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fullmetalscullyy · 2 years

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omg Emma my love I am literally writing this with my eyes half-closed but I was thinking of sending you a prompt AND!!!!!!! This is ur free pass to write a fluffy (angsty is fine w me too tbh, you know the drill LMAO) one-shot post My Inferno 🤩🤩🤩 like maybe after they get married or smt… idk… kehdjsjdjsjdjs would simply combust tbh ILY 🥺🥺❤️❤️ ty for being a blessing to the royai community, u a real one my dude 🥰🥰💕💕

eri omg ur too kind and tytyty for giving me a push to return to this fic 💖💕💓 i've been rereading it all week and it's been the best time!! this ask has brought me so much joy, inspiration, and motivation to write for royai again which i cannot thank u enough for

i hope u enjoy this wee oneshot for this au :) i went for some soft royai (bc obvs ofc i did 😌) bc its what these two deserve. supportive, happy, and unburdened royai is a fantastic royai

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stay and burn forever - a oneshot sequel to My Inferno

summary: roy and riza finally get their honeymoon after a year of touring

rated: t | words: 2673

read on ao3 | read on ffnet

read My Inferno on ao3 | ffnet

The mountain air was crisp and fresh as it caressed the skin of Riza's face. It was invigorating and so different from the air in Central City, where she lived. The coolness of it in the morning light caused a shiver to ripple down her spine, so she tugged her cardigan tighter around herself to be further protected as she enjoyed the view.

The sun had risen a few hours ago and it was currently lazily making its way across the clear, bright, blue sky. There was not a cloud to be seen, contributing to the chill of the morning, however Riza didn’t mind. It was so different from the vistas she’d been used to for the past year. The trees, plants, and fresh air were a welcome change from sprawling cities and artificial lights seen through glass from high-rise hotels.

Hayate hurried out onto the deck after her before she could close the sliding door on him. After sniffing around the tables and chairs laid out to the right he darted to the left and down the steep set of stairs to the small grass covered area to frolic and explore. Riza chuckled as she watched him go. He was getting older, but you wouldn’t think it by looking at him. Right now he had the energy of a puppy as he hopped down the stairs and ran around the grass, jumping into the small patches of snow which had yet to melt in the shaded parts of the garden.

The deck she was stood on was raised about ten feet of the ground, as was the cabin, which was her temporary home. It wrapped around the back of the cabin, a wooden railing following its path, giving them views in almost every direction. They were atop the treeline in the valley beyond, as the ground continued to dip past the boundaries of the garden. Looking outward, the valley stretched out long before Riza. She could see right down it to the mountains which marked its end. They jutted out of the lush greenery thriving on the valley floor, making a magnificent panorama for Riza to appreciate as she sipped her morning coffee. It was a morning routine she could definitely get used to.

Birdsong filled the air as the breeze lazily made its way through the trees, rustling their branches and leaves, sounding almost like a distant waterfall. The river she’d walked to yesterday after arriving appeared to be close, however far enough from the cabin that it was simply a quiet rumble, drowned out now by the wind. A buzzing bee flew past her head and down to the plants below. Colour burst from the planters thanks to the new, fresh buds, ready to flourish now it was spring. For a few minutes she watched the bee go about its task of collecting nectar.

Her small haven for the next two weeks was picturesque. It was secluded and left Riza with such an immense feeling of peace. There was no work to do, no deadlines to meet. No one was badgering her with offers and there were no obligations to do interviews or any other kind of media events. She was happy to do these things and it came with her job, but it had been a long year touring and promoting her album, and the idea that she could simply lie in bed all day if she really, truly wanted to sounded like heaven. It was refreshing. A break from the stress and demands of performing. There was no one to demand her attention –

Hayate barked as he tried to play with the birds swarming the bird feeders hanging on the tree at the bottom of the garden. Well, perhaps there was one person to demand her attention. The poor guy, he’d caused them to scatter in fright in his attempt to make friends. His tail slowly stopped wagging and he whined as he looked up into the tree, now bare and vacated by the small birds.

“You scared them away, Hayate,” Riza called to him. He looked distressed as he looked over at her and let out another whine, making her smile at his antics. He must not have been too put out though because his nose returned to the ground and he scampered off to follow another scent.

She sighed happily to herself as the sliding door opened behind her. The noise was quiet and her guest didn’t speak a word but even still, Riza found it difficult not to smile at the announcement of company. Arms wrapped around Riza’s midsection from behind. They held her tight and gave her body a quick squeeze in greeting.

“Good morning, Mrs. Mustang,” came a sleepy voice.

Riza relaxed back into Roy’s hold and smiled to herself. “Who’s she? That’s not my name, Roy.”

He hummed as he pressed his nose into her hair. It brushed against the skin behind her ear before he moved to press his cheek against hers. “She’s my wife. The light of my life. She’s the wonderful woman who owns my heart and soul and has a phenomenal singing voice. She just finished her first tour a few days ago and smashed it out of the park. Does that sound like anyone familiar to you?”

“Maybe.” Riza grinned as she spun in Roy’s hold. He easily relented and let her move but kept her caged within his arms.

He still looked tired, like she probably did too, however the smile on his face was filled with tenderness and love. His eyes were alert as he took her in, roving over her face as he cupped her cheeks gently within his palms.

“Good,” Roy replied, “because it’s you.” His head dipped and he kissed her, stealing away her breath like he did every time. “Good morning, Riza. My wife.”

“Morning, Roy,” she nearly sighed, breathless from such a welcome greeting. Then, she giggled. “My husband.”

It still felt like a dream, being able to call him that. The past year had been a whirlwind of activity that it was difficult to process sometimes, but he was always there. He was her rock, just like always. Steadfast, never failing, and not going anywhere soon, just like she was for him.

The dark circles which had been prominent beneath Roy’s eyes for the past few months were slowly starting to recede, but they were still there. The long hours working, helping her with whatever she needed and guiding her through her first tour, plus travelling had taken its toll on them both, so this was their chance to recover. A quiet, cosy mountain retreat together was exactly what they both needed, so they were going to make the most of it.

Riza ran her hands down Roy’s chest, lowering her gaze so her eyes could follow the same path, coming to a stop so she could fiddle with the drawstrings of his hoodie.

She didn’t miss how he shuddered beneath her ministrations either.

“What if I want you to be Mr. Hawkeye?”

“Riza, I will be anyone you want me to be.” He pecked her cheek, shooting her his trademark boyish grin.

Of course, he would. He’d give her the moon and the stars if she asked him to and the knowledge of that made her stomach flutter.

“I thought you would have slept longer,” Riza commented as he came to stand and rest against the railing by her side. He’d slipped a hoodie on over the t-shirt he’d slept in to protect against the chill, and it was too cold to go barefoot. Riza had quickly pulled trainers on in case she needed to clean up after Hayate or she wanted to play with him, but Roy had borrowed her slippers. The pale-yellow footwear must be enough to keep his toes warm because he wasn’t wearing any socks.

“I couldn’t sleep without you by my side.”

“I was gone for about five minutes.”

Roy shrugged unapologetically. “I noticed. And I stand by my original statement.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

A reassuring kiss was pressed against her temple as Roy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry about that. Ever. As I said before, I’m more than happy to rise early at the same time as you. It gives me more time in the day to spend with you after all,” he quipped. He’d said the same thing to her before, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Riza shook her head fondly and leaned her head against his shoulder as they both watched Hayate run around below them. “I like that too. But you do need to rest.”

“We both do,” he countered.

“Yes, but –”

“Riza,” he interrupted gently, shooting her a soft smile. “Every minute spent with you is worth it. Every minute of sleep we both lost over the past year was worth it, and it continues to be the same now.” He squeezed her shoulders in a side hug. “You don’t need to worry about me. This is our two weeks to rest, and I’ll do everything in my power to ensure it’s what we both deserve. Now that we even have a minute to do such a thing as relax,” he joked, causing Riza to laugh tiredly beside him.

Roy turned her so they were both facing one another.

“I’m extremely proud of you but right now, it’s just me and you. Just Roy and Riza.” He lifted a hand to brush her fringe away from her eyes with a tender touch, stroking her cheek with his thumb before his hand dropped to his side once more. “Right here, we’re a simple husband and wife who love each other very much. No albums, no tours, and no record labels. Just me and you.”

Riza felt her breath hitched as wetness clouded her eyes. Roy’s were the same as he gazed adoringly at her.

“I’m happy to rise with you at whatever time so we can face and enjoy the day together.”

She was so lucky. So grateful for him and his relentless drive to support and assist her in pursuing and achieving her dreams. To give it his all and cheer her on. To love her and try to give her everything he thought she deserved and more, just like she always wished to do for him.

Riza couldn’t wait to return the favour when it was his turn to tour.

They both met in the middle for a passionate, loving kiss.

“I love you, Roy. Thank you.”

“Love you too, Riza,” he grinned.

The sounds of the morning settled around them as they enjoyed the simple peace and quiet.

Now her tour was finished it was a relief. It had been a massive success. It had surpassed all of her expectations and blown them all out of the water. Riza had been baffled by the reception she’d received from fans, but Roy had simply smirked knowingly. It was maddening, but in a good way. He was her biggest fan and supporter. His never-ending faith and belief in her gave Riza strength and motivated her. He’d attended every show with her and had helped settle her nerves before she stepped out onto the stage in front of thousands of people. As soon as her set finished he was right there waiting in the wings, ready to welcome her into his arms with a kiss which weakened Riza at the knees.

She was so lucky to have him. She loved him with everything she had, and even saying that never felt enough. There were not enough words in the world to properly profess how deep her love and appreciation for Roy Mustang went. She’d told him as much, revealing he felt the same.

So, she often did it in song.

Riza had lost count of the number of lyrics she’d written or ideas she’d had which were drawn from her experiences with Roy and which were dedicated to how much she loved and adored her husband. The world may never know, but Riza made sure Roy did.

“This place is wonderful, Roy.” Riza sighed in contentment as she shifted against her husband to move closer to him.

He hummed in agreement. “I’m glad you think so. I’m glad I picked well.”

“You picked very well. It was a lovely surprise.”

He beamed at her. “I did say that one day I would whisk you off to a log cabin somewhere in the mountains where no one would bother us, didn’t I?”

Riza chuckled. “You did, yes.”

She couldn’t believe how long ago that was. She would call it a distant memory, but it was also the day Roy proposed, so she’d never forget it. That day stood out in her mind with startling clarity.

“So, this is a great start to our honeymoon?”

Riza craned her neck to look up at him suspiciously. “To start our honeymoon? Just what else have you got planned, Mr. Hawkeye?”

A mischievous grin lit up his face as his eyes sparkled with glee. “Well, it was a long time coming. I’ve had a long time to think. The tour put it on hold for us, which wasn’t a problem,” he quickly reassured her. “I’ve had the best time touring with you and I forgot how fun it could be when you do it with the ones you love,” he grinned. “You’ve worked so hard for so long and I’m so, soproud of all you’ve achieved. You deserve all the rest and relaxation in the world after that alone, not to mention a way to celebrate the end to your first tour.”

Riza blinked up at him. “This sounds like we’ll be busy for a while.”

Roy winked at her. “Of course. Only the best for us. So,” he started, straightening his spine and holding out a closed fist so he could count off on his fingers. “This is our honeymoon.” He lifted one finger. “Then we’ve got to celebrate the end of your tour separately from this.” He lifted a second finger. “And I still need to hold up on my promise of us going to a cabin in the mountains for a week so I can sequester you away from the world and we can be alone and undisturbed.”

Her head tipped back as she laughed. “Are you going to kidnap me away from the world?”

“I might have to in order to spend time with my wife.” His smile turned wolfish. “You’re so brilliant and successful, so in demand, that I may need to make such a bold statement in order to gain your attention and affection.”

“You could of course just ask me.”

“Ah, I could,” he agreed emphatically, eyes twinkling with amusement. “But where is the fun in that?”

A thrill ignited itself within Riza’s stomach, causing a wide smile to spread across her face. Her excitement and joy must have been infectious because Roy returned it eagerly.

“Let’s make all the future plans together, Riza,” he breathed, dropping all his jokes. Amusement was replaced with excitement and enthusiasm at the prospect of their future together.

“I would be more than happy to do that with you, Roy.” She stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his neck so she could toy with strands of his hair. “And I would drop everything for you in a second if you asked, you know that, right? You don’t need grand gestures to gain my attention.”

She laughed at his playful pout. Riza kissed it away, causing Roy to react instantly and hold her even tighter.

“I adore how you keep me on my toes, but I will always have time for you, no matter how busy we get.”

“I love you so much, Riza,” he murmured before captivating her in a bruising kiss.

“I love you too, Roy. Let’s do it. Let’s make all the memories and go on all the adventures. I can’t wait to do it all with you.”

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#royai #royai fic #royai fanfic #royai oneshot #royai au #emma writes #fic request #my inferno #ask #firewood-figs

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

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Batman AU where a pissed off Dick Grayson, after being fired from Robin and kicked out by Bruce, doesn’t go back to the circus when he was off finding himself. Before he became Nightwing. He meant to, even made it all the way to Europe on his way to their latest stop, but in London he got....distracted, when he ran into one John Constantine.

Now, back at this point in canon, Constantine was probably in his mid-twenties at most. I’ve always pictured him mid to late thirties in current comic canon, he’s one of those guys who comes off as older than he is, b/c like, lbr, dude lives ROUGH, lol. But me being me, like, I’m not looking to hook nineteen year old Dick Grayson up with a mid-twenties staggering disaster in whiskey-soaked human form. However, that does not mean that Dick, recently feeling disillusioned about numerous things as well as lost and directionless, two things that define John in a lot of his decades, let alone twenties -

Like, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t THINK about it, and perhaps romanticize the idea of him and John being kindred spirits. As well as maybe a little attracted to Constantine’s patented performative way of living, aka “watch how I windmill through life, giving no fucks whilst taking whatever latest misfortune befalls me in an unaffected and devilishly snarky stride, because of the thing about the no fucks, see, that’s the connection there.”

And okay, if we’re being totally honest here, its not like it just COMPLETELY didn’t occur to Dick that he was coming up with reasons to justify sticking around and hanging out and also crushing on one of the people MOST likely to tick his dad off. I mean, let’s face it, John is like, the combination of three things Bruce has zero patience for and avoids or outright disdains whenever possible:

1) Magic, ugh, unreliable, illogical. (Bruce’s super-objective POV on the subject) - Look. It makes no sense. Follows no logical rules. Every usage of it is a breakdown of the normal universe and the ordered mechanism of The Way Things Are Supposed to Work, the things Batman relies on, needs in order to be him, the Great Detective, the guy who understands how everything works and that’s how he stays one step ahead of everyone else.

In a word, magic and all its works are RUDE and they like....annoy him just on principle.

2) Eternally late and relentlessly slovenly (not everyone has a live-in BUTLER Bruce, jeez)

and

3) ...John Constantine. (Let’s be real. This one just is what it is. There’s not a whole lot of getting around it. Its hard for Dick at age 19 to pretend buddying up with John isn’t guaranteed to make Bruce grind his teeth, given that its hard for anyone at any age to pretend that while Bruce almost certainly respects the things John has accomplished at various times....being in the same zip code as him is something he tries to avoid. Their personalities are not super compatible).

So, its a tiny bit possible the Great Divergence of this AU from canon.... comes down to one accidental team-up with one of Batman’s Top Ten Favorite People, No Seriously....and then Dick kinda leaning into being a bit of a petty shit here. Look, its not his finest hour, but Bruce started it, and also, like whatever. Alexa, play ‘Teenage Wasteland’ but y’know, all...SUPER LOUD and ANGSTILY.

Ahem. Anyway.

So even though Constantine rather famously likes neither people nor drama, and Dick is both those things.....Dick is also always effortlessly charming and makes friends wherever he goes. In the end, it should come as no surprise to anyone but Constantine that he is no more Immune to Dick’s innate Likeability Quotient than most of the rest of humanity.

And for a couple of weeks they kinda just hang out, get into random mishaps with magical gargoyles and ensorcelled ravens around the Tower of London and also one specific clash with a demonically possessed umbrella that turned anyone who held it into like, Mary Poppins, but also, y’know, EVIL - look it was this whole thing, don’t ask, Constantine still doesn’t like to talk about it. He even offered to show Dick how to do a minor cantrip if his mischief minded companion would agree to keep his mouth shut on the subject from now until the end of eternity.

