#ah yes contributing to a dead/small fandom | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

Text

Sidequests are part of the story so it’s still my ballpark shut up it’s time for

Read Part 1 here!

Part 2 || Part 3

If you’re on mobile, and tumblr hates this post, follow along on this google doc!

Rules/overview this rewrite in the beginning of Part 1

- - - - - - - - - -

Side quests, side quests, side quests. What are they? And what are they doing here, on an Age of Calamity rewrite? I must admit, game design is not an inherent forte of mine, and I like to think that my only “expertise” would be on writing and storytelling. So what the fuck is a fool like me doing here

Well my dear ladies, lads, and gentlefolk, if your memory does serve, I did say that the format of Age of Calamity was one that served the major plot and story beats for it’s cutscenes, and its worldbuilding and good parts of it’s character development for its gameplay and side quests. It’s actually a concept that can be seen in shows and movies too, although obviously it’s origins are in TTRPGs and videogames. Definition wise, a side quest is any deviation from the main story and plot that serves to flesh out an optional/overseen aspect of the game. So there’s out perfect outlet for worldbuilding, characters, and even a bit of humour. Side quests, by definition, can’t simply be just XP grinders, because otherwise you could…..just make an XP grinder. It’s like saying you’re getting your kids a bike, but then you get them a stationary exercise one. Sure it’s functionally the same and gives the same benefits, but it could be so much more.

Does Age of Calamity have good side quests? I’d actually argue, yes. I mean sure, it’s not exactly gonna hold a candle to Fallout or Witcher 3, but there are great memorable side quests that do serve their purposes in this game.

A fan favourite is “The So-Called Knight,” in which Link spars Mipha, Teba, Sidon, and Revali, a conflict of the Sidon’s confidence and belief in Link, with Revali’s skepticism and grudge against him. Not only is it great fandom content, but it explores the carrying POVs of several characters in a fun way. We also have Hestu’s Dance Competition, and the Miss Vai Battle Pageant. What they lack in serious character tone, they make up for in humour and world building. Even the quests that have nothing to do with the main cast of characters, like the Questionable Escort Mission, still provide funny and interesting details about the world, like how the Yiga Clan is still ever persistent in trying to take down Link with monsters and Windcleavers alike.

It’s not like those side quests were functionally useless either, all of them still provided great amounts of exp and materials. What specifically made them great and memorable was their small little stories and character/world details. Of course, that’s not to say you can’t have the occasional plotless boss rush every now and again, those are fun in their own right and it’s good to have variety. But just thinking about it...what were everyone’s least favourite sidequests? The timed Yiga Escape? The ones where you sit around defending strongholds? The one hit death Hair-Width Trials? Ah...so all the least enjoyable side quests were the ones that were difficult, with no enjoyable character or worldbuilding to back it up….interesting interesting….interesting pattern indeed.

So, let’s improve the game a bit further. I do need to pace out my future character arcs somehow. I tried to make use of the existing quests where I could, but it’s just eaaaasier to just not think about it and do it from scratch. Just shove these in place of all those quests whose only description is “monsters have been spotted here! Take Mipha and go to work!” and stuff like that. Alrighty then! Here’s my take on cool side quests for every single character thus far, along with their paired gambit attacks. Prepare for heists! Drama! Simping! And Bananas!

Link: Mastering Stasis

Ok I have no idea when this quest unlocks so just for my purposes assume this only becomes available after Link pulls the Master Sword.

Engage the hordes of monsters that have been spotted in Hyrule Field. Now is a great time to master the use of the Stasis Rune. Impa and Zelda accompany you, but it seems stasised monsters aren’t the only thing coming to a tense standstill…

This isn’t anything that special, I just want to further highlight this tension that Zelda and Link have, as it’s something touched upon in Botw, but never really mentioned or used ever in Hwaoc. Now more than ever, Zelda has an excuse to have a rocky relationship with him because she could actively see just how far he’s coming in such a short amount of time. Classic “he probably hates me so I guess I’ll hate him” thing.

You play as Link, the game gives you your little prompts on how to use Stasis, you take out a few hordes of Bokoblins and blah blah blah. I wanted to use an earlier level to establish Zelda’s relationship sooner as obviously it’s gonna be important to the story. But of course like all side quests it won’t kill you to skip out. Text dialogue can be Zelda saying science shit like “This will be a good opportunity to test out the full limits of the Stasis rune” and then Impa’s all “Yep! We got your back, Princess! We’ll clear out these monsters in no time.”Then Link the little angsty shit that he is says nothing, and as you play you clear out more and more bokoblins Zelda just says “...” and then we can toss in a Moblin or two in there for gambit voice stuff.

Gambit dialogue with Impa would be supportive, her usual spunky dialogue. I had two ideas for Gambit attacks with Link: One where Impa does that thing where she cuts a giant laser through the air, but it’s aimed towards Link and he parries it right in a monster’s FACE because I think it’s badass and also a good way to show trust and stuff. The second thing was Impa’s giant bomb barrels, but Link is the one to somehow ignite them, because he is an arsonist after all. He can even have a chaotic Sheikah blue glint in his eyes like blue flame, I can already picture it so clearly given how anime/dramatic Impa’s movements are. Impa sets bombs, Link *teleports behind Moblin* nothin personal, kid.

Also right at the end of their gambit attacks, Impa and Link should try to fist bump or something (cause the whole “cool guys don’t look at explosions” thing that Impa usually does on her own) but are interrupted by eggbot jumping up to try and join in. And then Impa can be annoyed and try to punt it or something. That’s not just self-indulgent that’s in her character she totally would and I want to make use of the fact that eggbot travels around with Link. The success of her attempts to punt him can vary.

If Link does a gambit with Zelda, her dialogue can just be her usual monotone Princess stuff, “Thanks for lending your strength,” or “There is still much more to do!” just purely professional, we’re not at a stage yet where she’s buddy buddy with Link. Their gambit attacks can still be cool though. One idea I had was Zelda using stasis, and you know how when you use it in botw everything lights up with that sonar effect? So Link stands besides Zelda, and she activates stasis, the first “sonar” light wave reveals the stasised monster, and you see it from the view of the Sheikah Slate. Then with each additional flash of sonar you just see this silhouette of Link going absolute ham on a monster. And then when the stasis “ding ding ding ding ding” is done, everything’s just dead. Can you see my inspiration from Persona 5 yet? Second idea was Zelda using cryonis and makes an ice ramp for Link to shield surf on and ram into a monster. For entertainment purposes Zelda should also be putting frogs on said slide. (Also also the reason I’m putting Link as the main focus for those gambit attacks is because I want to juxtapose it with future gambits where Zelda may or may not be more powerful…)

Anyhow anyhow, so this side quest, you beat some bokoblins, theres a moblin or two. However as you progress Zelda’s dialogue because a bit more passive aggressive, maybe Zelda can be a bit irritated at how quickly Link is defeating everything before she can even contribute. Impa can comment on this like “She hasn’t exactly been warming up to you, has she…” and then the last point of the side quest, Zelda runs off, there’s a...let’s say a big horde of blue or black Moblins. Or a horde of Wizzrobes, I’m not too picky on it. Link can save her and do a gambit or whatever, but the point of importance is that Zelda leaves with the clear mindset off, “You don’t need to keep coddling me, I can handle my own” to Link, but is “Thank you, I’m glad you’re here,” to Impa.

Now I stole was inspired to use this based on this comic by @novellanova, and you should check it out here. But basically, at the end when all the monsters are dead and the last few text boxes are rolling, Impa says something like “Gee, at this rate I might have to protect you from the princess! Hmm…. you know, maybe if you two had the opportunity to hang out more and get to know each other, she’d warm up to you! Ha! That’s it! I’ve made up my mind. Listen up Link, from now on I’m gonna let you man the wheel when it comes to protecting Zelda. So with me out of the picture you better take the opportunity to be the nicest, most helpful, and most effective body guard there is. I know you already are, but still, if I hear that one little Chuchu so much as splat in her direction I will take you down...got it?” And, that’s that.

Side quest done. Fun Link gambits with Impa and Zelda, some little character POVs on the situation, plus an explanation as to why Impa doesn’t accompany Zelda everywhere/nods to the cutscenes of Botw as to what happened to Impa. Alright, that was probably the most boring one so let’s move on to

Daruk: A Rumbling Stomach

Alright I’ll be honest...I have no idea what to do with Daruk. Especially when Yunobo’s not here, I got zip-zero to work with considering his character is non-existent. Further down the line I’ll certainly try to give him more nuances and the like, but I’m afraid the majority of my character efforts have been towards Astor, Revali, Zelda, and [REDACTED] so this is my apology ahead of time, rock fuckers.

This is my take on how to make those timed quests more fun. So basically, the premise of this stage is that Daruk was just happily hanging around trying to enjoy his rock roast, when a monster surprised him and he dropped it, and now it’s rolling down the hill. This is based on my real Breath of the Wild experience where I had to trek up that Volcano path to bring a rock roast for that shrine quest, but at the very top I dropped it and had to chase it down before it fell into the lava below.

Daruk is eager to chow down on the finest rock roasts this year has to offer! It’s too bad things go downhill when monsters start to ambush. Defeat key enemies and rescue Daruk’s tumbling meal before this year’s wait goes to waste!

So, that’s what this is. The stage opens and Daruk says “NOOooOO! My rock roast! Damn monsters!” and you have to defeat baddies and catch up to the rock roast before the timer runs out and it falls into lava. And then when you finish and get back the rock roast that’s pretty much it….except SIKE no it’s not. Because a lot of these timed quests usually have a “surprise! There’s more!” thing at the end so I’ll do that here too. So Daruk has saved his rock roast and he’s talking about how he’s going to enjoy it in all its deliciousness, when he’s cut off by a random Goron’s scream. Turns out, Daruk’s yelling at the monsters about desperation to retrieve his lost lunch has attracted monsters to some traveling civilians, and now you gotta go beat a Talus, or a couple of Moblins, or something...Again I don’t really have level set or idea when these side quests unlock so just use your imagination. Once Daruk defeats the monster(s) the Gorons can thank him, and then one of the Goron kids can be like “Ooo! Is that a super special rock roast?!?” And Daruk is all: “Ah! Well all the best Goron heroes eat plenty of rocks! This here is the gourmet stuff. You can only get it once a—” And the kid’s like “Woah! I’ve always wanted to have one, that’s why I’ve been training hard so I can explore more of the mountain. Where’d you get it??” And Daruk can sputter a bit, before finally sighing and giving into his instincts. “Ah….well, why don’t you have it? You’re probably really hungry after running around with those monsters…”

“Woah really?? Are you sure—”

“YEAH JUST TAKE IT ALREADY GO”

“Woah, thank you!” and then the Goron kid and co run off. Cue Daruk crying to himself in the background. Daruk may have an appetite, but I like to characterize him as the Goron Hero first and foremost.

I’m sure that doesn’t stop him from mourning his rock though.

Mipha: Stronger Sentiments

Mipha and Daruk talked a whole bunch about training together so that Mipha can grow stronger, and Daruk was catching on to her crush on Link and it was a nice interaction in between them except for the fact that we never see them do the damn training so that’s what this is.

I think this is as good an opportunity as any to make this a Hair-Width quest, the ones where you can’t take one hit. The difficulty of a level is one of the most effective ways to put the players in the boots of a character to experience the same struggles they do. If the player works hard, then they automatically associate that with the character working hard. So, yeah, let’s have Mipha kicking ass and working to be strong enough to protect Link.

Mipha is determined to grow stronger. Daruk and the other Gorons are helping out with an intense training session by Gut Check Rock. Prove yourself by defeating all the enemies you encounter!

So Mipha is sparring with the Gorons, you fight through them and the captains and blah blah, the final boss is fighting Daruk without getting hit.

“I promise not to hurt you more than I’m capable of reversing.”

“Ha! Give me all you’ve got, princess!”

You fight, cue the special music or whatever. I mentioned that gambit dialogue/attacks could also work to be custom for the character that you’re fighting, so I’m thinking something like this. Daruk slams the ground and rocks and magma sprout up around him like jagged pieces of glass, but Mipha is no where to be seen. Daruk’s kinda huffing and puffing, “Where’d you go Mipha…” and then FWOOSH, giant geyser right behind him. [yes I KNOW I overuse the *teleports behind you* “nothing personal, kid” thing but I think it’s COOL and you can’t stop me] So anyhow, you know that thing in Avatar where Pakku is just riding at the top of a whirlpool and destroying everything? That’s Mipha.

Daruk turns around and scratches the back of his head. “...huh….that’s not good.” Cue Mipha swooping down to deal the defeating blow.

So Mipha wins, she can mention how wonderful it was and how much stronger she feels. And she can thank Daruk, and he’s all “No problem!” but he mutters something like “And I thought Gorons hit hard...now I know how Link feels.” End side quest….SIKE it’s another surprise boss at the end. A Goron captain suddenly reports that an Igneo Talus has appeared nearby.

Mipha goes up to fight it, but wow! Link is already there. They both fight it, but it’s clear that Link didn’t need her help that much. You can defeat the Talus with a Mipha/Link gambit. It’s similar to Link’s usual “swing sword in a giant circle and become a death windmill” but Mipha kinda enhances it with water or something and it puts out the Talus. I wanted this ending with a focus on how strong Link is just to show that while Mipha is improving, she’s still not yet where she needs to be.

