#but then the super light footsteps actually are not simply for combat and now hes just a very tall quiet guy

[moeblob]

Ananza realizing that Deacon's mom was a devoted follower of hers THEREFORE that's her son now, too! And she will dote on him and love him and never pick on him like all the other deities tend to do. That's her precious little boy who lives in another city and rarely gets to see her!

[hellcaster901]

For the follower celebration of your still doing it; will you do #39 “I’m in love with you” where the reader and mando are in a rough scuffle to get a bounty that ends in both of them getting significantly hurt and then once they’re back on the crest the reader is super out of it and high off their mind on pain killers and is taking gibberish but then randomly blurts out their feelings. And then is avoiding mando the next day or something. Make it smut , angst, fluff or whatever! I have full faith in your ability and you could go comepletely off script too if you have a better idea lol

I LOVE IT!!! Now I did go a bit off script here, but I hope that you enjoy it!!!!!!!! And sorry again for being late!!

The Med-Shot

Warnings: NONE besides some FLUFFY SHIT

Ask me is HERE and my prompt list is HERE

“Lead him away.” Mando spoke to you, keeping an eye on the bounties. The two of you waiting for the perfect moment to run. Usually you wouldn’t be scared, this was Mando, the mandalorian that everyone was scared of, but these two bounties didn’t back down. They knew Mando was chasing them, but they also knew he was wanted, and they had their own agenda. 

“What?” You whispered, head wiping to look up at him. Seeing the street lights shining off his visor. He kept his eyes on the two of them, watching their every move. “What makes you think I can take one of these guys.” You huffed. He looked down at you, seeing your own reflection in his helmet. 

“Trust me.” He spoke, his modulated voice filling your ears. You took a deep breath looking back at the two of the bounties, knowing you could trust Mando. 

“Fine.” 

You moved swiftly through the alleyways, looking behind your shoulder, not seeing the second bounty. You knew that Mando had the other one, and this one, strangely took a liking to you, eyes drawn on you the second they saw the two of you. Not having much skills in combat, your best move was to book it and hide, wait for Mando to save you. As much as you hated being the typical damsel in distress, there was only so much that you could do. 

Your legs burned as you ran, lungs practically on fire, but all you could think of was Mando, if he was okay, if he got the bounty, if he was alive. Who are you kidding. Its Mando of all people, that man knew what he was doing, if there was any inkling of doubt, you clearly didn’t-

“There you are!” You heard, a strong arm wrapping around your waist, tugging you back. Feet lifting off the ground, the air being ripped from your lungs.You barely had time to scream for help, or scream for Mando as you felt a sharp sting in the back of your neck. You thrashed in the bounty’s arms, and then... darkness.

***

Your head felt heavy, dropping back as you tried to keep it up, eyes trying to open as you tried to figure out what happened. You remember Mando, the bounties and running and-

“Mando?” you whispered, suddenly realizing that the world was moving around you, hearing footsteps in the gravel, but you knew that you weren’t walking. “Mando I-”

“Shh.” You heard a voice, feeling hands tighten around your knees and back. You looked up, expecting to see the helmet, but all you saw was the face of the bounty. 

“No.” You mumbled, trying to move, but everything felt heavy, your arms, legs, it felt as if there were pounds and pounds of weight resting on your limbs, restricting you to being held like a child. “No.” You did your best to shake your head, everything becoming blurry as you tried to fight. 

“Mando ain’t saving you now.” The voice spoke, and once again, pure darkness. 

***

There was a sharp stiffness in your neck, more like there was stiffness in your whole body. Eyes heavy as you tried to piece together what was going on. Yours eyes fluttered open, everything in your body telling you just to go back to sleep, and just to let whatever was going to happen, happen. 

You looked around, hearing grunts, things crashing and breaking. You were in a warehouse, boxes of… something stacked high, boxing you into wherever you were. You moved an arm, feeling a burning sensation on your wrists as you moved. You looked down at yourself, your legs and arms tied together to the chair.

“You fucking kidding me?” You mumbled, moving your legs against the tight rope, the material only rubbing your skin more raw as you moved. You soon realized in your haze of barely moving, the crashes stopped.

You froze in your seat, staring down at the wooden floor, trying to listen to the noises around you. Footsteps slowly approaching you, the sound was either coming from behind you or in front of you. “Mando?” You whispered, voice trembling, the footsteps stopping right behind you. You felt gloved hands working at the rope, loosening your restrictions. 

“Are you okay?” Came the modulated voice. You let out a deep sigh, not realizing how long you were holding your breath. He came around you, his beskar coming into view. You chuckled lightly, pulling your hands around you, rubbing at the sore skin. 

“I’m fine.” You whispered, watching as he kneeled down, gloved fingers working on your restraints on your ankles. Your eyes fluttered, looking around the room, noticing how dark it was becoming, almost like everything was closing around you. “Mando?” You noticed that he looked up at you, his hands on your ankles. “Its… I can’t…” your lungs felt like they were constricting, the back of your neck was on fire, the walls of the warehouse closing in on you. “Mando…”

“Y/N!” You felt as if you weighed a million tons but at the same time you felt as if you were weightless sitting in the chair, your chest rising and falling. “Y/N? Hey, are you there?” He rushed, reaching for you. You nodded, but you weren’t too sure what you were really nodding at. 

