By now he seems used to her telling him about the more innocent aspects of the mortal world, and at the very least takes his lack of knowledge in stride. If only he would watch the movies and shows she’s downloaded on his laptop for him.

When she looks up after reading his introduction he is sitting at her desk, picking at some invisible blemish while subtly putting highlighters away, and looking around her room.

“If you start cleaning I’m throwing you out.”

He grumbles to himself, but she makes out a yes ma’am somewhere in the mix, so she decides to throw him a bone.

“If you want to occupy yourself I have a speech about legion veterans you can fact check,” she says, faux casual, not that he can tell. He needs to do something before he starts picking at his nails instead of the wood.

“Sure.”

“It’s in one of the red folders.”

“Would that be the one on the floor under your desk or the one on your dresser,” he says, sounding far too cheeky.

“The one on my dresser, and stop pretending you’re better than me, asshole.”

He clutches his chest dramatically, walking to her dresser. “Better than the best? How could I be?”

“Mmmhmm,” she responds, half ignoring him in favor of his speech, aware of the ticking clock.

It’s truly impossible for him to stay awake past ten, a fact that is only proven the next time she looks up and he’s asleep at her desk, pen still in hand and a research paper opened on her laptop. No matter how often she reminds him that the regimented lights out of the legion no longer applies to them, he just can’t seem to break the habit.

“Jason.” She nudges his shoulder, extracting the pen at the same moment so he can’t smudge her speech.

His head jerks, eyes alert, but voice groggy when he says, “What’s going on?” All legionnaires wake up in a similar manner, but for some reason it only strikes her as amusing when he does it.

She hadn’t thought of what she was waking him up for, besides a need to do it, and her mind wanders to the Forum, wondering if her favorite café would still be open at this hour. She’s starving, she realizes. Their meeting with the consuls had been pushed back and they had had to skip dinner to make it.

She grins. “Are you hungry?”

“Uh, yeah. How did you know?”

“Roof s’mores?”

“Reyna,” he drags out the last syllable, fading it into a sigh. “That takes energy.”

“Okay, but–” She holds her hands out, weighing them. “Would you rather spend the energy to just walk across the hall and go to sleep, or climb up to the roof with me and roast us a couple marshmallows?”

Jason looks at her like is that a real question? which had been her intention. She folds her hands into a pleading gesture and pouts emphatically–he’s always more flexible when she acts a little silly. “Please, Jace. I got that cheap chocolate you like. I’ll even get the stuff myself, you can go straight up.”

“Fine.” He rolls his eyes and she smiles, satisfied, and already on her way out the door.

The praetorian kitchen reminds her of office break rooms on television, besides the fact that it looks perpetually unnatural, mostly due to the fact that only three people go inside–her, Jason, and the Principa tender–and it’s always pristine. The only things actually kept in there are coffee, tea, and of course: her and Jason’s secret stash of s’more supplies, buried in the back of the cabinet with the untouched bowls.

By the time she’s through the roof access door, conveniently placed to hide it from the view of anyone on the ground, Jason is already sitting by the dark spot of ash that signifies their pastime. Because, yes, they started coming up here long before either of them were elected Praetor.

He’s a dark outline against the night sky, sitting criss-crossed and looking down at the façades of the other legion buildings, and briefly she has the thought that somebody could make a painting out of this. She slides her old Camp Jupiter ID back between the lock and door jamb, willing the thought to disappear with the potential of the fire alarm going off.

She shivers as she sits next to him, nose wrinkling with the cold now that she’s fully vulnerable to the elements. Without a word Jason removes his sweatshirt and passes it to her.

“I’m already wearing one.”

“Mine is thicker, trade me.”

And because he’s Jason, she does.

It’s slightly big on her, his shoulders just a few inches broader than her own, and a forest green. On the back is a printed vine of purple flowers and a date. She recognizes it as one of the prizes of the Ludi Florae, or Games of Flora, from Floralia last year. The festival sits right between April and May, and last year’s was the grandest of all. Or so Jason says. Everyone had been anxious about Mount Othrys, and apparently all of that energy had been funnelled into the events.

Reyna herself had been busy running for praetor. All she remembers from the festival is campaigning. And Jason, running up to her looking flushed, this sweatshirt thrown over one shoulder.

“Remember when I told you that you were the best, Jace,” she says sweetly once she is safely swaddled in his hoodie. He’s right–it is thicker.

Jason grins up at her, wrapping his hands around two marshmallows. “I may recall something along those lines having been said a long, long time ago.”

“Well, I just want to inform you that I retract that statement, because this sweatshirt is ugly and the cuffs are burnt.”

The electricity that had been slowly coursing over the ridges of his fingers flares for a second, and his hands fly open as if he was handed metal straight from the forges. “Oops.” Both of the marshmallows are burnt, but his lips are turned up in a poorly concealed smirk.

“I forget you’re a heathen,” she says primly, sticking her nose in the air instead of saying any of the less wholesome options at the back of her throat.

“Does liking burnt marshmallows make me a heathen?”

She pretends to mull it over for a second, extracting the rest of their supplies. “Yes. You have to buy the next bag because you’re mean and I say so.”

She takes the burnt marshmallow regardless, sandwiching it between her own chocolate and graham crackers. Jason takes three squares of the Hershey bar he likes for absolutely no good reason, and does the same. She shakes her head. He’s the fucking all American boy who sticks with the classics even when he doesn’t know they’re the classics. She has no idea how he does it.

They don’t talk while they eat, regrettably the silence reminding her of her childhood, no matter how hard she pushes against it. She looks up at the stars, trying to forget the cold kitchen, cold house, even in hundred degree heat. It’s times like this when the ring, and the chain she wears it on, weigh heavy on her neck.

It feels like a noose right now, just as much as it feels like freedom, like power, every other second of her life. Like a sentence, compelling her to pay for her crimes, to confess to them, to wreck her world so terribly that she would lose up from down and die. A fair punishment.

“What are you thinking about,” Jason asks a while after they’ve finished. She looks at him, sitting back on his hands, looking at her, not the sky. It’s dark on the roof, but the light from the street lamps seems to center around him. It glints off his hair, visibly blond even in the night, and pours into his eyes. They’re always so blue. So blue it looks fake. But they never cease to pull Reyna in. Sometimes she swears she can see lightning arc across his irises.

He’s always asking her questions like this. Innocent and curious, no ulterior motives, no goals. He genuinely wants to know. And if she doesn’t answer, he’ll drop it, because he always does. It’s not something she’s used to, even after all these years; this place she has in his mind, if not his heart. A place of utter respect. He doesn’t question her because he knows what she is thinking, and when he doesn’t, he accepts her. Would he still, if he knew what she did to her father?

She breaks his gaze with that thought. It’s too much. “My sister,” she says instead, and it doesn’t feel right to look back. Under oath, Reyna would say that Jason is the most important person in her life. Her best friend; the person she sees every day, talks to every day, eats with and works with. He is the closest thing she has to a family here. And she– And she loves him. Maybe as a little more than a friend. But talking about her sister while looking him in the eye feels too intimate, too intense. “She would like you.”

It is something to say, simply to say something, but maybe she isn’t wrong. There is something in Jason that reminds her of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and not in the way that haunts her nightmares and twists her sheets around her until they become bonds she can’t quite break free of. Being on Blackbeard’s crew, that’s how Reyna learned hard work, in a way she never had before. It had instilled a drive in her, to change everything, to rewrite systems, to make something so beautiful it was unrecognizable. And perhaps Jason doesn’t have that same drive, but he knows the work. He goes out of his way to do it dirty and hard and long. He refuses to take the thousands of shortcuts he’s offered. And Hylla would admire that, she thinks.

“I had a sister,” he whispers.

For a second–just a second–she’s stuck. “What?”

“I had a sister.” He picks at a loose thread on his jeans for a moment, and that’s how she knows he’s serious, because he hates ripping his jeans more than almost anything else. He’s refusing to meet her gaze. “Thalia Grace.”

He says her name soft and tender. She can imagine him, standing over a hearth, cradling the name between his palms and looking at it the same way he first looked when he was gifted Ivlivs. Big, round eyes.

“That’s really nice, Jace,” she says, because he rarely surprises her, and for once she doesn’t know what to say.

He looks up at her, smiling tightly. His eyes are sad. Is that how she looks when she thinks about Hylla?

“You can tell me about her, if you want,” Reyna says when the moment becomes two, and then three, because Jason doesn’t bring up things he doesn’t want to talk about. But Jason also has his own ideas about debt, about worthiness, and it is clear to her that he told her about his sister in exchange for Reyna talking about her own.

He smiles at her. A real smile, if small. She feels warm, and it’s not from his extra thick sweatshirt.

“I don’t remember a lot about her, but… She had black hair. So dark, like the night. And her eyes, they were amazing. Bright blue, like a perfect sky. Sometimes I can see them, in this half-memory half-dream, and they’re so strong they look like how an electric shock feels.”

“Like yours,” she whispers, and Jason hums in a way that makes it frustratingly unclear if he heard her or not. She hopes not.

“When I was little,” he continues, after another moment of staring wistfully over the Twelfth Legion, “I used to imagine she was looking for me. That one day she would find me, here, be proud of me for– I don’t know what. Love me, or something. All that stupid shit.” He trails off again, picking at his nails, but she can’t bring herself to chide him.

There are things that she knows about Jason, true as the sun rising in the east and the pull of the moon on the tides and the sound of imperial gold on whetstone. She knows that he works hard, works with the public, flushes under the compliments of people older than him because he has never had a concrete parental figure. Not even one to hate, to fear, to mourn. She knows that he never trusts praise from these people because he knows his parentage, knows they know, knows that he is connected to his father in the eyes of these people in a way he doesn’t feel himself, and never will.

Truths of Jason that are pillars in her understanding of him, that were pivotal in their relationship. But like so many supports, they were never acknowledged. Truth has no need to be stated, and she has no compellence to state that which is unnecessary. He talks of Thalia, telling Reyna that he wants his sister to want him, to find him, and to love him not because he is a son of Jupiter, but because he’s him.

She doesn’t say, I don’t care about you because you’re the son of Jupiter, I care about you because you are my best friend. And she doesn’t say, I care about you because you listen to people, because you care about them and what happens to them so instinctively that I cannot understand it. She doesn’t say, I’m proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself.

She doesn’t say those things because he knows them, because they are truths, and truths do not need to be said.

But still, something must be done.

She– She’s always been bad at the physical things. She can do a handshake, a fist bump, but she has never been a hugger, no matter that Jason is. She’s never managed a hip-check, or a shoulder pat, or ruffled his hair in any way that wasn’t rough and meant to hurt.

But that doesn’t mean she can’t try.

She goes slow, leaning over slightly, feels the cool breeze breaking on her knuckles. Gently, perhaps more gently than she has done anything in her life, she takes his hands, detangles them, presses her finger pads against the bleeding bits where he’s torn his skin away. She closes her hands around his own, cups them in her palms.

He looks up at her, tears welled on his water line but nothing has spilled, and she feels his hands move in her own, feels him latch on, like when they were young and late for assignments, running across the grounds and refusing to leave each other behind. She looks into his eyes, wide. Electrifying. Just like she knew they were.

She waits for the moment to stretch and break, like moments oft do. Her last move is to give his hands a squeeze, hopefully reassuring, and he gives her another small smile and moves to wipe his eyes with the sleeves of her sweatshirt, the one he’s still wearing.

“We should probably be going to bed,” she says, because she doesn’t have anything else to say. He laughs, wetly, but in that way everybody laughs when they’re told something they already know. It makes her smile; it’s special when he does it.

Everybody isn’t wrong, she thinks as she and Jason part ways outside their rooms, Jason Grace is special. But not because he is the son of Jupiter. He’s special because Reyna had never wanted friends, and here he is, her best. He’s special because he does things, normal things, and they make her smile. He’s special because he does everything in his power to ensure he deserves the love he receives. And gods, she thinks, does he deserve it.

She slips off her necklace and gets under her duvet cover, curling up and fiddling with the cuffs of his sweatshirt. Chunks of the polyester-wool fabric are hard and melted from undoubtedly unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. She finds one, right where his thumb would rest, and rubs it between her own thumb and index finger as she falls asleep.

When she wakes up, she’s on a school bus.

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Others in this series: Amicus Certus in re Incerta Cernitur

#there's more info and clarifications in the end notes of ao3 so check those out #but i'm always happy to answer any questions about any of my writing #especially this series #chart writes #fic: Omnes una manet nox #jason grace #reyna avila ramirez arellano #Reyna!Swap au #alea iacta est #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #heroes of olympus #pjo fic #hoo fanfic #hoo #pjo #pjo fanfic #tw death mention #reyna ramirez arellano #riordanverse

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c-is-for-circinate · 3 years

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More Hades thoughts:

Chaos just told me, "This space grows more interesting when you occupy a small amount of it." Chaos is, without doubt or exception, my favorite family member. They are so completely different and removed from everything and they still love us. In their own primordeal strange way that does not experience love in any mortal sense and yet still experiences emotions of good and yes and approval when Zagreus is near, when they can see what we're doing, when we come by to talk. I put their aspect on my shield. They are my stepmom's parent and that makes them my grandparent, sorry, no take-backs, you used to play hide-and-go-seek with Nyx when the universe was little, and you told me about it, and now I love you forever, kthxbye.

I continue to love the family relationships in this game entirely. We have seen more and more cracks between the Olympians, where they don't entirely like or trust each other even as they put on big smiles and talk about being a Big Happy Family Up Here, Come On Zag, What's Taking You So Long, Why Would Hades Ever Want To Leave This? (The dialogue for Zeus and Aphrodite's duo boon makes me cringe, it's perfect and also perfectly awful). The game does such a good job of being subtle about highlighting some of the issues within this family. Athena is the Reasonable One, who talks about how Nyx seems sensible in the same breath that she mentions how the Olympians don't have much to do with cthonic gods, of course, and also that underworld is simply wretched, let's get you up here where you belong--and okay, the underworld is wretched for Zagreus, but also, hey, I just put down new rugs and installed an oven in the lounge kitchen, it's not that bad, and not only has Nyx been endlessly kind to me, you are currently under the impression that she's my mother, so maybe don't give me that "you won't be judged for your parentage up here on Olympus" like she's something to be ashamed of, ok?

Speaking of relationships, I've finally met Thanatos, and, welp. First of all, he is great (his accessory gives me more attack if I don't take damage in a room! He doesn't want Zagreus to get hurt!!!). He is terse and full of Emotions that he pretends not to be experiencing. He is also, based on the way he said "you didn't even say goodbye" the first time I ran into him, very clearly Zagreus's actual, current boyfriend (unlike Meg who is very clearly his ex), who we didn't actually technically break up with before we started trying to escape Hades and get up to the surface, so that's Extremely Awkward. (Achilles called him our "closest friend". Why not just call him our "dear companion", Achilles, come on, and also yes I am still keeping an eye out for your boy, he's got to be in Elysium somewhere do I need to nectar you up to get you to spill details come on.) Like, you could make a case for platonic affection with a vast unplumbed reservoir of UST, I guess, but that is not the most obvious interpretation. (Also awkward: given the timing of everything, Zagreus probably last saw Than before the Persephone-discovery, which means that if they were in fact dating, then, welp. Congrats, Zag, you are definitely a Greek god. Thanatos and Hypnos's dad is canonically Nyx's brother in the first place, it's probably fine. Do love that dialogue line they decided they had to put in about 'I should've known you couldn't be my mother, Thanatos and Hypnos couldn't possibly be my brothers', though. Got to be very delicate about admitting to such things when you're making a game about Greek mythology.) Anyway love the dynamics of Meg who loves but also feels owned by her job enough that she has to try and stop us, vs Thanatos who pretends he's not helping us while absolutely helping us, vs Nyx who knows so much more than she's telling anybody but has an agenda here that we can only be glad is probably for our benefit. (Fun fact, in the Aeneid, the three Furies were the children of Nox and Pluto, aka Roman Nyx and Hades, so like, there's that, too.)

You know, running the same gauntlet of enemies again and again should get boring, and at points it does, a little, but there's something almost meditative about the pattern of it. And I think the really rewarding thing might be that as Zagreus gets stronger, I do too. I might do a little more backstab damage and have a lot more hit points than I did when I started, but none of that matters if I can't position myself to do the backstabbing. I think I may have figured out how to take out the giant purple crystal miniboss without absolute misery and spending fifty hit points on it, and that's not just Zag's build getting better, that's me as a player. Hell yeah.

It's increasingly clear how this game intends to keep going even after I reach the surface, which I am almost going to manage to do. (Yes, it's going to take me ninety runs. Whatever.) Because, look, it says right in the codex: "The darkness, having taken root within, connects the bearer to the Underworld and makes them inseparable." Unless I strip every point of Darkness out and make a full run with zero buffs--which, spoiler alert, is NEVER going to happen--Zagreus is gong to be four thousand points into the darkness by the time I get up to the surface no matter how many times I try. It's not the pomegranates, it's the dark of he underworld itself, and whether we are going to be the Persephone of this myth or simply take her place so she doesn't have to descend again and again each year, we will never get to stay on the surface for long. We can visit, maybe, if we're willing to battle our way back out past every enemy and exit each time we go. But we're not going to live on Olympus, and we're not going to move in with our mom in her little cottage by the sea. Not right away. Maybe not ever. Even though the Fates have prophesied that we'll escape--the reward for fulfilling that one is so much more Darkness. We will leave, soon. But that sure doesn't mean we're going to get to stay.

#hades game #hades spoilers #c plays stuff

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tomtenadia · 3 years

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A Little Braver - Chapter 2

I think I will be brave as well and post chapter 2.

In the chapter when Rowan muses about his call sign he uses the term FNG - it literally mean Fucking new guy. In US military it describes a newcomer.

Enjoy the chapter!

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The next morning Rowan was on his way to the fire station. He had left the house a bit early to allow for traffic or getting lost. In the end he had arrived with ten minutes to spare. He parked the car along the road and walked to the main area in front of the station and stopped.

The tall training building was on fire and a few people were outside in front of it as if in waiting. He searched for the captain but she was not there. He wanted to go and ask to the team about her whereabouts but did not want to interrupt the training session. So he just decided to lean against a wall of the fire station, arms folded at his chest and just watch the drill.

He was curious about why they were not using the truck or water and wondered if they were following a specific exercise.

Being a fighter pilot was full of risks but by looking at the raging fire and thinking that there were people willingly putting themselves through that inferno made him shiver. He’d rather been strapped in a metal cage than in a house on fire.

All of a sudden a figure ran out of the building carrying what looked like a dummy and two more followed. He gasped when he recognised the captain. The dummy she was carrying on her shoulders must have weighed a ton and he was impressed. He followed her, dumping the dummy on the ground and joining the tall blonde man and pat him on the shoulder looking happy. His lips turned up in a hint of a smile.

Her eyes met his and she gave him a huge smile and Rowan straightened up and pulled away from the wall. She walked to him while unbuttoning her bulky fireproof jacket.

“Morning Captain,” she brushed her hair away from her face and Rowan’s heart started to race.

“Enjoyed the show?”

He cleared his voice while he tried to gain some sense again “That was fascinating.”

“Can you give me twenty minutes to have a very quick shower and get changed? You don’t want to be in a meeting with a stinky woman.”

Captain Whitethorn nodded “Take your time.”

“You can go and meet the guys. They are a friendly bunch.” She offered “just ignore the lewd jokes.”

“Thank you for the head’s up.”

Aelin ran away and he gathered some courage and walked to the team. He was not the best around people he did not know, but he wanted to play nice.

He took another step and the tall blond man noticed him and walked with purpose toward him and offered him his hand “Captain Whitethorn isn’t it?”

Rowan nodded.

“Aelin told us you were coming. I am Lieutenant Ashryver.”

Rowan nodded and studied the man in front of him and noticed that his posture and attitude screamed military. After he had spent all his adult life in the force he had gotten used to spot one of them. He had the same feeling at the base during the fire.

“Can I introduce you to our team?”

“Gladly.”

Aedion turned to the red-haired woman “Ladies first. This is Ansel. Never leave her and Aelin alone because then you are in trouble.”

“Hey, I’ll tell her you said that and she will put you on truck cleaning duties for a month.” Aedion ignored her and continued “then here we have Brullo, Nox, Ress, Ren and finally Luca.” He grabbed the young man’s shoulder “he is our probie. He finished the academy and he joined us a few months ago. For now he is coming to the less serious calls but we are planning on coddling him a bit less and make him see the real stuff as well.”

Then the man turned around, scanning the area in search for something or someone “we also have two EMTs, Elide and Lysandra but they must be around the station doing something. You will meet them anyway.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

“Everyone, clean up and don’t leave everything to Luca. All of you haul ass. Nox, Ren you are on equipment duty. Ansel, Ress you two are on uniform checks. Brullo, take Luca with you and go over him some truck procedures for before and after calls. Now away all of you.”

Rowan chuckled. The man was definitely ex military.

“Where did you serve?” He asked the man taking a chance.

“I was in the army. I was an artillery specialist. Once I retired Aelin called me saying her station was looking for recruits and I applied for the job. Guess my experience with explosives and such was a plus. Many years later I am still here and still loving it.” Then he studied the Captain “how did you guess?”

“Your posture. It’s the stick up your arse, as Captain Galathynius would say, that gets drilled into you from day one. The way you give order, again, very familiar.”

“Call her Aelin, Cap or Captain. She hates being called Captain Galathynius.”

Rowan raised a eyebrow with curiosity for that statement.

“I usually call her brat or menace.” Aedion chuckled “she is my cousin. I have known her since we were little. I have earned that privilege.”

Aedion started walking back into the station and Captain Whitethorn followed him.

