#whoops that was supposed to be *jon's in the first tag

[ollieofthebeholder]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks @magnetarmadda for the tag! (I'm slowly getting caught up on these.)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

64 on AO3. (I have a few that are just on Tumblr that I really need to back up onto AO3.)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

1,806,655 holy fucking shit when did it get that high.

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

These days, mostly TMA. I have in the past written Star Trek, Star Wars (not on AO3, it's only on my Tumblr), MCU/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Cut & Run fics; I've also dabbled in a couple other fandoms, including what I am both proud and frustrated to say is still the only Mnemosyne fanfic in existence, or at least on AO3.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall)

Had He Known It

Whiskey Lullaby

It Was Just My Imagination Telling Lies

Hurry Up and Slow Me Down

5. Do you respond to comments?

Every one!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 

Ooh, that's a toughie. I'm going to say Where the Road Waits to Be Taken.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Mmm...I write mostly happy endings, but probably Love Will Find Out the Way. That one's certainly the most joyous ending (so far, anyway).

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Not since I left the super toxic fandoms.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

Not anymore, no. I went through a period of about two years where I was writing it, mainly because I'd always been super bad at it and wanted to give it a shot, but I'm a sex-averse ace and I was always kind of iffy on it in fiction, so eventually I gave it up.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? 

I'm still working on that TMA/Night Vale story, I swear. And I've got a couple Leverage/MCU fics that will probably never see the light of day. The craziest one I've ever written is probably the now-deleted Sherlock/Star Trek AOS crossover (deleted because they were at Hogwarts and...yeah).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

See #11.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

Once...technically. My brother wasn't old enough for his own account yet, so he dictated the story to me and I cleaned it up a bit. (So more "ghostwritten" than "co-written", maybe?)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? 

I don't think I really have one all-time favorite ship. Lots that I will always love, but not necessarily one I'd rank above all others?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? 

I'm not going to lie, I really want to finish the TMA "whoops this was supposed to be a oneshot" AU where everything is the same (to start with, anyway) except that Martin doesn't work for the Institute, he's a bartender at a pub that Jon stops in for a drink at and ends up falling in love with him. I just...need to figure out where the plot is going.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

Emotion. Description. Angst. Evoking the feeling my characters are feeling in the reader.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

I still struggle with info-dumping. And I tend to get hung up on the "perfect" way to phrase something, to the detriment of the rest of the scene.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

Why not?

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

I used to make up stories about the Power Rangers to send myself to sleep at night when I was, like, six. And I did technically write one down for a spelling assignment in first or second grade, so that totally counts.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest), and not just because it's my most recent one.

Tagging (as always, no pressure) @astudyinfic, @accal1a, @blasphemous-lies-and-deceit, @wintersnixon, and anyone else who wants to give it a go!

#tag games #fanfic writers asks

[froizetta]

Fic Writing Review 2023

We're solidly into 2024 by now, and considering I posted my first anything in August this isn't exactly a full year review. But let's go!!

Words and Fics

134,798 words published to ao3 (um? how???)

It's all DC fic!!

Most recent (completed): What's In A Name?

Most recent (updated): (Love) Triangles Have Multiple Centers

Longest fic: An Honest Conversation (60k. Jesus. It was supposed to be a oneshot, what HAPPENED)

Top 3 by Comments

I'm copying burins and doing this by comments instead of kudos, because...well, why not. And wow, these are all superbat romcoms! Huh! I am predictable.

An Honest Conversation (you never forget your first! Idiots to FWB to lovers, with lots of mutual pining)

(Love) Triangles Have Multiple Centers (identity porn love square hijinks, current main WIP)

Padam Padam (a comedically pornographic reinterpretation of misattribution of arousal)

Personal Favorite

(Love) Triangles is probably the most fun to work on/plan out because comedy is where I feel most comfortable, but I think the one I'm most proud of is What's In A Name? It was a departure from my usual to write a story and relationship with a slightly darker tone, and it was fun letting myself get self-indulgently wanky with Themes and Parallels in what's basically a soft kink PWP. It feels like personal growth in more than one dimension!

Upcoming Projects for 2024

Ooh boy I have quite a few stories I'm eager to finish. Listed below in an order that makes sense to me, but that I couldn't for the life of me explain:

Bruce and Clark go on a Big Night Out to help Clark get over his recent break-up with Lois, having figured out how to get Clark drunk for the first time in his life. Thus ensues the kind of tragic love story you'd hear from that drunk girl crying in the club bathroom, but superbat.

The coming of age story for Super Sons Jon that I never got to read (thanks Bendis). Featuring bi panic, the horror of puberty, the EXTRA horror of puberty-plus-laser-vision, and Jon's questionable taste in crushes (aka Damian).

Superbat again, whoops. Another fluffy miscommunication romcom in which Bruce gets impatient waiting for his boyfriend Clark to make a move. (Clark does not in fact know that they are dating.)

Jason Todd genfic. It's in a document I've titled "Jason child abuse thing", which pretty much sums it up. A slightly darker character study about Jason's childhood pre-Bruce that's too self-indulgent to be comics accurate.

Departing briefly from DC, I also have a slightly ambitious (probably gen) post-canon fic for The Great Ace Attorney, because it's an excellent game series, and when I finished it I had a lot of Feelings about the way it ended. I took a break due to the DC brainrot, but I hope to return to it this year.

The above are all things I have words written for, but I also have a bunch of things I want to write but haven't nailed down enough detail for yet:

Cloisbat. I just think Bruce and Lois should get to be catty and jealous at each other over Clark, and then resolve their differences by double teaming him. I think they'd enjoy that.

Batlantern. Just...anything. I love their dynamic, but why can't I think of any good fic ideas? (Answer: I have read 0 GL comics.)

Something something Bruce/Constantine. I accidentally became invested after reading the Zatanna substory in Batman: Urban Legends. Also, I feel like Constantine would be fun as hell to write. (Zatanna could totally join too, if she wanted.)

Cat Grant/Lois. Look, I don't know where this came from either, but doesn't it feel like this should be more of a thing? I feel like it should be a thing. They're femme4femme but in opposite ways. They're foils. There's something there, I'm not crazy!

Rules and Tags

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some qualitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to share unpublished stuff instead? Change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

Tagged by @burins! Thanks, I really appreciate the tag!

Tagging: @unbreakabledawn @ginbenci and anyone else who wants to do this!

#fic writing review 2023 #my fic #and btw if anyone has fic ideas along the lines of anything mentioned above I'd be v happy to hear them #being stuck kinda sucks actually? who knew

[sel-jpg]

[ pls don't rb; i am purposefully not putting this in the tag bc i know i currently just cannot do the "rb after rb with big paragraphs of text" kinda discussion. feel absolutely free to send a reply or an ask if u want to comment on this but i just want to put the disclaimer of "this is kind of a figuring out my own thoughts/rambling about a pet peeve kind of post rather than a proper invitation for discussion" on this ]

honestly i am kinda sick of seeing points like "melanie, georgie, basira and martin are robbing jon of his agency by not wanting to do what he wants to do" like. sorry but this is not a dilemma about jon's life alone. it's about all of them, all of the people in their world and people in other universes.

the people robbed of their agency in this dilemma are in fact the people currently suffering in domains and also the people in other universes bc they cannot even take part and argue their point in this discussion. they in fact do not even know it's happening.

yes, lack of agency is a central theme in jon's story and my heart breaks for him because truly no one deserves to go through even a fraction of what he went through but giving him back his agency means giving him control over his own life back, not letting him decide over countless lives in multiple universes (including! basira's , martin's, melanie's and georgie's. like, they are allowed to argue against their own death, right? RIGHT?)

yes jon's been wronged by the others before. yes he's honestly still owed a bit more of an apology by some of them. no that does not mean he gets to decide about this alone.

#also let's not act like jonös motives are completely unselfish and therefore his choice is better #like. on the question of 'can i live with my choices yes/no' he is very much on the no side imo #so like. all choices available are unbearable so of course he'd want to go with the one where he doesn't have to live on with even more #guilt afterwards and can maybe even die feeling like he managed to prevent future suffering in other worlds #and i absolutely do not blame him for that at all #i just think it's wrong to frame it as an altruistic vs selfish thing when imo there's no unselfish choice here #and in the end whether they choose something for selfish or altruistic reasons doesn't really matter to the big picture does it #whoops that was supposed to be *jon's in the first tag #anyways just. hm. much to think about #sel.txt #it's shitty from every angle that they're the ones who have to make this choice at all tbh #damn this post took me long to write almost an hour i think

[the-scarecrxw]

so, the aforementioned New Fic. Oh Boy It's Jonathan Hurt Time

This was just supposed to be an idea explanation but it ended up super detailed so it's more like... an outline. it got long.

Here's a summary sort of?

After being assaulted in his cell by a guard, Jonathan finds himself in a haze, days slipping through his fingers like sand. He has no one, and he's completely alone. His own mind isn't even a reprieve, scaring him with the Scarecrow at any opportunity, or replaying his twisted memories of that night. Nothing has been right in his life for months, and now his body has the audacity to give up on him and grow ill. He just wished it would all end.

under the cut for nsft, noncon and it's aftermath, just. lotsa depression, and some more detailed tags stuff. generally a dead dove do not eat situation, tbh

So. Timeline. Season two I'm thinking. Pre Scarecrow. Jerome is dead. Post-Oswald in Arkham but Pre-Edward in Arkham.

Other deets: trans jonathan bc that's my Brand now and also pinnacle plot point. rape, disassociation, whoops unplanned pregnancy, mention of throwing up, off screen self harm and uh idk how to describe this... intentional miscarriage?

.

Jonathan gets menaced and manhandled by a guard in his cell at night, and as Jonathan protests more and gets more scared the guard gets more aggressive. It's fueled both by some good old fashioned strong man is horny about this weak little boy he has power over, and also some transphobia. Lots of him talking to Jonathan degradingly and misgendering him while groping him.

It gets to the point where the guard is sick of hearing his protests and just pins Jonathan down and tugs his pants down to his knees. Jonathan is full on sobbing but has quit pleading and trying to get away, having sort of accepted that he's about to be raped. He figured it was only a matter of time, he's surprised he'd lasted in Arkham so long without getting touched anyways. probably avoided it so long by still having to shower with the women.

Despite the guard's attempt to warm him up, Jonathan's not particularly wet at all so the man's intrusion hurts. Jonathan was very much so a virgin before this moment-- not ever having more than a brief self exploratory finger inside him (dysphoria said no thank you.) Jonathan screams and cries but no one comes because he's always screaming and crying when his hallucinations hit. The yells of "It hurts!" is a new one, though. The guard is very rough with him, immediately pounding into him, slapping his face, grabbing his wrists tightly, and even choking him.

After awhile Jonathan just sort of... Goes into shock. Disassociates. He's quiet besides involuntary grunts and whimpers the guard's thrusts punch out of him. The last thing he can solidly remember is the guard's hand wrapped around his throat and his last thought being "God, I hope he kills me."

Fortunately for us, unfortunately for Jonathan, he did not. He wakes to a throbbing pain between his legs that leads deep into him making his core ache (yeah this guard has a cervix breaker!!) He'd lost his pants at sometime during the night and when he goes to pull them back on he cringes at the blood dried to his thighs and staining his bedsheet.

His first thought was "Wasn't my period like two weeks ago?" before the memories of last night hit him. An hour later a nurse finds him curled up in a corner of his cell, furthest he could be from his bed. His cheeks have long since dried but the redness around his eyes makes it obvious he's been crying. The nurse, unexpectedly gentle, helps Jonathan ground himself again and tells him he's overdue his appointment with the doctor.

Jonathan's appointments with Strange are usually filled with silence in between Strange asking generic questions, and this one was no different. Until Strange pointed out his appearance. "The bruising on your neck, the split lip. Did you do that to yourself?"

It takes Jon a moment to respond but when he does he shakes his head. "Scarecrow..." "He made you do it?" "No, he did it do me."

Jonathan's memories of the night previous are twisted. He knows that guard was starting to get handsy with him, but then his memory gets spotty. Then after that all he can remember is the Scarecrow over him while his whole body burned in pain. He struggled to remember the guard's face. He knew something wasn't right about his memory. He just didn't know what.

