#my contribution to luna content | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brcnze · 2 months

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but even after this, you’re still everything to me.

a/n: im not hugely keen on this but thought i’d post it anyway! i hate this luna fic drought we’re all in so much so here’s my contribution hehe! i’ve also only roughly read it through so please ignore any mistakes.

word count: 7.4k

but even after this, you’re still everything to me.

Everything was a constant reminder of her; the matching toothbrush that shared a home beside her own, the golden smiley face necklace that she had given her as a present because it reminded her of her smile, the excessive amount of half empty condiments still in the fridge, the little westie she saw every day after training and whom still got excited to see her.

Lucy was gone, but the memory of her was far from that.

It had been a grand total of six months since the defender had transferred to her new club. Six months since Ona had felt truly happy. She felt silly really, their relationship had started off as long distance and it was overly common to have to deal with it at some point being a sportsperson.

However, after living the dream life with Lucy for an entire season and becoming so accustomed to having her by her side day and night it utterly broke her when she left. It broke them.

She didn’t blame Lucy, she couldn’t. The defender had wanted to extend her contract with Barça but unfortunately wasn’t offered a renewal. The pair had cried many tears together when they learnt the news, less than ready to face being apart yet again. They spent evenings upon evenings going through offers that Lucy had received and weighing out the pros and cons.

In the end, Lucy settled on Bayern. She had offers worldwide, everyone unsurprisingly jumping at the chance to sign the talented right-back. However, Germany was the closest she could be to Ona and although swearing she would always put her career first, Ona was now her priority.

The day the older woman had left, the last time she closed the door to what had been their shared apartment, she had taken off with a promise. She promised Ona that they would be okay, that she would visit whenever she could and that she would never give up on them.

She kept that promise. Messaging and facetiming Ona at every opportunity, finding as many gaps in her schedule as she could just to fly over to see her, but Ona wasn’t strong enough. The younger woman couldn’t cope with the distance, she’d had a taste of a life with Lucy and having it ripped from underneath her sent her into self sabotage.

Lucy wasn’t stupid, she knew Ona like the back of her hand and so the change in her demeanour was picked up by her instantly.

“Is everything okay?”

Ona looked at her through the screen, the beautiful eyes she loved more than anything filled with nothing but concern. She went to nod, pretend that everything was fine, but it wasn’t and Lucy knew it too.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

The break up was filled with tears. None of the breakups the spaniard had been through had been pleasant, but this was so different. They were both still so deeply in love with the other, they wanted it to work but had both come to the conclusion that they were putting one another through more harm than good.

Lucy was the woman that Ona wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She knew that from day one, but for some reason the clouded thoughts in her brain persuaded her that it would be easier to give it all up rather than fight for it. It was completely out of character for Ona to just give up this easily, but she had never experienced a love like this and love makes you do crazy things.

She spent the rest of the night crying in bed, using Coco as a source of comfort. She didn’t think she could possibly feel anymore shitty until her phone pinged with a message, her heart physically breaking at its contents.

I promise this is the last time i will contact you, but i just had to say this before i let you go.The two years i got to call you mine were easily the best years of my life. I’ll never find another like you Ona Batlle and i hope more than anything that one day we find our way back to eachother. Thank you for everything. I love you, always.

Your Lucia.

They hadn’t spoken since.

Everyone told her it would get better after that, or somewhat easier. It never did. It had been months since the breakup and although she was able to force a smile onto her face at training, the facade instantly slipped as soon as she got a minute alone.

The team were at dinner together after being away for international break. Ona being forcefully dragged out by Mariona against her will after insisting she wanted to stay home. She loved being around her teammates, but the thought of socialising with anyone now aside from her dog felt utterly challenging.

She was sat beside Keira throughout the meal, not missing the concerned glances the ginger would give her every now and again. The spaniard envied Keira in a way, her being the only one on the team who got to see Lucy somewhat regularly. Tossing around a piece of chicken on her fork, she couldn’t help but allow temptation to get the better of her and ask the question on the front of her mind.

“How is she?”

Keira turned to face Ona, her eyes immediately softening as she took in her broken expression.

“She asked me the same question.”

The ginger smiled sadly, not forgetting the same sad look that was on Lucy’s face when she too asked how Ona was doing.

“Her and Georgia are thick as thieves now they play on the same team, but you should really message her yourself. I know it would make her smile from ear to ear because she’s missing you an awful lot.”

Ona hated the way her heart picked up upon hearing that last part. She thought she should be moving on, but it was impossible.

The midfielder didn’t miss the hopeful glint in her eye upon hearing how much Lucy missed her. Some may say it was odd how much care Keira had for her ex girlfriend and her ex girlfriends ex, but she couldn’t deny they were perfect for one another. Herself and Lucy had ended on the best terms possible and she and Ona had made her feel more than comfortable when they all played on the same team, actually forming a genuine friendship that they all valued.

“Long distance is hard, but it really is worth it if you love them enough. I wish more than anything that i got to see Laura everyday but everytime i do get to see her i’m reminded of why i do it.”

The spaniard let out a sigh, grateful for Keira’s kindness but also filled with the thoughts that she wasn’t strong enough to cope with it. She didn’t want to be the reason that her and Lucy both always felt an emptiness when they were apart.

“Thank you, Keira. She would be worth it, of course she would, but i’m just not as strong as you are.”

Keira wanted to argue it, convince Ona that she was indeed strong enough and that the heart ache would never actually go away if she just gave up. However, she also knew that Ona didn’t need to hear that right now, opting to just squeeze her shoulder and offer her a sad smile.

So, for the remainder of the football season Ona did her best to push her sadness to the back of her mind. There was no way she was going to be getting back into the dating scene, that wouldn’t be fair on her or a potential partner. Instead, she focused on finding things that made her happy again and partook in less moping around. She busied herself with old and new hobbies that she found she enjoyed and worked on her ever awful baking skills all the way up until the final match.

Her teammates noticed the change in her, and although the tinge of sadness never quite left, they were overjoyed to get a slice of their happy friend back. The euros were also fast approaching, and having played her last game of the 24/25 season Ona was feeling as ready as ever to play for her country.

The tournament was being held in Switzerland, and having visited a few times already Ona was excited to return to the beautiful country. Amongst the excitement of it all, the spaniard hadn’t even thought twice about the fact that Spain obviously weren’t going to be the only country in attendance. It wasn’t until she was sat on the plane next to one of her best friends, Salma, that the realisation hit her like a ton of bricks.

“You think you’re going to be okay, Oni?”

Ona had given her a questioning look, taking out an airpod to try and gauge what she was referring to.

“Seeing Lucy again and everything.”

That’s when it hit her.

She’d tried to force herself to stop thinking about Lucy as much. She attempted the classic out of sight, out of mind approach and although it hadn’t worked and she still thought about her every single damn minute, she hadn’t actually taken into consideration the fact they were going to be more than likely less than five minutes down the road from one another for the next few weeks.

They hadn’t ended on bad terms at all, the last message Ona received from the english woman being nothing but adorable. However, that didn’t prevent the nervous feeling growing in her tummy at the idea of seeing the woman she loved so dearly after so many months.

“I hadn’t actually thought about it.”

Salma noticed the way her friend was nervously picking at her nails now, placing her hand atop to offer some comfort.

“It will be fine, you don’t need to worry. It’s not like it’s going to be awkward between you or anything.”

For the remaining duration of the flight, Ona couldn’t help but allow her mind to spiral about what seeing Lucy again would be like. She was excited in a way, she missed the older woman more than she ever knew it was possible to miss a human, but she also was filled with nerves.

Herself and Lucy had always struggled to stay away from one another. They were like magnets from the day they met, drawn to one another instantly when in close enough proximity. It was one of the things that made Ona realise just how deep her love for her was, never before being a very physical person.

The spaniard allowed her mind to wander all the way up until she reached her hotel room. The girls all got their own rooms now, which she appreciated for the privacy but also missed the company.

Ona collapsed straight onto the white sheets and as soon as she unlocked her phone, almost immediately found herself mindlessly scrolling through Lucy’s instagram, something she definitely didn’t do on the regular, and smiling to herself at the pictures. Lucy was the most beautiful woman on the planet in her eyes and she couldn’t help but want to appreciate that.

As she scrolled down a little further, she came across her favourite collections of photos. During their relationship they both had agreed to keep it private, but not a secret. So, something they both had enjoyed doing frequently was complying pictures for a photo dump that gave the teeniest subtle hints of the other.

They resembled school girls whenever they’d hit the post button, giggling away to each other about the hidden meanings behind each photo they had chosen.

As she refreshed the page, scrolling back up to the top, she came across a new photo she hadn’t seen before. It had been posted only twenty seconds ago and showed Lucy, grinning widely at the camera as she stepped off a plane. Ona missed that smile more than anything, not being able to stop herself from zooming in to get a closer look at her favourite eyes. She missed looking into them without the preventative barrier of a screen more than anything. However, what she definitely didn’t intend to do at all was like the photo.

As soon as the red heart splayed across the screen, she froze.

“Mierda!”

She muttered to herself, shutting off her phone instantly. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. All she’d done was press the like button, but knowing it was after only twenty seconds of being posted made her internally cringe.

She wasn’t a huge instagram user at the best of times, only really going on there to promote games or post a few photos herself. She rarely ever liked posts and Lucy knew that. It had become a weird sort of game for them both, Lucy knowing that if she ever received a like from Ona it meant that the spaniard had really, really enjoyed the photo.

After a few minutes of cursing herself, face buried into her hands, she felt her phone buzzing multiple times from underneath the pillow she had shoved on top of it.

Lucy Bronze liked your post.

She knows she shouldn’t but Ona couldn’t help the smug smile that wiped across her face. She’d been in the same country as Lucy for approximately an hour and already she couldn’t keep away.

She stared at the collection of notifications, knowing Lucy knew exactly what she was doing and contemplated messaging her. She was weighing up the pros and cons in her head before she finally came to the conclusion of…fuck it.

Stalker.

She kept it short and a reply came almost instantly.

If i remember correctly it was you who liked my post first, within a minute of it being posted may i also add.

You looked nice.

