#and also he locked up Eddie and Maria :(((

[neoflames]

Sausage’s latest Empires stream won’t leave my brain alone so I decided to do a ‘what if Oli figured out it wasn’t actually Sausage’ (if you didn’t watch the stream I’m too tired to explain it to you)

I am tired

But enjoy :> (it’s only like two pages but ehhhh)

Reblogs are appreciated :D

(Click for better quality I think)

[etincelleart]

We never saw Pietro and Maria after Penny fell from amity, not even in the epiloge, which is weird considering the empesis on Penny there with Winter line about her "gone forever" I think that there is somthing going on with them and the writers are hiding it, my guess: Pietro create another body.

Also for me, the deliver of "gone forever" is strange becaus we didn't need this comfiretion because before anything that happened in v9 most people belive she was gone forever because she turn "human".

Making this to comfirme it would make more sense if it was in the end of v8 and make it for this reason take away everithing they said in vol 9 as nothing.

TL:DR: the delivery of "Penny is gone... forever" is very suspicios

(Also I notice somthing strange with the song friends, it just... end, no last words, no last instrumant just stop immiedtly, it could symbolayse Penny having her life cut short, but what if it end like that because there is another part of the song that we will hear right when Penny would come back).

I agree a lot on that, I was thinking about that too, Pietro and Maria aren't even there to mourn everyone but Amity is up in the sky. So Pietro is DEFINITELY in his new little lab somewhere in Vacuo being completely broken or desperate I fear :')))) My thoughts on that is that Maria tries to support him and to be there for him, but he locks himself and tries to remake another Penny, even if it costs him his life. No matter if it works or not or if he suffers in the process, I definitely imagine that could happen.

As for the "gone forever" I agree, this line isn't just Winter thinking and blaming herself, this is also meant for the audience, but we KNOW that Penny is gone, we know she died and we saw her die as a human, so there's no reason to confirm us "she's gone, forever" unless there's something behind it, and especially after such a hopeful volume (V9) where several characters come back to life both metaphorically and literally with ascension : Ruby, the Herbalist, Little/Somewhat and Neo who decided to ascend too. And we can count team RWBY + Jaune who "come back from the dead" for all of Remnant basically.

And for the end of Friend this is an interesting thought, I never really considered this but that's true, it could lead to maybe a Friend part 2 later in the future, sang from Penny's perspective again or maybe this time Ruby as an answer, that would be amazing omg !

I'm really trying to have some perspective on the Penny subject so I'm not blinded by the shipping or just the fact that I love her character, and I still find all of that true, if what happened around her death and in V9 happened to another character I still feel like she could come back. I just feel like we all find too much stuff for it to mean nothing, especially in RWBY, it does mean something to me krkr-

NOTE : btw I just finished to write this that I remembered that Eddy and Kerry said this was only a PART of the epilogue, and that some stuff was cut because it was leading to future plot. So maybe Pietro and Maria were in the epilogue but we can't know for sure yet, and maybe what they was doing were indeed spoiling because leading to the plot aka Penny related idk ?----

[convexicalcrow]

All The Fkn Lore Drops From Mythical J. Sausage's Empires Stream on Feb 4, 2023

And I mean, ALL OF THEM.

(source: Sausage's Empires livestream 4/2/23)

(commentary is in parentheses)

No time stamps bc this took long enough as it is and my hands would not forgive me if I did anything more. There are some approximate time markers I chucked in as I went but nothing specific.

Also this is Very Long, there are like 3.5k words of notes I took while watching this. I mostly focused on the lore stuff, but there's also a bit of extraneous commentary as well and some suggestive quotes I had to include. But yeah. Mostly it is lore, which says a lot lol.

we (the audience) are the watchers (from Evo lore) watching Sausage

he can see us, bc he can see everything (like Dr Strange apparently idk shit about Marvel stuff tho frfr) and he can communicate with us

he's had these powers for millenia but he's now unlocked them bc he's woken from his watcher slumber. bc the rift gave him his memories back from every life he's ever lived.

he literally said Sir Carlos is dead, everyone's dead, but he's not going over old/dead lore.

(please remember him saying Sir Carlos is dead, bc he gives us some Sir Carlos lore later on that contradicts this)

promises to put signs up for everyone who becomes a member (he will live to regret this at the end of the stream lol)

(sausage after dark needs to happen plz sausage i need the fwimmy fanfics bc ofc he ships fwhimmy lmao)

lore trees! done with magic. based on the Tree of Whimsy. Mini Trees of Whimsy.

suggests stealing the Tree of Whimsy from Bdubs like a normal person lol

he will worship Sun God Bdubs and communicate with him one day

there's Something in the Cathedral that's lore-related that he can't show us (may be in the ep that's coming out today?)

if he goes back in time, he can see The General

gotta shake Sunny's hand when you greet him

Bubbles and Athena have been fighting for two days; she stole Bubble's food lol. Athena guards Sunny.

Eddie always wants to go visit Oli, but Oli's never around, and it's dangerous in the Olipelago.

Eddie's getting Thicccc, been working out a lot lately.

Eddie's going to the Olipelago for two weeks for a holiday. That's Canon lol.

rip Diedre the Dodo ;_; (literally NO ONE spelt her name properly bc Ren's accent is a hot mess. XD)

makes a point of telling Sgorby that he's gonna start making out with everyone on the hardcore server now

he technically knows about the Wither Rose Alliance now. But he's not supposed to tell ppl that he knows, bc it might fuck with things. Black Collar Bubbles told him not to tell ppl. Could rip spacetime.

normal things he does in Sanctuary: he's just walking around, doing some farming, checking the visitor centre, that kind of thing.

leatherworker shop for Maria??

Maria's single and looking for love in all the wrong places.

Just looking for a good time, not to get locked down with anyone. Bunnies are party people.

Carlos has been living in the tavern, hasn't had his trades locked in.

Came in on a boat a while back and been living in the tavern ever since.

Could it be Sir Carlos? Maybe, maybe not.

OG Sir Carlos is long gone in this world.

Hermes is home-schooled, so they don't really need a public school system.

Hermes is the only child in Sanctuary. All the other children are in other realms/elsewhere/not in Sanctuary.

Technically Sunny is a child, 2 wks old, but they're an AI system so. Smarter than everyone in this world.

Technically did you see Sir Carlos die? In lore and in canon? Did you ever see him die at the end of the season? The last thing we saw of him was that he had to leave suddenly. We didn't see him go. He had to leave, go off on an adventure, he couldn't say, had to go somewhere specific. Sir Carlos is cursed, turned into a chicken by some other being. Legendary knight who's been around for a very long time. Is he immortal? Not immortal, but very powerful. Has been known to shapeshift. Technically he could be somewhere in the background. Maybe he came from an adventure somewhere, just showed up. Not as a knight anymore. But maybe, just maybe, be might have found us again, he says, looking at Carlos the villager. Came on boats, both time. Funny that. Sir Carlos of Mythland usually comes on a boat at a dock. From time to time. Whenever he's needed. So yeah. Strange.

(3 hours isn't a long stream, Sausage, not when you watch Cub's speedrunning vods lmao)

Can Sir Carlos dimension jump? He's a special being- er, person. Gods love your boy, and superpowered beings too. They gravitate to him. It's nbd.

We will see more of Sir Carlos later. Sausage has Plans.

Keralis and Bdubs were the first tutorial/series he watched, and he got to kiss them both in lore and in canon

jimmy villain arc fanfic tiem!

jimmy is a toy backstory, then the villain arc.

(i'm only 43 mins in btw lolololol)

jimmy's villain arc, chapter one, by mythical j. sausage:

jimmy's a toy and everyone knows it except jimmy. then he has a realisation. why is my skin so hard? oh, i'm made of wood! D: looks back as a shot fires, and out comes a demon, was it xornoth? No! a western demon, dressed all in black. I cursed you boy, and now you can see. Everyone sees it, open your eyes, boy. I did it, you're gonna do nothing about it. You're right! I was blinded this whole time! Demon disappeared, laughing his whole time. Hit by lightning, the wood starts burning! He starts melting and turns into a pile of ash! The demon comes back. He waves his hands in the air and the ash spews up into the air, all jimmy ashes, and it creates Jimmy from the ground up, but now he's made of ash. Eyes are dead. Yeeehaaaa motherfucker! Cursing up a storm now, and goes around killing everyone. Can fly into the sky like an ash tornado. Demon tells him to murder all the empires. So he goes, and the tornado goes out the door of the saloon. Shoots a gun, has two six shooters now. Goes all the way to Stratos, to kill Joel. His first victim. Jimmy goes to Stratos, straight into the heart of the god's realm, to take out Joel, for all the time he called him a toy, even though he was right. Passes the statue of Saint Peril and donkey Jeremy. Jimmy's cussing all over the place, no longer PG. More lighting! Joel's clapping his cheeks! Just practicing lol. Sausage wasn't around, he was resting under a tree in Sanctuary. Look, it's the stupid little toy! Jimmy's cursing and shooting Joel in the face several times. Empties his guns. Joel's dead. Has just killed a god. Jimmy laughs. Bullets were made with some kind of evil juice that enabled him to kill a god. Then Hermes shoots into the sky! Looks down at evil Jimmy! He's mad! You killed my father! D: You're gonna die now, little man! Jimmy looks up at Hermes flapping his little wings on his feet. Always wanted to kill you! But Hermes doesn't let him finish and shoots him in the eye with lightning and Jimmy explodes into ash. The demon appears and is like, you can't do that! but Hermes kills him too. He's crying now, going down to daddy Joel. Not today, Daddy, and kissed him on the forehead, and Joel came back to life. What happened? The toy's dead, no need to worry about him anymore. Oh, cool! Starts clapping his cheeks again lol. The End. (this is paraphrased in places but that's the gist of it)

it's fanfic not canon, jimmy's a good man.

Empires!Sausage would write his own fanfiction about his friends. It's Canon.

yassify that demon! he says about the western demon he created lol.

(i will Not document the slander happening rn frfr)

(ya boi is procrastinating real hard on the tree clearing ngl)

next fanfic is what evil sausage was doing while he was away

is it gonna be headcanon or lore? who knows?

(one hour in and we have started cutting trees)

(we're tree-clearing for a Lore Build)

("the bush is more important than the sapling")

(he loves False's lore as well <3)

evil sausage can't be the good twin.

s2 Sausage is Extra Good now. s1 Sausage had Issues, did some bad stuff. Mix of good and bad. But this version of him has zero evilness. Nothing bad now. Goodest of the good boys. It's bc Gem in s1 took every bit of corruption and badness in him. There's nothing left. He jokes around, but there's no evil intent. The Other Sausage has all of Sausage's evilness.

you do need a little bit of both though. Being completely good can mess things up in the future. Too much of a good thing can be bad, he says, so keep that in mind. (<_<)

there's no canon on the hardcore server, just killing everyone at the end lol.

"Oh no my chests are gone!" he says as he enters his storage room, before they appear a moment later. "That's lore!" (right, ofc it is)

("This is my one and only junk drawer, don't tell Pearlescent Moon")

Blood sheep are long since gone, and can't come back. They're gone. Been thousands of years since they were last seen. Might be elsewhere but he won't be investigating.

are blood sheep extinct? technically he hasn't seen them in a very long time, but he's also very far away from where mythland would have been so maybe they're around there? but no one's seen them for generations. they're not around here.

all blood sheep are red sheep but not all red sheep are blood sheep - he's talked with all the red sheep he's found around Sanctuary and they're just regular sheep.

The Mythland Song! D: It's apparently now the dimension warping song. He has to warp dimensions every time it comes up now. >_>

(he has sound effects and everything >_>)

(I SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING SAUSAGE)

(1h 20min in for those keeping check of the time)

Bubbles told him not to do this, but he's here now so.

"I got warped back, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine…"

We're just in another realm.

Can't get into the summoning circle tho. >_>

There are blood sheep around.

About an hour before the End Times.

Xornoth could be around, bc he was around at this time, but doesn't know where he is.

Going to look for Bubbles now.

Just minding his own business when he met Xornoth for the first time.

Thinking of warping the blacksmith into Sanctuary bc he needs an autosmelter. It's where he first met Xornoth as well. >_>

Going to see The General. :D

(Bubbles is the ultimate being but forget he said that >_>)

Blood Sheep Lore! After they rained down on Mythland! What caused them to rain down? 1) he sent Evil Sausage into that pocket dimension, an exact copy of this world. It was other blood sheep from that world too, and Evil Sausage destroyed Mythland in that world, including the blood sheep, for absolutely no purpose. They're happy to be sacrificed for a greater purpose. But if there's no greater purpose to their sacrifice, they get angry. That's why they got upset with Sausage. 2) the salmon/cod explosion ALSO caused it, and that triggered the big explosion of blood sheep to rain down on them. They became cannibalistic. Ate everything and everyone out in these realms. General was eaten alive. Villagers dead. Every animal, person, being got eaten by blood sheep as revenge for what Sausage did. Went on for many, many years. He can never save the people in Mythland. He couldn't change it. Ate everything in sight until the only thing left was blood sheep.

