#Marine fantasy with appearance of a face

[randomshyperson]

Best (Girl)Friends - Wanda Maximoff x Rogers!Reader

Summary: Wanda sympathizes with your willpower. 70 years on ice is a long time to wait for an intimate touch. And being the good friend that she is, Wanda offers you some help.

Warnings: (+18), some vague plot, smut with virginity loss, Rogers!Reader following all Wanda’s wishes, power bottom!Wanda, kissing, friends to lovers, mutual pining, explicit consent but Wanda being a tease and a bit possessive. | Words: 4.893k

A/-N-> I’m pretty sure this was a request, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. 

General Masterlist | AO3 | Wattpad |

-&-

Shield acted as if they won the lottery.

In a way, it felt like that. Two Rogers siblings found on the same day would probably yield some promotions within the teams responsible, and a nice image bonus with the US government. 

But while Captain America was found in a negative temperature on the other side of the planet, his sister destroyed an entire building with her sudden appearance inside a blue explosion a few hours later.

In your defense, you had no idea what was about to happen. 

One minute, you were inside a Howard Stark-designed marine suit at the bottom of the ocean. But in Shield's defense, you were disobeying the orders of your director, that is, Margaret Carter on the phone, who five minutes earlier insisted that she would not risk losing another Rogers and that reaching the cube was not worth the risk to your safety, but you still put on the prototype underwater suit and dived in search of the item, which, to you, was the key to finding your brother.

You were right, in a way. Touching the cube with the determined idea that you would like to see Steve again really worked. The problem was how it happened. 

The explosion was all around you, and you saw nothing but the beam of blue light that forced you to close your eyes. One moment you were deep in the sea, and the next you were in the middle of one of the Shield Secret Bases, a thousand of bricks flying around with the force of the explosion.

Your presence in the secret room of Project PEGASUS caused Shield to be on high alert, and a dozen rifles to be pointed in your face.

But it was all cleared up in no time and ended with your figure handcuffed on the seat of a government Jet on its way to New York.

Unlike Steve, you were awake. And not the least bit in the mood to follow Nick Fury's theatrical demands.

"That's to avoid shock, Miss Rogers-"

"Absolutely not, Nicholas." You cut him off impatiently, your hands-free since Shield had clarified exactly who you were. "The first thing I'm saying to my brother won't be a lie."

Nick sighed. "I understand it's a delicate situation, Miss, but Captain Rogers has been frozen for too long. An innocent fantasy is meant to lessen the shock of the truth."

You skirted Nick without caring about the speech. "There's no way to lighten news like this one. We're both in the future, for Chris’s sake! That it's absurd enough. No more lies, and let me see my brother for once. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that." 

Fury didn't have the heart to insist, not only because he had another supersoldier getting him out of the way, but because of the emotion in your voice. He waved in dismissal to any soldier more curious about your determined walk, and no one interfered as you made your way to the room where they placed your brother.

Shield had begun to create a scenario around him that made you chuckle in irony. You dismissed the agent posing as a nurse with a look, and Nick allowed you to be alone in the room, and without wasting any time, you made your way to the bed.

Steve looked the same as he did the day he disappeared, and you felt a sob break in your throat. Maybe the sound woke him up.

He opened confused eyes at you, and unlike him, you had aged a lot since the last time he had seen you when you were still a child. 

"Hey, Stevie." Your greeting came hoarsely, laden with emotion. Steve took a moment to recognize you.

"Y/N?" He asked, tense and startled. You could almost see the gears of his brain working, the way he tried to recognize his surroundings as well. "God, how long have I...?"

"Longer than you can imagine, big brother. Much longer." You replied before hugging him tightly. 

This must have been the last entirely friendly interaction you had with your brother, a reunion bittersweet for its peculiarities that was unable to conciliate years of differences between the two of you. Nor did the ice erase your hurt over Steve sending you away from the war when your parents passed away, or make you forget the years of training and working for Shield in search of him once you were back in Brooklyn. Nor did it change Steve's view of how he wanted to protect and keep out of trouble - which included superhero work - his younger sister who he had vowed to take care of.

But it was indeed an undeniable amusement to the rest of the team that the personalities of the Rogers siblings were so blatantly different, and it caused some apprehension every time Steve had to witness you leaving the tower in some sports car borrowed from Tony Stark while dressed in leather jackets borrowed from Natasha Romanoff.

The apex that you were entirely corrupted for all that he expected from a proper 1950s girl came in the addition of a certain angry witch to the team a while later.

Of course, the close age - if one ignores the years between the time jump and your arrival - you and Wanda had made your friendship an inevitability. But this doesn't mean that witnessing your clear crush on the new Avenger wasn't giving your older brother a headache.

Natasha thinks he deserved some credit. Considering he was a white man from the 1950s who was frozen before appearing in a new century, Steve was pretty open-minded. She was pretty sure this was due to the closet years of keeping a secret crush on his best friend, but she wouldn't be mean enough to torment Steve with that. 

And besides this, you were also getting used to the new century. And with the possibility of being able to have feelings for Wanda in an open and free way, so different from the world you lived in before.

The witch, on the other hand, had the greatest of fun tormenting you as much as she could while she waited for you to be ready.

And these teases came at every opportunity Wanda could take, from summer days at the tower pool where she had an excuse to wear bikinis around you and make a complete mess of you with the "friendly cuddling" which is how she came to justify the fact that your room was hers now and that there was nothing more platonical than sleeping cuddled up to your best friend.

With each passing moment, you grew comfortable and certain in your own feelings, parallel to which you became more confident in your powers and Wanda began to feel that the tables were turning on her every time a tickle war ended with you using your super-strength to pin her to the bed or you could effortlessly carry her away from a training session or conflict.

It didn't take long for the situation to become unbearable - Wanda was sure she would combust in the next cuddling session if she felt your body against hers again without that leading to what she really wanted, so now she had to take drastic action.

Communication was always the key to everything.

"Have you ever had sex?"

Your cell phone fell hard on your face. Wanda giggled at the mirror reflection: she was on her back brushing her hair and stealing glances at your figure lying on the bed, still learning to use the current technology but definitely loving the whole thing.

Snorting in embarrassment, you pushed the electronic device down onto the mattress and massaged your sore face. "I'm beginning to think you enjoy seeing me like this."

"What do you mean?" She asks innocently, turning her attention to the ring drawer. 

"Disconcerted."

Wanda chuckles mischievously, running her fingers through the options and trying to decide between the items as you stare at the ceiling. "I know you're like 100 years old, but won’t you tell me that it never happened? Not even when you became a hottie super soldier?"

You grunted in shame, covering your face with your arm. Wanda giggled again, this time putting on one of the silver rings. You were too far away to notice how her fingers were slightly trembling, giving away how she was equally affected by the conversation. But unlike you, Wanda knew how to keep it cool very well.

"Wandaaa." You grumbled, and she almost dropped the subject when you added. "No."

"No, what?"

With a sigh, you removed your arm from in front of your face but didn't risk looking at her. "Back then...I just, I didn't have the courage I guess. You know, girls were supposed to be virgins to marry, in theory. And well, I wasn't going to marry anyone because I was too busy working. And when I got into the army, the vast majority of the guys I knew started looking at me with contempt and indignation, and then came the serum I just...didn't know how to handle the attention."

Wanda spun the stool she was sitting on toward you, listening closely to your words. 

You sighed shyly. "I mean I had opportunities, but I just didn't feel comfortable following them. I wanted... to be with someone who liked me. Not the super serum, you know? Most people were only talking to me because of it. They hoped to gain some kind of benefit from meeting the American Soldier. I don't know, maybe it's just me trying not to sound so... cowardly."

Wanda stood up with a sigh, and you swallowed dryly, keeping your gaze on the ceiling until her face appear in your field of vision.

"Detka, you are literally the bravest person I know." Reminded the witch, bringing a small smile to you. "And there's nothing wrong with not being ready, or waiting for the right person. Sex is intimate, it makes sense that you want it to happen with someone you like and who likes you back."

"Thank you for being understanding." You muttered, swallowing dryly when instead of returning to her previous activities, Wanda sat down on the bed next to you. With a sigh and shifting your gaze to the ceiling again, you ventured, "Have you?"

Wanda's teasing giggle brought a deep color to your face. "Have I what?"

Snorting, you retorted, "Come on, you're the one who brought this up."

Wanda pinched you gently on the belly, smiling at your complaint. “A few times, actually.'"

It made no sense at all to feel jealous of a time you didn't even know her, and that you were somehow in the past, but still, a bitter burn filled your stomach. Wanda, the telepath that she was, seemed to know exactly what you were thinking, and without caring whether it would make your heart stop or not, approached you to use your torso as her personal pillow. With two legs on which side of your hips, she stared down at you.

"But it was nothing outstanding." She began, using her fingertips to wander all the exposed skin of your neck and shoulders through your pajamas and having the best time in the world in watching every single hair of you shiver. "I kept making the same mistake in settling down for mediocre sex. No real feelings, no passion, much less love. Always end up frustrated and having to finish the job alone."

You frowned in confusion. "Alone...?" But it only took one look from Wanda for you to understand what she meant and choke, your face pink again. The younger girl giggled, leaning her elbow on you to rest her chin on her own hand and take a closer look. 

"Eyes on me, baby." She asked, hoping you would overcome your own shyness to do so. When you follow her request, Wanda was ready to risk everything. "You know I love you, don't you?"

You sighed, nodding. "I love you too, Wanda." Your confession was huskier than hers, and she had to ignore the sincerity of what that really meant in order to stay focused on that afternoon's goal. "Kind of the essential thing on the best friend package, isn't it?"

Wanda chuckled, rolling her eyes. 

Of course, you would make a joke to lessen the intensity of the moment, if she was nervous in all her confident glory, she could have sympathy for you, who was literally having to deal with your long-time crush practicing lying over you.

"Friends help each other, don't they? Especially best friends." She retorted, and you frowned in confusion.

"Yeah, I guess… why, did something happen?" Before your confusion could turn to worry entirely and you could finish the movement of getting up, Wanda pressed her hands on your shoulders and pushed you back on the mattress.  "Hey." You chuckled puzzledly, but the laughter died into an affected sigh when Wanda simply shifted in your lap completely, in a very non-platonic way.  "Right, whatever makes you comfortable." You mutter, very aware of the heat radiating from the girl's body on top of you, who just chuckled mischievously at your shyness.

"Relax, dorogoya." Wanda reasserted in a low, dangerously seductive voice. Her hands were on your shoulders still, rubbing your loose pajamas and somehow pushing them down to the limits, exposing as much skin as Wanda could manage. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to...but I also need you to tell me exactly what you wanna do and how ready for me you are."

Your throat went dry, and Wanda's dilated pupils were not helping the words to form. She bit her lip, seeming to have the best time with your clumsiness.

"I-I... god, Wanda..." You gasped and she leaned in completely until her breath was hitting your cheek.

"How about a kiss? Don't tell me you never got one?" She mocked and you had to chuckle dryly.

"You can be quite an ass, Maximoff." You murmured with your eyes closed, risking moving your hands to her thighs around your hips, the action making you both hold your breaths for a second. "I've kissed before."

"Hmm, I see." She hits back, deviating from the original path and letting her mouth tease your jaw, feeling your hands squeeze her thighs gently with every kiss across your skin. What Wanda wouldn't do to see you lose control...

"I like kissing." You confess hoarsely, mostly because she’s making you so nervous that the words are simply spilling. You kept your eyes closed and your neck stretched to give her more room to don’t stop. Aware of your words, Wanda hums again as she keeps depositing chaste kisses on your collarbone. "I like...kissing girls."

It should be a heartfelt confession, one that Wanda theoretically knew about but that you've never put into words before. But suddenly, Wanda bit down on you, hard enough for you to grunt in pain, opening your eyes. She grabs your cheeks with one hand, a hot fury in her eyes that makes you shudder.

"Rule number one, don't talk about other girls when you have one on top of you."

You open your mouth like a fish, babbling nonsense for enough time for Wanda to make a motion of leaving. But that makes you react. "I didn't mean to upset you!" You try quickly, hands moving on an instinct to hold her by the waist on top of you. Wanda has to bite her lips hard to keep from letting out a much more submissive sound than she would like when you just squeeze her firmly to keep her there. "Wanda, please forgive me! I-you caught me off guard, alright? I’m nervous… We’re friends and suddenly… you’re so close and I’m talking nonsense! Please, just… tell me what you want to hear.”

She huffs impatiently, crossing her arms and turning her face away as you sigh in defeat. Wanda wants to be annoyed, but you're so lovely when you lean your face into her, trying to ease her anger with chaste kisses on her cheeks and neck until you manage to get from her a stubborn smile. She has no choice but to uncross her arms to slide her hands up your shoulders, wrapping herself around your body again. 

She feels you smile and relax completely, the kisses getting firmer on her neck until they tickle and elicit a husky giggle from her. Still, Wanda settles a hand in your hair, and the slight tug to bring your faces close together again draws a deep sigh from you.

"I don't want to hear about other girls, detka. This is your last warning." She says seriously with eyes glowing red for a moment. Wanda had hoped to have a direct effect, but to her surprise, a teasing smirk began to form on your lips.

"Wow, you're totally jealous." You accused and she grimaced, trying to pull away once more. But that only made you burst out into a teasing giggle, while your strong arms wrapped around her torso, bringing her back to you effortlessly while keeping her locked into you. Wanda was clearly aware of how shaky her legs were with the motion, and trying to walk away again would only result in her falling to the ground. "Wanda, darling, the girls I kissed must be a hundred years old by now."

Reluctantly and with a rosy tinge in her cheeks, she mutters, "Honestly, I was hoping to be your first."  Her confession makes you rise your eyebrows in surprise, only to smile fondly next. Your hands moved again, caressing her back in an attempt to relax her as well. 

"Hey, look at me." You call out gently, waiting for the girl's stubbornness to subside with the help of your caresses. Wanda has a stronger color on her face when she finally raises her eyes to you again. "I didn't imagine this was anything of relevance to you. But I haven't lied before, I've never been with someone intimately. If you still want to, you can be my first... everything else."

She twitches her nose softly. "You’re making it sound like it’s a favor for me. I only want to... if you do too." She retorts with a certain determination in her gaze, and though you feel your cheeks burn with the ultimatum, you nod foolishly before breaking the distance.

It catches Wanda by surprise, the sudden kiss, and you're despairing when she doesn't respond immediately, pulling away at the same speed you approached. "Sorry." You say mortified and breathless, your lips tingling. "I like you, Wan. I really do. I just thought you should know before..."

