#i was so glad to see one of my close friends posting about the injustice too

[shandian-go]

Shandian GO - 2021 Charity Auction

I'm happy to announce that the charity auction first launched last November is back! For those of you who weren’t around for the last auction, I started this little project as a way to give back to my community by auctioning some of the special merch I got while managing the group order. The format for this year will be a bit different as it’ll be a blind auction, so the process should be a lot simpler!

See below the cut for details~

How it works

You will be able to place a maximum of one (1) bid for each of the auction items listed. Since it’s a blind auction, you won’t know how much other participants have bid, but the amount you bid should be an amount you yourself are comfortable paying! You can bid on multiple items if you’d like, but please make sure you have the funds to pay for all the items you bid, in the event that you’re the highest bidder for every item you bid on.

Each item will have a minimum bid amount, which is to cover the cost of the item. Anything the highest bidder pays that is above this amount will be donated to a Toronto-based charity (see end of the post for the charities list!). For example, if an item’s minimum bid is $10 CAD and the highest bid is $100 CAD, $90 CAD will be donated.

The bidding period will last one week and once bidding closes and I’ve compiled all the data, I’ll post the results the next day. The results spreadsheet will have everyone’s bid amounts and usernames (partly blurred out for privacy reasons so that you’ll be able to identify your own bid but no personal details will be publicized).

All highest bidders will have 24 hours after the announcement to contact me and transfer the funds. In the spirit of giving, I’ll personally be covering the domestic shipping cost for any highest bidder with a Canadian or USA mailing address, so all you have to worry about is transferring the bid amount :D

Once the winners’ packages are packed and sent, I’ll post a final announcement with the total amount donated plus the donation receipts!

Charities list

Being involved in fandom over the past decade has taught me a lot about the needs and injustices faced by LGBTQ2S+ folks. My recent involvement in danmei fandom has also made me more aware of my Chinese roots as well as the anti-Asian sentiments that have become more prominent since the spread of COVID-19. As such, I’ve narrowed down the list of Toronto-based charities to those that are mindful of the needs of the LGBTQ2S+ and Asian communities and their initiatives range from basic living needs to youth support to advocacy.

Asian Community AIDS Services

Chinese Canadian Council for Social Justice

Covenant House Toronto

Friends of Ruby

Glad Day Lit

Rainbow Railroad

Second Harvest

The 519

Even if you don't plan on participating in the auction, I'd encourage you to check them out and read more about their initiatives!

Available auction items

MDZS Manhua Vol 1 autographed by the lead artist 狂风吹裤裆 - This autographed copy is from the initial pre-order in summer 2020 and I do still have the receipts to support authenticity if needed. Please note that it's unsealed and the corner of the book was dented during transit, so it’s not in perfect condition, but would make a nice keepsake!

MDZS x Maoer FM - Audio Drama Enamel Pin & Bunny Patch set - I’ve been holding onto a set of these for sentimental reasons as it was my very first unofficial group order (before I even started the Tumblr site). But I think it’s finally time to let them go and find them a new home :)

MDZS x KAZE - Original Solid Perfume Set - This was an extra from the initial pre-order and I only recently unearthed it while sorting through my mess of boxes. KAZE no longer carries it in their store so it’s a bit hard to find now, and I’ve had lots of great feedback from past joiners about the scents!

MDZS x Montage Set - This set includes a pink fan and a large standee (with artwork from Chang Yang). While it wasn’t limited edition at the time of purchase, Montage’s collaboration with MDZS has since ended so I don’t think these are available through official channels anymore. As I mentioned on the livestream, Montage has some of the loveliest MDZS artwork on their merch and both are great collector pieces :)

CQL Moon Festival Folding Fan - This was one of the prizes the CQL store had given out for customers who had placed a high volume of orders. I think there’s probably some knock-offs floating around but this one is 100% authentic and I have the receipts for this as well if needed.

CQL New Year’s Bunny Plush - This plushie was limited edition and pretty hard to get ahold of at the time. It’s the predecessor to the Gaokao bunny plushie but comes with a lion dance hat instead. Super soft, super squishy, and super adorbs!

CQL Bonus Set - The CQL store sometimes gives out bonus cards and postcards with orders and after many (many) orders, I’ve saved up one of each of the cards. While the items themselves were free, it did take a long time to collect everything and some of you might enjoy the satisfaction of having a completed set!

TGCF Miniso Set - This set comes with 2 mugs (pink and white) and 2 night light standees (Hua Cheng and Xie Lian). While these weren’t super limited edition, they were pretty popular and are difficult for me to get now. Since it’s produced by Miniso, you’re probably not looking at super high quality, but hopefully they’ll give your home a nice Hualian touch~

TGCF Manhua 1st Anniversary Set - This set was one of the first manhua merch available and comes with a large red cardboard box with the iconic art of Hua Cheng’s hand! There are some small tears in the corners of the box so it’s not in pristine condition, but overall they survived the arduous journey from China in better condition than I expected. The set comes with 2 limited edition wall scrolls and 1 (extremely large) desk pad.

TGCF x Minidoll - Standing Doll Set - This set includes 1 Xie Lian doll and 1 San Lang doll from the original pre-order. I’m not too sure if Minidoll is still including bonuses with these dolls but this set does include all pre-order bonuses (straw hat and bag for Xie Lian, pajamas for both, background cloths, various accessories etc.)

Can Can Wenzhou Charm Set - This isn’t official SHL merch but was extremely popular due to the super cute chibi artwork drawn by Chinese artist Can Can. The set comes with all 14 designs and matching transparent cards.

Wenzhou 'Gu Zhuang' Plush Doll Set - These cuties are fanmade and were part of a limited run. The designs are beyond adorable and the set will come with all the doll clothes, as well as a fuzzy badge and transparent card. I have a set myself and every time I see them I can’t help but smile :D

SHL x Yu Ying - Baiyi Sword Ring - It’s still pretty amazing to me that A-Xu’s bendy sword was transformed into wearable jewelry and since the store didn’t have many of these left after the crowdfunding, this one is pretty special! The ring comes with a pouch, a crowdfunding mini button and the Yu Ying holographic case.

SHL x Rua Wa - Family Doll Set - This was from a limited group order I hosted and includes 5 dolls - two 20 cm dolls (Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing), two 15 cm dolls (Gu Xiang and Cao Weining) and one 10 cm plush (Zhang Chengling). Everything comes into a glad box and the pre-order bonus standee and posters will be included as well!

Info

Charity Auction Form: https://forms.gle/pN14fXbn7DZsfNZw8

Bidding period: Dec 24, 2021 (9 PM EST) to Dec 30, 2021 (9 PM EST)

Results: Dec 31, 2021

#shandian go #announcements

[tennessoui]

FeralObi anon here. How do you come up with these so fast?? Are you an infinite number of ideas and worlds in human-shaped form? I love both of those ideas. The first one kills me tho, Obi gets his first kind touch in years from lil Anakin. Also you can have lil Anakin coming home one day with a skulking, snarling nonverbal murder puppy and saying brightly, "He followed me home, can I keep him?" Schmi thinks this is definitely worse than the time he brought a krayt dragon home.

ah! hello! yes this is the first idea of a feral obi-wan who meets anakin when he's still on tatooine. i will also still do the second idea because like. i liked them equally as much rip me

but i told myself these were going to both be very short snippets and instead this one is uh 2k so i'll post the second one tomorrow instead of tonight!

(ficlet where obi-wan is captured by pirates/unspecified forces at a young age and then tortured for a decade before he escapes to tatooine when anakin is like 6. obi-wan, after a decade of torture is....not alright in this fic though he's only here at the end) (2k)

Shmi had known that when she sent her little Anakin away to follow after the stern-faced, warm-eyed Jedi Master, that this would not be the last time she ever saw her boy. She couldn’t explain how she knew, just as she had not been able to explain how she became pregnant, but she knew beyond a doubt that one day, she would see her little boy back in her arms.

She just hadn’t known it would be so soon.

“He died, Master Jinn died,” Anakin mumbles into the front of her dress, unwilling to move his head far back enough from her hug that he could talk clearly. “On Naboo. And the stupid Jedi council refused to train me even after I was so amazing in the air. Mom, I destroyed a blockade! Entirely! And they wouldn’t--they didn’t--” his little face scrunches up and then he’s bawling into his hands.

A slave, a born slave, knows intrinsically the injustice of the galaxy. It is not often they know hope.

“Oh my boy,” she whispers, smoothing a hand over the top of his head. She has questions. She has so many questions about everything he’s just said and what those strangers have put her son through, but the most important thing is a question she cannot wait until he has cried himself out to ask. “Is your chip gone, Ani? Did they remove your transmitter?”

Because she had sent him away from her so that he could be free. And that had been her own twisted version of hope, that her son could know a life she never would again. If the Jedi masters had proven to be just like every other master in the world, she would find herself sobbing into her own hands.

“Yeah,” Anakin sniffles and wipes at his ruddy cheeks, pulling back a few steps. “They removed it and everything. And--”

He pauses and drops his satchel to the ground in front of her. “They gave me credits. To buy you. For my trouble.”

He spits out the last three words like they’re the most disgusting thing in the entire world. As if Shmi’s freedom isn’t laying at their feet, mere centimeters away.

“Republic credits are no good here,” she hears herself say faintly.

“Padme, the handmaiden you met, she talked to the queen about me I guess,” Anakin mumbles, kicking his feet. “And when the queen learned that the Jedi didn’t want me even after all that, Padme says the queen says I’ll always have a place on Naboo. Me and my family. And then she took the Jedi credits and gave me these instead. It should be enough, Mom.”

Shmi sits down on the floor. With shaking hands, she opens the bag and looks inside. Yes. Yes.

There’s more than enough.

There’s enough to buy her freedom and take her boy away from Mos Espa. There’s enough to take her boy away from Tatooine completely.

“I…” she says. “Ani, I…”

“Padme said she’d send a ship for us,” Ani reports as if their lives are not changing right in front of their eyes. “In two days ‘cause I told her it might take a little bit of time to get Ben to come with us. But we can’t leave without him.”

This is said fiercely and with his arms crossed tightly over his little chest.

Shmi stares at him.

“I’ve already left him once!” Anakin says, stomping his foot. “But that was okay, because I knew you would bring him food and water and stuff. But if we’re both gone, no one’s going to be there for him.”

Shmi bites at her lip. There’s a lot of things happening very quickly right now, and she doesn’t know how to process half of them.

Her son has come back, after only being gone for a week and a half.

He has apparently either endeared himself so much to the queen of Naboo that she was willing to give him the money necessary to buy his mother from slavery and also promise him sanctuary on her planet. He says he’s done this by single-handedly ending a blockade, which is something she just cannot even think about right now.

He has told this queen--queen--that he will gladly live on Naboo with his family. Yes. Alright.

His family seems to include his imaginary friend, Ben.

Anakin has been talking about Ben for years now, ever since he was six and a half years old and sent by Watto to retrieve any scraps he could from what looked to be a crashed pod in the Wastelands. She’d let him ramble on about the ghost of a friend, because she’d known it to be something all children go through and experience. She hadn’t thought Anakin a lonely child, not with the friends he made in Mos Espa, but she’d always known that Anakin had a wandering spirit, ill-suited for Tatooine. If he liked to imagine an older man from a strange world hiding in the caves of the Wastes, then she wasn’t going to say anything.

“You have been leaving him food, haven’t you, Mom?” Anakin asks, almost accusatory. “I told him to expect you and everything.”

No. Shmi has not been traveling to the edge of the Wastelands every day during her precious few hours of free time in order to leave food to be picked apart by womp rats and desert critters and not her boy’s imaginary friend.

“Ani,” she says cautiously, quietly, “we cannot...we won’t be able to bring Ben with us when we go.”

Anakin, predictably, does not react well. “Why not!” he yells, backing away from her even further and looking as if she is the enemy. “Padme’s fine with it!”

“Aren’t you a little old for imaginary friends?” Shmi asks desperately, feeling cold suddenly even though the heat of the mid-morning sun has not abated at all.

If anything, her son looks more offended. “He’s not imaginary! Saying...saying that he’s not coming with us...is...is a bunch of poodoo!”

“Anakin!” Shmi gasps.

“Come on,” her boy says forcefully, grabbing at her hand and tugging her towards the door. She gets on her feet reluctantly and has half a mind to pull back just because he needs to learn that this sort of behavior is not okay, war hero or not. “We’re going to buy you from Watto. And then we’re going to go visit Ben!”

---

Buying her freedom takes less time than Shmi Skywalker ever thought it would. It feels distant as well, as if it’s happening to someone else.

It doesn’t help that her Ani is impatient and surly by turn, spilling the coin out onto Watto’s counter and barely waiting for him to finish counting it before he’s looking at the price of renting a four-person speeder parked outside.

“You won’t survive out there on your own,” Watto sneers, even as he’s passing her the kill-switch of her own slave chip. “Days. It’ll be days until the Hutts find out there’s a newly freed slave with no connections out there in the open. Ripe for the pickin’.”

Watto doesn’t have to tell her any of this. She knows. Gods, does she know.

But Anakin seems so sure about possessing the favor of the Queen of Naboo, or at least her handmaiden, which might be close enough to the same thing. She thanks Watto--she thanks him and then doesn’t even know why--and meets Anakin outside.

He’s bouncing around the speeder, little hands clutching his satchel to his chest. “Good!” he says when he sees her, hopping onto the machine and putting the parcel between his feet. “I got Ben something called a fig on Naboo, but I don’t know how long it’ll take for it to go bad. Apparently they’re sweet.”

Shmi goes along with it. Shmi doesn’t know why she goes along with it, but she does. She can see this is important to her boy, and though she’d rather spend the afternoon and early evening saying goodbye to her friends, she will allow Ani to say goodbye to his imaginary friend. Maybe she’ll even talk to it. “Hi, hello, I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the imaginary blue milk and delicacies I’ve left out for you this past week and half. Oh no, it was no bother. My son insisted.”

The ride is quick--Anakin has always been a driver to push the limits of any engine he comes across--and before she knows it, he’s dismounting on a piece of desert and rock that look exactly the same as the last four pieces of rocky terrain they’ve past.

“Ben!” Ani calls, satchel clutched firmly in his hands as he makes his way deeper into the crevices of the landscape. “Ben, it’s Ani! I’m really sorry that I left! Ben? Ben! I’m back now! Ani’s back!”

It’s actually...quite pathetic, to watch her boy speak so pleadingly to the cold stone faces of the rocks around them, but if this is what he needs to do to say goodbye to his life on Tatooine, Shmi won’t say a word.

“Ben--” Anakin draws in a breath to call again, but then there’s movement out of the corner of Shmi’s eyes, and something jumps from the rock down to land on her boy.

She screams and darts forward, but the thing on top of her son snarls at her in guttural warning.

“No, Ben,” Ani coos, stroking at the face that yes, is human, now that it’s not in unnaturally fast motion. “That’s my mom, Ben.”

Ben--Ben??--growls anyway, pinning the boy--her boy--beneath him with his legs and arms.

“She’s fine,” Ani murmurs gently, one hand reaching up to stoke over the beginnings of a beard on Obi-Wan’s face “Oh Ben, I’m sorry.”

The man on top of Shmi’s child finally looks away from her and at her boy, which is both better and worse.

“Ani,” Ben drawls out, as if the word--or perhaps forming the word--hurts him.

Anakin is happy. Shmi can tell he’s happy without even being able to see much of him. It’s like the very air vibrates with his joy. “Yes!” her son says. “Ani. Ben.” He taps the man’s chest. “Ben. Ani.”

The man buries his head into Anakin’s hair, hands rubbing up and down his sides and his arms and his face.

Shmi needs to say something, wants to say something about this strange man touching boy like he owns him, but the memory of his growl and the flash of his golden eyes stops her from stepping forward.

“Anakin, get away from him,” she hisses instead of stepping forward and tearing the stranger off of her son. She has the distinct feeling Anakin wouldn’t let Ben go anywhere, not with the way his little hands are holding so tight to the man’s shoulders. The man’s shoulders that are covered with one of her old tunics that Anakin had told her became unsalvageable after its last wash.

“No,” Anakin says, tightening his hold on his...friend. “He says you didn’t give him food the entire time I was gone! He’s hungry.”

Shmi thinks there’s a very good possibility that this Ben is going to eat her, but she knows not to say anything of the sort. Not when it’s two against one.

“He hasn’t said anything!” She cries instead.

Anakin huffs at this and pats at the feral’s head. “Maybe not to you, but he talks to me.”

Shmi stares at him and wonders if there’s something she’s supposed to be doing or saying here. The man won’t allow her to tear him off her child, she knows that automatically. But she can’t--she doesn’t know--

“Anakin,” she tries, desperately.

But Anakin doesn’t even look at her, too busy petting over the man, who has at least allowed him to sit up. “Hey, I’m sorry, I thought she would,” he tells him in an undertone. “I really thought she would, but I’m back now. I’m not going anywhere without you again--”

He extends his hand and Ben presses his cheek against it with enough force that it pushes him back slightly.

“You’re coming to Naboo with us, Ben,” Anakin promises, clutching at the ends of the man’s long hair. “Or I’m not going at all.”

To Shmi, it sounds like a threat.

The way her son’s eyes flash an unfamiliar golden color makes her feel cold as a Tatooine night. She shivers, but no one notices.

#asks #feral!obi-wan #cw: torture aftermath #its really quite vague tbh #i wanted to use shmi as a narrator because i never really have before #but that means nothing but shmi's perspective gets shared #i mean obviously #but its defo outside perspective here #but this was fun #im not gonna tag it as obikin because anakin here is nine #but yeah i see them living on naboo and healing together from their traumas #and being the most important person to each other #and eventually when anakin is like 25 maybe even older #they kiss #but that's the story i didnt write lmao

[solinarimoon]

Fields of Wildflowers , Chapter 13

Fields of Wildflowers 

Chapter 13

A Sihtric x OC story

Previous chapters. | My masterlist

AN: Firstly, apologies for not updating or posting any original content for a few weeks.  I was on vacation and taking a small personal break.  But rest assured that this story will be concluded and that I have other content and other OC’s I will write for when this story is done.  So thank you for your patience and continued reading and support!  My timeline for events during the siege in Winchester is different from the show.  I almost combined this chapter with the events for the next one but they would have been too long.  Also, this chapter still does not feature much of Sihtric, but he will be in the next chapter! I promise! And the beautiful moodboard is from @serasvictoria. Check out her blog - beautiful and original work.

Warnings: non-con, male on female violence, self-defense violence, assault, sexual assault, I think that is all.

Word Count: 3553

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

Since learning of Eardwulf’s presence in Winchester and the disturbing images in her dreams, which had continued nightly, Cwen’s composure had begun to falter.  Shadows in lonely corners continually leared in the edges of her vision.  A loud noise or commotion was enough to startle a gasp from her lips.  While returning to the kitchens one evening, a dark haired man with a slim frame similar to Eardwulf rounded a corner, reeking of ale and stumbled into Cwen and Eadith grumbling to himself.  The encounter was enough to leave Cwen shaking like a leaf in a gale. For the rest of that evening, Eadith couldn’t coax a word out of her friend.

Eadith was truly worried about Cwen and tried not to leave her alone when possible.  The two women continued working in the kitchen and waiting for chances to sneak words to their friends.  Although there was no real news to relay to them.

The siege continued.  Sigtrrygr still had the upper hand and for all intents and purposes appeared to ignore Edward’s attacks on the walls outside.  Cwen and Eadith had managed to speak a few more words through the door to Lady Aelswith and were confident they were managing as well as they could.  Although held as prisoners, they were fed and given water.  They were not ill treated.  

A bit shockingly, Stiorra was being treated with even more dignity and respect.  Cwen had managed to volunteer to bring Stiorra food a second time from the kitchens.  All had gone smoothly and it had done Cwen some good to venture on the errand without the comfort of Eadith’s presence.   

Stiorra had embraced her and assured her of Sigtrrygr’s kindness and courtesy towards her.  And it was true that the young woman Cwen saw looked refreshed and lively.  Cwen thought that Stiorra seemed quite taken with the conquering Dane.  He, apparently,  spoke with her as an equal and conversed with her, challenged her.  And Cwen felt glad for the young woman.  Seeing the blossoming of a potential young romance did make her heart ache to feel herself once more in Sihtric’s arms.  She wished to move beyond the hard words spoken between them when they left one another. 

When she had returned from delivering Stiorra’s food, Cwen felt a bit more like herself.  Eadith had noticed the change in her friend as well.  That one errand on her own had brought back more of the determined and confident woman Eadith knew.  

Cwen still was watchful.  She still steadied herself and her breathing regularly.  But she had stopped her quaking and stuttering movements or being startled at every noise or turn.  Her nightmares had also lessened.  

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

The chance to bring Stiorra her afternoon meal presented itself again several days later.  Frig had yet again barked an order to any kitchen maid available to bring bread, cheese, and water to the woman, Stiorra.  Careful to not seem too eager, Cwen had moved to gather the items and a basket in which to carry them all.

