#resurrecting another tag everything is fine

[rose-sophia-isabella-rogers]

A Tide That Turned Everything: Chapter VII - I Loved, Love and Will Love You Forever

Chapter Summary: Ilya Morozova saves Aleksander and gives you a way to be with your lover maybe even forever. Your loyalty to General Kirigan forces you once again to make a life-changing choice. But not only you. Aleksander has to choose as well. Power… or you. Is he ready to throw all he's built for a Tidemaker that was once a serving girl?

Pairing: Aleksander Kirigan/Reader, Alina Starkov/Mal Oretsev, Ivan/Fedyor Kaminsky

Characters: Aleksander Kirigan, Reader, Fedyor Kaminsky, Ivan, Mal Oretsev, Zoya Nazyalensky, Nikolay Lantsov, Ilya Morozova, Genya Safin, David Kostyk, Baghra, Tamar Kir-Bataar, Tolya Yul-Bataar

Word Count: 4284

A/N: Smut alert (a really short). If you don't like it or are underage, don't read from: "You quickly undress each other." to: "He falls on the blanket next to you and pulls you to himself.". Enjoy! Inspired by prompts: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/207306389089554941/ https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/207306389089559859/

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added or removed):

@budugu

@intothesoul

@mizelophsun11

@pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy

@zeeader

'He'll live,' the man (Morozova?) says, leaving his hut. You, Fedyor and Ivan jump, startled. You look at him with wide eyes.

'How did you do that?' Ivan asks with disbelief.

'I think the reason why we were waiting here is because he doesn't want us to know,' Fedyor points out. Ivan glares at him.

'Can I see him?' you ask the man.

'He's asleep, but sure,' he answers and leads you inside. You follow him into the sleeping area. Aleksander is sleeping peacefully. You're not sure, but you think his scars are a bit less visible.

'Thank you,' you say, sitting by his side.

'You're not even sure if whatever I did worked,' the man scoffs. You smile slightly.

'You're Ilya Morozova, aren't you?' you ask. You're met with silence. You turn your head and see the man looking at you with shock.

'How?' he asks, his voice a whisper.

'I saw a glimpse of your handwriting in one of your notebooks,' you explain. 'And for the past weeks I've been studying your diaries in hopes of finding a cure for him. And… there was something familiar in you. I couldn't put a finger to it but now I know. Your eyes. He has the same eyes as you.'

Morozova looks at you in silence. You're wondering whether he considers killing you for discovering his secret. You wait patiently for his decision.

'How's Baghra?' he asks instead. This throws you off.

'She was fine last time I saw her,' you answer. 'She asked me to save her son. But I'm not sure if she survived the battle.'

'Oh, she did,' Morozova huffs. 'She's always been tough. She raised him to be the same. She made some mistakes. But so did I. And so did he. But you know what always brings members of our family back on track?'

You shake your head. Morozova steps closer to you and touches with his finger your chest on the left side.

'People important to us,' he explains. 'I saw how that boy looked at you. My daughter was right to ask you to save him. You're the only one who can do it.'

'You're the one who did,' you say, confused.

'I saved his body,' he agrees. 'But you're the only one who can save his soul. It's not too late for him. When he wakes up, tell him he either stops… or he will lose you. One way or another.'

'I can't leave him,' you say after a beat. Morozova smiles wryly and exits the room. You turn back to Aleksander. You watch him, pondering about his grandfather's words. Suddenly, Morozova returns.

'Come with me,' he says. Curious, you follow him. He takes you to the back of his house. You walk to one of the trees on the edge of the forest.

'Look up,' he says. You do as he says and are stunned.

'That's…' you say.

'Dying,' Morozova ends for you and you look at him with wide eyes. 'This firebird has days at most. I resurrected it years ago but now its time is truly done.'

'Resurrected?' you repeat slowly. Morozova looks at you.

'That's the fourth amplifier,' he says. 'And it can be yours.'

'I beg your pardon?' you say in a weak voice. 'I can't-'

'You won't be murdering it,' Morozova huffs. 'Look at it. It's dying already.'

He grabs your shoulders. You're now actually frightened.

'You followed my grandson to hell and back,' Morozova says. 'And you'd probably do it again. You proved you're willing to die for him. But are you ready to live for him?'

You stare at him. Your lower lip trembles.

'You're a very powerful Grisha,' Morozova says and you frown. 'I can feel it. In your bones and blood. You're destined for a long life. If you can make it. But with that amplifier? You can be by his side forever. I know he would want that.'

You freeze. Would he really?

'You don't have to kill it now,' Morozova says after a moment.

'Oh, thank Saints,' you say, relieved.

'Talk to him first,' Morozova goes one. 'Tell him he can have it. Do it for him. If he agrees to stop pursing his noble but mad goals. They only bring destruction… and can cause him death of his loved ones.'

You're stunned to see tears in his eyes. Your look softens. You touch his cheek. He winces but doesn't pull away.

'Thank you,' you say.

'Will you do it?' Morozova asks. You shrug.

'I don't know,' you answer honestly. 'But thanks to you, I have a new option now. A chance to be by his side.'

'Living forever is not easy,' Morozova warns you.

'It's better if you share it with someone you love,' you counter. He sighs and nods.

'Whatever you two will decide,' Morozova says, 'your love will prevail everything.'

'I know,' you say with a smile and look behind your shoulder at the hut. 'But are we both going to agree what's the best way to make sure of it?'

*

You're sitting by Aleksander's side, watching the sun setting outside of the window. Morozova's words play in your head. All this time you've tried not to think about the moment when your time would come. You've tried to focus on the present, on making sure Aleksander survives. He will, you know that, even his scars are almost gone. So… what now?

'You're really set on changing our tradition,' a familiar voice says. You flinch and look down. Aleksander is smiling at you.

'Our places switched,' he says. Your lips twitch upward.

'Looks like it,' you say. You reach for a glass of water. He sits down and you help him drink it.

'How are you feeling?' you ask when he's done.

'Better than I have had in weeks,' Aleksander answers and looks at you softly. 'Thank you. You saved me.'

'Seemed fair to return the favour,' you say. 'You do it all the time. And I love you, there's that as well. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.'

'Your loyalty is truly extraordinary,' Aleksander says after a beat, looking on your hand that is resting on his. 'I'm grateful for it. But I hate myself how much it all have cost you.'

He looks away. You think carefully on your next words.

'Aleksander,' you finally say softly. 'Look at me.'

Kirigan turns his head. There's sadness and something else you can't quite place in his eyes.

'I will never regret loving you,' you say and he raises his eyebrows at you. 'Truly. You gave me something amazing. All the moments with you were beautiful. True, I've lost something and I was hurt many times. But it was all worth it. You were worth it.'

Aleksander smiles at you. He takes your hand in his and squeezes it. You squeeze back.

'Which is why I don't think we should return,' you say and feel Aleksander stiffen under your touch. 'I don't want them to kill you.'

'Every great thing demands taking a risk and sometimes even a sacrifice,' Kirigan says. 'But, I'm stronger now. They won't win this easily next time.'

'What if I'm the sacrifice?' you ask and Aleksander looks at you with a sharp look but you don't let him speak. 'I'm not immortal. I'm powerful and my life will be longer than most Grisha, but I'm not immortal. One day I will die. If we continue with fighting with them, it can be even shorter. And even if not, this war may never end and we'll spend our whole time together fighting. Do you really want that?'

Aleksander doesn't answer. He looks away. You can see the battle in his eyes. You let go of his hand.

'Think about it,' you say and stand up. 'I'll ask Ivan to bring you something to eat. You rest.'

You don't even give him a chance to reply. You leave the room, hoping that this time he'll choose you.

When you see him next time, you're sitting outside the hut, watching the stars. He joins you, apparently feeling much better.

'Nothing hurts,' he says before you can ask him about it. 'Everyone else has gone to sleep. Why didn't you?'

'I have too many thoughts in my head,' you answer. 'But you should rest.'

'I've slept enough,' Aleksander replies. 'Besides, I have too many thoughts in my head as well.'

You hum and nod. You watch the stars in silence for some time.

'What would I do?' Aleksander asks. 'One day I'm going to lose you anyway. If we walk away and have a peaceful life… what would I do when you're gone? Because I think I'd go mad.'

'And what would you do if we continue fighting and my time comes?' you ask quietly.

'I'd either continue to fight or try to preserve what we achieved,' Aleksander answers. 'Killing my enemies would definitely help me with my heartache. I don't know what could possibly help it if we choose a different path.'

'What if we had forever?' you ask hesitantly. 'If I was like you? Never aging, never dying? Would you choose me, then?'

Aleksander gives you a scolding look. Probably for the way you put it.

'If I could stay by your side forever…' he says, taking your hands in his, '… I'd take you to the far end of the world. To keep you safe from every suspicion and harm. To have a peaceful and happy life you deserve.'

You stare at him in silence. Your heart is beathing fast. Maybe…?

'Come with me,' you say after a moment, standing up and pulling him with you. You take him to the back of the house. You reach the tree line.

'Look up and tell me what you see,' you tell Aleksander. He frowns but does as you say.

'What is that?' he asks when he notices a firebird. 'Some bird?'

'A firebird,' you answer and Aleksander looks at you with wide eyes. 'Your grandfather made another amplifier. But it's dying.'

'If you were to k- let it out of its misery…' Kirigan says, getting excited.

'I could live as long as you,' you agree, nodding. 'At least according do your grandfather.'

Silence falls between you two. Aleksander takes your hand and gently traces line on it.

'I know you have a kind soul and killing such creature is not something you would normally do…' he says slowly, '… but it's going to die anyway, you said so.'

'Say I do it,' you say after a beat. 'What then?'

'We wait for me to get back to my full strength and-' Aleksander says.

'And?' you ask. He caresses your cheek.

'With your power amplified by such creature we would be unstoppable,' he says. 'But you're right. Your loyalty to me cost you already so much. I've lost you, I hurt you and… I want you to be happy.'

He hums, suddenly becoming pensive. You tilt your head, curious.

'Making sure Grisha are safe and have a good life used to be my priority,' he says and cups your face. 'But now… I just want you to keep smiling. Your happiness is my priority.'

You smile at him. He presses his forehead to yours.

'So… just say a word and we will leave,' he says. 'Leave all this mess, Ravka… hoping Alina and others actually can make something of it. And I'll take you to the end of the world, do what you did: throw everything for the one I love.'

You press your lips to his. You share a kiss, then you pull slightly away and whisper:

'Yes…'

*

Alina sighs and looks around the streets of a city of Novyi Zem. She liked this country when she was here with Mal, all those years ago. It still dazzles her. She smiles and turns around.

'Are you coming?' she asks. Her husband huffs but smiles.

'Yes, yes, oh great Ambassador of Ravka,' he says with mock seriousness. Alina rolls her eyes.

'Stop it,' she says. Mal reaches her and takes her hand in his. They start walking together.

'Where are we supposed to meet with the rest?' the tracker asks after a moment.

'The market,' Alina answers. 'We should be the first ones to arrive.'

And so a few or more minutes later, they arrive at the market. They both look around in amazement. Until Alina sees something that causes her to freeze.

'What is it?' Mal asks, noticing his wife's distress. He follows her gaze and is stunned as well.

A few metres from them there are you. You're buying something with a small smile on your face. The vendor is chatting with you with a grin, clearly acquittanced with you.

'Why is she here?' Mal asks quietly.

'And why now?' Alina ponders. She exhales slowly and makes up her mind. When you walk away from the vendor, she walks after you.

'[Y/N],' she calls quietly. You stop and stiffen. Slowly, you turn around with wide eyes.

'Alina,' you say and look behind her. 'Mal. Saints. It's been years.'

'It has,' the tracker says, standing next to Alina. Their fingers entwine. You can't help but smile.

'You're still together,' you say. 'I'm glad. Truly. And that you're well.'

'You seem to be well, too,' Alina says cautiously. You nod.

'I am,' you confirm. 'I've heard Ravka is doing well, too. Thanks to you and Nikolay.'

'We're trying,' Alina says.

'But it hasn't been easy, since we're always worried that the Darkling is going to suddenly show up and try to take it all away again,' Mal adds. His wife huffs and glares at him. You smile slightly.

'He won't,' you assure them. They look at you sceptically.

'[Y/N] [L/N],' you hear behind you. You turn and see Nikolay coming to you with Zoya, Tolya and Tamar. You bow your head to him.

'I'm glad to see you in good health,' he says.

'Thank you, I'm glad you're well, too,' you say. Nikolay nods to you and puts his hands behind his back.

'Are you going to tell me the news I've been waiting to hear for years?' he asks. Alina exhales slowly, trying to calm down. Why does she have to be surrounded by men with no empathy?

'I'm afraid not, Your Highness,' you say with that smile again. They all stiffen.

'He's alive?' Tamar asks gravely.

'How?' Mal asks, astonished. 'He was dying.'

'As if [Y/N] would allow him to just die,' a voice says. Fedyor and Ivan join your group. The latter is glaring at Nikolay and others.

'What, she just willed him to live?' Zoya scoffs.

'No, but she found a way,' Fedyor answers. 'You look lovely as ever, dear Zoya.'

'I know,' the Squaller says. The Heartrender chuckles. You turn to Nikolay.

'You don't have to worry,' you assure him. 'None of us intends to attack your country.'

'Forgive me that I won't take your word for it,' Nikolay says. You smile.

'I understand,' you say. 'I probably wouldn't in your place as well. But we like our quiet life here. He even admits from time to time you're doing a surprisingly good job with uniting Grisha and otkazat'sya. But he complains a lot, too.'

'And you're living happily and peacefully here?' Tamar asks.

'Maybe here, maybe somewhere else,' you say. 'But happily and peacefully, yes.'

'We don't wish you ill,' Ivan speaks up and looks at Alina. 'And you promised to let us go. So if you excuse us…'

'Of course,' Nikolay says. 'You're free to go. Just try not to plan another attack or something. Then our deal would be no longer valid.'

'Naturally,' you say and smile. 'Take care, Nikolay. I think you're doing a really good job. You're far better king than your father was. And your brother ever could be.'

'Thank you,' Nikolay says. 'And I'm sorry for the hurt they caused you.'

'Thank you,' you say quietly. You look at Alina and Mal. Before you can open your mouth, Alina pulls you in for a hug.

'I miss you,' she murmurs. 'But I'm glad you're okay. And happy.'

'I feel exactly the same,' you whisper and pull away. Mal hugs you briefly as well. You nod at others and leave with your Heartrenders.

'Do you think we can trust them?' Tolya asks, watching you.

'Hard to say,' Nikolay sighs. 'Alina?'

The Sun Summoner doesn't answer at once. She watches as you encounter surprised Genya and David. The Tailor quickly hugs all three of you. David is a bit more reserved. You say something to him, looking at him apologetically. He shakes his head and you smile.

'I want to trust her,' Alina finally says. 'But I don't know if-'

She cuts herself off, seeing now Baghra joining you. You smile softly and pull her aside. You talk quietly and she looks at you with shock. Alina can swear she sees tears in the old woman's eyes. She nods and says something to you.

You smile and turn to leave. But then Baghra grabs your left arm and turns it to look at your wrist. She looks you in the eyes, shocked. You calmly return her stare. She lets you go and you leave. A moment later Baghra, Genya and David join their friends.

'Did you see them?' the Tailor asks. Others nod.

'We've talked with them a moment before you,' Tamar answers. 'They claim they don't have any nefarious plans, but we're not sure we can trust them.'

'We can,' Baghra says, surprising everyone.

'How can you be sure?' Nikolay asks. Baghra smiles slightly.

'Because she saved him,' she answers. 'In more ways than you think.'

'What was that you saw on her wrist?' Zoya asks.

'The thing that makes me sure my son will always choose a peaceful way of life,' Baghra answers and walks to their next destination. Others exchange a confused look. Alina shrugs and follows the old woman. The rest does the same, not really having another choice.

*

You, Fedyor and Ivan reach your small hut at the edge of town. Outside Aleksander is sitting on a bench, busy with fixing a chair. He smiles when he notices your arrival.

'You can say it,' Ivan says. You sigh.

'What exactly?' Aleksander asks.

'You know what thing,' Fedyor explains, amused.

'Ah,' Aleksander says, understanding, and chuckles. He looks at you with raised eyebrows. You glare at him.

'I told you so,' he says anyway. You groan.

'Yes, you said we're going to meet with Alina and others since they're here and we did,' you admit, annoyed. 'Happy now?'

'Very,' Aleksander says, standing up to kiss your forehead. 'Did they give you any trouble?'

'No, but we had to tell them you're alive,' you answer. 'They asked about it and the twins were with them, so they would have told if I had lied.'

Aleksander nods, understanding. Ivan and Fedyor walk inside. Kirigan takes your hand in his.

'Your mother was there as well,' you say.

'What did you tell her?' Aleksander asks.

'That her father is still alive,' you answer. 'Well, he was when we met him. I passed her what he had asked me to tell her. That he regrets many things, one of them how things went with them. I also told her she's welcome to live with us if she wants.'

'And what did she say to that?' Aleksander asks, not sure what answer he wants to hear. You smile and peck his cheek.

'That she'll think about it,' you answer and walk inside. 'Oh, she also noticed my amplifier.'

Aleksander follows you inside. You wave your right wrist at him, where Morozova put a bone of the firebird.

'What did she say to that?' Kirigan asks, leaning on the doorframe. You pause.

You saved him…

'That it suits me,' you answer with a smile. You unpack groceries. After a moment you feel arms around your waist. You lean into Aleksander's chest, sighing softly.

'Were they worried?' Aleksander asks. You roll your eyes.

'Obviously,' you answer. 'But I think Baghra will convince them we're really no longer a threat to them. Nikolay also apologised. For what his father and brother did to me.'

'Noble of him,' Kirigan says.

'Actually, that reminded me,' you say. 'The way you told Genya to kill the king… Poison. It was deliberate, wasn't it?'

Aleksander is silent. You look at him. He reaches out and puts a strand of your hair behind your ear.

'He made you drink poison made for me, so I thought he should see what it's like,' he admits. 'Of course, it was a different type of poison, it got to his system by touching Genya, so it wouldn't be too suspicious, but that was enough for me.'

'You also decided on this because he suffered more and longer, right?' you guess.

'Maybe,' Aleksander says, grinning cheekily. You scoff and shake your head, but smile.

'And did it feel good?' Kirigan asks suddenly. 'To see your friends again?'

'Yes,' you confirm. 'I also made peace with Genya and David.'

Silence falls between you. Aleksander sighs.

'Maybe I should do it as well,' he says.

'It is a good opportunity,' you admit. Aleksander hums.

'Maybe tomorrow,' he decides. 'They will be in town for a few days, after all.'

'And what are you planning to do today?' you ask.

'Well, I thought about spending it with my wife,' Aleksander answers playfully. You smile. You think about the moment from few years ago.

You know, there one thing bad about us giving up.

And it is?

I screwed up. I can't marry you now.

Oh? And who said so?

… Will you really? Marry me, I mean?

Yes.

… Ivan! Where's the nearest chapel?!

'Sounds like a plan,' you say and turn around. 'But who will cook dinner?'

'Ivan and Fedyor will manage,' Aleksander answers and takes your hand. 'Now come.'

You chuckle and let him take you outside. He takes you to a meadow full of flowers. You see picnic blanket and basket. You smile.

'That looks nice,' you say.

'Of course, it does, I prepared it,' Aleksander says. You roll your eyes. You sit on a blanket and start your picnic. But you can tell Kirigan's mind is not really there.

'Hey,' you say, touching his hand. 'What's wrong?'

'Are you happy?' Aleksander asks, very serious. You give him a surprised look.

'Yes, very,' you answered. 'What brought this on?'

'I often think that you deserve a better life,' Aleksander admits. 'That you were meant for more. That if you hadn't had followed me, your life would be different. More respectful. I ruined your life.'

