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finniestoncrane · 1 year ago

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Almost There

Capullo!Riddler x Fem!Reader, word count: 4k commission: eddie desperately trying to get someone to like him, but failing a bit miserably before he starts succeeding, as he was always bound to 💚 commission me here! request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: whiny/desperate eddie, teensy bit of angst

With a sigh of resignation, Eddie looked out of his window on to the streets of Gotham below. People, like ants, below the feet of a God they didn’t even know they worshipped yet. But he could take very little joy in that usually comforting fact, as he knew there was one ant of great subordination who refused to bend to his will. And that was despite knowing everything he could offer them in exchange for their undying and unquestioning devotion.

No amount of anything he had would fix this situation. This was him now. He was stuck. Edward Nygma. Stuck. Stuck on a puzzle, on a question, on a task, for which there seemed to be no possible outcome for. Or at least, not one that he deemed reasonable, not one that he would be happy with. Which, after all, in the mind of the Riddler, was not the correct answer at all.

The phone he clutched in his hand was quickly tossed onto the nearest surface. It was just a hopeless distraction at this point. A symbol of futility. Of his seeming failure.

Eddie’s fingers were getting tangled in his fringe. The greasy strands of his usually neatly swept back shock of red hair were getting caught as he twisted and pulled at them. Teasing at them nervously, he paced around his pre-furnished, and entirely impersonal, apartment. Looking at the extravagant wall clock he sighed and groaned, letting it form a soft growl as he ripped a few extra strands of his hair out in his closed and trembling fists. He was thankful for the thick, soundproof walls in this building. It meant he could talk, or groan, or yell, to himself as loudly as he wanted without fear of anyone hearing his plans. Or his pathetic whining.

“How long does it take someone to answer a text? Is she really that stupid? And if she’s that dull and so incapable of typing a message out, do I really want to be associated with her?”

His self-serving insults regarding your intelligence only helped to make him feel worse about himself. You were perfect. Beautiful, but in a way he’d never really seen before. Interesting, more so than any other woman he’d bothered giving the time of day or willingly chose to get to know. And you weren’t stupid. In fact, you seemed scarily competent and able to hold your own against him. Which he hated.

Another thirty seconds of anxious pacing, as he wondered what could possibly keep someone busy for this long. It wasn’t as if you could have anything important to do. Or anything more important than responding to his message. You weren’t him, after all. He was the busy one, the important one, the mastermind genius that had barely had time to focus on anything but himself. What could possibly be distracting you?

With a finger raised almost comically in the air, one floating light bulb short of looking like a caricature, Eddie shouted out.

“Unless! Unless… she’s really not as stupid as I thought. And… all this… is a clever ploy! Oh! Oh-ho-ho! That is… well, that’s frankly almost brilliant. I hate to admit it, but credit where credit is due, I suppose.”

He picked up his phone from where he had tossed it, laying on the polished marble surface of the sideboard he hated so much but refused to give up, as he’d been assured by the realtor that it was something a woman would appreciate. And of course “a handsome bachelor such as himself would definitely be looking to entice a woman”. He was glad that realtor was dead.

Gripping the soft velvet on the back of the sofa, he leapt over it, landing with a thud with his legs up on the cushions, head leaning back on the soft pillows as his red hair spread messily behind him. And he held his phone steadily in his hands, trying hard to exude confidence, even falsified, just to give himself something to cling to.

Behind him, the large, floor to ceiling windows gave view of the sunset, which was slowly stealing the remaining light from Gotham and sinking it once again into complete, dangerous darkness. And as that beautiful sight disappeared, wasted entirely on Eddie, he typed a quick message out, one that he felt sounded casual, despite it being agonised over in his hyperactive mind.

“Hey, you get my text? Maybe you missed it. Maybe you missed it on purpose. I’m on to you, baby ;)”

He paused for a moment, reading over the words on the screen with a twisted expression of disgust.

“Hm… maybe not baby… at least not yet.”

Deleting the final word, he read the text again. And then again. And then once more, before he decided to delete the whole thing. Throwing his phone to the floor with an exasperated grunt, he realised that you might have been watching his little ellipses, the telling dots that screamed “HERE COMES EDDIE! TYPING ANOTHER MESSAGE! LOOK HOW DESPERATE HE IS!”

Up until recently, everything had been going exactly his way. He’d scammed his bosses, embezzled expertly from the company that owed him everything and had until that point given him nothing, and bought himself a luxurious and ridiculous apartment that he had wild dreams of turning into a bachelor pad, with endless parties that revitalised every night with new guests and new drinks and new experiences. Money hadn’t quite been enough to buy him the necessary friends or women, however. Although, when he thought about it, technically his money had bought him the company of several pleasant enough women. But it felt like an offence to him that he had to pay for their services, to beg, essentially, for their affections, and then had to add on an extra few if he wanted to have them pretend to listen to him as he talked to them. By his calculations, women should have been falling for him. They should have been paying him for the opportunity to be talked at. He was Edward Nygma! He was intelligent, he was handsome, and now, he was wealthy.

Realistically, there was an obvious solution here. And an easy one at that. He could go out, flash some cash, and find the first suitably pretty girl who reacted positively to his shtick or his flaunted wealth and take her home. But that routine had gotten old, it felt like those cheap sudoku puzzle books you could buy at the corner store. Easy, too easy. Though he might be loathe to admit that to anyone, given that he felt it was part of his reputation, his lore, his borderline misogynistic use of woman as a status symbol as an essential aspect of his character by this point. In his illusions of grandeur, and his misinformed concept that everyone knew who he was, he felt like everyone knew that about him, this staple of his personality, especially the girls at the clubs he frequented when his loneliness became intolerable. What Eddie wanted in a woman reflected his desires for the entirety of Gotham, and eventually the world. He wanted immediate adoration with nothing in return. An endless willingness to please him. And key, above all: subservience. Complete and utter subservience.

So why was he all of the sudden chasing someone who refused to give him the time of day? Who couldn’t even reply to a text with due diligence? He mused out loud, pondering this interesting conundrum, before he spoke his assumed answer.

“The… challenge? Maybe?”

As he spoke the answer to his empty apartment, he realised the confusion within him. One part of him knew the answer, the other too stubborn to learn it or accept it. He supposed it was the right answer though. It made sense, after all. Everything had been too easy lately. Very little ever posed a threat or a challenge to him anymore. And life had, unfortunately, become boring. Perhaps the fact that his plans and dreams were falling into his lap made him question whether or not he was actually achieving anything. This one act, going against the grain, against everything that he was, and wanted, to his core, felt like the first time he had actually engage his brain in something. And that was good practice, because sure enough, when his greater plans were in motion, he would have to be well-versed in thinking on his feet. Especially if he wanted to outwit the GCPD and his future, pointy-eared nemesis.

And of course, besides all of that, he was Edward Nygma. There wasn’t a puzzle he couldn’t solve, no challenge he couldn’t eventually meet. The last thing he was going to do was let some ungrateful woman get him down. No way. Even if it took all of his determination and might, and every ounce of his brain power, which as previously concluded was not really up to much else at the moment, he would have you.

With a renewed, and somewhat misplaced, sense of confidence in his abilities, something he found hard to admit had even been diminished in the first place by your ridiculous behaviour, Eddie typed a simple message. Admiring it before sending it as though it were a piece of minimalistic art. A masterpiece. One to be looked on by the ages.

“Hey.”

That was enough. And quite frankly, it was all you deserved right now after your negligence and rude behaviour. He would let you come running to him. Let you get intrigued by his casual interest. You could – no – you would come to him. As he sat, grinning smugly at his self-congratulatory pride, his phone pinged. The small chime was enough to make him jump, his heart thumping as it missed a beat, a strange sense of arousal that surged through him at the mere suggestion of you paying a tiny iota of attention to him. And as he picked up his phone, he muttered to himself.

“A response already! See, Nygma, you know what you’re doing.”

Looking at the screen of his phone, his grin was immediately forced down by the immense emotional gravity into a large, comical frown, his brows scowling as he read the brief message you had decided to grace him with.

“What do you want?”

Seething, and through gritted teeth, Edward hissed into the empty apartment.

“Oh, you little…”

He managed o stop himself before he said something even he might have regretted. But still, enraged by your lack of interesting and your crude wording, Eddie felt his fingers tense around his phone painfully. Any more pressure, or strength in his slender body, and he may have cracked the device in half. Relaxing his digits, he typed a quick message in response, pleased with himself, but still deeply upset with yours. If that’s how you wanted to play it, then you could get ready to be met with a formidable opponent.

“Sorry, might be the wrong number. I have two girls’ numbers in my phone right now without names yet… which one are you?”

That would show you. False competition for his attention might engage you better. If you thought there was even the most slender, most remote chance, that you might not get to be with him, then it might encourage you to a little bit more receptive. Or at least, slightly more polite. But your response, coming incredibly quick, only served to snuff out that idea.

“I’m the one you should delete and block.”

“Fuck!”

Eddie tossed the phone once more, letting it land with a thud on the soft carpet on the floor as he rolled over on the sofa, burying his head in the cushions and letting out a variety of grunts and groans, though mostly mewling and pathetic whimpers. After a suitable amount of time spent feeling sorry for himself, and trying to convince his own ego that the backfiring of that particular approach was down to your difficult personality, he rolled back over. Staring blankly at the ceiling, he tugged nervously at his hair again as he tried to reason with the silence.

“Come on, Nygma. Solve the puzzle. She’s a Rubik’s cube, and you need to get your fingers all over her, twist her the right way until she makes sense.”

With an exasperated sigh, he reached to the floor and picked up his phone. There was a chance, he thought, that being himself might, for the first time ever, work when dealing with a woman. After all, it was foolish to keep trying the same methods and approaches, madness to think it might yield different results. Something completely different, something out of left field. A shock factor. It might just be the thing to loosen you up.

“Perhaps…”

Delighting in the idea that perhaps he was the solution to the puzzle after all, he typed out a new message. Very flirty, very cheeky, and typically Eddie all over.

“Oh! It’s you. I’d recognise that attitude anywhere. Spicy. Off-putting. I won’t be deleting you, so what do you want your name to be in my contacts? Would ‘babe’ do?”

You were typing already. Hook, line and sinker. He had you, and even if you were only replying in order to tell him off, at least you were communicating with him. It was better than nothing. And it meant he might have another chance before you decided to block him.

“Absolutely not.”

“Ok then. What about ‘cutie’?”

“If you think ‘cutie’ suits me, then I think you still have my identity mistake.”

“Ok, fine then. If we’re going for descriptive accuracy, how would ‘Stone Cold Bitch From Hell’ suit you?”

The back and forth stopped. There was no immediate response from you, and panic began to settle in Eddie’s chest. If this backfired, it would take a lot to come back from it, effort he wasn’t sure he was ready to put into even a committed relationship let alone a hook-up with someone he barely knew. Even he might not be able to rescue this situation from the hole he had dug for it. Maybe, he should have clarified it was a joke. Text you back immediately with a smile and a laughing emoji. After all, not everyone was as intelligent as he was, and the nuances of his humour did often go unrecognised or misconstrued, through no fault of his own obviously.

When his phone finally pinged, Eddie held his breath as he looked at the screen, his skin dimpling and his hairs standing on edge as he waited for the disastrous consequences of his actions to rear their ugly head.

“Actually, that one kind of suits me. Maybe you’re a bit more perceptive than I thought you were. And don’t get excited, because that really isn’t saying a lot.”

With a smug grin washing over his face, Eddie elected not to respond any further than sending you one solitary winking face. That would do, for now. He had to take it slowly, even still. Weeks of pandering to you, of trying to be someone else. And now, finally, he found out that you were one of the rare few who responded positively to his true self. A woman of refined taste, it seemed. But he was still wary, cautious.

As he got himself ready for bed, he thought back on how much time he had wasted so far on you, trying to convince you that he was perfect for you from behind a façade that you clearly had no interest in. He’d learnt the lesson, yet again, the hard way. Be himself.

“Be yourself, Eddie. That’s how you’ve won everything you have so far in life. Who can resist your charms? I mean, come on!”

He grinned wide into the mirror above the sink, shooting himself a quick wink, sly smile spreading further. He brushed his teeth quickly, spitting into the basin before focusing his attentions back on his reflection, picking at his teeth and combing back his hair before stopping to pose in front of the mirror. He flexed his almost non-existent muscles, self-obsession and illusions of grandeur once again assuring him he had the body of an Adonis, and then he laughed.

“I am genuinely almost jealous of her. She gets to be with this! Hoe wonderful for her. I truly am a gift.”

Thoroughly enamoured with himself, he took his self-satisfaction and headed to his bed to celebrate it in the disgustingly lewd way only he could. And, surprisingly, beyond the thoughts of how wonderful he was, he was thinking of you as he congratulated himself over, and over again.

And he was still thinking of you in the morning when he woke up. It had been a long time, concerningly so, since someone other than himself, or that ridiculous vigilante with his tight-fitting costume and penchant for leather, had been able to steal the focus of his attention. The excitement at the novelty of the situation had him giddy as he got out of bed. Purposefully ignoring the pull of desire to check his phone for any notifications, he opted to primp and preen first. The longer he held off checking, the longer he could live in ignorant bliss of the true, and potentially heartbreaking, outcome.

“Schrödinger’s booty call…”

He winced at his own joke, the thought of it distressing him. What if that’s all he could get out of you, in the end, after all of this?

“OK, but do I really want more?”

Yes was the answer to that, although his empty apartment could hardly scream that back at him. This was beyond a quickie, a one-night stand with someone he found physically enticing. He had deeper feelings for you, maybe only slightly underneath his callous and crude surface. But they were definitely there. What they might amount to in the future even he couldn’t be sure of yet. But all he knew was that once with you would not be enough. Not for the trouble he considered himself having gone through for you.

Finally dressed and smothered in his obnoxious cologne, Eddie turned his attentions back to his bedroom as he left the ensuite to find out whether he had a reason to live this morning. And if you hadn’t replied, his plans to destroy Gotham would be enacted far sooner, spurred on by your cruelty.

Luckily, however, for the citizens of Gotham and Eddies own ego, given that with so little preparation he was sure to fall flat on his face if he commenced his grand scheme so early, he had one message and it was from you.

“Nygma. That’s right, consider yourself lucky that I remembered your name. You’re good with computers, yes? I seem to recall you bragging about it.”

“Ha ha! I’ve got you now!”

A typical ploy! How many times had he asked for help from someone, which he never needed given he was the smartest and most competent person who had ever lived, just to get closer to them or to spend time with them? Far too many for him to count. He was very aware of what you were trying to do. And he was more than happy to play ignorant, to play along and give you what you so clearly wanted.

On the edge of his seat, quite literally he realised as he shuffled back into the centre of his bed, his fingers tapped quickly, furiously, as he replied to your message.

“Obviously, of course I am. It’s kind of my thing. Although, you obviously knew that.”

Was he too smug? Maybe… But you clearly liked him. It was impossible for you to deny it now. It was only a matter of time before he lured you into his web and kept you there… willingly of course… unless…

Eddie’s more villainous daydream was cut short, thankfully, by the slight vibration of his phone against his palm, a tingle sent through him like an electric shock as he took a breath and looked to his screen, or looked to his future.

“Great. Is this guy any good? I need someone to fix my laptop and he looks competent.”

Attached to your words was a screenshot of some less man, the Computer King he was calling himself, who was offering extortionate prices for no doubt shoddy, subpar work, regardless of what it was that you needed.

Were you joking? He couldn’t be sure. It could be an effort to make him jealous, retaliation for his own efforts the night before. It felt as though you were goading him into offering himself up on a platter, detailing his skills and positive attributes like you were interviewing him for the job of “gracious boyfriend”. And that just wouldn’t stand, not even…

“It would stand though. Only for her. But still, irritatingly so…”

Laying back in his bed with a soft thump, he clutched the phone to his chest, reminiscent of how he had been the night before, and so many other moments leading up to this one. You were in his head, and he could feel you slipping into every other facet of his being. But still, he was slightly pissed off with your constant back and forth, your cold attitude, flaunting the concept of communication in front of him and then snatching it away cruelly with the suggestion that you’d be giving it to some other, lesser, man.

Fed up, and already annoyed at this early hour, he typed a droll message.

“Yep. He’d be good enough for you, anyway.”

With a falsified grin that faded into a genuinely emotional frown, he placed his phone down and went to the kitchen to grab some coffee. He managed to convince himself he’d done the right thing. Pretending to be proud of himself, he sipped slowly, a dramatic “ah” at the end of each slurp as he continued the farce. Who he was performing to, he wasn’t even sure himself. But given that he spent most of his time in solitary isolation, self-congratulatory arrogance with the aim of tricking himself into feeling comfortable was the least strange thing he did alone.

When he realised he hadn’t heard his phone chime, though, he began to feel tense and nervous. He was fidgeting, tapping the edge of his coffee mug with his fingers, shaking his leg, his foot bouncing on the ledge of the breakfast bar. One moment of, albeit in his mind rightfully placed, anger, and he’d undone his weeks of hard work.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot.”

In a rare moment of self-reflection that bordered on a breakthrough, Eddie considered his life as a whole, and how many things had actually gone right for him. The years of slaving away at a job that didn’t respect or value him, his tortuous formative years filled with bullying and excommunication from every social group he had tried to enter, his lack of luck in social situations with anyone he dared to interact with, his formidable and deeply unloving parents. The possible, but likely inevitable, end to his great schemes when the vigilante of Gotham decided to crack down on him. Surely, all of these amounted to an understanding that Eddie might just not be lucky, or made for good fortune. Or, could it be that Eddie was the problem? That he was the common denominator in all of the unfortunate things in his life?

It was a self-hating thread that he rarely pulled, for fear that his entire existence would become unravelled. But then, a glimmer of hope as he heard the chime, finally.

Tripping over himself in a bid to reach the phone as quickly as possible, he read the message wide-eyed and hopefully.

“I don’t want to regret this, Eddie. You seem to not understand. If I get another guy to look at my laptop for me, then I can meet you for a coffee while he works on it. You seem like you might be adequate entertainment for an hour. And besides, I feel like hating myself today. So?”

Eddie’s wide smirk pressed into his cheeks as he sighed dreamily. With any luck, you’d be willing to commit to hating yourself every day if he could just make sure this date went well. And since he had already managed to get this far with you, he assumed his natural charms would see him the rest of the way.

#finnie writes #riddler #the riddler #riddler x reader #riddler x you #edward nygma #zero year riddler #zero year!riddler #capullo riddler #capullo!riddler #riddler smut #x reader

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valentine-cafe · 1 month ago

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May I have a red bean bun please!?

