#a fan oc i think is one of the greatest ways to show your love for a piece of media

[seaoflove07]

~ You call it ‘Jealousy’ I call it ‘Fear of Losing you’ ~

🔪Azusa & Rose🌹

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️Post mentions Self harm, Jealousy, Toxic & Sadness.⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Note:

• This is a fan fiction Role Play Story Scene between @cutelih and I. She rps Azusa and Ruki so all quotes credits goes to her•

•Christine is my Oc, her Introduction Here. Azusa calls her “Rose”•

• This scene is not a present Rose & Azusa scene. This was when they were recently dating for like a Month and a half •

-The scene starts in Ruki’s room-

Ruki: *reading a book*

*Knock Knock*

Ruki: “Who is it?”

Christine: “Hi Ruki. It’s Christine, sorry to bother you but I will like to talk to you for a minute.”

Ruki: *closes the book and sets it aside*

“Come in.”

Christine: *she walks in and closes the door*

“Thank you, I just… have a question I wanted to ask you.”

Ruki: “Go ahead, take a seat. What do you want to know?”

Christine: *She sits down*

“It’s about Azusa, I would like to know how the cutting himself started? Why he believes physical pain is the greatest pleasure?”

Ruki: “Haah... That is a long story... Even I have never fully understood how his brain works. However it seems to have something to do with those kids from his childhood. Justin, Christina and Melissa.”

- He tells her the story from Azusa’s past -

Christine: *feeling sad from Azusa’s childhood*

(She had no idea it was that bad)

“I see… sorry to ask you, I honestly have tried asking him personally, but I feel like he won’t give me a proper answer and will just say that “Pain means happiness or feeling good” I am trying to show him the opposite, hopefully with time he will understand.”

Ruki: “I hope for that as well. He has never opened up to much about it. Maybe with some luck you could be the one to bring him some sense.”

Christine: *she smiles at Ruki*

“Thank you, I won’t take more of your time, enjoy the rest of the night.”

Ruki: “Equally, Christine. I am counting on you to take good care of my brother.”

Christine: “I’ll try my best.”

*she leaves his room*

Azusa: *waiting outside*

“... Rose-san…”

Christine: *Jump scare when she saw Azusa in front of Ruki’s bedroom*

“Azusa, you scared me.”

Azusa: *serious* “... Rose-san... why were you in... Ruki's bedroom...?”

Christine: “I needed to ask him a question.”

(He looks very angry)

Azusa: “A question...?”

Christine: “It was about a food recipe.”

(She lied because she doesn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable about her asking about his past life)

“I wasn’t there long, it was quick conversation.”

Azusa: “Is that so...? You are not... lying to me... are you...?”

“Could it be you... are trying to leave... me too...?”

Christine: *serious* “… Ruki is your brother and I’m not that type of woman, so please don’t think of me that way.”

Azusa: “... ... Right...”

“My Rose... loves me, right...? You wouldn't... leave me...”

Christine: (Her heart starts racing! She hasn’t told him she loves him yet, and she thinks is too soon to tell him that, when they are still starting this relationship)

“I will not leave you, so can we please go somewhere else?”

Azusa: “No...”

*Grips her wrists without realizing*

“You are... my rose...! I am not... letting you go...!! I will not... allow that...!”

Christine: “Azusa, calm down! you’re hurting me!”

Azusa: “No...! This time I... will not listen... to you!”

*Pulls her close and hugs her tight*

“... ... Rose-san... I will not... hand you over... to no one. You are... all mine...” *Kisses her neck, looking for a place to bite*

Christine: “Not here, let’s go somewhere else, we are still in the hallway!”

Azusa: “No...”

*Bites her*

*Slurp*

Christine: “Ah… Azusa, please! someone might walk in on us.”

*She tries pushing him*

Azusa: “I will not... listen to you... this time... I will... leave my mark on... Rose-san... so everyone knows... you are only mine...”

*Bites harder*

*Slurp*

Christine: “Ahhhh… *holding his shoulders tight*

“I’m sorry Azusa, but honestly nothing happened with Ruki, He didn’t even touch me. I care about you so much. I will never do anything to hurt you. I told you that day at the beach, that you’re the only one I want.”

(she’s trying so hard to ignore the pain of his bites)

Ruki: “Azusa!”

Azusa: *finally stops and looks up at him*

Ruki: “What on Earth are you doing? If this woman is so important to you, why are you not listening to her?”

Azusa: ... ...

Ruki: “Do not lose yourself to your emotions. You know better than that.”

Azusa: “... ... Fine...” *Walks away*

*TimeSkip*

Christine: (She went to her room to calm down, because she feels so sad that he will think that she will leave him for someone else, she will never do that, plus her ex boyfriend did that to her and she knows very well how painful that is. She needed to talk to him and fix things between them, once she calms herself, she went to see if he was in his bedroom)

*Without Knocking she went inside his room*

“Azusa, we need to talk now.”

Azusa: *looks at her bleeding quite a lot with a knife on his hand*

“Ah... Rose-san...”

Christine: (There’s so much blood!)

*She runs to him*

“Azusa! Please stop! I don’t want you to hurt yourself anymore.” *Tears start running down her cheeks*

Azusa: *watches her, not really understanding what's happening*

“... Rose... Why are you... crying...?”

Christine: “Because it hurts me so much to see you harm yourself.” *keeps crying and wraps her arms around him*

Azusa: “Am I really... that important... to you...?”

Christine: “Yes, you are Azusa, you are precious to me.” *She hugs him tighter*

Azusa: “Christine...” *Hesitates before hugging her tight, closing his eyes*

Christine: “Please believe that I care about you… so much and you’re the only man I want.”

Azusa: “My Rose... I... care about you... from body to soul...”

- End -

The first two photos are from the DL Anime and Azusa & Rose Art Edit is from PICREW and then I edit them a bit on the Facetune App.

Title Quote by the Bridal Box.

[readingwithrhia]

Linger - MPHFPC Fanfiction ( Alma Peregrine x OC Daughter character Avalon Peregrine) Chpt.2

Disclaimer, I only own Avalon Lefay Peregrine, the other characters rightfully belong to Ransom Riggs

Based on Ransom Riggs bestseller Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children.

This is a fan-fiction story

Rape, incest, and mature content will be included in this story. Read at your own risk.

21+

Trigger warning ⚠️

——————— Chapter 02 —————

I remember those little moments when he would converse with me in this filthy cell, restraint by leather straps to a chair, because he wanted to make me feel he was the one with power. The empowered god.

"Hello, sweetheart." Dark chuckles slipped from his scarred lips, his eyes drenched in insanity, terror coursed me at how his blank eyes were filled with violence. Still scary how an average appearing man reigned with monsters. "I still cannot believe that a child of beauty would be conceived through horror."

Chills ran down my spine, even if I attempted to lunge at him, it would be of no use. I was restrained.

"I gave her a child of her own, she should be thankful."

Even my bones tremble in disgust at the sight of my father.

Silence continued to scream, except for his words amd the clicking of his boots against the hard concrete.

"Not being able to look at her only own flesh and blood as she is reminded of me and what I forced upon her is the greatest pain I have ever inflicted, and I have slaughtered numerous inoccent souls."

Digging my fingers into his skull and ripping out his brain would be a pleasure of mine, but that will not be as of today. Completely devoured by insanity, redemption was an impossible call for this man. How could he have slept? Those screams Mother made and her struggling to free herself from his grasp were lullabies to his sleep.

"I love her, but not in a way a brother loves his sister."

Going through sleepless nights of pain and grief, dancing on the edge of a knife barefoot, salvation finally arrived.

In the form of my bruised and injured mother, the great Alma Peregrine — the crimson line across the arc of her cheekbones was visibly evident, black and blue bruises revealing themselves underneath the sleeves of her dress, like blood trailing on porcelain cups — and what I assume to be the now renowned hollow-slayer, Jacob Portman.

Traces of Jacob's injuries barely showed themselves, except that his ocean eyes showed traumatic gleam, a dash of pride and relief.

"Thank God, we found you." Jacob breathed heavily, finally saved from the nights of endless crying, torture, and loneliness. I tried to keep my spirits high and remember that I was stronger than this. I was a peculiar. I was stronger than a normal human; and yet my father made me weak. He made me think I was weak and frail. I felt that way,and deep down, I felt I was always weak. Until the moment I was saved.

"Ava!" My mother cried in a mixture of pain and relief, intangible glass shards piercing her voice. With her trembling hands, she embraced me and there came a whisper, "I'm sorry."

I may be alive, but death will always inhabit my bones.

When Jacob and Mom came and got me, I felt relief. I was relieved that my nightmare was over.

Weakness prevailed as tear stained cheeks on my face kept the reminder of the nightmare,and that my nightmare was alive. My nightmare running through my blood. My nightmare wouldn't end, until I did. I knew I was stronger than him. I was stronger than any of the torture he put me through. And yet, he stuck me down and made me small. I wasn't myself anymore, I was a barely a shadow of Avalon.

Not the daughter of Alma Peregrine, nor Caul's.

A burning throne in Hell has been reserved for me as soon as the monsters' scream echo through my mind.

— ALP—

[rolansrighthorn]

Get To Know Your Tav

Tagged by @voloslobotomyservice I won't tag anyone since I already did in the other post but if you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

Link to my first post here.

I have two I would like to introduce but tumblr's text limit is forcing me to do two seperate posts, and this is the second one. This post is dedicated to my OC, Willow Hvithrafn, she is in her late 20s and is a white high half elf with dove white hair and hazel eyes with gold flecks. I am still debating if she will have freckles/sunspots.

I have NOT published ANY chapters of Tender For You so all of this information will contain spoilers!

What is their:

Favorite weapon? Willow has a Starlight Glaive (akin to the Moonlight Glaive) that she saved her own money since she was a child to have made specially by a local high elf. The high elf was a priestess of Lathander and wanted to create the Sunlight Glaive for Willow, but Willow is half Moon Elf and felt more connected to the stars.

Style of combat? Willow is a Vengeance Oath Paladin and loves any situation in which she can smite an opponent with her Starlight Glaive.

Most prized possession? Her Starlight Glaive is her most prized possession for sure. Her second would be a little gem she found when she was out scouting with Geraldus (she gave him one as well).

Deepest desire? I think she has two. The first being she wants nothing more than to help keep balance in the world and to protect those who cannot protect themselves. She also wishes for a very long and happy life with Geraldus once she accepts her feelings towards him.

Guilty pleasure? Even if she's had enough food, she loves when Geraldus comes up to her lookout and shares berries with her he foraged. She is a glutton not for food, but for any amount of interaction and attention from Geraldus.

Best-kept secret? Willow has largely convinced the mass majority of those around her that she is an eternally crabby, heartless, uncaring creature despite having joining the Harpers for the greater good. There are only a handful of people who see through this, and even less who give her any effort of friendship.

Greatest strength? Her greatest strength is her righteousness/sense of justice. If there is any enemy she is focused wholly on eliminating them- unless Geraldus is in direct way of harm.

Fatal flaw? This is a great question to ask right after the above because Geraldus is her biggest weakness. She had no idea she could ever want or love someone and when out together she is always too focused on his safety, which creates weaknesses in her group's formation and puts not only her life at risk but everyone else's as well.

Favorite scent? Willow loves the scent of the pine forests and rain, which remind her of Geraldus. His musk is also a scent she loves.

Favorite spell/cantrip? She actually hates using magic aside from her Smiting spells.

Pet peeve? Other people just existing. She wants to protect the world, but finds the world wholly obnoxious and frustrating to exist in.

Bad habit? Willow is quick to anger and quick to run away from any confrontation or problem outside of direct combat (ie with teammates, friends, family, etc)

Hidden talent? One night she and Geraldus discover she is quite good at playing the Lute.

Leisure activity? Willow loves laying at her lookout with Geraldus, watching the sun set and subsequently watching the stars twinkle and move across the night sky.

Favorite drink? She isn't much of a drinker of anything aside from water- she isn't a fan of hangovers or the dryness in your mouth alcohol leaves.

Comfort food? She isn't enough of a fan of food to really have a comfort food, but she really enjoys eating beef.

Favorite person(s)? Willow dislikes everyone by default. Her two favorite people are Geraldus and the Dragonborn Paladin she befriends, Kava.

Favored display of affection? She is not a very sexual or open person. Most of the time when she shows affection it is in the form of hooking her pinky with Gerladus' pinky or just holding his hand.

Fondest childhood memory? Willow's childhood holds very little she would want to even remember, but there is too much pain linked with her past for her to consider anything as "fond" or positive.

Anything else you’d like to share? Willow will only ever let Geraldus all the way in to her heart. He will be the only one to ever see her for who she truly is underneath all the fear and hurt, and he loves her as she is. Once they get together he will be the single most important thing in her life, even being a Harper comes second to being Geraldus' protector and lover.

[artekai]

lying + pancake + moon + spider + clover + megaphone (v curious abt voice claims if you have any 👀) + present + package + rainbow + red heart + green heart for kai!!!!!!!!!!

Hell yeah!!! Thank you so much my beloved!!!!!!! 😘

Under the cut because I got a bit carried away, haha! ^^

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

He's not a great liar, but he's not Ann lol. Something he tends to do when he has to lie is that he anchors himself in a half truth as a base, if that makes sense? It's easier to pretend when not all of it is a lie. As for tells, hmm 🤔 I feel like his eyes dart around a lot more. As in, glancing at you to watch your reaction but only for a few seconds before you get suspicious, that kinda stuff.

(I feel like the difference between him lying and him being honestly vulnerable is that when he's opening up in earnest he'll mostly avoid looking at you out of embarrassment. He's more over the place when he's lying, you know?)

He probably also just does what he usually does when he's nervous, but that's easier to mistake for honest vulnerability, heh ^^

🥞 PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast?

Oh, I haven't really thought much about it... 🤔 I do know he's a fan of protein, and the only thing he knows how to cook in the P5R AU is eggs (because pet chickens...) so maybe that? Scrambled eggs? ^^

🌙 MOON - what is your oc's greatest wish? how far are they willing to go for it?

For Artekai, probably to die for a greater cause. I just think he hasn't found a moment significant enough. And he's already come this far, where isn't he willing to go? I definitely think that what he truly wants is a life purpose, he's just channeling it towards death (if that makes sense) because, even after learning he's not a bridge between humans and machines like he thought, he still idolizes Banukai and wants to die fighting for others just like her.

(I do think he would've died protecting Beta with Varl if Fross hadn't been there to stop him. But I digress)

And Kaito... he just wants to be able to protect his loved ones :') And all of the time and effort he's put into his training shows what he's willing to do to protect them. He doesn't want to lose anyone else ;-; (he'd also be willing to sacrifice himself to protect others though, it's just not his end goal)

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

His biggest fears are both being abandoned and being forgotten. I think there's a pretty clear link between his trauma and his fears for both versions of him hehe ^^

I can't think of any irrational fears he has rn, hmm...

🍀 CLOVER - do they believe in luck? are they lucky?

Hmmmmmm I'm a bit torn on this one, but I'll say (tentatively) that I think Artekai believes in luck more than Kaito does 🤔

I've always had this idea that Artekai always carries an animal talisman on him for good luck (yeah it's because that's how I play HZD asdfghgfd sorry) but... huh. Now that I think about it, it might be for comfort more than for good luck. You know, because sometimes it's grounding to just touch a thing ^^ But hey, it's probably a mix of both.

As for Kaito, he's been getting ready for something bad to happen ever since the Rumi incident. I think it's inevitable to him. Not a matter of good or bad luck, but just... life is hard and something is bound to happen to everyone. You know? You win some, you lose some. Idk.

Both of them believe in skill more than luck, but I think the difference is that Artekai is playing with the odds way more than Kaito does 🤔Does that make sense?

Either way, he's not very lucky, but he's certainly luckier than those who didn't make it out with their lives at least :')

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

He's loud! :D He's loud and youthful and cheerful and a great singer ^^

I haven't thought of a voice claim for him though 😔 He can't have the same voice as Takuto as he's not on HRT... But I haven't really gone looking as I feel like I'd be too picky with Kai specifically :/ sorry bestie 😔

🎁 PRESENT - what types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

I think Kai really loves homemade gifts! And I think he holds himself up to that same standard, haha. He's not good at arts and crafts, but he'll try his best when he wants to show his appreciation for someone he loves ^^

📦 PACKAGE - what are some "most likely to..." that can apply to them?

Hmmmmmmmmm 🤔

I'm totally not looking up ideas lol

Most likely to run off and attempt to live off the grid? (I guess in this one he'd be tied with Aloy in the Horizon AU but hey)

Most likely to accidentally kill someone? (ok that got dark quick)

Most likely to do weird things in public?

Most likely to attempt to flirt with a stranger?

Most likely to punch a wall?

