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goldcranes · 1 year

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Rereading ‘Sleeper Hit’ and wondering how you’d imagine Rooster telling Hangman/Phoenix that he and Amelia have taken that step into something more?

(Obviously no pressure to answer — I think you’ve mentioned some Bradley POV for the fic before so if this discussion is something that you’ve in mind for that, I’ll wait patiently! Just got to thinking about all those little things from rooster’s perspective 😊 love your writing!)

This is definitely something I want to include in the Bradley accompaniment, but it's going to be a while until I get to that and I've been really missing writing in this world for a while, so this ask prompted me to actually sit down and get this scene sorted! This probably will appear in the fic when I get around to it, but for now, here's how Phoenix finds out (Hangman will come later!):

Nat figures it out almost immediately. In his defence, he doesn’t make hard for her: his phone is right there on the tabletop between them as they eat under-seasoned lasagna in the belly of the carrier, and when a text from Amelia flashes up his face goes all soft before he can help himself.

“Shit, Rooster,” she says wearily, and puts her fork down. “Are you serious?”

He flips his phone over like that’s going to do anything. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, man. Last time I saw you look like that was with Livvy.”

His shoulders lift defensively. It’s a low blow and she knows it – Livvy, possibly the first girl he ever really loved, who cheated on him with a guy in her Dungeons and Dragons group and was posting pictures of her new ring and baby less than a year after the break-up. Seven years ago now, but he still feels a glancing blow of embarrassment and resentment whenever her name comes up in conversation.

“It’s nothing,” he insists, and makes himself meet her eyes. “I promised, remember?”

“Yeah, I fucking remember. It went something like: she’s the apple of Maverick’s eye and she’s eighteen and I’m never gonna be that guy. Jesus Christ. Who else knows?”

“Nobody,” he says fast, and then amends, “well, actually, Hangman guessed, I think. Surprised he didn’t say anything. I suppose he might not actually have known, could have just been being a dick.”

“Yeah, highly possible.” Nat’s hand drops to her belly like an afterthought. His eyes follow it. It’s still weirder than he has words for, knowing Hangman’s kid is growing in there. Some days it feels hopelessly unfair. Other days it’s exciting. Mostly it makes him wistful.

He knows she doesn’t like talking about it, so he takes his eyes away as soon as he catches them there and stares instead at the back of his phone. He wants badly to open it and see what Amelia’s said – hopes for a picture of her going about her day, even though the ones from school always make the shame a little stronger.

“I just,” he says at last, after the silence has stretched out for too long, “I really meant for it not to happen. Honestly I did. I meant it when I said it about Maverick, you know, it’s not just how young she is, it’s how much she means to him. I’ve only just got him back in my life and losing him again would just be— it’s not something I want. Plus it would be really fucking annoying to be the one at fault this time.”

Nat snorts. “Yeah, he’s the only person I’ve ever met who likes to say I told you so as much as you do.”

“He doesn’t even need to say it,” Bradley agrees morosely, “it’s that fucking face he makes—”

“Right? I don’t know how he doesn’t get punched more.”

“Same.” They share a smile, brief and long-suffering, before Nat’s face sharpens back into seriousness.

“I just need to know that you’re thinking this through. I know you like her – and don’t get me wrong, I like her too from what I know. But she’s so young. I mean, are you gonna – what, go to Harry Styles concerts with her? Visit her at college? Be out partying until three AM?”

He winces. “Jesus, no. I mean, you know, if she wants to do that she’s got friends to do it with. I don’t think she’d want to go, though. And she's definitely not going to college. It's just... none of it is really who she is.”

Nat thinks about that for a moment, chewing a mouthful of her dinner.

“Well who is she, then? What about her makes you think this will work?”