Daruk: “Sorry I wasn’t much help at the end there, I was busy, uh, stretching.”

Mipha: “Oh it’s quite alright, Daruk. We were both quite tired from today’s training.”

Daruk: “Well I dunno about that...seems to me you were quite lively and active as you fought beside Link. *wink*”

Mipha: “Huh!?!? W-What is that supposed to mean??”

Cue laughter from Daruk. Mipha is flustered. And Link is just...confused, as always.

Urbosa: Mighty Thunder of the Gerudo

So in the game this is just some normal outpost capturing, stronghold defending side quest, but we’re gonna spice it up just a bit.

An important excavation site is being overrun by monsters, and Urbosa has set out to engage them. Defend and capture the outposts, in order to prevent this valuable place from falling into enemy hands…

So you fight as Urbosa, defeat some enemies and blah blah. When you first arrive there, I want one of the Gerudo Captains to be like “Lady Urbosa? Where did you come—What are you doing here? Aren’t there areas of greater importance for you to be at right now?” Urbosa says something like “Nevermind that now, let us focus on achieving victory over these rotten beasts.”

As the battle goes through, it is revealed that this excavation site is where Zelda’s mother would often work and hang out with Urbosa. Urbosa says some stuff like “Her Majesty would not be happy to see all these monsters heading here!” *decapitates Moblin* and then she can say other dramatic stuff at the end like “We have fought well...for her memory” and other classic lesbian pining. Some guard at the end can say “Perhaps you should move on and help out somewhere else, Lady Urbosa. We can handle the clean up from here.”

“Sure,” Urbosa replies, “Just another moment.” And then cue reminiscing. “She always did love these machines…”

And just other sentimental stuff like that. If you’re gonna be a coward and hold out on the Champion death angst, then you best be pumping that angst and emotion from somewhere, you know?

Also yay for worldbuilding! At least in my rewrite, the Guardian excavations and stuff were overseen by the Queen. Could be a reason Zelda hangs out with Sheikah tech so much...who knows who knows... who knows what other implications this has, it’s just a side quest after all.

Revali: Anti-Ice Training [get it??? Cause in this one, Revali’s gonna break the ice with some other characters?? I’m funny I swear]

Ok so for this one, I want to pull Revali’s character away from just “the birb that doesn’t like Link” and give him some other stuff to stand on. Obviously, there would be other side quests in a fully fleshed out game that did even more to characterize him, but for my rewrite I’m only dedicated this post and one other future post to sidequests, so I gotta really bring out what I can for the few side quest stories I have time to tell

Revali sets out alone to deal with some monsters by the Hebra trail. Although intended as an isolated moment to hone his skills, he finds himself with unexpected company. Defeat key enemies.

So you play as Revali and at first you’re alone, taking out Ice Lizalfos and the like. Revali’s text dialogue can say stuff like “Hmm...not fast enough” “My current needs to be stronger” “*mutters* Can’t compete with lightning and magma with aim like that.” Just stuff that establishes that he’s working hard to really prove himself as the best, but is still a bit insecure about his position. He thinks he’s better than Link, sure, and he certainly thinks that being a princess or a chief doesn’t automatically make you the best. However by this point, Revali has battled alongside the other Champions and seen their skill in battle, and has developed some respect for them. Afterall, Champions were chosen in some part for their skills, unlike Link or Zelda who destiny just thrust greatness upon.

So Revali has this slight insecurity that compared to lightning, and magic healing, and magma, with chiefs and princesses and titles of heroes, he and his efforts will be overshadowed and forgotten, unfairly deemed the useless one. Thus, here he is, training in solitude, not wanting anyone to see the imperfections and mistakes until he is absolutely perfect.

Except for the fact that after you beat a Wizzrobe, the other three Champions show up.

Revali: Wh—Huh?? What are you all doing here?

Urbosa: Well, we all have to travel with the princess to that Tower in a few hours, so I recommended we find you and hang out until then

Mipha: And a good thing too! Look how many monsters there are

Revali: I’m actually doing very well on my own right now. Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold or something, so why don’t you head on back and let me handle this.

Daruk: Aw, it’s not that we think you can’t do this. It’s that you’re hogging all the fun! Urbosa: And that it would be more efficient if all of us went to work

Daruk: That too

Revali: Look it’s not—you all can’t just—this is not just about—AUGH, look, I’m just trying to train myself at the moment, and I don’t need you all to mess with my drills

Urbosa: Training, hm? Well how about this...you let us continue helping you with these monsters, and after, I’ll let you in on a good Gerudo training technique

Revali: Hmph. Fine, whatever gets you out of my tail feathers faster

So Revali and the Champions clear out the monsters. Revali can have gambit attacks/dialogue with each of the other Champions. This is already incredibly long so perhaps I’ll save specifics for another time, feel free to use your imagination. Urbosa teasing Revali and they make a thunderstorm, Mipha and Revali swimming in the sky and kissing—wait that’s—

When all the monsters are cleared, which honestly isn’t tooooo many, Revali speaks again.

Revali: So what’s this oh-so-holy technique you had in mind, then?

Urbosa: Ah yes, well really it’s quite simple. It’s called…

Urbosa: One-on-one combat

Now Revali fights Urbosa. It think it’d be really fun if your allies on a stage could swap to a boss, and I wish hwaoc had a bit more freedom with the interactions as a whole, but ah well, that’s what I’m here for I guess.

So when you/Revali defeat her, it’s a good accomplishment! Not only for you the player, as Urbosa would not be the easiest to beat, but also because match-up wise, Revali prevailing over Urbosa is a big feat as their styles are quite opposite, arguably with the strength in favour for Urbosa.

Revali might at first have the mindset that Urbosa is overconfident and thinks she’s got an easy win on Revali, but that mindset is quickly proven wrong when 1) the difficulty of the gameplay itself shows how they’re both doing their best and 2) Urbosa with her Gerudo qualities is probably shouting stuff like “give it your all!” and things.

And so, as you beat her...

Revali, kinda huffing and puffing, but just a bit:: ...you….held back

Urbosa: Come now, do you really think of me as someone who’d do that? I’m almost insulted.

Revali: Hmm...perhaps not then....

Mipha: Wow! What a wonderful fight from both of you.

And then insert some other dialogue from Daruk or something that shows the Champions acknowledging the training and hard work Revali must have put in to be so skilled. Perhaps it’s not so bad, when you train with others and your skill is fully appreciated by your frie—GAH. Perish the thought, they’re all just a bunch of royal fools who can’t hold a candle to the skill of a Rito Master….probably…

Revali: Well unlike you lax fools, I tend to take my job seriously. I don’t have time to longue and banter when the princess is still expecting me in an hour or two

Urbosa: Oh alright, let’s get to it then. What’s the expression? “The early bird gets the w—”

Revali: Gross. No. Don’t finish that sentence, I beg you.

Urbosa: Oh? Well why don’t you fly off to escape my dreadful tones then?

Revali: ...Heh, don’t be absurd…

Revali: Without me, you’ll all probably get lost. So, I suppose I should stick around for that sake Great Fairies: Dress to Oppress

The Great Fairies are holding a fashion competition and rating people’s outfits. Poorly judged outfits gives them the right to compensation combat. Defeat all your less than fashionable allies.

...

...yeah.

It seemed funny in my head, alright? cOme on, just imagine…

Revali, fully expecting to win: Well?

Great Fairies: Hm...I don’t know dear, all the colors are very clustered. Perhaps if you were taller—?

Revali: bWHAKT!? *other angry bird noises*

- - -

Daruk: I brought my BEST out today! :D

Great Fairies: Is that a….chain?

Daruk: TWO chains, actually. :D

Great Fairies: Oh honey…

- - -

Great Fairies: Ooo! Our little hero is about to come out! Wonder what he chose...a knight in shining armour? A handsome desert voe? Ooo!! And those Snowquill braids always made him look so cute…

Link: *comes out in the Tingle Outfit*

Great Fairies: …

Great Fairies: …………..hm…..

At the end of the side quest, after you beat everyone, the Great Fairy wins because of course they do.

Great Fairies: Oh my! What an unexpected outcome...but it really couldn’t have gone any other way. I declare the judges the winner! I mean just look at me, I’m as dazzling as a jeweled desert flower, because I am! Ohohohoho…

This side quests unlocks the Tingle Outfit

Hestu: Forest Dance Festival

Alright this quest was already pretty perfect, BUT, I just want to use this opportunity to say that all of Hestu’s gambit attacks makes his allies and enemies do special dances. Absolutely abSURD that Hestu can only make the lesser smaller enemies dance on occasion, nonononono, my guy Hestu is making everyone dance. You can’t stop this. Nothing I say will ever top the imagination, so just take my word that this is a good thing. [Reluctant Revali doing the macarena against his will in sync with Hestu and they bash someone’s head in...ah the possibilities.]

Maz Koshia: Links to the Past

Ok so before I get into this, a few things. This quest takes place well after the tower activations in Akkala. Age of Calamity leaves a whole lot of plots holes as to why a Monk is just...here, and what the point of the shrines are, and personally my first reaction to all this was just a five minute extended “huuhhhhhh???”

So here is my headcanon, explanation, thing, canon to the world of the Kip Cut story. Ones all the Sheikah Towers were activated, that officially woke up all the Shrines, because we know that the Towers and Shrines are all connected to the same system. [See Great Plateau Tower activating all the Shrines and Towers, and Creating a Champion explanation on the system] But when all the monks were in their little altars and noticed how Link hadn’t dont a single one, they were like “what the fuck.” Monk Maz Koshia, who is kinda the head honcho of the monks and probably the only one powerful enough to go out in the world anyhow, sets out to see what the deal is, and after many a teleportation and telepathic communication, he figures out that Link is just running around with the Master Sword already. This kinda confuses him, because the whole point of the Shrines was to test Link and give him the spirit orbs so that he could grow strong enough to get the Master Sword, but he somehow already has it...so hmmmm something fishy is going on in this timeline. So Link technically hasn’t proven himself at all, Maz Koshia ambushes him, they do their little combat trial, Link passes, and Maz Koshia’s like “ok cool so you’re not useless.”

So now Monk Maz Koshia has cast aside his old monk duties of waiting around for a couple hundred years, in favour of just hanging out with Link and continuing to train him combat wise. Shrines are still explored by Zelda and co because they are important areas to establish teleportation pads, and whenever they’re there, Maz Koshia forces Link to get in a shrine to get a spirit orb, which is not only useful in general for health, but since Link already has the Master Sword, the other characters can get the spirit orb too. (So all those little heart upgrades that you see on the map, those are all just in the real Botw Shrine locations, rather than just scattered around randomly. Also I’m ignoring the stuff about talking to Hylia in order to exchange for stamina or heart containers because the game never talks about her, or stamina, and I’m not about to create an entirely new custom gameplay feature for this game, fuck you.)

I like to think that Maz Koshia is very selective about the Shrines he encourages people to try out. “Oh nonono, don’t bother with Qukah’s….lazy ass, only set up one little mountain that you have to blast through with lightning and that’s the entire puzzle! Disgraceful...Here, Kaam Ya’tak has set up a wonderful Trial of Power for you. I’m sure you’ll find the level design quite thrilling. They spent a lot of time on the critical thinking aspects so have fun!”

“I should warn you that this one was made by one of the millennials...yes, those youngins who were only initiated 1000 years of age. Honestly, they lack so much experience. Ms. Agana over here was experimenting with something called ‘motion controls?’ Pretty lazy if you ask me. Traditionally I would just stick to combat and block and switch stuff...but ah well, variety I suppose.”

Right, what was I talking about? Oh right! This is a sidequest. So Monk Maz Koshia doesn’t really have...a character??? Or a personality??? So I don’t really know what to do with him other than use him as an outlet for world building. Apologies to the Monk….fuckers? Stans? Feel free to leave me a comment about how I missed all the nuances of his character or something I’m all ears.

On an expedition to mark more Shrines and establish more teleports for the Kingdom, a large horde of monsters is spotted, seemingly with the intention to destroy these Ancient relics. Link and Maz Koshia use this opportunity to sharpen their combat skills. Protect the stronghold and defeat key enemies.

And then that quest would just kinda echo the stuff I said earlier about the world. (As Maz Koshia defends a Shrine, somewhere Qukah Nata is smugly shouting “Bet you wish ALL of them were protected with a giant mountain now, do ya?)

Also Link and Maz Koshia’s gambit attack involves the Master Cycle. I don’t have the specifics, but damn if I want some call backs to Botw while also having fun.

Impa: Steal Yourself [Yiga Clan Escape]

In an act of pure hatred and malice, the Yiga Clan has snuck into Kakariko Village in the dead of night…and stolen all the Swift Carrots! Impa sets out to get them back, as well as taking something else as a form of swift revenge...Escape before the time runs out.

Ok I can explain.