She paused just outside the door of the kitchen and gathered her breath.  She could still see Eadith through the doorway and managed a small smile before taking a steadying breath and moving on her errand.  Along the hallways, Cwen strode with confidence having become accustomed to walking the halls now occupied by Danes.  She held her head down to avoid unwanted attention but walked with purpose to avoid unneeded questions.  No one usually disturbed her or Eadith while they were about their business but all the same, Cwen thought it best to blend in and become unassuming. 

As she turned the corner, Cwen heard muffled voices coming from the room where Stiorra was kept.  Still several paces down the hall, she slowed her steps and strained her ears to better hear who was within.  Thus far, her path had not crossed with Sigtryggr while he visited Stiorra. It might be best to completely avoid arousing suspicion that they knew one another. 

But if Sigtryggr knew food should be on its way and she delayed it’s arrival would that not also be suspicious?

Cwen kept her head down and decided she would simply walk into the room and deliver the food.  She could then see how events unfolded casually.  Cwen was startled from her thoughts when the door to Stiorra’s room opened.  And a voice she recognized spoke.

“I would always choose fear.”

Eardwulf backed out of the door and turned after closing it again, leaving whomever else was inside shut away.

The man appeared haggard and dejected. Fearful even. 

As he turned, Eardwulf’s glare caught Cwen.  She stood transfixed.  A deer frozen after hearing the snap of a twig.

“What are you doing here?” Eardwulf sneered in a low voice as he stalked towards Cwen.

He reached a hand out to grasp at her sleeve, but it snapped life back into Cwen’s blood and she stepped to turn and run.

But he was himself too quick and easily grabbed her from behind and pushed her into an alcove of the hallway.

Eardwulf was quick to muffle Cwen’s cries with a hand over her mouth.

“If you are here then it means my whore of a sister must also be here.  What is the plan then, eh? Have you two in here to spy and to snoop?” Eardwulf prattled on about the injustices and failures he continually faced all the while never removing his hand from Cwen’s mouth. 

She stared, terrified at the man and his condition. Dark shadows rested in the hollows underneath his bloodshot eyes. His eyes themselves appeared deranged. 

Finally, Eardwulf paused while bringing his head to rest against Cwen’s brow. His hand still clamped across her mouth making it hard to breathe. The pressure of his fingers was bruising. 

“I will show them,” he whispered, not speaking to Cwen any longer but to some unknown collective. 

“They will watch in fear as I show them what will become of those who threaten me.”

He drew back from Cwen, catching her eyes. 

His breathing was haggard. Matching her own. 

Cwen cursed herself for having Sihtric’s knife hidden strapped to her calf. Out of her reach. 

Not like the knife Eardwulf now drew from a sheath at his waist and held up to her, the tip grazing along the dip in her clavicle. 

“Not a word, Cwen. You are coming with me.”

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

Cwen could not help but comply as Eardwulf led her, knife pressed against the small of her back, at the kidneys. The same place Sihtric had instructed her could incapacitate an attacker. 

Her mind worked feverishly trying to find a means of escape from him. Or to even determine what he meant to do with her. How and who was he planning to strike fear into?

But realization soon struck her as Eardwulf escorted her up a set of stairs and out into the rampart. Facing Edward’s army on the field below.  Facing her friends. Sihtric. 

“Edward!”

Eardwulf’s voice grated as he shouted for the king’s attention. 

“Edward! My Lord King!”  

Eardwulf’s focus was now on garnering attention from the king, his grip had shifted, clasping an arm tight around Cwen’s throat and the knife held in his free hand. Braced against the stonewall of the parapet. 

Cwen clasped her hands onto his arm desperately trying to break some of the hold he had on her. But his strength and size overpowered her. She watched as his fingers flexed and then gripped the knife repeatedly as he waited for any sign of reply from the king. 

And then she heard him. Crying out to her with such fear and anguish that it almost broke her. 

“Cwen!” Sihtric called, rushing forward from the base of the tree in the field.  Osferth and Finan were quick to restrain him, to stop him from coming in range of any archer's arrows.  What sounds followed in the next few moments we’re not words but the sounds of a man crazed. An animal desperate to act and protect what was his. 

“Is that your man now, Cwen?”

Eardwulf’s words were hot against her cheek. Cwen could do nothing but watch while Sihtric struggled and fought against Finan and Osferth.

“I have struck fear in him. The rest will follow,” Eardwulf paused, scanning the crowd assembled to watch on the field.  Edward had stepped out from the ranks of his men but had made no move to reply to Eardwulf.  Seeing this, Eardwulf shifted his focus.

“Lord Uhtred!” He now called. Taunting. 

“Lord Dane Slayer! Come forth Uhtred!”

Cwen watched helplessly as Sihtric finally stopped struggling against his brothers. He stared up at her, panting and flexing his jaw.  Then Uhtred was beside them and striding forward several paces in front of them. 

“We have your daughter, Uhtred.”

Eardwulf’s words stopped Uhtred in his tracks and caused the rest of his men to still. 

“She is almost as good a hump as this one here,” Eardwulf yelled the words while releasing his grasp around Cwen’s shoulders to shove her forward by the nape of her neck. 

Finding courage from his deception, Cwen yelled, “He lies! She is treated fairly and with respect,” but Eardwulf’s hand shoved her forward so that her head connected with the stone wall, dulling the last of her words. 

Feeling dazed, Cwen could hear shouts from the men below. Sihtric’s voice was chief among them. 

Then Eardwulf’s voice rose again over the shouts and protests.

“Now do I have your attention?” He paused while the soldier’s voices died down.  “We hold the city.  And we will continue to hold the city.  Do you know how Sigtryggr took your city?  I told him it was left undefended.  It was me!”  He paused here scanning the crowd and breathing hard.  His hand still held Cwen bent over, braced against the stone wall.

“Too often I was overlooked or underused.  Swept aside and discarded.  But no more!” His words were coming out desperate now, pained.  “Now you would have cause to fear me.”

Struggling to push herself upright, Cwen retorted, “you are nothing but a snake in the grass.  A coward.  That is why you will never rise.  You will never become anything more.”

Cwen could feel the anger radiating off of Eardwulf.  His entire body quivered with malice.  She knew she needed to keep him off guard.  Keep him impetuous if she was to find a chance to save herself.  It was a dangerous game to play, to goad him on, but if she did not then she was sure this would end badly.  

“Shut your mouth, whore!”  Eardwulf snapped while dragging Cwen back upright against him.

“Sigtryggr has the power here, Edward!  I have the power.” 

Cwen flinched at his words.  He had brought the knife back up to her torso, pressing against her breasts.  But it was clear his attention wasn’t truly focused on her.  Chaos and rage were emanating off of him.  Cwen could feel his breath catching and the sobs seizing in his throat.  The turmoil and fury he battled had won.

“And you will watch as I wield that power! I will hump this bitch now and then I will find your daughter, Uhtred, and I will hump her too.  And you will not be able to do anything to stop me.”

Eardwulf’s final words were bellowed at the crowd below.  It was then that Cwen felt the buzzing in her ears once more and time felt sluggish.  

She could hear the shouts from the men gathered below.  The din of the noise and the buzzing were too loud for her to pick out Sihtric’s voice, but she knew the anguish he would be feeling.

She felt as Eardwulf shoved her body forward once more, discarding his knife and bodily pressing himself against her.  He fumbled with the bundles of her skirt, reaching down to grab handfuls of the fabric. 

Cwen felt herself desperately try to push her body backwards, to gain any sort of leverage or purchase.  In her struggle, Cwen brought her leg up bracing against the wall.  And her hand brushed the handle of Sihtric’s knife.

With no hesitation, Cwen grasped the handle and pulled it from the sheath.  Bellowing, she drove the blade back with an upward thrust from her hip with all the strength her arm could muster at such an odd angle.  And she felt the weapon sink into flesh.  

Immediately, the pressure holding her against the stone eased.  Cwen ripped the knife from Eardwulf’s gut and whirled around.

Eardwulf’s hands were grasping at his abdomen where blood had begun to seep through his fingers.  

Cwen was vaguely aware of boots clamoring up the stairs to her left.  But she was more focused on the rush of adrenaline coursing through her body.  Eardwulf turned his eyes back up to meet hers and lurched forward, hand reaching for her throat.  And upon instinct, Cwen brought the knife up between herself and Eardwulf.   She felt the tremor of the blade sinking into flesh once more as she pushed the blade outward and Eardwulf’s own momentum came crashing against it.  The knife ripped past the flesh and scraped off of the bone, then tearing into his vocal cords. Cwen felt as slick, crimson gore seeped over her hand.

The buzzing had stopped.  The running feet had stopped.  The sounds of the shouts and yells from the field below were still slow and distant to Cwen’s ears.  Slowly, she pushed Eardwulf’s body away from hers and let go of the knife.  

Stepping to the side, Cwen watched as he dropped down on his knees and his head lolled forward.  Fresh blood pooled out of his mouth.   Cwen’s heart hammered in her chest and she felt a tingling moving along her body.  First in her toes, then along her fingers, and traveling up her arms.  Adrenaline roaring through her veins.

It was after a few more moments that Cwen became aware of the other person on the ramparts.  Raising her eyes, Cwen saw that Sigtryggr stood only a few paces away, surveying the scene before him.

He lifted his hands in a gesture of peace and slowly walked forward.  His eyes never left Cwen.  Not when he closed the distance between himself and Eardwulf.  And not when he stooped to grasp the knife handle, ripping it from Eardwulf’s neck.  The gesture brought a new spurt of blood and elicited several choked coughs from Eardwulf.  

Slowly, Sigtryggr grasped Eardwulf by the shoulders and pulled him up to his feet.  The man’s life was slowly ebbing away.  Cwen listened as Sigtryggr spoke to Eardwulf.

“Do you see what ruling through fear has earned you, Christian?  I doubt there will be any who mourn your death.” 

With those final words, the Danish conqueror grasped onto Eardwulf’s shoulders.  He moved to the stone and shoved the man bodily over the parapet to crash on the hard earth below.

The shouts from the Saxons died on their lips. And Cwen watched as Sigtryggr held out his hand to her.  The knife laid flat in his palm.  An offering to her.

“He can hurt you no longer.”  Sigtryggr’s voice was calm and low.  It was collected and composed.  And Cwen studied his eyes before she reached out to take the knife.  They showed only sincerity.

Once she had taken the knife and stepped back a pace to have some space, Sigtryggr turned his attention towards the Saxons.

“King Edward of Wessex,” he shouted, “That man did not speak for me.  And he is of no concern now.”  Sigtryggr paused here, searching the crowd to see if he could find Edward among his men.

“Come on out, King.  I have shown myself.  Now let us see you.  Come and meet me at the gate.  I wish to speak with you, eye to eye.  One man to another.”

Hearing his words, Cwen turned to scan the crowd.  But while Sigtryggr was searching for Edward, her eyes were hunting for Sihtric.  And he was there.  His eyes were trained on her.  Cwen could still see the desperation emanating off of him.  The overwhelming yearning to be embracing his lover while only able to gaze from afar.  Cwen felt it too.  A physical pull lifting off her chest that there was no choice but to resist.  Slowly, Sihtric’s gaze eased her breathing and Cwen felt the drain of exhaustion creep into her bones.

Sigtryggr’s next words caught Cwen’s attention.

“Bring the boys,” he spoke quietly to the guards standing along the stair to their left.

Cwen watched as Aethelstan and another young boy, Aelfweard presumably, approached.  Without hesitation, Cwen reached her arms out to envelope Aethelstan.  The boy embraced her wordlessly and headless of the blood Cwen noticed had begun to dry on her hands and arms, turning sticky.  Sigtryggr watched while Cwen held her arm out to the second child, offering him a bit of maternal comfort and presence as well.  Sigtryggr made no move to stop the boys nor even a face of disapproval.  His eyes held merely curiosity.

“Meet with me, King Edward,” he called, turning back to face the warriors. “Come,” he paused, seeing that Edward had stepped forward, “and talk to us at the gate. Your sons wish to see their father.”

After an interminable time, Cwen watched as Edward’s standard bearer shouted up that the king would approach the gate and treat with Sigtryggr.  

After he had confirmation that Edward would approach, Sigtryggr turned and gently ushered Cwen and the boys down the stairs, his men shifting to make room for their descent.

Cwen stiffened when she felt Sigtryggr place a hand on her back guiding her away from the front gate.  Almost instantly, the hand was removed.

“Forgive me, lady,” he paused, questioning as Cwen turned to face him, the boys still clutched tightly to her, “I do not know your name.”

Cwen studied the man’s face once more.  Standing closer to him, she could see more details surrounding the scars he wore along his brow and cheek.  She also saw a startling depth and gentleness behind his eyes.

“Cwen,” she replied, “My name is Cwen.”

Sigtryggr’s lips quirked upward slightly in amusement. “Ah, so you are one of the young women who traveled the countryside with Stiorra in Mercia while I took Winchester?”

When Cwen did not answer, he continued, “Stiorra has mentioned you on several occasions. She likes you.  Respects you,” he paused to turn and glance at some of his men and the gate, “I do not know how you came to be inside the walls, but it is of little concern.  And I assure you that no more harm will come to you.  I will have you taken to be with Stiorra.  But the boys will come with me.  I do not wish them harm.  And let us pray to all the gods that their father will see reason and help us avoid that outcome.”

Cwen moved to place herself in front of the boys, but Sigtryggr’s men instantly were on her, overpowering her.

“Stop!” Sigtryggr had held up a hand and yelled the command.  “You will unhand them.”  

His men obeyed him without delay and he approached her placing a gentle but firm hand on her arm.

“You must give them to me now, Cwen.  Trust me when I assure you that I wish to be different from the Northmen who have come before me.  A better man than the Danes who have raped and ravaged your people.  I do not,” he emphasized the word, “want them harmed.  But this is what must be done.”

Sigtryggr held out his hands, one towards Aethelstan and one towards Aelfweard.  Cwen turned her face to meet Aethelstan’s eyes.  They boy nodded at her before reaching out and taking the outstretched hand.  He was followed closely by his half-brother and Cwen slowly felt them both slip from her fingers.

Turning to walk to the gate, Sigtryggr spoke to the man nearest him.

“Bring her to Stiorra and see that she is allowed to clean herself and be fed.  I will check that this is done later.”

“No,” Cwen protested, finding her voice frail and wavering.  But gathering her courage, she spoke once more, “No!”

Sigtryggr stopped and turned his face over his shoulder to watch her.

“I,” she stammered, hesitating, “I was not alone here.  Another woman, another friend of Stiorra, Eadith is here with me.  I must find her.  I fear for either of us to be alone.”  Cwen’s eyes searched Sigtryggr’s face, pleading.

After a moment, the Dane gave a single nod before turning back to stride towards the gates.

Taking one step backwards and then another, Cwen turned and rushed off to the kitchens in search of Eadith.

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

Please let me know if you would like to be added or removed from my tag list.

Tagging: @maggiescarborough @pokeasleepingsmaug @emilyhufflepufftlk @magravenwrites @lauwrite1225 @nxrdist @mystic-shadows42 @morosemagick @thebohemianpenguin @mrsalwayswrite @notyourwildestdream @obipoelover @ecarroll1978 @93xdiagonxalley @nobodys-business-world @evelynshelby @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie @trenko-heart @0hsappho

#the last kingdom #sihtric #sihtric x oc #fields of wildflowers #sigtryggr #tlk fan fic #tlk fanfiction #the last kingdom fanfiction

[moonlitceleste]

I’m a warrior (now I’ve got thicker skin) Pt. 1

Part 1          Part 2          Part 3          Part 4          Part 5

I’ve toyed with this idea for a while, but I never posted it because I couldn’t think of the right song to go with it (that part comes in later). Thankfully, the idea came to me and I get to write it out!! It’ll probably be long, so I’ll split it into separate parts.

It’s three years since Hawkmoth started attacking Paris. By this time, the class has long turned on Marinette; however, she found solace in Adrien, Chloe, Kagami, and Luka. Together, they make up the permanent Miraculous Team.

They’ve finally defeated Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agreste, Nathalie Sancoeur, and Lila Rossi have been arrested. It’s made very public knowledge that Lila initiated contact with Hawkmoth out of pure spite and that her sole purpose was to target Marinette-Dupain Cheng and get her akumatized.

Lila is unable to lie her way out, because ever since Lila had gotten Marinette expelled, the latter had been keeping detailed notes on everything she had lied about and done. The only reason Lila hadn’t been exposed earlier was because Marinette was actively preventing it. She had deduced that Lila was working with Hawkmoth and knew she was a valuable connection.

Alya had also been posting Lila’s lies on her blog consistently, and there were quite a few blatant jabs towards Marinette in there.

Anyways, it’s been three weeks since that all went down. And people were still following Marinette around, from reporters to random citizens. The public was curious as to why Hawkmoth decided one girl was special enough as to be his target.

Tired of having to evade everyone, Marinette decides to give them what they want. She has an adequately large Twitter following since she was best friends with Adrien, Chloe, and had previously worked with big names such as Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale.

She shoots a one-take video and explains everything, but not before a quick disclaimer.

“I didn’t know whether or not to, but I realized that telling this story could raise awareness, or maybe just help someone feel less alone. But before I start, please don’t send hate to anyone mentioned in this video. Whether or not they deserve it, and no matter what they did to me, no one deserves to be bullied.”

“I’ve never really told anyone the full story before, and as counter-intuitive as it may seem, telling it to a camera is a lot less scary than it is to an audience.”

Marinette doesn’t hold back. She starts from the very beginning, from when Lila came in. I don’t like the Marinette-creepily-follows-them-because-of-jealousy thing, so I HC that in Volpina she followed them because she got bad vibes from Lila and was worried for Adrien’s safety. She says she saw Ladybug calling her out and that’s how she knew she was a liar.

She continues telling the story about how when Lila came back, everyone believed her immediately. She repeated the lies that Lila said and tore into the ridiculousness of them--the tinnitus she got from saving Jagged Stone’s cat from an airplane runway, how her arthritis flared up after saving Max’s eye from getting gouged out by a napkin and seemingly switched wrists constantly. How her classmates glared at her for being the cause of Lila’s pain and how the teacher didn’t even check for a doctor’s note or blink when they moved her to the back of the classroom.

She talked briefly about Lila’s threat, and how an akuma went after her but she managed to calm down in time, and that Lila was akumatized immediately after.

And then she talked about the expulsion. In great detail. But not before a little backstory about how her principal was quick to ignore anything her childhood bully did because he was easily swayed by money and influence. How her teacher had always told her to be the bigger person. Set a good example. Show people what the Marinette’s of the world are like.

And despite her being the “example”--the perfect student and class president, he expelled her without a second thought or even proof if what Lila accused her of was true. Lila’s parents weren’t even at the meeting, but hers had to be.

She wasn’t un-expelled until Lila herself claimed that she had a “lying disease,” which she later figured out was because Adrien helped her out.

She mentions how ironic it is that “my classmates who I’ve known since childhood and my best friend all turned their back on me in an instant. The four friends who stuck with me were all very new, and I had a dislike for 3/4 of them at some point in time.”

After explaining the beginning in detail, she summarized the rest of what they did--it started with glares and small jabs, then escalated to tripping her in hallways. Most weren’t outright malicious, but the more bull-headed like Alya, Alix, and Kim did the worse stuff like “accidentally” pouring water on her. After all, she was bullying Lila even after Lila had been so nice to her!

And then the Hawkmoth part. Emotions and akumatizations.

“Even though I know I didn’t do anything wrong, it was hard for me to remember that since the whole world seemed to be conspiring against me. But my true friend were there for me, and if they weren’t I’d have long succumbed to Hawkmoth’s influence.

I didn’t actually think Lila would turn my friends against me; I trusted them. Every time I was almost akumatized, it was because of injustice. I just had to remember that in due time, justice would come for her too.

I think my greatest fear was that even once Hawkmoth was gone, Lila would be able to lie her way out of it and somehow, she would convince everyone that I was in the wrong again. But that didn’t happen, and I’m glad that I didn’t give in to my negative emotions.

Part of that is because after a while, I just became numb. I haven’t let myself feel anything after all these years--at this point, my automatic response is to click and delete my negative emotions. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I don’t have to do that anymore. The reason I never talked about what happened was because I was scared once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop, and I couldn’t risk getting akumatized.

My knee-jerk reaction right now is to say I’m fine, but I’m not. I don’t know when I will be. I still have thoughts of what I did to make everyone leave me so easily--why they were so quick to turn. But hopefully, letting all this out is a step towards healing. It’s made me stronger, but I’m ready to close this chapter of my life and move on”

She ends the video after a brief end note and a reminder to not send hate to her classmates (but it ends up happening anyways).

“Maybe this could have been all prevented if my classmates had at least tried to listen to me, or if my teacher or principal had done their job. Everything may have worked out in the end, and I’m very grateful for that, but maybe it could have been stopped earlier if anyone had stepped in to help. If you see someone struggling, don’t stay silent. My true friends stuck by me, and they gave me the hope that there really was light at the end of the tunnel. You can give someone hope too.”