He's gone downstairs after seeing House Horse. There are blood sheep down here too. and he looks at the cells and he's like, …wait. am I in the wrong… Mythland? D: is this where-…? wait. no is this where evil me… did he rebuild-? D: i have to leave now. leaves immediately bc that [the bars of the left hand cell I am assuming] were open last time.

we're fine, we're back.

In denial about it being That Mythland. It was probably regular Mythland right? And he wasn't there that long. It's fine. He's fine. It wasn't where Evil Me was. Just coincidence that thing was sealed up.

evil sausage def isn't hanging around looking for a way to get back, trying to cling onto me and find his way back here (or words to that effect, ya boi mumbled that a bit ngl)

(tangent about the mcytblr sexyman polls bc ofc)

(scar is a very sexy man, and sausage is 100% right and he should say it)

(ftr i still kinda don't really get the tumblr sexyman concept even though i have tried to understand it but you do you tumblr <3 i am just enjoying the chaos and the fun and the polls lol)

someone tells sausage that shelby's got a lil skulk thing going on and he's rightfully a lil concerned about that

promising something special with lore in the next ep, very good lore.

is the story over now the crossover's done? well, that was like the mid-season finale for that ep with the crossovers, bringing that arc to a close. Still a lot of stories left to tell. A lot of things and unanswered questions from lore which will be coming back before the end. Pages and pages of written stuff that he's been planning, and we're not even close to getting to that spot. Don't worry, there's a lot to come. Wanted the Pearl thing to feel very special. All the unanswered stuff will be answered before the end. No end date yet. There's story things to get to, and things that are gonna build on that, so there's no end date yet. Things gonna ramp up very soon and a lot of crazy things are gonna happen.

Sausage the matchmaker, pretty much everyone he matches up works out

before all things said and done, The Chart is gonna be a billboard. Gonna get with every new person lol, add all kinds of weird things to the chart. Out of spite, but also out of fun. (i think it was out of fun, it was hard to catch that word)

("wood daddy chopping wood and slandering people in the chat room")

("at least you put it in the back and not in the front")

evil sausage: what is he doing now? is the title of the next fanfic lol

(lowkey appreciating the lack of lore in this part of the stream bc my hands needed a break lol)

invisible axolotls? D: D: D:

the song playing rn is the one where he met Pearl from the crossover and it wasn't Santa Perla and he needed consoling. But he remembers her now.

Pearl's holding her godly powers back so she can be a normal person for once.

if e2!Sausage was an animal, he'd be a lion. like mufasa. he likes tragic characters (yeah I had noticed Sausage lol) big giant mane, furry chest, etc.

wood-chopping sausage with a lil fur on his chest.

(irl sausage would pick a lion as well.)

"look, that's magic! there's a lore with that" - sausage about a floating vine

there's a cat that's been hanging around ever since he settled in Sanctuary and that cat may be important to the story. (it's an ocelot)

ppl are reporting on jimmy stealing the dragon egg on the hardcore server, and he's like, i'm on Empires I can't go over there and kill him now!

("oh my mouth hole got moistened")

(I am not writing out your fanfics Sausage. Except for summarising them for this post)

the song from Afterlife where Vampire Scott killed Angel Sausage. He came back as the evil wither man. But in order to do that, he had to have the blood sucked from him.

who buried Angel Sausage? Was it Scott? bc he felt bad for killing him? Maybe Oli. Probably Oli. Or Scott. Let's say it was Oli bc it makes sense in lore. After he killed him, he came back to finish the job and suck him dry, and then Oli buried him in the grave. Then he came back as an evil wither man.

then Oli came back and sang him a song while Sausage shot himself into the sun

will it be real lore or fanfiction for evil sausage? we'll have to find out

technically, you know how this area [Sanctuary] is Latin-inspired? For all the ppl who watched Afterlife, what was the first angel Sausage build style? It was Spanish-inspired. A Spanish hacienda. How odd that he would have picked that build style to start out his life as angel Sausage. Hinting that that is the style he wanted to do after coming back from the Afterlife and Pearl sent him down. And what is the first style he did after coming back from the Afterlife? Spanish. Latin. Columbian. Lorelorelorelorelore.

from the beginning he wanted Afterlife to be connected to Empires s2 and his afterlife after s1.

"we've had a lot of lore drops today" looks at my 2.8k words of lore notes that isn't even finished yet yeah just a lil bit o.o

(and now Sausage's new ep has gone up, and I will Not watch it until I'm done with this stream)

(~30 mins to go)

("Oh it's 5am for you? I'm sorry. Have you tried not living in the weirdest time zone?" cries in GMT+8, the Worst time zone ;_; this was not about my time zone I don't think bc I don't have chat on when watching yt streams/vods bc it moves too fast but I felt that so hard)

evil sausage lore/fanfic tiem!

is this actual lore or am i telling you now a fanfiction about evil sausage in another realm? will i say if it's real or not? we'll see what happens.

this is called 'the story of evil sausage a.k.a sausage supreme a.k.a the bratwurst man a.ka. that boi thicc but he evil a.k.a who hurt you?'

back when he was sent back to another realm. he's pure evil. upset. angry over time. after swallowing xornoth and getting all the power that he possessed, he became stronger. still trapped in a pocket dimension. he went to every empire in search of clues to find a way out. days passed, months passed, years passed. his powers only grew as he found many old tomes in old libraries. he needed an outlet to use those powers. blood sheep were still around. but blood sheep weren't the only night creatures out at that time. other creatures too from other realms. every one he found he devoured to get stronger. back then, every single life was sucked away, never to be seen again.

(cue Oli gatecrashing)

the evil bratwurst man couldn't hold it in any longer.

(oli has muted a tab with the stream open and doesn't realise it for a hot minute)

"I'm doing fanfiction lore of my evil self!"

the evil version of me actually did escape one time. how did he do it? he did it by accident. he decided to sacrifice himself like sausage did through the summoning circle. why? bc he couldn't take it anymore. he was done being all alone in a pocket universe and wanted to end his life. so he did it in the summoning circle. where did he end up? in the council with the other bubbles. they didn't know what was happening, freaked out, what's he doing here in the spirit realm? every other bubbles wanted to banish him. but one wanted to give him another chance. so she sent him somewhere else. he left that pocket universe. was it the grey collared bubbles? maybe it was. well, if you're going to let him loose, you have to watch him. so that's why whenever you see him, you also see her. could this be lore? could this be real? or could this be fanfiction? whenever we travelled to see him, all of mythland wasn't destroyed. why would that specific mythland we saw in perfect condition? also wonders what's stopping him from sacrificing himself again and travelling here? idk what is stopping him. is it the bubbles? is he only trapped in that dimension? he's no longer in the pocket universe. the man is on his own. only that bubbles is there to stop him. if anything were to happen to that bubbles, who knows where he could go? she's the meanest bubbles. she's the bubbles that likes to hurt ppl. if something ever happened to that bubbles, or if sausage went there and they joined together, there's many ways he could escape, but he's in his own timeline in mythland. apparently one that there's no one there to stop him. probably why we saw Wither Rose Alliance heads in the dark tower bc maybe he murdered everyone. Is this real lore and canon? Or is this fanfiction? who knows? could be either one! :D

how could be still be alive after 1000 years?

what if he's not in the future, but it's still just the past for him?

never said his timeline matches his own.

can only travel to dimensions he knows.

time has passed but not that long.

if evil sausage joined with sausage would he become his ultimate self? who knows?

some nice juicy lore, or was it fanfiction? :D?

sausage refusing to clarify whether this is lore or not, which makes me feel like It's Definitely Lore bc he was Very Clear about clarifying the fanfic earlier.

(well done, 3.5k words of lore notes, ty sausage DX)

(sausage just wants to eat his bagel and ppl keep becoming members lmao)

And we're done.

collapses

goes to watch Sausage's new ep and then go to bed

[eyelessfog]

I need to know more about this hollow knight au

Who's who?

What's what?

Storyline? Pls?

Also the art so far is /amazing/

I have a pretty solid idea of the storyline and stuff, but the who's who is not Nearly as ready. So what we're going to do is name the ones who are completely ready, and it's going to look like this

Who they are [what season] - their in game name - who they're taking the place of

Pearl [both seasons] - The Pearlescence - the radiance

Sausage [both AND afterlife] - The Priest - the hollow knight

Sausage [s2] - Sausage - player character/ghost

Lizzie [s1] - The Lady of the Seas - the white lady

Joel [s1] - The Clay King - the pale king

Xornoth [s1] - The Nightmare King - Grimm

Joey [s1] - Joey - Brumm

Katherine [s1] - The Lady of the Overgrown - unn

Shrub [s1] - Shrub - Isma

Scott [s1] - Scott - Ze’mer

Jimmy [s1] - The Codfather - Lurien

Fwhip [s1] - The Engineer - Herrah

Gem [s1] - The Wizard - Monomon

Joel [s2] - Godseeker - Godseeker

False [s2] - False - Quirrel

Shelby [s2] - Shelby - Nailsage Sly + Salubra [stationed at salubra's shop]

Eddie [s2] - Eddie - Iselda and also Elderbug

Maria [s2] - Maria - Shopkeeper Sly

Oli [s2] - Oli - Cornifer

Pixlriffs [s2] - Pix - Lemm & seer

Gem [s2] - Gem - Either hive knight or vespa. probably hive knight

Katherine [s2] - Katherine - Cloth

Joey [s2] - Joey - Zote

Jimmy [s2] - Jimmy - Tiso

This got really long really fast. I don't know how to answer the what's what question other than that sometimes charms are blessings and sometimes they're potions

Here's the backstory, as I have it so far.

Now, of course, a backstory doesn't account for what happens In The Game. I'm gonna make this as short and sweet as I can because. Those names took up a lot of space

Okay, so, saying it again: This is about the old in comparison to the new. People knew sausage! The Wizard and the Engineer recognize you when you go to wake them up!! The lady of the overgrown sees you and knows you and recognizes that you are so much of the Priest and yet not of him at all!!! The Codfather doesn't trust you, but he knows your face and yet you don't know his!!!! You are the new, trying to understand if you mean to live up to the old, or if you want to break away from him.

He made enemies, and he made friends, and he has something to do with the death of this kingdom. But how? Where? What did he do? What didn't he do?

"He did nothing," The Wizard says fondly. "There was nothing for him to do."

"He made it worse," The Engineer says, near laughing. "But it who he was. He was trying to be helpful. It never would have ended any other way."

"He did nothing," The Codfather says, exhausted. "He was her closest friend, and he did nothing to stop this."

"He made it worse," The Lady of the Sea sighs. "Without him there... The fight never would have even started."

You do simply as you are told. False tells you where to go, and when you ask her how she knows, she pauses and tilts the mask over her face. "I'm not sure," she says. "We'll find out together, though."

You meet gods. You meet people. They are new. They are old.

You kill dead things still walking. You fight things that still fight to be alive.

Mask to mask to mask. The people you know in between. A brother, an amnesiac and a clone.

Mask to mask to mask. Everything in between. And then a temple, old and worn and locked. And then unlocked. And then someone with your face but wrong and glowing and orange.

That is the old.

You are the new.

You run your dreamnail through his skull.

And you wake up again.

[fragilecapric0rnn]

Can i get a directors cut on (your fav scene from) missed connections fic?

of course you can my friend! <33 it is so hard for me to pin down my actual favorite scene from this fic, so i will give you two! a funny one and a soft one :)

the soft one (that is also kinda silly) (If I could copy and paste all of chapter 3 to this post, I would. But, I will spare you and give you one of my favorite scenes from that chapter):

“Thanks for the help, butthead.” An unfamiliar voice rings through the room. Steve snaps his head up and locks eyes with the stranger. This is when a few things happen within the span of about three seconds. 

It feels like someone stuck a vacuum inside his lungs and pressed the reverse button.

Is that a chorus of angels? 

Maybe the director of West Side Story was onto something when everything around Tony and Maria blurred out of frame when they locked eyes, because that is what Steve is feeling. A magical glow encapsulates this person, focusing only on him, everything else fading into the background of his vision. 

And maybe the most important, is that standing in the kitchen, surrounded by his friends, basically his family, was the Whole Foods guy. 

As soon as the connection was made and transferred from heart to dick to brain, the beer bottle he was nursing slipped from his hands and smashed at his bare feet. 

