#written by nina

[by-nina]

Flowers in the spring

AO3 | FFN Royai Week 2023 | Day 1 – Raison d'etre Rating: K+ Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance Word Count: 1,360

A/N: Late again, but like I always say, Royai Week is forever.

The Colonel’s voice is quiet, careful. It almost feels like it has been weeks since Riza last heard him speak, but only because it isn’t the same confident tone with which he has greeted the many visitors to their shared room and conversed with the doctors and nurses. It’s a tone she has heard only a few times before, but one she is deeply familiar with. Vulnerable, almost intimate, even. She remembers it best—bitterly—from the Promised Day, when the flames that had filled the tunnel died down and he fell to the floor, asking for her forgiveness.

He waits before he speaks again. “Are you awake?”

———

A pleasantly sweet scent fills the air; a splash of vivid colors is the first thing Riza sees when she wakes up one morning, sometime after the Promised Day. Her eyes take time to adjust to the striking sight against the backdrop of the hospital’s bare cream wall. Purple, pink, and red flowers sit in a tall glass vase on her bedside table.

Riza doesn’t recognize the kind they are, but they are so beautiful, so full-bloomed that they almost seem like they aren’t real. She finds herself smiling in admiration, then sits up to take a better look—carefully, so that her still-healing body doesn’t ache more. The blossoms’ rounded, delicate petals seemingly form trumpet-like shapes, and they bear hints of yellow, giving the red ones an almost flame-like appearance.

“Lieutenant?”

The Colonel’s voice is quiet, careful. It almost feels like it has been weeks since Riza last heard him speak, but only because it isn’t the same confident tone with which he has greeted the many visitors to their shared room and conversed with the doctors and nurses. It’s a tone she has heard only a few times before, but one she is deeply familiar with. Vulnerable, almost intimate, even. She remembers it best—bitterly—from the Promised Day, when the flames that had filled the tunnel died down and he fell to the floor, asking for her forgiveness.

He waits before he speaks again. “Are you awake?”

Riza doesn’t respond. It isn’t because she hasn’t fully recovered from her injuries yet; while there is a dull ache where her neck had been stitched closed, and speaking takes a great deal of effort, she is capable of short responses. It’s a different part of her that resists acknowledging him, still raw with the heartbreak of witnessing his rage. Her throat aches with the effort of choking back tears.

She lies back down on her bed and looks away from the flowers.

———

Riza witnesses many arguments in their room the next week or so. As the Colonel regains his strength, despite his eyes remaining blind and his hands still largely useless, more and more visitors come by to talk about cleansing the ranks in Central and strengthening ties among the troops from the different regions and moving forward with the restoration of Ishval. He is fiery and fully engaged in each conversation, almost as if they were back in their office and hadn’t just nearly lost their lives in battle.

She prefers this to the tense silence that had filled the room in their first few weeks of recovery. In private, the air had been thick with unspoken apologies and open secrets and things that they have long since accepted could not be addressed with words alone. But in moments that bear resemblance to their old daily lives, there is no burden to figure out what to do next, or what to make of the lines they had crossed in fear of losing everything they have been living for. There is only their work, and the choice to trust each other.

Another week passes, and Riza wakes up again to a vase of fresh flowers by the bed. This time, they come in white, pink, orange, and red, and they have a fainter scent, but Riza finds them just as lovely as the blossoms that had been there before.

“Tulips?”

The Colonel exhales as a small smile forms on his lips. He is lying on his side and facing Riza, his gaze turned vaguely in the direction of the flowers. His eyes are still as blank and cloudy as they had been by the end of the Promised Day, but they are relaxed, almost contented.

“Yeah,” he responds quietly. “I was thinking they would be nice to see in the morning.”

“They’re beautiful.” Riza pauses, then looks up at the tulips again. “That can’t be the only reason you chose them.”

He chuckles. “Well, they’re certainly not for me to look at. But I like what they mean. Pink tulips say that you wish someone well. Orange ones are given to the people you appreciate.”

“I didn’t know that different colors meant different things.”

“They do. White flowers often represent innocence. Or they can mean, ‘I’m sorry.’”

