#nora x trystan

[inlocusmads]

She's def thinking about the soda, obvs.

#my art #nora rose #nora x trystan #crimes of passion #this took so long especially the mouth for some reason #and the hair! finally i know what her hair looks like!! #honestly i like line art better than the colouring bit because it's just so satisfying being all messy and learning as you go along

[vampirkit]

HAPPY VALENTINES @inlocusmads

I am your secret admirer!! hehe

Nora x Trystan! THEY WERE SO FUN TO DRAW I ADOREE NORA'S EYE SCAR! and i hope you enjoy this (it was inspired by a post of yours), have a good day :))

for @choicesfandomappreciation valentines event

#ChoicesSecretAdmirer2024 #trystan thorne #trystan x mc #trystan x nora #choices #my art

[lilyoffandoms]

My January Challenge Masterlist

I’m challenging myself to draw a little something for each prompt for @choicesjanuary2024. I started back in December and have fallen behind a bit but I’m gonna keep at it as best I can. So this is for me to keep track of all the ones I’ve completely finished.

Day One: Mal x Daenarya Silhouette (Blades for @storyofmychoices)

Day Two: Detective Lilah Rose (CoP for @storyofmychoices)

Day Three: Winter Princess (Nightbound for @ladylamrian

Day Four: Leaf, King of Birds (TCH)

Day Five: Lancelot x Guinevere Silhouette (Guinevere)

Day Six: Tatum x Aubrey Silhouette (FA)

Day Seven: Ethan (OPH for @peonyblossom)

Day Eight: Kieran (TCH)

Day Nine: Aerin x Raine (Blades for @oh-so-youre-a-nerd, abandoned sketch)

Day Ten: Nora Rose (CoP for @inlocusmads)

Day 11: Tyril Starfury (Blades)

Day 12: Saini Rusanen (ID for @aallotarenunelma)

Day 13: Sebastyan Thorne Case File (CoP)

Day 14: Trystan x Nora (CoP based on this by @inlocusmads)

Day 15: Mal Volari (Blades)

Day 16: Nia Ellarious (Blades)

Day 17: Kajsiab (Alpha)

Day 18: Imtura Tal Kaelen (Blades)

Day 19: Luca O'Rinn (ID for aria-ashryver)

Day 20: Aerin x Raine (Blades based on this by lovehugsandcandy)

Day 21: Together We Win (Blades MC)

Day 22: Eva Archer (WTD MC for @dutifullynuttywitch)

Day 23: Lilah Rose (CoP MC for @storyofmychoices)

Day 24: Wallace (Blades)

Day 25: Letter from Dad (CoP based on this by @inlocusmads)

Day 26: Marianna Howard (DaD OC for noesapphic)

Day 27: Ash Clark (ID OC for @aallotarenunelma)

Day 28: Trystan (CoP for @stars-are-within-me)

Day 29: Gabriel Rose (CoP based on this headcanon)

Day 30: Casey MacTavish (OPH MC for @jerzwriter)

Day 31: Trystan x Gabriel (CoP)

#straight up stealing jerzwriters idea of this masterlist lol #choicesjanuary #choicesjanuary2024 #my art ish thing #i polish nothing #i don’t accept criticism or feedback #from anyone that ain’t a friend #or mutual #i’ll ask if i want it form any of the rest of y’all #definitely don’t want it if you come at me on anon

[choicesficwriterscreations]

CFWC F/AotW - Feb 18 - 24, 2024

✒️= Fanfic | 📱= Text Fics/Edits | 🎨 = Fanart Ⓜ️ = Mature Content 18+ | 🔥 = Explicit/NSFW 18+ 🏳️‍🌈 = LGBTQIA |🔹Submitted by creator

BLADES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

Aerin Valleros x M!Human!MC 🎨🏳️‍🌈 by @oh-so-youre-a-nerd

Crossroads ✒️🏳️‍🌈 🔹| Aerin Valleros, NB!Elf!MC - @storyofmychoices

Daenarya 🎨🏳️‍🌈🔹| f!human!mc - @storyofmychoices

Kilian Clawthorne 🎨🔹 by @inlocusmads

Marya Moonglory 🎨🏳️‍🌈🔹| f!elf!mc - @storyofmychoices for @gaiuskamilah

Woven Threads & Winding Roads Parts 3 & 4 ✒️🔹| Tyril Starfury x f!human!mc - @aria-ashryver for @thosehallowedhalls

BLOODBOUND

Bloodbound Portraits 🎨| Multiple Characters by @thepanky

CRIMES OF PASSION

I don't think a million times is enough ✒️| m!Trystan Thorne x F!MC - @inlocusmads

Moja Ruza ✒️🔹| m!Trystan Thorne x F!MC - @peonierose

Of Cloudless Climes and Starry Skies (Series) ✒️🔹| Sebastyan Thorne x F!MC - @thosehallowedhalls Chapter 3

Starting Somewhere If Nowhere Tangible ✒️🔹| Mafalda Ginovese, Nora Rose (F!MC) - @inlocusmads

DISTANT SHORES

Distant Shores: An Alternate Path - Part 2 ✒️🔹| Charlie Smith x M!MC - @korgbelmont

THE ELEMENTALISTS

Beckett Harrington x F!MC Fanart 🎨by @bri1234

Shreya Mistry Fanart 🎨by @artbyalz

ENDLESS SUMMER

Estela Montoya x F!MC Fanart 🎨🏳️‍🌈by @marmolady

THE FRESHMAN SERIES

Somehow, I Never Got the Rose Tinted Glasses ✒️🏳️‍🌈🔹| TFS MC - @choicesmc

Zig Ortega Fanart🎨🏳️‍🌈by @/ohhhheyitsjulia (IG) (C: @choiceswithmika)

IMMORTAL DESIRES

Am I Dreaming? 🎨| Cas Harlow x F!MC - @nukritus

Cas Harlow & Gabe Adalhard Fanart 🎨by @fiyahhball

Immortal Desires Fanart 🎨| Cas Harlow x F!MC x Gabe Adalhard - @artbyalz

Immortal Desires Fanart - Cas Harlow 🎨🏳️‍🌈| Cas Harlow x MC - @your-art-is-gay

Murder at Homecoming: Harlow ✒️Ⓜ️🔹| Cas Harlow x F!MC - @korgbelmont

Please Don't Think (Series) ✒️Ⓜ️🔥| Cas Harlow x F!MC x Gabe Adalhard - @princesstutu Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

LAWS OF ATTRACTION

But I'm tired 🎨🏳️‍🌈| Martin Vanderweil x NB!MC - @oh-so-youre-a-nerd

MULTIPLE STORIES

Playchoices MCs 🎨by @cassiopeiacorvus 

Six Fanarts 🎨 by @gaiuskamilah

NIGHTBOUND

The Haunted House ✒️🔹| Nik Ryder x F!MC - @ladylamrian

OPEN HEART

Open Heart Full F/AotW Lise - Week ending Feb 24, 2024

RED CARPET DIARIES

Thomas x Alex Hunt Fanart 🎨by @liiyaan (C: @storyofmychoices)

THE ROYAL ROMANCE

Wild Ride: A Bad Romance Prequel One-Shot ✒️Ⓜ️🔥🔹| Liam Rys x MC - @angelasscribbles

WAKE THE DEAD

Ash Archer (F!MC) Fanart 🎨by @roseythorne

Three of Hearts ✒️🏳️‍🌈🔹| Eli Sipes x Zoe Rivera (F!MC) x Troy Hassan - @jerzwriter

#playchoices #choices stories you play #blades of light and shadow #bloodbound #crimes of passion #distant shores #the elementalists #endless summer #the freshman series #immortal desires #laws of attraction #nightbound #open heart #red carpet diaries #the royal romance #wake the dead #choices fic writers creations #cfwc fics of the week #cfwc art of the week #playchoices fanfic #playchoices fanart

[choicesjanuary2024]

MASTERLIST || WELCOME || PROMPTS || RULES || HOST

Listed in alphabetical order by artist name. If I missed adding one on this list, or missed reblogging, please let me know.