So you know how the Yiga and the Sheikah have kiiiiinda been murdering each other a bunch in Botw, going as far as to kill a deserter’s wife and threatening to murder his kids, and also people on both sides were sorta massacred for no reason? And alsoooo one of those people who literally lived during that time of the massacre is just kinda floating around now? And you knooooooooww how the Yiga Clan just kinda joins Zelda’s side later on and we’re not supposed to think about the implications of that too hard because they’re the funny banana ninjas, haha? Yeah well neither Age of Calamity or I really have time to explore the moral grey areas of an alliance between two warring factions, one of which has a leader who doesn’t really seem to remember the reason why they hate Hyrule which brings into question whether the lackeys even know their clan’s history, and brings about the moral dilemma of criminalizing the ignorant, and also there’s the whole other dilemma of depicting the side that submitted to their oppression as being “in the right” and the topic of a race of people being pitted against their own by a higher power is really brushed over sO WE’RE JUST GONNA TOSS ALL THAT OUT THE WINDOW AND MAKE THEM ACT LIKE RIVALLING HIGH SCHOOLS, OKAY? OKAY! This is fine this is fine—

So I have dubbed the High School mascot of the Sheikah, the Swift Carrot. And although there does seem to be some internal debate about whether the carrot should be replaced by the Fortified Pumpkin, the hero of Hyrule Link favours carrots so that’s that. Then of course, the mascot for the Yiga Clan is the Mighty Banana. The two sides hate each other and steal their food symbols to be petty. I’ll be covering the side quests of Kohga and the other later characters in another later post, but just know that Kohga will have his banana heist sidequest too.

So anyhow, you play as Impa. Maybe she can say a piece of dialogue or two about how she has to uphold the image of her people as she has to lead them one day. And then, this side quest is just her retrieving the carrots and running off with the Yiga’s big banana supply before she’s caught. This is based on that “Escape the Yiga Clan” quest if you couldn’t tell.

Custom gambit defeat of Impa vs Kohga: On one hand I think it would be badass to see Impa’s Sheikah skills go up against the Yiga Clan tactics. Kohga summons a giant metal ball to throw, Impa teleports behind him “nothing personal, kid” nO fuck I’m doing it again away goes to swing a blade at his face. He blocks it with his little energy shield thing, but not before an entire conga line of Impa clones start slashing at him until he’s defeated by a giant explosion. So yeah, that’d be badass and cool. But on the other hand…

Kohga, stomping his feet and having a fit: I cARROT believe you would do something this terrible! Give us back those bananas right now! D: ….please? You can keep the gross orange sticks.

Sooga: He asked nicely. You wouldn’t deny the wishes of the most polite and charming Yiga Chief there is, would you?

Impa: No can do, Yiga scum! I’m afraid this cruel action wasn’t veggie nice of you so I must exact justice! Now it’s my time to split. *Impa clones gather and throw Kohga into a giant frog’s mouth. Impa runs off with a sack of fruit [fruit (derogatory) if you will] cackling into the horizon*

Zelda: The Path She Laid For You

The King has order Zelda to head to the Temple of Time, in order to see if anything there could help awaken her powers. Zelda sets off quietly, with minimal company, as not to attract too much attention lest the Town’s folk be hit with another attack. It seems, however, that these precautions won’t be enough...Defeat key enemies

So this is a pure Zelda sidequest, with no other characters except for eggbot because I said so. Starts out normal when SURPRISE! Bunch of monsters appear and Zelda has to whip out her iphone and fight them.

Also!! Good time for the Hollows to show up, and you know, tell her what a failure she is and all that. Convince her that she's useless and gonna doom everyone. All that good stuff!! It’s just nice to catch up with the villains and see how they’re doing, you know? ‘Sup Hollow Urbosa, last I saw you were barely spitting words in the Lost Woods, and now you’re giving full hard-hitting insults to Zelda’s character and ability? Good for you, Queen, good for you.

So Zelda and a handful of guards are fighting off monsters, and Zelda has to beat the Hollows too. Her gambit dialogue when she defeats Hollows can be stuff like “You’re not the real ___” or something idk, I don’t have a lot of experience with the evil clone trope, I’ve never played Ocarina of Time. But one specific I DO want to highlight is that Zelda uses the nearby Sheikah Tech to defeat the enemies. I find it a bit weird how Zelda just knows how to use those random water canons in the Faron region in later chapters, so we’re just gonna at least set up a pattern so that it makes a bit more sense later. Plus! This is in front of the Great Plateau, AKA Gate Post Town/Garrisons AKA oh lOOK it’s that area where Link and Impa and eggbot first meet in that Impa introduction scene of my rewrite so we have already established that Sheikah Technology is being stored here and ready to use! Continuity in world building! Nice.

So Zelda uses her knowledge of Sheikah Tech to defeat the Hollows, when...dun dun dun! Astor appears. But you don’t fight him...

Astor: Have you listened to one word spoken to you today? Why are you still resisting? Let me help you.

Zelda: And what exactly is your plan? You wish to kill me, then?

Astor: Not quite. I mean, if you do die, there are ways I can manage, so if some stray Yiga blade happens to strike you I’m not completely doomed.

Astor: But no, the most optimal outcome for everyone is the one where you live yet. You must see the truth as I do, and let me fix this. I can undo this terrible knot destiny has thread for you. [and insert other fate sisters and sewing metaphors here]

Zelda: But how? What’s your game here, if you’re truly claiming to be in everyone’s best interest then why all this secrecy?

Astor: Ah...ever the one to look for the facts and logic, hmm? Can’t blame you, you get it straight from your mother.

Zelda: …!

Astor: But...I’m afraid even if I did tell you now, you’re in no state to truly grasp it. No...the only way this works is for you to truly understand the position you're in, and the stakes that hang in the path before you.

Astor: And if I have to kill every King, Champion, or knight to get you to understand…

Astor: Then so be it.

[dun dun dun]

Zelda: No! I won’t let you hurt anyone, I swear it!

Eggbot [just pretend eggbot can have dialogue boxes too]: *chirps*

Astor, suddenly noticing eggbot: ...You…you’re one thing I still don’t—

Eggbot chirps again beside Zelda, both seeming to be angry at Astor’s words. Eggbot releases a glowing flash of light. Kinda like a...flash bang? [is that the right word idk]

Astor: Ah—! *and he teleports away to escape* Astor: Until next time then...Princess

And that’s pretty much the sidequest. Zelda can question what exactly eggbot did, but he’s not exactly the most verbal in responses. Finally it ends with Zelda going home, “He was still right though...I’m still sitting in failure, with not a hint of my powers awakening. All I have is some Sheikah tech, some exhausted shoulders….and well, you, I suppose, little one.”

“Come, it’d be a waste to continue forth in this condition. Let’s go back to the castle.”

Eggbot: *happy whistles and chirps*

= = = = =

Tune in next time folks, as we dive back into the main event! Needless to say, Chapter 4 is where the shit starts to go down...

#Hwaoc: The Kip Cut #hwaoc spoilers #hwaoc #hw aoc #hw age of calamity #age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity

59 notes · View notes

tevivinter · 4 years

Text

just know that I would die for you

here’s a small fic I’ve created to celebrate the 2020 Zevwarden week :)

Fandom: Dragon Age

Rating: Teen (might change later)

Pairing: Zevran/Darya Aeducan

Chapter 1: Admiration

[read on ao3] Embers crackled in the dead of the night. A faint smell of stew lingered in the air, a reminder of their dinner coming from the empty cooking pot. Darya sat by the fire, eyes focused on the task of sharpening her axe with a knife. She had been at it for quite a while, merely nodding in response as her companions retired for their tents one by one. It didn't take long before she and Zevran were left alone.

"So, these Crows of yours." Darya began, blades still grinding against one another with a metallic sound. "How long until they come after you?"

They haven't had the chance to talk much ever since Zevran joined the group. It had been only a few weeks after all, and he quickly noticed how busy she were. It was somehow endearing to watch Darya command the party – giving out orders and coming up with strategies seemed like a natural thing for her, like she was born to lead. Zevran turned his head to face her, elbow resting on his raised knee. "Hmm. I'm afraid I can't give you an answer to that, my dear warden. I honestly have no idea – though I'm sure a capable woman such as yourself should not worry."

Darya scoffed at his obvious flirting. "It would take much more than a couple assassins to worry me, elf. Still…" She paused to analyze her blade, silently checking out her progress. "That’s a fancy way of saying that they could appear at any moment," she continued. Zevran suppressed a chuckle, though he couldn't stop the corner of his lips from twitching slightly. "Well, I imagine it will take some time for them to realize that I’m not dead. Maybe a few weeks? One month? One can never tell," he shrugged.

Darya raised one suspicious brow. "Now there’s an interesting development from someone who claimed not to know anything."

Zevran's smirk grew. He was too familiar with sarcasm. "Ah, but there is a difference between knowing and trying to make a guess, no?" He watched her reactions carefully as if threading through broken glass. Darya remained focused on her task despite his attempt to joke – he couldn't really blame her for being suspicious after all. Zevran crossed his legs then. "It’s the truth, though. I have no reasons to lie to you."

"Is that so?" Darya stared at him for a moment, the knife suddenly coming to a halt. He didn't seem to be lying, but then again, she knew better than to trust empty words. "I have been wondering, Zevran…"

Zevran's gaze followed her as she stood up, fingers loosely wrapped around the grip of her axe. Darya moved in closer until there were only a few inches keeping them apart. Then she raised her blade, using it to gently tilt his chin up.

"Let’s say you manage to earn my trust." She began, voice dropping to a lower tone so that no one else could hear them. "What would possibly stop you from finishing the job then? An unexpected sense of honor, perhaps?"

The way she almost purred the words made Zevran swallow in anticipation, holding her stare as she did so. Somehow she managed to be attractive and intimidating at the same time – and from the looks of it she was well aware of that. There was a tinge of heat in her amber eyes, the campfire casting an orange light over her features. Zevran couldn't help but notice the sharp lines of her jaw, how they were framed by soft waves of golden hair. She always wore her hair tied up, a low ponytail that rested on her left shoulder. She would probably look just as stunning with her hair down, if not more.

Zevran felt his voice drop as well, eyes never leaving hers. "Would it be too hard to believe that I just want to follow you?"

Another scoff, but this time there was a hint of amusement in her tone. "You seriously expect me to believe in that?"

Zevran smiled, not minding the axe dangerously close to his neck. The blade stood cold and sharp under his chin. "As shocking as that might sound, I am not one to turn against my benefactors." A brief pause, and Darya watched as his eyes roamed her face in quick inspection. "Especially not one as beautiful as yourself," he added.

A slight frown brought her brows together. She was not used to have people defying her like that – one would normally shrink in fear when facing her in such way. Darya was known to be intimidating, and yet Zevran didn't seem to be affected by any of that. He stared back at her, unflinching, with a smirk on his lips nonetheless.

Was he always cocky like that? If so, how did he manage to stay alive for such a long time?

A brief moment of silence went by, tension making the air grow thick with anticipation. The camp seemed like a distant memory then, and every little noise seemed to vanish until the sound of their own breathing was the only one left. Darya didn't mind the small distance between them, instead taking the opportunity to properly look at him. She followed the shape of his tattoo, noticing how the elegant curves contributed to highlight his cheekbones. A single strand of blond hair hanged above his other cheek, creating a fine contrast against tan skin. There was something… different about Zevran, something she couldn't quite place yet. At least he wasn't so bad looking after all.

Darya pulled the axe away from his throat. "If you’re hoping to make me swoon, handsome, you might want to think of other ways to do that." She smirked, sarcasm dripping from her voice when she pronounced his new nickname. "Cheap flattery won’t work with me."

Zevran let out a low laugh, warmth dancing in his eyes. "Ah. It’s no flattery to simply state the truth, bela.”

The foreign word seemed strange to her ears, though it was clearly some kind of response to his nickname. She ignored it. "Yes, you seem to be doing a lot of that lately." Her gaze drifted down to Zevran's body before returning to his brown eyes. "How unfortunate for the Crows to lose such an honest assassin."

Their usual height difference became inverted with Zevran sitting on the ground. He wouldn't complain about the view, though, gladly tilting his head up to face her. "I know, right? How will they ever make it without me? Tsc, such a great loss."

A few more seconds of staring, but this time Zevran could easily picture the gears turning inside her head. Darya had something on her mind, he just didn't know what - and the fact she was so hard to read made him feel frustrated and drawn to her in equal measure. She was likely debating whether to keep him alive, but then again, she would have killed him already if she really wanted to. Maybe it had something to do with trusting him? The suspense would soon drive him mad, and his breath caught in his chest when Darya decided to speak again.

"I'll see you tomorrow." A simple statement, one that made Zevran's shoulders drop a bit with relief. He nodded goodbye to her, offering one last smirk before she turned away.

Things would surely be interesting from now on.

#my writing #darya aeducan #zevran arainai #zevwarden week 2020 #zevwarden #dragon age

20 notes · View notes

lefaystrent · 5 years

Note

Could you write a short story where Virgil is out at a store, Deceit and Remus spot him. Virgil is like F social interaction. Then is only rude because he really didn't feel like being noticed by people who recognize him. (Patton could be another costumer, Roman a cashier who is working there when not acting, Logan getting supplies for a science class at school)

A Storm Rolled into Town

Fandom: Thomas Sanders,Sanders Sides

Pairings: none

Summary: It’s not likeVirgil meant to become famous anyway. It just sorta happened. And now he’sshopping in some small-town mom-and-pop store on a weekday morning. Despitewearing the hood of his jacket up and perhaps looking the more conspicuous forit, he can sense that someone somewhere in this store is watching him.

Word Count: 2150

________________________________________________________________

Virgil Storm was born with eyes inthe back of his head.

Not literally. It was mostly justanxiety and paranoia working in tandem to create a 360° zone of caffeinated caution.A necessary skill when you became part of the famous crowd. All it took was onecrazy person with a knife screaming about how you’re meant to be together, andthen you’re fucking dead.