Riza stares at the Colonel’s face as he seems to wait for her response. His expression has turned somber, but there is far less despair than there was when he last offered his apologies. There is concern and longing and a wish that Riza can guess only because she has wished for this too: for things to return to the way they were before.

She rises from her bed wordlessly, then crosses over to his to sit at the edge. He blinks, still not seeing her, but feeling her weight sink into the mattress. His fingers twitch as she reaches for his hand tentatively, no doubt feeling her warmth and the apprehension of crossing yet another line between them.

The Colonel’s hand is rough, made even more so by the uneven scar across the back of it. Riza delicately skims across the raised red lump, his smooth veins, his knuckles, before slowly sliding her fingers into the gaps between his. He squeezes her hand with what seems like great effort on his part, but his thumb is gentle when he runs it over hers.

“What about the flowers you got before?” Riza asks, finally breaking the silence.

“Freesias. They’re a symbol of trust.” He carefully pulls her hand to rest on his chest. “There were many things I didn’t say back in the tunnel. But what I needed you to know the most was that your trust has meant everything to me.” He pauses. “It still does. And it always will.”

Part of Riza has always known this—the same part of her that broke and hurt when she thought that he had lost his way, the part of her that ached to forgive him even when she wasn’t yet able to. Peace settles in her now and drives away what remains of her doubt. She has always known that she would welcome him back, that he would find his way back onto the path they’ve long shared, but she will never admit the reason that she knows all this.

That this moment came is enough.

———

Roy returns to an almost unrecognizable apartment when he is discharged from the hospital at last. He was barely living in it when he last left home more than two months ago, before the Promised Day; he hadn’t even had enough time to sort the few possessions he has. But it isn’t in disarray like he expected, and for a moment, he wonders whether the Philosopher’s Stone had truly restored his vision or had left him with hallucinations.

He steps inside slowly, like he’s careful not to disturb anything. The place is neat and newly dusted; his furniture is all in place, his books sit in straight stacks and his picture frames are aligned, and other small things like his dinnerware and cufflinks are nowhere to be seen, perhaps kept away in containers. It’s as if someone had anticipated his arrival and made sure that he would be comfortable as soon as he was home.

The most curious detail is something he is certain he’s never had in his place before. A small clay pot sits on his windowsill, bearing a cluster of delicate white flowers that are unfamiliar to Roy. He strides past all his things to examine them up close, with their slightly drooping heads and thin, pointed petals. No name comes to mind, and no recollection of ever having bought them or even having seen them before.

Thankfully, he finds a small brown card on the sill next to the pot. It bears a painted illustration of the flowers, with a typewritten label right below that dispels any doubt of how his apartment was prepared for his return or of where the flowers had come from—and all at once, his simple house seems much more like a home than it ever has.

It reads:

The flowering ash— With me, you are safe.

#Royai Week #Royai Week 2023 #RoyaiWeek23 #Roy Mustang #Riza Hawkeye #Royai #Fullmetal Alchemist #Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood #FMA #FMAB #Day 1 - Raison d'etre #fanfiction #fanfic #one-shot #hurt/comfort #romance #writing #written by nina

[thechaoticrow]

for people who haven’t read the shadow and bone/ six of crows books, but have seen the show:

- inej ghafa is a survivor of childhood sex trafficking. she has ptsd and reacts in a panic attack at even walking past the menagerie

- kaz’s trauma isn’t just pekka rollins being responsible for jordie’s death, and waking up on the barge. he had to swim to shore, age nine and barely alive, using jordie’s body as a float

- the darkling has done far worse things than are shown on screen. he is not a ‘lost man’ and alina is not his ‘balance’

- alina was seventeen upon the darkling being nsfw/ romantic with her

- matthias helvar did not lead drüskelle, that was jarl brum- matthias is only just barely an adult himself

- the crows are not their own separate gang, they are part of the dregs, who per haskell leads and kaz takes over from haskell after haskell sold out his lieutenant (kaz) to pekka rollins

- zoya, genya, and alina have personalities outside of either being traumatised or hating each other

- alina never wanted any of the power and fame and idolatry, and in the end of the books is stripped of it all. she is very happy about this