@aallotarenunelma

Chronicles of a Crimson Summer 11 (ID Fic & Edit, Cas x MC)

Songs that describe my pairings (ID & It Lives Songs)

@dutifullynuttywitch

Starlit night (WtD Fic, Troy x MC)

@inlocusmads

chosen family (CoP Fic, Trystan)

hello, goodbye ~ jimmy rose (CoP Fic, Jimmy)

laplace’s angel (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

meeting at a crosswalk (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

slam poetry (MAH Fic, Stevie x MC)

@jerzwriter

A Different Fate - Final Chapter (OPH Fic, Ethan x MC)

A Little Mess (OPH Edit, Tobias x MC)

A New Perspective (OPH Fic, Tobias x MC)

A Tipsy Winter Tale (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

Clucking Amazing (OPH Edit, Ethan x MC)

Different Destinations (OPH Fic, Tobias x MC)

If the hat fits… (CoP Fic & Art Commission, Trystan x MC)

It Always Starts Somewhere…. (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

Pen-sive (OPH Fic, Ethan x MC)

Pietro & Azul (OPH Fic, Tobias x MC)

Stress Reduction (OPH Fic, Tobias x MC)

The Morning (WtD Fic, Eli x MC)

Trystan’s 2023 Holiday Recap (CoP Edit, Trystan x MC)

Twenty-Five (WTD Fic, Troy & MC)

@ladylamrian

A Prince for the Holidays (Blades Fic, Aerin x MC)

His Barbie, Her Ken (Nightbound Fic, Nik x MC)

Loyal to be Royal (Nightbound Fic, Nik x MC, Garrus x MC)

@liaromancewriter

Daddy’s Girl (OPH Fic, Ethan x MC)

Making It Work (OPH Edit, Ethan x MC)

Miami Nights: Before and After (OPH Edit, Ethan x MC)

New Year Wishes (OPH Fic, Ethan x MC)

Whatever It Takes (OPH Edit, Ethan x MC)

@lilyoffandoms

Alex as the Winter Princess (Nightbound Art, MC)

Aerin x Raine (Blades Art, Aerin x MC)

Aerin x Raine (Blades Art, Aerin x MC)

Ash Clark (ILITW Art, OC)

Captain Pandrosion Elara (AtV Art, Sol, Meridian, Kepler, MC)

Casey MacTavish (OPH Art, MC)

Coffee Date(s) (CoP Art, Trystan x MC)

Detective Lilah Rose (CoP Art, MC)

Ethan (OPH Art)

Gabriel Rose (CoP Art)

Imtura Tal Kaelen (Blades)

Inspired by Mal x Daenarya (Blades Art, Mal x OC)

Kajsiab (Alpha Art, MC)

Kieran (TCH Art)

Lancelot x Guinevere Silhouette (Guinevere Art, Lancelot x MC)

Leaf, King of Birds (TCH Art)

Lilah Rose (CoP Art, MC)

Luca O'Rinn (ID MC)

Mal Volari (Blades Art)

Marianna Howard (Desire and Decorum Fanart, OC)

Nia Ellarious (Blades Art)

Nora Rose (CoP Art, MC)

Sabastyan Thorne Case File (CoP Art)

Saini Rusanen (ID Art, MC)

Tatum x Aubrey (FA Art, Tatum x MC)

Together We Win (Blades Art, MC)

Trystan (CoP Art)

Tyril Starfury (Blades Art)

Wallace (Blades Art)

@lovealexhunt

Happy New Year (RCD Fic & Art Commission, Thomas x MC)

Helios - Emma’s Arylu (TE Art, Familiar)

#plantlove (OPH Fic, Bryce x OC)

Post Christmas Bliss (RCD Art Commission, Thomas x MC)

Spread Joy #841 (Blades Edit, Mal)

Tuneless Wonders (TE, Fic & Art Commission)

Valax (Blades Art)

@peonyblossom

Hades of House Nightbloom (Blades Art Commission, MC)

I Wasn’t Built For Iceland (AME Fic, Carson x MC)

We’ll Figure It Out (Untamable Fic, Kit x MC)

@stars-are-within-me

In Her Arms (CoP Fic, Vasili, Juliana)

The Skies (Blades Fic, Imtura, Ventra)

@tess-liam

Turning the Page (TRR Fic, Liam x OC)

@thosehallowedhalls

A 2AM Christmas Tree Farm [1/2] (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

Babysitting the Demonic Duo (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

Home without - Part One (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

Progression (CoP Fic, Trystan x MC)

Tabloids, or a story in 5 headlines (CoP Fic, Trystan x Emma)

#playchoices #choicesjanuary #choicesjanuary2024 #choices monthly challenge #masterlist

[choicespride]

Bisexual Awareness Week 2023 Masterlist

Blades of Light and Shadow

Ask Answered - f!human!MC (Daenarya of Riverbend) - @storyofmychoices

Ask Answered - Mal Volari x Tyril Starfury - @storyofmychoices & @lilyoffandoms

Love is love is love! - Mal Volari x f!human!MC (Daenarya of Riverbend) x Nia Ellarious - submitted by @storyofmychoices; art by coffeesforchloe (IG)

Picrew Mal & Daenarya - Mal Volari, f!human!MC (Daenarya of Riverbend) - @storyofmychoices

Sculpting Desires - Mal Volari x f!human!MC (Daenarya of Riverbend), Tyril Starfury x m!elf!MC (Maiele), Mal Volari x Tyril Starfury - @storyofmychoices

Crimes of Passion

bisexual awareness week '23 q's & a's - f!MC (Nora Rose) - @inlocusmads

Cover Redesign - m!Trystan Thorne x nb!MC (Gabriel Rose) - submitted by @lilyoffandoms; art by artbyainna (IG)

High School Story

Questionnaire - f!MC (Evie) - @cadybear420

Open Heart

A Quick Study - f!MC (Casey MacTavish) x f!OC (Jessica Phillips) - @jerzwriter

Ask Answered - Bryce Lahela - @storyofmychoices

Dr. Casey MacTavish Carrick - @jerzwriter

Sydney Serving Absolute Cunt - m!MC (Sydney Valentine) - submitted by @peonyblossom; art by @somewillwin

Perfect Match

Saffron Sugar, Turmeric Spice - f!Hayden Young x poly m!MC (Basil Park), f!Hayden Young x f!OC (Nilkushi Sierra), implied Sloane Washington x MC - @lizzybeth1986

#bisexual awareness week 2023 #choices pride bi week 2023 #masterlist #high school story #blades of light and shadow #crimes of passion #open heart #perfect match #cadybear420 #storyofmychoices #lilyoffandoms #artbyainna #peonyblossom #somewillwin #jerzwriter #lizzybeth1986

[choicesjuly2023challenge]

Week 3 Masterlist

Crimes of Passion

Close Talking - m!Trystan Thorne x f!MC (Lilah Rose) - @storyofmychoices

Trystan Sebastijan Thorne - @storyofmychoices

Won't Lovers Revolt Now? - m!Trystan Thorne x f!MC (Nora Rose) - @inlocusmads

Open Heart

Can I Have this Dance? - Bryce Lahela x f!OC (Olivia Hadley) - @storyofmychoices

Glamorous, stylish, and oh so fabulous! - Bryce Lahela x f!OC (Olivia Hadley) - submitted by @storyofmychoices; drawn by _artsbymena_ (Insta)

Relaxation - Ethan Ramsey x f!MC (Victoria Clarke) - @potionsprefect

Sadie's Self Care Sunday #35: Workout - Ethan Ramsey x f!MC (Sadie Oakley) - @peonyblossom

Taken Care Of - Ethan Ramsey x m!MC (Sydney Valentine) - @peonyblossom

#week 3 masterlist #crimes of passion #open heart #storyofmychoices #potionsprefect #inlocusmads #peonyblossom

[openheartfanfics]

Newly Added Fics

July 9 - 15, 2022 

🎭 Angst  |  🦚 Angsty Fluff  |  🛸 AU  |  ☁ Fluff  |  ♥ NSFW  |  📚 Series  |  📷 Edit  |  📱 TextFic  |  Ⓜ Mature

ETHAN X F!MC 

A Very Important Question - @openheartfanfiction  ☁

Claire has an important question for Ethan.

Cynical - @takeharryandgo  ♥ 🛸

Working as two lawyers on opposing sides of a case leads to an argument that turns heated in more ways than one.

Derry’s - @utterlyinevitable  ☁

Ethan’s a bit peeved at his intern’s assessment of him so he oversteps his own workplace boundaries to prove her wrong. [1.7; Someone Else]

Dr. Whodunnit: Crimes of Passion/Open Heart Crossover  - @inlocusmads  📚 🛸

[extended: wip] A killer on the loose. A medical conspiracy. Nora and Trystan must combine their strengths with two doctors from Boston to unveil the ugly deals behind it all.

Ch 5: The Ineffable Plan

Exile - @bex-la-get 🎭

He comes to terms with knowing that she’s happier with someone else. [Ex Came Back]

Just a Kiss - @jerzwriter  ☁

Pure silliness. What would these two be willing to do, in order to save the other?

Kismet - @jerzwriter 📚 ☁

[extended: wip] Starting in childhood, Kaycee & Ethan’s paths crossed six times before the “first time” they met.

Part 6: The Club

Kiss My Best Friend - @genevievemd  ☁

Gen asks Ethan: “Would you kiss my best friend to save my life?” What’s Ethan’s answer?

Magazine Covers - @potionsprefect  ☁

Two magazines, two different covers.

