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ellemj · 6 months

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Needs & Wants - Sex Pollen Trope Pt. 10 (FINAL PART)

Bucky Barnes x Reader

*Read parts 1-9 first for the full effect!*

Summary: Everything is out in the open between you and Bucky now, but there are two rules for your new secret relationship.

Warnings: unprotected sex, teasing, possessive!Bucky (hehehe), maybe fluff (?), profanity, use of y/n, MINORS DNI, 18+!!!

Feel free to comment and let me know if this requires any other warnings.

Word Count: 2.2k

Author's Note: We've finally reached the end. I think I'll miss this version of Bucky and reader but I'm pretty excited about the work that I'm planning on putting out here next. Hopefully everyone's okay with the conclusion of this, I didn't want to have anyone riding off into the sunset or anything, but I also didn't want to have a horribly sad ending, so this felt right. You guys should totally let me know in the comments what kind of things you'd like to see from me soon! I don't know if I'll take specific requests anytime soon, but I'd love to at least find out what might get you all excited. Thanks for the umpteenth time to @littlemiss-yeehaw for being the best cheerleader and warnings-writer out there. She also draws some unbelievable shots of Bucky based on scenes in these fics.

In the shower, on the hotel bed, in the chair by the window, hell, even on the floor when the two of you rolled off of the bed in the heat of the moment. You’d successfully christened every surface of your hotel room before the clock ever struck midnight. You hadn’t meant to go at it like horny teenagers who found themselves home alone for the first time, but that’s what happened. It’s like you were both thinking about how this may not continue once you get back to the compound tomorrow morning, so you fit as much as you could all in one night.

Now, you’re laying side by side in bed. Your most recent tryst involved you on your hands and knees with Bucky doing all of the right things behind you, and it thoroughly winded you both. You listen as your collective breaths fill the air, the two of you each coming down from your post-orgasmic highs.

“Do you think Dr. Raynor will figure this out?” You ask softly, raising a hand and wiping a bit of sweat from your brow. Bucky laughs and turns his head to look at you. He still can’t get past how pretty you look after doing such dirty, animalistic things with him. Even without the super soldier serum decreasing his refractory period to mere minutes, he thinks he’d be recovered and ready for round five just from looking at you like this.

“That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”

“It’s on my mind, yeah.” You admit. You’re probably more worried about it than you should be, but deep down, Bucky’s worried too.

“So, how do you want to handle it?” Bucky asks, fully rolling onto his side to face you.

“Maybe we just wait and see what she has to say after observing tonight’s mission and then go from there. I don’t want to say anything first and give her anything to use against us.” He’s listening to your words, honestly, he is. He doesn’t think he could ever miss a word you say. But he can’t stop himself from reaching over and running his fingertips along your flushed cheek. You turn to look at him and he lets his fingers ghost over your lips and down the column of your throat until he reaches the notch between your collarbones. His eyes linger there for a moment. Something’s missing.

“You never gave me my dog tags back.” He whispers. You’re not wearing them, and neither is he. So, where are they?

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure when to give them back.”

“Bullshit, you wanted to keep them.” Bucky teases. You push his hand away from your neck at the accusation, but can’t stop the smile that’s creeping over your features. Fuck, he’s so into you. He closes the distance between the two of you and places his body carefully over yours under the covers, leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to your lips. Even just kissing you sets off fireworks inside of him.

“They’re sitting on my nightstand, back in the compound.” You tell him, hoping it doesn’t make you sound too obsessed. You had planned to give them back all week, but avoiding him made that a little difficult, so instead you left them sitting beside your bed. It was sort of comforting to see his name every night before you fell asleep, and every morning when you woke up.

“Keep them.” He insists, pressing another kiss to your soft, soft lips. You get lost in the moment, focusing on the feeling of his tongue working against yours, his scent enveloping you in the most consuming way, and his weight keeping you pinned to the mattress. You could stay like this forever.

This, of course, is when Bucky’s phone would ring. He groans in annoyance as he breaks the kiss and touches his forehead to yours, looking down into your eyes.

“Tell me not to answer it.” He pleads. You purse your lips, knowing it’s probably someone from the team calling with some kind of update or new order. Bucky groans again before rolling off of you and snatching his phone off of the bedside table. He answers it and puts it on speaker, confirming that it’s someone from the team.

“Hey, sorry to call so late. The threat has been neutralized so you guys can head back now and get some sleep, we’ll debrief in the morning.” Sam sounds tired but calm, so it must have been more of a nuisance situation than a major threat. Bucky closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose with his vibranium hand.

“Sounds good, we’ll be back soon.” He grumbles. You can tell he’s annoyed that you won’t be staying the night here. When he hangs up the call, he lets out a deep sigh before sitting up on the side of the bed, with the covers gathering around his waist. Without thinking, you crawl up behind him and wrap your arms around his torso, hugging him from behind. He stiffens as if he didn’t expect your touch, but that just makes you lean into him more, resting your chin on his shoulder. You feel him slowly relax and having that effect on him warms you to the center of your being

“We’re going to go home, get some rest, and debrief in the morning like this was any other mission.” You say, attempting to be reassuring.

“That’s what you want? To pretend like this was any other mission?” He questions, running his hands over where your arms are wrapped around his abs.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant we don’t have to run in and tell everyone that something might be going on between us.”

“Might?” He chuckles. You feel his abs shake beneath your hands as the melodious sound leaves his lips. You never heard him laugh much before, and you didn’t expect to like it as much as you do.

“Hey, I told you that I fell for you, and you said fuck, I’m cumming. How am I supposed to know you feel the same way?” You tease, letting go of him and laying back on the bed, drawing the covers up over your naked body. He turns a bit to face you and starts pulling the covers away from you slowly.

“Y/n…” He says your name with so much genuine feeling that it sends tingles throughout your body. Has he always said your name like that and you just never noticed before? Yes. “I made you wear my dog tags while I fucked you.” What the hell does that have to do with what you just said? He can see the confusion on your face and it brings a smile to his. He slides back under the covers next to you and begins peppering kisses across your shoulder and collarbone.

“Bucky…” Fuck, if you start saying his name again there’s no way either of you will make it back to the compound tonight. He quickly makes his way up to your face, attaching his lips to yours for a moment and then tugging on your bottom lip with his teeth as he pulls away. It’s the nicest way anyone has ever shut you up.

“I wanted to be able to pretend like you were mine. I fell way before you did.” He whispers against your lips. Holy shit. He feels the same way. Bucky Barnes feels the same way about you as you feel about him.

You know that you have orders to head back to the compound, and neither of you are the type to disobey orders from above, but how are you supposed to pack up and head out after finding out that you have feelings for each other? You can’t stand the thought of traveling back to the compound tonight knowing that you’ll have to put on a show and pretend like nothing happened here. So, why not delay a bit and take what you want one more time?

That very rational thinking is what inspires you to slide your hand between the two of you and wrap your fist around Bucky’s already-hardening cock. He sucks in a breath at the feeling of your small, soft hand wrapping tightly around him, and he wonders how he went so long without having you this way. You’ve been right across the hall from him all of this time. You’ve been going on missions with him for the last two months, giving each other shit nearly every waking moment, and completely missing what had been there the whole time. Love. He won’t say it out loud yet, he doesn’t want to scare you off, but that’s what it is. He’s sure of it. He loves you. He may not say it but he can damn well express it.

That’s how Bucky finds himself, for the fifth time tonight, guiding the tip of his cock inside of your perfect cunt. He’s done this enough times now that he knows as soon as he bottoms out inside of you, you’ll tense up and scrunch your eyes closed, trying your hardest to adjust to his size. He watches as you do just that, and then he feels your entire body relax beneath him and he knows you’re ready. He pulls one of your legs up and over his hip as he begins fucking you into the mattress. When your eyes flutter open to meet his, he has to go completely still inside you so he won’t cum right then and there. You laugh to yourself. You know what eye contact does to him and you love it.

“What’s the matter, James? Keep going.” You taunt, wiggling your hips and forcing his cock to slide into you another inch. He’s only halfway inside of you. He breathes out a slow, calming breath before leaning down and nuzzling his face into your neck, letting his cock sink into you slower than it ever has before.

“You like rushing me, don’t you?” He asks, giving your cunt gentle thrusts. A soft hum leaves your lips at the pleasure that’s beginning to build in your lower stomach. You’re so focused on the feeling that you don’t even acknowledge his question. “Don’t rush me tonight.” He buries himself to the hilt before stilling once more, drawing a whine from your lips. “We’re making love, not fucking, sweetheart.”

---

A few hours later that same morning, a very uneventful debrief took place in the conference room at the compound. You and Bucky turned in your mission reports, leaving out the details of what happened in the hotel room, and then you were dismissed to have a few hours of freedom before having to meet with Dr. Raynor.

Everyone probably assumed that the two of you went off to your respective rooms upstairs, but it took little convincing to get Bucky to sneak over into yours. When he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, the first thing he noticed was his dog tags, right where you said they were.

You kick your shoes off by the door and walk over to sit on one of the small gray chairs that you have off to the side of the room, feeling surprisingly nervous that Bucky Barnes is seeing your room for the first time. Nervous. After everything the two of you have done this week? You’re ridiculous. You watch him as he crosses the room and scoops the dog tags off of your nightstand. He stares at them in his palm for a moment, and for a second you worry that he might pocket them. However, when he turns to you with a soft smile and a mischievous glint in his eye, your fears are assuaged.

“Do you have any rules? For this thing that we’ve got going on?” Bucky asks, taking the free chair across from you and setting the dog tags flat on the coffee table that separates the two of you. You tilt your head to the side, studying him closely. You see what he’s doing. The first night, while under the influence of that chemical, you gave him one rule: no kissing. He returned with his own rule: wear his dog tags while he fucks you.

“I have one. We keep this a secret, just between us, for as long as we can.” You respond, letting your eyes trail over his physique. He’s sitting in your chair the same way he sat in the chair in the hotel room last night. The man knows how to demand attention without saying a damn word. You watch as his licks his bottom lip and then leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together in front of him.

“Fine. It’s a secret.” He agrees, his gaze briefly lingering on your neck. “But I have one rule too.” He reaches out with his flesh hand and begins sliding the dog tags across the table toward you. “You’ll never take these off again.”

BONUS CHAPTER

TAG LIST:

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#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #marvel #mcu #the winter soldier #winter soldier #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes smut

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findtheflamexvi · 10 months

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Title: The moth that goes to the light.

Pairing: Alicent Hightower x Larys Strong.

Tags: Confession, First Kiss.

She was wearing her nightclothes and her bedroom smelled, as it had every night for years, of sadness and loneliness. Over time, however, she had grown accustomed not only to that, but also to the weight of remorse.

This was now her secret corner, even more so than the garden of the gods had once been. Here no one disturbed her, here she allowed herself to be free, only here did she see him, and only in his company did she confess without fear of judgement.

The trust established between them was such that Larys Strong needed no express permission to enter; yet, as usual, he knocked at the door.

The handle came down, the hinges turned silently, and the room was flooded with the dry strokes of the newcomer's cane. Alicent watched him through the reflection in the window pane: he shuffled his leg slowly, his back hunched, his gaze meek, always giving the impression of a man who was soft, frail, and harmless. Yet there was no real weakness in Larys Strong. The queen had been more than aware of that more than a decade ago, when he himself had let her in on a dark secret.

That revelation had frightened her, no wonder, after all she had learned that she was dining with a self-confessed murderer.

"Necessity creates strange partners," she remembered thinking at the time, as she turned around to greet him. The need for a friendly face; for they were both strangers in a world full of acquaintances.

—Always so punctual, Lord Larys —she intoned with a sovereign attitude. Only when Talya withdrew, leaving them alone in privacy, Alicent softened his stance and intonation—. It's nice to see you again. Thank you.

Why was she suddenly feeling so dismayed? This was something that often happened to her, especially for political reasons such as the division of opinion over the succession, yet it was a feeling that had never occupied her heart when she was in Larys's company. Why? Why did her chest threaten to suffocate her?

Having previously decided not to harbour doubts or intrusive thoughts, Alicent smiled modestly, turning her attention back to the dark night.

—It is I, my queen, your devoted servant, who am grateful —Larys replied behind him.

Not long after these words, Alicent heard the shuffling sound of the man's approach. Still unaware of how his presence seemed to be affecting the queen, Alicent swallowed nervously.

An inch of distance separated them. Once it would have meant nothing, but now, now Alicent's world was not the same. Nor was hers. Nowadays she could see a man for what he was, but also for what he could be: a temptation.

She didn't want to be like those other women she had so often mentally pointed out and criticised, she didn't want to be weak to the flesh. May the gods protect her because she did not wish to christen her relationship with Larys in this sinful way. And yet, having him so close made her anxious.

It wasn't right, it wasn't right, it wasn't right.

—If I may be so bold, you look especially radiant tonight.

Larys' words brought a smile to her lips, but also fuelled doubts and brought her a little closer to the precipice.

Before Alicent was able to say a single word, Larys' fingers assaulted her without warning. Long, slender, delicate even, and soft in their own particular way. She felt the touch for mere seconds, the time it had taken him to tuck an unruly lock behind her ear, an instant so fleeting and yet so effective.

Gathering her courage and fighting the maelstrom that was biting her from the gut, Alicent said:

—And you are especially daring.

—Should I have kept silent?

No. Of course not; she confessed to herself.

Alicent looked into his eyes, whose icy blue was a light in the darkness. Then at his lips, which smiled only for her.

This man was a mystery, a puzzle of pieces that didn't fit together. And he shouldn't be, not to her who was the queen, not to Alicent who was her friend.

—So long together and you are still an unknown quantity to me, Lord Larys. Except, of course, for the crimes you are capable of.

He only smiled shyly in response.

—That is quite a compliment, my queen. But I must ask, how could I find the secrets of others if I were unable to hide my own?

He was right, of course. But that didn't stop her from feeling blind in his presence. Alicent was afraid to address whatever it was she was feeling, and the way she saw things, the best way to regain stability was to move towards the light. Towards the truth.

—Our relationship is based on trust, isn't it? —the queen continued—. So why is it so unbalanced?

—Out of respect.

—Out of respect? —repeated Alicent in bewilderment—. Out of respect for whom?

—I am your humble servant —Larys replied with a hand on his chest and a look as tender as a child's—. I listen to you and give you advice you in the best way I know how. I did not think, I did not expect, that you would ever wish to listen to the crippled man's lamentations.

With slow, clumsy steps Larys moved to the other side of Alicent, right behind her. Candle flames fluttering in the sudden rush of air, the fire splitting the shadows that enveloped them.

—You thought wrong —Alicent murmured. Her hands clasped and resting on her stomach, her eyes lowered, her shoulders slumped. She was ashamed.

—Besides, you told me this very night that I was particularly daring. I am not like other men. I am here to serve you as this candle is here to give us its light.

—Larys...

And at her name all other words were put aside, for when Alicent saw him in the candlelight, her inner world, as well as the beliefs that had sustained her, shattered.

—My queen? —he asked.

—Today, of all nights, I allow you to be bold.

And so it was, in a breath, that their lips met. An otherwise stolen kiss, but did Alicent really expect anything else to have happened? Was she really still so naïve? If only, if only it was the latter. But it wasn't.

Larys sighed, her hot breath hitting her still slightly open lips. An apology followed, a shuffling sound and a closing door.

Alicent put her hand to her mouth as she watched the candles dance, and wondered then which of the two was the moth and which the light.

#alicent hightower #larys strong #house of the dragon #hod #larycent

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pb-dot · 10 months

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The Character Name Challenge

One of my newer, but no less beloved, mutuals @asterhaze tagged me in this little thing. I am entering into it with some measure of fear in addition to the excitement as naming things is one of my least favorite parts of writing, something that my naming schemes might indicate. Even so, it'll be interesting to see what sort of meanings my names have and how well they fit.

Rules: Explain the etymology/origin of your character's names and rate on a scale of 1-10 how fitting the names are for the characters.

I'm tagging some Old and Some new here as well: @aziz-reads @mrbexwrites for the old reliables, and @maskedemerald @unspokenvastlywritten for the new hotness.

Names and ratings below the cut

Jake [No Last Name]

I didn't really know what to name Jake up until the moment I started my first draft, and as such I went with the single most generic-sounding name I knew that wasn't John. My love for the Animorphs series in my youth may also have contributed to the decision. Either way, the name now stuck, and although I'm not willing to fight a prospective publisher over it, it's come to be linked with the character in my mind.

The name Jake has multiple possible origins, but I chose to view it as a variant of Jack, which in the middle ages was used as a sort of catch-all name for "man," I.E for the "Just Some Guy"-factor of it. Jake certainly started out as a bit of an everyman character, but he has gained some depth since then that I believe makes the name not fit him that well. Jake is, however, undeniably a man, so... 7/10

The Clockmen

Just getting out ahead of this one. The Clockmen are all referred to by numbers which are their place in the production order. One is named so because she was first, and 13 is named so because he is the 13th, and currently last, produced. There are however two exceptions to this.

13/Adrian

13 renames himself to Adrian to show a clean break from his time in The Clockmen and as an act of rebellion from the dehumanizing authoritarianism of the organization and its creator.

Adrian comes from the Roman name Hadrian, which itself comes from (per behindthename.com):

(...) the Roman cognomen Hadrianus, which meant "from Hadria" in Latin. Hadria was the name of two Roman settlements. The first (modern Adria) is in northern Italy and was an important Etruscan port town. The second (modern Atri) is in central Italy and was named after the northern town. The Adriatic Sea is also named after the northern town. A famous bearer of the name was Publius Aelius Hadrianus, better known as Hadrian, a 2nd-century Roman emperor who built a wall across northern Britain. His family came from the town of Atri in central Italy.

Which honestly isn't helping us much since there's no roman empire or Italy in Adrian's setting. He himself chose the name after a character in a book he read because said character was weak but brave, determined, and dedicated to his ideals, and the protagonist of said book is maybe a little gay for him? These are all aspects Adrian values highly, but as far as fit with the real-world origins of the name, I'm going to give this a 2/10, saved from a lower score by the fact that it's a better fit than 13 as a name that actual human beings have.

Secundus Two

Secundus Two, or Two for short, also chose her own name but decided to add to her number rather than replace it. In the way of the highly unpredictable maybe-insane-maybe-brilliant clockman, the name refers back to her number, as Secundus is Latin for "Second," but can, at least if Wikipedia is to be believed, also mean "Favored" or "Lucky." This one's a pretty good fit honestly. If one were to read her as deranged, it would be pretty out there to name oneself "Two the Second," but if we embrace the "the lady knows what she's doing"-reading of the character, it could either read as a satire of the naming scheme "Oh, calling yourself Secundus is weird is it? Weirder than christening someone "Two"?" Alternatively, the "Two the Favored" also works as Creator has a soft spot for Two that allows her to get away with all but her most monstrous of shenanigans. All in all, solid naming, me. 9/10. Would've been 10 if all of that stuff, and not just most of it, was intended.

Delilah Bellows

Ok, here comes an actual full name, heavens be praised. For the first name, we have the meaning (again from behindthename.com)

Means "delicate, weak, languishing" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament she is the lover of Samson, whom she betrays to the Philistines by cutting his hair, which is the source of his power. Despite her character flaws, the name began to be used by the Puritans in the 17th century. It has been used occasionally in the English-speaking world since that time.

