#andromeda: interested and being nice if leaning a little close

[galpalaven]

haha what if Azem was there in this part of endwalker

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Alive Again Part 1

Harry Potter AU 

Summary:  What if Regulus didn't die? What if Kreacher didn't see "everything" that happened in the cave that night? You have spent three years thinking that your lover was dead. Now you may have a second chance at life.

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M 

_______

Regulus lay several inches below the surface of the water as you ran down to him.

“Reggie! No, no, no...Regulus wake up. Reggie, come back.”

You reached into the water enough to wrap your hands around the lapels of his vest and yanked hard. When his eyes snapped open, you screamed. Where your lover’s gorgeous eyes had once been was milky, cloudy, and white.

Inferius...your husband was dead and now replaced with a zombie-like monster. The moment that you tried to pull away his hand reached up and wrapped around your wrist. You thrashed backward trying to pull away.

“Let go! Let go!”

You screamed. No matter how much you tried, Regulus pulled harder. The moment you fell into the lake you inhaled and tried to kick hard. You had to keep your head above water. With each kick, Regulus’ grip increased until his arms were around you fully. He pulled you further and further down into the murky water of the lake. You wanted to scream at the blank ghostly expression on his face.

“Regulus, stop! You’ll kill me!”

You screamed internally as your lungs began to ache with the need to breathe. Reaching out, you tugged hard on Regulus’ curls as they floated around his head.

“Reggie.”

You whined again as the world began to fade to black…

You snapped awake the moment that there was a knock on your door. Sitting up, you were drenched with sweat and panting. That dream again! That blasted dream that haunted your sleep every night since Regulus died.

“Mistress are you awake?”

Kreacher’s voice came from the other side of the door before he popped in. The elf was holding a tray with a silver teacup on it.

“Good morning, Kreacher.”

You said, trying to calm down. The elf snapped his finger making some nice hot tea appear in the up.

“Kreacher thinks Mistress needs some tea. You sounded dreadful this morning. Were you having your dream again?”

You only nodded as the elf stroked your hand.

“Master Regulus died a hero, mistress. He loved you very much. Now, why don’t you get up and have some fresh air? Mistress has breakfast waiting. She wanted me to let you know that she has little mistress Astaria awake and ready.”

Kreacher mentioning Regulus’ name made your heart.

“That will do, Kreacher. Tell Walburga that I will be down in a moment.”

Once Kreacher was gone, you put your hand in your hands before focusing on your engagement ring. It had been almost three years since Regulus went away on a mission and didn’t return. It wasn’t until Kreacher told you what happened did you actually know what happened.

To say that you were devastated was an understatement! You were a new wife and about to be a mother. You were not supposed to be a widow...not this quickly. Had it not been for Walburga, you weren't sure what you would have done. She swooped in and picked you right up off of your feet. Maybe you helped her as much as she helped you. Walburga was getting over her husband’s death now her favorite son was dead. You were the last tangible family member that she had. Knowing that both her daughter in law and granddaughter needed her was enough to keep her hobbling along.

You quickly dressed before setting your eyes on your wedding photo. You couldn’t help but smile. Everything was so perfect that day! Regulus had his arms wrapped around you smiling happily. It was one of the few times that he smiled. You were so used to his serious calculating nature that the genuine smile warmed your heart whenever you saw the photo.

Beside Regulus stood your brother Evan. Evan was a difficult subject for you. He had fallen apart since Regulus died. Losing his best friend was a gut punch that your older brother never recovered from. He was still a death eater but was becoming more and more reckless with each passing day. You were, unfortunately, waiting to get notice of Evan Rosier’s death.

Walking down the stairs, your thoughts were still on Regulus’ death. After he died, you could have returned to the Rosier family home but you didn’t. You didn’t want to leave Walburga alone in the cold dark home that she inhabited.

“Good morning, my dear.”

Walburga’s voice pulled you from your thoughts. The older woman sat in front of Astaria as she happily nibbled on bite-sized pieces of toast.

“Good morning. Did she wake you?”

Walburga smiled and stroked her granddaughter’s messy curls. Everything about Astaria reminded Walburga of her son. She had Regulus’ curly hair, serious expression, and pouty lips.

“Not at all. I was awake when she started making her adorable little noises.”

Never in a million years did you ever think that Walburga Black would say anything was adorable. In the beginning, you were petrified of your mother in law. You had known Walburga since you were a child. As your aunt Druella had married Walbruga’s brother had had three girls; you were very well known with the Black family.

You grew up with Regulus. Maybe that’s what made his death even more painful. The two of you were the same age and were always playing with Evan, Andromeda, Bella, and Narcissa. Sirius never seemed interested in anything that the lot of you had going on.

“We are having a party.”

Walburga’s casual comment pulled you from the memories of your privileged childhood.

“Excuse me?”

Walburga smiled.

“I decided that it's time for a party. It's been a long time since there has been some life around here. I only wish everyone could be here.”

You closed your eyes envisioning the Black Family Tapestry. Regulus was gone. Bella was in prison and Andromeda was blown off never to be spoken of again.

At least the promise of seeing Narcissa was promising. Narcissa took extra steps to baby Astaria. She and Lucius would periodically swoop in and take the two of you on pricey vacations with their little boy Draco.

“Me too. It will be nice, mum. You’re right. We do need some life around here.”

Walburga stood with a smile and lovingly fluffed your hair.

“I would like you to wear the green dress that you wore for your engagement party. That dress was lovely. I even got a lovely little dress for Astoria. It will be good fun.”

(The next night) Walburga’s party turned out to be a bigger success than you had expected. A ton of people, that you didn’t know, showed up. You found yourself wondering how in the world Walurga knew half of these people also.

“Y/n, darling!”

Your attention went from the faces of strangers to Narcissa who had eagerly pulled you into a hug.

‘Cissy, it's so good to see you. Lucius, hello.

Lucius stepped forward and gently kissed your hand.

“Narcissa is right. You do look extremely lovely. It appears that Astaria is growing. She’s lovely.”

You smiled at your daughter who was busy playing with Draco.

“Draco too. He’s a charming little boy.”

Lucius smiled, proudly.

“I’ll let you ladies have at it. I’m going to visit some other associates.”

Narcissa nodded as her husband left. The two of you sat down and sipped on champagne Narcissa was the first to speak.

“There are some good looking men here.”

You nodded, casually. The truth was, you hadn’t really looked at any of the men in the room. You had felt any kind of drive to move on.

“I guess there is.”

Narcissa’s smile faded.

“Darling, it's been nearly three years.”

As you considered what your comment was going to be, your attention landed on someone standing in the doorway. You felt your mouth drop. That face...it was the fact that you had been missing for so long.

“Regulus!”

You nearly choked on your drink. Narcissa looked as stunned as you were as you tossed your cocktail on the floor. You nearly jumped over a couple of old people. Had your evening gown not gotten in the way, there was an old witch that would have been a small hurdle in your path.

Stopping a few inches away from him. Your mouth was hanging open as you tried to decide if this was a dream. Everything looked the same; the same hair, the same mouth, and the same eyes. Your heart ached to look at his eyes. Regulus’ eyes...they were right not like the inferi.

“Hi, darling.”

His voice...it was the same. This had to be one of the cruelest dreams ever! Regulus stepped forward and wrapped his arms around your waist.

“Touch me.”

Regulus said, hoarsely. It didn’t take him being in love with you since childhood to know that you were scared out of your mind. Regulus didn’t want to admit it but you were always a bit delicate. Maybe that's why he was so excited about the betrothal that his parents offered.

You raised a shaky hand and stroked his cheek. Regulus was so warm! In dreams, he was never warm. His skin was always cold and corpse-like.

“Reggie!”

You squealed his name before jumping in his arms. This was the moment that you had in good dreams. Holding Regulus again was the one thing that you wanted more than anyone in the world!

Regulus, meanwhile, was as happy as you were. He kept his hold on you for a long time before slowly letting you down.

“Come with me.”

Regulus wasn’t ready to face his mother yet. His sights were only on you at the moment.

You followed Regulus into the small sitting room. He closed the door before turning to face you.

“I’ve missed you.”

“How are you alive? Kreacher told me...that you were pulled into that lake. How are you alive? Evan said that you would be part of the inferi now.”

Regulus’ smile fell.

“Can’t it be enough that I’m alive?”

“I deserve to know. I’ve been mourning you for almost three years.”

Regulus glanced over his shoulder before quickly walking to you and leaning down. He didn’t want anyone to overhear.

“Kreacher didn’t see it all. He saw me be pulled into the lake. I was able to get loose but I was trapped as a prisoner in that cave. You can thank Voldemort for that. He probably got my sassy note and wanted to see me suffer. I’m sorry, Y/n, but there are some things that you don’t need to know.”

You didn’t like that response. Somehow, you would get the information out of Regulus but for now, you would be thankful that your husband was alive.

______

@brokencasbutt67-writer

@authoressskr

@fandom-trash-worth-it

@hankypranky

@summer-novak

@li0nh34rt

@tas898

@stuckinsaudi1

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts

@knight-of-gleefulness

@marichromatic

@maggioli-m

@shaylybaby2032

@emiwrites3reads

@wontlookaway

@shitfaceddaniel

@untoldshortsofthefandoms

@deanwherescas

@sprnaturallover

[justauthoring]

To Be Loved (5/?)

Prompt: Perhaps, you understand Harry Potter better then anyone else. Perhaps, it’s why, when your eyes meet his for the first time, you feel an instant connection. Perhaps, it’s why, you love him.

Based off of: The Harry Potter Series Pairing: Harry Potter x Black/Tonks!Reader, slight Fred Weasley x Black/Tonks!Reader A/N: Next part will be the last part for Philosopher’s Stone!

“Nonsense! Why would Snape put a curse on Harry’s broom?”

“Who knows?” Harry counters, “why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog?”

Instantly, Hagrid’s eyes fall on Harry. “Who told you about Fluffy?”

Your brows furrow, tilting your head curiously, asking with interest; “Fluffy?”

Though, Hermione and Ron seem a lot more appalled then you do, face scrunched up in disbelief. “That thing has a name?”

“Of course he has a name,” Hagrid explains, as if wondering why someone would ever wonder. “He’s mine,” he gestures to himself, “I bought him off an Irishman I met last year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard--”

He cuts himself off, but it’s clear it’s too late.

“Yes?” Harry prompts.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Hagrid grumbles to himself, before turning to the four of with a sharp look. “No more questions! Don’t ask anymore questions! That’s top-secret, that is.”

“But Hagrid!” Harry cries, “whatever Fluffy’s guarding, Snape’s trying to steal it.”

“Codswallop,” Hagrid denies without even an ounce of doubt. He comes to a stop before the four of you, turning to face you fully. “Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher.”

“Hogwarts teacher or not,” Hermione steps forward, shaking her head. “I know a spell when I see one. I’ve read all about them. You’ve got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn’t blinking.”

Nodding at Hermione’s words, you eye Hagrid seriously. “I trust Hermione,” you say, not an ounce of doubt or question in your eyes. “She’s right.”

Inhaling sharply, Hagrid sighs. “Now, you listen to me, all four of you.” He points at each one of you swiftly, as if to make his point further. “You’re meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. It’s dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel.”

You blink. 

“Nicholas Flamel?”

Hagrid’s eyes widen in panic. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he mumbles quickly, panicked. “I should not have said that.” And continuing to mumble on, he starts walking, shaking his head at himself.

“Nicholas Flamel,” Harry whispers, watching Hagrid leave, “Who’s Nicholas Flamel?”

Shaking your head, you frown; “I swear it’s a name I’ve heard before,” and then, turning to Hermione, surely she--

“I don’t know,” she shakes her head, having caught the waiting expression in your eyes.

Well, you thought if anyone would know it’d be her...

-

Head in your hands, you watch the Wizard’s game of chess that Harry and Ron are playing with a curious expression. You’d been watching them since they started, having already packed and gotten ready to leave whilst you waited for Hermione to do the same. It was interesting enough to watch, especially since you refused to play yourself, though the boys had offered plenty of times.

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t rooting for Harry. Though of course, you wouldn’t tell Ron that; and well, you knew Ron would win anyways since he’s so exceptionally well at it. And Harry, having been raised by muggles, didn’t have much experience with the game.

“Knight to E-five.”

Eyes falling on Ron, you eye him curiously as his own gaze drifts across the board; obviously trying to think of the best course of action.

However, at the sound of approaching footsteps, a smile curls onto your lips when you notice Hermione, waving her over eagerly.

“Queen to E-five,” Ron calls, and when you look back at him, he has an expression of triumph.

It’s obvious why in the next second. His chess piece, the queen, pulls up into the spot Harry had just moved his king, taking the throne she’d been sat on and swinging it hard right towards the king; thus, smashing him to pieces. You wince as you watche, shaking your head. Ron was really just too good.

“And you wonder why I never agree to play against you!” You exclaim, meeting Ron’s eyes before turning to Harry whose shoulders have sagged at the realization that he’s once again been beaten, laughing lightly. “You always win!”

“That’s totally barbaric!” Hermione calls, and when you turn to her look at her, she seems appalled at what she’d just witnessed. Sometimes, with all her knowledge about the wizarding world, you forget she was also raised as a muggle like Harry.

“That’s wizard’s chess,” Ron shrugs, “I see you’ve packed.” He eyes her suitcase.

“I see you haven’t.”

“Change of plans,” Ron explains, “my parents went to Romania to visit my brother Charlie. He’s studying dragons there.”

“Y/N?” Hermione calls for you, her voice considerably softer. “Are you all packed?”

Smiling at her, you nod; “yup, mom and dad will be meeting me at the train station. They say they’ve got an early Christmas present for me.” Then, turning to Ron, you grin, “and it’s good thing you’re staying behind for Christmas this year, Ron. You can help Harry.”

His brows furrow; “with what?”

“He’s going to the library to look up Nicholas Flamel,” Hermione explains for you, nodding at your words.

Ron’s shoulders instantly sag in disappointment. “We’ve looked a hundred times!”

Hermione leans forward, purposefully lowering her voice. “Not in the restricted section,” she whispers, eyeing the both of them carefully. Then, leaning back as if she, Hermione Granger, hadn’t just proposed breaking the rules, turns to her, eyes brightening. “Come along, Y/N. We should be going. We don’t want to miss the train.” Then, she waves to the boys; “Happy Christmas!”

You push up from your seat, grabbing your own smaller back and pulling your scarf around your neck before turning to the boys yourself. You wave bye to both of them, but your eyes linger on Harry’s a tad bit longer, smiling gently. “Have wonderful Christmas you two.”

And then, you’re off.

-

Hermione’s parents are right at the train station when the two of you arrive. 

The train having been somewhat emptier then it had been arriving, since not all students had gone back home for the holidays, you and Hermione had managed to get a cart all to yourselves. It was kind of nice just being able to chat the two of you, without the boys, and you were all too giddy the entire time to see Andromeda and Ted and maybe Nymphadora if she managed to get time off early this year and tell all about your first term at Hogwarts.

Especially all the wonderful friends you’d made. Namely three.

But after bidding goodbye to Hermione, you found you couldn’t find Andromeda or Ted anywhere. You’d frowned, thinking they were maybe late, waiting a few minutes and watching the many children reuniting with their parents longingly until you started to wander, turning a little more desperate.

And then you’d caught sight of a familiar shaggy brown sweater and messy dirty blonde hair and you’d doubled back the way you’d just walked, eyes blinking in confusion before you met Lupin’s familiar ones. It took you a second, having not expected to see him here, before a bright smile curls onto your lips and you’re all but breaking out in a fast run in his direction, not wasting any time in practically throwing yourself into his awaiting and expecting arms, a laugh of joy falling from your lips.

“Uncle Lupin!” You exclaim, pulling back from his arms to blink up at him, shaking your head. “What’re you doing here? I thought mom and--”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Remus says softly, in that wise and calm voice he’s always had, for as long as you can remember. It’s instantly calms you, making you feel all warm and giddy inside. “Wanted to be the first person to see you back and hear all the wonderful stories you must have.” Then, his cheeks warm, just faintly, and he turns slightly bashful. “I’m, uh, sorry i’m late. It’s been such a long time since I’ve--”

“It’s no worries,” you cut off with a shake of your head. “All that matters is you’re here! Oh, Remus, I can’t wait to tell you everything! I’ve made so many friends, and oh! I don’t know if you saw her, but I got off the train with one, Hermione Granger is her name,” you point behind you, in the direction Hermione had gone, whilst you and Remus starting walking. “She’s super smart and she knows like everything. And then there’s Ron, who’ve I've known for a while, and while he can bit a bit of a... boy sometimes,” Remus laughs at that, “he’s super sweet too and he’s my friend. Oh! And Harry Potter!”

You miss the way Remus turns slightly rigid at the name. Miss the way his eyes widen. Miss any sort of inclination that the name Harry Potter meant something more to Lupin beyond just the stories told of him. That Harry Potter meant more to him then you could possibly understand.

You continue on, blissfully unaware. “He’s super smart too! And he’s really good at Quidditch! Youngest player on the team too! He’s a seeker and he won the last game for Gryffindor, he was amazing, truly!”

And of course, you miss the smile that curls onto Lupin’s face as you continue gushing on about the boy. As Lupin recalls memories of his days in Hogwarts, watching James Potter as Seeker for the Gryffindor team win games time and time again. As Lupin imagines young Harry Potter, who he’s never even met beyond when he was just a baby, looking the spitting image of his father.

It’s a funny thing, fate, Lupin finds. How somehow you two, in a school full of children, had managed to find each other and become so close when your parents had been just as. How someone James and Sirius, despite everything, despite all that happened, had someone, in one way or another, managed to find each other.

You miss the way, couldn’t possibly have ever seen either, the way Lupin’s chest pangs painfully at the thought.

“And Gryffindor, like you!” You turn to Remus, eyes sparkling, pulling him from his thoughts with a blink. “Aren’t you so proud of me?”

Smiling gently, eyes filled with warm, Remus doesn’t hesitate to nod. Now’s not the time to think of something so silly. Now’s not the time to think of the past. Not when his future is right before him.

“Of course I am, Y/N/N.”

-

Christmas had been wonderful. Lupin could only spend that one day with you, but you were content with just that. Not to mention, Nymphadora had gotten home just that evening and you hadn’t seen your sister in so long either.

You received lots of beautiful and wonderful gifts, including the annual sweater that Mrs. Weasley always sent to you. In a beautiful shade of deep red that you loved very much, with your first initial stitched on the front. And whilst the break had gone by far much quicker then you would’ve liked, you were all too happy to see Hermione back on the train and be walking the halls of Hogwarts once more. And of course see Harry and Ron as well, and ask them all about their Christmas.

The only thing you didn’t love, as much, was returning yet again to the library in hopes of finding something about Nicholas Flamel -- which, even after all this time, none of you had been able to find anything.

“I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I be so stupid?” Jumping in surprise as Hermione all but slams down the huge book in her hands right onto the table, barely giving you a minute to pull your own belongings out of line of shot, you turn to look at her as she sighs. “I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading.”

Eyeing the book, Ron shakes his head; “this is light reading?”

Choosing to ignore his comment, but not forgetting to send him a nasty glare of course, Hermione flips through the book until she finds the intended page. “Of course, here it is,” she exclaims, eyes lightening with relief. “’Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Both Harry and Ron’s face scrunch in confusion; “the what?”

“Honestly,” Hermione sighs, “don’t you two read?”

And, at the looks on their faces, you can’t help but let out a small giggle.

“‘The Philosopher’s Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers’.” Hermione explains, reading from the book. “‘It’ll transform any metal into pure gold... and produce the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal’.”

“Immortal?” Ron questions.

“It means you’ll never die,” you explain.

“I know what it means!” He defends, voice pitching. Harry is quick to shush him, pressing a finger to his lips, before turning back to Hermione.

“‘The only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel...’” Hermione continues, “’the noted alchemist who last year celebrated his six-hundred-and-sixty-fifth birthday.”

Your eyes widen at the age. That’s a long time to live...

“That’s what Fluffy is guarding on the third floor. That’s what’s under the trap door. The Philosopher’s Stone.”

-

“Hagrid!”

“Oh!” Hagrid calls, surprised at the sight of four. “Don’t wish to be rude, but i’m in no state to entertain.” He moves to close his door, but before he can, all four of you yell out;

“we know about the Philosopher’s Stone!”

Pushing back open the door, Hagrid simply says; “oh.” Before moving aside to let you all in. Being the last one in, you make sure to shut the door behind you, quickly pulling off your robes at Harry moves to continue.

“We think Snape’s trying to steal it.”

Huffing, Hagrid shakes his head; “Snape? Blimey, you not still on about him, are you?”

“Hagrid,” Harry continues, taking a seat with a sigh. “We know he’s after it. We just don’t know why.”

“Snap is one of the teachers protecting the Stone,” okay, so you hadn’t been expecting that. “He won’t steal it.”

Furrowing your brows, you shake your head; “what?”

“You heard,” Hagrid says simply. “Now. Come on. I’m a bit preoccupied today.” He moves to his hands, in a signal for you all to get going, but none of you move. At all.

“Wait a minute,” Harry calls, “’one of the teachers’?”

“Of course,” Hermione calls, “there are other things defending the Stone, aren’t there? Spells, enchantments.”

“That’s right.” Hagrid nods, but your attention is pulled off of him at the sound of something, or someone, slobbering. Turning your gaze ahead of yourself, your lips curve into an expression of disgust when you see Hagrid’s dog licking Ron’s ear, slobbering, as you heard, all over the place. “Waste of a bloody time, if you ask me. Ain’t no one gonna get past Fluffy. Ain’t a soul knows how, except for me and Dumbledore.”

And then, without pause, Hagrid sighs; “I shouldn’t have told you that. I should not have told you that--”

Luckily, maybe more for his sake then anyone else’s, all attention is pulled towards his fire at the sound of some sort of... rattling? It’s coming from the pot centered in the middle of the fire and a deep frown mares your lips as you watch, baffled, as Hagrid pulls out an egg from the pot.

Balancing the very clearly hot egg in his hands, Hagrid rushes over to his table, gently laying it down while the four of you rush over to watch.

“Uh, Hagrid,” Harry calls apprehensively, “what exactly is that?”

“That? It’s...  uh, it’s...” He pauses, clearly he doesn’t know exactly what it is. “Umm...--”

“I know what that is!” Ron exclaims excitedly, pulling back to grin at Hagrid, before frowning in confusion. “But, Hagrid, how did you get one?”

“I won it,” he says simply, “off a stranger I met down at the pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact.”

It starts rattling more intensely, the egg, and sending Hermione a look, you both wisely pull back, watching it carefully. Then, the egg starts to crack, and you watch with a wince, arms held before you, as a... leg? kicks out, cracking the shell, revealing...

revealing a baby dragon.

Watching it for a moment, you turn to Hagrid, trying to see if you were right, if it actually was a...

“That’s not just a dragon,” Ron explains for you, having it click inside your mind that his old brother Charlie trains dragons, so of course he’d known. ”That’s a Norwegian Ridgeback. My brother, Charlie, works with these in Romania.”

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Hagrid gushes, surprising you. “Oh, bless him,” he chokes as the baby dragon turns towards him. “Look, he knows his mummy.” Reaching forward, he moves to scratch just under his chin, calling affectionately; “hello Norbert.”

“Norbert?” Harry frowns.

“Yeah, well, he’s gotta have a name, don’t he?” He turns back to the dragon, “don’t you, Norbert?”

“Well,” you call, grinning up at Hagrid, “I think it’s adorable.”

“You do?” Hermione turns to you, surprised, wide-eyed.

“Yeah,” you shrug, “misunderstood creatures, dragons. Lots of creatures are. Anything that just looks different, and the worlds so quick to be afraid.”

Hagrid nods quickly at that; “right you are--” But before he can finish, he’s interrupted by Norbert breathing a bit, just a bit, of fire directly into his beard. Your eyes widen in response, jumping back, as Hagrid quickly uses his over mitts to pat down the smoke. “Well, he’ll have to be trained up a bit, of course.” 

Norbert lets out a cry.

“Who’s that?”

Blinking your eyes at Hagrid’s sudden question, you turn your head in the direction he’s looking, managing to catch a glimpse of...

“Malfoy!”

-

“Hagrid always wanted a dragon.” Harry explains, walking into the castle, the rest of you beside him. “Told me so the first time I met him.”

“It’s crazy,” Ron huffs, “and worse, Malfoy knows.”

“I don’t understand,” you mumble, shaking your head at Ron. “Is that bad?”

“It’s bad,” he calls, frowning, but his gaze isn’t on you. It’s past you.

On... Professor McGonagall.

“Good evening,” she greets sarcastically, quirking a brow at the four of you.

Low and behold, stood behind her is Draco.

