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unicorncornflakes · 1 year

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Political Rivals - Modern AU! | Prologue

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Paring: Reader x Aemond Targaryen.

Summary: You always spend your afternoons playing and talking with yoour friend Aemond on Discord. Now that you father, Eldric Dayne, has to move to king´s Landing, you have the chance to meet Aemond. However, this is only the benning of a rivality between the two of you.

Tags: Alternate Universe/ Friends to Enemies to Lovers/ Emotional Hurt/Comfort Drama & Romance/ Eventual Smut.

Warnings: None, for now :D

Tag-List (If you wanna be tagged in thi series or all of my work, let me know): @thedamewithabook @bluevxnus

Author´s note: Pls, enjoy! Feedback, shares and comments are always welcome!

Word Count: 2.6K

'I'm just saying if I were my political rival, I'd be afraid.' Edric Dayne was seen smiling on television, while his wife, Allyria Dayne, smiled with white teeth that contrasted with her violet eyes and her black hair. Two "stony" Dornish people on national television. Edric was the new leader of the progressive party. He had just won the primaries. He was representing the perfect centrist position that the progressives now wanted to appear, ironically. A Dorne type, but northern enough to be considered as one of the rest of Westeros. 'We represent the real change that the country needs' he smiled charmingly.

Aemond walked right past the door to the drawing room, where his mother and his sister were watching television. He just came back from the university, with his headphones on full blast, ready not to greet anyone. He saw his father in his study, working on his model of the ancient Valyria and narrowed his eye in annoyance. How could he be so calm with the election so close? If he were the leader of the conservatives, he would be genuinely concerned about…

‘We are truly unstoppable. The polls give us the majority' He heard Eldric's voice on the television again. He was entering the door of his house in Sunspear, the headquarters of the Progressive Party. The photographers milled in front of him. He was a handsome guy and he knew it, like all the Daynes. He was the perfect prototype.

Aemond was studying history and philosophy at the University of King's Landing, but he knew about politics. For that he was the fourth son of Viserys Targaryen, leader of the conservative party of Westeros. The TV was still playing. His mother had greeted him by inviting him into the living room, but he had pretended not to hear her. He didn't have time. He had to turn in an essay for tomorrow…and talk to you. The truth is that he cared more terribly for the latter, but he would never admit it. He dropped all of his stuff when he got to his room and took his laptop out of the bag. He quickly turned it on and he entered Discord. Good, you were online. The photo of your cat with the green icon. The truth is that he didn't even wait for you to see him connected, he first greeted you: 'Hello :)'. He was embarrassed to use emoticons. He always had. But, with you, he didn't care. You made him laugh, you made his heart... race... you had met a couple of months ago in a strategy on line game and since then, you hadn't stopped talking. You had asked for his Instagram, but Aemond didn't have those things. He was more…traditional. So he gave to you his Discord, where you two talked almost every day. Needless to say, Aemond felt like his heart was racing every time he saw you online. You were smart, funny. You understood him when he spoke and you were always sweet… Aemond hadn't told anyone about his conversations with you, for fear they would laugh at him. Who would fall for someone he had never seen? But, he felt that he was. He felt like he had a crush on you. He had always been reticent about sending you a photo or making a video call, so you two just talked. You seemed to understand him in everything he said and he felt like an asshole every time he heard you laugh at the calls you made. He had never asked to see your face, just as he hadn't shown his to you either. He didn't feel entitled to ask you to show yours to him. He watched you write while he changed his clothes to be more comfortable. The beginning of summer was drawing near, and Aemond felt sticky all over his body. 'Could I call you? :(' It was all you wrote to him after a long time in which only the three points, that indicated that you were writing, had appeared. His heart skipped a beat. You never used sad emoticons, except when your boyfriend had left you two months ago, and the truth is that Aemond had been quite happy about that, almost as if he had a chance with you. He thought how idiotic that sounded in his own head. But he was scared that you put that sad icon. He didn't even answer you. He just plugged the black headset into the laptop. Just when you answered the call, he was the first to speak.

"What has happened?" he asked with his usual tone of voice in which he tried not to show any kind of emotion, although in his mind it was a sea of nerves. He heard your cat meow into your microphone.

"Wait, Raistlin doesn't want to enter his animal carrier" you sweetly answered on the other end. As he listened to you fight your cat to get it into the carrier, he thought you were perfect. He had also liked Dragonlance when he had read it in high school and, of course, Raistlin was also his favorite character, just like yours. "Finally, I thought that he was not going to let himself be saved in his long feline life" you sighed tiredly. Aemond smiled. If someone had seen him, with all his hair down and no shirt, just listening to your words, they would have thought that he was doing some bullshit in front of the computer, like Aegon.

“Vhagar doesn't like it either. Do you have to take him to the vet?” he asked you, stretching tired in front of the screen, thinking that this was the reason you were sad, maybe your cat was sick or…

"No. Really, I just wanted to let you know that I won't be online for a couple of days” you said with a sigh. “My father is going to be transferred because of his work, to King's Landing, and… I'm going to be busy with the move” you sounded sad. Aemond could get an idea of how you felt, but he couldn't manage a smile. You were going to live in King's Landing, just like him. You had just left it with your boyfriend and now this... Could it be anything more perfect? For once, things seemed to be starting to work out in his life.

"Hmm, I live in King's Landing," he blurted out in a tone of voice that was trying to be cheery. You had never talked about anything before that would reveal the tight control Aemond had over his private life. He only knew that you were going to start your last year of High School the following year, that you must be from Dorne by the accent that you exuded every time you spoke or laughed and that you were doing quite well in high school. He didn't know your family name, or where you really lived. Just like you didn't know about him either. You knew that he was in his second year of university, that his parents must have had a high purchasing power from the anecdotes he told you, and that he was getting honors in his degree in History and Philosophy at the university. He knew you had an older brother, which he had to be a bit similar to Aegon from the crazy things you told him he did. And you knew that he had four other siblings and that he couldn't stand his older brother. That was where everything you knew about each other ended. Your conversations were based on talking about books, video games, music, movies, art, history... they were more of a cultural exchange than conversations in which you really opened up. Or at least, you felt that way. Talking to Aemond was disconnecting from everything around you, just as for him talking to you meant the same thing. Sometimes you talked about the things that worried you, but only really when you needed to. Aemond almost regretted speaking so forcefully in the face of your silence. "Sorry, I think the emotion... I got carried away" he said with his always serious tone of voice, and you laughed sweetly. You didn't think Aemond was one to get excited about anything.

"No, it´s okay. I didn't know you were from King's Landing,” you answered sweetly, almost as if you savored each word in your beautiful accent, and Aemond smiled again.

"Where did you think I was from?" he replied, preparing things on his computer to do the essay. He couldn't forget about the rehearsal, even though he was talking to you. He had to. If he was anything, he was organized, strict, and demanding of himself. He could only achieve the best, even if Aegon achieved everything with little effort.

"From Valyria, for I hear you speak to Vhagar in High Valyrian," you answered frankly. Aemond could hear how you shrugged, as if you had taken all that for granted and had not investigated further.

"Hm, yes, my paternal family is from there, but I was born in King's Landing" he replied, opening the document where he had part of his essay written. He liked talking to you. He could spend hours like this, and if you were coming to the capital now, he felt it was a new opportunity to start something new after breaking up with Alys two years ago, just before starting university. He felt that he was telling you too much, but that was what he wanted, to tell you about himself and for you to tell him about yourself as well.

“Wow. So, we could meet up after I've already settled there, right?" You responded naturally, with that sweet smile that was always imagined on your lips when you spoke. Aemond leaned back in his desk chair with a smile. You heard him smile for the first time in all the months you'd been talking together.

"That... would be incredible" he replied, unable to believe that it was you who had told them to meet. Luckily, he hadn't been like a nerd asking a high school girl to meet up when he was already in University. The truth is that this made him believe something more than what he really was. “Just let me know when you're settled. I'll go for you anywhere in the city, even if it's the flea bottom” he tried to joke, but he soon discovered that it wasn't his thing and he returned to his serious tone of voice. "I can show you the whole city, if you want"

"In the end it won't seem so bad to me that we are going to live there" you answered sweetly. Surely you must been beautiful. Aemond told it to himself. You continued talking some more, about what you could do once you lived there. Aemond promised you that you would go to the national library. The film library was doing some viewings of films based on ancient Valyria. He told you that he was in the fencing club at the university, and that you could even go see him at one of his training sessions. You realized that Aemond hadn't talked about himself that much in any of the previous conversations you'd had. He had a crush on you. He wanted to impress you, even if he never accepted it, because of the arrogance he sometimes displayed. You interested him. You realized right away. After all, he was online as he came home from University. The question now was, how did you feel about Aemond? You wondered as your heart raced as you listened to him speak. You liked everything he said about him. Of course you were caught by him too. You hadn't dumped him with your boyfriend for any apparent reason, other than because he was jealous of everything you talked about with that University boy you just met. You had told him that it was another of his crazy things and you had broken up with him ipso facto. But, you knew he was right. You had a crush on Aemond even without once seeing his face.

'From the opposition party, they have accused you of being against family union and tradition, Mr. Dayne' the journalist was interviewing the opposition leader again. Tomorrow it would be the turn of Aemond's father, the current president of Westeros, but now this new and young candidate had all the attention.

'Why? Because, do I only have two children, exactly the ones I wanted, and did I use contraception to avoid the ones I didn't?' replied Eldric Dayne sarcastically, again with that movie smile on his lips. 'I understand that others did not do it and now they have five children. I respect all types of family. I do not attack those who are different from me.’

“Have you heard, Viserys? He is already attacking us again” Alicent looked desperately at the television, while everyone ate dinner at that large dining room table. That night they had been allowed to watch television, but only to see the interview with the progressive candidate. Much to Aegon's regret and Aemond's happiness. The latter was interested in politics and power, everything that his older brother was not interested in.

"Well, maybe if my press office hadn't messed with him before about something as personal as his family, we wouldn't be like this now" Viserys sighed tiredly, as if he didn't really fear anything against that man. He was not going to lose. He inside his head was sure. He had been president for years, and in all those years there had not been a single conflict. Nothing. He was a good leader and he hoped his voters would remember him when they went to the polls. Everyone else continued to eat in silence. Aemond watched the TV interested, while Aegon ate without desire, Helaena looked at the ceiling wishing that this would end and Daeron ignored everyone, listening to the last game of the Landing Dragons against the Wolves of Winterfell with a single airpod that he hid from in a bad way, lower his hair. Aemond sighed tiredly. Did they really care so little about something as fundamental as politics?

"You hardly talks about your family, Mr. Dayne," the interviewer asked him and the man smiled.

'Well, I don't think it's vitally important to my political career, but… it's been twenty years of happy marriage to my wife, Allyria. We have two sons, Rodrick and (Y/N). I don't know. What else do you want to know? What do I have a cat called Raistlin because my daughter insisted on giving him that ugly name?' laughed the opposition candidate.

Aemond, just at that moment, almost stopped breathing. Did you have the same name as Eldric Dayne's daughter? And your cat exactly the same? No, it couldn't be. It must had been a coincidence. It was said to be a coincidence. Yes, it must had been that. But, the icing on the cake was when Eldric confirmed that he planned to move to King's Landing in the following days to continue the campaign from the capital. Overall, whether he won or not, he would have to be close to Congress as the new leader of the progressives. Aemond stared at the TV, frozen. No. It was impossible. It was just a coincidence. Surely you two would laugh when you saw each other. It was all a coincidence. He repeated it to him again as he tried to continue eating. You couldn't be the daughter of his father's political enemy.

#aemond x y/n #aemond smut #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen smut #aemond targaryen modern au #aemond modern au #aemond targaryen x you #aemond targaryen x y/n #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x fem!reader

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lumilasi · 2 months

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I wanted to draw today but had little motivation, so I decided to try and finish something I've meant to do for ages; Shura is such a central character, but I didn't have up-to-date bio until now. I just reused some of the stuff I'd already made of him, with fixing some details about it. I took inspo from Helias' design as Helias is like their first prototype/Firstborn sibling.

(I decided to leave his battle form beefy looking instead of his squishy dad-bod, mainly to further empathize the point of how different he is in that form)

Info below: (more tba later)

Name: Shura Kano

Nicknames: Dummy Shura (Youko) Dear, Darling (Shika) Shuu (Jurou)

Age: He has existed for around the same time as his bestie Jurou (roughly 150 years) and is also considered to be middle-aged (I.E human equivalent of 30-40)

Height: 186 cm

Friends: Childhood friend Jurou Blackthorne, pretty much every other person he meets lol, he has giant golden retriever energy

Family: Fiancee Shika, niece Youko, baby brother-in-law Yago, Sister-in-law Uma. Mother/Creator Spectra, The Elder Sibling Helias. Honorary member Chouma

Love interest: Shika Kano

A Seemingly goofy himbo working as a beloved teacher for young children, as well as a Guardianship Caretaker on stand-by for any newly manifested moth spirits.

VIGOUR SPIRIT LORE

Shura's kin are creations of Ether's Guardian Deity Spectra, who initially created them to help her make the world thrive and guide its citizens. Shura's type specifically was created shortly after the Ancient War around 6000 years ago, so his type are relatively new.