Not that Virgil had been assaultedby anyone.

Yet.

He has had experiences witha couple of stalkers before that were quickly handled. It’s amazing how whenmore than a handful of people know your name and can buy your merch, theirsense of entitlement turns you into a thing to be owned.

It’s not like Virgil meant tobecome famous anyway. It just sorta happened.

And now he’s shopping in some small-townmom-and-pop store on a weekday morning. He had to make a pit-stop on his longdrive back home to Florida. Sure, he could have gotten home faster if he’dridden in a plane. He could also set this store on fire or go jump in a lakewhile strapped to an anvil. Doesn’t mean he’s going to.

The point is, Virgil is very awareof how famous he is, and despite wearing the hood of his jacket up and perhapslooking the more conspicuous for it, he can sense that someone somewhere inthis store is watching him.

Virgil glances down the aislebehind him, but there’s nothing. Again.

He lets out a huff of air andcontinues to peruse the candy section. He’s got a craving for something sour,but he’s not looking to get accosted here.

He swipes up a packet of gummy wormsand goes around to the chip rack next. Virgil subtly peeks around the store,noting the two guys manning the register counter. They look young, maybe aroundtwenty. They’re more talking and laughing rather than working. Other than them,there’s this one nerdy looking guy in a tie and glasses over by the stationary.The store seems empty otherwise.

Virgil picks up a large bag of sourcream ‘n onion and nearly screams when there’s a mustached face poking out inthe space left behind.

“Boo!” the man says.

“Fuck off!” Virgil growls andthrows the chip bag right at the face.

A series of snickers come back fromthe candy aisle that Virgil had just vacated. Pissed off and heart racing, hewhips his head around to see some guy in a bowler hat.

“I do believe the phrase ‘got you’fits this scene well,” Bowler Hat says.

“You didn’t ‘get’ anything,” Virgilhisses.

“Oh? So you didn’t just jump likeyou’d seen a ghost?”

“He definitely jumped, Dee! He evenpeed his pants!” Mustached Man cackled, coming out from behind the chip rack.

“I didn’t—” Virgil went to defendhimself but found it pointless. These guys just seemed like assholes. “Justleave me alone.”

“Oh poo, have some fun would you?”

“Now Remus, let’s not annoy him toomuch. Wouldn’t want him to storm out.”

Storm.

He made it very clear that he knewVirgil’s last name. If the pointed pun didn’t say as much, the smarmy grin onBowler Hat’s face surely did.

Virgil tried not to show how muchthat got to him.

“So what? You know who I am. Bigdeal. Buzz off and let me shop in peace.” If these two kept harassing him orworse, Virgil could always threaten to call the cops. Then again, cops took afew minutes to respond, and it only took less than a second to die.

New plan. Virgil could throw downthe chip rack and then run for his life. And if that didn’t work, he carriedpepper spray on his person for a reason.

“What brings someone such asyourself to our neck of the woods?” Bowler Hat questioned, not leaving Virgilalone in the slightest.

Mustached Man jumped up beside hisfriend, leaning an arm against his shoulder to loudly whisper, “I bet he needsto hide a dead body!”

Virgil’s eye twitched. “Yeah,because that’s the only reasonable explanation, right?”

Mustached Man nodded in agreement. “Nothingelse to do around here.”

“It does get rather dull here,”Bowler Hat mused. He brushed his gloved fingers over his chin.

Seriously, who the hell were theseguys? And were they intentionally being low-key threatening? Perhaps not, butthat’s how they were coming across anyway.

“That’s nice.” Virgil smiled in away that showed his utter contempt. Better than showing his fear. “Now if you’redone bothering me, I’ve got things to buy.”

He would have liked something morethan just the gummy worms, but he no longer felt hungry enough to risk hislife.

Virgil walked away, his stepspicking up speed as he heard Mustached Man barking at him.

He was never stopping anywhere everagain.

________________________________________________________________

Roman sat at the register counter,bored out of his mind.

“Patton, my loyal companion. Remindme why we’re here again?”

“Because we get paid to be here.”

“Ah.” Roman nodded, eyes narrowedin deep understanding.

Then he slumped over with a whimperingwhine. His head banged against the countertop.

“Awww, cheer up Ro-Ro! We’ve only gota few more hours left of our shift!”

“My shackled soul is unmoved byyour comfort. They are but mere words in the face of unforgiving oppression.”

“…so what you’re saying is that youneed a pun, right? Or maybe a hug. A combination of the two? A pug. Oh!Doggy!”

Roman snorted as Patton’s train ofthought derailed. He sat up to stare at his coworker and long-time friend.

He snapped his fingers. “Focus,Puffball.”

“Oh, right,” Patton said,refocusing. His expression became determined. “Go on and get all the angst out,kiddo. I’m all ears.”

“Retail suuuuuucks,” Roman concluded.“My creative spirit yearns for a place I can spread my wings and thrive! I ammeant for bigger and better stages. You see this face? You hear this voice? Alltoo good to be squandered away in Backwoodsville, Tennessee.”

“We don’t live in Tennessee.”

“My point is that I am a work ofart, and yet I am left collecting dust in grandma’s attic. It is a crime! Theuniverse should give me a break already.”

From the stationary aisle, afamiliar voice contributed to the conversation, “Perhaps if you put nearly asmuch effort into publicizing yourself to the entertainment community instead ofwhining, you wouldn’t be stuck where you are now.”

Roman slammed a hand on thecounter. “No one asked you, Microsoft Nerd!”

Logan smirked and resumed hisshopping. They knew each other of course. It was hard not to recognize everyonewhen you worked in one of the only stores in town. Plus all three of them hadgone to high school together.

Patton patted Roman’s shoulder insympathy. “I think what Logan’s trying to say is that you’ve got loads of potentialand I’m sure someone’s going to notice one day.”

“That is not what I said at all,but go off I guess,” Logan stated.

Roman flipped him off. Somehow, despitehis back turned to him, Logan must have sensed it and returned the gesture rightback to him.

Patton swatted at Roman’s hands. “Don’tbe ugly!”

“That’s impossible for someone likeme.” Roman grinned.

Patton sighed. “What am I going todo with you?”

“Love me, of course.”

Patton giggled.

“Hi,” a clipped voice cut in. Romantore his attention away from the agony of his life to regard the customer athis counter.

Roman hopped up from his seat andshifted flawlessly into his customer service spiel. “Hello! Ready to check out?”

“Yeah,” the man nodded, his hoodfalling back a bit at the movement.

Roman smiled. He recognized thejacket brand and was about to compliment the customer’s taste.

Their eyes met briefly and Roman’sheart exploded.

Virgil Storm.

Virgil freaking Storm was standingat his register counter.

No. No it couldn’t—

HOLY SHIT!

“That’s it,” Virgil Storm said,tossing a pack of sour gummy worms onto the counter. He briefly glanced overhis shoulder as if to look for something. He wasn’t really paying attention toRoman, so he didn’t catch being ogled.

Oh god, Virgil Storm was standingat his register. No matter how many times Roman looked, Virgil Stormstood there, and all Roman could do was ogle him.

Roman suddenly found the candypacket very interesting.

If he kept his head down, nothingbad would happen, right?

“Uh . . . that’s it,” Virgil saidagain, and Roman realized that he’d been standing there frozen.

Willing his limbs to unthaw, Romanmechanically reached for the candy and ran it over the scanner. A beep sounded,and with a stiff arm, he punched for the total.

“Your total is . . . a number.”

“What?”

Roman couldn’t even look up farenough to check the screen. How could he? When one of his idols stood beforehim. He owned all of this man’s albums, for God’s sake!

“Yes,” Roman said, as if thatexplained everything.

“Okay . . .” Virgil said. Heshuffled, presumably getting his wallet out or something. Internally, Roman wasscreaming to Patton for help, but sadly his friend had never mastered telepathy.In fact, he had no idea what Patton was doing right now. He wasn’t sayinganything, that was for sure. Did he even recognize the celebrity in their storeright now?

“Here,” Virgil offered a five-dollarbill.

Roman blinked at it. Wasn’t VirgilStorm rich? Why was he using cash when he could use a card?

Carefully, lest he mess up andforever embarrass himself, Roman reached up and took the bill from him. Theirfingers weren’t even close to touching, but Roman still felt like he’d steppedon a live-wire, a shock racing through his system.

Roman had dreamed many a time ofcasually running into his idols. He imagined nearly daily of becoming likethem, of leaving his mark, of impressing those that he looked up to. He wouldbe suave and graceful and witty, a dazzling star in the making who would sweepthem off their feet.

Instead Roman hunched in on himselfand began to cry.

“Oh shit, are you okay?” VirgilStorm asked him, and that somehow made everything worse.

Roman covered his face with hishands and sniffled. “I’m just feeling a little emotional right now.”

How mortifying.

A hand rubbed at his back. “Sorry,he’s having a quarter-life crisis,” he heard Patton explain.

Roman threw up his arms,tear-streaked face be damned. “PATTON! That’s not why I’m crying.”

“It’s okay Ro, it happens to a lotof people. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

“I knew retail work was hell, butgeez,” Virgil commented.

Patton nodded in sympathy. “Hereally wants to be on Broadway someday.”

“Patton,” Roman gasped in admonishment.“You can’t just be telling V— telling people about my silly dreams.”

“Why’s it silly?” Patton asked. “You’reso talented! You’ll make it, I know you will. You’ve just gotta keep trying.”

This could not be happening rightnow. Roman wanted to curl up in the employee’s bathroom and die.

“Broadway, huh?” Virgil asked.

Screw going to the bathroom. Roman coulddie on the spot.

“Ridiculous, huh?” Roman tried tolaugh at himself. If he laughed at himself first, it’d hurt less when everyoneelse did.

Virgil shrugged. “Not really.Someone’s got to do it, right?”

Oh.

No rejection.

Just a practical sense of hope.

Someone’s got to do it, and thatcould be him.

Roman blushed and gazed down at hisfeet. “Thank you . . .”

“No problem. Just uh, feel better Iguess.”

It was clear Virgil found this situationawkward but was trying to be considerate. For that, Roman was extremely grateful.

“Dee! Remus! What are you doing inhere? You know you’re banned!” Patton hollered, moving around the counter. Hehad his stern face on and a broom in hand. The two troublemakers would do wellto run while they still could.

They watched Patton chase Dee andRemus off.

“Does that happen a lot?” Virgilasked Roman.

“Only about every other day.”

Virgil didn’t say anything, soRoman went ahead and finished the transaction.

“Here’s your change,” Roman saidmeekly, handing the correct amount back to him.

“Thanks,” Virgil said, pocketingthe money. He picked up his gummy worms yet hesitated.

“Something else?” Roman wondered.

Virgil scratched the back of hishead. “To be honest, I wanted to get more stuff. But those guys were beingcreepy . . . But they’re gone now, so . . . would it be weird if I went to getmore stuff?”

Roman’s lips twitched up into asmile. “You didn’t judge me, so I’m not going to judge you.”

Virgil smirked. “Thanks.”

___________________________________________

General Tag List: @spectralheartt @a-pastel-pan @notalwaysthevillian @rose-gold-roman @ijustrealizedhowdumbmynamewas @katie-the-noble-fangirl @yourroyalydramaticanxiousness @aroundofapplesauce @merlybird500 @beach-fan @jemthebookworm @whats-going-on-kiddos @randomsandersides @gamerfreddie @unring-this-bell @analogicallythinking @lilygold23 @levy-the-b00kw0rm @tacohippy56900 @accio-hufflepuff-power1 @just-another-rainbowblog @georganabanana @grey-says-heck @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @thesynysterunknown @idont-know-what-im-doing @idioticsky @fadingglowcloud @whizzie72 @theinvisiblespoon @greyyy523 @opaque-puppet @just-fic-me-up @wowimsogoddamnoriginal @sos-fandoms @loganeatsbooks @trust-is-overrated @theitalianalchemist @im-crunchie @mourning--star @4amanxiety @hogwarts-my-love @enby-phoenix @justanotherpurplebutterfly @internet-or-sleep @absolutesandersidestrash @seaspider10 @nonasficcollection @satanblessi @an-absolute-failure @analogical-mess @noisyeggpizzapatrol @hamilsandersfam @cefinitely-rolo @thgjclw @knight-shives @no-no-no-no-6 @savingshae @rabbitsartcorner @buddypallady @midnight-tragedyy @007ardra @fandomloverangel @dorkoverse @mirrorz-n-starz @idunnosong

#sanders sides #virgil #virgil sanders #roman #roman sanders #patton #patton sanders #logan #logan sanders #deceit #deceit sanders #remus #remus sanders #writing #fanfiction #a storm rolled into town #Anonymous

282 notes · View notes

halfblood-fiend · 5 years

Text

Fictober 2019 - Day 1

Prompt 1 : “It will be fun, trust me.”

Fandom : Star Trek: Voyager and Skyrim (what?? yes, I did that)

Words : 1,402

Warnings : literally one curseword is as bad as it gets

Come on, it will be fun. ft. Ensign Vorik and finally named Modern!OC

“Hey, stop fiddling with that,” I said, swatting Vorik’s hand away from the long hanging strap of his baldric. I yanked it snug over his protests and tied the extra length of leather in a loose knot in the front, then yanked that too, for good measure.