He looks at you with pain in his eyes. But he's surprised to see you looking at him calmly. You cup his face.

'And to this day, I feel nothing but love for you,' you say, stunning him. 'Yes, my life could have gone differently. But I don't want anything different. I have you. That's all I ever needed or wanted. No matter how hard it gets, all will be well. Because we're together. I look toward our future with a smile on my face.'

Aleksander chuckles. Pain in his eyes turns to relief.

'I feel exactly the same,' he says and touches your forehead with his. 'I'm happy. I really am. I can't remember the last time I was this happy before I met you.'

You smile at each other. You kiss. It becomes more heated.

'Tell me… have you ever had sex outdoors?' Aleksander murmurs. Your eyes light up.

'I can't tell I have,' you answer. Kirigan smirks at you and starts kissing your neck. Slowly, his kisses go lower and lower. You quickly undress each other. Aleksander lays you down on the blanket.

'Tell me what you want,' he says, his voice husky. You lift your head and join your lips.

'I want you,' you whisper. 'Only you.'

Aleksander smiles and touches your womanhood. You sigh softly when he starts touching it.

'You make such pretty noises for me,' he murmurs, putting a finger inside you. You want to retort but he finds just the spot to cause you to moan. He gives it more attention, but doesn't forget about your clit.

'Please,' you whisper. Aleksander massages and fingers you for a moment longer. Then, he kisses you. You sigh in his lips and moan when he enters you. Kirigan groans and starts moving in you.

'You always feel so good, [Y/N],' he says and speeds up. He presses kisses to your breasts. You gasp.

'More,' you moan. 'Please, Aleksander, more! Harder!'

'Your wish is my command, lapushka,' Aleksander says and kisses you. He hits you at the right spots with a perfect force.

'Aleksander!' you gasp. 'Aleksander!'

'[Y/N]…' Kirigan groans. 'My [Y/N]…'

'Yours…' you confirm, cupping his face and pressing kisses to it. 'Only yours.'

'And I'm yours,' Aleksander says, looking at you with love, lust and adoration. 'My little tide.'

You smile and then gasp when Kirigan speeds up even more. You both moan and groan for the next few minutes. Finally, he spills inside you and you come around him as well, both of you screaming each other's names. He falls on the blanket next to you and pulls you to himself.

'I love you, [Y/N],' Aleksander says. 'My heart beats for you.'

You smile and snuggle into him. He holds you tighter.

'And I love you, Aleksander,' you murmur. 'So much, my pretty boy.'

Kirigan grins. He kisses the top of your head.

'We're gonna be together forever, right?' you ask.

'Forever,' Aleksander confirms. 'And one day more.'

A/N: Thank you so much for giving this story a chance and reading it! It's the end of the story of General and his Tidemaker. I hope you liked it. Please, let me know what you think with comments, reblogs and likes. As to what's next, I have some ideas, but I'm not sure when I will post something new with this pair. But let me know if you prefer fics with more chapters, like "A Tale of Stolen Hearts" or fics with less chapters joined in a series, like this one. That's it from me! Take care and see you in the next fic!

This can also be found on Archive of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49965037/chapters/126897283

#aleksander kirigan #aleksander morovoza #the darkling #general kirigan #reader #aleksander kirigan x reader #aleksander morozova x reader #the darkling x reader #general kirigan x reader #aleksander kirigan/reader #aleksander morozova/reader #the darkling/reader #general kirigan/reader #aleksander kirigan x you #the darkling x you #general kirigan x you #shadow and bone #ivan #fedyor kaminsky #ivan x fedyor #mal oretsev #zoya nazyalensky #ilya morozova #nikolai lantsov #baghra morozova #genya safin #david kostyk #tamar kir bataar #tolya yul bataar #shadow and bone smut

[buckybarnesss]

This is sort of an out of left field question- but what are your thoughts on Peter and Talia being half or step siblings?

Obviously, they don’t look alike very much. And clearly genes are funky things and this is not damning evidence. But I think it’s a very personal hc to me bc I myself have a half brother who I love very much, but it does influence our interactions.

One thing I constantly think about is Peter being an unreliable narrator. And what we see of Laura from his pov is different than Scott and Stiles finding her body. Is he imagining she’s blond and looks more like him? Yeah sure this could just be casting inaccuracies. But it feels very personal lol.

Has Peter always felt a degree of distance with his family? Where did the idea of him being Talia’s left hand come from? Wouldnt he have been there in the alpha pack flash back if that was the case? Was he younger than Laura? This also brings to mind Papa Hale (who I like to imagine was a human part of the pack/another pack before him and Talia were in a relationship). Was Talia always a Hale? Or married in?

Anyway, I have many thoughts and questions. But I really appreciate your analysis and insight. Joining a fandom past its prime (affectionate) is sort of like being in the apocalypse where 80% of the fandom is dead, and finding a ‘survivor’ is a miracle. Anyway, if you feel like it, I would love your thoughts on it all :3

if laura hale is my roman empire than talia and peter's relationship is my holy roman empire.

@dear-massacre and i talk about this quite frequently. it's a problem fam.

i do have a talia hale and peter hale and the hale family feels tags.

we don't really have any information other than some crumbs jeff has thrown us within canon.

in my opinion talia is the hale. there's no other option put forth. derek's father is such a non-entity that there's zero mention of him. the hales are clearly an old family of werewolves and were part of the very founding of beacon hills itself likely connected to the nemeton.

not to mention, season 3 has a lot to do with derek learning from and accepting talia's legacy and the legacy of the hale family. it also directly contrasts the argents. the argents pay lip service to being matriarchal but we know gerard has been calling the shots for decades whereas it seems as though the hales actually were.

so when you get down to it you can pretty much headcanon anything you want for how the exact specifics of how talia and peter are related but what we do know is talia was the older sibling and peter the younger.

peter doesn't actually talk about talia very much if at all. however, his monolog in monstrous is quite illuminating on peter's headspace while he was in a coma and pre-resurrection.

i predicted this. i told-i told talia this was going to happen... something like this was going to happen... i said that they were gonna come for us... " the argents, they're gonna come for us. they're gonna burn us to the ground-- burn us to the ground." did she listen? of course not! did anyone listen? they listened to her-- yes!-- say that everything was going to be fine. that we were all perfectly safe...perfectly safe... but she made us weak! she made us weak. and what happens to the weakest in the herd? they get picked off by the predators! we used to be the apex predators, until talia turned us into sheep.

with that said i do have my own ideas on their relationship given what we know. visionary is the episode that does the heavy lifting in the entire goddamn show in regards to this.

the age inconsistency comes from bringing back the younger actor from season 2 to play peter in visionary. it makes peter appear closer to derek's age than he actually is. i think it's almost part of peter's manipulations. it's his attempt to manipulate the audience as well just like he did lydia.

there's just simply no way talia hale didn't know about peter's everything. she was not only his older sister but she was his alpha. i think peter and talia may have been more similar than people want to believe.

peter is a lot of things. many of them contradictory. he loved his sister and clearly mourned her but that doesn't mean he didn't resent her just a little. he did still after all go with derek to retrieve her claws and i think there's something twisted up in him about how derek resembles her and begins to become more like her.

when you begin to sort of dig into what we know about the hale family the more one begins to question if talia was as benevolent as people assume she was. there's some seriously morally questionable things that occurred. talia did some shady things.

the real big one is that she coerced corrine into carrying her pregnancy with malia to term. the likely explanation is talia did this because she knew this would decrease corrine's power.

corrine is pretty explicit about this with what she says to malia:

you know, your real name isn't malia. you don't have a name. talia hale took you away from me before i could give you one.

and

corrine: i'm not going to stop, malia. i'm taking back what you stole from me. malia: i didn't steal anything. corrine: but you did. corrine: and I don't care if you're a willing participant or not. talia hale spent nine months trying to convince me of the miracle of childbirth. you know what it really felt like? a parasite. talia said it was a gift, that the coyote passes down part of her power to her daughter. she called it "beautiful." i call it "theft."

she also took peter's memories of malia's existence which considering peter's reaction doesn't seem like he had much say in. so in effect talia removed peter's agency.

she probably felt she had valid reason for doing these things. corrine was a threat and dangerous person but still it's really, really questionable. it still ended with malia's adoptive mother and sister being killed and malia going missing for years because corrine was vengeful over losing her power. talia was still alive when this happened.

of all people talia had to be aware of peter's -- you know -- everything and she probably held the leash. he wasn't a problem so long as she was the alpha and could control him.

talia also had to have been aware of and likely either approved of or encouraged him taking a mentor sort of role with derek. we see peter having a keen interest in derek in both visionary and the season 4 flashbacks.

like, who do we think ran off and told talia about what happened with derek and paige? who likely instructed peter on getting rid of paige's body and helping to cover up her death to protect derek and the family?

i actually fully believe she knew peter was skulking about the werewolf summit and may have even told him to do so.

talia is like the mona lisa smile of teen wolf. she's inscrutable but we get impressions about her and what she was like via the people that knew her. her children, her brother, her advisor and peers.

#my blog #thoughts on teen wolf #teen wolf #talia hale #peter hale #i really need to continue to sort my meta but it's so daunting #i write too much about this silly show

[lumosatnight]

First Sentences

Thanks for the tag @nanneramma (x) and @apricitydays-lazynights (x)! I already know I'm guilty of writing super short first sentences. And IT'S FINE. I'm fine. Everything's fine.

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

💜 The White Cat [Bellatrix/Dolores, T, 450]

A white cat visits Bellatrix.

💜 Left Spellbound [James Sirius/Severus, E, 1.5k]

“It’s my first time,” he says. “I’m a little nervous.”

💜 up here, i'm floating [Bellatrix/Molly, M, 1.2k]

The boy was alive, resurrected in the giant’s arms.

💜 Healthy [Draco/Harry, G, 200]

Draco spots Harry in the Emergency Care Unit first. He's tired and bruised but still has all his limbs intact, so that’s saying something.

💜 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Dates (or Less) [Draco/Harry, M, 13.6k]

“Men are pigs,” Pansy proclaimed. She swiped a lock of dark hair from her brow and swallowed the rest of her martini without pause.

💜 Those Tight Tight Shorts [Sirius/Harry, E, 6.6k]

The war was over, the big baddie defeated. It had been months since You Know Poo had shown his snakey face.

💜 The Black Dahlia [Mrs Zabini/Ginny, M, 1.0k]

“This is it,” I say. “There is nowhere else for you to go, nowhere for you to run.”

💜 Pick a Pumpkin, Pick them all [Luna/George, G, 200]

“Isn’t this enough?” George questioned as Luna dropped yet another pumpkin into the cart. “We’ve nearly bought half the yard.”

💜 When the Castle [Lily/The Black Sisters, M, 500]

Lily had wandered in one stormy night. 

💜 The Antidote [Newt/Theseus, E, 500]

“Is this” — Theseus glanced at the long metal syringe then looked away — “really necessary?”

Tagging (no pressure): @coconutice22 @peachpety @gloivy @mugsdontlie @uncannycerulean @st-clements-steps @nv-md . Sorry if you've been tagged already!

#tag game #first sentences #asked and answered

[iguana-eyanna]

In Another Universe Pt. 6

Pairing: Ned Leeds x superhero! reader

Summary: Ned's world turns upside down when his new powers bring a stranger to his world. What's more strange is that she knows who he is.

Everything was set in motion. MJ was assisting Sorcerer Supreme Wong to prepare while Doctor Strange was practicing his incantation. Ned and Peter were sent off to grab everything else.

Ned went straight to get ahold of some herbs in the potion closet, muttering the ingredients to himself.

"Need a hand?" Peter asks.

"Sure, hold these." Ned said in a rush, stacking bottles in Peter's arms.

"Look, about earlier... I'm sorry if I crossed a line." Peter said but Ned doesn't look over.

"You're fine Pete, no worries." Ned said, walking away to get the spell book in the library. Peter followed in tow.

"Ned, I'm trying to apologize. Could we just pause right now?" Peter asks.

"Funny you should say that cause when I wanted to talk to you, you were busy elsewhere." Ned looked over his shoulder as he went up on the ladder to look where it was located.

"Okay, I deserve that. But I feel like you need to take a break and breathe for a sec. You're preparing for something that could kill you."

Ned breathed through his nose as he looks at Peter.

"I am done letting people, especially you, tell me what my limits are. I'm not a kid, I'm not your sidekick, and I'm not rushing this. So you could just let go of your pride for a second and be there for me just this once?" Ned raised his voice.

Peter seemed unsettled with his friend's temper. He never saw Ned angry. Ned returned his focus and turned over to his right, finding the book he was looking for.

It was different than the darkhold or the other books that were on the shelf. This had egyptian hieroglyphs that kept on moving on the cover, glowing a soft gold color.l

"The Book of Thoth." Ned whispered as he went down the stairs.

"That's the God of Knowledge from the Egyptian Mythology. But why does that book sound familiar?" Peter asks, looking down.

"Don't you remember the first issues of the Captain America comic books? He defeated the Witch Queen alongside Bucky when she was resurrected with this book. I thought it was just something they made up but apparently, this is real."

"That's so cool. I gotta ask Mr. Barnes if this is familiar." Peter said, slightly fan boying.

"Only if I get to tag along." Ned joked.

"Of course man! Mr. Barnes is so cool, I think you guys will like each other. He read the first copies of Lord of the Rings."

"No way!" Ned said in disbelief.

The two laugh a bit before Peter looks at Ned.

"I'm truly sorry for the way I've been treating you. It wasn't right to just ignore you like that. You literally took down an evil doppelganger with your powers and you're doing something pretty selfless. I'm proud of you Ned, I hope you know that." Peter said.

"You're my best friend Pete, I don't mind you being with MJ, I like hanging out with her too. I just missed when it was the three of us, or rather me not feeling like a third wheel."

"We're going to change that. No one is going to be left out or forgotten. And Ned? You were never a sidekick."

Ned smiles and gives Peter a hug.

"No matter what happens, I'll be there man." Peter assured Ned.

The two let go and they use their free hand to do their handshake before heading back.

"So, just to clarify, the girl you told us you were dating is or is not your girlfriend?" Peter asks.

"It's more of a cover really... but with these memories I told her that I was falling in love with her."

"WHAT?" Peter half yells which Ned shushed him.

"What?" Peter whispers again this time.

"That's why I'm wanting to do this. Although the memories I have of her are real, it feels more of a movie I watched than actually living them. I need to find the answer if I love her because of me or him."

Peter nods his head.

"Well, I'm glad that both of you are at an understanding. It must have been hard to face those feelings alone." he says

They finally reached the middle where everyone else was as they were busy. You look over at Ned, giving him a soft smile.

"Yeah, you could say something like that." Ned replied.

Ned gave Wong the book as everyone placed the items on the ground. MJ was using chalk on the ground in order to contain the incantation.

"You ready kid?" Strange asked.

Ned nods his head.

"Let's bring Edward up."

Wong opens a portal and out came Edward who looked unfazed of being transported out from his prison.

"If you do anything to jeopardize this, I will make sure you will be transported to the icey glaciars of Greenland." Wong warned him.

"Yeah, that totally makes me want to to do more trouble now." Edward says sarcastically.

"It's a bit unsettling to see them in the same room." Peter whispers to MJ.

"Yeah, I agree." She says.

"Okay. Ned 1 and Ned 2... listen up so I don't accidentally melt your brains into smoothies."

The two Leeds look at Strange with an unsettled look.

"Not the best time for jokes, I get it. But, you should really listen. Here, drawn by MJ, is a circle. Do not step OUT of the circle. This rune will make sure that those inside will only share the others memory. You're not allowed to interrupt my incantation. This hasn't been done for about a hundred years, and we don't want to see the outcome if it goes wrong. Am I clear?"

"So what you're saying is don't step out and shut up?" Edward asks, crossing his arms.

"Pretty much."

Ned looks over at Peter and MJ.

"If anything happens, tell my parents and my Lola I love them."

"You're going to them yourself Ned." MJ reassured him.

"I'm here bud." Peter says, as MJ squeezed Peter's hand as he was nervous.

The two Neds then look at you, expecting any last parting words from you.

"Please... be careful." you whispered.

The two boys stood apart in the circle and looked straight at each other.

"This may hurt a bit." Strange said before reciting the incantation.

Ned was about to ask how much, but soon his eyes glowed yellow. He floated in midair, unresponsive. You were about to go up to him, but Wong held you in your spot.

"We need to do this." Wong stated.

Soon, Dr. Strange waived his hands in a circular motion and brought out the dreams Ned had.

It was like you saw a projection of every moment you had with Edward. They were all in golden colors, and each memory moved as if you were in the moment.

One was when you had your first date at the state fair, and Ned won you a stuffed panda.

One memory that caught you off guard was the second night you spent with this world's Ned on the roof of his apartment. You were looking at the sky and saw how he fell in love with you.

"How is that possible that Ned remembered all of Edward's memories?" Peter asks.

"Any dream you have of yourself is most likely a memory a version of you had in a different universe. Apparently, all these memories of Spidergirl's Ned are the most vivid with our Ned."

Peter walks around the circle, seeing Ned's memories and caught one of them freshmen year of high school. They looked so shy in class, but Ned peered over when he saw that Peter had a star wars comic book on his desk. They started talking, and soon it was the first day of being friends.

Peter sniffles a bit, remembering the time it was them against the world.

Everyone was too preoccupied of looking at the memories floating in the air, the voice in Edward's head became louder.

'Now's our chance, you know what to do.' Hobgoblin said.

Edward reaches into the hidden pocket of the jacket he's wearing, feeling the small explosive he has saved in case of emergencies. He finds where the Book of Thoth was left unguarded. Edward was about to throw the explosive towards it, but then he heard something.

"You won't catch me!" You yelled out loud. "Yes I will!" Ned replied back.

"Huh?" Edward looks back and finds the memory. It appeared him and you were at a park, you wore this white spring dress that was covered in blue flowers. You were smiling, laughing as Ned was chasing you.

"Gotcha!" Ned replied, catching you by your waist as he spinned you back to his chest. "I let you!" You joked, playfully shoving his shoulder. "What will take you for me to release you?" He asks. You hum a bit before an idea pops in your head. "A kiss." Ned becomes easily flushed. This was your fourth date with each other and he has been too shy to kiss you. Maybe it was because he wanted to go slow and be the gentleman he always was, but this was his first kiss. He was worried he was going to mess this up. "Hey... it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm with you till the end of the line." You said, placing a hand on his chest. Ned felt a flutter in his heart as you remembered that was a line from the Captain America and Bucky comic book he showed you. He placed his hand on top of yours and stared at you with such warm eyes. Without hesitation, he tilts his head down and kissed your lips for the first time. Both of you closed your eyes, feeling a thousand stars were surrounding you. Once you pulled away, you brush away a strand of hair that was in his face. "Nothing beats a first kiss." You said, smiling. Ned widen his smile as he picked you by the waist and spun you again and kissed you again with all the love he could give.

"That quote was your favorite movie." Edward whispers, looking down on the ground.

You break away from the memory and look at him.

"Ned?" you call him.

He turns around towards you, his eyes looking almost familiar.

Suddenly, he hisses in pain as he grabbed the sides of his head.

'STOP IT.' The voice yelled in his head.

"What's happening?" MJ asks.

"Something is blocking his mind for the memories to enter. Strange can't do anything when Ned is unconscious." Wong said.

"It's not something... it's someone." You said, hearing a sort of high pitch from your spider sense.

Edward thrashed his head violently, until he paused... giving a bone chilling laugh that filled the air.

He looks at you, smiling at you wickedly.

"Miss me?" Edward's voice slightly changing.

"Hobgoblin." You whispered.

"I can't wait to show you what I have in store." He says, his eyes growing a darker shade.

You don't know what he meant, but you could see Hobgoblin reach for something in his pocket.

"Peter! The book!" You screamed.

