#am already in love with ryder and riley

[msjr0119]

Forgive me

Part 1 - Meeting you

A mini series, warning includes swearing, suicide and abuse.

Based on true events but using TRR characters who are owned by Pixelberry.

Such a long chapter it’s been split into two- at the bottom click the link which will continue the rest of this chapter 😊

Tags:

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*****

Leo.. I was married to him. We have a son.

Three months ago... Leo took his own life.

His voice stuttered before eventually his brain shut down- it didn’t want to function correctly. Those two sentences kept repeating through his mind on a repetitive loop.

“Li, are you okay?” Liam heard Drake shout, but his eyes didn’t want to open. Liam had lost the colour from his face. It was as if his heart had suddenly stopped beating due to the shock. He swayed for a slight time before falling to the ground that had a sticky residue - most likely due to previous spilt alcohol.

“Liam, I’m so sorry. When is the ambulance arriving?” It’s not a dream, that’s Riley’s voice- that’s a woman’s hand supporting my head. That’s Riley holding me.

“They said they’d be here as soon as possible.” Maxwell panicked, his mouth and eyes were wide and frozen.

“I need to pick Lucas up from my friends apartment. But I can’t leave you all here. This is my fault.”

Lucas. My nephew. I need to see him.

“Go and get your son. You’re all he’s got now.” Drake helped Riley stand up, before taking her place. She scribbled her number down and passed it to Drake, sorrow in her eyes.

No he’s got me. I’m his uncle.

“I’m so sorry.” Riley didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say, slipping into the staff room she quickly discarded her uniform and clocked out.

“I need to meet my nephew Drake, I need to look after them both.” Liam whispered still semi unconscious.

“Li, we need to sort you out first. The paramedics are on their way.”

Finally fluttering his baby blues open, an adrenaline rush took over. Scrutinising the bar for Riley who dropped a bombshell he would never expect to hear.

“Cancel the ambulance, I’m fine. It’s just the shock.” Drake sat him up slowly, not wanting to let go of him incase he fell backwards causing more of a head injury. That’s something they didn’t need to return to cordonia with prior to the social season beginning.

Riley returned to the scene. Her natural brown hair consisted of perfect curls that cascaded down her back. The waitress uniform wasn’t doing her beauty any justice- she wore a green dress that showed off her natural curves.

“Oh thank god. I thought I killed the crown prince.” She inhaled a deep breath, relieved that he was conscious.

“No you already did that!” Tariq spat. As Riley stood frozen, her lip began to tremble.

******

Riley refused to work any longer today- her shift was shit. Her manager was an arsehole towards her. She didn’t care anymore. She was past caring and didn’t give two damns if he sacked her. She was doing a runner whilst she could. Leo wasn’t expecting her to return for another few hours, and Beth was babysitting. She thought she would surprise him with his favourite take out - Chinese.

Sneaking into the flat, she wanted to make it special for him. As a young Prince he often escaped palace life and went awol for weeks upon end. Riley first met him in a club, she noticed he was shy and was ‘eyeing up’ a man in the bar. Before she knew him properly she encouraged him to make a move. They became friends shortly after this. Leo was the original crown prince of a country called Cordonia. His father had tried forcing him into an arranged marriage. Nobody would approve of that. But for Leo it was different- he had known from a young age that he wasn’t heterosexual. He was in fact the opposite. Riley offered to become his wife so he could live his real life. This secret was unexpectedly exposed and wasn’t approved by his family nor his country- he had been disowned. He felt trapped.

She had assumed he was in the shower, as his house keys were on the table. As she was plating up- she jumped out of her skin as she heard a big thud come from his room. Dropping the food- she ran into room. Opening the door, her eyes widened as Leo’s lifeless body was hanging from the ceiling fan. Scrutinising the room, she saw the open pill bottle on the dressing table- pills scattered over some paper, an empty bottle of whiskey.

“Leo? If this is some prank- you’ve surely scared the shit out of me.... Leo?”

Suddenly her frozen body sprung into action, loosening the rope she laid her friend on the floor and rung 911. She could feel a slight pulse. She began CPR, hoping she wasn’t too late.

“Shit Leo! Wake the fuck up! Please. You are such an idiot. We love you. Come on. Please.”

On arrival, the New York ambulance service pronounced his death at the scene. Standing by the dressing table- she picked up the paper, the last words “I love you both, goodbye. Forgive me.” Falling to the floor, she screwed the paper up- bringing it to her heart, the tears continued to fall off her face.

We love you too Leo. You didn’t need to do this. Did your family love "You" or the smiling mask you put on everyday? It didn’t matter you had us.

******

“Fuck off Tariq! Nobody likes you anyway- so go and fuck your leather shoes!” Drake defended the stranger, providing her with a soft smile. Tariq stormed out of the bar, followed by Maxwell who gave Riley a quick squeeze before leaving. He was undecided at what to do, stay with Liam and Drake or go after the arsehole snob. Drake gestured him to follow Tariq as Maxwell was neither use nor ormant when it came to situations like this.

Drake helped Liam stand up regaining his balance, before escorting him to a seat. Riley brought over a glass of ice cold water, Liam’s gaze fixated on her- baby blues meeting probably for the first time.

“Liam, I know I keep saying it but I really am sorry. I tried to save him. But I couldn’t. I have to go. Drake has my number if you ever need to talk.”

“You are not running away after telling me that my brother died! You are not going anywhere!”

“Li, she needs to get her son. It’s late.” Drake attempted to calm him down- Liam hadn’t shed a tear, and his best friend was concerned.

“Well I’ll go with her then.”

“Bastien is waiting for us at the hotel. You can’t go awol- he will have a heart attack.”

“Bastien’s here?” Riley’s eyes widened, that man was just as bad as Leo’s father.

“Yes why? Was he involved in your sham marriage too?”

“Quite the opposite your highness.” Riley was frustrated with his tone of voice- scowling at him, she loved Leo - they became the best of friends. For people to criticise their relationship who didn’t know the truth was annoying- she did it as a favour for her friend. When she fell pregnant with Lucas, they were both intoxicated. After the sexual interaction, they both laughed once their pleasure had stopped- releasing how odd it felt.

“I’m sorry Riley. He doesn’t mean to be like this. We will leave soon.”

“It’s fine Drake. I’m going to ring Beth. Ask if she can have Lucas overnight. When are you flying back?”

“Tomorrow why?”

“I just wondered if you’d like to meet Lucas before you leave?”

“What’s he like?” Liam curiously asked after he had calmed down a bit.

“Honestly, he’s all Leo. No doubt about who his father is. He’s a pain in the arse like his father too.”

Liam laughed, remembering how much trouble Leo would get in to and not care about it.

“If he turns out like Leo, you’re going to have your hands full.”

“I already do Drake. Ever since he started crawling I have - I keep encouraging him to walk but I know I’ll regret it the minute he does. Here look, my screensaver is of me, Leo, Lucas and Rob- Leo’s partner. Oh and those are Rob’s huskies, Ryder and Scarlett.”

The look of Lucas was uncanny- Riley wasn’t over exaggerating when she said he was Leo’s double.

“Riley, Beth Hughes is ring you.” Liam said as he passed her phone. Excusing herself from the table she answered the FaceTime. The two men felt bad not giving her privacy, but they wanted to listen into the conversation.

Riley don’t ever ask me if I can have him overnight. I love him, I’m happy to have him.

Thanks Beth I owe you big time. Something- well someone has turned up. I need to sort it out. I’ll explain tomorrow. Oh my god! Why is he still awake?