She was feeling brave, eagerly anticipating Lucy's response and not being disappointed when it came through.

So did you.

The spaniard hovered her fingers over the keys, preparing what she wanted to say next when her phone began to ring with a facetime request. She knew who it was before even reading the ‘Lucia’ followed by a pink heart, that flashed up. Ona knew it was a bad idea to answer the call, but it was a bad idea to send her a message in the first place, so to hell with it.

As the screen filled with Lucy, she opened her mouth to speak but was immediately silenced by the sight. The defender had her hair down and splaying across her shoulders, her glasses resting perfectly on the bridge of her nose, a content smile on her lips. She must’ve noticed Ona’s trance as what was a smile turned into a smirk and she took the words right out of her mouth.

“I’ve missed seeing your face.”

Ona blushed at that, mirroring the smirk that Lucy was giving her.

“You are in Switzerland now, too?”

Lucy nodded, “We arrived a couple hours ago. How have you been?”

The pair spoke for hours, but it felt like minutes. Everything always felt so easy with Lucy, and Ona had missed the lighthearted conversations they would share. It was nice to talk to someone and not feel like she was pretending for once. Lucy could tell just by the younger girls' mannerisms that she wasn’t totally herself and she too wasn’t totally herself either. Neither woman had been since the day they had broken up.

Lucy had craved seeing Onas smile for months, but the fact it didn’t quite reach her eyes anymore didn’t go unnoticed by her. She kept pressing her on whether she was really doing okay, and upon being met with an unconvincing nod for the third time she asked her to see her tomorrow.

Ona was sceptical at first, knowing that she would likely break down at some point if she was to see Lucy. However, the opportunity was unlikely to become available again anytime soon so she had to grab it with both hands. She chose to ignore how impossibly further back that would set her on her attempts at moving on, and she honestly couldn’t bring herself to care.

“You’re really up for meeting tomorrow, yeah?”

Lucy questioned, a little taken aback that Ona had actually agreed.

“Si, i would really like to.”

After saying goodnight to Lucy, Ona couldn’t quite comprehend the fact that she would be seeing her tomorrow. She tossed and turned in the hotel bed, thinking about how long it had been and what she was actually going to say to her.

When realisation had hit her on the plane earlier that day that they’d be in the same place, she didn’t think for even a second that tomorrow she’d be willingly meeting up with her. Just the two of them.

The thought of being next to her and not being able to call her love, rest her head in the crook of her neck, trace the outline of her wrist tattoo the way she loved, kiss her senseless seemed impossible. She and Lucy had been drawn to each other from day one, never ever being just friends and always being one hundred times more than that. However, she would have been a fool to turn down her offer after craving just her presence for so many months.

It’s safe to say she went to sleep with Lucy, and Lucy only on her mind that night.

Ona was convinced she had never gotten up and ready faster in her life the next morning. Herself and Lucy had agreed to grab coffee and just go for a stroll around a local park, close to both of their hotels. It was crazy to think that they actually used to do this most days together, and it was now that Ona realised how much she took the most simple of things for granted.

She didn’t plan on telling anyone that she was going to meet Lucy, not wanting to answer any unwanted questions. However, the ridiculously wide smile for only eight in the morning didn’t go unmissed by Mariona.

“What’s got you so smiley chica?”

Ona turned to give her a small shrug.

“Just excited for tomorrow’s game.”

Mariona narrowed her eyes, not believing a single word.

“I know that smile. That’s your Lucy smile, have you seen her?”

The brunettes eyes widened. She loved how close she was with her teammates, but the fact they could analyse her moods this in depth and with such little information made her wish they didn’t know her quite so well.

“How did you kn-“

Mariona cut her off.

“You’ve been a lot happier these past few weeks Oni, but we can all tell it’s a little false. You haven’t looked as happy as you do this morning since Lucy left Barça. Now you’re in the same country and suddenly you’re like the gato de Cheshire!”

Ona sighed in defeat, there was no way she could argue with that.

“Okay fine, you got me. But i haven’t seen her yet. I’m meeting her after breakfast and it’s just as friends, sadly.”

The forwards grin widened even more, impressed with her ability to guess correctly and also happy that two of her best friends would be reuniting again.

“Do you think it’s a bad idea though? I want to see her so badly but i’m…scared.”

Mariona met her with a sympathetic smile, grasping her hand that was nervously picking at her t-shirt.

“There’s no need to be nervous, guapa. I know, we all know, how much you have been missing her and this is the greatest opportunity. Besides, you and Lucy will get back together one day. I know everything, remember.”

Ona let out a huff of a laugh, shaking her head as she got up to scrape the remnants of her breakfast into the bin.

“Gracias, Mario.”

“Don’t have too much fun, Oni. Oh and when you’re done with her tell her i’d like to see her too!”

Mariona called out after her as the spaniard made her way outside with a fond chuckle and a ‘si lo que sea.’

As Ona made her way outside, she stood by the fir tree tucked around the corner from the Spanish girls hotel. She and Lucy had agreed to meet there and so she busied herself with scrolling through her emails she had neglected whilst she waited. She had so many feelings. She was nervous and excited all at the same time, but thankfully the anticipation was cut short as a deep, familiar voice called out to her.

“Ona?”

Her head snapped up at the English accent, emails immediately forgotten.

As soon as she looked into those beautiful eyes properly for the first time again in too many months she felt as though she could turn into a human puddle.

“Hola, Lucia.”

Lucy smiled at the nickname, all the feelings she had been desperately trying to keep bottled up spilling out. She let out a deep sigh as she took in the woman in front of her.

“Wow, i- i can’t believe you’re here.”

Ona mirrored her smile, nodding her head in the direction of the park to begin their walk together.

They chatted non-stop about anything and everything, never once enduring any type of awkward silence and everything felt just like it had many months ago. Lucy brought them

both a coffee, ordering exactly what she knew Ona liked and ignoring the spaniards insistence on paying.

As they carried on, coffees in hand the pair reached a bench in a secluded area, opting to sit down for a while.

“So, how is it at Bayern?”

“It’s okay. The girls are lovely, it’s nice to have Georgia there as a familiar face, but i miss being in Barcelona a lot.”

“I bet you just miss the sun.”

Lucy let out a chuckle at that, knowing how much Ona used to tease her that she was more English than her as Lucy was always such a baby whenever the temperature dropped below twenty five degrees.

“Well that’s a big part of it, yeah. All it does is bloody rain in Germany, but I also miss the food, the views, Narla, the girls…you.”

Ona’s breath hitched a little. It felt as though she and Lucy had silently agreed not to divulge into their feelings, but knowing she missed her made her heart beat that little bit extra.

She looked her dead in the eye, her own eyes softening at the small expression on her face. The spaniard couldn’t help but reach her petite hand out and place it on Lucy's knee and as if by reflex, Lucy’s hand came to rest on top of Ona’s.

“I miss you too, Lucia.”

Ona swallowed deeply, looking down at their hands as Lucy began to rub small circles across her knuckles. It took every strength within her body to restrain herself from leaning forward and attaching their lips, so instead of doing that she tried to divert the conversation in a different direction.

“So, you don’t have a new girlfriend then?”

The Englishwoman let out a rumbly laugh at the question, deeming it as absolutely ridiculous.

“Don’t be stupid, course i don’t.”

“Well good, i was just checking.”

“Good? Why, what would you have done if i’d said yes?”

Lucy was smirking at her, the smirk that almost always had Ona on her knees.

“Tell her to, how you say? Back the fuck off.”

She knew she should tone down on the flirting, only setting herself up for more pain in the near future. But when Lucy was looking at her like that with that smirk on her face she simply couldn’t help herself.

“That’s hot” Lucy murmured.

Ona couldn’t wipe the grin off of her face, not missing the way Lucy was now trailing her fingertips up her arm. Until, all of a sudden reality came crashing down on her.

It was almost like for a split second she’d forgotten about the fact they weren’t actually together anymore, they’d fallen back into their usual ways the second they’d reunited and it was only now that Ona had to remind herself the woman beside her wasn’t hers anymore.

“Hey, you okay?”

Lucy asked, evidently concerned as the spaniards smile had faltered and her eyes had filled with sudden sadness.

Ona nodded, trying but failing to keep the thick hot tear that now trickled down her cheek at bay.

“Woah, woah what’s the matter?”

The defenders eyes widened, her hand immediately coming up to rest on the small of her back. The sudden change in Onas mood scared her beyond belief, there was nothing she hated more than seeing her in any sort of discomfort.

“It, it’s just-“

She began, stuttering her way through the answer.

“For a second it was like I completely forgot.”

“Forgot about what?”

Lucy questioned, her voice soft and hand never stopping it’s comforting movements across the small back.

“That we aren’t us anymore. I’ve only been with you for no more than an hour and it already feels like the old times again.”

Ona let out a long, shaky breath, desperately rubbing at her now reddened eyes to stop the tears. As she blinked her way through them, her vision becoming a tiny bit clearer, she focused on Lucy, and the way she was looking at her as if she was the only thing that mattered sent another fresh pang across her heart.

“Oh, sweetheart.”

The lioness pulled her into her chest, Ona not even trying to fight it and allowing her head to rest there. She sniffled into Lucy’s training shirt, relishing in the familiar smell of her perfume as she allowed herself to calm down in the embrace.

“It’s so hard, so fucking hard. You have no idea how much I miss you every single day.”

Lucy whispered as she stroked her hair, scratching at her scalp lightly in the way she knew always brought her comfort.

The two women made no attempt to move for a good few minutes, Ona’s sobs finally subsiding as she chose to fully focus on the way Lucy's fingers felt brushing through her hair. She lifted her head from the comfy spot on her chest, sitting back against the bench as Lucy’s eyes followed her with concern.

“Lo siento. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, it’s good to talk about your feelings. You can’t bottle them up all the time, it’s not good for you.”

Ona looked at the ground, not being able to meet Lucy’s eyes again. Her willpower was declining and she knew that as soon she looked at her face again, she would be pressing her lips against said face.

“I need to go.”

“Already?”

Ona nodded, standing up from her spot and any glimmer of hope that Lucy had felt was immediately gone.

“Please don’t just walk away from this, we’re both hurting Ona and it’s not just going to go away.”