A week comes and goes. Two weeks. Jonathan notes his period is late, but then dismisses it. Maybe he misremembered the last one. He's misremembering a lot now. He'll be in his cell and come to in the rec room, several hours later and not remember what happened in between. He'll be about to sit down for dinner and suddenly gentle hands are prying a spork out of his hands and murmuring for him to name five things he can see.

Staff begin taking note of when he starts to fall off, when his eyes start going blank and his motions become robotic, to try and pull him back. He's disassociating more than he hallucinates these days, but at night he still screams about the Scarecrow.

It's another two weeks and he's in the infirmary because he collapsed in the showers. He didn't even remember getting there. The nurse is stitching his eyebrow when she asks if he's running low on pads, he didn't get any this month. He says his period never started. The nurse is concerned that it's been a month and a half since his last period but it's not unheard of for people in great stress to skip a period. She emails Strange a note about it, just in case though.

Two more weeks of staring spells, random bouts of crying, aversion of touch and sudden nausea has some of the more caring staff members concerned. By day three of Jonathan's nausea is when it climaxes into him actually throwing up right after breakfast. He's in the infirmary until noon throwing up until all that comes up is acid. He couldn't even keep down water and crackers. It's the same the next day, and the next. At this point more people are concerned. There's not a flu or food poisoning going around because no one else is getting sick. It's just him. A guard makes a joke about morning sickness that gives some of the nurses pause. It wouldn't be possible, would it..? Jonathan doesn't really know anyone to be intimate with, and if someone forced themselves on him he would have said something... Right?

A few of the nurses sit down with him in the infirmary and gently question him, carefully chipping away detail by detail, connecting together all the signs that he'd been sexually abused and no one noticed before. Jonathan isn't dumb. He knows where this line of questioning lead to. He's not pregnant. He's not. He can't be. It's impossible. No way.

He spends the next few days laying in his cell, not really wanting to do much of anything else. He's so hungry but he can't keep anything down. He's losing weight, but his stomach stays the same. Or maybe not. He could have sworn he was flatter right there. That soft, subtle curve below his bellybutton wasn't there before, he was sure of it. Some midnight math leaves him scrambling at seven weeks. eight in two days. Since the night he doesn't want to think about.

On the day of the eighth week one of the nurses call Jonathan to the infirmary where a few other nurses have grouped up (#JonathanProtectionSquad) and they sort of slowly press a box into his hand and when he sees what it is his heart stops because it's a pregnancy test. he doesn't want to have to take it but he knows he has to. He has to know.

And it's positive. It's the confirmation that sends him into a sobbing mess on the infirmary floor, surrounded by ladies that reassurance him and say they'll help him through it but he just chokes out how much he doesn't want it. dysphoria is crawling under his skin making him want to scratch it out. the thought of his much his body will change makes him feel sick. he just cries about how he wants it gone.

The nurses agree and the main nurse says she'll talk to someone, it might take time to get permissions and such, but not as bad as if he was an actual inmate, not a patient.

by the next week his nausea has gotten better, he's throwing up less and putting on a few pounds. Unfortunately, someone is a gossip and news of his pregnancy spread throughout the ward. Now he can't go anywhere without whistles and cat calls. If he gets called "baby momma" one more time he's going to fight someone.

he ends up trying to fight several people.

By the end of the week the his favorite nurse (H. Quinzel, she insists every call her Harley, though) takes him to the infirmary where the main nurse is back with news. bad news. his abortion has been completely denied. For many, many various reasons that the nurse won't explain, mumbling about "ableism, transphobia, it's a mess. The moment someone sees 'Arkham' they immediately deny all requests. They're treating you like a criminal when you're not! It's horrible. They said they'll 'compromise' by allowing you to give birth in a secure location. It's ridiculous."

The news sends Jonathan down such a quick and massive spiral that he doesn't even remember it later, but he ends up on mandatory 48 hour suicide watch in the infirmary with one hand cuffed to a bed.

He spends most of the time quiet. The first 12 hours is spent in a dissociative quiet Harley can't even pull him out of (she always could, before.) The next 24 are a sad quiet. He cries on and off, occasionally holding a hand to his stomach, pressing down hard. Harley manages to make him eat and pull a few words from him. The last twelve hours are a strange quiet. He's silent as a mouse except for when he's talked to. He eats all of his meals, answers the head nurses' questions perfectly. It's all too strategic to impose an image that he's doing well. The bags under his eyes and crying at night tell otherwise, though.

When he is (hesitantly) released the picture perfect behavior continues. He doesn't fight to stay in his cell, he ignores the cat calls, he eats his food and even takes his medication without rolling his eyes. The only strange thing is he actually socializes, but the nurses don't get concerned, they're glad he's talking to other people. It's all... perfect.

Until they find him the next day beaten half to death in a mostly abandoned stairwell. He's covered in bruises, his lips are busted, his eyebrow is split, both eyes are heavily bruised but one is swollen shut, and his nose is lightly fractured-- not enough to require resetting but still enough to hurt. Now that's just his face, his body is mottled in bruises too. Fingers stepped on and broken, an arm dislocated, ribs bruised and some even fractured. The most concerning to the nurses, though? The heavy, shoe shaped bruises darkly discoloring his stomach. Like he was stomped on.

When he wakes several hours later in the infirmary, still heavily sedated, he's confused at the tearful sight of Harley beside him. She begs to know who did it, if he knew why. He's silent and looks away. He's silent for a long time. At this point Harley isn't sure if he's being evasive or he blocked out the trauma and can't remember, he acted similarly when they first questioned him about his rape. She doesn't know which she'd prefer, because if he's just being evasive then when she does manage to get the answer out of him the culprit can be punished, or it's because the attack was pre-planned, and she hates to think of what that implies.

She murmurs a quiet "You could have died.." and he responded with a monotone, "If only I were so lucky."

On his second day in the infirmary she asks her questions again. Jonathan hesitates and she's afraid he'll be evasive again. Then he answered. "Two inmates. One pinned, one struck." When she asks, "Do you know who did it?" He just shrugged. So she pushed, "Do you know why they did it?" and after a moment he quietly said, "Probably because I asked them to."

Harley was silent for a long time, and when Jonathan looked over she was shaking. She was more than upset, more than angry, it couldn't even be described. She didn't know if she wanted to hug him and never let him go or slap him and berate him for doing something so stupid. So she did nothing. She signed heavily and turned to walk away.

Jonathan called for her to stop and hesitantly asked for her to help him to the bathroom, so she did. While waiting for him to call her back she idly started to tidy up his bed, when she noticed blood staining the sheets. She was quick to knock on the bathroom door insistently, mentioning he was bleeding. There was no response but she could hear shuffling and something, crying maybe, from inside.

She knocked again before announcing she was opening the door and did so. Jonathan was leaning against the sink with his hands over his face, and when Harley glanced over at the toilet it confirmed her suspicion he miscarried. She felt pity rise in her. "Some people don't realize they want the baby until it's already gone. I'm so sorry, Jonathan." He must not have even noticed he was miscarrying, from all the pain medication he was on.

Jonathan lowered his hands from his face, shaking his head, and despite the tears in his eyes he was smiling. "Oh, don't get me wrong-- this is exactly what I wanted." He wiped at his eyes and gave another huff, and Harley realized what she thought was crying earlier was half laughs. With all she's seen in Arkham, she didn't think this would phase her, but she found herself disturbed.

Hesitant and awkward, she gave him clean clothes and and new sheets in silence. The realization was settling into Jonathan as he got back into bed. He knows it was ultimately for his own betterment, but he did take actions that killed a potential life. Now it was just a mess of bloody cells he coldly flushed down the toilet. His hands shook as Harley cuffed his wrist again and he quietly spoke up, asking Harley for more pain medication. She agreed and set him up with an IV, though she added in a little extra along side the pain meds to sedate him and stabilize his mood.

He spends the next few days in a drugged haze as he heals, and even after he's let out back to the masses they kept him relatively medicated. He's quiet, practically docile. But he's also jumpy and occasionally paranoid. The mix of medications he's on has stopped his hallucinations for the first time, but it hasn't stopped the responses and expectations ingrained in him from them. He's still afraid of looming shadows and dark rooms, tall men and loud voices.

.

And I suppose this is where it can be ended. It would fade well into the characterization we see of Jonathan's during his opening in season 4. which makes this technically canon compliant 😳

thank you for reading if you got this far! maybe one day I'll go in and really flesh things out and expand stuff to make it into a real proper fic, but for now it's sitting like this.

#Gotham #Jonathan #my writing #not sfw #fic: arkham haze

[goodluckdetective]

Fic: smile, you’re trending

Ship: Jon/Martin

A03: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26567242

Warnings: Canon typical violence, alluded past child neglect, alluded past police brutality, horror, off screen gore, brief mention of body horror, mentioned past character death

Tags: Angst with a happy ending, emotional hurt comfort, protective Martin, Lonely!Martin, one shot, character study

Characters: Jon, Basira, Martin

Rating: PG-13

Length: 9K

Summary:

Post 179 but not episode centric

During an encounter with another Avatar of the Eye, Jon faces his past, Martin takes a turn at playing Kill Bill and Basira has a second look at the monster she’s determined to see.  

For three people associated with the Eye, they could all use some perspective.

Author’s Note:

Formally “a matter of perspective” and then I realized that was an episode title and felt very silly. This is the tumblr version because I forgot to post a version here, I only posted the link, whoops.

Big thanks to Impatiens_capensis on AO3 and lamella who served as editors to this piece so it can beheld without taking psychic damage. Their input was a massive help and I cannot thank them enough for their time. Big thanks to namiofthesea as well for advising me on the small details of beauty youtube. Your cursed info was essential.

Fic below the cut:

Jon knew they couldn’t die in this new world they inhabited, but he wasn’t quite sure about the specifics when it came to being harmed.

His new powers were useful despite being unwanted, but they had their limits. Hypotheticals were the biggest one. He could tell what path was safer to take, but not if an Avatar might change their mind to follow them. He knew Basira’s gun would always have bullets in it, but he didn’t know if that would apply to any other weapon she picked up, or if her gun would always work against what chased them. And he knew they could not die, at least not yet, but he didn’t know what would happen if someone tried to kill them.

“So if I shot you,” Basira said as they took a brief rest to light a fire between a domain of the Stranger and the Vast. She’d met up with them just outside of London after their brief split with a few new scars and a heavy tread to each step. But she was alive and that was something to celebrate. “Your wound would just heal?”

They made camp in a domain of the End, a giant graveyard that while unpleasant, wasn’t the worst place to rest. There was a fallen tree that made a good enough bench to sit on for Martin and Jon, and Basira sat across from them on a rather large boulder.

“Given past experience, that seems the most likely,” Jon replied, ignoring the look Martin gave him at the comment. They had discussed his attempts to make an anchor before he went to Jared, and Martin turned out to be fond of all ten of his fingers. After the incident with Daisy, Martin fussed for a full day as it healed up, even offering to carry him across a few domains. Across from them, Basira looked nonplussed. “The best guess I can go on is my leg and that managed to heal up within the day. But I can’t be sure if that will be the case everywhere.”

Basira scowled at the mention of his leg. It was a painful reminder for the both of them. Jon’s pant leg was still stained with blood and rips from the incident. “Because it’s a hypothetical?”

“Something like that. That or the Eye thinks Knowing will take away all my fear of it and doesn’t want to spoil the fun.”

“It’s spoiled enough fun already if you ask me,” Martin said, just under his breath. Jon allowed himself to smile and reached over to squeeze Martin’s knee in response. They weren’t big into public displays of affection as it was, but with Basira around they’ve tried to keep snogging to a minimum. It might be the apocalypse, but awkwardness apparently lived on.

Basira ran her thumb across her chin, deep in thought. She was less outright hostile to them after they met back up in London , but there was an edge to her that told Jon she still wondered if he was worth trusting. “And we can’t die either?”