This one is so the wrong way around that I honestly am tempted to call it intentionally ironic. Delilah is physically and mentally strong, and fiercely loyal to both her cause and her relations, and she is doing quite alright at the moment thank you very much. 0/10 in the sense of direct fit, 10/10 in an ironic "The huge guy is called tiny"-type way.

Bellows, on the other hand, is a more direct fit. I chose this from the "you're named after your job" European-style last name scheme that gave us Smith, Wright, Blower, and so on. Bellows is, per Wikipedia:

A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air.

Wikipedia then goes on to note that

Several processes, such as metallurgical iron smelting and welding, require so much heat that they could only be developed after the invention, in antiquity, of the bellows. The bellows are used to deliver additional air to the fuel, raising the rate of combustion and therefore the heat output.

So in short, Delilah's family is implied to have a long tradition of working in metallurgy, perhaps initially having the slightly ungainlier moniker of "Bellowblower" or "Bellowsman" that through the years got filed down to the shorter and catchier Bellows. Good fit, but the implication that she's full of hot air stops this from being a slam dunk. 7/10

Wilhelmina "Mina" Limner

Mina is, as her full name would imply, short for Wilhelmina which is the feminine form of Wilhelm, which means (again behindthename.com)

From the Germanic name Willehelm meaning "will helmet", composed of the elements willo "will, desire" and helm "helmet, protection"

This is a decent fit for Mina, whose strict adherence to protocol and penchant for paperwork may not make her seem like a particularly staunch protector of anything. However, I would argue that these things, along with her burning passion for the ideas and politics behind The Northwest where she and Delilah both work, can be seen as a desire to protect her comrades. Hell, if you want to take it one further it could be argued that her protection comes in the form of her wit and will, in contrast to Delilah's passion and 13's physical protection. Overall fits her like a glove 8/10

It should also be mentioned that Mina in Farsi, again according to behindthename.com means Enamel and one could certainly see Mina's paperwork as the finishing touch of The Northwest's production, but that is A: a stretch and B: not what I intended. If you want to go with that and headcanon Mina as hailing from my setting's equivalent of Persia/Iran though, I'm not going to stop you. I know I described her as a redhead. Hair coloring products exist.

As for her last name, this is another one of the "you're named after your job"-ones, but it implies a somewhat higher social class than the proletarian Bellows. Also, the job has also been extinct for a good long while, so it paints the family as somewhat more established, if not Old Money, then certainly Of Some Age and Some Means. Someone should ask Mina about that one day. A limner is (per Wikipedia)

A limner is an illuminator of manuscripts, or more generally, a painter of ornamental decoration.

So working with (the) books as Mina is today, albeit in a more art-focused manner than she does. An ok match, I like it more for the implications about her family. 6/10

Creator

Not going to get into this one much, Creator named, or I suppose rather titled himself out of hubris, nothing more to that. 0/10 garbage name for a garbage-tier old man. I will however reveal that his given name is Magnus, which per behindthename.com means "Great," as in "the Great." Whatever you can say about his family, they have certainly set their son up for some hubris. 5/10 He isn't all that great, but he certainly has the ambitions for the name.

And finally:

The Benefactor

And again with these titular monikers. To this guy's credit, he's not in Book 1 that much, and he didn't name himself this, he just chose to not tell Creator his given name. I will however reveal that his given name is Loquacious and that his family name is a spoiler. Loquacious isn't a common name anywhere, but I chose it as a variant of the American frontier-era Puritan "Virtue Name"-scheme that gave us both such catchy bangers as Charity and Charisma and such... memorable entries as If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned. Loquacious, however, would be a Vice Name, a name given by the parents in the hope that it would turn out to be ironic. Loquacious, per dictionary.com, means

talking or tending to talk much or freely; talkative; chattering; babbling; garrulous

and

characterized by excessive talk; wordy:

Unfortunately for the people in Loquacious' life, the name fits him like a tailored suit, although he is quite curt with Creator so as to not give away his identity. 9/10 This boy loves the sound of his own voice.

Overall, my naming score is somewhat hampered by neither the Roman Empire nor Latin existing in my setting, but then again, neither does England or English, so I might as well just pull a Tolkien-style "This is a translation of a text in a foreign language made to be as fitting with the English language and surrounding etymology as possible."

#hearts in clockwork #the clockwork boy #writing #writeblr #tag game

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hadit93 · 2 years

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Hi, do you have any spells to get rid of unwanted attention from creepy people? I still want to be noticed by the people I find safe or friendly or attractive, but is there a spell that would help me get rid of stalkers and such? (Complaining to the HR, police, and appropriate authorities has proved futile till now)

There are multiple things you can do.

So again I don't know how you practice magic, which beings you feel comfortable working with etc. So these ideas may have to be plugged in to your own tradition.

You could do with getting a tag lock, a personal item of the individual. Hair is great. Dirt from their home. If this fails a photo will have to do. You will want to make a doll of them. It can be made out of clay, cloth, felt. Anything really- the idea is you want to place the tag lock inside the doll. Make sure the doll has eyes. You can also put some black peppercorns in the doll, some chilli powder, nails, broken glass.

You then want to obtain some holy water or bless some water yourself. Christen the doll as the desired target. "I hereby christen you N, from hereon out you are N and N is you" something along those lines.

Then you will get some black cloth and blindfold the doll and whisper into it something like "your gaze is averted from me, you cannot see me, you are not worthy to look upon my countenance. You are blind to my presence."

You want to ask a deity to help you or invoke Saturnian energy, or otherwise charge the magical working how you see fit.

I would then take the doll at night preferably under a new moon (so there is no light in the sky) and bury it somewhere head down first in the soil. Leave an offering to the local spirits once this is done.

That's just one idea, and one that won't overtly cause harm to the individual.

#magic #witchcraft #stalker

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faranae · 4 years

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may I ask about the necromancer landlord because I love DnD stories and that sounds like a good one

OK. Fair warning this is a little background-story heavy because I gotta give some context to explain why the necromancer landlord is a thing at all.

Edit: In fact, it got so out of hand I gotta put it under a cut.

So I know a lot of players don’t like using prefab background/trait/contact stuff from the books, but for Sam I wanted to give it a shot and modified them as-needed to suit him since we were rolling character concepts that already existed (Chemist and Cryptid). One of Sam’s contacts reads as-follows:

I helped a Golgari spore druid with the fertilization and growth of their fungus field.

This single line actually shaped a good chunk of Sam’s backstory. After clearing it with my DM, I spent some time with him fleshing out the background behind this contact. I gave the DM my notes in the end, to build off of for the sake of his metaplot. (And HOLY SHIT did my DM take this and weave it into his metaplot in the most fantastic of ways? I love my DM.)

So Sam’s field of specialty in the college during his early teen years involved the application of magic and technology to the study of genetics, specifically with regards to grafting the features of living specimens onto one another as the Simic are wont to do.

However, rather than applying his studies to self-improvement, he chose instead to see how deep into the genetics themselves he could apply new and existing techniques through the study of flora and fungi. In the process he developed some unique theories, including a method which allowed splicing of features between specimens in a way that the host itself produced the fresh material; This reduced rejection rates to near-irrelevant levels and allowed the “natural” crossing of species that would otherwise be considered risky or outright incompatible.

It was also faster than the current standards. Much faster: The use of living, established specimens allowed the introduction of features over the course of months or even weeks rather than generations.

(Parts of this research would later be stolen by a former romantic acquaintance in the college and repurposed to springboard the final stages of advancement for a rogue branch-off of the Guardian Project, which is how Funnel got Fucked Up, but that’s a story for another time. TL;DR: Fuck Squad 6, the bastards.)

As part of his studies and in preparation to present his findings to the guild, Sam spent about six months on-site optimizing a private Golgari operation as a chance to apply his research in a practical setting. Six months isolated in a cave below a crypt, with nobody but his sponsor/benefactor and her (numerous) undead sentries for company.

Enter Natasha.

If there’s one thing we know about the Sams in any dimension, it’s that their type is “how can you ruin my life today”. Nat fits the bill: Predatory, forward, sassy, and most definitely a woman who knows what she wants and how to take it. What would you expect from a woman with suspiciously high standing in the Golgari Swarm? Not that Sam knew that at the time.

The two grew close. Admittedly a bit too close when you consider that the prodigy met his 17th summer under her employment. Not only did the application of Sam’s research exceed expectations, he also learned plenty about the Swarm’s unique take on the magical school of necromancy from observing Natasha’s work when she was present. In the end the youth made one hell of a good impression, and when his work was complete they parted on fantastic terms.

... Which is why when Sam and his swiftly mutating companion found themselves on her doorstep a year later, Nat welcomed the two with open arms.

Fugitives from their own guild with not a soul in the world they could trust, Sam had suggested she might still have some of the equipment from his time with her, and they might be able to build off those remnants to make their own field laboratory. This proved to be the case, and after a little work (and some wise allocation of party funds) the three established a mostly-functional lab in Nat’s caves, as well as a small but homey subterranean living quarters for the boys.

Art credit: Funnel’s player @spudinacup [LINK TO POST]

And so, Sam and Funnel's current “home base” is a makeshift laboratory located in a ruin/cave system below some crypts.

With a necromancer landlord.

And numerous undead sentries.

All of which, by the way, now have “Hi my name is” name-tags christening them “Todd”. Which is coincidentally the name of the stray paladin we brought home a few weeks ago. Honestly at this point I’m not sure if she’s threatening him or fucking with him and I’m not sure if I want to know - but it’s certainly hilarious to watch it play out every time we return to our little hub for downtime.

But that’s also a story for another time.

#Chemist and Cryptid #Dungeons and Dragons #Ravnica #Worldbuilding #Anonymous #AskFara #D&D!Sam #D&D!Funnel #D&D!Natasha #Writing Stuff

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gospelofme · 3 years

Text

Amusing Vacation Tales

Jesse x you (female reader, Twi’lek)

“Papa, are you sure you know how to drive this?” Jesse’s daughter, Sarion, asked skeptically. Jesse looked at the large Recreational Speeder confidently,

“Of course, remember I drove that AT-TE with no issue after half of a lesson.”

“Yeah, that’s not how Uncle Fives tells that one.” Jesse’s son, Kasen, piped up.

“Pfft, well your uncle is mistaken, now load up offspring!” Jesse ushered his family into the speeder. You followed behind your children, giving them encouraging smiles when they looked at you apprehensively.

Sarion stowed her bag in one of the luggage compartments. She then heaved her younger brother off of the sofa and deposited him into an armchair. All while listening to music on headphones fitted under her Lekku. She then tossed herself down onto the sofa.

“Whatever, I like this seat better anyways!” Kasen replied, spinning the armchair around a full 360°. Where Sarion favored you in likeness, Kasen favored his father. His skin was a bit more pigmented with Persian blue and tan, whereas Sarion was azure.

When you had found out you were pregnant, neither of you had any idea what your children would look like. You could’ve found out through ultrasounds, but you both preferred the surprise. It was hard, many people didn’t know Sarion and Kasen were biological siblings, and some didn’t realize that you and Jesse were their biological parents. You both knew they had it hard at school, but they looked after each other very well. Sarion had beaten up a girl for teasing Kasen and had fought another girl for teasing her. You both had chewed out parents and instructors alike. Jesse had taken to going to parent-teacher conferences in full ARC-Trooper gear even if he was off that day. This vacation was what your whole family needed. Due to job schedules, you both could only get 2 weeks off. But something was better than nothing.

You settled into the passenger seat as Jesse started the recreational speeder. The wide spans of Naboo’s countryside sprawled in the viewport. The large family speeder started forward and you were off. You were given the task of finding something good to listen to, settling on an oldies music station. The kids were listening to their own music on their headphones. The scenery was pleasant, mainly nothing but calming fields and forested areas since you’d both decided on a scenic view.

Of course the trip had its moments. Jessie had to swerve to avoid being clipped by another speeder, a compartment holding cooking ware opened and flung its contents at Sarion. She shrieked, Kasen laughed. Another owner of a recreational speeder wanted to race, Jesse agreed. You prayed silently that there were no security officers around, the kids cheered their father on.

You stopped at a sign for local cuisine, and had to hike to the shack. This could’ve been a disaster, since you weren’t good at hiking and you didn’t know how the kids would handle an impromptu walk of unknown length. But it went surprisingly well. Kasen and Sarion challenged each other to take the route just off the trail, essentially bushwhacking their way. Jesse kept pace with you and held your hand. The shack ended up having amazing food, and you dawdled a little too long as the kids explored the surrounding woods.

“Dad, are we gunna die in these woods?” Kasen asked as you all walked back to the trial head in near complete darkness. Your husband had a small flashlight that attached to his blaster rifle, which he may or may not have in the recreational speeder.

“No, we’d eat your mom and sister first.” Jesse teased.

“Oh good.” Kasen sounded relieved.

“Not if Sarion and I eat you both first!” You countered.

“You both are weirdos.” Sarion replied, but she sounded amused.

You arrived safely back at the recreational speeder, that the kids had lovingly christened Mrs. Deborak. Kasen explained this was because the front of the speeder looked like his Math teacher’s disappointed face. Sarion agreed, having had the same teacher.

“Everyone inside Mrs. Deborak, ugh that sounds so wrong kids.” Jesse grimaced.

“She’s a really nice lady.” You tried to reason, getting an “oh please” look from your kids and husband.

“You weren’t there when she looked at me with her disappointed face when I couldn’t solve the math problem she gave Kasen.” Jesse explained, doing a near-perfect impression of said expression.

Later you all pulled into a park for recreational speeders. Other owners were already camped. Jesse parked the large speeder expertly, so far his driving skills were passable for a full time recreational speeder owner. You and Jesse managed to make a pretty satisfying family dinner with the small cooking area the recreational speeder had. Jesse was a pretty good cook, he had a knack for making simple things pretty filling. Of course there were those times were he and Kasen spent the afternoon finding bugs and eating them.

“General Skywalker is actually really great at finding the good ones.” He noted, picking beetles out of the grass with his son.

“Fives didn’t think the General would be up to the challenge.” He added.

The sleeping arrangements were simple. You and Jesse had the master bedroom and the kids had pull out bunks just outside the door.

“Wanna fool around?” Jesse whispered.

“We have to be so quiet!” You whispered back. The sounds of quiet kisses and soft giggles were broken by your daughter.

“Oh my stars, we can hear you!!” She yelled, sounded grossed out.

“Well maybe we want another kid who will turn out nicer!!” Jesse teased back.

“Ugh! OH MY STAAARRRSSS!!!” His daughter dramatically exclaimed.

“Grooossss!” Kasen groaned.

“We’re sorry kids, we’ll go to sleep.” You promised, giving your husband an apologetic look. Jesse gave you one last kiss, wrapped his arm around you, and was soon snoring.

“Can we do this every year?” Sarion asked as she watched her father and brother try to catch fish by hand in a small river.

“Like rent out old Mrs. Deborak?” Jesse asked.

You snorted, the name was beginning to grow on you.

“No, we don’t have to do that. But just take a family trip every year?” Sarion clarified. You looked at Jesse, your husband giving you a surprised look. You had worried about the length of the trip and the attitude of the children. But there hadn’t been one argument aside from a jab here and there.

“Yeah, we could do that kiddo.” Jesse replied, getting a happy smile from his first born.

The two weeks flew by quickly, too quickly. It was like a bad dream when your alarm went off, telling you to get up for work. There was still a month a half left of summer vacation for the kids. Sometimes you envied them.

Tag list

@jgvfhl @nelba @leias-left-hair-bun

@baby-queen-zen @halzore @escapedthesarlacc

#star wars #the clone wars #star wars the clone wars #amusing vacation tales #jesse x reader #arc trooper jesse #arc trooper jesse x reader #clone trooper jesse

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bbrandy2002 · 3 years

Text

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Title: Twinsane

A/N: Jessie, You already know Burns and I are big fans of your characters and stories, in particular your Leo and Drake. The three of us made our big writing debuts at the same time in the Summer of 2019 and became fast friends that have continued through every high and low we’ve each experienced in our lives. You’ve always been a great and supportive friend with a big heart and a bit of a funny bone. We both hope you have an amazing birthday and we wish you all the best in the coming year.

This story takes place in a universe created by @jessiembruno.

Palace -- Throne Room

Liam paced the ancient throne room, site of their infant daughter’s upcoming anointing and baptism. Everything seemed to be in place; Regina had made sure of it despite the cast on her arm from her latest sex injury.

Still, he worried.

Not because of terrorist threats, not because of Lilyana possibly blowing out her diaper and ruining a $2,000 christening gown. No, he had two concerns:

His brother and his brother-in-law.

His wife tried to console him about it, but every time she did, the new father threw his hands up in the air and said, “I don’t want to talk about that stupid pendejo. I just can’t with him --” and the fights they had afterward weren’t worth it.

Leo had passed two kidney stones on the day Lilyana was born. Liam felt bad for him; he really did. Everything he’d heard about passing kidney stones was that it was a truly painful ordeal.

But Leo, as always, had taken things too far.

First of all, he’d named them: Rocky and Peter. He referred to them as “the twins,” and everywhere he went, that goddamn jar went with him. It was embarrassing to be somewhere with him in public and then to hear the telltale rattling as he adjusted change in his pocket.

That was nothing, though, compared to when he’d bought “the twins” a Silver Cross Balmoral pram at the eye-popping price tag of seven grand. It was both nicer and more expensive than Jessica and Liam’s $2,700 Bugaboo by Diesel stroller; Liam had thrown a fit. And not just because Leo had charged them both to Liam’s credit card.

“We are carting around a royal baby! You spent seven thousand dollars on a grocery cart for your goddamn kidney stones?”

Leo, puffing out his chest, had merely clutched the jar of medical waste to his heart. “My children are royal adjacent, thank you very much.”

At least Drake understood that the elder Rys brother was off his rocker, but since Drake flew all the way off the handle every time the subject was mentioned, Liam tried to avoid the inevitable blowups. Just last week, there had been an … incident at a formal dinner.

“Drake, will you watch the boys while I take a piss?” Leo had extended the jar toward the surly dark-haired man.

“Get those fucken things away from me, Leo! Those were in your fucken dick! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Liam had tried to calm Drake down -- Princess Lesedi looked absolutely horrified at the outburst -- but as usual, Leo just made things worse.

Huffing loudly, he proclaimed, “Lilyana was in Jessica’s bacon hole, and I don’t hear you complaining about that, Drake. You hold her all the time, but you never take the twins when I ask! I am through with this open favoritism!”

Only Alyssa, quietly intervening and taking the jar, had prevented a full-on brawl from breaking out. But since she started to cry when Drake refused to hold her hand afterward even following a thorough handwashing, the crisis hadn’t really been averted in the end.

Thinking of Drake only led Liam to ruminate on Mateo, his brother-in-law. Nearly a year before, when the four friends had attended a Yankees game with Jessica’s brothers, Mateo had made a sloppy pass at Alyssa without knowing she was in a relationship.

Well, to be more precise, he’d actually talked about Alyssa in front of her face, not realizing she spoke Spanish, and told his brother “Alyssa can sit on my face.”

The only thing that had saved the weekend from devolving into complete anarchy was that Drake didn’t know enough Spanish to translate. But someone -- probably shit-starting Leo -- had explained Mateo’s words to Drake, and now Alyssa’s new husband was out for blood.

If any of them ruin my little princess’ day, Liam swore to himself, I will murder them. I’m king. I can pardon myself.

