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coline7373 · 2 years

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"I think you will be needing this..."

There was a time in fandom where people used to make tons of rec lists of their favorite fics. I discovered a lot of great fics this way! I decided to make my own, to treat my codywan fever.

I hope it helps people discover, or re-discover, some amazing fics.

So! For your reading pleasure, here are some of my favourite codywan fics, out there. They aren't all here, because we have been blessed with a lot of great fics for this ship, but I have definively loved all of those.

Good reading!!!

Canon compliant

illicit affairs

Rex catch Cody and Obi-Wan in flagrante delicto and has a lot of feelings about it. Not positive ones. He feels it threaten his brother's life and... well, he's not wrong is he?

But love, between brothers, between a commander and his general can sometimes stronger than risks or reasons.

Painfull but amazing.

It happens during the war and ends during it too, so you don't know what will ultimately happens in this world. Do they make it? You don't know. I didn't put it in canon divergence because, aside from the fact it's codywan, nothing contradict it being canon compliant.

Canon -or not- is not the point, though. The point is the love story of Cody and Obi-Wan, as seen through Rex's eyes.

But love, between brothers, between a commander and his general can sometimes stronger than risks or reasons.

Painfull but amazing.

an injury to one

deniigiq is one fo those authors whose codywan's I just can't get enough of. That weird assholes hyperarticulate characterisation is just... XD I don't know. I love it!

The troopers make a discovery of the fiscal variety, which causes them to realize that they may have more in common with the jedi than they previously thought.

The Jedi Order is a charitable religious order. Ergo, they aren't getting paid. They get 'some' stipends but with the war, they are quickly reaching the point of untenability. Don't worry, they've got a plan.

It's told mostly from from Fox's POV which I love because 1. I love codywan as told from an outside POV 2. I love Fox.

I just love him. He has so much happening to him. He is so nihilistic, deadpan and done. Yet, he never let it twist him or give up because he love his brothers and won't let them flounders. Also, he may or may not have acquired a crush on that impossible kriffar jedi.

Warning for exploitation, money, off-screen non graphic child death and clone troopers deshumanization. Jedi Order and jedi lineage fuckery. Clone commanders fuckery. Grogu briefly shows up. Fox's buir instincts are now activated. Previously, he was of the opinion jedi could sink or swim on their own not anymore. He got this.

Canon divergence

The Art of Happenstance *

Cody and Obi-Wan co-parent a lightsaber. Force Bond. I think it saves Cody from Order 66? It ends on a cliffhanger but it's hopefull.

Funny and fantastic.

Hope

The Clone Wars are the backdrop to a quiet and fragile love between a general and a clone commander.

Listen. Listen. I cannot even begin to tell you how beautifull and delicate their love feels in this fic. It's like picking up a piece of art made out of gossamerish light.

It's poetic. It's splendid. It's quiet, discreet and personnal, like the feelings of these private men. It ties up kind of quickly to give a happy ending despite Order 66 still being carried out, but it's everything that get you there that matters.

Stunning.

The Loneliest Human Boy in the Jedi Temple

Rather than let Boba go to jail, Obi-Wan adopts him.

It's told from Boba POV, which is very interesting. I love TCW period stories featuring Boba!

And it deals with Boba confronting his father's death, being adopted by a jedi to avoid jail despite the fact his father hated jedi, dealing with what's he's done to get revenge on Mace, learning to see maybe the clones as more than things, and starting to accept that if clones are not things, then his father was wrong. What he did was wrong.

Boba has to recon with a thousand things, decide what's moral or what's not and has no one he trusts to guide him without feeling like he's betraying the only parent he has ever loved. At eleven.

Boba's disregard of clones is wrong. But when you look at all he has going on and what handicap he started out with, you cannot help but feel for him.

I feel like Boba is Dudley, the Dursley are Jango, the clones are Harry and I'm Dumbledore in the Dursley's living room at the start of book 6, shaking my head. In the end, you can only pity Boba a bit and love him and be sadden by the damages Jango did to Boba out of selfish, blind love.

No Order 66

These Things Happen

Obi-wan Kenobi keeps promoting Cody because giving him courting gifts as his superior officer would be Wrong. The promotions gets out of hand, and it somehow save the universe.

When Duty is Done - serie

Post-War: settling the matter of Clones Rights, Jedi Order Reforms, Force Philosophy, inter-jedi conflicts that were put off during the war, PTSD, healing, preparing a new planet to become the clones' home, clones culture exploration which is rooted in, but not, mandalorian's culture and, of course, getting together and settling in a relationship for Cody and Obi-Wan.

Loved it!!!! Cody is MVP. Maul is there, with Yaddle, and I'm here for it. Bant, where have you been? Chirrut is my Force Follower idol. Feemor is there as more than a footnote on Qui-Gon's history and it's amazing.

Basically, all the explorations of lives for the clones and jedi and Force Users you could possibly want in a No-Order 66 post-war setting.

Listen. Some works that are the work: Remedial Jedi Theology, Luminous, Prince With a Thousand Enemies, Open Skies ...

This is the one for No-Order 66 post-war Codywan, ex-aequo with sunshine and the shade of poetry.

sunshine and the shade of poetry

I have so much love for this fic.

The war comes to an abrupt end, and everyone around Cody begins the long road to recovery and discovery. Cody, on the other hand, just needs to find a new job. Unfortunately, he has no idea which one to pick.

First, No-Order 66 post-war Codywan is my absolute favorite type of codywan.

Second, everything. But more seriously, Codywan is often written in a such a way that Cody's life revolve around Obi-Wan's life. He settle in the Temple to live with Obi-Wan, he helps Obi-Wan deal with Anakin's meltdown/death/leaving the Order, he takes one of the job the jedi have made for the vode so he can work with Obi-Wan...

Do you see where I am going with this?

It's all about Obi-Wan. And while it can be fun to read if it's not pushed to its absolute, this type of unequal relationship, where one dedicate their entire life to the other, makes my skin crawl. Funnily enough, it's also 80% of the time the POC in that role when it's about an interracial couple. And I just - can't.

Here, Cody is his own person.

He had a life before Obi-Wan, he has one now beside Obi-Wan, and he will have one still, after, independantly from the love of his life. You can love someone as much as the galaxy is wide and still have love for your own separate life, your own friends, your own interests, goals, journey...

Basically, after the war, Cody says fuck it to any kind of military job and set out to 'find himself'. He doesn't know what it will look like and all his brothers mock him gently, and a bit worriedly, as they leave him in the dust by settling into their own civilian lives, since they don't have the same kind of hang-up he does.

But, by the Force, he is going to figures out who he is and what he wants, aside from the jedi, aside from the GAR, aside from even his own brothers, if it kills him. The 'situation' with General Kenobi will just have to wait until then.

Imagine that. Wanting to be sure of who you are, what you want and the kind of life you want before entering a relationship. Wanting to be certain of yourself, first. Especialy in a relationship where you didn't have the same power status before.

An excellent look at Cody, at the commanders, at the clones, at a post-war life in the Republic. Bly, Alpha-17 and Wolffe just shot me through the heart. It is now my headcanon that Bly is short for Butterfly for... reasons.

Find out by reading it.

And as if that wasn't enough, there's a short sequel with Alpha 17 written by deniigiq. It's the gift that keep on giving.

in our hearts some ancient song

Or: Cody finds Fives first. There are galactic consequences.

It was touch and go for a moment but happy endings guys! Thrill and anxiety abounds beforehand. Temple shenanigans. Force's engineering. The chips get activated earlier than canon but they make it through!

Worth a Thousand Words

Lol! Post-War, the clones didn't get much instructions in how to approach someone romantically. Someone suggest Cody try to send a dick pic to Obi-Wan. Somehow, it works, but not the way you expect.

This is so great! I was howling with laughers and cringing in sympathic embarrassement. Poor Cody!

This, too, was a gift

After the Rako Hardeen mission, Obi-Wan suffers a complete nervous breakdown, kills all the Sith in a way he feels violate everything he is and stands for, then fall into a severe depressive fugue.

Meanwhile, the Republic tries to reconstruct. The clones take what is owe to them and try to settle on a new planet, figure out who they are outside the War, serving the Republic and the jedi, while looking for their missing savior.

Obi-Wan is really, really depressed here and dissociated from reality for a while so, beware. Yaddle is MVP. A great look into the clones culture. The Sith problem get resolved pretty quickly. The story is about what come after and how you deal with having done what you had to do in a time of war.

This I Vow

Cody and Obi-Wan gets married for a mission. Somehow, it saves the universe.

Healthy . Adults . Communication. Please and thank you!

When We Were Young

After the war, Cody dedicated himself to his brothers: their rights, their protection, their well-beings, their lives...

He knows Obi-Wan has dedicated himself to the Order, but he hasn't seen him long enough to talk about it.

Thought now they are going on a joint mission once more, maybe that's about to change...

(hit me) with your heart

The one where Cody walks in on Obi-Wan in an intimate situation, and that ends up changing their relationship and the future of the galaxy.

Porn With Plot. Spanking. Kink exploration Safe, Sane and Consensual. It saves most of the galaxy. Rolls with it. Amazing exploration of sexuality and consent. Glimmerglanger doing the Lord's sexy work, as always. The plot is actually there and great!

the turning fork

Anakin doesn't fall, but he and Padme don't keep custody of Luke and Leia. Anakin tries to grapple with the consensual loss of his children while trying to stay in their lives. Meanwhile, someone murders a senator.

Amazing! Fantastic. The feelings... The reflection on choices and morality and parenthood and the choices one made about their lives and the ones they are going to make in the future to live a life they want to live.

Leia has Anakin's bad temper and the Organa love her but are a bit overwhelmed. Luke is his sweet self, being raised by weirdoes assholes Cody & Obi-Wan in space Scottland Stewjon. Yes, Obi-Wan left the Order to raise Luke in peace. He gets Cody as a bonus, since the man is now Luke's dad and Obi-Wan is lucky he's sharing.

A Different Perspective

Obi-Wan, Cody, the war, and a bunch of men and boys who have never gotten to choose things for themselves before, as seen through Dex's eyes.

Guys... Guys... *sob*

Finders Keepers *

Your soulmate finds everything you lose.

Obi-Wan has never had a soulmate of his own to lose things to before. Now, he's picking up things and wonders who they belong to.

Cody’s never been sure if the things he finds belong to his soulmate. If he even has one.

Anakin is contantly losing things but it somehow save the Universe because Padme take good care of them.

Fox and Bly and Bail and Breha and Bant and Kit and Boil and Waxer... all the others are there too.

chronic condition

Post War. Obi-Wan has epilepsy and it's tied to his prescience. Cody want Kix to investigate. Because they are weirdos assholes and he doesn't want to ask Obi-Wan outright. But also because he respects his privacy too much to make him talk about it. You know, they are only boyfriends. Don't won't to push boundaries too much, there. He's not a savage. Lol. Cody, you weirdo....

It was so good. So goooood... There was already the interesting part where clones don't ride into the sunset with jedi. They, too, chafe against their perception of jedi-superiority, so a lot of them choose something different than "move in the Temple and dedicate their lives to their jedi generals and jedi work". Which I love.

But, you know, I think this, it's a more realistic take and a more equal footing, long-term, than the unbalanced "clones devoted to jedi". Also, variety is always a special treat for the reader. At least it is for me. You could gave me a thousand of different headcanons, if it's well done, I'm on board!

And this one... The clones, the brotherhood/friendship amongst clones, Cody's backstory, the jedi, the post-war, the medical investigation, the Force/Jedi Order worldbuilding,.... What can I say? Save for a few fics with some of my NOTP/squicks, everything deniigiq has ever written just delight me and blow me away.

your atomic god *

The code of a clone is a simple thing: you were made to die for the Republic, for the Jedi. Make the most of the time you have before that.

Clone culture: seeded by mandalorian culture, but not the same. Introspection and identities issues: Cody ponders a lot about what it means to be a clone and who he is. Cody is super smart and cares a lot for his brothers. It has shaped my understanding of Cody.

Obi-Wan and Cody fell in love because they have actually a lot in common. Obi-Wan's lightsaber is playing matchmaker. This somehow save the universe.

Wrong Side of the Night

Is there a limit to how many fics by glimmerglanger I can rec?

*check magic eight ball* "My sources say no."

Cody has a very bad day, both he and Obi-Wan choose a less than ideal ways to handle the situation, and they have a long conversation about it the next morning.

Ouch. Like, ouch. Yet. Beware: Unjust treatement of the clones (not by Obi-Wan). Unhealthy emotional response. Impulsively angry sex. Dub-con. As-in, Cody's actions are driven by anger that has overtaken his reason and Obi-Wan's are driven by maladaptative reponse to a lifetime of traumatic environnement.

But, it's codywan, guys. So, once everyone has cooled-off: communication! Care and self-care! Trust! Support!

This fic was particularly impactful for me for personal reasons but I think it's powerfull, full-stop. You can love each other very much and still not act well towards each other. Beware of purity/cancel culture. People are failible and, at some point, they are going to fuck up.

But One: they are both harmed by the action they both perpetrated. No villain and blameless victim here. Two: once they have messed up, they both recognise their own part it it, apologise and commit to corrective actions.

This is what a good relationship look like, even with the slip up. This is what you can trust because of the slip up. They don't have to be perfect with the other all the time, because they know they can get through it and improve. The codywan is strong in this one.

I'm Not Safe Outside Your Arms

This is probably the most anguished fic you can find about a No-Order 66. But it has a happy ending!

Basically, and without spoiling it too much, the jedi do kill Palpatine but Darth Sidious continues to inflict pain, sorrow and suffering on the galaxy from beyond the grave.