(There’s more said in the video, but those are just snippets I have right now.)

Parisians are horrified at the full story, and it spreads like wildfire. People add English subtitles, and it spreads even more.

A girl being targeted by an emotional terrorist for three years, having to suppress her emotions while actively being targeted by said terrorist or else the world would end?! Yeah, people ate it up.

And then Adrien and Chloe tweeted something, and then Bruce Wayne got involved, and soon enough, Marinette became known as the Girl Who Saved Paris.

TAGLIST

@2confused-2doanything @abrx2002 @alenee13 @animegirlweeb  @anonymously-odd  @buginetye @catthhay @certifiedbidisaster @dreamykitty25   @ertyzeta @fishandnoodles  *@how-to-function-properly  @iamablinkmarvelarmy  @ihavehomeworkbutistillhere @i-wanna-be-a-ninja @kris-pines04  @miracleofadisaster @momothefemur  @nach0 @nathleigh *@our-preciousss  @starpony999 @swiftie-miraculer13 @t1dwarrior-of-earth @thatonecroc  @theg0ddesspersephone  @thenillabean  @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @tired-butterfly @trippingovermyfeet @user00000003 @velvetterabby

#maribat #celestewrites #i'm a warrior #miraculous ladybug #miraculous salt #Marinette deserves better #daminette #damianette

[juuls]

This was a comment left on chapter 11 of my fem!Tony Stuckony time travel/soulmate fic, Hanging From a Cross of Iron, and I just wanted to put a couple things out there.

First of all, I’m not mad. We’ll make that clear. I’ve received variations of this comment before and it’s rather on the mark. But sometimes both sides can be correct in how they interpret a piece of fiction, and I wanted to show that.

So… yeah. This is something I get every so often on this fic, especially around this chapter (10-12ish) and I just… really wanted to post my reply to it, if for nothing other than explaining the way my brain works and WHY I hate Captain America: Civil War so much for ruining so many good things in fandom.

I’m not putting this out there for sympathy or agreement or to start a fight or stupid shit. It’s more like a… “I’m tired of explaining myself, let me post something I feel is a semi-eloquent response to someone who was at least mostly respectful and got some things right, who I know does represent a fair portion of people who may be interested in reading this fic,” which I could then just point/link to the next time I wake up to things making me sad in my inbox on top of me being sad and feeling guilty at not having written for a while.

Stupid covid. Stupid life being dumb and depressing and draining energy and happiness from many. Just you wait. I’ll be back soon with Codega and this fic, Cross.

But here. This is my reply to the above comment:

So I don’t normally reply to critique such as this because this IS fanfiction, but you are at least part right: it IS supposed to be unfair.

This is me working out my issues with Civil War, because boy that sure as fuck pissed me off. I love Stuckony, but after CACW it was really hard to reconcile that love anymore. So this was my way to do that, and I 100% wanted to bring in the unfairness, the distrust, the favouritism, the… meanness that I saw and felt after that.

It’s also a way for me to work through my issues at the injustices I suffered at the hands of my ex-husband—I started writing this shortly after packing my bags and leaving.

I wanted a slow, somewhat realistic, non-fairytale path to even partial redemption, shared pain and circumstances and experiences, and to show that things CAN work out as long as certain lines are not crossed. I skirt the line sometimes, definitely on purpose, but that’s for ME.

I wanted to turn the tables: Steve (and Bucky) were out of their time and comfort zone in the future—Toni, in turn, needed to be out of her time and comfort zone in the past.

Plus, can you imagine a soulmate world where you’ve had a partner and you think “this is it”? Then bam! Suddenly someone’s suddenly thrust into your life.

And I wanted to play on every single issue Toni would have experienced with her family, friends, “friends”, enemies, Obie, her company, the world, etc., post-IM2.

None of them have had an easy go of it and war is goddamn hell. They ALL have PTSD. (But also, lol, the Howlies start laying into Stucky about what you’re getting mad about here too, so I’m way ahead of you!)

From the beginning, this was as much a psychological setting as a romantic one: way more so in the beginning. But it slowly crawls its way out of the murk. I wanted a soulmate story where it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I wanted a story where they had to fight for it… or where they had a choice, shitty as it may be (they’ll NEVER choose not to have Toni, that was never going to happen). I wanted something… realistic, even amidst super soldiers, super tech, an almost unbelievable war, and soulmates existing.

I wanted it to be a fight. I wanted rejection… then them, ALL of them, to choose each other despite that, despite their past, and despite fate.

That is my goal with this fic. And since I take my own sweet time, that’s really not readily apparent so soon in this fic, even at chapter 11.

The love will be there. The unconditional love, the equal triadic love. Not just Stucky plus Toni. Because believe me, Stucky is probably one of my least favourite ships that include some of my favourite characters. Sounds ridiculous since I write them here, but as a historian I wanted to take that, take some realism, with a dash of ridiculous and hurt and pain and anger, and see what I could do with that.

The entire reason this story exists is because of a scene idea I had that doesn’t come about until the future in the 20s chapters. Leaning on each other and trusting each other because one of them was lost. Well, technically, that happens twice.

But the point is: this is a long as fuck story towards a love they have to (and WANT to, eventually) fight tor.

This fic is for me. It’s for people like me. It’s for people who don’t want an easy love story. It’s absolutely okay that you don’t like it! There are SO many fics that I dislike for a variety of reasons, and I simply close it, mark it as Did Not Finish, and don’t return. I recognize not every fic is for me.

This one’s for me. I may have sort of stalled out where I’m at in the 20s chapters, but it’s left at a pretty good place, and I’m looking forward to this dumb pandemic so I can get back to forging this love between these three idiots, as well as pick up an old Star Wars story I left 4+ years ago due to the abuse at the hands of my ex. But I’m ready to return to it now. Well, after the world calms down a little.

It’s okay if you’re done with this story—that is 100% your choice and I will never begrudge you that. I’m glad you gave it a try though! If you’re interested, you could skip ahead and see how the dynamics have changed, or I could give you clips and examples too.

My one wish (though I understand it completely) is that you had not done this on Anon. For a few reasons:

1, I would never hold this opinion against you, especially because you got tons of it right! Go you!

2, I’d love to understand you better and discuss this with you. No recriminations whatsoever.

3, But I do wonder who of those who have read my other writings left me this message. It makes me a little sad, and I will wonder which of the people I talk to have this negative opinion of me now, but that’s also my own past issues rearing their ugly heads. You have every right to remain on Anon, though it’s not so nice when you wake from a nice dream and discover anon ‘dislike’ in your inbox on a work you slaved away on, and that the dislike is specifically about the things you wrote about deliberately, hah. Sorta funny, actually, so I’ll let that one go. xD

Thank you, though, even if I disliked reading this words: it helps me to look at my own work critically and to better understand how to frame and write things going forward.

Not every fic is for everyone, and that’s okay. I’ve encountered mine, you’ve encountered yours, but I think we’ve both learned from this interaction.

Whoever you may be, even if you divulge your handle to me, my respect for you wouldn’t diminish. It’s good to have healthy discussions and to look critically upon your own work—even if I am a sensitive bean and it hurts a little, I’m fine. :P

I think the lesson to be learned here is: fuck everything after CACW!!!! Grrrrr xD

Take care,

Juuls

P.S. I may post parts of this on my Tumblr because I do occasionally encounter similar complaints about this story, and I think maybe this is the most coherent and respectful enough comment-reply response I’ve had on this topic. Thank you.

P.P.S. Happy to talk privately too!

P.P.P.S. And the offer still stands for some lovely clips from future chapters, especially if you’re not considering continuing reading this story anymore; it’ll at least show what I’m talking about and what I’ve been working tirelessly towards. It’s hard—fucking hard—work to get past CACW and still like these characters together (my fic Paper Boats is probably one of my bigger testaments to that, oof) and I admit it’s still really really hard and I struggle with it. Covid isn’t the only reason I’ve sort of stalled out on that. But that’s more because I’m like “now what?” than not seeing any love between these three.

It’s a long journey. I knew it was going to be. But I like a challenge. :)

Take care, be well, stay safe, to you and all of yours.

And may you find many fics you love!

#fanfiction #comments #commenting #comment replies #stuckony #hanging from a cross of iron #my writing #i know i don’t need to justify my writing but i am rather lacking in confidence most days #so stuff like this does suck #but it’s also helpful y’know? #not mad! not sad! seriously #i like engaging in conversations about WHY we write what we write #:)

[hirakdesherrani]

Scattered thoughts on Bulbbul 

(spoilers ahead)

Finally watched Bulbbul yesterday night, with my bff. We thought we needed each other’s support because we are phattus of the highest order, but there wasn’t much horror in it (as we found out later). 

Which brings me to the first thing, the trailer. Whoever edited the trailer did a splendid job, because it gave very little clue what the movie was about. I thought it was something like Stree, using horror to give a social message, just instead of comedy in that movie, this was more drama?

The movie, however, had very little horror/thrill. While the movie is one of Netflix’s better online products, it isn’t...great. Like it’s very on the surface. There are not many layers to the characters, neither is there a lot of subtext. Still, the pace is good, and the storytelling engaging. Hindi cinema, theatre or OTT, are very new in this genre, so I don’t want to be too severe here.

Things that I liked:

Tripti Dimri....omg what a revelation. Laila Majnu didn’t let us on how versatile this girl is. In the first few frames, me and my friend were commenting that why is she only sitting around, posing like a mermaid? But then with the flashbacks, her raw performance really took hold. The scene where they are sitting at a picnic and Mahendra pulls at her hair, the way she said, “Dada, na” slightly scared, but also not wanting to hurt his feelings (btw I’m very anti-Mahendra in this post), that was so well done. From there on, she owns every scene, that you can’t look anywhere else. Whether it’s the mix of annoyance and impatience when she wants to meet Satya but Binodini is taunting her, or whether it’s the scene where Indranil informs her and Satya that he’s sending the latter to London, she was so natural. Special mention to the two scenes of violence esp. the sexual assault one, because it takes a lot of guts to portray the victim in such scenes, and the scene was so difficult to watch, that we forwarded after a few seconds of it. 

That reminds me, from the moment the two brothers Indranil and Mahendra enter the frame, I knew what was going to happen, and which brother was going to perpetrate which abuse. The writing was on the nose, so to speak, with these two particular characters. Even so, Rahul Bose did the best that he could with them, but we have come to expect perfect performances when it comes to him, so not surprised here. 

The third brother, Satya, was what I would say the most layered character in this movie, surprisingly. Initially, I didn’t get why did they cast Avinash Tiwary for this role, because it wasn’t either a substantial role, or even a positive or negative or supportive role. I even thought the makers tried to cash on the Laila Majnu hangover, and hyped Bulbbul/Satya love story in the trailer. Unlike Bulbbul who loved Satya, I don’t think Satya loved Bulbbul, at least not like she did. Sure, he thought of her as his best friend, confidante, and all, but he didn’t care for her like that. It was evident when he was enamored by the idea of going to London, and didn’t notice Bulbbul’s voice breaking when Indranil informed them of the news. 

Halfway done with the film, I had made up my mind that Avinash is good with unrestrained roles like Qais, where he can completely let go, but not in subtle roles requiring controlled performances. What changed my mind was my growing dislike for Satya as the movie kept progressing. I kept thinking why does he annoy me so much, like he’s only there in a few scenes, and yet I want to snap at him? That’s when I realized how well the writers have written Satya, captured his mentality and vision, and without any overt or dramatic scenes, Avinash essayed the writer’s message.

Satya is proxy for the society in this film. He hears no evil, he sees no evil, just like our society which likes to pretend that there is nothing wrong going on behind closed doors. Satya is representative of those men, who argue whenever a woman raises her voice, that ‘not all men’ (ala that scene where Bullbul alludes to Master Dinkar beating his wife, while Satya defends the man by suggesting that his wife may have actually fallen down the stairs). In the scene where he meets Bulbbul after five years, he questions her what did she do that girl he knew five years ago, indirectly putting the blame on Bullbul for losing her childlike innocence, instead of asking her what happened to her that she became like this. Satya is classic ‘not all men’, victim-blaming abuse apologist in the film. Evil men are not just men like Indranil, who beat up their wives, or sexual assaulters like Mahendra, evil men are also those who stand by and watch, and pretend that nothing is going on, who put the onus on the woman for the upkeep of tradition, who question a woman’s morality and who act as the judge, jury and executioner of a woman’s character. Bulbbul’s dialogue is telling, “Tum sab ek jaise ho” Satya is no different from his brothers, he may not have committed and violence, but he was just as much a villain as the rest of them for willfully ignoring the evidence of his eyes. I haven’t made up my mind whether he was actually jealous of Dr. Sudip or not, or he just hated the man for being too bold to be friendly with the ‘women of his family’.

Which brings me to Dr. Sudip, the only likable man in this film. Even though at some level it is a little sad to see Parambrata Chatterjee slotted into these male guide/support to the female protagonist kind of roles (his role in Kahaani was something similar), I really do like watching him in these roles, playing them as he does with a lot of charm, subtlety, and empathy. The makers perhaps wanted to signify that there are a few men who are not completely evil, and not afraid or feel threatened in the presence of a assertive, and this case, avenging female. It’s his relationship with Bulbbul which I felt was the real love story of the film, though of course, Bulbbul didn’t harbor the same feelings for him, though she did care for him immensely. 

The other female role was that of Binodini. I know I should be feeling sympathy for her, at some level, she was also taught to keep quiet and bear all injustice, but I’m so tired of females taking out their bitterness on other females, making the lives of other women miserable, instead of directing them, rightfully, at the men in their lives and the dictates of the society. Binodini, like Satya, was a proxy for the women in the society who instead of being supportive of other women do the opposite, and help perpetuate patriarchy by teaching their fellow women to keep quiet. 

Another minor thing, like I mentioned before, from the first scene it’s evident what Mahendra’s going to do. And I wish to God that we stop with mentally ill men assaulting women. No, their mental condition does not excuse rape. Mental illness can provoke violence in a person, yes, killing accidentally or in a fit of rage, beating, pulling clothes, etc, but not rape. Rape is a specific offense that requires knowledge and intent, unless a mentally ill person has learnt it from somewhere, and even then, the fact that they drew pleasure from that violence shows that they have a sadistic instinct. Which is why I was glad when Mahendra was punished for his crime. (this is why I didn’t watch Ranjha Ranjha Kardi despite liking Iqra, because I knew they were going to excuse marital rape using mental illness). 

As such, there isn’t much of a plot per se in Bulbbul, it’s more of a commentary of our society, even though it’s set a century back, the issue of it’s choice being violence against women. Despite that, it’s an engaging enough film. It get’s through the message that the real horrors are not ghosts or witches, but what happens daily in our society. The length of the film is a huge plus, so I would suggest watching this film if you’ve some free time in the weekend. 

Also, don’t get fooled like me and my friend, it’s not horror genre. 

#bulbbul #netflix #tripti dimri #avinash tiwary #parambrata chattopadhyay #rahul bose #paoli dam #movies #my stuff

[recurring-polynya]

What are your thoughts on Bazz-B? He and Renji seemed to have developed a good rapport and I feel that they would’ve been good frenemies had be survived. I can imagine them exchanging fashion tips which would have interesting results!

I imagine that in another universe, they could have been friends, but I feel like the fact that Bazz grievously injured/ambiguously killed one of Renji’s best friends would put a big damper on that.

I really, really, really do not like the Sternritters. I don’t even like them as villains. Out of them, Bazz is probably the least objectionable, but I still don’t like him.

Here are a few thoughts on why, but I’m gonna put them under a cut, because that’s my policy when I say critical things about characters. If you like the Sternritters, I’m glad for you and please feel free to skip the rest of this post!

One of the major themes of Bleach has always been about moral ambiguity, that people are rarely pure heroes or villains. In the earliest episodes, Rukia warns Ichigo to kill Hollows from behind, to never try to glimpse the person they once were, advice that Ichigo roundly rejects as he’s constant turns enemies into friends/allies. This works really well at the beginning of the series and... less well each time we got through this.

My understanding is that Kubo’s original plan for Bleach ended after the Soul Society Arc, and that makes sense to me, because it seems so well plotted out to me, and then the subsequent arcs just seems to try to be recapturing the magic. The thing that is coolest to me about this arc is that the shinigami characters have real depth, and that our initial impressions of them are insufficient. The Gotei is going through an existential crisis, where an injustice (Rukia’s execution) is being prosecuted, and in addition, Aizen has laid a groundwork of mistrust and misinformation. You have characters like Renji, Kira, and Hinamori, who are torn between their orders and deep personal feelings. You have bystanders like Hisagi and Komamura, who don’t really have skin in the game, but feel a sense of unease about the way things are going. You have characters who seem sympathetic-- when Aizen comforts Hinamori that Renji won’t be fired, and the fact that Tousen seems to be someone who would be on the side of justice if only he had the full story, that turn out to be disingenuous. Then you have characters like Kenpachi, who, at least in the second half of the arc, is on Ichigo’s side, but not really for any noble reason, just because he likes Ichigo and also he wants an excuse to fight other captains. There’s Kurotsuchi, who is nominally on the side of the good guys, but is not, in fact, a good person. By the end of the arc, I feel like Kubo has done a really good job of presenting a diverse group of people who live in a flawed system and who were played by someone who took advantage of that. I have no objection at all to the idea that Ichigo considers many of the shinigami his friends afterward, including a very strong friendship with Renji, who is presented as a villain initially.

The Arrancar arc, is more of a mixed bag for me. I still think it mostly works. Arrancar are not humans. They follow Aizen, but in some ways, they are also his victims-- post-Arc, I don’t find myself begrudging any of the surviving Espada for having gone along with him. They are Hollows, and they come from a life of violence and anger and brutality. They have risen above that, which means different things to the various Espada. Harribel, Starkk and Nel are all sympathetic, even tragic characters. Nnoitra and Szyalapollo are monstrous, but in the way that terrible humans are monstrous. Grimmjow is an interesting character, because he falls somewhere in the middle.

I read a fair amount of GrimmIchi fic, because a) it often features Renruki as a side ship and b) there are a lot of really, really talented GrimmIchi writers, but I do not love the ship for it’s own sake, and it’s mainly for one reason: Grimmjow purposely hurt Ichigo’s friends in front of him, and I do not think that’s a thing Ichigo would take lightly. Now, one of the things that make GrimmIchi writers so good is that they are often willing to do the heavy lifting of examining Grimmjow’s brutality, and way Ichigo views the Hollow within himself (for some people, this is even one of the attractions of the pairing). We get a lot of canon scenes with Grimmjow in various situations-- when he backtalks Aizen, when he “rescues” Orihime from Loly and Menoly, when he tries to get her to heal Ichigo just so he can fight him again, when we see him willing to fight his fellow Espada. He’s a meaty character and there’s a lot to dig into. I would still, someday, like to see Ichigo say, “Hey Grimmjow, y’know, you badly hurt my friend Rukia and it messed me up a bunch and I am having trouble getting over it,” and for Grimmjow to have to deal with that. (Polynya, you say, didn’t Rukia kill one of Grimmjow’s Fraccion like 5 minutes earlier? Yes, she did, and whether Grimmjow would respond with “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and it hurt my feelings too!” vs. “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and you don’t see me crying about it!” are both really interesting ways you could take this)

ANYWAY, getting back to the Quincy. From our earliest introduction to Uryuu in the series, we know that Quincy ought to have a legitimate beef with Soul Society. For starters, there is their underlying philosophical difference: Quincy don’t think that the shinigami do enough to protect the Living World, and they have taken matters into their own hands. They want to see Hollows annihilated, rather than purified. Then, on top of that, the shinigami eradicated their people, and treated them like lab rats. You could spin a lot of gold out of this, but instead, we got the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

The Quincy are, basically humans with powers, and yet they are extremely bloodthirsty and cruel. We see Bambietta killing people to blow off steam, they take glee in killing lesser opponents (both Hollow and shinigami), As Nodt tortures Byakuya rather than just killing him cleanly, Giselle takes over Bambietta’s body in a horrifying way. Yhwach chastises Yamamoto for having “gone soft”, and says “you used to be cooler when you were a murderer.” The Vandenreich isn’t about justice or improving the system, it’s just about revenge and power and proving racial superiority. Are y’all ready for the hottest take I have ever had? Here it is: The Bount Arc, which is bad and should feel bad, provided a more well-characterized and relatable set of villains than the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

I mentioned earlier that out of all the Sternritter, Bazz is the best of a bad lot. He gets some good flashbacks and his story evokes both Renji and Rukia’s childhood relationship as well as Gin and Rangiku’s. He's shown hating Yhwach in his youth, but then it’s never really followed up on. Nothing about this works to make me like Bazz, though, it just makes me feel like Yhwach is terrible, a person who ruins lives in both big and small ways.

