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beelmons · 2 years

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Not your subordinate.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader (non-BAU) Word count: 1,110 Genre: Angst with a happy ending cw: hospitals, mentions of someone being shot, mentions of death, light angst. Summary: Aaron is shot in the line of duty and you're there when he wakes up, however, his agent side comes out when you less need it. A/N: this was supposed to be a drabble and got a bit too long, whoops.

Nothing quite prepares you for the feeling of seeing a loved one bedridden by a bullet to the chest. Let alone your husband, the one you believe to be your other half, the cord that keeps you tied to this earth with a willingness to appreciate beauty and life.

Your breath was caught in your throat, your hands tightly gripping the area of you chest, as if you were trying to snatch your heart and give it a comforting hug. You sobbed quietly, your lips pursed trying your best to not let the tears flow so freely.

"He's out of danger." you heard the man behind you speak up. Reid, the BAU's local genius, had been so kind to call you and escort you to the hospital so you could see your husband who had been hurt in the line of duty hours earlier.

You approached the bed and pulled a chair to be sitting to his level, your hands immediately reaching for his and squeezing it with light desperation.

"Mrs. Hotchner." Spencer remained by the door, pity written all over his face "I really need to take you to Quantico now." he stated as he signaled toward the exit.

"I'm not leaving him." your head snapped in his direction, brows furrowed in offense. You saw him tense up, and you decided to relax instead. This wasn't his fault, it was part of the job.

"The UnSub hasn't been apprehended yet, he could be targeting the hospital." he tried to explain.

"The more the reason to stay, then, don't you think?" with your final statement your sight went back to Hotch. One of your hands tangled on his hair, and you appreciated his sleeping face. On the daily, even when he slept, he always had traces of concern, but in this very second, he just looked peaceful.

Spencer wasn't able to form any rebuttal, so his head nodded slightly to indicate he understood your position. "I'll have two officers posted at the door, if you notice anything odd, or someone seems off, please call me or Agent Prentiss immediately."

You shot him an understanding and thankful smile before you agreed with your head. You watched as he turned, ready to head back into the field "Spencer." you said to interrupt his actions, and he stopped in his tracks to provide you the attention "Get the son of a bitch." you said resolutely.

Without further word, he darted out of the room. Never did you imagine four walls could suffocate you in such a way. The faint beeping of the monitor, that was both the indicator that he was still alive and the reminder that he almost died, seemed to be getting on your nerves.

Minutes later, you noticed the uniforms stand by the door, and your body could finally relax a bit more. Your head dropped to be laying on the bed instead. You weren't sure when, but you had drifted off to sleep, your hand still tightly attached to your husband's.

"Mrs. Hotchner" you heard someone call your name and you bolted up immediately. A wide smile drew itself on your face, along with a couple droplets of tears, when you realized it had been no other than Aaron himself.

His eyes were half-lidded, his voice still groggy from having just woken up. You hovered over him with excitement, doing your best to not lay your your entire weight on him as you hugged his body. "Thank God, you're awake."

His arm loosely wrapped around your shoulders. He took a second to close his eyes again, simply engulfing the feeling of your embrace. He wouldn't tell you, but when he struggled to breathe, and he felt his life escape his hands, he could only think of you. Of how thankful he was to have been loved by someone like you.

"You shouldn't be here." he finally said once you pulled back, your hands back to squeezing his.

"Saveit, Reid already tried to get me off here. Didn't work." you said, your eyes fixed on him to prove him you were dead serious.

"Honey." he said, his eyebrows were furrowed, and he had that professional glare you had gotten so used to seeing whenever he had work to do, and that you tried to hard to keep away from your household. "He's fixated on me. He could be trying to get to the hospital to finish what he started. Please, go to quantico so you can be safe." there was something different about his tone, it was pleading, sure, but you could hear the hint of a command hovering over it.

"I'm not one of your subordinates, Aaron, so check that tone with me." you stated, a bit offended as well. His expression softened immediately, the stone hitting right to his forehead, and his eyes began to redden and water along with his nose.

"I don't want to risk losing you." his voice was shaky, a weak hand reached to land on your cheek, cupping it gently.

You sighed, your own emotions beginning to flow. You sniffled to gather strength, your words were not going to be easy to say. "You always say that whenever something goes wrong." you pointed out "Does it ever cross your mind that I don't want to lose you either?"

"It's different." he tried to argue.

"It's not." you shot him a smile "Aaron, if a bad guy were to enter through that door right now, he might as well take me with you. Because if I lose you, even if I live, there won't be any of me left. Who I am today, is a scramble of what we've been through. Together." you heard him sniffle half way through your speech, his tears finally flowing down his face.

He tugged at your hand, indicating that you should jump on the bed. You did so, struggling to keep yourself up on the edge by clinging to your husband's waist. His chin rested on top of your head, and you rested yours on his chest.

"I'm kind of glad you are not on the team" he admitted jokingly in attempt to diffuse the blue atmosphere.

"Yeah, I'm not very good at doing what you tell me to, am I?" you went along.

"To be fair, they aren't either." he answered, causing the two of you to chuckle at the same time.

Many years have you spent at the side of this man, many years you prayed this would remain the same, and sure, a time might come in which you are separated, but thinking about that could wait. He is still here, in your arms, where he belongs.

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lemon-russ · 2 months

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-trips- ah fuck no I spilled character development juice all over him oh god oh no--

throwing out there this is pre-warped but post guilliman Cato, so I'm not using vanilla flavor character development I'm making my own bastardized concoction

Part 7/ ???

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 7.5 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10

Cato Sicarius x F!Reader

(Cato POV 3rd person though)

CW: Vague alluding to sex and mild injuries, not much going on this time

Summary: Cato has to go talk to Dad about almost killing the family pet mortal Guilliman's favorite diplomat

word count: 2,041

He froze as she pressed her lips to his. This… was not like the other kiss. That one was frustration and need and honesty a little trying to make her stop talking. This was…. confusing.

He tentatively kisses her back, putting a hand on her hip. She tastes like salt from her tears, but also… sweet? And her lips are very soft. He didn't notice all this when he was just focused on getting inside her earlier.

By the throne, it is getting very hard to ignore the feelings strangling his dual hearts. He is above these distractions, he doesn't need to be doing this- not to mention he was directly going against the codex. So why isn't he stopping?

She pulls away and he follows her mouth for a second, leaning in before she gently puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He frowns. His face felt hot and strange, and his hearts felt like they started beating out of sync from each other. She was smiling at him, cheeks streaked with tears, and dirt and dust from the day.

The thunderhawk lurches a bit as it landed, and he held her steady- he was going to scold her about not buckling in but he remembered he was the one who unbuckled her. Whoops. He composes himself, standing and affixing his helmet quickly to hide whatever was happening to his face as the doors to the ship slid open to the hangar.

Guilliman stood there, looking concerned, face etched in a deep frown. “Ah, Captain, Ambassador- thank goodness you’re well,” he said, relief in his voice. The Ambassador looked a bit flustered, and he realized she’d forgotten they were landing soon. He almost forgot she was a little empty headed for a moment.

She smiles awkwardly, tugging his cape around her neck and shoulders a bit tighter. Emperor, she looked a mess. He grimaces at the bite marks he could see her trying to hide. Whoops again. He's not even sure how she could explain those, and hopes she can get into high collared uniform shirt quickly.

Guilliman reaches out a hand to help her down the ramp, leading her gently away. Cato follows a step behind, mind whirring and heart pounding. He still had the matter of having to make up for this mess to his father. He had only recently been returned to them, a miracle and savior to the Imperium. Cato was lucky enough to be an ultramarine and a legendary fighter, so he was often around him, and he dreaded disappointing his Primarch. He frowns nervously, watching his lord carefully lead the diplomat by a chivalrous hand, making sure she doesn't misstep in those ridiculous heels.

His father was particularly fond of the ambassador, hand-picking her for the role. When not off on a mission, she was usually somewhere near him, acting as an assistant- not like a serf, but like a secretary of sorts? He's not actually sure what she does outside of talking to people, he realizes. But she's always doing something, and orbiting Guilliman while she does it.

That's the whole reason he was sent to guard her, after all. As much as it was to force Cato to do something besides pestering him, Guilliman also wanted the renowned Cato Sicarius to guard his pet mortal.

And he'd failed. He supposes technically she did get home alive, but she was a bit battered, and she was taken prisoner and put in danger on his watch. He feels his stomach sink as he watches how his Primarch is fretting over the small woman, inspecting her injuries and looking like he was one stumble away from just picking her up and carrying her to the apothecary himself.

Fuck, he sighs to himself. On top of it all, he lost his mind and slept with her in a cave, while she was in mortal danger, and marked her up doing it. He prays to the Emperor that she covers for him about the bites and hickeys. She would, right? She likes him. He thinks. He thinks he might like her, maybe? He doesn't hate her as much as he thought he did.