“I can’t…” You whispered breathless. You barely had to say another one as Mando stood up, reaching for you. Slipping an arm under your legs and back, picking you up effortlessly. “No.” You groaned, giggling just a bit at the end, not sure what you were finding so funny. “I can walk.” You giggled again, feeling the cold beskar against your heating skin. You felt the rumbling of his chest, hearing the deep tone of his voice, but nothing he said made any sense, the words going in one ear and out the other. “What?” You asked, lifting your head up, looking up at the Mandalorian. 

You stared up at the man, again not taking in anything he was saying, but rather trying to piece together what this man was really all about. He was here, helping you, when you were sure that you weren’t really that much of a help back on the ship besides watching over the little goblin, which he barely got himself into any trouble, so your job was almost non existent. 

You heard him groan, the noise that meant frustration, made you clench your thighs together, a smirk playing on your lips as you heard it. “What are you saying?” You giggled lightly, hearing the words he was speaking but not processing them. There was something entirely wrong with what was going on with you, but at the moment you couldn’t care about what was going on, just that this man had you in his arms. 

As he carried you back to the ship, all you could do was stare up at him, a stupid smile on your face, imagining what this man actually looked like under that helmet. “What?” Said Mando, feeling your eyes on him. You only giggled, rolling your heavy head to the side, watching as the trees went by as Mando carried you, seeing the ship become closer and closer. 

“Mando.” You spoke softly, rolling your head back to look at the man. Ever since he took you on, helping with the child, being there with him and seeing how he takes care of you, you couldn’t help but form a sort of crush on him. And as the time went on, that crush turned into something more and more. Until finally one day, you realized that this man had your heart. “I’m in love with you.” You spoke softly, not even realizing the impact of your words as you spoke them, those simple, heavy words, not triggering that ‘oh shit’ thought in your head as you spoke them. 

Mando stopped walking, hands tightening where they were on your back and your legs, his helmet tilting down to look at you. He saw the way you looked, completely dazed out of it, eyes barely opened, a small smile on your face. Whatever the bounties gave you knocked you out, making you say things you didn’t mean, that's what this had to be. “Why’d you stop walking?” You asked, eyebrows furrowed together, your feet kicking lightly as if you were trying to walk now. Of course, this had to be you just saying things, just mumbling nonsense. He could tell that you didn’t even understand what you said, didn’t realize the words that you said to him. But that didn’t stop the heat that bloomed in his stomach, or the hot chills that ran up his back at those words. He simply continued walking in complete silence, listening to your mumbles as he made it to the ship. 

***

You groaned loudly as you felt a small tugging on your blanket, small coos coming from your side as you tried to ignore them, tugging the blanket back to your chest, feeling the mysterious tugging stop. For only a second, because it came back again, a bit harder this time. Another loud groan left your lips as you looked up, feeling a sharp pain in the back of your neck, making you hiss as you dropped your head back, reaching a hand up and rubbing against your swollen neck. You felt around, feeling a small bump on the back of your neck, a small scab already forming. You tried sitting up, your whole body feeling sore, limbs heavy as you moved along your cot, cracking an eye open to find that two large eyes stared up at you from the ground. The Child stared up at you, ears perked, and head tilting to the side as he heard you stretching, back popping and a satisfied groan as you felt the stiffness wash away. “What are you doing?” You smiled, bending down, trying to ignore the screaming muscles as you picked up the child. Usually he felt as if he weighed nothing, but as your muscles screamed, it felt as if the little goblin weighed a Wampa. He cooed loudly, a little giggle as you held him close.

You wobbled out of your small ‘room’, making your way towards the cockpit, dreading the short climb up the ladder as you stepped int. Mando’s helmet tilted towards you, not saying a thing as he looked back towards the galaxy. You felt a strong tension in the air, a slight awkwardness as you stood there, and as you looked down at the child, you felt that he could sense it too with the way he looked back and forth between you and Mando.

“What happened?” You spoke softly, taking a seat in the passenger seat, setting the child on your lap. You saw the tilt of his helmet towards you before he spoke. 

“Got the bounties.” he spoke sternly, making you sit up straight at his tone. You’ve heard him be stern with you before, what you liked to call, his bounty talk. And the only time you remember hearing it, was when you first met him. Not knowing who you were, you heard it before, and you’re hearing it now. “Do you remember?” He spoke again. 

You thought for a moment, trying to think back to how far, and honestly, all you did remember was from when Mando told you to lead one of them away, and then waking up. You made a face, tryin to search your mind at what happened, why couldn’t you remember what happened after that? “I… don’t?” You mumbled, out of the corner of your eye you saw as Mando turned the chair, facing  you now as you thought, staring down at your shoe. “I just remember… running from one, leading them away.” you corrected, “And then…” It was like a light bulb went off as you reached for the back of your neck, feeling the scabbed bump. “He stabbed me with something!” You gasped, looking up. “What the hell was that?” You mumbled, feeling the swelled bump. 

“It was a med-shot.” He mumbled again, turning back in his seat, turning his attention right back to his ship. “They didn’t give you enough.” He spoke again, that same strain still in his voice. And you knew it was aimed at you. But for what?

“Was I just out then?” You asked, knowing that those things just knock you right out. 

“You were in and out of it, talking nonsense.” 

You purse your lips. Wondering if the sterniness in his voice was aimed at you letting yourself get knocked out, or simply that it was the effects of the shot that made you overthink things? You silently nodded to yourself, staring off once again, just thinking. 