The broken tone in Lucy’s voice made her feel all different types of guilt. Deep down she knew she was being stupid. She could get back with Lucy and feel ten times happier, but there was something inside her convincing her she would just be putting them both through pain.

“I’m sorry but I think this was a mistake.”

She walked away without another look back, tears spilling down her cheeks as the sad look on the Englishwoman's face was etched into her mind. Nothing was ever a mistake with Lucy, the only thing being her own actions.

As soon as she entered her hotel, heading straight for the lift she was spotted by Mariona.

“Ay, Ona! Esperar!”

Her teammate called out, chasing after her with a grin on her face that quickly turned into confusion upon seeing her tear stained face.

“I messed it all up, it was going so well and then I just freaked.”

Ona was a blubbering mess as Mariona followed her into the lift. She pulled her into her embrace, rocking her side to side and tried to provide her with the reassurance she needed.

“Come on Oni, tell me what happened.”

Hours had passed and Ona was still trying to explain the internal battle that was going on in her head. Mariona was being so kind, carefully listening to the explanation and offering the best advice she could muster up.

“Do you really not think making it work long distance is an option? You both love each other chica, and that’s how you started this.”

“I know and I feel so stupid. So many people have to do it, you do it. I think i’m just craving the old life we had.”

Mariona nodded in understanding.

“I understand, but it is important to remember that it’s not forever. I miss Lia all the time, but I know that one day we will have the life together we always talk about.”

Ona smiled a little at that, suddenly feeling terrible for rambling on and not asking about her friend's life more often.

“How is Lia?”

“Buena. I’m glad i finally get to spend some time with her here, it makes it all worth it.”

Ona couldn’t help but remember back to her conversation with Keira a few months ago, the ginger saying the exact same thing. The two friends continued their conversation way into the night, both reminiscing on the time both Lia and Lucy had come to watch them play in the nations league final. The spaniard was so grateful to have friends as understanding as her team mates.

Spains first game was the next day and they absolutely flew through it, just like they did the whole tournament really. The euros went by so fast and before she knew it, Ona was preparing for the final game. The final game that was against none other than England. It was like des ja vu for the whole team, except this time around Ona wasn’t giddily messaging her girlfriend the morning before.

After her conversation with Mariona, she had decided not to message Lucy again during the tournament. She had wanted to, felt the need to apologise for the way she took off with barely an explanation. However, she also didn’t want to mess with her head during such a big competition, and figured it would be easier for both of them to have their full focus on getting a win for their country. She had decided she wanted to make a go of it though, nothing could be worse than the feeling she already felt every day. She just hoped and prayed that she wasn’t too late.

As soon as the Spanish team arrived at the stadium they were ushered out onto the pitch to perform their pitch inspection. The England team were already out there and before Ona could even search for Lucy she was being dragged into a hug by Ella.

“Ona! I’ve missed ya.”

The strong northern accent boomed, still never being able to pronounce her name correctly.

“Ah, Tooney. It has been too long.”

Ona replied as she felt herself being slowly lifted off of the ground by the girls strong hug. They caught up for a few minutes, Ona spending most of it in hysterics over whatever Ella was talking about. Until the inevitable question came up.

“You gonna go speak to Bronzey?”

Ona sighed, looking across the grass where she finally found the woman in question. She was chatting to Alexia and Laia, donning a wide smile that Ona wished she was the cause of.

“Si, i will actually. It was nice seeing you though and good luck tonight.”

Ella ruffled her hair before making her way over to Lucia, deciding it was time to pester her now and once she disappeared Ona looked back over at Lucy to find her now alone, scrolling on her phone.

She took a deep breath and made her way over, stopping right in front of her.

“Hola.”

Lucy looked up from her phone, swallowing deeply as she met her eye.

“Oh, hey.”

It was colder than Ona was used to, colder than it had been when she’d seen her only a few weeks ago.

“How are you?”

Lucy nodded, “Im fine. You?”

The spaniard couldn’t hide the hurt on her face now and just simply nodded. She had never been spoken to by Lucy this bluntly before and she instantly felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

“I missed you.”

She desperately tried, hoping Lucy would give her something back. She could see the slight break in her demeanour after that, her eyes somewhat softening if only a tiny bit.

“Good luck tonight.”

Was Lucy’s response and as she tried to make her way past her, Ona grabbed her hand. Lucy looked down at the grip Ona now had on her wrist, almost breaking at the way her thumb cascaded across it gently.

“Please, don’t be like this.”

“Like what, Ona? You’ve made it perfectly clear we can’t be together so I don't know how you want me to act?”

There were tears filling in the spaniards eyes now, unable to look anywhere but Lucy but feeling her heart break even more at the hushed way she was shouting at her.

“Im sorry that i ran off the other week. I was scared, Lucy and i didn’t want to hurt either of us anymore than i already have. I just want-“

She was cut off by the whistle, summoning both teams back inside.

“Please, just let me explain after the game.”

Lucy looked down at the way Ona still had a hold of her wrist and then back up to meet her eyes, nodding slowly before she had to walk away and rejoin her England team mates.

Ona let out a deep breath she hadn’t even realised she’d been holding as she walked her way back into the changing rooms. She didn’t really know what she expected, but it definitely wasn’t that. The younger girl couldn’t blame Lucy for being distant with her, but that didn’t make it hurt any less when the one thing she wanted more than anything in the world was Lucy.

When the teams lined up side by side in the tunnel, Ona couldn’t help but turn around to look at Lucy. Though when she turned and found her eyes already on her, she wished she hadn’t as how was she supposed to concentrate on the game now?

It was even worse when she made her way down the line to give hand shakes and high fives to the England team. When she got to Lucy, last as always, she couldn’t help but hold onto her hand for a second longer than what was probably deemed acceptable.

Lucy gave her hand a small squeeze, and there was evidence of a tiny smile growing at the corners of her mouth as she mouthed ‘im sorry.’ This was all the reassurance that Ona needed to go out and play this match.

Little did Ona know that Jordan had been silently observing their interaction during the pitch inspection. She had questioned Lucy on it as soon as they had taken their seats in the changing room.

“What was all that about?”

“What d’you mean?”

Lucy had responded nonchalantly.

“All that out there with you and Ona. Why are you giving her the cold shoulder?”

The defender shrugged, “I'm not.”

Jordan rolled her eyes, "I'm not as stupid as you think. You’ve been non-stop going on about her since the day you broke up, so why were you acting like that?”

“Because I love her Jord, okay? I love her and every time I think about her it bloody hurts.”

The Aston Villa players' face softened, remaining quiet so that Lucy could carry on.

“It hurt me so bad when I last saw her. I thought for a split second there might’ve been a chance but she made it perfectly clear there wasn’t when she upped and left. So, I thought that maybe this time if I was blunt with her, didn’t give her much conversation then I wouldn’t be opening myself up to feeling even more like shit when she inevitably walks away again.”

Jordan let out a sigh, wrapping her arm supportively around her shoulder.

“She seemed like she genuinely wanted to talk to you, Luce. I couldn’t hear what she was saying obviously but maybe she’s had some time to think and genuinely wants to give the long distance a go.”

“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. I told her i’d speak to her after the game so I just need to focus on getting this win first.”

The game was a tough one to say the least. The world cup champions against the european champions was never going to be a walk in the park, but Ona found she thrived off the intensity. She was playing well, her whole team was playing well and were fuelled by the excitable crowd. However, a last minute goal by Lauren Hemp meant that England had done it for the second time.

The spaniard laid back on the grass, absolutely exhausted from the ninety six minutes she had just endured. She looked around at all of her team mates, noticing the defeat and sadness in their eyes as they hugged one another. As she looked in the other direction though, she caught sight of the England girls with a much different expression on their faces. They all looked so unbelievably happy, tears shed out of happiness rather than sadness which was a huge contrast to the world cup.

She immediately caught sight of Lucy, never failing to be impressed by her ability to always pick her out instantly no matter how many people she was mixed in with. She looked happy, so happy, as she lifted Alex into the air and Ona couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

She hauled herself up off of the pitch, deciding it was best if she went over to console her team mates who had taken the loss particularly hard. Ona was gutted of course, she was as competitive as they came and wanted to win everything she took part in. However, seeing the joy on Lucy’s face eased the disappointment a pretty large amount, which was a fact she would definitely not be sharing with her girls.

Once she’d done the rounds, giving pats on the back and assuring the team that they did their best she caught sight of a shirtless Lucy standing in front of her. It was safe to say her mouth fell visibly agape as her eyes couldn’t decide whether to fix on the woman’s eyes or her abs.

“Im sorry.”

It sounded like a double meaning apology. For the coldness Lucy presented her with earlier, and also for the fact that her team had just beaten Ona’s. She decided to focus on the last part though, if her mind could possibly focus on anything other than the abs staring her right in the face.

She shrugged, “it’s okay, you all deserved it.”

“So did all of you though, you’re a hard team to beat.”

Ona smiled a little, enjoying the sight of the well-deserved gold medal that hung proudly around Lucy’s neck.

“This is for you.”

Lucy said as she chucked her match worn shirt into Ona’s hands.

The spaniard couldn’t help the smug smile that wiped across her face. Ever since the world cup final, Ona had held a pretend grudge against Lucy at the fact she gave Mariona her shirt and not her. Mariona and Lucy thought it was hilarious and would tease her about it all the time, but Ona could not for the life of her understand how she wasn’t the one trading shirts with her own girlfriend.

“Oh, you don’t want me to get Mario? So you can trade with her instead?”

Lucy smirked at her, letting out a huff of a laugh, “well actually, now you come to mention it-“

“Don’t you even dare.”

Ona interrupted, lightly slapping her on the chest.

She took her own shirt off then, handing it to Lucy as she replaced the Spanish jersey on her body with an England one, adorned with ‘Bronze 2’ on the back.

The wide eyed look on Lucy's face and the way she scanned her body up and down certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Ona. Who took it upon herself to give a small twirl so she could see the name on the back.

“Suits me?”

Lucy had to bite down on her own lip to physically stop herself from drooling. She had just won back to back euros, yet she felt like she’d well and truly hit the jackpot seeing the pretty spaniard with her name on her back.