Dick had to hem and haw over that one for a bit, but ultimately his innate curiosity won out over his fondness for telling a rousing but also hilarious tale. It was a very narrow margin, but that was all that was needed to have Dick’s foot take its very first step along a very different road in this universe.

See, Constantine’s not really expecting much to happen even as he walks Dick through the steps of the simple spell. Magic’s as unpredictable about who it’ll roll over and play tricks for as it is in how it operates and functions and like...basically accomplishes all the many varied feats that make Bruce develop spontaneous frustration migraines, because that’s not how reality works, none of this has anything to do with how reality WORKS, what happened to the RULES, dammit!

And sure, there’s all sorts of different kinds of magic, and all kinds of different lines various magic practitioners sort into....some are born into it, like the Zataras, and Constantine himself actually, though in a very different way from the former....others end up developing a knack for it after significant encounters with arcane or occult beings, forces, artifacts or the like, as though their exposure to such a focused concentration of it resulted in a kind of charge rubbing off on them, just enough to make them able to attract and gather and channel magical forces from then on themselves. Others are chosen to it, and some just have no clue why spells will work for them but not ten random pedestrians they stop on the street and use as a rather strange sample group.

But bottom line is magic isn’t just about practice and skill, you tend to either have a knack for it or you don’t, and more people don’t than do, so John’s pretty much expecting to fulfill his end of their little gentleman’s agreement and then watch Dick duplicate everything he did exactly, with zero result.

Except turns out, Dick Grayson DOES have a knack for magic, same as he has a knack for well, everything. The guy was crime fighting and kicking bad guy ass in middle school. Forget James Bond and Captain Kirk, forget even Batman himself, ROBIN is the original and ultimate Gary Stu. Of fucking course Dick would be good at magic if he ever tried it. There’s a fairly large school of thought in this universe that posits that the force they call magic is an almost living entity in its own way, perhaps even sentient. Most of the magicians and wizards and sorcerers in that school of thinking kinda all quietly nurse the opinion that magic just, like....likes Dick Grayson, and he just charmed it with his first attempt at that simple spell and had it wrapped around his finger by the time he said Abra Kadabra.

(Because of fucking COURSE John picked a spell he could end with Abra Kadabra, have you met the man? He’s the most dramatic of them all, why do you think he hates both people and drama so much??? He’s the people and the drama!)

So there we have one lost and directionless Dick Grayson, feeling like he’s lost his footing and all his old plans and projected paths don’t really fit him anymore, or at least not well enough to help him feel like he’s headed somewhere, doing something.

Buuuuuut, then there’s that petty teenage side of him again, the one that goes fuck Batman, and also I’m right to say so.....and at least that IS a direction to focus on, even if not the most noble one....so the same brain cells that linked up and logic’d him around to the conclusion that ‘Bruce will never think to look for me with John Constantine of all people, and LOL how much would he hate that’....like, big fans of the positive reception their prior performance had received, those same brain cells leap back into action with zeal and zest and steer him to the not all that distant conclusion:

“LOL, how much would Bruce hate it if I ended up being this like, super talented magician, with expertise he knows nothing about? Could you imagine?”

Turns out Dick could, and did, and so much like that initial inch in this direction, is the true basis of him following up on that and becoming a renowned sorcerous superhero in this universe the fateful last words “Screw you dad, you’re not the boss of me and I’ll do what I want!”

I mean. Yeah. That’s pretty much exactly how it began. Yup. Oops.

But the thing is, that’s just how it starts. A random string of chance encounters and events that capture Dick’s attention and interest at a time and a place in his life where he was looking for literally anything to do just that....but once it HAD his attention and interest, everything changed. It was no longer about thinking ‘hey this will really tick Bruce off,’ because Dick’s capable of that train of thought and gut/impulsive decision making, sure, but he’s not about to commit his entire LIFE to that just to flip Bruce the proverbial middle finger.

It only continues, he only keeps going and furthering his magical studies because he genuinely comes to love it for the sheer versatility, the unpredictability of it, the way holding reality in one hand and magical forces in the other is like walking a tight rope with no safety net, and sure its not the same thing as flying, but on that note, did you know there are spells that can literally make you fly?

Dick does, now, and he knows like, seventeen different ones.

And so Dick throws himself into studying magic the same way he throws himself into everything. He’s never done anything half-assed in his life. He’s physically allergic to the very idea of it. When he does a thing, he fucking COMMITS, and becomes the best he possibly can at it....which ultimately almost always puts him in the one percentile of that thing.

He learns everything he can from Constantine, or at least as much as Constantine’s willing to teach him. Eventually their paths diverge, not because of any bad blood, but just because Dick isn’t interested in the same specialties as Constantine. So then he moves on. Travels the world, similar to what Bruce did when he was his age, training to become Batman. But Dick trains with magicians, wizards, alchemists. Madame Xanadu. Sebastian Faust. Raven. Even charms freaking Circe into teaching him an enchantment or two, because lbr, a mystically inclined Dick Grayson would inevitably intrigue the more infamous mystics of the DC universe in the same way a combat-focused Dick Grayson intrigues Deathstroke and assorted others.

Everyone except for Zatanna and Jason Blood, the magicians Bruce actually respects and relies on, and who Dick is sure would report back to Bruce about him, and he’s still ticked. Plus, Zatanna’s type of magic is innate, not really something that can be taught, and Blood’s stems from his sharing his body with a demon and Dick’s not really looking for a roommate right now.

Eventually, Dick is satisfied enough with his skills and knowledge to return to the Titans. He adopts the name Nightwing, same as in canon and for the same reasons. He’s still the same man, same leader, same fighter with all the skills he already had....just now with the added repertoire of someone who’s branched off in an unlikely direction.

Hey, Bruce did want him to go to college and learn something new. Not Dick’s fault his particular field of study isn’t Bruce-approved. (Okay, its entirely Dick’s fault, since that was after all the point, but eh. Oh well).

Nightwing’s still an acrobat and hand-to-hand fighter. He’s invested too much time, effort, himself into those skills to just give them up. He’s an adrenaline junkie, thrives on motion, activity, the rush of going head to head with someone who can really push him, challenge him. His magic is incorporated into his fighting. He constructs who he becomes as magician around the foundation already in place due to who he is as an acrobat, detective and hand to hand combatant. His magic is an added skill, not a replacement for his previous skillsets.

So he has alchemical potions on his utility belt, amid his ordinary smoke bombs and gas pellets. Tools and spells of divination and scrying for when a trail goes cold and can’t be tracked further by ordinary means. But now the Titans have another mystical expert to turn to for magical related missions, not just Raven. Their specialties are entirely different, but they’ve worked together since Raven first came to this plane, and they still complement each other well.

Of course, this changes things in other ways too. Dick’s new focus takes him further away from his time with Batman than even in canon. He’s still traveling and training for most of the time Jason is Robin and never even meets him before his death. Of course he kept tabs on Gotham no matter where he was. He absolutely knows about the adoption, about a second Robin. And about Jason’s eventual death. But he’s still somewhere places unknown in the aftermath, not easily tracked down by Tim, who sets out to help Bruce on his own, wearing down Bruce’s resistance to him being Robin between just his and Alfred’s efforts. Dick remains largely estranged from the Batfamily as Cass is adopted, Steph takes her turn as Robin, etc.

And then Jason comes back from the dead.

But again, things play out differently here. This Jason is never found by Talia and the League, never dumped into a Lazarus Pit. Instead, Leslie Thompkins opens up her clinic one day to find a catatonic Jason in a bed inside, not long after he’s resurrected. He recovers as mysteriously as he returned, helped along by being in familiar environs, surrounded by loved ones as he’s of course immediately returned to the Manor and attended on by Bruce, Alfred, Babs, Tim and Cass. So he has less resentment for Tim, for being replaced. Its harder to deny Bruce’s love for him when he has Bruce by his bedside, day after day, watching and waiting throughout his recovery. He never suffers from Pit madness. Is never influenced by League ideology. Never trains with monsters and murderers awful enough he wants to kill them himself after he’s done training with them.

And its hard to resent Bruce for not avenging him and killing the Joker, when no one’s seen the Joker since almost right after Jason’s death. The clown never returns to Gotham from Ethiopia, not as far as anyone can tell. By the time Bruce set out to hunt him down, after Jason’s funeral, the trail had gone entirely cold. Bruce hunted for him, sure, but Jason can’t be too mad about Bruce giving up before finding him. The Joker’s never been one to lay low. When even just a few months had passed without even a hint of the villain or his future plans, it was hard to imagine he was still alive - he never lacked for enemies, after all. Not unreasonable that someone else had gotten to him first.

Plus, of course, its hard to compare yourself to the ‘golden boy’ and find yourself coming up short, viewing yourself as less loved than Dick Grayson, when said golden boy still remains estranged. He’s the prodigal son in this reality, with Bruce’s anger towards his eldest for never coming back to the Manor, not even after Jason’s death - its obvious to everyone, even Jason. Tim doesn’t have the close, brotherly bond with Dick that he does in canon, and with less resentment from Jason for replacing him, its easier for the two middle sons of Batman to bond after Jason’s return.

Jason returns to crime fighting, probably still takes up the name the Red Hood - his sense of humor and irony had nothing to do with his death or the specifics of his return. He and Bruce still clash. They have their ideological differences, Jason’s harsher than Bruce would prefer. But this Jason has reasons not to force an all-out divide between he and his father, sticks to the line (even if reluctantly), not because he believes differently - he still thinks he’s right about Bruce’s way being flawed and will always argue so - but because he has reasons to stay. Things he actually feels he’ll lose if he pushes things too much, actually leaves the family. Because he has a family, he has no doubts about that here. Tim and Cass and Alfred and even Bruce. He’d miss them, if he lost them. So he makes sure he doesn’t.

And then, a couple years after his return, Jason starts feeling hunted by something. Some presence, some force constantly shadowing him, stalking him. Something supernatural. Otherworldly. In time, there’s no denying it. He’s actually attacked by some unseen, invisible presence, like some kind of monstrous beast that’s hunting him and only him.

Its hard to come to any conclusion other than that it has something to do with his resurrection. Nobody knows how that happened after all. Not even Jason. But there was definitely nothing natural about it, so with something unnatural hunting him, almost as if he’s ‘the one that got away’ or some kind of affront to the natural order of things, the Batfamily adds 2 + 2 and gets ugh, fuck, we need to call a magician for help, don’t we?

Bruce calls in Zatanna and Jason Blood first, of course. But this is well outside Zatanna’s area of expertise, she has no insight to offer. Blood’s a little bit more help. He’s at least able to confirm that the force is otherworldly, not native to this plane, and might very well have something to do with Jason’s time....not on this plane. And he is able to affirm that there’s nothing demonic about the presence, no whiff of Hell surrounding either it or Jason.

Finally, reluctantly, Bruce calls in John Constantine, at Blood’s suggestion. His number isn’t so much the last one in Bruce’s old-fashioned rolodex so much as its buried somewhere on the Manor grounds, locked in a puzzle box that affords Bruce countless opportunities to turn back or try something else before he finally gets it open and pulls out the card with his contact info and the header: IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY WITH ALL OTHER CONCEIVABLE OPTIONS HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN EXHAUSTED PRIOR TO THIS - HERE I GUESS.

Okay, maaaaaaaaybe I’m embellishing a little bit on that one there. But whatever.

And its not like Constantine is the actual last of the last he contacts here. For instance, even more than he’d like to not have to bring in John, he’d really rather not call Raven either, though he knows of her as well of course.

In this reality, the Titans remain more distant from the Justice League and other heroes. They took Dick’s side when Bruce kicked him out, closing ranks, not to mention Roy’s falling out with Ollie resulting in a similar sentiment from them. And Dick and Roy’s diverged paths here similarly result in them paralleling each other in not reconciling with their fathers - they reaffirm to each other that whatever ‘their part’ in their disputes were, they deserved better than how Bruce and Ollie handled those situations, and they’re not going to let each other settle for being afforded less than the respect and care they deserve.

So to be clear, its not that even after a couple years, Dick is still actively avoiding Bruce - Bruce’s failure to extend the hand first, make the first attempt at reconciliation and conveying that he still wants and needs Dick in his life, his family...that’s still the underlying issue, and the real change in family dynamics comes from Dick not caving and returning to a similar status quo to what he left, without Bruce ever actually addressing his own behavior and mistakes in driving Dick away without making any real attempt to get him to stay, or to follow him, or to ask him to come home.

As for the rest of the Titans, Wally still became the Flash here when Barry died, but he felt no real need to ‘move up’ to the Justice League, and with all of the rest of the original Titans remaining a cohesive family unit here, he chose to stay with them when not patrolling Central City. And when Kyle Rayner became the last Green Lantern and joined the Titans as in canon, the team was closer, more family than the line-up he was briefly a part of in canon, and so he remained with them as well.

So the end result is in this universe, for the end of their teens and the early years of their twenties, the Titans go their own way, and they and the JLA keep to their respective ‘corners’ as it were. Meanwhile Tim’s generation remains known as Young Justice.

So back to the Batfam’s problem and Jason’s unknown pursuer. Constantine’s not much more help than Jason Blood was. After all, demons are his specialty too, just in different ways than they are Jason Blood’s. and the other magic he knows isn’t of a sort they need here either.

He is however, able to offer one bit of advice - what they need, John says, is a magician who specializes in the otherworldly, not just the netherworlds. There are more things in Heaven and Hell than well...just Heaven and Hell. Plenty of other worlds, plenty of other dimensions....the kinds of places something like this creature could have come from. What they need is a planewalker. And luckily for them, Constantine just so happens to know the name of a planewalker who could help them.

Dick Grayson.

And of course the estranged eldest still comes when he’s called, because its never that he didn’t care, its just that he wanted, needed to be called. Even when tragedy struck the family, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to return and be a comfort to them, its just that he wasn’t sure his presence would be a comfort.

(Though it takes numerous arguments while working on the mystery of Jason’s hunter, like, before this gets even brought up, let alone clarified. All parties involved are of course world-class experts at the cold shoulder, not to mention avoidance tactics and evasive maneuvers of all types.)

And as Jason and his other siblings get to know their mysterious oldest brother, the much alluded to but rarely spoken of first son, the Zitka in the room, the shadow they’ve all always been aware of but never known much about - other than that he had a definite Talent with a capital T for getting under their father’s skin, and while they might be closer with Bruce in this reality, Bruce is still Bruce and that’s still a Talent they all can respect and appreciate - well.

It would be a mistake, Jason realizes, to assume that just because Dick left, that meant that he didn’t keep informed on what he left behind. He has many many means at his disposal now, for getting information when he wants it.

And it would be a mistake to assume that just because they didn’t see him care, that actually meant that Dick didn’t care. He didn’t have to actually meet Jason to feel at least a connection to the second son to be raised by the same father, the second person to wear his colors, bear his mantle, fight at Bruce’s side. He didn’t even have to know him, to grieve that now he’d never get the chance, when Jason died. To be outraged at the Joker, on his behalf.

And its not like Dick didn’t have plenty of other reasons to hate the Joker as well - he was the reason he was fired, the reason he and Bruce were estranged, the catalyst of so much of his family’s misfortune.

And no one did ever find a trace of the Joker after Ethiopia.

Almost like he’d dropped off the face of the Earth.

Vanished from it entirely.

Of course, while Dick Grayson might be estranged from his father, he still abides by the code Bruce instilled in him at an early age. He doesn’t kill.

But there are worse things than death, some might say.

Especially for a man like a Joker, because he does have one thing he truly cares about: landing a punchline. Its why everyone assumes he was killed by some other enemy after Ethiopia....the Joker can never go long without making a reappearance. He needs an audience too badly to ever stay hidden for long.

After all, what is a joke, if there’s no one to hear it?

And then as well, the family never did figure out how Jason ended up in Leslie’s clinic, after he crawled out of his grave.

How someone found him so quickly, and knew the best place to take him. However Jason ended up resurrected, it surely had to involve considerable power of some sort, supernatural energies that surely had to attract some attention....

at least from someone attuned to the supernatural, who knew how to see such things....

and had reason to occasionally visit the Wayne family cemetery.

Yes, even in this vastly different universe, there’s still a way, still time to reunite a family even this fractured. When you’re a planewalker like Dick Grayson, there’s no road beyond your reach, its just a matter of finding the right one.