She places a finger over yours, shushing your nervous anticipation. Her free hand goes to your cheek and Wanda pulls you close again, her eyes darkening in a way that makes you shiver entirely.

"Like I said before, just relax, baby. Stop overthinking." She whispers before she firms her mouth over yours. It's a sensual, intense kiss unlike any you've ever received. Wanda seems determined to drive you to complete insanity. She kisses you unhurried, waiting for permission to slide her tongue into yours, and giving you no room to breathe properly, head spinning with those new yet so familiar needy feelings. She kisses and kisses you until you're restless beneath her, your body burning and your hands curious testing limits that she doesn’t impose, only encourages you to break. Her taste and smell intoxicate your every sense, the feel of her body molded to yours, teasing your reactions and almost making you lose control of your strength. The tight squeeze you give her when she sucks your tongue earns a whimper from her that sticks and echoes in your mind, making you dizzy with lust. When she finally breaks the kiss to breathe, her lips are swollen like yours, and her pupils are so dilated that there is no green left in them. Your face burns for the matching fire you find in her gaze.

You are unable to find any words to describe this moment, so you only stare at her, blushing over the smirk that starts to form on her lips once she catches the adoring look you’re giving her.

Licking your lips to try to gain some focus, you dare to ask: “Was it…good?” You would have added “Did you like” or “Was I enough” if Wanda didn't break into a giggle that shut you entirely, your cheeks burning. Before the shame could surface, she grabbed your cheeks again. “You’re too cute, darling.” She says, kissing you again more quickly than before. Her hands move to yours then, intertwining your fingers together to drag them on her thighs, down, and then back up, this time under her skirt. Your heart stopped, and Wanda turned her dark eyes back to yours, her voice so low you wouldn't have heard it if you weren't so close. “Don’t be shy, see for yourself how much I like kissing you.” She whispers darkly.

When she kisses you again, her hands guide you under her skirt until you're in her front. The mere contact of your fingers with the wet spot on her panties makes you groan and break the kiss, needing a moment to just take a breath and calm your nerves. Wanda doesn't wait long, releasing your hands to move hers to your shoulders, needing firm support now that you're so close to where she needs it so badly. She gasps in surprise when your hand gives a quick tug that rips her panties off at once, a wave of new wetness running down her thighs in the same second.

You don't say anything about it, just turns your face to kiss her again, the same way she did before, and somehow even dirtier and more sexual, drawing gasps with every flick of your tongue against hers.

Because Wanda's your best friend, she wants to taunt you - tease you about being better at this than you let on, but all the words fall away at once when your fingers fill her in one go. All Wanda can do is moan, choking on the kiss as she feels you slide into her with such ease. 

"Fuck, detka." She moans with her eyes tightly closed, just as she pulls away to breathe. Your response is to just continue your movements, in and out of her without haste, feeling every mention of her warm walls squeezing your fingers. Wanda is burning on top of you and the sound of her drenched pleasure echoes low. You hum contentedly, nipping at her neck as she can no longer match the kiss, so close to her own climax. Your hand adjusts, increasing its reach, and when your thumb gives her clit the attention it needs, Wanda lets out an affected squeal. "W-wanna cum, baby. Please!"

You bite back a smile, surprised and impressed by the question hidden in the statement. You adjust to face her and wait for Wanda to feel the change to look at you too. The dark, lust-filled pupils leave you breathless.

"You can cum, sweetheart, you don't even have to ask." You assure her softly, never stopping your movements inside her. "I'm here to please you." You whisper, and it's enough for Wanda to break into an affected moan, hips thrusting helplessly against your hand until she arches her back and lets out the longest, dirtiest moan you've ever heard. 

Her eyes flutter shut as she rides her high on your soaked hand, until she finally opens scarlet pupils for you, a long groan leaving her lips as the last sensations of the best orgasm she ever had fade away.

Wanda turns her full attention to you in the next second, stealing quick but intense kisses until a husky giggle leaves her lips and tickles yours.

"You're too good at this for your own good." She prompts, and the compliment takes a heartfelt giggle from you. You try to relax under her gaze but Wanda's dilated eyes have a different twinkle as she holds your cheeks more firmly. "I think I want to keep you all to myself. Without sharing with anybody else. What do you say, baby?"

You swallow dry, suddenly quite vulnerable "H-hm, like... dating?" You retort in a weak tone of voice because you need to confirm and well the idea that someone as unbelievably awesome as Wanda Maximoff is actually asking for exclusivity with you seems too freaking surreal not to confirm. As many times as necessary.

Wanda giggles mischievously, settling herself on top of your fingers that never left her and sighing as she feels you even deeper than before. "Yeah, just like that." She moans, and you're not sure if she's answering your question or guiding you through the motions, but you get the impression that the answer goes both ways. 

It's not like you will contradict your new girlfriend any further.

Before Wanda could indulge in the sensation again, however, she stopped you with a gentle grip on your wrist. Raising curious eyes to the breathless flushed girl on top of you, your first reaction was to check if you had done something wrong, and by god, hurt her. But Wanda bit back a smile, her other hand going down to your belt.

"We're overdressed, honey." She whispered against your lips, red sparkles playing with the edge of your shirts, teasing them upward. " Strip."

Moaning low against her mouth, Wanda almost didn't let you pull away. In record time, your clothes were off and so were hers, between stolen panting kisses you fell to the mattress again, curious hands urging together.

Wanda pinned you beneath her with no effort despite your super strength, and feeling her naked against your skin drove you to the brink of insanity. She swallowed each moan with her mouth, appreciating the increasingly needy sounds as she fit against your hips, and began to move hers.

Soon, the friction became unbearably arousing and you had to clutch at the sheet, and the headboard. A hot, tight knot at the tip of your stomach left you breathless, every movement of Wanda's hips into yours, the perfect fit between your cunts was enough to make you choke. 

You practically meowed when she got the rhythm right. "O-oh god Wanda! T-there's something... fuck, I can't-"

"I know baby, just let go for me." She panted, her hands clenching the sheet on either side of your head, her hips frantic against yours. "Fuck, you feel amazing" She moans a confession, smiling satisfied at your expression of pure bliss beneath her.

Suddenly the knot bursts, and you're blinded by the pleasure of your first orgasm for a full moment. The headboard snaps in your left hand and Wanda cums in a loud, animalistic moan, spilling herself down on you before collapsing heavily onto your torso, your panting breaths mingling like your juices.

You try to recover together from the intensity of the climax, your hand finding her back on instinct to stroke her as Wanda nestles closer against you, an exhausted, satisfied smile on her lips.

She barely had a chance to lift her face to kiss you when the bedroom door suddenly opened.

"Kid, is everything all right in here I heard something breaking-'" 

You nearly knocked Wanda off the bed in an attempt to cover the two of you with the comforter - and the mattress lost a few springs in the process.

The two Avengers who'd entered the room covered their faces with their hands, but unlike your brother, Natasha was holding back her laughter.

"I'm sorry. We... I... you-"

"Come on Captain, we're leaving." Natasha cut Steve off with a pat on the shoulder, leading the way backward. "Sorry girls, lock the door next time. And well, use protection!" She burst out laughing, ignoring the embarrassed grumbles from you and Wanda, and closing the door.

With the safety of a locked door, you hid your face in your pillow.

"Great, the best day of my life might be ruined because my brother is going to have a stroke."  You grumbled, getting a hearty laugh from the other.

Wanda adjusted herself, stroking your hair until you looked at her again. "Best day of your life, huh? I'm flattered." She teases, smiling at the red that appears on your cheeks.

"As if you weren't cocky enough." You retort in the same tone, adjusting to hold her by the waist and pull her to you, getting on top now. Wanda sighs softly, even warmer with the addition of the blanket now, she finds it kind of hard to concentrate, much more talk. "Thank you, Wands."

Your line surprises her. "For what?"

"For being my first time." You clarify with a shrug, though your gaze was intense. "I've always wanted it to be with someone special, someone I like and trust. And there's no one I love more than you."

Wanda kisses you because she doesn't want to be the type to cry during sex, and she's pretty sure she would. You don't mind, she transmits the feeling through action and well, there are other things you're dying to do other than talk.

There will be time for confessions later.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Word List: Moon

beautiful words with "moon" to try to include in your poem/story

Honeymoon - a period of unusual harmony especially following the establishment of a new relationship

Moonbeam - a ray of light from the moon

Moonbow - a rainbow formed by light from the moon

Mooncalf - a foolish or absent-minded person; simpleton

Moondust - fine dry particles of the moon's soil

Mooneye - a silvery North American freshwater bony fish (Hiodon tergisus)

Moonfaced - having a round face

Moonfish - any of various compressed often short deep-bodied silvery or yellowish marine fishes

Moonflower - a tropical American morning glory (Ipomoea alba synonym Calonyction aculeatum) with fragrant flowers

Mooniness - the quality or state of being moony; dreaminess, inattention

Moonlet - a small natural or artificial satellite

Moonless - lacking the light of the moon

Moonport - a facility for launching spacecraft to the moon

Moonquake - a seismic event on the moon

Moonrise - the rising of the moon above the horizon

Moonroof - a glass sunroof

Moonsail - a light square sail set above a skysail and carried by some clipper ships in light winds

Moonscape - the surface of the moon as seen or as depicted

Moonseed - a twining plant (Menispermum canadense) of eastern North America that has crescent-shaped seeds and black fruits

Moonset - the descent of the moon below the horizon

Moonshine - moonlight; empty talk, nonsense; intoxicating liquor

Moonshot - an extremely ambitious project or mission undertaken to achieve a monumental goal

Moonstone - a transparent or translucent feldspar of pearly or opaline luster used as a gem

Moonstruck - affected by or as if by the moon, such as: romantically sentimental, lost in fantasy or reverie, or not mentally sound

Moonwalk - to dance by gliding backwards while appearing to make forward walking motions

Moonward - toward the moon

Moonwort - a fern of the genus Botrychium (especially B. lunarium); honesty

If any of these words make their way into your next poem/story, please tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read them!

More: Word Lists

[kug-the-carrot]

After thinking about it, I can think of nothing more powerful than Alexander Skarsgard's Murderbot pulling the most disgusted face and bluntly stating it has no gender and does not want one. New viewers who do not know Murderbot and will be expecting the typical white male power fantasy "robot marine" are going to have to come to terms with that and I for one think it is a delightful notion

Would I have liked a non white cis man casting? Yes, but I'm also ready to see people tie themselves into knots over a masculine appearing character say it has no gender or sex and also wants neither

[cantstoptheimagines]

When the Lights Go Out (Koby, Monkey D. Luffy | One Piece)

Series Masterlist

Summary — Luffy keeps his promise and shares you with Koby.

Warnings and Other Tags ➳ Smut (threesome; semi-public sex because they fuck outside a Marine base; Koby is inexperienced; oral (male receiving, female receiving); degradation; spitting; slapping and spanking; penetration (vaginal, male-receiving anal); lots of cum (creampies, facials)); officially turning my last fic into a one-shot series since people seemed to like it so much, lol!

Notes ➳ Word Count is 3,676. ➳ Reader uses feminine pronouns (she/her).

FAQ | Masterlist | Fandoms | Requests | Coming Soon | Schedule  

Koby was cuter than you thought he’d be. His pink hair and shy smile sent butterflies fluttering throughout your stomach. Not to mention, the blush that covered his face when he realized why he was being introduced to you made you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Luffy held your hand tightly as Koby led the two of you to a quiet spot just outside the perimeter of the island’s Marine base. It was perfect for what Luffy had planned. He had even brought a blanket to make things a bit more comfortable for the three of you.

As soon as he spread it out on the grassy forest floor, he made quick work of putting this fantasy of his into action. He moved to stand behind you, slowly reaching around to undo the buttons on your shirt until your breasts were finally exposed for him and Koby to admire.

“Isn’t she pretty?” he muttered, layering your neck in open-mouthed kisses.

Koby gulped nervously, suddenly conscious about the way you could probably see the hardened outline of his cock through his pants, “Yeah. She’s just like you said.”

While he had been taking in the sight of you, Luffy had already pulled himself out of his shorts. He breathed heavily against your skin as he began stroking himself. He then tugged at your pants with his free hand as a sign for you to remove them, which you quickly did.

“Wow,” breathed Koby, eyes wide as he admired your bare appearance.

“Looks like you’ve left him speechless,” chuckled Luffy, rubbing a hand over one of your hips. “Why don’t you get his cock out and show him how excited you are to meet him? Go on, suck him off.”

Koby watched carefully as you undid his pants. His cock was practically throbbing in your hand when you removed it from its confines.

A million thoughts ran through his head as he allowed you to work on opening his shirt with your free hand. How many times have you done this for someone? Does Luffy share you very often? Would you care if he came too soon? What if he came inside?

He gasped as you kissed your way down his now exposed chest. His Marine shirt, which was a part of his official uniform, hung loosely off his shoulders.

“Ah!” he moaned, feeling your tongue glide over his length in a long stripe when you finally kneeled before him.

Luffy had come to stand next to you. He grinned at the scene with an excited glimmer in his eyes. He began stroking himself faster, admiring the way you spit onto the head of Koby’s cock.

“Like her?” he chuckled, glancing at his blushing friend.

Koby nodded with a hum. He tensed when you abruptly took him in your mouth, listening to the wet sounds that made their way into the cool midnight air.

It was then that Luffy noticed the way his friend clenched his fists by his sides. Luffy had known that Koby wasn’t very experienced. And being the good friend he is, Luffy wanted to help out.

“Here,” he said, grabbing one of Koby’s wrists. “Try using her hair. You can drag her mouth on and off your cock that way. She likes getting face-fucked.”

As soon as Luffy placed Koby’s hand atop your head, the Marine whimpered and threaded his fingers through your soft locks. His other hand quickly followed suit.

You took Koby to the back of your throat, rubbing your palms against his thighs in an effort to encourage him. With pleasure rushing to his cock, however, he didn’t seem to need it as he shoved you further onto his length with a groan.

Your eyes widened at the unexpected move. You gagged around him as he pressed your nose into his pelvis, now using your hands to seek leverage rather than offer comfort.

Koby whined as he ground himself against you. His mind was nothing but a hazy fog as your throat tried to accommodate him. It was getting hard to breathe with him pushing himself so far down your throat.

Meanwhile, Luffy chuckled, stepping closer to smack the tip of his cock against your face. He stared down at you with an amused grin, listening to your wet gags and sputters.