Obi-Wan, of course, shoulders the whole of it but so do the vode. You're really horrified for Obi-Wan, but you feel for the 212th attack battalion: brave, strong and loyal to the end.

They should be free, they should be safe, for the first time of their lives. Their brothers are! But they aren't. And they choose it, because some choice, no matter how grim and terrifying, are no choice at all.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone love everyone and no one is giving up. Get ready.

There Was Only One Bed

Make Your Bed (Lie in It)

They have to share a sleeping bag for cold weather reasons. Then, they just keep sharing. Yeah, Cody, we're onto you. Go through Order 66 with open-ended fix-it.

room for two

Cody and Obi-Wan are on an undercover mission, and for some reason, they have to pretend to be married. It appears that the pining will increase exponentially for the next week.

Not really a mission fic, since it's all about the trope. But it's there to put a "background" to all the small spaces sharing and there's even a tiny bit of action. It was funny and good and I enjoyed it a lot.

Warning for those who, like me, don't think the Code preclude relationships. Obi-Wan presents it like it does in the fic, but that he chose Cody anyway. I disagree. The problem is not relationship but the kind of relationship and how it impact the choices you make, your work, your committement. My headcanon for jedi/civilian relationship and their consequences/risks/problems is 70% like it is in Remedial Jedi Theology, which I recommend to everyone.

It's alright, it doesn't take off from it. It's mean to be this side of crackish, fun read, which it is, so I don't feel the need to split hair about interpretation of the Code. I just want to mention it for those who feel strongly about it. If it bothers you, you can stop at the end of chapter two. It's still great and can be read as finished at this point.

Crack

Classified

Obi-Wan goes undercover. Cody takes some calls. These two facts are absolutely not related.

Funny as shit!

First Choice

The AU where the clones get to pick their generals and Obi-Wan is, once again, left feeling unwanted. But is he really?

Warnings: Obi-Wan has Self Esteem Issues. This is still funny and the whole pagentry/tests clones make the jedi go through to pick and choose their general was gold.

The Trouble With Tookas

Never trust somebody a tooka dislikes.

It started with a fanart and end up with tookas as Sith detector. It's great. Sheevie is regretting everything.

*The ones about Cody and Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan's lightsaber

Your Life In My Hands

OR, the one where a lightsaber really is a Jedi's life.

Temporary character's death. Under 5 000 words, but by all that is good and holy, does glimmerglanger make it counts.

Like, damn. Plus, jedi and saber lore. Must Read.

Mission Fic

Standard Operating Procedures

The 212th run into a dark acolyte who curse them with a love spell. Roll with it, it's amazing.

It's actually mission fic, or more like case fic. They are working hard to find out how to break the spell and why some brothers are affected and some are not. It's great!

Rapture

Mission fic! Yay! Biological warfare, intelligence gathering, city infiltration, plot against jedi, temporary depowerment that won't keep Obi-Wan down, Competent Cody ftw, with art...

This fic has it all!

parallelogram

Obi-Wan fakes his death and Cody works through every stage of grief. He eventually decides that he's going to fuck his way out of the depression pit and finds himself falling in love with this handsome Mandalorian who he just keeps meeting.

Obi-Wan dies and Cody is out of all the fuck to give. First, he spirals. Then, he says screw the universe. He treat himself. He looks for sex. He undermines all the unworthy incompetent natborns officers. He take on Boba's gardienship, who is not in space jail at 11 but was up to this point under Mace's supervision. Ponds is very relieved.

He will crawl out of this depressive hole or die trying.

Smuggled In

NO ORDER 66. But, also Mission Fic. And I think it's more about the Mission than the fact it happens in a No Order 66's world, thought I love it and I'm gratefull for it.

Cody and some of the 212th get captured by smugglers, and nothing is quite what it seems to be.

Hahaha! I love this one! Cody is always blaming the shit that happens to the 212th on Obi-Wan and now the joke is on him because it went completely off the rails pretty early and the jedi is nowhere near where the action is happening. Or, is he?

Asexuality

Hedgehog's Dilemma

Cody is in love with Obi-Wan and determined to court him. Obi-Wan is interested in Cody but not sex. Cody has no idea what to make with that. They try to figure it out.

a lesson in attachment

Obi-Wan has never been enough. It's okay. The Force loves him anyway. And so does Cody.

Touching and, as greyS/Ace myself, it resonated.

Mpreg

A Slow Fall Towards Grace

I cannot even begin to tell you how much this fic touch me. Obi-Wan is an omega, though it's not a traditional depiction of A/B/O.

It keeps screwing him over thorough his life and the sex he ends up having despite himself is not funny. Read the tags. Obi-Wan is ignorant of how much people want him, but considering it's not because he's this bastion of Mary-Sue perfection, but because the alphas around him are knot-heads who excuse their poor behaviors and selfishness with their hormones, it doesn't read that way.

Cody is amazing. Obi-Wan is the Force's chew toy and beloved son at the same time. Loved it.

1861 c.100 s.60

Obi-Wan gets pregnant during the war and decides that the obvious course of action is constant and brazen denial.

Obi-Wan is a weird asshole. Cody is weirder. They are the perfect couple.

Anakin cannot deal with them because the twins came early and he doesn't have the time anymore. Listen, he doesn't even have time for Palpatine anymore...

Lol! Screwing with Sheevie. Clones fuckery. Adorable grumpy she-tubie. Codywan being the perfect assholes we know them to be and furiously in love. All the feels and pettily satisfying.

for every loved child

The one where new father Cody reckons with many of the anxieties and traumas of his past and gets some much delayed comfort.

Or how glimmerglanger managed to make me cry in less than 4 000 words.

It's not so much a mpreg fic, but a new parents fic. A late-night breastfeeding session reveals a lot of buried and current feelings, thoughts and issues. There's much pain, but it's all surrounded by intimacy, love and warmth. It's like hiding under the blanket with your SO and shading cathartic tears. Amazing.

Post-Order 66

I hate Order 66. I don't want to read fics about it. Some authors are just too good, though.

Haunt Me, Then

Fix-It, as much as possible. CC-2224 becomes Cody again and will die trying to make up killing his General and jedi, even if it kills him.

Heartwrenching.

We Build Our Empire From Ruins And Smoke

The Republic is dead and the Empire's throne is empty, and Fox will be damned if he lets anyone claim it.

Basically, post-order 66, the clones come back online and since everything they worked, die for and cared about is dead or gone, the gloves are off.

Come with prequels and sequels, it's actually a whole serie. No dialogue. Anakin is dead. Palpatine dies. Clones-centric.

Not something I agree with irl, because it's when democracy is threaten you should work twice as hard to secure it. But since it's fiction and the general canon sense we get of politicians and regular population confronted with Order 66 is that they either don't care or agree, it's pretty fine with me.

First Sight

For Cody, it's love at first sight. From Kamino to Tatooine, it lives inside him.

A Treatise on Breaking and Repairs

Warning: whumpfest. Great satisfaction at the end, though.

Three years post-Order 66, Obi-Wan get captured by Vader. Rape and torture ensue. The 212th, under the chips' control, are there for it all. In the end, Anakin gets his just dessert. Our boys make free.

But while you can make free from a place, you cannot free yourself from the horrors visited upon your soul that easily.

the boat that would row you back

Or, after Obi-Wan vanish it front of Vader on the Death Star, Vader decides he didn't get the proper fight he deserves and send CC-2224 in the underworld to bring Obi-Wan back.

Of course, nothing is that easy.

The Carbon Cycle

Obi-Wan decide to try to grow flowers on Tatooine to heal himself. CC-2224 is having dreams about the General he supposedly kills. Somehow, it save the both of them.

I'm a whore for dreamsharing fic. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love it. This fic... this fic is cleansing and healing and touching and beautifull. I loved it!

A Whim, A Desire

OK, this one doesn't hurt. Much.

Three years after Order 66, Vader finds an artifact that allows him to create his perfect dream world within the Force. However, he finds that maintaining this world is impossible without someone living inside it at all times. He throws in everyone he can from his past life, including CC-2224.

Obi-Wan fell asleep on Tatooine and wake up in his dreams in the perfect life.

But illusion is not reality and when the seems of the dream start to show, Cody and Obi-Wan will fight to make their dream a reality.

Both Cody and Obi-Wan think the other is an illusion, and so they are free and honest with each other. What they built is lovely. Vader show up like the Lord of the House but it allows Obi-Wan to play out his fantasies of still being able to talk to Anakin and being part of his life.

It doesn't ends in Yay! We saved the Universe and kills Sidious/Vader. Just - Cody, saving himself and those he can along the way.

Fantasic imaginings. Make you wish it could have happen, if Anakin hadn't ruined everything by becoming Vader. Vader's frustrations of people and things eluding his 'absolute sithly control' is hilarious, sad and the source of endless failures on his part. Thankfully.

diogenes (what makes a man?)

Cody, grappling with identity, purpose and what it means to be a brother.

Cody-centric. From Kamino to Tatooine. Lot of clones. Lot of feels and introspection. Most Dies But Some Lives.

Listen, I'm of the die hard opinion that if Cody's chip fail during the Empire, no matter when or how, he would not rest until he has saved all the brothers he can save. This is the same characterisation here.

|free the hearts and rust the chains|

There aren't many clones left in the Imperial Army. (...) Zhade-Ran doesn't trust her two bunkmates. Although perhaps not for the reasons she should.

I love stories being told from an excellently done OC. Here, we've got two troopers who want to desert and two clones who shake the chips' control after years of being under and deign for the natborns to join them on their way out. Now, all they need to do is find a way to get in touch with the Rebellion.

Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Elegant Weapon *

Cody is Force Sensitive. Obi-Wan teach him how to fight with a lightsaber. It doesn't save the universe, but at least it saves Cody. It's great! I promise Cody is still Cody and not changed into a zen jedi. He can just... feels the Force.

set the bones straight

Purge Trooper CC-2224 is an extremely efficient jedi killer. He will find them all. All of them. Even the one from his dreams.

Pffffiuuuu. Don't look into this one for Cody's softening influence on CC-2224 or breaking out of the chip's influence by the sheer force of Will and Morality. This is straight-up Purge Trooper. Happy ending, though. Sort of. As much as can be in Post-Order 66.

Recollection

CC-2224 malfunctions. The Empire tries to wipe him into working order. Cody is not letting them.

Or, Eternal Sunshine of the Reconditioned Mind. *bawl my eyes out* Codyyyy!!!!

|to failure, sweet victor|

The chip malfunction enough for Cody to seek out and join Obi-Wan on Tatooine. The chips function enough for CC-2224 to tries to kill that traitor Kenobi whenever he's online.

They make it work.

one meal at a time

Cody and Obi-Wan's love story, as told through food. This is so chokefull of love...

Errr... Order 66 fuck me up. I don't get why I put so many of them there. I guess it's popular amongst writers? And I can bend my likes/dislikes when the writing is that good. Curse you, good writers!

Home, A Place You've Never Been

Cody's chip fails. Cody dreams of Tatooine. Cody gets to Tatooine. Now that he's there, he must heal and tame Ben Kenobi, whose wounds on his soul make him the kindest not-jedi. But also depressed, weary and wary as hell.

Excellent. Obi-Wan is very oblivious. Then, in the three sequels, very happy. As much as can be post-Order 66.

The Raephen's Gifts

It's happy! Cody and Obi-Wan obviously make it through Order 66 and the Empire, along with some clones and jedi, and the Republic and the Jedi Order are restored to the galaxy.

But it's all alluded to only very briefly in the background. Basicaly, now that the galaxy is at peace once more, old married couple codywan get on a week long retreat on a peacefull planet in Wild Space where they are sure they won't be bothered or called.

They sleep, eat fish and maybe meet some Force entities along the way.

Just... old codywan, with disabilities, having a week of rest and healing. Chilling. It's everything I wish for them in a post-Order 66 era.

AUs I Cannot Help But Read

AUs, as in, change the Star Wars Universe, not the events of canon.

Listen, I hate when SF is not SF. But, again, some authors are just too good and they make it work.

Vampire AU serie

Yes. Really. Don't run for the hills! It's not your Twilight Romance. Everything is the same. Obi-Wan is just of a specie called Vampire because, you know, they drink blood as part of their diet.

And since it's Star Wars: Space Racism! Yay!

This somehow makes the Clone Wars both better and worse.

Sort of Vampirism? Its not the story

I put it there because in this sort-of supernatural AU, Force users drink blood.

But really, the story is about how Cody and Obi-Wan get trapped in a lost jedi Temple, how they must join forces to make it out, and how the ensuing unshakable trust help them deal with post-Order 66.

It was great. I love lost jedi Temple fic! I could read millions of them.

Commander Cody and Star Wars’ actual Disney princess

Obi-Wan, the prince in his high tower, is not waiting for a rescue. Cody is the not-knight interested in rescuing him.

I shit you not. Magic is used instead of the Force, but everything is very recognisable and the story is great! Lot of Cody's brothers are there.

Zombies

A stunning mission fic, 64 000 words long, where the Separatist experiment biological warefare on a neutral planet and the 212th get caught in the middle.

Down to less than a hundred soldiers, they must fight an entire planet for their survival. Buckle up! Clones Wars Plots! Zombies Nightmares! With sequel!

I cannot stress enough how much you need it. If you like action, this is the fic for you.

Sith Obi-Wan

Really not my kind fic. I headcanon the very bone of Obi-Wan personality as selfless. And to be Sith is rooted in selfishness.

Imcompatible in its essence. Does not work.

In this fic, it works. Sith Empire, so it explains Obi-Wan being Sith. Unexpected kind of A/B/O. Warning for Obi-Wan/212th battalion. The codywan is there and ready to do damage. Revenge ahead. Less than 6000 words, maximum impact.