Moment over. 

The big reveal! The moment we were all waiting for! Eddie is the missed connections guy and Dustin's fantasy writer friend! I just love the implication of love at first sight. The idea that even as strangers, there is an instant connection between them that would be there regardless if there was that moment in Whole Foods. Also, the implication that Steve is a musical theater nerd with the immediate West Side Story reference.

the funny one:

“And I’ll be the first one to tell you he hasn’t gotten any action in -” 

“Everyone shut up!” Steve yells at the top of his lungs. He is staring, wide eyed and pissed at the pile of money being gathered right next to the turkey. His eyes immediately fall on El, who is rifling through her purse rather loudly. Traitor, no longer at the top of my list.  

“Are you,” He lets out a long sigh, shutting his eyes tight.  “Are you betting on me?” He opens them, and they’re all staring at him, suddenly speechless. 

“It is not personal,” El says, breaking the silence and throwing a 20 in the pile. “It is just business.” She says, like it was something she had to rehearse. 

This scene was one of my favorites to come up with! A little before this, El is the one that hands Steve the can that ends up exploding on him which causes the reveal of the hickies, which was calculated! Throughout this fic, Steve's soft spot for all the kids is mentioned, but he has the biggest one for El. He sees her as this sweet little butterfly, top of the list! But, let us not forget that she is plotting and scheming along with all the other shitheads, she is also a shithead! I loved coming up with all of the shenanigans in this story, and deciding who was going to be the ringleader in each particular shenanigan.

fanfic writers: director's cut (still accepting!)

[imagine--if]

Hiii, can I request an imagine for dano!riddler where he thinks the love of his life reader is asleep and he’s just admiring and fondling her as he sings Ave Maria to her softly - cus we all know his singing voice is just 😍 But she’s secretly awake and loving it 💕 thank youuuu

A/N: I nearly cried while writing this because I wAnT tHiS tO bE rEal 💚 Also I’m part way through the first part of the Riddler x Super/Vigialante! reader fic, but if any of you have ideas about any signature traits and methods of saving people and all that, I’d love to hear any suggestions 🥰

Pairing: Dano!Riddler x reader (The Batman 2022)

Warnings: Obsessed, loving behaviour from our favourite riddling simp emoji suggestive stuff hehe

Words: 544

The nights in Gotham were long and dark and cold, times you used to hate. But now, you can scarcely wait when you go off to bed at the end of the day, because of one man that’s made his way into your life. Most people knew him as the Riddler, a terrifying, mad genius intent on unmasking the true colours of the cesspool of a city you live in. Very few know him as Edward Nashton, a quiet, observant man, with clear framed glasses that hide his curious green stare, soft brown locks and a seemingly innocent smile.

You know both sides of him, love both sides of him. Edward makes you feel safe, his hugs firm and loving, as if he’s protecting you from the horrors around you, the smothering affections and the deepest kind of love he has, only for you. Edward Nashton is completely in love, beautifully, dangerously so. He can’t live without you. He won’t.

He makes the most of being around you, and tonight, as you drift in and out of sleep, a tired smile pulls at your lips as you feel Eddie shift from lying behind you. He doesn’t sleep very well, though his nightmares have died down gradually, ever since you two have been together. It’s natural for Edward, what with his youth spent in that miserable excuse of an orphanage, but being able to wake up and see your figure lying peacefully beside him is just… heaven.

He automatically moves closer to you, his front pressed against your back, the loose arms around your waist from sleep tightening gently. You can feel his warm breath tickle your neck as he nuzzles into the crook of it with a content sigh, pressing light butterfly kisses onto your skin. You have to bite your lip to stop yourself from smiling any wider and giving yourself away, and keep your eyes closed as a hand rubs against your arm. The touches are so delicate, scared he might disturb your supposed sleep; but when you feel him suddenly inhale your scent deeply from your neck, the bite on your lip pinches hard.

Edward hums softly under his breath, fingers tenderly playing with the ends of your hair. You can make out a few of the words he sings as quietly as he can, cradling you in his arms as the shadows cast by the night sky keeps your entwined bodies in the dark.

“Ave Mari-i-a…”

He loves this song, you know he does, for several reasons. But hearing Eddie sing it now, comfortingly, lovingly, makes a warm feeling blossom in your stomach, and you decide to try your luck. You nuzzle back into him, pretending it’s a sleeping action, and you immediately hear the sound of Edward’s breath catch in his throat. If you could see him properly, you’d see his smile grow and eyes cloud with adoration, and he holds you impossibly closer, still murmuring the hymn.

“Mari-ia, gratia ple-e-na…”

You fall asleep at some point, a faded, satisfied smile on your face, and when you wake up, his embrace is just as tight, head still buried into your neck. You both savour the feeling, knowing for certain that neither one of you will ever be alone again.

[extasiswings]

15 + buddie

15. "Shouldn't you be with her?" On ao3 here.

When Eddie is eleven, his class gets a new student. Her name is Maria Esparza and her family is from Arizona. She has dark curls that look like they would be soft to touch and a smattering of freckles across her nose and she’s so smart—always reading and forever raising her hand in class, always with the right answers—but she never acts stuck up about it.

He thinks she’s beautiful and when he gets home from the first day of school he promptly announces that he’s in love. He doesn’t understand why his mother laughs or why Sophia rolls her eyes and calls him an idiot when he’s perfectly serious.

He’s in love, he insists, and goes on believing it for three whole weeks until he gets up the courage to give Maria a flower at recess and she looks at him like he has two heads. The rejection smarts for a couple of days, but then he’s fine. So, he figures...maybe it wasn’t love after all.

Eddie is fifteen when he finds his eyes slipping too frequently to Diego Reed in autoshop, lingering on the other boy’s long, dexterous fingers, his forearms, the sharp edge of his jaw. Eddie can’t explain it, he just knows those stolen glances make him squirm, make him flush, make him feel too warm and like his very skin is too tight.

Diego steals Eddie’s first kiss two weeks before winter break, pushes him up against the back wall of the shop where they’re hidden by a truck and licks into his mouth with a confidence that Eddie can’t imagine ever having when he himself can’t even figure out what to do with his hands. But it makes his knees weak and leaves him breathless and panting when Diego pulls away with a smirk and tells him not to say anything.

It’s not love—for one thing, Eddie knows he’s not supposed to love boys, and for another, the only time he suggests it might be anything at all, Diego gives him the same look Maria had once upon a time and walks away—but it’s nothing he’s ever felt before. The next year, Angelica Phelan asks him to go to the winter formal and he gets to second base in the science lab when they slip away from the chaperones. It’s different from kissing Diego. But it’s just as good, he enjoys it just as much, and part of him is…relieved.

He doesn’t think about that too much.

Eddie is eighteen when he’s not watching where he’s going and runs directly into his future on the sidewalk. Thankfully, the only casualty is Shannon’s coffee, and after she snaps at him for not paying attention and he offers to replace her drink—well. They close down the coffee shop, emerging, startled, from conversation only when interrupted by a mildly disgruntled employee trying to lock up. Eddie walks home in a daze, Shannon’s phone number burning a hole in his pocket, and he’s simultaneously elated and terrified because it’s never been so easy being with someone, he’s never felt so seen so quickly. He’s old enough to realize that love at first sight is bullshit, but he thinks he could fall very fast.

He’s right.

They take things slow because Eddie wants to do things right, doesn’t want to risk confusing love with the heady cocktail of teenage hormones and sex. So he knows by the time he does fall into bed with her, eight months in, that he’s in love. Really in love, thinking about the future in love, factoring her into the mix when he thinks about what the hell he’s going to do with his life in love.

And then Shannon gets pregnant. And it’s too soon, he loves her but it’s too soon, and he’s terrified all over again—

He loves her though. He loves her. And she’s pregnant so—they get married. He wants to do the right thing.

At their wedding the readings are selections from Song of Songs and Corinthians.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud....Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...

With all due respect to St. Paul, Eddie doesn’t think he knew what the hell he was talking about. Or at least, maybe he did, but he was being pretty damn aspirational and left out a few things.

Because after the wedding…after the wedding, Eddie learns a lot more about love.

Love is beautiful, yes. But love is also…trying to do the right thing and fucking up. Love is fighting and knowing exactly what to say to cut the deepest and not always holding back. Love is forgiving, but after a point finding it difficult to forget.

Or maybe that’s not love, maybe that’s just marriage. Maybe it’s a little of both. Because love endures—sure. Love endured with Shannon even when trust was nonexistent, when their marriage was fractured, shattered pieces strewn across the floor ready to draw blood if either of them tried to pick them up.

Love isn’t enough. That’s what Eddie knows. Or maybe it is, maybe love would have been enough to fix what was broken if it hadn’t been his. Shannon’s gone, so they’ll never be able to have that conversation. He’ll never know the answer.

Love endures. Eddie kind of wishes it didn’t. It would make a lot of things a lot easier.

But…it’s fine. He’s fine. Shannon dies and he locks that piece of himself away and has no plans to ever fall in love again.

Then again, God has a funny sense of humor and never seems to resist an opportunity to be an asshole, so of course…he does. Slowly. Quietly. The threads slipping through the cracks in his walls so carefully that he doesn’t even notice until they’re twined around his heart, unspooling through his blood, through his veins with every pulse. Eddie doesn’t notice.

And then he gets shot and it’s like being hit by lightning, an electric shock of clarity down his spine, rooting him in place as he meets Buck’s eyes.

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

***

Eddie despises recovery.

He’s never been good at being still, at being useless, at being left alone with nothing but his own head. And maybe he’s not entirely alone—he has Christopher, after all, and Christopher is understandably a little clingy now that he’s home from the hospital—but Christopher sleeps and has play dates and spends time in his room and just in general isn’t in Eddie’s space every second of every day.

And then there’s Buck. Buck who offered to keep staying on the couch to take care of everything they needed when Eddie came home from the hospital. Buck who Eddie sent home to his own bed with promises to call if he needed help because having Buck so close after Eddie’s little realization was stirring him up, making everything a million times more difficult in his head. Buck’s still over frequently, but it’s less dangerous if he’s not staying overnight, if Eddie can’t wake up and be tempted to walk out to the living room and pull Buck into his bed. Not for anything sexual—he’s on too many medications and too immobilized for that even if it was remotely a good idea—but to be held. To feel wanted. To feel safe.

He knows Buck probably wouldn’t say no, wouldn’t think anything of it except that maybe he’s a little raw and fragile, which he is. Which is exactly why he can’t ask. So. Removing the temptation it is.

But. Being left alone with his own head is a terrible idea. He’s in pain because he lowered the doses of his pain meds so he would stop worrying about developing any dependency. He can’t sleep without waking up with screams trapped behind his teeth and the smell of blood and gunpowder in his nose. And he can’t stop thinking about Buck. About being in love with Buck. About wanting Buck. About whether he could ever have him or whether he’ll ever be okay enough to be in a relationship. About whether Buck could ever want him back or if he’ll ever feel safe enough to risk their friendship by even asking.

He broke up with Ana the second he was able to figure out how to do it without feeling like a complete dick. But he hasn’t told Buck that. He doesn’t know why.

And then there’s—

The key turns in the lock and Eddie starts, looking up from his place on the couch. Christopher is with his abuela for the night, and he didn’t expect—

“Hey,” Buck calls, stepping through the door. “I brought dinner.”

Eddie stares.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, before he can stop himself. “Shouldn’t you be with Taylor?”

—Taylor. Buck and Taylor. Which, Buck waited weeks to tell him about, hedging about why he wanted to know if it was okay to invite her to Eddie’s welcome home party. Which, Buck only did admit to when Eddie called one night at 2AM and Taylor answered Buck’s phone.

Eddie clears his throat, the question sounding a little too sharp and accusatory to his ears.

“I just meant,” he adds, softening, “I thought you said you had a date tonight.”

An odd look passes over Buck’s face.

“Isabel called me,” he replies. “She said you were by yourself, asked if I would check on you. We rescheduled, it’s fine.”

Eddie nods once and pulls the couch throw tighter around his shoulders with his good arm. A petty, possessive piece of him is pleased. That Buck’s there. That Buck would drop everything for him.

He’s always been wary of Taylor. Even way back when they first met and she was prowling around the station filming everyone and flirting with Buck. But now? Now he’s jealous, his stomach twisting at the very reminder that she has Buck the way Eddie wants him.

But at the same time…he hates that. Hates the jealousy, hates feeling possessive. Because what claim does he have over Buck’s affections? None. Especially not when he can’t even admit to loving him outside his head.

