#anyway. what a great idea not to include her in the first shipment!

[sallieraptor]

lol omg thank god finally a Vaggie yout0oz. it was about fucking time

[rayofsunas]

pretending you’re not his s/o. [1]

A/n: happy Thursday!! whew, the week is almost over thank goodness. I hope you’re all doing well and thank you for being patient while I knock out these requests <333 Scaramouche’s is long for obvious reasons (I simp) ALSO thank you for 800 followers, I hit that milestone yesterday ahagdwcsh omg I’m growing so much wtf. thank you all :) <33 

Summary: the boys having to pretend their s/o is their secretary, maid, friend, etc. (someone other than their s/o)

Parings: Childe/Reader, Venti/Reader, Kaeya/Reader, Diluc/Reader, Albedo/Reader, Aether/Reader, Xiao/Reader, Chongyun/Reader, Xingqiu/Reader, Scaramouche/Reader, Razor/Reader, Bennett/Reader, Zhongli (fem and gn mixed)

Warnings: violence tbh (in Scara’s especially chile), swearing, crack, angst?, fluff

Word count: 1.7k

Requested by bestie @mintydump​ 

Refuses (tells people you’re his s/o and compromises the mission)

Childe: for some odd reason, he was sent out by the Tsaritsa to retrieve a man who was impersonating one of the eleven harbingers and you were to go along. she said men were much more willing to follow along, if there was a beautiful woman promising affection, etc. the only problem was, to win over the impersonator, you had to pretend to be Childe’s co-worker. he hated this idea, and the minute he left, he reassured you he would not call you his partner unless it was romantically. so hell yeah, he’ll compromise the mission and will return without the impersonator. he does not care, you’re not his co-worker. he’ll just be like, “sorry, next time send me alone.”

Venti: jean why... ofc you'd be great company duh, but why did you need to be his babysitter on this expedition?!? sure, Venti may look like a child, but this was stupid! he’s loose-lipped anyways, so he’ll accidentally let it slip to whoever that you’re not his babysitter and that you’re his s/o. he’ll be like, “oops.” with the biggest shit-eating grin. he doesn’t care though, you’re not his babysitter grrr. 

Razor: he also accidentally lets it slip you’re his s/o. hunters were after him and his friends, you included (you’re human, he considers you family though, therefore wolf) and he just yells, “don’t touch my mate, GRRR” before ya know, ending them lmao. it never crossed his mind that maybe it wasn’t in his/your best interest to say what you were to him. other hunters could be nearby listening and then target you at a later date. but, tbh he will worry about that another day. as long as you’re safe now, he’ll always be there to protect you. 

Refuses (he doesn’t refuse the mission, but he refuses calling you someone other than his s/o/he won’t say if you’re his s/o or not.) 

Kaeya: he definitely won’t be calling you anything other than his s/o but he also won’t offer this mission to anyone else. he’s more than capable and he can do this without you having to be in danger too. if someone asks who you are, he’ll just cooly respond with, “none of your business.” and move on. he’ll use that whenever someone asks who you are. even if someone gets a little pushy, he won’t use anything to clue them of your relationship.

Xingqiu: he was supposed to borrow steal a book from someone. he needed it for personal purposes lol; it would be great for his collection. and from his understanding, the person who has it wasn’t using it. though you were confused on why he needed to break into somewhere to retrieve it. you just happened to be with him when he broke in, he says it was an accident that you were there, but tbh it’s all part of the thrill and his mischievousness. despite Chongyun warning him that he shouldn’t have brought you, he still did. and when the person who owns the book whips out a sword and then asks why you were brought along if you seemed timid and unreluctant to steal, Xingqiu’s response is, “well she’s my girlfriend! duh.” cue deadpan. legit no hesitation.

Scaramouche: this mission is happening no matter what. the Tsaritsa’s life is on the line; highly trained assassins from all over Teyvat were sent into Snezhnayan territory to kill her. she could protect herself, but Scaramouche was feeling feverish for battle; he was one of the more unhinged and dangerous harbingers, she entrusted this task upon him. he never turned down a mission. plus, it’s your fault you’re even here. why are you here again!? he left you home in Inazuma days ago. also... who the hell was looking after your daughter if not you...?? when you caught up with him once he was well away from Liyue Harbor’s docks (so he couldn’t force you to get back onto the ship, smart) you told him you weren’t some housewife and you missed the thrill of adventure, so you snuck on the ship too. he wasn’t sure how you got on in the first place without alerting The Kanjobugyo (you’ve snuck out before, so he’s told them not to let you leave, though he assumed you used your former title of a Fatui to gain clearance) let’s just say he’s not happy you’re here, but he’s not turning back now, he’s determined to end this. in the end, he kills all the assassins (ofc). on your way back to Liyue Harbor, arguing about why you’re here (you’re losing), another assassin comes out of the shadows; intent on killing the both of you. he’d managed to grab the end of your hair in his fist and was going to slit your throat. Scaramouche will say, “don’t touch my wife, you insolent scum.” he doesn’t have a problem telling those who have a death wish of your intimate relationship, because they’ll die in the end anyway; therefore to him, it’d be like they never knew. 

Zhongli: not many people know you’re his s/o anyways, so if he has something to do, especially dangerous you’re not coming along. he’ll make sure of that. on missions or something, he refuses to call you anything other than his s/o, but if he can’t/wants to keep it private he’ll call you by your name. if you’re facing off against someone, he’ll be like, “y/n, please watch out, I’ll handle this.” he never wants to put you in danger, and tbh even someone threatening who knows your name is a risk, but if they ever found out that you were not only his s/o but the s/o of an Archon? yeah, you’d be on a hit list just like him. 

Accepts (he will do this and won’t ask any questions)

Diluc: sorry y’all, but once this is discussed in full and you agree, he’s going to accept it. this mission is important. it’s not often people travel into Inazuma, so he was very lucky his wine is sold there and that he has a popular, well-known name. shipments of his wine weren’t making it into the borders and he was to find the culprit behind it; someone was stealing obviously. you were to go along with a few other soldiers and when jean told him it would be safer to call you his maid and not his fiancé, he agreed. you wouldn’t be a target that way. if anyone wonders why he took his maid, he’ll just say, “she’s to travel everywhere with me.” don’t worry, after the missions over he’ll reassure you he doesn’t think of you as his maid, definitely not. he’ll apologize profusely. “please don’t think of yourself that way, you’re not my maid, I adore you very much, sweetheart.”

Xiao: he already doesn’t go around calling you his wife or telling just anyone, only the Archons know and the fallen Yaksha once knew (you’re one of the female Yaksha) so being talked into this wasn’t a big deal at all. before, he didn’t run around Liyue telling people about your relationship because you both enjoyed the privacy. but now, having to call you his fellow Yaksha who’s been working alongside him for centuries, kinda feels like he’s ignoring or not acknowledging you. sure, you do hold the same titles (Yaksha) and yes you’ve known eachother for centuries, but really, you’ve been together for centuries. if you’re not bothered, then he doesn’t mind. but if you are? he’s very apologetic and will repay you in some way. “you’re not a weakling, you have no reason to worry.” he needs to do this task, he’ll never turn away from the people and if you have to be known as your Yaksha title to him and others, so be it. 

Chongyun: it’s not that he doesn’t want to call you his s/o. it’s just he’s a quiet guy and never has told anyone about your relationship; only Xingqiu knows. so he has no problem introducing you as his friend to absolute strangers, especially if you’re okay with it. if you’re not and tell him, he’ll be sure to never call you a friend again. he’s really looking out for your safety, people can be two-faced as he’s learned from Xingqiu’s fantasy books. he wants to protect and keep you safe, and if you need to be addressed as his friends a few times then that’s how it’s going to go. 

Accepts (he’ll accept but he has so many questions on why and hates it)

Albedo: he will accept if there’s a logical reason. for example, if you absolutely need to come because you’re his assistant or something and can offer your expertise, he will accept. but if you have no need? you’re not coming, please stay home. the whole time, he hates this. yes, you’re his assistant irl, but you’re his s/o, not just an assistant. it makes him sick that he has to call you that tbh, even if it’s your occupation. but it’s necessary for a lot of reasons you two have already discussed. after the mission is complete, he’s never going to stop apologizing. “love, please do not take what I said to heart, you’re not just an assistant.”

Aether: he has to be talked into this a lot. once kaeya and jean tell him the seriousness and importance of seeing his sister again, especially after all they’ve discovered about her, he’ll agree. no matter how much he hates calling you his travel partner, he has to. his sister has turned to the dark side for whatever reason and this meeting already is risky enough. if she finds out you’re his girlfriend, who knows how she’ll react; she’s very unpredictable now, a little unhinged even. but it does hurt to have to call you that, let’s be real. he never wants to say or hear that ever again.

Bennett: he knows he’s quite unfortunate, so you going with him on expeditions is just stupid and you could face something awful due to his bad luck. you go either way though, what a good s/o :) he almost slips a few times, especially facing off against a few lowlife Fatui. but then you remind him of the dangers of doing that and you’re immediately just a friend/member of Benny's Adventure Team. pls, he hates this so much, like why can’t he call you what you are?!? he’s constantly like, “well why can’t I just say you’re my s/o already? they won’t harm you as long as I’m here!” ?!?!?!? HE JUST DID?!?!?!?!

2.25.21, rayofsunas 

[petri808]

Nalu Yakuza Au *cover art by @jmoart214 💜

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |

This chapter came out a little longer than usual. lemony teasing

Natsu’s secretary called her boss from the front office. “Mr. Dragneel, Mr. Avatar is here.”

“Thank you, Ms. Kinana. Send him in.”

Because no one in the organization was a computer whiz, he contracted with an independent IT person who was recommended by Yura. The guy, Jerome Avatar wasn’t skittish, didn’t care who he worked for as long as it paid well, and generally had a pleasant demeanor. As the accountant, Yura was in contact with Jerome the most, but for any major issues or changes, those had to be cleared with Natsu first. It was mostly quick, in and out of the office dealings.

Jerome shook Natsu’s hand over the desk before taking a seat.

“So,” Natsu questioned, “what brings you here today? Is there something I need to approve?”

“No, nothing new. I asked for this meeting because I came across some intelligence you might be interested in.”

“Oh?”

“I learned that your rival Heartfilia had been in contact with a new cyber security client, Mikage Kaishā who’s into a lot of shady dealings with government contacts.”

Natsu shrugged his shoulders. “Sounds like just a typical client for her, probably has her launder money for them. I don’t really pay attention to her clients because we deal with different things. But I do appreciate you telling me.”

“Should I keep an eye on them?”

“That’s fine if you believe it’s worth it. And if you learn about anything that could hurt us let me know immediately. By the way, how did you find out this information?”

“A friend in the field told me about it, then I hacked into Heartfilia’s computers to authenticate the information.”

Natsu sat forward in his chair. “You hacked into her computer? I’m surprised her employee didn’t catch that, cause I know she’s good at this stuff too.”

The man grinned. “Well, not as good as me.” He pointed to Natsu’s laptop. “If you’d like, I can set it up so you can access her system from your computer too.”

“Oh, I don’t want to tamper with her company—”

Jerome waved a hand nonchalantly to stop him. “I wouldn’t advise it either, if you touch things, that’s what’ll get attention, but you can watch what’s going on. Keep an eye on her calendar, meeting dates, whatever you want.”

Natsu sat back, rubbing his chin. The offer was a very tempting one indeed. A chance to stalk his ex through cyberspace… someone must have mentioned to this Jerome guy their history. It wasn’t exactly hidden, but not something talked about either amongst lower ranking employees. This wasn’t the first time Jerome had brought them intelligence info, so maybe he was looking to increase his usefulness, climb the ladder so to speak? Being connected to a powerful Yakuza house was certainly handy, and what better way than to tap into such a personal subject.

“That could be interesting,” Natsu finally responded. “Alright, what do you have to do to set it up? And make sure it’s nothing I could screw up accidentally cause I really don’t want her to find out.”

Jerome looked at his watch as if calculating his options. “I could do it now. Might take me about an hour if you can go without the laptop for that amount of time.”

“You have to take it back to your office or something?”

“No,” the man shook his head. “I can do it right here, so I can explain along the way.”

“Perfect.” Natsu then called his secretary and requested she double his lunch order due to an extended meeting.

While the computer tech fiddled, Natsu just sat back with his meal, watching him work. Math wasn’t his strong suit— nor academics for that matter. Growing up, his father had always told him he would be next in line as boss, so he only learned what he needed to for that world. One needed strength, cunning, street smarts, not book smarts. Though he had to admit the things these hackers could do was scary when you thought about it. Lucy was lucky in that her best friend was just a wiz at language— including computer languages. It all looked like gibberish, but the woman interpreted it almost like a savant. According to Jerome, from what he’d seen so far, Levy was not yet at his skill level, but that could easily change with time and experience like he’d been through.

“Natsu you—��� Gray paused his knock on the doorframe. “Sorry, I thought the meeting would be done by now.”

“It’s fine, Jerome is hacking Lucy’s system for me right now.” Natsu responded with a grin. “Now I’ll see what she’s up to in real time.”

Gray groaned and ran a hand down his face in disgust. “I’m not even gonna respond to that. But I will tell you I told you so when it blows up in your face later.”

“Tch. She won’t know, right Jerome?”

“She shouldn’t unless you touch something.” The man answered while continuing to type.

“See. It’ll be fine.”

“You’re an idiot. Anyway,” Gray waved a hand nonchalantly as he left, “call me when your free to go over the new orders.”

“It will be fine, right?” Natsu asked Jerome a second time with a bit of anxiety in his tone.

Jerome stopped typing. “As long as you just observe they shouldn’t see you, just don’t get excited and touch something.”

“I don’t plan to; not like I’ll know how to do that anyways.”

“I’m almost finished, but do you want me to turn on her web camera so you can see through it?”

“But she won’t see me?”

“No, for you it’ll just be like watching a one-way video feed with image and audio.”

After a momentary pause, Natsu’s eyes narrowed with a mischievous grin. “Do it.”

Being able to see Lucy every day and feed his addiction was just too tempting, ‘I’m turning into a junky.’ But Gray’s words entered his mind. What if the man was right, could this bite him in the ass later? Probably… Though how bad could it really be? He really had no plans to interfere with Lucy’s business, just her personal life— and yes, he knew it sounded horrible. What right did he have to stalk his ex? None. ‘I just worry about her, is that so wrong?’ Lucy’s tough, but she’s just a woman and their world didn’t always treat women fairly. His desire to protect her bordered neuroticism, but could anyone blame him considering the underworld they worked in. ‘I’m just doing it to protect her,’ Natsu justified it to himself. Guys like Gray who haven’t fallen in love yet, ‘they just don’t understand.’ If anything were to happen to Lucy, he didn’t know what he would do. Probably move Heaven and earth and kill any in his way for what they’d done.

It took just over an hour before Jerome finished installing the spyware and making sure the systems were still secured. Just a one-way mirror that Levy shouldn’t catch unless really digging for it. Another 20 minutes were spent explaining to Natsu how to do the accessing part, including pulling up the webcam whenever he wanted to. “Or just leave it running,” Jerome noted. “It’ll just show up in this window,” he pointed towards the screen, “and as long as you don’t log out completely from your computer it’ll stay open.”

“Who turns off their computers?”

“Actually, it’s a good idea to turn them off now and then so any software updates can be completed, but since I manage your systems, there’s not really a need to.”

“Great.” The two men stood up and shook hands. “Thanks, Jerome.”

“It was my pleasure.”

When Natsu arrived each day at headquarters, the first thing and last thing he did was check to see if there was anything new or interesting going on Lucy’s side. It was like being hooked on one of their products, because the high it gave sucked him right in. But so far, he also stayed away from the video feed. Looking through her calendar or emails were cold and impersonal, but maybe the video was too close, too real, too much of a moral dilemma in crossing that line of a peeping Tom. That didn’t mean his addiction may one day require more feeding…

October had rolled around, and the air outside grew crisp and cold. It was a beautiful time of the year with the color changing leaves, reminding that winter was soon upon them. How quickly the time sure flew. The Dragneel Yakuza clan had already started preparing for their end of year Bonenkai to happen in mid-December. This plus the Shinnenkai in January were the two biggest parties the clan threw for all their members. The first is to forget the stresses of the past year, while the other was to welcome a successful new year. Natsu spared no expense on the food and drinks to take care of the loyalty and hard work their members contributed. From the emails, he knew that Lucy’s group had also started preparing for theirs. ‘Maybe I’ll crash her party,’ he mused to himself. ‘Oh, what’s this?’ His eyes fell on a new email of an appointment reminder for the next day. It was for Lucy’s monthly massage at an upscale spa. Natsu checked his own calendar and noticed he had nothing booked, no meetings, no shipments arriving— a perfect opportunity.

The next day, Natsu went to the spa early and spoke directly to the owner, paying them a nice chunk of change to allow him access and to play along. Lucy was scheduled for 2pm and arrived right on time. So, as he waited behind the scenes, the receptionist acted like normal and directed her inside. She had a regular masseuse, something Natsu knew he couldn’t fake upfront, so that person stood inside the room to greet her.

“Welcome, Ms. Heartfilia. I’ll step out while you get ready. Please lie on your stomach like normal.”

“Thank you, Kenji,” Lucy smiled. She’d been coming here for a couple years and was aware of the routine. The male masseuse had strong, but gentle hands and knew her body well by now.

Natsu had to admit he wasn’t happy to find out Lucy’s regular masseuse was a guy but held back from lashing out. He didn’t want to do anything to mess up this adventure— and oh, he planned to have his own revenge. It wouldn’t be as sexual as the soapland incident but knowing many of her trigger points meant he could do a bit of damage well enough. Now, Natsu had noted that Kenji’s voice was a bit deeper than his own, which would be difficult to fake, but the man explained he didn’t do much talking while working and played relaxing music during the session. Perfect. Natsu could just hit play and not talk at all.

“Ready, Ms. Heartfilia?” Kenji called out through the closed door.

The muffled yes was heard, and the man stepped away, leaving Natsu to his business. He entered the room and immediately turned on the pre-set music, a light instrumental with Asian undertones. It was quite pleasing to listen to. And there Lucy was under a silk sheet to cover her naked body, with her arms up and crossed, head perched on the relaxed hands, and hair up in a loose bun, revealing her beautiful neck. Natsu almost shuddered at the sight and knowledge he would get to touch her skin… it was the one thing she didn’t allow him to do at Soapland— touch. His grin grew as he rubbed his hands together to warm them before making the first move.

He moved the sheet to uncover Lucy’s lower half, up to the thighs, then applied a film of scented massage oils to his hands with a few drops over the taut muscles along her long legs, chasing the dripping liquid along her skin to smooth them over. His hands glide through several passes to the swell of her ass, then back down again all the way to the ankles, fingers applying pressure against the tendons and ligaments to gently work out any tension it encountered. Lucy sighed wispily as his hands massaged each foot, squeezing, smoothing, paying attention to each digit and every curve. His thumbs applied pressure at the arches, kneading the tight knots there from wearing heels all day long. He stayed focused on the area, her toes curling and flexing as the mewls leaching from her show their pleasure, until Natsu felt the knots give and relax away.

“Mmm, you’re getting good at that Kenji,” Lucy purred with a little huskiness in her tone.

Natsu grinned to himself as he lowered the sheet back down, so she stayed warm and moved onto her supple ass. Using both hands, he took his time to knead each cheek through the silken fabric, using his fingers to follow the gluteus muscles, starting near the leg, and following the swell of her curve upwards, slowly riding the fibers looking for any knots or tense areas. One cheek, then the other paying loving attention to and listening to the sounds Lucy made to clue him in on where to go. Every sigh a notch in his belt, each mewling purr a win. Natsu grew bolder, fanning out his thumb each time it got closer to her thighs to touch…

“Oh, Kenji,” Lucy whined, “you’re being a naughty boy today— keep it up.”

‘What?!’ Natsu’s hands paused and tensed for a split second before catching himself. Does Kenji mess with her too?! He shook his head and finished up in the area quickly trying not to let such thoughts stop him. ‘Just focus…’ Natsu grumbled in his head.

After applying more oil to his hands, he moved the sheet down to reveal Lucy’s back and for a second time, Natsu paused on what it contained. Her tattoo�� It symbolized… he took a deep breath and dropped more oil on to the skin, willing away the memories breaching his mind. He didn’t want to think about it, not now. It was too painful.

“You okay, Kenji?” Lucy questioned as if noticing the slight pause or tremble in the man’s hands.

