#having fought so hard and technically winning but still losing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stuff-from-the-void-matron · 3 years

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Laurel Wreaths & Animal Teeth (10)

(technoblade x fem!reader)

(a/n: y’all seemed to like chapter 9 so here’s chapter 10! I know, I know. still no technoblade! BUT! he WILL be arriving soon~ very soon. >:3c but for now just enjoy the rest of the utter nonsense that’s the election. and remember! reblogs and comments REALLY make writing the next chapter possible. if y’all lose interest then so will I. so reblog and comment y’all! <3)

There was an eerie silence hanging over everyone in attendance. Nobody quite knew what to say, or even how to react to this startling new information. Not a soul spoke as a few people on stage and in the audience shared confused glances, not even whispering their questions to each other lest they shatter the heavy stillness. At least that was the case before HBomb hopped up out of his chair and gave a loud and cheerful “WHOO! NEW PRESIDENT!” that successfully slam dunked everyone back into the moment at hand.

Suddenly you were surrounded by noise as everyone started talking at once.

Meanwhile you remained mostly unaware of it, well more like distantly aware of it.

You stared up at the stage, locked in place from how floored you still were.

What in the absolute hell was Wilbur talking about??

You can’t have won! Because you weren’t running!

So there’s no way for you to WIN something you were never actively competing for!

There had to be a mistake. Maybe this was just some more of their silly pranks and japes before they read off the real winner, which actually wasn’t that huge of a stretch for this SMP if you were being honest. Or at least that’s what you were telling yourself anyways. Vaguely you could hear voices talking all around you, but it seemed far away, so you weren’t really registering what was being said. You were mostly just staring blankly at the stage, not really seeing any of the people up there as you tried to process what just happened.

It took Tubbo grabbing your elbow and shaking it to snap you out of the almost trance like state you'd slipped into. You looked down and he actually looked excited, but you could also see shock in his expression as well. You looked behind you to the rest of the crowd and some were clapping and cheering while others stood silent, shocked like you if you had to hazard a guess. You looked back up at the stage when you heard Tommy calling you to come up with them. You were still sorta frozen but thankfully Tubbo nudged you forward, reminding you that you needed to move. Silently you made your way up to the podium, mouth feeling dry and stomach feeling like it was full of stones.

Now that you were zoned back in you could hear the arguing coming from the podium. You were sort of dreading coming face to face with Wilbur, already knowing how… not great he took Schlatt winning from the original timeline. And he apparently knew and was friends with the ram hybrid. So you couldn’t see him being happy you won.. But when you got to the stage where the others were you couldn’t focus on Wilbur because all at once your vision was overtaken by Tommy, who was babbling about how you won! And how the hell did you win?? You weren’t even running! And how he’s pretty down they lost but at least Quackity and George didn’t win! (that got a ‘fuck you!’ out of the Spanish speaking young man) You gave a weak chuckle and said you’re not sure how or why you won but it was crazy indeed.

Quackity, Schlatt, and George were the most vocal about not thinking the results were fair. Though to be clear, Wilbur didn’t look thrilled either, but he was doing his best to look professional or put together you guessed. Or at least not blow up in front of literally everyone. You kept an eye on him while Tommy led you up to the mic and told you to give your first decree as president. But you sorta… didn’t want to be president. You hoped you wouldn’t upset anyone by not accepting the job. But you didn’t think you’d make a good leader. So you turned away from the mic, hoping nobody but the ones beside you on stage would hear when you asked if you had to accept the role.

This caught all the mens’ attention and Wilbur was quick to give you an out, saying no you didn’t technically HAVE to accept the presidency. In fact if you weren’t ready or willing to fill the role then the runners up, aka him and Tommy, would happily do so for you. But then Quackity, Schlatt, and surprisingly Fundy said that wasn’t fair either since both Pog2020 and Schlatt/Swag2020 were tied with the amount of votes. And you had to admit, that didn’t seem fair. But Wilbur perked up and you’d swear in that moment he was the embodiment of the ‘lightbulb above head’ phrase. Then he grinned and turned to Fundy and Niki and asked to speak to them before urging them and Tommy off the stage, leaving you and Schlatt/Swag2020 on the stage alone.

Not wanting to leave everyone in the audience hanging, you gave a polite smile and assured them that the others just wanted to…. recount the votes! They weren’t sure Wilbur counted them right so they figured recounting with some other witnesses there would clear things up! The crowd shared confused glances but it was Tubbo who yelled out that that sounded sus as hell! And if he were you he’d think they were trying to cheat or something! You snorted a laugh but assured him it was alright and you didn’t think they’d be that ballsy~

-0-

Fundy and Niki followed behind Wilbur and Tommy, the latter of the two males just as confused about what Wilbur was up to as the pair behind him. But then they all gathered in the white house and Wilbur turned to the members of Coconut2020 and said he had a proposition for them! The brunet said that since it was clear that you weren’t really up to being president, his tone derisive like your refusal of the position was tantamount to spitting in his food, then if Fundy and Niki agreed to combine their votes with Swag2020 then Wilbur could be president again and things could go back to normal!

But the blonde woman and fox hybrid didn’t look convinced.. Niki said they’d just be giving them their votes so they could win, while they got nothing? Fundy frowned and asked what positions he and Niki would have in the Pog2020 cabinet if they joined their votes with theirs. Here is where Wilbur hesitated, unsure what positions he could give them. But then he smiled and said Niki would be the First Woman, since she was the first woman to join L’manberg! And Fundy would of course be everyone’s Little Champion! He couldn’t help but baby talk his son, he’d never been able to take Fundy seriously, not really anyways. What with his alert little triangle ears, furry face, soft little paw beans, and fluffy tail. He was just too cute for Wilbur to take him seriously. Even now. But it was this attitude that would be his downfall. Because it’s what caused Fundy to snap.

“No, Wilbur! This is serious! I’m not some baby for you to dress up and prance around! I’m a fucking adult! I have my own house, I pay taxes, I fought in a war for fucks sake!” the hybrid shouted, clearly upset.

Wilbur was shocked but tried to calm Fundy down, not fully realizing how mad his son was until the red haired male practically snarled,

“I’m not going to sit here and hand over the votes Niki and I earned just so you can treat me like a child!”

Without another word he turned on his heel and stormed out of the white house, leaving three stunned people behind. Tommy looked up at Wilbur, opening and closing his mouth, wanting so badly to say something, maybe lighten the awkward mood but not knowing what or even if he should speak at all. Meanwhile Niki just sighed and gave Wilbur a soft disappointed look. She knew Wilbur loved his son, and that often translated to him babying the hybrid. But she’d warned him, as kindly as she could, that it seemed to upset Fundy that his own father wouldn’t treat him like anything but a kid. She’s not a parent herself, so she figures it must be hard for a parent to see their child as anything but a child, even after they’ve grown.

But she can see Fundy’s side too. It must be massively frustrating to be looked upon like you’re just a kid. Especially since Wilbur doesn’t even treat Tommy, his own younger brother, as a child as much as he does Fundy. And she’d seen first hand how Wilbur’s attitude towards Fundy, whether or not the brunet intended for it to happen or not, did in fact influence how others treated the red furred hybrid. She’d seen Tommy, Tubbo, Eret, Sapnap, and even herself a couple times sort of not treat Fundy with the respect you’d show to a fellow adult. She tried her best to kick that habit, and her and Fundy’s friendship had really blossomed thanks to it, she thinks. But she believes Wilbur just pushed his son to his breaking point…

“He’s right, Wilbur. You can’t keep babying him. He’s a grown up now..” Niki said neutrally.

Then she let out a tired sounding breath of air and turned to follow after the fox hybrid, saying she would go check on him. But she also said Wilbur needed to talk to him later, man to man, and make things right. Said brunet looked rather flummoxed, not sure what the hell just happened. It was Tommy who broke the silence by giving an almost weak sounding ‘holy shit’. Wilbur turned his perplexed gaze to his brother and asked what the HELL that was all about! Said blond winced and gave a sigh while awkwardly scratching the back of his head, not thrilled with the weird turn this conversation took, but answered Wilbur,

“Ehh… looks like you and Fundy have some unresolved personal issues, bud..”

Wilbur barked that this wasn’t the time for Fundy to let some personal vendetta against him cloud his reasoning! They were in the middle of the do or die of the election! If they couldn’t get Fundy and Niki to agree to join their votes with theirs then they won’t win! And they’ll be in a tie with Schlatt and Quackity! Wilbur jerked his hands down, like he wanted to slam them against a table or something. But instead he just viciously scrubbed his fingers through his curly hair, feeling embittered with everyone around him. All he’d wanted was to lead HIS country! Like he rightfully should have been able to! All this election bollocks and now he was having to try and convince HIS OWN SON to help him stay president?! If it were him and Phil needed help he’d give it! Well he would if Phil were ever fucking around..

The sound of a crowd cheering caused the two to whip their heads towards the area where the stage was before they looked at each other. Not a word was spoken between them as they both took off in a run towards the stage, wondering what happened and what they were missing. They rounded the corner of the building to the left of the stage to see you smiling and waving daintily to the crowd. Not sure what they’d missed, Wilbur rushed up to Niki and asked what happened. Did you accept the presidency already??

Niki raised an eyebrow at her friend and nodded, saying you’d finally relented and accepted the role as president after she and Fundy came back from ‘recounting the votes’. Niki hummed and said she figured that you finally accepted the results after it was made clear that if you didn’t then everything would be stuck in a tie. But then Niki’s reflecting mood brightened and she said she really thought you’d do a good job as the new president. Even joking that you had to be better than Schlatt.

Niki never voiced it out loud but she’d been worried Schlatt and Quackity would win. Schlatt was the biggest worry for her. To his credit, he was actually a really funny guy and she could see why Wilbur was friends with him, they just had a good chemistry and their senses of humor bounced off each other well. But… Schlatt could also be blatantly power hungry and hateful if not kept in check from the few times she’d met him or heard stories about him from Wilbur. Niki felt like giving him the amount of authority that came with being president would only end poorly. And Quackity was an alright guy in her opinion but he could be vindictive and petty too. She got the vibe that any amount of power given to him would instantly go to his head and turn him into a jerk.

But again, these were just her personal (and not spoken aloud) opinions…

She always hated being mean to people and saying hurtful things. So she kept her opinions to herself more often than not. Unless it was super important anyways. So instead of elaborating on Why she was so relieved that Schlatt and Quackity hadn’t won she instead flashed the two members of Pog2020 a smile and said it had been a fun race, and despite all the drama she really thinks Tommy’s friend will do a good job. Then with a keen raise of her eyebrows the blonde suggested with a cute smile,

“Oh, maybe you could be a member of Reader’s Cabinet! I’m sure she’ll be needing a vice president, secretary of defense, treasury, and other positions!”

Niki was honestly just trying to cheer up her friend, but the cheerful smile slipped off her face at the dark look that crossed Wilbur’s. She grew concerned when she saw how hard he was clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. His behavior over the last few weeks had been slowly worrying her, but this was starting to make her anxious. And when he started marching towards the stage she shot a panicked look to Tommy, who could do nothing but give her an equally worried and confused face before they both tried to hurry after their brown haired friend. But he got up onto the stage before either of them could grab his arm, and Niki was about to call after him but he reached your side, clearing his throat and alerting you to his presence.

You looked down and saw him standing at attention next to you, hand outstretched for a handshake and a polite but serious smile on his face. You were surprised, thinking he was handling this with more grace than you’d expected, but a feeling deep in your gut was still on edge. You knew the destruction Wilbur Soot was all too willing and capable of doing in the selfish pursuit of keeping power over the country he made. The lives of his friends and family be damned. So while you really really wanted to hope that Wilbur will be better since you won over the other parties… you’re also highly skeptical that he will manage to keep his sanity.

But instead of showing any of your reservations you instead simply smile and shake his hand, thanking him for congratulating your win and promising him you’ll do your best with the presidency and taking care of L’manberg. And if you noticed how his smile looked a little too angry at the edges then you didn’t say anything..

So instead of dealing with the mess that was Wilbur Soot you focused on the crowd and let go of Wilbur’s hand to stand at the sort of comically short podium and spoke out to the people you were now responsible for,

“Well, this all was certainly unexpected..”

Chuckles erupted from the crowd at that, making you feel a bit better about all of this. At least you weren’t the only one to see how wild all of this mess was.

“I’m actually really shocked! I wasn’t intending to run for president but I suppose life has other plans for me. But regardless, I’m honored you’ve all put your faith in me to lead you. I swear to do my absolute best for you and help L’manberg flourish.”

Applause from the crowd made you give a genuine smile. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad?

-0-

In the audience, watching this all unfold behind a mask and tapping his foot, stood the familiar looking figure in a green hood. Hanging around next to him was Sapnap in all his black and white dressed glory. And at some point George had gotten bored with the drama on stage and had left Quackity’s side (not that the duck hybrid had even noticed or cared) and wandered over to stand with his two friends. They watched Wilbur hand over the presidency to you and George made an off hand comment that Wilbur sure didn’t look pleased with losing, a smug laugh in his sleepy tone. Sapnap snickered but stared at you and elbowed his taller friend, asking in a curious tone while subtly gesturing to you,

“Speaking of, why didn’t you tell us you’d let someone new on the server, Dream?”

His friend glanced at him for a second longer than normal before replying with a tense tone to his voice that he hadn’t let her on. That caused both Sapnap and George to jerk their heads up to look at him in visible confusion. While George stammered through a series of ‘what’s’ and ‘wait hold on-’ Sapnap was loudly questioning what the hell he meant. The mask wearing player shushed them both before looking up to see if anyone had heard them or looked over at the twos’ loud exclamations. Thankfully nobody had. So he sighed and led them a bit further away from the crowd and explained that he’d not authorized any new members to the server. and it was true, he hadn’t. But both hybrids still looked confused and George asked, clearly puzzled,

“Well then how did she get on the server?? Nobody else can let people on, right, Dream?”

Sapnap nodded but stopped when their taller friend let out a flat hum before shaking his head ‘no’. That caught the shorter twos’ attention so he elaborated by asking them,

“Who on this server is known to have Creative Mode?”

The two blinked before it dawned on them and they looked even more shocked than before, only now it was coupled with anxiousness. Sapnap harshly whispered to the two, asking why the hell fucking GOD himself would actually let someone onto the server?? DreamXD never bothered with players and stuff, only being rumored to be seen by players if they broke server rules. George added on that this all sounded really weird. And an idea hit him and he couldn’t help but voice it.

“You don’t think… she’s linked to DreamXD.. do you? Like working for him or something?” he asked a touch nervously.

The other two didn’t say anything, not really knowing what to say to that. Sapnap could only shrug while the tallest of their group remained silent, none of them having any answers to the string of questions they’d just let loose.

They would just have to wait and see it seemed.

-0-

@lady-bee-fechin @kacchasu @putridjoy @lunawritesstories @galaxypankitty3030 @paradigmax @zachariethememerie @killmewithafanfic @trinity-1002107 @hufflepuff-demigod @truthdaze @exorcisms-with-elmo @redbloodtea @heythereimhaylz @olyink @jackalopedoodles @nikkineeky @artsimatsu @hufflepuff-demigod @corpiet @beepa99 @anxiousnarwhale @bananaaddictmilkshake @realitycanbeajerk @lostandsouciant @thegeekisheere @sparkling-gayyy

#technoblade x reader #techno x reader #technoblade #dsmp #dream smp #mcyt x reader #c!tommy #c!tubbo #c!wilbur #c!fundy #c!niki #c!quackity #c!schlatt #c!george #c!sapnap #c!dream

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cerastes · 3 years

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May I request a review of general coolness and awesome of the horses we saw during the event?

Right, Maria Nearl event!

I liked the event quite a lot, though I do feel like it dropped the ball at the end. That aside, I had a lot of fun the entire time!

First of all, the cast was wonderful. Maria is explicitly not a powerful or skilled fighter to any degree that matters in the frame of strength the story takes place in, being definitely more skilled than the average person and even the average nameless knight, but being woefully outclassed by practically anyone that has a name in the Major. A humble mechanic with a heart drenched in justice, Maria doesn’t even like to fight, and adheres to a knightly ideal and a duty she must fulfill instead to justify her participation in these commercialized bloodsports, which carries the narrative. She is joined by a lovable cast of rambunctious family and family friends, who serve as her mentors and support: Her aunt, who is more akin to an older sister-slash-maternal figure, Zofia, who we are immediately shown is so close to Maria that the moment Maria made a big decision (the participation in the Major) without confirming with Zofia first, she immediately chastised her, wondering why she did not consult with her beforehand. Aunt Zofia is her aunt only due to technicality, as she’s a lady-in-waiting (or, in other words, belongs to a branch family of the Nearl clan, and is actually only 5 years older than Maria) and, more importantly, a decorated, retired competition knight who earned enough in her career that she can live comfortably for the rest of her life, ironically far outstripping the main Nearl house in terms of wealth. There’s also Kowal, an old Ursus mechanic, engineer and smith who mentors Maria in the ways of the wrench, willing to pass his workshop to Maria with her as his successor any day of the week, who himself also used to be a squire to V, an old, retired knight of old who served as Grandpa Nearl’s peerless sharpshooter and who trained Zofia back in the day. Finally, we have Old Marcin, owner of the cast’s favorite hangout, a little bar where he and Maria mediate the infinite squabbles, fights, and arguments that Kowal, V, and occasionally Zofia spark between one another. The event does a great work of introducing the dynamic between these five characters as something extremely domestic and comfortable: You can tell these five are tight and that they have spent a long time together. It’s just another day in their low profile lives when, suddenly, Maria dons Margaret’s old armor and decides to take arms for the main Nearl house, which is currently on the brink of ruin and about to lose its knighthood and nobility titles.