He hates it because he knows that more than anything, Buck deserves to be happy. And maybe Eddie could make him happy, but—

Even if Buck felt the same—and Eddie isn’t convinced of that, doesn’t have the arrogance to assume—what right does he have to say please, to say wait, to ask Buck to put his life on hold indefinitely while Eddie sorts through the tangled mess in his head in the hope that one day he’ll finally be ready? He can’t be that selfish. Especially not with Buck.

Buck deserves to be happy. Even if that’s with Taylor Kelly. Even if it means Eddie loses him.

He doesn’t get to be jealous.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Eddie replies quietly. “I’m fine.”

Buck sets the bag in his arms down on the coffee table.

“You don’t look fine,” he points out. “Actually, you look like shit. Isabel was right to call me.”

“I’m fine,” Eddie repeats. His heart pangs at the concern in Buck’s eyes. “Really, it’s okay—you should—you should—”

Go. Call Taylor back. Enjoy your date.

He wants to do the right thing. He really does. But the rest of the words refuse to leave his throat.

Buck shakes his head anyway. “I’m not going anywhere,” he insists. “So tell me what’s going on. How can I help?”

Eddie bites his lip. Drags his hand over his jaw before making a face. The messy, overgrown scruff is itchy and difficult to manage on his own, and the foreignness of it doesn’t help him feel grounded in his own body when he wakes up gasping in the middle of the night.

“It’s stupid,” he says.

“I’m sure it’s not,” Buck replies. “And I’m here, so you might as well just talk.”

I’m in love with you, Eddie thinks. And I can’t sleep. And I can’t shave. And everything hurts. And I just want to stop being afraid—

He swallows. He can’t say all of that. He can’t blow everything up that way.

So, he picks the easiest one.

“I can’t shave with my left hand and it’s driving me insane.”

Buck blinks. Then he laughs as the worry in his brow smooths out.

“That’s it?” He asks. “Well, that’s easy. I can do that. Come on.”

And that’s how Eddie winds up sitting on the bathroom counter with shaving cream all over his face while Buck wets a razor and steps between his legs.

His breath catches.

“You good?” Buck asks, his voice low. His eyes are soft and focused, and Eddie almost regrets everything because the proximity—god, the proximity. He’s been so cold since the shooting and Buck is so warm, heat spreading through Eddie’s body from every discrete point of contact. Buck tips his chin back and Eddie lets his eyes slip closed.

“Yeah,” he breathes. “I’m good.”

The razor drags along his skin. Neither of them say a word, the main sound in the room the drip of the faucet when Buck rinses the razor between passes. They’ve always been physical with each other, but this sort of thing is new. Intimate.

Eddie aches.

His eyes open a crack to watch. Buck’s lower lip is caught between his teeth, and having every ounce of that focus on him is…intoxicating.

I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.

Buck steps in closer, Eddie’s legs spread ever so slightly wider. A spark of heat flashes through him and he inhales sharply—Buck’s startled enough that his hand slips and the razor nicks Eddie’s jaw.

“Shit,” Buck swears. The razor clatters into the sink. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

Eddie opens his eyes the rest of the way. “It’s fine,” he assures. “What, you think I’ve never cut myself shaving before? It’s still better than I would have managed myself.”

“I’m—” Buck looks stricken, his fingers reaching out to gently cradle Eddie’s jaw only for him to snatch them back almost instantly, the tip of one faintly smeared with blood. His hand trembles.

“Buck,” Eddie says quietly. Buck’s eyes are fixed on the red smear and Eddie is sent back—

Watching his blood splash across Buck’s face and not realizing at first that it was his. Being half-delirious on the way to the hospital worrying that Buck had been hurt—

All this time, Buck’s been moving forward, pushing ahead, for Christopher, for him, for everyone, and Eddie knew he wasn’t entirely okay, knew he was fucked up from the moment in the hospital when he said I think it would have been better if I was the one who got shot, but since Eddie’s been home, Buck has seemed…better.

Maybe not. Maybe he’s been struggling to pretend as much as Eddie has.

Eddie twists around to grab the towel draped over the faucet and wets it enough to wash the rest of the shaving cream off his face, feels the sting of soap and water in the cut. And then he reaches out to grab Buck’s hand, wiping the blood off of his finger.

There’s something profane about blood staining skin. And something sacred in the act of washing it clean.

Eddie wonders if anyone helped Buck wash his blood off when he was in surgery. Taylor, maybe.

But no, that doesn’t feel right.

Buck probably did it himself. Alone.

“Hey.” Eddie squeezes Buck’s fingers. When Buck doesn’t look at him, he reaches out and curls his hand around the side of Buck’s neck, tips Buck’s chin up with his thumb to force him to meet his eyes. “Hey. It’s okay. I’m okay. No harm done.”

Buck breathes out shakily. His throat works, his face passes through a million stages—finally, his hands fall to the counter on either side of Eddie’s hips and his forehead drops to Eddie’s good shoulder. Eddie lets his hand slip around to the back of Buck’s neck, his fingers combing up through the short hairs there. He turns his head and he’s close enough to kiss the side of Buck’s, but he holds off. It feels like it would be too much. Too much when Buck doesn’t know how he really feels, what he really wants. But even just this—the closeness, the touch—is good. Needed. A balm to the itch under his skin.

When Buck turns his face into Eddie’s neck and inhales, Eddie thinks maybe Buck might need this just as badly.

“I’m okay,” he repeats, closing his eyes again as his fingers comb through Buck’s hair. “We’re okay. We’re okay.”

They stay like that for a long time. Buck’s phone rings out once, but neither of them moves to answer it. Eventually, Buck lifts his head and clears his throat roughly as he steps back.

Eddie’s hand falls away from Buck’s neck. He feels the absence keenly.

“You good?” He asks. Buck nods. His eyes are red.

“Yeah,” Buck replies. He pauses. Shakes his head. “No. But—can we just—can I just finish this for now? I want to finish this.”

Eddie watches him for a moment. Wets his lips. Then finally nods and passes over the shaving cream again.

“Sure,” he says. “I trust you.”

I love you.

Maybe…maybe eventually he’ll be braver. Maybe eventually, both of them will be free at the same time and he’ll be whole and healed, or at least something closer to it than he is now. Maybe eventually…love will be enough. Maybe.

For now, he has this.

[littlemisssquiggles]

...So...about Lie Ren...

I never thought I would say this but…I want Lie Ren to be the one to save Oscar from Salem. 

At this point, given a bit of evidence from the last episode, I’d like to think that Ren may be the one person capable of doing this. The thing is, he’ll have to do it on his own and will be forced to leave Jaune and Yang behind to go off on his own. 

And not going to lie to you folks, I want Ren to abandon Yang and Jaune and go save Oscar by himself.

The show has already highlighted for me how much Jaune and Nora care about Oscar’s wellbeing. Nora was so relieved to see him return from the slums, that she was the first and only person to actually hug him when he arrived at the bar.

Mother-trucker, Jaune went to sleep still thinking about poor Oscar and worrying about his well-being, hitting my squiggly heart right in dat Shovel knight BROTP feels.

The only member of JNR who hasn’t proven how much he cares for Oscar is Ren. I’m not saying that Ren doesn’t care about Oscar. I’m just saying, there hasn’t been any major opportunity for him to display it like his other two comrades. Until…now.

Let me tell you why I think it’s perfectly possible for Ren to save Oscar. In the last episode, during the chase scene with George, I saw two pieces of evidence that highlighted Ren’s capability. Not only does his Tranquility semblance make him undetectable to the Grimm but as demonstrated in the last episode with George, his weapon upgrade enables him to latch onto any kind of flying Grimm and hitch a ride. 

We also saw that in the last episode, Ren felt the most bothered about being forced to rescue Yang and Jaune at the expense of losing Oscar. We even see his line of vision focus on Oscar during the chase. From this moment, I got the impression that Ren was more than determined to save Oscar.

They had ONE chance to save Oscar and it was all foiled because Ren had to save Yang and Jaune. So this gives me an idea.

We’ve seen huntsmen hitch a ride on a Grimm before---particularly a Nevermore in the past. We saw both Ruby Rose do this during the V4 Ruby Character Short and Maria Calavera during V6CH7.

That being said, imagine if…Ren decides to abandon Yang and Jaune at the outpost in the middle of the night and go off on a solo mission; making his sworn goal to bring Oscar back. We then fast forward to early morning after where Ren is standing on a lonely cliff now overlooking the giant Monstra hovering above the storm clouds. 

After traveling mostly on foot for most of the night, Ren’s next objective was to scope out a method of getting up to the flying whale, when he spots a flock of Grimm flying up into the storm. Perhaps they were Nevermore or more Kevins since they appear more common in Solitas.

This is when Ren gets the brainiac idea to use his weapon to hitch a ride on one of those Grimm, steering it in the direction he wants it to take him which is straight up to Monstra. And since his semblance makes him invisible to the Grimm, Ren is allowed to fly his captive Grimm exactly where he needed to go without the detection of other Grimm.

Once he’s landed safely inside of Monstra, Ren shoots the Grimm stead to kill it and quickly goes into stealth mode. Now in the belly of the beast, Ren uses his skills. Perhaps this may even force Ren to utilize the aspect of his semblance that’s been teased from the last season.

I’d imagine that the inside of Monstra will be like a labyrinth to anyone entering. So what if…because of his semblance, Ren is able to “lock on” to Oscar’s aura with enough concentration and focus. And it’s through this newfound ability that Ren is able to hone in and find Oscar easily.

And from here, this is where the main escape begins. But overall, Ren is able to save Oscar on his own and the two are able to return back safely to the others.

I know this is just me mainly speculating here. I’ve had many folks come to me with the assumption of Oscar either being saved by Neo or of his own fruition. 

And while both are good concepts, I think what this squiggly Pinehead wants to mainly see now hopefully is Ren being the one to save Oscar somehow.

After the negative way the show kind of painted him in the last episode, I want to see Ren do something absolutely amazing. 

Speaking of, it may rant a bit right here---I was actually bothered that the accredited writer for this last episode--- Eddy Rivas had Ren snap at Jaune by using the info of him “cheating his way into Beacon Academy”. Not only was this uncalled for but...correct me if I’m wrong but if I recall, wasn’t Jaune’s “secret” something only two people knew back at Beacon?

Jaune told this info to Pyrhha Nikos and then it was overheard by Cardin Winchester who had been eavesdropping on their conversation on the room and later Cardin used this info to blackmail Jaune into being his slave during the Jaundice three-parter.

As far as I’m aware, there was never any further confirmation that Jaune also entrusted this info to Ren and Nora. If this was retconned in any other form of RWBY canon media (like the novels or the DC comics) please let me know because otherwise...this is an error??

Ren was not the teammate of his team who Jaune told his secret to in confidence. That was Pyrhha. Sure I can make the innocent assumption that Jaune probably told this to Ren and Nora afterwards offscreen however...this secret was such a personal thing to him that I figured only Pyrhha and Cardin knew since they were the only two confirmed to know in the canon. Ren was never confirmed to know according to the canon but I guess Double D needed Ren to know this detail otherwise this moment wouldn’t have worked. But I dunno. It felt off to me (like many things about this episode but I digress.

Please, if Lie Ren is to do one redeemable badass thing for this season outside of “brooding” and “pushing everyone away” like Yang implied (the big hypocrite), then please let him be the one man army who single-handedly braved the storm and fought against all odds to rescue his youngest teammate and friend from the depths of Monstra and return them both safely home.

 If there is ONE person I want to see save Oscar now, it’s Ren. Let him do this noble thing and let him do it on his own.

I’m sorry. Call me nuttier than a nutcracker but at this point, Ren should honestly ditch Yang and Jaune and go off on his own to get Oscar. Nothing against Jaune and Yang is genuinely driving me up a wall right now with her characterization for this season but…I think what Ren will probably need to do right now is take a similar route as his female half---Nora.

In V8CH3, Nora said that she doesn’t know who she is without Ren. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Ren might feel the same way too. He’s never done anything on his own, outside of saving Nora back in Kunoyuri. 

And since that fateful night, he’s always had Nora by his side. And ultimately the two of them gained more friends to love and care about. But I think what Ren needs right now is to move like Nora. Do something that only he can do.

And I think at the moment, the only person who may have a sliver of a chance to help Oscar is Ren. Yang and Jaune will only keep him back, sadly to say. While I understand that it will be a suicide mission for Ren to go get Oscar back on his own without backup. But nevertheless, is it wrong of me to say I don’t care.

 I want to see this happen for Ren. I think proving himself and doing something noble on his own---something that he KNOWS he can do and manage successfully on his own without anyone holding him back or standing in his way to distract him from the main objective…I think that’s what Ren needs.

So many things have gone wrong for the teams. They need a win at the point and if Ren can provide that in the form of saving Oscar, it could work. But this is just me.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[theauthorunicorn]

She’s Back Part 2 | Evan Buckley

Read Part 1 here

Prompt: During the operation at the train wreck the reader met Abby and saw her with Evan but she doesn’t know why she’s even back.

