#5 au facts

[oldshrewsburyian]

Jaime/Brienne, modern AU. Ahem.

*muffled screaming* Ahem. So, I think I would take the license of setting this at a university specifically, because 1) write what you know 2) what other setting is quite as good at forcing people who really hate each other into proximity and reenacting/reinforcing intersecting hierarchies in deeply weird ways?

...anyway.

Speaking of those weird intersecting hierarchies, I think Brienne has a proper PhD (humanities, with that quixotry)¹ and Jaime is one of those people with Industry Experience™ and oodles of family money

Can I save Ned Stark from death at the cost of making him head of Faculty Senate and/or the AAUP chapter? He seems like a union man (affectionate, complimentary)

Cat has a flexible admin job because one does not simply raise (*counts quickly*) six children on a single income, and this way, if Cat manages the First Year Experience™ program for undergrads, she can be semi-directly responsible for the fact that Brienne and Jaime have to work together²

I'm envisioning Jaime as one of those men who performs expertise via TED talks, podcasts, etc., where it's more important to be persuasive for ten minutes and look good doing it than to actually do work (Brienne is annoyed by this as is her right)

Having recently gotten to the King's Guard meeting in A Storm of Swords, I can say that Jaime is shockingly (!!) good at running committee meetings/managing departmental politics, and I feel as though this should be relevant³

¹This also allows me to put in medievalism for fun

²This also means that Brienne and Cat can hang out

³Also canonical, of course, is the fact that however clumsily (!), he is very invested in defending her in the face of other people's sexism/misogyny, even though hardly innocent of these things

[800db-cloud]

class was so boring i had to draw this bozo

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 45

PREV

Renee Walker stands next to two of her best friends in the entire world holding up a hand drawn sign. There's an, admittedly crudely drawn, Fox on the sign that Allison had made up.

Renee had seen it and smiled from across the airport as she made her way over to where Dan and Allison were standing waiting for everyone to come. The team had managed to coordinate their flights to land all within about two hours of one another and Allison had exactly zero desire to go back and forth from the airport so her driver was waiting out at a nearby cellphone lot to come and get them once everyone was there.

"Is it nice having a driver again?" Dan asks Allison.

"I sometimes miss driving around in my car but it's a lot easier to do my makeup with him driving." she says with a shrug as they continue to catch up. Renee is holding up the sign since Allison had complained that she had lost so much of the muscle she had previously had.

"Yeah, New York City seems like a major pain in the ass to drive in too." Dan agrees as her phone buzzes. She pulls out her phone and looks at it before a huge smile fills her face, one that means she's talking to Matt, "Oh! They just landed!" Dan says confirming Renee's suspicions.

Allison looks at her watch, "Wow, 20 minutes early. They must have gotten through boarding quickly." she comments.

"Or some good tailwind." Renee offers.

"When are Neil and Andrew due up?" Dan asks looking at Renee who smiles back at her friend.

"Andrew said they're going to take a break halfway here so they'll be here tomorrow morning." Renee says.

"Get it Neil." Allison nods and it had been a wonderful thing last year to watch Andrew and Allison make peace with one another. Their mutual desire to dress Neil up a bridge towards....maybe not friendship but camaraderie.

It warms Renee's heart to see her friends get along.

"The plane got tailwind, Neil's getting tail." Dan jokes.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the new kid that I've heard about." Renee says gently moving the topic on from their friends getting together. It didn't bother her at all, but she knew that Andrew would prefer no one talk about what he and Neil got up to.

"Oh! Yeah, uh..." Dan visibly buffers.

"Dan, you're the only one of us that's met the kid. His name's Smith." Allison says with eyebrows raised in judgement.

"Look, when Coach and I went to recruit the kid my brain was like 90% on the fact that I needed to go to my interview." Dan defends herself.

"So he wasn't that memorable for you?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he's getting along so well with the guys." Dan says. "Getting stabbed over Thanksgiving feels more like a Neil move than the quiet kid Coach and I met." she adds.