And just because it takes time to find the road that finally leads home....that doesn’t mean its not out there.

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meyerlansky · 5 years

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idk if you've elaborated on meyer and charlie getting together because charlie gets jealous of plot device!jimmy but if you haven't would you want to?

I HAVEN'T YET but i would in fact love to because this is a fave of mine :D so in addition to the stuff in that one post, @goatsandgangsters and i routinely spitball a modern au verse that we affectionately call "loser au" in which team ny is... kind of losers. they still come from disadvantaged backgrounds and they still do like petty crime shit, but because the landscape of organized crime and law enforcement is way different in the early 21st century than it was in the early 20th century, they don't manage to break into Big Stuff and rake in the big bucks

all this is to say that, in my head, the "jimmy+meyer leads to jealous charlie leads to meyer/charlie get together" set up is like a branch off loser au? so like jimmy goes to one of the Prestige Colleges in NYC, columbia or nyu or city college or something, and meyer is maaaybe enrolled in one of the two-year programs in the cuny system? but he hangs out in the studenty areas of whatever Prestige College jimmy goes to [and tbh the three of them probably sell prescription drugs to college students on those campuses—meyer passes as a serious scholarly student extremely easily, benny definitely has a script for adderall or something that he Does Not Take, and charlie has other Supply Connections] and SOMEHOW he and jimmy start talking about whatever nightmare american novel meyer is reading for fun at the same time as jimmy's us lit survey assigned it as a reading, this is why jimmy is just a plot device, i haven't put a lot of thought into his school shit because he's just there to be mostly-no-homo-heart-eyes in meyer's direction

which never happens

charlie and benny are the charming ones, meyer doesn't go looking for outside attention and isn't really used to being on the receiving end of it, but like. benny has not read faulkner and would reply to anything meyer had to say about his work with "more like FUCKner, amirite?" frank has read more than charlie or benny, but frank is also Old and tries to diffuse meyer's annoyance with the Great American Novel in a productive way so he's no fun to argue with. and charlie wouldn't want to listen to meyer tear steinbeck apart. [that's what meyer thinks, anyway. for the record, charlie absolutely would listen to meyer's rant about steinbeck's boner for The Dignity Of Poverty for HOURS, but meyer is pining and dumb and doesn't realize charlie's ALSO pining and has had yes-homo-heart-eyes for meyer since they were kids. but meyer doesn't know this yet, so he just Assumes charlie would be bored by it.]

so meyer is like "okay fine i will debate you, random doughboy, and i will destroy your argument" and he and jimmy definitely debate and meyer definitely wins, but he also enjoys the conversation, so like. they talk more, whenever they run into each other and meyer's not working a shift at the mechanic's garage he does legit and not-legit work at, etc, and eventually meyer's like "oh i have plans" when charlie's like "hey let's hang out" one night

and charlie's like "................what plans. you never have plans. all you do is study and strip cars for parts and hang out with me and benny. what plans."

and meyer's like "my plans are in fact studying, just not alone for once, it's a revolutionary concept, i know"

and charlie's like "oh. okay. with who."

and meyer's like "just a guy i met on columbia's campus"

and charlie's like "WHAT FUCKING GUY >:[" but only in his head because meyer's good at hiding when he's ticked off from most people but not from charlie and charlie can tell he's getting Annoyed, so he leaves it

and so it goes, for like a month? a few months? an indeterminate length of time, during which charlie at some point is like "hey let me come hang out with you and sell the drugs" but he sells no drugs, instead he Assesses jimmy when they run into him and meYER HAS? INSIDE JOKES??? WITH THIS RANDOM DUDE???????? SURE THEY'RE ABOUT HEMINGWAY, WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT IS, BUT FUCKING STILL. HOW DARE.

jimmy and charlie Immediately Do Not Get Along, Obviously, and it doesn't help that charlie has deeply sublimated Anxieties wrt, like. MANY things about being bi, as well as specifically about having a crush on meyer, but jimmy in particular inflames his insecurities about being a high school dropout and not being smart enough for meyer, who's definitely gonna Do Things and Be Someone because he is so smart [nevermind that meyer doesn't wanna do things, not legal things, because the system is fucked and he's already making plenty enough to do more than survive with their illegal shit, and also he knows charlie's smart in not-school ways]

so charlie is on the offensive which means meyer's on the defensive for basically the first time since they beat each other up and called a cease-fire, and jimmy's just like "i have no idea what's going on here but meyer are we gonna talk shit about fitzgerald's tiny dick or not" and meyer's like "YES LET'S i'll see you later charlie" and charlie's like >:[ externally but ;_; internally

and i dunno how long things are kind of tense and weird, but charlie's upset meyer's hanging out with someone else, meyer's upset charlie's getting nasty about one of the ONLY TIMES EVER someone outside their friend group has wanted to talk to/hang out with him more, and at some point they have A Fight in which charlie probably says something like "so, what, do you wanna fuck him or what" as meyer's getting ready to leave for another goddamn ~*study date*~

and meyer

who has zero intention of fucking jimmy, but who has watched charlie cope with the crush meyer doesn't know about yet by fucking his way through the list of girls their age in the neighborhood and probably one or two of the guys, and therefore absolutely cannot be convinced that charlie has ANY say about where meyer chooses to put his dick

Is Not Happy

he is, in fact, Big Mad

which means he goes ice cold and there is a very tiny voice in the back of charlie's head, which sounds alarmingly like benny, screaming "OHHH YOU DONE DONE IT NOW" but before he can do anything about it meyer's like "in what world is that any of your business"

and charlie, with what is in his head unassailable logic, goes "of fucking course it's my business, meyer"

and meyer, who is getting icier by the second, is like "please, explain this in a way that WON'T result in me ripping your face off with my fingernails"

and charlie, not that he's wrong, is like "he's not good enough for you meyer"

and meyer is somewhere very deep down kind of touched but mostly still angry and is like "once again, explain to me how this is your business at all"

and because charlie has a deeply flawed brain-to-mouth filter at the best of times, much less when he's distressed by the thought of meyer getting railed by someone who is not him, he is like "it's my business because i don't want you to kiss anyone but me okay"

and meyer, who fully BSODs with that comment and whose autopilot mode is labeled "bitch," is like "well i didn't want you to fuck every broad between hester and 12th for the last five years, and yet here we are"

and charlie's like "wut"

and meyer's like "wut"

and after like two minutes of silence in which they both process what just got said, charlie's like "i'm gonna kiss you now. please don't punch me."

and meyer's like "no promises" because he's still in BSOD'ed bitch mode

and then they make out

and seven miles away in one of columbia's study rooms jimmy is like "huh meyer's never been late before, that's kinda weird"

[he's late because charlie's got him pressed into his ratty-ass sofa and charlie's bottom lip between his teeth]

#benjaminshargreeves #asks #boardwalk empire #this pans out we live wherever we want #and jimmy's there too i guess #LISTEN I JUST #i realize i'm a one trick pony but oh well #long post

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brindlestorm · 5 years

Text

Is It Ashfur?

SPOILERS FOR THE SILENT THAW PREVIEW AND SQUIRRELFLIGHT’S HOPE BELOW

Also, it’s hella long. Sorry about that

So, is Ashfur possessing Bramblestar? That’s the most common theory, though a lot of us don’t like it. A new character would be refreshing as the villain if a bit confusing as to why they have a grudge against the clans.

[Again, spoilers for Squirrelflight’s Hope]

Near the end of the book, Squirrelflight and Leafpool arrive in Starclan and are greeted by Larksong, who died of poisoning (a mouse ate a plant that made it poisonous to cats) and his son Flickerkit (who was named in Starclan, Flickerkit’s name was the key to getting Sparkpelt to believe that Squirrelflight was in Starclan for a period of time).

After reuniting with loved ones, Firestar takes Leafpool and Squirrelflight to see Tallstar, Bluestar, Crookedstar, Yellowfang, Littlecloud, and Moth Flight to be judged before Starclan. An important thing to note here is that Squirrelflight and Leafpool are the ONLY CATS known to be able to argue their place in Starclan.

All these cats were ones that the two knew at some point in their lives, and I believe that Moth Flight was there because Leafpool specifically broke her code.

The point here though is that cats like Hollyleaf, Ashfur, Appledusk, Ravenwing, Yellowfang, Bluestar, and others didn’t have to prove their case to be allowed in, despite their crimes.

(Their ‘crimes’ listed here)

Hollyleaf- Broke the code, killed a clanmate, abandoned her clan Ashfur- Attempted to kill his leader and four of his clanmates Appledusk- Took a mate outside of his clan, didn’t help kits cross the river, therefore, letting them drown. Ravenwing- The catalyst to Mapleshade’s breakdown, if he kept quiet the kits would be alive, indirectly broke the code. Yellowfang- Took a mate as a medicine cat, didn’t help her son down the right path which led to more suffering. Bluestar- Took a mate outside her clan, almost ignored one of Starclan’s prophecies for her kits, took her kits to Riverclan in the dead of Leaf-bare which lead to Mosskit’s death, ignored Goosefeather’s warnings about Tigerkit, didn’t acknowledge the signs that he was a traitor, eventually declared war on Starclan (Yes, I know that this was because of her depression and paranoia, I’ll get to it soon).

Obviously, I don’t believe that Blue, Holly, Yellow, or (begrudgingly) Raven deserved the Dark Forest, Hollyleaf was protecting her family, Bluestar was dealt a ROUGH life, Yellowfang more than made up for her crimes, and Ravenwing was doing his job.

But Starclan was hard on Squirrel and Leaf, to the point that I holey agreed with Squirrelflight’s sentiments during that whole segment.

But where should Starclan be drawing the line?

Blue, Holly, and Yellowfang ALL held remorse for their actions. Ashfur didn’t, and I doubt Appledusk did either. Ashfur knowingly tried to get Firestar killed, we don’t really know if him sending Birchpaw to warn Brambleclaw was an act of cowardice for what he did, or if it was part of the plan to get Brambleclaw to the scene so it could be pinned on him.

Ashfur tried to kill the three, one who was his former apprentice, another a loyal warrior, and a blind MEDICINE CAT APPRENTICE. He knew what he was doing, he had a motive and a clear mind. He let them live because he believed that by revealing this secret, he could uproot Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw’s ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP, therefore causing more damage

(Tbh, I like to think that if the three hadn’t found out about Leafpool’s side and Ashfur went forward with it, Squirrelflight would have admitted to adopting them as kits, but because they needed a mother, which she wanted to be. She then would have told Brambleclaw that she was afraid she may never be able to have kits so she adopted without telling him. THEY WERE STILL THE THREE’S PARENTS DAMMIT)

Appledusk was an asshole, moving on.

I’d like to compare Ashfur and Mapleshade for a moment, their situations seem rather similar.

Both- Fell in love, only for it to end badly

Ashfur was replaced by Brambleclaw (Same clan relationships) Mapleshade was replaced by Reedshine (Different clans)

Both- Felt cheated by the ones they loved Mapleshade- Actually had kits with this mate Ashfur- Didn’t have any kits

Mapleshade- Wanted to have a life with Appledusk after being banished with her kits Ashfur- Attempted to make Brambleclaw look bad to win Squirrelflight back

Both- Wanted revenge when they were wronged by their clanmate(s)

Mapleshade followed through Ashfur was not able to (Whether out of cowardice or being thwarted, I am unsure)

Really, the only difference between them was that Mapleshade was able to get her revenge when Ashfur couldn’t.

BUT

Mental Illnesses are canon in warriors

Bluestar- Depression, anxiety, paranoia, dementia Graypool- Dementia Ravenpaw- General anxiety Goosefeather- Delusions Sol- Sociopath (as confirmed by Vicky on her facebook page) Hollyleaf- OCD (Personal opinion, she was obsessed with the warrior code to the point that she actually scared Jaypaw at one point)

And those are just the ones that I know of.

Mapleshade also suffered from delusions after the traumatic death of her kits, she believed that she was actually seeing and hearing her kits telling her to get revenge so that they could be at peace in starclan. And considering that warriors DO believe in ghosts and the afterlife, this is an entirely plausible assumption.

Now, in Starclan we know that cats are judged before they actually wake up in Starclan or the Dark Forest, which means that if we can assume that these cats have human-level intelligence, they also have some sort of trial system. Which also means that they have set-precedents.

Mapleshade going to the Dark Forest should have set the precedent that any cat who breaks the code and takes a mate outside of his or her clan (and kills other cats) should go to the Dark Forest as well.

Bluestar went to Starclan, despite taking Oakheart as a mate and indirectly killing her own kit by taking her into unsafe conditions during Leafbare.

Silverstream went to Starclan, despite taking Graystripe as her mate and died in the process. Her death doesn’t necessarily absolve her of her ‘crime’, but she went to Starclan anyway.

It probably looks like I’m grasping at straws here, but that’s the point I’m trying to make. Starclan drew the line too soon, and as such became more understanding when warriors sought mates outside of their clans.

Mapleshade was Starclan’s first mistake, though she did kill three cats (A medicine cat, a clanmate, and her former mate), she was not sound of mind when she did so. She believed she was acting on the whims of her dead kits so that they could rest in peace.

She may not have deserved Starclan, but she didn’t deserve the Dark Forest either. I remember seeing an AU where Mapleshade recovered her sanity after she died and was told that the only way she could join Starclan was to help a living cat find their way. She tries to do this in the AU but Appledusk undermines her, and she eventually considers embracing the Dark Forest’s values.

The only thing I would change about that AU is that I would make Mapleshade a ghost, stuck on the living plane until she completed her duty (and maybe she’s even granted access to the living plane whenever she wants so that she can keep helping her clanmates).

Ashfur was Starclan’s second mistake. He knew exactly what he was doing when he helped Hawkfrost lay the trap for Firestar, blocking the three from crossing the burning branch was a CHOICE, even fighting Lionpaw/blaze like an enemy warrior with the intent to HARM was a choice. Being blinded by rage is not the same as having delusions.

Maybe Starclan allowed him to join their ranks was because they were afraid that he’d be another Mapleshade, that he’d help recruit for the Dark Forest. But Ashfur’s sentence would have been justified, more so than Mapleshade (in my opinion).

We know that Jayfeather disapproves of Ashfur in Starclan, but what about Hollyleaf? Well apparently, she doesn’t care.

Squirrelfight’s reaction to seeing Ashfur was immediate hostility, though Ashfur didn’t speak to her, merely dipped his head and looked at Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf simply blinks at him, and Squirrelflight nods curtly.

When Squirrelflight comments on Ashfur being in Starclan rather than the Dark Forest, Hollyleaf says “I guess, but he’s apologized. I think he’s changed.”

Direct quote from page 339 of Squirrelflight’s Hope

Squirrelflight nodded curtly at Ashfur. She wasn’t sure she could be as forgiving as Hollyleaf. After all, Ashfur had threatened to destroy the happiness she’d found with Bramblestar and almost succeeded.

Another thing that’s interesting about Starclan is that things seem to matter less, the problems a cat had with others in the living world are trivial when they’re dead, Hollyleaf states when asked again about if living with Ashfur is strange “Not really, after a while, things that happened in the forest seems less important.”

So that’s how Hollyleaf feels, at peace with everything. Even Sandstorm says that there’s less to fight over, but is that how everyone feels in Starclan?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just to be clear, I am neither for nor against Ashfur Being Good. I hated how his character seemed to flip around just for the sake of romance drama between Squirrel and Bramble. I wish he had a better character arc, I wish that certain things from previous books had actually affected him continued into future books rather than being forgotten.

That being said, everything I have pulled up on him has been based on what he HAS done and what the Erin’s turned him into.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, my theory here is that Ashfur is kind of at peace in Starclan. He doesn’t react badly to seeing Squirrelflight and Leafpool because he’s dead, they’re probably dying, and the Dark Forest battle isn’t something he wants to repeat.

But then Squirrelflight was able to return to the lake as a ghost by submerging herself in Starclan’s Moonpool.

How do we know that Ashfur wasn’t watching her? What if this gave him the idea to return to the lake? He could have initially gone just to see his clanmates, but seeing Bramblestar and Squirrelflight reconcile may have returned his anger, enough to make him want revenge.