“I mean, if I could just take a week off Captain that will be good.” it’s been three days passed since the train incident and I’m just tired ignoring Buck for a while now. He wanted to reason everything out but I think I’m not ready to hear him after knowing that they both met the day after the incident.

“A week off now? Earlier you keep asking me to transfer you to another shift? What’s wrong Y/N?” Bobby asked eyes furrowed.

I sighed in annoyance, “I don’t know, I’m kinda tired and -” I can see Buck in my peripheral vision listening to us, “I wanted to try other things or stuff. I really don’t know Cap and this answer usually could grant a week off though.”

“Who’s having a week off?” Eddie interrupted.

“Me. I’m asking a week off, okay?”

“Why?” he asked confusingly.

“I don’t know or probably I’m gonna fly to Europe and explore somethings or even go to London and see what are they up to.” I told them. I can see Buck’s annoyance in my answers and I don’t care.

“Please, grant me those. I needed this time off.” I begged to Captain Nash.

And oh if you’re wondering by the way the “I need to tell you something” by Buck was never happened because I try my very best not to talk to him or even be at the same room with him.

“I’ll go check if you can Y/N. I’ll let you know after the shift.” Captain Nash assured.

*****  

“Thank you so much.” I hugged Bobby as he informed me that I could have five days off and that’s the best that he could do.

It was raining hard as soon as our shift ended and unfortunately my car was still in the shop because of engine problem. I grabbed my umbrella in the locker and booked an Uber home.

“You’re gonna Uber home?” Eddie asked as he passed me.

“Uhm,” I locked my phone, “My car was in shop, engine problems.”

“I could just swing you at your apartment this rain isn’t gonna stop soon.” Eddie offered.

“We live in the opposite side so ‘swing you home’ is not efficient.” I said as I declined his offer.

“Okay, I just want someone to hear this conversation so he could drop you home and talk whatever is going on to both off you.” He winked at me as he walk towards the door.

I checked my Uber and no one has ever picked my booking.

I walk toward the door and thought that it would be a perfect spot to wait for a cab since it’s impossible to get an Uber at this time.

It’s twenty minutes passed and no cab even passed by. I keep myself entertained over my colleagues who will start their shift after us catching up.

Then, a black Jeep stopped in front of us, I sighed to know at that very second who it was. Buck rolled his passenger side window and shouted, “Hey. Y/N it’s impossible to get a cab now, I’ll just drop you home.”

Maria, a friend of ours had this confusion then proceeded to ask me, "Buck is here, I don't know why you're still waiting for a cab? You two are basically a couple without being in a formal relationship?" I rolled my eyes to her.

"Am I right, Buck?" She shouted over Buck even though he didn't know what are we talking about.

He nodded and shouted back at me, "Y/N, get in the car."

"As if I have a choice." I mumbled as I walk over the Jeep.

I said my goodbye to Maria and she's happily teasing the me and Buck. I don't know why people kept seeing us so compatible to each other because right now, I can't even see it.

I stand in passenger side of his Jeep, "Hey, thank you for doing this, I don't even know that you're still in the station at this time." He smiled and God forbid those smiles. "Can you open up the back, I could just sit over there." I pointed it because I'm refusing to seat beside him.

He looked over at his back, "It's kinda messy over there, I got my stuff for the gym earlier. It'll be better if you'll seat over here." He pointed at the passenger side.

"I think I can do that," he smiled again, "I mean, I can sit at the back."

"It's really messy in there Y/N. I wished I cleaned it up before passing you here because I would if I just know that you'll be here. And it's pouring hard so you better get inside." He opened the door and a backed away. I climbed over the passenger side to settle this little argument.

"Where can I put my umbrella? It's literally dripping." I asked him.

He points at his back seat and it's really messy. "Put it in the back."

He started driving away from the station, he offered me a bag of Cheetos and even if I wanted some I declined his offer. Buck started casual talk but it really ends up in my yes, no or maybe.

"Do you still have grocery at your home? Because the last time I was there it was almost empty."

Well, he's not wrong. He spend a night in my apartment four days ago as we watch The Office again.

"I still have some. I'll probably just order a takeaway tonight." I said in a monotone voice.

Then, it's a dead silent. It felt like five minutes before he start speaking again.

"I heard you're gonna have a five day off, where are you going? Are you gonna visit your parents in New York?" He asked as if he dropped a million dollar question.

"No and not to be rude, Buck. It's none of your business." I put my airpods in my ear to shut whatever he's gonna talk.

He sighed deeply as he saw me doing that. I kept my head leaned over the window watching the raindrops race over the end.

*****

He parked his car adjacent to the door, I settled myself before opening it. I put my phone and airpods at my bag, "Thank you so much for driving me home, Buck and I'm sorry that I'm mean earlier I'm just not in the mood."

"It's Evan and it's okay I understand, Y/N."

I opened the door and hop out, "Drive safe." Usually it followed set of words, 'call or text me when you're home.'

And he usually answers, "Yeah, I'll text you when I'm home." and he does this time out of habit even if I didn't ask for it.

*****

I had different shifts from Buck after that day he dropped me home, he also did text me that he arrived home safely that night but I didn't reply, I left him on read. And fun fact I'm flying over London tonight for my mini vacation.

"So, London, huh?" Maria asked me as I settled my things I had the night shift the past few days so I had the chance to hangout with Maria.

"Yeah. It'll be good." I said in British accent. I tied my hair into pony tail before grabbing my things.

"I hope you have a wonderful vacation over there dearie."

"Yeah, I will." I walked over my car unlock it from a far when someone grabbed my free hand.

"Hey, I got you coffee to compensate your all nighter duty." Buck said as he handed me a venti Starbucks cup. "It's Vanilla Latte." He smiled.

"Thank you." I said confusingly. He's acting weird like he normally fo everyday.

"You're welcome and actually if you can remember I want to grab something with you so I can say something to you. Maybe right now, like breakfast?" Buck asked as if we're actually okay and its making me mad.

"No, I have something to do today." I replied plainly.

"Something much more better than me, mmm, Y/N." He said playfully.

"Buck, stop this."

"Evan, call me Evan." He insisted.

"I'll be flying to London tonight and I need to pack up my things, I'm sorry if I can't. And please stop acting that we're okay because we both know that we're not, Buck."

And now, he's totally angry. "I want to talk to you so bad because I want to explain things and after all you're gonna leave like what Abby did to me. It felt like everyone is leaving me, Y/N and you're the last person I expected to do that."

It felt like I'm burning up, I catch my breath before answering him, "I'm not like Abby, Evan. Okay. Don't compare me to her. That's it, get over it. Get over her. Find yourself and I'll go figure out what the hell is happening with me in London. I needed this time off so you don't have the right to tell me those words you said to me."

I opened my car and threw my bag at the back as I settled the coffee in the cup holder. He held the door to keep it open, "I'm sorry Y/N. I didn't mean it."

*****

I'm at the airport right now waiting my flight to board.

"All passengers from BA 798 bound to London this is your pre-boarding announcement -"

"Y/N!" Someone called my name, panting. I looked around to see Evan catching his breathe. "I'm glad I still catch you here." He hugged me tightly.

"Is everything okay? I mean how can you be at this area if you don't have a ticket." I asked him.

"I bought a ticket for Kansas tonight and I’m not even flying there just to pass through because I need to tell you something before you go." He uttered those familiar words.

"I know I fucked up that I didn't get over to what I felt with Abby because I kept a promise to wait for her but when you came into my life it drifted away but I'm not gonna lie as soon as I saw her that night it all came back even if I didn't want to because I'm finally happy. I saw pain in your eyes when you both saw us and it felt like I personally planted a knife in your heart to have those look in your eyes. I wanted to pause everything at that time to explain things to you but I couldn't they needed our help. Then, the day after the incident you avoided me, I thought it might be a temporary thing but it didn't. Yes, I met her that day also too, so I could settle whatever is left in here for her" he pointed in his heart. "And when you heard that we agreed to see each other that day, I see the pain doubled in your eyes. Abby, went here with his fiance to tell her relatives that they're going to get married in June, I met Sam too, her fiance I actually saved him at the incident, I may be lying if I'll say now that I wasn't hurt when she say that she'll be married but I did a little, then, I think about you Y/N. I think about everything that we had for the past year and especially the last few days before you start ignoring me," he giggled, "it's much more special and wonderful than what I had with Abby and it was so wrong to compare you to her this morning and again, I'm sorry."

"At this time we invite our business class customers to board the aircraft." The boarding gate agent announced and I hesitantly looked at my watch to check what time it is.

"I'm actually called?" I told him.

"Please stay for a while, I'll finish this up in a minute or two." I nodded.

"Because of the situation we didn't actually do as what we planned that night grab a breakfast or something and me telling you something and right now, you're going to London and I couldn't afford to have those five days passed away from you without knowing this, I love you Y/N more than anything. You mean the world to me and if I could just fly with you tonight I would but I can't, Captain said we will be short staffed. So, yeah, I love you and I want to spend my days with you annoying you, loving you and caring for you."

When he finished saying those words, I teared up and hugged him tightly as I savor those words in my head.

"All passengers for BA 798 bound to London kindly board your flight now at gate 22."

"Hey, I think you're being called for your flight."

"They can wait, I'm a business class passenger." I said to him. He laughed as we still hug each other. "And I love you too, Evan."

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Princess O'Rourke (1943)

During World War II, Princess Maria and her uncle Holman, exiles from their (unnamed) conquered European country, live in New York City. Holman hopes that his niece will marry and produce a male heir as soon as possible, but she is not interested in his preferred choice, Count Peter de Chandome, or the other candidates that he has suggested.

While flying to California incognito as "Mary Williams", the princess—fearful of flying—is accidentally given too many sleeping pills. When the Douglas DST airliner returns to New York because of bad weather, the crew cannot wake her. The pilot, Eddie O'Rourke, takes care of her, still unaware who she is. She wakes up the next morning in his apartment wearing his pajamas.

To explain her absence, Maria tells her uncle that she slept at the airport. She spends the day with Eddie, his friend and co-pilot, Dave Campbell, and Dave's wife Jean (who had put Maria to bed). "Mary" tells them she is a war refugee and was traveling to California to work as an upstairs maid. She and Eddie quickly fall in love. With both Eddie and Dave about to join the United States Army Air Forces, Eddie impulsively proposes to Mary. She accepts, but sadly believes that, as a princess, she cannot marry him.

A Secret Service agent assigned to protect Maria tells her uncle of the relationship. Holman is not opposed to Maria marrying a commoner, and is pleased to learn that Eddie is one of nine brothers and his father one of 11. Holman also knows that his niece marrying an American would strengthen his country's vital relationship with the United States. To Maria's surprise and joy, he permits the marriage, and Eddie is stunned to learn that his poor European refugee is actually royalty.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt invites Maria and Eddie to stay at the White House. Given a crash course in royal protocol by a representative of the State Department, Eddie becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the conditions attached to the role of prince consort and being financially supported by his wife, with no career other than fathering an heir. While discussing the prenuptial agreement, he finally rebels when he is informed he must surrender his American citizenship. After making an impassioned speech about how lucky he is to be an American, Eddie asks "Mary" to choose between him and her family. Maria obeys her uncle and leaves the room; a disappointed Eddie calls her a "slave". Holman locks her in the Lincoln Bedroom.

After much crying, Maria writes a note and slips it under the door for Roosevelt's dog, Fala, to deliver to his master. In the middle of the night, the President summons a Supreme Court judge to marry Eddie and Maria. Afterward, the newlyweds sneak out of the White House. On the way out, Eddie bumps into a man standing behind the door; he mistakes the man for a guard. Outside, Maria tells him that the "guard" was actually the President. Astonished, Eddie exclaims, “I tipped him a buck! And he took it!”

[poore-choice-of-words]

Summer Camp Nano Day 2!

Ended my session super late. Should’ve started earlier.

Overall Goal: Rewrite Apprentices into Draft two! (or at least start on it) Also work more on maintaining Writeblr presence.

Today’s Goal: Chapters 2&3 (met!)

Excerpt (From Chapter 2):

Old Draft:

"Good job," Eddie told Maria as she left the tent. "Thanks Eduardo." "Eddie." "I don't care." She walked toward her trailer before he could get in another word. Technically it was Eddie's trailer, but Maria had grabbed the key off of him during the performance. Lorenzo shouldn't have taught her how to be a decent pickpocket. She waited until he looked like he was about to start talking to open the door and close it in his face.