She nodded and lightly took a hold of Ona’s arm, discreetly pulling her away from the pitch and down the tunnel away from prying eyes and cameras. Ona didn’t know what was happening, so when she was dragged into an empty medical room she looked at with a confused expression.

“Im sorry for how I acted with you earlier.”

Lucy blurted it out fast, as if she was scared if she didn’t say it soon enough Ona would be ripped away from her again.

“It’s okay, I understand. I didn’t give you an explanation last time and I am sorry for that.”

Ona looked up at Lucy, delicately intertwining their hands that were dangling by their sides. When she felt Lucy grip on tighter she stepped forward, further into her embrace and reached her other hand up to tilt her chin down to look her in the eye.

“I want to make this work. I thought I was doing the right thing by letting you go, but it is completely impossible to move on from you.”

Lucy pulled her impossibly closer as Ona carried on.

“I get it if I'm too late and you don’t want this but-“

The older woman decided she couldn’t wait any longer. She pressed her lips against Ona’s before she could even finish her sentence, the younger girl sighing happily into her mouth.

Ona reached both her arms up to wrap them around Lucy’s neck, interlinking them at the back to pull their bodies even closer. She let out a deep moan as the older woman pushed her further back against the wall, her strong hand sneaking up the England jersey Ona wore to scratch dully at her abs.

Ona parted her lips only slightly at the sensation, giving Lucy enough access to slide her tongue into her mouth. The room was filled with heavy breaths and pants, both women’s hands not being able to stop exploring the other's body as they had been deprived for so long.

Lucy finally managed to pull away from Ona’s mouth, but only to attach her lips to the inviting skin on her neck. She trailed hot, open mouthed kisses all the way up to her favourite spot behind her ear.

“I want this.”

She whispered, taking a tiny nip.

“I want you.”

Another kiss.

As the Englishwoman made her way back down to Ona’s jaw they were startled by the door swinging open, forcing them both apart and none other than Mariona walking in.

“Mierda! ¡Lo siento, chicas!”

She hurriedly said, hands covering her eyes.

“You can open your eyes, Mario.”

Lucy said with a chuckle as the Spanish woman slowly blinked one eye open to check it was safe before removing both of her hands entirely.

“You see Oni, I told you I knew everything! Oh and congratulations Lucy, I'll come and see you once you’re done…here!”

Mariona said before winking at Ona and exiting the room.

Ona let out a huff of a laugh, wrapping her arms tightly around Lucy’s waist as she lay her head on her chest.

“What was she on about?”

Lucy questioned, stroking her hands through Ona’s hair as she felt her grin against her chest.

“Oh, nada.”

She pulled her head out of Lucy’s chest, looking up at her with a look that could only be described as utter adoration.

“We are going to alright, aren’t we Lucia?”

“As long as we’ve got each other we’ll be fine, princesa.”

#lucy bronze #ona batlle #lucy bronze x ona batlle #woso fanfics #mariona caldentey #jordan nobbs #angst with a happy ending #fluff

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pandoraslxna · 8 months

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Hi Luna, I hope you're having beautiful days and enjoying Kinktober! 💙

A lot of people have been reaching out to me asking if I'm OK, and I'm so sorry for pulling Gone Girl, I never meant to make anyone worried, so I want to explain. I am all right, I still love Avatar and this fandom with my whole heart, but I've been enjoying this blissful escape a bit too much and I need to be fully functional in the real world again. My boyfriend and I have a start-up for graphics software. It's just the two of us and the market is brutal now that the AI has swolloved everyone. And I've been spending too much time online instead of working. And my boy is so nice he never even said a word, he saw how I enjoyed writing and making pictures of our cute aliens, so he supported me. And now I want to support him back and focus on the work, which I realized I cannot do while being addicted to tumblr 😅 So I deactivated the blog, because I knew it would always be tempting me if I didn't. It wasn't easy and I will miss you all so much. Thank you for all the support, this fandom is really something else ♥️

All of my pictures, fanfics and my c.ai characters are on my website: cinetrix.org If people want to follow me, I have twitter and Ao3. I still want to write and make pics in my free time, but I need to heavily limit the time I spend online, cause I can't play this gently, I always fall right into the trap! 😅

About my c.ai characters - guys, I am so sorry I deleted my account there too. I had this moment of 'oh, I need to get rid of all the addictive stuff in my life' and just nuked it. But I realized the characters were no longer mine to take down with me. The moment I published them, they became yours. So I uploaded them back - I tweaked them a little bit so I think they're even better now 😉

Neteyam -- Ao'nung

That's it from me. Bye guys, I love you so much. Enjoy Kinktober and take good care of yourselves 💙

Cinetrix

Oh my precious star, I’m so happy to hear from you and to see that you’re okay! It’s good to know that you’ve chosen a path that is best for you and I 100% support you in your decision. 🥹

I hope you know that we will all continue to support you and your works on Twitter and ao3, and that we as a fandom will forever appreciate and treasure the amazing content you contributed. The positivity you spread through your kind and wholesome personality was something that made me look up to you and fall even more in love with this fandom. You and your blog were truly one of my safe spaces and I’m so incredibly grateful and proud that I can call you my friend!!

We all wish you only the very best in your life and that you and your bf will have a successful business with your graphic-software start-up! I love you so much, please stay safe and even though this isn’t a goodbye I will miss seeing you on here.

Thanks for everything, pookie. I’m sending you the biggest hug!! 🫂🥹🩵

P.s: your personal message made me tear up a little omg.

You’re truly one of the sweetest people I’ve met on here and i can’t tell you enough how much I love you. I won’t share this ask on here because of your personal infos, but I wanted to let you know that I received it and I will treasure your kind words forever. 🩵

#cinetrix #𝐿𝓊𝓃𝒶‘𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓈 ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗#𝒯𝒶𝓁𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝑜𝓃 ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆#neteyam #Ao’nung

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titsthedamnseason · 4 months

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juli!!!!! now that the like us series is over (thinking about when we'll ever get another hale pov 😭) what have you thought? and what are you most hoping for with the cobalt empire?

hahaha what a loaded question! i’m also sad about the hales hence me rereading dlu already lol 💚 but also on patreon kbr have started posting extras in kinney’s pov which i am so grateful for. great way to keep us connected to the younger generation / give a sneak peek and i feel lucky it was with my favorite girl!! i am relying on this content to hold me over lol (plus next we have XANDER’S BOOK!!!!! to look forward to. which i almost expect to get sooner than we might think 👀)

my thoughts on the series as a whole are kind of hard to articulate but i’ll try? i think the series started really strong and sort of devolved from there. i think going back to dlu put a lot into perspective for me because right from the beginning they did a lot of great set up and left threads that were still being picked up in luna’s books so i applaud them for their forward thinking and planning in that regard (i know that either krista or becca - i don’t know who is who lmao - is super dedicated to going back and rereading all the early books and making sure everything is still flowing and connecting and i must say that’s very apparent looking at the big picture. a job well done for sure). i think all of moffy and farrow’s books, definitely oscar and jack’s book, and i’ll even say jane and thatcher’s books, function well on their own. moffy and jane’s books also do a nice job in contributing to the series as a whole

but obviously there was also a lot left to be desired and i think that despite whatever flaws the earlier books contain, things REALLY started going off the rails with sulli’s books (my poor girl 💔). while the overall series arc ended up functioning pretty well imo, as the series progressed the plots of each individual book just kept getting wishy washier. i wish kbr would just realize that romantic and interpersonal development is enough to drive a story without needing a bunch of other distracting side plots that actually take away from the main focus of the book and divert readers’ attention from what the twins are best at writing. like the romantic plots should be enough to sustain a book IF THEY ARE DONE WELL, and kbr are capable of doing them well, but they got so caught up in trying to include other things that they couldn’t give the real focus of the stories the attention they really deserved if that makes sense. i’m at least glad they don’t rely so much on the third act break up or use miscommunication between couples to drive the books

i also think that now that they’ve taken such care to establish quinn and frog as a budding romance, oscar and jack’s book should have been its own thing outside the series and maybe started a different (cobalt-empire-esque?) spinoff for all these side characters that they’ve grown attached to and insist on making books for. charming like us is a great book on its own but doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the series (is the original / sub-heading / tagline of the like us series not “billionaires and bodyguards”????)

as for the cobalt empire…..i’m trying to go in with a very open mindset. ben’s book was honestly the last one i was expecting but definitely the most ideal scenario for me!!! im really hoping these books won’t be super dragged out and bogged down by extraneous and unnecessary side plots and characters (one book per brother honestly sounds ideal but i know that’s a fool’s hope). obviously a really big thing i’m looking forward to reading about is the evolution of ben and charlie’s relationship and also seeing ben grow closer to all his brothers and finally finding a place within his family 💙 this is why ben’s pov is great to start with because we’re going to see him thrown back into this environment with all his brothers and this time they’re all older and there’s no parents. i know that apartment is WILD in a way that ben cobalt simply is not (or is he? 😏)

i’m also now conflicted about whether the ben and xander resolution should be expected in burn bright or if we have to wait until xander’s books (BUT IT BETTER NOT HAPPEN IN BETWEEN!). i made a post about this at some point but i also think if kbr can’t keep it down to one book per brother, and overlapping style similar to addicted / calloway might work really well as opposed to the clunkier progression of the like us series.

i CANNOT WAITTTTT to finally get into charlie’s head also. that’s going to be a wild ride. i can’t wait to get a deeper look into charlie and beckett’s interactions and for the two of them and their love interests to be the best friend group ever. the cobalt boys ALL have really really really good tropes setting the scene for them (expect for ben who is the only one we’re kind of in the dark about right now) and im excited to see that unfold. also!! as much as i love the hales, its going to be great seeing rose and connor more again! it’s not an aspect i’ve spent too much time thinking about yet but they have such unique and different relationships with each of their kids so im excited to see each of their interactions. ALSO!!! FREEDOM FROM BODYGUARDS GOD BLESSSSSS 🙏 none of the cobalts are super close to their bodyguards to my understanding so after the like us series this will feel like a breath of fresh air

and the last thing i must say - what i’m really hoping for is that harriet isn’t going to play a big role…..i know this is clowning since she JUST moved to new york and the same college as everyone and is lowkey the only person that’s been introduced as a possibility for ben’s love interest but god that idea just bores me lol. especially when all the other brothers already have such compelling love interests and book premises. but alas i am probably wrong and will need to get over my unreasonable dislike of this poor girl who never did anything but be luna’s friend. i think my ideal way for the harriet situation to play out would actually be if she started dating xander but then they broke up before his real books start because i think it would be nice for some of these kids to get some real dating experience before ending up with the love of their lives forever!!

anyway. sorry as always that i’m incapable of being normal about kbr books and can’t just answer with “the series had its ups and downs but im excited for what’s next!!!” but that functions as a great tldr i guess lol

#asks #kbr asks

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neteyamyawne · 8 months

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Important thoughts on anon hate or hate/rude comments in general :

I'm tired of this shit, I perfectly mentioned that the reader is 19! And this comes under stepcest! I mentioned DO NOT READ IF IT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE and that means you don't have to engage either!

you don't want fics that are related to this then fix your tags in the settings! You don't like my content then block my account, I'm here for fun and share my love for fictional blue avatar aliens, Don't comment, like or interact in any way with my blog if you're so butt hurt about fictional writings.