That had been an interesting phone call from Andrew. Renee hadn't even realized that she had become Natalie describing the best way to get rid of the body until Andrew had clarified that it'd been an accident and Smith was alive. Renee had been a little ashamed.

She was excited to meet the kid who Andrew had spoken to her about. Glad that their strange found family was growing just a little bit bigger.

They wait around continuing to talk about plans for the break together. Allison wants to go shopping and she wants to do it once Neil and Andrew are back. Dan wants to skate at the Rockefeller center. Renee would love it if they could do Christmas Eve Mass.

They're sure that Kevin is going to want to check out an Exy game. They're mostly sure that Matt will want to check out the LEGO store in downtown manhattan and that Aaron will be as excited for that as Matt is but pretending not to be. Nicky wants to catch a drag show and has made it clear that he will be going regardless of what anyone else wants to do. Andrew and Neil will probably just want to be alone when they have the chance though Neil had expressed some prior interest in the EXITES superstore and Andrew will more than likely enjoy the day Allison has planned to go shopping since she wants to update Neil's wardrobe.

The new kid, Smith, will be a mystery, but they're more than willing to be flexible.

Eventually they hear the tell-tale sign of most of the boy's arrival. "Babe!" comes from across the airport and Dan's head shoots up and spots the sight of Matt Boyd approaching his arms out wide almost clotheslining four different families on his way to Dan.

Dan is not much better as she rushes to him arms as wide.

They embrace like they always do whenever they have to spend time apart from one another and Renee knows that part of the reason that Dan took her job as assistant coach where she did is that the Washington State Congress Team had been looking at Matt the year prior to scout him.

She looks beyond the passionate reunion and sees Kevin, Aaron, and Nicky. She frowns brows furrowing...

Weren't they going to bring-

Nicky throws his arm out and it wraps around a kid she hadn't even realized was there. She blinks startled by his sudden appearance and blank expression as Nicky was pointing them out. He points to her and he can see her name on his lips she gives a wave and a smile.

Smith nods back in greeting.

He seems quite nice.

***

Renee is at the end of her proverbial rope.

This kid is a threat and she doesn't understand how she's the only person who can see it.

Being a threat isn't really an issue when you're a Fox. It's almost a given that there's some part of you that can be dangerous when backed into a corner but no one seems to be treating him like a threat.

She watches as Nicky and Matt throw their arms around him. As Kevin pushes smoothie after smoothie into his hands as he blankly sips. As Andrew and Neil sit with him quietly. As Dan pinches his cheeks. As Aaron ribs him for being bad at MarioKart.

She can't feel anything from him, no joy, no anger, nothing.

She can't even track him.

Renee has always prided herself on her ability to keep track of those around her. Spacial awareness was incredibly important when you're in a fight and it had always been one of her strongest points. She always knew where she was in relation to everyone else.

Except Smith.

The kid had given her no shortage of heart attacks as he appeared and disappeared seemingly at random.

She had finally gotten Andrew alone to ask, "Smith's quiet, non-intrusive." Andrew says with a shrug.

There's just something about him that makes the hair on the back of Renee's neck stand on edge and she hates feeling like she's the only one. She hates it even more that there's no real evidence that there's something amiss with this newest Fox.

So she settles in to watch.

They're out shopping and Allison is doing her best to get Neil a proper wardrobe with Andrew's considerable help, AKA nodding in approval when Neil comes out. She's not skimping on any of them but Neil is her main focus.

"Smith, what's a color you like?" Allison asks as she's looking at hoodies.

"I like purple." Smith answers and Renee barely manges to stop herself from flinching as his voice comes from right next to her.

"Pass." Andrew says as Neil comes out in a charmingly orange sweatshirt.

"I like it!" Neil argues.

"You have 10 sweatshirts that are that exact shade of orange." Andrew dismisses. "Try the blue one." he says pushing Neil back into the dressing room.

"Which one?" Neil asks.

Andrew sighs dramatically in a way that lets Renee know that he's doing exactly what he wants to be doing, "I'll show you." he says going into the dressing room with Neil.