Peaches - @lsvdw-blog 📷 Ⓜ

Serena teases Ethan with a suggestive Picta post.

Persuasion - @coffeeheartaddict2  ♥

Tobias is jealous when he gets a time off request for Aurora and Casey for the bachelorette trip and Casey takes things into her own hands.

Pretty Please - @a-crepusculo  ☁

They took a picture at the happiest place on earth.

Querida - @jamespotterthefirst  ☁

Ethan hasn’t always been good at dancing Latin American music, but he’s learning.

The Perfect Moment - @bex-la-get  ☁

It’s the perfect moment to tell her something important. [In Love]

The Question - @mysticalgalaxysstuff  ☁

Would Ethan kiss Marissa’s best friend...hypothetically?

The Trolley Problem - @inlocusmads  ☁

A morally ambiguous question turns romantic partners into best friends.

You Weren’t Meant For Me - @liaromancewriter  🎭

Years after he left for the Amazon, Ethan finally returns for a bittersweet reunion with Cassie. [Left Town; Someone Else]

Your Biggest Fan - @jamespotterthefirst  📚 🛸

[extended: wip] When he is forced to promote his new book on social media, an insolent stranger points out a mistake in his research.  

Ch 16: The Alert

102 Days of Smiles - @genevievemd  📚 📷

[extended: wip] One post a day, for 102 days, with something that made our new bride smile.

ENSEMBLE

What Happens in Vegas - @liaromancewriter  📷 📱 ☁

Cassie and her friends head to Vegas for a conference, but it’s really about what happens when the lights go down. Feat. Ethan Ramsey, Sienna Trinh, OH Gang [Vegas]

TOBIAS X F!MC / F!OC

Friends - supplemental text fic - @jerzwriter  📱 ☁

How long do we think this "arrangement" will work? And how will it end?

ME! - @jerzwriter  ☁

Casey's just agreed to semi-officially live with Tobias, and it leads to some unusual conversations.

Washed Up - @jerzwriter  ☁

Tobias has to pay the price for Bryce's discovery. Feat. Bryce Lahela

You’re On...Again - @jerzwriter  ☁

Tobias & Casey successfully convinced his visiting mother and aunt that they were a couple. They did so well, he's asking for her help again.

50 Days of Love - @openheartfanfiction  📚 📷

[extended: wip] Just 50 Days of Adelaide showing love to many different things.

_

SUBMIT OPEN HEART FICS & WRITERS HERE

#open heart #open heart choices #open heart fanfic #open heart fanfics #open heart fanfiction #playchoices fanfiction #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #tobias carrick #tobias carrick x mc #sienna trinh #sienna trinh x oc #newly added fics

[inlocusmads]

Nora's three primary emotions - much questions, no thought and panique attaque.

#my art #honestly it is so fun doing like random sketches like this #the baseball bat came out as a log of wood but yknow what this is just fuck it we ball phase #and did ya like the symbolism - primary colours and all #and also it is so hard to draw muscles without giving it a bit of shading and i cant do that for shit #crimes of passion #nora rose #nora x trystan #the fact that she's got literally the same expression on is just a testament to my insane skills/s

[inlocusmads]

Partner (Disambiguation)

5 times Nora and Trystan fake a relationship and one time they didn't want to anymore.

(Or a 5+1 fic on what it means to be a "partner" to someone.)

Characters: Nora Rose, Trystan Thorne from Crimes of Passion, Book 1 and 2.

WC: 3.8k | Teen + for swearing (don't blame me, blame Nora (no, honestly, don't. She deserves to swear as much as she should.))

A/N: This is probably my first 5+1 fic ever, so I hope I did it right because it would be very bad if I got it wrong. It might be a bit long too, so I did a thing where I cut back on the descriptions and added in more dialogue because we are truly at the epitome of a writing style crisis here inside Mads' Universe of Horrors here.

Tagging @choicesbookclub

(Painting of Tristan and Iseult)

1:

Of course, Nora would agree, it is the stupidest request in the whole wide world. Possibly ever in the universe, mostly because it really was an absurd enough request to propose to someone who had only known her for maybe two or three weeks. Nora would call it an act of boosting morale, something the private detective agency really did require, when really it was just a whole plot to get a discounted meal as a part of their Valentines In Late September program.

"Do you want to pretend to be my partner so we can go to an all-you-can-eat feast?"

"Really?" Trystan folded up the newspaper and stood up, like a car after a jumpstart. "Husband? Boyfriend? Partner? What would you like?"

"Okay, you are way too into this. I'm reconsidering it."

"No, no, it is a splendid idea because I have been very interested in immersing myself in the lesser known bits of American culture, especially the all-you-can-eat buffets at restaurants. Drakovia would have that, if we didn't have capital punishment after a massive court case between the government and a bunch of caterers. Business laws. Anyway, I would love to be your partner for the evening. Do we need to forge anything?"

"The fact that you asked is concerning but yes. It's half-off for couples, one breath away from marriage. We need proof, so they're looking for cohabitation stuff - joint bank accounts, maybe, receipts, anything to prove we are seeing each other and it is a real thing."

"I do know a very good forger here in New York."

"I know some too. Who have you been hanging out with?"

"Nobody. Who are you hanging out with?"

"All right. We'll figure that out on the way, now come on! Grab your coats, let's go! We're going to be late. Buffet starts at around seven. You know the rules. Grab and go. Stuff it into Tupperware if you can't finish it. Make sure to eat enough, sample a bit of everything including the special menu they have exclusively for lovey-dovey people with rings - oh crap, how good are you at arts and crafts, because we need a convincing looking paper ring -- maybe I can nick some washers--"

"I certainly didn't expect the fake marriage plot so early on in our partnership but I am intrigued. A little immorality and a lust against the law never hurt anyone." Trystan grinned from ear to ear.

***

2:

There were certain things you didn't do, such as engage in debauchery, toss stones at people who've wronged you and threaten your finishing school conduct and theatrics teacher with nuclear warheads. Trystan had done all of it. He'd also supplied rather falsified opinions to the Press, which was wonderful but was caught by a very near and dear Olivia Nevrakis, which was not very good on his part and now, everyone was deeply convinced Nora was Trystan's fiancee, except she was Nora to New York and Duchess Ximena of Lythikos to the royal society.

So when Nora received a rather confusing email from a gossip magazine, something she never really does often because it is only ever rare underdogs like her ever get interviewed or even recognised by the press or even given a commendation for maybe, y'know, solving all of the NYPD's cases, she was rather positively baffled. Not because she'd expected the Duchess Ximena thing to still continue with its rather violent momentum, rather she certainly didn't expect to learn a whole new love story that she certainly had no part in orchestrating.

"Did you tell The Spotlight that you met me at a charity function, I was wearing a bright green dress with topaz gems and a tiara and you sweeped me off my feet -- what in the absolute fuck? And how did they get my email?"

"Might've given it to them--"

"What?"

"I said, I might've given it to them!"

"Seriously - I can't it with--!"

"Okay, you are mad."

"Yes, very much."

"I want to tell you that my intention is to never harm you, Detective. Ever. It is merely a massive distraction. I created the perfect love story enough for all of these gossip rags to bleed it dry and run it to its death and we wouldn't have to worry about it interfering with the case anymore. I did us all a nice favour."

"A favour? Feeding wrong information to the press - you could get sued!"

"I do have many close friends who can take care of that. Small-time thieves who can make things very difficult." Trystan smiled, smugly. "Anyway, it helps, doesn't it? The press will be so distracted and then they'll get bored and soon enough, they'll stop beating this dead horse. And we can focus on the investigation without the Press careening up to wherever we stop and demanding answers. The less scandalous, the more fluffier the better."

"So I have to play in, now?"

"Come on, a few words about my pleasant facial features won't hurt. Along with some of my best talents, including the theatre. I was in many productions of Shakespearean plays."

"You're literally the worst person ever." Nora declared.

"And yet, you still want me as your partner. This is a love story for the ages! Can we do a little enemies to lovers arc too? The mysterious Ximena held hatred in her heart at first. This elegant young man, Trystan Thorne couldn't believe it--"

"Goodbye."

"No, wait! I'm almost done! Come back! Argh, you are absolutely difficult to deal with, Detective! I hope you know I'm taking full credit for the whole story! If this ever becomes profitable -- annd she's gone."

***

3:

There were certain things you should probably avoid if you ever work at a hospital. If you ever happen to see a very frantic detective urging nurses and doctors if she could see her injured idiot of a partner, you probably should let her. First, it was because she was scarily covered in his blood. Second because she might just illegally control a forklift and push her way through the hospital doors, so if you do value peace and quiet in your local hospital, do let your detectives get their way.

"He's my partner, you absolute clowns!" Nora yelled after them as they carried a wounded Trystan on a stretcher. A nurse quickly came by to do damage control.

"I'm sorry, but it's for immediate family only."