“Okay, Koby,” he finally whispered, “let her off a second.”

Koby nodded, pulling you off his length as he panted. You immediately gasped for air upon his cock being removed from your throat.

“Went pretty deep, didn’t you?” groaned Luffy, pumping himself faster at the sight of you struggling to breathe. “Gotta let her breathe though.”

Koby nodded in understanding. Then he surprised both you and Luffy by suddenly shoving himself back into your mouth, cutting off your attempts to catch your breath. This time, he followed Luffy’s advice of pulling you back and forth on his cock.

Luffy laughed with sick amusement at this. Koby was yanking you onto his length repeatedly while thrusting at the same time. His balls slapped against your chin. He panted heavily, cock swelling in your throat as he mindlessly fucked your face.

You choked around him, trying your best to breathe through your nose as he pounded deep into your throat. Not even Usopp loves your mouth this much.

Koby had lost the ability to form sentences. Instead, his eyes clenched shut as he whimpered and gasped with every thrust.

“Ah, ah, ah! I’m gonna—! Feel so—! Oh!” he cried, a warm feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. “Luffy, I don’t know—! Ah, ugh!”

Your captain simply chuckled, “You’re about to cum, Koby. Let it all out and we’ll make her swallow. Make her take it. Come on, give it to her. Fill up her mouth.”

With another gasp, Koby nodded. He sank into your throat, trying to force himself as deep as possible. Cum burst out his cock and flooded your mouth. His release only added to your struggle for air. His salty taste covered your tongue and splashed the back of your throat.

He let out a loud cry as his length pulsed against your tongue. His cum, which had been more copious than expected, frothed at the corners of your mouth.

Noticing the way your eyes began to roll back, Luffy stepped in. He pulled you off Koby’s cock, lightly tapping your cheek until you blinked up at him.

“You okay?” he asked, only smiling again when you nodded and opened your mouth to reveal Koby’s release. “Look at that. You’re such a good whore, aren’t you? Show Koby how well you can swallow.”

The sight of you doing so was something else. Koby blushed at the way you drank up his cum without a problem. He smiled at your empty mouth when you opened back up to show him.

And with that image now implanted in his mind, his cock became hard again.

Luffy seized his chance to get some of your attention for himself. His length throbbed with need for his own release. The scene of Koby fucking your throat had brought him to the edge.

He tapped the mushroom-shaped head of his cock against your tongue with a sigh. His orgasm quickly took over as he pumped himself with a rough hand.

Eyes closing, you felt him shoot his load onto your face. Rope after rope of thick, milky white cum sprayed onto your skin. He used his free hand to gather some on his fingertips, scooping his release into your mouth.

“Look at you,” he chuckled. “Usopp would love to see you like this. He loves it when you’re covered in cum. That’s why he fucks your mouth so much, ya know?”

“She’s so pretty,” muttered Koby.

“I know,” smiled Luffy, eyes narrowing down at you. “What do we say?”

Your eyes fluttered to meet Koby’s. The spaced out expression on your cum-soaked face struck something deep within him. Luffy had introduced you as his crew’s ‘whore’ and now Koby could see why. You took everything without complaint.

“Thank you,” you whispered.

Luffy smiled again. Koby’s eyes widened as his friend suddenly pried your lips open and spit into your mouth before making you gag on two of his long fingers.

“I told her you’d fill up her pussy,” hummed Luffy. “She’s been dying to have your cock in her. I’m gonna fuck her mouth while you do it. Cum inside as much as you want, I don’t mind.”

You whimpered when Luffy suddenly turned you around and pushed you onto all-fours. He knelt in front of you, already smacking your face with his cock again. His previous release smeared over your skin as he did so.

Glancing up at Koby, he gestured for him to join the two of you on the blanket, “What are you waiting for? Put your cock in. Trust me, she can take it.”

Koby scrambled to kneel behind you just as Luffy shoved himself into your mouth. Your wet entrance was free for him to take, especially now that Luffy had given him all the permission he needed.

Without a second thought, Koby lined up with your entrance and pushed inside. You shrieked around Luffy’s length as Koby gave you no time to adjust, immediately setting a rapid pace.

Koby lost himself in you. His mouth fell open in pleasure at how tight your pussy squeezed him. Pumping into you, he was brought to an unforeseen conclusion.

You may be Luffy’s, but he was all yours.

You couldn’t stop the muffled sounds that escaped you as the two men fucked you from both ends. Luffy panted heavily as he forced the tip of his cock to repeatedly meet the back of your throat. His balls slapped against your chin with each of his rough thrusts.

Koby practically collapsed against you. He hunched over you from behind, wrapped his arms around your hips, and rested his forehead against your spine. He whined and moaned into your warm skin. Deep gasps escaped him while he fucked you as though he were an animal in heat.

His movements were uneven and not at all graceful. He pounded into you with little rhythm as his mind drifted off, unable to focus on anything but the sounds of your soaking entrance.

Luffy didn’t even try to hide his amusement. With his friend losing himself in the feeling of your tight pussy clenching around him, Luffy decided to go harder as well.

He sank deeper into your throat, admiring the way it visibly bulged around him with every one of his thrusts. With one hand yanking harshly at your roots, he used the other to massage his balls.

“This mouth is so good,” he groaned. “You’re being such a good set of holes for us, aren’t you? So perfect for taking our cocks, for taking our cum. Ugh!”

You choked around him as cum suddenly burst out of the tip of his swollen length. He quickly pulled out, eyes sparkling as some of his release dribbled down your chin before you could swallow it.

“Gotta show Koby how to use his cock though, don’t we?” chuckled Luffy, noticing the distant look in Koby’s eyes. “He’s thoughtless, isn’t he? Sloppy and desperate. Let’s fix that.”

He stands and you lose sight of him in a matter of seconds. You can’t stop the surprised yelp that escaped you as you’re suddenly forced completely onto your stomach. Koby, still deep inside you, followed suit.

The entirety of his weight is bearing down on you. With his chest flush against your back, he can’t hold in his whines as he hides his face in your neck.

His hips are pressed against your ass and his cock is still seated deep inside your wet cunt. He proceeds to place his hands on either side of your head, wrapping his fingers in the blanket that lies beneath you.

You’re effectively trapped between Koby’s body and the solid ground, left with nowhere to go as a loud slap echoes through the air. However, you aren’t the recipient.

Instead, Koby squeaks and bucks into your entrance as Luffy palms his ass with a smile. Your captain grasps a handful of Koby’s pink hair before roughly striking him again.

Luffy spanks, pinches, and gropes his friend without a care in the world. And with every slap Koby receives on his blistering ass, you’re forced to take his cock deeper into your dripping entrance.

Koby grinds down against you, searching for more friction and listening to your quiet gasps, until Luffy surprises him once again. He tries to squirm, but it’s no use.

After landing another slap on Koby’s reddened ass, Luffy digs his fingertips into his whiny friend’s soft flesh and roughly spreads him open.

Luffy licked his lips, admiring the way Koby’s hole clenched around nothing at all. He then spoke with an excited grin, “Here’s how this is gonna go. Listen close.”

He spit onto Koby’s entrance before attempting to press a long finger inside. It’s a task that seems impossible with the way the Marine shakes his head and wriggles with a series of groans. It’s not a total loss, however, since it only plunges his throbbing length so deep inside you that his tip reaches your cervix.

“Ah! Koby!” you moaned.

“It’s gonna be a tight fit,” snickered Luffy, “but I’m gonna fuck Koby. I’ll hold his hips too, so whenever I thrust into him, he’ll do the same to you, princess. We’ll teach him how to properly pound your little hole in no time.”

During his explanation, Luffy had extended his arm in order to collect some of his previous release from your face. He slathered it between Koby’s cheeks with a wide grin.

The extra slick made it easier for him to push his finger into Koby’s ass. The Marine groaned directly into your ear, circling his hips in a failed effort to escape the unfamiliar feeling.

Koby sought more leverage, one hand suddenly tangling itself in your hair. You found yourself being officially pinned to the blanket, silently begging Luffy to get on with it before Koby accidentally ground you into dust.

Luffy, just as impatient, quickly added a second finger. His pace left nothing to be desired as he gave Koby another painful slap with his free hand. He then decided to spit on him again, fingers sinking in and out of Koby’s tight ass at an unbelievable pace.

“I thought I only had one toy, but it looks like I’ve gained another tonight,” laughed Luffy. “Listen to those noises!”

Koby whimpered, hips rolling to both move himself inside you and meet the rough movements of Luffy’s hand. Held down against the blanket, you can only gasp with each shift of Koby’s cock as the grip on your hair is tightened.

Luffy pulled his fingers out and spread Koby open once again. He leaned in to lick a long stripe over his friend’s puckered hole before spitting onto it for a little more wetness.

Koby gasped when the head of Luffy’s cock prodded at his entrance. After a few tries, Luffy finally managed to squeeze his tip inside and groaned at the tight fit.

“Your ass is almost as tight as hers,” groaned Luffy, easing himself inside. “I don’t know which one I like better! Might need to let my crew try you out, Koby. I know Zoro would love to try forcing his huge cock into this perfect hole of yours. Only our whore can take him up the ass so far, but I bet you could too if you really tried.”

Luffy shoved himself into Koby in one fluid movement. His thrust made the Marine’s pelvis dig into the plump flesh of your ass. In an instant, you could practically feel Koby in your stomach, his length forced to sink as deep as it could go into your cunt.

Luffy laughed upon realizing he had proven his plan for fucking you by using Koby for himself was plausible, which you weren’t entirely sure was good or bad. He was now in complete control.

“Get ready because I’m gonna pump this ass full,” he huffed, establishing a strong hold on Koby’s trembling hips. “The other Marines are going to wonder why you’re struggling to walk properly after I’m done with you. Let’s see how long the two of you can last like this.”

You could hardly breathe when he began thrusting into Koby, which made the Marine fuck you in turn. No words were able to escape your mouth, only gasps and babbles of indescribable pleasure.

Koby was in a similar predicament. Crammed between the two of you with nowhere to go left him whimpering and squealing into your ear. His sounds only muffled when he hid his face in the crevice of your neck.

Meanwhile, Luffy became focused solely on seeking his own pleasure. He slammed in and out of Koby in a fast, practiced rhythm, completely unlike how the pink-haired man had been fucking you earlier. The two were like night and day.

A million thoughts ran through his mind, mostly fantasies of the three of you being caught by a few Marines, each of whom would hopefully like to have a turn filling both you and Koby.

The very idea made Luffy’s cock twitch. And he decided he’d be happy to share if such a scenario occurred.

He listened to the sounds that escaped both you and Koby. The wet noises of his friend’s cock being mercilessly maneuvered in and out of you made him groan. He could only imagine how you felt with their combined weight pressing you into the ground.

Koby’s skin slapped against yours each time Luffy thrust back into him. With a thick cock pounding into his ass, he could hardly focus on the feeling of your pussy clenching around him.

“You both take it so well,” groaned Luffy. “I’m gonna cum soon. Think you can fill her up for me, Koby? Hm? Promise you’ll put all your cum in her and use her like cum dump we’ve turned her into?”

He only received a series of intelligible whimpers in response, making him shake his head with a grin. He tightened his grip on Koby’s hips and sped up his movements. He forced Koby to slam in and out of you at an almost inhuman speed.

“This is how a slut needs to be fucked,” he panted. “Think you got it now, Koby? Do you know how properly pound her cunt?”

Koby nodded with a moan, “Yes! I can! I’ll fuck her right this time! Ah! Please!”

“Good,” sighed Luffy. “Now you just need to prove it. But first, I’m gonna fill your ass with so much cum. I want you dripping when you go back to your Marine friends—! Oh! Ah! That’s it! Koby!”

You were thankful for the lull in thrusts as Luffy reached yet another orgasm. He pressed himself flush against Koby, who panted and whined against you while allowing Luffy to paint his insides white.

He pulls out and watches his release slowly exit Koby’s clenching hole. Slowly stroking himself, he sits back to enjoy the rest of the show.

Meanwhile, Koby is overwhelmed with the desire to prove himself. He shifted onto his knees and wrapped both hands in your hair, yanking until you were on all-fours once again. This time with a deep arch in your back.

“Watch me, Luffy,” he whined. “Watch me fuck her like you showed me.”

You gasped at the quick, even pace that Koby began thrusting into you with. Your eyes roll back as you’re left with no choice but to feel Koby fuck his length deep into your cunt.

His tip reaches your cervix every time. And the wet, squelching sounds of your entrance only leave him wanting more.

“Ah! Koby, please!” you exclaimed, nearly on the verge of pleasured tears. “Please, wait! It’s too much! Oh! I can’t—!”

Koby shook his head, only going harder, despite your pleas, “Gotta cum in you! I promised! Need to pump your slut self full like you deserve! You’ve gotta take it like Luffy wants you to! You’re his hole, remember? He makes the rules! And right now, he wants your pussy filled with my load!”

Luffy can’t stop himself from laughing. He never expected to have Koby wrapped around his finger like this, fucking you however he wanted him to. It was quite the vision.

“That’s right, Koby!” he grinned. “Come on, it’s time to fill her up! Cum! Leave her dripping for everyone to see when she gets back to the ship! They love to see what her hole looks like after it’s been fucked! Her pussy is ours, use it!”

You couldn’t help but think that Nami would be proud of Luffy for being so mean to you for once in his life.

Koby’s mouth fell open and his eyes rolled back. Deep inside your tight walls, his cock twitched with every spurt of thick, creamy cum he released. His hips were practically bruising your ass with his hard, desperate thrusts.

“So good,” he whined. “So perfect with my cum in you. Fucked you so full, didn’t we?”

He pulled out slowly, cock still twitching between his legs. He admired your wrecked entrance, especially Luffy’s fingers reached out to shove any dribbling cum back into your leaking pussy.

“Think we should make you cum, sunshine?” hummed Luffy. “You’ve been so good at taking our cocks this evening. I think you deserve it.”

“Too much, Luffy,” you whined. “Please. It’s too much.”

“Oh, honey,” he hummed, running a warm palm over your back in an effort to sooth your exhausted body, “it’s adorable that you think we’re done.”

You let out a sob-filled moan when he rolled you onto your back. He and Koby delved into your soaking entrance, leaving you both writhing at the feeling of their long fingers and desperate tongues and with the realization that the night was far from over.