Most likely to run away to join the circus?

🌈 RAINBOW - what advice would they give to their younger self?

Hmm. It depends on what era Kai is currently in and how young is the younger self he's talking to. But, as a baseline, train hard, cherish the ones you love, and keep them close? 🤔 It's not too different to what his younger self was already doing, but I don't think he'd do much differently (with the information he had at the time, if that makes sense). He did his best with what he had and it was a learning experience and he's content with that ^^

Though I can picture him asking his younger self to try to be less petty and let go of grudges. Like, for P5R!Kai, he lost a lot of valuable time he could've had with his dad pushing him away and refusing any attempts to connect out of spite :(

❤️ RED HEART - their love language(s)?

Out of the classic ones, I feel like it's quality time (especially for receiving) and a close second is acts of service (but especially for giving)!!!

I think it's clear that words of affirmation alone don't do it for Kai, you need to show that you really do want him around, that you appreciate his presence and want to create memories with him. It's here where Takuto comes up short in the P5R AU, and also why Artekai's so obsessed with Fross, who just clings to him like a moth to a flame.

(I guess the opposite would be his hate language too lol. When he gets pissed, he straight up just leaves lol)

As for acts of service, I'm putting "training hard and polishing his fighting skills so he can protect his loved ones" in this category. His first aid knowledge too. They might not be errands, but it's the very best thing Kai can do for you! ^^

I like to look at Frosskai's humble beginnings as an example of how Kai shows love ^^ Aside from patching Fross up after accidentally stabbing him, hehe, one of the first things he did was go hunting to get breakfast just for him. And to show him he could provide for him, hehe. Artekai will hunt for you! He'll get you furs to keep you warm during winter! He'll find shelter for you in the wilds! Maybe that blurs the lines a bit with gift giving, but it's mostly about the survival skills, you know? He didn't just learn those for himself but to be able to protect those around him ;-;

As for non-traditional ones!! Love love love the idea of his love language including doing other people's hair and face paint. Especially weak for the idea of P5R!Kai braiding Sumi's hair and Horizon!Kai helping Aloy with her face paint :3 And I also like thinking of P5R!Kai becoming a hairdresser when he grows up! (he would not only enjoy it but he could be the most trans-friendly hairdresser around. Just saying ^^)

But I guess those sit at the intersection between quality time and acts of service so it checks out! :D

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

Well, I headcanon that, when his hair is in a braid, he tends to grab it or play with it when he's nervous, so we could interpret that as him being comforted when people play with his hair ^^ It'd definitely align with his love languages :3

But he's also one for keeping his mind occupied. I feel like playing the drums and practicing archery genuinely help him unwind. It's the familiarity of it, you know?

There's also music. Since I first thought of the P5R AU, I had this idea that, when things get really, really bad, like bad enough to not be able to distract himself with anything else, what he does is he huddles up in a corner (it's safer if no one can sneak up from behind) and slips on his headphones to avoid the silence :')

[magnuficent76]

Poppy lily and daisy, for Luis, Kibby n Riva'lke (You can pick and choose if you want but I meant like, if you want, you can answer the same three questions for all characters! Up to you tho)

[Referencing this ! ]

Thank you so much for the ask !! Got a lil carried away, but I wanted to answer these so bad audhsjf

Poppy- How is your oc around strangers ?

Luis: ASTOUNDINGLY indifferent. It's actually kind of impressive how much he is just completely himself, for better or for worse. Generally he's polite enough to not like, be a COMPLETE nightmare to deal with, but he's also extremely blunt and overly honest so if you ask him things he might be rude about it.

Kibby: Kibby is super friendly to everything and everyone ! She's very silly and loves making friends, but this is also her greatest detriment because she's also pretty naive. You could tell this kid anything she'd believe you. But otherwise, she loves people and will walk up to anyone to try and befriend them any way she can, and thats why...

Riva'lke: ...Rivie is always nearby watching. As a whole she is not a big fan of people, especially not mortals, but since Kibby has to learn to be a scary demon somehow, ey will tolerate them. Expect a lot of scary looks and judgemental staring.

Lily- What is your oc's love language ?

Luis: Acts of service, gift giving and verbal affection/words of affirmation. He isn't much of a touchy person with people, even to those he doesn't mind touch him, so often times his love comes across with gifts, advice, help and just overall support. He could use a hug though

Kibby: PHYSICAL TOUCH !! Hugs !! Affection !! Pets !!! Affectionate tackling !! Kibby is fully nonverbal, so her way to show love is almost always with touch !

Riva'lke: if you asked Riva'lke a few eons ago what ne's love language was, ne would've probably blown you away and said "Puh love is for fools etc", but ever since Kibby got assigned to her ? Words of affirmation, 100%. Kibby doesn't talk and can't sign well, so half the time Rivie has to do the talking, and as a result she's learned to be a lot... softer with her words. Maybe for Kibby's sake, maybe because it was always how she wanted to show love, but either way, she doesn't mind it.

Daisy- What inspired you to create your oc ?

For all my ocs, my process is fairly similar- I get absorbed w/ an idea, I develop an initial conception, then I throw a hundred sketches at a wall until it works, which is how I got Kibby and Rivie ! But for Luis it's a little different.

He wasn't my oc initially, belonging to one of my very close friends, but unfortunately he isn't in this realm anymore, so I figured the best way to honour him would be through character developing you know ? Story telling was important for him, big passion and all, and I wanted to let that passion live on :]

[aceghosts]

🌸 🌼 💐 - Hunter

🌴 🍁 🍂 - Blue

🌲 🌾 🌟 - Rooney

Thank you for these! I really liked these questions!

🌸- What's this OC's favorite and least favorite color?

Hunter’s favorite color is red, especially a deep dark red like burgundy. They also have a fondness for the colors black and navy blue. Hunter’s least favorite color is white. It’s too sterile a color and reminds Hunter of their death.

🌼- What's your favorite thing about this OC?

I really like that Hunter is straight-up feral! Blue and Rooney both play by the rules to some extent and always do the right thing. They never really let loose. Meanwhile, Hunter is like fuck the rules! Fuck doing the right thing! I’m out for vengeance! It’s a really nice difference, and it makes Hunter a lot of fun to write. Unfortunately, Hunter’s feral nature can be a double-edged sword as Hunter struggles to connect with others on a deeper level.

💐- Where is this OC's favorite place to relax?

Generally, Hunter likes to be alone when they relax. Sometimes, they need to get away from people to fully decompress. Pre-death, Hunter would relax in their apartment alone. Post-death, it’s wherever they can find some alone time. That can be their apartment, wherever they are staying for a mission, or the local gym.

Hunter also finds Wesker’s lab to be relaxing when he is there. However, Hunter only finds his lab relaxing after they grow close to Wesker and start to trust him.

🌴- Who is this OC's favorite person? (Can be another OC, a fictional character, a celebrity, anyone.)

Sharky 100%.

Blue absolutely adores Sharky! Sometimes, they kinda wonder where Sharky has been their whole life. Blue loves Sharky’s sense of humor and his willingness to go along with their wild schemes. They also love that trouble seems to follow Sharky in the same way it follows them. Blue isn’t obsessed with fire the same way Sharky is, but they have no problem playing with fire as long as it is done responsibly.

🍁- What's this OC's favorite genre of movies/tv-shows/books/etc?

Blue loves a good comedy, but it has to be a smart comedy. They’re not really interested in a comedy that makes fun of other people in a mean-spirited way. Blue also has a soft spot for nature documentaries and books on nature. Considering they don’t watch a lot of movies/tv or read, they find it easier to focus on things that are related to their passions.

🍂- What music does this OC like?

John Denver.

Blue is a HUGE John Denver fan. One of the things that sucks most about the radio in Hope County is that there is no John Denver. They have been looking all over the county for John Denver Vinyls for Wheaty to play on the radio.

Besides John Denver, Blue is into older country and indie music. (They absolutely hate Bro-Country.) When originally creating Blue, I imagined Woody Guthrie as one of their favorite artists, and I still think Blue would like Woody Guthrie. They’re also really into Brandi Carlile.

🌲- What is this OC's greatest strength and weakness?

Rooney’s greatest strength is their determination. Sheer determination is what got Rooney through most of the events in the Mass Effect Trilogy. No matter how bleak things look, Rooney just powers on, determined to see the fight with the Reapers to the end. They’re determined to see the galaxy free of their reapers. They’re determined to see their loved ones safe and a bright future for the galaxy.

Rooney’s greatest weakness is how critical they tend to be of themself. Rooney holds themself to a high standard, much higher than they hold anyone else. They know they have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders, especially by the time of ME3. In their mind, they have to be the best; they don’t have the luxury of making mistakes. Rooney puts a lot of pressure on themself to succeed and can be harsh on themself when they don’t meet expectations.

🌾- How does this OC get along with people they just met?

Rooney tends to scare people on first impression. Their intense demeanor and perpetual frown give off an aura of unfriendliness, and Rooney seems cold. However, that usually changes within a few minutes. After a few minutes, most citizens of the galaxy find Rooney to be rather thoughtful and polite, if not quiet. Most people usually get along with Rooney.

If you are one of Rooney’s enemies, usually someone trying to hurt others, especially those considered innocent, Rooney is downright terrifying.

🌟- Is this OC good at expressing themself through words or do they have to use other means?

Yes, Rooney is very good with their words. They have no problem, explaining to others how they feel or what they might be thinking. Rooney is someone who is often careful with their words and tends to think through the things they are going to say. They do not say words carelessly, except under certain circumstances. Rooney is also able to talk down people in stressful or combat situations. During one of their visits to the Citadel, Rooney was able to talk down another survivor of the Mindoir attack from hurting herself or someone else. In their final moments, Rooney was also able to talk down the Illusive Man and Saren from hurting anyone else.

[OC Ask Game]

[azuredrg]

💚🔪 📣 🎭 🕷️ 🌙 for the OC asks! sorry if it’s a lot

ITS NOT!!! DW!!! thank u :3 (its all raiden imsorry)

i feel like i talked 2 much, so answers under the cut vv

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

Raiden enjoys spending time with others! that always makes him feel better just knowing he's around people he loves (he says this. but i think the number 1 thing he likes is hugs. he's not too touchy though so he won't ever ask for one)

🔪 KNIFE - how do they react to injury / misfortune befalling their loved ones (significant other, family, friends)? do they put themselves at blame?

HE GETS SOOO ANGRY mostly at himself for not being able to do anything. For injury, Raiden's not good at healing because he lacks the amount of aether or control to do much of anything (it's also painful for them) but he will try and do something to at least stop bleeding or mend wounds

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

Very quiet. He's not talkative, when he does speak it's in the least amount of words possible and very straightforward, the reason why they're not too talkative is because they hate that people take their blunt mannerisms as being rude. Raiden's voice claim is Kenshi Yonezu, but sometimes i wonder if i should change it 💭

🎭 MASKS - do they act differently around certain people? what's different between the way they act around friends, family, strangers, etc.?

I wouldn't say too much..? Obvi he's more relaxed around friends, more polite & guarded around strangers. I think he's more awkward and sensitive around his parents though because they thought he was dead for like a decade and then he shows up juiced up on primal energy. so it's weird now.

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

Raiden's biggest fear in the whole world is losing everyone he is close to. Not really in an abandonment issues way sortof in the he blames himself for everything bad that happens in the world way.

He's also afraid of guns (loud, ptsd) and i wouldn't say he's afraid of it, but he isn't a fan of being in the dark. but he can do it. he's so brave.

🌙 MOON - what is your oc's greatest wish? how far are they willing to go for it?

love & peace on hydaelyn's star ❤️ I think he wanted more than anything to be a protector of those who can't protect themselves, and the more well traveled he got, he more and more people he had to take on for his duty. He was willing to do anything to keep the world he loves safe, (literally) traveling across time and space for his wish to keep the world and everyone on it safe :3

[final-boy]

Reminder that fan ocs are actually really cool and fun and sexy actually

[nugnthopkns]

dance me to the end of love (ii)

word count: 3.3k

warnings: fem!oc, alcohol consumption, cursing

series masterpost: here

a/n: part two baby! thanks for all the love on part one, it means the absolute world. i have so much love for this story and i hope people are enjoying it :))

Life is settling into a comfortable rhythm.

After spending a good chunk of her young adult life being incredibly studious, Magdalene can finally have the social life of someone in their mid-twenties. Though she’s still spending a fair amount of time by herself in the basements of the University of Denver’s library, Bette convinces her to go out more. Magdalene tries to fight, citing extra work or a good book as an excuse to stay home, but it doesn’t work very often. The pleas of her friend are how Magdalene finds herself currently lounging poolside at Erik Johnson’s house on a Sunday afternoon.

“How’s the new career treating you?” Tyson asks. “I feel like we haven’t seen you in a while.”

Magdalene laughs. “I’ve seen Bette plenty,” she says, “She thinks I won’t take a lunch break unless she shows up.”

“Would you?” the blonde girl questions with a quirked brow.

“Probably not.”

“I rest my case.”

A small crowd gathers around as Magdalene begins to detail the specifics of her job, but she doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as she once would have. In the month or so since graduating school she’s found herself slowly being incorporated into the Avalanche family. It’s almost certainly because Bette and Tyson championed her case, explaining that she doesn’t have much of a support system beyond the two of them, but she doesn’t mind. A few of the guys ask her questions about her work, curious as to why someone would want to spend their life combing through piles of old things. Everyone stays engaged in the conversation until there’s a shout from the kitchen that dinner is ready.

Magdalene shuffles in line behind André, filling her plate with various pasta salads and a hamburger. Once situated with enough food for two meals she returns to the pool deck, sitting on the edge and dipping her toes into the cool water. Bette comes and finds her a minute later and the two of them begin to eat.

She’s still relatively new to the group’s dynamic, but Magdalene can’t help but notice that Ryan is never around. In fact, Magdalene hasn’t seen him since her graduation party. Taking a casual sip of her wine cooler, she asks her friend about the man’s absence.

“Why is Ryan never at these sorts of things?”

Bette shrugs. “Isn’t a huge one for parties. He was supposed to come today, but I guess something came up.”

“I’m not huge on parties,” Magdalene huffs, “But that doesn’t stop you from dragging me to every single one.”

“Unlike you, Gravy gets enough regular social interaction that his absence is permissible. If Tyson and I didn’t take you out you’d talk to your cat more than normal.”

She wants to fight back, but knows it’s pointless. Bette has a point – if it weren’t for her the only people Magdalene would interact with are her boss and her cat. Instead, she grumbles under her breath and changes the subject to the trip Bette is in the middle of planning. It’s coming up in a few weeks, and Magdalene wants to hear a bit more about it before she commits. Despite what she thought about taking time off so close to starting work, it was encouraged by June, but she's refraining from telling Bette that. If it doesn’t sound like she'll enjoy it, Magdalene is banking on being able to use the excuse.

Bette explains that she’s renting a large lake house that is perfect for a relaxing week away from adult responsibilities. The property has kayaks and a hot tub, which pretty much ensures that Magdalene will want to be in attendance. She’ll hold onto that information for a little while longer though, if for no other reason to make Bette squirm a little. At some point Tyson comes to sweep his girlfriend away and leaves Magdalene at the party alone. She makes polite conversation with some other players for a while before heading home herself. Ryan never shows up, despite how much Magdalene hopes he will. At the very least she wants to properly thank him for doing her a favour, though her hoping to see him is much more selfish. He intrigues her and she wants to know more about the tall man with the dazzling smile and a proclivity for wearing all black.

☼☼☼☼

Barn Owl Book Company is filled to the brim when Magdalene approaches the store from the side street it annexes. She should’ve expected it – it’s the first of the month and their newest books are hitting the shelves. However, Magdalene doesn’t exactly have time to wait in line. June gave her only fifteen minutes to run and grab them coffee before they continue the massive task of digitizing a private collection that has just been donated to the university. She estimates it will take almost a month of extended hours to get everything done, and Magdalene believes it. There’s so much to wade through but she knows the end result will be satisfying.

Luckily the café line is fairly short, and Magdalene reaches the counter in a timely manner. “Hey,” she greets the barista warmly, “Could I just grab two medium iced cappuccinos?”

“Anything else?”

“No, that's everything. It’ll be on debit,” she smiles. Magdalene reaches into her backpack to grab her wallet only to find that it’s missing. Shit. The barista has already left to make the drinks, completely unaware that her customer is unable to pay.

Magdalene hears a voice from behind her say, “I’ve got it, don’t worry.” She turns around to find Ryan Graves standing there with a book tucked under his right arm.

“You’re a lifesaver,” she mumbles appreciatively. “I don’t know how my boss would take it if I showed up empty handed.”