It was strange being in the holodeck without a program running, but it was stranger waltzing around the ship in metal plate. Though we spared everyone else the clacking, in here every sound of the two of us getting ready seemed loud. Plus, the blank reflective walls and the crosshatching metal struts were eerie, like the room was naked, and, to be honest, I was fairly underwhelmed by it anyway. For being the only room capable of creating pretty much any fantasy in the known universe, the actual room itself was…very plain, and shockingly small. It was hard to reconcile the fact that I had covered hundreds of miles in here, and yet the actual working space was fifty feet across at best.

“I am off balance,” the Vulcan complained. His voice echoed off the walls and made his words sound harsh.

“You’ll get used to it. It’s supposed to hang like that. And anyway, if you wear it the way you were trying to, it’d get in the way of your arrows. Keep in mind: this was all made to be functional, after all.”

“It doesn’t feel functional,” he muttered as he slung a full quiver over his other shoulder. “This boiled leather would hardly stop a knife, let alone a sword if we had the safeties disengaged. You’d find something more useful on Vulcan.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I hefted my steel helmet in my hand, thought better of putting it on, and decided to clip it to my belt beneath my sabre-fur cloak. “Don’t forget something warm,” I shot over my shoulder. “Pretty sure my last save point was somewhere outside of Winterhold.”

“Ah. You are trying to kill me, then. Computer, replicate Giana’s fur cloak. Size specifications 50.184 centimeters in the shoulder and 162.561 centimeters in length.” A moment later, the air in front of Vorik shimmered and a duplicate of the furs I was wearing over my own armor materialized in his hands. He swung the heavy thing over his shoulder, clasped the brooch in the front and tugged the fine ermine fur lining into place around his neck.

“You’re complaining an awful lot for someone who asked to tag along for my holodeck time,” I pointed out to him as I watched.

His only response was to throw me a cocked eyebrow as if to say: I wouldn’t have had to, if you had only paid attention to me.

For several weeks I had been requesting the holodeck in any block of time I had free. It almost seemed like it was just time for one of those Skyrim benders one gets every now and again. And if the ship’s record of gameplay throughout each holodeck was any indication, I was by no means the only one suffering. The insanely retro game that Harry and Tom helped me design and code with holotechnology was the number one most played program on Voyager these days. Even outstripping Tom’s skeevy French bar or whatever it was he was so proud of. It made me sort of feel like I almost belonged on the ship, and that being That-Weird-Sad-Girl-From-The-Twentieth-Century actually paid off somehow. That Skyrim got so popular only days after I decided to release it to the whole crew really made me feel like I was contributing something worthwhile. Finally. Like if it hadn’t been for me, these future people would have never known the joys of being lost in the Skyrim.

And that, as any 20th Century Earth gamer would know, was a travesty.

But with all the joys of Skyrim came sacrifices—like being a bad friend and hardly seeing Vorik outside of shifts in Engineering because I straight up had an obsession now. He had seemed mildly understanding at first, but as it turned into weeks of not playing chess or sharing meals in front of tucked away viewports in the rec room, Vorik took matters into his own hands. Sort of. At the very least, he was nearly infuriating with his insistent questions about what I was up to all morning and with the way he trailed me to the holodeck and then loudly announced (unprompted, I might add) that he was cleared of further duty for the rest of the day, not so subtly hinting for an invite. And I guess I was sort of touched by that, even if he would never admit that all the fuss was really just because he missed me.

“Ready, Freddie?” I asked as he pulled the black fur-lined hood low over his forehead. All I could really see of his face anymore was his eyes and nose.

He sighed. “I suppose.”

Resting my left hand on Gilmorrack’s pommel, I nudged Vorik with my elbow and laughed. “Come on. It will be fun, trust me! I’ll even be nice and adjust the in-game temperature if you want.”

“That will not be necessary. I am accustomed to suffering the “comfortable” ambient air on a human-dominated vessel. Experiencing the freezing temperature required to generate snow would simply be—I believe ‘the icing on the cake’ would be an appropriate expression here.”

Biting back a smile, I shook my head at him and made a mental note to “fast travel” somewhere a little warmer at the first chance we got.

I tilted my chin up and spoke to the room at large: “Computer? Run program: Todd Howard’s Vision; Moreno, savepoint Beta, please,” then to Vorik, “Watch your bitchin’, friendo. We’re going to a place where I can shoot you full of sparks with my fingers.”

His expression did not change as he looked me straight in the eye and deadpanned, “Then perhaps it would finally be warm.”

I couldn’t help laughing outright this time.

An acknowledging beep sounded, and then the room around us shifted. Blank, reflective walls shimmered just as the air had before materializing Vorik’s cloak as holographic images of a near earthen landscape blurred into being.

Tall evergreen trees rose at our sides and meandered through the hills and into the mountains towering skywards in the distance. Brush was sparse in the northern reaches of Skyrim and what there was appeared mangled, either long dead or long dormant. Darkness stretched across the sky, broken by the jagged borealis snaking across the heavens and a spattering of only the brightest stars. Green and blue light reflected over the ground, magnified in the generous dusting of soft, glittering snow that blanketed everything as far as the eye could see.

The air became crisp as the internal sensors adjusted to the programming, and even though it was technically the same (as Vorik had already reminded me many times before), on the holodeck, the air suddenly lacked the distinct stale taste of recycling and sterilization. In here, frigid wind stung my cheeks with harsh kisses, my breath came out in hot puffs. Here, I could almost fool myself into forgetting I was trapped on a starship at all.

And that was the real reason I spent so much time on the holodeck.

I moved my feet, testing the genuine sound of the snow crunching beneath my boots. It felt real, I grinned to myself. I didn’t think I would ever get over this feeling, this wonder. I would never not be mystified by it all.

“So, Dragonkin, where to this time?” Vorik asked in a strained, muffled voice, clearly not marveling at our surroundings the way I was.

Giggling, I answered, “It’s Dragonborn. Dragonkin means something else, my dear Vulcan companion. No, please don’t ask me what. I won’t tell you.”

The ground beneath our boots started shaking. Across the tundra, a violent and earsplitting shriek reverberated over the mountains. It drew steadily closer, and the next moment, the roar was accompanied by great whooshes of wind.

Wingbeats, I knew immediately.

Another roar shook precarious snowfalls off limp trees and this time the sound was accompanied by the sharp pang of my own excitement. My hand flew to Gilmorrack.

I pointed in the direction of the dragon’s roar. “That way!”

“Oh. Good. Towards the dragon. If we return, we should thoroughly discuss your definition of ‘fun’.”

#fictober19 #Star Trek: Voyager #Ensign Vorik #Skyrim #sorta?#I feel like the Big Fun about Star Trek is that you can cross anything over and be like lol holodeck ep!#Star Trek #Voy #Vorik #Giana Moreno #as I finally named her #lol #OTP: Never Tear Us Apart #bruh like I am so mad I am so late on it #I wrote it this morning but then typing and editing were a nightmare #and my friend took me out for my birthday so I couldn't get started till late #whatever #it's done

20 notes · View notes

some-cookie-crumbz · 7 years

Text

Action Figure

Action Figure Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: Coran has a set of gifts for the Paladins to help boost morale. They have a few... Concerns, to say the least. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more. AN: I want you all to know that this was the first prompt I had figured out once I saw the full list. I have been hyped for this one!

They’d all been settled in the castle kitchen, nibbling on some almost-brownies Hunk had made and swapping stories when Coran came stumbling in with a decently sized box in his hands. He dropped the box in the center of the table, leaned on it, and grinned widely at them all. “So, Paladins,” He drawled happily, lightly rapping his fingers along the top of the box, “how would you all like a little treat?”

“That depends… Normally your ‘treats’ involve really terrible feats be accomplished first. Like that time you promised us all a day off but first we had to survive a six consecutive rounds of combat against the gladiator drones on their highest setting,” Hunk said wearily, taking a suspicious sip of his milk.

“Personally I believed that the training experience itself was a wonderful treat,” Allura chimed in.

“Yeah, that’s because you’re a nut when it comes to running drills and exercises. Even before you were an piloting a Lion you rode us like a cowboy on a bucking bronco at a rodeo,” Pidge scoffed with a roll of her eyes. She then paused and glanced over at Keith. “Which reminds you, have you ever been to a rodeo before? I mean, you grew up in Texas, yeah?”

He shrugged. “I grew up there in a lot of my younger years but, after age nine, I was kind of a ward of the Garrison,” He explained.

She hummed thoughtfully before Coran cleared his throat to get their attention again. “I believe I asked a question,” He said with a dainty sniff.

“I’m sure we’ll all be happy with whatever you’ve brought for us, Coran,” Shiro said with a small smile.

Coran beamed before starting to open the box. “Well, I’m sure you all remember those phenomenal shows we put on a while back?” He mused.

“You mean the ones were you flanderized us all into stereotypes that could be seen as demeaning and degrading to us as individuals, thus making a mockery of the contributions we make to the team on an everyday basis?” Hunk asked flatly, licking a smearing of chocolate from his thumb. All eyes swiveled to him and he perked up in surprise, an anxious smile starting to turn up on his lips. “Oh, uh, I mean, those shows where we got a bunch of new additions to the coalition?”

“And you almost got us all killed because you had some weird brain slug or whatever?” Lance asked before taking another bite of his brownie.

Keith cocked his head and looked at Pidge expectantly. “Wait, what is that all about? Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

She shrugged. “It was while you were more focused on working with the Blade. You were a little too busy to keep up with at the time aside from the big conference calls to discuss orders and mission specifics,”

“Ah,” He agreed with a nod.

“Anyway,” Coran said as he popped open the flaps, “the show was such a hit that we were selling holocaster recordings of it!”

Hunk seemed to pale at that. “Oh, great, so now a whole chunk of the universe thinks I’m just some goofy slob,” He whined.

“Hey, at least you won’t be looked at like a complete idiot by any life form with a basic grasp of the logistics of space travel,” Pidge quipped back.

“Excuse me,” Allura said calmly, holding up one hand, “but I think I got the shortest end of this deal out of all of us.”

Silence fell at the table for a moment before they all turned back to Coran. “So, uh, what does this have to do with the show?” Lance asked.

Coran brightened significantly at the question. “Glad you should ask, Lance! See, since the recordings were selling so well, Bii-Boh-Bi and I decided that producing merchandise would be a great idea! All the proceeds are used to help fund the rebellion, of course, but it’s been going very well! We’ve sold shirts, hats, stickers, even undergarments!” He said enthusiastically. He then began rummaging through the box excitedly. “We have also sold action figures of all five Lions of Voltron, toy versions of the bayards and a slew of other toys! But this, here, are the prototypes of the latest addition!”

And, with a dramatic flair, he produced a figurine donning the Black Paladin armor.

And the table immediately erupted into laughter.

“Oh, my God! Did they give Tiny Shiro steroids? He looks like two Shiros combined!” Pidge wheezed out, throwing herself back against her chair. Indeed the figurine had rippling muscles… That were significantly more pronounced than the actual Shiro.

“It’s a Double Stuffed Shiro!” Lance gasped, exchanging a look with Pidge and Hunk, before all three erupted into even more ludicrous laughter. Allura looked a bit confused, but was still giggling a bit behind one hand. Keith was looking between the stone figure of Real Shiro and Figurine Shiro, lip between his teeth, trying as hard as he could to not laugh outright.

Coran frowned a bit. “Well, perhaps it looks better in the alternate outfit? It comes with a second costume composed of that really phenomenal black shirt you wore that one time,” Coran suggested, starting to rummage through the box to find the accessory.

“No! No, the figure it fine in the Paladin armor!” Shiro snapped, his brain finally seeming to catch up with what was going on around him.

“Forget what he says! Change it into the shirt, Coran!” Lance all but shrieked.

“Yes!” Pidge hissed out in delirious glee.

“Do it! Do it!” Hunk agreed.

“Why don’t we look at some of the others?” Shiro barked quickly, trying to plaster on a polite smile but the edges coming off just a bit too forced.

“Well, that would be a good idea! As I said, these are just prototypes, so Bii-Boh-Bi wanted to get some feedback to make sure they’re as accurate as possible,” He said, setting the Shiro figure next to the box and beginning to rummage through for another one.

Lance swiped the actions figure up and began messing with it, posing it this way and that. “Fear not, innocent creatures of the universe! Shiro the Hero and his loyal Team Voltron are here to protect you!” He declared, dropping his voice a few octaves to try and imitate Shiro, while making the figure flex.

Laughter echoed again at the table, a crimson hue beginning to creep up along Shiro’s face as he swiped the toy from Lance’s grasp, but then paused to Coran pulled out the next figure.

And then it started all over again.

“It looks like they put Lance’s face under a magnified glass!” Hunk cackled.

“I’m melting, I’m melting!” Pidge squealed, throwing herself against the table for an added dramatic effect.

“Ding dong, the witch is dead~!” Keith suddenly sang, snickering at the nasty glare he got from Lance in response.

“Which old witch~?” Hunk joined in.

“The wicked witch~!” Shiro added, a hush falling for a second before everyone except Lance and Coran started howling yet again.

“It’s not that bad!” Lance protested, swiping the figure from Coran’s hand and looking it over. He opened his mouth to say something, one of his hands waving side to side in the air, then closed it. He then dropped the figure on the table and pulled the box over to himself. “Okay, okay, that’s enough about me! Let’s see what some of these other ones look like!”