He’s enjoying his time at auntie Beth’s Ri, chill. It’ll be me that will be tired.

Hi baby. Mommy loves you much. Be good for auntie Beth. Beth I’ll ring you in the morning. Love ya.

******

Riley returned to the table, Liam looking into outer space. Not acknowledging anyone, every time he shut his eyes the image of Leo was there.

“So, my friend is having Lucas overnight. So I’m all yours. You want to yell at me. Do it. You want to ask questions. Ask. You want to cry? Cry. I’m all ears. But this place is closing in five minutes. We could go for a walk? The city is awake throughout the night.”

“How about you come back to the hotel we are staying at? It’ll be warmer than roaming the streets. I just want it to be between you and I though Riley. I hope you understand Drake. I need closure.”

“Of course Li. Come on. I’ll keep Bastien distracted for you both.”

*****

Arriving in the suite, Riley finally understood what Leo had given up to follow his heart. The room was elegant, feeling like she didn’t belong here- she wanted to answer Liam’s queries as soon as possible then leave to return to her dingy flat that she could barely afford.

“Do you want a drink?” Liam asked as he shrugged his jacket off, throwing it on to the floor not caring.

Riley knelt down and picked his jacket up, straightening it out as she placed it around the leather chesterfield chair. Liam watched her clean up his mess- amazed at how she sprung into her motherly instinct.

“I’ll have whatever you are having.”

Liam nodded, he believed that she would appreciate wine over scotch- none of the ladies at court drank the ��strong’ stuff. Handing her a glass of red merlot, she thanked him.

“So. Why did my brother chose you for a fake wife? You’re beautiful, surely the men in this city would want to be in a relationship with you.” Riley blushed, she hadn’t been called beautiful in a while- he’s a Prince, so will be using his charm.

“Because I’m selfless, I allowed my own happiness to be non existent- it’s what friends do for each other. I loved Leo. He was my best friend for a long time. We instantly clicked.” Liam couldn’t understand as to why she would rather care about her friends happiness over her own.

“You deserve to be happy too. My brother always went awol- why didn’t he just move away with Rob. Leave you to live your life. And how did you get pregnant if he... if he...”

“If he was gay? You can say it Liam. It’s a funny story- we were drunk. So drunk. Rob was working away for a month. We both needed to release. He was my wingman that night- I just attracted creeps. If we wasn’t drunk we wouldn’t have done that. Afterwards we just laid in bed laughing at how awkward it was- it felt odd.”

“I can’t believe it. He was always sleeping around with different ladies at court.”

“I’ve heard the stories; Kinky Kiara, obnoxious Olivia, placid Penelope who loves dogs more than anything.” Riley laughed, at how Leo would explain everyone at court.

“Yes, those are words to describe them. I have to marry one of them. There’s also Lady Hana who will be a suitor. She’s from Shanghai. She’s sweet, but I don’t have any attraction to her. To any of them in fact.”

“Don’t you be abdicating too. Don’t want your father to hurt you too.”

“Don’t tempt me, I just wish I could marry for love, not for Cordonias need.”

“I understand. It must be hard for you.”

“It is. I now know how Leo felt. The pressure to please everyone and our country. I just want a bit of freedom. What would you do if you was in our situation?” Riley didn’t know how to respond, Leo asked her the exact question when he confessed his real identity.

“Honestly. I don’t know? It’s getting late Liam. If you haven’t got any more questions I’m going to call a cab.”

“I have questions, I just don’t know how to ask them. Please don’t go yet. Does my father know about Leo?”

“No. I tried to speak to them. But once they knew it was a call from here they refused to talk- allowing a guard to fob me off.”

The day after Leo passed away, Riley was sorting through his belongings with Rob. Both not believing that this was reality- both expecting Leo to walk through the doors explaining it was a nightmare.

“We have to let his family know Riley.”

Rob managed to say whilst wiping his tears away. Riley nodded, and picked up her phone. Shaking as she dialled the number that she found in Leo’s phone.

Hello?

Hello. Is a member of the royal family there? I need to speak to them urgently.

May I ask who is speaking?

My name is Riley Brooks... Riley Rhys. I’m Prince Leo’s wife. I need to talk urgently to someone. Anyone.

Hold on..... Hello, the King and Queen have requested that neither you nor Prince Leo contact them again. King Constantine has informed me to tell you that his son is dead to him. I’m so very sorry. Have a good day.

No wait! Please....

“Rob, they hung up on me. His father doesn’t want to know him.”

“My father is a horrible person. I’m so sorry, you tried to contact us. I’d have come straight away, I’d have helped you with Lucas. I’d have supported you all.”

“No need to apologise Liam, I just wish that they would have heard me out.”

“I do. I know you were only looking out for my brother. I now need to look out for you and my nephew. On paper you’re my sister in law.”

“I’m classed as a widow. I’m not your sister in law anymore.”

“But you’re the mother of my nephew. So you are both going to be important to me. I’m not like my father. I want to be a better king than he is. A better husband, a better father.”

“You will be... don’t put yourself down Liam. You are in an awful predicament. But by the looks of it you have a lot of support. Leo knew he wasn’t ‘king material’ and especially with his secret.”

“I hope you’re right. I hope my kingdom will approve of me. I just wished Leo had opened up to me. I could have saved his life.” Riley sat next to him, placing her arm around him- he nestled into her. Feeling guilt ridden, he finally shed tears that he had been holding in. Riley cupped his cheeks and wiped away his tears, having a sincere look on her face- he was happy that Leo had such a good friend.

“No one could save him. He loved his life with Rob- he was happy. He loved Lucas, and I will always talk about his father to him. He was still the Leo we knew. He loved you.”

“I can’t wait to meet Lucas. I’m so sorry it’s taken nearly a year. Do you think he will like me?”

“You’re his Uncle. Of course he will.”

“I hope so. I never imagined Leo to ever have a child, he was just the ‘playboy prince’ as everyone stereotyped him. Everyone believed that I would have a child before him.”

“In time you will. You never know what will happen at your social season.” Those two words, social season. Liam didn’t want to go through the social season, to put himself through that pain of choosing a lady he didn’t love just to please his country and family for political reasons.

Riley knew it was never going to be easy explaining to someone that their loved one had passed away. But with their titles, it made it so much more difficult. Keeping her sentences simple, only answering questions that he asked, she thought this was the best way to deal with the situation.

“I’m going to go home now, can I use your phone to call a cab? I’ll meet you at noon, at Central Park? Lucas loves feeding the ducks. So bring some bread with you- he went through a stage where he would just throw the whole loaf in.”

“Leo said I used to do that. Apparently I used to spoil the day when I did it. Why don’t you just stay here? It’s 2am. And I don’t know where I am going in Central Park it’s that huge.”

“I haven’t got any spare clothes, sleepwear or a toothbrush, Liam. I’ll text you with directions.”

“Please. I don’t want to be alone. You can wear one of my shirts, I’ll get Bastien to get you a toothbrush. I will take you home to get changed before picking Lucas up. Please Riley. I’ll even sleep on the couch.”

“I’m not having the future king sleep on a couch. I’ll sleep on the couch if it makes you feel better. What would happen if I refuse a future king? Would you throw me in your dungeons?”

“Don’t be so naive, that’s what happens in fairytales. And thank you.”