There are 5 types of Vigour spirits, representing five different aspects of life according to Spectra: Heart, Spirit, Mind, Will, strength

MUSES: The original type of Vigour Spirit, represent "Spirit" as the original guides of life on Ether. Nowadays you only see Muses on Spectra's moon, looking after their younger siblings and newborns. (At this point Spectra doesn't have to create them consciously, the moon itself manifests them)

BATTLE SPIRITS: The youngest type representing Strength, they were created after the Ancient War by Spectra, their purpose is to prevent another massive threats and battles from rising on Ether. They are also often considered her army. (Shura is this type)

(I'll add the other 3 types later once I have a clearer idea of them)

Powers:

Basic Vigour Spirit abilities: being cosmic light spirits, all of his kind can perform lot of basic light magic spells, such as healing, exorcism or just create flashy lightshows and illusions. They all can fly.

Moon connection: They all can travel to their Moon anytime they want, and tend to become stronger when their home moon is closest to the planet, which happens once a month.

Battle Spirit power: As a special Strength type spirit, Shura has a battle form which essentially allows him to utilize light in offensive form, such as burning/melting heat, lasers, etc. He can also form his light into powerful blades that can burn pretty much anything. His kind are also far more durable than any other light spirit. They are the only spirit type with dragonic wings as well, and these wings can protect them from all sorts of attacks.

Multilingualism: Vigours can adapt and essentially assimilate any language their hear, meaning Shura needs only a couple of minutes of listening to locals talk before he can speak whatever the language is fluently. (Each spirit does end up with an accent still, and it is somewhat random what it sounds like to humans. In Shura's case it is an Aussie accent, strongest when he speaks English naturally)

Weaknesses:

Shura can be gullible and often falls for silly scams and nonsense, he's had his wallet stolen more than thrice in tourist traps.

(more tba)

Personality:

Shura is an easy-going, generous and kind person that tends to light up any room he goes into (sometimes literally). While he might come off like a goofy himbo, Shura is far smarter than he let's on, and tends to exaggerate his airheadedness as to not intimidate people so much; being a Battle Spirit, many tend to be a bit cautious of them, even if they are seen as forces of good.

he is very sappy and romantic with his beloved, the type to sing cheesy serenades under her window (mainly because it makes her laugh) and he is also excellent with kids due to his patience and high level of emotional intelligence.

FUN FACTS

Shura's kin don't actually have to eat food, they just do it as a social activity. They don't poop either as a result, given any food they eat just gets burned into oblivion inside their bodies.

Some of his kin choose to still keep their more spirit appearance even when living on Ether, Shura chooses to utilize a full human form, because its easier whenever he visits earth (typically as a guest for his best friend Jurou's father)

His kind are the only type with dragon wings, Spectra gave them those because they remind her of the first scary creatures from earth that appeared on her planet, the dragon's ancestors. (Aka Dinosaurs lol)

He made friends with Jurou due to noticing the emo goth Soul Eater kid was lonely, and also empathizing with the way people were afraid of him just because of what he was. While not as severe, Shura has had to deal with something similar.

Shura is very over-the-top dramatic with his mannerism usually, so when he gets serious and acts "normal" you KNOW shit is serious.

Shura is pansexual, which is pretty much the default setting for his kind. (They're either Pan or Ace.)

Youko tends to be rude and mean towards him, because she's afraid of growing attached to her uncle, after having lost her dad dramatically. Shura is aware of this fear and is patient with her, more so than many others outside her family. who find her bratty and annoying to deal with....

Shura and Shika were the caretakers for the Moth Spirit Chouma when he manifested. Shura had actually done this before meeting Shika as well, as it is a common duty taken by his kin, to look after newly manifested moth spirits.

Guardianship Caretakers are people who have agreed to foster/help guide any new moth-spirits manifested in their world from the 3 Life Trees at the start of their new life. (These spirits aren't always children, so it is not the same as fostering/adoption, although that can also happen) Shura specifically has agreed for any green Willow tree manifests, as those cases tend to be more traumatized and need someone with good level of patience and empathy. His current Guardianship is a moth spirit called Chouma.

Chouma doesn't live with them anymore, but he is still in regular contact with Shura and Shika, and typically for any incidents, injuries and health problems, they are informed and listed as his next-of-kin.

When Shura speaks, he tends to have a strong Australian accent, making humans assume he is Australian that just married a Japanese woman and chose to take her surname instead for whatever reason.

Shura's kin can naturally adapt to speaking just about any language, but they always tend to have some sort of accent that human brain translates into whatever they believe it sounds like.

When asked from Spectra why he sounds like this specifically, she tends to just go "uwu funni" (if she is serious or not is hard to tell...)

While Shika's brother Yago is still known as Yago Kano, her sister Uma (and niece Youko) have her late husband's surname Tanaka.

#digital art #artists on tumblr #oc reference #lumi's art scribbles #lumi's chaotic creations #Night City parlor #Shura Kano

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tuftypompom · 10 months

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Update on the Chapter 3 Mock Stuff + Some Other Stuff!!

Hey all! It's me, your favorite purple goat with a booty stank upload and sleep schedule, Pompom!

Ever since the newsletter Toby had published on Halloween, I have started to feel less and less encouraged towards continuing my mock Chapter 3 content. On top of lacking any sort of consistent motivation towards making music like I used to have, it seems like we're nearing the release of Chapter 4 sometime within the next couple of years. Now, that's exciting, for sure! And, while it may seem like a long time, it's been, like, almost half a year since my last uploads, LIGHT THE LIGHTS and Written in Stone, and, while I certainly feel better than I had during that time, there's no denying that I still lack so much of the creative potential I once held, and I'm afraid my motivation has been so lacking, that I can't fathom when I'll ever feel the same again. I would kill to upload consistently again sometime, but it really does feel like I have to be on this little forced hiatus. Darn you, brain!

Well- Apologies for the pseudo vent post! But I only bring this up because, due to these complications, I've decided to just drop what I have now here. This doesn't mean I'll never pick these back up, but I feel terrible for leaving my last upload five months in the past, and I haven't really added anything major to any of these tracks since, well, forever ago! So, if it's something you're interested in, these three are among the primary tracks I was developing for my mock Chapter 3.

"Obligatory Field Area"

Obviously, this track holds no title. I mean, technically speaking, none of them do, but the other two I just decided to play along with the existing naming schemes of Deltarune character tracks (Like "Queen", or "Lancer" (But is that called "I'm the Bad Guy?" I don't really know...)). Meant to be the primary area of the mock chapter, resembling a similar, sprawling "field" to that of Hopes & Dreams and Cyber, this is where you would, inevitably, meet Tenna. The art was just a quick mockup I made and never expanded upon, so excuse the poor quality.

Mike

A (very short) song doodle I was making for Mike, the day host (Think of him and Tenna like Nickelodeon and Nick @ Nite, or Cartoon Network and Adult Swim!). Mike holds a more mature, thoughtful attitude and is much less of a "threat" to the Lightners. Even if he has a notably short temper, he knows how to keep his cool and to remain with his stage face on! Instead of directly stopping the Lightners, he more so just likes fooling with them to keep his audience entertained. That is until partway into the chapter, when a mysterious foe comes to bust the party and kick Mike off the stage...

Tenna

A theme for the Big T himself, Tenna! He's a lot more, uhm.. Obnoxious? Than Mike? Being the night host, he holds a more brash attitude for his more mature audiences, and is a lot less thoughtful than Mike. There's not a lot else to say about him, as that's all I've really had in mind up to now, lol. Probably my favorite theme out of the three, though; Obviously, it's kind of a re-take of my previous "Mike" theme that was just made for funsies.

And that's it, really! Those are the three big songs I was doodling out before my brain said, "No." Perhaps sometime in the future I'll pick these back up and continuing developing my ideas. Thankfully, other than music, I've still been trying to get some stuff done, including prototyping various game ideas pseudo-privately. I do anticipate uploading on Tumblr more, I've just never really had a reason to do so as of yet, lol. Sometime, though, I'd love to eventually start posting about my coding projects, and maybe my art. I've never really worked with social media platforms before, admittedly, but I'll definitely try to at least consider branching out and experimenting more with Tumblr going forward.

Thank you all for the continued support! I hope to continue posting sometime, whether it be about music, coding, or whatever.

#deltarune #chapter 3 #toby fox #fwugradiation #tenna #mike #music #lmms #update

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willwade · 6 months

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Iterative rapid development can lead to success.. (aka Judith Part 2).

So sometimes.. just sometimes.. a couple of months works pays off. Or I guess we could frame this post around successful product development - keeping the end user the focus of your development and involving them at all stages of your development cycle is key. We are proud to shout loudly about this.

So two months ago we saw Judith. Technology has not been successful for her before. (You can read more why in my previous posts). So we rapidly developed a SwiftUI app that was unique in its operation - you dragged from one letter to the next. Trying it with Judith we still had a problem - positional errors and missing letters were high. So we then rapidly worked on a “correct-a-sentence system” and settled on using a Azure OpenAI API (GPT3.5) and then developed our own custom model alongside this (needing something that worked offline and privacy first was key NB: The videos is this offline model - Not GPT). A few iterations of this and its correcting as good as GPT 3.5 83% of the time.

So two months later, what does this all mean for the end user? They can now write on technolgy to communicate for the very first time. Happy - well so far yes. But long term AAC use is complex and not just down to the technology. So lets be curious and proud at the same time.

So lessons?

Iterate Fast: Rapid prototyping and adjustments are key to finding viable solutions for complex, unique solutions. There is a much longer tail to development for solid, reliable products but getting somewhere fast helps to see whats important.

User-Centric Design: Keeping the user at the heart of all stages of development ensures that the technology we develop truly meets their needs. Its not always easy but it can be done.

Continuous Learning: Every challenge presents a learning opportunity, pushing us to constantly improve. Passion and Persistence: A keen interest in making a difference and the drive to keep pushing forward are indispensable.

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youtube

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fluffy-critter · 8 months

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#crosspost #busybee

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woollytea · 11 months

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Okay, first proper post here, guess it's fitting since I'm starting a new batch of crochet things with a new pattern...

Hello! I'm Thalia (Thal, Swirlything, etc) and I haven't been here in a while. This is a new blog for my crochet attempts where I try to bury my health nonsense in cute wool things.

So, new ted! I usually start by working out a bear pattern as they're simple and you can't really go wrong with a teddy. Make a few, then tweak the pattern for other animals. The cream speckly bear is the newest prototype, the ones in the 4th photo are a previous pattern from a couple of months ago. New bear is pudgier and floppier! Still wonky and imperfect of course but who isn't?

#crochet #teddy bear #crochet bear #crochet teddy #handmade plush

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foxcomment · 2 years

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How is that to work with old tech

Well, since I live in a... pretty bad place I can’t get any of new stuff or even reltively new~

CardboardVR

I had a pretty big interest to cardboardVR about 2 years ago, I felt like I can do something like ChilloutVR for it and make those poor peoples happier, made a UI prototype, but Never finished it.

Kinnect

My grandma worked in a daycare, so I have some relations with administraion, they’re bought 3 or 4 kinnects back in 2015, but NEVER used ‘em since, only two years ago I felt confident enough to Make something with those unused stuff, asked if i can grab one on a week and boi, that was an intence week of working in UE, so my first game was about catching clouds using kinnect tracking. You’d better don’t know how much if/else/if/if was used in those game...

Oculus GO

I got Oculus Go half a year ago to make a games for it and for it’s poor audience. Then I scrapped all my ideas because I had No idea how to make a multiplayer games with UE4 -.-

But then I got order on the same cloud game but for VR ...never finished it on UE (still have prototype installed), but did finished it on Unity about a month ago.

Leap Motion

Recently I ordered last and really cheap leapmotion module I ever seen (still waiting for it) and Already got an order on a game for it.

Do Not tell me about oculus quest’s hand tracking, those headset costs about 700$ + facebook and anything related to it is Banned here, so it’ll be a pain to even start those headset.

Schools are digitizing, so daycares?

Couple of days ago one of daycare workers said that there’s One school in these country that slowly starts using VR, and we might become the first Daycare that uses VR. Some workers said that my VR gmes are actually make kids learn things faster (...wonder why) and they’re see the future of VR becoming a №1 educational platform for kids.

...VR is not recommended for kids under 10 or 12 but that doesn’t really bother me, they ask and I do. God, I getting paid for it and I don’t have any official job. idc why and how they’re using my games but all I know that I have some income~

What I want

Actually I want to become a collector of old tech in a future after I move to America. I Absolutelly love old HID stuff and anything related to it. My eyes shine every time I think about getting an oculus rift dk 1 and 2... but my finances saying no~

I actually wanted a *new* 3DS on a new year... but the price tag of 150$ was too high for me. DON’T LAUGH. At least I don’t need to pay for apartment I live in cuz I have *serious mental issues* and government payng for it~

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thecrackedbead · 2 years

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I meant to do that - Or the making the 'Frosted Leaves' necklace.

I...uhm...er....sort of meant to do that. Yep, I totally had the whole thing planned out. Yesiree. I Meant To Do That.

---

The before and after pictures of 'Frosted Leaves'. A great demonstration of my definitely, totally screw up-free design process.

---

The start

Don't understand what I'm talking about?