[shiny-jr]

Hello (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) can I request soft Yan Lilia, he has me in a chokehold 😔❤️

Thank you and have a great week (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

Warning: Yandere. Gender-neutral reader.

Characters: Lilia Vanrouge.

Summary: You try to annoy Lilia so he gives you a moment of peace. It backfires.

Note: Finished this at midnight. It’s a small thing, not really proud of it, but it’s there. 

It was quiet. Too quiet... Which immediately raised red flags in your mind. It was never this peaceful, considering who you lived with. That ancient fae was often causing a ruckus, playing his variety of his loud instruments, screeching lyrics from some hard metal song, or simply chatting and telling stories.

You dearly hoped he was gone, but that was a fantasy. It was very unlikely that he had actually left. If he was truly gone, you hoped he was gone for at least an hour. And you prayed he wasn't up to... another heinous act like the one you caught him in last week. Of course you never were supposed to see him and you didn’t know the details, but you hid the fact that you were a witness. But knowing the bizarre fae, there was a very good chance that he might already know that you saw him. For now you refused to speak about it, wishing to avoid suspicion. You wanted to avoid interaction with him as much as possible. It frightened you when you saw a knife dripping with blood, clutched tightly in his hands. The image flashed vividly in your head, causing you to shudder.

But... if you were being honest, you preferred confronting him instead of sitting in wait. Letting your paranoid thoughts marinate and fester into a storm until he popped out to scare you, was something far worse.

Sitting down on the couch, you sighed and murmured, "I know you're there Lilia. You can come out now."

"Oh? Was it that obvious~?" Like magic, he appeared, flashing his fang-toothed smile. He floated behind your seat, casually wrapping his arms around your shoulders, nestling his head in the crook of your neck. Lilia let out a happy sigh, "Have we become so close that we're able to predict each other's very own moves, hm?"

Moving your arm so the back of your hand smacked his face that was borderline playful and in annoyance, mostly in annoyance though, you immediately shot back, "You wish."

The fae only laughed, not at all affected by your reaction. His grin grew wider, eyes growing bigger and sparkling like big red rubies filled to the brim with excitement. "Oh, do you wish to partake in some fun, my love?"

You deadpanned, finally gazing back at him and squinting at his bright expression. It was slightly concerning that he had this mischievous glint in his eyes. "You know that's not what I––"

"Too late!" He suddenly attacked your neck, blowing raspberries into your flesh, his fangs brushing against your skin but never puncturing. Then his hands found to your torso, his fingers wriggling wildly against your sides causing you to screech.

"NOOO––!”

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Part Three: Ghosts

Part One: Here. Part Two: Here. Part Three: You are here. Part Four: Here

Author's note: Inspired by the 1950s short story "The Man Who Came Early" by Poul Anderson. Red Sail Hall is what I decided to call Arthur's house. The referring to Alfred as 'Yan' comes from @oumaheroes! It's one of the only remaining parts of the Cumbrian Celtic language. And we're leaning hard into fantasy now. TW for gothic imagery, I guess?

Red Sail Hall

21st Century

“Oi, what tea am I supposed to make?" Rhys asked and listened, waiting for Arthur bustling about through the doorway to answer. The pantry with the extra board that dropped down as a counter from the cabinet currently held more than a dozen new tins, boxes and sets. Honestly, the man had a problem. “There’s another dozen in here since I last stopped by!"

He lifted a foot, felt a gentle pressure on his calf and glanced down to see the massive house tiger Arthur and Matthew insisted on calling a library cat. It was rubbing against his leg affectionately. It was just as well. There’d be no getting hair off his trousers anyway.

“Go get that blighter of yours,” He said, gently prodding the cat towards where Arthur would be.

Then the cat squealed; there was a crash. Flicking the kettle off, he shot through the doorway. Arthur was in the pose of a mariner on rough seas, ready to spring into movement in any direction depending on the chop of the vessel. Two broken bowls were on the floor, and the soup was slopped everywhere. He looked like he’d been in his grave for a week, all colour lost, bloodless lips moving silently, eyes fixed. There was no wound, no blood. Finally, he glanced up. A moment later, he collapsed against his brother, suddenly sympathetic.

There before them, semi-opaque right through the kitchen table heaped with spring seedlings and mail like a marble pillar, was their mother. Her red hair braided away from her face, her golden brooches clasping her blue and fur mantel over the greens and browns of her clothes. The empty scabbard of the sword he held in trust dangling from the belt at her hip. As they had buried her, she appeared at the altar at the mouth of her burial barrow and now here, in the kitchen.

“Mam?” he asked.

“My sons.” Her translucent green eyes danced in the slant of sunlight, and she looked so happy. Arthur had lost millennia in moments, his eyes rounder in his face than they’d been in centuries as he took unsteady steps forward.

“Mother?” His voice was so uncertain.

“Hello, little one.”

On the rare occasion where Arthur accompanied them to the barrows on Samhain, he’d had weeks to prepare himself and usually had one of his children in his arms. This was a shield against his guilt, against the boy he’d once been. Her mouth opened, and her words were as wind.

“Yan has passed between worlds he should not have."

And then she was gone, and all was as it had been, save the broken bowls on the floor.

“Mum?” Arthur was still transfixed.

Arthur's phone suddenly rang, breaking the spell that had enveloped them. Arthur remained transfixed momentarily, his gaze fixed on where their mother had floated, before slowly reaching for his phone.

“Did that–” Rhys could barely hear him over the ringing.

“I’ll put the kettle on.”

“Rhys–”

“I’m putting the bloody kettle on.”

“Fine.” He glared, slid his thumb to take the call and collapsed in a chair, putting his phone on speaker.

"Something's wrong," Matthew's voice echoed, tinny and hysterical. “Something’s wrong.”

He dumped water into the kettle, hands trembling, guts suddenly water as he heard the distress. Arthur dragged a hand down his face.

“What’s happened to your brother?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. But I can’t feel him. I just woke up and I can’t sense him. He’s supposed to be up on the ISS, but I can still sense him when he's up there, but I can’t... Dad, I can’t feel him.”

Rhys glanced at the clock. Ah, it’d be the very early morning there.

“Matthew, breathe.” Arthur said like he wasn’t this close to hyperventilating.

“I’m breathing!” Matthew snapped. “I’m breathing, I’m about to puke, and then I’m getting the first flight to D.C. and finding my fucking brother. You'd better meet me, or Arlington is going to need a fucking expansion.”

[mango0o0o0os]

Legend had another dream about her again. This one had seemed so real, he even felt the warm grittiness of the sand digging into his face after washing up on the sand. He couldn’t stop thinking about her soft, warm smile and her sun-kissed face. It hurt him every time he saw Time’s wife, Malon, he was certain that his Marin must have been related to her somehow. He missed her more and more every day and couldn’t shake the thought that maybe he didn’t have to wake the Windfish. He could’ve stayed on Koholint for the rest of his life. He could’ve been a part of that cycle forever. He wouldn’t have to worry about saving Hyrule or have to go on any more adventures ever again. He could have stayed with her in that fantasy land, he could have maybe even raised a family with her. But now, he would never see her again. It was his fault she was gone and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

It wasn’t like he wouldn’t ever find love again. He had, he loved his stupid boyfriend. There was a time when he thought he would lose Ravio, too. Legend didn’t think he could live with the fact that he was the reason he would lose his two lovers forever. Miraculously, Ravio (with help from Hilda) was able to restore the magic connecting the two worlds. The goofy merchant visited him often now, sometimes even when Legend didn’t want him to. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that he almost lost Ravio, just like he did with Marin.

It’s not fair for him to want Marin back, he often thought, now that he had Ravio. What would he do if he could get her back? He loved Marin, but he also loves Ravio. It wouldn’t be good for either of them if he tried to keep them both close. Legend knew he needed to move on from this girl. There was no way to see her again, and she didn’t actually exist anyway. It killed him to think that, but he knew it was true. He hated himself for living in the dream, and he hated the Windfish for pulling him in and showing him this girl that he would never see again. Legend couldn’t look out at the ocean without thinking of her and he cried every time he saw a seagull. Her face often made an appearance in his dreams, and she would always reassure him that it was okay, it was not his fault, but the guilt still stabbed him every day.

-----

Another thing for school. I don't really edit these, I just throw words on a paper. Maybe I'll write something more formal later and actually edit it 🙃

[stars-tonight]

Hi! So…I saw your haikyu matchup thingy and thought…YES.

On that note could I request a long romantic matchup?

The only characters I really have a problem with is Oikawa, kindaichi, and Kunimi. Also slight Atsumu but if you REALLY feel we’re a match (which I doubt) then he’s okay.

I’m a girl and I go by she/her, with a preference for mostly guys but will also do anything for a pretty girl…

My ideal partner varies depending on the day so it’s hard to say. Most of all I enjoy humor (or being able to tease the other). Which is kinda contradictory considering my anime type tends to be the tall, silent, and dense type…however, I also enjoy those that I feel need support or a little lift up. I may or may not have a savior complex.

I’m pretty shy when meeting new people but depending on the dynamic I can pop open and hit you with the most atrocious comment you’ve ever heard. I also tend to be really giggly and laugh at almost every dad joke. I’m also a bit family oriented but in like a sibling way? Essentially my sibling’s are my whole life. My best friends, my worst enemies, my everything.

I like to crochet and I’m in community service club. And I (obv) watch anime and really like reading romance/fantasy books!

Not sure what my receiving is but possible words or touch? Even quality time? Definitely not gifts. I know my giving is touch and words tho.

Ideal date would be something indoors where we can talk or admire something and share opinions. Like an aquarium or even board game night or smth.

I’m a big foodie and I have a GIANT sweet tooth. I’m allergic to cats sadly but they would totally be my favorite pet. My mbti is an INFJ and my enneagram is 9w1. Top characters are Tsuki, Yamaguchi (we have the same b-day 😈), Ushijima, and Bokuto.

I think that’s it IM SO SORRY ITS SO LONG I GOT CARRIED AWAY. I REALLT LIKE TALKING ABOUT MYSELF WHEN I CAN

-but can I be 👻 anon?

headcanons

🥛 first tsukki match in more than a month 🥳

🥛 honestly i thought of tsukishima before even seeing that he was one of your favorite characters lol

🥛 idk how skilled tsukishima is at "humor" but you'll definitely be able to tease each other

🥛 although he can sometimes be a little mean with it so hopefully you're okay with that

🥛 if you ever get genuinely upset by something he says though, he'll fs realize it and make it up to you somehow

🥛 which brings me to my point about love languages . . . i think tsukki's giving love languages are definitely acts of service or quality time, maybe a teeeeensy bit of physical touch

🥛 maybe both at the same time, like if he notices you're cold he'll wrap his scarf around you and pat your head or something after (while scolding you for not wearing something warm)

🥛 his receiving love language would maybe be physical touch

🥛 he says he hates it but he's secretly blushing and trying to hide his face so you can't see and make fun of him for it

🥛 also tsukki is tall and silent but definitely not dense, at least not when it comes to academics

🥛 he's pretty dense when it comes to social interactions or romantic gestures, ngl

🥛 he also cares a lot about his brother so it's cool that you're both family / sibling oriented

🥛 if he's going to settle down with someone i feel like he secretly needs them to be approved by his family, especially his brother

🥛 also since you share the same birthday as yamaguchi, it's simpler for tsukishima to get you both presents and prepare celebrations

🥛 tsukki always says it's easier than having to remember a separate day

🥛 (but you know he'd take care to memorize your birthday no matter what day it is)

🥛 tsukki definitely prefers staying in to going out and likes private, indoor dates

🥛 he likes the aquarium date because you can ask him questions about the marine life and he can rattle off facts and appear smart

🥛 he'd always scold you for eating too much candy

🥛 i could see him as a reader but not the romance / fantasy genre, if you somehow get him to read a romance novel he'll be rolling his eyes at every cheesy scene and grumbling about how he can't believe you got him to read something like this

runner up for you was sakusa kiyoomi!

A/N: hello 👻anon! i am so sorry about the long wait but hopefully you like your matchup :)

[softguarnere]

I've never participated in the lovely @blind-dates-fest before, so we're actually trying two new things this weekend: a new writing challenge, and writing for The Pacific for the first time. This OC has been banging around in my head for months now, so this seemed like a good time to introduce her - especially since she'll be making a cameo or two in one of my ongoing BOB fics. Without further ado, I hope y'all will enjoy Samantha "Mandy" Majors ♥️

The Deception of Appearances

Realistically, Mandy is aware that these are the men who are fighting for their country. The heroes of Guadalcanal can do as they please. But as MacDonald pushes his way through the bar’s crowd of wild, drinking men and boisterous women, dragging her along behind him, only one thought runs through her mind: What the hell am I doing here?

She knows, of course. She’s making money. She’s carving out a little space in journalism because, as her publisher always so kindly reminds her, the market is always changing, and fantasy stories will not be in fashion forever.

With that pleasant reminder, she lifts her chin and continues her walk into the unknown.

MacDonald struts ahead of her, openly ogling the men as if they’re an attraction at the zoo. There’s something distinctly unprofessional about the wide-eyed look that he’s always giving his subjects, like he’s got them trapped under a microscope and is poking around in their thoughts. He doesn’t seem to realize that he has a habit of making other people feel utterly invaded. Which, if Mandy had to guess, is probably why the Metropolitan Express has had her acting as his assistant for so many months. Well, that and, if she’s being honest, the fact that Duncan MacDonald cannot write to save his life.

As if reading her mind, MacDonald grabs her arm and hisses loudly in her ear to be heard over the celebrations, “Look at them! We’re bound to get a good story out of them.” Then, quietly, more urgently, “And quickly, too, because I don’t like the looks of this place.”

For once, Mandy finds herself agreeing with him. But, as is the way of the world, these things are easier said than done.

They manage to find a small table that’s miraculously unoccupied to set up shop at. Despite the look that MacDonald gives her when she orders a drink, Mandy settles in. Her boss might not want to spend any longer in this place than he has to, but that’s only because he’s not a real writer, and he doesn’t understand that the best stories come to those who are patient. These things can’t be forced, no matter how intent he seems on bending them to his will.

Besides his writing – or lack thereof – there’s the small matter of MacDonald himself. He’s too forthright, strutting up to the men and asking them bold questions with no sense of boundaries. Most respond by giving him a blank stare instead of a quote, and those who are willing to share any thoughts only give them the kind that cannot be put into print.