Another thing to add here is what do we know about ghosts? Needletail and the others weren’t able to move on to starclan without help, they were trapped in the living plane as ghosts. We don’t know if Starclan cats CAN return to the living plane at will, or if the Dark Forest battle was the exception.

The timeline that we have puts Tigerheartstar’s kits as still apprentices, who we know were made warriors prior to Bristlepaw and her siblings, and it’s not yet Leafbare in Squirrelflight’s Hope. This gives us a window of time that Ashfur may have used to return to the lake as a ghost.

Ashfur has the motive and the means, his spirit likes on so there’s no confusing explanation for a supposedly double dead cat possessing Bramblestar.

And most importantly? Squirrelflight’s Hope tells us that even though many cats were forgiven for breaking the code, part of Starclan doesn’t accept that. They ARE angry that the code is being disregarded, Littlecloud even says, “What’s the point in having rules if cats can break them whenever they like?”

Squirrelflight notices how Moth Flight seems to be determined to keep Leafpool out of Starclan.

I can’t think of anything else to add, so here’s the summary of this theory

Ashfur has the means and the motives, Starclan is angered by all of the code breakers, and Ashfur has is known for taking advantage of situations for his own gain.

It could still be an ancient Starclan cat, fed up with the codebreakers, maybe even Moth Flight herself.

(Lost Stars, Bramblestar says to Squirrelflight, “You would make excuses for them, you’ve always had a soft spot for weak cats.” This could be Ashfur, or Moth Flight who was her judge in Starclan.)

Anywho, that’s all I’ve got. Lemme know what you guys think!

#Spoilers for Squirrelflight's Hope #warriors spoilers #wc spoilers #sh spoilers #squirrelflight's hope spoilers #THIS IS VERY LONG

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noscorpsaladerive · 5 years

Text

LRA Korea Write Up!!! This is so freaking long and rambly and fangirly but here we go

So obviously spoiler alert, I’ll mark the appropriate parts with trigger warnings, and also I don’t speak any Korean so obviously I missed a lot of stuff

Okay so first off the theater and stage itself were pretty damn small especially in comparison to the 4000 seat Palais des Congrès in Paris but they def made that stage work for them. The back of the stage was curved in and had steps going all the way around, a screen above the steps with projections, etc, and a couple of entrances for actors. They had some minimal set pieces, but the coolest part was the like celestial pattern they had on these giant moving screens that they used for a curtain as well as for backdrops for some of the scenes. Tbh the costumes weren’t like mind blowing like you could tell they didn’t have the biggest budget but they worked and none were so ugly or awful that it took me out of the story.

So the show starts in a similar way with Merlin and the Dragon, but it was really cool bc the part (i assume at least) where the Dragon mentions the king’s son Arthur pops up at the top of the steps! As the knights are slowly appearing for the tournament and start fighting, Arthur actually sings part of Je me relève??? Which imo is brilliant???? Anyways it gets down to just Meleagant and as he goes up to try and pull Excalibur from the stone, he sings part of Un Nouveau Départ which is also brilliant???? This production did a great job of establishing and maintaining musical themes for characters and i was living for it.

Anyways Arthur does the thing and yay he’s king now but wait side note Han Jisang who played Arthur was SO FUCKING GOOD. Like he captured Arthur’s transition from a boyish squire to a grown ass adult king so beautifully and wonderfully it was truly incredible.

Okay so now it’s Advienne que pourra time and holy fuck. Holy f u c k. Kang Hongseok was the perfect Meleagant. I’d link it but I’m on mobile but you can see his Advienne que pourra in the King Arthur press call around the nine minute mark and he just fucking k i l l s it. Also there were no sword dicks in the choreography so it’s automatically better. And the projection1!!! They had a sun up from the beginning bc the Dragon had appeared in the sun but it was still up for Meleagant but then during the bridge it’s eclipsed by the moon and it’s like ooooo symbolism for Meleagant’s feelings~~~

Side note i really really really loved the staging of this like so much of it made soooo much more sense than the french production and like I’m attached to the original because obvious reasons but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t‘ve been better.

The training scene with Gauvain was pretty similar as the original. Merlin introduces the stag and the wolf again, and ngl the dude who plays the wolf has very nice abs so good for him for being motivated to work out like that lol. Anyways i really liked the staging of Qui suis-je because Arthur still has his existential crisis but Merlin’s explanation of the Grail is less directed at him??? Like Arthur’s still on stage but he’s not listening and is working on training with Merlin’s brothers. So it’s much less “I know you’re having a hard time but look at this shiny thing!” Than the french one.

They took out the Danse des guerriers battle dance number music but they did still have a dance battle! At the top of the stairs they had Guenièvre and Léodagant being held prisoner by Méléagant and they showed Mélé like trying to be romantic ish with Guenièvre so establishing that connection was really nice. And Méléagant had a new song???? That was really short????? But i don’t think it matched any of the melodies of his other songs?????? I’m confused but intrigued.

Oooo what was really cool was how they did Arthur asking Meleagant to knight him. Like in the french one it’s tense but i really felt the tension among the characters tonight it was sooo great oh my god. But after Meleagant takes the sword, he sings a few lines of Advienne que pourra and then points the sword at Arthur’s neck and idk i just really liked it it was such a nice touch and maybe it was Hong Seok and the other actors reacting to him but there was a true sense of holy fuck no one knows what he’s gonna do next and Arthur had this look on his face like I’m prepared to die if this is my time and ugh i love them all so much ;alkdjfa;dk

Okay next is Rêver l’impossible. I liked our Guenièvre but I’d have to see her again to have a more detailed opinion of her lol. I really loved this scene because one no pregnant handmaidens and two Arthur was being really cute and acting all in love with her and it was adorable and I love it. Quelque chose de magique was more of the same like Han Jisang fucking killed it as Arthur like he was such a dork in love and I loved it. And towards the end of the scene Méléagant walks on stage and looks at Guenièvre and Arthur and so you know he knows he’s lost Guinevere.

Un Nouveau Départ was great because Kang Hongseok is great and I love him. They did have the dancers do body rolls which i found very amusing for some reason idk why a;dlkfajd;lfksd Next was my one complaint about the show and it’s that there was no transition whatsoever between Un Nouveau Départ and Au diable but maybe they had Guenièvre do that lyrically??? Still some sort of musical interlude in between would’ve been nice. I did l o v e how they did the water for her arrival like she stood at the top of the stairs and they had blue fabric covering all the steps then they pulled it down as she started to walk down and the screen was doing these cool star projections and it was just so pretty.

RAPE TW for this next paragraph

Next was A l’enfant and Tu vas le payer. Nothing really changed story wise but our Leia was soooo good and was such a great dancer. And I noticed the lady playing the role of child Morgane in the story had such great expressions and body language and tbh the same can be said for the entire ensemble they were amazing. Anyways our Morgane was really amazing too her expressions were also soooo great and I’m running out of adjectives bc it’s three am a;ldkfjad;l but anyways the way things go down for these two songs is about the same in the french but the staging is different obviously like instead of the party scene it’s mostly Morgane jamming out with the ensemble then they roll Arthur and Guenièvre in on rolling platforms and then Morgane waves her arms bc magic and she does the same movements as Guenièvre so it looks like she’s controlling her which I thought was a cool way to do that. Afterwards Arthur is obviously very distraught but instead of Merlin being like “you have bigger problems your people are dying” Arthur runs off stage to (hopefully) process what just happened so i appreciate that there’s that moment instead of just rushing on to the next thing.

Next was Guenièvre’s garden and Lancelot’s arrival, which was really cute bc her handmaidens blindfold Kay and have him try to find one of them and he ends up in Lancelot’s arms ;aldkfjsdl;k. And the way Kay tries to protect Guinevere was so freaking cute he kept throwing his arms up to protect her and she kept pushing them down then his arms would pop back up it was so cute ;ladkjfadlk

Si je te promets goes down pretty much the same, but what’s interesting is afterwards Merlin shows up and is like hey your people are dying and that’s when they have Délivre-nous! They also had ensemble member solos instead of just one singer which i thought worked really well. And Arthur’s moving among them and he tries to reach out to help them as they fall dying and i just love the staging so much like from the very beginning with the dude who rushes in to tell Arthur Méléagant is holding Guenièvre and her father captive you can just tell Arthur is so concerned about caring for his people and i love him so much ;alkdjf;aldk

After that song ends Arthur’s like hey we gotta fix this shit so he creates the round table then goes into Je me relève!! Which was a lil creepy bc that’s the exact same idea i had in my own LRA rewrite and i was like fuck did they find my blog but it fucking works y’all!!!! And they end Act I on that song and ugh it’s so beautiful i love it

Act II starts out with Dors Morgane dors but it’s not about her mother’s rape anymore, we think she’s talking about her plans for Lancelot, Guenièvre, and Arthur but that is to be confirmed. They then show ARthur and Lancelot kicking ass and taking names which i liked that it showed Lancelot had buddies besides just crushing on Guinevere lol

Next was A nos vœux sacrés which holy shit y’all. Holy shit. Both actors are so freaking good and they both hit high notes at the end of the song and i died and went straight to heaven it was sooooo amazing ;alkdjfa;ldskjfas;d also they did not paint Méléagant up like a war boy they had this like branch like mask thing??? It looked really cool omg

Next Lancelot and Guinevere had a short scene that led into L’amour quel idiot and i loved this staging so much!!!! Like instead of having him sing at their faces after the wedding he’s downstage singing and longing for Guinevere while she and Arthur are standing at the top of the steps getting ready for the wedding and i just love it so much y’all

The wedding scene didn’t have a song but Morgane sung Ce que la vie a fait de moi afterwards and holy fuck y’all i freaking died and went to heaven every time this Morgane hit a high note she was soooooo good y’all. So fucking good.

I don’t really remember much about le Serment d’Arthur prob bc i know they changed things but language barrier so I’m not 100% sure how it changed rip

Faire comme si was good but I’m so attached to the french staging of that song i still miss it ;alkdfjsad; one thing that i really really loved and preferred in this one was Lancelot and Guinevere don’t really touch?? It’s just longing gazes and at one point they touch hands and Lancelot like freezes like oh fuck she’s touching me i can’t believe it but then Guinevere pulls her hand away and he just leaves his in the same spot for a second like he still can’t believe she touched his hand and ugh i loved it the lack of touching really upped the ante on the pining and it was sooo good a;ldfkjadfkl;

Next was another scene with Morgane and Méléagant where Méléagant starts out being all like you promised me!!! And then I *think* Morgane tells him something like be patient and explains her plan but once again Korean and changes so it’s mostly speculation

But y’all

Y’all

They had Morgane and Méléagant sing Mon combat

Like w h a t

But also y e s

I’m glad they didn’t just leave the song the way it is in the French version bc it doesn’t work very well where it is in the French one??? So I’m so happy they moved things around and tried to make things work better

Next up Merlin peaces out and Arthur????? Sings a slow reprise?????? Of Quelque chose de magique??????? No clue what he says in the lyrics but i thought it was an interesting melodic choice to bring back in the moment Arthur loses his mentor

So Guinevere gets kidnapped and Kay’s the one who actually realizes she’s gone and who took her but Arthur decides to go after her himself??? Then it switches to Lancelot who’s looking for the Grail and they kept the phrase Wake Up in English bless them but he doesn’t find Guinevere’s handkerchief until partway through the song and Niel (the kid playing Lancelot) was really great??? Like it was so much fun watching him as Lancelot ugh

I don’t remember why but Arthur then has a reprise of Si je te promets jury is still out on what he’s singing about but will keep you posted

Yoooo nos corps à la dérive man. So. Good. I’m so in love with Hong Seok’s Méléagant he’s so great and i just ;lakdjf;alkdjfd but the set was so cool they had like all these white ribbons??? That Guinevere was attached to??? Which sounds weird but it was like part spider web effect part almost shattered mirror effect???? That’s not explaining it well but it looked really cool and avant garde ish and there was a significantly fewer number of random creepy skeleton projections so i was here for it

Major difference tho Lancelot shows up ready to throw down except he gets his ass kicked and is seriously injured??? And Arthur shows up but he just listens at first so I think that’s when he really figures out what’s up between Lancelot and Guinevere but then Arthur steps in and kills Méléagant (who sings a reprise of Un Nouveau Départ before being carried off into the afterlife) (rip in peace). Arthur then leaves Guinevere and Lancelot alone while the latter dies and they sing a really sad reprise of L’amour quel idiot :(((( my son dying meant that Il est temps got cut but like they added soo many reprises and things it makes sense that they’d have to cut at least one song but still sad :(

Next Arthur talks with Morgane and I’m not entirely sure what was happening but it seemed like she was having a breakdown because of what happened and what she did to Arthur and Vanessa said that he said something like “Don’t turn into our mother” or something like that but she breaks down and spirits herself away while she and Arthur sing a reprise of Dors Morgane dors

Then it’s Tout est joué and Merlin is standing on the back of the steps while Arthur is in front of the closed screen so it was nice to have that kind of physical barrier present on stage to further emphasize that Merlin’s not gonna be helpful bc he’s now separated from Arthur rip

Next up was Auprès d’un autre which involved a lot less yelling and shit then the French version and holy shit Han Jisang fucking killed it (again) he was sooo great but Arthur lets Guenièvre go partway through the song and so the show ends with him by himself holding up Excalibur

At curtain call they sang some of Je me relève (i think) again and it was cute esp bc at the end everyone was holding a dramatic pose except Han Jisang was just quietly bopping and jamming to the instrumental outro by himself so everyone is dead still except Arthur who was just bopping along it was so cute ;alkdjf;alskdjf

Anyways it was amazing and they seemed to make changes to make the story make more sense which bless them for doing it but i loved it so much and i need to see it like a million more times it was so good a;ldskfjas;ldkfjads;lkfjasd;k

#ella writes text #la legende du roi arthur #la légende du roi arthur #lra korea #stagedooring shenanigans #ella sees lra

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jamesbarnesbuchanan · 5 years

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resurrecting my blog to rant about endgame? you bet

if you haven't seen the movie i hope you have '#endgame spoilers' blacklisted because i just realized that mobile doesn't have a read more option and i can't log in on desktop but I have Things To Say lmao. specifically about Steve.

SPOILERS AHEAD

so I'd like to start out by saying that I liked this movie a lot for many reasons and I will continue to love it after I get over this initial stage where I can't do fic that doesn't try to stick to canon and just bounce off to canon divergence and AU land because there's some great potential there tbh. BUT. right now I'm just disappointed because that's the least satisfying ending I could imagine for Steve and I believe that this throws almost his entire character arc out of the window. it's not even really about the fact that despite the constant emphasis on how Peggy was the love of his life I don't believe that, I could go with that even if, to me, it sounds like an exaggeration. yes. they had a connection that changed both of their lives but from what I gathered this is the type of love that's based on idealisation, and never had the time to move past that because of what happened. so while it could turn out that it really does work between them and they could stay together til death, i wouldn't bet my life on it. plus even if it's difficult for Steve to move on like he says, he did get some kind of closure with Peggy, even if their time was out of sync. she died, he buried and mourned her. that never fully goes away but I still think that it doesn't make sense emotionally for Steve from where he is to undo all that grieving just because he can, knowing that it can only be in a different timeline.

it's not even the fact that I think steve just bailing like that was ooc. or how baffled i am over the movie's efforts to keep Steve and Bucky as far from each other as possible at all times, and that apparently "the end of the line" was right there and then. it's not about shipping, I'm well aware that this is the MCU but even people who never gave two shits about these two noticed it. they're their own people, yes but you're trying to sell me that Steve has a closer bond with just about everyone and I'm not buying that lmao.

these are points I've already discussed with multiple people. but there's more.

what my biggest issue with selling this as his Happy Ending is this: yes, Steve was a "man out of time" in the 21st century, there was no one else like him, not even Bucky, because the shit he went through doesn't compare to Steve's experience at all. Steve had a hard time, he didn't adjust all that well, that's been voiced multiple times. but going back in time and finding Peggy doesn't fix that at all?? even if it's a branch reality where the future might play out differently than it did in the main timeline because who knows what happens with him around, he'll still be a man out of time there as well. he's lived several years in a world with ridiculous technology, advanced medicine, the internet?? space travel?? and then he goes back to a post WWII time with all that knowledge and experience noone else has and either radically changes that reality by introducing people to these concepts, or watches as people die from preventable diseases, etc. not to mention historical events and the fate of the people he knew in the main timeline + his own self, which works out how, exactly? there could be a bunch of ways to handle all this but the main two directions i can see is that he either lays low like... really low. or he interferes but which one is the satisfying ending here? I feel like he'd face almost the same problems just in a different universe. I've been thinking about this so much that I have a hard time believing that after having that dance with Peggy he actually stayed and what we see in present day is alternate timeline Steve who lived out his entire life with her in peace and then jumped back somehow. it just doesn't make sense to me but like, I have no clue where to go from here.

#endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #endgame #steve rogers #avengers endgame spoilers #avengers #that should do it i guess

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kegareki · 5 years

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tbh i'm always curious about the kaguya causes the apocalypse au, but rarely have concrete questions to ask. so um, what are sakura and obito's abilites like? how powerful are they, both as a team and individually? sakura canonically had healing and super strength, which are great, but I'm also a fan of aus where she branches out and learns other things, so i gotta ask. does she learn genjutsu from obito? also they survived a WHILE in the apocalypse, right, presumably they got even better (1/3)

and learned new stuff from each other? and/or from other survivors in their group? what are their go-to weapons? how does their power level now compare to people in the past? (2/3)

(3/3) ALSO! they travel to other dimensions using kamui, right. where does the kamui spit them out when they go a new dimension? somewhere randomly? (if so, how many times have they ended up dumped in a swamp, or in the middle of nowhere?) some fixed place every time? wherever obito wants? where? and can they choose when they arrive in a new dimension, or are they also just randomly spit out whenever and good luck figuring out in what time and place they are?

these are really good questions!!! i apparently wrote 1100 words in response, so: under the cut!

sakura and obito did survive a while in the apocalypse, yeah. people survived in groups–konoha especially espouses teamwork–and people took positions well-suited for them, at first, like they have been trained to do. hyuuga, inuzuka, aburame, yamanaka, and sensors were good at keeping track of people and directing the groups to safe spaces and such, for example. but people die, and at some point you stop being able to replace them

so people learn to cover those positions in any way they can. enhancing their senses with chakra; trying to recreate barrier seals that you’ve only seen and never studied; etc. people share information about what they remember. people go off and come back with clan scrolls, because there’s no point in hoarding clan information if that information will help keep them alive.

obito and sakura learn together, and what they teach other is–incidental, at first? sakura is healing someone, and she nabs a passing obito into helping her. obito can heal himself just fine, thanks to hashirama’s DNA, but–well. he has deep chakra reserves, as well as the ability to absorb and transfer chakra, so he might as well learn how to heal other people, because at some point they’re going to run short of medics, and it’s better for everyone if most people have even rudimentary medical skills

obito… okay i’m going to be entirely honest here: obito is fucking HORRIFIED at how sakura was treated as a genin. obito’s already complicated relationship with kakashi is complicated even further because he cannot BELIEVE that kakashi didn’t teach her SHIT, didn’t CULTIVATE her OBVIOUS TALENTS, didn’t direct her to anyone who WOULD. kakashi failed sakura, and obito is pissed off on her behalf, because that shouldn’t have happened!!!! obito offers sakura his knowledge Readily and Gladly because she should never, ever feel useless again. she should never, ever be given less than what he or anyone else can offer.

it had been noted in canon that sakura would have been adept at genjutsu, and he gives her techniques. they have to be adapted some, because genjutsu with a sharingan is formed differently than genjutsu without a sharingan, but sakura figures it out. she’s quick and eager to learn! and she’s GOOD at genjutsu! she learns how to conceal people and things; she learns how to subtly redirect a person’s attention so that their eyes skip over something without truly seeing it; she learns how to muddle a person’s sense of balance, of temperature, of pain.

and obito teaches her some ninjutsu, because that’s ANOTHER area where she was failed! why the FUCK did kakashi skimp out on even THIS?!!

sakura has water and earth release, so obito basically goes: okay, cool, here’s some mist techniques. here’s a few iwa techniques that i saw when i was 12 and that i picked up from deidara. you’re going to be so badass, i’m so proud of you.

sakura especially becomes more well-rounded than she was previously, and honestly kind of terrifying because she’s ENJOYING being versatile which means making use of her new techniques, but obito’s pretty happy with his end of the deal, too. his self-healing is passive rather than active, so learning how to use medical techniques and gaining medical knowledge is Actually Helpful because, hey, now he knows what the fuck is going on and now he can actually heal other people. AND now he knows how to do stuff like making blood clots! while that may not help much against kaguya, he’s not going to NOT appreciate new and interesting ways of killing people!

in terms of power, it’s hard to tell when your opponent is a Literal God, but by the time everyone else is dead and they abandon this world, they’re kind of stupidly powerful. like 12-year-old sasuke would eye them warily and challenge them to a fight in a hotel hallway because he can Tell they’re powerful, maybe more powerful than even Bane Of His Life Itachi, and he needs to see how he matches up against them. like–they don’t really escape because they’re dying; they escape because there’s nothing left for them, and staying would just mean dying meaninglessly.

weapons like shuriken, kunai, and senbon had become, increasingly, a scarcity, because making more becomes difficult and then impossible. they picked over past battlefields for weapons that they’ve thrown. not a lot of people had Many Throwing Weapons after a point

but when obito and sakura hang out in kamui, it’s not like THEY’RE going to lose weapons now, so obito pulls out some from his Long-Discarded Weapons Stash and they sort of idly brush up on their bukijutsu. is sakura likely to ever have need of a gunbei? no, but obito’s going to show her how to use it, anyway.

the mechanics of kamui in this ‘verse are like–

the sort of “neutral ground” is the space that obito is used to, the grey landscape of blocks where everything he puts inside of kamui shows up. in order to access anywhere else, kamui needs a set of parameters, conscious or subconscious.

in the beginning, the only parameters are the conscious “not our world” and the subconscious “please be empty,” so the destinations were random and without people. an empty forest; an abandoned cabin; a peopleless island.

obito isn’t USED to making use of this aspect of kamui, so at first, aiming for particular places and times would be difficult. he’d overshoot or undershoot, or get there at the right time but not the right place. but he’d get more precise about it and learn what sorts of parameters work best with what he has in mind (ex. events can come quicker or be delayed or happen somewhere else, depending on the circumstances! some events are sort of fixed in time and place–october 10 in konoha for the kyuubi attack, for example–whereas others shift–like who kumo takes to make a jinchuuriki). if he isn’t clear on a specific variable, what comes out will be random–like if sakura was like “i miss hashirama trees. can we go check that out” and obito’s parameters were just 'hashirama trees around konoha’, they could drop ANYWHERE in that particular forest and at any time where those trees exist

obito and sakura kind of–tend toward peaceful times and places, at first. they gather themselves up and put themselves back together as much as they can. they’re tired.

but then one day sakura makes a comment, like i wish i’d known you sooner, and obito thinks: but you could.

not this sakura, of course, but another one. a different one.

they find an obito crushed under rock, still alive, and obito can use his mangekyo to take him into kamui, and sakura can heal him from there–at least enough to keep him from dying, at least enough to take him to konoha.

being able to help–that goes a long way, after such a long period of helplessness and hopelessness, and when they think about it, there are so many things that they could help prevent, so many lives they can save with the information that they have now.

so they basically become S-class dimension-hopping superheroes just because

#keg asks #kaguya causes the apocalypse au #thank u for sending me questions!!!!!#sakura feels somewhat guilty abt knowing clan techniques in these other worlds where those clans HAVEN'T been decimated #obito assures her that if they ever catch her using their techniques he can use his sharingan to compel them to forget or he can take em ou #sakura is like . that. that is not as comforting as you think it is. but thanks #theyve basically adopted each other. theyre cute.#lazy-duck

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timeisacephalopod · 5 years

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AU-College. Tony/?. Tony already 17 and working on yet another doctorate has just returned from home after a school break. He's covered in bruises but he doesn't bother to hide them because he honestly believes no one notices or cares. Always on edge and doing anything and everything to forget the pain, Tony is confused when people he doesn't even know start to ask if he's okay and if he needs any help. Laughing in their face he replied. "You can't help, no one can." (I feel dark today sry?)

So I went with Tony/ Eddie Brock (from Venom if you don’t know). Eddie is an investigative journalist (or in this case he’s in school to be one) and tbh I have no freaking clue how journalism school works (journalism school?) so I’ve sort of made it work like humanities courses? Idk, just accept my bad plot needs bois. Also I altered the ‘you can’t help’ line to better fit the scenario, but the sentiment is the same.

As the prompt suggests, warning abuse references.

Eddie needs a story and since his asshole prof likes corporations a lot more than he does that’s out. Which throws a bunch of stuff in his usual wheelhouse out with it. He thought homelessness was a good topic but got told that wasn’t news, which he doesn’t understand because to his knowledge homelessness isn’t solved. Then he thought hey, school shootings happen basically every other day- they like to say if it bleeds it leads and a whole lot of kids seem to be dying. But he got told the news is already oversaturated with that. So he thought fine, maybe police brutality, that’s violent and not on the news much but he got told that was too controversial and what the fuck is the news for if not to be controversial?

Now he’s stuck with the task of finding a story his irritatingly picky prof will like and to add insult to the injury one of his classmates got approved to write about cryptocurrency. What the fuck is that? Stupid, in Eddie’s opinion. His topics were important, real world issues and this dumbass over here gets to write shit about something no one cares about. Predictable.

He’s eating his muffin angrily and wondering if he can somehow convince his prof to let him write something about climate change and the fact that no matter what an individual does, its still 100 companies doing seventy percent of the damage so why is the news focusing on individuals over corporations when he spots a potentially easier sell. Boy genius, way ahead of his time, and well loved by the American public. He has no interest in Tony Stark whatsoever but there has to be a story there, something underneath that irritatingly arrogant rich kid veneer that’s worth writing about so he decides to make a move.

Tony hates waking up before noon on any given day, assuming he went to bed at all, and dealing with people? He doesn’t like that at any time of day so when he’s minding his own damn business only to have some random guy with porn star lips- he swears to god that’s the only accurate description- he’s already annoyed. “Who the hell are you? Never mind, I don’t actually care,” he says in an irritable tone before going to turn back around but the guy takes his brief interruption to his day in a totally different direction than Tony was expecting.

“Nice shiner, where’d you get that?” he asks and Tony freezes for a moment, used to that fleeting feeling that someone might guess at the truth before realizing no one cares anyways.

He rolls his eyes, “you wouldn’t care if I told you, and even if you did its not like there’s anything you could do about it. Or anyone else, for that matter.” Its not like he’s never said anything and not one time has anything come of it. Sometimes people laugh, actually, and Tony doesn’t know what’s worse. People not hearing him at all or people hearing just fine, but they make a joke out of it. Silence isn’t his thing, but he’s developed a thick skin in regards to how people treat him. Doesn’t have much of a choice, living under his father’s roof and in the public eye. Its amazing, Tony thinks, how fucking obvious his abuse is and no one seems to see what’s in front of their damn faces.

Something about his words seem to draw his companion’s attention though and Tony recognizes the look. “Are you a reporter?” he asks and the guy looks surprised for a half a second.

“Good instinct- but technically I’m still in school,” he says like Tony fucking cares about that.

“Yeah, fuck off,” he says bluntly. He’s got no time for another asshole looking to capitalize off the Tony Stark Story when none of them even get the damn story right.

“You have an interesting take on green energy. Only big name attached to it, too,” he says and Tony frowns.

“You know about my interest in green energy?” he asks. No one ever asks him about his passion project, they all want to know about the bombs and if Tony is honest he’s never really been comfortable with what his father’s company does. He knows the military has a use, and that there are protocols, and a bunch of other things his father has said over and over again but he still wonders what happens when things go wrong. Who’s responsibility is that? Does anyone have to take responsibility at all? His experiences tell him that powerful people don’t need to take responsibility for their actions ever, not if they can pay off the powers that be, and if the military is the same way, well. That brings a new layer of ethics to what SI does but Howard doesn’t care about ethics and Obadiah… he’s always been closer to Tony, but he doesn’t seem concerned with ethics either. Claims that’s the military’s job but Tony isn’t stupid. The military, all branches of it, make bad choices all the time. Which leads him back to who takes responsibility, if anyone.

Green energy is less ethically complicated and more necessary to the world, he thinks, and the projects are interesting and engaging. Tony finds blowing things up easy, but green energy provides a new avenue of engineering.

“Yeah, I keep up with what people are doing. Eddie Brock,” he says, extending his hand to Tony.

Green energy, it’d been a shot in the dark but he knows that Tony’s interest isn’t a passing one and its not congruent with his father’s company’s interests either. Whenever Howard is asked about his son’s projects he consistently tells them he has no interest whatsoever. So its strange that Tony has kept his focus for years, if Eddie’s passing interest in the subject is correct. What’s more strange is that mentioning it had immediately gotten him into Tony’s good graces. Anne tells him that he’s good at that, getting past people’s defenses without trying and he guesses that’s true.

Tony continuously talks around his family and Eddie does his best to try and get back to that because Elder Stark has got to be an interesting guy. Real asshole, he’s sure, but interesting. Tony won’t have any of it though and Eddie has to admit the green energy thing is interesting until he loses Eddie thanks to, put bluntly, being way smarter than him. And Tony’s no good at dumbing it down either, something even he freely admits.

They talk for a good amount of time before Tony grows tense again and Eddie knows why partially because of Tony’s reaction to his being a reporter- or wannabe reporter at the moment- and also because he isn’t stupid. “I’m not writing anything about this,” he tells Tony. “Not to be a dick, but none of this is interesting enough to write anything on anyways. You know how sensationalized media likes to be,” he says, shaking his head.

Something catches Tony’s attention in that because he perks up. “You don’t like that, the sensationalism?” he asks. Its more of a statement, but Eddie knows he’s prodding for a why. He’s done this a million times himself.

“Not really, no. If you want to tell a story, then do that- don’t make up all this crazy shit to make it sound more messed up than it is. Human flaw, thinking things need to hit some kind of extreme before we should have to care about it,” he shakes his head. “Leads to shoddy journalism because we’re pushed to make things sexier, more violent, more of whatever is actually there instead of just doing our jobs. Literally everything ever printed about you proves my point.”

Tony snorts, “you read stories on me?” he asks, incredulous.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Not like Tony Stark is an escapable name but Tony’s lips quirk up.

“No, and you’re not a fan. You talk about SI in a disapproving tone, you only know me from my green energy projects, and although you seem to know stuff about me its pop culture knowledge, not genuine interest.” Eddie raises an eyebrow because that’s a damn in depth analysis but Tony only smiles wider. “I’ve learned to separate out people who know me from fans and super fans. You don’t know me.”

Eddie laughs, “yeah, no one knows you. What we know is the consumable product that is Tony Stark- the celebrity brand. That’s not you, or even a version of you. That’s what’s sellable about you and half of that shit is probably made up. No seventeen year old is a ladies man and its kinda creepy that people even made that a selling point.” And kind of misogynistic too, but Eddie doesn’t mention that. Tony doesn’t seem all that stupid, he’s sure he’s gathered that awhile ago.

He watches his words win more trust, or an approximation of it, and Tony leans forward in interest. “You don’t like celebrity culture,” Tony says.

Hell no, he doesn’t. “Why the would I? We build these people up, put them on pedestals, and then get pissed off at them every five seconds when they do something human. We routinely dehumanize celebrities to a point where they stop knowing how to function because extreme fame clearly fucks you up- look at any child star trying to cope. Having a mental breakdown is now something we think is funny. Its fucked up that we do that to people- treat them in such a dehumanizing way that they seem to forget they’re human too. And that’s when we decide to take them down a notch because we’re mad that they accepted the pedestal we shoved them onto by force.” He shakes his head. Sure, he knows a little celebrity news, its not possible to avoid it, but he doesn’t pay any more than a passing attention to it. What normal shit celebrities are doing this week is none of his business.

Tony’s eyes are bright with interest, “fascinating opinion. Most people think we’re privileged, not disadvantaged.”

Eddie laughs, “of course you’re privileged- celebrities are stupid rich, and your opinions have actual influence over what people believe and that’s a position no one should take advantage of. But the cost is any semblance of privacy and your right to personhood- that’s one hell of a catch. And not one regular rich assholes share.” Fame isn’t something Eddie ever wants, not like normal celebrities anyways. If he’s got clout and fame in journalism he’s fine with that- he doesn’t mind if people know his name. But the kind of fame Tony has? Fuck that.