“She’s…” he eats a bite of his own, giving himself a minute to consider it, “she’s figuring herself out, honestly. But not like I was at eighteen. It’s like she knows who she is already and she’s trying to work out how that fits in with the life she’s expected to lead. Her dad’s an asshole, I think he’s fucked her up more than she realises, but she isn’t angry about it like I was about my parents dying. He does piss her off, but it’s like she’s just… she just works with it, you know? I really admire that about her. Shit happens and she takes it and gets on with her life. Doesn’t let herself wallow in it.”

Nat frowns. “She’s always struck me as a pretty serious kid.”

“Yeah, she is. Wicked sense of humour when she lets it out, though. You should hear her with Hangman.”

“God, I’m not sure I want to. He likes her, then? Not sure what that says about her character.”

Bradley laughs at that. “You let him knock you up, you are absolutely not one to talk.”

“Oh, fuck off,” she says, but she grins briefly too. It fades when she asks, “Is that – did you sleep with her, then? When she was staying with you?”

His shame is bright on his face. He has to look down, something inside him twisting.

“I tried to put it off, but she insisted. And honestly I didn’t take all that much persuading.”

Nat is silent for a long time. When at last he can bear to look back up at her, she’s watching him with such a mixture of pity and worry on her face it’s almost too much to see.

“Just promise me,” she says, her voice newly urgent, leaning forward across the table towards him, “promise me this isn’t going to come back badly on you. She’s not going to turn around in six months and say you pressured her into it, or—”

“I would never, Phoenix, Jesus—”

“No, but she could start to feel like that’s how it went down and it wouldn’t matter how you think it’s going now. When you’re that age, it’s all so in flux, how you feel about yourself and other people and relationships, and—”

“That’s not her.”

Nat just keeps looking at him, dark brows furrowed. He looks back, asking without words for her to trust him. Haven’t they all mocked him for years about being too slow to make decisions, too cautious? He needs her to trust that he’s thought this through with the same – more – care than he’s ever made a choice in a bird.

“Where is she now?”

The question surprises him, but he figures it’s innocuous enough. He looks at his phone at last; opens up the message Amelia sent. It’s a picture of her and her friend May in long, slinky gowns at a store somewhere. May’s throwing up a peace sign. Amelia’s half-turning towards her, grinning or laughing, her face bare of make-up and her hair knotted messily on top of her head. He misses her deeply and absolutely.

“Shopping,” he tells Nat, knowing the warmth in his voice is going to give him away more than anything else ever could. “Graduation dresses.”

“Graduation— fucking hell. High school graduation.”

It comes out of him weary: “Don’t. I know, okay? I know. It’s not what I would have chosen for myself. It’s not something I was looking for, and it’s not something I wanted. But I can’t let go of her, Phoenix. I just can’t.”

Nat’s dark eyes are as solemn as he’s ever seen them. “She’s it?”

“Yeah. She’s it.”

She reaches across the table and squeezes his hand. Just once, quickly, like a benediction. “Then I’m behind you. All the way.” She pulls back, smiling just a bit, her mouth pulling up at one corner. “Still going to give you shit about it, though, fair warning. A fucking high school girlfriend. You absolute cradle-robber.”

“Yeah, well,” he says, feeling suddenly lighter, better than he has since he left Amelia in San Diego three weeks ago, “at least I didn’t drunkenly knock up my enemy-with-benefits, or whatever the fuck you and Hangman are.”

“Oh, he’s absolutely still a douchebag,” she says, grinning, but the softness in her eyes gives her away. “I hate him, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Bradley echoes, even though he knows Hangman has wheedled his way onto the flight coming to collect Phoenix and a few of the others when they dock in Cypress for no reason other than to see her a little sooner. Even though he knows she’s signed the lease on a shared apartment with only one bedroom and a nursery.

She notices his expression and shakes her head, sounding suddenly much older and wiser than she has a right to. “None of it’s ever simple. In books and movies it’s always so linear, you know? So obvious in retrospect. But it’s always a goddamn mess and we’ve got to just figure out the best way through that we can.”