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

Palace -- Ballroom

Lilyana was properly anointed and baptized. At the head table, overlooking the large gathering as he cradled his daughter in his arms, Liam looked over the party with a sigh of relief and scooped up another forkful of chicken tagine. Everything had gone off without a hitch, and now they just needed to feed all these people, hand the princess off to Regina or one of her doting aunts or uncles, and he could spirit his wife away to take his “royal scepter” anywhere she wanted it.

His eyes tracked to Leo, who was in rapt conversation with Penelope across the room. When Leo pulled the jar out of his pocket, Liam threw back his entire scotch in disgust.

Jessica, resplendent in a new Ana de Luca original, came back to the table. “God, these fucken people are intolerable, Liam. How much longer --” Her words were cut off when Liam wrapped his hand around her wrist.

“My love, give our daughter to her grandmother. Te necesito. Ahora,” he added, eyes locked on hers. (I need you. Now.)

She took the baby from his arms and brought Lilyana to Alyssa. “The princess needs some time with her Auntie Lyss.”

Alyssa smirked as she kissed the infant’s sweet-smelling head. “And the queen needs to get her back blown out?”

Jessica tossed her hair. “Fuck yeah.”

Alyssa high-fived her before she walked away.

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

Palace -- Liam and Jessica’s Quarters

“You’re so gorgeous, love,” Liam grunted, gripping a fistful of Jessica’s hair and tugging her head back, exposing her throat to his lips and teeth.

She shuddered at the feeling, reaching for his thick length. “We don’t have a lot of time …”

“We have as much time as it takes.” He unzipped the dress and slid it down her body, admiring the curves that had only become lusher with motherhood. Lowering her to the bed, Liam’s lips moved over Jessica’s breasts and stomach. He toyed with the waistband of her underwear.

“Liam, please --”

The panties dropped to the ground, and her plea melted into a throaty groan at the first swipe of his tongue. “Fuuuuuuuuck.”

“Yes, love,” he said against her, working her with his hands and mouth. “Dámelo.” (Give it to me.)

She was still shaking with her release when Liam crawled over her, his rigid cock probing between her thighs. “Now, muñeca.”

Something crashed against the door.

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

Palace -- Ballroom

To his delight, Leo had reunited with Miss Willoughby, his fourth-grade teacher. Though she was no longer as perky as he remembered and had grown an unfortunate goiter, she listened attentively to Leo’s stories about his children.

She had had a lot of champagne.

“Do you have a picture?” she asked at last, after Leo had regaled her with the tale of taking Peter and Rocky grocery shopping for the first time.

“Even better than that.” Leo proudly reached into his jacket pocket. “Boys, I’d like you to meet Miss Willoughby.”

The teacher shrank back with concern. “Leo … what -- what is that?”

“They are Rocky and Peter.” He pointed to each stone as he introduced them. “Their birth was excruciating, but it was worth every moment of pain.”

Miss Willoughby rubbed her misshapen throat lump. “Are those --”

He heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Technically they are kidney stones. But the word ‘kid’ is right in there! Love makes a family, Miss Willoughby. Not your status as ‘human.’” He punctuated the last word with finger quotes of disgust.

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

On the other side of the room, Drake’s gaze narrowed on a familiar face. “Devereaux!” he hissed.

Alyssa looked up from where she had been singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to Lilyana. “What?”

“Is that Jess’ fucken brother?”

She bit her lip. It was Mateo, but no way was she letting Drake get involved in a brawl at the princess’ anointing, for Christ’s sake. “I don’t remember.”

“What do you mean, you ‘don’t remember’?”

Waving a breezy hand, Alyssa hastily tried to defuse the situation. “Oh, I was drinking a lot that day.”

“A lot for you. Not for your average 15-year-old,” he snickered, agreeing.

To Alyssa’s relief, the man had slipped out of sight. “Well, be that as it may, you should let that Mateo thing go. Everything’s cool.”

He scowled. “It is not. I know he’s here today! I’m going to find him and kick the shit out of him.”

-----------

“You should call me Roberta.”

Leo raised his eyebrows. “Miss Willoughby -- Roberta. I would be delighted to.”

She set down her flute. “You certainly grew up handsome …”

Smoothing his blond locks back into place, Leo gave her a rakish grin. “Why, Roberta. How forward of you.”

“Is there somewhere we can get away?” She reached out and gripped his ass with surprising strength.

“I guess that depends on how much you’ve had to drink.”

“The perfect amount.” Her hand slid around to the front, grappling with the front of his pants.

“Whoooooooa. Well, in that case, yes. We can get away.”

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

Alyssa handed Lilyana to Drake in another attempt at distraction, nervous about the way he was pacing the room. “Uh, I have to use the bathroom. Can you take the baby?”

He was already cooing at Lilyana, assuaging Alyssa’s nerves until she made out the words. “And Uncle Drake’s gonna beat the fuck out of your Uncle Mateo ... yes, he is! Yes, he is!”

“Drake!” she gritted.

“Because nofuckingone talks about your Auntie Lyssa like that; no, they do not!” he continued in a singsong voice, ignoring Alyssa completely.

She rolled her eyes and headed out of the ballroom, content that he at least wouldn’t start any physical fights with a baby in his arms.

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

Palace -- Liam and Jessica’s Quarters

Jessica sat up with a start, unfortunately bending Liam’s manhood at an awkward angle. He screamed.

“Who the fuck is at the door?” Her shrewd eyes, trained to find danger, scanned the room. She threw Liam’s jacket on -- their size difference meant it fit her like a gigantic robe -- and grabbed her taser.

“Love, wait!” Liam struggled up from the bed, wincing at the pain in his dick.

“Goddammit, Leo!” Jessica screeched upon throwing the door open.

Her brother-in-law’s bare ass, driving rhythmically toward a faceless someone who was pressed against the opposite wall, greeted her.

“Jess! Fuck!” Leo slowed. “Sorry, Roberta, hang on.” Continuing to hold her against him as a shield, he craned his head around to look at her. “I’m a little busy right now. What?”

She slammed the door closed. “Liam, get dressed.”

“What the fuck is going on?” The king complied, his good mood completely dissipated.

“Your fucken brother is banging someone outside our door. I’m pretty sure his ass is the crashing sound we heard. His naked ass touched the door. I’m having maintenance replace it tomorrow!”

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

Palace -- Hallway Outside Liam and Jessica’s Quarters

Leo struggled back into his pants, grateful that his partner had kept her dress on. “Miss W -- Roberta, I’m really sorry, but we’re going to have to cut this short. Er, not that anything about me is short, obviously. But I’m pretty sure my brother’s about to come out here --”

The door flew open. “LEO, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” Liam raged.

“Run!” Leo grabbed Roberta’s hand and took off running down the corridor, jacket in his other hand.

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

Palace -- Ballroom

Alyssa hadn’t come back, but the more Drake stared at the man he had noticed earlier, the more he was convinced it was Mateo Garcia.

That fucker.

Lilyana had fallen asleep against his chest. He wasn’t going to disturb her or put her in danger, but …

Drake looked at the abandoned plates of cake on their table. Steadying the baby with his left arm, he picked up a handful of cake and squeezed it experimentally in his fist. Maybe he hadn’t played ball with Liam and Maxwell in a few years, but he still had a decent arm.

He rose, stalking closer to his target but staying close to the exit for a quick getaway.

Drake raised his arm and fired.

The handful of cake exploded against the man’s face. Spluttering, Mateo whipped his head around and roared, “What the fuck was that?”

Drake and Lilyana slipped out the nearest door, almost colliding with a sweaty Leo, panic in his eyes.

Leo grabbed Drake’s shoulders, careful to avoid Lilyana’s head. “Drake! We have a crisis on our hands!”

He listened to Leo with only half his attention; his other ear focused uneasily on the new commotion of screaming and -- was that breaking glass? -- inside the ballroom.

“So I need you to come on the search mission with me,” Leo finished.

Drake shook his head to clear it, registering an older woman with a prominent goiter slinking back into the ballroom. “The fuck are you talking about? Did you just finish having sex with that woman?” He jerked a thumb toward Roberta.

The blond man scowled. “I didn’t get to finish, and neither did she, thanks to Jess and Liam’s drama.”

“But the --” Drake gestured to his neck.

Leo waved it off. “I hit it from behind. No distracting visuals that way.”

“You, dickhead!” Drake grimaced. “Thanks for the mental image.”

“My pleasure. Now, we need to go. Find someone to take the baby. I need you completely focused.”

“On what? Where the fuck are we going?”

“Have you not been listening to me? Jesus, Drake! I need you to help me find the twins!” Leo raked his hand through his hair, making it stand on end as his blue eyes burned with obsessive fire. “I took my jacket off when I was nailing Miss Willoughby -- er, Roberta -- and the jar must have fallen out. My children are missing, Drake!”

Drake nestled Lilyana against his chest and covered one of her ears. “You -- you have lost the fucken plot, Leo. I am not searching for your -- your -- dick rocks!”

“You were there at their birth, Drake. It hurts me that you take no interest in your godstones.”

“Stop calling them my ‘godstones’! That is not even a goddamn word --” Drake broke off his rant as Alyssa appeared in the hallway, covered in red. “Jesus Christ! Baby!” He thrust Lilyana into Leo’s waiting arms; the baby woke up and began to cry. “What happened?”

“Huh? You made the baby cry!” Alyssa went to take Lilyana, but Drake grabbed her.

“Look at you, Devereaux! Where are you bleeding from?” Frantic, he tugged the neckline of her dress aside, exposing her bra. She slapped his hand away.

“Stop! I’m not bleeding!”

“But --” He gestured to the bright stain marring her light blue dress.

She looked down. “Oh, that. Someone dumped gazpacho on me when I was walking through the ballroom.”

“What?”

Alyssa pointed. “It’s anarchy in there; didn’t you notice?”

The men peered into the room. Roughly 40 people, most screaming, flung food at each other, ducking to avoid flying lunch items and using plates and -- in several concerning cases -- overturned tables as shields.

“What happened?” Leo looked concerned.

Alyssa noted the guilty look on Drake’s face as she rocked and tried to shush Lilyana. “I think this baby needs to eat. Have you seen Liam or Jess?”

The question seemed to snap Leo back to reality. “You should look for them, Lyss. Head them off --”

“What do you mean ‘head them off’?”

But Leo continued, “And in the meantime, Drake and I need to find the twins!” He grabbed a loudly-protesting Drake by the arm and dragged him down the hall.

A moment after they turned the corner, Alyssa, still rocking the baby, was startled by her voice from behind her. She turned her head to see Liam and Jessica stalking rapidly toward her. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re back!”

Jessica took Lilyana, cuddling her. “Let’s go eat.” Stepping into the ballroom, she shrieked, “What the fuck?”

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

“I need you to help me file a missing persons report,” Leo said 15 minutes later, after they had repeatedly combed the hallways looking for the jar of kidney stones. “My children are in danger!”

“Stop calling them your fucken children!”

Leo pressed his lips together with frustration. “I went through two hours of labor and five minutes of pushing, all for your GODSTONES! The least you can do is help report the twins’ disappearance and bring them back to their Papi Chulo.”

He was saved from Drake’s wrathful retort by a notification on Drake’s phone. “Oh, no you don’t,” Drake muttered, typing furiously on his keyboard.

“What are you doing?” Leo huffed impatiently.

“Someone outbid me for this lure I really want.” Drake finished typing and sucked in a breath. “Ohhhhh shit.”

“What now?”

Raking a hand through his hair, Drake extended his phone toward Leo. “Uhhhhh, I think you better look at this.”

“HOberta69? Drake, don’t buy anything from a seller with that name -- holy shit!” he exclaimed as he looked closer.

He clicked the link; the phone screen filled with his own image. “Yeah,” video Leo said, “it hurt like a son of a bitch when I pushed these li’l fellers out, but that’s parenthood!” He held up the jar and shook it. “The rascals.”

Drake covered his face with his palm. “You are so fucken embarrassing.”

“This fucken kidnapper! I give her the best two-pump-chumpin’ she’s ever had and this is how the old bag repays me? Oh, the fucken humanity! I will hunt her down! I will throw her in the dungeons! I will --”

“She’s basically holding them for ransom,” Drake said reasonably. “Maybe if you message her …”

But Leo had already clicked the “buy it now” option. “Thank God I still have Liam’s credit card saved to my account.”

Drake’s eyes widened. “You paid for the dick rocks? With Liam’s credit card? You know he’s gonna fucken kill you?”

“Calm your tits, Drake.” Leo heaved a heavy sigh. “You and Alyssa haven’t created a family yet. The first lesson you’re gonna learn when the time comes, though, is that parenthood is full of bullshit sacrifice … and Liam is the lucky guy who gets to make that sacrifice.”

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kelelamentia · 5 years

Text

Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend

@ozmav

This came from @thebookwormfairy idea “What if Marinette had a Retired Police Dog as a Pet”

@realrandomposts and I discussed which Miraculous would be used and, while my initial thought was turtle, @realrandomposts was the one who came with the idea for the fox, and just fit better for this fic (And I want to tick Alya off), because Trixx would NEVER miss a chance to cause chaos via having a dog as a holder.

As for Trixx’s gender, the site basically told me it varied from translation to translation, so I flipped a coin; literally.

At a Gotham hotel:

Marinette couldn’t believe Captain snuck himself on to the plane! Actually, she could, he’s such a smart boy. But, how did he get past all that security? Never mind Trixx probably helped with that, he likes to cause chaos like that.

“Trixx, did you have a hand in getting Captain on the plane?” Marinette asked.

“Noooooooooo.” Trixx dragged out, trying and failing to look innocent.

Marinette sighed, running her hands through Captains fur.

“Besides he was going to miss you terribly so.” Trixx continued.

“And you would have missed him as well Marinette.” Tikki added.

“True…” Marinette agreed.

“And I know Captain never wants to leave his partner alone unless he has to.” Trixx said.

Marinette smiled, still petting Captain and him loving it, the Fox Miraculous; hidden by dog tags and a bandana, catching her eye. Marinette remembered how this came to be.

*Flash back*

Marinette was having an awful week; Lila spread rumors around the school about her, her classmates have shown to be more like sheep than classmates, Adrien wanted her to continue being a doormat, and Chat could NOT take the hint at the last Akuma attack and left her alone to fight so he could throw a tantrum.

Thankfully, Captain has proven to be the best and most loyal friend she could ever hope for. Marinette knows he would never leave her in danger just because he didn’t like what she said, he never believe she was petty and jealous of a person with such FAKE tales, and he would never ask her not to stand just for justice; being a former police dog.

That’s when an idea hit Marinette.

“Tikki, I have an idea.”

Tikki tilted her head in confusion, watching Marinette look over at her dog.

“Come on Captain, I’m going to introduce you to Master Fu.” Marinette said.

The worst the Master could do was say no, right.

With Master Fu:

“Greetings Marinette, Tikki” Fu welcomed.

“Hello Master Fu.” Tikki greeted.

“Hello Master, I hope you don’t mind but I brought my dog; Captain.” Marinette returned.

“I don’t mind Marinette; animals can be the best of companions and partners.” Fu smiled, holding out his hand for Captain to sniff.

Captain gave a cautious sniff, but accepted Fu; allowing him to give a single head pat.

“Why don’t we sit down, I feel we have much to discuss.” Fu offered.

“Thank you Master.”

Once they were seated at Fu’s low table, Fu began talking.

“What would you like to discuss Marinette?”

“Can a Miraculous be given to an animal?” Marinette asked.

Fu raised an eyebrow.

“May I ask what brought this on?”

Marinette steeled herself.

“First Chat Noir; he’s late or doesn’t show to battles, when he does he’s pretty much out of the fight immediately, he flirts at the worst times even though I’ve told him I’m not interested in him, he throws hissy hits on a regular basis, and he doesn’t see being a hero as a responsibility but as a game.”

“What of the other heroes?”

“The other heroes have proven that they see being a hero as game as well, they don’t look to see the truth went given no evidence, they like pretty words and offers of connections than working for it themselves and are unwilling to listen to reason when it’s something they don’t want to hear.”

Marinette looked Fu in the eye.

“I’m tired of fighting alone Master Fu.”

The last sentence bore a lot of weight behind it; and Fu heard it.

“I understand Marinette.”

Fu got up to retrieve the box, once he sat down again he started talking.

“You wish for Captain to stand beside you.”

“Yes Master.”

“Do you think he will be able to handle it?”

“Yes Master, he’s a former police dog, he probably has more training and experience than I do.” Marinette giggled.

Captain gave a small tail wag; he loved hearing his girl laugh.

Fu smile and nodded.

“Now it is possible for an animal to use a Miraculous, but the process is different.”

“How so Master?”

“Normally the Guardian would choose the hold, but in the case of animals; the Kwamii’s get to choose if they want to work with them or not, so I cannot guaranty anything Marinette.”

“I understand Master.” Marinette nodded.

“Good, first we must…”

Fu was cut off by a box shaking and jumping around until Trixx popped out. Once he was out he grabbed Marinette’s hand and began to beg.

“Please, please, PLEASE let me team up with you and your dog! This looks like it’s going to cause chaos and so much confusion! Please let me, I know how to speak canine, so I know when to transform and stuff, I get along really well with Tikki, my Miraculous can hang with his tags, and my charge up food is really easy. Please, please, PLEASEEEEEEE!”

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh.

“I have no problem working with you Trixx, but let’s see what Captain thinks.”

Marinette turned to her dog, he liked Tikki, but that doesn’t mean he’d like Trixx.

Trixx flew over to Captain; Captain gave him a sniff.

“Hi Captain, do you want to team up with me to protect your girl?” Trixx asked.

Captain was quiet for a moment, but eventually gave a gentle woof in agreement.

“Yes!” Trixx cheered.

Marinette, Fu and Tikki laughed as Marinette clipped the Miraculous on Captain’s collar; behind the tags, but that laughter was cut short by screaming and crashing outside.

“AKUMA!!!!”

Fu turned to Marinette.

“Go.”

Marinette nodded her head.

“Alright Tikki; Spots on!”

Captain gave a stern bark.

Once the transformation light died down Marinette could see what Captain looked like.

Captain wore an orange, black and white vest that was modeled after a normal police dogs vest; it had the fox tail symbol, in white, on the back and a ladybug symbol on the front where a police badge would be. Captain also had arm guards on his front legs that covered the top of his paws; they faded from orange to white, but Marinette’s favorite part was his mask. It was just a normal orange, black and white mask, but just looked so cute.

“Well, I can’t call you Captain, no matter how common that name might be.” Marinette said, looking at her dog. “How about…Hunter?”

The newly christened Hunter gave a soft woof in agreement.

“Come on Hunter, we have an Akuma to fight.”

And then they were off.

“Good luck.” Fu said as they left.

Where the Akuma was:

The fight with the Akuma, which Chat did not show up to, went smoothly. Hunter cast his illusion by howling and apparently, he could also sniff out the akumatized item, this made things so much easier. Ladybug didn’t even need to cast Lucky charm! They even did a ‘Pound it’ where Hunter bumped his nose against her fist.

But once everything was fixed by the cure, Chat showed up.

“Hey Bug-a-boo.”

“You missed everything Chat.” Her voice was hard, causing Hunter to tense up.

“Aww, don’t be like that Love bug, it couldn’t have been bad.”

Chat reached out to grab Ladybug only to be blocked by a snarling Hunter.

“What the heck is that?!” Chat exclaimed, back away from the costumed dog.

Ladybug smiled sickly sweet smile at Chat.

“This is Hunter the new, and permanent, fox holder and my new partner.”

“But what about Rena Rouge?! And I’M your partner” Chat demanded.