And this decision, and everything this decision means, informs everything that happens afterwards: Zofia tells Maria that if she’s worried about being left homeless, then that’s just foolishness, since Zofia is absolutely 100% ok with Maria moving in with her. She’s loaded. They can live comfortably for the rest of their lives without a concern. Kowal, likewise, insists that Maria is a good enough mechanic that she can earn a living by doing that. But, see, it’s not about a livelihood for Maria, it’s about preserving that for which Margaret and Grandpa Nearl fought and stood for, it’s never about the wealth, it’s about the name, the principle, not the glory, the weight of ideals that blood was shed to nourish and maintain. Maria is not even sure if she’s doing the right thing, but she’s got to do something. Why? Look no further than Uncle Mlynar. A bitter man, a corporate slave, spitting bile at her niece and apologies at his bosses. And the fact that it is very clear that this guy can kick some serious ass -- we never see him without his trusty blade hanging on his hip and, at the end, tells Margaret to square the hell up -- makes it all the sadder: In any other context, Mlynar might be a knight’s knight, hell, Margaret herself says she respects him still, but the Mlynar we see now is an unimportant cog in the capitalist system, just another grunt apologizing to his phone every time his lips part, who gets in hot water just by making small talk because, whoops, your workload accumulated again, better get chop chopping. Mlynar is a very telling character, because he represents everything Maria resents about the current state of the Nearl family: Disgraced, meaningless, existing as an extension of other bigger conglomerates. He is what she wishes to never become, and what the Nearl house cannot be any longer, if she has any saying on the matter.

Maria is not a good fighter. This is important and delightful, because she wins not due to aptitude, strength, or experience, she instead uses her knowledge as a mechanic, her “pegasian sight” (what Grandpa uses to refer to Maria’s incredibly powerful investigative faculties, being able to analyze situations and catch even the smallest details quickly) and the sheer heft of her brass pair of metaphorical horse balls to pull through with clutch victory after clutch victory. Zofia trying to cram as much fundamentals as she can on Maria in as little time as possible so she can survive also helps a lot.

Maria’s victories earn her the possibility of sponsorships, which would, superficially, fix her problems: The main Nearl house would retain status, she’d get a Title, and she would not have to fight anymore. But, see, this is not the point of Maria’s fight. One might say “Maria should’ve just taken the sponsorships”, but that’s not the point of Maria’s fight. She is pushing back against this highly commercialized view on “knighthood”, just like Margaret before her did. Margaret had a clear intent and her passions made her act mostly in anger, as she makes no secret: She hates Kazimierz for what it has become. Maria’s intent is less clear, even to herself, but she’s very much aiming for the same thing, but instead of Margaret’s anger, Maria has her determination. To have taken any sponsorship would have superficially kept the Nearl house afloat, but Maria is not looking to keep the house alone afloat, she’s looking to keep the house and the ideals in which it was built afloat. It goes beyond mere status.

In a world as bleak as Arknights’ and specially Kazimierz, Maria is no doubt naive to the point of frustration... But it is that which we call naive that makes a knight’s knight: Chivalry forged from ideals, sacrifice’s blunt borne from beliefs. The easy way out would’ve ultimately doomed her story, hence why she did not just move in with Zofia, hence why she did not just succeed Kowal and accept his workshop, hence why did not accept a sponsorship: It never was about that.

The very first event of the game, Grani’s Treasure, takes place in Kazimierz as well, but in the isolated outskirts, and we see hard-working, honest people, inhabitants of a nice little scenic hamlet. Now, we see what Kazimierz really looks like: A sprawling megalopolis of neon and concrete where the system shamelessly feeds on whoever sticks out their neck. The contrast couldn’t be harsher, and any hell is upheld by its demons: Czarny was a fascinating character, in that he very clearly held a lot of influence and power... And was extremely replaceable. The moment he messed up badly enough, he was instantly replaced by just whoever the hell picked up the phone next. It’s chilling. One puppet performed poorly? Irrelevant, there’s an endless supply who’ll take his place, provided enough fear and funds. Fear and money. The two currencies of Kazimierz. When a shadow council can just appoint you as the next Spokesman just on basis of you having picked up a phone without any real background check beyond “the previous Spokesman likely intended for this next sack of meat to pick up his phone in case he messed up”, well, congratulations, you’ve crafted a terrifying capitalist hellscape. No wonder Margaret hates Kazimierz so much, given the rot brewing in its underbelly and upper echelons.

And to all this, I have to say: It’s lovely. I loved the world building, implicit and explicit, I loved the cast, I love the themes explored and how characters were used to juxtapose these.

I feel it kinda drops the ball at the end by just... Not having a conclusion? It just sort of ends, which is very weird because events tend to be good at concluding themselves. I assumed we’d get some post-Challenge stages cutscenes to tie everything up like in the past but... No, not really, it didn’t happen. Margaret swoops in, the sisters perform the Ultimate Kamehameha on the Sarkazian Knights, and then it sort of ends one brief talk later. It needed a bigger epilogue, for sure. But this doesn’t ruin the event or anything, just a bit of a weak ending, everything else is still delightful and I loved it very much.

So yeah! The horses sure were wonderful!

#whiskas does stuff #arknights #maria nearl #arknights lore post

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crystal-witchiness · 3 years

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***Okay so I found this in my notes from May 2021 as a reaction to the scenes in the beginning of Endgame when Captain Marvel first brings Tony and Nebula back to Earth, when they first get off the ship, and when Tony yells at Steve a few scenes later when he looks like ‘Death Warmed Over’ in his robe and i thought I’d share -

Every time someone argues with me about my ABSOLUTE 100% belief that Steve and Tony had romantic feelings for each other, I’ll just show them this scene. “And I needed YOU.” He didn’t say “You guys” or “Your help.” Tony looked at Steve with so much pain in his eyes and said, “I needed y o u.” And Steve is just as broken watching Tony. This isn’t the first time this has happened between them. They had MANY scenes like this in Civil War (but I like to pretend that movie didn’t happen cause ‘ow blow a hole in my ship why dontcha?’) I mean technically I could submit that whole movie as evidence of their feelings but there are too many negative emotions wrapped up in it and it hurts. This movie is the first time they’ve seen each other since Civil War and when Tony first gets off the ship he basically falls into Steve’s arms. First of all, Steve fricking S P R I N T S when he sees Tony getting off the ship, then Tony sighs in relief and lets Steve take his weight. AND IMMEDIATELY begins unloading his grief about losing Peter cause he knew Steve would understand and comfort him. You can SEE s e e when Pepper runs up that (Ofc Tony does another sigh of relief that the snap didn’t take her (which I wish it did sorry Pepper your character stopped being interesting in the 2nd Iron Man)) Tony has to pull himself off of Steve and pretend to have it more together than he does because Pepper immediately begins crying and Tony has to comfort her. But Steve doesn’t leave his side. Tony cradling Pepper but he’s turning his body so that Steve can cradle him and ugh. Honestly I would have accepted a polyamorous relationship. Tony NEEDED someone to be the leader. THATS LITERALLY WHAT PEPPER WAS TALKING ABOUT. Tony NEVER rests because he always thinks he has to be the one to do everything, EXCEPT for when Steve’s around. Steve is the Captain and even though they bump heads (a lot, awww couples’ squabbles) Tony ALWAYS defers to Steve when it’s important. And Steve? Steve HAS to be a leader, to be helpful, in a healthy way because he couldn’t be that for most of his life in the past. He was a scrawny defenseless guy who always had to depend on Bucky. So to be able to take care of this group of wonderful people who are so powerful and yet STILL NEED STEVE? It’s who he his. It’s who Tony is too but he doesn’t WANT to be that way, he does it because he has to. He does it when no one else can or he doesn’t want to lose anyone else. This scene right now is Tony feeling helpless and so he lashes out at the easiest person, Steve. Steve is their leader and has saved them many times. Tony saw that picture of Peter and couldn’t handle his own feelings of helplessness so he lashed out to bring down the next ‘leader figure’ of the group. Steve and Tony have always been the parents of the Avengers. Steve is the most dad-est dad ever to dad. Meanwhile, Tony invites everyone to live with him while feeding them, clothing them (armor and civilian clothes) and making sure they have top of the line protection. HE LITERALLY EVEN SAYS THIS IN AGE OF ULTRON. SUCH a mom. So he wanted to make Steve feel his pain because Steve made a promise that they would lose together and Steve wasn’t there on that moon. And OF COURSE Tony knows that Steve was on earth fighting his own battle against Thanos but he wasn’t WITH Tony. And they are always stronger together than apart. (Civil War kinda proved this too) Tony sees Steve’s absence as the reason they lost, because ‘if only they’d been together’ ‘maybe we could have won if we’d only been together.’

ALSO DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON TONY LITERALLY GIVING STEVE A REPRESENTATION OF HIS HEART. I know he did it out of anger and to make a point but he took away this piece of him, that he made SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE HE FELT VULNERABLE WITHOUT THE ARC, and gave it to Steve. Once again shedding that responsibility and giving it to Steve. Because even with the residual anger over Civil War, Tony trusts Steve. He says otherwise in this moment out of anger but that “vision” he talks about here? He literally watches Steve die (YEAH THATS RIGHT I SAID STEVE. Not PEPPER, NOT RHODEY, NOT ANY OF THE OTHER AVENGERS.) Wanda showed him his worst fear in Age of Ultron and it was the death of the Avengers, but he didn’t see THEM die. Everyone else, Thor, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint were already dead. Tony watched STEVE die and it was STEVE saying that Tony could’ve saved them that spurred him into creating Ultron. He was so scared of losing them and letting Steve down (and letting him die) that he wanted to wrap the whole world in armor to protect him. And he tries to do it again in this scene. He means it to be spiteful but he gives Steve his armor and tells him to hide from Thanos. WHICH IS ANOTHER THING UGH. Tony doesn’t know that out of all of the people who fought Thanos in Wakanda that day, Steve was the one who engaged in hand-to-hand combat with him. Everyone else had armor and suits, weapons, etc. Steve has his serum strength and he u s e d it. It didn’t help for very long but he used his BARE HANDS to fight an alien-monster wielding 5/6 of ALL POWERFUL infinity stones, and ofc he was never going to win, but even Thanos looked at Steve in incredulity at his bravery and resolve. A human (a super charged one at that but still a human) fought him with his bare hands and wasn’t going to stop. (Steve proved this again at the end of Endgame when he’s the last one standing against Thanos and his entire army and just tightens the strap on his broken shield, (and most likely broken arm, based on the flinch/hiss) and readies himself to fight alone. Steve also gave Wanda time to destroy the mind stone (unfortunately, that didn’t mean anything in the end)

AND YET Tony doesn’t know any of this. He doesn’t know how hard Steve fought, just like Tony did on Titan, to stop Thanos. And I REALLY wish we had seen Tony’s reaction to Steve standing up to Thanos at the end of Endgame OR EVEN WIELDING MJOLNIR, but anyways.

Back to the basics. Boss level stuff most people don’t remember or think about- Tony’s dad very unhealthily IDOLIZED Steve. He canonically compared everything Tony did to Steve. So Tony grew up idolizing this man that he also despised because it fueled his father’s abuse of him. Tony shows this anger in the first Avengers. When they have their argument on the quinjet. “Everything special about you came out of a bottle.” He even says something about how Steve didn’t live up to his father’s hype (I don’t remember Tony’s exact words but that’s the gist) And ofc Steve says Tony’s nothing without his armor. But then they go on the prove each other wrong multiple times, but mainly in their last moments in the MCU. Steve proves it by standing alone against an ENTIRE alien army and later by picking up mjolnir. And Tony? Tony is that ONE factor in a million that Stephen sees. Tony, a beautifully pure human-being, with no powers or serums to help, takes on the powers of the stones. KNOWING it would kill him. He had proof. It nearly killed Thanos and Bruce and they were hulking (pun intended) beings with super strength and all that.

Tony and Steve were always set up to be spoils to one another and that makes them perfect together. They balance each other out. Pepper was a boss b****, no doubt, and I loved their relationship in the first two Iron Man movies, but as their characters grew and Tony’s personality was intrinsically changed through trauma- Pepper was no longer right for him. She was good for him, no doubt, but Tony couldn’t relax with her as he did with Steve. Tony could trust Steve to take over and everything could be fine. Pepper was like that for Stark Industries but not in other ways. Tony always saw himself as Pepper’s protector. I will 100% give her props for telling Tony that he’d never rest until he tried Scott’s time travel theory, but other than that she wasn’t particularly supportive of Iron. Man. What Pepper never seemed to understand, and what Steve didn’t understand when he FIRST met Tony, is that Tony and Iron Man are synonymous. Their is no ‘man outside the suit.’ Tony Stark is Iron Man and Iron Man is Tony Stark. Steve was placed into an already created persona of Captain America. Steve didn’t create Captain America even though that’s who he was. He was literally MADE for the role. Tony on the other hand, MADE Iron Man. He was the one who built the first suit - dying in a cave in Afghanistan. He was the one who took responsibility for Obadiah and his father’s actions and became a superhero to save the countries that were affected by Stark tech. Steve may have volunteered to be a superhero because he felt like he had no one other choice but Tony DIDN’T HAVE TO. He had fame, money, power, ALL OF IT. He could’ve EASILY hidden his company’s dark underside once he found out. But instead, Tony was like “Hey um so my company has done some bad things and instead of delegating aid through my money and power, I’m going to personally handle this with a titanium alloy suit and technology that I helped create in a cave while being held captive by a terrorist cell.”

Where was I going with this? OH YEAH.

I will believe in TonyxSteve (Stony) for the rest of my life and I will use fanfiction to fill the void of their deaths. Basically, if I lost anyone in the word vomit above, what I’m trying to say is that- Steve and Tony completed each other. They provided something the other needed. Tony needed stability and protection. He needed to feel like he could let go. Steve needed an anchor in the present. Someone lively and opinionated, SOMEONE ADVENTUROUS AND FUNNY, who Steve could smile with and protect. But also. Steve trusted Tony to be a leader as much as Tony trusted him. They had their ups and downs. Trauma and the Accords didn’t help their relationship at all, but should’ve been it for each other. And I honestly believe they would have t h r i v e d.

Honestly I applaud anyone who made it this far. I don’t know where this all came from but I will not apologize✌🏻

I rest my case your honor.

#avengers endgame #steve rogers #tony stark #captain america #iron man #stony #marvel endgame #steve x tony #i will die with this ship #i ship them #rip stan lee

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dreamteamspace · 3 years

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So this stream I got a bit confused with what was going on with the whole spiel with schlatt and dream, and I dont actually think theres a traitor. However if there was one why not niki ya know? I mean, he kept saying how it would be way more unexpected than eret in the independance war, and literally everyone so far has been thought of as a potential traitor to pogtopia,, except well,, why not niki? She also had this letter to her "dear friend" that sounded like a new turn for her character and idk man why not?

Alright I’m a very texting type of person and you’ve got my started on my hyperfixation here we go-

My thoughts on the whole situation and why I think Fundy is the traitor:

I think from Dream’s perspective: Everything makes sense. I’m HIGHLY certain that Schlatt’s deal, which Dream said is “Something Wilbur and Tommy would never give him”, was that L’Manburg will either cease to exist (become part of the Dream SMP, and we know neither Wilbur not Tommy would ever do that), or that Dream would essentially become leader of it.

That’s why, in this flip situation, if he wins, he wins all of it. This also makes sense, as Dream is 100% alright with Wilbur just blowing it up, too: Because essentially he achieves the very same thing: L’Maburg/Manburg is no more.

Dream is absolutely right that he was never on their side or really on anybody’s side. Dream is his own side. It’s his server. He IS the Dream SMP, in that sense, just like Tommy is the spearhead of the rebellion right now.

I’m also fairly certain Dream will pull a lot more people than they think into this, and I think they ALSO know, in a meta-way, that they won’t be fighting only Schlatt and Dream and one traitor. He’s just letting them wallow in their security, although I have to say he LOVES dipping in his dramatic implications about what he’s doing or will do. In this case, he might’ve managed to keep quiet to let them think they’re safe.