Natsu mumbled a soft Mmhmm and dived into the massage so Lucy wouldn’t grow more concerned, missing the uptick in the corners of her lips. He slowly smoothed along the skin using the base of his palms for pressure, each hand following the muscles, moving out from the waist, up the center of her back, and flaring out towards the sides just below the shoulder blades, repeating the same movement, each time increasing the speed while lessening the pressure. Next, he targeted the upper back and shoulder blades, an area he knew Lucy held a lot of tension from carrying the weight of her voluptuous bosoms. With precise ministrations, Natsu applied careful pressure with his thumbs and follows the curve of the blades up and around to the top of the shoulder. He then searched with the pads of his fingers for any knots along her trap muscles, moving up along the spine and fanning out to the top of her shoulders.

“Oh, yeah, right there,” Lucy mewled when he reached a specific spot.

The area around her spine, between the shoulder blades held the most tension and knots from constantly holding the upright, flexed posture that wearing heels will create. Her wispy sighs signaled the release of her tense muscles, bringing another wave of pride swelling in him. Natsu continued onto her neck, his strong hands kneaded the supple flesh, fingers palpating and soothing all the knots. Her neck too, held a few tense areas, especially around the base of the head, so he did his best to melt them away. He worked through Lucy’s mewls and moaning sighs, almost sexual in nature, aroused and a little heated in the face knowing his handiwork brought forth such sounds. Ugh, how he wanted to hear more of it! Lucy putty in his hands and spread between his thighs, calling out his name…

“You’ve gotten better at this… Natsu,” the cocky teasing tone, snapped him out of his dream.

“Natsu?” He tried failingly to disguise his voice. “I’m Kenji, Ms. Heartfilia.”

“Uh-huh. You think I can’t tell the difference Natsu?” Lucy quipped back with a chuckle. “Kenji’s routine is very different. Plus, I knew the moment I smelled your cologne.”

Busted.

“Tch. Well, if you knew it was me all along, why’d you let me do this?”

“Making you work is my payback.” She settled back down, relaxed on her arms. “Now, chop, chop, finish the job.”

This little minx! He was the one supposed to be torturing her this time, not the other way around! “Fine, kitten.” Natsu gritted out a smile and took hold of her neck again to placate and lull Lucy back into thinking he would go along. He massaged the sides with the tips of his fingers Both hands wrapped around, and his thumbs pushing up through her hair against the muscles on the back of her head.

“If only you’d taken care of me like this before,” Lucy mumbled.

Natsu paused and leaned over her ear. “Why not let me take care of you now?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“No, I don’t know the answer, that’s part of the problem!”

Lucy sighed. “Natsu, I don’t want to fight right now. I’m here to relax, not fight. If you’re done, then leave and send Kenji back in.”

“Oh, yeah. Why? Because he’s another one of your boy toys? He gonna be naughty again with you once I leave?!”

“Pfft, I said that knowing it was you, idiot.”

“I think you live to torture me, Angel. But you’re right. I don’t wanna fight right now either, so—” Natsu leaned down quick and latched his mouth onto the area between her shoulder blades, sucking hard.

Lucy squealed and reached back frantically trying to claw at his face, but he grabbed her hands, knowing if she struggled any harder, she risked completely exposing herself. He held her for a few seconds, and once satisfied he’d achieved his goal, let go.

“Natsu! Did you put a hickey on me?!”

“This Angel,” he trailed his fingers over Lucy’s tattoo as he spoke, “belongs to me. Will always be mine,” he whispered close to her ear. “You know it, I know it, and your boy toys will know it too.”

“I hate you.”

“Nah,” Natsu stood up and covered her back up with the sheet. “You hate that you don’t hate me. It’s okay. I still love you too. See ya around kitten.”

Natsu heard the woman’s sigh as the door closed behind him and smiled to himself. He knew she didn’t actually hate him, their relationship was just complicated at the moment, never love the actual problem between them… Though, it had been a dick move to give her a hickey, but that’s what Lucy gets for leading him on like that. She could’ve just stopped the massage immediately if she knew it was him all along, so to let him go through the entire process, it was tit for tat— and hey, at least it’s only temporary.

‘It’s your move next kitten…’

[yeetussfetus]

square up

ok so this is the piece i was talking about and basically it was something for chrismas (in the story its called life day) so theres that. more notes at the end ig

warnings: fighting, cursing, alcohol, drinking, c h a o s

words: 2205 (damn)

Eli was too tired for a “meeting” with anyone today, but he still decided to hear Agent Kallus out. After all, it was rare that the imperial officer even asked for anything, so it must have been something big. 

And while, technically it wasn’t as big as Eli predicted, it still was something he found weird.

“Please, Eli, I don’t care what you have to do, just please help me out this one time!” Kallus was almost about to drop to his knees begging, and what for, you might ask? Life Day was a little more than a day away, and it was on a Friday. Of course, everyone had thought it would be a great idea to plan a Life Day party for the meeting instead of their usual bullshit, but it didn’t go as planned. 

The last meeting was full of angry names, curses and one (1) knocked out director. So, of course, the only people who had planned the party peacefully were the only ones who made the final decisions. Which, of course, was you, Eli and Yularen. Kallus wasn’t present at the meeting, and Pryce had passed out early throughout the meeting, so neither of them were able to even plan anything. This is where Eli's problems began. 

Kallus was actually looking forward to the Life Day celebration, because, in his own words, “It’s a festive day, what’s more to like?” Eli had a sneaking suspicion it was for something else. And he was correct. Since Kallus wasn’t present at the meeting and wasn’t elected to plan out the party, he had no say in what they served, including drinks, food, and most importantly, the type of alcohol. This is why Kallus was begging Eli to help him smuggle a certain type of beer onto the ship for the party.

Eli pinched the bridge of his nose while he spoke, “Why can’t you just do this yourself?” Kallus stopped for a moment, before continuing, “This particular… the beverage is, well, technically, prohibited in official Imperial territory because its known for being produced by rebellious groups.” Kallus saw how Eli was grabbing his things, probably to leave, so he rushed to the doorway to block Elis only escape.

“HOWEVER,” Kallus continued, “I have placed a shipment to arrive near a docking bay at the next planet that we are heading to. All I need is a distraction and I can bring the shipment aboard.” Eli still looked skeptical, but Kallus intervened, “Not only that, but the shipment is small, only about the size of the meeting table, so it won’t even get in the way!”

Eli thought for a moment, wondering what he should do. “Why do you even want this beverage at the party, anyway? What’s so good about it?” Kallus straightened up, before he said, “I have tasted this drink before it was classified as illegal, and it was the best thing I have ever tasted. I can assure you that this sacrifice will be worth it.”

Well, usually when it's about food, Kallus has terrible taste, but when it's alcohol…

Eli sat for a moment, wondering if he should take up Kallus’ offer, and thought of the benefits and liabilities. Finally, he answered Kallus. “Alright, I’ll make a distraction for tomorrow. What time will the shipment be here?”

Kallus showed a face of relief, before he finally responded “Yes, thank you! Oh- the shipment is at 0900.”

Eli nodded and watched as Kallus walked out of the room with surprising confidence. Eli picked up his datapad, only to realize one thing: Who was going to distract an entire cargo bay? At this he suddenly regretted his decision. He set his datapad down, wondering who he could trust and who was someone willing to even do that. Thrawn? No, he isn’t particularly fond of Kallus. Pryce? Would probably use it as blackmail for something. Yularen… yeah, no, he already gets hungover. That left only you. 

He made a mini checklist that would help him determine who would be best for this task. You were someone he trusts. You would definitely be willing to pull it off. And you definitely could distract an entire hangar. He pulled out his comm and pulled up your number, and started to call you. When you answered, you appeared to be sitting at a table. You looked to someone off screen and asked them to give you some privacy before turning back to Eli. “Eli, what can I do for you today?”

Eli shuffled a bit, before asking, “I was wondering if you could help me distract a hangar bay for some beer.” You tilted your head, and asked “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Eli explained, “Kallus wants to drink a certain beer that's been prohibited by the Empire for the party on Friday, but he still ordered some and they’re going to arrive on the moon we’re landing on tomorrow, and he needs a distraction to bring the drinks in the ship. I was wondering if you were able to distract the hangar while he smuggles the shipment into the meeting room.”

You sat there for a moment, and finally responded with, “Fuck it, I’m bored.” Eli smiled and said his goodbyes before pocketing the comm and walking out of the room towards his post for the day.

-------------------------------------

You had already gotten a plan, somehow. It wasn’t your best, but it still was a plan. One of your good friends, Pryce, was talking about how she had to settle a dispute with two stormtroopers that were angry at each other over something, something about it was about a woman named Elisa. The first part of your plan was to acquire a datapad that one of the stormtroopers who was in the feud used quite often and make a fake conversation. You took note that his name was Trenk.

You walked down the hallway, towards the stormtrooper quarters, and stopped at a living area. It wasn’t lavish, but it wasn’t disgusting, either. It was modest. You saw two people in the room itself, and then the same two started to argue. You made your presence known, and as they both were about to throw hands, they saw you enter the room and immediately stopped. You smiled and asked, “Hello. I see that you two are busy. However, I need a datapad from this particular core. The higher ups have noticed some security breaches, and they need some form of evidence to prove their theories. If you have one, or if you know someone in this core to have one, please tell HR.” You were about to turn around when you saw one of them pull out a datapad and hand it to you. You smiled, “Thank you. This will be returned to you in the morning, earliest 0800.”

And with that, you left and started phase II of your plan. When you walked into your office, you pulled his messenger tabs and looked for this ‘Elisa’, and finally found her. Looking through the messages, you found a few that were a little more spicier than the others. You screenshotted them, and then edited the dates to more recent times. You smiled and then put the datapad down for the next part of your plan. You looked at what was going to be picked up that day, on the planet, and made sure that the placement of certain items were going to be placed in a certain way.

With that, you returned to your normal duties until the next day.

-------------------------------------

Walking towards the hangar that was picking up items and disposing of others, you saw the trooper who was having the fight with Trenk walking towards his post. You rushed up to him, and held out the datapad. “Trooper, thank you for your contribution- Oh, I see you're not him. Hmm. Well, I saw you with him, so if you could give this to him when you see him, that would be appreciated.” You turned around, and then followed it up with, “Oh, and when you see him, please tell him to refrain from using Imperial property for his personal use. That might lead to another data breach and its unprofessional.”

The trooper looked back at you, and while you walked off you were able to hear his angry tapping trying to find out what you were talking about, and since he only saw one of the screenshots, he wasn’t able to tell they were edited. He cursed and rushed past you, towards the hangar.

You watched as he turned the corner, before comming Kallus, sending him “Now would be a good time to smuggle your drink on”. You strolled past some troopers to see what was about to go down.

When you did reach the hangar bay, you noticed that the chaos had already started. Both troopers had thrown hands with each other, but this caused some of the items that were being disposed of to knock over which somehow caused another fist fight. Then you noticed that one third of the hangar was just fighting each other. The other third were just trying to stop all the fighting, and then finally the final third were cheering the fight on. And in the corner of the hangar, you saw a tarped hover cart was pushing its way towards the entrance.

-------------------------------------

Thrawn looked through the security cameras, watching as chaos erupted in the hangar. He saw one person body slam somebody. Another grabbed someone and threw them against two other people who were fighting with each other. Tarkin snickered behind him. Yularen was worried about the cargo, and Eli just stared in astonishment as he saw chaos unfold. He knew you were good at these things: he just didn’t realize how good you were.

Finally, he saw Thrawn reach over to speak on the PA. “This is Grand Admiral Thrawn, if you happen to be in hangar bay 6, please refrain from punching your peers, there is cargo that still needs to be delivered. I repeat, hangar bay 6, refrain from punching your peers. There will be court martials for those who do not comply.”

Slowly but steadily, the four men saw that people were being pulled apart and medics were able to rush in to help the injured. Of course, nothing too serious, but it was a complication in the day. Eli looked at Thrawn, who looked like he just wanted to be swallowed into a hole, while Tarkin was just refraining from laughing. Yularen just pulled out a flask and downed the bottle.

This was going to be a long day.

When the Chimera was able to get back into space, everyone had to attend a mandatory meeting where Thrawn stated that if there was a problem with another peer that they worked with, it was better to work it out without fighting. You just sat in the back, smiling.

-------------------------------------

“Damn, Kallus, you really pulled through with these drinks.” You took another sip of the beer that he had brought. It was only your 2nd, since you weren’t an avid drinker, but everyone else was either wasted or just drunk. You yourself were starting to feel woozy. Kallus smiled and took a sip of his own drink. He was starting to get a little drunk himself.

“You know, you’re not supposed to be starting fights.” he said, watching as the others talked amongst themselves. “I know, but then we wouldn’t have any beer would we?” you held up your glass, offering a toast to him. He did the same, and then you both drank the rest of your glasses. You were about to continue the conversation, when you saw Thrawn slam his glass on the table and stumble over, point to Kallus and say, “Square up, bitch.”

Kallus looked surprised for a moment, before asking, “E-Excuse me, sir?” Thrawn stared right into him with anger in his eyes. “Your being too friendly with my wife-” “Sir, she isn’t your wife-” “not YET-” “Thrawn, it’s fine, here, lets go and-” Thrawn finally reached Kallus and just straight up punched him, knocking the blond down, and then just start beating him up. You leaned against the wall as Kallus regained his composure and then grabbed Thrawn's collar and tossed him away before getting up, grabbing his shirt along the way, and then hurling him onto the table. At this point they had everyone's attention. Deciding to document this, and placing it in the wondrous hall of “Times Thrawn should’ve taken his own advice”, you posed in the camera, and then took the actual picture. 

Not looking at the fight in front of you, you study the photo and see Thrawn and Kallus beating the shit out of each other, Yularen panicking, Eli trying to get Thrawn to stop, Pryce posing since she saw you taking a photo, and Tarkin and Krennic seemingly betting on who was going to win. Vader was just standing in the corner. You titled the photo “If you have a problem with your peers, please attempt to try and solve the problem diplomatically.” you saved the photo and then put your drink down to go and help your boyfriend.

-------------------------------------

ok so this was actually really fun to write ngl bc halfway i was like “i should just throw this out” and then i watched the meme that made me want to write this and i was like “nah just finish it” so heres the chrismas present. its for u pls take it lmao. 

i need to go to bed. anyway im gonna go eat some tamales goodbye i love you 

edit: tagging @fallenrepublick bc ik u like chaotic shit

[silvokrent]

So since Tyrian's arrest screen didn't list everything he was wanted for, what else do you think he did? My brother thinks arson, I think more along the lines of torture.

It’d probably be easier to ask, “What crimes didn’t he commit?”

I think you’re both right. Arson and torture seem like equally valid possibilities, but they’d have to be the result of context and circumstance. On one hand, Tyrian always struck me as someone that’s adaptive, flexible, and capable of improvisation, which is why I doubt he’d be averse to either. On the other hand, Tyrian appears to have a modus operandi—speed and stealth. Like most Faunus, seeing in the dark (presumably with tapeta lucida, the eyeshine a lot of nocturnal and crepuscular animals have) affords him an advantage many of his victims lack. That, coupled with his stinger, sets him up by default for a very specific tactic: hit-and-run assassinations. Catch your target off-guard, deliver the killing blow, then melt back into the shadows before anyone’s the wiser. Fire lacks discretion, and torture involves prolonged interaction with the victim (which increases the odds of him getting caught, as time/duration would be proportionate to the risk of being discovered).

If a situation called for it (like setting a car on fire in order to distract pursuers), or he was contracted to complete a specific job (like torturing someone for information), then I could definitely see him committing arson and torture. But if he’s recreationally killing, then I think it’s more likely that he’d indulge in his preferred repertoire, envenomation and stabbing.

The nice thing about his criminal record being truncated (with a “see attachment for more details” appended to the file) with multiple redacted sections is that it leaves a lot of room for speculation. Bear in mind that much of this is either conjectural with little supporting evidence, or my personal headcanons.

One of the things that I found interesting about Tyrian’s character was his reverence of Salem. “Goddess” isn’t just an affectionate title or a term of endearment—he literally apotheosizes her. Compare that to how his teammates interact with her. While they treat her with respect, none of them use the same venerating language as Tyrian (“Your Grace,” “my lady,” “our divine savior,” “our goddess”). This tells us that his worship of her isn’t the norm amongst her followers, which also means that he has a reason for doing it.

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of labelling people who commit heinous crimes as crazy or insane—not only because it implicates nonviolent mentally ill and neurodivergent people, and scapegoats them for the actions of others—but because in this instance, it robs Tyrian of the complexity that comes with rationalizing one’s choices. Tyrian’s decision to deify Salem shouldn’t stem from some sort of psychopathology, but rather a logical, personal, or historical precedent.

Let’s reverse-engineer this thought process:

Tyrian worships Salem.

Salem (in Tyrian’s eyes) is the extreme embodiment, manifestation, or expression of cathartic violence.

Tyrian worships this form of violence.

And what else in RWBY’s universe embodies those traits?

The Creatures of Grimm.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about all the illegal things Tyrian’s done over the course of his life, and more specifically, why.

Archotherolatry: This is a term I coined for my RWBY worldbuilding blog. If you break down the etymology, archotherian (Greek - ruling beast, the scientific term for Grimm) + -latry (Late Latin - worship of), it translates to “the worship of Grimm.” The practice was outlawed by the King of Vale (King Ozark) after the Great War. While the decision was rooted in common sense—like, you really don’t want people to see the Grimm as gods for fairly obvious reasons—Ozark had ulterior motives for outlawing it. You see, Ozark was one of Ozma’s incarnations, and the immediate predecessor of Ozpin. While archotherolatry had been falling out of favor over the last few centuries, it was still a religion with a presence in certain corners of Remnant. Salem used to recruit these cultists directly into her ranks. By making the practice illegal, Ozma was hoping to cut off a potential source of followers.

Prior to meeting Salem, Tyrian was one of the surviving few practitioners of the faith. Not only that, but he had a particular mania about it. Grimm worship in Remnant changed depending on where in the world you went, but one of the recurring practices involved human sacrifice. Now, while Tyrian didn’t subscribe to any specific holy doctrine and wasn’t a member of any secret groups, he did adhere to certain rites and ceremonies. He savored the taking of lives, but even more than that, he enjoyed offering up his victims to the Grimm. During the months that Pickerel spent hunting him down, his trails would often lead him to secluded areas outside cities or towns. There he’d often find a large ornately-detailed circle on the ground painted with blood, with the tattered corpse of the victim lying in the center. The surrounding trees and rocks would sport eye-like patterns drawn in blood, similar to the patterns seen on the bony white protrusions on a Grimm’s body.

When selecting potential victims, Tyrian didn’t discriminate. Gender, age, nationality, race, economic background—they all bleed red, so it didn’t matter. Not technically, anyway. That wasn’t to say he didn’t enjoy abducting business owners that were prejudiced against Faunus, or that he didn’t find ironic humor in sacrificing Huntsmen to the Grimm. He just wasn’t particularly choosy about who he sacrificed.

In a similar vein, I think this is how Salem first learned about Tyrian’s existence. Whenever her scouts or sentries returned to Evernight and reported in, they’d inform her about a man that would drag people into the woods and invite the Grimm to feast upon them. This possibility excited Salem for several reasons: not only was he predisposed to loyalty to her, but the fact that he’d clearly been doing these sacrifices for some time meant he was talented. It took a lot of skill to kill so many people without being caught by the authorities. She needed an assassin, and he would do perfectly.

When Tyrian wasn’t feeding people to the Grimm, he probably murdered for sport. He thrilled in the hunt, in the dizzying slick of blood beneath his fingers, the intoxicating coppery smell, the beautiful song of his victims as they cried, begged, and screamed. Acts of violence honor the Grimm, but in addition to that, he simply relished in the joy of killing. And he was good at it.

Of course, sacrificial manslaughter doesn’t pay the bills, so Tyrian had a day job. Well, I say “day job,” but it was more along the lines of contract killer/thief/kidnapper/smuggler. Tyrian operated largely out of Mistral’s criminal underworld, particularly in the capital (though depending on the work he was doing, he’d travel to Wind Path or Kuchinashi). Potential clients sought him out and hired him for any number of jobs: collect the debt that this person owes me and kill them if they refuse to pay; abduct the member of this rival syndicate and bring them to these coordinates; assassinate someone for me, and bring back proof that they’re dead; transport this contraband (weapons, drugs, Dust) and ensure the shipment arrives safely; kill these people and destroy the evidence; capture this person and extract information from them by whatever means necessary; follow this person without being detected, and collect information about their routine. Although Tyrian preferred jobs that involved bloodshed, he’d still accept contracts for more mundane work (even if he found it somewhat boring). Tyrian didn’t have a ton of dealbreakers in terms of jobs, though he refused to do anything that involved sexual assault. (Even serial killers have standards.)

