#because every person i could ever know in my family has been halfway across the fucking world for my whole life

[wegmans]

hmm uhhhh my uncle died this morning. this is the same aunt and uncle i met for the first time in jordan in 2015 and he had lost his vision by then and was extremely depressed and told me "im so happy to finally meet you, but i wish we had met 5 years ago, i was much happier back then." and then when i saw my aunt again this past summer in jordan she said that she was going to palestine that week because she needed to fill out legal forms to transfer account and house and other ownership to be under her name because he got alzheimers and started having psychotic episodes and getting violent and had to be put in a psych ward and thats why he wasnt there visiting with her. and then 1 month ago he was in a coma and just this morning his body fully gave up. for the last 7 years i have never forgotten his voice saying that he "was much happier back then" and always wished he could somehow miraculously get better so i could hear what he's like when he wasn't feeling so bad. because from everyone's stories of him, he used to be so loud and outgoing and funny and would entertain everyone he was around. he was a doctor too, and ran a hospital in ramallah. but i never got to see any of that. and it literally only got worse and worse for him all the time until he just died. what an unfair life. this sucks

[redfurrycat]

🤠🛖🛏️🐓And They Were Roommates & Only One Bed Fic Recs🐓🛏️🛖🤠

Check the Top Gun Masterlist post for the latest updated version. 💕

Ao3 Authors: Barnes_Brain, Billpaxton, Coconutcordiale, Crueltether, Davidbyrne, Dracculaura, Fuddlewuddle, Honestlydarkprincess, Imafriendlydalek, Indybob, Lesbiseresin, Nickies_Nonsense, ReformedTsundere, ReiverReturns, RosannaDrinksToForget, Sceld, Sreshaw, Teacupivy, Trinipedia, Vannral, Violation_of_faith_and_devotion, WaffleToaster, Writerofthelorde, Yourstrulytay.

I'll ride in this life with you by Fuddlewuddle {E}

Rooster is called back to Top Gun along with 11 other pilots for an important mission. Not only does he have to deal with the unresolved issues with Maverick now the Captain is going to be the one training them, but he's also been assigned to live with the one person who seemingly lives to infuriate him; Hangman. He'll be lucky if he even makes it to fly in the mission in the first place.

Squadron Scorpion by RosannaDrinksToForget {E}

Maverick, Rooster, Hangman, Phoenix, Bob, Fanboy and Payback make up the Deadly Seven more widely known as Squadron Scorpion. Maverick isn't done teaching and the young pilots aren't done learning. Things can't get any worse when Rooster and Hangman of all people are forced to room together. They waited in silence. Each catching a breath. "Rooster, still with me?" "Still alive, but barely."  "I... I think I need this." "I don't think I can live without it."  "Glad we agree on something." Or maybe for the better.

Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Barnes_Brain {M}

When Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw was 14 his mother passed away, leaving him an orphan in an ever changing world. With no other family, and Maverick halfway across the world, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky took over as primary guardian. Through hard work and extreme perseverance Bradley reached Top Gun at age 27, even with Maverick pulling his papers. Take that asshole. But now that he’s at Top Gun he’s going to find if he has what it takes to be one of the best pilots in the world. That includes learning how to work with a team he doesn’t know, and doesn’t know if he can trust. Especially his obnoxious roommate who he can’t help but stare at. If only he could shut up.

show me again by dracculaura {E}

He hasn’t had a roommate on land-based assignments in years, not since flight school, so it takes him by surprise. He just isn’t used to it, not anymore. And he’s especially not used to sharing a room with fucking Bradley Bradshaw. (jake and bradley are roommates during their time at topgun)

T-shirt by violation_of_faith_and_devotion {E}

He inadvertently takes a breath and before he realizes what’s happened, Jake is already away, making his way towards the bar. He’d like to blame it on the alcohol, but he’d need to lie to himself. *  Or, three times when Rooster smelled Hangman. And kinda liked it.

You Are My Deepest Lonely by Writerofthelorde {T}

Post mission. Neither Rooster nor Hangman can sleep. Both have nightmares and they get grumpy and rude. When it finally comes out that neither of them has slept in ages, Phoenix jokes that they should sleep in the same room or something, and they look at each other. A silent agreement. The thing is… Jake refused to let anyone in. Every nightmare just left him in a panic alone. Bradley sound asleep next to him. Because it worked, of course it worked. But now, Jake was just alone with someone next to him, and that was worse. So much worse. Aka Bradley and Jake share a room, but there's only one bed... They pine, they long, they ache and flirt. Jake has nightmares and panic attacks but refuses to share that with Bradley, who grows increasingly worried. When will they break?

coming up for air by vannral {T}

"The horizon blurs into blue and bone white. It’s so light it burns Jake’s eyes. The entire cockpit is eerily silent, except for the thundering in his ears. ’fly, fucking fly like your life depends on it – fly FASTER, THEY’RE GONNA DIE – !’" In which Jake shares a room with Rooster on the carrier, he has a nightmare about not reaching Mav and Rooster in time, and Rooster comforts him. And ends up sharing the bed.

I Won't Stop Running by ReformedTsundere {M}

"What? You said you were heading somewhere, didn't wanna give me the exact location, so sure, I've got a shotgun with no passenger and snacks that'll get us from here to Texas." When Bradley continues to stand there, with no response other than a widening of his eyes and slackening of his jaw, Jake takes two steps forward, close but not crowding into Bradley's space. "So, what'da say Bradshaw? Wanna come see the lone star state with me?" It strikes Bradley like he's been doused with a bucket of water, that Jake is serious.

Whiskey and Rye by sreshaw {E}

a.k.a. The Fic Where There's Only One Bed Because the Navy Fucked Up Hotel Reservations The Dagger Crew got turned into a real-deal instructor squadron after the mission. They get sent on missions and demos to teach new pilots how to do what they do. On this trip to Florida, the WSOs are staying with their pilots, but Jake and Bradley, since they are WSO-less, have to room together. And the hotel fucked up.

nothing safe is worth the drive by davidbyrne {E}

this slope is treacherous (and I like it)

It begins, like most things in Jake’s life, with a questionable decision. Or they were roommates (oh my god they were roommates)

I will follow you, follow you home

missing scenes from the first year of jake and bradley's cohabitation

You Love Him, and No One Else by Sceld {T}

“I’ve got it,” Jake offers, holding his hand out, but Rooster only tuts disappointedly. “What kind of host would I be if I made you carry your own bag?” Jake blanks on a response, his mouth twisting into a smile without his permission. Rooster turns to where Jake can now see the Bronco. Its engine is still running, and it’s warm inside when Jake closes the door behind him, clicking on his seatbelt by feeling along while he stares intently at the glove compartment in front of him, waiting while Rooster puts his bag in the boot. He doesn’t feel as weird as he thought he would, as he probably should. Every conflicting feeling from the F-14 is returning in waves. He’s helpless to resist the pull of the tide. It’s terrifying and exhilarating all at once. or; Jake's apartment floods and his only other option is to stay with the last person in the world he wants to spend time with. Shenanigans ensue.

Wave goodbye and say hello to unfamiliar circumstances by trinipedia {E}

Finally, the glances and the expression on Bradley's face that morning made sense, and Jake found himself grinning as widely as the cat that got the cream. Okay, maybe not yet. But soon, sooner than he thought. OR: Jake has a crush on Bradley and decides he has to have him. Incidentally, Bradley agrees.

I should be scared, honey, maybe so by yourstrulytay {T}

It’s several nights into their new sleeping arrangements that Bradley jolts out of sleep, heart pounding, and for a second, he can’t figure out what’s woken him. The room is filled with silence as he looks around, trying to spot something that may be out of place. He’s confused until a sound emanates from the bunk next to his. It’s a soft keening sound and Bradley’s heart twists to hear the pain laced through the drawn-out noise. It’s the next sound that has Bradley stopping cold, head whipping around to look at the man inhabiting the other bed. It’s mumbled, but undeniable. “Rooster- Bradley, no-!”

will the teasing of the fire be followed by the thud? by davidbyrne {T}

as he can to understand. “Because…you always are first,” Jake offers, shrugging. It’s the truth, as lame as it may be. “I think I have the right to be a dick to the person who broke my heart,” is Bradley’s abrupt response. 

Hey Hey Hey Lover by Nickies_Nonsense {G}

After the mission Bradley and Jake are both granted a month of leave. Mav offers up his house but it feels too soon so Bradley does the only reasonable thing and rents an apartment with Jake for a month. Terrible cooking, stomach bugs, beach days, nightmares, and first kisses follow.

Some Unspoken Thing by indybob {M}

With paths that have crossed for the better part of a decade, Jake and Bradley have a history unlike any other. A history that sees their relationship develop from best friends, to bitter rivals, to eventual lovers. The five times that Jake felt there was some unspoken thing between himself and Bradley, and the one time he decided to do something about it.

waking up to you by honestlydarkprincess {T}

Jake drinks too much at a party he and Bradley throw for Bob's birthday. He wanders off, settles into Bradley's bed and they fall asleep. That's it, that's the fic. Based on the prompt "we’re roommates and you drunkenly passed out in my bed; move over I’m coming in"

Calefaction by ReiverReturns {M}

It's 2am, and Bradley isn't used to sharing the hour.

tell the truth, I look better under you by lesbiseresin {G}

Before Bradley knows it, there’s a hand landing on his shoulder and squeezing as Hangman slips past him towards the door. “Hope you don’t snore. Otherwise I might have to shove your face into a pillow,” he tells him, completely cheerful. It makes Bradley want to reach for his collar again, face no longer numb but burning hot in a way he hopes doesn’t show through in color. Instead, he tightens his jaw and does what he’s been doing for the past few days every time Hangman tries to push one of his buttons. He ignores him. (alternatively: and they were bunkmates…)

Storm's Coming by imafriendlydalek {M}

There's a hurricane headed toward San Diego and Rooster gets sent to a nearby aircraft carrier to help move planes back on land before it sails out to sea. Too bad the storm has other plans.

you next to me by coconutcordiale {T}

“We can play for it,” Bradley offers, twisting to reach across Jake and pull a deck of cards he’s tucked into the rack supporting Jake’s mattress. “Loser has to trek across the ship and sleep with Zing.” “He’s not my type,” Jake says, mischief glinting in his eyes when he peers up at Bradley. “Too skinny.” + aka three times there was only one bed and one time there were too many

waiting for a star to fall by billpaxton {E}

Bradley's been struggling to adjust after the uranium mission so Maverick generously gifts him with a weekend pass to a mediation retreat in the Californian woods. He should be grateful - really it's an awfully nice gesture and a getaway Bradley's been desparate for. But it's hard to be appreciative when Maverick forgot to mention anything about having a roommate.

Being your something (for Christmas) by WaffleToaster {E}

It all started because of a damn Christmas sweater. Bradley's pretty sure there's some underlying motive behind all this, all he wants to do is to survive the party, but Jake ends up making everything ten times worse than it actually is. So what can he do other than defend his pride? Throw in some alcohol, some stupid questions and some shameless behaviour and just maybe.. maybe, he'll admit that he's actually having fun. And maybe he'll also admit that he's kind of hoping for something more..

When September Ends by imafriendlydalek {E}

Bradley had only applied to colleges other than the Academy to appease his mom, who insisted that it was important to have safety schools. He never thought he would need a backup. And yet here he is, at Cornell University. His dreams of going to the Academy have been thoroughly dashed, his mother is buried across the country next to his father, and his parking spot has just been stolen by some asshole with Texas license plates.

I’ll save you a seat by teacupivy {M}

“What if…” Seresin starts, but then he shakes his head. He’s about to walk away when Bradley grabs for his wrist, nodding at him to go on. “It’s stupid,” he says, rolling his eyes, “but what if we go together?”

feel it all by crueltether {E}

The battery percentage on Jake's phone is nearing the red zone and the last thing he wants is to be completely removed from society (being stuck in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere is bad enough). He leans down to find the charger in his bag when – “Seresin?” Jake goes still, grin on his lips before he even looks up. “Bradshaw,” he replies, grin twisting into a fond smirk. “As I live and breathe. The hell are you doin’ here?”

Maybe We Were Always Meant To Be by indybob {E}

“And since my flight got rerouted I have to stay at a hotel nearby. It’s supposed to be a nice one at least.” Jake sounds a bit on the annoyed side considering he’s going to be stuck at a hotel for his entire leave, and Bradley can’t say he blames him. The idea of Jake having to live out of a hotel doesn’t sit right with Bradley. It sounds just as boring and lonely as it’s been for him alone in his house. He’d hate for his friend to go through that for two weeks. The perfect solution suddenly dawns on him. At least, it’s perfect logically, but in reality, it’s probably a terrible idea. Oh well. He’s got to jump off the perch sometime, right? “What if you come stay with me?” Or: Two boys. Two weeks. One everlasting love.

[questforgalas]

My thoughts on TBB Season 2 finale

It's a long one so strap in if you enter

First, before I get started, I wanted to say that this has been such a fun season to watch, and the interactions I've had with everyone in this fandom has made my Wednesday and weeks since January so delightful. I know hiatuses see a lull in activity, and some people are going to need to step away for a bit, but I just wanted to say thanks for being such a warm and open environment (at least the little corner I've found myself in). Here's to fingers crossed that the panel at Star Wars celebration in just a couple weeks brings us confirming great news!

Love ya all. Mama Tay is here with blankets and ice cream for the Tech babes if you need it. My man is unconscious on a torture table and my babygirl is a captive so we can all cry into the containers together

I'm able to watch the episodes at 8am EST every week, it's my little weekly routine I look forward to, so I've had a couple hours to process my one watch through of the finale episodes, and, just, wow.

Warning, "The Breaking of the Fellowship" just started playing on my playlist so who knows where this is about to go lol. Let's go to feelings town

The Bad Batch Season 2

I have not been quiet about how much I love season 2. Out of 16 episodes, there are maybe 2 that could be written off, but put them anywhere in season 1 or any TCW season, and they'd be some of the best episodes, which only adds to how well written and well done this season was.

I'm a Crosshair girl, not just in a "heart eyes spindly toothpick" sort of way, in fact that really didn't develop until halfway through season 1 - which my therapist definitely doesn't need to analyze - but his personality and his subtle devotion to his squad sucked me in from the beginning. So even with how little we had of him this season (granted, what we did get was some of the best television I've ever watched), this season is up there for me.

The character development for all batchers but especially Omega, Tech, Echo, and Crosshair was intriguing and dynamic, and that's not to say Hunter and Wrecker didn't have their moments either. They did, they were just much more subtle. We saw a lot more of Hunter's enhanced senses at play and Wrecker's knowledge, not just fascination, of explosives, but that pales in comparison to the other four.

The universe expansion was everything to me. We don't have anything depicting the rise of the Empire. We've never seen it's take over and the effects that rippled across the galaxy. We've only ever seen the afterwards, so to get this eery and terrifying depiction is exactly how I'd expect the galaxy to feel during that time, and I really applaud the creators on being so detailed with it.

The Finale Episodes

Wow. Just, wow. Admittedly, I had two reactions to these episodes.

The first was as the Crosshair fan who's put a lot of my emotional stability on this group of animated misfits, and that reaction hated these episodes. Not because I didn't think they were done well (getting into that in a second) but because I latched onto the Bad Batch's dynamics as a family since TCW and I so deeply in my soul to the point it's almost a wound in my heart want them back together again. I fell in love with the TCW Bad Batch, and I want that dynamic back so I've been rooting for it since "Aftermath", and every time we were given crumbs of a possibility that could happen this season, I devoured them and clutched onto them like they were my lifeline. So yes, from that perspective I hated these episodes.

Now, from the Star Wars fan taking a step back from my fanon - holy freaking shit. I laughed. I cried. I sobbed. I oooo'd. I cheered. When they stopped "The Summit" in the middle of the action, similar to how they broke up "Spoils of War" and "Ruins of War", it hit me that we weren't getting the reunion I desperately hoped for, and I took a minute to grieve that, went into acceptance, and then dove into "Plan 99".

Again, were there points throughout both, especially "Plan 99", that I was going "oh I hope this happens" or "ok annnnnd now!"? Yeah, absolutely (cut to Omega waking up at Cid's and me going "nice this is when they reveal it was all a bad dream and Tech's gonna walk in in 3..2..1..."). Did I have 4 other endings in my head halfway through the episode? 1000%. But it's not my creation, and based off of what we were given all of season 2, it all made sense to me. Even the things that made me have to pause for 4 minutes while I sobbed into my hands.

We are set up for an extremely action packed, spy/political thriller filled, intriguing season 3, and that wouldn't have happened if the season didn't end the way it did. If it was all tied up neatly in a bow, then there would be a lot more doubt, in my mind, about 1. if we'd even get a season 3 and 2. what the heck it was going to be about.

I'm not going to get into individual character analyses, but I thought everyone was in character. There was not a moment in either episode I thought "huh that doesn't really fit does it?" All of them were on brand in my opinion, and I again encourage people to take a step back and separate fanon from canon.

So why the emotional impact?

One of the things I've really had to process and think through is why this finale was staying with me like it is. I mean, I've been a Star Wars fan since 1999. I lived through watching Revenge of the Sith in theaters. I, like many of us, watched "Victory and Death" at the beginning of a very dark time in the world. I gripped the edge of my theatre seat watching Rogue One, praying they made it out like I hadn't known the end of their story for 25 years. But none of those endings stayed with me the way TBB finale is.

Sometimes something stays with me for an hour, maybe more, but I've never had any show have a finale where throughout the day as I thought about it, I burst into tears in varying degrees, and I can feel that being the case for awhile. Honestly, I haven't put my finger fully on it yet, but I think one of the reasons why is because all of those other endings I mentioned above - ROTS, Rogue One, TCW - and really any Star Wars media so far, has not had such a sorrow filled ending in such a dark period of time without us knowing the story after already.

ROTS we knew the outcome of that 20 years before. Rogue One even longer. TCW was filling in the gaps of a story long concluded. The Mandalorian is set in a time when it's supposed to be peaceful and the galaxy is mostly living in the light, so even when Mando and Grogu are separated, it's sad to witness the pair be apart, but there's no umbrella threat that makes the separation dangerous.