"I still don't know how it took Baltimore for me to realize they were together." Nicky says as he's holding up two different purple sweatshirts to Smith's body. "You look good in a more purpley purple." Nicky says putting the more indigo colored sweatshirt back on the rack.

"Pants are coming up next, I'll get a lay of the land. I know everyone else's but Smith what's your height?" Allison asks.

"Five feet, nine inches." Smith answers as Nicky pushes him towards the dressing room. "Nicky it's a sweatshirt, I can put it on out here." Smith says.

"I know but I need an excuse to go back there and make sure Neil and Andrew aren't defiling a dressing room." Nicky says with a grin that implies he'd be more happy if they were.

"Gross." Aaron says as he takes a picture of himself to send to Katelyn to approve of the new outfit that Allison was pushing for him to get. "Wait," he pauses turning to where Allison was looking through various men's pants, "you know our heights? Like you've memorized them?" he asks.

"Yeah." Allison says looking at a pair of black slacks. "Everyone's measurements." she says nodding to herself.

"Even bust sizes?" he asks, voice not as quiet as he likely thinks it is.

"You're such a boy." Allison laughs not even looking up from the very different rack.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Kevin asks with a sigh.

"Well, at least the time that it took you to ask that longer. We'll be done when we're done Kevin." Dan says long having given up on stopping Allison when the woman is on a spree.

"She knows that EXITES closes at 5 PM right?" Kevin asks.

"More importantly," Matt leans in, "that the LEGO store closes at 8 PM right?" Matt asks.

"How is that more important? The LEGO store is open later?" Kevin asks.

"Because we're not going to EXITES today, but we are going to the LEGO store." Matt says.

"If we don't spend the whole day here we can do both-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Dan says with a sigh.

"But-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Renee says with an apologetic smile.

"But-"

"Kevin, we're not going to EXITES today. Just sit down and let me find pants that'll make your pin-up days look tame in comparison." Allison says.

"That's not what those posters were!" Kevin argues with a blush on his face.

"Sure." Allison dismisses

***

Renee is quite happy with the sundresses she found even if they won't do her any good here in New York City during the Christmas break. Their next stop on their shopping day is over to the LEGO store where Matt makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm as Aaron very valiantly does try to pretend like he's not utterly entranced by the sets and builds.

Renee thinks it's all very charming.

"We could have gone to EXITES." Kevin says with a frown as he looks at a build of an Exy racquet. "Can you take my picture with this?" he asks but he's not quite looking at Renee.

"Sure." Smith says from beside her, where he had apparently been.

"Thanks Smiths." Kevin says and stands next to the Exy racquet of LEGOs and crosses his arms and leans back.

"Kevin, stop posing like this will be for the cover of a Forbes Magazine." Andrew says with a sigh as he comes to stand on Renee's other side.

"Shut up, it's a picture for me!" Kevin says and continues to stand with his arms crossed.

"Oh, can you get a picture of me next Smith?" Neil asks coming up eyes shining in excitement as he looks at the racquet.

"Sure. As an apology for letting Nicky-"

"Don't talk about it." Neil and Andrew say at the same time.

Kevin gets his picture and then Andrew hands his phone to Smith for Neil's since Neil had broken the lens on his camera ages ago.

They wander around and Kevin finds a set to build the National Court that he grabs without a second thought. Neil and Andrew find a little LEGO man of Kevin that they buy as their 'preferred Kevin'. Kevin of course threatens to buy their LEGO figures once they have them and refer to them as his 'preferred Andrew and Neil'. A threat that neither of them comment on but Renee does buy the little Jean Moreau she finds. She'll paint it Trojan colors and send it over to him as a little gift.

As she continues to browse with her purchase in hand she hears Nicky, "Smithy, if you like it you should get it!" Nicky insists.

"Is it the price?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I don't want to spend that much." Smith says with a nod expression still worryingly blank.

"When's your birthday? It can just be an early or a late present from me." Allison asks.