Peter ran to wear the book went as Hobgoblin threw the explosive at his direction. Peter almost reached towards, but then the explosive blew up, sending everyone off their feet. Artifacts flown around the room as some laid down on the floor and the book was lost in the chaos. Wong made a magic shield around MJ to protect her from any debris as you and Peter landed on the walls.

You could see all of Ned's memories slightly glitch, as the magic was being disrupted due to the rune on the floor was damaged.

"Someone needs to fix this quick!" Strange grunted, trying to not let any of the memories escape as they now swarmed in the air. Without the book, Strange couldn't maintain the spell. You could hear all the voices of each memory overlap, making it hard to focus.

"I can fix the rune! But you have to keep Hobgoblin inside!" MJ screamed.

"Find the book, I'll deal with him." You said to Peter. He nod his head.

MJ grabbed a chalk and started to connect the runes once more. You went in the opening and went up to Hobgoblin.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore." You said, hoping your Ned would hear you.

"Too late for that." Hobgoblin replied as he threw his fist at you. You knelt down as you caught it in thin air, but it was hard to maintain his grip. Hobgoblin used this opportunity to swing his leg towards your ribs that were already bruised. You let go, groaning, but you stood tall and raised your fists.

"This ends tonight." You gritted before both of you charge.

MJ rushed fixing the symbols on the floor as you and Hobgoblin fought. You ducked most of his punches, but he was almost invincible to take down.

"I'm almost done! You need to get out!" MJ screamed.

"I need more time!" you yelled back, trying to use your web fluid but Hobgoblin breaks free in seconds.

"There's not enough! I can't contain the memories anymore!" Strange yelled.

You look up and see Ned's aura fading like all of his memories. You can't leave Ned like this. And you can't leave Edward either, not again. You look over at MJ and nod your head.

"Do it."

She nods her head and scribbles the last symbol. Finally, the floor glowed around you three. Peter found the book in time and gave it to Strange as he recited the last lines.

"I know you're in their Ned, you can fight against him. You're able to decide for yourself, not him!"

"STOP TALKING" Hobgoblin spoke as you could sense that he was losing control over Edward's body.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby. I'm right here. I-"

You stop as you were now gasping for air.

The air was still for a moment. You could hear your new friends calling your name and you look down, seeing that Hobgoblin found a dagger lying on the floor and pierced you in the stomach.

Hobgoblin smirks back at you.

Suddenly, the soft glow of yellow turned a violent shade of orange. Hobgoblin took notice and turned around, seeing Ned now towering over him, his eyes glowing like raging fires.

"Wong? What's going on?" Strange asks.

"He's still conscious! His emotional ties towards her is stronger than we realized, Ned might not break free from this rage!" He yells back.

Ned took Hobgoblin by the collar and levitated up, flying as Hobgoblin dangled in mid air. Ned didn't even say a word, but his features turned menacing. That innocent kid that he once was is now gone.

"Just do it, kill me now. But if you don't you're just as weak as Edward." Hobgoblin spat.

"Stop, you're better than this!" Peter screamed.

Ned, not facing towards his friends, raised his hands toward them as they became frozen in place, even with Doctor Strange and Wong. But with Strange's lost of control, all the memories began to violently fly around the room. There was screaming, so much screaming. Everyone now saw the horrible things Edward had gone through. His manic episodes when he was lost in the sewers, his destruction towards the city when innocent lives were lost, and the times he fought with you before you were transported towards this world.

"Ned..."

Ned looks down as he sees you lying on your back, starting to bleed out.

"I'm with you till the end of the line."

Suddenly, the memories came to a halt as everyone became quiet. Ned lets go of Hobgoblin. He thought he was about to fall to his doom, but he levitates in the air.

"You're wrong about us. We're not weak... we care a lot. And frankly, I think you're time is finished."

And with that, Ned raised his hands to Hobgoblin, blasting all of the memories at Hobgoblin.

Hobgoblin screams out as Edward fights for control as both of the Leed boys shine bright as the sun. Everyone else closes their eyes as the light overcame their senses. Soon, it began to dim as well as the hold that Ned had on them. They break free from their frozen places and look up to where Ned and Hobgoblin once were.

They see Ned holding Edward's shoulders as he seemed half conscious.

"I got you, man." Ned whispered as they soon stood on the floor. Everyone else surrounded them, unsure.

Edward regains his senses, looking straight at Ned.

"It's... it's quiet. I don't hear him anymore." Edward said in disbelief. Both Ned and Edward smiled as they hugged each other, realizing that it worked.

Edward smiles brightly as he tries to look for you, calling your name.

"I remember now! I remember everyth-" Edward stops speaking as he sees you lying on the floor, eyes closed.

"No," Ned whispered.

Both he and Edward race to your side as Edward lifts you in his lap, trying to shake you to wake up as Ned held your hand.

You lied in his arms, cold as your blood decorated the floor. Peter and MJ go up to their friend as Peter knelt down besides Ned.

"I - I killed her." Edward whispers.

"It's not your fault." Ned said.

"It is. She's gone because of me."

Ned looks over and sees his teacher a few steps away, still shocked as he witnessed Ned's power.

"We can't do anything, can we?"

Wong lowers his head.

"It is forbidden. We must not disrupt the balance of the living and the dead."

"How about the book? There has to be a way-"

"There is. But it requires for one soul to be exchanged in order to bring back the other. We're not risking your lives again."

"What if we shared half of our souls to her?" Edward asks.

Everyone turns back to Edward.

"Half of my soul and half of Ned's creates one soul. Can that work?"

Wong and Strange look at each other, unsure.

Ned looks back at you, as you lied there peacefully

"We have to try."

Edward lies you on the ground as Ned took the book and looked at the spell.

"Hold her hand and I'll hold the other. Whatever you do, don't let go."

"I won't." Edward said.

Ned looked down at the book, repeating the words that was written on the page. Everyone around them saw a small glowing orb erupting from Ned's and Edward's chest.

"That's their souls." Wong whispered to Peter and MJ.

They flew in the air at the moment, slowly twirling around each other until the souls flew in your chest. A few seconds past and you gasp for air. Ned and Edward jump back from you unexpectedly. You look down and see that how your stab wound healed completely, barely leaving a scar.

“What- what happened?” You ask, looking around.

"You died for a good 5 minutes. All hope was gone till we decided we split our souls so you could come back."

"We?" You ask.

He looks over your shoulder and you turn around in his direction, seeing Edward standing alone.

Ned helped you get up until you were on your feet and you slowly take a few steps towards him.

He looks so scared as you got closer to him.

"Is it really you?" You ask, your heart still unsure if your Ned was back.

"On our first date... we went to go watch that new Disney movie. You looked cold so I gave you my letterman jacket. And when you wanted to hold my hand, I warned you that I had sweaty hands and you said -"

"-I had calloused hands so it was perfect." you finished his sentence

Edward and you laugh quietly as he looks at you, close to tears.

"I am so sorry, for everything. If I could take everything back, I would-"

You stopped Edward as hugged him tightly.

Besides you two, everyone around you began to tear up. Strange had to step away because he was more of a mess than all of you.

Edward choked as he quickly wrapped his arms around you, needing your touch like it was the only thing that was keeping him alive.

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

"Thank you, for everything." You said to Peter and MJ as you and Edward were about to leave this dimension.

You've stayed for an extra two days, wanting to regroup all the events this week. But, you two decided it was time to go home.

"Of course, I'm glad that you're able to go back, Ned." Peter said.

"Actually, I think I want to be called Edward from now on... it kinda grew up on me." Edward said, intertwining his hands with yours.

"I like it too." You smiled at him.

At a fair distance, Ned looked at you and Edward happily in love.

"How are you?" Wong asks as he walked up to Ned.

"I'm... i'm alright. Made my piece that they'll be going back. I'm happy for them." Ned said, smiling contently.

Wong nodded his head.

"We need to discuss about your magic. Strange and I were talking and we had never seen someone advanced this quickly during their training. You're powerful Ned, more than you realize."

Ned looks down at his hands, knowing that too.

"Like I told you awhile ago, my Lola told me that we had a long line of people who were gifted."

"It's more than that, Ned. I believe you are a descendant of a powerful lineage. It ties to a mystic artifact that we've encountered: the Ten Rings. No one knows its origin, not even the man that beholds it."

"What's his name?" Ned asked curiously.

"His name is Shang-Chi. I will be meeting him in a few weeks to research more about this from his late mother's homeland, and I want you by my side on my expedition."

"I'm honored, Master Wong. I won't let you down!" Ned replied, about to hug Wong, but decided to bow instead.

Wong smirks and releases a sigh.

"I'll make an exception, just this once."

Ned smiled brightly and hugged Wong.

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" Ned yelled, running toward his friends.

"You didn't tell him everything, did you?" Strange asked.

"That what... he may be a descendant of the most evil sorcerers of ancient times?" Wong asked.

"I get it Wong, he's a good kid. But he needs to know his fate if his powers will corrupt him like The Duwende."

Wong sighs. He thought hearing Edward's alter ego sounded so familiar until he realized that duwende was the Filipino word for elf and goblin, or rather Hobgoblin.

"I will, but for now, we let him live the life he wants. He shouldn't be burdened of a historic destiny when he's finding himself."

The two look over to see Ned smiling and laughing with his friends. He almost died on countless attacks, disappeared from the blip and had to redo half of his education.

But one thing about Ned was that he stilled smiled, even in the face of casualty.

Wong and Strange walked away to give the teens some privacy as they discuss more of their expedition.

In a few minutes, everyone began to say their final goodbyes.

Ned was faced to-face with Edward.

"What are you going to do now?" Ned asked.

"I wanna see my family again. Just thinking about my Lola is making me tear up right now." Edward sighed, brushing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"But I'm going to get help. Even if I'm not Hobgoblin anymore, I need to make things right with the people I've hurt and take responsibility. Thank you, for reminding me of who I am." Edward said, lifting his hand.

"Actually, can we try something?"

Ned quickly taught him the handshake that him and Peter do and were laughing at how cool it was to be doing this with their doppleganger.

"Be kind to yourself, Edward. You were always a good person, don't ever forget that."

Edward smiles at Ned's words as the two hug each other.

"Mind if I steal you for a minute?" You interrupt.

Edward goes next to you and smiles, squeezing your hand before you and Ned were talking.

"I guess this is it." You said, rubbing the side of your arm.

"Yeah... it was um, nice to have you around." Ned said.

You look at him in a bit of disbelief.

"You know I have half of your soul, and that's how you're sending me off?" You sassed.

Ned couldn't help but crack a smile.

Your feels a bit heavy as you went up to him, holding his hand.

"I'm forever grateful for what you did for me these past few days. I'll never forget you Ned Leeds. I have apart of you with me."

Wong steps forward and signals that it's time to go. You look back at Ned and slip your hand away. Wong opens the portal and you and Edward look forward, seeing your New York.

"Ready?" You ask over your shoulder.

"Yeah, let's go home." Edward says.

Everyone waves them goodbye until something in Ned broke.

"Wait!" Ned yells after you.

You turn and see Ned run to you, wrapping his arms around you.

You hold onto Ned as you two began to cry. If these past days taught you anything, it was that love came at the most strangest of places. And you found a different kind of love with him, it was when two people who were hurting found each other.

He gave you a loving look as he wiped his tears away.

"Thank you, for the memories."

You gave him a tearful smile.

"Any time, I hope that one day soon, you'll find someone to share them with." You said, kissing his cheek as you slowly walk away from him as you go back to Edward. You two look back at the people who changed both of your lives.

And it was the last time you ever saw Ned.

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

1 year later

"Okay, ready? Smile!" Ned said, taking a picture of Pete and MJ by the pond at the Boston Gardens.

It was now breaking into warmer weather, so the gang decided to treat themselves of a day of adventuring after finishing their exams from MIT.

Just when he's about to show them the picture, a soft whimper caught his attention. Ned's eyes lit up with curiosity as he spotted a cute, lost puppy wandering near a cluster of trees.

With a warm smile, Ned crouched down and gently scooped the puppy into his arms.

"Hey little guy." He cradled the adorable canine, looking around for any signs of its owner. Just as he began to worry, he hears a familiar voice.

"Milo? Milo!" the voice came closer as he saw them running to Ned with a dog leash that matched the small bulldog's collar that Ned saw.

"Oh my god- is that-" Peter asks.

"Yep. Our world's version of Spidergirl." MJ said, slightly blown away.

Ned was in utter shock as you came closer with relief on your face.

"Thank you so much for finding my Milo! I wanted to have him run without the leash for a few minutes but he's such a troublemaker, always wanting to find new friends!" You said, a bit out of breath.

Ned broke out of his spell and gave you back your dog in your arms.

"Yeah, I uh- I'm glad I bumped into you." Ned said, still in disbelief that you were standing in front of him.

"What do you mean? I should be the one thanking you! How can I repay you?" You ask, about to look in your purse.

"No no! It's okay. I really don't want anything."

"Are you sure? I mean... I could treat you to a coffee. It's the least I can do." You said, wanting to show your gratitude (especially since you thought the guy in front of you was really cute.)

Ned smiles as he looks over to his friends, giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

In a different world, two of the same people were by the beach side in the west coast, soaking in the sun.

"This is much needed." You whispered, as you cuddled closer to Ned as you were enjoying your first vacation with just the two of you after your first year of college.

"Agreed." He whispers in your ear as you guys relax, hearing the small waves crash against your bare feet.

A lot has changed within the year.

Edward had a tearful reunion with his family, and may or may not have been slapped with his Lola's house slipper of his long disappearance, but she hugged him tightly afterwards, afraid to let him go again.

He get the help he needed during his road to recovery. He had moments where he doubted if he was a good person, but you were always there to remind him all the good things he has done.

"What are you thinking of?" Edward asked.

You took a deep breath as you hug him against your chest.

"Just thinking how lucky I am that you're here."

Edward looks back at you with a loving gaze.

"I think I'm the lucky one."

"Oh yeah?" you ask.

"Yeah... and I'll prove it." He says as he turned more in your direction.

You were about to ask what until he inched closer and kissed your lips. Both of you closed your eyes as you felt fireworks, the same way you felt on the day of your first kiss with him.

You connect your foreheads together, later kissing his head as you two stared off in the sunset together, feeling your souls intertwined.

A part of you felt Ned somewhere in another universe. Somehow, you knew that he felt accomplished and accepted... and found someone that would one day love him with all of her heart:

You.

Taglist:

@tenmaabnesti

@diysyfhcjtssuiteryyxhcft

@the-suicidal-lizard

@idkhowbutifoundyou

#ned leeds #edward leeds #ned leeds x reader #marvel #marvel fanfic #marvel cinematic universe #marvel studios #ned leeds imagine #ned leeds fanfic #peter parker #doctor strange #wong #sorcerer supreme #sorcerer supreme wong #michelle jones #michelle jones watson #jacob batalon imagines #jacob batalon x reader #jacob batalon #tom holland #zendaya #zendaya coleman #benedict cumberbatch #benedict wong

[twinkleallnight]

CROSSROADS

Hello everyone! I am alive. That's what you feel when you write after almost one year. This is my submission for @choicesprompts hosted by @angelasscribbles and@dcbbw . A big shoutout for both these ladies who held my hand as i took baby steps into the writing arena again.

I would also like to announce a Tag-list clean up because I have recently resurrected so there may be people who moved on. Totally fine. Please drop in a reply or message if you want to be tagged. I am going to tag only few in this who have peeped in to check on me past few months.

Book: RoE and TRR crossover

Characters: Leo, Katie

Word count: 1608

Disclaimer: All characters belong to pixelberry.

Rating: Mature

Warning: Angst?

Prompt: @choicesprompt appears in italics.

This is in future. Leo left the cruise and Katie married William. She had no idea who Leo really is.

The cool wind pushes my hair back as I walk along the familiar path, every step taking me deeper into the past. It’s been years since I’ve been here; everything is different.

Everything is the same.

I’m not paying attention to the present as I walk, I’m too lost in memories of long ago. That’s why I don’t notice the person walking towards me until I hear a familiar voice call my name.

I freeze. It can’t be. What are the odds?

I lift my head as my eyes dart wildly around before finally landing on a face I’d recognize anywhere, even now.

“It’s you.”

“Surprise, surprise.” He shrugs his shoulders, his hands tucked in the pockets of his jacket. His attire looks expensive and pretty stylish unlike I saw him last time. One thing that hasn’t changed is his looks. Against the backdrop of the Acropolis, his charming smile seems unaltered even after fourteen years.

“What are you doing here?” I can not hide the excitement in my voice.

“Well, I told you when we first met, I belong to a small island here. In fact, I should be asking you, what are you doing here?”

“I came with my husband.” I wince inside. I should have skipped that detail.

“William Sloan.”

My eyes widen, “You know?”

He gives his signature smile and brings up the past casually. “When you are waiting for someone and that someone walks away with another man, right in front of your eyes, you know.”

“I am sorry Leo, but…”

He raises his hand cutting me mid sentence, “That’s absolutely fine, Katie. You made your choice. Everyone has the right to. I made mine.”

“Not all choices turn out to be right decisions, do they?” My eyes search his with some hope. What was I thinking?

“You are not happy with William.” Instead of asking, he just makes a statement. As if he knows it all. How does he always know everything?

“How can you say that?” I jut out my jaw defensively.

“Well, I see you walking all alone in the ruins of Acropolis brooding to yourself.”

“Even you are alone.” I try to prove my point. Mistake!

“I never said I am alone. I am with someone.”

“There you go again. Always talking in puzzles and keeping an air of mystery around you.”

“I know I did not reveal my true identity to you on that cruise. But I did plan to tell you everything that night at Captain’s Ball. If only, you would have…..” his voice trails off.

My thoughts drift to that night for a moment. If only…. I had chosen Leo, we would be walking hand in hand now, there would be a life to be happy about, some love to hold me maybe, and a child perhaps! But I cannot let Leo know that. I try to protest.

“I chose William, because he had a stable business, he would have understood my inheritance and my family background.” Why am I trying to argue?

Leo chuckles, “I must say, your inheritance and his business together must be a perfect formula for a happy life then.”

“At least I am not roaming around the roads on a motorbike like a nomad.” I say with a bite in my tongue. As if hurting him will relieve my pain.

“You are right. But sometimes wandering helps find the aim of your life. Sometimes getting out of your rich robes helps to understand the struggles in a life of a common man.”

“Rich robes, huh?” I fan out my hands gesturing at his clothes. “Mr President was surveying the life of commoners. Did you make some great amendments to the law?” I ask sarcastically.

“I can say proudly, I did.” He swells up his chest with pride.

“So, you are a President? Of Timbuktu?”

He gives out a hearty laugh, his head falling back. It’s infectious. I find myself smiling at my own joke, with him.

After a moment, he is suddenly serious and closes the distance between us. I can see his eyes turning to a darker shade of blue. When he is an inch away, he tilts his head, his gaze piercing, he questions, “What happened to the girl who followed the rules?”

My eyes well up and I break the eye contact, looking far away at a distant lone pillar. “Rules don’t work always. Sometimes they ruin what we have.”

“Then make your own new rules.”

I look at him puzzled.

“Come, let’s walk.” He gestures at the narrow muddy track with rocks on either side. I quietly follow.

“Katie, you had love in your life but the next moment you had a lot of money as an inheritance and no love. Yet you kept going.” He stops and admires me, “Even when life was unfair, you never lost hope.”

Is it me? It sounds like he is talking about someone I knew a long time ago. He starts walking again and I trudge along.

“You paved your own path. You bent some rules and faced the challenge thrown at you.” He halts again and turns towards me. “And you know what the best part was?”

I keep looking at him quizzically. He gives a wide smile before speaking again.

“In the short time I spent with you, I saw the bond you shared with your family. You ran back to them even after all the hardships. That Katie, was a lesson for me. I am glad I met you. You played an important role in my decisions and that made me what I am today.”