@rougedex If you're so unhappy about pedophilia, where this doesn't count as one, the reader age is shown as above adult age, Go talk about the real pedophilia that happens in real world, not here on Tumblr where we post stuff about FICTIONAL beings!

Unnecessary hate and reporting blogs just because you don't "like" the content they post is ridiculous! We are not posting for YOU specifically, we post for our happiness and for our contribution to this fandom, i already stated that I won't hold back for unnecessary hate towards me.

Many people here like @pandoraslxna, @teyamsatan, @strongheartneteyam, @neteyamsoare, @loaksbitch many more got hate for no reason at all or got shadow-banned out of pettiness, when all there was to do was for the haters and idiots to scroll over but NO! They have to take that precious time out of the day to hate on something people spend time and work on, and when all of this is free and not a penny is paid for us to write this, our free time is spent on writing these, it's not your job to criticize us over it, don't like it, leave it

This platform is free for everyone to use, your consumption of content is NOT on us! It's not our fault that our fics came on your fyp, and honestly we don't intend to have our fics on your fyp, it's YOUR For You Page, if it ended up on it then it had something to do with your interaction algorithm, even if it did, you don't have to go out of your way and hate on the fic or the writer for it, your likes and dislikes are different, the one posting the fics have different likes and dislikes so keep that in mind before hating on another fic or post again!

That's all I wanted to say since Luna got her account shadow-banned but I didn't get the time to but now that I got this hate comment, i knew i had to write this.

Vaishnavi xoxo 💋

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modern-harrypotter · 9 months

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YouTube Channels - Core 9

Harry

Harry’s youtube channel would be surprisingly mundane to what the public assumed. And barren. There’s like 15 videos on his channel.

He makes very Day In the Life and Get Ready With Me styled videos. Simplistic, picture vlogs during the summer months with videos taken during trips. It’s very mundane and quaint. If people want to see him, they have to watch his friends’ videos. He appears mostly in Hermione’s or Ginny’s videos, and a few in Draco’s. At least his “private” account, which is more BTS styled videos for the Chimera YouTube. On his more mainstream account that the wizarding public see, there’s more social justice style commentary. Hermione appears in a lot of those as a fact check and to also get her voice out there. His most famous video is called “My Thoughts on Being the Boy Who Lived”. It’s an hour long. People who watch it are greeted with a black screen for 59 minutes before it opens to a Zoom call of Ron laughing before the rest of his friends join in and the video ends with Draco threatening to hex people who keep prying into Harry’s life.

Hermione

Hermione is very education based. She has weekly deep dives into subjects that she finds fascinating. Pulls a lot of sources for her videos and gives her own spin. Very educational. She enjoys making study guide videos for classes as well as Tips and Tricks videos to help other students who may need pointers to study. If there’s a class at Hogwarts, Hermione has probably made a video about it. Or several. She does a monthly book review, filled with everything she has read- from scientific journals to cheesy romance. She rates them on whether she would reread them, but the list is very subjective to tastes.

She often appears in make-up or hair styling videos with Pansy, or if her other friends want her as a “google” source. The longest video she was in was with Draco about the specifications about potion making and whether the rules are more of a guideline or actual things that need to be listened to. There is an hour long, complex argument included that most viewers who don’t care about potions will skip over but plenty of potion masters would enjoy.

Ron

Ron’s content is far and few between. Much like Harry, he is found in other videos. Videos he does make are about quidditch, his boyfriends or chess. He talks about quidditch in broad terms and often analyzes videos of quidditch matches, finding flaws in plans and offering improvements on how to better strategize gaining points with a quaffle before grabbing the snitch. Oliver Wood has called many a time to lament how much he wishes Ron was on the team when he attended Hogwarts.

It is not uncommon for him to found in Ginny, Hermione or Neville’s videos. Usually in the background or contributing, but his quick wit and humour is sometimes the spotlight. When making a video with Hermione, he acts as a great metric for what most witches and wizards can understand and usually decodes most of what Hermione says.

Draco

Despite his best wishes, Draco’s channel is chock full of charms and potions videos. He is most passionate about charms and likes to make explanatory videos on how to best perform charms or make enhancements to charms. He has made a few campy, early 2014 styled vlogs with his friends such as “The Boyfriend Tag” “Best Friend Tag” etc.

He doesn’t really appear in other videos. He chimes in a bit on Ron’s quidditch videos or Harry’s day to day lifestyle ones.

Pansy

This fashionista has one of the most active YouTube pages. She does monthly shopping videos, and hauls. She does some DYI for upcycling old pieces to make a new one. She specializes in her make-up get ready with me videos though. Like most beauty youtubers she sits down and just does full faces and talks for 20 minutes. She does reviews on products sent to her and expressed continuing that after Hogwarts.

She hosts a lot of collabs, mainly doing Hermione’s make-up or styling unique pieces for Luna. She is also found in a lot of Harry’s main account videos or even on Millie and Daphne’s joint channel doing challenge videos.

Blaise

Besides Harry, Blaise has one of the most inactive channels. He does travel vlogs over the summer and had a small series of italian videos when he first started but he prefers to keep his private life, private. He doesn’t appear in a lot of other videos either, if only in the background.

Neville

Herbology videos. This man loves herbology and he will go on hour long tangents about plants. He runs projects in the greenhouses and spends his videos talking about plants and their uses, whether medicinally or in potions. This boy just talks about plants. He also discusses ecology and music but the main focus is plants.

Neville appears in a lot of other videos, especially when Hermione makes Herbology videos. Ron is also there to decode the technical terms.

Ginny

Quidditch, quidditch and quidditch. This jock adores quidditch. She reviews a lot of Top 10 videos analyzing quidditch plays and games. She brings Ron and Harry on a lot to also talk sports.

Ginny is found in a ton of Luna’s videos, or Harry’s videos as well. She has the most collabs though, bringing other Quidditch players on to watch the plays and analyze them for how easy the moves would be to replicate.

Luna

Luna’s channel is full of art and jewelry videos. She also does Tarot readings to several of her friends. She does a lot of social commentary on mental health topics during her videos as well. Some people have clicked on a Luna Lovegood video expecting a easy to listen to speed art video, and gets sucked into understanding how demonizing mental health only worsens the problem at hand, and tips to make life a little less overwhelming for those with sensitivity disorders.

Luna doesn’t collaborate with many people except Ginny or Draco. She doesn’t appear in many videos except her own.

#hp social media au #modern au #hermione granger #harry potter #ron weasley #ginny weasley #luna lovegood #draco malfoy #pansy parkinson #blaise zabini #neville longbottom #youtube au

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nevada-wrytes · 2 months

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I promised the second part of this little fantasy/heist story I've created, so here it is. Like I said before, I won't be actively contributing to this story anymore, but I wanted to edit what I've written so far in order to share it.

Hope you enjoy <3 (also read the first part here)

content warning for gore and suicide mention

Ezra

“Hey Ezzie.” The door squeaked shut. Ezra ignored the shuffle of footsteps and scowled.

“I told you to stop calling me that.” She reorganized the vials and medical serums covering the table, again.

Lenny stopped to perch at her side. “Is she...doing any better?”

Ezra stopped her mindless idling and sighed. “Tomorrow’s the last day,” she said in a small voice.

“Oh,” he replied in an even smaller voice.

Ezra sniffed, suddenly overcome by the enormous effort it took to keep tears out of her eyes. “What if I can’t save her, Lenny?” Her voice broke and she stifled a sob. Then another.

As soon as that happened, there were comforting hands on her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Lenny shushed her. “Don’t think like that, Ez. You’re the best healer I know.”

Despite her feelings, Ezra chuckled weakly, healer my ass.

She felt the walls inside her crumble, tears flowing out of her eyes like a raging river. She sobbed into Lenny’s shirt, deep, ugly wails. Lenny’s hands made soothing circles down her back, and, eventually, she felt herself relax.

“Lenny, if I don’t wake her up, do you think James would throw me out, too?”

Lenny pulled away and scowled. “If James wants to continue being the asshole he is and throw you out next, then poison him good, alright?”

Ezra laughed, “Lenny! What if he hears you!”

“What would he do? Throw me into the dungeons for committing high treason against his Royal Highness?”

Ezra laughed again and wiped her eyes. She sniffled. “You should go to sleep, it’s going to be dawn soon.”

“And what about you?”

She shook her head. “I need to save Luna first.”

“Ezra-” Lenny cut himself off with a sigh, “just don’t overextend yourself, okay?”

She nodded as he left the room, and Ezra followed to make sure the door was shut tight. Once the hardwood was locked, she slid down onto the floor, too exhausted to stand.

Ezra wanted to scream and cry, out of despair yes, but mostly frustration. Luna had, at best, forty-eight hours to live, and she would work tirelessly through every one of those in order to get her back.

James

James snuck back into the abandoned manor house, simultaneously grateful to not meet anyone on his way, but also disappointed with the patrolling work of his gang.