"March 1st, but really I'm fine not getting it." Smith shakes his head. "It's not that I'd like it just my little brother liked trains." he says and Renee watches Nicky's face turn from joyful teasing to intense determination.

"We're getting this set." Nicky says grabbing it and marching over to the counter even as Smith followed after him.

Interesting.

***

They finish off their day with some ice skating.

Matt, Aaron, Andrew, and Kevin all fall into the 'challenged' category.

They get on the ice and all four immediately fall. Renee stifles her laughter as Andrew and Aaron scowl. "Are you okay?" Smith asks and Renee almost loses her balance as he skates by her.

"Why the fuck are you good at skating?" Aaron asks scowling even as he takes Smith hand. Renee skates over and offers a hand to Kevin as Matt and Andrew are being helped up by their respective partners.

"Oh," Allison says skating by, "have you been up to Canada or something often?" she asks.

"I've been to Canada a few times. It's more that there was a rink I would go to every once in a while." Smith answers before turning back to Aaron, "I can help you keep balanced." he says offering his other hand.

"Smith, I don't want to hold your hand. That's kind of gay." Aaron huffs letting go of Smith's hand only to immediately beef it again when he tried to move forward.

***

Skating was fun even if Aaron kept blushing as Smith helped him skate since he never really got his 'ice legs'. The rest of them all more or less skated on their own by the end or, in the case of Andrew and Matt, seemed fine to keep skating while holding on.

Renee was warming herself by the fireplace in Allison's home enjoying some hot chocolate as Allison took a seat next to her. There was a lot of commotion in the kitchen as the team was working to make dinner together. Renee had excused herself after Smith had startled her while she had a knife in hand and she'd almost stabbed him on instinct.

She's just relieved that no one seemed to notice the near murder.

"You okay? You seemed tense in there." Allison asks.

Well, almost no one.

"Yes, I'm fine." she smiles and hopes that Allison will believe it.

Allison looks at her and Renee does have the benefit that Allison is slightly drunk since she was told firmly not to help with the cooking since she'd paid for the majority of the day.

"I'm glad I got you alone, there's something I want to hear your opinion on." Allison says deciding, apparently, to let it go for now.

Renee relaxes smiling at her friend, "What's that?" she asks wondering what purchase or thing unpurchased Allison was regretting.

Allison looks at Renee, expression utterly serious. "Don't you think there's something...weird about this kid?" she asks.

Renee straightens up glad that Allison had also felt like something was off with the kid that her friends had brought along. "What do you mean?" she asks wanting to hear what Allison thought.

"Look, he seems really nice. I mean a little too nice to be a Fox to be honest but I mean I guess you're a Fox as well so..." Allison rambles slightly taking another sip of her wine.

"Yes, go on." Renee nods.

"Yeah, he seems nice and Matt said he's got his own stuff even if he didn't wanna go into what that stuff was." Allison continues and it's a good thing Allison is drinking white wine considering the white carpet and her gesticulations. "But...it's just.. okay you can't make fun of me. Even though this is about to sound crazy." Allison says.

"I would never do something like that." Renee swears.

"Promise me." Allison says expression grave as she lifts up a pinky.

Renee smiles despite herself and hooks her pinky with Allison's, "I promise to not make fun of you." she swears other hand over her cross.

"I think he's Justin Bieber."

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

[princemonarchempress]

I had no idea people were actually aware of partners in crime au, i do not pay attention to numbers, i throw drawings into the tumblr pit and giggle and kick my feet while reading tags...

anyway, fun fact of Pic au it has two endings

@floating-far-from-earth < bestie who also made this au with me

Redemption ending and the Quiet ending, i'll rant a little about it below <3

so Sif and King here got a very codependent relationship going on and it's very complicated but they... they do really love each other, they were not healthy for each other or in general but they do love each other.