“And you aren’t going to print any of this conversation?” Tony asks, seemingly for clarification.

“Like I said- nothing sensational enough in this conversation to warrant an article. What am I going to write? ‘Tony Stark Likes Green Energy’? Boring,” he says and it actually kind of is without a project or an emotion to attach to it.

“And if I decided to continue talking to you?” he asks and yes, that’s the in he needs and fuck is that ever predatory. Journalism is like that though, always looking for the right fucked up moments to put on paper, or in this case, the right moments to be let in far enough to find those fucked up moments.

“I’m not going to print anything without asking you about it first,” he says, opting for honest. He’s sure something about Tony is interesting to print, and he’s got a feeling it’ll be about his family or maybe just his father, he’s not sure. But if Tony tells him not to print it he won’t. He’s not in the business of exploitation no matter how much journalists are pushed in that direction.

Rhodey’s got that look on his face and Tony knows exactly what he’s thinking before he even says anything. “He’s a nice guy,” Tony says in Eddie’s defense.

“If you have to say that he’s probably not that nice,” Rhodey points out.

“Actually its more like if he has to say that he’s probably not that nice,” Tony says. “And he is. Nice, I mean.” He’s been talking to Eddie for weeks and he’s funny, if a little sharp on the criticism. And nothing has appeared in the newspaper he’s interning with for the summer and the stories he is attached to, which aren’t many and none by name, are usually well written and truth based. Tony fact checked them all and learned a surprising amount about mental health that Eddie had been happy to fill him in more on.

“You sure? Because, no offense, but you have a bad habit of seeing the best in people,” Rhodey says.

Maybe, but Tony shrugs. “Yeah, I’m sure. He treats me like a person,” he says and he knows that shouldn’t be something he thinks of as a good thing. But when you’re famous its hard to find people who don’t at some point ask for your autograph, or a picture, or information on some weird personal detail they have no right to. Eddie hasn’t asked for any of those things and he could directly profit off any of that information. Tony has only ever met one other budding reporter- or full blown reporter for that matter- who’s treated him like that. And Christine… he and Christine have a love hate relationship.

Rhodey sighs, eyes going soft for a moment. “Tones. That’s not special,” he murmurs but that’s because he’s not had to deal with fame. The last time he went out into public without someone recognizing him he was six. After all that he’s kind of used to people acting super weird around him and Eddie doesn’t do that. Maybe it shouldn’t be a rarity, but it is.

“To you, maybe,” Tony says. “You’d like him, he hates the cops.”

Rhodey rolls his eyes but its lovingly. “I don’t hate cops, I just think they’re racist and that people should really deal with that problem.”

Tony is inclined to agree. “Fine, but Eddie has many opinions on cops, you’d get along. Actually Eddie has many opinions on like everything.” Eddie said most people find his opinionated nature irritating but Tony thinks its interesting, hearing him talk because his opinions are so contrary to everything he hears. Even Rhodey, who certainly has different opinions than his father on near everything, tends to be more reserved in letting his opinions be known. Eddie doesn’t care, he gives no fucks and is happy to let people know how he feels. He’s got numbers, too, usually or at least some kind of basis for his argument and Tony has always been fascinated with things that are different than what he normally sees. Its interesting to look into a world that’s so unlike his and see something new. That difference in how people see things, that’s the key to changing the world.

Eddie had been surprised by that opinion but Tony is under the impression that thinking outside the box is what leads to innovation and innovation always leads to change. Eddie had been surprised by how unthreatened he was by that too, but Tony thinks fear of change is based on fear rather than fact and sometimes a push into the unknown is a good thing. And, in regards to Eddie’s general arguments on social change, they already know that people having rights won’t make the sky fall. Only idiots assume it will and Tony has almost as little patience for that as Eddie does. Which is impressive when he’s probably the most anti-establishment person Tony has ever met.

Rhodey sighs, “great, an opinionated white guy. Never met one of those before,” Rhodey mumbles.

“Hey, I’m an opinionated white guy,” Tony says and Rhodey shakes his head.

“Yeah, but you’re my opinionated white guy so it’s different.”

Eddie had no idea what he was looking for when he combed the interviews. Truth be told he wasn’t sure he was looking for anything at the time but what he found was his story. Its shocking to him that no one has told it, minus Tony, who seems to have been screaming it since he was a small child but he’s got it nonetheless. Its not like he’s never seen the evidence of abuse, Tony is fucking brazen and barely even makes an effort to hide it and after watching way too many interviews Eddie wonders if this is his new way to all but scream for help only to have his pleas fall on an audience that doesn’t give a shit.

Its amazing, in the most horrifying of ways, that out of every interview Tony has ever done, and that is a lot, he has mentioned his father’s abuse in over eighty percent of them. And its hard to watch reporters gloss over it, like Tony’s abuse is some fucking quirky trait Tony has instead of a serious problem he’s clearly trying to get help for. But what’s worse is when people laugh. The first time it happened Eddie had been outraged. The third time it happened he’d been livid, and by the fifteenth time he decided that America is probably the shittiest country on earth. An exaggeration, he knows, but not by fucking much.

For years, most of Tony’s life really, Tony has been screaming for help only to have nothing happen. Or worse, people decide its something, but that something is a joke. Only problem is that now Tony knows no one cares, and if no one cares what’s the point in saying anything no matter how much he’s done his best to scream at everyone that he needs help. It makes Eddie’s job harder, but he’s actually talented at this part, more than his peers, so he knows how to get to the right spot to find the information he wants. The catch, of course, is that Tony needs to give him permission to do anything with the information he gets anyways. He feels skeezy enough digging around in Tony’s life trying to find shit to write about, he’s not just going to publish it without his permission. Even if he didn’t genuinely like Tony as a person, even if he hadn’t wanted to, he’d still ask. He’s not totally morally bankrupt, just enough to do his job.

Tony is curled up in a chair, large bruise on his shoulder clearly visible, holding a cup of what Eddie assumes is coffee. He’s never met anyone who drinks as much coffee as Tony and Dan is in med school. His blood is basically coffee. “You do not seem like the kind of guy to be a journalist,” Tony says and Eddie raises an eyebrow.

“What makes you think that?” he asks. Its not the first time he’s been told that, but if Tony gives him an actual answer it will be the first time he’s ever gotten a genuine reason why.

He shrugs, “journalism is… I don’t know, kind of predatory,” he says, wrinkling his nose.

Eddie lets out a small laugh. “Yeah, that’s true. Its the worst part of the job, actually, when you’re talking to people- usually about something personal- and they say something you know will look good in your article and you think ‘yeah, I got it!’ instead of being an actual person. That, and you have to ask for details instead of comforting them. But news is important, those stories are important. Me getting the right thing out there might mean people read what I wrote and start giving a shit about the problem in the article.” Doesn’t mean he likes that little reporter voice that tells him when he’s got a great quote, or that he’s stumbled onto something good and that he needs to keep digging. Sometimes he doesn’t care, corporations don’t have his sympathy, but people do. Its hard to ask for more details of what’s usually a pretty traumatic event so whatever he’s writing is sellable enough. And the whole notion of ‘sellable’ is another point of contention altogether.

“So you’re aware of the fact that you’re a vulture,” Tony says, raising an eyebrow.

“A vulture with a purpose,” Eddie corrects. “But yeah, the kind of reporters you deal with mostly are a bunch of bottom feeding pieces of shit who have no place in any kind of journalism with their shoddy ethics and pathetic puff pieces.” People who want to write stupid articles about some fucking laxative tea or whatever shouldn’t be in this business. And celebrity news shouldn’t even be a thing- there are better things to care about than Tony Cruise. Like maybe the fact that he’s in a cult and people play it off like a strange thing he does on the weekends. Eddie doesn’t understand how the hell they got here.

Tony lets out a small laugh. “Shit, tell me how you really feel,” he says, shaking his head.

“Well come on, there’s a million things I could write about you that are more interesting than the weirdly sexual image you have, and have had for years despite being an actual child. People don’t write anything interesting about you and you’re way more complicated that any piece of media makes you out to be.” Tony is always a power fantasy or the American Dream, not himself. And the sexual thing, that’s odd. Eddie usually only sees that with women but Tony got the short end of that stick despite gender, he guesses. Still creepy.

“Hey, excuse you, my eighteenth birthday is not that far away, I’m not a kid,” he says.

Eddie snorts, “that’s exactly what a kid would say.”

“Oh what, like you’re a shining example of an adult?” Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Fuck no, I’m two kids in a trench coat pretending to be an adult,” he says. Which is what any self respecting adult his age would say. Not that he’s that much older than Tony, but he’s got enough experience to know he misses when he had no bills. And also that transitionary life phases fucking suck.

“Well, I probably have more life experience than you anyway,” Tony says, nose in the air and Eddie nods, seemingly surprising Tony.

“What? I didn’t graduate from MIT at fourteen, and I sure shit don’t have almost three PhDs. I’m half way through one degree. Plus I don’t have to deal with most of the shit you do, company or fame wise. Do wish had the financial perks though.” Tony leads one hell of a life of privilege no doubt, but it does come with some heavy prices. Being a minor doesn’t really help lighten any of those costs either. Not like Tony can just fuck off to another country to attempt ridding himself of his father, not for another four months.

Tony considers him for a long moment. “Given the chance what would you write about me?” he asks, changing the subject back to the initial subject.

Eddie doesn’t need much time to think about it. “Your interest in green energy, especially the science behind it. I mean an intellectual understanding- like the actual nitty gritty- is beyond me, but I get the broad strokes. Enough to know what you’re doing is world altering and no one is talking about it. I could do an article on fame, how that’s affected you. I can see the damage its left, the way you simultaneously gain privilege from your fame and become a victim of it.” He pauses, considers whether or not he wants to say it, but decides he might as well be up front. “But I’d probably wouldn’t write about you at all. I’d write about how Howard Stark abuses you and how no one seems to give a shit, even when you tell them point blank what’s happening. I watched a lot of interviews, I was shocked with how forthcoming you were. And how fucking bad at their jobs literally everyone who’s ever interviewed you is.”

For a long moment Tony just stares and Eddie has no idea if he misstepped or not because Tony is hard to read when he blanks out like this, but then Tony throws himself forward, hugging him tightly. “I honestly didn’t think anyone noticed that anymore,” he murmurs.

They do, Eddie knows people aren’t stupid enough to miss the bruises or Tony’s blasé attitude. But he doubts anyone either wants to stand up to Howard, or they get paid off by him. “They do. But money talks louder than you do,” he says softly.

Tony sighs. “Well, everyone does have a number,” he murmurs. Eddie knows what he means and honestly its sickening to him to know that’s true.

Tony waves a hand at the lab space with a flourish. “This is where the magic happens,” he says and Eddie rolls his eyes.

“Its science, not magic you damn drama queen.” Tony is probably the most dramatic person he knows and that’s saying something considering some of his classmates.

“Party pooper,” Tony mumbles, shaking his head. Eddie gets a tour anyway though, and by the time Tony gets through the details he feels kind of like he walked into a science fiction novel. Its the AI, though, that tops it off. “JARVIS- or just a rather very intelligent system- is kind of my crown jewel. I got him done a few months ago and I’ve been studying how he learns,” he says, grinning.

Eddie raises an eyebrow. “Learns? Like a person?”

Tony shrugs, “more or less. His function is to be semi-autonomous, to predict the needs of the user before the user knows they need something. Before I know I need something, JARVIS has no commercial value.”

“Then why make it?” Eddie asks. He doesn’t know shit about shit but he does know that that sounds like a lot of work with seemingly no payoff.

“Because I wanted to. And also not a lot of people have the time, money, and intelligence to just… create. I want to see what I can do, the full extent of it. Also, JARVIS is cool,” he says like that’s a reason. “And he’s my PhD thesis.”

PhD thesis, that’s interesting. “So like… how are you going to make this sucker not turn into Skynet?” he asks.

“Oh my god, why do humans always assume AIs want to kill the shit out of them or otherwise take over the world? I had JARVIS read YouTube comment sections to convince him humanity is a shitshow not worth enslaving,” he says bluntly and Eddie starts laughing.

“YouTube comment sections? Dude, if I were that AI I wouldn’t decide to enslave humans, I’d straight up eradicate them. Humans suck, but comment sections? Those are the cesspools of humanity.” He shakes his head and almost feels bad for the AI having been subjected to that.

“I’m not certain my efforts would be worth it, sir,” a voice says and Eddie jumps.

Tony doubles over, laughing way harder than that warrants. “Holy shit, every single time- everyone always jumps!”

“Well I wasn’t expecting fancy code to talk at me, okay!” Eddie says in his own defense.

“Fancy code. I like that description,” JARVIS says and okay that is some messed up stuff. The SI likes things? He doesn’t like the sound of that.

“Jesus, relax. JARVIS isn’t going to like… steal your cat and murder your mother or whatever. He’s just a simple AI and he’s still on a learning curve. He’s not nearly as advance as I think he can get. But you’re learning alright, aren’t you J?” Tony asks the AI.

Shit, if that ain’t creepy too. “If you say so, sir,” JARVIS says. Its such a strangely human response, if a little stiffly delivered. But the AI has more personality than some people he goes to class with so that’s… disturbing.

“Honestly, people act like JARVIS is out to get them but seriously. He’s fine,” Tony says.

“Incoming call from Mrs. Potts,” JARVIS informs them and Eddie supposes that’s part of his ‘predict the needs of the user’ protocol. Or maybe he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, both are highly probable. Either way Tony scurries out of the room to answer the call, sounding forcefully cheery on the phone in a way that indicates he’s probably gotten into something he shouldn’t have.

“You’re a reporter,” JARVIS says and Eddie jumps again.

“Jesus, that is creepy. And yeah. Well, I’m still in school,” he corrects.

“Reporters write stories about celebrities,” the AI says and Eddie nods, keeping his opinions on that to himself. He doesn’t know if JARVIS would get it anyways. “I have a story,” JARVIS says and Eddie can’t help the laugh.

“What kind of story could an AI cook up?” he asks, curious if a little skeeved out.

“Ideally, abuse would be reported to the authorities but I have been reliably informed that they won’t investigate. Research on the matter has shown mixed results,” JARVIS says.

Well shit, creepy or not Eddie might find a genuine use for the AI. “I’m assuming you’re talking about Tony,” he says.

“Of course. Who else would I be referring to?” Could be a lot of people but he supposes that the AI’s world is pretty much one guy.

“Point, I guess. Can you collect evidence? Something people won’t be able to deny if they see it?” he asks. Video evidence would be nice, and people take snap shots of Tony in the streets all the time. He can use random pap shots to make a timeline that exist both in and out of Tony’s space of reach. Eliminates those pesky ‘he made it up for attention’ claims if even random people catch the bruises.

“Certainly,” the AI tells him. “And you can do something? Report on it?”

He sighs, “maybe. The human world is complicated, but I’ll do my best.”

Internships are total bunk, Eddie hates his, but funny memes from Tony at least make his days less shit given the sheer amount of time he spends hanging out in Starbucks fetching drinks instead of doing anything useful. Its not like he expected to write anything, but it would be nice if he got to at least hang out in the general vicinity of reporting. He’s fucking around wasting time when he gets an email that makes him raise an eyebrow but hey, if he gets a virus clicking on shit Tony will be able to fix it probably.

The last thing he expects is for JARVIS to have sent him hours worth of curated videos of Howard’s abuse.

“I have an ethical dilemma,” he tells Anne, who already looks done with his problems. He thinks that’s rude but she’s also into being a corporate lawyer and gross. But she’s still a friend, and she still knows him better than most, and usually has good advice so here he is.

“If this is about how ramen you eat again, I’m kicking you out of the apartment.”

Yeah, okay, that was only one time and he was fourteen. He doesn’t think that should be held against him five years later. “Yeah, um, that’s definitely not it,” he says and he explains the situation from start to finish. “So like, I can’t not say anything, but also its gross to exploit people’s pain like that without their permission,” he says, wrinkling his nose. But saying nothing is almost worse.

“You could just go to the cops,” Dan suggests, ever astute.