Through the next couple days, you soon noticed that Mando did his best to keep his distance from you, and you didn’t understand one bit about what was going on. No matter how many times you would talk to him, it was short, firm answers. It felt as if it was getting worse and worse the more you tried. Going out of your way to ask him small questions, trying to see if anything happened, if he would change his tone, yet he never did. Constantly firm, and probably avoiding eye contact. You supposed that you didn’t know if you ever did make eye contact with him through his helmet, but everytime he looked at you, you knew. You could feel his eyes on you, and lately… you haven’t felt that. 

You took a deep breath, setting the child in the makeshift bed Mando made him, his little body settling into his net as you leaned back, pushed the button and watched the door slide shut. You had to talk to Mando, understand what happened. You most likely said something, but you couldn't imagine what it could be that you said. Something about what he looked like? Did you offend him in any way?

You sighed as you climbed the ladder, lifting yourself up to the platform. He didn’t even look back as he leaned forward, pressing a button within his control panel, and leaning back into his seat. You took hesitant steps towards the passenger seat, sitting down and looking out into the galaxy, seeing all the planets and stars zoom by. The tension that you and the Child sensed were still there, hanging thick in the air. Probably a bit thicker now that you were fully aware of what happened, or at least… knew that something happened. “I’m sorry.” You spoke, not really sure how you were going to start the conversion, but you supposed that was the best way. 

You saw the tilt in his helmet towards you, seeing the dark visor before he spoke, “For what?”

“For whatever I did, or said when I was on that med-shot.” You spoke softly, noticing the way he tensed at your words, turning back to the galaxy. You sighed, looking back to the galaxy as well, wondering if he was going to say something back, or if that was it. You apologized and now whatever else was to happen, it was because he couldn’t let go of it.

“You really don’t remember?” He asked, that sternness that you’ve heard in the last couple days, was gone. You straightened at the tone, a soft smile spread along your lips as you heard his softer tone. 

“I don’t, I’m sorry.” You knew he wanted to say more, knew that there was more to the story then you saying a bunch of nonsense words. “Whatever I said, I really am sorry. I could take it back if I could.” Mando turned to you, and you definitely knew when he was looking at you. 

“You said….” He trailed off, making you wonder if what you said was just overall embarrassing to say, “You loved me.” He admitted. And just like that, your whole body went stiff, as if the calmed nerves you had before suddenly snapped into anxiety, just hearing those words. But what was he expecting? You just say that you take it back, that you didn’t know what you were talking about? 

“I…” You started, not even knowing if you were going to just finally admit to those feelings since drugged you decided to do it for you, or just to tell him that there’s no feelings for him. Tell the truth, or simply lie? “That’s not… how I imagined myself saying those words.” You chuckled softly, looking down at your feet, toes wiggling together in nervousness. You had to be mature about it, be a woman, and if he didn’t feel the same, you could cry to yourself later, but now was the time to be confident. 

“What?” Mando spoke, his voice low and questioning.

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled again, shaking your head at why you thought your response was the best choice. “I just…” You had no room to explain, you couldn’t play this off as a joke, or simply say that you didn’t remember, you were in for it now. Your eyes shot up to him, feeling as if you were making eye contact with him, taking a deep breath. “I do… love you.” You spoke, trying to remind yourself that this was the time to be confident. “Drugged up me thought that was the best way to confess those feelings, apparently.” You laughed softly, trying to lighten the tension, but you could tell that Mando didn’t know what to say, his body language and the fact that he hasn’t moved in the last minute tells you a lot of what you need to know. 

After a few long seconds, you finally took the hint that he wasn’t going to say anything. You took a deep breath, standing from the seat, looking back at him. With a small, sad smile, you turned, descending the ladder, and making your way back to your cot, with your head held high. 

You weren’t sure how long you sat there, an elbow on your knee, head resting on your palm as you just thought about that moment, thought about how you really did tell him how you felt, and how empowering it felt just to be able to get that off your chest. Of course, it wasn’t the most ideal situation to ever tell someone that you love them, but you did it! Even if he sat there, not responding to what you said. You groaned, falling back on your cot, huffing as you felt the hard bed, staring up at the ceiling. “What’s wrong with you?” You whispered to yourself, shaking your head. It felt right at the time to confess those feelings, but now… what was going to happen? Was he going to send you away and just be done with you? You had to talk to him, you had to tell him to forget about it all, act like nothing happened. 

You sat up quickly, your body moving on its own as you walked towards your door. You pressed the pad quickly, ready to go back up to the cockpit, ready to tell him that everything you said was a joke at most! That you’re okay with keeping things professional and no longer have that friendship anymore. 

You took a deep breath, watching as the door opened, ready to take a step when you saw the dark visor of the man on your mind. Your eyes widen, staring back at him, feeling your hands get extremely sweaty. “Mando-”

“Do you really?” He spoke, his modulated voice filling the air. You knew you couldn’t act stupid, you knew that could only get you so far, as of now, it was the best option to just be honest. Before you could answer he crossed the threshold, gloved hands coming up and cupping your face, holding you there. “If it’s not true, tell me now and we won’t talk about it again.” He said, and you could hear how frantic he sounded. You could feel his eyes searching frantically on your face from behind the visor. 

“Yes.” You muttered, a soft smile on your face. “I love you.” You could hear a soft gasp leave his lips, hearing you say it. You reached up, wrapping your hands around his wrists, feeling the heat through his sleeves as the two of you stood there. He pulled you close, resting the cold metal of his helmet against your forehead. Even without the words, you could feel what he wanted to say with this single action, and that was enough for you.