Destruction of public and private property was likely an unintended or indirect consequence of his work. As much as Tyrian enjoyed wanton carnage, he prided himself on being stealthy and thus had to exercise some level of restraint, so as to not leave behind damning evidence in the form of collateral damage. Breaking a window or kicking in a door is a liability. Accidentally setting off a Dust explosion is a good way for the authorities to track you. That being said, there were a few memorable occasions where Tyrian absolutely wrecked shit up. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was the day that he was finally captured by Atlesian and Mistrali law enforcement. On the day of his arrest, Tyrian caused nearly 50,000 lien’s worth of property damage, including the destruction of three Paladins.

Tyrian’s name, while spoken among the criminal element, was unknown to the public. Even so, he garnered a reputation as Anima’s most infamous serial killer. People often referred to him by his title: The Ghost in the Mist. (Years later, a documentary by the same name was released. It was an hour-long production that detailed his activity in Mistral, all of his victims, an analysis of his signature, and other relevant or interesting trivia. It even featured an interview with Pickerel, prior to his death. Tyrian absolutely loves this documentary and has re-watched it several times.)

I’m sure there’s more that he’s done that I can’t think of presently, but hopefully this gives you a general idea of all the criminal activity I think he’s committed.

[taiblogcomics]

Begin Again With Season Ten

Hey there, visual glitches. I guess since that last Ravagers issue was actually on the good side, we broke the curse. That shipment of comics I was waiting for finally came in, and we can review something relatively new for once. Remember that? When we used to review My Little Pony comics? Wow, it's been a while, huh? Is this preamble long enough? Let's get to it~

Here's the cover:

Ah, this cover is pretty good. At the very least, I mean, it does what a cover is supposed to do: grab your attention. It's very bright, and it calls out exactly what the next arc of comics is going to be. Yes, this is a continuation of the series following its finale. Which is a great place to jump back in, don't you think? There's really only one thing from the final season you need to know, and we'll cover it, but good cover. Also puts all the major characters on the cover, just to let readers know they exist~

So we open in Canterlot, since Twilight Sparkle doesn't live in Ponyville anymore. She's become ruler of Equestria and Celestia and Luna have retired. That's it, that's your spoilers. She's put out a call to all the most relevant characters: her friends, the Pillars, the movie-only characters, and even a few fan favourites. The comic even confirms that Lyra and Bon Bon are getting married, which is nice for all you shippers out there. Zecora's last to arrive, via the Rainbow Dash express, and with that, Twilight calls this meeting to order.

Well, you see, with Twilight now in an active position of power, she can't go galavanting all over the world solving friendship problems anymore. It just wouldn't be responsible. And the world has expanded quite a lot. The Crystal Empire popped up during season 3, for example. A whole bunch of new races appeared during the movie and season 7... So while we're now on good terms with yaks, griffons, dragons, and the like, there's still other places out there to extend the hoof of friendship toward. And thusly, she'll be sending out teams helmed by her closest friends to explore these lands.

Rainbow Dash, Captain Celaeno, Spitfire, and Lyra and Bon Bon are headed to the home of Celaeno's parrot people. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are pairing up together with Capper, Discord, and Trixie to where the catfolk live. Rarity is taking herself, Big Macintosh, Mage Meadowbrook, and Maud Pie to find the Diamond Dogs' lost kingdom. (Try looking between Pin-Ups and Young Americans.) And, most relevant to this first story arc, Applejack, Tempest Shadow, Rockhoof, and Zecora are off to the Farasian Shores, where the zebras live. At least, they are until Zecora hears where they're going.

For some reason, Zecora is very reluctant to return to her homelands. Sorry, Zecora, you had nine seasons to develop anything about your backstory and your people. Now you have no choice! She's so upset about the idea of returning home that she even stops rhyming to explain her feelings. Zecora explains that she prefers her life to be private, and that she has some bad blood back home. Applejack apologises, and Zecora reluctantly agrees to go with the group anyway. As she walks off, Applejack notices Zecora stopped rhyming for a moment there, and Zecora be's mysterious about that as well~

So, how to get to the Farasian coast? Well, on a boat, naturally. Did you know Cranky Doodle is a boat captain? Because I didn't. Also on his crew is a Gilligan-looking fellow named Ragamuffin and a surprise cameo by Steven Magnet. Tempest spends most of the journey being grumpy, though she does use her magic to fend off a storm. They also face down pirates, narwhals swimmin' in the ocean, and Rockhoof's restlessness in not having a use for his shovel on the sea. Finally, they set sights on Farasi, which causes Zecora's anxieties to rise again.

On the shore, they part with the crew for now. Get out of here, ancilliary characters! We're about to introduce a half-dozen more, and we need to keep the cast down as much as we can. Say, speaking of, the group meets their welcoming committee: a zebra named Marini with purple stripes. She greets Zecora warmly, but Zecora pulls away. Rockhoof takes her up on those offered hugs, though. Marini takes them on a tour, which includes a reference to Casablanca, and she's surprised Zecora has never explained anything about their home to them.

After mentioning that this is the home of Abraxas, one of Farasi's four princes, Applejack is kind of reluctant to meet with a full prince. Fortunately, she's got a different welcome wagon to meet first: Marini's friends! In addition to her, there are two lanky, two-horned ponies called Dust Devil and Cactus Rose. They don't tell you until next issue, but they're abadas, roughly the zebra equivalent of unicorns. The other two, Crystal and Medley Brook, are kelpies, which are ponies with control over water. They're all old friends with Zecora, who panics and runs away when confronted with her past. Who knew zebras had such anxiety problems?

Well, let’s start with the notion of season 10. It’s a neat premise and a good direction to take the series. No more sitting around in Ponyville! It’s a bit more of an ongoing adventure series than an episodic slice-of-life. I’m not sure they could have actually done this in the show, particularly with Twilight and Spike essentially retiring from main character status. But it definitely works for comics. Additionally, I’m glad they decided to do it as part of the main ongoing series instead of a “Season 10″ miniseries like the Adventure Time comics tried. It didn’t work out so good there~

As for the story itself, I’m very intrigued. Zecora’s status as a zebra was always the biggest mystery that the series had left by the end, so it’ll be neat to explore that in some depth. We’ll get to know her friends more next issue, trust me, but I like them. And speaking of friends, splitting up the main cast is something that also might not have worked in the TV series, but here it works just fine. It’s the Marvel Team-Up rules: pair some characters who normally don’t interact together and see what happens. It’s good for development~

[homogrimoire-archive]

Exhausted Wings / Good Luck

I wanted to explore how pacts (found in the Drakengard series) could work in the RWBYverse, since its just all magic. I also just want clover to live, but I also wanted to explore this. Besides, the literal binding of two souls has some nice romantic potential.

AO3 Link to Full Fic

Chapter 1: Exhausted Wings / Unknown Tunes

In an instant, the cold and desolate white landscape was marred by the crimson stain of warm blood. The bloody weapon was yanked out of the body it pierced with a bit of resistance, just as Tyrian liked it. He only wished he could see the look on Clover’s face. A dying man’s eyes were his most favorite to look at, besides the eyes of his Queen, of course. If it was any consolation, he could see Qrow’s eyes. Shock, fear, regret, and the faintest hint of hatred. An absolutely delectable concoction of emotions that gave Tyrian an absolutely euphoric feel.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Qrow said as he lunged at the chaotic killer. As he dodged the pathetic punch, he could more clearly see the shift in Qrow’s emotions. Hatred was on full display now. Mixed in was also desperation and despair, another delectable sight to the scorpion. Tyrian had the feeling he would be sleeping well with some wonderful memories of Atlas in the coming nights. With an Atlas airship nearing, he decided to leave the black bird with a few choice words and a maniacal laugh. He knew he would have another chance to cause that bird some more pain. A moment later he heard a blood-curdling wail that made him smile from ear to ear. He had the feeling he would be sleeping very well. He considered it rather unfortunate that such emotions were difficult to produce in his conquests. With that, he continued his trek across the snow and ice to see what more chaos he could induce.

-

Raven… sensed something, and it concerned Qrow. Odd, she thought. He is a grown man and he abandoned the tribe. He can do whatever the hell he wants. If he ends up dying, then it’s his own fault for letting himself be so weak. she reasoned with herself . Despite this logic, she still felt that she wanted to see what was happening to him. He obviously wasn’t dead, yet, at least, as she knew she could still open a portal to him. Whatever he was going through was intense and distressful. She could tell that much. The Maiden’s powers had a strange interaction with her semblance. Not only could she also open a portal to their location, she could get a sense of how they were feeling in the moment and the state of their aura, among other things. She was also able to tell that he was somewhere near Atlas. Hmm… his aura is low, and in immense distress, I perhaps have something to gain. I could finish him off and show what happens when people abandon the tribe, their family. If I’m lucky, he’ll be near some dust shipments I can raid. With her reasoning sound, and nothing better to do, she notified her subordinates that she had business to take care of. She returned to her the privacy of her tent and stepped through a crimson-black portal.

She told herself this was a mission to help unify the tribe, a noble goal, but deep down, locked away in her subconscious, she was concerned. Qrow was her brother. They had grown up together and survived all that life had thrown at them thus far. Why? She would think on quiet nights when pondering on Qrow and his decision to leave the tribe. Why would he leave the tribe? Why would he leave me? Why? We had been through so much together. We grew strong together. We grew strong together until he decided to be weak . Corrected another part of her mind. To her, that part of her mind was the one she should listen to. To her, it was logical and would ensure the survival of the tribe. To her, it had no weaknesses.

-

In the midst of his tears, he heard the telltale sound of his sister’s portal crimson-black behind him. “Now is not the time Raven.” he said without turning his back to face her, voice straining. Just my luck. Clover’s dead, Tyrian has escaped, and now Raven shows up.

“You really have let yourself become weak.” she said, voice almost as cold as the Ice Queen. Qrow could see the airship landing, though he didn't really care. No one needed him anymore. Team RWBY is stronger than I’ll ever be. They’ll be better off without my bad luck anyways. Oz still has his mind locked away. James has taken a dive off the deep end and wants him captured so he could just be thrown into a jail cell. James… what happened to you, you monster.

“Can't you ever do something useful-”

“Halt!” cried the people in atlas uniforms who had their guns aimed at the avian siblings. But before they could do anything else, a slash of energy knocked them out, and a thrown sword knocked out the pilot through the windshield. As she walked over to retrieve the sword embedded in the military-grade windshield, Qrow realized something…

“Raven. Help me form a pact.” Their tribe had a story. It was the story of the origin of their tribe. A pact was first made by two people who became lovers. These two men, strangers at the time, were said to be near death as grimm surrounded them. However, they made a pact to live on, with each other, for they had no one else. With their strength renewed, and more powerful than ever, they killed the hoard of grimm. As they traveled, they allowed other strong souls, pact or not, to join them in their journey to survive. And the rest is history People could obtain power by binding themselves to another and forming a strong connection. That was its moral, hence the emphasis on family within the tribe. Those connections with each other are what made the tribe strong. However, the specifics on how to form a pact were lost to time. What remains can be found in their wedding ceremonies.

That was, until they met Ozpin, and told them a more complete version of the story, including how to perform the ritual. It demanded the blood of the people who would form a pact, words with meaning to the pact partners, physical contact, and a great deal of magic. It could not only bring back someone on the brink of death, it could bring them back from death itself. However, it was also very dangerous, resulting in the death of the pact partners if done wrong. This was also typically formed by one who had magical abilities, and one who did not. The one who did not have magical abilities would often bear a mark on their body and lose something about them. Oz told them this in order to gain their trust. Granted, he still withhold other information, like how their tribe does not actually descend from that original tribe. They were also wiped out when the Brothers Grimm left long ago. He imagined that neither would be able to perform it since they couldn't do magic, and had no idea how it would interact with aura and semblances. But regardless, here was Raven, a maiden with the magic capable of forming a pact.

“And why should I? I have half a mind to just finish you off here and now, and I’m not even sure it will work.” she said as she pulled the sword out of the windshield.

“I don’t care. I’ll return with you to the tribe, and follow your every order.” He could see that caught her attention. It’s a win-win for both of us. Either I’ll end up dead and be one less thorn in her side, or Clover will be alive and I’ll be at her every beck and call.

“Alright then. Get what we need.” Qrow went to grab Kingfisher, and the bloody Harbinger. He could feel the tears coming as he passes Clover’s lifeless body, Harbinger in hand. He used Kingfisher to make a cut on his arm to gather some blood. He could hardly stand to look at his sister’s face as he gave her the weapons.

“Any request for the words?”

“Good luck.” It wasn’t much to work with, but it’s all he really had. He moved to lie down next to Clover, and took his still warm hand into his. He could really feel the warm tears rolling down his face now. Raven didn’t say anything about it as she crossed the weapons at her chest so that dead and live man’s blood was touching.

“Someday,

I knew

That I

Would find

You Whom

I Would love in the days of the new ”

Qrow let out a small chuckle, almost a sob, as tears streamed down his face. This was the beginning of a wedding song. Heh. Damn you Raven. I always did want to get married. His body began to feel odd, now that he noticed it, and the sky above him was turning to a reddish-purple too. I’m not dead, so I guess that's a plus.

“May

I find you in the new life

Where

We

Can exist without the fear of my death.”

Now he was really crying, trying to at least hold back his sobs. At least funeral songs are an appropriate thing to cry at. A funeral song meant to be sung by the one who lost their love. And since he was crying, that meant he was still alive, and the ritual was persisting. The sky was a deep read now, almost like his eyes. What he did not see was how a sliver of the horizon was now a brilliant green, much like Clover’s eyes. Raven could see, and had to admit it was an awe-filled display of her power. She could also see that the blood stained weapons were also glowing with magic, her brother and the dead guy too.

“Sing a song with me

We

We can find new life

One away from Strife

They can hold their own

Loan

Loan us your loved luck

With you our lives won't suck

And with this farewell,

I

Hope

That

You

May find

All your hopes and dreams,

Yes,

And for this I wish

You good luck.”

How Raven came up with that song, he did not know, and neither did she. Perhaps it was the magic. They could feel the ritual finalizing. Raven could see something rather interesting. Their auras were beginning to mix. Red met green, and green met red. And Raven dropped the weapons. They were incredibly hot now. And the sky was an odd gradient of red and green. In a sudden blast and a flash of light, the pact process was complete. Qrow felt… revitalized. His body wasn't sore. He checked his scroll, and found both his and found both his and Clover’s aura at one-hundred percent. Just to be safe, he checked for a pulse on the still unconscious Clover, and found steady beat. He felt ecstatic, though only for a moment. He was honor bound to follow his sister now, for better or worse. Considering all he was leaving behind, he felt that it was for the better.

“What now, big sister?” He wiped the smile off his face. She doesn’t deserve to see it.

“Know any places to get some dust?”

-

Clover feels himself begin to awake. His eyes are still adjusting. The sky looks… red? It is cloudless now and he swears he can see two black dots flying to somewhere in the red sky. It looks less red now. He moves his hand to his stomach, and remembers. He jumps up. Is this the afterlife?! He thinks, eyes wide and adjusted now. He looks around and finds that his uniform still has a gash in it and is colored crimson like the ground beneath him. There's also a nasty scar. He also finds some Atlas officers lying on the ground and an airship nearby. This is not the afterlife. Weapon. I need a weapon! If he was still alive, that meant he could die again, and the downed officers were not a good sign. In the snow, he found the bloody Harbinger. He scanned the area and found no threat. He proceeded cautiously to the aircraft, on edge for any threats. He searched it and found nothing odd, aside from a damaged windshield. Robyn. He moved quickly to search he downed airship for her, but as he turned around, he was met with an arrow to the forehead.

"What happened here?!” she said as the man toppled back, dropping Harbinger. As he toppled back, he hit one of the seats, causing some of the items in the storage above him to fall onto him.

“Tell me NOW, or I’ll make this one break your aura.” she threatened as she loaded an explosive arrow.

“I-I don’t know,” he said as he was shaking his head, “I thought I was dead! Qrow, Tyrian, and I were in a fight after we crashed, then Qrow broke my Aura, a-and then Tyrian killed me with Harbinger! I don't know what’s happening either!” Please believe me, please believe me.

“That's a load of crap. You died, but know you're alive? I don't need my semblance to know that's a lie.” Clover closed his eyes prepared himself for his aura to break, but heard a click and felt nothing. Another click, and another, and a few more in rapid succession. Nothing. He opened his eyes to find Robyn frustrated with her weapon.

“Why aren't you working?!” she demanded. With a strong hit to its side, the arrow flew, narrowly missing Clover. He could feel it whizzing past his cheek and hear its sharp sound as it passed his ear. Lucky me.

“Robyn please! Listen to me.” he extended his hand out to her. She took it, her grip like a vice.

“What happened here?”

“It was just as I said earlier. Me, Qrow, and Tyrian were all fighting each other. Qrow broke by aura, Tyrian stabbed me with Harbinger, and I died. And for some reason, I’m alive now. I don't know where Qrow is, and Tyrian has escaped.” Their arms glowed in approval.

“How? How did you come back from the dead?”

“I don't know. I-” My hand… it has a ring? This… is one of Qrow’s rings, and on my ring finger no less.

“When’d you get married?” she asked. He noticed he was now holding his hand to his face, right in front of Robyn.

“I never was. This is one of Qrow’s rings.”

“I'm guessing he’s alive then, and that he has your weapon, and your four leafed clover pin, cause I don't see them around.”

“My weapon?” My weapon? I'm a huntsman. Huntsmen have weapons, but I don't?

“Yes, Kingfisher.” He gave her an inquisitive look. “Your fishing rod!” she shouted.

“It… doesn’t ring any bells.” I had a fishing rod for a weapon? I do like fishing, but that sounds impractical.

“Ugh. Whatever. You probably hit your head. You'll remember soon enough. Now help me get these guys onto here.”

“Affirmative.” As Clover loaded the last person, he tripped at the entrance of the ship, throwing the officer into the air and landing face first onto its cold metal floor. Luckily, Robin was able to catch the unconscious, airborne officer.

“Since when do you trip? With your luck, you never trip.”

“That is odd. Ever since my semblance manifested, I've never tripped, to the best of my knowledge.”

“We can look into it more later. We've wasted enough time as is. We have to go save Mantle.”

“Bu-” An explosive arrow was launched to meet him square in his face. She didn’t even turn around to aim. Despite this, his aura didn’t break. He flew back in pain, but was able to cushion the blow by landing on one of the seated officers. Ow.. I would hate to be this unlucky guy when he wakes up.

“Say ‘Ironwood has ordered us to Atlas’ or whatever, I’LL KICK YOU OFF THIS SHIP AND LEAVE YOU STRANDED! And if you're stuck out there alone, THEN GOOD LUCK!”

Good luck… good luck. He was taken aback a bit. He remembers that those were his last words to qrow. He also remembers how Qrow cried for him. And that scream…

“Why are you crying? I know you're not that soft.” She had no sympathy for him. He didn't blame her. He looked out the window to see Mantle in Chaos. And Atlas safe in the sky. He wiped his tears and got up.

“I'm with you. All of you.” He extended his hand to her.

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Qrow and his kids, they're right. And I want to do this for Qrow. He wanted me to do this. To think for myself, and do what is right. When I died, I could also remember him crying for me. No one’s ever cried for me. I can almost feel his pain. I don't want to make him feel anything like that when I find him again. I want him to be proud of me.” Their arms glow approvingly.

“Maybe you have gone soft, but I think its for the better.”

“Thanks.” He looked at the ring on his hand. What did happen to you? To us?

“But don't be dumb this time around. If you can choose between fighting the homicidal murderer or your boyfriend, choose the homicidal murderer please.”

“B-boyfriend?” He feels the blush across his face, though is lucky Robyn is too busy getting the ship off the ground to notice. For all the flirting he does, he can't say he’s had one. Boyfriend does sound nice. Especially when it’s Qrow. Hmph. Wouldn't it be funny if this ring meant that were married. He could not help but admire the band. Qrow’s favorite one , if he was remembering correctly. Where are you?Wherever you are, know that I love you. Good luck.

“Enough daydreaming lover-boy.” she said with a smile on her face. She was happy to see her old friend on the side she was on. The side of the people. “We have a country to save.”

Clover looked out the window at the sky. In his reflection, he noticed that one of his eyes was red. Qrow’s red. Quietly, he said “Good luck to us.”

[xserpentlife]

Everything Was Normal

Reqested: No 

A/N: I've been thinking of this concept for a year now and I think it is finally time to release it. I really want you guys to concept off of this. After the situation, What are there lives? Sex, Live, Horror, Etc, Everything no matter what it is, send the concepts and ill answer. Thank you to all my betas who have helped me throughout this process. @wayward-river with the concept, hearing my crazy ideas and leading her off in 20 directions and to @sweetpea-fvck who I bounced moodboard Ideas off of. 