“Well I never,” MacDonald splutters as dark haired man with a wide smile answers his question – a completely tone deaf What’s been your favorite part of the war so far? – with a curt Wouldn’t you like to know, jackass? and a wink thrown at Mandy. MacDonald uselessly swabs his face with his handkerchief before sighing, “I don’t think this place agrees with me.” He mutters, perhaps thinking Mandy can’t hear him over the noise of the bar. “I should have stuck to vaudeville.”

I’ll drink to that, she thinks to herself as she surveys the man who’s supposed to be a war correspondent.

“He seemed to like you, though,” MacDonald says. He gives Mandy a curious look that she’s all too familiar with – one that suggests that she do all the work while he rests his delicate little mind. “Maybe you should try talking to them, without me.”

He’s throwing her to the wolves – or, more accurately, the Marines. But strangely, she finds that she doesn’t mind this time. After all, she came here to write about the war. Write about it accurately, honestly. People back home need to know what’s being fought for. And if she can lend her pen, her camera, and her typewriter to the cause, then by golly, she will. 

She nods. “Not such a bad idea.” And then she leaves him there, alone at the table, before he can change his mind.

Looking for a good story is not so different from hunting, if you think about it. At the edge of the room, Mandy surveys the scene before her. The Marines may be wild, but most of them are also intoxicated, which means their lips will be loose. She can use that to her advantage. Especially now that she’s free of MacDonald.

There. From across the bar, her eyes land on the dark-haired man who winked at her earlier. He’s one of the few men not entertaining one of the bar’s local Australian girls. An easy target.

As if to prove her point about patience, someone taps her on the shoulder just as she’s about to march through the fray to reach her intended target.

A different man, this one with blond hair, blushes slightly when she turns to him. “Um, excuse me, Miss,” he says, his thick accent taking her by surprise. For just a second, she mistakes him for one of the locals before she realizes that he’s wearing an American uniform with the name Phillips on his chest.

Maybe getting a quote will be easier than she thought it would be. “Yes?” 

Phillips nods across the bar to the man that was her original target. “My friend over there said you were a reporter, looking for quotes?”

Mandy nods, smiles, trying to make herself as bright and warm and trustworthy as possible. “That I am.” She holds up her notepad and taps it with a red fingernail. “You don’t happen to have one for me, do you Phillips?”

He’s not blushing anymore. He only smiles and shakes his head. “I’m afraid not. I don’t think I’m good enough with words for that kind of thing. But my friend is,” he adds before she can lose interest.

“Oh?” Mandy raises an eyebrow. “Do you think he would give me an interview?”

“I’m sure he would,” Phillips replies. “In fact, he was writing the entire time we were on Guadalcanal. He’ll probably give you some of his original notes.”

Mandy has to take a breath, remind herself not to get her hopes up. This could all be a rouse, after all, by some stranger.

But then again, even though she doesn’t know this Phillips, he doesn’t give off the energy of someone trying to pull a fast one on her. Maybe it’s just his southern charm, but she’s tempted to trust him right away.

“That would be great. Mind taking me to him?”

“Sure thing.” Phillips starts to weave through the crowd, leading her through the bar. He looks back and extends a hand part of the way through their walk. “I’m Sid Phillips, by the way.”

She accepts his hand. He’s got a firm shake. More of that southern charm, perhaps. “Samantha Majors. But my friends call me Mandy.”

As they push deeper into the bar, several men call out greetings to Phillips, slapping him on the back and palling around as they pass. Phillips returns their handshakes and smiles, only stopping to ask if anyone has seen the Professor. Most men shrug off the question, but one man finally points toward the farthest part of the bar and announces over all the noise, “Lucky is over there! Guess he needed a place to think.”

Lucky. The Professor. She’ll have to remember to ask about these nicknames during their interview. No doubt there’s a good story behind them both.

She slips her notebook out of her pocket as they walk, readies her pen as she turns to Phillips, ideas already churning in her head. “What’s your friend’s name?”

“There he is!” Phillips nods to a table in the bar’s far corner, where a small group of men sit drinking, partly obscured by shadow. “That’s him in the middle, with the curly hair. Robert Leckie.”

At the same moment that Phillips says his name, the man in question leans forward, throwing his face into light so that Mandy catches a glimpse of him for the first time. The sight makes her heart drop, and she freezes as if she’s just been caught red-handed.

“No,” she whispers. Then, in her head. It can’t be.

For a split second, she thinks that maybe her luck will be good, that she’s changed so much since their school days that he won’t recognize her. They’re not kids anymore. Maybe he’s forgotten her.

But the second that his eyes land on her, she knows that it’s no good. His expression changes quickly as he drops the thread of conversation with his friends to stare at her in confusion, then recognition. A small smile crosses his face and he stands, not frozen the way that she is.

“Sammy Majors?!” He calls, voice slightly too loud with the excitement of someone who has been drinking.

Phillips’ brow furrows as he glances between them. “You two know each other?”

“Yes,” Mandy whispers at the same time that Leckie announces, “We grew up down the street from each other!”

“Well, that’s good, right?” Phillips turns to her when he asks. “No awkward introductions to hold back your interview.”

Mandy has to force the words out of her mouth; they feel like they’re stuck to her tongue with paste. “Yeah. I guess so.”

Leckie, as usual, seems undaunted by everything before him. He shoves the man sitting next to him over and uses a grand gesture to indicate the vacated seat to Mandy. “Come join us!”

The confident demeanor that she’s worked so hard to build up all these years is slipping. With every step she takes towards him, Mandy feels like she’s clinging to it for dear life. She has to remind herself that she’s no longer Sammy Majors, the little girl who sits by the window writing fairytales because she couldn’t go out to play. She’s no longer Sammy Majors, who entered every writing competition their school hosted in vain, always losing out to lucky Robert Leckie, whose stories and poems were always so much better than hers. Robert Leckie, who had a job at the local newspaper before they had even finished high school.

As she takes the seat he offers her, one of the other men at the table laughs when he asks, “Hey, Lucky, does Vera know about this?”

Robert Leckie, who always so obviously had a crush on Vera Keller from across the street. Robert Leckie, who never seemed to realize that she existed . . . but who recognized her at first sight after all these years, and on the other side of the world, to boot.

Leckie smiles at her, so warm and open, as if his success in writing didn’t come so easily to him that it always crushed Mandy’s heart, her hopes, and her dreams. “What are you doing here?”

In response, Mandy raises her notepad and purses her lips, resetting her usual, casual demeanor that she has spent so many years working on. “I’m with the Metro Express, and my source tells me that you might be good for a quote.”

Several of his friends ooh and aah like a Greek chorus, jostling him as they laugh.

“He’s got more than just a quote for you!” One of them hoots.

“Yeah,” another man adds. “Try a whole novel!”

Mandy raises an eyebrow. “Is that so?” When Leckie shrugs in response, she allows herself to smile, to be friendly, even though it goes against her better instincts. “Robert Leckie, ever the writer.”

“Fight by day, write by night.”

She makes a small scribble on her notepad to make sure her pen still works. “Well, Private Leckie. Do you have time for a quick interview?”

Leckie leans back in his seat and takes a drag off his cigarette. A smirk plays at the corners of his mouth as he exhales the smoke, nods. “Fire when ready, Miss Majors.”

[greypetrel]

✨Meet the Blorbos✨

Or: a small guide to my characters and AUs in Dragon Age universe. They’re all in continuity, I played more than once and suffer from a sever case of indecision, so here you go.

A small scheme, more details under the cut!

More details for the Elves - More details for the Hoomans

Dragon Age Origins:

Alyra Mahariel. Double-wielding Rogue, Duelist + Bard, True Neutral, ❤️ Alistair / Morrigan

Dragon Age II:

Raina Hawke. Double-wielding Rogue, Shadow, Chaotic Good, ❤️Merrill+Isabela > The Trash Raccoon

Garrett Hawke. Mage, Spirit Healer + Blood mage, Chaotic Good, ❤️ Fenris

Dragon Age Inquisition:

Aisling Lavellan. Mage, Lightning + Knight Enchanter, Neutral Good, ❤️Cullen

Radha Lavellan. Double-wielding Rogue, Tempest, True Neutral, ❤️ Solas

THE AUs:

DadWolf AU: Modern time AU, follows da2 + Inquisition. Solas woke up 30 years before, Varric is older and Malcolm's best friend. They co-parent Aisling and Dorian, shenanigans happen.

Dark Lady AU: Someone on Instagram asked me if Aisling was Sauron. It's a crossover between Dragon Age and LOTR/The Silmarillion where Aisling is Sauron. "It was all a big misunderstanding". Read it here!

Whale AU: Fully historical, non fantasy story. It started as an AU, it's now a fully original thing. Aisling is a marine biologist dead set in having her research on sperm whale behaviour published. Raina (name is to be changed) is a cross-dresser harpooner that shipwrecked in Iceland. Aisling saves her, the ship sails itself.

Cuties Coexisting: A parallel world, Fenris met the Lavellan and hid with them until Act 2 in Dragon Age. Fenris/Lavellan, very very angsty, I'm not planning on writing more of it, but it's open for prompts if you like it. Read it here!

(named by @/daggerbean )

Alyra Mahariel

Double-wielding Rogue, Duelist + Bard, the shade of True Neutral that’s tired of everyone’s shit and is not remotely paid enough to deal with your problems, but will do it anyway because somebody might as well.

No-shit-taken person, she appears to be cold and unsympathetic, dued to the mother of all resting bitch face and the nice tendency to not blink when you’re saying something particularly stupid and she wants to underline that she’s judging you. Will go down in a fight when she’s dead, and it will take a while to kill her. Under the surface she’s very caring: her Vallaslin is for Sylaise, the goddess of the Hearth, and she will do many things to protect her loved ones. She’s reliable, once you’re on her good side or she feels responsible in keeping you alive, she will. Would manage to sell ice cubes to penguins.

Pansexual and poly, romanced both Morrigan and Alistair.

Currently Warden-Commander of Fereldan, in a tense relationship with Weisshaupt, Arlessa of Amaranthine and Chancellor (and mistress) of King Alistair. Did the ritual, Kieran is 100% her son if you ask her.

Don’t speak good of the Guerrins to her.

Raina Hawke

Double-wielding Rogue, Shadow, Chaotic DumbassGood and official Purple trash raccoon.

Would reply with a witty remark even in a life or death situation, is the queen of awful coping mechanisms. Very street-wise, never had some formal training, learnt everything on the go becoming something very difficult to predict in a fight. Human disaster, disappointed her mother in every single one of her life choices, on purpose after Malcolm died and the mediator between them was no more. She took care of the farm and her siblings, will go the extra mile and some to keep everyone safe and fed and warm, but refused to abide to any other request. Is the chilliest person in the world, will not question and be friendly -if you like a witty, sarcastic friend that is- until you step outside her boundaries. Won’t shut up if the ideals she believes in are crossed, and can’t stand people in power who do nothing.

She knits like her life depend on it, all her friends have hand-knitted garments as gifts. Will only refer to Varric as “Her beloved husband”, particularly if there’s Bianca around.

Lesbian, in a happy poly relationship (after fucking up gloriously with both) with Merrill and Isabela.

Sided with the Mages, exiled Anders at the end.

Carver dead, Bethany in the Circle, if you ask her it’s all her fault.

Garrett Hawke

Mage, Blood mage + Spirit healer, Chaotic Good and the one who just knew he would have better stayed in his bed today. He knew it.

One year younger than Raina, they grew up together, joined at the hip. He just wants to live a peaceful life, have his own farm, grow pumpkins and cabbages and go with the flow. As it is, will let Raina lead towards the next crazy adventure and tone her down a little, or catch her when she’s choosing something overtly risky. It was him who convinced Raina to take him but leave Bethany at home for the Deep Roads and he never really forgave himself for it. Particularly because Raina took the blame for it. Got the message from Malcolm that if he wanted to make it as an Apostate, the number one rule was to lay low, be pleasant. Will not stay at home if his family or friends are in danger, tho. Learnt Spirit Healing from Anders, but he’s not extremely talented for it: knows the basics, can stitch up cuts, his talent with Spirits are bones. Learnt Blood magic spending more and more time with Merrill when she moved in with Raina, and that’s his talent. He usually mixes the two things: if he’s a mediocre healer with Spirits, he is pretty talented drawing energy from blood, manipulating it and the body to heal. Keen for the same reason on manipulating and using Water in his magic. Everything that flows. Has a severe case of Dad humour.

Bisexual, romanced Fenris.

Same choices as Raina, he would have forced Anders to fix his mess up, but considering he used him and his sister and de facto involved them without telling them… Didn’t put up a fight.

Aisling Lavellan

Mage, Lightning + Knight Enchanter. So much of a Neutral Good she is your mom friend and therapist and she's not cottagecore, she's directly grandma-core. Will ask if you ate. And serve you something more anyway.

She was adopted by the Lavellans at 6 and put her whole effort into becoming the best Second ever. And she managed: she passed as First as soon as she got her Vallaslin. The former First, Pavyn, was more socially savvy than her, but didn’t put her effort. Could be a Spirit Healer, but when she was 20 she had to restore to Blood Magic to save her friend and got scared that she never touched any Healing spell again. Instead, she’s a decent herbalist, convinced that everything can be solved with enough Elfroot treated in the necessary way. Horse Girl extraordinaire and a very practical person who likes to work more than to talk. Nice and welcoming, will give a second chance to almost everyone (the big exception is Erimond). Hates being called the Herald of Andraste. Magically very savvy, she’s not the most powerful spellcaster around, but she’s extremely precise: would catch a running rabbit with a lightning. Loves to experiment on magic with Dorian, they formed a great team working together: he theorizes, she puts in practice, they’ll invent teleportation given enough time.

Bisexual, romanced Cullen (tried to romance Cassandra, you can mock her for having a Templar kink).

The Inquisition is for all, strongly refused being the Herald of Andrasted. Mages as full-fledged allies, Wardens rehabilitated, Celene reconciled with Briala and on the throne (with some blackmail just in case, but she couldn’t bring herself to like Gaspard or trust he won’t turn on Briala at the first chance). Didn’t drink from the Well, disbanded the Inquisition and became a Red Jenny. Chose to redeem Solas if that was possible.

Radha Lavellan.

Rogue, Tempest. True Neutral and a person who’ll read you in five minutes, the Keeper told her her Vallaslin was either Dirthamen or none.