Glimmerglanger strikes again. It was great.

Dark Sider Obi-Wan

Not to be confused: Obi-Wan is not a Sith there.

He is an ex-padawan who left the Order to fight a war for children against adults, then joined another war, then another war and another and another...

By the time he realised he strayed from the Light, he has cease to care about it. He is good at war and they always say if you're good at something, you should be paid for it. A galactic war may be the peak of his career, if it wasn't such a strange war. It doesn't quite make sense, and Obi-Wan's weakness is definitively curiosity.

Meanwhile, Commander Cody has it with this dark sider ruining things. He may be a fearsome separatist general, but Cody is no light weight himself. If the man is going to drop gauntlets left and right, than Cody is going to damn well one pick one himself.

Let's see who is the better fighter and strategic mastermind.

Always-A-Girl-Obi-Wan

Funerary practices? Master Ti writes back. I’m not sure what you mean, Master Kenobi. Used biomass is the property of Kamino and thus is recycled into the cloning process.

So that’s how the revolution begins—with dead brothers, but not the way you might expect.

Obi-Wan is still Obi-Wan. You might as well read this as Canon Divergence. But fandom readers will always has the fear of Mary Sue, I think, so I prefered to put the fact that it's Lady Wan at the foreground.

It's great. It's so freaking great... The 212th are all a little bit in love with Obi-Wan. Cody definitively is. Obi-Wan has nightmares and decide she's done with this shit. She's going to take her clones and stage a strike. See how the Senate like that! Ha!

Lol. If anyone ever make a fanart of Lady Wan as a pinup for ship's nose art, please, please, send me the link! Warnings for cloneship in the background.

Time Travel

while the world still turns

Cody touch an artefact in a jedi Temple and is sent at various point of Obi-Wan's life. All the codywan feels. Of course, it's going to save the Universe!

Fire to ash, present to past (who knows for tomorrow?)

Obi-Wan is fifteen again, things are different, people are confused, but maybe there's something good at the end of the path

Obi-Wan is the Force chew toy and beloved son at the same time. Obi-Wan has PTSD. Qui-Gon is confused. Listen, you don't get much more than "Obi-Wan get back in his old body". That's it. That's the whole fic.

The whole thing is about landing in a different time with undealt with traumas and finally dealing. Why put it on this codywan rec list, then? Ah, I'm not gonna spoil you, now, am I? You will just have to read for yourself.

The Suns Swing East

Over and over, Obi-Wan woke up and wished he hadn't. Palpatine wouldn't stop until Obi-Wan had Fallen (...)

He couldn't save himself (...) What he hadn't realized was that didn't mean there was no way to be saved.

Time-Loop!!! Palpatine realise Obi-Wan can kick Anakin's ass and decide he is the one he wants as his apprentice. Then, with sith powers, he tries his best to break him.

Obi-Wan is at the end of his rope. He has lived through many lives, all of them horrible, all of them failures. At this point, he wished he could join the Force. Seriously. Depression. Suicide attempt. The work. But Obi-Wan isn't alone. And those who love him will save him. And the Universe along the way.

Die Sheevie, die.

A heartfelt thanks to @glimmerglanger @deniigi @nightfoliage @lttrsfrmlnrrgby @galateagalvanized @esamastation @wanderingjedihistorian @nerjetii @petrichordiam @someawkwardprose @trixree @andthepeople

(The other authors either had no tumblr handle put on their ao3 profile, or their pseudo didn't work when I tried to @ at them. I thank them anyway, and all those whose codywan fics I have loved but not put there. Thank you.)

#obi wan kenobi #commander cody #star wars #clone wars #the clone wars #codywan #codywan fic rec #codywan fic #sw fic rec #fic reccomendations #fic recc #fic rec #fanfic rec

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solar8331 · 1 month

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What made u like chaluggie so much?

OKAY LONG ANSWER SO HERE’S A TLDR

TL;DR I like chaluggie bc I’m a dirty angst/drama lover also multishipper also it’s gay and cute and I totally see a working dynamic between the three. Also I’m a sucker for redemption esp for characters like Lute…

Long version:

Some backstory is that I started out in the fandom scene making tiktoks, posting chaggie content mostly. Then one day, as I was going through my sounds, trying to find a good one for chaggie, I stumbled upon a sound where I thought wasn’t quite chaggie. But I still wanted to post chaggie, so I added Lute as the other person. I was like hm… what if… luggie was a thing (since Vaggie is gay and Lute and her had SOME sort of tension going on…) Anyways, it was all fun and games until I was three tiktoks in realizing it in fact was not just a funny HC I have of luggie being exes. I very much ship the two. Toxic yuri ftw.

Here is said TT btw:

So I ended up making a sad backstory for Lute and how she would have done anything for Vaggie to survive Adam’s wrath for letting a sinner go… including hurting Vaggie herself. What was the question again? Oh yeah. AT THIS POINT, I have been making this OTHER AU I had we will call it the EX!AU where it’s just Exorcist!Vaggie x Emo!Charlie.

For that story, Charlie had (accidentally) caused Vaggie to fall and ultimately lose her eye and wings. It’s an enemies to lovers angsty story. (I promise this has everything to do with chaluggie) Anyways, in one of the arcs, Lute kidnaps Vaggie to Heaven and while talking about it with my friend, I made Lute secretly a softy with a tough exterior. When Charlie stormed Heaven to take Vaggie back, Lute feigned an injury so they could both get away. Vaggie noticed this and was immediately worried for Lute’s safety. After all, they used to fuck in Heaven. (It’s how they bond)

My friend and I were then talking about making Lute experience the Hell Vaggie had told her so much about and decided to make a spinoff series of the AU where she comes down. Now THIS AU (the spin-off) is the chaluggie AU I have. In the spin-off, we initially just thought it’d be funny to make a threesome scene where Charlie dominates Lute while Vaggie watches, so we had to build an entire story around that because Charlie wouldn’t just cheat… and it’s chaggie.

…and then I got grounded and got left to my brainworms. Chaluggie wasn’t exactly in my brain yet but at this point I really liked chaggie AND luggie and wanted to see more. Then I was like ugh, what if they were just all together? So I wouldn’t have to choose between the two. And that’s also when I drew my first piece of NSFW Charlute art. NOW I WAS REALLY INTO IT and a small part of me wanted to get them in a polycule in the AU but I thought I was just crazy and nobody would enjoy/think the same. Especially not my friend. But oh boy was I wrong.

My FRIEND sent me this fanfic and a few fanart of chaluggie to cheer me up since I now wasn’t allowed to post on tiktok or have social media. (will link in just a second, but I’m very sure for those who like chaluggie they already know I’m talking about “Bratty Bottom Lute”; the fanart was by @cartooncorgii on twitter) I will tell you RIGHT now, MY EYES WERE OPENED. I was like people actually LIKE the ship? Another thing to know about me is that I am definitely a rarepair shipper but I also hate it because I get excited to talk about it but most people don’t understand.

Bratty Bottom Lute - Texan_Red_Rose

That was when I realized I could ship chaluggie and ALSO get content for it. I was absolutely hooked. What could possibly be better than Lute softening up for the Princess of Hell and her ex-lover, Vaggie? My obsession with Lute might also have a play in this but that’s for another story.

Anyways, much like BBL, what was originally supposed to be straight up corn became an elaborate story and we (my friend and I) are now still working on the chaluggie AU as we speak. I occasionally post things that happen in the AU on my twitter, but it’s mostly personal enjoyment.

It’s a great way to have drama/angst (my two favorite things right alongside fluff and hurt/comfort) I also mentioned above that I am a multishipper. I like shipping everyone with my favorite character which was (and still is) Charlie at this point. Thus, I started to ship charlute (from my AU) and it just kind of went downhill from there ngl. I’ll drop below one of my earliest works of my chaluggie AU. I was rambling to my friend about how Lute and Charlie could totally bond over bands and hair dye. That was also when I realized charlute could have chemistry and now instead of Charlie x Vaggie x Lute, it was just all of them mushed into one gay ass relationship (aka chaluggie)

Okay, thank you if you’ve stuck this far and read ALL of that and SORRY FOR THE LONG RAMBLE I HAVE trouble deciding what to add and whatnot sometimes. But thank you :) now enjoy some of my old chaluggie art. Also please do read Bratty Bottom Lute, it is GENIUS.

(If you want the NSFW chaluggie I made, it is on my twitter, I don’t remember if that stuff is allowed on tumblr anymore)

#chaluggie #solarchaluggieau #hazbin hotel au

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genericpuff · 9 months

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I have a fandom I'm into where the world building and writing in general is kind of terrible, and I keep going "Maybe ill make a comic retelling" but then I remember I haven't even gotten my personal comic started and think about how much effort you put in to this retellkng and go "No. I actually don't want to do that."

hey, whatever you do decide to do, it'll keep you creating! Rekindled is a side project that's helped me heal through a personal project that I'm currently recovering from burnout on, I didn't really think too hard about doing it, I just went where my interests were and it's gone through a lot of evolution since then. Don't feel like anyone else's work existing should keep you from creating, that's not why other work exists and ultimately the only one stopping you from doing what inspires you (or what you're inspired by) is you (•̀ᴗ•́)و

That said (big edit ahead because I realized I had more things to say on this LOL), I think it also depends on what you're retelling and why. I feel the reason why LO is so ripe for retellings is because it, in and of itself, is a retelling. Whereas original stories that aren't based on any sort of pre-existing source material aren't really able to be 'retold' in that same way because they're telling exactly the story they intend to tell from the beginning, vs. LO which is poorly adapting original source material that pre-exists it by hundreds of years. Case in point, I wouldn't feel compelled at all to "redo" a comic like Let's Play or The Kiss Bet because neither of those are attempting to retell specific stories, they are the story and so to put them in any other form wouldn't be the The Kiss Bet or Let's Play anymore, thus defeating the point lmao In that regard, Rekindled isn't exactly LO, it's as much a retelling of LO as LO is a retelling of Greek myth. But because it does have that original source material that predates it, it makes people feel more compelled to retell it with the foundation that LO laid (with its vibrant bright colors and modern setting) but tweaking things to make them more accurate - or at least respectful - towards the original myths.

So I think you do have to ask yourself what it is you're attempting to re-interpret and what the goal is in doing so. Remember that it's all still fanfiction at the end of the day so don't be doing anything risky that might implicate yourself of copyright infringement lmao (do your own research and well-testing to see if it's something that would be worth it for you in the long run).

There are definitely times I'll encourage people to focus on their own projects rather than try to polish someone else's turd if it's in the pursuit of "fixing" things, art can and should be allowed to exist regardless of whether or not it's perfect and LO isn't an exception to that. I'm not gonna try and defend Rekindled as an exception to those times I'd suggest people to work on their own thing, I could - and should - be working on my personal original projects rather than what Rachel brought into the world. But that's also why I give it such an original spin because I also want to tell my own story, simply through the lens of recreating a comic that I loved for so many years and was retelling myths that I have a close connection to. All in all, that's why I tell people to take my experience and advice and rants with mountains of salt. I'm not a one-stop-shop for all-encompassing advice or guidance on what you should or shouldn't do. And my work definitely doesn't exist as a metric for what should be done by others lol Focus on you and your pursuits! <3

#that said it also depends on the thing ur retelling haha #i think the reason why LO is so retellable is it because it in and of itself is a retelling #ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything

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dinoburger · 8 months

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hey.

people are dying, but you're giving your cause everything you can. i've seen you work hard to try to help people. you're donating. you're spreading the word. keep going.

keep questioning how you interact with the world and you'll keep gaining richer experiences for it. this is a turning point for many artists, writers, crafters, etc. wherein they realize that fan culture is not giving them what they could be getting by engaging directly with themes and topics and a medium that they personally care about most.

you have to engage with art to get better at art, and fan work can be a great vessel for your thoughts on art. fan work can be fulfilling, but it is also ultimately a sort of self-imposed constraint.

now. you clearly have stories you want to tell about trans men and war and pointless enterprise and they're outgrowing the tf2 framework. they have been for a while. i don't really like tf2, but i *do* like your art and think of you first as an artist who engages with the trans body before someone who partakes in fandom of any kind.

if you decide to take those stories in your own direction, i want to read them and watch them grow. take care.

I have mixed feelings because it's not that I see fan work vs. original work as the dichotomy here, but rather like. A lot of the stuff I do outside of it isn't particularly deep in and of itself but it's still meaningful.

It's funny cuz like, I started getting back into traditional art because I've been painting picket signs. You're not doing that because it's narratively engaging or even to make them beautiful, but to be eye-catching and make a point.

I guess that's mostly what I think about, it's more laterally like, something that can exist without needing to be to that ends.

I don't really think it's a matter of taking the stories I have and restructuring them to add "originality" because that wasn't the point of writing them in the first place, and I'm not going to forcibly take my experiences and try to twist them into a compelling story if they won't fit or shouldn't center me - rather, the work I do doesn't need to be that deep if the context I'm using it for is meaningful already, I don't need to cut myself up for parts.

I want to engage art and culture more in that sense, you know? I think that was part of the joy of making pottery to me when I used to do it, there was always this kind of practicality and physicality that makes it feel significant in ways that aren't simply expressed, regardless of "depth" or branding or anything else.

There is just a kind of funneling that inevitably happens with engagement and social media. I think acting like I'm totally above it isn't honest, it's now 2 AM as I'm writing this response. I don't think of myself as profoundly removed, more the opposite. I think even if you're aware, you sometimes don't realise how bad it is for you until you start peeling away.

There's a kind of sterile singularity to it, every aspect of how art and identity are engaged here. There tends to be a kind of singular authority people take to each other that shapes the landscape here. And there's very much an "I'm not like that" kind of dogma.