Riley laughed as Liam went to his closet, attempting to find the least expensive shirt for her to wear to make her not feel awkward. Finding one, he passed it to her- before removing his shirt and changing into pajama bottoms that hung low. Seeing her struggle to undo her zip on her dress, he ambled over to her assisting her. His touch shocked her at first, but her stomach began to flutter. Remembering what Leo said to her- You’d probably fall in love with him too , turning towards him she couldn’t help but admire his toned body. Avoiding his gaze, she walked into the bathroom- closing the door, she sighed. He’s your brother in law- stop these thoughts now Riley.

*******

Liam sat on the couch, he had a fusion of feelings in this moment. Mainly grief and sadness regarding his brother’s tragic death. But also mixed feelings towards his sister in law- the woman who he had only just met. She was beautiful, she was friendly, she seemed caring. She was something different. Holding his head in his hands, he wanted to be close to her. Inhaling the lingering sweet fragrance surrounding her - even though she was in the bathroom, he could still smell her.

Continue here...

[natsora]

author questions

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Author Name: Natsora

Fandoms You Write For: Mostly Mass Effect, Mass Effect Andromeda and sometimes Dragon age Inquisition

Where You Post: AO3, FFn, Natsora.com (AO3 has the complete works)

Most Popular One-Shot: Falling, Intentionally (A Evfra and fRyder pair that I’ve written as a gift for Specs Recs.)

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: The Cetus Arc, it’s by far the most popular thing I’ve ever written. A Jaal and fRyder story, clocking in at 320K words. 

Favorite Story You Wrote: How can you ask me to choose between my babies? 

I really love that I got to indulge in some OTP goodness. Enough is the fic that came into my mind and refused to go away. It’s short but oh damn I’ve squeezed so much angst into it. 

I also really really enjoy writing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It’s my attempt at comedy for a fReyder pair. 

Story You Were Nervous to Post: All of them? But initially Raining in Eos is the worst for me. It’s my first attempt at writing a super dark, bloody and violent fic. Check out those tags before you read. 

How Do You Choose Your Titles: Usually I have a naming convention for my long running series. The Archon Arc, The Cetus Arc, The Persephone Arc. Makes life easy. 

But for one shots I try to lift from songs or lyrics I think fits the story. The recent one is Pictures on the Wall, the song lyrics is featured heavily in the fic. 

Do You Outline: Yes, definitely. I always do. It maybe be a simple road map for one shots or a detailed one for chaptered fic. But I always outline. It serves as a map for me to follow or ignore, but i have to have the map. 

Complete: Everything on AO3, 31 fics completed. That’s everything except for the 3 chaptered fics that I am currently updated every 3 weeks. So I’m posting one chapter for one of the fics every week. 

In-Progress: 

The Persephone Arc: Set in the timeline after ME1 and pre ME2, follows Sara Ryder and her Alliance career and how she came to join the Initiative. 

The Lost Childhood: The origin story of Earthborn Riley Shepard. 

Splintered Minds: Featuring @seokanori‘s OC Sara Ryder. A sequel to a horrible time she had in Raining In Eos and the repercussions that rippled from that event. A new threat loomed and she was under pressure to fix things while everyone tried to pick apart her decisions. 

All three fics feature chapter art done by the awesome @seokanori

Coming Soon: I have nothing written and ready to go at this moment. But I have lots of things planned. Check out the Upcoming Stories section below. 

Do You Accept Prompts: Yes and no. I did post the Bad Things Happen Bingo card. Most of the prompts are already chosen. I guess people can send in prompts but I never reblog prompt lists. I have so many other projects on hand, it will take me a long time to get around to writing them. 

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: A MMA / Illegal fighting ring AU featuring both Femshep and fRyder. I’ve got art done up by @seokanori​ and all that. But first I need to write the damn thing!

I have a whole bunch of ideas planned for my OTP Cassandra Pentaghast and Lexington Trevelyan. And I have all those Bad Things Happen prompt to complete. 

[lostinthewinterwood]

Chocolate Box Letter 2020

Dear Chocolatier…

  Thank you for writing for me!  I hope you find inspiration, if you need it, somewhere in this letter, but either way, good luck with your writing!

(some of the prompts are… rambly and disjointed; the lengths vary wildly, but dw I love them all.  I hope the rambly ones still make sense; this letter is uhhh almost 3k and my brain is Tired.)

General DNWs:

Rape/non/dub-con; non-canonical major character death*; smut/graphic sex scenes; heavy angst; hurt no comfort; graphic depictions of deliberate and methodical self-harm**; graphic depictions of suicide;  gore; heavy gender dysphoria; grimdark; complete downer endings; character bashing; incest; cringe comedy; a/b/o; mpreg; full setting AUs (canon-divergence, even significant canon-divergence, is fine); graphic eye trauma; graphic and/or permanent hand trauma (unless the setting can provide a more-or-less fully functional prosthetic or equivalent); issuefic.

*exceptions noted below.

**I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this. however, something like cutting would not be appreciated.

  General Likes:

I like family/friendship stories, things that play with canon in interesting ways, honestly… a lot of things.  I don’t know. articulating things I like is hard.

I’m an absolute sucker for identity porn/secret/mistaken identity drama, as well as non-sexualized/non-fetishized crossdressing (either direction, and especially if for plot-relevant disguise purposes!) and if you combine them, well, I’ll be a very happy camper.

Other things I like include wriggling into canon and exploring something left unexplored by said canon, what-if stories featuring some sort of canon divergence, and plotty fic, if you want to write something long enough for that to be relevant.

  Order of fandoms:

·        Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

·        Super Powereds – Drew Hayes

·        Tortall – Tamora Pierce

·        Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)

·        The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)

·        Frozen (Disney Movies)

·        Little Women (2019)

·        Original Prompts

·        Crossovers

    Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy)

So uh I may be having a slight case of Feels™ over these two, though tbh I’m not entirely sure what those feelings are exactly.  I don’t know what exactly I’d most want, though I’d be interested in explorations of their evolving emotions in relation to each other, especially through Kylo Ren/Ben’s whole death/rebirth thing.  What-ifs are another thing; what if, say, Ben didn’t die?  What happens, then, since they’d have to actually deal with what he’s done?  Feel free to retcon the kiss (which I thought was rather devoid of chemistry; in general their dynamic came across to me more as weirdly sibling-ish, especially after the Death Star duel) to a hug or something, if you want.

If you want to go to a lighter place, I can also see all sorts of shenanigans emerging after they discover their Force-teleportation skills.

Also feel free to retcon Rey’s parentage, if that is where your heart takes you: might she be Luke’s secret child?  Leia’s?  A descendant of Obi-Wan Kenobi and, say, Satine Kryze?

Apart from that I’d prefer no full-setting AUs; canon divergence is fine, and if you go that route you can pick a divergence point as far back as you want.

Feel free to include whatever other characters are necessary for the story you want to tell.

(And also do keep in mind that you can absolutely cut off someone’s hand here, or for the Star Wars crossover farther down; in this franchise it is a goddamn motif.)

    Super Powereds – Drew Hayes

Adam Riley & George Russel | Relentless Steel (Super Powereds)

I’m utterly fascinated by the relationship these two have; the interplay of Adam’s… vendetta, maybe?  I’m not sure what the right word for it is… and the fact that George also serves him as a mentor/almost-parental, in some ways, figure.  And, you know, that Adam (maybe) kills him.  We don’t actually see that; for all we know he made a different choice.

Consider this an exception to my “non-canonical MCD” DNW, since it’s deliberately ambiguous in canon; you can kill George, if that’s where your muse takes you.