“She has been retired, and don’t worry about the Guardian; he’s already agreed to this. As for being my partner; tell me Chat when was the last time you showed up on time for a fight, didn’t get turned against me, or thrown a hissy fit and leave just because you didn’t get what you want?” Ladybug asked.

Chat couldn’t answer her, his mouth flapping uselessly.

“That’s what I thought.” Ladybug then turned to Hunter. “Come Hunter we should leave before your time runs out.”

Hunter gave a woof in return and jumped away with his girl, not before giving one last hard look at Chat.

*End flashback*

Trixx had been appalled by Chat’s attitude and was steaming while he ate his marshmallows, Tikki doing the same while eating cookies.

Marinette smile as she remembered Alya’s outrage at being replaced, and by a dog at that. But Hunter proved to the people of Paris how good he was and how great of a partner he was for Ladybug; Their ‘Pound it’ was all the rage in the internet and is now the most popular trick to teach your pet.

So here she was in Gotham with her super hero dog, which snuck aboard a plane, and two powerful little gods.

What was her life?

“Well, sulking around this hotel won’t do us any good; how about we go for a walk guys?” Marinette suggested.

Captain, Tikki and Trixx agreed; Tikki flying into Marinette’s bag and Trixx flew under Captain Bandana.

At a nearby Park:

Marinette felt so much freer at the park, the only thing people would see was a girl and her dog.

She was just throwing the ball she got for Captain when another dog, a Great Dane, came up and began sniffing Captain. Captain held still, ball in mouth, and let the other sniff; eventually Captain seemed to like the other dog and began leading them over to Marinette.

“Did you make a friend Captain?” Marinette asked, petting her dog.

Captain gave a slight wag of his tail and Great Dane’s tail was going so fast in was a blur. Marinette reached out her hand for the Dane, so they could get her scent; she was rewarded with a lick on her hand.

“Well aren’t you a sweet heart! Let’s find out your name.” Marinette laughed, before reaching for the Dane’s tags. “Titus? Well it’s nice to meet you Titus!”

Titus barked his hello, trying to get closer to Marinette’s hands for petting.

“Alright buddy, you want to play fetch with me and Captain while you wait for your owner?”

Titus barked again, this time jumping around in excitement.

“Okay, okay,” Marinette laughed before winding up the ball. “FETCH!”

Marinette let the ball go and both dogs shot after it; tussling a bit to be the one to bring it back. This went on for a while before Marinette heard a voice shouting.

“TITUS!”

Titus responded to the call and ran over to a boy about her age, a very handsome boy. Titus circled around the boy a couple times before running back to Marinette. Marinette could only guess that this was Titus’ owner. He made his way over to her.

“Hello Miss, I’m sorry if Titus caused you any trouble.” He greeted.

“Titus was no trouble at all; he was a real sweet heart.” Marinette assured. “My name is Marinette, and this is my dog Captain.”

“It’s lovely to meet you Marinette; my name is Damian, you’ve already met Titus.” Damian greeted, gently taking her hand and placing a kiss on the back; Marinette couldn’t help but blush.

Watching his girl blush at the new person caused Captain to step between the two, making both of blink.

“I’m sorry Damian; Captain doesn’t like strangers getting too close to me.”

“It’s fine Marinette; I should have introduced myself to your dog before invading your space. It’s understandable that he takes me as threat.” Damian said, slowly reaching out his hand for Captain.

Captain investigated the offered hand and gave Damian a hard stare. There was a tense moment before Captain gave a snort and walked to Marinette’s side.

“I think you’ve been approved of Damian.” Marinette said surprised. “He usually doesn’t like a lot of people; really it’s just me and my parents.”

“A high honor then, I will do my best not to waste it.” Damian stated. “I would hate to ruin my chance at talking to a beautiful lady such as you.”

The blush returned to Marinette’s face.

“T-Thank you, but I’m not much.”

Damian just smirked at her, making her blush more. Damian was going to say something when he noticed Titus sniffing at Captain’s Bandana. Marinette knew he was smelling Trixx.

“That is a very well made, where did you get this Marinette?” Damian asked.

“I made it myself; I couldn’t find anything in the stores that I liked.”

“Really? Might I commission you to make one for Titus?”

“You can, but I don’t have a lot of my sewing supplies with me in Gotham, so it could take some time.”

“Where are visiting from Marinette?”

“I’m visiting with my class from Paris; we’re here mainly to see Wayne Enterprise.” Marinette clarified.

“And they let you bring your dog?” Damian asked.

“They didn’t ‘Let me’.” Marinette looked over at Captain with a mock serious look. “Somehow, someone managed to trick the entire airport and sneak himself onto the plane.”

Damian gave a snort in amusement.

“Really?!”

“I know it sounds fake, but…”

Damian cut Marinette off.

“No, I believe you; I’ve seen animals be smarter than people before, but this very impressive. Your classmates must have thought it funny.”

Marinette wilted a bit when Damian mentioned her classmates; he noticed.

“What’s wrong Marinette?”

“You won’t believe me…”

“I’ve been told I very good at telling who’s lying, so please tell me.”

“There’s a girl in my class who doesn’t like me, and she made it sound like I snuck Captain aboard the plane on purpose just to get attention. I wouldn’t even know where to start on that!”

“It sounds like she’s done more than that Marinette.”

“She has…” Marinette sighed, she then gave a brief explanation to Damian about what was going on; he was not pleased.

“Your classmates are morons; large ones.”

“Yeah, they are. Hey Damian, do you know much about Wayne Enterprise?” Marinette asked.

“I know enough.”

“Do you think they let Captain in? I’d hate to leave him at the hotel tell all day.”

“I’m positive they will Marinette, the Wayne family is a very open-minded family.”

“Thank you, Damian,” Marinette smiled, before asking another question. “Do you know any nearby dog friendly restaurants are?”

“Of course, I’d be happy to show you. Perhaps you would let me join you as well.”

“I’d like that Damian; it would be nice to talk to someone with common sense that isn’t Captain.”

Damian chuckled and held out his arm; which Marinette took, and began to guide her to the closest café their dogs trotting along with them.

While at the café Damian got Marinette to open up a bit more about her classmates; Marinette didn’t know why she did that, she was just comfortable with him. And if Damian thought her classmates to be morons before, he though them to be outright imbeciles now.

“These people clearly have no brain cells Marinette.”

Marinette smiled at Damian, it was nice to have someone who can listen to reason.

Eventually Marinette and Captain did have to go back to the hotel, not before they exchanged number though.

“Can we do this again tomorrow; my class won’t be spending all day at Wayne Enterprise.” Marinette asked just before she left; surprising herself at her boldness.

Damian didn’t seem to have an issue with her request though.

“You took the request right out of my mouth Angel.”

“A-Angel?” Marinette stuttered.

“Certainly, you’ve shown your class kindness and patience when they don’t deserve it or you, so yes Angel; unless it makes you uncomfortable Marinette.”

“It’s fine Damian, just please; never call me Princess.” Marinette pleaded.

Damian clearly wanted to ask why but left it alone.

“Of course, Marinette; I will respect your wishes.” Damian nodded his head. “Now will you allow myself and Titus to walk yourself and Captain back to your hotel?”

“Sure Damian.”

The walk was made up of Marinette asking what Damian wanted the Bandana for Titus to look like. Once they reached the hotel they said their goodbyes.

“It was wonderful meeting Damian, you too Titus.” Marinette said.

“You as well Marinette, Captain.” Damian waved goodbye.

The next morning:

Marinette, Captain and the class set off for Wayne Enterprise, Lila being Lie-le the entire time on the bus.

“The Wayne family just loves me; they always try and make sure I’m alright.” Lila boasted.

“Wow Lila, do you think you could introduce me? I’d love to have an interview!” Alya questioned.

“Maybe Alya, they are a very busy family after all; we probably won’t even see them.” Lila redirected.

“Aww, that’s too bad.” Alya was disappointed.

Marinette, keeping a hand on Captain, resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Last night before going to sleep, Marinette looked up the Wayne family; ignoring all the pictures she didn’t care about those and found many things. Like, if Alya wanted an interview she could just request one, yeah there would be some restrictions but Alya doesn’t care for doing her own research.

Adrien just kept quiet, just as always.

The class reached Wayne Enterprise; Marinette and Captain at the back of the group and were greeted by a surprise in the lobby.

“Hi everyone, I’m Dick Grayson and I’ll be the one giving you the tour around the building.”

The entire air shifted; Alya was ecstatic, Lila could get her an interview right away! Lila was terrified, because this could go very south on her and she had no back up plans on being called out by one of the people she bragged about. Marinette was confused, why were people getting excited?

Marinette was never good with icons outside fashion and music, so she didn’t know the Damian she spent time with the day before was the Damian Wayne. So, when Damian got home he spoke with his family, telling them of a girl in the French tour would likely be using their names for gain. Nobody liked the idea of being used, so if the topic came up they would shut it down; Damian figured out from Marinette’s descriptions that the topic would come up from one person or another.

Damian theory proved true when Alya; the pushy, rude, ‘always right’, Alya raised her hand.

“Go ahead.” Dick called on her.

“Hi, I’m Alya; I’m friends with your friend Lila Rossi!”

Lila froze at Alya’s exclamation; going very pale.

Dick frowned, now knowing who the liar in the group was; but was inwardly smirking at the chance to call them out.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve NEVER met a ‘Lila Rossi’ in my life; whoever that is lied to you.”

Alya looked like her world shattered with that one phrase.

Marinette realized Dick must be an important person Lila lied about; which one Marinette wasn’t sure they all sound the same after a point. Marinette looked over at Alya and saw the devastation on her face; Marinette really hoped her former friend would learn from this and start fact checking.

Marinette started running one her hands through Captain’s fur, the motion keeping her calm; watching more horror appear on her classmate’s faces as Dick continued.

"I hope she didn’t use our name to take advantage of people and she continues like this she will be hit with a lawsuit.”

Lila blanched, a lawsuit would really be bad, but she didn’t know how to backtrack from this lie; she didn’t think a Wayne would be the one conducting the tour.

“Well, now that that’s cleared up we can begin the tour.” Dick said, clapping his hands together.

But in a desperate attempt to get the negative focus off her Lila tried to get Marinette in trouble.

“Look Marinette brought her dog! He can’t be here!”

Everyone turned to look at Marinette; Ms. Bustier was quick to say something.

“Marinette why in the world did you bring your dog?!”

“I didn’t want to leave Captain alone in hotel ALL day, what kind of pet owner would I be if I did that Ms. Bustier? And how did you not see me bring him onto the bus?!”

Ms. Bustier opened her mouth to try and reprimand Marinette more but was cut off by Dick.

“This is perfectly fine Ms. Bustier; we were warned ahead of time that due to some strange events, there would be a dog in the group today.”

Ms. Bustier could only nod, not being able to argue with Dick, But Lila was outraged by this turn of events.

“Who could have possibly warned you about her dog?!”

Marinette; as much as she didn’t like Lila had to admit, that was a good question.

“I did.” Came a voice off from the side.

“Hey, Damian.” Dick greeted.

“Hello Grayson,” Damian nodded, before approaching Marinette; Titus at his side. “Hello again Marinette, Captain.”

“Damian! Titus! I hadn’t thought you might work here!” Marinette said, “Which is silly looking back now, because you knew if Captain would allowed or not.”

“It’s fine Marinette.” Damian smiled at the sweet girl.

“Oh, hold on! I was going to give this to you later, but since you’re here now.” Marinette said as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a yellow piece of cloth. “I managed to find some cloth and made Titus a Bandana, it’s nothing fancy but I wanted to see if he even liked it first.”

The Bandana was yellow with black thread spelling out ‘Titus’ in cursive.

“Its wonderful Marinette.”

“Thank you, Damian, can I put it on Titus now to see if he likes it?”

“Certainly.”

Marinette bent down to carefully tie it to Titus; who was holding still for her.

“There.” Marinette stood up.

Titus was then bouncing around her and Captain, braking and wagging his tail in happiness. Making Damian and Marinette laugh, as Titus did his best to get Captain to play with him.

While they were in their own little world the people around them watched in awe; Damian Wayne could smile, he could laugh!

Dick was grinning ear to ear, being very thankful the lobby had cameras or else there would be no proof of this happening.

Alya could decide between being hurt or confused; hurt by Lila’s lies or confused by the fact Marinette knew THE Damian Wayne.

Adrien was concerned; this was just going to cause more problems, why couldn’t Marinette just stay low?

Lila was seething, how is it that when she finally won over the class of idiots and turns them against Marinette, Marinette goes and somehow charms one of the riches and coldest people in the world! This could not continue. Lila slipped away; unknowingly catching Dick’s eye.

The rest of the class was just in awe of the sweet atmosphere around the two.

That atmosphere was broken when the sound of screaming and breaking began, a giant form comes busting into the lobby.

“Hello everyone, I am Arachnae and with no Ladybug or Chat Noir around, you all will be nothing but flies in my beautiful web.”

Arachnae was a human torso on a spider’s body, her entire form was covered in bright orange fuzz; head to the tip of each spidery leg. The form was also very clearly Lila; she had her face and hair and the necklace she always wore, but the one thing different about Lila’s is that she now had 8 eyes.

Dick was the first to react.

“What the %&$@!”

Arachnae let out a hiss and shot webs from her hands; the strands aimed mostly at the class and Marinette. The people that got hit were turned into little soulless puppets for Arachnae to play with and amuse herself.

Marinette jumped to dodge the web, hitting the ground running; looking for a place to hide, Captain at her side.

“Marinette!”

When Marinette dodged she threw herself away from Damian, causing him to worry, but his yell brought Arachnae’s attention to them.

“Ah yes Marinette, when I catch you I’m going to make you miserable! And your little dog too!”

Arachnae charged at Marinette.

“Damian run! She’s focused on me, go get help!” Marinette yelled, before she and Captain took off.

The chase began, with Arachnae destroying anything that got in her path. As she ran Marinette began looking for a place to transform, counting on Captain to guild her around Arachnae’s attacks. Eventually Arachnae ends up bringing the ceiling down and blocked herself from Marinette and Captain.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Arachnae screamed in rage. “FINE, I’LL JUST PLAY WITH MY NEW TOYS UNTIL YOU COME BACK! I KNOW YOU WILL YOU USELESS GIRL!”

Marinette looked around for a place without cameras and spotted a closet.

“This will have to do Captain.” Marinette said to Captain, as she closed them both inside. “Tikki? Trixx?”

“Ready!” They chimed together, flying from their hiding spots.

“Alright, now; Tikki Spots On!”

*Bark!*

With a flash of light Ladybug and Hunter were ready. Looking around she saw some vents she and Hunter could crawl though, so the cameras didn’t see her.

In the Lobby:

Arachnae had gotten most of the people in the lobby, except for three; Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, and Adrien, her biggest targets outside Marinette.

“Just surrender to me, it would make this all so much easier!” Arachnae hissed at the boys, sending more webs and puppet people at them.

Dick and Damian had managed to dodge webs, puppets and Arachnae; Adrien was hiding behind a plant behind Arachnae, but they were also trapped in the lobby and running out of options. Titus was running around, unable to get to Damian and Dick.

*Bark, Bark, Bark*

“Shut up, you dumb mutt!” Arachnae hissed, raising one spider leg bring it down on Titus.

“Titus!” Damian yelled.

Just as the Arachnae’s leg was about to hit a string from a ceiling vent wrapped around it and pulled. Arachnae was pulled with such force she toppled over, and two figures fell out of the vents.

“I don’t know how you got Akumatized outside of Paris, but that doesn’t mean you’ll win.”

“Ladybug.” Arachnae snarled.

“What? Not happy to see me?”

Arachnae gave a war cry and launch herself at the duo. Ladybug and Hunter jumped out of the way, Ladybug in the opposite direction of the people, Hunter grabbing Titus and bring him over to Damian and Dick. After dropping Titus off Hunter went back to Ladybug’s side; who was dodging Arachnae’s webs and people puppets, and bit one of Arachnae’s spider legs.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” Arachnae let loose a scream of pain, she turned to Hunter. “You God awful waste of space!”

While facing Hunter, Arachnae left herself for a hit; but the hit wasn’t from Ladybug. A small black blur cut Arachnae across the arm.

Arachnae hissed at the contact, as Batman dropped down from another vent in the ceiling.

“Batman?! What are you doing here!” Arachnae growled.

“Really Lila?! We’re I Gotham, you’re causing trouble and you expect Batman not to show up?” Ladybug’s exasperated voice came.

“Shut-up! And it’s Arachnae!” Arachnae snarled, clearly humiliated.

Batman threw a few more baterangs that exploded into smoke bombs and ran over to Ladybug and Hunter.

“What’s going on?” Batman asked.

“That is Lila, she has been akumatized,” Ladybug started. “Not sure how outside Paris, but that’s worry for later, but we need to find the akumatized object and break it. That will make her lose any power she has.”

“What’s the object?”

“The only thing it could be is the necklace, everything else is just orange fuzz, but getting close to her is dangerous. If you get hit by her web, you’ll become her puppet and I rather not fight you Batman.”

“What are your names?”

“I’m Ladybug and this is my partner Hunter.”

*Woof*

The smoke was beginning to clear from Arachnae’s face.

“We better hurry before she…”

Ladybug was cut off by a voice.

“Don’t worry Milady I’ll help you!” Chat yelled, while trying to jump in, only to get hit by on of Arachnae’s webs.

“Not again Chat!” Ladybug cried.

“Does that happen often?” Batman asked, disappointed.

“More than I’ll ever truly admit to” Muttered Ladybug.

“Oh, this perfect! Or should I say purrfect?” Arachnae jeered, as Chat puppet now dangled at the end of her web.

Batman tried to cut the web by throwing some baterangs at it, but they just bounced off. Arachnae then sent a swarm of people puppets at them. Ladybug then had an idea.

“Batman, I need you to throw more smoke bombs.”

He did as he was instructed.

“Hunter!” Ladybug called out.

Hunter let loose a howl.

Once Hunter’s howl was done Ladybug grabbed Batman and ran behind a pillar. Once the smoke was cleared Batman carefully looked around the pillar and was stunned when he saw the figures of himself, Ladybug and hunter were still there; Moving, talking and just outright distracting Arachnae.

“How?” Batman was blunt in his question.

“Hunter can cast an illusion, but he can only cast it once before he’s on a time limit.” Ladybug explained.

“And you?”

“This; Lucky Charm!” Ladybug through her Yo-yo in the air and what came down was a bottle of peppermint extract.

Batman gave Ladybug a confused look.

“Lucky Charm only gives me what I need, not what I want.” Ladybug clarified looking around and spotted the sprinklers in the ceiling. “I have an idea; do you think you can cut the necklace off of her neck?”

“Yes.” Batman replied, catching on to her idea.

Arachnae just managed to destroy the illusion; disappearing in a puff of smoke, when Hunter and Batman dropped in front of her.

“Why won’t you do things MY way!” Arachnae screamed.

“Because your way is wrong.” Batman stated, throwing baterangs at her.

Hunter jumped at her spidery legs, barking and biting at them; because he was under her she couldn’t shoot webs at him, but his biting allowed enough distraction for Batman to try and target the necklace.

As the three battled, Ladybug made her way up to the sprinkler system; carefully hooking up the bottle. Once it was secured Ladybug dropped to the floor and pulled the nearest fire alarm; causing the sprinkler system to go off.

Since Lila was currently part spider, and spiders don’t like peppermint, she started to scream and curl herself into a ball.

Batman saw the opening and accomplished cutting off the necklace; which Hunter caught and brought over to Ladybug.