[Afab gn reader]

Just thinking about making the perfect bath time for her on Valentine's Day!! Greeting her by the door and stripping her one piece at a time. Kissing her bare skin and breasts as you go. Leading her to the bath with rose petals, essential oils and bathing salts and everything else that would put a cherry on top for self care!! But before she gets in, you have to make sure she is thoroughly relaxed by fucking her pussy with your tongue, sucking and licking away at her clit!!<33

-🍄

🍒 𓂃 𝑶𝑹𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑼𝑷 : red bean bun !! . . . grim reaper priestess ⊹ gn reader .

. ᘛ 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔﹕verse 9948e ꮽ yuè mèng yáo

𐔌𖹭 ˖ ࣪ who's that ?⠀﹕a dutiful grim reaper priestess and mother. wise and sage, beautiful and dangerous.

ּ ֗ recepit ℘ ... giving your lady a lovely valentines shower, but not before removing some of those extra tensions first ⊹ cw ٬٬ smut . cunnilingus

You would be a blessing to each and every part of her.

Goosebumps across her cold skin, and her back arching just perfectly into your hands. Melting like putty each time your tongue swirls at the sensitive clit between your girlfriend's legs.

Each little sound is a treasure to you and one to reward her for every time she lets one out. Like the petals whirling around in the bathtub. Your fingers trace at her awaiting hole. Always bordering to enter but never doing it entirely.

She takes a deep breath and hums. Muscles relaxing when they finally break the border and curl inside of her, thrusting slowly and gently. To match the flips of your tongue.

Long, manicured hands move down to grasp against your scalp and hair, tugging and clenching. While your lady up above whimpers at the pleasure you bring. Juices coating your tongue and they taste so incredibly delicious.

Her dioxazine eyes catch sight of yours roll back into your skull, when her thighs clench around your head and buck needily into your mouth for more. Slow beating heart thumping like a thousand storms inside of her heart.

"M. . . My love." Gasps and declarations of her love for you fill the bathroom, as she gushes all over your chin. Her hips and back relaxing into the soft sheets of the bed you had prepared for her, prior to doing up the bathroom.

A hand takes hers, and you gently pull her up from where she laid. "Let me shower you." You hum with a smile, and take a deep breath in.

"Are we done. . ." The question hangs in the air with bated breath. Clearly awaiting and answer from you.

"Of course we're not done."

The words of confirmation are enough to calm her all over again. As her light feet willingly, but shakily, track behind you to the bathroom. Where her moans echo down the halls just a few minutes later.

꒰ ۪ ˖ ࣪ 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑢 ... info ꮽ mlist ꮽ verse ꮽ wiki .

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jq37 · 1 year ago

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 3 Fast Times at Fantasy High

Welcome back to Fantasy High! It’s a very exciting episode because something that we rarely see in this show about high schoolers studying at an adventuring academy is happening: The Bad Kids are actually going to class.

But first, they have to get to school. Riz, unsurprisingly, arrives first. On a big old 30 Investigation roll (+11 to a 19), overnight he did a deep dive into what everyone needs to do to get into a good college. Fig is actually doing great. If she would just go to her classes, she’d be fine. Kristen on the other hand is in serious trouble seeing as allowing your god to die is pretty much an auto-fail for a cleric. Fabian and Gorgug are both solid students with good extracurriculars. Their main hurdle is going to be the MCAT–the Multiclass Achievement Test. In order to multiclass, you need to get permission from your current advisor and pass the test. Then you can take 3/4 of each track for a 150% course load. And then, of course, he and Adaine are the party nerds so they’re doing great. They could maybe add some extracurriculars but they’re model students.

RIz also has done some research about possible college options: Astral State University (where they visited in the one shot), CUS Dabus (in the City of Doors), Bastion City University (who are doing big, world changing stuff), the Society of Shadows (the rogues only group that forces you to leave your life and friends behind that Penny Luckstone refused to join in The Seven), and–most hilarious but also saddest–Lord Salazar Edge's College of Lone Adventurers (which we learn in the AP was a Murph pitch, lol).

Back at Mordred, Adaine is doing her best to get her less studious friends up and ready for school, going as far as casting Friends on them to get them in the car. Fig willingly fails and Kristen–who really wants to be convinced–sets the DC at 10 and gives Adaine the Help action. Before they get to the car, Lydia (Ragh’s awesome mom) slaps a toxic looking blue energy drink from Kristen’s hands and gives them all full trash bags full of food for lunch (she’s used to feeding half-orc athlete Barb Ragh, not three spellcasters).

Jawbone loads them in the car and, on the way to school, they hear the song of the summer which is this emo anthem. When they meet Riz, he’s super excited to see everyone and show them their dossiers. He even made one for Adaine just for fun even though she doesn’t need any help and she loves it. What she (and Riz) don’t love however is Fig’s new school plan which, as we learned last week, is to enroll in something other than bard classes and then go to her bard classes (since a part of her isn’t going because she has chronic Stick-It-To-The-Man-Itis). Riz and Adaine try to figure out if they can gaslight Fig into going to her classes or hack the system somehow.

Back at the Thistlespring tree, Gorgug is doing some last minute pre-school work: creating his homunculus (which is kind of like an artificer’s familiar). It’s a hastily made archaeopteryx (flying dino thing, if you know Pokemon, think Archeops) that’s light on the feathers. He accidentally names it Cloaca (a birds multipurpose excrement chute) which his parents love because it’s spreading awareness of non-traditional bodies. Then they launch into a story about mermaid reproduction that I’m not gonna get into because not even Gorgug wanted to hear it. He’s clearly anxious about his skills because he feels his parents disapprove of the bird even though they’ve never been anything other than 200% supportive of him in their lives.

He gets a ride to school and his friends meet Cloaca, who he nicknames Chloe–the name I’ll be using even though the Bad Kids of course will exclusively call it Cloaca. Riz hands Gorgug his file which he reviews along with the letters from his parents. It’s a lot of the same info except that one of the letters is a rejection re: Multiclassing with a note to talk to his advisor (Porter, the Barb teacher who Fig hates).

Fabian shows up, starving and shabbily dressed without Cathilda to take care of him–she’s still in Leviathan. The girls share their trash bag food with him which he wolfs down gratefully. (When he mentions his parents are away, Fig seems surprised that Gilear left. Interesting to note for future eps because that feels out of character for their relationship). Anyway, he mistakes Chloe for a piece of trash because is it really the first day of school if Fabian doesn’t insult Gorgug (accidentally this time. progress!) and then the bell rings. As it does, the Bad Kids look around and realize something strange: they’re Juniors now. That means more than half the kids here are younger than them now. They’re not the Freshmen they once were.

The Sorc Prof (Jace Stardiamond) is filling in as VP while Gilear is away and as he makes an announcement on the intercom, Fig almost falls into an open construction pit (a SECOND construction based incident) but is saved when she’s hit with an armful of gym equipment instead. Put that on the Faeth luck swap conspiracy board. Anyway, Jace also says that Aguefort is gonna be out so they have a new Principal: Emergency Backup Interim Principal Grix. The Bad Kids have never heard of this guy before.

In the spot where they saw Dane and Penelope campaigning to bring back Prom Court their first year, the Bad Kids now see a table for Student Gov manned by Jawbone and a minotaur student he seems to know: Mazey Phaedra–a senior and the student body prez. She’s also based on a Scottish Highland cow which isn’t important to the story but it is important to me because those cows are super cute. Riz suggests they sign up so they go talk to Mazey who seems cool: She thanks them for saving the world, she knows Ayda, and Fabian clocks later that she’s a dancer bard. All green flags.

After indulging Fabian’s ego for a bit, the squad encourages Kristen to go for President. Before she can though, she’s beaten to the punch by a halfling student with major Tracy Flick energy who introduces herself as Kipperlily Copperkettle. Kristen immediately shoots back with, “What are you, four different dogs?” which is maybe the funniest thing a Bad Kid has ever said. The Bad Kids hate her vibes on sight but Kristen especially is full aggro. Riz notices that she’s wearing a pin of a rat’s butt being grinded between two gears and when asked about it, she says it’s Ratgrinders pin–Ratgrinders being the name of her adventuring party. They ask who else is in her party and she points out Reuben–an emo, gnomish bard who is signing autographs because he’s the one who wrote the song they were listening to on the way to school (before Kristen changed it to a health and wellness podcast).

Kipperlily (who I’m gonna call KP) is told that she can sign up but she has to find time to campaign outside of her classes. She says that won’t be a problem because she’s already aced Junior Year and she slides over an envelope to Jawbone to prove it. Apparently, the way Rogue classes work here is that the students find clues and puzzles throughout the school left by the professor but they’ve never actually met them. If a student is able to find the Rogue professor, they automatically get an A for the year and, apparently, KP did just that.

Paperwork in order, KP is about to leave but Fig stops her to ask what her platform is. Her answer: “Equality, equanimity, and fairness under the rules. In the past, there has been an eccentricity to the bureaucratic and administrative decisions of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy that has favored some students over others. Very nice to meet you guys.”

As she leaves, they hate her even more.

Adaine tries out a new trick she has which allows her to see into the ethereal plane. She sees a lot of Aguefort’s wards but also the fact that the wards are porous enough to let in ghosts because one of the professors is a ghost, though they don’t know which one. She suggests to Riz that maybe the Rogue prof is a ghost. She also sees some ghost steaks in the fridge, presumably belonging to the ghost prof (btw: steak for lunch at a high school seems wild, lol).

At this point, Fabian notices Mazey’s dancing shoes (Badidas of course) and clocks that she’s a dancer bard. He talks to her about how he’s looking to multiclass and she hooks him up with a note to give to the dance class professor (Terpsicore Skullcleaver) that says he’s a good kid. She also tells him that Jem Peppercorn (the absolute legend who stayed in the gym eating for the whole Goldenhoard fight) graduated last year and he had the party house which means there’s an opening for a new party house. And Fabian has a very big, very fancy, very empty house. Kristen does an Insight check and gets a Nat 20 to clock that yeah, there’s a little bit of a flirty vibe going on. So of course, she uses Thaumaturgy to create tremors–a move I was extremely confused about at first blush but I think she was using to give Fabian an excuse to hold her or something. Clearly, she’s a more attentive Wingwoman than she is a Saint.

Anyway, conversation finished, they go to the Auditorium where Jace announced Principal Grix wanted to give a speech. Grix is a gold, warforged spellcaster with a ball comprising his lower half instead of legs. Apparently, he was created by Arthur Aguefort to take his place while he’s on vacay. He speaks in a stilted, robotic manner and gives a speech parallel to Aguefort’s day one speech about what an Adventurer is. But instead of the rambly, unhinged answer Aguefort gave, he simply gives the Dictionary definition: One who goes on adventures. And then he starts going off about order, bureaucracy, and rules.

The Bad Kids are taken aback–even rules gremlin Riz.On a 27 to clock whether he’s been hacked (because she can’t believe Aguefort would make a robot that acted like this) Adaine sees Grix steepling his fingers and saying “Perfect order” which isn’t conclusive but is def troubling! They start raising their hands and asking Jace questions about if they really have to follow rules in a hard way this year–it still is Aguefort after all–but Grix cuts in and says that the backtalk he’s getting is exactly the problem. He casts Time Stop (a 9th level spell) and the entire auditorium finds themselves in the hall, in a single file line, ten minutes before class is about to begin. Not a great start to the year! And on a dirty 20, Kristen doesn’t see KP anywhere. Suspicious!

Riz tells Fabian and Gorgug about any extra MCAT stuff they don’t already know. He also tells the group about the Frosty Folk Festival and Gorgug mentions that his parents are hosting. Fig says she wants to maybe try out some of her new songs there…once she’s written them. Fabian asks if they can take a break from hardcore Bad Kid stuff this semester and Kristen says that’s a good point because she has a campaign to focus on. Fig declares herself secret service because, of course she does. She also announces her plan to go to Bard classes…but disguised as a new persona (Tiny Emo Girlie: Wanda Childa) so she can befriend and spy on Reuben. Riz and Adaine are at the end of their collective rope.

With his free time before the bell rings, Gorgug wants to talk to Porter to sort out the MCAT stuff. Porter lays it out for him. He thinks Gorgug has amazing, raw, natural talent and he uses his rage in a really noble way to protect his friends. But he hasn't seen him reach his full destructive potential and he’s not impressed that he defeated the Night Yorb will tools and “magic” instead of rage. He would be fine if Gorgug wanted to get some Fighter levels with Ms. Jones or something else that would dovetail nicely with Barb classes, but as of now, he hasn’t seen what he needs to see to think that Artificing classes would do anything but steal focus. Gorgug can of course quit the Barb track and move to Artificing, but Porter is not giving his approval.

Meanwhile, Fabian is having a much less hostile meeting with Terpsicore (after an accidental detour to Adaine’s wizard class because he trusted Fig–who’s never been to bard class–to give him directions). Terps is this tiny (5 ft 3in) Half-Orc with crazy, hyper positive, aerobics grandma energy who immediately breaks down Fabian’s cool guy jock persona and gets him into a dance, jam sesh with her that moves through different styles of dance and music. I can’t do this scene justice, you have to watch it. Her “Uh-oh, uh-oh! Uh-oh, uh-oh! A challenger approaches!” tells you everything you need to know about her.

By the end of the dance, Fabian has fully embraced his weird art kid energy and Terps has approved Fabian for multiclassing. It’s looking like all sunshine and roses for Fabian until Terps tells him that if he’s gonna make this multiclass thing work, he needs to be really serious. Lots of rest. Lots of healthy food. And no parties. Uh-oh indeed.

Next up, we turn our attention back to Riz who’s still in the hall and tries to steal the envelope KP turned in to Jawbone to get some info about the Rogue prof. Jawbone catches him and is good natured about it but won’t let him have the envelope: not for moral reasons so much as because a good rogue has to earn it by not getting caught.

Riz asks about KP and Jawbone says she’s a good kid but kinda Type A. He asks Riz if he’s getting some “I’m in the picture and I don’t like it” energy from her and Riz denies it. Jawbone decides to give him a little bit of a hint re: the Prof and says that KP technically didn’t find the prof. The prof found KP. But he won’t say more and he would appreciate him not saying where he got the info. The main reason he’s giving the info at all is because KP was snooping and heard him talking about Kristen’s god dying. She then asked Jawbone a bunch of questions about Kristen which he answered so he figured fair’s fair with regard to giving Riz some info about her. Riz is troubled. Jawbone tells Riz that they’re due for a heart to heart but Riz says he’s good and he’s stressed but stress is good. Yikes!

Kristen is also still in the hall and finally properly signs up for class president but, as she does, she hears some familiar voices: it’s her parents, dropping her younger brother Bucky off for his first day at Aguefort. She has serious deja vu as they’re saying the same “Don’t mix with the weirdos” stuff they said to her on her first day. Kristen fails a Wisdom save and is deeply affected by watching her parents basically bullying her younger brother who she hasn’t seen in a good bit now. The last time she had any contact with them it was just to give them her dragon gold and that was over the phone. She sees that her not being in the household to shield her brothers from her parents has led to them having to take all that parental abuse and pressure alone. She goes over to confront them feeling hot under the collar and Riz senses a crackle of something in her aura.

Cass chimes in, thinking she’s been summoned, and asks if it’s a good time for them to talk and Kristen snaps at her that OBVIOUSLY it’s not a good time. Kristen feels a spasm in her body and, for the first time, Cass snaps back at her: "Fine! I can make my own people to talk to!“ Deeply concerning, but we’ll come back to that. For now, we follow Kristen as she reaches her parents and brother. Bucky immediately goes in for the hug and seems very happy to see her. Her parents, not so much and the feeling is mutual. “Second time’s the charm, hopefully” they say, tacitly deeming her a failure. She pretends to be directing traffic so she can hustle them out the door ASAP and gets a Nat 20 to do so (rolling with advantage for reasons Brennan doesn’t expound on). Bucky says he wants to talk to Kristen about something but he’s late so can they meet up after class? She says sure thing and he runs off, his longsword trailing after him.

Kristen is left alone with her parents and it’s a bit of a standoff. Her mom asks how she’s going and seems to genuinely want to know to some degree but it’s still mainly jabs about her lifestyle and choices and leaving the church. Her dad especially comes down hard on her for leaving Helio without a chosen one and becoming a cleric to a night goddess right before they were struck with four months of night which, admittedly, is a fair thing to have questions about. But Kristen has died and come back from the dead. If that can’t keep her down, her parents certainly can’t. She pirouettes away from the conversation and heads to class (because she may not be worried about her parents but she is worried about what Cass said to her).

We hop over to the second nerd of the party, Adaine, who’s in wizard classes with Professor Tiberia Runestaff who Brennan says has “Evil Lucille Bluth” energy (which is different from regular Lucille Bluth how?). She’s a friend of Aguefort’s from the Mountains of Chaos and Adaine wants to impress her so so bad.

She starts off her lesson by saying that this year is the weed out year. This is the year that separates the paltry magicians from the truly great casters. Then, she starts listing out the materials they need for this week’s castings–a list that includes TEN BARRELS OF DIAMONDS. For ONE WEEK. Adaine may come from money but she doesn’t have access to any of that money right now. She raises her hand to ask if there’s any way she could borrow some diamonds from the school or something and basically gets a harsh, “That sounds like a you problem” kind of response that she shrinks back from. Tiberia continues to list the ridiculously expensive materials needed to continue on and Adaine knows that she can’t ask Jawbone for any of this. She resolves to call Aelwyn for help during lunch.

We then move on to a Fantasy High first: Fig going to class! Although she’s not going as herself. She’s disguised as her alter ego Wanda Childa. The professor (Lucilla Lullaby who is some kind of chill Eladrin) seems to perhaps think she recognizes her before she sits down next to Reuben. She charms him by smelling of peach schnapps and cigarettes and they have a flirty emo-off before Lucilla points out that she’s 100% not on the roster and, despite the fact that it doesn’t always seem like it, this is a school with rules. This year especially! She leaves, but as she lingers to give Reuben one last look (and sniff) she notices that he has a Ratgrinder tattoo that matches KP’s pin.

As she exits Lucilla is making a call on her crystal and there’s a good chance it’s connected to the encounter Fig has when she gets to the hall. Jace Stardiamond is leading an eagle aarakocra Council of Chosen agent (think FBI) who is investigating truancy in the area and calls Fig by name–well by pseudonym anyway. He is incidentally also looking into the disappearance of Hilda Hilda. Sensing her chickens are finally coming home to roost, Fig gives a weak lie about not knowing how schools work and skateboards away, using Cutting Words to prevent Agent Clark’s attack of opportunity on her. He vows to find out who she is as she makes her escape.