So for Dream: Either they win, and L’Manburg is his/no more, or Wilbur sees they start losing, and L’Manburg is also no more. Honestly? He just has to make Wilbur panic hard enough to hit that button... and then he wins. It would be bad if he loses, though, so I do think he’ll pull together for this. He’s very competitive.

(Lot more juicy theory as to who the traitor is under the cut)

I predict that a good portion of BadboyHalo, Georgenotfound, Sapnap, Punz, potentially also people like Thunder or Alyssa?, are going to join Dream’s side. Sam seems close to the rebellion, but he’s also friends with George and Sapnap, but I just can’t see those two seriously fighting against Dream. If the stakes really are high, they’ll flip over to him, although I also can’t see them convincing Sam.

Most likely, George and Sapnap are just going to stay out of it entirely, and let Sam fight on the side of the rebellion. Maybe the current pet war might change that, though, say if Sapnap develops a new hatred against Tommy or even Sam? (I dont know what the pet war’s at atm but didn’t Sapnap and Sam fight over pets?), he would join in on Dream’s side. George? I have no idea. Most likely he just won’t be there. He doesn’t want to go against Sam (Who provides him with like. Everything), but he also doesn’t wanna fight Dream. IF he fights, though, I’m tempted to say he’d be on Dream’s side, but I’m honestly not up to date enough on his streams to say for certain.

As for the traitor: I actually haven’t seen Niki’s letter (to my great regret, I saw the news float around though), since I’m very focused on watching Tommy and Wilbur’s POVs. Honestly, if it’s Niki? That would be MASSIVELY surprising, and the biggest brain move I’ve ever seen. It’s possible, but I honestly don’t think it’s likely.

They’ve kept their characters fairly consistent, and while this IS kindof meta to say, I don’t think (with how things are atm), that Niki would betray L’Manburg, UNLESS she’s doing a double-agent thing and plans on tricking Dream in the end. That I could potentially see happening.

But knowing that she changed the anthem from Wilbur’s posessive “My L’Manburg” to just “L’Manburg”, that she’s been loyal even when they kinda half left her alone with Schlatt to tax her, and even during the pet wars she never strikes blood, but rather takes hostages and wants a sincere apology... I don’t see it right now. Then again, I don’t watch Niki’s streams on the SMP, so I could be wrong, as I’m not quite familiar with the intricacies of her character on the SMP besides the surface level.

On on hand... I also doubt whether there is a traitor at all, and Dream is just hoping to drive them apart and make sure they don’t get things done as efficiently as they could, because they’re busy pointing fingers at eachother, suspecting eachother, potentially even throwing somebody out once the tension between them snaps.

He needs to win this fight. If he does, he gets EVERYTHING. What they think of him after that point doesn’t matter, so the lie doesn’t matter. They can laugh at him afterwards, but he’ll still have won. I don’t know how many actually highly important details Dream would drop into conversation like that.

Consider, he does have a traitor. Why would he tell them he has one there? Why tell them that they’ll never guess? It just sows chaos in their group, and that’s what he wants. If he DID have one, he might just not say anything.

On the other hand: He might just be dramatic like that honestly. We all know they’re meta-fighting for the next spot in a sad-ist animatic, so Dream could very well be taking a more active role to insert himself into the story and cause some drama. Even if he DOES have a traitor on the inside, saying it still sows chaos. It’s a little risky, but if it really is something they won’t guess, then the chance that they’ll suspect the wrong person might be high enough, and make it worth it.

If he DOES actually have a traitor, my top sus are honestly Fundy, Tubbo, and maybe Ponk. I’m very sure it’s NOT Wilbur, Tommy, Sam, or Quackity.

Ponk doesn’t seem like the type of person to be reliable enough. He’s just kinda in it for the ride, and he’s too quiet to set a focus on. I don’t think Dream even considered him on the side of the rebellion for certain until today. It is, however, still possible. Tommy seems to trust him, and he’s not in deep enough for them to intently interrogate him on his loyalty, cause they know he’s more laid back when it comes to that. He feels only half in the rp to begin with, just wanting to fuck around with everyone. And then, BOOM, he’s actually been playing a massive role this whole time. It’s a little bit of a safe target, too, albeit a little underwhelming.

Tubbo... listen. We all love Tubbo. Tommy loves Tubbo, and we know Tubbo cares greatly for Tommy. Tubbo also seems(?) to care for L’Manburg. But I just....

It’s Tubbo, man. I have no idea. He seemed SO close to ACTUALLY flipping over to Schlatt before the festival. Everyone keeps pushing him around like this innocent tiny kid when he has the biggest third eye out of everyone and is the only one actually doing any work.

Tubbo has stated before that his official motivation is that he just wants peace for everyone. He just doesn’t want to fight and wants to do fun stuff. So of course he sounds horrified at the prospect of having to hunt down Tommy after Tommy was exiled, but happily went along with the festival. He was excited to do his speech. Schlatt actually placed responsability on them for once. He truly did seem happy about that.

It doesn’t matter as much to Tubbo who’s who. What matters is that the fighting preferrably stops, and they all just have a good time. Dream gave the line “I’m very convincing”, so I think he did actually have to convince the traitor, if there is one, to join his side. It wasn’t automatic.

Technically speaking, if L’Manburg is no more, and they’re all part of the Dream SMP again, doesn’t the fighting stop? If there’s no nation to fight over, then there’s no reason to fight. If L’Manburg is no more, then Schlatt has 0 power, and if Dream takes over, he could’ve promised to un-exile Tommy and Wilbur. And then they’re all part of the Dream SMP! No more fighting! Everyone’s on the same side!

Tubbo seems to care less for nations or sides, and much more for people, and for the people around them to be happy. His switch to enthusiasm at Schlatt’s festival came quickly, because many of the people he cared about still partook in it, and he never did hurt Tommy, because he does care about him.

But Tubbo DID say the line “may the festival begin” after his speech, and they knew what that would start. So why? In a way, I think Tubbo waged his options. Who does he care about more? Tommy, to his knowledge, is on Wilbur’s side. He might’ve decided in a moment of uncertainty that Wilbur and Tommy’s opinions of him are more important to them than the opinions of the other people there. Mostly Tommy, because we know those two would die for eachother. They chose Tommy over everyone else at that festival, potentially even over their own motivations, over their own gut.

Fundy, in fact, has MANY reasons to be the traitor, but isn’t quite obvious in that sense. They thought he was a traitor, actually, but once he showed them his diary, he essentially convinced all of them very certainly that he’s not the traitor, and they believed him. Dream joined the call later, so it’s possible he heard that part or Fundy told him about it (They’ve all been known to listen in on convos sometimes to know whats going in. They have to in order to build a good story line.)

Fundy has all the reasons. Reason number one, to me, is Fundywastaken. It’s canon in the Dream SMP lore, they just surprisingly haven’t done anything with it. During the independance war, that wasn’t a thing yet, and since they ARE a thing in canon now... they’ve never actually fought eachother. In fact, as things are now? We’re EXPECTING to see Dream fight his canon fiancé. Fundy officially joined the fight when Tommy asked him, confirming that they can count on him and that he will fight. We know for certain that Dream will fight.

If Fundy isn’t the traitor and doesn’t become one, then Dream and Fundy are inevitably meeting in battle on the 16th.

Consider his storyline: We’ve all been highly expecting Fundy to either punch Wilbur in the face or at LEAST be dissapointed in him or SOMETHING. He hasn’t, as far as I’m aware. He’s just standing there near him, very very quietly, giving a firm but quiet “yes” when Tommy asked him if they could count on him.

Fundy hasn’t expressed much to Wilbur at all, despite heving been left alone with Schlatt by him, despite how much he deserves to be angry at him for being patronized and not trusted with anything.

And, y’know... He’s officially Dream’s fiancé. The others don’t seem to know yet, and I don’t know how many people do know or not. It’s possible they just don’t know, and of course Dream wouldn’t tell them anything, not even tell anyone, this close before a fight. Dream might not even tell his close allies out of fear that the information could spread or that they could turn on him.

So honestly... Fundy seems the most likely for me to be the traitor, especially because there’s been plenty of foreshadowing for it, there’s a good setup, he has good reasons, and it wouldn’t seem like a cheap plottwist, but rather a gradual change.

Not to mention that meta-wise, Fundy has been actively involved in the rp and been dropping some pretty good lines himself. This isn’t something that Dream would have some non-rping person do.

I’m also kindof sure it’s not Technoblade, because Dream laughed it off and half-indicated that it is (Tommy: “I bet it’s Technoblade” Dream, cracking up: “I didn’t say that, you said that”), because he profits from doing so. He profits from them thinking Technoblade is the traitor. And also I really, really don’t think Techno would team up with Dream in this rp. Then again, Dream recently proclaimed to be on the side of chaos.... so who truly knows? I’ll definitly be surprised if it’s Techno, but I suppose it is a possibility. I just don’t think Techno can be convinced to much of anything, unless of course all it took was saying “Hey it’s Schlatt and Me against like 6 people so if we want an actual fight for once-” “Finally some bloodshed and war. I’m in”. I mean, I doubt it, but I’m leaving the possibility open.

TLDR: Dream wins if he wins the fight OR if Wilbur blows everything up. The traitor is likely either Fundy, Ponk or Tubbo, and I think there will be more people fighting on Dream’s side than just Schlatt and one traitor.

#mcyt #dream smp #mcytblr #dreamwastaken #itsfundy #fundywastaken #fwt #tubbo #nihachu #wilbur soot #dreamteamspace speaks

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kunoichi-ume · 3 years

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Okay holy crap. Noara looks amazing. I was blown away by your sketch you sent me the other day but cleaned up, with colors and everything? I love this so much. I don’t know whatelse to say other than that something this amazing needed a drabble so here is my first offical Space Wrestlers AU fic, inspired by this amazing, stunning picture.

Story: Unnamed Wrestler Noara Au

Word Count: 1113

Characters: Noara AKA “The Starspark”, Emah Keqara AKA “Kayo Blitz”

Noara sat on the bottom rope, reclining against the middle one, as she watched her opponent enter the arena. The roar of the audience was a mix of cheers and jeers, loud enough she could only just hear Kayo's theme music. She smiled, remembering how the crowd had cheered for her own entrance. Her character had been carefully constructed to be a fan favorite, a baby face they called it in the business. Against a wild, aggressive character like Kayo she was easily the favored wrestler.

That by no means meant facing the larger, stronger, Bothan woman would be an easy task.

Kayo struck her signature pose and howled before surprising Noara by sprinting the rest of the way to the ring. She dove under the bottom rope, sliding onto the mat and rolling up to her feet in one seamless, impressive move. With a glance to make sure Noara wasn't going to attack right away, Kayo turned her back and jumped up to the middle rope in the corner, almost straddling the turnbuckles and pumping her fist in the air. The crowd roared, their excitement for the coming bout building.

Noara stood, walking to the side of the ring opposite Kayo's corner, as the lights came on. The referee, a dark furred Cathar she hadn't worked with before, entered the ring and after receiving a nod from both women signaled for the bell to start the match.

Wasting no time, Noara rushed Kayo as the bell's chime still echoed around them. Hitting Kayo with a forearm to the chest, pushing her back toward the turnbuckles, she followed the strike with several body shots. Against someone like Kayo, her speed was her asset, one she needed to take full advantage of.

The Bothan was initially stunned by her barrage and Noara grabbed her leg, wrapping the limb around the rope so it rested behind the knee. Jumping to give her movement more momentum, she pulled hard on her leg. Kayo cried out as the unprotected back of her knee hit the tightrope.

Then the ref was there, telling her to get out of the corner. Kicking Kayo once in the gut, Noara stepped back at the count of four. Not doing so before a five count would be a disqualification and Noara had no intention of losing, even by a technicality. Taking several quick steps toward the opposite corner, Noara spun and sprinted toward Kayo, diving right before reaching the Bothan in an attempted spear - a shoulder hit to the opponent's midsection.

But Kayo had recovered more than she expected, diving to the side, and Noara was unable to stop herself before her shoulder connected painfully with the metal pole in the corner. She groaned, holding the ropes to stop herself from sliding out of the ring onto the barely padded metal flooring below. Strong arms wrapped around her middle and before she could counter the move she was flung backwards, over Kayo's head and released. Her body flew halfway across the mat, and though she tried to roll with the impact it still knocked the breath out of her.

Never one to let an opening pass by, Kayo was on her again, growling like the animal her character often mimicked. She picked up Noara, easily manhandling her smaller form, lifting her above her shoulders. She was setting up for a devastating blow, one of Kayo's go to moves, where she threw her opponent over her shoulder and hit them in the face with her knee on their way down.

Shaking off her daze, Noara twisted in Kayo's grasp, managing to get her legs wrapped around one of the Bothan's arms and locked her arms around her neck. Kayo dropped to her knees, balance thrown by Noara's weight shifting, Pressing down, Noara forced Kayo to the mat and tightened her thighs around her arm, wrenching the limb in a direction it was not meant to go. Her gras shifted, hands grasped across the end of Kayo's snout and she pulled backward. The stretch in her neck would hurt, as well as the unnatural pull on her shoulder. It was a modified armbar, one that had worked well for Noara in the past.

Taking stock of her position, Noara smiled when she saw they were directly in the middle of the ring. Reaching the ropes, even just getting a limb under them, would force Noara to break the hold or risk disqualification.

"I got you Kayo!" Noara shouted her jeer to be heard over the cheers of the crowd, "tap out!" Kayo squirmed beneath her, trying to dislodge the smaller woman but Noara held fast. She wasn't the strongest wrestler in the business but she was like a Boohar Pitbull when she got her fangs into her opponent, she didn't let go unless physically forced to.

On the other side of Kayo the referee was practically lying on the mat, his face inches from Kayo's asking if she wanted to tap. The Bothan shook her head, as much as she could with the brutal hold, and growled. Noara arched her back, increasing the pressure of her hold.

With another grunt, this one more exasperated before smacking her free hand against Noara’s arm repeatedly. Tapping out. The ref pushed to his knees, shouting for the bell and ordering the hold be broken. Noara gave one last pull of her arms, for good measure before releasing her grasp and rolling off of Kayo's body. The referee rolled Kayo onto her back, leaning close to speak to her - checking that she was alright.

After judging her well enough not to need the medics called he jumped to his feet as the announcer declared Noara the winner. The referee held her arm up in the air as her music hit and Noara whooped with the crowd. She spared a glance down at Kayo, noticing how the Bothan was rubbing at her snout. and fought the instinct to grimace. She was going to owe Emah a beer for that one, she knew the woman hated submission holds and even more so hated being forced to tap.

But for right now that didn't matter, Emah would get over it and both had come out to the ring determined to win. For Noara it was more than that. It was an opportunity. To show that even a little thing like herself could overcome any challenge, that she didn't have to resort to her connection with the Force to make it happen.

That Noara, the independent woman and not the Jedi she had once been trained to be, was strong enough to conquer her own demons. Even it was just for entertainment.

#Swtor #Kinda #Space Wrestlers #OC: Noara Starspark #OC: Emah Keqara #My Writing #Chaos Art #I love this picture so damn much #Its beautiful #submission

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kiritouyadeku96 · 3 years

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Deku VS Class 1A

I have already made a post about people being upset over the possibility of Deku losing to his classmates, but I want to rant a little about it as well as share some of the arguments I have seen(on TikTok not here)! All the while giving my thoughts and opinions because why not 🤷‍♀️!

Number 1 - “Deku being tired is not a good enough excuse for him to lose” I don’t know, I think him being exhausted, both physically and mentally is actually a valid reason to lose. And let’s face it I doubt he’s just tired, he’s probably hungry and maybe a little injured still from the previous fights!

Number 2 - “Deku fought muscular with broken arms” They do actually have a point there, but I think they need to also take into account a few things. Deku fought muscular and just about won, and I’m not saying that wasn’t a hard great feat but that was one day or technically night. A day where before he had plenty of rests, and proper meals. Now though, he’s about to go up against his whole class, after basically running himself ragged for like what days or a month! He’s barely stopped, I bet his mental state isn’t all that healthy, he’s not really eaten a stable meal and I doubt he’s completely healed up from his previous fights. While his classmates are yes probably still healing and whatnot, are in a better state(sorta)! Except for maybe Katsuki who looks like he’s still got a bad shoulder! All I’m saying is Deku looks like he’s not going to be able to take much more, and I feel he will lose or faint due to fatigue. Thanks to an anonymous message, I remembered it’s also a good idea to take into account, that Izuku was also running on a lot of adrenaline during the fight with Muscular. Plus after the fight he was still running on pure adrenaline which Aizawa himself mentioned, and adrenaline is one hell of a drug 😂!