We are in the darkest period of time that we as Star Wars fans know in TBB. That is the point of the series - it's not just about these clones and how they cope post war. It's we the fans seeing how terrifying the Empire is beyond just the two sith lords running it. The inner workings and how easily they squash hope within their own government. We as the fans are meant to watch the Batch and love the family but be terrified of what can be waiting for them around every corner.

And that's not to mention we have no idea what the fate of the clones is. First off, the events of A New Hope are 20 years away. Rebels and the Obi-Wan Kenobi show are the only medias we have depicting the time between ROTS and ANH, and they barely scratch the surface. Rex is canonically confirmed to survive to Return of the Jedi, and we have Gregor and Wolffe in Rebels, but where the heck are the rest of them. We don't know. We literally don't know, and we're now left to speculate what that could possibly entail for the clones (especially the Batch) on any given day, let alone when we're left with two of them as captives of the Empire and one "dead". It is, in my opinion, one of the most devastating endings to a Star Wars media because of the terror it can hold.

Tech's Fall

Why yes, this would be the part I had to pause the show for and sob over for 4 minutes.

Tech has been my second favorite member of the Batch since they were introduced in TCW. This unapologetic, enthusiastic nerd who knows what he likes and hyperfixates on it spoke to me on levels, as I know he did for many of you - especially after "The Crossing" (I personally cannot relate to the ND connection, but was really happy to see the community joyous over the moment).

I, like many of you have already said in your thought posts, had the growing pit in my stomach each time they developed his character. The constant-optimist in me latched onto the possibility that just once they wouldn't pull that shit on us, but obviously that wasn't the case.

Tech and Crosshair's sacrifices punch me in the gut. Both of them are to save their family and give their family a chance. To have Wrecker and Tech bicker back and forth even up to the last minute like brothers do, and then the fucking awful shot of Wrecker watching his brother fall knowing he did it so they could have a chance. As a sibling, I couldn't handle it (I've actually started crying again now writing this). If I was Tech and that was my family, I'd do the same thing. If I was Wrecker watching that in front of me, I'd be on my knees screaming.

The scene was shot chaotically to make us, the viewer, feel panic and feel the gravity of the situation the Batch was in while seeing tiny moments when maybe they could pull it off, maybe Tech is moving faster than we think, maybe the car will come online and speed away, all to keep us hanging on while feeling the pressure of the environment they were in to then watch the fall and feel anything but relief, just like the Batch.

Now, onto what's keeping me hanging on

Is Tech Dead?

No, and I'm blaming Echo for this, but I do not think he's dead. And I do not think that takes away from his sacrifice either.

First of all, this is Star Wars. Unless you see the body, they ain't dead. @jealous-sloth77 even made the point of Darth Maul in their thought post. My dude was cut in half and fell down a supposed never ending shaft, but came back with the v-neck of all v-necks and a 200 step revenge plan, then literally became the cockroach of Star Wars.

Let alone the direct parallels to Echo Tech's fate could have.

So stay with me on this for a second, and I may be giving Filoni and Corbett and Rau a little more credit than they deserve, but follow me here.

Echo's blown up at the citadel in Season 3 of TCW. Not season 6 and then reappears a season later. 4 seasons of separation, and given the cancellations and renewal breaks, you're talking literally 10 years in between his death and his revival, which narratively makes no sense to me. And don't get me wrong, I know the Dominos were a fan favorite and Fives and Echo were a fun pairing, but all in all, Echo appeared in five episodes? Maybe six before he's killed off? And only 3 of those was he a "main" character. Compared to many other clones and characters, that's not exactly a recipe for "bring the fan favorite back 10 years later". So that makes me think that Echo coming back, especially the way he did, was setting the ground work for something. Now hang with me here.

In Mando S2E1, Mando kills the Krayt dragon by going inside of it, a monster who's stomach is literally full of acid, and blows it up from the inside out, dramatically coming out pointedly covered in the krayt acid showing that it has no affect on beskar. Then 2 minutes later we get the cameo of Boba Fett in the sunset, a character who last we saw was swallowed by a monster, supposedly digesting in stomach acid. Then in Book of Boba Fett, we see that because of his beskar armor, he survived the sarlacc, etc, etc. My point is, Star Wars has recently developed a habit of setting long-con explanations in various medias. Planting the seed you could say. So it's not far fetched to theorize that they brought Echo back from a ship explosion that we were made to think nothing but his helmet survived so they could set the ground work for other characters to be dramatically saved/scavenged and "brought back to life".

I mean, this is the world of Palpatine clones so, it's not out there.

That's not to mention the scene of Hemlock bringing Tech's goggles to Ord Mantell and making a point of mocking his death in front of them. Hemlock's entire purpose is to unlock the cloning techniques of the Kaminoans, and suddenly the literal genius is separated from them, assumed dead. If I'm an evil-scientist like Hemlock, I'm figuring out anyway to make sure Tech's alive.

So yes that's a long-stretch plan that gives Corbett, Filoni, and Rau a lot of credit for potentially thinking multiple seasons of plot lines through at the beginning, which, honestly, would be a good strategy considering the time period they're navigating around so I don't think it's that crazy to consider.

However, the main fact that I'm latching onto that Tech's not dead is the same fact that I've latched onto ever since "Aftermath" to tell myself Crosshair will be back with the Batch someday, and that's because it narratively makes no sense in context to how the Batch were introduced to us to keep them separated.

Think back to TCW S7, when the Batch are introduced. That was 4 episodes highlighting a tight knit, unique, family unit who all complimented each other to round out an unbeatable unit. Their sibling dynamic was the main focus of that group and is what made me fall in love with them, and it made no sense to me that they separated that dynamic within the first 10 minutes of the first episode and now to further separate it by taking Tech away.

I feel this so strongly in regards to Crosshair and Tech. I was sad when Echo left, and I was confident he was going to be with them again, but his departure didn't hit me the same way as Crosshair's and now Tech's. It just does not make sense to me to have the OG 4 separated permanently given how they were presented to us. It would be one thing if they went all in on the "Crosshair's evil" route and semi bait-and-switched us, but given his evident loyalty to the Batch and clear, long path of him being back with them someday, it really would not make sense to me for them to "swap one out for the other". That, in my opinion, would be lazy writing, and with how much love and care the creators have shown this series, I cannot fathom them throwing in the towel like that.

Unfortunately until the new season, I'll sadly have to accept the fact that he is gone and in our eyes right now, he's dead. And that hurts. It really does, but boy, am I grasping onto this last analysis like it's my tether over Mustafar

Love ya all. Mama Tay is here with blankets and ice cream for the Tech babes if you need it. My man is unconscious on a torture table and my babygirl is a captive so we can all cry into the containers together

[iheartaris]

A LITTLE BIRDY IS HERE TO BELATEDLY DROP OFF A MESSAGE 🕊️🕊️

hi my love, todays ur BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

it’s been 405 days since we’ve known each other and i can’t believe it - the time passed so so so quickly. sometimes i forget, but so much has happened in that time… i mean, we went from dreaming about nyc and matching cats and crocheting on the roof, to telling each other all about our love lives and all the shit that happens to us. it’s crazy how you’ve just invaded my life and become SUCH an important person to me. I MEAN. yesterday u basically stalked everything i’ve done in the past year and i let you…. that’s a hell of a lot of trust for some girl i met on the internet :) BUT I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

you’re gorgeous and i love our shitty facetimes that usually end with ur internet cutting out or me meeting ur entire family <3 i love seeing your locket on my phone every day and i love texting you about my insane crushes that i can’t tell anyone else about !!!!

you always remind me that life is about love and love only, you remind me that life is bigger than just upcoming university applications and figuring out my career, and i love hearing about your crush and i love that you’re able to come to me when you discover things about yourself <3

last year (LAST YEAR?? I MEAN CRAZY) i wrote you a long message via tumblr, and i remember it so vividly. i know your birthday isn’t super important to you, but it’s important to me! i remember being in doha airport in the middle of the night, SO happy that i could text you when i thought i couldn’t, going crazy because i made you cry a little (big feat). i remember being halfway across the world, away from home, and that’s all i cared about. that’s a core memory for me now which ill always treasure.

the invisible string has been holding us together for so long, and i think about this so often. how i guessed your handwriting that one time in my dream, how my favourite number is seven (you’re born in july), how we just missed each others paths. honestly i think we were meant to meet, even if it was just by chance that we were on tumblr at the same time :)

i love you soooooooo much and you deserve all the appreciation you get and more 💞💞💞💞💞 you’re incredible and irreplaceable and i hope we never stop being friends. you’re the kind of person i want to hold onto for a lifetime 💜💜💜

HI DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU SO MUCH ITS UNBELIEVABLE it’s crazy that we’ve known each other for more than a year it feels like we met just yesterday, you’re one of the best things that have ever happened to me and i’m so so so glad i met you. do you know that i go back to that birthday message frequently because it honestly makes me feel so loved and appreciated, you’re an amazing person and you remind me that i can let go sometimes and just have fun. i love telling you about my crushes and how we’re both delusional together. you’re one of my bestest friends ever and you’ve managed to make me cry more that just a little this time. you’re one of the few people that i can be just me around and that make me feel like i belong and you don’t know how thankful i am for that. and im here to remind you that you’re worthy of the best and more

you’re fav number is seven and my fav colour is purple, we’re tied together in so many different ways it’s like we were meant to meet. i appreciate you so much more than you could ever imagine and you bet i’m gonna hold on to you for a lifetime 💜

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Eleanor, when you posted your list of ideas, I was so excited to see that I'm not the only one who has an incredibly long list of ideas that may or may not ever see the light of day and I really wanted to share mine. I originally had no intention of posting mine, but as this is the 8th anniversary of me starting this little fantasy world and my 12th writing anniversary is coming up, I figured I might as well use this as a sort of anniversary post as well. Because I am absolutely obsessed with✨details✨ some things on this list have gone a bit overboard from their intended little snippets, but I'm not entirely sure you'd mind that lmao. Now, without further ado, here is my list!

Story Concepts:

Now, some of these have a future as I plan to write the first two if I can find the time and, possibly, some others as I love the concepts. Most of these are AUs, but there are a few sequels I really want to work on that have made the list. There is one that is just a concept and won't go any further than what I have for reasons I'll explain further and it should be very easy to tell which one.

Idea 1: Life Is Strange AU

This game has been on my radar for literal years now and I’m only just coming up with ideas for it, but since I know the series fairly well, things are piecing together fairly well. The games are, essentially, played episode by episode where each choice you make in the game, impacts the rest of the story. It’s like the butterfly effect - a butterfly flaps its wings in Hawaii and a hurricane starts halfway across the world. Every choice matters. I am only using the first and last of the main games and the prologue of the first game. In the first game, you control time as a high school student. In the prologue for that, you play as a pair of unlikely friends who discover that one of them doesn’t have as perfect of a life as the other assumed. Then, in the third, you play as a young woman who can see and manipulate emotions. Now that that’s established, I’ll give a bit of a summary of my ideas, all of which are set in modern times. 

In the first story, the Murphy family moves from Myrtle Beach to Sanbornton, New Hampshire so that Royce can attend the prestigious Oakwood Academy - a private high school specializing in Arts and Science. At this school, he befriends Riven, an upperclassman in his photography class who constantly encourages him to turn in a photograph for a national competition to earn himself a scholarship to the university of his choosing. One day, after school, he meets with his brothers at the diner downtown and all but collides with a familiar face he hadn’t seen in years - his former best friend, Vivien. After a rather awkward conversation, the pair takes a picture with Royce’s camera and part ways, only to be brought back together when Royce saves Vivien from one of the rich pricks from his school who decides to bring a gun into the alleyway behind the diner. The two decide to finally talk things over at Vivien’s typical haunt and he finds out that, since Vivien’s family moved to New Hampshire so she could attend Oakwood, things have only gone downhill for her. Her father was killed in a car accident, her mother remarried to some asshole who works as a security guard at Oakwood, and to make matters worse, the person she was closest to went missing and nobody has seen or heard from her in months. Now, on top of juggling schoolwork and normal life, Royce has to worry about potential kidnappings, strange weather occurrences, and, of yeah, the fact that he can now go back in time through the Polaroid pictures he takes so often.

While there is quite a bit more to go over for that one, I think I’ll move on to the second story, where we find that Royce isn’t the only person in town with abilities. In this one, we have Miles and Carrie, an unlikely pair who know they have at least one thing in common; they both want to get the hell out of Sanbornton. Miles only knows Carrie from the posters slapped on every telephone pole, advertising the next big musical in town while Carrie knows Miles as the guy she paid to fix up her convertible’s malfunctioning roof. In the few hours they spend talking while he works on her car, the two grow inexplicably close and bond over a fondness for a certain band he plays over the shop radio. On a whim one day, Carrie shows up at Miles’ shop and they decide to skip town the next day, hitching a ride on a freight train that takes them out of town to a lookout point a while north of Sanbornton. After a while of goofing off and enjoying each other's company, they decide to make up storylines about people they see with one of the viewfinders at the top of the hill. Some fun stories are concocted before Carrie, who becomes upset with what she sees through the lens, insists that she and Miles get out of there as she wants to get drunk. They steal a bottle of wine from a couple’s picnic basket while they’re away and follow the train tracks back to Sanbornton. Along the way, Miles confronts Carrie about her change in mood. After arguing about why Miles is so interested, the quarrel comes to a head when Carrie discloses that she witnessed her boyfriend cheating on her with the girl who is supposed to be her understudy in the upcoming play. She shows him a picture of the three of them and, as her emotions get the better of her, the photograph ignites in her hand, fluttering to the ground in burning embers as they both stare in shock at what happened. They find a secluded place to talk things over and, after realizing her newfound abilities must be related to her emotions, Carrie begins worrying about how she’s supposed to act on stage if she’ll only end up setting everything around her on fire. Eventually, Miles calms her down and they decide to meet up the next day to see if they can find a way for her to control it throughout her time on stage. I haven’t totally figured out an ending to this other than Miles getting roped into being in the show to replace the guy Carrie was dating as, once she breaks up with him, he gets physical and breaks a part of the set, getting himself fired. Anyway, that’s as far as I got with the second one.

The third is, perhaps, my least thought-through, but here we go. Kona is new to town, having moved in with her dad in his apartment above his arcade after years of moving around with her mom. Unlike the other stories, Kona was born with her abilities - getting used to seeing colorful emotions around people and hearing the thoughts that come along with them at a young age, but not being able to control how she processes the emotions that hit her like a brick wall. Bentley is a regular at the arcade, using whatever allowance he gets to buy as many tokens as he can. The two bond at the prize counter, but when a particularly unruly, older kid from their school comes in and tries to rough up Bentley over his purchase of the last, limited-edition comic book at the prize counter, Kona’s emotions “snap”, sending a wave of the boy’s own anger his way and sending the older boy slamming into one of the machines. Understandably, Kona and Bentley are confused by this revelation as Bentley didn’t know Kona had abilities and Kona didn’t know she was capable of something like that. After a fairly long discussion where she shows Bentley how her abilities work, she discovers that she can piece together why someone feels the way they do - if it’s a strong enough emotion - and can help them sort through their feelings for a better outcome. They begin to work together, helping people around town with their mental and emotional struggles, but will it become too much for Kona to bear as she takes on everyone else’s problems and ignores her own? I suppose you’ll just have to find out… if I ever get around to writing this out lol

Idea 2: Titanic AU

Now, this one is definitely not surprising as I adore the RMS Titanic as much as (if not more than) Vivien and, as far as the story goes, it could go one of two ways. One is set back in April of 1912 and goes through everything almost like the movie combined with all of the historical accuracies I can add into the equation, and the other is set in modern times and will make sense when I write it out. The first version is the one-shot-turned-story I was going to write for Carrie's birthday before I realized just how long it would be and that it would, most likely, end up being more than one part (just like the ship... yeah, I'll see myself out lol).

Version 1 is easily explained as the roles of Jack and Rose are played by none other than Miles and Carrie, with a bit of a twist. After the death of her parents, Mrs. Murphy takes her three sons and, with a portion of what inheritance was left after her husband began wasting it away, books four tickets aboard the Titanic in the hopes of starting anew in America. The tickets are in third class, but they can’t bring themselves to care as they’re simply ready to start a new life. Carrie follows Rose’s story pretty closely in the beginning - a loveless engagement planned only for financial gain, overbearing parents keeping a tight reign on her, and the faint urge to throw herself overboard once the ship is far enough from land that nobody will be able to save her. Then, as she and her young maid, Vivien, are overlooking the ocean from a higher deck on the ship’s departing day, Carrie follows Vivien’s gaze to a group of three young men a deck lower than them; one of whom can’t seem to take his eyes off of her. One night, Carrie dismisses Vivien after dinner and takes off for the back of the ship to escape the overwhelming pressure that’s been piling atop her for ages now. Miles, ever the night owl, watches her from a bench, only approaching her once she steps onto the lowest rung of the ship’s railings, and, though Carrie claims she has no real desire to pitch herself from the back of the ship, he still treats her as though she might. Eventually, he offers her a drink and an unbiased opinion, and the pair talk late into the night. Miles walks her as far as he is allowed to go and the pair go their separate ways once Carrie invites Miles and his family to dinner the next night as thanks for lending an ear and talking with her, which he politely declines. Not one to be swayed, Carrie sends Vivien to the general room in third class, instructing her to find Miles and his family and bring them to her. Finding all eyes are on her upon her arrival, Vivien meekly squeaks out who she has come to see and is relieved to watch Miles step forward from a table where he and Bentley had been drawing. Despite Miles telling her to simply pass on a message of thanks, Vivien is persistent and, ultimately, Mrs. Murphy steps in, listens to what Viv has to say, and accepts the invitation. The family is given some proper attire for the night thanks to another traveling family whom Carrie’s family has close ties with - the Bandoni family - and they have dinner as upper-class citizens. Once the evening has died down, Miles invites Carrie - and, in turn, Vivien - to a party the third-class passengers are throwing in the general room. The story carries out mostly the same as the movie, but there are some, distinct differences in the end like who would survive and who would end up going down with the ship.