“Excuse you!” Coran huffed indignantly.

Lance growled then perked up, freezing for a moment before pulling out a figure of white and yellow. “Oh, Hunk, buddy. I’m so, so sorry,” He said quietly, slowly turning the action figure to face the other Paladins.

Laughter paused for a moment before Hunk reached out, taking the figure from Lance’s grasp. He stared at it for a moment before taking a deep breath and adjusting the face so that it was staring up at the light above their heads. “All around me are familiar face, worn places, worn out faces~!” He belted out.

Shiro, Lance and Pidge started howling while Allura and Keith exchanged confused glances. Keith merely shrugged at her, showing he had no idea what they all found so funny either. “I think it’s another one of those meme things they like,” He mouthed.

“Oh,” She mouthed back.

“But seriously, they made my figure look like I am just ready for death. Like, I’ve given up on everything, no more of this living junk. Totally overrated,” Hunk explained, snickering as he waved his actions figure in the air.

Lance snickered before reaching into the bag again, a sharp bark of laughter escaping him as he grabbed another one. “Well would you look at this!” He said with a laugh, pulling out a figure of white and green. He cleared his throat before turning it to face the rest of the team. “Have you guys seen my pocket protector anywhere?” He asked, making his voice as nasally as possible and even trying to add a lisp.

Keith clamped one hand over his mouth, trying so hard to restrict the laughs vibrating in his chest, while Hunk guffawed like no other. Allura and Shiro settled into quieter laughter, both seeming to gauge Pidge’s reaction before being too vocal. Pidge herself actually snorted a bit, taking the figure and looking it over curiously. After a moment she tossed the action figure over her shoulder, batted her eyelashes, and said in her best Steve Urkel impression, “Did I do that?”

The other humans at the table were sent into another bout of rowdy cackling. Allura chuckled but was still clearly baffled as to what the joke fully was.

“Okay, we’ve only got Keith’s left,” Lance said, rummaging through the box again once he’d settled down.

The boy in question perked up, brow furrowing. “How did they make a figure of me? I didn’t participate in the show,” He pointed out.

“No, you didn’t, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a stand in for your part,” Allura said with a quiet groan.

“Tah-Dah~!” Lance sang as he produced the very silver-haired, very Altean and very beautiful Keith figurine to the others at the table.

“Wait, what?” Keith asked in alarm.

“Hey, Allura said it herself; she got the short end of the stick in the ice show compared to the rest of us. She got stuck having to play you,” Lance laughed loudly.

“I only hope that I was able to give you the complexity you deserve, Keith,” Allura said, her grin becoming something more teasing and mischievous.

“Don’t worry, I gave her a few pointers and coached her into the role, to insure the integrity of your character,” Pidge laughed. She and Allura exchanged sly smirks.

“I’m Keith, I’m so emo~!” They chimed in unison before dissolving into giggles.

He blinked then smirked a bit himself. “So then, if Allura is actually Keith, does that mean you two are dating now?” He asked, indicating the two of them.

“I suppose so. Sorry for stealing your girlfriend,” Allura mused, tossing a strand of hair over her shoulder and winking playfully.

Keith put on a fake scowl and looked down at Pidge. “How could you?”

“Hey, it’s not technically cheating since I just went from you to you,” She snickered back. She then shrugged lightly and indicated the other woman with a sweep of one hand. “And, honestly, can you blame me? You just have such a lovely figure that you can’t even compete!”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Allura crooned playfully, blowing Pidge a kiss.

“Aw, just speaking the truth, sugarlump!” She laughed back, pretending to catch the kiss and pressing it to her cheek.

Keith snickered before looking over at Allura. “You sure you want to take on the responsibility of being in a relationship with that thing? Garbage gremlins can be wily little creatures to date,”

“Excuse you, we prefer the term ‘compost cretins’, you bigot. See, this is why I had to leave you for you!” She said playfully, throwing her hands up in the air in mock-frustration.

The whole table erupted back into laughter while Coran pinched the bridge of his nose. Sometimes he wondered if these Paladins were really worth all the effort.

#Voltron legendary defender #Keidge #Kidge #Peith #Kidgemas #keidgemonth2k18 #kidgemonth2k18 #Pidge Gunderson #Keith Kogane #my fics #Hunk is Salty #Because I am salty #Also I was gonna tag this with another ship #But then I realized that I didn't have to :3c

65 notes · View notes

flyingcatstiel · 7 years

Note

Wow. Instant unfollow. Cas is my favorite character and I used to enjoy the content here, but this is too far. The pettiness and bitterness here is unreal. Meta writers don't work for you... or for anyone. They're not paid to do this; they do it out of love for the show. You don't have to agree with everything they say -- I sure as hell don't -- but at least show them reasonable human decency. I'd also suggest you may not have a clear outlook on things if you haven't even been reading recently.

Thank you! *beams*

Pettiness is my middle name, and salty11 and bitter12 are my negativity tags for the last couple of season. I don’t know what kind of content you enjoyed here, since I barely make an original post. On most of the days I just reblog from much cooler fans. Unless you enjoyed my reblogging skills? In that case, thank you again! I do rant very much in my tags, that’s where my original content goes. And if you’ve read my tags, you’d be used to my levels of pettiness and bitterness.

And for the record. In my post I didn’t attack meta writers. I very politely said

I remember neven-ebrez predicting Cas death after 12x12 in her tags. And I’m grateful for this fair warning.I wish more meta writers would have talked about Cas’ death. Instead of making fun of concerned Cas’ fans with their “lololol, annual Cas panic, here we go!” posts.

And you know why I wish more meta writers were talking about Cas’ death? Because in that case Cas’ fans wouldn’t be ridiculed before s12 finale for fearing exactly this outcome. Instead, a lot of fans got reassurances about Cas fate from big fandom blogs and then they’re gutted during finale. And when we came back to our dashes, there’s a double Cas’ deathparty - from Cas haters and from the rest of fandom who apparently loves Cas so much that they’d gladly see him dead because destiel.

And I don’t need to read meta to know that Cas fans are being shunned across the board, especially after the finales. All latest three. Ask me, how I know? I was here since 8x01. I was also blocked by a big fandom blog because I dared to reblog their post where they snickered about Cas’ fans fretting about Cas absence in 11x09 promos. What was that expression, ah yes,“another reason to calm thy titties” (meaning - Cas will be in this ep). After mid season finale aired without Cas, I reblogged their post with a couple of salty tags. First time offence, blocked immediately. And I’ve heard from other Cas fans who were also blocked by destiel blogs.

I’m not attacking meta writers. I’m just pointing out hypocrisy and lack of common tact or, you know, human decency towards Cas fans. Which, apparently, is a capital offence in fandom now.

ETA: and hey, a lot of folks do fandom stuff for free here. Including me. I do it for the love of destiel, the show be damned. And the only thing I ask in return is some politeness towards Cas fans. My private blog is small, plain and barely active because all my time and effort goes into my two fandom blogs that contribute to this fandom just as much as meta writers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to the rest of my followers - hey guys, I don’t plan on making more new bitter salty posts, I’ll keep to ranting in my tags. But if you want to unfollow me, I totally understand. I’ll make some more posts about my post that went places and will tag it them with my negativity tags and a new tag only for this discussion - #post that went places. Take care!

stats so far - 1 followers lost, 4 gained. much better than I expected.

#anon #post that went places #bitter12 #post 1

2 notes · View notes

emiriwrites · 7 years

Text

Priceless Treasures and Frozen Fortunes | Chapter 1

Fandom: Yuri!!! On Ice

Rating: T

Summary: Yuuri Katsuki is a ballet instructor and figure skater by day, and a phantom thief by night. Victor Nikiforov is the lead detective of the Eros case, pursuing the elusive phantom thief and trying to (romantically) pursue Yuuri.

The good news: they’re one in the same and they’re falling in love

The bad news: they’re one in the same and they’re falling in love

Pairing(s): Victor/Yuuri, implied other pairings

Notes: And now for something completely different from what I usually write!

Like everyone else that’s written for this AU, I was inspired by @samochas art and just had to write something for it! I want to say that some of the other fics for this AU inspired bits and pieces of this, but for the most part it’s my own ideas for this take on the AU (also with some help from kai and talia for some of the roadblocks with my plotting/outlining) Also, huge thanks to kai for looking over this chapter/editing! I also have chapter notes for this fic here, which I recommend you look over either while reading this chapter or afterwards!

Anyways, hope you all enjoy my contribution to the phantom thief AU!

Chapter Word Count: 2,195

[AO3 Link] [Chapter Index] [Next Chapter]

Chapter 1: Wishing Too for Something New

“Detective Nikiforov speaking.”

“Ah, Victor. Good you’re there. Listen-”

“Chris, I’m not leaking police cases to you just because you need a new article.”

There’s something almost like a pout from the other end of the phone. “Why not? You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”

“Yes, and Yakov’s almost had my head from those times.” Victor sighed. “Plus there’s not much new happening around here. It’s just the same old stuff.”

“Oh? Not even with that new kid showing up after Georgi left? What’s his name again... Leon or something, right?”

“It’s Leo, and that was nearly two months ago. Nothing’s changed since then! You would know this with how often you call, Chris.”

“What, no new big cases or anything? There’s usually something like that happening around there, isn’t there?” Chris sounded like he was in disbelief.

“Yes, for once. The last one was the one that caused Georgi to leave the force finally. We all thought he would’ve left when Anya broke up with him, which was quite a surprise for how long he stayed.”

Chris hummed in agreement. “True, but surely something new has happened around the station, right? It can’t be as dead around there as you’re making it sound.”

“No, it’s just simple things that get taken care of in a day or two. It hasn’t been this dead since I joined all those years ago.” Victor sighed, running his free hand through his bangs. “What does it take to get something exciting to happen around here?”

Chris let out a chuckle at that. “Be careful what you wish for, Victor. You might just get something new to happen, saying things like that.”

“At this point, I’d take anything just so it wasn’t so slow around here.”

“Right. Anyways, my editor’s going to kill me if I stay on any longer instead of working, so I’ll talk to you later, hmm?”

“Of course you will. Who else is going to bug me for police cases to leak?”

Now that got a laugh out of Chris on the other end. “True, true. Toodles!”

Victor hung up once Chris had ended the call and sighed. Ever since the Henderson kidnapping case two months ago, it’s been simple cases like stolen cars or break ins that took little to no time to solve. Then again, said case had been stressful and took a lot out of everyone in the force; Georgi had finally resigned after it due to everything that went into solving that case. Thankfully, Leo de la Iglesia had joined the force shortly after Georgi left, and had inserted himself into the force quite nicely. He’d seen the boy talking to Mila on occasion and he appeared to be on nice terms with everyone else on the force, including Yakov. Then again, everyone was on good terms with Yakov, save for him it seemed. Possibly due to the older man being a family friend and had dealt with Victor’s antics for longer than necessary.

Though it was due in part to Yakov that Victor was a detective in the first place. Yakov and his father had been working together on the same police force since they were younger, so the two of them had been closer for quite a while. It was due in part to both of them that he had decided to go into the police force after all (to his father’s delight and Yakov’s displeasure, once Victor had gotten assigned to the same station as him). He’d been quite distant with his parents since arriving in the States, specifically Detroit. Technically, he could have been assigned anywhere, given his connections within the police, but there was just something about Detroit that kept him there since he arrived all those years ago.

Though what was keeping him here now? Considering how dead the department was since the last case had ended, it seemed like it was time to leave. He couldn’t just do that though, the people here were those he was close to and had known for years (plus Yakov would have his head for trying to leave without much of a reason), but it almost seemed too convenient to leave now. Besides, there was another reason he couldn’t leave.

“Victor!” His name being shouted, along with the accompanying slam of the door from the director’s office, pulled him out of his reverie. Standing there was a tall, older looking man with a grey fedora on his head, giving quite the glare at Victor. If he didn’t know any better, he would think he was in trouble, given how often Yakov was yelling at him, for one thing or another. However, this was different from the other times Yakov yelled at him, merely to get his attention.

“Ah, Yakov.” He said, looking at the man as he approached the silver haired detective's desk. “What is it this time? Surely not anything I’ve done, no?”

“For once,” Yakov huffed at him. “Yuratchka’s ballet class is almost over and Nikolai isn’t able to pick him up.”

Worry washed over Victor’s features. “Is he alright? It’s not his back again, is it?”

Yakov shook his head. “No, something about problems with his car. You’d be able to pick him up, wouldn’t you?”

Victor’s expression immediately brighten at that. “Pass out on seeing Yuri? As if I could say no to that!” He all but cooed out. He rarely got to see the younger teen who was practically family from how much they had seen each other, considering how close Yakov and his father were to Nikolai, Yuri’s grandfather.

Yakov only nodded in reply. “Good, because I would’ve made you otherwise. You know what studio his lessons are at, right?”

Victor nodded, gathering his things and straightening up his desk. “Yes, you’ve only told me a dozen times or so. See you all tomorrow!” He called before leaving, earning a wave from both Leo and Mila.

Once outside, Victor unlocked and got into his car, started it and headed to the studio that Yuri took lessons at. He pulled up to the studio not more than fifteen minutes later, just as the first kids started to leave the building.