“She has the bas habit of not filtering what she wants to say, can be brash and very vocal when she is mad at something or someone, but she loves her job and her team. She loves being a firefighter. She might be young be she is extremely capable. She is the first female captain. Absurd to think that before her it was just a boy’s club, eh?” The man joked, and lead him into a big spacious room with a lone table and chair and a kitchen at the bottom of it “If she keeps likes this I can see her climbing up the ladder pretty quickly, although I cannot imagine her in a desk job.”

Rowan knew very little about the woman but he had the same feeling.

“This is where we spend most of the time when we are on shift, all tasks are done and just wait for a call. We have books, video-games, tv… you name it. And like all families we fight for who controls the remote.”

Aelin joined them a moment later “Are you giving our Captain the tour?”

“Yes, just the cheap tour for now. You can give him the proper one later.” Aedion winked at her.

“I guess that after our meeting, the Captain will be more than happy to get rid of me.

“I gave you a tour of the base, I would love a tour of the station.”

Aelin’s mouth almost fell open in disbelief.

“If you are not fed up with me we can think about it.” And she turned around and walked away the same way he did the day before.

Aedion gestured with his head to follow her and Rowan ran after her.

“I am sorry for the delay. Once I got back to work yesterday I had an email saying that our annual performance review is due in three weeks. I did not have a way to contact you otherwise I would have pushed the meeting forward a bit.”

“It was actually interesting watching you guys train.” He followed her to her office and took the seat she offered “we have performance reviews as well. What do you guys have to do?”

Aelin was caught off guard by him being talkative all of a sudden “We get tested on our abilities. We usually go to the academy, are given a scenario and the whole team has to work as if that was a real call. We also get to perform some individual tasks and those are timed. It’s a very stressful period.”

“You can leave our project to me until you are done with your review. I am happy to give you an update and you can come once a week to check how things are progressing if you are too busy.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me, Captain?” She smiled at him, leaning back in her chair.

He shook his head and she noticed him finally relaxing and sitting more comfortably in his chair “we have those review as well and they are always stressful for the team and I am aware how much of my time, preparing drills takes me. I am offering you to concentrate on your mission ahead for now and then catch up in three weeks.”

Was he actually being nice to her?

“I will be fine captain, but thank you for the offer. I appreciate it.”

“If you change your mind, my offer will still be on the table.”

“So,” she said quite abruptly changing the subject. If he even thought she needed his help because she was a woman he was in for a tough ride.

Aelin grabbed a folder with her plan. She had spent the entire previous day working on it. “These are the copies for you.” And she passed him a pile of papers “they are the ideas and changes I would like to suggest. I believe that is the part you will have to discuss with your CO. the biggest and probably most time consuming change is the extra door. All the other suggestions are repairs and perhaps replacements of old parts. I would like to explain again that these changes are not up for discussion. They need to happen.”

Captain Whitethorn nodded “I have discussed the matter with my CO after our meeting and he understands that and agrees. He promised me that he will fight until the last ditch if they start blocking him with budget bullshit, his exact words.”

“Please tell Air Commodore Salvaterre that I appreciate his cooperation. It goes in the interest of every single person who works at the base. Him included.”

“This pile here is a draft of possible training sessions for both your squadron and the ground crew. I want basic fire prevention training, fire extinguisher training, reviews of fire drills. I would like to do some training, especially with the ground crew on fuels handling, fuel storing and clearing spillages. Your squadron will be welcome as well. I think it will benefit everyone.” She flipped through her notes “I would like to nominate a couple of people as Fire champions or any other name we can come up with. Their role would be to perform monthly deep inspections and weekly spot checks. The idea is that by doing this, you are always on the ball with any problems. Of course we will provide training on how to do all this.” She kept explaining and the man in front of her listened to her with great interest, never interrupting her.

“Needless to say that fire prevention is everyone’s job. See it, report it. And if you can, fix it.” She jotted down a few things “of course all of this depends on our rosters. I don’t know how it works for you guys but we work in shift patterns.”

“My squadron and I, we work Monday to Friday when we are ground-side. Ground staff such as engineers for example, they tend to follow shift patterns as well. I can talk to the supervisors for the mechanics and engineering team and see if I can get a roster from them. They are aware of the fact that extra training is on its way.”

“Please do. I have a feeling that will be the biggest job.”

“Do you have any questions for me so far?”

“Which venue will we use?”

Aelin tapped her pen on the table “I was thinking here if it’s okay with you. We have the equipment, also we don’t have maximum security checks.”

“Speaking of security…” he extracted something from his pocket “`I have your badge.”

Aelin took the badge he offered in surprise.

“I imagine we will be working together quite a lot and you will need to visit the base as well on a regular basis. You have now the badge with consultant clearance. It’s not a lot, but it will grant you access to all the are you will need. And no more forms to fill.”

“Thank you, captain,” she was speechless “Thank you for trusting me.”

She smiled fondly at him and Rowan realised he’d do literally anything to see that smile. It was intoxicating.

They worked for a few hours and Aelin realised it was not as bad as she had feared. The captain had been very keen to listen to her plans and making suggestions according to his knowledge of the base and his team. He had also looked a bit less uncomfortable and more willing to have a full conversation instead of monosyllables. At least it was progress and since it looked like they were going to work together for a while it was a good thing.

When her stomach grumbled loudly she coughed embarrassed to try and cover it but the very faint hint of a grin on the captain’s lips told her that he had head her.

“We can stop for lunch, captain.”

Aelin almost blushed “I guess so. I think I have a black hole forming in my stomach. Those drills always leave me famished.” She stood “there is a lovely diner very nearby. Can I interest you in lunch? It’s on me. But no shop talk.” She was ready for a refusal but the captain stood and nodded.

“I’d like lunch.”

When they left the office they met Elide and Lysandra carrying boxes full of supplies to stock the ambulance. As soon as Rowan noticed he jumped forward and offered to help Elide.

“Let me carry them. They are quite bulky.”

“Thank you,” said the woman flashing a smile to Aelin then showed the captain the direction to the ambulance.

“Where do I place it?” He asked once they were arrived. Elide opened the back door of the vehicle “just here. Lys and I will sort through everything. Thank for the help.”

Lysandra dropped all her stuff and turned to the two captains.

“These are Lysandra and Elide, they are our two resident EMTs.”

“Ladies, this is captain Whitethorn.”

Lysandra mouthed hot to Aelin and the woman rolled her eyes.

“The captain and I were going for lunch. Could you please tell Aedion to man the fort for me while I am away? I am just going to Emrys and I have a radio with me if anything happens.”

The woman nodded “I know the drill. Go, enjoy lunch.”

The two captains left “we are walking. The place is just down the road. We are all regulars there.”

Five minutes later they reached the small diner and Rowan thought the place looked cosy and felt like the good old fashioned family run restaurant.

“Emrys and his husband Malakai have been running this place since forever. It’s an institution in the neighbourhood.”

“Aelin, my girl.” A very smiling Emrys walked from behind the counter and went to hug the woman “Are you keeping well?”

“Of course.”

“Two today?” He asked looking at the Aelin’s companion.

“Yes please. Can we sit anywhere?”

“Go ahead.” He gestured pointing at the tables.

“Quiet today?”

“Not at all. You just missed the rush. Until twenty minutes ago we were full. Malkai is delivering an order to the police station.”

Aelin walked to the table near the window and invited Rowan to join her.

“Here’s the menu for your friend. Let me know when you are ready to order.”

Rowan took the menu, opened it and lowered his head to start reading it.

Aelin studied him for a moment while he was distracted. Stared at his hands and noticed the hint of a tattoo sneaking from underneath the uniform. Interesting, she would have never pinned the man as someone who would have a tattoo. A smile tugged at her lips. A part of her wanted quite badly to get to know him a bit more. “Your hair,” she asked “has it always been silver or it became like that with age?” Then she stopped embarrassed “I mean I am not saying that you look old. I just meant as if it got like that as you grew up.”

He lifted his head from the menu and his piercing green eyes settled on her “I was born like this. Apparently it runs in my family.”

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I was just curious.”

He gave her a half a smile. It did not linger. It was quick and for a second she thought she had imagined it “I am used to it.” He tapped on the plastic menu “you haven’t decided yet?”

“Oh no, I don’t need a menu. I know it by heart and I know what I want.”

Emrys came back and both placed their orders and Aelin enjoyed the shocked expression on the captain.

“You can’t possibly eat all that stuff.”

“Watch me.”

The silence grew uncomfortable again. It looked as if he was chatty only when it came to work.

“Why did you join the airforce?”

For a moment he looked stunned at her question “I was eighteen and fresh out of high school. Happy I was done studying. My parents wanted me to go to uni, but the idea of spending four more years on books was not for me.” He explained and noticed she had he hands folded under her chin “One day I met Lorcan. We knew each other from before already, being both from Wendlyn and all. It was nice to see a friendly face in a new place. Anyway, he told me he had moved here to Terrasen with the TAF. He told me they were recruiting and I went to the base during an open day. The day after I had signed up and a month later I was starting pilot academy.”

“Where in Wendlyn?”

“Doranelle.”

“I was there once. On holiday with…” no, not time yet “with a friend. We loved it very much.”

He nodded “It’s a nice place, but I must admit that after so many years I feel like an adopted citizen of Terrasen. Orynth is quite a gorgeous place.”

Emrys came with their food and Rowan noticed how skilfully placed all the plates on the table. As if he was used to have all those orders from her.

“You can’t be serious and actually eat all this food.”

Aelin tackled her first plate “watch the pro at work, captain.” She gave him a smile and Rowan shook his head and tackled his food.

“Why firefighter?”

He noticed her still for a second and the happiness wash away from her face in an instant. Fuck. Wrong question already.

“I was eight.” She said playing with her food for a moment “I was out playing with some of my friends. I was on my way home when I saw two massive fire trucks in front of my house and my home on fire.” She placed the fork on the plate “I ran toward the house but this fireman stopped me. I was crying and calling for my parents. He hugged me, he told me they were working to try and save my parents. I remember trashing in his arms to get free but he held me tight.” She took a bit to keep herself busy while telling the story “he took me to the back of the engine and showed me some of the tools and explained to me how the engine worked. He distracted me while his colleagues worked to stop the fire and save my parents.” She finally met his gaze “it took them almost two hours to kill the fire. After that there was nothing left of the house and of my life. My parents had been found dead in the house. The gas boiler has suffered a fault and basically exploded. They stood no chance.”

“Aelin I am…” his hand moved slowly closer to hers and brushed it gently “I am so sorry.”

“When I grew up I decided I wanted to be like the firemen who attended my fire. I wanted to rush into a house on fire and try to save some person’s parents of spouse and help them avoid the loss I suffered. I wanted to be like the man who stood with me and distracted me.”

Her finger lifted a little and met his almost in acknowledgement “Aedion’s family took me in. As soon as I finished high school I was like you. I had no interest in uni. So I signed up for the fire academy.”

“Sorry for ruining lunch.”

She shook her head and flicked his finger playfully. That had been the first contact between them. He had always kept his distance and that little flicker of affection made he heart flutter. The man was a puzzle. He could go from stone cold bastard to this in a small amount of time.

Aelin finished her food and noticed the captain staring at her with curiosity.

“I cannot believe it.”

“Told you,” she smiled at him with a smug expression “and I am even going to get cake.”

“No you are not.”

In defiance she stood and went to the counter and ordered chocolate hazelnut cake from Emrys. She came back and sat down again and ate the whole slice.

“Remind me to apply for a mortgage if I ever take you out for dinner.” At those words Rowan froze. He did not mean to do say that. It was supposed to be a joke but he should have learned by now that he was bad at making jokes.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Iceman.”

His head shoot up and looked at her. She had used his callsign. Something that only his squadron members would ever use. They all had one. It was a tradition. But it also meant something. It was always the other pilots in the team who choose the callsign. Never the pilot himself. It was a rite of passage that welcome you in the squadron. In a family. He got his one because of his hair. Everyone thought it was because he was cool and calm under pressure but no. When he was still one of the FNG he went through his naming ceremony like all the others FNG and they had decided he was going to be iceman because with his hair he reminded them of a creature from the snowy glaciers of the Staghorn mountains, hence iceman. Hearing her calling him like that made his heart skip a beat.

“We don’t have call signs. We got nicknames but nothing official like you guys.” She polished the plate from the chocolate left from the cake “the guys usually call me Captain or Cap. Aedion is the worst. Because he is my cousin he takes the liberty to call me brat or menace. I should really write him up for insubordination.”

She tapped his hand “come on grampa, let’s get back to work.” And stood. Rowan had wanted to grab that hand and hold it for a moment. It felt as if a small shift had happened in their weird work relationship.

Aelin paid for the meal as promised and they walked back to the station “are you sure you will be able to concentrate with all that food in you?”

On the way back Aelin looked up at the sky and noticed a few flakes that had started to follow. “Looks like it’s going to snow.”

She turned her head and caught Rowan sniffing the air, the eyes closed and a relaxed expression. The hard lines of his face had disappeared and the faint smile on his lips changed him completely. Yes, the man was hot but there was more to it. The very rare times that his face softened his eyes lit up as well turning a deeper green and made him stunning. She had a feeling those moments were rare and was glad that she had caught at least a couple. Like right now, his body relaxed enjoying the first flakes of snow. That was a precious insight in the man at her side.

“You like winter?” She broke the magic.

His eyes snapped open and his face turned hard again as if he hated being caught enjoying something.

“I do.” He said softly “I love the snow and winters in Terrasen are incredible.

Aelin smiled. His scent. His scent reminded her of Terrasen. Pine and snow. She had smelled it the other day while she was inside his plane and he was quite close to her. He smelled like winter and realised for a second that the nickname Iceman was perfect as well for that reason and not just because he could be a cold hearted bastard. They got back to the station and she found it quiet apart from Brullo and Luca near the fire engine. Apparently the man was explaining the youngster some of the routine checks they performed. He was their resident engineer and mechanic so he was the best one for that type of training.

“Nice lunch, Cap? Did you eat all the food at Emrys?”

“The vegetables are still there. They are safe.” Aelin turned when noticed that the joke came from Rowan.

Brullo and Luca burst out laughing “oh he is good.” Added the older man.

“My eating habits are the joke of the station.”

“Cap, they are insane.” Added Luca.

Aelin turned to Rowan and he lifted and eyebrow as if to say I agree with them.

She turned again on her colleagues “one more joke from the two of you and I’ll have you scrub the station from top to bottom with a toothbrush.” Then she turned on her feet and walked away to her office.

Rowan tapped his hat in salute to the two men and followed her. He found her in the kitchen making coffee “Do you drink coffee?”

“I don’t think I could function without it.”

“Good. We basically drink it by the litre. It keeps you alive on a night shifts.”

She made some coffee and offered him a mug “milk, sugar?”

“Black, thank you.”

He watched her as she dropped two spoonfuls of sugar in it “All this sugar is not good for you.”

“Shhh you heathen.”

He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee “Thank you for lunch by the way.”

“My treat, for working with me.” She apologised, while leaning against the counter and drinking her coffee.

“You are not as bad as I thought. I agree with Aedion, you are a brat and a menace but I can work with that.” Bad idea. Rowan noticed anger flash in her eyes.

“I am not having you calling me that.” She slammed the cup on the counter “you barely know me and I have been professional, sure if cracking a joke or two makes me a brat it’s your problem you need sense of humour. I have been busting my ass to fix the shit that went down in your station.” She took a step toward him and Rowan braced himself “I know how I run my station. I am aware of every single problem or fault that happens here. Your fucking hangar went down in a blaze of glory and you had no idea of the shitstorm about to happen.” She was now a few mere centimetres from his face and a foolish part of him wanted to push her against the counter and kiss her senseless. She was mad at him and all he thought was how her lips would feel. What was wrong with him?

“Don’t ever call me that again with that smug face of your because I have no problems removing that smirk with a punch.”

Rowan kept staring at her in silence, not risking saying a word while she was that mad at him. Damn the woman had fire in her. And it did not matter he was getting a well deserved lashing down from her, he could not stop thinking that she was beautiful. Not just physically, she was fierce, brave and passionate and he was irremediably drawn to her.

Which it was totally crazy since they had met the day before.

“Now get the fuck out of my station. We are done for today.” And she stepped back.

“Captain, I did not mean to offend you.”

“I said out.” She repeated through gritted teeth “I have your contact. I will let you know when I am in the mood to meet you again.” She grabbed her coffee and walked away from him.

Rowan stood still and stared at the spot where she had been. He ran a hand through his hair and cursed himself for his stupidity. They had finally set aside the bad start they had, and messed up everything again.

He picked up his cap on the counter and then realised he had left all the documents in her office. He was about to walk to her but then changed his mind bad idea. So he just left the station, got back to his car and drove back to the base.

Aelin was furious. Why did he have to go and ruin everything with his bloody mouth of his?

That beautiful mouth of his.

She paced the office for ten minutes then she left, went to changing room and changed into her training gear. Some exercise will do her good to clear her head.

Aedion found her twenty minutes later “here you are,” he shouted as she ran back and forth in the yard with a dummy on her shoulders.

“Aelin!” He shouted when she did not stop. When she ignored him again he went in front of her and stopped her “Aelin.”

“What?” She growled dropping the dummy on the ground with a loud thump. She was breathless.

“I thought you were with the captain.”

She ignored him and grabbed the dummy again but Aedion stopped her and grabbed her hand “did something happened?”

“Yes, he happened. He is an arsehole and I don’t know why I am bothering to help him.”

“Because it’s your job.”

“Well, he can go and ask west station for all I care.”

Aedion shook his head “they are in our territory.”

Aelin ran a hand through her hair.

“Did he do something to you? Because if he did I am very good at hand to hand combat. I’ll destroy his stiff arse.”

Aelin chuckled. Aedion had always been very protective with her.

“He called me a brat and a menace. He said that I am not as bad as he thought and that he agrees with you for my nicknames.”

Aedion laughed “that’s why you are mad at him? Ace, I love you but you can be both.”

She sat down on the dummy “I know. But if you say it it doesn’t bother me. We grew up together. You know me better than anyone. He instead…” she punched the dummy’s face “he had this smug face and he used this tone like a condescending prick.”

She groaned “you can be a brat and a menace but I can work with it,” she repeated in a mocking tone “I am the one doing him a favour to help him. Idiot.”

“You just want to find an excuse to hate him and push him away from you.” He sat down on the dummy beside her “Ace, could it be that you like him but you are still too scared to allow another man in your life?”

“No. I have known the guy for two days. And no, I do not like him.” She protested.

“Would it be that bad?”

Aelin stood and faced him “I am not interested in getting any closer to him than what works dictates. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie.

“You are overreacting and you are behaving like a brat and proving him right.”

She pushed him off the dummy “you are on truck duty for the whole week.” Aelin grabbed the dummy and went back to her training.

Rowan finally made it back to the base and went straight to his office but Lorcan intercepted him.

“You are back early. I thought you were going to be at the station all afternoon.”

Rowan ignored his CO and plopped on his chair and closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“That bad, eh?” Joked Lorcan at the man’s reaction.

“I opened my damn mouth. That’s what I did.”

Lorcan sat on the chair on the opposite side of the desk “What did you do? I thought you were the guy who counted till ten before opening his mouth. That’s why I gave you this assignment. I need this to go smoothly and fix all the shit that the old CO messed up. If I wanted to piss off the TFD’s captain I would have sent Moonbeam.”

Rowan snorted “probably would have been better. Far more charming than this cranky old bastard.”

“I have seen the woman. Fenrys would end up fucking everything. Literally.”

Lorcan sat back relaxed “I am coming to the station tomorrow and I will talk to her and bring her back into our good books.”

“You?” Rowan scoffed “if there is someone who has a worse temper than me is you, Lorcan.”

“I’ll be my charming self.” The man joked.

“The gods save us all.” Rowan joked standing and pacing the office “trying to scare her will not work either.”

“I noticed that. I wish some of our men would have that level of balls. Quite amazing for a woman.” Rowan’s head snapped at his CO’s words.

“Don’t even dare say anything like that in her face or you are a dead man.”

He and Lorcan would go along on most of the days but on some concepts, Lorcan still followed the good old fashioned ideas that for example females were not suited for the military, a topic they had many fights on. Rowan had tried to open up the ranks to a few more females in the squadron but Lorcan had rejected the idea every single time.

“You know how I feel about those things.”

“Yes, our very progressive man. Equality and all.”

“You can be such an arsehole.” Rowan stopped at the window “even the Navy is accepting women. Their recruitment for female officers is up by 40%. We are still to celebrate when we will have our first female officer.”

Lorcan growled “well, then move to the Navy.” He stood annoyed “flying a jet is not like service on an aircraft carrier!”

Rowan turned furious “you are not seriously telling me that you don’t believe a woman could fly a jet.” He slammed his fist on the table “I have seen Aelin in action and during drills. I have seen her jump into a building on fire without any second thought to save one of our men. I have seen her drag a dummy twice her size off a burning building while wearing the fire suit and an oxygen tank on her shoulder. She could probably do a vertical, pull 9G and then get off the plane and have a dance in our face. She is definitely not the fragile thing you think she is just because she is a woman.”

“What is your point?”

“Stop being a misogynist prick.”

Rowan phone went off and Lorcan moved away “if you are coming tomorrow, you leave that attitude behind.” Lorcan left and Rowan took the call. Once he was done he sat back down on his chair and looked outside noticing the snow falling and a gentle smile tugged his lips at the memory of the moment they had shared at the restaurant. He had to apologise. And quickly.

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citydreamgrls · 3 years

Text

they were roommates - part four

a weasley twins x fem!reader fic

summary: she had nowhere to go, fleeing home to pursue something along the lines of freedom, so being welcomed into the entrepreneurial twins life was a whole world of new experiences waiting to happen.

an: thank you for all the lovely messages i’ve been getting lately, everyone has been overwhelmingly sweet it’s great, love u always <333

words: 4,456

“Are you sure you’ll be okay here?” George asked the girl, who was taking a well-deserved rest on the sofa with a magazine propped up on her knees.