“No, at least not for good. At least not now.” Jon paused after that and closed his eyes. Since Daisy, he knew more about the laws of this new world, how it shaped and bent around emotional logic. The specifics on how that logic changed from place to place was what he struggled with. He tried to Know the specifics, reaching out for that endless pool of knowledge but he came back empty handed with the taste of battery acid on his tongue. “I don’t know anything more than that.”

“Another hypothetical?”

Jon looked up at the sky. “I think more trying to keep the fear of not knowing fresh.”

He explained what he meant by that later, when Basira was asleep and he felt less watched despite the thousands of eyes in the sky. Martin was a good listener and patient when Jon struggled for the right words. After being a mouthpiece to others’ horrors Jon still found it difficult to voice his own.

“You think after everything, I wouldn’t be able to feel fear anymore but… I can,” Jon said, lying on his back with his eyes closed. He could still see the eyes in the sky, he could see everything around them, but if he focused very hard on a domain of the Vast, he could sometimes pretend the stars from that sector were the ones actually in front of him. Back before Basira joined them, he would sometimes list the constellations to Martin who in turn would tell him the mythological stories behind each one. “I still do. I don’t think I’d be able to be the Archivist if I couldn’t.”

Martin was next to him, side to side, his hand holding Jon’s tight, thumb brushing across his knuckles. Somehow he managed to remember how to be gentle despite everything. “You don’t seem scared.”

Jon turned to him, opening one eye to look at him properly. Martin looked tired, bags under his eyes from lack of restful sleep, but he watched Jon with rapt attention. It was calming, seeing those brown eyes focused and fully present. One of Jon’s worst memories of the Lonely was Martin staring at him with pale empty blue irises that looked so close to that of Peter Lukas.

Jon forced a wry smile on his face. “Would you believe I’ve become a fantastic actor?”

The raise of one eyebrow that Martin gave him in response was easy to interpret without Knowing. Jon sighed, and closed his eyes again, rolling closer towards Martin. Martin’s arm reached around his side in a loose embrace and Jon made a mental note to move within 10 minutes or his arm would fall asleep.

“Fair enough,” Jon said, voice somewhat muffled by Martin’s shirt. “I suppose it’s that a big part of fear is the unknown. I am scared of the pain fire can cause, but the fear of dying from it or being burnt by it permanently: that’s gone now.”

That was true. The entire time Jon faced down Jude Perry, the fear in his bones was only that of pain, not what might come after. It was such a contrast to the fear he’d first felt facing Jude, that he’d been almost power drunk on it, reveling  in the fear coming off of her in waves that Jon himself no longer felt.

Jon didn’t want to ever admit it out loud, but sometimes it was intoxicating to be the predator instead of the prey.

“That takes some of the edge off, knowing what is coming, at least for me. No, it’s the fear of what I don’t know that is still sharp. And that’s what the Eye wants, I think. The fear of what comes next when all you know is that there will be a next.”

“After all this, it’s still feeding on you,” Martin said, rubbing Jon’s back with the hand under Jon’s side.

“I don’t think it ever intends to stop.”

Martin was quiet before he pulled Jon in closer for a proper embrace, resting his chin on the top of Jon’s head. It reminded Jon of lazy mornings in the cabin, back when they thought things might actually be alright. Comfort might no longer exist in the world, but if there was anything close to it left, the sensation of being loved and protected was the next best thing.

“Think if we find a domain of the Desolation, we can dig up a rocket big enough to fire into one of those pupils?” Martin mused, his hand still rubbing Jon’s back.

“It wouldn’t-“

“I know it wouldn’t do anything, Jon; I mean solely for the satisfaction.”

Jon did consider it and he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. He Knew the eyes in the sky wouldn’t even blink if they tried it, but picturing it anyway was indeed satisfying. “I’ve never lit fireworks before.”

“Neither have I.”

“I don’t know if the Eye will allow me knowledge on how to prank it.”

“Good thing we’re likely clever enough to figure it out ourselves. And if not, Basira can probably put it together. She might even like it.”

“Maybe she will,” Jon tried to picture Basira smiling under a display of fireworks. She hadn’t smiled since Daisy and Jon found he missed it. Despite their current antagonism, Jon never wanted her miserable.

Daisy wouldn’t have wanted that either. She told Jon once that Basira and her would go for pubs on weekends. Instead of drinking, they would play trivia and laugh whenever they got an answer horrendously wrong. Jon Knows what that was like, he can even tell you the smell of the peanuts on the floor mixed with spilled beer, but he wished he could have seen that laughter for himself.

“You aren’t responsible for the world, Jon.” Martin whispered into his hair.

“Are you sure you're not an Avatar of the Eye with that insight?”

“No. I don’t know everything. I just know you.”

Jon opened his eyes and looked at Martin before craning his neck up for a brief kiss. It hurt his neck to do it for too long, but the kiss was sweet and reassuring. He moved Martin’s arm so he was no longer lying on top of it and smoothed his hair back.

“Go to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Martin did. As he rested, twitching with nightmares he never remembered, Jon thought about what he was still scared of. The Web for sure, the strings he couldn’t see. Jonah, for what he did to him and what he could still do. He feared for Melanie and Georgie’s safety and if they hated him as much as he thought they should. He worried if Basira would ever be okay again, if he ruined everything he touched, if she was right to sometimes look at him like he was something dangerous.

And Martin. He feared Martin’s devastated expression if they killed Jonah and this hell still stood. He feared the Lonely, coming back and telling Martin that being alone was better than being with a monster. He feared losing Martin’s hand in his, the sound of a soft snore at night, and the whistling as they walked when the landscape was particularly horrendous and they needed a distraction.

Love was the only thing that could prompt such overwhelming fear, Jon thought. That was why it was so powerful a feeling: no one would dare to risk that horror of loss otherwise.

No, Jon Sims was still scared of so much. It was hard to quantify all that fear: Jon sometimes felt he could drown in it. Martin helped keep him afloat and in turn Jon kept him from being lost in his own quest devastation. They were each other’s safe harbor.

“Lord, I’m becoming a poet,”Jon said to himself, amused. He glanced at Martin who began to mumble under his breath about the cold. Carefully, as if not to disturb him, Jon grabbed his discarded jacket from next to them and laid it over Martin. It didn’t stop the muttering but there was less of it than before. Small miracles. “I suppose there are worse fates.”

With that, Jon began his watch as his comrades slept on.

______________________________________________________________________

The thing was, Jon never considered what would happen if he ran into another Eye Avatar.

The domain they walked into was one Jon chose as the most safe. When it came to domains, the Desolation and the Corruption were best avoided, so when Jon found himself picking between the two and then the Eye, he went for the Eye. It was a smaller domain, a former multimedia office turned into multiple hallways and rooms of endless monitors. It seemed the Eye had a fondness for the digital age.

The domain belonged to a former internet influencer by the name of Irene Hatchette. In her mid-twenties with a relatively popular makeup series, she fed on the fear of exposure. Her relationship with the Eye began as a child by tattling on her step-sister before the took the same scheme to school where she would steal her classmates cell phones and told everyone what she found, while implying even more to let people come to their own worst conclusions. In university, she learned to make fake accounts and emails to lure people into sending her things she could publish widely out of context, and as an internet star, those fake identities triples as she used each to speak to her rivals, invade their fan groups and personal pages for information she could sell to gossip magazines or twist for her own use. Once, she had to spend months pretending to be a therapist to get scoop on someone’s past hospitalization involving horrendous burns, which she dug up medical photos of by calling the right stupid hospital tech about changing “his corrupted password.” Once she published the pictures all across the internet, well, the rival stopped being a problem. It was business, sure, but there was a thrill to it too, much like pinning a still living butterfly to a corkboard to put on display.

Before the Change, she found rivals would now just tell her things behind her new identity of the week, their greatest insecurities without months and months of building a fake persona. It was like they wanted her to know, like they wanted her to tell everyone about how little they deserved what they had, and she took full advantage. It was a minor power, but a useful one for her line of work. She’d started going after just regular people before everything started, wrecking them with perfect pieces of information when she found someone who deeply feared being seen. Now her entire domain was dedicated to the practice, a full multimedia center for her to broadcast whatever she wanted.

The statement Jon gave after he walked in followed the format of an online video tutorial script. When Jon told them this was a domain of the Eye, Basira decided to stay behind to listen to the statement. Martin plugged his ears and hummed a song Elias used to complain about them playing in the Archives. When the statement was done Basira stared at him, looking like she smelled something rotten.

“What?”

“I may have nightmares of you saying “remember to like and subscribe” in that tone.”

Jon couldn’t blame her. The instructions to “make sure to peel away the skin so you can expose their heart to the viewer! It’s important to be authentic: well it’s important for them to be authentic. Your job is just to watch ,” was particularly vivid. He was glad he never got into social media with all the mess happening in the Archives if this was even a little what it was like.

The dozens of television monitors and screens around them show a different person’s secrets, twisted into a show.  The man who edited his photos to hide his ache scraped of his skin with a rusty razor on one screen. A woman who claimed she lived in luxury was buried by her piles of bills in her crumbling apartment. On a monitor right behind Basira, another man removed each tooth from his mouth by hand. The like counter in the corner shot up with every howl of pain he made.

“Another Eye Avatar?” Martin asked them after Basira gave him a recap of the statement.

“Yes,” Jon said, pulling his gaze from the screens.

“You know, it’s surprising we haven’t run into one before now,” Martin said. “Unless you’ve been keeping us away from them?”

“I haven’t.” That was something worth considering later, Jon thought. Martin was right: it was unusual this was their first one.

“So this domain is what?” Basira asked as they headed down the halls and through a room full of even more televisions. They had to walk slow from the hundreds of cords and wires that littered the floor. “The fear of being exposed?”

“Something like that,” Jon said. “Imposter syndrome too. It doesn’t have to be a real secret to be preyed upon.”

“And the Avatar?”

“In the media room. She shouldn’t be a problem: she’s setting up a new stream,” Jon said, glancing at one of the monitors in the room that had a countdown on it. He didn’t envy the poor soul who was about to grace the captive audience.

Most of the walk through the domain was quiet, nothing but the hum of technology and the noises coming from each screen. It was a small place, just hallways of computer monitors cataloguing fear to a delighted audience. If they hadn’t been interrupted, they wouldn’t have been there for more than an hour relatively speaking.

Later, Jon would suspect Jonah to be behind what followed. Or perhaps the Eye was his blind spot, the one place where he couldn’t quite see. Regardless, he only knew the Avatar was coming right when she appeared at the end of the hallway, phone in one hand, headset around her neck. She was small, smaller than the three of them, with pale skin and a slender build. She looked mostly human. Only two things were off: there was an artificial light to her, almost like that of an edited photo. That and her eyes were a brilliant bright green.

“So you’re the Archivist,” she said. She had an American accent (came over for Uni for a degree in business, able to afford cost of London with her parent’s income, learned secrets were the best weapon for attention by ratting out her step-sister and- focus, Jon, not now ), blonde hair curled up into ringlets and nails sharpened to pointed tips. When she spoke, there was a sneer to it that reminded Jon of his wealthier classmates at Oxford who wanted everyone to know how many zeros graced their bank accounts. “I was expecting someone… older.”

Jon heard the tape recorder in his backpack click on. He could tell Basira and Martin heard it too by the way they stiffened. Something was going to happen here and the Eye wanted to watch.

“We are just passing through,” Jon said. He knew what she wanted now, and he cursed himself for not figuring it out sooner. He should have known an Avatar obsessed with her self importance would take offense to anyone she deemed ‘competition.’ “I’m not here to intrude on your ‘production’ here.”

“Then why walk in like you own the place? She said. “And what’s with the extra luggage?”

“Luggage?” Martin scoffed. “That’s the best you could do, really?”

She ignored him. “I’m just saying, walking in without an introduction is rude. I mean, don’t you know who I am ? You know who everyone is.”

“I know who you are,” Jon said. “And I swear we are just walking through.”

“And if I don’t let you through?” The Avatar took a step closer. Basira pulled out her gun, aiming straight ahead.

“Don’t move.”

The Avatar didn’t look phased. She tilted her head to the side, curious. “Or what you’re going to put my down like your Partner?”

Static grew in Jon’s ears. He turned to Basira. “She’s baiting you.”