Ryan laughs shyly as he pulls his card away from the machine. “I get it, everyone needs a little caffeine this time of year.” The barista comes back with Magdalene’s drinks, which she takes with a smile and a wish for a good day. The two of them head towards the exit, and Ryan pauses once they’re on the sidewalk. “Which way are you headed?”

“Back to work,” Magdalene says, nodding her head in the direction of campus. “I’ve got approximately five minutes to get there before June rips me a new one.”

“June?”

“She’s my boss,” she explains.

Ryan nods in understanding. “I’ll see you around Magdalene,” he smiles, turning on his heel and heading the opposite direction.

In a moment of bravery, Magdalene yells at his retreating figure. “Will you? We never seem to cross paths.”

“I’ll be at Bette and Tyson’s this weekend, and I’m counting on your company.”

Magdalene finds it incredibly hard to focus the rest of the afternoon. She keeps thinking about what Ryan said, which makes her a rather lousy archivist. June sends her home just after seven even though they had plans to stay until ten, citing the fact that she’s scanned the same photo three times before noticing. Caligula’s meowing for pets when she gets home isn’t even enough to distract her from the comment. The absentmindedness continues for another day or so, and it’s becoming so bad Magdalene is worried that June is going to fire her for incompetence.

It’s only when Bette calls to invite her over for dinner and drinks that her mind levels out. “I was wondering when I was going to get the call,” she chuckles absentmindedly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” is the response Magdalene receives.

“Well,” she explains, “I ran into Ryan at Barn Owl the other day and he paid for my drinks because I left my wallet on the table at work, and he said he expected to see me at your place this weekend. So if you never invited me I was just going to show up.”

Bette is smiling, that much Magdalene can infer by the lull in conversation. “I haven’t got the time to call you yet,” she concedes, “But consider this the official invitation to our house for a small party.”

“Anything we’re celebrating?”

“Nope. Have you ever needed a reason to party?”

Magdalene laughs. “Yes. Need one almost every time actually.”

The rest of the week passes fairly quickly. To make up for her blundering earlier in the week Magdalene offers to work a full day on Saturday, by herself, to get the project back on track. June accepts the proposition eagerly, and Magdalene lets Bette know she’ll be coming directly from work. Saturday rolls around and she spends most of her time getting lost in the past lives of the artefacts she’s dealing with. If someone were to ask Magdalene what her favourite part of archiving is, that’s the answer she’d give. There’s nothing more satisfying to her than holding a piece of history in her hands and imagining all the stories it would be able to tell if it could speak.

By the time she’s put in a full work day and finishes locking up the basement floor her department occupies, Magdalene is pretty sure they’re ahead of schedule on the project. She genuinely feels terrible about her misperformance and hopes June will be able to forgive her. On the way to Bette and Tyson’s Magdalene listens to the Leonard Cohen greatest hits cd that came with her car. The previous owner was presumably a big fan, and over the years Magdalene has come to appreciate the folk singer. She never got to see him in concert before his death but turns to his music when she needs to relax. Right now is the perfect time to listen to ‘Hallelujah’ on repeat because she’s seriously freaking out about the idea of spending the night talking to Ryan. Though she still wants to properly thank him and possibly become friends, something about him makes Magdalene nervous.

There’s no way for her to tell if Ryan is there when she parks in front of the house. She doesn’t know what kind of car he drives, or if he caught a ride with someone. Magdalene debates texting Bette to see if he’s there already but decides against it, knowing she’s an adult who is more than capable of pushing down nerves.

She doesn’t bother knocking and just steps into the respectably sized home. The music is loud enough that no one would have heard her anyways. It’s much more of a party than Magdalene was expecting – Bette invited her for dinner and drinks, not a gathering that could pass as a frat party. There are bodies everywhere, and she isn’t sure if she’ll ever catch a glimpse of her friend.

“You seem to be dressed for the wrong kind of party,” a voice chuckles from behind her.

Magdalene turns to see Ryan leaning against the wall, eyeing her business casual attire. “I came from work,” she explains, “And didn’t know it was this kind of party to begin with. I would’ve at least brought a change of clothes.”

“You look terribly out of place,” he agrees. “Can I grab you a drink? The hosts are too busy playing beer pong to, you know, be hosts.”

A giggle escapes Magdalene’s lips at the comment. Ryan seems to have a similar sense of humor to her, which will be beneficial for passing the time if Bette is already on her way to being wasted. “A glass of red wine would be nice.”

Ryan pushes off from his perch and heads towards the kitchen. The crowd parts for the six-foot-five hockey player, and Magdalene follows in his wake quite easily. Knowing the space as well as her, Ryan grabs a wine glass from the cupboard Bette keeps them in and pours the dark red liquid into it. He waits until Magdalene has situated herself on the island before handing her the cup. She takes it with an appreciative hum and waits until he’s grabbed a beer for himself before raising her glass in toast. Ryan does the same, and their glasses clink before each of them take a sip.

“What exactly is it that you do? I bet it’s something super cool and studious, but I seriously don’t know what the hell being an archivist means.”

Magdalene explains her job to Ryan, who is extremely interested. He asks nearly a hundred follow-up questions that she answers sincerely, throwing in a few jokes that luckily crack him up. Conversation moves to his career and then life. Magdalene learns that he’s from Nova Scotia, though he stays around Denver these days, and that if he wasn’t playing professional hockey he’d like to have a career in publishing. Ryan doesn’t press too hard when Magdalene refuses to open up about her family, which she appreciates. It’s a delicate subject that she keeps guarded close to her chest, and a friend’s kitchen in the middle of a party isn’t the place for her to divulge her deepest secrets.

The two of them get refills before exiting the room. Even more people seemed to arrive since Magdalene walked through the door, and the kitchen is no longer an empty safe haven. The music is so loud she can feel the bass thumping in her chest, giving the living room a club-like atmosphere, and it’s too much. Magdalene tugs at the hem of Ryan’s sweater to catch his attention. “Want to go somewhere quiet?”

“I doubt there is such a place,” he yells over the crowd going crazy over some early 2000s hip-hop track.

“Follow me,” she says with a smile, pointing over her shoulder in the direction of the staircase to the second floor.

It takes a minute for them to wade through the throngs of people, but it goes much faster once Ryan takes Magdalene’s hand and splits the crowd. A few boys, who don’t look older than twenty-one and almost certainly snuck into the party, notice where the pair are going and shout congratulations. Ryan shoots them a glare so sharp it could cut stone but doesn’t drop Magdalene’s hand. Once safely on the much quieter second floor, Magdalene makes a beeline for the bathroom.

“Are you coming or what?” she asks when there doesn’t seem to be footsteps following her.

Ryan hesitates. “I, uh, can just wait out here while you’re in there,” he stammers.

Magdalene’s laugh rings out through the empty hallway. “I’m not going to the bathroom. We’re going out the window.”

He isn’t sure how that’s any better, but Ryan follows the brown-haired girl into the room. It takes considerably more work for him to fit through the frame, but after some directions from Magdalene he makes it onto the roof. She sits down and pats the space beside her, encouraging Ryan to do the same. They stay out there, discussing anything that comes to their heads, until the party’s numbers dwindle drastically. Magdalene makes sure to properly thank him for both attending her graduation and spotting her coffee money, and she thinks Ryan might blush a little when she offers to get the next round. He asks about her love of The West Wing, and they launch into a long conversation about the show and cast. The sun fades to black and the cold sets in, and Magdalene finds herself wrapped in Ryan’s sweater without asking. It’s only when she notices it’s approaching midnight that Magdalene clues into how tired she is.

“I think I’m going to head out,” she yawns. Ryan nods in agreement and holds the window open for her to slip in through. Once downstairs, Magdalene goes to lift the sweater from her frame but Ryan stops her.

“Keep it for drive home. I’ll get it back next time we see each other.”

Still feeling bold from the alcohol that left her system hours ago, she reaches out to poke him in the chest. “And when will that be, hm? You seem to enjoy leaving our meetings up to chance.”

It’s Ryan’s turn to laugh. “Think you can swing an extended lunch break on Wednesday? I’ll be at Barn Owl all afternoon. Maybe you can join me for a coffee.”

Magdalene likes the sound of that and agrees. She leaves without seeing Bette or Tyson once, but she doesn’t mind. They’d be happy for her blooming friendship – or at least she’s pretty sure they will be once she calls to fill them in on the details.

☼☼☼☼

Wednesday rolls around without incident, and Magdalene is given a full hour to eat instead of thirty minutes. Walking time has to be accounted for, of course, but she should have nearly forty-five minutes to spend with Ryan if she plays her cards right. There’s no crowd this time, and it’s incredibly easy to spot Ryan sitting in the window she loves to claim as her own.

“Hey,” Magdalene greets, “Did Bette tell you to sit here?”

He shakes his head, perplexed at the question. “No, why?”

“It’s just my favourite seat in the store, that’s all. I thought she told you how to gain some extra brownie points.”

“Should I be concerned about the amount of points I have?” Ryan teases, sliding a cup and pastry bag across the table and into her hands.

Magdalene shakes her head, smiling widely. “You’re doing alright so far. Keep up the good work.”

They eat at a comfortable pace, taking breaks to engage in interesting topics of conversation or take sips of their drinks. Ryan insists his life is boring, but Magdalene is enthralled by the stories he tells. It’s completely different from hers and she feels as though she can live vicariously through the tales of walking through the historic downs of the east coast and swimming in the Pacific Ocean on days off in California. After squeezing every story possible from the man Magdalene shifts gears slightly.

“So, are you going on the trip in a couple of weeks?”

“It’s looking that way,” Ryan shrugs with relative indifference, “Nate doesn’t think he’ll be able to come back, something about a development camp he’s running having the dates switched. He’s asked me to take his spot.”

His neutral mood confuses her. When Bette mentioned his probable attendance months ago, it sounded like he was enthusiastic about spending a week with friends doing nothing to swimming and drinking. “You don’t want to go?” Magdalene probes.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but sometimes the group parties a little harder than I like to,” he sighs, raising a hand and running it through his hair. That’s something she understands completely, having spent a few too many nights being the sober one out.

“I’ll be there.” It’s Magdalene’s turn to shrug, but the comment holds an incredible amount of hope.

“Well then, that changes everything.”

Was Ryan flirting with her? She spends the rest of lunch thinking about the possibility, and truthfully, it occupies her brain for the rest of the day. However, she keeps her focus and June is none the wiser to the butterflies in her stomach. Work finishes without much fanfare, and her dinner is silent save for the few meows of conversation Caligula offers. It’s late by the time Magdalene falls into bed, cat snuggled into the pillow beside her. On a whim she decides to check Instagram and sees a message request from none other than the man who’s smile has been replaying in her mind. A follow request accompanies it.

Thought that maybe we could quit leaving our meetings to chance and plan something next time :)

He has to be flirting. There’s no other explanation for the witty banter they’ve shared this week, or why he’s reaching out to her on social media. The butterflies in her stomach multiply tenfold as Magdalene types out a reply.

I don’t know, it’s kind of fun being shrouded in mystery. However, I now have the opportunity to stalk your profile ;)

Before she can overthink her use of the emoji, Magdalene shoves her phone in the drawer of her nightstand and rolls over. A slight smile can’t help but appear on her features as she falls asleep, already curious about what his reply will be.

☼☼☼☼

taglist: @scrunchmakar @marcoscandellas @toplinetommy @samsteel @lovethepreds (add yourself to the taglist!)

[titilationexpress]

StarscreamxReader-Sweet Dreams are made of Screams Ch.1

First ever lemon. Please give your input. Reposting from my Ao3.

You haven’t been able to sleep properly for weeks now. And frankly, you’re wondering if you ever will again in your lifetime.

Yet what caused you to have such a problem with something that once came to you so easily? Ok, maybe not easily. No, scratch that. It was never easy. You had to take some sleeping pills every night to even get a few hours in. Still, how did it happen?

Well, the trouble had started back not long ago. In fact, from what you could recall, it hadn’t even been a full month before your ‘problem’ started. See, you were a fairly average individual. You had your quirks, your habits, the little things that make each person an individual. One particular interest you had though was quite specific, and even more, came from a decade long before you were born.

Transformers.

Oh yes, your beginnings were humble when you first started with the franchise, and you looked with wide, awe-filled eyes. Your starting place was where you first discovered it, the one show that will remain in your heart forever. From that, you got into the characters, the story, the lore of what started as a toyline for young boys (though it was clear now that both sexes had a love for it), all of it. And from there, you went on to past and future generations from your starting point, and now, you were a certified Transformers fan! Hell, one of your favorite sites ever is TFWiki.

With this entrance into the fandom, you took to devouring everything that you could: the cartoons and animes, the books, the movies, fanfiction, fanart, fan comics, doujinshi, anything and everything that you could get your hands on, you did. And not long after, you began contributing yourself, drawing, writing, whatever you could to make your stand and have your place in the community. At first, it worked well enough, you weren’t exactly prolific, yet you were doing well enough. You managed to get a few requests for certain things to be drawn/written, believe it or not, but still, you weren’t overly big.

And then came your discovery of the Reader genre.

What is the Reader genre? Why, as far as you were concerned, only one of the greatest genres ever to be conceived! Well, to be more accurate, the form of writing wasn’t anything new, remembering the ‘Choose Your Adventure’ books. It seemed said genre now spread everywhere, you being very aware of the numerous games and dating sims that ranged from well done and engaging to outright ridiculous and stupid (but those were fun in their unique way). And since you didn’t have any knowledge or time to do that, you settled for writing them yourself. Your first piece was a simple Optimus x Reader with the standard plot and standard outcome, which was a declaration of love and a resulting kiss with the Autobot Leader. You were NOT expecting the overflow of response that it had gotten. You were quite shocked, but at the same time, overjoyed. Soon, you decided to try your luck with another one, this one being of Bumblebee, the scenario being mostly the same, albeit with a bit more cutesy fluff, as in your mind, Bumblebee was always the little guy. This one was just as successful, and you beamed, having finally found your calling.

Since then, you were getting requests left and right for more and more choices, all spanning different universes. From the animated cartoons to the comics, different universes, everything that spanned from the most well-known incarnations to the more obscure. It was through these that you managed to get even more into the Transformers multiverse as a whole and even discovered some truly overlooked gems. You opened yourself up to the people and declared that you would write whatever they requested, but you had some taboos that you wouldn’t touch. But any scenario, character, and universe, all of that was fair game.

You had originally begun working on more mundane, typical stories with expected outcomes (but sweet ones nonetheless), yet over time, the requests and your imagination began getting more creative and crazy. Soon, you were delving into several different areas that you had never touched. Elves, goblins, mermaids, vampires, forbidden love, love triangles, all of these were laid at your feet. And while it took a bit to find your rhythm, all of this having come on you so fast, you eventually got it and soon, you had a wide collection of X Reader stories, ranging from G1 to Prime and IDW’s run.

You mainly did Autobots, for you had to admit that writing for them, while they were still complex characters, came somewhat easier for you. True, each of them had their faults and quirks (both from canon and headcanons people had come up with), yet they were still the good guys, and even those with more questionable morality still came out as heroes in the end. But then one day came where you were asked to write about a Decepticon. This threw you for a loop, as, while the thought had intrigued you, you had been writing for good guys for some time, so a total shift in direction was somewhat off-putting and scary. Possibilities of it being too saccharine or sweet, or getting the characters wrong or out of character scared you a bit, yet still, you wanted to test the waters and see if you could do it. And if you could, this would open up so much more for you.

And judging from the input, you had just struck gold yet again.

Soon, not only were you flooded with requests for Autobots, but now their foes were also available, and, as you found out, people had just as much an attraction for the darkness as they did for the light. Again, the same scenarios were implemented, yet now, they had something of a darker edge to them, which allowed you to explore some subjects you couldn’t touch with the Autobots without toning it back somewhat. In a way, the Decepticons provided you with more freedom. Ironic, seeing as Megatron’s motto was “Peace through Tyranny.”

That said, you went through the list of available characters throughout the generations, and so far, those had been garnering quite a following as well, your Autobot and Decepticon stories neck and neck in popularity. Everything seemed to be going well for you.

Then that one question came.

‘Hey, where’s Starscream?’

Then another.

‘Could you write one about Starscream?’’

Then another.

‘Hey, hate to bother you, yet I think that Starscream could use some love here.’

More and more questions and requests for the particular Decepticon filled your messages, and frankly, you were at a loss on what to do. Truth be told, you and Starscream had something of a complicated history. When you had gotten into Transformers, you had heard of the character, yet at first, you never saw why he had gained such a large fanbase. True, he wasn’t a bad character, yet he wasn’t your favorite. But over time, as you wrote more and more for the Decepticons, as well as read X Reader stories from other people, you slowly began to, as one would say, gain an interest in the winged robot. And soon, you found yourself enamored by the smug jerk as well.