New Draft under the cut:

“I told you he’d say no.” Maria muttered as she walked towards Eddie’s trailer. “Maria!” Eddie ran until he caught up to her, “He said no, didn’t he?” Maria made a sarcastic gasp, “no me diga!” “Why did he say no?” “Because people listen to me, but I haven’t actually shown I can do anything with that attention.” “Did you tell him about the apprenticing thing?” “Yes, that was part of the original request, now please stop with the requests or I’ll lock you out of your own trailer and you’ll have to sleep with your parents tonight.” Eddie locked eyes with her, maintaining a staring contest. “I really think I’d be great as Sweetheart.” “Ugh!”

Comments and Tag list under the cut:

Maria’s definitely a more nuanced character now, and this is also not where the chapter starts anymore, so we have context for why Maria is so angry. I also feel like Eddie is more of a real character rather than just a scarecrow for Maria to bounce off of.

Tagging @lynnafred, @kaylewiswrites, @taz-writes, @theshadowsofthenight, @merigreenleaf, @lady-redshield-writes, @concealeddarkness13, @authorisada, @cadewrites, @elizabethwillow, @writing-in-mermish, @thewalkingnerdx, @august-iswriting​

[loveforpreserumsteve]

Begin Again (Mortician!Steve and Baker!Bucky Modern “Moving On” AU)

Seventeen:

"Hey, Steve?"

Locking the morgue up for the night, Steve turned to find Sam. The man approached him with a large grin that managed to weasel a grin out of Steve too. Tucking his keys into his pocket, Steve conversationally questioned, "What's up?"

"Oh, ya know," Sam shrugged, following Steve through the funeral home. Wrapping his arm around Steve's shoulders, Sam suggested, "You know what you need?"

Steve took in a deep breath, holding back a sassy remark that was on the tip of his tongue. Instead, Steve chose to play along and asked, "What do I need?"

"A night out," Sam brightly grinned. Persuasively wiggling his brows.

Rolling his eyes, Steve good-naturedly scoffed, "It's Tuesday."

"So?" Sam questioned, "What's that have to do with anything? You're not in school. You don't have a morning service tomorrow. And what you need is some time with adults."

"You're not trying to convince me to head out to SHIELD, are you?" Steve quirked a brow, mentioning the popular gay bar in town. Remembering how uncomfortable he always felt in the middle of the dance floor covered in sweat surrounded by attractive men. Always feeling out of place.

Shrugging out from under Sam's strong grip, Steve relayed, "Carol already dragged me along with her and I'm not go--"

"Chill out," Sam rolled his eyes and clarified, "I was thinking more your speed."

"More my speed?" Steve repeated, crossing the backyard to the swing set.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed.

Lifting Birdie into his arms, Steve gave her a kiss when she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck in a tight hug. While holding his niece close to himself, he informed his friend, "This is my speed."

"Oh, c'mon," Eddie scoffed from the swing where he sat.

"See?!" Sam wildly gestured towards the teen as he enunciated, "Thank you!"

Rolling his eyes, he took in a deep breath and ducked his head to hide in Birdie's silky hair. How did this even happen? His best friend and his brother ganging up on him because he'd rather spend a quiet night at home with his nieces and nephews? Was it Steve's fault for preferring company that wasn't going to judge him for being single and constantly trying to set him up with people? He didn't think so.

"Why don't we hang out?" Sam offered, arching his eyebrows in a silent plea.

"When?" Steve asked, peeking around Birdie to look up at the persuasive man.

"Tonight," Sam answered easily with a shrug.

Steve looked over at Eddie who was nodding in encouragement. Chewing on his lip as he thought, he finally decided to agree. Nodding as well, Steve gave Birdie one more kiss before setting her back on the ground where she took off like a bullet for the clubhouse.

"Guess you're my only true friend," Steve teased as he feigned offense with how fast Birdie forgot about him while climbing up the slide.

"Duh," Sam mocked, wrapping his arm around Steve and steering him towards the parking lot.

"So," Steve started watching as Eddie distracted Vinnie. Climbing into the passenger seat of Sam's blue 2019 Volvo V60 Wagon, Steve questioned, "What's the plan?"

"You'll see," Sam sing-songed as he pulled out of the parking space and left the funeral home.

Steve definitely didn't like the sound of that. It was already unusual enough for Sam to proposition him this way. But add the tight-lipped convincing to get him to agree? It made everything in Steve tighten in his suspicions. If Steve didn't know better, he'd assume he was about to be dragged off to a blind double date.

But luckily, Steve did know better. And he knew that there was no way that Sam would scheme Steve into a set up without having him go home and shower first.

When Sam pulled into the parking lot of the bowling alley, Steve managed to finally relax at last. Already imagining how nice it would be to just have a fun night with one of his best friends while getting buzzed on cheap beer and eating as much, greasy, deep fried foods as he could. It would be nice. Even the musty air and questionable rental shoes would be a breath of fresh air.

"You seem surprised," Sam chuckled, climbing out of the vehicle.

"Relieved," Steve corrected as he followed him into the building.

Draping his arm along Steve's broad shoulders again, Sam playfully mused, "What? You really think I'd set you up? Looking like this?"

Rolling his eyes, Steve didn't mind the dig at his shaggy hair, beard, or even the purple plaid shirt he was wearing over the baggy baby blue tee; a rarity that only made an appearance on laundry day. Sure, he was a little more worse for wear today, but he was just relieved that --

"Wilson, I swear to god, I'm gonna superglue a watch to your forehead, so whenever your vain ass looks in the mirror, you'll know the time!"

A chill ran down Steve's spine. Perhaps Steve had spoken too soon, and was correct to believe his friend for the liar he was. Giving Sam a side-glare, Steve turned towards the food court where he found Bucky.

Because, of course, he did.

"Steve?" Bucky asked. Brows furrowed and a grin on his face as he carried a pitcher of beer, "You know Sam?"

"Yeah, we met through his former employer," Steve inhaled deeply in annoyance, but followed Bucky nonetheless.

Bucky chuckled at that and led the way over to their apparent corner. Before anything else could be said, a chorus of familiar voices all greeted Steve with either, "Rogers," or, "Stee-ve," or Carol's always warm, "Fuckface!"

Steve's brows weren't the only ones that furrowed as Bucky set the pitcher down and asked, "You know each other?"

"'Course," Carol answered, clearly already buzzed. The ever doting wife that she was, Maria handed her a bottle of water and explained, "Funeral catering is a very small niche."

As though it all clicked for Bucky then, he nodded and confirmed, "Rogers' Funeral Home."

"Family owned and operated," Steve automatically replied. Thinking over what he just said, he blushed and distracted himself by drinking the rest of Carol's beer. Then, quickly refilling the glass for himself.

"I really should've put it together sooner," Bucky chastised himself as he took the seat beside Steve.

Those damn butterflies in Steve's stomach started fluttering with Bucky so close to him, but only for a moment before a man strikingly similar to Bucky called out, "You're up!"

As Steve forced himself to not look at Bucky's ass -- no matter how truly spectacular it was -- he accused, "I didn't think you were serious about the bakers in the town having a bowling league."

"Why would I make up something as ridiculous as that?" Sam scoffed, brows furrowing in genuine confusion.

Steve shrugged, not having any answer to that.

"Oh, hi!" A woman greeted. "You're the man from the shop!"

Looking up at the pregnant brunet, Steve recognized her as Bucky's sister. Assuming her to be his twin, but not remembering her name, Steve introduced himself, "Steve."

"Becca," she grinned while rubbing a soothing hand over her baby bump. Taking it upon herself to introduce the others, she gestured at the brunet who had to be another Barnes' member, "That's Teddy. Our brother."

"The oldest," Teddy confirmed, grinning as he took a drink of his beer.

"Arthur," Becca informed, gesturing to a freckled man with bright orange-red hair. Arthur smiled at Steve in acknowledgement before ducking his face into Becca's neck to kiss her there. Giving her belly an affectionate rub and one more kiss on his way to the lane. Becca clarified, "My husband."

"I figured," Steve kindly smiled.

"Hey Becks," another brunette called from the food court. "If I get the loaded nacho supreme, will you share with me?"

"The baby doesn't like black olives," Becca easily answered. As the brunette at the counter turned back to the employee, Becca said, "That's our sister, Mandy."

Steve's smile grew and he teased, "Think she'd share some of those nachos with me?"

"If she doesn't, I'll order some," Becca leaned forward to give Steve's hand a squeeze.

"Uh oh, looks like you have some competition, Artie," Bucky mocked, taking the seat beside Becca, winking at Steve.

"Can't have competition, when there wasn't even a contest to begin with," Arthur answered in a deeper voice than Steve expected for the short, slender man.

As Steve watched the man bowl a strike -- and wondered if rubbing Becca's belly was a ritual of good luck as Maria also smoothed her hand over the bump before approaching the lane -- someone tapped his foot with theirs. Glancing in front of himself, he found it was Bucky. With Bucky's attention on him and his foot against his own, Steve could already feel the blush creeping up the back of his neck. Knowing he'd have to do something really special to thank Sam for this. Maybe a muffin basket.

[soulflamesketches]

Found You! (Eddie Brock x Reader) Part 1

Before anything else, let me explain something. The symbiote I used for my previous imagine, mostly the name and general appearance, is from a friend of mine, and their oc. Shard was just the first name that popped into my head. So I used it, much to the ‘offense’ of my friend. Nah, I’m kidding they’re fine with it! XD but yes a feminine Shard will be my most used symbiote for x readers that needs one. I’ll boop them here @beans-and-rice101

The following imagine is based off of this prompt: Imagine Eddie finding you in the Life Foundation lab already bonded with your own symbiote

---------------

Never in your life would you be wishing to be back on the streets, giving anyone who passed you silent pleas for some extra change. But right now? You’d take anything over the glass case you were trapped in.

In your desperation to have a full meal, you had accepted the offer to become a part of a human experiment. Something about the ‘next stage of human evolution’, but you couldn’t give a fuck about that, you simply wanted to eat.

“Release the symbiote.” Was Carlton Drake’s closing words to his small, nearly robotic speech towards his scientists. From behind you, the hissing sound of a hatch opening had caught your attention. A nauseating anxiety started to form in the pit of your stomach as you took noticed one of the scientists and the look she was giving you. Deep concern and fear.

You turned around slowly, only to pin yourself to the glass as you saw what they were looking at. Inky blue fluid. Living inky blue fluid and it was moving towards you. Letting out a scream, you turned back to the group outside and started to hit the glass harshly. “Help! Help me, please! Please! I don’t wanna die! Please!”

They ignored your pleas and continued to observe as the goo finally made contact with your leg. Causing you to flinch and fall to the ground in the shock. It travelled up your leg and started to dissolve into the fabric of the shirt they had given you. You were rolling on the floor, thrashing in the vain hope that you could get whatever this was off of you. Fuck the food, fuck the experiment, you just wanted to live!

With a gasp, you grasped your shirt before padding you up and down, looking for the goo that had come at you. But you felt nothing. “W-Where is it? What was that!?” You started to demand as you shakily stood up. “Her vital signs are stable and everything seems to be checking out. She’s a match.” A male sitting in front of a computer said laser-focused on the screen in front of him. Your eyes widened in horror at this realisation.

“Was that thing supposed to kill me!? You psychopaths! What the fuck is this!?” you cried in fear and desperation. But they never answered you, they simply left you where you were after fiddling with something. Holding back a sob, you sat on the ground, resigned to your fate as a test subject.

------

Within the hour, you started to shiver. Who left a window open?

“There are no windows in this container”

What the fuck was that? Your head shot up at the thought. You thought you had heard something. A voice. You stood up and peered through the glass as much as you could, trying to catch a glimpse of the others here. Maybe it was them.

“Think again.”

Yeah, if they had called to you, their voices would have been muffled, this voice was clear as day. Swivelling your head around to check your ‘room’, that seemed to have tinted blue lighting for some reason. But it was still only you and your frightened thoughts.

“You mean we”

“What the fuck are you? The voice in my head!? Have I finally lost my sanity in this world!?” you snapped, standing up, ignoring the icy feeling in your joints. But you were pushed to the floor suddenly, causing to you yelp and scurry to the nearest wall. Yep, you were insane! Bonkers! Off your meds!

“We will not get anywhere if you do not calm down!”

You whimpered slightly as you were yelled at, but decided to listen to the voice, you performed a few breathing exercises to calm down. Though that was proving somewhat difficult, especially when suddenly something emerges from your back. That same living fluid that had launched itself at you before. It curved around to face you as it formed ahead with large eyes and large teeth.

The head’s blue-tinted oily essence seemed to flow smoothly in the air, the face was thin and subtle in the small curves that it have. The large white eyes gracefully curve at the end of them, the features were quite feminine in the long run. “W-What? W-Who are you?” you asked, earning a large toothy smile from the head.