“I know that,” Basira snapped, through gritted teeth. The Avatar didn’t move, staring at them with bright green eyes. It wasn’t the same effect as being stared at by Magnus but it was similar, an itch under the skin of being terribly seen.

“Does he know that you thought about shooting him instead for a second?” The Avatar said. “You thought he could be lying, about not being able to bring her back. Maybe killing him would have fixed this. But you picked his word in the end. Sided with the other monster—”

“If you think you can pick me apart, you thought wrong,” Basira’s aim was steady, but Jon could tell she was tense by the grit to her jaw. “I’ve already lost everything. There’s nothing left for you to put on your screen.”

“Jon, I know we’re trying to move away from Kill Bill but we might have to this time,” Martin whispered, his hand on Jon’s shoulder. Jon nodded watching as the Avatar took another step towards them.

“I know.”

A shot rang out as the Avatar took another step in their direction. Jon watched as it passed through the Avatar, the image of the creature only glitching from the attack. Basira shot again and the second bullet was just as ineffective as the first.

“Shit,” Basira said, jumping back. Looking down, Jon saw the cords that lined the hallways twist up and reach for Basira’s ankles, wrapping around one with a tight grip. She yanked her foot loose with another pull but he could see the other wires begin to writhe beneath them like maggots feasting upon a corpse. Some of the cords plugged into monitors disconnected from their respective screens and rose up coiled like snakes. Electric sparks spit from the plugs, more dangerous than any venom.

Jon watched the Avatar take another step, the gaze in her eyes one he’d seen in Elias’ and on his own when he passed reflective surfaces. She was hungry.

Martin and Basira would look like the perfect meal for the Eye.

Jon straightened his shoulder, grabbing his tape recorder which was still recording, focused on the static in his ears and the endless gaze of the eyes above that were watching, always watching. He stared at her, drinking in all the information he could, about where she came from, what she feared, what she had done. The tape recorded whined. “ Ceaseless Watcher, turn your gaze upon —”

The Avatar paused mid step. Jon could see some strain to her face as the Eye looked down at her. But unlike the other Avatar’s he’d done this too, the strain looked like an annoyance rather than imbolizing. It didn’t make any sense: she wasn’t stronger than the others he’d faced so far. Then how—

Then he Knew. This Avatar was of the Eye, Jon destroyed the rest by using the power of the Eye against them but in this space that power was hers as well. How could you destroy someone with the power of Knowing when they were already known?

“Jon? What’s wrong?” Martin asked. The Avatar’s smile grew wide, all teeth as she stared at Basira. Basira who was not entirely steady with how her hands shook.

“Run,” Jon said, grabbing both of their hands and taking down a hallway at the same moment the Avatar ran at them at full speed.

It was a short chase. The many cables made navigation difficult when walking, let alone running. As the Avatar passed a monitor, she stuck her hand in it, pulling out a large piece of glass with a very sharp end. Perfect, Jon thought, for gouging out his eyes.

“See that guy: I heard even his mother didn’t like him. I mean, how shitty of a person to you have to be for that to happen? You know there has to be a reason behind it, right?” The Avatar’s voice was different then earlier, an airy sort of tone to her voice was layered with false concern.The monitors chimed in unison, showing a picture of a woman who had Martin’s eyes but none of the warmth of his expression. Comments with wild speculation ( he’s a liar, no he’s a fraud did you see his CV, no it’s because he’s petty about the smallest things it’s so annoying, or maybe he’s just stupid he never even finished university, I can’t believe he put his own mother in a home and barely visited how heartless-)  popped up beneath it, blocking the image except for the woman’s empty eyes.  “I could never do something like that to my Mom.”

Chirping noises of notifications and comments rang from the monitors covering the walls, high and shrill as more responses rang in. The noise consumed the hallway, painful in volume and pitch. Jon looked to Martin who was keeping his gaze away from the screens and focusing on the floor.

“And her-” The Avatar continued. “I feel so bad for people who have to work with her, it has to be so hard. I mean, she just strikes me as so self righteous. Look at me, I’m the law, I know best for the whole world. I mean, maybe she’s just trying to help, but like, she’s also such a hypocrite, you feel me? I mean, did you see what she said back there? If that’s how she greets her allies, I’d hate to be her enemy.”

The monitors changed again to that of Basira, pointing her gun at Jon in the forest as another loud shriek of chimes came from the monitors. Another round of comments appeared (she was just in it for the power anyone can see that, no loyalty whatsoever too did you hear what happened to her partner, I bet she’ll find someone new to blame next time she always does nothing can ever be her fault) . Basira turned around and fired another shot, this one going through the Avatar and hitting one of the monitors behind her.

“Keep running, a left and a right and we’ll hit the exit-” Jon said. He lagged behind the other two; his running abilities still the worst of the three. All seeing Eye powers did not provide sudden physical fitness. That wouldn’t matter once they were out. Outside her domain, she wouldn’t have the advantage. They were so close.

"Hello Jon.”

That voice from the monitors, in just the right intonation and tone that Jon heard from his own mouth on the worst day of his life, caused him to misstep. He tripped over a bundle of cords, falling down with a loud thunk. They wrapped around his legs as he fell, securing him to the floor.

“Jon!” He heard Martin shout from ahead of him. He began to struggle to his feat but before he could, the other Avatar was upon him, the glass shard held high right above his face.

“What makes you the king of this new world?” the Avatar growled, her image flickering like that of a hologram, each pixel looking to be made up of a different colored eye. The concerned tone she had from earlier was gone, envy dripping from every syllable. “You don’t even want the power. It’s wasted on you!” She stabbed down and Jon barely dodged the attack by craning his neck to the left. A cord came up from the ground and wrapped around Jons’ neck, not tight enough to choke him but tight enough to hold him still.

“You weren’t qualified for the job you had, you never were and now we’re supposed to lay our hands off because you were the key to the door? That’s all you are: a shitty old key. A piece of metal! He made you that way, made sure every scar and mark was another notch in your useless body to force open a door.  Why do you get to be in charge when all you do is open people up to their own nightmares?”

The fog consumed the hallway before she could finish her sentence. A small wave rushed in across the tiled floor under Jon’s hands, replacing the endless path of wires and cords. The taste of sea salt coated his tongue, and when he waved his hand in front of him, the Avatar was gone. All that remained was mist and empty space.

Jon’s stomach dropped and the chill that entered his body wasn’t just from the cold. He stumbled to his feet and looked around. All he could see was Basira, running towards him in a full sprint.

“Jon, are you hurt?” She reached out as if to inspect his neck but he turned away. Now wasn’t the time.

“Basira, have you seen Martin?”

She shook her head. “No. Last I saw he was running at you. What happened?”

“I think Martin did.”

Basira frowned. “He’s still tied to it.”

“He always will be. That’s how it works: the trauma doesn’t just leave you. It just gets quieter.”

“This isn’t quiet, Jon.”

“No, it’s not. Can you see enough to not get lost here?”

She nodded. Jon turned to head into the fog.

“I’m going to find Martin.”

He didn’t stay long enough to hear her reply.

______________________________________________________________________

It took around five minutes of searching to find another figure in the Lonely. He could see them just barely at first, a lone person curled up on their side in the endless mists, but as he gets closer he can make out a better shape.

The figure in the shallows isn’t Martin. It’s the eye Avatar. Her makeup is gone, washed off her face from the waves and she sits curled into a ball expression blank. Around her the fog curls up into figures of people Jon has never met, staring down at her with a blank expression. With each roll of the tide she fades more and more.

“This is my apology video,” the Avatar said, voice so soft it was barely audible. “I’m not actually sorry, no one is when they make these, but this is what people want me to be sorry for so I have to pretend to be. That’s all my life is, pretending. It’s probably the thing I’m best at.”

Jon tried to take a step away but he found himself frozen. This statement was different from her first one and the Eye wanted to drink it in.

“I don’t know who my real father is: Mom always told me it was a famous celebrity or something but I’m pretty sure that’s a lie. She’s the one who taught me how to lie; she was the best at it. Before she married my Step-Dad, she talked so much about how she always wanted to be a step-mother and how happy she was that I’d have a sister. I knew she was lying; she never wanted me, and she didn’t want Odessa. But she wanted my Step-Dad and that’s what mattered—”

Jon watched as she continued to speak, the fog around her shifting and forming into rooms and people she once knew. He listened as she talked about how lonely she was in the big house they moved into, how her stepsister helped but never replaced that void of parental attention she craved. She talked about how when she was ten she realized confessing to her mother how Odessa broke a treasured vase made her mother shower her in praise for being a good for, how joyed her mother was to tell her stepfather how much his daughter was a liar. Her voice began to echo as she recalled how she began to tell her stepmother every secret Odessa trusted her with for those scraps of praise, how it made her feel terrible but not as much as it made her feel adored. How when her stepsister found out and stopped talking to her, she was forced to read her diary for scraps of intel.

“Mom convinced my step-dad to send her to a boarding school for troubled kids when we were fifteen.” the woman who was once Irene Hatchette said as her story wound to a close. “And then I had no secrets left to steal. So I watched the housekeepers and my classmates and my teachers and then my competition because nothing was worse than being ignored. And now everyone can see me on their screen except they don’t see me at all, not really. That’s fitting I guess. I can see everything but no one can see me. Isn’t that funny, guys? I think it’s funny.”

Another wave washed over the ground and the Avatar vanished leaving nothing but an imprint of her silhouette in the sand behind her. That would soon be gone with every wave that passes. No record that she ever existed would remain.

“God,” Jon said. Statements of Avatars always got to him. They were always the strangest mix of evil and pathetic.

It scared him to think that his would likely be the same.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that thought. Instead he looked around, really looked, and Martin was there, only a few meters away looking down at the space the Eye Avatar once occupied with a blank expression. The fog swirled around his feet like a cat, cozy and content, not feeding at him but waiting at his beck and call. It made Jon’s stomach turn.

“Martin.”

Martin looked up. His eyes were a glassy white blue, the color of sea foam. Jon was beginning to hate that color. “Jon.”

Jon walked towards him stopping right in front of Martin. He reached out for him on reflex and then pulled his hands back as one passed through Martin’s side. “Time to stop this. She’s gone.”

“Who’s gone?” Martin’s voice had an edge to it that told Jon that he knew exactly what Jon was talking about. Like he was making a wry joke. Martin had always been petty and snarky but in the Lonely those twisted again in the mists to make him cruel.

“... fair enough. But time to let the Lonely go. This isn’t—”

Jon cut off. This isn’t you, that was what he wanted to say. But that wasn’t quite true. Martin had such an affinity to the Lonely because it was a part of him, just like Jon’s thirst for knowledge had always made him a part of the Eye. Martin would always find himself feeling alone in a crowd, Martin would always have a bitter edge that came with years of cold air for comfort. To deny that would be wrong.

But Martin’s loneliness had also encouraged his depth of empathy, his unwavering compassion and his helping nature. It was the reason he reached out to others who looked lost, and the reason he brought a fresh cup of tea to his grumpy boss each morning because he always seemed so isolated. Martin would always be tied to the Lonely, yes, but it didn’t have to be who he was.

Jon reached up a hand to cup Martin’s face. He was cold to the touch, eyes the same pale empty blue that reminded Jon far too much of Peter.

“This isn’t who you have to be,” Jon said, swiping his thumb across Martin’s cheek. Then, stronger. “This isn’t who you want to be.”

For a moment, nothing changed. The fog lingered, swirling at their waists and there was no sound but the rush of an empty ocean and a ticking clock. Then Martin closed his eyes and the fog receded, blown away by a gust of wind. The ocean smell faded, the sound of the ticking clock was replaced by the hum of multiple monitors.

When Martin opened his eyes in the monitor filled hallway, they were brown once more.

______________________________________________________________________

They fled the domain quickly after that, spending little time after finding Basira to  escape. When they made it outside, they all stopped to catch their breath, a wheeze coming from Jon who was still no good at running.

“Are you alright, Basira?” Jon said between gasping breaths.