Ladybug broke the necklace and release the akuma, catching it with her Yo-yo and cleansing it.

“Bye, Bye butterfly.”

After she was done cleansing the butterfly, Ladybug turned to Hunter and held out her fist.

“Pound it.”

Hunter bumped his nose against her fist

As Lady was cleansing the akuma, and ‘Pounding it’ with Hunter, Batman turned off the sprinklers a brought back the Luck Charm.

“I’m sorry for the trouble.” Ladybug said taking the charm. “I really don’t understand how she did this.”

“Gotham’s use to damage.”

“It doesn’t make it okay, but don’t worry I have something for it.” Ladybug smiled, “Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug tossed the bottle in the air and it exploded into thousands of little sparkly pink ladybugs.

The ladybugs swarmed over everything, reversing all the damage, turning people back to normal and healing any injuries.

The barricade Dick, Damian and Titus were behind was cleaned up and put away, leaving two stunned people and a very happy dog; Titus bounced over to Hunter to say Hi.

“Holy Sh*t! How!?” Dick asked looking around.

“Magic!” Ladybug chirped.

A groan caught Ladybug’s attention; it was Lila. Ladybug made her way over to her.

“So, here we are again Lila.” Ladybug said in a scolding tone.

Lila tried desperately to come up with an excuse.

“It wasn’t my Fault Ladybug! Hawkmoth…”

Ladybug cut her off.

“Hawkmoth doesn’t have the power to akumatize someone in another country, let alone one across an ocean, or he would have been doing it from the start. Now how did you get akumatized Lila.”

“You can’t prove anything!” Lila tried.

“I can.” Batman said, pulling up some security feed on his computer gauntlet, he projected it for all to see.

The video was of Lila slipping into a hallway, clearly trying not to be seen by people, and when she was done double checking her surroundings; she pulled a little glass jar out of her bag. That jar contained a purple butterfly. Lila then opened the jar and let the akuma to fuse with her necklace; creating Arachnae.

The people from Paris gasped.

“I-it isn’t what it looks like…” Lila began.

“Really, because to me this looks like you are either helping a known terrorist or wanted the destructive power at your disposal for whenever you felt necessary.” Ladybug was disgusted, turned to Batman. “Gotham, America in general, are not my territory; how do you want to handle this?”

“The young lady is clearly a threat to people and has purposely tried to harm them; she will be facing justice.” Batman said pulling out a pair of hand cuffs.

“What?...No! YOU CAN’T! I’M THE DAUGHTER OF A DIPLOMAT! TWO OF THEM!” Lila tried to fight Batman off, but without the power of the akuma she had no chance.

Around this time the GPD showed up, Batman gave them a quick run down about what happened, and they took Lila away; Batman would be dropping by later with the evidence. A few stayed behind to take statements.

A frantic beeping was heard.

“I’m sorry Batman; Hunter and I have to return to Paris, out time is almost up.”

“Before you go can you tell how you got here?”

“The horse miraculous can teleport,” Even more beeping, “Thank you for your help Batman, come on Hunter.”

*Bark*

With that Ladybug and Hunter were gone through the vent they entered, leaving Batman and a disoriented Chat behind. Batman made his way over to Chat.

“How did you get here?” Batman asked, Chat clearly hadn’t come with Ladybug, so he needed to know.

“Uhhh…Got to go!” Chat just ran off.

Batman knew he was just going revert to civilian state somewhere in the building, he’ll look at the security feed later.

“Damian!” Marinette busted into the new repaired lobby with Captain right beside her.

“Marinette!” Damian yelled running over to her “Are you alright?”

“I should be asking you that! You were the one trapped with her!”

Batman was shocked to see Damian be sweet with a girl, with anyone really, and subtlety glance at Dick. Dick smiled and mouthed ‘Future girlfriend’ to him.

As Damian and Marinette were connecting, Batman noticed a blond boy run into the lobby; from the same hallway Chat ran down.

“Marinette, what were you thinking?” the blond asked running over to her and Damian, interrupting them.

Just as Adrien was about to reach her Captain stepped in front of her in a protective stance; Titus joined him, causing him to stop short.

“Adrien, what are you talking about?” Marinatte asked, standing behind her furry guards. Damian wrapping his arm around her for comfort.

“You caused Lila to be akumatized!”

“What! No, I/she didn’t!” Marinette and Damian yelled.

“Yes, she did, if Marinette has just stayed low none of this would have happened.” Adrien insisted.

Batman intervened before Damian could break the boys jaw.

“Young man we have proof that Lila Rossi voluntarily did the ‘akumatization’ to herself. This young lady had nothing to do with it.”

“B-But Batman; if Marinette hadn’t exposed Lila…” Adrien began, only to be cut off by Dick.

“Hey kid, I’m the one who called out that liar and are you insinuating that you KNEW that she was lying to her classmates?”

“W-Well she wasn’t hurting anyone.”

“Kid you need a lesson on toxic people; BADLY.” Dick shook his head at Adrien.

Adrien was about to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned, it was Batman.

“Please return to your class, the police will take your statement.”

“What about Marinette?” Adrien tried, wanting the girl to came back with him and away from Damian and his dog; not that Captain would let him get close.

“I’ll be the one taking her statement, now please return to your class.” Batman stood firm in this.

“I’ll take him back Batman.” Dick offered, grabbing Adrien’s shoulder.

So Adrien shuffled away; being lead by Dick, continuedly glancing over his should at the group.

“Is this normal behaviour for him Angel?” Damian asked.

“When I don’t do what he wants, yes.” Marinette confirmed.

Damian made a face at her answer, but before they could farther into that talk Batman had a question.

“Miss can you tell me more about these ‘Akuma’ and what happened with Ms. Rossi.”

“Sure.” Marinette sighed, “But you’re going to need some back story as well.”

Batman nodded his assent and Marinette gave the entire rundown about what is happening in Paris and the amount of rolls Lila played as an Akuma. When she was done Marinette was out of breath but looked like the world had been removed from her shoulders. Damian had pulled her closer as she spoke, and Captain and Titus were trying to cuddle up to her.

There was a beat of silence before Batman spoke.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how the League missed what was happening.”

“It’s fine Batman, I know the League would never let us flounder if they knew what was going on.” Marinette assured, “Honestly I think magic had something to do with that, but I’m not sure WHY the mayor didn’t contact you.”

“It will be investigated, thank you for your time.” Batman then walked off to talk to an officer.

Once he was gone Damian turned to Marinette; who was still in his arms.

“Are you sure you’re alright Angel?”

“I’m fine Damian, I promise, Captain and I hid in a closet. Thank you for staying with me though, talking about akums and Lila just takes a lot out of me.”

“Consider what you told me yesterday and what you just told Batman, I think it’s a miracle that you were akumatized yourself.”

“I work hard not to be, but I should be allowed to feel bad without Hawkmoth trying to take advantage of me.” Marinette sighed.

A commotion of noise grabbed their attention, it was Marinette’s class; they were arguing amongst themselves.

“I really don’t wat to go back over there; that looks like pure drama.” Marinette groaned.

“Drama that could have been avoided if they had any common sense.” Damian commented, “Since you don’t wish to rejoin your class, and you’ve already given you statement, would you and Captain like to join Titus and I for lunch again? We’ll still be in the building and I’ll let Grayson know what’s going on.”

“That sounds wonderful Damian.”

Captain gave a small tail wag and Titus was just happy to spend more time with Marinette and Captain.

“Then it is agreed.” Damian said, sending off a text to Dick and then holding out his arm to Marinette. “Shall we?”

Marinette giggled and took the arm.

“We shall.”

Damian began to lead Marinette and the dogs to the cafeteria.

“I hope the Wayne family isn’t too mad at the problems my class caused.” Marinette commented, making Damian freeze in his tracks.

“Damian?”

“Angel I should let you know; because I would hate you to think I lied to you, but I am Damian WAYNE son of Bruce Wayne.”

“Oh.” Marinette blinked, “Well I hope you and your family aren’t too mad at my class.”

Damian’s was stunned, Marinette saw the look.

“Damian, clearly your family is important, but that doesn’t matter to me; what matters is that you are a good person. I’ve met other kids from important families, but they were terrible, and I wanted nothing to do with them. You’ve already proven to be a great person and that’s all I need.”

Damian gave a soft smile.

“Thank you, Angel, you truly are treasure.”

“So, your family won’t be mad?” Marinette asked.

“Nope, Gotham sees more damage than any other place in America, so the problems Rossi caused wouldn’t raise any more attention.” Damian explained. “The fact is was repaired by a hero from Paris will actually draw more attention.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed, now shall we continue to lunch Angel?”

“Definitely.”

So, arm in arm Damian and Marinette went to lunch; Captain and Titus trotting along with them.

End.

That was Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend.

Also

Extra:

The Day after the Akuma attack:

Wayne Enterprise Employee - *Crying*

Bruce - *Very concerned* What’s wrong?!

WEE - *Still crying* N-Nothing.

Bruce – But you’re crying.

WEE- *Crying* I’m happy!

Bruce – Happy?

WEE - *Crying* Ladybug fixed everything!

Bruce - *Warry* Yes…

WEE - *Crying harder* We don’t need to redo all the paper work! Or do the added paper work for the repairs!

Other Employees nearby - *Start crying in happiness as well* No extra paper work!

Bruce - *Has no idea how to respond*…

Extra 2:

Before the trip to Gotham:

Alya – *On her phone* Ooooo a new interview with Ladybug

Alya clicks on the link

Interviewer – So Ladybug who is the new fox?

Alya - *Screaming* NEW FOX!

Ladybug – This is Hunter, he is the new and permanent fox.

Alya – PERMANENT?!

Interviewer – May ask what happen to the old fox?

Ladybug – You can ask, but I won’t give you an answer; I won’t let you take what happened and turn it into a hot topic.

Interviewer – I see…What can you tell us.

Ladybug – Hunter is my trusted partner, don’t be afraid he’s here to help you and me. Please give him the same respect you would gave me.

Interviewer – Of course! There has also been a talk about you and Hunter doing a ‘Pound it’ is it true?

Ladybug – This is true, would you like to see?

Interviewer – Yes!

Ladybug – Hunter!

Hunter - *Bark*

Alya – A DOG!!!!! I’VE BEEN REPLACED BY A DOG!!!!!

Ladybug - *Holding out her fist* Pound it!

Hunter - *Bumps nose against Ladybug’s fist*

Interviewer – Awwwwwwwwwww.

Ladybug - *Smiling* I’m sorry, but hunter and I have to go.

Interviewer - *Nodding their head* Thank you for your time Ladybug, Hunter.

Ladybug and Hunter leave.

Interviewer - *Facing the camera* Well there you have folks, we have a new fox!

Alya couldn’t watch the rest of the interview.

Alya – AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Extra 3:

Wayne House hold:

They were sitting down to dinner.

Bruce – So, Damian.

Damian – Yes Father.

Bruce – When will you be bringing Marinette over for dinner?

Damian - *Chokes on food* F-Father?!

Dick – Yeah little D, we need to meet your girlfriend properly!

Damian – Grayson!

Jason/Tim – GIRLFRIEND?????

Damian - *Turning red* She’s not my girlfriend!

Bruce - *Smiling* But you called her ‘Angel’.

Damian – FATHER!!!

Tim – When did this happen?!

Jason – What the h*ll did we miss?!

Extra 4:

Batcave:

Bruce - *Looking at the security footage*

Damian – Father, what are you looking at?

Bruce – Take a look.

Damian sees the blonde boy (Adrien, if he recalled) hiding behind a plant arguing with the air, before he was surrounded by a green light and reappeared as Chat.

Damian - *Not impressed* So he’s a failure on all fronts.

Bruce – So it seems.

Extra 5:

Adrien Hiding behind the plant when the Attack was going on:

Adrien – *Whispering* Plagg we need to do something!

Plagg – How do you plain on explaining how ‘Chat’ got here?

Adrien – No ones going to ask that.

Plagg – Yes, they will!

Adrien – No, they won’t.

Plagg – Your class may not, but there are others here that have more than one brain cell!

Adrien – Plagg! That was rude!

Ladybug and Hunter show up.

Adrien – *Dreamy sigh* Ladybug…

Plagg – And her PARTNER Hunter.

Adrien - *Not paying attention* Plagg I need to transform.

Plagg – Are you nuts! You can’t transform here! People will see!

Adrien - *Still paying more attention to Ladybug* Alright Plagg let’s do this…

Plagg - *Beyond frustrated* Kid!

Adrien – Plagg; Claws out!

Plagg - *Is done and wants a new holder*

2K notes · View notes

carewyncromwell · 4 years

Photo

*wiggles in delight* Okay, okay, you know it’s the POTC AU again. X3

Last part is here -- whole tag is here -- Lavender’s Blue is a folk song that dates back to the 17th century, but I used a more modern version in the link because it’s honestly the prettiest one I could find -- Leave Her Johnny is a traditional sea shanty, pinpointing it as being from the 18th/19th century, even though I haven’t been able to find a concrete date of when the original version was actually written anywhere, but whatever, who cares -- the myth of Orion and Artemis has several variations, but I just used one of the most popular ones because it fits the narrative -- I love my dear @cursebreakerfarrier and her girl Jules’s relationship with my precious boi Bill so much --

And that’s it! Let’s get right to it!! Eeeee~!!! *goes off and fangirls some more*

x~x~x~x

When it comes to dividing loot, one of the central tenants of the Pirate Code set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew -- as well as every other specialized code set by individual pirate captains -- was the idea of everyone getting their fair share of whatever treasure they managed to plunder, with the Captain being awarded ownership of any ships. Thus everyone in the Tower Raven’s fleet as well as the Artemis’s crew was entitled to an equal share of the treasure the Revenge’s crew had stored away on Isle de Muerta the last fifteen years. It took a while to divvy up everyone’s shares, but even with how many people there were, everyone ended up with a respectable share, all the same. Both Jacob and Orion also quickly abdicated their possible claims to the Revenge to Carewyn -- a rather generous offer to some minds, considering it was the fastest galleon on the seven seas, but Carewyn could thoroughly understood why Jacob would want no part of it. If nothing else, he already had a rather impressive fleet, and the Revenge had the same bad memories for her as it did him.

It wasn’t long after the treasure was parsed into equal shares and the Tower Raven’s fleet departed that Bill pulled Jules aside.

“It looks like our little adventure is over,” he said with a faintly wry smile.

“...So it is,” said Jules.

She wasn’t smiling. She tried, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that Bill was worried about something. Her wary expression made Bill turn a bit more serious too.

“You know Charlie and I won’t be able to return to Port Royal,” he said softly. “Your father could likely pull some strings to keep you from being punished, especially if you claimed we forced you, but...”

“I would never claim that and you know it,” Jules cut him off, her tone very reproachful.

Bill’s brown eyes crinkled up with fondness.

“...I know. That’s why I feel a little better telling you this.”

Taking her hand, he then slowly lowered himself onto one knee. Somewhere behind him, Bill could hear a quickly suppressed gasp of delight from Carewyn, and it made him grin around his scarlet cheeks up at Jules, whose face was also alight with surprise and a darkening flush.

“Juliette Farrier -- you are, without question, the most amazing and wonderful woman I have ever met in my life. You’re braver than a lioness and you never let anything stand in your way, no matter what the squalls. In the words of Psalm 143:8, ‘show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life’ -- ”

His entire face was a brilliant ruby red by this point. He bit his lip briefly, only for his mouth to spread into an even broader smile as he tried to hold in a laugh.

“ -- so...if you could accept a pirate as your husband, over a merchant or even a man of the Church...I swear to stand by your side and love you all my days.”

Jules was visibly overwhelmed. Her face flushed and her eyes flooding with tears, she found herself starting to laugh. Then she flung herself down onto Bill, grabbing hold of him around the neck and cradling his head and shoulders.

“Yes -- yes, of course I will!”

The wedding between Juliette Farrier and William Weasley was a very informal, rushed sort of affair. Since there was no church that would’ve married them and Bill couldn’t do it himself, they held it aboard the Artemis with Orion -- being Captain -- officiating the ceremony. Charlie and Carewyn scrounged through the loot remaining in the cave at Isle de Muerta to find a handsome coat made out of brown leather, a navy blue tricorn hat, a well-shined pair of boots, a rather pretty-looking off-white dress, a gold tiara, and a translucent muslin apron. Carewyn was able to cut the apron into a make-shift veil that she then helped Jules secure in her hair with the tiara.

Orion’s version of a wedding ceremony was distinctly not traditional. Rather than quoting scripture, he made a rather bizarre analogy to beavers. To his credit, it did eventually come around to the idea that they mate for life and they build their own home out of nothing together out of whatever’s available to them, which Carewyn thought was actually rather sweet.

Once the vows were read and the bride and groom shared their first kiss as husband and wife, the crew threw a makeshift wedding party on board the Artemis, with Carewyn singing a song for Bill and Jules’s first dance.

“Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen: Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so? 'Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.”

Once the dance was over, Carewyn couldn’t stop herself from throwing her arms around both of them, hugging them both with all of her strength. Soon Charlie had thrown himself into the huddle too, and the four were all clinging to each other, crying and smiling all the while.

“Jules,” Carewyn said seriously, “I want you, Bill, and Charlie to take the Revenge.”

The three all looked taken aback.

“What?” said Charlie.

“It’s the fastest galleon in the entire ocean, and easily the most feared pirate ship as well,” she explained, her eyes trailing from Charlie to Bill to Jules. “It may need some fixing -- I daresay it’d be a good idea to actually patch up those leaks with more than just magic, and I figure you’ll want to christen it with a new name...but...”

Her blue eyes drifted down to Jules’s shoulder.

“...If you must be considered criminals, with no chance of reprieve...then I don’t want the Navy to ever, ever catch you. I want you on a vessel so strong and so fast...that I can never catch up to you again.”

Bill, Charlie and Jules all stared at Carewyn, their eyes filling up with emotion seeing how strong of a face Carewyn was trying to put on, despite the pain she no doubt felt. Then Jules secured her arm more tightly around Carewyn’s shoulders, resting her forehead beside her friend’s affectionately.

“And if you must stay behind...then I want you to know that we’ll always...always come for you, Carey.”

Charlie nodded, resting his own head on Carewyn’s shoulder as he squeezed her shoulder. “Always.”

Bill’s eyes were streaming with tears. He seemed too overcome by his emotions to speak, so instead he brought up a hand and smoothed some hair out of his best friend’s face, placing a soft kiss to the crown of her head. Carewyn trailed a hand through his hair to comfort him.

“Look...after Percy for us?” Bill murmured in her ear, his voice choked with tears.

Carewyn blinked back her tears as best she could. “Of course.”

Not long later, Captain Jules Weasley boarded the newly christened Revolution with her First Mate and husband Bill and her Quartermaster and brother-in-law Charlie, and the three set off for Tortuga. Orion and the crew of the Artemis had arranged to meet them there and help them with ship repairs, since it would likely only take a scooner like the Artemis an extra day to reach Tortuga after dropping Carewyn off on an island frequented by rum runners, rescued, and returned to the Navy.

The next few days aboard the Artemis was rather more relaxed than on the voyage to Isle de Muerta. Everyone was in pretty good spirits thanks to the significant pay-out, so the nights were spent on deck drinking lots of rum and singing old pirate favorites like Spanish Ladies and Yo Ho A Pirate’s Life for Me. (That last one Carewyn was even able to coax Orion onto his feet and dance with her for, and the rather drunk crew was absolutely beside themselves with laughter, seeing the broad smile and dark flush on their tipsy captain’s face.)