Eddie gives him a look. “Tony’s been forthcoming about his abuse for years and doesn’t hide the bruises whatsoever. Obviously the cops aren’t going to do dick all if they haven’t done anything already. I know people who’ve had their kids taken away for a hell of a lot less than beating the hell out of them enough that they start asking random reporters to help them in interviews only to get laughed off.” Anne frowns and he sighs, “I’m actually serious about that.”

When she calls him on it he finds the interviews- he’d saved the clips because he naturally categorizes details- and she ends up as horrified as he does. “Okay I take back cops comment, I think maybe they got paid off,” Dan says and yeah no shit.

“So what the hell do I do here?” Not saying anything is no longer an option- not when he was dumb enough to watch the proof in the middle of his day at work only to end up wildly disturbed for the rest of the time he was there. He hadn’t much wanted to go through more than the few minutes that had him feeling gross for the rest of the day, but he didn’t have much of a choice either. And JARVIS was detailed in his curation, Eddie is impressed in the worst of ways.

This is so not the option he wanted to go with but Anne is kind of right in that talking to Tony is the only option. Of course its also the option that reveals him to be a gross vulture reporter, but a guy has to do what a guy has to do. This isn’t about his feelings, it can’t be. “What’s got you looking so shitty?” Tony asks in a chipper tone, leaning in to hug him and oh, that’s sweet. And the first time he’s done that aside from the time he said he’d sooner write about Howard than Tony.

“I um- look, the only reason I talked to you a couple months ago was because I needed a story and I found one and-” Tony cuts him off.

“Excuse me? So what, this entire time you sat around winning my trust for what, some fucking puff piece?” he snaps and Eddie can’t help the face he makes.

“No, your fucking AI sent me like sixty hours of Howard beating the fuck out of you and I can’t sit on that. Stop looking at me like that, its not because I think its a good story- it is- but that’s not why I think I should write something on it its because no one else but the American public will care enough to inspire some kind of change,” he says, shoving as many words into the conversation as he can before Tony rightfully eats his ass.

Something must occur to Tony because the anger drops shockingly fast and its replaced with something else. “JARVIS did what? Why would he do that?”

“Look, he asked me if I could do something, I told him I’d need concrete evidence. I didn’t expect the damn AI to send me a shit ton of fucked up shit that made me want to vomit. Seriously, I am so sorry that any of that happened to you. That is so unfair,” he says, shaking his head.

Maybe its the sudden change of subject, or maybe its the way he says it, but Tony softens a bit even if Eddie can see the suspicion still held tight in his frame. “JARVIS prompted you,” he says and Eddie nods. “You seriously expect me to believe that?”

Eddie shrugs, “I don’t know, man. I don’t know how the damn AI works I just know what it did. Isn’t he supposed to predict your needs or whatever?” This seems like a natural extension of that but Tony shakes his head.

“What JARVIS predicts is where to move screens according to where I’m moving in the lab, not how to reach out to reporters with evidence of abuse I specifically told him to keep to himself,” Tony says. “One is basic technological based, stuff that’s easily predictable. The other is a care action that shouldn’t be taken by an AI that doesn’t know how to do that.”

“Well clearly he does because I sure shit ain’t smart enough to hack your systems to find fucked up home videos, use your damn head Tony. There’s no way I could gather evidence like that straight from your systems. Even if I was the best in this country I would still be leagues behind what you can do- there’s no other way I could have found anything.”

“You noticed the bruises,” he points out but Eddie shakes his head.

“Those bruises were written off years ago when you were like thirteen as some kind of quirky thing about you. Some idiot suspected low iron instead of abuse like low iron leaves hand prints on people’s bodies. Fucking moron,” he mumbles, unable to hold back his judgment. He honestly can’t believe how stupid people are. Or, and this is the more horrifying option, that’s what they were paid to print.

“You made a time line,” Tony states rather than asks and Eddie nods.

“Even if I had no interest in a story its naturally something I do. I’ve been trained to do that, literally.” Its something he did before too, putting together time lines to claims to see if things matched up or deviated, and then looked for reasons as to why things might or might not match. Not that Tony really cares about that right now. “Look, if you don’t believe me about the JARVIS thing you can check the cameras,” he points out in an attempt to at least clear up one mess.

Tony considers him for a long moment, glaring. “And what the fuck makes you think you’re different than anyone else who’s given a half a shit about any of this?” he asks. “I get that you have some ‘save the world’ complex, but I’m beyond saving.”

Eddie shakes his head, “no you aren’t. And there’s no real difference between me an anyone else. But if the American public sees what I did there’s no stuffing the genie back in the bottle. Howard can pay off news crews, celebrity gossip rags, and cops but he can’t buy his way out of the whole of this country watching him abuse his kid. If nothing else, get JARVIS to release all that. People won’t ignore irrefutable evidence shoved down their throats, not when its more explicit than anything people have seen before.” And if Eddie knows anything he knows that nothing sells better than outrage porn.

Tony ends up rewriting the entire second half of his thesis because Eddie had a point- its not like he’s smart enough to hack Tony’s anything. JARVIS had reached out and it had been a distinctly care based action, not something based in technological need only. Which means that JARVIS learned much faster than Tony had anticipates, recognized right from wrong, knew how to seek out people who would rectify the situation, and did all this while intentionally hiding this learning capability from Tony. When he’d asked about it JARVIS had freely informed him that he knew Tony would try and stop him, and that his research had consistently shown that abuse of any kind is not accepted behavior. He felt compelled, in whatever way that looks like to an AI- Tony is looking into it- to do something.

At the moment he’s combing JARVIS’ code, figuring out where and how he learned, and how ‘human’ emotions appeared in JARVIS’ code. Obviously the emotions aren’t human- to a point they’re rudimentary, based on a large cumulation of research on human norms and standards of acceptability rather than an internal sense of right and wrong the way a human might claim to feel it. But this whole thing had been a series of care-based actions nonetheless and that’s more than ground breaking. This isn’t something even Tony thought possible, so its a real treat to see that JARVIS learns fast, and generally aligns his morality system with human morality systems. Or maybe he’s based them somewhat off Tony’s given that he’s the primary user. He’s not sure, that’s in his growing list of things to figure out how JARVIS did.

That’s what he chooses to focus on instead of Eddie’s stupid article. He sends regular updates, seemingly concerned with Tony’s opinion but Tony learned that reporters aren’t to be trusted and he’s not making that mistake twice. He only gave Eddie permission to write anything out of what’s probably a misguided hope that maybe someone will finally do something and he knows its stupid, but he’s fucking tired of living like this. So he lets Eddie work on his dumb story and mostly ignores it because JARVIS is more interesting and also more human than Tony ever anticipated out of the AI.

Rhodey finds him curled up with a sketch pad and Tony looks up, surprised to see Rhodey looks so somber. “I read the article,” he says and Tony glares at him. “Tones, it was good, shockingly so. His research was impeccable- there’s stuff in here that he figured out about you that I didn’t know about you.”

Tony continues ignoring him because he doesn’t care, not really. Of course Rhodey would find the article good, he’s obviously not on Howard’s side like literally everyone else is. Rhodey sighs and sits beside him.

“‘Tony Stark is living a life of power, fame, and privilege- he’s the kid people have always pointed to when we present the ‘has it all’ lifestyle. In many ways Tony Stark is the power fantasy of America- a corporate, a genius, and a smooth talker, it seems he represents everything we aspire to be. Tony is the living embodiment of the American Dream and for that reason, our own willful ignorance in allowing him to continue to be our dreams come to life, we have missed perhaps one of the most obvious details of Tony’s personal life- the abuse he suffers at the hands of his father. In our rabid need to turn Tony Stark into our living day dream we have failed him, trapped him in our fantasies instead of acknowledging his living nightmare because Tony Stark looks better to us as a consumable product than a person.’ Cutting,” Rhodey says, “but accurate.”

He rolls his eyes. Yeah, that definitely reads like Eddie’s general tone on everything. Rhodey lets out another long sigh. “Look, I get why you stopped talking to the guy but people are pissed,” he says and Tony turns to face him, surprised.

“People actually read the article?” he asks. He doesn’t address Rhodey’s actual words because Rhodey might have only noticed a subsection of people, not all of them.

“Read it? Like seven different news papers have picked this story up, its trending on Twitter, and in the last hour I’ve seen dozen of different posts, all with a huge amount of shares, literally calling for Howard’s death. I’m pretty sure this is going to make Eddie’s career,” he says, shaking his head.

People… are paying attention. Tony curls a little tighter into himself, unsure how to handle that.

Eddie is trying to cure his hangover with tea when Tony finds him, approaching with some suspicion and Eddie gets that, really. But he sits down across from him at the small table and offers a small smile before it fades. “Didn’t think putting Howard would result in a mass flood of men doing terrible shit being outted and then arrested for being pieces of shit but um. Hey, that’s a cool side effect,” he says.

He nods, “damn right.” Though the response back to it has been somewhat swift, flying in with ‘due process’ this and ‘where’s the proof’ that. Eddie just happened to have a damn air tight set of evidence thanks to Howard’s ballsy carelessness and arrogance. Not everyone has that luck, though. Still, he’s impressed with some of the names on the list but even he’d been surprised to find Carlton Drake on there for the crimes of illegal human experimentation. Dora Skirth has balls of brass for putting that out there. Of course he has a lot of loud annoying fans who think her liking some random rock band is a reason why she’s lying, because those things correlate, obviously, but still.

“You made people listen. Like, to more than just me,” Tony says.

Eddie shakes his head, “actually that was JARVIS. I just wrote a detailed timeline for the events he sent proof of.” And all those clips of Tony talking in interviews too, with nothing taken out of context so no one could accuse him of that either.

“Thank you,” Tony murmurs, looking down at the table like he’s ashamed or something when he shouldn’t be.

“Don’t thank people for doing what’s right- you deserve better than being grateful that someone did what was necessary,” Eddie says, shaking his head.

Tony looks up, “one of the maids at the mansion overheard Howard offer you a stupid amount of money to not print what you had. And a bunch of threats. Every single person before you has caved so yeah, thank you.”

Its still not something he’s going to accept, a fucking thank you for not selling Tony out. Literally. He leans forward, “obviously I didn’t take the money- you’re a fucking person Tony, there’s no price anyone could pay me to knowingly allow that kind of abuse to happen to you. And the threats- whatever. I kind of bluffed and told him your AI would release anything anyways, but still, I already knew all that would happen. I committed to the bullshit that was going to come with that story, and I refuse to let you be grateful that I did what everyone else failed you in doing. That isn’t something I’m owed thanks for, especially when you’re only saying it because everyone else has either treated you or allowed you to be treated abysmally. I don’t get to earn brownie points for not being a piece of shit.”

That’s never something he’s going to accept, being thanked because he did something everyone should do. It’s unacceptable.

Tony shakes his head. “You’re a right-fighting asshole,” he says and Eddie laughs.

“Yeah, that’s a fair criticism,” he says.

Five Years Later:

Tony grins, “I thought you didn’t want to be famous,” he says and Eddie gives him a look. He looks nervous as hell and Tony can only hope that doesn’t come through as strong on video as it does in real life.

“I don’t, this was a terrible idea,” he says, looking around for escape.

He sighs, “Eddie- technically you’ve done this before. Its the same thing as reporting, but longer. You’ll do fine,” he says, running his hands down Eddie’s arms to try and calm his nerves.

Eddie does that thing where his face recedes into his neck and Tony really hopes he doesn’t do that on camera. He supposes at least the crew can do different takes to ensure he doesn’t look like a demented turtle. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

“Eddie. Its called the Eddie Brock Show- go out there and get your strangely porn-star like lips on that damn camera and tell people who homelessness is bad. Also maybe cut the line about treating supporting vets like a spectator sport until they’re homeless, that’s a pointy even for you,” he says.

The bad advice works and Eddie gives him an offended look, “no, those assholes should learn to either shut their fucking mouths of actually do shit to support vets, not pretend like they give a shit when they’re being blown up and stop caring when they’re home with PTSD because they watched people get blown up. What the hell even is that?” he asks.

“Tell it to the camera,” he says, pushing Eddie towards the set. He goes and across the room the producer looks relieved. Yeah, Tony gets that, Eddie is tough to talk into things when nervous.

Rhodey walks up beside him and smiles a little. “Pepper and I have decided that we approve,” he says and Tony frowns.

“We’ve been together for almost five years,” he points out.

This doesn’t seem to bother Rhodey any. “We needed time to gather our data and we have come to the conclusion that he is off probation and that we approve,” he says, handing Tony a book. He frowns at it. “That’s the list of improvements we have though. I think section three is the most important, but Pepper thinks section eighteen is more important. What the hell does she know, though? I’m cashing in best friend points and telling you to go with three first.”

Tony is going with neither because this is fucking overkill to an extreme not that he’d expect anything less out of Pepper and Rhodey. The first thing they did when Tony brought Eddie home proper was threaten to kill him and Tony had to shoo them off with what should be an obvious explanation that threatening to kill people is fucked up.

“Pepper is also my best friend you know,” Tony points out.

“Yeah, but I’m the best best friend,” Rhodey says. “The OG. Pepper is the compliments version of me.”

Tony lets out a sharp laugh, “oh, I would pay money to hear you tell her that.”

Rhodey shakes his head, “nope, I value my life, do not ever tell her I said that. Section three,” he says, pushing the book closer to Tony.

#tony stark/ eddie brock #alternate universe #fanfiction

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kalloway · 5 years

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I wouldn't mind reading what you've wrote down in your doc. As for the AU, I kinda imagine that a few clans (more Nosferatu, Tremere and Gangrel) would probably venture out to the realms in their own way. And a Masquerade revision may be a result of the exposure to places like Outworld and such.

Ooh that’s p much what I thought too! The more ‘shunned’ clans would def be more open to exploring that kind of new direction, for sure.

Below the cut here, I’ve copy+pasted my info part of that doc (the rest is misc. dialogue ideas) — just be aware that for a good part of it, I was toying with the Kindred having old, old roots with the Vampires of Vaeternus and also some of them having Outworld/Edenian roots too, but i p quickly ditched that idea tbh since I felt is strayed a bit far from Kindred themselves, and grouped them in with the Moroi too much - I like Kindred being their own, Earthrealm-exclusive group.

That disclaimer (and run-on sentence) aside, here you go Anon:

(Italics are the part(s) I semi-cut, so feel free to skim over them)

Kindred as we know them are descended from the Moroi of Vaeternus - despite the Earthrealm sunlight harming them, they managed to proliferate millenia ago and remain present in Earthrealm to this day. Evolution mixed with different ‘branches’ of the Moroi bloodline eventually formed the Kindred races that we’re currently familiar with. They now lack the wings of their ancestors to blend into the realms more successfully, and retain the Masquerade.

The Tremere were born from vampires turning sorcerers, both from Earthrealm, Outworld, and Edenia alike, and thus their numbers are generally few and far between. They remain extremely secretive of their Thaumaturgy, and only the Nosferatu keep a lower profile than the Tremere do.

What’s interesting to note, is that all Kindred retain their ancestors solar properties - if a Kindred were to leave Earthrealm and find themselves in sunlight, they won’t obtain Final Death. It’s believed the only reason most Kindred remain in Earthrealm, is due to their connection with it - most Kindred are through-and-through Earthrealmers.

Only the Tremere and Nosferatu find any solace in other realms.

As far as anyone knows, no Kindred has ever been chosen to represent Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat. They’re very secretive towards humans due to the requirements of the Masquerade implemented by the Camarilla, and focus more on their own business.

The Sabbat however, have proven stubborn, ignoring the Masquerade and threatening all in their way - Kindred and Mortal alike. Their presence and actions have proven almost impossible to hide, and thus the Camarilla - primarily the Ventrue - work tirelessly to cover up the stories to retain their places of power in the world. The Sabbat seek to rule over the world as we know it, and believe themselves higher than mere mortals - they refuse to ‘pretend’ to still be Human, and embrace their Inhuman natures.

As in VTMB itself, the Kindred world is very much its own entity within ours - its own society with its own separate hierarchies. The Camarilla seek to keep order, being led by the Ventrue, and are close allies with the Malkavians, Toreadors, Tremere, and (tenderly) the Nosferatu. The Brujah and Gangrel are also part of the Camarilla, but are more inclined to disagree and have no respect for their elders, and as such are generally considered Anarchs. Anarchs are not just limited to these two clans however.