“I am Shard. You, (Y/n), are my host.”

“H-Host?”

“Yes. I am unable to survive on this planet without a host. This man you placed your trust in, sees my kind as a doorway for yours.”

“Your tone isn’t reassuring, you know. I don’t see this working out for me or anyone.” Your expression hardened into a glare, but your shaky breath earned a widened grin from the sentient head before you. “Only if you lack trust in me.”

“Trust? Literally an hour ago you were … a blob attacking me!”

Shard opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted by the blaring lights and high pitched noises that quickly gave you a headache. Shard retreated from sight.

“Maria! Maria!?”

Then the panicked shouts started and you could have sworn that it was a familiar voice. Your limbs were forced back into action, throwing your body against the glass. The sound that escaped your throat caught the attention of the escapee and your eyes locked.

“Eddie!?” “(Y/n)!?”

When you lived on the streets, it was just outside Eddie’s apartment where you spent your nights. You and Eddie had built a small type of friendship over the months ever since he moved into the building. Eddie would end up nicknaming you ‘Wise Sage’ because you proved to be some endless well of advice whenever he walked by. But you were absent when he was given the lead into the Life Foundation Lab. any doubts he had were swept under the rug when he couldn’t find you anywhere. You acted as his anchor, but your absence let the stupid decision confirm itself.

Your relieved expression suddenly contorted as did your vocal cords, like they were possessed “Venom! Get us out of here!” It was not your voice, but the tone was still as desperate as you felt at that moment. Shard seemed to throw you out of the way as a large object was thrown into the glass that contained you.

“Oh shit!” Eddie exclaimed in shock at the midnight black substance grabbing the heaviest object nearby and hurling it at the glass, causing it to shatter and scatter the floor. “(Y/n)! Come on!” Panic seems to be contagious because it seemed to control your body to ignore the glass and run with Eddie.

-----------

You both had managed to escape being captured, albeit in trees like scaredy cats. But you escaped. You nearly let yourself fall to your knees upon the asphalt in the joy of being far from the dreaded lab. But Eddie dragged you by the forearm away from your original spot and into his apartment.

You were not able to get a word in before Eddie’s behaviour silenced; he was like a savaged animal that had gone unfed. But it also appeared to be a struggle of the mind. You were scared and confused “He’s hungry.”

“Who?”

“Venom.”

“He.... has one of you up his ass too?”

“Not… the way I would have put it. But yes. Eddie does not seem to be a willing host.”

Once silent seem to fall upon the apartment, you found Eddie in the bathroom. Passed out from exhaustion. You were going to haul him to his couch despite your how exhaustion, but you paused to look at his face. As you studied his face, remembering the times before this small ordeal. While you never asked anything from him, nor did he give many physical items beside the few coins that he could give. The thing you most valued from him was simply seeing his face at least once a day.

Neither of you had much wealth of physical coin, but the wealth of character brought light to your musky world on the streets. You felt that you mattered to Eddie because he ca--

“I’m going to interrupt your thoughts for a moment. I need to do something, now! I promise I’ll bring you back before he awakens.”

Before you could retort against Shard, you were enveloped in a darkness that you felt held hostage within. Your limbs were moving but it was you who was in control. Your vision was blocked, keeping you away from the reality, then your exhustion caught up with you and passed out.

You woke up to a gentle pat on your cheek and blood on your face.

--------

URRRG! time to hate myself. I didn’t want to keep writing and writing, so this is a part 1. I already have a to-do list so the part 2 to this is not my priority. Also, I’ve reached 200 followers now, so the original 100 followers celebration is now gonna be for both of those. 

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 7/29/19 Review

We started with an odd video package about the 24/7 championship. I do not know why, but it led into a match to open the show, so I was into that. 

We started with a mixed tag mosh pit match, pitting R-Truth and Carmella vs. Drake Maverick and his wife Renee. I think the rules were similar to a lumberjack match. The gals tried to tear each other apart right away, but the guys started the match. They also said that the 24/7 championship rules will be suspended during the match. Truth quickly picked up the win with a facebuster, and then after the match, the most pit attacked. They dog piled on Truth, but Mike Kanellis was able to get the belt. Then he hid in a back room, where the rest of the superstars tried to get in. Maria then showed up and told everyone to leave because she was having a baby. Mike wouldn’t let her in because he wasn’t sure if it was actually Maria, so Maria said “If you don’t let me in right now I will kick you in your vagina.” This is literally one day before an awesome ass unsanctioned match he will have on 205 Live. Ugh. So Mike opened the door, and let her in.

Grade: D+. This was just lame. The match was boring and pointless, but I loved the idea of the lumberjacks. I hated it again when it was Mike who won it, cuz he has such a serious and cool character on 205 Live only to be buried on Raw. And the 24/7 title doesn’t exactly elevate superstars. And then Maria said that he had a vagina. Ugh. Just let them be a good team on 205 Live. There is no reason to be doing this. I can’t say that they are buried, but they are in the process. Just ugh. Now I’m worried about dealing with the 24/7 championship BS during their 205 Live match.

Then we had a 5 man gauntlet match for #1 contendership to the United States Championship. Rey Mysterio was out first, up against Cesaro. Cesaro quickly brought Mysterio down to the mat, trying to use his technical ability to get some pins early on. Mysterio made it back to his feet and forced himself into an electric chair position. He then gave Cesaro a rana out to the floor, but held on and gave him another into the apron. Looked pretty nice, but Cesaro wasn’t selling super well. The two had a match that got a lot of time, and had a cool super where Cesaro intercepted a springboard with a european uppercut. The two then battled on the top rope, constantly countering and looking for the highest of high impact moves, with Mysterio eventually coming out on top with a bulldog. Mysterio then hit a 619 and the splash to eliminate Cesaro.

Sami Zayn was out next, and attacked quickly, but was rolled up almost right away and lost. 

Andrade was next, which led me to believe that we were in for a treat. The two chopped the living hell out of each other to start out, and kept going for flash pins, with the other always slipping away. Andrade slowly got the advantage and wore down Mysterio slowly, even throwing him out of the ring chest first. He was actually able to hit the three amigos, paying homage to Eddie Guerrero in the process. Mysterio was able to set up for the 619, but Andrade caught him out of it, nailing a backbreaker and then the hammerlock DDT for the win. After the match, Andrade beat down Rey a bit, and even tore his mask. 

As he stood there with half of Mysterio’s mask torn off, Ricochet ran down to the ring as the final entrant. He checked on Rey a bit, and then they started up. Zelina Vega got involved any time that Ricochet went for something high risk to become something of an x-factor in this match.  They had a nice little back and forth contest with strikes and high spots. It was pretty exciting. Ricochet even hit a poison rana for a near fall. Ricochet used that move to set up for the 630, and hit his finish to win the gauntlet.

After the match, Ricochet had an interview. He said that no one really believes in him, but when he wins the US title, they will believe in him again. Styles laughed at him backstage. 

Grade: B. Pretty good stuff, especially to open up the show. Good matches all around (except for the Zayn match, but it wasn’t supposed to be) and basically everyone got over. Mysterio was a resilient babyface, Andrade a despicable heel, and Ricochet is a triumphant winner. The breaks in between made the match feel epic and important, and it was a good match for the first hour of Raw. 

Backstage again, Mike and Maria were talking, with Mike begging Maria to respect him. Maria then told him to get on his back like he usually does, and she pinned him for the 24/7 championship, so that her kid can have a parent that is a champion. He did it, and she became the first pregnant champion, and threw it in everyone’s faces. Ugh, what are they doing to Mike. But honestly, kinda into this for Maria. it is the ultimate heel move. No one can actually fight her. There is no one intense enough in the undercard to actually attack a woman, let alone a pregnant woman. I want to see where this goes, for some reason.

Then we had a moment of Bliss. The two of them put over Maria Kanellis and Raw Reunion. And then they started to talk about the WWE are all family, and they talked about how Ziggler superkicked Shawn Michaels, and how appalling that is. But not as appalling as a tape that she had from that morning, which showed Natalya training on how to escape the disarmer. As she was training, Becky Lynch attacked everyone with her and locked in the disarmer herself. Bliss then chastised the crowd for condoning that behavior. Cross then said that Lynch wanted to take her out before their match at Summerslam. Bliss agreed, and said that she would knock The Man down a few pegs. So, Lynch then came on the titantron and confronted Bliss. She said that Bliss can run her mouth all she wants, but she will pay for it when they have a match later on. 

Grade: B-. Pretty good. I love Becky, but Bliss feels lost in the shuffle. Just made me remember that I like her character. 

Then we went right into a Raw Tag Team Championship match. The Revival vs. The Usos vs. The OC. Scott Dawson and Jimmy Uso started the match with some grappling. The two teams just went back and forth, hard hits and some limb work. The usos worked over Dash Wilder’s arm a bit, but the Revival still kept getting tags. The OC however didn’t come in for quite some time. They actually didn’t come in until there was a commercial break, and they tagged in during the commercial. They beat down Jey quite a bit. After a flying forearm, Jimmy got a huge hot tag, and absolutely ran roughshod over the rest of the teams. There was a really nice spot where the Revival hit a bulldog doomsday device, but Karl Anderson broke up the pin. Dawson then tried to do a vertical suplex to the outside, but the two kinda botched it, both going over the top rope and ending in a DDT. Wilder then went for a suicide dive on Luke Gallows, but the big man caught him, only for Wilder to hit a tornado DDT on the outside. Jey then gave Dawson a superplex into the rest of the competitors. There was a wild feel to the finish, with the OC coming in on a blind tag on the Revival. The Revival then gave Jimmy a shatter machine to take him out, only for Jey to take out the Revival with a huge crossbody. The OC then ran in, Karl Anderson gave Jey a spinebuster and gave Jimmy a magic killer for the win and the title change. 

Backstage, AJ Styles and the Club partied a bit. Fun. 

Grade: B-. Strong B-, with a nice ending stretch, but a largely paint by numbers TV match before that.  I think that they are really capitalizing on the OC right now, just because they want to make Gallows and Anderson happy, and I think that getting those belts away from the Usos and the Revival is certainly a good thing. That feud was played out. I am excited to see where they go from here, but we probably won’t get new challenging teams. I hope that at Survivor Series this year, we have the Tag Titles unified, because these tag divisions are not strong enough to sustain two sets of belts. But with one set, it’d be pretty strong. Anyway, good idea in the short term, but they need to do something with these tag divisions.

Next up was a squash match for the Viking Raiders. Erik immidately started out destroying one of the jobbers with a shot to the face. As his partner stepped off the apron, Ivar destroyed him with a hook kick. They won with the Viking Experience.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive Squash. 

Backstage, the Street Profits, and they implied that Dawkins is the father of Maria’s child.  Dawkins was very defensive. Seth Rollins then showed up and they hyped up his match. They were loud and excitable. This was fine. 

Then we had Becky Lynch vs Alexa Bliss. The crowd was firmly behind Becky, and it was nice to here them like her so much. The two fought a little bit, before Nikki Cross gave Lynch a cheap shot while Bliss distracted the ref. So I guess Cross is officially a heel. Lynch constantly tried to lock in the disarmer, but Bliss always seemed to have an answer. At one point she botched her double knees spot by not getting enough momentum for the roll through, but she covered it perfectly by yelling at Lynch on the mat and just did the move again. Good one, I appreciate that. Lynch gave Bliss a bexploder, but after the move, Lynch seemed to hurt her ankle. a doctor checked her out as the match was going on, and Bliss was really sobbing. They said that Bliss was unable to continue, so Lynch won by stoppage. 

After the match, Cross got on the apron and yelled at Lynch a whole bunch. They damn near came to blows, before Cross challenged Lynch to a match. That match became official after the commercial. Cross was shoving Lynch around and telling her to take a shot, which Lynch gladly did. At one point, Cross was climbing up to the top rope, but Lynch pushed her off and she had a nasty spill into the ring. Lynch then hit the manhandle slam for the win. 

After the match, Bliss felt better and attacked Lynch, which was fought off. But then Natalya ran in the ring and locked in a sharpshooter. 

Backstage, Natalya was interviewed. She said that this business wasn’t about friends, and they wouldn’t shake hands after the match. Then she said something kinda confusing. She said that she wanted to challenge Lynch to a submission match, but she knew Lynch would say no, so she decided not to issue the challenge. Odd, but I’m into the submission stuff. 

Grade: C+. There was a whole lot going on in this segment. The first match was alright, the second with Cross never got going, the first attack felt kinda forced and out of place, the second attack felt cool, and the interview felt really good up until she said that she wouldn’t do the submission match. All in all, I don’t get why this was so complicated. Just give Lynch a long match against Cross. Why not? They can still do the post match attacks, and it wouldn’t have been so contrived. Luckily, the overall feud between Nattie and Lynch hasn’t been hurt much. 