- jesper is a gambling addict and somebody who watched the death of his mother

#feel free to add your own #yes i get that the show is to be treated as a fanfic #but it is at times a poorly written fanfic #that erases and ignores major parts of the characters’ backstories #and what makes them them #six of crows #grishaverse #shadow and bone #shadow and bone season two #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #alina starkov #malina #god i hate darklina #darklina hate space #jesper fahey #nina zenik #matthias helvar #wylan hendriks

[pangirl-fangirl]

Calahan Skogman will never get to be in a scene with the rest of the Crows cast. We won’t get a scene onscreen with all six Crows. We won’t get the Ice Court Heist. We won’t get Inej’s backstory on screen. Amita won’t get to see her hard work finished, none of them will. We won’t get to see Wylan’s backstory on screen. We won’t get more of Inej and Nina’s friendship or Kaz and Jespers or Matthias interacting with the rest of the Crows.

These dedicated, phenomenal actors have been robbed. We’ve been robbed.

Netflix count your fucking days.

#shadow and bone #six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthias helvar #fuck you netflix #I’m devastated this is so unfair #the spin off scripts were WRITTEN #the actors were ON BOARD #it would cost less than S&B #please let another streaming service pick it up #kanej #wesper #helnik

[softichill]

JtKCU (Jeff the Killer Cinematic Universe)

#cricket doodles #art #creepypasta #jeff the killer #homicidal liu #nina the killer #jane the killer #Except it's not a cinematic universe bc a movie centering around Jeff is guaranteed awful quality at this point #Anywho fun fact Jeff is one of my favorite creepypasta characters #Not bc he's well-written but because I can see the potential and all the characters people have thrown into his story are fun #(I'm a little shocked at how popular Nina is now considering she used to be used as a joke character. Scene nostalgia is powerful)

[littleblackraincloudofcourse]

Fuck you Netflix. They deserve so much better.

#six of crows spinoff #grishaverse #wesper #helnik #kanej #save shadow and bone #soc #sab #six of crows #wylan hendriks #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #nina zenik #mattias helvar #still pissed this was canceled #the scripts are already written

[sukibenders]

I always find it weird when reading some Kaneji fics, and the pair are living a new life away from the dangers of the Barrel and all that, and yet have little to no contact with Jesper and Wylan. Like those two are framed as being the third person (people?) in their lives who is far removed, but yet Nina is an ever-present figure? Don't get me wrong, I love Nina, but it's so frustrating seeing some people act like Jesper and Wylan weren't/aren't important in Kaz and Inej's lives, that they wouldn't be even after they find peace in a new world. While I'm sure the pair care for Nina deeply, she would not be able to fully replace Jesper and Wylan, nor would she want to.

#six of crows #soc #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #llikea big part of the crows is them being a found family stop trying to break it up pls 😭 #kaneji #wylan x jesper #this also is not hate to the authors of these fics bc their works are beautifully written #just a frustration that i have

[shitouttabuck]

let the world have its way with you

buck/eddie | 54.5k | rated e

“It’s just that—I died,” Buck continues, voice unsteady enough that Eddie wonders if this is the first time he’s acknowledged that out loud. “I died, and there’s so much more. There’s so much more I want to do, things I don’t even know I want to do yet, and I almost had the chance to have and live them taken away. I don’t want to die and regret missing out on everything else, Eddie.”

“So let’s make a list,” Eddie says. “Let’s do them.”

or, a bucket list that’s really about buck needing to make a change and an eddie who’s ready to do anything to see him fall in love with life again. it takes some crossing off for eddie to realise—the thing at the top of the list in his own heart? it’s been right here all along

read on ao3

#she’s here! #the longest thing i’ve ever written and i’ve never been so nervous lmao #for the last six weeks she held my hand and i held hers back and i don’t know what to do with myself now #even more self-indulgent than octopus fic if u can believe #911 fic #buddie fic #911 #buddie #bucket list fic #nina writes #evan buckley #eddie diaz #mine

[sparrowmoth]

Thinking about Jesper and Nina as the last of the Crows. Thinking about Wylan, when he dies, and Inej and Kaz have gone already, and Jesper can't contain his grief. He throws himself at Nina, because she has power over the dead, doesn't she? That isn't how it works. But he isn't listening. He begs and pleads for her to bring Wylan back, to try at least—but she won't. She won't, no matter if he hates her for it, because all she can think of is the sight of Matthias and how wrong it was. How wrong to have tried to hold him back, to hold him to her.