On the last night of their voyage, however, as the sun went down, Orion did not join the festivities. The crew wasn’t too perturbed by it, as he apparently often stayed off to the side rather than get as active as he had that previous night. Despite this, though, McNully still lifted himself up into the rigging and paid Orion a visit at the helm while the rest of the crew drank and sang down below.

“Penny for your thoughts, Orion?” he asked amusedly.

Orion glanced up at McNully serenely. “Oh, merely...meditating on what would’ve happened, had the Scorpion not appeared.”

“The Scorpion?” repeated McNully, as he cocked an eyebrow.

Orion nodded up at the sky, to a certain cluster of stars.

“The Scorpion -- Scorpio. I wonder what would have happened if Apollo had not sent him to sting the heel of the hunter Orion -- what might have been his fate, then.”

McNully glanced from the constellation to down at Orion, frowning slightly.

“Well...he would’ve kept hunting with Artemis, I suppose,” he said slowly, “like he did before.”

“Yes...but would he have been able to do that ad infinitum? Would they have been able to hunt together, side by side, for the rest of Orion’s life, until he’d lived to a ripe old age? Or, like it’s said happened to the goddess Calypso...would it be too difficult for a goddess and a mere man to walk the same path for more than a short while...when the paths set before them are destined to diverge?”

Orion’s voice was very detached, but McNully knew him well enough that he could hear the quiet intensity in his voice. This thought exercise of his had been more than simple meditation, this McNully was sure of.

The First Mate considered Orion for a moment, contemplating his answer.

“...Well...I suppose that’s something Artemis and Orion would’ve probably had to plot out themselves, if it’d come to that. Reckon those sorts of things are always a 50-50 thing, no matter who the players are.”

Orion glanced at McNully out the side of his eye. “‘Those sorts of things?’”

“Yeah -- heart-related things. In the story you’re talking about, Orion was the only man Artemis ever loved, right?”

Orion’s dark eyes flickered down to the crew below. “...Aye.”

“Well, love kind of involves communication, so I’ve heard,” said McNully amusedly, “and while I’m no expert in love, I do pride myself on my communication skills. And from where I stand, I’d say that it’s up to those people to decide whether what they’ve got is more important than what ‘path’ they’re meant for or not. And unless there’s action on one or both people’s parts, there’s a 99.5% chance that both them and everyone around them will be left wondering forever what could’ve been.”

Orion didn’t answer. McNully followed his gaze down to the newly redressed Commodore Carewyn on the deck, who was leading the rest of the crew in a sea shanty.

“Oh, the wind was foul and the sea ran high... Leave her, Johnny, leave her! She shipped it green and none went by, And it's time for us to leave her.

Leave her, Johnny, leave her! Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow, And it's time for us to leave her.”

Orion’s eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, darkening with an emotion that McNully couldn’t place -- then, rather swiftly, he turned and headed for the stairs that led down to the main deck.

“I’ll take the first watch in the crow’s nest, McNully,” he said levelly. “Please see that the crew finishes up soon, so that we can start our nightly rounds.”

“...Aye, aye, Captain.”

The crew didn’t pay mind to the Captain walking past them on his way to the crow’s nest, but Carewyn couldn’t help but notice that he avoided any of their eyes.

Not long after, the crew all started getting ready to go to sleep down below in their makeshift cots and hammocks. Carewyn, however, was too disconcerted by Orion’s behavior and couldn’t help but approach McNully. When she did, he merely shrugged and told her not to worry -- Orion liked to go up to the crow’s nest alone to meditate, and it didn’t always mean he was in a bad mood. All the same, Carewyn decided to stay on deck and take the watch with Orion.

McNully considered her for a moment, before he finally added an aside to her.

“While he’s meditating, there’s only about a 45% chance he’ll talk to you. But...keep in mind that there’s only about a 25% chance that he’d talk to me. ...I reckon those are odds worth chancing.”

And so Carewyn made her way up into the crow’s nest. She found Orion there, resting his arms on the railing of the crow’s nest with his eyes closed and head bowed.

She settled herself next to him, resting her arms on the railing beside his. At first she was reluctant to speak, considering how clearly focused he was despite his eyes being closed. Then, at last, the Commodore finally brushed her newly retied ponytail over her shoulder and settled on asking him.

“...Would you prefer me to not say anything, while we watch together?”

Orion was quiet for a moment. Then, without opening his eyes, he murmured, “...You could sing something.”

Carewyn smiled slightly. “All right. Any requests?”

“‘A Maid in Bedlam.’”

It hadn’t taken him long to come up with it. Carewyn’s smile spread a bit, before she looked out at the sea and sang it for him.

“Just as she sat there weeping, her love, he came on land. Then, hearing she was in Bedlam, he ran straight out of hand -- He flew into her snow-white arms, and thus replied he: ‘I love my love because I know my love loves me.’

She said, ‘My love, don't frighten me, are you my love or no?’ ‘Oh yes, my dearest Nancy, I am your love, also. I have returned to make amends for all your injury... I love my love because I know my love loves me.’

So now these two are married, and happy may they be, Like turtle doves together, in love and unity.

All pretty maids, with patience wait, that have got loves at sea -- I love my love because I know...my love...loves...me."

A ghost of a smile had settled into the corners of Orion’s lips as he listened. When Carewyn finally finished, he opened his eyes and looked out at the horizon.

“Did you sing that song, while you were on the Revenge?” he murmured.

Carewyn looked at him in surprise.

“...How did you know?”

“A mermaid was singing the song around our ship one night while we were bound for Isle de Muerta. She said she’d learned the song from a maid locked in the brig of a pirate ship.”

Carewyn’s eyes softened in understanding. She looked back out at the sea too, her expression becoming a little more serious.

“...While I was on the Revenge,” she said softly, “I...well, I wasn’t myself, at points. I was scared, and angry...and that night...”

Her eyes darkened.

“...That night...was the worst of all of them. I don’t even know how I fell asleep. But I did, and...sure enough...there you were.”

Orion looked up, startled. Carewyn’s lips were spread in something of a bittersweet smile even though her gaze was still on the sea.

“I said you appeared in my dreams at random, but I don’t think that’s wholly true,” she admitted. “You wouldn’t appear whenever I felt cheerful or excited. Instead you always seemed to appear...whenever I was drowning. Whenever I was in a dark place...hopeless and useless. Whenever I most felt...like I deserved to be alone.”

It was strange saying any of this aloud. It made Carewyn feel oddly fragile and vulnerable. With a swallow, she put on the bravest smile she could as she forced herself to meet Orion’s eyes.

“...I guess...whenever I end up in that place...remembering when I was able to help you...it helps, somehow. It...orients me, like a compass. It helps me remember how much better I feel about myself, knowing that I can take care of others.”

Orion stared at Carewyn, his mouth slightly open as his eyes searched her expression. They rippled with an intense emotion, but Carewyn couldn’t quite place it -- was it empathy? Pain? Longing? Relief?

His kohl-lined eyes drifted down to his belt. Then, carefully, he detached his little black-lidded compass from his belt and held it up in both hands so she could see it.

“Would you like to hear the tale of how I first acquired this compass?” he asked.

Carewyn looked down at it curiously and nodded.

“It was a gift,” said Orion. “A gift from a king, who was captured by an enemy kingdom and then sold into slavery. He ended up on a ship owned by the East India Trading Company, bound for the Caribbean...a ship I’d joined as a cabin boy. I was fourteen, going under the name ‘Smith,’ as it was the only name I’d been given at the time, besides ‘boy.’

“Not long after the ship set sail, I overheard the king planning a slave revolt against the sailors on board -- and I had to make a choice. 1, I could report what I heard to the captain...or 2, I could say nothing. Instead I picked a third option -- I helped him. I left his manacles a little too loose that night and told him where he could safely maroon the sailors who didn’t want to stay. So when the revolt happened...the king dropped off the entire crew except me. I agreed to stay long enough to help him sail home, since he and his people didn’t have any experience sailing a British ship. The king named me his First Mate and asked me to call him by his given name...Amari.”

Carewyn's eyes widened in amazement. Orion smiled gently at the look on her face and nodded, before his expression grew much more serious again.

“It wasn’t long after, however, that Cutler Beckett -- the man who owned the slave ship -- sent pirate hunters out to retrieve his ‘stolen cargo.’ On our way back to the Ivory Coast, we were locked in a sea battle, and Amari was mortally injured. As he lay on the deck, he made me promise to take his family home...and once I did...he gave me his compass. I used it to safely sail us away from the pirate hunters and drop the crew off close to home, before I took the next ship out of Africa, which plopped me down in the Caribbean.

“When I landed in Port Royal, however, news had already reached the Navy positioned there of my ‘theft of Company property.’ I was immediately locked in irons, branded, and set to be hanged the following morning. I barely remember now how I managed to shake off the soldiers escorting me to the jail, but sure enough, I did...”

Orion’s dark eyes softened slightly -- he reached out to take both of Carewyn’s hand and place the compass gently in her hands, his own hands cupping around hers so that she’d hold it.

“...And, as fate would have it...ran straight into you.”

Carewyn’s wide blue eyes ran over his face in disbelief.

She’d heard so many bizarre tales of the infamous Orion Amari and his exploits, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember having heard anything about how he became a pirate in the first place. And to hear now that it was all because he’d helped a ship full of slaves return home...to keep a promise he’d made to someone he’d clearly respected...

She’d known Orion was a good man -- but she realized that before that moment, she’d had no concept just how good.

Her eyes softened upon the compass in their joined hands.

“...It’s no wonder you’ve kept it even after it broke, then,” she said gently. “It’s truly very special.”

Orion’s dark eyes rippled over her face. “Aye...but it’s never been broken, however much it hasn’t worked for me, recently.”

Carewyn blinked in confusion.

“My compass does not point North -- nor has it ever done so,” he explained. “Instead...it points to whatever you want most in this world. If you wished to find treasure, it would point you to it. If you wished to escape, it would point you to safety. If you wished to sail homeward ...it would point the way.”

Carewyn glanced down at the compass and then back up at Orion’s face, feeling a bit skeptical despite herself. The pirate captain’s mouth spread in an amused smile.

“You don’t believe me?” he asked.

“I didn’t say that,” said Carewyn primly. “It’s just...hard to believe...”

She once again looked down at the compass and then back up at him.

“...Is that really true?”

Orion’s eyes twinkled. “Every word.”

Carewyn considered him for a moment carefully, her eyes scanning his face as she thought this over.

“...So I suppose the reason it’s not working for you...is you don’t know what you want?”

Orion’s face grew a lot more solemn.

“On the contrary,” he said softly. “It’s more...that my heart is so focused on one thing...it’s made it so the compass, in my hands, will point nowhere else. Ever since you escaped the Artemis...it’s been locked in place.”

His hands adjusted on top of hers holding his compass, his thumbs resting on the sides of her wrists.

Carewyn’s gaze fell down to their joined hands -- then, her eyes slowly widening, she looked back up at Orion.

“...When you came to Port Royal...”

Orion inclined his head. “The compass was pointing me there.”

“And...Isle de Muerta...”

“I only found because the compass was pointing me there, too.”

Orion’s voice was still as level as ever, but he suddenly looked quite a bit paler. Something in the back of his calm, serene eyes seemed oddly tentative -- insecure.

Carewyn stared at him, hardly daring to believe it. If she was understanding Orion correctly, then...the thing his compass had been pointing toward...

...was her.

Her heart had swelled to a seemingly impossibly large size in her chest, almost painfully so. It made Carewyn unsure of what even to say or do -- she couldn’t contain her emotions, and was forced to cover her face in both hands, cutting herself off as she struggled to regain her composure.

At long last, she took a breath.

“‘She said...‘my love, don’t frighten me...are you...my love, or no?’”

Orion straightened up visibly as she slid her hands from her face, beaming up at him with perhaps the most emotional, most beautiful smile he’d ever seen on her face.

“‘...Oh yes, my dear Orion...I am your love, also.’”

#potc au #au #pirates of the caribbean #carewyn cromwell #orion amari #bill weasley #jules farrier #charlie weasley #murphy mcnully #my art #my fanficiton #my writing #GAAAAAHHHHH SO MUCH FLUFF MY HEART #and yeah of course since we'll be doing more plot we won't be stopping on this fluff like I'd planned before I decided to integrate it #and yeah of course that means that we will actually have to address how the hell these two can be a couple #when they know their paths are diametrically opposed #but hey developing relationships can be fun!#just because you reach that coveted 'i love you' stage doesn't mean the ship has to devolve into bickering and suspicion #there's a lot more plot you can do <3 #but yes I had so much fun drawing jules and bill my heart!!#jules's dress is based on elizabeth's wedding dress from the second movie #bill's look is largely based on will's outfit from the second movie but with a tricorn hat and a different color scheme #sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger of sorts but this thing is getting long and next part we'll have to get back to the plot #sorry :<

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ohwereusingourmadeupnames · 4 years

Note

"tell me how you actually feel for once" for starker. Love your writing btw

What You Want

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Rating: Mature (M) Notes: Thanks a ton, nonnie! I appreciate the compliment. This was a fun one - I hope you enjoy it! Word Count: ~3.5k Summary:

Peter’s a little tired of the back and forth with Tony, so he takes their ‘relationship’ into his own hands.

His weird tango with Tony started right after graduation.

It took a few months post-Thanos for everyone to get their shit back together, Peter included. He ran off with Ned and MJ to Europe, only to be duped by someone hell bent on taking Tony Stark and the company his family built down to the ground. Mysterio fucked him up and it took a while to find a way to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. While he did, he stepped away from the Avenger’s completely, ducked his head, and finished out the year to the best of his ability.

Walking into the gym in his cap and gown, Peter was genuinely surprised to see the entire crew sitting in the row next to May. Tony, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Thor – even Nat and Bruce were tucked into the small chairs mandated for friends and family. His face broke into a wide grin – it’d been a while since he saw anyone and, in that instant, he knew that his decision to go back to the Avenger’s was the right one.

The row where they were all standing broke into the loudest applause of the day when Peter walked across the stage. Thor, in his ornamental garb stood up and yelled – “Bravo, Master Peter!” It echoed around the gym and caused the rest of the people to clap even louder. Red-faced, he grabbed his diploma from some lady he’d never seen before and finished the walk. Right before he stepped off the stage, he lifted the folder in his hands and let out a whoop.

His eyes caught Tony on the walk back to his seat – his whiskey colored eyes bore into him, a soft smile playing on the older man’s lips. In the few months since their final interaction with Thanos, Tony was the only person he tried to keep in contact with. The ruse of being one of Tony’s interns was going to be a great cover for why he was always with Tony and around the other Avenger’s on a pretty constant basis.

No one knew about his secret identity – and he planned to keep it that way.

Peter took the smile on Tony’s face with him all the way back to his seat – the image of it burnt into his brain. They’d been talking on the phone and over text messages since his final brief with Tony and Happy after the Europe fiasco – it sent a bunch of weird feelings flowing through him, seeing the look on Tony’s face in person. The crush he’d been trying so hard to get rid of was still there, then.

Between the look on Tony’s face and MJ’s parting words, Peter was plenty occupied for the rest of the ceremony. It wasn’t until Michael Parker, his line buddy since elementary school, bumped him in the side that he got to his feet and stood with the rest of his class. Back in the moment, Peter found himself grinning with his full face – he was finally done and able to find himself on a different playing field with the people around him. Peter Parker wasn’t a kid any longer.

After giving MJ and Ned a quick hug, Peter rushed to find May and the rest of the rag tag group of people that were there for him. It wasn’t hard to follow the loud noise of everyone trying to talk at once down the hall and right into the swell of his favorite people. The group hug that followed made his heart burst, a couple of tears rolling down his cheeks. Peter didn’t really know much about family – but these people around him felt more like home than anything else on the planet.

Peter got an individual hug from everyone in the group – his face literally on fire by the time he got to Tony; he’d been unable to pull the beaming smile from his cheeks for the past ten minutes. Tony standing in front of him didn’t help, either.

In the few months since their last encounter, Tony let his hair grow out a little, the man not bothering with the dye in it, either. The usually dark locks were streaked through with gray – the salt and pepper look doing too many things for Peter to handle in that moment. He traded the goatee in for a full faced beard that was finely manicured. The wrinkle of his cheek from the beaming smile slipping across his face made Peter’s heart stutter.

Tony looked amazing – better than he remembered.

There was a brief moment of hesitation when Tony let Peter look his fill. Tony’s wide smile got a little bigger when they finally shared a glance – strong arms were around Peter’s shoulder before he could even think to fill the space between them himself. A soft sigh left Peter’s lips, the solid press of Tony against him the best thing he’d experienced all night. “Hey Tony,” Peter mumbled, his head tucking into Tony’s neck without much thought.

It took them a few extra seconds to pull away – both of them obviously reluctant. Peter smiled when Tony made a bit of distance between them, but kept a hand on his hip, too. The normally colored shades were replaced with clear lens, the brightness of Tony’s eyes shining through them. “Congrats, kid – glad you’re finally done with all this,” Tony said in way of reply to Peter’s greeting. His hand squeezed Peter’s hip while he spoke, a shit eating grin on his face.

“Same – and now that I’m done, you can stop calling me kid. Pete will do.” Peter matched Tony’s grin, a soft chuckle falling from his lips as he did. “Thanks, though – I know all of you guys being here was your thing. It was a great surprise.” He looked over Tony’s shoulder to the group chatting idly with each other. “I definitely get the coolest family award.”

Tony’s hand moved from his hip, the arm slinging over his shoulder instead. Peter gasped at the warmth against his side, being so close to Tony something that still made his head swim. Tony was a little less restrained than usual and Peter was more than willing to soak it the fuck up.

“Sure thing, Pete. Everyone wanted to see you – I think it’s finally sinking in, you coming to officially join the team. I figured celebrating your first step into adulthood was a good way to get everyone together before shit gets real again.” Tony cupped his shoulder tenderly, pulling him closer. “And I missed you. I mean – I couldn’t miss this.”

Whatever Peter planned on saying was interrupted by May pulling both him and Tony into a hug. Ever since finding out that he was Spider-Man and the way Tony fit into all of that, May treated Tony like one of her own whenever she saw him. If anything could make Peter like Tony more, it was that – May’s approval of the good person Tony actually was.

With a final squeeze, Tony pulled away, stepping back into the swell of people around them with a raised eyebrow and a wink. Peter watched him turn and engage Bruce in a conversation, the charmer in him fitting naturally into whatever he and Nat were talking about. Shaking his head, Peter moved his attention back to May, a knowing smile on her face.

“It’s not nearly as weird now that you’re not in school. I can’t tell you why – but, I am less opposed. Just make sure he treats you well.” She looked at him, then turned her head to look over at Tony, who, despite trying not to, was also looking over in their direction. He nodded and tried to smile casually – his jerky transition back into conversation with Bruce probably only noticeable to Peter.

Kissing her on the cheek, Peter turned May towards Thor – her eyes lighting up when the blonde god turned and immediately engaged with her. He could always rely on the churlish brute to charm the pants off anyone sent his way.

----

Peter found Tony by himself a few hours later. They were in the newly refurbished Stark Tower – Tony needed to have a sanctuary in the city and missed the old building – he wrote to Peter about it when Happy enlisted him to move some of the things around the penthouse. Tony was leaning against the railing on the balcony that overlooked the city, an untouched whiskey in his hands. “Mr. Graduate – enjoying your party?” Tony asked, his head turning to meet Peter’s eyes.