But this only made you reluctant to write for him.

True, when you started writing for the Decepticons, you were allowed to experiment with some more intimate and extreme situations, yet with Starscream...it was different. It was hard to explain, yet whenever you got a request to write for him, your brain seemed to seize up. Thoughts came to your head that you had tried to banish, thoughts that came every time you saw the Seeker’s name. You had no idea what was going on or why this was so difficult, yet it seemed the Silver Snake had taken to making your fingers not touch the keyboard.

You had no idea at all. Or at least, that’s what you told yourself.

And since you had gotten the slew of requests, your sleep problems began. The moment you shut your eyes, the scenario began all over again.

…

You needed no introduction to where you were or what you were seeing, it all quite familiar to you now. Around you were towering walls of a silvery mauve color, the only available light from above sparse and leaving several areas coated in darkness. This place was all too familiar, for you had seen it many times in your watching and reading of Transformers.

You were in Decepticon headquarters.

Your dreams had been filled with the base of the enemy faction of the Autobots, and at first, it had shocked you as to why you were here at all. But over time, night after night, you came here, and soon, you grew accustomed to the sight of it. You took on the form of your Transformers persona/OC or remained in your regular, human form, whatever pleased you as if you had some control over this environment. Yet as you grew more familiar (you were never sure if you’d be comfortable), you began to explore the place, finding that, to your surprise, there was no one here. No signs of any sort of life aboard the ship, and while it took a good while, you traveled everywhere you could think of, and still, nothing. No Megatron, no other Decepticons, no one but you had been aboard.

At least, that was what you believed when you first had this dream. Then, you heard it. The voice. His voice.

“Oooh, I’m the Boogie Man,”

Singing, serenading, just loud enough for you to hear, yet low enough for you to know it was far away. It always started this way.

“The terrible, horrible Boogie Man,”

Your ears/audio receptors registered the voice as it echoed throughout the ship. When the dreams had begun, you knew immediately who was singing, and then you were more surprised at how it sounded. Sure, it had its infamous high pitch, yet it wasn’t bad to listen to. Daresay, it was rather enjoyable in its own way.

“I come in the middle of the night and frighten bad little girls like you.”

The first few times you had this dream, it would almost always startle you, yet it led you to look down the other balls and corridors of the ship. The results were always the same though: no one was aboard. No one but you...and him.

“Beware, better have a care,”

The song changed each and every time you entered the dream, tonight being a track you heard on a video game you played not too long ago (Bioshock 2 you believed). Yet the songs always had the same effect on you.

“I’m going to follow you everywhere.”

Despite your trepidation, you wanted...needed to follow it.

“I crawl through the ceiling and the wall and call on bad little girls like you.”

Walking, then running, you traversed the winding path before you, taking several left and right turns, having no sense of direction but that voice. A voice that, despite its infamous sound, held power to it, a siren’s song in a way. Ironic, you thought. Still, you followed, for you had reached your limit. You knew what would happen if you didn’t find him.

“I’ll torture you and hunt you,”

And never leave.

I’ve got you where I want you,”

And never let you escape this dream.

“A victim of my dark and dirty plot.”

And he knew it too. He knew he had power over you. And you hated it.

“And at the slightest whim, I’ll tear you limb from limb,”

Or…

“In other words, I’ll put you on the spot.”

Did you?

“Oooh, I’m the Boogie Man,”

You were close. So dangerously close.

“The terrible, horrible Boogie Man.”

Just a turn around the corner.

“I come in the middle of the night and frighten…”

He paused, you stopping in your tracks at what you saw. There he was. Situated behind violet bars of energy in a cell, the Decepticon stood there with his arms folded and looking upon you with satisfied, hungry red eyes.

“...bad little girls like you.”

It was him.

Starscream.

Your favorite incarnation of Starscream, those ruby orbs boring into your own eyes/optics. You stepped back from the cell, eyes/optics wide at what was before you. Sure, if you were to go by dream logic, some part of you always knew that it was ‘him’ that awaited you at the end of this journey, but still, to actually see him, standing there so casually when it looked like he was locked up, it chilled you. As if he had absolutely nothing to worry about.

“My, my, so you finally found me,” he said, his voice perfectly matching the incarnation that stood before you. “Or rather, I found you. Whichever way it goes, it doesn’t matter,” he smirked. “For I already know the outcome.”

You blinked a few times, still trying to see if who was before you had truly been there. “St…” you began nervously. “Starscream?”

The Decepticon chuckled and stepped out of the shadows, allowing you to fully see him. “In the mesh,” he said. “And I see that introductions won’t need to be made either, will they, Y/N?” your eyes/optics went wide. “That’s right, pet, I know everything. This IS your mind after all.”

“Wh-What?” you stammered. “I don’t understand.”

Starscream’s grin only grew wider. “You will soon. You will understand EVERYTHING.”

Just what was he talking about? From the looks of it, he seemed to be enjoying your tension and trepidation, very amused. Your mind went into fan mode, recalling every fact you had known of Starscream and his various incarnations, which then led to you going on the defensive. “You…” albeit, it took you a try or two. “You’re the one that’s been doing this to me. Giving me these...these weird dreams.” the Decepticon didn’t answer, yet it was clear that he already knew that the secret was out (even if it wasn’t much of one). “You’re also the one that’s not letting me have one decent night’s sleep without being trapped here!”

“Or me serenading you?” he added in. “How do you like it? I don’t do it often, yet if I wish, I can stretch out my vocal components if I want.”

Your cheeks grew hot. Damn, this bastard was already making you too wound up, and you had only gotten a few words in! “Well...I’m here now,” you said, trying to sound confident, and, ironically enough, trying to channel Megatron’s dominating aura. “So, what do you want?”

This didn’t phase him in the slightest. Despite him being the one locked up, you were the one who felt like his prisoner. “I think you already know that dear Y/N,” he said. “But to put it simply, I’m feeling left out.”

You were confused. “Left out?” You asked. “Left out of…” you paused. Indeed, you knew well what he was talking about. “My...my reader inserts.”

Starscream nodded. “Quite an extensive library you’ve built up over time.” He told you. “Though your choices could be much better.” he scoffed. “Of course goody-good Prime would be on the list, along with the rest of the Auto-dolts.” Then he grimaced. “Yet there are those that actually want to FRAG Megatron? Ugh! No taste at all!” He then looked back at you. “You’ve written for everyone, from either faction, of every series,” he then pouted. “But none for me. Truly, Y/N, I’m hurt.”

You felt quite awkward. True, while you were known online for your stories, it was your username and persona they were seeing. They weren’t someone that was right around the corner that could walk in and see you writing these things. While you loved doing it, the thought of your family or friends discovering you wrote in this genre was a thought you dared not entertain, as you swore that you’d die from embarrassment. Thus, you were very careful whenever you did it, your room completely locked tight so you could focus without fear of someone barging in. The only times you left during your writing periods were for bathroom breaks and/or to eat/drink something. It was a big secret...and thinking about it now, it was a secret no more to the most infamous backstabber in all of Transformers. You had been found out.

“Well...so what? Are you going to keep haunting me until I do?” you asked. “You can’t do that!”

Starscream didn’t seem phased by this at all. That damned smirk of his both frustrated and made you excited, a combination that left you very unsure. “Can’t I?” he asked.

You didn’t like his tone. “What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s consider for a moment, Y/N,” he said. “You believe that I’m merely a figment of your imagination, yes? A stubborn thought that is lodged in your subconscious. Am I right?” you shifted a bit, knowing well what he was saying would lead to something else. Something that probably would flip everything on its head. “Well...who’s to say that I am?”

“I...I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t. But what I say might just jog your memory.” he then went on. “In your last X Reader, you spoke of multiple versions of the characters, such as Prime and...yes, even Megatron,” Starscream scoffed. “And how it would’ve been peculiar if they met. Then, one of your readers linked you to a page on the TFWiki.” Starscream then chuckled. “Quite an array of knowledge, I must say. Especially for a primitive species such as yourselves. Anyway, said page spoke of what is labeled as the Transformers Multiverse, which, if I may say, is an excuse for you all to toy with and shape us into what YOU want. But back on track, you did a small amount of research on that, then went on about your business.”

“...and what does this have to do with why you’re here?”

Starscream smirked. “Then, after some time, you went and read the entries of me from various series and incarnations. To get a better feel for what you were thinking of writing. What you wanted to write. Only, you never did.” You were about to speak again, but the seeker spoke again before you could. “There was one detail from my earliest incarnation that spoke of a ‘ghost’, an immortal spark that couldn’t be snuffed out. One that could travel through space and time.” He drew closer to the bars. “And then discovered a way to travel through dimensions. Wherein, I found out all about how so many humans have seen my reality behind a television screen.”

What was he talking about? What did any of what he said mean? It was then that it all clicked for you. Sparks were essentially the ‘soul’ of a Transformer, which Starscream’s was indestructible. You read that he made an appearance in Beast Wars, and had made cameos elsewhere. What was before you right now...mere feet away…” Are you.. “ you stammered. “Are you really…”

The Decepticon nodded. “Yes. Yes, I am, Y/N.”

You were left speechless. No. No, this...this was impossible. It...it couldn’t be him! It couldn’t be the REAL Starscream! He was a cartoon, no, a toy! A damn toy! A toy from the eighties that were made to be marketable to young boys (and the girls that were secretly into it) among several other toys that were made be marketable to young boys (and again, the girls that were secretly into it)! There was NO way he was in your mind right now! He wasn’t real! He wasn’t real! He wasn’t-

“You step out into the chilled air, wrapping your arms around yourself as you do.” the Decepticon suddenly began. “He’s there to pick you up. He’s there to pick you up. You’re both terrified and exhilarated, eager to start the night, but also to make it fly by just enough so nothing embarrassing would happen between the two of you.” your jaw dropped when you heard him say that. How did he- “Know that you recently read over your very first entry? The one that started it all?” he then ‘rolled’ his eyes. “The one that clearly displayed that you had little taste at first?”

Of course, you did! That was from your very first X Reader story! It told of Optimus Prime and you, a human, in a relationship. Odd start, you knew, especially given that Transformer x Human relations was sort of controversial, yet overall, it wasn’t a bad one. Still, the fact he knew that…” No.” you said aloud. “It can’t be.”

He smiled. “I am.”

You stepped back until you hit a wall. “S-Starscream.” you stuttered. “You’re him. You’re the...the real one.” he was quite satisfied with your reaction, you clearly flustered yet cautious at the same time. The sensation drove you mad. But then you remember, this was just a dream! You were just making up all this stuff! You were relieved by this revelation...yet at the same time, you were...curious. Just where would this go if you continued? “Well...well, what are you doing here? What do you want?”

“Exactly as I said before, I feel left out,” Starscream told you. “And considering my popularity in this universe, I’d think me being here should tell you something.”

You knew what he wanted. “You want me to write about you.” it was obvious. “I-I know. I mean, I’ve been wanting to. Really, I have. But...but I...I just…” you sighed. If you knew Starscream (and you had at least a decent enough faith you did), you knew that this could potentially earn you his anger. Yet, to your surprise, he didn’t try to order you around. Instead, he seemed like he already knew you were going to say that.

“You can’t,” he said for you. “Understand, I’m the one in YOUR mind. Thus, you could say, I know everything about you. A perk of being something that, in this universe, started out as a drawing on a piece of paper.” you were confused, this seemed to humor Starscream even more. “Oh, come now. Surely you know that concept art exists, right?”

All of this was so insane for you, yet it was then that you felt the urge to speak up and say something for yourself for once. “Well, if you’re here from the...well, YOUR universe, what are you doing here in the first place?”

“Why, this is one of the few places I win!” Starscream exclaimed. “Of course, when I first came here, I was quite perplexed about how I and many others were known as products from a company called ‘Hasbro’. But overtime, I discovered your version of the internet, and, well, as you flesh bags say, the rest is history.” he then continued, not giving you a chance to speak. “And bring that I am an idea in this universe, I can go freely as I wish, peering into minds,” his red eyes looked upon you. “Become one’s permanent muse or vice versa.”

God, you felt weird. You felt so confused and conflicted. You wanted to sink into the wall to get away, but you also wanted to know more about this. You had to know more. You needed to know more. “So…?”

“So, I’ve come to you, as you’re truly in need of some inspiration,” Starscream said. “As well as some changes in your thinking.”

“Like what? Worshiping the ground you walk on?” you ask, feeling a little bolder.

“Oh, you already do.” he said. “If you didn’t desire me, I wouldn’t be here.” he grinned at your shocked expression. “That’s right, Y/N, I know what truly holds you back from writing about me. Your fears, your anxieties, your loves and lusts.” you had no words. “You fear that you may get me wrong if you will. That I won’t be in character. Or you fear that you won’t be able to satisfy the wants of your readers, as I AM so highly anticipated. Or…” he leaned closer to the bars, the only barrier separating you two. “You fear exploring those more intimate pleasures with me. You’re intimidated and unsure. After all, writing for Autobots is easy, yet us Decepticons are more difficult. But it HAS awakened things in you that you wish to explore on either side. Things that you are dying to let out.”

You had no words, he was completely right. Damn him! The smug bastard knew he had you in the palm of his hand...and yet also probably knew that’s what made you so hot and bothered right now! “So...what? Are you here to force me to write those things with you in them?”

“Dear Y/N, I can’t technically make you do anything,” Starscream told you. “Oh yes, I can stay and torment you night after night until either I pass onto another universe or I grow bored of you, but my reason being here is for both our benefits.”

“How?”

“It’s quite simple,” he said. “We shall go through those scenarios in your head.” his ruby red optics bore into yours/your eyes. “Together.” he then reached out from in between the bars and traced a digit around your jawline. “Believe it or not, I want to help you, Y/N.” his voice was smooth and sultry, something you never expected from a voice like his. “But only you can allow me to do so.” he then stepped back from the bars. “This prison of mine is something you’ve constructed from your fears and insecurities. Allow yourself to embrace what you fear…” he then extended his hand again, yet stepped back as well, sinking into the darkness. “Only then, will you truly be free.”

You were at a standstill. You knew what he wanted, and, to your horror, you were wanting to give it to him. Deny it all you want, this was something that had been in your mind ever since you got the first request for the Seeker. You approached the bars, trying to get some sign that he was still there. Surely he hadn’t left you, had he? No, he hadn’t. He was still there, you could feel him. Watching, waiting, and perhaps, knowing what you would do before you did.

Yet would you do it? Would you bite into that forbidden fruit?

Some while after pondering this question, you looked at the cell, the energy bars vanishing. Why fight it when you could already taste the sweet tartness of said fruit in the back of your throat?

[k1nky-fool]

What? You thought I was just going to be satisfied with 5 very pretty women??? Absolutely not, so ANOTHER ROUND

Pepper-🌙🎵🌠💤🕷️🌌💚✏️

Mystique-🎨🎵🌠💤😭🌱🌌🖍️😨

More Devo!!!!-🎵🚆🌠🥞🌱🌌💚🎁

Your Choice!!! - 🌙🎨🎵🌠🥞🕷️🌌🔥🎁😨 (note that this can be for any of them you can mix and match all of these don't have to be just one character if you think somebody will fit better for a question go for it I love all of them)

I finished this last night, but I wanted to make sure I could format everything right, so here it is!

OC Ask game!

🌙 MOON - what is your oc's greatest wish? how far are they willing to go for it?

Pepper - Honestly, she just wants to see her daughter grow into a powerful, confident, and strong woman. Pepper has her priority list straight. She chose to be a mother to Sketch because she wanted to be, and her daughter is the most important person in her life. She might be employed by Silco, and she might be the closest thing Sevika has to a sister, but she would shoot both of them if she had to choose between either one of them or Sketch.

My Choice! Mania - She wants her fucking planet back. Though, Mania is not under any impression that she can do this alone. She'll stay with whoever is willing and able to help her, and should either their willingness or ability change, she is prepared to find the next person that can help her accomplish her goal, even if it does hurt.

🎵 MUSIC NOTE - what is their playlist like? their favourite artists? do you associate a particular song with them?

Pepper - To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Pepper's playlist is mostly acoustic country music. Mostly the ones about women killing their husbands and destroying the body by dumping it in the pig pen. If I were going to choose a song mostly based on her music taste, I'd say I associate the song Pressure Cracks by Poor Man's Poison is a song I associate with her. But based on my music taste, I tend to listen to Villain by K/DA for her.

Mystique - Very villainous and jazzy vibes for her. She likes songs that make her feel powerful and in control. A song I associate most with her is Yes Mom by Tessa Violet.

Devo - She's a big fan of more swing-like songs. Something that makes her tap her feet and drum along her desk with her pencil. A song I associate with her is Curses by Crane Wives.