"I'm a detective and he's my partner!"

"I understand -- detective but--"

"No, you don't get it! Seriously, God!"

"Partner as in, a partner in your case or --"

"Partners! P-A-R-T-N-E-R-S! Look, I don't want to shout at nurses. You're brilliant people and I just want to be there, okay?"

"I understand that, Miss-- but perhaps if you put down your name and the -- nature of your relationship with the patient whether it is a -- colleague, work thing or if you two are married, as in partners who are romantically involved -- I really ought to write this down! Miss! Detective! You can't go in there! Oh no -- oh dear, someone stop her, please! Who are you and what is your relationship with the patient? We need it for the records!"

"PARTNERS!" Nora shouted at the nurse and followed the doctors to the hospital room.

"A very helpful nurse - though somewhat terribly frightened - I don't know what happened to her, told me that Trystan and his partner were here, though she didn't specify the nature of the partnership so I must have to congratulate him either way; for scoring a job at a detective agency and a surprise engagement! Ha!" Mags smiled weakly, after the rollercoaster of events that went down the night before. It was clear ever since Nora had informed her of Trystan's stab wound, she didn't sleep at all.

"I'm sorry, the ambiguity in partners seemed unclear enough to throw them off for a while. Means a variety of things, doesn't it? Anyway, I had to -- erm, figure a way out because they wouldn't let me in here for the night."

"Oh no, I understand." Mags sat down next to her. "How is he doing?"

"Better. Or at least the guys who keep coming in here tell me so. He's still sedated. Knocked out like a tropical fish on crack. The doctors said the blade missed his vital organs, didn't penetrate too much. He should be fine in a couple of weeks. Four or five, maybe."

There was silence for a while before Nora announced-

"I'm sorry."

"No - seriously, don't be."

"No, we went in. We were utterly stupid. We had no back-ups. I'm so sorry, Marguerite. It just went down so poorly. Trystan deserves so much more than this funny business he'd unfortunately caught himself into and I'm clearly the one to blame, I just--"

Nora felt an arm on her shoulder. Mags gave her an assuring nod.

"No, Nora, you've done so much already. It's how Trystan does things. He charges into danger and gets hurt. I pick up the pieces. It is terrible but - we do the best we can. You've protected him from a great many things, but ultimately, if he took that stab wound, I don't think it is your fault. He took it because he had his reasons to. But that doesn't mean I can't complain."

"No, by all means, please do. I completely understand you and to shoulder that responsibility throughout childhood, you deserve to complain at least a little."

Mags threw her head back and laughed. "I guess we understand each other better now. So much for Trystan's guardian angels. He still ends up with a knife to his stomach with ten thousand reasons as to why he did so."

***

4:

Nora wasn't a huge fan of literature, but she did read Anne Frank's Tales as part of an English course in high school and one of the quotes that really stuck with her went - "Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude". As she sat there in the hospital, with broken ribs and a phone with a dozen missed calls from a distant aunt who wouldn't call but only called after the Press had a nice field day over the burnt remains of the St. Claire Greenhouse and Nora's involvement ("Jimmy Rose's daughter" - they'd all said.) she couldn't help but think Aunt Lei was just feeling regretful that she wasn't in contact all these years.

With trembling hands, she picked up the call when her phone buzzed again, hoping that her relatives wouldn't abandon her again and use "distance" as a boring pathetic excuse.

"Auntie, it's been ten years!" Nora exclaimed in Chinese. "Where have you -- oh, I see -- erm - journalism, that's great. Oh you were in Indonesia all along, that's nice -- wouldn't have hurt to call -- no, Dad died years ago, yeah, yeah -- what's the call for, anyway?"

"I never knew you were married la, Yingxiu!"

"No, I'm not--"

"It was all over the news! Your name on the front page! It was all in English, I don't know how to read it, la. It was you in this nice dress with this other man! You never invited us, hai - this is what this American Life does to you. I told Jian Ying la- that Jimmy -- to take you home after Xiaoyun passed. You never learn the gratitude! No wedding, no party - I have to find out engagement from newspaper photograph!"

"I --" Nora coughed a lot, her tongue faintly tasting of smoke. "No, wait you've got the wrong--"

"Give me the phone to that man, la! Now! Need to talk to him and see if he is any good. He's in our family now, ai! Good lord, all those years and this Jimmy never taught you anything proper at all. No weddings, nothing!"

Trystan must've had some impeccable comedic timing engraved into his soul, because he'd just walked in with a pudding cup refill. Well, technically he did end up stealing the whole packet when the nurses weren't looking.

Nora gave him a look. Then she pressed the speaker phone.

"He's here." She spoke in Chinese. "Talk in English. You're on speaker phone."

"Oh I can talk in English! I know English very much!" said Aunt Lei, proving to her rebellious distant niece that she was capable of doing so.

Trystan gave her a look.

Nora responded with a different one. Play along.

"Erm, hello?"

"Ah, so you are the boy my niece married, ah?"

"It is so nice to meet you, Mrs--"

Lei. Nora mouthed.

"Lee--" Trystan mispronounced. "I am just so elated to meet another member of Nora's family."

"Why didn't she invite anyone to the wedding? I had to find it through newspaper!"

"It was a very short wedding, unfortunately, I really do apologise, Mrs Lee. However I love your niece so very much. It was this heat of the moment thing. We decided we just simply had to get married and we did."

"This young love never goes anywhere -- no tradition, no principles -- but you take care of her, la? This one, this Ying Xiu, she doesn't do anything at all. Good for nothing! Didn't even tell her family she's married! What is your name?"

"Tr--" he began and immediately swallowed it after Nora gestured at him against doing it. "James. James Smith."

"James Smith -- okay. I will inform others and come back. You better pick the phone up next time, na, Ying Xiu -- otherwise I will--"

Nora promptly ended the call and the two heaved a collective sigh of relief.

"This fake marriage thing has gone for far too long." Trystan said, peeling open the pudding cup for her. "At this point, it would be the least surprising thing if we did actually fill up the papers and get married in a courthouse ceremony."

"I feel like Ruby and Luke would place bets about this. I don't want either of them to win." Nora smiled devilishly, as she devoured her pudding by stabbing it with a fork. "Major props to you, of course. You're the best fake partner I've ever had, I might actually cry happy tears--"

"Now, now, we'll save that for the wedding, yeah?"

"-- and punch five people."

"Also for the wedding, yes. I have a list."

***

5:

"So what is our cover, Detective? Ooh, are we playing Good Cop, Bad Cop again? Please tell me we are doing that. I've been watching violent American movies and I do think I have a strong grasp of a "Bad Cop" character. Does Die Hard count as one?" Trystan asked, literally dancing around on the pavement at the prospect of going to interrogate a fence manning a stolen jewel storage facility.

"I think we're going to have to play the fake engagement card again." Nora sighed. "Please don't let me do this. I will probably get very violent-"

"- at the prospect of not marrying me?" Trystan smirked.

"No, at the prospect of doing this over and over again as our only veto power move. There has to be something better and I can't think of any, so shall we, Mr Rose-Thorne?" Nora held her hand out.

Trystan took it, but did not respond in kind. "We need to decide on the names. Thorne-Rose, please. It's so much more lyrical and--"

Their earpieces buzzed to life and without warning, Luke's voice shuttled through into their ear canals. "I hate to interrupt your marital bickering, but you've got to make it look convincing. Lay the love on thick. Be sappy, be --"

"Stupidly in love, yep. Yep. Got it. Let's go."

Now Nora did get better at confrontations as a whole. She realised that the use of force and her rather "try me, bitch" personality wouldn't gel in with stolen goods transporters like this one with the beard, after her run-ins with another bearded person who turned out to be a vindictive serial killer being manipulated by a wise old, yet somehow equally vindictive grandmother. Armed with this information, Trystan was interested to see how this would play out.

"Can I help you?"

To Trystan's absolute horror, Nora put on possibly the most high-pitched accent ever that would've gotten her cast in a campy teen movie as the overly giggly best friend archetype. She clutched onto Trystan's arm like she was about to judo-flip him, crossing the treacherous boundaries between a tender arm holding and full-blown martial arts mania. Nora at one point, even forgot how she should've held a lover's hand, so much that she genuinely looked like she was in so much pain from just the arm holding.

"Hi! Hi! Hi!" she said, "We heard from my absolute best friend Cadence that y'all sell like jewellery and shit and my partner and I here will totally buy one for like a million amounts of money!"

"The higher the quality of the jewel, the better."

"And like my partner here is super good with them, he's in the diamond business and everything! And I just never really knew so much, except they are so sparkly! I just want a nice little one, but not too small as to like, invalidate our amazing true love! It has to be big, but also like, small because Cadence is a total bitch and she'll like, totally spread all those lies about me in our neighbourhood!"