“Yes, you don’t need to worry. I’ll let you know if anything happens.” She chuckled, seeing how nervous they were about leaving her, even if it was just for one evening.

“Do you really want to be left all alone?” Fred seemed concerned, “With the ghosts?” He teased.

“Stop it freddie,” She groaned, knowing better than to believe him, but fully aware that every noise would spook her now. “Now, go. Both of you,” She swotted the man’s shoulder as George joined him in the living room. “And say hi to Ginny for me, tell her I miss her.”

“God, anyone would think you like her more than us!” They huffed, taking their place in the fireplace with handfuls of floo powder.

“Well-” She started, seeing the men’s faces drop in unison. “I’m kidding, I could never.” The girl grinned, waving goodbye as they announced their family home and left for the night.

Suddenly the loft felt very empty, and spooky. Maybe Fred was telling the truth about the ghosts?

The twins landed in their mother’s fireplace, dusting off their smart jackets with a sniffle. It always was a hassle to use the floo line home, that damn chimney was blocked up with all sorts that clogged their noses.

“Darlings!” Mrs Weasley called out, dragging them into a room and yet another hurried hug as she had no time to spare with dinner ready in only a few minutes.

“Sorry we’re a bit late.” Fred apologised, smacking Ron on the back of the head lightly as he walked past.

“Wanker,” His little brother mumbled, ignoring them.

“That’s okay, as long as you’re here.” Molly replied, using her wand to direct a multiple of bowls onto the table before them.

Ginny sat in between Harry and Hermione, who had made it a habit of theirs to join in on family dinners at the Weasley’s. Not that anyone ever complained, the more the merrier eh?

“Y/n says she misses you,” George whispered to his sister, not wanting the bombardment of questions about their houseguest until a little bit later.

“Tell her I’ll have a day off soon, hermione and I will swing by and we can go shopping or something.”

“You’ve told Hermione about her?” Fred chimed in, obviously a bit worried.

“Well of course I have, she can’t wait to meet her.” She gushed, excited to share her new friend with her oldest friend.

“Oh great well that means Ron will-”

“So... who’s y/n?” Their youngest brother asked from beside the twins, wide eyed with innocent curiosity, catching everyone in the room’s attention.

Mrs Weasley whipped her head around.

“A girl? Have one of you got a girlfriend, why didn’t you tell me?” She started up on her assumptions, knowing that her sons were awful at telling her about their lives.

“Thanks a lot, idiot.” The twins groaned at Ron, who seemed just as confused as ever.

“Well, which one of you?” Molly continued, taking her seat at the other end of the table to Mr Weasley, who beamed silently. Wanting to hear the gossip as much as his wife did.

“Y/n isn’t a girlfriend mum, she’s staying with us for a while.” George took charge, keeping a straight face as he explained the facts to the rest of the family.

“What do you mean staying with you, where did you find her.”

“She’s not a stray dog mum!” Ginny laughed, taking a spoonful of roast potatoes and lumping them onto her plate.

“She used to work with Neville and his wife Hannah, you remember her right?” Fred joined in.

“Oh yes, lovely lady, beautiful hair!”

“Well, they couldn’t afford to keep her on. And she was living there until she could find somewhere more permanent to live,”

“What about her parents, surely they wouldn’t leave her homeless?” Molly asked, pouring herself a much-deserved glass of wine before passing the bottle around.

“Well, a-about that.” George started, but he seemed unsure on how to explain it to his family without giving out the girl’s private information.

“All we know is that she ran away from home because she needed to.”

“And you trust that!” Ron scoffed, earning a kick from Ginny and a glare from Hermione.

“She’s lovely, and yes she can be trusted- how else would she have gotten a job with neville if not?” Their sister came to her defense, shutting the youngest brother up with one breath.

“Thanks Gin,” George whispered.

“Well, I think that’s a lovely thing you’ve done boys.” Molly chirped up, “I’m proud of you both for being so charitable.”

“Yes, very good.” Mr Weasley mumbled, urged on by his wife’s awaiting gaze. “Just be careful, she is a stranger after all.”

“I think it’s y/n who should be careful around these two.” Ron chuckled, earning a harsh kick from his fiance under the table.

The family chatted all the way through dinner, telling stories of their work and their friends until all the food was gone and Harry helped Molly to clear up while the rest settled in the living room, next to a roaring fire.

“Your mother has been begging him to visit for weeks now, but he’s been tied up at the bank with yet another break in.” Arthur explained to his kids, telling them about Bill’s recent absence.

“Have they not updated their wards? Gringotts is the hardest to get into, it doesn’t make sense?” Hermione frowned, shaking her head.

“Luckily nothing was stolen, I think whoever did it got scared off before they made it to the vaults.”

“That’s odd, if anything vaults are easier to break into.” Ron was just as confused as his counterpart.

“Well yes, you lot would know wouldn’t you.” fred teased, squeezing Harry’s shoulder who sat by the fire in front of him.

“We could do a better job.” The boy with glasses chuckled.

“Just be careful, if these thieves are in the alley then there’s a chance they could target the shops next.” Mr Weasley warned them, knowing their business was known to be the one doing the best in diagon alley.

The twins nodded in response, sharing a small worry for the girl they had left behind in the loft. Fred thought about bringing it up to his brother, but decided against it the second everyone’s conversation topic changed.

“We won’t stay too long then.” George whispered to him, assuring him that he too was concerned about leaving y/n alone with the risk of someone breaking in. But even as the family laughed over stories, old and new, Fred couldn’t help but grow restless.

The longer they were there, comfortable and happy, the longer the girl was alone and vulnerable. He knew if he mentioned it again that George would grow suspicious of his feelings for the girl, whom he blatantly presumed could defend herself by the way he accepted yet another drink from his father.

If he hadn’t been such a wimp about it, he could have just put George in his place and been open about the way he liked the girl. But now he had to keep quiet, for his own sanity.

Another hour or so later the twins finally said their goodbyes, promising their mother that y/n would come along with them next week so everyone could meet her, and left the burrow to return to the loft where y/n had already fallen asleep on the sofa.

George chuckled, creeping over to her while Fred was distracted by the sight of her face yet again and picked her up into his arms.

“I’ll take her downstairs, Freddie, can you turn all the lights off up here?” He asked, letting the girl fall into his chest.

Fred hated how perfect they looked together, how George hadn’t even hesitated to hold her himself, how she slotted into his arms so simply. He hated that all of this bothered him, that he was pitting himself against his double, who hadn’t even shown any signs of wanting her.

Still he watched them leave, disappear down the steps and into the darkness. He considered waiting, with the hope that he could listen in on any conversation but realised that might be a bit much and sloped away to his bedroom, mumbling a quick “nox” as he went.

The more days that passed, the easier y/n fitted into the twins’ day to day life. She was a saint in the shop, and loyal customers got to know her and like just as quickly as the two men had done so.

Her little room was a godsend on her back, but in the evenings she stayed up in the loft with them, very rarely wanting time alone unless she was particularly exhausted. Which only made things harder for Fred, who seemed to grow more and more jealous around the girl.

He hadn’t realised how bad it had gotten, however, until Bill graced them all with his presence one afternoon while they were shutting up the shop. He had, of course, heard news of their guest from Ron and decided to find out all he could for himself while he wasn’t busy.

“She’s not here right now, we just sent her to the shop for dinner,” Fred told him, cashing up the till with a concentrated look. His older brother leant on the counter, still dressed in his fancy bank suit, having come straight from work.

“Not sure what she’s cooking, no doubt it’ll be good though,” George chuckled, stacking more things onto the shelves nearby.

“Apparently Ginny likes her, is that true?” He asked them, to which they both nodded. “Wow, she must be great then- never met anyone else with better character jugement, well except myself of course.”

Fred rolled his eyes at Bill, always one to be humble.

“She’s pretty great.” He assured, ignoring George’s weird look.

“Shame I missed her, guess I’ll have to find out for myself at dinner on friday.”

“You’re coming to the burrow?” George laughed, amazed that he finally had time.

“Yeah well, we haven’t had much progress with these break ins so there’s no point trying to force it. The aurors have taken over as it is, we’ve done all we can.”

“Which reminds me, I need to update our wards Georgie.”

“Again, I only did it a couple days ago!”

“No point taking chances, what dad said was right- they could easily target other businesses next.” Fred huffed, his brother accepting defeat.

Their attention was caught by the sound of the front door tinkling open, a jingle of keys telling them that y/n was finally back.

“Here she is!” Bill announced, greeting her with a charming smile and confident tone. The girl seemed surprised, her smile awkward and a little confused.

“This is our big brother, Bill.” Fred explained, offering to take the heavy bags from her. She smiled, making sure to lock eyes with him as he stepped back again.

“Hello Bill, it’s lovely to meet you.” Now she was more relaxed, her shoulders dropping as he spoke to her and asked her plenty of questions about herself, all the while leaning suavely against the counter.

Fred wanted to go over and drag her away, tell her that bill was way too old for her. But all he could do was stand and watch as she giggled away at every other comment he made, her eyes scanning him all the time that he was there.

“I better take this all upstairs-” She reached for the bags that were in his hand, but he stepped up onto the stairs.

“N-no it’s alright, I’ll go.” At least he wouldn’t have to hide his anger around them much longer.

Only a couple minutes later she joined him in the loft, her cheeks rosy and her eyes sparkly as she smiled at him in the kitchen.

“You okay?” Fred asked her.

“Yeah, George is saying goodbye to your brother. I said I’d come help.” She grinned, setting up a chopping board right beside him.

“You didn’t have to.” He nudged her shoulder playfully, making her giggle, the same way Bill had done.

“I wanted to, silly, plus I feel like I barely saw you all day- it was weird.”

Maybe liking her wasn’t off the cards after all, she wanted to be with him, she felt weird when she didn’t see him. Hell, she even left big-shot Bill downstairs just to be in the same room as him. George could have been wrong, she could want him back after all.

“Do you mind if I take a quick shower?” She asked the taller man beside her, looking up with those hopeful eyes.

“Yeah sure,” “I’ll be back in ten to help, okay?” “Don’t fall!” He called out as she rushed off, hearing a faint giggle as the bathroom door shut. Fred smiled to himself, liking how much more comfortable they were getting around one another.

“Need help?” George asked, poking his head round the kitchen door.

“Can do, y/n’s just showering.” He directed his twin to the vegetables that needed peeling.

“By the way, Bill was asking about her-” His stomach tensed. “He wants to ask her out, I told him it’s fine… you know since you said you were just drunk when you told me those things.”

Fred’s heart stopped. Of course, just as things showed the smallest sign of getting better his hope was crushed by the weight of one sentence. He nodded, trying to pay as little attention to what nonsense George spewed out as they cooked, but he couldn’t help hearing how Bill had been taken in by the girl’s beauty.

The man wanted to yell out, he wanted to snap and explain that he’d liked her first. It all seemed so childish, he’d been jealous of one brother and now another one had swooped right in and charmed her. There was no way she would deny him, either, he’d seen her blush.

All through dinner, George asked the girl what she thought of their older brother, most likely at Bill’s request. But it made Fred feel sick, to see her so excited to talk about him, all that he could do was stay silent and eat his food. Not that either of the others noticed, too enthralled in their riveting conversation.

George was as bad as his mother for gossiping, together with y/n’s childlike excitement, he decided he couldn’t take much more and quietly dismissed himself so he could run off to his room and let out the breath he’d been holding onto all evening.

This was going to be harder to get over.

That Friday night, the three of them apparated to the burrow, wanting to show the girl a different way to travel as she had never been taught how to do it when she lived at home. The moon was bright out that night, and shone done over the field as they landed, both men having to keep her stable as she giggled.

“That was fun!” She squealed, jumping up and down and looking around, amazed that she had never experienced such a exhilarating thing before.

“I gotta be honest, I was expecting you to vomit.”

“We both were,”

“It’s practically tradition at this point.”

“Maybe on the way back, after dinner.” The girl teased, stomping her boots over the long grass that led towards the house.

She had found her nicest pair of big blue jeans and used some of the little money she had on her to buy a new top when Ginny had taken her out with Hermione. It was white, with thin lace sleeves and a corset waist, which had reminded her of the dresses her mother used to wear whenever her father took her out for a special occasion. Before they grew apart, of course.

Fred had gulped when he’d seen her wearing it, presuming that she’d been swayed by Hermione’s elegant style over Ginny’s punk-princess dresses. And while he loved seeing her wearing clothes that made her look like an angel, as she did that evening, everything the girl wore seemed to make him want her more and more.

“Y/n!” His little sister cried out from the front door, having spotted them from the front window, making the girl run even faster to greet her. They flew into each other’s arms like best friends, they most likely were that close by now, given both of the girl’s addictive personalities.

All of them were quickly ushered inside, where Ron and Harry awkwardly stared at her while she talked with their fiances. George nudged their shoulders.

“You guys look like creeps, have you really forgotten how to talk to girls other than those two.” He scoffed.

“Oh, we’re just worried.” Harry explained, looking as white as a sheet.

“About y/n?” Fred sneered, “She’s a softie, come on.”

“Ginny and ‘Mione are great, but when they’re together they can be-” “They��re brutal.” Ron finished his friend's statement bluntly. “And your little project will turn into one of them if you’re not careful.”

“She’s not a project Ron-” “Yeah, shut up Ron.”

Mrs Weasley wiped her hands of cooking and rushed over to the new face in her house, immediately dragging the girl into a hug.

“It is so lovely to meet you y/n!” She exclaimed, her children’s kindness so evidently learnt from her. “Ginny has told me so much about you,” The girl blushed before her, unknowing of a parent so welcoming.

Her mother used to be like this, if she remembered far enough, she would invite all their friends over and treat other’s children as their own. Always with a bright, beaming smile, one that had been lost as the years went one, but one that she no doubt inherited herself.

“Why don’t you go sit with the boys, dinner won’t be long.” She smiled, keeping Ginny and Ron behind to help her finish up. She followed the twins, who seemed too tall for their own home as they ducked beneath archways and low hanging lights.

A fire was lit in the next room, surrounded by sofas and armchairs that looked even comfier than her own bed. Mr Weasley sat, facing the doorway, having a conversation with someone who had their back to the trio as they entered.

“Hi dad, evening Bill.” George smiled, slumping down on a sofa comfortably.

Bill turned round, expectantly, his smirk rising when he saw the girl stood before him, looking much more made up that she was the other day after a long shift.

“There she is,” He said, smoothly, relishing in the way she blushed nervously in his presence.

She politely greeted Mr Weasley, before sitting down in between the twins who were her pillars of safety as they talked over her head. Even as Bill conversed with his father about matters that she struggled to catch up on, his gaze burned upon her body like a flame.

Fred noticed it, the way his brother watched over her like a hawk and the way she lapped it up. It was sickening to see her fall under his spell so easily, he didn’t even need to try. Bill always got what he wanted, everyone knew that.

When Mrs Weasley called them all in for dinner, Fred certainly didn’t miss the way his older brother whispered into her ear and all but dragged her over to the table so he could ensure they would be next to one another. He just let it happen, who was he to stop them, a hopeless romantic… that’s all.

“So y/n, where did you go to school?” Arthur asked, thinking nothing of the question. But her face fell a little, not that anyone but Fred saw it happen from across the table.

“Uh- I was actually homeschooled, but there’s still a lot I don’t know.”

“Well I hope the boys have been teaching you lots, it’s good to know as much as you can.” Mrs Weasley beamed, rubbing the twin’s heads as she passed by with glasses for everyone.

“They’ve been extremely helpful, in more ways than I can thank them for.” She smiled sweetly, catching Fred’s eye as everyone started up their own conversations.

That was the last time she looked over at him that night, as Bill started telling her all sorts of things that made her giggle and smirk and blush and fidget. It was obvious to anyone that watched the two of them that Bill had made up his mind about her.

It was the scar tour which finally made Fred roll his eyes, no one seeing but his twin.

“You alright?” George said, with a confused chuckle.

“Oh yeah, fine.”

“Bill’s a right show off isn’t he, wonder where he’s gonna take her on their d-a-t-e.”

“We’re not dogs you know, we can spell.” Ginny hissed from the other side of him, leaning over behind him so she could talk to Fred directly.

“Is it true?” She asked him, hushed.

“Is what?” He whispered back, praying that George hadn’t spoken of his drunken confession.

“Bill’s gonna ask her out?”

“Well- I guess so, he said he would.” He sat up straight again, wanting nothing more to do with that conversation if he could help it. He was already forced to watch the two of them as if he was front row at a particularly excruciating play.

The whole night seemed to drag on for hours and hours, as it seemed like Ginny and Bill were fighting over the girl’s attention. Fred finally gave up on trying to bear the whole situation and slipped out the back door when no one was watching, hoping to have a few minutes alone in the night’s cool air.

But not even thirsty seconds of silence later, the door opened behind him, and someone came to join him.

“You alright Fred?” Hermione’s voice sounded over to him, as he sat slumped against the stone wall. He nodded, not minding her company over any of the other’s. She at least knew how to be quiet when it was necessary.

The brunette took a seat beside him on the grass, crossing her legs and taking in a fresh breath of air. He was always happy that Hermione was the one friend of Ginny’s to actually join the family, he’d never been a fan of the other’s as most of the time they would bother him and George.

“You like her, don’t you?” Hermione asked, dragging him from his vacant thoughts.

“What?”

“Y/n. You like her, and you haven’t said anything.”

“Hermione, I don’t-” ‘I’m not going to tell anyone, I hate gossip.” She scoffed, and he knew it was true.

“It’s a tricky one, okay.” The man finally said, after she let him think over his answer for a few moments.

“I bet, and now Bill’s got his sight on her.”

“Yeah well, I’m not him-” He sighed. “Doesn’t mean you can’t like her.”

“It’s too late, she’s gonna say yes to their date and then they’ll be together and I’ll have to watch them be happy and shit, all the while I’m gonna be miserable.” “She might say no,” “Bullshit will she say no, have you seen the way she acts around him?” “Not really.” Hermione admitted.

“Well, it’s obvious she likes him- that’s all.”

They fell into silence again, the stars in the sky not even settling Fred’s growing rage over how stupid he’d been to hide how he truly felt.

“Either way, you should tell her.” Hermione said, standing up and brushing off her legs before giving him a sympathetic smile and heading back inside.

The twins headed back outside, getting ready to leave, when y/n called over to them with a giggle. Bill’s hands were wrapped around her waist, begging her to stay as she cutely tried to get away.

“I’ll just be a moment you guys!” George nodding, waving bye to his brother and heading back into the field to give them a bit of privacy. Fred followed, with no other choice. He could still see their figures through the tall grass, holding one another like they were already lovers. When Bill’s head dipped down he just turned away, seeing George watching him with squinted eyes.

“What are you doing freddie?” He asked him.

“Nothing, jus- nothing.” He grumbled, kicking up the ground beneath his feet as they waited patiently.

When the girl finally bounded over, full of giddy excitement, he wanted to be far away from her. He swore he could feel Bill’s presence all over her, just by the way she took his hand to apparate back to the loft.

The whole time that she spoke his head was in a daze, as if he felt there was no use in listening to anyone anymore. No matter how much advice he was given, or however nice he was to her. If she didn’t want him, then there was nothing he could do.

“Goodnight freddie!” She called, when he silently left the other two in the dark shop and climbed up to the loft. He didn’t say anything back, in truth he didn’t take in that she had spoken to him and then by the time he had done so, he didn’t trust his voice to not crack under pressure.

“Is he angry?” The girl turned to George, who was just as confused about his twin’s odd behaviour.

“No, sweet, he’s probably just tired.” He whispered, giving her a reassuring hug. “So, when’s Bill taking you out?”

“Tuesday night.” “Oh. How romantic.” The man scoffed, which earned him a light slap on the arm.

“Stop it you, he said he didn’t want to wait until next weekend- I think it’s sweet.”

“You would missy- you’re in love!” He teased.

“I wouldn’t call it love… yet.” She grinned.

“Go on you, get to bed.” He chuckled, giving her yet another hug and letting her skip off to her room which was covered in fairy lights.

George wasn’t even going to bother talking to Fred that night. Whatever was up with him, he could take a wild guess on and probably hit the jackpot. But that meant he was upset, beyond compare, and most likely needed some time alone. So George gave him that time and just went up to bed himself. Hoping that things would look up in the days to come.

Little did he know that, when it came to love, Fred held grudges.

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damn-stark · 4 years

Text

First meetings ~ Jesse Imagine

Jesse x Fem!reader

Request by anon “Ahhhh I know you're doing a mini series for Jesse, but would it be ok to request a stand alone?? one where their first meeting was when they shared a shift in overnight lookout and it's hard to stay quiet and focus on their task and they find out they're never assigned together for look out anymore lol thank you so much!! I love how you're cranking out a lot of requests and I really appreciate your hard work!! Hope you have a healthy and safe week!! Keep up the great work!!”

———-

You carefully hold the corner of the piece in between your fingers and flip it over to look for your name, doing a quick scan and finding nothing. You take a peak on the next page and let your eyes scan. At first there was nothing, but that was just your mistake for simply glancing and not really reading.

But when you finally find your name you groan. Not only because you’ve been assigned to overnight lookout on the wall, but because you were partnered with Jesse. Someone you hardly knew….great.

This was going to be a long night.

——

“You’re late.” A voice so kindly greets in the shadows of the makeshift patrol room.

“Hello to you too.” You greet with a feigned smile.

The light above basks Jesse's face as he finally pushes himself to his given height. A disapproving look clearly on his face.

“You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”

You roll your eyes as you take a seat on the chair next to his. “So? It’s just ten minutes. No harm in being late.”

Jesse sighs and glares at you for a minute before deciding he wasn’t up for arguing with someone he hardly knew. Which given the awkward tension that now took place, you wish he would’ve kept arguing. Even if it was pointless.

At least then it wouldn’t be so quiet.

“I’m surprised you’re assigned to the wall lookout. You’re usually out patrolling in the day.” You say to try and break the silence.