  Alice Adair | Legacy & Vince Reynolds | Jack of All (Super Powereds)

Their friendship/cousin relationship is Wholesome and I love it.  Any point in the timeline, post-canon, all of it is Good and Welcome.  Do they form a legacy children/villains’ kids club? They’re secret cousins; untangling the mess that is the past; so much juicy juicy stuff to work with!!

  Phillip Adair | Globe & Charles Adair | Alchemist (Super Powereds)

Brother vs brother! O the drama! But also, they grew up together; they were once best friends; and Charles grew hard and it all fell apart—give me their childhood, maybe, or HCP years or young heroes before Shelby’s powers grew too much for her, or lean into the tragedy of what comes later…

    Tortall – Tamora Pierce

Numair Salmalín | Arram Draper & Varice Kingsford (Tortall)

Numair Salmalín | Arram Draper & Varice Kingsford & Ozorne Muhassin Tasikhe (Tortall)

Ozorne Muhassin Tasikhe & Numair Salmalín | Arram Draper (Tortall)

Varice Kingsford & Ozorne Muhassin Tasikhe (Tortall)

I love these kids, okay?  And I wish they could all just… be okay.  But of course they won’t be; we already know what becomes of them, after all.

There’s a lot to explore here, with these three in their varying combinations of course.  Right now I’m most interested in the pre-Wild Magic timeline—what was Varice and Ozorne’s dynamic before Arram came along? what little snippets of things happen offscreen during the timeline of Tempests and Slaughter? how does Arram gain his black robe; how does Ozorne feel about that? Varice? how does Numair end up in exile, and how do the others feel about that whole affair?—but really I’d also be interested in something set during or around the time of Emperor Mage, from any of their POVs.  We get all the story there from Daine, who is great! but she doesn’t know the history between the three of them, not intimately as they do, and I’d love any of their emotional reactions to being together again under such strained circumstances, so many years after everything fell apart.

  Numair Salmalín & Myles of Olau (Tortall)

He was on a mission, was he not, when he became that hawk at the beginning of Wild Magic?  (please ignore if I am Wrong there.)  So how did they meet?  Why did Numair become an agent?  All sorts of questions, here…

  Prince Stiloit Tasikhe & Varice Kingsford (Tortall - Pierce)

Stiloit seems so… calm, and level-headed, especially when compared with Ozorne who is not.  And he clearly finds Varice interesting, and her company valuable.  So maybe tell me something about that—what does he think of her?  She of him?  What if, perhaps, he didn’t die when he does?

  Keladry of Mindelan & Nealan of Queenscove (Tortall)

They have a BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP and also ye gods when I reread First Test at like 19 (having first read it at 10) I was struck by how very, very fifteen Neal is in that book and it’s hilarious.  But more seriously—Neal’s PoV on things would be fantastic, since we only see him through Kel’s eyes and he doesn’t let her see everything about himself.

  Keladry of Mindelan & Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak (Tortall - Pierce)

What a beautiful mentorship relationship, I love them.  Also, how does Raoul feel about this open girl page?  Who’s so determined, and has such potential in how she could become more, in an area he knows about (that being military command)—how does he feel about her, living her best life; how does he contextualize it in his intimate knowledge that Alanna could not do what she is doing—and yet it was Alanna, with her deception, who allowed this to be.

  Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau & Numair Salmalín

The renowned lady knight-healer-mage and the black robe on the run from Carthak! How did they meet, anyway?  They’re something like the same age, I think, or at least he’s no more than ten years her junior.

  Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau & Thom of Trebond (Tortall - Pierce)

My poor Important Destiny Twins… Look I just, I want some content with poor Thom, right?  I’d rather here that we set the story before his death, or that we make it an AU where he gets to live.

    Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)

Shadowsan & Hideo (Carmen Sandiego 2019)

There’s… so little of this stated or shown overtly, really, but I’m fascinated.  I can’t get over it.  Just tell me about the brothers, please.

    The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)

Runaan/Ethari & Rayla (The Dragon Prince)

Family fluff!  Or angst!  Or turn round and give them a reunion!  All depends on where in the timeline you pick, really.

(there’s a fic on ao3 with the tag “this fanfiction written by the ETHARI LOOK IN THE FUCKING WATER gang” and honestly that is just such a mood.)

  Amaya & Sarai (The Dragon Prince)

…I don’t have much to say here really, just that I love me some sibling dynamics.

  Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince)

A king by birthright, a prince only by adoption, who by age/maturity would probably be better-suited to ruling… look idk just, bros okay???

Maybe something when they were younger, or canon-era, or… idk I love them.

  Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince)

Friendship! Angst! The gang’s all here!  If you want you can include rayllum but for this prompt at least I’d rather it be lowkey.

  Claudia & Soren (The Dragon Prince)

I am heartbroken over these kids and just—I need more content with them.  Even if it makes me sad.

  Callum & King Harrow (The Dragon Prince)

There are a lot of complicated feelings I have about them—how clearly Harrow loves his stepson, and how even after more than a decade, Callum still isn’t quite comfortable with his stepfather.

    Frozen (Disney Movies)

Agnarr/Iduna (Frozen)

How did they get together?  Why does Iduna stay with Agnarr; why doesn’t she just go home?  How does that revelation conversation go—when does it happen?  How do they come to decide to block Elsa’s powers; when/how do they decide to sail for Ahtohallan?

  Kristoff & Ryder Nattura (Frozen)

Reindeer bros!!  What did Kristoff do while Anna and Elsa were off doing the plot stuff?  Does he go with the Northuldra?  I love the dynamic between these two; it’s adorable and there’s so painfully little of it.

  Yelena & Mattias (Frozen)

So clearly they know each other, right? It’s been thirty-four years, and they clearly have some sort of sniping thing going on but they don’t seem to be actively antagonistic towards each other.  How do they feel about each other, really? How have they interacted in the past?  Is there anything there?  What about after Mattias goes back to Arendelle?

  Anna & Elsa (Frozen)

There is just.  There’s a profound tragedy here—they’re best of friends till they’re five and eight or so, then they don’t interact for thirteen years, they have three years together, and then they go off together to the Enchanted Forest and Elsa doesn’t come back to live in Arendelle, while Anna must return… I don’t know.  Tell me about that, maybe.  Or give me sweet fluff about them as children.  Or something.

  Anna/Kristoff (Frozen)

They’re adorable and I love them and I really just want more.  Maybe something from between the movies—how do they navigate forming a relationship, when he was raised by trolls and she’s been so isolated?

    Little Women (2019)

Amy March/Theodore Laurence (Little Women 2019)

…I don’t know, they’re cute, Laurie is a disaster, I love seeing Amy grow up, I hunger for moar content with them.

  Beth March & Mr. Laurence (Little Women 2019)

This has a lot of potential for cute/sad father/daughter dynamics, I think!  And I’d love more of it.

  Friedrich Bhaer & Josephine March (Little Women 2019)

Friedrich Bhaer/Josephine March (Little Women 2019)

I just want cute content with Jo and her dynamic with this man who actually respects her and her writing okay?  Maybe something like, I don’t know, navigation of boundaries around Jo’s writing and his criticism thereof… I don’t know.  Have fun with them.  And I really don’t care if it’s shipfic or not.

  Theodore "Laurie" Laurence & Josephine March (Little Women 2019)

Theodore Laurence & Josephine March (Little Women 2019)

Laurie is still a disaster but I love him anyway, and their friendship is sweet, and I need more content™.