“I’m fine. What the fuck was that?“ Basira gestured to Martin. Fog still clung to his ankles and he exhaled more every breath. While now solid, the edges of him blurred like a mirage. He was glaring at Basira, that cold edge to him still apparent in his expression.

“Me, saving our skins.”

“By summoning the Lonely?”

“It was the best idea I had. She was hurting Jon! Not that you’d care about that.”

“That’s not—” Basira cut off shaking her head. “Since when could you do that anyway?”

“Basira—” Jon started but was soon cut off by Martin.

“I don’t know, I’d never tried it before!”

“Martin—” Jon didn’t get to say anything more than that before Basira responded.

“Do you even know how it works? What if it just consumed you instead? Or Jon?”

All hopes Jon had for this conversation ending civilly died with that question.

“I would never hurt Jon. Not like you planned to. We all heard what it said back there.” Martin almost growled. When he spoke next, his voice echoed. “Why are you looking at me like that, Basira? Thinking you put down the wrong monster again?”

“Enough!” Jon’s shout was enough for Basira and Martin to both take a large step backwards. “Martin that was uncalled for—” Jon kept talking as Martin began to argue. “And Basira, I’d appreciate it if your first reaction to Martin saving our lives wasn’t outright suspicion. We’re all tense with what happened. We need to cool off.”

Basira turned away first, walking towards the street where some burned out cars were. Martin watched as she went and ran his hand down his face.

“Shit,” he said, the echo in his voice still present but not quite as obvious. “You should probably go talk to her. I’ll go sit over there and check our supplies.”

Jon grabbed his wrist as he began to walk away. Thankfully despite the blurring edges to Martin’s form, he was still solid enough to touch. “Do you need me to come with you?”

Martin shook his head. “No. I just need a bit of time to… think.” His eyes were still brown, and Jon felt his pressing concern fade. “I’ll keep in sight just in case. Deal with Basira first. I don’t want her splitting off again: it’s too dangerous. Even if I’m pissed with her.”

“Okay,” Jon said before pressing a kiss to Martin’s cheek, just to feel the cold skin warm a degree. He was worried, but he also trusted him. With that, he let go of Martin’s wrist and walked over towards Basira who was glaring at what was once a car.

“What Martin said  was uncalled for.”

Basira nodded. “It was.” She brushed some dirt off her pants before turning to look at Jon. “But I get why he’s pissed. Given what she said back there.”

Right, that. Jon hadn’t forgotten what the Avatar said about Basira’s opinion on him. “So it’s true then?”

“Don’t you know that already?”

“I told you I wasn’t looking,” Jon said, irritation bubbling over. He’d assumed as much, he wasn’t oblivious, but he’d never looked to know for sure. Having it confirmed wasn’t a surprise but hearing that Basira assumed he was looking stung more than he cared to admit. He couldn’t do this right now, he thought, and turned on his heel to go after Martin.

“Wait, no, Jon—shit this is not how I wanted this to go.“

Jon stopped at the tone in her voice: still stern but not hostile. Instead he waited, still staring back at the empty building where they came from. Did Basira look at him and just see a monster just like the Avatar they had escaped from? A man obsessed with information that he could wield like a knife and rip people open?

Did Basira see him and just see another Elias?

“You don’t talk about yourself much,” Basira said.

“Neither do you.”

“No, I don’t.” Basira was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “What that woman said—about you being a key to a door—true?”

Jon clenched his bad hand, thumb brushing over the burn scar there. A key notch, that was what the Avatar compared it to. He hated how right the comparison felt. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried,” Jon snapped, curt. “You didn’t listen.”

He was surprised by how angry he sounded. He thought he was used to this by now, resigned to not being listened to. Basira wasn’t the only one who did it: she was just another person in a long line who decided Jon was better worth blaming than hearing out. And to be fair, she had plenty of reason to, after some of the things he did. She had more reason than most.

That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

“I’m listening now,” Basira said, her voice sure and steady. Jon took a deep breath through his nose, burying down the anger under layers of guilt that left it at bay. He turned to look at her. She hadn’t moved any closer or farther away. Her hands were at her sides, open palms facing her knees.

“And why is that?” Jon’s voice was quiet. Basira was silent for a few moments and when she spoke next, it was with a hesitance Jon rarely heard from her.

“You said with… Daisy… it was the first time Jon heard her say Daisy’s name since everything happened. A pang of grief and hurt washed through him as he remembered two versions of the same woman: the one who held a knife to his throat with hungry eyes and the one who sat with him in his old office and taught him exercises to stop the phantom pain in his bad hand.

He missed the friend he had and he feared the monster who hunted him. Neither canceled out the other.

“You said that I couldn’t hunt a monster I refused to see.” Basira said, drawing him out of the memory. “I think the same might apply in reverse.”

“Oh?”

“I can’t find a human when I’m determined to see a monster. So I’m listening. If you want to give it a try.”

She looked sincere. Part of Jon was afraid this would go like it always did, that he would finish this story to be told he only had himself to blame. Yet, the opportunity of a different ending is enough of a temptation to give it a try. So he does.

He explained Elias’ plan and how he fit into it, the ways he was kept in the dark, the marks he needed to have the perfect notches for the door Elias wanted to open. When she asked about the marks he goes over each, some quicker than the others, sparing the least amount of time for the boy and the book. It wasn’t like a statement, he didn't linger in the emotion of it, but it bleed through in his tone when he wasn’t careful. The whole explanation couldn’t have taken more than 15 minutes but it felt like hours.

When he finished his story, Basira spoke first.

“So you were 8 then? When it started?”

Jon’s voice was not steady when he answered.“If you consider the first mark the start then yes.” For a second he could feel the smooth paper of the book under his hands, and the gasp of breath as he ran away from the house that would haunt his memories well into adulthood. All of his past traumas are like that now, as an archive he feels each memory as vividly as it first occurred, but the Web remains the worst one to revisit.

“Daisy was 11,” Basira said.

“What?”

“She didn’t talk about it much,” Basira continued. “I don’t know the details, just that she was young.”

Jon instantly Knew without trying. He saw the creature on the top of the stairs, he felt the fence dig into his back and leave a scar there that will become Daisy’s nickname, he tasted the fear she felt seeing every new report of Calvin’s escalating violence. All the trauma flooded his head in a matter of seconds.

“Oh,” Jon said, when it was over. “I didn’t know.”

“She didn’t like to talk about it,” Basira shrugged. “I assume she didn’t know about you and the Web either.”

“No. I—”Jon’s mouth felt oddly dry. “I...I hadn’t told anyone until a few months ago. Unless you count the tapes.”

Jon didn’t count the tapes. They listened but they never responded, an impassive audience. Not like Martin who upon finding Jon frozen in front of a spider web outside their cabin, pulled him gently inside, made him a cup of tea just warm enough to drink without burning him and said “It’s not your fault what happened. I promise, it’s not your fault.”

“I don’t hate you, Jonathan Sims,” Barisa said. Jon turned his gaze down to his shoes. The blood on his pant leg from Daisy’s attack makes his stomach twist.

“You should.” He thought about the Avatar back in the building, how she’d peeled open his biggest regrets and laid them out for display. How pathetic he was, to have ruined everything so badly.

Basira took a step closer, still far enough away to give Jon space but close enough that Jon could see the mud and tar caking her shoes.

“I think I’m the one who gets to decide that,.” she said. “I am angry; Ithink I might always be. You dragged me into your mess and you’ve hurt innocent people. That doesn’t just go away.” She took another step forward, close enough to reach out if she wanted. “But it doesn’t make you a monster either.”

“What does it make me then?”

“What I wish Daisy got a chance to be; someone who decided to make a different choice before it was too late.”

“Who says it isn’t too late for me?” Jon looked up at Basira. She raised her hand up over Jon’s shoulder but didn’t touch, waiting for a sign the gesture was welcome. Jon gave a slight nod, and she held his shoulder gently and gave it a light squeeze.

“It might be. But I’d like to think you’re the one who gets to decide that.” She removed her grip from Jon’s shoulder and took a step back, giving him space once more. “You should probably talk to Martin: I doubt either of us is feeling friendly right now.”

“I’m sorry for what he said,” Jon said.

“You still apologize too much,” Basira said and a small hint of a smile passed her face. “I’m going to do a weapons check. I’ll join you after.”

Jon watched as she got down on her knees and began to open her pack. In another life, he thought, they could have been friends, joined by their mutual love of books and mysteries. He didn’t think that was a possibility now, after everything that happened. This world was not conducive for new friendships.

After this conversation, however, maybe they might find something close to it. Not quite friendship, but understanding at least.

With that thought in mind, Jon went to follow Martin.

______________________________________________________________________

He found Martin sitting on the ground next to a half-rusted bike and a few empty plastic bottles. He looked less faint around the edges, more solid than when they left, but when Jon got closer he could feel the chill that still wrapped around him like a blanket.

“Martin,” Jon said, sitting down next to him. Martin’s gaze was fixed on his shoes but when he spoke there was no echo to his voice. That was good.

“Jon. How’s Basira?”

“Pissed at you but otherwise better than expected. We had a talk.”

The chill intensified, just a fraction. Jon Restrained the urge to shiver. “What kind of talk?”

“The good kind. I think we’ve reached an understanding, if that makes any sense.”

Martin nodded and the chill went back to how it was when Jon first arrived: enough to be noticed but not enough to demand a jacket. They were silent for a while, Jon making sure he was close enough that their arms were touching. Just enough to provide a weight of presence.

“I’m sorry. About Kill Bill.”

“What?”

Martin still didn’t look at him, twisting his fingers together. He did that when he was nervous, one of the gestures Jon could now read without any supernatural knowhow. Normally he would reach out and with slow movements, drag one of those hands free for a kiss. Martin looked too upset for Jon to try it now.

“For trying to encourage you to go all avenging angel. Back when we first left the cabin and all. I’m sorry.”

Jon was rarely shocked by anything these days, but this threw him off guard. He thought they covered this a long time ago. “Martin you don’t—”

“No, no, I—” Martin breathed in deep and Jon was elated that he couldn’t see the other man’s breath. Back when Martin first escaped the Lonely, a winter fog followed every inhale for at least a few days. It made it hard for Jon to take his eyes off him, so scared he was that he might disappear.  “Back then, I thought it would be good to get rid of them—”

“I know—”

“Let me finish.” Martin untangled his fingers to hold up his pointer finger. Jon stopped speaking at the gesture. “I thought it was good to get rid of them, that we could maybe help people or something.” His shoulders slumped, and Jon could read shame in the slant to them. “But I also thought it would feel good, for the both of us. To not be chased around for once by things we can’t stop, to finally turn the tables on the things giving us nightmares for years. Let them know what it’s like. And when I wasn’t the one doing it, it kind of was. Not entirely, but just enough to feel right.” He kicked one of the empty plastic water bottles forward. “But back there… When I did it myself, I just felt—”

He finally looked up at Jon and Jon’s heart twisted to see the stricken expression on his face. “I just felt terrible Jon. That woman was objectively evil: she used people’s darkest secrets against them for clicks on the internet and her own amusement. The fact that her childhood was shitty doesn’t change that. But when I was there making her feel just as lonely and isolated as she deserved to be, all I could think about was how I sounded exactly like… exactly like… him.”

Jon didn’t have to ask who Martin was talking about. Instead he reached forward and placed his hand in Martin’s squeezing tight. A reminder that Jon was there, that Jon was listening, that Martin was not alone, not anymore.

Martin kept talking, squeezing Jon’s hand back, “I’m not saying we’re the same: Peter threw people in the Lonely for tribute and I only did it to save you. Our reasoning was entirely different even if the end result was the same. I’m not Peter Lukas because of that.” He said that with more confidence, the tremor from earlier gone. “But I think doing that, while it doesn’t make me more like him, it doesn’t make me better either. It makes me—”

“Feel worse?’

Martin leaned against Jon, resting his head on Jon’s shoulder. It was awkward with how much taller Martin was, but not unpleasant. “Yeah. So I’m sorry, for not getting it.”

Jon thought back to the power he had with Jude and with Jared. How the rush of finally being in control would fade to a rush of shame. “It’s hard to understand.”

“That doesn’t mean I couldn’t have tried sooner.”