Number 3 - “Deku has a load of quirks and is on par with All Might” Yes Deku is strong and has gotten stronger, and yes he has a load of quirks but like a load of quirks ain’t going to stop him from getting exhausted! At the end of the day he has multiple quirks, and he has gotten stronger but he is still human! He is still a 16 year old human being, and sure his body is more durable but he’s still human! He still needs to eat, sleep and heal, him having a powerful quirk doesn’t like take that away. Which brings me back to Number 1, him being human means that he gets tired and there’s only so far he can go before exhaustion wins! He’s got multiple quirks but that ain’t going to stop him from getting exhausted, and it isn’t going to keep him fuelled like a proper meal would.

Finally, a good few of them only really want him to win so he can fold Bakugou, and then there’s some who I think are just excited over watching him go as they call it “God mode”! I stand by my opinion though, that him losing would be the best outcome. I like want the class to know how he’s feeling and what he’s been through while away(plus him knowing how they all feel), but I think he needs to lose in order to bag himself the actual win that matters! Winning against AFO!

#please don’t think I’m trying undermine the classes suffering!#they are all still healing and hurt I’m just saying Deku is on his last leg!#plus they’re good fighters themselves peeps need to stop undermining they’re strength!#also at the end of the day he’s fictional but we ain’t going to talk about that 😂#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 319 #bnha #mha 319 #mha

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starrynite7114 · 4 years

Text

The One That Got Away

A/N: I was rewatching Mayans season two last night and Miguel just did things to me, so here we are, with a Miguel one-shot. I may begin writing for Miguel too, but I don’t want to jump the gun, we’ll see. Anyways, hope you all enjoy this one!

This is still technically Angel centric, but it’s Miguel mostly lol.

Love you all!

Word count: 4217

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Miguel watched as you giggled at whatever the hell Angel Reyes was whispering into your ear. He pursed his lips, looking away from the site that made his heart ache and his stomach churn.

It’s been six years since he let you go and the wound was still as fresh as ever.

You grew up in the same household, your mother and father worked for Miguel’s family. But you nor your family was never treated lowly, at least not by Miguel’s father.

Dita was a different story.

She was nice, personable, but you knew that she looked at you like you were beneath her. You never paid her any mind since Miguel mostly occupied your time. And due to your closeness to Miguel, Dita was warm to you.

Her only son.

He still remembered the night that everything came to blows. Adelita would never accept you in the family, but Miguel didn’t care. His mother could either get with the program or be sent elsewhere.

“Bebita, por favor, don’t pay her any mind.” Miguel pleaded as you packed your closet.

“I can’t Miguel, I can’t live like this. I love you, but I can’t be under your mother’s scrutiny day in and day out. That’s what I lived with for most of my life and I don’t deserve that. I did everything. I did well in school, got a good degree and it will never appease your mother.” You cried as you packed your things. Miguel tried to hold your hands to prevent you from continuing, but you shook your head. “Please, Miguel, I can’t.”

“So that’s it? You’re not going to fight for us.”

“I’ve fought for us ever since we were kids, Miguel. I can’t keep doing this. Your mother is suffocating me. You’re suffocating me. I was a fool to think that I could ever be a part of this family. No matter what I do or achieve, I’ll always be my mother’s child.” You took a deep breath, wiping your tears. “I’m worth more than your mother thinks. It’s not all about money.”

“And it’s not mi amor, you matter to me. I see everything. You’re the love of my life,” he whispered your name, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. “I’ll send her away.”

“No, I would never want to come between you two in that way. Your mother is all you have left Miguel.” You sat down on the bed you two shared. A bed full of memories of laughter, love and happiness. And now, it would forever hold the memory of your demise.

You could take Dita, she was never a problem. But she threatened your parents and you couldn’t have that.

‘You would never be good enough for Miguel. You’re a nice girl, a bright future, but you have no place in this family.’ Dita had told her a few days ago. ‘Disappear from his life or I’ll have your parents deported.’

So here you were now, packing and going away like she asked.

You loved Miguel but your obligation to your parents weighed heavily.

“Don’t do this bebita, please, all I have is you.” Miguel kneeled in front of her, placing his head on her lap, tears coming down from his eyes. He never thought he would lose you. The one constant in his life that never blinked an eye at the misdeeds that he had made. The person that had always been the apple of his eye and he constantly came back to Santo Padre for. The only person he would leave this life for.

And yet, he couldn’t stop you and he knew that.

“I love you so much Miguel, please let me go.”

And it was the last time you two were together. Your engagement ring he had given you was still in his safe, a painful reminder of what he once had.

“You know, I don’t think she would care if you came to see her.” Nestor has watched Miguel admire you from afar. “It’s been six years.”

It was heartbreaking to see his oldest friend in such a conundrum.

But Nestor also knew why you walked away.

“So much time has passed,” Miguel slipped his shades back on, tapping the driver to drive. “She looks happy to you?”

“Yeah Mikey, she does.”

===========

You moved to El Centro, an hour out of Santo Padre, after your break-up with Miguel. You moved your whole family there in case Dita felt they were a threat since they stayed put. You wanted to be as far away as possible from the Galindo’s.

It was difficult.

So many times you wanted to go back to Miguel, but you knew you couldn’t, so you kept your distance.

And then you met Angel and your world turned upside down for the better.

It was a chance meeting.

You still had family in Santo Padre and your mother convinced you to go to your cousin’s baby shower. You and your other were tasked with bringing the meat so before going, you stopped by Carniceria Reyes.

You were antsy, it was the best way to describe it. You didn’t want to be in Santo Padre, knowing it could get back to Dita you were here. But she shouldn’t care anymore, it’s been two years and you kept your promise. And from what you heard, Miguel was seeing Emily Thomas now.

That hurt.

You shed a few tears for that, but this was your choice.

You were just happy he found someone. Looking around the bookshelf of books, you browsed that as your mother spoke with Felipe. You’ve been here a few times and knew Felipe’s sons. You weren’t close to them, but they were also sweet whenever you came by, especially the eldest. His name escaped you then, Angelo? Alex? Armando? It was something with an A. And the youngest was Xavier or something.

“You could take one if you want.”

The sudden voice startled you. Looking over to where the voice came from, you found the eldest Reyes, Alvaro? Fuck, his name was really escaping you.

“I’m good, I was just looking around.” You stammered out. “It’s nice seeing you again,” you looked at his shirt hoping there was a name tag. But he was wearing a biker vest, or kutte was the proper term you believed.

Angel watched as you pondered, chuckling as you scanned his top for a name tag.

“That hurts querida, we were in the same classes.” He teased her. “My name is Angel.”

“Angel! Yes, I was close, I was going to call you Angelo.” You laughed. “How are you?”

“Good, you back in town?” Angel was aware that you were Miguel’s former fiance. There were various versions of the story as to why you walked away, why you left Miguel, but they all sounded over exaggerated and straight out of a soap opera. But he didn’t want to pry, at least not yet.

“No, just a family gathering.” You explained. “Didn’t think you would notice I was gone.”

“It’s hard not to notice, I’ve had to deal with your cousin at the bakery and she’s not as giving as you.” Angel smirked. He would never admit it to a living soul, but he went to the bakery every morning so he could get a glimpse of you. He knew that you were Miguel Galindo’s girl, well was, but it didn’t hurt to look. It was the only place his security wasn’t tailing you, he might as well take his chances.

“Right, you always came by and got the conchas and the besitos.” You vaguely remembered Angel, but you couldn’t even remember his name.

“See, you remember my order.” Angel knew it wasn’t much, but a win was a win.

You nodded your head.

“Y/N, let’s go.” Your mother called out. “Hello Angel, how are you?”

“I’m good Mrs. Y/L/N, how are you?”

“Good.” Angel answered. “It was nice seeing you again hermosa.”

You blushed at his compliment and nodded your head. “It was nice seeing you as well.”

After a few more visits, your parents decided to move back to Santo Padre since your grandmother wasn’t doing so well. With Miguel married, you figured Dita wouldn’t pay you any mind and you were right. You ran into her once and she was quite pleasant. Though, that may have to do with the fact that she saw you with Angel. You made polite conversation before leading Angel away.

At that time, you and Angel had been together for six months.

How did you go from barely knowing his name to his girlfriend?

Well, you must say, Angel Reyes was persistent.

He’d be at the bakery every morning with his friend, Coco. They would come and big you, bring you a breakfast sandwich, coffee, anything just to keep you company during the early mornings. Coco didn’t come all the time, but Angel came whenever you worked.

How did he get your schedule? Most likely your cousin, which was a hazard, but Angel could charm fucking anyone.

After a few months, you relented and started dating Angel. To say it was different than dating Miguel, was an understatement. You weren’t sure if it was the age gap or you being older, but Angel was a different type of love than Miguel.

You’ve always adored Miguel, loved him since you were able to grasp the meaning of love. You two began your relationship when you were twenty and ended it when you were twenty-five. You learned so much from Miguel and he truly loved you, he did. He communicated well with you, gave you enough information about his job to keep you at bay, but also kept you safe. He listened well to you, knowing what upset you and what made you happy. But, the downside of it was the status of a cartel wife, which at that point you had not even attained. The constant security, the eyes of everyone on you, it could get to become much. And for a young adult, it was all too much at the same time.

It was puppy love. You adored and loved Miguel with no questions, he could do no wrong in your eyes. It was naive, you were certain, but Miguel never treated you any different due to your differences in class. He supported you in a world where people expect a cartel boss to be sexist as hell.

But with Angel, it was a different type of love.

He was definitely more into you than you were to him at the beginning. You entertained the idea of dating Angel out of pure pestering from your mother and him. A few dates, he would realize what a bore you were and it would be done. The problem was, you found yourself gravitating towards Angel. You began to look forward to his morning visits. You began to look forward to your dinners that could be at any time of the night. You just began to look forward to being with him. Slowly, but surely, you were falling for Angel and it was intense.

You didn’t think you would fall in love again, you gave so much to Miguel, it wasn’t possible, but you did and you fell in love with Angel.

Two years together before he proposed to you and the third year of your relationship, you two got married. You invited Miguel as he invited you to his wedding, which you didn’t attend.

He attended yours.

You were dancing with Riz, laughing as he teased you about all the shit you’re going to have to deal with now that you were married to Angel.

“If I haven’t ran, I think we’re good.” You giggled as he spun you around and right into Miguel’s arms.

“May I cut in?” He asked, but his eyes were on you.

“Sure.” Riz nodded his head, knowing he was invincible at this point.

“Congratulations,” Miguel told you as he swayed with you. He couldn’t help but think that this was supposed to be you, you wearing a ring he customized for you, but instead, you were a fucking Reyes.

“Thank you Miguel, I’m surprised you came.” You blushed at his compliment. You weren’t going to lie, there was still that little flicker of butterflies in your stomach whenever you saw Miguel, but he was your first love, it was hard not to.

“Come on bebita, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Miguel twirled you around, smiling, flashing to a dream that he has every now and then. You two getting married, you laughing as he spun you around all night, keeping you to himself. “It was a nice reminder of what I could have had.”

You frowned them. “Miguel.”

“I know, I apologize bebita.” Miguel placed a kiss on your forehead. He knew Angel was watching, but there was nothing your husband could do except watch. He owned the MC. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to harm him. “Do you ever think of what could have been?”

“Miguel, please, not today.” You’ve ran into Miguel a few times over the years. You two always had pleasant conversations, but he would text you afterward, later that night, most likely intoxicated, asking how you could leave him, why would you leave him when you were all he had. You cried after those messages because you felt terrible, you did feel like you abandoned Miguel, but this was for the safety of your parents.

“When can we? I love you, I still do. How can you marry him?” Miguel didn’t want to do this to you, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t think you would last with Angel. What could he possibly give you that Miguel couldn’t? He even had quite a laugh with Nestor when he was first informed you were dating Angel, and here you two were now.

“Miguel, I love him.”

“Like you love me?”

“Even more.”

He froze then. It was a mistake to be here.

“May I cut in Mikey?” Nestor saw the tense looks on your faces and decided to cut in before anything else could happen.

“Of course.” He kissed your forehead one more time before walking back to his table where Bishop was sitting with Taza.

You didn’t love Angel more than him, that wasn’t possible.

===========

Miguel was having his morning coffee, checking the newspaper for the latest craziness in the world. Nestor was sitting right next to him along with Marcus, having some breakfast.

“Did you send her the gifts?” Miguel was made aware of your baby registry, which you shared with Nestor. After your wedding, you avoided Miguel and he avoided you. You both figured it was better this way.

“Yes, of course I did. She loved it, she said thank you.” Nestor kept his friendship with you since you two have known one another almost as long as you’ve known Miguel. Of course, Miguel encouraged Nestor to continue the friendship so he could somehow keep tabs on you. Nestor didn’t disclose everything to Miguel, but he gave him enough.

“You told her I gave it to her?” Miguel placed the paper down, looking at one of his oldest friends and head of security.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out Mikey, you did go over the top. I told you to get her one thing.” Nestor teased his friend.

“She had all these things on her list that she needed, I couldn’t just get her one thing.” Miguel was appalled by such a suggestion. It was no chip off his back if he got all those things for you.

“Mikey, you basically got her whole registry.”

Marcus chuckled, remembering how upset Angel was that your ex-fiance decided to flex his financial muscle and get you everything. But he knew Miguel meant well, it was hardly a snide towards Angel.

The consistent ringing of his doorbell called their attention.

Nestor stood up to get the door and Angel pushed past him, hollering for Miguel.

Miguel stood up and made his way to the foyer of his home. He found Angel, eyes bloodshot, hair a mess.

“Can I help you Angel?” Miguel questioned, a feeling of dread appearing in the pit of his stomach. Angel’s appearance and his sudden presence in his home could hardly mean anything good.

“They took her.” Angel uttered out, his tears welling up in his eyes. “Those motherfuckers took her.”

“Who?” Miguel’s heart dropped.

“The mercenaries, they’re using her as a bargaining chip to get Adelita.”

===========

Miguel walked in the dress factory after receiving word that they had a plan in motion. The Mayans were packing up their guns in the duffel bag while Angel was off at the corner pacing. He had been on edge the whole morning, which he understood, but he had to keep his cool if they were going to get you back. He needed to be on top of his game.

“Angel, a word.” He called out.

Angel stopped pacing, looking up at him. They walked outside of the room that held the pew, making their way outside. Miguel told his men to stand down and stay with the Mayans, he wanted to speak to Angel alone.

“You have to calm yourself, you being on edge is not helping the situation.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, was your pregnant wife kidnapped?” Angel didn’t mean to snap, he was just worried about you. How could he be so stupid?

“I wasn’t the one who let her across the border without fucking protection.” His usual prim and proper Ivy League persona cracked. How could Angel be so stupid to let you go across the border without anyone? He could have sent his brother with you. He could have literally fucking sent anyone with you.

Angel couldn’t even argue with him, because he knew it was true.

“Yeah, I know.” Angel slipped a cigarette stick in between his lips, lighting it up. “Thank you for coming to help.”

“I would do anything for her.”

“I bet you would,” Angel managed to chuckle. “But she’s my wife and there’s nothing that would change that.”

“I can respect that she’s happy with you.”

“Can you?”

“I haven’t killed you, so I believe that I can.” Miguel rolled up his sleeves, that Santo Padre heat was unforgiving. “But after this incident, I don’t know if you truly deserve her.”

“I’ve never deserved her, but she chose me. She loves me and that’s enough for me.”

“There was no choice to make, I’m sure she would have chosen me if I fought for her.”

“But you didn’t, did you?” Angel didn’t want to be around Miguel. He swallowed his pride to ask him for help, but he wasn’t going to be lectured or speak of what if’s with your ex-fiance. “Thank you for the gifts for our child.”

With that, Angel left Miguel to his own devices.

===========

You laid at the back of the car, light slightly seeping in your black head cover. Your hands were tied together and you were trying your best to stay strong. You’re not even sure why you were involved in this whole situation. These men were telling you that if they brought the rebel leader, you and your child would survive. You knew who Adelita was since Angel told you everything, but you’re not sure why you were being used as some sort of bargaining chip.

You tried to reason with these men that you weren’t connected to Miguel Galindo, but that just earned you a slap on the face.

You heard their panicked voices, then calling for their other colleagues for back-up. Two shots was all you heard when the car began swerving. You prayed that whoever was there weren’t other people who would harm your baby. Your main concern was your child, you were seven months pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult and you would really like for this baby to come out healthy. You tried your best to remain calm in this situation, but it was hard. You tried your best for the baby, so he wouldn’t be stressed out.

The car stopped and you heard the footsteps.

“Bebita,” it was Miguel. You felt so relieved to hear his voice. The door opened and you were softly being ushered out. You could hear Nestor as well, asking if you were okay. “Bebita, estas bien?”

They pulled off the covering, you blinked a few times to adjust to the light. Looking at Miguel, the tears came then before he enveloped you in a hug. You wrapped your arms around him, burying your face in his chest. His familiarity made you sigh a relief.

“I got you, I got you.” He whispered against your head. “Is the baby okay?”

You nodded your head. “Where’s Angel?” You questioned as you pulled away.