I honestly hate the scenes where Bazz and Renji banter. Up until this point of the story arc, we have been slammed over and over with how much worse the Quincy are than previous villains. They cause massive destruction, they maim and kill beloved characters. Then, halfway through the arc, Kubo suddenly tries to start walking this back. Byakuya and Kenpachi were supposed to never fight again, but, uhhhh, Byakuya got healed in the Royal Realm and Kenpachi... got better? Look, we fixed Kira! Mayuri brings everyone back as zombies, that’s cool? Let’s have some banter, ha ha, the Quincy are fun! I don’t want to blame Kubo on this because he wasn’t feeling well and also, all of this smacks of editorial pressure, but it doesn’t sit well with me. It seems out of character to me for Renji to joke with someone who has hurt his friends and destroyed his home, and I sometimes justify it in my mind by saying that Renji probably doesn’t know that Bazz was the one who hurt Kira, but in some ways that makes things worse.

To be honest, a much better way to humanize the Quincy would have been to do so through Uryuu. One of the huge flaws of this arc is that there is so little focus on him, the character who ought to tie all this together. Uryuu has been harping for years that shinigami are his enemy and that he’s proud of his heritage. This is literally exactly what he has always says he wanted, and the fact that I, the reader, never believed for a microsecond that his loyalties were divided speaks to how awful the Quincy must be. How did Yhwach first approach Uryuu? It would have been cool to be introduced to the Vandenreich via the narrative device of Uryuu’s introduction. Was anyone nice to him? Do the Quincy have any redeeming value? What if there had been a scene where Bazz-B is goofing around, maybe training with someone, and Uryuu says to himself, “He reminds me of Renji and I hate all of the feelings that are currently in my body”? That would make a cool fanfic, actually, and anyone who wants can have that idea because I will never, ever write fanfic about the Sternritter.

Finally, on a note about fashion, the Sternritter uniforms (along with all their other symbolism) skirts way too close to “Nazi” for my tastes, and one more thing I hate about them is that they have retroactively ruined Uryuu’s aesthetic for me.

#tybwa #sorry i am sure this is not the answer you wanted

[thepandapopo]

Promises - A Sylvix 2020 Holiday Fic

Summary:

When Felix learns that Sylvain has never had the chance to truly enjoy the Yule holiday (or any holiday for that matter), he makes it his personal mission to correct this injustice.

OR

Felix just really wants Sylvain to know that he's loved. What better way than to melt down his favorite sword into an engagement ring?

Posted for A Very Sylvix Holiday 2020

Warnings: N/A. Rated T for vague mentions of sex. 

Sylvain/Felix #Sylvix  Fluff | Proposals | Family/Found Family #sylvixholiday  4300 words https://archiveofourown.org/works/28086762  I hope y'all like my sylvix holiday oneshot! As usual kudos, likes, and RTs welcome :) I hope I can share a little joy with all of you this holiday.

It was no secret that Sylvain and Felix grew up together. In fact, it was something that the older boy liked to remind their mutual friends every chance he got how adorable little Fe used to follow him around like a lost duckling, clinging to him whenever something or the other inevitably made his eyes mist with tears.

But in all his years growing up with Sylvain, the full force of Sylvain’s absolute joy over the Yule holiday never really came up until the year after the war ended, only a few months into his official ‘move in’ to the Fraldarius castle and the freedom that came from saying a long overdue fuck you to Margrave Gautier, whom – Dimitri assured – was on the fast track to being unseated so that Sylvain could finally take over and begin peace talks with Sreng.

“You’re acting like you’ve never celebrated Yule before.” Felix deadpanned as he watched his boyfriend (and new housemate) string tinsel along the hallways, complete with a mistletoe at every door.

Instead of a reply, Sylvain merely stuck his tongue out at him in an eerily reminiscent way that made Felix’s head spin with memories of two younger children in days long past.

He never really got an answer as to Sylvain’s strange behavior.

The Yule holiday season came and went, and it was only halfway through the next year on a sleepy summer morning that Felix learned why in one of their rare early morning pillow talks.

“What do you mean your family didn’t celebrate holidays?”

A warm huff of breath tickled the hairs atop his head, “it’s exactly like it sounds, Fe. My family wasn’t exactly the type to sit around a dinner table and chat amicably. The only time we celebrated was when we were with company or if my father wanted to rub elbows with other nobles and sniff out a marriage candidate for me.”

Felix is very glad that his face is buried in Sylvain’s chest so that he can’t see the fury in his eyes or the way that his eyes scrunch against a familiar sting when the truth squeezes his heart in a death grip.

His arms must also tighten unconsciously because just as soon as Felix makes some absent calculations on how long it would take to ride to Gautier and castrate Sylvain’s father, the warm strong arms around him are pulling him in tighter in reciprocation and a large hand tangles itself into his unbound locks.

“It’s fine,” Sylvain mutters, lips moving in a whisper across Felix’s forehead. “After all, I’ve got you now, don’t I? Holidays are for spending time with family at home and you are my home, Fe.”

Well, fuck him three way to Ailell if the fool isn’t right. Sylvain’s home is with him, here in Fraldarius castle. Here in his room, in his bed, and in his arms.

And fuck it all even more if Felix doesn’t make every holiday from that day forth the best damn holiday Sylvain has ever had to make up for his lost childhood.

Which is exactly how Felix finds himself standing in front of the stall of his favourite blacksmith in Fhirdiad later that year on the first snowfall of the season.

(It is very important that he does not go to a blacksmith in Fraldarius for this particular task because Goddess forbid Sylvain catch wind of this secret order and bother him about it.)

The weight slung across his hip is a familiar one – the well worn scabbard an extension of his own body and the sword sheathed inside a friend that carried him through the war, but more importantly, also the savior of Sylvain’s life too many times to count.

It only seems appropriate that it continues to accompany them throughout their future together.

“Lord Fraldarius!” The blacksmith greets heartily when he ducks under the entrance flap. “Or should I say Your Grace, now?”

The heat is sweltering inside, but it is easily overshadowed by the thrill and excitement of seeing the wide assortment of sharp blades strewn about for display. But alas, that is not what Felix is here for and he cannot bring home any evidence of what he is up to.

“No need for formalities, Than. Just Felix is fine.”

“Well then, young master Felix, what can I do for you this day? Another sharpening? Or perhaps a new blade?”

It’s all very tempting, but that’s not the reason why Felix has laden his gold purse with a hefty sum before coming here today.

“Actually, I was hoping you would be able to take on a custom request for me…”

----

It takes exactly 53 days before Than finishes his order just in the nick of time when Sylvain and Felix travel to the Kingdom capital with an invitation from Dimitri to spend the holiday with him, Byleth, and basically every other friend from the war that he can send a missive to.

It’s easy enough for Felix to slip away to the blacksmith’s once again while Sylvain is busy catching up with Ashe who chatters non stop about the booming success of Dedue’s Duscur cuisine, much to the embarrassment of the quiet giant who looks like he is torn between wanting to change the subject and basking in the praise of his ‘close friend’ (Sylvain snorts at that one because anyone with eyes can see how smitten Dedue is with the archer and vice versa).

It’s even easier to conceal the little velvet box underneath the layers and layers of wool that protect him from the bitter winter winds that Faerghus is known for.

What isn’t easy, is dragging Dimitri and Annette away to tell them his intentions because the last-minute invitation from their King throws off his entire original plan.

“Oh Goddess! Felix, it’s beautiful.” Annette gushes and peers at the silver band nestled snugly within the ring box cushions.

He’s not too sure about beautiful – there are other things more fitting to the word, like the very man he wants to give this ring to – but he does know that it is breathtaking in its own simple way.

The silver shines brighter than any gem and catches the light no matter which way it is turned. Etched onto the surface of the band in delicate handiwork are swirling lines weaving the symbols of Fraldarius and Gautier together to become something wholly new, something wholly Sylvain and Felix.

“There’s more.”

Gently, Felix pulls the ring out to show his two soon-to-be accomplices the detailing on the inside.

“Don’t bend it,” Felix glares a warning at Dimitri as he places the ring on the outstretched palm of his king.

“I promise I will not,” Dimitri chuckles, but Felix can hear the nervousness buried underneath in a way that only an entire lifetime of friendship can uncover. Regardless, the boar does not close his hand or pick up the seemingly tiny ring dwarfed in his palm, choosing instead to rotate his whole hand so that him and Annette can peer at the graceful cursive inscribed on the inside.

In Life and Death

“I…” Felix swallows the lump of emotion in his throat before continuing quietly, “I had it made from the sword that I used throughout the war.”

Both of his friends gasp at his admission, the crackling fire in the hearth flickering shadows across their faces that twist their face into a deeper shade of shock.

“But Felix,” Annette chokes, “You loved that sword. It was your favourite sword.”

Beside her, Dimitri nods emphatically, “I believe the very words you had said were ‘I will take this sword to my grave’.”

“You carry it around everywhere whenever you travel.”

“Indeed. I have rarely seen you without the familiar scabbard by your side.”

“You literally visited the blacksmith every moon during the war to make sure the blade was upkept.”

“The number of late nights you’ve spent sharpening-“

“Enough.” Felix hisses at them. “I get it, already.”

It’s another heartbeat of silence before he can muster up the courage to verbalize the emotions that are currently running through him; that have always thrummed in his veins whenever Sylvain is by his side.

“It’s… it’s because of how important that sword was to me that I wanted to re-forge it into something that I could give to Sylvain.”

Golden eyes turn down to the floor and Felix has to fight the visceral urge to scuff his boots against the floor like a boy who was just caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Or in Felix’s case, with his hand on his father’s ceremonial swords mounted high above the fireplace, requiring both him and Glenn to even reach it.

“He still thinks I’m going to disappear someday and become a mercenary.”

It stings to say out loud, but it’s the truth and Felix will be damned if he ever becomes so much of a coward that he cannot even face the facts in front of him.

A shaggy lock of blonde hair falls from Dimitri’s half updo as he shakes his head. “I’m sure Sylvain doesn’t think that, Felix. You told him that you had decided against that and he believes you.”

But that’s not how Sylvain is. Felix knows that even if Sylvain tells him that he believes that Felix is here to stay, there will always be demons and ghosts lingering in the darkest corners of his mind, whispering poisonous words and you’re not worthy of love’s in his heart.

“He does, but I know him. He’s still scared; I want to give him this to prove that our promise is more than just dying together.” It is more. It is so much more. “It’s… it’s about living together, too.”

Felix does not elaborate further because he doesn’t need to. Despite Dimitri technically being his oldest friend, Sylvain was always his closest and it is no secret that Felix would fight a hundred wars just to see him happy. In fact, fighting to rebuild a world where crests no longer ruled over everyday life was one of the biggest reasons why he had fought to begin with.

He wanted to build a world where Sylvain was free to be… just Sylvain.

Turns out fighting an entire imperial army and a whole legion of crazy cultists is a lot easier than arguing with Sylvain’s demons.

“Oh Felix,” Annette sighs wistfully, “He’s going to love it.”

Felix certainly hopes so, because if he doesn’t, Felix is not only down one extremely well crafted blade, but more importantly it proves that maybe Felix doesn’t know Sylvain as well as he thinks he does.

Dimitri nods his assent, “It suits you both. Even if he didn’t, which I find impossible, he will love it simply because it is coming from you, Felix.”

If his self discipline was ever in question, it is long cleared based solely on the fact that Felix is still standing here under the awed gazes of his king and irritatingly fond friend despite how much every vein in his body screams at him to run literally anywhere else, just to get away from their scrutiny and out of the limelight. But his purpose in dragging Dimitri and Annette away is twofold and he has merely completed the first part of his goal, leaving the second most important bit still hanging in the air.

Taking a deep breath, Felix fills himself with the same steely determination that he brings whenever he steps on the battlefield.

“I’m going to need your help.”

----

Felix hates balls. But Sylvain likes them, and Felix likes making Sylvain happy so somehow Felix always ends up going to them.

Will you dance with me, Fe? Sylvain always asks with that stupidly blinding smile that makes Felix’s heart feel three times too small for the amount of love he feels for the man. And even though he wants to say no, there isn’t an ounce of will in him to actively go against something that clearly means so much to Sylvain.

Each time without fail Felix ends up being twirled around on the dancefloor to the lilting notes of a waltz – or maybe it’s the quickstep? Not that it matters since Sylvain’s leading is graceful enough that even Felix can keep up.

Which is exactly what he banks on.

“Come on, Fe! You owe me a dance still.” Sylvain tugs the flute of champagne from his hand, slipping his own calloused fingers through Felix’s and drawing him gently towards the open floor.

In the sea of Faerghus blues and whites, Sylvain cuts through the slowly diminishing crowd of the Yule ball like the blazing dawn of a new day tugging Felix along by his heartstrings.

He must make a face, because soon enough he’s being bombarded with pouty honey browns and Felix is drowning and completely at the mercy of the man before him.

“Just one.” Felix huffs. He has to put on a show of his usual reluctance after all. Otherwise Sylvain will start to become suspicious.

Sylvain winks like he’s in on a big secret, “just one.”

(They both know it won’t be just one.)

From across the room, Felix nods subtly to Dimitri who is following them with watchful eyes, and immediately, the King disappears to put into motion their grand master plan. If all goes well, Annette should also be on the move rounding up all their friends and entreating the small string quartet to play a half dozen more songs, just enough for the remaining stragglers to retire for the night at the encouragement and behest of Dimitri, before ending the evening with one final song request.

Felix barely has enough time to quickly run through the rest of his plan in his head before warm hands circle his waist and tug him closer into a lungful of citrusy bergamot and earthy pine.

The weight of the small box in his pocket is heavy, but the way Sylvain’s eyes melt into warm chocolate and the encompassing warmth of belonging make Felix feel like he’s walking on air. The world falls away to nothing around them and Felix knows with a surety borne from walking alongside this man for his whole life, that Sylvain is also here in this moment with him.

I love you.

I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

I never want you to feel lonely ever again.

His heart is pounding but Felix does not know if it’s from nerves or from the suddenly overwhelming need to let Sylvain know just how much he is loved.

Steps flow into more steps, and yet it feels like no time at all passes before the world comes back into focus as the first lilting notes of Felix’s requested song (communicated by virtue of Annie) fill the room.

As planned, the hall is almost entirely empty now save for their close friends who loiter around the sides. A flash of bright orange in his periphery tells Felix that Annette is busy running proxy and filling their companions in on the plan.

Goddess knows what Dimitri is up to. Though Felix has a sinking suspicion that the stupidly soft-hearted boar is probably sniffing away happy tears somewhere behind a glass of sparkling cider.

The music swells and that is Felix’s cue.

“Sylvain.” He doesn’t dare speak any louder, lest he break the spell that they are under.

Hazy brown eyes focus slightly, even as Sylvain gives a distracted hum in response.

“I…” Goddess, why are words so hard? “I… I know that you never got to enjoy Yule or any other holiday really when you were growing up.”

“Hm?” Now he has Sylvain’s full attention. “Felix, are you still thinking about what I told you in the summer? It’s fine. Really. I have you now and that’s all that matters.”

“But it’s not okay,” Felix grouses out, still dancing. “It’s not okay that you were robbed of happiness so early in your life. It’s not okay that you never understood what it was like to be loved until we basically beat it into your thick skull at the academy.”

Insulting Sylvain is definitely not how Felix wants this to go, but he relaxes a little when Sylvain merely laughs, “that’s one way to tell me you love me, Fe.”

“I do.” Felix says, almost defiantly as he raises his gaze to meet Sylvain’s stunned one. “I love you more than you know and more than you believe, and it’s because I love you that I promise that I will make up for all those years that you should have been happy – I’ll make every year better than the last.”

It must look so odd, Felix thinks, how the more determined and steelier his face gets, the sappier and lovestruck Sylvain’s expression becomes.

“Fe,” Sylvain’s breath washes over Felix’s face as he presses a soft kiss to his lips. “You already make me so happy. Everyday with you is worth everything I’ve gone through and more. I truly… I truly don’t deserve you.” When Sylvain pulls away, there is a sad smile tugging at his face and a distant part of Felix wants to smack it right off.

“You do deserve me.” Felix snaps. The music is slowly dying away now and his voice comes out louder in the growing silence of the hall than he intends, but his heart is beating a mile a minute and there’s no stopping now, and so Felix decides to hurl himself headlong into the deep end.

“You deserve so much, Sylvain. So much more than I can give you, but I’ll be damned if I don’t at least try.” Felix pulls them to a stop in the middle of the dance floor and gathers both of Sylvain’s much larger ones in his.

He doesn’t dare look up at the love of his life, but their lives are so entwined that Felix can picture with crystal clarity the look of growing confusion and wide eyes that is surely adorning Sylvain’s expression.

“Sylvain Jose Gautier.” Felix likes the way the name rolls off his tongue, but he would like it even better if there was another name added to the end. “You are the biggest fool I’ve ever met. You throw yourself into danger to protect those that you love, yet you never consider yourself worthy of love in return.”

Felix builds enough courage now to look up at Sylvain to see the startled wild confusion grow in his eyes.

Eyes that widen even further as Felix sinks down to one knee with his hands still cradled in Felix’s left, as his right reaches into his coat pocket to pull out a simple velvet box.

“I know,” Felix swallows the lump in his throat and tightens his grip on Sylvain’s hands which are now physically trembling, “I know that you’ve never thought that you would be happy. That you deserved to be happy. But I want to prove you wrong.”

There are tears running down Sylvain’s face now as his mind finally puts the pieces together and the reality of the situation fully dawns upon him.

“I never want you to feel like you aren’t loved ever again. I never want you to feel lonely or like there is no one out there who has your back. I never want you to feel like your life is conditional and that you have to cripple who you are just to be accepted.”

Goddess. Sylvain truly is an ugly crier. Blast him for looking so handsome anyways even with his nose scrunched up and fat crocodile tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.

“I love you, Sylvain, and I want to spend the rest of our lives proving it to you, so will you marry me?”

The beat after the metaphorical ball drops is painfully long, but when time resumes again, Sylvain’s knees buckle beneath him and he collapses in a sobbing heap, his body leaning into Felix like he is touch starved and Felix holds the warmth of home in his arms.

“You-“ Sylvain’s voice is hoarse as he chokes the words out through his tears, “You… want to marry me? Marry me?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.”

(Across the room, Dimitri has to hold Ingrid back from throwing a cup at Felix’s head)

“But, it’s me! Felix, I’m a mess. How could you ever want someone as broken as me?” There is desperation in Sylvain’s eyes, but it is wild, like Sylvain himself doesn’t know if he’s desperate for Felix to just take this last out he’s providing or to reassure him that yes, this is really happening and yes, Felix really wants to marry him.

“You idiot.” Felix huffs fondly, reaching up a pale scarred hand to gently thumb away the nonstop tears on Sylvain’s face. “I’ve wanted you since we were children. I will never stop wanting you. You might be a mess, but you’re my mess.”

Felix withdraws his grip slowly and finally opens the velvet box clutched in his hand. He doesn’t hear so much as feel the sharp inhale from Sylvain as he reveals the glittering silver ring nestled in the soft cushion.

“Do you remember the sword that I carried with me throughout the war?”

Sylvain scrubs his eyes and nods, “Yeah. I remember. Why? What happened-“

Brown eyes widen almost comically again and Sylvain stares at the ring with his mouth agape.

“Felix. Felix, don’t tell me…”

“If this doesn’t prove how serious I am, then I don’t know what will.”

“But Felix, you loved that sword.”

Felix doesn’t even pause to think before he retorts, “You truly are a fool if you think that I love a sword more than I love you.”

Felix does not expect for Sylvain to burst into sobs again, but rather than the irritation that he’s sure he would have felt under different circumstances, the only thing Felix can feel right now is warmth and love blooming in his chest.

“Sylvain,” Felix feels a small smile tug at the corner of his lips as he brings his hand up to frame Sylvain’s tearful face, “will you marry me?”

The crooked wobbly smile that graces Sylvain’s face next is one that Felix will remember for the rest of his life. It is the same one that he’s seen only a handful of times, but he knows what it means and Felix swears that he will dedicate the rest of his life finding ways to silence the demons and bring out that smile again and again and again.

“Yes.”

----

Neither of them remembers much of the celebration after Felix slips the ring on Sylvain’s finger.

The rest of the night passes in a blur of bottles upon bottles of champagne (the good stuff, according to Ashe who may have had a peek in the cellars) and laughter and congratulations.

But most importantly, it passes with Sylvain being surrounded by the people who have risked life and limb for him, and Felix hopes that this is at least a decent start to spending the rest of his life making his future husband happy.

---

It is only much later that night in the aftermath of rumpled sheets and whispers of pleasure that Felix succumbs to the incessant voice at the back of his mind, itching to ask what he already knows but wants reassurance of anyways.

“Did you… was this Yule better than last year?” His breath ghosts over the red hairs on Sylvain’s chest, stirring the owner to shift away ticklish and shuffle so that he can look down at his fiancé.