    Original Prompts

In general: I’m not super picky about how shippy the shipfic gets; most of the ship prompts here would, I think, work as well for gen, excepting the suitor and the princess (which is not to say I’m asking that it be gen, obviously I’m not, but if your muse takes you that direction then go for it).  Likes I put up top still apply down here.

In terms of settings, I especially like high fantasy, space fantasy, or, if relevant, Classic Superhero City Setting, but I’m open to just about anything.

I’m also not tremendously picky about the genders of the characters involved; if it isn’t stated within the prompt, go wild, but please do stick to standard English pronouns; I have a lot of difficulty reading things with neopronouns.

Most of these pairings are prompts in and of themselves, but I’ll add in some bits of commentary for each one.

  Disgraced Vampire Queen Moonlighting As A Barista/Exhausted Vampire Hunter In Search Of Caffeine

Okay, so I just think this has great potential for absolute hilarity, and identity shenanigans aplenty.

  Dragon & Human Child (Original Work)

I love dragons.  I love playing with dragon-lore, though here I’d appreciate it being a relationship wherein the dragon is not evil, at least not to the child.

  Female Crossdressing General/Female Crossdressing Enemy General (Original Work)

So uh from my general likes, it should be… fairly obvious what called to me here lmao.  But there’s such potential here!  The drama!  Do they know each others’ real gender?  Do they know that they’re on opposing sides?  How does this romance across the battlefield work?  Is it even across the battlefield—are they at war, or just generally enemies?

  Female Failed Chosen One & Female New Chosen One

Such delicious depths to delve here… why did the first one fail?  What’s her relationship with her successor?  What have they been chosen for?  The setup of this makes me think that the failed chosen one is an adult of some age that’s distinctly older than the new one, who I’ve been imagining as an older child or young adult, but you should follow your muse there.

  Female Ship's Captain & Grumpy Stowaway Orphan Rebel

What kind of ship are they on, anyway?  Sailing ship?  Spaceship?  What’s the orphan rebelling against—an Evil Empire?  The Man?  Something else?

  Female Suitor Sent As An Insult To Ruling Monarchs/Princess Uninterested In Male Suitors

This seems like… I don’t know, there’s just such potential for dancing around each other and Misunderstandings™ about what’s going on.  Is this the princess’s Gay Awakening?  Has she known for a while why she’s not into the male suitors?  Why was this female suitor selected for the insult?

  Injured Male Superhero/Male Supervillain Who Saves His Life

I love superhero identity shenanigans, and ambiguous morals, and I’d love to dive into the emotional turmoil that results from this rescue decision—why does the supervillain do it?  How does the hero feel about being saved by his enemy?

  Musician/Dancer with magical powers (Original Work)

Another trope I love that I didn’t mention before is magic music and magical arts in general, so this here is right up my alley.

  Portal Fantasy Protagonist & Their Mentor In A Trade Useful In Both Worlds (Original Work)

…Look, idk man this is just sweet and wholesome and I Want.

  Retired Male Superhero/Male Supervillain Who Keeps Seeking Him Out Because He Misses Him

Is this not just the plot of Megamind?  In all seriousness, though, I feel about the same here as I do in the injury situation; I love me some hero/villain dynamics in general.

  Witch & Witch's Apprentice

Mentor and student!  Always a fun time.  I’m picturing this as some pseudo-historical or straight alternate-world setting more than modern, but follow your muse here.

  Wounded Werewolf/Female Apprentice Witch who Begrudgingly Rescues him (OW)

Honestly I feel like the dynamic here will probably scratch the same itch that the hero/villain pairings do.  Clearly I have a Type.

    Crossovers

Oliver Queen (DC's Arrowverse) & Matt Murdock (Daredevil(TV))

Local Vigilante Man With Many Issues Meets Counterpart From Another Universe would be the headline here, probably.  I don’t know.  I think they’d be fun to bounce off each other.

For reference though I haven’t watched all of either show: I’ve seen the first four seasons of Arrow in their entirety and some of what comes later, and I’ve seen the first two seasons of Daredevil.  You can reference later events, I’m not currently really following either show and am not particularly worried about spoilers, but without some degree of context I’ll be fairly lost.

  Shmi Skywalker (SWPT) & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SWST)

How do these two meet?  Is it time travel nonsense?  Shmi as a Force ghost?  Both of them in the afterlife?  And if it’s before Ben’s redemption but after his Fall, I do rather hope she’s Disappointed™ in him.

  Vince Reynolds | Jack of All (Super Powereds) & Midoriya Izuku (My Hero Academia)

Look.  Look.  All I have ever wanted since I started watching My Hero Academia (which… I haven’t seen much of, but don’t worry about spoilers I legitimately do not care) is to see Vince meet with the character who I immediately internally dubbed tiny green Vince.  How did this happen? Frankly I neither know nor care.  I just want to see it happen.

Thank you for writing me fic!!

[caseyarchives]

I’m super late to the plots post party but here is my connections list for all my characters. yes, i used the same format as everyone else hdjskfjdsaxdf. If we have a plot and I forgot to put it down lemme know. If you want any of the open plots (or something original) lemme know! Thanks yall!!!

Casey Mitchell

twenty - three, actor/child star. born in new york, grew up mostly in la. idiot who means well hashtag trying his best

FAMILIAL

paternal cousins - OPEN

maternal cousins - OPEN

paternal step sibling - Sage Morrisey

maternal step sisters - Willow Sparks, Lexie Blakely

pet dog - Digby

ROMANTIC

Girlfriend - Margo Massey

Ex First Boyfriend  - Roman Gabrielli 

Ex Girlfriend on good terms - Genesis Iver

Ex PR Girlfriend/Almost Dated - Aubrey Scott

Ex Flirtashionship - OPEN

Exes Good/Bad Terms - OPEN

PLATONIC

best friend - Rian Parker

childhood friends - Cade Jackson, OPEN

disney ex co-stars - Rosalind Cox, OPEN

friend/mentor - Jo Mackenzie

friend/confidant - Everleigh Kincaid

girlfriend’s friends - Astrea Abernathy, Elvie Croft, Logan Palmer

unlikely friends - Mason Grey

online → irl friends -  Genesis Iver, OPEN

frenemies -  OPEN

ex enemies/awkward friendship - Hal Zaleski

pretends to be his friend for clout - OPEN

other friends: Wren Daily, Phoebe Sangster, Courtney Summers, Niko Goldwater, OPEN

NEGATIVE

childhood enemy - Riley Parker

bad terms - Stas Sangster, Tahnee Bianchi

former friends - OPEN

Logan Palmer

twenty - three, camera operator for ghost gallery, daughter of winona ryder palmer, semi spooky, blunt unless it makes her look like a wimp, terrible liar,  loves girls and tolerates boys. 