“He’s on his way bebita, we had to split up since they had decoys.” Miguel was so happy to see you alive and well. He saw the redness of your cheek, but he tried to just focus that you were okay. “The MC can’t seem to protect you.”

“Miguel, por favor, this was the first time. It was my own carelessness. I went across the border with my mother and they grabbed me.” You sighed. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you are not an inconvenience.” Miguel scolded you. “I was worried for your return and had to intervene.”

“Who told you I was taken?”

“Your husband called me.”

“Angel?” You knew Angel wasn’t the biggest fan of Miguel. The involvement of the MC with the cartel was something he was not a big fan of and to avoid fights, you never voiced out your opinion. Though you understood Angel’s reasoning as to why he wanted to move the club away from any cartel related activities.

“Yes, he may not be as smart as Ezekiel, but he was smart enough to contact the person he knew could help.” Miguel took off his jacket as Nestor helped you take off the jacket those mercenaries gave you. He placed his jacket on you.

“Are you happy?” Miguel questioned you as you both looked over the mountainous terrain around you both. It was odd to meet with Miguel in such a deserted place, but he insisted.

“With Angel?” You looked at the man you once love, growing up in his home as a part of the family even though your mom was their maid. It was never hard to love Miguel, it was hard to be with him. The rules, the eyes, and his mother, it could all become too much. But he loved you greatly, took care of you, made you happy, just at times, it wasn’t enough. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Thank you for letting me go.”

“I’ll never let you go, I just know better.” Miguel kissed the back of your hand. “Te amare por siempre bebita.” He caressed your cheek, your eyes closing as he did. The familiarity, the warmth. You did miss Miguel, but you would never trade what you have for the world. “Why didn’t you tell me that my mother threatened your parents?”

Your eyes opened then, the disappointment clearly seen in his eyes. “I,” you sighed. “Who told you?”

“My mother did.”

“I didn’t want to cause a rift between you two. She was the only person you had Miguel, I couldn’t do that,” he held up a hand.

“I would have protected them, how could you not have trusted me to be able and to protect your family? They’re my family.” His voice was harsh, frustrated that you decided to become a martyr instead of talking to him.

You heard the cars approaching then, two cars.

“There’s no reason for us to dwell in the past, Miguel. We’ve both moved on.”

The MC got out, Angel leading the charge. He ran to you, immediately wrapping his arms around you. He kissed you, Miguel looking away as he did. Placing a hand on your stomach as he pulled away, he asked if you were okay, was your son okay and you nodded your head.

“Fuck baby, I’m so sorry. I should have gone with you to Santo Madre.” Angel was remorseful. You had begged him to come, but he declined since he had a run with the club. How could he be so stupid? What if that was the last time he would have seen you? The tears welled up in his eyes, wrapping his arms around you again. “I love you, y/n, I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” You pulled away turning to Miguel. You took off his jacket and handed it to him. “Thank you again Miguel.”

He gave you a tense smile and a curt nod. It still hurt, after all these years, after he had married. He still wished you were the one who was next to him, but he tried not to dwell on that idea, it hurt every time he did.

All that mattered was that you were happy.

You were the one that got away and he would forever regret not fighting for you.

Now, he had to watch you be happy with Angel fucking Reyes.

These Reyes men were a pain on his side.

#angel reyes #angel reyes fanfiction #angel reyes fic #angel reyes fanfic #mayans mc imagine #mayans mc fanfic #mayans mc fic #miguel galindo #miguel galindo fanfiction #miguel galindo imagine

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mlgspacememe · 3 years

Text

I'm bored so here's what I think would happen if SCP-682 fought a bunch of comic book characters.

Personally I view 682 as "Hard to destroy", not "Unkillable" but for each character I'll throw in one side for what I think would realistically happen and a total BS 682 victory.

Juggernaut: Stalemate

Little Known Fact (because he's nerfed in almost every movie/show he's in) but the Juggernaut is NOT a mutant. He is a title given to whoever is chosen by Cyttorak, a demon God of motion.

The powers given to the Juggernaut include invulnerability and immunity to ALL physical threats. Including starvation, dehydration, and disease. The only vulnerabilities are to physic and magic attacks, and even then he's a tough opponent. He's also LITERALLY UNSTOPPABLE. He can not be stopped by anything but himself.

In a fight with 682 The Juggernaut will continuously deal serious damage to 682, but ultimately won't completely obliterate the beast, meaning that due to their mutual lack of need for sustenance they will just keep fighting indefinitely. The only chance 682 has of winning is to learn of Juggernauts very limited vulnerabilities and exploit them.

Against the OP fanon 682 Cyttorak takes one look at 682, tells Cain Marko to fuck off and makes 682 immune to all physical attacks, literally unstoppable, etc. The world is doomed.

The Hulk: Hulk wins.

You may be thinking that 682 could just adapt to the hulk's punches and technically it can... But the Hulk has literally no limits on his physical strength. Eventually there's just not going to be any 682 left for it to grow back from.

Against fanon 682: 682 becomes its own version of the hulk and becomes infinitely powerful because it's basically feels nothing but rage 24/7. World Over.

Galactus: Galactus wins, Earth loses.

Galactus doesn't LITERALLY eat worlds, he just drains the energy of the planet and everything on it, leaving nothing but a dead rock drifting in space. Which is basically what SCP-2935 is, a portal to a dead world with no signs of life, including 682. So Galactus kills the entire planet, including 682.

If 682 had to SOMEHOW survive: It would be because Galactus made it his herald, granting it the power cosmic and having it search for suitable planets for consumption. The whole universe is fucked.

Deadpool: ???

In terms of sheer inability to die, Deadpool is literally on-par with 682 so there's no real way for one to kill the other... But I almost feel like they wouldn't even try.

Hear me out: SCP-682 is capable of companionship, it just hates living things way too much to actually try and make friends. Meanwhile Deadpool is surprisingly good at making friends, most of his friends find him annoying, but at the end of the day they still consider him a friend. Not to mention both have a mutual friend in death herself. So... Deadpool and 682 would form an unlikely, and extremely dangerous, friendship.

Let's just say, hypothetically, I was halfway through writing a timeline where 682 kills Deadpool but a guy in a familiar red costume broke into my house and started pointing a gun at my head until I made him win against "Godzilla's ugly brother." Anyway Deadpool grabs his Carbonadium katanas and starts slashing at 682, and it's anti-regenative properties were NOT cancelled out by 682s adaptation, meaning Deadpool wins. (Can you get out of my house now?)

#scp #marvel #Galactus #the hulk #juggernaut #Deadpool #scp 682

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jennibeultimate · 3 years

Text

Personal recap Worlds 2021 - Men Free Skate

I am in a better mood than I was with the ladies, simply because it was a much much better event. And the last group was good even though I am not really ok with the PCS scoring and still devastated to see Yuzu take only Bronze...😭😭😭

Congratulations to all medalists!

I think the right ppl are on the podium, even if I would have put Yuzu and Yuma reversed. (and ofc I would have loved to see Shoma there) That Nathan won was what I originally expected. But I think with the lead of the SP Yuzu still had a big chance to win, but it just shouldn't happen *sigh*

You have to let Nathan one thing and that's what is a huge huge difference to ppl saying he is just like Trusova, unlike Trusova he nails his content and he has shown a performance. If that's a performance worth 96 PCS is another story. He was foot perfect with 5 quads. That is admirable. He was clearly the one with the most difficult layout and the most clean program. So for me it's totally understandable and fine that he won. And he has stable nerves. Maybe not skating last helped him who knows....he did well congrats 👏

Yuma being above Shoma and Yuzu is not what I would have predicted (but unlike Yuzu and Shoma he didn't make that many mistakes) and like I said in the beginning I would definitely have put Yuzu and Yuma reversed because the PCS for Yuma being only one point less than Shoma and two points less than Misha and Jason is ridiculous. Yuma's reaction was very cute when he found out he won a medal. He is cute and he did truly well so congratulations to World silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama! 👏 (just on a sidenote just because he placed better here than Yuzu and Shoma does not mean either is done. Yuma doesn't have the looks, the charisma and the skating skills Shoma and Yuzu have. So nothing is for sure for the future.)

Yuzu I am so proud of you! ❤️

Yuzu fought so hard today. It didn't work like it could but I am just so proud of you. 👏👏👏 He just had a bad day. And getting home with a Bronze after two competitions and it's the 8th world medal for Yuzu. You're the best and you know it. You're the champion in my heart ❤️ I think PCS could have been higher but well...

Shoma the little warrior❤️

He gave it all. It just was not clean enough to leap more forward. He really gave a medal away with the SP. It's true what is said, you cannot win with the SP alone but you can lose it with a bad SP (ok the SP wasn't truly bad but still that was costly). Anyway Shoma skated beautifully! He was lowballed in PCS. In what world does Shoma deserve the almost same PCS as Yuma??? I guess the Russians wanted to make it possible for Kolyada to move above. With a lot more insecure landings Shoma did score above 190 in the past. But tbh this 4th place finish is a success. After that awful 2019 2020 GP season the coaching change and thoughts about quitting skating he found his happiness and a place where he belongs. So I am fine with it.

Misha's program is truly beautiful. 😍 I think probably the best program he ever had. Just like always he makes small mistakes towards the end. He would have need to be picture perfect to place on the podium solely because he didn't have the same technical content. A 5th place is still a good result. 👏👏👏

Keegan was the best he ever was! 2nd spot for Canada secured. I am sooooo happy for him!!!! Such a modern wonderful program and almost clean. 👏👏👏👏

Jason Brown - that was a 4S!👏👏👏👏 I am impressed. As always a very well accentuated superhmb performed program. I don't understand the ppl who say he will be a Bronze contender because one quad is not enough but I am glad he is there! 🥰 (just gotta say his scoring wasn't as favored as it usually is, so it really depends on the panel)

Junhwan Cha has a glorious ina bauer sequence! 😍 He did well!

Kevin Aymoz - he is special. It may not have been the best he ever was but this is a wonderful program. 😍

For the end I add some positive surprises:

Evgeni Semenenko delivered two clean programs. I didn't know what to expect and he delivered under pressure. I cannot say if I like him or not but technically he delivered!

Aleksandr Selevko - he made some places up after the short. Good program too.

Lukas Brigtschi - what an improvement! Congrats on such a great place!

Han Yan my love!! ❤️ So glad to see him again!

Also there were some heartbreaks but I don't want to talk about that. Overall it was a good men competition for the circumstances.

#figure skating #shoma uno #yuzuru hanyu #nathan chen #mikhail kolyada #keegan messing #stockholm 2021

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fluffymcu · 3 years

Text

Letting Loose

Requested Chapter 19

This is a continuation of my series and all future chapters that I write for this series will be written as requested chapters

Request: The team and the reader have a snowball fight

Word count: 2,265

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

It’s been 9 months since Ruby Anne has joined the team. You have all come a long way since then and you were proud of the progress that was made. You, Ruby and Peter were on winter break and you had a few inches of snow so you were happy. The trees were so pretty and the yard was like a winter wonderland and there was a small pond about 20 minutes away from the compound on foot so the three of you decided to run down there and ice skate since the pond was frozen. You and Peter would do that every winter and this would be Ruby’s first winter you the team. So, you all jogged down there with your ice skates, bundled up warm.

“Oh my god you’re a natural!” You exclaimed as you watched Ruby speed by you on the ice. She was surprisingly very good at ice skating. Peter still had to skate by you, holding your arm to keep to steady. Unlike her, as much as you practiced every winter, you still couldn’t skate too well.

“Hehe. Yeah, we used to go roller skating a lot when I was younger. This feels about the same, just a little more slippery.” Ruby chuckled, skating away and occasionally skating backwards.

“Oh cool! That sounds aweso-AHH!” You yelped as you lost your balance and slipped, falling right on your butt. Peter gasped and then giggled a bit as he quickly helped you up. You started to laugh too, knowing that you probably looked funny falling like that. “Peheter you're supposed to hehehelp me not fall.” You laughed, rubbing your bottom that was now sore. Peter smiled sheepishly and gave you an apologetic shrug.

“Sorry, I only let go for a second!” He whined.

“Well, knowing me, you should know to never let go of me when I'm skating. I am extremely prone to falling.” You giggled. Ruby was laughing as well, helping you regain your balance.

“It’s ok y/n/n, you’ll get the hang of it eventually.” She tittered. You scoffed and thanked her for helping.

“I hope so..” You sang.

-----

“AHH! Oooow!” You groaned as you fell again. This was the 6th time you fell in the last 20 minutes. Your butt was probably bruised and the cold melted ice had seeped through your layers and now your butt was wet. Peter covered his mouth and gasped again, once again helping you up. Ruby winced with a smile.

“Maaaybe that’s enough skating for now. We should do something else in the snow.” Peter said, rubbing your back comfortingly. Ruby nodded and agreed.

“Yeah, definitely. Something that doesn’t involve falling and bruising our butts.” She laughed. You nodded with a smirk and out your hands on your hips.

“So… what should we do?” You shrugged. Peter hummed for a second before raising his eyebrows and looking at you girls.

“Snowball fight?” He asked. You and ruby smirked.

“Oww! Hey! How much snow are you packing into a single snowball Peter?!?” You yelled as you dove behind your fort. It felt like he was throwing pure rock at you! Peter laughed evilly as he kept preparing more snowballs, gathering as much snow as he could and compressing it tightly into a ball. “Hard as a rock.” He sniggered to himself.

It was a girl’s vs boy fight. You thought that since it was two of you and one of him, you’d have the upper hand easily. But of course, that hasn’t the case.

Ruby stood up from behind the wall and threw 2 snowballs at Peter. One had successfully hit Peter on the shoulder and the other hit the wall of his fort. You tried to make more snowballs to give to Ruby to throw but as the fight progressed, Peter was winning by a long shot.

The fight continued and the three of you were so caught up in the game that you were only brought back to reality when you heard another familiar voice from a few feet away.

“Hey, that’s no fair, Peter’s outnumbered!” Tony said. The three of you looked up to see the rest of the team standing there with smiles on their faces. “He needs some help, right guys?” He asked, Steve, Bucky, Thor and Clint nodding along and agreeing. Nat and Wanda rolled their eyes.

“No! He’s perfectly fine and its perfectly fair!” You yelled. However, the team ignored your protests.

“What do you say, fellas? Boys vs girls?”

“NO! Then we’ll be outnumbered!!”

Steve nodded. “Sounds good. It’s on!” The guys immediately joined Peter’s side making you and Ruby groan. Nat lazily walked to your side and Wanda crouched down next to you.

“I don’t wanna go out into the line of fire so I’ll just be here and make the snowballs for you guys.” Wanda said. You playfully rolled your eyes but agreed.

“Alright ready?” Tony called out. You groaned and poked your head out from the fort.

“Just so you know, this is still totally not fair!” You sang. “There’s 6 guys and only 4 girls. Plus, Wanda is staying behind the fort so technically there’s only 3 girls fighting.”

“Tough cheese, do what you can, and prepare to lose anyway!” Tony quipped, making you growl. “3,2,1, GOOO!”

In a few moments you all were laughing loudly and squealing, as snowballs flew in all directions. You were hit a couple of times and so was Nat and Ruby, but you were surprisingly able to land a few good shots to the opposite team. Thanks to Nat's ninja skills, she was able to easily dodge many snowballs. At some point in the fight, it got really chaotic. There was screaming everywhere and there were no longer organized teams. Girls teamed up with boys, some fought alone; it was crazy. You and Steve were currently teamed up and you were both trying to get Thor. He was by himself but held his own very well. He laughed victoriously, throwing ball after ball of snow to your bodies. Bucky then temporarily joined Thor's team, throwing snowballs at Steve.

When Thor and Bucky wouldn’t relent, Steve turned on you, lifting you up and using you as a shield. You screamed as you started to get hit by all the balls they were throwing. “HEY! YOU TRAITOR!” You yelped. Steve ran away while still holding you in front of him to protect himself from anymore snowballs. “Steve stop!!!” You squealed, kicking your legs in the air when he started running towards Peter's fort. You were getting attacked and you were partially scared because Peter's snowballs hurt and your brother was basically making you the target of them. Luckily, Peter manages to throw one of his snowballs and hit Steve straight in the head.

“OW!” He growls, immediately dropping you on the snow. You cheer and run away while you still can, sticking your tongue out at Steve.

“Ha ha!”

“Jesus, Pete! What are these, white stones?!”

You run away to join Thor's team since he’s doing pretty good, and also because you're mad at Steve. You laugh as you and Thor currently have the upper hand, since the both of you have a system; you make the balls and Thor delivers. His big strong arms allow him to throw the balls at great distances, so even the people running far away don’t stand a chance.

When you peek out of the fort, you see Steve from afar trying to quickly build himself a wall to protect himself. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to get revenge. As you were making more snowballs for Thor, you made up a plan. You would run up to him, avoiding the line of fire, and kick down and destroy his wall. Then, once he's caught off guard, you'd use the snow from the fallen fort and throw it at him, thus getting revenge for turning on you.