In the modern Mortal Kombat timeline, we see a sudden surgence in foreign presences in Earthrealm - something that both intrigues and unsettles the Kindred. Now more than ever, upholding the Masquerade is challenged by changing times, and it might even prove impossible to remain hidden among Mortals any longer.

I coulda included the dialogue bits, I guess, but they don’t have much context tbf 😅

#anon ask #reply #tbf it’s o much reiterating what I said in the previous ask buuuut 🤷‍♀️#Also I meant to answer this way earlier but got sidetracked 😶 so I apologize about the delay!#also for the record - any info I oull from the WhiteWolf wiki is from stuff prior to V5 #why do V5’s of things alter so much stuff all the time?#but yeah #it’s bad enough I just yank stuff from the wiki as it is let alone try to accomodate changes like that #like the Tremere... lose their Thaumaturgy and it’s just Blood Sorcery?#I’d have to look into it more but I’m more interested in the prior content more along the lines of VTMB #but I digress 😂#semi related but idk if anyone else sees what I see - on the tumblr dash it ignores the line cut things (the horizontal lines I use to soace #things out)#and it looks kimda bad and mot formatted well #it shows up fine in the preview and on my blog itself tho so idk what’s up with that #OH it’s also fine if I go thru the motion to c heck my notes n stuff so it must be a mobile site issue #that’s lame 🙃

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thetaekswoon · 6 years

Text

NCT Lucas| Camp Counselor AU

You know I thought I would actually escape the bias wrecker trap that Lucas has put on all of us NCTzens for a minute there, but then whelp there he goes doing his dandy thing and I’m shook.

mentions of drinking

Yukhei:

Red Fox cabin: boys ages 7-8

Co-counselors with his bffl Mark LEE, so you can already tell that the Red Fox cabin that summer was quite a mess

It’s his first summer working at the sleepaway camp, and surprisingly, Lucas is one of the few counselors that weren’t actually campers before they became staff,

so that means that (besides mark who was the one who suggested that he put in a job application earlier that year) Lucas didn’t know anyone he was going to be working with at all.

At the start of staff training, Lucas began to feel really intimidated because practically everyone else knew their way around the camp grounds and already KNEW each other,

Lucas just kind of felt like an outsider, sometimes he even felt like quitting before the campers arrived for the first session.

, but then something changed after some wise words from seasoned camp director Leeteuk set Lucas in the right direction, and quickly he found himself opening up more to the rest of the staff and they adopted him into the camp family.

Lucas found himself befriending almost everyone at camp, even the CITs loved having him around!

and Lucas really liked hanging out with them. They were all close in age and they were required to stay for the whole summer just like the staff were, so he felt like he could connect even more with them,

That’s why as soon as cabin placement preferences opened up Lucas requested that he be a CIT leader.

sadly though, the reasons why he connected so well with the CITs was exactly why he wasn’t allowed to be their leader... In order to be a CIT leader you had to be several years older than the aged-out age of the CIT program, unfortunately Lucas was just too young.

He didn’t hang himself up over it though because he and Mark got placed into the same cabin together which was super freaking awesome, and he could still hang out with the CITs whenever he wanted really.

You can always see him giving CIT Chenle piggy back rides across the camp fields, goofing around and making fun of the other counselors

*cough cough* Johnny *cough cough*

When first moving their stuff into the Red Fox cabin, Lucas and Mark argued for what felt like an eternity over who got the top bunk,

“I got here first so its MINE”

“You dumbass how the hell are you going to even sit up in the morning without banging your head on the ceiling you’re too tall!” mark shouts at him.

Lucas did hit his head the next morning and then kindly asked Mark with as much dignity as he could find with the darkening purple bruise on his forehead, if they could switch beds.

... the whole time head counselor for the Red Fox cabin, Namjoon stands quietly in the back, shaking his head in his hands.

Lucas is one of the counselors that teaches the survival courses at the camp;

teaching all the campers in the course how to find/build shelter, start a fire, what plants are edible and whatnot,

, and honestly... Lucas freaking loves it!

He loves playing around deep in the woods everyday with the campers and coming back covered in dirt head to toe for lunch.

Lucas is kind of crazy in the woodsy aspect... he does insane stunts that with one misstep could end him up in the hospital

, he pretends to be a crab with a flaming torch in each hand walking sideways, and covers his neck and face in mud when the summer heat becomes a little too much for him to handle

lucas climbs up the trees like a monkey and isn’t afraid of going up too far

“It’s not fun unless you can see over anything” he tells Hani from the Mountain Lion cabin one day, and she gives him the look THAT look, you know what I’m talking about.

Everybody calls him the survival man and he just feeds into it... took on that whole aesthetic.

Lucas’ signature outfit is an open flannel shirt and tee, cargo shorts, and sunhat

not-so-hidden in a belt sheath, Lucas keeps his carving knives on him all the time as he walks around camp. He uses them to help the campers cut down small tree branches when building shelters,

, and sometimes when he’s bored he’ll pull out the knife and start carving funky shapes into pieces of wood he just finds around.

All the little boys love him btw.

They see him as this crazy giant of a jungle man who climbs trees and can make them laugh with all his hilarious impersonations.

, but Lucas is not all goofy and horsing around.

He is also pretty sharp and can sense the danger in a situation before it gets out of hand,

Like when a little Golden Eagle girl and her friends start pushing each other a little too close to their fire for Lucas’ liking, and when one of them trips Lucas is up and present in an instant to catch her from stumbling into the smoking pit.

He is really serious about safety especially when it comes to the safety of the campers.

This boy THIS BOY will FIGHT to get ahead of you in the dining hall lunch line on chicken nugget day, THIS BOY WILL PUSH beware. beware of nugget day in general tbh everyone is a bit frisky

Anyway...

You like Lucas

not like... like-like, but like as a friend.

See, when you met Lucas back during staff training you kind of felt bad for him, he was quick to make friends with people, but he had trouble getting into the camp spirit, accepting himself into the camp family

You couldn’t help but feel down when you saw that he would arrive to lunch late because he didn’t know the way to get back to the dining hall after morning sessions and how he sometimes looked awkward shifting on his feet, feeling like a giant in the room.

So of course, as in the camp spirit, you went ahead and introduced yourself to Lucas, even offered to help teach him some of the camp songs

, you noticed that he always stumbled through the words whenever a large group cheer broke out... which was often considering everyone was so excited to be back at camp for the summer.

and lucas was like, on his knees, bowing at you, thanking you so much because he doesn’t get it like whats with all the turtles, frogs and bees in camp songs like HOW DO YOU EVEN TELL THEM APART GOD

So after you manage to finally teach him some of the basic camp songs, you two kind of fall into a pleasant friendship with each other, but by no means are you guys super close or anything like that,

no, after staff training you two didn’t have as much time to spend together because you both taught different subject classes and survival skills and arts and crafts rarely had a need to interact with each other.

tbh Lucas is kind of popular and after that whole debacle during the start of the summer was overwith he started making a lot of really close friends with people all over camp, so he doesn’t always have the time to drop by and say hi,

, especially when Yuta, Jungkook and Rocky keep yelling out for him to join them on hikes across the ridge,

like how can he say no to that... he’s the jungleman, he revels in that kind of stuff.

That being said, Lucas still finds himself in the craft cabin every once and a while when he has his break, to come and sit with you and do some crafty things with the kids,

that boy can make a mean macaroni frame, can even put poor Eunwoo’s to shame

You never minded having Lucas visit you, it was nice to talk to him, Lucas could make anyone crack up with his facial expressions, though sometimes you’d get mad at him when he tracked in mud

Lucas liked doing crafts with you because it was a good change in scenery from the woods, and also... you know... he liked being able to hang out with you,

Though you could go HAM when people started cheering camp songs, overall you were a very chill person to be around, a real rock.

not to mention... you’re pretty.

So that’s why when Lucas needed a bunch of counselors to volunteer to go out on the survival campout with him, he asked you, and of course you said yes, not knowing at all what you got yourself into.

You had figured that the survival campout would be just like any other overnight that the campers go on, heck you’ve been on those before and have had an awesome time!

However what you weren’t expecting was no tents. no sleeping bags. nothing.

It was literally like a survival show out there, the campers who had been preparing for this campout all week, struggling to build a shelter they were going to sleep in with the materials they found around them before the sun went down.

WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU EVEN GOING TO SLEEP???

Lucas ran around the campsite, helping the kids, he didn’t mind the thought of sleeping bare to the elements, surrounded by ticks and mosquitos.

It took you a while to gather your bearings, but when you did, you set yourself to gathering firewood for the fire pit that the counselors attending the overnight would cook their hobo dinners on later that evening once all the campers whisked off to sleep.

It was dark by the time that you and the rest of the counselors on the trip could finally take a rest.

The campers, all full and resting peacefully in their shelters could finally be left alone for the rest of the night.

The counselor campsite was within sight of the camper’s site, but far enough away that they could speak freely without worry of waking somebody up.

The campsite, much to your relief, looked quite different from the camper’s. A truck bed was open and laid out with supplies and enough open space for at least two people to squish together and sleep on. On trees surrounding the area, colorful hammocks were strung up so that you didn’t have to sleep on the cold ground.

Counselors Jungkook and Yuta, were loudly whispering and scheming with each other, shuffling through their packed knapsacks Irene, Lucas and yourself were confused on what the hell they were up to,

, that was until Yuta, finally finding what he was looking for pulled out a three quarters full bottle of whiskey from his bag, and Jungkook a half empty bottle from his.

Now all of you knew that if the camp had found out you were drinking on their property, so close to the campers, the consequences would be severe, you’d most likely be fired immediately and asked to pack your things.

, but with the threat of a camp director making a visit all the way down to the campsite several miles away from the camp itself dismissed after they had already came to check up on everything before the sunset,

you all felt at ease to take sips from the bottle being passed around the campfire.

Before the whiskey, you had a few goosebumps over your arms and calves, but now you were warm and happy, drinking and joking around with your friends, you were suddenly happy that you accepted Lucas’ invitation to join the campout.

“How do y’all feel ‘bout goin down to the water, it’s close I think.” Jungkook stumbled over his words after downing a few shots worth of the liquor.

You were decently drunk by now, sitting around the campfire, you sat across from the two party boys, lucas and Irene on either side of you.

“You know I’m always down to try anythin Kook,” Yuta slurred as well, giving an overzealous wink to no one in particular.

“I don’t know if Irene can make it there guys...” You say, laughing at the senior counselor’s slumped over figure, she giggled and hiccuped at her name being mentioned.

“It’s ok guys I swear. I’m good, besides, somebody... someone needs to stay behind in case one of the *hiccup* campers *hiccup* needs somethin’“ She says with a face full of dirt.

“How you feelin’ girlie?” Yuta laughs at Irene trying to sit up.

“I’m swell,,, thanks.” She twirls her hair up into a ponytail and waves you all away, “You’re all good to go *hiccup* now.”

“Are you sure?” Lucas asks her. “You can handle it if someone needs help restarting their fire?”

Irene scoffs at him, “Leave me.” she says, and the four of you head down to the rocky beach area ten minutes away from the campsite.

The lake water looks pitch black, the moon shining brightly reflects down onto it, and you can can barely see the lights from the main camp waterfront across the lake.

You’re invisible.

Yuta and Jungkook take their shoes off and make for a running start into the freezing water. You stand behind watching the drunk fools horse around in the lake, laughing at them when Jungkook gets pulled under by the other boy,

You almost forget about him for a second there, until Lucas, besides you, starts taking off his clothes.

you gasp, “oh my gawd you’re not getting naked right now right? You know those fools will try and steal your clothes.”

He chuckles, “Nahhh, I just don’t wanna get my clothes wet.” he says and then, just in his underwear and socks, makes his way toward... the trees?

Only a second later he’s up in the air, climbing up one of the trees that line the lake so fast you almost missed it.

Lucas stretches out on the limb, testing its strength before shouting something you couldn’t quite hear and propelling himself into the water a few feet below.

you can’t help, but laugh at the wildman, and start taking some of your clothes off as well, then with the confidence that only alcohol can give you, you sprint straight into the water and you keep running as far as you can in it

Up past your shoulders you stop and cry out at how bone-chilling the water is.

You four drunken bastards goof around in the water for a while more together, at one point even attempting to play chicken,

you up on Lucas’ shoulders and staring Yuta, who was ready to pounce, in the eye, and alcohol wasn’t that smart of a mix.

Jungkook started to feel sick after Yuta, falling over, kicked him in the gut and requested that they go dry themselves off.

Sitting on the beach for a while you guys play in the sand, warming up and drying off from splashing around in the lake.

While before you were just slurring your words, by now drunk talk has commenced.

Yuta was spewing his and Jungkook’s cabin’s drama left and right, turns out a kid in Gray Wolf a few sessions ago was a proud bed wetter, used to show them the stains on his sheets before washing them out.

That story was followed by a bunch of ewws on your end, a bunch of laughs from Lucas, who then shared that Mark has apparently been known to on occasion complement his mother’s cooking in his sleep.

“I bet that she’s a phen-omen-al cook then. Her food must’ taste so good.” you say to the group

and then Lucas says, “probably not as good as you.” and LICKS YOUR FREAKING CHEEK. He freezes. and you’re for the lack of a better word right now shook af

“I need to collapse.” Jungkook states, clearly oblivious to what the hell just happened there... too drunk to even notice the commotion. “I’m climbing back to bed before I won’t be able to get there.”

“I’ll help yah from fallin’ on your face.” Yuta stands up after him, seemingly unknowing as well.

And now alone with Lucas, you’re speechless.

“um..*coughs* that was weird and uncalled for.” he jokes trying to break the silence,

“it was,” you agree.

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s ok.” you tell him, still super confused. You fall into another silence again, the only noise is the sound of the low lake tide sloshing up against the rocks.

“This is totally not the time to say this, but I think your hair looks really pretty when it’s wet.” Lucas tells you, and when you turn to look at him you can’t help, but take in all of his handsome features.

He’s young, yes, but he’s built and toned. His eyes wide like and owl’s and soft looking hair.

you feel compelled to touch his hair.

And, so carefully, as to not get any sand in it, you raise your hand and start twirling a strand of it in your fingers. It’s really soft.

and then as things progress as they do when you are drunk and alone, suddenly you are half naked on a beach, kissing Lucas deeply on the mouth.

Theres sand and pebbles and his hands in your hair and it’s almost like you’re suffocating on each other’s tongues.

It doesn’t go much farther than that, not really. You wake up only a few hours later, the sun hasn’t even truly shown itself yet, on the small beach tangled in Lucas’ arms,,, and your bra is somewhere by your feet.

After shaking him awake you two stumble to put your clothes back on and look like you hadn’t just woken up from a drunk hookup on a beach, as fast as you could.

Back at the campsite, Yuta and Jungkook are snoring in the back of the pickup truck, Irene doing the same on the ground next to the fire pit, and all the campers seem to remain undisturbed from any of the incidents that took place the previous night.

Turning around to look back at Lucas you stifle a gasp and point to his neck,

just visible from under his collar are several dark marks.

“You need to cover those up!” You tell him, “If Leeteuk or another director sees those you could get in serious trouble.”

“I’ll sling a towel or something over my shoulder don’t worry about it.” and you nod.

“This isn’t weird right?” you ask him quietly, in case someone were to wake up.

“No, I don’t think so.” Lucas says to you.

It wasn’t awkward between the two of you, you were coworkers, but more importantly friends, much closer than you had previously thought in fact.

Lucas and you started to take apart the campsite, fold up the hammocks and stir the embers to ashes, one of the bodies in the back of the truck groans and scratches their back before going still again.

“Before we leave though I think we should clear the air though.” You say to Lucas quietly, “are we a thing now? Was that a one time thing or will it happen again? I’m just trying to close the case kinda if you know what I mean.” He laughs at you and you groan... your head still hurts.

“I don’t know.” he shrugs.

“Well I don’t know.” you shrug, and he shrugs again, making a face.

“I guess it would be nice.”

“Nice to...what?”

“I don’t know, whatever it is, we’ll see.” he says, and he playfully shrugs again at you.

Suddenly, Yuta looking like a mess, very much hungover and probably moving too fast for being so, sits up with his hair in his face looking out at the two of you from the truck bed.

“WAIT!” he says, wincing then proceeding to grab his head before looking back at you two,

“DID YOU TWO F-”

<><> do not edit/remove anything from the original post <><> this AU belongs to me <><>

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