[windstormwielding]

{ ooc } Recent trends show that people are very receptive to big, scary, beefy mommies™... so why not come meet the fine lady who raised Kō-boy here? Hadn’t had much of a proper image for her until recently, but then a bunch of things just clicked and fell into place!

I’ll repost all of the below for her own page on the blog at some point, and might soon open her up for interactions as a proper side/request-only muse like Hai’iro Ranmaru. For now though, here’s the rundown! History, abilities, you name it, it’s down there!

–––––––––––––––––

Profile: Ryōhei Yumiko

Name: Ryōhei Yumiko (亮平 由美子)

Birthday: June 26

Race: Soul

Gender: Female

Height: 185.4cm (6′1″)

Weight: 86kg (190 lbs)

Relatives: Ryōhei Kōtarō (Adoptive son)

Previous Profession: Shinigami

Previous Affiliation: Gotei 13, 11th Division

Previous Position: Lieutenant

Theme Song: “Battle Against a True Hero (UNDERTALE OST)” by Toby Fox

— Appearance —

Yumiko is a middle-aged woman with an imposingly broad and burly figure. Her face, while still retaining some youthful beauty to it, is partially disfigured from an accident with her zanpakutō early in her career. Many scars adorn her muscular form from head to toe, gained throughout her time as a battle-hardened soul reaper of the 11th Division. Her hair is auburn red with hints of greying in the present, usually kept long down her back and tied in a ponytail, and her eye colour is hazel.

She is often seen wearing an amigasa and a frayed, dull green kimono to better blend into the foliage, albeit the fabric is bloodstained. In her younger years, she wore a shihakushō, but customized her look into that of a sukeban-style delinquent: she wore her kosode open over her shoulders, tied to her upper body with a red ribbon; she tore off her shitagi sleeves to bare her arms; her Lieutenant’s badge was worn around her left bicep.

(Present Day Faceclaim: Balalaika of Black Lagoon)

— Personality —

Years ago, Yumiko was a foul-tempered spitfire who assisted in keeping the sorry louts of the 11th in line. Strength meant authority within those walls, and there were really only two within the Division who could challenge her might, but she was never one to lord her position over others. Diligent as can be, she often took initiative for leading combat drills to keep her subordinates’ skills sharp. As a member of the 11th, she was a fiercely determined fighter who also relished in the thrills of combat, often using brute force to get the job done, and let her hair down whenever parties were held and drinks flowed. Though she and 3rd Seat Kuruyashiki often butted heads over trivial matters to the point of trading blows, she genuinely respected his strength and character deep down.

While she grew calmer and humbled when she effectively retired, she still holds no patience for any who seeks to do harm unto others weaker than themselves. Yumiko always had a weakness for children, despite the fact that her appearance tend to terrify many, to her dismay. To make up for this, she starkly changes her demeanour into a far more doting personality, sometimes accompanied by a familiar dopey grin that Kōtarō would inherit. She was fiercely protective of him growing up, and, true to her 11th Division training, killed those who dared to threaten her boy’s life without batting an eye or losing sleep.

— History —

In her heyday, up to 410 years before the present, Ryōhei Yumiko lived as a Gotei 13 shinigami, serving as the Lieutenant of the 11th Division. She fit right into the mold of a squad full of melee combatants and was a master with a blade, living and breathing by the three B’s: brawls, bloodshed, and booze. The many scars she accrued over the course of her lifetime each stood as a testament for her love of fighting, as these only grew in number the higher she rose up the ranks.

Unfortunately, her career was cut short come a terrible incident with her Captain. In a bid to further his own swordsmanship as the 6th Kenpachi, Captain Baishin attempted to merge with his own zanpakutō. This fusion, though successful, turned out to be one-way and took a debilitating toll on his mind, causing Kenpachi Baishin to go on a killing rampage that claimed the lives of over 60 seated officers across the Seireitei, including Lieutenants (OVA: The Sealed Sword Frenzy).

Yumiko nearly lost her life in the assault. While she survived, her saketsu and hakusui were pierced during the battle while she burned through her reiryoku. She awoke to several changes in the Gotei 13, chief among them being: her powers have effectively disappeared forever; Kuruyashiki, her 3rd Seat in the 11th, rose to the occasion and donned the Captain’s haori as the 7th Kenpachi during the crisis; and Baishin fled to the world of the living before being sealed away by Kuruyashiki and five other Captains, with two of them not returning home.

Not wanting to sit around for a pity party as she can no longer work within the Seireitei, Yumiko simply left and returned home in North Rukongai. Though her soul reaper powers are gone and she can no longer hear the voice of her zanpakutō, she still had both her fearsome physical strength and her incredible skill with a sword, just as how she always lived and liked it. She never raised her blade against innocent civilians, but many thugs in their attempts to cross her over the years lost their lives.

Around 270 years before the present, Yumiko found a toddler in the thickets of Kusajishi, just passed on from the world of the living. Disgusted that her former comrades would leave him to die within one of the worst districts for a child to be in, she sought to foster him and take him up to some family in a better-off district closer towards the Seireitei. However, she quickly found herself endeared to him when she realized he wasn’t scared of her at all, clinging to her with not one scream of fear or protest at the sight of her. She then decided to take him in as her son and gave him a name of his own: Ryōhei Kōtarō (亮平 康太郎).