Proving you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it go to bard class, Fig goes outside to spy on her class through the window instead of attending because she thought Lucilla actually seemed pretty cool. She doesn’t hide well enough though and Lucilla spots her through the window. She’s shocked to see Fig for the first time in two years and welcomes her in like she’s the prodigal son. Fig asks if it would be weird for her to attend. Lucilla assures her that it’s the opposite of weird and, in fact, mandatory.

She settles in for her first day of bard class–this semester and ever–but out of the corner of her eye, she notices a sneering Rebuen texting someone. It’s Lola Embers. Looks like they’re signed to the same label.

Finally, we hop to Kristen who’s headed to cleric class with Professor Yolanda Badgood (a wispy air genasi). Before class even starts she tells Kristen to meet her after class. We timeskip to that meeting and, like many others in this ep, she thanks Kristen for saving the world. But she has a followup question: How did she do it when her god is dead? Kristen says she has a lot going on with her estranged parents she just saw and her scattered mind and her feeling like the stairs are disappearing behind her as she climbs. She has to update her god in the files and her address for that matter because, as we learned when she talked to her parents, all her mail is still getting sent to her old address. Her professor sincerely asks her how she’s feeling and Kristen says she’s fine but asks if there’s some kind of test she can take that will tell her what god is right for her. Her professor is like, “Didn’t you just say you had a new god???” But Kristen feels so much pressure with Cass and she mainly feels annoyed by her presence. Professor Badgood says that she’s allowed to change her god as much as she wants–she herself gave up an active relationship with a divinity so she can be kind of an interfaith minister to all her students. And she says that all faiths are trying to capture a piece of the truth–even the out there ones with evil gods and such. She recommends that Kristen spend a week earnestly trying to connect with Cass and if she still feels like she wants to split she can go from there.

Kristen has a followup question: What do you do when your god says, "Fine, I'll- I'll make new followers"? Badgood seems taken aback, and she’s even more so when Kristen says she’s been rude to her god. Kristen asks if she should apologize and Professor Badgood gives her the most gracious version of, “Duh, obviously” a person can manage. She directs Kristen to one of the million prayer rooms in the class so she and Cass can talk.

Kristen actually takes this seriously–or at least more seriously than she takes most things. She clears her mind and meditates until she finds herself in the forest of Sylvaire where Cassandra is crying to herself. A bright moon that would erase any shadow or doubt encroaches. When Kristen tries to touch Cass’s shoulder, the god flinches away and sobs that Craig–her only other follower–has joined the Wolfsong Revival. Tracker’s movement.

Cass is scared. She doesn’t want to end up dead in the Astral Realm like Yes? Kristen apologizes and says that she understands that she’s getting to point where chaos isn’t cute anymore. She follows that up by saying that her top two priorities are Cass and her student president campaign however so I don’t know how committed she is to being serious. Cass isn’t either because she flat out states that she can’t rely on Kristen. She’s so so lonely and she’s confused about why things aren’t working out. They started out so big and magical and they’re still so stuck. She thought it might be because of her somehow but then she learned about the trail of abandoned gods in Kristen’s wake and realized that *she* was the connecting factor, something that Kristen cops to verbally: “It’s me,” she says.

Cass announces that she’s getting some help and Kristen asks who. A cleric? Nope. No clerics for now. She just wanted a friend. Kristen sees her petting something invisible and asks if it’s a dog.

“I’m more of a cat person,” Cass says as a black cat fades into view.

“Hi Kristen,” Kalina says.

And that’s where we end our ep!!!! The bitch is back!!!!

Honor Roll

Riz for Thinking Of All His Friends

In Sophomore Year there was a thing with Riz’s dad where it was like, sometimes you show your love through work and, viewed through that lens, Riz *really* loves his friends. I recognize that the likelihood of his meticulous plan actually working is slim to none and he’ll have to accept that even if they all stay really close friends (which they better), they’re likely on at least slightly different life paths, I do think it’s really sweet that he’s putting so much effort into making sure that ALL of his friends are successful by the metric that he’s using. Also, the “Hi Adaine :)” binder for her was so cute. I love nerd friendship.

Detention

Fig for Hilda-Hilda-ing Too Close to the Sun

Girl the Fantasy FBI is after you!!! Just stop lying and go to class!!!!!

Random Thoughts

In the AP for this ep, Emily mentioned some cool warlock thing that might be worth taking the MCAT for and officially registering (she’s currently off the books multiclassing) but it’s never mentioned in the actual episode so I assume it got snipped away in editing.

I really love how polite Adaine is to anyone who hasn’t earned her scorn and the little moment of her taking a reasonable amount of food from the trashbag Lydia offered her and thanking her was very endearing to me.

Zac is very quick on his feet and Chloe is a GREAT save for Cloaca but it is ABSOLUTELY not gonna be what anyone calls that bird but me and him.

When Jace said over the intercom that Sorc classes are just talking about how fun and easy magic is, I’m surprised Adaine have anything snarky to say about that, lol. *I* had a comment and I don’t even go to that school.

Is anyone else getting like…Santa Clause 2 energy from the Grix situation? If that ends up being the vibe then that’s super funny because iirc Santa Clause 1 was ref’d a bunch with the oracle stuff in Freshman Year. Full circle baybee.

KP seems like she is springing into existence to fill the voice left by Penny Luckstone getting her GED and leaving. They’re like on the exact same level of one axis of a cartesian plane but on opposite sides. Both at 100% intensity but vibes in opposite directions.

I kinda wanna add a poll to this post that’s like, what is the crazier story? Mermaid reproduction with the Thistlesprings or snapping turtle man with gun up his secret cloaca story with Jawbone?

Honorary Honor Roll to Ally the person for the legendary 4 dogs joke. Honestly even funnier knowing that that’s the actual name of Brennan’s old PC. Burned the man to his face. Roasted him like corn.

OK, so what are we thinking about the Ratgrinders? Is that a ref to grinding rats for XP or more how they see other people/what they’re going to do to people who get in their way? KP is obviously very rules focused but in a Lawful Annoying way. I do think it’s interesting though. Have any of you guys ever seen the Community episode where it turns out everyone at Greendale hates the gang because they have major main character syndrome and are always forcing everyone else at school to accommodate their flights of fancy (a perfectly reasonable reason to have beef with people)? I’m wondering if there’s a bit of that energy happening here. Either way, this strikes me as a party that’s interested in exploiting loopholes and such for maximum efficiency (eg: finding the rogue prof for instant straight A’s) and that’s a different kind of maverick behavior than what the Bad Kids do which is go buckwild, breaking rules if necessary, but getting real results. It’s like the BK’s are Aguefort’s perfect party and I’m suspecting the RG’s are Grix’s. Speaking of–

A FH concept I had ages ago was rival adventuring party to the main group which has like, bizarro versions of everyone. And we may be getting that! We have an emo bard to contrast Fig’s punk rocker energy. And a rules follower (derogatory) rogue to contrast Riz who is also a rules follower (blessed). Very curious to see the rest of their party! And very curious to know if they’re Bad (™) or just annoying in a high school way. Sometimes people just don’t vibe with you.

Oh, a specific concern that I have: KP specifically asked where Kristen was able to create a god. I don’t think that’s info I want a super type A person I don’t trust to have.

Very sweet that Jawbone’s immediate instinct when he thinks an earthquake is happening is to bodily shield Fig and Adaine, his two kind daughter-figures in the Bad Kids.

Kristen says that Cass is a hard sell but I have to disagree. Look at this flyer. It looks convincing to me!

“I think songs can accomplish a lot, if you let yourself hear the music.” Gorgug :( He’s gonna show Porter this season. I just know it. I believe in you Spring Break!

Love Murph throwing in the Frosty Folk thing apropos of basically nothing just to make sure they had an in-character reason to all know about that for later, just in case. Info management! Important!

I remember Bucky being a lot younger but either I’m confusing him for one of her other two brothers or it got retconned (or Quangled lol) older to make this storyline work. Very interesting that he went in for the hug, not the other way around. Seems like at least one person missed her. With his longsword and his parents’ inclinations, it seems like he’s most likely a Helioic Paladin. I’m very interested in how they’re going to treat his relationship with Helio because even though Kristen rejected him and we’ve seen that he has some followers that range from just shitty (K’s parents) to downright culty (the Harvestmen), that doesn’t mean that all of his followers are like that and we’ve never actually seen Helio be anything but pretty chill when he’s appeared. He wants to talk to Kristen about something and my conspiracy theory brain is wondering if he was asked to be Helio’s new chosen one but he hasn’t told anyone yet. That would be very interesting and I’d like to see a storyline about the tension of K and her brother having very different relationships with the same god. The chill peace and love god might have been a great person for him to turn to in absence of his one lifeline in the house leaving. But it could also be tons of other things so we’ll see.

Wild that Kristen has pissed off or abandoned every member of that godly family (Sol, Helio, Galicaea, and Cass). She really is the constant here.

Ally says Kristen is wearing an Adidas tracksuit meaning that this world canonically has both Adidas and Badidas.

It’s a funny moment when Terps is like, “Is there harm in your life? ”to Fabian when he mentions eating food out of a trash bag but like, the kid isn’t doing *great*. Def some neglect happening and he said he was wearing yesterday’s clothes and still banged up from the Night Yorb fight. If I was a teacher, I’d have questions too!

Yolanda Badgood. Terpsichore Skullcleaver. Lucilla Lullaby. Most of these professors are named like My Little Ponies and I love it.

When Lucilla say “Wanda” it seems like she briefly (correctly) thought it was Fig which is funny because it paints the picture that she’s been actively waiting on pins and needles for her to show up for the past two years. It’s funny because she’s not a missing person. She’s highly visible both from saving the world and being a rockstar AND both of her dads work at your school! Just get in touch!

Really hope Adaine follows up on the Aelwyn conversation because I wanna see two kids raised in old money discuss the price of ten barrels of diamonds.

Also lol at random things like Fabian being the FUTURE OF DANCE being pinned on Adaine’s oracle prognostications.

#Dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 #d20 spoilers #fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #spoilers #the report card

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brynnterpretations · 7 months ago

Note

Hi! I'd love a bowers gang ship request for my IT OC Marilyn Fenix! I have a bio page for her that might be easier to read rather than me sending her info all here if that's okay ! The banner has a few tabs that I hope help <3

https://venuscheered.carrd.co

As a side note, I've really liked seeing your IT OCs as of late! I'm such a sucker for fan characters!

Thank you so much for the ship, kind words, and sharing your wonderful OC! I didn't check out the bonds list because I didn't want to be biased, so I hope it's fine if the "meeting" section doesn't align with anyone in the gang! (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

I ship Marilyn Fenix with...

Henry Bowers ♡

Boyfriend

GIF Source: @pennywise-fucker ★ (link)

Henry and Marilyn likely have known each other since there are children — after all, Derry is a tiny town. Throughout it all, Henry and Marilyn honestly hadn't interacted much; while Henry thought she was pretty when she was younger, and enjoyed her former timidity, as the two of them grew older, their social circles completely changed. However, he never really stopped looking at Marilyn. It wasn't intentional; he did it to all the girls at school who he thought were "bangable", but with Marilyn, it was a bit different. She was the kindest person he'd met around Derry, but there was an inherent unattainability to her: her seeming perfection made him feel insecure, causing him to project a quality of "stuckupness" to her.

In a twist of fate, the two were paired as tablemates in English, and later, partners. Henry does not talk to her at first; when she says hi, he'll say it back, sure, but if she asks him about his day or anything, even, it's always a one-word answer. Our boy Henry is not a man of words. But...

Henry's awful at English, and regardless of Marilyn's abilities, she's 100% going to be leagues better than Henry. Because of that, he starts engaging with Marilyn more — though mainly because of Marilyn's consistent kindness towards him. She's never too pushy, but still offers him help with classwork when she sees him struggling, and even sometimes gets a tiny exhale of a chuckle from him.

Time goes by with them exchanging some awkward words that eventually turn into more sentences on Henry's end. By that point, they're paired together for a Fahrenheit 451 project. Henry does not fuck with this. Marilyn fucks with this better. As such, Marilyn takes the lead, much to Henry's gratitude, though he doesn't show it. He just sits there, occasionally giving a single nod as Marilyn talks about the project, letting her do all the work.

They begin getting closer through this, particularly because of the form: a massive trifold, which is impractical to work on at school. Marilyn, bless her, proposes her house to work at, which relieves Henry so much. As such, they begin meeting whenever the two of them have the time. Henry would immediately feel out of place in her home, and, noticing his anxiety, Marilyn would never call it out, only doing things to subtly make him feel more comfortable.

This would make Henry soften to her even more as they continued to work on their project. As they continued to work together, Marilyn would definitely be able to notice small cracks in Henry's exterior. Still, she doesn't push him, something Henry desperately needs in any sort of romantic relationship. As they continue to spend time at Marilyn's house, they'd have a lot of more organic conversations that flow far more naturally than the ones at school. He's not a big talker, of course, but he'd start talking a lot more willingly, though not sharing much about himself.

Eventually, Henry and her begin hanging out outside of her house, particularly after a rough day of Henry's. After getting into a rather vicious spat with the school janitor, Henry ended up in detention, only getting out after Marilyn's cheer practice had ended. Upon seeing his face, which looked more like a kicked puppy than anything, Marilyn — bless her soul — came over to talk to him, even if out of sight of the rest of the cheer team (maybe intentionally, maybe unintentionally). Henry asks, without making it clear that it was any sort of date as the romantic he is not, asks if she'd want to come with him to the quarry.

And... she does. The two head to the quarry, sitting below the bridge that overlooks the quarry, staring into nothingness. It's not uncomfortable, though. The two talk about Henry's awful day, which Marilyn makes him feel better about, as well as talking about other things: Marilyn's involvement on the cheer team, the things she does for fun, and maybe even her family.

Eventually, these hang-outs become a regular occurrence, and finally, Henry asks her if she'd like to come to a bonfire the Bowers Gang hosts every month at Victor's house.

She comes, and things just feel... right. The Bowers Gang are quite nice to her, excluding Patrick being weird ("that your eye candy for the night?" followed by a disgusting Hockstetter-signature cackle), and there's plenty of beer: something that may likely contribute to Marilyn's substance abuse issues.

When they're both drunk and getting ready to leave — Belch is the sober-monitor for the night but is incredibly forgetful, and has to find his keys — Henry initiates the first kiss. It's clumsy — Henry has not had any romantic interests that have led to any skill — but it's as sweet as a kiss from Bowers could possibly be.

Henry's wishy-washy about immediately putting a label on their relationship, and I'd imagine Marilyn might be too; Bowers is basically a walking hazard label, but could be used as leverage against her parents (though that's not to say she'd be using him), so she'd have a lot of mixed feelings, while Henry would simply not feel too much rush to make things official.

After about a month, though, Henry asks her point-blank if she'd like to be his girlfriend. Marilyn says yes. Queue flying doves and falling petals and beautiful lighting.

Just kidding! It's at the quarry, and it smells like wet grass.

Once dating, Marilyn would both be and provide a safe haven for Henry, and he'd spend a lot of time at her place to escape his father. He'd slowly be able to ease into physical intimacy with her, even letting her hold him sometimes. I could also see her patching him up when he's hurt, and being a borderline mother figure for him, because... trauma.

Henry would be understanding of her frustration with her family, considering Butch only pays attention to him when he's abusing him, but would be irritated with it too. How he sees it, Marilyn's getting fed and going to bed without any blotches or marks on her torso; after a tough day, if she mentioned it, he would 100% would blow up on her.

However, I don't see him physically hurting her. While Henry has no qualms with hitting girls in relationships, especially because his father taught him that it was how to "keep a woman in her place", I can't imagine Marilyn ever pushing him enough to get him to that point. It would probably just be some awful arguments that left Marilyn crying, and Henry simply... leaving the room.

Still, he'd make it up in his own ways: being slightly more caring and gentle, though never apologizing directly. This could also lead to some arguments if Marilyn ever spoke up about it.

Henry would also be super possessive over her, and might even become jealous of her cheerleading. They would go to parties a lot, and if he saw a guy looking at her in any way, shit would go down.

But, back to the nice stuff: Henry's a shower rather than a teller, and would always do his best to give her small trinkets, be there for her physically, and make space for her, be it in Belch's car, parties, or general Bowers Gang hangouts.

And that brings us to...

Bowers Gang ☻

Friends

GIF Source: @pennywise-fucker ★ (link)

Henry wouldn't have any qualms about introducing her to the gang. He is obsessed with coming off as tough and masculine, so he wouldn't even really think of the implications it could have on Marilyn's social status unless he noticed she was trying to avoid being seen with them (which, if that happened, would lead to a massive argument).

So, if all goes well: they'd all end up your friends (though Patrick's personal definition of "friend" varies wildly from the standard). Henry would likely insist in a Henry way of her riding home with them, essentially just saying, "get in" — he's not a charmer

Belch would have a massive crush on Marilyn, which he would be terrified of; with Henry, that's essentially a death sentence. Because of that, he'd be cordial.

However, he would definitely drunkenly talk to her whenever they went to parties — never confessing his feelings for her, but being far more open than he'd had before, and getting to know more about her and her life.

Queue super cute conversations between the two of them; maybe not romantic, but still, cute, platonically (though not on Belch's end, painfully; bless his heart).

Now, Patrick... he's gross. He's attracted to basically every type of girl, and finds "goody-two-shoes", happy-go-lucky, sweet girls very, very fun. He'd not just make weird comments to her when she was around, but he'd try to test her boundaries: getting her to smoke, encouraging her to shoplift, and trying to make her say words she'd never usually say (E.G., if she doesn't curse, try to get her to).

If Henry saw this, he would immediately put a stop to it, so he pretty much only does it when Henry's not around. However, I could see Marilyn possibly going along with some of Patrick's suggestions.

And, once he sees that? She's good in the gang. He's got a huge thing for corruption, and he loves to see it in Marilyn.

Also, he would 100% steal her cheerleading stuff to fuck with her. He sucks.

Due to Belch's crush and Patrick's general instability, I think Victor would be her closest friend in the gang. He's the most intuitive of the gang, so he'd pick up on the substance abuse issues that Henry does not, and gently try to make sure she's not drinking too much and trying to avoid having too much alcohol or weed around her on non-weekend days.

Marilyn is very easy to talk to, which is nice for Victor; he's not shy, just introverted, and having someone who has such ease in conversations is nice. They talk about everything; their home lives, music they like, their plans for the future, everything.

He, too, also becomes quietly protective of Marilyn, shooting Patrick dirty looks or even telling him to fuck off when he tries to pressure Marilyn, even comforting Marilyn if she ever came to him about Henry's hot-and-cold behavior, so on and so forth.

It's a rare pure friendship when it comes to the Bowers Gang, and I love to see.