When he arrived inside, the studio seemed much bigger than it seemed from outward appearances. To the left side of the building was a hallway that lead to what seemed to be private rooms for either dancing or acting according to the signs there. To the right was a shop and in front was a hallway that lead to a main waiting area with open doors leading to actual rooms that looked like an actual studio. Many parents and young girls and boys were around in the main area, though peeking into one of the rooms revealed Yuri, changing out of his slippers to regular shoes. Said room was lined with many mirrors on one side, with bars on the other. Near Yuri was an older man, not too much younger than Victor, talking to him.

“Yuri! There you are!” Victor called, gather both the attention of Yuri and the other man, the former seeming annoyed and the latter appearing rather flustered as Victor approached them.

“Why are you here? Wasn’t Grandpa supposed to pick me up?” Yuri all but growled at, glaring at Victor.

“Yes, but he had some car troubles so Yakov asked me to pick you up in his stead.” Victor explained, to which Yuri only ‘tched’ at. Victor turned his attention to the man nearby, who seemed rather startled by him.

“Are you his instructor? I’m Victor Nikiforov, Yuri’s uncle of sorts.” He said, lips turning into a small smile, which the other returned, looking at him finally. He was Asian, having short black hair and brown eyes that seemed inviting.

“Ah, yes I am. I’m Yuuri Katsuki. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Nikiforov,” Yuuri introduced, holding out his hand in offering to Victor, who took it and shook it firmly; keeping eye contact with Yuuri.

“Oi, don’t call yourself my uncle when you know that’s not true!” Yuri called, leaving the room to head to one of the changing rooms. Victor merely smiled at him, who only looked back in annoyance, before turning back to Yuuri.

“I’m surprised to see you. Usually Yuri’s grandfather comes to pick him up from lessons.” Yuuri said, to which Victor only nodded at.

“He usually does, but like I said, he had car troubles today.” Victor replied. “They’re becoming more and more often it seems; he probably should replace that old car of his.”

Yuuri let out a small laugh at that. “Yes, he probably should. I’ve seen it a few times around here. It really is an old thing, isn’t it?” It was surprising to hear Yuuri laugh, but it was soft and comforting for whatever reason. Victor wouldn’t mind hearing it more often.

“Hey, Victor let’s go. I’m ready.” Yuri called from the doorway to the studio room, out of his dance clothes into a hoodie and jeans, tapping his foot impatiently.

“Just a minute, Yuri!” He responded back, turning over his shoulder to tell him, before turning his attention back to Yuuri. “Better go before he gets too angry, a grumpy Yuri is no fun.”

“Yeah, he isn’t. He gets that way sometimes during lessons, but he’s really a natural at it. Did he take ballet before this?”

Victor shrugged. “I think he did. Something one of his skating instructors recommended to help with his flexibility or something along those lines.”

“I see. He does have the makings of a skater, or a ballerina if he wanted to. It’s just something I’ve noticed from watching him during class.” Yuuri commented, to which Victor nodded at.

“Oi, Victor!”

Victor sighed, it was time to go. “I better leave now, lest he drag me out.” He smiled at Yuuri once more. “It was nice to meet you, Yuuri. Maybe we’ll meet again.”

Yuuri returned his smiled with a small nod and a soft look in his eyes. “Maybe. It was nice to meet you too.”

Victor nodded once more before turning to leave, Yuri following beside him in silence before getting into the car with him.

“Your instructor seemed nice, Yuri.” Victor commented, trying to get a conversation started.

“Yeah, he is.” Yuri replied, looking out the window. “He’s nice to everyone in class, even me despite the glares and yelling.”

Victor let out a small laugh at that. “Well, it’s nice to know that. Though we wouldn’t have you any other way, glares, yelling and all.”

“S-shut up!” Yuri yelled, his tone stubborn and betraying the small flush forming. Victor let the subject drop, letting Yuri go on about cats and tigers before dropping him off at his home and exchanging a few words with Nikolai before returning to his apartment, a large brown dog greeting him.

“Good to see you too, Makkachin.” He cooed to the dog, who happily barked in return. He moved to sit on the couch, Makkachin resting in his lap. Who would’ve thought the day would turn out like this? He was very much looking forward to meeting Yuuri again, whenever that would be. Maybe he should talk to Nikolai about picking up Yuri form his lessons more often.

Either way, it was something he was looking forward to; something new and exciting.

Later that evening, Yuuri was still in the studio despite having closed only a few minutes ago. He was running through some basic steps before the door to his room opened, a younger Asian man walking in, who smiled at him.

“Still working late, Yuuri?” He asked, to which Yuuri only nodded at.

“Like I do anything else, Phichit. I need it more than ever right now.” Yuuri responded, to which Phichit nodded to.

“Speaking of, Guang-hong’s almost done with the outfit. It should be done by tomorrow, if not the next day.” Phichit explained, while Yuuri continued through his movements.

“And the floorplans?”

“Already downloaded and examined. It should be easy since it’s only a basic layout. Plus, our prize isn’t that well guarded.” Yuuri only hummed in agreement.

“Everything seems to be going smoothly. We’ll be able to proceed according to schedule. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be Phichit.” Yuuri’s voice was laced with confidence and determination. His eyes no longer held the softness and vulnerability that they did before, replaced with hardness and a sharpness that wasn’t there before.

“You do remember the risks with this, right? If this fails…��

“I know Phichit. But what other choice do I have? This is something I have to do, you know.”

“I know, I’m just worried about you Yuuri. Even if I have the utmost faith in this plan and everyone we have working with us on this. It’s only natural to be worried.” Phichit said, concern in his voice.

“It’ll be fine Phichit. I trust you and everyone else. We’ll do this and it’ll all work out. Just have faith in us, okay?”

Phichit nodded, a smile on his face.

One week. One week until the phantom thief ‘Eros’ will shake this town to it’s core.

#yuri on ice #victuuri #victuri #viktuuri #vikturi #yuri katsuki #victor nikiforov #yuri plisetsky #phichit chulanont #christophe giacometti #yakov feltsman #priceless treasures and frozen fortunes

49 notes · View notes

smartgirlsaremean · 7 years

Text

My Heart’s in the Highlands - Chapter 12

Fandom: OUAT, Hamish Macbeth

Pairing: Bellish

Rating: T

Summary: With Rumplestiltskin gone, Belle can't face going back to the Enchanted Forest without him. She leaves Storybrooke forever, travels the world, and ends up in a small village in Scotland, where she meets a constable with a very familiar face.Nominated for Best Anyelle in the 2017 TEAs.

Chapter 12: The Net of a Stranger

Belle had been distracted all morning, not least because Hamish hadn’t come in, though she’d honestly expected that. Their conversation the night before had been emotionally draining, and she understood that he would probably need some time to regroup and poke some of those feelings back into their usual corners. His courage in revealing so much to her had both thrilled and humbled her. Pain had been evident in every word and gesture, but he hadn’t made excuses or tried to justify his actions. He was a far better man than he gave himself credit for.

Her own secrets now weighed on her more heavily than ever, but really, how on Earth was she supposed to tell him the truth? If he didn’t think she was delusional, he’d think she was lying, and somehow she suspected that would be worse.

Belle sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on.

“Excuse me.”

She blinked and looked up at the unfamiliar voice.

“Hi,” the tall man said with a smile and outstretched hand. “I’m Christoph Walsh.”

“Belle French,” Belle smiled back, taking his hand. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I hope so.” Mr. Walsh tucked his hands in his pockets and bent towards her. “I’m a writer - a folklorist, really - and I’ve been traveling around Scotland collecting local stories. I don’t suppose you have any books on that topic, do you?”

“I do.” Belle led him to a section she’d set aside specifically for books on local topics. “That sounds like an interesting study. Where have you been so far?”

He named a few small towns nearby and told her a few of the stories he’d heard. “I’d like to interview locals as well,” he concluded.

“Well, the Stag is the perfect place for that. There are several people here who’d be more than happy to bend your ear.”

His smile brightened a notch. “I don’t suppose, uh, you’d care to accompany me?”

“Oh!” Belle blinked. “That’s very kind of you, but I’m not really local, I don’t know any stories.” The flirtatious gleam hadn’t left his eyes and Belle looked away. “I’m a bit busy here, but perhaps I’ll see you there later.”

“I certainly hope so.” He straightened and walked over to a table with his armful of books. Pulling a large notepad from his messenger bag, he sat and carefully arranged the books around him. He glanced up and met her eyes. “Well, it’s not as if I can check them out, is it?” he pointed out with a grin.

Belle shook her head and went back to the desk, aware of the scratch of his pen and the flutter of the pages as he took notes. She glanced at him now and then as he sat there, but he didn’t look up again, seemingly completely absorbed in his task. American, according to his accent. Tall and good-looking, mop of brown hair, dark eyes. She’d never heard of a folklorist named Walsh, but perhaps he was just starting out. A few patrons came in and out, shooting him curious looks, but he paid them no attention.

After a few hours he closed all the books and stacked them, then carried them to the desk. “I don’t suppose I could persuade you to hold these to the side for a little while?”

“I guess I could,” she smiled, pushing the stack to one side of the desk. “I doubt there’ll be a sudden run on local folklore.”

“Thanks for all your help,” he said cheerfully, shouldering his bag. “Maybe I’ll see you later? The Stag, you said?”

She nodded and avoided his eyes; the twinkle was back.

“Okay, then. Have a great day, Belle.”

“Another incomer? I dinnae like it,” Lachlan McCrae grumbled into his beer, eyeing the new man at the bar.

“He spent the morning at the library,” Lachie whispered. “Don’t suppose he knows Belle, like that other American did?”

“Thought she didnae have anyone,” Barney said peevishly. “Sure are a lot of visitors poppin’ up for someone who…”

“Well, this is a lovely little party.” Hamish appeared over Lachlan’s shoulder and smiled grimly. “And whose life are we discussin’ today?”

The three men glanced at the American and Hamish raised his eyebrows. “A tourist, eh? Showin’ up in Lochdubh in the height of tourist season? Stranger things have happened.”

“He was at the library today,” Lachie hissed. “ Reading. ”

Hamish pressed a hand to his heart. “Reading! In the library! My, my.”

“There’s somethin’ funny about…”

Hamish interrupted Lachlan with an impatient gesture. “Don’t suppose ye’ve actually talked tae the man?”

“I…”

Huffing, Hamish turned to walk away and found himself face to face with the man himself. “Evening, gentlemen,” Walsh said.

“Evenin’.” “Aye.” “‘Lo.” Lochdubh’s own three stooges muttered into their beers and Hamish hid a grin.

“Mr. Meldrum, I wondered if I could get your advice,” the stranger turned to Barney, who turned pink.

“Advice? From me? I mean, ah...ay course. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I’d hoped to interview a few of your patrons for my book on Scottish folklore. As a mixologist and local entrepreneur I knew you’d have your finger on the pulse of the town. Who would you recommend?”

Barney’s face was nearly red with pleasure, his eyes shining and his chest puffed out. “Well, since you’ve asked my opinion, Mr. Walsh, I’d start with Lachlan and his boy Lachie, Jr., here. They travel all around the area and see a lot of strange things.”

“Is that so? What sort of things?” Walsh sat in the stool next to Lachlan and pulled out a small notepad and pencil, ready to be engrossed.

It was all very well done, Hamish thought as Lachlan swelled with self-importance and began to recount the time he’d seen the ghost of a madman on the road north of town. Walsh was a smooth talker and no mistake. And if he could keep those three from making idiots of themselves for even a few minutes, it would be a wonder.

The bar doors swung open and Belle walked in. Hamish felt his heart squeeze in his chest when she sent him a small smile and a wave before taking a seat at one of the booths. It’d been hard, staying away from the library, but he knew that if he saw her too soon and she was just that little bit too kind to him, he’d be spilling truths that had no business being uttered just yet.

Like how the red-brown color of her hair in the sunlight was his new favorite. Like how he wanted to pat himself on the back every time he made her laugh. Like how if she asked for them he’d bring her the sun and moon and stars and thank her for the privilege of the errand.

Esme had joined Belle at her booth and he breathed a sigh of relief. Disaster averted, for the moment; he turned back to listen to the tales the McCraes were spinning for the stranger. Lachie, Jr., was winding up the story of the mysterious disappearing dog he’d seen a few times in his yard - Hamish was actually fairly sure the dog was the neighbor’s and they just didn’t want to own up to its wandering Lachie’s yard at will - and Walsh was nodding and scribbling as if he’d never heard anything more fascinating.

“And you, Mr. Macbeth?”

“Me?” Hamish started. Walsh and the other men were all staring at him expectantly.

“Yes, you. You have occasion to investigate all sorts of odd things, I would think. Ever come across anything you couldn’t explain rationally?”

Unbidden images of the woman who had called herself Rose flashed in his brain. A ghost, if she was indeed dead, intent on bringing her nephew’s killer’s to justice. She wasn’t a part of local legend, though, and he’d never mentioned her to anyone but TV John.

“I dunno,” he hedged. “I suppose it would depend on what you mean by ‘rational.’”

“So...no brushes with the supernatural or the otherworldly?”

Hamish shrugged, an odd warm prickle crawling under his skin as Walsh’s scrutiny of him became more intense. “Mebbe? Hard tae say. Let me think on it, aye?”

“Do. I’d appreciate your perspective.”

And with that Walsh’s eyes dropped from his and Hamish felt his skin begin to cool. The others had returned to their beers, but Walsh stood and pocketed his notebook. “Thank you for your input, gentlemen,” he said with a smile. “If I need anything else, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Belle watched with slightly narrowed eyes as Walsh left the bar; he hadn’t acknowledged her presence, but she had the odd feeling that he’d known she was there all the same. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to Esme, who was positively glowing with excitement.