Yumiko doted on and sheltered the boy as best she could over the years. Putting her years of fighting experience to use, she strove to teach her son the way of the sword. This was not only so that he may stand an actual chance by himself in the sticks of the Soul Society, but because she knew from his persisting hunger that one day soon, Kōtarō too might follow in her footsteps as a shinigami.

After he finally left for the Academy, she took to wandering the Soul Society proper, but would still come back to Kusajishi on the occasion he should ever visit.

— Powers & Abilities —

Expert Swordsman: As a Lieutenant of the 11th Division, Yumiko's talent in Zanjutsu was almost unrivalled back in her prime. Though her skills dulled with time and little worthy foes to fight out in the boonies, she still managed to garner a menacing reputation that kept her feared by many in North Rukongai. She passed on much of her knowledge in the combat art down to her son, who later became a worthy swordsman in his own right.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Yumiko supplemented her swordsmanship with grappling, throws, and boxing, where her larger size and superior strength come into play. In the past, she often resorted to fighting with her bare fists while her active Shikai was locked into its sheath.

Enhanced Strength, Endurance, & Durability: Kōtarō looks up to Yumiko and calls her the strongest woman he knows; that’s not just him being cute, as he means that quite literally. She built up much of her strength over her long tenure as a shinigami in the most combat-intensive Division of them all, capable of lifting and cleaving boulders that are heavier and larger than herself with relative ease. Her body proved resilient enough to not only survive attacks from a crazed Baishin-zanpakutō fusion, while other seated officers in her position—including fellow Lieutenants—perished, but hold him off solo for some time despite her wounds and failing powers.

— Former Powers & Abilities —

Great Spiritual Power: As a former Lieutenant of the Gotei 13, Yumiko once possessed a considerable amount of reiryoku. Her reiatsu was coloured light blue, and her exerting her spiritual pressure made the surrounding area more humid.

Kidō Practitioner: Having attended Shin’ō Academy, Yumiko proved to have little aptitude for magic. The loss of her powers only took away what little capability for Kidō she had.

Shunpō Expert: Yumiko was surprisingly agile for her bulk and quite fast among her peers, able to keep pace with her old Captain who was himself well-versed in Hohō. While she now lacks the power to use such techniques, she still retains some valuable footwork lessons and continues to apply them toward her swordplay.

Zanpakutō: Yūgiri (夕霧, Evening Mist) resembles a normal katana in its sealed state, with a grey hilt and raindrop-shaped tsuba, and its scabbard came with a clip that kept the blade notched. Though Yumiko can no longer call on its power, she took her blade with her nonetheless when she absconded from the Seireitei, and concealed its distinct appearance by binding its hilt and tsuba in cloth. Yūgiri hangs by her hip. Its release command was “Billow!” (畝れ! Unere!).

Shikai: When transformed, Yūgiri’s blade hollowed out with small holes dotted along its length, gathering moisture from the surrounding area to empower its steel with super-heated steam and scald her enemies. Yumiko used the mist as a smokescreen, and often sheathed her active weapon to compress and build up power within its scabbard for mortal draw techniques, such as steam blades.   Yūgiri’s signature technique, Jyōki Bakusatsu (蒸汽爆炸, Steam Eruption) was the end result of storing up so much pressure, that it creates a steam explosion with extreme heat and force from the sheath once her blade is drawn. The first time Yumiko used this move proved reckless, resulting in the facial burn injury.  

Bankai: Not achieved.

[miracvlovs]

✗✗✗   you see [ kaleb yıldırım ] around lately? yeah i heard that the [ cis male ] is up to no good. [ he / him ] has been here for [ five years ] now but they’re still pretty [ abrasive ] which is fine because they’re also [ debonair ] so it balances out. the [ twenty-eight ] year old [ hitman for hire ] actually looks like a lot like [ alperen duymaz ], don’t you think? it’s best to watch out, though, because it’s been said that they’re really into [ strong cigarettes & even stronger whiskey ].

hey, hello, hi, bonjour! s’up buttercups? ‘tis i, your friendly neighbourhood loser chrissie ( a.k.a an irish doofus who is utter plot trash and the actual WORST at keeping track with discord messages, oops ) and i’m super duper excited to be here among you fab human beings! anywho, this is my first kiddo kaleb and he is … how do you say … morally grey. basically his morals are very questionable in every aspect. but! on the plus side, he’s very talented and good at his job even if he is ruthless and callous, oop. he is … the worst and also lowkey messed up inside tbh so pls excuse his blunt and sarcastic nature. plot-wise i’m open to literally anything and everything so come at me with any ideas ya got! i’m always diggity down to spit ball ideas and form some dope connections so pls feel free to invade my ims or hmu on le cord ( chrissie.#9606 ) and we can brainstorm until our heart’s content! if ya wanna, go ahead and light that lil grey heart up red and i’ll shimmy my butt your way for all of the good stuff. anywho, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?

fundamentals.