“You’re not like Peter, you know,” Jon said. “Not even close. Not now, not then.”

“Thank you.”

They sat there for a few moments, quiet in each other’s company. Martin still ran cold, but he warmed up with the contact. Jon listened to his heartbeat, the reminder the Martin was still alive, that he still had a heart, that he hadn’t lost him to death or the Lonely’s endless waves. Jon was not a lucky man but for as long as he lived, he would be thankful he had just enough luck to have this, even if  just for a little while.

“So you’re not going to cast Elias into the Lonely then?” Jon asked after a period of quiet. Martin shrugged, the gesture causing his hair to brush against Jon’s chin.

“I don’t even know if it would work; I think he’s too self absorbed to be lonely properly.. If your thing doesn’t work and I have no other choice I’ll give it a go, but otherwise I’m thinking the traditional route might be best.”

“Oh?”

“I have two hands and the institute probably has some loose pipes in it still. I was thinking I could take a page from his book.”

Jon snorted. His worries about his powers not working on Elias faded to the back of his mind, a matter of concern he could examine later. There would be time to think about the implications of what happened with the Eye Avatar. For now, some banter would suffice.

“How’s your swing?”

“Not bad but I’ll make sure to practice on the way there. I can see how I do against some stop signs.”

“The domain of traffic laws won’t see you coming.”

They both laughed, quiet but strong. When Basira came over to join them, Martin stiffened but with a look from Jon he kept his mouth shut. Knowing the pair of them, Jon thought, they would respectively apologize to the other soon enough. All it would take was some time.

He wasn’t sure how much time they had left, with Elias waiting for them at the end of it. The Eye could only tell him so much and it had no intention to tell him how this would all end. If the world could be saved, if they could survive this ordeal would remain unknown until it happened, leaving Jon to marinate in the fear of what could be.

For now, Jon was content to stay in the dark, the man he loved humming an old song with his head on his shoulder and Basira quietly watching them with something that was close to fondness. The man who understood him best and the woman who was making an effort to try. It wasn’t the worst moment to be in, at the end of the world.

It was something almost like peace.

#tma #tma fic #the magnus archives #the magnus archives fic #jonmartin #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #basira hussain #sometimes you forgot to make the tumblr version it happens my dudes #welcome to the plot is just a train for character development and we're gonna ride it #tma 179

[hazinhoodies]

October part 5

A/N: Its actually been so long since I’ve posted whoops. It’s been a long week. I promise the next part will be more entertaining than the past five. My writing will be equally bad though. All parts tagged under october fic

Harrison Osterfield x OC

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: a swear or two

Emma’s first interviews were with Marisa and Tom that afternoon. It was definitely Emma’s favourite scene that she's read so far, Peter and May reuniting. How could it not be her favourite? She watched them film the scene and run it over and over again as she chatted with Sam. About an hour or so later the director cut and Tom came over to the two of them, taking the water bottle Sam held. He nodded at his brother and looked over at Emma only for her to shake her head.

“Marisa first” She spoke, pointing over to Marisa who was currently talking with Jon. Tom furrows his brows and tilts his head, looking confused. “You’re always last Tom. Have been every day for the past two weeks”

“But.. why?” Tom pouted, Emma couldn’t help but grin.

“Because you have a scene to film. You have scenes to film every day, Tom. You’re Spider-Man, and this is a Spider-Man movie”

“Shit. Tom, mate. We were supposed to be on the set of Toy Story 4 how’d we mess this one up” Sam pipes in. Emma’s grin only grows.

“I knew something didn’t seem right here” Emma looks at the two boys before spotting Marisa on her way back to her trailer “I’ve gotta go but I’ll be at your trailer after your next set of scenes” Emma nods to the pair and quickly follows Marisa, catching up to her easily.

“Uh Ms. Tomei I just ha-”

“Emma please just call me Marisa. Ms. Tomei is way too formal” Emma nods

“So.. Marisa” Emma pauses “I just have questions about Aunt May during the scene you just filmed.” Marisa nodded in response as they reached her trailer. Quickly setting up her laptop, Emma got back to the interview as quickly as possible. “Okay uh. Just.. run me through her thoughts”

Marisa spends ten minutes giving the most detailed answer Emma had received so far. Talking about Mays relief when she saw Peter and the worry from the past five years. Even bringing in Uncle Ben’s death at one point and Mays dislike for Stark, which only grew when he took her boy to space in Infinity War.

“Okay. That’s it I guess” Emma looks over at Marisa who has a small smirk plastered on her face. Emma’s brows furrow and she opens her mouth to speak but Marisa starts before her.

“Is there something going on between you and that boy?” She cocks her head to the side but a look as if she already knows the answer crosses her features.

“What? Me and Sam? No we're just friends, com-” Marisa interrupts her again

“No not Sam. Harrison. I noticed you two bump into each other and Emma,” She pauses, leaning in closer “It was almost painful to watch”

Emma feels a small blush creep onto her cheeks as she shrugs her shoulders, her gaze falling to the floor “We barely even talk. Unless Tom, Jacob or one of the twins are there it's just… nothing”

“Do you want to talk to him?” Marisa asked, giving Emma a gentle look. Emma nodded. Marisa placed her hand on Emma's shoulder “Then go do that sweetie. Look at yourself, ask him out or something. He’s just a boy. What’s the worst that could happen? He says no?”

“It’s just” Emma pauses “I don’t-” she sighs “I’m scared. I guess. I mean, my last relationship ended horribly and I don’t want it to happen again” Unsure of why she suddenly opened up to Marisa, Emma looks up at her, receiving a small smile and gentle nods.

“It’s okay. Baby steps Emma. You’ve got this. Harrison is a good person. He’ll understand”

Emma knocks on Toms trailer door gently, stepping in when one of the boys shouts.

“You know, you don’t have to knock Em. I really don’t care” Tom starts, he’s sprawled out on the couch, legs on to of Harry, who looks mildly annoyed. Emma takes a seat at the table, Sitting next to Sam. The spots across from them left empty.

“The one time I don’t I’m gonna hear or see something that I don’t want to so I think I’m good” Emma opens up her laptop.

“Emma you look exhausted” Harry speaks, traces of sympathy in his voice but not much.

“Wow really? Thanks Harry” Emma’s voice is laced with sarcasm. “Rough morning. Woke up late, outfit didn’t work out, didn’t get coffee until later and then bumped into Harrison and dropped it all so I still haven’t been caffeinated today and it’s already 2 pm” Emma’s loads up the document and exhales sharply “Okay Tom. You know the drill. Start talking”

Once he had finished talking about the scenes, Emma sent the email and opened up a new one Michael had sent her. Just reminding her of a rehearsal she had to be at tonight for the band to look at what’s been written of the score so far and reminding her to work on her part of the score.

She’d entirely forgotten about her composition for the movie. A big smile spread across her face that she couldn’t hold back.

“Hey now” Sam nudged her with his elbow “What’s got you all smiley?”

Emma pushed him back gently looking over at him.

“Oh it’s really nothing, just I get to write a bit of the score for the movie” the three boys cheered, Emma let out a small laugh “Which means that my name actually gets put in the credits under ‘composer’ and not just ‘composer's assistant’” Emma laughed again as Tom clapped loudly.

“That’s amazing” Sam patted her shoulder gently.

“What’s amazing?” Harrison walked in holding a tray of coffees in one hand, the fifth one in his other hand.

“Emma actually gets to write stuff for the movie” Harry spoke taking a coffee from the tray in Harrison’s hand.

“Really? That’s so good, congrats Em.” He placed the tray down on the table “I would call this a celebratory coffee but I owe you this one already” He hands Emma a cup. She takes it and notices a little note written on it.

Sorry :(

Emma smiles. Guess your day got a hell of a lot better huh Emma.

“Wait, do you know my order?” Emma looks over at him as he sits on the chair across from Sam.

“Took a guess. Two creams two sugar” Emma winces.

“Oh so close too. Two creams one sugar. A double-double is fine though” It takes her a moment to realize why all the boys give her slightly confused looks.

“I’m gonna have to do this with every Canadian term huh” All the boys' nod in response “Double-double is a coffee order. Two creams, two sugar. A triple-triple is the same thing but three of each” The boys had asked so many random questions about Canada, mostly about slang, and mostly asked by Harry.

What’s a toque? Essentially a beanie with a pom pom

Why are they called toonies? They're $2 coins and the $1 coins are called loonies

Do you really say ‘eh; that much? No, if we do it’s probably subconscious

Why do you guys say “Oot and aboot”? Only some do. Mostly Newfies. Gaelic roots and stuff

What’s the deal with poutine? It’s pronounced pou-tin or even pou-tsin. Wait really? Yep. If you order a “poutine” in Quebec they’ll know what you're talking about, might judge you though.

“A bunch of the cast are planning to go out on Friday’ Tom walks over to get his coffee, taking a seat across from Emma.

“You sure?” Emma looks over at Tom, then the other three boys who all nod in agreement.

“Yeah Z, Tony, Jacob and Remy are all going to. Not like you’ll be alone” Harry adds.

“Okay sure” Emma smiles as she closes up her laptop and leaves.

The door closes behind her and Harrison and Tom look at each other.

“Mate” Harrison starts, having to talk to her outside of set? Oh no.

“It’s an opportunity Haz. Just go with it. But first” Tom grabs Harrison’s phone from the table “You’re being a div”

(emmapriice) Harrison Osterfield (@hazosterfield) requested to follow you

Taglist: @rainbow-marvel @starkravingparker

Writers who let me tag them cause they're amazing: @cherryhollands @darlintom @starksparker @hollandroos @starksmile @marvelellie @dej-okay @h-osterfield @upsidedownparker @thewiseandfree

#harrison x oc #haz x oc #harrison osterfield x oc #haz osterfield x oc #harrison osterfield #harrison #haz osterfield #haz #harrison osterfield fic #haz fic #harrison fic #haz osterfield fic #october fic

[incorrect-got-quotes]

College Teachers AU Info. (Just in case anyone can think of some sort of quote to submit)

THERE IS A LOT HERE. I COULDN’T EVEN TAG EVERYTHING

Cat is the president of the school. She regularly has meetings with her kids about Rickon. They usually end in her facepalming.

Ned is like, the assistant president of the school. He like, goes around, checking on classes. Whenever someone’s supposed to be sitting in on and observing a class it’s usually him.

Robb is a PoliSci professor. In this AU he is 32. His students all adore him. Any of his students that are attracted to guys have a huge crush on him. He thinks it’s kind of cool, but he still does a good job of teaching his students. His students all call him King Robb, and on Teacher Appreciation day, they bought him a plastic crown and red fur cape to wear. He wore it for three days. Hemakes parodies of songs using the sounds that his direwolf makes and shows them to his class. One day, he felt too tired to really teach, so he just put on the entirety of the Important Playlist to watch. He’s married to Theon.

Jon is an American Soccer coach. He also teaches first aid. In this AU he is 31. His players don’t really know what to make of him. He’s nice, but he’s also very quiet. He hates it when his players make fun of their teammates for not being as good, but he also gets mad at anyone who is not trying their hardest, and is thus failing. He at least try to find out what’s going on first, but if he decides that it’s not worth not trying their best, he’ll crack down on them. He also stresses the importance of grades first, and if anyone tries to use sports as an excuse for failing a class, he suspends them from the team. He’s engaged to Ygritte.

Sansa is an English lit professor. In this AU she is 28. Her students know to respect her. She has them read up to 20 books a semester, which she highly encourages you also watch the movie for. She also encourages a lot of debate within her classes, and some of her students think it’s because she loves drama. She LOVES theories about the books they read, so if you can come up with a unique theory (like Pearl is a lesbian in The Scarlet Letter) or even propose a theory that’s interesting even if it has already been discussed (like that characters from the Fall of the House of Usher are vampires in an incestuous relationship), then you definitely will get a higher score. The gayer the theory, the high the points. She’s married to Margaery.