Paradoxically it is like, the thing where the more you argue the point, the more it seems like you're trying to establish yourself as the authority of it, and again it's not like none of these things can be meaningful at all, but there's a kind of undeniable tunnel vision you get sucked into.

I don't think anything I've done for the causes I'm interested in are praise worthy, I try to do what I can. But it's still the most valuable thing I could be doing.

#asklies

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broodwolf221 · 15 days

Text

jumping off that post about ppl's ocs and how ridiculous it is to be "fandom critical" of them...

i've said it before and probably will again, but this is also why i'm so deliberate about giving space for canon character interpretations that do Not align with mine, or even with what i think is at all what we're meant to take away from the character

solas is my go-to example here. someone who has a lot of trauma and baggage around being lied to might be more inclined to see him as a full-blown anatagonist, or attribute a more devious and manipulative slant to his behavior. i don't agree with this read and i wouldn't follow someone who espouses it, but i'm also not going to freak out about their "reading comprehension" or blatantly tell them they're wrong or whatever else

how an individual relates to any art form, any narrative, any character, etc., is ultimately personal. it is deeply rooted in their experiences and perspectives. i am not the Keeper Of The One True Interpretation, and to think so is imo just such hubris and self-centeredness

having said that, do i still have feelings about ppl interpreting characters i love radically different than i do? yes! i still get frustrated or hurt when ppl view solas as a manipulative villain. but my feelings don't define their right to view him that way. that's the point where i just curate my dash more and move on. sometimes vent to my friends about it if i need to, and then move on

also, like, i'm not perfect at this. i have definitely expressed these frustrations on tumblr, which is by its nature a much more public setting than a quick vent in the appropriate channel with my friend group discord uwu;; it's esp hard when ppl don't have that friend group to fall back on, but still feel a need to express themselves.

but i'm definitely trying to get better! tumblr is a public setting, and at the end of the day, i really take a Do No Harm approach to how i interact with ppl. i'd rather be privately uncomfortable and move on than be publicly condemning and... then move on 😅 like what's the point there? get mad, maybe hurt ppl, and either way the outcome is the same for me?

but also. we're all playing with dolls! i'm not going to get mad if someone has the same doll as me and decides he's an awful villain. i might be like :| why... but i'm not going to go over, yank the toy out of their hand, and tell them to return to the source material

just gonna sorta turn my back on them and keep playing with my dolls

#idk what to tag this as......#but no matter what #i'm putting it #at least six tags in #to TRY and avoid #going into public tags #altho idk if that still works!#anyway #fandom critical #discourse #maybe?? idk.

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captain-astors · 1 year

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H, J, and P?

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?: It really depends on what I’ve heard, but typically I prefer to read the manga if I really care about the story/want to get through it faster! However there are some cases like Land of the Lustrous or Jujutsu Kaisen where the animation is so good that I start with what’s out of the anime, then go back and read it to ensure I don’t miss any details. Or alternatively, I go to the anime if I just want it as a background story while I draw. I’ve been doing that with Attack on Titan recently, it was a lot better than I anticipated so I presume the general negative opinion I’ve heard derived from its overpopularity not the quality itself? Or maybe it gets really problematic or something, haven’t finished it yet. As for Movies Vs. Books it’s a similar situation, but I prefer books more generally.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until tumblr: Honestly, I’ve been introduced to a good portion of my recent fandoms by a friend of mine first, and then convinced to actually start them by tumblr art/my mutuals (mostly Quinn) so if I had to think of something that was genuinely introduced to me here… Good Omens? Haven’t watched it but I see them on my dash constantly. Oh also Witch Hat Atelier!

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas): Tokyo Ghoul obviously,

maybe an AU where all the folks pulling strings and playing king (Arima, Kaneki, Furuta, Eto) somehow end up in a very uneasy alliance to take down V for good. They argue over the ultimate goal constantly, they all hate at least two of the others, nothing’s really going well but they do get stuff done… somewhat, but they hate each other’s methods and tend to end up fighting after ever decision, and very rarely consulting each other before. The only thing keeping them united is a common goal and wanting to die.

AU where Haise is sent with the Quinx to deal with Noro instead of capturing Shuu on the roof. Shirazu doesn’t die, neither does Kanae (unless Eto decides to dispose of them?) but also, Haise never stops dreaming. But, a King is needed anyways and thus he ends up tentatively playing the role despite shironeki continuing to insist he be let out. I thought this one up right now and I haven’t considered consequences to this yet, but I like it as a concept.

Don’t think I’m inventing this but, AU where someone, legitimately anyone, comes to rescue Kaneki in time, hopefully helping him steer away from the mindset of “No one is able to help me”

AU where Juuzou and Hanbee are a little too effective and end up actually killing Kaneki (or injuring him to the point where he’s unable to dragon-ify even after taking a bite out of Hajime, leaving him only with the strength to flee) effectively throwing a wrench in everyone’s plans.

Not an AU but do you ever think about the fact that every single crucial event in Tokyo Ghoul wouldn’t have happened if Tsuneyoshi was just actually a good dad.

AU where everyone has actually decent parents (This one’s a joke but I actually cannot conceive of it.)

AU were Hide, Kimi, or someone else is the person to get Ghoul’d instead of Kaneki and the consequences thereof.

Very self-indulgent AU where Koori gets kidnapped by Aogiri instead of/in addition to Amon or Takizawa (mostly just writing this here because I’d like to draw it maybe, thematically I’m not really even sure it would work for him to begin with, but I like drawing theoretical ghouls.)

Also not really inventing this but I’d also like to draw a Pokémon AU some time.

#miscellaneous not-art things #zeph answers questions about media/characters/ships #I loved writing this actually. My ideas aren’t spectacular but heck it I like sharing them!

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charaofthedead · 1 year

Text

ITS D O N E

I WAMMIE VON WAMMIE PRESENT MY NEW AU

now i know what your thinking ... wammie what in the ultimate grilled cheese are you talking about?! ok so ill explain the origins of this.

so one day i was watching an undertale cringe cop re-living the early days of the fandom with my boyfriend when i saw a woman sans and i had a brain blast and ran to ms paint and drew what isaw in my head and then i drew a chara n marph and then i drew a frisk then a papyrus then a flowey then an alphys but i decided to line, rework and color the first 4 but while i drew and lined i was listening to an old song from my childhood days .. lil johns get low and then i had an idea why not make the au about things i had when growing up and then listened to another song called oh oh oh sexy vampire and then transparent soul (the song) and more and more and i just let my imagination loose on this one! i really hope y'all enjoy what i have so far i really let my autistic obsessions came out on this one

plot summary

the aftermath of a world where everyone came together to fight off and end a genocide route a reward is given to those who fought a choice is given a choice is made to keep the underground safe it must be hidden.

sans

MOTHERLY LOVE

so yes sans is a girl i wont explain in lore reasons why but just know it was cuz of sans fan girls potentially LMAO this sans is quite different from your typical sans she enjoys ice fishing she loves to tinker with things and is even a professional gunsmith shes also a bit of an artist doing graffiti so shes more MOTIVATED than a normal sans but their still lazy but lazy with a mischievous child to take care of aka chara yes in this world chara is sans'es kid this does have lore explanation but i wont say it for now abiltys:{redacted]

chara an marph

DORKS

chara is strange to cuz im not sure what they are i mean i like to think their a bizarre vampire but also more of a devil this chara loves to cause may/ham cuz their a they/them who was revived 8 years ago and was taken in by sans the one who gave them life chara is of course and oddball creature of chaos but chara is also righteous and has a heart of gold their also a mega lameo dork

chara loves to spend time i with their best friend marph! they love to draw they think cars are super cool they also have a shared interest with sans and that's guns and art and they both love animation but chara hates ice fishing but still goes to spend time with their mamma

(also eyes may change color depending on mood idk)

abiltys:{redacted]

nickname:rose

now marph is marph he is a box who marphs around he is just a lil guy where he comes from no one really knows marph loves chara their best pals and they like to run around and mess with people marph loves pizza its their absolute favorite! marph can also store items he has infinite space within his box self

frisk

GAY

ok so frisk is also an oddball they LOVE vampires to quote their favorite son "Oh oh oh sexy vampire I'm falling in love ..So just bite me baby And drink all my blood (oh yeah) Sexy vampire I'm falling in love with you" as you can see frisk dresses a bit oddly well see i was trying to make them as 2009 internet fashion as possible while adhering to my own design philosophy they look fine but it may be remade but its fine for now but any way frisk is also a big dork nerding out about sonic or invader zim writing fanfics drawing ship art of their favorite ships they also love old technology and their really good at DDR their a total nerd who wont apologize for being them self and encourages others to be them self too well along as it doesn't hurt anyone this frisk is a pacifist to a point they will defend them self abiltys:metal hand

SNOWED UP TOWN

snowed up town is like snowed inn but bigger more advanced more monsters more buildings some with sans'es graffiti on them and then you have the train on the save roof i just think its neat it shows how big this underground is

SNOWED UNDERCITY

snowed undercity is a big downtown area of snowed up town its like an old 80s anime kinda city pop place lots going on never a dull moment there the light's, the music, the coziness the new have to get ridge leading to it it's the only way to get there and yes its by train and then below you have the void stream of hope and dreams (temp name maybe) it is bottomless and doesn't to feel like water and yet you can float if you have hope

THE RAIL RUINS

the ruins of a long lost rail yard..? but why does it have a sky? how are the fields so long and unraveling how does it have life...truly a bizarre place as the train does not move and there are multiple cars filled with different items... monsters seem to live nicely here..why don't they just go through the door? the sense of hope hear is intoxicating the feeling of adventure is alive a sense of FUN is very alive here

MUSIC

sans's theme funny name cuz they a mamma who wanna protect their family

i would like to say that i used a melody from a song i like in the first half its from a klaatu song called were off you know and i used a zelda song too, song of storms too

extra art i did

you may draw these characters if you wish there will be more designs soon i h o p e

im unsure if this should be a comic or not or maybe it should be something else im unsure i have alot of ideas for it!

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mihai-florescu · 3 months

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Do you agree with me that we should get rid of "death of the author" and that we should introduce "death of the audience" instead?

"Oooh but how will other people interpret this-" I don't know! I don't care! I wanna know what goes on inside the brain of the person who actually put their time and effort and soul into this. Not five million other people who Did Not Create the Thing.

(Sorry if this is weird but you feel like the most qualified person i know to have an opinion on this)

Disclaimer, im big on believing 2 things coexist at the same time about everything. My mood swings put me in black and white thinking often, but when i can think clearly from both perspectives im still a contrarian and have counter points for my counter points. Im gonna word vomit an answer, im not good at ordering my thoughts but i hope its fine still.

Oh brother i used to go on rants about this (authorial intent, media consumption, fandom culture etc) all of last semester and it's what ultimately led to me giving up on my degree and serious art altogether... i'll attach a few i found in my archive i think are relevant if youre curious beep meep meow. I was writing these posts at the same time as my thesis paper which was more hopeful and aiming to reframe what we consider escapism, but in the end by the finale (last assessment) the hatred won in my heart and i couldnt make a visual project with an audience in mind. I made something, but it was more like a rant with visuals and absolutely failed the "whats the future of this project?" question. Must it have a future for an audience? Its job was to be a confession and a respite, for my own expression. I dont want an audience, im too much of a misanthropic hater and possessive mother to let others see or interpret my ideas. I know it's selfish and counterproductive but i cant help it. You sending this ask made me laugh since it was so relevant to my struggles this year. Id love to break out of this cycle and mindset but i always go back here to these beliefs.

Anyway... i do think the sensible truth is somewhere in the middle. Reader's interpretation is essential for works to gain life in the world and to outlive their authors, and i revere stories for the ability to touch people's hearts and make them learn things about themselves as well as other's way of thinking (reading is a process of interpretation and contemplation afterall isnt it? Well, active reading at least. Citation to my written thesis). But im not a fan of fandom lens interpretations that so often flatten stories.

I think for our shared stories of interest authorial intent is particularly fun to think about. Commercial works made to sell gacha games but which do have heart and profound messages theyre trying to convey. But also made with an audience in mind. I havent been able to formulate any particularly riveting conclusions, but i would love to know if anyone has focused on such topics. Everything deserves analysis and attempts at understanding... and i find authorial intent an invaluable insight that can never be cast aside. Works gain lives of their own after theyre set free into the world, but they dont spawn fully formed from thin air ready for "consumption"...

Uuu im trying to decide if i should link to you a story about storytelling i wrote and illustrated in a day, and a video about humanity and the power of imagination as salvation and damnation... if i say "i'll share them, but only if you erase from your mind that i wrote them" it'd be hypocritical after everything i just spilled out. But too much knowledge about the author is scary too... not for the audience as much as the author himself. It's the audience who has the final laugh of judgement and interpretation... but it's scary to let others into your mind, to see things you spent time and energy on? I wish i could channel my death of the audience defiance into proudly sharing works without caring who sees them rather than deciding nothing is worth making anymore since im so mistrustful. Alas! Maybe one day i'll stop being a self absorbed, self sabotaging prey animal

#ask #collectorcookie #if you do like my erratic stream of consciousness rants though i could send the links

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kataraslove · 11 months

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Hi! I hope you have a good day! I love your meta about Katara!