He lets out a frustrated sigh, thankfully muffled by his helmet. This was the worst. All of this is why astartes aren't supposed to form relationships. Another rule he'd broken because of this stupid woman. And what did it get her? Pampered by his father, while he watches and dreads and feels like he might vomit with nerves.

They reach the apothecary and Guilliman leads her in, talking with the workers and then talking softly to her. She looks so tired. How long since she slept? He scowls at himself, he forgot baseline humans need sleep constantly. The apothecaries take her inside and Guilliman turns to him. “Sicarius. Shall we talk in my office?”

Cato lets out an anxious breath. “Of course, my lord.”

__________________________________

He stands in a clean uniform before his father's large desk, at attention. Guilliman stands behind the desk, frowning at him a bit. Emperor, he knew it, he knew he'd be punished for this-

“I'm sorry, Cato.” His father says softly. Cato blinks at him a few times. “M-my lord?” He asks, expression tightening in confusion.

The Primarch knits his brows and looks pained. “I put you in a situation alone that could have been very dangerous. Three men and a thunderhawk lost, and you had to handle it all alone. I should have sent backup, or sent her normal guards- I wasn't thinking and I endangered you. I'm sorry, son.” He said, walking to him and putting a large hand on his shoulder.

Cato's mind races. His father was… apologizing to him. That's so wrong- it almost feels blasphemous. “My lord, please, this was my fault-” he started, but Guilliman shook his head. “I won't hear it, Captain. You did well today, I'm impressed she only came back with superficial injuries. I'm thankful you both came back at all, after hearing the reports.”

He steps in front of Cato and holds his shoulders, smiling apologetically. “You have shown why you are the best the ultramarines have to offer today. Having you here gives me hope for this Imperium yet.” He smiles down at him warmly.

Cato is… well, flabbergasted. He swallows hard, blinking away something in his eyes- dust or dirt from that damned planet, of course- “Thank you, my lord. I… I live to serve.” He says nervously. Guilliman smiles and pats his shoulder, letting him go and walking back to the window. “You'll be allowed to spearhead the attack in the rebels, of course, and after that, I've decided to let you pick your next excursion yourself. No more babysitting, don't worry.” He chuckled, smiling back at him.

Cato smiled back, hearts feeling lighter with the dread lifted. Then it falters. No more guard duty. Which is of course what he wanted. Especially now that the ambassador made it weird. Then why did it make his chest tight that he wasn't going to see her more? He smiled a bit anxiously at the primarch. “Ah- it wasn't so bad. I got to play hero, and fight a lot, and bring your little diplomat back to you…” he says, shuffling a bit.

Guilliman chuckles, “You are a good sport, Sicarius. I appreciate you taking all your duties seriously, but don't worry, her normal guards will be back on duty. And for special occasions, I'll return to having Commander Titus accompany her.” He says with amusement.

Cato forces a smile. “Ah, Demetrian. An… interesting choice.” He says in a tight voice. Uhg. Demetrian Titus, one of his commanders. Always playing loose with the codex, but oh, everyone loves Titus. He grimaces internally. What does he care, it's not his problem now who watches her. Commander Titus is certainly capable enough of keeping her alive if he has help at least. Not that he cared. Ok, well, he did care a little, he'd already accepted that part. He swallowed, holding in a sigh.

Guilliman watches him and raises a brow, but as he opens his mouth to speak, Cato is spared by someone knocking on the office door. Guilliman smiles, “Ah, ambassador, come in.”

Cato tenses a bit. Should he just be professional around her still? Pretend everything is normal? Probably.

She smiles at the primarch, walking in and giving a small nod of respect. “My lord.” She greets, then glances at Cato, and her expression flashes with confliction too. She gives him a small smile though. “Captain.” She says softer. He nods back, keeping his expression professional. She's cleaned up, her hair fixed back into a neat style, unsurprisingly opting for a normal uniform and not a dress or some nonsense, as the collars hid the neck. Her face has some bandages and she's bruised, but she seems fine otherwise.

He sighs a bit, trying to focus on his father instead. Guilliman grins and walks up to her, patting her tiny shoulder. “I'm so glad you are safe. I am so, so sorry I put you in danger like that. Don't worry, from now on you're never leaving without at least 2 guards, preferably 3.” He says seriously. She smiles nervously up at him, “Ah- it's fine, really my lord, Captain Sicarius handled things, I was totally safe the whole time. Don't apologize…”

The primarch smiles warmly at her. “You are such a forgiving spirit, little one. Why don't you take the next few days off, get some rest and heal up a bit.” He offered gently.

She smiles, “I appreciate the offer, my lord, but I have appointments I can't reschedule. I'll be just fine.”

The primarch sighs, smiling and shaking his head. “Always dedicated to your work. Very well, but I don't want to see you lifting a finger while you're here otherwise.” He chuckles, patting her shoulder again and letting her go. “That's all I had to say, Captain Sicarius. Go, get some sleep and relax a bit.” He says kindly, taking his seat at his desk again.

Cato nods, turning to the ambassador once more before heading out. She gives him a tight, awkward smile. He returns it, then sighs and heads out.

She's going to be watched by Titus. He doesn't know why that bothers him so much. He dislikes him, sure, he's a pushover who bends rules for his benefit. But there's something else upsetting him. He feels that far too common lately knot in his stomach, frowning at himself. No, it's fine. He's better than these baseline human complications. He's Cato Sicarius. He doesn't care about who some mortal woman spends time around.

He takes all the swirling thoughts in his brain- a mess of complications that always haunt him when he's around his father- and shoves them all back into a mental box in his mind labeled WEAKNESS. He takes a deep breath, rolls his shoulders back, and walks straighter down the corridors. He's Cato Sicarius, he does not get jealous about women. He does not get anxious about disappointing his father. He does not dwell on issues of the heart, and he definitely does not picture how important state diplomats would look sprawled in his bed. Box, box, all of you, in the box.

He takes another deep breath and puts on a cocky smirk. He runs his hands over the Talassarian Tempest Blade, marching to the hangar, ordering a serf to prepare his power armor and another to alert his men that they are going planetside to wipe out those rebels, right now, they have 5 minutes to be here or they'll be disciplined.

He lets out a deep sigh, smiling a wide, relaxed grin to himself, posture prim and aura confident. He is The Cato Sicarius, and he is simply the best at everything he does.

#hahahaha get anxiety NERD #warhammer 40k #wh40k #cato sicarius #cato sicaruis x f!reader #cato sicarius x reader #my work #wh40k fic

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valle-de-sombra-de-muerte · 1 month

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Homestuck Reread: Act 4, Part 1/4 (p. 1358-1522)

Read the previous post here.

After a brief diversion with the Midnight Crew and Felt, it's time to go back to the story proper.

Oh fucking yuck it's that other walkaround flash that uses the story sprites. This one has jank ass combat mechanics in addition to having the same clunky controls as the one in Act 2. Just like that one, this one is also a waste of time. There's no point traversing this and its big ass map.

Wait, is this a Shoop da Whoop reference? God I feel old.

And finally we see Jade's "patron black celebrity": Charles Dutton. Look, I have no clue what Hussie means by any of this. It's just a pattern that I've noticed and nobody else has talked about it before.

Unlike the other kids, Jade always has a somewhat repulsed look on her face whenever she sees her black celebrity. I think she might just be racist, which would explain why she's so xenophobic toward the trolls.

Okay, okay, I'm just joking. Look, Jade is in desperate need of some character traits. At this point, even a negative one would be preferable to nothing at all. Anything to give her modicum of depth.

I wonder what kinds of conversations Vriska or Gamzee would have with Jade. These are things we will never know!

Vriska in particular should've had some meaningful interactions with Jade considering she's the one responsible for her narcolepsy. I'm dumbfounded we never got to see her act more outwardly malicious and cruel toward Jade, or even take a more active role in fucking with her beyond simply putting her to sleep. Vriska isn't exactly known for her subtlety, after all. If she really wanted to put her name on the kids' session and be responsible for all the key events in it, she should've went whole hog.

Perhaps if Hussie had actually planned all this out from the onset, we could've gotten something with more payoff. Recall my earlier post when I said Jade had the makings of a twist villain in these early stages of the story? I'd like to alter and expand upon that with this scenario that I would've implemented in Hussie's place.

Picture this: what if the reason Jade is such a shallow character is due to no fault of her own? What if Vriska had been the one manipulating this human like a meat puppet as her means to infiltrate the kids' session? Pushing the kids to play Sburb in the first place? Her reluctance to give away useful information? All of her intents and motives being masked with overbearing cheerfulness? The fact that she needs "reminders" to keep track of her litany of superficial interests? All Vriska, baby. She has hijacked this kid's brain and is using her as a vehicle to drive the plot forward.

This is back from Act 3, but let's look at how Jade initially reacts to each of her friends and then filter this through Vriska's perspective. John's utter incompetence and Dave's crush on Jade would make them useful idiots in Vriska's scheme. So naturally she reacts positively to both of them.