She holds Jesper through the night as he sobs into her shoulder. She holds him tight even as he curses her. The both of them know he doesn't really mean it. They only have each other now...

But it isn't only them there.

Someone else is in the room, unseen, and he whispers into Nina's ear. Not her ear, exactly. More so her mind, but he sounds so present if she just closes her eyes. She wishes she could share this through more than translation, so Jesper would be sure... he's okay, he's okay.

He's somewhere else, but he's okay. And he loves you so much, Jes.

Her eyes are full of tears. She keeps them closed as not to let them fall. She whispers Wylan's words to Jesper. She feels him stilling in her arms and keeps on whispering until the words stop and she can't sense him anymore. He had to go, but he'll be waiting. He had to go, but you have time left. Don't rush to him. You'll have forever. It's just for now, so just be patient... you'll have forever. He'll be there waiting.

#wesper #jesper fahey #nina zenik #wylan van eck #six of crows #crooked kingdom #shadow and bone #cw death #soc spoilers #ck spoilers #how do I even tag this #it kinda turned into a drabble so #my drabbles #NO I'M NOT OKAY THANKS FOR ASKING DJKGDJKGD #THIS STRUCK ME LIKE A BOLT OF LIGHTNING #and I am not emotionally stable enough to write this as a fic #so you get it as a feverishly written up post that made me cry #because why did I get so deeply unfixably soul-level kinds of attached to the most tragic found family ever send help #I'm going to go lay in a ditch with my feelings GOOD BYE djakgkj

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Essay questions I would set if I were writing the English Lit A-levels on Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom

(To be clear the structure is based entirely on the exam board I did I don’t know if there are different question structure for others)

Explore the ways in which Leigh Bardugo presents the importance of home in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore Leigh Bardugo’s presentation of Heleen Van Houten in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore Leigh Bardugo’s presentation of Dunyasha in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

‘The blood of the convenant is thicker than the water if the womb’

Explore the relevance of this quote in relation to the presentation of Wylan Van Eck in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore how Leigh Barudgo presents the conflict of love and passion in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore the presentation of power in Six of Crowd and Crooked Kingdom.

‘Pekka Rollins represents everything Kaz would have become without the influence of Inej’

To what extent can the above quote be considered correct?

Explore the importance of the Komedie Brute is Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore how Leigh Bardugo utilises setting in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

To what extent can Matthias Helvar be considered the tragic hero of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom?

Explore Leigh Bardugo’s presentation of social class through the city of Ketterdam in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore the presentation of Joost and Retvenko in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore the motif of flowers in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Discuss Leigh Bardugo’s use of literary foils in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, including the different foils of Kaz Brekker.

Explore the themes of sexism and feminism in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore how Leigh Bardugo presents the theme of courage in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Explore how Leigh Bardugo presents the theme of revenge in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom

#the way I could have written a thousand more of these #I thought I’d finished this like 3 times and more just kept coming to me #grishaverse #six of crows #crooked kingdom #leigh bardugo #inej ghafa #kaz brekker #nina zenik #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #matthias helvar #kanej #wesper #helnik

[jellybeanium124]

honestly sorting characters into "redeemable" and "irredeemable" is so christian. that's what you have to do, right? in order to stave off any existential dread that would come with your merciful and forgiving and loving god sending people with any potential goodness to hell, right? but hell's not real. and it's extra not real for fictional characters.

#also if you have to argue for why a character is irredeemable that means they probably are redeemable #nobody's ever written an essay on why reginald hargreeves is irredeemable. nobody has to #nina rambles

[fangirlfreak08]

Netflix announce the six of crows spin off challenge

#c’mon the first seasons been written #you might as well use it #six of crows #Kaz brekker #Inej ghafa #Jesper fahey #wylan van eck #Nina zenik #matthias helvar

[by-nina]

Outlaws

AO3 | FFN Royai Week 2022 | Day 2 – Betrayal Rating: K+ (cemetery setting) Genre: Hurt/Comfort Word Count: 1,145

“Know how you two look? Your eyes… You seem to me like two people who’ve seen far too much.”