As a group, they'd all do a lot together: bonfires, parties, late night junkyard trips to unload steam on random garbage, and occasionally diners (though most refuse service to the Bowers Gang due to their tendency to dine-and-dash).

So, all in all: Marilyn's got some guys who would drop everything for her (excluding Patrick, who's just there to escalate, let's be real), and I'm glad she's got that, even with the highs and lows there are with Henry. Stay safe, girl, and don't let Hockstetter be around you alone.

#I LOVE HERRR #also the website is GORGEOUS #im sorry this is not super in depth tumblr character count wants me DEAD!!!#bowers gang #ship request #bowers gang ship request #belch huggins #henry bowers #patrick hockstetter #victor criss

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marbleboa · 1 year ago

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Mukai Speculation: The Hell is Up With the Divine Wood

So. I've been thinking about potential avenues for Mukai's backstory lately. She is one of those characters that is given very little characterization-wise, however her very existence in her role as a Scar is one of those things that give a lot of people pause. Often with the question 'hey uh what's that 11 year old doing there'.

As such, I thought I'd put down some rambles about the matter here!

One common route I've seen taken is that Mukai was kidnapped by Claw, and it makes sense! Claw’s basically got child kidnapping down to a science, and apparently brainwashing to boot.

Though in regards to the later, I was thinking about Shou's comments in the 7th Division Arc immediately after Ishiguro suggests brainwashing the protags. He seems to imply the process dulls an esper's abilities, turning them into trash/mindless slaves. As such, I think it's safe to assume none of the scars are brainwashed in an unnatural sense, but rather succumbed to Claw's ideals due to personal weakness and/or vulnerability

Back to Mukai, if brainwashing wasn't in the picture I'm thinking either she was kidnapped at a young enough age where under Claw's indoctrination her cooperation never was an issue, or she entered the organization a different way. But if she wasn't kidnapped, then how did this kid end up in the role of a Scar? Well, I'm basing my speculation here primarily on this scene from the manga:

Quite the info, as it both comes out of nowhere and is never mentioned again. Not unheard of especially for the World Domination Arc in the manga, where the readers get so much thrown at them at once. On its own, there's only a bit we can glean from Mukai's reaction: 1. this was a place she had a lot of attachment to, and 2. it was important enough to be noted by Claw and later destroyed after the 7th Division's defection.

The whole 'divine wood' thing brings to mind an element of spirituality, some spot of nature that's deemed as sacred. This brings me further back to the beginning of WD arc. Prior to Toichiro’s speech, the other Division Leaders are kind enough to grant us some exposition on the extent of Claw’s influence:

So. Religious cults. It paints an interesting, unseen picture of these different organizations vying for a place at the table when Claw takes over the world. Thinking about it, I had an idea--what if Mukai came from one of these cults?

Probably a bit of a stretch, but I could imagine those special tree(s) she talked about being one of the main fixtures of the group's beliefs, something believed to aid those who paid tribute to it(you know how we love tree cults here). A place that Mukai was taught to be special ever since she was little...it's no wonder her powers would resonate with objects made from there, belief's a powerful thing. And if it was involved in Claw, they would certainly have information about all that on record to dispose of it later.

What's more, it seems pretty common for upper level cults to make things a family affair--and child with powers like that would be sure to grab attention. Money's well and good of course, but what better way to make your organization stand out than to give up an offering of power instead? What if Mukai was given to Claw willingly? And Mukai, well, she's not made privy to any of that of course. But with all the praise for her powers and the promise of freedom to use them, plus her family's pride...it's not hard to imagine how she'd be easily entangled like that.

In regards to her post-Claw life, I think this could open up some interesting possibilities for different dynamics and conflicts to say the least. It's of course a horrible thing for a child to be taken from their family, but maybe in that situation there could be a bittersweet reunion in the end. For a child to grow up realizing they were given up as a bargaining chip, one that the other side didn't even end up wanting to keep(marked as damaged goods, remember?)...that has to be a trial on its own.

Obviously I doubt this is what ONE intended to be gleaned from the whole thing--but hey, it's interesting to think about.

#finally got around to finishing this. time for bed goodbyeeee #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #mukai kirari #mp100 mukai #claw 7th division #long post #text #scarposting

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thelazyhermits · 6 months ago

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Found myself wanting to talk about my Yuu's friendship with Trey, so I'll do that underneath the cut.

For the record, I honestly can't remember what all I have and haven't said about the Yuu & Trey relationship, so I'm just gonna make this is a post that provides the most up-to-date info on them since I am prone to changing my mind about little things here and there on occasion lol

One thing I do know that I've said in the past is that Trey acts like a big brother figure to Yuu and treats her kindly as a result. He really dotes on her, much like how he does with Riddle.

His favoritism is really obvious to everyone except Yuu who just thinks Trey is being nice cause she gets along well with Riddle and is one of the few people that tries to help Trey out and never adds onto his always busy workload.

While Yuu isn't exactly wrong, there's a lot more to Trey's favorable treatment of her, which I can't remember if I've discussed in detail in the past, so I'll just do that here.

At the beginning of the school year, Trey had every intention to treat Yuu like he does all the other first years, although he, of course, wanted to a gentleman to the best of his ability since that's just how he was raised, even though, according to his 2024 Halloween SR vignette, the poor guy is actually awkward around girls, at least older ones anyway, cause he has zero experience with them 😂

As a result, there is some awkwardness between these two at times, but thankfully, Trey is never as bad as Deuce used to be. That's because he mentally just started treating Yuu like he does his little sister in order to avoid that awkwardness and cause being a big bro just comes naturally to him.

Despite this, Trey still wanted to avoid treating Yuu too differently from everyone else back when he hadn't been particularly attached to her, but all his efforts were for naught.

Because she just reminded him too much of Riddle - to the point he couldn't ignore her.

As shown in this drabble, Trey learns early on that Yuu had a past that was similar to Riddle's, but he still intended to not give her any special treatment since Trey doesn't strike me as the type who gets easily attached/friendly with people.

(Despite how my writing may imply otherwise, I don't consider Trey to be the dad/mom/big bro of Heartslabyul who's always willingly looking out for people cause he's a genuinely nice guy, like how he's often portrayed in fanon.

Because Trey is just as sly as all the other NRC boys. He can be as petty/vindictive as the others if he gets irritated enough.

And he doesn't do all the work around the dorm simply cause he wants to. He does it to keep the peace cause the dude just wants a calm, normal school life and keeping Riddle happy is crucial to ensure that happens lol

However, that said, I do think, once you've earned Trey's respect/friendship, he would look after you like he does Riddle since their relationship tells us that Trey takes care of the people who truly matter to him.

That's why Trey is always warm/friendly toward Yuu in my fics cause, by that point in the timeline, they're friends, and he genuinely cares about her well-being.)

However, Trey's plans go out the window when the events of Book 2 happen cause Yuu prevents his canon injury and takes his pain as a result, which Trey really didn't take well cause he did not like the idea of Yuu suffering pain meant for him. It made him feel really guilty even though he did nothing wrong.

As a result, Trey really fussed over Yuu when she came to stay at his dorm following her injury cause Riddle had refused to allow her to return to her dorm cause he felt it was his dorm's responsibility to take care of her since she was in pain cause of him/Trey.

Trey volunteered his room for Yuu to use since there weren't any free ones available due to Heartslabyul dorm being the one dorm that's at full capacity, and Riddle was willing to share his room with Trey.

Anyway, Trey spent a lot of time with Yuu during this period of time since he felt it was his responsibility to look after her, and because of this, things really started to change because Trey started learning more about Yuu.

During this time, Trey realizes how difficult it is for Yuu to rely on others, and that it's not cause she's prideful or anything like that. She's just so accustomed to not having someone to rely on - someone she can trust - that it's just her nature to try to do everything on her own regardless of the kind of condition she's in.

That's why living at Heartslabyul is a rough adjustment for Yuu at first since Trey and the others are willing to do everything for her so she won't have to move her "injured" ankle.

Plus, Riddle has completely taken over the investigation that Crowley assigned to Yuu, so she won't have to do anything but focus on her recovery, which also takes some time for her to accept since she feels that's her job to do and it makes her feel guilty/useless that she can't complete the job assigned to her and has to be helped.

The more Trey observes Yuu and sees how hard it is for her to rely on others/how hard she is on herself/how prone she is to apologizing even when she hasn’t done anything wrong, the more uncomfortable he feels because all he can think about is what he knows about her past.

And he's really not liking the mental image that's forming as the puzzle pieces slowly come together.

However, what really hits him like a sucker punch is the one time when he had reached out to her to ruffle her hair, and Yuu, who hadn't realized what he was doing and wasn't paying attention at the time, flinched.

It was an unconcsious action on Yuu's part since, at that point in time, her body was just so accustomed to bad things happening whenever people reached out to her.

In that moment, the breath left Trey's lungs in an instant, and his blood turned to ice.

Because he knew exactly what that kind of unconscious action implied.

Even though Riddle was never physically abused, I still can see Trey being able to recognize those signs. I feel like what happened with Riddle when they were kids would lead to Trey doing some research on the subject of child abuse, perhaps because he thought it would in some way help.

Or perhaps a documentary or something along those lines about that topic came on TV one day and Trey, filled with thoughts of Riddle, couldn't bring himself to turn the channel.

This is how Trey Clover became one of he first people to realize Yuu had an abusive upbringing.

Fortunately for Yuu, Trey isn't the type to stick his nose where it doesn't belong, so he never tries to question her about her past. He never brings up the topic at all, so Yuu doesn't even know that Trey has figured out she was physically abused back in her world.

Because Yuu is from another world, meaning there's no one to report to the authorities cause her abuser is obviously back in her world, Trey knows that she's no longer in danger, which is why he doesn't try to tell anyone about this discovery or try to get Yuu to talk to him about her past.

Even though Trey feels that he shouldn't get involved since he doesn't want to risk causing trouble for Yuu by doing/saying something he shouldn't, Trey just can't ignore her now that he knows what kind of past she has.

But it's not out of pity. I just think that, after he "failed" Riddle when they were kids, Trey has the kind of mentality where, if he were to find himself in another similar situation, he'd be unable to ignore it cause he'd want to succeed and help the person, like he couldn't do in the past, especially if that person is someone he has begun to care about.

Trey just can't leave Yuu alone; his inner demons won't let him.

As a result, from that point on, Trey does his best to look out for Yuu, and he tries to be subtle about it and mostly fails since Trey really isn't good at being subtle when it comes to doting lol

It's because of Trey's decision to look out for Yuu that this relationship eventually turns into a close friendship cause, as time passed, Trey steadily grew fonder of Yuu the more time he spent with her, resulting in him becoming the big bro figure he is in my fics.

It was never Trey's intention for things to turn out like this, but Yuu completely won him over with all the compliments she gave his baking/cooking, her efforts to help him around his dorm, her growing friendship with Riddle, etc.

Amusingly enough, what also was a big factor in this development is that Yuu is one of the few people who doesn't try to ask Trey for help/favors or put work on his shoulders. On the contrary, she always tries to avoid doing anything that she thinks would be a bother to him.

The more Yuu would resist Trey's attempts to dote on her, which were essentially Trey's way of thanking her for her efforts, the more Trey wanted to dote on her and get her to willingly accept it lol

I just think it'd be funny if Trey's the type who would take this sorta thing as a challenge since normally he always gets his way when he implements his doting techniques, so he can't just allow himself to continue to be rebuffed.

Also, Trey just can't ignore the voice in his head that wonders if Yuu has anyone to rely on. Does she really think she needs to handle everything alone - that she doesn't deserve to be helped or receive positive attention?

It becomes like a personal mission of sorts for Trey, and because he's very good at what he does, he's able to eventually bring Yuu's walls down and get her to rely on him. It takes time, of course, but Trey is nothing if not patient.

That's how Trey becomes one of the upperclassmen whom Yuu feels the most comfortable relying on and why Yuu doesn't mind being doted on by him.

Because of his efforts, Yuu has a high opinion of Trey and a lot of respect for him since he's always working so hard to keep the peace at his dorm and does so much to keep everything working smoothly.

She also thinks he's very kind since he's always looking out for her and is always soft toward her during their interactions.

Now, that's not to say that Yuu doesn't know there's more to Trey than the sweet big bro persona he adopted when dealing with her since she knows full well that he's not someone to mess with.

That's why she considers him to be the dark horse of Heartslabyul - the most dangerous guy and someone she never wants to piss off cause she knows how cunning he can be and that he's a force to be reckoned with if you get on his bad side.

It's something she has learned from observation since he has never gotten mad at her, like he has at the members of his dorm lol

Yuu is completely oblivious to the fact that it would take a lot for Trey to ever get that mad at her cause he's developed a soft spot for her. She really has no idea about the kind of power she holds by being someone both Trey and Riddle are fond of, which Cater points out a lot haha

Anyway, Yuu & Trey end up developing a good, strong friendship during the course of the school year. It's why they both become so comfortable around each other and why it's easy for them to relax when they're alone together.

And they both really need that kind of relationship in their lives since those two are always hard at work & have busy/stressful schedules, so it's good for them to have those moments, such as when they bake together, when they can de-stress.

I just really love this relationship since Yuu & Trey are pretty similar in that they're good at keeping the peace, they always end up with a lot on their plates, and the fact that the way they act can lead to people incorrectly assuming they're too kind for their own good/are pushovers.

They're both also similar in that they're both really scary when they're pissed lol 😂

I just think this dynamic is a lot of fun cause of those similarities and cause I'm just a sucker for doting big bro figures 💕

#fortune in twisted wonderland

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bbnibini · 1 year ago

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Give me all the info on your Lilith now (pretty please <3)!

General Info 05 Which deadly sin best aligns with them? Which one do they embody the least?

General Info 10 What was there initial reaction to Diavolo's plans of uniting the three realms? Has their opinion changed? Or rather, what would it have been?

Angel 08 Have they ever questioned Father? What for? Were they punished for it?

Angel 10 What is something they would willingly fall for? (other than love, if there is anything)

I hope those aren't too many questions but if it is, feel free to skip some! Hope you have a lovely week! 💚💚

Thanks for the ask! Lilith's character was fleshed out for my AU, which is a canon-divergent AU for Obey Me I had been working on since 2020 that surprisingly, had a lot of its elements/lore become canon throughout the years lmao. Also, I'm sorry if this is more of a Father lore dump than Lilith it's just He's deeply connected to the Celestial War cause He was the reason it even happened in the first place.;;

⭐General Info 05

Which deadly sin best aligns with them? Which one do they embody the least?

Ever since I was writing for Lilith in 2020, I had always made Satan her parallel. She is the reason why Satan looks the way he is: Satan's penchant for pranking Lucifer as a way of showing affection reminiscent of the playful and sisterly affection Lilith has with Lucifer. She is the reason why Lucifer is clouded with nostalgia and regret instead of annoyance and anger whenever Satan attempts to put a curse on him/prank him etc, because Satan resembles the sibling he failed to protect. Satan is arguably the one he spoils the most because he fills in what he had lost/whom in his eyes, he had failed and "disappointed", despite the fact that he will never admit it himself.

Of course, just because she is the reason for Satan's existence in my HC doesn't mean she and Satan are the same person. While Satan embodied wrath, the sin of lust embodies Lilith the most. In OG Obey Me, love was Lilith's driving force to committing a taboo. In my own interpretation of lust and love, both concepts are like "sisters" to each other. At times, the lines between love and lust blur. Lilith fell in love. A love deep enough that caused her to question how her Father ran the Celestial Realm. It was love, a strong desire that she knew would always be a dream. A castle in the air. A wish that can never come true. The difference between canon Lilith and my Lilith is she had done something far, far worse than loving a human. She dared to question her Creator AND fall in love with another god, Father's equal, which had of course given Father more of a motive to punish her severely. But love and lust are not the only driving forces that drove Lilith to fight back from Father's judgement; it is of course a big influence nonetheless.

I would say out of all the seven deadly sins, sloth would be the least compatible with her. Lilith is very much a go-getter and a stubborn-headed, reckless bullheaded woman who would even fight God (she actually did in my fic lmao) to protect the people she cares about, to fight for the inequality and apathy she had been seeing in how Father ran the Celestial Realm, no matter how powerless she was or how little chances she had to actually win. This woman is GRIT personified.

⭐General Info 10

What was there initial reaction to Diavolo's plans of uniting the three realms? Has their opinion changed?

Or rather, what would it have been?

Well, Lilith had passed away long before RAD was established so she wouldn't really have much of a reaction. /hj

Kidding aside, due to her experiences in the Celestial War, she is very sceptical if it would actually result into something, given how she and her brothers lost the war and gradually realised their Father is a selfish prick and "cares" in a very self-serving Old Testament kind of way and would never actually let it happen. Father's got a really big ego, is easily jealous, and hates the idea of His children loving other gods or superior beings besides Him. Even if the two other Realms are willing to negotiate, she knows it will lead to nowhere so long as Father remains…Father.

But I think she would warm up to the idea once she sees how much rizz her descendant has. MC pretty much inherited her stubbornness/grit that it might actually be possible make the Demon Prince's dream into a reality.

⭐Angel 08

Have they ever questioned Father? What for? Were they punished for it?

I tried to condense it as much as I could, but tl;dr is Lilith despises Father. Even after her husband Samael eventually forgave Him. Nope. She will stay mad forever.

Very much. My AU is slightly different from the OG and NB timeline. The reason for the Celestial War is a lot more complicated than food being fed to a human. Rather than one solid reason, it's pretty much a spider webbed-shaped stack of dominoes that collapsed on each other. It's a mess. The mess leading to one common denominator: Father.

I'll leave some snippets of the lore as links here if you're interested. Here's also the completed spinoff I wrote last last year that gives it more detail.

link 1

link 2

link 3

spinoff

Why did the Celestial War happen because of Father? It's simple---Father is selfish. In my AU, Gods are complete beings on their own. They don't need anyone to be complete. You could say His motives to create humans into social creatures is His way of trying to detach them from being completely made "into His likeness". He's afraid of others taking His spot. He's better than everyone else. No one else deserves to be made exactly like His likeness, even His son (psst it's the J man). He could have easily made His son His equal just like how Samael did with his brother Leviathan (this is a lot of lore dump but basically in my AU, Levi is a god and is not related to the Demon Brothers at all, but is Samael/OC-fied Simeon's biological brother,that's why he can't exactly fit in well with other demons, even his own "brothers" cause he had never been a demon. His powers+memories were just sealed after protecting Lucifer and his siblings when they fell so he became one.) but instead, he made His son into a human.