But she perceives Rose with a single, terse sentence. Rose is the only one who is actively curious about Jade's knowledge of things she shouldn't reasonably know about. This makes her a threat. Vriska would have to put a lot of distance between them in order to keep Rose from uncovering the truth.

And then there are the other trolls. Unbeknownst to them, their efforts to stop Jade would've actually been an internal struggle against one of their own. Vriska would shut them out entirely, not wanting to risk getting them involved with this. All the while, the "real" Jade never gets a chance to express herself because she has been constantly suppressed by an outside agent. Her shallowness would be by design, rather than a consequence of poor writing.

... But I think I'm getting carried away with this tangent. At this point I'm talking about an entirely different comic when this is supposed to be focused on Homestuck. Let's just move on.

So Jade knew about Sburb the whole time, okay. I don't know why it was presented like she didn't at first, but fine whatever. She still continues to be smarmy and coy while John continues to have rocks for brains. Every conversation between these two gives me new insights to the amount of bullshit I'm willing to endure to finish this comic.

I love this line from Dave. Can I get a so true oomfie?

Jade fumbles the SBaHJ reference when someone like Rose could probably recite the entirety of SBaHJ verbatim. In fact, if Rose had fudged up a quote like that, Dave would've shown her no mercy. He holds Jade's hand through it, though, because he's a dumb teenage boy thinking with his dick.

"i got served like a dude on butler island" is a great line. Also, Jade is dismissing Dave getting beat up by Bro as "drama" which, if we're meant to take Dave's domestic situation as legitimate abuse and not a joke, is pretty fucked up.

Dave repeating the whole meteor bit is shut down swiftly because Jade is incapable of keeping up with his patter. Not that I wanted the joke to be repeated anyway, but it's a telling example of how their dynamic works.

Even though Jade and John pesterlogs might be the worst combination out there, Jade and Dave conversations are also pretty damn bad. Dave is normally an entertaining character, but he's squandered in these instances. Jade offers no fun chemistry with him in the same way Rose, or even John sometimes, does. Instead of bouncing his jokes and sarcasm back at him, her obliviousness and naivete causes them to fall flat. She's less a springboard and more of a foam mattress (or smuppet ass, to use a more appropriate metaphor).

And since Dave has a crush on her and wants to appease, he rolls with it and moves along to the next subject without comment. It's like a painfully embarrassing comedy routine where one partner is letting the other flounder on stage.

The trolls act as if certain behaviors like laughing and sarcasm are exclusive to humans, despite us later seeing that such things are normal in their society. It's such a silly bit and I do like it a lot.

Karkat's trolling scheme really is the dumbest plan ever. Also some unfortunate foreshadowing for when he does eventually make shitty diagrams later on.

We needed more moments with the Exiles hanging out and getting to know each other, instead of being pawns to fulfill stupid plot contrivances. It'd make this side-plot infinitely more enjoyable to read.

Note how it's nighttime here when the previous panels with the Exiles were all during the day. This means they must have spent several off-screen hours together by this point. What were they talking about to reach a point where they're all chill with each other? Eh, Hussie deems it unimportant, so we move on!

This is actually a funny moment where Dave allows himself to be a bit of a jerk. I guess even his patience with Jade is wearing thin at this point.

Oh? Rose sounds a little jealous it seems. Dave and Jade get to have a relatively stress-free time playing server and client together. But Rose didn't get to have any of that quality time with Dave because he didn't install his disc until it reached a point where they had only seconds to save her life.

I'm once again thinking about how nice it would've been if Dave had connected to Rose earlier and we could've gotten a lot of banter between them as they navigated the game. Instead we get a lot of toothless slop with Dave and Jade. We were robbed.

Oh shit and Dave snipes right back. He has been getting ignored a lot by both Rose and John, so it's easy to see why he's frustrated. He's mad that Rose isn't putting him as her first priority? God, get a room already.

The last time we saw a conversation between John and Dave was 1,108 pages ago, back in Act 2. John has been ignoring Dave's messages since then. I don't buy the friendship these two supposedly share. If anything, it's extremely one-sided on Dave's end.

This series of pages where PM takes control of the console shows us all the key stuff from the walkaround. This makes it even more unnecessary to actually play it.

This love triangle between the Exiles gets no further attention beyond this moment. Personally I'd have solved it by making all three of them form a polycule, but unfortunately I'm not the one writing this story.

You know, I never gave it much thought before, but why is Grandpa Harley suddenly alive? He doesn't have a dreamself or anything. Nobody revived his corpse. He's just inexplicably wandering the Medium now. If this is ever explained later, I don't remember it.

I know this isn't Mom Lalonde saying this but man... I think it would've had more of an impact if she did say it. Rose never gets to see her mother again, so all she's really left with is this sobering moment of insight that, wherever it is Mom sailed off to, she's doing it for her benefit. That perhaps she's not the cold-hearted, drunken shrew Rose thought she was for her whole life and instead, was just a heavily troubled woman trying her best to be a parent. You never truly know the kind of people your parents are until it's too late, I guess.

None of the kids ever get any closure with their guardians and that's a shame. We never get to view things from their perspectives and they're just glorified NPCs. Bro in particular definitely needed some insight into his inscrutable mind, but Mom also continues to fascinate me. This woman is so full of mystique and contradictions, yet all we ever see of her is fragmented shots from Rose's (heavily biased) point of view.

I wonder what exactly Mom thinks is "best for her child," though. Helping her win the game, surely. She had to have been planning for this moment for most of her life, having known about the countdown in the lab. I wonder if she knew the full extent of what Sburb was going to do, where to go once she got there, and how to help the kids win the game.

Anyway, this panel is definitely a top 10 Rose moment. Or perhaps a top 10 general Homestuck moment, since it has to do with both Rose and Mom. I should be keeping track every time I say this line.

It's very cute how AR contributes to WV's model city. "Begrudgingly" oh come on dude, we all know you're loving this.

These imps must be weak as shit if they're getting bodied by a teenage girl with a pair of blunt knitting needles.

These are some awkward steps transitioning back into the main story, but I remember liking Act 4 the most out of these early Acts. It always stuck out in my mind as what "peak Homestuck" really is, so I can only hope things will get better as we move along. I will say that if we're devoting as much time to Dave and Jade fucking around with the Sburb mechanics as we did with John and Rose, we're in trouble.

Read the next post here.

#homestuck #homestuck reread #john egbert #jade harley #vriska serket #dave strider #karkat vantas #rose lalonde #daverose #mom lalonde #grandpa harley #wayward vagabond #aimless renegade #peregrine mendicant #wvpmar

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corrieander · 1 month

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City Girls and Wind Shear

I haven't posted here in forever, but I saw Twisters and had to write a Soulmates AU. Specifically, a first words soul-mate identifying marks. Tyler was so caught on New York, and city girl... I felt like he'd been thinking about it for a while. Enjoy!

***Chapter 1 Excerpt

The sounds of the truck stop died away and it was only the clouds and the warm wind rustling the grasses along the road, carrying the smell of rain.

“I used to do that, too,” a man said. “Compare the direction of the wind with cloud movement.”

That deep breath she’d taken stayed in her chest. She felt oddly still and calm at something she’d long dreaded. Her words.

She’d wondered over the years if Jeb had no words because he was going to die. Philosophers disagreed on the subject.

If so, it was the cruelest thing in the world. She would far rather have had Jeb’s words for the rest of her life than some stranger’s.

She turned slowly to look at the man behind her. It was the YouTuber, Tyler Owens, who’d tipped his cowboy hat at her earlier.

He smiled, gesturing to the vans. “So, you work for Storm Par?”

As easy as falling, Kate exhaled. Bless him for asking a yes or no question. “Yeah.”

His breathing didn’t stutter, but she caught a slight pause and a momentary furrow of his brow, as if kicking himself for asking a stupid question. “Where you coming in from?” he asked.

She wondered how many of her words he had. “Yeah,” was a complete sentence, but you never could tell. “New York.”

He didn’t clutch his chest or whoop or do any of the things you saw people do in viral soulmate meetings caught on video. He just raised his brows. “City girl, huh?”

Kate felt a swoop of relief. “I guess. Excuse me…”

Another man jogged up. “Tyler, have we decided which storm we’re going to chase yet?”

Tyler pointed to her, “Maybe we should ask…”

Kate hesitated. It felt dangerous to give her name to her supposed soulmate—but it would be weirder to refuse. “Kate.”

“I’m Tyler.”

“And I’m Ben.”

She shook Ben’s hand, relieved that Tyler had not offered. Some people claimed there was a tingling warmth, a knowing when you touched your soulmate the first time.

“I’m writing an article about American storm chasing,” Ben said. “Tyler is kindly allowing me to ride along.”

“Yeah, he just had to promise to write nothing but good things about me.”