Elder adopted sister of Aisling, she and Pavyn (eldest) are the sons of the Keeper. She stood around mages for enough to know some theory and use it for her specialization. A woman of few words, won’t speak if she has nothing important to say, and passes as haughty and judgemental even if she’s not. She just likes to observe people and gather every single scrap of knowledge she can get her hands upon. She should have been the one to travel to the Conclave and spy, but Aisling convinced the Keeper and the Clan to go in her place. Feeling guilty, she jumped on the first ship as soon as Aisling wrote and told them she had to stay with the Inquisition, to help her. Sees her as her responsibility, and struggled to accept the fact that she was not. Since it was clear when she arrived at Skyhold that Aisling couldn’t get back to the clan any time soon, she joined in, and started to work with Leliana, as a spy. And oh she’s good at it. Hurt her hand badly in a fight, her right hand can’t grab fully and isn’t strong at all. Learnt to work around it, is pretty much ambidextrous in activities that doesn’t require a strong grip.

Romanced Solas. (ouch)

Didn’t agree with Aisling on the Wardens, Celene or the Well of Sorrows, but she was the one educated to lead, and she trusts her judgement.

[winterpinetrees]

A car chase? In my sci-fi fantasy story??? (The Gap Years part 11)

June 19th 2019

Vya, NV

There’s a fight scene here. It doesn’t get graphic but there’s a fight.

…………

They’re so dead and it’s all his fault. Brian remembers one of the first times he tried to surf on the real ocean. He’d gone out with his brothers and was finally starting to get it when the board flew out from under him and caught Brian under the wave. He’d tumbled around, blinded by salt and sandy water, until the current finally slammed him back onto the beach. Brian spent the next ten minutes coughing up seawater until Nathan called him a baby and dragged him back out. That’s about the same feeling as pulling himself out of the strange elf’s spell. He’s disoriented and cold and feels like he can’t breathe, but Brian doesn’t have time to catch his breath now. It’s finally time for fight or flight, and he begins to run.

He’s taller and faster than Sierra, so he has time to turn around and look over his shoulder at Marin. The prince has shifted back to his normal emerald green magic and has tackled the other woman to the ground. He puts one glowing hand on her forehead and stabs her chest with the dagger he holds in the other. Oh yeah. Weaponry. Marin left his bigger-on-the-inside bag with Clay (it wasn’t the sort of thing a commoner would have) so the three have two daggers and a pistol between them. The injured elf dissapears from Marin’s grasp. Brian has learned since their first fight that she’s retreated to the elven world. No need to die in combat if you have already been defeated. By complicated rules of elven combat, she can’t return without forfeiting that right to escape.

Marin’s hands hit the ground with a puff of dust. He picks himself up, and Brian can see other elven soldiers turning towards them. Each one has glowing eyes and a faint outline of magic around them. They wear the same sci-fi armor as the elves from San Francisco, but none are wearing the featureless helmets. They need to run. The prince sprints- that’s really not a good enough word for it, he’s moving at least twenty miles per hour- back to him and Sierra. They turn down a side street, running as fast as possible.

For the first time in ten days, Brian’s vision flashes with magical color. An exact copy of himself appears and turns away from the group. Two more copies peel off on the opposite side, with matching Sierras and Marins as well. The illusions are insane. Brian sees himself in photos constantly. He’s the suntanned, blue-eyed, son of the govenor, champion wrestler and verified surfer boy. He has that hot scar on his jaw from an accident too mundane for the magazines to mention, and he’s eighteen, finally old enough that the media outlets have gotten a lot more honest. Brian sees himself in photos a lot, but they can’t capture him as well as Marin has. It’s unsettling to see himself the way someone else might, a six foot three athlete tearing across the steppe.

For a few seconds, each figure has a halo of green, but then that fades and they become perfect mirror images. Watching the copies makes it all too clear that Sierra can’t keep up with the two of them in a dead sprint. She’s going to be setting their top speed.

Marin staggers for a moment, and he rethinks that idea.

“I should have taken her gun,” he gasps. More soldiers are running after them now, and a few leap across the rooftops a story above them. Most carry guns, but a few have what look like energy weapons. He can see their faces this time. The elves represent every race that Brian can recognize, with a rainbow of different colored eyes and armor. A good number of the soldiers are running away too, presumably after the duplicates. Not all of them though.

Brian pulls out the pistol and considers the dial on the side. Sierra pulls her headphones over her ears. The gun isn’t loud, but it’s her preference. Brian turns it all the way to kill, then hesitates and moves it back. He can see their faces this time. Brian knows firsthand how hard it is to aim while running, but tries anyway. The new gun has much less recoil than the rifle and seems to draw power from a green battery above the trigger. He misses.

He moves, his targets move, his vision keeps flashing with lights. Brian has no clue what they actually look like right now with all of the illusions that Marin is casting, but they must be good because he hasn’t been shot yet. But Marin clearly can’t keep this up. His eyes are glowing even more brightly now, and he can hardly look at the elf without squinting. More soldiers converge on the group. They shoot from the rooftops and Brian shoots back. Brian hears himself starting to laugh.

“Quiet,” Marin snaps. “I’m worse with sound than with light”.

Okay then. Let a man die dramatically, alright?

And he’ll be doing that soon. A shot finally makes it through whatever spells Marin cast and strikes Brian square in the shoulder. It feels like a fastball, but he’s heard that a bullet feels like a punch too. The impact jerks him backwards and he feels his left arm go numb. The stun setting? Brian had assumed that they wouldn’t bother to take him alive. An elf above them yells something in a language that he can’t understand. Soldiers have climbed down the sides of the buildings in front of them and blocked their exit. They’re trapped.

“They’re telling us to surrender. Drop the gun.” Marin whispers, “I’m sorry”.

Brian lets it fall, but Sierra whispers back, “Hide my hands”.

What possible plan could she have to fix this? Marin does anyway. She pulls something from the pocket of her sweatshirt. It’s the gadget she’s been working on for the past few days. It looks a bit like a speaker? There’s exposed wires and stuff too though. She slides it over her phone. Sierra gives Brian a pointed look and adjusts her headphones.

“Freshman year English. Island of Sirens”.

Brian doesn’t need any more context to understand her message (but he’s distantly surprised that Sierra remembers any of the classics). Odysseus has his crew stuff their ears with wax to sail past the island of the sirens without wanting to throw themselves into the sea. Elves have big ears, so they must have good hearing. Marin said that he was worse at controlling sound too! Maybe that’s a universal thing? None of the soldiers are wearing helmets either.

Trusting that all hell will break loose within a few seconds, he repeats the message to Marin.

Sierra holds her phone above her head. Marin clamps his hands over his ears as her phone amplifies some screeching noise across the desert. It’s bad. It’s an awful noise and far too close to his head. The really bad thing though, is that the noise doesn’t stop. He wasn’t sure how good the noise-canceling was on her headphones, but it must be pretty great because now she’s the one sprinting while they stagger along. Brian picks up his pistol again and charges ahead. His left arm is useless, so instead of covering his ears, he’s going to get as far away from the noise as possible. The elves blocking their path are stunned. Brian shoots each of them until they fall and keeps running. His friends follow behind.

Behind him, some elf recovers enough to shoot him a second time, right in the chest. Everything feels heavy. (It was right over his heart too, come to think of it. Oh god, is he having a heart attack?) They’re getting close to the car though. It’s pigeon gray and horribly anachronistic against the desert. Clay’s actually moved it closer to them, and has their own rifle balanced on the windowsill. He scowls at something behind them and shoots twice. The car is running. He is going to pass out. He is going to die.

The driver’s side is the closest to them and they all fling themselves into the back rather than run around. Clay throws his weight onto the gas and they accelerate as fast as they can. The car is going sixty, eighty, one hundred and twenty miles per hour. If there’s traps on the road, then at least they will die quickly. That’s doubtful though, because they’re being chased. Brian’s pistol slips from his hand and falls to the floor. It takes a titanic effort for Brian to haul himself upright in his seat. (His chest hurts. It’s hard to breathe). Sierra finally turns off her device.

“What is this, podracing?” She jokes. Brian’s ears are ringing and he can barely hear. Their pursuers are more like the hovering things from Return of the Jedi. Speeder bikes? They don’t look like bikes. There’s two of them, and several more far behind them. Brian guesses they’ll be able to shake the far ones with pure speed. Brian wants to help. He wants to do something, anything, but he knows he’s pushed his body too far. Marin looks about the same way, so it falls to Sierra to take Clay’s rifle from the passenger seat and try to aim it out the open sunroof. She has one foot on the thing between the front seats and the other right beside Brian’s leg. If they stop short, she’s definitely dead.

One speeder draws closer than the other. There’s two elves on it, with the same neon detailed armor as the ones they fought back in San Francisco. The rider tried to shoot the car with a gun, maybe the back wheels, but none of the shots hit.

Sierra ducks down. “Marin, tell them in Elvish or whatever that we’re going too fast and that if they shoot the wheels, the car flips and we all die”.

He looks a bit shocked, but obeys. Behind them, the shots stop. Good to know.

The elf driver pushes the machine to go even faster. Sierra risks a shot, and the passenger catches it. Not physically, but they hold up their hands and somehow catch the burst of emerald light before it can hit. The shot flickers to indigo, then rust red, and then fades. The soldier who caught it plants one foot and lifts themself higher.

“Do I duck?” she asks frantically.

“They’re not armed? I don’t know!” Clay replies.

The soldier stands tall and pulls off their helmet. The face underneath it does not help Brian assign a gender to the figure. Brian’s only watched Lord of the Rings once, but he still has a mental image of what an elf should look like. He imagines etherial, feminine, figures with pale, flawless skin, and straight hair that flows down to their waists. He’s seen half a dozen elves up close by now and not a single one matches that description. Still, he hasn’t been able to shake it.

First of all, the soldier is young. They could pass for someone in his grade, with acne scars across their dark skin and the sharp, skinny features of a young adult who hasn’t fully finished growing. Their dark gold hair is shaved on the sides in a style that wouldn’t look out of place in any high school, but there’s something about the intensity of their glowing eyes that makes comparing the elf to a teenager comical. In his exhaustion, Brian is transfixed. Sierra doesn’t move either.

The elf shouts something into the dusty air. It’s no language Brian can understand, but it sounds different than the previous call to surrender. A different language, maybe? He thinks he recognizes Marin’s name at the start of the phrase. He responds in the same language with the same proud tone.

The soldier is silent. They narrow their eyes and shift their shoulders back. Sunlight reflects off of that wrist armor -a vambrace- that Marin says is the symbol of the nobility as they turn to the side and raise their arms. Distantly, Brian thinks that Sierra should duck. Something glows a deep dark red between their hands. Then there is light and movement and Sierra falls with a scream back into the car. She hits her head against the side of the sunroof on the way down, and lies motionless in a crumpled pile across the back seats.

Clay swears. “Sierra!” She doesn't respond.

Brian can’t tell if she’s unconcious because of the magic or the impact, but she’s at least alive. He doesn’t even need to feel for a pulse to check. The blood in the side of her neck is the same dark red as the soldier’s magic, and pulses faintly with her heartbeat. The color creeps outwards like a bruise.

“She’s alive,” Brian replies, because there’s nothing else to say.

“Say something more useful, please.”

Clay should be back here and he should be driving. Clay is the medic. Clay is the sensible one. Clay is a perfect shot with a rifle and better at math and brave enough to oppose his father.

“She’s unconcious, but her pulse seems normal? She’s breathing. There’s this magical bruise thing on her neck.”

“That’s not blood? Thank god.”

“No. It’s red magic.”

“The noble seems to be retreating,” Marin adds. His eyes are hazel again and the elf is struggling to keep them open.

“Marin, you cannot pass out right now. Five more minutes.” Brian also wants to pass out, but he refuses to leave Clay alone with three helpless friends. “Do you know what this is?”

“No. I might later.” He says something in that elven language and then offers something that might be a translation. “Stupid tired”.

A human car appears over the horizon on the other side of the road. Maybe that's why the elves retreated? Everything feels far away. Brian knows this feeling well.

“I got shot twice. Stun setting, probably. If I pass out…will I wake up?” he asks absurdly. What’s he going to do if Marin says no? Not pass out? For all his talk, Brian has never been great at the whole “do not go gentle” thing.

“Don’t you two dare,” Clay says.

He doesn’t have any power here. Marin nods his approval. “You’re all good”

The heaviness in his chest and arm finally drag Brian into unconsciousness. He falls asleep with Sierra’s head on his lap and the morning sun shining into his eyes on the second-longest day of the year.

Clay drives the car the next six hundred miles in silence, until the Las Vegas strip rises ahead of him and the battered party arrives in the city that has more in common with the nuclear bombs detonated outside it than the desert it was built from. They are all awake again by that point. They just don’t feel like talking.

………

The second to last line (about how Las Vegas has more in common with nuclear bombs than the desert) is paraphrased from Jacob Geller’s Art For No One . The line is 4:30 in.

The soldiers were speaking Lazarin, the official language of the Elven world. Amedi and Marin spoke Old Lazarin to each other, which is a bit like comparing Latin to a modern romance language. Old Lazarin is only used by the High Nobility, but it’s well known and can be studied in school.

[daemon-in-my-head]

Once again a new day but today I'm not cracking the tyrant. Instead im sharing smth that will never actually come to exist cuz lets be real im the last person who'd publish an actual original story. Yet its been marinating so i figured, why not a cutesy little original short story so the idea will still see the light of day instead of vanishing and rotting like so many others.

So, if I ever were to write an original story, it would probably be about two people. A golden child, one that was desperately awaited, one that was supposed to be treasured, hair glittering like caught sun rays, always smiling and giggling, and a cursed child, one that was damned and scorned, one that was abandoned and chased out for no reason besides their refusal to cry in the face of torment and the obsidian crown covering their head.

Except not everything that glitters is truly gold. And cracks appear on the child everyone longed for. The first crack appeared when it heard the screaming, the yelling of two people arguing on their behest. It was a crack easily covered up, so they paid no mind to the gold shimmering in-between their skin. But the longer they lived, the more cracks appeared and eventually, the child couldn't hide them anymore. And faced with the reality of how imperfect the golden child turned out to be, they locked it away. They hid this shame. This broken child and pretended that everything was well, carefully hiding the truth.

Yet, you see, you can't hide the truth forever. And caged things will try to escape, so the child did. They snuck out, abandoning the perfect dollhouse they had been locked up in, because even if imperfect, the reality was much more bearable than the fantasy they were forced into, and that's where they met the other child. The one everyone scorned.