KALEB EMER YILDIRIM     —     twenty-eight, hitman for hire,   +   one snarky son of a gun   /   troubled dude with daddy issues   /   all issues tbh ! 

aesthetics   ➤   dried blood caked into the grooves of cut knuckles, the lingering scent of smoke and gasoline, silver slivers of past scarring, five o’clock shadow peppering a blunt jawline, discolourations of blue and purple decorating battered hands, a subtle smirk etched upon a devious countenance, calloused fingertips riddled with small paper cuts, dark circles under almost-black eyes, the noise of screeching tires in the middle of the night, a tall stature adorned in all-black attire, ghosts of bruises staining calloused skin green, a scuffed zippo lighter in a pack of marlboros containing only one cigarette, white shirts with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a sly grin under stormy dark eyes, a sniper on the roof of a deserted building, the roar of a car engine, & clenched, white-knuckled fists.

nicknames. kal.

date of birth. november third.

gender. cis male.

pronouns. he + him.

birthplace. manhattan, nyc.

orientation. bisexual + aromantic.

education. bachelor of music degree obtained from manhattan school of music.

spoken languages. can speak fluent english, turkish, spanish, & french.

negative traits. haughty, abrasive, enigmatic, cynical, temperamental, calculating, hedonistic, distant, sarcastic, & volatile.

positive traits. adept, diligent, charming, resilient, candid, adept, charming, audacious, determined, & resourceful.

strengths. efficient, energetic, self-confident, strong-willed, strategic thinker, charismatic, & inspiring.

weaknesses. stubborn, dominant, intolerant, impatient, arrogant, poor handling of emotions, cold, & ruthless.

talents. piano, retaining information, memory recall, lock-picking, carjacking, hand-to-hand combat, automobile knowledge, tracking people down, & excellent problem-solving abilities. 

physiology. dark brown eyes. dark brown hair. six feet, one inch tall. of a lean, broad stature with a straight posture and evident height. has a few silvery scars littered across his skin. has a few tattoos in a few less visible places. is ambidextrous.

psychology. scorpio zodiac. water element. slytherin house. entj-a. chaotic neutral. type eight enneagram. choleric temperament. interpersonal intelligence type. addicted to alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, cocaine, and cannabis. suffers from addiction and insomnia. his vices are lust, wrath and pride. his virtues are ... honestly, probably just diligence tbh.

background.

possible triggers   :   infidelity, divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, cancer, death, car crash, funeral, blood, murder, suicide mention, gun mention, & various references to death and murder. 

a synopsis.   ah, here he is—my tol, troubled, grouchy son : ' ) don't u just adore ur resident trashy, snarky, but precious and sad fuckboi muse? bc i know I DO! anyways, before i digress, i'll cut to the chase. so, waaay before he blessed the universe with his presence, his mother ( who was originally from turkey ) moved to the states where she met one alexander hale. you can probably guess the rest: the pair married, they had children, everything seemed to be going swimmingly, yada yada. here’s a lil background: the hale family—a line of manhattan-born businessmen / lawyers / diplomats etc. they're dripping in wealth, not always as squeaky clean as they portray themselves as to be. kaleb’s dad was a douche, expected both of his sons to follow in his shadow and become lawyers, ran around behind his wife's back: the whole shoot and shebang of a classic a-hole. he always kind of ignored kaleb in favour of his eldest son joshua so kaleb kinda became hard-hearted and resentful due to the lack of his father's attention. skip a few years and he spied his dad cheating on his mother with his secretary though he refused to tell another soul for fear of any potential backlash. soon enough, his mother found this out for herself, their argument ruined his thirteenth birthday party then they divorced soon after. his mother fell off the wagon, became terminally ill—all while his father was remarrying and expecting a daughter with his secretary. it was a hella rough two years for kaleb. it got even worse. eventually, his mother passed away and his step-mother divorced his father to breeze off into the sunset with her new lover; leaving her daughter with her piss-poor excuse of a dad. at this point, kaleb was lonely and angry but adopted the role of his step-sister's protector, shielding her from their father's increasing substance abuse induced violence. just before his seventeenth birthday, his father died in a car crash. of course, he didn't entirely mourn the loss. almost immediately, he and his younger sister moved in with their elder brother who helped kaleb get into university. with dear ole dad out of the picture, he could finally pursue his interest and flair for music. after he graduated, he moved to santa ysabel with his brother and brother's family. in the beginning, things were going fine. yeah, sure, he was struggling for work and felt bad that his brother had to keep him afloat. normal stuff. then, one day, things quickly turned sour in his world. [ TRIGGER FOR GORE, BLOOD, SUICIDE MENTION, GUN MENTION, MURDER, DEATH ] he’d came home to find the locks on the doors busted, advancing into the house carefully only to find his brother’s lifeless corpse crumbled on the kitchen tiles: his throat and wrists slashed, posed as a suicide. of course, kaleb knew better. he knew his brother; knew he would never leave him or his family. upon further inspection of the house, he’d discovered the body of his wife upstairs: a bullet hole between her eyes. [ TRIGGER OVER ] the whole ordeal was enough to turn his stomach but once the sickness had subsided, all kaleb felt was a strong thirst for blood. sure, it was pretty damn stupid to try and seek revenge or whatnot ... but kaleb had always been one to let his heart guide his brain. anyways, time skip now to the moment he’d uncovered his brother’s entanglement with some dodgy loan shark, drug dealing criminals who were responsible for his murder. in the end, he’d hunted them down and eradicated them one by one, over a span of weeks. at first, he hated himself and what his desire for vengeance had turned him into but he kept going until he’d got them all: until he’d grown numb. truthfully, how he wound up taking lives for a living is beyond him. he woke up one day, found himself hired by some big-wig businessman who wanted rid of his business partner and et voilà, he was tangled up in the dark side of existence. i mean, was he blackmailed into doing his first paid hit? yes. but who can blame him? especially when they claimed to have intel regarding the sudden demise of a prominent figure in the criminal underbelly of the city, a.k.a his brother’s killer. it was a risk kaleb simply couldn’t take. he prefers to keep himself anonymous, hidden behind shadows, unsuspecting. death has become a job. nothing more. nothing less. it’s simply the algorithm of his existence: receive a dossier, take care of the target, get paid a hefty lump sum. and all just for enacting a stranger’s revenge in the blood of another. he moves like a deadly phantom, his footsteps light as a feather, whipping through the night like a bullet through a target’s skull. sartre claims that hell is other people. and if you were to stare into kaleb’s eyes—eyes eerily similar to having been cut from coal—you might just see hell and everyone in it staring right back at you. as nietzsche wrote: “ he who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. and if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. ”

random extras.