He was barefoot, his trousers ripped to the knees and the remnants of his shirt laying in tatters across his chest. He didn’t even know what had become of his jacket. He found his was to his office, a room no one else would dare to enter, and collapsed onto the floor.

He was cold, tired, and bleeding heavily through multiple wounds on his legs and chest. It was a pain to even pull himself up, but he knew he had to do that. Using a broken mirror and some towels he’d acquired from a nearby bathroom, he was able to examine the extent of his injuries.

Up and down his legs were vertical slashes, the worst gouges an inch deep, and probably requiring stitches. His arms had been sparred of anything besides minor scratches, but when he cleared away his shirt, what he saw caused him to shudder. Three identical scratches across his heart, like a taboo. They weren’t deep, but they were worrying. Apart from those, his upper body was mostly intact, so he moved on the bite in his neck.

There were two gouges where the teeth had sunk in, but the most worrying was that the skin around the wound had puffed up and was oozing a dark liquid, not blood, but something stranger. In the dim light, it seemed black, but when he held it up to a candle, it was inky blue.

Are myryad bites poisonous? he thought. No stories had mentioned this before, so James was operating under the assumption that it was an infection, not a poison, and he needed to act fast. He did not have the medical supplies with him to patch himself up properly, but he dreaded making the climb down to where Ezra help camp, and much worse, the chance of seeing Luna.

To stop the bleeding, he cut strips of the towels and wrapped them around his legs as well as he could. Halfway through, he realized, with mild panic, that he was simply too exhausted to do this on his own. His vision swam again, and he panicked, thinking he was underwater and unable to breathe.

James needed help, but he refused to admit it. He couldn’t tell anyone what he just saw, who would believe he had an encounter with a creature of myth?

No one, besides Luna, he thought. And it was true. The one person who would believe any word that came out of his mouth was dying, and it seemed he would die with her.

…

James woke in a panic, limbs and joints protesting after having fallen asleep in a twisted position. Although he couldn’t hear the rain outside anymore, it was still dark, and now wind wailed through the old house loud enough to wake the dead.

He’d bled through his makeshift bandages, and now the congealed blood caked his legs like a second skin. James felt sick. He hadn’t eaten or drank anything since running away, and now his head spun, which could have also been from the blood loss. He staggered up, body and mind both feeling sluggish. He lit a candle and used the fractured mirror on the desk to check his other wounds, but almost screamed. The bite on his neck and swollen to the size of an egg in his sleep. The skin around it looked black, and it continued oozing that blue stuff. What was worse, was his face. His eyes were red and puffy, surrounded by dark circles from exhaustion, but splitting his face like a scare was a vein of darkness.

James wanted to throw up. The rational part of him knew it was only the infection causing this, but he was too tired to be sensible anymore. He looked like a monster, and it was all his fault.

Ezra

“Ezra!”

Ezra woke with a gasp, disturbing the vials balanced precariously on the table. She hurriedly looked where Luna lay, but she was still unmoving. A moonlit sleeping beauty. If she hadn’t been the one who spoke then who..?

Her questions were answered when a loud whisper repeated, ““Ezra, over here!”

Ezra rubbed her eyes. In the corner, just where the light of the fading candle couldn’t reach, stood a person, but why weren’t they coming closer?

“James?” she asked, coming to her senses.

“Yes, it’s me,” he said, “Listen, there’s been a sort of...accident. I- ugh. N..need some help.”

Confused, she stood up , dusting herself off, “What do you mean ‘accident’? Did you hurt one of the crew?”

“What? Gods, no. I- it only happened to me.”

Ezra hmped. “Sounds a little like karma,” she said as she folded her arms across her chest.

James sighed in frustration, “Look, if you don’t forgive me for the thing with Cee, that’s fine. Just give me some bandages and I’ll be on my way.”

Ezra chewed her lip. “Do you have a fever?”

“No, why would you assume-”

“You said, ‘Gods, no’ earlier. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve repeatedly shown little faith in anything other than yourself.”

James made another noise of annoyance. “Could you just give me some damn bandages?”

“Why? To wrap you broken ego-” She caught herself off in the middle of her tease as the light shifted in the room, revealing something scarlet blooming across James’s legs. She gasped, “Good Goddess, James! You’re actually bleeding!”

Ezra rushed over, but he held her away at arms length, far enough she couldn’t see his face, still covered in shadow.

“I need you to keep this between you and me,” he said, “No one else knows.”

Ezra’s eyes widened, but she nodded. She stepped back to give him space, and after a moment of hesitation, he followed her into the light.

Her jaw dropped, “James! I- what happened?” Blood seeped through poorly done bandages on his legs and a lump of swollen skin pulsed with some sort of darkness, the infection already spreading to his face. Dark veins stood out on his pale face, eventually spilling even more darkness into his eye. Ezra wondered if he could even still see.

James didn’t answer at first, only cast his eyes to the floor. As Ezra got him seated in a chair, he mumbled, “I was hoping you would tell me.”

Ezra huffed, hands on her hips. She saw through his obvious lie, having been around him enough. “You have to tell me what bit you if you want my help, James.”

He stared up at her in surprise, “How’d you know it was a bite?”

“The two very obvious puncture wounds, plus it seems to be excreting some sort of venom, a poison, maybe.”

James hesitated, “Do you...do you know about..the sea folk?”

“Uhm,” Ezra thought for a minute as she took the bloody bandages off his legs. His flesh was torn up from ankles to thighs, numerous deep vertical slashes. “I think I remember a story Cap told us once. Like mermaids but- ugh, what were they called?”

James gulped. “Myryads,” he whispered.

“Oh yeah, I remember.” She worked quickly and efficiently on his legs, cleaning and disinfecting the wounds as best as she could. James, for all his part, didn’t flinch or wince away much. She looked around her medical supplies for a sewing needle and thread, and got to work disinfecting those.

“So the mir-miryad, what about them?”

James hissed when the needle first punctured his skin. She handed him a bottle of whatever leftover alcohol she had used to disinfect her supplies and he chugged it gratefully. Only when he set the empty bottle down did he continue.

“I think I was bit by one.”

Ezra paused in the middle of a stitch. She laughed, nervously.

“James- you sure you don’t have a fever? When was the last time you ate something-”

She searched his face for signs on the joke, but he looked dead serious. Ezra stared at the bite on his neck, “You don’t mean-”

He nodded, “It’s true, look.” He moved part of his shirt away, revealing three distinctive claw marks directly over his heart. The rest of his chest was untouched, so it almost seemed as if- as if they’d been done on purpose.

Ezra was staring, wide-eyed in disbelief, as she went back to working on the stitches. “It- it couldn’t have been something else?” she asked, “like a snake or..?”

James shook his head. “It happened last night. I was walking by the beach and- one pulled me under-”

Ezra scoffed, “You followed one to the beach? Were you feeling suicidal? Don’t you know the stories?”

James huffed, “More than you, but that’s besides the point-”

“How did you even manage to escape! Actually, no, how were you stupid enough to follow her into the water in the first place?”

“Well obviously I didn’t do it willingly.”

“Then-”

Ezra looked up to find James staring at Luna across the room. A faint blush spread into his face, but that could have just been his very probably fever. Still, Ezra knew that look. She rolled her eyes, men.

“So she tricked you, and you got attacked? But you got away? Okay-” Ezra finished the last of the stitches and took out a roll of bandages- “but what do you plan on doing now?”

James scowled, “How should I know? You’re the medic so,” he gestured to his neck, “fix it.”

Ezra shot him a glare and tied the last bandage extra tight. He yelped and she patted his leg, rising up.

“It’s not like I have magic hands, James. I don’t know a thing about myryads.”

“Ask Cap then, Ezra. Besides, aren’t you a poison specialist?”

“Real poisons,” she crossed her arms across her chest, “Not poisons from fantasy creatures-”

“Please, Ezra?” James bit his lip, “Look, I know I may have said some things and been a bit rude-”

“A bit?” she raised a brow.

“Okay, I was an asshole. I know you don’t forgive me, but-”

Ezra raised a hand to stop this awkward apology. “I don’t want to hear your excuse. I know it wasn’t right for you to kick Cee out like that, but I guess this is your gang. I’m not forgiving you,” she sighed, “But you know I’ll try to help.”

He smiled, “Thanks, Ez. You’re-”

“Save your forced praise,” she interrupted. “I’ll go talk to Cap. In the meantime, get something to eat and drink, oh, and here,” she handed him a small vial, “this should reduce the swelling.”

He nodded and risked a glance over to where Luna slept.

“James, about her-” Ezra started, but he shook his head to stop her.

“I know you are doing your best,” he said and hobbled out of the room.

Ezra sighed. She walked over to Luna to check on her, but again, she hadn’t moved. Ezra straightened the blankets on top of her with a chuckle, “This blasted wind, am I right?”

She looked around to make sure she was alone before giving Luna a kiss on her forehead. Ezra sighed wistfully, “What has James gotten into now, Luna?” The girl’s hand was soft when Ezra picked it up, but growing colder. It was a harsh reminder of her impending fate.

Someone knocked on the door. Startled, Ezra dropped Luna’s hand and moved away from her.

It was Lenny, “Ez?” He asked through the door, “I brought you some food, thought you might like some.”

Ezra shot one last lingering look at Luna before going to the door, “You’re the best, Lenny,” she said as she unlocked it, “Come in.”

***

After eating, Ezra left Luna’s sick room after what seemed like weeks, but could have only been a little more than a day.

She was greeted by the rest of the gang sitting quietly in one of the living rooms, playing cards. They paused when she entered the room, no doubt she, too, looked like a fright from not sleeping for days.

“Bonsoir, Ezra. Is everything alright with Luna?” Jacques asked

“Same as before, Jacques,” she huffed. “D’you know where I can find Cap?”

“Check the porch in the back,” answered Shaemus, Cap’s second.

She nodded and bid them a goodbye before heading outside. The storm wasn’t quite over yet, as a fierce wind blew in from the ocean. Ezra shivered, wishing she had worn her jacket.

“Hey Cap.” She sat down on the bench the old sailor was using as his footrest once he’d made room for her.