“Yeah, it was. It was absolutely wonderful.” Sylvain’s voice is quiet when he answers. Quiet enough that the sincerity of it strikes Felix through the heart and stirs the butterflies in his stomach. Above him, he can feel Sylvain’s muscles shifting as he examines his new engagement ring in the moonlight and Felix pointedly does not point out the fresh batch of tears that well up in Sylvain’s eyes when he finds the inscription carved on the inside.

Felix nods his head once in a jerky movement, the abruptness a stark contrast to the curl of satisfactory success blooming in his gut. Good. That’s one year down and an entire lifetime to go.

“I keep my promises, you know.”

He doesn’t need to say it, but the part of him that is finely tuned into the entity that is Sylvain tells him that these are words he needs to hear regardless of how difficult they are tripping up and out of his mouth.

“I promised that I would make up for all those shitty years that you never got to celebrate properly.”

Sylvain huffs a laugh into his hair, “well, you’re off to a strong start. I believe you also promised me that you would make each year better than the last.”

He’s teasing, but Felix hears the small sliver of shy hope that toes the open space between them timidly, almost as if the fool didn’t just hear him say that he keeps all his damn promises.

It will be a long and hard battle before Felix can officially claim victory over Sylvain’s doubts, but he’s no stranger to war and this is one that he already knows the outcome of.

“I will,” Felix whispers into a sweet kiss, “I promised.”

---

It comes as no surprise that Felix stays true to his word.

Either Felix is the most brilliant strategist in all of Fodlan or Sothis herself watches over them, for in a fortuitous twist of fate, the next Yule seasons brings Sylvain and Felix a beautiful baby girl that they lovingly name Sophia Gabriella Fraldarius-Gautier.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX Please follow me on my Twitter if you want to know my fic progress, when I put up new content, and sneak peeks!

#A Very Sylvix Holiday #sylvix #Fire Emblem Three Houses #fire emblem #fire emblem 3 houses #sylvain jose gautier #felix hugo fraldarius #felix x sylvain #SOFT FELIX #emotional sylvain #proposals #found family #holiday fic #fluffy goodness #popo writes #sophia gabriella fraldarius gautier #Sophie AU

[fyregrayfong]

Under Pressure 11|15

FryeArcana

Chapter 11

Busted

Summary:

You deal with being suspended from your job. A visit to Mako might help you find some resolution along with Bolin's premiere of the finale of his movers.

The metal door slides open as you walk in and see Mako slouched on the metallic cold bed. “long time since I’ve seen you” you mutter as Officer Song closes the door behind you as you take a seat at the chair in the corner. Mako perks up as he looks at you “y/n! I see you’re not cuffed.” He signed in relief. You shook your head, but frown upset with yourself “no, but I did get suspended. I’m off the case. Chief is furious with how I handled things.” You look and leaning over with your hands clasp together. “she thinks you played me…. I’m only going to ask this once Mako, but I have to know…. Did you have a hand in stealing Asami’s property”. Once a Triple Threat, Always a Triple Threat, Gang’s voice rings in your head. You look at him, analyzing him. Mako looked you in the eyes “No, I would never hurt Asami like that. I care about her” you listen to his voice, so sure of himself nothing to tip you off that you lower your head and sigh. “I know you wouldn’t, but I just had to know for sure” you put your hands over your head. “you believe me? with the whole Varrick theory” he’s surprised. He thought with the whole bust at his apartment that he lost your trust and you would turn your back on him too. Mako looks like he has some hope creeping up on him. “I thought for sure after that bust, I would have lost your trust” he looked down. The corner of your lip slightly curls up “I did think that at the time…but on the ride to my apartment and then watching Chief search my things. It became clear that Varrick wanted us handled. I’m surprised though…my place came out clean.” You look out the small opening from the door and check to see if anyone is out there before looking back at Mako as he thinks. “Varrick must’ve assumed that once Chief Beifong learned that you were involved that you wouldn’t gotten suspended or kicked off the force. I was present at every situation, the hiring, the ship, then at the mover set. I was the one doing all the digging.” You slowly nod your head understanding “yeah, I guess so. That makes sense. Lock up the badgermole and it stops it from digging any more holes.” You mutter softly then clear your throat “I don’t know what I can do since I’m off the investigation. I don’t even think I should even be here. Chief might arrest me for some lame excuse like tampering the investigation. I should go before there is any alarm” You stand up and walk over to the door, Mako stops you grabbing your arm “wait, y/n…thanks. Despite everything against me you’re sticking to believe me. I…” he looks down and you smile putting a hand on his shoulder “I trust you Mako. You’re great at your job. I know we had a rocky start when you first started, but during this whole mess I’ve gotten a better understanding of you. I’ll try and find some way to clear your name.” you squeeze his shoulder and knock on the door to be let out. Mako speaks up softly “Where’s Asami…” your face softens, and you think back at how your friend is taking this news “she’s…. trying to grasp the situation. I’m sure she trusts and believes you but….” You sigh and shrug as Song lets you out. “I’ll catch you later, Mako” you wave goodbye.

Walk down the stairs and looking around corners trying not to get caught by Lin. You’re just about to make it down the lobby when Lin walks in from the entrance and her eyes widen when she sees you. “what are you doing here. Do you not understand what being suspended means” she puts her hand on her hip. You groan out “relax, I’m not here to work. I was actually walking out.” You walk past her and she grips your arm to stop you looking over her shoulder up to you “If I find out that you’re still investigating on the case. Consider your career over.” She narrows her eyes keeping her voice down, but you can feel the anger in her tone. You put your hand on hers and peel her hand off your arm, not wanting to jerk your arm away in anger or be rude. You still love this woman even though she doesn’t agree with you. you glare back at her and give her a sly smirk “is that a threat, chief?” you look at her eyes. She snarls at you and huffs “it’s a promise, Lieutenant” She rebuffs. You glance down at her lips then back at her eyes and your face softens, hurt imprinted on your face. You look away and brush past her walking out the station.

*

A strange envelope in the mail is in your mailbox once you get inside you open it. It’s from Bolin, he’s invited you to the big finale of his mover Nuktuk: Hero of the South. “Well at least something good has come out of this mess, Bolin is a mover star now.” You mutter under your breath as you put the letter down then open the box that came with it, filled with Nuktuk merch and a large poster of the mover “huh…there’s writing on the top..”

      Dear y/n,

      Nuktuk says, ‘Keep Reaching For The Stars.’

                                From,

                                    Bolin aka Nuktuk aka Hero of the South

     p.s. Pabu says hi and he misses you

You roll your eyes but silently laugh, typical Bolin. You set the poster down and frown sighing. “I guess I could go, show support to Bolin. It’s not like I got anything better to do.”

*

“man this collar is kind of tight” you tug on the collar of your shirt as you sport out your pant suit as you walk through the crowd to get inside when you catch a glimpse of Lin and you groan “of course she’ll be detailing the security tonight. President Raiko is here after all” you rub your face then make your way over to her direction. “didn’t ping you as a mover fanatic” you speak up and Lin turns around when she hears your voice “what are you doing here?” she snaps and you smirk “I was invited, what about you?” you look back at Lin, her eyes dart to check your outfit out. While your eyes dart to her lips as she fashions a dark shade of red. “I’m here for only security purposes. President Raiko is in attendance so I have the best to keep watch.” You look around and let out a laugh “yeah… sure, the best” Lin’s cheeks redden and balls her fists “what” and you point in the direction of Lu and Gang “I think your “best” would rather be scarfing down varri-cakes than guarding their posts, Chief.” You slide a hand in your pocket and laugh. Lin’s cheeks heat up with embarrassment as she groans and starts stomping away. You grab her arm and pull her back to you catching her in surprise “For security purposes you sure wear that shade of red very well. Is that for anyone in particular?” you talk in a hushed low growl looking down at her as she looks at you. Her eyes glance down to your lips as you slightly bite your lip and she huffs trying to hid her blush, “Of course not” she snaps as she pushes off of you and stomps away. You watch her walk up to the detectives yell their ear off giving them orders to get to their posts. You snicker while you head inside looking for your seat, while Lin glances at your direction with her arms folding and watches you walking away looking down and sighs deeply.

           You find your way to the box that Bolin mentioned in his letter and greet Asami, Bolin, and Ginger. “Hey everyone, Ginger nice to see you again” you warmly smile at you. Bolin excitedly walks up to you and hugs you picking you up “y/n! I’m so glad you made it” he smiles, and you pat his shoulder to get him to put you down “yeah, I wouldn’t miss this for the world, buddy. What’s a friend without supporting your projects.”  You smile awkwardly then look at Asami “hey Sami, you look great as usual” you softly smile at her before giving her a small hug which she returns. “yeah, all things considered” you all look down as a sad feeling washes over you as you all think about Mako. Bolin clears his throat “come on, let’s not thinking about Mako for tonight. This is Nuktuk time!” he smiles brightly as he poses in a hero stance. You nod and give him a small nod “sure let’s take our seats. I think Varrick is about to start” everyone makes their way towards their seats as you take the open seat by Ginger and listen to Varrick’s speech.

“thank you all for coming to the finale of Nuktuk: Hero of the South. You know, when I first started this project, there were a lot of naysayers out there.

“you can’t make pictures move,” They said.

“you can’t take some knucklehead earthbender and make him a star,” they said.

“you can’t teach a polar bear dog to speak,” they said.

Well, they’re wrong. Thanks to the magic of the movers, our furry friends have found their voices and you’ll be shocked to hear what they have to say.

They speak of the injustice that’s happening in the Southern Water Tribe right now. My hope is that their words and this epic mover will inspire a real-life hero to rise up and help.” Varrick takes a moment to let the words sink into the audience “thank you again. Enjoy the show.”

Varrick surely is a master manipulator. Your eyes roll after he’s done and you look over at Bolin who seems to look sad, he’s usually always chipper. Maybe he’s sad Mako isn’t here to experience this with him? You frown a bit but look back at the screen and try to enjoy the mover. You watch Nuktuk grieving a dying Juji and suddenly you see Bolin get up from his seat and walk out the box you look at Asami who exchanges your glance before whispering “I’ll go talk to him” you nod as you watch Asami get up and walk out the box after him.

“…I will be the ruler of Ice Earth” a dramatized evil Unalaq cackles in the mover and you laugh quietly. They got the evil power hungry chief right. You sense a large bang coming next door then the next second a guy in waterbender clothes is flying out landing in the water below. Your grip the arms of the chair and look over the railing before looking over at the box and notice the commotion. You jump out of your seat, jump up on the bar above and swing over to the other side of the wall into the next box kicking a guy down landing on his back. Then hop off of him accessing the scene and find Bolin “Bolin? What’s going on” he shouts, “they’re kidnapping the president!” as he gets down knocking out two guys by bending columns out the ground before warning the President and his wife to stand back. You help the president and his wife out from the box before three more men come running in your direction. You stand in front of them and tell them to stand aside as you get in your fighting stance dodging their attacks. You send a series of boulders their way before kicking up a slab of earth and send spike it towards their stomachs knocking them out. You grab the President and his wife “hurry, this way. The police should be on their way to get you to safety.” You escort them down the hall then you run into three officers who are about to knock you down before Raiko stops them “she saved us from those men” they nod then recognize you. you guess without your uniform you don’t look familiar to them. One of the officers look at you “we’ll take it from here” and you nod bowing out before running back and check on Bolin.

           You run back into the president’s box when you see Bolin about to send a disc at one of the waterbender’s head question who sent him. The guy cowers in fear and points at Varrick’s box and you glare, “Varrick…. gotcha” you mutter as you smirk finally getting your confirmation. I have to get him before he escapes. You run out the box and start sprinting down the hall to Varrick and run into Lin and her force stopping. Lin watching her men arrest Varrick and Zhu Li turns her head to look at you then looks down feeling slightly guilty. You give her a soft nod and turn around walking away from the situation when you find it’s being handled.

*

           “huh I guess he really is Nuktuk” you smile crossing your arms as you stand next to Asami. Both of you watching the cameras of the paparazzi in a frenzy taking photographs of Bolin to which he poses smiling big and bright. “yeah, he’s a real hero” Asami smiles as she watches Bolin then both your eyes widen when Ginger pulls Bolin into a kiss, “I can’t believe my boyfriend is a real-life hero.” She exclaims and you perk your eyebrows up. “When did Bolin get a girlfriend I thought Ginger was for publicity.” You lean over at Asami and whisper to which she shrugs just as shocked and confused as you. Asami walks up to Bolin “Bolin, you saved the president, and you proved Mako was right all along! We have to go tell him what happened” she tells him while he is in the middle of making out with Ginger. “yeah!” Bolin mumbles against Ginger’s lips then goes back to kissing her before Asami clears her throat and steps back “oh you meant right now.” You laugh and step forward “yeah, come on lover boy”

You pat him on the back when you hear a noise coming from the sky and look up to see “Oogi?” you mumble as you watch Oogi land at the entrance and you three run over enough to hear Korra say “…Unalaq wants to destroy the world” you subconsciously stand beside Lin as Bolin starts questioning Korra “Unalaq is gonna destroy the world? He really does have a doomsday device?”

“he’s trying to release a powerful dark spirit during Harmonic Convergence, which is only a few days away. If he succeeds, the world as we know it is over. Sir, we desperately need your help.”

Your eyes wide at Korra’s report and turn to the President, surely now he will change his views and want to fight. This is no longer a civil war, it’s now a world issue. He waits a moment before responding “I’m sorry, Korra, but my answer is still no.” everyone eyes widen at his respond and Tenzin speaks up heated evidently not happy of his comment which surprises you because Tenzin is never this angry unless it was Korra doing something juvenile “There are lives on the line! And my daughter is one of them. Raiko, you must reconsider” he barks out. Wait what, his daughter? Jinora or Ikki? What happened to them? “Sir, I strongly suggest you reconsider, this is no longer a civil matter between two tribes. It is now a world issue..” you but in trying to reason with the president. “Enough!” Raiko shouts then sighs “I’m aware that lives are on the line, and that’s precisely why my troops are staying here. If the world is going to be thrown into chaos, like you claim, I need to protect my citizens. I’m sorry.” He laments as Bolin steps forward with a newfound confidence putting a hand on Raiko’s shoulder “Sir…Nuktuk needs your help. I know you love helping people.”  Oh he’s acting as Nuktuk. Raiko eyes him down “Son, I appreciate you saving my life,” He looks over at you “you too, Lieutenant” then looks back at Bolin “I’m a big fan of your work, but my decision is final.” He turns around and leaves the group, everyone wondering what to do know. Bolin looks down “I never should’ve saved that guy” you join him “you and me both” you sigh. Asami turns to Korra “if you guys need help, I’m here for you” Bolin joins in “yeah, me too” you smile and step forward pointing your thumb at your chest “count me in too” Korra smiles appreciatively at the three of you “Thank you. it’s so good to see you guys again” then looks around “wait, where’s Mako” Bolin, Asami and you share glances before you speak up “he’s being held in prison. It’s a long story. We should go wait for him at the station when he gets out.” Everyone nods and Tenzin offers to give everyone a ride to the station.

*

You’re sitting at one of the benches further from the crowd as you wait for Mako to get released. You wanted to spend some time by yourself having your head down as you go over what transpired tonight. Your eyes open when you hear those metallic steps you know so well approach you and stands in front of you, you look up and crack a smile

“Chief, Looks like a nice evening to release a prisoner”. Lin sighs and uncrosses her arms

“you were right. I should have should’ve trusted Mako and…. I should have trusted--believed you.” you lean back in on the bench and sigh looking at Lin not saying anything for a couple of seconds before a smirk appears on your lips

“I’m willing to look past this and blame Raiko for stressing you out” you say smugly then you soften

“I wouldn’t be putting my job on the line if I didn’t think there was some truth in what Mako was saying” you quiet your voice as you put your hand on your thighs to push yourself up to stand up and face her.

“I know that now, but you shouldn’t have lied to me, y/n” she lowers her voice as she looks at you.

“you’re right, I shouldn’t have lied, but it had to be done or else we wouldn’t have gotten close to figuring out Varrick. You would’ve put a stop to it and would further delay or worse let Varrick get away” you mutter and before she can respond you quickly add

“you can’t tell me I’m not right on that” you smile as you fold your arms.

She sighs deeply “you’re incorrigible” she mutters. “I’m going to send Bolin to release Mako” she gives you the news as she turns around

“what about my job?” you ask as she turn her head over back to you

“I would figure you would have the intuition to know that you’re reinstated” she gives you a smile before dropping it as she turns back around but you quickly grab her arm stopping her before letting go realizing where you are and lower your voice even quieter

“what about us?” Lin stiffens up then whispers back “we’ll talk about that later…”  before she finally walks away and gives Bolin the order and you watch him run inside. It takes a couple minutes, but you start to hear footsteps coming from the halls and you stand up walking over and stand besides Lin and the other officers and start to clap when you see Mako. Everyone follows your suit and Lin speaks up

“Nice job, Mako. You’re going to make a great detective.” She smiles at Mako. I guess she does smile in public. Lu and Gang’s jaws drop and look at each other confused

“but, chief, there aren’t any detective openings right now.” Chief looks over and responds nonchalantly

“Actually, we have two openings.” You cross your arms and looking down at the floor to hide your grin. Fucking finally they’re gone. Mako glances over at Asami and smiles while Korra pushes past the crowd and hugs him before giving him a kiss. She’s talking to him like their still together. You and Bolin watch the two with your eyes widen and really confused you eye Asami before glancing back at the couple(?). Mako surprised to see Korra here and Bolin tries to smooth the situation over.

“oh yeah…. Korra’s back”.  Mako and Korra talk to which he asks her if they remember the big fight they had. Korra looks down and shakes her head

“no, not really. I got attacked by a dark spirit and I lost my memory for a little while. Maybe it hasn’t all come back yet. Was it a bad fight?” Yes. You guys broke up. You answered in your head but hoped Mako has matured and be man enough to tell Korra those words.

“uh……..” Mako drags out as everyone looks at this show. You and Bumi with your arms crossed, Lin has her hands on her hips and everyone else just waiting for his response.

“….mm… no. No, it—it wasn’t that bad.” he finally retorts. Asami looks mad and crosses her arms and you quietly smack her head down on your palm. Well this is awkward. Tenzin steps up to clear the tension and change the subject. Yes, let’s cut and dodge this whole scene, good job Tenzin put those airbending moves in action.

“Korra, we don’t have much time. We need to figure out how to deal with Unalaq.” Bolin looks at Tenzin

“I think I know just the man to talk to.”

*

“why wouldn’t I be surprised” you muttered as you see Varrick’s prison chamber.

“Varrick industries built this prison, and I had this cell made special. I had a feeling I’d end up here one day” he smirks, and you run your hands down into your pockets as you watch him order his assistant around.

“Don’t tell me you guys are still mad about everything that happened.” You groan out

“Yup, why wouldn’t we be” you glare at him. “I did some good things too” he sounds hurt “like what?” you talk back to him to which he started naming a good thing he’s done for every person.

“Korra, who warned you about Unalaq? I did”  

“Bolin, who got you into the movers? I did”

“Asami, who saved your company? I did”

“You…actually I’m coming at a blank….” He steps up the cell and eyes you Zhu Li speaks up

“That’s y/n, sir. She’s Asami’s close friend and also works under Chief Beifong as a Lieutenant” You look over at Zhu Li and give her a short nod before looking back at Varrick as he smirks at you

“right… y/n, hmm sorry didn’t do anything for you… I guess, I didn’t” he steps away as you roll your eyes as he points at Mako

“Mako, who got you thrown in jail? I did!.... oh yeah, I guess that was a bad thing. 3 out of 5 ain’t bad.” He looks down counting on his fingers.

“it’s not good either…. You did all that stuff to fool and manipulate them into your grand scheme.” You snap at him as Asami steps up “you stole everything from me, and you tried to kidnap the president. Those are pretty bad too.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt him. I just needed to start a war. Well, a bigger war.” As he extends his arms apart to show how big he wanted this war to be.

Bolin jumps “well we’re gonna end it.”

You look from Bolin then turn to Varrick “Where’s all the stuff you stole from Asami?”

Varrick puts his arms on his hips “the Future Industries stuff? It’s on my battleship.”

Korra raises an eyebrow “you have a battleship?”

“Of course I do! I bought the first on they made, named her the Zhu Li”

You frown “that’s nice…. I guess”

Bolin proceeds to ask, “you named your battleship after your assistant?”

“yep. They’re both cold, heartless war machines.”

“um, never mind about it being nice” you mutter out loud

“Look, I am truly sorry for the mess I caused. Let me make it up to you. Take Zhu Li…. My battleship, it’s yours, and everything on it.”

Korra perks up “it’s not the fleet we were looking for, but it’s the next best thing.”