I tend to focus mostly on the redemption ending because i've come to love this guy, he's so mentally unwell and a little liar but so genuinely convinced what he's doing is good and I want him to be happy :( he's savable if he lets himself be and i just want a happy ending >:(

But he's not the best person, not at all and sometimes you can't save people no matter how much you love them because they won't let you. It didn't feel right to not acknowledge the the very real reality that loving Siffrin wasn't enough to stop him, especially when he believes he's saving everyone...

in one world it wasn't enough...

but in another world it was, instead of doubling down and hurting Siffrin to get what he wants, he hesitates and it leads to great explosion on Siffrin's part as they can't watch their friends kill each other one more time...

King has to give up, because everything he wants to protect will be destroyed if he doesn't... Siffrin is what he chooses and he still doesn't think he's wrong or that he hurt anyone really but Siffrin is what was important...

it's fine tho, he gets thrown in baby jail and gets some therapy and medication finally, like damn, this guy is so unwell

idk im a big fan of "Not evil but not good for you and needs way more help then you can give and unfortunately that is on them to accept"

[tero-ga]

Another one of TGAA Swap AU designs here!! This time i'm refining designs for Swap!Asogi and Swap!Naruhodo because they were not giving more thought last time I designed them, so here ya go finally!!

I might planning to refine Albert's and Barok's design next, designing Naruhono prosecutor outfit making me missing them honestly- (and they're the reasons why this AU existed anyway so I have to-).

Check down below to see bunch of my thoughts and rambles when I was designing them.

I've been thinking it would be a fun detail to gave Kazuma's hair a cartoony like with original Naruhodo design, that is also why he have a sharp tip on top of his hair so it will go opposite direction of where he is facing everytime he turn his head around.

In half way of doing concept sketches for Naruhodo's hair it just ended up clicking to me that I have to gave him a phoenix like ponytail, I was like 'oh yeaaah, duh!' for not thinking of that sooner 😭

Though I was originally thought of giving him fox mask, I also thought it would be neat to given Naruhodo a mouse mask instead as it referencing to his original mascot!

I was thinking of giving Kazuma glasses but I have to scratch that as he will ended up look similar to Hosonaga.

I gave a tiny details on Naruhodo's prosecutor outfit, you could've guess what it is sjbsjs

I wanted to put Kazuma's archery bracer on his right hand as I want him to be left handed in this, but I have to throw that idea away sadly :'

Here's concept drawing too!

[idiopath-fic-smile]

taskmaster au? could be gen fic or any pairing

amazing. your mind.

okay, i think this one is crying out for leverage. new leverage because i refuse to include nate:

eliot is the host.

the most chaotic challenge of the season is "cook a steak without entering the kitchen."

harry attempts to rig up arm extensions out of broomsticks. he can't even get the steak into a pan.

breanna tries to overheat a laptop enough to get some kind of sear on the outside of the steak but unfortunately, she'd already upgraded all the computers on set to run super-efficiently as a favor to the crew and she can't even get the laptops to warm. she winds up researching the history of steak tartare and the semantics of the word "cook," elaborately plating the meat raw on a soap dish.

sophie convinces one of the lighting technicians to cook her steak for her. she stands just outside the doorway, calling out instructions. however, her charisma makes him visibly nervous and he accidentally drops the steak in the trash.

parker steals a camera guy's lighter to rig up a blowtorch in the garage. she's halfway through a really nice crust when she gets bored and somehow manages to explode the steak.

hardison hacks the smart thermostat and uses it to order delivery from a nearby steakhouse. "you did not cook the steak," eliot growls. "i caused the steak to be cooked," hardison replies with a grin. he and sophie high five.

eliot is outraged to realize that technically, parker came the closest, in that she did successfully apply heat to the meat in such a way as to alter the protein structure. "this is," says eliot in a low voice, "the single worst way anybody's cooked a steak since the invention of fire." "that's my girl!" says hardison.

there was a grill outside

there was a grill outside

the next episode, the contestants are charged with bringing in "something surprising" as a prize. hardison's contribution is a coupon for a dinner for two with eliot at the nicest restaurant in town. "he'd be good company if he wasn't so hangry," hardison explains. it's got eliot's signature at the bottom. eliot did not sign it.

parker's contribution is a coupon for a dinner for three with eliot at the nicest restaurant in town.

yeah, she just stole hardison's and added another spot for a name.