My Choice! Sketch - High energy hip-hop/rap. It's one of the biggest disagreements between her and her mom, Pepper. What can I say, she's just a high enenrgy kinda gal. A song for her is Want it Here by Xenia Pax.

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

Pepper - wishes for a fucking break.

Mystique - She'd wish for the death of many people, and to be queen of her own empire, but for now, she'll settle for owning her brothel and keeping her employees safe while they work.

Devo - She wants Grayson back. Devo was only in her care for five years, but she was still the closest person she ever had to a mother. If she can't have her back altogether, just being able to show Grayson how she's grown and what she's accomplished would be enough for her.

My Choice! Minute - Mita also wants a break, but really, she wants to pass her skills down to someone that will actually use them for good. Give them her swords, let them paint her mask, and watch them change the world in a way that she never could.

💤 SLEEPING - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep?

(I'm adding a My Choice to this one because you can't stop me)

Pepper - She is a very light sleeper, largely because she's had to worry about all kinds of dangers for as long as she can remember. Pepper is a very physically affectionate person, so having someone cuddle up with her and fall asleep first helps her sleep a little deeper.

Mystique - She's quite overworked, so usually, she'll fall asleep fast if she's idle for too long. Though, if you're someone she trusts, and you're trying to get her to sleep off some stress, give her a drink, and just stick around to let her know she's allowed to give herself a break.

My Choice! Devo - There's a reason she stays up for so long, and that's because she sleeps heavier than the dead. To get her to actually take a goddamn nap, gently brush her hair, and braid it for her, and if you're close, maybe some cuddles will help.

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

Pepper - There ain't much that scares Pepper, but she is a little superstitious, so anything that looks like some spooky shit is immediately out of the question for her. Though, her biggest fear is ever doing something that hurts Sketch. Which is why she's always as clear as possible with her daughter.

My Choice! Aneliya - She would be lying if she said she wasn't thrilled that there are no roaches on Mars. Though her biggest fear has to be losing her sister, Devora. Liya has committed her life to studying the field of neurocybernetics because she needs to stay one step ahead of Devora's disease. Her worst fear is falling behind and losing her sister because she wasn't good enough.

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

Pepper - I wish I had a long and thoughtful process for the creation of Pepper like I do for some of my other OCs, but I really don't.

Pepper was actually created as part joke, and part challenge. You've probably noticed that characters with southern accents, and a "try be, bitch" attitude are not usually taken seriously. Usually I make the character then decide the type of person they'd fall in love with, but Pepper was created backwards. I saw Silco and tried to figure out what kind of character he would fall in love with. Then I decided I wanted her to have a southern accent, because that idea was just silly to me.

I figured Silco would fall for a woman that wouldn't take bullshit, and would fight him for control until they actually trusted each other. The accent made it easy to build her personality, and that's how we got Pepper.

Mystique - She was actually my first Arcane OC! When I originally made her, I thought she would make a good pairing for Silco, but I got maybe 100 words into that fic before I realized Silco wouldn't trust her if his life depended on it, and I had definitely created an aromatic icon with Mystique.

Mystique was my Mary Sue Self Insert OC, and I'm totally fine with admitting that. I literally made her the way she is because that's who I'd want to be in the Undercity. I'd want to be a powerful brothel owner with a buff girlfriend and a god complex.

I did have a few drafts of Mystique before I eventually landed on my final image of her.

But in the end, I landed on a similar idea, and I'm happy with who she is. I ended up following the color pallet from that second picture.

Devo - The third OC I made for Arcane, but she was the first one I ever made for a specific kind of romance story. Both Mystique and Sketch were just made for the hell of it, but Devo was made to write a romance.

I personally started simping for Viktor, and I also tried to figure out the kind of girl he would fall in love with. The first roadblock I hit with Devo, was realizing that the only way I could write a believable romance with Viktor, was if I focused on making a character before I focused on either of their romantic aspects because that's how the characters are.

I don't have any early drafts of Devo. I seemed to have just hit her right on the mark on the first try. I knew I wanted her to be a scientist like him. I knew the most valuable thing in a relationship for Viktor and Devo would be for their partner to know that their work is the reason they get out of bed. I decided she would be obsessively neat, and somewhat skittish. I wanted her to be quite obviously neurodivergent, probably with both ADHD and Autism. And I knew I wanted her to be from the Undercity. I realized that she and Viktor would have a lot of the same reasons for the choices they make, but that they would always choose to do different things.

Viktor choosing to be an unstoppable force, Devo choosing to be an immovable object. And from there, the two would fall in love.

Fun fact about Devo: I actually stole her name from a different OC of mine. Aneliya's sister is named Devora, and in that story, she is also referred to by "Devo." I just sort of created her. And no other name stuck to her, so now I have 2 Devos.

My Choice! Sketch - She was actually the second OC I ever made for Arcane, and yes, she was just made for the hell of it. It was trying to make a character that was just a while fucking bastard of a girl, and I ended up with Sketch.

She pretty much started and ended in the same place visually, but I'm happy with where she ended up.

I didn't start adding other aspects to her character until I was making other OCs and thinking about other characters. I didn't think of writing her mother until I made Pepper, and realized how similar the two were, so I added a familial tie. I didn't know I wanted her to fall in love with Ekko until I accidentally realized that he was just sort of her dream boyfriend, and I left that open for her to be friends with Scar. I didn't know I wanted her to be trained by Mita and be her successor until I realized that Mita would definitely be the one to take care of Ekko after Benzo died, and therefore might see that Sketch, Ekko and Scar could make a good change in the world. And from there I was able to add to both Pepper and Sketch's stories.

But Sketch was honestly a very simple OC to make. She just sort of writes herself.

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

Pepper - There's something to be said about how comfortable any one person can make her feel. It's very rare that someone shows her enough loyalty for her to trust them at all, but when she does, it's not hard to make her comfortable with witty banter or an intimate conversation.

Devo - A few asks ago, I mentioned that her love language was Quality Time. That's still how to make her the most comfortable. Honestly, the best thing you can do to make her comfortable is be her body double. Let her work, and obsess over what she's doing, maybe listen when she wants to rant about her special interest, and she'll listen to you rant about yours. When you know she needs some sleep (see, 💤) gently brush and braid her hair and offer some cuddles, and she's sleepy putty in your arms.

✏️ PENCIL - is there a particular quote / lyric that you associate with them?

Pepper - We could just walk away, or save it for another day. And if this feeling grows at all, we can just step back and watch the castle fall.���...】Throw it away. Make your move and then make my day. (Pressure Cracks by Poor Man's Poison).

🎨 PALETTE - can they draw? what do they like to draw?

Mystique - She is not very talented in the visual arts area, so she doesn't really draw. Though, I will say, she occasionally doodles little animals on the margins of her paperwork.

My Choice! Maeko - She isn't the type to take her artistic talents very seriously, but she likes to draw various flowers and leaves with Kazu, and he likes to try figuring out what real plant is closest to what she drew. It's just a fun little activity they do to pass the time, and she's gotten pretty good at drawing plants because of it.

😭 CRYING - what makes them cry? do they cry easily?

Mystique - It takes a lot of pressure to make her cry, but one thing that will always make her cry with guilt is failing to protect one of her employees. Owning a brothel is hard work, and her first concern is always making sure the sex workers under her watch are safe. It doesn't happen often because she takes detailed care of her employees, but when even one falls through the cracks, it never hurts any less.

🌱 SEEDLING - what is their most vivid memory from childhood?

(Warnings: Devo's mentions childhood abuse, and how I go about writing it. This is your first warning, but if at any time you feel you aren't in a place to finish reading it, then I will be happy with your choice.)

Mystique - Her realizing that she was aromantic. She was maybe twelve, and a friend of hers was trying to ask her if she had a crush on anyone, and Misty had no idea what he was talking about. She had never felt the way he described a crush feeling like, and when she asked her older friend, she just said that not everyone feels the same about romance in their life, and if she didn't feel any kind of romantic attraction to anyone, then she might be aromantic. It made sense to her, and that hasn't changed, even well into her adulthood.

Devo - Memories from her childhood are not great, and I'm still trying to find a way to write about her past experiences with her trauma in a respectful and impactful way. Usually I settle on writing a balance between how that experience affects her life, and I choose to focus on how she's recovered and how she's found out how to live her life without letting her abuser define her life. I do that by not giving them any identification or details about that time in her life, only showing it from her perspective of recovery. Because that was a detail in my own life that I want others to treat with respect in their stories. I'm trying to lead by example to other writers regardless of who actually follows me.

That being said, the only thing from Devo's childhood that stands out in her own mind, is her standing in front of her old house in the undercity, watching it go up in flames at the age of sixteen. It was the last connection to her abuser that someone might find, and watching it be reduced to ash in a violent rage was like a world of weight being burned off her shoulders, and keeping her warm as she slept peacefully in her new home in Piltover.

🖍️ CRAYON - what advice would you give to them?

Mystique - Not everyone is out to get you. Yes, it's good to be cautious, but that doesn't mean you should ignore the signs of kindness from good people.

😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"?

Mystique - She is well aware that she does not have the strength or ability to fight. Even her choice of smoke bombs are chosen to aid her escape from threats.

My Choice! Mania - Almost always fight. Physical threats are always only ever fixed with a fight, and she will usually get defensive if she suddenly starts feeling emotionally vulnerable.

🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem?

Devo - As far as philosophy goes for Devo, she considers herself a Moral Particularist. She believes there are no set moral rules that can actually apply to every situation, so it depends on the conditions of the trolley problem itself.

If it is the basic trolley problem, she would try to minimize the total amount of suffering, and switch the track to only hit one person, making the utilitarian argument. If she knew the one person, depending on her relationship with that person, like if they were someone she loved, she might opt to show loyalty to them and leave the track to kill the five people. If it were the scenario where she's a doctor and has to save five people with the organs of one healthy person, killing them, she would say no, that a doctor has taken the Hippocratic Oath and has sworn to do no harm.

My Choice! Mania - Obviously the biggest dilemma is trying to figure out how to kill all six people, so Mania would switch the track to one side, but switch it back to the other side before the back wheels of the trolley could change tracks, causing the trolley to slide down both tracks at the same time, therefore killing all six people.

🥞 PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast?

Devo - She usually doesn't wake up until lunch time, so her breakfast is usually just lunch. But if she's in particular need of comfort, she likes to make some fried chicken.

🎁 PRESENT - what types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

(Devo, My choice)

Devo - Something handmade, and personal. Something about receiving an object that was brought into existence with her in mind makes her very happy.

My Choice! Ceka - Anything that might remind her of her home and family on Shili. It's not uncommon for Togrutas to feel a deep connection to their home planet, and it's normal to see them feeling homesick every once in a while. So if you could find some food from Shili, or a piece of jewelry from her tribe, she would feel very appreciated and understood.

🔥 FIRE - do they have any self destructive tendencies? what habits do they have that hinder them from becoming their best self?

My Choice! Minute - I hope it's obvious that the main character flaw for Mita to grow out of in Least Sane Moments, is her trust issues. I give all my characters a flaw they need to learn from by the end of their story, but hers is the most obvious.

Minute needs to learn to let herself be vulnerable, because when she actually does love someone, when the time comes for her to be open and vulnerable, she recoils in fear that they might use it against her. If someone does love Mita, then they definitely need to have patience with her. It will take a long time for her to let her guard down, but it will take a lot of work and patience.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Iron 10 (Peter Parker x Fem!Oc)

Words:  3, 238

Masterlist

Chapter 9

"And how am I supposed to learn to control them if they forbid me to do anything?" Lily asks from the back seat.

“We’ll talk to your father. Depending on what happens, we’ll send them the necessary equipment,” informs Fury.

"Depending on what happens?"

"Legal aspects.”

"As which?"

"Lily, one problem at a time," Nat interrupts.

“Fine. Where are we going?"

"Do you want a donut?"

"Sure!"

The van pulls up outside the Randy’s Donuts store, Fury comes out. They both look at him from inside the car. Tony’s sitting on the huge donut.

"Why did we come for him?” She grits her teeth, remembering the annoyance towards her father.

"You two should talk," Nat says.

"I don’t want to.”

"If you want us to help you, that is the condition.”

Lily turns away from the window and folds her arms looking at the redhead.

"You didn't say anything about conditions.”

"Now there are.”

"It's not fair,” She sighs and then looks at Nat's outfit. "Why do you wear that? Is it your super spy uniform?"

 "Something like that. You like it?"

“You look weird, but I like it. Do you have weapons or explosives?"

“Perhaps."

The agent receives an order from her intercom. She responds and returns to the girl.

"Come on, I'll buy you a donut."

They both get out of the truck and enter the premises. Nat asks Lily a chocolate donut and walks to the chairs where Tony and Fury are, while the girl takes the donut from her and sits in an armchair away from them, with her back to them.

"Huh!" Tony says when he sees Natasha in a new outfit "You're... fired.”

"That's not up to you,” answers the redhead sitting down.

"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff,” adds Fury.

“Hi."

"I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. shadow. Once we knew you were ill or out of control, I was tasted to you by Director Fury. Besides taking care of your daughter in risky situations,” She tilts her head towards Lily.

Tony frowns and looks away to meet the little girl, eating a donut while she swings her legs. He goes back to the redhead.

"I suggest you apologize,” answers Tony.

"You've been very busy," continues Fury. “You made your girl your CEO, you’re giving away your stuff, you neglect your daughter without taking into account the high priority over her powers, you let your friend fly way with your suit. Now, if I did’nt know better—”

 Tony rolls his eyes. Again, someone else scolding him for whatever stupid thing he does. Although he now knows that he did screw up, he doesn't want to hear it again. He has enough with his own mind.

"You don't know better. I didn’t give it to him. He took it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, He took it?" asks Fury. “You’re Iron Man and he just took it? The Little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit?" He says. “Is that possible?"

“Well, according to Mr. Stark’s database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage,” answers Nat.

Tony snorts.

"What do you want from me?"

“What do we want from you? Uh-uh,” Fury says as Natasha gets up. “What do you want from me? You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe,” He scolds him.

In that, Natasha injects something into Tony making him scream. The conversation is overheard by Lily, but only when he complains does she turn around.

"Oh, god, are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?" Tony asks.

Natasha moves Tony's head and Fury sees the lines on Stark's neck slowly disappear.

Fury explains what the substance they just injected does to him.

“Give me a couple of boxes of that. I'll see right as rain."

"It's not a cure, it just abates the symptoms,” Nat explains.

"You need to get back to work, Stark," Fury says and Tony sighs. "And by Stark, I mean both," He points back.

Lily realizes that he sees her and turns away.

 "I don't think she wants to work as a team now."

“She has her reasons. You are a terrible companion.”

***

They all return home to Malibu. Tony and Nick sit on the terrace, now destroyed. They both talk about the reactor, the technology that Howard Stark couldn't finish, and about Vanko father and son.

Fury takes it upon himself to explain everything to Tony, while Lily returns from her room after making sure that no one had destroyed her. Nat had told him what happened with Rhodes and Tony.

The little girl walks to sit on the stairs that lead to the terrace, listening to the adults.

“You told me I hadn't tried everything. What do you mean I haven’t tried everything? What haven’t I tried?" Tony points out.

"He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started.”

"He said that?"

“Are you that guy? Hmm? Are you? ‘Cause if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart. Or maybe, I should be discussing this with your daughter."

Tony winces and shakes his head. Lily frowns.

"I don't know where you get your information, but he wasn't my biggest fan," says Tony.

"I'm not either," adds Lily, resting her chin on her arm. Tony glances at her.

"What do you remember about your dad?"

This catches the girl's attention.

 “He was cold, he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. He never even told me he liked me, so it’s a Little tough for me to digest then you’re telling me he said the whole future was riding on me an’s passing it down. I don't get that."

Hearing that, Lily feels a little sorry for Tony. Only a little. She imagines how  could be her grandfather when Tony was her age.

"You're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding School.”

"That’s not true.”

"Well, then, clearly you knew my dad better than I did.”

“As a matter of fact, I did. You can believe and think many things about him, but knowing all that, do you really want Lily to think the same about you?" says Fury and then finishes his drink. More agents appear to drop off several suitcases. "Well then, what else will I know about one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

"What?"

All three get up. Lily walks over to see the suitcase.

"What’s this?" Tony asks pointing at her.

"You got this, right?" asks Fury.

"Got what? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to get,” answers Tony nervously.

“Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover of her intact. And you remember Agent Coulson, right?"

“Yeah."

They both greet each other.

 "Oh, and Tony,” says Fury before leaving. "After you fix this whole mess, we should talk about Lily's new training, she needs it more than you do. And remember, I got my eye on you.”

The latter makes Lily laugh.

Natasha and Coulson explain to Tony what to do and what not to do, while Lily walks over to the suitcase.

Property of H.Stark

"Okay, time to work, Kid," says Tony.