Jesse shifts in his seat and puts the rifle down. “I think Maria is trying to teach me something by putting me here.”

An amused huff of air leaves your nose at his comment, nothing verbal shared after and letting the little room be surrounded in silence. Something that didn’t sit well with you. Or him. So quickly to break the tension you moved to pull out a stereo you had hidden. Making Jesse's eyes watch your every movement out of curiosity.

“What are you doing?” He wondered.

“Putting music on...obviously.” You retort as you set the music on a low volume.

“We’re not really allowed to do that.”

You scoff and put the music louder, pulling out a deck of cards from your jacket pocket and throwing it on the small table in front of you.

“I don’t think—”

“Ehh. No.” You quickly cut him off. “It’s too quiet here. It’s messing with my head. Plus I’ve heard nothing but great things about you, so to spare me from the awkward silence you have to show me your fun side.”

Jesse hesitates for a moment, his eyes shifting to you and the view outside, a small smirk on his face as he gives in.

——

“Ha! Winner!” You chuckle as you throw your cards on the table.

“No, you were cheating!” Jesse remarks loudly.

You shrug and smirk, “no impossible. I don’t cheat.”

“Another round then. To prove you’re not a cheater. I win, I come do this task again. I lose then I don’t .”

You groan and shoot him a narrowed gaze. Choosing to give in regardless. “Fine, deal.”

The game didn’t last long as your winning streak finally broke. Making said man across from you grin proudly.

“Guess you’re seeing more of me.” He announced proudly. “And I guess you’re not as good as you say you are.”

That was only because you let him win.

“Another round!” You demand loudly.

Jesse shakes his head, his smile never faltering. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Come on.”

Jesse shrugs, “don’t be a sore loser.”

You scoff and try to hide your smile. “What?! I am not!”

“You are!” Jesse chuckles, a mischievous grin on his lips, “unless you don’t want me to come back again.”

You try and think of a remark, but all that comes out is a scoff, feeling an instant heat on your cheeks at your sudden shyness. And before you could give him an answer Maria suddenly enters the room. Making both yours and Jesse's smile fall.

“Jesse. Y/N.”

You both immediately stand up and nervously glance at each other as you await for her to talk. Knowing that her narrowed glare meant nothing good was going to come out of her surprising visit.

“You guys are supposed to be on lookout not playing games and listening to music.” She complains, her eyes shifting between Jesse and you. “You both know better. What if an armed group, or a swarm of infected appeared, neither of you would be aware because you’re both loud and distracted.”

You swallow thickly and let your eyes fall on the floor, not daring to meet Maria’s glare. Only feeling it, and hoping that Jesse wasn’t going to get in trouble for something that was your fault.

“I’m sorry Maria. It won’t happen again.” Jesse spoke for the both of you.

Maria exhaled deeply and gave both Jesse and you one last glare before walking out and leaving you two to do your job.

It was quiet at first, neither Jesse or you daring to speak up first, or at least not until Maria made some distance from the room. And when you made sure she was long gone you turned to Jesse and couldn’t help but fall in a fit of laughter.

“I told you.” He grinned as he sat back down.

“We were not that loud.” You scoffed.

While you looked at the view ahead, Jesse couldn’t help steal another glance, a smile playing on his lips before he had to look away.

“Either way, I had fun. She isn’t going to stop me from that.” You muse.

Jesse nodded in agreement and followed your line of sight, “I had fun too.”

——

The day after the patrol you found yourself now exceedingly heading towards the schedules, a hopeful smile on your lips and a nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach.

A feeling that dropped when you saw you were appointed to the same spot, but with someone else.

Shit.

“What are you scheduled to do?” Jesse asked behind you, causing you to jump slightly at his unexpected presence.

“Nothing with you.” You turn and face him with an amused smile, “sadly.”

“I don’t think Maria is going to partner us together ever again.” Jesse chuckled. “Not with how we were last night.”

“Damn shame.” You smirk, “I had fun.”

“How about later today before your shift, we have a rematch?”

“Sounds like a date.” You grin.

Tagged: @expecto-nox

#the last of us part two #the last of us imagines #the last of us imagine #tlou jesse x reader #tlou jesse #jesse fanfiction #tlou2 jesse x reader #jesse imagines #jesse imagine #jesse x reader #jesse the last of us #tlou jesse imagines #tlou jesse imagine #maria tlou #tlou imagines #tlou imagine

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iraacundus · 4 years

Text

Star of the Show

SEQUAL TO CIRCUS

PART TWO OUT OF THREE

reader x jaehyun; reader x doyoung

genre: angst, smut, fluff words: 8k warnings: sex, swearing, alcahol, mentions of emtional abuse

stars shine brightly into the sky until some become blackholes that destroy everthing around them, the same went for circus stars

You grabbed Jaehyun and peeked between the curtains, there were hundreds of people sat in the crowd. You were in a busy area so this was to be expected. Tonight was Jaehyun's first show, tomorrow, the company was coming to begin filming their promo with you both at the centre of it.

The trapeze was scheduled as the last act, so you watched Jaehyun sit on a chair nervously the whole time. He hadn't been given a second act yet so nox periculosa would be his first performance ever.

You came back in from doing the aerial hoops to see Jaehyun pacing up and down. You walked over to him and stopped him, placing your hands on his shoulders reassuringly.

"You will be great," you told him with a smile."We are a great team and Doyoung,.. well he is good at what he does." You said referencing your ex-boyfriend who was sitting across the room talking to Mademoiselle Isobel. So much for it being a meaningless kiss, you thought.

You pushed it to the back of your mind and focused back on Jaehyun, who was chewing on his lip more frequently ever since he had seen the crowd.

"I have done much scarier things than this, I once volunteered to be shot in the foot and yet this, this performance scares me, not because I can't do it, but because I know we have to do it right," he explained.

You knew almost nothing of Jaehyun’s life before the circus so you were kind of surprised to hear what he used to get up to in his free time.

"Maybe choose safer hobbies," you noted, causing him to flash a nervous grin, "and as long as you try your best I will be proud of you Jaehyun, as cliché as it is."

Taeyong walked over to you both.

"One minute," he said before rushing off to sort something else out. You pulled Jaehyun's hand into yours. It was actually part of the routine, but you felt like you would have done it anyway. You heard Taeyong's voice echo through the circus.

"And now for the finale, we have the star-crossed lovers, on their most dangerous night. I present to you Archibald, Adeline and the Angel of Death in nox periculosa.

The crowd clapped and cheered as you walked out, squeezing Jaehyun's hand before you let go running to the opposite platform. As you climbed the rungs of the platform you kept your gaze on Jaehyun. He was fine, he looked focused, he had gone into a form autopilot created by countless hours of practice. You took your first leap and swung, feeling at peace Jaehyun caught you and as Doyoung weaved in between you.

It had gone so well throughout that when you reached the final scene and Doyoung placed the blindfold over your eyes, you almost didn't want to breathe. You exhaled and made the run, jumping into the air blind with only the trust that Doyoung would catch you this time. And he did, he caught you, spun you, threw you into the air and caught you again. All as planned.

The trapeze lowered down and Doyoung let go, seconds later you were in Jaehyun's arms. It had gone right, it was all good. You pulled the blindfold off your eyes and gleamed at Jaehyun, who was smiling just as brightly as you. You could hear the roar of the crowd cheering but it was like you were underwater, all you could see was Jaehyun.

"We did it," you whispered to him before you ran to the front to bow. And after a few minutes of everyone bowing and lots of applause the show was over. The chatter of people leaving, buying last snacks and souvenirs played in the background as Taeyoung walked over to meet you all backstage.

"Your officially a circus man now," he said to Jaehyun. "You guys were as good as I hoped, thank you so much all of you and especially you Addie." He knew what he had asked of you, he knew what a feat it was that you had all pulled it off.

You thanked him before walking out with Jaehyun into the night sky. There were less visible stars in the sky in this new location, the distant city lights prevented them from being seen.

"How do you feel?" You asked him.

"Exhilarated," he replied, "it's the second-best feeling I have ever felt."

You looked at him with curiosity.

"What's the first?"

"When I watch the stars with you at night," he said pointing up. It was your turn to have slightly pink cheeks. Jaehyun stopped walking and looked over at you. "I know you love Doyoung, but I just want to be honest, though I think you probably already caught on Dr Watson, I really like you. Like more than just as a friend or a trapeze partner. I don't expect anything from you, I just had to be honest."

He looked down at his shoes before looking back up at the sky again.

"Before I came here, I lived quite recklessly I suppose, the people I was around, we hung out constantly but they weren't real friends, deep down I always felt alone, I don't feel alone with you though, I feel happy." You stared at his face as he made his confession even if he couldn't look at you.

"So I know that you might not get over Doyoung or that if you do you may not like me but... I just had to tell you, I'm sorry,"

"Stop being sorry all the time." You smiled at him. You turned his face with your hand softly so his wandering gaze was forced to look at you.

"I do love Doyoung, but it has been two years, it's different now, I don't know how to explain it. I do know how to explain about you, however. When I kissed you, I haven't felt like that in forever, when I talk to you I feel calm, I never felt that with Doyoung, I loved him but our relationship was... unstable, we were unstable," You explained.

“I don’t think the kissing could have been your favourite part,” he joked.

As you talked Jaehyun's fingers lightly brushed your own until he linked them together lightly, playing with your fingers like a nervous habit.

"When you came here you didn't talk, I thought you were strange and rude. In reality, you are kinder to me than Doyoung ever was. I can't promise that I can like you back or love you because I honestly don't know, but I do know that I can imagine us together, and it's a really lovely dream."

Jaehyun stepped forward and pulled you into his chest grinning.

“Maybe we are like the stars, we can see each other, but it takes a while for the light we give each other to reach us... we just need to wait for our light.”

You didn’t know what to think, for a while you thought you only saw Jaehyun, at the end of the performance he was certainly all you had seen. But when Jaehyun said goodbye and walked back to his trailer, your mind wondered back to Doyoung. You didn’t want it too, you never had, but it did.

Jaehyun lit up your darkest nights, your star, beautiful and reassuring. Doyoung was destructive to everyone around him, a black hole, consuming the life of everything around him. Once one sucked into a black hole, one can never escape.

***********************************

Doyoung was early for afternoon practise, something you noticed when you saw him leaning against the outside of the tent, eating ice cream. It reminded you of how he had once been, carefree yet always on time.

You forced yourself to smile lightly at him.

“How are you,” you inquired in earnest. Doyoung shrugged,

“Better I suppose… you were really good yesterday, the audience loved it.” He commented, pushing himself up from the ground, “the cheers could be heard for miles.”

“We could only do it because you were there, thank you, for trying,” you replied. Doyoung took a few steps towards you, eyes fixed on yours.

“Maybe, but the cheers were for you nonetheless, you were always the star of the show.” He said, it sounded like it was meant to be a compliment but somehow you felt he intended it as an insult like he was sneering at you.

He moved towards you further, until his face was inches from yours. The rational, part of your brain told you to just walk away, but you were frozen, still trapped under his spell, still falling into his black hole.

To someone watching something enter a black hole, it happens instantaneously, to the person falling in, they continue to fall for eternity, the cursed nature of physics.

Doyoung chuckled sort of sadly, interrupting your thoughts.

“You’re afraid of me y/n,” he observed, “I guess that’s my own fault.” You managed to regain control of your thoughts.

“Yes Doyoung, it is.” You confirmed, before walking past him into the tent. You wanted to look back, to see what expression he had on his face, to see if he cared how much pain he had caused, was still causing. But you couldn’t, because chances are he would still have a blank expression. And you couldn’t have dealt with that. Jaehyun was waiting inside the tent, either he was even earlier than Doyoung, or he had come in another entrance.

“I saw you two talking, I thought best not interrupt,” Jaehyun said, answering your question before you had even said it aloud.

“Let’s just start,” you said, climbing up the rigging towards the top of the tent, “We need to practise the third sequence, it wasn’t quite perfect.” You asserted. It was also the only sequence that you didn’t have to perform with Doyoung in.

“You know that’s bs, we need to do the penultimate sequence,” said Doyoung, who had just walked up behind Jaehyun.

“He’s kinda right Addie,” Jaehyun added. You cursed Jaehyun’s honesty at that moment. The day wasn’t turning out how you planned, but you relented.

“Fine, we’ll do that one, democracy and all.” If Doyoung wanted to earn your forgiveness he was doing an awful job.

The first part of the sequences went fine. You and Jaehyun swung past each other, never quite reaching each other, just as planned. When it came to Doyoung though, something changed, you seemed to have a mental block, you almost never messed up but when you let go of one bar, aiming to grab onto Doyoung’s hand, you missed and fell.

The net caught you, no harm done physically, but you were shocked. You didn’t understand why you had messed up, you hadn’t messed up that particular move in years.

Both Doyoung and Jaehyun rushed down, concern evident on their faces.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun asked, helping you down from the net. You nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine, there’s a net for a reason.”

Doyoung shook his head,

“We need to check, Addie, can you try and follow my finger please,” he said moving his finger in a cross-motion, “Do you have a headache, do you feel sick,”

You chuckled slightly,

“I’m fine Doyoung really, I don’t have a concussion, there is no way I could have even hit my head anywhere.”

Doyoung ignored you and continued to check for any sign of injury, he moved your arm, asking if it hurt.

It started to dawn on you that Doyoung was checking more for his own peace of mind than yours. You getting injured was clearly still something that worried him a lot.

You put your hands on both sides of his face, forcing him to look at you.

“Calm down, it’s okay, I’m okay, you’re okay, it’s all fine,”

“I’m just gonna give you guys another minute, I need to talk to Haechan anyway,” Jaehyun said, backing away. You looked over Doyoung’s head and mouthed ‘thank you’ to Jaehyun before looking back down at Doyoung.

“Is this why?” you asked him, “Is this why you changed? Fear of people being hurt… I don’t get it, we always knew the dangers of our job, it never bothered you before,”

Doyoung didn’t answer for a while, you sat in silence, your hands still on his cheeks.

“Not really, I don’t think that’s exactly why, no.” He finally replied. You sighed, moving your hands away, running them through your hair.

“Why then, why can’t you even explain why just why?” Your brain wasn’t even fully coherent anymore, you couldn’t seem to get across to Doyoung how desperate you were for answers.

“Explaining won’t make it better, I know I’ve hurt you y/n, and I really am sorry.”

“Fuck you Doyoung. Sorry doesn’t change anything, all I want is for you to tell me why, sorry doesn’t count if you won’t even explain why you are sorry and why you treated me and every one like we didn’t exist for a whole year. You don’t just get to be sorry. You don’t get to kiss that new girl, give me no explanation and then try and tell me you’re sorry, because if you were sorry, you wouldn’t act like this.”

“I still love you y/n,” he said, but he couldn’t look you in the eye.

“At least say it like you mean it,” You chuckled sadly before walking away once again.

Everything had been pretty quiet at the circus throughout the weeks following. Your performance for the recorded show was perfect, even though you had barely talked to Doyoung since.

You felt lonely, you had spent less time with Jaehyun since that day too. Doyoung had started to mend his relationship with the boys much more effectively, he started sitting with everyone at dinner, laughing and chatting as if nothing had changed.

You were glad he was getting better, even if you weren’t fully sure why he had decided to make that choice. But you couldn’t help but resent him for how he treated his return so lightly, how expected you just to get over it, no questions asked.

But you didn’t ever call him out on it, you loved him too much to do anything that would put his recovery from the darkness at risk.

Jaehyun didn’t talk to Doyoung but he always hung out with Haechan, who was always with Doyoung, and as you were avoiding Doyoung, you didn’t spend much time with Jaehyun either. You figured he was giving you space to sort out… everything, which you appreciated but you couldn’t help but feel this loneliness.

*******************************************

It was after dinner one day you decided to just make peace with Doyoung, you decided it was better to have a happy friend than to force him to tell you something he didn’t want to, you figured he would tell you in time.

You actually hadn’t seen him, or Haechan at dinner that day so you ate quickly, wanting to tell him a soon as possible so you could get on with life, so things could return to normal.

When you got outside you saw Haechan talking to him by the costume trailer, they looked like they had been arguing, Doyoung looked angrier than you had seen him in a while. Haechan looked panicked.

You hurried over towards them.

“What’s going on?” You asked.

“You would act all innocent wouldn’t you,” Doyoung sneered. You felt like someone had just punched you. You couldn’t bear the thought that Doyoung was mad with you again. You looked at Haechan expectantly.

“I’m sorry Addie, I didn’t mean to tell him, Jaehyun didn’t even mean to tell me, it's just.” He stopped explaining. Realisation swept over you. Somehow Haechan had told Doyoung what had happened between you and Jaehyun. It was the only explanation, it was the only secret Jaehyun had.

“How can you be mad at me for that?” You protested, “You hadn’t spoken to me in a year, I broke up with you before I had sex with him, I can do what I want Doyoung, I’m an adult woman.”

“Can we talk inside?” Doyoung asked. You wanted to walk away, but you knew you needed to sort it out with him once and for all.

You grabbed his arm and dragged him inside his caravan, shutting the door firmly behind you.

“I thought you still loved me,” he said quietly. His voice sounded say but somehow you didn’t quite believe it.

“I did Doyoung, I loved you so much even after what you did but you ignored me, I cried for months about you, worrying about you. Jaehyun was nothing but kind to me, he’s a great person” you sighed, “I needed someone Doyoung, I needed someone to be there for me, and you weren’t.”

“I love you,” he said, “I need to know if you still love me too,”.

“You know I do, you know I never stopped loving you.” The words felt like a betrayal to Jaehyun, but they were not a lie.

Doyoung said nothing and then suddenly he was kissing you, you could feel how desperate his lips were, you could have pushed him away but you didn’t want to.

You moaned lightly as he began to kiss down your neck, his hands entangled in your hair. He wasn’t as careful as Doyoung, his actions were rougher, more impulsive, but as you both pulled your shirts over your heads and Doyoung kissed you again, pushing you back against his fridge, you didn’t mind.

Your hands travelled down his chest, continuing down until you could feel him through his tracksuit joggers, you carefully slid your hand into his underwear, soliciting a loud moan from Doyoung as you started to pump his length.

“Fuck y/n,” he said, “You don’t know how I have dreamed of feeling this again,” he said. You stopped your motion suddenly, removing your hand. You kissed his lips once, teasing, payback. “You could have always talked to me,” you reminded him.

“I was stupid,” he said, pushing your underwear and shorts down your legs, before tossing them across the room.

“Fuck your panties are wet,” he remarked, even you were surprised by how much your body seemed to want him, it seemed to agree with your fucked up heart. Before you had any more time to think, you felt Doyoung insert two fingers, he didn’t want to make you wait any longer. You tried to hold back your moan, but when Doyoung used his other hand to rub your clit, you couldn’t help it.

Doyoung grinned,

“I love it when you moan for me love,” he said, fucking you with his fingers the same strong pace. You felt dangerously close so when Doyoung brought his lips back to your neck, combined with all his actions, you felt your body move, walls clenching around his fingers as you called out his name,

“Ah, Doyoung.”

“You’re so pretty when you cum for me y/n”.

When you had regained composure slightly you reached your hand back down to Doyoung, pulling the waistband of his underwear down, his cock springing out, hard and pink.

When you ran your tongue lightly alongside his dick, Doyoung moaned quietly, you could already taste the salty pre-cum as you took him into your mouth. You lowered your head down until you could almost feel him hitting the back of your throat.

His grip on you tightened as you began to bob your head up and down, his eyes fixed on the sight of you. You held his hips in place with your hands to stop him rising up to meet you as you began to suck faster, hollowing your cheeks.

You were sure he was close when you stopped your actions entirely.

“You’ve been a bad boy,” you said to him with a smile, “you only get to cum if you fuck me properly,”

“My pleasure love,” Doyoung replied, ushering you to his bed before motioning for you to move onto all fours. He moved behind you, rubbing the tip of his cock against your wetness.

He pushed inside, groaning loudly, before quickly moving back out again, fucking you roughly from the start. His hands pressed into your hips as he thrust in and out relentlessly. It was a hot and quick affair that had you both undone in mere minutes as you clenched around his cock, reaching your high. Doyoung pulled out, you lent back down, sucking him again until he came in your mouth, his warm load, spurting down your throat as you swallowed.

“You’re amazing,” Doyoung said, as you lay down next to him. But you didn’t feel right. While you had enjoyed your experience with Doyoung you realised it wasn’t the same anymore. All you could think about, the second you had stopped was Jaehyun. How you wished you had spent the night with him instead. And thoughts like that weren’t fair to anyone.

Your love with Doyoung had been passionate, explosive, but unstable. As much as you were still attracted to Doyoung, as much as you still cared for him, he wasn’t what you needed any more.

You sat up straight. A split second descion.

“I can’t do this Doyoung,” you said. You had expected him to look angry like before, but he didn’t, “As much as I love you, you don’t make me happy anymore.”

“Jaehyun does,” Doyoung finished for you, even though they were words you were not going to say.

“At least we went out with a bang, pun unintended.” Doyoung joked. But he was right, Doyoung was no longer a black hole pulling you in, he was a supernova, your love had exploded as it died.

You didn’t say anything else to each other as you picked up your clothes and put them back on. You checked your phone, it was 12:30 am.

“Bye Doyoung,” you said, before closing the door to his caravan quietly, trying not to wake anyone up as you walked the short distance back to your caravan.

When you got back to your caravan you swore quietly when you saw Jaehyun sitting on the step outside.

When he saw you got up immediately,

“Haechan told me what happened I wanted to make sure you were…” his voice cut off when he saw you closer through the darkness.

Your heart almost broke when you saw his forlorn expression. The state of your makeup and that fact that you only had one sock on, were clearly good indicators of what you had been doing.

“I’m sorry,” you said. Jaehyun shook his head.

“Don’t be sorry, I knew you still loved him.” He said, “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

“What if I want to?” you asked.