“I helped you?” I ask him in disbelief.

“You did! I learnt it from you.”

I flay my arms away. “No, no, no! it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I am not the Katie you knew once.” I hide my face in my hands.

Leo holds my wrists and pulls down my hands. “Look at me, Katie. Even I am not the same adventurous crazy guy.”

I raise my damp eyes meeting his gaze. He is still holding my hands in his. “The man you met long time ago was a person running away from his responsibilities, abandoning his people because he was too weak to fight against the wrongs. But meeting you made it all right for me. I carried back the memories of you, your determination to make things right, your spirit to keep it bright.”

I shake my head unable to take it all. I feel the pain I have been through. William has been through. The hurdles we tried to overcome and, in the bargain, falling apart. “I am sure you didn’t have to break the rules and hurt someone to do it all.”

“Katie, you were the one who refused to accept the rules that would harm your dear ones.” He holds my shoulders, as if waking me from my slumber, “If you are done sulking over few lost moments, get up again. If you did it once you can do it again. If you could bring a change in a person like me, you can change anything.”

“I can?”

“Only you can.”

We walk in silence along the track for sometime. He gives me time to mull over my thoughts and to revive back. We come to the part where the narrow lane meets the main atrium.

“Do you still ride on a motorbike?” My curiosity speaks out.

“No.” he grins. “I have had my share of exploration.”

“Guess your expedition gave quite a direction to your life.”

“Much more. I learnt to be a better person and embrace what I have.”

“And yet you stand alone here. Just like me?”

“As a matter of fact, I am not.” He looks at the ground as if he is trying to decide whether to tell or not. Eventually, he points at a young boy in a distance. A tall graceful lady stands with him, their backs towards us. They are busy discussing something looking at the pillars around. “I came here with my wife and son. He wanted to see this place. Curious little archaeologist in making there.” Leo’s blue eyes shine proudly as he fondly talks about his son.

My heart sinks again. He has what I wished for. A family. A family that stays together. Suddenly, I want to hide away all the sadness in my life. I don’t want him to know how empty my life is.

“So, the mystery man does have a family. Good for you.”

“Thanks to you. You see my wife, Madeleine. I was running away from one who had loved me all my life just because I was burdened with unwanted responsibilities that meant doing things that were against my principles.”

“Who are you?” I know him more today yet I don’t know him.

He smiles, “Lets keep that conversation for the next time. Today when I saw a gloomy Katie treading through these rocks, I felt the urge to come and remind her who she really is. What she can really do. And how many lives she has touched. That’s all you need to know and focus on for today. Leave me where I was and take your next step ahead. Life is waiting for you. He waved walking away from me.

I turn to face the setting sun and face my world. With newly restored courage, with newly found aim, with new hope.

I grab my phone and dial to hear the voice that has soothed me most all these years.

“Hello, Katie?”

“William…..” I do what I did the best. Rekindle the love. Get back home.

Tags: @alj4890 @anjanettexcordonia @bascmve01 @busywoman @charlotteg234 @cordonia-gothqueen @cordonian-literature @drakewalker04 @ficloverevie @gkittylove99 @krsnlove @hopefulmoonobject @hopelessromanticmonie @kat-tia801 @indiacater @phoenixrising308 @sfb123 @nestledonthaveone @kingliam2019 @neotericthemis @ntoraplayschoices @princess-geek @princessleac1 @secretaryunpaid @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @txemrn @theroyalheirshadowhunter @aestheticartsx @yourmajesty09 @mainstreetreader @choiceskatie @claireloutoo @tessa-liam @tinkie1973 @mom2000aggie @sincerelyella @brightpinkpeppercorn @karahalloway @harleybeaumont

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I'm glad I waited until the last minute to figure out how I felt about the games I played this year because there were some surprise changes right up until the end. I think I managed to get most things I played this year that weren't just demos onto a list and will have opinions on them.

There will potentially be too many to tag properly, but maybe I'll try linking the game titles to the tags and see how that goes, which should bring up any previous posts about them with more detail (although I still haven't finished updating all the old posts to the new tags yet as of writing this so they might not all work right away).

Also except for the final category stuff within each group isn't really in any particular order, and there's no hard boundary between some of the categories where I think everything in one is definitively better than everything in another (e.g. I think Aria of Sorrow is better than at least some of the stuff in the "pleasantly surprised category", but I liked it exactly as much as I expected to so it is where it is).

So starting from the worst:

Fate/EXTELLA LINK was the least fun I had with a game all year. It's like what if a Musou game felt worse to play and also had an extremely uncomfortable level of pandering to weebs and their waifus in the writing. Blech.

Diablo 2: Resurrected is literally unplayable without creating an account and being online even though D2 has always had offline single player. They don't actually mention this. I only have it because it was cheaper to get the bundle with D2 and D3 than D3 by itself.

Super Mario 3D World is the least fun I've had with a Mario game in literally decades. 3D movement with a fixed camera is awful. I still like the full 3D games and the 2D ones, but this is nope for me.

Pendula Swing is honestly probably fine on a different platform (read: with a mouse and keyboard), but the Switch version is borderline unplayable. The idea seemed interesting but it was so clunky I couldn't get into it.

Ys Origin just hasn't aged well. I played it a long time ago and it was in the "fine, I guess" category, but trying to replay it after some of the newer ones (which will be further down the list) was rough.

And then games that were mostly just disappointing to me:

Diablo 3 is one of those things everyone kept saying at least feels the best to play out of all the modern ARPGs for years, so I finally gave in and tried it to see what all the fuss was about. It feels like Torchlight 2.5 with a bigger budget and was kind of uninspiring overall.

The Outer Worlds was something I was really hopeful about, but I just didn't find anything at all about it enjoyable.

Pokemon Picross is just a bunch of free-to-play bullshit ruining something that could've been fun. The world is better off with the eShop shut down so no one can play it anymore.

Persona 5 Royal is another one I was really looking forward to that I just did not click with at all. The first few hours were full of minor annoyances and did very little to win me over.

AI: The Somnium Files had potential and sounded interesting, but moon logic for solving puzzles should've stayed in the 90s and I could do without all the random horniness.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix and NEO: The World Ends With You are frustrating because they have so many interesting ideas and a neat presentation but just aren't any fun to play, especially the first one.

Tales of Vesperia just hasn't aged super well I think. I know there are people who like it, and I was looking forward to it, but I think I would've had to play it closer to stuff like Tales of Symphonia to appreciate it.

Inscryption is not my thing at all. It's a shame because I loved Pony Island, but I just couldn't get into this one.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a Donkey Kong Country game, which have always been just ok to me. I should've remembered that and not bought into the hype over the years.

Next is stuff I liked the idea of but didn't really like playing enough to stick with it:

Titanfall 2 has really neat movement and stuff, and I've heard the later levels do some interesting stuff, but beyond that the actual combat wasn't really my thing.

Ori and the Blind Forest had too many frustrating bits to keep me playing through the parts I did like.

Disgaea 4 seemed fun and like it had a lot of potential, but I always find that kind of SRPG way too fiddly, ever since I tried the original Final Fantasy Tactics.

Marenian Tavern Story: Patty and the Hungry God is just a worse version of Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom (see later on the list), which is understandable because they made it first.

Bravely Default I mostly played a couple years ago, but this year I put another dozen hours in and finally gave up on it. I really like a lot of stuff about it, but there were just too many things that frustrated or annoyed me.

They Bleed Pixels seems like fun and has some good pixel art (mostly the story stuff outside the gameplay segments), but I don't think it's for me.

Hero Hours Contract is an amazing idea and I love almost everything about it except for actually playing it.

Luckslinger took forever for me to get around to. The idea of luck being a consumable resource you have to manage is really neat, but I wasn't really enjoying the actual game, even if "pixel art hip hop spaghetti western" sounds great on paper.

Carto is one I don't really have anything against beyond apparently glitching it into an unrecoverable state and not being invested enough to start over.

Cris Tales is another one of those ones where I like a lot of stuff about it except for actually playing it.

Anarcute was a lot of fun for a little while, but it started introducing more elements I tend to not really like. Definitely one of the cuter games on the list with one of the best theme songs though.

Followed by things I had mixed feelings on or the "fine, I guess" category:

PixelJunk Eden 2 was fun enough, but they changed things from the original in a way that seems to be to make it more suitable for mobile, and I feel like most of them made it worse.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars didn't quite stick the landing. I loved the idea of everything being cards on a table with a single narrator/GM running everything, and the world and characters were interesting enough for a while. It didn't quite hold up for me all the way through to the end though.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is...better than Breath of the Wild, at least? It's smoothed over a lot of my biggest annoyances with that, and it's amazing that half the stuff in it even works at all, but it still doesn't feel like Zelda to me and has been pretty low priority to get back to and finish.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout has one of the worst openings of any game I've played in years and absolutely awful pacing. It did seem to finally have opened up and gotten potentially rather good where I left off (and might get back to one of these days), but it shouldn't take half a dozen hours for that.

Yoku's Island Express is a clever idea and was a pretty good time for a while, but it's also one of the buggiest things I've played in the past year, and that's what drove me to stop playing.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is frustrating to go back to. I loved the demo when I played it a couple years ago, but redoing everything now because I'm playing the full game on a different platform kinda sucks because of how slow the start is.

Will Die Alone has an interesting premise and way of interacting with it, but it stops short of quite saying as much with it as I would've liked.

Chaos;Head Noah had so much potential that kind of got wasted in the end. I really liked a lot of stuff about it along the way, but it's also kind of a mess. Hopefully when I get around to Steins;Gate they'll have learned to do it better because the anime for that one was great.

I'LL KILL HER is basically an interactive comic book, and the main strength is the art. The rest is fine I guess. Every content warning for this one.

Murder by Numbers is a constant mix of mildly amusing and mildly annoying. I hope they can even things out if they make more games in the future.

And then games that were pretty good but not my favorites:

Kuukiyomi: Consider It is a silly idea and doesn't overstay its welcome. I haven't felt an urge to play the sequels so far though.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is definitely the best in the series and has tons of great music, but I still have some issues with this style of music/rhythm game that keep me from completely loving it.

Cadence of Hyrule was kind of annoying when I first started playing the demo, but once I got the hang of it I had a pretty good time mostly. The huge difficulty spike at the end left me less happy with it than I was for most of the game though.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is probably the best game in this category, much better than most of the others, and my favorite Castlevania game, but it's a little short of being one of my favorites overall this year.

Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet is probably my second favorite in thie category and rather cute and silly.

One Night: Burlesque is the "worst" game in this category and doesn't entirely succeed at what it's trying to do, but I appreciate the effort and the overall vibes.

Gunma's Ambition -You and Me Are Gunma- is literally just a single joke drawn out for like an hour, but they lean into it enough to make it work.

LOUD: My Road to Fame has a couple weird design decisions that make it a bit frustrating toward the end, but up until then it's a surprisingly fun music/rhythm game with decent original music.

Lara Croft GO has some pretty decent puzzles in it and is probably my second favorite Tomb Raider game at this point, but I also had some Issues with it that held it back a little bit.

Next are the ones that I was pleasantly surprised by that were better than I expected:

Pixel Puzzle Makeout League was not what I expected. I figured it would just be picross with a silly dating sim on top, but I had no idea about the themes and ideas it would go into, and the entire ending section of the game in general was great and totally unexpected.

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom really surprised me. I had zero expectations going in, and while it isn't quite great at anything it's good to very good at a lot of things and was pretty satisfying in the end.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is the most Zelda-like game I've played this year (with close competition from another game down the list), and an actual Zelda game came out this year. Exactly as long as it needed to be and went in a more interesting direction than I thought it would.

Majotori is something I accidentally stumbled on because it was on a list of games that at least tangentially have lesbians in them, and it's delightfully silly.

Death end re;Quest really surpassed my expectations, even if I have significant enough issues with it that it's hard to recommend without caveats. it did some surprisingly interesting things though, and I keep thinking about it from time to time.

Rabisco+ was an impulse purchase because it randomly came up and was very cheap and I had no idea what was going on in the cover art. It turned out to be a short but pretty fun arcade-style puzzle game.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana was the first Ys game I played since Ys Origin first came out in English, and the series has really come a long way since then and is much better these days.

Demong Hunter was basically an impulse joke purchase because I had to know what makes a demong different from a demon. I still have no idea, but this was way better than I expected from what initially seemed like a cheap mobile game.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox wasn't quite as good overall as the previous game in the series, but I still had a lot of fun with Goth Adol, and all the new movement abilities added a lot to it.

Perfect Gold did a surprisingly decent job of having flawed characters who worked through problems in their relationship without making them annoying or unlikable like often happens.

Trigger Witch is the other most Zelda-like game I played this year. I totally grabbed it because of the cover art and it was on sale, but it's a pretty solid twin-stick shooter mixed with the LttP/LA era of Zelda.

Will You Snail? was pretty unknown to me before I started playing because I somehow avoided anyone else playing it or talking about it, but it turned out to be a pretty good precision platformer with a fun gimmick, which is hard to pull off for me because I can be kinda picky about how platformers feel to play for some reason.

Vivid Knight managed to absorb nearly all my game time until I finished it, which I did not see coming. I did eventually start to see the cracks in the systems and stopped enjoying it as much, but up until then I got pretty wrapped up in it.

And finally the ones that were probably my favorites, not necessarily in order but with the best generally toward the end:

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected would be more toward the top of the list except this was a replay so I'm disqualifying it. I played the Wii version originally, and they sure did improve almost everything in an already great game in this version.

Bowser's Fury was about as enjoyable as Super Mario 3D World was unenjoyable. I'm not sure it would quite work for a full size Mario game, but there were some good ideas in this one.

Trials of Mana really polished up an older game that I thought was kind of underwhelming back in the day and turned it into something I had a great time with. Between this and the recent announcement of the new game I'm cautiously optimistic about something good in the Mana series finally happening for the first time since the PS1.

Harvestella really caught me off guard. I was expecting a farming sim with some Final Fantasy-style nonsense on top, and it turned out to be 85% JRPG with a story I liked more than anything FF has done in years.

Can Androids Pray is the most last minute addition to this list on December 30th. When a short story (in any medium) really focuses in on a single relationship or conversation or event or idea so well that it implies the existence of the entire rest of the universe around that my brain just starts vibrating. This is one of those.

The House in Fata Morgana takes a long road to get to its ending and the characters earn every step of the way there. It also surprised me by being a totally different flavor of queer than I expected.

Unpacking wins the award for best vibes. I had a lot of feelings about this one, probably including some they weren't expecting people to have when they made it, and it does a better job telling a story than most stuff on this list despite having no visible characters and almost zero dialogue.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim I think wins for my favorite story/writing this year. People said it was a great sci-fi story, and not just for a video game, and they were right.

Fire Emblem Engage is the winner for my favorite gameplay. They absolutely nailed a lot of the mechanics and systems on the game design side of things, and it's my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed gets this spot for my favorite overall. They polished the already great gameplay of XC3, introduced some great new characters and brought back some old ones, and managed to expand on a lot of the story from the entire trilogy and tie up a bunch of stuff all at the same time.

And I guess that's finally that. There were some pretty big disappointments for me, but there were even more really great games I played and ones I had no idea I'd like as much as I did. I think I'm just going to tag stuff in the final two categories (since that's what'll fit) and call it a day.

#xenoblade chronicles 3: future redeemed #fire emblem engage #13 sentinels: aegis rim #unpacking #the house in fata morgana #can androids pray #harvestella #trials of mana #bowser's fury #xenoblade chronicles: definitive edition #xenoblade chronicles: future connected #vivid knight #will you snail? #trigger witch #perfect gold #ys ix: monstrum nox #demong hunter #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #rabisco+ #death end re;quest #majotori #turnip boy commits tax evasion #blacksmith of the sand kingdom #pixel puzzle makeout league

[bawdabaw]

Get 2 Know Me Tag Game

I was tagged by @i-like-the-eyes . Danke. It's nice to be included.

Were you named after anyone?

No. My name is just something they liked the sound of.

Do you have kids?

No. I'm kinda anti natalist but I'm not evangelical about it, if that makes sense.

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

No. I'm pretty guileless and it's my biggest flaw.

What's the first thing you notice about people?

Face.

I'm fascinated by faces, it's my favourite thing to draw. And when watching a performance of any kind, I tend to talk about expressions a lot more than other people seem to. So face is right where my eyes go.

What's your eye colour?

Dark brown. I love them. Because they're big and I think they're my nicest feature.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Scary movies. Don't get me wrong, happy endings are fine. But you have to be in the mood for them. I am almost always ready for horror of some kind or theme.

My favourites are themes of duality and surrealist creepy tones. The last horror movies I watched were Resurrection and Saint Maud and both fall into those themes I like. Loved them.

Any special talents?

I am a painter. I am very good at realism, recreating something as I see it.

I am a good writer. I am a storyteller by nature and am constantly writing.

I have just recently gotten into digital art but I am also a cartoonist. I like to draw expressive characters.

What are your hobbies?

Reading, writing, watching movies. My favourite genre of book is paranormal romance and urban fantasy but I will read anything if it is written well and has good characters.

I play board games. My favourite is Eldritch Horror. I have all the expansions except for 3 of the big box expansions(too expensive). But I absolutely love the shit out of this game. It takes 3 solid hours after set up to play through and I WILL try to convince you to play it with me if I am interested in bonding with you.

I am a yard man. I love to landscape my yard and do little projects to make things look nice.

Have any pets?

Yes. One dog. He is my son.

What sports do you play / have you played?

Tennis, volleyball, basketball.

To stay active, I also love to walk. I walk every freaking where. I wear out my shoes in less than 2 years because I just walk so much.

I also lift weights. I'm not super intense about it. It's a very general "get healthy/get fit" goal. I've been lifting since May and I am up to a 10 lb. kettlebell in each hand. In another 2 weeks I'll upgrade to 12.5 lbs.

How tall are you?

Yep.

Favourite subject in school?

English. I did not like my AP English that focused on American Literature. I did not like Shakespeare and I had to learn at least one of his plays every year in high school. I just don't jibe with the old English. It is a huge disconnect for me because I love language and etymology so much.

I loved writing essays. I loved writing autobiographical stuff, telling personal stories through writing. I loved learning about structures of writing and tools and how things like metaphor work.

Dream job?

I'm gonna be a little cheeky and give the response "I don't dream of working".

But if I had to give a response to this, my dream job is writing and drawing my own online comic series.

I also would like to paint wall murals.

And I'd love to do landscaping full time. I like incorporating flowers into a yard so that you can have the main grass of the yard to play and use but there are still pollin producing plants to make everything look ritzy and alive.

Tagging my mutuals that I'd like to see their answers. @thatsmyfetish , @maldefekt , @spider-bren , and @tethered-heartstrings . If you already did this, then just ignore my summons.

#tag game #get to know me #bawda talks

[halflingkima]

Least Favorite Books of 2022

I thought I’d start on the lowest note so we can only go up from here. Plenty of these books are like. Fine. But they turned out to not be for me at all, which kinda punches you in the face when you’re expecting the exact opposite.

Also, by way of a content warning, a few of the books had unexpected (and sometimes graphic) SA scenes and/or student/teacher “relationships,” which I’ll probably mention because those are some of my book deal breakers.

Anyway, here’s my ranked 10 least favorite books of the past year (read this year, not necessarily published in 2022).

10. Kill the Farm Boy (⭐️⭐️) by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne In the tradition of Monty Python, a rag-tag bunch of unlikely heroes adventure to find (or resurrect?) the kingdom’s Chosen One and break a few curses.