"surprised?" says parker. "that's one goddamn word for it," says eliot.

now parker and hardison are playing to win.

[giselles-dumping-hat]

soooo,, i may have failed to mention a certain something regarding the pmd AU I made :]

Meet Noel's true/demon form!!! Little Guy

[satancopilotsmytardis]

How about a royalty au?

Immediately, Endeavor started by changing his kingdom's laws to say that a premature baby, by nature of being born weak, cannot be the heir to the throne. When Natsuo and Fuyumi are born and he discovers they don't have the magic he was trying to breed into either of them, he arranges an 'accident' for Natsuo (killing Dabi's only other support), and immediately sells Fuyumi off to be wed as soon as she's 13 to gain more land/power and not have to deal with her.

When a border dispute comes up between the Demon King's territory and Endeavor's, Endeavor goes to negotiate and settle things with the Demon Prince who has been sent as a representative. After a long, tense talk, they come to an agreement, and seeing an opportunity to get rid of another problem, Endeavor also offers up Dabi to the Prince as a gift to do with him what he pleases (Be that a human sacrifice, slavery, whatever) and the Prince accepts.

Dabi is, of course, not happy about this whole deal and is pretty worried he's gonna get killed when he gets taken back to the other kingdom. He is extremely confused when he's treated like a revered guest and given fine things and pampered constantly, with Shigaraki promising that no matter his request, he will have it done for him. He proceeds to be extremely standoffish and rude until he finally finds out that their understanding of demon culture is all wrong, and by Endeavor giving him Dabi as a gift, he essentially entered Dabi into a contract with Shigaraki. Shig will someday get Dabi's eternal soul, but he has to complete a request the universe deems equivalent before he can collect.

Once that's illuminated Dabi moves out of the palace and learns how to be a farmer or other kind of modest worker because he never wants to find out what would be considered equivalent to someone as broken as he is (as he has been told his entire life). But the prince comes to see him every day, and eventually convinces Dabi to move back into the summer palace, but getting him to 'buy' it for a handful of gold he made on his first harvest since if it's a transaction, it can't be seen as equivalent to his soul.

Cue Shigaraki blatantly falling in love with Dabi over the course of the story and every romantic gesture always coming with some kind of small transaction. Whenever he wants to do something for Dabi or give him something, he demands a small price. He buys a first-edition copy of Dabi's favorite novel that was signed by the author? He sells it to Dabi for a copper. Shigaraki kills Fuyumi's husband and frees her from that contract? He insists that Dabi owes him dinner. Eventually, Dabi tells Shigaraki he wants to get married, and Shig's heart fucking breaks, but he simply says that Dabi will have to pay him the same amount that he spends on the ring for his betrothed once he finds them in order to be free of his contract and able to live out the rest of his days in peace. Dabi insists that he doesn't want to pay for the ring and that it is his request that Shigaraki gives him one instead, which is the best confession he can manage. He trades his soul for Shigaraki's heart and Shigaraki keeps Dabi by his side forever. (Even centuries later, it's said in quiet moments you can hear them bartering with one another asking for grapes or figs in exchange for kisses)

[taitavva]

day 5: crossdressing/dress up

[oldshrewsburyian]

Anne Elliott/Frederick Wentworth tattoo/florist AU?

I spent a weirdly long time trying to figure out details of how this would work, and then realized that I only needed five fun facts, not a fully-fledged scenario. Ahem.

The tattoo shop is run by Harville (I hope this doesn't violate the AU "rules"; Wentworth is definitely the one connected with the tattoo shop, but Harville runs it as his post-disabling-injury career.)

Anne has an English degree from a good school, but had to give up the M.A. because one of the feckless Elliotts needs to have a career.

