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#how none of us noticed that vi was not geared for that many pulls
vespertine-legacy · 3 years
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Some fun moments from last night while progging Apex...
Vi, sometime around like... 4th pull: [surreptitiously drops legacy bank] rest of the raid: whatcha doin’ there, Vi? Vi: oh, nothin... just... you know... grabbing my gear... rest of the raid: VI???? me, who has healed Vi naked through two bosses without letting her die: pffft, gear just slows you down Vi: Right??? Pol (other healer): Doubt
On the pull where we tried having Frenzy also run for stims during voltinator “because Apex doesn’t move during voltinator anyway”
Ash: oh that’s not good (because Apex moved while Frenzy was out of position and started dropping acid puddles in Very Bad Spots) me: [throwing hots on Ash, Princess, Frenzy, and myself, popping a defensive and hydraulics, and running through the acid puddle to get back into position] it’s fine Ash and Princess: [go the long way to get back into position to avoid the acid puddles] Ash: oh no, oh no, oh no Princess’s HP: [plummeting] me: it’s fine
I don’t remember when this exchange happened but:
me: [with tears streaming down my face from too many pulls without blinking] can someone please remind me to blink at like, any point during this fight? because when it starts getting hairy, I don’t, and this fight is entirely too long for that Princess: OH MY GOD, SAME
Anyway, on our last pull, we got him down to like 25% and then the entire server lagged so hard that Apex just straight up froze for all of us but Frenzy for like 10 straight seconds, so Frenzy was just like “voltinator,” expecting us to, you know, do our jobs for voltinator, but no one could do anything, so Frenzy was like “um, voltinator,” with a little more feeling, but we still couldn’t do anything, and then he insta-killed us.
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guerilla935 · 4 years
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My Favorite Games That Made Me Care About How I Looked
I’m very self conscious about the way I look in video games. Not only is it normally very easy to change an outfit or get a haircut in a video game it also says something about how I’d like to be perceived, especially in an online game. There are a lot of games that allow their players to express themselves in a lot of really fun and unique ways and I think that it’s really special when you get to celebrate a style that you would never get to portray in real life. These games that I am about to talk about are all games where I was able to look at my character and feel some ounce of pride at something that I had created. Some full disclosure for these images, I pulled them from official gaming outlets and developer blogs but none of these that you are seeing are my original characters. If anyone would like to request to see any of my characters from these games (or any other games!) I would be happy to go and grab screenshots of those characters.
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Grand Theft Auto Online
This is a pretty easy choice for most people. I chose specifically GTA Online over any GTA game or Red Dead game because I think the really special part about this is its setting. Your image is not only your character and your outfit in GTA Online but also your car, your house, and your business. There are a lot of different places to choose to call home and there are a lot of things to get “invested” into. For example, my good friend mojo5 runs a night club and wears suits and spends a lot of time gambling at the casino. That’s a character that would be different than mine who dresses and acts like a street racer. It gives your character a kind of personality and back story that is hard to achieve in other games. I have always kind of considered Grand Theft Auto Online to be a modern MMO of sorts, a playground. And as much as it is a huge lobby where you wait to start activities, it is also a sprawling city-space where you can essential live, make money, create this fun fictional life for yourself. And as far as fashion goes, the outfits, the cars, and the real estate help you shape that fantasy. Basically, I can tell you that I spent way more time customizing my character than I spent in actual activities in Grand Theft Auto Online.
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Saint’s Row Series
I love Saint’s Row. It is very similar to the last entry in this article but has this unique and goofy style that makes a lot of things okay that I would never do to my GTA character. In Saint’s Row I can have a neon blue Mohawk wielding a 10 foot melee weapon that is designed to look like something extremely unmentionable while driving a night rider space car that is also a tank and it’s totally fine because in the next cut scene you are about to fight Roddy Piper in Keith Davids nightmares. The games are incredibly wild and I love how I can let loose with a lot of different styles, and in the same way that I feel like I am creating my gritty street racer in GTA, I can make my goofy crime lord super hero secret agent in Saint’s Row. I think specifically in Saint’s Row 2 I took it a little more seriously because the tone of the game is a little more serious than the other entries however I have a specially place in my heart for how wacky each game allows me to be.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons
You knew we couldn’t just not talk about Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With the current situation, the Animal Crossing community is insanely huge. I cannot avoid the heap of Animal Crossing videos and screenshots all over social media. On my island of Sandover Village, I am patiently awaiting the Able Sisters to set up shop so that I am able to put in codes from everyone else’s custom designs that I’m seeing on twitter. That is because I have on my phone a stockpile of sweatshirts, sweaters, robes, and hats that I am actually really excited to show off in game. I tried to create some of my own but I am not one of the gifted seamstress’s that there seems to exist on the internet. I am not very far into Animal Crossing but by looking at other peoples games I know that I have only scratched the surface of my options in the game. I have to commend Nintendo on the amount of individualization that the design pro feature gives to its players. I have never seen a game give players the option to design their own clothing and it makes the social experience of the game feel so fresh.
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Dark Souls III
One of the most badass games that I have ever played as far as character design is concerned is Dark Souls III. When I put on a new set of armor I sit in awe of how it looks because I can see each tiny tear in the cape, every dent in the helmet, and the wear and weight of the armor. I was dragged through this game by some friends (because I could never in a thousand years have the patience to beat it by myself) and I followed them to every cursed swamp and death crypt because I wanted to see every weapon and every armor set. You look absolutely ghoulish in every armor set and I love it to death. This game allows so much in the way of customization and I think it helps that almost every gear set is good enough to get you through the entire game and that allows you to play with a lot of different looks and game play styles. This game is tough, really really tough, but you look really good even when you die.
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Splatoon 2
Splatoon 2 is a really special online shooter. I think in the month that I played this game religiously the thing that kept me playing was coming back to the stores to see what kind of clothes were in stock and what kind of items I could steal off the players in the lobby. I think that the developers of Splatoon 2 knew that the players were in it for the threads because every reward for playing the game was most likely a piece of clothing. The clothing options kind of vary from academy prep to Patagonia camp wear to skater outfits. And it comes together in this very hipster overall aesthetic that blends really naturally. The game features a mechanic that I really like wear you can walk up to anyone in the online lobby and look at what their wearing and order it. By the time I logged on the next day I had (a noticeably weaker version of) the exact same item but it really makes you feel like anything you see, you have access too which is really cool. And the ordering of the items kept me coming back to play every day.
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Final Fantasy XIV Online
I’ve heard it said many times that the real end game content of Final Fantasy XIV Online was the glamor and housing systems, and for most people they aren’t wrong. I will never stop being surprised at the outfits that players can put together in this game. I have seen millions of players in my 750 hours in Eorzea and I have not seen two characters look the same. The customization options are really limitless and I truly believe that. I played a healer mage and in my time at max level I had outfits that made me look like a cowboy, a thief, a fox spirit, a grim reaper, and even one that made me appear like a real healer mage. The clothing options throw a Final Fantasy twist on every kind of style that they set to replicate. So even though all the outfits can be wacky they never feel out of place in the world. If you want a game that you can make almost 50% just about customizing your character and taking it out to the town to show it off or in big raids to flaunt your style then this might be your game.
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Pokemon Sword And Shield
Pokemon is still trying to get it right but Sword and Shield is Game Freaks best attempt at trainer customization. The clothing options in the game are very European, well, they have always been that way but they are ESPECIALLY European in this one. Probably the greatest customization offered is the hair which in the world of anime characters is the most important one. I loved designing my character in this game but it was just so brief because shopping in this game is so boring as most clothes in the actual stores are very samey which makes the act of shopping pretty boring most of the time. I would roll up to a new town really excited to see what kind of stuff they had in the shop but it was just new colors for the same weird duffel bag that your character had already. Note that the game is mostly about the Pokemon so they really didn’t have to put any trainer customization in the game to make it a good game but they did a half decent job putting this much customization in the game and I feel like it’s going to keep getting steadily better the more times they implement this feature into their games. Big plus, you can design your trading card in the game and it is the most adorable thing and feels like a huge payoff to have a cool card if you’ve put a lot of effort into your trainer.
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Soul Calibur VI
So I haven’t actually played Soul Calibur VI, I bought the game and went immediately into character creation and started making my own roster of fighters that I ended up using maybe once or twice and moving on from. The character creator in this fighting game is really special. So the idea is that you choose a character that already exists and you keep their move set and fighting style but change how they look and immediately the things that came out of the community were hilarious. Some are kind of terrifying but they come shockingly close to being somewhat recognizable. For me it almost comes down to that being someone who is unfamiliar with the cast of Soul Calibur VI I cannot tell the difference between actual characters from the game and characters frakensteined together in the character creator. As on of the most fun character creators I’ve ever used I think it’s at least worth googling what other people have created.
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God of War (2018)
The newest God of War introduced something that we never got in the older games and that was the ability to change out what Kratos was wearing. While it was important in the game to maximize his stats, it also made you look cooler and cooler as the game went on. I wouldn’t say that you have a lot of options of things to wear in this game but I always felt bummed when I picked up something with relatively low stats that looked amazing. Later on the armor sets become more like trophies for completing hard tasks. The design of each piece of armor is really intricate and amazing to look at and while you can’t just pick whatever you want, I really wish that you could.
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Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
In the Reaper of Souls expansion pack a new vendor was added to Diablo III that changed the way that I looted in the game. The vendor was called the mystic and she would make a piece of gear look like any other piece of gear of the same type. This meant that I could look amazing all the time without sacrificing strength. The way that the database of appearances you could pick from expands over time gave so many options that I couldn’t decide at some points. The coolest armor in the game was now accessible at any time. And the armor in Diablo III looks tight, sometimes I would argue that unless you pick some unique stuff it doesn’t make that big of a difference because of the isometric point of view in the game but it is really fun to have an added layer of customization in Diablo.
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
So this is actually a section dedicated to Nexus Mod Manager because Skyrim in itself doesn’t actually have a whole lot of variations in the ways you can dress. But with the powers of modding you can now do absolutely anything and there are a whole group of 3D modelers out there getting you immersive and lore friendly items that make you look a whole lot cooler. The wonderful world of modding can turn kind of creepy very fast, a lot of very suggestive mods are out there and a lot of very inappropriate things so you know, a fair warning. It’s incredible when you can make it work and keep it from getting to the level of ultimate Skyrim. You can change and add clothes and weapons, add hair styles, and even add entire races into the game. Sometimes though I really believe that I like browsing mods a lot more than I like actually playing with them but I found that it is really satisfying to download a mod like Immersive Armors and see just how much it changes how diverse the selection of armors that not only you but everyone in the game now wears can be.