This comes in at number ten because I’m mostly just disappointed that I didn’t like it. The audiobook is acted/narrated fantastically, and I found the premise promising. I did mainly read this simply because I want to read the second book, so my hopes weren’t exactly high, but the humor in this is just. Very much not to my taste. I appreciated the diversity and the tropes it was satirizing, but it never managed to satirize them to my satisfaction, I guess. For instance, there’s a woman in a chainmail bikini – who is a well-rounded, strong, independent character – but she does remain mostly in the chainmail bikini (for ~magic~ reasons), largely against her will. It’s a fun read for the most part, but I guess I wished it had pushed the envelope a little further. I do think I’ll read the second one because it’s more of a “same world” series and that is the one that interested me more in the first place, but my hopes aren’t all that high.

9. Nightshift (⭐️⭐️) by Kiare Ladner When cog in the corporate machine Maggie meets the mysterious and elusive Sabine at work, she follows her new friend when she switches to the night shift, upheaving her life.

This is low on the list because I don’t think it’s a generally bad book. I was just really unprepared for the direction of dark in which it went – there is a rather graphic public gang rape scene without much of any warning. I also felt let down by the concept of the “toxic female friendship” that the premise promised. It also falls into that trope/voice/genre that I call “millennial ennui” in which basically everyone’s depressed without recourse to recovery (bc the problem is late stage capitalism) so they try fucked up sex stuff. I think the book could work for certain audiences but it did not provide what I was looking for when I picked it up.

8. Rabbits (⭐️⭐️) by Terry Miles There is a game that blurs virtual reality and reality – and K, who has been obsessed with the game since childhood, finally gets a way in.

Another one that makes the list through fault of being simply disappointing. I’m so into meta-narratives (as we’ll see on the favorites list) and this one simply did not make me question reality enough. I wanted nightmares, I wanted existential crisis. All I got was a linear scifi narrative. I also maybe sabotaged myself bc I was rly bored abt halfway through and noticed that no [3rd person] pronouns were ever used for K, who narrates in first person. The simple solution would be that they’re a non-binary gender who doesn’t use pronouns, but knowing it was written by a man, I began reading through the lens of a male main character, which made everything just that much more rote and predictable.

7. Into the Water (⭐️⭐️) by Paula Hawkins A single mother is found at the bottom of the river where a teen girl was found six months earlier; the woman’s daughter and girl’s best friend is now in the care of her estranged aunt as the two of them attempt to unravel some answers.

This made me angry by not delivering the promise of the premise. Essentially, there’s this water fixture in down (sort of like a lake that the river feeds into/out of) that throughout the history of this little village, women have died/drowned in. It opens up with a callback to the witch trials of “if she floats, she’s a witch” but then does nothing to connect previous deaths to the current story. The story also deals with what women suffer through at the hands of men, which was expected to a degree, but there is a sexual assault and a student/teacher relationship, and while neither were extensively detailed, neither felt handled entirely correctly to me. Also, I was largely annoyed that the majority of the book hinged on everyone in this town hating the dead woman for wholly asinine reasons, most of which shouldn’t’ve have persisted after her murder.

6. All the Feels (⭐️⭐️) by Olivia Dade In anticipation of the fantasy show’s final season, Lauren is tasked with babysitting Alexander, the cast’s resident trouble maker.

This was just. Wholly disappointing. I enjoyed the previous book in the series, Spoiler Alert, and I like the premise of movie stars and plus-sized heroines but this one was so convoluted and confusing to me. First of all, there’s a line between establishing a heroine as “not conventionally attractive” and describing her as ugly or undesireable and I felt that it leaned far too much into the latter. Next, there was so much focus on lust and sex with so little payoff – spoiler alert, there’s not even a pegging scene 😤 which was the only thing i was holding off dnfing for. And finally, the actor+fan gimmick was nearly completely absent here. It also didn’t work that we’d seen the majority of this story through the other characters in the previous book and that their inner journeys were so frustratingly convoluted. Just overall upset by what this one did not give.

5. The English American (⭐️⭐️) by Alison Larkin When the English Pippa connects with her American birth parents, she moves to the US to try to discover a piece of her she feels is missing.

This in the middle of the list because it was middlingly bad. It’s a women’s fiction from 2008 with no real literary bent and a predictable plot. The writing style was fine but the characters were all insufferable and the story was stiflingly outdated. Probably wouldn’t have finished without the audiobook, which was quite well done.

4. After Alice (⭐️⭐️) by Gregory Maguire Alice’s friend Ada falls down the rabbit hole after her, while Alice’s family search for her above ground.

This one was just a slog, and I think the audiobook hindered more than helped. This read like the driest historical fiction, despite having actual scenes in wonderland and even catching glimpses of Alice herself. Makes me quite scared to tackle wicked, especially if the audiobook is narrated the same (old posh pretentious british) way.

3. Struck by Lightning (⭐️⭐️) by Chris Colfer High school senior Carson blackmails the most popular students in school to participate in his literary journal that will boost his college application.

I initially picked this one up because I couldn’t remember whether the book or movie came first. This story is very obviously initially intended as a film and lacks any depth or nuance I’d expect from a novel. The first person narration comes off as very juvenile while covering serious topics making the tone wholly (and unintentionally?) absurdist. Think this one should’ve stayed a movie, and I’m betting his fantasy books are much better.

2. Hitched (⭐️) by Carol Higgins Clark PI Regan and detective Jack are getting married, but just weeks beforehand, Regan’s designer dress (and four others) are stolen.

To be fair, this one is quintessential grocery store mystery/thriller fodder, so it was really no surprise that it’s bad. But it’s bad. What struck me is that the wedding dress mystery does not carry the story, though that’s what the synopsis implies. The writing is so simple and straightforward that there’s about 12 other mysteries shoved into the book to sustain a full-length novel. It’s supposed to be twisty and suspenseful, but the mish-mash cast and non sequitur mysteries are so fully disjointed that all attempts at suspense fall entirely flat.

1. How to Hack a Heartbreak (⭐️) by Kristin Rockaway Mel is stuck in the dudebro atmosphere of a startup incubator when she decides to build an app to log harassers and abusers from dating apps.

I have never felt so betrayed by a book as I did reading this. I had expected a general formulaic genre romance with maybe some insight into gender issues in the tech sphere. Instead it was a bottom of the bargain bin sex and the city episode moralizing that women were just as manipulative online/on apps as men. I didn’t mind the “fade to black” style, but the romance overall was negligible, and even the main character’s “finding herself” journey was shallow. It’d be one thing if this were a rebrand/new cover release of a book written in maybe 2002, but it was published in 2019. I can’t believe I forced myself to finish it and I regret doing that to myself and to this book.

#maddy's reads

[stygicniron]

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#��� ▌ ｍｙ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｓｅｌｆ！ ( persona 5 au. ) #resurrecting another tag everything is fine

[elaineonline]

𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 | 𝗧𝗼𝗷𝗶 𝗙𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗼

CHAPTER SEVEN

next on 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 previously on 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲

warnings this chapter: strong language, oral sex (m.receiving), fluff, both Toji and reader are hopeless romantics, mental illness (implied)

summary : 3 years after murdering your ex husband, building a relationship with Toji Fushiguro is a struggle to keep what you've done in the past in the secret.

NOTE: one last chapter after this one… *cries* so sorry i’ve been a little lazy on the last couple of chapters (ノ﹏ヽ).. I hope you enjoy!

tags (^^;) ~ @m00dycr4nkybitc @bubs-world @brumous11 @tojisslvtsstuff @milena-xoxo @princesstiti14 @sage-ove

reblogs are fine with me :D

TWO DAYS LATER

It's been two days since you told Toji everything that has happened in the past, and to your surprise, he has opted to keep you around. You were ecstatic about it.

It felt like a large burden had been removed from your shoulders, and the relief you were experiencing was present.

You were currently wearing an ice pack on one arm as a result of Toji's horrible boxing class that next morning in his garage, while typing away on your laptop with the other hand, preparing for another day in fucking customer service.

You glance down at the time in the lower left hand corner of your computer and feel almost giddy at the prospect of only having to wait five minutes to get off.

Another reason you were excited was because you finally felt it was necessary to ask Toji over, one of the reasons being that his birthday is tomorrow, the other reason that you’ve never invited him over. You will be unable to see him because you have work and we’re forced to work through a later time.

But you invited him over tonight to prepare for him; you hadn't cooked in years due to all the takeout you'd order, which you knew was highly unhealthy. However, since you've become happier, you've chosen to resurrect your cooking abilities for him and yourself.

You also intended to show up at your parents ’ home in the same way she did at yours, in the hopes that she wouldn't transfer places. But you doubt she'd ever give up the house she's lived in since she was in her early twenties, the same house you've lived in since you were five years old. All you needed were answers, to know if your dream with your ex husband was correct. You also wanted to tell your daughter more, she's almost seven years old now, and you believe she deserves it, especially since you know you won’t see her often because of your parents.

You're still daydreaming about what you were thinking about and staring at the time on your computer clock when you hear a sudden knock at the door, jolting you both out of your daydream and thoughts.

“I didn’t order anything.” You mutter as you get from your couch and power walk to the front door.

This time since you’re somewhat sober, you glance through the peephole, there are no guarantees of what surprises could be there this time.

Through the peep hole, you see Toji's figure standing on top of your doormat, something you weren't expecting to see so early.

You immediately swing the door wide with the arm that isn't in pain, greeting him with a smile as you step to the side, a smile that he returns as he steps onto your hardwood floor.

“So you finally let me in, huh?” As he looks around, he says keeping a small grin on his face.

You hum as a response as you close and lock the door, then turn around to see him surveying the place, slightly apprehensive about what he was thinking.

"So what are you hiding?" he asks, turning his head back to you. because I see nothing wrong with the damn place.” he says in a curious tone.

the beer bottles that had taken up the damn residence on the flooring.

"Well, it wasn't always like this," you say before realizing work has probably ended and that you needed to clock out. Toji only observes you, as you cutely run back to your laptop and bend over to do so.

You close your computer and return your attention to him as he walks over to your kitchen table and takes a seat in the kitchen chair. And as you scanned his face, you could see how fatigued he appeared, as indicated by the dark rings that lightly covered beneath his eyes.

Toji would've gone home to rest before showing up at your door, but he wanted to come over and watch you cook the food before eating it, since he was so intrigued by the thought of watching you cook.

When you told him you could cook, he secretly couldn't believe it.

"Long day?" you remark, frowning, in a sympathetic tone that Toji adored, before stepping into your kitchen and getting your favorite apron from the counter top.

"mhm," he replies, crossing his arms and relaxing in his chair, little stressed by the number of people he had to kill today. Not because he had to kill them, but because there were so many.

Before coming up with a wonderful idea, you tilted your head and pondered to yourself for a second.

"Did you need any of that stress relieved before I started cooking?" You inquire, a little grin on your face, making eye contact with him, knowing he already knew what you were implying.

he chuckles a little and just responds, "sure." Before you give him a nod,

You walk over to the table, kneel down on your knees , and crawl under it, hoping not to knock your head in the process.

You tuck your hair behind your ears, and he grins at you. Before making eye contact with him, you return your gaze to his pants, putting your hand on the crotch area.

You were suddenly less concerned with your hurting arm and more concerned with pleasing him at the moment.

Before unbuttoning and dragging the zipper down from his pants, you bring both of your hands up on his jeans, balancing yourself on your clothed knees.

Toji was already intensely aroused, and he badly wanted this right now.

His cock was freed by your warm touch, causing his deep voice to hum gently, and that sound got you incredibly excited.

You raise the tip of his cock to your lips with the base of his cock before giving it a soft kiss as a thank you for the cum you were about to receive, causing it to twitch slightly.

You take a deep breath and open your mouth before carefully taking the entire thing, inch by inch. Toji groaned softly already starting to feel relief, giving you even more confidence.

You begin by gently bobbing your head with your eyes closed, mentally reminding yourself to do a fantastic job. This isn't the first or second time you've done so.

Toji places his big hand on your head, guiding you a little as you start to move at a more normal or whether 'faster' speed.

Toji adored hearing your small hums and moans as you took it all in stride with his cock in your mouth. Which, thanks to his reactions, you already knew.

Damn this is what her ex husband walked out on? Along with leaving her pretty face behind every night, he had to be mentally ill. Toji thinks.

Toji muttered under his breath every time he felt his tip, coupled with the vibration of your hums, hit the back of your gummy throat.

When you open your eyes to be greeted, you make eye contact with Toji's dark green eyes, which draws him even more over the edge as knowing he was soon going to spill into your warm mouth and down your throat.

As his fat cock stretched your mouth with each movement of your head, tears welled up in your eyes and saliva began to trickle from down and out of your mouth, onto the ground.

Toji brings his free hand to wipe away your tears using his large thumb while his occupied hand grips your hair.

With his rough voice, he slightly draws out the word "shit." and throws his head back before spewing his warm cum down your throat.

To avoid choking, you hurriedly swallow with his large cock remaining in your mouth before pulling him out with a loud 'pop'.

You smile up at him, trying to regain your breath, knowing you did an amazing job.

lowering his head back down, he gives you a grin along with a head pat as a ‘great job.’

~

Toji scarfs down the handmade lasagna you made with the recipe your grandmother gave you years ago as you watch slowly, your mouth also full of food.

At the sight in front of you, you stifle a small giggle while keeping your mouth closed. Now you're wishing you hadn't left your phone in your bedroom to film him.

you thought of the ‘Damn little lady! you sure can’t put it away.’ Audio on tiktok from the movie ‘White Chicks’ while watching him.

Toji noticed you staring at him while swallowing the food in your mouth, so he gives you a side eye, which makes you giggle even harder.

"It's great, isn't it?" And you questioned my cooking skills." When you stop laughing and glare at him, you taunt him, and he glares back.

Your eyes widen as he shoves the meal down his throat in one swallow. "Whatever," he adds, "you did fine kid."

You hum as you return your gaze to your plate, your fork still in your hand, and continue to eat; Toji follows suit and does the same thing, humming as well.

You thought it was cute for him to follow the things you did at times.

~

Toji lay there tickling you nonstop seconds before slamming you onto the bed. You were both currently in your bedroom which you guys traveled to after you two were done eating, the room which was smaller than his.

"Okay!" you scream in between laughs as you toss and turn in an attempt to escape being tickled on your sides or anywhere else, which he ignores.

This is what you get for casually trying to tickle him even though you know he hates it and forgetting he's much stronger than you.

"Say it!" He raises his voice with a grin on his face, removing his hands from your body but leaving them out, as if he expects you to say no.

He grips your body and pulls him closer to you while you collect your breath without saying anything. You say "I'm sorry!" because you're afraid he'll tickle you again. He grins, satisfied.

"I hate you," you joke while also smiling, burying your head against his firm, but comfortable chest.

He throws his arms around your body and grips you tightly but not too tight, kissing the top of your head before putting his head on top of yours. His gruff voice booms against his chest, "Shut up."

You blush at what he just did, as you normally do when you're in his presence. When you were with him, you’re so happy that you even noticed yourself drinking less, which is obviously a big deal for you.

You never imagined any man could make you feel this way in such a short period of time; you didn't even have feelings for your ex husband this quickly.

Toji felt the same way; in fact, when he first saw his wife, he didn't like her. Despite the fact that she had changed him.

Toji had a strong attachment to you, even on the rare nights that when you weren’t there. You’re always on his mind.

While you two were in this position, there was a pleasant silence; you were both feeling drowsy and would soon fall asleep. Toji was able to bring up Megumi from the day care later tonight, which was fortunate.

“Hey.” Toji interrupts the silence, his eyelids drooping slightly from the strain. "hmm?" you respond, your eyes already closed and your eyes fixed on darkness.

"Do you ever think about your daughter?" he asks abruptly. your pulse skips a beat as your eyes widen significantly, not at all expecting the question.

Toji planned to ask when you were recounting your past, but he decided to wait a little since you were having such a hard time explaining.

He merely wanted to know how you felt about being around his son more than your kid, so you huff before saying, "Everyday."

Toji just gives a nod before closing his eyes. When he does it, you can tell as you feel his chin goes up and down on your head.

You two were probably going to fall asleep this time if you fell into stillness again. You hoped there would be no questions this time, so you wouldn't have to dwell about it all night.

“I love ya’ kid.” Toji mumbles before collapsing into a deep sleep.

Your heart drops in astonishment As you sat with the words for a few minutes, hoping it wasn't the glass of wine just speaking for him.

But he’s a heavyweight. you thought.

Even when you feel yourself falling in and out of sleep, his words continue to reverberate in your thoughts after a few moments.

Until the final words, “I love you too.” take over your brain before falling into a deep rest.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen smut #x reader #jjk toji #jujutsu kaisen toji #toji fushiguro #toji fic #toji fluff #toji imagine #toji thirst #jjk smut #toji smut #jujutsu toji #toji x you #jjk fluff #jujutsu kaisen x reader

[empressapprentice]

Arcana Headcanons: Infidelity + M6

I’m back with more headcanons, and will be sharing even more soon as I have more free time! My last batch was super sweet and fluffy, these are decidedly not. I’m doing these headcanons as character study exercises, and since the LIs are so devoted to you in-game, I wanted to think about what could possibly motivate them to cheat. Not all of these involve sex because I thought that certain characters would consider emotional interactions cheating on their partner. But warning for non-explicit sexual content for several of the M6--I’d say this is PG-13. These are kind of long, but I felt I needed some good exposition to set things up. I hate how much I enjoy angst :( Feedback and requests are always welcomed: if you hate it or love it, let me know why so I can improve! Plus, check out my Ao3 here, where I’ll be posting these as well.

Asra

Asra will never, ever regret giving up half his heart for you. But one night, he can’t sleep, feeling regret for the friendships and relationships he missed out on because it’s so difficult to form connections with others. He wishes that while he waited for you to recover from the resurrection, he’d been able to let others into his life.

He’s slept with people other than you (Julian, for one), but not since you woke up after the ritual. He realizes that he can’t remember any of his previous encounters. He completely forgot what anyone other than you feels like to hold and to touch.

The next day, he tells you that he wants to take a quick overnight trip to Nopal. With such late notice, you can’t tag along. He just wants to spend some time alone and actually get to know the villagers for once, intending to practice his social skills and break the cycle of isolation he unintentionally maintained with the people there.

When he sits around the fire, eating and sharing stories with the villagers, a handsome young man approaches him. He says that he’s always had a crush on the mysterious magician, but could tell that Asra was never open to getting to know anyone. Asra, remembering that he doesn’t know what it’s like to be close to someone else, starts flirting back. Before he knows it, his lips are brushing against the stranger’s.

The moment their lips meet, Asra pulls back sharply, overcome with guilt for betraying your trust. He shakily apologizes to the young man, saying he didn’t know what came over him. He runs back to his hut, gets on the Beast and travels back to Vesuvia as fast as possible. Faust comforts him as he sobs silently, thinking about never wanting to leave your arms again.

Nadia

Nadia is visiting a neighboring territory and sitting through a very, very boring dinner with dignitaries. She’s been away from Vesuvia for a week and anticipates having to stay for at least one more as negotiations drag on. She’s loath to admit it, but she’s lonely. The letters you’ve exchanged via Chandra only make the separation more painful.

So when a diplomat approaches her with questions about Vesuvia, she’s happy to have some company. She clearly admires Nadia quite a bit and compliments the work she’s done to turn Vesuvia around.

While basking in her companion’s kind words, she unconsciously moves closer to the other woman. It doesn’t take long for the conversation to become personal, moving away from professional networking. And even more quickly, the conversation becomes flirty. When Nadia moves her hand to touch the other woman, her intentions are clear. The diplomat is flattered, but hesitant, asking, “Aren’t you married?”

Nadia is momentarily stunned by the question, but refuses to lose her composure. The lie comes easily, from years of schmoozing fellow politicians. She replies that her marriage is open. The diplomat smiles, unaware of the shame pooling in Nadia’s core. She sheepishly invites the Countess back to her room.

Though the dinner is long over and the party moved into the sitting room for a digestif, many having already left, Nadia finds herself worried how it would look for the two of them to leave together. She hates herself for worrying more about appearances than you, but she’s been particularly hungry for the feel of a body next to her in bed and she’s frustrated at not being able to get what she wants for once. So, she agrees.