But the golden child didn't hate the cursed one. In fact it could relate to it. After all, it too had seen the scared faced. They too had terrified people with their broken skin. And so it offered their hand, for the first time in god knows how long somebody reached out to the cursed child, which gratefully took the hand, adamant to hold onto this little affection no matter what price it may needed to pay.

So the broken children lived for a while, in the tranquility and peace their presence would gift one another. Yet nothing in life is perfect, these two would know best, so even their peace came to an end when the golden child had been found and its people demanded for it to return. They had played around long enough, they had to face their duties. Pay back those debts to those who raised it. And the child obliged, with the condition that they may take the other one with them.

At first, everything went unexpectedly well. Their duties were not too hard to bear and with the other one to provide comfort, the cracks that had plagued them didn't spread despite returning. But while no new ones appeared, the old ones remained visible, still instilling fear in those around the child.

But adamant to help their saviour, the cursed child set out to find a solution, and when they finally returned, it had indeed found one. So it began patching up the golden cracks. One by one, covering the old cracks and diligently patching any new ones, using that 'solution' the cursed child had found yet never revealing what it had truly been.

The children lived like that for a while. It was quite blissful, to be honest. Without the fears, people began treating the golden child the way they did before the cracks appeared, and with the child praising and keeping the scorned one close, people began to see them in a better light as well. Yet, despite their ever more fortunate circumstances, the cracks never stopped appearing, and the other child never stopped patching them.

Unbeknownst to the cursed one, the reason for the golden cracks had become them. The scorn they had been faced with, the loathing. The small remarks made about them continued to crack the golden child. Yet it would never tell the other. It couldn't burden them, and perhaps if it revealed the truth, the other would run away, after all, with all it had done so far, it wouldn't be far fetched to assume if they found out what their presence did, they would remove that presence.

You should know, despite the cursed child diligently patching the cracks, there had been a condition. It would only do so in the dark, at night, their actions hidden even from the golden eyes. But one night whe they went to fix the cracks, the golden child schemed to reveal what it's companion was doing. Longed to understand the cure for their breaking.

So, as the other child was working away, they lit a carefully hidden lantern, revealing the truth hidden beneath the comforting darkness.

There companion had discarded their ever flowing robes in the veiling darkness, it's skin exposed, yet, what had actually been visible to the golden child was not skin. The chest that should've been soft and warm was hard and glistening, the flesh they should've seen did not appear, instead they were faced with a dark, crystalline surface.

The solution had been quite simple, really. Whenever the skin would crack and gold began to shimmer, the other child would simply patch the rifts with its own skin. But it knew that if the truth were ever exposed, the golden child would refuse and the cracks would just consume them, so they intended to keep the reality hidden.

Now seeing what had kept it alive, what had continued to 'fix' it's own cracks, the golden child refused his solution. It urged the other one to stop, to let them be, to never do so again, all while more and more cracks appeared in but an instant.

However the other one couldn't oblige. It vowed to give whatever it may require to protect that rare affection the golden child would give them, even if it had to lay down its own life. So while the one before it cracked faster and the rifts grew in size, the other one quickly began to try and patch them up again.

In the end, it didn't take long. Scraps of the solution everywhere but where they should've been, neither of the children resembled a human any longer. The golden cracks had nearly fully consumed one of them, whereas the dark obsidian threatened to swallow the other. One more crack was all it would take for their lights to diminish.

A truth the scorned one refused to accept.

So they ripped off the last shred, desperately trying to fix the other, to give them just a little longer. But it's self destruction caused the other one to bear the last crack just the same.

Edit with my random shower thought; I could definitely turn this into a Tavtash AU. Somebody stop me. I already have too many wips and no self control, pls.

[oc-menagerie-archived]

OOC: All Available Muses on the Blog!

Series Based:

Digimon:

Christina Terrwyn (Energetic and full of confidence, Christina is constantly trying to look like the cool kid. She discovered the digital world after a digivice appeared before her at a sports camp. She is optimistic and tends to act a bit recklessly, but will never put anyone else in harm’s way.)

Record of Ragnarok:

Bau (Bau is the Sumerian/Mesopotamian Goddess of Dogs, healing and life. She acts as a medic for the Ragnarok fights, healing god or human as she doesn’t have a side she is on. She just enjoys watching the fights and seeing the strength and endurance of both gods and humans.

Her seven dogs are absolutely loyal to her and in a battle are focused and well trained. But outside of battle, they are just typical goofy dogs, very affectionate with their owner but also affectionate to just about anyone that seems friendly.)

One Piece:

Kyoko Iro (Kyoko is a Geisha who was trying to become an Oiran in Wano when a rival Geisha sent assassins after her in order for her to become Oiran instead. Kyoko had to flee home and was left scared and unsure of people. Though the way she fled, she ended up captured before being released who knows where.)

Xia Malificia (A flirtatious, trouble making pirate who ate the fox zoan fruit. Her favorite thing to do is charm unsuspecting pirates or marines and robbing them blind. Also has many AUs including a Mirror Maiden Genshin Impact AU!)

Fate Series:

Emilia Clarimond (A Fate Master OC who is clever, out going, and sometimes snarky. Her magic is based on the stars, creating light barriers with a constellation pattern and shooting energy. Also has a Fairy Tail verse!)

Final Fantasy 14:

Josephina Adrahgan(A Miqo’te from a family of nobles. After her family tried to arrange a marriage between her and another noble family, she decided to run away with her fat cat named Chubchub and ended up joining a troupe of Dancers and decided to travel with them)

Shay Pierina (A Miqo’te who was found as a child outside a small village that is  part of the Ul’dah kingdom. Adopted by kind Hyurs, she lived in poverty  but didn’t let it bother her and worked to protect her family. After discovering the Echo, she happened upon a member of the Scions and decided to join and travel away from home. becoming a Warrior of Light. Has a League of Legends verse!)

Orabella Kalon (A Summoner from the First, Orabella is a scholar seeking to learn about the magic of her world. After wandering into the pixie land, she ends up captured but free some time later when Titania is defeated. Now she lives there studying the pixies. Also has a Genshin Impact verse as a Cryo Fatui Mage!)

Bleach:

Selene Fenagari: (Selene is…a dork. Easily distracted and acts rather dog-like, loving getting petted, chasing balls or animals, or even shifting and barking at cats. When on duty, she does her absolute best, serving the Gotei 13 in stopping villains or just protecting the people while out on patrol. Despite her silly antics, the people adore her and shower her with gifts and headpats.)

Pokemon:

Hex Maniac Kayleen:(Kayleen grew up around the occult, her parents super into it and trying to summon the paranormal as well as learn magic. Kayleen was terrified of it but slowly learned to embrace it when she met a friendly Gastly. From there she befriended other ghost and dark Pokemon, the scaredy-cat girl not enjoying it from time to time.

For a long time she was super shy and had social anxiety, but decided to be brave and try to face it by becoming a Pokemon trainer. Now alongside her ghost and dark type Pokemon cheering her on, she desires to learn and make friends and meet Pokemon she has never seen before. Has a Soul Eater verse under Alt. Verses!)

Naruto:

Midori Mihata (A clumsy, scared ninja girl who one would possibly say is the worst ninja ever. Wants to make her clan proud and tries hard to be the best she can be. Also gets rather flustered and shy around boys. Has a FF14 verse!)

Kiyomi Tenshi (Loud, rambunctious, and rather hyper and reckless, Kiyomi is also one that some would possibly say is a terrible ninja. She fights more like a martial artist, punching and kicking and running straight into bad guys.)

Naoko Shizuko (The only one who acts like a true ninja in the trio of Kunoichi, Naoko is soft spoken, almost monotone voice and always with an unreadable expression. Despite this, she is incredibly smart and well trained in her ninja techniques which involve shadow tricks. She is the one to get the other two out of danger most of the time.)

Fire Emblem Three Houses:

Diana Fotieni (Diana comes from Faerghus and is striving to become a knight of the kingdom like her mother before her. A student at the academy under the Blue Lions house, she is studious and trains hard, mostly to show the head of the house Dimitri her worth as a possible knight as he is heir to the throne. Has a Kingdom Hearts verse and a Final Fantasy XV verse as well!)

Genshin Impact:

Kyana Aeira (A Pyro Vision user from Mondstadt who dreams of becoming a Knight of Favonius one day. She works hard taking on random tasks from the people to prove herself capable. She is determined and optimistic and tends to listen more to her emotions than think with logic. Also has a One Piece verse but also many aus and can fit anywhere with heroes!)

Iyumi Akuma (Iyumi is a Fatui Mage hailing from Snezhnaya who is on the prowl for someone cute she can call hers. To most she acts vicious and snobby, ready to electrocute them should they get on her nerves.

But should she find the someone she wants, she becomes more adoring and flirty, chasing after them until she can have them. Which can turn into an aggressive chase should the other not want her. Also has a Pokemon verse, demon/vampire verse, dark goddess verse and many more!)

Amatus Koheikaze (A Oni girl from the Red Oni tribe of Inazuma, Amatus works hard as a samurai of her clan, fighting with a katana as well as using her Anemo vision. Though she acts rather serious, she holds a softer side that cares deeply for her tribe, desiring to protect them no matter what. Her mother is a human while her father is an Oni.)

My Hero Academia:

Tia “Usagi” Fayte (Bubbly kind of girly girl whose quirk is magnetism. She can make anything she touches become magnetic, even things that aren’t normally something you can stick magnets to like trees. She uses this alongside rollerblading to fight and calls herself Usagi for the jump tricks she can pull off while blading around. A student at UA. Also has a The World Ends with You verse!)

Kalliphae Myressei (A moth woman with the ability to heal others using a powder that emits from her. She is a princess of a far off kingdom. Acts with a noble air and always tries to follow her heart. She is a nurse of UA.)

Yugioh:

Miyuki Tenshi (A sweet, innocent duelist who uses a deck with angelic creatures revolving around the Sanctuary in the Sky card. She has a duel spirit, Happy Lover, and has yet to meet anyone else with one or that can see her. Has a Goddess verse alongside Iyumi, a Fairy verse and an Angel verse!)

Monster Hunter:

Sonafuwa(A Paolumu who gained the ability to turn human. Sonafuwa is shy and tends to stay in the trees and away from hunters so she won’t get hunted. When she meets someone friendly, she becomes more calm and is happy to make a new friend)

Sakura (A Pink Rathian that gained the ability to turn human. Territorial at first but can become friendly if she sees the other means no harm. Prissy and doesn’t mind Hunters so long as she isn’t their target.)

Twisted Wonderland:

Colette Eirina (Twisted from Giselle from Enchanted! Colette is the princess of a small kingdom. It’s surrounded by a river, forest and mountains in the back, the kingdom known for its mining of gems from those mountains.

Colette usually stays in her castle but got accepted into RSA as a student. She tends to cause a lot of trouble at home with her ditzy behavior. In fact her air headed ways gets her kidnapped and held for ransom a lot which has really hurt the kingdom financially.)

Fandomless:

Kishi MacAuley (The self proclaimed Captain of an all girl pirate crew calling themselves the Love Seekers. Kishi is hyper and boy crazy as well as a tad reckless, willing to go through any danger if it means finding cute guys and treasure along the way)

Zalira Deona: (A succubus who doesn’t really do succubus things. Her mom and dad are a powerful incubus and succubus pair who wanted her to follow in their footsteps. But all Zalira wanted was to laze around and eat human snacks and indulge in their culture (like manga!). Before they could send her to a demon academy, she ran away from home and ended up among humans.)

Cheza Fènghuáng (Princess of the city of Nán Sòng, Cheza is rather anti-social and a major bookworm, usually seen cooped up in her private library. Her kingdom is a matriarchy, led by her mischievous mother. Cheza has the ability to conjure fire and turn into a phoenix)

Seraphaura(Seraphaura is from a clan of lamias who hunt humans for fun and for food while also eating other things. But Seraphaura is completely different from them. She has seen an innocent human devoured and wishes to protect them and learn about them. Because of this, her clan laughed at her and was bullied and ridiculed for it. But despite that, she still wishes to learn about humans and their culture.)

Vivianne Noira (Growing up alone in the world has hardened Vivi. She can be untrusting towards strangers though some have shown her some kindness to help her out. She can come off as brash, even possibly rude. But she doesn’t mean to be. Vivi feels she must be tough in order to survive. However if she sees someone in need, she may go out of her way to help them depending on what they need help with.)

Angeline Tenebris(A vampire from a family of vampires sworn to keep their race a secret. They are respected nobles of a town, well-known for their business and wealth. Though most of her family tries to keep their status clean, Angeline is a bit rebellious and curious about the world and frequently sneaks out to learn more about it.)

Fayeth Neri (A dragon girl who is rather air-headed and sometimes slow to speak, making it seem like nothing is going on in her head. And maybe nothing is. She is very laid back and cheerful, always having a lazy smile on her face.)

Chloe Thaleia (Mischievous thief from a family of thieves looking for her older brother who left home when she was a child. Will steal from you playfully then give it back once she’s caught. Has a magical greatsword she stole that can use the four elements but she has no idea how to use it.)

Aiolos Thaleia (Older brother of Chloe. After witnessing his uncle (who had taught them all they know about being a thief) break the family code by murdering someone, he decided to go on a different path and leave the family. He strives to be a knight or a guard, something he sees as more honorable.)

Ai Malificia (A sweet, innocent girl who was sheltered due to her overprotective parents. She grew up around flowers and a flower shop and developed magic pertaining to plants. Has a Fire Emblem Three Houses verse and a Goddess verse!)

Azathira (Sci Fi OC! Azathira is a well trained assassin alien. Her species thrives in being the best at fighting and killing and she is no different. She makes her living taking on bounties and delights in taking them down. Then uses the money to partake in a feast wherever she goes.

On the side, she sometimes steals things as well, mostly from the person she killed. She travels around taking jobs and simply exploring the universe all on her own. Though a small part of her almost wishes she could have some company for once.)

Ourania Thanos (A dragon that can turn into a human. Cocky, egotistical, and loves to  show off to others. Loves to fight people just to fight strong opponents  and also loves to eat lots of meat and drinks lots of ale.)

Nikki Irving(An oddball Alchemist of a girl who stumbled upon a cursed Eldritch Being who had been shrunk and turned into a tiny octopus. She decided to keep it as a pet, named it Tickles, and has no idea it is slowly influencing her mind. Has a Pokemon verse!)

Aku Yazoi(A wannabe punk boy who is hot tempered and tries to act cool but is a sucker for cute girls. Is kind of a dweeb. Loves to race on his motorcycle. Has a Yugioh 5Ds verse!)