-

“Nothing, I repeat, nothing... gives a student the right to walk about at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, fifty points will be taken.”

Each of you gasp in response, shocked, but the only one who doesn’t keep quiet like he, regrettably, should, is Harry. “Fifty?” He gasps, lips parted in indignation as he glares at Professor McGonagall.

“Each.”

Shaking your head, you bite your lip.

“And to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” she continues, eyeing the four of you each separately, carefully. “All five of you will receive detention.”

Five?

“Excuse me, Professor,” Draco speaks up for the first time, stepping forward, all trace of that arrogant smirk wiped off his face. “Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said the five of us.”

“No, you heard me correctly, Malfoy,” she says plainly, “you see, as honourable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will join your classmates in detention.”

And at the look on his face, you find, even if just a little, the situation a lot more funnier then it had been a few minutes ago.

-

Part 6?

TAGLIST: @storiesbystarlight - @scattered-mood - @tinymidgetsstuff - @itsfangirlmendes - @im-a-totally-random-person - @slytherinwriter618 - @bloodorangemoonlight - @subjecta13-thefangirl - @areallydrypie - @euphorictulip - @missmulti - @tinytommyshelby - @you-bleed-to-know-youre-alivee - @divergenttribute33qrunnerslytherin - @flaming-keys - @xsiredstyles - @silver-stilinski - @sweetheartliz07 - @bljndbeths - @justanotherfangirl2015 - @iilwdobyayy - @noxceleste - @gredandforges - @moonxxstxr - @sarablog10 - @schnapped - @officiallydarkgeek - @jovialcat123 - @justfangirling - @dubugf - @galacticstxrdust - @lovelyhufflepuff38 - @thequeenofpataos - @pieces-by-me - @kobachi-chan - @ezgithchaotic - @anscombecat - @depressed-teen-needs-her-coffee - @mcrvellouslystcrk - @yuptha-tsme - @euphoniumpets - @vxxn128 - @blisfvll - @stilesslove - @briargardens - @izzytheninja - @pepelachanel​ - @ikeamafiaisfunky​ - @eleven-bycrs​ - @villanqe​ - @abelbai000​ - @stilinskiswritings​ - @im-an-angel-of-the-lord-you-ass​ - @awkwardnesshabitat​ - @celyndavies​ - @moonliightbabes​ - @figlia--della--luna​ if you’d like to be tagged, just send me an ask!

[bellafarallones2]

Please, consider writing a fic where the residents of Amnesty Lodge and the Pine Guard go to the WV Ren Faire. Sylphs don’t wear their disguises? Your choice of ships. Thank you so much for your writing!!!

thank you so much for the prompt!! this is kind of... ot4 adjacent? t rated. i also haven't been to a ren faire since i was a little kid so there's that

Going to a renaissance faire had been Joseph’s idea, and Duck had been happy to go along with it, because even if the faire itself turned out to be boring he’d at least get to enjoy looking at his boyfriend in shorts. They were walking hand-in-hand past the row of artists when Joseph stopped stock still.

“What?” said Duck, and followed Joseph’s gaze to a booth whose calligraphied sign read

INDRID COLD

FORTUNES TOLD

PORTRAITS PAINTED

The inner walls of the booth were hung with art, presumably the work of the pale-haired, dark-skinned man standing there.

Joseph dragged Duck over by the hand. “Is that Hercules fighting the hydra?” he said to the artist, gesturing to one of the larger paintings. Duck looked at it. The musculature of Hercules’s back was depicted a little too lovingly to be entirely heterosexual, but then again, you could say the same about Michelangelo. A seven headed-serpent loomed over him, iridescent scales and fangs dripping with venom. Another man held out a torch. A tiny brown crab crept towards Hercules’ heel.

“Good eye, my lord,” said the artist. “Yes, I’ve done quite a few mythological scenes.” Duck spotted a painting of Andromeda being rescued from the sea monster by Perseus, the water boiling at her feet, and a portrait of a beautiful, cruel-eyed Medusa. Some of the other art in the booth appeared to have been inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts, like an epic battle between tiny knights and giant snails.

“Oh, God, I can’t pick which one I like the most,” muttered Joseph.

“Perhaps you’d be interested in a portrait of the two of you? It would be an honor to draw gentlemen as handsome as yourselves.”

Joseph looked to Duck for permission, and Duck shrugged. “It’d make a good souvenir.”

“Do you take card?” Joseph inquired.

“I don’t know the medieval way to say it, but yes.”

“Great! We’d like one of the full-color ones.”

He’d bought the most expensive kind, and Indrid gestured them to a couple of folding chairs. “Make yourselves comfortable however you like.”

“Can I be leaning against him?” said Stern.

“Sure.” Indrid arranged a pencil and a set of pastels at his side and sat down behind the easel.

Duck put his arm around Stern’s shoulder and took the opportunity to study the artist. He was quite good looking, and his eyes were clever on Joseph and Duck’s faces.

“Is this your first time at the faire?” Indrid asked politely.

“Yeah,” said Duck.

“My first time at this one,” said Joseph. “I used to go to one every year in Illinois, but I just moved to Virginia.”

“Well, welcome. I thought it might be your first time, I’d certainly remember seeing you before.”

When he finally turned the canvas around Joseph gasped. He’d done an excellent job. Captured, in fact, the features that he himself liked best about Duck. Strength and softness, dark brown hair barely streaked with gray, eyes that were just slightly different colors and a good-natured grin.

Duck, for his part, was looking at how Indrid had drawn Stern: capturing his uprightness perfectly, the way he looked slightly out-of-place in a t shirt. His perfectly combed hair and the intelligent gleam in his dark eyes. “Damn,” he said, and Indrid glowed from the praise.

“I’d like to buy the Hercules as well,” Joseph said. “It’d fit perfectly right above my desk.”

Indrid wrapped up the portrait and the Hercules painting, put them in a paper bag, and handed it over to Joseph, who immediately handed it to Duck to carry.

They said good-bye to Indrid and wandered on, though none of the other booths in the art section caught their attention. Then they watched the joust, livened up significantly by Joseph leaning down to whisper “that is not how people behave when they get stabbed” in Duck’s ear.

The area where the food stalls were was a cauldron of delicious smells, and after the joust Duck beelined towards a booth promising french onion soup. Only when he got close, Joseph on his heels, did he notice a familiar figure: Indrid was leaning on the counter talking to the man behind it. He smiled when Duck and Joseph came up next to him. “Oh, hello! I had the pleasure of painting these two’s portrait earlier,” he said to the man at the soup stall, whose name tag read BARCLAY.

“If you like Indrid’s art you must have good taste,” said Barclay.

“Thank you,” said Joseph, trying not to stare. Barclay had auburn hair and a beard that did nothing to conceal the handsomeness of the face beneath it, and he wore a sleeveless leather doublet that showed off his broad chest and beefy arms.

“What can I get for you?” Barclay said pleasantly.

“French onion soup in a bread bowl, please,” said Duck, already pulling out his wallet.

“Good choice!” said Barclay. “It’ll take me a minute to melt the cheese on top, but I think it’s worth it, don’t you?”

“Always,” said Duck, delighted to meet a fellow man of taste.

The soup, needless to say, was delicious despite, the heat of the day.

--

Indrid Cold, seer and artist extraordinaire, was bent over the sink in an Olive Garden bathroom, scrubbing at his shirt with the hand soap. Working ren faires wasn’t enough to pay the bills, so he was also a busboy, and today he’d tripped while carrying a full tray of plates. He’d managed to stop any of the plates from shattering, but someone’s half-eaten ravioli with marinara sauce had slid down his whole front.

Finally Indrid gave up and pulled his shirt off to clean it more effectively, and of course it was at that moment, with his shirt half over his head, that the door to the men’s room opened.

When he got the shirt all the way off his face went hot with humiliation. It was one half of the hot couple from the ren faire, the ones he’d almost given his number to, now dressed in a suit jacket and white button-down. And Indrid was standing there shirtless and smelling like garlic.

“Oh, hi!” the hottie said. “Indrid, right? From the ren faire?”

“Yes,” said Indrid miserably, trying to hide his skinny chest with his shirt.

“You’re having dinner here too?”

“No, I work here.”

“Oh, cool! Duck and I come here for date night sometimes. Uh, I’m Joseph by the way.”

Indrid perked up a little, since Joseph didn’t seem to be laughing at him. “It’s nice to meet you again!”

One of the waiters opened the door and leaned inside. “Indrid! Table seven needs clearing, and a wet shirt won’t kill you.”

Indrid looked sadly down at the shirt in his hand. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would make him miserable, and there were still four hours left in his shift.

“Want to switch shirts?” said Joseph. “We’re about the same size.”

“I can’t take your fancy shirt,” Indrid said.

“Sure you can. Duck will understand. And I’ll give you my number so we can trade back tomorrow.” He was already unbuttoning his shirt.

“Oh - okay!” said Indrid, and tried to squeeze as much of the water out of his own shirt as he could before handing it over. The fabric of Joseph’s shirt felt amazing against his skin, and it smelled like expensive cologne, and when he got it buttoned he realized it was a little too wide in the shoulders for him, even though he was taller. “I don’t have my phone on me,” he said. He usually left it in his locker while he was working.

Joseph pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Here, just put your number in mine. I’ll text you.”

Indrid took the extra second to add a spaghetti emoji next to his name before handing the phone back. “Thank you so much. I owe you one, seriously,” he said on his way back out the door.

Duck raised his eyebrows when Joseph came back to the table wearing a damp t shirt (he’d spent several minutes squeezing the rest of the water out of it) underneath his suit jacket. “I was starting to wonder if you’d fallen in,” Duck said.

“Nope! And you’ll never guess whose number I just got.”

[remywrites5]

oh my goodness. Could you please do a Wolfstar royalty AU? 💕 your drabbles always make my life! ; u ;

           Sirius shoved Regulus over to get a better look at the ballroom. The ball was in full swing and the two of them were hiding out to save themselves from having to dance. James, Sirius’ best friend, was having a blast, finally getting Lily to agree to a dance. “Ow, you’re on my foot, Sirius!” Regulus said, pushing his brother.

           “Shut up, Reg!” Sirius said, pinching his brother on the arm.

           “What are you doing?” A voice asked from behind them,

           The two boys yelped and turned, Sirius dropping the curtain they’d been peering from behind, embarrassed at having been caught peeking. “Oh, hi there!” he said, waving cheerfully at the boy who had just joined them. He looked to be about their age but Sirius had never met him before. It was a bit odd since his parents had insisted he come to all the social events and so he thought he had met most royalty and people of the upper class.

           “We were just trying to get a look at the sickly prince!” Regulus whispered, looking around to make sure they weren’t heard.

           Sirius elbowed his brother. “Shut it!”

           “The sickly prince?” the stranger asked with a bemused smile on his face. “Sounds like a fairy tale or some such nonsense.”

           “No, it’s real!” Reg insisted, taking a step towards the stranger. “Prince Remus has been sick since…well since forever I guess. No one has ever gotten a good look at him because he just stays locked away in his family’s castle. We heard that this was the first social event he was finally going to come to. All our cousins were talking about it at dinner the other night.”

           Sirius rolled his eyes. “I’m Prince Sirius and this mouthy little shit is my brother, Regulus.”

           The stranger stepped forward, his cloak shifting to reveal that he walked with a cane. Sirius’ eyes widened and he was horrified as he put the pieces together. “I’m Remus,” the stranger said, holding out the hand that wasn’t occupied with his cane. “Or you might know me as the sickly prince.”

           Sirius reached out and shook his hand, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment that his little brother had run his mouth. “It’s really nice to meet you finally.”

           “It’s nice to meet anyone really,” Remus replied with a shy smile. He shook Reg’s hand as well and then took a step back.

           “Reg, go find mum and dad,” Sirius ordered him, pushing him towards the curtain.

           “What? Why?” Regulus asked, digging his heels in to try and stay put.

           “Because I told you to,” Sirius snapped in annoyance, giving his younger brother a hard shove.

           “Fine!” Regulus said petulantly. “I’ll go see if I can find cousin Andromeda. You’re no fun anyway.” Regulus stuck out his tongue at Sirius and then disappeared into the ballroom.

           Sirius wheeled around to face Remus. “I can’t apologize enough for what my little brother said.”

           Remus chuckled and limped forward, peering through the curtain at the ball. From the light of the ballroom Sirius could see Remus’ face had scars, something he hadn’t noticed in the dark of their hiding place. “It’s quite alright,” he said softly. “I knew there were rumors about me. Even locked away as I was they still reached me. My friend Lily writes to me often and visits on occasion and keeps me informed of all the latest gossip.”

           Sirius shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Have you really been locked away for sixteen years?”

           Remus turned to face him and grinned. “My parents let me out sometimes,” he joked, giving it away by having to bit his bottom lip. “I wasn’t chained in the basement the entire time.”

           Sirius laughed nervously. “I always wanted to meet you. I was curious about you.”

           Remus looked Sirius up and down slowly as if examining him. “Well? Am I everything you thought or have you found me lacking?”

           Sirius licked his lips and smiled. “I didn’t think you’d be quite so tall,” he admitted, pressing himself back against the large marble column behind him. Remus had a good few inches on him and Sirius had to lift his head to look Remus in the eye.

           Remus took a step towards Sirius, crowding into his space. “Why aren’t you dancing?” he asked softly, tucking a stray hair behind Sirius’ ear.

           “Why would I bother dancing when more interesting things are happening right here?” Sirius shot back, raising an eyebrow challengingly at Remus.

           “We shouldn’t be alone together,” Remus said as if suddenly noticing how close they had gotten, glancing around at the private space they’d found themselves in. “You should have a chaperone.”

           “Why?” Sirius asked, biting his bottom lip. “Are you worried I might do something wicked? Or are you concerned about yourself and what you might do now that we’re alone together?”

           “Prince Sirius – “

           “Just call me Sirius,” he interjected, hating his title and everything that came with it. He hated the weight of expectation that it brought and his father’s ambitions for him. The only reason he didn’t completely abhor it was because it had led to this very intriguing situation.

           “We shouldn’t be alone in the dark together,” Remus said, his breathing picking up slightly. “Your smell – “

           “Are you saying I smell bad?” Sirius asked in offense. He’d bathed just before the party.

           “No!” Remus said quickly. He was panting now, each breath more ragged than the last, Sirius reached up to comfort him but Remus grabbed his wrist to stop him. “No, you smell incredible. We have to get out of here. Your smell is too much. It’s intoxicating.”

           Remus ripped himself away and hobbled down the corridor in search of an exit. He wrenched the nearest door open and stepped outside into the garden. Sirius followed after him in concern, his feet stumbling underneath him as he rushed to catch up with Remus. For someone with a cane he was walking surprisingly fast.

           He found Remus kneeling in the garden by the water fountain. His cloak had been abandoned on the ground a few steps behind him and he was splashing cold water on his face.

           “Remus? What’s wrong?” Sirius asked, tentatively reaching out towards him.

           “Don’t touch me,” Remus growled, recoiling away from Sirius. “Stay away.”

           Sirius sat down on the edge of the fountain and stared at Remus. Remus had his head thrown back, staring up at the sky, with droplets of water finding pathways down his pale neck. He looked wild, like a caged animal that had finally been set free after month of captivity.

           “Remus?” Sirius tried again, his voice barely above a whisper.

           “I told them it was too close to the full moon,” Remus said with a low groan. He tilted his head to the side and Sirius caught a glimpse of a mark on Remus’ neck, just barely visible above his collar. It looked like a bite mark and Sirius felt his breath catch in his throat. Remus tugged his fingers angrily through his curls.

           “Tell me what’s going on,” Sirius begged, unsure if he should be frightened or worried. Remus tore his eyes away from the moon and stared at Sirius, his amber eyes looking otherworldly and almost dangerous. “You can trust me.”

           “I don’t even know you,” Remus said, pulling on his curls once again as if to ground himself.

           Sirius scooted closer to Remus. “I’ve heard stories,” Sirius stated calmly, leaning in towards the other prince. “Stories of creatures, not quite men and not quite animals. Changelings. I thought they were just stories to frighten children to keep them out of the woods at night. Fairy tales.”

           Remus dropped his hands and gripped the fountain so hard his knuckles turned white. “What are you asking me, Sirius?”

           “That bite on your neck and your reaction to the full moon. Are you like the creatures in those stories? Is it real?” Sirius asked, his heart rate picking up, out of excitement or concern he wasn’t sure.

           Remus narrowed his eyes at Sirius. “And if it’s true? What will you do then?”

           Sirius was surprised to find he wasn’t scared at all. Despite Remus’ ragged appearance, Sirius didn’t feel threatened by the other prince. He almost wanted to cry in relief. At last something interesting had finally happened in his life, a break from the dull monotony of lessons and horseback riding and archery training. He slid off the fountain and came to kneel beside Remus.

           “What do you turn into?” Sirius asked, barely able to contain his enthusiasm.

           “A wolf,” Remus answered, his voice hoarse. He blinked a few times and stared at Sirius in disbelief. “Why aren’t you running away from me? Why aren’t you scared?”

           Sirius grinned. “It takes a lot more than that to scare me.”

           Remus studied him from a moment and then shook his head. “You’re mental. Absolutely out of your mind.”

           Sirius barked out a laugh. “Probably all those years of inbreeding,” he teased, sliding to his feet and holding his hand out to Remus. Remus took it and allowed Sirius to help him back up to his feet. “They won’t keep you locked away again, will they?”

           “No,” Remus said, retrieving his cloak and pulling it back on. “My father kept me locked away while he searched for a cure. Now that we know there isn’t one my parents have decided the best thing is to introduce me into society as long as it doesn’t coincide with the full moon. The full is two days away so this was cutting it close. I apologize for my unorthodox behavior but I’m not used to being around someone new so close to my transformation.”

           “There’s a ball here in two months time,” Sirius said quickly. “It’s an engagement ball to celebrate my cousin Narcissa and her fiancé Lucius. Will you come?”

           Remus gave a curt nod. “If I can.”

           Sirius beamed at him. “May I write to you until then?”

           Remus’ face softened. “Of course. We really should get back. It’s improper for us to be alone for this long.”

           “I like being improper,” Sirius said, nudging Remus playfully. “Life is so much more fun that way.”

           Remus chuckled and shook his head. “I’m starting to think you’re trouble, Sirius.”

           Sirius laughed in return and shot Remus a wink. “You catch on quick, Remus.”

                                                           ***

           It was a long two months before Sirius was to see Remus again. He found himself longing for Remus’ kind smile and his amber eyes. He wondered idly about Remus’ transformations into a wolf and if they were as painful as the stories he’d heard. On the night of the full moon, Sirius sat out on the balcony outside his bedroom and gazed up at the sky. He thought about Remus and what he must be going through. How he wished he had some way to comfort him.

           In the interim there was letters from Remus every few days or so. Their correspondence was consistent and Sirius hardly ever received a letter from Remus that he wasn’t replied to almost immediately. He often made the postman wait while Sirius read the letter and wrote his reply so that Remus might get it post haste.

           As he waited for a new letter to arrive, Sirius would pour over Remus’ old letter greedily, soaking in each word written in Remus’ neat handwriting. Remus told Sirius stories of his childhood being locked away to keep others safe as they learned the extent of his condition. Remus’ father had been largely absent from Remus’ childhood as he searched for information and perhaps a cure.

           Remus talked of his father who had invaded the neighboring lands in search of more power and influence.  He burned down the villages of anyone who opposed his rule. How a man named Greyback had broken into the castle and bitten Remus as a child to curse him as recompense for what his father had done.

           In return, Sirius wrote to Remus of his own childhood. His father’s cruelty and his mother’s coldness. All the time spent alone except for his brother until he’d met James. How they had become fast friends and spent most of their summers together getting into mischief. He told Remus of some of the pranks he and James had concocted over the years at his brothers and the household staff’s expense.

           By the time the two months had passed, Sirius knew he was in love with Remus. He felt like he barely lived beyond waiting for Remus’ next letter and the promise of seeing him again. Everything in his day to day life merely bored him and he longed to see Remus soon.

           He found his patience waning with each passing second as the ball began. He could hardly keep still, searching for that familiar head of tawny curls. An hour had already passed and there was still no sign of Remus. Sirius felt his heart grow heavy with worry.

           He barged his way onto the dance floor and interrupted James and Lily, pulling Lily off the floor and to the side, James sputtering after them indignantly. “Where’s Remus?”

           Lily sighed. “He didn’t tell you?”

           “Tell me what?” Sirius asked, his blood going cold. Something was wrong with Remus, he just knew it. It was the only explanation for what he wasn’t here.

           “He couldn’t come,” Lily said, giving Sirius an apologetic pat on the arm. “I told him to write to you and tell you but I guess he was too scared.”          

           Sirius swallowed thickly. “Why isn’t he here?”

           Lily glanced meaningfully out the window and Sirius followed her gaze. The moon was visible in the sky, nearly full with just a small bit missing. It would be full the following night. “I’m sorry.”

           Sirius acted without thinking, just a few strides across the room and he was gone. He ordered a servant to prepare a carriage for him and then he hurried outside to meet it.

           It was a three hour ride to Remus’ castle and Sirius arrived just before midnight. He pounded on the door until a servant finally opened up. “Is someone expecting you?” the servant asked, clearly caught off guard by the Prince’s arrival.

           “Please tell Remus I’m here to see him.”

           The servant chewed their bottom lip nervously. “The prince is asleep, your majesty. He needs his rest. I couldn’t possibly wake him up at this hour –“

           “Sirius?” A familiar voice called out.

           Sirius looked over the servants shoulder and saw Remus standing on the staircase. He pushed his way past and took the stairs two at a time to get to Remus faster. “Remus!” he said, letting out a breath he felt like he’d been holding since he’d left his own home.

           “What are you doing here?” Remus asked as Sirius pulled him into a hug. “Are you crazy? It’s the full moon tomorrow.”

           “I don’t care,” Sirius said, burying his face in Remus’ neck and closing his eyes, letting out a contented little sigh. “I love you.”

           “Sirius – “

           Sirius laughed in pure joy of having Remus close to him once again after too long apart. He grabbed Remus’ hand, lacing their fingers together and kissed up Remus’ neck, across his jawline. “Don’t tell me I’m not or that I don’t know what I’m talking about. If you say the word improper I’ll scream. I know my own heart, Remus. Just let me stay with you.”

           Sirius pulled back and stared up at Remus, ready to beg if he had to. Remus glanced at Sirius and then down to their joined hands before a slow smile broke onto his face. Remus brought their joined hands up and pressed a kiss to the back of Sirius’ hand. “For how long?”

           “For the rest of my life.”