She excuses herself, saying that she must retire for the night, and waits a few moments for the diplomat to leave as well.

Nadia excuses herself after the shameful act, saying she must be in her own bed when servants come to wake her in the morning. She spends the rest of the night staring at her ceiling, vowing to never tell you about her indiscretion. You find out, of course, knowing your wife too well for her to hide that something’s wrong.

Julian

One night, he goes to the Rowdy Raven and is mid-tankard of Salty Bitters while animatedly telling the story of how he helped defeat the Devil. When he finishes weaving the tale, he heads back to the bar to another drink. Before he can get his coin purse to pay, an extremely attractive stranger tells Barth to put it on their tab--payment for the entertaining story.

Julian gratefully accepts, sliding into a seat to chat with the stranger. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Julian turns his charm up even more, wanting to make sure he keeps them entertained. They swap introductions, Julian’s natural tendency to call people affectionate names and his rakish attitude being interpreted as flirtation.

As the stranger returns the affection, Julian realizes what’s happening but doesn’t want to stop it. He’s practically glowing from the kind words flowing from the mouth of his new friend and is addicted to the feeling. A nagging voice tells him he should get back home to you, but it is quieted when the stranger moves closer to him, running a finger over his chest.

The stranger downs their drink and gets up abruptly. They tell Julian to finish his drink and meet them in the alley outside, with a cheeky comment about seeing what else his mouth could do thrown over their shoulder as they walk out the back of the tavern.

Julian’s breath catches at the thought of a clandestine alleyway quickie, and he can’t deny how appealing the idea seems to him. He stares at the drink remaining in his glass, fighting a mental war over whether to finish it quickly and run to the alley.

Barth approaches Julian, noticing he was about to finish his latest drink and anticipating a request for a refill. While waiting for Julian to finish, he makes light conversation with him. When he asks how you are doing, Julian bolts upright. His face reddens at the mention of your name, knowing he made a grave mistake even considering the stranger’s offer.

Julian leaves the rest of his drink untouched. He awkwardly gets up, says goodnight to Barth and hopes that he won’t run into the stranger when he exits the Raven out the front door. Mercifully, he doesn’t, but he might not have even noticed, he was so focused on getting back to you.

When he reaches the front door of the place you share, he’s sobbing. Even though it’s late, you are waiting up for him, knowing that he often needs you to offer him water and get him to eat some food after a night out. He falls on his knees before you, utterly broken by the kindness of you waiting to take care of him, and begs you to listen to him one last time. He tells you, again, that he is no good for you and it is inevitable he will break your heart. He confesses everything that happened at the bar, his voice breaking when he says how close he was to cheating on you. He admits in a small voice that he will never be worthy of you--despite all he’s changed, he’s always one step away from hurting you.

Lucio

Lucio is dressed in a new outfit, finely made and very flattering. He is about to attend a party at his estate in honor of the summer solstice. The last step in his pre-party ritual before joining you and making a grand entrance fashionably late is to admire himself in the mirror. He poses and struts in front of it, hyping himself up for the night, but stopping short as he notices a grey hair in his meticulously coiffed style.

Moving closer to the mirror, he is horrified that several other grey hairs have popped out since the last time he dyed his hair, not long ago. Stepping back, he frantically tries to change the style to hide them, shrieking as he realizes the wrinkles on his forehead are deeper than he remembers. The time-honored ritual, which has never failed to put him in the right mindset for a night of socialization, has only made him more self-conscious about his age than ever.

He starts pacing around his room, heels clicking and mind racing. He feels a strange sense of longing for his old life, when he had no responsibilities and never worried about the consequences of his actions. He’s old now, and he wishes for the freedom and stupidity of youth.

When he makes the grand entrance with you at the party, his heart isn’t really in it. He immediately heads for a servant, demanding a glass of hard liquor instead of his usual sparkling wine. One glass turns into several, and it’s not long before he’s very intoxicated. You see Lucio drinking more than usual, but you keep getting distracted by guests and can’t figure out what’s going on with him.

Once he’s drunk enough to not care about anything--just as he intended--he makes eye contact with an attractive woman in a slinky gown and winks. His rough flirting works, as the woman comes up to him. He feels a mixture of pride and shame that he’s still attractive and powerful enough to draw someone in with nothing more than a wink.

They chat briefly, but they both know Lucio desires more than conversation and the guest is more than willing to oblige. He takes the woman’s hand, leading her to an alcove far away from the party and they begin to make out. Soon his pants are at his ankles and they’re doing far more than kissing. It’s rough, messy and fast, exactly the thing he would have done in his life before he got the plague and before you.

The woman leaves him panting when they’ve both finished. His stomach drops as he realizes that this cheap attempt at feeling young again only made him feel worse. He realizes with a start that he jeopardized the thing that actually fulfills him and makes him truly happy.

Muriel

Muriel dislikes social interactions with pretty much everyone, especially strangers. How could he possibly cheat on you when he can hardly stand to spend time around his friends?

But as he becomes more comfortable with being around people, he starts spending time around the Palace. Usually, he’s waiting for you to finish your duties with Nadia so he can walk you home or go back to the shop for dinner, but sometimes he comes early so he can spend a quiet moment in the gardens.

The more time he spends at the Palace, befriending some of Lucio’s poorly-behaved albino animals and trying to train them, the more time he spends with a certain servant determined to befriend him.

At first, they don’t even catch his attention, he’s so used to tuning other people out. But this servant notices his gentle nature and sometimes brings him some water or tea and a pastry while he’s sitting by the fountain. They claim that they’ve been trained to always serve the needs of their guests, but they’re mostly interested in getting Muriel to open up.

After several weeks of Muriel becoming used to the servant and accepting that they can be trusted, he begins exchanging a few words with them beyond a grunted thanks for the refreshments. The way the servant approaches him reminds him of you and he finds he doesn’t mind light conversation to entertain him and distract him from Lucio’s pets.

One day, he realizes with a start that he not only trusts the servant and enjoys their company, but that he finds them attractive. He panics, not knowing how to tell you. He feels so ashamed of himself for letting someone new in and he’s never felt attracted to someone like this before, other than with you. He’s confused on how to handle his feelings and how he should tell you, if at all.

He confesses the situation to Asra before going to you. Asra is very kind and supportive, saying that it is natural to find other people attractive and that it’s a good sign that he is willing to let a stranger befriend him. But Muriel can’t shake the idea that he’s done wrong by you and refuses to come back to the gardens.

Portia

Given how much Portia likes secrets and romance stories, I think a part of her would love the idea of a sneaky romance. Portia is a deeply practical person, but there are times where she can get carried away with romanticism. The thrill of getting away with it and using her knowledge of the secret passages in the Palace, etc. to hide a tryst holds some appeal to her, but she’d feel ashamed of even fantasizing about it.

She has to work on the first night of the Masquerade after the events of the game due to her new responsibilities at the Palace. Out of solidarity, you work too, creating real-time magical spectacles to surprise guests. To keep up the aesthetic, you’re both still wearing costumes and masks.

While Portia is in the ballroom, she’s fretting over the floral displays and a heavily intoxicated person knocks into her, sending the vase flying. Before Portia can even react, she falls into strong arms, rescuing her from the splashing water and strewn flowers. She turns to thank the stranger, and they say she can express her gratitude by granting them a dance. In the spirit of the Masquerade, she accepts.

She and the stranger twirl around the dance floor to a fast-paced song. The stranger is a fantastic dancer and leads Portia through the steps flawlessly. They end the song by dipping her low. The music switches to a slow ballad while the lights dim. Still breathless, the stranger pulls Portia close, and she loses herself in the moment. The ambiance is incredible, and kissing a gorgeous masked stranger at a ball could not be more storybook-perfect. Their lips touch, until a swirl of magical energy brushes her and she remembers you. She steps back from the stranger and runs off, forgetting about her duties, the flowers on the ground and the rest of the Masquerade. She feels horrible about kissing someone other than you but can’t shake the smug pleasure deep inside her that loves her fairytale romance coming to life.

#the arcana #the arcana headcanons #the arcana main 6 #asra alnazar #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #lucio morgasson #portia devorak #muriel of the kokhuri #pain and angst #nic arcana headcanons

[wrenhyperfixates]

Not as Bad as You Think

Pairing: Loki x reader Summary: After a bad grade on a test, Peter is being very hard on himself. Loki helps you cheer him up. Warnings: none A/N: Enjoy :)

Permanent Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant @lunarmoon8 @twhiddlestonsstuff @lokistan @lowkeyorlokificrecs @gaitwae @whatafuckingdumbass @castiels-majestic-wings @kozkaboi @cozy-the-overlord @birdgirl90 @myraiswack @mythicalgarlicknot @what-a-flammable-heart @marvelouslovely​

Disclaimer: Gif not mine

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think,” you comforted Peter, patting his back.

“You’re right,” he replied, voice muffled by the pillow he was hiding his face in. “It’s probably worse.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

The disgruntled teenager rolled over onto his back and gave you a look somewhere between annoyed and upset. He’d come home to the Tower saying he failed a big History test he’d had. Despite him saying he failed, you were pretty sure he was just over-exaggerating. The boy kept up a nearly perfect gpa and was an Avenger. It was no easy feat, and you knew how much pressure he put on himself to keep up his good grades. You wished he’d go a little easier on himself.

“Besides,” you continued when he said nothing, “even if it is bad, everyone’s allowed one not so great grade every once in a while. You’re still doing great, kid.”

“I guess,” he mumbled halfheartedly, smooshing his face against the pillow again.

You frowned. During the time Peter had been on the team, he’d become something of a little brother to you. You hated to see him down like this. It was easy to remember all the normal pressures of being a teen, and he had the pressures of being a superhero on top of that. Sometimes you wished he took a day just to be a kid. Though, when you said that, you meant more of him taking some time off to have fun, not stress about his grades.

“I know what will fix this,” you said with a smile.

“Cookies?” he said, peeking up at you again.

“Yup. And hot chocolate. How does that sound, Petey?”

“Well, I don’t know I deserve it,” he started before seeing the stern look on your face, telling him to ease up himself. “But yeah, I want some.”

You stood and ruffled his hair. “Coming right up.”

Taking your frustrations out on the cookie dough you were mixing and cocoa you were whisking, you tried to figure out a way to get Peter to enjoy his youth. You were so focused, you didn’t notice when Loki came in, and he was able to snag one of the freshly baked treats before you could smack his hand away.

“Naughty Loki. Those are for Peter,” you giggled, poking him in the side.

“And you can’t spare just this one for me, darling?”

“I suppose you can be my taste-tester,” you grinned, giving him a kiss before he could take another bite.

“Thank you, my love.” You smiled at your boyfriend as he polished off his treat and licked his lips in delight. He pulled you into a hug and rested his head on yours. “Delicious as always, darling.”

“Thank you, Loki, but I have to keep my eye on the hot chocolate.”

“Allow me to guess, that is for the spiderling, too?” he inquired, grabbing a mug out of the cabinet for you to pour the warm liquid into.

“Mhm,” you replied. “He had a bad day, and I was trying to cheer him up. Nothing was working, though, so I’m hoping these treats will.”

Loki knew how close you were with Peter, and he loved seeing your older sibling instincts take over, despite not actually being related to the boy. Admittedly, he was glad Thor didn’t act the way you did. If that was in his nature, Loki was sure the God of Thunder would be entirely overbearing. He had started acting a bit more brotherly recently, however, which was nice. Of course, all that just meant Loki wasn’t exactly the best equipped to help sibling problems.

Loki frowned as he wiped a few spilt drops of hot chocolate from the counter. Your brow was furrowed in concentration and thought, and he pulled you back to kiss the lines of worry away. He hated seeing you upset or distraught in any way. After all you’d done for him in showing him he was worthy for love, he never wanted you to experience a single bad emotion. He knew it was part of being human, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. And he could do everything in his power to keep those negative feelings at a minimum.

“Darling, why don’t you just take it easy. I will go take these things to the spiderling and have a chat to cheer him up,” he told you, rubbing up and down your arms. “I will take care of it.”

“I don’t know, Loki. Nothing I was saying was working. And I feel kinda bad to let you take care of this while I put my feet up.”

“Well then, allow me to handle this, and you can make me some of that delicious hot chocolate.”

“Fine.” You smiled at the way he was so concerned, not just for you, but for Peter, too. And of course you’d be more than happy to make him some cocoa, even if he was just suggesting that so you would take it a bit easier. “Just tell me if he’s still feeling down, alright?”

“We have a deal, darling. Leave it to me.”

And so, the trickster god found himself outside Peter’s door, trying to figure out what exactly to say to him. Before the drink could get cold, he just knocked and hoped the right words would come to him. Peter beckoned him in, and Loki walked inside, cookies and cocoa in hand.

“Oh, hey Loki,” Peter said, sounding sad. Though, he did perk up when he saw the snacks.

“Greetings, spiderling. I hear you are having some troubles. Perhaps I could help?”

“I dunno.” He took a cookie off the plate and dunked it into his drink. Then he offered Loki one, which he gladly accepted. “There’s not much that can be done. Unless...”

“Unless?”

“Can your magic turn back time?”

“Sadly, no,” he laughed. “But maybe you’d just like to talk about what it is that is plaguing you?”

“I guess,” he sighed. “I got a bad grade on a test. And I studied so, so hard. I thought I did way better, but I just didn’t. I’m supposed to be able to handle all the pressure and stress, but I just don’t think I can. I need to try harder, do better.”

“Come now, spiderling. From what I hear, you are doing wonderful in your classes.” Loki hesitantly pat the boy on his back. “There is only one life to live, and it is not very long. You should be enjoying each minute to its fullest.”

“Haven’t you resurrected like three times, though? And aren’t you thousands of years old?”

“Regardless,” Loki waved the comment off, “none of it is worth it if you are not enjoying life. You are doing wonderful, we could not be more proud of you. Just be proud of yourself and a little kinder to yourself, too.”

“You really think so?”

“I may be the God of Lies,” Loki chuckled, “but I assure you, I could not be more honest in this moment.”

“Well then, if I’m supposed to be doing stuff I enjoy, do you maybe want to do a movie marathon?”

“That sounds absolutely perfect. You may pick what we watch, too.”

“Yes!” he cheered. “I hardly ever get to pick!”

As Peter set off to grab pillows and blankets and set up the movie, after finishing his treats of course, Loki waltzed into the kitchen with a sly grin on his face. He walked up behind you and hugged you. You jumped a little at first, but quickly recognized the arms encircling your waist. You leaned back into his chest and smiled up at him.

“It went well, I take it,” you said.

“Indeed it did. In fact, we are having a movie marathon. You are, of course, welcome to join.”

You decided to take him up on that offer and handed him his hot chocolate. You made some popcorn, too, and put it into two bowls; one for Peter, and one for you and Loki to share. Peter sat on the floor by the TV where he’d set up the original Star Wars trilogy to play, and you and your boyfriend snuggled together on the couch. About halfway through the second movie, a thought occurred to you.

“Hey, Petey,” you said. “What grade exactly did you get on that test.”

“Oh, uh, that? Who cares,” he scoffed, though he’d gone bright red and wouldn’t meet your eye. “You wouldn’t want to hear about that.”

“Peter.”

“Fine,” he sighed. He ducked his head and mumbled his grade. “I got an 85.”

“Peter! That’s amazing!” You didn’t know whether to cheer for him or strangle him. You decided playfully hitting him with a pillow was the way to go.

“Loki! Help!” he laughed as he tried to block your attacks.

“Coming to your rescue, spiderling!”

The three of you ended up in a pillow fight, and eventually collapsed in a pile on the floor, out of breath from laughing. You smiled at your boys and realized that even if things were difficult sometimes, you always had each other’s backs. It was more than just Peter being like your little brother, or Loki being your boyfriend. You were a whole little family, and really, who could ask for more than that?

#loki x reader #loki x you #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki #mcu loki #loki fluff #fluff #mcu fluff #marvel fluff #reader insert #gender netural reader #marvel #mcu #marvel reader insert #marvel fanfiction #loki fanfic #mcu reader insert #loki friggason #loki friggason x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki odinson x reader #loki oneshot #marvel oneshot #loki x y/n #peter parker #spiderman

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Stalker X Stalker, Part 7

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Perma tag: @nathleigh @peachmuses

Stalker x Stalker taglist: @aespades @jayjayspixiepop @blueslushgueen @fan-written @seraphichana @nerd-nowandforever

No I didn't get carried away with writing domestic fluff and forget to do the one thing I was supposed to with this chapter I'm a professional and would never do that

It took a long time for Tim and Cass to convince Marinette that, no, it wasn’t a trap, it was just a normal Halloween Party. It took even longer to explain what a Halloween Party really was, because apparently it wasn’t a huge deal in France.

But, eventually, she got it:

“Okay, so every Rogue and vigilante has to go to his Halloween Party in stupid costumes… or else?”

Tim nodded. “Rogues have to go because he’ll be insufferable, we have to go because otherwise we’re leaving a bunch of Rogues alone together without supervision.”

“And it really is just a Halloween Party?”

Cass flashed two thumbs up.

Marinette still looked a little confused. “And we… we want to babysit the Rogues?”

“They mostly behave themselves. Again, Crane can be insufferable when he wants to be and they have to spend a lot of time with him in Arkham.”

“I guess that’s cool then…” Then, a thought seemed to occur to her because she brightened up. “Is Nightwing coming?”

Tim nodded, suddenly a lot more wary. “Yeah, both he and Flamebird drop by for most holidays, anyway, so they might as well… why?”

She blushed a little. “I kind of wanted to see if I could get him to train me. I think his fighting style is pretty cool.”

Tim was not jealous or annoyed that Marinette might like two of his brothers more than him. He was fine if she liked Cass more, because Cass was, well, Cass. But Dick? Damian? Come on!

At least he had a month before the party to prepare himself.

For now, he glared at Cass, because she was laughing at him behind her hand.

Then he remembered that Marinette was still there and was watching the two of them interact with a vaguely confused expression and he pulled himself together: “I don’t know if he can teach you much since he’s usually in Bludhaven, but I used to be obsessed with the guy and I know all his moves by heart.”

She tipped her head to the side, considering, then smiled at him. “Sure. Thanks, Red, I owe you one.”

He tried to hide his relief behind a smile. She smiled and blushed, so he was pretty sure it worked.

~

Marinette smiled as she scrolled through the Batinternet on her phone (they’d finally given her the password! She no longer had to waste data!). The batkids were all working on the computer, trying to hack into their father’s files to see their Christmas presents.

She didn’t get why they were doing it then, it wasn’t even Halloween yet. Still, they insisted that Batman was always prepared well before the holidays hit. She was curious about what they’d find, if anything, so she waited as Red Robin hacked their dad’s files.

Loud cheers erupted from the others, which meant they must have found something.

“... right, Ladybug, yours is easiest to get into… he probably didn’t expect you to try… he’s getting you an Xbox and a bunch of games to go with it.”

Her gaze shot up and she surged to the front of the group to see. “Really?”

Red Robin pointed at the screen and she blinked a few times. Yep, that was a customized Xbox. Wild.

Then her shoulders slumped. “Damn, I was only kidding. If I knew he was actually going to get it I would’ve asked for a Playstation.”

She continued looking at all the ‘random’ games Batman had bought her (he was suspiciously good at guessing what she liked), completely oblivious to the fact that she had accidentally started World War III right behind herself at the casual mention of a thing she wanted.

She glanced back at them once during their fight and they straightened instantly, innocent smiles in place. The hand Red Robin had in Robin’s hair turned into a hair ruffle. Black Bat had turned the way she gripped the collar of Spoiler’s shirt into pulling her down for a hug. Signal’s eyes stopped glowing under his domino. She smiled a little and turned back to the screen to look at the rest of the games. Fighting resumed.