———

Amestris Heroes’ Memorial Park is always at its quietest between midnight and dawn. It’s at these odd hours on the Promised Day that Roy Mustang comes to visit Maes Hughes’ grave on a detour from the danger in Central, a brief respite before certain chaos. It’s unsettling how little the Colonel speaks on the drive to the cemetery or during the visit, not because it makes it difficult to tell what he is thinking or feeling, but because of how guarded and distant he seems, even, of all people, from Riza.

“Colonel? We should start getting ready.”

He doesn’t turn away from Hughes’ grave or even acknowledge Riza. She waits, and then she finds herself counting the seconds that pass in silence, the minutes they have left to get back on the road, the few hours they may still have before possibly meeting their end. Then suddenly, more forcefully than she ever has been before, she is struck by the fear of losing him. Might he fall now into an unreachable part of himself, or later die before she does, and because she is unable to protect him?

Whatever the case, the words she has never needed to say are at the tip of her tongue after all these years of knowing him, of staying with him, of—

“Who goes there?”

They both turn their heads toward the unfamiliar voice at the same time that he throws his arm back protectively and she reaches for the pistol hanging at her hip. But almost at once as well, she notices by the light of the man’s lantern that he is hobbling, not walking toward them, and he is slightly hunched over as one might be in old age. Riza drops her hand. The cemetery’s caretaker is not a threat—at the very least, not an immediate one.

Riza thinks quickly. She reaches in the opposite direction, grasping Roy’s outstretched arm and tapping her hand on it twice, and by instinct he relaxes it by his side, drawing her closer to him.

“Good evening, sir,” he greets the caretaker good-naturedly. “How can we help you?”

The caretaker comes up mere feet away from them, close enough for them both to see his scowl by the dim lantern. “I should be asking you that. No visitors allowed in the cemetery after hours. What are your names?”

“Christophe Hughes,” Roy responds without missing a beat.

“Elizabeth Hughes.” Riza’s fingers curl around his coat sleeve, and she continues, “We’re very sorry about this, sir. My husband had a long day at work, and we couldn’t find an earlier time to visit his brother’s grave. We hope you understand.”

“A long day at work, you say?” The caretaker looks at Roy carefully from head to toe, then exhales in deep thought. “Yes, I’ve been listening to the news. Can only imagine how much trouble the military has on their hands, with Führer Bradley being assassinated. And poor little Selim!”

Riza affects a sigh, and Roy nods once. “It’s tragic.”

“Oh, yes, very tragic. Even the military police stationed here at the cemetery are on high alert. Says on the radio they have an eye out for some traitor, a young Colonel who might be behind the attack. Know how they describe the way he looks?”

The caretaker stares long and unblinkingly at Roy’s face, then turns his gaze to Riza, whose stomach sinks. “They say there’s a woman with him, too.”

Riza inhales sharply, quietly enough for only Roy to hear. She tugs surreptitiously at his arm, preparing to turn and run, but Roy pulls his arm out of her grasp and catches her by the wrist, gently keeping her in place.

“Please, sir,” Roy says quietly. “We’re not here to endanger you. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. Something terrible is about to happen to our country in a few hours, so please trust us when we say that we are doing everything we can to stop it. The people of this country have suffered too long at the hands of those in power. Maes Hughes…” He exhales, gesturing to the grave. “We’ve already lost people we cared for because of what those in power have been planning. That’s why we’re here.”

A ringing silence follows as the caretaker watches them both closely, and Riza slides her hand into Roy’s, her fingers easily fitting in between his. In one moment, it further serves their charade as husband and wife; in the next, it is something else entirely. Riza grips Roy as tightly as her chest aches for him, for his unguarded pain; he responds with a tight, lingering squeeze of her hand. In their hands are all the words she nearly could not keep to herself when she feared she might not get another chance, this chance, to say them. And in their hands, too, are all the things Roy had been burdened with coming to Hughes’ grave, the things that might have torn through his heart if he hadn’t any way to say them, the things he might have said if Riza had told him what she needed to say out loud.