“I came to see if you were alright Addie, and you are, and I’m happy that things worked out for you, I really am. However, I don’t really want to hear the tale of how or why you fucked Doyoung,” He said.

“I love you too,” You said to him, a tear falling down your face. You could see how conflicted Jaehyun was, Even though he was hurt, he still didn’t want to see you upset. He was too good for you really.

“I said before I would work until you loved me, that is still true Addie, but I also need to wait, I need to wait until you love me more than him, or I will just be setting up my heart to get hurt.” You could almost hear a slight waver in his voice.

He stepped closer to you and kissed your head carefully.

“I can’t put my whole heart towards someone when I don’t even know their name,” he said sadly, “Goodnight Addie.”

He walked off back to his caravan, his figure blending into the darkness. There were no stars lighting up the sky that night and neither the smell of sex or tears comforted you, Jaehyun or Doyoung as you fell asleep.

***************************************

You didn’t have time to wallow the next day, which was probably a good thing. That was something great about the circus, it didn’t give you the time to be sad or down, you just had to keep going for the sake of the team. There was something about hanging from a metal pole twenty feet in the air that just took all the bad thoughts away.

Haechan had proposed a new comedy act the other day. The only comment from the sponsor company had been that the clown act seemed outdated. Haechan had spent all night working out how to make it more interesting. Somehow his more interesting version just seemed to be a version that included more work for everyone else.

He wanted some of the acrobatic people such as you to take part in order to create some slapstick falls.

He had set you up in an exercise where Haechan the clown was trying to get you to go on a date, but you kept falling running away from him. You were meant to be chasing after the good looking Jaehyun instead, which was rather awkward given the situation.

Jaehyun kept trying to avoid any form of eye contact with you, which you understood, it just made working together kind of hard.

You pulled Haechan to the side.

“Is there no way I can work with someone else for this?” you asked him. Haechan looked down at his list, confused as to why you didn’t want to work with Jaehyun.

“Well there’s Doyoung, but I figured you would rather work with Jae,” he said. Between a rock and a hard place you thought, but not really, because working with Doyoung would have definitely been worse.

“Forget it,” you said, walking back to Jaehyun. You had to focus, you only had a day to learn your final part of this before the cameras came to refilm. You decided to practise the part where you fell three times because that didn’t involve Jaehyun.

You continuously flipped yourself into the mat, stood up, fell onto your knees and flipped into the mat again. By the end of the two hours, your knees were bright red and you could tell your arm was going to bruise horribly.

You saw Jaehyun watching you, clearly aware of what you were doing, but you didn’t go over to him. You had no idea what to say to him. He had been right, you needed to work things out in your head properly, unfortunately, your continued action of throwing yourself into the circus floor had not solved your issues.

Jaehyun’s mind had also clearly remained unchanged as he made no effort to speak to you either. He tried unsuccessfully to mask the fact he was staring at you by talking to Johnny, but the fact he was still actively staring at you, not looking at Johnny, sort of gave it away.

When you talked to Johnny at dinner he confirmed as much,

“You need to talk to Jaehyun,” he said, “I have no idea what’s going on between you two but he has been weird all of today.”

“Oh really?” you replied, hoping your acting was slightly better than Jaehyun’s.

“You were staring at him too, even if you were throwing yourself into the ground at the same time,” Johnny replied.

“I’ve been exposed,” you laughed.

Comedy acts didn’t take much time to put together, they mostly rested on Haechan and he had always been a comedy genius so after only four days of practising the piece was ready for the show.

The sponsor company had come to refilm the show, complete with the new act. You had just moved to a busier part of the city you were in, the company thought a bigger crowd would also make for a better video.

What wouldn’t make for a better video was your own trapeze act. You had not spoken to Jaehyun or Doyoung in those four days, nor had any of you practised together. Haechan had made it abundantly clear that he thought ‘one of you is going to die.’

While that was certainly a slight bit dramatic, he was right in the sense that the act could easily go wrong.

The comedy act was okay, you and Jaehyun managed to act well together despite the circumstances, even if you couldn’t look him in the eye. Unfortunately, all of the self-throwing must have damaged your ankle, as when you made your last final fall you felt it twist, hard.

You winced, visible to Jaehyun right next to you, but luckily not the crowd a few metres back. Jaehyun grabbed your arms and carefully dragged you away, pretending to chuckle as if he had finally won as if it was a part of the act.

The second you were out of view he leant down, picking you up, before moving you away to where you could both speak away from the stage.

“What happened?” he asked, the concern evident on his face, the anger he had towards you momentarily forgotten.

“I was never one for comedy,” you joked, knowing the irony of it. Jaehyun got up for a second and came back moments later with a small green medical kit that had been hanging on the wall a few meters away.

He opened it, rustling around, before finding the ice pack he had been looking for. There was thankfully many a spare costume lying around which Jaehyun wrapped round the icepack before placing it on your foot.

“We are fucked.” He said. You looked down him confused.

“Why?”

“Well… we are the most important act, and with a foot that swollen, you cannot perform, we have to grab you by the leg, you have to jump, you have to hang – you will do permanent damage.” He explained.

“I was permanently damaged a long time ago,” you smirked, “And a small injury will not stop me performing, worry not Jaehyun.”

“Surely you can’t be allowed to, there must be rules regulations?” he asked.

“This is an underfunded circus, not Cirque de Soleil, not the Olympics, nobodies checking if we follow said regulations. The circus needs this video, after that, we get the money we need, that is more important than my bloody foot injury, there is always another performer Jaehyun, you proved that. However, there is not another tonight.”

Jaehyun shook his head,

“Why do you pick yourself to be the one thing you don’t care about, don’t look after,” he asked, the sadness in his eyes was almost unbearable to see. So you stopped looking at him.

You stared at the distant lights of the circus ring instead.

“The circus is me, I am the circus. I am nothing without it.”

“That’s not true, you are…” He stopped.

“I am Addie, the trapeze Juliet, and no one else and for Adeline, the show must always go on.” You said, grabbing some bandages out of the box Jaehyun had found and standing up, feeling the shooting pain it caused in your foot and ignoring it.

“Just because you won’t tell me your name doesn’t mean you don’t have one,” Jaehyun called after you when you walked away.

“Maybe I’ll break a leg,” You replied, “literally.”

You stopped outside the tent where there was a bench for getting changed, surrounded by a curtain of sorts. You sat down on the bench, sighing as you felt the pain in your leg once again.

Jaehyun hadn’t been wrong, performing with this sort of injury ran the high risk of permanent injury. It also had the chance of having no issues at all, it could all be fine in three or so hours. Without your performance, the circus had a one hundred per cent chance of shutting down – to you it wasn’t even a contest.

You wrapped the bandages tightly around your foot, you knew about first aid, you knew how best to support it. You fixed it in place with some sports tape lying on the ground before getting your costume out that you had left, in order to get changed for the trapeze performance.

You were just about to open the curtain when you heard to voices arguing outside.

“We can’t let her just like… break her leg!” you heard someone protest, realising it was Jaehyun.

“I have two things to say,” You heard, to your own surprise, Doyoung reply, “Firstly, she is a grown woman she can do what she wants, even if you disagree. Second I don’t even object, people perform slightly injured all the time around here.”

“Am I the only one who cares enough about her to not want her to get injured. I get the circus has really helped you all, it helped me, but people are more important than this fucking circus.” Jaehyun replied angrily.

Doyoung said nothing.

You exhaled before throwing the curtain open and walking over, the pain in your leg already fading.

“Just chill Jaehyun,” you said, as you got closer, only leaning to one side slightly as you made your way over. “It already hurts less, it will really be fine.”

Jaehyun unfolded his arms, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked up at the sky above.

“I just really don’t want to see you get hurt,” Jaehyun said.

You breathed in sharply. Fuck it, you thought as you stepped forward, wrapping your arms around Jaehyun’s shoulders.

“I know you’re mad at me,” you said. His body has frozen, one arm by his side, one in the air, totally still, “but I don’t want you to worry, if I thought I was really at risk I wouldn’t do that.”

You didn’t really know why you were hugging him, or what you thought that would achieve. Reassurance maybe?

Jaehyun’s body finally caught up with his brain when he moved, pushing your arms away and stepping back. He didn’t say anything before walking back into the tent. You knew he was still annoyed, why wouldn’t he be. Just because he cared about you didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt.

You refocused. The performance started in ten minutes. You started stretching and warming up. Doyoung was still standing a few metres away.

“I think he’s mad at you,” he joked, “I wonder why, it can’t just be the foot thing.”

You gave him a sharp look.

“Take a fucking guess Doyoung.” You said, eyes looking dead at him.

“Ah because you sort of still love me but also don’t,” he said, the joking look gone from his face.

“It doesn’t matter I don’t think you or me is in the mental place to be finding new relationships anyway,” you asserted. Doyoung shrugged.

“Performance time, Adeline,” Taeyong cut in, walking past you both. You looked away from Doyoung, picked up your stuff and walked back into the tent.

The crowd was clapping and cheering, you could hear the laughter even from outside. Haechan had become funnier on all accounts seemingly.

Standing in the wing, waiting to go on you could see Jaehyun’s eyes glistening in the lights on the other side of the tent. Doyoung walked up next to him, both of them standing side by side.

They both looked ethereal in their costumes, they were dressed like angels so it made sense. But Jaehyun… maybe because he was wearing white, but you didn’t think that was it… Jaehyun shone. He was like the brightest star in the sky.

The music started and you ran, the pain in your foot faded into the background. You lifted into the air on the trapeze and you flew. And Jaehyun caught you. And Doyoung caught you. And the crowd clapped when it was over.

Taeyong walked into the ring, he thanked everyone for coming, he thanked the sponsor. But you barely heard a word. You were still looking at Jaehyun. His once sad face looked exhilarated after performing, he had become a real circus star.

Taeyong had put on a party to thank everyone for the hard work they put in. You were on an adrenaline high, confused and sad. Something you used as an excuse to get blackout drunk.

Johnny looked alarmed as you downed another shot.

“Whoah there, you good?” he asked.

“Absolutely not!” you slurred back. Johnny laughed.

“Fair enough.”

You stumbled around a bit, talking to people here and there, none of them Jaehyun. You were annoyed that your antics hadn’t gained his attention yet. You knew it was selfish, that he had every right to what to keep his distance.

You wanted to be near him though, without him you felt like your life wasn’t quite what it needed to be, you needed your guiding star.

Instead, you saw Doyoung making out with a random girl. You felt a severe rage build inside of you. It could have been the alcohol or the fact that Doyoung seemed to be able to move on, in less than a week.

“Dickhead!” you screamed in his general direction before you could stumble closer. The girl quickly made an exit, she clearly wasn’t the kind of person who wanted to get in the middle of somebody else’s issue.

“How can you be mad?” Doyoung asked. “You broke it off with me!”

You stopped about two feet in front of him, bringing your arm up and poking him in the chest.

“I waited a year, a year, to move on from you, you take a week, is this a joke?” you shouted, infuriated.

“You’re drunk,” Doyoung said, trying to brush you off.

“I may be drunk, but I can still process thoughts, I am mad, alcohol or not,” you clarified.

“I just don’t think it’s a big deal,” Doyoung said, “You can go kiss Jaehyun, I don’t care.”

“Did you even still like me?” You asked, “When we had sex, you said you still loved me, but if you got over me this fast, I just don’t believe that can be true.”

“I said what I thought you wanted me to say,” he replied. That was it for you, you couldn’t forgive him saying that. It was like something in you just broke. All the time you spent, all the time you wasted. You ruined your relationship with Jaehyun just for someone who didn’t even love you.

You weren’t in love with him anymore, but you still loved Doyoung, Doyoung never seemed to care about you though. That was the person you had caused Jaehyun pain for. You broke inside, you were drunk and angry.

You took the bottle of vodka you were holding in your hand and smashed it straight over Doyoung’s head, causing him to fall to the ground, blood leaking from his forehead. You screamed, not believing what you had just done.

“Help!” You screamed, pulling your jumper over your head and pressing it against Doyoung’s forehead where it was bleeding.

Johnny and Jaehyun ran over.

“What happened Addie?” Johnny asked, but you couldn’t answer, you had begun to bawl uncontrollably.

“Ambulance,” was all you could say, “call an ambulance.”

Jaehyun pulled out his phone and dialled for the emergency services.

Johnny took over holding the jumper against Doyoung’s head. By now Haechan and Taeyong were both there, Haechan was trying to get people to move back to give Doyoung and Johnny more space.

You were crouching beside them both now silent as tears streamed down your face, in shock. You couldn’t believe what you had done, you wanted to hurt him… but you didn’t want to hurt him.

Jaehyun got off the phone.

“They said ten minutes. Try and keep him awake.” He said. Johnny nodded.

“Doyoung? Can you hear me?” he asked, “what happened?”

Doyoung was half asleep when he replied,

“Addie hit me, not her fault…”

Johnny turned around and looked at you.

“What the fuck did you do?” he asked which only caused you to start to cry harder. All the shit you had been dealing with for over a year, you were dealing with it now, in one explosion of emotion.

“Jaehyun, can you just,” Johnny said pointing to where you were panic-crying. Jaehyun nodded, he leant down and picked you up,

“It’s okay,” he said to you, trying to calm you as he carried you away. You couldn’t stop the tears from falling continuously, so Jaehyun carried you the whole way back to your caravan, a two-minute walk away from the scene with Doyoung.

“I did something terrible,” you whispered when he set you down on your sofa. Jaehyun didn’t say anything in reply. He just reached over and undid your laces, pulling your trainers off, before walking over to your kettle and turning it on, pulling out two tea bags.

As the kettle boiled he found a blanket in your cupboard and wrapped it around your shoulders.

“What happened?” he asked quietly, as he sat down, pushing your tea towards you, before taking a sip of his own.

You wiped your eyes on the blanket.

“I hit him over the head with a vodka bottle.”

“Why?” Jaehyun asked, knowing you wouldn’t have done anything for no reason.

“He said that the day we … you know… that he only said he loved me because that’s what I wanted to hear. He was making out with a girl you see and it just made me angry. I wasted a year of my life waiting for him… he moved on in three days. He didn’t even love me that day, yet I hurt you, who did love me.” You explained.

“I guess it was just all the anger I ever felt towards him came out, it was stupid,” you admitted, a tear falling into your tea.

“You’re not stupid for feeling how you feel,” Jaehyun said.

“I did something really bad.”

“Doesn’t make you a bad person, you taught me that,”

“Using my own words against me,” you managed to chuckle, “Do you think he will be okay?”

Jaehyun nodded.

“Johnny texted me, he’s in the ambulance with Doyoung, he’s going to survive at least.”

“That’s not the best outcome,” you said, tears falling down your face again.

“It’s also not the worst outcome,” Jaehyun reassured you.

“Yes. Thank God I’m not a murderer.”

Jaehyun didn’t know what to reply to that. You both sat in silence for a while just drinking your cups of tea.

“He kind of deserved it overall,” Jaehyun joked, trying to make you feel better, “You’re even now, both of you have severely injured the other.” Except Doyoung hadn’t dropped you intentionally. Jaehyun watched you sadly, he didn’t ask any more questions, he just sipped his tea and waited for you to talk, he knew you wanted to say something, he was just waiting for you to say it.

You both got a text from Johnny: DY fine. He has an internal head injury but Dr says it will heal on its own within a few weeks. He doesn’t need surgery. He can’t perform trapeze anytime soon though.

“I destroyed the circus I worked so hard to save,”

“There are always other performers,” Jaehyun argued, again using your own words against you.

“I guess I just tried so hard to be something better at the circus, but Adeline clearly isn’t any better than the old me.” You confessed, “She got into the wrong relationship, resorted to violence and anger just like the old me did. Adeline isn’t any better than me.”

Jaehyun placed his cup down on the table and stared at you, dead in the eye.

“You’re the same person, you are not some character, you are not actually a star crossed lover thwarted by the devil. Not telling people your name, doesn’t make you not you.” Jaehyun said, “You are just you, good and bad, you’re a beautiful and talented person. Today you made a mistake but then we all make mistakes. You are a person, not a flawless character.”

You thought about what he was saying. Maybe he was right. Maybe part of your problem was that you were trying to distance yourself for your past, you couldn’t learn, you couldn’t grow because you never even accepted your past.

You reached your hand out across the table for Jaehyun to shake,

“Nice to meet you Jaehyun,” you said, he looked confused for a second before you continued, “I’m y/n.”

He was surprised, he took a few seconds to understand what you had just said, murmuring your name under his breath, before he could properly reply you continued.

“I am y/n and I joined the circus when I was 19. I joined the circus because when I was 18 I had this deadbeat boyfriend, though I didn’t realise it at the time. I had been dating him for just over and he treated me like I meant nothing. It wasn’t that he physically hurt me or anything but he was emotionally abusive. He controlled every aspect of my life, made me feel like I meant nothing.

One night we went to watch the circus, it was one of the nights I remember him be actually nice to me. He bought me popcorn and we saw the acrobats twirl and we laughed at the clowns.

I saw the smile on the Ringmaster’s face, I saw his pride in his show. I looked at my life at that moment and realised there was nothing I was proud of. All I had was a boyfriend that mistreated me. He was all I had and I couldn’t even be proud of him.

That night I managed to get him to let me go to the toilet without him waiting outside for me. I didn’t go to the toilet though. I went to the back of the tent and found the Ringmaster where he had just finished his show. I asked him if I could join the circus.”

Jaehyun looked like he was about to cry but got you to continue,

“What did he say?”

“Well seeing as we are here right now he said yes. But more specifically he asked me why I wanted to join the circus. I said I wanted to do something I could be proud of. I explained that I was hiding from my boyfriend also, but that was only part of my problem. So he said yes, Taeyong said yes.”

Jaehyun got up from where he was sitting across from you and moved to sit down next to you pulling you into a hug.

“And you said you hadn’t got better y/n, you must be kidding.” He said, “Look at everything you have to be proud of now, you are a talented performer, you have so many great friends, who respect you so much, your trapeze act saved a circus.”

You shook your head, leaning into his arms.

“I also have temperament issues and assaulted a man, a man who was my boyfriend who still didn’t ever really respect me.”

Jaehyun brushed his hand through your hair, looking up at the stars through your skylight.

“You are negative marking yourself – you are taking away points for the bad things, instead of adding points for the many more good things. Even back then Addie… I mean y/n you said you had nothing to be proud of, yet you were brave enough to pull yourself out of an abusive relationship. That was something to be proud of.”

“You are too kind,” you said to him, looking into his brown eyes. Yet he was so sincere you couldn’t help but believe his words.

“That is your fault, if you really have one, is not believing enough in you. You found the good in me, once you even found it in Doyoung, now just recognise it in you.”

He kissed your forehead.

“You always talk about how I am your star and Doyoung was a black hole, but you don’t realise y/n – that it is you, you’re the star of the show. You’re certainly the star of my show.”

You leant up the last few inches and kissed Jaehyun on the lips, just for a second. The most innocent of kisses but to both of you, it was more powerful than anything.

“That’s the final thing I am proud of,” you said, “the one thing you missed on your list.” You explained.

Jaehyun looked confused,

“What, but I said that you were a great performer.”

You cut him off.

“No, I meant loving you. I am proud to say I love you Jaehyun because I finally love someone who is really worth loving, who loves me just as much if I can be bold enough to say it and someone who respects me. You really are my north star, a light to guide me home.”

“We talk about stars a lot,” Jaehyun joked as you settled your head back into his shoulder.

“Because that’s what we are,” you joked back, “as you said – the stars of the show.”

#nct #nct scenarios #jaehyun #nct jaehyun #nct doyoung #jaehyun smut #doyoung smut #doyoung #kim doyoung #jaehyun scenarios #nct smut #doyoung scenarios #nct imagines #nct 127 #jung jaehyun

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mercurypilgrim · 4 years

Text

Tagged by: @chaoticspacelesbians (thank you!) Now, I have a dilemma. Do I do Ven like usual, or should I give one of my other OCs some love?

...

Screw it, Ven likes the attention anyway!

GENERAL name : Ven’fir Quinn (formerly Polaris) alias(es) : Lord Polaris, Emperor’s Wrath, Wrath of the Empire, Darth Venator, Alliance Commander, That One Really Annoying Sith Holy Kriff How Can One Sith Be So Annoying He Doesn’t Stop Talking gender : Male age : 31 (as of KoTET) place of birth : Coruscant spoken languages : Sith, High Sith (not fluent), Huttese (not fluent) sexual orientation : Pansexual occupation : Sith Noble Scion → Sith Lord → Emperor’s Wrath → The Outlander → Commander of the Alliance

While in the game he chooses the DS option of claiming the throne, in For The Sky he refuses the throne but still believes someone should take it to stop a power vacuum. Nox ascends to the Eternal Throne in his place, and Ven’fir returns to commanding the Alliance, having never wanted to be Emperor at all.

APPEARANCE eye colour : Amber, ringed with orange hair colour : Black height : 6′1″/186 cm scars : On his face, he has a scar that runs from his forehead over his nose and onto his cheek, inflicted by his adoptive Sith mother when she found out that he had gone and had Mirialan tattoos done on his face. She aimed to ruin them as punishment.

On his body he has more, but the main ones are the scar from Arcann’s lightsaber and where he had his arm amputated on Quesh.

burns : One or two, but nothing significant. overweight : No. He’s extremely concerned with keeping himself in shape, and spends more time than he probably should in the gym. underweight : No.