I can't explain the exact reason, but all these concepts of sun\moon, night\day, red\blue, fire\water as symbolism applied to zutara irritate me so much. it just seems so wrong and seems to erase the canonical personalities of Zuko and Katara, reducing them to the level of some boring concepts. What can you say about it?

thank you so much! and well, you’re going to find symbolism in every single shipping fandom, because that’s ultimately what attracts people to ships: symbolism and imagery and aesthetics.

for instance, i LOVE katara and aang’s symbolism and aesthetic. i love fanart and official canon art that highlights their symbolism. i love motifs like sky x sea, water x air, blue x yellow, etc, because i just find them so unique. i can’t think of any other ship that genuinely has this type of symbolism because everyone overhypes fire x water, light x dark to death. how many popular fantasy novels can you think of that already has this symbolism? give me something UNIQUE. give me something that’s never been done before. bryan konietzko dropping these two pictures dripping with symbolism - no matter if it was intentional or not - changed the trajectory of my life forever:

also, i don’t give two fucks about what people say - i love kataang’s aesthetic. i love the fact that aang is a bald pacifist monk, whose design is inspired by tibetan culture, at odds with his identity of being a messiah figure to the world. i love that katara is a revolutionary warrior, whose design is based off the indigenous peoples of the circumpolar region, who jumps headfirst into helping people. i love that they are two genocide survivors who have parallel character arcs. i love that she teaches him waterbending and that they share an element together. i love all of that, because like i said, it’s never been done before. try to find me a story that’s similar to katara and aang’s. try to find me characters that are similar to katara and aang,

zutara and it’s associated imagery, symbolism, story, what have you was definitely unique for its time in the 2000s. as a result of that, everyone attempted to copy the ship’s formula to the point where some authors wrote their knock-off versions of zuko and katara much better than the original, while others probably destroyed the reputation of the trope enemies to lovers forever and doomed us all to some of the worst enemies to lovers relationships known to man. but at the end of the day, all of zutara’s symbolism has been overdone so many times. there was a whole movie based off fire/water just because the creator of the movie thought the idea of fire and water would be harmonious.

fandoms love familiarity, so they will cling onto these concepts and tropes without any interest in exploring other relationships that are outside of their realms of comfort. this is why so many people will froth at the mouth over fire/water, night/day, sun/moon, because people are under the belief that forces of nature that are opposing to each other make for the best stories. fantasy authors are so heavily attached to these types of symbolism because they are convenient and marketable in the form of tropes.

you’re right that it’s overdone to death and quite frankly, boring. I find myself rolling my eyes every time someone’s like “fire and water!!!” what does that tell me, other than the fact that you enjoy opposing dynamics? it lacks all nuance, and fails to capture the true essence of katara and zuko’s characters and dynamic within the story. it just tells me that you’ve seen some pretty art of these characters and at a very surface-level decided to ship these characters. in all fairness, it’s the same argument as someone saying “i like [insert ship] because it’s canon.” okay, but why? “the creators said so” isn’t always the best reasoning and makes for terrible defence when you’re in a debate with someone who thinks that your canon ship shouldn’t have been the endgame option. i’ve encountered one too many kataang shippers who could easily debunk or refute an anti kataang argument with support from the text, but instead they deflect with “well, it’s canon. I don’t really know how to point out why your argument sucks. but just know it sucks because kataang is canon and canon is the sacred text.”

at the end of day, however, i recognize that shipping is a matter of subjectivity. people in fandoms are attracted to characters and ships that they are comfortable with, and characters and ships that are aesthetically pleasing (I think adult kataang is aesthetically pleasing. but I recognize that not that many people will hold my viewpoint). so i can’t really dictate why people are interested in ships because of certain fan-favourite symbolism, other than express my opinion that sometimes concepts and symbolism and imagery and tropes overhyped and overplayed in fandom spaces aren’t as interesting as the less popular and less explored ones.

#my asks #antizutara #just to be safe

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alifeasvivid · 1 year

Text

Life Update

First I wanna say, that seeing a bunch of artists posting new art (I presume you guys are "refugees" from the great unknown) is a fantastic jolt of happiness in my soul and it's really making me feel inspired in a way that I haven't for... quite some time.

And that bit is more what this post is about. The lack of inspiration and such is not due to the fandom or tumblr or My Boys Whom I Love Equally and I Can Prove It.

In May 2022 I got laid off from the job I had for 4 years. After several months on unemployment and fruitless job searching, I decided to give it a rest and just take as much time off as I could. I did some contract work during the winter, but this past May, I went back to work full time.

Fellas. It's rough. However, this whole experience did really throw into sharp relief what I actually want out of life: autonomy. And time to do whatever the hell I want. To not have to show up and be anywhere on someone else's behest for any length of time, much less 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

This particular job is very meh, but I'm not too fussed about it (other than the people kinda suck to spend 40 goddamn hours a week with) BECAUSE

the lease on my apartment is up at the end of this month, I gave my notice and I will be moving. No I'm not telling you where, if you can guess that's fine and if you know you know. I'm doing this to further my education in my field.

It's scary af. I do not have really enough money to move, I currently have no housing or job set up in the new city. I have Manda. I have to pack. I have to clean this place, I have to work 40 goddamn hours a week, and everything is just stress. Stress all over the place.

The point of this is not to get sympathy from anyone or words of encouragement. The point of this really is to just say thank you to everyone who follows me, especially to my mutuals. You guys mean so much to me. This blog and this little corner of the internet I've hollowed out for myself from which I can watch all of you do really cool things, say funny shit, and reblog memes that I just.... do not understand (LOL) is so important and special to me.

I'll never regret coming back to Hetalia, I'll never regret making this blog, and I'll sure as shit never regret spending an indefensible amount of time on My Boys Whom I Love Equally. They bring me joy. This blog ultimately brings me joy... and so do all of you.

Thank you and thank you for reading all of this if you did.

ALSO

the tag count doesn't lie! booyah.

#sndr.5fm #long post

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pawfulofwaffles · 1 year

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how did you get to the place you are now with your art and stuff? Is there any tips and tricks that you’d recommend?? Thanks 💕

I'm going to try and answer this the best I can with the scattered information that I know.

I've been drawing since I was really young, it's just always been part of my life. Because of this, I've been able to look back at pictures I made in 3rd grade, and see how much I've grown. Because of this, I've also realised what in particular might have helped me.

There is a stigma against tracing, which is perfectly understandable if you're claiming that the art is yours, but if you're tracing to help figure out anatomy or something, it really shouldn't be shamed. When I was in 3rd grade, I showed great admiration for an animator. I can still see her artstyle in mine. I used to pause at a point in her animations, grab a piece of paper, and trace over the character. This helped me figure out how to draw strands of fur, and where to position the eyes. Eventually, I tried drawing like that on my own, and the way I traced over the fur and where I put the eyes didn't feel like a guessing game, as I'd used tracing to figure that out, if that makes sense.

Another thing is to look at other people's artstyles. Example, Warrior Cats artists helped me draw more visually appealing, fluffy cartoon cats, Clown and other Welcome Home artists helped me figure out puppety characters, clothes, and body shapes, and my friend Pup(@urscenewolfdog) helped me figure out how to draw humans. You can learn a lot just from figuring out how an artist draws.

Also, don't be afraid to experiment! If you draw something then ultimately decide it's bad and chose never to draw it again, you'll never grow. Instead, pinpoint what's off, and change it. Eventually, you'll find something more comfortable. In just about every fandom I'm in, it started with me trying to draw in the creator's style, hated it for a little bit, but then as time went on and I figured out what I was comfortable with, and my art of the characters molded into a style that I liked. I kept trying all sorts of new things before I found a style that finally fit me.

Before I end this, we are to get into the nitty-gritty of art. One thing that I can think of that's wildly important is facial expressions. Facial expressions are incredibly important in human communication, as they are the result of emotions. Trying to master accurate facial expressions can help make characters in your art look alive, while if you're going for a more unnerving character, an emotionless, blank face is the perfect way to make them look alien. Colors also serve importance in art, as they can be used to express and therefore convey emotions. Maybe you have a yellow, pink and purple lighting scheme to show fuzzy, soft, cheeriness, or dark blue colors to show deep sorrow.

Those are a few things I can think of that have really helped me before. I hope this helps people expand how they art so they can art more than before. And remember kids, stay away from artbrush shading if the picture looks weird that way. I made that mistake.

#art #artists on tumblr #artist #artistic #artists #only half way through writing this did I think #“what if by tips and tricks they mean what brush to use or what program”#but then i decided for those things its more do what you want #whatever works for you really #thoughtfulwaffles #ask #pawfulofbeemoviescript

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roobylavender · 1 year

Note

for the violence ask meme .. 12 & 13 / 20 & 21 ?

i did 12 here!

13. worst blorbofication

i was almost going to say jason but that honestly feels less like blorbofication and more like glorification so i will go with toji.. i know people want to envision a life for the fushiguros where everything was better bc it was what they deserved but like what do we get out of that really. it's very amusing when people imagine toji was this innately kind and caring person bc it's quite obv he wasn't. trauma and abuse irreparably changed him and his actions were largely driven by a need for vengeance. were they ultimately beneficial to megumi? yeah. but they were still selfishly motivated and i don't think it precludes an ability to sympathy with toji if people recognize that. what happened to him is tragic. what he did in response is tragic. and megumi turning out okay in the end is half stroke of fate and half toji willing it to be so through pure delusion and spite against his own family. ig i think toji does love megumi. but it's not really the kind of love we expect from a father. so actions like giving gojou the option to raise megumi or letting megumi go when he said his name was still fushiguro are significant not bc they are rooted in some inherent selfless love but bc they are demonstrations of love as an afterthought and that forms the entire tragedy of toji as a character. he can never prioritize selfless love bc the prerogative to do so was beaten out of him a long time ago, and the violence of megumi's orphaned childhood is as much a product of toji's direct actions as it is an indirect product of the zenin clan's extensive cycle of abuse

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

i'm on the fence about this one but i feel like kishi dropping the bomb barely a few (i am stretching the definition of the word here but in context of how slow time moved in canon at the time i would say it applies) chapters before the end that the uchihas were actually cops was like. so poorly done bc if you wanted that to have actual narrative value you probably should have expanded on it more rather than suddenly contradict your entire narrative about the uchihas feeling misjudged and scrutinized bc of their heritage from madara despite the fact that they historically had always supported hashirama. like barring the weird fandom response to suddenly deciding the uchihas deserve no sympathy bc they were bootlickers (despite.. everything about canon and itachi's position in the grand scheme of things pointing to the contrary) it's a revelation that really doesn't do much to comment on canon in any meaningful way. like ok tobirama was a judgmental dick but like what else did kishi really do with the revelation besides use it as a lecture point. it still confuses me like maybe i need to reread and digest it in more immediate context but idg why he included it

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

i don't think the infamous loeb batman books are that good tbh.. it's mostly the selina fan in me speaking but i also think they are way more memorable for their art and murder mystery setup than for any actual narrative value they might have imparted and i personally would rather look to other stories that establish harvey's backstory (there's an annual in the 90s that's really good but i forget the issue number) or dick as the immediate parallel to bruce

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

#outbox #i do really love the artwork to draw the parallels between dick and bruce though like tim sale is fantastic why lie

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justahumblesideblog · 2 years

Text

Steve: The Character Arc Given Us Through Subtext Part 1

“Yeah! All hail the Emperor!”

I’m quite aware that Steve is already a very popular character in the fandom for pretty obvious reasons. Before Severine in Labyrinth Runners, he was the only coven scout given a name. Just giving him a name at all, and having him brought up again is bound to make him more memorable to the audience, especially these days when the trend of liking things ironically is so popular (not to say all fans of Steve only like him ironically of course, but you can’t say that the amount of fans who do in S1 at least is zero) Plus his very VERY few scenes gave him a likable if a bit too enthusiastic personality. He is a really easy character to meme and/or put headcanons on, which the fandom has. However, the thing I really like about Steve is how the show is able to have his entire arc happen almost completely off screen up until his character climax right before the Day of Unity.

In most shows, Steve’s presence in the Owl House during this scene would have just been both a visual gag and a reference to his one other speaking scene in the series. Him wearing a shirt with his name on it would have been just a very tongue and cheek method of differentiating him from the other scouts. In reality though, it serves as a way to not only show that Steve is the type of guy to continue a being supportive friend towards Lilith despite her losing favor with the Emperor, but to also quickly establish that King would know Steve on sight when they meet again in O’ Titan Where Art Thou.

“I know you. You’re Steve from Lilith’s party!”

One could even say that the reason Steve wore that shirt to begin with is so Hooty would know he is the coven scout that was actually invited. Then he decided to wear the shirt during his journey of self-realization, but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

“*sighs* Steve is beginning to regret his choices”

In “Any Spot in a Storm” Steve literally starts reflecting on the questionable morals attached to Emperor Coven with the idea of kids reluctantly joining creeps into his mind. He’s understanding of why Skara would be so emotionally high to outright punch him so hard that it dents his mask. Short term wise, Steve’s presence in this episode makes Hunter realize the fault in his actions, but looking at this for the long term it doesn’t only let us know what’s on Steve’s mind:

“Darius sent us to collect your recruits”

It also establishes that during the time Steve was questioning his loyalty, he was working under Darius.

Then we have Labyrinth Runners, and while Steve makes no appearance (mentioned or otherwise), it still moves his character arc forward by showing us that another scout getting fed up with the system.

As method before, Severine is the other scout named outside of Steve. We are shown her mistreatment throughout the episode up until the very end when she quits and throws her mask to the floor in a huff. This tells us viewers that the scouts are indeed their own people and have feelings and lives hidden behind their masks. Again, another joke is used to perhaps foreshadow Steve’s offical departure from the Emperor’s Coven.

“Lost your way, little guy?”