“Good luck with that.” Kate turned away. Why had the universe tried to match up her and this guy—?

#twisters 2024 #kate carter #tyler owens #kate carter x tyler owens #soulmates #first words #alternate au #fanfiction #glen powell #daisy edgar jones #twisters

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stainedglasspanes · 3 months

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Watching Ina11 (Ep 35 - 48)

``Next stop, Okinawa``. No. The next stop is scheduled group therapy because at least half of this group need it like their lives depend on it.

Ep 35

Ep 36

Ep 37

Ep 38

Ep 39

Ep 40

Ep 41

Ep 42

Ep 43

Ep 44

Ep 45

Ep 46

Ep 47

Ep 48

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I expected to be done with this round a lot earlier but I had my research seminar project approved faster than I expected so uh,, I got preoccupied,, whoops

Anyways. Back to crazy aliens and people spiraling.

I didn’t like Kogure in the beginning but he’s like a cheeky little brother character so he’s my baby now.

Sakuma and Genda I’m so,, so normal about those two,, they appear for 2 episodes and go straight back to the hospital why :((

Fudou is a bastard. I like him. If he appears again I hope him and Kidou have heavy beef,,

Hiroto (?) is pale as hell and kind of a stalker but good for him I suppose. Happy pride to him in particular, I freaked out (ep 45)

Fubuki needs a straight up divine intervention or he won’t make it out the next match in one piece (body and mind). Because Kazemaru ( :(( 鬱丸　now I understand ) already tipped off the edge so uh,, someone get a therapist taped to the inazuma caravan roof since that’s where everyone likes to breakdown apparently.

But I have been doodling in the off time I get so maybe I’ll compile everything and post on a separate time,,

#watching ina11 #ina11 #inazuma eleven

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ladyluscinia · 1 year

Text

BLACKHANDS GIRLIES WE ARE REALLY IN IT NOW!!!

(aka Lady's OFMD 2x01 - 2x03 BlackHands rambling)

Link to the general non-BlackHands thoughts.

Screaming. Whooping. Cheering. *Singsong voice* My fucked up pirate husbands had mutual love confessions while the main fucked up pirate husbands are "on a break" after admitting they made each other happy! AAAAHHHHHH!!! Can't murder-suicide the other half of yourself! I am winning!!!

ADJSKLDFSKJFKDL

Ok. Deep breaths. This will be rambling but coherently (<- lying)

---

Breakup Boat - Izzy's Version

Fuck, I said in my general thoughts post that the extremities of Edward's cruelty & Edward's suicidal pursuit were working well, and nowhere is that more noticeable than in what Edward and Izzy have going on.

So in the timeskip between S1 and S2 we find out Edward has been raiding ships at a breakneck pace, uncaringly trauma bonding his crew (R.I.P. Ivan), going hard on murder & booze & drugs, and tormenting Izzy to the point my guy is literally having a breakdown in front of the crew. He lost the 1st toe for threatening to resign and accidentally setting off a Stede-hurt timebomb, and Edward goes to take a 4th because Izzy doesn't convince his whole crew to happily dump their pay in the ocean. "Threaten me again" has become "Give me any excuse" it seems, and Izzy has been complying. 😬 Edward (casually): "Take your boot off." 😬 Earlier Edward offers him rhino horn, too, and Izzy just says "No, not right now" leading Edward to call him a "lightweight", so I'm thinking Edward hasn't had exclusive rights to substance abuse as a means of coping, either. (Note: the rhino horn itself does nothing, so the substance abuse is booze and any actual drugs he's gotten his hands on.)

Oh, and they didn't include the shot where Edward throws a knife at Izzy? Did it just get cut, or are we getting flashbacks with more conversation later?

Going to rewatch the end of 1x10, Izzy's "smile" at declaring Blackbeard was back lasts a fraction of a second and looks just like his "everything is totally fine I swear" grimace-smiles from the beginning of the episode, so I think it's pretty safe to say Izzy did not ask for this and hasn't thought everything was fine for a single second since.

The Breakup Boat atmosphere is definitely fucked.

Now, personally, I'm still of the opinion we're not supposed to read this as a version of a domestic abuse arc (even with the intervention talk). (EDIT: clarifying thoughts and phrasing.) Because they still inject too much of it with humor and I can't imagine Edward comfortably coming out the other side at a happy ending if we frame it that way. Like there's black comedy and then there's "Wait, we're really just laughing this off?" I think horrific domestic abuse of your ex-situationship in a romance counts as the latter. But I do think it's revealed to be functioning as something adjacent - namely Edward's depression and suicidal tendencies have massively spiked post-Stede and he's actively seeking to a) confirm his own belief that he's unlovable, and b) get killed so everything stops hurting.

And Izzy? Izzy loves him and wants him alive. Worst thing Edward could hear right now.

Like oh my GOD IZZY LOVES HIM. As soon as Izzy hits his breaking point and realizes the crew have his back, he's emboldened to go stand up for them and himself to Edward. (He has been defending them already - the pre-intervention conversation open with him quietly alluding that they need a break - but this is more.) He ignores the boot order, ignores the threat, and finally asks the damn question:

"Who am I to you?"

This is where my linear coherency falls apart btw 🥴

---

Who KNOWS You?

"We've worked together for years. You know me better than anyone has ever known me, and I daresay the same is true for me about you. I have... love for you, Edward."

Oh fuck backstory implications oh FUCK.

Ok, I've already seen the posts doubling down on Izzy realizing he doesn't know Edward at all and I'm drawing my line in the sand. That's bullshit. That line there? That's straight truth.

To quote my own posts:

People will act like you are making bold and unsubstantiated claims if you say Izzy likes Edward as a person not just as Blackbeard, but I find the notion that “Blackbeard” as a human guy you live down the hall from is somehow substantially different / distant enough from the real Edward 24/7 that only liking Blackbeard is plausible to be a very bold claim.

(That conclusion comes from this post, but Izzy knowing Edward vs Stede knowing Edward was also a major point in my original overarching Edward Meta from Season 1.)

Of course Izzy knows Edward. He knows his talents and his weaknesses. He knows the shifts in his mood, his favorite foods to find in a hold, what tasks he used to pass off as often as possible. He talks about work with him because they live on a ship. Their state of dysfunction when we meet them doesn't negate that knowing.

Knowing each other so well actually made their dysfunction worse. Let them escalate more than two people less intimate could have managed, while also exacerbating their misjudgements into ruinous disasters. Izzy didn't know - probably in part didn't want to know - Edward was falling hard for Stede so fast. Edward didn't know or want to know that Izzy was reaching a breaking point for their relationship.

But still, crucially, Izzy did know Edward well enough to clock that something was fundamentally wrong in 1x10, and he knows what's wrong now. He knows Edward is hurting him and hurting the crew because Edward himself is hurting, and the whole point of this "I'm worried about you" talk is to try and fix it.

Unfortunately, Izzy has Stede so unspoken at the front of his mind that he accidentally quotes the man, and that sets Edward off on his interrogation / further terrorizing the crew Izzy is trying to stand up for. Which is why Izzy finally makes his choice to stop talking around the issue...

"The atmosphere on this ship is fucked. Everyone knows why." -> "Your feelings for Stede fucking Bonnet."

...and then Edward shoots his leg out. Not even looking at him.

Jump ahead. Edward says to Frenchie, "The new First Mate always kills the old First Mate. It's always been like that." - Has it though? Because that has some wild implications for Izzy murdering someone to secure his spot in Edward's circle of trust (...hot). And some interesting gaps for Edward if he was ever a first mate under Hornigold or anyone else. Or is this just him fucking with Frenchie because he knows "Trust is king. And queen. Trust is everything" is bullshit? Go, repression boy, go. Who am I talking about? Both. Both is good.

And then of course we get:

"Did you think I wouldn't know the smell of my rotting former First Mate?"

Knows him by the smell of blood and infection. By the avoidant look in his crew's eye. By the fact he doesn't know Izzy is dead. Their relationship is rot and ruin by his own hand but he would NEVER assume Izzy's dead until he knows.

"He was your friend," Jim spits in Edward's face.

Edward wakes up Izzy and even delirious, literal seconds after realizing he's down a leg, Izzy knows what Edward wants the moment he flips the gun. And he wants nothing to do with it.

He knows he can't. Won't. No matter how much Edward openly wants him to pull the trigger. (Edward knows him well enough to doubt, too. It's real convenient that his final staging has Izzy looking at the back of his head. No chance of his face giving anything away.)

Izzy's absolutely brutal in his assessment, trying to give some hurt back, but he's not wrong:

"Ohhhh. Oh, are you scared, Eddie? Too scared to do it yourself, eh? Go on, clean up your own fucking mess. I'm not doing it, I've been doing it all my fucking life. Fuck off."

All his fucking life.