FAVOURITE colour : Yellow. He loves bright things, and yellow appeals to him. He has a soft spot for blue. music genre : He has an eclectic music taste which usually veered towards hard rock and metal. However, he also likes swing, blues and classical Sith opera. movie genre : Warm Hearts, Cold Space. All of them. Anything with a feel-good plot makes him go all gooey inside, but he’ll watch almost anything. He likes watching terrible movies with Vette and Malavai, and mocking the awful plot and ropy acting. tv show : The Great Imperial Bake Off. He’s trying not to be such a calamity in the kitchen, and he likes eating his creations. food : Oro nuggets. He would live off oro nuggets and protein shakes if he could, but Malavai won’t let him. He also likes Salted Algae Pufffs™ (and can polish off an entire family sized back in one sitting) drink : Tea. He particularly likes traditional Kaasian blends like Fyi’am and Baron Ghul, but he’ll try almost anything. Of the alcoholic variety, he likes cocktails. The sweeter and fruitier, the better. book : The Warm Hearts, Cold Space books. And the comics. And the fanfiction.

HAVE THEY passed university : Yes (barely...) had sex : Yes (he’s a whore, sir) had sex in public : Yes gotten pregnant : No kissed a boy : Yes kissed a girl : Yes gotten tattoos : Yes (and a lot of them!) had a broken heart : Yes been in love : Yes stayed up for longer than 24 hours : Yes

ARE THEY a virgin : No a cuddler : He’s a cuddle monster. He’s extremely tactile and if you’re a friend then you had better get used to a lot of hugs and cuddles. a kisser : Yes. He likes all kinds of kisses, from steamy ones to forehead kisses to sleepy kisses when your lover is getting up for work. scared easily : No, but that’s not to say he doesn’t get scared. jealous easily : No. He’s quite laid back, but wouldn’t be happy at purposeful jealousy-baiting. trustworthy : Yes. Mostly because he’s a terrible liar, and by now doesn’t even bother to try. dominant : Yes. He prefers being in charge, but does enjoy switching when he’s in the mood. submissive : On occasion, when he’s in the mood. There’s a difference between play and true submission in his mind, and that’s only for those he trusts. in love : Yes single : No

RANDOM QUESTIONS have they harmed themselves : Not purposefully, but he’s definitely injure himself by accident. He fell off a rock when he was twelve and broke his wrist, and he burned his ear during academy lightsaber training. thought of suicide : Not seriously. After Ziost he was in an awful place and he wanted to not exist for a while, but he never actively thought about suicide. attempted suicide : No. wanted to kill someone : Hoo boy. Yes. It’s a whole list, but the highlights are: Baras, Draagh, Revan (for being so fucking stupid), Cipher Nine (for what he did to Malavai in FTS), Vitiate (never has Ven hated anyone as much as he hated Vitiate). rode a horse : The SW equivalent, yes. have / had a job : ... does ‘being a Sith’ count? If it doesn’t then no. Ven was a noble and a spoiled one at that. Not unless we could those two weeks he spent as a stripper on Nar Shadaa because he and some friends snuck out, got plastered, ended up on stage and the owners thought he was so good they offered him a job, oblivious to the fact he was Sith. Amused and still fairly drunk, he worked there for two weeks before getting bored and informing them he was off back to Korriban now. They were horrified at finding out he was Sith, but the legend of the Sith Stripper lives on in the Lace Sarlacc on Nar Shadaa. have any fears : Many. His main fear is being alone, which stems from his mother getting bored of him when he was young and him being left in the care of nannies and nurses who were more scared of him and his family than caring. He has nightmares sometimes about waking up to find everyone gone, and has more than once panicked at the memory of being alone in Arcann’s carbonite prison.

He fears losing the people he loves, leading to being alone.

He thought had had lost them after the Zakuul invasion, and only Lana managed to keep him sane.

He fears losing his home, the Empire. No matter what faults it has or the times he’s had to sacrifice to save it, it will always be his home. He’s frightened of the Republic winning the war and purging every last piece of Imperial culture and history.

FAMILY sibling(s) : None. parents : Unkown Jedi. He was born to a two Jedi who gave him up to an orphanage so they could stay in the Order. He was stolen and smuggled out when it became obvious he was Force Sensitive, and was promptly snapped up by Lady Polaris, who couldn’t have children of her own. Amused by her new toy at first, she quickly grew bored of the novelty of a Jedi child, and left him to be raised by nannies and nurses as he tried desperately to get attention. children : Eventually, he will have two children with Malavai. A son named Raican, and a younger girl named Aviah. He spoils them rotten, much to Malavai’s dismay. pets : A Vorn tiger called Siqa. She was a rescue and and he brought her home as a cub, terrifying his nannies. She sleeps on the bed even though she isn’t supposed to, because no one is brave enough to tell her to get down. I shall tag... anyone who wants to give this a go! :)

#SWTOR #OCs #Ven'fir #For The Sky

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aw-eather · 4 years

Text

Heather Watches SG1: s2ep22 Out of Mind and s3ep01 Into the Fire

Ah two of my all time favourites. Maybe even THE favourites. They’re just SO good. Also my shipper heart cannot take it but we love torturing ourselves here so lets go.

I’m gonna try and do enough that y’all get at least one post a day and scheduel them to go up periodically :)

This go very long so I hope it posts properly.

Ooooh mysterious tank

I mean honestly this was suspicious from the get go

Don’t trust this guy

JACK

YOU’RE ALL WET JACK

Is he?

Are they dead tho? Are you sure? Cause that sounds fake...

You see, the year is now.............. 2077

CREDITS

Teal’c looks all big and scary but really he’s a precious boy

End credits

TERYL ROTHERY

honestly that device looks very Star Trek

Missed opportunity to make a 69 joke

Girl he has been asleep for 79 years he probably remembers shit all

Good boy, answer nothing. Don‘t trust the random men that woke you up

thats not sarcasm, I don’t trust them either

“the rest of the facility” riiiiiight

Wizard of Oz reference

38 teams is a lot of teams

MMMMMMMM sounds FAKE

DON’T TRUST HIM JACK

General whats his face just dropped something on the ground

STARGATE

Jack is handsome

Me: I’m gay

Jack O’Neill: Yeah sure ya bethcha

Are ya just? What makes ya think Jack can help? he’s been asleep for 79 years

Tok’ra mind probe

Benefical alliance my ass, what did they ever really do for the Tau’ri??

Except promise to send a ship when they “had one available”

So thinking of Sam right now would be BAD Jack.

NOX

I LOVE THE NOX

WHAT CUTIES

look at them, they’re so sweet

Jack stop thinking and showing them shit

Could be a great weapon but the Nox are peaceful and beautiful and I love them

LITTLE GREY ALIENS WITH THE LITTLE GREY BUTTS

Thats a big ship

This is the only “look at all the shit we’ve managed to do so far” episode that is actually any good

Why don’t we meet the Furlings?

I wanna meet them

They sound fluffy

I love the baby asgards look at ‘em so cuuuuute

Kathrine! You’re great girly

“Touch it” *Jack touches it without knowing what it does, could die*

Jack waving his gun to touch the molecules seems like a bad idea

Yeah let him rest stop bullying him

purple goop

stop the pruple goop Jack

purple goop is never a good thing

Oh look... ANOTHER tank

DANNY BOY

Please cover your nipples

I don’t wanna see your man nipples

A third tank... funny that

SSSSAAAAAAMMMMMM

Funny how none of them are ACTUALLY dead

LIES WE’VE JUST SEEM THEM

Get these people some clothes

leaving her wrapped in a blanket is rude

Blanket looks like a mat tbh

BRATAC

SKARRA

Daniels hair is so bad in this episode I’m not sorry its HORRIBLE

He has a SHIELD Jack

FUCK YEAH JACK THROW THAT KNIFE YAS

HATHOR

I love Hathor hosts

She’s great honestly

Sam and janet and the girls kicking ass is the best

RIP Hathor

No seriously Daniel’s hair is BAD

Teal’c

JANET

ah yes, unusual

Teal’c is so passionate and caring about his friends I love him so much

THREE FUCKING WEEKS?!?!?!?!

janet is such an angel you can’t convince me otherwise

Are they tho?

Yeah he would but Teal’c with do anything for his F A M I L Y

Well he will leave

Aw Teal’c I love you with my entire heart

That zoom in on the patch is nice

YES JACK STOP THE GOOP

Nice kick!

BYE TEAL’C I LOVE YOU

AWW THIS EXCHANGE IS SO NICE

AW THE SALUTE BABE NO THAT HURTS MY HEART ITS SO SWEET

#SorryNotSorry but Jack looks so fucking good in this outfit

Like... he looks sooooo good

God I am questioning my sexuality left right and centre today

But seriously can he dress like that more often?

Go get ya girl, Jack!

Oh look... not the SGC

WHO WOULD HAVE EVER GUESSED

Serpant and Horus guards! :O

STOP THINKING BABE

THEY GONNA FIND YOOOOOU

SAAAAAAAAAM

BEAT THIS GUYS ASS AND SAVE. YOUR. GIRL

O U C H THAT WOULD FUCKING HURT

SHOULDER TOUCHING

SHOULDER RUBBING

SHOULDER TOUCHING

SHE IS TOUCHING HIM

I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD FOLLOWED BY A MEMORY OF HIM NEARLY DYING

SHE’S STILL HOLDING HIS SHOULDER

STARING AT HER NAKED BACK

TRYING NOT TO STARE AT HER NAKED BACK

HE IS SO IN TROUBLE

HE FANCIES HER SO MUCH

I MEAN SAME

she also looks good but like he looks better???

GRABBING

WALL HOLDING

HANDS TOUCHING SHOULDERS

PINKY CURLED IN SO HE DOESN’T TOUCH BARE SKIN

COULD HAVE MOVED BUT ISN’T MOVING

THEY WANNA HOLD EACH OTHER

DEAR GOD

sorry I’ll stop with the caps

I just physically cannot with those two

i love them so much

and i hate how they were treatd

Hathor you idiot,

SUANNE

LOL Jack

Servants in the royal court? Yeah sounds great

Rude Jack

lol the pat on the shoulder Jack you dick

uuuuuuhhhhh didn’t notice before how HOT IT IS WHEN HATHOR RUNS THE IDC REMOTE UNDER SAMS CHIN AND THE LOOK SAM GIVES HER I-

ACK SNAKE

I hate them the same way Jack does tbh

they make me squirm

Give it to Daniel. Why is Daniel the only one that never has a snake in him... wait...

sorry but I just wanna talk with the national captions institute...

Alright! On to Into the Fire!

DAVIS

MAJOR DAVIS I LOVE YOU

MY FAVOURITE

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH EVEN IF THINGS DO FALL TO SHIT WHENEVER YOU’RE THERE

Dramatic zooooom on Hathors name for E M P H A S I S

CREDITS

I love how Hammond is like EVERYONE is saving SG1

How DARE you, Daivs. They are THE team, rude!

I love that everyone steps forward because everyone loves SG1 but also everyone knows you don’t leave anyone else behind.

I love Hammond

MARTIN WOOD :O

He is a great director

Ew snake

Jack still looks fucking good

Jack now is not the time for sass

Give it to Daniel. No one cares

Sam is like “I’m not scared bitch bring it”

Of course it wants Jack

Poor Jack

Why is it always him??

You tried, buddy

Sam’s hand on his CHEST PLEASE JUST GET MARRIED

TEAL’C

BRATAC

Sam literally hates watching Jack in any pain

Poor Jack

Hathor fuck off

What exactly was the point of ripping his shirt? It makes no difference to the snake going in the back of HIS HEAD

oh gross

i hate it

I hate it so much

ugh the chills I currently have

Suanne Baun is super pretty though

YAS TOK’RA LADY

WE RESPECT AND LOVE YOU

Another Wizard of Oz reference

Sorry Daniel looks so bad

its the hair honestly, the little dorky fringe

Sam’s hair, on the other hand *chefs kiss*

Yeah but he’ll be fine, Tok’ra lady saved the day <3

YAS GIRL

NOOO Poor Tok’ra lady

Sorry fam, I forgot her name lol

Sam pulling that jacket on, Sam in a jacket thats a little too big for her , Sam in a white shirt.. Sam

Yeah they are Teal’c.

Dead and false and dead... or is he???

Hand dance

Energy barrier is in the way, boys continue to shoot

oh no shooting towers of death are never a good sign

And of course Daniel got hurt so we have to baby him for the rest of the fucking episode jfc just sit him down somewhere and Sam and the rest of the teams can do the hard work... again

Cool Tok’ra tunnels are Cool

Lol Daniel being sassy (oh its just a deep, bleeding gash, it’ll be fine) lol sorry he is funny when he’s sassy

I’m sick of your army already, Hathor

OOOOH a barrier

Hammond is awaiting

Why do they give them such short time periods to do shit? Like they know things go wrong literally ALL THE TIME

Like “hi you have 24 hours to go into a SECURE, GOA’ULD FACILITY, RETRIEVE THREE SG MEMBERS AND GET OUT. PIECE.OF.CAKE”

6 hours is a long time to sit on your hands and do nothing tho. Ah well might as well go and save the boyfriend

The president can suck a rotten potatoe

Davis, you can’t really argue with him, he outranks you about 4 times

Sam’s sleeves are too long and baggy and its SO CUTE

GO SAM

SAVE THE DAY

BUT SAVE YOUR BOYFRIEND FIRST

Hammond visiting Chulak

because he’s an angel baby

and the best dad ever to his four kids; Major Dr Science Space Baby, Sassy Grumpy Fruit Loop and Sam Carter Loving Space Baby, Warrior Gentle Giant Space Baby and Annoying, Doesn’t know shit, Archaeologist Space Baby.

Yas Teal’c, spill that tea

I will join you, bb

Hammond in a toga will also join you cause he a babe

and he needs your help cause Davis said No.

HAMMOND OF TEXAS IS MY FAVOURITE THING EVER I LOVE IT

Sam: I’m gonna go and shut this shield down

Sam: but not until I have tried to save my Future Husband.

Poor Tok’ra lady

Hand on chest again

Fucking Hathor man

Go away boo, you’re ruining the moment

Stop hurting Sam

YAS JACK FUCK YES I LOVE THAT

I love his response to it too

Like the shock and fear

This hug goes on a long time

I know he’s cold or whatever but like...

and I know he’s in shock and so is she a bit

he’s doing it for her as much as him

but they’re STILL hugging

They literally never do this again

Its so sweet because after this its just... nothing? Like POV happens and then Upgrade and Divide and Conquer and they go ah fuck we can’t hug anymore so all we get is platonic shoulder holding and using shoulders as pillows. The closes we get to a hug is Death Knell and emotional trauma Threads. I want a REAL hug

And he holds her arms for ages and helps her up

Wow they’re so fucking in love this hurts

“Found ‘em” Jack stop so cute

C4! Who’d have thought it

Ah shit they’re surrounded

He still looks good

They BOTH look good

They make a great couple

Nope, not really but its what ya got so you’re gonna have to deal with it

This general guy is a bit of a dick

Thats right Sam, don’t listen. Good job, Danny boy.

Only 1? Thats not a lot of time

Get out there, Jack! Buy that time

Gun Bum! (if you know Sanctuary, you’ll get it)

He’s really not doing a great job of pretending to be a Goa’uld

Its really not impossible

ex-goddess lol

“She’s Gone. She is no more.” I’m honestly shocked people didn’t shoot him more often

I love him tho

Thank god, thats good timing

Hammond is IN. HIS. ELEMENT

There is no way she heard hiom say now but she still knew. I love them. I love how well they know each other and they’ve only known each other a little over two years

Time to KICK SOME ASS

JAFFA YAS

ooh coming in from behind, sneaky

YEEHAW

OH HAMMOND YOU PRECIOUS BABY

Sam going straight to Jack and it looks like she goes to put her arm around him.

I hate them ffs

Bra’tac and Human fuck me thats so cute

Sam’s smile when they see Teal’c and Hammond is Gorgeous

and Hammond patting her on the back! stop! I love Space Dad and his idiot Space babies.

Final Thoughts:

Seriously guys this is my favourite Final and First eps of a season.

100% one of my favourite two parters, if not my all time favourite two parter

Great direction, good story, excellent bad guys, good acting, just enough suspense with out being too drawn out, something for everyone, comes of the back of a fun as fuck episode (1969), Hammond has a big part, Davis is there, lots of cute Sam/Jack and of course, Daniel’s Elf Hair.

Also the Tok’ra are actually useful in this one which is SHOCKING

Lemme know your thoghts friends, I’m excited to hear them!

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cloudphillips · 4 years

Text

One

Seungwan should've known better than to wager against Sooyoung.

Considering the Slytherin girl's penchant for mischief and deception, it should've been enough incentive for Seungwan to know that something fishy was going on. But even her long history of pure bad luck and gullible tendencies didn't prevent her from taking the bait. Now she had to sneak around the halls of Hogwarts in the middle of the night concealed under the invisibility cloak to search of the fabled Room of Requirement.

She could've been lounging in the Ravenclaw common room right now writing her essay in Transfiguration and or sneaking into the kitchens to teach the art of Muggle baking to the house elves she befriended but no, she just had to lose a stupid bet.

And now, she had to pay for the price.

She descended from the winding steps of the Grand Staircase and followed the directions leading to the castle grounds. The rational part of her brain screamed at her to Turn back! You're breaking school rules! Retreat before you get expelled! But the other side of her, the small, miniscule and barely-there prideful side of her refused to be cowed. She will not back down from this. Seungwan didn't want to give Sooyoung the satisfaction of knowing that she was a coward all along.

By the end of the corridor, the young Ravenclaw stopped dead in her tracks when the Gray Lady fluttered pass the solid walls. Their gazes met and those lifeless eyes seemed to see past the magic veil of her invisibility cloak. Seungwan briefly wandered if ghosts were immune to its enchantments. Thankfully, the Gray Lady ignored her existence and continued haunting the halls of Hogwarts. Once the coast was clear, Seungwan resumed her task.

Any normal person could pretend and claim about finding the Room of Requirement but Seungwan was such a bad liar so there was no way she could've successfully pulled a deception of this magnitude from Sooyoung. The girl was an experienced bullshit detector and any attempts of manipulation from Seungwan would be for nought.

Besides, Kim Yerim, a young Gryffindor and Sooyoung's evil partner in crime, threatened to jinx Seungwan's flying broom and burn all the books she owned if she ever chickened out. In the end, the Ravenclaw decided that she couldn't risk it.

Lurking behind the statue of a grotesque gargoyle, Seungwan blew off whisps of her blonde hair that obscured her vision as she studied the intricate patterns carved on the walls in the hopes of revealing a concealed passageway. Hogwarts was full of hidden rooms and other enchantments. Many of its secrets remained undiscovered and it would take her centuries to uncover all of them.

There was an unmistakable sound of footsteps echoing along the halls and she hastened her pace. "Nox!" After extinguishing the light from her wand and ensuring that her entire body was hidden underneath the cloak, Seungwan waited with bated breath when she saw the hunched figure of Filch emerge from the Great Hall. His beady eyes scanned the empty corridor, searching for anything suspiciously out of the ordinary. He entirely missed the young Ravenclaw's silhouette standing beside a knight statue and decided to make a quick stop to his office. He found it pointless to patrol the school and catch rule-breaking students without the aid of his precious shackles.

Seungwan released a sign of relief. She was not getting caught today. No sir!

She poked her head out from the cloak, checking to see if he really left the vicinity and cheering internally when he did. Seungwan was really pushing it now. The number of school rules she was breaking must be horrendous and her best friend Joohyun would be so disappointed, especially when she finds out that the invisibility cloak she lent to Seungwan had been used for illegal purposes.

Seungwan knew that she was a bad friend, taking advantage of Joohyun's kindness and lying just to achieve her ends, but a lot was at stake here and she couldn't let the devil duo win. She couldn't let them taint Ravenclaw's immaculate reputation by allowing the spread of rumors regarding her cowardice. Seungwan would rather die than bring shame to her house.

The young Ravenclaw sucked in a deep breath and steadied her resolve. She needed to find this Room of Requirement as soon as possible so she could return to her common room and be done with it. She still needed to read Gilderoy Lockhart's Voyages with Vampires goddamnit!

"The light drives away the void that has long blinded my eyes upon your arrival." Seungwan nearly jumped in surprise when the portrait of a dark-haired woman, wearing a white Grecian dress and resting casually on a rustic bench then holding a cluster of grapes within the palm of her hands, called her attention. The title Embodiment of Love and Beauty: Aphrodite was carved on the base of the portrait's golden frame and it sparked a recent memory of the Greek Mythology book Seungwan was reading a few days ago. "Come yonder and whisper the melody into my ears-" Aphrodite leaned closer to get a better look at the blonde girl. "-the reason why a darling rose like you lurks in the darkness of the night."

Wow. The Ravenclaw was amazed. Who knew that Aphrodite could be so poetic? All the books she read never mentioned how the goddess had a way with words. She could give Apollo a run for his money.

"Uhmm.." Seungwan was bewildered because she thought she was doing a great job of hiding. Apparently not, because she was clearly caught by someone, even if it was just a mere painting. "I was hoping to find the Room of Requirement." The greek goddess ruefully shook her head, tendrils of raven black locks swaying with every movement, and made such a simple act look so elegant.

Aphrodite seemed refined and ethereal and for some reason, Seungwan noted an akin likeness between the goddess and Joohyun.

Huh.

"My lovely rose. Forget such trivialities and allow me to bask in your sweet presence." Aphrodite purred as she batted her eyelashes coquettishly at the innocent girl. The goddess seemed to have taken a liking towards the young Ravenclaw. "You wield the brilliance of the sun within you. Are you, perchance, an offspring of Apollo?" And when Seungwan shook her head no, the deity continued singing her praises. "No matter. I will not let such things hinder us. For I will pluck all stars in the sky and weave them into garments only befitting of your radiance."

The blonde girl didn't know what to do with the sudden attention. She was flattered, really, that the Goddess of Love and Beauty found her worthy of her affections but Aphrodite was a portrait and Seungwan was just not into her.

Seungwan thought of ways on how to gently turn the goddess' advances down without offending her. Sure, Aphrodite was a portrait and held no real power over her but all deities, even ones immortalized in paintings, had enormous pride and easily get injured at the smallest of things.