“Hello, lass.” He took his pipe out and smiled at her with crooked teeth. Ezra liked Cap, he’d always been kind to her, even when she had been a rebellious teenager and had done everything in her power to become hated by everyone around her. It helped that she was his favorite, too, out of the rest of the kids here.

“Have you been getting enough sleep?” He asked, “Eating? It ain’t good to focus yourself too much on the lovely Lady.”

“I know Cap, thank you.”

“Aye, don’t mention it.” He coughed, “Someone has to look after you all from time to time.”

Ezra smiled, and they sat there in comfortable silence as he went back to smoking from the pipe and she looked off into the distant sea.

“Cap, do you know anything about..mir-myryads?”

His brows furrowed. “Aye, had my encounters with the sea-beasts. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “Just came to my mind. Must be the weather.”

Cap nodded. “Well, I’ll tell you, they’re nasty little devils. Drag you down and drink you dry, as my buddies used to say. No compassion those sea witches-” he quickly added, “No offense to your lot of witches, of course, just ‘em are bastards.”

“None taken,” sighed Ezra, “So they bite humans? But what if one escapes?”

He shook his head, “No escaping the sea-folk once they hook their little claws in you.”

Ezra frowned. “Surely someone had to have escaped once.”

Cap sighed and leaned closer. “Don’t say this to anyone else, but I knew a fella who got bitten by one of ‘em. One of my crew, actually, a long time ago. We managed to haul him up before the fool was bled dry-”

“And? What happened? Was the bite poisonous?”

“Well, know that I think ‘bout it, sure enough I might’ve been. By come morning it’d swollen to the size of an apple. All black with the sea folk’s blood too.”

“Did he.. did he survive?”

Cap shook his head. “We lost him the next day. Some poison I tell you, spread through his veins like fire.”

Ezra gulped. “Was there… any way to cure it, you think?”

“Not that I know of,” he must have seen the disappointment on her face because he added, “Aye but don’t worry, lass. Sea folk don’t come this far inland. S’long as you don’t go strolling by the beaches you won’t get bitten.”

Ezra laughed, if only to lighten the mood. “I promise I won’t, Cap.”

“Aye, I know you’re smarter than that, Ezra.”

Without another word, he went back to his pipe, watching the dark sky. Ezra went back inside, wondering how she was supposed to tell everyone both Luna and James were fated to die by tomorrow.

Shaemus spotted him approach the group first. He slurred, “Ey Lenny, where ya been?” It was obvious they’d all found more liquor reserves in the cellar.

Lenny

“Here and there,” Lenny shrugged as he sat down next to the group playing cards.

“Any words from le capitan?” Jacques asked.

Lenny shook his head. “He’s probably still hiding in his room, too scared to face us.” They all laughed.

“After what he did-” someone started.

“I’m sure he had his reasons,” Lenny shut them down, quick.

“To throw a little girl onto the streets?” Jacques scowled.

Lenny shrugged “Well, we aren’t all highly virtuous.” This brought on another round of laughs.

“Have a drink with us, play a round, Lenny.” Shaemus swung an arm around his shoulders. He poked a finger into his chest, “You’ve been too tight since we’ve come ‘ere.”

Lenny shook my head, “Have you all forgotten ‘bout the Hits?”

Most of them shrugged. Rai said, “It’s dark and cold, with another storm coming. Doubt even the Hits would stay out in weather like this.”

Lenny looked around at their expecting faces, all eager to get back to drinking and gambling. To them, he had always been the carefree one, the one to pull the others into a game, the one that lounges around, drink in hand, singing old ballads about fair maidens and riches.

Lenny hated himself for making them believe that’s who he was. Still, he gritted his teeth and smiled.

“Alright, alright, but just two rounds and a toast.”

“Why not three?” They laughed.

“Three toasts? Bring it on!” He flashed them a grin as the first shot of rough liquor went down his throat. It burned but he pretended he liked it, already in line for more.

I wish James was here, he thought miserably.

Cee

Cee couldn’t leave the island because of the storm. Them and Sarj wandered as close as they dared to the abandoned manor, trying to find shelter. Eventually, they found the remains of a tiny fishing village, hardly more than a few houses and a broken dock. It, too, was abandoned like the rest of the island, its inhabitants long gone.

They chose the house that looked the safest, the walls and roof still intact. Inside, it was dusty and predictably empty. Sarj found some wood in the back and coaxed a small fire in the cold fireplace. Soon, the cottage, and it really was more of a cottage, glowed with a warm light. Cee settled themselves on a pile of straw next to the fire and drew their knees to their chest.

“Sarg,” Cee looked up to the giant of a man sitting across from them, “Why is this island abandoned?”

“You don’t know the story?” he asked. They shook their head.

“Oh, well some time ago, this entire island was the property of a really important man, a Lord, actually. He welcomed many people onto his lands to fish and farm, until he effectively created his own little kingdom.

“Everything was running smoothly, until one night, where he turned mad. Some say it was because his Lady died, a broken-heart, others say it was from an illness. Regardless, he terrorized the people on the island, even his own daughter, kicking her out of her childhood home. Except, anyone who tried to leave,” Sarj pantomimed slicing his neck, “you get it.”

Cee nodded, sullenly. “His Lady died.. like Luna? Lady Moon?”

Sarj shrugged, “Guess you could say that.”

“So then what happened to the Lord?”

“Oh, well,” Sarj laughed nervously, “Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore, and- ugh, he jumped off the cliff by the manor. Legend goes that his spirit now haunts the entire island, welcoming visitors, then stopping them if they ever try to leave."“

Cee shivered.

“Oh, but don’t worry! It’s just a story. The only reason no one’s ever come back to this island is because the weather’s so piss poor. Ghosts aren’t going to hurt ya, much less stop you from leaving.”

Cee nodded. “I wasn’t worried,” they said, even though they were, in fact, a little worried. A lot worried. This island made them feel trapped, just like the lab.

“So how are we gonna get off if the entire island is abandoned?”

“Ah,” Sarj began, “I didn’t say the entire place was abandoned. There’s still a lighthouse on the Southern end, meant to keep ships from crashing into the rocks near the coast. I reckon someone’s up there, and we could wait ‘til I supply ship comes for them and then barter our way onboard.”

“And what if we can’t do that?”

Sarj ruffled their hair. “Don’t think like that, Cee, we’ll be able to escape.”

Cee smiled, weakly, “Thanks again, Sarj, for deciding to come with me.”

Sarj smiled back. “No problem, kid. It’s the least I could do.”

#oc writing #nevada writes #fantasy #the symbolism. the motifs. sigh. when can i write this again

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attiredpan · 5 months

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Okay so I added You’ll Play Your Part to my Nog Playlist and I’m gonna ramble about the lyrics and stuff cause holy fuck that’s a Nog Song™️ if I’ve ever heard one.

Content Warnings for discussion of depression and suicidal ideation in relation to It’s Only A Paper Moon.

Okay so starting with Twilight's verse in application to Nog’s storyline, I have two or three spots where I feel it’s most relevant; directly after Heart Of Stone/Facets and directly after It’s Only A Paper Moon.

Both leave him resolute to move forward but undoubtedly uncertain, whether for one reason or another. On one hand, you have him breaking away from something he had been raised with his whole life, that he’s watched his family try to fit themselves into and fail, miserably. And even after getting that confirmation from Sisko that yeah, he’s been recommended to the Academy, there’s still so much uncertainty in whether or not he’ll make it.

Not even mentioning how much Quark is being an absolute ass about it, going as far as to attempting sabotage on Nog’s entrance exams to keep him from getting in. But thanks to Rom being one of the best dads on the station, he does get in. He’s found that purpose, he is making those contributions, and he is part of the plan.

And with post-Paper Moon the ‘future that I can’t see’ line has a lot more weight to it, as for a majority of the episode we see him coming to terms with his disability and the trauma that comes with it, going through what I see as a major depressive episode and passively suicidal ideation.

And as someone who’s been through a similar situation(ie. a major depressive episode with all the suicidal ideation that comes with it) in moving forward from it, the future feels nonexistent because you never thought you’d make it this far. And then you do and you’re stuck the thought of ‘Now What?’ and you’re not entirely sure of what to do.

In Nog’s case though, he had something to return to, and goals to move forward towards, which I feel might’ve made the adjustment post-Paper Moon a little easier. Still difficult as all hell, but a little easier.

Now moving on to the other princesses and who I feel takes those roles in both spots.

With the Heart of Stone/Facets portion, I feel like Sisko, Rom, and Jadzia take up these spots. Sisko as Celestia, Jadzia as Luna, and Rom as Cadence.

In MLP, Celestia is the one who sends Twilight off to Ponyville, just as Sisko is equivalently sending Nog off to the Academy via that recommendation letter. And in watching Facets we get a sense of how hard Jadzia worked to earn the right of being a joined Trill and I feel like she’d recognize that sort of stubborn endurance in Nog and understand why it’s so important to him.

And while Cadence is Twilight’s older-sister-figure-turned-sister-in-law, the way she reassures Twilight in this song very much reminds me of how Rom acts as a father towards Nog and stands up to Quark and allows Nog to both apply and go to Starfleet despite Quarks saying otherwise.

Moving on to the Paper Moon part of this; Vic takes up Sisko’s place as Celestia, Rom takes up Jadzia’s place as Luna, and Jake takes up Rom’s place as Cadence.

“Your destiny is uncertain, and sometimes that’s hard to take’, is quite literally the synopsis of Vic’s little speech to Nog before he finally leaves the holosuite. There’s no telling what’s gonna happen to him if he leaves and as hard as that is, he has to face that.

And I will stand by this for as long as I live but Rom and Nog had some of the best character development out of any of the secondary cast of characters, development that can rival even the main cast. (heh, mane cast(plz laugh))

Rom has gone from being the antsy not even second hand under Quark to being a major player not just on the station but in the war effort against the Dominion. In reflection, I can see him recognizing that same want for something more than what Ferengi society expects of him that Nog has, that Nog inspires in him.

And oh my fucking god I’m gonna lose it about Jake/Jake and Nog’s friendship for a hot minute because watching your best friend go from the local troublemaker aside from yourself to not only a respected officer in one of the major military forces in the quadrant, the same one that your own father is a part of, but also a victim of war that you also are is going to be fucking rough.