Warnings: Blood, Guns, FBI, Swat, Hostage, Mentions of Death

Word Count: Almost 5600

Pea always got his shot, He was the hottest sniper that the FBI had, the Hostage Rescue Team to be exact, an elite group of specialized individuals who worked to save people from various hostage situations. He took out Edgar and Evelyn Evernever in regards to the safety to half the town of Riverdale, he took out Penny Peabody when she began doing works of bidding with one of the highest-ranked drug dealers in the entire country, even taking out the drug dealer as well. One-shot all around Pea never missed his target. It was more than that though, working with the FBI for years he was the best of the best only being called for the most important job duties that could leave no room for error until his whole world flipped upside down.

Pea Moved out of Riverdale at 17, with you by his side, his girl, his world. It had been years since Pea had left the Serpents, he still did odd jobs here and there, but he had gone to school, went to the police academy expecting to be a cop, but got so much more. He had a unique skill set that did not go unnoticed by the higher-ups at the academy. He had been put on drill upon drill, of shooting targets, both still and moving even sometimes the line of visibility removed right when he shot and without fail, he hit his target every single time.

-----------------------------------------

He woke up like any normal day, giving you a kiss on the lips before being lazy staying in bed for a few minutes longer than he should of.

“Don’t wanna get up”

You mumbled out  “You got too baby”

“But I wanna stay with you and baby Pea, plus mama you should stay home after last night” You had found out that you were pregnant 2 months ago. He had proposed right before you found out 4 months ago to be exact You began planning right away, when you found out about your little pea you both put your marriage aside, waiting on a side burner because you wanted to worry about your growing child first. You hadn't started showing but just knowing your little pea was growing inside of you made you the happiest person in the entire world. Pea was ecstatic. You were afraid he would be upset that you were having a child significantly younger than you imagined you would, but he was nothing but happy. He wanted a kid, wanted to be a better father than what he had. And you wanted to be a mother, more than anything in the world. And now that dream was a reality for you both. Since you were only two months no one knew, you wanted to keep it a secret, not wanting to deal with the stresses of everything until you had to. So no one but you and Pea knew, you were planning to tell everyone this upcoming weekend while at the monthly family dinner that included, Fangs, Jughead, Betty, Joaquin, and Toni.

“I don’t have the luxury of staying home Pea, we have a shipment of rings coming in from a  new seller that I need to verify and…”

“Okay, but promise if you feel sick you’ll come home, you were pretty bad last night, and just think about maybe taking off”

“Okay, I'll think about it. I know, I just don’t think baby pea liked the watermelon, even though that pisses me off cause you know it's my favorite” Throughout your whole pregnancy you have had morning sickness, hoping that soon it would stop, last night Pea found you face down in front of the toilet because you figured sleeping there would be better than having to get up every 5 seconds. But he sat with you through it all carefully carrying you to the bed after you fell asleep for the final time without throwing up again. “By the way, thank you for bringing me to bed”

“Of course baby, you still got a couple minutes till you gotta be up, so sleep some more okay”

“Mhm” you were slowly drifting back off

“Wish I could stay here and take care of you and cuddle”

“ We’ll be here later and can cuddle, promise, love you” With a kiss to your cheek he was up.

He brewed you a cup of tea knowing you would get up for work minutes after him, he even slipped toast in the toaster that you could put down for yourself because he knew if he didn’t you would have forgotten to eat. He hated he couldn’t be there with you in the mornings. When you first found out you were pregnant he was there every morning, requesting to work an hour later than usual because he wanted to help you through the morning sickness. He drove to work minutes from being late but luckily was there right on time. Everything was normal.

“You’re late dude”

“No not late Fogarty, close to being late there is a difference”

“Whatever, how’s Y/N”

“Good, but she’s been having this stomach thing recently”

“Oh yeah after the other day at the taco place?”

“Um sure, yeah, but anyway, its finally getting better I hope it ends soon. I just feel so bad you know, like I can only do so much. I hate seeing her like that”

“Yeah I get it, Hey why don’t you two come over for dinner later this week. I’ll make it for you both so you guys don’t have to worry about it, and if she doesn’t wanna go out ill come over to ours and cool it”

“That would be great thanks Fogarty” Pea lifted his legs placing them on his desk, as Fangs was sat as his own as the two began to cull over files.

“We have a domestic case that was cleared but we are passing it to SVU for a look over, we had a hostage call at the bank down the street but it was cleared as a false alarm, some dumbass new employee”

“Hope they got fired”

“We made sure they did”

“Good”

-----------------------------------------

The first few hours of your shift were normal. You went and inventoried all the new rings validating the authenticity of the gems, gold, and other precious metals that were sent to your shop. You were a head jeweler at one of the most prestige Jewelry stores in all of Riverdale and its surrounding towns. People came from all over for both the rings and for you since you became known for helping individuals picking the most perfect rings for their hopeful partners. You were about to go unpack another shipment that came in with new necklaces but you saw a man sitting in the waiting area that looked like he was growing impatient.

“Hello sir, were you waiting for help to get a ring?”

“I love her, but no one ever fucking listens!”

“Sir, I am here to listen, so sorry we were busy with other customers. I can surely help you find the most perfect ring for the occasion”

“I already told you, No one fucking listens!” He stood up, towering over you instantly so close you could feel his breath when he leaned down “No one listens!” It was not a response that you were expecting from him. He grabbed your hair from behind your head ripping you down to a leaning position as a gun was pulled from his back pocket. Oh no

“O-www stop, stop I can help I can make it better just, ow” You panicked your eyes welling with tears as he pushed you to the ground your arm connected with the corner of a metal display case causing pain to rip through you. You watched as people ran out as he shot 2 shots directly to the roof above and people dropped to the ground. Now a hostage situation as he had locked the front door.

-----------------------------------------

Pea was called down to the debriefing room a few minutes after finishing the reports on his case files. He figured it was similar to the cases he had heard all morning, not something that would require his skill. It was mandatory for everyone that could possibly be needed to join in on the briefing just in the case that they would be needed. Pea figured he would be back upstairs sitting at his desk but that thought was so wrong.

When he got downstairs Fangs was waiting there next to a few other agents he had worked alongside of for years. Everything was normal.

“Director” Everyone called to his presence when he walked into the room.

“Okay as some of you know we are preparing for a situation we were just called. We need to act fast so I need your attention. Exactly five minutes ago an alarm was sounded at Sycamore Jewelers located at the center of central avenue”  Pea’s heart stopped. No, not stopped, more like dropped froze completely stopping as Fangs put his hand on his shoulder. He hoped deep down that Y/n had actually decided to stay home, he needed to check his phone, she would have texted him if she did, but it was at his desk. “The individuals' name is undisclosed at this time, all we have is an alarm that was sounded off and reports through the front window of the store. It is confirmed to be a man in his mid-30s to 40s, he had a girl by the hair before he closed off the main entrance. We have 911 calls being reported by individuals that had fled the scene. Since this is a hostage situation I need Special Agent Fogarty on the ground and Chief Marsman Sweet Pea sniper at the ready at the parking garage across the street. Understood” Everyone nodded towards him. “Dismissed, trucks are at the ready”. Pea dropped sitting in the seat behind him as Fangs looked down his way.

“You good”

“Its… Y/N, I there… why is he holding the jewelers' hostage? Fangs, she works there”

“Oh fuck, she’ll be okay, promise, maybe she stayed home”

“It’s on my phone Fangs, my phone is upstairs I don’t know if she is at home or at work”  

Everyone was sent on their way to suit up. Everyone left, except Pea and Fangs. They stood Fangs trying to garner Pea’s attention.  

“Yo Pea, fucking pay attention, Director wants you, now”

“Okay, I got it”

“Sweet Pea, your fiance”

“Yes sir”

“Is she in the building”

“I am not sure sir, told her to stay home today but she is stubborn, you know, so I do believe she is inside the building.

“I wanted to confirm we do have reports of descriptions and she matched as a potential hostage”

“Fuck, why didn’t she just stay home, no, no no”

“Look at me Sweet Pea, you need to pay attention, be strong for her you understand me. Y/N needs you now more than ever, you are the top marksman in the field, you are her best chance right now, I swear to you we will get him”

-----------------------------------------

You sat curled in the corner shaking with the fear of what was occurring around you. People being shot, as the glass was being destroyed, even though he was stealing nothing.

“You know you are all lucky you are not dead yet, guess we will see if I chose to leave you alive or let you die while I watch” He shouted through the store as he walked around igniting fear in everyone that was sitting on the ground.

You were completely alone your co-workers and customers scattered around, but you were still on the ground the same spot he pushed you to in the first place, scared beyond shitless to move even for a mili-second.

“You know you all work in this perfect jewelry store, giving people the perfect rings, to start their perfect lives with their beloveds. Well, it is all bullshit! All of it! You will all be dead before I feel betrayal and sorrow like I did when I used this ring! Do you hear me.” You jumped a slight yelp escaping you from his voice that boomed. “Scared darling, I see that you have a happy ending, a ring on that finger must be sad your fiance may never see you again”

“What is your name”

“Danny Deluca, don’t wear it out darling” Deluca walked over, stomping his feet as he went, sending chills to everyone on the ground. He grabbed you standing you up and bringing you to the center of the room. “Gonna make an example out of you sweet girl, a nickname ruined a nickname that used to make you feel safe. Gonna make everyone here watch, make you scream and beg, you don’t deserve that happiness the ring on your finger grants! No one does, but I fucking do!”

“Sir you really do not have to do this”

“Oh but I do sweet girl, I most definitely do”

“No, really. I am sure everything will work out in all honesty, it will all be fine, ask her again I am so sure she would say yes, we can even try a different ring, on the house. I swear it will all be…” The gunshot rang through the air, the sound causing your ears to ring, next came the sweltering pain from the wound on your leg, the pain, the hot wet liquid trickling down. You were shot, he shot you when you were trying to help him. You sank to the floor your hand trying to cover the wound that he had caused.

“You do not give me ways to make my life better! Nothing will make it better because I am unlovable according to her! DO not tell me that she would say yes because she won’t!!, Who wants to give me some advice next huh!” He pointed the gun to one of your customers and then to a coworker you knew. “Someone just… just get him a phone” You knew the way it worked, you saw it on TV, heard some stories Sweet Pea would scream in his sleep when things got bad, you knew it all.

-----------------------------------------

Pea trembled as he made his way up to the top of the building. His girl, his fiance, his soon to be child, was in there with that psycho, and he could do nothing.

There were no reports of injuries thus far, according to their report there had only been shots fired but no evidence that anyone had been hurt, which meant he was not allowed to take a shot. Pea set himself up, his sniper at the ready in an instant. He began canvasing starting at the street to detect any involvement from outside individuals but he came up empty. This man was most likely alone. “Sweet Pea in position”

“Fogarty on the ground, Reports have surfaced that bombs have been placed on the interior of the building”

“It has to be a bluff”

“Does not matter Sweet Pea, we have no other evidence”

“Y/N is in there Fogarty I am going to take the shot if the opportunity arises, Director do you read”

“Director present, Sweet Pea do you have eyes on the suspect”

“I do not as of yet sir”

“You are not to shoot, do you read, we have no knowledge of whether those bombs are real or just ploy”

“I copy”  There was no way to argue with his director, he was the head, the lead of the entire unit. What he said went. He searched each window hoping somehow he would see her, or even the suspect for that matter. He moved to a lower corner vantage point hoping to gain sight. But it was to no luck yet.

“Director I need an update”

“He got a phone Sweet Pea, has made demands of his girlfriend to come and wed him, however, we can not meet them, we can not send her in”

“I understand sir, I have eyes on him” He wanted to understand, but he lied. He wanted his fiance’s life safe.

“You are to remain in observatory state, do you copy”

“I copy, sir” He slowly began to break down, his eyes watering knowing just how much danger his beautiful girl could be in. Was she safe? Was she going to die? Was their baby okay?

-----------------------------------------------

You were leaned against a glass case blood pouring from the wound on your leg, A sweater from a  coworker wrapped around, pain radiating through your entire body.

“Willow” You poked her arm dragging your body closer to hers while Deluca was pacing the front of the store waiting for a response from the agents, you could see them outside, see their guns drawn, you could even see Fangs at one point until he disappeared. “You, you need to get out of here. I have to distract him I know how this works. They are not shooting due to the bomb threat they have to know, bring as many as you can”

“I can’t leave you”

“You have to, I can’t run right now” Deluca stood watching the agents every move. You untied the sweater hoping he would pay attention to the blood pouring from you. You stood making your way over to him, in front of the window. “I need something to stop myself, I’m gonna bleed out Deluca”

“What did I say about using my name” the gun pointed towards you as your leg popped you dropping to the ground an agonizing scream leaving you as a majority of people were fleeing from behind the case.

“You fucker!, Why would you do that! They were my lifeline” he watched as the door slammed behind you.

“They do not deserve this!” He pointed his gun firing a bullet directly into your shoulder. You fell back onto the concrete your hand clutching your shoulder, as he sauntered over, his finger landing directly onto the wound and pressing, your eyes clouded with black dots.

“Leave her alone!” Jonah your coworker screamed before two bullets were put into his stomach.

The only thing you were lucky for was for him not to have shot there yet. Leslie came over running to you as Deluca got onto the phone once again. “Why didn’t you run”

“Couldn’t leave you”

-----------------------------------------

5 hours and Sweet Pea hadn’t been told a word. No word of hostage conditions, no word on demands, no word to take a shot even though he had sight on the suspect once again which he relayed to the director multiple times. He was losing his mind at the what-ifs. What if she was hurt, what if she got shot? What if it was her stomach? What if she fell? It was typical you were his sweetheart his whole world. You knew each other since you were kids never thinking of dating till your heart got smashed and he finally had the balls to tell you that he likes you. It took years for that to happen. Years you would never regret though. And you would never regret the heartache the boy before him put you through cause without that you would never have been with him, and he was your world and you were his. Being in the unknown scares the daylights out of Sweet Pea. He spent his life as a serpent, nothing ever really scaring him. The only thing that ever did was when you were in danger, and now more than ever, you were.

Pea listened so intently to every sound coming through his earpiece, every movement of the wind, every drop of the pins waiting for those two words marksman fire but it never came.

“Director I was not aware you would be joining us here, why are you not at command?”

“After 5 hours of practically waiting around, and playing yes sir no sir with a very frustrated marksman. I need to find out for myself, something just doesn’t seem right” the Director huffed.

“Director we have been trying for hours to gain an entry point, but with no knowledge of the bombs we have no way of knowing or trying, Fogarty follow”

Fangs followed closely behind their director, walking to the side of the building where the back entry door was to see the police escorting hostages to ambulances and giving them water and warm blankets.

“What in God's name is going on here!”

“Hello Director Chief Adams here, we are holding and medically checking all the hostages”

“Has anyone said anything?” A young man spoke up.

“I did, sir, I told the officer over there that there were no bombs in the building, it was a fluke she would not listen to me told me I was imagining that there surely was bombs, she would not listen and there is a girl in there bleeding!, I tried to get her to listen. His, his name is Deluca and he, he doesn’t have bombs just a gun” Fangs went over consoling the young man. “Sir she was, she was bleeding… a lot of it was covering the entirety of her blue pants and, and we heard another gunshot and scream when we left, it was her again I know it” at that moment Pea knew, Y/N was always one to lay out her outfit the night before. Last night's choice a pair of blue checkered paints a black button-up. It couldn’t be. She was fine. He told himself. Pea screamed in frustration the sound making Fangs coil back. He didn’t know Pea was on his channel, he did not call for him. He had no idea he was listening, but he knew Pea was in a full-on panic at that point.

Fangs screamed alerting his director on the state of their marksman “Director he knows!” He didn’t need to ask Fangs new protocol, no bomb threat, meant that the suspect would be taken out. “Sweet Pea do you read, place your target marksman and make your shot”

“I… I can’t”

“What do you mean Sweet Pea”

“I mean he is gone Fangs, I don’t see him in my view. No! Fuck! Fangs I had him. I had the perfect shot. I should have shot hours ago when I had the fucking chance. I knew there wasn’t a bomb, I fucking told you”

“Protocol would not have allowed you to shoot and you know it, You gotta stop dude, she needs you. Refocus and find your target do you copy”

“I copy” He repositioned his sniper, that had gone awry in his rage, tears slipped out of his eyes as he was trying to locate the suspect now known to him as Deluca. He couldn’t wait any longer though he tried finding him for 20 minutes with no sight or word of anyone on the ground. He needed to save her. Needed to have her life in his hands to know she would be safe.

Fangs was startled by a hand on his shoulder. Pea placing his rifle into the truck next to him while grabbing a tatical vest. “What the fuck do you think your doing Pea”

“Marksman...”

“Director, I, I need…”

“I know what you need son, save her, that officer fucked up and she will pay but right now you need to save your girl fuck all protocol there is no other way to end this I understand that”

“Thank You, sir” Pea handed Fangs a vest as they both got geared to rush Deluca Pea, cocking the gun he was handed ready to save his girls life.

---------------------------------

“Deluca! This is Elite Marksman Pea with the hostage protection unit put down your weapon or we will shoot to kill!” He prepares himself full armor alongside of 20 agents and Fangs, ready to storm the man that had caused so much paint to his girl. He heard her hopeful scream

“Marksman!” He felt a relief knowing she was at least breathing. You were in bliss knowing your man was there and your life was protected by him. “He’s here” you whispered to Leslie as she smiled down at you.

Deluca needed a hostage, a hostage that could protect his life so he grabbed you knowing there was no fight left. “Leave her alone!”

“Too fucking late!” You cried out your leg snapped, and your arm was riddled with pain from where his fingers pressed close to your open wound. The pain radiating through your body everywhere throbbing and dripping with what felt like all of your blood. His arm snaked around the front of your throat the gun pressed to your temple. His hands around your neck a feeling you would never quite forget. The cold metal sending another shock through your warm body.  You couldn’t see Pea yet but you knew he was there with you.

“Shoot me! Fucking do it. You don’t have the balls! I hold her life in my hands! And I will take her down with me!” Enough was enough, he knew he had you knew he had to save you. Fangs busted the door open Sweet Pea behind firing around straight into the center of Deluca's eyes. He never missed. It was the one skill he had in every facet. Unparalleled skill to every other sniper. People had ranks, had times where they missed but Pea never did. He was a marksman a skilled one at that. You never heard of missing and in the situation that mattered most, he did his job flawlessly. You fell to the ground with a thud as he did the same. Pea rushing over to your body in an instant.

“Pea” He scooped you up into his lap as the stretcher was being brought in. Your voice smaller than he had ever heard it before. The pain sounding through the quiver that left your lips. You were in so much pain he could hear it, so, so hurt by a man and he didn’t save you soon enough. So, so injured, bleeding, shaking pain, and all he wanted to do was take it from you. To make you feel happy and safe again.

“I love you, mama, your gonna be okay, I promise” Pea moved the matted hair out of your face as he watched your eyes begin to roll further and further back. “I love you so much, do you hear me, you gotta stay with me, okay, you have to mama just stay with me. I’m gonna get you fixed up and you and baby pea are gonna be a-okay Fuck stay with me please, please don’t leave me Y/N” Pea sobbed a tear running down his cheek and landing on the smeared blood that adorned yours. Your eyes closed as you fell limp in his arms, no fight left to stay awake. “No, Y/N… no, no, no you can’t”

-------------------------------

“Pea rode with you in the ambulance Fangs following closely behind as everyone else stayed at the scene. Upon arrival he saw Pea sitting in a chair, blood covered his hands, his shirt his pants, your blood, the blood of his fiance, his baby's mother, his love, blood that was not in his control, blood that he could have prevented but didn’t.

“Pea she will be okay, promise”

“You can’t promise me that Fangs! She went limp! I felt her die in my arms! Fuck, Fangs. I… I can’t lose her don’t you get it she, without her, this life, I never would have done it, fuck you never would have done it. She pushes everyone she knows better, she finds the best in everyone I mean god, I can’t lose her”

Without another word, Fangs sat next to him holding him close as the marksman, the protector, the man who never showed feared cried and cried not knowing what was happening to his fiance.

Pea sat waiting covered in your blood. You were a fighter through and through. You were on the table clinging to life. You lost pints of blood throughout that day needing multiple transfusions to even get you up to a minimum amount needed in your system. Multiple bullets removed; one from your leg and two form your shoulder. Your entire leg was fractured and had to be reset, a good chance you may not be able to walk. 201 stitches to be exact. You were in between doctors multiple working on you during surgery. You were hooked to life support, oxygen, breathing tubes, heart monitors the whole nine. They thought they lost you for a bit your heart flatlining for 25 seconds before it began to pump on its own once again. You were stable, stitched, color returning to your face that had begun to grow pale by the minute. You were not out of the woods yet, still sleeping as the anesthesia wore off.