I have to wonder... is this a conversation they've had before? Echoes of one? Izzy has a tactic here - dismissal. Refuse to play along with Edward's melodrama. Treat "I dreamt that you killed me" as though he's throwing a snit like a toddler. "Good for you" could have sounded like a question egging him on, but it comes out flat. A sarcastic sneer. Edward has always thought he'd go out with more of a bang. Loves a good fuckery. In his Purgatory he desperately wants Hornigold to recognize how unique and over the top his mutiny was. Not like those ordinary mutinies. Even his imagined death is being pitched over the highest bluff tied to a rock???

Izzy knows Edward is serious or he wouldn't be so fraught and sobbing as he laughs, but his words don't treat him as serious. Maybe a bit of derision has been effective at ruining the fantasy before? Suicide of a great leader is just so banal, you know? Quit daydreaming and pull off an impossible fix.

(Maybe "Fuck off" normally doesn't end the conversation, but starts the real one?)

Also "Eddie". First off of Izzy's lips at his cruelest, then Hornigold's. We heard it in S1 right before Edward committed to becoming the Kraken. At the time I thought he was bristling at the disrespect - "Eddie" is not "just Edward" - but maybe Frenchie stepped on a bigger landmine than we thought. Edward is so particular about names, and Izzy knows all the rules best, doesn't he?

Either way... This time the conversation ends with Edward leaving. "Farewell, old chum," he says without turning around. And when he hears the gunshot, he's not surprised.

Edward knows Izzy, too. Knows that the farewell may count as "closure" but Izzy is only going to take the ending one way. Izzy lifting the gun to his temple was the inevitable result of leaving that room. It takes seconds. Edward is still rising out of the stairwell when it happens.

We can't talk about knowing without touching on Purgatory, where Edward goes to know himself.

Lots of interesting stuff about Edward modeling his toxic spiral off of Hornigold as the fucked up example from his past. Probably where he picked up a lot of his piracy philosophy too. But the really juicy bit related to Izzy is the spectre of Hornigold confronting him about killing his dad and Edward's instinctive:

"I've never told anyone about that."

Hornigold calls him out for telling Stede, but it seems pretty likely that Stede is the only one he's ever had the conversation with.

However.

I still think Izzy knows. Hornigold even tells us how:

"A grown man covered in tattoos? Eh? With daddy issues?"

Edward didn't tell Izzy, and Izzy didn't ask for confirmation. But Edward will tell a whole crew of strangers about "the Kraken" killing his dad to win best ghost story. And that his dad was a dick. Izzy, who Edward loves and trusts and "outsources the big job" to, would not have much trouble connecting the dots between any version of that story / troubled childhood anecdotes / Edward's issues with killing / Edward's daddy issues.

I sincerely doubt "killed your abusive old man" is even an uncommon pirate backstory.

Izzy does know Edward - at his best and worst and everything in between. Knows him better than anyone. Suspects with certainty his darkest secret.

Izzy knows Edward, and Edward knows Izzy, and that's why everything fundamentally quakes for Edward in this self-destructive rampage when Izzy breaks their unspoken rule and tells him that he loves him.

---

Who LOVES You?

Jumping back to the (first!) literal, actual love confession we got, let's talk phrasing. Because yeah there's love there, but at the moment there's also a lot of other stuff.

"I have... love for you, Edward."

This is such a passive way of confessing, and there's the long pause as Izzy forces it out. People have attributed it to repression, or feeling ashamed of his love for Edward, or just not wanting to push it on him. I think "love" isn't a word they use out loud, so saying it is hard, but I also think Izzy's being passive because at the moment it does just feel like he "has" love. He doesn't want to actively feel it or offer it up right now, not with the complicated knot of anger and hurt and, tbh, probably some of his own depression. He "has" love because, despite everything, he still loves Edward.

And he does, is the thing! The whole goddamn reason Izzy is here, still trying to be a support for Edward is because he loves him. Literally anybody else would have left by now, or killed Edward, considering he's actively trying to push Izzy to the breaking point. And even at said point, when Izzy's finally standing up for himself, he offers Edward another chance to realize he's loved.

Edward starts dismissing him the moment he says the l-word, but Izzy continues:

"I'm worried about you - we all are. The atmosphere on this ship is completely poisoned. But if we could all just, maybe... talk it through?"

Izzy knows what's wrong and while he didn't originally think Stede was that important to Edward, he's put it together by now. And he's a huge fan of trying to talk through their problems, tries it multiple times even in the peak communication failure / stress powderkeg of S1, so of course he tries one last time to get Edward to accept he's not alone.

Instead, he accidentally invokes the ghost of Stede Bonnet and reminds Edward why he's doing all of this in the first place. Reminds him that he is unlovable while having the audacity to confess to loving him.

So Edward makes a big show of going out on deck, shoots Izzy in the leg, and tells Frenchie to get rid of him.

Frenchie doesn't, naturally.

And when Edward finds the crew saving the man who he just shot for daring to love him - because of course they are, he's their dick now - well... "He was your friend," Jim spits in his face, having just been thinking about their best friend (who they are more than a little bit in love with 👀).

How long do we think Edward stands there, looking at what he's wrought? How long does he sit at Izzy's bedside, looking at him "rather still" while he weighs if the missing leg proves his point where the toes didn't?

And you know Izzy's love is so bone deep and rooted in that it's unconditional by this point, because Edward did NOT prove his fucking point. Nothing he's done so far is enough to get the man who loves him to pull the fucking trigger. Down 3 toes and then a leg, asking first thing whether Edward was there for the other one, and STILL. STILL IZZY IS HEARTBROKEN AT THE REALIZATION THAT EDWARD IS READY TO END IT FOR REAL.

Still he won't pull the trigger himself. Not on Edward, at least.

And only after Izzy is gone can Edward return the words.

"I loved you. Best I could."

*screaming crying tearing at the walls*

He loved him.

HE LOVED HIM.

Edward's perspective of his relationships is fundamentally warped. Alongside his self-image. Probably has been for most of his life, going back to the self-hatred he ties to killing his dad. Stede leaving hurt him immensely (and predictably, Stede) in ways Stede will have to own up to, but it was Edward's own unaddressed issues - independent of Stede AND Izzy - that determined the appropriate response to that hurt was "realize that vulnerability and hope are lies and every dark voice in the back of your mind ever was telling the truth, actually."

Edward's conviction that nobody loves him and that he's not capable of successfully loving someone back is literally his depression talking. It is not rationally based in the reality of his life or relationships, Stede or otherwise. He may even have successfully beat back the sentiment for most of his life, with that getting harder and harder as time went on.

(He's expressed this kind of depressive-episode-driven warped view before, btw, and they explicitly parallel it in Purgatory just for me! The flashbacks of the bathtub scene while he attacks the spectre of Hornigold are my huge W in that episode. "It all boils down to this - you're afraid you're unlovable", said by the actual manifestation of Edward's suicidal self-hatred in Purgatory, is the new "That's why I don't have any friends." I think it's fair to question if he was a reliable narrator of his experiences back then, too. Jim and the crew certainly think he had at least one friend.)

Basically, "Best I could" now can mean a lot of things before. Young Izzy and Edward could have been much healthier than they are at present. Probably were, to be honest. It wasn't enough to save them from going sour, but it could explain why they've stuck together so long even as it has.

Izzy loves Edward. Edward loves Izzy.

LOVE LOSES. BUT LOVE WINS 😭😭😭

---

Kraken Era = Murder-Suicide, but Edward Wants to be the Murdered One

So, uh... *scrambling for notes* Where am I going with this? Fuck, I'm not even writing it linearly... OK!

Izzy KNOWS Edward - knows him going back ages, has seen his darkest and weakest moments - and even after 3 toes and a stress breakdown he still LOVES him enough to say it out loud (which I doubt these guys do, uh, ever). Which really throws a wrench in Edward's "Stede realized I'm inherently toxic and unlovable" theory, and prompts him to redouble his "prove to Izzy he doesn't love me" efforts by casually shooting him.

Afterward, he finally makes his passive suicidal intents explicit when talking (practically sobbing, in truth) to Frenchie:

"Never going back to land. We're gonna sail, rob, raise hell forever and ever, without end."

He's set on it, now. Izzy's potential last act was to finally rip down the illusion, give name to the hurt Edward had been running from since he first put on his Kraken makeup. So he pushes his little wedding toppers out the window, cleans himself up, and goes out to wave every single red flag imaginable for poor Frenchie's locked box.

Except it wasn't Izzy's last act, now was it?

But that's fine for Edward. That actually works better. He wants the hopeless situation to end, but he doesn't want to pull the trigger himself or he would have done it by now. After everything, surely Izzy should be ready to murder-suicide him??? He can't still love him, not after Edward so effectively proved he's exactly as toxic as his self-loathing depressive episodes say he is. It's poetic.

Edward underestimates Izzy. Knows him with his head, but the depression makes him underestimate his heart.

Edward doesn't get a bullet through the head, be hears the gun go off and - well - that's one way to spin "not even Izzy loves me any more" into a true statement.