“No," Lily walks away. "We've been together for several hours and you haven't even apologized, and now you're just hoping that I'll help you?"

Tony raises an eyebrow, shifting uncomfortably.

“Basically."

Lily looks at him in disbelief.

"I don't want to, I won't help you,” She says and then returns to her room.

***

The truth is that Lily does want to help him, but she knows he doesn't deserve it. Moreover, she cannot be alone in her room doing nothing. She wants to know what’s in that suitcase, but she doesn't want Tony to find out about her.

An idea crosses her mind. She may not be the stealthiest, but she is the only thing she has. She goes into the living room of her destroyed house and presses the hidden button on the emergency elevator that goes alone to the workshop. She enters it and after a few seconds arrives at the workshop.

 All the lights are off and Tony is sitting in an armchair facing a projection. Lily sneaks up behind the old project.

They both watch the old Howard Stark tapes, rehearsing the presentation of what is now Stark Expo. The man has several mistakes with words, but something else calls him the attention to the girl. Just as a little boy comes out the other side of the desk where Howard presents a model. The boy takes one of the pieces and Howard notices.

“Tony, what are you doing back there? What is that? Put that back!” He scolds him.

Lily leans in to get a better look at the boy version of her father. Now she can see the resemblance between Howard and Tony when scolding their children, but is also fun to watch.

Several takes with more errors follow.

“So, from all of us at Stark Industries, I’d like to personally show you my ass,” says Howard. Lily can't help but laugh at his words, giving away her presence. Although Tony had listened to her since she arrived.

"I know you're in there, kid. You're too curious to miss this,” She comes out of her hiding place, crawling on the ground until she reaches the other side of the projector.

"I'm still mad.”

Tony sighs.

"I know,” He leans in the chair and sets aside a notebook.

“Tony," says Howard causing both of them to return to the screen. “You’re too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put this film for you. I built this for you. And Someday you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people’s inventions. It represents my life’s work. This is the key to the future,” He shows the model and the reactor. “I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation… is you,” The tape ends.

 "Do you think Grandpa Howard would love me?" Lily asks when the lights come on.

Tony laughs when he hears ‘Grandpa Howard’, he’s sure he wouldn’t like to be called that.

"I don’t know. Maybe he would love you more than me,” He looks at Lily.

"I am more adorable than you.”

Tony nods, unable to fight back. He sighs. He thinks about the words of his father and wonders why he was never like this with him when they were together. Why does he have to find out about this from a tape or from other people? Then he thinks of his own daughter and Fury's words come back to him.

Tony doesn't want Lily to grow up thinking that he was worse than Howard, he knows what he did.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you that day," He begins.

"And?" She says crossing her arms.

"And sorry for what you had to witness at the party.”

"And?"

Tony purses his lips.

“I'm sorry I failed you. I shouldn't have left you alone, or yell at you, or lie to you.”

"Nat told me that your chest was killing you,” He nods. "Didn't it occur to you to ask for help?"

“It is somewhat complicated. When you say that you are dying, everyone panics.”

"But then they help you.”

 "I guess so.”

Lily feels a lump in her throat. Just remembering that, she again feels afraid of losing her father without even knowing something about what was really going on.

"I don't like that you hide things from me or lie to me," she says with a broken voice.

“Sorry."

"No, you must promise that you won’t do it again,” she interrupts him.

Tony watches Lily's determination.

"I promise.”

“Mr. Fury said we are a team. You must do your part,” she says as she gets up.

"Mr. Fury?"

"Dad!"

"Okay, okay, I got it!” He argues. In that he remembers an unfinished business. Tony stayed for a moment in the destroyed mansion and as he passed through the kitchen he saw a burned box on the sides.

He walks over to his desk with Lily following him. He removes the remains from the box and carefully takes the gift from him.

"It's a good try…”

"But you didn't even open it," she complains.

"I'm sorry, but you were missing some details.”

Lily rolls her eyes.

 "I put it together by watching a video, it's not as if you had explained each part to me.”

“That can change. Do you remember the rules we agreed upon the first time you were in the workshop?" She nods. “Forget the question limit. From now on, you must ask.”

Lily can't help but smile.

“Agree."

"So, are we good now?"

"Yup, but if you do something wrong, I'll tell Mr. Fury to scold you again."

"He didn't scold me," He complains.

"Whatever you say. Now what shall we do?"

Tony sighs and then winces.

“I must go to Pepper, stay here and cover me with the secret agents. I will not be late.”

"Good luck.”

***

After a few hours, Tony returns with the demo that his father had shown on the tapes. He arms it on various tables.

“Cool," says Lily approaching.

Tony orders Jarvis to scan every detail so he can manipulate it, he takes the hologram and moves it away from the table.

“Open your eyes wide, Kid. The answer to our problems is here,” says Tony giving her a bench and he sits on another. They both look at the model.

"What do we have to look for?"

"A new element.”

“Easy," she says sarcastically.

"My father put it here, we just have to move some things,” He brings the projection towards the center, a sphere.

"He must have something at the core," Tony whispers.

Lily sees what is around.

"What if…?”

"What?"

"What if we put everything together?"

Tony frowns, but an idea crosses his mind.

Little by little, Tony is gathering the important aspects towards the center of the Expo and in each step, he’s explaining Lily. In the end he manages to find a new element, the possible solution to the problem of intoxication.

"Dead for almost twenty years, and still taking me to school,” He says watching his creation. "Nice work, Kid.”

She smiles.

"How will you make it work?" She asks.

"Unfortunately, it’s impossible to synthesize," reports Jarvis.

Tony gets up from his chair.

“Get ready for a major remodel, fellas! We're back in hardware mode. C’mon, kid.”

Between Lily and Tony - mostly Tony - they break down some walls, open the floor and use any energy source in the mansion to connect it to the workshop part. They both open some boxes that S.H.I.E.L.D left them and use every material they have on hand.

"Hold the lamp," Tony tells her.

"It's what I'm doing,” Lily claims while she also tries to see what Tony is doing.

"More to the right.”

"What does that do?"

“Gives more energy. Bring the lamp closer…”

In the meantime, neither of them notices that Phil walks into the shop.

"I heard you broke the perimeter,” says the agent.

"Whoops" says Lily.

"Uh, yeah. That was, like, three years ago. Where have you been?" Tony answers.

"I was doing some stuff.”

"Yeah, well, us too, and it worked.”

Coulson checks the boxes. He pulls out some kind of unfinished shield.

"What’s that?" asks Lily.

“It’s exactly what we need to make this work. Lily, take it,” She obeys. "Lift the coil,” He says to Coulson and between them they lift it up a bit. Enough for Lily to put it under. Tony sets the leveler. “Perfectly level. I'm busy what do you want?"

 Coulson warns him that he must go on another mission and says goodbye.

"Glad to see you are a part of it, Lily.”

"It was not easy,” she answers making him laugh.

The hours pass and they both go back to work. In the end, Tony gives Lily some special glasses and explains what they will do.

The energy is concentrated in the device.

"Initializing prismatic accelerator," reports Jarvis. Suddenly a fine laser is projected and reflected off a material.

"Get behind me,” Tony orders him.

Stark operates the machine with the laser, but not before cutting part of the wall where he directs it.

"Oh oh.”

“Oops!"

With difficulty, the laser reaches the small inverted triangle that Tony prepared so that the power would be trapped there. After a few minutes, they turn off the machine. Tony approaches and with tweezers takes the triangle and puts it in the reactor. The item’s accepted.

"We did it?" Lily asks.

“We did it."

She sighs in relief, right now she feels the exhaustion. She walks over to the couch and sits on it.

"Wake me up when we're in trouble," she warns him.

"Why would we be in trouble?"

 "Rhodey says we have that talent.”

"Makes sense.”

In that a beep is heard.

"Incoming call and with a blocked number, sir,” warns Jarvis.

“My phone privilege is reinstated. Lovely. Kid, we have the phone back!"

“Great," she answers from the couch.

"Coulson. How’s the land of enchantment?"

"Hey. Tony. How you doing?” The voice is unknown to Lily so she settles in the chair and leans out. "I doubled cycle."

"You what?"

“You told me double cycle’s more power. Good advice.”

"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy.”

"What?" whispers Lily. She gets up and walks over to Tony. He makes a sign so that she doesn't make noise.

"You too,” answers the man.

Tony removes his microphone from the call.

"Trace him,” he orders Jarvis.

“Now, the true history of Stark name will be written. Your secrets will be revealed at any moment."

"What is he talking about, dad?"

Tony ignores her and keeps checking the call.

 “What your father did to my family over forty years, I will do to you in forty minutes and I will make sure your offspring disappear. I hope you're ready,” He says, and then hangs up.

Tony sees Justin Hammer's announcement at Stark Expo on another screen, and based on the coordinates of the call, Vanko may have something planned for the event. He gets up and takes the new reactor.

"Dad?"

Stark replaces the reactor in his chest, after coughing a bit, the man feels the difference.

"Time to go,” He says walking towards his armor.

"Hey! No. You promised—”

"I have to go, Lily."

“But, you must tell me what happens. You promised not to lie to me,” She gets in her way. He sighs.

"Vanko, the man who tried to kill me in Monaco, wants to do something at the Expo and I have to stop him.”

“What does he plan to do?"

"I'm not sure. You must stay here. I'll talk to Fury about sending agents here. Turn on the TV, I'm sure they'll put it on,” He continues on his way.

“Dad," He turns again. "Be careful, please.”

Tony smiles and nods.

"Stay in the workshop in case I need your help.”

"You got it.”

Taglist:

@silenthappyplace​​ @yourbonesareinmybody​ @aylauwuuniverse    @skittles-skittles​ @hufflepuffzutara​ @poetryislife0715 @21bruhs​ @heavenlymistakes​ @my-love-of-books​ @dielgonacoffee​

[dlfbjtr]

day 1; journey

for @oc-growth-and-development in the #oc-tober event!

wc: 1.3k, format: small chapter, genre: bittersweet fluff??, characters: lancia bythe / kalen spinster (mentioned: hart chamberlaine, catalina farona, marcellus sallow, armani baxter, rhea spinster)

There was a soft breeze, rustling his hair, and the faint smell of seawater carried over him. Kalen blinked and pulled himself out of the sand awkwardly, one limb at a time, shaking grains of it out of his hair. His eyes focused onto the beach in front of him, and he distantly wondered how long he had slept. Probably not long. Sleep never came to him well, and when it did, it always came hand-in-hand with nightmares.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

He was already rolling his eyes. “Shut up.”

“Here,” Lancia settled beside him, passing a bottle of water. “Hydrate.”

Kalen looked at her, sideways, amused. “When have you ever told me to hydrate? I do recall those moments where you’ve gotten blood noses from not drinking enough water—”

“Yeah well there’s no need for you to broadcast that to the world,” she grumbled, green eyes flashing in humour. “Did you sleep well?”

Words caught up in his throat — no he didn’t sleep well, he imagined her body in his arms as her life drained out of it and hart was yelling instead and then suddenly it was hart who was dying and lancia who was yelling — but he simply shrugged, because there was no need to say all that. All he said was, “somewhat.”

And Lancia understood. She understood because she did the same thing, because that one scene was forever burned into their memory.

“Okay,” she smiled, and brushed some sand off his face. “Should we head in?”

“One sec,” he stretched, looking up at the sky. There was no sun, surprisingly since this was the beach, but then again, they had picked a place where it was infamous for its huge rainfall. So the sky was cloudy, and Kalen wished it would rain. Maybe get rid all the excess sand that was grinding at his skin while pouring would be great.

“Alright,” he decided with a soft sigh, looking up at his companion who was already standing. “Pull me up.”

“You’re the stronger one out of the two of us.”

He raised an eyebrow. “So what?”

She laughed, the sound soothing the knot heavy on his chest, and she pulled him up. Kalen shook off most of the sand, rapidly shaking his head back and force as Lancia patted off the rest on his back.

“This is why you don’t sleep on the beach.”

“I had a towel.”

“Mmm,” she didn’t look convinced, “c’mon. Back to the motel.”

Kalen picked up his makeshift bed — a white towel — and followed her closely. She paused, and Kalen was about to ask if there was something wrong when she threaded her fingers with his and tugged him along the road. He sighed, but she knew it was in good nature. After all, he was the one who was keeping the tighter grip.

They reached the pavement, a car going busily past them on the road, when Lancia’s hand squeezed his. Kalen rubbed circles onto the back of her hand to show that he was there, and she gave him a fleeting smile over her shoulder.

He sped up his pace to meet hers, arriving beside her. “So,” he mused, “I wonder how Catalina’s faring with the department.”

“She’s doing fine,” Lancia smiled. “She’s a tough one to crack.”

“Think they’ve got new recruits?”

“What, in the VCHPD? No, not yet.” Her eyes seemed far away. “Not after what happened.”

“What happened?”

“Oh shut up, you know.”

Kalen allowed a small matching smile on his own lips, and he intuitively reached out to brush sand out of her hair. “Yeah,” he murmured, “way too much happened.”

“Can you believe,” she suddenly said, “that we’re not even eighteen yet? That’s absurd. I feel like a thirty year old, damn it.”

“I feel like I’m forty,” he replied dryly, “because I’m always taking care of you idiots.”

Lancia was the one who rolled her eyes this time, but her smile dimmed. “Yeah.”

Kalen sensed her discomfort. He cleared his throat, and said, “we should make instant ramen today.”

At the mention of their late friend’s favourite food, Lancia snorted and gave him a bump of her shoulder. “It’s unhealthy,” she emphasised. “Remember? It’s not a good thing to eat.”

“We’re on a road trip,” Kalen let go of her hand to throw the arm around her shoulders, “we can eat shit stuff once in a while. Plus, we need to do something for Marcellus or he’ll throw a fit down in hell.”

She chuckled. “Heaven.”

“Hell.”

“Heaven.”

“He’s the greatest liege down there, I’m telling you.”

“He saved your life.”

“Well I saved his.”

“He still saved your life.”

“Well,” Kalen pulled her closer, keeping his eyes trained forwards. “You saved both our lives, and we’re both eternally grateful. In fact, I think you’re the only one going into heaven out of all of us.”

Lancia laughed again, and Kalen smiled. She leaned into him, and he only moved his arm into a more comfortable position. They were past the stages of puppy love, pining, and even passionate love. They skipped past those — a waste of time, Kalen thought in retrospect — and all they needed was comfort and home. They were each other’s anchors, ironically or not. They just needed each other to be there, and that’s all.

That’s their love.

“Where to next?” Lancia murmured.

And to think they got off to a rocky start, Kalen hummed. “Say that again?”

“Lost in thought?” She smiled, and it was warm. Kalen always liked her smiles. “I said, where do you want to go next? I think we’ve spent enough time at the beach.”

“You just don’t like it here,” Kalen raised his eyebrows.

“Hush,” she pulled her lips to a side in a lopsided smile, “you can’t go around spilling my secret everywhere.”

Kalen chuckled. “What about Cecile? That town nearby? I heard it’s got good food and sightseeing stuff to do.”

“Cecile it is,” she relaxed into his body as they waited for a red light to turn green. “I like this.” At Kalen’s questioning look, she elaborated, “I like how we can just make it up as we go. I think I’ve got enough structure and protocol for at least ten lifetimes.”

Kalen stole a quick kiss to her forehead, making sure not too many people were around. They weren’t big fans of public affection. “Then I’ve got enough for twenty.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. “We should get something for Armani.”

“A souvenir? That kid’s got enough small objects for ten lifetimes.”

“Yeah, but we’re nice.”

“Are we?”

“Kalen!”

“Fine, fine.” Kalen wrinkled his nose. “But you’re paying.”

“Obviously,” Lancia rolled her eyes, “because you’d end up buying weird stuff for your siblings.”

He startled. “Wait, I do need to buy stuff for them! Shit, Rhea’s going to kill me if I come home empty handed.”

“Then we’ll just need to arrange funeral details—”

“Shut up.”

“Love you too,” she smiled.

He scoffed. “Fine.”

As they crossed the street, Kalen realised he didn’t want this road trip to end. He wanted to spend as much time as he could with Lancia because he didn’t know when they wouldn’t be able to spend time together like this ever again. The human life was fragile, as they recently learned the hard way, but that was what made it more precious. Kalen subconsciously tightened his hold over Lancia’s shoulders, but she didn’t seem to mind. They were all prone to losing themselves into their whirlwind of thoughts. Kalen thought it showed them that they felt safe, otherwise they’d all be stiff and tight strung all the time.

“We’re going to keep driving?”

Lancia understood instantly, and not for the first time, Kalen was grateful for her stupidly intelligent genes. “Yeah.” She straightened her spine. “We’re going to keep driving until someone calls us.”