Version 2 is one that I had a dream about and ended up sort of intertwined with the Titanic-based Magic Tree House book that I read as a child. Basically, Vivien drags Royce to a traveling Titanic exhibit. Upon their arrival, they receive boarding passes that bear the names of the passenger they would be and are permitted to explore as they please. After a while of looking around, they stop at an exhibit of photographs taken aboard the ship. To their amazement, they find a photograph of a young newlywed couple who bear a striking resemblance to themselves, standing by the railing on the 10th of April - the day the Titanic left Southampton for the beginning of her maiden voyage. They flag down one of the managers and explain the situation before asking if they could maybe see the picture up close. The person takes them to a back room before bringing in the photograph and some gloves for them to hold it with. They set it down on the table as Royce and Vivien put their gloves on and go to turn on the air conditioning as the summer heat isn’t good for the old picture and the wind sends the picture flying. Royce and Vivien catch the picture and carefully examine it to make sure it looks alright before looking up, only to find that they’re staring at an old-timey camera perched on a stand near the railing of none other than the ship of dreams itself. That’s right, they’re now aboard the RMS Titanic as she sails her fated maiden voyage! Now they not only have to figure out how to get back home before the ship sinks, but they also have to play the role of a young, First-Class couple on their honeymoon trip to America. Can they keep up appearances and find a way home before the iceberg scrapes the ship or will they be caught in the fray of one of the world’s biggest maritime disasters? Honestly, even I don’t know the answer yet, so I suppose we’ll find out someday haha!

Idea 3: WandaVision AU

When my sister allowed me to borrow her Disney+ account a while ago, my first mission was WandaVision. Needless to say, I fell in love with the concept of a new decade every episode and felt as though it suited some of our characters in a way that needs a lot of explaining in order for any of it to make sense. I don’t know if you’ve seen this show yet, but the basic concept is that, in Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda (also known as Scarlet Witch) loses her long-term, android boyfriend, Vision, in battle. A while after the battle, she travels to a small town called Westview where the two of them planned to move, build a home together, and grow old. Consumed by grief and rage over the life she'd lost in her time as a hero, Wanda's mental state sort of breaks, and her chaos magic powers activate around her, creating a pocket reality that engulfs all of Westview. Though she didn't realize it at first, Wanda transformed Westview into a completely altered bubble that was formed by her love of sitcoms, which she'd always turned to in times of difficulty. With her chaos magic, she also created an entire alternate version of Vision completely from her memories of him, inadvertently casting him in the role of her sitcom husband. Comforted by the world she'd created, Wanda began living a sitcom life in Westview, still unaware of what she'd done, moving from decade to decade as though nothing were different.

You’ve probably pieced together who would be who here, but I have a few different versions to offer. 1 - Mick and Butchy, 2 - Royce and Vivien, 3 - Carrie and Miles, or 4 - Mrs. Murphy, Miles, Royce, and Bentley. For Mick and Butchy, think about how intense she was when he was in his accident ages ago. That rage could fuel magic any day. Carrie and Miles' story could be very similar to Butchy and Mick's as I feel like they have this connection that isn't easily explained and that their love goes a lot deeper than either of them might realize. If one of them were to die, what lengths would the other go to in order to bring them back? Royce and Vivien have a strong relationship as well despite being young and, while Royce is typically calm and collected, he worries quite a bit for Vivien’s safety as she ventures through abandoned buildings, explores places she probably shouldn’t, and gets into more trouble than he ever wants her to. If he were to lose her in some sort of freak accident, would that be enough to cause something in him to snap like that? Potentially, I think. Now, putting aside the romance and looking toward the family dynamic, we have the Murphy family. What hurts more than a mother losing her children? Imagine the normally easy-going, caring, Mrs. Murphy - the mom to everyone around her - absolutely losing her shit because all three of her sons died in the same battle. That would certainly be something emotional enough to fuel some serious chaos magic. Honestly, I just want to write more about her and I feel like a nice, sitcom-esque story would be a perfect opportunity to get a feel for her personality over the years.

Idea 4: Grease AU

While I’m sure this isn’t a total surprise as I’ve mentioned it before, I want to explain how I see it, especially after finishing Rise of the Pink Ladies and gleaning several ideas from there. 

This AU is a bit different as we find Mick and Vivien as the new girls in town - sisters with opposing interests. Mick, who spends every minute at school trying to break out of the shy mold she left at her old high school, and Vivien who just wants to blend into the background and survive junior high without making waves. Things don’t go quite as planned as both girls find themselves at the epicenter of rumors not even a week into the school year. According to the gossip, Mick was seen under the bleachers with the leader of the T-Birds, and Vivien was spotted kicking a boy in the family jewels. While neither girl can deny these claims as they are technically true, the statements were twisted. Although Vivien begins to like her reputation as a fearsome fighter and leans into the rumors, adding that she only did it to protect a kid in her class and that she would be more than willing to do it again to anyone who dared pick on the people around her, Mick tries to clear her name with the help of the T-Bird she’d been spotted with, hoping others would believe that she had, in fact, been under the bleachers with a T-Bird, but that she was trying to give him something he had left at her dad’s workshop and they had a conversation, end of discussion. Despite her pleas to rid herself of her nickname as the local floozy, Mick can’t shake the rumors, but once she inadvertently helps one of the girls who had been spreading the rumors, the word on the street begins to ebb. The two girls form an odd friendship despite the helpful T-Bird and most of his friends warning her to steer clear of the blonde and her penchant for ruining reputations with her good girl act. Despite the accusations against her new friend, Mick stays by her and, at a sleepover, the cheerleader confides in Mick that she is in a secret relationship with one of the T-Birds that started over the summer. Though her friend doesn’t divulge which one, Mick soon discovers exactly who it is as Vivien and her two friends get out of school early one Friday and head to the high school parking lot to wait for their rides, only to see the head cheerleader with the T-Birds’ second-in-command locking lips by the greaser’s Fleetmaster. So, yeah, a lot of drama would come with this one.

Idea 5: Percy Jackson AU

I’ve tried writing Percy Jackson stories before and, let’s just say, it didn’t go well. You will, however, see some nods to this in upcoming chapters of Camp Wanamaker. This AU is something I’ve thought of for literal years (think 2016-17), but have no true storyline other than who would be the child of which Greek god. I can’t simply follow one of the books without dissolving into the next and, where there are so many books, I don’t think this would ever actually happen. This is something that my niece, Lorali, and nephew, Erek, actually requested at different times as their classes were reading the books in school, and I tried to figure everything out, but nothing ever came of it. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever work on this as it would be too much to take on. For now, though, I’ll simply give you my list of who I think belongs where and, if the time ever comes for me to write this out, we’ll go from there.

Miles, Royce, and Bentley - Sons of Apollo (most specialize in various forms of art, poetry, archery, or music, almost all of them have the ability to heal others and can tell how bad the injury is just by looking at it, a rare few can control light and fire, even rarer is the ability to glow, and some can use music to win battles like a siren calling sailors to their deaths)

Mick - Daughter of Hephaestus (skillful engineers and craftsmen, they can instinctively detect, identify, and operate any piece of machinery, and some even have control of fire, lava, and volcanoes) 

Carrie, Tanner, and Juliet - Children of Aphrodite (possess intense love magic, have greater clarity and sharper focus than most, have the ability to change appearance at will, and can alter people’s thoughts/influence them by simply speaking - otherwise known as charm-speaking)

Vivien - Daughter of Athena (masters at invention, architecture, and strategy - especially in battle - their knowledge is unmatched, and some have great skills with weaponry even without prior mastery of the weapon of their choice)

Kona - Daughter of Poseidon (can create and control hurricanes, earthquakes, and water, can communicate telepathically with sea life, some are mildly able to control ice, wind, electricity, and cold, they heal quickly if they’re in any type of water, and a very rare few can manipulate blood as it contains water)

Butchy and Lela - Children of Zeus (natural leaders in every sense, are immensely brave and strong, most, if not all, can control electricity/lightning, and some can control air to be able to fly if they practice)

Xander - Son of Ares (combat specialists, masters of weapons, are typically stereotyped as being complete assholes, and can possess invincibility if they spent a lot of time in battle)

Idea 6: True Colors (Through The Valley sequel)

Now, I absolutely adored writing the first story, but ever since I was able to play the second game and watch the HBO show, I've fallen more in love with the story and its concepts. A sequel for this would be far bigger scale - throwing more characters into the fray and holding very little back as, if I learned anything from the show, it's sometimes okay to kill off favorite characters to show the gravity of their situation. Just a reminder, Riven never existed in this universe and, while I have a perfect place for him, I don't want to go into too much detail.

This sequel would have a bit of a time jump and we would see some of our favorite characters in a different light as rival groups come out of the woodwork with only one thing on their mind - revenge. While we would also see budding friendships and romance, we also see some of our favorite relationships torn apart. I do feel like this would be a good way to really throw caution to the wind and see some of our favorite people fight in ways we've never seen them. In this universe, it's not always the infected you have to worry about; other people are just as scary.

I would probably focus on the second game's plot here - a story of revenge fueled by love. We would witness our first death fairly early on as one character kills another as atonement for their previous sins. One of our favorite characters would barge in during the fight, only to be taken captive by the assailant's friends. Witnessing the death of a loved one is traumatic and, with every intention of killing the people who dared to hurt their loved one, the witness gathers themself and takes off on a hunt to get revenge on the person who wronged them. Finding themselves in an entirely new area with unknown threats around every corner, will they be able to make it out alive? Better yet, will they be able to make it out with their sanity?

Honestly, I'm not even sure. For the time being, I have a set of characters lined up and know who would be playing whom, but would have a lot further to go before I felt comfortable writing anything out. I am excited about it though and hope to someday feel ready enough to get something done for it. Until then, here is the actual trailer for the game as it holds quite a few hints at what's to come and who our set of characters could be. It is a bit gory which makes sense, given the universe we're in, but I wanted to warn you all the same. Anyway, the characters' appearances, the song choice, the subtle intensity, and the words they say to each other are very intentional and will make a bigger impact once I finally have this story ready to go. Every little detail matters. One word, in particular, may strike a certain chord in you and leave you guessing, but that's all I'll say for now.

Idea 7: In Comma Coriyama (Magicae Maxima sequel)

This was originally the name for Magicae Maxima, but, obviously, I chose differently. Now, I'm not sure if you could tell with the ending surrounding Serena, but I had every intention of making a sequel where she would continue being the possessed one like Mick had.

At first, Royce, Vivien, and Bentley would have no idea as she's always pretty bitchy at school and they're sort of busy helping at Mick's store and training their magic to see much of a difference. Having family around to help them grow as young mages is helping them become stronger and more capable of protecting themselves. In turn, Serena is growing more and more used to being possessed by the dark magic and, although she barely has control of her own body, she is still conscious and can see the effect the possession is having as it chips away at her relationships and targets the people she was closest to. When the possessed Serena, in a moment of freedom, begs Vivien for help after class, the brunette realizes something must be up and goes looking for answers.

Obviously, this isn't all I have, but I might be working on this for the spooky season, so I'm keeping things vague!

Headcanons:

I have a long list that is still looming both on my phone and in my notebooks, but it will take me time to get them all here, so for now, this is all I have lol.

This may or may not come as a little bit of a shock, but Mick and Vivien are distantly related. Mick’s family in New Hampshire is huge and, while they don’t know they’re related, they’re actually cousins. Mick’s great-aunt was married to Vivien’s great-uncle and they moved down to Texas long before the girls were even born, let alone before they met.

Growing up, Bentley was always upset with being compared to his brothers academically and, when Royce noticed this, his paintings stopped and his sketches practically disappeared. He wanted Bentley to feel special about something and, now that art is Bentley’s “thing” Royce refuses to so much as touch a crayon unless Bentley asks him to. He’d rather stick with photography.

Riven taught Vivien drums so she could join his band and she taught him Morse code so they could talk to each other in skating meetings without having to say a word.

Mick tried to lighten her hair when she was thirteen so that she could look more like her dad, but the bottle of Sun-In that she used only served to turn her orange until they could get it fixed at the salon.

Vivien got a perm once and was mad that she looked like a poodle, but then Carrie pointed out that she looked like one of the girls in an 80s movie and she was alright with it after that. When it faded, she had no intention of getting it back, but still curls her hair from time to time because she misses the bounciness of the curls.

Carrie, Mick, and Vivien have a game they play to see who can fluster their boys the fastest. Over time, Butchy became accustomed to it and flipped the situation back on Mick more often than not. Miles has his moments of clarity with Carrie and can occasionally fight fire with fire, but they’re few and far between. Royce, on the other hand, is almost always taken aback by Vivien’s advances as she switches things up on him all the time.

Kona taught herself how to swear in three different languages so that she could say things around her family without getting caught. Her languages of choice were German, Japanese, and French, which made things more than a bit awkward when she found out the Murphys could understand what she was saying.

Bentley has the weirdest tastes. He loves bananas, but hates banana bread. Can’t stand oranges or grapes, but likes them as flavors in soda or snow cones. One of the ones everyone gets a kick out of is that he doesn’t like strawberries, but enjoys strawberry ice cream.

Vivien found out she was claustrophobic while in a mirror maze at the town carnival. She was with Riven and his dad at the time and Riven practically carried her out of the maze. They both swore they would never speak of it again, but Riven still teases her about it now and then.

Kona is a completely unique form of chaos and molds perfectly with the Troublemaker Trio. While Royce is organized chaos, Vivien is adventurous chaos, and Bentley is creative chaos, Kona is a sort of unhinged chaos. This girl holds nothing back and will not hesitate to be absolutely insane. In my mind, they’re almost like the Penguins of Madagascar. Royce is Kowalski, Vivien is Skipper, Bentley is Private, and Kona is 100% Rico.

Mick and Bentley wander off a lot in crowded areas (the mall, carnivals, concerts) and have been told by some of the others that, if they keep things up, they’ll be forced to wear one of those toddler leashes. Bentley doesn't give a shit and dares them to try, so they do. It wasn't his proudest moment, but he didn't exactly care, either.

Miles doesn’t really care for cake. It’s just not his thing. He’ll eat it, sure, but he prefers ice cream or, even better, ice cream cake. The only time he willingly eats cake is when someone in the family, especially one of the kids, makes some as he doesn’t want them to feel bad about him not trying some. 

Vivien has a habit of getting people addicted to things she enjoys. One time, she unintentionally got Butchy and Miles hooked on a very specific brand of energy drink that she has to order online and get shipped to her house, so every time a shipment comes in, she goes to the cabin, bursts in like the Kool-Aid man, and yells, “I’ve got the drugs!” at the top of her lungs. The same thing happened when they went to the mall and she made Carrie try a Japanese soda (Ramune) that they now have to order in bulk because everyone keeps stealing them from the fridge. The one thing Viv is adamant she’s keeping to herself is her rootbeer-flavored popsicles because they’re incredibly hard to find and the only shop that has them, orders an entire box just for her at the start of every month.

Before the swear jar mysteriously disappeared, Bentley, Royce, and Vivien would find ways to cuss around the others without getting in trouble. At the mall, they would chant out the name of a certain sporting goods store (Dick’s) or when they went for walks and passed the local dam, they constantly made dam jokes. They found ways around things and even the ones who tried to get them to stop had to give them props for creativity.

I’ve kind of had this headcanon where, when Carrie or Mick get pregnant, Miles and Butchy get bizarre cravings for them. While all the girls want is chicken alfredo or cheddar broccoli soup, their men are craving peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, bananas slathered in maple syrup, and ice cream decorated with chocolate-covered pickles. Even though Carrie and Mick think all of Miles and Butchy’s random concoctions are absolutely disgusting, the guys can’t seem to get enough. For some reason, almost all of the cravings disappear once the babies are born, but some still stick around though the girls wonder if their interest in the foods is still genuine or if they’re just doing it for fun.

I had a headcanon for a while that I never really worked with as I found it sort of pointless as time went on, but I figured I should share it now that it’s developed into something different entirely. I had this idea that, after a while of thinking things over, Miles would talk with his Uncle Tommy about potentially adopting the boys. At first, it would have been Miles adopting them and then it became Tommy taking them in, but that didn’t really work in my head, so I scrapped it for a while. Now, my working headcanon is that Miles stays in close contact with Tommy and sends him things about himself and the boys like their big achievements, their grades, and their friends. If Tommy were to visit at some point, he wouldn’t be all that surprised to meet Carrie, Mick, Vivien, Kona, or the rest of the group and would be at ease going through town as though he’d been there before. I feel like Uncle Tommy would be their way of reconnecting with their mom’s side of the family and he’d be more than willing to travel the 7½ hours-long drive to see them.

Musicals:

I had to shorten this list as I was running a bit short on time, but I'll add more later if it lets me.

Hello Dolly - I've already told you about this one, but the point still stands. I absolutely adore this musical. The thought of Miles as Cornelius and Carrie as Irene Molloy - a rich, self-made woman and a shopkeeper from a poorer background who fall in love despite everything around them - just makes me so happy.

Hadestown - I don't know if you've seen this one, but, to summarize, this is the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice - a story I absolutely adore. The story, the music, the ending, everything in this musical just screams of love and pain and there are so many ways this could go! Mostly, I could see Miles and Carrie playing a really good Orpheus and Eurydice while Butchy and Mick (or Xander and Juliet) take on Hades and Persephone, but the ideas are endless!

Chicago - This one is just for fun as I love the show, but just think of Carrie or Juliet as Roxie and Mick as Velma. The two of them vie for the top spot in the papers and fight for the publicity that their respective crimes give them, but both are unwilling to work together to gain popularity in the press. It’s just a fun little idea that I like playing with.

The Lightning Thief - This is only because I could see Bentley finding out this musical exists, listening to it all the time, and singing it as often as possible. With how much he liked the books, it feels only natural that he’d enjoy this just as much.

High School Musical on Stage! - This is simply because I feel like this would be absolutely epic. I mean, come on! How could it be any better than this? Carrie as Sharpay, Tanner as Ryan, Mick as Gabriella, Butchy as Troy, and Miles as Zeke - I could go on for ages about how insanely cool that would be! Honestly, I just love High School Musical and would love to see our characters in a show like that.

Songs:

Not all of these are on my summer writing or inspiration playlists, but the vibes are there and I want to write something for all of them at some point or another! I will be adding more later, but for today, this is all I have.