Or, at least, it did until Marinette saw the file name.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“I knew you fuckers took my blood,” she hissed irritably.

She wasn’t exactly scared, the bats seemed generally well-intentioned, just paranoid, but that didn’t mean she liked it. They stole her blood to figure out her identity without asking.

They all tensed up behind her and looked at each other awkwardly.

Robin was first to snap out of it. He swatted Red Robin over the back of the head. “Look what you’ve done, Drake.”

Marinette blinked and then pulled her gaze back to Red Robin. “Drake?”

The batkids looked at each other awkwardly. Except for Red Robin, who was glaring at his youngest brother.

Spoiler was the first one to come up with an excuse: “It’s an older codename. We told him to come up with something original since everything else he’s used has belonged to someone else first… and that’s what he came up with.”

She considered whether Drake really confirmed that Red Robin was Tim Drake-Wayne. On one hand, yeah… but, on the other hand, was he really that stupid? Would he really use his own last name for a codename?

She supposed that, in all her time knowing Tim and Red Robin, he had never shown himself to be original. Smart, sure, but a little unoriginal.

So, yeah, Tim was almost definitely Red Robin.

But she was prepared to ignore it for now. Every bat seemed tense at the idea of her learning their identities, so she played dumb:

“It’s not that bad of a codename. Dragons are pretty cool.”

She could feel Black Bat still staring at her, but everyone else relaxed almost imperceptibly.

“He didn’t base himself off of dragons, he chose male ducks,” Robin informed her.

She blinked. “Why the hell would he choose ducks?”

Signal snapped his fingers and started pulling out his phone. “Oh, Mari -- can I call you Mari? -- you should see his outfit.”

Red Robin realized he was about to get murdered for his younger self’s outfit choices and tried to snatch the phone away.

Unfortunately for him, while he was concentrating on Signal, Black Bat had sidled over to Marinette. She tugged her arm to pull her attention from the two fighting boys and then showed her the picture.

Marinette stared at the ugly cockroach outfit for a long time before taking a deep breath: “Alright, first of all...”

~

Tim… he was fine.

Okay, no, he wasn’t.

The tracker was better, he would admit. She had even started wearing more red and black so she could wear the necklace more (something that made him feel all fuzzy inside), but she wasn’t wearing it every day and he couldn’t exactly tell if the necklace was there because she was home or if it was there because she’d worn a different outfit.

So, he only had one solution: randomly dropping by to do chores with her.

It started off with the ‘might as well’ principle. They were already out for photography and getting ideas for outfits, why not pick up some groceries while they were on their way back? She could even carry more since there were two of them.

He quickly dropped pretenses, though. The one time every few days that they hung out wasn’t enough to keep her in the house, and even if it was she clearly wasn’t fond of staying inside for long periods of time. He started dropping by every day to just go out with her.

He could tell his family was getting a little suspicious about what he was doing, Steph and Cass both narrowed their eyes at him whenever they saw him leaving the office at a normal time and once he had caught Duke following him to see where he was going… but it was fine. They weren’t going to complain about him actually getting some sort of down time.

And, he had to admit, it was nice. Not only did resting his brain for an hour or two a day do wonders for his mental health, he just… enjoyed doing chores with her? He didn’t think he would. He’d expected to like it the first few times, the novelty of going on his first grocery shopping trip or figuring out how a laundromat was always going to make it interesting and new for a bit, but it didn’t seem to be wearing off.

He was pretty sure that was because of the person he was doing it with, though.

He smiled as he watched Marinette half-climb the supermarket shelves for a bag of Takis.

“Need help?” He called.

“Nope!”

He watched her jump a few times on the lowest shelf before, eventually, climbing up another shelf.

Tim winced and surged forward to support her weight a little.

She huffed and grabbed the Takis. He set her down.

She crossed her arms. “I said I could get it.”

“I trust you. The shelves? Not so much. Do you want to die crushed under a bunch of chips?”

Her halfhearted glare morphed into a grin. “If I die any other way you have to promise to resurrect me so I can do it again.”

He rolled his eyes. “How about I resurrect you and you try not to die again for a while?”

“Hm… I guess that’d be alright.”

Then, at the laundromat, Tim saw a bunch of Two Face’s henchmen. How did he know that they were henchmen? The black and white suits kind of gave them away.

He was just wondering whether it was worth it to try and call Duke over so they didn’t risk something happening when he realized that Marinette had slipped over to them.

But she wasn’t concerned as she offered some of her detergent. “Hey, if you need to wash lights and darks together like that… you’re going to need a different detergent. I know those are cheap but there’s a reason for that.”

“Isn’t that just an old detergent problem?”

“No, separating every single color into a different load is. But, if you want to do pure black and white like that… you don’t want to risk it.”

Then she turned and glared at another goon, who was pulling their luckily still okay clothes out of the washer.

“You’d better not be putting that in the dryer.”

The sheepish look on the henchman’s face was answer enough.

She huffed. “That is airdry only why would you do that --?!”

And that’s how they ended up friends with -- and possibly under the protection of? -- a bunch of henchmen. Tim had to admit, they were really nice when he and Marinette weren’t trying to get them thrown in jail. He almost found himself slipping and hoping that Frank managed to achieve his mob boss dreams. He actually did offer to babysit Sam’s kids while she had a shift because she seemed very stressed.

“Tim, darling, do you even know how to take care of kids?”

Tim didn’t know whether to blush because she had called him darling oh my god or due to embarrassment at that massive oversight.

“Uh… would you be willing to help?”

Marinette gave him an exhausted look. “I’ve only ever babysat one kid at a time without their older sibling being there to help.”

He quickly changed the offer to paying for a babysitter. Sam was thankful regardless.

When everyone had finished laundering their clothes to Marinette’s satisfaction, the two of them headed back towards her apartment.

Tim changed the position of the laundry basket on his hip so it didn’t dig into him as much. “You know, you didn’t have to help them.”

She snickered. “First of all, you’re absolutely wrong. I couldn’t just sit by and watch them ruin their clothes right in front of me!”

He rolled his eyes, trying to hide the fond smile on his face. “And second of all?”

“Secondly…” She let him into the house and closed the door behind him. A cheeky smile formed on her face. “Well, they’re henchmen. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to have them on our side in case things go wrong rather than indifferent to what happens to us?”

It was here, with her smiling in front of him, intelligence sparkling in her eyes and the necklace he gave her hanging from her neck, that he realized that he was going to fall in love. He might not be there yet but, if they continued doing things like this, he was sure he would.

He wouldn’t mind that, he thought, as she leaned forward to take the basket from him, pressing a kiss to his cheek on the way over. He watched her disappear to her room, no doubt to fix whatever damage he had done while carrying it that would be invisible to anyone but her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and went to start up the coffee machine.

~

There are no botanical gardens more beautiful than the ones in Gotham. Whether that was because Poison Ivy herself tended to them or because they were kept in tip-top shape to appease her, Marinette didn’t know. Whatever the reason, it was gorgeous and Marinette had gotten quite a few different ideas. She pretty much had an entire spring collection planned out…

It was unfortunate that she’d gotten ideas for a spring collection in the middle of autumn, but she was ignoring that.

Now, they were sitting on her couch. They needed to relax after all that walking around on top of a rather exhausting night the night before (Scarecrow had broken out of Arkham to start preparing for his Halloween Party). She was completely in his space in an attempt to mess with him. It, unfortunately, didn’t seem to annoy him as he lazily rested his head on top of hers.

She huffed a little but allowed it.

He fiddled with the settings on his camera, biting his lip.

She looked down at the camera and asked: “How’d you get into photography?”

“... it’s a kind of personal story,” he said carefully. “A little sad, too, I guess.”

She tried to pull back, an apology on her lips, but he just rested an arm around her shoulders and held her close.

“It’s fine.”

She nodded as much as she could with the head resting on top of hers.

They were silent for a long time. She tried to relax herself. There were no akumas in Gotham, it was okay to accidentally upset someone and it was okay to ask them if they wanted to elaborate. They were people, people are supposed to feel sad sometimes. It’s healthy.

She took a deep breath before curling more into his side. “Would you like to talk about it?”

The arm around her tightened almost imperceptibly. “I… I guess I can, sure.”

“You don’t have to,” she said quickly. In fact, she might be a little more comfortable with that. Emotional conversations weren’t a Parisian’s forte.

But he sighed and shook his head. “It’s fine. Our relationship can’t progress all that healthily if we never tell each other anything.”

Yikes. Way to accidentally call her out on the fact that she hadn’t formed a healthy relationship in years, Tim.

“Not that I’m all that great at healthy relationships,” he said after a minute.

At least she wasn’t alone, she supposed.

“No easy way to say this, I guess… my parents weren’t the best. They’d go on trips -- they were archaeologists -- and I’d be left home alone, usually for months at a time.”

She cringed internally and took his hand in hers, rubbing comforting circles into his palm.

He sighed lightly. “So… I was lonely, obviously. I started by taking pictures of my parents. Sometimes it was all I’d have of them for months. They could leave, but the pictures weren’t able to.”

She felt him bury his face in her hair.

“I started following the bats after a while. I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t sated by pictures of just the two of them and decided to expand, if it was because they had a happy family despite a distant father and I wanted that for myself, or if it was because I wanted my parents to find out and be worried about me, or a mix of all of that… but…”

She slowly moved the camera off of his lap and pulled him into a hug. “But?”

He was silent for a bit, thinking over his answer. He shrugged and wrapped his arms around her. “It was an old coping mechanism. A way of feeling connected to people when I couldn’t actually be.”

“‘Was?’ What changed?”

He laid back on the couch and she allowed him to pull her down beside him. “People around me… started ‘leaving permanently’.”

She winced. Oh.

“It hurt a lot more to look at the pictures after that. It just felt like a reminder that I was alone.”

She frowned. “But… you’re taking pictures of me, now.” Her eyes widened. “Shit, did I accidentally trigger --.”

He shook his head quickly. “No, no. Well, kind of, but it’s okay! Every time they’ve died, it was because of some sort of shortcoming on my part. I think I’ve learned from all my mistakes. You… I won’t let you get hurt, okay?”

Marinette didn’t know how to respond. On one hand, she was pretty sure that she should be assuring him that, even if she did end up dying, that he shouldn’t blame himself… on the other hand, she had no intentions of dying and she was pretty sure it was nearly impossible for her, so maybe it was a good thing that he had chosen to protect her of all people? Maybe the problem would solve itself?

She didn’t know.

She carefully took his face in her hands, pulling him to look her in the eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, okay, darling?”

He gave her a tentative smile. “I sure hope you’re right.”

~

He had been asked to stay the night. Her excuse was that she was almost done with an outfit for him and she wanted to give it to him the second it was done and, by the time it would be, it would be too dark to go out safely.

Tim kind of felt bad that he had worried her but he wasn’t going to turn down the offer of staying over and watching her finish the outfit.

But, first, food. They dropped a million takeout menus on the desk. A long silence stretched between them as they looked at all the options.

“... what do you want?” Asked Marinette.

“I’m not in the mood for anything in particular, you?”

She sighed. “I don’t know, do you want anything?”

“I don’t want anything, what about you --?”

This continued on for about three minutes before Tim got a brilliant idea. He dialled Damian’s number and put it on speaker.

“Drake. Why are you calling? Have you been hurt?”

“No, Dami, I’m getting takeout and I was just wondering if you had any ideas.”

Marinette gave him an affronted look, but he clapped his hand over her mouth before she could warn Damian that, no, he wasn’t buying food for him he was just going to be an asshole.

“... I suppose I wouldn’t be averse to Chinese.”

“Thanks, Dami! Hope you can get Alfie to make that for you.”

“What do -- ?”

Tim hung up on his very confused younger brother.

Marinette frowned as he removed his hand from her mouth. “That wasn’t nice of you, that’s a kid.”

Tim was not about to get beaten by his brother in both identities, thank you very much.

“Alfred can cook better than anyone in the world, he’s not going to suffer.”

She snorted. “I doubt he can make food better than…” She picked through the takeout papers for a few moments before holding up a menu. “... this place!”

He squinted at the menu. “... I really hope you can speak Mandarin.”

“You’d be hard pressed to find a language I can’t speak, Timmy,” she said, absently dialling the number.

Well, he supposed that explained how a person from France knew ASL and could speak English like a native. Damn. Now he kinda wanted magical god-earrings so he could speak every language in existence.

She spoke cheerfully to the person on the other side of the line for a moment before turning to Tim. “What do you want?”

“Uh… shrimp fried rice?”

She rolled her eyes and flicked his nose. “Alright, fine, white boy.”

“It’s a safe option okay --!”

She wasn’t listening to him explain why fried rice was the best choice for him because she was relaying the order to the person on the other side of the line. She hung up with a smile.

“Food will be here in about three minutes. Do you rich people have small bills or do you just use them for tissues or something?”

He raised his eyebrows. “They go down to a hundred, right?”

She pressed her lips together thinly, clearly unsure whether or not he was joking.

He snickered and shook his head. “Nah, I think I have twenties and fifties…”

“Yeah, that won’t do. We’re going to get robbed,” she said, reaching into her purse.

“We? Didn’t know I lived here, too,” he joked.

She barely even glanced up from where she was counting money. “Honestly, with how often you’re here, you might as well move in.”

He choked. He wanted to say something smart or funny or smooth, instead all that came out was: “You --? I --? Uh --!”

She snickered behind her hand. “Love, relax, I’m just kidding. You don’t have to leave your fancy mansion with all your siblings --.”

“Wait, don’t make living here sound even better. I will do it purely to get away from them, don’t test me.”

She rolled her eyes with a grin. “Maybe that's the plan, you’ll never know.”

Tim had exactly zero idea whether they were joking or not anymore. The tone and reactions made him pretty sure they were kidding, but… what if they weren’t?

He was just gathering the courage to ask when the doorbell rang, pulling their attention to the food. She continued counting for a second before running to the door and swinging it open.

He walked up beside her awkwardly as she chatted politely to the guy to take the food inside. He knew, logically, that Marinette was actually way stronger than he was… but his stupid brain saw a thin, short woman in need of someone to help her carry things. So, he took it from the guy with a smile.

The delivery guy glanced Tim up and down before asking Marinette something. She laughed and gave a shrug. Tim did not know what was going on but he felt vaguely insulted.

He was definitely learning Mandarin after this.

The moment the door closed he whined about being insulted. She looked amused.

“You know what he said?”

“... no,” he admitted.

Her lips twitched.

“... you’re not going to tell me, are you?”

She snickered and leaned over the two bags of food in his hands. “So, you got the fried rice, right?”

“Mariiiiiiii.”

“Your food is going to get cold.”

“Beeeaaaan,” he complained.

She raised an eyebrow at him, a blush spreading across her face. “Bean?”

He grinned, feeling heat creep to his own cheeks. “I don’t know, I couldn’t think of anything for a nickname. First thing I thought of was coffee beans, so: Bean.”

“Wow, you’re such an addict,” she teased.

He continued pouting at her until she gave in.

She leaned forward to press a kiss to his nose. “He asked if you could use chopsticks or not so he could get you a fork if you couldn’t.”

He felt the blush on his face deepen. “Oh… I can’t.”

“That’s fine.” She grabbed a tote bag from the floor of her pantry and pulled out a set of plasticware.

He blinked. “... you keep plastic forks?”

She shrugged and tossed the bag back in her pantry. “Plastic forks, grocery bags, napkins, a few sets of chopsticks…”

“... why?”

“Some of us are minorities, darling.”

“What --?”

~

She hummed tunelessly as she worked.

Tim had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Had most of this been an elaborate plot to make him finally get some sleep? Possibly.

She didn’t feel all that bad, though. With how much he overworked himself both as Red Robin and as Tim Drake-Wayne… honestly, she was beginning to doubt that he slept at all. And, really, if a vigilante coffee addict with a magically enhanced physique is worried about your sleep schedule, you’ve got problems. Intervention was needed.

Don’t get her wrong, though, she was going to make up for lying to him. She’d move him to her bed and leave a cup of coffee for him on the bedside table. Maybe she’d even make him breakfast, it depended on how tired she was in the morning.

But that was for when she was done. For now, she was working on the last part of the outfit: she needed to lace up the corset. His posture needed a little work and she didn’t have the heart to tell him that to his face.

… besides, corset vests are cute. She wished more guys would wear them.

She smiled to herself as she pulled the last bit of lace through and tied a loose knot. Done.

She looked down at Tim. Loose strands fell in his face as he slept. The tiny wrinkles in his forehead disappeared, making him look much younger. His lips curled into a slight smile at whatever he was dreaming about.

He looked so genuinely at peace. She hated that that was abnormal for him.

She couldn’t help but worry a little about what he’d said earlier. He’d claimed that the reason he had gone up to the top of that building the day they’d met (as Tim and Marinette) was to scout out a location for photography, but now that was seeming like a lie because he apparently preferred taking pictures of people over locations… so, why was he up so high? He’d known it was illegal to be there, so she doubted he thought anyone else would be…

She swallowed thickly.

She didn’t think his mental state was that bad… but, just in case it was, she waved Tikki over for a bug and sewed it into one of his sleeves.

Tikki was looking at her disapprovingly. Marinette ignored her.

It was Ladybug’s job to make sure everyone was doing okay mentally, and she wasn’t going to fail a person she cared about of all people.

His head slipped from her shoulder onto her stomach and she sighed, trying to lightly push him off without disturbing his sleep. It didn’t work. He made a quiet sound in the back of his throat and buried his face in her stomach, his arms wrapping around her tightly.

Well, this is her life now.

… she supposed it wasn’t so bad, though.