[kryptsune]

🌼Good morning everyone and a happy Tuesday to you all! I had a lot of people ask me about my Outertale on Discord. That beat out pretty much all the other options on the poll so here we go! This is one of the larger ones because I had a lot of fun putting some of my favorite sci-fi concepts into this. I am a huge SG1 fan so you can definitely see that reflected. I admittedly am the fantasy genre girl so any ideas are welcome! I just liked the idea that the monsters in this were more than just typical monsters. DO NOT REPOST MY WORK WITHOUT MY PERMISSION IT IS NOT FOR YOUR USE. IF YOU LIKE MY WORK PLEASE REBLOG INSTEAD! It helps me so much! It makes such a difference.💙If you want more of these just let me know! It’s the only way I can gauge interest! Outertale Alternate “Nicknames” Info:  Sans: Nova- Nova is the trickster though he is mostly associated with that of Loki. Loki is described specifically as “Playful, malicious ( ok maybe not that one), helpful, and nihilistic.” He helps others in a kind of goofy over the top way. He just doesn’t take much seriously. Nova is one of the youngest. He acts very childish at times coming to question how long he has been among the pantheon. Some argue his many centuries gave him a nihilistic outlook on life or that he is too young to understand the true ways of the world. Not to say that Nova can’t be serious but he is pretty laid back. It’s one of the reasons unlike the others he doesn’t really keep his cultural ties in his design. He should have more Norse in it but nah… varsity jackets are cozy right? I mean he is wearing star shorts for star’s sake. When asked about his job he mentions, “Hey, there kiddo. Nice of ya to drop by. Been up to? Heh well got a “new” job which is pretty cool. Not as cool as Pollux but I help arrange stars. Ya know, like the ones you see in the sky you can make pictures out of? I think you humans call em… constellations. One time I made this giant whoopee cushion one. Then I lost ma job. Got a second chance though. Andromeda’s constantly watchin me. hehe no harm done though.” Both Pollux and Nova refer to each other as brothers but it is unclear if they are biologically related. Their abilities and strengths are nearly opposite and their mythos even more so. Papyrus: Pollux- The presumed older brother of Nova. Pollux is associated with Egyptology specifically wisdom. Pollux tends to be the opposite of Nova in that he takes his job very seriously. Once on earth, he was known as Thoth gracing humanity with a mechanical and architectural knowledge that astounded the world. His mind and intellect put him at the forefront of innovation making him one of Capricorn’s best and most trusted advisors. He enjoys testing the mental prowess of others using puzzles and riddles of his own design. Unlike canon Pap, Pollux cares more about balance in life. Something his younger brother seems to lack. Not all work and not all play. He is kind, helpful, and willing to give advice to anyone that is looking for it. To the little human Frisk, he is a good mentor and teacher. (Pollux has made it his pastime to create a series of challenges to prove a humans worth. If they pass then they are able to speak/ see them. No one has managed to prove themselves.) Undyne: Andromeda- Andromeda is not different from canon Undyne as she embodies the Mayan mythology. She is most closely associated with the feathered serpent Quetzalcóatl. A deity of wind and rain. Also known as life-giver. Though Andromeda tends to harken back to her more aggressive roots she has a deep respect for the King and acts as his guard. Just like Pollux she too acts as an advisor, though more on matters of security than strategy or mechanics. Such a position is where she first met Elara and to this day the two are inseparable sharing their very different cultures. Her favorite kind of anime to watch are mech-based. Alphys: Elara- Very similar to canon Alphys just as this version of Undyne is. Alphys is based on Sukuna-Biko-Na (少名毘古那) or the Shinto god of medicine and rain. Elara is still very much a scientist and one that has a unique fascination with living things. Everything from the planets, to humans, animals, and plant life. She particularly enjoys spending time in her private greenhouse creating and taking care of all of the plant life. Before the monsters were forced to leave their place among the humans she was able to collect all the DNA of the plants and animals on the planet. They are stored in a kind of ark in which to preserve them if anything threatens their existence. Elara is very traditional in her work as her medicines are derived from her magic as well as herbal substances. She is very curious however as she is not allowed to interact with the progress of humanity but rather watches from afar. This is where her love of anime takes hold. Her favorites are ones like Sailor Moon or any type of magical girl anime. She will sit with Andromeda and watch them for hours. Her demeanor is very shy at first but once she opens up she will be a friend for life. Asgore: Capricorn- The head of the cosmic pantheon he is the King as he is in the original. He is associated with Celtic mythos though he has taken on many pantheon roles in his lifetime. Ambisagrus, a god of thunder and lightning, Ancestor God, Sky God, God of Wind, Rain & Hail is what he is based on. One such role is that of Zeus whose main symbol is that of lightning and thunder. Just like the Zeus of mythology Capricorn is constantly debating his involvement with humanity. Whether that be to stop their technological advances or aiding in their lives. A large portion of his time was spent with his subjects not so much his wife Aurora who is the jealous type. Capricorn is not a ruthless leader but he does know that sometimes hard decisions must be made. Just like UT Asgore, he is kind and benevolent, however, he has a temper if you make him angry enough. His magical abilities lean more toward lighting then fire but he has that ability as well. He tasked Elara to watch over human development should a problem arise. Toriel: Aurora- The Queen to Capricorn she is known to be easily jealous. It would explain why Zeus wife Hera also shares these traits. Her Gaelic deity tie is that of Arianrhod a goddess of the moon and stars. She creates life from the stars she creates sometimes causing them to take a form of their own. They are almost like living constellations. Some say that the Queen made such life to combat her own loneliness which her Son and Husband spent time away. In addition to the stars, she is also known for being a loving mother and caregiver. In her time on earth, she used to watch over and protect children and their families. Aurora though previously jealous of her simple in the universe has come to accept and embrace it. She is kind but rather overprotective. Anyone that forsakes life will feel her wrath. Muffet: Umbra- Umbra is associated with Hindu mythology as a goddess of wealth and prosperity. Though earthly riches do not concern Umbra she still has a taste for the fine silks and gold that she once had on earth. A little about the goddess that she represents: Lakshmi’s name comes from the Sanskrit word ​laksya, meaning an aim or goal. She is the goddess of wealth and prosperity, both material and spiritual. Unlike UT Muffet, Umbra also focuses on spiritual wealth. Peace of mind. She is ever the optimist even when things do not turn out to go her way. In times of need, she is called those in the struggles of self-worth trying to bring them into a different understanding. There have been many a time when Umbra calms Capricorns quick and rash judgments, much to Aurora’s displeasure. Just as with the rest of the pantheon she is kind and helpful even with her yearning to return to the people she so loved before they were forced to the outskirts of the galaxy. Grillby: Helio- Helio derived from the sun is my OT Grillby. He out of all the characters could care less about either being a deity or an observer. He is known to be at a middle ground. He would rather live his days running a social establishment but during his time on earth, he was known for his magic. Originally he was the right hand of Capricorn being depicted as a war deity for his fiery nature. He was the general of grand armies. His armor is something he hung up long ago but if called into court he will wear it once again. Its design is very reminiscent of Roman centurions. Though depictions of him are curious since his name back then was referred to as Merlin. He was best known for his magic and alchemy and the concoctions he made during a period of time far lacking in imagination. Just like Nova, Helio tended to interfere far too often in the affairs of man though noble in purpose. He tends to be outcast among the pantheon for his past conduct but he is content in his lab mixing crazy concoctions. Everything from love potions to disguises. His forte is all about alchemy and magic. Asriel: Azicree (Azi)- Azicree or Azi for short is the Crown Prince. By monster standards Azi is still very young, however, he has lived for far longer than any human can fathom. His mother used to shelter him until he begged for his father to let him prove himself. He still acts like a child always curious and desiring some form of exploration. Much to Capricorns dismay Azi enjoys spending time with Nova and the two become pranksters in general. He tends to not do as he is told, which is why they are in this mess in the first place. His reckless behavior had him appearing to a human that begged for his salvation. The matters of life and death are ones that are not to be messed with. Those that do find their souls being tainted for all eternity turning them into something other than just a monster. 9X is an example of such tampering. Azi does learn his lesson and begins to try and shape up to be a worthy successor to his father if such a thing ever did come to pass. He studies off of all those he knows especially Pollux who is more than happy to share such knowledge. His associations are nonexistent since he was born after the times of gods. His abilities seem to be mimic based. He is able to learn about abilities and use them at will. It is rare that monsters have children and as such Azi is the little prodigy child even though there are many times he just wants to be a kid. He makes friends with Frisk very quickly and learns a lot from the human visitor. Gaster: 9X (I can’t even)- 9x (can be pronounced NYX or Nine-X) is the Gaster of this universe. He is Capricorns pantheon counterpart. In essence the Hades to his Zeus. He is the monster that everyone thinks about when darkness takes hold. He is the one that associates with apocalyptic events such as Ragnarok. He is however not evil by any stretch of the imagination. He would be better suited to be called a god of chaos. He tends to reject the laws placed upon the rest of the pantheon regardless of repercussions. It’s speculated that both Pollux and Nova were a part of him and crafted into the monsters that are known today. Nova being his more devious side which Pollux is more his intellect and drive. He has been locked away for a very long time in a prison aptly named Tartarus. His abilities are space and time-oriented very similar to Nova which makes him difficult to imprison. He, of course, has been in his cell for quite some time and it is unclear if he actually has had a change of heart or using it as a manipulation tactic. The only one he speaks with on occasion is Azi wanting to learn more about this planet they all used to call home. It is information that the others tend to not speak of. His father more so as he is afraid it will instill a yearning in his son. 9X’s genius is on par with his godly abilities such as creating artificial intelligence. Something that is not considered life. He uses Azi as a template for this new program… FLOWEY- F- Friendly L- Life-like O- Operating system W- With E- Earthbound Y- Yearning  F.L.O.W.E.Y was created by 9x and Nova with Azi as a template. He is a charismatic AI who was originally created as a helper as well as to teach the Prince about their planet of origin. Unfortunately, Flowey does not have the same reservations about disobeying his father as Azi does. Even going so far as to integrate with key and vital systems in The Capital. Flowey is not evil he just is driven to be the best help he can without regards to any type of consequences. He also feels abandoned by Nova as he was not only his creator but also his closest friend. It was why he was made. To be a companion and friend.  He helps Frisk meet and learns more about their existence. He acts like a companion. However, when Frisk becomes friends with Azi Flowey’s AI goes haywire. He begins to feel emotions he is not technically allowed to such as jealousy. This causes him to try and eliminate those threatening him which in this case would be all the monsters. Eventually, Azi attempts to program himself into the interface changing its initial programming. Some of Flowey’s previous versions:    Blookie: Nebula Riverperson: Omni Gerson: Quasar The Ursas: Ursa Major/Minor Greater Dog/ Lesser Dog: Canis Major/Minor  Character Origin/Mythos: Sans- Norse (Trickster)
Papyrus- Egyptian Undyne- Mayan Alphys- Japanese (shinto) Asgore- Celtic Toriel- Celtic Muffet- Hindu
Grillby- Medieval (Merlin) Asriel- Celtic through lineage Gaster- Greek/Roman Blookie- Western Guard dogs- Constellations (Native American) Riverperson- Greek (Charon) Gerson- Chinese (Divination/ wisdom) Background and Context: A long time ago there lived beings of great power. They could bend space and time with a simple thought and bring life to their creations. These were the gods. Ones of great benevolence but also great and terrifying power. Humanity, a primitive race just starting to understand life itself, became their focus. At first, their interaction was very rare only occasionally appearing to help but as time went on those interactions became more drastic. Their assistance and knowledge were seen as godlike to these humans. They would bring gifts and offerings to their new deities in hopes that they would look favorably upon them. That they would impart their wisdom and magic if they were pleased. In time this became more and more of a tradition. A religion built upon pleasing these deities so that their lives would be far improved but this became a conundrum for the beings. Some remained benevolent and helpful while others become greedy and wrathful. The power began to go to their minds corrupting their souls. These instances were written down in variation by the humans making up grandiose stories of fiery chariots and jealous gods. Thus mythology came into being for humanity. A way to explain the things in which they did not understand. As with each religion and deity, the monsters each became associated with a specific culture or mythos. Some being pinnacles of their pantheon and others being lesser deities molded to suit a specific task. These monsters rarely interacted with ones of their own kind but as power shifted some of them took on roles of others. One monster could have been the god of war in Greek mythos but end up also as the god of thunder in Norse. There were no limitations to their influence. One such “deity” was that of the trickster. A monster that tended to be rather childish in his ambitions jumping from pantheon to pantheon looking to lighten up his other “deities” stern demeanors. The monsters began to pull away leaving their presences in name only and occasional help but this was short-lived. It caused problems, war, destruction, and feuding powers sadly began to use their civilizations as almost pawns. Their meddling almost destroyed that which they wanted to originally protect. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The “gods” faded from existence only being remembered in myths and legends. The great prophecy of the Norse. The architectural marvels of the Egyptians. Now they reside in the furthest reaches of the galaxy. They spread out among the stars but a group of them resided in a Capital of sorts. A station at the edge of the Universe. One which no human could ever reach. The Humans Impressions: When the monsters left the humans to their own devices they worship continued long after. Eventually the magic and the miracles that had once been performed faded into history. The monsters were all but forgotten unless mentioned in mythology or scary stories. The humans never harbored any animosity toward them since they no longer believed in their existence in any form. They only understand what their ancestors depicted them as. The monsters as well don’t really have anything against humans either. All in all, they just go about their jobs and enjoy the universe, helping from time to time discreetly if need be but never showing their faces. Main Plot Synop: The plot to Outertale is very simple as it is more based around the world than it is the actual plot. It is very similar to that of the regular UT timeline with some notable differences. Once the humans reach an age of technological advancement they begin to spread out and search the stars. Some of them encounter monsters which they mistake for aliens (hilarious enough. I mean Jerry looks like an alien.) They begin to build colonies living more and more outside the reach of their own galaxy. Humans, however, tend to turn on their own creating factions within the space colonies. Some more prosperous than others. Frisk’s colony was one such beast being cut off from the other colonies as a drifter. Unfortunately, Frisk’s family was nearly non-existent and being stuck on a space colony was little to be desired. After seeing a streak of fire slamming into the outskirts of the colony. Frisk decides to investigate. They have always been the curious type disobeying orders and questioning everything. The colonies outer and more dangerous regions became their playground finding old pieces of technology. Eventually, they stumble upon a crashed ship. One that It seems too damaged to be used but it’s nothing like they have ever seen before. Everyone else on the colony considers it to be cursed.  The strange runic language is confusing but Frisk finds that there is one lone computer onboard that seems to still function. It flickers with a bright yellow light showing an almost pixelated Flower with a =) face on the screen. Over the next few days, Frisk returns to decipher the runes with the help of their new friend which they find out is called Flowey. It is a project that the curious human enjoys and for once it is nice to have a friend. Eventually, the runes are deciphered claiming some sort of teleportation capability. Once Frisk is close enough the system fires up on its own sending the human straight to the monster Capital on the farthest reaches of the universe. A place that no human has ever been.  The rest of the story is an exploration of this new environment. Frisk befriends the monsters who don’t attack first. They actually mostly want to engage with the human showing off their ability a little bit. A part of them misses the previous worship. Nova seems to take a particular interest in this new human especially when they befriend Azi. They work to help shut Flowey down only for Azi to impart his knowledge on the interface helping it understand. Frisk has nothing to return to so they stay with the monster and become Azi’s human tutor so that one day maybe the monsters can return and live side by side the humans once again. Both Azi and Frisk are almost like siblings coined the star children.

[bafflinghaze]

Original Fic Recs!

People wonder if anyone ever reads original fic on AO3. Well, I do 😂 The messy Wattpad layout kills me when I look at it, and Tapas shows tiny little cover thumbnails and only part of the title name, and filtering multiple tags on tumblr? You wish.

So here are 10 recommended original fics 😘 Details below the cut!

With Love in Mind / Raindrops In The Desert / I Can't Eat Love / As the Crow Flies / Go Tell the Bees / Junior / A Well-Appreciated Gift / The Peacock Prince / In Glorious Excess / Instinctual    

------

With Love in Mind

TuppingLiberty | 82k, Explicit

Tongue stuck between his lips, his mind goes quiet for a few precious moments as he concentrates on the polish. He sighs with happiness when he’s done, admiring his toes, wishing he could wear the color on his nails. Graeme Webster, 20, is clawing at survival the best way he can. He works two jobs, but can't make rent. He has an anxiety disorder, but can't afford his meds. He's trying his best, but he needs help.

“You might be leaning on urban geekster a bit too hard.” “Okay, I’m probably going to regret asking, but ‘geekster?’” “Geek-hipster. Geekster.” Alan Garry, 30, is an app programming millionaire with a middle class background. He may be a workaholic, but he's carved out time for the Seattle kink scene since being introduced to it in college. He sits somewhere on the asexual spectrum, and the fact that he can't figure out precisely where bothers him more than he'd care to admit.

“It’s going to be okay, Graeme. Where do you hurt the most?” An unfortunate chance encounter brings them together, but they realize quite quickly that neither of them are willing to part again.

Contains: M/M. Sugar Daddy Alan, who is also an asexual dom!!!!!!!!! The sugar baby in this relationship, Graeme, has been hurt so much and it’s so so lovely to see Alan wrap him up and love him to bits. It’s a very kinky fic, and there’s so much communication and 😍😍😍 There are also smutty sequels too 😉

---

Raindrops In The Desert

Diamond_Raven | (WIP) 100k so far, Explicit

After years of bad experiences with doms, Scott decides to stop having sex. Unfortunately, his attempt at celibacy only succeeds in frustrating himself and his detective partner Ryan, who happens to be a dom. When Ryan offers to be Scott’s dom, the arrangement seems like a good solution to Scott’s problem. What neither of them are counting on is falling in love.

Contains: M/M. Okay, it’s a WIP but I have every trust that this author will finish, because it is amazing. It’s like, friends-to-friends-with-benefits-to-lovers. There’s mutual pining, and such damn heartwrenching communication. Ryan is like the softest dom and he loves Scott so much. Also, a lot of BDSM kink, and the aftercare leaves you soft and warm and so happy for the two of them.

---

I Can't Eat Love

@screamingatanemptyroom​ | 127k, Teens and Up

Lenora did not have a wonderful life. After her engagement to Prince Ronan is broken, she loses everything... her reputation, her home, and her family. Starving on the streets, she dies angry and bitter at how her life unfolded... Only to wake up in her old bed, fifteen again, five years before she died.

Now she must struggle to change her fate, and the fate of those around her. This time she won't trust in something as flimsy or changeable as love. No, this time she'll have the power and the money to protect herself.

Lenora has already lost everything once. She's not going to lose again.

No matter what the cost.

Contains: F/M. A medieval-type setting, a badass princess and FOUND FAMILY is absolute buckets. The main character is so damn cool, helping reform her family’s Duchy. She’s also oblivious to love AF 😂

---

As the Crow Flies

octoberburns | 12.3k, General

Adi had their reasons for stopping spirit work, but when Dione's little girl goes missing, they can't turn her down: they owe them both. Fortunately, the crows are along to help. There are lessons Adi hasn't learned yet, and things they'll need to confront if they want to bring Saffron home safely...

Contains: Magical Realism, Main Trans Nonbinary Character! Imagine it, a spirit worker nb character. An affection Crow-familiar on their shoulder...the crows are absolutely fantastic. Also, Crows-Ravens rivalry 😂

---

Go Tell the Bees 

octoberburns | 3.7k, Teens and Up

Summer has a beehive. The bees have a problem. And Warning is living up to his name, which really should come as no surprise, considering he's a cat.

Contains: Hints of F/F. More magical realism! Summer is a witch, and her cat’s full name is A Warning of the Coming Winter Storm Arriving on the Eve of Autumn’s Close, which tells you this fic is going to be fun and actiony and very badass!

---

Junior

Super_Lu | 3.2k, General

A retelling of the original Frankenstein story, with a much happier ending and a lot more queer women that the original.

Contains: F/F. From the point of view of Frankenstein Junior, who is such a lovely boy! Victoria Von Frankenstein is a bit of a disaster mad doctor, but we love her anyway  😂

---

A Well-Appreciated Gift

plothound | 5.3k, Explicit

In a vaguely 16th-century world, a minor landowner gets a surprising gift from his lover. It's a raging success, and they try it out immediately.

Contains: M/M. Smut! There’s Mykal, who’s a buff manly man, and tall, thin “egret-like” Roul (who’s also trans! And the top!). They have a lovely relationship...and a lot of sex toys 😉

---

The Peacock Prince

@insomniac-arrest​ | 18k, Teens and Up

A young man is banished to a vast garden to spend the rest of his days, cursed to grow peacock feathers from his skin and walk the grounds.

A wandering soldier is charged by the neighboring town to fetch three feathers: one for health, two for luck, and three for wealth. Unfortunately, plucking the feathers off a reluctant peacock-boy is not as easy as it sounds.

Contains: M/M. Very fairy-tale elements to it. There is this...exquisite push and pull between the two main characters. The Peacock prince is cocky, but under that hides vulnerability. Enemies-to-Friends-to-Lovers.

---

In Glorious Excess

@daily-droidcaptain /  cynical-harlequin | 3.8k, Teens and Up

The Glorious Excess is hailed as the most romantic honeymoon cruise ship this side of the Andromeda Galaxy. It's too bad that Aura, the pilot, has fallen in love with the one person aboard who seems to have very little interest in romance: the ship themself.

Contains: F/NB. SCI-FI! The ship has artificial intelligence, and the pilot and the ship have this kind of banter and close relationship. And pining!!

---

Instinctual    

Only_1_Truth | 209k, Teens and Up

Inside a Werewolf pack, Omegas are prized: they calm everyone around them, like a cool sea on a hot day, making it possible for that many people with fanged alter-egos to live together.  The problem is, no pack ever has more than one Omega.  

Marcus Rushton lost his pack, and has been learning the hard way how impossible it is to find another one when you're an Omega.  What he's learning even more is that a lone Omega is wrong - an aberration.  A threat.  Loved within packs, without one, Omegas are seen like blood in the water, and he's already spilled enough of it whenever he's stumbled upon others of his kind...

Werewolves can look very human, and mingle freely with their human counterparts, but Declan Fen (a resident Alpha who just found out that he's got a lone Omega in his territory) is learning the hard way that Wolf instincts can override just about anything - even the side of him that says he should be nice to Marcus, whom he's only just met.

Contains: M/M. I’ve probably recced this before. I’m doing it again. Werewolves, and a great twist on A/B/O dynamics. Omegas have POWERS and this particular omega, Marcus Rushton, IS SUPER STRONG...but he doesn’t realise it. Features heartwarming found family.

[jamesmydeer]

royal raffoler. v

sirius x royal! reader

notes: part fiiiiiiive :) tank you all so much for reading and investing in this story. this part is short, but at least it’s something. hope you enjoy!!!! xoxo

warnings: none

word count: 1.3k

masterlist

series masterlist

Dear Margery,

Hogwarts is great! I really do enjoy it. I knew I would, but I thought you were exaggerating a little bit. My first week has been very strange, in the best way possible. It took a few days to convince people to stop treating me like I was a member of the royal family, but it actually feels like I’m living a normal life now. Well, besides the whole magic thing. I don’t really have any friends, which I kind of expected. Everyone in my year has basically grown up together, and I’ve known them for eight days. The prefect that showed me around was nice. His name was Remus. He told me I could talk to him and his friends any time I needed to, but I think he was just being nice. I hope you’re having fun without me.

Love,

Y/n

———————————————————————

“Did you see the look on his face?” James wheezed, doubled over in laughter. Remus looked at him, a disgusted look on his face at the food spilling from his mouth.

“It helps to swallow,” Remus was ignored. James and Sirius had been like that all morning, giggling amongst themselves at the situation their peers were in. Every time someone would bow or curtsy at y/n, the pair lost it.

“No no no, did you see that first year from Ravenclaw? I swear to Merlin I thought she was going to kiss her shoes,” Sirius chuckled. James clutched his stomach, leaning his head over onto Sirius’ shoulder. Sirius wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Remus is right you know,” Peter informed the two boys, who were still coming down from their laughter high. “Swallow, then speak.”

James rolled his eyes. “You know, if I didn’t know you two loved me, I’d think you were absolute gits.”

Remus smiled mockingly, rolling his eyes and turning back to the Daily Prophet. As James turned towards Peter, scheming their next prank, Sirius’ eyes began to wander. They landed on the Hufflepuff table, and he smiled when he saw y/n, something he had made an unconscious habit of doing. When he saw Ted Tonks talking to her, he felt unnecessarily jealous.

“Prongs,” Sirius broke the silence, causing James to jump. “What’s so special about the royal family anyway?” he questioned. He still didn’t get it.

“They assist in ruling the country, you twat,” James rolled his eyes, turning back to Peter.

-

“Wait, you already know magic?” Ted Tonks asked, a bewildered look on his face. He had been very nice to y/n since her start in Hufflepuff.

“I do. I didn’t just sit around for five years while you lot learned everything. I still practiced magic, just not publicly,” she told him, a hint of amusement in her voice. He nodded, before turning back to his food.

Y/n pulled out her schedule and glanced over, as she did everyday, still not having adjusted to her schedule.

Friday - Double Potions

Y/n had yet to have Potions, but had met the teacher. He was very interested in her. She was at first confused of this, but was then informed of his ‘Slug Club’. She promptly decided that joining would probably not be in her best interest.

Navigating her way to the dungeons had been a bit of a task. Remus had shown her the way when he gave her a tour of the school, but then the staircases moved and y/n got incredibly discombobulated. She wondered if he was okay, he looked pretty battered up during breakfast. He had seemed to be making his way back to the Gryffindor common room when y/n saw him last.

———————————————————————

Upon entering the Potions classroom, the Marauders were met with a predicament. There were usually four of them, which meant everyone had a partner. James and Sirius were always attached at the hip, and Peter and Remus worked incredibly well together. It was always the day after a full moon that ruined their seating chart.

James was the first to sit. Plopping down, he propped his feet on his desk. They were swiftly pushed off by Lily Evans as she walked by, glancing over her shoulder with a warning glance. James smirked at her and winked.

As Sirius went to sit down, assuming the seat would easily be his since James was occupying the one next to it, he was quickly cut off. Peter maneuvered around him and sat down, pretending like he hadn’t seen Sirius. Sirius, dramatic as ever, stomped his foot, throwing himself onto the tabletop behind the pair.

“Off,” Slughorn spoke, walking behind Sirius to the front of the room, not even glancing at the boy. Sirius cringed and sat in the chair, making sure everyone knew he was sitting “ all by himself, with no one to occupy him” and that he would “die of loneliness”. He tapped Peter on the shoulder and flipped him off.