FAMILIAL

maternal cousin/like a sibling - Niko Goldwater

paternal cousin - OPEN

ROMANTIC

crush/friend - Phoebe Sangster

ex on good terms -  OPEN

ex on bad terms - Jynx Adelman, Courtney Summers,  OPEN

ex first love on bad terms - Ivy Pettit

unrequited crush - Wren Daily

ewb/unrequited crush - Sage Morrisey

PLATONIC

best friends/monster squad - Elvie Croft, Margo Massey, Astrea Abernathy

family friends - OPEN

childhood friend - Sahar Santini, OPEN

roommate - Max Croft

friends - Phoebe Sangster, Aubrey Scott, Eden O’Connor, Mason Grey

work friends - Jo Mackenzie, OPEN

Unlikely friends - Everleigh Kincaid, OPEN

forbidden friendship - Angel Almeida

NEGATIVE

ex ‘friends’ who used her for her mother’s fame - OPEN

ex ‘friends’ who flaked - Cade Jackson

on bad terms - Lukas Donovan

Aleksander “Alek” Garcia

twenty - three, singer since w/ two big albums already, cousin/best bro of hal, brand new judge on america’s got talent season 14, impulsive romantic w/ 1 brain cell who moves way too fast 

FAMILIAL

maternal cousin/best friend - Hal Zaleski

paternal cousin - OPEN

paternal step siblings - OPEN

cousin in law - Genesis Iver

ROMANTIC

unrequited crush - Riley Parker, Jo Mackenzie, OPEN

friendzoned - Everleigh Kincaid, OPEN

ex on good terms - Mia Lancaster, Angel Almeida, OPEN

ex on bad terms - Beckley Bover, Jynx Adelman, Niko Goldwater, Rosalind Cox, OPEN

ex first girlfriend on good terms - Alaska Almeida

ex first boyfriend - OPEN

ex fiance on bad terms - Rylee Ames

flirtationship -  Mason Grey, OPEN

PLATONIC

friends - Dalton Pastore, Jo Mackenzie, Mia Lancaster, Angel Almeida,  Alaska Almeida

family friends - OPEN

childhood friend - OPEN

roommate/friend - Cade Jackson

singers he’s worked with - Jynx Adelman, OPEN

fellow judges on agt/friends - Chance Kauri, Sage Morrissey, Rosalind Cox

NEGATIVE

on bad terms - OPEN

[thisismyobsessionnow]

Since I’m here now anyway and absolutely no one asked; here’s my current Eurovision 2022 top 40. This list will change! 

Teasing with this unexpected top 10 and then the rest is under the cut! There’s some comments at the end if you’re curious about all of my unpopular opinions!

1. Montenegro - Vladana - Breathe 2. Australia - Sheldon Riley - Not The Same 3. Sweden - Cornelia Jakobs - Hold Me Closer 4. France - Alvan & Ahez - Fulenn 5. Poland - Ochman - River 6. Czech Republic - We Are Domi - Lights Off 7. Bulgaria - Intelligent Music Project - Intention 8. Netherlands - S10 - De Diepte 9. Greece - Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord - Die Together 10. Finland - The Rasmus - Jezebel

11. San Marino - Achille Lauro - Stripper 12. Portugal - Maro - Saudade Saudade 13. North Macedonia - Andrea - Circles 14. Italy - Mahmood & Blanco - Brividi 15. United Kingdom - Sam Ryder - Space Man 16. Albania - Ronela Hajati - Sekret 17. Serbia - Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano 18. Slovenia - LPS - Disko 19. Estonia - Stefan - Hope 20. Armenia - Rosa Linn - Snap 21. Belgium - Jérémie Makiese - Miss you 22. Lithuania - Monika Liu - Sentimentai 23. Malta - Emma Muscat - I Am What I Am 24. Austria - Lum!x feat. Pia Maria - Halo 25. Cyprus - Andromache - Ela 26. Norway - Subwoolfer - Give That Wolf A Banana 27. Moldova - Zdob si Zdub & Fratii Advahov - Trenuletul 28. Croatia - Mia Dimsic - Guilty Pleasure 29. Azerbaijan - Nadir Rustamli - Fade To Black 30. Denmark - Reddi - The Show 31. Israel - Michael Ben David - I.M 32. Latvia - Citi Zeni - Eat Your Salad 33. Ireland - Brooke - That's Rich 34. Germany - Malik Harris - Rockstars 35. Romania - WRS - Llámame 36. Georgia - Circus Mircus - Lock Me In 37. Switzerland - Marius Bear - Boys Do Cry 38. Spain - Chanel - SloMo 39. Iceland - Systur - Med Haekkandi Sól 40. Ukraine - Kalush Orchestra - Stefania

Montenegro and Australia? Well yes, these songs just make me feel. Both have already made me cry, what else can I say?

Sweden, gosh, I’m so proud of Cornelia! I’m so happy we’re sending her and I have absolutely no shame in putting my own country in my personal top 3. I love it.

What else for the top 10? France I believe has the potential to grown into my 1st spot. I find it very intriguing. And oh yeah, Bulgaria, I guess the main reason they’re so high for me is that I just love this style of music and it makes me very nostalgic. I get that most people wouldn’t feel the same but I do think many are way too harsh on them.

Now, y’all should be happy I didn’t post my list this morning because at that point Italy wasn’t even in my top 25, so this 14th place? It’s great. The song might grow on me more, I’m not sure. Right now I still don’t get the hype, I honestly find it pretty dull. Maybe it will change, maybe it won’t.

Spain is just incredibly boring to me, it doesn’t stick in my brain at all, I could not tell you what it sounds like right now. I forget it immediately after hearing it every time.

And Ukraine is sadly last only because of the rap parts that completely ruins the song for me. I love the rest of the song, especially the flute parts but I just can’t get over the rap. Yet. Maybe one day, hopefully one day. I want to like it.

The rest I don’t think is too out there? Serbia is probably the biggest climber for me currently. I was introduced to it with the music video and couldn’t stand it, then I watched the live performance instead and it completely changed my mind. Probably because there were no people eating in that version.

[sapphicrangertrini]

Tagged by: @blakebat

Rules: Answer the questions and tag 20 blogs you want to get to know better

Nicknames: Ry, Ryd, um... Ghost Ryder, etc.

Star sign: Sagittarius

Height: 5′ 2.2″….........

Time right now: 12:22 AM

Last thing you googled: how to spell “pièce de résistance”

Fave music artist: Uh... just one? Green Day, if I HAVE to pick one.

Song stuck in my head: The entire Hamilton soundtrack. ‘Burn’ especially, but all the songs at any one time tbh.

Last movie I watched:  D.E.B.S. ....with the person that tagged me in this in fact.

Last tv show I watched: Supergirl

What I’m wearing right now: Blue boxers and a black shirt that says “Got Shakespeare?” because yes I am that much of a fucking nerd.

When I created this blog: Like a month or two ago? Man I legitimately have about 60 different blogs and that’s actually not exaggerating. -eyes my RP-ing days with both horror and amazement-

The kind of stuff I post: gay shit, rants, opinions, gifsets, fics, photos of my dog

Do I get asks regularly? not really, more lately

Why did I choose my url: um, because Maggie Sawyer is my smol gay, love of my aromantic life and deserves to be protected at all costs???

Gender: non-binary, genderqueer

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor (though technically Gryffinclaw with a side of Slytherin??? I have literally gotten all three at different times)

Pokémon team: Valor

Favorite color: Black, Crimson and Royal Blue

Average hours of sleep: 4-8 hours if I’m lucky? Or every other day and I crash for like 12+ hours.

Lucky number: 16 (I know, I’m boring)

Favorite characters: Maggie Sawyer (Supergirl), Alex Danvers (Supergirl), Commander Lexa (we don’t speak of this show), Root (Person of Interest), Riley Blue (tho really all the sensates in Sense8), Calliope Torres (Grey’s Anatomy), Natasha Romanoff (MCU), Sara Lance (Arrow/LoT), Tophe (atla)... I’m gonna stop while I’m ahead 

Dream job: Acting on film and tv

Number of blankets I sleep with: One or two, depending on the cold

...Why 20. I’m just gonna...