Finally, we get to O’Titan Where Art Thou. In his talks with King, Steve shares with him (and with us viewers) a tale of a younger Steve who wanted to be considered one of th best and believed that joining the Emperor’s Coven was the way to do so. He took that dream and made it his reality, only to realize it wasn’t what he wanted. Of course this is clearly meant to mirror King’s childish desire to be king of the demons, only to dislike it once it started to become kinda true, but it also stays completely in character to the Steve we met in S1 up until the Steve we have now. Steve ultimately being the one to comfort King during this time wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfying without the show putting the subtle groundwork to get us to this point.

Then King and Steve go off on a montage that mainly serves as King coming to terms with his heritage and what he wants in his life. However, it also serves as Steve’s little swan song to his life as the excited scout of the Emperor’s Coven to fully embracing himself as part of the rebellion.

Now, I would LOVE to go into as much detail into this montage in this post, but Tumblr only has a limit of ten photos per post soooooo~ I’m just going to briefly touch on this moment for now because it’s everywhere due to the awesome representation.

Back in “Any Sport in a Storm” Hunter mentions that in order to join the Emperor’s Coven, one must be separated from their family and other loved ones forever. One could argue Hunter’s case is more extreme due to his own circumstances, but seeing Steve’s reaction to two sweet old ladies being in love, perhaps there is truth to it. During this moment of the montage, Steve could be mourning all the time lost to his dream of being the best and it just hit him all at once. Ooooor maybe that love is so pure that it moved the passionate man to tears. Probably a mixed of both honestly.

More on the montage and Steve’s ultimate role in this episode in part 2!

#the owl house #the owl house spoilers #toh #toh spoilers #o titan where art thou #toh steve #coven guard steve #toh king #toh hunter #character analysis #long post #i’m really doing a muti-part analysis on steve #no regrets #humble offerings (junk)

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rax-writes · 3 years

Text

Fandom: MCU Pairing: Baron Helmut Zemo x Reader Warnings: Sexual intercourse with a female-identifying person with a vagina + a bit of sugar daddy Zemo vibes at the end Notes: Y’all... don’t judge me. I have a power kink, and Marvel did me dirty by randomly deciding that Zemo is fifthly rich royalty. And my girl @henrysmorgan did me even dirtier by actively encouraging my attraction to this fucker. So, blame Marvel, and blame her. // This is kind of really fucking long, and I didn’t edit it much, because I wanted to get it posted before episode 4, in case that episode flips the script. So, potentially some editing issues, and slightly rushed writing. Hopefully it’s alright, but please let me know if I screwed up anywhere. // Lots and lots of TFAWS ep. 3 spoilers

When Bucky texted you to ask that you meet him in some dusty, old, abandoned-looking car garage, you certainly didn’t know what to expect. All you knew was that an old friend needed your help, so you intended to be there.

It had been a few months since you’d last seen him, and even longer since you’d participated in any sort of mission, but you suspected that was what you were walking into. Being exposed to the Mind Stone had granted you the power of telepathy, which meant that SHIELD was quite keen on persuading you to work for them. They trained you in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, and you went on miscellaneous missions a handful of times. They put in a lot of effort to convince you that it was your moral obligation as an “enhanced individual” to help them with these missions, but you ultimately decided that that simply wasn’t the kind of life you wanted. Instead, after the Blip, you began working a desk job for SHIELD, which is when you crossed paths with Bucky, helping him with paperwork associated with his pardon, and the two of you formed a friendship. But SHIELD kept trying to coerce you to get back into the field, constantly badgering you about it and making it clear that you weren’t wanted if all you were doing was paperwork.

The truth is, you weren’t cut out to be a superhero, and you had no desire to be. It didn’t help that your entire country had been reduced to rubble several years prior, leaving you with a bottomless pit of homelessness in your heart. So, you left SHIELD, and started a life in Berlin, where you were content to live out your days as the owner of a small bakery, residing in the small apartment above your shop.

That is, until Bucky Barnes dragged you into a particularly sticky situation, with a certain Baron Helmut Zemo.

You knew that helping Bucky and Sam would throw a colossal wrench in the life you’d created for yourself in Berlin, but after they explained the situation with the super soldiers, coupled with Bucky’s puppy dog eyes, you found yourself refraining from storming out of the building the second you saw Helmut fucking Zemo.

“We need you to keep an eye on him. You don’t have to tap into his mind 24/7, we just want a heads up if he’s going to screw us over,” Bucky explained.

"Look, we really need him. We’re obviously scraping the bottom of the barrel here, otherwise he'd still be in that cell. And neither of us want to be packing a criminal around like a rich bitch's chihuahua, so we need you here to make sure we're not gonna get bit," Sam explained.

"Fine. But you both owe me," you relented, and they both took sighs of relief. You glanced at Zemo, locking eyes with him for several tense moments. He gave you a polite smile, giving off the impression that he had nothing to hide – which he didn't, as his thoughts showed his intentions were pure at the moment. "We're good for now. He just genuinely wants the opportunity to take down these new super soldiers."

Sam and Bucky nodded, visibly releasing tension from their shoulders as they moved to head out, now reassured that Zemo was truly on their side. Meanwhile, Zemo eyed you with curiosity and awe, murmuring, "Fascinating."

The four of you walked on the landing strip toward a private jet, owned by Zemo.

"So all this time you've been rich?"

"I was a Baron, Sam. My family was royalty before your friends destroyed my country," Zemo explained, before glancing at you with a small smile. "But you knew that already."

"Wait, how did she know that?" Sam asked, then turned to you. "How did you know that?"

"I am Sokovian myself. I was certainly not royalty, but I lived there for my entire life, until it was destroyed," you explained, stopping outside the jet as Zemo greeted the elderly butler, Oeznik, in your native language. It made you smile to yourself; it had been years since you'd heard it spoken. Zemo shot you a grin when he noticed, and when you took a peek into his mind, you saw that he understood exactly how you felt.

As the butler handed Zemo a flute of champagne after you all boarded the jet, the Baron smiled politely as Oeznik stated, “Apologies if that's a little warm. The fridge is out, but I will see if there is some good food in the galley.”

Zemo glanced as you sat across from him, then in Sokovian, Zemo told Oeznik, "Another flute for the lady, please. And if the food does not pass the smell test, give it to the gentlemen."

"It's good to have you back, sir!"

As the man retreated to the cockpit, also in Sokovian, you noted, "You are a mischievous man, even more so than in your infamously criminal ways."

"You will find that there is more to me than meets the eye, angel," he responded coolly, the Sokovian language rolling off his tongue like honey. Before you could respond, admittedly enjoying speaking Sokovian, Sam grew tired of everyone speaking a language he couldn't understand.

"Why don't you tell us about where we're going?"

After a tense exchange between Bucky and Zemo, followed by a discussion about Marvin Gaye, Zemo finally got to the point: Madripoor. You exhaled slowly, resting your forehead in your palm in exasperation.

“You couldn’t have invited me on a mission to Cancun? Or Paris? Why must it be Madripoor?” you asked Bucky, who shot you a tight-lipped, pitying smile, silently apologizing for what he was dragging you into.

“What’s up with Madripoor? You guys talk about it like it’s Skull Island.”

“It’s an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago. It was a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s,” Bucky explained.

“And upon seeing it, you would see that times there haven’t changed one bit since then,” you added.

“It’s kept its lawless ways. But we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves. James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone,” Zemo said.

You frowned as you caught a glimpse of Bucky’s thoughts as he went silent. Fear. Anxiety. Disdain. Apprehension. You reached across to rest your hand on his shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze. He shot you a small smile, then looked out the window.

Upon landing in Madripoor, one of Zemo’s contacts met you on the landing strip with a new wardrobe for you, Bucky, and Sam, and Zemo explained that each outfit was per his instruction, carefully chosen to fit the role each of you would be playing in Madripoor. One by one, you took the covered clothes hanger to the bathroom of the jet and changed. Bucky was first, stepping out in some sort of leather number, looking eerily similar to the Winter Soldier you’d seen in photos. Sam was next, donning a three-piece suit of burgundy and gold. He looked sharp, although he was immediately complaining about how ostentatious it was. And finally, you stepped into the room and closed the door behind you, unzipping the covering on the hanger and revealing your “carefully chosen” outfit.

“Ich werde dir im Schlaf die Eier abreißen, Zemo!”

Bucky choked on his water and Zemo chuckled under his breath, while Sam looked between the two in confusion.

“I don’t know what she said, but she sounded pissed,” he observed, eyeing Zemo suspiciously.

“She informed me that she intends to remove my testicles in my sleep.”

“And why is that?”

“Perhaps because he’s chosen to parade me around Madripoor like a cheap whore,” you said angrily, stepping out of the bathroom with your hands on your hips, glaring at Zemo.

“That dress is by Armani Prive, and your shoes are Louboutins – far from ‘cheap.’ And you do not look like a whore, the dress is merely more revealing than what you are used to,” Zemo argued, standing and walking over to survey your outfit. He seemed to be enjoying what he saw, judging from the way his eyes raked up and down your body, but you didn’t dare check his thoughts to confirm or deny it.

If you were honest with yourself, he was right. It was a very nice dress; plum purple, matching the color of Zemo’s turtleneck, with long, fitted sleeves, all of it made of the softest silk you had ever touched. It was fitted at the top but flowy from the hips down, with a low balconette-style neckline, showing more of your chest than you were accustomed to, although you pulled it off quite nicely. It ended just above your knees, which was fine, as you sometimes wore skirts of that length. Overall, the luxury of it and the low-cut neckline ensured that you were out of your comfort zone, but you looked stunning – and expensive, despite your spite-fueled initial claim.

“I thought the color would look nice on you, and I was right. And I knew that the flow of the fabric at the bottom would allow for this,” Zemo said, his hand gingerly trailing from your waist to your thigh, where he pulled up the hem of your dress slightly to reveal the edge of the Glock strapped into your thigh holster. He smirked as his suspicion was confirmed. He knew you’d find a way to arm yourself, regardless of what you wore.

In hindsight, the way Zemo touched your side and lifted your skirt was all far more intimate than you should have allowed, and yet… you couldn’t deny the way your breath caught in your throat when he touched you, or how his close proximity made your body temperature rise, as he gazed down at you with those intense brown eyes.

Christ, you needed to get laid. Soon. Before you further entertained the idea of jumping the bones of a highly wanted criminal.

“Touch me like that again, and I will kill you where you stand,” you informed him sternly, and Zemo immediately took a step backwards, looking apologetic. From the corner of your eye, you saw both Sam and Bucky visibly relax, tension leaving their shoulders. You had read their thoughts briefly, and they were both wondering why the hell you were so calm about getting cozy with Zemo. The absolute last thing you wanted was for them to know that you were, in fact, inexplicably drawn to being that close to the Baron.

As the four of you walked along a bridge in Madripoor, Sam was quick to resume his complaining.

“We have to do something about this. I’m the only one who looks like a pimp.”

“Only an American would assume a fashion-forward Black man looks like a pimp. You look exactly like the man you’re supposed to be playing. The sophisticated, charming African rake named Conrad Mack, aka the Smiling Tiger.”

“He even has a bad nickname,” Sam grumbled, then looked at the phone Zemo handed him. “Hell, he does look like me, though.”

“And who am I supposed to be?” you inquired, glancing down at your clothing to see if you could guess who you were meant to be portraying. An heiress or socialite, perhaps.

“My fiancée,” Zemo answered simply, the faintest smile on his lips.

You barked out a crude laugh, “Oh, I think not.”

“There is no one involved with Madripoor who looks like you. And it is rare that there are newcomers to the island, especially not in the place we’re going. Pretending you are someone random would raise concerns about the intentions of your presence; you would be perceived as a potential threat, which would jeopardize our mission. It is far easier to simply pretend we are engaged, I assure you.”

You hesitated a moment, before arguing, “No one will believe that we are engaged.”

Zemo pulled something from the inside pocket of his jacket, took your left hand, and slipped it onto your ring finger. It was a solitaire diamond ring; not large enough to be gaudy, but enough to catch anyone’s eye.

“They will if you play your part well,” he told you, then addressed the rest of your party when he added, “No matter what happens, we have to stay in character. Our lives depend on it. There is no margin for error.”

The four of you reached a sleek black car, and climbed in, you in the back between Sam and Bucky. The ride to Low Town was tense and silent, as each of you mentally prepared for what lay ahead. When you arrived, Zemo offered you his hand as you exited the car, and the pointed look in his eyes told you that it was time to begin playing your part. You took his hand, and as you began walking into the heart of Low Town, he laced his fingers with yours. As the crowd drew near, Zemo wrapped his arm around your shoulders, gloved fingers brushing against the exposed skin of your shoulder. After reading his mind, you realized that it was both for the sake of protecting you, and showing possessiveness to make it believable that you were his girl – and because he simply enjoyed having your body close, although you suspected that he’d rather you have not known that.

Despite the fact that you had been on a few missions for SHIELD, you were not exactly incapable of fear; you did not possess nerves of steel. All of the missions you’d been on were low-profile, and you were mostly just there for the sake of gathering information from those reluctant to share it. Sure, you’d been in danger before, you’d had to fight your way out of several sticky situations, but this… this was different. You were in the crime capital of the world, a lawless place filled to the brim with crooks, thieves, and murderers. More than likely, any given person around could slit your throat and never bat an eye or give you a second thought. Swallowing your own pride in the face of fear prompted you to return Zemo’s gesture, wrapping your arm around his waist and sticking close to him, which earned a smile from the man.

When you arrived at your destination, Zemo approached the bar and leaned against it confidently on one arm, the other still wrapped firmly around your shoulders.

“Hello, gentleman,” the bartender greeted, before his eyes fell on you. “Who’s your new lady friend, Baron?”

“My fiancée,” Zemo answered, then turned to you and ran his finger along your jawline, as you looked at him in adoration. “Isn’t she lovely?”