Y/n Windsor walked into class and noticed that there weren’t any open single desks. Ted was sitting with Dorcas, who he had told y/n “was close with Andromeda”. All the seats next to her dorm mates were full. Y/n would have to sit with a stranger. She scanned over all the desks one more time and found one that only contained one person.

However, that person was the last person y/n wanted to sit with. He was very handsome, the most handsome boy y/n had ever seen. Everything she’d heard about him from her dorm mates was not very nice. A favorite was that he was a ‘wanker’.

She had also figured that he didn’t like her very much. She would always see him laughing amongst his friend group, before turning to look at her. She could only assume this meant Sirius was laughing at her. Each time, he would smirk very smugly, before turning back to his friends. Each time, it sent a chill down y/n’s spine.

She said a quick prayer in her head, then stood tall and walked over to the raven haired boy. She stood beside him for a second, then coughed, causing him to snap his head up. He raised a questioning eyebrow, eyeing her up and down.

“Is this seat taken?” she asked, the confidence she thought she had never appearing, instead a soft voice coming out. Sirius smiled.

“Why of course not, Your Grace!” he bellowed in a mock posh accent. Sirius stood, making a show of pulling out the chair beside his, before kneeling and placing his hand outwards for her to hold. The classroom erupted into giggles.

Y/n quickly averted her eyes and walked to the back of the class, where she had seen an old broken desk. She quickly sat down her things and plopped down. She angled her head downward and allowed her hair to fall, shielding her from the view of her mocking classmates. Maybe he was a wanker after all.

When the laughter died down, and Sirius was done soaking it all in, he turned towards her. He wasn’t trying to be mean. It was a joke, sure, but not a rude one. He assumed that she just didn’t want to sit next to him. Maybe she was stuck up after all.

taglist: @pottair @theravenclawlover @party-like-its-2013 @daughter-of-chaos11 @unsureem02 @sleep-i-ness @queenrrogertaylor @clockworkherondale @songforhema @frenchzodiacgirl @givemeanorigami

[homenum-revelio-hq]

Welcome (again) to the Order of the Phoenix, Karli!

You have been accepted for the role of ANDROMEDA TONKS! I really enjoyed how you didn’t shy away from showing us how much Andromeda’s upbringing not only shaped her but continues to influence her today, and how choosing to leave her family wasn’t an instant (magical, heh) cure-all for her messed-up beliefs and prejudices. I think her perspective is going to make for a fascinating addition to the game!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Karli

AGE: 28

TIMEZONE: CST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: Same as current

ANYTHING ELSE: Nothing - but anyone reading this, know that I will not be part of the decision for Andromeda’s application. This will be outsourced to the other admin.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Andromeda Tonks (née Black) 

AGE: 29

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cisfemale. She/Her. Andromeda would just give you a look if you were to ask about her sexuality before saying with a bit of ice that she has a husband, thank you very much - but the truth is, her sexuality has always been a bit more fluid than that. She can recognize the way a woman’s curves can be beautiful, with a slight desire to be touched. She doesn’t stray from seeing that beauty - but she has never allowed herself to think about being with a woman and probably never would. Even without Ted, men have always gained her attention a bit more. Doesn’t mean there’s not curiosity. (Aka bisexual with a leaning preference towards men).

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Slytherin

ANY CHANGES: None, I wrote the bio! haha

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY: 

Andromeda fits as a Slytherin because of herself - not strictly because of her family. She’s ambitious, shown through her career. She’s been working for the Department of Mysteries for years - a department of the Ministry that typically hires much older wix than when she began. She’s curious and likes to see how things tick. It’s why she began Project Lykos - why she believes in harvesting all the parts of something negative to understand how to make it better. The way she sometimes can see things in a different way makes her creative.

Being raised by Druella made her strong, but also stubborn. She doesn’t back down easy - especially if someone isn’t explaining it to her from a curious mindset. When a person just claims they are right with no external evidence, Andromeda will not come down to their side. It’s why she’s married to Ted - why most of the Order would never trust her, if she were to reach out to anyone other than Sirius.

Though a bit quieter than her outspoken sister Bellatrix, and a bit warmer than the Ice Queen Narcissa, Andromeda can also be mean. She’s not against laughing right at someone’s face because she disagrees with them or thinks they look unsightly. She takes pride in the way she looks, but not overly - she wants to look put-together, after all… not like she’s trying too hard! She can be loving to those she cares for - Ted, Nymphadora, her sisters, her cousins - but is not overly affectionate. People sometimes find her stuck up, but she just finds that weak-minded.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY: 

Growing up in the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black meant there were a lot of expectations on Andromeda. She grew up in a house (nearly) full of strong woman - poor Cygnus never truly counted for much, it was Druella who ran the household, though others might not see it that way from the outside - and Andromeda was proud of it. Behind every wizard is a powerful witch, her mother would tell her daughters. Andromeda listened, learned beside Bella and Cissy. And she loved her sisters more than anything because they were hers. They would be together forever.

Druella taught her how to keep her chin up - and how to look down at people while doing so. Andromeda never truly found any harm in doing this for years. She had her father wrapped around her finger - she knew how to mimic her mother’s coy grin. There was absolutely nothing wrong with being a Black - and that knowledge made it easy to grin widely when she joined Slytherin and others stared. Another snake, they would say, the houses mostly united outside the green-and-silver.

She was unashamed, she didn’t care what they had to say about her or her family. Andromeda knew she was better than them - Druella had taught her that. Taught her what it truly was to be a woman. She stayed close to her sisters all throughout Hogwarts, giggled with Narcissa about the ridiculous rumors involving Lucius - hexed anyone who called Bellatrix a nasty name. And, when Ted Tonks caught her eye during their seventh year of Hogwarts (okay, so maybe he’d caught her eye a bit before that, but honestly, he was proper peng!), Andromeda felt guilty not telling them about her crush. They were supposed to tell each other everything!

Andromeda had never planned on developing actual feelings for the mudblo - muggleborn! It was all supposed to be fun… something to get the edge off when stressed about classes and extracurriculars! She was supposed to take what she wanted and let him go - just like Druella taught her! But Ted weaseled his way into her life. Even with that, Andromeda fully planned on ditching him after graduation - love was just love, a silly little thing! - but when she wound up pregnant a month before she ended school, she knew things wouldn’t be so simple.

She told her family - of course she did, she couldn’t keep something like this away from them - and put up her defenses when they revolted. A mudblood? A child? Cygnus seethed, Druella threatened… and Andromeda grew stubborn. She’d been considering a potion to make her not pregnant any longer - it would make things so much easier! - but when her parents demanded and her sisters sided with them, Andromeda changed her mind. Druella had taught her to be a strong witch, after all. 

No one told her what to do.

She told Ted they should marry and he agreed and she silently let her world explode with her chin up, looking down at everyone else. 

OCCUPATION:

Andromeda is an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. She spends all her time on Level 9, the deepest floor of the Ministry. She has nearly full autonomy in her work - there is hardly any approval needed for projects and there is little hierarchy in the Department of Mysteries. The Unspeakables have a lot of freedom to research whatever they feel connected to. While many others choose things like love and death and happiness, Andromeda’s most recent project has been a bit more sinister. She became interested in werewolves when she learned about their quick healing process. If there was something in their infection that could heal them, of all people - what could it do for others? Surely there would be a way to harvest the natural side-effects of lycanthropy without infecting innocents. 

She’d dedicated the last three years to what now is known (in the department, of course, nowhere else) Project Lykos. Sometimes this means a bit of field work after full moons - looking for dead half-breeds, bringing in their bodies as subjects. She has consulted with St. Mungo’s to collect samples from live, registered werewolves. And things are going well. She believes she is close to making a break. Potions are easier - but there must be more that these creatures can help with.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER: 

Andromeda is an affiliate of the Order of the Phoenix. It’s a recent thing - after she started seeing more of her cousin Sirius, who is very obviously a member of the rebellion (how the Ministry hasn’t caught him is beyond her!) She doesn’t know what made her start to help - mostly passing information, bits and pieces… nothing too important from her department yet - but she was bored. This hadn’t been where her life was supposed to end up - with a husband and a daughter since she graduated Hogwarts!

She doesn’t really have any passion for the Order, but it’s keeping her curious mind at bay. What are they doing? How are they doing it? Is any of it really working? (She thinks the latter question is a no, given the Dark Lord has only risen in his ranks, while Sirius says people keep dying in the Order). She would like to become more involved, if only because she wants to know these things. She’s not worried about the repercussions - she’s a Black at heart. She’ll find a way out, even if she ends up getting herself entangled. 

SURVIVAL: 

Ted and Andromeda live in a nice little cottage in a half-muggle, half-Wizarding town only a floo away from the Ministry. For the last eleven years, Andromeda has been the only one bringing in money for their family, while Ted stayed home with Nymphadora. Her little daughter could sprout whatever sort of body part she wanted, after all - they couldn’t exactly keep her in public! Andromeda is used to more lavish things, but what she has now is alright too (okay, so, she likes looking at the glittering objects in shop - doesn’t mean she plans on buying all of them!) 

She survives because of her blood status and her family ties. Ted survives because of his protection through her. Nymphadora survives through her mother and school. They have been able to stay under the radar for the most part because the Dark Lord isn’t keen on spilling pure magical blood. Ted may be more of a target than she - but they’ve made it work. She has her job, which pays incredibly well (though it’s no Black vault) and she has Ted (who is a fine husband, all considered) and she has her daughter (something she never asked for, becoming a mother, but loves all the same). Compared to many other people, Andromeda has it easy. 

RELATIONSHIPS: 

(All of these are just ideas that can be changed once discussion with players has happened!)

Andromeda’s main connection is to Ted Tonks. She loves him, of course, but it’s not that desperate sort of love they once had. When they were sneaking around at Hogwarts, meeting up in the stacks of the library, letting him touch her underneath her robes… that was undeniable passion. Once upon a time, Andromeda had lust for her husband - now she’s stuck with old married love and the occasional scheduled shag because it’s Tuesday. She doesn’t know Ted has joined the Order - he’s already decided to get a job! - and she doesn’t plan on telling him about her decision to help out her wayward cousin. It puts a dull on things - a strain. But she’s not cheating on him or anything. That’s something in her world!

Sirius Black is the person from the Order she speaks to most. No one else really knows she’s helping out - but she meets up with Sirius once every other week to pass along information. He’s been trying to convince her to take the next step and join in on a meeting and she’s considering it. Maybe there’s a bit of Gryffindor in her, after all! While Andromeda wouldn’t say they’re particularly close any longer, Sirius is family. And since she can’t have Bella or Cissy, he’ll have to do.

(The next few things are for when she becomes more involved in the Order and sees who else is there…)

Andromeda doesn’t trust Ainsley Abbott. They girl is hiding something - someone in the Order who’s sister is marrying a Rosier, of all people? Andromeda doesn’t buy it. She also doesn’t bat at eyelash whenever people call her a hypocrite for it (Your sister is married to a Malfoy, Andromeda, come off it!) because she knows she’s right. 

Isla Selwyn-Macmillan is a strange addition to the Order, but not an unwelcome one. Finally someone who gets where Andromeda is coming from! And, after all, hadn’t Druella taught her daughters that pureblood witches should be strong, independent women who made their own choices? Isla is just a walking description of that. 

Andromeda could care less about Quidditch, but maybe shouldn’t have told Lucinda Talkalot that. After all, the girl is nice, but she really shouldn’t take her name so literally - Andromeda just wanted her to shut up! 

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: I have no set ships for Andromeda. She is obviously coming into this roleplay married and I’m guessing that will stick around for awhile. There is love for Ted - but that doesn’t mean things will always work out. Her love isn’t very passionate anymore - there is no longer that sort of desperation when they were sneaking around at Hogwarts and she wanted him so badly. He’s still gorgeous, she still feels something. But it’s not nearly as obvious as it used to be and it wouldn’t be surprising to me if someone strayed. They are already keeping secrets from one another, after all.

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Andromeda has a lot of privileges - she comes from a white, wealthy, pureblood family. She grew up in classic pureblood society, with one of the most well-known surnames of all time. When she was sorted in Slytherin, no one batted at eye - not like her cousin only a few years later. Even as a woman, though treated differently than her male family members, she was told how important she was - how proud she should be to be who she was. She did not have it hard growing up and didn’t care to really be aware of what it was like to not be her. It wasn’t until Ted that she truly began to understand why things looked different to other people not in her same position. But, even then, it has never truly sunk in.

She knows not to call people mudblood (sure, she slips up sometimes, but it’s an accident!), but doesn’t really get what the big deal is. After all, she’s heard muggleborns say that about themselves before. Ted has! And then there is the money situation. Now that they actually need the money, she’s lost the privilege, but still eyes those expensive toys that she wishes she could have - annoyed she can’t. Ted has helped her see the world in a different way, but old habits die hard. She was with her family a lot longer than she’s been with him and those views still fit with her sometimes. She misses her family - something Ted will never understand - but she left them for him! She left her privilege to make a family and that should be enough.

She’s biased about a lot of things - she’ll never understand muggleborns or why they just don’t assimilate more. She doesn’t realize it’s her blood status that gives her husband protection - not the fact that he can just act like a wizard. Forgets that “acting like a wizard” implies he’s not actually a wizard - which he fully is, just like any other muggleborn.

Half-breeds are beneath her. She won’t tolerate werewolves thinking they deserve more rights when they’re already allowed to kill children. She thinks what they do deserve is a cure - and she’s working on it! - because it’s crass the way they behave otherwise! There’s a lot she doesn’t understand - and a lot she’ll never try to understand.

But, on the other hand, the people that she now surrounds herself with out of necessity don’t get her, either. And they also don’t try to. Instead of trying to help her educate herself, they often shame her - and why would she want to change then? It makes her miss her family more. They, at least, thought she was a person of value.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 

What brought me here is that I started this rp! All silliness aside though, I am having so much fun within this roleplay already. The players are amazing - the activity is great! And I just wanted to bring another character into such a wonderful group. I really love all the ideas that flow through the ooc and I’m truly humbled to see this group grow. 

What I’m most looking forward to Andromeda, specifically - getting her more involved in the Order, Ted discovering her secrets, the conflict with her family. And the fact that she is still incredibly prejudiced. The Order aren’t a bunch of non-biased saints… I want to show that explicitly with her. Also - they aren’t really teaching her. They’re just lecturing her, berating her, getting angry with her… and that doesn’t create change. If anything, it’ll only make her dig her heels in more. I want to play that out!

PLOT DROP IDEAS: Anything with Andromeda’s prejudice, please! Also, Andromeda getting more inducted into the Order, since we can’t just have Sirius as her main contact!

ANYTHING ELSE? None.

[daddyzanchez]

Would you write something SFW with Doofus Rick? Like he and reader have a date at the beach and get ice cream or something? Anything really fluffy and cute :3 thank you if you do!

Oh shiit, it was me all along - here is a super late birthday fic, the very first time I have ever portrayed Doofus Rick. I really hope it lives up to your expectations, friend and HAPPY BIRTHDAY

1500 words - SFW - F/M (but can be gender neutral if you simply switch the word girlfriend with boyfriend) - cuddling, dating, romance, love, star gazing, fluff 

Link to story on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15557631 

Until I Found You

“Close your eyes!” Rick said with an excited grin, catching you peeping and with a frustrated groan, you forced yourself to do as he said. You weren’t keen on surprises and he knew that but despite knowing, he still told you that it would be completely worth it.

It felt like the two of you had been walking for hours and you figured it was the loss of sight that made five minutes seem like an hour or more. It wasn’t like you did not know where the two of you were, the sound of waves crashing against the coast and the sand under your feet gave it away. You loved the beach, so maybe your frustration was a little uncalled for.    

Being difficult towards a Rick like J19-Zeta-7 was maybe also a little uncalled for. He was so perfect, so far from the others you had met and the connection had been instant. His kindness had been a total weak spot for you and here he was, planning a surprise for you out of the blue.      

And while it was a surprise alone to find a Rick that was so far from all the others, he never ceased to amaze you; suddenly doing something that ripped the air from your lungs and left you speechless for several seconds… or was it minutes? The two of you had stopped walking and he allowed you to open your eyes. Whether it was seconds or minutes this time, you were not sure of but the look on his face suggested the latter.

The candles flickered in the slight breeze coming from the sea and you could do nothing but stay silent and blink a few times. It was not until he made a noise, clearing his throat, that you snapped out of it and went to immediately wrap your arms around him, “Rick, this is amazing. How long have you kept this from me?”

You heard him sigh in what seemed to be relief, squeezing you for a moment before pulling away, “A couple of w-weeks, I had to find the perfect night for this but the sky has been cloudy for d-days but look now.”

The sky was indeed beautiful, stars twinkling in the dark blue distance as there seemed to be not a cloud in sight. You realised that you had a blanket under your feet instead of warm sand, causing you to look down and smile, “You did all this for me, hm?”

He nodded and gestured for you to sit down, holding out his hand so you could get down onto the ground without any struggle. You ended up sitting amongst candles, pillows, a bucket of pretty flowers and a picnic-basket.

When he sat down, you immediately leaned over for a quick peck on his lips and he blushed as you practically showered him in sweet nothings, telling him how lovely this was and how perfect of an evening this would be.

“I-I didn’t know what you wanted, so I br-brought a few different things. Would you like a strawberry or maybe one of my famous ovenless brownies?” Rick started going through the basket as the two of you got comfortable, sitting cross-legged against soft pillows and with glasses between the two of you. The content was soon splayed out in the middle; grapes, watermelon, strawberries, brownies wrapped in foil, a bottle of white wine.

“You really prepared everything,” you spoke in amazement, finding that you couldn’t stop smiling, “I’d love a strawberry but only if you feed it to me.”

Rick replied with a chuckle, picking up a strawberry by its stem and you bit off the tip with a laugh, not quite used to being super romantic, though the whole atmosphere, especially the candlelights, made you want to be so. It was a nice surprise, you had agreed to yourself, still wondering what the occasion was but figuring that it would be a bad idea to pressure a Rick like J19-Zeta-7 for an answer, he would get upset and nervous.

You laid down after the two of you had finished eating a few strawberries and a brownie as well as finished a glass of the delicious wine, closing your eyes, still able to sense the flickering of lights on your eyelids, to listen to nature around you. The Citadel was quiet at this time of night though the sound of chatting Ricks could still be heard in the distance but not to the extent of where it disturbed the relaxing sounds of the waves.

“Come lay down with me, I want to cuddle,” you said, peeping at him with one eye and he carefully removed his lab coat before scooting close. The two of you changed positions, his head finding the pillow and your head finding his chest.

“D-did you l-like the surprise?” He asked and you figured he was nervous by the stutter becoming more frequent. The poor guy knew about your uneasiness towards surprises, so it was time to reassure him. Again.

“I promise you, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” you propped yourself up on your elbows, chin resting on his chest, “There’s no need to worry, you planned this and you did an amazing job.”

Relief washed over his face as it had done earlier, “G-good.”

Comfortable silence fell over you and you decided to lie down on your back besides him, so the two of you could look at the stars. Pointing, you mentioned some of your favourites constellations as well as those you remembered from school; Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Big Dipper… And as you mentioned them, Rick named the stars in each of the constellations, pointed them out and you scooted closer to him.

“I did not know you were interested in constellations,” you said, following his finger as he pointed out Cassiopeia and trailed its W.

“R-Ricks travel through space on a daily basis,” he explained, “It would be a mistake not to know about the Universe and it-its content when you travel through it on a daily basis. Science isn’t just on Earth despite what humans think, we are not the centre of the Universe and we never will be significant for the r-rest of it.”

“Shut up, you old nihilist,” you said, turning into his side and inhaling the scent of his neck.

“The Universe is on my side,” he chuckled softly, “If anyone, the Universe is the biggest nihilist there i-is. It started at random, it doesn’t come with a rational instruction manual so there’s no purpose of it and a wish of reaching an end goal. S-s-so why would Earth be significant when we are merely a speck of dust compared to the rest of the Universe around us?”

“You’re bumming me out,” you said, turning away from him again to pick a strawberry from the basket. Sure, sometimes J19-Zeta-7 could go off in one of his very Rick-esque rants but this was not the time, the two of you were on a romantic date.

“I’m just saying that the Voyager 1 space probe took a p-picture 40.5 AU away, w-which is 3.7 billion miles, and the Earth looked like a dot,” he finished off in a mumble, watching you eat and going quiet, “Everyone is, in theory, insignificant.”

“And then you found me,” you joked as the silence became awkward, giggling sweetly as you received a soft expression. He said nothing for a moment before tightening his arm around you for a few seconds, squeezing you affectionately.

“And then I found you,” he repeated, poking at you to get you to sit up with him, “Sorry, I-I-I got a little carried away there.”

“I know you,” you turned into him again, running a hand over his chest, “Maybe just talk about stars next time, it’s tiny bit more romantic than the insignificance of human kind.”

Rick laughed softly, putting his hand on yours. You could feel how he was planning his words, waiting for what was about to come, “You know, I-I took you out here for a… reason. Do you want to make us official?”

There he was again, your sweet and affectionate Rick, the one you had chosen over all the other and he was asking you to be his girlfriend. It was impossible not to smile, even giggle in happiness, which caused him to show a little worry again, “Aw, babe, do you wanna be my boyfriend?”

Rick started fidget, blushing a deep shade of red as he looked away but you cupped his face and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, “Are you, Rick?”

“Maybe,” he finally looked at you with a slight twinkle in his eyes, shade of red fading as he saw you were messing around, “Are you saying yes?”

“Only if you say it,” you continued to tease, crawling to straddle his lap, “Pretty please?”

“S-say what?”

“Say that you want to be my boyfriend,” you wrapped your arms around his neck and shoulders.

Rick swallowed before pressing your noses together, “I want to be your boyfriend.”

You leaned closer to kiss him properly, sweet but passionately as you whispered soft yesses until the two of you forgot time and space, things that rarely left Rick’s mind but right now you were his and he was yours.  

[candy-corps]

Home Sweet Home

Jaal written by @mygardenofmuses ^-^

This plays AFTER Bruce and Jaal visited Andromeda. (we got inpatient lol)

Getting in touch with cold water makes you a woman, in touch with warm one a man. Have fun.

He'd missed that he could understand what people from far away talked about. He'd missed the food and he'd missed the day-and-nighttime cycle. He missed his family. He did not miss Magic Anons. "Jaaaaaal - !" Bruce called, 'his' voice sounding different now. He was wet, he was ... smaller? And he was ... a woman. Again.

"What's up, Bru---AAAHHHH!" Jaal screamed the moment he entered the room. Here he could see a much smaller bat... dressed in his mate's clothing? "Bruce... is that... you?"

Bruce pursed her lips. He screamed as he saw him! ... saw ... her? "We should have stayed on Andromeda ... " she said, adjusting her wings to cover her front. That felt weird. Did that mean ... he had to try on bras again? Nooo ... ! Bruce squeezed her eyes shut at the mere prospect. It was hard enough for him to get in a shirt ...

The behaviour was certainly similar. This had to be Bruce. Jaal approached carefully. "Are you alright? How did this happen...?"

Still pouting, Bruce opened her eyes again and looked at the grey bucket - a remain of the Anon. "I was cursed by one of the greyfaces. Usually they give you a time limit, but this one's just mean." She was wet all over. Bruce stuck out her tongue. Her clothes, fitting just fine just a moment ago, were now over-sized, damp and stuck unpleasantly to her also wet skin.

"Let's dry you up. I don't want you to catch a cold." Jaal guided her to the bedroom. "I can lend you some of my clothes if none of yours fit you. They'll suit you until we can get you something more fitting."

That made her smile again. As if she needed an excuse to want to try Jaal's clothes. First though, yes, it was better to get out of the clothes. "I think I can take something from Belle" Bruce suggested. She opened her wings and flapped them a little for them to dry faster. "I just don't know if I got the same bra size. This is weird" she admit, cupping his own breast. She wasn't used to that!

"Oh my stars..." Jaal looked away and covered his mouth. "You're doing that thing... with your chest..." From his voice, it was easy to tell he felt shy and slightly horny.

"Uh?" Bruce looked up at Jaal again to see him acting ... interesting. "What am I doing?" she wanted to know, very amused. She even still had her clothes on!

"You're making me blush." He half-whined, crossing his legs. "You look so very beautiful in this form and I'm not sure if it's OK for me to like you in this form too. Is it OK?"

He liked her like this, too? Bruce smiled softly. She was touched. "Yeah" she allowed. "I'm still me. And I need help. Get me out of this ... " she pleaded. As she tugged on the top of her shirt it wouldn't lift as usual. Just stick. There were buttons on the back that would let her roll it up as well, but ... someone had to unbutton them first. An honor that would go to Jaal. Bruce turned and looked over her shoulder at him; the tip of her tail waving.