"An engagement ring, eh?" The salesman was mildly mortified by Nora's personality but he didn't question it, of course. Customers like her went by everyday and paid him well. "Gotta ask, who proposed?"

"I did, of course!" Nora piped up. "I mean, I literally snuck the little ring into his champagne and he choked on it and I almost thought he was going to die!"

It was then Trystan realised his detective wasn't doing this for the sole purpose to not blow their covers off. She was having fun. He gave her a gentle nudge with his elbow.

"Yes -- it was a very kind gesture, of course--" Trystan smiled, but winced in pain at the Lovecraftian horror before him. It was like watching a documentary on how sausages were made.

"Honestly if we totally had the time, I would've driven us up to the courthouse -- hahahaha! It's funny, right? So funny! But we do want a proper ring, a nice white wedding, a house with a picket fence and -- so many kids! So many!" Nora swallowed hard. "Anyway, we can't do any of that without my mother of course. Ugh, hate that woman. She doesn't want us eloping. She hates everyone except my little darling little partner -- dude here and -- erm -- the only way we can make her happy is the biggest, fanciest ring ever!"

"Of course. You know what they say about mother-in-laws--" the salesman shot Trystan a look, who responded in kind with a similar look. "Give me a moment, I'll have to get the rings from the shelf."

"I hate it here." Nora punctuated every word; returning back to her deep, baritone voice. "Kill me."

"You started it." Trystan whispered back. "I'm just enjoying the show. For a second I thought you were pulling my leg with the ring in the champagne thing."

"Of course I was. Then I'll choke everyone to death for making me do this over and over again."

"Choking. Someone's a little -- bold." he shot her a knowing smile.

"I cannot believe you right now." Nora shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Neither can I, but you know what they say about marriages. You discover something new about your little darling little partner dude everyday." Trystan chuckled.

***

+1:

It was a nice weekend at the Ginovesi Agency which was a bit of a misnomer because it was never really just a nice weekend. Luke had some trouble he had to sort out. Ruby was knee deep in an autopsy report about this man who took five stab wounds but died from poison instead, which was absolutely marvellous and of course, as a chemistry geek she simply had to eat up all the information about poisons possible. Trystan was not, unfortunately, looking up nukes on eBay and was instead putting some thought into the next phase in their case, while he bored Nora with a story about Kaspar and how he, alongside being a jewel thief, also loved to steal paintings.

Nora was at her desk; all suited up for an important occasion - Filing Day, when everything took a pause because she had to sort a portion of her pie chart time for meaningless, pointless report work. Mafalda was adamant against her adherence to a format. After many successive attempts, she'd managed to produce one good decent write-up without snarky side comments about the frivolous nature of the report, several more petty jibes and changing the font to Comic Sans for the fun of it.

"I'm done. Fuck yes!" Nora declared, giving everyone a high-five. "Okay, coffee and everything else on me. I apologise for the excessive swearing, not! I am done with this fucking thing! Ha-HA! Seriously, this has school written all over it and I absolutely hated school - no dark sarcasm in the classroom, teachers leave them kids alone, all right anyway, what would you like Luke? Ruby? It's on me. Free food! Bagels?"

Nobody answered back. Luke was enamoured by the computer screen and Ruby was now grinning at the autopsy study, much to Nora's concern.

Trystan stood up and approached her. "I would absolutely love a caramel latte and a croissant from this place." - he reached into his pocket and grabbed a business card from a local café. "It is a very small shop; between a public library and a bus stop, so I do think you'd require the address for it. Small shops have the best food. They also have belladi."

"Thanks for being the only one acknowledging!" Nora shouted, with a bit of obnoxiousness just so Ruby and Luke could hear. "Seriously, what are these guys on and where can I get some of it?"

"I don't know, but I do think this will make you feel somewhat closer to that euphoric feeling." Trystan smiled. He leaned a little, taking in Nora's scent of peppermints and pressed a ravenous kiss to her lips. Nora smiled into it, allowing herself to pull him closer by the lapels of his blazer; sinking into this feeling - this wonderful, marvellous feeling of Nora who had just stopped giving three Hoover damns about the situation, not long before--

"HOLY SHIT!" Luke yelped.

"What-- OH MY GOD!" Ruby cried.

"Luke, isn't it a little rude to interrupt us when we were clearly in the middle of saying goodbye?" Trystan said, his head sinking into Nora's shoulder almost without any hesitation at all. "You too, Ruby."

Nora folded her arms, quite proud of herself. "Now can I get your coffee orders, yeah?"

"B-black two sugars--" Luke swallowed, with great difficulty; almost as if he'd seen a Cyclops barge into the wall, shrieking like crazy.

"None for me. I think I might just need a cold compress -- or something - Jesus Christ Nora!" Ruby exclaimed. "So like, are you two a thing? When did this happen? Are you now dating? Do you guys have a plan? Are you partners? Boyfriends and girlfriends? Have you defined the relationship--"

"Well, Detective? Do you want to be?" Trystan asked, his voice almost nauseatingly sweet.

"I don't know. Maybe we should do another round of all of this fake, phoney engagement, partnership business. What do you say? It'll be troublesome, of course. Big trouble."

"You know me, I love trouble so much."

***

A/N:

Boy that was long, wasn't it? I'd think this is one of my longest fics ever. It is against the vast majority of Tumblr readers, I'd think because a few weeks ago, I put out a poll about the ideal chapter length readers would enjoy and this just became a whole thing. I don't know. I guess I have just been a bit worried about this whole threshold that sometimes I feel like I'm not enjoying the writing bit and focusing on cutting it down - damn this is a whole therapy session.

Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate it a lot! This was just silly but I just wanted to put this out there, into the void lmfao. I did not edit this so if there are some grammar errors - uh.. we'll just pretend they don't exist. Originally I wanted to write actual Chinese in place of the conversation in English Nora has with her distant Aunt, but I never seem to find a proper translating app because Google Translate, DeepL they all do this thing where they make the language so formal. Plus I have no idea if it is phonetically, grammatically true or not.

Guess I'll just learn Chinese next time - ugh the sheer lengths I must go for these two idiots -

And also I would totally appreciate a Drakovian dictionary. Or maybe I can make up my own Drakovian since it is clearly a language that must have originated from Eastern European, Slavic languages. PB make Trystan speak Drakovian challenge. Seriously make it happen. This is definitely not a threat.

Tagging:

Perma: @quixoticdreamer16 @tessa-liam

Crimes: @cassie-thorne @peonierose @ao719 @trappedinfanfiction @jerzwriter @fuckitweball0000

#nora x trystan #w:inlocusmads #crimes of passion choices fics #crimes of passion

[inlocusmads]

Smoke On The Water

The one fight Nora doesn't win and the one fight Trystan can never escape from. (A rewrite of Chapter 2, Crimes of Passion 2)

Characters: Nora Rose, Trystan Thorne, Lydea Thorne

WC: 2.5k | Teen+ | TW: for swearing, violence, knife-fight

A/N: I had to pick one fight scene from media, so I cheated and went with three of my favourite scenes for @choicesprompts's Rewrite Challenge. The first one covers this hallway scene from Marvel's Daredevil TV. The second one tackles this one from The Matrix and the third is this sequence from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. (also tagging @choicesbookclub)

I know, I know, pick *one* scene, goddamn it, Mads, the rules are clear as day, but this just calls for an epic action sequence, okay? Just fight scenes stacked up against one other to make this combat. I'll cover more of this in the A/N at the end. For now, I hope you enjoy the fic!

Nora’s frantic pressing did not make the elevator doors pop up faster; instead it only made the hooded intruders and their gloved hands advance further from her left and front. 

Faster! Faster!

She’d managed to escape once. It was a straight route from Trystan’s to the elevator. She’d have to push the button, somehow run back, grab Trystan and charge for the elevator. The Drakovian Royal Guard, much like a Drakovian breakfast, did not make things any easy and thrived on complexity. 

The detective turned slowly on her heel, her thumb hanging loose after all that pushing. Her chests heaved for air; her limbs weak and ribs tired; under recovery. The claustrophobic hallway converged into the bottomless pit that was the elevator. While lavish penthouses didn’t exactly have beautifully lit rooms, they made up for it by making their stairs out of vinyl flooring. Nora had seen that in exactly two places - a therapist’s office and a school locker room.

Nora paused, watching the assailant towards her front. Quickly, she ducked down, reaching her hand across her body to swipe the knife. The attacker at her front charged forwards. On cue, the two other hooded men to her right, sprinted headfirst. Nora gripped Trystan’s knife in her left hand, while delivering a hard blow to the man’s right cheek. 

She grabbed him by the collars and pushed him into the wall. Locks of her thick, black hair fell sharply in front of her face that impaired her vision and before they could impair her even more, she pushed her fist right into the crook of his jaw, making him collapse. Her lungs heaved for air, shortly before two more attackers, one with a gold-hilted knife flanked her from behind.