While it's true that He does love humanity, a being that only knew love through loving Himself would inevitably love in a self-serving way (which is why when I heard in NB this is pretty much canon now, I'm not surprised cause it does have a rl lore backing. I haven't actually read the new NB chapters so my own judgement of how accurate it is to Old Biblical texts will be reserved in the future).

Father created "everything" but had proved to be incompetent in actually running the "everything he created from nothing", leaving the seraphim to clean up after Him. He's this divine being put in a pedestal but couldn't actually care less about His creations and only expresses love when He feels like it, much like your average Olympian god. There's inequality and power imbalance in the Celestial Realm but He could care less. Rather, the concept of "caring" is foreign to Him. Everyone is pretty much "equal" in His eyes. So what if the other angels are being mistreated or discriminated? When Father was making "laws", He actually didn't know ANYTHING about social relationships and humanity (gods are solitary beings in my AU) so a lot of them are contradictory or didn't make sense. The humans? Weak. Defenceless. Sure, let's thrown My son in there. Nothing could go wrong, right? In every thoughtless action He does, He just thinks "surely this wouldn't affect My children in a significantly negative way, right? Even if it does, I'll leave Lucifer and the other seraphim to fix it". Lucifer is TIRED. Lucifer wants to go to rebel! Oh wait-

All joking's aside, once Lilith discovered and realised that there are ACTUAL GODS besides Father, that's when her beliefs in Him started to shake, even more when she realised the seraphim, HER OWN BROTHER knows this from the start? That there's these two sibling gods that embodied contradictory traits from what they know what a god was, what Father was: Samael and Leviathan treat each other like family. The love each other like family, just like how Lilith loves her own family. They know they can exist without each other but STILL CHOSE TO STAY TOGETHER AND BE FAMILY TOGETHER. They're the opposite of what a seemingly independent, solitary being a god was. Samael was kind, thoughtful, a little cowardly and gloomy but he was also pure and selfless and loving and everything that Lilith could have ever wanted. He was also a god. Forbidden. Could not be. And he was trapped. Made to believe he was something he was not. Made to think he was this strange and horrifying monster for being different from his fellow "angels", and locked himself away.

There's a lot more, morally dubious and outright disgusting things that Father did especially to Samael that Lilith is understandably furious about but it's a lot and I don't want to overwhelm with more infodump but yes, Lilith did fight back and she was punished for it. Her brothers were punished for it. Leviathan who protected them was punished alongside them, and Samael punished himself for not being able to protect them. But to save her from being obliterated, Samael preserved Lilith's soul and kept it in the darkness until they can reunite when his duties have finally been fulfilled. He also sealed Leviathan's memories and made a deal with Father to give Levi a cover-up background story that he had always been one of Lucifer's siblings. It's a lot. Samael had reasons for it and I have an entire longfic that can explain more but I'll stop there lol. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: OMG I didn't realise I left this out!!;;;

⭐Angel 10 What is something they would willingly fall for? (other than love, if there is anything)

Fighting for what's right. Lilith would willingly fall if it means she can make the lives of others better. Her fellow angels getting a better life and better treatment in the Celestial Realm is one of her other reasons why she fought against Father in the Celestial Realm.

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #ask #spoilers #biblical references #obey me lilith #this was fun but omg I just realised how much detail I put in the lore lmao sry if it's too much text;

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makingstrangemaneuvers · 3 months ago

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i saw a tiktok the other day (i don't remember who posted it im so sorry!!!!) that posited maybe Eurylachus did it on purpose as a form of suicide. and the more i think about it?????????

because - how ELSE could he get ody to willingly harm/kill him?????? odysseus, the same man who had done unspeakable things and killed his humanity to keep himself and his crew alive and on the path to ithaca????? AS IF his head didn't hang heavy. as if HIS judgement was the one that was warped.

i think everything changed when they saw the prophet. yes ody went through grief and changes and was told he would never make it home (clearly not getting the actual message lol) - which then was the impotus for monster. his cunning was turned way up - "if i become the monster to EVERYONE BUT US then we'll make it home"

THIS WAS WHYYYYYY all the crew didn't get killed when there were sirens!!!!!! ody said oh IM NOT MAKING IT HOME???? fucking bet. everyone fill your ears with beeswax. i know that's not really penelope (brother - if HIS judgement were off he'd have just accepted what the prophet said, that he'd never make it home, and whether aware she was a siren or not, would have taken this "penelope" as like this is as close as i'll ever get bye yall). he THEN got info out of her while pretending he DID believe it was Her!!!! and then he organized his crew to capture them and kill them all once he had his information, and NOT! ONE! MAN!!!!! was lost to the PACK OF SIRENS!!!!!! girllllllll

yes, he sacrificed 6 to Scylla. that obviously is not a Good thing. but?? 6 men vs the remaining 43 (or however many it was at that point) by not avoiding Poseidon???? AND LIKE BRO HOW MANY MORE WOULD HAVE DIED TRYING TO KILL HER - IN! HER OWN!!!! LAIR!!!!!!!!!! i'm?????

like you won't find people willing to jump in (altho maybe eurylachus would have atp - i do think that's part of why he finally told ody about the bag) and of course he couldn't tell everyone that would be the cost. but he also knew it was their only shot.

and about the bag - eurylachus tried to tell ody before the whole circe thing, and ody waved it off (he prob already knew) but there's proof in that song too that eurylachus was at a point where HIS judgement was off. HE was the one desperately fighting ody to LEAVE THE MEN BEHIND. "cut our losses" he said. you're that determined to tuck tail and run????? and of COURSE ody said no - he's responsible for ALL YALL. he didn't just "miss home so painfully bad" that he threw away the lives of the crew. and let's be real - eurylachus knows him better than anyone else and up until the underworld, had a relatively good head on his shoulders. he had to know. he had to!!

so he tells ody about the bag before they meet scylla, maybe hoping that ody would feel so betrayed he'd fight him or w/e, i mean ultimately those 558 deaths are on eurylachus' head (not ody's - he stayed awake for 9 DAYS and was so honestly with yall and what would you even do with treasure in the middle of the fucking ocean bro?????? chill tf out make him show you when you're home omfg) and i'm sure that was also weighing heavily on him. but odysseus loves him, that's his brother. and atp shits bad and he has no room in his heart to lose anyone else close to him - bro you're literally all he has left, you can't even count penelope or telemachus because he hasn't seen them in 20 years and was just told by the prophet that he never would. and he STILL isn't giving up. ody IS the hope on the ship lbr.

so when ody doesn't so much as reprimand him or express pain at this enormous betrayal (that is also THE reason they still hadn't made it home btw), it at least appears on the outside (though we do know that ody knew, he even told eurylachus to light 6 torches for the men who ended up dying) that ody just ran and saved the rest of the crew. but suddenly eurylachus has a PROBLEM with that???

HOW FUCKING MANY WERE TURNED INTO PIGS EURY HUH????? it was YOU who was fighting to abandon THEM. IT IS THE SAME.

so they're out and alive and ody is obviously affected and full of grief. what better time to finally get a rise out of him and make him actually face you???

and then we have Mutiny.

eurylachus, ultimate hypocrite in this moment, accuses odysseus of sacrificing 6 men. again - he probably knew, and could understand why - HOWEVER even if he didn't it makes no sense. HE RAN??? TO SAVE YALL AND THE CREW??? brother how would killing her help?? THE 6 ARE ALREADY DEAD. would you rather he went full speed ahead at her and ruined the ship and yall all were killed or drowned???? nah. and again - FUCKING HYPOCRITE AT BEST.

it's unclear whether the other crew were already on eury's side with this (did he rile them up or did they see and take action because "it's not the same since Polites", either way still lines up for me honestly) but from the chants in the background it's clear that this fight was about to go to ody. he begged eurylachus to not make him do this but still eurylachus spouted shit he clearly didn't believe based on his own past actions and told ody "you've forced my hand".

also - the line "if you want all the power you must carry all the BLAME" is wild. because - either ody kills eurylachus and he gets his wish in dying, without tarnishing his own reputation, OR! eury kills/stops ody and takes over as captain and feels able to transfer all the blame and guilt that he feels for ACTIVELY causing so so so many deaths (and the hopelessness of not making it home so what's the point) onto ody who is now dead. he gets that weight off his shoulders and the support of the crew, and potentially a renewed sense of hope. maybe things WILL be different with eurylachus as captain.

and then the crew steps in and maims ody and ties him up. eury IS now in charge, yes? and they end up at some random island, just like way back with the lotus eaters. still nothing is better. still they're so hungry and everyone is scared. he didn't picture it like this. heavy is the crown and all that. he actually doesn't know what he's doing or how to get home and he's realizing that odysseus was really just doing the best he could on similar knowledge but more cunning and favor of the gods. how is he going to pull this off? he doesn't even know where they are. the prophet SAID they're never getting home. "there is a world where i help you get home but that's not a world i know". eurylachus can't take any more. hunger is so heavy. so is guilt.

ody says no no you don't get it - this is the land of the sun god! you cannot kill his cattle, "who knows what he'll send". literally, use ONE of your brain cells brother, you WILL get us all killed if you do this. it's not worth it! we can make a new plan! (also - why not petition or find the sun god?!?! hello? you want to lead then LEAD) eurylachus is so clearly defeated in this song.

"we're never getting home, you know it's true"

"i'm tired my friend"

"hunger is so heavy"

"i'm just a man"

all the while ody is BEGGING - you don't know that's true!! please don't do this! reconsider! i have to get home!

again - fr ody has Not lied or been wrong about the gods a single time. (like ok yes he was not entirely truthful about Scylla but that's it) i get the first time when they're suddenly at the floating island that belongs to Aeolus (but truly man how many floating islands HAVE you seen?!?! bfr) but atp you are ONLY alive because ody understands these things. you didn't trust him with the wind bag and let's hear just how many men died because of you again???????? EXACTLY. so WHY would you not believe him here? there's genuinely no way. he KNEW ody was right. but he desperately wanted it to all end. his only other chance for a quick (non starvation) death was at the hands of ody and even his hope of that is gone now. so he may as well go down with a good meal.

and then - plot twist yall can't even do that because these cows are immortal.

and interesting how despite this mutiny, despite this "if you want all the power you must carry all the blame), suddenly he IMMEDIATELY turns to ody and says "captain?" as if to be like oh no what's happening pls help us captain get us out of this lead us

GIRL I THOUGHT HE WAS NO LONGER YOUR CAPTAIN????? yall fucking stabbed him and tied him up and then ignored his constant warnings. but NOW, now that there's a problem, suddenly you want his help? suddenly now he's your captain and he must carry this blame too???

and because of who odysseus IS, he does! he immediately starts commanding trying to get yalls asses safely out of there but it's too late.

Zeus?!?!?! he's meant to fight Zeus for yall???? YALL LITERALLY HUST BACKSTABBED HIM AND STILL TURNED AROUND AND BLAMED HIM.

am i saying ody's decision was right? no. i'm also not saying it's wrong. i think it's complex, and i can understand both decisions.

but i cannot stress this enough - eurylachus KNEW this would get him (and the crew, but does he actually care about that atp? who knows tbfh) killed. SO HE DID IT. not "and then he did it anyway" no no HE KNEW IT WOULD GET HIM KILLED SO HE DID IT to end the hunger and the grief and the pain that he couldn't take any more because after all, he's "just a man".

so when ody says i have to see her. and eury says but we'll die. and ody says i know.

it is so much more nuanced than the betrayal it initially reads as.

suicide by mutiny. suicide by stealing from the gods. suicide by an impossible, unfair decision.

maybe the crew felt betrayal and pain at that decision. but eurylachus - regardless of what terror he likely felt at its reality - got what he'd been after for the past chunk of their journey.

eurylachus felt relief.

Canon

#i rest my case #this was so long #and i could go more into detail if i tried #but this p much sums up how i feel about it now #i don't think ody is a GOOD guy #especially by the time he makes it home #but by the gods i Get why he did what he did to get home #if anything his crew abandoned him #not the other way around #epic: the thunder saga #epic the musical #odysseus #the odyssey #eurylochus

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spaceorphan18 · 2 years ago

Text

5 Times Kurt Talks About Sex and 1 Time He Doesn't (Part Four)

A/N: So, this was inspired the other day by a Nonny who was asking about how Kurt interacts with others on the topic of sex and this little idea popped in my head.

It’s a little mini-series, and I’ll post one part a day, then I’ll get it up on Ao3 after it’s complete.

It’s set in a post-canon-ish world when they’re all living in New York. The whole thing takes place over the course of a day.

****

Conversation Four: Mercedes

“So, then to top it all off… she tells me that she wants Blaine to teach her how to give a decent blowjob. Now, don’t get me wrong, if someone wants to learn from the best - Blaine is the person to go to. But I mean, that just set the tone for the whole day, as you can clearly see.”

Kurt is in his recliner, a cup of warm tea in his hands as he recounts his day. Mercedes is curled at the end of the couch with a cup of hot cocoa. The bright afternoon sun settles warmly through the window between them.

“Can you even believe them?” Kurt asks, taking a sip.

Mercedes smirks into her mug. “Them? Have you heard yourself? Admit it - Kurt Hummel. You are obsessed with sex.”

Kurt stares at her - shocked. “Me?!”

“Yes, you!”

“C’mon, Mercedes!” Kurt’s not even sure why he feels so defensive about it. Maybe it’s the way she’s eying him in disbelief. “I am hardly as bad as everyone else. Haven’t you heard the stories I’ve told you. My day has been steeped in sex but it’s hardly been my doing. For one thing, I haven’t seen Blaine all day.”

“Kurt, please,” she tosses back. “You are hardly innocent in all of this. Are you going to tell me that Rachel Berry doesn’t know what your favorite position is - not because she asked, but because you decided to pass along that little bit of info yourself.”

Kurt gives a scandalized little gasp. “Oh, my god, did she really tell you…”

“I also have it on good authority that you’ve willingly gone with Santana to one of those adult stores, even though you’ve vehemently let it be known how much you find porn gross.”

“It was one time,” Kurt bites back. “And Blaine wanted to try a thing that may or may not have worked…”

Mercedes snorts into her cocoa. “And how many of us, besides Blaine, know at least one of your sex fantasies. I could probably name at least three, eh, five if pressed.”

“It’s not my fault that you guys take advantage of me when I get drunk.” Kurt grumbles as he takes another sip of his tea. This is not how he had hoped the conversation would go. Usually, Mercedes is on his side.

“Yes, you become quite the handsy, little drunk,” Mercedes says. She’s finding all of this way too amusing for his liking. “At least Blaine has enough sense to get you out of there.”

“So, fine, I’m way past my baby penguin days,” Kurt says. His anger dissipates as he begins to consider her situation, and takes a more serious tone. “Is there something more? Do you feel… like you’re left out?”

She gives him a funny look. “Why would I be left out? Because I’m still a virgin?”

Kurt waves a hand at her. “Oh, please, Mercedes, everyone knows virginity is a made up construct to keep a power balance in heterosexual couples. I mean, where exactly is the line? Once you’ve had an orgasm why does it matter if…”

Mercedes flips her hand up immediately. “Okay, stop. So not where I was going with that. I am not ashamed of the experience level that I’m at or my personal choices that have gotten me here.”

“I guess I’m not fully understanding then,” Kurt admits, setting his mug down on the end table. “If I’m being honest, I thought I’ve held back because I’ve never thought you were really interested in any of that stuff.”

“Kurt, I don’t mind if you do come talk to me about… anything really,” Mercedes says. “Do I really need to know that you refuse to ever try flavored condoms again because you hate them all? Not not really…”

“Oh, they’re so bad,” Kurt cuts her off. “I’m so glad we don’t have to use them anymore. But we just had to experiment because Blaine got curious about every single one…”

“See, this is what I’m talking about.” Mercedes clasps her hands together, and points them at Kurt. “I am thrilled that you feel open enough to talk to me about all of these things. And while you are a blatant oversharer when you don’t realize it, I don’t mind, because I am happy that you confide in me these things. And someday, after I’m ready to settle down and get married - maybe I’ll want to share things with you. Maybe not as much, I’m definitely not the same kind of person. But, it’s okay that you rattle off a dozen or so sex stories.”

“That’s sweet, Mercedes,” Kurt says tilting his head. “But I guess I’m still a little confused as to your point.”

Mercedes takes a deep breath. “Kurt, I love you. But you can’t go judgy on all of your friends when you are just as bad a culprit sometimes.”

“I--” Kurt begins to protest, but finds that he can’t. Because she’s not wrong. He likes sex. He loves sex. It’s an important part of his life. But, to him, it’s always been a somewhat private aspect of his life. Something sacred he shares between him and Blaine. It’s an eye opening thought that he’s expressed it outwardly as much as Mercedes claims. He leans back in his chair, somewhat speechless. “I’m sorry, Mercedes, I guess I never realized I did that.”

Mercedes drinks more from her mug, retaining that smug look. “Oh, you all do it. I’ve grown accustomed to hearing all of it. It’s like you’re all in some kind of weird competition with each other to outdo each other’s sex stories.”

Kurt laughs a little as he picks his tea back up. “I am learning so much today.” He shakes his head as he takes a sip. “But I guess, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t consider myself higher than anyone else.”

She grins at him. “There ya go.”

“Also, I am sorry if I ever got a little handsy with you any of those times we went out to a club together.”

“Sweetie, it’s fine,” Mercedes assures him. “Your hands didn’t go anywhere I didn’t want them to. Besides, it was kind of hilarious watching Rachel get mad that you weren’t trying to get to second base with her.”

Kurt buries his head in his free hand. “Oh my god, I just have to give up drinking.”

“Well, we know you won’t give up sex…” She gives him a wink. “But really, it’s fine, just as long as you don’t ever ask me for a threesome. I love you, Kurt Hummel, but not enough to let you suckle my delecate flower.”

“She, this is why I have to tell you these stories, Mercedes,” Kurt says, indignantly. “If Rachel and Jesse are going to traumatize me - you better believe that I’m going to make sure everyone else is going to feel the trauma, too.”

Mercedes throws her head back in a fit of laughter as Kurt returns to his mug.

#s.o. writes things #five times #kurt hummel #kurt hummel fic

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photogirl894 · 2 years ago

Text

"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 14

"Trust Issues"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: So this is where things with the story are gonna deviate just a little. First of all, I'm skipping episode 6 for reasons that do coincide with the story, but also I can't stand the Martez sisters and I just know my strong dislike would manifest itself into the story lol plus I couldn't think of anything involving Kimber that would change things enough, so I'm just bypassing it. Plus, after that, there's gonna be original mission shenanigans soon to ensue, so that's gonna be fun! 😁

Until then, enjoy this chapter! 💜

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @cole-kenxbi , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 , @tech-deck , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx

《 Chapter 13

》 Chapter 15

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: The Bad Batch get their promised info from Cid and call upon old friends to help them out.