Allow me to backtrack to a few months ago. I often get ideas from thrift store jewelry. Sometimes I leave the jewelry but take pictures. Sometimes I take them home and reuse the materials. Sometimes I take them home and do repairs.

The last of these was my plan for the necklace which I'd recently picked up for $12.99, or rather $9.99 as gotten a couple dollars knocked off when I had pointed out the frayed thread wrapping some of its cords, the broken clasp, the missing leaves and the split rings, attaching the aforementioned leaves to the main necklace piece, which were so warped and badly made that caught on *everything* (my poor shirt/pants/tablecloth/etc 😭). I'd replace the feathers with ones from The Hoard of Doom™️ and replace the frayed cord with something like dyed-leather.

---

The evil split rings.

---

So I got to work, cut off and dispose of the old clasp and the evil-fabric-destroying spring rings and put the intact findings in The Horde™️ to be reused or given away later.

The Screw-ups Things I Totally Meant to Do

I don't know exactly why I thought it was a good idea, but I started out by attaching non-evil split rings to the main piece's connector loops. As these ones where solidly made, it was taking a bit of fiddling to get it properly attached and...

*pop*

...the loop broke off. Fiddlesticks!

---

Whoops.

---

I took a breath and figured I could break off the opposite loop, to keep things symmetrical. It popped off easily enough.

You'd think I'd be sensible at this point and switch to open jump rings for the other loops as the former were putting too much stress on the piece. Yeah, about that...

*pop*

Darn it to heck!

Surely now I'd be careful and I was. This time I managed not to twist the loop off when I put the split ring on, but I did bend it a touch. So carefully I grabbed my pliers to gently bend out back into p...

*pop*

Sigh.

Yep, this was clearly all part of my magnificent plan.

Regrouping

At this point, I had a bit of a hissy fit and the remaining necklace pieces were thrown into my pile of half-finished prototypes and there it sat for a month or so.

Eventually, I returned to the pile and was tossing things there into the giveaway, finish and take apart piles. As such, I found myself reexamining the necklace. I still liked the shape and detail of the main part. Carefully I removed the other loops and filed down the remains. The silvery colour of the base metal revealed and the ease at which I did this told me it was pewter. It tends to be soft. No wonder the loops has broken so easily.

I was also left with shimmering patches of gray where the loops were once attached along side the bronze surface metal. This initially annoyed me but...hadn't I made a bracelet with gold-plated beads that were supposed to look good both with gold colour and the underlying brass should the gold wear off? I could play with the idea again.

---

The bracelet mentioned. First, the gold-plate is still on the beads. Second, it has largely worn off.

---

Having the silver only in one area wouldn't work; so, I attacked other areas with my file to spread it out.

Ideas disgarded, idea claimed

At this point I revisited by original idea of using the original beads and some leather and remaking the original look. This crashed and burned. Multiple times. Generally shortly after take off.

I'd get out the original beads and some cords of different and my eyes would start burning as soon as I set them next to each other and that would be that. (Maybe I should have said burned then crashed?). I eventually removed the original beads from the equation as the changed colour scheme of the main piece no longer fit.

I fiddled around with leather cord, twisting and braiding it. Better but not by much.

In the end I when with my fallback rule: 'Keep it simple, stupid.' I tracked down beads that for the new colour scheme, silver with faux glass opals, bronze with bronze glass beads and more bronze plus blue with impression jasper. I used the variety of sizes of jasper beads to hold the main piece in place and keep things from being *too* simple. I finished things off with using bronze-plated pewter bead caps at the ends and, in keeping with my earlier chose attacked them with a file to reveal some of the silvery pewter beneath.

---

My bead type and size choices.

---

You can see where I used the larger beads to hold the main piece in place.

---

So what happened to 'I meant to do that'?

They say, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." They say, "There's a point in every artwork where you can see the final product."

In this case, 'they' were right. The necklace and it's stupid *pop*ing and my own artistic sensibilities kept me from making any progress. At the same time, those enemies were key to making something I like better than anything I planned or what I imagine the necklace originally looked like. They forced me to wait until I could see the final product and what I was meant to do.

---

The final product.

---

#behind the scenes #jewelry design #the cracked bead #thrifting beads #design process #handmade jewelry #handmade necklace #beading #bead jewelry

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horsegreys · 2 years

Text

Kickstarter watches

How did you first approach suppliers in China? Also, because the next step was for our suppliers to understand our watch concept and to produce prototypes of course. You can imagine that this was a time-consuming part of the process that took around 6 months. And for most of these drawings we had more than 10 versions before we got the perfect one. As a matter of fact, our final technical drawings consist of more than 100 individual detailed drawings. This took us several months to find out and to put it on paper. In addition, it should be a robust and sustainable mechanism where we wanted to work with high-quality materials only. We wanted to be absolutely sure that the watch can be switched from a pocket to a wristwatch in a smooth way: only a push, a twist and a click. Our team also consists of a mechanical engineer and together we have worked long and hard on our special feature. We have put a lot of energy in the design of the watch, but even more on the pocket/wrist watch configuration. We are proud that we can say that we have designed the entire watch case ourselves. And, last but not least, because we believe it looks great! Switch your style in just a few seconds! Did you design the watch case and other parts by yourself, or did you get help with this part? Because it is a timepiece representing the history of the watch. Why do we think our watch is made for everyone? Because it is fashionable and it will fit basically every dress code.īecause it will suit all practical occasions, including hygienic restrictions. Therefore, we came up with a new watch concept that allows you to switch from a wristwatch to a pocket watch (and reverse) in just a few seconds! He works in a hospital and is not allowed to wear wrist watches for hygienic reasons.Īlternative timekeepers (for example pocket watches) are limited in choice and also medics might like to wear a wristwatch outside work. We brainstormed about how our ‘perfect watch’ could look like and how we could make it really special.Įventually, after a couple of years, we were inspired by a real-life problem that Reinder’s brother faced during work. David, at the other hand, was still looking for that perfect watch that he could not find. Reinder collected many different watches over time. So we both had this shared goal to create a special watch at a certain moment since we both like watches. So, why did you choose to launch a watch brand? Although it took some time we are eventually getting there! We both had an interest in watches and found out that we had a shared dream of creating our own watch at some time. We got to know each other about seven years ago when we both started our first job, a traineeship, for a Dutch multinational. We are from the Netherlands where we grew up in the same northern region and went to the same university. Thank you for the introduction, Fredrik, and ‘hello’ to all the readers. Reinder and David, please tell us a bit about yourself and what you did before you started DR.W. Free Consultation (30 Min): Ask Questions About the Importing Process

#Kickstarter watches

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twistedmusings · 3 years

Text

A/N: Planning to post some finished requests tonight thankfully but I wanted to share something super self indulgent with you guys since I just recently got an Alexa! I'm still kind of in a funk (since classes are STILL not over with) so thank you everyone for your kind words in my inbox q wq For now I only have Riddle and Leona...but if everyone likes it I'll make an effort to finish! I kinda am working on Azul's as we speak >:3 Warnings: Boys missing you terribly, Riddle justifying the breaking of rules and Leona realizing that he is talking to an inanimate object.

The Ramshackle Prefect leaves to go to RSA for a month, following a lead that could get them back home. And while the dorm leaders do miss them terribly, it seems one of them is hiding something.

. .

“AZUL-SHI DO SOMETHING.”

The Octavinelle dorm leader barely listened to his friend's request as he also crowded over Idia’s phone, the other five dorm leaders looking down at the screen as a pair of familiar eyes stared back at them.

“Where is Idia? Can you please hand me back to him?”

Riddle blinked at the sprite on the screen before looking back at Idia with a frown.

“Explain yourself, Shroud.”

Idia whimpered as he hung his head low in shame.

“[Y/N]-san...I mean...the Prefect left to go to RSA for a whole month, right? Crowley said it was to help them find a way back home but apparently there was some trouble there too and...and he brought them to fix it...”

Malleus’s neutral expression changes into something a bit sadder while Kalim lets out what everybody was thinking.

“To take them away so suddenly...I didn’t even get a chance to give them a goodbye party!”

“They’re only away for a month, Kalim.” Vil’s eyes stay on Idia’s phone screen.

“But I’m sure a party would have let them know how much I would miss them!”

Riddle clears his throat, “That still doesn’t explain anything about what I am seeing. Why in the world do you have something that looks like...that looks so much like them on your phone!”

Idia was sure this was hell. Of all the people to catch him using his phone during a dorm leader meeting, why did it have to be Riddle? What was he even supposed to answer to that question! That he missed talking to [Y/N]-san about the new animes that were releasing this week that he had purposefully made an AI from data Ortho had collected on them and their mannerisms?

He would rather die!

“I--I was testing a new AI! Just...for schedules and stuff like that! And I didn’t have anything else to base it on so I just took [Y/N]-san’s information and made a prototype! It’s not just going to go out to the public like that! They can customize it however they like--!”

Azul hums as he taps the screen, the sprite giggling as he touches their cheek before looking up at all of them expectantly.

“...A prototype, huh.” he smiles and leans back while taking his phone out, “Everybody stop crowding around him, we might as well be breaking his arm slowly at this point.”

The rest of the dorm leader's move back with only some protest, Idia’s eyes shining as he looks up at his other friend.

“Azul-shi…”

The dorm leader of Octavinelle grins, “If it’s a prototype then that means it needs users, correct? More people to test it out?”

“Eh?”

Azul puts his phone in front of Idia and smiles at him like he was just about to close a rather important business transaction.

“Well then I want the prototype as well. Download it to my phone, will you?”

“Eh?!”

Idia presses his phone to his chest as if Azul was about to take it, looking around nervously as the other dorm leaders take their phones out and set it in front of him.

“If it’s an application for scheduling then I could use it to keep Heartslabyul’s matters in check. I’ll take one too.”

“Ruggie is gonna be busy during exams...this thing better work as an alarm.”

“Surely this would help me keep track of my schedule for both the Monstro Lounge and school. I’ll take one with a statistics program built in, Idia”

“Oh!! I want mine to be able to sing! And can I also get them in Scarabia’s dorm uniform? I want to see what [Y/N]-san would look like!’

“I’ll take that as well. I also want a photo re-touch feature as well as one hour updates as to what is going on in my Magicam account.”

Each phone was placed in front of him as Idia felt his head start to spin. He just wanted to keep this thing a secret only for himself! He wasn’t even planning to release it, it was all just a lie so they wouldn’t know his greatest shame!

A shadow was casted over him, Idia looking up slowly as Malleus smiled and placed his phone down.

“I am eager to see your finished product, Shroud.”

The tarts in front of him looked absolutely delicious.

Trey had really outdone himself this time. The strawberries were cut into perfectly neat shapes and the glaze over them made them so mouth wateringly shiny that he could practically taste the sweet treat without even having to taste it!

Which only made his want of one grow even more.

“And here comes the next batch.” Trey smiles as he puts down another plate in front of him, Riddle’s eyes now staring at that plate while his vice dorm leader cleans himself up.

“When did you say the Unbirthday party was going to be today?”

“A-At three o’clock sharp.”

Trey nods as he looks at the clock in the kitchen.

“Perfect. I promised to meet Jade to get some herbs he has been growing as well as letting him teach me how to make this one soup they had in the Monstro Lounge about a week ago.”

He grabs his phone and heads out, leaving Riddle with a quick goodbye and a promise that he would make it back as quick as possible.

Leaving him all alone with two plates filled with his favourite treat.

The dorm leader looks around once...then twice...checking if anybody was coming into the kitchen before going back to stare at the plates.

It wasn’t like he was going to grab one

The Unbirthday party today would be using pastries that Trey had made yesterday. It was the third of the month so the rules required a completely different pastry. The strawberry tarts were most likely for tomorrow.

So Riddle could wait. He was the Heartslabyul dorm leader after all so not only could he wait but he was required to wait! As the dorm leader he was to set an example and he couldn’t let himself be seduced so easily by just two plates of such yummy looking tarts--!

He quickly takes his phone out and looks down at the screen, face flushing as he tries to remember how Idia told him to open up the new app.

“[Y/N]-san…?”

A face peeks out from the corner of his phone, smiling as it recognizes his face and steps out while giving him a polite bow.

“Good morning, Riddle-san! What can I help you with?”

He can’t help a small rush of excitement at seeing the Prefect’s face after not seeing them for two weeks. Riddle would make an effort to stop and talk to them whenever they made their way to Heartslabyul that not seeing them for so long had almost thrown him off his schedule.

And...he missed the conversations he had with them.

As the dorm leader and a student in NRC he didn’t necessarily have time to go to any other events or take part in any of the shenanigans others would get up to, not that he necessarily wanted to, but it was entertaining when the Prefect talked about it with him.

It felt like they were letting him into their world.

So maybe this substitute would suffice...it was a scheduling app after all so it wasn’t like he was using it for pleasure only.

“Would you please repeat rule 56 of the Queen’s handbook?”

The AI clears their throat as a book animation appears before them.

“Rule number 56: On the third of April, black tea should be served along with pineapple tarts. Followed by a game of cards in which the loser must pour the Queen tea for the rest of the Unbirthday party.”

Riddle sighs as he looks back at the plate of tarts.

“...I guess I’ll wait until tomorrow…”

“Wait until what?”