Killer Queen - Honestly, I listened to this around Halloween time last year and was soooo tempted to write a vampire-ish story with Vivien, Carrie, Kona, and Mick in this little coven of killers, but nothing ever came of it. I had a plan for it to be this sort of small-town, murder-mystery-type story with the girls working with the Murphy brothers and Butchy (the town police department’s newest officer) to solve some murders in the area, only for it to be discovered in the end that the murderers were the girls all along and they were just leaving a trail of bodies for the boys to discover, eventually leading them to their deaths. I still have a sort of plan to work on this sometime, but it's just not at the forefront just yet as I think it needs a bit more work.

Crash My Car - I stand by this song being a song Miles relates to as he falls in love with Carrie, but before they’re together. I’ve paid a lot of attention to the lyrics themselves and I feel like they sort of cover Miles’ thoughts as it shows the way he goes from feeling like he has no chance with Carrie and wanting nothing more than to disappear for even thinking he would, to wanting to make a move, but not being confident enough to, to resigning to his fate and wanting nothing more than for her to be happy, even if it breaks his heart in the process. I just feel like, despite the song being fun and energetic, the lyrics tell the story quite well. 

Lizzy McAlpine: I have a few songs that come to mind for different scenarios, but not all of them make the most sense, so I’ll put the ones that sort of do.

Pancakes for Dinner - This could be for a few different couples, honestly. My first instinct is either Royce and Vivien or Mick and Butchy. It’s essentially just an admission of things stuck in the person’s head, spilling out ideas that they’ve thought of before, but been too shy to say out loud, but I just really like the idea of one of them writing it out in the early stages of their relationships or even before they get together and are just friends, wanting more and the other finding it at some point later on in the relationship and either confronting them or singing it to them.

reckless driving - This is a song for Juliet and Xander which is ironic as I hardly ever write them anymore, but I feel like this could be the tragic end to their story if she let him take her on a drive after breaking up with him. I mean, the contrast between her side of the story and his, the steadily growing intensity, and the back and forth between the two before the eventual sudden end of the song - it feels like Xander and Juliet. His obsession could get them killed if they aren’t careful and, in this song, that’s exactly what it does.

ceilings - Now, this one is something I’ve been mostly picturing for my novel version of the story, but I’ll tell you how I see it anyway. Mick and Butchy (his name is different in the novel for copyright reasons 😣) have taken an interest in each other, but Mick holds back her feelings as she knows that the world Butchy is from is nothing more than a pocket of time still stuck in what was once a 1960s sitcom. As much as she loves him, she can’t admit her feelings for him as she knows they live completely different lives. More than once during her stay in the nearby town of St. Pete Beach, he drives her home and, with each drive, she grows more and more fond of him before, eventually, he kisses her. That night, she realizes that, although she couldn’t be happier, he isn’t real. He’s nothing more than pixels on a screen and, sooner or later, she’ll have to leave with her family to return to California.

Selena Gomez: I love Selena Gomez and some of her songs just bring me through different scenarios that just appear out of thin air lol

People You Know - This is another Juliet song, but instead of entirely revolving around her relationship with Xander, it also represents her friendships with the others in The Sparx group. When she broke things off with him, they all kept their distance from her so as to not anger Xander more. She lost all of the people she was closest to in a matter of moments - hence the song.

Bad Liar - Tell me this isn’t another Miles and Carrie song. I mean, come on! It could definitely be something from before they get together, but regardless of that, they definitely share this song. Miles has the first verse - “I was walking down the street the other day, trying to distract myself, but then I see your face” and “Call me an amenity even if it’s in my dreams” are all him! Carrie takes the second verse as it reads almost as though she’s watching him at first and allowing thoughts of being something more to come through - “I see how your attention build; it’s like looking in a mirror” and “Paint my kiss across your chest. If you’re the art, I’ll be the brush.” Honestly, this song just reads as the tense, in-between stage where they’re friends, but they both want something more than that, but won’t say it, let alone admit it.

Florence +The Machine:

The Dog Days Are Over - This one is one I can see for a few different places. I always use the chorus as motivation to run (for obvious reasons lmao) and I can see it working well during a relay race at the end of Camp Wanamaker where each cabin has to work together to make it from one end of camp to the flagpole at the main office. Some more chaotic versions of this song are in dangerous situations (like in Through the Valley where they're running from infected), but I think having it be a light, fun scene is more entertaining as of right now.

Swimming - This is probably one of the songs I most associate with a mermaid/siren story, but it can also work fairly well for other things. I guess it just screams mermaid to me as I spent most of my time watching H2O as a kid.

ABBA: Boy are there a lot of these, but I'll narrow it down a bit.

Voulez-Vous - As if I needed more motivation for a story I already wrote a sequel for, here's another song that makes me feel like writing a prequel to Glory and Gore/Scattered Screams. This is a song that drives me to want to write about how Mack and Brady won their Hunger Games as well as how they fell in love and, honestly, if I wasn't already knee-deep in other stories, I just might!

Waterloo - Originally the title for How History Repeats Itself, this song has been on my list for ages mostly for the line "The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself." I just really like the song and the lyrics could play a big part in a story at some point, if things go the way I hope they do!

Dancing Queen - This one just always makes me dance and I feel like this song is what Vivien would have blasted for her seventeenth birthday. Tell me Carrie wouldn't drag her up on stage or something and make her sing along with her and make sure that she has the time of her life!

Angeleyes - This one I can't go into too much detail as I might have plans for this song in Camp Wanamaker. I'm not sure about it yet, but I might. Just know that I love this song and have every intention of making this one hurt!

TikToks:

I don't have a lot of TikToks to put here just yet as I usually scroll Pinterest when I get the chance, but I do have a few that I thought would be fun.

This is how Royce prom-poses to Viv, don't bother telling me otherwise as I just won't accept it. Obviously, there would be a few changes, but the premise remains the same as I think it's just too epic to pass up.

This fits two different scenarios, in my head. One is the Murphy brothers and the other is when Miles moves in with Butchy and Lela. They discover this and have fun for hours.

Tell me Vivien and Riven don't do tricks like this on the ice all the time when Royce is around just to give him a heart attack each time.

Vivien does covers of songs like this in her room all the time when she's not practicing with the band and, while they don't exactly go viral or anything, she just enjoys posting her having fun on the drums.

This is Vivien with Miles. Tell me otherwise.

If Bentley ever cat-sat for Royce while he was on a trip for school or something, this would be the video he would send him to show him that the cat owns the house now. Royce would, in turn, send this to Vivien, asking her if he should be concerned.

After hours upon hours of listening to ABBA in the car with both her mom and Aunt Vivien, they begin to hear a tiny voice in the backseat and, one day, they catch this on the way to the mall for a girl's day. A few years later, when Butchy's driving Maisie, Leilana, and Milo (his and Mick's kids) to the playground for the afternoon, he catches them singing along to the radio in the backseat sort of like this and realizes he might have fucked up.

Also, as a final little thing here, I get a lot of my baking ideas from B. Dylan Hollis. This one is actually a snack I get every summer at the carnival and in my hometown at a seasonal restaurant as they make the best deep-fried candy in the world! My personal favorite is deep-fried peanut butter cups, but it's the same concept.

Adding this in here as I forgot to before, but you can’t tell me this isn’t their family game night. I have seen this family a lot on my fyp and I can totally imagine the gang getting up to this kind of chaos. The whole gang would be there and, somehow, Riven convinces them to play Cards Against Humanity. Regardless of who has which card and who has to read all of the answer cards, Butchy would be the dad in every scenario, 100%! I feel like the goal of the game would be to consistently give the most uncomfortable answers to Butchy to see how long it would take for him to make them put the game away.

Anyway, that's it for today! I am off to visit my great-aunt and grab something for dinner before getting back to work on Camp Wanamaker since I wanted to make sure I finished this post today lmao. I hope you have amazing rest of your day! All the love! 💕

[wolfiemcwolferson]

The world is so small.

A concept I write about all of the time.

As an oldest child married to an oldest child (and the oldest people in our families at this point), we’ve been doing a lot of ancestry digging to learn more about the family that we’ll never know.

I found a census record for my grandmother from 1950 and found out that she was living in the same city I am - halfway across the US from where I was raised and were I lived with her. This was news to me as I didn’t know she lived here as a child and I obviously tried to dig into it and find out where she lived.

The problem of course is that I live in a major US city and it has changed SIGNIFICANTLY in 70 years and so my hope was very low. I went to a lot of archival websites and reached out to the county library and it just was looking like I was not going to find it in the timeline we have left here. (moving. again.)

I had made my peace with that even if I was a bit sad. It was okay because we had lived in this place and I could imagine perhaps she had stood on one of the same beaches as I do when she was a child and I could be okay with that.

And then tonight, on a complete whim, my partner visited a site we hadn’t yet and found the goddamn street.

Which is...less than a mile from the place we lived for three years.

The street where my grandma lived was less than a MILE from the place we lived for THREE YEARS. I drove by that street every single day. 

I sat on the couch and cried for a good long time, thinking about how small the world is and how even 73 years apart, we were so close and how grief is just carrying her love around with me and infusing that into every other person I ever encounter and how I’ll never be able to go back to the house she taught me how to bake in and I’ll never again walk the halls of the hospital where she spent her last days because I can’t ever go home again, but I can find her in the world everywhere I go.

Sorry for being incredibly personal on your dash, but holy gods, y’all. The world is small.

[mythawolf]

My pitch on a Zelda game part 2

My pitch on a Zelda game - part 2

I’m gonna cut to the chase and start on the story.

Also quick disclaimer I haven’t seen any tears of the kingdom footage because I want to play it myself and I’m just waiting rn.

Essentially, The player has the option to explore Kokori village. They can do quests for rupees and buy stuff from the shops (meat, fruit, hairdressers and clothing which looks somewhat like the green tunic Link wears so often).

Now, wearing either the palace dress or the Kokori stuff, the player takes an alternate path out of the forest  and then is out in the open plains. There is a cottage nearby, and there a family hails you, asking where you are going. Here you have the option to say where you are going, or just say ‘i’m just travelling’. The family asks if you have food, and go like ‘No? You’ll just forage? Are you telling me you don’t know how to cook!?’ and then insist on teaching you.

Here you can travel, and fight bokoblins and patrols of Ganon empire soldiers. Zelda soon reaches the ruins, but there’s a small problem - a river too wide to cross. You could try going around, but there are massive amounts of Empire soldiers about an in-game mile left and right of you, so that’s a no-go. Fortunately, there is a ferrywoman who offers to take you over. However, when you’re halfway across there’s a not-so-great surprise:

She attempts to attack you, but you beat her because obviously. You can then interrogate the yiga clan member, who attempts to teleport out of the boat… but reappears over the water and drowns.

You then come across the ruins, and not much is left. At all. Heck, it’s practically just a quarry with a couple of house walls standing. However, there’s an old statue… but it’s been polished. Why would it be polished when everything else is in ruins? There’s a riddle on the base of it, which the player can guess the answer to. A staircase leading downwards opens up.

As you reach the bottom, you see a familiar face to the players. Who, you ask? 

Yep. Paya. She’s relaxing by a small pond. When you go up to her, she wakes up, startled and goes all like “EEP! AN INTRUDER!! You’re with the yiga, aren’t you? Well, you won’t get past me!”

Boss battle time! Yep, this shy wholesome person is our first boss. And she can do some magic. 

Her attacks are as follows -

Fireball - she basically just fires a bunch of fireballs at your with fiery courage.

And that’s it.

Eventually, her magic will need to recharge, and that’s when you attack. Repeat, repeat, etc.

Defeated, Paya says that you can do whatever you want with her, but not to hurt the rest of the Sheikah. Zelda says that she isn’t there to hurt anyone, and explains why she’s here. Paya (apologizing every five seconds) then leads Zelda to her grandmother Impa, who’s the tribe elder. Zelda tells Impa what happened, and Impa says that she has to prepare the tribe for war. She tells Zelda that the Sheikah tribe went into hiding over a hundred years ago because everyone kept trying to destroy them out of fear of their magic.  Impa tells Zelda that there are different kinds of magic: Kōgeki (attack) magic, Maindo (mind) magic and Hogo (protection) magic and that the three masters of each one are scattered around Hyrule. Zelda and Paya must learn that magic to be able to save the kingdom. 

Now that part of the story’s over, let me tell you some in-lore stuff. In this game, (which is explained by Paya after the fight) the Yiga clan and the kings that came before Rhoam decimated the Sheikah a hundred years ago and sent them into hiding. This has long been a mark of shame on the Royal family. 

There’s a thing that shows the time in-game. For example, at one o’clock in the morning in each occupied village, a town cryer under the Empire’s payroll will state stuff like news laws and why Emperor Ganon is the best ruler ever.

I’ll leave it at that. Heart this!

[scavenger98]

You know, every time I’ve gone into a part of life where I had more to do, more demands on my time and mental capacity to plan and remember and deliver on competence, there’s been an annoyingly long period where it was far, far worse than I could ever have imagined.

Losing recess was worse than I ever imagined it would be. I’m ADHD enough that sitting still with nothing interesting to do is a clawing, squeezing irritation of the soul, and having no time whatsoever to get any of that energy out, to imagine and just not be learning about math and science I’d already learned was fucking terrible.

And then I got used to it. I got used to school being an annoying, dragging ordeal most of the time and forgot I’d ever looked forward to going there.

Not every movement up in life has been like that, going to high school and college were both really cool at first because I tend to make good first impressions via some pretty heavy masking and I crave positive attention but am physically incapable of requesting it so those were really fun times. And quite frankly teachers always overhype the stages of education beyond theirs in my experience. But moving past formal education, out of college, through two unplanned years of staying with my parents into actually being an adult in the world with a job and a place I live that’s mine and bills to pay and groceries to buy and the world burning down around me with ideas how to help but no energy to spare on researching the practicalities of that. God I’m working one part-time job, barely anything by the general societal standard, and yet I’m feeling distinctly Bilbo about all this. There is not enough of me to cover the bread of my life.

And I’m already starting to adapt. I’m numbing to my own annoyance at having one day out of the week to actually work on my personal needs and my hobbies. I’m numbing to barely speaking to my family because they’re all halfway across a continent. I’m long since numb to the fact that I barely see friends who live in the same damn city because we all have completely different schedules and barely any energy to spare to schedule something.

I suspect someday when I have a driver’s license I’ll spend a couple months despising commuting to work with every fiber of my being before learning to ignore that too.

And I don’t think this is what growing up is. I know it isn’t a perfect progression toward some brighter existence where I’m perfectly functional and happy with my place in society, I doubt that’s ever been a reasonable expectation at any point in human history. But just interacting with worse and worse states of being over and over forever until I die, having spent my time spinning my wheels because the alternative is getting swallowed by the mud?

God, there’s got to be more to being a grown person than that.

[kbrecycling-blog]

Old Love Song

I used to listen to a song on my morning commute to work--my old morning commute to work from Evanston to Winnetka, not my current one-minute commute from Glencoe to Glencoe. If you know me, you know that I tend towards a repetitive (some might call it incessant) listening style. Not since Landslide junior year of college did I play and replay a song like this. 

Today I was waiting for Bo to make the short run across the street from his baseball practice to the car. It was pouring and the minutes ticked by and I had run out of cold case podcasts and Ringer podcasts and Pod Save Americas so I switched to Spotify and tried to remember the names of songs I used to love. Sometimes my brain is capable of producing a name–a title, a former acquaintance, a piece of knowledge –but more and more frequently, it’s a fifty-fifty shot. This is just one way I feel the passage of time lately. Others include my growing ignorance of (and subsequent awkwardness attempting to use) current slang, and my stubborn reliance on mid-twenty aughts Shopbop trends as the fashion world passes me by. Anyway, I wanted to listen to that song, the one I listened to pretty much every morning on the way to work, Highway 20 Ride by Zac Brown Band.

Those commutes often included a stop at my fertility clinic for a blood draw or ultrasound, which I of course wrote about exhaustively (and exhaustingly) during that time of my life. That made the song a weird mantra choice as it’s about a father looking back on the bi-monthly drives he took visiting his son, who lived with his ex-wife. I was, of course, desperately trying to create a child–a family–with my very un-ex husband (and still going strong today thank you). The sadness and the loss of the lyrics resonated with me, as I tended to feel that sense of loss deeply myself even though nothing had really been lost, just not yet found. But I’ve always been like that; I’ve always aged myself and my experiences prematurely, mourning weeks, months, and years before they’ve passed, claiming the age I’ll turn on my next birthday before I turn it. I don’t know why. When I was young and more fun and could wear a string bikini top as a bra, it felt like a facet of my personality that was poetic and unexpected. Now that I’m closer to fifty than forty, it just feels like rushing. 

The line that moved me most back then was “And my whole world, it begins and ends with you.” Oh how I wanted a baby that could begin and end my world back then. But today it hit different (see I told you it’s awkward). How can I be someone whose whole world begins and ends with my son? What does that mean when he’s about to be halfway to his thirteenth birthday, when sometime in the past year I realized that protecting him from the disappointment, hardness, and pain of the real world is no longer in his best interest, and actually (in my opinion) in the opposite of his best interest if we want him to become an independent and mindful adult one day? When one day soon he’ll be moving on to the next part of his life beyond this house? Then what? 

Hearing that song today reminded me of the passage of time again. Words that meant one thing now mean something else; words of longing for the future now mean longing for the past. Or soon-to-be past. See? Rushing. 

I recently had an experience that led me to consider how much I’ve changed since I became a wife and, eventually, a mother. Have I lost a lot of who I was? Have I gained enough to justify that? There was a time when I’d sleep on the floor of a rented tent at the Metroparks without a second thought, or spend the night lying on the rocks that stretched from the shore of Lake Michigan. Now I can’t fall asleep in a hotel bed without a Xanax because it creeps me out thinking of all the people who have used the pillow before me. That’s a superficial example, but you get the idea. If I ever had wanderlust–and that is debatable–I’ve misplaced it. My world has narrowed–happily, I have to say–but what happens when my narrowed walls house only me? 

I deleted and re-typed that last line a few times. It’s not how I want to sound, but it’s what I feel. Getting older, for me, means losing the shiny (if I do say so myself) package that contained my complicated, sometimes even dark, interior. I have always worried about my balance; when I was younger, I was sunnier on the outside.

When I wrote about my experiences with infertility fifteen years ago, I almost always had an ending–not always upbeat, but something I could take from what I’d written to move forward with. When I write now, I’m somehow less sure of what I want. Like my instant recall, sometimes it’s quick and clear, and other times I can’t quite grasp what it is that’s missing. Maybe my nostalgia when I listened to Zac Brown today was less for the song itself and more for who I was when I used to listen to it. For what was going through my mind back then, for the clear and powerful certainty of what I wanted.