#stalker x stalker #shutterbug #timari #maribat #timmari #timinette #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #red robin #tim drake #yes it's all just maladaptive coping strategies #it's ME what'd you guys expect

[salemorbit]

Hi, sorry if I'm overwhelming you with Requests, but I had an idea for an Imagine that I'd really love to see you write!! Could you please write some Headcanons for how Link, Zelda, Sidon and Revali (Age of Calamity timeline for Sidon btw) would react to a young woman who has a very strong connection to the Spirits being sent to teach Zelda how to unlock her power? Like it's a young woman, around 18 years old, who has a natural ability to communicate with all manner of Spirits, maybe even is part Spirit in some way, so she gets appointed by the King of Hyrule to teach Zelda how to do the same? And maybe she's super nice and excited too? Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!!

oh darling you're totally fine i really appreciate it :D

i hope i did this justice! it's a really neat concept

i also made it an x reader with those attributes if that's okay :)

~~~~~~

Hylia's Guide

[BOTW x fem!Reader]

Headcanons (Link, Zelda, Revali, Sidon)

warnings: none

takes place during Age of Calamity!

also for headcanon's sake,,,,,being a descendant of hylia in this case doesnt mean that you're of the same family? if that makes sense? okay so like reader is descended from hylia and technically so is zelda but they aren't blood related in any way HAHA hope that makes sense

~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

Let's set the scene, yeah?

You were one of the descendants of Hylia from centuries past, now a ghost in the afterlife as part of the universe itself.

Naturally, you would be surprised when you became sentient once more and blinked open your eyes in the middle of Hyrule Field. In your head rang a soothing voice that you both heard in your head and felt in your bones. In an instant, you knew it was Hylia communicating with your physical form again after years of dormant sleep.

The voice instructed that you were to aid Zelda in her studies of connecting to her powers. Hylia could not intervene directly with Zelda, of course, but the most the Goddess could do was send someone in her place. And that was you: a descendant of Hylia's own bloodline resurrected from the dead come to help the princess in her efforts. Easy enough, right?

Convincing the King and his guards of the situation was difficult, let alone trying to get him to allow you to assist his precious daughter with her practice. The only proof that you had of any story that you told were the markings on your hands and chest.

Three distinct triangles etched themselves on your body: one on the back of each hand and the third on your chest. Your powers had long since been passed on to the next descendant of Hylia, but you were still full of the knowledge of how to use Hylia's gift and how to communicate with the spirits.

•••

Link

Link was wary of you at first, being the princess's appointed knight and all, but he soon figured that you weren't as much of a threat as he initially thought

You were kind and excited to meet someone else who also held Hylia's gift (albeit not necessarily awakened, but still) and Link knew that Zelda would be safe in your hands

While going on spiritual treks with Zelda and Link, you almost always made the meals because both Zelda and Link can't really cook lmao

Coming from an entirely different era, you had a big book of recipes in your head that you brought into reality with every meal you made, and Link definitely wasn't complaining

He appreciated your wide breadth of knowledge of different foods, plants, and wildlife that you might encounter on your travels

It made planning protective measures for the princess all the easier

Sometimes the ventures to connect to Hylia didn't bear any fruit (and that's okay because the gift takes plenty of patience!) and the mood could become solemn quickly

But you were always determined to lift the mood and lighten everyone's attitude, and it always worked!

You would excitedly ramble off stories about where you grew up or what you liked to do on your own travels back in the day, and it would always make Link feel warm that you had such fond memories you were willing to share with him

When Zelda needed time to herself to try to connect to the spirits and Hylia, you and Link would hang around each other and bond

Link would listen attentively as you talked about the cultural and time differences between your world and this one, sharing sympathy when you expressed nostalgia over your time lost

But you would quickly turn it around to the positives, which is what Link thought was a wonderful quality that you had

If you ever got caught off guard while on ventures by the Yiga Clan or rogue animals, Link would fight just as hard as he would in larger battles to keep you safe

Over the time you spent together, Link grew very fond of you and always was at your side if he wasn't immediately attending to the princess

Once your guidance and knowledge finally broke through to Zelda and her power awakened, Link was so proud of you for fulfilling your duty

He was worried that you would disappear from his life once you completed Hylia's task, but you connected to the spirits after the fact and bargained with them

At the end of it all, you were able to live your life through again with Link by your side :)

•••

Zelda

Goddess was Zelda relieved when she found out that she would be having a guide to help her unlock her powers

Upon meeting you, she was absolutely floored with your kindness and willingness to help her with her problems

You were a wonderful mentor to Zelda, teaching her things about the different spirits and how to harness the power that she never would have dreamed of researching on her own

And wow there was a lot of information HAHA

Zelda was also transfixed with the fact that you came from another lifetime, and you were more than happy to tell her all about your life before this one

She would also take very detailed notes about everything you said, enamored with the way you spoke and how excited you got about things you loved

Quiet study time in Zelda's room would often turn into challenges of you trying to make her laugh with small tidbits of stupid stunts you would pull

Of course Zelda couldn't hold back a smile when you were around, so the challenges would fall short but with you falling into fits of laughter

You always brightened Zelda's mood whenever she was down about a failed connection attempt, urging her to try more and be patient with herself

Zelda was thankful to Hylia for sending you because honestly she wouldn't know what to do without someone that was as kind and generous as you were with spreading knowledge about your gifts

And when they finally awakened, Zelda couldn't be more happy!

Hyrule was now safe with Zelda's power awakened and Ganon on the edge of being sealed away

She pleaded that you find a way to stay in her time and teach her more about the spirits and Hylia herself

Your heart warmed at the thought that someone wanted you to stay, and it warmed even more at the fact that someone loved you enough to want to keep you forever :)

•••

Sidon

Sidon met you when he was summoned with the other Champion successors

You were the first to greet him and explain what had happened with the time jumping and all that, and you helped to put his nerves at ease

His own excitable and boisterous personality bounced off of your own energy and buzz!

Fighting side by side with you, Sidon admired how you always had a strategy and were looking out for Zelda as if she was your own sister

He was surprised upon learning your story: never had he known that Hylia had the power like that to bring someone back to help those in the present

Sidon tried his best to stay by your side whenever he could, wanting to keep your blind spots covered just in case

In your time, you had known the Zora and actually knew King Dorephan when he was a young little guppy, and your stories of Dorephan never failed to make Sidon laugh

Sidon in turn shared his own tales of the evolved Zora Domain, and you found his storytelling absolutely captivating

Sidon felt a pull to you like he had to no one else before, and he nurtured that pull with his own heart

He made sure you had enough supplies, checked in on you immediately when you came back from a far off mission

Just an all around softie I think! Sidon has always been caring like that :)

When it was time for him to go back, you discovered a way that you could jump with him back to his own time

After all, your mission with Zelda from Hylia was over. Why shouldn't you be able to live your life through again?

You jumped back with Sidon to a world vastly different than the one you had just been in, and even more different than the one you were born into

But with Sidon, it always felt like home!

•••

Revali

Revali didn't want to be impressed, but he was Definitely Impressed

Your composure about the whole situation was amazing, and you handled all the questions everyone had with grace

And your kindness was overwhelming (in a good way) with the fact that you opened your mind to such possibilities of even being resurrected like that

Revali admired you through and through

He would be incessantly curious about what the afterlife was like, how the spirits communicated with you, what Hylia was like

You, of course, couldn't accurately answer most questions because, well, you couldn't remember, but you appreciated his desire to learn

You loved the way that he fought: with purpose and intent. There was little to no hesitation with Revali, he always had a plan

When you would go to treks with Zelda and Link to try to summon Zelda's power, Revali would make comments here and there insisting that he tag along just in case

Poor Rito really just wanted to spend more time with you, that's all!

If he did tag along, it would be to Lanayru with his knowledge of the cold weather

He would rattle off safety facts of mountain weather and gear you would need, and you would be happy to listen as long as he was talking to you

Revali would also love to hear about your old life, and since you could go on for hours about it all, he would sit and absorb everything that came out of your mouth

He was smitten in a matter of weeks!

He could see the care and sympathy you had for Zelda as she struggled and triumphed in her process of opening her powers, and he appreciated that you could care so much for someone like that

Revali subconsciously protected you even if there was a leaf that fell in the way of your path, as he was always on alert in case someone caught you off guard

As your time came to a close and Zelda awakened her powers, Revali demanded that you stay (with love, of course)

And stay you did, making a bargain with the spirits and living the rest of your second life in the company of the Rito warrior :)

~~~~~~~~~

hope i got this good!! i thought the concept was really neat and i kinda wished they did something like that actually :/ zelda didn't deserve that angst

requests are welcome :)

#breath of the wild #legend of zelda #botw #loz #botw fanfiction #botw fanfic #botw!link x reader #revali #revali x reader #sidon #sidon x reader #zelda #zelda x reader #link x reader #link #legend of zelda botw #loz botw #loz fic #loz fanfic #botw fic #request #rowandor #botw headcanons #breath of the wild headcanons #loz headcanons #legend of zelda headcanons #botw aoc #age of calamity #age of calamity fic

[megsironthrone]

You Don’t Have to Do This

Based on this request: okay umm👉👈🥺 if requests are open, I would really like one with sandor clegane x reader (female if it’s okay) set in the one to last episode of the series, yeah that ugly episode for us sandor stans…….😭 like can the reader arrive in the red keep while sandor is fighting his brother and helps him out? managing to not get him brutally tumbling to the ground with him? and then he confesses his love for her? ❤ 🙏 thanks 

Here you are, lovely! *Familiar Characters are NEVER mine!* Also, as I refuse to rewatch this episode in particular, some things from the scene have been altered(though I will say the scene portrayed in the gif is one of my favorite Sandor & Arya scenes)

Warnings: Angst w/happy ending, violence, fire, The Mountain, death

Pairings/Characters: Sandor Clegane x fem!reader, The Mountain. 

(^^Also Could someone please help me learn to make gifs?? I really would like to find/make more Sandor gifs that are NOT SanSan related XD)

You pushed passed the crowds of people trying to get out of the city and trying to avoid the flames raining down. Nothing mattered in that moment but finding Sandor. You knew he was headed for the Keep and you were determined to stop him and get him out of King's Landing before you both died in one way or another.

         You ran as quickly as your legs would carry you toward the Keep and the man you'd come to love. Your legs threatened to give out and your lungs burned, but pure perseverance and love pushed you forward. Finally, after what seemed like hours, you made it inside. Luckily, your entrance had made enough noise to attract Sandor's attention because you couldn't speak in that moment even if you wanted to.

         His brows furrowed for moment before deciding to let you take a moment to catch your breath. He turned to Arya, who you just now noticed was in the room, and said something along the lines of, "You want to be like me?" You watched as a look of understanding came over the young lady. She began to walk out of the Keep, thanking Sandor then leaving the two of you alone.

         "What are you doing here?" he asked, his deep brown eyes meeting your (e/c) ones. "Please, Sandor. I know why you're here. You don't have to do this. Come with me. We can find a way out of the city. We can escape. Please…" you trailed off. You weren't sure what else to say without admitting your feelings for the man. Feelings you were certain he would reject and you couldn't bear that.

         "I can't let him keep living." You ran forward and gently grabbed his arm. "Please, Sandor. He isn't worth your life. The best revenge you could have is leaving and living the rest of your life peacefully, out of his shadow. Sandor, look at me. I am begging you don't do this." Sandor shook his head, removed your hand from his arm, and turned away.

         You felt your heart clench once more at the thought of Sandor dying at the hands of his resurrected brother. You couldn't let him go alone. To that end, you followed after him. "What are you doing?" he snapped. You rolled your eyes. "I'm coming with you. I can't stop you, but I sure as all Hells am not going to let you go alone." His brows drew together as he tried to contemplate the meaning behind your words.

         "Fine," he said after a moment, "Just stay out of trouble." You chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "This entire situation is nothing but trouble. But I will stay out of your way unless I think you need help. I just…I need to be there and know that you're okay." Once more, Sandor didn't say anything, but you could almost see the gears turning in his head. However there would be no more time for conversation.

         You heard him before you saw him. The Mountain. Gargantuan and imposing. Lethal. You felt a shiver rip through you when he rounded the corner. He seemed to ignore you in favor of staring down his brother. You didn't hear anything Sandor said to him. You just wanted it to be over. Sandor needed to win this time. The sound of a blade swinging through the air had you moving out of the way as quickly as possible.

         The scene before you unfolded as you watched in horror. The brothers were somewhat evenly matched. Well, except for the Mountain being dead-but-not-dead. It seemed his strength was left intact when he was brought back. When the Mountain had Sandor pressed up against the crumbling walls of the Keep, you knew you couldn't wait any longer.

         You rushed forward, drawing the Mountain's attention to you long enough for Sandor to straighten himself up. Your relief was short-lived as the giant man grabbed you by the throat and threatened to throw you into the roaring flames below. Your eyes met Sandor's for a brief moment and a look of understanding passed between you. With one hand, you tried clawing at the Mountain's gauntlet-covered hand while your other hand reached for the nearby torch.

         Sandor yelled at his brother, causing him to remove his helmet to vehemently glare. You took the opportunity to reach next to you. You grabbed the torch and swung it against the Mountain's head with all your might. He let out a blood-curdling scream, dropping you to the stone steps. No pain registered in your mind as you focused on the task of helping Sandor.

         The Mountain was precariously close to the walls, giving you an idea. You only hoped Sandor would catch on quickly or the Mountain's sword was coming for your neck next. From your position on the ground, you could easily reach the Mountain's legs. Sandor had him bent backward over the wall. If you were quick enough, you could end this right then and there.

         Without waiting another minute, you took aim. If you hit him in the just the right spot, you could throw him off balance long enough for Sandor to finish the job. Since the Mountain wasn't paying any attention to you anymore, you had your chance. His knees bent just enough. With a smile, you carefully reached over and rammed your elbow into the back of one knee and then the other. Then, you stayed on all fours behind his legs, basically creating a table from your body.

         In his surprise, the Mountain released his hold on Sandor. Sandor took one glance at you and got the idea. With all his might, he shoved. The Mountain lost his balance, flipping over you and off the walls, down into the flames below. Sandor helped you to your feet and the two of you watched his brother fall. When you could no longer see him, Sandor pulled you back and gazed into your eyes.

         "What in Seven Hells were you thinking, woman?!" he snapped, "You could have gotten yourself killed!" You huffed a little and crossed your arms. "A 'thank you' would be nice. I told you I would stay out of the way unless you needed help. And you did! I-I couldn't let you die, you idiot! I saved-" you were cut off, letting out a squeak of surprise when you felt Sandor's arms wrap around you.

         "Don't do anything like again," he muttered. You pulled back slightly to look at him. "Sandor, I…why are you so worried? I'm fine." Sandor let his brown eyes meet your (e/c) ones. "I," he started, but couldn't seem to find the words, "I-Dammit, woman! Just accept that I can't lose you!" You felt your lips stretch into a smile. "Sandor, do you love me?"

         "Aye," he answered without hesitation. You guessed he thought he'd hesitated long enough. With everything going on, there were no guarantees after all. You moved to stand a couple steps above him so you could meet his gaze. "I love you too." You placed your hands on his shoulders and slowly leaned closer to him. Sandor froze for a moment, but began leaning in as well. "Are you sure about this?" he asked when your lips were a mere breath away from one another. You laughed lightly. "Absolutely. Will you kiss me, Sandor?" You question was answered when he smashed his lips against yours, practically pulling you off your step in an effort to bring you closer to him.  

(a/n: I hope this is what you wanted! I miss my Sandor!)

Forever Tags: @fizzyxcustard @brewsthespirit-blog @etherealpotter @line-viper @frozenhuntress67 @cd1242 @gruffle1 @smalltownbigheart @igotmadskills

Sandor Clegane Tags: @songoficecreamandfireworks​ @silversprings98​ @nkjktk​

#george r.r. martin #game of thrones #sandor clegane #sandor clegane x reader #sandor x reader

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Yugi’s Senshi Outfit

So I’ve been doing a lot of work, and I haven’t looked at the blog for a hot minute and when I finally checked back in to do these posts I noticed something on my tumblr was just blowing up. I got all excited thinking “oh shoot, Did I draw something right??” and instead, it was a random post I made about the bootspants from season 1. Three years later, resurrected from the grave and covered in...thousands of notes? I don’t understand how this website works.

Anyways, the comments are mostly good, but a little bit wild. A lot of people seem to think I would know what Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is, when I’m an adult who is still watching the first 5 seasons of Yugioh. (I will never have time to watch Jojo,) and then some other people started talking about Actual Card Mechanics that went...completely beyond my comprehension. But then there was one person. One person who said one thing, and brought it all together.

Poots.

The boots that are pants.

Poots.

I can’t believe I looked at all the different combinations, but a Poots never crossed my brain.

It is so perfect, so cathartic, although it took 3 years to get there.

Poots.

Anyways, we’re in S5 and unfortunately not in poots anymore, Yugi is now dressed in a tupperware container from hell and they have wandered into a desert. On cue, Grandpa has an injury, but at least this time it’s not his ass.

You know how there’s artists who do hyper-realistic versions of pokemon monsters with detailed bone structure and muscle anatomy? I dare them to look at this orb and tell me how the hell it has wings. Like go ahead and try and pin a spine down on that thing. I’ll wait.

(read more under the cut)

So Joey decides to sprint down this endless desert with just boundless positivity.

Over the edge of this sand dune is a whole bunch of huts,just random civilization out in the middle of no where.

One girl walks over and it’s a look.

She’s really the only one here who can talk, and she just seems...so incredibly bored to be here. A whole lot of Wednesday Addams energy. She leads them into a hut where an old guy pulls a scroll out of blue fire. As you do.

Again, this arc should have been a video game, because while it’s something to get the player interested if there’s some riddle they have to solve to progress, when you’re watching a TV show, it’s not like I’m the one solving the riddle. The format is honestly one of the downers of this arc, tbh.

It has strong “I played a D+D sesh and made a webcomic out of it vibe” and I know I just called out like half of you, but listen, I will not take it back.

This episode, our gimmick is some asshole is going to be yelling at us from the other end of the map, just shouting in the background for the entirety of the episode like that tangible human skull meme.

Then Wednesday Addams hands over yet another MacGuffin because why not?

Tea can twin it up with Yugi now. Her necklace doesn’t seem haunted, but it’s only a matter of time. (also her necklace looks so freakin terrible, we’ll see it later and I’ll have a lot more to say because wtf it looks like some sort of polly pocket.)

I’m not 100% that the voice that shouts at us from the end of the hall this episode is Mokuba’s voice actress. But I’m 99% positive it is, or Mokuba’s voice is just really that type of vibe.

Stuff happens, and it felt like card duel stuff, so I’m gonna skip over the part where they pulled out their duel monsters one by one, since the fight was pointless anyway because the worms can turn you into stone. So Yugi and Pharaoh decide to have a chat about it because their plan is clearly not working.

This is when Pharaoh has a vivid lucid daydream, which seems like something that would have been more convenient before he ended up turning into stone on the floor of some desert. But, hallucinations never come when they’re convenient on this show. They usually come during card games, tbh.

Imagine with me that you’re dreaming of like...an old ass greek guy who is 99% Alexander the Great. Imagine he tells you to fuse with a sentient paper card that you already carry around in a weird capsule.

Please

For the love of all that is holy

Do not think about what it means to fuse with the Dark Magician.

Dark Magician is...he “exists” but he’s like not even a person. There seem to be whole fleets of dark Magicians, which are all the same guy, just cloned, right? Or maybe they’re a family? Or like...I don’t freakin know. Like they’re all hanging out together in some card dimension so it’d be more like fusing with the guy who dresses like Barney the dinosaur instead of actually Barney. Like he’s more of like a concept than a dude, but apparently you can just introduce him to your...whatever this armor is supposed to be, and Dark Magician turns into a Super Suit.

I want to express my thanks to the Yugioh team for not putting Yami in his underoos. Hell, they didn’t even take off his jacket. I do not know what art directer ok’d this for animation and said “yeah, this won’t kills us if we animate it.” but that is a hell ton of lines and design right there. Yeah they have 3d, and probably had to 3d that staff...but that doesn’t mean you don’t end up drawing it, in the end--you still have to draw over your 3d. You still have to draw literally everything.

Anyway, when we get to the eye of the storm. The secret to getting there was that you have to fly, which again--3/5 of these guys already have a monster that can fly. We can finally tell the voice at the end of the hall to stop yelling because it’s really bothering all the townspeople, and then move on with the quest.

Everyone else was stone during this. So when they un-petrified they kinda looked over at Yugi and were like “how freakin long was I out???”

But youknow, Yugi’s 2 people, so it’s fine. So long as you don’t get down to the third bastard still sitting around in there.

After this, our NPCs vanish, and the show pushes us directly forward. No time for them to piss off a land turtle or set a bunch of wolves on fire. Just get out of the desert and freakin go.

I’m just so bothered by this random ass huge chunky necklace.

It’s like the size of your freakin fist. And it’s just...a pentagon. Congrats Tea, you have a fake ass plastic necklace. I guess it’s so that when we’re far away we can still see it on her chest but like...This show loves huge ass necklaces, and they’re all basic ass shapes. We got a pyramid, the Kaiba’s wear squares, Bakura wears a circle with kind of phallic bits hanging off of it and this is just...it’s literally just a pentagon.

I guess Ishizu wore a wadjet and Duke has an indecipherable clown as his necklace. But man...the Yugioh necklace game is just a lot of shapes.

And so we continue on with this filler arc, which is also a pokemon arc, and even secretly has a Sailor Moon arc just stuffed in there for funsies. This arc is weird.

Also, I brought up the human skull so I legally have to post this.

Anyway, here’s a link to read these in chrono order, in case you just got here: https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

And I’m off to drink a bin of ice water because it is 5 billion degrees right now in this house.

#ygo #yugioh #yu gi oh #episode recap #photo recap #S5 #Ep 20 #yugi muto #yami #grandpa muto #tea gardner #and her new accessory #tristan taylor #joey wheeler #and that time that Yami fused with dark magician and we all acted like that wasn't extremely weird