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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
So I believe that some other previous Zelda titles had the ability to change Links outfit but never to this extent. What I think is the coolest part about the clothing system in this game is that you wear certain clothes to survive certain climates but you can also forget all that and make a yummy meal instead that lets you be warm wearing the desert clothes in the snow. The amount of armors that you can amass in this game starts off kind of underwhelming but becomes really fun and interesting and serves all sorts of fun fan service for fans of the series. This game doesn’t have the versatility and variety of some of the other games in the series but any game that lets you cross dress to sneak into a city of warrior women is credited for its costume design in my book.
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League of Legends
I have spent a shameful amount of money on skins. I hate League of Legends and I hate most of the business practices of Riot Games but their skins just look good. I can appreciate when someone I don’t like makes something good and they consistently pump out awesome looking skins that are frankly worth the money if you play the game regularly. Back when I played this game daily I put up way too much money, even I think about 18$ just on a skin that changed colors when you typed a specific command. Anyways that’s really all I have, there aren’t a lot of games where I like the skins, especially the fact that they are mostly behind pay walls but League gets a pass I suppose.
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Destiny Series
I used to be really into playing a specific game mode in Destiny named Iron Banner. I played a lot of it in Destiny and a good portion of them in Destiny 2. When you played enough Iron Banner in a year you were able to collect an armor set to commemorate the achievement. Almost all the cool armor in Destiny has purpose to it. Not only do you get to decide how you look but it also is you showing off the fact that you completed a raid, were really good at sparrow racing, or kicked major ass in the crucible. Each armor was recognizable and everyone knew what it meant. I think that is what makes the customization in Destiny so rewarding, its that it is in itself an actual reward for completing hard tasks that not everyone will be able to complete.
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Code Vein
Out of all the anime games I’ve played I think what stands out to me the most is that their character creators have all been really bad. This is where Code Vein really shined. Code Vein has this dystopian vampire aesthetic that is really unique and allows for a lot of ways to make cool characters that fit into the look of the game. I don’t think that what they’ve done here is completely new but they have this style that is exciting to play with. Making a revenant is fun and builds this anticipation for the rest of the game. I also respect the games decision to allow you to make modifications to your character after the game has started which is not something that most games would allow. Code Vein has these cape’s that you can wear to gain abilities and those are cool to add onto your outfit but I don’t think that it outshines what the character creator has done here. It’s a niche thing I guess but if you have always wanted to make your own anime vampire then this is it.
A Persona
I really like making characters for a reason. I think a lot of the escapism of video games hinges on me placing myself into the character on the screen. That’s why I love what you can do in games like Animal Crossing that is all about creating exactly what you want and Final Fantasy XIV Online where you get to exist and share in a world as a persona of sorts. Being able to customize a character in a video game does not make that game good or bad, but I think that when you are given the option the developer is given an opportunity to make it a very special experience and allow you to be unique within a community of people online. And the internet has made that sharing of characters really special, allowing everyone to see how unique of an experience you can have with a game by beating it with “your character”.
Special Shout Outs For Stylish Games And Characters
SSX series being dripping in 90s style
Also NBA Street Vol. 2 for the same reason
Persona 5 for being the most stylish game ever
Halo because space marines rock extra style points
Katana Zero for being badass and 80s neon will always be in style
Specifically Graffiti Mario in Super Mario Sunshine he had flair
Samurai Legend Musashi for having a stylish game case but being a horrible game
Devil May Cry just for existing
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itskateak · 4 years
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Oceans and Stars - Chapter 1
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(Art by itskateak...do not repost without permission)
Story Summary: A story of how Bucky Barnes falls in love with oceans, stars, and the woman who gave him the reasons to.
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Velika Dante King (Fem!OC)
Chapter Summary: Velika Dante King is new to the Avengers team. It takes her time to find her place among them and to learn to trust them. Through many moments, she’s given many reasons to trust the team.
Warnings: Canon typical violence, mentions of PTSD and Anxiety, mentions of nightmares, mentions of past trauma (brainwashing, death, assassinations, physical and psychological torture)
A/N: This is post-Endgame but Tony didn’t die and Steve didn’t yeet himself to the past and Nat was brought back and everything is fine. Not beta read. We die like men in this household.
                       ⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅ 
𝓕𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭, 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓮𝓮 𝓸𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓳𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓮𝔂?
Velika Dante King stepped out of the car, hiking her bag up on her shoulder. She stared at the Avengers’ compound with intrigue. The building was large and very much influenced by Tony Stark’s technology. A group of agents was running on a track to the side of the building, a higher-up barking at them to move faster. She smiled and shut the car door.
“We’ll have your stuff taken to your room, ma’am. Captain Rogers will be waiting for you in the foyer.” Happy startled her out of her thoughts and she nodded in approval. Her first impression of Happy Hogan was that his name was ironic. He looked grumpy pretty much the whole car ride from the airport. Maybe he was stressed about something or had a bad morning. He had a good heart, though, and that allowed her to brush off his sour countenance. 
“There’s no need to call me ma’am. Miss King or Velika works just fine.” Velika said, giving him what she hoped was a friendly smile. Change was never easy for her, nor were unfamiliar environments. She wouldn’t have accepted this job, anyway, if it hadn’t been for Nick Fury’s incessant nagging. Every couple of months, he would contact her with the same proposition. After many, many years, she finally caved.
 “Alright, Miss King. If you would follow me, I’ll take you into the building to meet Captain Rogers.” Happy returned her smile, living up to his name for the first time since they’d met. It was brief, but it proved her theory that he had his heart in the right place.
“Thank you,” Velika said, walking behind him toward the compound. She chewed on the inside of her lip, anxiety fluttering in her chest. The building was nowhere near the compound she’d lived in for so long, but there were enough visual similarities that her jet-lagged brain was beginning to panic. She took a deep breath to steady herself and pulled her bag further up. “What should I call you? Mister Hogan? Mister Happy?”
“Just Happy, Miss King.” Happy responded as he opened the doors for her. She smiled briefly in thanks and entered the building. The air conditioning hit her immediately and she hadn’t realized how warm it had been outside. She felt a little bad for the agents running outside, but then remembered that the weather wouldn’t ever be perfect for a mission. And the fact that she had run in worse weather.
“Ah, Lieutenant King! I’m Steve Rogers.” Steve extended his hand to her once they were close enough, a friendly smile lighting up his expression. He’d grown a beard since the last time she’d seen pictures of him, and it actually really suited him. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“I don’t know what Nick Fury told you, but I’m not a Lieutenant anymore. Just Velika or Miss King works. A pleasure to meet you, too.” Velika took his hand and shook it. His hand was calloused, much like hers, and his grip was strong.
“Thanks, Happy. I’m sure you have other things going on.” Steve said. Happy nodded and left them to attend to his duties as head of security. “So, how was the flight?” He gestured with his head to follow him.
“Smooth, luckily, but very long. I had the chance to stretch after landing.” Velika kept up with him easily, taking in her surroundings. 
“I’m glad it went well. We’ve had issues lately with airspace.” Steve shook his head and sighed. “That’s politics for you.”
“Gross.” Velika wrinkled her nose up and Steve barked a short laugh. “I’ve always hated politics.”
“Other people take care of that for us, now, so you don’t have to worry about it.” They started up a staircase to the right of the atrium. “That was the main foyer. It splits the building into two parts. This is our residential wing where only people granted access can visit. The team’s in the common room.”
“How many people are on the team?” Velika asked, glancing out the huge windows. The scenery wasn’t too bad. The compound seemed to be in a wooded area. 
“Our unit here is made up of eight people. Including you, that would be nine. We have a few other people who we consider apart of the team that are in other places.” Steve typed in a passcode at a pair of glass doors and opened it for her.
“And how many am I meeting today?” Velika nodded in thanks and entered the common room. She didn’t know if she could do many people today. Not until she was rested and not jet-lagged to Hell and back.
“Five, counting me. Vis and Wanda are running a mission and Bruce is taking a much-needed stress-relieving vacation.” Steve smiled before sighing in frustration. “They were here. Friday, can you call the team down to the common room again?”
“Yes, Captain Rogers. Right away.” A disembodied voice spoke and she jumped slightly.
“Friday is the artificial intelligence program that keeps things functioning around here. She’s probably the only thing keeping Tony alive when he’s working.” Steve shook his head fondly.
“You were taking ages, Rogers!” A red-headed woman said as she entered the room. “It doesn’t take that long to get downstairs and back up. Are you getting old or something?”
“That would be Natasha Romanoff,” Steve said and Natasha smiled in greeting and waved. “And yes, Nat. I am getting old.”
“Nice to meet you. Bikinis or one piece?” Nat asked with a perfectly arched brow of curiosity.
“Uh, bikinis?” Velika replied in a confused tone, head cocked slightly in thought.
“She can stay.” Nat crossed her arms with a grin and Steve rolled his eyes.
“Come on, old man! Move it, Frosty!” Shouts from down the hall caught their attention. “My grandma could move faster than you and she’s been dead for twenty years.”
“Then go around me, Wilson! And stop yelling. You’ll wake your grandma from the grave.” Another voice followed, sounding very annoyed and gruff. 
“Have dumb and dumber arrived to give us all headaches or have I miraculously made it ahead of them?” Tony Stark asked as he walked in, holding a foam cup probably containing coffee. 
“They’re down the hall, announcing their arrival through their bickering.” Natasha boosted herself up onto the back of a leather couch and crossed her legs. She had a nice figure, which her tank top and jeans accented. “They’re always that way.” She stage whispered behind her hand.
“Oh, great. I thought I could avoid it.” Tony grimaced and held his hand out to Velika. “Tony Stark. Brains behind the idiots and the tech mastermind.”
“Velika Dante King. Nice to meet you.” Velika smiled. His sense of humor was already incredible and she could already feel herself relaxing around him. Her ability to trust strangers was slim to none and she hadn’t realized how tense she was.
Two men entered the room, one nearly bouncing as he walked. The other ambled in, shaking his head at the other, an expression of pure annoyance on his face.
“Hey, new blood!” The first yelled with a bright smile. She flinched not at his volume but the term. Back in her military days, the recruits being trained were called new blood. It brought up bad memories. 
The man behind him muttered something that sounded like ‘no need to shout.’
“Sam Wilson. The team’s best-looking member.”