"A-alright, I'll help you." Jaal's hands trembled slightly, showing his nervousness. These were good nerves, though - Bruce was OK with this, so he wasn't messing up. He began to unbutton her shirt. "Hopefully we'll find you something more comfortable soon..."

She could hear Jaal's heart beating faster. "I'm comfortable being naked when I'm just with you" Bruce let Jaal know. She raised her arms to let him peel her out of the fabric. The damp skin still didn't feel comfortable, but she herself was way better already.

"Can I hug you like this?" Jaal asked, helping her out of the shirt. "Maybe some... body heat could be comforting. Maybe?" Funny how this felt so new all of the sudden...

Oh, she knew where this was going. "I'd find it very comforting" Bruce assured; leaning back against Jaal's chest. He was dry. Bruce like that. Her trousers and underwear were too tight in this form. She opened these, too, and tried to wriggle out of them. Of course while incidentally rubbing Jaal's front.

"Bruce..." Jaal half-whined, half-moaned at her actions. His arms surrounded her in a tight embrace, his mouth landed on her neck and dropped a few butterfly kisses all over it. "You are... you are too beautiful..." He raised one hand to hold her face. "Should we go to the bed? Because I really want to... when you're up for it..."

So this was so far the standard procedure for when she got naked. Bruce hummed, very pleased with that reaction. Jaal still desired her and that was great. Bruce turned a bit and nuzzled Jaal as she stepped out of the trousers. "Yeah" she answered in a warm tone. "I want to." Her boob touched Jaal's chest as she touched his shoulder and her wing his arm.

"Good." Without thinking twice, Jaal scooped her into his arms and twirled around, laughing. Having her consent made everything much better. "You'll see... I have to so much I can show you!" Mainly tricks he used with his previous wife to make her scream - things he couldn't do with Bruce before, just because she didn't have any lady bits. But this changed everything!

"Am looking forward to see" Bruce gave back, sincerely. Jaal seemed so excited! She caressed his face and smiled to herself. "I haven't had the chance to have sex like this before."

"I did. A long time ago. Not to a bat lady, though - which makes this all new." Jaal giggled and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Gosh, you're so beautiful. Is this a dream?"

Bruce giggled and then looked at Jaal tenderly. "I love it when you get all charming" she admit, then licked Jaal's lip in return.

"Oh, I'm always charming. Or at least, I try to be." Jaal pursed his lips, amused by her words. He used his foot to kick open the bedroom's door, then used the other to close it once they were inside.

"What do you plan to do with me?" Bruce asked. There was something about being with alone with Jaal. He felt at peace and in good hands.

"First, put you in bed." He said as he did it. "Second..." He paused, taking in the view. His cheeks felt hot all over again. "What would you like me to do? Because I have ideas, but I'd like to know your preferences first."

Oh, Jaal. Bruce squirmed and laughed, glad to be here. She loved their bed. It was soft and smelled of Jaal. "Then you ... " she kept going, " ... show yourself. I mean, when you want to. And let me know how you treat the ladies. I've been curious for a while, but I'd always thought I'd have to watch instead to get a firsthand experience."

"Well, I'll be happy to show you." Jaal got up and undressed quickly. He was sporting a noticeable erection already, consequence of the teasing and the kisses. He climbed over her and kissed her hand. "I'll be very gentle. Just tell me to stop if I move too fast, alright?"

" ... Alright" Bruce replied, cupping Jaal's cheek with her hand, now smaller and more delicate. Her wing stretched to the side and over the bed before curling and grazing Jaal with its edge.

"Good." Jaal smiled and kissed her. His hands caressed her sides as his mouth moved to her neck, kissing and nibbling it gently. So far, there wasn't much of a difference to their regular sessions, but Jaal wanted to take this slow.

Bruce' tail curled around Jaal's leg, showing she appreciated that move. This was so far so pleasant, she found, humming and letting Jaal move as he liked. An unfamiliar sensation distracted her though - warmth pooling in her crotch, this time rather different from the arousal that he felt before. Was this normal? It felt rather nice ... Better would be any kind of contact, though. Making Bruce think: "Do we even ... have condoms?" Not that safe sex was what she wanted: She just had to think about how the thought of a lady joining them any soon was not on any of their minds.

Jaal froze and looked into her eyes. "I... I think we don't. Should I go buy some?" He asked, looking down. He was so hard already, going out with such a hard-on would be really awkward. Not to mention... what would he say if someone noticed? Would they call him a pervert?

Bruce huffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to let you go anywhere" she made clear, tightening the hold of her wing on him. She licked him again and then had to smile. She had a thought, but it was absurd: "Do you wanna try for a baby?" she asked. After all ... "There is no harm in trying ... " She didn't think it was possible, but it was nice to think about.

Jaal's eyes went wide. "I guess we could try, but... how long does this magic thing last? Would it last enough for you to carry a child?" He feared getting his hopes up, just to see that dream crash and burn later. Though she was right. There was no harm trying...

Hmm ... what did the greyface say? "I turn back when I get in touch with hot water. I can do with sand baths." Always could. Bruce stretched beneath Jaal in hopes to look attractive. Her crotch felt so warm that she parted her legs and let one brush Jaal. "Just ... " Oh, come on! She was so horny.

"Then you only have to avoid cold water for a while." Jaal smiled and leaned forward, kissing her nipples. He cupped her breasts and began to squeeze then gently, watching her reaction.

"*Mmmmh ... *" Bruce moaned. "I can get used to that, yeah" she let Jaal know, smiling at him.

Jaal smirked and sucked on her nipples as he kept squeezing her breasts, a little more roughly now - just squeezing enough so all the fast was squished in his hands without causing actual harm.

Okay, good. Okay, good. She was starting to like her boobs, after all, or at least for as long as Jaal was kneading them. This time Bruce purred, lovingly and horny, at her partner in response. She kept her eyes on Jaal, watching him.

Jaal kissed her chest again and released one of her boobs. That hand traced her belly, caressed her bellybutton and moved to her core, where certain wamrth awaited him. Jaal slid a hand between her legs, exploring carefully her folds.

"Ohh." Oh, that was ... interesting. And good! Bruce parted her legs more, letting Jaal touch her willingly. She blushed, not used to create her own lube right there. It was a little bit embarrassing as he noticed Jaal ... notice. Bruce kissed the top of Jaal's head and pet him.

Jaal searched for her clit, hoping female bats had one just like human women. When he found it, he noticed she was kissing him. He looked up and pressed a kiss to her lips, as his fingers started to tease that soft bundle of nerves.

It was so nice that he kissed her. And kept touching her, too. Despite the initial embarrassment, Bruce was really starting to like this... And then she was really starting to like this. "Ah - " she moaned, eyes wide. Pleasure like this she was only used to when Jaal teased his prostate. Not meaning to, Bruce parted the kiss, short on breath for no good reason. "Yeah." Yeah, that was good. Jaal could keep doing what he was doing, pretty please. Bruce felt more warmth pool between his legs. She was getting wetter but for now she won't care about it.

"You like this?" Jaal asked, just for confirmation. Given her body language, he guessed she was enjoying this, but asking never caused harm, right?

"A lot" Bruce affirmed. She purred, encoraging Jaal to continue; and rolled her hips forward and back to get the most friction out of the touch.

"Good, good." Jaal began to descend. His mouth left kisses over her stomach and belly, drawing a line with his tongue.   He looked up to her, asking silently if she'd allow him to lick her down there, too.

Bruce watched Jaal wander without thinking about it - too distracted from the pleasure Jaal caused her. So as he looked up Bruce' ears leaned aside in confusion. And then she blushed, her mouth agape. He did not want to seriously - "I'm so close as it is - " she warned him panting, indicating the space with a gesture. When Jaal was okay with it, she was okay with it. She just wanted to say.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jaal smirked and went for the kill. He licked gently her folds, basking in her flavour. Sweet, maybe a little musky, similar to the same flavor he knew so well. His tongue teased her clit and descended over her sex, searching for her entrance. Maybe he could play in that place, too...

"Yes." Yes, indeed. Bruce moaned aloud as Jaal's tongue licked her clitoris; then hummed as he kept going. It was hard to stay in place instead to squirm, but she tried to fight it, really wanted to feel more of him. "What are you - Oh ... my ... " That was ... dirty. And so good. Bruce moaned with her eyes closed; lying on the bed and grasping the sheets.

The noises she made made Jaal's heart soar. He buried his tongue deep in her entrance, tasting her fluids and breathing her in. His hands caressed her legs, coaxing her to open up, nice and wide for him. The his thumb returned to her clit, teasing it. He shook his head slightly, so his tongue hit more spots deep inside her.

Oh, that was it. "Aaah - !!" Bruce screamed in pleasure. Something in her tensed an then released itself in bursts of warmth. The now batwoman blushed even harder, feeling her walls move against Jaal's tongue, but yet purred out for him to keep being nice. With that, her leg brushed against him and her tail curled around him from the other side, too.

Jaal could feel her fluids flooding his mouth. He smiled and licked all of it,  taking great delight in the fact this flavour was all his, at least tonight. When he was done, he climbed over her and kissed her neck. "Are you ready for more?", he purred in her ear.

Oh, but of course. She felt empty now with the intrusion gone, actually. Bruce whimpered and pulled them closer together with the help of her wings. She hummed in delight as she felt Jaal's cock grind against her now favorite woman part.

"So eager..." Jaal chuckled and jerked himself off a little, just to ensure his cock would be warm and nice for her. With that thought in mind, he introduced the tip slowly in her body, giving Bruce time to adjust. "How's this? Does it hurt...?"

It was ... unusual, but no, it didn't hurt. "I'm fine" Bruce promised and gave Jaal a kiss. It was cute of him to ask. Now ... How to do this? Squeeze - ? No. No, no. Relax. This was just Jaal! "Keep going" Bruce instructed, placing more kisses on Jaal's skin.

"Alright, I'm going in..." Jaal lifted carefully her hips and pushed all of his cock deep inside her. Nice and slow, so she could feel every inch. At the same time, Jaal left her kisses on her neck, hoping to distract her from any possible pain she could feel.

"Aaaah .... " Bruce held onto Jaal as he filled her; thankfully going slow so she could adjust. He stroked against something good while he was at it, easing the task to relax and let him in. Her moan turned into purring once Jaal had stopped moving for now. Bruce' fingers, now a little softer than they'd been before, brushed over Jaal's back; having him know he did well.

Her purring pleased him. Jaal purred back and began to move, letting her feel everything he could give and more. Sometimes lazy sex was just as good as the fast kind. Jaal found it so, as he thrusted into her depts, setting up a slow pace for now.

Bruce' hold tightened as Jaal started thrusting. She just let him do; amazed by the feeling of his dick deep in her. She panted. "So good. Jaal." What was he doing to her? Bruce' whole lower region was tingling. The friction of Jaal's cock in her got less the more he thrusted though and smoothened out over time. Blushing again, Bruce realized it must be because she was getting wetter for Jaal; her body producing liquid to make it easier on him to move in deep. She was getting close again; Bruce could feel it.

Jaal noticed it too. It seemed he was doing well, when he body was reacting so nicely. He leaned forward to kiss her, opening his mouth so his tongue could lick hers. Jaal squeezed her hips and lifted them a little so he could reach even deeper.  "Mmmh... Bruce..."

Bruce was just returning Jaal's kiss as she felt him push even further. Oh dear goodness. Right there, yes. Bruce' legs wrapped around Jaal, making it easier on him to hold the angle.

Jaal nibbled her neck,  sucking a bit. He didn't mean to leave hickeys, but it was tempting. His nibbled her shoulder as well, as his pace quickened slightly. The heat running past his hips was becoming more and more intense...

"Yes -" Bruce could only encourage before her body said the rest; the hug of her walls turning into a squeeze as she was orgasming. Jaal's nibbling had been the last drop missing; the prospect of biting while he was fucking her too sweet. "Hmmm..." Bruce hummed breathlessly, clinging on Jaal to keep him in deep.

When she squeezed, Jaal lost it. Sweet release came to him as he bit her a little more strongly, enough to leave a small mark framed between purrs and moans.  The purple alien would have collapsed right away if he didn't use his arms for support. "Mmmh, Bruce..."

Between great sex and being bit like that, Bruce was pretty satisfied. Yet she couldn't help herself to roll her hips, giggling slightly as she felt the extra liquid. "That's nice" she whispered, her orgasm slowly ending. Exhausted now, she looked at Jall's lips and then kissed them lovingly.

Jaal kissed her back, half moaning at her movements. She really knew how to please him...! Pulling back a little, Jaal caressed her head and petted it. "You're so good to me, my dear one."

"You're so good to me, too ... " Bruce replied, nuzzling Jaal's hand and then stretching. She'd like to have her throat touched, as well.

Jaal's hand descended to her neck and caressed it as he licked the spot he had nibbled earlier. He pulled her close for a hug and closed his eyes. "I could sleep like this..."

Bruce' reply was a purr - a more melodic one now that he was a woman, and way less deep. She'd be very okay with taking a short nap, or a long one for that matter. Jaal was warm and comfortable and made her feel so loved. She nudged him gently, trying to find a good position to rest a little better in.

Jaal pulled out of her slowly, mainly so Bruce could rest even better. Then he stretched his legs, simply lying by her side.  This was nice, and comfy... and kinda hot due to the summer temperatures. "Should I open the window so we can cool down a bit?"

Cool down? Bruce didn't think it was all too warm. And the prospect of Jaal leaving the bed so soon was just unbearable. So after thinking for a second, Bruce simply clung to him. Jaal was either dragging her along or not leaving at all.

Jaal gasped in surprise when she hugged him like that. He chuckled and petted her head. "Alrighty, I was just saying it in case you felt too hot." He kissed her forehead and hugged her. "I love you very much."

Bruce' hold relaxed ... a little. She liked hearing that. She placed a few soft kisses on Jaal's skin. Obviously, he had forgotten that she loved him, too. But Bruce didn't mind to give him a reminder.

Jaal let out a few pleased purrs and caressed the small of her back, then her face. "Thank you, my dear one. I'm... I'm so glad we're here. I'm the luckiest Angaran in all galaxy for having you by my side..."

Jaal earned himself a kiss on his lips for saying that aloud. "Are you warm?" Bruce asked then, slowly acknowledging that Jaal might not have wanted to leave her because he stopped to like her ... but because it may be too hot for him.

"Actually... yes. I'm so sorry. I'm actually afraid of burning you if I overheat." He whispered, almost as if it was a secret. "We Angarans are usually very hot already because of our electricity powers. Just a few grades more on the scale and we might become something akin to fire with skin... So I was trying to protect you, too."

Alright. "Let's go together" Bruce suggested, then kissing the corner of Jaal's mouth. "We can bring blankets" she suggested, " - and hang out at the window for a while." With that, she leaned up and looked down at Jaal while caressing him gently. She didn't mind to open a window. She did mind to be left alone so soon, no matter for what amount of time.

Jaal smiled and picked her up into his arms. Then he nuzzled her neck. "Sounds perfect. Where do you get all those awesome ideas, love?" He asked, then he pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Could you pick up the blankets? My hands are busy carrying you now." He laughed and nuzzled her again. When he felt this happy,  he hoped his displays of affection would rub on her the joy he felt.

Bruce purred for a moment, indeed happy as well. And sure thing, she could pick up a blanket for Jaal. Her wing helped to get the edge into reach; then she ruffled it up close. "I really liked you biting me" she confessed then, smiling at the memory.

"Should I do it more often?" Jaal asked, as he began to walk to the balcony. "I often worry about hurting you. I never know when it's too rough or not. This time, I was... exploring to learn more of what you like and not. Looks like I did it right~" He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

Bruce curled up in Jaal's hold and rubbed herself against him. "I'd love that" she admit, still smiling. "Bites don't hurt me. Be left alone after ... " That did. Bruce kissed Jaal's shoulder, quietly hoping he would never consider to leave the bed without her again. Instead to keep talking, she purred at him softly and a little bit hurt.

"Oooh..." Jaal understood with that purr. "Sorry, I won't do that. At this point, I was just afraid of burning you. But you found a good solution." Jaal opened the window with one arm, and the cool air of the evening brought a well-needed chill to his body. He took a deep breath and smiled. "Aaah, this is so good. No more Angaran fires." He chuckled and purred back to Bruce, nuzzling her. "Are you feeling well, love? Not too cold, is it?"

Bruce nuzzled Jasl back. "I'm fine as long as you're here" she replied. She wasn't all that sensitive for too hot or too cool temperatures. "May I sit on your lap?" she asked, the tone of voice giving away how much she wanted to.

Jaal chuckled and nodded. "Sure. Just let me sit." He went to one of the chairs on the balcony and sat on it, then winked an eye to Bruce. "OK, I'm ready to have a my beautiful batwife sitting on my lap ~"

Jaal didn't have to say that twice: As soon as he allowed her, Bruce slid closer and into his personal bubble again. She sat on him with her back to him, hoping that they might watch a few stars. She enjoyed the feeling of his bare skin against hers. now they'd just ... have to spread the blanket ... to be covered and save.

Jaal loosened his hold a little so Bruce could settle comfortably onto him. Once she seemed to be comfortable, he picked up the blanket from her hands and spread it over them. "There. Now you won't get cold." He smiled and nuzzled her again. "It's too bad we almost can't see the stars from here."

"I don't mind." Bruce was in a blissful state right as things were. Nestled against Jaal, covered and a little bit sleepy. Besides: "The city's still there." It gave enough light.

"That is true." Jaal nuzzled her again. "Would you like to sleep here? Because I'd love to do so. No overheating danger, a beautiful view, my wonderful Bruce by my side... it's perfect."

It really was. Bruce could feel the breeze against her skin which gave a nice contrast to the warmth she felt as well. "I just want to be with you" she replied. That was all it took to make her happy. She took Jaal's arm and held it. It was comforting. Then she purred.

"Heh. I was thinking exactly that." Jaal purred back and wrapped his free arm around Bruce as well, holding her close. "Home, sweet home..."

[aretherelesbians]

Are There Lesbians? Yes

What Happens: Androids are built by YoRHa to fight the machines and take back earth for humans. In this JRPG you play as androids 2B, 9S and A2 as they battle for earths future.

The Verdict: I think it’s safe to say that NieR: Automata is now one of my favourite games. It was certainly the best I played (read, started) in 2017, and I played Life is Strange: Before the Storm and I love that series, so you know it’s serious.

The gameplay in NieR: Automata is really interesting. For the most part it plays like a reasonably standard hack n slash RPG but the gameplay changes depending on who you play as. I also enjoyed being able to combine ranged pod attacks with melee attacks. For this reason I liked playing as 2B and A2 the most. Many of the hacking minigames involved when you play as 9S are required to beat enemies and I was incredibly bad at them. In fact, I would often change my difficulty level to easy (thank goodness you can do that in battle) because I just got so frustrated with constantly dying. That being said, the hacking minigames where there were only static blocks to break were very satisfying. Basically any time I'm being shot at and not on the ground was a stressful time for me. I really like being able to hack and slash and shoot and then cartwheel away.

I did find some of the set controls a bit difficult - a lot of the buttons are close together and I often accidentally changed weapons when I just wanted to heal myself! In long battles, holding the trigger down to shoot while also jamming on the light and heavy attacks did make my wrist hurt. I'm planning to play it again and might try reconfiguring the controls, there are a few forums which recommend it, in fact.

I know this because I loved NieR: Automata so much that when I finished I immediately went and looked through the wiki. It turns out its actually part of a series and now I want to track down the previous game, however I am annoyed because apparently there were two versions and the "real" version was only released in Japan?! It's so rude. I didn't know this until I finished the game, however, so I very much enjoyed trying to find out as much backstory as I could through talking to people and discovering certain records scattered throughout the map. Speaking of the map, I really like a nice detailed map and I was disappointed to find that the map actually expands further than where you can explore - why is it there if I can't go visit? I'm a total completionist so this was very frustrating for me. In the same vein, before/after certain story events you can no longer do some of the quests unless you go back. After you finish the game you can unlock "debug" mode and chapter select which allows you to go back to each chapter, but for reasons which shall remain  untold, I no longer have any of my save files and don’t have this feature any more. I don't have any real regret to be honest as I am already looking forward to playing through the entire game again! I'm in such a slump having finished it – NieR: Automata is all I want to play, but also I want to have a bit of time away from it to think about it, and also play other things because... I finished the game? And I have so many games to play?

With the gameplay discussion over let’s get to the real stuff - representation. There were a good amount of lesbians in NieR: Automata, although the representation of women in general was a bit… eh (2B pantyshots I’m looking at you… wait, that came out wrong…). This isn’t to say that the women in the game were particularly helpless or that they suffered from the sexy angry stereotype. The majority of characters in the game are women, and I greatly appreciate that. It’s just that a lot of the outfits felt like they came straight from male fetishes. Why does the split in 2B skirt have to go so high and why does she flash us every time she jumps? I’ve played Bayonetta and I can respect a lady who likes to dress sexy, but the appearance of many of the androids like 2B and A2 doesn’t make them look particularly… old, and that bothers me a little. Especially when you just know there’s got to be a lot of porn of them out there.

While NieR: Automata leans towards objectification of its leading ladies, the lesbians were strangely untouched by this trope. They were so good!!! My favourite is the conversation between 2B and her operator 6O where 6O is sad because a girl she liked rejected her, it was so cute! There is also a very moving quest that you can do where you have to go and find out what happened to an androids girlfriend! I strongly suspect that there is more to the A2 and Andromeda relationship that isn’t explicitly stated, but there is enough explicit wlw romance that I don’t mind just keeping that as a headcanon (though I also really want more of that back-story, GIVE ME THE BACKSTORY). As I mentioned, the representation of women has a lot to be desired but I really liked the handling of the wlw relationships, they were romantic without being gratuitous, and didn’t feel like they were being shoe-horned in to increase sales or anything (wow, the bar is so low). Like the rest of the game, the characterisation and storylines of the wlw characters was near perfect.

Despite the GF dubbing it “The Loud Panty Game,” NieR: Automata has earned a very large place in my heart, to the point where my obsession with it may soon rival that of Kingdom Hearts. It is a beautifully made game and ticks all my boxes – gameplay, aesthetics and storyline. If you only play one game from 2017 (sorry LiS: Beyond the Storm), make sure that it is NieR: Automata.

[darpok]

Blog Post: On Fan Fiction and Other Storytelling Traditions

When I was twelve or thirteen years old, and even our family finally had DSL internet, I discovered the joys of fan fiction. In case you haven’t been living under the same rock as I have, allow me to explain. “Fan fiction” refers to stories written by enthusiasts of a particular book, TV show, or other creative work. While most “fics” – as my friends and I would call them – take place within the particular universe of the original story, others take known characters and put them in an entirely new setting. (That’s how 50 Shades of Grey was born.) There’s also fan fiction that doesn’t deliberately draw on any work but revolves around real, famous people in imagined situations. (See Graham Norton and Daniel Radcliffe discuss this type on the former’s show.)

The stories that interested me ranged from shorter “one shots” to multi-chapter epics, but most were placed in the Harry Potter universe and nearly all were tales of romance – if you could call it that.

The pairings I read about (and often ‘shipped’ – a verb that comes from the ‘ship’ in ‘relationship’ and means “hoped would bang”) – whether true to canon (i.e. the original books), such as Lily and James Potter, or wildly inventive, such as Hermione and a Tom Riddle to whom she has traveled back in time – usually engaged in the kind of love/hate banter that sends real couples to therapy. The pair would glare at and insult each other (often employing strangely American turns of phrase for a pair of ostensible Brits), their apparent mutual disgust hiding a deeper attraction. For my friends and I, it was riveting stuff.

While I was mainly a Lily/James shipper myself, you can’t talk about Harry Potter fan fiction and not mention Dramione. The fan-invented romance between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger was a tale of forbidden passion, a defiance of Hogwarts housing norms and the mandates of Potter canon itself. Draco did need to be less of a whiny loser to be a deserving match for Hermione, but this could be arranged without too much trouble. In the fan fiction world, Draco was dark and brooding, and he didn’t bring his dad up in conversation quite as often as in the books. Hermione was clever and empathetic, and although she was rarely depicted with less than Yule Ball-level beauty, her looks were not her main characteristic.

Sometimes fan fiction Draco and Hermione fell for each other while at Hogwarts. In other fics, they met again under changed circumstances years after the fall of Voldemort. Then there were the AU fics in which a brilliant young paralegal named Hermione Granger begins work at the firm where successful lawyer Draco Malfoy practices. You get the idea.

Photoshop creations starring Tom Felton and Emma Watson (no credit belongs to me). The purple one in particular has stayed in my memory for years, and brings on a familiar feeling of excitement at all the great content to peruse in the world. It was the banner for a website that allowed fans to nominate and vote for their favorite Dramione fics.