Edward wants to live slightly more than he wants everything to end. It's the only reason he's alive. Before Izzy said Stede's name he was floating high on denial like that bird who never lands, keeping his depression and his destruction as a blast radius more than a dagger. He was lurching in the direction of dying by combat or by crew mutiny or by simple self-destructive behaviors, but he avoided thinking about anything long enough to have intent.

After Izzy's desperate attempt to intervene, Edward can't hide from his own reasoning anymore. Or his hurt. Or his self-enforced hopelessness. And with that comes aims. He has his rough night and then starts the massive red flag upswing. Cleans up. Gets ready for the big finale. He pushes Izzy with the "closure" conversation, trying to find a pressure point that will get him killed to close off the narrative with a artful bow.

Murder-suicide sounds like a fix to his problems, but he still wants to live slightly more. He still can't turn the gun on himself. He aims to be the murdered one.

After Izzy is gone, though, by Edward's own actions? That's the last straw he needs to commit in full. Thanking Frenchie? Just another final goodbye to get his affairs in order. "Take the day off, brother. Go live." The moment Izzy dies they all become dead men walking.

Thank FUCK that Edward a) still would prefer it if they snapped and murdered him / something out of his control killed him (he still wants to live), and b) still wants to die dramatically. A different man would have walked right back to his cabin and not missed.

Sidebar to appreciate the breakup boat crew some more because I love them:

Fang: "So... do we think he's better?" Jim: "Fuck no!"

Edward is ready to be the murderer with his cannon pointed at the mast, but he stalls on damning the whole crew to a watery grave (r.i.p. half of them), gives Izzy time to wake up and drag himself out to protect said crew, and then finally gets what he's been after.

Edward's motivations are already perfectly clear, but just to really hammer it in - he thinks he just drove a man he loved to suicide, and then he demands the couple he found kissing fight to the death with the reasoning:

"All love dies, I'm just hastening the process."

Jim literally just learned last season that was bullshit, my guy. It makes sense they are the one who finally puts a stop to him.

(Except the cannonball doesn't hit. There's no head wound. And Edward is alive when they take him back to the secret room, laying him out respectfully instead of letting the waves take him too. They don't even know if they'll survive. They certainly don't have anywhere to take the body, or a working ship to get there. Maybe they didn't notice because they didn't want to notice.)

(AND EDWARD STILL WANTS TO LIVE)

Both Izzy and Edward try to die. Both of them do - maybe, in the bottom of their hearts - want to live just a tiny bit more. They shoot each other. They say OUT LOUD they love each other (though Edward I swear to fuck you better say that to Izzy's face ohmygod). They are on this journey together.

BOTH OF THEM LIVE. AND NOW THEY HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT.

(I feel like I wanted to add stuff about Stede & Izzy meeting again but like. I don't even know. Izzy doesn't even know. Is he protecting the crew? Deflecting? Edward's dignity (-ish)? Stede's good opinion of Edward? Dealing with his own massively fucked headspace? Ask me again on Friday. Fuck.)

My fucked up guys are in toxic fucked up LOVE!!!

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blizzardstarx · 5 months

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Here is Queen Paradox of the ShapeWings! Also more information about the roleplay Pontalo was made in, and fun facts!

whoops i forgot the masterlist here it is

she kinda looks like Freedom…

I wanted to combine her original design, a fiery phoenix named Eternal Flame, into her colors, and the LeafWing greens. Also the pink is the exact pink Dolphin’s bioluminescent scales are.

Soooo for her entire backstory I gotta explain what the roleplay was about

The roleplay was called Creature School, about… creatures. At a school. Paradox, or Flame back then, had four forms (we could have up to four forms total): A fiery colored phoenix, a manticore, a wolf with wings, and a dragon that I forgot the description for, but it wasn’t a particular species.

In the earlier parts of the roleplay, like in the 260s (pages, each page had 10 forum posts, so this roleplay had around 8740 posts) the first instance of the Pontalonion dragons was the map. I think Eclipse was the first Pontalonian dragon I created, but Torrent was changed a shortly after to be first a reincarnation of King Tiger Shark, but then later, an actual HydroWing. Paradox discovers and remembers she’s a ShapeWing and the long lost queen when Eclipse gives her a scroll of the Pontalo tribes, and she hears it in her dreams of her memories of the Great ShapeWing Genocide. She is frightened of BloodWings, who are shortly introduced a couple of pages in the roleplay, the first BloodWing called Diabolos, who was a minor villain.

Torrent and Paradox had three eggs, (in the 300s) Shapeshifter, who mostly looked like a ShapeWing, Dolphin, who looks like a mix between a ShapeWing and HydroWing, and Seashell, who mostly looks like a HydroWing.

Another BloodWing named Abaddon, but not actually a BloodWing and is a seperate species in disguise, opens portals that allowed creatures from other universes to come. This was called the portal plot. It was around page 370-480. They had to stop him and shut the portals after returning the new people.

The school had been destroyed multiple times, (like three times, spread out in the 50s-200s) and the final school the ogs (they were students at the beginning) (Flame, Dagger, Misty, and Fang, which my three friends and I played) created and were the staff/administration, lots of our ocs attended. Paradox’s dragonets attended, too. There was a motto that all creatures were equal or something like that, bullying was not permitted.

The roleplay focused on a school plot on and off, but it was basically the insane adventures of the ogs and later other ocs. It was focused in the first 100-200s? and then in the 600s and mentioned sometimes

Knight the SwordWing was born in the 500s! He ran off from his adoptive parent who was played by one of my friends and wanted to prove to others? idk, but he had to fight off monsters sent from the Shadow Tribe that were designed to kill SwordWings for their defection. (SwordWings were actually supposed to be a Shadow Tribe defecting tribe, not BloodWings, but then I got the idea of them being former BloodWings.)

He found the ruins of the SwordWing kingdom and found his sister’s egg, protecting it from monsters.

The king of the SwordWings, Knight and Dauntless’s father, was named Sharp.

Dolphin was bullied by some SeaWings for looking weird, (page 670s) as HydroWings were thought to be extinct, and she fled school after Paradox stopped them and tried to comfort her, flying off to the ocean, and discovering the long lost HydroWings.

The Pontalonian dragons exist at the same time as the modern Pyrrhian and Pantalan dragons, but Pontalo was also there long before they were, before the Scorching. The other tribes barely know they exist, and only HydroWings were known to the Pyrrhian dragons, thought to be long gone.

ShapeWings are probably what Freedom was, or was descended from. Some ShapeWings probably traveled to Pyrrhia and Pantala and settled down there, eventually leading to the Scorching.

The roleplay was abandoned at page 874, everyone just stopped replying.

So, in short: Paradox was queen of the ShapeWings, then the genocide happened, she flees, gets amnesia after crashing on the roleplay’s land, and becomes a student, then staff, then gets a memory and reminder that she’s the ShapeWing queen. She stays on the land and slowly but surely repopulates the ShapeWings, but they all have HydroWing blood because of Torrent.

Fun facts now that I’ve reread parts of the roleplay:

The Great ShapeWing Genocide was called The Great Blood War

Eclipse was a SunWing-MoonWing hybrid, she got kicked out of her tribe and landed in Pyrrhia (where the roleplay was at in that part). She played a big role in a part of the roleplay, and she had an ex-mate named Cloud (An AirWing, which was probably my earlier version of a LightWing) who was an animus

MoonWings changed form under the full moon, their scale colors grew darker, and their spikes grew longer and sharper. Their bioluminescent scales were brighter. Also they did have a language with their bioluminescent scales, like Aquatic. However, they’re about blending into the shadows, and I removed the language because it would give them away.

there was a LightningWing named Thunder and one of my friends played a SunWing named Solar

Solar and Eclipse were supposed to get together but idk what happened to them

Eclipse is mentioned later in the roleplay and has Helios as a mate. I don’t know if it’s the same Eclipse though

Pontalo had some rules, animus dragons can only use their magic once, no hybrids, and… never show mercy to a tribe?? dumb rule but it was why the ShapeWings got wiped out but like these rules arent in place now. they suck

Torrent was supposed to be a SeaWing commander that got banished for a false accusation of “trying to kill the SeaWing queen” who was his sister, and the SeaWing king’s name was Lobster lmfao

also my friend had a few other dragon species?? RockWings, SilverWings, and TribeWings (who had three pairs of wings?). Huh. They were never mentioned again

There were supposed to be five Pontalo tribes, AirWings, MoonWings, SunWings, ThunderWings, and FireWings. ShapeWings were added later as an explanation to why Flame could change into a bunch of forms, not just those four main ones, and the genocide was setup for her backstory. HydroWings were just an ancient Pyrrhian tribe as setup for the SeaWings, but they were changed to Pontalonian somewhere in the roleplay.

the old Pontalo map looked like this

ThunderWings, now changed to LightningWings, had electric scales that could shock to the touch and were great swimmers. “They charge their scales by getting struck by lightning on their ‘lightning rod’ on their nose.” FireWings have flame scales and could scorch dragons with their touch.