Velika introduced herself again, shaking his hand. She usually would’ve had some kind of witty comment to shoot back, but the jet-lag (and being rattled from a term she didn’t expect to hear) had her just smiling and nodding.
"I’m James Buchanan Barnes, but everyone calls me Bucky.” Bucky, who had his arms folded across his chest, spoke quietly in comparison Sam. “Welcome.”
“Thanks, Bucky.” Velika nodded at him and tightened her hold on her bag. “It’s really been nice to meet all of you, but I’m exhausted and really need some time to adjust. New surroundings and people and all...a lot to take in.”
“Hey, no problem. I’ll show you to your room. You guys are free to go.” Steve touched her shoulder and she started. He pulled his hand away with a quiet apology. The others in the room dispersed as Steve led her down one of the side halls. 
She pretended not to notice Bucky Barnes’ gaze boring into her back.
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“Okay, it’s your turn,” Sam said, turning his attention to Velika. “Truth or dare?”
“I’m just here getting a drink. I’m not playing.” Velika grabbed a glass and dug around in the fridge for the bag of limes she’d asked for. 
“Aww, come on! You haven’t joined us for our game nights yet. Just one, please?” Sam begged as she pulled a lime out and cut it into slices.
“No, because I’ve heard how you can be. I’m not choosing between a ridiculously personal question and a stupid dare.” Velika dropped the slice of lime in her glass and returned the bag to the fridge.
“If we’re gonna be on a team, we need to get to know each other and all our dirty secrets! How else are you gonna trust us?” Sam’s words made her tense up. Trust was a hard thing for her. She’d already been there for two months and had yet to really forge any connections with anyone. Sure, she’d trained with Natasha on occasion and spent time in Tony’s lab to get gear fitted. Other than that, she kept to herself and stayed very quiet.
“Easy. I don’t and I won’t.” Velika said as she swept out of the common and back to her room.
                      ⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅ 
“Three on your six, Velika.” Natasha’s voice in her ear made her press against the wall and wait silently, gun drawn. “Make that twelve, wait...fifteen.”
“I don’t see them, yet.” She muttered, drawing another handgun.
“Barnes, help her out,” Tony ordered.
“On it.”
“I can handle this on my own.” Velika hissed, poking around the corner and firing off a shot. She earned three back as she swung back around into cover. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
“We’re a team, Velika. When are you gonna stop thinking we’re your enemies?” Nat asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.
“When you give me a reason.” She fired down the hall again. Thirteen enemies still standing. This was her first mission with the full team. She and Bucky were part of the ground team. Steve and Natasha were across the building.
“How many left?” Bucky called from across the hall.
“I said I can handle this on my own.” She said, stepping out of cover and shooting three times. Velika ducked back behind the corner, holstering her now empty weapon.
“Quit being stubborn.” Bucky shot her a frustrated look and fired twice down the hall. “How many left?”
“Twelve. Happy?” Velika cocked her weapon.
Bucky didn’t respond, shaking his head slightly. “I can get two on the right from here. Can you get the three on the left?”
“Yeah.” Velika shifted and aimed. She fired five times, taking out the assigned targets. “Six left.”
Together, they took out the remaining members in short time. 
“You okay?” Bucky asked, looking her over.
“I’m fine.” She snapped crossing the hall to get closer to him. “And I would’ve been fine without your help.”
“We’re on your side, here, Velika,” Bucky argued, brows furrowed gently. 
“If you were really on my side, you would’ve let me handle it on my own. Teammates are supposed to-” Velika was cut off as he suddenly grabbed her arms and threw her to the side. She slammed into the wall with a grunt, about to tear him a new one when she looked up.
Bucky was fighting to disarm the agent they’d forgotten to count. The knife in the man’s hand had almost been driven into her back. He twisted the man’s arm and smashed his head into the wall, rendering him unconscious. He panted, tossing the knife away.
“Teammates are supposed to have your back when you need it and help you to make sure you don’t,” Bucky said, extending his hand to her. She took it and let him pull her upright. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m okay. Thanks.” Velika gave him a small smile. “Seriously, thanks. And...you’re right. You guys are on my side. I’m just...I can’t-”
“Trust doesn’t come easy for you.” Bucky interrupted her. “I get it, I do. When I first joined the team, I didn’t trust anyone but Steve. Now I trust them all with my life.”
“Even Wilson?”
“Even Wilson.” Though his tone was sincere, his expression showed his distaste. She laughed and shook her head. Maybe Bucky wasn’t so bad.
                      ⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅ 
“I’m going to smother you with a pillow, Velika!” Tony yelled, nearly throwing the table in his rage. She cackled wildly as he added twelve cards to his hand. “Sleep with one eye open.”
“You did that to yourself, Stark.” She giggled, fanning her cards back out. “Not my fault you didn’t count on the rest of us having draw twos.”
“All of you. Sleep with one eye open. I’m killing all of you and it starts with her.” Tony points an accusing finger at Velika with a deadly look in his eye.
Natasha laid down her next card, calling uno. Steve played a reverse, announcing that she certainly didn’t have another green. Nat tossed her green three onto the pile with a broad grin while Tony nearly started another war with Steve. Sam threw his cards onto the table, flipping the ex-assassin off.
Velika caught Bucky staring at her with a small smile as he set his cards down. She cocked her head to say ‘what?’ and he shook his head.
Eight months after she’d joined the team and she was finally sliding into place. Eight months later and she was finally beginning to trust them.
Yeah, they’re not so bad.
                      ⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅ 
Velika watched the stars quietly, breathing in the night air. She’d woken from another nightmare and needed to get away from her room to calm down. They weren’t frequent anymore, but they were still vivid and always got her heart racing. Some nights, she even woke in her room thinking that she was back on her silver chain.
The peace of the night sky always calmed her down and reminded her that she wasn’t there anymore. The stars were always a friendly sight for her sore eyes, twinkling against the black background. She took a deep breath and felt her heart rate finally start to go down.
“Oh, I didn’t...Sorry, I’ll go.” Bucky’s voice startled her and she whipped around to see him standing awkwardly by the rood access door. He wasn’t wearing shoes (well, she wasn’t either) and his sweatpants were loose and his sweatshirt looked like he’d just picked it up off the floor. His hair was a wreck, though she assumed hers looked that way, too. 
“No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t mind some company.” She said, turning back to look at the sky. “Other than the stars, of course.”
Bucky was quiet as he joined her, keeping a safe distance between them. He’d even walked to her other side to stand on her left. She assumed it was because of his arm. 
“Nightmare?” Velika asked, leaning against the railing. 
“Yeah. You?”
“Yep.” They fell silent again, both just watching the world around them. Crickets chirped to fill the space and an owl called in the distance. The trees rustled with the soft breeze drifting by.
“Wanna talk about it?” He offered, turning to face her.
“Do you?” She countered, glancing at him. His eyes were puffy. Her heart hurt for him. 
“I...don't know if it would help,” Bucky admitted, sounding defeated. “Steve lets me talk about them sometimes but I can tell it bothers him. He blames himself for what happened, still, and I don’t want to add to his burden. I don’t want to be a burden.”
“James Buchanan Barnes, you’re not a burden,” Velika said, fixing him with a softly stern look. “Come on. Lay it on me. Dream for a dream. Then I’ll tell you a story.”
Bucky rubbed his right hand over his face, then ran it through his hair. “What kind of story?”
“A story about the stars.” Velika smiled. “Any constellation. Whatever you want. I know them all.”
“I...don’t know the constellations anymore.” He sheepishly ducked his head. “One of the things I lost when Hydra brainwashed me.”
“Luckily, when they brainwashed me, I didn’t forget them.” Velika sighed and shot a disdainful look upwards. “So, what happened in your dream?”
“It started normally. Didn’t think it was a nightmare at first. Just sitting in the common room, watching something stupid with the team. Next thing I know, I’ve got my hands restrained and someone...someone was talking to me.” Bucky drew in a shuddering breath, gripping the railing with his right hand. “Saying things that I can’t remember now, but...then I was being shoved back in that chair having my memory wiped. I blinked and I was approaching Steve with a knife. He greeted me kindly and I just slit his throat. One by one, I killed every single one of you and then just walked out.”
“Sounds like Hell.” Velika wrinkled her nose up. He’d been through a lot as the Winter Soldier and being under Hydra’s control, and it sucked that he couldn’t even get a break during the night when he was sleeping. “Have you seen a therapist for everything that happened?”
Bucky looked at her like she’d grown a second head. “What?”
“You went through a lot and without proper measures to cope and process, it’s only going to sit there and fester. It won’t get rid of your nightmares entirely, but it would maybe help decrease them.” Velika explained. “I got into therapy shortly after I got out. Saved my life, honestly. Got me back to a functioning person.”
“I...hadn’t considered that. I might have to look into that.” Bucky’s shoulders sank like the tension had been released. “Your turn.”
“That is the deal I made.” Velika sighed. “The dream started out of nowhere. I was dreamless until it suddenly popped up. I’ll spare you the gory details, but...it was back when I was under the control of my birth city. I think, at least. I couldn’t control my movements but I could see everything. They...they made me kill someone.”
“Who?”
“My brother,” Velika whispered, eyes falling closed as she swallowed thickly. “He was pleading for his life and I just couldn’t stop as I drove the knife into his chest over and over and over. Then as he was dying, I was back to myself and held him as he died.”
“Jesus.” Bucky’s eyes were wide. “Sounds like we’re both a mess.”
Velika laughed sadly and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, yeah...we kinda are. But we can at least be messes together.”
“You trust me enough for that?” Bucky asked with an arched brow.
“I do.” She admitted with a smile. “I trust you, Bucky. I trust the others, too.”
“Even Wilson?”
“Even Wilson.” Velika giggled and grabbed his arm. “Come on. Lay down. I promised to tell you about a constellation.”
She dragged him to a wider space of the roof and moved to his left side. She laid down with her arm behind her head. He cautiously laid next to her, giving her some space between them. 
“Okay, so we can see a few constellations from this position. There’s one there, there, and there.” Velika pointed them out. “Which would you like?”
“How about...the third one?” Bucky suggested.
“Hercules was the son of Zeus and Alcmene...” Velika launched into the story, staring up at the sky as the stars twinkled back at them. Nine months with the team and she’d finally settled in.
𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓮𝓮?
                      ⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅ 
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xeocx13 · 5 years
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The Feeling of Home
The first time Violet had asked Minnie to dance with her, her heart drooped like a flower longing to see the sun.