Bolin jumps up excited and happy “Alright! Team Avatar is back in business!” he pulls Korra, Asami and Mako into a group hug as they all laugh. He tries to grab you, but you step aside and smile “come y/n you’re part of the team too!” he looks at you and you shake your head “I wasn’t at that initial meeting” you laugh and Bolin puts a finger on his chin as he thinks “well you’re part of T.A.B” he smiles and your eyebrow raises confused “um…T.A.B.? I’m a tab?” you cross your arms slightly feeling offended as he quickly waves his hands “not tab, T.A.B! Team Avatar B! The team consists of Tenzin, Kya, Bumi, General Iroh, Chief Beifong, and you”. You and Lin exchange a glance then look back at Bolin “um, right…T.A.B” you smile softly. “well let’s get packed up, take a quick nap and embark first thing in the morning” you smile then walk over to Asami making sure she’s okay with everything with Mako and then plan for her to swing by your place and give you a ride. We got a crazy evil north chief to stop.

#lin x reader #lin beifong x reader #fanfic #linbeifong #lin beifong #TLOK2UnderPressure #fyrefics #linxreader #linbeifongxreader #linbeifong x reader

[aponderingcharming]

Just a post-Age of Ultron Steve and Nat scene...just got the feels for some reason and had to get something out! Enjoy :) Steve had been watching her for hours now.  Outside of training the team and getting them up to speed on how things worked around here, she hadn’t said a word – and Nat liked to comment. Bruce disappearing weighed heavily on her every movement, her limbs that little clunkier than usual, the snap of her skills a little soft, and he noticed how the light that once danced in her eyes began to dim. As the day dragged on, Steve could almost literally see her walls coming back up and entrapping her in her own fortress of protection once again.

He wanted to help.

Natasha had been a friend to him. Someone that he trusted. Someone that he cared for.

So when he found her up late, looking out over the star-filled yet empty training grounds, he made a decision.

“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” he posed quietly, sidling up alongside her, resting his arms on the metal rail.

The woman glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, a small, sad smile forming on her lips.

“Never been good at sleeping, actually. Always on alert. One of the downfalls of being in the spy business.”

They stayed in silence for a few moments, comfortable in each other’s presence. Steve noted that it always felt like that when he was with her; familiar, normal. Safe, he even mused internally.

It was a beautiful night. There was a stillness about the way the stars just hung there in their place, keeping watch over everything below, keeping watch over them.

Finally, “I’m sorry about Bruce.”

Her shoulders stiffened.

“Yeah, well…” she took a short pause to look down, “I don’t even know…” she cut off, swallowing hard.

“You deserve to be happy, Natasha,” Steve interjected for her, wanting her to know that he understood. “It’s not wrong to want things. It’s the most natural thing in the world.”

She let that settle between them and he took that as a good sign. He wasn’t sure how many times, if ever, someone had said that to her. But it was true, and she should know that.

“So do you,” she whispered eventually, this time making sure to look at him. Sincerity coloured her words and he inhaled deeply, allowing himself to soak in her words, too, letting them flow into the parts of him that needed to hear that.

“You know, ever since I was a kid-”

“You mean like 100 years ago?” she jested, a tad brighter.

He smirked and rolled his eyes. “Yeah like 100 years ago,” he joked back fondly. “But all I ever wanted to do was to be a soldier. End injustice, bring peace, help make the world a safer, better place for everyone. But I always saw an end to it, you know? We’d win the war, I’d come home, get married, have a family, grow old. I mean, I knew there was always a chance that I might not make it out alive, but deep in the back of my mind was this longing to have a life after the war. I’d do my part and then I’d settle down.”

“With Peggy?” Natasha asked in a quiet voice. She was looking at him intently now, eyes only on his.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, if she would have me,” he tagged on with a short laugh.

“How could she not? You’re like the perfect gentleman, Steve. The solider with a heart of gold.”

“Ah, I don’t know about that.”

“I do. I’ve known that since our first mission together. Trust me; she would have been all yours.”

He couldn’t help but smile but sadness weighted his heart. That future with Peggy was all gone now, and as much as he saw a life after war before, now it felt like war was an inevitable part of him, and that whole other part of his life didn’t exist anymore. This was his life now.

But maybe he was okay with that. Making the world a better, safer place was why he was made after all. Maybe this was his greater plan.

“Yeah, well...turns out I missed the boat on that one. She was happy though,” he said, breaking his gaze to watch the night sky again. “Lived a good life.”

Slowly, Natasha’s hand reached over to cup his upper arm, just briefly. “I’m sorry, Steve. Sometimes it’s easy to forget what you’ve lost because we get so wrapped up in everything else that’s going on.”

“Thank you,” he replied. “But we’ve all lost things. Everyone here, each Avenger, has a reason to do what they’re doing and it all stems from some experience, some loss, or longing. I suppose it helps us focus, it spurs us on. I know not everyone is vocal about it though,” his words became softer now, “and Nat I want you to know that you can trust me, okay? When we’re out in the field, there’s no one I trust more than you, and no one I would rather have fighting alongside me than you, so if you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

For maybe the second time in all the time he had known her, he could see tears shining in her eyes and she moved just that little bit away from him as if to protect herself again.

“Peggy was in my vision,” he offered, opening up more, willing her to know that she could trust him. “We were at a celebration, the war was over and we had won. She told me that we could go home. We danced, and then everyone was gone and I was left alone.” Pausing, he set his jaw and closed his eyes just for a breath of a second. “The vision showed me what life I could have had and then showed me that that life wasn’t attainable anymore. That everyone was gone and I was still left fighting a war.”

The air grew heavy between them, the truth and honesty huddling around them. It was as if they were somewhere else entirely, in a whole other realm where it was just the two of them. He waited, sensing the emotional wrestle within her body, knowing that she was struggling. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything; maybe it was wrong to add another level to their relationship, but she had lost something today and he had learned of a part of her he didn’t know existed – the part of her that ached for a sense of home. And, boy, could he relate to that.

“I was back in Russia in my vision. At my final graduation,” she finally ground out, her voice thick. “And just being there it…it made me remember the kind of person I was. I spent years trying to run away from it all and live differently – better - and all of sudden, with a flick of a wrist, I’m brought back to that place, and all I can think about is how….how I’m a monster. That I’m a machine built for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill. And that’s all I’m good for.”

“You’re not a monster, Nat. So far from it.”

The words shot out of him before he even knew they were forming on his lips.

“Yeah, well you don’t know everything I’ve done, Rogers.”

“I don’t need to know.”

She snorted and then sniffed, tears escaping.

“No seriously,” Steve continued, this time leaning down so that she could see his face. “Natasha I’m not going to pretend that I know everything about you or your past or what you’ve done, but I do know you. I know who you are now. Are you highly skilled and a formidable opponent to anyone who gets in your path? Yeah, absolutely. You’re one of the best, if not the best fighter I’ve seen. There’s a reason you’re on this team. You don’t need super serum running through your veins to make you someone.” That drew a smile from her and his heart warmed knowing that he put it there. “But I also know that you’ve dedicated to your life to fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves. You joined SHIELD because you wanted to make an actual difference and to put a stop to those who do the things that were done to you. That doesn’t sound like a monster to me. Almost sounds like a hero, don’t you think?”

Another beat of silence.

Another sniff.

And then, “No wonder they call you Captain America,” she mused, voice still a little deeper than usual. “That was some speech.”

“Glad you liked it. But I meant it. Every word.”

The woman straightened now and turned her frame so that they were face-to-face. A gradual and tentative hand came up to rest on the side of his face, and Steve noted how he leaned just that little bit more into the touch. “Thank you, Steve. For everything. I don’t say it a lot and I don’t express it very well but-”

“Anytime,” he interjected.

Natasha moved to kiss his other cheek, her lips warm and soft. It was quick but it was tender. “Same goes for you, too.”

When she broke away, he tried to ignore the pang of disappointment. It was as though a spell had been broken and part of him wanted to reach out and pull her in for a hug, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment.

“Well, I guess I better try to get some sleep,” she announced, her body that bit looser now and the grin that formed on her mouth was definitely more like the Nat he knew. “Goodnight Steve.”

He smiled in response. “Goodnight.”

“Oh and don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” she said playfully with a wink as she was leaving.

Steve shoved his hands into his pockets and fixed his smile on the ground, nodding in agreement. “About what?” he teased back, pulling a laugh from her.

He stayed there for a few minutes longer, feeling the lightest he had felt since the mission had ended.

He hoped she felt the same way.

#steve rogers #natasha romanoff #captain america #black widow #romanogers #stevenat #capwidow #steve x natasha #avengers #marvel #age of ultron

[hallospaceboyy]

April Fools

Madam Spellman

Sabrina plays an April Fools prank on Lilith and Zelda.

I wrote this on April 1st lol, but I don't think I've posted it here, so here ya go.

“And as mortals say on this particular day of the year, ‘April Fools!’ You can both STAY in there until you learn to get along!” Sabrina gave a satisfactory smirk as she charmed the lock of Zelda’s study at the academy, with the Queen of Hell and her High Priestess trapped inside. Lilith and Zelda had been bickering incessantly, as they always did during their meetings regarding the restructuring of the coven. Sabrina was fed up, everyone was fed up, with the two women stubbornly keeping up the facade of their hatred toward one another, when in truth you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife.

Zelda glared at the door, cigarette holder perched in hand, and Lilith was certain that any moment now, smoke would begin billowing from her ears. “Sabrina! Let us out this instant if you would like to live to see your next birthday!” Zelda seethed, but the troublesome witch had already gone, satisfactory smirk still present on her face as she teleported herself back to the mortuary.

Lilith smirked as she regarded Zelda, realising that this was not merely an attempt to bring the two women together as friends but that darling Sabrina was playing matchmaker. Zelda really was quite beautiful when angry, and Lilith felt a slight tingle in her lower abdomen as she studied the redhead, still staring daggers at the door and smoking her cigarette, and unaware of Lilith's attentions being on her. “Well, Zelda, I suppose we must sit at this desk and work out all of our differences, until our mischievous little Sabrina returns.” Lilith’s smirk grew wider as Zelda looked at her abruptly, a single eyebrow raised.

“And how do you suggest we do that, My Queen?” Zelda spat sarcastically as she stubbed her cigarette out and leaned against the desk. Her face was red with rage, and she sighed and closed her eyes for a second, letting out a deep, measured breath. “Perhaps she is right. We have a responsibility to this coven, and we have been acting like petulant children.” Zelda rubbed her temple and looked to Lilith, a resigned expression on her face, and Lilith felt a pang in her chest as she realised just how tired Zelda looked, her responsibility weighting down her usually proud, erect posture.

Lilith nodded, and moved to lean against the desk beside her. “I agree, my dear.” Lilith eyed Zelda with a sudden affectionate look, and Zelda startled when Lilith placed a warm hand over her own. “I know I have given you no reason to trust me. I schemed and plotted under the coercion of Lucifer, and I’ll admit, I enjoyed it at first, so certain of the power obeying him would surely bring me. But I was wrong of course.” Lilith shook her head and chuckled cynically, her eyes welling up with tears that she was struggling to keep at bay. “He never meant to reward me at all. I was a mere puppet, and a willing one at that... But you must believe me, Zelda, I have no ulterior motives. I’ve gotten what I wanted... I’m Queen now, and no thanks to him.” Lilith sneered. “I have you to thank. You and all the Spellmans.” She was surprised when Zelda turned her hand, palm up, and took Lilith's hand in her own, a tender look in her eye.

“Lilith...” Zelda sighed, her own eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears. “We have both been subjected to injustices at the hands of men. I'll admit, it hasn’t been easy... working beside you after everything. I suppose that’s why I’ve been pushing you away, ignoring my... instincts.” Zelda blushed slightly and looked to the ground, clearing her throat. “Our tormentors have gone now, and we must be the strong women that we are, work through our trauma, and rebuild what they shattered.”

Lilith smiled, genuinely at the witch realising not for the first time, but openly, how amazing the woman beside her was. She had felt a strong pull toward Zelda from the start. Even when still disguised as Mary Wardwell, and when they began working closely together, as Queen and Priestess, it became more difficult to ignore. Lilith resorted to snide comments and hardened expressions to keep Zelda at arms length, and it seemed Zelda had been doing the same, both too frightened to pin their hopes on the other after all that had happened. Lilith raised her hand, the hand not still clasped in Zelda's own, and stroked the other woman's cheek tenderly, biting her lip when Zelda's eyes slipped closed. She tucked an errant auburn curl behind Zelda's ear, and their lips met gently, tentatively, as if both scared the other might break. Zelda sighed softly, and their tongues met, the kiss deepening as both women grew braver, or perhaps just more comfortable in the other's embrace. Lilith broke the kiss, taking in Zelda's slightly laboured breathing and pink cheeks, and decided she had never seen anything more exquisite, regarding the redhead as one would a work of art.

“Well, it seems young Sabrina got her wish...” Lilith chuckled, a blush tainting her own cheeks. “I’m almost certain the little minx was playing matchmaker when she locked that door.” Zelda rolled her eyes, but her pink lips we curled up in a smile, the first genuine smile Lilith had ever seen grace the witch's face, and it suited her, happiness. “We will not let this coven down, Zelda. And I am most looking forward to getting to know you...” Lilith's eyes roamed Zelda's body deliberately, making her arch her brow and smirk. “...better, as we do so.” Zelda chuckled and pressed a kiss to Lilith’s now only red tinged lips. “And I must admit, Dear Zelda, I could have unlocked that door from the very start.” Lilith pointed a slender finger at the lock, and a click resounded throughout the room. “But I was very curious as to where this was going to go, and I’m very glad I didn’t.” She grinned as Zelda narrowed her eyes, trying to suppress a laugh, and eventually failing, laughing loudly and shaking her head.

“You really are impossibly mischievous yourself. I can see why you and my niece get along so well.”

Lilith grinned, pulling at Zelda’s hand so she stood in front of her, still perched on the desk. She wrapped her arms around the witch's waist, and kissed her again, pouring all of herself into that kiss, hoping Zelda knew that she really had no intention of hurting her, could never dream of hurting this precious woman in her arms. Zelda's hands slid into brunette locks, and as the kiss grew more heated, Zelda pulled slightly, forcing a groan from Lilith's mouth into her own.

“Have you two killed each other in h-" The wooden door swung open and Sabrina stopped abruptly and her eyes widened for a second, before her whole face broke out into a huge grin, as Zelda and Lilith jumped apart. Lilith’s usually perfect hair was mussed, both woman's painted lips smudged comically, pupils blown and chests heaving. “I knew it!” Just as abruptly as she entered, she left, shouting something about Ambrose owing her 20 dollars.

Zelda and Lilith looked at each other, and burst out laughing, and with a flick of Lilith's wrist, the door slammed closed and the lock clicked. “Perhaps we should keep that locked.” Zelda smirked and merely nodded, stepping back between her Queen’s legs, and hungrily kissing her again, silently hoping for no more interruptions.

#madam spellman #madam spellman fic #caos fanfiction #zelda spellman #lilith #madam satan #lilith x zelda #chilling adventures of sabrina #miranda otto #michelle gomez

[nikatyler]

Sorry, it's too early for me to properly go through the list and choose, but all of L for anyone you'd like.

This took me so long, I’m sorry.

I’m going to split my answer into three separate posts. Here’s how I wanted to do it: Since I got to choose the sim and I really liked the questions, I thought I’d answer them for Tyler and Ross, who are THE sims of their respective games for me - as in, when I think of TS3, I think of Tyler and when I think of TS4, I immediately think of Ross. 

But I rambled too much and the whole thing has like four pages on Google Docs. No one’s gonna read that if I put it as one post! So part one, which is this ask, will be the questions 5-8, because those seem like general questions and I thought about all my OCs for them. The boys will get their separate posts sooner or later.

Well, sorry for that long intro, I just needed to explain! I’ll pair this with a bunch of pictures (some new ones 👀, some old ones) so it’s less boring.

Also, it’s under the cut because I talk a lot.

5. Which OC do you think is the most decent morally or behaviorally?   AKA, which is supposed to a “good guy”?

I immediately thought of three. Dawn is a really good person, there's not much more I can say about her. Just a good caring person that wants the best for you.

Zoey is a sweetheart. She hates injustice, which she has in common with Bianca, but they both approach it differently. Not to mention that Bianca is not morally as good as Zoey, at one point she's even quite violent, rude and all in all very negative (I mean, who can blame her under those circumstances, but still). Zoey calls out bad behaviors of her siblings and friends sometimes, hates gossip or judging people when you don't know them, changes one person's lonely life for the better…(I'm trying to be as vague as possible, in case I really do tell this story one day, which is unlikely but hey 😂) Her only major moral slip up is what gets her into THE trouble, but otherwise she's good. The best among her siblings for sure.

(Well I’m not sure if we can really call her slip up moral, but hey she broke some serious rules so...I guess?)

Wow that’s a blast from the past for sure

And lastly, Miracle. I say a lot of shit about her storyline and really, at this point it seems to me like a bad teenage movie (featuring a mean beautiful white girl whose only personality trait is being mean) mixed with a classic fairytale where the girl can only be happy when she gets her prince. And I underlined it all with a confused message of "love that you're different but still, hide those differences if you want to fit in"...that doesn't sit right with me anymore. It was born out of my own insecurities and wanting to fit in and not stand out or draw attention to myself, but still. However. All that doesn't change that Miracle really is a good bean who just wants to paint and be accepted and loved.

6. Which OC do you think is the worst morally or behaviorally?   AKA, which is supposed to be a “bad guy”?

You guys remember Fred aka the mustache guy? I hated his manipulative selfish ass so much. He cheated on his wife with his childhood best friend, convinced her that it's okay if they do that because his marriage isn’t happy anyway (maybe I’m making the unhappy marriage up now, but maybe he actually said that, it’s been a while), got her pregnant and then didn't want to take any responsibility? Fuck that guy.

I also have to mention Marika, Sunset's mother, another manipulative person. She's the reason why Ross broke things off with Jordan, she made him feel unsure about that marriage (which, I must say even though I love Raleb with all my heart and I'm glad things turned out like that, would've been a good relationship). Then she disappeared for months, only to then leave Sunset literally at his doorstep with no intention of being involved in her life?? I've said this before, Ross has done a lot of bullshit but this is pure evil, she could've told him something and they could've worked it out together, but no, she only wanted to cause a problem. She never really cared about him or about the child. Annnd I'm getting carried away 😂

7. Which OC do you think is the most attractive?

I've always been in love with Sharon, I think she's so pretty. Then again I might be biased because I want her haircolour so badly 😂 Regan is another pretty one. And Miracle, she's a cutie. And my gen 3 bpr heir is *chef's kiss*. 😂 In my sims 4 saves, I think both Sunset and Dawn are really pretty. There's something about Claudia too. And December.

...basically the point is, I have very gay feelings for my female sims. Don't get me wrong, I think I have a few good looking guys as well, but they can't compare to the ladies. My best looking guy? I don’t know, you tell me that. But I didn’t have to fix almost anything about Ross when he was born in the game so there’s that.

8. What’s the longest you’ve had an OC for?

My oldest, still relevant (to me) OC is actually not a sim. She's the protagonist of my story, her name is *checks notes because we've gone through some changes* Wyntra and she's kinda badass, ngl.

Oh yeah and I’ve had her best friend Matyáš for equally long time I guess. They were supposed to end up together, but now that I’ve re-planned the storyline a little, I’m getting strong aroace vibes from Wyntra, so we’re going with that. They’re still super close though.

But actually, hold on, my Winx OC Clarissa might be older, I had her first version in the spring of 2014 and she's still kicking. You can see her on my Instagram and yesterday I posted a picture of her sim version. She’s the redhead.

Out of my sims characters who are old but still somewhat relevant (to me at least) are the triplets - born in October 2016 and still going strong and currently existing in all three OC groups that I have (sims, my original story, and now also that AU in which I'm way more invested than I should be).

Now *this* is a blast from the past.

Thank you for the ask! ♥ I’ll be bringing the rest soon.

#ts3 #ts4 #sims 3 #sims 4 #rose legacy extra #breeze nsb legacy extra #fataleromeo #these are exactly the questions i love #so thank you so much #oh and would you look at that #i have almost exactly 24 hours to finish my history paper #i hate working on it but it's given me much to think about #and personally i learned a lot of interesting things #i just hate putting it to words and making citations and all that formal crap

[imaginexmeintheuniverse]

Ceaseless Interruptions

Pairing: Cedric Diggory x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3, 459

A/N: i just really like doing 5 times fics and i love cedric sooooo here's five times we almost kissed + when we finally did

i. the world cup

You’re overjoyed to conclude your summer holidays with attending the Quidditch World cup. And who better than with your best friends, the Weasley twins? Fred and George had invited you to come along with their family and Ron’s best friends.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that you’re joined by the Diggory’s either. You and Cedric aren’t incredibly close, being in different houses as well as you being quite shy and all, but you did have the pleasure of encountering the Hufflepuff prefect on multiple occasions during your time at Hogwarts. He’s handsome, smart, and incredibly kind.

And yet you seem to become a complete flustered fool around him, usually keeping your interactions to a minimum to avoid making yourself out to be a total idiot. In retrospect, you mentally end up kicking yourself every time for rushing away so quickly when it seemed like he actually wanted to keep talking to you.