He looks down at the AI, the sprite blinking in confusion as it waits for an answer. Idia had mentioned adding a conversational feature…

“There is no rule about what to eat tomorrow so I decided that we would have strawberry tarts.”

“Are those your favourite?”

Riddle nods and steps out of the kitchen, making his way to his room as he stared back at the open door.

“They are. Ever since I was little. I couldn’t have many because of--”

He decides to not go deep into the subject.

“I’m sure Trey’s pineapple tarts will be excellent. I will just have to wait until tomorrow to enjoy the strawberry ones.”

The AI hums before the book animation pops up again, looking down and flipping a couple of pages before speaking up.

“Riddle-san. While it does say that black tea should be served with pineapple tarts...it does state that it should be done for the Unbirthday party and the Unbirthday party only.”

He frowns, “Your point?”

“I am sure no rule would be broken if only the Queen has a tea party before the Unbirthday party. From what I am seeing here--”

They flip a couple more pages.

“There is no rule about a tea party of one enjoying a strawberry tart.”

Riddle blinks before looking down at his phone, the sprite smiling as they shut the small book and lets it disappear with a ‘poof.’

No rule would be broken...if it was only a tea part of one?

He looks down at the AI when he hears them giggle.

“Riddle-san looks really happy.”

A blush covers his face at being called out on how big his smile probably was.

“Did I help in any way?”

The dorm leader takes a deep breath before smiling as he looks down at the phone and presses his fingertip on top of their head, rubbing it back and forth as if they were petting them. Something he knew he could never really do with them in real life lest he was looking to get odd looks.

“More than enough. Would you like to accompany me during this tea party?”

“Yes please!”

Riddle nods before looking around once more and clearing his throat.

“And...would you refer to me as ‘dorm leader’ from now on?”

The sprite nods as they give him a polite bow.

“Yes, dorm leader!”

He would need to send his report of the app as quickly as possible, Idia had really outdone himself this time...maybe he could ask if he could get them dressed up in the Heartslabyul uniform?

Riddle still wished you would hurry back.

“Leona-san! Please wake up!”

The blankets on the bed wriggled a bit as the phone was tousled over from one side of the bed to the other, the sprite inside frowning as they tried again.

“Leona-san! Please wake up! Ruggie-san texted you!”

A hand comes out of the blankets before holding the phone up.

“Read the text out loud then.”

Sighing, the AI pulls the text up and reads out loud.

“Please be awake by the time I get there, Leona. I need to make sure I get your signature on these papers for the dorm budget. If you don’t I’ll hold your lunch captive!”

Leona’s face finally pops up from under the blanket, the man sitting up and running a hand through his hair as he speaks up again.

‘Oi. What time is it?”

“It is 3:14 in the afternoon, Leona-san.”

“And when did Ruggie send the text?”

“At 3:00 o'clock.”

He groans and lays back down, the pillows flying about as he holds the phone to his face and smiling when he sees the sprite looking down at him worriedly.

“You really do look like them…” Leona whispers before tapping the screen so that he is poking the sprite’s cheek, “What is that face for?”

“I’m just worried for you, Leona-san. Too much sleep is a symptom of some sicknesses so--”

“Hah? You think I would get sick so easily?” he yawns and stretches, “I’m different from humans. Beastmen need a lot more sleep than regular humans do so...I’m just doing what my body tells me.”

Green eyes watch a notepad appear before the AI as they write down the information, smiling as they close it up and watch it disappear.

“I’ll keep that information in mind so I can serve Leona-san better. Thank you so much.”

Leona blinks at the words before a lazy smile crosses his face.

“Serve me better, huh? Never thought I would hear you say that.”

Usually the herbivore would be frowning and telling him to get up and actually take charge of his dorm and how he didn’t act like any grown up they knew. The sprite, however, tilts their head in confusion before speaking up once again.

“I am yours, after all.”

“Damn right you are.”

He looked at the phone a bit more, the sprite smiling up at him as he poked their cheek or patted their head. A part of him wondered if you would react like that with him as well. You always seemed so annoyed with his antics yet you never failed to come back to talk to him, telling him how he needs to get his act together if he is ever planning to go back to the Afterglow.

Leona would bet money that if he patted your head out of nowhere you would be highly flustered. Getting praise from him was something that didn’t happen often, after all.

“What day is it?”

“The 12th day of April, Leona-san.”

Another two weeks of you being gone. He frowns and closes his eyes as he thinks about you meeting those other students. RSA was just full of idiots...like his brother--

“Dammit.”

He slams the phone down but blinks when he hears a small yelp, turning the phone back around to find the AI looking rather frazzled with their eyes closed and hair all over the place.

“Shit. Are you....okay?”

Great, he was asking an application if it was okay. He could understand why Idia would hide this, right now he felt like he was crazy.

“Y--Yes! It was just unexpected!”

The sprite fixed itself up quickly and smiled back at Leona.

“Are you okay though, Leona-san?”

The dorm leader chuckled and nodded as they set the phone down gently and laid down next to it. At least that part was very much like you, worrying about others before focusing on yourself.

“You’re not going to complain? I almost just threw you.”

Without missing a beat, the AI stands up and looks at him.

“Leona-san is still working hard despite his body telling him to sleep. My program tells me that it would be a natural emotion to feel frustrated if you are not allowed to do something you want. Normal actions of frustration speak of physical manifestations such as kicking, punching or throwing. I was simply calculating it for it to be the latter and for it to happen towards a pillow. I’ll make sure to fix my calculations next time.”

He shakes his head and sets the phone down gently.

“Weird thing. You shouldn’t forgive someone so easily after they wronged you.”

“But you didn’t wrong me, Leona-san. I didn’t feel any pain. I just want to make sure you are feeling your best! You are my number one priority!”

This machine is going to make him go insane, he knows you would never say that but the fact that Idia had gotten your voice down so well that it was almost as if you had just told him he was your number one---

He was already getting a headache.

“Set an alarm for an hour. Ruggie will take around that long anyway.” Leona lays down and wraps the blankets around him.

“Of course. Alarm set for one hour. Would you like to be woken up with a personalized message?”

Leona hummed before grinning.

“Wake me up by calling me ‘King’.”

The sprite fixes its settings before giving a polite bow.

“Yes, my King. Please enjoy your rest.”

After this he would send his report to Shroud and maybe ask for an outfit upgrade. He only needed to show him some Afterglow clothes and the nerd would probably be able to make the AI wear them, right?

Whatever, the moment you came back Leona would make sure that you gave him some headpats for making him wait so long.

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst imagines #riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #riddle x reader #leona x reader #twst mc #//yeah this is extremely self indulgent...BUT I HAVE An ALEXA NOW AND I FEEL FANCY

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the12thnightproject · 2 years

Text

An anniversary, of sorts…

So many stories these days start out, “well, it was a pandemic and…” but, yeah, it was the pandemic and….

Anyway recently, I was poking through some of the files on my phone when I realized that two years ago this month (after three months of quarantine/WFH), I was playing a puzzle game on my phone, clicked on a free advert, which turned out to be for Ikemen Sengoku. I normally just click through these things… I’d tried to play a couple other romance/story apps before, and none of them had held my interest. This one looked more intriguing, and I thought, “what the hell… if it sucks, I can always delete it.”

Two years, many new friendships, and about 300,000 words of fanfic later… (I didn’t delete).

So, here’s to some of my favorite Ikesen men:

Takeda Shingen… that smart, strategic, sneaky, flirty, emotionally intelligent hunk. Come for the beefcake, stay for the brains. I’m a sucker for a they-rescue-each-other trope, and at the core, that what his story is. The adult amongst all the Kasugayama crazies, the one who knows how to solve everyone else’s problems, but ignores his own until it’s too late. Thank you, Shingen, for being the best muse I’ve ever had. Or, well the best muse since Luke Skywalker (but that’s another story). Maybe I just like a man who can swing a big sword?

Ishida Mitsunari … ok, if there’s a theme here, it’s the attraction to smart guys, although Mitsunari’s tactical and book smarts have a negative correlation when it comes to EQ. But how can I resist a sweet guy who does everything in his power to figure out how to make MC happy… and who, once he accesses his emotions, catches up fast. Mitsunari always thinks positively of everyone – he’s just a ray of sunshine. Once I got to know him, he turned out to be almost as great of a muse as Shingen. So, thank you, Mitsunari for the sweetness, the support, and for trusting MC with your feelings.

Sarutobi Sasuke… who doesn’t love a genius physicist/moderately awesome Ninja… who is still trying to figure out what to do with his emotions. But those catch up to him eventually, and they do they’re dialed up to 11. As a modern man in ninja clothing, Sasuke, more than any other warlord, understands the concept of consent, respect, and agency, and has an MC who can go quip for quip with him on the cultural riffs. Thank you, Sasuke, for the fun, and the laughs, and oh yeah… that scene in the woods.

I cannot forget my “gateway drug,” the whole reason the game stayed on my phone after I downloaded it. He presents as a prototypical wild boy, until you get to know that sensitive side underneath. His route was a wild ride, but what kept the game on my phone, was the slow reveal of what was underneath, and his protectiveness, not just of MC’s body, but of her soul. Even as he was helping her grow and discover her courage, he never let her lose her core. Thank you Masamune, for the bravery, for the understanding, for being that guy who will give me a push on the swing set, stand back as I learn to fly, but stay close enough to catch me if I fall.

And this one...…. I sense that underneath that slightly-above-it exterior is a lot of pain and a potential for self-sacrifice greater than Shingen’s. Wherefor thou route? You’re going to break my heart aren’t you? Yoshimoto, thank you for loving art and history, and a worried thanks in advance for what I expect is going to be another cathartic crying session.

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikemen cybird #ikesen shingen #ikesen mitsunari #ikesen sasuke #ikesen masamune #ikesen yoshimoto #shingen takeda #mitsunari ishida #sasuke sarutobi #masamune date #yoshimoto imagawa #oh its also my tumblr anniversary this weekend get ready for some madness in a few weeks to celebrate

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radioduo · 3 years

Text

roses and riots: chapter 1

i could count the stars (wait until the dawn

notes: apoc au ^-^ this has been in the works for a while, so hope u guys enjoy! thanks to @b1rdza for the title and the letting me plan things w them :}

tws: blood, injury, violence, talks of death and zombies

Ranboo stared at his phone, slightly cracked and looking worse for wear, reminiscing over the photo on his lock screen. A picture from two months ago of him, Tubbo, and Tommy beaming at the camera. Ranboo returned the smile. Probably a picture Wilbur took on their moving day.

Two months ago, Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo began living together. Two months ago was the last time everything was normal.

Ranboo leaned against the wall of the now crumbling apartment and laid his head back against the foggy windows with a sigh. He could hear Tubbo in the other room quietly singing a cheerful tune and fiddling with some new gadget on his own. Tommy still wasn’t home from the scouting trip he had left for hours ago, and as the minutes ticked by, more and more anxiety gnawed at Ranboo's stomach.

Speak of the devil, Ranboo thought to himself as the communicator next to him began to buzz. It was Tommy, unsurprisingly. Ranboo gingerly set the phone down and picked up the other device. “Hello?”

“RANBOO, GET - krzzkr - HERE, THERE’S - skrzzkz - FUCKING HORDE HEADING OUR - krzzssz - HELP-”

Ranboo flinched and held the speaker away from his ear as he sprang to his feet. “Oh god, alright. Hold on, Tommy, I’m getting Tubbo and we’re going. Where are you?” He pulled on his boots and grabbed the musty red rucksack that hung next to the door.

“WEST- kzzszrt - NEAR THE DINER-”

“Just stay calm, Tommy, find a hiding place, you know the drill,” he knocked on Tubbo’s door urgently, but there was no response. "Are you k- whatever," Ranboo threw open the door, muttering to himself. Tubbo yelped in surprise as the door swung open, flinging his arm out and knocking his project onto the carpet. “We’ve gotta go,”

Tubbo took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up, bossman?”

Ranboo began to explain, but Tommy seemed eager to take matters into his own hands.

“TUBBO, THEY’RE FUCKIN’ AFTER - skrzztz - YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW, GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE - kryzztz - TO GOD I WON’T FORGIVE YOU IF I DIE,” he yelled through the radio. Tommy was breathing heavily, and Ranboo and Tubbo could hear quick, heavy footsteps pounding against the pavement.

“Oh fuck, okay, we’re coming, Tommy!” Tubbo grabbed his yellow bag from the foot of his mattress, abandoning his gadget and nearly knocking over his trash can full of failed prototypes. “Where is he?” he asked Ranboo, straining as he tugged his shoes over his heels.

“West Elm, near the diner,” Ranboo said as he pulled his mask over his face, leading Tubbo into the kitchen and grabbing his crowbar from the counter. “We’re on our way, just stay hidden and stay put.” Ranboo ended the transmission before Tommy could keep shouting at him and pulled open the door. “Let’s go, Tubbo,”

Tubbo hoisted his bat over his shoulder and tugged his goggles over his eyes. Wordlessly, the duo slunk out from the crumbling apartment building and down the street.

Nothing new, Ranboo noticed as the two speed-walked around the dilapidated city. Broken glass lined the pavement in front of shopping outlets, rotting wooden planks covered doors and windows, and the smell of flesh and blood filled the air around them, pungent and nauseating. The acrid scent slithered through the mask over Ranboo's nose and snaked into his nostrils, and he fought back the urge to heave as he swallowed the bile rising in his throat.