he has a lot of small scars over his body, most of which he can’t account for or has forgotten about.

owns and drives a black 1969 boss 429 mustang which he loves arguably more than he loves himself.

speaking of, he actually is full of self-hatred so don’t let the haughtiness fool you.

trusts nobody but himself and is loyal to nobody but himself.

has a lot of anger issues so often ends up taking part in underground fights.

he rates around a solid three on the kinsey scale.

is a distant person; closed-off emotionally and prefers to keep himself to himself.

when it comes to whether or not he is morally decent or an extremely bad person, he is somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

he isn’t heartless but he isn’t exactly compassionate either.

kind of shady but knows how to pass himself as charming. 

has been thru sum shit n seen sum shit so he’s v messed up inside.

though he does have a soft spot for animals and children.

his marksmanship is impeccable.

he’s naturally gifted with firearms and his shot is always on point.

dark eyes and bruised knuckles are his ultimate aesthetic tbh.

actually really appreciates classical music, though he’ll never tell. blame it on his piano lessons from childhood.

speaking of piano, he’s low key gifted at playing although he rarely does these days.

has a very short fuse and can lose his temper quite easily.

he has a good heart and good intentions when it comes to those he actually cares about although he’ll never let this show.

favourite coping mechanism? isolation.

a bit of a lone wolf. he keeps people at arm’s length but acts in a way where people are under the illusion he’s their friend.

basically the tall, dark and handsome trope: ( most of the tall, dark and handsome men display aloof, cold and distant personality but they do have a gentle and caring side. )

is a little snarky and grumpy but if you manage to break this exterior, you’ll find he’s quite witty and easy going.

he got into fighting at a young age. it was the only way to try and learn how to defend himself against his father.

sleep?? he doesn’t know her.

tends to repress his emotions until he explodes.

healthy coping mechanisms?? he doesn’t know them either.

is prone to pushing the self destruct button.

you can find a pinterest board for him by clicking anywhere here.

[silverwhiteraven]

Oooh the Krypto-Bat + twins au sounds really interesting! I would love to see more of that if possible!

Krypto-Bat + Twins AU (For the Krypto-Mari AUs) [ Posted on Ao3 ]

Twins AU with Marinette and Clark, Aka, Kia Jor-El and Kal-El

They were sent from Krypton at the same time in separate pods/ships, and when they land on earth, the pods are separated enough to land in two different places

Kal-El is, as originally, ends up in Smallville, adopted by the Kents as Clark

Kia ends up in Gotham

Bruce is already an adult here, and already Batman, including having taken in Dick and potentially Jason as well

Batman is the one to find Kia, mostly because, ever-vigilant, he knows about when something is about to crash into the territory he protects and is determined to be the first to arrive before anyone else.

He takes her in because for one, ‘what the heck, a tiny child with super-strength is in my backyard’ and felt he lucked out with her not ending up in the hands of a villain instead. For two, he’s really curious about what she and her little partially-destroyed space pod are. For three, The Justice League hasn’t been formed, it’s not even a baby of a thought in Batman’s head yet, so he has no one else he trusts to be able to hand a super-powered alien baby off to, so, congrats, Bruce, you have a daughter!

Dick is like ‘oh heck yes, someone else to teach all the ways of being one bendy acrobat’

Also, Since Dick can’t get the Nightwing name from Superman (since there is no Superman yet) He has a different hero name, Blackbird

Jason is the dotting older brother type and none of you will change my mind

“Oh god the teething” will be something Bruce groans about in the future when talking about raising this child. First of all, she’s really strong, and develops her physical invulnerability early on, so you have this baby that will probably chew on the granite gargoyles around the mansion and all the batarangs in the cave

Kia, now named Marinette Wayne, spends a lot of her time with Alfred, so she learns early on how to seem like some all-knowing, all-wise entity, and how to control her emotions and outward expressions. They bats will learn to rightly fear her as much as they fear Alfred

Learning how to be a mini-Alfred doesn’t stop her from being fun, being absolutely sweet, or even a sunshine child. Alfred made sure she doesn’t pent up or bottle emotions, she learns how to deal with them in a healthy way and divert the bad ones into powering good ones

Pair that Alfred attitude with training to control her powers and, eventually, training to defend herself as well as fight, in case she ever decides to join the ‘family business’, and you have a force to be reckoned with, even from a young age

The Jason dying thing can either happen or not

If it happens, when he comes back, his rage about being ‘replaced’ can be lessened, considering he already knew the Robin mantle wasn’t meant to ever sit permanently on anyone’s shoulders

Hell, he even looked forward to the day Marinette would be offered the chance to take it up, he may actually rather be more peeved that it wasn’t saved for her before someone else filled it in

A new hero name Jason may potentially take is Cardinal. He takes it up either because dying never happened, so he never becomes Red Hood after Robin, or, he eventually rejoins the family and decides to take up a new one after dropping the RH name.