Together, Hunter and Kimber made their way around to where they could hear Muchi roaring, Hunter holding tightly onto Kimber’s hand to help ease her discomfort and offer her a sense of security after what she’d just endured. They came around a corner to find Tech standing off to the side, watching Wrecker going at with Muchi and throwing punches.

“Kimber, you are all right,” said Tech upon seeing them, a touch of relief in his voice. After she nodded in reply, he stated, “That was a foolhardy and bold decision you made…yet I cannot discount the mettle you displayed in the face of the situation. That was indeed admirable.”

“Thanks, Tech,” Kimber replied.

Right then, they heard the sound of an engine approaching and saw Echo pulling up next to them on a speederbike with Omega sitting behind him, a Zygerrian energy bow on her arm. Omega jumped off first, wandering closer to where Wrecker and Muchi were brawling and getting curious about the fight.

As Echo dismounted the bike, Hunter called to him, gesturing to the slave collar still on Kimber’s neck, “Echo, get her out of this thing.”

Right away, Echo came over and started drilling into the back of the collar with his scomp. “Kim, what were you thinking back there? Have you forgotten the promise you made me about not making such reckless decisions with your life anymore?” he chided her as he worked the collar.

“Apparently, I about broke two promises,” she thought to herself. Then she said back, “I was more concerned with you boys getting freed. Omega needs her brothers and you can’t help her when you’re prisoners.”

“She needs you, too, and so do we,” he countered just as the collar came undone and he removed it from her neck, prompting her to face him as he did so. “Your intentions were good, but you promised you wouldn’t take unnecessary risks with your life like that again. I never want to see you willingly put yourself back into slavery, okay? We didn’t save you from captivity just for you to go back for any reason.”

She lowered her eyes guiltily.

Then he added, "Besides, did you really think he would've honored his word after he was done torturing you? He's a slaver and they don't give up what they deem their property for anything. Despite what you intended to happen, there's no way he would've given us up. Not even for you."

Kimber's eyes squeezed tightly shut and she inhaled sharply. Echo was right. How could she have overlooked that and thought her plan would work? It would've only made things worse, especially for Omega if all of them had been taken. Then she definitely would've never forgiven herself for what she'd done.

“I hadn't thought of that…I’m so sorry. Can you guys forgive me?” she asked, looking to Echo, Hunter and Tech.

“Of course, we can,” answered Echo, laying his hand on her shoulder.

“I thought that was obvious,” Tech added.

That brought a smile of relief to Kimber’s face.

Echo then looked at Wrecker, who was starting to falter and get slower in his punches with the Rancor, who was also getting tired. “How long’s he been at this?” Echo asked, turning back to Tech.

Tech simply answered, “Too long. He’s losing his touch.”

They all continued to watch as Wrecker and Muchi kept swinging and missing each other, both of them getting fatigued and tired from the fight. Finally, Muchi caved in first and collapsed to the ground shortly before Wrecker, who fell on top of the Rancor.

“Go to sleep…there we go,” Wrecker groaned, patting the Rancor who was drifting off to sleep.

“Aw, she’s kind of cute up close,” Omega pointed out.

Kimber chuckled. “If you say so,” she commented.

"Nicely handled, Wrecker," Hunter praised him, who just gave the Sergeant a tired thumbs up in return.

"All right, the real question now is: how are we going to get a sleeping Rancor back to Cid's?” Kimber then asked.

Tapping things out on his datapad, Tech suggested, “We could get her back into her cage and then secure it magnetically to the underside of our ship.”

“She’s asleep. How are we supposed to put her back into her cage?” asked Echo.

“We shall carry her, with Wrecker bearing the brunt of the weight,” answered Tech.

Wrecker groaned as he stood back up, “Oh goody….”

The task of getting Muchi into her cage and then secured to the Marauder was no easy task by any means, but the Bad Batch managed to do it nonetheless. Once the cargo was ready, they returned to Cid’s bar, where a male Twi’lek was waiting outside with some Gammorean guards to collect Muchi. He seemed pleased to see the Rancor, gave Cid a case with the payment and wasted no time in leaving with Muchi.

Once they were gone, Cid commented to the group, “Gotta say, fellas: I wasn’t sure you could pull this job off.”

“You could have told us we were going after a Rancor,” Echo chided her.

“Hmm…must’ve slipped my mind,” she casually answered. Then she pointed at Hunter. “You, dark and broody. My office.” Then she turned around and made her way towards the stairs to her parlor.

Hunter, while perplexed at what Cid had called him, gave a nod to the others.

Then they heard Cid call over her shoulder, “And bring the Missus with you!”

Kimber immediately felt all eyes on her. “Excuse me?” she thought.

“I think she means you,” Echo said to her, grinning from ear to ear and lightly elbowing her in the arm.

Now she felt even more conflicted at being nicknamed “the Missus”, especially since she and Hunter weren’t married yet. Cid must’ve assumed they were, for some reason. Nevertheless, she took Hunter’s hand and the two of them followed behind Cid to the parlor and then to her office in the back.

Cid pulled up on her holotable a hologram once again of the bounty hunter from Pantora and informed Hunter and Kimber, “Your bounty hunter is Fennec Shand. She's new to the scene but has already proven herself to be cunning and ruthless.”

“Who hired her?” Hunter asked, his eyes narrowing at the image.

“Unknown,” said Cid.

“Wasn’t that the entire point of this?” Kimber questioned her, irritated. “We did a job for you and you find out who hired the bounty hunter.”

Cid leered at her and snapped back, “Hey, if this information was easy to get, you wouldn’t need me in the first place, Dollface.”

Kimber just glared at the Trandoshan and Hunter gave Kimber a look that warned her to be careful.

Then Cid went on, “Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, my sources in the Guild say she's working on a direct commission. With someone like her nipping at your heels, you're going to need two things: friends and money. Mostly money.”

“Well, we're not swimming in either at the moment,” Hunter responded.

“I guess it's a good thing ya met me then, isn't it?” said Cid.

When Cid turned her back to pick up the case she’d gotten from the Twi’lek, Kimber whispered to Hunter, “We have the Koriena Force. Maybe they can help us.”

“We’ll comm them when we get back to the ship,” he said quietly back.

Cid put the case up onto her desk and opened it, revealing it to be full of credits. “Here's your cut. There's more where that came from... if you're looking for work,” she offered them.

Hunter stole a look at Kimber first and then simply replied, “I'll think about it.”

The two of them turned to leave the room, but then stopped when they heard Cid speak cunningly behind them, “It's interesting…a bounty hunter of Fennec's caliber being after you. You fellas must be pretty valuable.”

They exchanged apprehensive looks. Cid’s statement sounded on the verge of threatening and they both flipped back around, their eyes narrowing at Cid suspiciously.

However, Cid just gave them a conniving grin and said, “Don't worry. I'm good with secrets.”

Kimber, however, wasn’t convinced and she didn’t trust Cid at all, especially after her comment on how “valuable” they must be. With her eyes still carefully trained on Cid, she fired back, “You had better be…or else your parlor’s going to need a new proprietor.”

“No need to get your blacks in a twist. As long as you guys help bring in some good money, your secret’s safe with me,” Cid said.

“And what if we don’t?” inquired Kimber.

“Well…better hope we don’t find out, then,” Cid replied, sitting down at her desk. “Now get out, I’ve got things to do.”

Without hesitating, Kimber whipped around, her braid almost hitting Hunter, and stormed from the room, Hunter right on her heels. Once the door was shut and they were back out in the empty parlor, she stopped, turned to Hunter and stated in a hushed voice, “I do not trust her, Hunter. We got what we needed, let’s just leave and go elsewhere before she has the chance to sell us out. We can meet up with the Koriena Force somewhere and figure things out on our own, but we don’t need her.”

“I told her I would think about it,” Hunter said.

“What’s there to think about?” she asked back. “She basically insinuated she’d sell us out for money without outright saying it and she’s going to hold our secret over our heads to get what she wants from us. People like that can’t be trusted.”

“We don’t have much of a choice right now, love,” he replied.

She stepped closer to him. “Yes, we do. We can find someone else. The girls may even have connections.”

“Their connections would be just as questionable,” he refuted. He brought his hands up to her arms and softly caressed them. “I understand your suspicion, I do…but we’re in a bind right now and we’re going to have to make hard choices.”

“But at what cost? Our own safety? Omega’s safety?”

“Kimber, listen to me.” Hunter gripped her shoulders a little tighter. “You know I would never endanger my squad like that. I want to run this option by the boys first before making a final decision. If they feel it’s what we should do, then that’ll be it.”

Kimber’s expression hardened. “What about me? What about what I think?” she questioned.

“You’ve made it pretty clear what you think,” he said, “but I still want input from the others and we’ll see what the majority rules.”

She wanted to say more, but just felt too fatigued and defeated to find the right words, so instead she just exhaled loudly and put a hand up to her forehead.

Then she felt Hunter’s hand smooth her hair on her head and he said to her, “We don’t have to worry about this now. You went through a lot today. Let’s get back to the ship so you can rest and I’ll reach out to the girls to see if they can come help us.”

In reply, she just tiredly nodded.

He pulled her into his arms and her head fell into the crook of his neck, her body slumping against him. “I’m not discounting your opinion, you know,” he said softly. “I care very much what you think, sweetheart. You know that.”

“I know, darling,” she sighed. “I’m just afraid of this drastic of a change and what it might mean for us.”

“Do you remember what I said to you when we left Saleucami?” he went on to ask her. “As long as I’m by your side and you're at mine, we can weather any storm together. I believe that…do you?”

She raised her head to meet his gaze. “You know I do.”

“Then there’s no need to be afraid,” he reassured her, running his hand along her cheek, his loving gaze filling her with the sense of calm she needed before he kissed her sweetly on the lips.

The moment, however, was then broken by the sound of Cid’s voice crying out, “For crying out loud, in the middle of my parlor? Really?”

Hunter and Kimber came apart, flinching slightly in surprise, and Kimber responded, “There’s no one even in here!”

“I’m in here,” Cid retaliated. “Now go smooch somewhere else.”

Kimber groaned with exasperation and Hunter just rolled his eyes as the two of them turned away and made their way out of the parlor and back outside. They first relayed the information Cid had given them about Fennec Shand and then they all walked back to the ship, needing some rest. Hunter stayed with Kimber until she was fast asleep and then asked Echo to keep his eyes and ears open in case she started having nightmares while he went to call the girls, which Echo gladly obliged to. Hunter took the encrypted comm Kimber had, went outside, put in Rina’s frequency and waited for her to answer.

It didn’t take long for Rina’s holographic form to appear. “Hey there, boss la--oh! Well, you weren’t who I was expecting, Sarge,” she greeted him.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” he replied.

“I’d make a comment about seeing your pretty face, but I’m pretty sure Boss Lady would skin me if I did,” she said back, eliciting a snicker from Hunter. “Where is she, by the way? She okay?”

“Kimber’s fine. She’s just resting right now, but she wanted me to reach out to you,” he told her.

“Mmm figured you were calling on her behalf and not just for a friendly chat.” Rina lifted her vape mod up to her mouth for a second and then went on to ask, “Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of a call from you, lover boy?”

Hunter shook his head slightly at hearing her nickname for him again, but then proceeded to inform her about Fennec Shand. “Our contact says, with someone like her after us, we need friends and money,” he explained.

“And for which reason are you calling me?” asked Rina, flourishing her mod.

He half-smirked and responded, “Friends, of course.”

“Hey, for all I know, you could be asking for money. Doesn’t hurt to check,” she said back. “Where did you guys land?”

“Ord Mantell.”

“Yeah, that’s about as seedy as they come. If your contact is telling you ‘friends and money’, I’d imagine she’s in some shady business, especially on Ord Mantell. Sadly, any contacts we’ve got won’t be any better and much less reliable, especially for money. If you’ve got this one offering you a chance to make money, I would suggest you take it. It’s better than nothing, even if it is questionable.”

“I’m going to run the option by everyone. We don’t have very many people we can rely on, but you ladies are the few we can. Anyone else, we don’t know where they are. Will you help us?”

Rina took another inhale of sweetblossom, her arms folded and a contemplative look on her face. “To tell you the truth, Sarge, we’re gonna need some help, too,” she relayed to him, “so maybe we can all help each other.”

That concerned him to hear. “What happened?” he asked.

“Some things went down on Pantora shortly after you guys split,” she said. “We were having to hide from the police after chasing that bounty hunter and then more Empire troops showed up. Things got…pretty ugly.” Her voice sounded on the verge of sad as she said the last sentence and her gaze averted to the ground.

Something about that didn’t sit well with Hunter. Something seemed off about her, he could somehow sense it. Now even more concerned, he inquired of her, “Rina…is everything okay? Did something else happen?”

She blinked, lifted her head and was back in better spirits as she answered, “Well, we’re not dead. That’s the important thing. To sum up, we weren’t safe and didn’t want to stick around, so we’ve just been drifting since then.” She inhaled on her mod one more time. “If you guys are in a bind, then we’ll help you, Sarge. I’m sure the girls won’t have any objections. It’ll take us a day or two to get to Ord Mantell, but we’ll be there. Tell the boss lady her Koriena ladies are coming.”

With a pleased grin, he responded, “I knew we could count on you. I’ll send you our coordinates.”

“Catch you soon, Sarge,” she said back, giving him a salute, before the hologram disappeared.

A couple days had passed and Kimber found that her condition since suffering a slew of shocks and whippings was actually getting worse. The day after, she’d been a bit sore and felt she just needed to relax while the Batch took time to figure things out and discuss working for Cid, but by the second day, her pain hadn’t lessened. If anything, she almost felt worse. Having acclimated to not being whipped and tortured like she used to, the consequences of it felt pretty painful and it seemed to last longer than she thought. It seemed what she’d suffered at the hands of the Zygerrians took more of a toll on her than she thought and she wondered if she’d be able to handle another mission right away. It was times like these that reminded her that her physical endurance and pain tolerance was different than the Clones’ because they all were completely fine.

She woke up that second day, feeling miserable, and found that she was alone. Hunter wasn’t in the room and instead, she found a datapad on the side where he usually slept. Sleepily, she picked it up, rubbed at her eyes so she could see what was on it and saw there was a note typed out on the screen.

I didn’t want to wake you and, after how difficult things were for you yesterday, I thought I’d give you the chance to rest as much as possible. When you wake up, we’re back at Cid’s. Omega wanted to try out her new bow. I’m sure she’d love for you to come watch.

Counting down the seconds until I see you.

Kimber smiled to herself, realizing it had been a while since Hunter had said that last phrase to her. He really was such a romantic. Unfortunately, it was a bit painful even getting out of the bed and she had a feeling it was going to be quite a trek for her over to Cid’s. Feeling the way she did, she knew getting her armor on was going to be a chore and it probably wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing it. For the time being, she was just going to put on some civvie clothes that were more comfortable and simpler to wear, so she slipped on the red and dark gray dress Hunter had gotten her on Kuat and the leggings that came with it. Once she was dressed and her hair re-braided, she made her way back to Cid’s.

She walked in just in time to get narrowly missed by an energy arrow in the doorway, which startled her. She saw the wide-eyed looks of Omega and the boys all looking her way just as the arrow made contact with the wall next to the door.

“Sorry!” Omega cried out.

“Goodness, if I wasn’t awake already, I certainly am now,” Kimber commented through a nervous chuckle.

As she made her way into the parlor, she noticed there was a makeshift target on the other side of the room that Omega was shooting at as well as several holes in the wall around it while there were only a couple on the actual target. It seemed like target practice was going…interestingly. Echo was standing behind Omega, instructing her on how to use the bow, while Hunter, Wrecker and Tech watched.

She walked past Wrecker, who was sitting atop a holotable, as well as the Weequay and Ithorian--whose names they’d found out were Bolo and Ketch--who were enjoying watching and taunting Omega. They paid her no mind, but Wrecker gave her a pat on the back and a smile as she walked by him. Then she moved next to Hunter who immediately put his arm around her shoulders.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, giving her a gentle squeeze.

She groaned, “In a lot of pain, actually.”

“Still? Aw, man,” said Wrecker.

Right at that moment, Omega fired her bow and the shot landed just to the right of the bullseye, hitting the target. She was excited and cheered that she’d made the hit.

“Well done, Omega,” said Kimber, putting on a smile for the kid.

That made Omega’s eyes light up even more, but then Echo told her to fire again. “But I’ve already hit the target three times,” she argued.

“Out of twelve,” Echo corrected her. “That’s luck, Omega, not skill. Soldiers need to be consistent.”

She then proceeded to take two more shots, missing widely each time. One of the shots even went so sideways, it hit one of the holotables. Bolo and Ketch were still taunting her and taking bets on whether or not she’d hit the target, which irritated her a lot. Echo tried his best to reassure her, but it wasn’t really working.

“Not exactly a natural, is she?” commented Wrecker to Hunter, who just shrugged indifferently.

Right after that, however, Cid came in and declared she wanted to talk business, shooing Bolo and Ketch out of the parlor in the process. First, she asked if the Clones knew what a tactical Droid was and Tech tried superseding her explanation, despite the fact everyone else indicated they knew what she was talking about. Though, she hushed his explanation, calling him “Goggles” in the process. Then she shoved Wrecker off the holotable he was sitting on and pulled up a hologram first of a tactical Droid and then a decommissioning facility that she said was on the planet, Corellia, saying she wanted them to get one of these Droids for her before they were all destroyed.

“We haven’t decided if we’re gonna work for you or not,” Hunter countered with.

“Allow me to decide for you. You’re in!” Cid declared.

Kimber’s hands clenched tightly into fists at her sides. “That’s not how this works,” she said to Cid, shooting her a glare.

“It is when you’re in my house, Dollface,” Cid shot back. Then she looked to Hunter as well as the others, telling them, “I'm talking a mutually beneficial arrangement. You make money, I make money, and I watch your back. With the heat on you, it's the best option you've got.”

Still suspicious of the Trandoshan, Kimber cast a look to Hunter, silently showing him she didn’t like the idea. The others, however, just appeared indifferent.

Hunter released a sigh and said back, “I guess we’re in.”

Kimber had to grit her teeth together to keep from saying something. She didn’t feel good about their arrangement at all, but it seemed Hunter had made up his mind, despite it really being forced by Cid.

“I know you’re in. I just told you you’re in,” said Cid, only making Kimber even more irritated.

Seeing her getting agitated, Hunter gently pulled her aside away from the others and he said quietly to her, “Look, sweetheart, I know you’re not happy about this.”

“You’re right, I’m not,” she snapped. “This is a bad idea.”

“Cid is right: she’s the best option we’ve got and we might not find anything else this easily,” he argued.