Rapidly rounding a corner, Ranboo tore his eyes away from the city scenery, stifling a gasp of surprise as he and Tubbo found themselves face to face with a gathering of the undead.

With bulging eyes and mouths lined with yellowed, broken teeth, the pack shuffled down the debris-covered road in the opposite direction, still oblivious to Ranboo and Tubbo's appearance. They seemed too busy tracking something out of sight to pay attention to the smell of fresh, unspilled blood nearby. Unfortunately, Ranboo realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach, the thing they must have been searching for was Tommy, and to find him, he and Tubbo would have to make it through the horde of the starving dead.

Tubbo stared ahead at the mob, a sour expression painting his face. "Don't tell me-"

"We have to, Tubbo. Unless you want to leave Tommy to die over there."

"I'm gonna be honest bossman, that sounds pretty fuckin' appealing right now," Tubbo replied dryly.

"I really hope you're joking," Ranboo answered. "C'mon," he urged, gripping the crowbar in his gloved hands, and charged forward like a bull.

The zombies, luckily for Ranboo, moved slowly, giving him time to react between attacks. He swiped nimbly with his left hand, slamming the metal bar into the face of a corpse, taking its head off with a satisfying crunch. Ranboo heard a grunt next to his ear and rolled out of the way right as an undead creature swung at him, nearly grabbing his arm and pulling him back. He brought the crowbar down into the skull of his attacker and looked away as the creature made a strangled sound in the back of its throat. Bobbing and weaving through the sea of the undead, Ranboo slammed the crowbar into every shambling body he could reach, over and over again. He yelped as he suddenly felt something grab his arm, sending a wave of pain up his arm from the iron-like grip. He wrenched his hand away frantically and stabbed the crowbar into the zombie's eyes. Breathing heavily, he scrambled away from the horde and into the clear at last. Ranboo gripped his sore arm and anxiously looked over the sea of corpses. Tubbo hadn't come out of the mob yet, and Ranboo's stomach twisted with fear at the thought of something happening to him.

A loud smack came from somewhere inside the cluster of bodies, and at last, Tubbo appeared, waving his bloodstained baseball bat like a madman and shouting a string of curses at the undead hands grabbing at his clothes. He ran to Ranboo's side, gasping for air. "Don't ever fucking make me do that again, okay?"

Ranboo grinned, relieved that he seemed unharmed. "Alright, alright, whatever," he said, flicking a drop of blood from his face. "We have to keep moving or they'll catch up with us."

----------

Tubbo and Ranboo slid open the diner door silently, stepping over the upturned chairs and tables as they walked into the abandoned building. "Tommy?" Tubbo whispered. "Are you in here?"

"Tubbo?" A voice answered. A head of curly blond hair popped up from behind the counter, and an unmistakable look of relief swept over Tommy's face when he caught sight of the two. "Thank fuck," he muttered, breathing a sigh of relief and dragging himself to his feet, hauling his backpack with him. "I wasn't sure how much longer I'd last." Crawling out from behind the counter, Tommy pulled his green bandana down from over his mouth again and faced the duo. "How'd you get through that giant fuckin' mob back there?"

Ranboo and Tubbo held up their crowbar and bat, respectively. "We managed," Tubbo said with a shrug. "That's beside the point though, why have you been gone so long? You were supposed to be back, like, two hours ago!" The three inched towards the door as Tubbo talked, slipping back into the streets and booking it in the opposite direction they came from.

Tommy huffed, trying to keep up with his friends. "Other than those dickheads back there keeping me away, I stopped by Phil's place for a bit to get us some food," he explained through deep breaths. "We haven't been able to get out much, thought it'd help." He held up his lumpy bag, obviously full of cans and boxes.

"Tommy, you know carrying food long distances is dangerous," Ranboo huffed, pulling ahead of the group as they rounded a corner. "Those things can smell just about everything, what made you think that was even slightly a good idea?"

Tommy made an indignant scoffing noise in the back of his throat. "Well, ex-CUSE me, Boob Boy, for wanting to help out you and Tubbo. That's my bad," he said, placing unnecessary emphasis on the last two words.

Ranboo rolled his eyes with faux annoyance as the three of them kept walking. "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?"

"Not enough clearly," Tubbo answered, amusement obvious in his tone.

"Oh my god-" A hand flew over his mouth as Tommy suddenly took a sharp turn and flattened him against the bricks of a rundown building. Ranboo bit back a pained grunt as his aching arm hit the bricks. "I can hear those fuckers nearby," he removed his palm from Ranboo's masked mouth, and the three of them pressed their backs against the crumbling wall. "Is there another way we can take?"

He pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes darting back and forth as he strained his ears to listen for the familiar groans of the undead. "There are only a few that won't take us, like, two hours," he whispered. "Most roads loop around the city, and-"

"-and there's no way in hell that we'd make it back alive if we travel in the dark," Tubbo finished bleakly. He stared at the ground, lost in thought as though he were hoping the answer would write itself on the sidewalk. "So what now? Just stay here and wait until the morning? Surely not," he looked up at the other two. "I mean, that's a death wish right there,"

Ranboo and Tommy nodded silently. "I guess there's always Phil's place, but that's a couple dozen blocks down the road," Ranboo suggested, glancing up at the sky. It was only marginally darker than when they'd left, but Ranboo knew the light wouldn't last for much longer - especially not with the luck they'd been having. He absently rubbed his sore arm, careful to keep something from hitting it again. "We'd have to leave now to be there before dark,"

"Don't tell me we have to fuckin' walk even more," Tommy griped loudly. "I just got back from his place, are you sure there isn't a faster way home?"

"We can leave you here with the horde, if that's what you prefer," Tubbo retorted. Slinging his yellow bag over one arm and hoisting his worn baseball bat over the other, he dashed down the street, calling to Tommy over his shoulder, "Hurry up, dickhead!"

"Tubbo, wait-!" Tommy shouted back as he and Ranboo followed suit, jogging down the sidewalk behind Tubbo to the safety of their friend's home.

It was nearly dark by the time the three came to the pale blue house. It sat on the city outskirts, barely safer than the houses on the inside but at least ten times cozier. Tommy rapped on the door raucously, and Ranboo and Tubbo cringed as the sound echoed, definitely alerting the nearby zombies to their presence.

They didn't have time to worry about that, thankfully, as Phil greeted them at the door, looking relieved. "You guys scared the shit out of me," he breathed as he ushered the three teens inside. "You can't just be out wandering and knocking on strangers' doors,"

"Phil, if you were a stranger, this would be very awkward right now," Ranboo said, kicking his boots off and shoving them in the corner.

"I'm- oh my god, you know what I mean," he replied exasperatedly. "Be careful out there, is all. I don't know what I'd do if you guys got hurt."

Silence fell over the group as they heard the subtext of Phil's words. 'If you guys got hurt again.' Ranboo peered over at Tubbo, whose hand had subconsciously drifted up to trace the burn scars that outlined his face. Ranboo's own hand had floated up to touch his bruised arm carefully. He wouldn't tell Phil about it. Not yet.

Coughing, Ranboo broke the silence as he drew his hand away from his injury and undid the clasp on his cloak. "Welp, uh, I'm gonna sit down if anyone else wants to come," he invited, plopping the heavy fabric in a pile with the rest of his things and wandering into the living room.

The fireplace was burning, and Wilbur laid next to the orange flames, half-lidded eyes staring sleepily at the ceiling. He blinked and sat up as Ranboo entered the room, still alone as Tubbo and Tommy followed Phil into the kitchen, discussing something Ranboo couldn't quite hear. "Hey, Rhombus," Wilbur smiled, holding back a yawn. "How goes it?" His eyes darted briefly to the yellow sweater Ranboo wore.

Ranboo shrugged, removing his mask and catching the brief smile that flickered across Wilbur's face. "Could be better, I suppose," he replied.

"I think you said that last time," Wilbur noted.

"Yeah, well, it's been hard to be great recently," Ranboo said, barely audible.

Wilbur nodded sagely nonetheless, shuffling away from the fire to sit on the carpet in front of the couch. "You're not wrong," he agreed. There was a moment of silence as Wilbur looked up at Ranboo, who sat stiffly on the sofa, clutching his arm lightly and staring blankly into the fire. "You all good?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Ranboo answered, blinking himself out of his stupor and brushing a strand of hair from his eyes. "Just- pain is all. Nothing a little sleep can't fix," he insisted. Ranboo could see the doubt in Wilbur's eyes, and it made his stomach churn. He wasn't sure why. "I'm alright, seriously," he repeated. "I'd let you know if I wasn't, you know that."

"Right." Disbelief laced Wilbur's words, but he didn't pry, nor did Ranboo want to offer an explanation.

Wilbur opened his mouth to say something else, but he didn't get the chance as Tubbo peeped his head into the room. "Dinner's ready big man, if you're interested," he said, jabbing a thumb behind him towards the kitchen, the comforting smell of potato soup wafting through the house. "You too, Wilbur, I guess," he snickered.

Ignoring the lighthearted banter between the other two, Ranboo inhaled deeply, savoring the scent. It smelt like home, he thought, a small smile painting his face. Wordlessly, Ranboo padded through the doorway into the kitchen, where Techno, Tommy, and Phil sat around the table waiting.

"There you are," Techno greeted him, reaching for the soup spoon. "We were starvin' to death in here, c'mon man," he joked.

Ranboo huffed a laugh through his nose. "Sorry about that," he apologized, running a hand through his hair. "Been a long day." He caught Tubbo's eye, who agreed with a slight head nod.

"It's alright, mate," Phil assured him. He held the bowls as Techno ladled soup into them carefully. "We get it." Phil handed him a bowl, steaming and cozy, and Ranboo gratefully accepted. "Just hang out for a while, alright?"

The six of them sat around the small kitchen table, eating together and listening to the radio as songs old and new alike filled the air. Tubbo and Wilbur sang duets, and Techno and Tommy made increasingly strange parodies as Phil and Ranboo watched with amusement.

Tommy and Techno were mid-song about Phil when the music suddenly stopped, harsh static cutting through the joyful atmosphere like a knife.

"WE INTERRUPT YOUR PROGRAM FOR AN EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT," the prerecorded sample recited. "ATTENTION, ALL CITIZENS OF NEW LENSLING COUNTY: A MANDATORY EVACUATION IS BEGINNING TOMORROW AT 11 AM. ALL PERSONS LIVING IN THE CITY MUST RELOCATE BEFORE THE END OF THE WEEK."

The once bright mood at the dinner table quickly sank, dread and icy cold fear replacing the warm feeling of family and safety.

"What the fuck?" Tommy murmured, turning the radio volume up to the max.

"COUNTY OFFICIALS WILL BE INSPECTING HOMES TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE HAS EVACUATED. SAFE CITIES ARE AS FOLLOWS: ATTSTONE, WORWICKE, LANGSTEDSHIRE, SHANTOWSEA, AND SOUTH BIRBED. FURTHER QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED AT-"

Wilbur turned off the radio with a harsh slam. "Great," he growled. "What the fuck do we do now? Surely they don't expect us to just be happy with this!"

"All our shit is still at home!" Tubbo added, agitated. "There's no way we have time to grab it tonight, and it'll take ages to get back to the apartment in the morning!" He grumbled. "This is bullshit!"

"Calm down, you two," Phil cut in, trying to curb the anger bubbling in the air. "We'll figure something out, okay?"

Tubbo and Wilbur had the same disgruntled look in their eyes, jaws set and eyes shadowed. "Fine," Tubbo muttered, standing up to look at Phil. "Tell us then, what's the plan? Do you even know what's going to happen to us?"

"Tubbo," Ranboo warned. "Calm down. We're all figuring it out as a group."

Tubbo folded his arms and sat heavily in his chair, still irritated.

Techno was already rifling through his things for a map of the county. "The safe zones were all cities nearby," he said, seemingly to himself. He rolled a thin map out over the table, careful to avoid the drops of soup. "Attstone, Worwicke, et cetera. The closest one to us would be-"

"South Birbed, innit?" Tommy finished, shoving his now-empty soup bowl out of the way to lean over the table. "It's 'bout a week-long trip on foot," he explained. "We could be there in no time if all of us leave first thing in the morning,"

"Hold on, Tommy," Techno stopped him as Tommy took a breath to say something else. "One of us needs to stay behind and let someone know where we're goin', right Phil?"

"They need to send a message to all the safe zones to tell 'em how many people to prepare for," Phil confirmed. "I'll stay behind, tell whoever may stop by that the six of us are heading south, yeah?"

Ranboo and the other four shared a look of hesitance, none of them quite sure how to respond. "I don't want to leave you behind, Phil," Ranboo admitted. "Are you 100 percent sure you'll be alright on your own?"

Phil waved a hand dismissively. "You don't have to worry about me, mate. I'll catch up with you all in no time."

Phil's promise sent a wave of relief around the room. Wilbur and Tubbo looked more at ease, and Ranboo, Techno, and Tommy all breathed a sigh. "We should probably pack up our shit, I guess." Tommy rose to his feet, stretching and yawning. "Early start tomorrow, aye?"