That the two of you have come so far from when you first met, ending up so far from where expectations put the two of you. That while both of you have witnessed the horrors of war, you got out with only a few scrapes, being able to move on from it because someone was there and experienced it with you and told you that your feelings were warranted and that you didn’t have to be ashamed of being scared, your best friend, on the other hand, lost a fucking limb, has felt like his problems with phantom pain were chalked up to just something in his head. That he’s just crazy. Your friend is now isolating (in one of the CMO’s holosuite programs no less) from everything and everyone and no one knows how to help him.

And the one time you try to visit him you end up getting socked in the jaw. Every attempt made just seems to push him further away. And then like a month or so later, on top of the three he’s already spent in intensive physical and mental therapy, he comes back out and moves back in with you.

I see it as initially being very tense. Both of them just trying to go about their days in the aftermath and move forward, not knowing how to acknowledge or begin to talk about what happened. And when they do finally sit down and talk about it, it’s probably just as gut-wrenching as when the news of Nog’s injury first reached Jake.

In cliche archetypes/dynamics, I’ve always thought of Jake and Nog as Sun/Moon, the position of who’s which switching. Prior to Nog going into Starfleet, I had Jake pegged as the Moon and Nog as the Sun, but afterward, it switched; Jake is now the Sun and Nog is now the Moon.

Either way, one can’t fully shine without the other.

They’re a packaged deal and to separate them just feels wrong. They love each other. They’ve stuck by each other through so much, I can’t see them just not trying to fix things after Paper Moon. It’s hard, but damnit if they’re not gonna try.

Rewatching The Emissary, you know it’s gonna be a while coming but his time will come soon.

As the Sun rises, so does the Moon

As love finds a place in every heart

He’ll be a captain, he’ll play his part

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docluna · 7 months

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Ch. 3: The Handshake

Three days after Luna had met Giovanni, she stepped back into his office with the envelope of signed papers in her hand. He sat at his desk, stroking the head and neck of a large Persian with his left hand, his right once again holding a cigarette. Before she even crossed the room to him, he crushed the cigarette out and waved away the smoke.

“Luna. Welcome back.” He said, rolling his hand around to stroke the Persian’s chin along the jawbone. “I hope you’re here to accept my offer.” Luna pulled over the chair she’d used previously, sitting down across from him and placing the envelope on the desk. She glanced at the Persian, which was entirely too occupied with the attention it was receiving to give her even a cursory look. “I hope I am, too. There’s just one thing in here that I wasn’t comfortable with.” “Oh?” Giovanni pulled the envelope over to his side of the desk, opening it one-handed and sliding the contents out before him. “I’m listening.”

The doctor crossed her arms, inhaling deeply. “It’s section five. You want commercial rights to the things I create using your equipment.”

“That is hardly abnormal,” said Giovanni, furrowing his brow. “What’s your objection?” “Most organizations that ask for that kind of thing aren’t involved in cloning living beings.” Luna replied. “I want some limitation on that part of the contract.”

“Ah, yes.” Giovanni sighed, shaking his head. “I see your point. Allow me to edit this.”

He reached into his desk drawer, producing a pen with a red cap. Without ceasing petting the Persian, his steely eyes locked on Luna, he managed to flip to the fifth section of the contract and start writing.

“I take it this will do?” He asked, handing the paper back to her.

“All non-living developments?” Luna frowned, going over everything that could possibly mean in her head. After a minute of intense thought, she nodded, taking a black pen from the desk and scribbling her signature on the line. “I think that’ll do.”

“Excellent.” Giovanni said. He stood, the Persian grumbling a mrowl when the petting stopped, and offered Luna his hand. “Welcome aboard, Doctor Wenhouse.”

Luna stood and shook his hand, taking a deep breath to settle her nerves. Giovanni could’ve told her to simply leave if she had objections, or decided she’d taken too long in the first place, and then where would she be? The idea had been terrifying, of blowing this opportunity. But she knew full well what kind of damage selling a living clone could do, especially one of this magnitude, even before the moral objection she had to the idea. “Thank you, Giovanni. I’m looking forward to working on this.” “And I look forward to your contributions.” Giovanni sat, his hand returning to the Persian’s head. The cat gave Luna a jealous glare, then settled back against its master’s leg. “Michael will show you the facility. I felt optimistic that you would join us, and took the liberty to furnish your lab with some artifacts and curiosities that you may find useful or interesting.” “Alright. I suppose I’ll see you around, then.” Luna said. She turned to find Michael already standing at the elevator, arms behind his back. As she approached the doors, he stepped aside to wave her in, the doors opening as though at his command.

“I’m glad to hear you’ll be staying.” Michael said, entering the elevator car behind her. It started for the second basement floor on its own, and he settled against the wall. “The boss was convinced you would, of course, but you seemed troubled when you left previously.”

“This is,” Luna inhaled, gesturing widely with her hands. “Quite an ambitious project. If Giovanni hadn’t shown me what he did, I wouldn’t have believed it was real, and even now it feels hard to believe.”

“Ambitious is the word.” Michael nodded, slowly. “I’ve been with the boss for the last ten years. He has always been an ambitious man. But not a foolish one. To invest what he has into this project, and into recruitment specifically, speaks to an unshakable belief that it will succeed.”

“Mhm. He seems intense about it, makes it hard not to believe in his goals yourself.” Luna sighed, then smiled. “So, now that we’re going to be working together, what do you do around here? Other than standing at the door waiting for me.”

Michael chuckled, stepping out as the elevator door opened. “Would you believe I do tech support?”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?” Luna asked, following him into the hallway. This hall looked much like any normal office building’s might, though it ended abruptly after twenty feet in another unmarked steel door. There were single doors to the left and right, one labeled Lab A, the other Lab B, and each featured an RFID card reader. In an effort to counteract its emptiness, the hallway was also adorned with a variety of small plants in pots.

“No, sorry. Inside joke. It’s close enough to my official title… ah, I’ll explain later.” Michael shook his head, leading her to Lab A’s door. There, he turned and crossed his arms. “This will be your workspace. Everything within is yours to use as you see fit. If you require anything else, you just need to ask me, and I’ll ensure it gets procured for you. Once you’re across the border to that lab, the only people who do not answer to you in all regards are the boss, myself, and your counterpart from across the hall. Similarly, the well-being of every individual you may bring in to help you is also your responsibility, though I imagine you will have significantly fewer safety concerns than the technical engineering lab does.”

Luna’s eyebrows rose, and she glanced behind her at Lab B’s door before turning back to face Michael, tension in her shoulders. “I suppose Giovanni did mention something along those lines. I wasn’t aware I was going to be fully in charge of a lab, though.”

“Don’t get too concerned.” Michael offered her a warm smile. “You don’t have subordinates yet. If you need them, the boss will find candidates and run them by you.”

Luna couldn’t hide the way her posture relaxed, and she gave Michael a small smile in return. “Well, that’s a relief. How’d you know that was my first worry?”

“Call it a lucky guess.” Michael said. “Now, there is one other thing. As you’re aware, the contract stipulates room and board. Dormitories provided on the floor below us, furnished and comfortably-sized. While you are welcome to stay elsewhere, the boss believed that the sensitive nature of what you’re doing here would be better suited to facility-based housing. If you find it suitable, we’ll arrange for your belongings to be brought here, pay to end any remaining housing costs you might have, and you’ll be given unit two. You don’t have to decide now, obviously, but it bears some thought.”

Luna’s eyes widened, and she crossed her arms. “That, ah, certainly bears some thought. For now I’m just going to check out the lab.”

“Of course. If you need me, the computer inside has an easy messaging system. You’ll see it.” Michael stepped aside with a sly grin, offering her an ID card on a lanyard. It had her name, though no photo as yet. “Have fun, doctor.”

“Mm.” Luna nodded, taking the card and tapping it to the reader. “I’ll do my best. Thanks, Michael.”

And with that, she stepped inside.

Lab A was kitted to the brim with equipment, the kind Luna would’ve killed to get her hands on back at the university. Where the walls weren’t occupied by some form of equipment, they had shelving, cabinets, freezers, and a workstation with a laptop. Two additional doors adorned the far wall and the far right, one labeled Storage, the other Specimen Holding. And there, in the corner, a large device made up of two human-sized cylindrical chambers that she swore was familiar.

Her anxiety over the choice of moving in at the facility faded in the face of giddiness. She ran over to the glass-and-metal cylinders, dropping the ID card on the counter nearby, and grabbed the note taped to the front. Giovanni’s handwriting.

“Luna,

I know from skimming your paper that you based some of your work on the DNA encoding efforts of Bill Blaustein. While I only know Bill in passing, I was fortunate enough to pick up this teleportation unit prototype at a charity auction. I lack the knowledge to use it, but it appears to power on and Michael assures me it is undamaged. While I doubt it will be integral to your work, consider it a good-faith gift.

- Giovanni”

Luna gently set the note aside, grinning from ear to ear. A good faith gift of one of the most notable artifacts in the history of Pokemon genome sequencing? The infamous teleporter prototype that eventually led to the Pokemon Storage System being accessible from nearly anywhere?

“Hell of a gift.” She whispered, tapping the control unit on the front. The cylinders let out a hum as the machine came to life, and the left side door hissed as it slid open, the unit’s simple readout showing ‘READY’ in blocky LCD letters.

She hesitated, biting her lip in thought, then tapped the cancel button and let the machine power back down. No, not yet. She wanted so badly to test it, knowing that Bill had successfully teleported himself using it at least once, but it could wait.

Instead, she walked over to the laptop and opened it up, examining it. A fairly modern business-focused unit. No frills. Web access via wifi, all the scientific programs she could ask for, and the messaging application that Michael had mentioned. It seemed to be an open connection. She kept an eye on it as she took stock of the rest of the room’s equipment, humming softly to herself.

This job was already full of surprises. (Luna is now available for >asks!<)

#fanfic #giovanni #luna #pokemon #pokemon au #writing #michael #pokemon fanfic #pokemon askblog #pokemon ask blog #moonstruck

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