“Yeah,” he says, thinking of Amelia in her little sundress, of her saying it’ll be worth it, of the way she’d cried in his lap before he drove her home to Fightertown. “I guess that’s what it is, really. Just doing our best. All any of us can do in the end.”

#sleeper hit #thank you so much for asking #i loved revisiting these two!!#this is set after they've got together; at the start of bradley's deployment a couple of weeks before his capture

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densitywell · 9 months

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thinking many ashrym thoughts rn. orym came back from issylra at his worst and ashton, somehow, has come out at their best. ashton wants to be a hero, to inspire people, to save the world; orym wants to get revenge on those who killed his family. when he's pushing the rest of the hells to go back to the key barely an hour after they've reunited, it's ashton who pulls them towards taking some desperately needed time to decompress.

ashton doesn't regret a single thing that happened in hearthdell. orym says they made compromises to get back to the hells. orym has admitted that he can't really grapple with one side of the gods debate because its the belief his family was killed over, while ashton is specifically exploring the ideologies most associated with the hishari. they both believe in people, and are dead set on destroying ludinus, and ashton thinks that maybe the gods deserve to die and orym is sure that they should live. orym is covering up, dressing in the standard armor of his people. ashton is standing out, taking the old things he loves and turning them into something new.

and yet the two of them, as a pair, still function the same. they move around, through, above and below each other as easily as they have for quite some time now. ashton loves zephrah, and orym is happy to have him there. two people who on the surface appear wildly different, whose lives feel like strange twisted mirrors, and yet who have developed this wordless understanding and love and respect for each other regardless. one that still holds - for the moment, at least - even as it feels like they're only moving farther apart.

#ashton greymoore #orym of the air ashari #ashrym #i am still rooting for fearne to be the person who gently lovingly kicks orym's ass a little bit and gets him out of his own head #but ashton is probably the best person to deliver that message and the most likely #(chetney is my sleeper hit for this though)#fcg would not kick his ass and honestly if laudna or imogen kick his ass in the near future it will probably not be gently. so #cr spoilers #critical role #fuck it main tagging it. essays on my desk by monday #cr #CRposting #it's good pain

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unexpectedbrickattack · 1 year

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Okay so i know this is your askbox and everything but I want to say that i feel like the bosses would start to hate pizzahead after peppino tells them what he was planning on doing, because as far as I know they were simply hired to guard the keys and look out for peppino.

I have some very minor tweaks to this but for the most part i agree!

put under a readmore bc i dont wanna clog up any potentially Non-Exploded pt tags lmao

-Pepperman, the eccentric man that he is gets shown 1 (one) image of a fucked up drawing of peppino and hes like ‘yes yes fat little human man, got it.’ And continues sculpting as if he hadnt heard pizzahead at all. Hes the MOST startled when peppino enters his arena bc he literally forgot he had to fight him 😭 hes like WHO is this little sweaty human in my fucking ART STUDIO????!! and then immediately gets stomped.

He is definitely indifferent to pizzahead; he didnt really care about this weird man and even postgame hes like well. This sly dog led me straight to my muse so I cannot be too angry with him 🤔

-Vigilante is like ‘hmm. Never seen this man round these parts; whatd he do?’ And pizzahead is like if you need a reason; its no longer just a simple request; its a bounty. And Vigilante it like ‘well... A bountys a bounty; if he wanders into my town he aint comin back out’ and pizzahead is like great! Fantastic! Im holding you up to that 🧡

Vigilante is probably the one most angry about pizzahead. Hes not exactly lawful good but he does Not like being used as Hired Muscle. He hunts down Bad People; not a human some weirdo has a personal vendetta against. He doesnt know exactly WHAT that vendetta is but its not worth his time and its not worth getting his cheesy ass handed to by Peppino again 😭

-The Noise craves violence and destruction. Hes a little menace! He also likes money. LOTS of money. And lucky for him, Pizzahead had seemingly Infinite Funds. Funds that he used to hire the Noise; to utilize this brats WEALTH of questionable tools and contraptions in case Peppino climbed his way through the tower. The noise was like ‘ur hosting this shitshow on TV? give me a 40/60 split from whatever ur filming and you have a deal’ and he does NOT find it troubling at all that Pizzahead is so eager to accept this.