Then we saw Maria in a photoshoot with her 24/7 championship. She challenged anyone to pin her. Braun Strowman then showed up, and she yelled at him for crowding him. Maria then shit on men in general by saying that they love making babies but not taking care of them. Then she said to show her how big and strong he is, and Strowman just breathed heavy. Why? Beats me. I didn’t get this segment, but Maria is heeling it up really well, so it doesn’t bother me too much. 

Then we had Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler, in retaliation for the attack on Michaels. Ziggler came out to Michaels’ music, which was great. Ziggler said that Michaels and Goldberg were both pathetic, and they take the spots of the full time guys. Holy crap we are getting Goldberg vs Ziggler eventually. Unless they are trying to cut ties with Goldberg. Anyway, back to the actual segment Rollins attacked right at the bell, and the too brawled on the outside to open things up. The two quickly devolved into an exciting striking contest, and they had some good shots in there. Ziggler hit a really nice combination of throwing Rollins into the post, a nice kick and a zig zag, but Rollins still kicked out. Ziggler was going to go for the superkick, but Rollins interrupted him with a couple of his own. He was about to hit the stomp when Brock Lesnar showed up. Lesnar attacked, and Rollins tried to run, but Ziggler held his leg. Rollins won by DQ, and got ragdolled around for a while. He then gave Rollins an F5 into the steel post. Then he gave him another onto a chair, and a second, with Rollins landing on the back of the chair. Rollins was bleeding from the mouth and coughing up some blood. Heyman was begging him to stop, but Lesnar still gave him a third. Rollins did a stretcher job afterwards, and he was groaning and screaming. 

Backstage, a brawl broke out as Rollins was being taken away. The OC beat down the Usos, and when Roman Reigns tried to help, Samoa Joe showed up and beat everyone up. The faces were left laying, and Lesnar attacked Rollins on the Stretcher, and gave him an F5 onto the folded stretcher, which looked brutal. 

Grade: B+. Good match, and a brutal attack. Ziggler and Rollins always work well together, but the attack was what bumped this up for me. It was really good. Lesnar brutalized him, and Rollins sold like crazy. He looked like he was going to split in half. I’m pretty sure the blood was real, and it only helped to sell the attack. Even Graves on commentary was great, saying that they didn’t need to keep showing the attack, because it was too much. Rollins looked just about dead by the end of this. It was kinda tough to watch, so good on them. Best segment of the night.

Then we had the “Samoan Summit,” which was supposed to be Joe and Reigns talking, but Joe just called Reigns out for a fight, and that they did. They brawled around ringside, and Reigns just threw the steel stairs right at him. It was wild. Drew McIntyre showed up to aid Joe, so Roman followed him into the crowd and they brawled a bit as well. As they got back to ringside, the heels teamed up on Reigns, and Cedric Alexander ran out to Reigns aid. he hit some nice moves, but got destroyed by a clothesline when he went for a suicide dive. They all fought onto the stage, with Cedric getting thrown off of it. McIntyre and Joe were going to put Reigns through a table, when the Usos ran out to his aid. The OC came out as well, and they all fought. Alexander then climbed onto the LED boards and delivered a splash onto all of them. They fought back into the ring, where the faces stood tall after several superman punches to the OC and Mcintyre, followed by a suicide dive onto McIntyre. The Usos then gave Joe double superkicks, and Reigns finished it off with a spear. The faces stood tall to close out the show. 

Grade: B. A nice little wild brawl that could lead into an 8 man tag next week on the go home show. Sounds fine to me. I’m shocked that Roman doesn’t have a Summerslam match yet, so something like this could end up being it. I guess we will wait and see. 

Overall Grade: B-

Pros:  Gauntlet Match; Rollins vs. Ziggler; Rollins beatdown

Cons: opening mixed tag

[morethanreading]

A few thoughts on the 4th alien...

...before tonight’s episode. This is long, rambling, and full of spoilers...

Preface this with the idea that the 4th alien is evil, to at least some degree.  This could be twisted in the narrative, and then all my ideas go out the window. 

1) I really think the 4th alien is going NOT going to be a person of color.  For several reasons, but mainly because the metaphor of the three aliens we know being white and yet having this literal “otherness” about them, and the way that confronts ideas of white privilege and passing. Carina has talked more than once about being white and blonde while also growing up Muslim, and how this aspect of her identity made her feel.  Most of the main characters who aren’t aliens (that we know of) seem to have a least a partial non-white identity. 

2) The other reason I think the alien will not be a person of color is that if they are a POC, then we have three “good” aliens who are white and one “evil” alien who is a POC.  I really don’t think, from the way the show has presented race and diversity so far, that they will do that.   So--I don’t think the 4th alien is Liz, Maria, Alex, Kyle, Sherif Valenti, Arturo Ortecho, Mimi DeLuca, Noah, etc.  I don’t mean to get into the tall weeds of who is able to identify as a person of color, but I think I’ve read that all of these characters have reasons to identify as a POC or have a parent who might.

3) The 4th alien can mess with people’s minds, which makes me think any mention of mental problems or mental illness (Maria’s mom for example) is important and could be caused by or related to this person. That is not to say that non-neurotypical situations have to have an explanation or are necessarily caused by outside forces, but again...given the whole Chekhov’s Gun aspect, it would be odd if Mimi’s situation is mentioned so prominently and yet has no larger narrative reason for it. 

4) The alien can control people -- so any suspect behavior we have seen from anyone could be caused by the 4th alien and does not necessarily mean they *are* the 4th alien. (Example: Noah, Michael, and other guesses I’ve seen.)  Why would the alien do anything in person when they would not have to risk themselves? They can just whammy anyone at all into doing their dirty work.  For instance...(from the sneak peak) it’s possible that Michael is the one who knocked out Max and locked them both in his bunker, but that he was being controlled.  Clearly, the alien is either Michael, Alex, or Liz (this seems highly unlikely) or has controlled at least one of them at some point -- because how else would they even know about the bunker? If Liz and Michael haven’t told Max about it, would they have told anyone else? It seems that Liz and Alex are the only people Michael has ever told, although that could be wrong, of course. 

5) There is a narrative concept called Chekhov’s Gun which says that “'if in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.”  In other words...don’t have random details show up early in the story and then not follow through with them later.  But the reverse of that is also true.  Don’t have some random dramatic thing happen that you haven’t set up earlier in the story.  It’s really annoying to readers/watchers to have plot twists come in out of the blue.  I have been impressed with the writing on Roswell New Mexico so far, and I’ll be seriously surprised if, after the reveal of what is going with the 4th alien, we aren’t able to look back and say, “Ohhhh...that’s what was happening there.”   All of that to say--I think the 4th alien is a character we already know or at least that we have heard mentioned.

6) According to IMDB (not the most reliable of sources) character named “Valenti” is going to show up in Ep 12, played by Eddie J Fernandez.  My guess is that he is playing Jim Valenti, either in flashback or in present day (and Valenti isn’t really dead.)  Because of reasons 1 and 2, I don’t think he’ll be the 4th alien. 

7) So--who are we left with?  Jenna Cameron, Jesse Manes (seems too obvious,) Hank (seems too much of an idiot although that could be fake, I suppose,) Wyatt Long (but he was possessed by the 4th alien, so probably not,) Grant Green (dead, unless that was faked somehow,) Ann Evans, and possibly the so-far unseen characters of Mr. Evans and Maria’s dad. And perhaps someone who is pulling Wyatt Long’s strings? 

All of that to say...I’m leaning toward Maria’s dad, but only because her mother’s mental issues seem really suspicious to me.  They’ve explicitly pointed out that her dementia has no diagnosis, and with a mind warping alien running around...that’s too much of a coincidence for me (see the point about Chekhov’s Gun.) 

Note:  I was totally wrong! The red herring was not a herring...also, I switched blogs.  Find me at https://fandomwithjoy.tumblr.com if you want to!

[littlethingwithfeathers]

Writing Update: 4/29/19

Publishing now!

Stand Still Awhile: A Steve/Natasha fic in my series  “Friendship is Unnecessary” set a few months after Winter Solder. Natasha is invited to a Stark Industries gala, and drags Steve along as her +1. If you’re looking for a taste of that “And they all lived in the Tower and everything was great” fluff-life now that Endgame is out, this might scratch that itch.  Excerpt: “Hey Natasha. What’s up?”

“Hey Steve!” She piped back. “Listen, can I ask a favor?“

"Of course.” Steve said, his voice turning a little serious. “Anything for you. You know that.”

He heard her laugh. “You’re going to regret saying that.”

“Nat…” Her name was a warning, but his smile bled through.

“I need you to come as my plus one to this gala thing for some art exhibit that Stark Industries is funding over at the Met.”

Steve sputtered a little. “What?”

“A gala. Last Saturday of this month. I need a date. You’re not busy right?”

“But… you hate those things.” Steve said by way of a rather stuttering non-answer.

“Look, Stark says everyone on payroll has to come, and I don’t want to go by myself.”

“Why don’t you ask Clint?”

“He’s on vacation. Off the grid.”

“Maria Hill?”

“Already has a date.”

“Sam?”

“Out of town. He was actually really disappointed too, but it’s his mom’s birthday that weekend.”

“Is Nick Fury too busy being dead to-”

“Steve!” Natasha half-shouted, a smile coloring her voice. “It’s my job to find you dates, not the other way around. Come on. Help a girl out?”

He sighed, rubbing one hand over the back of his neck. “Aw Nat, I’m not good at those things. You know that. Besides… you don’t think people will talk if we showed up together?”

“And they wouldn’t if I showed up with Maria Hill on my arm?”  Natasha shot back. “Come on, Steve. I promise it will be fun.”

***

Coming soon!

The Night the Wall Came Down:  This is a Steve/Natasha fic in my “Friendship is Unnecessary” series set during Endgame, about 5-6 months post-Snap. This will definitely will be a sad one… I’m actually using this as a mourning piece for myself for Infinity War, for Endgame, and for the end of season 5 of Agents of SHIELD. Definitely will contain mild spoilers for Endgame. Currently clocks in at 9.5k. I’ve had to do some major surgery on it because I didn’t realize Endgame was going to span such a broad length of time, and I originally guessed that Team Cap would be spending a good chunk of time in Wakanda. Ihad to change of things about the first half of this fic in terms of setting and time, but thankfully I didn’t have to do much actual rewriting. I hope to have it out this coming Monday.

A Maelstrom Whirls Below: I’m toying with the possibility of a sequel to my Darcy/Eddie/Venom fic “A Room for Rent in the Fourth Estate.” A rough outline is in place, and I’m starting to sketch around on a few scenes. But right now it’s just some ideas and a few zippy one-liners. It’s starting to get some traction though! Likely won’t start work in earnest until all this Endgame fix-it stuff is done, but I’m definitely letting it percolate. 

Hang By Every Word: The outline for my Stucky fic is still coming along but it will be awhile yet before I start writing on it in earnest. Now that “Fourth Estate” is finished and publishing, I’m ready to start picking at a new bigger fic. The basic theme (and I’m sure this has been done, but fuck it) is the undoing of Bucky’s conditioning one trigger word at a time. And each trigger word locked down a memory of Steve. So I have to write things from Steve’s point of view, and all ten memories have to be written from Bucky’s point of view, and they have to tie together into a cohesive narrative but the memories are out of order, but Steve’s time line isn’t and… It’s… a challenge. I’m still largely in the brainstorming phase… writing little snippets here and there. Nothing’s solidly taking form just yet. Again... just letting it percolate.

***

Other “Friendship is Unnecessary” fics at various stages:

A Heart for Any Fate: Steve/Clint/Natasha. Takes place during Endgame. Hurt/Comfort-palooza. I won’t say any more than that because spoilers. Currently sits at 2k words and climbing.

The Girl in the Garden: A Post-Endgame fic that buttons up some loose ends. That’s all I’ll say because spoilers. I’m currently just sketching around on it. Looks to be about five chapters long.

Sweet and Honorable:  Set post Civil War. Bucky insists on coming with Steve and Natasha to rescue Sam Wilson. This is starting to take shape in my head as a sort of work through for some of the issues that get raised in “Echo in my Soul.” 

Untitled Prologue: Since I’ve written this beast of a series completely out of order, I thought I’d put a prologue on the front. Just a couple of short scenes to plant some seeds, but also give me a chance to address the readers so my forewords on the rest of the fics don’t seem weird.

I’ll Come To Thee By Moonlight: Steve/Natasha. Takes place during Endgame right after Ant-Man arrives at Avengers HQ. Very much Hurt/Comfort.