Pea and Fangs were still huddled together when the nurse came to get him. “Family for Y/N Y/L/N”. They stood up in an instant. “Relation to the patient”

“I am her fiance, and this is her brother” Yeah they may have lied, Fangs was not her brother, but Pea wouldn’t be able to do this alone. “How is she?”

“There were complications, she lost a lot of blood, but transfusions were given. She died on the table but began pumping her heart once again, and she has many stitches and a cast on her leg because it had to be reset, but everything seems to be going well, and they are both fighting strong”

Fangs was confused both? “She’s pregnant Fangs” Fangs wanted to congratulate him but instead he followed, the monotone voice pea had shown just how broken he was after having his girl die in his arms how much he didn’t need the congratulations at that moment. No matter if she was alive or not that would always haunt him.

-----------------------------------------

From the moment Pea was allowed to be by your bedside he didn’t leave for a second. You deserved the rest. So tired after fighting for two lives. Both yours and your unborn child. Pea held your hand slipping your cleaned engagement ring back on your finger so, so careful not to hit your shoulder or move it in any way that would cause discomfort.

He sat there watching you, so broken, so bruised. The guilt rushed through him. He needed to get it out needed to convey how afraid he was before he burst. “Damnit Y/n I thought I lost you, God I feel like I’ve been to hell and back today and to see you safe I’d do it again just please come back to me” Sweet Pea whispered. He was talking to himself more than anything. You twitched softly, eyes opening as a hi was whispered out from your lips.

Pea got up in a second standing above so she could see him, as he rubbed his fingers through her hair. “Shhh. Hey, I'm right here. I’m here with you, okay, but don’t move too much okay mama, your gonna be in a lot of pain.”

“I’m here... you, you saved me”

“Yes, baby you fought so strong for you and little Pea and I am so proud of you mama” he didn’t acknowledge the part about saving her, because to him saving her meant her not being injured at all, he failed at the duty he promised

“I love you Pea”

“I have to go get the doctors to come and check on you”

“NO, NO, NO!, DON’t” tears raked through your body the panic in your voice rising, your breathing heavied, your heart monitor skyrocketing.

“Ok, ok, shhh, I won’t leave, I’ll just push the call button okay. Look at me, I won’t leave, promise.” His fingers raked through your hair as the button rang, you not letting go of his hand for even a second needing to know he was there.

“Alright Mr, Sweet Pea can you please leave so we can conduct some tests on Y/N”

“I…”

“NO! Don’t make him leave me”

“It will only be for a second Y/N”

“No, no, no, no DON’T MAKE HIM! I Need him” your eyes clouded with tears both from the pain of your body shaking and the fear of Pea having to leave you. He was your savior, your knight in shining armour. “Don’t”

“Look at me Y/N, I promise I’m not gonna leave you okay,. You gotta calm down baby, your gonna hurt yourself, okay. Y/N look at me, not even the toughest of people could make me, I’m right here with you, okay. Hey, shh look at me” His hand came cradling around your cheek as he raised your eyes to look to his. “I’m not gonna leave, promise”. He kissed the top of your head before turning to the doctors.  “I can’t leave her, I won’t leave her, not for a second”

“Alright we will work around you, as I can see she won’t let you go”

“Thank you” They checked everything your vitals improved substantially from the last time, your pain level had risen a bit due to the trashing when they tried to take pea away from you, but other than that you were looking good, and so was the little pea inside of you. The doctors left to your own. Pa sat next to you carefully stroking your forehead with his thumb as the pain meds began to work.

“Pea..” You poked his cheek, a small chuckle coming fro his lips

“What do you need baby?”

“Lay with me”

“I can’t baby, I don’t wanna hurt you”

“Please, can’t sleep without you, I want you next to me” A tear slipping out of your eye.

“Hey, hey, shhh. Okay, I will,  but if I even cause the slightest pain then i'm getting up okay?”

“Okay” You sat quietly with him for a few minutes, before he spoke up after connecting his lips to your forehead.

“Baby I just, I’m so sorry for... for not getting you out of there earlier. I am so fucking sorry for causing you al this pain. For, putting your life and baby pea’s life on the line. Fuck if I could...” You placed your hand on his cheek making him lean down and connecting your lips with his.

“Shhh, babe, You saved us Pea, none of this was your fault. You did what you had to do, and, you, you saved us both” He knew he did, but it still haunted him. Your shoulder throbbed as you moved your hand atop sweet pea’s that rested on your stomach. But he saved you. Saved you and the little pea that was growing inside. He was your protector.  

[nidhoggssoultrap]

Headcanon Part 4

I am the storm sent to wake you from your dream.My "Headcanon" (Nidhogg, Louie, and Yvette. Mostly Nidhogg) Part 1 This one is a long one, so I'll be splitting it into parts. I don't thinkI AM THE STORM SENT TO WAKE YOU FROM YOUR DREAM.

Headcanons/Vingettes/snippets part 2Oh lordy...this is it. Love Nikki has the longest list of headcanons EVER...or well, that I’ve written. Jesus...never thought a dress-up gamI AM THE STORM SENT TO WAKE YOU FROM YOUR DREAM.

Headcanon Part 3Dress up game...one character...inspired all this...wow. But, I was able to dig up some old “flames” because of this, so it’s all good. PrevI AM THE STORM SENT TO WAKE YOU FROM YOUR DREAM.

And now, page 4. I don’t think this record will ever be surpassed by any other fandom. Geez..Also, spoilers for the CN Dawn Front event that happened around Sept 15th.

1. When it comes to the human trafficking for Grey Raven situation, there is plenty of blame to go around. I believe that because Regent 7 is found necessary, Grey Raven has a lot more leverage in the Night Order than he should. Both Reid and Nidhogg balked at the idea the way Johnny Lawrence did when his sensei told him to “Sweep the leg” in the Karate Kid. Both used arguments similar to what I used in the Discord along with Reid saying that he has plenty of money for clothes/designers to use as a means of breaking the Curse through Styling Contests. However, Grey Raven was successful at manipulating both of them to gather prisoners and use them for his experiments/more Shade people. “Are you not the King of Swords?” Grey Raven asked. Nidhogg makes it clear that he would only do this when Regent 7 no longer works and “not a moment before”. Guess what conveniently happened? So, Nidhogg gives the order to send prisoners to Grey Raven. The Blood Curse mutates to resist any drug to counteract it, but it’s still convenient for Grey Raven, who has ulterior motives.

He actually has the GALL to blame Louie for this. The Nameless Knights hold the key to breaking the Blood Curse so the kidnappings for Grey Raven could have been prevented if Louie would simply give up the Key/NOT destroy shipments of Regent 7. I predict that someone in the Night Order(most likely Nidhogg) will use the victims as leverage against Louie in order to obtain the Key.

2. Speaking of Louie, when he rescued someone from the “holding camps”/Grey Raven, he was beside himself with rage. You could have heard him on another planet and he was especially vocal when fingers were pointed at him.

3. Nidhogg has pursued Louie twice by car. First instance, Louie tells him “you’re not man enough for me and even if you were, I WON’T STICK MY DICK IN CRAZY” before speeding off. Second time was after Louie rescues a victim who “lived among fields of gold.” The second time is where Louie goes off on him and he has other people in a “three way call”/eavesdrop. He knows that people might think he is crazy, but since the trafficking has become widespread with many escapees/whistleblowers, he is certain that people won’t easily believe that “it’s all made up”.

4. Grey Raven loves teasing Nidhogg. His other hobbies include slamming fingers in car doors and setting his hair on fire. Anyway, he views Nidhogg’s conscience as a “taint” and tells him often that “I can change that. I can make it go away. Things would be much easier then.” Nidhogg constantly refuses saying that “I am strong enough to bear the burden.” However, he admits only to himself that he has been tempted to let Gray Raven take away all feeling/conscience, but knew that doing so would mean losing a lot more.

5. Confession Bear: Grey Raven is a riot and I ADORE him. I don’t quite ship him with Nidhogg, but I love the teasing and Grey Raven being very much aware of the leverage he has in the Order.

6. The reason why Nidhogg killed Lunar was because Grey Raven wanted her for experiments as a means of getting back at Louie for ruining his reputation. He intended to make sure that she suffered immensely before making her into a “better version of Shade.” Nidhogg made it clear “that is not going to happen.” Since Louie claimed the body, Grey Raven would be hard pressed to find it, much less take it for himself.

7. The Night Order is on the hunt for butterfly jewelry. So is Nikki. Louie has one of the butterfly items(his veil), but that wasn’t made by Sayet. Still, he’s not surprised that Night Order would want it.

8. Louie has a lot of white wigs and some of them make him look more beautiful than he already is. But, like Griffith, he has the “hawk eye” along with a hard edge when provoked. The difference is that Louie’s temperament is well, a bit more hot and he can be frightening to witness. He has an astonishing amount of clothes and a lot of that is due to Blue Bird packages sent by Lunar. He tried to “ghost her”, but found that he couldn’t. He often joked about changing the name of the Nameless Knights.

9. He has two lieutenants: a young woman and a young man. Both are considered “voices of reason” to Louie’s occasional outbursts.

10. The trafficking situation is where everything started to “slip away” for Nidhogg and finally decided to do what needed to be done to gain the “great power.”

11. There were multiple whistleblowers in the trafficking and not one of them were found out. It is, however, known that they were appalled at what was happening and blew the whistle as soon as they had the chance. Everyone has their limits.

12. Louie didn’t ultimately leave because of the “kiss”, but because he didn’t want to go to Lilith to help with Nidhogg’s plans and he was not about to defer to Nidhogg. At first, they argued about it with Louie being shut down. He appeared “deferential”, but on the day they were supposed to leave, Louie packed up his things and left to become a mercenary—something Nidhogg never approved of him doing.

Louie was the one who tore up the picture of him and Nidhogg and left a torn half on the bed. That’s what Nidhogg came home to and it devastated him as he felt very much betrayed(ironic considering what he later on did in Lilith/Yvette).

13. Louie hated the fact that Nidhogg seemed to conflate understanding with agreement and repeatedly called him on, especially at the final car chase. He went so far as to call Nidhogg, “A victim piece of shit!” and that he was understood “ALL TOO WELL!” That’s the CHARITABLE way to put it. Please keep in mind that the drama between these two men were in front of a young woman, three teenage girls(Bobo was actually with them. I made a booboo in one of the parts) and a talking cat.

14. While a lot of what Louie claimed about Nidhogg was largely true, it doesn’t change my headcanon “fact” that he had a distorted view of his adopted brother. According to Reid, Louie was “blinded by hate”. ALL of the Night Order viewed Louie as the greatest threat with Nikki at a very close second(really, it’s Nikki, but Louie has a louder personality, a stronger Dawnblade, and ties to Nidhogg). They found it baffling that Nidhogg was willing to kill Nikki, but not Louie. After all, Nidhogg is “The King of Swords”, right?

15. Liliana was supposed to be the “alternative bunny” if Yvette didn’t work out. He wanted to take Liliana instead of Yvette, but the former was deemed “unacceptable.” Liliana would have been way more cooperative as she wasn’t fond of styling contests either and didn’t like the Blood Curse either as she felt that Styling Contests were imposed on everyone, regardless of their ability. Those with other talents were basically screwed unless they had support from those with “the clothes”. As for the Blood Curse, she has been affected by it on more than one occasion due to her constant misgivings about how disputes on Miraland are settled and the occasional refusal to do what is required should she lose. She loves Yvette’s school and appreciates the non violent revolution Yvette is leading.

16. This is really more of an odd theory, but I think that Hostess L may have been a Nikki lookalike who was part of the Nameless Knights, hence her name. Because of this, the Nameless Knights have “the key to the Blood Curse” if not one of them. I actually came up with this quite suddenly. Would be an interesting twist for sure and it would explain the suit she was wearing when she won(black dress with a sun pendant).

17. Despite what the current Lore says, I still consider Nidhogg a Scorpio. I have him born on November 13th(number of the Tarot Death). He shares the same birthday as Leatherstrip(industrial/ebm musician), ftr. Coincidence. Also, this year, it falls on Friday the 13th. But, since I still adore him, I guess he gets two Bdays. :) He really should have been an Air sign though. Gemini would have been perfect, especially since Bobo is currently the only one.

18. I also hold on to Nidhogg being 4 years older than Louie. At least I got the OLDER part right. :p I just fee like being under 30 is too young, but too much into the 30’s would be too old. 31 is just right, imo.

19. Before the black Camaro(aka, Maro) and the white Mustang(White Horsey), Nidhogg and Louie shared a Jeep. It was known as a “Rubicon” or “Rubi”. When Louie left, Nidhogg drove in that jeep to Lilith and Pigeon. He ended up eventually giving away for “image” reasons. He purchased the Camaro right before he became Prime Minister.

20. Glossing Rose was inspired by an abstract art piece done by Liliana. When he first arrived at Cicia Design School, Liliana, who was around 11 at the time, was among the first people he met and he knew her for years. He was accused of stealing from her when the Pink Bunny stockings were introduced “That’s not his style!” He admitted that they were inspired by one of Liliana’s drawings and she often was an inspiration. Emperor’s Woman, otoh, is clearly his actual design style and he does have a similar suit. He never actually stole from her nor did he ever claim credit for any of her works.

[aboyandhisstarship]

Tinder AU David on Deployment

Tinder AU: David on deployment, Gwen makes a choice.

TW: suicide vest, Dear John, Torture, guns, blood, just general violence

 A/N Well my post about cutting some content from this chapter only got likes so i assume you all want to see it...as such head the trigger warnings...and be aware my Davids tend to be less happy go lucky, espiecally when he is working so bear that in mind...and dont yell at me 

 Gwen and David were in a very fancy Restaurant; across from the couple was Gwen’s parents they were asking him “so David…you have to travel a lot for your job?”

David nodded “I Go where I’m sent…”

Gwen’s mom asked “so you can be called away at short notice?”

David sighed “That depends…”

Gwen’s dad accused “so you are not here When Gwen needs you!?”

Gwen demanded “Dad!”

David smiled “it’s ok Gwen…it is a fair question…your right I will not always be here…but when I am Gwen is the most important Person.”

Gwen’s mom was about to respond when David’s phone started to beep, He answered it as Gwen’s parents glared saying “Go for Greenwood…”

David nodded “yes Sir…be there soon.”

Gwen said quietly “you have to go?”

David nodded sadly “Yea there is a…situation…”

David turned to Gwen’s parent’s “It was nice to meet you…”

Gwen’s dad sneered  “I’m sure it was.”

David kissed Gwen’s cheek before leaving, as soon as he was gone The Santos parent’s sighed and said “Gwen we want to talk to you about this relationship…”

 Chicago Illinois:

The plane landed as the team stepped onto the runway where a Detective was waiting saying “You the folks from the Army?”

David’s CO Smiled as she pointed everyone in turn starting with herself “Hammerhead, Whipperwell, Nomad, Cool Breeze.”

The Detective sighed “right no names…look we have no idea if this is legit or some gang banger trying to talk themselves up.”

Hammerhead said casually as the team loaded there bags “they sent us Detective…someone thinks it is legit.”

Fort Bragg, North Carolina:

Gwen slammed her door yelling to the couple on the other side “I am not giving up my future for him!”

Gwen’s mom said “Gwen you need to focus on you…you should finish this experiment and date a nice young man…your father and I have some ideas…”

Gwen groaned “are you really trying to get me to dump David so you can set me up with someone your more comfortable being seen with!?”

Gwen’s dad sighed “there are 3 doctors in this family! Do you really want to drag us down by including a Solider?” he spoke the last word as if it had personally kicked his dog.

Gwen groaned “Go away!”

Her parent’s walked away saying “this conversation is not over young Lady!”

Gwen plucked onto the couch laying her head in Lilly’s lap who was pretending to not hear the whole thing Gwen grumbled “Kill me.”

Lilly chuckled “I’m not exactly qualified…but I can always ask one of David’s coworkers.” She teased

Gwen grumbled “don’t say things like that…They already hate him…”

Lilly sighed “right, sorry.”

Gwen sighed “what am I going to do…I wish I could talk to David he always has the right thing to say.”

Lilly stroked her hair saying “Just relax…maybe watch some TV?”

Chicago Illinois:

David sighed as they drove through the snow saying “nice place…”

The detective chuckled “yea we just got over a blizzard.”

Hammerhead sighed dramatically saying “Great…our briefing was a bit Vague on the situation on the ground here…just some group of hoods are telling anyone who will listen they got their hands on a chemical weapon.”

The detective nodded “the Attica 99, they are mostly in Drug running and have been fighting another gang for years.”

Jasper asked “tell us about them…there leader.”

The detective sighed “Carlos Mendoza, classic piece of work thinks he is the next Al Copone.”

David shook his head “that’s always a good sign…”

The detective nodded “he was the one that started bragging about how they get something big from overseas  at first we figured it was some new drug shipment, then we started picking up chatter that they got there hands on  a chemical weapon that they want to use to send a Message.”

Hammerhead nodded “where do they hang out, we need to take the temperature.”

The Detective sighed “they own a night club on the east side…”

David asked “you got anyone in custody we can talk to?”

The Detective nodded “a couple…”

Hammerhead smiled “good thinking Nomad, you would stand out in the club anyway.”

Jasper said “I will tag along.”

Hammerhead smiled “right then me and Wipperwell will check out the club.”

The car pulled up to their Safe house.

 Police station:

David and Jasper arrived wearing suits at the station walking up to reception David smiled saying “hello, I have an appointment.”

The desk officer asked “can I have your name?”

David smiled “Nomad and Cool Breeze.”

The desk officer chuckled saying “is this a prank.”

Jasper looked at her saying “humor us.”

The officer typed before looking up “uhh the bullpen is that way.”

David smiled at her “thank you Ma’am.”

Jasper shot the officer a wink as they entered the bull pen, David saying “so who exactly do we talk to?”

A detective walked up to them saying “so your…the guys…” she looked around before saying “from the Army?”

Jasper smiled “that’s us.”

David shook his head “Nomad and Cool Breeze Ma’am.”

The detective said “Sasha Daniels.” holding out her hand which was quickly shook.

Jasper said “so if there someone we can talk to?”

Sasha nodded leading them towards the cell “yep I need to be in there to make sure you don’t…”

David blinked “what start waterboarding him?…we don’t do that…”

Jasper added “usually.” With a playful smile

Tabii muttered “sure.”

David opened the door and inside was a rather burley looking man  who simply said “I’m not telling you anything fuzz.”

David sat down across from him with jasper leaning on the table as David smiled “Fuzz now I have not been called that before.”

Jasper nodded “nether have I.”

David shrugged “it helps that we are not cops.”

The guy asked “what?”

David reached onto his jacket pocket pulling out a large folder saying “today is your lucky day friend.”

Jasper smiled “you see we are salesman, we sell vacations.”

The man said louder “what the…”

David nodded “that’s right we sell vacations to unpleasant folks such as yourself and today we are having a fire sale, an all-expense paid trip to Cuba.”

Jasper nodded saying “yep a nice free trip to beautiful Guantanamo Bay Cuba.”

David smiled “and you are likely wondering what you did to earn such a wonderful trip to what do the kids call it?”

Jasper adds helpfully “Gitmo I think?”

David snapped his fingers “that’s right…” placing a badge on the table

The guy said “This a trick?” looking at the badge then at Tabii

Tabii shook her head saying “there for real.”

The guy blinked saying “department of defense…”

David smiled “you’re playing with the big kids now.”

The guy sighed “look maybe I dealt some drugs…”

Jasper clicked his tongue “Nomad do we care about drugs?”

David said “drugs are bad, but that’s not why we are here.”

Jasper nods “no it is not…you see the reason you’re not already on a plane to your new vacation home is because you can maybe tell us something useful.”

The guy bulked up “I aint no snitch.”

David sighed “you and your friends caught our attention when you started telling anyone who would listen that you have a chemical weapon and plan to use it…not the greatest idea.”

Jasper nodded “you see now you and your buddies are on a watch list… And Nomad what do we do to people on watch lists?”

David leaned back saying “well Cool Breeze…we don’t do a lot of watching,” The subtext being conveyed easily.

The guy eyes went wide as Jasper said “that’s right, you see all of your other crimes are thoroughly none of our business but chemical weapons…” Jasper Whistled

David shook his head “it is not a good look for you…and your buddies…but if you talk to us about the weapons maybe the locals deal with you and not us.”

The guy sighed “how do I know you’re legit and won’t send me to Gitmo or worse?”

Jasper smiled “that’s easy we release to the capable hands of Sasha here who sends you to normal prison.”

The guy sighed “alright here is what I know.”

  Safehouse:

David finished briefing saying “that’s what our new friend told us…”

Hammerhead nodded “that lines up with what we saw in the club, lots of guards well-armed but badly trained, we can take em easy but there are Civs around.”