[perplexedflower]

Debito Fluff Alphabet - [Q]uirk

Fandom: La storia della Arcana Famiglia.

Category: F/M.

Relationship: Debito x Female Reader.

Type: Fluff Alphabet.

Q) Quirk: Something he has that is beneficial to the relationship.

~~~~~~~~~~

While certain individuals possess a handful of specific traits and quirks that may come in handy in a romantic relationship with someone else, this isn't entirely the case for Debito: due to his rather unique and eccentric nature, it's his entire personality as a whole that helps to contribute to his relationship with you. He's known to be quite unpredictable at times and is considered by many, including yourself as a wild card, especially within the friend group you form with the other division heads in the Family. You know that this side of him is sometimes frowned upon by some, mainly because it can get him in trouble, but also because these people simply don't appreciate much being around a loose cannon such as him, never knowing what he might be about to say or do. But when it comes to you, unlike these people, you've never found this trait of his as annoying or bothersome in any way: if anything, you actually like it. Maybe this is only a point of view that can be applied to you, given you're in a relationship with him, but you think of Debito's unpredictability as beneficial. Thanks to it, your couple never falls into a boring, repetitive routine that would bore you over time, and it's instead spiced up with various, unprompted changes from time to time, which pleases both you and Debito. Obviously, he doesn't overdo it, not wanting to drown you under too much irregularity and inconsistency. But he brings into the relationship just enough of them to keep the two of you busy, to keep you entertained; a part of you suspects that this may be the manifestation of one of his insecurities, that he makes sure you won't leave him any time soon by ensuring that you remain satisfied in the relationship and that you won't ever go look elsewhere for more adventure. And even if this instinct of yours is right, he would never admit it. But he's got nothing to fear: you're not going anywhere.

Mini Scene

Standing in front of Felicità's office, I knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

I opened the door halfway and peeked my head into the room.

"Good afternoon, Felicità." I greeted her with a smile. "You wouldn't happen to have come across Debito at any point this morning, would you?"

"Oh, no, I haven't. Have you tried his bedroom?"

"Well, we took a nap in his room earlier this morning, but when I woke up he wasn't next to me anymore. I wonder where he's gone off to, and I don't even know for how long he left before I opened my eyes..."

"Oh, I see." Felicità said with a nod. "I'm sorry I can't be of any help..."

"Don't worry, it's okay. Thank you anyway."

I closed the door, letting Felicità to her paperwork, and exhaled a deep breath.

"This is gonna take a while..." I whispered to myself before I walked off.

It was no surprise I had lost Debito, this was something that happened every now and then; he would disappear, without leaving a trace, and most of the time, without informing anyone of where he was going.

And so, I repeated my exchange with Felicità with the others as I searched the manor, running into Libertà, Nova, and Dante. But none had seen him.

Defeated, I headed to the kitchen in hopes of asking Luca. But when I opened the door to the dining room, I was met with an unexpected sight: the table had been arranged for two people, two sets of silverware placed in front of each other. And as I stepped deeper into the room, the door closed on its own behind me, startling me into a jump. Before I could turn around, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, an invisible pair of arms that appeared out of thin air.

"Debito?"

"Surprise, amore." He softly spoke against my cheek before kissing it. "I thought I'd invite you to lunch here in the manor since we always eat out. I had Luca help me out with the food, of course."

I gazed at the neatly set table with a smile as he held me tighter in his embrace and leaned even closer to me.

"So, Bambina, hungry?"

[talldarkandroguesome]

29th of Rain’s Hand, Loredas

I knew that Nettle had a fast way of reporting back to the House, despite his protests on previous occasions. Of course, as soon as it came to highly powerful weapons of legend falling into the hands of the Empire, the situation suddenly changed.

It must be admitted, the technology has come a ways since I was an agent. Or perhaps we just are throwing more money behind training artificers these days. Hard to say. Above where I would ever be given access to knowledge.

To be fair, I have been spoiled by the power of Leythen, so my initial thought was that the communication device was rather rudimentary, until I recalled that I had a fetching Psiijic and Earl of Mephala providing tools of communication to me. And besides, it was still a wildly powerful little tool to be able to convey halfway across the globe the speech of two persons.

If only I could have gotten both sides of the conversation, but I suppose for the sort of work that we do, it is important that such things not be overheard. A shame, I should have liked to know precisely the instructions of the House.

Regardless, we were given the very specific direction of finding out all that we could about this weapon and its locale. Then we were to ensure that, under no circumstances, should it fall into the hands of the Empire. More than that, it was my job, as main representative of the House, to make a good impression upon the Chancellor. I was to butter him up, as if Abnur Tharn of all fetching people was not already so self-assured that all the Princes and the Eight Divine together could not dissuade him of his own self-importance.

If push were to come to shove, of course, the task is to fall upon one of the guard to take the blame for destroying the weapon or preventing Tharn from getting hold of it. Someone who would be distanced enough in relation to myself and the House, or at least there was some plausible deniability on the part of the House, for the actions that led to this.

I was to make it seem like I was equally invested in Tharn’s success and that I was to make every overture to appear his greatest support in achieving success. And I was sent straight away to track down the old Imperial and throw my full weight behind his cause.

So I ran along and found Tharn in one of the corner tables at The Waxing Crescent. I bought him another fine bottle of brandy and we discussed the plan. And also a deal for me getting where I needed to go after taking the time to support him. I told him that I had spent much of the night impressing upon those in my charge the importance of preventing further war. That it would save lives and allow for economic increase without all the spending on battlements and provisions and the like.

He seemed pleased by my acknowledgement of the gravity of his cause and applauded my ability to see reason, despite my race. Always cutting, that one. He agreed, and I had him be very clear on this, that at the conclusion of his finding the weapon’s location, he would use an item that I had and teleport me directly to the vicinity of the person I sought. Honestly, it was perfect. I could take a little longer if need be with him, because once I finished, I would go directly to my beloved Qau-dar and Khes and all the Clan. I was going to somehow manage to sabotage a foreign power from having a tool of potential Nirn domination in the middle of going to get family for Sildras’ nameday celebration.

I felt like such an accomplished father and member of the House. Let those fetchers on the House Council say I did not pull my weight now! Look at what I was about to accomplish? They would all be shitting their pants soon enough.

Tharn was so confident in my confidence that he even told me he was being followed and asked if I could retrieve the young girl he had working for him, who had been running errands of gathering information so that he could remain further in the shadows.

She was easy enough to find, listening to a Moon Singer in the city square. I could see why, the woman had a very melodic voice, and though she was young and showing some signs of nervousness being in front of so large a crowd, the way she spoke was of one learning from a master on how to deliver important news. There was a sort of way the rise and fall of her tone would demand your rapt attention. There was a drama to it. I sat and listened myself.

It was the end of a story, one whose characters I was hardly familiar with to start and my Ta’agra is not the best, so I hardy caught a thing. But the performance of the story was well worth the listen and I left her a great tip and wished her well in her growing in the skills of her craft.

The young girl returned to the inn with me and handed over some notes to Tharn, which he immediately began to look over. I asked if there was anything for me to do, he told me he needed to read over things and so I came to pack my bags at his instruction and gather my people. Apparently we are heading to somewhere to retrieve a triangulant? Some part of three that reveals the location of the weapon. I have already warned Nettle and the others that this is going to be dangerous. Hidden dangers will be involved. Tharn probably will not try to do us harm, but he also can find the loss of mortal lives inevitable. So we should all be on our guard.

Let us see where this Imperial Battlemage brings us next.

[bmodiwrites]

for the au ask game!

— steddie soulmates AU, like you only see in black and white until you touch your soulmate for the first time

Oh, I love this one! Thanks for sending it my way. As a color blind person, I think this is a really interesting concept. It ended up being a lot longer than I intended - sorry not sorry? :P

(i)

It's important to establish right away that there is some free will involved in the whole soulmate thing. How the person feels about the idea of having a soulmate determines how quickly the visual change sets in.

For Steve, the change is instantaneous. He's a twelve year old kid in a brand new town, just trying to fit in. Up until they got to Hawkins, Steve's family moved from place to place quicker than Steve could get through a school year. His dad says they're here to stay now, but Steve's not one to get his hopes up. The town hasn't blown him away so far, anyway. Though that quickly changes when Steve meets Eddie. He's in seventh grade so recess is the only part of the day Steve gets to really have to himself. No one's interested in making friends with the new kid, anyway.

There's a small tree by the edge of the basketball court that Steve's been hanging around since the beginning of the school year - like always, he makes his way over there. That day was different, though. Steve notices that someone's sitting there halfway across the basketball court, pausing just long enough to get hit by a rogue pass. The kid who threw it tries to apologize, but the glint in his eye is too bright for anything to be accidental. Steve trucks on, rubbing the back of his head. He's distracted enough to forget about the person sitting in his usual spot until Steve's once again getting hit, though this time, it's entirely his own fault. He reaches out to grab the boy's shoulder and is completely taken aback. Steve's only ever heard color described by his mother and her explanation is absolutely nothing compared to the experience. Suddenly, Steve sees skies and trees - absolutely everything - completely differently.

In true Eddie Muson fashion, he fights against the establishment. Which makes sense because all Eddie's ever seen of soulmates is disappointment and sadness. His mother died before he could remember her, making his father a shell of a person who could care less about Eddie who's an exact replica of a woman that brought color into his life and went right ahead and took it away in one fell swoop. He understands to an extent why his father can't stand him. It doesn't take away from the neglect and abuse Eddie's gets over the years, but he's not completely dense. When he ends up with his uncle, Eddie doesn't even try to get Wayne to talk about a woman that never came around. He's been against soulmates since he was old enough to piece together his dad's drunken rambles. When Steve comes into his life, he digs his heels into the soul shifting change that starts to set in. The boy is adorable and wide eyed, looking at him with a surprise that Eddie immediately tries to hate. He has to, if color starts to set in, he's done for.

(ii)

No matter how Eddie feels about it, there's no going against fate. As the years pass, he can't deny that the world gets a bit bright every time Steve comes around. Eddie's done enough damage over the years to keep some space between them but Steve is so resilient that Eddie's noticed the younger boy can't quite stay away. Eddie's overwhelmed by the fact that he finds it endearing, so he makes the visit hell on Steve. It's almost ritual now, to insult the boy enough to ruffle his feathers and send him on his way. The affection he feels when Steve doesn't even try to hide the smile makes Eddie physically ache. Never mind the fact that Eddie is starting to notice that Steve looks goddamn good in what he now knows is blue. It must be his favorite color because he wears it all the time. Eddie is proud to say he's able to hold off on crumbling to pieces until he's twenty - that's a whole seven years he fought to hold back something he ultimately couldn't control. It's too much to come so close to dying without getting to see Steve blush under him. The day Eddie kisses Steve, he's awake from a coma for the first time in weeks.

Steve never knew frustration until he met Eddie. For Steve, the world is a different place completely center around a boy with dark brown hair and eyes that look like his daddy's whiskey. It's the most glorious thing to happen to Steve and he's slightly taken aback by the rough treatment he receives from the person who suddenly makes his world go round. He's loathe to admit that he cries his little heart out for nights on end for the first little while - it takes time for him to realize that Eddie's not really fight against him, he's trying to take on the world at large. It's not until high school that Steve's aware enough to grasp that concept. It takes a while still, though, for him to stomach the harsh way Eddie could so easily turn on him. Until it becomes the sort of game Steve can play to his advantage, every mean word and hardened look is a direct shot in the heart. Thankfully, his entire being is in tune with Eddie, so he starts to notice when the old boy can't fight fate any longer. It's at the worst time possible, but Steve's been waiting for the day that Eddie finally comes around. They fight and save the world and it's almost perfect except Eddie is in dire condition and it's weeks before Steve sees the chocolatey brown eyes. He's so fucking surprised when Eddie wakes up that it takes him quite a while to respond to a kiss that's so many years overdue.

(iii)

Once that dam breaks, there's absolutely no turning back. Steve's been waiting his entire life to be with the person that makes the world such a vivid place. Being with Eddie makes everything look like a movie in the best definition it can be. The longer the together, the sharper the color is. It's so rich that Steve sometimes gets overwhelmed by just how beautiful the world is. How beautiful Eddie is. And damn, he is - after he recovers, his eyes are bright and his cheeks hold a permanent red in them that makes Steve's entire body light on fire. He loves Eddie so much that it makes the kids sick, often getting him made fun of. It's worth it, though. Steve loves Eddie in his black leather jacket with the crisp white of his shoes. It's a sort of contrast that Steve never thought to miss from life before when shades of gray covered the world. Eddie makes Steve's life something that's filled instead of half empty.

Eddie never figured he'd be the type of person that loves with his whole existence, but as it turns out, he is. Despite how hard he tried over the years to keep him out, Steve's been there and is so easy to incorporate into his life that holding out the way he did seems silly. Uncle Wayne starts to set out a third plate at the dinner table and calls Steve son like he first did when Eddie came to stay. It makes watching Steve smile worth all the pain he knows he's in for somewhere down the line. He tries to keep that little bit of negativity in his life, to keep him honest, but having Steve in his life is too damn good. He's the colors of the rainbow packed in bold hair-dos and clothes that bring so much flavor to Eddie's life. Steve loves yellow and blue (because Eddie likes him in it) and he's the brightest when they're tangled up together alone, but also when the kids, any of them, are around. Eddie never thought he'd be one for fatherhood but he's starting to like the surrogate dad roles he plays with little weirdos that are just like himself before the taint of trauma sets in. Despite the fact that they've tangoed with death so many times, his children are so brave in the way they live their lives.

(iv)

Things really get serious when Eddie decides he can't be away from Steve long enough to drive between their places. He's sure his uncle is all that sad to see him go, anyway. They find a small house on the outskirts of Hawkins - since all of the kids are able to drive now, Eddie doesn't feel bad for the small commute they all have. There's a yard and a small garden and a porch that Steve likes to sit on in the mornings with hair still fresh from sleep and coffee in his hands. It's sappy and gross but Eddie loves Steve fresh from the covers - he's red and dark brown and fresh from hours of lying in Eddie's arms. Though Eddie always has to leave for work at the library relatively early, he's always happy to be a little late if it gets him a glimpse of his other half's easy beauty. If marriage were legal for them, Eddie's sure he'd be petitioning for a license faster than anything. He loves Steve with a surety that makes it hard to understand why anyone would think his love for the man is anything other than pure and real and the most perfect thing Eddie's every experienced.

Steve's blown away by Eddie's idea to live together - he's been sure that Eddie's glacial pace was around to stay. Their place is like a promise that keeps on giving every single day. The house is beautiful and the look on Eddie's face when he comes home for the day is worth every single glare and stare the man ever gave them in an attempt to deny them this happiness. Steve's long past worrying whether Eddie's going to rebel against things - their lives are much to wrapped up in each other's to think that anything could separate them. Steve's happy to know that Eddie likes to be the little spoon in the wee hours of the morning where monsters like to come out to play. He feels safe in Steve's arms when darkness starts to set in. Despite how weird it sounds, Steve knows that forever exists in that comfortability. The family that matters and the people he loves take him and Eddie for who they are. It's nice in the simple way that on a nice day, the sky was blue. For the first time in his life, Steve is sure of something.

(v)

Regardless of the validity of the gesture, Eddie decides to buy Steve a ring. It's silly, he knows that. Steve isn't much of a jewelry person that way that Eddie is but there's something to be said about sentimentality. Their life is permanent, there's no doubt about that. They share a mortgage and bills and grown ass adults that will always be their children. Some day, if Steve wants, Eddie thinks he might like to raise a few of their own. So, a ring means nothing, yet he craves the sight on Steve's finger like Honeycomb and chocolate milk on Saturday mornings. He gets it made, because what sort of nerd would he be if he didn't? It's gorgeous and perfect and just right for both the colors of their skin. Eddie's matching on is nestled next to the one he can't wait to give Steve. He rallies the troops and plans a big night out of it.

Though fate is sometimes kind, there are things that can't be helped - like trucks losing control on the highway. Steve's not able to discern what happens as he's loaded into the ambulance - his only concern is making sure that Eddie knows he's okay. Of course, since it's not legal for couples like them, Steve's parents are the first people notified. He almost laughs at the nurse when they inform him that they wouldn't be coming to the hospital. Steve is quick to give them Eddie's number and waits impatiently for him. Other than the concussion and broken foot, he's okay - but there were moments he thought he wouldn't be. It's a relief to see Eddie's wide eyes as he comes through the door. He's dressed in his best jeans and leather jacket, looking like their night he'd planned was going to be something special. It's too bad that Steve's stuck in a hospital bed, because he's thinking about peeling Eddie out of those pants and nows just not the right time. Eddie's got tears in his eyes and it's sad to see him so distraught. Things are still woozy enough that a black box being thrust in his hand is hard to make out until Eddie taps on the top, drawing attention to it again. Steve's not out of it enough to not realize what it means. His head is nodding before the box is opened and Eddie asks a babbled out version of a future that Steve never wants to live without. It doesn't hurt, either, that he's always had a thing for rings on Eddie's fingers. Steve can stand the heavy weight on his left hand if it means that Eddie wears one that matches.

Send me a potential AU and I’ll tell you five fun facts that would happen in a story.