[sloshed-cinema]

Tár (2022)

If Mahler stated that a symphony should be the world, then Lydia Tár’s professional symphony is crumbling around her.  This is a story of grooming and professional corruption, about using power to take advantage of others and exploit them for what you desire.  Yet Todd Field resisted the urge to make a simple Harvey Weinstein type story, opting instead to use the incredibly specific and incredibly dense palette of classical music and the orchestral industry as his palette.  The movie doesn’t hold the viewer’s hand in the least; from moment one, references and nods are flying fast and loose, calling out everyone from Furtwängler and Karajan to Marin Alsop and Michael Tilson Thomas.  Hildur Guðnadóttir plays a clever double-role, mentioned by name alongside peers such as Jennifer Higdon but also furnishing elements of the diegetic and non-diegetic soundscape.  Extended rehearsal sequences in Tár’s pidgin German play out free of subtitles.  The minutiae of orchestral union proceedings are debated time and again.  All of these references, all of this time, all of this vocabulary is necessary to establish the zealous obsession that surrounds the craft for Tár.  She has crafted her whole identity around being the next soothsayer of the Western canon, the protégée of Bernstein himself.  More importantly, it’s a veneer of legitimacy.  It’s clear from the start that the maestro is less than “politically correct”: a dressing-down of a Juilliard student regarding his opinions on contemporary art music and views on Bach steps beyond the pale of a misguided tough love approach and more into the territory of personal attack.  But this is a pattern.  Fields approaches the everyday administrative details of Tár’s life with the same meticulousness.  Insidious little instances begin to float to the surface, indicating a predatory tendency that others notice and become increasingly intolerant toward.  The camera lingers on Lydia’s assistant Francesca as she lip-syncs her boss’s plaudits during a public interview, casts furtive glances or begins to wonder why she’s being asked certain things.  Even the matter of handing over a laptop becomes a dangerous prospect.  And the conductor’s wife and colleague, concertmaster Sharon Goodnow, becomes increasingly disillusioned with Tár’s actions as a new affair begins to become apparent in newcomer cellist Olga.  In this sense, the deliberate and clinical handling of camera in many scenes begins to build a case against the maestro, feeling in beats almost akin to The Assistant.  A specific event involving a fellow for a program Tár started for women conductors lingers in the shadows, eluded to but never fully elucidated.  Krista Taylor had no prospects in the field after Tár torpedoed her career.  The maestro insists this was due to Taylor’s mental instability, but other evidence suggests that there was a revenge aspect to this.  The fantasy life of private jets and book talks can be ripped away so quickly.

And yet the fantasy of it all does have its place in the tapestry of this narrative.  As with music, there is room for ambiguity here, space to interpret.  Especially in the back half of the film, Field calls into question Tár’s state of mind through her troubled dreams and strange nocturnal discoveries.  Distorted images of the women in her life haunt her, intertwined with moments in the Amazon recalling her past ethnomusicological work.  Yet as things begin to unravel and Tár loses the thread, the nature of objective reality becomes more tenuous.  As with the scandal reveal, it’s subtle at first.  In her rehearsal home, the maestro is haunted by a persistent doorbell sound, which heartbreakingly later turns out to be the elderly woman next door in distress.  The legacy of Krista Taylor’s fallout and eventual suicide comes in the form of labyrinthine drawings which appear in gift book inscriptions, metronome faces, or formed in clay in her adoptive daughter’s room.  Just where these come from or who makes them is never made explicit, but that doesn’t make them any less haunting for Tár.  As she courts Olga, or seduces her, the cellist becomes ever more disillusioned with Tár just as she becomes more elusive.  At one point, Tár chases Olga into the seemingly abandoned building where she perhaps resides, only to find the cellist vanished, seemingly a figment of her imagination.  Descending into the basement, she instead finds a fox or a wolf, her predatory nature turning back on her.  Ghosts haunt the periphery. By the time it has all fallen away, she rushes onto the stage mid-performance, attacking her impostor, claiming the score for herself.  It’s her work, she alone can interpret it.  Utterly fallen from grace, the final sequences play out like a sort of bizarro-world fantasy.  New York is no longer a place of glamour, but an ugly outer borough rail station, everything drab and grey and muddy.  Her final gig is the coup de grace.  She is engaged to perform a Japanese work for a Southeast Asian concert hall.  The final shot is a bitterly funny punch in the gut: she’s at the bottom of the barrel, performing video game music for a rapt audience of cosplayers.  Goodbye haughty, lofty concert halls.  

Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, and Sophie Kauer all turn in strong, nuanced performances.  But Cate Blanchett is the obvious powerhouse here.  She’s fun as the haughty, dismissive maestro who knows just how it’s all done.  This makes her fall all the more pathetic, not even able to see her daughter.  It’s a late scene which cements just how hard this has all hit her, and a brilliant piece of acting from Blanchett.  Sitting alone at her old family home in New York with a childhood field hockey medal around her neck, Tár watches a recording of one of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts where he describes how music can be used to communicate ideas words cannot.  Her face says it all: this is her whole world still, but now she no longer can access it, by her own hand.  She controlled time with her baton, but she cannot control others in the same fashion.

THE RULES

PICK ONE

Select either MAHLER FIVE or the ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO and sip whenever that work is mentioned.

SIP

Someone name-drops a composer or conductor.

The narrative transitions to a new city.

Lydia calls someone a robot.

A scene contains a language other than English spoken in dialogue.

BIG DRINK

A labyrinth is drawn on something.

Tár cuts off the orchestra during rehearsal.

[endogenicredstar]

Hello, and welcome one and all to my little patch of peace! My name is Sylum and I'm what is known as fictionkin. Now, I'm sure you're wondering: "what the hell is fictionkin? A fictionkin is someone that either psychologically, or spiritually believes that they are, or were, a fictional character or species. In my case, I'm purely the psychological kind. Though I am inclined to believe in past lives, I don't have memories of anything regarding my kintype. Kin of the spiritual kind have memories of their past lives as those characters or as that species. Whereas psychological kin do not. Or at least, from what I've experienced.

Below the cut, is everything you need to know about me! Please feel free to read on if you'd like!

So, what is my kintype specifically? Primarily, I'm fictionkin. More specifically, my kintype is a Buma. Not many people know this species by name, which is a crying shame. If you were to peruse the character notes of Red XIII from Final Fantasy 7, you would see that name. At some point, they would have implemented the species as a whole, by name, in the game. However, they opted not to. So, the name is forever drowned in obscurity. But, at least I know the name for them now.

Going into even more specifics, I am what I refer to as the Icicle Region Variant. The Icicle Buma is, funnily enough, something of my creation. They have thick fur to help save off the cold, and large paws to help them navigate the deep snow drifts of the north. They have long, sharp canines, like a Smilodon, and a downward curved snout, like a bull terrier. The males have thick, shaggy manes and Norse inspired braids. The females are maneless and don't have braids. Regardless of gender, the icicle variant is larger than the cosmo Canyon variant. They're sturdier built, and are capable of climbing steep rock faces. They're heavily muscled frame is quite terrifying when you see them at a distance. They're silhouette can strike fear into the hearts of even the toughest of SOLDIERs. Despite their intimidating appearance, they're actually quite gentle. They have been known to aid lost travelers, and aid in nursing the sick. They know the icicle region like the back of their paws, and are able to lead hikers to the safety of civilization with ease. Like their Canyon born brothers and sisters, they are capable of human reasoning and speech. However, some really aren't keen on talking. They live in a tight-knit tribe, but they will allow others to leave to explore the world and gain knowledge. Other than that, they're usually very elusive-- they will only be found if they want to be. Put enough about the primary. Let's talk about my secondary type.

My secondary type is shapeshifter. More specifically, a Paleo shapeshifter. Often favoring the intimidating, vicious therapods, I can, within myself, transform into prehistoric life. This includes but isn't limited to: dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and Pleistocene mammals. The primary for my take when I feel like a shapeshifter is a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or an Achillobator.

Now that all of the important information is out of the way, let's get to the other, less important stuff.

Please be aware that this is a secondary blog! Because of this, I can't follow anyone in return. Please don't be offended that I don't follow back.

I am 29 years old, so if you are under the age of 18 and uncomfortable with following an adult, that I'm afraid you'll have to leave. Thank you for stopping by, though!

I believe that's it for my little introduction! Thank you all so very much for reading! I hope to update this blog a lot in the coming days. Until my next post, I'll see you around!

[doom-nerdo-666]

Just some random opinions and observations about the Night Sentinel in Doom.

Some of this stuff might be disorganised.

The Night Sentinel are one of the major features of modern Doom because of how they change the setting of a series that was always "fantays and sci-fi".

It does make me wonder if they are a result of seeing Doom as a limited setting.

Specially with D4.10 being a "realistic" take on UAC marines vs demons that even felt deviated from D3: Was it the wrong take on the setting or a "natural end point" that had to be avoided somehow?

Specially if Doom's setting always had potential for more as seen in fan mods and fanart, unless the fact that fans "over explored" the setting is why id Software had to "reinvent" the setting (Whether or not the later Doom games took influence from fans and how is also debatable).

If you look at the image above and even some interviews/behind the scenes stuff, you can tell that the Sentinel/Slayer stuff came late during D2016's development.

I think you can even find material related to D4 and D2016 where Doomguy could have been a cybernetic soldier (And if reactions to the Praetor suit mean anything... "insert Master Chief comparison here")

Unlike Doom, Quake had knights not just the enemies but even the Ranger looks like a viking.

It's as if modern Doom not only took features that originally came from Quake but even had a new setting and characters that could have suited Quake: Imagine the Ranger as a Night Sentinel or the Marauder fighting alongside a Death Knight.

Because the Doomslayer has a new background tied to Sentinel Prime, some fans get the impression that even after Eternal, he doesn't feel like he came from Earth or is the original Doomguy.

Specially because if classic Doom is a seperate universe from Eternal, Doomguy is fighting for an Earth that he's not native to (Which isn't really out of character for a hero like him).

There's also the fact that modern Doom is somewhat influenced by fans and maybe even certain memes (Doom comic up, reactions to Death Battle, maybe copypastas or a certain mod etc) but the concept of the Doomslayer and Sentinels is also somewhat different from how fans would think of Doomguy.

Before the Sentinel, the "fantasy" part of Doom was always the demons obviously (Even if they had sci-fi elements like tech or some looking alien).

Then there's the D3 Martians who were barely there/mostly mysterious.

The idea that Doomguy's face is based off Davoth (Or whatever revealed that Doomguy was always related to Davoth all this time) could be another arguement for "maybe the Slayer could have been a different character" since Doomguy's appeal was "unlucky UAC marine that became Hell's worst nightmare".

Sometimes i do wonder if certain ideas could still exist in Doom without Sentinels.

Like if the UAC just had certain weapons/tech that enhanced their soldiers or if Hell just had knight enemies based off medieval knights from years ago or native Hell knights.

(Or if the UAC was crazy enough to form a goofy army of tech knights)

There's also when people thought Doomslayer could have been the Betrayer, whose son was turned into the IOS (Before Valen was revealed in Eternal, he was pretty much just pieces of text).

At least putting knights in Doom justifies how the original games had what appeared to be knight helmets as armor bonus pickups (Unless they're still UAC tech or Hell native; also D64 makes them UAC helmets).

It is kinda funny seeing people wonder if 2016/Eternal could have had expansions where you play as UAC/Elite/ARC marine just to "play as a regular guy that isn't the Slayer" because in a way, those "regular marines" would be closer to the classic Doomguy for being non-special since Doomguy was originally a blank slate.

(Imagine if one ARC guy ends up going to classic Doom's timeline and becomes the Doomslayer in that universe)

I always thought that if Doom gets a next game after Eternal, the UAC would either team up with Sentinels or at least copy their tech.

(It could also depend if the Sentinel are meant to be cooler than the UAC)

In fact, i recall 2016 having an obscure symbol (Somewhere both in singleplayer and SnapMap) being a sword stabbing in flames.

(Image by Doomwiki)

Because a sword unto fire is the meaning of the Slayer mark, so it's as if the UAC was copying Sentinel stuff before.

What if the Sentinel existed in old Doom?

An easy way to look at this is looking at "neighboor" titles like Heretic/Hexen and Strife, in terms of mixing fantasy with sci-fi.

Specially if you're aware of aesthetic trends and influences (If you look at fans of older Blizzard games or the PS3 Demon Souls, you'll see why they don't like later designs in Blizz' newer titles or the PS5 remake).

(Come to think of it, how many people compared Doom to Warhammer or Berserk before the Sentinel were implemented?)

And because Eternal reveals that the Sentinel are ascendents of Eearth humans, i wonder if there could be an "inverse" version in a different timeline.

You know how D2 has a text about humanity evacuating Earth with a spaceship? Imagine if that ship landed on a planet similar to Earth and due to time dilation, years pass and a new civilization builds better tech than the UAC but everyone has a medieval aesthetic for some reason.

So you still have magic sci-fi knights and if you recall my ideas of a "classic Urdak/Heaven", that could mix up with this "classic Sentinel" idea.

There could also be a symbol that resembles a generic crucifix/cross with some slight alterations to also resemble a sword like a pointy/triangular bottom and the upper parts somewhat resembling a hilt; This symbol could coexist with the Slayer symbol.

But what about the future? Like if Doom had another reboot or take on its setting, would there be different takes on the Sentinel like there's of UAC and Hell? What about a new addition to the setting?

Who knows, because there's still stuff that could be done with Sentinels, even if some prefer them to be mysterious.

Also, i might have said this before but: I think the Crucible should have been a chainsaw instead of a sword:

And i got two reasons for it:

Mechanically, the Crucible doesn't offer much in terms of melee so it feels like an extension to the Chainsaw as it works in modern Doom.

Chainsaws are more essential to Doom as a trademark melee than swords.

Otherwise, it'd be cool if Doom did more with melee and you could've had a "moveset" or stuff like parrying projectiles etc (Who knows, maybe Doomguy could have had a real shot at Smash lol).

Valen's hammer for example felt like a more interesting weapon because of its slam function.

Edit: I also thought of something.

If the Sentinel didn't exist, how would Doomguy get a legendary status or something?

I guess even under the UAC (Or rather, UAAF), he could be like an older general with an eyepatch or whatever the cancelled Doom 4 was going for.

Like an older Doomguy with a higher rank in the military and people still tell tales about him and maybe he has to command an army.

I think either TNT or Plutonia had some story context about Doomguy having a changed rank, no?