Jasper shrugged “they should make a B line for the exits as soon as the flashes go off.”

David sighed “what about the weapons we will be wearing Hazmats but if they go off it would be bad for the neighborhood.”

Hammerhead smiled “Skylight…Nomad you take the boss as we breach the bottom floor and move for the weapons.”

Wipper well asked “Level of force?”

Hammer head nodded “we have been given the nod, no kid gloves, lethal force that said the DOD does not want any Civ bodies”

David chuckled “so check our shots.”

 Next night:

David adjusted his hazmat Suit a gasmask resting on his forehead as he stood on the roof top next to the club an Mp5 hanging over his chest, Sasha sighed “wow I always thought you guys only dress like that in the movies.”

David chuckled with a shrug “nothing wrong with living up to some stereotype’s, listen this will be loud and they are going to be rather panicked People running out of that building.”

Sasha nodded “we can handle that.”

David’s radio cracked to life as Hammerhead said “Nomad we are on approach.”

David fired Sasha a smile before pulling down his gas mask saying “On my way.” David picked up a breach charge jumping to the next building as Tabii Climbed down from the building.

The Bass of the music pounded in David’s ears as he said “Green,” Placing the breach charge on the skylight after securing his rappel lines.

Hammerhead said “On my count…3, 2, 1 Execute Execute Execute.”

David blew the charge throwing a flashbang into the room as he rappelled into the VIP area of the club, he landed staring down the boss he saw a goon coming from his left and shoot him dead before pointing his gun back at the boss saying “Hands in the Air now!”

David heard gunshots screaming and more flashbangs going off and a woman to his left came into view he scanned ready to shoot her but saw she was only holding a phone he switched back to the boss saying “get those hands up!” his voice muffled by the gas mask.

The boss pulled out a small device and David didn’t Hesitate shooting the boss dead, he detached himself from his rope reloading his Magazine before walked up to the dead man flipping him over before he looking at the picture of Mendoza before saying “Hammerhead, Dry hole…I repeat Mendoza is not on site.”

He saw the woman clearly filming him saying with a sigh “Ma’am you need to vacate,” Before saying on his radio “Hammer head I’m moving your way.”

David moved down the stairs shooting some gang members that tried to get the drop on him before approaching basement calling “coming in!”

Hammerhead turned around Gasmask on her forehead “come on in.”

David entered seeing the “chemical weapon” David pulled up his Gas mask “this a joke ma’am?”

In front of them was pallet of Axe body spray, Jasper sighed “unless they planned to Axe bomb that enemy crew then maybe they moved it.”

Whipper well held up a tester saying “it was here, who knows how long ago.”

Jasper made an over here whistle, David shook his head “how about that.”

Inside were a lot of weapons, ranging from Glocks to AK’s

Hammerhead sighed “The locals can handle these weapons; we need to fall back and figure out our next move.” The team pulled on the gas masks before leaving the building.

 North Carolina:

Gwen was sitting in her dorm before her phone started to light up with crazy amount of messages all having variations on the question “is that David?”

Gwen chuckled “this should be dumb.” She clicked the link and was sent to YouTube video titled “No police raid I ever saw.” With 8 million views, Gwen sighed “I swear if I get rick rolled.”

Gwen clicked Play and was treated to a typical club video of some kind with people dancing to some music about thirty seconds passed before there was an explosion glass rained from the ceiling as people started screaming the camera person saw a cylinder hit the ground before there was a flash  the Person holding the camera was clearly blinded as a man in all black wearing a gasmask dropped from the ceiling, the Camera watched him scan firing his weapon and the camera followed someone who fell against the wall dead blood flying everywhere before the man in the gasmask turned on a man in the middle room calling “Hands in the air Now!”

The camera stepped forward and the man in the gasmask pointed there weapon at them briefly before turning back to the man in the center of the room “Get those hands up!” his voice muffled by the gas mask.

The man looked to be holding something and without a second of pause the guy in the gasmask shot hit dead the weapon was so loud Gwen almost gasped as it was finished with the light Klink of the shell casings hit the floor. The Gasmask wearing man unclipped himself from his ropes reloading  his weapon flipping over the body and looking at a picture shaking his head he said something that Gwen could not hear over the chaos before turning around  looking directly at the person filming saying voice muffled by the gas mask  “you need to vacate ma’am.”

Gwen watched the Green eyes behind the gas mask and the way the guy wearing the mask said ma’am Gwen mouth opened “Holy fuck…”

The video kept filming all through the evacuation before ending. Gwen sent back her mouth wide open as she paused “I knew what he does…but seeing it…”

Gwen stood up walking over to the trashcan before vomiting.

Chicago Illinois:

David sat on a chair still in full gear his eyes closed as he napped, they were waiting for their local contacts to tell them if they heard anything when they heard coming to the door there was a knock and David pulled out his Glock as he nodded to Jasper who opened the door, Sasha walked in seeing the armed David who lowered his gun saying “Should I come back later?” food in her hand.

Hammerhead smiled saying “come on in Detective.”

Sasha entered and saw the inside of the safe house covered in photos and other documents about the team’s target.  Sasha smiled carefully “nice place…”

Whipper well laughed “better than our normal safe houses.”

Sasha chuckled “somehow I believe it…”

David asked “what do you have for us?”

Sasha smiled putting down the subs saying “your raid has had the desired effect, Attica 99 have gone to ground, and we have rounded up the majority of their leadership from the club.”

Jasper asked “and the Weapon?”

Sasha sighed “most of the guys we grabbed said the same thing, it should have been in the basement of the club, and they are just as shocked as we are that it wasn’t there.”

David asked “we believe them?”

Sasha paused “some BS’ing us I buy…but all of them…especially after what they saw I don’t buy it you put the fear of god into them…”

Hammerhead sighed “did we learn anything.”

Sasha nodded “Mustard gas…what they stole us 800 metric liters of mustard gas.”

South Carolina:

Gwen tossed and turned as she watched the assault over and over again, the brutality the coldness of it was getting to her…and just for a second she started to wonder…maybe my folks are right about him.

Chicago:

David sat in a car with Sasha looking at an apartment around the corner from him, David was in passenger with Sasha behind the wheel, and David had his eyes closed as Sasha cleared her throat “soo Nomad…”

David opened his eyes “Target sighted?”

Sasha asked “Target?”

David frowned before slapping his head “sorry old habits…”

Sasha frowned “I think it is telling…”

David sighed “do I want to…”

Sasha interrupted saying “Judging from your assault you’re not big on taking people alive.”

David countered “I am trained to fight wars Detective not fight crime.” Peering through binoculars

Sasha nodded “right…so is there a Miss Nomad?”

David dodged saying “do you see a ring?”

Sasha countered “I don’t know your name; I don’t think it is a stretch for you not wearing your ring.”

David lied unconvincingly “I am an only child, with no family, no friends and no romantic attachments.”

Sasha laughed “they really make you say that?”

David chuckled “no names, we really going to talk about my personal life?”

Sasha said with triumph “You do have a personal life.”

David sighed “the life I have is the Mission, it comes first…always does…”

South Carolina:

Gwen was starting to question her relationship, as she looked at her phone all of her texts to David un answered as he deployed…somewhere, Gwen opened to email again looking at it…unsure what to do, it was a big chance but then again she would have to leave David…she began to look it over again.”

 Chicago, safe house:

David briefed “we have been sitting on the girlfriend’s house for almost two weeks, but we finally got a sighting of him…”

Showing a photo of Mendoza taking out the trash, Hammer head said “the Pentagon give us the go, we want him alive to have a long chat…we move in tonight.”

 South Carolina:

Gwen had mauled it over before she hit the call button “Miss Santo’s have you considered our offer?”

Gwen nodded “yes I have decided to accept it.”

The voice sounded happy “glad to hear it Professor, you will need to move here…will that be an issue?”

Gwen paused before saying “Not at all.”  Gwen ended the call and sat back.

Gwen quickly put her stuff in a truck heading for Seattle, before she clutched the key heading for David’s apartment.

David’s apartment Fort Bragg:

Gwen let herself in seeing that the home had not been occupied in some time, she took the case she brought carefully putting away all of her stuff, she placed a note on the kitchen table before saying out loud “sorry David.”  Leaving her key on the table she locked the door and walked away not looking back.

 Chicago:

David lowered his night vision goggles over his gasmask as they crept towards the apartment, the team carefully opened the lobby quickly clearing the darked building as they advanced up the stairs, coming to apartment 27, the one owned by Mendoza’s Girlfriend, they stacked up on the door as Hammer head counted down with her fingers “3,2,1.”

At one Whipperwell used a breaching hammer bashing open the door, the team flew in shouting “on the floor!”

A baby cried as David and Jasper wrestled the surprised Mendoza to the ground David demanded “where is it!”

Mendoza responded “you’re too late.”

Hammerhead sighed “Whipper well let’s check on the girl friend.”

David and Jasper lifted there masks with David asking “what are you smiling about?”

David was answered with the yell of one word “avalanche!”

University of Seattle:

Gwen shook hands with the English department head saying “happy you were able to join us on such short notice Professor.”

Gwen smiled “happy to be here.”

The department head “lets show you to your office.”

 Chicago:

Sasha saw David and jasper drag Mendoza out of the smoking apartment, Sasha Asked “nomad…what happened?”

David pulled out a sat phone as Jasper growled “this son of a bitch rigged up his girlfriend with an S vest…clacked it off.”

Sasha blinked “are you saying…”

Jasper nodded “turned his Girlfriend into a suicide bomber, took out herself, her baby, Hammer head and Whipper well.”

Jasper adding“and apparently he already planted the gas.”

Sasha swore “that sick fuck!”

David nodded “yes sir…I understand what the president is authorizing…no sir…no qualms about it…yes sir the Mission comes first,”  

Sasha paused “Nomad…”

David stated “pentagon have told us the gloves are off He has been declared an enemy combatant…”

Sasha asked “what are you saying?”

David said simply “Take a walk…”

Mendoza smile faded “wait, I’m not going into police custody?”

Jasper opened the van back doors as David repeated “take a walk.”

Sasha asked “what are you going to do to him?”

David clenched his fists “nothing we have not done before.”

Mendoza said “wait you can’t, I killed some of them…there is no telling what they do to me.”

Sasha paused before nodding saying “right…”

David threw him into the van saying coldly “enjoy your walk.”

Warehouse: TW torture

David dragged Mendoza to a chair in the middle of the warehouse, where surrounding them where a variety of tools, David said coldly “Tell us where the gas is.”   Jasper picked up a wretch.

Mendoza said “I want a lawyer!”

David sighed “wrong answer” Nodding at jasper, who swung the wrench at Mendoza’s left pointer finger breaking it the blow causing to man scream in pain.

David said again “where is the gas Mendoza? You have 9 more fingers.”

Mendoza breathed out “I am not telling you anything!”

David nodded again and jasper broke his middle finger as Mendoza screamed “Fuck Fuck stop stop!”

David glared “this ends as soon as you tell me what I want to know.”

Mendoza sighed “fine…your mom is a whore!”

David sighed “do the entire hand.”

Jasper swung wretch breaking the entirety of his left hand, David said “you want to survive this you piece of garbage? Then tell us!”

Mendoza groaned “I won’t tell you anything!”

David grabbed a car battery and jumper cables sparking the object, as jasper throw a bucket of water on him “tell us and this ends.”

Mendoza groaned as David touched his body with the cables delivering a severe shock the man swore “fuck ok…wiggly alright the baseball game…those punks from fifth street have their meetings there, we are going to take them out in the game.”

Jasper groaned “along with thousands of others!”

Mendoza groaned “that’s war…”

Jasper looked like he was going to hit him again  but David stopped him “Cool Breeze…The Mission isn’t over…we need to call Sasha.”

Mendoza groaned “you can’t stop it.”

David ignored him as he called Sasha saying “wiggly stadium, and send an ambulance to the following address…”

Station:

David signed the paperwork to get his team released from the morgue as Sasha said “so I visited Mendoza in the hospital…well as much as I could considering the Feds waiting to ship him off.”

David put down the clip board “oh what did you learn?”

Sasha paused “he must have fallen down one hell of a flight of stairs” she half joked

David responded coldly “whatever the mission allows.”

Sasha nodded “the pentagon…they told you to do that?”

David answered “they wanted the gloves off…that’s what it looks like have a nice life detective.”

David left the station and never looked back

Fort Bragg:

David sighed as Miller debriefed saying “Master Sargent…you did good work.”

David shook his head “we took casualties sir…the mission was off from day one.”

Miller nodded “indeed, but you are Sargent Fronds managed ok, you have been given the command, of the team.”

David paused before saying “thank you sir…”

Miller Smiled “you have to new members joining you soon, the first is your tech expert, Warrant officer Tabii Gordon, Her call sign is Redcap,” Sliding over a file before adding “and fresh out of selection, Corporal Gaylord Nurfington his call sign is Dirt Diver”

David crocked an eyebrow “Gaylord?”

Miller smiled “his friends call him Nurf.”

David took the files “thank you sir.”

Miller reinterred “You did good work son…go home and get some rest.”

David nodding grabbing his files and going home.

 David’s apartment:

David opened the door, sighing as he entered trying to put on a smile not let the mission get to him he put his key in the dish saying aloud “Gwen you home?...it’s me David…”

David then said aloud “well I guess you would figure that…considering this is my apartment.”

David felt his hair stand up on the back of his neck, his Instinct’s saying there was something wrong, he reached for his gun moving for the bedroom, taking a deep breath he threw the door open quickly clearing the empty room, David moved quickly clearing the bathroom. Before lowering his weapon his heart pounding before he saw it, the note and the key on the table.

David put his weapon away picking up the note feeling his stomach turn as he recognized Gwen’s handwriting.

David opened the note reading:

 David…I’m sorry that I can’t do this in person, but with you being sent away right in the middle of that dinner, forced me to come to a conclusion that maybe I am not cut for this life…being with you, watching the news every night wondering if I will see your face as a casualty in some country, or get a knock on my door or a call saying that you died and they can’t tell me where or how just that you are a hero.  And they are right you are a hero David…but your also in a messy business…I saw a video from your recent deployment…I saw you kill two people with no mercy not hesitation. That is the type of person you are, I guess I always knew after our first when you shot that man, but I didn’t want to read that writing on the wall…I know who you are David I know you would never hurt anyone who was not trying to hurt you, but frankly it all comes down to one question, and I decided not to give you a chance to answer it, the question is what do you love more your job or me…and I already know the answer…the mission always comes first  for you David…so I took a job somewhere else…you will never see me again…goodbye David…stay safe

 -Gwen

 David dropped the note holding his head in his hands before reaching over to this phone to call Gwen before met with a simple “the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”  

David look down feeling the tears welling on his face before his phone buzzed, he reeled himself in saying with a simple “go for Greenwood…Yes sir, not an issue at all.”

David placed the note on the table grabbing his go bag and left the apartment.

A/N: 

So Gwen dumped David after his team died and he is now in charge...will they stay apart...Not sure...maybe, maybe some thing will happen at her old school, what i do know is that there will be some Jaspvid Brotp and David driving into his work until his team pulls him out...but no need to worry about that, the next chapter will probably be tamer, but i debated showing Jasper and David torturing that guy for a long time, they was build up with the waterboarding joke, but considered just not showing it cutting to the scene after, but decided to make the audience have conflicted feelings about David, possibly  even Side with Gwen who just dumped him...but i don’t want David to be a crazy guy so i wrote in The Pentagon Ordering it clearly, but enough talk...tell me what you thought of this chapter, and of that scene, weather it was done well, or felt gratuitous...this chapter has been done for like a week before i decided to publish, anyway stay safe   

[werewolfsquadron]

I love Last Years Antlers so much it’s basically canon to me now... anyways would you ever consider doing a fic about Abigails pregnancy with Bess and Arthur and John taking care of her throughout it and maybe the birth of Bess? I think it would be very cute

aw man, thank you for saying so! I don’t think I have a firm enough idea in my head of what I’d want that to look like to write a full fic about Abigail’s pregnancy and John and Arthur’s related care for her, but, under the cut, some ideas of moments for you:

Arthur at first takes a backseat to any pregnancy related stuff, not out of not wanting to help Abigail out, but because he’s worried about it not being his place. It’s a lot of just sort of taking on more and more work around the farm and in the house so that Abigail can rest and John can help her and hoping no one will notice. Eventually Abigail calls him out on it and pretty much forces him to help her figure out the crib situation. 

Uncle brings home a shipment of cloth. None of them knows where he got it, he insists he bought it, and all of them are convinced he stole it. When it’s clear that they’re never going to find out the answer, they decide they might as well use it, and Abigail teaches John and Arthur how to make baby clothes. Arthur gets the hang of it pretty quickly, but John’s attempts are uhhhhh rough. Arthur makes fun of him mercilessly. 

Abigail keeps working around the farm up to and including when she goes into labor, by her insistence. This causes John a great deal of distress (in some ways, understandable, seeing as dying in childbirth wasn’t exactly an uncommon thing at that time and even John’s mom went that way, but he definitely is overreacting to a point). Abigail insists that the ranch would not function if she took a week off and, honestly, she’s probably right. John still insists on rubbing her feet at night when they’re swollen.

Back when Jack was born, Arthur and John were kept away when Abigail was in labor along with most of the men in camp, since there were plenty of people around to help without them getting in the way. This time they’re recruited into helping the midwife, partially because she needs willing hands and partially to keep them from having anxious meltdowns, something John is definitely approaching. The midwife is distinctly reminiscent of Susan Grimshaw, which Abigail actually finds comforting in this particular situation.

Arthur cries when he holds Bess for the first time. John cries stress tears off and on throughout the whole labor process. Abigail is the only one keeping this family together. 

On that note, I think Arthur initially doesn’t expect to hold Bess right after she’s born, going back to his sort of insecurity about his place in the family. John essentially shoves Bess (but gently, bc she’s less than an hour old) into Arthur’s arms, and she blinks up at him and Arthur just absolutely melts. Even as exhausted as Abigail is, there’s some sort of group hug, baby cuddled between them, probably on the bed Abigail’s resting up in. 

Jack is delighted by the idea of a sister, but once he sees her in person and realizes newborns are essentially fragile, wrinkly little monsters, he’s less enthused. He warms up to her once he realizes she keeps his parents so sleep deprived that he can get away with almost anything and they won’t notice (see: reading when he should be doing chores. I’d imagine this is when Jack’s love of reading is really blossoming. 

Sometimes Jack also reads her stories at night, even when she’s too young to understand them. She likes the sound of his voice. He’s a good big brother. 

As Bess gets older and goes through some fussy/colicky moments, Arthur is the only one who can consistently rock her to sleep. He can get her from a full meltdown to asleep in ten minutes, something even Abigail can’t do without the help of food. 

John once caught Arthur singing to her when Arthur thought no one else was around. Now he’ll wait just out of sight when Arthur’s alone with her in hopes he’ll hear it again. Arthur often knows he’s there after the first time but will sing to Bess anyway because he knows John likes to hear it.

I may still write this sometime, but, in the meantime, anyone should feel free to expand on/use these in any way, bc I don’t mind. 

and then, since the idea of Bess existing in the first place was sparked by the fact that John and Abigail had a daughter that died in canon, likely as an infant during the four years between the RDR2 epilogue and RDR1, it’s worth saying again: this is a happy AU. Bess lives a long and happy life, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind. I am not letting John and Abigail feel that loss, let alone taking another child away from Arthur. 

anyway, thanks anon! I very much appreciated the opportunity to think about this more/make notes on it. :)

[sunfloweradore]

winsome*

- harry is an annoyed paperboy -

Harry fucking hated his job. In fact, the word “hate” probably couldn’t even begin to describe the disdain he felt towards it. He was a paperboy and he was 25, for God’s sake, he should be done with college college (he’d dropped out last year and his mom’s friend offered him this job- there wasn’t anything else and he was honestly too lazy to find something different so he just accepted) and getting his life together, but instead he was throwing paper into rich people’s yards like he was 13. The people were annoying, the sun was hot, and, honestly, he just wanted to go home and play video games instead of waking up at the asscrack of dawn to deliver cheap newspapers to people who don’t even read them. The only decent part of it all was this one girl who always seemed to wake up just as early as he did. She’d wait on the steps for him with an extra £20 and a ridiculous smile on her face. Her name was Y/N, as she’d told him the first time he’d delivered papers to that neighborhood. She was outside laying in the grass and he went up to her to make sure he wasn’t delivering to a dead girl. She was fine, though- just weird.