[fortheloveofwonderland]

A Memory Locked In The Heart - Spencer Reid x fem! Reader

A/N - Requested by the lovely @overduelibrarybooks I hope this was the kind of thing you were looking for!

Find my masterlist here.

My taglists are open and requests are open.

Requested: Yes l No

Request: "could u ever write a spencer reid x reader where reader def works for the cia but more as a translator who’s kinda forced into doing agenty things in order to gather intel and on a mandated break she finds out the UNSUB before the team does so she uses herself as bait, and shoots the guy all very badass fashion n then gets interrogated bc ms girl just shot him coldblood and halfway thru she recognizes spencer bc her mother and his mom lived in the same care facility??? idk sorry my mom has paranoid too so it just hits different but u don’t have to write this if u don’t want to i love ur writing <3"

CW: disclaimer: I know next to nothing about the CIA and what they investigate so please go easy on me here. This is all made up so hopefully it makes some kind of sense. Mentions of violence and sex work, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, some swears. Mentions of drug use and overdose. Spanish used towards the end is from Google Translate so I apologise if it isn’t completely accurate. Italics indicate flashbacks.

Plot: Eighteen years ago you met a boy named Spencer Reid whilst visiting your mother at Bennington Sanitorium. This time you are meeting under entirely different circumstances; across the table of an interrogation room.

WC: 5.3K

—————————————————————

How did I end up here?

That was a question you kept asking yourself as you rolled into your third hour of sitting in that cold, dimly lit interrogation room at the FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

Well you supposed you’d have to go back to the beginning to truly work that out.

The CIA and FBI joint task force for a country wide sex trafficking ring they believed to be operating out of DC.

When your team at the CIA had started investigating it was estimated that the ring had close to a hundred women who had been abducted and forced into the sex industry.

A lot of women were believed to have been taken trying to cross the border. Your job as a translator had involved spending a lot of time in Mexico, helping interview witnesses and family members who didn’t speak English.

The FBI involvement had come when women believed to have been part of the trafficking ring started turning up dead.

At last count they were up to twenty bodies. The Behavioural Analyst Unit had given their profile of the man they believed to be running the show.

White male in his mid to late forties. Bilingual. Possibly born in Mexico or an area surrounding the border but grew up in DC, they assumed based on his knowledge of the area. He’s attractive, charming and has a good level of education, he’d need to be able to charm the women into trusting him. He doesn’t have a full time job because he wouldn’t have time for one. All his time and focus goes on his girls. He was tech savvy, incredibly so, he’d have to be, to be able to set up the network on the dark web which enabled his customers to pay for his services.

It hadn’t been going well. Bodies kept dropping and the task force was no closer to catching the person responsible.

This went on for six months. Everyone was exhausted. You kept hitting brick wall after brick wall. It was demoralising.

Your boss had called for mandated time off. You’d all argued but she had been absolutely adamant. You’d all been working yourselves to the bone and she didn’t want you burnt out entirely.

You’d argued but your words had fallen on deaf ears.

“Can I get you a glass of water or something?”

The voice startled you out of your thoughts. You looked up to see the lanky, messy haired agent who called himself Doctor Reid, sticking his head through the door.

“Is coffee an option?”

He smiled brightly at you, a smile you swear you’ve seen before.

“Coffee is always an option.” He told you. “How do you take it?”

“Strong and black. Please.”

“I’ll be right back.”

With that the door closed leaving you to your thoughts once more.

There was something so familiar about the Doctor. His dark yet sparkling eyes, his awkward smile and the way he dressed. You couldn’t place it. But there was definitely something about him that stirred some memory buried deep in your brain. You just weren’t sure what it was.

He returned a few minutes later, bringing your coffee into the room and placing it on the table in front of you.

“Hopefully you won’t be stuck here too much longer. It’s just standard procedure.” he spoke sweetly, his voice stirring the hidden memory.

“Yeah I know. I get it.” you sighed as you spoke, wrapping your hands around the coffee. “Thank you for this.”

“You’re welcome.” he smiled before he started backing out of the room. You wished you could ask him to stay because you felt so much more at ease with him around. But you knew you couldn’t.

He turned to you in the doorway.

“You look cold in that.” He smiled a little sadly at you.

You’d forgotten about your outfit choice. No self respecting CIA agent dressed like you were right now.

“I guess I am a little.” You shrugged.

Spencer instantly shrugged his blazer off of his shoulders and laid it in front of you on the table.

“Thank you Doctor Reid.” you spoke again before he disappeared out the door.

“Goodbye Agent Y/L/N.”

The door closed, his voice reverberating in your ears, dragging you into a long forgotten memory.

As you slipped his jacket on, your eyes fluttered closed, his scent wafting up your nose.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Spencer. Spencer Reid.”

“Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N.”

Your eyes shot back open, a frown on your face.

“Spencer?” you muttered under your breath. “Spencer Reid.”

Where had you pulled that name from? And why did it feel oddly connected to Vegas?

You tried to push the thought away, you already had enough on your mind. There were much more pressing things to deal with than a vague memory from your hometown an undetermined amount of time ago.

***

You’d been instructed to switch off. Your time off should be used to recoup, relax and not to think about the case.

Easier said than done you thought.

Before you’d left the office on your mandated leave you’d taken photocopies of some files and slipped them into your bag. You knew you’d be in trouble if you were caught but you couldn’t help yourself. You wouldn’t be able to relax with this case still open.

As far as you were aware the BAU was still working on it but it provided you little comfort. In your time with the CIA you’d never gotten to be involved so heavily in a case. Your skills were mostly utilised in interview capacities and then you were sidelined.

You’d never had the privilege to work on a joint task force or investigate a crime so brutal.

You felt personally invested in this case. You thought if you could just find that one missing puzzle piece you could crack this case wide open.

And then you’d found it. The golden ticket. The smoking gun. The missing piece.

It had taken five days of your leave and copious amounts of coffee but you’d connected the dots no one else had.

You knew how to draw the unsub out. And you were going to do it tonight.

***

“Let’s start again from the beginning shall we?” Agent Rossi linked his fingers together on top of the table as he looked across at you, still slowly sipping your coffee.

“Oh goody.” You sighed. “Could Agent Jareau not fill you in what I’ve already told her?”

“Humour me.” The old man shrugged.

You didn’t have any ill will against him. Far from it. You were actually a big fan of David Rossi. But you were sick and tired of being treated like a criminal.

“Tell me how you managed to work out how to find him.”

You took another long sip of the coffee.

“All the pieces were there, they just hadn’t been put into place.”

“And how did you piece them together?”

“There was a pattern to where the women had been last seen. It was a guess more than anything. A lucky guess.”

“And the pattern was?”

You sighed in frustration.

“As I told agent Jareau,” you sipped your coffee. “The bars they were last seen in all had ties to Mexico. I’m not a native to DC but I know the area like the back of my hand. They were all either Mexican owned, had a Mexican name or were previously establishments such as Mexican restaurants. I made an educated guess that he frequented places such as these looking for his targets. I just got lucky I picked the right one.”

***

You felt incredibly exposed, but you supposed that was the point.

If you were going to get this guy's attention, you had to do this right.

It was a long shot. Just because Western’s bar was known for its famous tacos did not mean it would be the place he chose to pick up girls.

You just had to hope.

You wore a skimpy skirt that barely covered your ass, knee high boots and a crop top that accentuated your assets.

Your firearm was hidden in your left boot.

Your outfit garnered a lot of looks as you headed through Westerns towards the bar.

You felt men’s eyes on you from every angle, making you feel extremely self conscious. But you needed to keep your cool, exude confidence.

If your guy was here he needed to see you shine.

You ordered a soda to keep your head clear and sat at a table over the far side of the bar. From there you had a good view of the entrance and most of the room. And more importantly, the room had a view of you.

Three hours you sat there nursing your soda. It was a huge stab in the dark, you weren’t really surprised.

You finished your drink and headed out onto the cool DC street.

You made it five steps before you felt a presence behind you.

Just as you were about to turn, something covered your mouth.

You struggled against a pair of strong arms.

A smell wafted up your nose seconds before you lost consciousness.

Chloroform.

***

“Why didn’t you tell your unit chief before you went in?”

“Because I thought it was a long shot.” And because she would have been furious I was working the case.

“So you chose to use yourself as bait?”

“Yes.” You shrugged nonchalantly.

“Do you know how dangerous that could have been?” Rossi raised an eyebrow at you.

You had to refrain from rolling your eyes.

“Yes agent Rossi, I’m well aware. But I had a lead and I wasn’t going to ignore it.” You pulled Doctor Reid’s jacket tighter around your scantily clad body.

You caught his scent again. Coffee. Old books. A hint of peppermint.

Another long shut off memory wormed it’s way to the surface.

“So are you here visiting someone?”

“Yeah.” You smiled sadly. “My mom.”

“Oh.” He returned your sad smile. “Me too.”

“Agent Y/L/N?”

You were brought back by Rossi’s concerned voice.

“Hmm?”

“I said, what happened next? You were chloroformed and then what?”

You shook your head, your mind clouded.

“Can we take a break? I could really use some air.”

Rossi sighed with a small nod.

He stood from his chair and motioned you to follow him.

You got some odd looks from his fellow agents as he led you to the elevators. They all recognised what you were wearing as Spencer’s jacket.

You followed Rossi into the elevator and he pressed the button for the ground floor.

“Agent Rossi, can I ask you a strange question?” You asked as the doors closed.

He gave you a curious look.

“I suppose.”

“Doctor Reid. As in Spencer Reid?”

“The one and only.” Rossi frowned unsure what you were getting at.

“Where is he from?”

Rossi’s frown deepened, not sure he should tell you such things about his team. But you were an agent and you didn’t pose a threat to the team.

“Vegas I believe.”

Vegas. Of course.

“Ok.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I don’t know.” You chewed your lip. “I think I might have known him.”

“Oh?”

You wished you hadn’t opened your mouth. This was not the time or place.

“I’m probably wrong. Just forget I said anything.”

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. As you stepped out you pulled Spencer’s collar to your nose and sniffed it.

No you weren’t wrong.

***

Las Vegas, Nevada - 1999

“Hi again.” You smiled at the lanky man, Spencer you’d met a few days ago. “How’s your mom?”

“Still angry at me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stubbed the toe of his shoe on the floor.

“She came in recently?”

“Yeah a few months ago. I turned eighteen and I was able to have her put into care.” He blanched, clearly feeling guilty for his decision.

“Do you want to grab a coffee?”

“Uhm sure.” He shrugged.

He followed you through to the day room. It was late and there were only a few patients inside and a few nurses milling around.

You got two cups of coffee from the machine and the two of you sat at a table together.

“Do you mind me asking what’s wrong with your mom?” You dared as you slid him the drink.

He sighed heavily, gnawing on his bottom lip as though his life depended on it.

“She’s a paranoid schizophrenic.” He spoke clinically, words he’d had to say too many times in his life. It was as though he’d distanced himself from it. Like he was giving a patient a diagnosis rather than talking about his own mother.

“Mine too.” You gave him a wry smile. You had something in common, just not something you would like to have in common.

“How long has your mom been here?”

“Three years. She got really bad and my dad couldn’t take care of her anymore. She’s been doing much better since she moved in here.”

“That’s good.” Spencer nodded. “I hope my mom realises I did this for her. For her well being. At the moment she’s just so...angry.”

You reached across the table and placed your hand on top of his. He seemed a little startled by the physical touch but you didn’t move your hand.

“This is the best place for her. I assume from what you said earlier your dad isn’t in the picture?”

He used his free hand to sip his coffee with a sad shake of his head.

“He left when I was ten. He couldn’t handle mom's illness.”

You gave his hand a small squeeze.

“I can’t imagine what it was like for you to have to look after her by yourself. It was hard enough with my dad there. Really makes you grow up fast.”

“It really does.” He agreed. “I’m not sure I ever got to be a kid.”

“I know that feeling.”

After that you spent hours chatting about anything and everything until way into the night. It wasn’t until a nurse came and asked you politely to leave that you realised how late it was.

“I’ll probably see you around?” You spoke as you stepped outside together.

“Maybe. In a few weeks I’m heading out of state. I’m working on a PhD.” He didn’t want to tell you it was actually his second PhD.

“Oh. Ok.” You tried to hide the disappointment from your voice.

Despite the circumstances you’d enjoyed talking to someone like minded, someone who understood. You didn’t have anyone else your own age you could talk to about this kind of thing.

“Maybe we could exchange numbers?” You blushed a little.

“I don’t have a cellphone.” He shrugged.

“Oh.”

“It’s not an excuse.” He sensed you didn’t believe him. “I’m not so into technology. I don’t even have email.”

Normally you would have thought it was just a bad excuse to get out of seeing you again but the look on Spencer’s face told you he was being genuine.

“Ok.” You gave him a shy smile. “Well maybe I’ll see you again before you leave.”

“I hope so.” His eyes sparkled as he looked at you on the dark street.

There was an air between you, some kind of thick tension but you didn’t know what it meant.

“If I don’t see you again,” you spoke trying to ignore whatever it was. “It was really good to meet you and I hope your mom gets used to the facility.”

“You too.” He smiled so genuinely at you, it made your heart skip a beat.

And then you went your separate ways.

***

“Ok, so what happened next?” Rossi wasted no time once you were back in the interrogation room.

“Well I blacked out after I was chloroformed so excuse me if I don’t remember.” You gave him a sarcastic smile.

“What’s the next thing you do remember?” He reworded his question.

“I woke up in a large basement. It was gritty and dingy. And there were other women there too.”

“How many?”

“At least twenty.” You sighed letting your mind travel back to the basement you never wanted to go back to. Not even in your mind.

***

You woke with a start, your head pounding. You gasped for air as though you’d been drowning.

You blinked your eyes trying to adjust to the dark room you found yourself in.

It was cold and damp and you could hear a pipe dripping in the distance.

You tried to roll over but your arm wouldn’t budge. You were met by a loud clanking sound when you tried.

You tugged your arm, hearing the same sound and being met with a sharp pain in your wrist.

“Good luck.” A woman’s voice scoffed. “They don’t come loose.”

You blinked a few more times, looking over to your left arm. There was a heavy metal cuff right around your wrist that was attached to a metal bed frame.

That’s when you realised you were laying on a small cot on top of a ratty, itchy blanket. You were still dressed, thank god.

You suddenly remembered your firearm concealed in your boot. You patted your left calf and sure enough you felt the hard weapon still inside.

That was something at least.

Oversight on their part.

You remembered the voice you’d heard before and turned as much as you could with your arm cuffed to take in the rest of the room.

There were at least forty other cots close together lining the walls, with at least half of them containing the body of other women.

The voice you’d heard belonged to a woman in the cot next to you. She gave you a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes.

Her eyes were broken.

“Hi,” you croaked. “I’m Y/N.”

“Delilah.” Her accent was Spanish. You were sure Delilah wasn’t her real name either.

“How long have you been here?”

She sighed, playing with a strand of curly black hair.

“What month is it?”

“September.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “Not that long then. I’ve been here since July.” She looked confused as though that couldn’t be long enough.

“Delilah?” You narrowed your eyes on her. “What year do you think it is?”

“2018…” she saw your face drop and knew instantly it was no longer 2018.

“Oh gosh.” You felt for her, tears welling in your eyes. “It’s 2020.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “Wow.”

“It’s ok.” You lowered your voice. “I’m CIA. I’m going to get us out of here. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

***

“Delilah.” Rossi opened the file in front of him. “Was that Roberta Suez?”

He pulled out a photograph and slid it across the table. You averted your gaze.

“Yes and please I don’t need to see it, I was there.”

“How did she end up in hospital fighting for her life?”

“You know how.” You huffed. “Look I’m starting to get fed up with this now.” You folded your arms. “Carlos Ramirez was a sick son of a bitch. If I hadn’t done what I did he would have killed all those women. I don’t regret what I did.”

“How did she end up in hospital?” He repeated.

“Good lord.” You grumbled. “I’ll talk but I don’t want to talk to you.”

Rossi narrowed his eyes on you.

“No? But I’m so compassionate.” He spoke sarcastically.

“I won’t say another word unless it’s to Reid.” You looked up to the two way mirror. You didn’t know why but you had a feeling he was there.

Sure enough it was barely twenty seconds before the door opened and Doctor Reid himself stepped in the room.

“I got this Rossi.” Spencer told the older man who stood up with a shrug.

Rossi left the room while Spencer took the seat he’d been occupying.

Did he remember you? It had been close to twenty years since you’d last seen each other. Had it not been for the olfactory memory that struck you when you put on his jacket you might never have remembered him.

But you knew the rest of his team was behind the two way glass, or at least some of them were so it didn’t seem an appropriate time to ask such things.

“So agent Y/L/N,” he smiled softly at you. “Can you please tell me how Delilah ended up in hospital?”

“You already know the answer to that Doctor but since you asked so nicely,” you leant your elbows on the table, entwined your fingers and rested your chin the little bridge you’d created. “She had a drug overdose. But you and I both know it wasn’t her who administered the drugs.”

“And who did?”

“I did.”

Your words hung in the air between you and Spencer. He knew the answer, the whole team did. You’d already told Agent Jareau everything.

This was a huge waste of time.

“I administered the drugs because he told me if I didn’t he would kill me. I needed to stay alive so I could save those women.”

“Who said he would kill you?”

“I don’t know his name.”

“It wasn’t Ramirez?”

“No.” You shook your head. “If it was Ramirez I would have shot him. But it must have been one of his right hand men.”

“How would you know that? You’d never met Ramirez correct?” Spencer had a soft tone to his voice which made his line of questioning easier than Agent Jareau’s.

“I’m not a profiler but I’ve been to enough seminars over the years. He didn’t fit the bill. He was young, scatty, he didn’t strike as much fear into the other women as I thought the boss would. I made an educated guess and I was right. If I’d shot at him I would have blown my chance at getting Ramirez.”

***

“Shit shit shit!” You pulled yourself as close to Delilah’s cot as possible with your restraint. “Delilah, keep breathing, try to breath. Fuck I am sorry.”

Tears rolled down your cheeks, the empty needle you’d been made to inject in her vein between your cots on the floor.

He’d held a gun to your head and said he would shoot you if you didn’t do it. You didn’t think he was bluffing.

“It happens a lot.” A woman opposite spoke up. “You’ll soon find out. If she wakes up she’ll have the pleasure of returning the favour.” She gave you an almost manic grin.