Arya is a Military History professor. In this AU she is 26. Her students are both in love with her, and very afraid of her. She is a generally very cool teacher, but they are also well aware of the fact that she is the best in her self defense class, and all her martial arts classes. It is a common joke between her students to say that she “got a degree in ass whooping.” The last time one of her students handed in something really late (like 2 weeks late), they could swear it was like staring down the face of death. She occasionally will answer questions about her religion, because not a lot of people know about the Many-Faced God, but a lot of the time she likes to leave them in the dark about it. She’s dating Myrcella.

Bran is a Psych professor. In the AU he is 25. He tends to teach with a more lax demeanor, to the point where his students aren’t sure whether he’s alive or not. They’re also convinced that he’s a little crazy, because sometimes he goes off on rants about random topics. He has a lot of memes made about him by his students, including the “sliding into your dms like” meme, where the clip is him rolling into the classroom in his wheelchair. His students, like everyone else, don’t know which Reed sibling he’s dating, and they have a bet goind on which one.

Rickon is not a teacher. In this AU he is 21. He was forced to attend the school after 3 years of “taking a break” by his parents, who he still lives with. He is actually not too bad of a student, but he abuses the fact that he ends up having all of his siblings for teachers. Or at least, he tries to abuse it. The others aren’t really having it. He has a crush on Shireen.

Shireen is a student as well. Like Arya, she is 26. She also is there because of an extended break from school, but that’s more because her parents advised her against going to college. Mainly due to her greyscale. She is a very good student, always attentive, always brings in her work early, and always gets top marks. She knows Arya from when they were kids, and occasionally used to babysit Rickon, and thus finds her current attraction to him kind of weird.

Brienne is Catelyn’s secretary/assistant/bodyguard. Technically she is only Cat’s secretary and assistant, but everyone is well aware that Brienne would kick their ass if they tried to threaten Cat. She’s dating Jaime.

Theon is the Archery coach. His players think he’s a bit obnoxious, but he also tends to be pretty cool. He’s married to Robb.

Ygritte is the girl’s Archery coach. She and Theon have a bit of a rivalyry going on, which she is winning. Her players adore her. She is engaged to Jon.

Margaery is an American lit professor. She doesn’t expect nearly as many books as Sansa, but she does still love theories. Her favorite theories involve the most drama in them. She, like Sansa, loves debates in her class, for the same reason as Sansa. She is married to Sansa.

Gendry is a mechanic, which confuses many people as to why he would take such a low paying job when he is the mayor’s eldest child. He doesn’t work at the school, but occasionally he will come in to help with any sort of issues they may have. He is rooming with Arya and Hot Pie.

Jojen is a Philosophy professor. He is by far the most out there teacher at the school. He looks like he is constantly high. He is (maybe?) dating Bran.

Meera an Environment Science professor. She is pretty strict with her students about getting work done. She doesn’t usually assign too much work in the first place, though. She is (maybe?) dating Bran.

Jaime is a police captain. He is very good at his job, however, many despise him because he shot the previous mayor of the town after Mayor Aerys tried to set off a bomb that would level the city. People call him “Mayor-Slayer.” He is dating Brienne.

Robert is the current mayor. He is not very good at his job, but Jon Arryn is there to advise him. He loves the fact that Gendry and Arya are dating.

Cersei is the mayor’s wife, who in this AU, is actually Gendry’s mother. She does not approve of her son’s relationship nearly as much as Robert does.

Tyrion is the Economics professor. He is adored by his students. Cat is not happy with the fact that he always shows up to his classes drunk, however.

Bronn is the Military Strategies professor. He and Arya will occasionally join their classes together. He also has a pretty high approval rating with his students, but not so high with Cat.

Yara is the Marine Biology professor. She will often take her student on trips to aquariums, and occasionally, out on the water. She is dating Dany.

Dany is the Reptile professor. She is always bringing in reptiles to show off to the class, and her favorite ones to bring are her 3 Kimono Dragons, Rhaegal, Viserion, and Drogon. She is dating Yara.

Tywin is the Business Management professor. Hus students are all deathly afraid of him. He has sent many a student to the counselors, crying.

Sam is the head librarian. He tries to keep kids quiet, but fails miserably. He is dating Gilly, and helping taking care of Sam Jr.

Grenn and Pyp are the assistant librarians. They are far better at keeping kids quiet than Sam.

Petyr and Varys are advisors to Robert. They are ALWAYS fighting.

Loras is a florist. He is dating Renly.

Renly is a cop. He is dating Loras.

Honestly just let your imagination run wild with those two.

Missandei is the Foreign Languages professor. Which one? All of them. She is dating Grey Worm.

Grey Worm is the wrestling coach. When people first see him they wonder how he could possibly be the wrestling coach, before he shows them exactly how he got to be the wrestling coach in the first place. He is dating Missandei.

Melisandre is the Religions professor. She is supposed to teach about a variety of different religions, but she seems to mainly focus on the Lord of Light.

Stannis is the Writing Comprehension professor. He is by far the strictest teacher in the school. He lets them out of class not a second before the end. Shireen is actually scared when she finds out that she is in his class.

Davos is the counselor at the school. He is beloved by all of the students, and he tends to be such an important and nurturing figure at the school that many of students have taken to calling him “Dadvos”.

Hot Pie is the Cooking professor. He gets very enthusiastic in class about whatever they’re making, and thus, his students love him. They love his excitement. He calls them, “Little Cooks”.

Tommen is a student. He’s a fairly average student, but he’s pretty well like around campus because he’s a pretty nice guy.

Myrcella is the Calculus professor. No one is entirely sure why she chose that job, but she did. She is dating Arya.

Joffrey can suck my dick is unemployed. Unless you count “spoiled rich white boy” as a profession.

Roose and Walder are the leaders of two allied gangs, and their families are part of them.

Ramsay is the main enforcer of the Bolton gang.

Jorah is a soldier who was dishonorably discharged for human trafficking. He is deeply ashamed of his actions. He was recently disowned by his family.

Jeor is a veteran, who was a General in the army. He is currently taking care of Lyanna after her mother died.

Lyanna is a student in high school. She is great. She wants to become a soldier when she turns 18.

Barristan is a veteran who is currently working as a bodyguard for Robert.

Sandor is another security guard for Robert. He is often seen hanging out with Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie, despite being way older.

Gregor is another body guard for Robert. Why is he not in prison yet? We don’t know.

Oberyn is the Chemistry professor. He seems to know a lot about poison.

Jaqen is the leader of a cult. And also Arya’s martial arts classes.

Syrio is Arya’s self defense teacher.

Shae is literally a hooker. So no real change.

Tormund is the Zoology professor. He likes to tell stories about the encounters he has had with various different animals. His students are all experiencing the Mandela Effect, because they’re pretty sure that Tormund once told them about a time in which he actually fucked a bear, but he can’t recall ever telling them that story, and also can’t remember ever doing that with a bear.

#catelyn stark #ned stark #robb stark #jon snow #sansa stark #arya stark #bran stark #rickon stark #shireen baratheon #theon greyjoy #margaery tyrell #gendry baratheon #daenerys targaryen #brienne of tarth #jaime lannister #cersei lannister #tyrion lannister #joffrey baratheon #bronn of the blackwater #loras tyrell #renly baratheon #samwell tarly #sansaery #throbb #gendrya #non quote #college teachers au #long post #got #game of thrones

[motherofkittens94]

tagged by @greyjoysea and @staryjoy 

GOT PREFERENCES

Do you watch the episodes when they air? usually not being a brit who doesnt have hbo  i watch like a day or two later when it airs on sky Atlantic  or on now  tv the first three i watched on dvd from a friend who had the boxset it was when we were sharing a house walked in  the logue one  Morning and she watching it and its that bit where the mountain cuts off the horses head and im like what the hell are you watching ?? i just woke up i wasnt expecting violence this early in the morning ? and then sat down and watched it with her and im like and watched the whole rest of season   one and im like what the hell is this show  ??  ....is there more ?? btw my brother said he got half way through season one and said it  was boring im like season ones the best ?? and hes like oh i dont enjoy  historical drama im not interested in medieval history and im like face palm he thinks this is historical and he also doesnt like history wtf i mean  how am  i related to this fool but yeah thats tangent  and i told him get to ep nine so he could see ned stark beheading he said maybe but if i agreed to watch stranger things with him lol :/ 

How often do you rewatch it? Do you rewatch it from season one? ive re watched all the way  it through a few times but usually would only watch my fav episodes ive seen the red wedding so many times though because wed always watch it with some friend whos just getting into and hasnt seen that one yet so we can see their reaction 

Do you rewatch the previous episode before the next one airs? Not usually on each  occasion but my aunt and uncle always do so when i watch with them i do  

Do you eat anything while watching? if so, what do you eat? not usually a proper meal but  i might have snack like crisps or popcorn unless its a glory scene 

One character that everyone seems to like that you don’t care much for hmm cersei ?? and i didnt lime petyr baelish much but he seemed popular at least among my friends  but i do agree he shouldnt had a better death scene they took all the cleverness out of him and though i hadnt liked him it was a shame in a way like the couldnt find way him to go down in a clever interesyting way so they had to dumb him right down  book pb wouldnt get caught like that people like show euron apparently me  hmm not show much to put it nicely also ave mixed feelings about stannis book book and show wise and i like jon but hes not the ultimate  hyped favourite like he is with a lot of people and perfer theon to him tbh 

Your 3 favourite pairings Throbb theonsa jon ygritte jaime brienne thats four but theres two theons so 

Favourite scene: robb getting crowded any scene where theon smiles  theons monologue  theon and sansa hug jon and sansa arya sansa hug jon and ygritte kissing on the wall jaime jumping to save brienne theons speeches both tyrions speeches both but the one in season one was really funny tyrion dragging the chair across the room when everyone is is science idk that cracked  me up bronn duelling for tyrion the one where Catelyn announces to everyone that (she thinks)  tyrion tried to kill bran cause that was the first ep id seen thats the bit that got me hooked  theon getting back up and fighting that ironborn guy pdrick saving tyrion  and i still maintain that viserys had the best death also not to be a basic bitch but that first time dany does her fire thing in season one i was #stunned 

One character you wish got more appreciation: theon duh #nomoredickjokes2018 but also meera and jojen too i suppose  and shireen and sansa and they could've (shouldve) done more with myrcella and tommen   and brienne too was underused and gendry also idk if if i like the way the tried to iron the grey parts out of tyrion and jon  and bran i wish they done brans story better and wed have got that tree scene with theon also as a disabled gal  certain comments some people make about uselessness of bran sometimes make me uncomfy tbh 

Fanfic or nah? i usually only read theon based ones and thats usually just theon robb theon sansa or sometimes theon jeyne p cause i cant do bolton heavy stuff im a whimp  but i read the occasion jon / ygritte or jaime / brienne and once i tried theon jon  but i wasnt sold soz :/ i read theon ygritte once as well  that actualy worked surprising well and theon domeric .. aha  thats mine  and @blueagia s baby  

but i guess id be open to others maybe 

Favourite quote:  from just the show ?  meeras some people will always need help that doesnt mean theyre not worth helping  also tyrions death is so final but life is full of possibilities and   mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That's why I read so much Jon Snow also sansas not a killer .. not yet anyway sansa - or maybe hell give me yours theons sy he is is theon greyjoy again also i like that quote about theons smile but obvi thats not in the show bronns this is bronn son of .. you wouldnt know him  just because it was funny 

Do you avoid spoilers? :  i do because im a blabber if i know id tell everyone omg this happens and that - i dont do on purpose really not with the intention of spoiling it for people  i just blurt it out like  i ruined he Rains of Castamere for someone once by saying oh is this one where robb dies ? and i didnt realise she hadnt seen it  yet and shes like robb dies :( :( and im  like oh umm i meant ...  rob - ert baratheon obviously ! haha whoops and i told someone else about jofferys death because shed said she seen it all  but she said later  i wish joffrey would die and  i was lil tipsey then so im like  .. but he does die ? youve seen it right? in season 4 ? hes poisoned ?  at his wedding ? to Margaery?? and shes like ....thanks beth ..... turns outs shed only  seen season 1-3 whoops again but hey i was drunk  that time so i  now avoid spoilers to avoid spoiling people and when i read the books my then housemates told me not to tell them what was different in case they wanted to read the books later on and didnt want me to spill and i did try to keep to it but i blabbed a few things tbh 

Favourite house words: We do not sow greyjoys ftw 

One character you’d bring back from the dead: ygritte shireen  robb maybe catelyn  and hoder !!