Her eyes had snapped open as soon as he came within a few feet of her, excitedly dashing to her feet to greet him with her outstretched hand. Adorning her fingers were rings made out of diamonds and gold, glimmering in the rising sunlight. Those rings led to perfectly manicured nails that were just long enough to get his attention. On her body was a silky blue robe that ended mid-thigh, tied loosely around her waist. She introduced herself, taking the time to pull out way more money than he deserved… right out of her bra. It seemed to be a set that went along with her robe, lacy and delicate, and Y/N apparently didn’t care that he saw it at all. In fact, it seemed like she wanted him to. That was when Harry knew he’d have to deliver to that neighborhood again. Honestly, she was a pest most of the time but it was nice to have the company when all he ever really heard was the chirping of birds and water fountains.

Every single morning she had on a different robe, the same length and the same style, and, Harry assumed, the same type of lingerie. It irked him, a lot, actually. He knew she was rich- it was fine, whatever, but the fact that she knew she was going to be around him every morning and still wore something like that made him think she was doing it on purpose. Harry thought he was a pretty decent looking guy, especially compared to what other 225-year-old college dropouts probably looked like, but there was no way she was that into him. Harry concluded that she was most likely insane because she woke up so early and had a crush on a paperboy who probably made what he made in a month in an entire year (plus, she somehow knew he had a thing for lingerie sets… witchcraft was another theory).

Don’t get him wrong, he was a feminist and believed that women should be able to do whatever they want, wear whatever they want, and be whoever they wanted to be, but it was just too much sometimes. Branching off of the witchcraft theory, it seemed like Y/N was always on his mind. Whether it be when he’s shopping for groceries and sees her favorite fruit or when he’s laying in bed with his hand on his cock. The image of her smooth, silky legs gracefully moving in time with his own was enough to get him worked up, but his mind always managed to drift back to the gorgeous blue, lacy bra he’d seen the first day he met her. It was imprinted into his mind like nothing he’d ever experienced before. He could describe the way her breasts curved out of them to someone before he could tell them his middle name. He thought about her a freaky amount, in his opinion (once again, he’d like to argue that it was witchcraft), and every time he was with her, he found himself wanting more. More of her soft skin, more of her gentle voice, preferably in a bed without a bag full of newspapers.

Today the robe was a baby pink color, slippers with a fuzzy little ball on top adorning her feet that never seemed to be dirty despite her always running around in the grass. She was sitting criss-cross on the ground with her dog, not noticing Harry yet. He began to walk closer, thinking she’d look up at him, but all she did was spread her legs in an attempt to get away from Doodle, her Jack Russell Terrier, who was nipping at her cute slippers. Here’s the thing, Harry was a gentleman. He swore he was. His mother had raised him to be, but holy shit, he wasn’t blind. Underneath her silk robe lied a place that he’d definitely thought of multiple times within the past few months, a place that he didn’t ever expect to actually see, though. Apparently, the lingerie set included slitless panties that showed off almost everything he ever could have dreamt of.  He didn't even know where you could get that kind of shit, probably on some crazy expensive website that only women like Y/N knew about.

“Harry!” she gasped. His head snapped up, leaving a crick in it. He was fucking sure she’d noticed him staring, expecting her to yell at him and to never come back to this side of town ever again or she’d sue him for all he was worth (which probably wouldn’t be too difficult) but all he got was her familiar gleaming smile. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in years!” she got up, looping her arm with his, purposefully feeling his muscles with her other hand.

“It’s only been a day,” he said quietly. His mind was still reeling over the thought of her wearing slitless panties. Slitless! As if he didn’t have enough trouble with the robes and the bra and the legs, now he knew that she was wearing underwear that didn’t even cover her all the way, probably every single day that he’s known her! He felt like he was invading her privacy, obviously she hadn’t meant to flash him like that… right?

“Still! I have so much to tell you about! I had to fire this girl at work because she messed up a shipment and you know how much I hate firing people, it’s the worst. All of the paperwork and the crying, but my assistant said I couldn’t make her fire people anymore, so, of course, I had to fire her, too,” she rambled. He didn’t really know what she did, but he knew that she made a lot, especially considering that she was his age, she was probably some sort of CEO after taking over the family business. She was very smart, he knew that, and apparently fired people a lot.

“But anyways, what’s been up with you? Did you ever apply at that one place?” she asked, referring to McDonald's. Harry would be annoyed with her if he didn’t know that she wasn’t coming from a malicious or mocking place. She was just so sweet to him, treating him like he wasn’t some boy who delivered newspapers to her mansion, just like they were both average people. But, realistically, she didn’t even know what McDonald's was and things like that diminished his hope of ever being more than… whatever they were.

“No, but I think I might go back to school. I still want to write songs or something like that, just have to get my degree and I might be able to,” he spoke, throwing another newspaper to the next yard.

“Oh, that’s great!” she gasped. “You know, you could work as my assistant in the meantime if you wanted to. I obviously need a new one and I trust you not to fuck up anything.”

“I- that’s a lot to ask of you, Y/N, I’m not sure I’d be a great fit for… what is it you do? Sorry, it’s never really come up before,” he asked, slowly unraveling their arms in order to get a better angle on tossing the next paper. His eyes drifted to her legs when she kicked a stray stone back into the person’s front lawn, the femininity of how her foot curved made him want to run his mouth up her legs, kissing until he reached the pretty, glossy sight that he stumbled upon earlier that day.

“Oh, woah, you’re totally right, sorry I spaced that,” she laughed. Harry mumbled an “it’s fine” and cleared his throat.

“Have you ever heard of a company called ‘Ravish’?” she asked. He shook his head, trying to jog his memory for any type of companies that could be called that. A shoe company? Maybe something like Amazon?

“Well… I could show you, if you like,” she offered, wrapping her hands around his bicep again and pulling him to a stop. His eyes followed her tongue, peeking out and running across her bottom lip, painting it with a light, wet sheen. He could feel himself plumping up even more in his boring, and, in his opinion, disgustingly ugly trousers. Getting on her toes so she could lean into his ear, she whispered, “I promise it’ll be worth your while, Harry.” Breath caught in his throat, he nodded apprehensively.

Y/N’s house was bigger than anything he’d ever seen, probably more than 20x bigger than the space he and Mitch lived in. There was a beautiful marble staircase that was surrounded by plants and vases that he tried his hardest to steer clear of in order to avoid breaking them. That staircase led to a large master bedroom that had a four-post bed with curtains around the sides, giving it an elegant, almost royal feel.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are we in here?” he asked, avoiding thoughts of her bent over the silk sheets. She ignored him.  

“What do you like to listen to?” she asked, walking over to a record player. It seemed to be the only technology in the room, actually, and it made Harry feel kind of fuzzy-headed. She was honestly his dream girl and he had no idea what made her want to invite a paperboy into her home.

“Whatever you do,” he mumbled, wanting to see if that was true. Y/N hummed, picking up a vinyl that was sitting next to the record player, one that didn’t look to be in spotless condition like the others in what seemed like a vast collection. It was something he’d never heard before, which was surprising, but he liked it.

“Now, I need you to tell me something, okay? And be honest,” she said, gesturing for Harry to sit on her bed. “Are you interested in me?” He sputtered, unsure of what was going to be happening while he was there with her and felt his ears getting red.

“I-I mean, yeah, I think, but I get it if you d-” he said, shakily.

“Harry,” she spoke, sternly. He looked up. “Tell me honestly, are you interested in me?”

“Yes, I’m interested in you,” he said. Y/N smiled, kissing his cheek.

“Okay, I’m interested in you, too,” she said. He broke out into a grin.

“Oh, thank God, I thought you were going to kill me or something,” he joked. She hummed, a knowing smile on her face.

“Well, you never know,” she said. Harry was about to make a quip back at her but quickly shut his mouth, watching her slide her robe off of her shoulders. Her breasts rose and fell with each breath she took, sitting nicely in the cups of her bra, confirming all his suspicions of it being a matching set. Her left leg slid in between his, resting nicely against his growing bulge. She lifted one of her perfectly manicured hands and ran it across his jaw, slowly sliding it into his messy hair. Her other leg went over his own so she was straddling his thigh, Harry’s hands grasping her hips to make sure the moment was actually happening, hoping it would keep her there if it wasn’t.

“You’re so good for me, Harry,” she whispered. She expected him to lean into her hand or moan, something like that, but all she got was a suddenly dark look in his eyes. The next thing she knew, she was being pinned to her own bed, both of her wrists fitting into his hand. Her chest was heaving, her pussy throbbing at how his broad body completely covered her own and made her feel smaller than she actually was.

“Nuh-uh, that’s not how this is going to work, Y/N,” he growled. “I’ve been good for the past three months, now it’s your turn.” She moaned, mouth agape slightly at his unusual but very anticipated show of dominance. He took the chance to place his lips on hers. The kiss was wet and sloppy but so nice and neither of them could really believe it was happening. He was surrounded with the soft scent of her skin and the silk sheets against his hand, deciding that he wanted to feel a different kind of silk. Without her really expecting it, his hand drifted to her slit, already coated in her arousal. They simultaneously groaned against each other’s lips at how wet and ready she was for him. He rubbed her clit lightly, not enough to provide the stimulation she wanted but enough to make her crave more.

The air in the room was quickly becoming heated, the rock ballad that Harry didn’t know but was really beginning to like playing in the background. Harry pulled away from her, ignoring her fingers making grabby motions and the pout that adorned her lips. It was crazy to him how fast she could switch between being an absolute sex kitten to being this goofy, childlike girl. He liked it, a lot. He brought his hard cock out of his trousers, quickly unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it somewhere across the room. He did the same with his underwear and her bra, placing himself at her entrance but making no move to actually enter.

“Do you have any condoms, love?” he asked, pinching her nipple over her pretty bra until she arched into his hand with fervor. He placed himself between her legs again, lifting one of them so it was bent, her foot against the bed and her knee towards the air.

“I’m on birth control, please, just hurry up,” she said, exasperated at his teasing and just wanting to feel him. He laughed through his nose a little, deciding to drag it on even longer because of how bratty he thought she was being. Throbbing waves of pleasure entered them both when Harry glided his tip over her clit, painting it with his precum and letting her try and buck her hips. Hair was sprawled across the bed, Y/N’s eyes blown with lust, lips swollen from his bruising kiss. He thought she looked angelic, ironically.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, baby. Is that what you want? You want me to stuff you full of my cock? Feel me inside of you for weeks, sweetheart?” he asked gruffly.

“Yes, please, j-just put your cock in me,” she moaned. Signs of her desperation leaked from her pussy, Harry dipping his head into her slightly and rubbing back towards her clit, teasing her. He placed his hands on her lower lips, spreading them so she could feel him better.

“I don’t know if you deserve my cock, you’ve been a bad girl. I don’t think you’re sorry for teasing me like that…” he scolded. “”Every single day, you wear your naughty sets, pretending that you’re innocent. You make me go home hard and alone, imagining your pretty mouth wrapped around me. No, little girl, I don’t think you’re sorry at all.”

“I am!” she gasped. “I am sorry, please, I promise!” Her body writhed against the expensive silk sheets and Harry made a note to himself that he should buy silk sheets.

“No, you’re not, but you will be,” he said. He slammed into her, jerking the headboard into the wall, setting a ruthless pace that he’d been waiting to give her for far too long. Y/N’s jaw went slack, letting his movements bring shocks across her body and light it on fire with his eyes. Her underwear was absolutely drenched in her arousal, any semblance of cleaning it shot out the window almost as soon as he agreed to come over. A groan flew from his mouth at the sound his thrusts were making, his thumb rubbing her clit harshly.

“Listen to how messy you are, baby, just for me, huh?” he huffed.

“Yes! Yes, just for you, please!” she yelped, trying to grasp onto anything to hold back. He felt so big inside of her, hitting deep and not allowing her to form a coherent thought.

“Please, what?” he asked, thrusting even more intensely.

“Please let me cum!” she shouted, thrashing around on the bed and holding onto his neck to gain some kind of resistance against her orgasm.

“Hmm, already? Are you sure you’ve earned that? I don’t know, I think seeing you hold it back would make me believe you’re finally a good girl,” he spoke, flicking her clit even harder to see if she could actually do it.

“I-I can’t, please!” she sobbed. She tightened around his cock, causing him to hiss and continue rubbing her clit out of spite.

“Just a little longer, sweetheart, then you can cum all over my cock, yeah? Drench me in your sweet juices even more, let me feel how much you mean it,” he breathed, his own orgasm just around the corner. Eyes rolling into the back of her head, she clenched her teeth, legs twitching around his nimble hips when he pinched her clit.

“Okay, cum, baby, cum on my cock, milk me for all I’ve got,” he moaned. Earth-shattering waves crashed over her, all she could feel and all that she wanted to feel was Harry against her, the sugary sweet feeling of ecstasy dripping over her. It felt like Y/N was burning up and in a bath full of ice at the same time and she craved for more of it. His own orgasm pulsed through him, the wet stickiness painted her walls and caused an even smoother glide of his cock, breathless gasps exchanged through yet another bruising kiss. Harry was still thrusting, prolonging her orgasm longer than she’d experienced with anyone else, hitting all of her sensitive spots. Her teeth felt fuzzy from how hard she’d been clenching them and there was no way she wasn’t falling in love with this man.

“Fuck, yes, baby, just like that, so good, so good for me, letting me fill you up,” he groaned, causing the final and hardest wave to hit her. One of her arms fell from his neck to feel his biceps straining to hold himself above her body while still thrusting fairly intensely.

“I love your arms,” she mumbled, dazed and fucked out. He laughed, lying down beside her and letting her squeeze him.

“Really? Couldn’t tell,” he mumbled, completely relaxed.

“Yeah? Me constantly touching them didn’t give it away?” she joked.

“Not at all. I wasn’t too rough, was I?” he asked gently.

“No, it was really, really good,” she giggled, tracing his tattoos, familiarizing herself with them. They were quiet for a while until Harry realized something.

“Hey, you never told me what you do. Was that just a ploy to get me to come over?” he teased, poking her side.

“No! Well, maybe,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I own my own lingerie company. It’s called Ravish and I was hoping that if I wore it long enough you’d Google it. Plus, I wanted to turn you on enough to make a move on me or something.” It was silent for a moment again, Y/N growing anxious that he wouldn’t like her anymore because she owned a company basically designed for sex.

“Well, you’ve clearly learned nothing from a few minutes ago. Guess we have to try again until you do,” he said. She perked up quickly.

“I guess we do.”

hiii omg omg it’s been a year since i wrote my first story on here!! it’s also been a year since harry performed medicine live for the first time! i just wrote this as a lil anniversary thing bc i wanted to say thank you for reading the stuff on my account! i love writing (esp about harry) and seeing positive feedback from people is always so comforting and nice. so, once again, thank you if you've ever read anything i’ve written, if you’ve liked it, or even if you like me xxx

masterlist

[chidoroki]

Norman - 22194

March 21st is here and it’s time for yet another birthday post. I already rambled on about Emma and Ray on their special days, so now it’s finally time to complete this full-score tradition with Norman. It might not be as detailed or long as the other two, since he was absent for a good chunk of the story, but it doesn’t make him any less important! I’ll be honest now, the boy isn’t my favorite character (he doesn’t place anywhere in my top ten for this series either) so I probably missed some moments worth mentioning but I did my best to praise this child anyway!

(spoilers for the entirety of The Promised Neverland, so if you haven’t read/completed the manga yet, consider this your first warning, because I’m once again going from start to finish with this.)

Since I want to stay consistent with the other two posts, this will focus on the manga timeline, as season 2 is, well.. it’s own thing. I’ll mention some things but don’t count on much. With that, let’s go.

- He achieves a perfect score on Grace Field’s daily tests, alongside Emma and Ray.

- He is, without a doubt, the smartest kid the house has ever seen, as he passes each test flawlessly and has maintained a 300 average.

- He’s a complete strategist who is capable of achieving victory (even in something simple as tag) by observing his opponents moves and analyzing their weaknesses in order to counter.

- Knows how to pick locks. The scene from ch1 was left out but we see him doing so later on in ep02.

- Stays relatively positive and calm after learning about the truth of the farm.

- Even going as far as giving Emma a reassuring smile, which I think is impressive given the literal nightmare fuel they’ve just witnessed. 

- I’m giving him half credit for suggesting the idea of there being tracking devices, since anime has him reveal this possibility while in manga it’s Emma.

- Both of them realize what determines the shipping order and that the demons favor their brains.

- This silly panel that I love dearly.

- Made sure to do a sweep of the entire house beforehand to make sure their escape planning doesn’t get pick up on.

- Figures out that Isabella only knows the children’s locations when she checks the tracker and that it can’t identify who is who.

- Has the nerve to lie right to Isabella’s face.. not that she believes it, but still gutsy nonetheless.

- Knowing the house probably wouldn’t have any rope, it was his idea to use the spare tablecloths.

- Had a feeling that Ray would reveal the harsh reality of how dangerous it would be to escape with all the children, which turns out to be correct.

- His laugh in ep02 is so precious.

- This statement being 100% accurate.

- Manages to convince the logical Ray, who we know now has spent many years coming up with a solid, safer escape plan, to join in and assist with their crazy and reckless plan instead. Having Ray on their side also grants them many advantages.

- Absolutely hates to lose, which is a good mentality to have in a world where your life is a stake and your time is limited, which eventually leads him to consider every possible opportunity to stay ahead of his enemies throughout the remainder of the story.

- Realizes that the trackers must only send out a signal upon being broken, which we found out to be true in Ray’s one-shot chapter.

- - Him looking completely terrified in this panel.

- He managed to catch all the Grace Field kids in a game of tag even after they received advice from Ray about how to survive longer.

- The goddamn intimidating energy he gives off here is fantastic.

- Despite his body being physically weak, he manages to survive and win against Krone during their game of tag.

- Just like Ray some couple chapters ago, Norman is completely serious about this idea.

- Suspects there’s a traitor among the kids and swiftly comes up with a plan to lure them out.

- This panel of him “dead” from the first side story.

- He has a feeling the spy is Ray, so he moves up the day of the escape to catch him off guard and send him into a panic.

- Even though the anime didn’t include it, he managed to throw off Krone as well with some fake footprints to keep her off their backs.

- Was honestly considering on leaving the spy behind while the rest of them escaped, though he doesn’t seem real happy about the idea, considering the traitor is Ray.

- His plan on fishing out the spy was flawless as he finally calls Ray out by revealing that the information he gave about the ropes and where he hid them were fake locations.

- Not only was Ray the first one Norman suspected, but he caught onto him way back when Krone first came to the house. All the information Ray was feeding them helped Norman come to this conclusion as well.

- Along with Emma’s words about believing that no one in their family is truly bad, Norman refrains from cutting Ray off to allow him to become their trump card. This was a risky move itself, knowing Ray could sell both him & Emma out at any time. Norman tends to prioritize victory, so while staying alive is absolutely necessary and that could’ve been achieved without Ray (as he could’ve just used Ray then ditch him later), he still decides to make the offer as realizes that in order defeat Isabella, Ray’s full cooperation is essential.

- Realizes that it was Ray who hid Little Bunny in the first place and lead Norman and Emma to investigate the gate that night, which leads him to believe that Ray isn’t really an enemy.

- He’s also left handed. Yes, that’s important. Not only for later in the story but because we’re superior. I’m sorry y’all had to find out this way. 

- This stupid, little face he makes.

- Suspects that Ray doesn’t actually plan on escaping at all and intends to kill himself.

- Just like Emma and Ray, Norman also recognizes and understands morse code.

- Look at this precious child, not even angry after getting punched and knocked over. (because i certainly would be)

- Finds Ray’s hidden supply of oil which confirms the method for his future suicide. This also helps Norman later on when he comes up with a refined escape plan by using the fire Ray plans to start.

- Figures out Krone’s true intention about why she wants to join forces with the kids in the first place. 

- He ends up accepting Krone’s offer anyway, because despite the large risk, any information that can snag out of her would benefit them.

- You mad lad, look at you, taunting the bringer of death yet again while a smile on your face.

- And he still manages to find some strength to smile while upon death’s door.

- Not for long though, as once he’s given the chance to be alone, he finally breaks down. Having the cup overflow with water really helps demonstrate how impactful the thought of dying hit him as Norman was overcome with so many emotions that he didn’t even have the strength to hold onto the cup or his facade. It’s then he starts to feel scared and sorry for himself but away from Emma and Ray’s eyes as to not worry them.

- His entire internal monologue as he comes to terms with his unfortunate situation and flips back to his determined “I can’t lose” attitude to help everyone else escape. Also, his theme ‘22194’ hits especially hard.

- For someone with weak, physical abilities, he manages to climb the wall on his own.

- Though the cliff stopped his escape, he used that opportunity to survey the surrounding area of the entire farm to rely his findings to the duo and provide them a safer escape route.

- Completely adamant about his decision to accept his shipment in order to give the rest of his family a chance to escape. (hell, id’ be terrified right now)

- This hug that is sure to break everyone’s hearts.