The caretaker sighs at last, his stern expression turning into weariness, perhaps even sympathy. His eyes linger for a moment on their entwined hands, and he says, “Know how you two look? Your eyes… You seem to me like two people who’ve seen far too much. Not traitors, like they’ve been saying. And you’re very young, yet.” He pauses, fumbling in his pockets for a cigarette and a lighter. “There’s something that my old man used to say: love is the outlaw’s duty. Never did understand what it meant before now.”

He looks up at the sky, at some point just above the horizon, and ignites the cigarette as he holds it between his teeth. He takes a long draw on the cigarette, then exhales as he says in a low voice, “Best get out of here, before the guards start their morning rounds.”

Riza and Roy exchange a glance, nod at the caretaker in thanks, and turn to leave unhurriedly. Their walk back to the car waiting for them outside the cemetery is as silent as their arrival was. But their silence is betrayed by the things they’re able to say now with more than a secret language, more than significant looks, more than the charged physical distance that they have never crossed toward each other until crossing was all they had left to do.

They walk until they are far out of sight from Hughes’ grave, under the shadows of the trees that line their path back, under the last few stars giving way to dawn, finding as they go that there is still so much more that needs to be said, and they never let each other go until they have left the cemetery.

#Royai Week #Royai Week 2022 #RoyaiWeek22 #Roy Mustang #Riza Hawkeye #Royai #Fullmetal Alchemist #Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood #Day 2 - Betrayal #fanfiction #fanfic #one-shot #hurt/comfort #pretend relationship #writing #written by nina

[mercurygray]

The Breakfast Club

Ugh, finally! This only took me the better part of a week but I like what's here, and I hope you do, too. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed some new girls to this project - I didn't quite get them all in just yet but we've got all kinds of time.

It's 7:30 on a mission morning, and now that the flights are out, the second shift is eating breakfast.

---

It was a good thing that there weren't as many of them on a shift as the pilots, or they'd never fit at the breakfast table.

"Spare a little room there, Nina?" Cord asked, as politely as she could, looking for a space to at least put down her coffee cup.

Nina, a young woman of twenty with straw-blonde hair, nodded absentmindedly and moved her plate of toast slightly to the left to vacate a post-card sized plot of tablecloth, making no effort whatsoever to relocate the extremely large copy of Life magazine she was currently reading from the middle of the table.

Cord looked at Mae, sitting just to Nina's left, and the two women shared a small amused shrug. Nina was one of the younger girls in the group, and a lifetime spent on a big family farm in New Hampshire hadn't done a whole lot for her table manners. (And for a girl who professed to be small and shy, she sure did a lot of taking up space sometimes.)

"You not eating anything?" Mae asked, passing Cord the milk before she even had a chance to ask for it.

"I had some oatmeal before wheels up," Cord said, accepting the milk and pouring a very long dollop into her coffee, stirring calmly.

"You know, you're going to get in trouble one of these days, sneaking into that kitchen," Mae said wisely, taking a sip of her own cup.

"I'm not sneaking kisses, Mae, just a bite to eat. And none of them ever touch the oatmeal." Cord took a sip of her coffee and smiled, closing her eyes over the hot cup and cradling it in both hands. "Besides, I want to make sure I'm awake for takeoff."

"So when do you think they'll send a reporter to cover us?" Nina asked, still very deep in her magazine and a full page photospread of some WACs on bicycles, somewhere deep in the British countryside.

"Do we want that?" Netta asked, glancing at the magazine over Nina's shoulder, carefully spreading a thin layer of margarine over her toast and cutting into perfect, elegant triangles. (Everyone else tended to give the margarine a wide berth, but Netta was forever on about 'slenderizing' and no one wanted to tell her she was plenty thin already.)

"Have your name in Life Magazine so everyone at home can see it?" Ethel reached across the table for the pepper shaker and vigorously dusted her hashbrowns. "Who wouldn't? At that point you're practically famous."

"They're not going to send a reporter here, Nina. We're not interesting enough for that," Mae said with a practical smile, sitting back in her chair.

Nina looked up at Mae like the older woman had just told her they'd kicked a puppy. "We're plenty interesting! Colonel Huglin said last week we were winning the air war!"

"Not us personally, Nina," Mae specified, patient to the last. "It's more of a group effort - the whole 8th Air Force."