While Violet had known Minnie most of her life, the aspect of dating was still a huge adjustment yet one she could get behind. Finally, she found someone she could confide to; share her deep secrets to, and to able to rely on. So many people had left her that finding someone who was stable and trustworthy was hard to come across and couldn’t be more happy or grateful.
It was late morning when Violet strode into the twin’s bedroom, holding some coloring supplies in one hand. Minnie was sitting on her bed, strapping on her boots. The sight made Violet smile. She closed the door behind her.
“Hi,” Violet started quietly.
“I’m going out hunting with Brody. Can you even believe this?” Minnie said, smashing her foot into the boot and adjusting the strap.
Violet walked to the twins’ desk and dropped the art supplies.
“What’s wrong with hunting?” she asked.
Minnie scoffed, full attention on tightening her boots. “Of course you don’t get it. You like hunting. It’s so vile.”
Violet frowned. “Minnie. I could switch with you—“
“No, no, don’t bother. Marlon hates it when we swap shifts.”
Violet was quiet as Minnie finished getting ready and stood from her bed. She noticed the staring and frowned slightly at the shorter girl.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
Minnie scoffed. “Don’t bullshit me, Vi. What’s going on?”
Minnie could read her so easily. Nothing ever got past her and if it did, it never went far. Minnie was always one step ahead of her. Even as little girls before Ericson was in the picture, Minnie called decided for her sister and Violet where they were going, what they would eat. She seemed to have an innate ability to read a situation and see what would be best for them. While intimidating, Violet was in awe, even as a child. The clip in pocket suddenly felt heavy as Minnie stared her down. It was unnerving.
“Minnie, it’s nothing,” Violet smiled quietly. Approaching the taller girl, she suddenly felt smaller than what she already was.
She grabbed Minnie’s hand. “Just make it back safe, okay?”
Minnie rolled her eyes. “Vi, you’re such a sap. I’ll be fine.” Minnie dropped Violet’s hand. “Now, if you aren’t going to what’s bother you, I’m going to leave.”
“I didn’t know you were in such a rush,” Violet quietly teased.
Minnie sighed. “Vi—“
“I wanna try something.”
This stopped the taller girl. She blinked at her outburst and stood up straighter. “Oh. Okay.”
Violet took a deep breath. “Remember that spring formal? Back before the outbreak?”
Minnie groaned as a small smile tugged across her face. “Oh god! The one where Andre was trying to grope every girl he could spot?”
“Yep,” Violet smiled, “And Shelly punched him so hard it broke his braces?”
“Poor Shelly. I think she might’ve broken her wrist from that. Andre was fucking predator though,” Minnie replied, a nostalgic look on her face as she looked up at the room covered in Sophie and Tenn’s drawing. Violet wrung her hands together.
“If I had known any better, I would’ve asked you,” Violet said, taking another step to the ginger. Minnie raised a brow in question.
“Asked what?”
“To dance.”
The room suddenly stilled, the breeze from the battered window stopped momentarily as if someone had ceased a breath. When did the room get so small?
“Vi—“
“I know we’ve only been dating for a few months but—“
Minnie shook her head. “No, no. It has nothing to do with that.” She sighed and dragged a hand across her face, like a mother dealing with an intolerant child.
“Vi, do you even know how to dance? I mean, that’s not you! That’s not us!”
Minnie sighed again when she Violet shrink into herself again, hands digging into her pockets. She brought a freckly hand across her face and swept away from stray blond bangs.
“Look, you’re cute and all. But Violet, you know that’s not you. Don’t be a sap. We can make out later if you want, if I’m up to it.”
Violet’s eyes lit up slightly as Minnie’s lips ghosted a kiss across her cheek.
“Now get your ass in gear, those plants aren’t gonna grow themselves.”
“Well, they kind of do.”
“Shut up.”
The raid was over, their friends taken, and everyone was looking to fight back. The courtyard was a disaster as Willy mourned over his friend’s corpse. Rosie would occasionally catch a scent, Ruby trying to clear up the clutter and put out the fires.
Violet helped all she could, finally emerging from the basement after she helped AJ drag Abel and tie him up. She frowned when the boy insisted that he stay until Abel woke up or when Clementine came to see him.
Clementine was taking time for herself, processing the events from last night and was nowhere to be found. As much as Violet ached to see her. . .girlfriend(?), she knew that if Clementine wanted to talk to her, she’d seek her. Still, that did not stop her from going to Tenn’s room and asking for his art supplies and disappearing for the next few hours.
She found herself at Clem and AJ’s shared bedroom a few hours after they returned from scouting out the boat. She raised a fist to knock on the door before it suddenly burst open and AJ sprint past her.
“What’s with AJ?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
Clementine sighed and raised a hand to her face in distress. “He just…needs some space.”
The two chatted for a bit, Violet quietly admitting her confusion over reuniting with Minnie in the woods and though how much she despised Louis, she missed his presence.
“We will get them back, Vi. Louis, Aasim, all of them. I promise you,” Clementine said, bringing a hand up and resting it on her shoulder. Violet shuddered at the younger girl’s touch and felt the pin tap the inside of her rib. She shrank a little and took a step back.
“Um, I, uh, made you this,” Violet said quietly, reaching into her pocket and holding out the pin for the girl. She didn’t look at Clem but felt the pin be removed her palm.
She smiled and chuckled under breath. “Stars?”
“Yeah, so you, you know, never forget the night,” Violet finished awkwardly, finally looking up to the girl who was admiring the pin. She watched as Clementine moved her fingers across the pattern. She gasp quietly but didn’t look away when Clementine caught her eye and smiled.
“I never will.” And she clasped the pin on her jacket.
Violet continue to stand there awkwardly and looked down at her feet. She had asked Minnie this before and was shot down, almost immediately. Why wouldn’t Clem do the same? Minnie was right in some way; dancing was vulnerable and intimate, two traits Violet never actively expressed.
“Vi?”
She looked up as Clem watched steadily, smiling still. God, she was so pretty…
“What is it?”
Violet sighed and awkwardly fiddled with her hands. Here goes nothing…
“I wanna try something. And you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. I mean, because it’s a really stupid idea now that I think about it, and—“
“Vi.”
Violet stopped and held her breath, scared that if she let go, Clementine would not catch her. She had not left yet so that meant something, considering her nonsensical rambling. She reluctantly held out a hand and took a step back, braving herself to meet the younger girl’s eyes
“Do you wanna dance? You know, with me?”
The room suddenly stilled. Violet felt everything slow down and suck back up into her head, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. All of it was too fast, too similar to when she had asked Minnie the very same question a little over a year ago. She didn’t, couldn’t, admit it then but Minnie’s stare and scoff at the offer hurt more than she had thought. Clementine and Minnie were so very much alike and yet, so very different. Clem searched her eyes as if not believing what she was hearing yet behind the brown hazel pools bloomed into something powerful, intense even.
Her blank and intense stare that only might’ve lasted a moment disappeared as a smile etched across her face. Stepping forward, clasping the blonde girl’s grimy hand, and drawing in close. Violet felt Clem’s hands settle naturally at her hips as her own hands rested on her shoulders, the two began to sway in sync.
It was daunting, seeing and feeling Clementine this close. She could see every mark, every scar and speck across the girl’s face, almost like a painting. Her eyes dropped down to the girl’s lips for a moment, remembering the previous night. This feeling, Clementine’s smiling face and eyes, the way her hands would adjust every so often on her hips as if wanting to feel the shape of Violet, it was overwhelming perfect. So this is what it’s like…
Violet smiled back at the girl, now causing Clementine to look away almost bashfully. It was only for a moment before she decided to return the smile back in full force.
It wasn’t enough though. Violet, feeling brave all of a sudden, drew in close and engulfed the girl in a warm embrace, continuing to sway back and forth. The way their bodies almost slipped into each other as easily and perfectly as a puzzle piece.
This, this, felt like home. Finally, here was someone she rely on and count on. The disbelief and awe that shook Violet to her core when Clementine returned the next day after they kicked both her and AJ from their school. Though her heart ached for Minnie every so often, seeing the girl in such a skewed state of mind and now, feeling Clementine pull Violet even closer, the starry night sky pin brushing against her skin, none of it seemed to matter.
The first time Violet had asked Clementine to dance with her, her heart swelled like a flower in full bloom.
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jolienjoyswriting · 5 years
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Mortem In Contumeliam FFVI, Ch. II
Chapter 2 of "Mortem In Contumeliam Final Fantasy VI," a Final Fantasy VI fan fiction story.
This chapter introduces an original fan character of sorts!  I hope you guys don't get too attached! (And, no, the character isn't based on anyone I know, or any existing character.  But, the name does comes from a related game!)
Word count: 4,494 – Character count: 26,015 Originally written: July 16th, 2019
The plucky pair of soldiers find themselves on a ship.  But, are they prepared for hi-jinks on the high seas?
Final Fantasy VI, Wedge, Biggs, and related characters, scenarios, and properties created by Square Soft, Inc. and © Square Enix Co, Ltd.
[ ← Prev. Chapter | Next Chapter → ]
    “Man, talk about luck, huh?”
    Despite his friend’s close brush with “certain death” – the unhinged General Palazzo – Wedge was all smiles as he slipped on the chest piece of some fresh soldier’s armor.
    “I was pretty damn sure the commander was gonna jam that sword down our throats!  But, after General Kefka showed up, he was all business!  And, now?  We’re goin’ straight to Doma – wherever that is!”     “I suppose…” his partner, Biggs, told him as he put on some standard-issue pants.     “What?  You don’t think that’s lucky?”     Wedge reached into a nearby storage chest and withdrew a helmet with little, sword-like horns on the sides.     “We could’a been killed, or demoted, or anything!” he said as he put the skull protector over his head.  “Instead?  We’re gettin’ a free cruise to whatever this Doma place is, then we get to storm a castle!  How cool is that?!”     “War is never ‘cool,’ Wedge.  But…”  Biggs paused, then he smiled.  “I am happy that we didn’t get demoted – if only because Pierre would never let us hear the end of it.”     “Oh, man, is he gonna be steamed when he hears we got off scot-free!”     The other soldier smiled a little more brightly.