He stood close enough to Tony for their shoulders to brush, Peter stopping his hands from roaming by lacing his fingers together in front of him. “It’s the best party I’ve been to, for sure. Thor, Bucky, and Steve chugging beer is something I’ll never forget.” Peter felt Tony’s shoulders shake, the laughing pulling one from his own chest. “It’s nice out here, though – it was getting a little stuffy inside.”

“Glad to hear it, Pete. It feels good to christen the place with something like this. I missed this view more than I care to admit,” Tony replied, the hand with the whiskey in it gesturing towards the city in front of them. “I meant it earlier – when I said I’ve missed you. I tried to play it off, but we both know how well that went.” Tony tossed back the alcohol in his glass, the play of his throat distracting enough to miss the man turning towards him.

Mimicking his posture, Peter turned until he was toe to toe with Tony, his hand grabbing the older man’s arm. “I know. I missed you, too. The space everyone gave me was exactly what I needed. My head is clear for the first time in a while.” He gripped Tony’s elbow and pulled until the older man’s arms were around his shoulders, the hand with the empty glass hanging carelessly. “What does it mean, though? Us missing each other?”

Tony didn’t answer verbally, he simply leaned in and pressed his lips to Peter’s. His lips tasted like the old whiskey in Tony’s glass, smooth and warm. Peter didn’t hesitate to open his mouth to Tony’s curious tongue. In his exploration, Peter gave as good as he got, their tongues tangled and fought playfully for dominance. It didn’t really answer anything, but who was he to complain? Pulling away, Peter let his chest heave before attempting to press back in for more.

“Hey, wait,” Tony murmured, his free hand moving to cup Peter’s cheek. There was an odd look in his eyes, then they were trailing over his shoulder to the open glass that separated them from the rest of the people gathered in the penthouse – there to celebrate him. “We should probably head back inside – do this when there isn’t an audience.” There was a second of hesitation, then he leaned in and gave Peter another chaste kiss.

“I think we try and figure out what it means together, Pete.” Tony finally answered Peter’s question, as if the kiss wasn’t enough. And the words were just as frustrating as the man pulling away from him. There wasn’t anything holding them back – Peter didn’t quite understand the hesitation.

The door to the balcony ended up opening a few moments later, Tony raising his brow at him – the subtle ‘I told you so’ not nearly as stealth as he was aiming for it to be. They broke away from each other enough for Steve to fit in the space between them, his arms wrapping around their shoulders and pulling them close. “Feels good for the team to finally be complete,” Steve said, his words a little slurred together from the massive quantity of alcohol he’d consumed.

It took a few minutes for Peter to extract himself from Cap’s tight grip and make a quick exit back into the house, his head swimming with tons of emotions he couldn’t quite process. On top of finally marking off something that changed his status within society, Peter was getting his all access pass to the Avengers – and from the looks of it, a nice look at what being with Tony Stark might be like.

For the first time since Tony pulled his lips away and did the responsible thing, Peter felt grateful. He needed to take a little while to put things in order – starting with his very drunk aunt. Peter helped her to the spare room Tony showed them earlier, her small body following his lead willingly. She gave him a tight hug and collapsed into instantaneous sleep when her body hit the mattress.

He decided he wanted to change out of the stuffy clothes he’d been in all day and made a brief pit-stop in the room he’d be staying in for “as long as he wanted”. Tony looked at him a second longer than necessary when he said that. Peter let himself pull some of the stuff in his bag he put together earlier that day out and into the drawers, the idea of getting to be there for as long as he wanted too good to be true.

In a pair of sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt, Peter wandered back into the common room where most of the group was still gathered around. All lot of them were drunk, or quickly on their way to being so, but Peter didn’t mind – he always enjoyed watching people making a fool out of themselves when at parties before. Stretching out on one of the empty couches, Peter relaxed and let the sound of his chosen family lull him to sleep.

The sensation of being picked up pulled him out of the delightful dream he’d been having. He tried to keep his eyes closed and fall back into it, but his body wasn’t having it. Blinking his eyes open, he felt himself smile when he saw Tony cradling him to his chest, Peter’s head on his shoulder. Though Peter was much stronger, Tony carried him like he weighed nothing, the ease in which he handled him making his heart race.

Peter clung to his strong shoulders until Tony was kneeling on his bed and depositing him onto the mattress. The arms around him squeezed briefly, then pulled away – the ghost of Tony’s aftershave sitting in Peter’s nose, intoxicating him with every pull of air into his lungs. “You can stay if you want,” Peter babbled sleepily, his eyes already closing as he snuggled into the covers Tony pulled back for him.

Soft lips on his forehead made him smile, the huff of Tony’s breath against his skin spreading all over him like wildfire. He leaned into the touch, his lazy hands trying without much success to pull Tony towards him and keep him there. “I don’t mind.”

Tony pressed another kiss to his cheek, then pulled completely away, his voice sounding very distant the next time Peter heard it. “I’ll take you up on that some other time. You should get some rest.” He let out a barely audible sigh. Peter felt a hand on his ankle through the blanket, then another soft breath. “See you tomorrow, Pete.”

Unable to cling to wakefulness any longer, Peter let the swell of sleep take him under, the smell of vanilla and bourbon fueling his dreams for the rest of the night.

----

They danced around each other for the next few weeks. Peter stayed with Tony until he decided he wanted to make the official move to the Avenger’s compound. It was time to get into some semblance of a normal routine.

Steve and Nat put together a training protocol and a schedule for patrols and surveillance. Since a lot of his skills were better capitalized in the labs, Tony claimed his talents and spent time showing him the ropes of his and Bruce’s labs and all of the things they were trying to accomplish within them.

On patrols, they were separated into trios, Peter lucky enough to have two people who were just as excited to work with him as he was with them – he usually went out with Tony and Bruce to try out some of the new adjustments or pieces of tech they were fiddling with in the lab.

There weren’t any major threats knocking on their door, so they took the time to work with everyone and customize an optimal arsenal of tech and weapons to maximize skill turnover. The new sling-ring they made for Stephen when he joined them at the compound was one of his favorite pieces of work to date.

In a lot of ways, Peter was settling in nicely. There wasn’t a single person that doubted his skill, which was a nice turn of events after being Underoos – at least they recognized his contribution to the team. Everyone was accommodating and went out of their way to show Peter the ropes, offer up suggestions, and stand in as combat partners during training. The sense of family only grew the more time he spent with everyone.

Tony Stark posed a different issue, however. They were constantly working with each other, which brought them even closer than ever. Peter understood the way Tony’s brain worked and could hand him tools before he asked for them – it became a sort of game the longer they spent in the lab together. Peter couldn’t pinpoint what was happening, but his chest got a little tighter with want and need every single day.

He wanted to pull Tony aside and ask him why they didn’t capitalize on the fact that their rooms were right next to each other. A part of him felt so impatient to have work roughened hands on him, pulling his clothes off, touching his hidden depths – it took everything in him to keep control over the emotions that were very quickly bubbling over. The rational side of him knew that Tony was giving him time and space to grow and fit within the group in his own way. He could tell that it was important for Peter to have his own place not just in the team, but in the adult world, too.

Peter wasn’t patient enough to see it all play out, in the end. After a particularly close call during their latest patrol, Peter pulled Tony into his room when they finally found themselves back in their quarters. His hands were rough on Tony’s upper arms, the grip probably going to leave bruises by the end of whatever this ended up being. Pressing Tony up against the door, Peter leaned his head against the older man’s chest – a harsh breath leaving his lungs.

“Tell me how you actually feel for once.” Peter demanded, his head lifting to catch Tony’s eyes. “The idea of not getting to you fast enough earlier made me want to throw things – I couldn’t imagine losing you, not after all this.” His hands moved from Tony’s arms to his hips, his fingers digging in enough to pull them flush against each other. “If I’m reading this wrong, tell me – but I can’t stand this little bit of distance you’ve put between us. You’re killing me, Tones.”

Arms wrapping around his shoulders, much like the first time, was Tony’s first response, the cut on his cheek crinkling as a soft smile slid across his face. “Peter – I’ve been letting you get your feet under you. I didn’t want to swoop in and tell you how much I love you before you found a place that was your own. This team is counting on me and you,” Tony remarked, one of his hands pressing into Peter’s chest. “You feeling comfortable is the most important thing.”

Shaking his head, Peter closed the gap and kissed Tony’s lips. The soft gasp he couldn’t hold back gave Tony the perfect opportunity to press his tongue against the seam of Peter’s open lips – he wasn’t shy about pressing forward and deepening the kiss. Peter flattened his hands, his arms wrapping around Tony’s hips until his palms rested over the pertness of Tony’s ass cheeks. Using his grip, he pulled until they were even closer together.

Peter broke away and caught Tony’s eye, mischief obvious in the honey-hazel of it. “I’m comfortable. Will you fuck me now? Or do I need to spell it out for you?” Peter threw Tony a wink and stepped back, his hands moving to pull his shirt over his head and remove the sweatpants from his hips.

Tony’s tongue slipped out to coat his lips, a wicked grin on his face. “I read you loud and clear, Pete,” he whispered, his hands tugging off his own t-shirt. “You should get on the bed so we can make up for all that lost time.”

#starker #ironspider #bobbie writes #nonnie #canon divergence

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thorne93 · 4 years

Text

Unforeseen Chasm (Part 41)

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together.

Word Count:1516

Warnings: Language, mentions of being choked, fluff and mentions of smut song for this part: Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my novels). It’s a collaboration with the amazing @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo. It started as a funny “What if…?” and it evolved and got huge. This took two years to write. We are both proud and happy and we hope you enjoy it. It follows from Thor 1 to Endgame in the MCU. Some of the timelines may be off in order to fit certain people, and some characters may show up earlier or in different ways than they have in the movie. But for the most part, it follows the MCU. It also has a bit of crossover with some other Marvel characters throughout the story.

Masterlist for Unforeseen Chasm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a moment, it seemed like no time had passed, and yet it felt that you’d been out for hours. When you finally woke, Shannon was still out and so was Loki. Before panic could overtake you again, Bruce saw you were awake. Clearly, it’d been long enough for Tony and Steve to clear the room.

“Woah, hey, are you good?” Bruce asked as he walked over and put a hand on your shoulder, helping steady you.

“Yeah.. yeah.. Are they okay?” you asked, nodding towards them.

“They’re going to be… Long story short, Shannon’s powers were activated while she was at Strange’s with Loki. They used him to antagonize her and she sort of… hurt him…”

Your eyes bulged. Your mind was just about to snap at this news.

Shannon...hurt...Loki? Why?

Your blood boiled, your mind raced. You tried to fight yourself from going over there and completely going nuts on Shannon, but with each ticking second of seeing Loki lying on the bed next to you, it got harder to hold the beast back.

“She...what?” you demanded in almost a hiss.

Bruce suddenly saw the change in your nature. “Y/N/N, now… it’s okay. He was supposed to--”

“Supposed to wind up in a hospital bed?!” you screamed, your fingers electrifying with purple sparks. Unless Bruce wanted to Hulk out, he couldn’t contain you. Right now, everyone in this room was at your mercy.

You jumped off the table, ready to tear into Shannon. Ready to make her pay for what she'd done. As soon as your feet hit the floor, purple sparks washed over your entire body, your hair beginning to fly around you.

But before you could go any farther, Loki woke up, unbeknownst to you. Your focus was solely on the woman one bed over from him. Immediately, Loki saw you and he scrambled up.

“Y/N, Y/N,” he eased, seeing your state. He wanted to touch you, but your powers were creating a surface effect. If he put his hands on you, he could get shocked to the other side of the room. “Darling,” he coaxed, standing in front of you. “Look at me, focus on me. What’s wrong?”

“She hurt you,” you stated, your eyes not leaving her form.

“No, no… Well, she did, but she didn’t mean to. I did it on purpose. I had to,” he informed, trying to get you to look at him.

Finally, his words registered in you and you snapped back to reality, your powers subsiding. “What? Why?”

“They said they needed my help. They wanted one end of my emotions… then they wanted me to trigger her to get a response so they could help her… Her powers overtook her and she began choking me…”

You nodded slowly. “And her?”

“Her powers drained her,” Bruce piped up from behind you. You turned to him.

“So… what does this mean?”

“It means both of them need rest. You wanna take Loki down to his bed?” he suggested.

“Actually… I have some place better,” you realized. “Loki, do you mind waiting for me outside?” you asked.

“Certainly, darling,” he assured. He stepped over to you and kissed your forehead before letting you go. You walked up beside Shannon and peered down at her.

“I hope you feel better… You don’t deserve any of this,” you said, your voice sad before you leaned down and kissed her forehead. A gentle smile touched your lips as you gripped her hand. Your face shot towards Bruce. “You keep her safe, and healthy, do you understand?”

“Aye, aye,” Bruce said with a small wave of his hand and a faint smile.

With a final nod, you met with Loki, grasping his hand, as the two of you walked out of the tower together -- finally free.

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

“Where are we going?” Loki questioned, curiosity in his voice.

“You’ll see,” you stated with an air of mystery.

“Being rather mischievous, aren’t you?” he inquired.

“That’s your job,” you teased.

This feeling of ease was… new, and fantastic. Walking the streets of your home city with the man you loved… How perfect could things get for you?

You were tense, though, awaiting the second someone recognized one of you, and the shitstorm began. But so far, no one even knew you two existed.

Finally, you arrived where you needed.

“Why are we here?” Loki asked, starting to wonder seriously about why he wasn’t back in his cell.

“I want to show you something here,” you told him once you stepped out of the elevator and onto the floor. You walked down nearly ten doors, and found the one you were looking for. You took a deep breath, and stuck the key in the door, turning it to unlock it.

The door swung open thanks to the push you gave it, and you leaned in and flicked on the lights.

“Ta-da!” you feebly announced, gesturing towards the spacious apartment.

Loki peered inside, his eyes going over different surfaces before he finally asked, “What is this?”

You bit your lip before walking inside. “This is our home,” you informed.

His eyes flashed to you. “Our...Our home?” he asked, almost as if he were in disbelief.

Nodding, you said, “Yeah. Um, see Shannon and I picked out this apartment right before you and I met. She kept it, since she thought I would come home. When I got let out on parole, she told me I could stay here, but I didn’t want to leave you. She helped me redecorate the place these last few months. If I wasn’t at work, or with you, I was here. Shannon moved most of her stuff out, to make room for things you might want. But… this is all ours,” you explained with nervous hope.

His eyes went back to scanning the place while you spoke, but then he wasn’t responding.

“Say something?” you requested. “Do you like it?”

“Like it?” he asked, making you even more anxious. He walked towards you and put his hands on your shoulders. “My beloved… I… I’ve wanted nothing more than to be with you, have a home with you. Since we’ve been together, we’ve been caged, forbidden from leaving confines. To have a space that is ours? A private dwelling? This is perfect. It’s the best gift you could’ve given me.”

Grinning like a fool, you hugged him tightly. “Oh, I’m so glad you like it! We’ve spent so much time making everything perfect. Let me show you around.”

Taking his hand, you lead him to the kitchen, showing him all the brand new appliances. The living room with the new television. You then walked down the hall to the bathroom with fresh decor. You showed him the almost empty extra room, explaining you would probably turn it into an office. Finally, your bedroom.

“This is ours?” he asked, stepping in.

“Yeah,” you meekly informed, putting your hands behind your back as you followed him in. “Yeah, this was actually my bedroom before I went to Asgard. We didn’t close on the deal until after I left. But all my stuff is in here. I haven’t really changed any of this stuff. It’s mostly pictures, work documents, and some posters of movies I like,” you explained as Loki walked around the room.

“This… this is a glimpse into the life you had before me,” he commented.

“What… do you think?” you wondered, watching his face as he went around, looking at pictures.

“I think it’s amazing. This is you and Shannon, right?” he asked, pointing to a picture that had been framed - one of many.

You walked over and laughed. “Oh yeah. This was Halloween. I went as a Victorian Vampire and she went as a zombie nurse. We won the costume contest at the party we went to,” you explained, smiling at the memory.

Loki shook his head. “I… this has made me happier than I could ever imagine. I’ve always wanted to know your life better. Know your parents, know the life you led before you and I met… To know where your heart lied, to know where your passions led you.”

You shrugged. “Well, this is it. These are all my things. All my clothing, pictures, life’s work. It’s all here. Just, feel free to rummage. After you get some rest of course.”

“Rest is the last thing on my mind,” he quickly stated in a low voice, snaking his arms around your waist in a flash before picking you up.

“Loki,” you chastised. As much as fooling around sounded fun, you knew he needed to be resting.

“Darling, please? This is our first night, in our new home. Let me christen it? Then I will sleep all day tomorrow if you wish.”

Well, either Loki was extremely persuasive, or you were extremely easy.

“It’s very, very, very hard to say no to you,” you informed with a coy smile.

He gave a low laugh. “That’s what I like to hear.” Within an instant, his mouth was working wonders on your body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List: @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @missinstantgratification @thejemersoninferno @rda1989 @munlis @thefridgeismybestie @bubblyanarocks3 @igiveupicantthinkofausername @kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr @kaelingoat-blog @friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo @damalseer @heyitscam99 @yknott81 @sorryimacrapwriter @glitterquadricorn @xxqueenofisolationxx @little-dis-kaalista-pythonissama @bittersweetunicorm @alyssaj23 @sea040561 @princess76179 @thisismysecrethappyplace @sarahp879 @malfoysqueen14 @ellallheart @breezy1415 @marvelmayo @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @cocosierra94 @hardcollectionworldtrash @capsmuscles @marvelloushamilton @paintballkid711

Loki: @lostinspace33 @ultrarebelheart @lenawiinchester @esoltis280 @tngrayson @wangdeasang @harrymewmew @jayfantasyatyourservice

UC: @lokis-high-priestess

#unforeseen chasm #Loki Laufeyson #loki x reader #loki fic #tony stark #tony stark fic #tony stark x ofc #bruce banner

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alitheamateur · 5 years

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The Grind- Chapter 24

“Stop givin’ her your back, baby. You know betta, damn it!” Colton beat the cold canvas of the ring in constructive dissatisfaction, unintentionally distracting me from Tia’s chokehold attempt.

We were doing daily training now, with the match only two weeks away. Ryan, wasn’t exactly giddy towards accepting this challenge and jumping on this particular horse, the undoubted distraction it would from my column at the Pilot. I swore, and sensibly assured him I could juggle both hefty responsibilities, but the extreme lack of sleep on my calendar these days was proving an obstacle.

Cardio and weights with Colton routinely every morning in the basement of his place at 4:30 a.m., showered and off to work by 8, then grappling and fight training every evening with my trio. Cal would often sideline for emotional support, too. The fact that Mr. Ritter and I now shared a bed each night, his & her vanity’s in his newly remodeled bathroom thankfully equipped with a bathtub large enough for the both of us, and breakfast in his nook every morning made alone time easy, thankfully. I moved in swiftly after the details of my match with Katrina Bexley from Franklin Park were on paper, accepting Colt’s offer to share a home with him happily.

The contents of my place were relocated to our home within a couple of days, before the cool of Pittsburgh autumn disembarked. He let me sprinkle a feminine touch here and there without dispute, and even bought me my very own pink punching bag for the basement as a housewarming welcome.

“Livvy, c’mon! Take her down, you’ve got it!” My boyfriend turned trainer encouraged.