You’re quite proud of yourself for not doing the same today, although that might be because you’re all sticking together, but it’s still progress.

“Nowhere to run now, Y/N,” Fred had teased you earlier as your cheeks grew warm enough to boil water.

It’s now post game, and Fred and George are off celebrating their big win, the rest of the younger ones are in the tent, and the two fathers are out for drinks, leaving you and Cedric walking about. You finally have a real conversation with him and it turns out you have a lot in common.

You could stay up all night talking to him, but you also don’t want to worry the others by coming back at an ungodly hour— despite it already being just that. Being the gentleman that he is, Cedric insists on walking you back to the tent, stopping outside the entrance before wishing you a good night.

“I’m glad we finally got to have a proper conversation,” Cedric admits, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks to compliment his winning smile. “I’ve actually been wanting to talk to you for a while now.”

“Really?” A heat creeps its way onto your own cheeks as you avert your gaze from his bashfully.

“Yeah. You’re quiet, but the fastest chaser I’ve ever seen,” he chuckles, nervously running a hand through his hair. “And you’re certainly as kind and clever as Fred and George said you’d be.”

“So you’ve been asking about me?” You turn to him with a cheeky smile and an eyebrow raised as you arrive at the entrance of your tent. You’re not sure what it is, but you’ve taken a bit of confidence boost after getting to know him better.

“Uh, yeah,” he admits, biting back a bashful grin. You’re about to tease him a little, but then he does that thing where he averts his eyes to the ground and brings them back up to meet yours through his thick lashes and you’re left speechless.

It’s like you’ve completely forgotten how to use words and time slows down as he takes a step towards you and brings up a hand to tuck a loose strand to the side. His hand lingers on your jaw for a moment, and your heart rate starts to pick up. You think he might kiss you goodnight.

But then it starts: a riot. You jump back at the sound of breaking glass and you’re eyes go wide when you see flames rising in the horizon.

“Y/N—” His voice gets drowned out by your friends rushing out of the tent and you don’t get so much as a ‘goodbye’ as they pull you away to safety.

ii. the goblet

You’ve always been quite close to the golden trio, and they often come to you for help since you’re quite advanced in your magic and you know a lot about the castle. Kind of like a big sister to balance out the twins being mischievous older brothers. So when you bump into Harry after scene with his name emerging from the goblet of fire, your first instinct is to make sure you know his side of the story.

“I swear I didn’t put my name in—”

“It’s okay,” you reassure him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze. “I believe you.”

“At least someone does,” He thanks you and you pull him into a quick hug.

Squeezing his shoulders before letting go, you then run off to find the other Hogwarts champion.

“Cedric!” You call out to him as soon as you spot him patrolling the halls. “Cedric, wait up!”

He whips around at the sound of your voice, his mouth curling into a warm smile as you approach, which then turns to an expression of concern. “Hey- what are you doing out- it’s almost curfew—”

“He didn’t do it!” you blurt out through panted breaths, and he barely understands you.

“What—”

“Harry- h-he didn’t put his name in the goblet—”

“Y/N, relax,” he says in a calming voice, urging you to take the time you need to catch your breath.

“You have to believe me—”

“I do,” It warms his heart that you care so much about people and your passion is one of the many things that attracts him to you. “I believe you- and Harry, of course.”

“Oh, well- good,” You give him a smile as a way to finally greet him since you led with your rushed defence.

“Although I am a little disappointed that this is the first time I get to speak to you since the World Cup,” A corner of his mouth quirks up to form a lopsided smile that makes your heart rate spike.

“Y-Yeah- sorry about that,” you chuckle nervously, trying to smooth your now dishevelled uniform out.

“It’s all right, everything has been quite busy with the other schools coming in for the tournament,” He takes a step closer to you and you think you might melt from the smile he gives you.

“O-Oh, r-right, congratulations on being chosen, by the way, the goblet couldn’t have chosen a better champion—” It’s then that the close proximity starts to make you nervous, and the rambling kicks in, “O-other than Harry of course- not to say that Harry is a better champion, of course, you’re both a great- I’m talking too much, aren’t I?”

“I love hearing you talk,” His voice is smooth, and so are his hands when you register how they feel on yours as he takes them into his larger ones. The small gesture is enough to make you go quiet and you’re taken back to the night of the World Cup when he starts to lean down and it’s like the English language has disappeared from your mind.

“Oi! Get to your room before I deduct points!” Another voice calls out from the other end of the hall. Letting out a light sigh of frustration, Cedric turns around to greet the Ravenclaw prefect with a smile. “Oh, Cedric, I didn’t know it was you—”

“Yeah, sorry about that, mate, I was just, ehm, escorting this lovely Gryffindor,” Waving the other prefect off, he turns back to you. You want nothing more than for him to resume what he was about to do before, but the moment’s passed. “Let’s get you back to your common room then, shall we?”

With a nod you walk by his side wordlessly all the way back to the fat lady.

iii. the badges

You let out an exasperated sigh as you rip off yet another one of those idiotic badges off of an underclassman’s robe and throw it across the hall. You’ve lost count of how many you’ve seen, and have gotten progressively angry the more you see, resorting to ripping them off passing students like you just did.

In fact, upon seeing Draco Malfoy, the supplier of the horrible 'Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks’ badges, you snatch the one he wears and throw at him, hitting him in the forehead.

“Hey! My father will—”

“Yes, we all know the nasty pureblood brat’s father will hear about every trivial injustice your ungrateful spoiled arse encounters,” you snarl as you grab him by the collar. He lets out a small yelp and he’s silenced for a moment as your gaze pierces through him. “Does Cedric Diggory know you’re demeaning a fellow student and Triwizard champion like this?”

Returning back to his usual unpleasantries, he swipes your hand away and brushes of his shirt. “I’d suppose so,” he snickers, arrogantly crossing his arms over his chest and turning his nose upwards. “Everyone’s wearing them, and I recall seeing his friends in particular wearing them out of support,” He then shifts his gaze and nods over your shoulder. You follow the direction to see Cedric himself laughing about something with his friends across the courtyard. “Y/N Y/L/N, is it? I’d reckon Cedric Diggory’s mudblood girlfriend would be supporting him as well.”

Whipping back around to shoot him another dirty look, you turn and start to stomp your way to Cedric, but not before taking another badge off of one of Malfoy’s friends and throwing it at him with your perfect quidditch aim.

“You’re a right foul git, Malfoy!” you shout, not bothering to look back to see the badge hit him square in the chest.

When Cedric notices you approaching, he gives you one of his dazzling smiles, but it falls at the sight of your scowl and the fire that burns behind your glare. He opts on trying to diffuse whatever it is with a warm greeting, “Hey, Y/N, how’s my favourite—”

“Cut the shit, Diggory,” you cut him off effectively, and he flinches at your use of his last name that obviously indicates that you aren’t in a good mood. His friends who bear witness to the scene that’s brewing stare at you wide-eyed and start to murmur words you don’t care to make out. “What the fu—”

“Excuse us,” He stands abruptly, and he starts lead you to a less populated area with a gentle grasp on your forearm. You do manage to rip the badge off of one of his laughing friends before he drags you away.

Steam flows out of your ears with every step you take, until you can’t stay quiet any longer. “Is this really the kind of competitor you are?” you question him, shaking off his grip. You look at him expectantly and he blinks a few times, still startled by your sudden hostility.

“Y/N, I don’t understand- is this about the—”

“Of course it’s about the bloody badges!” You let out an angry breath and your eyes wander all around, trying to focus on anything else so you can calm your nerves.

“I’ve told them not to wear them—” he tries to explain and you let out another huff, crossing your arms over your chest as though to let him know he ought to come up with a much better excuse than that. “Please, Y/N, I swear—”

“Well, the whole school is still wearing them regardless, so that’s not good enough for me.”

“Look, I’ve already spoken to Harry about it—”

“Then I suppose he’s already told you a secret that would help you out a great deal in the first task! And what have you done? You’ve simply 'told your friends’ not to wear those humiliating badges?!” Your patience is running short, and when his mouth opens without any words coming out, you spin on your heel and start to distance yourself from him.

But then he catches you by the elbow, halting you in your steps. “Yes, Harry has told me about the- the dragons,” he speaks in a hushed voice to make sure no one else hears, but also in hopes of it calming you a little. You won’t admit it now, because you’re still angry, but his voice does have a certain way of soothing you. “I am really grateful for that, and I have asked people not to wear them, but it’s out of my hands now—”

“I know, that Malfoy boy has a way of bringing Harry down every chance he gets,” you soften your tone once you see how genuinely bad Cedric feels.

“Never works though,” he smiles encouragingly. “Harry is strong.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“And he’s fortunate to have strong friends like you watching out for him,” Your crossed arms loosen as his thumb starts to rub slow circles where his hand still holds your elbow.

“Thanks,” you hum looking down as you once again realize exactly how close you’re standing.

His other hand comes up to hook a finger under your chin and pushes upwards gently so your eyes can meet his bright orbs.

Finally, a moment where you can let yourself become immersed in his entrancing eyes without any—

“Potter stinks!” Someone shouts loud enough to reach your ears. You break apart from him and locate the source, spotting a group of boys laughing as Harry walks by them.

And they’re Gryffindor— how fucking dare they?!

“Sorry, Ced, I’ll catch up with you later, I’ve got some nasty little gits who need to be taught a lesson.”

Although he is disappointed by yet another interruption, he can’t help but smile as he watches you storm off, leaving him to replay the way his nickname sounds coming your lips.

iv. the first task

“Cedric,” you call his name just above a whisper, hoping he can hear you. “Ced, are you there?” After a moment of silence, you consider walking away, thinking he must not be within hearing range and you wouldn’t want to disturb the other champions.

But then an arm reaches out and your pulled through the back of the tent by your bicep. You let out a yelp of surprise that becomes muffled by your face coming in contact with the fabric covering a muscular chest. It’s not hard for you to tell by the familiar scent of honey and sandalwood as well as the comforting arms that surround you, that Cedric did in fact hear you.

“I’m so happy to see you,” you murmur, circling your hand around his torso as you let yourself collapse into his hug. You’d be the biggest liar on the face of the Earth if you said you weren’t worried to death for him.

“Me too,” he pulls back slightly whilst still having you in his arms, and gives you a smile that reveals his perfect teeth.

“How are you doing- with the dragons and all?”

“I’m great,” His smile falters, telling you otherwise.

“Ced,” Your eyebrows knit together in concern.

“I-I’m- honestly, I’m scared,” he admits, his hands subconsciously clutching onto your shoulder.

“It’s okay to be scared,” you reassure him, bringing a hand up to caress the side of his face. He melts into your touch, letting his eyes flutter closed for a moment. “But you’re also brave, and I know you can pull this off.”

When his eyes open again, there’s a particular calmed sheen to them, along with something else you can’t quite put your finger on. You let your hand slide down to his chest where you can feel his heartbeat slow down with his steadying breaths. His eyes dart down to your lips, and then back up as though to ask permission, which you give by starting to lean in.

Just when you’re close enough to feel his breath fan over your lips, a blinding flash of light, accompanied with the distinct sound of an obnoxiously loud camera shutter goes off, and you both tear away from each other immediately. Your head whips around in every direction, and your speeding heart rate slows when you see that the camera wasn’t pointing at you, but Harry and Hermione instead.

“I-I should probably go now,” you stumble backwards, feeling your anxiety levels increase upon seeing Rita Skeeter once again poking her nose where it doesn’t belong.

“Uh- y-yeah—” he stutters out, a little shaken by the sudden intrusion.

Before you make your escape from the way you came in you lurch forward and wrap your arms around him tightly, whispering “good luck, Ced,” and ghost your lips hastily over his cheek.

You would have gone for a full kiss on the lips, but with all the previous failed attempts, and the prying journalist, you don’t want your first kiss with Cedric to be like this.

v. the ball

“Will you be attending the Yule Ball?” Cedric asks as coolly as he can muster as he strides up next to you.

You turn head to be met with the most adorably blushed cheeks, a lopsided grin, and an overall very good-looking Cedric as he walks next you with his hands shoved casually in his pockets.

“With how well I’ve been performing in the dance lessons, I think Professor McGonagall might hex me if I don’t,” you chuckle, slowing your pace down so you can speak to him properly.

“Well, if you don’t have a date yet, I was wondering if you’d like to go with me?”

“Oh, Ced, I-I’m so sorry,” Sympathy takes over your features as you apologize. “I-It’s just that George already asked me and he was mighty desperate,” you laugh, thinking about your best friend practically begging you so that he didn’t end up going alone. At least it was better than Fred who threw a paper ball at Angelina.

“Oh, that’s okay,” His eyes shift downwards and he definitely doesn’t sound like he’s okay.

“I’m really sorry, Ced,” You reach forward to give his arm gentle squeeze. He tilts his head back up to look into your eyes and perk up as a thought comes to mind, “Maybe I could make it up to you?”

He tries his best to bite back a smile at the suggestion, catching his bottom lip between his perfect teeth. And then, as if he were trying to make up for all the other missed opportunities, he steps forward and cups the side of your face as quickly as your playful grin appears and—

“Oi, Cedric Diggory!” A voice interrupts your moment for the umpteenth time. You almost roll your eyes at how all too familiar this scenario has become. Breaking away from Cedric you see an easily recognizable head of red hair approaching. “Trying to steal my date, are ya?” George waltzes in, casually slinging an arm around your shoulders. Crossing your arms casually, you look between a rosy-cheeked Cedric and your smirking best friend. “S'all right ya know— we’re not dating, but I’ve got this cheeky one under reserve for the ball,” He pinches your cheek as speaks, like the goofball he is.

“Yeah, and I accepted out of pity,” you tease him, letting loose a chortle as he pretends to be hurt.

“Speaking of which, we’ve got a lot of practicing to do,” he says, ushering you away and completely oblivious to your situation.

You look back to see Cedric rubbing the back of his neck out of light frustration and you mouth an “I’m sorry,” to him as George whisks you away.

+i. the lake

You wake with a jolt, sputtering water out of your lungs, and desperately trying to view your surrounding through blurred vision. The first thing you can register is the undeniable anxiety spreading through your chest. The second is being enveloped in warmth and your erratic heart rate starting to slow to the tune of a soothing voice whispering in your ear.

It’s all very hectic and you’re overwhelmed with panic and external stimuli as you continue to cough whilst attempting to stabilize your eyesight.

Finally being somewhat calibrated in your senses, you start to take in your environment; the hard wood beneath you, the deafening cheers of the crowd, the Black Lake surrounding you, and Cedric Diggory holding you close to him. He doesn’t seem to care one bit that you’re essentially throwing up water all over his shoulder.

After processing all this, a gust of wind blows through, rippling the water, and it sends an unforgiving shiver up your spine. Cedric feels this and tightens his arms around you, and you, in return, cling to him like a life line— which you’re assuming he just has been, judging by the champion uniform he wears and the fact that he’s also soaking wet.

Were you trapped in the lake?

“Yes,” he answers, speaking softly as to not worsen the immense panic you must be feeling. You hadn’t even realized you spoke those words aloud through your chattering teeth. “But it’s okay- you’re okay, you’re safe now,” he continues to whisper soothing words to you as you try to breathe normally again. “I’ve got you.”

He pulls back with his arms still circled around you, checking you over for any injuries. You take him in; wet hair flopping every which way, cheeks and nose tinted a bright pink, and the smile of relief when he sees that you show no signs of being seriously hurt. Greeting him with a smile of your own, you let it reach your eyes as you pull him back to you, nearly knocking the both of you off the pier.

You’re perfectly content ignoring anyone else who tries to help as you bask in his warmth, but then another thought occurs to you, “Where’s Harry?”

Cedric opens his mouth to answer, and then on cue, Harry comes flying out of the water and lands hard on the deck.

“Harry!” You cry out, rushing over to him as someone else wraps a towel around his shivering form.

“Y-Y/N! I-I tried t-to save you too b-but Cedric—”

“It’s all right, Harry, I’m okay,” you reassure him with a small smile. “And I’m glad to see you are too.”

The crowd cheers upon seeing all of the champions and saved hostages. Cedric steps forward, clapping a congratulatory hand on Harry’s shoulder before curling an arm around you. As you lean into him, he takes it upon himself to loop his other arm around you and pull your body flush to his, sending a heat that travels through your veins as he does so.

“You know, the mermaids said they took something each of us would sorely miss,” he tells you, holding your face in his hands delicately as though you could break if he doesn’t handle you with enough care. “Well, th-they did, a-and I don’t know what I would’ve done if I weren’t able to find you in time,” His eyes hold nothing but concern and the pain felt at the prospect of losing you.

“Ced,” you say his name breathlessly, all other words becoming foreign to you, yet again.

He leans his forehead onto yours and lets his eyelids flutter closed as your uneven breaths eventually sync up. His hands feel warm on your face, and his lips are so close to yours. That’s when he decides that he’s not letting anything get in the way this time.

The cheers only grow in volume when Cedric closes the gap and presses his lips to yours. Not knowing what else to do with your hands, they grab onto the first part of him they can find, which happens to be his jersey. Your fingers curl into the wet fabric that’s stuck to his abdomen as you kiss him back like your life depends on it.

The crowd’s noises fade away as you both become engrossed in the taste of each other. The wind chill and the gross lake water soon become after thoughts. This moment has been put off for far too long, in both your opinions, and there’s a lot of lost time to make up for.

#cedric doggory drabble #cedric diggory imagine #cedric diggory oneshot #cedric diggory x reader #cedric diggory #5 times fic #potatowrites #hp #hp imagine #hp oneshot #hp one shot #hp fic #hp fanfic #harry potter oneshot #harry potter imagine #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter and the goblet of fire #hp4 #oneshot

[fallfromthaliagrace]

Student Exchange- Percabeth AU

Chapters: 1/

Summary: Annabeth Chase gets little more than she bargained for when she helps Percy Jackson get used to San Francisco, Los Angeles.

(When I say that online classes were a nightmares, I meant. Though, it’s my last week of work!!! It has been almost a month since I posted and I’m so sorry. Also, I had writer block on this chapter so that’s why it suckssss and took forever. I have the rest of the chapter planned out so that’s hopefully going to go well. I’m hoping to finish this by June 20th, so chapter isn’t going to be once in a month lol.)

Warning: I can’t exactly remember but I don’t think so??

- 

Chapter 2.

A couple of days have passed by and Annabeth was surprised by Percy’s kindness toward her. I mean, you can’t really blame her- the twos have been rivals. (Though. she is kinda suspicious about it.)  Percy and the student exchange students had adjusted to the California lifestyle, so have the students of Jupiter Academy but in a different way; after the chaos that Leo Valdez brought to them on his first day in the school, the students had come with terms they’re going to be stuck with, dare I say? idiots. Apparently, Leo had accidentally knocked over an old historic piece of Camp Jupiter and shattered it but Renya had made it seem like Leo had just set the whole place on fire.  Annabeth has been helping Percy with his classes and etc. (if you can believe it or not,) and she noticed the ladies are obsessed with him. Annabeth finds it irritated but also, amusing that it has only been a week and the girls are acting like Percy is some hero or something. 

It was Friday afternoon, Annabeth was standing outside of Percy’s science class, waiting for him. Annabeth watches as Percy walks out the door, flashing her with a bright smile. Annabeth smiled back and asked, “Hey, how is your first week here?” 

Percy thinks for a minute before saying, “It has been good, everyone has been nice.” 

Annabeth couldn’t help but snorted, “I bet- the girls wouldn’t stop talking about you, in a good way of course.” 

Percy looked confused and raised his eyebrows, “The girls?” 

Annabeth stopped walking and looked at Percy, “Don’t tell me that you have noticed the girls flirting with you?” 

Percy shook his head and smiled sheepishly at Annabeth. Annabeth laughed and continued walking. 

“Uh-Annabeth? Do you have any plans for tonight?” Asked Percy as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“No, why?” Said Annabeth as she looked at Percy.

“Well… I was wondering if you could show around San Francisco?” Said Percy sheepishly, “Wait, are we even allow to leave?”

“Of course we can leave!” Exclaimed Annabeth, “And sure, I love to show around. But first, we need to ask Hazel and Frank for permission.” 

“Do they like, run the school, or something?” Joked Percy. 

Annabeth bit her lips before saying, “Kinda-... yeah, kinda.” 

Percy curiously looked at Annabeth then at the surroundings. Jupiter Academy was a place full of history and stricter rules, far different from Half-blood academy which was more at ease and chill for the students. Annabeth clutched to her backpack strings and walked down the stairs.

Students were chatting as they went off to their afternoon activities. Percy and Annabeth walked the main hall, hopefully, to catch Hazel or Frank so they could go off to explore the world of California. 

“Hazel!” Yelled Annabeth as she ran over to where Hazel was. Percy followed after her and caught up with her. 

“Oh hey, Annabeth and Percy!” Said Hazel as she finished talking with another student, “Percy, how is your first week here?” 