    “Pierre’s such a snotty little turd…” Wedge continued as he pulled on one boot and laced it up.  “I wish I knew why… but, I don’t think that’d change much.”     “He blames us for ‘the armor incident.’”     “What?”  The shorter man blinked from under his helmet.  “What ‘armor incident?’”     “Remember when we were stationed at the base near that sealed cave?”     “Yeah?”     “Remember when that powered armor malfunctioned and we tried to stop it?”     “Yeeaaah…?”     “And, remember how it ran through the wall of the storage building and who they found ‘piloting’ it?”     “Yeeaaa–”  He paused.  “O-oh!”     “Yeah…” Biggs said with a chuckle.  “He thought he could stop it and climbed inside.  After it went through the wall, our commanding officer found him semi-conscious in the cockpit.  There wasn’t much anyone could have done, by that point.”     “Not that I wanted to…”  Wedge scowled.  “Remember how that little ratfink tried to throw us under the carriage?  We weren’t the ones who tried piloting a busted Magitek Armor!”     “Still, you have to admit… Pierre’s demotion was unfair and mostly circumstantial.”     “Yeah, yeah…”  The soldier dismissively waved his hand.  “We can feel bad about Pierre’s luck some other time.  Right now, we’ve gotta–”     “Unbelievable– unbelievable!!”     Both Biggs and Wedge blinked as they heard a shrill voice screech from outside.  They ran out of the barracks just in time to see Kefka stomp by, kicking crates, shoving soldiers out of his way, and just generally looking angry.
    “Me?!” he raged as he walked down some stairs.  “The Emperor wants me, li’l ol’ me, to go aaall the way to Figaro… just to find that stupid little girl?!  Why not send Leo?!  Why not send a regiment of grunts?  Why should I have to go to that gods-forsaken desert wasteland and talk with that stupid, snot-nosed, spoiled-brat-of-a-king?!  Life is so unfair!!  I’m no diplomat!  I’m a conquerer!!  Why should I–”
    Kefka continued to rant as he exited the area.  A moment later, a brown-suit came from upstairs, looking a bit on the dizzy side.     “What’s going on?” Wedge asked the soldier.     “Ugh… Kefka’s taking his anger out on the men,” was the soldier’s reply.  “From what I’ve heard, some idiots lost the witch-girl over in the Figaro region, so the Emperor decided to make General Palazzo go and find her, and he’s dragging a bunch of us along for the ride…”     “‘Some idiots?’” Biggs curiously asked, despite knowing who said “idiots” were.     “Yeah… some idiots who went to Narshe.  They lost the witch, their Magitek Armor, their gear…  Ah, it was a huge mess, from what I heard!  I hope those guys get demoted!”     “Yeah!  Screw those guys!” Wedge suddenly added, surprising his partner.  “How could someone screw up a mission that bad, am I right?”     “You said it, brother!” the random soldier laughed.  “Hey, after I get back, why don’t we hit the pub?  My treat!”     “It’s a date, friend!”     Biggs hid his face, shaking his head as Wedge and the soldier bumped fists.  A minute later, the soldier wandered off, leaving the duo at the barracks entrance.
    “‘Screw those guys?’  Really?”     “Oh, hush,” Wedge said with a grin.  “I got a free drink out of it, so…”     “You’re an idiot, Wedge.”     “Yeah, but I’m your idiot, Biggs.”     The other soldier smiled, then he thumped his partner’s arm.  With that, the two returned to the barracks and finished getting equipped.  Not long after, they rounded up as many soldiers as they could, then found themselves back on a ship and headed to a place called…
    “‘Nikeah,’ huh?”     That’s what a soldier with long, red hair coming out from under their helmet told them.     “The commander says, yes.”  They continued, “We have a stop-over in Nikeah, then we make landfall north of Doma Castle.  From there, we’re to set up a base camp along the isthmus between the eastern and western regions and await further orders.”     “Okay…  Just one question?”     “Yes?”     Wedge grinned as he asked, “The hell’s an ‘isthmus?’”     “An ‘isthmus’ is a narrow strip of land that has water on two parallel sides,” Biggs mentioned from behind him, “and usually connects two greater pieces of land.”     “Follow-up question…”  He rubbed the back of his head.  “Where’s Doma, again?”     “Doma Castle is located almost-directly east of Nikeah,” the red-haired soldier told him.     “Third question,” Wedge continued with a sheepish grin.  “Why aren’t we just boating right to the ‘is-miss?’  Or, setting up right outside of Doma?”     “To maintain the element of surprise, I imagine…” was the soldier’s response.
    “Alright, alright…  One last question.”     “Yes?”     Suddenly, Wedge pressed up against the other soldier and smiled.     “What’s your name, pretty momma?”     And, just as suddenly…     “Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow…!!”     Wedge found himself face-down on the deck of the metal ship, his arm held behind his back as it was pulled up and practically out of its socket!
    “My name is none of your concern, soldier!” the other brown-suit told him in a stern tone.  “I suggest you stay focused on the mission!  Otherwise, we may have to file a casualty report even before we storm Doma!  Understand?!”     “I– sonovabiii–”     Wedge squealed like a stuck pig as the angry, red-haired soldier tugged his arm upward.     “Y-yes, yes,” he yelled, pounding the deck with his free hand, “for the love of– aaah–!!”     And, just like that… the hostile soldier let go, walking off without another word.
    “Wedge?”     He whimpered as he got to his feet, rolling his shoulder, making sure he still had two working limbs.  Shortly after giving a little sniffle, he snapped, “I-I’m not crying…!”     “It’s okay, partner…”  Biggs clapped his partner on the other shoulder.  “Jessie is a little… militant.”     “Yeah, I noticed!”     He gave a shaky grin… before his face lit up with realization.     “Wait, ‘Jessie?’  Wait-wait-wait, that soldier’s name is–”     “‘Jessie,’ yes,” the other soldier told him.  “As you no-doubt noticed, she’s one of the few female recruits to the Gestahlian Army.  As such, she… feels obligated to try a little harder, and tends to come off as–”     “A bitch…?” Wedge interrupted as he waggled his sore arm.     “I was going to say ‘cold,’” Biggs said with a frown.  “She doesn’t… really believe in ‘downtime,’ so anytime someone tries to get ‘chummy’ with her… well…”     “Eh, she probably just needs a good, hard–”     “Wedge!”     The shorter soldier grinned before saying, “Drink.”     Despite that, Biggs just scowled.  Then, he blinked from under his helmet.     “Wait, where are you off to?” he asked as his partner walked away from him.     “Gonna go find Jessie and apologize, of course!”     The other soldier paused before telling him, “Alright.  Best of luck, I guess.”     “Yeah-yeah!”     Wedge pumped his fist into the air, then winced and rubbed his shoulder.     “See ya later, partner!”
    The sun slowly swept across blue skies as the boat traveled along the calm seas.  Biggs volunteered for the night watch and, come twilight, found himself at the head of the ship with a lantern and a long sword.  Luckily, there wasn’t much to use the latter on, that night.     Huh…  I never noticed how beautiful the sky is, before.     Once he’d finished a patrol, he found a seat on a crate containing some sort of machinery, took off his helmet, then stared upward at the black-and-blue sky.  As expected, it was dotted with a great many spots of varying shades of white, blue, and even some purples.     You never see the sky this clearly in Vector…  Between the brightness of the Imperial Castle and all the smoke from the Magitek Laboratory, it’s a wonder we see any sort of sky…  But, looking at the different stars and lights up there…  It’s kind of relaxing.
    His eyes slipped shut and he leaned back a little, one arm on his raised knee while the other arm propped him up from behind.  Seeing the stars… hearing the spray of the waters brush against their ship… even the noise of the magic-powered engine quietly chugging and occasionally hissing…  It was all pretty peaceful.  He knew that, in a few days, he could be in for a bloody battle with the Kingdom of Doma… but, for that moment?  He felt perfectly relaxed…
    “Hey, partner.”     He opened his eyes before casually looking to one side.  Standing there, sometime after he’d zoned out, was his friend-and-partner, holding a lantern of his own.     “Wedge,” he said with a nod.  “Taking the night watch, as well?”     “Nah… I just came up for my ‘goodnight kiss!’”     As Wedge leaned down and started making a kissy face, his partner just shoved him away with a chuckle.  The two then shared a quiet smile.
    “It’s peaceful up here,” the shorter man said before looking out at the darkness ahead.     “That’s why I like the night watch,” Biggs told him.  “It gives me time to find myself…”     “Heh.  I find myself every night, stars-or-not!”     Biggs smirked and shook his head at that, making Wedge smile.     “Seriously, though.  I can dig it.  I mean, things haven’t been too hectic… but, ya know…”     He looked back to the dark waters and paused.     “This… is the calm before the storm.”     At that, Biggs gave another blink.  He thought about saying something, but decided to just watch and listen, feeling like his partner had more to say.
    “I know I was all fired-up to go on the trip, and I was excited by the idea of storming a castle, like some big damn hero… but, to be honest?  I’m… kind of scared, Biggs.”     He gave a hard swallow before continuing.     “We’ve been partners for a long-ass time, now – so long, I’ve kind’a lost count.  We’ve been in scrapes, we’ve had close calls, and despite everything… we’ve always pulled through.  But, that mission to Narshe?  Something about that mission was… different…     “We could’a died, Biggs,” he continued in a serious tone.  “That thunder whelk could’a killed us, or the scary witch-girl…  Maybe, that big bird thing.  We were even stripped of everything and left-for-dead!  Yeah… we could’a died… and, then what?”     He slowly removed his helmet, then looked at his partner.     “We would’a been replaced.
    “We’re military men, you… me… everyone on this ship, practically,” he said as he looked back out to the ship’s head.  “We’re all expendable… replaceable…  When one soldier dies, another one steps up to take his place.  That’s how the military works.  So, what does it all mean…?  Why did we choose this life?  And, why do we keep trying to make connections… friends, lovers, all that… when we know that, eventually, we’re probably just gonna lose it all to some jerk with the right weapon or better luck than us.  It’s sobering, Biggs.”     He looked up at the sky, then.     “The life of a single military man means so little in the grand scheme of things…  We’re just cogs in the magical war machine.  One breaks… you replace it.  Simple as that!”
    Biggs… didn’t know what to say to any of what he’d just heard.  He rarely knew his partner to be so serious, much less philosophical… but, after hearing everything he’d just said, he had to wonder…     “Do you have any regrets, Wedge?”     “Yeah…” he heard his partner whisper.     “What is it?”     There was a long pause… then, Wedge looked him right in the eye and said…     “I regret… you weren’t there when me ‘n Jessie made out!  Oh, man, it was great!”     The other soldier… was staggered.  “W… what.”     “She’s real passionate, partner!!” Wedge laughed as he stood back up.  “Must be all that pent-up rage from bein’ serious all-the-time…  She let it out all over me, and–”     “You disgust me.”