You grinned as you prepared enough balls to last Thor for the few minutes that you'd be away, then left. “I’ll be right back Thor!” You said, quickly running over to Steve to commence your plan.

Once you're close enough, you run and jump into the fort like a wrecking ball, turning the wall into a pile of snow. Steve’s eyes widened as he witnessed his hard work get completely wrecked.

“What the-“

You quickly get up on you knees and gather snow in your arms. “This is what you get for betraying me!” you giggled, launching snow at him and tackling him to the ground, shoving snow down his shirt.

He yelped at the sudden cold feeling, grabbing your wrists and pushing you off him. He quickly gets up and shakes off the snow before pinning you to the ground and straddling you. You scream and try to fight back, pushing on his chest and wrestling with him but he easily pins your wrists to your chest with an evil chuckle and digs into your side with his free hand. You squeal, arching your back and squirming around, letting out uncontrollable giggles. “Stohohohop it steheheheheve!” you kick you legs, shrieking when he lets go of your wrists and uses both hands to slide under your long-sleeved shirt and attack your bare belly.

You threw your head back and cackled, trying to rip his hands away but it was futile. You had made the mistake earlier of taking a few layers off you when you started getting hot from all the running around, so now you had just made it extremely easy for Steve to tickle you senseless.

“STEHEHEVE I CAHAHANT!” You cried, squealing loudly when he moved his ice fingers up to your ribs. His cold fingers expertly dug in between each rib, making the sensation unbearable for you.

“Awww, is it a little cold for you? Huh?” He teased, pouting his lip and using a baby voice to tease you. Your laughter went up an octave as you tried to turn and hide your blush. Steve chuckled at your bubbly state and slipped his hands under your arms, causing you to yelp and press your arms to your sides.

“NAHAHAHA PLEHEHEHEASE STEHEVE!” You begged. Steve ignored your protests and began to blow raspberries in the crook of your neck, his cold nose touching behind your ear making you squeal. You couldn’t take this much longer and needed to call for help. “HEHEHELP IHIHTS TOO MUHUHUCH!” You yelled, hoping to catch the attention of anyone on the team. “HELP HE'S CHEATIHIHIHING!” You laugh harder as Steve wiggles his fingers in your belly button, knowing how that drives you crazy.

Finally, Tony looks over to you and sees you getting wrecked by Steve. He chuckles, rolling his eyes before nudging Clint who’s next to him. Clint looks over to where he's pointing and sighs. “Of course.”

“SOMEONE PLEHEHEHEASE! HAHAH!”

Tony tilts his head to the side and sighs dramatically, catching the attention of the team, “Alright; new rules. Everybody go for Steve.” He tutted, everyone quickly bombarding Steve with snowballs.

Steve stops tickling you and grunts, raising his arms up to protect his upper body as he falls to his side, allowing you to escape. You quickly get up in a fit of giggles and run away, diving behind a fort with Nat and Peter. When the team finally stops throwing snow at him, Steve gets up and chases you again.

You shriek when you see him running towards you and you run away. You try to reach Thor again but he quickly catches you and carries you up with one arm while bending down and grabbing some snow, getting his revenge by shoving it down your back. You scream and arch your back, kicking your legs out. “AHH! STOHOHOP ITS COHOHOLD! NOOO!” You squeal. When Steve gets enough snow under your clothes, he drops you and runs. You growl and get up, shaking out all the remaining snow before jumping behind the nearest fort; which is Tony's.

Tony throws a few more snowballs over his wall before quickly retreating, diving behind and sitting with his back against the wall. He looks at you sideways in all seriousness, panting heavily. “This is more chaotic than the battle of New York.” He spat. You laughed at that, and started to help him make more snowballs.

Just in time, as the team had started to get tired, Pepper rode in on one of the golfcarts to meet you guys and tell you to come in. “Oh, my goodness, you all are covered in snow!” she exclaimed with a surprised smile on her face.

“Yup! It was one hell of a fight.” Clint chuckles.

Pepper hummed and shook her head briefly. “Well I hope you guys had fun, there's hot chocolate waiting inside for all of you so, come back in and warm up.” She says, waving towards home and driving back to the compound. The rest of you all pack up your sweaters and skates, walking back in a group to the compound, talking and laughing amongst each other.

In no time, everyone is joined in the living room around the fireplace, warming up and drinking their hot chocolate. Jarvis turns on the tv and puts on Home Alone, making everybody smile. You're cuddled up on the couch next to Thor, Peter laying on his side on the carpet, and Ruby Anne is cuddled up to Tony, who has an arm around her, rubbing up and down comfortingly. You smile and sigh happily, turning your attention back to the movie, laughing at Harry and Marv’s antics.

#ticklish!reader #tickle fight #tickle fic #avengers tickle #marvel tickle #tickle fluff #steve tickles reader #steve x reader #peter x reader #peter parker x reader #avengers #marvel #marvel mcu #peter parker #bucky barnes #captain america #spiderman #steve rogers

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ilguna · 3 years

Text

Anteric - Chapter Three (f.o)

summary: secrets have more worth than you gave them credit for.

warnings; swearing, BLOOD MENTION, FIGHTING, MENTION OF MURDER, GUN USE.

wc; 10k

NOTES; I give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

“There are two things that you will learn today.” It turns out that Laurel can be loud when she wants to be. Her voice projects across the room with little to no effort, “The first is how to shoot a gun.” she presses one into your palm and keeps walking, “The second is how to win a fight.”

The gun isn’t as heavy as it looks. You turn it over in your hand, thumb running over the sleek metal. When you look up, you can see that Finnick is mesmerised by it. You can’t decide whether or not that’s a good thing. At least neither of you are afraid of it, but you don’t think that you should be idolizing it. Then again, you probably shouldn’t underestimate it, either.

You suppose that you and Finnick will fit in just fine here. As long as Finnick doesn’t get too caught up in his dream, and you don’t keep overthinking it. It’s just a gun.

“Initiation is divided into three stages! Like Caspian told you last night, we will measure and rank you depending on your performance in each stage. The stages are not all weighed equally in determining your final rank. So, it is possible to be at the bottom and wind up at the top. Don’t be fooled, it will not be an easy task to do.

“In Dauntless, we believe that preparation eliminates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear. So, each stage of initiation will prepare you in a different way. Your first stage will be physical, your next will be emotional, and the third and final stage, will be mental.” Laurel stops pacing for a moment, turning to look at you all.

Finnick leans over, “How far do you think you can push your streak?”

“Hitting the target dead-on first try is like expecting a cold gust of wind in hell when it’s summer.”

Finnick snorts.

“I’ll show you how it’s done. And then you will practice until lunch.” Laurel says, turning toward the side of the room with the targets. They’re just squares of plywood with red circles on it. She spreads her legs slightly, holds up the gun away from her face, concentrates, and doesn’t hesitate when she fires. She gets the middle of the circle in the blink of an eye.

If she could do this, you wonder if everyone else inside of the faction can, too. This initiation process has been around for years. It just evolves the more that time goes on because of technology. So, every adult that you have come across so far, should technically know how to shoot. You don’t know whether to be afraid or not.

Finnick rubs his ear with an open palm after the sound of Laurel’s gun. It’s loud, you can feel it in your chest. You’re sure that it’ll only get worse, now that you’re all left to give it a try by yourselves.

“Do you think that you’ll be able to hit the bullseye?” you ask, barely glancing at Finnick.

You copy the way that Laurel had stood. You spread your legs apart a little, hold the gun away from your face, and point it straight at the target. As far as you can see, it should be lined up perfectly. But that’s not taking everything into consideration. You’ve never fired a gun before, and you’ve never seen it happen until now, when Laurel had used hers.

This is new to you. The chances of you actually being able to do this is one in a thousand. Unless you’re some sort of prodigy, which you highly doubt. Just because you’ve qualified for three factions, doesn’t mean you need to go inflating your own ego. You’re just the same as everyone here. Maybe a little better, personality-wise.

“You go first.” Finnick says, catching the attention of Thyme. She lowers her gun to watch too.

“Why me?” you whine, closing one eye to see if you can line it up better. No matter what happens, this is going to miss. It’s just a matter of whether or not you come close.

It’s worth a try.

You breathe in your nose a little when you pull the trigger, already flinching even before the recoil hits. The bang is loud enough to pop your ears, you end up with a wince on your face, arms sore. When you look back at the wood, you expect to see the bullet far away from the middle. In fact, maybe somewhere not near the target at all.

But the hole is on the second red circle, to the right.

A shot of energy goes through you, making you bounce on your toes excitedly.

“At this rate, you’re not going to have anything to worry about.” Finnick says, “I might have to keep my eye on you.”

“Yeah?” you ask, “Let’s see you give it a go.”

He gives you a boyish smile, Thyme backs off slightly. Finnick seems to have the form down, he holds the gun up and away from his face. The smile eventually fades from his face as he begins to focus. By the time he pulls the trigger, he’s gritting his teeth.

You try not to flinch this time. When you look at his aim, it’s better than yours. More than halfway to the circle that surrounds the center. You light up, elbowing him with a smile, “Hey! You’re better than me.”

It goes on like this for the rest of the morning. Round after round, you shoot bullet after bullet. All of them slowly inch towards the middle, but it takes a lot longer than you’d expect it to. By Finnick’s second round, he hit the middle three times in a row before finally falling off the streak.

You relax for a moment, rolling your shoulders. You know how you stood the first time you did it, and you think back to how Laurel had stood. She was relaxed, right at home. She can afford to be, though. She’s done this for years, she was taught how to shoot guns a while ago. You’re just learning.

You need to take it slower.

You roll your wrists next, letting them ache when you get to a certain point. Finnick fires again, hitting the board. Two inches off the middle. Thyme fires and she’s still on the outer circle. Finnick fires again, he hits the middle. This will be you. You crack your neck.

“Okay.” you breathe, holding the gun up again. You spread your legs, relax your shoulders, and bend your arms a little. You place your finger over the trigger, and take in a small breath.

When you pull, the bullet hits the right side of the circle.

You adjust to fit what you need. Just a couple of centimeters to the left, you pull the trigger again. It’s too far over, you shift one more time. This is it, the last bullet before you have to call it a day today. You don’t know if you’ll ever get a second chance at this.

You pull the trigger hard, prepared for the recoil.

The bullet sits directly in the middle.

A breath of relief leaves you. You’re not a total failure after all.

Laurel makes you all stand in a line, handing over your guns while she counts them. There must have been times in the past where initiates tried to hoard guns, you can’t see why she’d need to do it otherwise. When the number comes out to eight, you’re allowed to head over to the dining hall.

Finnick is giddy, of course, that he’s caught on to shooting so well. You decide that you’d much rather listen than actively participate in the conversation. You think that it would be easier to swallow if it weren’t for the fact that Thyme is literally asking him for advice, as if he has any to give. It was his first time shooting, does she think you guys do these types of things for fun?

Gun use in Abnegation is frowned upon. Not only is it a weapon, which resorts to violence. It’s also used as self defense, therefore it’s self-indulgent. If Reed could see you now, he’d be all sorts of pissed. He’d say something along the lines of, “Mom and dad raised you better than this.”

If they were still here, you’re sure that would have been a good enough excuse to stay in Abnegation. You think that Mox wouldn’t have left either. But it’s hard to stick to a place with so much negative energy. The more the years come on, the more Reed seems to sink into this hole of hatred.

The dining hall is less crowded this afternoon, it’s easy pickings for where you want to sit. You pick the middle of a table, and then stare at the food that’s offered for you, debating whether or not you’re hungry. Finnick sits beside you, and seems to do the exact same thing.

“I was kidding yesterday.” he mutters, you think he’s referring to the chicken comment.

“This is all your fault.” you say, giving him a smile.

You grab a small portion of food at a table, not wanting to overdo it. Finnick does the same, and you’re glad to finally see that the gun conversation has ceased. He turns toward you to talk, leaving Thyme out to a certain extent. You can’t say that you feel bad for her. She’s been talking to him all morning, it’s only right that it’s your turn.

“What do you think’s next?” he asks, eating a forkful of carrots.

“Well, Laurel did say that we’d be learning how to win a fight.” you push the food around on your plate. None of it looks appetizing anymore, “I don’t think you really need to learn that, do you?”

In Abnegation, you never watched Finnick lose a fight. This boy has got more power than any of the Erudite and Dauntless kids that he fought. Sometimes, all it took was one punch and the other teenager would go down like a sack of flour. It’s pretty impressive when you’re not the one fighting him. You can’t imagine what it’s like being on the other end, though.

“Probably not, but it never hurts to learn it properly.” Finnick smiles, “And it’ll give you a chance to perfect your form.”

You give him a look. It was one time.

Last night, Caspian wasn’t kidding about where you’d be staying. However, he could’ve at least gave you a little more information about what it would be like so that you didn’t have to figure it out for yourself. He said that there’s ten beds inside of the room, which is correct, but technically they’re bunk beds.

Also, there’s absolutely no privacy anywhere. Not in the main room, where all the beds sit just mere feet from each other. And not in the bathroom, there’s absolutely no stalls. But don’t worry, there’s mirrors in there!

None of this would bother you, if it weren’t for the fact that you’re all sleeping in the same room together. Finnick chose the bottom bunk, you went ahead and picked the top. To his direct right is Thyme, who’s also sleeping on the bottom. And everyone else is scattered in their own corners, too.

Oh, which reminds you, you’ve finally got names to put to every face. The Erudite girl that died yesterday, her name is Elodia. She was apparently best friends with the other Erudite girl, Trink. The two Candor initiates that Trink has been inseparable from is Eytelle, the girl, and Allio, the boy. As for the other two Candor initiates, there’s Ossie, another girl, and Amos, another boy. So, there’s three boys and five girls.

Anyway, since you’re all staying in the same room, you were able to hear the exact moment when Thyme bursted out crying. And that’s not the part that really gets to you. You can kinda sympathize with them for being upset over the fact that they might have chosen the worst faction to go for, even if their aptitude test thought that they’d be prepared for it.

No, the part you hated the most last night was the fact that the crying went on for over ten minutes. And right when Thyme had begun to settle down, getting quieter, someone else started crying. It wasn’t Finnick, but you have a feeling it was one of the other girls. Maybe Trink, because she lost her friend. Or possibly Ossie, because she doesn’t exactly look the type to be in Dauntless in the first place.

Then again, all of them can be full of surprises, you don’t know. What you do know, is that if it happens again tonight, you might just smother everyone with a pillow and decide to be the sole surviving transfer initiate from your Choosing Ceremony. It’ll eliminate the worry of not being able to pass the stages, and you’ll actually get a good night of sleep.

You might spare Finnick.

When Laurel decides that you’re all done eating, she brings you to a new room. This one is large, with a wooden floor that’s cracked and has a large white circle painted in the middle. On the far left wall is a chalkboard, with all of your names written in alphabetical order. From top to bottom, it goes: Allio, yourself, Eytelle, Trink, Amos, Elodia, Finnick and then Thyme.

On another side of the room hangs black punching bags. Laurel has you line up behind them, she takes her time going to the middle so you all can see her, “Like I said this morning, you’ll be learning how to fight. The reason for this is to prepare you to act; to get you used to responding to threats and challenges. Which are instincts you’ll need, if you intend to live in Dauntless.

“We will go over techniques today, and tomorrow you will start to fight each other.” The talking between initiates stops, taking in what she said. All you can think about is every time you watched Finnick give a Dauntless teenager a black eye. You wonder how many of them chose to stay in Dauntless, “I’m glad I finally got your attention. If I were you, I’d pay attention today. Those of you who aren’t quick learners will wish you were. Like this morning, I’ll show you how it’s done, and then you’ll practice until six.”

Every punch she shows you, has a name. She’ll demonstrate it in the air first, and then she’ll punch a bag. Following are kicks, which she seems to have more power for. Every time she lands a hit on the punching bag, it’ll spin and rock, you think you can even see dust streaming down from the ceiling.

When it’s your turn to give it a try, you keep it in rotation. You’ll go through all the punches first, and then the kicks. You start over a couple of times, wanting to get your form and position down first. It’ll be the most important part of tomorrow. There’s eight of you, no one will be excluded from the fighting. And if you’re unsure of where you told your hands or where to place your feet, you’re going to be screwed.

The hitting gets harder once you think you can afford to try new combinations. A kick with a punch, maybe the other way around if it feels too uncomfortable. The longer you have at the punching bag, the more you realize just how fun it is. At first, it was unnatural, you’ve only thrown a couple of punches before. But now it seems like second-nature.

“Very good, (Y/n).” Laurel says, passing behind you, “Lower your fists from your face a little, and it’ll be perfect.”

You follow what she says. She’s right, this was the only thing that you were missing. When you throw punches from now on, it’s much easier. By the time six rolls around, your skin is sore and you can’t help but to rub your shins. They’re definitely going to be bruised somewhat. At least it’s not impossible to deal with.