“Very,” the bartender acknowledged, then turned to Sam. “Wasn’t expecting you, Smiling Tiger.”

“His plans changed. We have business to do with Selby,” Zemo responded.

The bartender made ‘Smiling Tiger’ his usual drink, which apparently consisted of… something he cut out of a snake, and dropped in a shot glass with a bit of liquor. You shared a look with Bucky before he turned away to survey the room, and when you read his thoughts, you found that you both desperately wanted to laugh out loud at Sam’s ‘short end of the stick’ situation, but didn’t want to risk everyone’s lives for the sake of a chuckle. You returned your attention to Zemo, opting to sell the whole “fiancée” thing a bit more by turning into him and tracing patterns on his chest as you gazed at him affectionately, while the bartender handed you and Zemo each a shot glass of your own – sans snake organs, thankfully. You both downed yours, while Sam understandably struggled a bit more with his, but still managed it.

A random man approached Zemo then, and as Zemo turned to face him, he protectively moved you behind him a bit.

“I got word from on high. You ain’t welcome here.”

“I have no business with the Power Broker, but if he insists, he can either come and talk to me…” Zemo countered, gesturing toward Bucky, who looked menacing as he pretended to be the Winter Soldier. “Or bring Selby for a chat.”

After a weary look in Bucky’s direction, the man walked away, and Zemo turned back around to face the bar, this time keeping you in between him in the bar, in case someone were to come up behind him – which they did a few moments later.

“Winter Soldier… attack,” Zemo commanded in Russian, as a different man came up and laid a hand on Zemo’s shoulder. With a pained look in his eye that quickly shifted to cold determination, Bucky grabbed the man’s hand with his vibranium arm, twisting it as he removed it from Zemo’s shoulder. Zemo took a step away from the bar to allow you room to turn and observe as Bucky beat the absolute shit out of various challengers. Zemo wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you close to him as he noted, “Didn’t take much for him to fall back into form.”

The unmistakable sound of numerous guns cocking drew your attention away from the altercation, and Zemo gently pushed you behind him as he surveyed the room to note all the weapons drawn. Sam grabbed Bucky’s bionic arm to stop him, but Zemo whispered, “Stay in character or the whole bar turns on us.”

“Well done, soldier,” Zemo then said to Bucky in Russian, signaling for the ‘Winter Soldier’ to stop.

“Selby will see you now,” the bartender interjected, and Bucky released his grip on the random man’s throat.

“Thank you,” Zemo responded, walking off to find Selby, grabbing your hand to guide you, but not before you spared a sorrowful glance at Bucky as your friends followed closely behind.

As Zemo took a seat on a couch across from Selby, you sat close to him, crossing your legs gracefully as you leaned into him, your arm wrapped around his as he clasped his hands in his lap authoritatively. You watched his exchange with Selby in silence, as did Sam – and Bucky, of course, considering he was pretending to be the Winter Soldier.

“By the way, I thought you were rotting away in a German prison,” Selby told Zemo, then smiled as she looked you up and down, before her eyes found the diamond ring. “And not engaged – to a woman far out of your league, I might add.”

“People like us always find a way, don’t we?” Zemo answered calmly, then looked over at you, staring into your eyes with warmth and adoration, and you smiled lovingly at him. “My beautiful fiancée was a guard at the prison. We fell in love over the years, and she helped me escape. Anyway, I’m sure you have already figured out what I’m here for.”

The conversation went relatively smoothly after that, until Sam’s goddamn phone rang and screwed the entire operation. In the blink of an eye, Selby was shot dead, you had shot two of the guards with the gun strapped to your thigh, and Sam and Bucky had each knocked out one, before Zemo suggested sneaking out of the bar as best you could, without any weapons. You secured your gun back in its holster, not missing the way Zemo watched as you hiked your dress up to do so, before making a break for it with the three of them.

Once you were on the streets of Madripoor, bounty hunters began to come out of the woodwork, and when they began shooting at you, Zemo abruptly grabbed your hand and ran down a nearby alleyway. As you were running, the heel of your stiletto caught on a grate, and you’d have fallen flat on your face if Zemo hadn’t caught you.

“Are you alright?” he asked hurriedly, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist as he supported you, before standing you back onto your feet. You nodded, and he glanced over your shoulder as he noticed a few men looking down the alley. “Forgive me.”

You were about to ask what he was talking about, but then Zemo abruptly grabbed you by the backs of your thighs and lifted you up, pinned you against the wall behind you, and kissed you.

The men at the end of the alleyway muttered something about “freaks who do it in public,” then their footsteps faded as they walked off, clearly thinking the two of you were some overly horny couple, not two of the people with an insane bounty on their heads. But you were barely paying them any attention, a bit preoccupied with the fact that Zemo was fucking kissing you, and much to your chagrin, you really fucking liked it.

Once there were no more voices and no more footsteps, Zemo broke the kiss and sat you down. The two of you stared at each other for a moment, before you heard more gunshots, and you broke into a run in the direction Bucky and Sam had gone, desperate to find your friends, and no time to process what the hell just happened.

As soon as you caught up with them, the two bounty hunters nearby were shot dead, and the four of you turned to see Sharon Carter emerging from the shadows.

An hour later, you found yourself in her swanky home in High Town, in a change of clothes, since the brick wall Zemo had held you up against ripped the back of your silk dress. You lied to Sam and Bucky, saying that it happened because you fell while running in your heels, and thankfully, they believed you. Sharon commanded the four of you to lay low and enjoy the party, which Sam and Bucky left her living room to go do, entrusting you with ‘Zemo watch.’

It seemed as though he was merely nursing his brandy in lieu of abandoning it for the party prior to finishing it off, but his eyes were on you most of the time. You didn't necessarily believe he could be plotting to overpower you and run off, but there is always that possibility, so you delved into his mind to check.

Expecting to find thoughts of strategy about how to defeat the super soldiers or travel plans, or even plots to escape you, Bucky, and Sam, you were astounded to find nothing but thoughts of you.

The way it felt to kiss you in that alleyway, and how he had monetarily debated just staying there, having his way with you against the brick wall before Sam and Bucky could locate you. The dress from the bar, and how it rested on your thighs, revealing just enough to have his mouth watering without being revealing to the point of immodesty. The way your necklace currently rested against your bare collarbone, and how desperately he craved to litter the area with love bites. The delicate skin of your throat, thinking of how it would look with his hand wrapped around it, just enough to cut off a bit of air but not enough harm you. How alluring your voice is, and how much he'd like to know what it would sound like to hear you scream his name. The softness and warmness of your skin when he had his arm around you in the bar, and when he held your hand as you fled the scene, and he wondered how soft and warm you were elsewhere.

"Your thoughts are filthy."

He bristled immediately, sitting straighter in his seat and eyes going slightly wide, either forgetting you can read minds or not realizing you'd be doing it right then. It only took a moment for him to regain his composure, before he took one long, last drink of his brandy and set the glass on the table in front of him. He turned his whole body to the side to face you, as you sat on the opposite end of the couch, wearing a small, somewhat mischievous smile.

"I suppose there is no sense in denying it, is there?"

"What game are you playing, Zemo?" you snapped. He was rattling you. As much as you hated to admit it, he was. For the entirety of the time you'd been around him, this wanted criminal had been flustering you, and goddammit it, you wanted to know if it was accidental, or for nefarious purposes. He could be using it as a tactic to throw you off your game, so that he could get away when it was just the two of you – like right now.

"There is no game, Liebling," he stated softly and sincerely, sensing your discomfort. Slowly, he scooted closer to you on the couch, so that the arm he had laid across the back of it was now behind you, as he stared intently into your eyes. "Merely the natural response of a man who has been widowed and then locked in a prison cell, and therefore has not known the touch of a woman in many years, sitting next to a woman of absolute ethereal beauty."

You said nothing, merely stared at him, sizing him up to see if he was toying with you or telling the truth. Zemo sensed your lack of belief in his words.

"If you doubt my true intentions, you are welcome to delve as deep into my mind as you'd like to find the truth."

In all honesty, you'd have done that already if you weren't trying to avoid being even more flustered by his thoughts about you – but you couldn't tell him that. So, you did as he bade you, and searched his mind to find any shred of malevolence towards you, but you came out empty-handed. Zemo genuinely just wanted you, craved you, like a starved man sitting in front of an endless buffet. He watched you carefully as you came to this conclusion, and although you said nothing further, he knew that you had found what you needed to know.

"Just say the word, and I will never approach the topic again, as well as attempt to quiet my thoughts about you. But if there is any part of you... deep inside you," Zemo paused, eyes grazing you up and down purposefully, before continuing, "that has any interest in being with me... I will do anything to bring that to fruition."

The ball was in your court now. You could tell him to get bent and never speak to you like this again… or you could get your rocks off, and maybe even get something more in return.

"Such as?"

"Name it, Schätzchen. Anything you want. A car, a mansion, jewels – say it and it's yours, if you will be mine," Zemo proposed earnestly, licking his lips quickly as he looked at you, visibly thrilled that he was getting somewhere with you.

You weren't the type to accept gifts from men you barely know, but… this was Zemo. A man who had done a great many terrible things, which soothed your guilty conscience. So, you said the first thing that came to mind.

"A car," you blurted out, then explained, "Mine broke down a week ago, and it's beyond repair, so… a car."

"Tell me the make and model of your preference and I'll have it delivered to your home within a week's time," Zemo said calmly, then brushed a lock of hair away from your face, before allowing his fingers to trail delicately along your cheek and jawline. "Is that all, Kätzchen?"

"No. One more thing," you replied, then looked at him sternly. "You must agree to never speak of this to Bucky or Sam."

"You have my word," he assured you, smiling in amusement.

"Then I'm yours."

Zemo's smile faded slowly, and he merely stared at you for a split second, before cupping your face in his hands and pulled you into a searing kiss, full of ferocity and sheer desperation. It shouldn't have been this easy, to kiss a man who's done such terrible things – yet here you were, melting into his embrace, allowing him to pull you into his lap and straddle him, your hands resting on his shoulders and gripping the black fabric of his turtleneck. His hands laid flat against your back as he kissed you in this new position, slowly gliding down, down your sides and to your hips. He kissed you in a way that was feverish and fast and hungry, as his fingers dug into your skin, holding you firmly against him as if he were fearful that this was all a dream and you'd disappear at any moment. Upon taking a peek into his mind, you realized that was actually exactly what he was thinking. Additionally, he mentally spoke to you directly, somehow knowing you were reading his thoughts at that moment.

"Tell me if I do anything that you do not like, and know that you have absolute freedom to end this at any given moment."

You pulled away slightly to nod in confirmation that you received his message, before resuming the kiss. Mind hazy and instincts taking over, you found yourself tugging his bottom lip between your teeth, earning a low groan from Zemo. One of his hands darted upwards to grab a fistful of your hair, right against your scalp at the base of your neck, and he pulled on it harshly, causing you to let out a wonton moan. He then laid that hand flat against the back of your neck, holding your lips firmly against his as he kissed you with even more fervor, and the other vacated its position on your hip to slide slowly up your torso, until he began palming your beast through your shirt. You moaned softly against his lips, but not as loudly as a moment ago.

Zemo wanted more, needed more; he longed to hear you loud and desperate. So he delved that hand at your neck back into your hair, gripping it tightly once more, and used it to pull your head backwards a bit, so that he could have better access to your neck. The action itself, and the tightness of his grip, earned an embarrassingly loud moan to escape your lips, and you felt him smile against your skin. He moved his hand to the middle of your back, supporting you as you leaned back a bit to grant him better access. As he littered your neck and décolletage with kisses, you felt him pull the neckline of your blouse down a little, then felt the sharp pain of a bite on your chest, above your breast. When you looked at him with narrowed eyes, he wore a cocky little grin.

"You should not be surprised, Liebling. I know you saw that I've been wanting to do that all day when you read my mind," he noted. "Wear a high neckline tomorrow, it will be fine."

Before you could respond, Zemo pulled you flush against his chest with that hand behind your back, and into another heated kiss. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, and without thinking, you ground your hips down on the bulge resting against your core beneath your skirt. He groaned, both hands flying to your hips to push them down again, guiding them as you repeated the action. It only took a minute or two of this before Zemo had enough, abruptly grabbing you by the throat and throwing you down onto the couch beside him. He then loomed over you, one hand propping himself up and the other applying slight pressure to your throat, gazing at you with admiration in those searing eyes, pupils blown wide from lust. You looked right back at him, pupils undoubtedly dilated as well, eyes half-lidded, panting a little, and hair a bit of a mess.

"You are an absolute vision," Zemo praised softly, to which you smiled, then he released his grip on your neck to lean down and kiss you again. That only lasted a moment, before he broke the kiss to pull your blouse up and over your head, tossing it carelessly to the side. Your bra joined it shortly after, then he moved to your skirt, fussing with the zipper for a moment, but it seemed to be caught on something, as it wouldn't budge. Before you could interject and state that you'd get the zipper yourself, Zemo ripped the seam apart with his hands, before tearing the article from your body and tossing it like he had with the blouse. A gasp escaped you, but you had no time to think much about his actions, before he was pulling off your panties and bra as well, dropping them somewhere beside the couch.

He was then looming over you again, kissing you breathless as he rested on one elbow while the other hand toyed with your nipple, his knee coming up to rest between your legs as he laid between your body and the back of the couch. You tangled your fingers in Zemo's hair, moaning against his lips as you sought friction against his leg. He smiled softly against your lips, before your hands wandered, finding the hem of his shirt and tugging it off of him. You had just managed to get his belt off before his hand left your breast, trailing downwards across your torso as he moved his knee further away from you, before delving between your hips and expertly locating your clit.