"I wish to fulfill your wishes O lovely Aphrodite! But my heart is torn and I simply cannot." Seungwan decided to lay it thick and flatter the goddess. The sooner she escapes this predicament, the sooner she can continue her task of finding the elusive room. "For I am a mere mortal unworthy of your affections. Our becoming is never destined and the Sisters of Fate would drive us apart." At times like these, her greasiness was put to good use. All those instances of playfully flirting at Joohyun was paying off.

"We simply cannot be." She whispered brokenly to elicit a dramatic effect and successfully rendered Aphrodite into tears. Who knew that Seungwan had a knack for theatrics?

A part of her was guilty for pulling this cunning move and manipulating someone, even if that someone was just a portrait, but she couldn't deny the rush of excitement it gave her. She was starting to know what it felt like being a Slytherin.

"Alas! You speak of the truth, my darling rose, and my heart has come to accept this. Forgive me for forcing my unwanted affections upon you." The goddess wiped away the last of her tears and gathered her resolve. "Allow me to amend my offenses and aid you in your endeavors." Aphrodite bestowed her godly blessings upon the blonde, which was completely unnecessary because the deity was a painting and she wielded no real power, and Seungwan just obeyed because she wasn't raised to be rude. "You seek of a place which is hard to find. A room that comes and goes."

That piqued the young Ravenclaw's interest and she leaned closer, eager to learn what the deity has to say. Aphrodite smiled fondly at Seungwan before stating a cryptic message. "It only ever appears in times of great need."

Their little chat was interrupted when familiar voices sounded down the corridor. "I think someone's down here!" One of them said and their footsteps quickened. The young Ravenclaw panicked and spurred into action by hiding behind a marble pillar and covering herself with the invisibility cloak. She waited with bated breath and clutched her wand tightly as she prepared herself for an unwanted confrontation.

Seungwan thought she heard the distinct sound of a cat purring and upon glancing down, she was caught paralyzed by the sight of Mrs. Norris glaring at her nastily. The feline's beady yellow eyes sent tendrils of fear to her spine. For a moment, she wondered how the animal could see her through the veil of the enchanted cloak. Did felines have a heightened sense of sight that they acquired the ability to detect invisible objects? "Shoo! Please go away." Seungwan tried her best to treat the cat with as much courtesy as possible because even though Mrs. Norris wasn't the most well-liked among the students, considering she was Filch's pet, but she was still a cat and Seungwan respected all animals, no matter how evil.

Mrs. Norris had other intentions because her hackles rised and lunged to attack the young Ravenclaw. Those razor-sharp claws sank deep into her leg, slightly drew some blood, and effectively tore her trousers. The blonde was unable to stop the groan that escaped from her lips when she felt the stinging sensation.

Crap!

The voices became louder and the young Ravenclaw barely had time to control her agonized breathing when two figures emerged from the dark hall. Upon getting a clearer look on their features, Seungwan stifled a groan and cursed the universe for playing a sick game on her.

It was her friends. Seulgi and Joohyun.

Both of which were Prefects.

Prefects who were patrolling the halls of Hogwarts late at night.

Prefects who, if they somehow caught wind of Seungwan's rule-breaking, had the authority to take away house points and report the said girl to the Head of the Ravenclaw House.

Just her luck.

"There's nothing down here Joohyun." Seulgi directed the tip of her wand to cast a beam of light upon the dark corridor. Joohyun told her earlier that she heard some noises in the vicinity and accompanied her friend to investigate. "It's just Mrs. Norris hissing at nothing in particular." Seulgi nodded at the said feline, who was busy glaring at an empty spot behind a marbled pillar, then turned to regard her friend skeptically.

"That's odd." A minute ago, she thought she heard someone whimpering as if they were in pain. Thinking that a person was injured, she hurried over to check it out, only to find nothing. Did I miss something? Joohyun thought as she squinted her eyes to thoroughly examine the dark hall. She found the cat's actions quite unusual, hissing at the wall and clawing at the empty space as if provoked by the air, but she chalked it up to weird animal behavior. She shook her head and acquiesced. "It must have been my imagination."

"Do you want to rest? I could finish patrolling if you want. We've already checked most of the castle anyway." Seulgi asked her friend in concern. Being a kind person that she was, it's quite expected of her to ensure her friend's well-being, even if it meant sacrificing her own. Maybe her good-nature just comes with being a Hufflepuff.

"No, I'm fine." Joohyun declined her offer and adjusted the green scarf wrapped around her neck. The cold air felt like freezing shards that bit her skin but she shrugged her uneasiness off and remained impassive because she didn't want to inconvenience Seulgi. "Let's finish this."

She gritted her teeth when another blast of the chilly night air hit her face. Joohyun longed for a personal heater, probably in the form of a blonde Ravenclaw Muggleborn whose bright smile put the sun to shame.

"Last stop, the Dungeons." Seulgi shivered anxiously when she uttered the word. She aimed the light down the spiralling staircase that led to their intended destination and huddled close to Joohyun partly for warmth and mostly for reassurance. The taller girl felt uncomfortable with dark and creepy places. She had gotten used to the warm and comfy atmosphere of the Hufflepuff common room and stifling areas like the Dungeons made her quite nervous. It was a good thing she had her Slytherin friend to accompany her.

Joohyun furrowed her brows, took one last look at the dark halls, before reluctantly following Seulgi to continue with their patrol.

As soon as the Prefects were out of sight, the blonde released the breath she'd been holding and quickly shrugged off her cloak to check the damage that evil cat had inflicted.

Sure enough, her trousers were torn and there was a trail of blood that stained the rainbow-colored socks she borrowed from Seulgi. Crap! The socks were ruined and no amount of Scourgify could remove those bloodstains. Seungwan used to stock her luggage with numerous bottles of bleach for cleaning purposes but her supplies dwindled after that one particular incident which involved diving under the black lake for some experimental research in Care of Magical Creatures and trying to befriend a Giant Squid for extra credit.

How was the blonde supposed to know that the Giant Squid’s way of showing its trust and getting its stamp of approval was to squirt stinky black ink all over her body?

How was she supposed to know that, by that simple and disgusting gesture alone, she was already adopted into the squid community?

Squid ink was difficult to remove, mind you, and it left Seungwan smelling like seafood the whole week.

And that was the story of how she used up all her bleach.

If only there was some magical equivalent of the 7/11 convenient store in the wizarding world so she could restock her supplies.

Oh well, can’t have everything, can we?

Mrs. Norris poised for another attack and that was enough incentive for Seungwan to run for her life. It was quite ridiculous that she was being terrorized by a cat but in her defense, Mrs. Norris was a demon incarnate. No amount of reasoning would work around that feline so with the influence of her self-preservation, the young Ravenclaw took off. If she were to die, she didn’t want it to be caused by something stupid like being clawed to death by a cat. That’s just ridiculous. She’d be rolling over her grave if that were to happen.

Seungwan dashed along the winding halls of Hogwarts and ignored the burning sensation on her wound. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her sane now and she tried to remain composed while a murderous cat followed her wake. She took a series of twist and turns and ran until she could no longer hear the sound of screeching and purring.

The Ravenclaw stopped short to catch her breath and shrugged off her cloak to wipe the sweat off her face. She had never been more exhausted in her entire life and that was a great indicator that Seungwan needed to do more cardio. It made her wonder if this dare was worth risking her life for. She contemplated of backing out but the mocking laugh of Sooyoung and the sinister grin of Yeri, along with the images of broken brooms and burning books, flashed into her mind and her resolve was back full force.

She’d come this far. Might as well get this over with.

She will not live like a coward. Not today Satan!

But as soon as Seungwan regained some courage, it quickly dwindled when she realized that she was lost, like, really lost. It seemed like she stumbled upon an old abandoned classroom by chance.

Scrolls of spare parchment and splinters littered the floors, unused desks and chairs were stacked haphazardly behind the dust-covered blackboard and marbled statues were blasted into pieces. The windows were smashed and the walls were scorched. It’s as if someone lit the whole room on fire and left it burning for centuries. A few Dementor dummies were broken beyond repair and some of its parts fell to ashes.

Then something caught her attention.

Standing far back into the room and partially covered by a worn red tapestry, there was an ornate and fairly ancient-looking mirror. The base had a clawed foot that served as a support and the gold borders that framed its edges were inscribed with a foreign and probably dead language.

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

Due to the fact that she was a Ravenclaw and she had a natural tendency to be curious, Seungwan walked close to inspect the object. She tried to decipher the hidden meaning behind the carvings and moved until her silhouette was reflected in the mirror.

She looked like a hobo.

Due to all the running she had to do, her short blonde locks clung to her neck in sticky waves and sweat dampened her skin. Her robes were askew and trousers were torn. She looked like she took a jolly night stroll at the Forbidden Forest but got attacked by an Acromantula.

Her disheveled appearance reminded her of the time Ravenclaw had a Quidditch match against Gryffindor. It was a pitch-black stormy day and she strayed off the pitch trying to catch the Golden Snitch. She was struck by lightning and landed on the Whomping Willow really badly. Ravenclaw won the match but her broom was pretty wrecked and she was out of commission for nearly three months.

Seungwan tried to smooth out the unruly bangs that covered her eyes when the image shimmered and her appearance changed. Suddenly, she wasn't the only person reflected in the mirror anymore.

Standing before her were her friends and all sported cheery expressions on their faces. They looked older and more refined. Gone was the childlike naivety in their eyes and it was replaced with such wisdom that only comes after long years of being exposed to the world and meeting different people.

Each of them portrayed their dream job. Sooyoung was now a fierce Auror. There was a certain fire in her eyes as she casually draped an arm over a Yerim, who appeared to be the youngest Head of the Ministry of Magic. The Gryffindor girl sported the same mischievous smile and it seemed like she still retained her penchant for troublemaking. Seulgi clutched her latest edition Comet 2500 and posed elegantly like the famous Quidditch player that she is. Joohyun was staring at all of them fondly. A small contented smile graced her lips as she stood as the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. Meanwhile, Seungwan had the professional badge of a Mediwitch and cradled in her arms an award from St. Mungo's hospital for her tireless efforts in curing magical maladies.

There she was together with the people she held dearly to her heart, looking happy and contented, serving as pillars of support for each other and carrying with them an unbreakable bond formed by long years of friendship.

Everything she desired and all she had been dreaming about were right before her.

"What are you doing here?"

Seungwan jumped in surprise when she heard the familiar bone-chilling voice that could only belong to one person.

Joohyun.

Judging from the stern expression she was sporting, the Slytherin Prefect was in her no-nonsense mode and she didn't look quite happy catching Seungwan red handed. "Sneaking around the castle at night is forbidden." Her tone sounded accusatory and the Ravenclaw fought hard not to squirm under her intense gaze. If glares could kill, the blonde would be dead right now.

So much for not getting caught.

"Sorry." She offered a lame apology, suddenly finding her shoes very interesting. Oh look! There’s a drop of blood staining the laces! She really needed to get some bleach.

When Joohyun's left eye twitched in annoyance, it didn't take long for Seungwan to break like a dam and quickly spun a tale of how she got into this predicament. "I lost a bet to Sooyoung! I really didn't want to break the rules but Yerim threatened to jinx my broom and burn my books if I chickened out!"

Joohyun remained indifferent the whole time the blonde Ravenclaw pleaded her defense. Her gaze landed on the invisibility cloak that was discarded to the ground. The one she lent to Seungwan. “Is this why you borrowed my cloak? To use it for illicit purposes?”

“No! I mean- Yes!” Seungwan slapped her forehead. She was running out of excuses to tell. It seems like she can’t bullshit her way out of this situation. “I just wanted to find the Room of Requirement and Sooyoung said it can only be found at night.” The blonde sighed in defeat. Even she sounded crazy to herself.

“Didn’t anyone warn you not to play Sooyoung’s games? Anyone in their right minds wouldn’t fall for her tricks.” Joohyun furrowed her brows. How could anyone be that gullible?

“I know! I can be pretty stupid at times!” The Ravenclaw was ready to rip out her hair and throw herself out the window. There would be fewer stupid people in the world and she would be doing the universe a favor. She groaned and stared helplessly at her amused friend. It’s good to know that the Slytherin found entertainment in her misery. “Why do I always make bad life decisions?”

“Honestly? I also ask myself that question.” Then Joohyun noticed the blood gushing on Seungwan’s feet and rushed to her aid immediately. “What happened? Who did this to you?” She forced the blonde to sit down on the floor while she inspected the wounds. Thankfully, it wasn’t that deep and didn’t require a complicated healing spell for it to mend.

“It’s nothing really, just a scratch.” Seungwan tried to shrug it off but Joohyun remained persistent and vigilantly scanned her from head to toe to check if she’d been hurt anywhere else. Once the Prefect was certain that the blonde was relatively unharmed, except for her bloody feet, she proceeded to softly blow air upon the wound in an attempt to soothe the pain. Seungwan blinked twice. Her heart hammering against the cages of her ribs and she had difficulty swallowing the lump in her throat.

There was something about the way Joohyun tenderly cradled her injured leg and traced featherlight strokes on her skin. Her hands were gentle, reverent… cautious. It’s as if she was taking great care not to break Seungwan with her touch. Their gazes met and Seungwan somehow stopped breathing. Something shimmered in Joohyun’s eyes, a message held secret deep within her soul, and the young Ravenclaw couldn’t quite decipher it.

Without taking her stare off the injured girl, the Slytherin Prefect took out her wand and cast a healing spell. “Episkey.” Joohyun whispered under her breath, eyes transfixed on those soft lips, itching to get close…closer.

Seungwan could barely feel the wound closing nor the pain waning. Joohyun was looking at her intensely and she didn’t know how to handle it so she asked a rather dumb query. “Is there something on my face?”

That effectively broke Joohyun out of whatever trance she was in. The Slytherin girl cleared her throat and stood up. She helped the blonde girl to her feet but refused to meet her eyes so she looked everywhere until she gazed upon the ancient looking mirror. Her curiosity was piqued. "What's this?" Noticing the foreign language carved on its golden frame, Joohyun moved closer to examine it. She wondered aloud.

"Erised?"

"Okay, this might sound crazy but I have a theory. Hogwarts is a magical school whose mysteries are still left unsolved. This might be one of those mysteries. You do know that the school never runs out questionable objects." Seungwan voiced out her ideas and it didn't take long for her to start pacing. Her hands making wild gestures in the air as she tried to put into words the thousands of possibilities her brain concocted.

"I think this mirror shows the future." The Ravenclaw declared with such certainty and paused, eyes narrowing as millions of other thoughts swam into her head. "But how far into the future does it show? Maybe not too far." She shook her head and continued pacing.

The Slytherin Prefect stood back and watched the blonde mutter a thousand things per minute. It's like her mouth couldn't keep up with her brain so she compensates by rambling about nothing and everything at once. It was only during times like this that Joohyun would get a glimpse inside Seungwan's mind. The younger girl was usually insecure about being a chatterbox, always carefully watching her words and actions around people. If it were up to her, she'd listen to Seungwan all day. Her thoughts were like lyrics Joohyun would gladly spend her life composing into a song.

"What do you see?" Her internal musing was interrupted when the Ravenclaw stopped pacing and regarded her with an inquiry. Solving mysteries had always been Seungwan's obsession and the Prefect could tell that she was in her element. Joohyun could see it. The way the flames of curiosity burned in those brown orbs and the eagerness to discover the unknown transformed her, giving her an aura of confidence that rarely showed itself.

Seungwan was glowing and it took her breath away.

It took Joohyun a few moments to gather her thoughts. The effort to calm her pounding heart was futile for the blonde proved to be quite distracting so she focused all her attention to both their reflection in the mirror instead.

"I don't see anything." Joohyun furrowed her brows and regarded the blonde in confusion. What was so special about this mirror? It certainly didn’t look so magical to her. Maybe Seungwan was mistaken?

"Are you sure?" Seungwan was bewildered. If her theory was correct and this mirror showed the future then why couldn't Joohyun see anything? She gestured for Joohyun to try again since she was desperate to prove her point. “Can you please look again?”

Joohyun was unamused. It was pointless really. It was just a regular mirror. There was nothing magical about it. Why can’t the blonde Ravenclaw see that? She crossed her arms and glared hard at the reflections on the mirror, particularly at herself for always giving into Seungwan’s wishes. “Have you forgotten how mirrors work?” A minute has passed and she still found nothing in particular.

"I only see us."

The dejected look on Seungwan's features tugged at Joohyun’s heartstrings and the Slytherin Prefect volunteered to stare back into the useless mirror for an hour. Yes, Joohyun was a mess. She was a HUGE mess. She could barely make rational decisions when it came to Seungwan.

The blonde shook her head and declined the Prefect’s offer. "Maybe it's just my imagination."

Seungwan grabbed the abandoned invisibility cloak on the floor and dusted off the dirt before wrapping it snugly around Joohyun to keep her warm. Then she grabbed the raven-haired girl’s hand and guided her out of the room. Her mind running a thousand miles per minute, still trying to make sense of the mystery she witnessed.

Meanwhile, Slytherin girl kept glancing at their intertwined hands, wondering why their fingers fit so perfectly with each other and thinking about how she didn't want to let go.

Not now, not ever.

And deep down Joohyun knew, that she wouldn't mind being cold if it meant that Seungwan would always keep her warm.

***

Seungwan never did find the Room of Requirement and the following day, she had to face the music in the form of Sooyoung's offhanded Honestly? I'm even not surprised. I've heard rumors that the Room of Requirement only ever shows itself to people of worth and, no offense, you are not such person. What surprised me more was that you decided to go along with the dare. I was expecting you to back out since I knew that you could be a chicken at times.

Or Yerim’s cutting What the heck? You're the top of the class! The smartest witch of our age! Out of all the people, you had the best chances of finding it. But I guess we really do cannot have it all. Seungwan didn't know if she should be flattered by the fact that Gryffindor held her with such a high regard or be insulted at the insinuation that she was a failure.

Anyways, the blonde Ravenclaw retreated to the library to lick her wounds and pass the time by doing some light reading. She came across an interesting passage in the book that left her reeling with questions.

The Mirror of Erised

An ancient magical mirror made before the end of the nineteenth century by an unknown creator. It shows the deepest, most desperate desire of one's heart, a vision that has been known to drive men mad.

Below the paragraph was a portrait of a familiar ornate mirror. Seungwan squinted to examine it closer and gasped in shock. It was the exact same one she found last night; the same mirror that appeared in her dreams countless of times. There was no mistaking it. The foreign carvings along its golden frame were identical. She read the passage again and again and stared at the portrait until her vision blurred with images of the reflections she saw.

Joohyun being the Hogwarts Headmistress.

Seulgi became a Professional Quidditch player.

Her own self was a lauded Mediwitch.

Sooyoung training as an Auror.

And Yerim as the youngest Head of the Ministry of Magic.

It made sense now. The young Ravenclaw already putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Seungwan was close to solving everything but there was still one thing that remained a mystery to her.

How come Joohyun only saw them both?

#wenrene #the magic between us #irene #wendy #red velvet #seulgi #joy #yerim

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chubbyooo · 4 years

Text

A Recipe for Disaster: A Blurred Lines Spinoff Chapter 4 - Quiet Contemplation

Hi guys don’t worry I didn’t forget about this I just needed the right inspiration, so here we go with a new perspective :D

Cipher Nine contemplates the mission ahed

Bolen turned the datapad off as a smile crept over his face, well well maybe Commander Ash had more to her than it seemed. He didn’t know if he should lord this over her it could be quite beneficial to the chiss to gain such information but still not until after the mission, Commander Ash was definitely still an asset to the upcoming mission.

They would have to strike quickly while the iron was hot otherwise the eternal empire could gain the advantage, Bolen had been a part of many wars both in the shadows and the open but he knew such concepts were arbitrary when compared to the goals of the more intelligent

Still he always seemed to be wrapped up in combat, such was the way of his position within the empire. It had given him much acclaim but he still longed for what he was truly after, this fickle empire had never understood that but Nox... Nox had seen things differently. She wasn’t exactly a paragon of rational thought but her goals were just even if her methods tended to be rather unsavoury, every other sith he had met had pushed him around but Nox had respected his opinion and allowed him to rise above his station. This had rather left him obligated to help however which was of great annoyance to him as it held a great risk for a tactical advantage. Still it seemed like the best idea, they were strongly lacking information though and that could turn the tide of this war before it even began.

Bolen took a few more minutes to contemplate the best scenario and the worst, he must be prepared for both of course. Soon however he left his chambers, he had written a letter unless he didn’t come back a long time ago and made a few edits for the current mission before leaving. He may not understand why but these people would miss him when he was gone so offer them that little comfort. He made his way to the cockpit where Ensign Temple sat plotting the route to where they would meet Commander Ash.

She turned to him with a smile “hey Cipher we’re all ready to go are you prepared for the mission” Bolen nodded he felt a blush come over him as Temple smiled at him

he answered “yes everything is prepared this mission should last a couple of days and I will be back shortly” Temple nodded pausing for a second

she raised her eyebrow a him “can I say goodbye properly first” she stood up putting her hands on his shoulders

Bolen held his head blushing “uh yes it’s fine at the moment we don’t need to be so formal” Temple nodded leaning in for a peck on the cheek

Temple smiled at him “you and your silly rules” Bolen conceded his insistence to keep personal and professional work seperate may be a little over the line but he just worked better that way

he chuckled awkwardly “yes well I’m not the only one you know that” Temple gave a guilty nod, they were both a little obsessed with protocol so harbouring a relationship had been difficult.

Still it was better than Kaliyo and her long string of men that got on their secret agent ship, Bolen had told her to stop so many times but she was uncontrollable Bolen guessed he should have expected that from an anarchist.

Bolen squeezed her arm “I will miss you, but I should come back after all the data seems probable” Temple nodded touching her forehead to his

she sighed “I know Bo I just worry about you” Bolen was still so unfamiliar with this idea of missing people but he had to admit he didn’t mind the attachment

Bolen held her hand “I’ll make sure to be 80% more careful, just for you” Temple smiled rapping him into a hug, his arms stretched awkwardly out behind her he had never quite been a huger but Temple insisted on it.