Tagging: @themaggiesawyer @sanjunipero1987 @the-laughing-wolf @murdershegoat @chaoticsawyer @sawyerdnvers @karadanvars @lardorps @link-zelda @skywalkerwrites ....and yes most of these people I already know half these answers idgaf. Anyone else that wants to do the thing, have at it.

[donmegabc]

John Cena Addresses Reputation Of Burying Younger Talent

Let's ignore the fact that he bullied Alex Riley throughout his WWE career. Oops I guess we already did that.

Used to love Cena but to be honest, he really does bury talents. Ex: Nexus, Mr Kennedy, Zack Ryder, Ryback, Cryme Tyme, Dolph Ziggler, Tyler Reks and so many more.

I am just tired of WWE bouncing the heavyweight titles to guys like Cena & Orton whenever a new guy wins it.

AJ Styles didn't deserve to lose to Cena in what would be a pointless historic breaking 16 times world champ record just to pass it to Bray Wyatt who ended up losing to Orton in another pointless situation.

[mshellbrat]

Hey guys! The next chapter of my Olicity Arrow/BTVS xover is now up! I would love it if you would check it out and let me know what you think!

Chapter Summary:  Team Arrow meets at the Bronze for some specialized training. The two teams start to really get to know one another and find their individual strengths and weaknesses. Felicity gets a surprise during a sparring session and shows off more than she planned.

Rating: M (for language so far)

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!...except my original characters and their imaginary organization... :-)

Here goes!...

The closed sign was up on the door of the club. Felicity frowned and lifted her hand to knock. Seconds later the door swung open and her cousin stood on the other side. “LISSY!” Correction: her drunk cousin stood on the other side. And...why was she answering the door? Great google, she hadn't done anything drastic, had she? Where were Dare and Cross?

Meredith snorted. “I can practically hear you babbling right now. You've got that...” she reached up to point between her eyes and above her nose.

“You notice that too?” Oliver asked.

“Yep,” Meredith nodded slowly and carefully...as though she might fall over if she moved too fast. Then she frowned and pointed at Oliver. “Wait a minute...I don't like you!”

Felicity sighed and rested one hand on her hip. “Meredith...”

Meredith rolled her eyes and swung the door open wide. “Whatever, you've always had shit taste in men. This one is just rich and preppy.” The brunette spun on her heel and walked away before Felicity could reply or scold her again.

Felicity frowned and followed her cousin inside.

Oliver trailed behind her. “I am not preppy,” she heard him mutter.

“She only knows you from the tabloids, Oliver. 'Preppy playboy' was your go-to persona until recently. Be happy she's not calling you 'man-candy' cause that's pretty much what I thought before I met you...tasty but regrettable.”

He paused. “I think I'm offended.”

Felicity looked back over her shoulder and lifted her brows. “Offensive was you believing I would buy your bullshit lies and cover stories just because you were cute. Two words: spilled latte.”

He grinned and she turned back to face the front and headed for the bar. Meredith and a vaguely familiar male blonde bartender were the only two people in the club's main room. Meredith was sitting on a bar stool with a glass of something dark red clasped in her hand. Felicity moved to stand beside the tiny brunette and eyed her glass with a mix of disapproval and uneasiness. Did she even want to know what that was?

Meredith ignored her look and focused on Oliver instead. She scrunched up her face. “I still can't believe you're the frickin Arrow. I'm seriously displeased.” She ignored the shock that announcement provoked and looked to her cousin. “I mean I actually thought he was kinda cool. The Arrow that is,” she clarified with a sneer, “not Boy Queen over there.”

“Meredith!” Felicity hissed. She didn't know who had decided to fill Meredith in on that little revelation, but they needed a stern talking to. The blonde looked pointedly toward the bartender and then glared at her cousin.

Meredith snorted and took a sip of her drink. “What Ryder? Like he cares. He's a Pure.”

The bartender in question shifted uncomfortably and leaned against the other side of the bar from Meredith. “You know, Luv, if you could NOT share that information with every random vigilante to cross your path, that would be brilliant.”

Felicity chuckled at the overly dramatic British accent and sarcastic drawl. Now that she thought about it...or well paid attention to the signals her slayer senses were sending out anyway...she did recognize the aura (for lack of better terminology) he was giving off. He felt like Dare and Cross except...less somehow. Less powerful, maybe?

Oliver's teeth were gritted and he couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to glare at Meredith or the other man. Felicity hoped he settled on Ryder because Meredith was pretty much a lost cause. Her cousin had no shame. “What is a Pure?”

Oh, Ryder then, good. Felicity waved him off. “Cross and Dare are Pures. I'll explain later. They're champions of the forces of Light.” She thought about her own words and looked Ryder over doubtfully. With his lean body, floppy blonde hair, and pretty boy face, he didn't exactly strike her as the heroic type.

Ryder stared back at her. “I'm a bartender.”

Meredith snickered. “Ryder here shares my philosophy about the End Wars. He knows he has to fight, but he has no desire to be standing up on the front lines.” She grinned toothily at her cousin. “He'll be perfectly happy to be that guy standing at the back of the army waving a flag.” She lifted her hand and waved it back and forth to mimic the action.

Felicity groaned and ran her hands over her face. She wasn't even touching that one. She focused on Ryder. “Where are Cross and Dare?”

Ryder turned to pick up the landline behind him. He hit two and waited. “Got Felicity and her attack dog up here. Someone needs to bring them down.” He replaced the receiver and pointed toward the hallway. “Head back to the training room. They'll show you the way.”

Felicity nodded. “Thanks.” She looked back toward her cousin and found Meredith, once again, studying Oliver as though he were an especially annoying fly walking along her web.

“Can't believe you've totally ruined all my Arrow fantasies now. I was always a Legolas girl, you know?” the brunette pouted. “Can't you like NOT be the Arrow? I hear there's some loser in Gotham dressing up as a bat. Steal his thunder.”

Felicity blinked wide eyes and reached back to put her hand on Oliver's arm. She felt him sigh and relax, then she turned back and leaned over the bar threateningly at Ryder. “And no more alcohol for her! She's cut off!”

Ryder shrugged. “Sorry, Luv, but Dare told me to give her whatever she wanted so long as she stopped harassing him. He's the boss.”

Felicity literally saw red. She was going to KILL her mentor! SERIOUSLY? “Dare and I will be having a little chat about the acceptable methods of dealing with my cousin,” Felicity growled, “and CROSS is your boss!” She didn't wait for his response. She stormed off toward the training room trusting Oliver to follow behind her.

Case was leaned up against the wall. He was wearing a gray wifebeater and black athletic shorts. Felicity couldn't help pausing to take in his massive arms, his massive thighs, his massive EVERYTHING. Damn, Cross was one lucky woman. He nodded. “Sup?”

Felicity nodded back but kept her lips glued together. She knew herself well enough to feel that embarrassing near-sexual-harassment worthy babble coming on. Oliver would not be amused.

Case's eyes twinkled and he smirked at her as though he could read her thoughts. He even had dimples, she noticed. Felicity felt her face heat and did her best to look professional.

Oliver cleared his throat. “Are you our escort?”

“Yep,” Case stood up straight and led them down another hallway off the side of the training room. Felicity found it strange that she'd never noticed it before. She found it even stranger when the hall dead-ended at an elevator. Case lifted his hand and placed it on a scanner beside the elevator. The panel lit up and scanned his palm. Then he reached down and hit the button. The doors immediately opened and he motioned them inside. Case hit the button labeled 'T2' as the doors slid closed.