No longer capable of focusing on ridding Zemo of his clothes, your hands gripped his shoulders, and he hissed deliciously as your nails dug into his skin when he began rubbing small, methodical circles on your clit. Small moans fell from your lips as he watched the way your mouth hung open slightly, face relaxed and eyes closed as you enjoyed his work. But again, he wanted more, needed more. Still observing you, he delved his middle and ring fingers into your core, causing you to let out a loud gasp that faded into a long, low moan. Zemo smiled to himself. That was the reaction he was dying for.

He kissed you senseless, drinking in your moans and gasps of pleasure like wine, his free hand cradling the back of your head as your arms wrapped around his neck. It didn't take Zemo long to find that sweet spot, deep inside you – as he'd subtly alluded to earlier – that longed for his attention the most.

You couldn't help but moan loudly and cry out, "Fuck! Baron!" Zemo growled low in your ear, clearly a fan of your usage of his title as he picked up the pace, fucking you with his fingers with expert precision and speed, sending you hurtling over the edge with a string of curses in both Sokovian and English. By the time he removed his fingers from you and stood, you were seeing stars, breathing heavily as you laid flat against the couch. When your dazed gaze found him, he was naked from the waist down, and was just finishing rolling a condom over his length. You had no idea where he got it from, but you were way beyond giving a shit at this point. Zemo then rejoined you on the couch, roughly spreading your legs apart as he kneeled between them, looking at you with a primal, deep hunger in his eyes.

"You are certain that you want this?"

"Yes, please – fuck," you cut yourself off as he began rubbing your clit again.

"Yes please, what?" His voice was low, teasing, as he continued his work below. "I want to hear you say it again, Kätzchen."

"Yes, please, Baron."

"Good girl."

Zemo took your leg and rested your calf on his shoulder, before easing himself into you, agonizingly slow. You watched through half-lidded eyes as his brows furrowed together, his jaw went slack, and his eyes squeezed shut as he bottomed out. He was silent, but you very much preferred it when he was a bit vocal. So, you flexed your muscles down there, and he groaned, letting his forehead fall against your shoulder.

"Do not do that if you want this to last long," Zemo suggested through clenched teeth. You smiled to yourself, then said the magic word that you knew would get him going.

"Yes, Baron."

He growled again, right in your ear, then sat more upright to begin a harsh, quick pace of thrusting. His hips collided with your body each time, causing a delicious sort of pain, and he leaned down to lock you in a messy, deep kiss.

A few minutes later, Zemo moved your other calf to his shoulder as well, and the new position enabled him to get delectably deep inside you. You raked your nails down his chest, watching as a shudder ran down his spine, all the while releasing small, breathless moans and whimpers. When he opened his eyes again to gaze down at you, he licked his lips before delving both hands under your head and into your hair, and forcefully gripped two fitfuls of it at the base of your skull. The moan that tore its way from your throat was animalistic, as your nails dug into his forearms as you desperately gripped them from their positions on either side of your head. Just then, he hit a spot deep inside of you, and that familiar, tight coil in your lower belly began to form.

"Fuck! Right there, Baron, please, right there!"

"As you wish, Schätzchen."

Zemo began to thrust even faster, careful to maintain the same angle as he released his grip on your hair and leaned up a bit, so that he could resume rubbing your clit. Moans began to fall from your lips practically endlessly, and somehow, you still needed more. More, more, more. You took his free hand and laid it on your neck, and he instinctively wrapped his fingers around your throat, careful to apply pressure on the sides but not the front, as to avoid harming you. When he opened his eyes once again and looked down at you, he couldn't stop the moan that escaped him.

"You will be the death of me, mein Engel," Zemo whispered, seemingly more to himself. All you could do was moan in response.

"Baron, I'm going to – fuck – I'm —"

"Yes, come for me, Kätzchen. I want to feel you."

That was all the encouragement it took. Well, that plus how perfectly he was rubbing your bundle of nerves, and how his pace nor angle had faltered once since you had requested exactly that. You came undone again, legs shaking as your nails clawed at his shoulder blades, earning a series of groans from him. As you came down from your high, Zemo's hips began to falter, enthralled by the waterfall you had become, soaking the base of his cock as your walls squeezed around him. His hand at your wet heat abruptly moved to grip your hip, at the same moment his hand around your throat clutched at your hair again, and he met his end with a loud, gruff moan as he spoke a mantra of nonsensical praises and your name.

Zemo rested on his arms on either side of your head, and he let your legs fall to the sides of him, breathing hard against your neck as he occasionally peppered kisses there. He remained inside you for a few moments, savoring the feeling, before you chose to have a bit of extra fun by flexing your lower muscles and squeezing yourself around him again. With a sharp intake of breath, he pulled out of you, shooting you a glare.

In Sokovian, he murmured, "You are a naughty little thing."

"You adore it."

"That I do," Zemo conceded, then stood and walked off to the restroom. You heard the tap run, and a few moments later, he returned with a glass of water for you, sitting beside your feet on the couch and resting his heels on the coffee table. He was exceptionally handsome like this; still catching his breath, sweat glistening on his forehead and chest, a content look upon his face. You spent a minute or two admiring him, before he looked over to you, and a smile blossomed on his lips.

"I cannot thank you enough for that. I must admit, I spent countless nights alone in my cell, dreaming about getting to touch a woman like that again. Especially considering the fall of our country, I never could have imagined I would be lucky enough to lay with a stunning, intelligent Sokovian woman."

"In the spirit of confessions, it's been a while for me, too. My last boyfriend was about two years ago. And I'm not the one-night-stand type. So, do with that what you will," you stated, earning a small chuckle from Zemo. You sat up so that you were sitting beside him, instead of laying down, as you continued. "I fantasized about it a lot myself, but I never even dared to think my next time would be as good as this was."

Zemo smiled, a mix of pride and joy, then his smile softened as he leaned toward you, brushing a lock of hair away from your face. "This doesn't have to be our last time, you know. I would be honored to have you as often as you'd allow me to. And I assure you, I would make it worth your while. I will give you whichever vehicles your heart desires, more jewelry than you know what to do with, take you to the most beautiful places in the world, dine at only the finest restaurants – and above all, treat you like my queen. Take care of me, and I will take care of you, Liebling."

You allowed your curiosity to get the better of you, as usual when you feared that someone was lying to you. You searched his mind for any fraction of false pretenses, but there were none. The man simply found you intoxicating, and would do whatever it takes to keep drinking you in.

The arrangement wouldn't exactly be an easy one, nor would it be all that wise – nor morally correct, in all honesty. But he was undeniably sexy, and the danger and reprehensibility of it all made it that much more alluring. And besides all that – the way his power and wealth turned you on, how good he was capable of making you feel – most Sokovians were dead, and you missed home. Getting to speak your native tongue with him, chat about your country – it made you feel at home with him.

But you wouldn't give Zemo the satisfaction of agreeing to him that quickly.

“We'll see.”

—————

Part Two

1K notes · View notes

sokkastyles · 3 years

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I was thinking about the moment when Aang burned Katara's hands. It's funny that there are people who blame Katara for her injury (because she was standing too close to Aang), although it is obvious that Aang is to blame for this. And only now I realized that Aang treated firebending as a game just like he treats his airbending, which is why he couldn't stop in time and burned Katara. It seems to me that this is the reason why fire became the last element that Aang had to study, for his full growth as a character, to start taking things more seriously and responsibly than before. While Zuko is learning on the contrary to be more free and liberated, like air.

I agree. I've said in the past that I feel like a lot of the hate Katara gets is because of the way the narrative positions her in opposition to Aang, both as a love interest and as the no-fun caretaker who is always trying to get him to take responsibility, and that's exacerbated when the narrative won't hold Aang responsible for things, such as the kiss in "Ember Island Players," which is why even people who like Katara argue that she really actually secretly wanted to be kissed (blegh), but Aang burning Katara is actually a place where I feel the narrative does do a good job of holding him responsible, and it's actually a huge part of his arc, so people who try to argue that it was Katara's fault for "standing too close" are not even paying attention to the show. There are other problems with the way that situation is addressed, and plenty of people have pointed out how Katara is the one who ends up having to comfort Aang over him burning her, while her pain is just magically healed, but it is something the show holds Aang accountable for and a big part of his development.

And you are right about him treating it as a game, just like he does with airbending, and this is an aspect of Aang's character that I feel is often overlooked. This isn't a criticism of Aang, it's very understandable that he is this way. He's a kid who grew up in peacetime. There's a tendency to idealize Aang's pacifism that I've seen in the fandom, and to portray him as someone who hates fighting, but that's not the case. He's a martial arts master, for Pete's sake! And he was just as hyped to learn firebending as any twelve year old boy would be. He thought the freedom fighters were super cool and didn't believe Sokka when he told them that Jet was dangerous. Even in "The Avatar State," which opens with his nightmares about the violence at the North Pole, he was totally into General Fong's plan and wouldn't listen to Katara when she warned him of the danger until Katara got hurt.

And this makes sense, if you think about it. Because Aang is a kid who grew up in an idyllic setting and was raised by pacifist monks, because airbending came easy to him, and because he wasn't there for the genocide of his people, he doesn't quite understand the real consequences of violence the way the other characters do. I'm not saying he takes violence lightly, because of course he doesn't, but he hasn't experienced things the way Katara and Sokka have, particularly how dangerous the Fire Nation can be, so it's more of a game to him until it becomes serious in a very real way, and by then it's unavoidable.

Look at when they go to the Fire Nation festival in "The Deserter:"

Katara: Aang, hold on! Where are we going?

Aang: I don't know, but there's a big crowd so it must be good.

Sokka: [Sarcastically.] Knowing the Fire Nation, it's probably an execution.

Aang: I gotta learn that trick!

It's not that Aang is naive, it's just that he doesn't have the same experience with the Fire Nation that Sokka and Katara do. Katara is cautious and fearful, and Sokka assumes the worst, while Aang is excited. Katara and Sokka grew up fearing violence from the Fire Nation, and lost their mother to that same evil, while Aang, despite the trauma of losing his people and witnessing the devastation at the Southern Air Temple, still remembers having Fire Nation friends. He's excited to be part of the firebending show while Katara is clearly terrified.

Aang didn't grow up in constant fear of raids like Sokka and Katara did, and he didn't grow up in a violent and abusive environment like Zuko did, so it makes sense that the consequences of violence aren't as real for him (this is also an aspect of what Zuko says to him in "The Southern Raiders" and why it annoys me when people say that Zuko was in the wrong to say what he said). And because Aang is also twelve, his initial feelings about firebending are more "fire cool" than anything.

That's why he's impatient with Jeong Jeong, and also why he's so shocked and upset when he does accidently burn Katara. And because of this he does a complete 180 and is afraid to ever firebend again. I also think that both Katara and Sokka's reactions were unexpected for him. Katara's terror and hurt is so palpable and Sokka's reaction towards Aang, tackling him to the ground, becomes horribly tragic if you think about how much Sokka wanted to be like his dad and was raised to be a warrior and protector of his tribe and family, and the flashback we get later of Hakoda running towards Kya, who he will find dead.

It's also made clear by the narrative that it was Aang's fault. I mean, I'm not saying Aang should be blamed, because of course it was an accident, but the reason Aang lost control of the fire was because he was being reckless, and playing with it. Part of it is also Jeong Jeong's fault, because Jeong Jeong has the opposite problem, and I do blame Jeong Jeong largely for Aang developing a complex around firebending. Both of them, because of their bad experiences with fire, become so afraid of hurting other people that they don't know how to handle it. And Jeong Jeong was actually the last person who should have been teaching Aang, because of his fear of his own fire. Aang disobeys Jeong Jeong and is too reckless, but Jeong Jeong also is way too timid and doesn't teach Aang, who is eager to learn more, how to keep his fire from going out of control. He teaches Aang to be afraid of the fire because he is afraid of it.

(I actually also think this is tied to why Aang is afraid of Katara's desire to face Yon Rha in "The Southern Raiders" as well. When Aang is exposed to situations where he is confronted with the reality of violence, he becomes incredibly fearful and loses control. That's why he's afraid of Katara losing control and falls back on Air Nomad aphorisms that land on deaf ears to Katara and Zuko.)

This is ultimately why Zuko ends up being the perfect firebending teacher for Aang. Zuko had a lot of the same problems, and had to learn the hard way how to control his fire, but because he's had those experiences and learned from them, and decided that he wanted to become better, he's able to teach Aang how to have a more balanced view. Zuko had to learn how to be more like air, but one of the things I love about "The Firebending Masters" is how Zuko and Aang's roles are somewhat switched, and Aang is constrained by his own fears while Zuko is more free than we've ever seen him:

Aang: [Scared.] Zuko, I think the past is trying to kill me.

Zuko: [Kneeling down to inspect the spikes.] I can't believe it. [He picks the tripwire up and examines it.] This booby trap must be centuries old and it still works.

Aang: There's probably a lot more. Maybe this means we shouldn't be here.

Zuko takes two steps back and runs toward the wall adjoining the path. He runs on the wall before jumping on the other side of the spikes.

Zuko: [Dusting some dirt on his shirt.] Where's that up-beat attitude you were talkin' about?

(This is also a rare scene of Zuko bending air.)

Because in the end, it's all about balance. Aang learns to have more confidence and Zuko learns to be more wise. There's a great message there about learning from your mistakes. Yes, you should be careful especially when you are in danger of hurting others, but if you're too hesitant then you'll always be held back by your fear, and you might end up hurting others more in the end.

#the firebending masters #atla meta #katara #aang #zuko #the deserter #jeong jeong #the southern raiders #sokka

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