    Wedge blinked… then, he grinned and rubbed the back of his head.     “Whaaat?  It’s not like it was my idea!” he defensively explained.  “Just– ah, don’t let her know I told you, alright?  I’m pretty sure this was just a one-time deal, and–”     “You’re a gods-damned married man, Wedge!” Biggs interrupted, looking pretty angry.     “Oh, please…  This ain’t my first rodeo, partner!”     “And, you disgust me every time you do this!  Why do you even tell me these things?!  But…”     He seemed a little ashamed, then, as he looked away and said…     “I’m… kind of surprised.  Jessie… doesn’t seem the type to just… go for a ‘fling.’”     “I know, right?”  Wedge laughed for a moment.  “Yeah… poor girl just…  She’s sooo tired of being all business all-the-time.  But, it’s like you said: she feels like she has to just ‘cause she’s a girl!  Kind’a dumb, if you ask me!  If she’s as tough on the battlefield as she is off – and, no, that’s not an innuendo – she has nothing to worry about!  Which reminds me…  Thanks!”     “‘Thanks?’” Biggs repeated, giving his friend a suspicious look.  “What for?”     “If you hadn’t told me her name,” Wedge replied with a grin, “I couldn’t’ve broken the ice like I did!  Granted, I didn’t think it’d get me that far…  I really just wanted to apologize for coming on too strong!  Man, I’m glad I did, though!  Wowie!”     “You’re…”     The other soldier paused… then, he smiled.     “You’re a good man, Wedge.  Even if you aren’t terribly loyal to your wife.”     “Eh.”  He shrugged and grinned.  “We have an understanding.”     “Heh.  So do we…”
    The night faded without incident and Biggs joined his companion for some well-earned shut-eye.  In the afternoon that followed, they both woke up with a start!  There was a commotion coming from the top deck!     “Someone better’ve died…” Wedge grumbled as he dragged his lazy self out of bed.
    “Help!  Help!!  I can’t– glrghphg– I can’t swim!!”     That was the first thing either of them heard as they reached the top deck.  Shortly after, the two rushed over to where a majority of the crew was… only for Wedge to gasp.     “Jessie?!”     Off the side of the massive ship was a figure clad in brown armor, thrashing and splashing around in the water below.  They could have been anyone… if not for the bright, red hair whipping around their shoulders as they panicked.
    “S-somebody, do something!!” Wedge shouted to the gathered group.  “She’s drowning!”     “How did she even fall in…?” Biggs asked.     “What, were you asleep?!” a random cadet shouted at the two, prompting Wedge to nervously rub his helmet.  “We got attacked by some ravenous, giant fish!  While we were fighting, one of those beasties slammed into that soldier and threw her overboard!”     Just as he said that…     “Jessie!!”     The girl went under the drink, vanishing from sight.     “Th-that’s it!!” Wedge yelled, “I’m going in!”     “No, you’re not.”     He blinked.  Biggs had grabbed his arm, stopping him from moving.     “B-but, we can’t leave a man behind!  Especially Jessie…” he added in a whisper.     “We won’t.  But, Wedge…  You can’t swim, either.”     “What?”  He paused… then he looked down in embarrassment.  “Oh…  You’re right.”     “But, I can.”     “Huh?  W-wait!”     Before Wedge could try and stop him, Biggs grabbed the end of a coil of rope, took a run-up, and…     “Maaan overboard!!”     He leaped into the sea, punctuated by another soldier calling it out.     “What the hell was he– w-wait!!”  Wedge suddenly noticed…  “Th-the rope isn’t tied to anything!!  G-grab that rope!!”
    Five soldiers took hold of the rope, the one on the end tying it around his waist and serving as an anchor.  Not long after, Wedge looked overboard.  He could see a lot of air bubbles and a bit of splashing… but, there was no sight of either his partner nor his new friend.  At least, not until he saw…     “B… blood…!”     A cloud of red painted the murky water around the area where the air bubbles had been.     “Pull… pull him up– pull him up!!”     Wedge gave an order, and the other soldiers followed it.
    “I– I see something!  It’s Biggs!!  And… and, he’s got Jessie!!  Oh, gods!!  Guys!!”
    Minutes passed before the crew was able to fully extract the two soldiers from the tainted water.  When they did… it wasn’t a pretty sight.     Jessie had lost her helmet and, from the look of it, one eye.  Her face was covered in stains of red and green fluid – monster blood, maybe – and her arm looked like it had been shredded!  The fabric of her uniform was cut up and her armor had taken quite a few hits, as well.  However, she was breathing…     “Biggs…?  Biggs…!!”     Which was more than her savior was doing.     Much like Jessie, Biggs looked like he’d been bitten, chewed on, and cut up.  He didn’t seem quite as bad off and, in fact, looked like he’d come out victorious over whatever nasty creatures had plagued them.  But, for some reason… he just wasn’t breathing.
    “M-medic,” Wedge cried.  “W– we need a medic!!”     “What is going on, here?!”     He gave a blink… then he looked up.  Someone was cutting through the crowd, seemingly in a rush to examine the situation.  As they drew closer, Wedge recognized them…     “G… General Leo…!”
    Standing over the two bloodied bodies was an intimidating figure with dark skin and short, golden hair cut to sharp angles.  He wore a long, green jacket over a darker-green tunic, green pants made of rigid fabric, and brown boots which looked made for rugged terrain.  That figure was General Leo Christophe of the Gestahlian Imperial Army, and he did not look pleased with the situation…
    “G-General Leo, Sir!” Wedge called.  “I can–”     “Move!”     It didn’t take more than that one word for the brown-suited soldier to get out of the way.  The next thing he noticed was General Christophe checking his friend’s vitals…     “Is… is he…?” he shakily asked as the man pressed an ear against Biggs’ chest.     “He’s not breathing…” he said with a calm tone.  “His airway may be blocked.”     “What do we– G-General…?!”     Without waiting for a response, the general leaned up… only to wrap his mouth around Biggs’.  It almost looked like a kiss… but, Wedge quickly realized what he was actually doing.  Not long after…     “Huuuuuhhh– gack, ack’m, glapck–!!”     Biggs was gurgling and hacking up a lot of water and, almost-amusingly, a small fish.
    “Get these two downstairs,” Leo ordered in a stern tone, standing back up and wiping his mouth.  “They need medical attention.”     “Uh… y-yes, Sir!” a random cadet said.     “Be gentle with them,” the general added.  “We don’t know the extent of their injuries.”     “Sir!”     A moment later, Biggs and Jessie were being carried below deck.  But, as Wedge went to follow them…     “Soldier.”     He found himself being directly addressed by the general.
    “Y-yes, Sir?” he responded with the appropriate amount of respect.     “Are those two friends of yours?”     Wedge couldn’t help but feel intimidated…  He’s heard stories about Leo…  and, the strict tone to the general’s voice only seemed to confirm some of those.  But…     “Friends are a good thing to have.”     He had to blink.  Was General Christophe… smiling?
    “Go on,” he told Wedge after a moment.  “They’re waiting for you.”     “Um… y-yes, Sir.”  He hesitated… then, he called, “General Leo?”     “Yes?”     He paused…  “Thank you.”     “I’m just doing my job,” he replied in dismissal.  “But, you’re welcome.”     The general walked away then, a minute later… Wedge ran back below the deck.
    “They’re unconscious and pretty beat up…” a medic told the soldier as he asked about his friends, “but, they’ll be alright.  We can’t do anything about this soldier’s eye, though…”     “That… sucks,” was all Wedge could think to say.     “Would you like me to send someone to find you when they wake up?”     “N… no.  Well, maybe.  Yes?  I dunno… hell.”  He rubbed the back of his head before finally decided on, “Y-yeah.  Sure.  Thank you.”     The medic hesitated before suggesting, “If you’d like a moment, Sir…”     “N-no, no…  I’ll… I’ll come back after they’re cleaned up.  Thanks, though.”     “Right.”  He sighed, then smiled.  “We’ll keep you posted.”     “Thanks, again.”
    It seemed like the transition from-day-to-night took a horribly-long-time, that evening.  As Wedge found himself wandering the ship with a lantern, he couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened not a few hours prior…     “That damn idiot…” he muttered to himself.  “He should’ve let me jump in…”     “Would it have made any difference?”     “Well, considering I can’t swim, I–”     He jolted, then he spun around and found himself confronted by the stony face of…     “G-General Leo?!”     “At-ease, soldier,” Leo told him before he could even salute.
    “S-Sir…?  What are you doing out-and-about, and… uh… stuff?”     “I wanted to talk to you,” was his simple reply.     “Y… you…  Me?” Wedge stammered.     “Yeah.”  Leo cracked a smile as he asked, “Is that so surprising?”     “Well…”  It took the soldier a minute… but, he was eventually able to guess why Leo was looking for him, specifically.
    “L-look, if this is about Jessie going overboard or Biggs saving her…” he said as he looked away, “I don’t know much more than you do, Sir.  Something about big fish attacking the ship, or something…”     “How are you doing, son?”     “Huh?”     He gave a blink, looking up at the general.  He was still smiling.     “Me…?  I’m… I’m alright, I guess.  Just a little frazzled from seeing my best friend laid up.  Idiot…”     “Your friend is a good man,” General Leo told him.     “Yeah, I know…  I just…”  Wedge nervously laughed before saying, “I just wish he’d let me leap in, instead!  He’s not gonna be in any shape to storm Doma, at this rate!”     “‘Storm?’”     He winced.  General Leo was looking at him with narrowed eyes…
    “U-uh… yeah…?” he said.  “Th-that’s what the plan is, right?  Jessie – the red-head – said we’re gonna set up a camp near Doma, then–”     “Son, this is a diplomatic mission.”     “W-what?”  Wedge suspiciously narrowed his eyes.  “B-but, General Kefka said–”     “General Palazzo,” he corrected, “isn’t here.  Until he is, this is my mission,  And, I say that this is a diplomatic mission, not a mission of conquest.”     “Y… y-yes, Sir…?”  The soldier wasn’t sure what to say to that…     “There’s a saying, soldier…”     General Leo cast his steely-eyed gaze out over the side of the boat.     “‘You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.’”     “Heh.  What a stupid saying…” Wedge said without thinking.     “Is that so?”     When he realized what he’d said, he tensed…  Leo was staring at him, again.