If she wakes up. It was the if you were having the issue with.

“Who’s in charge around here?”

She shrugged.

“Don’t know his name. Big guy. Tattoos. Mustache. You can’t miss him.”

“Does he come down here often?”

Again she shrugged.

“Being down here you have a way of losing track of time.” She clicked her tongue. “But he’ll be here for you later. He has to test his new girls.”

Your blood ran cold.

“Test?” You swallowed, pretty sure you knew what she meant.

“He can’t very well expect you to make him money if he doesn’t know how good you are.”

Oh god.

Your heartbeat raced. No, it was not going to come to that. You were a CIA agent and you were armed.

It was not going to come to that.

***

Spencer’s face paled a little at your words. You hadn’t told Agent Jareau that part.

“He was going to...he didn’t…”

“No.” You cut him off, pushing the memory back down. “I had a gun, remember.”

You offered him a wry smile.

“So you know what comes next.”

“I’d like you to tell me.”

The way he said it was more like he was a therapist than an FBI agent. As though he wanted you to tell him so you could get it off your chest, unburden yourself, rather than for interrogation purposes.

“Ok.” You nodded. “He came for me later that night. And that’s when it happened.”

***

“Ahh look at you.”

A deep, Spanish voice woke you.

Your eyes fluttered open and landed on a strong, tattooed man with a mustache standing over your cot.

This must be him.

“Tan hermosa.”

So beautiful.

You tried not to shudder.

You sat up wiggling your legs in your boots to make sure you could still feel your firearm. You could.

“Su nombre es Rosa.”

Your name is Rosa.

Guess again.

“Su nombre es Y/N.”

“Tú hablas español?”

You speak Spanish?

“Si.”

“Eres perfecta.” He grinned menacingly. “My clients will love you.”

He reached in his pocket and fished out a key chain. He reached over you and unlocked your cuff.

You rolled your wrist to try and get your blood circulating again.

“On your feet.”

You complied and stood up. Your legs were shaky.

He grasped your wrist, hard enough so you couldn’t wriggle free but not hard enough to leave a mark. He started dragging you across the room.

With his free hand he undid the four locks on the large steel door and pulled your through it. Once on the other side he took care to lock them all again, keeping a firm grasp on you the whole time.

You were dragged down a long, narrow corridor towards another steel door, this one with just one lock on.

He slid the key in and opened it, pulled you inside and locked it behind him.

The room was much smaller than the one you’d been held in and only housed a single cot.

He licked his lip as he looked at you. His large, thick fingers stroked your cheek and you had to try and hide your disgust.

“En la cama. Ahora.”

On the bed. Now.

You had to pick the opportune moment. You had to plan this just right. You had no doubt he had a gun on him so if you faltered even slightly, he would kill you.

“Qué tal esto.”

How about this.

You made a show of licking your lips and then dropping to your knees in front of him.

“Whoa, feisty. I like it.” He grinned, his meaty hands going to his belt buckle.

Yes. Right where you wanted him.

While he was fumbling with his belt, you reached your hand back into your left boot, drawing your gun in one swift move.

You head butted him in the crotch, sending him stumbling backwards, crying out in pain.

“Mierda!” Shit. “Usted puta!”

You whore!

You were on your feet in a second, your gun trained on him.

“You will never hurt another woman again.” You spat, furious tears suddenly streaming from your eyes.

He looked up at you, his mouth opened to speak.

But the words didn’t come out as your bullet hit him between the eyes.

“Who’s the puta now?”

***

“I would say,” Spencer chewed his lip. “You did what you had to do to survive.”

You breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank god.

“Thank you.” You smiled softly. “And I did. If I hadn’t shot him, who knows how many other women would have died.”

Spencer pushed his chair back and stood up.

“Just so you know, we got word from the hospital a little while ago. Roberta Suez, Delilah, is going to be just fine.”

“Oh thank god.” You felt tears brimming your eyes.

He opened the door and turned back to you.

“Are you coming?”

“I can leave?”

“You were never under arrest.” He smirked at you.

You couldn’t help but laugh.

You got up from the chair and Spencer motioned you out of the room.

“I’ll walk you out.” He showed you across the bullpen towards the elevators. There was an awkward air between the two of you.

Did you say anything? It didn’t seem as though he remembered you, was it worth reminding him?

He motioned you into the elevator first and he followed, pressing the button.

The elevator started its descent.

Time was running out.

“So uhm…” Spencer turned to you and turned too. “How’s your mom?”

A smile broke out on your features.

“I didn’t think you remembered me.”

“Are you kidding?” He laughed. “I recognised you the second you walked in.”

“It’s been twenty years.” You laughed.

“Eighteen years, seven months.” He corrected you. “But I could never forget your face.”

You blushed a little, averting your gaze.

“My moms doing ok. Thanks for asking. How’s your mom?” You looked back at him.

“Recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.” He told you sadly.

“Oh gosh I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok. These things happen.” He shrugged. “Made it to thirty without having a schizophrenic break but now I have to wait until I’m older to find out if I’ll develop Alzheimer’s.”

The doors to the elevator opened and you stepped out, Spencer close behind.

“I really am sorry Spencer.”

“It’s ok.” He shrugged. “Is your mom still at Bennington? I used to see her when I went to visit my mom but I moved her out a little while ago.”

“Yeah she’s still there. She likes being close to my dad.”

You both hovered by the exit, not ready to say goodbye.

“Can I take you for coffee? If you don’t have anywhere else to be.” Spencer blushed as he spoke.

“I’d like that. A lot actually. But I’d really like to shower and change out of this getup.” You laughed. “How about dinner?”

“Dinner sounds perfect.” He grinned at you.

You gave him a smile and turned to leave but before you made it to the door Spencer spoke again.

“Y/N,” he called your name, his voice cracking a little. “You uh...you forgot something.”

You turned to face him curiously.

He walked closer to you and without a second thought, placed his hands on your face and kissed you.

For a second you stood frozen, in shock of what was going on.

But after a few moments you wrapped your arms around his neck and opened your mouth to deepen the kiss.

When the kiss ended you were both smiling at one another.

“What was that for?” You asked softly.

“Oh you know…” he shrugged with a coy smile. “Just something that needed to be done.”

“I’ll meet you back here in a few hours.” You told him, touching his chest briefly.

“Ok.”

“Bye Spencer Reid.”

“Bye Y/N Y/L/N.” He croaked.

And with that you sauntered out the doors but not out of his life.

***

Las Vegas, Nevada - 1999

“Spencer?” You’d only made it a few paces away from Bennington before you stopped in your tracks, calling his name. “You uh...you forgot something.”

He turned to face you curiously.

You walked closer to him and without a second thought, placed your hands on his face and kissed him.

He stood frozen, in shock of what was going on.

It was just a brief kiss, Spencer was too confused to do anything but stand there dumbly.

“Wh-what was that for?” He swallowed.

“Just something that needed to be done.” You smiled. “Bye Spencer Reid.”

“Bye Y/N Y/L/N.”

And with that you sauntered back down the street, hoping that one day, the universe would lead you back into each other’s lives.

—————————————————————

Taglist (let me know if you would like to be added) -

@muffin-cup

@andiebeaword

@mggsprettygirl @measure-in-pain

[iliveiloveiwrite]

take me by the heart, take me by the hand // Elijah Mikaelson

A/N: An extension of the blurb I wrote on my blurb night a couple of weeks ago!! My taglists are open! If you would like to be added, drop me an ask and I’ll add you!! I hope you all like!

Pairings: Elijah Mikaelson x GN!Reader

Warnings: jealousy, soulmates, pining, mutual pining, mentions of food.

Word count: 2.1k

The sun was shining when Elijah Mikaelson began to understand jealousy in its unending torture. He wasn’t used to such an emotion. He wasn’t used to the blind rage that filtered through his body when he caught sight of you laughing with his brother. He wasn’t used to the want that would settle deep within his gut whenever he made you smile, laugh.

He supposed there was a sick juxtaposition in the fact that there he was, a creature of the night, sitting in the sunlight as he watched you laugh along to whatever story Klaus was currently telling.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t felt jealousy before, but Elijah had never experienced it to this extreme where he felt like the villain of a fairytale, desperate to steal the innocent love interest away and keep them for eternity.

“You wrestled a bear!” You gasp, bringing Elijah’s attention back to the room. Your eyes are  wide as you hang onto every word of Klaus’ story.

The narrator nods; a smug smile crossing his face as he begins to act out the crux of the story. “We had this newfound strength after we were turned by our mother,” Klaus explains, “And the bear was easily disgruntled, choosing me for its next meal.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, love,” Klaus croons; his smile turning to a smirk as he hears Elijah grit his teeth. “I chose to engage.”

“Why would you choose to do such a thing?” You demand; eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concern for Klaus’ ability to make sane decisions. Elijah makes himself turn away; if he could, he would press away the furrow between your brows with a kiss, explaining that his brother was ever the exaggerator as he was an actor.

Klaus shrugs, lounging in his chair with a self-satisfied expression on his face. “Because I could and can,” He answers plainly, catching Elijah’s narrowed gaze from across the room and raising a single eyebrow in challenge.

Elijah doesn’t rise to the bait; doesn’t give himself the chance to. Instead, he leaves the room, feeling your frown on his back with every step he takes away from you.

“Have I done something to offend your brother?” You ask Klaus; your voice small as you stare at the doorway Elijah only walked through moments ago. Elijah had been off with you for weeks; staying in the room with you for limited amounts of time before stalking off to another room. He rarely spoke, but the soft timbre of his voice sent shivers down your spine with every word uttered. You couldn’t bear the thought of having offended the man you found yourself attracted to.

“You’ve done nothing, love,” Klaus reassures in a rare moment of affection. “My older brother just has some issues he needs to work out.”

“Oh,” You reply, falling quiet and remaining so for the rest of your time spent with the supernatural family.

----------

“Are you going to explain what is wrong with you, or are you going to stew in your feelings all night?” Klaus demands of his brother as soon as he enters the room, having seen you off only moments ago. The decanter of whisky sits open on the coffee table; one glass out of the two already filled halfway. Klaus helps himself to the other glass, pouring a knuckle’s length of the amber liquid.

“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” Elijah states airily, bringing his glass to his lips. He knew full well that he was jealous; he knew that was distancing himself from you and his sibling, unable to bear the rising envy clawing at his throat. What pains him most is that he can how his distance affects you, how hurt you look when he returns clipped conversations. The furrow between your brows deepens and he feels like a monster for being the cause of it.

“Your behaviour in front of (Y/N),” Klaus explains, doing his best to keep the anger aimed at his brother at bay. “They think they’ve offended you.”

“(Y/N) could never offend me,” Elijah states vehemently.

“You’re going to have to explain that to them.”

“I will eventually,” Elijah sighs, finishing off his drink and quickly refilling it.

“Whatever it is, brother, you can tell me,” Klaus promises in a rare moment of softness.

“That’s the thing, brother,” Elijah begins, “I don’t know what it is. All I know is that I see you two interacting and I lose my mind to jealousy.”

“Ah,” Klaus whispers, a knowing smile on his face as he places his glass on the table. The younger of the two men stands, clapping his brother on the shoulder before leaving the room.

Klaus finds it hard to keep the smile off his face as he wanders the halls of his New Orleans home. His brother had found his soulmate and hadn’t realised it. Their mother had warned them of such magic; the natural magic of the earth that created two souls to be intertwined perfectly. Outwardly, Klaus didn’t put much stock in the belief, but he had seen his mother turn his siblings into monsters cursed with having to walk the night for an eternity. It would make sense for soulmate magic to enter the Mikaelson home once and for all.

Elijah doesn’t stand from the chair; he remains seated for the night, resting his chin on his hand as he tries to get to grip with the feelings roused in your presence. He can no longer deny the attraction he feels for you; can no longer ignore the fact that he would give everything to wake up in a morning with you beside him, but what he cannot explain is the darkness of the jealousy holding him in its grip.

He only leaves the chair when he hears your voice chiming off the stone walls of the compound they call home. Your laughter lightens the atmosphere of the house; bringing joy to a home that was so used to the darkness of Klaus’ moods.  

The kitchen is bright with the morning light as Elijah settles at the table; his gaze already fixed on Klaus and yourself. The former grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard as you help yourself to the fridge for the milk.

It’s as you sit down that he begins to feel it. The sunlight catches you perfectly; your hair practically soaking up its rays as if you were to become the celestial being itself – the brightness radiating out of you with every laugh, every smile, and every animated gesture of your hands as you tell off Klaus for the fifth time already today. Elijah tightens his hand into a fist in an effort to keep the growing possessiveness at bay.

He didn’t know where it began; this dark urge to possess you. All he knew was that the majority of the time, his thoughts revolved around you along with the word ‘mine’ on repeat. The façade of the gentleman, so carefully crafted after a millennia wandering the earth, began to crumble in your presence. Elijah could feel the green eyed monster clawing its way through his body, its claws sinking in deeper with every friendly glance at any man that wasn’t him.

“It comes with finding your soulmate,” Freya announces to her younger brother; the earthy scent of sage blooming around her as she takes a seat next to him. Elijah raises a single eyebrow in question; not in the mood for futile conversation today. Freya represses the urge to roll her eyes as she elaborates, “The jealousy. The irrational anger. The want. It comes with finding your soulmate.”

“Soulmates are a myth,” Elijah counters, finding his gaze drawn to you – watching you talk to Klaus, laughing at one of his calmer moments. The very action has Elijah clenching his fists to keep the anger at bay.

Freya fixes her younger brother with an unimpressed look. “Elijah, you’re one of the oldest vampires in the world, and I’m a witch. We are the myths whispered around campfires.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Elijah wonders in awe. “I never thought I would have one,” He continues in a softer voice, thinking of his past lovers – they had never made his mind race, or his breath stop in his chest, they were never his last thought at night and his first thought in the morning.

You were, however.

Elijah meets the gaze of his wiser, older sister to find her already watching him with a fond smile on her face. “Go speak to (Y/N),” She urges in a soft voice, “Explain everything.”

With the support of his sister, Elijah makes his way to where you sit with Klaus. His younger brother already regaling you with one of his many stories about his past; the darker parts of each tale hidden away this early in the morning. Klaus pauses his tale as Elijah clears his throat. “Could I have a moment of your time?” Elijah asks of you, glancing between Klaus and yourself. Klaus raises an eyebrow but wisely remains quiet.

“Of course,” You murmur, standing from your chair, following the older gentleman to an alcove just down the hall from the kitchen.

“I wanted to apologise for my behaviour,” Elijah starts when he feels certain that his siblings aren’t listening in, “I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you in any way over the past couple of months. I’ve been coming to terms with some personal things and Freya, thankfully, explained the cause of such behaviour this morning.”

“Your apology is accepted, Elijah,” You laugh, smiling happily at the taller gentleman, taking note of how he seems closer to the Elijah you have come to know and love. “What did Freya explain if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind at all,” He answers, “You’re bound to find out eventually.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense, Elijah!”

Elijah chuckles, smiling down at you indulgently. “I was jealous,” He explains; his face turning thoughtful. “I couldn’t figure out why. Whenever I saw you speaking or laughing with another man like Klaus or Kol, or even Marcellus though I know he’s happy with Rebekah, I was overcome with such intense jealousy that it was hard for me to get control of.”

“You were jealous?” You splutter, “Of what?”

“Of the men you so easily formed friendships with. I wanted to be the one you smiled at, that you laughed with.”

“I thought you hated me,” You confess timidly. “I thought I had broken an ancient vampire protocol and I had offended you.”

“You could never offend me,” Elijah states, “And I could never hate you, it’s rather the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

Elijah nods. “Freya explained to me the existence of a magic I once believed to not exist. I had never seen it; thus I could never state its truth. It wasn’t until Freya explained that the reason behind my jealousy and dark moods was that you are, indeed, my soulmate did I even remember that such a powerful magic exists on this planet.”

“Soulmate,” You breathe, peering up at Elijah through your lashes, “I’m your soulmate?”

“As I am yours,” Elijah swears, stepping that little bit closer to you.

“Vampires… witches… soulmates,” You whisper, unable to comprehend the change in your belief system.

“You’re not upset, are you?” Elijah asks, reaching for your hand. He need to know your feelings on this; should you not want the bond; he would take a step back. It would hurt, but he would do it for your happiness. Should you accept the bond, he would be a man in possession of the greatest living thing on earth – you.

“I’m not upset,” You promise, smiling at the original vampire, tangling your fingers together.

You place your free hand on Elijah’s chest, fully aware that you would not feel a heart beat under your palm. Even through the designer material of his perfectly tailored suit, you can feel the coolness of his skin and whilst many would be repulsed by the lack of warmth, you only feel further attraction for the man in front of you.

Elijah’s hand covers yours; the action speaking louder than any words could. He can feel the life thrumming through your veins; the vitality that punctuates the air with every breath you take. He feels drunk on his feelings for you; at a loss to understand how your paths crossing months ago could lead to a moment like this.

“I want a forever with you,” You whisper boldly, moving your hand to the back of Elijah’s neck.

“Forever and more,” Elijah promises; sealing the spoken vow with an unhurried kiss.

*****

The Originals taglist: @angelxnaa

Special fic tag: @elijahs-wife

[thr-333]

Just Another Class Trip :)

Part 1

No, no ignore the smily face i assure you it means nothing foreboding, nothing foreboding at all.

Next >

---------

“It’s suspicious,” Marinette glares as they leave customs.

“What would that be, Mari?” Chloe yawns, not bothering to dedicate her limited remaining brain power apparently.

“Lila,” She whispers back, “She’s been so quiet all the way here,”

“What about how she weaseled her way into first class?” Chloe yawns again, sleep mask resting on her head.

“Or tried to steal your bag,” Kagami says with venom, her having saved Marinette from that disaster.

“Accused you of giving her the wrong flight time,” Adrien adds, somehow being full awake even after their long flight.

“Slipped metal into your pocket so security would go off,” Chloe downright glares at Adrien, but would never admit to the bags under her eyes.

“Came by and woke you up every time you fell asleep,” Kagami looks at her pointedly, shadows under her eyes being her only give away.

“Too quite,” Marinette whispers, the list going largely ignored as they approach the security scan.

“Just relax Mari,”  Adrien pats her shoulder, not enough to break her concentration, “Lila will be so distracted by being in Gotham she won't have time for you,”

Adrien was wrong.

Of course he was wrong.

This is Lila they're talking about.