“We won’t know unless we try,” she said.

“Kimber, even Rina told me this is the best move,” he reminded her. “Any contacts she or the girls would have would be less reliable than what we need.” He held her arms gingerly and told her, “I know you don’t trust Cid; believe me, I really don’t either…but trust me, all right? This wasn’t a choice I made lightly.”

She sighed loudly in defeat, knowing him asking her to trust him got her every time. “All right,” she conceded.

He rubbed her arms consolingly. “On that same subject, I think you should sit this mission out,” he stated.

“What?” she asked, taken aback.

All of a sudden, Tech appeared beside them, having heard the last thing Hunter said and declared, “Hunter is right, Kimber. Your physical state is still not at peak condition, given what you suffered at the hands of the slavers. If you go on this mission, you will not regain the strength you need to get better and you run the risk of potentially compromising the mission.”

Kimber wanted to argue, but she also knew immediately that Tech and Hunter were right. She was in too much pain to properly function on any mission right now. Even though she hated the idea of the boys going off without her and being separated from them, she knew it was for the best.

“You’re right. I’ll stay,” she said, not attempting to hide the disappointment in her voice.

Just then, her commlink beeped and she heard a familiar female voice come through, “The Koriena Force is approaching Ord Mantell…and by the way, we got a new ride. You’ll know it when you see it. We’d better see you guys at the spaceport, boss lady.”

Taking out her comm, she replied with a pleased smile, “Well, the boys are heading out on a mission, so you’ll get to see them briefly before they take off. We’ll see you soon.” Then she announced to everyone else, “The girls are almost here!”

“Oh yeah! Let’s go!” exclaimed Wrecker, pumping his fist as he almost skipped over to the door. Of everyone there, he was the most excited for the girls to arrive, to no one’s surprise.

The others followed after him, but Hunter and Kimber lingered behind for a moment. “I’m sorry,” Hunter said.

Kimber shook her head. “No, I understand and you’re both right. I’m in no condition to go with you.”

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “At least the girls are here now. That should help keep you occupied.”

“I’m sure,” she replied.

“Hey, dark and broody! Will you and the Missus get a move on already?” cried out Cid from behind the bar.

They both rolled their eyes in annoyance at Cid’s pushiness and left the bar, jogging to catch up with the rest of the squad.

A few minutes passed after the Batch all made it to the spaceport when they saw a ship entering the atmosphere and they were astonished to see a shiny, platinum-colored starship come flying in towards the spaceport.

“If that’s them…they completely missed the point of ‘lying low’,” Echo commented.

Tech tapped some things out on his datapad and then stated aloud, “That is an H-type Nubian yacht, a leisure transport.”

“Hmm curious,” Hunter muttered.

Sure enough, the Nubian starship landed in a port nearby and when they moved closer, they saw the ramp to the ship open up and Rina was standing inside along with Irys.

Upon seeing Kimber, Rina called out, “Told you you hadn’t seen the last of us, boss lady!”

A smile immediately overtook Kimber’s whole expression as the two ladies descended the ramp. “I never doubted you for a second,” she replied, grasping Rina’s outstretched hand.

Right after that, Rina was suddenly swept up off the ground by Wrecker, making her cry out in surprise, and spun in a circle. “Welcome back, Rina!” he exclaimed.

As he set her back down on the ground, Rina grinned and said in return, “Boy, am I glad to see you, Wrecker.”

Irys gave a nod to the other Clones. “A pleasure seeing you all again,” she said. Then she smirked at Tech and added, knowing it was going to get under his skin, “Especially you, hotshot.”

He grimaced slightly. “I wish I could say the feeling was mutual,” he grumbled.

“Where’s Kida and Lex?” Kimber asked.

“Lex is finishing something,” answered Irys.

Then Rina added, “Kida is getting the smol, so she should be out any moment.”

“Smol?” Hunter repeated, confused.

Before anyone could answer, they heard Kida’s voice cry out from inside the ship, “I heard my name, you better not wear it out!”

Then Kimber saw her coming down with little Kori swaddled up in a wrap that she wore around her torso. The fun contrast about her was the fact that she was wearing a leather combat suit underneath the baby wrap and had blasters holstered on her hips. Clearly, being a mother wasn’t going to stop her from being a fighter.

“That’s quite a look for you, Kida. I like it,” Kimber complimented her.

“You know me: everything I do, I do in style,” she said, flourishing her hand.

“Hence why you have one of the shiniest ships in the galaxy, apparently,” Kimber commented.

Kida looked back at the ship and grinned. “Yeah, my dad bought this ship from some higher-ups on Naboo years ago. We had to steal it so we could escape Pantora, so he’s probably going to be mad, but I don’t care.”

“It’s our ship now,” Irys put in.

“My family called it the Paramount, but we felt that didn’t fit for us,” Kida explained, “so we’ve re-christened it the Aurora.”

Rina chuckled and added a bit sarcastically, “Because we’re such a bright and colorful group.”

“I love it. It’s perfect,” Kimber replied proudly. She then looked down at the little baby nestled up against Kida’s chest, his golden-brown eyes looking up at her with curiosity. “Hello again, little one,” she said, caressing the blonde fuzz on his head as light as a feather.

When she turned to look at the Clones, she had to suppress a laugh at the looks of absolute stunned shock she saw on their faces, their widened eyes looking like they were about to pop from their sockets.

“Um…why does Kida have a baby?” inquired Wrecker.

Nonchalantly, Kida answered with a grin, “This is my son.”

“Your son?” Echo repeated in astonishment.

Omega eagerly ran up right away and to get a peek at the baby and Tech immediately went to typing things out on his datapad.

Rina stepped up and proclaimed, “Don’t worry, guys. Unless you’ve seen Kida naked, the smol’s not yours to worry about.” Then she gestured to the other women and said, “We don’t count either.”

The Clones all furrowed their brows in confusion.

“What? We live together. It happens,” Rina simply said with a shrug. “You’re all brothers. Haven’t you guys seen each other naked?”

Immediately, the others all looked incredibly awkward and refused to look at each other. Kimber once again had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh at how timid the boys were at Rina’s question.

“Well…guess Clones do things differently,” Rina commented.

Hunter was the first of the boys to step forward to see the baby and Kimber noticed his eyes subtly light up at seeing him, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. “What’s his name?” he asked Kida.

“Kori. From the word ‘Koriena’,” she told him.

His expression softened hearing the meaning behind the child’s name. “A very strong and fitting name,” he said.

Then Tech spoke up, “Kida, if I may inquire: how old is the child?”

She took a second to think before answering, “A few weeks…almost a month old.”

“And you carried him to full term?” he then asked.

“Yes…,” she replied, wondering where he was going with these questions.

He tapped one last thing on his datapad before declaring with certainty, “Just as I suspected. I know who the boy’s father is.”

Everyone’s heads whipped around in his direction, perplexed. Kida simply folded her arms, interested to see if Tech would correctly deduce the answer, and Kimber was just as curious.

“How could you possibly know that, Tech?” Hunter asked.

Returning his attention to his datapad, Tech explained, “If my calculations are correct, with the child being born nearly a month ago and having been carried the full gestation period of nine months, that would place his conception ten months prior…around the time when we were rescued by the Eradicators.” Then his astute eyes returned to Kida. “And during that timeframe, there was only one male who was ever with Kida alone whose phenotypes are already clearly visible in the baby’s appearance.”

Echo was the first to pick up on Tech’s facts and he was almost struck dumb with shock.

“Rex…!” he gasped out, remembering he had asked Kimber after they had been rescued if there was anything between Kida and Rex after observing their behavior with each other. Then he took notice of the baby’s blonde hair and that confirmed everything. One of his closest brothers was the father of Kida’s child!

“Well, I thought it was obvious,” Tech responded, seeing Echo's astonishment.

The others all turned and looked wide-eyed at Kida, waiting for her to confirm or deny Tech's hypothesis.

She smirked deviously, lifting up a hand and placing a fingertip on her chin. “You certainly live up to your reputation as the exceptionally-minded one, Tech. You’re right,” she confirmed.

“It really is Rex?” Hunter questioned.

“Yes,” she said, “and he doesn’t know yet.”

Then Wrecker, after standing there dumbfounded and speechless, finally spoke, “Wait…so Rex has seen you naked?”

Just as everyone began to realize he didn’t quite understand, Omega only made things worse by saying, “But what does that have to do with the baby? Aren’t all babies grown in tubes?”

Everyone all groaned sheepishly, wondering how they were going to get through this awkward situation.

Irys put a hand to her forehead and muttered, “I forgot she grew up on Kamino.”

Rina leaned over and whispered to Kimber, “You wanna take the lead on this one, boss lady?”

“Not really,” Kimber replied nervously, even though she knew someone had to do it. She stepped forward and went on to say, “Omega, Wrecker…regular humanoid children are created differently than Clones are.”

“They’re made by just seeing someone naked?” Omega inquired, her eyes narrowed in confusion.

Then Wrecker asked along with her, “It’s that easy?”

“N--no, it’s uh…more than that,” said Kimber, scrambling to find the words to help them understand, even though she was desperately not wanting to have this conversation at the moment.

Then Hunter stepped in and said, “A woman isn’t going to get pregnant because you see her naked.”

With a slight amused snicker, Echo then folded his arms across his chest and made the comment, “If that were the case, we would’ve needed a bigger ship by now.”

In response to that, knowing exactly what Echo was implying, a strangled cry emitted from Hunter’s throat that he tried to stifle and Kimber pursed her lips and cast Echo a threatening look that said “I’m going to kill you!”

“Wait, what does that mean?” Wrecker questioned.

To speed things along, Kimber just stated, “Hunter will explain it to you on the way to Corellia, won’t you, darling?” As he stuttered in reply, flabbergasted at her throwing the heat on him, she immediately went on, gesturing towards the Marauder, “Speaking of which, you guys should be going right now, so you’d best be on your way before Cid finds out you’re still here.”

As Echo and Tech simply gave waves to the three Koriena Force ladies, Echo happened to look up at the ship and saw Lex was actually standing at the top of the ramp, leaning up against the wall inside and twirling her vibroblade in her hand, much like what Hunter did on occasion. She was in her usual red tank top, leather corset, black trousers and boots, but he noticed that she now had a full arm glove on her left arm. It was a curious fashion choice, but he thought it was intriguing. Her eyes caught his for a moment and she ceased playing with her knife. There was no emotion in her face; it was just a simple stare as if she was trying to read him for some reason. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, wondering if something was wrong. However, a few seconds later, she just raised up two fingers and gave him a salute. Brushing that off as nothing, Echo returned the gesture with a nod and proceeded to follow Tech towards the ship.

Wrecker directed his attention to Rina, waved at her and said, “I’ll see you later, Rina!”

Rina called back, “At least this time, I’ll be here when you get back.”

“I know! I’m excited!” he shouted over his shoulder, making Rina blush.

Hunter sauntered over to Kimber, a faint displeased look on his face mixed with a devious smirk. “You owe me big time for this, sweetheart,” he said, pointing a finger at her.

She chuckled, knowing he was referring to the earlier topic. “Sorry about that,” she said as he approached. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He placed his hands on her arms and she laid her hands on his chestpiece. “Please be careful.”

“We will,” he said.

“I just…I don’t like the thought of you boys going on a mission without me,” she admitted sadly. “What if something happens to you that could’ve been prevented had I been there? What if something happens to Omega?”

He lessened the distance between them, bringing her close to him and touching his forehead to hers comfortingly. “Don’t think like that, love,” he assured her. “We’ll be okay. Worrying won’t make you feel any better.”

“I know,” she replied, leaning into him a little more. “I can’t help but worry over you just as you worry over me. That and it’s been a long time since I sat out on a mission."

"You're gonna be okay. You've got the girls here now." He lightly nuzzled her. "I'll come back to you."

"You always do."

She leaned in and captured his lips in a sweet parting kiss, savoring the feel of his lips to carry with her through his absence.

After which, Hunter gave Kimber one last loving smile before turning away and jogging after the rest of the Bad Batch. Her hand came up to his credit necklace and clutched it tightly against her chest.

"You two are so dramatic," she heard the voice of Lex speak behind her. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw Lex coming down the ramp to join her and the other girls, a smirk on her face.

"There you are, Lex!" she cried. Then she took notice of the full arm glove Lex was wearing. "That's new," she pointed out.

Lex side-eyed the glove and just shrugged. "A new fashion statement I'm trying out," she said.

"It looks good," said Kimber.

Rina muttered something under her breath and Kimber saw her turn away, lifting her mod up to her mouth. When Kimber watched her, it seemed like something was bothering Rina. Then she looked back at Lex and Lex, too, seemed off and irritated.

"Is everything okay?" Kimber asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," Lex answered. "I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights."

"If that's true, then you should go rest," Kimber said to her. "We'll have plenty of time to catch up."

Lex simply nodded and obliged without any second thoughts, turning on her heel and going back up the ramp to the ship.

After she left, Rina stated, gesturing with her thumb at the ship, "Well, boss lady, come on up and we'll show you our new digs in the Aurora." Without waiting, she too proceeded up the ramp of the ship.

Waiting until Rina was out of earshot, Kimber asked Kida and Irys, "Are those two all right? They seem…different."

Irys answered her, "They've been fighting recently, to put it simply."

"I wouldn't bring it up to them, though," said Kida. "It's a bit of a touchy subject right now, but they'll be okay eventually."

Kimber didn't like that answer and it made her worried and concerned for her friends. She wanted to talk to Rina or Lex about what was going on with them and find a way to help them. Though, if Kida said they'd get things figured out eventually and not to say anything, then she just had to trust that things would all work themselves out.

Just then, Kori started to get a little fussy and squirmed in his wrap. Kida bent her head down and placed a kiss on top of his head.

"I think it's about time for this little guy to eat," Kida observed. "Let's go in and we can all take time to relax."

"I definitely could use that. My whole body is in a lot of pain, hence why I'm still here," said Kimber as they all made their way up into the ship.

Kida's head whipped over to her. "My dear, if you're hurting, I've got some things that can help. You leave your pain relief to me." Then she said to Irys, "Would you mind feeding Kori for me while I tend to our fearless leader?"

"As long as Rina is the one to put him down for his nap," Irys replied.

"I'll be sure to pass along the message," said Kida.

Kimber giggled to herself. It was good to have her Koriena Force back and it was going to be even better now that they were going to be on Ord Mantell for the foreseeable future.

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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imnotoverlyobsessive · 3 years ago

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Keep Your Enemies

Author’s Note, Glossary, Info

AO3 Author’s Note/Info/Glossary one two three four five All my work is 18+.

Summary: Commoner Seraphine—Sera for short—expected death when her plot to assassinate the Emperor was discovered. Instead, she’s brought to the capital and commanded to dance for the entertainment of the man she planned to kill. As soon as he sees her, however, he gives her a fate worse than death: High Concubine and Imperial Consort. While she is determined to prevent what he has declared inevitable—loving him and willingly bearing his children, namely—, her overwhelming attraction to him may well prove to be her downfall.

This is an AU of Confessions. No knowledge of the original fic is necessary. Many (or perhaps even all) of the chapters will contain prompts for Dune Kinktober 2022 in collaboration with @dunefandomevents organized by @alexagirlie. This fic is not complete the way Confessions was when I started posting. I have about four and a half chapters done, and each one will be based off one or more kinks, which will be the title of the chapter.

Big shoutout to the following people:

• @meetmyothersouls for being a dope ass friend and fic planning buddy. If any one scene seems particularly amazing to you, that’s likely because she came up with it.

• @alexagirlie for organizing Kinktober 🥰

Glossary

•Beakkal: Sera's homeworld. Very poor. •Kept: a member of the harem that has never been involved with the emperor. They are free to fall in love with other men, but any children they have will not be claimed by the emperor. They wear jewel hand chains/slave bracelets. Their dresses are somewhat revealing and not as elaborate as others. The youngest of them is sixteen, and Paul will not touch her. •Hetaera: a member of the harem that has sex with the emperor. In addition to the hand chain, they wear chokers. Their dresses are very revealing and more elaborate. •High Concubine: the favorite concubine. Generally a lifelong position. Not every emperor has one, and they have been known to marry their High Concubines, but it's not common. Sons born to the High Concubine Paul are first in the line of succession regardless of birth order. Paul has never had one. They wear a headdress in addition to the hand chain and choker. Their dresses are extremely revealing and elaborate.

Some additional info about this version of the universe: Paul is 25ish. He has been on the throne five years. The events of the movie took place when he was between 18-20, about. The war ended a couple years into his reign. Concubines are gifted to the emperor upon his ascension to the throne and then throughout his reign. It’s a very desirable position, and many women want to be a concubine. There are those who do not, of course and sometimes their families force them anyway. Concubines are traditionally from Great Houses, but it’s not a requirement. Sending them back without good reason (getting married is considered a good reason, as is finding out you’re infertile or one of them is infertile) is considered a great insult against the family and the planet they’re from. Rebellions have been made against the crown when this has been done in the past. Concubines are also a safety net for the emperor before he marries: any children he has with them are considered eligible for the throne, and if he has children, it’s harder to overthrow him. There are exceptions, of course; the children of a High Concubine would be higher up than the children of a Hetaera, regardless of sex or birth order, and the children of the emperor’s wife, when/if he gets one, are higher up than those of a High Concubine. Unless, of course, the wife was previously a High Concubine, in which case it doesn’t matter. Lmk if you have questions!

Tag list: @meetmyothersouls @ellamaianderson @shika1200 @blackqueenstarseed1 @gatoenlaciudad @esmaada @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 @softhecreator @timolaurence @timmymyluv @oddlyenoughiamweird @leecrunchybones @s-we-e-t-t-ea

To be added, please ask 💗

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kremblor · 4 days ago

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Okay, okay, if you do this BEFORE the episode you have them trying to work it out for some time before the reveal. And Hetty constantly evading.

Shes weaved this story of accidentally ODing on cocaine over the years so smoothly, never once messed up. Managed it by never revealing to much or just brushing off the story. The key to success wasn't over detail but the lack. A shrug of "went to my room, did some coke, woke up a ghost" no more no less over the years. Brush off need for more, make jokes about cocaine throughout the years and no one will really question right ... right.... right?

Her slip up is probably timing. They have a general idea (Isaac, Thor, and Sass) of when she must have died. So imagine if you will if she tried to obfuscate that one day. One of them mentioning something from her living days, an event at the Manor, casually turning all "remember Hetty". Its close enough in time to her death (just before she left for her vacation of course) so she pulls a quick "No, no ... probably the night I ended up with to much cocaine. How tragic" scurried away before anyone can ask further questions.