One character you’d kill, or kill sooner than they were killed balon greyjoy also ramsay but i wouldve done  it differently and theon shouldve been there or at least known about it also randyll tarly like fuck that guy ive seen people defending him and im like no offense but you are serious me and a friend had a bet on the boltons i bet against roose dying and he bet against ramsay dying we both lost lmao 

Direwolves or dragons? Dragons 

Which was more satisfying: Ramsay dying or Joffrey dying? hmm i actually joffrey probably because it was more unexpected i didnt see it coming i didnt think hed die  -i wanted ramsay to die and i wanted to like ramsay dying  and wished i had liked it more but it wasnt  done  the way i wanted it and it seemed so obvious like it wasnt a shock like joffrey dying was  i think in a way they over did ramster and just ran out f things fro him to do that he hadnt already like i was like hmm sewating nevously what can we do now ...err  kill your dad! kill a baby! kill  a stark  kill .. jon snow ...??  aye fuck it get rid of guy ay 

 i liked season six   better than season 7 or 5 but it made me lol in a way cause it seemed like they went ok ok you didnt like it last time when we killed all the women we heard you! we did ! weve changed things yes  so how about this instead ...   the woman kill everyone ! yea ? you like that ? we good now ?  sweet as ! put more women killing eveyone into season 7 dave we on the money 

Wildlings or the dothraki? Wildlings

Favourite lannister?  Tyrion but jaimes growing on me 

Favourite stark? i think sansa tbh 

Would you rather be able to be resurrected anytime, but gain scars and all like Beric, or become a faceless man? Resurrect any time like Beric

Would you rather have the rebellion tv show or the conquest tv show?  id pefer Rebellion but id watch a conquest show i think 

tagging @saltwaterwoods @whiteladyofrohann  @unamatta  @wedonnotcare @faller1344 @starkrysis @iladylittlefinger if you want to :) 

#bethans pals #personal stuff #long post #sorry i rambled on #you dont have to if youve already done this one

[illuminatingfear]

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 92 truths about you. At the end choose a number of people to be tagged.

I was tagged by: @alan-of-all-trades​!! thank uuu <3

LAST:

Last drink: Water; does that count? if not, chocolate milk from the day before.

Last phone call: I called Walgreens to find out if my doc had sent in a prescription. (He didn’t)

Last text message: From my mother

Last song you listened to: I think it was literally “Bonetrousle” from Undertale lmao

Last time I cried: I think two days ago - I was having a bad PTSD day where I dreamed about my abuser and it shook me. I made a thread in a Prog group asking for uplifting music and so many people delivered... One of the videos made me cry from how beautiful and how needed it was.  For those who need some goodness, it was Jon Anderson singing “Awaken” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Va3e_52TE

HAVE YOU EVER:

Dated someone twice: Do you mean in a Date-we broke up-now we’re dating again kind of deal? Because no, but I have gone on several dates with the same person before.

Been cheated on: ...kinda??

Kissed someone and regretted it: Unfortunately, yes

Lost someone special: Many people; some from me realizing they were toxic for me in one way or another, and a lot, unfortunately, from them passing. 

Been depressed: when haven’t I, let’s be real

Been drunk and thrown up: No, actually!

IN THE PAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

Made a new friend: Absolutely!

Fallen out of love: boyy I haven’t been in love in a number of years, so nope!

Laughed until you cried: oh god this happens so much (but actually)

Met someone who changed you: oh definitely, most people I’ve known have had impact and taught me something new!

Found out who your true friends are: oh definitely! I’ve been shaving off the toxicity from my friends-circles for a few years now as certain people reveal their true colours, and this year is noooo exception.

Found out someone was talking about you: surprisingly a lot of people do, and usually not in a bad way!

GENERAL:

How many people on Tumblr do you know in real life: three/??

Do you have any pets: no and my heart breaks more every day I’m not hugging a kitten, goddammit. i haven’t had pets since my two cats have passed, years ago. :( 

Do you want to change your name: kinda, yeah, which is why I choose to shorten it so that it’s gender-ambiguous.

What time did you wake up this morning: 8:40am!

What were you doing last night: painting, figuring out medication bs, and watching my bff stream Undertale

Name something you cannot wait for: financial stability lol

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: my dad’s name...

What’s getting on your nerves rn: right now I’m pretty calm, but I’m sure I’ll get incensed about anti-humanitarian morally bankrupt right-wing/libertarians/nazis/alt-right/racist fuckery at some point today lmao

Blood type: O+ JUST LIKE MIDORIYA

Nickname: "Father Christmas” from college lmao

Relationship status: single! soorrrta looking? constantly re-evaluating what i find attractive in people and if I’m ready for a relationship again even tho it’s been years lol

Zodiac sign: cancer~

Pronouns: they/them

Favorite tv show: uhhhHHHH the... food... network... in its entirety... (and cooking channel!)

College: finished undergrad by the skin of my mental health. seriously. will likely not pursue anything else except for certain certifications.

Hair colour: “dark blonde” as someone once said lol

Do you have a crush on someone: nope!

What do you like about yourself: I’m unbreakably honest and have a strong morality. also i’m good at reacting quickly to things.

FIRSTS:

First surgery: appendectomy! and now I learn those aren’t even necessary! 

First piercing: didn’t happen, and probably won’t

First sport you joined: uhhhh. i think I joined volleyball, basketball, and floor hockey at the same time. 

First vacation: uhhhhh

First pair of sneakers: sonic the hedgehog hi-tops that you can see me fucking wearing for a preschool picture with a very-not-matching dress

Eating: first... eating? uh, i don’t remember my first meal!! who would??

Drinking: wait is this still in the “FIRSTS” section?

I’m about to: ok I guess not. I’m about to mail a prescription and cash a check and send in another prescription. whoop whoop

Listening to: my fan because I’m not ready for music to take over my entire brain right now

Want kids: NO. NOOOOOOOOOOO.

Get married: noooooo. unless... there’s an amazing cake... and i get to wear a tux... with tails...

Career: hopefully media scoring but whoops i need to make money to survive somehow so who knows~~

WHICH IS BETTER:

Lips or eyes: eyes! WINDOWS TO THE SOUL and windows to see if that person is lying or trustworthy or not

Hugs or kisses: hugs always 100% of the time, i don’t like kisses actually

Shorter or taller: than what?? what’s the benchmark here? is this about romantic partners?? i guess taller???

Older or younger: if about romantic partners, I prefer close to my age; a wiggle-room of a few years in each direction. can’t just pigeonhole a person theoretically tho

Romantic or spontaneous: who says spontaneous isn’t romantic!! because that is me in a nutshell

Sensitive or loud: sensitive! wait, these aren’t opposites! do you mean quiet?? i don’t like loud things, despite being a performer (with sensory issues lol)

Hook up or relationship: relationship because lol what is sexual desire/attraction

Troublemaker or hesitant: wait what. what are these trying to describe? these aren’t opposites either! i can’t pick one based on this! do you mean “trouble-maker or someone subservient to the law” or “scared of getting into trouble”? how does this reflect on someone at all when you have to consider anti-black racism’s affects on BPOC and how that would affect how they see the law/”getting in trouble”? what are the stakes here? who is the “law” or the person in charge you would be hypothetically skirting “trouble” from? what the fuck iS THIS QUESTION

HAVE YOU EVER:

Kissed a stranger: actually, yes

Drank hard liquor: that is most of what i drink... it’s either vodka or beer tbh

Lost glasses/contacts: i lost a glasses lens once in a waterpark lmfao @ahmenophus found it! what a fucking TIME

Sex on first date: lol 

Broken someone’s heart: i think so

Been arrested: no but also i try not to go outside

Turned someone down: i don’t remember

Fallen for a friend: often when I was a teenager!

DO YOU BELIEVE:

In yourself: more and more as the days go by, thankfully. in certain things.

Miracles: nope

Love at first sight: perhaps a version of it, a platonic “I wish you well because I see you have a kind heart” version, sure! romantic though?? not for myself

Heaven: maybe? kinda. something like it.

Santa Claus: no despite my mother’s protests

Tagging some people I know and some people I don’t know but like: @ahmenophus, @nonbinarypastels, @theslowesthnery, @behind-the-mental-illness, @chaotichero, @disgustinganimals, @hurrricane-irene, @tequilamockingbird2015, @smokeplanet

[lgfuadjj]

Tagged by @nsolace ;) <3

RULES: choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions. Then tag some friends.

I choose:

Yuri!!! on Ice

Game of Thrones

The Walking Dead

The first character you loved:

Yuuri Katsuki

Jon Snow

Glenn Rhee

The character you relate to the most:

Yuuri Katsuki - Gotta love being anxiety riddled bros.

Arya Stark - Going from ‘A Girl Has No Name’ to reclaiming said name is the story of my life in a lot of ways.

Morgan Jones - Trying to have morals in an immoral world would definitely be my problem in the event of an apocalypse.

The character you’d slap:

Michele Crispino - Because calm the fuck down, pls.

Cersei Lannister - If you need me to explain why then we need to have a very lengthy discussion.

Negan - Same reason up above ^^

Three favorite characters (these are in order of preference):

Yuuri Katsuki, Otabek Altin, Yuri Plisetsky - I love all characters equally though to be honest.

Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Daenerys Targaryen - There’s so many good ones, ugh.

Glenn Rhee, Michonne, Maggie Greene (Rhee) - This is also difficult to choose because i’d die for a lot of them.

A character you liked at first but not so much anymore:

Honestly would you believe me if I said no characters from YOI apply for me here? Because that’s the best answer I can give without lying LOL.

Shae - I thought she was gonna be p r e t t y cool and then she wasn’t so...Here we are.

Andrea - I thought I could grow to like her more (once I felt a dislike happening) but it was just...Hard for me to like her at all for some reason at some point.

A character you did not like at first, but they’ve grown on you:

I suppose Yakov Feltsman ;D. It was just a slight thing for me to get over the tough love stuff.

Fuck I hated Sansa Stark. But I’m in love with her now - She has become such a beautiful person and character and phew I will defend her until I die.

Gabriel Stokes - I think this was intended though. Truly I wanted the group to just...Leave him and forget about him but now I’m like ‘Yeah he’s part of the fam’.

3 OTPs:

OtaYuri, OtaPliRoy, JJBek - All of them contain Otabek, WHOOPS...

Daenerys x Daario, Jaime x Brienne, Gendry x Arya - I don’t know any of their ‘ship’ names but fuck they will be my OTPs until I DIE.

Gleggie, Richonne, Caryl - Mostly canon but I love them all.

Tagging: @cahaor0720, @thatvixenchick, @eclair :)

Don’t feel inclined to do this either! Just an interesting little challenge (Seriously it took me a long time to answer these for some reason ??)

Feel free to do this if you want to as well! (Pls tag me cause i’m interested in seeing people’s shit). I have no idea who is or isn’t interested in this ;D

#personal #me #fandom #yoi #the walking dead #game of thrones

[ao3feed-jonsa]

Wake Up & Smell the Amortentia

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2q17wfX

by longclawislightbringer (Bespectacled_Geek)

On her first day of Sixth Year Potions, Sansa Stark smells something very distinct in Professor Aemon's Amortentia and tries to figure out what it means.

AKA the Hogwarts AU that was only supposed to be a drabble but is now a three-shot.

Whoops.

Words: 1964, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of Tumblr Prompts

Fandoms: Game of Thrones (TV), A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Ygritte (ASoIaF), Harrold Hardyng, Margaery Tyrell, Robb Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Rickon Stark, Daenerys Targaryen

Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark, Jon Snow/Ygritte, Harrold Hardyng/Sansa Stark

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Hogwarts AU, Jon is a Hufflepuff, Sansa is Gryffindor, Amortentia, Pining Sansa, Clueless Jon, Jon Snow is a Targaryen, Lyanna is not a Stark but a close family friend, Dany the Matchmaker

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2q17wfX

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #jon x sansa #jonsa