A particularly sexy iteration of the Draco/Hermione story was called Water by kissherdraco. In it, Draco and Hermione are Head Boy and Girl at Hogwarts. Of course, this means that they must live sequestered in their own dormitory, with its own entrance, common room and adjoining bathroom that ensure they see each other in a state of partial undress when the story demands it.

Water was held by many to be the pinnacle of the genre. It had lust and angst in equal measure, executed with a liberal dose of swear words and aggression. Moreover, Water took the common flaws of the Dramione world’s characters and actually explored them, allowing character to drive plot. In the story, Draco is brooding and cruel as ever, but these traits are linked to vicious abuse at the hands of Lucius. This backstory is not seen as an excuse for Draco’s behavior and he is forced to grow and change as the story progresses (although not quite enough, tbh).

I never finished the story, perhaps because my young brain was alarmed by all the hate-sex, but I revisited it with curiosity for this piece. Here is a relatively benign excerpt from the text, although please skip if you’d rather avoid themes of physical dominance:

“You’re crying,” growled Draco, leaning in and flicking his tongue onto her cheek. He tasted salt.

She struggled then, and he brought his hands to her shoulders to hold her still. “Don’t, Granger,” he warned. “I fucking need this. I can’t fucking…” He trailed off.

He never would have noticed before. Not like he did now, at least. Her lips were wet. They were red and moist and magnificently ripened for him. So full of blood. Hot, heated, sullied blood. He couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Other fics situated romance within a larger plot about the politics of the wizarding world. Prelude to Destiny by AnotherDreamer took place in the Marauder era (i.e. the time of Harry’s parents) and focused on the coming-of-age of Lily Evans and her role in the battle against evil. It begins, “Two cultures and a thousand miles from you, there is a castle on a hill…”

Another fave began life under the title Ancient and Most Noble and is now called Druella Black’s Guide to Womanhood. It is about the diverging lives of the three Black sisters — Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa — in the early years of Voldemort’s power. The sisters confront the crumbling of the their easy closeness as they make different choices in a changing world.

”It’ll be a laugh, you’ll see,” Bellatrix whispered into her ear, her breath sweet and thick from wine. They were curled in the cool grass, tangled in the layers upon layers of lace and satin that were their dress robes; it had taken them an hour to get them on right and just ten minutes to unsettle them. Andromeda’s head was spinning: from the liquor, from the heat, from far too much dancing. “It’ll all be just like this,” Bella was murmuring, her lips brushing against her ear. Stars whirled by overhead, maybe close enough to touch. Close enough to try.

“Always just like this.”

—

Andromeda swore as she stepped off the train. From inside the nicely cool travel car, summer had looked so charming, green and bright and gloriously school-free…

I was most interested in these fics, the ones that revolved around the generations before Harry’s. There was something compelling about the knowledge of forthcoming tragedy for many of the characters…Plucked away from the happy ending of the books, these fics became an exploration of why life is meaningful even in its flawed and finite scope.

I look back on my fan fiction experiences as belonging to a beautiful time when the internet was less like Janet from The Good Place* (if Janet were selling everything she knew about us to profit-hungry corporations and belligerent, militarized governments), and more like a library you went to when you felt like checking out a book. Nobody knew what I ate and where I went every minute of the day, because I didn’t put that stuff online, nor did I (to my knowledge) carry a tracking device with me when I went downstairs to play with my friends. At 5 pm, our moms would have to call each friend’s landline to reach us and remind us to stop home for our daily glass of milk or what-have-you.

*Janet is a humanoid presence in the afterlife who holds all knowledge in the universe and can create objects out of the void.

Fan fiction was a commerce-free creative space – devoid of ad revenue and the quick accumulation of likes. Since there was neither money nor social capital to be gained, everyone who participated did so out of pure interest. One did have the hope of raking in reviews from other community members, but these were about more than validation; reviews allowed people to have conversations about a shared passion and often included constructive criticism along with praise. There was little need for bitterness – if a fic was well-written, everybody won, since it meant they got to read it.

Below are some examples from the reviews section of Prelude to Destiny. It’s certainly no Twitter.

Written by rach on chapter #13. (March 28th 2009, 5am) Hey,

So I’ve read your whole story before, and now I’m reading it again, because I saw it spotlighted on the site. And this chapter is amazing. I love the end…I’ve never (well, before I read this the first time) compared Lily to Mrs Crouch. But it’s so true. They both gave their lives for their sons and…this chapter is phenomenal. Just thought I’d let you know

Rach

Written by Smith on chapter #26. (April 29th 2008, 11am)

…If I am to find any fault in the story, then I should say that Remus was rather dull. Not that it was completely out of character, but I imagine him being funnier and also good Lily’s friend. Their friendship is mentioned by Lupin in the third film and, I should think, in the book as well, though I don’t have a copy right now and thus can’t provide a quote. Pity, that. [Given my extensive knowledge of canon, I can tell you that the reviewer is mistaken on this last point.]

Thank you very much for writing this story. Reading it was an enjoyable experience that I might repeat in the future. You’re brilliant, to put it short.

Author Response: Thanks for the review!Yeah, Remus was a bit dull. Actually, I didn’t intend for Lily to be friends with any of the marauders besides James. I just wanted them out of the way. But I know what you mean. After Sirius entered the story, Remus was even duller in comparison. Plus, I wanted to make Peter seem like he fit in, and Remus just fell by the wayside, you know?I’m enjoying writing Gertrude again after taking over a story from my friend who used my characters. Anyway, thanks again!Miranda

For me, too, fandom was a more than a casual hobby. Since I was only allowed an hour of internet use a day, I would spend the time copying and pasting chapter after chapter of fan fiction onto Microsoft Word, allowing me to read all I wanted later. (As you might imagine, Water was not stored on the family computer.) I remember scouring for new fics on fanfiction.net and clicking through page after page of fan art on deviantart.com (both of which retain their early-2000s layouts, unlike Mugglenet or JK Rowling’s official site), very differently from how I scroll through Instagram today. I admired works of fandom the way one appreciates springtime’s first flower, or the décor of a friend’s bedroom – I admired the stamp of individuality they bore and that inspired me to create something myself, to express my joys and sorrows, to be a part of the world.

RIP old websites

When I did put Harry Potter-inspired art out there, somewhere around age fourteen, it was of course in the form of fan fiction, writing being my weapon of choice. I wrote two one-shot pieces, one funny and the other sad — or such were my intentions, though perhaps the results were inverted. While some friends wrote longer stories, I never felt talented or inspired enough to commit, which is a typical self-doubting move of the kind I am trying to leave behind. (I now plan to write no matter how untalented and uninspired I may be.)

One piece was about a character of my own invention, a Slytherin guy with the requisite pure-blood, Dark magic-loving family, and a perky, ponytailed Huffelpuff girl on whom he develops an obsessive crush. It was intended to be a BBC-inspired mockery of the character, taking all the gloomy sexiness of the Dramione universe and making it ridiculous. It was also a thorough exploration of really wanting to make out with somebody sitting in the same classroom as you, not that I’d know anything about that myself.

The other short story was a sincere ode to the books and an exploration of some of their core questions on death and loss. It followed Harry in an imagined scene that takes place (SPOILER ALERT lol) after Dumbledore’s death in the Half-Blood Prince. Harry is climbing the steps to the Owlery with a package in his hand, thinking over his relationship with Dumbledore. As I wrote, I found that I absolutely had to include excerpts from a fairly unexpected source, a chapter in the first and most overlooked of the Harry Potter books. The chapter is “The Mirror of Erised,” whose titular object reveals to the onlooker their deepest desire.

“Professor Dumbledore. Can I ask you something?”

“Obviously, you’ve just done so,” Dumbledore smiled. “You may ask me one more thing, however.”

“What do you see when you look in the mirror?”

“I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.” Harry stared. “One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.”

It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful.

In my story, Harry gazes out at the Forbidden Forest for a little while, wondering who Dumbledore had been behind the mask of calm wisdom and pondering the burden of those left alive and grieving. Harry then ties the package he’s been holding to Hedwig’s arm and sends her off, chuckling a little through tears. In the last line it is revealed that – OMG – he has just sent off a pair of thick, woolen SOCKS. To DUMBLEDORE. Even though Dumbledore is DEAD. Isn’t that profound?

Two years later, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, and to my complete surprise, it delved deep into some of the questions about Dumbledore that had tumbled out of me, stream-of-consciousness-like, in the story I wrote. The text even includes part of the above excerpt from “The Mirror of Erised”. At the outset of Deathly Hallows, Harry learns that Dumbledore’s childhood was a difficult one, the true details of which remain murky and contested by his admirers and critics. Harry regrets never having asked Dumbledore about his past, but recalls that, after all, the one personal question he had asked Dumbledore was not answered honestly…

While writing my story, I had imagined Harry’s pain and longing to know Dumbledore better. Because fan fiction allowed me to externalize my interpretation of the text, the questions in my mind took on concrete form. Their answers, when the next book presented them, became all the more striking and emotionally impactful. It was as though I had written a letter to the series of books that had shaped me and received, in a way, a gentle but meaningful response.

In 2004, JK Rowling released a statement about the phenomenon of fan fiction. She was flattered by fans’ desire to write about her characters, and her only caveats were that fan fiction should remain suitable for children (unfortunately that ship had already sailed, and Water was truly the least of it), as well as a non-commercial activity so that fans’ creative pursuits would remain unexploited. Other authors have not been as accepting, and have asked for fan fiction based on their work to be removed from popular websites. After all, in our current world, a story is classified as property. A sentence, a verse, a character’s name, can belong to someone the same way as the furniture in their house and the dollar figure in their bank account.

In the long history of storytelling, however, ownership is a relatively recent idea. Bear with me while I make an analogy – in pre-industrial Britain, every town had a commons, an area of land where anyone could gather firewood, take their cattle to graze, or hunt and fish to supplement a year of poor harvest. Storytelling has historically functioned as a kind of commons of ideas, one that anyone could pull from when the time came to tell a tale. Want to warn your kid against going near a well? Tell them about the hungry demon that lives in it. Were you hired to entertain a crowd at a wedding? Maybe you dust off an old poem about a prince and princess who meet one evening in the forest but spend years apart, not knowing each others’ true identity until it turns out they were betrothed all along.

Nobody invented well-dwelling monsters or estranged lovers for the first time – they simply existed in a shared cultural space, available when needed (or when it was particularly enjoyable to use them), ready to be shaped into something new and old at the same time. Even today, no one questions the use of familiar tropes in books and movies; we know that all storytelling involves a certain amount of borrowing and repetition, and we deem this acceptable as long as the storyteller has put an adequately original spin on the themes they utilize. The legal line is drawn once you get to the particulars – character names, or sentences and dialogue. These must be brand spanking new if you want to avoid a lawsuit and getting dropped by your publishers. (Does anyone else remember How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life?)

But for thousands of years, people told and re-told stories of beloved and familiar characters, not just unnamed archetypes – characters like Odysseus and Arjuna, Gilgamesh and King Arthur. The Sanskrit Mahabharata (Maha-BHA-rata) an epicly long, genre-defying story from South Asia, especially challenges the idea of a single, canonical text (much like other ancient story traditions from the subcontinent). It was told so many times by so many people that modern-day folks are not always able to agree on what the Mahabharata even is. The story is like a vast ocean — recognizable to all, but appears different depending on where you happen to be standing.

In the 20th century, some scholars collected Mahabharata manuscripts from all over the subcontinent, extracted the most commonly occurring parts to form a text, and detailed the many variations of each verse in footnotes that turned out longer than the text itself. No one can quite agree whether to treat this resulting (multi-volume) “Critical Edition” as the essential Sanskrit Mahabharata tradition, or as some kind of strange, post-colonial Mahabharata scrapbook. All this so that whenever somebody wrote an essay about the story, there was a single text, pieced together as it was, to use as a point of reference. (My Bachelor’s thesis was one of the lesser works of this scholarly genre.)

The plot of the Mahabharata goes like this: The five Pandava brothers, namely the prone-to-gambling leader Yudhishthira, morally-conflicted archer Arjuna, lovable beefcake Bhima, and something-to-do-with-horses twins Nakula and Sachdeva, along with their badass wife Draupadi, are exiled from their kingdom and forced into a year of disguise after a rigged dice game that Yudhishthira loses, and in which Draupadi is stripped and humiliated before a hall full of men. Eventually the Pandavas regain what they lost through a bloody war that leaves both sides devastated and questioning the point of all this conflict. The End.

Does my summary reflect my biases a little bit? For somebody else, the Pandavas might be perfect heroes, Draupadi a whiny ungrateful shrew who won’t stop yelling at them. To me, she is the moral backbone of the Pandavas, unafraid to call for what she feels is right even as everyone around her takes the coward’s way out of trouble.

Interpretations of Draupadi from various traditions

But it’s not just me who has a take on the story: the Mahabharata itself reflects a range of interacting and conflicting views, which might indicate that people from various backgrounds heard it and were able, in some way, to influence it. For example, although the text generally upholds hierarchies of caste and gender, it also pulls at the listener’s heartstrings with stories of characters who must confront these oppressive norms.

There’s Amba, who is stolen from her future-husband at her wedding and rejected by him when she manages to return; she later chooses to be re-born as a man in order to kill her kidnapper in battle. There’s Ekalavya, the talented archer from a forest tribe who trains with the Pandavas in youth and asks to prove his devotion to his archery guru any way he can; the guru, who favors the upper-caste prince Arjuna, asks Ekalavya to cut off his right thumb. There’s Kunti, who finds herself pregnant after an illicit affair with a god and places her baby, Karna, in a river; Karna is adopted by a lower-caste charioteer couple and goes on to fight against Kunti’s legitimate sons in the great battle that destroys the universe. And there’s Satyavati, whose husband/baby daddy pretends not to recognize her in front of his kingly court but gets completely schooled on how not to be an asshole.

“You know very well [who I am], your majesty; why do you say that you don’t, lying like a common man? Your heart knows the truth, and knows your lie. A man who does something wrong thinks, ‘No one knows me,’ but the gods know. If you do not do what I ask, your head will burst into a hundred pieces.” She discoursed at length on the reasons why a man should honor his wife, quoting the dharma texts.

(from The Ring of Truth: And Other Myths of Sex and Jewelry by Wendy Doniger)

Perhaps, among the traveling bards and indulgent grandmas who told the Mahabharata over centuries, there were some who identified or empathized with the pain of oppression and through whom otherwise-marginalized voices could ring out into the millennia.

The many Mahabharatas, along with the many conversations inside the Mahabharata, illustrate how the human imagination is prolific and messy, not content with merely absorbing information but impelled to remake, to take inspiration, to create, create, create. Isn’t that what happens when we read? We see the world we are reading about in our own way. We make up something in our own head as we go along, and that’s where the entertainment lies. The book itself is but a wonderful tool.

Perhaps if I had a right-wing patron who paid me to tell stories, I would tell the Mahabharata a little differently from how I do here, focusing on how the Pandavas were self-made men or how the ethnic minorities they killed were thieving encroachers. Or if I were telling the story to children, I might leave out anything particularly frightening. In the telling of a story, the will and whims of the teller have influence, as do those of the listener (or reader) and the financial benefactor (or publishing house).

What remains inevitable, however, is that rarely is a story told the same way twice. Even in our post-printing press, post-internet world, where stories are replicated identically again and again, we continue to dissect, analyze, and change them, whether it be through everyday conversations, online forums, or the prestige lens of a critic’s review. (A perfect example is the adaptation of works from one medium into another, be it from literature to film or from film to theater.) Sometimes the authors themselves continue to tweak and interpret their work – Virginia Wolf was known to make changes to her books prior to reprinting, and we all know that JK Rowling can’t leave the Potter universe well enough alone (love you Jo!).

For me, fan fiction is a grand storytelling and textual tradition not entirely unlike the Mahabharata. Fan fiction not only illustrates the malleable, generative nature of stories, it also provides a rare space, in our capitalist global economy, for storytelling to be that malleable, generative thing it has always been. It allows for democratic engagement in the storytelling traditions of our time, free from the boxes of profit and ownership. It lets us expand the possibilities of our collective imagination. Importantly, it allows voices from the margins into the story, where our canonical texts routinely fail us.

I’m also thankful to fan fiction for being a rare space, outside overpriced college English classes, where literary discussion can thrive. When I say discussion, I don’t mean mere binary criticism – like book reviews, or the Goodreads star rating-aggregates that help determine book sales. I mean questions about how a text makes you feel, what it reflects or critiques about our world, the things that literary characters, beloved and abhorred, may teach us about our shared humanity and flawed choices. And yes, some of these conversations involve Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy as co-Heads of Hogwarts, using the same bathroom.

Are you a reader or writer of fan fiction? Have you you dabbled in fan art? Or do you engage in a non-online form of fandom, like a book club? Please share!

Thanks for reading.

[commandershepardvasfuckit]

Galaxies Apart Chapter 9!

Master post of all the chapters

Chapter 9: A New Home

Julie waved to the Resistance soldier by the freight lift on her way down to the labs to meet Ajaa for lunch. The soldier gave a nod as Julie boarded the elevator down to the planet floor. Ajaa had been emphatic about Julie being there on time right when his lunch began, though that was pretty typical for him.  He had assured her that morning that he had everything covered for lunch and for her not to worry about bring anything with her. He liked things to run smoothly, be on time, and be organized.

The elevator lurched to a sudden stop as it reached the ground and the doors scraped open into the storage bay that led out to all the science buildings. Several of the workers unloading cargo smiled or waved as she passed and she smiled back. Aya was friendly, or at least it was getting to be.

The agricultural lab was one of the last buildings down the path, a spacious single floored building surrounded by farmland that had become familiar to Julie in the last month. It was unlocked as usual and the comforting hum of lab equipment filled the air as she stepped into the lab.

“Thank the stars you’re finally here” grumbled Sivus, “Ajaa has been distracted all day and I’m pretty sure that he’s about to self destruct from anticipation”.

“Come now, be patient. He’s just excited that it’s been a month already” Paalka cut in, “Or do you not remember what it’s like to first fall for someone.I remember how you were right when we first got together” he smiled.

Sivus rolled his eyes but cracked a smile, “He’s in the side room as always, still working with those climbing stars”.

“Thanks” she nodded back. She knocked on the side door and opened it up, “Ajaa?” she called out.

“Julie!” Ajaa barreled towards her from across the room and swept her up into a hug, “Finally you’re here!”

“I’m here on time.”

“I know, I’ve just been a little excited” he was absolutely beaming in the dim light of the climbing stars.

“Yeah, I know. I think you’re driving Sivus a little crazy though.”

He laughed, it was rich and warm and Julie could feel the vibrations of it throughout herself as Ajaa still held her in the hug, “Come on my dear, I have something I want to show you”. He quickly released Julie and scooped up a bag before making his way back out into the main room, “See you tomorrow!” he called out to the others as they left the lab.

“Tomorrow? You’re not going back after lunch?” Julie asked.

“I took the rest of the day off, I wanted to do something special since it’s been a month” he said.

“An Ayan month” Julie added, “It was a month to me almost two weeks ago”.

“Mmm, but that’s Galactic Standard Time and we’re on Aya, so it’s only been a month today. And Galactic Standard hardly applies since it’s technically Galactic Standard of the Milky Way and now you’re in Andromeda”.

“Alrighty then. So where are we going?” she asked as Ajaa guided her off the path from the lab and into the forest.

“It’s a surprise, I thought we could have a little picnic”.

She let Ajaa guide her through the dense underbrush as he fussed over making sure that she did not trip over anything, though she was much more worried over him tripping over something.

“Just a little bit further” he said. They walked hand-in-hand for a while though Ajaa seemed a bit too excited and caught up in everything to make conversation.

“So I take it we’re not going to the clearing?” she asked.

“Not this time, but I think you’ll like this place just as much”.

Julie loved the clearing. They had visited it a few more times after the first time Ajaa had brought her there, though they had been a lot more careful subsequent times so that they would not have to call Sivus and Paalka down for help.

“Alright, close your eyes and I’ll guide you the rest of the way” he instructed her.

She let him guide her with careful steps the rest of the way until she felt the ground even out under her feet.

“Ok, open your eyes” he said.

It was another glade, but much smaller than the clearing. Large trees around the edges bathed everything in dancing shadows and there was a creek that trickled down a small fall into a reflection pool on the opposite side of where they entered.

“It's beautiful” she gasped.

“I thought it would be a nice spot for a picnic. I've been waiting for a special occasion to bring you here and I figured that making it a month without driving you crazy was a pretty good reason”. He was smiling and confident enough to joke, less nervous about being together now, which was a nice change for sure.

Julie wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. She felt the soft buzz of electricity on her lips as she pulled away, “I know you're joking, but I hope you really do know I don't think you're tedious or handful or anything”.

“I think I've figure that out” he said and kissed her back.

She closed her eyes and leaned up into the kiss. The feeling of newness had still not worn off for her, the rush and butterflies every kiss, still learning about Ajaa and the angara, all the pleasant surprises that came with any new relationship.

Ajaa pulled away and busied himself with the bag he brought, digging around until he found a large blanket and spread it out on the ground for them to sit on. “I hope everything is alright, I tried to find things we’d both like and I'm sure how I did, but I brought some back ups just in case”.

“I'm sure it'll just fine” she reassured him. He was always fussing over her, worrying if she was too cold while she was at his place, making sure she was always comfortable, anything he could think of really, though he managed to never be overbearing.

He started unpacking what he brought, all sorts of things wrapped in paper or stored in boxes along with all sorts of fruits. “So I did some cooking too, and I'd like to think I'm a fairly good cook though humans seem to have a different sense of taste so I guess we’ll find out”.

“Angaran or human cooking?”

“Oh stars, angaran cooking! I don't think I'm brave enough to tackle human cooking for now, but I did get a hold of some stuff I think you'll be interested in”.

Julie sat down next to him and leaned on his shoulder. She had gotten used to Ajaa’s need for constant physical contact over the last few weeks and now she felt a bit off without contact when he was around too.

The first thing he unwrapped looked like a few pieces of some sort of flat bread, followed by several containers of roasted vegetables and what might have been a type of beans, “According to Initiative data nothing here should be dangerous for you to eat, and I cleared it with your records to make sure you didn't have any allergies either. Oh,” he paused and looked over at Julie as his train of thought caught up with him, “That's not too weird or invasive, is it?”

There was a learning curve between humans and angara for sure. It had taken a bit, but it finally had sunk in for Ajaa that humans had more boundaries than angara did.

“A bit much, but not over the top. But I do appreciate that lunch won't kill me though” she kissed his cowl to assure him that it was alright, “So what all do we have?”

Ajaa went over everything. The flatbread was exactly what it seemed and was called tahaan , made from something called tahaa predictably . The vegetables were a mix of a few root vegetables, along with what Julie could only imagine what Ajaa was trying to explain to be a gourd, and various colorful chopped veggies. There was something similar to soybeans that Ajaa explained was staple protein for the angara, and a spread made from a different sort of bean that was for the flatbread.

“Quite a bit going on here” she noted as she took it all in”.

“Just wanted to make sure you got the full experience of angaran foods” he smiled back.

Julie watched as Ajaa ripped of a piece of the flatbread and dipped it into the spread and then reached into the containers to pile the vegetables on to it.  She followed suit and began putting a bit of everything onto her bread too.

Ajaa was watching her closely, waiting for affirmation that everything was good as she took a bite. The flatbread was almost sweet, but it was balanced out by the bitterness of some of the vegetables and there was a blend of familiar and new flavors.

“It’s good” she assured him.

A smile crept across his face as he leaned over to hug her, “Good, I wanted to make everything was perfect”.

The two continued their meal, Ajaa occasionally speaking up to talk about the different foods or angaran cooking. It was nice. Adjusting to life on in Andromeda and on Aya had not been easy, though having Ajaa and his friends sure did make everything a little easier, and now sitting there with Ajaa doing something as sweet and normal as having a picnic really did make Julie feel like she belonged there.

“I have two more surprises” Ajaa chimed up with a smile as they finished eating, “Close your eyes”.

“Should I be worried?” she joked a n d compiled. She heard him rustling around in the bag he brought.

“Open your mouth”.

She felt something graze her lips and tongue, something rough but familiar as she bit down on whatever Ajaa was excited to show her, “It’s a strawberry” she smiled, “How in the world did you get a hold of strawberries?” she asked and opened her eyes to see the little box of a few strawberries in his hands.

“You know how I’ve been sharing research data with the Nexus agricultural team? Well I’ve built of a bit of a rapport with them so when I mentioned that I was trying to find Earth foods for you they sent me a few of these as thanks for sharing my data with them” he said with a triumphant smile, “They’re part of the first harvest of Earth fruits in Andromeda”.