“Ngh-”

The detective ducked; letting the one with the knife throw his blade across the hallway, in a failed attempt to push it into her neck. Nora took advantage of his uncontrolled motion by sending a sharp cross to his right shoulder, sending him backwards. 

The one without the blade made a ravenous haymaker, which she blocked scrappily by twisting his attacking arm. She clasped his enclosed fist, the other arm pulling his chest up before hurling his heavy body across the hallway. Nora panted; the grim, airless hallway sending her into spirals of stupefaction. 

A groan escaped her dry mouth. “Argh.”

When the man attempted to get up, Nora sent a short stream of weak, but effective hits that rendered his resistance futile. Even more dazed, Nora was too focused on the man beneath her to notice the hooded figure from earlier recover; pulling her back by the shoulders.

“ACK!” yelled someone in Trystan’s apartment, which set a kind of fear in Nora’s head that can only be described as horror.

The man pushed her against the wall, his hood covering all of his face and neck as he sent a fracturing jab towards her jaw. An amass of punches subsequently followed, with the now-knived man attempting to lacerate her shoulder.

Nora accepted the attacks, trying her hardest to block the men. She slipped her knife back into her pocket, making more room to hold onto both their offending fists. While the man without the knife aimed at her head, the same as the man with the knife did, Nora took the opportunity to stoop low. So did the knived-man’s hands on her shoulder and the knife-less man’s on her neck.

Quickly, she kicked her feet up, her head hitting the wall with a quiet thud. She pushed away the grip the knived assailant had on her shoulder, using her free left hand to smack the one without the weapon right across the left jaw; likely fracturing it. 

“Hck!” - The man’s head flew the other way, his body thudding with a hard pound on the concrete floor. 

Distant noises from Trystan’s apartment filled her head; thus setting off a distracting well-oiled gun of fear which lodged a growing bullet of parasitic doubt in her mind.

To the assailants, there was something going on. A fight where they didn’t have to hesitate. To Nora, it was a blurry scene of action versus reaction. A bully takes her snack, she makes him lose his teeth by sandwiching her science textbook between his jaws. A therapist tells her to stop fighting, she tells her to fuck off. A mugger attempts to push a knife down her throat, she pushes it right into his shoulder. A different therapist tells her she’s disappointing her dead father and mother, she tells her to fuck off. 

Action versus reaction.

The man with the golden knife placed her into a headlock, plunging his knife into her exposed torso. Nora made the sloppy mistake of yanking the knife, which cut a streak of blood across her palm.

She pulled in all of his weight and with tremendous, unparalleled effort rose up to try and toss him backwards, but since her skinny, yet muscled arms were no match for his weight, they both fell on the cold hard floor. The man’s knife was sent sprawling with the force with which he’d flung it. Nora’s head took a heavy hit and it was then did she truly begin to feel the blood rush everywhere. 

The faint boxy corporate lights reminded her of the school locker. The narrow, borderline psychiatric hospital hallways made her lungs heave for oxygen that never came. The dizziness finally set on her as she slowly tried to grasp her surroundings. Hallway. Elevator. Distant fighting noises. Trystan. Someone else. 

“Ng--” she groaned.

The exhaustion pushed her back on the ground. A wounded man next to her stirred. The voices in the apartment grew louder. Ringing noises. Corporate lights. School lockers. Big, large, heavy books. Knives with pretty hilts. Things flew about in Nora’s vacant head, as she sent a dislocated punch to the man who rowed back to consciousness. The other man had now gotten up; using the beams in the walls to stand up. The detective mimicked the same.

Screeching in the background. Tosses of furniture.

 Nora’s head throbbed, before the sound of ringing took over her. Her palm was dripping with blood, the deep singes of pain and the smell of sweat and iron gagging her. The recovered man now sent a hit right after her face, which she took with surprise. However, she stabilised quickly; attempting to fling her whole right arm with the dripping blood into the man, expecting her fist against his flesh, but hitting plainly at the air instead. Having dodged, the man used her advancing momentum to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. 

She let out a terrible shout; psyching herself out and propelling her body with the very few bits of energy she had going on. The hooded man rammed her head against the wall and with every ram, she felt her head grow lighter. She struggled to escape, only for the knived man to charge forward manically with the golden hilt clasped tightly in his palm.

Nora dodged the attack, pushing away the two men without knives in the direction of the one madman with the knife. Together, the four of them hit a wall; a horizontal stack of dominoes with trauma to the head to last perhaps, days. 

The poor knived man took most of it. Nora estimated his recovery to be well above six months. His hands were so weak, he couldn’t lift the knife much less himself as he stayed, collapsed  with a vacant expression on his face. 

“LYDEA, YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS!” rang a shout from Trystan’s apartment.

Nora’s eyes couldn’t stay open. The two recovered, knife-less men ran up to her and kicked her with such fervour she’d only noticed among teachers handing out detentions. Every quick movement of their foot to her body sent a shiver of pain that never went away. They were persistent with the foot action, like principals with their expulsion orders. Their boots had enough cleats to feed an underfunded girls’ soccer team. 

There was a point where Nora had enough strength to hoist herself up and she did precisely that, using the wall to climb to her feet. They were still very, very weak and it was somewhat of a great astonishment to her that she wasn’t dead.

Grunts and groans followed her, as she deflected the men’s attacks. One sharp smack across Man A, propelling him downwards. Man B followed her as she gave him a good chase for about two seconds until Man B grabbed her by her stomach and lifted her up. 

A fight’s progression is quite similar to a first date. 

Every first date followed meeting up in front of a restaurant (Man B hurled her to the floor, as Nora’s body skidded to a stop in front of Trystan’s apartment), followed by dinner with some light conversation (Nora pushed Man B’s face into the crook of the door). In a place that had so many people talking at the same time (Nora heard Trystan’s hesitated grunts as his fight with Lydea took him across the whole apartment, leaving a disastrous scene) with the clinking of knives and spoons on plates (Nora grabbed her knife from her pocket).

If the first date went well, there might be a chance for a second one. And a third. Then a proposal, wedding, kids, marriage, retirement, death.

A fight was different because it took you from a lavish dinner to death.

Man C, now recovered with the blade, charged forward, skipping above Man B. B had sent Nora plummeting after a couch, but the action meant he’d collapsed just a little to have him weak in the knees. Nora heard the grunts and the groans from across the room, as Trystan was now trying to dodge his sibling’s rampant attacks.

She tuned out the noise, before kicking herself back on the floor right when Man C with the knife tackled her to the ground. Blood poured from her nose, the inside of her cheek and from her palm. As the man tried to push the blade with a ferocious growl, Nora took the moment to take her own fallen knife and pierce it right into his knee. The gold-hilted knife fell with a clang as the detective pushed her face out of the way. 

“AAAAAAAAH!” the man wailed.

Afar, she heard distant coughing.

Man B rammed his head into her stomach, attempting to lift her again, but Nora sent him flying across the couch. A charged forward, following B’s path. Nora jumped up; holding the couch as support, even though she couldn’t feel her right palm anymore and sent a kick that landed straight into his diaphragm.

He hit his head on a shelf of books that collapsed under force. Man B scarpered, landing on Nora’s back as they both struggled to gain control. Nora yanked his left arm, pulling it as hard as she can ever, with the last of her strength, to dislocate it entirely. He fell down with a thud.

For the first time, there was silence.

Nora took sharp, heavy breaths; the lightheadedness setting in. Blood poured from her nose, the same from her inner palm. The detective made a wincing fist with the wounded hand, applying pressure to the cut and in a moment of desperation, pressed her tongue against the cut, licking the blood away. It hurt. It hurt so much. It hurt so much that Nora’s eyes welled up with tears, mixed with blood, that fell back into her mouth like a despicable waterfall that flew backwards.

Slowly, she got to her feet; her crisp blue shirt now subjected to wipes and shmears of red. 

“Nora! Help!”

The detective had a certain limp to her feet, as she slowly moved away from the front door, away from the unconscious bodies of the masked men and to Lydea and Trystan engaged in combat. The dim, morning lights did her a disservice, as Nora couldn’t pinpoint where exactly Trystan required help. Sometimes there was a double of him. Sometimes there weren’t any of him at all. He played the game so carefully, as if he was almost afraid to get his dearest little sibling hurt.

Nora held herself against the coffee table for support, the gold-hilted knife still strong under her choking grasp and to her unimaginable surprise and horror, she saw him dodge a series of careful knives by laying as low as he could. Lydea sent knives like darts, and Trystan dodged every single one of them by stooping so low, there were hundreds of copies of him in front of Nora’s eyes.

At this point the detective could see a rubber duck and attempt to eat it, because it was all in her mind, wasn’t it? The plastic rubber duck, the multiple copies of Trystan dodging Lydea’s fast attacks. Nora’s eyes were now reduced to narrow cuts of vision, like her eyes were some sick double-slit quantum physics experiment.