They all stood, some more hesitant than others, and dispersed to their respective sleeping quarters. Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo trekked upstairs single file, carrying their bags, weapons, and everything in between into the large bedroom silently. It wasn't like they hadn't done this same thing before, but something about knowing it might be the last time for a while made the mood feel more somber than usual.

Tommy flopped onto the large, pillowy mattress with a sigh. "I can't believe we're being fuckin' kicked out," he muttered crossly, a change in mood from the upbeat leader persona he'd put on downstairs (probably to prove himself to the adults). "And to South Birbed of all places!"

Ranboo snorted, his eyes crinkling up with laughter. "What did South Birbed ever do to you?" He asked, watching as Tubbo crawled onto the bed next to Tommy.

"I dunno, it just seems like a shit city," Tommy shrugged.

Tubbo smacked him with a pillow, and Tommy yelped in protest, shouting a string of curse words at his assailer. "Mercy, mercy!" Tommy begged as he and Tubbo began a pillow fight.

Ranboo looked on with mild intrigue but didn't join the party. Instead, he slipped away from the other two into the bathroom and shut the door.

He pried his gloves off his hands and rinsed his face, desperate to clean the dirt and grime from his forehead and fingers. Ranboo stared at himself in the mirror, watching beads of water run down his face. He looked like a mess, he thought briefly, before drying the water with a towel. He winced, feeling a shock of pain flow up his arm as he blotted the water with the scratchy cloth. Deftly, he rolled up his sweater sleeve to examine his arm.

A little bit of broken skin, Ranboo noticed. He caught sight of a few small indents, which he assumed were from fingernails digging into his arm when the zombie had grabbed him. He made a mental note to keep checking the wound before it got infected and rolled his sleeve down again.

With a newly clear head, he reentered the bedroom quietly. Tommy and Tubbo had already claimed the bed, he noted, as the two laid on either half of the mattress, Tommy's head and Tubbo's feet on one end and the other way around at the foot of the bed. Ranboo sighed as he realized he'd have to sleep on the floor. Swiftly, he snagged a pillow from the bed, careful not to wake the already-snoring Tubbo, and dragged a throw blanket from a basket to sleep beneath. Begrudgingly, he laid on his makeshift bed, staring at the ceiling.

He had never noticed it before, but shining overhead was a galaxy of artificial stars, blinking and twinkling. The question of "why" briefly crossed Ranboo's mind as he stared at the bright little shapes above him. It made sense, he supposed, since the room belonged to Wilbur years before he, Tommy, or Tubbo ever stayed there. Still, he thought, it was surprising that Phil had kept them up there after all this time. Maybe he wanted to keep a little piece of the good times with him.

Ranboo felt a pit form in his stomach as he thought about the future (or possible lack thereof). The uncertainty made his stomach churn as he yawned, eyelids drooping. Thoughts of traveling and an image of the artificial galaxy were fresh in his mind as he rolled over that night, shutting his eyes and letting the darkness of sleep wash over him at last.

#ranboo #tubbo #tommyinnit #philza #wilbur soot #technoblade #dream smp #dsmp #mcyt #blood tw #injury tw #violence tw #zombies cw #my writing

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commander-titania · 3 years

Text

Brother Sister Dance

Wrote a little something post End of Dragons. Doesn’t contain any major story spoilers but if you haven’t reached Echovald Forest yet maybe hold off on reading this.

They’d been closed for only 12 minutes when a frantic knocking sounded from the club’s door. One of the barkeeps raised their head to shout “we’re closed” in a lazy disinterested tone.

While Canach was glad his club was a roaring success, he’d not expected people to become so hooked. Oh well, more gold to line his pockets at least.

He’s busy glancing through the evening’s receipts when the knocking sounds again, loud and aggressive.

“We’re closed!” Canach yells this time, a little irritated this person hadn’t gotten the memo.

That is until the distinct sound of reversed shattering glass and high heels clicks behind him.

“Even for me?” The unforgettable voice of his sister startles him for a moment.

“Ah for you my dear, my doors are always open.” Canach smirks and twists in his barstool to greet her. “What brings you here, Titania? Come to see your dear big brother?”

Titania rolls her eyes and moves to sit next to him. “I did, but you’re already making me regret that choice. That suit makes you look like a creep, did you know that?”

“Incredible. You’re a married woman and yet still such a charmer.” He snarks and roughly pinches her cheek, making her scowl and bat his hand away. “Well I’m here, did you need me for something?”

Titania pouts and crosses her arms. “I needed you two months ago. On my wedding day. Which you missed.”

Ah yes. He’d been dreading this confrontation since she’d staggered onto Club Canach’s flying prototype. Canach hangs his head a little and sighs.

“I didn’t get the invitation until after the date had already passed… Turns out the carrier pigeons struggle to find airships.” He admits. “I am sorry for missing it, but there wasn’t much I could do after the fact.”

“You’re kind of garbage at apologising, Canach.” Titania punches his arm, but she’s smiling so that’s probably a good thing.

“I know, I know. I’ll make it up to you.” Canach winces and rubs his arm as subtly as he can. She’s gotten frighteningly strong these past couple of years.

She gives him an ominous grin. “Oh you will. You’re gonna make it up to me tonight, actually.”

Canach sighs and nods. “How much?”

Titania blinks, smile dropping. “Wha?”

“How much do you want?” He asks. “Gold, that is.”

“I didn’t come here begging for cash you dickhead!” She shouts and he winces. Ah yes, he’d forgotten how animated she could get. She was a lot like her strange cousin in that regard. “I came for a dance!”

“A… dance?” Canach arches a pointed brow. “I don’t follow.”

Groaning, Titania stands up and tugs on his arm to urge him to follow. “A brother-sister dance! I did one with Trahearne and now I’m gonna do one with you!”

“Ah. Is this your human heritage shining through?” He asks as she leads him to the empty and quiet dance floor. “A bastardised father-daughter dance?”

“Sorta,” Titania pulls him into a makeshift waltz. “You and Trahearne really influenced who I am today so you’re sort of like father figures if I had to stretch it. Also I never got to do this at my first wedding way back then… y’know.”

“Didn’t you kill your birth father?”

“Left him to die, actually, if you wanna nitpick.” Titania grimaces. “I don’t wanna talk about that.”

Canach hums and follows her clumsy lead. Dancing with people double her height had apparently done no favours to her rhythm.

“I never did get to congratulate you,” He holds her steady as she dips herself. “On your wedding. I’m sure it wasn’t as fantastic as it could be since I wasn’t there but… I’m proud of you.”

Titania beams at him. “I missed you too, Canach. Try to stay in better contact, would you?”

He and Trahearne had spoken about it once or twice briefly, the elder clearly more affected by it but… she’d really grown so much. Titania was no longer that little girl being led along through tragedy after tragedy, who needed her brothers to cling to and hide behind. She was a grown woman. Strong and independent and wiser than any of them could have ever guessed.

It had been startling, frightening even, to learn what she really was. For a time, Trahearne had feared they were going to lose Titania entirely. She’d surprised them though, the only thing changing being her past extending back hundreds of years and her family tree growing ever larger.

But she was still Titania, and she still loved her siblings and she was still as in love with Eirsson as she had been back when she’d come to visit him in his Lionguard cell.

She was still his sister.

Canach takes initiative and spins her, to which she whoops and laughs.

“I’ll keep in touch, don’t you worry. I don't want to miss what happens next.”

“You better!” Titania grins and squeezes their joined hands. “And when Braham and I find a place you’re coming to see it!”

He’d really missed her.

“I’ll be there with bells on.” He smirks. “Now tell me, did Eirsson blubber like a baby or not? I want details.”

“You want blackmail.” She corrects him. “And just for the record, he absolutely did.”

#guild wars 2 #gw2 #canach #titania oberonn #eod spoilers #gw2 spoilers

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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years

Text

IN YOUR MEMORIES

a/n: alright so this was inspired by an amazing fic called Graveyard by @wkemeup if you haven’t read it... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? honestly, i was amazed by the whole idea of having to “pay a price” for a super power and i’ve been really itching to try myself out in this concept, so that’s what this story is. im really excited to share this with you guys so i hope you’ll like it!

pairing: Bucky X Reader

warnings: a hell lot of Bucky’s past pain, a little bit of angst aaand idk im really bad with these warnings

word count: 7.6k

masterlist

“I’ve been trying to figure out an effective way to help him, but it’s been more complicated than I expected. None of my ideas were good enough to even attempt them.” Shuri lets out a frustrated sigh as you stare at the peaceful face of the sleeping man in front of you in the cryo pod. The glass in front of his face is frosty, but you can still make his sharp features out, his chiseled jawline under the stubble, the elegant line of his nose and the thick lashes fanning over his cheeks as his eyes are shut closed.

“His whole mind needs to be rewired, his corrupted memories should be replaced or wiped out so the trigger words wouldn’t work any longer, but I can’t do that on my own.”

Tearing your gaze away from the man you look at her, an apologetic expression adorning her features, because she swore you’d find shelter in Wakanda, a place where you can be just like anyone else and yet, she is now asking you to use your power.

“Do you think he would let me help him?” you ask, glancing back at the man. Bucky, as Shuri called him, doesn’t look as old as he was said to be. A hundred and six years is a lot for a human like him, though he is not as mortal as others on the planet. Shuri told you about the experiments he had to endure through his life and even though you haven’t even touched his mind, you could feel the pain inside you.

“He is desperate to get rid of his dark side, I think he would do anything.”

Reaching up your fingers graze the glass over his face before you plant your whole palm onto it, trying to feel him even under the surface and ice. Eyes shutting close, you take a deep breath as you let your senses open up and find your way to the man.

Because of the cryo pod, you don’t feel him the way you usually do. It’s like he is just an echo in a huge empty room, you can’t make out his whole mind, but he is there. And even with him sleeping under the ice, you still can feel the despair and pain he had to go through as an innocent man. You know he deserves to be saved, he deserves to be freed from his own past and you are his only chance as of right now.

“Wake him up,” you simply tell Shuri before turning around to go back to your room that was assigned to you upon your arrival in the palace.

Bucky doesn’t feel like he has been asleep under the ice for more than just a few hours. It felt like a nap, but in reality he woke up months after the day he closed his eyes.

Shuri welcomed him with the news that the cure has been found and it’s time for him to get rid of the Winter Soldier for once and for all. She didn’t say much about the method, just told him to get ready by the afternoon. He was never one to question the genius young girl so he just obeyed.

After a hot shower he shaved and took the time to get accustomed to the prototype of the vibranium arm Shuri left for him. It’s not the final version, a lot of details need work, but it’s good enough for his everyday life for a while.

The world hasn’t seemed to change since he last saw it. Wakanda is just as flourishing and vibrant as he remembered, a truly spectacular place in his opinion. He wonders how his friends have been, what Steve is doing, if Natasha is alright… Is Tony still fuming after their last encounter? He probably is.

When it’s time, he leaves his room and heads to Shuri’s lab for their meeting. The guards let him in with just a nod, like he is an old friend and he finds Shuri at her computer as always. The girl beams upon seeing him again, complimenting on his freshly shaved look.

“So what did you invent for me, smartpants?” he smiles at her gently. Bucky owes a lot to Shuri and her brother, they took him in when he wasn’t welcomed anywhere else and now she is about to give him his life back. After this, he’ll forever owe her and her family.

“Well, it’s not my invention this time,” she chuckles shaking her head. Bucky is about to question her when the doors open again, both of them turning in the direction just to see you walk in. His eyebrows knit together at the sight of you, not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be. “Mr. Barnes, let me introduce you to Y/N. Y/N, this is Sergeant Barnes.”

You walk closer, Bucky’s icy blue eyes are glued to your form as you stop a few feet away from him, holding out a hand shyly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sergeant James Barnes,” you smile softly as his flesh hand takes yours and shakes it gently.

Bucky is enamored with you instantly. He has never seen someone as delicate, soft and charming as you are, your whole aura just demands his attention and he wants to know everything about you. But he also notices that though you look a lot like any other human on the planet, he is convinced you are not from Earth.

What he doesn’t know is that the moment your hands touch, you can hear his thoughts and you can’t push down your smile at how well he is at inspecting his surroundings.

“Just call me Bucky, please,” he nods before your hands let go of each other and his thoughts quiet down again in your head.

“To answer your suspicion, I’m rorm a planet called Lortena. Life on my planet looks a lot like humans here on Earth, but our lifespan is a little longer and some of us have gifts, as my mother always liked to call them.”

“How did you—“ “How did I know what you thought?” you ask with a small smile, finishing his sentence as he nods in complete awe. “I’m what you might call… a mind reader. But my abilities go a little farther than just reading minds,” you admit and his lips part at the revelation.

Bucky glances over at Shuri, part of him thinking it’s some kind of joke or witchcraft, but the girl smiles back at him with an assuring nod.

“Why don’t we sit down and have a chat? I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Shuri suggests patting Bucky’s shoulder before the three of you head into her conference room.

Though you’re not touching Bucky, you can sense his confusion and hunger to learn more about you. He is curious about what else you are capable of and though the news about your abilities are still quite odd to him, you can tell that he isn’t trying to shut you out entirely. He just has some reservations for now.