“Laurel says we can go anywhere.” Finnick says, bumping his arm into yours on purpose, “Anywhere.”

“Is it possible to eat dinner first?” you ask, massaging your hands, “You can drag me around after that.”

“Hungry?”

“Mostly hoping that dinner is better than what they served us for lunch.” you give him a smile.

He grins back.

Dinner is much better. Soup, beef, carrots, potatoes, onions. You take your time eating, watching as Finnick has serving after serving. He’s lucky that there’s no limit as to how much you can eat. But he should probably show some more self-restraint, considering whatever he wants to do after this, might cause him to get sick. You eat two bowls before you call it good, while Finnick is just finishing up his seventh.

“Full yet?” you muse.

“I was mostly trying to figure out what I want to do.” Finnick sets his bowl on top of yours, collecting your spoon so that it can sit with his, “And I figured it out.”

“What is it?” Thyme asks, she’s leaning in slightly on the other side of the table.

There’s a mischievous grin that crosses over his face, “Piercings.”

“Oh,” Thyme falls back.

You snort, sliding out of the table, “What’re you going to get pierced?”

“My nose, probably.” Finnick joins you, “And then we can all go shopping.”

This morning, Laurel had provided everyone with clothing. Mostly practical stuff, like jeans, shirts, underwear, jackets, shoes, whatever. It’s all in black, naturally. But the only fitting clothing on you right now is the underwear. As for the shirts, jeans and shoes, they’re a bit bigger than you’d like them to be. It could also be another reason why it’s throwing off your groove.

Of course, this isn’t just a you problem, it’s an everyone problem. Finnick is wearing a shirt that’s a little too tight-fitting than he likes. If he pulls on the fabric, it snaps right back into place. Thyme’s jeans needed a shoelace to keep them up high enough. As for all the other initiates, they ended up in their own problems. You think that Eytelle, the tall Candor girl, is wearing clown shoes.

“Sure.” you agree.

The three of you leave the dining hall to go out to the Pit, which is currently crammed with, what looks like, the entire Dauntless population. You let Finnick lead the way up the narrow paths, and straight to a tattoo-piercing parlor. Every month, Dauntless gives everyone a certain amount of points they can use a month that works like cash.

Finnick talks to a guy at the counter with multiple piercings in his ears, and ones that make his earlobe stretch out far enough that you can see through the earring. Finnick points out a spot on his nose, the guy will say something back, until they seem to come to an agreement. Finnick turns to look at you and Thyme.

“Coming in?” he wiggles his eyebrows, “I know Thyme won’t get a tattoo or piercing, but what about you?”

You give him a face, “I’ll think about it next time.”

“Chicken.” Finnick sings, backing into the parlor.

You purse your lips, watching as his face slowly gets more smug, “Fine, give me one good reason.”

“Because you still walk and talk like a Stiff.” Finnick says.

His eyebrows are raised, he knows that he’s won it. Stiff is a term, normally derogatory, used towards Abnegation faction members because of how stuck-up you are--or, were. There’s a lot of restrictions in Abnegation. Piercings, tattoos and brightly colored hair is self-indulgent. Talking loudly, laughing, or even playing games is distracting. Hell, even relationships are frowned upon, not supposed to be public because they’re nuisances.

Finnick is wrong on some parts. You don’t talk like you’re in Abnegation, otherwise your voice would be hushed whispers and you wouldn’t laugh like the rest of these people. You didn’t complain about the guns, or defending yourself. You didn’t cry last night because you were afraid. You even pushed through things that you’re normally afraid of to fit right in.

The other parts are much more difficult. You think of yourself as a chameleon. Before all of this, before you had switched factions, you also seemed to fit in just fine as an Abnegation member. You said so yourself. But now you’re in Dauntless, you’re fitting in too. You wonder what it would have been like in Erudite, how easy it would have been for you to blend in there too.

The obvious reason for this is the Divergence.

And Laurel told you not to stand out. It’s dangerous. You don’t want to know what she meant by that exactly. All you have to do now, is make sure that it doesn’t happen again. You’ll have to do better at making yourself hidden.

You give Finnick a smile, heading towards the parlor.

“Hey--wait!” Thyme grabs your arm, stopping you from going, “I thought me and you could go shopping while we wait for him.”

“You know you can get your ears pierced, right?” you ask her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her with you, “One baby step at a time.”

Inside of the parlor, you’re matched with a different guy. You settle on a nose stud, thanks to his suggestion. You’re mostly worried about what might happen to it starting tomorrow. With a ring, like Finnick’s getting, there’s more of a chance of it getting ripped out. The stud will still sparkle in light, and it won’t be as irritating. Thyme goes ahead and gets both of her ears pierced on the lobe.

Walking out, Finnick’s nose is still bleeding. Thyme looks happy with her silver flowers, and you resist the urge to itch the new wound on your face. Thyme brings you and Finnick to a store that she’d been eyeing for a while. Honestly, you can’t tell the difference between any of it. One black clothing store to another. It’s all just as bland as the grey Abnegation clothing.

You find high-waisted skinny jeans, throwing them over your arm. You pick out a shirt that looks like it’s your size, and disappear into a changing room to make sure it fits. All clothing back home is baggy, in Dauntless it’s supposed to stick to your skin. Before, size didn’t matter when it came to clothes, only that it didn’t get in the way of your volunteer work.

Surprisingly, you picked out the right size the first time around. The jeans feel comfy on your hips, the sleeves of the shirt are fairly loose and don’t cut off circulation in your arms. You pay for it with your points, and then go right back to hunting for tennis shoes.

Finnick finds his clothes soon after, joining you on a bench while you go through shoe boxes. Thyme goes in and out of the dressing room, not being able to find a pair of jeans that fit. It’s comical, watching her pace the aisles. Eventually she gives up and has to ask for help.

You stand from the bench, kicking the shoes around, bending and walking in them. They fit well, and there’s space at the top so that your toes aren’t crammed. You pay for the shoes too, Finnick buys everything that he’s wearing. The two of you dump your clothes in separate black bags, you suggested wearing them to bed so that you won’t have to genuinely live in these clothes.

As soon as Thyme is done, the three of you head back to the room.

“Who do you think we’ll be paired up with tomorrow?” Thyme asks, looking over to you two.

Finnick shrugs, and then gives you a glance.

“I have no clue, don’t look at me like that.”

“Except you’re really good at taking guesses.” Finnick says, “So guess.”

He’s wrong, you think. You’re not good at guessing, you’re good at narrowing down the possibilities and choosing the ones that seem most likely. And you keep doing it until you’re down to one solution. Which is definitely not an Abnegation response to problems, it’s an Erudite one. Finnick has unintentionally picked up on it.

You give out a sigh anyway, “Well, I think Laurel likes us enough, so she’ll start off easy and try to match us with people that are like us.” you look at him, “Good enough?”

“Good enough.” Finnick smiles.

When you got up this morning, the first order of business that Laurel had you doing was practicing shooting guns again. For several hours straight, you got to watch Finnick get better and better at hitting the middle. At first, you weren’t entirely bothered, but the irritation started to fester when Thyme kept praising him. You were too happy for it to be over, even after your aim improved considerably.

Now, you all stand together inside of the punching bag room from yesterday.Laurel stands in front of the chalkboard, smoothly writing on it. The only sound that fills the room is the sound of the chalk hitting the board as she writes your names down next to each other. She wasn’t lying when she said that the real initiation would start today.

Last night you said Laurel might like you enough to pair you with someone that would be easy to beat. You’re not as confident anymore. Caspian stands off to the side of the room, watching Laurel. You might have been happy to see a familiar face in Dauntless two days ago, but you haven’t forgotten the things that Caspian said to you when you were a kid. It’s impossible to, all he did was add to your growing hatred.

As far as you can tell at the moment, Caspian is almost the same guy he was before he switched to Dauntless. Before, he was mean, thought he was funny, and convinced himself that he was the shit. He has his moments where he can genuinely be likeable, but it’s always some sort of honeymoon faze. He can ruin it as fast as you can snap your fingers. And he’s good at hiding that mean side of his personality, but it can show out in little bits and pieces. Like sunshine peeking through clouds.

“Lucky for all of you, no one has to sit out.” Laurel says, she’s finishing up.

Finnick spins the nose ring with his thumb, you shove your hands into your pockets to keep from digging your nails into your palm, Thyme rocks back and forth on her feet.

“Which means hardly any days off.” Laurel places the chalk onto the metal stand, and then moves out of the way.

You suck in air through your teeth, eyes going over the list. It’s short, only four rows.

Allio and Ossie.

Thyme and Amos.

Eytelle and Finnick.

You and Trink.

“Oh great, you’re paired with an asshole.” Finnick says, referencing the nickname you two gave Erudite’s on the train here, yesterday. “You’ll get to kick her ass before I do.”

Caspian definitely organized this, Laurel might have had some say in it. You can see the strategy here. Allio and Ossie are similar in height, but different in personality, weight and muscle. Thyme and Amos are both pretty short and scrawny, Eytelle is taller than Finnick, but they’re the only ones close in height. The only reason why you think you’re paired with Trink is because of height.

You look at Caspian, he’s already staring at you. His face is straight for a moment, before his lip twitches into a smirk.

No, you change your mind. Height was a coincidence with her. There’s more behind this, more secretive, and you think it has layers. The first is obvious, this is a gift from Caspian. You told him about his family back home, offering up the information without a single question or prompt from him. You even made it sound like they were part of your family.

The second layer is more subtle. Caspian might not have been great with Abnegation ideals, much like Finnick, but you all have a soft spot for the place you called home for years. Caspian doesn’t like that Erudite is talking shit about Abnegation, but he can’t say anything about it. There’s no question that you don’t like what’s happening either. And since he can’t punch the smug Erudite look off of Trink’s face, you have to.

More or less, you’ll get to defend Abnegation’s honor by kicking Trink’s ass.

This time, Caspian’s wrath isn’t being focused on you. Trink isn’t even going to know what hit her. Well, she will. You’ll be the one hitting her.

You look over at Trink, not being able to hide the smile on your face, “At least you get to pick on someone your own size. Enjoy the challenge while you can.”

Finnick lets out a laugh.

Ossie and Allio meet each other in the center of the white circle. They raise their fists up, and shuffle in a circle like you were taught to. When Allio realizes that Ossie isn’t going to make the first move, he jerks forward to punch her. It was a ruse, Ossie moves out of the way and slams her elbow into the back of his neck.

Okay, maybe Ossie isn’t as weak as you thought she would be. You, Finnick and Thyme watch the way she moves, how easy she’s able to dodge his attacks. Allio is clumsy on his feet, Ossie can dance circles around him, and she practically does, with how quick she moves. However, the moment that Allio gets one good hit on her, she’s down.

She lays on her back, hand spread over her cheek as she grimaces. Her face is turning red, you can’t imagine the tooth pain she’s having at the moment. You all look at Laurel and Caspian to see that they’re unmoving from the board.

“Shouldn’t they call it?” Finnick leans over, whispering.

You tilt your head, “I think we just unlocked a new rule.”

You’re right, Caspian shifts on his feet and lets out an annoyed sigh through his nose, “The fight isn’t over until one of you can’t move!”

“Or you can give up and suffer the consequences.” Judging by the tone of Laurel’s voice, it isn’t much of an option.

This is worse than it was before. You thought that enough punches to Trink’s face would knock her down, and the fight would be over. But if you’re going to be beating each other to near death…

Allio turns back on Ossie, a smile growing on his face. She sees his expression and gets to her feet. Her face is already swelling, you can imagine that there’s going to be a pretty bad bruise on her face tomorrow. She raises her fists again, and goes right back to what she was doing before. Except, she’s clearly trying to piss Allio off. She’ll look like she’s going all in, and then she'll pull back in time for Allio to make a fool of himself.

Her antics get her in trouble, though, because all it takes is one bad move, and Allio grabs a hold of her throat, stopping her in her tracks. She grabs his wrist with one hand, raising her foot to kick him in the stomach with the other. Allio barely flinches, lifts her, and then slams her into the wood ground.

A crack fills the air.

Allio’s heavy breathing is the only thing that you can hear.

When Ossie doesn’t immediately get up, or even turn over, Laurel starts forward. Caspian’s arms are crossed, he watches as she kneels next to Ossie. Her fingers barely touch the floor, and she’s immediately recoiling. Laurel stares down at her hand, and you can see in the light, that it’s shiny.

“He cracked her head open.” you say.

Laurel seems to come to that conclusion too, because she wraps her arm around Ossie’s back, and then under her legs. Laurel rocks back and forth, raising from her shins, to her knees, to her feet. Caspian gives one nod to Laurel before she walks out. Then, she turns towards the chalkboard.

He circles Allio’s name in white.

“Thyme and Amos!” Caspian shouts.

“What about the blood?” Amos asks, moving forward. Thyme is still stuck to the other side of Finnick.

Caspian makes a sound, and it isn’t one of discontent. More that he’s realizing that the blood will end up being a problem. So, he pulls the towel off of the chalkboard stand, and throws it at Amos. Amos barely catches it, stares down at the black towel, and then drops it on the pool of blood. It isn’t much, Ossie had only been laying there for a few seconds. When he’s sure that it’s dried up enough, Amos kicks the towel across the room to get it out of the way.

“I can’t do this.” Thyme says, her voice is quiet.

“You have to.” Finnick gives her a push, “The two of you are practically the same, just use what you learned yesterday.”

It’s easy for Finnick to say that, he’s excited to get put up against Eytelle. You can tell by the way he shifts on his feet, plus the smile hasn’t left his face since he learned that he’d be going up against her. Finnick loves a challenge.

Thyme hangs her head slightly, but joins Amos in the circle. For a moment, they stare at each other, unsure if either of them want to commit to this. Then, Thyme raises her fists, tilts her head, and starts shuffling. Amos follows her, slowly drawing closer.

You bite the nail on your thumb, “So what’s your strategy going to be?”

“Probably going to knock her out as fast as possible. I think it’ll land me directly on top.” Finnick gives you a grin.

“We’re still aiming for a streak?”

“I think we blew it during the gun training.” Finnick laughs, you join in.

Thyme jerks forward, bringing her leg up to slam into Amos’ side.

“What’s your strategy?”

You tilt your head, “Probably going to draw it out as long as possible. It’s my only chance to kick the shit out of an Erudite so I figure that I’ll make the most out of it.”

“I’m sure Caspian and Laurel will be thrilled.”

Amos reaches to grab Thyme’s hair, but she slams her fist straight into his nose. He stumbles back, hands flying to contain the blood that’s beginning to gush out. Amos’ eyes widen, landing on Thyme. She raises her fists, you can see the ghost of a smile..

After this, he continuously backs away from Thyme. She doesn’t look like she’s bothered by this, she just keeps getting closer. And the moment he’s within arms reach, is the moment he messed up. She jumps at him, grabbing his shirt, which hangs off his body loosely. You bet that he didn’t bother to go out and get a new shirt or clothes last night. Hopefully this will teach him a lesson. That he’s easily grabbable when the clothes don’t fit.

She yanks Amos forward, spins him around and sweeps a foot out from beneath him. Amos hits the ground almost as hard as Ossie did, but he’s still conscious. Thyme raises her foot, kicking Amos in the ribs. He groans, one arm flying to protect the spot, while the other goes to catch her new kick.

She changes her mind last second, dropping to her knees and raising her fist so quickly that it’s a blur. Amos raises his arms to protect his face, so she settles for a dead-on hit to his chest. You let out a groan, feeling the ache in your own chest. Amos wheezes, Thyme punches him in the face. Over and over.

The sounds coming from Amos are less than pleasant.

“That’s going to be you.” Finnick says.

“Yeah?” you ask, but don’t say anything else.

You don’t even want to know if he means that you’re going to be Thyme, or if you’re going to be Amos. Although, you’re not really sure that it matters. Either you’ll lose yourself to the fight, or you’re going to get the shit kicked out of you.

Thyme falls back on her heels, rubbing her bloody knuckles. She lifts the end of her shirt, all eyes fall on Caspian to see what he has to say. He stares at Amos for a little, Thyme pushes herself to her feet.

“Get him out of the ring.” Caspian finally says, circling Thyme’s name.

Allio and Thyme work together, getting Amos upright. He doesn’t stay on his feet for long, as soon as he’s out of the circle, he’s sitting on the floor. He’s sniffing, which might be from him crying, or it might be him trying to get his nose to stop bleeding. You’re not sure if it really matters which one it is.

“Eytelle and Finnick.” Caspian motions.

There’s no blood to clean up this time. You give Finnick a firm pat on the back, “Kick some ass.”

Thyme stands next to you, her fingers massaging the skin over her knuckles. If she thinks it hurts now, it’s only going to feel worse tomorrow. Not to mention, if you’re going to be doing this multiple times for evaluation, all of your knuckles are going to be split and sore. You can’t imagine the amount of injuries you’ll experience during initiation

You’re going for none, but it’s not all that realistic.