She watched as Trystan collapsed to the ground and Lydea stood over him; in their armour and a pair of handcuffs dangling from their left finger. They had one more knife left, which they pointed directly at their brother’s throat.

“Time to go home, brother.” Lydea said. “You can’t dodge it any longer.”

Trystan panted, starry-eyed and in not a good way, because he was completely defenceless. The pots and pans next to him would easily be penetrable to a sharp Drakovian blade. The window with its valiant streams of sunlight were blocked by Lydea’s threatening figure as they raised the blade and the cuffs with it. For quite a while, he was figuratively and literally in the dark.

At that point, Trystan’s life did not flash before his eyes, no, rather his future flashing before his eyes. A gust of cold morning wind from the window reminded him of the dark dungeons, a ritualistic step before an inescapable execution.

“Dodge this.” 

Trystan looked up instantly. 

Nora pushed the gold blade into Lydea’s bulletproof vest, taking them by surprise. While the detective’s valiant efforts were more than appreciated, she was still too weak to take up Lydea Thorne in a fight. The head of the Royal Guard recovered quickly before jamming the hilt of their own knife against Nora’s wounded wrist, sending both a shockwave of pain and the gold knife as far away as possible. 

Nora jumped back, as she engaged in close combat with Lydea.

 A cross to their left cheek. An uppercut to her chin. A discombobulating move, as she clapped her weak, frail arms against their ears, twisting their face. Dazed, Lydea regained consciousness much to Nora’s surprise. Nora prepared for a block to her front, but Lydea noticed her defenceless right. With ferocity, they hit her across the left; the smash sending waves all to her right jaw.

Immediately, Lydea smacked her tightly near her ear, sending her backwards, before Lydea kicked their left foot up and kicked as hard and forceful as they could; flinging Nora’s body across the room and smack dab into the coffee table. 

“Get out of the way, New York.” Lydea’s knife never left their brother’s throat as they pulled him to his feet; making him face a wall as they cuffed him up. “Trystan Thorne, you’re under arrest for the alleged murder of Juliana Georgescu-- blah, blah, blah. Whatever.” 

They led Trystan to the front door, only to find the absolute horror Nora had left behind.

“What the fuck?” Lydea exclaimed, turning their head in Nora’s direction, who was still recovering from Lydea’s wrath.  “Andrey! Ivan! Volos!”

“Nora! NORA!” Trystan screamed, in the split-second he was given. “Find Marguerite! She’ll tell you everything! Good-”

“TRYSTAN!” Nora hollered, “FUCKING HELL-- HOLD ON! I’LL--”

Before Nora could get to her feet, Lydea had already pushed their newly-conscious but yet extremely weak special agent team out the door, along with a cuffed Trystan. Silence filled the air immediately.

 Things were left behind; destroyed plates, torn-up pillows and blades being examples.

Not to mention a tearful detective who banged her bloodied fists against the table;  swallowing the pain and the grief that followed it.

***

A/N:

Okay, yes. Fine. I did ask you guys what you'd be more receptive to and yes you did answer you'd like more fluffy date fics but I can't, okay? Epic action scenes are my jam because I get the excuse to watch a bunch of them and discover movies and shows through this. I'm not a Marvel person, but boy did that Daredevil sequence convince me enough to maybe give the franchise a shot.

Anyway, yes, I know it is against the rules to have 3 action sequences from different movies and shows in one long shot, but if I have to pick one to submit, I'd go with the Daredevil sequence, because it occupies a significant amount of "screen" time as opposed to the other sequences.

I hope you enjoyed this! This is just another exucse for me to practice action scenes, because though I love them, I am shit at writing them and it is that *one* sub-genre that I can never seem to get, besides romance. This is a nice practice!

Plus I also love rewriting canonical scenes to fit my canon, because even though I love Crimes with all my heart, it -- doesn't have the hip mystery action scenes; just boisterous, "witty" sarcastic dialogue in the middle. Come on. Give our detectives the fistpower to fight! Give Trystan the charisma to perform a clean uppercut! Let them be the power couple who can absolutely destroy people, because they deserve to; upon all the people who did them wrong.

Okay that's it. Thanks for putting up with this lol and thank YOU for reading and supporting my bad ideas. Seriously, y'all are the absolute best. Now I really need to rest my head before I start seeing copies of my laptop everywhere, like Nora did.

Tagging:

Perma: @quixoticdreamer16 @tessa-liam

Crimes only: @cassie-thorne @peonierose @ao719 @trappedinfanfiction @jerzwriter @fuckitweball0000 @lilyoffandoms

#nora x trystan #choices rewrite challenge #choicesprompts #w:inlocusmads #crimes of passion fics #choicesbookclub

[inlocusmads]

nora & trystan's esl solidarity

because between having emmigrated to a country that speaks english primarily and being born in a household that speaks one language at home and another one outside, things get wildly confusing,, so here are some esl (english as a second language) headcanons for these goofballs:

not understanding sarcasm: nora, growing up, would take in these direct straightforward english sentences and translate them into chinese and sometimes the sarcasm and the subtext is all lost in translation. and for trystan, he'd have trouble navigating his way in new york, especially with the taxis. ("pfft, as if we're such lackeys go there" "then will you?")

so. much of difficult pronounciation! Especially in English class. Nora can read Caesar, but pronouncing Caesar as "kay-sar" is .. not ideal. ("pronounce it the way you read it is a lie!") and Trystan trying to order a coffee, going "ma-zhh--kiatoh?"

subject-verb-object problems: Nora would just give up and use passive voice instead in school because she has absolutely no idea where to fit in the subject - at the end or in the beginning or somewhere in the middle. Trystan would just struggle a lot with the placement of adjectives ("Did you try this vegan chamomile non-GMO tea?" "I have been impatiently waiting for my tea PLEASE it has been more than an hour!")

such much, such many, this much

"it's this THING - THE THING-- what's it called in English? It is called krpa in Drakovian" or "the English equivalent of Tuōbǎ in Chinese"

no. contractions. ever. Especially Trystan. and he doesn't understand the American ways to contract things, because half the time the baristas or the mechanics or the plumbers would just swallow their words and Trystan would have to go, "I am sorry, please repeat."

Nora's the "I learned English from American TV" girlie while Trystan's the "I learned English from books written by English authors" girlie, which means Nora learned how to swear and she cannot stop saying "fuck" or "shit" and Trystan learned pretentious words like "dreadful" and "flabbergasted". (Bonus-> Nora is not used to swearing but she loves the satisfaction, so she sneaks in the swears wherever she can, so it just comes off as weird and Trystan slowly starts adopting an English accent, which sometimes slips into his Drakovian and it is just a big ol' mess)

Even more pronounciation problems! Trystan largely struggles with his "th-" sounds. ("Take a left and then a nor-szz. A nor-zh- a -- a -- norr--zhzthf-- the thing, just take the thing" and "Can I get a banana smoo-zhie?") and Nora interchanging her Js and Gs and Ps and Bs, in addition to adding a "g" at the end of her "n"s and "m"s ("No, the thing is that the tin-g can with the corn is very --" "A what can?" "Ting! Round metal thing")

Nora repressing her Chinese because it reminds her of her dead parents who were her only gateways to her culture versus Trystan speaking Drakovian any chance he gets because it reminded him of the poetry he wrote that made him find his own gateway to his culture, afar from his toxic family's intervention.

Watching movies and TV shows with subtitles ALWAYS. But also having to keep up with the movie plot on Wikipedia because half the times they don't understand the subtext or the tone.

"Hey I'll meet you in noon?" "No, unfortunately I am busy on 12:00pm." "I'm fine meeting at Saturday"

Trystan adopting a fictional English-speaking character's way of speech and it changing from time to time because he reads wayy too many books.

Nora versus plurals. ("I have to get my tooths extracted" "You mean your teeth?" and "I need two doughnut please." "Is that one or two ma'am?" "Two. Two. I mean two doughnut.")

The parallels between Nora speaking in Chinese from her fellow Hong Kong-ese restaurant owners versus Trystan forging a newfound friendship with the belladi chefs as often as they can.

"be gentle with me, English is not my first language" and Trystan going on to writing poetry that rivals fuckin Edgar Allen Poe *and* Nora going on to narrating an interesting case that rivals a medieval bard's storytelling.

Nora butchering up her idioms versus Trystan making new idioms. ("Time to cop that area." "You want to buy that area?" "No! I meant patrol! Doesn't "cop" mean "the action of cops"?" and "Oh, I have been looking forward to this for ages. I would say crack open the jar and butter up some beef! No? Butter does not come in jars? Beef means argument? I thought it meant gossip!")

never understanding rap, because it warps up their sentence structure and what they've known about the English language forever

+ never learning song lyrics as a whole and just humming parts instead that *sounds* similar to what the singers sing because this was the pre-Spotify days where things came in casette tapes and CDs.