SunWings were based on Heliolisk, they (were) small, had those frills on their necks, sluggish at night, and they get energy from the sun which charges up their scales. They could blast a beam of light from their mouths.

There was a tribe called the ColorWings, who were more like the RainWings and painted, which I combined into the original ShapeWings (that could only shapeshift) into the now ShapeWings.

For some reason Knight could like. Transform into his father?? Well, into the shape kinda?

In this roleplay and another roleplay I did two years ago, Knight and Dauntless can curl up into a spiky armored ball and roll at people as a form of attack. It’s funny, I’m making it canon.

There’s probably a lot of things I missed, but oh well, I don’t like rereading my roleplay stuff. It’s really bad.

@castiels-destiny

Edit:

#blizz's art #Pontalo!!!#wings of fire #wof #wings of fire au #wof au #wings of fire art #wof art #wings of fire oc #wof oc

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somethingusefulfromflorida · 5 months

Text

I just had a really weird experience with a dating app and I don't know what's real anymore.

I matched with a cute girl earlier today, and we spent a couple hours talking about our shared interests in podcasts and history and weird niche topics nobody else cares about. It was nice, and I asked her if she wanted to get lunch sometime this week. She said she'd like that, but then immediately changed the subject to talk about her job instead of scheduling the date. I mean, that's not TOO weird, I figure she must have wanted to say no but didn't want to hurt my feelings. Whatever. No big deal. We keep talking.

She mentioned that she works as a medical scribe at a doctor's office, and I said that that sounds like a wizard's apprentice. She said that medicine is the intersection between science and magic. I replied with a throwaway joke that chemistry is just alchemy with a little flair, and then shit went off the rails because she sent me a link to a pornhub video titled "We came at the same Time - Sensual Side Fuck" and said "me when someone tells me they're an alchemist."

A cute girl sends me a literal porn link after dodging the question of whether she wanted to go on a date, so I'm confused as hell. I don't know if this is her way of flirting or what, so I replied "I'd be down to practice some alchemy if you're not busy." I regretted saying it immediately because I never talk to anyone like that, I was just blind sided by the porn and thought maybe she would think it was funny. Well, after a few minutes she says "did you just ask to fuck me?"

Okay, I'm going down in flames, I crossed a line, that alchemy "joke" was inappropriate and creepy and she's clearly not into it and she's probably gonna unmatch me and block me and report me or something. I'm still confused over the direction the conversation is going, but I decide it'd be better if I apologize and go on the defensive instead of doubling down like a jackass. I tell her "no, not really," I'm not soliciting a stranger for sex, I was just yes-anding. She sent a porn link. What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to respond?

Another few minutes pass. I was 100% sure that when I reopened the app she would be gone, but no, she finally replied "I was hoping you were..."

What kind of mind game is this? Is she just looking for a hookup? Her profile specifically says she's not! I have no idea what's going on.

"Did you just ask to fuck me?" My honest answer would have been "yes, isn't that what you wanted?" but the thought of saying that to somebody makes me feel like a douchebag. Her tone with that question didn't sound flirty, it sounded accusatory, like she was outraged I had the audacity to ask for sex so soon. My social anxiety is going through the roof. Whoops, turns out she actually WAS flirting and DID want to have sex, and I've managed to waffle it and sound like an asshole no matter what I say. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

From my perspective:

Her: *posts meme about sex* (it's just a meme, nothing more. Don't read into it)

Me: *flirty memey response* (could go either way; I'm not outright saying I want to have sex with her, I'm just matching her energy. She memes about sex, I reply in kind because I thought it would be weirder go ignore it)

Her: oh my god, did you really just say that? Did you really think I wanted to have sex with you?

Me: I'm sorry, I overstepped

Her: mind games, dumbass! You don't know what I want, motherfucker!"

From her perspective:

Her: our conversation is going well, let me drop a big hint that I want to hook up

Me: picks up on the hint

Her: really?

Me: NO!

Her: oh... okay... nevermind...

So then I take a step back and try to see if there's any way whatsoever to salvage this dumpster fire of a conversation. I admit that I'm confused and ask her point blank if she wanted to have sex. I legitimately don't know if she was making a move or not, and I need her to know that I'm not the kind of guy who asks for sex as an opening move but I'm not opposed to it if she's the one bringing it up. There's no way to fix this. I failed at this interaction. I need to cut my losses, but somehow we keep talking.

She says, quote "I like making art and love. Sometimes at the same time, ya know?"

I say "do you want to make love?"

She says "we probably should."

I ask her if she'd like to get something to eat first, as was my initial date plan before the porn thing. Her response confused me even more. "I can't right now. I'm exhausted from traveling all weekend. I haven't eaten and feel like I'm gonna pass out." That reply doesn't make sense. It's Wednesday and she says she's too hungry to get dinner. That's when I noticed that her previous message ended with a period.

"We probably should," period. I scrolled back up through our conversation and realized that EVERY message she sent me ended with a period. Every single one! Oh, and some of them weren't even direct responses to anything I said, so now I'm 1000% convinced that she's a bot. I got tricked into talking for three hours with a bot, and I derailed the scam by rolling a nat 1 critical fail when it tried to sext me.

I ask "her" point blank when she wants to meet up, and it said "I need to eat first. Make food, not war, lol. Where are your top places to grab food?"

Bot. Almost certainly a bot.

My final reply, in the extraordinarily small off chance that she's not a bot, was to say it depends on my mood, before losting three or four of my go-to places.

"She" didn't unmatch, but she ghosted me. No reply.

Bot. Absolutely a bot. No doubt about it.

TLDR, I got catfished by a bot!

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polutrope · 9 months

Text

For the modern AU holiday prompts @i-did-not-mean-to requested Beren + accidental drunkenness, and MoonLord requested Thingol, Beleg, Túrin, and Mablung + Decorating a tree. ~2.2k words, rated G. [The Edain in this AU are officially whatever age and relation I want them to be.] Posting these to AO3, here. Prompt list (prompts closed). Beleria Cast of Characters

The flamboyant man at the booth in the back cried out, “Another round for the bar!” and Beren and Lúthien joined the patrons in a celebratory whoop.

Lúthien threw her head back and laughed as a server set two more two more beers on the table.

“I can’t believe this guy,” she said to Beren. “Who is he?”

“His name is Saeros,” the server answered. “A regular. I think he owns a record label or something. Celebrating a chart topper.” She smiled and cleared their empty glasses. “Enjoy.”

“No way,” Lúthien said, and left her mouth hanging open.

“What?” said Beren. Lúthien continued to gape. “What, what? You know him?”

“Yeah! Saeros Green. He offered my brother a record deal years ago.”

“And Daeron turned it down?” Beren asked.

Lúthien dipped her chin affirmatively with an air of pride. “He did. The guy is a smarmy bastard. Milks his artists for everything they’ve got. I mean, look at him!” Lúthien said, gesticulating with both arms in his direction. “Look at all that bling! And the red velvet suit, on a Thursday afternoon, really? Looks like he got in a fight with the Yule display at Mírdain Mall!”

“Ssshh sssh,” Beren said, giggling. “He’ll hear you! Anyway, I like him. Free booze!” He raised his glass in a toast and took a large gulp.

Lúthien was laughing when he lowered it. “You have foam in your beard!”

Beren grinned, making no effort to remedy the situation. “How do I look? More wizened?”

“Like an idiot!” Lúthien blurted, and laughed again.

She was so beautiful. Beren fell into a besotted stupor, staring at her face lit with mirth, listening to her musical laughter… he could die happy right here, right now, getting day-drunk with the most beautiful woman in the world—

“Beren,” she said. “Beren! Your phone is ringing!”

“What, birdie?” he said, surfacing.

“Your phone!” she said, and shoved it into his hand. “Someone’s calling you.”

He looked at he call display: Morwen Ethel-Wang. “Shit,” he said. “Shitshitshit.”

The call dropped before he could answer. Lúthien stared, awaiting an explanation.

Beren exhaled a long breath before giving one. “You remember a few months ago when we talked about my buddy Húrin’s son staying with us for a few days while his wife is at a conference in town?”

“Oh yeah!” Lúthien said. “When’s that happening?”

“Um,” said Beren. “Today. They’re at our place now.”

“Shit,” said Lúthien.

On the monitor, the minutes of the last City Council meeting swam in and out of Elu’s vision. He sighed. The permanent bikeway through Hithlum park had been voted down. Again.

His eyes drifted to the thick folder of letters his intern Beleg had dropped on his desk earlier, from the Hithlum Homeowner’s Association — all variations on the same template, laying out the supposed dangers of a “bike superhighway” through a “family-oriented” neighbourhood. Since when were bicycles dangerous? He pushed the folder aside. Well, they got what they wanted.