Lady Russell loaned Anne the money to start the flower shop (and, yes, persuaded Anne that it would be most unwise to marry a man in the Navy when she was not yet 20. And sign on to traveling around the world instead of pursuing her own academic aspirations? Nonsense.)

But here is Anne, without either the aspirations or the man she has never stopped loving. She does genuinely enjoy arranging flowers and learning about the people who order them. She's part of a book club with Louisa and Henrietta; they try to keep Mary from hijacking the discussions.

Frederick, of course, has never had the tattooed Anne removed. (Unjust he may have been, weak and resentful he has been, but never inconstant.) Have I spent too much time thinking about an increasingly elaborate floral design to go with this based on the seasonal imagery in the Winthrop walk chapter? possibly.

[non4ry]

drew some of my favorite resi girlies as my little ponies for funsies ^_^

designs are f2u with credit! also check the notes for me just infodumping about my horse designs lol

[townslore]

watching the miraculous movie has done irreversible damage to my brain. hands you miraculous shuake au.

[suspendingtime]

Jonathan Bailey: Just Add Water

🧜🏻‍♂️💦🌊🏊🏻‍♂️🐟

Source: Instagram, @jbayleaf, 10 Jan '23 | Inspo: Zac from H2O spin-off

[leafwateraddict]

Alright, I caved. @cakesmelons frozen au has me in a chokehold and I have not been able to stop thinking abt it for like the past week. So of course I had to draw Nightmare in one of the many iconic Let It Go poses. (I could not resist)

Also process vid and some sketches of scenes from the movie that may or may not end up being canon or not idk

I never drew Nim before so this was an interesting experience

[desultory-novice]

I spent 5 hours drawing something beautiful and heart-rending for Apologies but I can't share it because it's out of chronological order!! So have something cheap and silly while I work on catching up...

One mustn't forget that underneath all the growing up in a frozen post-apocalyptic hell and nearly succumbing to dark matter possession and a sister who died in his place and his new sparkly unicorn hair, Noir is just a normal teenage boy.

One that finds cosplay pretty embarrassing, as it turns out.

[idiopath-fic-smile]

im worried that last one was mean and too restrictive so how about straight up space au. aliens and shit let's get INto it

aw bro no worries and also re: space HELL YEAH

from the "name an AU and i'll tell you five facts about it" meme here

we're going vaguely star trek on this one because why the hell not

grantaire is a member of that race of extraterrestrials that is mostly renowned for its hot green alien ladies. if you ask him, he'll claim this doesn't bother him—never being taken seriously, his every word projected to be a come-on, (he is attracted to a wide range of people, he reminds himself, so he should be okay with it, he tells himself)—but secretly it bothers him quite a bit.

just to make things interesting, enjolras is not captain of the ship. he is a low-ranking security officer whose extreme political ideals have gotten him into hot water before. he doesn't want to impose his own notions on other space cultures but he has a really hard time with the concept of not interfering when there is clear injustice at play.

cosette is the captain's daughter but she is determined to prove herself on her own merits. she's there for diplomacy and she insisted on hiring eponine, who is the best navigator this side of orion's belt but uh it's complicated. sometimes eponine will say "we can't take that route" but refuses to explain why and cosette always has to weigh, like, the mood of the crew vs. her burning curiosity about what eponine has seen and knows.

the thing about the time grantaire stowed away on cosette's ship, was discovered by enjolras and tried to flirt his way out of it, okay, is that enjolras didn't fall for it for one second. enjolras didn't see grantaire's half-open shirt and heavy-lidded eyes—and okay, the green skin—and assume that grantaire was nothing more than a barely restrained libido in search of a hot swashbuckling human to get off with. and that, perversely, strengthens grantaire's regard for him.

the problem is that they're in grantaire's native region of space, and eponine insists it will be helpful to keep grantaire on, at least for a while. but also: eponine and grantaire clearly have a history. both cosette and enjolras notice the two of them in the mess hall with their heads bent together, talking and laughing, and both cosette and enjolras are a little more irritated about this than they maybe strictly should be.