CONJUGATION OR more precisely THE LACK OF IT. ABSOLUTE MADNESS.

not having translations for some unique and specific phrases and when you do translate them into english, they just lose their beauty. So Trystan and Nora just end up using Drakovian and Chinese in place.

Nora using "yeah?" as an Americanised substitute for "lah?" "ah?" and "hah?" at the end of her sentences because that, intrisically, is its own emotion.

code switching code switching code switching

Trystan making errors in capitalising his letters because in Drakovian, you do not capitalise day-names, month-names or designations. ("What do you mean it is supposed to be Foreign Diplomat Trystan Thorne and not foreign diplomat? Am I that important to be deserving a capital letter?")

.. and someday when they're too darn afraid to just spit it out, they'd go "Volim te, Nora" and "Wǒ ài nǐ, Trystan".

#thorne rose headcanons #nora x trystan #crimes of passion #choices book club

[inlocusmads]

Because Trystan Thorne is a very good friend of mine and I would not like to see him upset. - Nora Rose The point is, even if you are, you need a compass or a map or a GPS tool to be your hand. It needn't be like an annoying parrot, rather a — little something to supply you with some assurance. It could be an axe, a bulletproof vest, a really good breakfast or — it could be a person. - Trystan Thorne.

A quick put-together moodboard for Nora and Trys!

#nora x trystan #crimes of passion #moodboard

[inlocusmads]

Trystan and Nora

Who picks the movies, 2) who acts like they're dying when they have a cold, 3) who hits the snooze button... 11 times

I'd ask who hates the in-laws but... 😂

Thanks for the ask!

otp asks

1. Who picks the movies?

Nora does. Okay she has a phenomenal taste in them, partly because she spent most of college just pirating films online. And it's not just the Hollywood stuff. By phenomenal taste, I mean something that's pretty diverse. It isn't just stupid mindless action, or just the same kind of drama repeated again and again. Nora keeps an eye out for variety.

Besides Trystan doesn't.. care much lol. He just wants an excuse to hang out with Nora.

2. Who acts like they're dying when they have a cold?

Trystan.

It's funny because colds get really bad in his case. Like it has to somehow bypass his rigid immune system to get through and it just leaves him dead and decayed. There's a reason to his constant "ughhhhhhh im dying" and Nora's "stop acting like a Victorian child and take your damn meds, who raised you?"

Meanwhile he'll walk around with a stab wound like it's nothing. The dichotomy of his character makes no sense but it compels me though.

3. Who hits the snooze button.. 11 times?

Nora.

She is not a morning person at all. Or an evening person. Or wanting to be a person and rather be some weird strange water bug formed in the Cambrian Explosion instead. She is the type of person to have multiple alarms. Not just on her phone but everywhere so they'll make her get up and shut it off. But sad for painstakingly-setting-the-clocks-the-previous - night Nora, present Nora would just grab the baseball bat from her bed and just hit them until the alarms stopped ringing. The worst part is she's never played baseball.

As for the in laws question, lmaoo, at this point they're like "yo I gotchu you got me das it"

#otp ask game #nora x trystan #askboxed #thosehallowedhalls

[inlocusmads]

I could not care less for the murders (I accidentally ended up learning the spoiler, thanks PB for being the real shock absorbers to the element of surprise) but I do want Trystan and Nora to just walk around, Lockwood and Co style and solve like the most mundane of cases. Forget murders, whatever happened to Mags's mannequins? Or Vasili's gramophone? Everyone's quick to blame Kasper because he likes thieving but apparently it is the gardener and it's this weird, camp mystery story where they go around finding odd clues and string together the strangest story ever.

I want to get them sidetracked as hell. Trystan yapping about turbines while they visit a horticulture society for em-"bee"zlement. Trystan yapping about Slavic mythology, as they take turns looking out of a spyglass into a rundown bar, waiting for someone. Trystan talking about a specific genre of literature and Nora disagreeing, by bringing in her "films are better" Uno card and they get kicked out of the theatre where they're supposed to track a man with nuclear codes in his briefcase. All the pretentious literary references, all the museum chase scenes, all the fight scenes that last 0.5 seconds before Nora gets whisked away by Trystan.

The relationship may or may not end, but the partnership and the stories need not.

#nora x trystan #trystan thorne x mc #crimes of passion

[inlocusmads]

Incorrect Thorne-Rose Quotes (Brooklyn 99 Edition)

I kind of want to do more of these! These are largely from Brooklyn 99. If you're interested to see more of these, do let me know!

Trystan: I wasn't hurt that badly. The doctor said my bleeding was internal. That's where the blood's supposed to be.

_____

Nora: Now I've got to meet a whole new group of people. I hate people. Life sucks. Nothing good ever happens.

_____

Trystan: Ask him about his bank account! (Thumps interrogation room glass) Ask about his bank account! Ask him about his -h- *breaks glass* account. You should ask him about his bank account.

Trystan: Boss! Nora broke the glass!

_____

Trystan: (about his family) Jokes on them, cause I'm having tons of fun with all this free time - catching up on reading, going for walks. It's great. The other day I walked all the way to Maryland. Gorgeous.

_____

Luke: Tommy, can we order some food?

Uncle Tommy: Cook's gone, I sent him home.

Trystan: (barging in) You have any more of these pretzels?

Uncle Tommy: Sure..?

Trystan: *literally chugs down the whole jar of pretzels like it's nothing*

Uncle Tommy: I'm going to go call the cook.

_____

Ruby: Writing things down is nerdy? What do you do?

Nora: Just forget stuff like a cool person.

_____

Trystan: Why are there so many rules? I mean, next thing you're going to say I can't be late.

Nora: Yeah. That's like the first thing I said.

Trystan: Aaah.

_____

Nora: Look I'll make this real simple so even these dumb-dumbs can understand. Man did crime.

_____

Trystan: Here are the ground rules. You can punch me, kick me, pull my hair. I am a-okay being stabbed. Biting and scratching are on the table. You can use fire.

Luke: Those are the ground rules? Is there anything off limits?

Trystan: Damn man you got something really sick you want to do, huh? All right. I like it. Don't tell me. Surprise me.

_____

Nora: Oh yeah I didn't tell you. I got kicked out of ballet school. For beating the crap out of ballerinas.

_____

Trystan: (over an interrogation) This is taking too long! I'm going to miss the farmer's market!

_____

Nora: (half asleep) I'll rip your head off. I'm gonna rip your damn head off, Holbeck.

_____

Trystan: I don't mess with computers, okay? Ever since I died of dysentery on the Drakkos Trail, I was like "No thank you, I am done with this."

_____

Trystan: LUKE!

Luke: Oh my God is that-

Trystan: RUBY!

Ruby: It does sound like-

Trystan: (runs up to them, is panting) It's me, Trystan Thorne.

Luke: Yeah we know, hey Trystan how have you been?

Trystan: Very bad. Someone is trying to kill me. All I know is I woke up in a pool of my own blood, next to a metal chair that had a dent in it the same shape as my own head.

Ruby: What were you doing before the attack?

Trystan: I was sitting in my metal chair, watching the season 2 premier of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

_____

Trystan: It's Sebastijan

Nora: Sebastijan. Yeah I said it.

Trystan: No. Sebastijan.

Nora: Sebastijan.

Trystan: Not even close. Sebastijan.

Nora: Sebastijan.

Trystan: Almost. Sebastijan.

___

Nora: (about Mafalda) She's so cool. She's been buried alive three times. I've only been buried alive once.

_____

Nora: I've only had Silver for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her I'll kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Luke: Very violent eulogy, I like it.

_____

Mafalda: Here are two pictures. One is your locker. The other is a garbage dump in the Philippines. Can you tell which is which?

Nora: That one's the dump?

Mafalda: They're BOTH your locker.

_____

Nora: (over the phone) Trystan--

Trystan: Hey, Detective! I'm so sorry we're not there yet, but a guy fell down the stairs and then the old lady shot our perpetrator and then we stopped a bank robbery-

Mags: -- And I lost my shoe.

Trystan: And Mags lost her shoe, but we're almost to the Agency!

____

Trystan: All right, Luke. We have to act soon. That cold medicine Nora chugged, it was the non-drowsy kind. She's all over the place.

Nora: HEY GUESS WHAT! I've got a new lead to ask my client about. There's a drug dealer on State Street. Why doesn't someone answer the phone? I'll get it, I'll get it! (Answers phone) Hello, there is no Wyvern here. You have the wrong number, goodbye.

Luke: I'm Wyvern!

Nora: That's a dumb name, but it's yours and you should be proud of it because you are the greatest person I've ever known. WHERE IS MY FILE?

______

#incorrect thorne rose #crimes of passion #nora x trystan