Bucky knows it’s rude to stare, but he can’t stop himself from inspecting you. Knowing that you are not from this planet is already enough for him to get his mind racing, especially because you look just like any other humans on Earth. But the little trick you did on him was enough of a convincing for him to believe that you are from somewhere else.

The three of you sit to the table and Shuri takes the lead to start the conversation.

“While you were asleep, Sergeant, life went on and we had a lot going on,” she smiles, her eyes falling on you. “Y/N is a refugee from her planet, Lortena. There’s a war going on there and she was sent away because she was a primary target. She wasn’t supposed to end up here, but there was a little mishap during her journey and landed in Wakanda.”

“Are you targeted because of your… powers?” Bucky asks, hoping he is not asking anything offensive.

“No,” you shake your head. “It’s because I’m the king’s daughter.”

“Oh!” he breathes out.

Great, so she is not only a breathtakingly beautiful creature with superpowers, but she is royal as well, he thinks to himself.

“And how… where do your… powers come from? Is that a usual thing on your planet?”

“Not quite,” you chuckle softly.

You give a glance at Shuri who nods and brings up a hologram of Loki’s scepter with the mind stone in it. Bucky is already familiar with them, but he is curiously listening to find out what it has to do with you.

“Long before the mind stone was trapped into the scepter, it was in our possession. We used it as out main power source, kept locked away from preying eyes and hands. We all knew it’s capable of more than what we use it for, but we didn’t want to risk it and use it for the wrong purposes.”

The hologram changes and now the mind stone is on display on its own.

“But not everyone agreed with that. A couple hundred years ago there was a war for the stone. Though our people sacrificed everything to protect it, they didn’t succeed entirely. Unfortunately, the attackers didn’t know how great the stone’s power is. In the midst of the chaos, there was an explosion caused by the stone. Almost everyone present was killed, only seven survived and they were blessed with different powers coming from the stone.”

Bucky’s lips part as his eyes flicker over to you from the stone in the middle of the table, while you are staring at the hologram remembering back the stories your parents told you growing up. He feels like he is being shared with an ancient legend, a piece of history that is a privilege to know.

“The powers they were gifted with were held at great heights after the war was over. And while some of them could pass it on to their children, some couldn’t. The seven became four, then just two and there was one left. My grandmother. When my father didn’t show any signs of the stone’s power it was believed the magic was gone forever, but then I was born and…”

“And you had the powers,” Bucky chimes in, completely in awe of your origin story. You nod with a shy smile as the hologram of the stone disappears in the middle of the table.

“Yes.”

“And why is there a war on your planet right now?”

“Because though it’s been a miracle that I inherited my grandmother’s powers, the people want to get the stone back and have more of its powers. Unfortunately, the stone was lost through the years and I was informed that Thanos got a hold of it some time ago,” you explain, turning to Shuri for assurance about the accuracy of your words and she nods. “Who then gave it to Loki and now it’s in the scepter. People were demanding my father to start a war for the stone to get it back to Lortena, but he refused to sacrifice his army to get the stone back from a titan.” Sighing you lean back in your seat as you think about your home, your family that was left behind when your father sent you away because he was afraid the rebels would use you to get to him.

“The stone is not at Thanos’ any longer,” Bucky speaks up and your eyes find him as you snap out of your thoughts.

“I was informed of that as well. It’s um… it’s Vision’s now, right?” They both nod. “Well, the rebels think it’s Thanos’ and you better hope it stays that way. Because if they figure out that the titan doesn’t have it any longer, they won’t hesitate to attack you for the stone.”

Bucky’s jaw clenches at the thought of another war to take part in, but also because you had to go through such terrible events because of other’s greediness.

“I’ve been trying to find a solution to help you since you’ve gone to sleep, but I wasn’t able to come up with any,” Shuri speaks up. “But then Y/N arrived and I think she could be the one to do the job.”

“You think you can do that?” Bucky asks, eyebrows pulled together. “What else can you do, other than reading minds?”

You feel hesitant revealing the depths you’re able to reach with your abilities and you’re afraid he would find it too invading after everything he has been through. You want to help him but he has to let you. Though you’re powerful, if someone resists your attempts, the outcome won’t be the same as if they cooperated.

“If you let me… I can change your memories. I can make them appear differently in your head so what they did to you won’t have an effect on you any longer.”

Bucky’s jaw twitches. He has no idea what he was expecting, but not this for sure. Letting another person get into his head, play with his mind like it’s just a toy, it’s something he vowed not to let anyone do it again. But as he stares back at you, he can tell the difference between you and the monsters who ruined his head before. He is at a safe place and everyone here wants what’s good for him.

“It only works if you let me do it,” you add and notice how he presses his lips together into a thin line.

“I would do anything to get rid of him. So… I’m in,” he nods at last and you let out a relieved sigh.

You’ve never tried to corrupt so much of someone’s memories before and you’re not sure how long it will take to complete the task so you requested to start the next day, giving you some time to get ready physically and mentally and of course, for Bucky to get himself ready for his mind to yet again get taken apart by someone else.

Not having much to really do since your arrival other than helping Shuri out occasionally at the lab or giving assistance for T’Challa around the palace, you’ve been able to explore your temporary home in the heart of Wakanda.

There is a hidden terrace near your room, one that’s not well-known even by the people living in the palace and you like the peace and calm whenever you are out there, surrounded by flowers and plants in hand-painted pots, some of them were made by yourself, watching over the breathtaking view of Wakanda in front of you, the sky turning from bright blue to shades of orange, pink, purple and eventually black as the Sun goes down behind the hills.

Tonight, this is where you are seeking peace again, sorting your thoughts out about what you’ll have to face tomorrow. Your power has a lot of benefits but it has its curses as well. You’ve only attempted to do something similar before and you had to learn the hard way what price you have to pay for having control over someone else’s mind, thoughts and memories.

Your brother was tragically killed in an uprising when he was only seventeen and you were ten. It was the result of a series of unfortunate event, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, no one could help him. Your mother broke under the pain of losing her own child and you listened to her cries every and each night for months before you decided that you needed to help her. She didn’t want to let you even try, afraid it might take too much of you to help her, but you insisted and she eventually gave in. You altered her memories and feelings about your brother’s death, only left her with the ones that bring her joy and happiness, but your gesture demanded a price you weren’t ready to pay.

Upon your own grief for your brother, you had to bear your mother’s as well, the pain of two people clutching your heart and mind in return for your mother’s happiness. You never told her how you cried yourself to sleep every night for an entire year, how you could barely control your dark flashbacks and the constant darkness that was pulling you down. No one knew what you had to go through just to see your mother smile again and you made sure it stayed that way. However, you didn’t dare to do it again, not entirely sure if you could handle the pain one more time.

You surprised yourself when you offered your help to Bucky. You don’t even know him, yet you are willing to take his pain and make it yours just so he can live a somewhat normal life. Though his memories and nightmares won’t torture you as long as they would have did with him, you’ll still have to fight his demons and he won’t even know it. Then why are you doing this?

You have no answer to that. Seeing him for the first time you just had a feeling that you have to do it, that he is worthy of it all and that you want to be the person to free him.

The glass door opens behind you as you’re watching the Sun disappear on the horizon and you’re surprised to see Bucky walk out to the terrace, stopping in his tracks once he notices you sitting on one of the wooden chairs.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think anyone would be here,” he mumbles, his gaze snapping down at the floor.

“That’s what I thought too,” you chuckle.

“I’ll leave you—“ he starts, ready to leave, but you stop him.

“You don’t have to. Feel free to join,” you tell him, gesturing towards the other chair. His hesitation is clear at first, but then he closes the door behind him and sits beside you.

Bucky watches the sunset in awe, but he can’t shake his curiosity towards you, having to control himself not to stare at you as he tries to figure you out. You’re not the only one who doesn’t understand why you’re doing this major gesture for him, he’s spent the afternoon trying to find any alternative motives that might explain your willingness to help him. He couldn’t find any and it left him with even more puzzles in his tortured head.

“What is it like on your planet?” he finds himself asking, breaking the long silence between the two of you.

“It’s not too different than here,” you admit truthfully. “Though our technology is a little more advanced,” you add with a soft chuckle. “In a way I’m happy I ended up here, because Wakanda reminds me of my home.”

“You miss it, don’t you? Your home?”

“Who doesn’t?” you ask with a soft smile and Bucky nods. He misses his home too, but in his case, it’s not a place but a time, decades ago, when he was his true self instead of the monster Hydra forced him to become.

“I’m sure it’ll be nice to return once the war is over,” he hums to himself and he expects a warm and positive reaction from you, however all he sees is pain and sadness in your eyes. “What is it?”

You hesitate to share it with him, staring back at him you think about keeping your thoughts to yourself, but how could you expect him to let you get into his head if you don’t share your thoughts with him willingly?

“Bucky, I don’t think I’ll ever return to my planet,” you breathe out as your gaze moves back to the scenery in front of you, the burning disk of the sun already hidden behind the hills.

“What do you mean?”

“The ship I came with can’t be fixed and they don’t know that I ended up here. It would take them too long to find me here and that’s if… If my family will be alive by then. I have no idea what’s happening there right now, if the rebels are winning or my father is able to keep things under control. I see very little likelihood of my return.”

Bucky’s heart aches for you, knowing well the pain you feel, he finds it ironic how the both of you are stuck so far away from your homes, seeking shelter at the same place at the same time.

He thinks it’s fate.

“What’s your favorite memory from your home?” he asks and you turn to him with soft and shining eyes. He is expecting you to tell him about it, but instead you decide to show it.

Grabbing his hand that’s closer to you, you bring it up to your face and make him cup the side of your head, his thumb brushing against your cheekbone as you close your eyes and recall the memory, planting into his head as well, taking him back, like the two of you could travel time and space just that easily.

Bucky can barely believe what he is experiencing but he finds himself inside your memory and it all seems so real, as if it was happening in the moment. He is standing in the middle of a meadow filled with luscious, green grass and some kind of flowers, whites and purples and yellows dancing in the soft breeze. At first he thinks he is alone, he doesn’t see you anywhere around him and then he spots a woman in a long, light pink dress, her hair waving behind her in the gentle summer breeze and then he spots a little girl running behind her.

Bucky walks closer to the woman, but she doesn’t acknowledge his presence, she doesn’t even look his way and when he reaches out to touch her arm, his hand goes right through her figure, as if she was just a ghost.

The little girl finally catches up with the woman, a handful of flowers in her hands and when looks up Bucky realizes that it’s you as a child. Your main features can still be found behind the round cheeks and pouty lips.

“Mom! I picked these for you!” your younger self beams, holding the little bouquet of flowers up to your mother, who takes it with a bright smile.

“So beautiful, my love!” she hums, sniffing the flowers as you giggle at her. “But why don’t we use them for something?”

“For what?” you ask with a curious look and Bucky can’t help the smile on his face. It’s such a pure and joyful memory, he almost wishes it was his.

Your mother sits down in the grass, her skirt fanning over her in a circle as she pulls you down to her lap with your back facing her before she combs her fingers gently through your hair and starts braiding it, sticking the little flowers into the braid as she moves down. You start singing some kind of song, one Bucky doesn’t know, and your mother smiles brightly at your chiming voice. She braids with so much care and precision, at the end it looks perfect and very much princess-like with the flowers littering around.

“There. Now you are a bouquet of flowers yourself, my love” she smiles at you, kissing your cheek before letting you out of her arms, watching you dance around in your dress, singing to yourself without a care in the world.

Bucky wants to stay there, more than anything and see more of your younger version and your mother, but he is abruptly pulled back into reality when you pull his hand back from your face and the connection stops. His eyes snap open and they find yours, so enamored and in awe of what he just experienced, he feels like he was let in on a secret no one else knows in the world.

“Wow. That was… amazing,” he breathes out as his hand drops back to his lap while you just smile back at him shyly. “Is that… Is that what it’s gonna be like when you…?”

“Not quite,” you shake your head. “You won’t feel anything, you’ll just have to think back to all the memories you want to be changed or wiped. I’ll be the one stuck in your memories like you were in mine. And from inside, I’ll be able to change them.”

“Will I know later which ones were altered or they won’t be different at all?”

“There’ll be… a kind of shine to them when you’ll think of them after that. It’s gonna be the only tell that they were touched by me. But I won’t change anything you don’t give your consent to.”

Bucky nods, having answered his biggest concerns about tomorrow. Now he feels like he trusts you completely and you’ll be the first person he can open his mind up to without a worry.

No matter how much you tried to get yourself ready for what you’d see in Bucky’s head, nothing could have prepared to the pain and darkness he had to endure during his oddly long human life. All the torture, the blood, the hurt and fear of death, it all comes down crashing on you even after the first session you have with him.

It breaks your heart that such a sweet soul had to go through Hell innocently and now he has to live with everything he was forced to do against his will. You can only hope that the people who did this to him have gotten their rightful punishment.

The first time the two of you sit down to start his treatment you get stuck in his head for hours, going through memories and altering them to take away anything that is connected to the trigger words. You witness the time he was captured and the first time he was sat into the chair that broke him. You can’t help the tears rolling down your face as you use all your power to change the memory and leave him with just a faded picture of his cell and held captive. Bucky asked you not to wipe them entirely, leave him with reminders of what made you be the way he is today and that’s exactly what you do.