- Quick to react to Emma’s last ditch effort and prevented her from slamming her already busted up leg into the ground.

- Not only did he predict that Ray would start a fire to distract Isabella and on which day, he also left behind the pen and key he received from Krone along with a new, detailed plan (which he managed to come up with in only a few hours by the way) that would allow the kids to cross over the cliff.

(post season one spoilers below. again, focusing on the manga timeline, so any new season 2 events will be mentioned sparingly.)

- Like Ray, Norman was able to figure out how the pen worked well enough to see Minerva’s message regarding B06-32.

- Since he doesn’t show up again for quite some time post-escape, there isn’t much to talk about.. but at least I can make fun of him thanks to extra pages, like how he wouldn’t have enough strength to use a bow.

- But hey, props to s2ep10 for actually giving us Norman shooting an arrow. He was pretty decent with it too, as he hit his target on the first try behind a darn smokescreen. The manga did show him holding a bow in ch161, but that’s it.

- Not relevant to the actual story at all, but his smarts certainly make anything possible.

- I’m sorry but these tiny failures of his bring me great joy.

- Though the tests at Lambda are harder than those at Grace Field, Norman still managed to get every question correct. Every single day he was there. Even when the facility manages to increase the difficulty of the tests, he continues to pass each one with flying colors.

- Since he noticed someone who’s right handed also takes the same tests he does, he makes an attempt to communicate with them via a Rubik’s cube. He waits patiently for five months until he finally gets a response from Vincent around Christmas 2046. 

- Dealt with the experiments/drugs that were forced onto him and the seizures that resulted from them.

- Even with the tight security and surveillance, he somehow acquired explosives and successfully blow up Lambda and escapes with the survivors.

- Again, not significant to the story, but seriously dude? You just fainted and yet you still get this crazy question right effortlessly?

(post time-skip)

- Contacts Lucas moments before the B06-32 shelter gets blown up and gives him the numeric code that eventually leads Emma’s group to the “Jaw of Lion.”

- Destroyed numerous mass production farms since his escape from Lambda.

- As well as save countless children from other farms and used the Paradise shelter found by Smee’s network to give them a sense of safety and taste of a normal life.

- The darn glow-up he receives, like sweet lord child, are you sure you’re still 13??

- - His cute, squishy cheeks though!

- He may look like he’s in his thirties, but still has the strength of a child. (see anime? this is how strong ray’s slap should have been!)

- Learned a great deal of demon history and gave that lengthy lesson about the demon’s genetics and how they inherit the characteristics of whatever they eat and evolve accordingly. 

- With Emma’s wish about saving everyone and lively happily still on his mind, he thought of a safe and certain method in order to create such a future for all the children raised as food.. which ends up being complete extermination of all the demons caused by a civil war. His plan also includes ending the Ratri clan as well. How cheerful.

- Are you surprised to learn that Norman getting tackled by the younger kids is my favorite panel of him?

- You weak, little bean, I’m sorry I enjoy making fun of you so much.

- Successfully forms an alliance with Lord Geelan and his clan by offering revenge on the royal family, the five regent houses, as well as the Ratri clan, thus putting Geelan in full control. In return, it would grant Norman the full release of farm children, permission to self-govern and some much needed power in terms of demon strength.

- He knows full well that the entire alliance is a lie and both parties are only using each other, though in works in his favor, as it will send the demons to destroy each other without the lose of any human lives.

- This absolute powerful panel that the anime decided “nah, we’re gonna change this too” because they’re cowards.

- Narrowed down possible locations on where to find Sonju and Mujika. Sure it was with the intention of killing our demon friends but his map was accurate.

- Survived who knows long with his seizures at level 4, and because of his severe condition, he’s completely set on following through his plan and succeeding before his time runs out.

- Seems to enjoy blowing stuff up, such as the imperial city’s bridges to send the place into a panic and trap all the citizens.

- Advised the Lambda crew on how to effectively fight against the queen by attacking relentlessly.

- Let loose a poison that causes not only normal demons to degenerate, but the royal family as well, such as the five regent heads and the queen who’s name is too long and complicated for me to ever remember, who all have the cursed blood. (at least that’s how effective it was in manga, in anime it did absolutely nothing to vylk)

- He somehow managed to learn, speak and understand the demon language, which, according to Shirai (vol16 author notes), is actually an uncommon language nowadays. (and we’ll unfortunately never know how this language actually sounds, thank anime..)

- Do I even praise him for killing a demon and well.. all this? Sure in the anime he tried killing Vylk, but old demon was fair more innocent compared to the royal family, so I have no idea.

- I will give season 2 some credit and say I prefer their take on the “right now you look like a small child, shaking with fear” panel.

- But not too much credit, as they didn’t give us the full trio hug as the manga did!

- Then again the anime did have him about to apologize to Vylk and Demon Emma for his actions, which is something, I suppose? since in ch154 he says he didn’t regret killing the queen and royals, which I guess is justified because they were the bigger problem, but oh well.

- Might have apologized to Ayshe for killing her father? Can’t be sure but that’s the unanimous consensus in the fandom right?

- Instantly comes up with counter moves and directions for the entire group upon hearing the enemies locations from Vincent during the GF raid.

- I honestly can’t look at this panel anymore and not laugh about it.. because reasons.

- He just keeps on winning. (also he looks real good here, i’ll give him that.)

- He and everyone else are skeptical about there being no “reward,” and for rightfully so.

- Upon learning that Emma is missing after everyone crossed over to the human world, they all adopt her optimistic attitude and swear to find her no matter where she might be.

- After a stressful two year search, the kids finally find Emma and Norman is so overcome with emotion that he busts out into tears of joy, despite finding out that she lost her memories due to the reward. All that matters to him is that Emma was safe and happy and he accepts her just the way she is.

And I guess.. that’s it. I’m sorry again, I know this is truly the weakest post out of the trio and I have no doubt I glanced over a whole bunch of great moments but it still had to be done! Making fun of him probably wasn’t the best thing to do on his special day either, but I assure you this child is very powerful. Who else do you know that is capable of sending an entire fandom into a panic and rage furiously by just simply showing up?

Ah ha okay, now I’m done. In all seriousness though, this lad is great and through everything he has endured, he definitely deserves to be celebrated today, so happy birthday to our boy Norman!

[taaroko]

In This Essay, I Will Break Down the Mind-Boggling Stupidity of Thanos’s Plan

Okay, so I got a review on one of my Thor fanfics from someone who thinks Thanos had a point, and naturally, I had to write a multi-paragraph reply explaining why that is false. I’ve seen plenty of other excellent posts dragging Thanos, but I’m throwing mine on the pile. Here we go.

Thanos's plan is utter nonsense. He's operating with a very unsophisticated Malthusian understanding of population dynamics that was debunked a long time ago. Malthus assumed that population would always grow exponentially until it vastly exceeded the resources, resulting in mass starvation. But that's not what actually happens. When the production methods improve, there will be a population boom for a while, but it eventually levels off near the new carrying capacity as people have fewer children. New innovations in production and distribution will continue to raise the carrying capacity, and the population will rise to match it. The only time the world's population has ever gone down was after the Black Plague, and that set us back a long way. It did not leave more resources for the survivors to enjoy. And even if cutting the population in half was a good thing, it only sets us back about 50 years, so it's an extremely temporary "solution" anyway. Then there are the short-term consequences of the Snapture. Completely at random, half of everyone flaked out of existence. That means roughly half of all vehicles on every road on the planet are suddenly without drivers, still going whatever speed they were going. Those roads are now clogged with empty and crashed cars. Ambulances will never reach the remaining people who got stuck in crashes, and even if they could, are there doctors left to treat the patients? Without the ability to transport people or goods effectively until the roads are clear (and how do you even begin to do that?), no supplies or shipments are getting anywhere. There are quite a few highly specialized professional fields that may suddenly have no one in them, and many of those could be crucial to running local utilities, governments, toxic waste management, etc. It's not like there are people waiting and ready to fill all of those jobs, so we'd probably see widespread power outages, governmental collapse, and at least a few nuclear plant meltdowns. Every level of society would break down. If we're being generous, only 25% of the population would actually survive the first couple of months, and they would be living in a post-apocalyptic world, not a paradise. (I will be extremely impressed if this realistic outcome is actually what we are shown in Endgame, but I kinda doubt that the writers who believed they'd made a sympathetic villain in Thanos have actually thought this through.) That's just Earth. Maybe there are some planets out there that wouldn't get hit quite as hard by the snowball effect of the Snap, and there are definitely others that would have it worse. The one-size-fits-all approach is completely asinine. Different worlds with different lifeforms will obviously have different needs and different struggles. And on that note, I do not believe Thanos when he claims that Gamora's planet is doing great since his army paid them a visit. We already saw in writing in GotG that Gamora is the last surviving member of her species, and I refuse to allow the retcon. Maybe the people living on her planet now are happy and well fed, but they are not the Zehoberei, who were so wrecked by Thanos’s brand of salvation that the rest of them have since died off.  Even if Thanos has somehow convinced himself that halving the population of any and all planets is a good idea on some level, he doesn't actually care about that or his precious balance. He didn't kill half the dwarves, he killed all of them except their king, who he left disfigured to grieve over his people until he starves because he's all alone and can't use his hands. He didn't do a headcount of the Asgardians, realize that at best 10% of the population survived Hela's slaughter, take the Tesseract, and leave them alone; he wiped out half of what was left because they dared resist him. He isn't really some martyr savior who’s the only one who can make hard choices. He looked Thor in the face while he strangled his brother, and he *smiled*. He stole children from worlds he attacked, made them battle each other for his approval and their right to live, and tore them apart to give them "upgrades." He is a twisted, cruel, tyrannical madman who only cares about making the rest of the universe suffer because he never got over what happened to his planet. And all this is working under the assumption that Thanos was only targeting sentient populations. However, if the Russos and the trailer for Endgame are to be taken at face value, then Thanos wiped out half of all living things. I really hope that's either a mistake or a trick and not what's actually happening in the MCU right now, because if it is, we have left the realms of amateur civics and gone somewhere idiotically insane. First of all, plants and animals *are* resources, so killing half of them too leaves the proportion of populations the same, just a lot sadder. But it's so, so much worse than that. Wiping out half of all living things would include crucial microorganisms such as gut bacteria and nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil. Of the people who didn't fade away, quite a few would die horribly because their gut bacteria were wiped out or severely depleted, leaving them unable to digest food. Half of the land on every habitable planet would suddenly become barren without that nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Those are only the most obvious examples I can think of, but Thanos basically just destroyed every single ecological system in the entire universe. This was an extremely stupid plan if his goal was to save it. The only way it would make sense even a little bit would be if everything that flaked away is now in a parallel universe, but all the aforementioned consequences would then apply to both halves, so it's not really better. Also, why would anyone, in a universe with magic and dudes who can quadruple their mass when they get grumpy, be worried about running out of resources? Why couldn't Thanos just use the Gauntlet to fix his own planet, destroy corrupt power systems that keep the resources from being distributed to the needy, make a bunch of vacant planets habitable, or (if he’s really stuck on the population issue) lower everyone's fertility rates? Or all of the above? This didn't occur to me until a friend mentioned it, but I wouldn't have any complaints against Thanos's plan if his motive had been to punish the universe for being greedy and wasteful (like his own planet was, perhaps), his assumption being that the survivors would become stronger and more efficient because of his actions. (As long as the outcome only affected sentient populations. Good grief.)

[mimymomo]

Parrlyn Miraculous Ladybug AU Part 3

After writing these I have such a new found appreciation for the Miraculous team for their creativity when it comes to their one off villains names and powers and how Ladybug stops them (its hard). But anyway here’s Part 3:

Anne sneaks out of the palace (again) and tries to find Catherine again

Cathy is helping Catherine organize the bookshop before it opens. Aragon is waiting for a new shipment of new limited edition books for a book signing happening in the next two days

Cathy is excited since the person coming is her favorite author but the book signing is during an important test so she can’t make it

After exploring what feels like every flower shop in London, Anne comes across See More Daisies. When she walks towards the shop she passes Heavenly Reads and catches a glimpse of Cathy through the window

“Catherine Parr!”

“Anne??”

“I’ve been bloody looking for you all morning! Do you know how many flower shops there are in London?? A LOT!!!”

ANNE STARTS WEARING HER HAIR IN SPACE BUNS SINCE THEY REMIND HER OF CAT BLANCHE’S CAT EARS!! (I forgot to mention that her hair was just down previously in the other parts...my bad)

Anne is still a flirt but is constantly shut down/thrown off by Cathy’s responses (Cathy either a) bounces the flirting attempts right back at Anne or b) acts completely not interested)

Anne is even more blushy/smitten than before (she likes that Catherine doesn’t fall all over her)

Anne and Aragon DO NOT get along

“Catherine Parr get her out of my shop before I beat her with one of these heavy dictionaries.”

“All I asked was if you carried 50 Shades Darker here!”

Anne doesn’t actually read those, she just wanted to piss off Aragon

Anne begs Cathy to let her join her and go with her to university, Cathy agrees

She goes to classes with Cathy and reconnects with her cousin Katherine and is introduced to Anna

“Anne, remember me? My name is Katherine Howard, we’re cousins...You probably don’t since it’s been so long-”

“Of course I remember you! How’ve you been Kitty?”

Anne does amazing in class

Sure she is cracking jokes at every moment but she does manage to tell off this dumb sexist guy off with straight up facts and logic to the point where he sits down and doesn’t speak for the rest of the class

To say that Cathy and the rest aren’t impressed would be a straight up lie

Anne admits to Catherine how she had always been stuck going to uptight private schools or home schooled. And currently she isn’t even allowed to attend university

Catherine agrees to help Anne find a way to convince her father/managers to allow her finish/attend school

Back with Aragon, the books that were supposed to be delivered that day were mixed up at the post office/shipping place and they won’t be able to get there until the next week. This will ruin the book signing and frustrates Catherine to no end.

Hawkmoth akumatized Aragon and turns her into the ‘Book Keeper’ (wow these names are getting even worse!). She can suck people up into her books and when she writes/reads from them whatever she says happens. The akuma is in her book

Cathy, Anne, Kat and Anna are at lunch when they see Book Keeper

“Uhh, sorry guys I got to, go to a....an interview! Yeah, an interview! I completely forgot it...bye!”

“Ohh, uh look at that Aragon is calling me. I got to take this!”

Book Keeper gets to the post office and is causing damage by the time Ladybug and Cat Blanche show up

Ladybug and Cat Blanche get their butts kicked in the beginning but they manage to take her out by using a bucket of paint (lucky charm) and spilling it on the book so she can’t read it or trap others (it was actually Anne’s idea)

After they free Aragon from the akuma everything goes back to normal

A worker at the post office runs up to Aragon and tells her that they managed to find her order of books and they can be delivered first thing in the morning right before the book signing

Cathy and Anne join back up with Kat and Anna when Anne’s managers find her and begin to berate her

“You will not be let out of our sight ever again! Do you hear me Miss Boleyn?”

Catherine, who has had enough, confronts Anne’s managers and blasts them for not allowing Ane to make at least some of her own decisions, including attending school

“Anne is one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met in my life! Don’t you see that it’s unfair to her to not allow her to choose what she wants to do? I’ll be there and will make sure she does well. So please let her continue coming to uni. Please.”

Anne’s manager doesn’t give a response and drags Anne away

But not before Anne runs up to Catherine and thanks her for the best day ever

“School-wise that is.”

The next day at school Cathy is sitting waiting for class to begin when BAM! Anne sits down next to her. She’s technically not fully enrolled yet and has to wait until next semester to start but since she is a celebrity there letting her attend some classes to try things out

“I guess you’re my responsibility now Cathy Parr.”

No one warned Anne about the test in class that day though...

Afterwards they run to the bookshop to try and make the signing but it’s over

Or maybe not?

Aragon and Anne teamed up to get Cathy a signed book (Aragon) and dinner with the author at a fancy restaurant (Anne)

“It’s a thank you, you know, for helping me. So everybody go get dressed into something presentable, that especially means you Aragon!”

“You just want me to dislike you, don’t you?”

The dinner is amazing and Catherine and the author get along great. After sampling some of her writing he tells her she could have a real good future as a writer ahead of her if she keeps at it

Anne and little Mary definitely play with the sugar packets and seasoning shakers until Aragon yells at them to quit

Okay so the next couple of parts are much darker (well how dark can Miraculous really be?)

Part 1

Part 2

[axispheydra]

Prompt 29 - Fitting

“Mornin’ Orara!” came G’wahnako’s chipper voice. “Here to see Keltwyb?”

“Aye,” she answered, nodding. “I was in the area, so I figured I’d drop by.”

“Ah, c’mon lass, you know somethin’ like this takes time. ‘Specially considerin’ the designs you an’ Keltwyb came up with. Intricacy ain’t her strong point, you know. And I hear you had to order some parts from the Weaver’s Guild back in Ul’dah!”

Orara couldn’t help but flush a little. “Well, I wanted to make sure everything was high quality-”

“An’ you got the smitties workin’ for you too!” she leaned over the counter, ears twitching. “One of ‘em, anyways. Did your old armor really get banged up so bad that y’needed a whole new set? Thought we coulda fixed that.”

“Well, maybe, but I was thinking it was just time for a chance of pace.”

“Real expensive change, if you ask me.”

“I’ve been saving for it.” Ever since she came to Limsa, it had always been in the back of her mind. Now she actually had a reason to do it.

The Armorer's Guild receptionist was as overbearing as always, and Orara could only handle so much before she went looking for her armor-smith of choice. She found Keltwyb at one of the guild’s workbenches, looking over a Lalafell-sized bracer. “Ah, Orara!” she said, smiling at her approach. “Just the lass I wanted to see. Here, try this on.”

Orara obediently held out her hand while Keltwyb slipped the armor on her. “Not too bad,” she murmured. “Looks about right to me. Should be okay with the buckles.”

“It’s good to see you too,” said Orara. 

“Ain’t got much time for social calls,” said Keltwyb. “Nothin’ personal, lass. Just wanna make sure yer gettin’ what you paid for.”

Orara smirked. “Why, should I be worried?”

“Not about the quality of the armor. About the quantity, maybe...” Keltwyb made a face as she began to hammer on the bracer. “Seems like a step down from that Sultansworn gear you had before.”

“Cloth armor works fine too,” said Orara, shrugging. Her new armor covered all the vital pieces of her body with steel, but she had opted for more ornate cloth for the rest. She just hadn’t been needing the bulky metal when most people had a hard time hitting her anyways. She was hoping being a little lighter would work to her advantage.

“Well, you’re the paladin. I get paid either way, but it don’t look too great for me if my customers end up dead. So at least try not to get in over yer head too much, you hear me?”

“No promises.”

“Figured I’d at least ask.” Keltwyb gestured over her shoulder towards a crate at the foot of her workbench. “Reminds me, yer shipment from Ul’dah came in. Took a lot at it earlier, it’s nice stuff. Might wanna make sure they got yer measurements right, though.”

It was very nice, thought Orara as she sifted through the crate’s contents. The overcoat was a padded white, detailed in shining brass, with just a hint of red to brighten it. The included shawl and sash were the same red, a nice departure form the blues of the Sultansworn.

“How does it look?” she said, waving to Keltwyb.

Keltwyb pulled off her goggles, staring down at her with a small smile. “I had my doubts, but seein’ it on you... it really suits you, Orara. But it’ll look even better when all this armor is done.”

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer, then.”

“Make sure you leave the cloth,” said Keltwyb, replacing the goggles on her face. “Gotta make sure it all lines up. And the color’s gotta match, of course.”

“Of course,” echoed Orara. She pulled the clothes off and left them at the Guild, waving to Keltwyb as she left.

She really had no idea how long making a set of armor actually took, and it showed. She needed something new after her fight with Ganzeidin, but only now, two moons later, was everything actually taking shape.

As she stepped outside into the bright La Noscean sun, Orara thought about how she’d only come here to get as far away from Thanalan as she could. In only a moon, so much had happened, but now two months past that, everything had settled down and Orara found herself feeling relaxed for the first time in a long time.

On cue, her linkpearl chimed in her ear. “Orara, you still out and about?” came Hastswys’ voice.

“I’m finishing up, so I’ll be there soon.”

“You better! Can’t keep a seat empty at the Drownin’ Wench for long, you know.”

“I know. I’m on my way now, Hastswys.”

The woman chuckled on the other side of the line. “Don’t keep me waitin’ long, love.”

Orara smiled, despite how hard she tried to keep it from showing. “I won’t. See you soon.”

As the communication ended, Orara looked towards the Drowning Wench,built into the bright white stone pillars of Limsa Lominsa. This island had been a place of many firsts for her, she realized. Not all of them were bad.