It was those damn developers from Valin! Hithlum used to be the alternative neighbourhood back in the 80s, where the artists and students hung out, now it was overrun with wealthy— Elu took a deep breath. He valued the diversity of Beleria. He did. But by god if it didn’t make it impossible to get anything done in this city! You would think, as Mayor, that your word actually meant something—

His phone pinged.

Lúthien💮💗

Hey papa! I know you’re working but I have a biiiig favour to ask.

3:14pm

Elu Singh-Goel

What is it, sweetie?

3:15pm

Lúthien💮💗

Sooo Beren has this friend and his kid was supposed to stay with us this weekend and we kinda forgoy

forgot*

Anyway him and his mom are at our place now and we’re… not lol

3:16pm

Elu Singh-Goel

Oh? Where are you?

3:18pm

Lu?

3:21pm

Lúthien💮💗

Sorry!!

We went to Gabilgathol for lunch and accidentally got drunk

3:23pm

Elu drew back from his phone. That was not like his daughter. It was times like these he found it most difficult to accept her choice of partner. Beren was an admirable man, with respectable ambitions, but he was so young. Accidentally drunk…

Lúthien💮💗

Some guy was buying rounds for the house lol

3:24pm

Elu Singh-Goel

I see. And how do I come into this?

3:25pm

Lúthien💮💗

Can she bring Túrin to the office?

3:25pm

Túrin is the kid

Just for a couple hours! Nellas says she can take him tonight if we’re not sobered up

hahaha

3:26pm

Beren says he’s quiet. Just give him some crayons and paper.

3:28pm

Elu’s thumbs tapped out ‘OK’ before his mind had a chance to catch up. He stopped them, hovering over the send button. What had happened to him? There was a time he would have locked Lúthien up in her room for the weekend for getting drunk at 3pm on a Thursday! — but he couldn’t very well lock up an adult woman. Certainly not one he was going to lose.

Well, not lose. Not entirely — that had almost happened, when he’d tried to talk her out of marrying Beren, but he’d soon repented of that mistake when she disappeared for two weeks without a word to anyone. A cold current shivered down Elu’s spine. That had been a terrible winter.

But now, every day was another closer to her and Beren moving to Dead Man’s Isle. It was ridiculous: she had not needed him nearly half her life now, and yet Elu’s heart dropped when he thought of her so far away. Not around the corner, not where he could drop by on an evening stroll to say hello with a container of leftovers or a tin of Melian’s homemade lembas biscuits.

Because of all this, he had become a complete sucker and lost all ability to say no to her. And damn it if she didn’t know it, he thought with a rueful smile.

Elu Singh-Goel

OK.

3:26pm

Lúthien💮💗

Omg thanks so much papa!!

Beren will tell Morwen to bring him by

3:26pm

Elu Singh-Goel

Don’t to worry about it. I think I can send my intern to pick them up. Tell them to wait at The Dimbar.

3:27pm

Elu set the phone down, then picked up the receiver on his desk phone and dialed Beleg’s extension.

“Hey big guy, what’s up?”

Elu smiled. He really ought to impress a more professional attitude on his interns (it’s what they were there to learn after all), but there was something… rejuvenating about this one’s breezy familiarity with him — and besides, it was good for the ego to have some carefree college student call you “big guy” once in a while when you had a pile of letters on our desk addressing you as “Your Worship”.

“Beleg,” said Thingol. “Would you be able to run a little personal errand for me?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I need you to go pick up a kid and bring him to the office.”

Half-an-hour later Beleg rounded the corner at the end of the hall, running with a lanky, dark-haired boy clinging to his back.

“Here he is!” Beleg announced, and let the boy down. “Túrin, the Master of Fate! Isn’t that right?” He ruffled the boy’s hair. “We outsmarted fate six times on the way over, didn’t we little guy?”

“Red lights aren’t fate,” Túrin said, in the tone of a child who thinks he knows better. “They are for controlling traffic flow.”

“Beleg.” Elu did his best to conceal his amusement with a frown. “I hope you were not racing lights in a municipal vehicle again.”

“No sir,” said Beleg. “No racing. All very strategic.”

“Mm, I don’t think I want to know.” Elu rose from his hair and came around the front of the desk. “It’s nice to meet you, Túrin. Welcome to the office of the Mayor. I’m Elu.”

Túrin did not look impressed, and made no move to take Elu’s hand when offered. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Túrin.” Then he turned back to Beleg. “Can we go on your computer now like your promised?”

Elu lifted a brow, for Beleg’s benefit, as he addressed Túrin. “He promised you, did he? Funny, because Beleg does what I tell him to do, and I do not remember telling him to do that.”

Beleg laughed, not sounding nearly as nervous as he should have.

“Oh.” Túrin paused, visibly processing this new information. “Well can you tell him to play games with me?”

Elu had to laugh at the boy’s quick tactical adjustment. “I’m afraid Beleg doesn’t get to play games at work. But, while he was off picking you up, I thought of something else we could do.”

“What?” said Túrin and Beleg at once.

“Well,” Elu perched on the desk so he needn’t tower above them, “in the storage room there should be one of those fake trees and a box of decorations. We used to set it up in my office every year. I’d forgotten all about it, but since we’ve got you here, Túrin, I thought it would be a nice thing to do. What do you think?”

Túrin seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hey!” Beleg nudged him. “Sounds fun to me!”

“I don’t know,” Túrin said. “I barely know you. Tree decorating is for families.”

“Oh,” said Elu. “I suppose it’s something families often do together, yes. But they can be set up by coworkers, too, or even strangers, like us. I bet we won’t be strangers when we’re done.”

“We didn’t get a tree at my house this year,” Túrin disclosed. “My dad is away for Yule so my mom said we don’t need one.”

“I see,” Elu said, beginning to lose hope in this venture.

“All the more reason to set one up here!” Beleg offered.

“Yeah.” Túrin shrugged. “I guess.”

“Excellent!” said Elu. “Beleg, why don’t you take Túrin down the storage and have a look for it?”

They were gone a long time, and Elu was just beginning to wonder if he should go looking for them when they appeared toting two large boxes — and another of the interns.

“Hope you don’t mind if Mablung joins us!” Beleg said cheerily, setting the tree box upright in the corner of the room. Mablung placed the box of ornaments on Elu’s desk. “He said he was bored, I said he could help us.”

“Of course, of course. The more the merrier!” Elu said absently, distracted by fiddling with computer speakers in an effort to get the music to play. He groaned and threw up his hands. “Can one of you young people figure out why these blasted speakers have turned themselves off again?”

To his surprise, it was Túrin who answered the summons, running around behind the desk to investigate.

“It’s muted,” he said almost at once, and tapped a key on the keyboard. The bouncy beat of I’m the Happiest Christmas Tree spilled from the speakers.

The other three laughed, but Túrin crinkled his nose and hit skip on the song.

Soon, Beleg and Mablung had the tree set up and were arguing about the best placement for the string of lights. Once that was decided, they turned to debating how best to balance the bauble distribution.

Túrin seemed more interested in rooting through the box for the most unique ornaments. Elu watched him wistfully. He had not realised how much he missed being around children and their infectious wonderment at the world.

“I like this one,” Túrin said, pulling out a golden dragon. “My dad has one like it.”

“Oh, yes, very nice!” Elu said. “Why don’t you keep it?”

“Really?” said Túrin, his face brightening. He did not wait for confirmation before he shoved it in his pocket.

“Hey, what’s this now?” Beleg ambled over. “Mayor Man is giving away his ornament collection? Mablung, let’s see what’s in here!”

Beleg peered into the box, shoving aside some silver baubles and pulling out a long black icicle.

“Oh, sick,” he said, letting it dangle from a finger. “This is some goth sh— stuff.”

“Interesting,” said Elu, watching the strange ornament twirl. “I am not sure where that one came from.”

“Ohh, mystery ornament!” Beleg enthused. “Can I have it?”

“Really, you want that?” Mablung put in. “That’s weird, man. It looks like a weapon.”

“No way, it’s cool!” said Beleg.

“Well, if you want it,” said Elu, “I certainly don’t.”

“No, I want it!” Túrin shouted, and closed his fist around the icicle.

“Hey, kid, whoa, easy,” said Beleg. “You could just ask nice—!”

Beleg screamed. The ornament flew towards the ceiling, then arced back down and shattered on the floor. Túrin careened and toppled backwards, just missing Mablung lunging to break his fall.

Beleg gawked at his finger, which was bent backwards as a very unnatural angle.

“You dislocated my finger!” Beleg cried.

“Damn,” said Elu, and he was thinking neither of his injured employee nor of the crying child on the floor, but of the weeks of workplace accident reporting paperwork he’d just created for himself.

#beren #luthien #thingol #beleg #turin turambar #mablung #saeros #modern au #beleria au #holiday prompts #my fic #this one got a little out of control :D

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