Finnick cracks his knuckles, the smile on his face disappears, “You know, I’ve never fought a Candor before. They always whine like bitches.” he raises his fists, “So tell me, are you going to cry?”

Eytelle isn’t amused, she raises her fists, “I’m taller than you.”

“You think height matters?” Finnick’s face darkens, “It’s a matter of experience.”

And he has too much for a former Abnegation member.

Finnick bounces on his toes, watching the way Eytelle moves. She’s clearly eager, moving forward. But the moment he goes to match her, she seems to back down. She’s wary. You guess that she’s taking Finnick’s word for it all, which isn’t a bad idea. You think that you’d rather take the word of the other person just to be safe. Then again, it could make you be overly cautious in the end.

There’s only so much dancing that Finnick can take. He stops letting Eytelle take the initiative and starts moving at her like a shark. Because of the smooth way he moves, you can’t tell what he’s going to do next. He could punch her, or kick her, or jump at her. He doesn’t twitch. This is the side of Finnick that you’re always so amazed at.

All of his moves are calculated. He’ll move right, and appear on the left. He slams his fist into the shoulder she favors more. She winces, rolling the shoulder to get feeling back in it. When she holds up her hands, it’s awkward now. Finnick strikes again, this time going for her upper arm, which falls completely limp.

It’ll be hard to punch him if she can’t feel the arm at all.

Eytelle goes to punch with her left hand anyway. Finnick catches her wrist, twisting her arm at a painful angle. Finnick pulls her closer, and slams his fist right across her jaw. Her head jerks backward, a gurgle sound leaving her throat. Finnick does it again, much harder this time. It’s enough to make her knees buckle.

He lets go of her, letting her hit the floor. Eytelle doesn’t move.

Finnick wipes his hands off on his jeans, and then fixes his hair. You’d say that this fight lasted less than five minutes. Faster than Ossie and Allio, and faster than Thyme and Amos. When it’s your turn, you’re going to make sure it’s painful.

Caspian goes ahead and circles Finnick’s name.

A couple of seconds later, Eytelle groans, which means that no one will have to drag her out of the ring, but Allio and Trink go to help her anyway. Eytelle vaguely complains about being dizzy, so she sits on the floor too, hand placed over her jaw.

The door on the far side of the room opens to reveal Laurel. She comes in without Ossie, so you figure that she’s either with some sort of doctor. Normally, hospitals are far away, but it’s Dauntless. They have to have someone closeby, especially with the cave that they live in.

She stands in her spot by the chalkboard.

“(Y/n) and Trink.”

Finnick grabs your arm, turning you away from the circle to speak, “You probably remember, but keep an eye on the way she moves. She’s also Erudite, so she’s got a hundred strategies or whatever.”

He straightens up, “Alright, good luck, wreak havoc.”

You snort. On the way to the circle, you crack everything that you can think of. Fingers, neck, knuckles. You stretch your muscles next, shoulders, wrist, knees and ankles. You’ve only fought someone else once. Once.

“Scared?” Trink asks, she lets a lock of her blonde hair fall black into place.

You bend your knees back and forth, raising your fists, “Don’t need to be. I know a couple of things myself.”

You give her a smirk.

Trink raises her fists, “You’re bluffing.”

“We’ll see.”

In Abnegation, Finnick was always the one to get physical with people he didn’t like at the school. Most of the time, he wouldn’t immediately turn to fighting. But if the situation kept getting worse, and the person didn’t notice all the warning signs that were coming from him, he’d resort to it easily. Corner them in the hallway, and tell them that if they want to run their mouth, then they can reap what they sow. People were always stupid enough to see what he meant.

You said that the rules of fighting were simple, and the first one was to always make sure that there were no witnesses. Except, Finnick would always bring you. You would be his alibi if he needed it, and the excuse would automatically be a factionless man needing help, that’s why you were late getting home. You only used the excuse once.

So, you’ll have to say that you’ve seen Finnick fight many times. You’ve watched the way he throws punches, the way he holds himself with confidence. How he’ll never give away his moves before he does them. It’s like they’re all thought out beforehand. He doesn’t want to drag a fight on, there’s only so much time the excuse can cover. In watching him, you’ve learned a lot.

Eventually, an opportunity of your own sprouted, and it happened right after your father died, which was only a couple of months after your mother had passed. Mox had just switched to Amity, so that was buzzing around. And an Erudite girl caught whiff of the problems that were being kicked up in your house. You don’t know how she found out any of it, but whoever told her was a fucking asshole.

The girl started with talking shit about Abnegation, about how the faction raised your brother to be weak, and that’s why he couldn’t say. You weren’t bothered by this, you had already grown used to not speaking about Mox. You wouldn’t break your streak just because some girl thought it would be fun to start talking shit. Even Finnick didn’t think that it was worth worrying over. The two of you thought she would stop.

But then her focus shifted to your father.

In Abnegation, you are supposed to serve the people around you. In the eyes of the faction, your father died a death that was noble. It was not through war, but in a moment of kindness, of a helping hand. Your father had stopped to help one of the factionless, and in turn, they killed him.

They never found the killer.

The Erudite girl was right in thinking that it would get a quick reaction out of you, because it did. Finnick was the one who told the girl where to meet you. All you did was go out there and wait, with Finnick leaned up against some tree in the shade.

Before she arrived, you had no intention of actually fighting her. You were going to tell her to knock it the fuck off before she did something she would regret. Then she showed up with this smug ass look on her face, and all reason washed away from your body at once.

Unlike Finnick, you only needed to fight once.

You left the girl bloody and swollen, laying in the middle of the grass, barely able to keep her eyes open. For a moment, you stood over her body, staring down at her, wondering if anything really needed to be said. But your actions spoke for themself, that she had picked a fight she couldn’t win. You left her there, walked home with Finnick, and the next day at school, you didn’t see her.

In all honesty, you never had trouble with anyone after that, either.

There’s a big difference between now and then, though. Then, you were pissed and you had a great reason to be. Now, you’re fighting just because someone is telling you.

No, you have a good reason now, too. You don’t want to be factionless. Trink is one of the many obstacles standing in your way to becoming a member of Dauntless. You think that’s a good enough reason.

You bounce from side to side, feeling the burn in your calves. Finnick said that Trink would have a thousand strategies thought up because she’s Erudite. But you’re part Erudite too, you could have qualified if you wanted to. So, in order to win this, you need to think like she does, even more so than usual.

You told her you know a few things yourself, she’s going to assume that you learned from Finnick, or the two of you often work together when it comes to fights. Which is wrong. Finnick likes his fights to be clean cuts, the faster he knocks out his opponent, the faster he can do something else. It’s also a display of dominance, one hit and his victim falls. The person is never stupid enough to come back twice.

Finnick let Eytelle start the fight. So, you will be the one to start this.

You move forward, letting the smile go. You need to focus.

Trink shuffles, her left hand is raised higher than the right. She’s left handed, which means you shouldn’t focus on her right. It also looks like she was suffering the same problem that you were before Laurel corrected you. Her hands are too high.

You keep moving closer, trying to keep your eyes on her face as much as you can. All you have to do is throw a punch at her left hand. It’ll smack her in the face, and then you can really get the show started.

Trink’s right leg twitches.

You jump back in time for it to barely miss you. Change of plans. You grab a hold of her leg, push it up, and swing down low enough to catch her other foot. She loses her balance, hands slapping onto the wood. She doesn’t say down long enough for you to kick her, right back onto her feet.

Her hands are back into place.

You launch at her, punching her hands. Her head knocks back briefly, you squeeze your fists tighter. She goes to retaliate, you block, and then swing your fist straight into her jaw. You’ve got to go harder than this. This isn’t bringing her down. She stumbles back, hands already going back to where they were before.

Trink moves quickly, you’re not able to catch her hands in time. One second, she’s slow, the next there’s an explosion across your nose. Pain prickles across your entire face, making your face feel like it’s a hundred degrees. And then there’s a gushing feeling.

You want to call a time-out as you back up, fingers finding your nose. You plead that it’s not broken, because you won’t be able to handle a crooked nose. It’ll throw you off beat. You’re lucky, because you find that it’s tender, your piercing is still in-tact, and the liquid rushing from your nose is obviously blood. It’s not enough to make you worry, only slightly distracting. You think that the piercing wound is contributing to the problem.

You wipe under your nose, and fling the blood towards the floor, lifting your hands up again. She’ll have to try harder than this to upset you.

There’s a couple of spots that you’re sure would get back at her. Her ribs, her nose, her teeth, her jaw, her eyes. You know that anything to her ear or the side of her head will immediately be enough for her to pause. You just need a way to get there. An opening.

Trink moves towards you now, and you let her. You’re not afraid of her punching you again. You want her to try. You keep where you are, only shuffling in the circle. One step closer, and then another. She could swing if she really wanted to. She must be going for something else. You’re not sure what, but does it really matter?

She barely brings her hand down. You dodge the attack, and then your hand hits her cheek bone. And then her jaw. She pushes you off of her, you bring your knee into her side, sweep her feet, and let her fall. You bring your foot back, hitting her stomach, and then her ribs. She’s not on her back just yet, not open enough for you to be on top of her.

Fine.

You swing your foot up towards her face, she’s not able to catch it in time.

Her head flies back, shoulders hitting the wooden floor.

The Erudite girl you fought a while back was in much worse condition than this.

The fight isn’t over. Trink brings herself to her elbows, eyes on your face, squinting. Her vision must be blurry. Unfortunately for her, it’s about to get so much worse. She’s still kicking, which means that you need to be too.

You slam your foot into her side, and then sit on top of her hips. You bring your fist up, watching the blood from your nose land onto her chin. Payback. First is her nose, bleeding. Next is straight to her mouth. After is her cheek, settling for a black eye. She goes to punch up once, aiming for your throat. You grab her arm and twist.

“Give up.” you tell her, twisting harder, “Give up!”

Her face is twisted in pain, mouth open as she pants. When you force it harder, she lets out a scream.

Half her body is twisted one way, her cheek pressed against the wooden floor. The other arm is pinned behind her, she wouldn’t be able to get it, even if she tried. You’ve got the upper hand.

You curl your hand into a fist, eyes landing on her temple, “Well, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”

Your fist hits the side of her head hard enough for your knuckles to feel like they’ve broken. The tension falls from Trink’s body, you let go of her arm. When you get to your feet, your immediate focus is your nose and the blood coming from it. You squeeze the bridge, tilting your head back slightly.

One look at Caspian, and he’s giving you a nod of approval. He circles your name.

You head toward Finnick and Thyme. In order from most to least damaged, you’re most, Thyme is in the middle, Finnick is least. There’s not a single scratch on him.

Before you can say anything, Finnick’s directing your chin up so that he can examine your face. You watch his eyebrows draw in, “Doesn’t look like it’s broken.”

“It hurts to move, obviously.” you say, “I think the piercing isn’t helping.”

“Probably not.” Finnick lets you free, “It could be worse, the stud could’ve ripped your nose open.”

You give him a smile.

“You were really good.” Thyme says, she’s still playing with her hands.

“Yeah, congrats!” Finnick grins, “Tapped into your raw power, huh?”

“That, and I’ve got a problem with Erudite’s.”

When you turn around to look, Trink is just barely turning over, a hiss leaving her lips. She presses her open hand to the side of her head and closes her eyes. Now her friends go to collect her. With Allio slinging one of Trink’s arms over his shoulder. Trink can hardly keep upright, leaning into him heavily.

Amos is finally on his feet, his nose no longer bleeding. Eytelle is still nursing her jaw, and you catch the glare that she’s giving Finnick. You crack up, elbow Finnick, and then jerk your head in their direction. Finnick looks too, and you can hear a snort come from him.

“Something tells me that they’re mad.”

“Yeah? What gave that away?”

“I don’t know, maybe the bruises forming on their faces?” Finnick suggests.

Caspian claps his hands, “The rest of the day is yours! See you bright and early for fighting tomorrow morning!”

You grab a hold of Finnick’s sleeve for a second, “I’m going to talk to Caspian. I’ll catch up.”

“We’ll wait for you outside of the door.” he wiggles his eyebrows, “No promises that I won’t eavesdrop.”

You roll your eyes, pushing him.

You watch as everyone slowly leaves the room, except for Laurel and Caspian, who still stand at the chalkboard. When the door shuts, concealing the last person, you finally speak, partially ignoring Laurel.

“You couldn’t have made it more obvious, you know.”

Caspian stares at you for a moment, “The proper response would be ‘thank you’.”

“I don’t need your help.” you snap, “And I don’t want it, either. I can take care of myself. I’m just letting you know that your hatred for Erudite’s is a clear sign that you’re still attached to Abnegation.”

He doesn’t say anything, and you don’t need him to.

You turn and leave the training room, the door sweeping shut behind you. Like promised, Finnick and Thyme are waiting for you in the hallway. They’re talking about who they might be paired up with tomorrow. You can start your guessing now, but you’d rather worry about it tomorrow.

“How was it?” Finnick asks.

You give him a shrug, not really in the mood. You already knew that Caspian giving Trink to you was a gift, but you didn’t think that he’d demand a thanks. What an asshole. It’s been five years and he still hasn’t changed. You need to keep him at a distance.

Finnick doesn’t nag you, but judging by the look he gives you, he won’t be letting this go. You can expect him to ask about it later, which you actually prefer. At least then you’ll be cooled down enough. Plus, you’re not too entirely sure you want Thyme entering your business just yet. It’s been two and a half days.

You wonder how Reed and Alyssum are coping.

Actually, you don’t think you have to wonder.

Alyssum has noticed the difference, she’s three, which means she’s old enough to comprehend the fact that you’re not there. In fact, she might have even asked Reed where you’ve gone, no doubt earning some sort of stern glare from him, trying to silence her. The problem is, she’s still little, she doesn’t understand it to that extent.

You’re sure that no one has mentioned you, in courtesy of Reed. Abnegation is all for not inconveniencing others, and bringing up an event that’s usually frowned upon is like reminding the person of the stain on their family’s reputation. It’s two-timing now, too. First it was Mox, and now you.

Naida might be talking about it with Reed. As far as you can remember, before your parents died, he wasn’t a naturally curious person. This is why he’s a good fit for Abnegation, he’ll take the orders he’s given, and just do it without question. Volunteer work, a government job if he was elected, whatever Abnegation might want him to do. However, this doesn’t mean that he hasn’t turned to Naida to ask her questions. To see if she saw it coming at all.

She’s a mother of five, she’s raised two kids so far that have switched factions. She must have picked up on the mannerisms somehow. Calandra, her oldest, went to Erudite. Normally that would mean she was showing signs of high intelligence, especially in high school. She might not have been able to bring books home to continue her studies in the comfort of her own bedroom, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be in the honor classes in high school.

You think you vaguely remember that being the case for her. Honestly, you weren’t really paying attention to her because she’s not your direct family. Of course, you would sometimes see her during holidays or dinners with her entire family before and after your parents were still alive. You really only began paying attention after she left, she was the first person you knew from everyday life that transferred. The second person was Caspian, who obviously ended up in Dauntless.

At this point, you think that Naida might have seen something in your interactions, but chose not to say anything because you probably confused her. You aren’t all Abnegation, you aren’t all Dauntless, and you definitely aren’t all Erudite. You showed traits from all three, two of which, her own children had shown signs of too.

Now that you’re thinking about that, you think that might be a problem, considering that if being Divergent is supposed to be dangerous, you were giving her mixed signals for years. And you might not have known the terminology for what you are exactly, but that doesn’t mean that all the adults in your life don’t. Reed and Naida, and Amon probably do. Amon more than anybody because he’s involved in the Abnegation government.

You think that this is the extent of Reed’s curiosity, though. He might be wondering if he could have spotted the signs earlier, and if Naida tells him anything--if he even asked--then he’ll try to do better with Alyssum. Since Reed is one of the Abnegation members that fully believe in Abnegation’s faction supremacy.

As for missing you, there might be another spot in his heart that’s empty. You think that if Reed had known that both of your parents would die, he wouldn’t have stayed in Abnegation to be responsible for the teenagers and kids that would eventually leave him. The thing is, he’s not the only person that this happens to. Parents in Abnegation have this happen to them all the time, especially when they only have one kid. It’s not really preventable.

Your mother’s death was unfortunate, modern medicine couldn’t save her. Your father’s death was accidental, as he was just helping someone like he used to do all the time on his walk home from work.

Reed could be regretting all the times he was too harsh on you. You think that you inherited the overthinking from him. He always sits in silence, so any questions must make him hesitant, but his actions can’t show that. And since you’ve always been forced into silence, not allowed to ask questions, you’ve been left to make up scenarios of what possible outcomes could be.

In this case, Reed might be eligible for Erudite. He has been taught not to ask questions, which would make him more prone to curiosity. Then again, he fits in too well into Abnegation to be just Erudite alone…

Does divergence run in the family?

ANTERIC IS A SPIN-OFF DIVERGENT AU //MASTERLIST//

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