His part in my preparation had been a surprising positive for our relationship. I could tell, despite how frightened he was for my welfare, that the common ground of fighting we now shared was one he appreciated. He kept up my diet plan with me, avoiding to dare come home with pizza, beer, or burgers, and most nights we’d watch his old fight films, or any other female matches he could dig up online. He’d rest his back on the arm of the plush sectional I’d brought from my old apartment, I’d settle between his legs resting my head on the muscled pillow of his core, and he’d talk me through each move listing the do’s and don’ts.

I carefully counted the seconds, waiting for the exact moment to pummel Tia to the mat, fearing I would misstep. Then, like I’d been doing it my entire life, I locked her into a double leg takedown, and she grunted in discomfort when her head bounced like a ball off the canvas.

“Touché, LC! That was excellent. I’ll bust your nose if you do it again, but it was perfect,” Tia pulled the slimy mouthguard from her teeth as she stood to her feet.

The ring at the Temple had become as much my home as the one I was creating with Colton these days. I often showered in the locker room there at night after sessions, allowing me to crawl directly in bed after the short drive home if need be.

“Hit the sauna with me before you head out?” I asked Tia, hopefully.

We were on much sturdier ground now, and she’d even spent a handful of nights at our house for dinner. Colton and she were teetering a little on the line beyond civil, giving me hopes of a friendship for the two of them in the works.

She came out of her latest match victoriously, and Colt & I were there to support on the front row. However, her eye had suffered quite the beating in the bloody battle, so she was out of commission to compete for at least 6 weeks recommended by her surgeon.

“I’d love to. God knows I need it. But I have an early shift in the morning at the boutique, so I’m gonna head out.”

Colton snuck up my back stealthily during our conversation, wrapping his arms around my neck to kiss my cheek, and the sweat soaked hair stuck to it.

“I think I may know somebody else who has a few extra minutes to occupy the sauna with ya’, 2-1.”

“Ahhhh, fuckin’ hell, you sleeze. I’m out on that note,” Tia made a gagging reference then grabbed her bag to retreat.

Colton sat aside me on the oak bench of the spacious sauna, with my feet swung over his toweled groin so he could massage the aching, knotted muscles of my calves. It was quiet the first several minutes, so I took the peaceful silence as an opportunity to close my eyes for some long overdue rest. The two of us had already “christened” the very room a few weeks ago, so I knew that nagging plea from Colton had been satisfied and he wouldn’t be begging me. For at least another few days.

“Have you talked to your parents lately? Since you told them about the fight?” He asked, his words breaking through the thick, white steam of the sauna.

He had yet to meet my parents in person, but I settled for a Skype introduction before I moved in. Something felt eerily unsettling about moving with a man when my parents didn’t even know his hair color. My mother, however old, but very clearly not dead, almost yelped when Colton’s fetching smile came into view of the camera, and even dad complimented his “impeccable politeness.”

“Yeah. Dad texted the other day to ask if it would be streaming online so they could watch. I’m sorta shocked at how excited he is. I didn’t think he’d be over the moon about the idea of his daughter getting her face beat in.” I jerked when my personal, irresistible masseuse worked over a deep dwelling tender spot in my leg.

“I think you should have them out here, babe. He’s excited that your competing in somethin’ again, I betcha. They could stay in the guest room at the house,” he calmly, yet very suggestively stated.

Dad being proud of me again, and the thought of hearing his cheers from the stands, was a fond idea, no doubt. But, the possibility of having him come so far, only to get my sorry butt handed to me, and disappoint him once again, wasn’t keen to me.

“I love you, Colt, but we’re gonna have to agree to disagree here. I think having them here, to watch the fight, would just create way too many unnecessary nerves for me, ya’ know?”

He never said another word that night in the aspect of my mom and dad, and we made the journey home.

Later in the same week, Colton took me to a sweet spot in his precious ‘Burgh to help me check fight night attire off my checklist. He knew what I liked, and more importantly, what I needed to avoid feeling too constricted, and asked if he could call in a favor so the seamstress could have it made up when we arrived. The Pilot was sponsoring me, along with Temple Fitness, and Andrew tossed his hat in for The Grind, as well. I was grateful they’d been so generous with sponsorship donations, and considered it an honor to wear their banners.

The address Colton drove us to was a hole in the wall, and I would’ve considered it abandoned and drove on by had I passed the place myself. But he heeded the tailor was a gem, and one of the finest ladies he’d ever met. When we entered, a teeny bell atop the door jingled, and a teenage girl staring into a book at the counter raised a smile to greet us.

“Hey there, Tessa. How ya’ doin’?” Colton acknowledged the girl by her first name, clearly proving he frequented the place often.

She beamed a candy apple blush at Colton’s ‘hello’, her no older than 16-year-old heart skipping a beat. I didn’t blame her. When I was her age, Nathan Rogers made me quiver that very same way. Was there a single, heterosexual female within 5,000 thousand miles that didn’t want to lick my boyfriend like a melting popsicle?

“I think ya’ grandmother has something ready for me to pick up.” Colt leaned upon the counter, as if feeding into the poor girls drooling response. Much like my own reaction the very first time I laid eyes on him.

“She said you’d be by today. Let me grab it for you!” Tessa jumped from her seat to answer her favorite customers beckoning call.

“That poor girl almost tripped over her own tongue when you walked in here, Ritter. Don’t smile at her like that too much. Give the female population at break, damn it.” I nudged him once the girl disappeared behind the stock room door.

“You gave them a break when ya’ took me off the market and claimed me, baby,” he stuck his tongue out playfully and winked. Of course.

“Oh, what I service I did for my fellow man, huh?” I countered his cheekiness with my own gentle pinch to his toned rear end.

When the young clerk emerged, she unfolded a black pair of elastic, compression shorts trimmed in pink. The letters of my name printed boldly across the waistband, the young lady observed Colton and I, hoping to gauge any reaction of satisfaction to the product.

“I thought about having Sally put ‘Luscious Liv’ on ‘em, just to stick you with a shit ring name like the one I got.” Colton snidely declared.

“Thank God, you have a heart and decided against that one. For your sake, smartass,” I grabbed him by the face to shake him flippantly. “I love them though, Colt. And, I just might love you, too.”

“Appreciate it as always, Tess!”

Tags: @torialeysha @eap1935 @littleluna98 @mollybegger-blog

A/N: Apologies for the brief chapter, my angels. I’ll make it up to you! I’ve got lots I need to be writing, but it seems my brain is on vacation. Doing the best I can for you all, and hopefully you’ll hang in there with me!

#Tom Hardy #tomhardy #tommy conlon #tomhardyfanfic #tom hardy fanfiction #tomhardyfanfiction #elizabeth olsen #thegrind

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starlingari-a · 5 years

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HI ! i am SO SHY ! but i sure do LOVE TO WRITE ! and if we’re mutuals, let me assure you-- i sure do LOVE YOU TOO !

Now that all that is out on the table-- let’s make this a PLOTTING CALL! So if you’ve ever thought about how little miss Arienette may fit in a good ol’ story with your muse(s)... give this a LIKE and let’s see if we can rattle something up!

Here’s a link to her BIO, but as a TLDR--

starlet-wannabe, christened by the ‘fame game’ as a diaper box baby, stolen from hum-drum unremarkableness by Mother as a toddler, meticulously crafted between music / theater / dance / instrument / etiquette lessons and a consistent trail of gigs tagged onto her resume-- Managed by Mother, who also pulls those pesky puppet strings tied to our darling Arienette, and forever searching for the NEXT BIG GIG! a perpetual extra on print and in her own life... but life’s a stage, now isn’t it, so Ari Starling is just trying to give the world a good ol’ show... currently available for gigs spanning: modeling, low-budget films, extra work, background music, ambiance piano, stage work, chorus lines, so on and so forth... NEVER A GIG TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL !! p l e a s e p a s s t h e c h a m p a g n e...

#!! PLOTTING CALL #!! meow #!! i have 2 meetings today and am ardently working on drafts but just in case anyone is interested to chit the chat #!! i'll shoot you an IM tonight if I don't today #!!

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inuitakumi · 5 years

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i uhhh decided to make a profile for cheng’mei as im updated/rewriting his lore, i don’t expect anyone to actually read this but you’re welcome to lmao

Full Name: C’hengmei Tia/Hengmei’a Xue

“Alias”: Cheng’mei Xue

Full Name Meaning: His parents were a Seeker (father) and Keeper (mother) Neither seemed to fully agree on what his name was, and though while his parents were in the same room he seemed to be ‘C’hengmei’ his mother exclusively referred to his name as ‘Hengmei’a’ when his father wasn’t present (which was often). As a result, he was never quite sure what his name actually was

Alias Meaning: After the Calamity hit and Cheng’mei was left alone, he began traveling with an Elezen who had nursed him back to health, in that time he decided to permanently use his mother’s surname Xue, his first name changing entirely coming about as an accident as his name had been misspelled somewhere as they were making passage to Thanalan. Since it showed no real association with either tribe and was entirely it’s own, he chose to keep it like that.

Nicknames: Cheng, Mei, Warrior of Light/Darkness etc

Pet Name: Occasionally called MeiMei if someone is feeling particularly affectionate

Handwriting/Signature: incredibly messy, as he was mostly ignored during his childhood he never really got much of a formal education.

Gender: Male

Age: 23, probably closer to 24/25 by the end of ShB but who knows how the fuck time works in this game

Birthday: 32nd Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon (Oct 31st) year 1554 of the Sixth Astral Era

Birthplace: Limsa Lominsa

Immediate Family: Father, C’yahng, Mother, Hengmei’a Xue, and younger sister Ahqing Xue. Their current whereabouts are unknown

Distant Family: Presumably has family in a small Xue tribe in the Black Shroud and family in the C tribe. Though his parents are now separated he assumes that if they survived he likely has other half siblings roaming around somewhere.

Upbringing:

Infancy [0-2]: ah what a good time to exist. Too young to realize that his parents definitely should not be in a relationship with each other.

Childhood [3-9]: From about 3-5 he still felt the warmth and affection of staying by his mother’s side. Despite having trouble responding when called due to not fully comprehending what his name was, he felt happy and loved at this point and was excited when his father would come home from his ‘merchant’ trips (cough piracy cough) and play with him. Though there were other Miqo’te children his age from the tribe his father came from who were nearby, they never seemed to want to play with him partially from his being different as he looked like a keeper, and because his father was splintered away from the tribe for coupling with someone despite being a tia, and with a keeper. Either way, at that age his mother rarely left the house, and as a result he rarely left too, thus resulting in no friends even from the local non-miqo children in Limsa.

From 5 onward his mother became more and more distant from him, insisting more and more often for him to leave the house on his own which was an incredibly odd turnaround from before. Traditionally of course Keeper males wandered between groups and generally did not stay with their families. Though looking back, Cheng’mei also suspected there was resentment she held against him since he’s pretty sure that keepers don’t make their sons leave at THAT young of an age, and without any sort of male figure to keep an eye on them. This also created more tension between his parents, with his father thinking it ridiculous to let a small child run around on his own in Limsa Lominsa, especially when Cheng’mei almost got kidnapped on multiple occasions.

At the age of 9, he now had a younger sister that his mother clearly paid much more attention to. Their parents also had no arguments over her name, and his father relented easily in letting his sister have a fully keeper name since he was never home anymore anyways. When his father randomly decided to take him on a trip with him on a “merchan” ship, he thought things were looking up. He ended up disappointed because even on the ship he was sat on a barrel and largely ignored by his father, with his only entertainment being from some Lalafell who took pity on the bored child and entertained him with stories from Ul’dah and Thanalan, which is where they hailed from. Upon returning home they were greeted with an empty house, with Cheng’mei’s mother having left with his little sister. He suspected his father knew this would happen, but he never got an explanation as to why.

Early Teens [10-17]: Now with only his father, Cheng’mei now spent even more time alone. Despite the fact that in his youth, Cheng’mei’s father would get mad when his mother left him alone or pushed him out of the house, he now did it even more often than she did. Again, he’d spend most of this part of his youth wandering Limsa, seeking out strangers to tell him stories or take pity on him and give him snacks. When he was 16, he picked up a job at a tavern, where he was able to witness more adventurers passing through with their own stories, and he continually remembered those Lalafell who talked to him about Ul’dah. He ventured out on his own on occasion, making it to Costa del Sol by tagging along with adventurers, but it resulted in the scars on his face when he was attacked unaware.

Late Teens [18-23]: The Calamity hit when he was 18 years old, and he doesn’t actually remember what he was doing or where he even was at the time, he only remembered a blur, and waking up with an Elezen who had taken him in and nursed him back to health. They continued to travel together, helping out what little they could. During this time, he had even considered the possibility of going to Gridania to find his mother and sister. He ultimately decided against it, as not even his father knew where his mother’s family lived and hunted in the Black Shroud, since their meeting had been an off chance moment when she had entered Gridania. And even then, he wasn’t actually sure if any of his family were still alive or not.

Ul’dah [23]: Cheng’mei and the Elezen who helped him parted ways when arriving to Thanalan, now newly christened with his new name after a flub, Cheng’mei traveled to the thaumaturge’s guild to begin some of his first proper training in being an adventurer. It was there in his fledgling adventuring time that he met Thancred and the Scions for the first time, and began his ascent into the role of the Warrior of Light. Despite being able to defeat Lahabrea and destroying the Ultima Weapon, he never felt comfortable in his role as a Black Mage. Despite all the anxiety and reservations that he held whenever he was in Gridania with fear that he may run into his mother and sister and general discomfort with not fitting in with any traditional miqo’te structure (the only miqo’te he was close to at the time being Nashu, who was quite untraditional), he tried his hand at archery and felt at home with a bow and arrow, and even befriended Leih Aliapoh, relating to her confusing feelings about family.

Despite having spent the least amount of time in Ul’dah versus Limsa Lominsa, he considers that he truly came into his own the most during his time there, and even works with the Immortal Flames to this day, as such to most people he’s considered to be from Ul’dah.

Evolution (How has your character changed since they were younger?): as a child he never really formed bonds with anyone because he had the assumption that they’d ultimately ignore him like his parents would. Instead he got his entertainment from stories and fleeting entertainment he got from others never getting very close with them. As he got older he slowly started growing more attached to people like the Elezen who helped him and came to the issue of growing immediately heavily attached to people who would show him slight affection. In the Scions, he often followed Thancred like a swooning maiden just because of some light jokes Thancred would make about following him around. Perhaps because he didn’t enjoy a normal childhood, he definitely acted a bit more childish and rough than someone should at his age. He irritated Urianger at first, for seemingly not taking any of his written out notes or information seriously, until Urianger finally confronted him about not reading anything and Cheng’mei had to tearfully admit he could barely read anything and felt some insecurity for not feeling as intelligent as the other highly educated Scions and just being more of a pawn who was directed in their every action. They became closer as Urianger, along with Y’shtola, helped teach him showing him that despite lacking formal education, he was actually quite perceptive. (Y’shtola earned the nickname of Auntie Shtola as a result of her patience with him) Despite his supposed crush on Thancred, it was actually Haurchefant where he first started experiencing something akin to actual love, and the resulting heartbreak and pain from his death changed Cheng’mei drastically. He’s constantly horrified thinking that it could have been another fleeting attachment from someone who gave him affection or if it ever could have been something else. Though still jokey and sassy, you could see the experiences of battles begin weighing him down as his rough childish edges began wearing down. He started focusing more on his relations with others, and even started considering Alphinaud and Alisae like the siblings he never got to have after not even getting to begin a relationship with his own sister. He even felt quite a bit of anger with how Thancred treated Ryne at first, looking back to his own neglecting parents.

Species: Miqo’te

Ethnicity: Mixed Keeper of the Moon and Seeker of the Sun, appearance is solely Keeper of the Moon

Facial Type: Round

Eye Color: Left eye light blue, right eye two shades darker

Hair Color: Black, with white streaks

Hairstyle: Tends to stray on the long side

Skintone: Very pale

Complexion: Clear, though very often a bit sunburnt

Makeup: Using a rather elaborate red warpaint design on his face to draw attention away from his scars (and sunburn)

Body Type: Ectomorph

Build: Lean and small for speed, very in tune with the average build of a hunter miqo’te, which is probably why he felt such a strong connection with archery when he tried it.

Height: 5′2″ (157cm)

Weight: 53kg/116 pounds

Facial Hair: none

Birthmarks/Scars/Tattoos: He has a scar over an eye and a smaller one on his cheek from being caught unaware while tagging along with adventurers when he was 15. He draws attention away from it with warpaint. He also has a white tattoo on his nose that he got while traveling with his Elezen companion, who like the color white.

Senses: He sees in the dark very well with his Keeper genes, unfortunately as he grew up in very sunny warm places, his wide pupils only made his vision worse in these places. He makes up for this by hearing very well. Any angry squinting is just him not being able to see shit.

Handicaps: CAN’T SEE. No really he probably needs glasses but he hasn’t bothered yet.

Mental Disorders: honestly after everything he’s been through it’s no surprise he’s shown PTSD symptoms

Lovers: Presumably with Haurchefant, though it never really reached any sort of proper status before it was nipped. Seems to have something going with Aymeric or G’raha but whether or not these will truly become something more is unknown.

Occupation: Part time Warrior of Light, Part time Fetch Quest boi.

Work Ethic: He does his best to help people as much as he can in any way that he can. Even if the requests irritate him slightly, he still goes out of his way to try to make people happy.

Wealth Status: Though at this point he probably has more money than the usual citizen due to all the money he gets from helping people, he’s not exactly the greatest at ‘saving’ and ‘budgeting’ which results in him having to pinch gil more often than he’d like to admit.

Past Work Experience: Waiter, messenger, Professional Loitering Child That You Wonder Is Homeless Or Not

Organizations/Affilications: Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Thaumaturge’s Guild (formerly), Archer’s Guild, House Fortemps, Immortal Flames

Education: Barely existent. His mother taught him the very basics when he was 5-7 but he never progressed much past that. Though he learned ‘street smarts’ and enough reading to handle working in a tavern, he mainly relied on others to do that part for him. It isn’t until he joins the Scions that Urianger and Y’shtola improved his abilities greatly, though he’s still behind most of the scions. How the hell he managed to study Thaumaturgy with his basic-ass reading could be anyone’s guess.

Religion: Again, his parents butted heads with Menphina or Azeyma, so out of following his parents he simply prayed to which ever he thought of first. During his times as a Scion, he supposed Hydaelyn was the one he followed but now he’s not sure where he stands with the gods. If anyone asks though, he dryly responds that he’s a born-again Halone worshiper. No one knows if he’s joking or not.

Desires: Because of his less than stellar childhood, he wants nothing more than to keep the family he has now.

Wishlist: at this point he just wants a nap.

Accomplishments: Defeating primals, defeating Ascians, leading revolutions. Y’know. Basic WoL things.

Greatest Achievement: He claims its swimming. Just to tease Alphinaud and Urianger.

Biggest Failure: Despite having done so much, feeling like he’s a failure for not saving people he loved.

Secrets: During his time training as an archer in Gridania, he saw his sister. Though it was only at a distance, and the fact that he only knew her when she was an infant, he just felt it was her. But it was not his place to suddenly show up in her life, so he simply watched her go.

Regrets: Never confessing to Haurchefant. Both of them knew something was there, but Cheng’mei continually thought ‘after this is all over, i’ll say something’ but ‘after this is all over’ never happened and he lost Haurchefant before then. Those thoughts still haunt him to this day as he often has dreams wondering what it would have been like had Haurchefant not died that day.

#INFO DUMP BABEEY #faiz plays ffxiv

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