“Oh Marinette!” Lila all but yells as Marinette is placing her bag in a tray, “I’m so glad you didn’t go through with it,”

Marinette cringes, the security guards all looking her way as Lila dances off. She just sighs as she is escorted away by the airport security, to the protest of her friends and not much else.

“No sir I am not holding any firearms or weapons,” Marinette answers as monotone as possible, the security guard didn’t deserve her ire not matter how tiresome this was getting.

“We interview the source,” Oh no “Apparently you were discussing terrorist activities,”

“I was not sir, Lila must be mistaken,” Yep big mistake, I’m sure that's all it is , “I’m simply here for a class trip,”

“You’re wearing a bulletproof vest,”

Yeah probably should have left that one at home

“My parents are protective, they know how dangerous Gotham can be,” They were not fans of the horror stories Aunt Selina used to tell her from this city, “They insisted I have it as protection,”

While they most certainly wanted her to be safe the vest was more her idea. It was also more for enabling trouble than avoiding it. At least she was trying to be safe about secret crime fighting.

“Makes sense,” He sighs from across the table, checking through some paperwork, “You’re seventeen, here on a class trip right?”

“Yes sir,”

“Well if you’re here on a Wayne funded trip they probably did and extensive background check,” He pauses for a minute looking deep in thought, “Alright then, you can go,”

That seems kind of lax

“Are you sure?”

“We literally have super villains walking through here every other day,” True that, “You’re holding no weapons and have been endorsed by the Wayne's that's better than most people that have been in here,”

“Well if you’re sure,” Marinette stands awkwardly walking to the door as he waves her off, “Is there anything I need to sign, or…”

“Unless I want to fill out extra paperwork, no,” He seems so tired, Marinette wished she could get back at Lila for making his job harder.

“Have a good day then!” She smiles brightly, getting a small one in return.

She leaves, the security guards handing back her bag, fortunately not mentioning the miracle box or her Kwamis. She smiles brightly, even with Lila trying to ruin her trip she could still enjoy her time here in Gotham- and her phone buzzes with an Akuma alert.

With a sigh, Marinette ducks into the nearest bathroom, locking a stall behind her.

“Kaalki,” The Kwami zips out of her bag, “Tikki, Combine,”

With a flash of light followed by another she appears in Paris dropping Kaalki’s transformation.

She looks over the city, some Akuma attacking the Eiffel tower. At least they didn't seem to be the brainwashing type, she didn’t have Chat Noir there to help with crowd control.

With a flip she jumps, planning to kick the Akuma on the way down. They dodge and she lands in front of them instead.

“Well, well if it isn’t the bug,” The Akuma, in a horrible patch work costume mocks, a purple mask appearing over their face, “Hand over your miraculous!”

How about you come and make me Hawkmoth? I promise to stick that cane up your ass

Oh how she wishes she could say just that, but it wouldn't be very Ladybug of her. Why did the younger her have to have a stick up her butt?

“Not today Hawkmoth,” She says instead, making sure to put the practiced amount of enthusiasm into it, “Or any other day for that matter,”

“How are you going to save Paris without your little kitty cat?”

How are you going to beat me with that terrible fashion sense

Besides Chat Noir deserved a break. At least she hoped he was taking a break, he couldn’t tell because of secret identity reasons. It wasn't like she had any right to stop him, she was having a vacation in Gotham right now, and she was out all the time for work. She could manage without Chat for a while, he deserved that much.

“I will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Paris,” Ladybug remembers to answer the question.

“Hand over your miraculous now!” The Akuma lunges at her

I should have chosen a different persona

She dodges the beam of light that can’t mean anything good. Jumping back to get some distance.

Chat Noir had the right idea

She bites back the cutting remark on the tip of her tongue. Instead throw out her yo to wrap around their arm. The Akuma pulls it forward, sending her through the air. She leans into it swinging around to get a better vantage point, studying the monologuing Akuma below.

Maybe I can for Starling

She has created Starling as a vigilante identity to use in Gotham, if the class was ever in trouble. No not if, when . With a sigh she summons her lucky charm getting a table tennis paddle.

Although I’m only meant to use that identity as a disguise to protect the class

The only thing that stood out was the Akuma's hand, she'd have to gather more information before striking.

Maybe Starling can have a word or two with Lila, that could be fun

She drops down in front of the Akuma. They seemed to like monologuing, maybe all she had to do was probe a little bit.

“Why would you want to side with Hawkmoth?”

“This is my family's greatest heirloom it has been passed from generation to generation for centuries, some fool broke it and I was crushed having disappointed all my ancestors!” The Akuma holds up a broach type jewel, “But Hawkmoth- Hawkmoth brought it back and now my greatest and dearest treasure will forever be-”

Ladybug smacks it to the ground, crushing it underfoot.

The Akuma looks at her shocked, letting out a long drawn out gasp. Marinette does not meet their eye as she catches the Akuma. She throws the paddle she used to smack it out of their hand into the air to cast the cure.

I must be really jet lagged, I’m usually at least a little more creative than that, but it worked

She pretends not to see the reporters coming in for interviews, seeing the victim and their broach in one piece. She makes a speedy exit, needing to transport back to Gotham before the class get too ancy.

“I’m sorry the rented bus left a long time ago,” The attendant informed her, looking sorry for the dishevelled teen.

Marinette groaned, so much for running around the airport for thirty minutes with a dead phone. Thanking the attendant she sulks off to collect her bag instead, she’d have to figure another way to the hotel.

She spends another hour hunting down her bag. Chasing after leads of people who might have mistook it. Checking again with Airport security, who again pulled her aside for having a suspicious missing bag. Luckily the security guard before defended her, she brought him a coffee and two for herself.

“Maybe someone will return it?” Tikki whispers, her and Kaalki hidden in the folds of her scarf.

“It’s fine Tikki,” Marinette sighs, halfway through her first cup in under a minute, “I have replicas of all of them anyway, I’ll just grab some samples from the MDC fashion show,”

She’d have to stop by later, the outfits should have been transported last week along with most of her recent catalogue. The only problem was all the other necessities she lost. But that wasn’t a problem, she carried the miracle box in her backpack and that's all that really matters.

“And some of my… special outfits when we go back home,”

She had altered her current outfit to transform into her vigilante disguise. Her scarf pulled up and could be turned inside out into a mask. Her skirt could be transformed into a cape and hood combo. A zip down the middle of the skirt to split it for the cape and a zip up hood that lay flat along her skirt. She simply turned it inside out and wore it around her shoulders. Combined with a bullet proof vest it wasn't half bad, her belt full of weapons could always be hid under her skirt which was a big plus.

She sighs waiting for a taxi in the cold Gotham air, hating it more than most. Although she supposed superhuman strength was a fair exchange for extra cold fingers. Marinette fought to stay awake, she had also been holding Kaalki for so long she was starting to develop the ability to sleep standing up and would doze off randomly. Certainly helpful at times, but not right now.

“Hello,” Marinette is startled out of her drowsiness.

She looks at the hesitant young man before her, looking just as tired as she is.

“Hello?”

“Is something the matter?” Something sparks at the back of her mind, a feeling she often gets from Chloe whenever she is helpful.

Do I look that bad?

“Just a mix up with transportation,” She smiles, he clearly knows it’s fake.

“Do you need a ride?”

“No I’m-” She sighs, what could go wrong getting in the car of a random person in Gotham, “Yes, I do thank you,”

“Over here, I’m Tim by the way” He stifles a yawn, leading her towards a limousine, the door being opened by a driver.

“Marinette, here,” She hands over the extra coffee, “You look like you need it just as much as me,”

Tim looks at her like a god sent, taking the coffee as they reach the limo.

“Good call Alfred,” Tim whispers to the driver, slipping into the car.

“Hello miss, I am Alfred Pennyworth,” She shakes his hand, something stronger fires at the back of her mind, a true holder perhaps? But Chloe was a true holder right?

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” She smiles, trying to assess what miraculous would suit him.

“Best get inside Miss Dupain-Cheng,” She climbs inside at Alfred's behest, “Gotham is awfully cold for a Lady,”

She gets the feeling that is not chivalry.

“Where to Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Alfred asks, already in the driver's seat.

“Wayne hotel please,” She pulls her backpack onto her lap, still regarding Alfred suspiciously.

“Traveling alone?” Tim asks absentmindedly, still nursing his coffee cup.

“I’m here with my class, they left without-” No that's no good , “I got held up they went ahead,”

“Class… staying at the Wayne hotel…” Tim mumbles to himself.

“I believe what Master Tim is trying to ask is if you are part of the Martha Wayne foundation trip,” Alfred informs from the front seat.

“Yeah that,” Tim takes another scalding gulp of coffee.

“Yes I sent in the submission, I’m still surprised we got it,” Marinette had been thrilled at a trip to Gotham, it is where her Aunt Selina lives after all.

“You seem very responsibility Miss Dupain-Cheng,” Alfred complements, “Almost as if you could shoulder the weight of Paris,”

“I didn’t say where I was from,” Marinette tenses getting more than a little unsettled, he seemed to know something more.

“Not to worry, I have close connections with the Wayne's and was aware this years class was from Paris is all,”

“I see,” Marinette nods along, the possible meaning behind the comment still being concerning.

“We forgot your bags!!!” Tim suddenly yells, jumping up and making Marinette jump, they both curse in sync as they spill coffee on themselves.

“It’s alright!” luckily the coffee landed on her black tights, so no noticeable stains, “My bags were stolen,”

“Oh…” Tim relaxes back, “Wait… that's not alright at all!”

“It’s fine, I already have a plan to get some spare clothes and I just need to run to the store,”

“Right… to the Wayne hotel was it?” Marinette nods and Tim starts tapping away at his phone.

She fishes out some wet wipes from her bag, passing them to Tim, who looks confused until she points out the growing coffee stain. With a smile and a few more taps at the phone he takes them off her.

“Left behind and bags stolen, doesn't sound like your Lucky day,” Alfred presses, and he needs to stop, it could be chance, surely its just chance.

“I guess not,”

You don’t know the half of it.

“Well I hope the rest of your day is much better,” Tim bids as they pull up to the hotel.

“Thank you, and thank you so much for the ride,” Alfred opens the door for her to get out.

“Not a problem,” She waves them off, watching them disappear down the street.

They’re nice, probably wont ever get to see them again, thats a shame

“Dick! Holy fuck!” Tim kicks down the door of his brothers room, “I just met the nicest girl who's had the shittest day on earth,”

“First of all welcome back, how was your trip?” Dick greets hanging from the ceiling as Tim takes his desk chair, “Second, what are you talking about?”

“Met a girl at the Airport who didn’t have a ride, she gave me coffee,”

“That's enough to buy your loyalty,” Dick grins, Tim flips him off.

“Listen, she's part of that Martha Wayne Foundation trip and her class left her at the Airport!”

“What?!” Dick drops from the ceiling onto his bed, “Thats so dangerous, especially in Gotham,”

“Right?! She even had her luggage stolen!” Tim pushes the chair over to Dick, “And she was still so nice, even after an eight hour flight!”

“You said she was part of the Wayne foundation trip?” Dick asks, getting a nod from Tim, “Yeah, we are definitely seeing her again,”

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

The Cult Girl (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 6

Hannibal sits in on a regular conversation between y/n and her family. Y/n insists it could have gone worse.

⚠️Bigass trigger warning⚠️: Verbal abuse, emotional manipulation, blood, mention of alcohol abuse and suicide

Anna lived her life believing that she was the main character, constantly denying personhood to everyone around her. She was the romantic hero, and everyone else existed to forward her plot.

This metaphor was imperfect, however, because in all the books you'd read, the main character must overcome some kind of challenge. Nobody ever said no to Anna. Nobody ever criticized Anna. Nobody but you. So you were pigeonholed into the role of antagonist for it. You had to give her credit; growing up on the receiving end of her and Theresa's torture was a compelling villain origin story.

It was obvious that she only wanted you at her wedding to present her with an obstacle. Heaven forbid her story progress without some semblance of petty drama out of her control. She'd cornered you into a painful catch-22; you wanted vengeance, but you couldn't give her the satisfaction of having her special day ruined. What was your play? Ruin it just a little? Walk away?

These thoughts passed through your mind as you sat through the boring ceremony. You wanted to lean over and whisper everything to Hannibal, but he seemed lost in his own thoughts. The vows seemed to drag on forever. Liam's English accent grated on your ears and you wished that he would just shut the hell up.

The ceremony concluded and you hoped to skip out on the reception with a purse full of mini cannolis, but fate had other plans. In a last-minute reach for some kind of scene, the blushing bride waved you over to the head table.

"[F/N]!" Anna shouted, with a big smile across her face. "Come on!"

You fought the urge to feel endeared by this. She looked too happy to be harmful. Your guard was all the way up as you and Hannibal approached the table.

Hannibal pulled a seat out for you while you studied Anna's expression. She fixed her doe eyes on Hannibal. You knew from experience that Anna had the same powerlust as grandma and Theresa. She was just better at keeping a lid on it.

"[F/N], you remember Liam?" Anna said, her voice brimming with excitement.

"Yeah." You nodded, scooting your chair up. "Nice to see you again, Liam."

"Good to see you again, too [F/N]."

"Liam is from Birmingham." She bragged, her smile somehow growing wider.

"Alabama?" You piped up before taking a drink from your water glass.

Every time you were forced to interact with Liam, she reminded you that the man with the strong and unmistakable English accent, was in fact from England. And every time, you slipped in the Alabama comment. It was never not funny.

"Liam, Anna," you said. "This is my fiance, Dr. Hannibal Lecter."

"Many congratulations to you two." Hannibal offered.

"Dr. Lecter, thank you so much for coming." Anna returned. "And thank you for taking such good care of our precious [F/N]. I hope she's not giving you too much trouble. She was quite a handful growing up, but we made it work."

"Don't flatter yourself, you're only four years older than me." You hide your passive-aggressive jab beneath a smile. "You can't take credit for a job you didn't do."

Grandma always thought Anna's protective, borderline maternal behavior towards you was adorable. Of course, it disgusted you. You were little more than an accessory to her. A baby doll she could simulate motherhood with. But, in fairness to her, that was all you were to the adult in the house too. Monkey see, monkey do.

"So have you two set a date yet?" Grandma interrupted your thoughts, just trying to keep the tension down.

"Goodness, no." Hannibal answered. "Ours is a long-term engagement."

"Yeah." You added. "Not until I finish school."

"Well, it's not my fault you aren't expected to graduate on time." Grandma said into her wine.

You tightened your grip on your water glass. "Well, changing your major halfway through will do that."

"I'm just saying," Grandma continued. Whenever she was 'just saying' anything, you knew she was raring to stir things up. "If you had just stayed the engineering track, you wouldn't have to keep Hannibal waiting."

"Well!" Anna cut in, offended that the attention was off her for more than a minute. "Liam and I waited until after college."

"Yes, Anna," Grandma said dismissively, before turning back to you. "Y'know, Dr. Lecter here could probably tell you that psychologically speaking, women are more likely to drop out of college and become strippers when they change their majors?"

Now it was Hannibal's turn to down his entire glass of wine. "Ms. [L/N], where did you get that information?"

"Oh, it was an article I found on Facebook." Grandma answered. "I'll have [F/N] send you a link."

"Ms. [L/N]," Hannibal cleared his throat. "Are you familiar with the concept of misinformation?"

"Of course." She looked offended at the implication that she could possibly not know something.

"See, social media websites like Facebook are inundated with misinformation campaigns." Hannibal explained. "Your claim is not rooted in any psychological fact."

"Yeah, also," You cut in. You scanned the area for escape routes if your attempt to change the subject went awry. "There's a wonderful documentary about how Facebook misinformation campaigns targeted rural counties in England leading up to the Brexit vote."

"Oh, we have a funny story about Brexit." Anna interrupted, taking the bait, hook line and sinker.

Before she could recount the same boring anecdote about being at some regional chain restaurant when the vote was cast, Theresa and her husband joined the table.

"Sorry we're late," Theresa sat down. "Damage control is a twenty-four hour job. What were we talking about?"

"Misinformation." Liam said.

"Perfect timing." You muttered.

"Finally, all three of my girls are together again." Grandma threw her head back and rejoiced. "When was the last time we all got together? Just us four girls, huh?"

"Remember the day before prom, we all went out go get manicures?" Anna reminisced. "And we took pictures of us all dressed up?"

"Oh I remember." You scanned the area for any alcohol to ingest.

"Oh, this is so funny." Grandma laughed hysterically. "Dr. Lecter, did you hear this story? [F/N] went to the prom with a boy who had all along been using her to get close to Theresa! They got together that night! Dated for two whole years after that."

"I've heard an iteration of it." He said, looking over his shoulder. He flagged down a waiter who was holding a bottle of champagne. "Leave the bottle, please."

"Don't drink too much, [F/N]." Anna scolded. "Save some alcohol for the rest of us."

You made sure to maintain eye contact with her as you filled your flute to capacity. "Grandma's paying, isn't she?"

"Anna, baby," Grandma said, rubbing her temples. "It's fine. Let [F/N] drink herself silly. It's a party, right?"

"Wow," Theresa sneered. You knew exactly what she was going to say next. "Like mother, like daughter."

Everyone at the table had enough decorum to recognize that Theresa went too far. You crushed the champagne flute in your grip, letting shards of glass dig into your skin. You glared at Theresa, blood oozing from your palm and dripping onto the white tablecloth.

Wordlessly, Hannibal removed the offending glass from your hand and swaddled the affected area in a napkin. He put pressure on the cut, letting the blood absorb into the cloth.

"Is this the famed '[L/N] woman telepathy'?" Liam whispered to Anna.

"No, [F/N] is just mad because her mother was a drunk who killed herself." Anna thought she was being inconspicuous.

"This has been fun." You stand up from the table. "Really. Great way to spend a Saturday."

"[F/N], sit down..." Grandma ordered, sounding exhausted. "You know Theresa didn't mean that."

"No." You said, each syllable out of her mouth pushing you a step closer to your breaking point. "Y'know what? No. I don't have to put up with this anymore. Anna, congratulations. I hope you and Liam have many long years together."

You turned around to exit as quietly as you could, Hannibal at your side. Your grandmother, who somehow hadn't hit her daily allotted dose of confrontation, wouldn't have it.

"Dr. Lecter, tell [F/N] she's being unreasonable." Grandma pleaded.

Hannibal raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise. In his long-spanning career, he'd never once met a person as tone-deaf as Beatrice [L/N]. He kept his quiet composure as he slowly approached the table.

"Beatrice," he said, beckoning her to lean in. He whispered something into her ear that left her stunned and quaking.

You could hear your grandmother's hysterical sobs growing softer as Hannibal hurried you out.

"Keep pressure on that cut, love." He instructed, talking over the increasingly loud shouts of agony from the head table. "You'll need a few stitches."

Once you were far enough from the venue, you had to ask. "What on earth did you say to her?"

"Nothing that you don't already know." He answered, facing forward.