“You're joining the training?” Oliver asked.

“I'm helping assess the humans,” Case said. “Cross and Dare have to give too much of a handicap to get an accurate baseline. I can go full out.” He cut his eyes to Oliver. “Your man Diggle isn't bad. The kid is a little rougher around the edges, but his archery is a nice advantage. We need to focus on keeping them both at range if possible.”

Oliver lifted one brow. “You'll be assessing me?”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Case stepped out and waited for them to follow. Felicity looked around. They were standing in a large open training facility. There were several areas set up for different specializations. To one side, the slayer saw mats for hand-to-hand, there was another area with a large weapon case obviously dedicated to close-combat weapons' training, an archery range was situated to the left, and finally a door leading to what Felicity could see was a firing range.

Felicity noticed Cross standing with Roy and Laurel in the archery range. Dare stood with John and Riley in the firing range.

“Let's go, Arrow,” Case said to Oliver, “you're up.” He walked toward the mats.

Oliver followed the larger man, already reaching to pull off the t-shirt he'd changed into before they left her house.

Felicity debated finding a good seat just to enjoy the show, because YUM, but finally sighed and decided to be responsible. The things she sacrificed for her fight against the forces of evil. She headed for Cross instead.

The female Pure was standing back and watching as Laurel shot a crossbow at a target. She stepped forward and corrected Laurel's stance, then backed off to watch the other woman again. Felicity stopped beside her. “Hey.”

“Hey, Sweetie.”

The blonde studied Laurel. “You been at this long?”

Cross smirked and lowered her voice. “Ms. ADA was waiting outside the club when I got back.”

Felicity winced. Ever eager Laurel would decide to show up early. “Sorry about that.”

Cross shook her head. “No need. She's just passionate,” the brunette looked at Felicity, “she's hungry. She wants to make a difference.”

“She's going to get herself killed,” Felicity whispered. Then she frowned again at Laurel because she found that she REALLY didn't want that to happen. Sometime over the last few days Laurel had started growing on her...somewhat like an unwanted moss, but still. Felicity genuinely didn't want anything bad to happen to the other woman. And not in that vague 'I protect everyone in this city' way, but in a personal 'I like Laurel' way. Felicity's eyebrows shot up. That was certainly unexpected. “Great google, I like Laurel!” The words even felt weird in her mouth.

The brunette in question snorted and looked back over her shoulder at Felicity. “I like you too, Felicity. Now try to sound a little more enthusiastic about it.”

Deciding to go for honesty, Felicity shrugged. “I really had no desire to be besties with Oliver's epic love.”

Laurel scowled at that description. “I am holding a weapon. Don't tempt me.”

“Laurel,” Cross frowned at the other woman sternly, “focus.” The lawyer nodded and turned back to her target practice. Cross lowered her voice. “We'll protect Laurel and we'll make sure she's prepared, Felicity, but joining this fight is her choice to make. You can't make it for her.”

A familiar mantra sounded in Felicity's thoughts and she threw back her head and groaned in frustration. “Let me guess...her life, her choice.”

Cross smirked. “Something like that.”

“Now you know why Oliver gets that look on his face every time you drop that line on him, Blondie,” Roy said as he joined them. He frowned as he looked to where his mentor was fighting Case across the room. “I was really hoping he would kick The Rock's ass, by the way. Arrow's letting us down.”

Felicity spun to look at Oliver concerned. He took a blow to the side and fell back, but quickly regained his footing and moved to retaliate. She realized he was holding his own. He and Case were trading blows back and forth. They appeared fairly evenly matched.

“He's the Arrow, Scarecrow,” Felicity told Roy, “not Iron Fist.” She cut her eyes to Cross. “Wait until you see him with a bow.”

The Pure ran her sharp eyes over Oliver's battle-tested frame. “He's got a lot more backbone than I gave him credit for. He's definitely not that pretty boy he tries to feed the rest of the world.”

Roy snorted. “More like mean angry asshole.”

“With an adamantium coated skull,” Felicity added.

Cross grinned and patted Felicity on the back. “He'll fit right in.” She looked back over to the mats consideringly. “I think he and Case are already bonding.”

Oliver somehow had the larger man pinned to the mat, but as they watched Case worked his leg free and flipped Oliver off. Both men popped to their feet and faced off again, and both of the were grinning.

“God save us all,” Roy muttered.

Felicity dodged the swipe toward her face and spun back. She crouched and struck out with her left leg toward her attacker's core. The blow landed, but Cross rolled with it and popped right back to her feet. As the slayer studied her mentor waiting for her next move, her senses went wild. She jerked and tried to side step but a pair of iron-strong arms banded around her pinning her in place with her arms to her sides and her back to their chest. The predator inside of her raged at the confinement.

Following her instincts, Felicity first went limp, then threw her head backward and pushed out and up with her arms. Her captor avoided her head, but she was able to dislodge the arms around her in the confusion. She scrambled to the side, putting both threats before her. Both Cross and Dare faced her. She bared her teeth at Dare.

He just smirked back at her, then she jerked as his eyes flashed bright yellow and he opened his mouth to reveal sharp elongated canines. Something poured over Felicity as the slayer recognized the threat and rose to meet it. Her hand gripped for a stake that wasn't there. Her eyes danced around for a weapon, any weapon.

The vampires stepped closer. Felicity danced back and to the side, keeping them equidistant and in front of her. Her mind raced and she scanned the walls spotting weapons across the room and behind the threats.

The slayer was just about to make a move when her senses registered movement behind her again. She spun ready to attack, but stayed her hand as she recognized human and frowned. Another instinctive duck and she barely escaped the arms of the stronger male threat. She grabbed the human boy and drug him with her to the wall. She shoved him safely behind her and readied herself to defend.

A loud burst of laughter sounded from the right. Felicity jerked and then...then she felt the slayer receding...her normal rational mind came back online, and she flushed in embarrassment at the display she'd just put on in front of her team. John and Laurel were laughing their asses off. Oliver looked vaguely disturbed, and Roy...

“Oh Google!” Felicity realized. She spun and looked at Roy shoved up against the wall behind her.

The younger man was eyeing her chagrined. His face, she noticed, was also red.

“You okay there, Roy?” Digg called out.

“Think I might have pissed myself, actually,” Roy finally shook his head and laughed. He cocked a brow at Felicity. “Remind me to stay on your good side from now on, Blondie.”

“This,” Laurel called as she held up her phone, “I am saving for Thea.” She laughed again and started typing on the device. “Roy getting drug around like a rag-doll was definitely worth the price of admission.”

“Come on, Lance!” Roy protested

Laurel cackled evilly. “You're just lucky I'm not posting it on YouTube. Consider this payback for the last fifty snide comments you've made about me.”

Cross stepped forward shaking her head. “What were you thinking, Roy?”

Roy flushed again. He lifted one hand to rub the back of his neck. “Two on one's not fair. I was trying to even the odds.”

Even Cross and Dare laughed at that, but Felicity just smiled widely at the red archer. She stepped up beside him and nudged him in the side with her elbow.

Roy nudged her back. “We're Team Arrow. We stick together.”

Felicity rested her head against his shoulder and continued to smile. It was just one more sign that her team wasn't going anywhere. She might be changing and growing with this new destiny, but her family still had her back.

Roy tilted down his head and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Just so we're clear? You versus Canary? My money's on you.”

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear what you think! :-)