She wanted to cry. Finally something familiar in this new life, such a small gesture but the weight it carried settled in her heart and gave her such a comforting feeling. Ajaa was thoughtful, he was always trying to make sure she was happy and adjusting to everything and the fact he managed to get even just a few strawberries for her meant the world.

“Are you alright?” Ajaa reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m more than alright. I- I don’t think you know how much this means to me, but thank you’.

Ajaa pulled her into his lap and kissed along her cheek, “Then it was worth it, anything to make you happy is worth it”.

Julie held up a strawberry for Ajaa to try, wanting to share the moment with him.

“There will be other times for me to try them, they won't be the only strawberries in Andromeda. Take your time and enjoy them, but I do have one more surprise for you”.

The few strawberries did not last long, but in the nearly two months she had been in Andromeda it was the happiest Julie had been.

“Close your eyes” he said again and smiled.

She turned around to face him and immediately opened her mouth.

Ajaa laughed, it was a low rumbling growl almost, “I feel like there's a comment to be made about finding an easy way to get you to open your mouth”.

“Ajaa!” Julie yelled and smacked his arm.

“In my defense I didn't actually make the comment” he smiled and kissed her forehead, “but you're right, it's food. Open your mouth again and I promise not to make dumb comments?”

She obliged and waited for Ajaa’s next surprise. Something hard touched her tongue and it took a moment for the flavor to set it. “Chocolate” she smiled and opened her eyes, “Don't tell me you somehow got this from the Nexus team too?”

“The cultural exchange actually. I told them I wanted to better understand human culture to bond with my human girlfriend and wanted to find some sort of human sweets to try and somehow they found this for me” he said, giving the box a shake for emphasis, “Apparently chocolate is supposed to be a good way to win over a human”.

“You already won me over”.

“I know, but doesn't mean I'm ever going to stop trying to do the best I can for you”.

A new life but a good one, she thought to herself. Things would be alright in Andromeda, Ajaa was happy to do anything he could to comfort her, she had made friends here on Aya, and every passing day this new home felt less and less strange.

She threw her arms around his neck kissed him. It started soft and quickly deepened, her tongue pressing against his lips seeking entry that he happily gave her. She felt his arms tighten around her waist and pull her tight against him as he leaned back on to the ground. Her knees bumped against the ground as she settled on top of him but neither of them broke the kiss. One of his hands traveled up her back and he entwined his fingers into her hair while Julie moved her hands to stroke his cowl.

Ajaa pressed his tongue into her mouth with a moan. He was always vocal while he kissed, moaning and whining into her mouth while his hands gently explored along her.

He had not brought up sex after the first time it came up, and Julie was still not sure how she felt about it, but the kissing was something she had absolutely gotten used to. Every kiss had a tingle of electricity to it; it always started from where he was touching her, his hands, his lips, and spread all over leaving her with a pleasant tingly numbness.

“Julie”, he paused and began, breaking the kiss. He was looking up at her with such a soft look, a smile on his parted lips, “I love you”.

“I love you too, Ajaa” she plunged back into the kiss, deftly parting his lips and swirling her tongue around his. Her heart raced at his confession, not that she was surprised in the slightest, but there was still a rush from hearing it.

His hand still on her lower back pressed her down against him and she felt him roll his hips up against hers while he sat back up. She would be lying if she said the friction from it did not feel good, or that the sudden sting of his teeth on her neck did not send a jolt down her spine straight between her legs as he continues to roll his hips up against her’s.

“Ajaa” she whined, still very conflicted about how she felt about everything.

He froze, his lips still against her neck and suddenly very aware of everything as his train of thought caught up with him. “Sorry,” he muttered, “Got a little carried away”.

“It's alright” Julie reassured him. It was still a lot to handle even after an Ayan month. She still did not know a thing about angaran anatomy or if anything was even possible between them, which only made her more nervous. What if it's not possible? What if that makes it awkward? Julie climbed down off of his lap and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I actually have one more surprise” he said, “Not food though, something I want to show you” he stood up and offered his hand to Julie to help her to her feet.

Julie took his hand, happy to see that nothing felt awkward. She helped him tidy up their picnic and pack everything back up and followed him through the unseen trails of the forest as thunder began to rumble overhead.

It was a bit of a walk, and not through the easiest terrain. Sivus would have a fit if he saw this, Julie smirked to herself as the the two made sure not to trip over anything.

“Any guess where we’re going?” he asked.

“Not really, the only other place I've been to down here is the clearing so if it's not there then I have no clue”.

A few minutes later they reached the clearing and Ajaa had the widest grin on his face, “Notice anything?” he asked.

Julie looked around, everything looked the same. Same trees, same plants, same place. “It's looks the same to me”.

“Look closer” he nudged her into the clearing.

She began to wander the clearing, slowly making her way around the perimeter. Tree, tree, bush, tree, she paused as she found Ajaa’s surprise, “A swing! You put a swing down here for me!” she nearly squealed. It was hanging from the same tree they laid under the first time Ajaa had brought her down there and it was perfect.

Ajaa crossed the clearing and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, “I promised you I'd put a swing down here the same day I brought you here the first time, and now you have somewhere to remind you of Earth” he kissed the side of her cheek, “I hope it makes you happy”.

Tears welled up. Happy tears, but tears for sure. The strawberries, the chocolate, cooking for me, the whole picnic, and the swing! It was a lot to take in, but everything settled in her heart and gave her a feeling of comfort and warmth that she had not really felt since she woke up in Heleus. He cared a lot, far more than anyone else ever had, and Julie was not sure just what she had done to find someone like him.

“You are everything to me” he began, “We grew up 600 years and galaxies apart from each other, and it really does seem like the stars themselves sent you to me. I spent years trying to find someone who treats me like I am whole and as I gave up you practically feel from the sky. I hope one day to share my home and life with you if you feel the same about me, but for now I don't need any kind of answer, I just need you to know that you are the most incredible person I've ever met and the most precious thing in my life”.

Julie wiped some of the tears from her eyes as they flowed more freely and turned to bury her face in his chest and hug him back. She felt him run his fingers along her back as he pressed a kiss on the top of her head. Everything was perfect.

“Sit, I'll push you” he smiled and guided to the swing. It looked just like the one from the video she had showed Ajaa. She was not sure how he managed it, they spent most of their free time together so when he found time to go do this for her was a mystery.

If she closed her eyes it was almost Earth. The wood from the swing bench felt warm against the backs of her legs even as the storm clouds rolled in and the breeze was cool against her face as Ajaa slowly pushed her. “We should come down here more often” she told him.

“Anything for you”.

Julie dug her feet into the ground to stop from swinging and leaned back against Ajaa.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. Everything is perfect, beyond perfect”.

The way he wrapped his arms around her in a hug always made her heart skip beats even a month later as he held her while she sat on the swing. She turned her head to kiss his chest and stomach and she could feel his low rumbling purr as she did. He reached down and tilted her face up towards his and caught her mouth with a chaste kiss. His lips were always cool and soft against hers, something so different than what she had been used to but now she welcomed against hers.

She pushed the kiss deeper, turning her body to face him pressing her tongue into his mouth while she pulled him down to her. She loved the way he moaned while he kissed, how vocal he was while she stroked his cowl or did anything.

Ajaa lifted her from the swing and pulled her tight against him as he carefully laid down and sat her down on top of him. Julie straddled his hips, her knees on either of his body, and placed her elbows on either side of his head so she could run her fingers along his cowl. He always made sure Julie was on top on him, making sure Julie could stop things whenever she wanted and climb down without having to say anything and she was thankful for it, but for now she enjoyed how he felt under her.

His hands found their way to her lower back as before and were pressing her firmly to him while he ground his hips up against her. Julie buried her face into his neck, focusing on the rhythm he was setting and letting out a small moan of her own. It had been a long time since Julie had been with anyone, the last time had been even a while before traveling to Andromeda, and it was really starting to hit her.

She moved her hips in time with his, pressing down each time he rolled up to her. His lips found her lips at the same time his hand found her backside, both were firm against her. Her teeth bumped clumsily into his, the kiss becoming more desperate as she felt a familiar heat pool low in her belly while thunder grumbled louder overhead.

“I, we’re going to get rained out. I think” he panted, though he made no attempt to stop what he was doing.

Julie bit down on his lip before reluctantly pulling away. Being stranded in the rain and trying to make it back to the city while trekking through the mud was just asking for trouble, but she was not sure if she would have the nerve to continue if she stopped.

“Continue up at my apartment?” he asked.

She helped him up and brushed the dirt and leaves off his back, the uncertainty of everything was creeping back up though.

Ajaa smiled and nuzzled his face against her’s for a moment before picking his bag back up and taking her hand to guide them back out of the forest. He was cheerful as always, chatting animatedly as Julie remained lost in thought.

It’s been a month, over a month really on galactic standard time. You’ve slept with people way quicker than that, she mulled. It was true, though it was true for humans.

How can you still be uncomfortable about sleeping with someone outside your species? You’re the only one you know that hasn’t! And it's not like this is some random fuck, he loves you!

“-otherwise it's just pointless, you know? Julie? You alright?” Ajaa’s question jolted her out of her train of thought.

“What? Yeah. Fine. I'm fine” she said quickly, hoping to avoid any suspension.

He pursed his lips, clearly not buying it, “If something is bothering you, you can tell me. You know that”.

“It's really nothing, I promise”.

The look on his face said that he still did not believe her, “If it's about what just happened, we don’t have to do anything. Not until you're ready, if you're ever ready. Alright? We can just pretend nothing happened and go cuddle up and wait out the rain”.

Julie gave a nod, the most she could manage for the moment.

“Come on, you don't have to look so serious” he smiled, “I love you, I love what we have, anything more is just a bonus” all of his kisses were very reassuring, “We’ll head back up, I'll bundle you up in that blanket you like, make some tea, and we’ll watch more of the terrible films the Initiative brought over from the Milky Way”.

“I'd like that”.

“Then come on my love, we have a rainy day to enjoy”.

[smartalker]

Magpie Bridge [3/10 - Nenet]

ENTITLED: Magpie Bridge FANDOM: Mass Effect Andromeda - Reyes/Ryder RATING: M LENGTH: 50k via 10 chapters GENRE: Romance/Sci-Fi/Drama/Humor, in that order SUMMARY: With the Kett subdued and Andromeda’s terraforming system running at full power, Kadara Port swiftly establishes itself as the trade capital of the galaxy. The city’s unique combination of affluence, corruption, and growing power inevitably earns the ire of both the Nexus, and Aya. Under tremendous pressure to disavow a known criminal’s legitimacy, Ryder once again returns to Kadara hoping to broker peace, but the Charlatan wants something very different from her… ALT SUMMARY: Two people fall in love, galaxy breaks.

Suvi blinked herself awake, and her face relaxed into a dreamy smile. Ryder, handkerchief in hand, reached over to dab the bit of drool from the other woman’s mouth. “Thanks, Ryder,” Suvi slurred. She stretched like a cat, her toes pointing. “Mmm, Lexi. You have the best beds on this ship.”

Ryder felt it best not to mention that the ‘Lexi’ Suvi seemed to be talking to was a chair. “How’re you feeling? You’ve been out for almost twenty hours. I think you made Kallo cry.”

“He has a gentle spirit,” Suvi yawned. She snuggled back down. “Ryder. I highly recommend the fried barrel leafs. Oh. Did you get any video of me dancing? For science.” She smiled hopefully.

“Uh,” Ryder dragged out her disbelief. “I don’t…think there was any dancing? I heard from Kallo that you ate something, fainted, he dragged you back to the ship, and then Lexi yelled at all of us. We’re stuck eating freeze-dried casserole. Again. Also, Lexi thinks you might be naturally allergic to some plant enzyme that grows on Kadara.”

“No,” Suvi countered, in her lovely, musical voice. As often happened, Ryder became preoccupied with listening to the sound of Suvi speaking, rather than the actual words she was saying.

“I mean, it’s an allergy, you can’t really—”

“No,” Suvi said again. She yawned. “Will you tell Kallo I’m alright? He worries.”

“SAM’s on it,” Ryder assured. Suvi gave a happy little wiggle. She reached to clasp Ryder’s hand, drawing their fingers intimately together. She had very pretty, very slender fingers.

“Ryder,” Suvi breathed, “I just wanted to say, I know the rest of the crew think you’re making a big mistake. But I think you should follow your heart. It’ll lead you to where you would have ended up anyway.”

Ryder sighed. At least the delirious person believed in her. “Thanks, Suvi.”

The med-bay’s doors slid open, and Gil’s swinging, hoppy steps bounded in. “Well, well, well,” he began. Ryder could already hear the shit-eating grin on his face. “Alright, Anwar?”

“Hi,” Suvi welcomed gustily. Ryder sighed.

“Gil, be nice.”

“I’m always nice. Had a bit of a party, my fair lady?” Gil swung himself into a chair just beside Ryder, and bent his head towards the prone Suvi. “They have nice beds in here.”

“I know. I should get closer to Lexi,” Suvi whispered. Her dreamy expression sharpened into what Ryder could only label as sneaky. “If you know what I mean,” Suvi whispered. Gil chortled.

“Yeah, no. We both heard you.”

Suvi nodded, looking satisfied. “Good,” she said firmly, and settled back down. She might have winked at the chair she’d earlier mistaken for Lexi. Gil glanced at Ryder, now grinning.

“So what’re you up to with our invalid? Trying to probe for secrets while her defenses are lowered?”

Ryder rolled her eyes. “I have three purposes. One, I’m hiding from Lexi, and probably everyone else—,” she considered Suvi and Gil, “—well, you two are probably fine. But anyway, if there’s one place she’ll never think to find me, it’s gotta be in her own med-bay. Plus, if she does find me, she can’t yell at me without disturbing the invalid.”

“That’s me,” Suvi chimed in.

“That’s you,” Ryder agreed. She was still holding Suvi’s hand. The other woman had begun to stroke little circles across Ryder’s knuckles. It was actually pretty relaxing. Ryder continued, “That leads to my second purpose, which is to watch over Suvi just in case something ridiculous happens, thanks to her allergies and willingness to ingest foreign plants.”

“Atta girl,” Gil slapped Suvi’s thigh, with perhaps too much appreciation.

“I don’t have allergies,” Suvi told him.

“Finally,” Ryder wrapped up, “I was hoping that once Suvi shakes off the last traces of her delirium, she’d be able to look over some of the evidence from our current investigation.”

“She’s not delirious,” Gil protested. He was now holding Suvi’s other hand. “She’s simply reached a higher state of being. And I want to see the evidence too!”

“Is this about the cultists?” Suvi asked hopefully. “I like murder-mysteries.”

Ryder considered. On the one hand, she could potentially give her extremely drugged-up science officer some freaky hallucinations. On the other, she could make headway stopping a crazed murder cult that was most likely trying to kill her boyfriend. Her kind-of boyfriend. “SAM, get the terminal up with visuals.”

Accessing, SAM confirmed.

Lexi’s screens flickered to life, showing the green wall with its weird face carving. Looking at it again, perhaps thanks to the screen’s flattening effect, Ryder realized that there was more detail than she’d initially noticed. The carving’s eyes had been indented with pupils, which gave the face an aura of judgment, and disapproval.

“The Green Man!” Suvi shouted, almost immediately. She sat up, her pretty fingers tightening around Ryder’s own. She looked at Ryder with wide-eyed excitement. “Ryder! The Green Man!”

Gil squinted. “Green. Man. Check and check.”

“No,” Suvi breathed. “I get it. It makes sense. Well. If you’re an insane death cult, it makes sense.” She ripped her other hand free from Gil to point at the screens—Ryder, briefly, felt smug that she had been chosen as the maintainer of hand-holding privileges. “Look,” Suvi explained. “The Green Man is a sort of God, or spirit. He’s a watcher, something that appears from nothing. Usually associated with things like nature, judgment…or life, death, that sort of thing. Very scary. Sometimes he just watches, peeking out from the leaves—basically just an artistic motif, a sort of hidden image. Other times, he watches.”

Ryder watched as SAM clicked through the photos Reyes had taken. Green man. Green man. Green man. Little faces peering out of the rock. She wondered how the children’s bodies had been positioned, how their blood had been desecrated to hide the green watchers.

“What do you mean, he watches?” Gil asked. “Like a stalker?”

Suvi flapped her free hand. “No. Yes. Like, um, like a predator? Maybe. It’s very old. I think it’s more like he watches you, to take you in your moment of weakness. Because it’s such an abstract image it’s been borrowed by a lot of different mythologies. I think the first one—or one of the first? Whatever. One of the first ones was Dionysus. Not really my area of expertise.”

“SAM?” Ryder prompted.

Correct. The god Dionysus began as a god of life, death, and rebirth. At this time, he was known as Zagreus. It was only later that his existence changed to one of drink, performance, and sexual abandonment. The cult of Dionysus was one of the largest of its time, its practitioners frequently combined the two faces of this god through week-long parties many of which were thought to involve ritual human sacrifice.

“That fits,” Ryder conceded. Head computers were so helpful. “We should check out these bodies. If Suvi’s theory is right, there could be traces left behind from these rituals.”

“There could be traces left behind from anything,” Gil pointed out. “You won’t know until you scan them.”

Ryder shrugged, glancing back at the screens. Unexpectedly, she felt excited. She was on the right track. She had to be.

Suvi tugged on Ryder’s hand suddenly, and then leaned in to whisper. “Reyes Vidal,” Suvi paused, “His name means the King of Life.”

Ryder waited for SAM to offer a correction, but none came. She and Suvi simply looked at one another.

“What?” Gil said. He twisted himself over the table to join their conversation. “Hey. Don’t leave old Gilly out.”

“Just a weird coincidence,” Suvi explained, still whispering. Ryder’s mind was racing. It probably was just a weird coincidence—it must have been. She hadn’t even confirmed the Green Man theory yet.

Pathfinder, SAM piped up privately. On that same topic, it may interest you to know that during Reyes Vidal’s time as a pilot, he worked under the call-sign Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification and the underworld. Arguably, the three names he has operated under follow a pattern close to Officer Anwar’s theory.  

At some point calling something a coincidence became irresponsible. Ryder’s head was aching, and her stomach felt unstable with dread. “Thanks for all the intel Suvi,” Ryder managed to say. “You were really helpful.”

“Seriously,” Gil noted. “I thought you studied rocks and physics and botany.”

Suvi sniffed. “I am a very learned person,” she announced, and returned to sleep.

Usually, Ryder knew, one did not immediately contact the person one was busily being Righteously Angry at. Especially when what she wanted to tell him had to do with fanatic cults, loosely connected by a string of hocus pocus that was, in all likelihood, a crock of shit.

“SAM?” Ryder cued, “If you had to say roughly, how many mythological figures have some connection to life or death?”

Would you like to include fertility goddesses? How about plant life?

“It’s all of them, isn’t it?” Ryder rolled her eyes. “It’s totally all of them.”

Pathfinder, I would also encourage you to consider a number of male deities who may not have a clear association with the cycle of life, but who nevertheless remain strongly associated with the phallus—

“That’s fine. I spend enough time considering the phallus, thank you.” She rubbed her eyebrow. “Ugh. Empty your recycling bin or something, SAM. I can’t keep getting headaches like this.”

Launching diagnostics.

Liam’s head popped into view. “Are we talking about phalluses? Phallus-ez. Phallusi?”

Phalluses, SAM confirmed, via speaker. Ryder shuddered. Seriously time to change the subject.

“Hey Liam, want to look at some dead bodies?”

“You know it!” Liam beamed. “Am I the first you asked? Am I the cadaver A-team?”

For being the normal dude on the ship, Liam was pretty fucking weird. He was still talking, but now suiting up at the same time, even though it would likely be half an hour before they would begin prepping for deployment. Ryder, personally, was still nibbling her breakfast casserole. “I know we’re all about burning the dead,” Liam mused, “But you know how people used to get buried? What do you think the coffins would need to be made of, here on Kadara? I can’t imagine what the soil’s pH is like. Everything would probably just be, like, goo within a few hours.”

Ryder shuddered. “Thanks Liam.”

“Mm, pardon me—”

It figured that the two of them would go together. Jaal stood respectfully at attention, his hands clasped behind his back. “I couldn’t help but overhear that there’s to be an investigation into the murder victims. Several children were Angaran—I would like to be there, if possible. It will comfort their families to know they were not alone.”

Well shit. Like there was any way for her to refuse that. Ryder stuffed her face with casserole, wondering how to balance emotion and professionalism, with two species, at the same time. “Just me and the boys, huh?” she asked lightly. “Okay, let’s do it. But don’t push yourselves. You need to step out for a minute, just say the word.”

“Thank you, Ryder,” Jaal acknowledged, with a little bow. When he looked up again, his gaze was almost ferocious. “But I will not leave them alone.”

Thankfully, even Liam knew when to let a respectful moment stand. The three of them were prepped, suited, and back on the streets within the hour. Ryder took a few confident steps forward before wondering where, exactly, she was supposed to find the leading authority on forensic analysis and violent crimes—on Kadara.

“Perhaps we might start with the church?” Jaal suggested. “They should at least be aware of some funeral processions, and would have needed to collaborate with the morgue while the remains were transferring custody.”

“The church is good for something?”

“Liam,” Ryder growled. It was, actually, not a bad suggestion, and given that her only real contacts on Kadara probably counted as viable suspects, she was inclined to follow Jaal’s advice. “Okay. Jaal, please step in on Angaran relations. I’ll handle Milky Way species. Liam, make sure we don’t get shot.”

“Yes! A good plan,” Liam grinned. “Crisis specialist Kosta is on the scene.”

“But we aren’t on the scene?” Jaal looked confused. “Is this an idiom?”

“SAM, cue ambient noise,” Ryder said, pointedly.

One of the many wonders of Kadara, Ryder discovered, was that their church was run by a Salarian. She couldn’t help but stare. A Salarian in a habit. Ryder tried to think of a reason to take a picture that was not overwhelmingly rude—and also, how was she supposed to keep Liam from making the same request? The Salarian priest inclined his head towards them in greeting. “Welcome, Pathfinder and esteemed colleagues. May I ask why you’ve come?”

Liam looked excited, which was never good. Almost tripping over herself to answer, Ryder nodded back. “Thank you. We’re actually here on an investigation—it’s sensitive.”

“Of course. Follow me please,” the priest beckoned them, and they followed him into a small antechamber, spartanly furnished. The church’s interior had been surprisingly nice, with a nondescript dais, and rough, uniform benches. It seemed less a place of worship than one of contemplation.

“So.” The priest turned, lower lids blinking up. “Your investigation?”

“We’ll need to see some tax reports from the past few years—” Liam muttered. Jaal, thankfully, silenced him.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard,” Ryder began carefully, “But there’s been a string of child murders happening around here, and we’re trying to determine the cause. We were hoping that at least some of the victims’ families would have requested funerary rights.”

“Many of them did,” the priest said, with real sadness. “I can’t tell you a ratio, of course, I only know of the ones who come to me. The death of a child is unbearable. Many who have never walked with faith previously, become desperate to believe that their children have gone to a place of comfort. Adding to that…” the Salarian hesitated, his pained expression faltering. “Well. From what I heard, the way the children were killed…it was unspeakable. Horrific. I think that their families hoped they could find some dignity—some acquittal—by returning to tradition.”

“The victims were all burned?”

“Yes. The ones that I oversaw. The cremations were performed by the mortuary, not here.”

More difficult. She would have to rely on the coroner’s notes for analysis, rather than her own scans. Maybe there was still some unprocessed evidence waiting for her? The priest, seeming to sense her line of thinking, tilted his head and asked, hesitantly, “I’m happy to give you that contact information, but would you like me to call ahead?”

“Please,” Ryder demurred. “And ask if they have any bodies that are still awaiting cremation.” She turned back to her team while the Salarian made his call. “What do you think?” she whispered. “Dead end?”

“If they haven’t got any bodies left, I say we put a pin in it. We can swing back later to collect the files,” Liam whispered. “The way he was talking, sounds like the murders were brutal, lots of carnage. We should go to the last kill site, see if there’s anything left for the scans to pick up.”

“Excuse me?” the priest interrupted. He was shaking his head. “They’ll be expecting you, but I’m sorry to say that the last victim was recovered five days ago. Her remains were processed this morning. I’ve sent you the contact information.”

“Thank you,” Ryder answered, trying to mask her disappointment. “You’ve been very helpful.”

Jaal suddenly stepped forward, his eyes shining. He held his hand out to the Salarian priest, who took them. Jaal had to clear his throat before speaking. “Thank you. For your respect. It has helped. I hope their souls have found peace.”

The priest’s gaunt, alien face suddenly softened. “Me too,” was all he said.