When you finally come back you almost faint from exhaustion, Shuri catches you right in time before you could fall off the chair in front of Bucky’s who is equally dizzy, but he still manages to reach out and grab your hand to help you steady yourself. You feel drained and almost tortured, Bucky’s memories imprinting into your own head and you already know they will haunt you for quite some time. Not as long as your mother’s grief did, you were just a child back then and you couldn’t control your power that well, but even though you’ve learned to use your abilities, it will still take a couple of months for you to get rid of the horrors you saw in Bucky’s head.

Bucky sees how broken you look after just the first session and he doesn’t want to believe you’ll be strong enough to finish what you started.

“It’s fine,” you assure him when he asks you again in the evening if you surely want to continue. “I just have to rest and we can go on,” you tell him, giving his arm a squeeze before returning to your room.

That night, you wake from a burning nightmare with a scream, gripping onto the sheets with terror running through your veins. In your dream, you were the one strapped to that chair, going through all the pain Bucky had to bear decades ago. It was vivid and torturous and you know it’s going to return.

But you’re determined to finish the work and you do it over and over again, every day for the next couple of weeks. You go through all of Bucky’s darkest memories, altering and changing them until there’s nothing left from the Winter Soldier in him, just some faint and blurry pictures of him being held by his captors. You take all the pain and let it sink its claws into your own head, clouding your mind with darkness.

Bucky can feel the change in himself instantly after the first time you get into his head and a few days later he sleeps through the night for the first time in forever, oblivious to the fact that not far away from his room, you are fighting his demons every night so he can have his peace.

He is always the one to help you back into your room after an exhausting session and he wakes you up with breakfast in the mornings, always making your favorite. You tell him it’s not necessary, but he insists that this is the least he can do for everything you are doing for him, and he doesn’t even know the worst things you endure for his happiness.

He is always the one to request days off from the treatment, not for himself, but for you. He sees how trying it is and though you would never ask for time off, you don’t have to, because Bucky does it for you. Every third or fourth day he tells you he needs some time to heal and get used to his new mindset, but he just wants you to rest and recharge and though you know it too, you appreciate the gesture.

Some days he asks you to join him for walks just to get you out of the palace and you gladly say yes, desperately needing something to bring the light back into your life and it doesn’t take long to realize that Bucky is that light that can ease the heaviness of the pain you are fighting.

You love seeing his smile as the first thing in the morning, you love how he squeezes your hands every time before you dive into his head and how insists to carrying you to your room even when you’re perfectly capable of walking on your own. You love how chivalrous he is always, something Shuri told you was more common in the times he was born and you adore it that it’s a piece of his past self still present after everything he’s been through.

Bucky is the only one who can pull you out of the dark hole you’ve been stuck in and you promised yourself that you’ll never tell him the price you had to pay for his happiness, because he deserves every ounce of it and you wouldn’t want anything to cloud over it, not even your misery.

It takes five entire weeks to go through everything that turned him into the Winter Soldier and then the day to test if it has worked finally comes. Shuri has made sure to have a capsule ready for the test, one that would keep him under control in case you didn’t succeed and he would be triggered by the words he already knows too well.

“Are you sure I won’t hurt anyone?” Bucky asked cautiously as he was strapped into the capsule, a good majority of the Dora Milaje guarding the lab as well in case the test goes wrong, but both you and Shuri are optimistic about it.

“Calm down, Sergeant. We can handle you,” Shuri jokes before finishing up. “Alright, I’m gonna close this now, but you’ll be able to hear us and we’ll hear you as well,” she informs him and he just nods as she closes the capsule, securing him inside.

You sit on the side, but still close enough to see his face in the capsule. His icy blue stare finds yours and you give him a soft, encouraging smile. You do believe he won’t be triggered and not just because of what you did, but because he has a strong will and if there’s still any part of the Winter Soldier in him, he’ll be able to come over it.

“Okay, ready for the words?” Shuri asks him and breathing out he nods, closing his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

“Желание,” comes the first word through a speaker and you hold your breath as you stare at his face through the capsule.

“Ржавый. Семнадцать,” the words carry on and you see him squeeze his eyes a little, fear taking over you that he might break, but it never happens. “Рассвет. Печь. Девять. Добросердечный…”

The trigger words ends and your lips part when his eyes open, noticing the tears in them as he finally realizes that he didn’t turn. The Winter Soldier is finally gone.

“Congratulations, Sergeant. You’re free,” Shuri announces as she opens the capsule and lets him out, sobs shaking from his chest before he is freed from the straps and able to step out of the capsule.

He is quick to rush over to you and wrap you in his embrace, both of you sobbing and crying and you hold onto him tight, as if he was just a memory that could vanish any moment, but he is there, flesh and metal, the Bucky you know and adore so much.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he keeps repeating as his vibranium fingers tangle into your hair at the back of your head.

It’s been over a week of freedom for Bucky and he hasn’t felt better in his life, well, not in this decade. Without the sessions, he now has quite some free time on his hands that he prefers to spend with you, actually.

The two of you have been joined at the hips since his recovery and not just because Bucky feels like he owes his life to you, but because you both can’t help falling for the other in the light of your newly found friendship that’s starting to slowly turn into more.

Bucky hasn’t been shy about showing his adoration and gratitude towards you, not after you’ve seen the darkest side of him and could still look at him the same way. He feels like he has bared his entire soul to you and you accepted it gladly, so there’s no need to beat around the bushes.

However you’ve been still trying to keep him away from the secret you’re hiding. He can’t find out about the nightmares, the screams and the tears you shed every night when his demons come for you. You can’t let him get close enough to see the price you paid for his own happiness. But even with all the cautions you’ve been keeping, you still can’t stop fate from finding its way.

One night Bucky is staying up late, binge watching a series Shuri has recommended for him. He didn’t intend to stay up so late, but before he could realize how fast the time has passed, it was already past two in the morning.

Shutting the laptop down he decides to get himself some water before finally going to sleep. Padding his way down the dark and quiet hallways in only a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, he unintentionally takes the route that goes past your room. He didn’t plan on dropping by, knowing you’re probably asleep by now, just wanted to feel that sense of closeness even in the middle of the night, but his original plans immediately change when he hears your deafening scream coming from the other side of the door.

His blood freezes in his veins and he is quick to turn into combat mode, ready to fight whatever is threatening your life, but as he pushes his way into your room he doesn’t find any intruder, it’s just you, curled up on your bed and even under the thick layer of covers, he can see how badly you’re shaking, your beautiful face churned into a painful frown as you keep your eyes shut.

He immediately realizes that you’re having a nightmare.

He rushes over to the bed and sits to the edge, the mattress dipping underneath his weight as he carefully places a hand to your trembling shoulder.

“Y/N! Y/N, wake up!” he softly shakes you, trying to get you back to consciousness, but you keep tossing and whimpering, a thin layer of sweat covering your skin.

“No, no, please! I’m not the Winter Soldier!” you cry out and Bucky freezes, his jaw clenching at your words, an eerie feeling running down his spine.

“Y/N, it’s just a dream, wake up!” he tries again and your eyes finally shoot open.

Though you’ve woken up, you don’t instantly see what’s really happening around you and you are quick to flinch away from Bucky, pushing yourself to the far end of the bed as you stare back at him with fearful, wide eyes.

“It’s just me. It’s alright, it’s me, Bucky,” he softly reminds you holding his hands up so you can see them. Your chest is heaving and your hands are gripping the sheets so tight, your knuckles are turning white.

“Bucky,” you breathe out and he nods.

“Yeah, it’s me. You had a bad dream, I heard you scream.”

Letting out a shaky breath you close your eyes and try to shake the vivid images that haunted you tonight out of your head, with not much success. Tonight you were beaten up in a cold and dark cell, the man kept telling you that you’re just a monster, a soulless nobody as he kept hitting you before he reached for a weapon that sent electricity through your body until it was too numb to move at your will.

You know it was one of his memories, because you’ve seen this scene before in his head and you remembered it clearly. Only that last time you saw it happen to him and now you were the victim.

“Fuck,” you breathe out, loosening your muscles as you gain your contact back with reality.

“What was the nightmare about?” he quietly asks and your gaze snaps up to meet his. You can’t read his icy blue eyes and for a moment you think about touching him so you could hear his thoughts, but you promised yourself you would never use your powers on him.

“Just… some nonsense stuff,” you lie shaking your head.

“Didn’t sound like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard you beg to someone, telling them that you’re not the Winter Soldier.”

His face hardens as he inspects you while you try your best to hide anything that would tell him more about what you’ve been keeping from him.

“I don’t… I don’t remember it,” you shrug, scooting closer to him as you fix your pillows.

“Y/N, I don’t need superpowers to know that you’re lying,” he retorts and you almost flinch at his words. “Are you having nightmares because of what you saw… in my head?”

For a split second you think about lying. You think about telling him that it’s just because of what you saw and not tell him the real reason of your nightmares, but guilt has been already eating you away for not telling him and you wouldn’t be able to lie straight into his face. So you shake your head and your eyes meet his icy gaze again.

“I’m having… your nightmares.”

He looks confused, eyebrows knitted together as he is tasting your words, not entirely sure about what you meant by them, so you go into the details you’ve been keeping hidden from him.

“I can’t just take memories away and turn them into nothing, Bucky. Memories can only vanish if they get forgotten with time,” you start explaining, hoping you can paint the picture as realistic as possible. “When I changed your memories, I took parts away and… made them mine. And now I have to be the one to fight and forget them, but it happens faster for me than it would have happened to you,” you quickly add, as if it could make it any better.

“Why didn’t you tell me this is the cost of my recovery?” he snaps, clearly mad at you and he has every right, but you just wanted to save him. “I would have never let you do it if it meant you’d be the one to suffer for me, Y/N!”

“I had the chance to help you, I wanted to give you the freedom you deserve!” Tears are stinging your eyes as you stare at his harsh expression, the soft and joyful Bucky you’ve seen these past weeks is now gone.

“But it’s not worth it if you are being tortured by my memories now!”

“It was worth to me!” you snap back, a tear rolling down you cheek. “I might have been selfish for keeping you the details of what it would take to free you, but now you are the one who is being selfish, because you wouldn’t have let me help you if you knew and that’s exactly why I didn’t tell you! I chose to do it and I knew what I was getting myself into and I knew what it’s gonna cost.” More and more tears run down your heated cheeks, soaking your skin before they drop to your shirt or the sheets covering your lower half. Bucky stares back at you in disbelief as you reason about why you did it exactly. “You deserved this second chance and I was your only chance. If I didn’t do it for you, I would have had to live with the guilt forever that I let an innocent man suffer. It’s a small price for the happiness I was able to give you.”

Bucky is in total shock. He has had Steve do selfless shit for him plenty of times, hell, he wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for him, but what you did is just above everything that’s been ever done for him and he is having a hard time accepting that anyone would put up with so much pain and suffering for him willingly. He can’t decide if he wants to scream and shout at you for being so stupid or if he wants to fall to his knees and glorify your name till the end of times.

When you realize that he won’t snap at you again, you carefully scoot closer until you can reach out and touch his face, but you don’t even try to read his thoughts. Not this time. You let his thoughts wrapped in the darkness of the unknown. Bucky melts against your touch, his eyes fluttering closed for a few moments.

“You shouldn’t have done this, Y/N.”

“But I did,” you breathe out with a bitter chuckle. “And it can’t be undone, so you better accept it.”

He cracks a tiny smile, but it quickly vanishes as a thought pops into his head.

“If you have the memories that made me into the Winter Soldier, how come you don’t get triggered by the words?”

“I might own your memories now, but there’s a natural bond with the original owner that can’t be taken. It’s what makes them so vivid and real for you, but it will never be as real to me. The trigger words have no power over me, because the memories are not mine, I don’t have the bond with them.”

“But you still have the nightmares. My nightmares,” he breathes out, a hint of disappointment ringing through his tone, though you’re not sure if it’s because of what you did or because he couldn’t stop you from it.

“They will go away,” you assure him, but you can tell that his guilt is eating him away. “Bucky, I’ll be fine. A few weeks, at max a month and they will be gone. I promise you.”

“You don’t deserve this,” he mumbles under his breath as his hand reaches for yours, squeezing it gently before he brings it to his lips and kisses your knuckles softly. “You don’t deserve any of it.”

“But you deserve happiness,” you reply with a chaste smile that makes his heart flutter in his chest. “Let me give it to you. You’ve had enough pain, Bucky. I’ll take the rest now.”

Bucky stares back at you for a long second before he decides to do whatever he can to make sure you get through it as easily as possible. Pulling the covers back he slides under them, lying down next to you as he pulls you into his embrace.

“Go back to sleep and if you’ll have another nightmare, I’ll be here to wake you up from it and get your mind off of it. You’re safe with me,” he murmurs, as you lay your head to his hard chest, his flesh arm curling around your frame while his vibranium fingers lace together with yours on his stomach. You don’t try to protest against him, you know he won’t leave and quite frankly, you don’t want him to. Knowing that if you go back to the darkness again he’ll be here to pull you out relaxes you, doesn’t let you worry about what kind of horrific scene you are going to be forced to see when you close your eyes next. You melt against him, inhaling his scent, listening to his steady heartbeat under your head as you let yourself go back to sleep, for the first time, ready to face whatever is waiting for you on the other side.

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

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