Nina sighed heavily and went back to mooning over her magazine photos. "They must be so brave," she said, clearly addressing the woman in the photographs. She turned over the next page in the photospread, the top image a sky white with parachutes. "I don't think I could ever do that."

Cord glanced down at the photo and shrugged. "It's not hard." Nina looked up dramatically. "Parachuting," she specified. "I've done it a couple of times. It's not hard, once you get used to it."

Ethel looked up from her potatoes. "Where did you ever jump out of an airplane, Lieutenant?"

Cord laughed. "Back home, in Dayton."

"Quit bragging, Cord," Mae said with a long-suffering grin. "Not all of us grew up with daddies in flight suits."

"Your dad's a pilot?" Nina looked impressed. "Why didn't you ever say?"

"More of an engineer," Cord specified, a little cagey. "But he's got his license - taken me up a couple of times."

"And Cord does, too," Mae revealed, having far too much being a fountain of information across the table.

Ethel put down her fork. "Now, why'd you ever sign up for this gig if you can fly?"

It was a serious question, and deserved a serious answer. Cord looked down at her coffee, considering her options. "Didn't think they'd let me get close enough to matter," she said, drumming one finger on the handle of her cup. "They only let girls fly stateside - and some transatlantic ferries. It'd be a lot of flight hours but…no action. At least here I know I'm doing some good."

"Captain Brennan, what do you think about it? " Nina flagged down the passing officer, already finished with her own breakfast and obviously on her way to her next assignment. "These gals in the paratroopers that everyone can't stop writing about."

"Like they invented joining the army," Ethel added with a disdainful huff.

Brennan, a good ten years older than the rest of the table, glanced down at the article, her eyes skating over the pictures of the women at calisthenics, and spilling parachutes, and fixing their hair. "I think it takes a great deal of courage to do something different. Combat's not something they've ever allowed women before, and that's a big change."

"Why would you even want to?"

"Because it's a challenge," Brennan said with a slim smile. "And they're women who like challenges - who want to see real change. Because if they can prove themselves out there, maybe one day the Army Air Force will let Lieutenant Callaway into a B-17." She smiled around the table and glanced down at the article. "I might not be able to do what they do, but I doubt they can do what I do, either. There's space in the army for all kinds." She glanced up at the clock. "Except anyone who wants to be late. I'd hurry along, ladies, we don't want to leave the third shift waiting for breakfast."

"Yes, Captain Brennan," came chorused from the table, and Nina finally packed up her magazine while everyone took last bites and drained coffee cups and set down napkins.

"Lieutenant Callaway." Cord stopped in her tracks. "Master Sergeant Knox said you were in the kitchen again this morning eating with the crews." She paused. "When you've all been told the ground staff eats second."

Cord looked guiltily at her commanding officer, caught out. "Yes, Captain."

Brennan's face had the slightest of smiles. "I told him that I didn't like tattle-tales, and if one of my officers wanted to make sure she was sharp for wheels up then he'd better accommodate her."

Cord let out the breath she'd been holding in, relieved as anything, and allowed herself a smile. "Yes, Captain."

Brennan nodded, implacable. "Don't miss your transport, now, they'll need you back at Tower."

Cord nodded, double-timing for the door and the waiting pair of trucks outside, ready to carry the morning crew back to their assignments.

"I told you she'd chew you out about breakfast!" Mae said quietly, as the rest of the truck chattered and gossiped while the engine idled and they all settled onto the bench seats for the five minute ride to the other side of the airfield.

"She didn't chew me out," Cord said quietly. "Told Knox I had a pass for it."

"And what do they always say about Irish luck?" Mae asked with a grin. "I want to see Knox's face the next time you do it. He'll be steamed."

"Get up at four-thirty and join me," Cord replied with a smile of her own.

Mae laughed out loud as the truck coughed into motion. "As if! A girl in this man's army's got to have her beauty sleep!"

#i have written a thing #mercurygraypresents #cordelia callaway #mae werner #nina turner #ethel murray #marion brennan #netta hallstrom #masters of the air OC #mota oc #tds cinematic universe

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

Okay, combining two of my House of Anubis AUs “Fabian as Victor’s Protege” and “Patricia as the Osirian”

Patricia is seeing things she doesn’t understand, her best friend in the whole world is gone without a trace, there’s this new girl in the house, and no one else is worried about it, and the teachers are lying, there’s a man stalking you, and you’re SEEING AND HEARING THINGS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND (so is the new girl but who cares about her right now?)