Another call to the mortuary revealed that they, thanks to Kadara’s size and lack of infrastructure, were essentially entirely responsible for handling Kadara’s dead. They managed forensic analysis, detailed case files, cremation, and transfer of remains or evidence to both law enforcement, and families. They were overworked, underpaid, and stretched to breaking from lack of resources. Many people died in Kadara Port, and a lot of those deaths were from foul play.

It was, all in all, a pretty terrible call.

“They do not seem happy to hear from us,” Jaal noted, as Ryder hung up. She sighed.

“At least we got our nav-point. SAM, set location. We can worry about what they’ve already processed later—we should be focusing on the evidence that’s already disappearing now. Let’s start with the most recent kill-site.”

“Police-procedurals in space!” Liam sang, as he and Jaal followed Ryder to the Nomad. Jaal, who had been unusually solemn since their meeting with the priest, paused as he was climbing into the backseat.

“What is a police procedural?”

“Did I already explain television? Sitcoms?” Liam tried cutting off Ryder to take the driver’s seat. She Judo chopped the back of his neck without breaking stride.

“Sit—oh. Yes, you have.”

“Police procedurals are about law enforcement solving mysteries. Usually there is a lot of sexual tension between partners—I mean, sorry, cops are usually assigned partners for safety reasons. They go through a lot of shit together, get pretty tight. On television there are a lot of hot young people who partner up, ideally both single and open to a usually heterosexual relationship.”

“Seat belts!” Ryder barked. The boys kept talking. Liam, as usual, was suspicious when it came to seat belt use.

“But I don’t understand,” Jaal was arguing. “Terrible murders and drug rings are not conducive to a romantic atmosphere. If you are to court someone, you must first relax them.”

Liam groaned. “I don’t know Jaal, they probably added the romance because they thought it would draw in more female viewers.”

Jaal seemed offended. “That is ridiculous. The romance is obviously the more interesting story line, as it spans across multiple seasons. The murder is solved within forty-five minutes. Why are you watching?”

Ryder sniggered through Liam’s stupefied silence. Finally, the crisis specialist pulled through. “Alright. You have a point. Love makes the world go round. One day, once I grow out of my toy soldiers, I’m sure I will realize and appreciate this.”

Jaal nodded, with real sympathy. “It is not an easy transition. I would encourage you to take your time.”

Liam groaned and kicked his feet around. When one such kick collided with the back of her seat, Ryder swiveled back to glare. Doing so made her feel like a mom—was Liam older than her? She refused to entertain the possibility. Looking appropriately chastened, the boys settled down, and they spent the next several minutes in a comfortable silence as the Nomad bounced off of Kadara’s many obstacles.

Liam cleared his throat. “So. Since we’re on this topic. About Vetra.”

Ryder blinked. “What? What about Vetra?”

In the rear-view mirror, Liam was looking suspiciously casual. “You know. She’s cool.”

If by cool he meant totally fucking rad. Ryder twisted to squint at him. While driving. Whatever. The Nomad could totally take it. Liam, as expected, already looked guilty, but Jaal was also doing weird things with his face.

“What is that? What are you trying to say?” Ryder pointed at Jaal. “Out with it.”

“I, ah, I also think she is cool.”

“Oh my god!” Ryder yelled, just as they plummeted off a cliff. Jaal and Liam, who could see through the windshield, looked terrified. Ryder, who wore her seat belt at all times unlike certain individuals, remained confident in her vehicle. “Seriously!” she kept yelling. “Seriously? You’re both crushing on Vetra!”

“Please let me drive,” Liam begged.

“No.” Then back to both of them, “Both of you! I guess we’ve found it—the common ground between humanity and the Angara! It’s Turians!” a momentary pause, “I mean, I can hardly fault your taste—”

They smashed into what Ryder would have liked to call a landing. Experience kept her from biting her tongue off. Jaal and Liam reached to hold each other’s arms at the same time. Ryder kept her foot firmly on the acceleration. She checked her navigation system for a half second to be sure they were still pointed due north. “This is fantastic!” Ryder screamed. It was literally perfect. On top of feeding her own amusement, a love triangle’s dramatic entanglements diverting her crew (along with Suvi’s inevitable seduction of Lexi) could only serve to shift the focus away from her own poor choices.

Liam and Jaal both suddenly screwed their eyes shut, whimpering. Sure enough, the Nomad abruptly collided head-on with one of Kadara’s absurdly oversized boulders. Ryder lurched forward, her seat belt catching her painfully. “Okay. My bad.”

“I sometimes wonder,” Jaal wheezed. “Are you even licensed to operate vehicles?”

“I’m the Pathfinder,” Ryder said immediately. “I have all the licenses.”

Liam groaned. “Unfortunately.”

Deciding she was uninterested in hearing further criticism, Ryder rolled out of the Nomad and began surveying the area. Unlike the alley in Kadara Port, most of the kill sites had happened out in the wastelands—all of them, strangely, about the same distance from Port itself, as SAM had been quick to note. From her call to the mortuary Ryder had learned that due to the remoteness of location, it had sometimes taken up to a week for the body to be found and reported.

This particular location looked like an old Outlaw camp. There were traces—old fires, some trash, a stolen Initiative bunker, easy to set up, easy to take down. It would be hard to carve a face into a metal alloy meant for space stations. That shit didn’t break.

She was looking for the green wall. Jaal and Liam knew about the green wall, and the face. But they didn’t know about the Green Man. Ryder swiveled slowly, now squinting. “SAM, see anything?”

Perhaps on the other side of that boulder?

Ryder began walking, her scanners out. There was an overgrowth of green lichen on the boulder’s far side, which briefly excited her—but no face. She kept trying, adjusting her angle, hopping up on her toes—when Jaal suddenly shouted. She rushed to his side, gaze following the direction he pointed.

“That grass. It’s been burned.”

Ryder didn’t understand, at first, until SAM’s scanner suddenly chirped. A second later, SAM borrowed her omni-tool to project his composite overhead view—the burns were, of course, a face. The green face. And there was something else too—a dark circle that ringed the face, a trace of bio-remains placed, systematically, perfectly.

Liam, looking at the projection, now scanned the ground around him. “No way. Pathfinder, we’re on top of them.”

Hurriedly, Ryder canceled the projection, throwing her scanners back up, pointing to the ground a few meters from where she stood. SAM chirped a confirmation. Trace amounts of human remains detected. Female. Eight years old.

Dread made her hands clammy. Ryder swung the scanner wider—follow the path of bio matter, which lit up beneath her sensors. Trace amount of human remains detected. Trace amounts of human remains detected. Eight years old.

The child’s body, obliterated, now forming a perfect circle at least ten meters in diameter.

“They tore her apart,” Liam said from her side. Ryder felt sick. Liam reached out and, gently, pushed her scanner back down. The three of them stared at the silent, drifting grass. “They killed her here,” Jaal said quietly. “On top of the face. The rain has washed most of it away but the soil is rich with iron, where she bled. It helps the plants grow.”

“Later,” Liam muttered sternly. Ryder swallowed.

“Jaal, was there—was there a picture? I mean, her blood. Reyes said that always they covered the face with a picture.”

Jaal paused, clearly thinking. “I don’t…think so? It would have been hard to tell.”

Numb, Ryder wandered over to where the face was burned into the grass, and activated her scanner. Jaal was right—the trace amounts of bio remains were less obvious here, disturbed by the fire and the rain. The soil composition was different in the place where the girl had bled most heavily, but other than that, no clear pattern or recognizable shape emerged.

Pathfinder, SAM suddenly chimed. The ground is freshly planted. Scans indicate that there are a number of seeds growing below. In fact, they are close to sprouting.

“What kind of plant is it?”

Hedera, commonly known as Ivy. Needless to say, the species is not native to Kadara. With enough time, the plants will cover all traces of the Green Man. Finally, I would like to note that the positioning of the seeds themselves are a perfect overlay of the constellation Taurus, the bull.

“Hey,” Liam’s hand fell on her shoulder, and she spooked, leaping away from him. Liam let her go, only watching. “We should get out of here,” he said. “You’ve got enough.”

Ryder licked her lips. “Yeah. Okay.” She followed him, trudging back to the Nomad. “SAM, any of this fit with Suvi’s theory?”

Dionysus is heavily associated with Ivy, the Bull, and death by dismemberment.

“Oh, cool. So all of it fits.” Ryder wondered if being proven right actually made her feel any better.

Additionally, the other face of Dionysus, Zagreus, can be simplified as a god of Rebirth. The circle, for obvious reasons, falls within this pattern. An argument could also be made that the circle is meant to symbolize a serpent, which is another Dionysian motif.

Ryder threw Liam the Nomad’s keys. For once, she did not want to drive. “Let me guess. The reason all the kill-sites are the same distance from the center of Kadara Port is because they’re drawing a big, bloody circle around it?”

SAM did not answer. Liam started the Nomad. For several minutes, they drove in silence. Ryder pressed her forehead against the window glass, her eyes closed. The Nomad bumped gently along.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Jaal spoke hesitantly. “But perhaps you could have Liam drive more often?”

Ryder ignored them. “Drop me off in Kadara Port,” she ordered. “I’m seeing Reyes.”

Both of them looked like they were about to say something. Ryder put an end to all dissent by hissing, “Vetra.”

She had a headache again. He could always tell. The skin around her eyes got tighter. “You should see a doctor,” Reyes said, by way of greeting. “When something’s hurting all the time, you’ve got a problem.”

She ignored him, swallowing. Something was wrong. Him? “I’m sorry about yesterday,” Reyes said—or shouted, he had to shout over the bar’s music. She winced. The lights were probably killing her. He took her wrist, pulling her away and out the back door. The night air was cold, if sooty. He waited to see her relax. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“What?” Ryder blinked. He could feel, in her wrist, the barest thought of resistance. He held on more tightly. She stared up at him, looking lost. Something was wrong. Her gaze cleared. “Oh,” she laughed, shakily. “That. It’s fine. I’m not here for that.” She licked her lips, and this time when she pulled on her wrist, he let go. “I’ve been looking into the murders. It might be a load of shit, but so far my admittedly circumstantial evidence points to a creepy death cult.”

“That’s too bad. I was hoping for a death cult that wasn’t creepy.”

Ryder sighed, too loudly. Exasperated. It hadn’t been an easy day. “No, I mean—I think something’s off. I think, it might be a message. For you. For the Charlatan.” She divulged further, going into detail her findings, their mythological connections, the patterns—all of it. And he listened, more to her fear than the facts, remembering again why he hadn’t wanted to involve her.

She was sweating, hair freed from its usual ponytail. Messy. He had thought, fantasized, about seeing her like this, but now that the moment had arrived, it disturbed him. The way her hands twitched, how she’d been biting her lip since the moment he’d seen her. He caught her arm, stopping her from pacing, trying to stop everything.

“Listen. There are bad people on Kadara. But—”

“Don’t patronize me,” she snarled. “Bad people on Kadara. Please. There are bad people everywhere. Like I’ve—like I’ve never seen a murderer before. God.” She paused, dragging herself in. “Sorry. Rambling. I meant—be careful. I came here to tell you to be careful. I think they know—they suspect—who you are. I don’t know. I just have a really bad feeling.” She had captured whatever emotion she’d allowed to escape before, now slammed the lid on it. She smiled, though only with her mouth. “Did you know you have a pretty grandiose name?”

Reyes smiled. “I didn’t choose it myself, if that’s what you’re implying.”

She just stared at him, slowly shaking her head. “Please take this seriously,” she mumbled. “Even if you think I’m totally wrong.” She reached up to rub her left eyebrow, kneading at it. There were strange and beautiful things on the other side of the universe.

He wondered, for a moment, how things would change if he’d stayed an ordinary man.

“We should get out of here. Just this once, with full innocence, I think you should lie down.” He wanted to roll her up in blankets, in darkness, in locks. He wanted to protect her. The thought made him nervous.

The look she gave him was withering, but weak. “Where do you even sleep?” she asked him. They were failing. He could see it on her, the way her body had begun to pull away from him, always braced for impact. He didn’t want to think about that.

“Would you like to see?”

“Actually, yes,” she said. She didn’t blush. She refused to be teased. She just looked at him. “Yeah, actually, I would like to see. Maybe it’d help me believe that you’re a real person.”

Her insistence made him wonder. But her life was easy to imagine. Most ships looked the same, and he’d spent a decade working them. Minimalist décor, uniforms, good paintjob. He should brush her off. He should distract her. She looked at him like she was already disappointed.

“Alright,” he said. He hadn’t meant to. Too late now. He wasn’t the sort of person who went back on a dare. “Alright. Let’s go.”

He turned before she could see his face. She had to rush to catch up. “Really?” she asked, her voice almost sparkling. “Really? For real, though—you’re not just going to take me to some hotel, right?”

“I considered it,” he answered. That long, slender body, so new. He wanted to bury himself in her, to flatten his hands against all her young, unmarked skin, claiming the things he touched, saying this is mine, this is mine, this is mine. Reyes looked down. She was there, just beside him, biting the edge of her lip. Still. Almost bloody, now. His hand reached up despite himself, his thumb untucking her skin from her teeth. “Did you know how hard I tried to make you like me?”

She was pretty. She kept getting prettier. “I mean. Obviously.”

“I’m usually pretty patient, so I’ll just warn you now. You should be careful,” Reyes said mildly. “The more chances you give me, the more I’ll think about just taking you.”

She only took his hand. “Great,” she said. The fine muscles around her eyes were tightening again, a return to tension. To pain. “That would be great.”

As promised, he led her up to the rooftop apartments, to one of the many nearly-identical apartments he kept. It was nearly empty, without ceremony or character. He didn’t spend much time in any of them. They were all registered to different names, different bank accounts. For some reason, he told her as much.

Ryder sat on the edge of his bed, then fell back. Her eyes closed. He stood, watching her breathe. “Your mattress sucks,” she complained. “Some crime lord. I guess you wanted power more than money.”

He started to reply, then faltered. Had he wanted power? Power had always felt more like a circumstance, a tool. He sat next to her, and her eyes opened as the mattress dipped below his weight. She waited.

“I want you to stay,” he said.

“I’m a long-term rental,” she joked. He lay next to her, pulling his fingers across her hairline. Her eyes closed again, as her head rolled toward him.

“I know,” he said. He could smell her; sweat and metal and ozone. Something musky, a man’s cologne. Something sweet. Her breathing was slowing down. “Stay with me,” he said again.

Very slowly, she shook her head. Her eyes opened. “My crew’s waiting on me,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have been so long. They can’t go back to the Tempest without me.” But she lay there a moment longer, just looking into his eyes.

“I could walk you back?” he offered. She sat up, rolling out her shoulders. He wanted to see them, under her armor. He wanted to give in, but not before she did.

“No,” she said unsteadily. “No, that’s fine. I can get back on my own.”

When he’d been an ordinary man, repeating the same day, he used to smoke. He missed it now. Reyes smiled, watching her leave. “You see? You never needed me at all.”

The journey back was short, but hard. The headache Ryder had been fighting all day was reaching its crescendo, overwhelming her. She couldn’t bring herself to speak to Liam or Jaal, both of whom took a turn catching her arm when she stumbled. She couldn’t stop thinking. Anubis, The Green Man, Zagreus. The King of Life. The cycle of rebirth. Those little bodies, chopped to pieces. Something, that curled up around the heart like a worm, like a disease. Like ivy.

Liam said something. It was hard to hear him, hard to think of dealing him. Ryder waved what she hoped was a comforting hand in his general direction, already staggering towards her quarters. She just wanted to lie down. Reyes was right. Doctor, for sure. First thing in the morning. As soon as she felt better.

Ryder had barely made it to her cabin when her headache, already unbearable, mutated into something worse. It felt like her mind was under attack from a biotic, as though some foreign, malevolent spy was forcing their way inside. The buzzing was back, but louder than it had ever been before, jamming her ears as though a real, physical veil had blanketed her. Ryder crammed the heels of her palms hard against her eyes, disguising her whimper as a hiss. “SAM, what—what are you—are you installing something again, or—?”

P-P-Pathfinder, I have—failure to—synchronization levels exceeded—

She couldn’t see. Blindly, Ryder threw one hand out, and lurched forward until she felt herself connect with a wall.  She fell forward, distantly aware of her own limbs, her body curling on itself. “SAM!” she could hear herself yelling, but distant, though water. It was more that she could feel the vibrations of her own voice, in her jaw and her throat. “SAM shut it off!”

—t—predict—scenarios are—idal—t-t-t-t-t-t-t—

She saw. A flash of someone’s ankle, smashing into the ground inches from her nose. Reflexively, Ryder rolled away from the missed collision, and her head cracked hard against something, a pain that came with the sound of a bell ringing and then—

—t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t—

Figures that moved without real form or purpose, mannequins that came around corners, but she could see their guns, and she could see—Reyes, with his hands raised in surrender, but something unknown and resigned in the way he walked forward, arrogant but beaten and then a hard sound and then his chin came up and his head jerked back, and she saw the moment he lost his gravity, his body gave out—

—t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t—transfer error. Prediction forcibly terminated.

Pause.

Pathfinder?

Ryder remembered herself. Pathfinder. Ryder. Sara. Her head was in agony, her eyes and nose both streaming. She was afraid to move, afraid of more pain. Slowly, she lifted one arm, and felt carefully beneath her hair to check for blood. Her fingers found the spot, soft and wet.

I have called Lexi, SAM reported. Please wait for assistance. It is recommended that you do not move.

“Did I just have a seizure?” Ryder whispered. She felt herself shaking, a sort of post-nausea trembling. Her chest felt cold.

No. There was a problem.

“No shit.”

My predictive matrices for combat installed incorrectly with your brain. Synchronization spiked just now at 237 percent. The only cause I can determine are the unique characteristics of your individual brain. You evidently have exceptional observation skills.

Through the cheek she had pressed against the floor, Ryder could feel footsteps drawing closer. “SAM, what does that mean? What happened?”

Our artificial and organic information processors temporarily merged during a period where you experienced extreme stress. The stress, which is meant to act as an organic cue to trigger combat predictions, forced our joined systems to simulate a prediction into the future, based on what data we have presently observed. The subject, naturally, was the cause of your stress.

“SAM what does that mean?!” Ryder yelled. One of her eyes was fucked up, swelling shut. She couldn’t remember hitting it. The door to her quarters was opening, Lexi was in the room, throwing herself to the floor, med-kit in hand.

Current predictions indicate there is currently an overwhelming probability that Reyes Vidal will die.

“Ryder? Ryder, it’s going to be alright. Don’t be afraid,” Lexi soothed. She was pressing something cool to the back of Ryder’s head, against the soft, wet spot.

“No,” Ryder whimpered. Her throat was closing. Lexi leaned over her, probing her neck for a pulse. “No,” Ryder said again, and fainted.

[darknesscall-rp]

✖ full name: Liam McKinnon ✖ age: 24 ✖ preferred pronouns: He/him ✖ affiliation: Neutral (order of the phoenix supporter) ✖ occupation: Professional Quidditch player ✖ blood status: Pureblood ✖ former house: Gryffindor

✖ checked information (x) ✖ face claim: Scott Eastwood

(recollected by Rita Skeeter. Sources can be less than reliable.)

✖ Have you seen him? He’s so nice and handsome and funny, and he plays Quidditch like a god. It’s hard to believe he’s even real! ✖ The McKinnon’s very own golden boy. Must be hard for any of his siblings to grow up under such a shadow. ✖ He’s broken so many hearts it’s ridiculous. One day someone will come and set him on the right path. Otherwise he’ll always be a player.

Liam McKinnon was brought into the world under the light of a shooting star, or at least that’s how his mother tells the story. The son that his father wished to have, Liam was raised as the first of the next generation of McKinnons. The title came with liberties that afforded him plenty of freedoms a traditional upbringing of a pureblood would not have accommodated for. And as a child, he freely exercised his freedoms, and leaned against the warm boundaries and took the warmth to heart. Running shirtless in the back garden, scraped knees, dirt under finger nails – all characteristic of an afternoon in the McKinnon home. For a household that did have standing and wealth, the McKinnons did little to flaunt such privilege. But rather, Liam lived a comfortable, even charmed lifestyle, presented opportunities and willingly taking them with two hands.

In such a warm and generous environment, it is not difficult to see how such a home raise a well-tempered man. A confident man whom had long ago determined what he believed was right and wrong. He stood firm with his family and their stance regarding blood purity, and even being labelled a blood traitor, Liam was prepared to defend his family at any turn. Though he was certainly not the free spirit of the family, that title to bear rested firmly with Marlene, Liam had his spirited nuances, a similar passion burned within Liam, but it rarely reared its head past the Quidditch pitch.

It was once he had began his education at Hogwarts did the attention begin to find him, no matter what he did to down play it. Expectations were set high before he had set foot in the castle - his father being a notable member of staff in a professional Quidditch team, his mother being a former actress. A number of people were surprised to meet a simple boy, with simple ambitions as the son of such parentage. Liam had set himself three simple tasks to achieve during his time at Hogwarts: do what leads to happiness, be just and fair to all, and be a friend to those who want one. His genuine warmth and modesty that seemed to charm many put him in the amicable sights of some, others found him as someone to be wary of.

For a boy who didn’t wish to stick out, he did little in action to help his cause. He found himself comfortable with his school work, and having the time of his life after making the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his Third Year. He even stuck out as one of the tallest in his year, his limbs seemingly too long for his body until he returned to Hogwarts for his Sixth Year. By which time, he had been appointed Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a post he had long revered. The least favourable point of attention that he bore was that of his romantic pursuits. It seemed as though he had cultivated a reputation that he never wished to bear. Simply, his prior relationships had not been sustainable, for one reason or another. And with the likes of his family, the press and the Pureblood community watching over his shoulder with his romantic life, Liam had long ago let go of the dream that he could live a private life. He does his best to not let the prying eyes bother him, and continue living his life as he wishes, allowing his whims to lead him to travel the breadth of the globe at a moment’s notice.

Only a smattering of detentions during his Hogwarts career. Most for snap decisions in his adolescence. A few others for being caught out of bed past curfew, with company. But for the most part, his school record is compiled with doting comments of professors for his manners and attention. Some professors commented that he is more daring than he leads many to believe, but only those who know him best would notice what lay behind the Golden Boy image he seemingly epitomised.

A hard yet fair captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Liam despised losing, his competitive nature underscored his unwavering desire to win. He guided the Gryffindor team to numerous successes, and even managed to catch the attention of a few Quidditch commentators in the UK professional league. Following his graduation, he met with a number of teams, trialled for as many as he could. But all offers for Chaser places paled in comparison to the meeting he had with Montrose. The team he supported ever since he was a young boy, the team his father would aid and care for, the players he grew up trying to keep up with as a boy by the side of the pitch, watching his father at work. He could not have put ink to parchment any sooner, as he signed as their rookie intake for the year.

His debut year at Montrose was filled with expectations, most placed by Liam on himself to contribute to the team he loved so passionately. It was a difficult transition, to be a Chaser in a professional team coming from his humble roots in Hogwarts. And yet, he excelled. With the support of his sisters in the stands, and the assurance from his father in the wings - he soared. His debut gained him notable attention, past that he ever could imagine. He believed he had reached his peak in attention when he scored 60 points in a match against Slytherin, and had a party thrown in the Common Room. But to have press chatter about him, and to have people recognise him was a rude awakening for an otherwise simple boy. Liam leaned on his family for support during this time more than any, relying on their unconditional support and their humbling words, as he battled being in the public eye. His father remains his harshest critic, and Liam respects his honest and fair assessments more than anyone’s. His family keep him grounded, when it would be very easy to believe in his own hype and float into the realm of fame.

As he gained more experience, and became a regular fixture in the Montrose starting line up, Liam began to learn how to work off of the pressure and expectations, channelling the nervous energy he felt into his playing. This year, following the retirement of his idol, his captain, he was given the responsibility to lead his team into the season as their new captain. A young choice, and yet, Liam has greeted the challenge with open arms, and broom in hand. Although he considered taking on the captaincy to be the largest forthcoming challenge he could anticipate, the world around him as begun to shift in a way he and his family have dreaded ever since being labelled Blood Traitors. He finds himself at an interesting cross roads, one where his friends and family are throwing their behind a just cause. He isn’t prepared to take up arms just yet, ever hopeful that a peaceful resolution can be found. But as time continues, and the tensions escalate, he is finding it more difficult to sit on his hands and remain hopeful.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody: Best friends. Fabian, Gideon Prewett: Close, partners in crime, Marlene McKinnon: Younger sister, incredibly protective of.  Andromeda Black, Alana Goodwin, Gwenog Jones: Old flames. James Potter, Lily Evans: Sees them as his younger siblings. Lucius Malfoy, Sebastian Travers: Intense dislike.