    “I… just mean, who’d want to catch flies?” he explained.     “Idioms are, oftentimes, somewhat nonsensical.  For example, when is the last time you’ve ever heard of someone literally ‘flipping their wig’ when faced with adversity?”     “W-well… I don’t know anyone who wears a wig, but…”     “Why are ‘brass tacks’ considered the very basics of a situation?” the general continued.  “Why are the last moments before something of consequence considered the ‘eleventh hour?’  Why, in this strange world full of interesting creatures, do we liken the odds of doing something unfavorable to the chance of seeing ‘pig fly?’  These sort of sayings may not make a lot of sense… but, they are sayings that most people find great meaning in.
    “I have no intention of attacking Doma Castle if, instead, we can parlay and come to a mutually-beneficial agreement,” the general said, getting back on-topic.  “We will still prepare for a war with their kingdom… but, I pray that it does not come to that.”     “Why… are we going after this place, anyway?” Wedge suddenly asked.  “Why’s this place so important?”     “Doma is a powerful force,” Leo explained.  “Their soldiers are renowned for their discipline and, to the Emperor’s way of thinking, they would prove to be strong allies.”     “And… what do you think?”     Leo’s expression soured… but, only for a moment.     “I’m a loyal soldier of the Empire, son.  I do what the Emperor tells me.”     “You… really don’t wanna invade Doma, do you?”     He stayed silent, looking back out at the dark seas and listening to the sound of the parting waters.  It seemed like he didn’t want to answer that question.
    “I… should get back to my patrol,” Wedge eventually told the general.  “Um… I mean, if that’s all, Sir?”     “Are you okay?”     He gave a blink…  “Sir?”     “I asked you a question, son.  Not as your general…”  Leo turned his way, a smile returning to his face.  “But, as a fellow man.”     “Oh.  Well…”  Wedge paused to rub his helmet.  “Yeah… yeah, I guess I’m fine, General.  Like I said… just feel a little weird from this afternoon.”     “Your friends are going to be fine,” the general reassured him.  “We have some of the best medical technicians in the world.”     “Honestly?”  The soldier chuckled.  “I figured a couple Hi-Potions’d do it.  I mean, aside from Jessie’s eye… it’s just blood they’re missing.  Hopefully.”     “Hopefully,” Leo repeated.     Again, the two stood in silence for a few moments… then, Wedge felt the need to say something.
    “You know… you’re not as much of a hard-ass as I’ve heard,” he said with a grin.     “Thank you,” the general said, his smile warming.  “I try to be a good leader.”     “I’d say you’re doin’ alright…  Just, ya know…  You can be pretty intimidating.  Your face is kind of scary, too.”     “What’s wrong with my face?”     Leo leaned down, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.     “W… well…”     Wedge started to reply… only to become distracted as the general switched which eyebrow was raised.  When he started switching back-and-forth between eyebrows, the soldier just couldn’t keep a straight face and started laughing, which made the general smile, again.
    “Take care of yourself,” he said as their conversation concluded.  “And, take care of your friends, soldier.”     “‘Wedge,’” he told Leo.  “That’s my name, Sir.”     “‘Wedge,’ huh?  I’ll remember that name.”  He gave a nod.  “Goodnight, Wedge.”     Leo wandered off, then, leaving Wedge to return to his patrol in much higher spirits.
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essayofthoughts · 7 years
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Prompt: Classic Regency AU: Family/Benefactors have decide that is Time For Wanda To Be Married. The twins strongly disagree. They each do their damndest to chase away prospective suitors. Bucky is fascinated/entertained by the ensuing drama and proposes himself as a solution. Could be an entirely platonic arrangement, Winterwitch with a side of Bucky/Pietro broing, or full on incesty OT3. Dealer's choice.
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i.People turn from Wanda and the scarlet at her fingertips. They do not turn from Pietro. Wanda wishes it were otherwise, some days - so does Pietro, if only so his sister was no so pained - but this is the way of the world: Pietro is a man, and so people look gladly to his power. Wanda is a woman, and so people fear so much power in her hands.
Pietro runs ahead of the hunt, never astride a horse, for what horse could be as fast as his own legs? He can race past a stag, grab it’s antlers, wrestle it into the ground before any man has his gun aimed. He can catch ducks and doves from the air, he races the hounds and past them, does dancing acrobatics that none can match and his strength and his speed are seen as no more than his right, for he is a man.
Wanda is a woman, and so she goes to the women’s meetings. When the women with powers are asked to come forward, to show their gifts, Wanda holds a cataclysm in her hands and they cower.
ii.“I would that it were otherwise,” Pietro whispers to her. They are sitting in the windowseat watching the rain. She leans against him, his fingers stroke gently over her hair. “That they judge you for this… whatever gives us our powers, heredity, some nameless god… you have your powers. You bear that burden. No one else can do it in your place.”
Wanda closes her eyes, tilts her head further against his chest and shoulder. “They do not see that, though,” she whispers back. “They see a woman with power, and they fear her.”
iii.Wanda will never have a spouse, she has known this since they were ten years and six months old and she had woken screaming from a nightmare. Pietro’s eyes had been wide and as bright as the blue that chased him as he dashed to her, Laura’s eyes had been wide and watchful when she had come in and passed through the scarlet without fear.
Others fear her. Everyone fears her. Even Clint fears her, the kindest guardian they could wish for.
(He does not fear her for her though, and that helps some days, knowing his fear stems more from another’s actions and the potential of her power than for anything she has yet done or that he thinks she might truly do.)
(It still hurts though, that of all the uncounted lives in the world, only two have never feared her.)
Wanda will never have a spouse, no matter if she wants one, for there are none with the power and mind to match her.
iv.“I would that it were otherwise,” Laura tells her as they sit there sewing. Laura sews one piece of embroidery, perfect in every stitch, arrows wrapped in hyacinths and feathers around the edge of a handkerchief and Wanda, linked into her mind and the patterns of her stitches, sews half-a-dozen more, floating scarlet making many out of one. “They fear you and that you might do to them as they would to you, if they had your power.”
“They do not know me,” Wanda says softly. “And if they act like this, think like that, they never will.”
Laura’s hand is gentle on Wanda’s when she sets down her needle and thread. “One day,” she promises. “One day you will have someone who can match you.”
Wanda has long grown skilled at hiding the doubts she feels.
v.Pietro hunts with the local men. Some very very few of them are gifted, and of them, some far fewer are near as gifted as he and his sister. There is Vision gifted creation of imprecisely-gifted Mr Stark of the next town over. A creation of Mr Stark and another creation and another creation, an amalgam of made things that is infinitely more than his parts. There is James - “Bucky,” he says, “Please.” - a man with as many scars in his mind as on his skin, and a missing arm filled in by well-crafted metal and magic.
Wanda goes to the women’s meetings and listens to people telling her to be demure and to be kind, to learn all these women’s arts - painting and singing, an instrument and sewing and perhaps a little theology and of course, always, a touch of wit, but not enough to shame the men. Wanda looks at the scarlet curling out of her fingers, the cataclysm she can hold in the palm of her hand, and wants to laugh. What good do these skills do her, once she has learned them, if people still fear her gift?
Sometimes she wonders: Is it even a gift?
vi.“I would that it were otherwise,” says Clint, “But the people of the town are starting to talk. That you are too powerful, too untamed by any man, that you are a burden to us and that you shame us, that you have us under some magical charm or spell and that someone must take you in hand before you must be killed.”
Wanda looks at the palms of her hands, at the scarlet that loops around her wrists and creeps up her fingers and coils out of her palms and fingertips like snakes and vines and swinging ropes of power. “I would that it were otherwise too,” she whispers. “I do not know how to salvage this.”
vii.Pietro has always been dedicated to one thing more than anything else: the protection of his sister. When their powers had first burst out of them, when they had first realised how people would fear all Wanda’s deceptively simple scarlet could do, Pietro had danced into the spotlight and claimed it, pulled it to himself and his new gift so people would not notice the wisps of scarlet in Wanda’s hands as she fought to control the boundless skein of twisting reality in her palms. When they had grown and Wanda’s powers had been known by all he had helped her prove them to be helpful and harmless, catching those who fell, stitching clothes back to perfection, a waved hand putting right an askew hat.
But he cannot protect her from this, this fear of the cataclysm Wanda can hold, and so he will protect Wanda from the people who fear in whatever way he can.
“My sister,” he says to his friends. “There is much gossip in fear of her. I cannot imagine why, there is none more kindly than she.”
viii.“I would that this were otherwise,” Vision Stark tells her when they meet. “That this was not…” he pauses, looks around the room to the corner where chaperone Pietro is pointedly engrossed in his book rather than his job.
“So awkward?” Wanda fills in with a smile. “I do not think Pietro means either of us any harm. At the least, I know he would never see me harmed, so he must not think you a threat to me.”
Vision tilts his head, watches her. “I do not think we could be threats to each other,” he says, turning a hand that fades to near-invisibility as he shows the intangibility he is so famed for. “There are few quite so powerful as we.”
Ah, Wanda thinks. So this is why Pietro believes in this one. 
Someone so close to her own power that they have no reason to fear.
ix.Wanda looks to her brother at dinner, watches him closely as he speeds around the table, fetching rolls for Cooper and a ladleful more soup for Lila and waits until the Bartons go to settle in the drawing room before drawing him aside.
She does not need to speak for him to know why she does this. He does not need to speak for her to know his defence. Wanda sighs.
“Next time,” she says, “Some forewarning, my brother?”
x.“I would that this were otherwise,” James Buchanan Barnes - “Bucky,” he says, “Please.” - says to her. “But your brother has explained to us the problem, and I do not think he cares to see you hurt.”
“You are his friend,” Wanda says to him. “Do you think he would see you safe from harm as well?”
Bucky’s smile is small and clever, his eyes seeing far more than just the surface of things. “Perhaps,” he says. “But not as safe as he would see you.”
This man’s mind is scarred, whitewash flaking slowly from hidden memories, his metal-and-magic arm whirring softly at his side, as attentive and reactive as a limb of flesh and blood. Wanda wonders if it is made as Vision Stark was made, some mingling of science and the ephemeral powers so many gifted have but cannot fully pin down.
“You do not fear me,” she says, frowning and confused. “After all you have been through and after all my brother has told you of what I can do. Why is that?”