Sass "that's weird, her death couldn't have been that night"

Thor gives excuses (Hetty doesn't always like mentions of her pasr, she probably just confused things type excuse)

Isaac goes into "this is suspicious time for drama" mode despite it being his bestie and Alberta is like "yes, lets do this" also despite it being a bestie of hers.

They wait a few days before asking Hetty more about the event she claims not to remember only for Hetty to get frustrated. Pull the "i was in my room!" And bolt (to be clear it's probably something Elias did something at so she doesn't want to recall, easy to pretend she died than think of Elias). So, they wait again, try again this time all "so, Hetty -" and get into her taking drugs all "you seem to have taken prescribed dosages and no more how did you take more than usual?" And again Hetty is all "Everyone should do coke!" Reactive

She just bolts everytime though. Scurried away mid questioning with easily made excuses they cant even use against her because each time she is doing what she said. "Flower needs my help" is with Flower when they go to find her. "I promised Thor a walk" is outside walking with Thor. "Jay has a DnD match im curious to watch" - not her usual but they cant say she isnt watching it. "Sam promised me she would go through the storage" they actually cant find Sam or Hetty anywhere.

But every question setting is pointless. She has answers and escapes. And Isaac never once reveals that he and the others were in a hole (obviously doesn't want to because then gotta reveal the Patience info). So his ultimate intel drop of "i know you couldnt have died that night as we weren't around whenever it happened" is held back.

Then you get to "Holes Are Bad" and Isaac and Alberta are so distracted with the rescue they aren't noticing Hetty's behavior. No one really is. Then Flower tries to risk the dirt, gets scared, and Thor is willingly to jump into the hole - and Hetty would have to risk losing him - and suddenly shes jumping forward all "no". And everyone is getting the reveal they never expected.

Alberta is stunned. Shocked. She never expected this. Never thought THIS be to truth they'd be digging at. She feels guilty for trying to pull this out of her (even if it she knows Hetty tends to hide truths - this is a truth she had a right to share when ready). She apologizes later, when no one else is around, tells her she cares for her and will always be there for her.

Isaac feels so bad about what he did he ran off and reported himself to Sam the moment she got back. All "SAM SAM I JUST SPENT MONTHS TRYING TO FORCE HETTY TO REVEAL WHY SHE WAS LYING ABOUT HER DEATH". Sam is just all "dude is just got through the door, Jay is still getting our bags, can I have five seconds" and his face is falling and shes realizing this is bad. Like bad bad. And whispers "Isaac .. what happened" "Hetty saved Flower from a hole" "Flower isnt gone? Hetty saved her. Holes are bad?" "Yes to all but its only because she had something on her Flower could hold onto and we could pull her out" "That would.... oh. Oh. OH" Sam pauses "Isaac you could have just said it rather than that" "I didnt know if she be okay with that" (cue Isaac doing his nervous movement stuff).

Ok I love Holes Are Bad, this is a known fact, but imagine this for a second

Hetty says something that doesn't quite line up with how she says she died, when asked about it she gives an acceptably vague answer, something is going on here, another case for bangs and pony, they start investigating, finding clues, things just aren't adding up, they confront Hetty about it, they fight, this only fuels their need for answers

And that's as far as I got, feel free to add on, you guys always have such great ideas

#cbs ghosts #hetty woodstone #isaac higgintoot #alberta haynes

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another-fantasy-world · 4 years ago

Text

Pulled

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Title: Pulled

Pairings: (Romantic) Wanda Maximoff x Reader, (Platonic) Avengers x Reader, (Familial) Natasha Romanoff x Reader, (Familial) Pietro Maximoff x Reader

Summary: The Avengers, Earth's chosen heroes. You thought the name was absurd, and you knew that being around them is trouble, especially since the son of Odin himself is working with them. But of course, no matter how much you tried to pull away, no matter the consequences of you being a demon, they still insist on pulling you back, among all of them, she insists the most.

Warnings: Canon Violence. Demons. Mentions of Hell

Additional Tags: Wanda being the best girlfriend for a demon. Natasha being a soft mom. Tony being the annoying brother. Avengers being the lovable idiots that they are. Pietro being alive is my shit.

Reader Pronouns: She/They

Word Count: 3276 words

GIF isn’t mine but boy do I adore it. Feedback is much appreciated. Thank you and Enjoy Reading! Requests are open, see pinned post for more info

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Grief. Pain. Sadness. Anger. Guilt. Fear. Six of the most common negative emotions one human can have, and somehow, this two human children had them all. You silently watched as this human girl and her twin brother hide under the bed to protect themselves from the bomb just 3 feet from them. You can sense both their fears, it's what led you to them in the first place. The intense fear and emotional pain in their souls was intoxicating, it makes you want to devour it and take their souls straight to hell. But for some reason, you couldn't bring yourself to enhance it, to give them more pain, just for your own sake.

So even as your hunger clawed and begged to be satisfied, you ignored it, looking for something to comfort the trembling twins. Out the corner of your eye, you saw the damaged TV, making quick work of fixing it with your magic, turning it on, only to find the girl's glowing red eyes trained at your naturally red eyes. Your eyes widened as you realized she could see you. You then turned your attention to the other twin, his child-like eyes staring right at your non-existent soul.

“And you can see me. Great.” You voiced out, sighing. You didn't even know why your glamour didn't work on these two brats.

“Yes.” They answered timidly, Heavy Sokovian accents ringing throughout the air.

“Are you scared?” You ask them, tucking your wings in as to not scare them further more, much to your displeasure. You didn't really know why you're acting like this.

“No.” You smiled at their response, they were lying of course, but it was adorable nonetheless.

You debated on what to do next, you could erase their memories of you but quickly realized that you couldn't considering this human child is a witch. You sighed, you rarely interfere with human foolishness, the outcomes of said foolishness make up for your daily meal, so you leave them be, but for some reason you were being pulled to do the opposite.

“This is going to be the last time you see me.” You state coldly, refusing to get attached.

You maneuver your magic to levitate the bed they were currently hiding under, gray wisps of magic enveloping the bomb to keep them from detonating, you watch as the human girl seems fascinated with what she sees despite the life-threatening situation they are in right now. The human boy dragging his sister towards you as you envelop them in your magic as well, protecting them for what's about to come.

“Hold on.” You say, their arms wrapping around yours as you extend your wings and fly upwards, the air harmless to the children in your arms when it should have killed them based on your speed alone. You looked down at them, the human girl buried her face into you as fear mixed with relief pulsed out of her. The human boy on the other hand, looked ecstatic with the speed you are going at.

'Children' You thought, chuckling lightly.

You both dropped them off at the local Sokovian orphanage, prompting to leave when the human girl tugged on your black wings making you look back.

“Yes?” You asked

“Stay” She says, smiling. You smiled back, despite seeing how the events of today slowly dawned on both of them, pain filling both of their eyes.

You just shook your head sadly, a frown quickly settling at your face, realizing you let your guard down, before flying away, disappearing in a blink of an eye.

You never thought you would see them again years later, all grown up. You were on an errand appointed to you by your brother when you stumbled upon Sokovia. The place swarmed with ridiculous looking military. Your eyes widening as you see them displaying their powers fighting against the Avengers. You smiled softly and rolled your eyes when you saw that the human boy now had super speed and the human girl had her witchy tendencies, beautiful red wisps of magic floating through the air, as a human man, named Captain America, tumbled down the stairs.

“We have another enhanced. Female. Do not engage.” You frowned at that, they're treating her like a threat, and that didn't place right with you. Prompting to leave this problem to future you, you left

“Enhanced?” You ask yourself as you flew away, not having the courage to face the twins right now.

Days pass and you still barely have the courage to give in to the pull that they both had, you spent the days you had trying to find whatever it is that you have with the two of them, it was something you cannot explain with words. The pull was extremely hard to ignore, it was a bond of some sort. But you never made a contract with them, did you accidentally make one? But this feels like something more, it wasn't just a normal contract, it feels much more intimate, familial in a sense.

You were reading ancient books, feeling particularly annoyed at the pathetic wails of souls being tortured, annoyed that your brother decided placing his torture chamber near your library where it should be quiet, quiet enough to read without some human soul screaming their hearts out as they are force to relive their most painful memories over and over again.

Your head snapped up when you felt intense amount of anger and pain course through your veins, you dropped the book you were reading and immediately materialized on Earth, finding the human girl in a headlock.

Your vision blurred, only seeing red, you charged towards the man, slamming him to the glass, breaking it, walking forward more, you slammed him to the wall, gripping his neck, you could see green slowly seeping from it. You clenched your teeth, feeling hot flames bursting from around you, cracks emerging from the concrete as molten lava seeps through. Your magic prevented him from transforming. Your eyes a vicious black as anger pumped throughout your whole being. You could feel the monster in you, clawing it's way out, telling you to rip this man's head off and feed it to Cerberus, taking his soul to the deepest, darkest depths of hell.

“Go on. Piss me off.” You growled out, mocking his words, your black wings extending, hiding the both of you from the other's view, who stopped fighting as soon as you materialized from the ground.

Gripping harder now, you ought to kill him, enduring the pain of random blasts and the feeling of a vibranium shield repeatedly being slammed into your wings.

Soft red wisps wrapped around your wrist, comforting you, lowering your guard for a little, allowing the human girl to touch you. Her hands running through the feathers that your wings had.

“It's okay. I'm okay. You don't have to.” Her soft voice rang through your ears, making you drop the coughing man and hold her hand.

“Are you sure?” Your voice raspy from growling.

She just nodded, gripping your hand as well. You didn't even notice the commotion happening. You didn't notice Thor slamming in, zapping the capsule like thing. You didn't notice the android emerging, You didn't notice a single thing. Not until she let go of your hands did you regain senses.

“I thought you said we weren't going to see you again.” She says, making you face her

“Uhm.” You gulped, now that you took at good look at the human girl, she certainly...enhanced herself since you last saw her.

She raised her brows as her head tilted, staring up at you. You felt as thou you were the one being hunted, rather than being the hunter that you are.

“Things change, Little Witch.” You tried to steady yourself, nearly losing your footing at the blue blur that ran past you.

“Wingie! You came back!” The human boy exclaimed.

“...Wingie? What the fuck?” You thought as you narrowed your eyes at them. Watching as the woman chuckled, you looked at her pointedly, knowing that she read your mind, to which she just shrugged.

“You refer to us as human boy and human girl. We refer to you as wingie, it's a fair deal isn't it?” She smirked, her Sokovian accent sending shivers down your spine.

“It is not.” You stood straigher. A frown placed on your face as you knew you needed to leave and cut ties with them. Even if you did not want to, Demon-Human relationships are strictly forbidden, unless they willingly sign their soul to you.

As if sensing this, The human girl took a hold of your wings and tugged on it, giving you a sense of nostalgia

“Stay.” She says with finality.

“I guess it would be nice for you both to tell me your name.” You say after a moment of silence, hissing slightly when you see a mark forming on your palm.

You had given in to their bond, they have successfully pulled you in. It left you wondering how this happened and why has your father, the almighty God, allowed this. Better question, why did Luci never interrupt this bond, he just let it be, even when you asked him about it, he nonchalantly says that you should give in. What better purpose does this have?

“...Now I really need your name.” You mumble out, spotting the glowing marks they both had shining through their clothes.

“Ooooohkay. What is happening around here?” You tore your gaze from the twins to look at the tin man.

“Please do not talk tin man. This does not concern you. However, I believe that The First Son of Odin can help you satisfy your curiosity about me.” You say, gaze returning to the twins.

“Wanda.”

“Pietro.”

“Y/N.” You smiled.

“You now have a personal demon at your command.” You grin, showing your true fiery self to them, bowing like a servant, surprising them a little, Then laughed, comfortable with teasing you at how ugly you looked in your true form, which also made you laugh. A memory you will never forget.

“What's in your mind darling?” Wanda brings you back to reality, her hands softly holding your face.

Tony was kind enough to give you a whole floor to yourselves in the tower, it now looked like a big apartment with a 70's theme due to you and Wanda's modifications just last night. Your wife did have a knack for changing your apartment's theme to different eras, you suspect it's from her love of sitcoms so you just let her be. Besides, her sitcoms are growing on you.

“How we met.” You state, a content smile on your face while tracing the mark she had.

The room you both shared is enveloped in your magic, the illusion showing the night sky, shooting stars passing through despite being in broad daylight.

“Hmmn. You traveled far.” She chuckled, nuzzling further into your wings. You chuckled.

“You love my wings more than me, my love, why must you be like this?” You teased her

“They're softer than you.” She teased back

“You wound me little witch.” You lean in to kiss her, only to be interrupted, your illusion breaking as the door slammed open

“EW EW EW EW EW!” A blue blur barged in, only to run out again.

You huffed out in annoyance, It's 7am and Pietro is already annoying you.

“Why must I also have a bond with that prick.” You grumbled under your breath, burying your face into Wanda's neck.

“Because he's my brother, and you, my love, are my wife. That makes you his sister as well.” She says, pecking your lips multiple times, her Sokovian accent slipping out.

“Mrs. Maximoff, and Other Mrs. Maximoff. Ms. Romanoff wanted me to remind you of your training at 8:30 am after breakfast. And Mr. Stark is demanding you both to have breakfast with the team” FRIDAY, the AI's voice rang out.

“Thank you FRIDAY.” You muttered out, begrudgingly getting up from your shared bed, your wings limp as if sharing your sadness, much to your wife's amusement.

“I don't get it. At all. We've been doing this for 8 years now. Why do I still have to train?” You whined, walking into the dining room where the rest of the Avengers are.

“Because, you little devil, you rely on your powers too much. Hand-to-hand combat is necessary.” Natasha pats your back, grabbing her newly made peanut butter sandwich.

Natasha met you after Bruce saved her from Ultron, your powers saved her by smashing in two robots to the ground, which seemed to amuse her, plus seeing you with horns made her laugh. The next day, she approached you asking if you wanted to spar with her, and you cockily said yes, boasting that you'll beat her in a minute. You were proven wrong, your ass got handed to you every single time, proving that you can't make it through life without your powers.

“And yet, you don't tell Tony to train.” You deadpanned at Natasha, and she looked at you like how an angry mother looks at a child throwing a tantrum.

You accidentally read Natasha's mind one day when you were starving, refusing to feed off your family's emotions, despite them being filled with negative emotions because, the receiver of a demon feeding feels intense pain as said demon sucks their emotions out, leaving them exhausted, sometimes in a coma, and sometimes just dead, it's soul going straight down to hell. She was thinking about how she thinks of you as her daughter, albeit being thousands of years older than her. You just shrugged and went along with it, finding it funny, until you accidentally called her 'Mom' when she got shot, sending the one who shot her down to the pits of hell. And since then it just stuck.

“Because I'm a genius, devilious.” You rolled your eyes at his ego and his horrible nickname.

“Dumbass.” You murmured

“Bitch.” He shot back

“Jerk.” You retaliated. Puffing your wings up to hopefully intimidate him but he just powered up his reactor and threatened to blast you.

“Okay, enough from the both of you.” Wanda gave you a pointed look which had you pouting

“No powers on the dining table!” Pepper scolded.

“Sorry.” you mumbled, directing your attention to the elevator doors as they open to reveal Clint on the phone.

Your eyes drifted to Pietro as you both shared a smirk, if there's one thing that you both could agree on, is that you both love to piss off Clint, who despite being retired, visits the tower often.

You subtly use your powers to tie Clint's shoelaces together as Pietro sped to him, taking his phone.

“Hey!” He complained, taking a step to run after Pietro only to slam, face first into a pillow?

Your eyes then lifted up to see Wanda's glowing eyes, her hands wrapped with a red mist as you see Pietro being dragged into the room by said mist.

“Oh shit.” You murmured, seeing her head tilt, it's common knowledge to run when Wanda tilts her head, it's terrifying as fuck.

“...We can talk about this...” You say, slowly backing up. She just raised her brows

“Whipped.” Clint whispered tauntingly as he passed you

“Take it to the training room kids.” Natasha says, her steaming black coffee nestled in her palms

“I didn't even eat yet.” You whined, plopping yourself away from your wife, beside the metal armed man who pushed the plate of toast towards you.

“Are we still going to ignore how devilious is a literal demon and she's scared of Wondie?” Tony teased, bouncing Morgan on his lap while she drinks her milk.

“Okay. Tony, Tony, Tony. Stare me straight in the eyes, look at me, look, look. Come on, look into my eyes-”

“Yes, I'm looking into your “natural” red eyes, they still look like contacts” He says, air quoting the word natural

“First of all, they are natural. Second, stare right into my eyes and tell me that my wife isn't the MOST TERRIFYING PERSON YOU EVER MET!?”

“Meh.” He says, smirking

“Oh-hoho! Ouch.” You say playfully with a grimace, jaw dropping with a look of offense on your face.

“Let's just agree that wives are terrifying, yes?” You say quickly, motioning to Pepper who was chopping up some food for her daughter, who held up the knife as a response to your statement.

“And this is why I will never get married.” Natasha says, disposing of her plates to the sink before motioning to you.

“I can change that. Do you want a dog too?” Sam asks, grinning

“Get ready to get your ass kicked, Wilson.” You grinned seeing Nat's glare

“Language.” Tony says, motioning to his kid while winking at Steve who rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. The fitted shirt threatening to rip. You always wondered why Steve liked to wear clothes that's one size smaller that what he should be wearing. Maybe it was because of Bucky, or Nat, or both. You never knew with that man.

“It's been 8 years. Why is that still a thing?” Steve groan, making you all laugh.

Your laugh slowly faded, staring at your family, your weird but still very much your family, laughing and having fun without a care in the world, it's memories like these that you want to remember.

You don't want to remember the sacrifices you had to make to get this very moment, the actions you made were selfish yet necessary, for your universe at least. You had the power and the chance to change everything 5 years ago, and you took that chance without hesitation, even if it meant breaking the fabric of the universe itself.

You just hoped that the Avengers from the other universes wouldn't hate you so much for adding to their pain. After all, you did avert what should have happened in your universe, into another universe where the people of earth and it's mightiest heroes, suffered twice. Their pain increasing tenth fold as you merged two problems into one.

The consequence that you have to endure for that however, was white-hot pain. You will have to endure all the universe's pain, nightmares and visions of the battle that should have happened will continue to plague you, visions of Wanda in pain, visions of Tony Stark dying, visions of his funeral, visions of Natasha's death will play in your head over and over again. Your own personal hell.

But it's worth it right? …right? You'd do anything to make your family happy... right? You'd do anything to make her happy. It's worth it. It was definitely worth it... right?

#wanda maximoff x reader #scarlet witch x reader #scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #platonic avengers x reader #platonic natasha romanoff x reader #platonic pietro maximoff x reader #platonic tony stark x reader

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