No one called them for the next eight months, not unless they were checking in. At their ten month mark of the road trip, they decided to head back. There was a police department to run, criminals to catch, gravestones to meet. Although both wished for their trip to be extended, they knew they couldn’t run from their responsibilities forever.

And so their journey of a holiday came to an end.

[lancearcherinrippedjeans]

Eternity

**********

I know some of you are probably like "What happened to ICBTE bro?" It's in the fanfic cemetery never to be spoken of again <3

But WELCOME to the new multi part fic Eternity where we follow OC's Veronica Rodriguez, Sawyer Holden and Nova Jay throughout their AEW career

**********

Starring - Tony Khan, Kenny Omega, WARHORSE and of course, the OCs (also a small appearance from Madi Wrenkowski )

Word Count - 2,385

Category - Fluff, friendship, mentions of past romance

Part 1/?

Summary - Sawyer, Veronica and Nova wanted nothing more than to "make it". When they have a chance to main event with TK and Kenny Omega sitting front row, how will it go?

other author's notes - keep in mind, me and @adriii-omega wrote this in a day. there might be spelling mistakes, it might not make sense, trust the process <3 and YES a good portion of this is the ACTUAL match.

**********

“Yes Bullet Club is for life, but we’re Eternity.”

“Nova, Veronica, Sawyer you’re on in 10!” The producer yelled, knocking on the door of the dressing room. Though it wasn’t a dressing room, more like a closet. “We’ll be there in a second, damn!” Yelled Sawyer, trying to get her gear on in the tiny corner.

“It would be nice if they gave us an actual dressing room like the guys or something.” Veronica mumbled, pulling on her gear pants. Nova and Sawyer agreed. There could be thousands of dressing rooms, but they always got stuck in a janitor’s closet. “Could you imagine all three of us in our own private dressing rooms?” Nova fantasized as she tied her left boot.

The group of three had always had dreams, as small as a dressing room, to as big as being on the greatest stage of them all. But for now, a janitor’s closet, a couple bucks a night, and a high school gym would satisfy them.

“I got extra tips at the diner today so we can go out to eat after the show this time.” Sawyer announced, smiling towards Veronica, who had just told Sawyer about her craving for a milkshake earlier that day. “Oh thank God, the family I babysat for today only paid nine bucks for FIVE hours.” Nova complained, touching up her makeup.

“Nine?!” “Yeah, spoiled little white kids, AGAIN.”

Veronica and Sawyer chuckled, walking out the janitor’s closet, Nova following close behind.

The three friends had so much in common, but were so different. Like Sawyer for example, the tallest of the three and by far the smartest. She wasn’t afraid to take a bump in front of 10 people or 10,000. She would do whatever it took to make sure she ended up as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time.

Veronica, one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. Most people would call her a submission specialist, but making someone tap was just all in a day's work for her. She’ll do anything to put on the most entertaining match anyone in the crowd has ever seen, even if it’s acting like she almost died.

Nova however, was definitely a person who was ready to put on a show, taunts, hyping up the crowd and “OMG” moments were her specialty. She has gotten injured doing those special moves, many times, but she always got back up and showed out to put on the best performance.

All three of them had a purpose and decided they would stick together to reach it.

The whole roster was fond of how close they were. Others envied their success on the independent scene - except one of their closest friends, Warhorse. He was going to be on Dynamite tomorrow` to challenge Cody for his TNT Championship, but tonight, he was at the show, watching the trio wrestle.

They were walking closer to the “stage”, when he stopped them. “You will not believe who’s here!” Sawyer groaned, “Jake you know I hate guessing games so can you jus-”

“Tony Khan and Kenny Omega.” Their jaws dropped. “THE owner and EVP OF AEW?” Nova questioned. Veronica’s palms started to get sweaty. “Why are they here? I don’t even want to be here; there is no way the ACTUAL Kenny Omega and Tony Khan are sitting in a high school gym.” She wiped her hands on her pants and crossed them over her chest. “You don’t believe me? Well you guys will see in about an hour or so.” Warhorse smirked.

“We’re going out now, dipshit.” Sawyer insulted. Nova and Veronica laughed, but Warhorse had more to say, “Didn’t you hear? You guys have been bumped to the main event since the rich guys are out there.”

Suddenly calm, cool and collected Sawyer had her jaw to the floor. “Sawyer?” Nova whispered, shaking her friend's shoulder. “I can’t fly high and be energetic for the last 30 minutes of the show! I’ll break something or pass out!”

Veronica giggled at her friend’s nonsense, “You’ll be fine. C’mon, let's go watch the matches.”

Nova, Veronica and Sawyer sat by a monitor, watching the last few matches before their main event match. They were enjoying some of the two newer wrestlers face off when a hand slammed down on a table. They looked up and saw Madi Wrenkowski, fuming.

“They CUT my match so you guys could have your dumb main event.”

Sawyer held back laughter while Veronica spoke up, “Well it’s not our fault, we didn’t find out till five minutes ag-” “You think you’ll be big cause of a few matches? No way. Just stick to the janitor’s closet.” Madi scoffed, storming off.

“A few 5 star matches to be fair!” Nova called out, receiving a high five from her friends. It had been like this for a while, Madi going off on how she was “better”, but mean girls were SO high school.

They all took a deep breath, knowing it was their time to main event.

When the three reached the gorilla position. They saw Warhorse standing by the curtain waiting for them. Everyone was pretty happy that they got the opportunity to perform for someone like Kenny Omega, but deep down inside Veronica, Sawyer, and Nova knew that they deserved to be in the main event spot a long time ago.

“You three are going to kill it.” Warhorse smiled at his friends. He wondered how cool it would be to see them all in AEW at one time. “Thanks Jake.” Nova said. Sawyer was standing at the curtain, waiting for her cue.

“Say, bitch, I don’t wanna talk.”

Realer by Megan Thee Stallion blasted off the gym walls. The couple hundred of fans there jumped out of their seats to show their love for Sawyer, though she wasn’t supposed to be having such a loud reaction. She walked down the entrance way stopping at a young child who had their hand out for a high five. Sawyer went over to make it seem like she was about to, but smoothly pushed her hair back instead- flipping off the parents as well. As she got in the ring she took a quick scan to look for Kenny and Tony. She spotted them front and center in the front row she gave a sly smirk and went to one of the corners of the ring.

“TOOONIGHTTTTT-“

Nova shot out of the curtain while 24K Magic by Bruno Mars played in the gym. The crowd was also feeling the song as they got up and grooved. Even Tony Khan was bobbing his head along. Nova walked down to the ring, pep in her step. She gave people in the crowd high fives and hugs. She entered the ring and tried to get Sawyer to dance along, but backed away when Sawyer stood over her, glaring and clenching her fists. She walked over to her corner, climbing up to the second turnbuckle, waving at the whole crowd.

“I fly with the stars in the skies…”

Veronica pushed her black shades on as she smoothly walked through the curtain as “Moment 4 Life” by Nick Minaj came on the speakers. It was a perfect song to describe how she felt as she took the audience in at the top of the ramp. Her swagger was untouched but when she stepped in front of Kenny Omega, she felt his eyes never leave her which made her confidence blast through the roof. She used the stairs to get in and leaned on the ropes and waved to the other people that were there.

The three stared each other down, “this is awesome” chants from the crowd already starting. The ref asked all of them if they were ready, then called for the bell to ring. They all circled around the ring, the crowd wondering who was gonna hit first. Nova started taunting the two, planning to get the crowd on her side early in the match.

Sawyer had enough and tackled Nova to the ground, throwing punches, keeping away from the head. Veronica pulled Sawyer off, Sawyer widened her eyes, Veronica irish whipped Sawyer into the ropes, clotheslining her as soon as she came back. Veronica turned at the crowd, cheering along with them, not paying attention that Sawyer just did a kip-up behind her.

Veronica turned around just to be met with a kick to the face. Veronica turned around once, swaying side to side before falling to the ground, selling coming in clutch.

Nova came up from behind Sawyer, drop kicking her and making her fall to the mat. They planned to live to the phrase “fight forever”. Nova walked towards Veronica, dragging her up. Veronica started to gain her consciousness back, kicking Nova in the legs and Nova dodging as many as she could.

While they weren’t paying attention, Sawyer crawled towards the corner, climbing up the top rope, getting in position for a frog splash. It wasn’t till the crowd started screaming till Veronica and Nova looked towards the corner, Sawyer jumping off and crashing into both of them.

She stood up, hyping herself up, looking towards TK and Kenny, smirking.

*match skip*

Sawyer, Veronica, and Nova all struggled to get to their feet trying to use each other for balance. It had at least been 25 minutes of non stop action, and everyone was on the edge of their seat. Sawyer threw a punch in Veronica’s direction , but she attempted to counter it with an arm bar bringing her down to the mat. Nova saw the opportunity as she started to climb to one of the top turnbuckles. With Sawyer’s strength she manages to deliver a powerbomb to Veronica getting out of the arm bar. She crouched in the corner as Nova hit a devastating Macho Man like elbow drop.

1…

2…

But Sawyer broke up the pin by pulling Nova’s leg. Nova slapped Sawyer making Sawyer deliver a right hand back but harder, making her roll out the ring and on the apron. Veronica was slowly getting back up and Sawyer noticed as she charged towards her, making Veronica pull the top rope making her land on the outside. Veronica made her way to the apron where Nova was at; her back turned to Veronica not seeing her jump and wrap her legs around her neck for a reverse hurricanrana. With a loud thud, both of them rolled onto the floor in pain.

Sawyer crawled over , throwing Veronica in the ring and seeing Nova began to stir. Sawyer climbed to the top turnbuckle with her back turned to deliver a perfect moonsault, making the crowd gasp, and Tony and Kenny to stand up. Sawyer held her side, and rolled into the ring ready to finish the match. She stood in the ring, waiting for Veronica to get in position for her finishing move. Veronica stood and it was too late, and she tucked her chin ready for the impact of Sawyer’s devastating Canadian Destroyer.

1…

2…

3.

Sawyer stood up, referee raising her arm in the air. She tried to bite back her smile but simply couldn’t. She watched as Veronica and Nova started to walk backstage, exiting the ring, breaking out of character as soon as she was behind the curtain.

Veronica, Nova and Sawyer started talking about the match, complimenting each other. “Excuse me ladies?” They looked over, and saw Tony Khan and Kenny Omega walking towards them. Nova spun around and almost caused Sawyer and Veronica to fall over. “Really impressive match out there. You know I didn’t think you guys would have met my expectations but I was way wrong.” Kenny admitted, and Tony agreed. “Yea , we would really love for you guys to come over to our company for a bit. Not on Dynamite yet, but some Dark matches maybe?” Tony suggested. They were beyond excited. Sawyer started imagining all of the memories she could create at AEW, and seeing some people she hadn’t seen in a while - until a certain person popped into her head. “I would love to wrestle for you guys, but does Wardlow know? Or is he even okay with this- “ Veronica gave Sawyer the death stare and Nova let out a laugh. “Wardlow? He’s the one that brought you guys up. He said you were all really talented, and since we’re looking for more women wrestlers you were the right people. Is there something going on between…” “NO.” Sawyer interrupted Tony.

“It’s complicated. I just wanted to make sure he was okay with working with me again.” Nova couldn’t believe Sawyer’s actions and it was making it extremely hard not to burst out of laughter on the spot. Veronica stood in between her friends listening closely to what Khan was saying. She felt eyes on her so she looked up and was met with Kenny’s soft stare. He smiled and looked away making her do the same.

“Yea, so tomorrow I was thinking you guys could get to Jacksonville and see Dynamite, then wrestle after the show?” Tony said. “That works fine with us.” Nova said, smiling wide

“Great!” Kenny said, smiling at Veronica. “Sawyer, Veronica?”

Sawyer and Veronica looked at each other, they could tell what they both were thinking just by the looks on their face. Veronica nodded, Sawyer spoke up, “Let’s do this.” “That’s great, the flight leaves at 11 tonight, so get there as fast as you can,” Tony said, looking at his phone, “Oh and Sawyer?”

Sawyer looked up, “Don’t interrupt me again.”

Nova couldn’t keep in her laughter anymore, not even when Veronica punched her arm and told her to shush. Tony and Kenny left the building, leaving the friends beaming and damn near tears. “Veronica and Kenny sitting in a tree!” Nova and Sawyer started to sing, making Veronica roll her eyes, “Yeah I’ll remember that when we see Wardlow tomorrow.”

Sawyer huffed. “But remember we promised if things ever ended up like this, we would stay together no matter what happens between any of us.” Nova brought up, talking about the promise they all made years before.

“Friends, no matter what.” They all said in unison, knowing in the back of their heads they would be friends for eternity.

thank you for reading! part 2 coming soon!

[detroitbydark]

Every Dog Has His Day

Characters: Hound/OC

Summary: Insecurities abound for Coruscant’s favorite late night DJ.

Warnings: None

A/N: So Hound is a golden retriever in clone armor and I would kill for him. All the love to my girls @skdubbs​ and @crimson-dxwn​ who deal with me while Ido this. 

-----

“Mister, can I pet your dog?”

Hound looks down at the small child squinting up at him; he’s got a gap where his front teeth should be and the ‘mister’ comes out more like a ‘mither’. The kids’ moms stand a pace behind him, one smiling brightly while the other glances nervously from Hound to Grizzer. 

“Is it ok with your folks?” He’d been to his fair share of PR in services since being transferred to Coruscant. He glances at both women. He receives a nod from the more laid back of the two.

“Grizzer, sheber.” The massiff throws his hind quarters down with such force that both he and the nervous mother laugh. Grizzer’s tail wags a mile a minute as he takes it upon himself to lay on his belly and crawl slowly toward the child.

“He’s a good boy as long as you're not a bad guy” Hound says squatting down. The little boy's eyes get wide as Hound tips his bucket forward, stage whispering. “You listen to your moms, right?”

The kid nods rapidly. Hound laughs, lets relief fill his voice. “Oh good, you should be safe then.”

 Grizzer eats up the attention, laying his big head in the child’s lap. Soon three other children join in. Hound talks to their parents, every now and then glancing at his partner. The massiff has turned from a well trained soldier to a glob of mush under the fawning of the children.

 This was just another part of the job. Public relations was a big deal. Clones got a bad rap. Every now and then, a few troopers on leave trying to drown bad memories of the war would get on the wrong side of the law and throw the whole damn clone army back two paces in the public opinion polls, and it was the job of troopers like Hound and the rest of the Guard go try to be poster boys for the rest of them. At times like this it wasn’t hard. 

“Hound. Time to break it up. I need you to do a sweep of the central pavilion.” Commander Fox’s voice rings clearly in his bucket.

“Roger that, Commander” he says before turning to address the small gathered group, “alright now, Grizzer and I have to be getting back to work.” A small chorus of ‘Awwws’ makes him chuckle.  The massiff looks at him as to say the same.

“Come on, buddy. Borarir.” Hound gives the command for work and Grizzer perks up, giving an excited yip as he darts to Hounds side in a tight heel. “Tell your new friends bye,” Hound encourages and Grizzer gives a loud woof that has all the kids -and a few of their parents- laughing.

Hound’s head goes on a swivel as soon as they turn away. “Time to get serious now,” he instructs the animal at his side. Grizz gives him a look. “I know. I know,” hound says, reaching down to pet his head, “you don’t need to be told twice.”

The massiff huffs and his nose falls to the duracrete. Fete weeks were always crazy and with the rise they’d been seeing in terrorist activities, Commander Fox had wanted everyone on high alert.

Since being transferred to Coruscant, Hound has grown to love the craziness of Fete weeks and while New Year Fete week was his favorite, he enjoyed the Festival of Life nearly as much. Someday he hoped to experience it as a spectator and not the security.  

They skirt along the perimeter of the pavilion, where a local band was warming up. The smell of fest food from the stand of carts across the way has both Hound and Grizzer aiming their noses toward the various booths of sweet fruits, spit roasted meats, and honeyed pastries.

“Let’s make one good pass and I’ll treat you to some nerf-“

Grizzer woofs quietly.

“Fine” Hound clarifies, “I’ll treat us to some nerf.”

Toward the end of their loop Hound comms an all-clear to his nearby colleagues.  He'd do another loop in an hour or so but for now he'd wait and watch. 

The band has started playing finally and Grizzer puts himself in a heel as the pair sit and listen for a spell. The different radio stations have booths set up, slinging merch and freebies at passing fete goers. Hound’s eyes scan looking for IRR’s booth. He doesn’t recognize the guy signing autographs, but he does remember the head of pastel purple hair fondly. 

“That’s her bud,” he says, glancing down quickly at the massiff at his side, “Told you she was real pretty, didn’t I?”

Grizzer scents the air in the direction of the IRR booth.

Nuna Skii is off to the side unpacking boxes of this and that and setting it out on the table for passers-by. 