“Good. I have a question though,” Asked Percy, “Can Annabeth and I go explore San Francisco?”

“Of course! Just please come back by six for dinner.” Said Hazel. 

Annabeth nodded and Percy said, “Thanks!” 

Hazel smiled, “No problem, have fun!” 

Annabeth and Percy after saying goodbye to Hazel then going to their respective dorms to get their belongings. They met at the front doors and left. The sun hit them and Percy instantly shielded his eyes while Annabeth took out her sunglasses and put them on. The air was humid and noise from the nearby city could be heard, it was almost like New York. 

“Do you want to walk or take a taxi?” Asked Annabeth, “The city isn’t that far, some couple of steps.”

“Sure,” Said Percy, “Do you always go out on Friday afternoon?”

Annabeth blushed and said, “No, not really. I usually stay in and study or hang out with my friends. How about you?” 

“Well, I would usually practice soccer or I would also hang out with my friends.” Said Percy. 

“Soccer?” Asked Annabeth with her eyebrows raised, “I also play soccer, though I bet you already knew it.”  

Percy smirked, “I do, maybe we should have soccer competition?” 

“Nah-” Said Annabeth who tried to give her ambitious side a break, “No need, I know I’m better.” 

“Are you sure?” Asked Percy, “Cause I haven’t seen you play any sports since-”

“Fine, just prepare for your ass to be beaten though.” Said Annabeth as she glared at Percy. 

Percy only simpered and kept on walking.

Seven minutes later, they reached San Francisco and the busy streets of California. Traffic was horrible and it was no help that It was evening rush hour, on the sidewalk, there were so many people that Percy was glad he wasn’t claustrophobic. Annabeth took him to mission street to see murals painted in the ’80s. 

“Wow, it’s so beautiful.” Said Percy as he looked at a splash of different colors on the wall. 

“I know right?” Annabeth said as she admired the murals, “It was painted to speak about the injustice and human rights issues in Central America.” 

“Oh, that’s cool. There are things like this back in New York too.” Said Percy as he examined the murals. 

Annabeth nodded and said, “Yeah I bet, I saw something when I was there. Anyways, down this road is…” 

Percy’s mind wandered as he followed Annabeth down the street to see more murals. Annabeth had her hair into space buns and wore casual tee and shorts with high-top sneakers. And Percy didn’t want to mention but she looked cute. 

They reached the end of murals and Annabeth turned around and said, “Do you want to go back or do you want to see one more thing?” 

Percy grinned, “I want to see one more thing.”

“Okay, c’mon, we need a taxi.” 

They arrived at Annabeth's mysterious place and Annabeth made him close his eyes. He wiggled his eyebrows at that request and Annabeth hit him playfully. 

“There isn’t much time left but I wanted to show you one of my favorite places in San Francisco that I found after I moved here,” Said Annabeth as she led him through the top pillars.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Opens your eyes.” 

The sight before him was so beautiful. Across from him was a huge lagoon and he could see his reflection staring back at him. Ahead of him was the head of the building and he looked at Annabeth with amazement.  

“Wow.” Asked Percy.

“Is it lovely? This building is the Ogle the Architecture, it was inspired by ancient Greeks and Roman architecture. It is so peaceful, I was planning to visit it but hadn’t the chance yet till today.” Replied Annabeth.

“Just wow, it’s overwhelming but in a good way.” Said Percy which caused Annabeth to laugh.

“C’mon, let me show one of my favorite pieces.” Said Annabeth, taking Percy’s hand. 

After pointing out details from some of her favorite pieces of the building and explained some of them to him. It was a quarter to six and they decided to return back to school. As they exited the building, Annabeth said, “It was much pretty at night but we can’t leave the schools after six instead it's an emergency.” 

Percy nodded and smiled, “Then, maybe sometimes soon?”

Annabeth blushed. This was a low-key date if she had to admit. And she actually had a great time. Annabeth bit her lips and thought about it for a minute.

“Sure, sometimes soon.”

#percy jackson #percabeth #percabeth au #annabeth chase #frank zhang #hazel levesque #leo valdez #jason grace #piper mclean #nico di angelo #will solace #renya #reyna avila ramirez arellano #michael kahale #malcom pace #enemies to lovers #percy and annabeth #annabeth pjo #percy jackson au #qurantine writing #ilysm <3

[rlkalahari17]

Spring

Psycho Pass Fanfiction

Pairing : Kougami Shinya/ Tsunemori Akane

Rating : T

The narrative took place in post canon world of Psycho Pass, while the story took place in post canon plot of Psycho Pass First Inspector, please enjoy if you have time to read.

Chapter 1: Stay

Spring, as far as I could remember, the season itself became an important time for my mother; every single of her story begins on the fateful rainy day she met him, my father. Times pasts along with a row of mountainous challenges, she told me, every time by his side, she had never known fear, she only knows the perfect place to restore her puzzles, and his scent was a perfect balance and her calming treatment.

But it was also Spring, when my mother told me, that it was the time his letter reached her, and he was gone, she’s sure she’ll never see or nuzzle in his aroma again as her cases continues on and on like an endless walk of race. The Long Walk, at that she understands why that book became his favorite, no his life. She walked on the same path, before she knew it, and many people saw her eyes full of nothing but determination, something that my uncle noticed there was another mix there. But she knew her feelings very well, than others, she isn’t mourning, instead she’s becoming what her admired man always told, a strong and mesmerizing detective.

Then another Spring came, as she fled to an unknown part of the world, her words were shaky as she draws the story with her narration, the outside world is in pain, and she couldn’t bear to watch, telling me she’s a monster who’s not frustrated at the limb of a killed mother in her windows with her dying child in her hands. And those who barely eats, and corpses at the side of the street like it was common trashes which spreads everywhere, she couldn’t make out any faces of happiness, like she always curved every time her meals served in her favorite café. I gave my mouth to tell her, but then she started earlier, as she said that her admired man had never said she was a monster, instead she always has a determination to help, but it wasn’t mean as a hero, she did it in her own way, and that man was also attracted to that. He’s convinced even more, when more double strikes on him, as well as her courage to go against everything that doesn’t go according to the law, and she believed in it, it’s not idealistic, but it’s a faith.

Endless of Spring Rain, and her knees fell to the ground, she didn’t feel anything at all, at that time she had come to an understanding, she didn’t regret what she had done, and her hands holding to her chest, as she filled every inch of her heart, stronger than any feels she had ever experienced in her whole life. At that time, she finally found something, precious even more than her life, as she believes she could save so many people, she could save her friends, she could save her family, and she could save him. What she found was a track of the true society’s crime, and it lies beneath the ground, a place which become a giant cerebral network, and which the one itself that the society relies the law on, the System. And on that same beautiful day, she was untitled, as if she was just another folder of files long forgotten but kept in secret inside of a bunker, to shut itself, before being read by others, bars which kept her inside and far, but close on each of their eyes. She told me, only one thing that they didn’t know, that he believes in her, as he ran outside, in exchange of her place to resolve everything, until one day she could be proud sentencing it one day on her own feet.

When Sakura fell alone in another year of blooming Spring, she didn’t know what had urged her to take her steps quicker than usual, she wasn’t running, but it’s like a tap rhythm, quick enough, as if it was a gravitational pull, it’s not like she’s very relieved she was dismissed from her prison, instead she thought of facing them, but her sincerity to serve the law to people, and demonstrates justice is still strong. The doors felt like opening in a very slow pace, as if her birthday present wrapped in ribbon, at that time she had just remembered that was her birthday, she became grey as she thought it’ll be a lonely party, until she took a step outside, and gaze her head up, that was another feeling she had never expected to ever come in her life, telling me that she could cry any moment that day, but standing there, with his whole frame, his close presence, and she believed in her words once more when she had her last time call, he’s a very ordinary person, and all ever she could think when she saw him again. It is pulling her, but all she ever wanted to express whenever she saw him near, it was, “Welcome Home”.

That day was indeed April 1st and still having to confirm it, she thought he was a holo, as if he was a Fool’s Prank. He chuckled, and she was really annoyed with that, telling me, he’s the worst person to ever read her like a book. Never been telling me, but they did visit a nice small shop, at the boundaries of the city, she remembers her favorite aroma, telling me that she still orders or visits there often, a cheap restaurant, with varieties of Beef Meals, they weren’t fancy like any other restaurants, but the man did think the best place to serve her bored prison tongue. Telling her favorite toppings of each stray of the noodle, the warm and spicy miso had a nice curry taste on it, the best ramen she had ever devoured, telling me taking three bowls until it made the man felt broke. I gave her my laughter, she smiled, as she recalled his appetite was gone so he could only order one snap of big beef burger and request on eggs topping because he had his salary just yet that month.

Her gaze falling outside as she sipped her blend of fresh tropical, it’s like she follows the falling spring cherry blossoms. She sat at the table, as he organized the bill, paying on every single of their bites with his dimes. She said his words slipped when he suddenly put a paper on their table, those were another case’s files which were analyzed by the SAD at that time, even he told her in a cold tone as he sipped his own coke with an expressionless gaze, but his relaxed sharp features told her that he’s taking his time and having no worries on anything. Letting her know that these cases might be useful for her to warm up her detective instincts, of course she wouldn’t decline, and it’s her job. All the past cases, the Bifrost, Foxes, and Congressmen, it was all written there, she had known and take it easy to play the latter’s game. He laughed at all the unbelievable guesses she quickly gave, they didn’t really point directly to the culprits, just the greatest motives of each cases. It was all flowing easily, until she fell on the last piece of paper.

It’s written just today, the first fall of cherry blossoms in spring, it’s a free form of Enforcer’s living pavement, and she almost forgot to write down her confirmations once she received the file in her computer and printed it in her correction cell. Telling me that auntie is going to nag like rapping music in her head, and it did happen, but it was because of a different thing. The reason is when a slipping of a special instruction given to her, when the latter slipped it to her, another piece of important paper. To be honest, she’s actually confused why did she had to write it on paper, while she could just sent it digitally, then that other paper became the answer.

It has a nice aroma of mint and cherry blossom, a cold spring she thought, by the mixing scent she opened the enveloped message, reading to her heart’s content once she hold it with her two palms. Her eyes were enough of all the explanation, that’s what my mom told me, she’s still holding it, she didn’t know how it felt, but indeed it was an injustice. She get all of these rights, ordered to be free, and live all her life she wanted, when other people didn’t, when the man in front of her didn’t. His gaze was darken of course, she wasn’t the only one who’s furious, but it wasn’t about his psycho pass or anything about his hidden statutory, but she was pressured by these people, that he had yet known for sure.

She held her hands down on her thighs; they played her at best, gripping her brown trousers, as if clawing it suppressing her anger. His gaze at her was enough to make my mother noticed, then she held her head high up, and sentenced these words to him, “I didn’t need special arrangement of rights, trying to swept me away in an easy going life, I’m just going to live a life of a responsible had always been, believe in the law.” After that, she told me, when she looked at him, his gaze was sharp, telling me as if she was trapped there, telling me his eyes are steady blue, sky is the reflection of his, and she had the feeling of uneasiness, but she didn’t want to escape, instead she wanted to face him in a way closer. Then he cracked his voice open, made her jump a little from the silent moment between them.

“Be proud of every choice you make, your path has always been right,” she told me, that was his warmest or the correct adjective is the most sincere curve on his face she had ever took attention to, it only curled up another inside of her, she eventually replied his with hers, or even her best one after so long. Those letter words were not farewell, but another welcome, and she will be very glad and obliged if he allowed her to say those words that day.

“Then take a look at this before I prepared the car, wait here, I’ll pick you up,” He stood as he went away taking steps further to the parking lot, she told me that the view really dirtied her mind a lot ever since she got to finally had time focusing in his build for every millisecond of time, I told her not to tell any further than that. But then one thing she ever liked from his features were his eyes, they were most honest and easily to be read, and he had yet to realize that. Because she read them, as he walked away as well, something about him was being unsteady or alerted, something obviously annoyed him at the time. Knowing this my mom told me that she opened the file he gave to her and opened each pages of it, as she rested her chin on her palms. Confused and thinking if this’ll be a great mission she’ll face in the future as an enforcer, but with this collaboration.

She was surprised by the sound of a wheel screeching on the street, the black metallic plates reflected the sun lights, giving her a blind spot, as he opened a door for her, and she stood, walking pasts some dinner tables and accepting his help to take her seat in the car. He closed the door, telling me if he’s surprisingly a gentleman that day, but she shrugs it off as if it was a normal routine he had done, it’s his nature, when I obviously doubted it, it was a very sincere feeling instead. The road was a difficult silent, as she took a long time to think, she had scanned the whole documents as if getting big pieces, which leads to a very dangerous end of destination. Anything about it was enough, but she knows for sure, it was the chasing down of Peacebreaker, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs SAD was proposing a collaboration of Investigation Works with Ministry of Welfare and Health PSB, and hardly to believe the one who approves the proposal in the name of PSB was Homura Shizuka, the person who she had known to work with once she was in prison, a dangerous man she had talk to once, and she didn’t want to tell anything to the latter who sat on his driving seat at the time.

“This is going to be my first long case once becoming an enforcer.” She throws it as a joke, even though the latter didn’t glance at all, as he stiffens his shoulders at the time, she described that, his fingers kind of wrinkled on the steering wheel, this made him itching, and she knew what was that, as she gazes back to the city and the concrete streets, and keeping her curving amused smile on her face.

“You can smoke, it’s okay, I’d love to scent it after a long time,” He couldn’t help but gave a defeated sigh, as a pull of his side lips went up, as he stroked his jacket’s pouch and he grabbed his favorite brand, as well my mom’s taking a happy scent to, the Spinel gave a warm nostalgic feeling, she relaxed on her seat, another part of him that finally came in complete whenever he’s close to her.

“You took a breath on it a lot, just trying not to give you any further damage of health,” being considerate had always been the latter’s character, she’s obviously embarrassed at the thought he had known her bad habits, but she kept a defeated face, because just like him, she couldn’t help but to grab a stick out of it.  She mutters her gratitude, enough to make him not to worry, it was burnt for a long time, and both of them didn’t mutter any single words, as anything of the silence was enough of a comfort to save how lost they were. She’s enjoying each second, but it wasn’t wasted, it’s a gift, memorizing each of what they do that day, but another itching curiousity crept her in as she still stared down at the piled up important future matters paper on her lap.

“Have you thought another troublesome problem than that?” his questions cracked the silence, her gaze stared at him blankly, winking of one and two, as if a questioned look and confusion, but she did feel that she had just forgotten something, she told me that she squealed almost giving a hilarious little jump of the man once she remembered her forgotten task, the new living quarter’s location and personal home territorial data. She then started to look around for the paper everywhere, but then she was a little panicked in her voice and still keeping her straight serious gaze, then she made lots of noises and muttering “Where is it?”, when she finally said those words, he suddenly gave her the paper in front of her face, he put down his hands as he switched the wheel into auto-drive, at that time she had just skipped a heartbeat and telling me the worst she had ever felt in her whole life.

“Have you decided where to stay?” That was what he asked, a question she’ll never forgotten in her whole entire life until now. She then gave herself a gaze back down, as if she tried to imagine the dorms of enforcer there, and starts to think she would like to stay in the latter’s former quarter, and having a nice memory of their early days there.

“I don’t know but I think I’m going to stay at yo—“

“Stay in my flat, I have spare of futon and blankets,” it was a silent or a shocking one, none of them were barely moving or even breathing any words. It was all kept inside, and my mom could only look at him in all confusion, frustration, questions but most of all uneasiness. And she couldn’t help but opened her words.

“How am I doing that?” he’s giving a hard look when he gazes down, and his gaze is low but still sharp, realizing she chose the wrong choice of words, as if questioning his boundaries on her, she never meant that, hoping he didn’t get it wrong, she’s just very confused, until he broke and intrude her thoughts.

“Didn’t you read? It was written there, in this corporation, any enforcers could be supervises and ordered by both Investigation Department of each Ministries, cooperating hand in hand to keep each other from any equivalent of fatal dangers, enforcers may work or stayed on different ministries for more effective accesses in future investigations, some enforcers might be moved or kept in some positions of each ministries according to what had the superiors and supervisors of ministries’ decisions, this regulation system was applied as long as the case of Peacebreaker’s Remnants are investigated.”

My mom stared at him, her face is still straight but her brown orbs were glimmering and shaky, her face is still straight and unwavering, but these words were enough to shock her, as she knew the boundaries of enforcers very well, it was like the feeling when suddenly you received an expand of rights, even though the society had cast you out. But of course those reasons were only to distract her, when the right stung in her heart was his undirected words at her. And yet she had the urge of wanting to hear it more from him.

“I’m your superior, and I ask you to stay with me, you know now, I’m the one who’s equal to an inspector status here.” He gazed at her, another sincere smile on his face, she didn’t tell me about her reaction, but I believe it was a complicated mixture of expressions she made, but one thing for sure, I can see that she couldn’t help but to smile every content of her heart and returning it.

And that day, in the most unbelievable Spring and Birthday in her whole life, my mother finally reunites and since then she continues their unfinished chapter together, and she was even more happy to finally utter these words in her chest, “You’ll never walk alone,” to my father.

A/N : It’s my first time writing, and I hope I got lots of advice from fellow readers, thank you so much for reading this in your spare time, I’m so excited :), and I’m working on the last chapter of this fic, so there are 6 chapters that will be updated soon, thank you for reading this in your spare time!

#shinkane #kougami shinya #akane tsunemori #kouaka #psycho pass #fanfiction #akane x kougami #psycho pass 3 #pairing #otp #my otp for life

[asckj1]

what is your favorite adaptation of MDZS? and why?

Ooh! Thank you for this question 🙏🙏😄 My favourite MDZS adaptation in order (this will be a loong post 😄)

1) Audio Drama:

The reason for this is pretty obvious actually. Though it's only an audio in this adaptation, it easily helps you visualise the story and characters. And a very big contribution to this is ofc ourse the fantastic voice actors of wwx, lwj and also other characters both major and minor. This adaptation has been following the novel's story really closely and sometimes also adding bits to expand nicely on scenarios that were only vaguely written/ not expanded much in the novel. Further, the audio drama makers have been really generous to all us MDZS fans by giving us so many sweet wangxian moments and also many more emotional moments between interactions of various characters, not just in the main episodes but also in the extras. And then, when you hear the free talks, it's not again just about how mdzs audio drama was made, you also get references to many small bits on how things work in general in this audio drama, bits on instruments and sound effects used, sone poems and interesting viewpoints even, what care has been taken and is generally needed in dubbing such shows. One must definitely appreciate this adaptation because as most of you might have realised, a full of action and drama story like MDZS can best be conveyed via a visual media like a donghua for the best impact. And yet, the audio drama pulls off such an amazing adaptation that forces one to pay attention to it.

2) The Untamed:

This adaptation was actually a surprise for me. I never actually intended to pay any attention to it, but here I am even going as far as subbing it with my friends at suibian subs. This was something we really decided to do on a whim. I'm really glad I watched this show. Even though there are many difficulties in showcasing even non explicit bl moments in a live action drama, this adaptation pulled it off really well. And we really have to thank the cn mdzs fandom for this. It was because they commented so heavily before "The Untamed" aired that we got to see the real Wangxian in this. This adaptation too follows the novel fairy closely after the few initial episodes and all the actors and the whole production crew have put in a lot of effort in making this long show. And a very interesting angle in this show was the slight changes made to wwx's character which reduces his naughtiness a tiny bit and emphasises his cute, kind and serious side much more, making his character really lovable. I actually started appreciating wwx's character only after watching this adaptation. Again, the interaction between all the different characters which is the strong point of the original novel is very nicely showcased in this adaptation. And just like the audio drama, this adaptation too shows the sunshot campaign, jc and wwx's fake fight near the burial mounds in much more detail. This really only adds depth to the characters as well as the story. Though there are a few unreasonable and awkward things here and there in this adaptation, like wwx fighting swordsman with his flute (which is extremely unreasonable), still the good parts are far more than these flaws making this adaptation very satisfactory.

3) Manhua:

This adaptation is once again very faithful to the novel. The 65 chapters that i read till now are all enjoyable. Just that since the format of the manhua is more like a webtoon rather than traditional manga, sometimes it becomes a bit annoying trying to make out the full picture in a chapter.

4) Donghua:

Season 1 of the donghua was really good. But the storytelling pace is quite rushed. The visuals are fantastic!!! If they had slowed down the pace of each episode, this donghua would have been a bomb! (please take it in a good sense). Season 2 was an even bigger disappointment. It is too fast and there is too much divergence from the novel's story. Like the Xuanlu Ridge in Qinghe sect's region where wwx and lwj save jin ling, that whole scenario has been rushed so much even though it doesn't have any bl moments! The pacing seriously does injustice to the character development and doesn't allow the story to sink in. That's why this is by far my least favourite adaptation, even though i loved the visuals in this the most!

That said, if you are an mdzs fan, you should definitely watch all these adaptations 😊