Bucky turns his hand of metal and magic, lets gears whirr and shimmers of energy wisp out as he flexes his fingers as though stretching muscles. “After all I have been through,” he says, “I know I can survive.”
xi.Wanda knows what Pietro intends with this. Safety crafted from nothing but his will and his friends and a choice offered to her of whom she might pick, all parties aware of why this is arranged in the first place.
Wanda bound to someone who would not making it binding, but who is powerful enough, strong enough, that others will think her tamed.
Wanda sits on her bed, holds a cataclysm in her hands, and thinks.
xii.“I would that this were otherwise,” she says to Bucky when he has risen from his knee. “I would that we were not so bound because others decided I had to be. That we had a chance to know one another properly before rushing into this.”
Bucky’s hand is gentle on hers, metal-and-magic thumb running over the metal-and-magic ring he had offered her.
“We may still get to know one another,” he says. “I do not see why not.”
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brent-sunborn · 6 years
Text
The Staff of Ammunae - Pt VI
| Part I - The Dig | Part II - Zombies! | Part III - The Hall of Stars | | Part IV - The Altar of Ammunae | Part V - Guarded | Part VI - A Way Out |
~*~
The Blood Guard didn’t have to look up to know that Brent was leading the stone behemoth towards the pillars. She hacked at the second pillar more furiously, beads of sweat forming on her brow at the physical exertion, but she was ready.
Her ear flickered as she noticed Brent’s state, noting the broken arm. She grit her teeth as she glanced over to the charging Guardian. This had to end quickly… She  jumped back and waited for the right timing… waited… NOW!
She charged, slamming her shoulder into the unstable pillar. As it started to fall she used it as a springboard to reach the second pillar, swinging her sword like a baseball bat. She watched as Brent made it through, and then grinned as the first pillar hit and crumble over the stone giant, knocking it to the ground just on time for the second pillar to fall over it.
“Hey! Dumbass!” she called over to the Guardian, aiming to get its attention.
The behemoth was pinned; its prey out of reach, but it still had one weapon at its disposal. Those emerald eyes began to glow, aimed at the woman who made no effort to run for cover. Instead, she stood her ground, holding her sword in front of her with both hands on the hild. The runes on the blade were glowing.
It fired, the force of the blast pushing Kai’eka back as she attempted to absorb all of the energy into the blade. Some of it backfired on her, however, zapping her in the shoulder, leg and abdomen, the smell of burnt flesh hitting her nostrils, but she didn’t yield. The rune sword glowed bright green as the beam died down, and with a mighty roar, Kai’eka swung, letting lose the destructive force back into the Guardian’s head.
The resulting explosion she pieces of stone and debris shooting in every direction. Kai’eka went down on her knees, covered in cuts, burns and bruises, though it looked more like she was catching her breath rather than succumbing to the obvious injuries.
“Grab the staff, and let’s go!” she growled.
Brent skidded to a halt as the pillars fell, pinning the behemoth beneath them. He saw the Keeper’s eyes glow again, this time turned to Kai’eka. He started to run back in an attempt to save her, before he saw her bring her blades up. He held, and watched in awe as she turned Keeper’s own power against him. Reckless, excessive… effective. It definitely fit her style. Brent smirked beneath his mask.
--The smirk shifted to a grimace quickly, as shooting pain up his arm reminded him it was still very much broken. He grunted, before ambling up to the debris left over from the Keeper. The stone chest was still intact, and the staff remained set inside it. As Brent approached, he brought his hand out slowly, assessing how exactly he was going to get it out of there. The answer came quickly - he didn’t have to. As the Keeper powered down, the stone chest opened up, releasing the staff. It hovered above the rubble a moment, glowing brightly. It began to pulse, each strobe seeming to push Brent away with an unseen power. He held his ground, continuing to reach for the staff through the increasingly forceful pushes.
With a strained grunt, he made one final lunge for the staff - he grabbed it, causing the chamber to erupt in a series of rumbling quakes. The verdant power of the staff became chaotic in his hand, seeming to shock him as it tried to break his grasp. He cried out in pain, but held firmly to the artifact. After a few moments… the staff ceased, returning to a calm, green glow. Brent collapsed to a kneel clutching it tightly as he caught his breath. The room still rumbled, cracks sprawling up the ceiling and walls… It was time to go. Brent stood weakly, but quickly broke into a run towards Kai’eka and the hole she’d dug through the stone - from the looks of it, their only way out! Stonework rained down from above, crashing down into the pools of gold coins and jewels, sending them flying like shrapnel in all directions. A few jewels sliced through his leather armor, earning a couple pained grunts as he ran, until finally he made it to Kai’eka. He wasted no time, quickly dipping low as he approached the hole and sliding in.
Kai’eka wasted no time following Brent. She was on her feet the moment the room started falling apart, using her sword defensively to protect herself from the debris. She waited for Brent to jump through the hole in the floor first, covering their retreat. Once he was safely inside she jumped in after him, not a moment too soon, either, as she heard the dart trap go off and hit the floor she had been standing on moments before.
She landed on a large mechanical gear, peering in the dark as a pillar crashed down over the opening she had made, snuffing out all sources of light, other than the green fel glow her eyes gave off. Thankfully, the staff Brent carried had a glow to it as well, so she managed to follow, albei moving much slower than the Pathfinder. Jumping from one gear to the next proved more difficult than it had been in theory, especially with some of the gears active and moving due to the commotion above.
She trusted Brent knew where he was going, because she certainly had no idea. It was one of his specialties though, mapping out tombs and ruins in his mind as he moved through them. An acute sense of direction that the Blood Guard seriously lacked.
She looked up to locate him as she made another jump, misjudging the distance, but managing to catch the edge of a gear with her hand and lifting herself back up.
“You know where we’re going, right?” she called.
Brent had to be careful. With one arm broken, and the precious staff in his other hand, he didn’t have many options when it came to recovering from a fall. The darkness wasn’t as much of an issue for him as it was for Kai’eka. He had grown used to navigating darkness, discerning details and terrain from even the smallest light sources - thanks to his Sin’dorei heritage, he was never without some form of glow to light his path. The gears were massive, constructed from stone what must’ve been thousands of years ago. He took a moment to appreciate the momentus task it must’ve been to set each stone gear in place. What vision to construct such a large scale and elaborate mechanism! His ear flickered as he cleared another jump. He stood, waiting a moment to allow Kai’eka to catch up.
“Not much further.” he replied, taking the brief pause to adjust his broken arm to a more comfortable position. “The outlet corridor should be just ahead.”
He nodded once as she caught up, then took off again over the tops of the grinding gears. Rumbling could still be heard behind them, as the room collapsed. Brent eyed the staff, a proud smirk crossing his lips beneath his mask as he looked over its meticulously crafted form. The distraction, however, cost him - he made a misstep between two gears, slipping down between the teeth. The staff was tossed from his hand as he used it to grip the side, and keep from falling further. It slid over the stone gear, stopping precariously just on the opposite edge. Brent cried out in pain, as his broken arm was pinched between his body and the gear. It continued rotating, slowly, bringing Brent closer and closer to the interlocking teeth…
“--Kai!” he called out, gaze on the staff - which began to teeter…
Kai’eka’s eyes widened as she saw Brent go down. Gods damn his magpie tendencies to get distracted by shiny relics! She had to make a quick decision to either save Brent, who was about to get crushed, or the staff teetering on the opposite side of the gear. She huffed, diving into action.
She jumped and rolled across the gear, grabbing the staff with one hand and holding on the the edge of the gear as she continued her motion off.
“LET GO!” she yelled, urgently.
Her lower body swung and she was thankful the Pathfinder trusted her enough to heed her words. She caught him with her legs, hugging his torso between her thighs. With a huff, she used the one arm to pull them up, as if she were doing a one handed chin-up, and then folded her legs up towards her body to allow Brent to climb onto the gear. She waited until he was securely on top of the gear before lifting herself up the rest of the way. While she had made the feat of strength look effortless, she was clearly getting tired, the adventure beginning to take its toll.
“You can have this back when we get outside,” she huffed, “Now lead us out of here.”
Brent trusted Kai’eka entirely. When she said to let go, he did so with no hesitation. Climbing from her legs back on top of the gear was challenging with one arm. But he poured every effort into doing so quickly as not to inhibit Kai’eka further. He hopped up, and turned quickly to offer her a hand up - but clearly she didn't need it. He scoffed, ears wilting as she scolded him. He only nodded in response - it was stupid of him to get distracted like that. He led onwards, moving from gear to gear until he reached a small ledge. It was a bit of a jump off the last gear, but Brent was able to make it with little issue. He pressed his hand to one of the stones, causing a small rumble as a panel moved. Sunlight poured into the chamber - the way out was secure! He turned back to Kai’eka, and beckoned her over.
The Blood Guard followed Brent, always with the slower pace. She wasn’t as light and agile as the Pathfinder and had to watch her footing a bit more.
She hesitated on the last jump, judging the distance and thankful she had only brought one sword and none of her plated armor. Even without the extra weight, she wasn’t certain she’d make the distance.
—Not that she had a choice. As what was happening in the treasure room started to affect the gears. The sounds of stone grinding unnaturally against stone echoed, causing her ears to twitch.
Taking a deep breath, Kai’eka moved as far back as she could, before taking a running jump to the ledge that would lead the out. She reached the landing, but the heavy weight of her sword pulled her back. She was tipping backwards!
“—Brent!” She called, reaching her hand out for him to grab.
Brent reacted quickly, reflexively. He only had one good arm, and wasn’t sure it’d be enough without some kind of leverage! He acted, no time to think, as he reached back to grab the edge of the opening to anchor himself, and casted out his broken arm for Kai’eka to grab onto. He cried out in pain, the sickening sound of bones grinding and popping in his arm the only sound to match volume of his painful shout. But it worked - his hand tensed around Kai’eka’s and he pulled her back up the ledge with his good arm. As soon as she was stable, he cradled his broken arm with a deep grunting grimace.
“Go! Go!” he barked, nodding his head towards the escape!
He followed her out, into a sandy dune which crept up on the side of a pyramid, threatening to cover it entirely as the years went on. They made it out! Immediately, Brent collapsed in the sand, rolling onto his back to let the sun’s rays beat down on him as he caught his breath. He pulled his mask from his face, letting his broken arm rest over his chest… and grinned.
“... We did it.” he couldn’t help but say with excitement! “We fucking did it!”
Kai’eka joined Brent on the warm sand, laying next to him and smiling an actual real smile as she looked up at the sun and got her breathing regulated again. She lifted the staff up to glitter in the sunlight and chuckled.
“Was there any doubt?”
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