“I should go say hi,” he says after a minute to psych himself up. He clicks his tongue lightly and Grizzer falls in at his side as he walks towards the tables. A holoboard has been set up with the names and times each personality will be signing autographs. Hound frowns when he scans the board and doesn’t see Nuna’s name listed. The others were ok, he guessed, but who would want anyone but Nuna Skii’s signature?

“Oh my maker! What a cute baby!” Hound glances up in time to see Nuna dip down onto her knees as Grizzer leans in and gives her a wet kiss. She giggles as the massiff leans his heavily armored body against her.

“Grizz!” he scolds, and the mas’ looks up at him with a pleased look on his muzzle. 

“Oh it’s you! Hound!” Nuna tries to stand but Grizzer places a meaty paw on her shoulder. She laughs as she rubs under his jaw. “This cutie belongs to you?”

“You could say that. We’re partners.”

Hound tries not to feel jealous as Grizzer's face is held between her small hands and she coos to him. “Big tough guard mas’. Such a sweet boy, aren’t you?” He'd give good credits right now to swap places.

“You really think he’s cute?” Hound asks as Grizzer finally lets her stand and lays down between the pair of them, head resting over one of Hound’s boots.

“What? Of course!” Her smile is bright and her deep brown eyes sparkle as she talks. “I mean, I guess there’s no accounting for taste. I had this great uncle who kept a strill named…” Nuna rubs the back of her head, “I haven’t thought about that in years,” she laughs, “I think he called it Mird? Anyway, I loved that little thing and let me tell you, Strill are certainly never going to be on the top of any list of traditionally beautiful creatures.”

Hound knows he’s staring, but she’s chattering on and he can’t help himself. When she mentions the name of the strill something pings in his memory banks but he can’t quite place it. Before he has a chance she asks him a question.

“I’m sorry,” he offers, “what was that again?”

“I was asking if you heard my shout out last week?” She’s glancing down toward Grizzer almost bashfully. When she looks back up she has her lower lip trapped between her teeth and a smile lighting up her features. Hound’s brain turns to mush. “I hope it wasn’t too much?”

Too much? He’d felt like the man for days afterwards. He’d gotten a shout out on Nuna Skii’s show and all his vode knew it. 

“No it was great. Thanks.” He tries to play it cool, like it hadn’t been the single greatest thing that had happened in the last standard rotation.

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” They look at each other silently for a moment before they both laugh awkwardly. Grizzer’s muzzle swings from one human toward the other, a wondering tilt to his head.

“So...uh… you’re not signing autographs later?” Hound gestures to the holoboard. Nuna waves him off.

“Oh, I don’t do the whole autograph thing. I like to keep the fantasy alive.”

He cocks his head curiously. In all honesty, he’d had more fantasies since he’d met her on the side of the skylane than he’d ever had before. It was one thing to think of his favorite voice in the galaxy as an unattainable holomodel, but to actually meet her and see that she was the cute girl next door. It added a whole new level to his personal time. Now he  thought less about long slender legs wrapped around his hips and more about gripping on to soft, warm thighs. Less about pristine make-up and perfect hair and more about the way he’d noticed her pale brown eyes crinkle at the corners as she smiled. 

And her voice. He imagined she’d use that on-air voice just for him. It made his toes curl in his boots just thinking about it.

“My fans have a certain image of me in their heads. I don’t want to ruin it.” 

He wants to tell her to shift it. The image she was throwing off now was absolutely grade A but he hesitates and the moment is gone.

“So, uh, do you like food?” He cringes as the words come out of his mouth, “I mean, I was gonna get a few nerf skewers.” He clenches his hand into a fist at his side so he doesn’t start rubbing the back of his helmet. There really was no reason his palms should be sweating like they were. “I could grab you one if you want or,” he shrugs, “you could walk over there with us, maybe.”

That same bashful smile lights her face as she glances at the booth around her and back over to the personality signing autographs.

“I mean, if you can’t, that’s ok too. I was just thinking.” Hound wants to kick himself. Any game he had was completely lost the second he’d started talking to her. “If you're busy, maybe I could just get your comm and we could do it another time.”

Grizzer whines at his feet.  Nuna looks down. “Aww is the poor guy starving?”

No, he wasn't, Hound thinks. The mooch had his rations and half of Hounds just an hour before. He was embarrassed for his master. 

“Yeah, that must be it.”

“Well we should get him something to eat, right Grizz?”

Under his bucket, Hound can’t fight the grin. Grizzer barks happily as he rises to his feet and stretches his spiny back into the air. “I guess that settles it. You, me, and the massiff makes three” he jokes lamely.

——

“You look smug?” Tully gives Nuna a questioning look. 

“I’m not smug.” Nuna hums along to the song playing in her headphones. “What’s the name of that band from Corellia? The one with the Nikto drummer?”

“Nunz, what’s with the smile?” Tully doesn’t answer her question.

“I think it’s something in Ryl-“

“Nuna!”

Nuna can’t fight the grin on her face. “Fine. I just had a good day is all.”

Tully looks unimpressed with her answer. “You spent all day slinging merch at a fete. It was hot. You didn’t sleep. You hate not sleeping. I’m going to ask you again-“

The thought of telling her friend and coworker about Hound had crossed Nuna’s mind, but she’d quickly pushed it away. It had just been a fun little distraction from an otherwise boring day. Nothing much else to say about it. They’d both been working and decided to share lunch together. He had a cute partner and, really, had she been expected not to snuggle with a cuddly mas’ when given the opportunity? The look on Tully’s face says she’s not going to give up. Nuna throws her a bone.

“I maybe had lunch with someone today but it was nothing. Really. I mean it was just a guy being super nice.” The words spill from her mouth like bolts from a repeating blaster. Tully stares for a second, then two.

“You had a date? At the fete? While you were working?”

“What? No! Absolutely not. I took my lunch break and had company, that's all.” 

The Pantoran crosses her arms over her chest and tips her chin before glancing up at her friend. “Who paid?”

Uh-uh. They were not going there. “It was not a date, Tull.” She did not date that was strictly a thing of the distant past- light years ago, even.

“Who paid?” Tully asks again, undeterred.

“I-“

“He paid! Maker, girl! You had a date! Who is he? Why didn’t you mention him before? I mean, I thought we were friends. Spill!”

Thankfully, Nuna finds herself saved by the chrono. The commercial break is ending as she turns away from the steady gaze of her friend.

“We’re not done talking about this,” Tully warns as Nuna mashes the button to her mic. 

“Nuna Skii getting you through the night. You know what’s better than a boy in blue?” The switch in persona is instant, years of practice allowing her to skip into sexy DJ mode without thought, “The answer is absolutely nothing. That last one was going out to the boys of the 501st. May your aim be true and your stims be strong.”

“I know I saw some of you lovelies enjoying the Festival of Life today. Why don’t you give me a call and tell me what you thought? I am oh so lonely tonight. Wanna keep me company?” She pitches her voice low. Tully rolls her eyes. The comm lines light up. The producer signals for line 2 with a quick flash of her hand.

“Nuna,” the first call starts, “we’re with the 234th and we’re your biggest fans!” There’s the sound of whooping in the background.

“You are too sweet,” Nuna coos, “anything I can play for you?”

“Uhh… something durasteel?”

“I got you, handsome. Thanks for listening!”

Nuna starts hunting down the next song as she switches callers to the next line Tully’s vetted. 

“This is Nuna,” she purrs in greeting.

“Nuna? This is Sergeant Sinker with the 116th Wolffe Pack.” 

“Well a-woo to you Sergeant Sinker. Were you home for fete week?”

Voices rise up in the background. Nuna stifles a giggle as she hears her caller yelling at a Boost and a Comet. 

“We’re still off world. We just wanted to say we love your show and see if you could give our Commander a shoutout?”

“Well isn’t that the absolute sweetest? I think you've called in before, right? You know, I always have love for the 116th and that very surly Commander Wolffe of yours-“

“Nuna Marry me!” The voice sounds far away and is followed by the sound that she can only assume is wrestling for the comm before it clicks off.

“I’m not accepting any proposals today darlings. Why don’t we listen to that request and a quick commercial break?”

Nuna wonders if Hound is listening. She’s surprised that she hopes he is.

“So spill it, girl.” Tully doesn’t waste time as the music starts playing and the mic cuts off. Nuna sighs. Apparently she wasn’t going to forget so quickly.

“He paid,” she admits, trying to ignore the smugness she hears in Tully’s voice.

“So you had a date. Was that so hard to admit?”

Nuna still refuses to call it a date because she hadn’t dated in ages and a pretty smile and a flashy set of armor and kama weren’t about to change that. She scrolls through a datapad playlist but she can feel her friends' eyes boring into her.

“You know you're allowed to put yourself out there. Most of them are fekking disgusting but there’s a few good ones.” Tully’s voice softens. “They’re not all him.”

This conversation was not happening now and certainly not without a bottle of wine. She was not going to think about Alistar again. His days of living rent free in her head were over. Except… they weren’t.

 She’d loved having lunch with Hound and Grizzer - it had been the highlight of her week so far- but each time he’d complimented her, each time he’d asked questions like he was interested and wanted to know, she thought of her ex and the way he’d weaseled his way into her life with all the same ploys. It didn’t matter that they looked nothing alike, sounded nothing alike. She was officially damaged goods and there was just no getting past that, at least not anytime soon.

When Nuna doesn’t acknowledge her, Tully turns to screening calls versus dealing with her moody DJ. Nuna listens to the screaming durasteel coming through her headphones. I wasn’t her genre of choice but a lot of battalions seemed to have a thing for it. Who was she to argue? 

“Nunz?” 

Nuna looks up to find Tully staring. “What?”

“You got a call?”

“One I should take on air?”

Tully’s brows skim her forehead. “Oh yeah. This one’s a doozy.”

Shaking her head, Nuna moves back to the mic, counting down to the end of the song. “Live in 3… 2… 1…. hey ladies and gents I’m back. How was that for some durasteel huh? Hope it keeps your engines revved and juices flowing. Going to the comm lines we’ve got a call from…” Nuna watches Tully mouth the name. “Grizzer?”

A series of barks erupts through Nuna’s ear phones before she can respond. Tully is disintegrating into laughter as Nuna stares wide-eyed at the mic ahead of her. 

“Grizzer said he was glad he got to spend time with you today,” a smooth voice begins when the barking ends.

Nuna stumbles for a second but catches herself. “Is this- this his translator?” She teases, trying to stay in character.

“Yes, ma’am.” Hound’s warm voice rumbles through the comm and Nuna has the distinct feeling of butterflies fluttering around in her chest.

The line goes quiet for half a second and another volley of barks and a single yip respond.

“He’d like to see you again soon. He thinks you're the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. Wants to take you out for dinner. Promises he’ll bring his chaperone with him.”

Nuna catches Tully’s eye. “Can you believe this guy?” she mouths.

“Is that him?!” The pink-haired Pantoran hisses.

Nuna shakes her hands in front of her face, as if waving away her nerves.

“Is that so?” Her mind is working overtime. In the two years she’s been on air in Coruscant she’s fielded a lot of requests for dates and more than a few marriage proposals, but this is the first of its kind. She’s not really sure how to respond. 

She flirts five nights a week on her show but those are faceless -often nameless- people. She’s met Hound. She’s been dazzled by his earnest smile, felt compelled to answer every silly getting to know you question he’d thrown her way this afternoon. Hound was different because he seemed to want to get to know her - short, round, plain Nuna. 

He couldn’t be for real.

“I hate to break it to you Grizzer,” she can hear the massiff panting over the comm, “but I only date men with thumbs and a nice head of hair.”

Tully gives her a hard look. Yeah, she was going to hear about this later.

“Oh, well.” She can hear the sudden uncertainty in Hound's voice and a soft whine from the massiff. “I suppose he’ll catch you around then.”

She wants to tell him that she certainly hopes so because deep down she does, but it doesn’t fit with her persona. Instead she cuts the line and moves on with the show.

She’d gotten good at that. Slam those emotions deep down, lock ‘em up and throw that key away. No one could hurt you if they couldn’t get to you.

“So, anyone following the Limmie League?”

[carewyncromwell]

Oh boy, oh boy, not kidding, I thought about sending you this ask just because I wondered about it earlier today 😄

In all your AUs, the core characteristics of your characters generally stay the same and only change slightly due to circumstances.

What was the biggest change you put one of your characters (OC or not) through across all your AUs (not counting Flipped!AU cause that speaks for itself)? Which was your favourite and which did you find hardest? 💛💚

*considers this* Hmm...that's a very interesting question! Let's see here...

For both the biggest and hardest change, I gotta go with Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Lack of Lamb Sauce.

...Yes, really. 😂 For those of you who haven't read my way-too-long train-wreck, I set about taking on the challenge of giving the entire Malfoy family something of a redemption arc, including Lucius, who would easily be the biggest challenge to show a better side to, out of the three. The HP fandom is generally very on-board with forgiving Narcissa for all the stuff she was involved in, considering she ended up covering for Harry at a critical moment, and forgiving Draco for everything he did because HBP showed him in a pitiable light and J.K. said that he and his wife Astoria raised their son Scorpius better than how Draco himself was...but Lucius? Nope. No way. This is the guy that many fans claim abused Draco, using the films' interpretation of Lucius largely as evidence, since in the books, there really isn't any such cold, abusive undercurrent to Lucius's treatment of Draco. Lucius is often written as singularly bad in fanfiction in order to make Narcissa and Draco seem more sympathetic, and honestly, even if you don't write him that way, I still think Lucius in the books is an objectively terrible person. So trying to find a way to give Lucius any sympathetic depth that could potentially open him up to the slightest bit of positive change was a hurtle I wasn't sure if I could climb. In the end, I decided to break Lucius's character arc into several steps --

Put Lucius and his family in an objectively terrible position. Not only does Lucius nearly die completing a mission for Voldemort, but Voldemort refuses to help save his life, forcing Draco to seek help from someone who has no reason to help them; Lucius loses both of his arms and one of his legs through an incredibly painful process; and worst of all, Lucius has to pretend he's dead and go into hiding without his wife and son, just to keep them from being punished by Voldemort further.

Put Lucius out of his comfort zone. While in hiding from Voldemort, Lucius is forced to live in very modest living arrangements alongside two Muggle-born teenagers, an elderly witch whose daughter was married to a Muggle, and a Squib. This forces him to see those who he would've persecuted previously as individuals, capable of emotions just as valid as his own.

Give Lucius a relatable interest that has nothing to do with his identity as a Death Eater or even as a Malfoy. In this case, I chose choir music, which actually is my mother's greatest passion! Not only does it give us the chance to see Lucius loving something as opposed to hating it, which gives us a new angle to his characterization, but exploring why this interest is news to us (namely, Lucius decided not to pursue music as a career, so as to uphold the Malfoy name) gives his relationship to his family nuance. It also gives other characters a backdoor into his heart, by engaging with him through the things he enjoys.

Explain Lucius's misguided thought process, and then -- naturally -- challenge it. Clearly prejudice has no logic to it, but bigots do still try to find reasons to justify their belief systems and terrible behavior. In this case, Lucius grew up hating Muggles, and rather than seeing how his family's hatred of Muggles prompted his mother to write letters justifying her blood purist beliefs to relatives, which were understandably condemned when they were made public, Lucius solely sees the pain his mother felt at being rejected, rather than how justifiable the backlash to her was. He loved his mother and father, but that love blinds him to how wrong their beliefs were -- just as he was blind to how much him following in their footsteps and chasing glory and status for his family by terrorizing others was wrong. And through his interactions with his fellow tenants and the Muggle World, Lucius comes to see that there's value in the world he used to scorn and that the people he's met don't match the image he'd always had in his head of what "their kind" is like.

Have Lucius stumble a bit, but ultimately learn and grow. Even if in the end, Lucius doesn't exactly make up for everything he's ever done, and so there's still plenty of ground for his arc to cover after the story is over, we see that he's still a much better person than he was at the start, in how he's learned to treat people differently than him with respect and how he even feels the urge to introduce his "bunker family" to his wife and son.

It was a really fun challenge, and one of the things I'm proudest of about Lack of Lamb Sauce is that my mum -- who is as big of a Potterhead as I am and hated Lucius Malfoy more than anyone else in the books besides Umbridge -- said that he ended up being one of her absolute favorite characters in my fic when we read it together. 💜

Favorite changes-wise, I think I'll nominate Pirate!Jacob Cromwell and Merman!Duncan Ashe in the Pirates of the Caribbean AU. I just absolutely loved the dynamic these two ended up having, and it made me ship Jacob/Ashe (Jacashe?) even more than I did already!! 😂 It makes me all the more excited to do more with Duncan in the Tangled AU.

Fanfic Writer Friday!