He left the cockpit and was met by the anarchist leaning against the wall “go blow something up in my name ok” she said with a smile, Kaliyo was still a little bitter from the whole getting arrested thing but she was starting to forgive him.

Bolen gave her a nod and continued to back to his quarters but before he could the droid SCORPIO stood in his way “where are you going?” she said coldly, Bolen wasn’t someone who scared easily but he had to admit SCORPIO scared him.

She was however very advantageous so it became a give and take, Bolen quickly responded “I am on my way to the new discovered planet of Zakuul” SCORPIO looked at him intently

she almost seemed to smile as she held out her hand “My databanks are vaguely familiar with the planet this may help you corrupt some of their systems” she held out a pristine datacard which Bolen swiftly took.

He wasn’t so sure if he should use it but for now he’d just keep it as a last resort “thanks... what does it do?” SCORPIO looked him in the eye

“I’m not exactly sure it should disable their systems but I would need a clearer understanding of their tech to involve myself in a more direct way” Bolen nodded not quite understanding but hoping SCORPIO would be on their side this time

Ash led Bolen onto the Chiss ship where he could see the rest of the team was waiting, he smiled being on one of these ships felt like home.

Ash walked over to the holoterminal “alright we’re all here so lets go through the plan, we will pose as a chiss supply ship to get past the Zakulian defences” Bolen looked at the other two, a jedi master and a two bit smuggler certainly not his ideal crew but it’d do.

the togruta spoke “now I will mask mine and Gacen’s brainwaves to avoid detection by any force users that could be looking for us” Bolen had always enjoyed that natural advantage over the force, it’d always seemed such a annoying concept.

the zabrak dressed in a ridiculous outfit spoke next “I will pilot the ship and use my slick charm to get onto Zakuul and land the ship, don’t worry I’ve played this gambit hundreds of times” Bolen had to say he doubted the success rate

Bolen cocked his head “and what is the success rate on this ‘gambit’” the zabrak held his chin thinking for a few seconds

he smiled “about 50/50 but it'll be fine” Bolen sighed that did not fill him with confidence

Ash interrupted before tensions rose “once there Kavaraa will head to Arcanns trophy room while me and Cipher nine disable the power grid” Bolen nodded that seemed like the right call

the zabrak frowned but didn’t speak up, Ash continued “if all goes to plan Nox should be freed before the alarms go off and then we may have to fight our way out” Bolen didn’t like that idea he was usually surrounded by sith and this time it was one jedi, morality was not tactically helpful.

But the plan was agreeable as they had to be fast about it “very well this seems ideal given the time constraints I’ll make myself at home Commander Shen” Bolen saw Ash get visibly angry at him as he left the main room.

He smiled it was very easy to get inside the head of these people, after this was all over he would have some valuable leverage over all of them.

Soon he made his way to the cockpit where the smuggler sat feet up on the console “I trust you won’t be doing that during the mission” he span around to face Bolen with a rather cocky expression

he chuckled “maybe I will maybe I won’t who knows I kinda like it that way bit of chaos ya know” Bolen raised his eyebrow at the zabrak

he folded his arms “you know people can see through this facade? I mean I can tell you’re pretending” the zabrak frowned at him his expression turning serious

Gacen put his feet on the ground “I’m not pretending for others dude, do you know people can see you’re a massive tool” Bolen narrowed his eyes at the smuggler maybe there was a little more to this.

Bolen sat down in the co-pilots seat “why are you here you don’t seem like you’re short of money?” the zabrak frowned at him again

but a smile quickly returned “I owe Ash a favour and here I am repaying it” Bolen shook his head he knew that wasn’t accurate

Bolen raised his eyebrow “no no from my records you have said that you’re even on all favours unless I’m mistaken” the zabraks anger shone through now “which I’m not” Bolen kept an extensive record of his enemies

he sat up “how do you know that?” Bolen couldn’t help but let out a chuckle

he smiled “It’s my job to know things Gacen Zandar” the zabrak had begun to look uncomfortable now

he tried his best to deflect “well why are you here I could ask you the same?” Bolen smiled that was easy

“upon many occasions Darth Nox has provided support and stability for the empire as a tactician and as a friend it seemed obvious I had to help” Bolen watched as he reacted to the comment wincing at the mention of Nox. Bolen smiled continuing to press “ah I see this is to do with her?” the zabrak looked beyond uncomfortable now he should dial it back to avoid tensions during the mission. “don’t worry Gacen, it’s my job to keep secrets I won’t tell” the zabrak still hadn’t said a word just sitting there looking trapped.

Gacen frowned at him looking up after a long silence “you thrive on this don’t you?” Bolen frowned at him maybe a little “you love holding power over people?” Bolen had to admit it was helpful to have information. the zabrak continued “well it’s a shame you’re not the only one who knows about secret channels?” Bolen’s eyes went wide what? how could the smuggler?

Bolen shook his head “you don’t know what you’re talking about!” Gacen’s smile and cocky attitude returned now

he chuckled “oh I do the underworld can tell you a great many things, things you’d probably want to keep from the empire and also probably from Nox” Bolen was furious if the bounty hunter had anything to do with this he would be furious

Bolen stood up fists clenched “you tell anyone and I will personally see th-” Gacen interrupted him putting a finger to Bolen’s lips

he leaned in uncomfortably close and whispered “you keep my secret I’ll keep yours, besides anything that hurts the empire is fine by me” he leant in and kissed his cheek then Gacen walked away leaving Bolen in the cockpit stunned, what had he missed? how had he found out about his other mission? the smuggler of all people? he had to get to the bottom of this...

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cryptid-bloodhound · 5 years

Text

Legends Crime AU

After some great suggestions from: @daughterofthewinedude, @sunflower-key, @ajays-lullaby, and @unsightedjoker I decided to expand upon the Crime AU and fill in the blanks thanks to them! If there are more suggestions, let me know! I’m always open to them (:

So, again thank you for the suggestions, they’re a huuuge help!

Basic Roles

under the cut bcus I rambled again, oops. If yall want to know more, just hmu! I might make individual character ‘profiles’ if there’s interest. Also, if anyone wants to use this for their own crime setting/au then feel free! (i’d totally love to be tagged in stuff bcus im a hoe for crime aus)

Bloodhound - Unknown Assassin - They're independent and usually can’t be hired as they seem to be working down some sort of list. They aren’t in it for the money, clearly. However, if you plead your case and it’s a good one (in their eyes) the person you’re targeting might just disappear one day. Occasionally they’ll play the silent, scary backup if one of their associates/friends needs it. Nobody knows who they are, where they came from, how to contact them, or what the hell is up with them. It’s been noted that whenever they stop by a city, notoriously nasty criminals happen to go missing. All that’s known about them is that nobody escapes Bloodhound once they start their hunt.

Lifeline - Ex-Mob Princess/Mob Doc - Ajay Che would have been considered a Mob Princess if she had stayed within her Family Ranks. Her parents made very little effort to hide the truth of their profits from her. Disgusted, she left as soon as she could and swore to never join the life. Instead, she became a doctor in an effort to help people and make up for what her family has done. However, her childhood friend Octavio drug her back into the life unintentionally. He’d get hurt and show up at her doorstep again and again. Soon enough, other mobsters and criminals started arriving, earning her the unspoken title of Mob Doc. Now it’s not uncommon to find random Family members just lounging around her place. She decided to just say ‘to hell with it’ and try to act as some sort of Moral Compass for the crew.

Octane - Ex-Mob Prince/Demolitionist/Arsonist - His family and Ajay’s are closely intertwined. They grew up together thanks to the meetings between his parents and hers. However, unlike Ajay, he didn’t feel a moral repulsion at what their families were doing. If anything, he was bored. They weren’t extreme enough. It was almost all Blue Collar crimes, nothing explosive or violent. So, in typical Octavio fashion, he jumped ship and looked for something faster, flashier, more dangerous. It landed him in the ranks of his current Family as their Demolitions and Arson guy. He managed to drag Ajay back into their lifestyle after blowing off his own legs when he blew up the building of someone who pissed him off. He may not be the smartest or most level-headed member, but there’s no one more willing to jump into a fight or play with explosives than him.

Mirage - Jack of Trades - runs the ‘Cosa Nostra’-esque bar called the Paradise Lounge. It’s a neutral meeting grounds for the varying Families and it is an unwritten rule that nobody is allowed to fight in its premise. It’s the only ‘safe spot’ in the city. He has several different jobs for the Family. Aside from running the bar and helping to launder money, he is a document forger, a con artist, tech expert and is capable of talking people out of trouble one way or another. Basically, if someone needs to ‘disappear’ or get out of trouble, they come to ‘Mirage’.

Bangalore - Ground Enforcer/Collector - An ex-spec ops soldier who left the service after the mysterious ‘disappearance’ of her brother when he was on leave. She is certain it was a rival gang who did something to him. So, she’s started a crusade to find out what happened to him and avenge him one way or another. She joined the Family after crossing paths with them on more than one occasion. After witnessing her impressive skills, they offered her whatever resources she needed to finish her quest in exchange for her services leading and training their ‘troops’. She also isn’t shy on collecting the debts owed to the family.

Gibraltar - Allied Boss - Makoa Gibraltar isn’t your typical Crime Lord. For starters, he doesn’t actively harm innocent people. If anything, he is closer to a vigilante than an evil mobster. He started his biker gang after witnessing one too many hate crimes and seeing too many horrible people walk free from a corrupt system. He protects victims from their attackers during tenuous things like court trials and breaks up hate crimes he sees in progress. He’s become affectionately noted throughout the city by its citizens and even the police like to turn a blind eye when they can when he’s seen protecting someone (or beating the ever-loving shit out of some asshole). He has a shaky alliance with The Family. At the moment, they haven’t done anything notably horrible and have helped fund his growing group. They even slip him some info every now and again about places and people who might need a ‘meeting’ with Gibraltar.

Crypto - Double Agent Hacker - Tae Joon Park is technically ‘dead’. After being framed by The Family for the murder of his adopted sister Mila, he decided it was best to stick with the idea of being dead and created a new identity for himself. Filled with a searing need for revenge, he’s entered into the Family under the guise of being their expert Hacker and pro at Espionage. There’s no code he can’t crack and no information he can’t find. He’s capable of bringing empires down from behind his keyboard and screen. That’s exactly what he plans on doing to The Family. Only, he’s starting to notice a very strange pattern. Not everyone in the Family seems to be aware of the shady business going on. Some appear to be victims themselves that are being played. Now, he also has to decide who is guilty and who’s just like him - a pawn.

Caustic - Wild Card Killer - Considered an Associate as he refuses to formally join The Family as a Made Man. Alexander Nox is also technically ‘dead’. After a run-in with the law (and a subsequent escape from prison), he had the local forger Mirage falsify evidence of his death and craft him a new identity. He functions as an interrogator and a cleaner when he feels the fancy. He’s made it very clear that he is, under no circumstance, beholden to what the Boss wants. He helps because the Boss offers him a practically endless supply of test subjects in exchange for extracting information from the people and disposing of the bodies. He also mentors Wattson in the ways of proper disposal. What his end goals are, nobody really knows and nobody wants to ask.

Wraith - Shadow Broker/Assassin - Renee Blasey is something of an enigma. Few people know her name beyond ‘Wraith’ and fewer still know what she looks like. She hides in the shadows, gathering information and eliminating targets with precision. There’s a rumor that she’s the one who brought the newcomer Crypto into the fold and that they’ve worked together in the past. Perhaps he was the one who freed her from a rival gang’s clutches. Due to her apparent connections all over the place and an almost unending supply of information, she was held captive and tortured for information. After her violent and bloody escape, she stumbled across the Family and they welcomed the notable information broker with open arms. How she gets the information she does, no one knows. She is always elusive about it. ‘A little birdy told me.’ ‘The voices knew’.

Pathfinder - Transport Expert - A ‘defective’ MRVN unit because he was too free-thinking and asked too many questions, namely: ‘what happened to my creator?’ He was going to be decommissioned and shut down permanently when a group of strangers broke into the facility and ransacked the place. After they saved him from being decommissioned, he followed them around like a puppy and unintentionally joined the Family. He functions somewhere between ‘getaway/transport expert’ and ‘team mascot’. It’s thought that he might have witnessed some damning things and that’s why he was going to be decommissioned. In the process, his memories were corrupted so it’s almost impossible to truly tell. They’ve begun proper work on restoring his memories now that the technical geniuses Wattson and Crypto have joined up alongside Mirage.

Wattson - Security/Business Front/Cleaner- Daughter of an Associate. She didn’t know her dad worked with the mob until she was older. After the initial surprise, she joined in on the business, going so far as to becoming Made. She runs the security service front known as ‘Apex Protection’ that also doubles as their money laundering business. Nobody gets past her defenses to get to Family. (It helps that her dad was rather close with the notoriously effective cleaner Caustic. She’s picked up a few tips from him and now helps with the cleaning when needed)

#Apex Legends #Crime AU #this was longer than expected huh

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lswritingdesk · 4 years

Text

7. Furling

When Kyrie fell asleep that night, she felt the familiar pull of the Dreamscape. She entered curiously. It had been a while since she had felt compelled to enter the Dreamscape the way she had felt compelled to enter the Fragment.

When she exited the vines covering her side of the garden, she could see that Daniel was already waiting for her in the centre of it. He was smiling at her in a way that made her slightly uncomfortable.

“This is new,” she commented, gesturing to the garden. “Summoning me here instead of to your base.”

“I went to sleep with your rock in my hand,” Daniel said with a cocky grin. “It worked.”

“I can see that,” Kyrie replied. “Why is it that you summoned me?”

“I’ve just come from an interesting place. I know what you are,” Daniel said. Kyrie tried not to freeze on his words. “We went to a planet that once was the meeting place of four great races. We recognised the writing of the Nox and the Asgard. There was a third writing, that we called the Ancients. And then there was a fourth, indecipherable except for the name of the race. The Furlings. You. You’re a Furling.”

Kyrie contemplated her response. Elder Rhea couldn’t very well blame her for revealing something Daniel Jackson had deduced on his own. “And you came to this deduction all on your own?”

“It makes sense. You said you had an alliance with the Asgard, you knew of the Nox, you withdrew from the galaxy. You. Are. A. Furling. You are a being of the fourth race.”

“I can’t very well deny it after you put it all together,” Kyrie said at last.

“But why? Why be so secretive? Why withdraw from the universe?”

“When the Ancients left, and the Goa’uld began to crop up, and the Replicators began to threaten the Asgard...we decided that it was best to withdraw completely. We grounded all of our interstellar ships. The shipyards are rusting, before you ask. We closed off all of our colonies. We cloaked Illyria. For all intents and purposes, we disappeared. It was for our own protection.”

“But you could be helping the Asgard in their fight against the Replicators right now! You could have prevented the Goa’uld from rising to power if you had stayed.”

“I cannot and will not make excuses for my Elders or predict what we could have done. What we could be doing. It’s not my place. I am a Scholar, Daniel, not an Elder, not even an Elder to be. My sacred geometry did not predict that. I cannot simply criticise my governing body like you are asking me to do.” Kyrie’s voice sounded thick.

“But you’re a Seer, and you said Seers had the power to guide-“

“Not that kind of power,” she responded uncomfortably. For once, Kyrie wanted to be the one with her head in her hands. “Look, I’m uncomfortable with some of the things I am directed to do, I admit. I did not want to conceal things from you. There are things I must yet conceal. I must ask you not to reveal what I am, should the occasion arise that I finally introduce myself to others of your kind. And I ask the Alchemy that you do not fall into the hands of a Goa’uld or other enemy who finds out of our existence from you…” Kyrie sighed.

“I’m...sorry. I did not think of that. That the Goa’uld could have learned of you through me if…”

“By the Alchemy, it will never come up. But you must understand that our situation has become more complicated now. You cannot tell the Asgard of me, either, understand. It is very important...you must…the journey you are on right now is one that you must take alone with the Asgard for now. I- we- cannot help. Yet.”

“Well, that at least makes sense.”

“It does?” Kyrie asked, genuine surprise in her voice.

“Yes. We must prove ourselves to the other races one at a time. We probably couldn’t handle two at a time. So yes, it makes sense.”

“Oh. I will still be here, of course. I can answer questions- probably more, now that you know what I am. I just can’t offer you the aide you seek.”

“If you had just told me from the start, this would have been so much simpler.” Kyrie sighed.

“Perhaps. Perhaps it would have been harder. It would have been nice if the Fragment had shown me this,” Kyrie said.

“Not omnipotent, eh?” Daniel said with a smirk.

“I never claimed to be,” Kyrie said, an edge to her voice. “Visions in the Fragment offer guidance, and then I must interpret that guidance to offer my own guidance.”

“So I’m getting secondhand guidance, is what you’re saying?”

“If you want to put it that way, yes. I would never lie to you outright.”

“But you would, as you say, conceal things from me.”

“I was ordered to. Surely there are things that you are ordered to do yourself that you do not like?”

“Yes, but-”

“Then you must respect that I have aspects of my life that are much the same. You and I are not that much different, Daniel Jackson.”

“You’re an alien with the power to see beyond and see my future, but if you want to call us ‘not that different’, sure, go ahead.”

“It is comments like that that make the Asgard and my Elders make comments of their own that allude to your race as children. You are one of the better of your kind. I expected better of you.”

“That was harsh.”

“That was the truth.”

“I’m glad I know what you are. I can learn so much from you.”

“If you could see it, you would see that I was rolling my eyes at you.”

“I still don’t fully understand the veil. Our conversations would make so much more sense if I were able to see your facial expressions. When others of your society veil, are their veils aways so opaque, or is that just a Seer thing?”

“I’m going to regret you knowing that I’m a Furling. You should just save your questions and live with us for a Cycle.”

“I’d rather know now.” Kyrie sighed.

“No, the veils are not always opaque. My mother veils because she likes it, but she wears sheer blue veils that match her outfits. And hers aren’t electronic like mine is. My eyes were damaged by the Fragment the first time I went into it. I can adjust how much light enters my field of vision with an electronic veil so that I can properly see. Seers wear opaque veils because our eyes are...unsettling to most.”

“In what way?”

“If you were a Furling child, I would demand an apology for nosiness.”

“But I’m not a Furling child.”

“No, you are a Scholar, and I am in a deep hole with you. When my eyes were damaged, they became an opaque, milky white. It is the Mark of the Seer. Most people don’t want to see that, so we veil.”

“That seems a little unfair to you.”

“It is the way we have lived for thousands of Cycles. I do not mind it. Besides, I get away with a lot of facial expressions that I would otherwise have to make apologies for were I not veiled, because I am terrible at masking my emotions. I was constantly having to apologise for them as a child.”

“I take it apologies are big in your society? You’ve mentioned having to make public ones before.”

“Ah yes, for the swimming clothes and the public rudeness. That was...not fun. My mother shrieked at me over the holoscreen for my indecency despite my explanation. Yes. We are an ultra-polite society. There are standard apologies for most everything. Your Colonel will offend a great many of us when he comes to visit. I do not need a Vision to know that.” Daniel chuckled at this.

“He offends a great many people on our world as well. It’s kind of his thing.”

“Mmm. I advise you to do the bulk of the talking on your official visit here.”

“And you won’t give me a hint of when that might be?”

“You know me better than that by now, Daniel.”

“It was worth a try.”

“If we stay here talking, will our bodies experience actual rest?”

“Not entirely, so no, I will not let you keep me here the entire time to answer your questions. Besides, time passes differently in the Dreamscape than in the real world, never mind the differences between Illyria and Earth. I do have a job and a life, as do you. They will come searching for me if I do not appear on time, and though my Krewe leader is somewhat understanding of my...situation, I do not wish to overstep my boundaries with them. I’ve already fainted once on the worksite and left early another time.”

“Your work, do you enjoy it?”

“Immensely. Our forebears are fascinating. They did not use the Fragment or Seers to guide their lives as we do now. Learning about them and adding to the body of knowledge is quite satisfying.”

“I know what you mean. I’ve been to dozens of worlds now, and we’ve learned so much about Earth cultures just from visiting other worlds- it has been amazing. Some worlds are like living museums. I wish I could spend more time studying, but unfortunately my team is assigned to do a lot more than just study.”

“You will have your fill of studying one day, Daniel.”

“Another Vision of my future?”

“No, just a hunch. Everyone retires from active roles in their own time to do research, at least on Illyria. I suspect it’s the same on Earth.”

“Why isn’t the Seer destined to bring the Tau’ri to Illyria an Earth scholar instead?”

“That would be too easy. We have Earth scholars. There are more Furlings than you think on Earth monitoring different Timelines and ensuring that events happen as planned.”

“That’s a little…interventionist.”

“We’re all over the universe. It’s what we’ve always done. As soon as Lakme and Lakira charted the stars, we were out there, in the universe, doing what we did best.”

“But I thought you said your ancestors didn’t follow the Fragment or Seers?”

“They didn’t, not at first. They didn’t understand the Fragment for a long time. But there was just this innate sense of knowing among our people of how to guide civilisations or people or places along the right path without fully getting involved.”

“For millennia, leading right up to you.”

“Leading right up to me.”

“I suppose this is where I should stop asking questions and let you go with grace.”

“Perhaps for now. I have answered many of your questions tonight without very much ducking about the subject. You should be glad.”

“I am. Thank you for not ducking my questions tonight.”

“Thank you for not dragging me into the Fragment. The Dreamscape is a far kinder place to meet. Stay well. We will meet again soon.”

“I hope so. You stay well, too.”

@luckyninetales

#stargate #stargate sg1 #stargate sg-1 #stargate fanfic #stargate imagine #stargate headcanon #furling #furlings #daniel jackson #daniel jackson x oc #daniel jackson x furling #kyrie #kyrie tethyos #kyrie house tethyos

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