He never figures out that the recorded content was never actually hosted anywhere. He eventually tries searching it up, asking his agents to look up anything recent with his face in it but they all come up emptyhanded. When asked about a name or title or scheduled tv slot and publishing, hes a bit sheepish to admit he never asked. Thats not his job! Thats his agents job! Hes so weirded out though; Pizzahead gave him a Ton of money. Obviously not alot by the Noise’s standards but more than what most people could even remotely afford. Weird. Well he got money and Peppino doesnt try to kill him unless he ignores the restraining order placed on him so its okay ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Fake peppino cant really comprehend hate. But he does comprehend…distrust. A man comes up to him, gives him a picture of some human, asks him to make sure this human does NOT make it to the top of the tower- ‘nononono. Listen to me. He does NOT make it past you. Do you understand that? I am serious. If you see this man come by your sorry excuse for a shop, kill him. Maim him. Eat him; i dont care WHAT you do as long as he does Not get this fucking key.’

And Fake Peppino just nods. But hes so wary despite his dopey expression. Hes got little goosebumps prickling along the back of his neck as the man hands him the key and a picture of the human. A human that looks like him. JUST like him. In the back alley of his poorly lit pizzeria. Just like him…Hes a bit taller than the man in the picture but…just like him… just like him just like himjustlikehimjustlikehim- ‘Yeah, yeah, just like you, but listen- listen; hes messin' with My business and you gotta understand that, right? You have a business too! Whatever this…*gestures weakly* is. You would be. Sad. If someone destroyed your business. Right?’

A slow nod.

‘Exactly! See? Right on the same page! Thats why im countin on you!’

When Fake Peppino gets to see that Human Peppino has his own Pizzeria; a pizzeria that almost got destroyed (a BUSINESS just like his...) everything seems to click into place at once. Hed probably maul Pizzahead like a chimpanzee 😭 WHAMWHAMWHAM BASH THAT DOUGHY FACE IN !!!!!!! Peppino doesnt need the manpower, but its Nice to have the equivalent of a bulldog guarding his shop

#answered #chattin #long post #peppino #pepperman #vigilante #noise #fake peppino #the noise and fake peppino are kind of still in the air bc i wanna make comics for them and i havent started yet #whereas I already have an idea planned out for vigilante #anyway……….thank u for this #esp for the excuse to write some basic pizzahead interactions #helps me characterize him a bit 🤔#in order from least angry to most pissed off w pizzahead:#pepperman-> noise ->vigilante ->fake peppino #with fake peppino literally having the equivalent of a sleeper agent code or some shit imprinted in his brain now #completely dedicated to go absolutely apeshit the second he even gets a WHIFF of pizzahead in a 250m radius #i will Not draw this bc i simply cannot think of a way to even attempt to panel this #but like during the boss rush instead of the four hits it takes to knock a boss out #fake peppino literally gets hit once and stays the fuck down #hes HURT hes never been hurt before until today and it KEEPS happening and its this weird pizza mans fault!!!#he wants to CRY !!!!!#he doesnt even think of peppino being at fault he just thinks about the man who came to his pizzeria at night #in a shady back alley with a lump sum of cash #and everything went bad after that !!!!!!!!!!#after he gets knocked back behind the rest of the bosses piled up #pizzahead is like um. this is not worth whatever youre going to do to me GOODBYE-#and fake peppino chokeslams pizzahead into Peppino to make him fight instead #hes ANGRY hes wants that fucker DEAD KILL HIM!!!! KILL HIM DEAD !!!!!!!

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