Fabian, who has been groomed by the Society for five or so years now, is well aware of their plans to remove Joy from the equation, and though he’s feeling guilty for betraying his friends, he trusts in Victor’s intentions and looks to him as a father figure. Nobody told him how badly Patricia was going to freak out about it, though, or how sweet and smart the new girl would be (she’s ruining everything he’s worked for, so why doesn’t that bother him more?). Victor tells him Patricia is losing sleep because she’s the Chosen One’s protector— just like the Betrayer, but he’s dead now surely— and that she must never find out, and Fabian is on board at first, but he’s watching someone who he considers one of his best friends slowly losing her mind. But it’s all for the cause, he knows, but this is his friend, and something is going on with the new girl, and the more time he spends with Nina, the more frantic Patricia becomes, like somehow amid the worry about Joy, she knows that Nina herself is in danger… from him. But she can’t know, and it makes him sick. And she can’t know.

So when she begs him to acknowledge that he’d been friends, nearly more than friends, with Joy and that he must know something is going on, he has to bite his tongue for the good of the Society and say nothing.

Think this scene from BBC’s Merlin basically, because that is essentially the same plot LOL

#these are both my favorite AUs I’ve ever cooked up but I’ve written nothing about either of them who is that even possible 😭 #house of anubis #‘I just need to hear someone say it so I know that I’m not imagining it’ ‘I really wish there was something I could say…’ #like it fits and it’s literally this duo in this au #which kinda makes nina arthur and victor gaius LOL

[ninadove]

🦚 Feligami February 🐉

Day 13: Masks

I’ll be real with you guys: I sneaked today’s prompt into the list because I’ve been wanting to draw this exact piece ever since I came across the leaks

#I’ve written several times about the symbolism of (the absence of) masks when it comes to Feligami #Long story short: it drives me insane #miraculous ladybug #felix graham de vanily #kagami tsurugi #feligami #mlb spoilers #mlb representation #feligami february #feligami february 2024 #nina draws

[thrxughthenxght]

Freedom Heist

SoC Post-CK Fanfic

I actually don't really remember where the idea or inspiration for this fic came from. I think I found out about whump and I was like "huh interesting interesting". I also liked the idea of expanding the slave trade in the Grishaverse beyond what we had seen from Inej's past and anything we thought we might see from her in the future. I wanted the biggest of bad and I wanted this grand epic adventure that was still a heist and still the crows. I also decided Matthias is still alive because what do fanfic writers get to do in their fics? Make the rules, yes that's right. More info below!

Characters: Jesper Fahey, Kaz Brekker, Nina Zenick, Inej Ghafa, Wylan Van Eck, Matthias Helvar, side-tertiary OCs

Antagonists: Jan Van Eck, Various OCs

OCs: Ayden Al-Hadari, Mart Genserov (@violets-and-books's), Sir Janis Anker, Anax Shenzer, Mr. Oster. (+ Various tertiary members of Inej's crew).

"Back of Book" Summary: The crows are back in Ketterdam. All together again, only for Jesper to go missing the next morning. The situation is dire, and Jesper's gone from Ketterdam. Kaz Brekker for once feels two steps behind his new opponent. But they were the Crows. They protected their own, and did anything to do it, even if it includes giving up parts of themselves along the way.

Ao3 Link - Feel free to ask questions, kudos and comments are always appreciated but obviously no pressure 🤍

Playlist - It's mostly sea shanties, I swear this isn't a pirate AU

Tag/Collection - For finding any posts about this fic 🤭

#freedom heist #written lore #soc book #soc fandom #soc fic #soc fanfiction #soc fanfic #soc #ck #soc duology #six of crows #six of crows fandom #six of crows fic #six of crows fanfic #six of crows duology #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #inej ghafa #kaz brekker #nina zenik #matthias helvar #grishaverse #leigh bardugo #wesper fanfic #wesper #kanej fanfiction #kanej #wesper fanfiction #helnik #helnik fanfiction