“The children are just wild for it,” she said, “and the printer the Listener uses is willing to give us a good rate. What do you think?”

“A literary magazine? It sounds wonderful, Esme,” Belle smiled, dragging her mind back into the conversation.

“I’ve already planned a unit on poetry, and...well, I’d love it if we could use the library as a workspace, Belle.”

“Of course! It’s a public space, after all. Will you need any special materials?”

“I don’t think so; it’ll mainly be deciding on layouts and things like that. I figure a community journal like this, all contributions should be included, don’t you think? As long as they’re appropriate for young audiences, of course.”

“We could hold a reading, too,” Belle pointed out. “If any of the poets want to read their work in public. It’s great practice for public speaking.”

“Och, I knew we’d be great friends,” Esme enthused, grasping Belle’s hand. “You understand the importance of the written word, Belle. I haven’t had a friend like that in…” Her face suddenly shuttered. “Well. It’s been a while.”

Quickly Belle turned her hand over and squeezed Esme’s. “I know,” she said quietly. “Hamish told me about...about Alex.”

“He did?” Esme looked as if she didn’t quite know what to do with that information. “Goodness. I don’t think he’s so much as mentioned her name to anyone since...since she passed.”

“I’m sorry. You must have been devastated.”

“I was. We all were. She was one of our own, educated right here in Lochdubh School.” Tears pooled in Esme’s eyes. “Taught her myself, if you can believe that. High school English. And then she went on to write for a living, published her own book...mentioned me in the ‘thank yous’...nothing could ever make a teacher prouder than that.” Esme pulled away and brought out a handkerchief, dabbing at her eyes. “She’d have done more, I know it. Why she thought driving in that rain was a good idea…”

A weight lifted off Belle’s chest as she inferred that Esme didn’t blame Hamish for Alex’s death. And if she didn’t, someone so close to the woman and obviously partial to her, then probably few, if any, did. It was such a novel experience for her, hearing people assign responsibility and blame where it actually belonged instead of choosing an easy scapegoat.

“Anyway.” Esme shook her head and smiled gently at Belle again. “I’m trying to convince Rory to submit one of his original works, but he’s...a little sensitive about changing them. They’re a bit...well, heated.”

“With a muse like his, who can blame him?” Belle teased, and Esme laughed.

They set up a tentative schedule for Esme and the older children to use the library as their base of operations, and then Belle glanced at the bar. Hamish was still there, a glass of beer untouched in front of him as he nodded along to something TV John was saying. John caught her eye and gave her a courtly little tip of his hat, which made her blush.

Ever since she’d told him the truth about her life, he’d treated her with far more formality than she’d known since she was a young lady in her father’s keep. He insisted on calling her “my lady” and spoke to her with a sort of reverence she wasn’t used to. She smiled to herself when Hamish saw his odd gesture; he frowned a little, and then softened when he saw her sitting with Esme.

“And what about the two of you?”

“Hm?” Belle looked back to see that Esme was smiling knowingly.

“Any further developments? Did you ever get him to move those chairs for you?”

“No, I - I hired the McCraes for that.”

“Hmm.”

“Esme…”

“So help me, Belle, if you say ‘It’s not like that,’ or ‘We’re just friends,’ I will tip this drink over your bonnie wee head.”

Startled into laughter, Belle shook her head helplessly. “I wouldn’t insult your intelligence like that,” she gasped finally. “We’re getting closer, but...it’ll take time. I promise,” she grinned, “if anything happens, you’ll be the second person to know.”

Hamish waited until Esme and Belle had both left the bar before heading for his own house. The summer air soothed him, and he thought if all went well tonight - no nightmares or visitations of a guilty conscience - he might be able to visit the library at his normal time the next day. Strolling down the main street, he breathed deeply and then frowned; a man’s voice was coming from the small yard behind the church. Carefully he stepped closer and leaned against the brick wall. He recognized Walsh’s American accent immediately.

“...you’re sure? Isn’t there some way to…”

There was a pause.

“No, of course I don’t mean to question you. It’s only that things are a little more complicated here than we thought. She won’t be easy to persuade.”

She? Persuade to what?

“Well, of course I did. But I don’t think…” Walsh sighed. “Very well. It will be done.” He listened a little longer and then his voice grew impatient. “I must go, I’m rather exposed here.” Another pause. “No, this is the only place I can get a strong enough reception. Certainly.”

Hamish had about five seconds’ warning before Walsh rounded the corner of the church, tucking something into his pocket.

“Constable.” His voice was pleasant enough, but Hamish’s instincts prickled. Walsh’s eyes were cold and unreadable, his posture slightly defensive. “Lovely evening.”

“Aye.” Hamish studied him carefully. “Bit out of the way from the hotel for a phone call, though.”

“I’ve an affinity for these old churches. There’s something mystical about them, if that isn’t too heretical a thought.” He caressed the bricks and smiled disarmingly, his eyes warming again. “A bit like a conduit, I suppose, to the spiritual world. That is why we have them, after all, isn’t it? To communicate with the divine?”

“I, ah, suppose so.” After a few moments of awkward silence, Hamish shrugged. “Well, I’d best be gettin’ on. Take care, Mr. Walsh.”

“The same to you, Mr. Macbeth.”

Hamish watched, his mind whirling, as Mr. Walsh loped back towards the Lochdubh Hotel. Idiots the three in the bar might be, but there was something mighty strange about Mr. Christoph Walsh. Even if it all came to nothing, there could be no harm in keeping an eye out.

#bellish #hamish macbeth #belle french

3 notes · View notes

movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

Photo

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/syfys-magicians-looks-season-3-cast-interviews/

SyFy’s 'The Magicians' Cast Looks to Season 3

One of the most innovative television shows currently on the air just began filming its third season, and the showrunners and cast were eager to talk about Season 3 at Comic Con. For those who aren’t familiar, The Magicians is based on the book of the same name by Lev Grossman and airs on SyFy in the US. The magical Brakebills University in the series is a mash up of “Hogwarts and Harry Potter for adults” and Narnia with a little Supernatural mixed in, darker and more adult oriented than the first two and more consistently magical than the last. The main characters include Quentin, who discovers that the books he has always loved are in fact not fantasy or fiction after all; Julia, his childhood friend who isn’t allowed into the magical world and whose life is marked by significant trauma; Alice, who is overcome by too much magic in Season 2 with dire consequences; Eliot, the reluctant king and Margo, the queen trying to find her way and her identity. The cast also includes Penny, the traveler, a villainous character known as The Beast, and the Dean of Brakebills, played by Rick Worthy (known to Supernatural fans as the Alpha Vamp). The series tackles themes of self and identity, good and evil, responsibility and freedom, and doesn’t like to stay in the black and white. Its shades of gray nuances make for some interesting characters and keep the plot unpredictable, which makes the show interesting. The Magicians also doesn’t shy away from violence, or the consequences of that violence, or from sexuality, with quite a bit of leeway from SyFy. As Season 2 came to a close, magic had gone from the realm of Fillory and Alice has been consumed by too much magic and become a Niffin. In the press room at Comic Con, the cast seemed excited about filming the new season and were all thoughtful about what Season 3 will bring to The Magicians. [caption id="attachment_48600" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Photos: Lynn Zubernis aka FangasmSPN[/caption] Showrunners and writers Sera Gamble and John McNamara were first to our table to chat. I first met Sera when she was a writer on Supernatural (and later Showrunner), and she contributed to my first two books on Supernatural and fandom, Fandom at the Crossroads and Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls. One of our early chats, together with series creator Eric Kripke, was notable for Eric’s ability to embarrass Sera and me simultaneously, but that’s a story best left to the books. It was, however, quite frankly awesome to see her again. Sera sat down at our table with a big smile. Sera: Ah, the Supernatural contingent are here, awesome! Me: You know we’ve got your back, always. Then we had A LOT of questions about The Magicians! Sera characterized The Magicians as a show that’s not as interested in the epic battles as it is in the relationships between Quentin Coldwater and his friends. I asked if there were things that Sera had learned on Supernatural that she’d taken with her to The Magicians, or things she’d learned NOT to do. For instance, telling the small intimate stories instead of the heaven and hell battles. Sera: I actually learned that on Supernatural. I was there for the first seven seasons, and Eric Kripke was always really confident about that – as soon as we figured out that the show was really about the relationship between these two brothers, we knew that had to be the heart of the episodes. And also a part of the major arc each season. I’m really grateful that I learned that – it has to be about your characters, the relationship between them and the way they fuck each other up. If you have that, it can be about heaven or earth. Me: You took that understanding and situated it in a universe that goes to different places, but keeps that intimacy. Sera: Yes. It’s funny, even when I was in the room with Eric back in the day, it was so much about this inherent bond that is family, and that blood is thicker than anything. And I was always the one in the room going, let’s do a really dysfunctional story, I mean, sometimes your family lets you down. Everyone at the table: nodding Sera: I was always the one talking about the outsiders, the ones that didn’t have a bond like that, and I think that was in the DNA of the book that Lev [Grossman] wrote, so that appealed to me. It’s basically a breakfast club of all the black sheep, none of them have good relationships with their family, none of them have that family of origin bond, so they’re making their family now. In other words, Family Don’t End With Blood! Someone asked why we’re drawn to stories of the supernatural, and both Gamble and McNamara said that they actually allow you to tell archetypal stories of what it is to be human. The Magicians is known for not shying away from going to very dark places, including not only death but rape and other violence. Sera was asked why the show makes the choice to show those dark places so clearly. Sera: Because we want to look at it in detail, we want to examine it. We are all writers who want to look at the shadow side of human nature, and the darkness that happens when you go through really traumatic events McNamara: I loved the book, but it didn’t really sink its hooks into me until I realized that the entire MacGuffin is really about a child being abused by an adult. And you can’t tell that story halfway, or you’re lying. McNamara: Violence on television, not being for or against it, except when you show something really violent, and it’s portrayed as funny and you don’t show the really horrible after effects of it. I was in so much agreement with that, I jumped up and told them what a great job they were doing with that – but it’s true! Next up were Hale Appleman (Eliot) and Summer Bishel (Margo). Both these characters will have to deal with the loss of magic in Season 3, which Hale said would be difficult for Eliot since magic was a part of his identity development. Hale: To strip that away from him is to ask him who he is without it, so this season will be about him uncovering some deeper truths about his identity. Summer spoke about Margo’s resilience and said it might not be as soul crushing for her that magic is dead as for other characters, as not as much of her self-worth was tied up in magic. Both Hale and Summer felt that their characters had grown quite a bit, and Season 3 will bring even more growth as Eliot “mans up” and takes on even more responsibility for “the sake of all.” I dipped into my psychologist persona for my question. Do Hale and Summer see the evolution of their characters as sort of a metaphor for how we all evolve from adolescence to adulthood, learning who we are, learning to take on responsibility, moving from initial reluctance and anxiety to shouldering both more comfortably? Hale: Yes. And I also think young adulthood, your 20s in particular, can be really treacherous. And no one really tells you that. Summer: (nodding) Sometimes you’ve gotta fake it til you make it! And that’s what they’re doing, faking being rulers until they make it. Both actors loved someone’s question about what other musical numbers they might want to tackle in another musical episode, which somehow led to Hale and I oohing and aahing over vintage Lou Reed, which we seem to share a fondness for. Now if ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ or ‘I’m So Free’ ends up on The Magicians, we’ll all know who to blame! Next up were Stella Maeve (Julia) and Jason Ralph (Quentin). Stella talked about how the new season makes it about so much more than the impact of losing magic on each individual character – even though Julia does have magic, it’s about more than that, it’s global. Jason teased that if all of the great inventors were actually magicians, then what impact does the loss of magic have on all those inventions? Tesla was one of those people, so what happens when magic goes away, does electricity go away? Do the seasons shift, do the tides stop working? Jason: It’s bigger than anything they’ve dealt with before. Last but not least, Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice) stopped by to talk about what it was like to be a Niffin on the show. Alice: This is a great opportunity to explore this sweet person I fell in love with, her dark and nastier side….I tried to keep Alice’s soul in their somewhere. Olivia confessed that she had a lot of fun on set being a Niffin. Alice: I tortured the hell out of Jason Ralph. I’d poke him before every take; I’d blow in his ear, or trip his feet, or pinch him…anything to drive him nuts, which was really fun! In the next season, Alice is really angry, Olivia said. Olivia loves the portrayals of strong women on this show, and she’s not afraid for a woman to be angry. She looks forward to exploring how Alice felt about being a Niffin this season too. Olivia: They give us such complex stories and characters and kinda let us do the inner workings, they don’t really write it, they let us explore it as actors, which is a really wonderful thing about this show. These actors are definitely thoughtful enough about the show and their characters to make good use of that creative freedom – I’m looking forward to the new season, which started filming in the week before Comic Con! As we left the press room, the cast stopped to take some photos with some cosplaying fans passing by, which was just the kind of magic that Comic Con is known for. Check out The Magicians on SyFy, and if you’ve not, it’s worth binge watching the entire first two seasons!

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Comic Con #Featured #Hale Appleman #Interviews #Jason Ralph #Olivia Taylor Dudley #Summer Bishel #Syfy #The Magicians

0 notes