Damian coming around is going to be funny, here is why

Marinette and Damian would be about the same age at this point, so you have two ten year olds duking it out

One ten year old is trying to kill all the Robins

The other ten year old is trying to prevent the other ten year old from killing her brothers

Damian is a trained assassin that knew she had super strength because the LoA knows things it shouldn’t, but they also don’t have knowledge of Kryptonite or her invulnerability, so he isn’t prepared at all for her interference

Marinette is a semi-trained not-yet-vigilante with super strength, invulnerability, and a determination to pin down her new brother and tell him to stop trying to kill their brothers

She utilizes a lot of her knowledge from Alfred and gains some well earned but reluctant respect and wariness from Damian

All her pinning of him, something she only manages to do out of pure strength because her fighting skills are not as fine and sharp as Damian’s yet, allows for her to continuously rant to him about morals, her explanations of why he shouldn’t kill her brothers, and her thoughts on how terrible and inaccurate the teachings of the LoA are. He is forced to hear all of this, and, eventually, he actually listens

It helps that he also learns to stop attacking the other Wayne children because, with Marinette as their ever-vigilant protection and buffer, he has no hope of succeeding, so he might as well play nice

Damian still takes up the Robin mantle, Marinette letting him, as she has no desire for it yet

They’re both 15 when Damian decides to take off the Robin suit and, instead of continuing to pursue the Batman title as a ‘rightful heir’, wants to make his own name for himself

His new hero name is Starling

Marinette finally accepts the offer to be Robin

This is such bad news for the criminals, not going to lie, but so much fun for her, for the bats, and for us

First of all, the new costume

We all know about how the ‘traffic light’ might just be a way for Batman to be able to keep an eye on his kid while also making sure no one will hit them with their car when they run across the street like idiots without looking

But Marinette is invulnerable and also has enough fashion sense to demand she tine down the colors

She also has taken a liking to the idea of following in her dad’s footsteps and making her Robin look to be as dark, scary, and Cryptid-y as possible

So here is the suit:

The cape is black on the inside, the outside is an almost-black green that allows for blending into the foliage of all the ivy that grows all over the walls of the old buildings of the city

The eyes/lenses of her mask are gold/yellow instead of white, since it was the only place she was willing to add the color. It helped that it would create a creepy eye-glow effect

The body of the suit is black as well

The gloves and boots are a dark red, with an uneven fade into the black of her arms/legs. This causes an illusion of her having been walking through the blood of her enemies, while having also just removed her hands from the chest cavities of the last ones she dealt with. Obviously, she’s going for the scare-factor with that particular look, and Bruce is admittedly impressed with it, even if he disapproves of her making people think she doesn’t follow the no-kill rule

Over-all, the look is high-key intended to make her seem like a Cryptid, much like the Batman one is supposed to

Second! This is about the time all her other powers are going to be coming into the light

So Gotham and its criminals are introduced to a new Robin, and while it may seem nothing odd, they have another thing coming

Robin is suddenly creepy as hell, for one, especially with the dark and bloody appearance paired with the seemingly unnatural ability to be bendy and lithe

Robin is also much stronger, and a few of the smart ones decide never to engage her in combat.

Robin is also suddenly much faster than before, randomly at first, almost seeming to teleport. Rumor has it even Batman was shocked the first few times

Criminals started using insulated grips on their weapons because their weapons were getting unnaturally hot

Coats became common with the minions of villains, because hearing breathing from the shadows would sudden be accompanied by indoor breezes and temperature drops

Wait… is, is Robin, looming? Since when did Robin loom like that? When did they start being able to soundlessly move closer? Wait, hold on, since when did Robin’s feet not touch the ground??

They hate how suddenly they can’t hide things, either, Robin seems to know where they hid all their weapons, their explosives, their traps, their plans, everything

Evil people start hoping really, really hard that the shadow they just saw move is Batman, and only Batman

You guys get the idea, Marinette as Robin is effective and scary and no one outside the Bat Clan/Family know how she does it

Clark, over in Smallville, is dealing with all these new powers, too, and our thoughts go out to him not having as great an outlet for them as Marinette does

But hey! He becomes Superman at, like, 22, so we can skip right to that! In just a moment!

[Interlude: Hawkmoth.]

It is purely by accident that Marinette, 16 years old and still freshly mantled, finds him and ends up taking him down. It was supposed to be a very casual family trip to Paris, nothing more, and it went rather sideways for her instead.

The Justice League still has yet to be formed, so asking for help was simply hit or miss with wherever Paris sent the plea. The Waynes didn’t even know one had been sent to Gotham while they were gone, aimed at Batman, until after the family returned.

The family got caught up in the middle of a joint Akuma and Sentiminster attack, Marinette the only one able to escape fast enough to change into Robin. She joins the Ladybug and Black Cat superheroes in fighting, her presence both shocking and relieving them

She learns about her vulnerability to magic during the fight. She can take the physical blows just fine, but the moment she’s struck by a magical blast, she feels it like any other person. She got lucky that it wasn’t a terrible hit, or one with magical side-effects, but it did injure her, and painfully

The other heroes realize she needs more protection, and are able to offer her a Miraculous, which she accepts in an instant, not at all wanting to keep getting injured. After she transforms, the blasts no longer hurt her, and she can take the physical blows even better than she had before, not to mention she was loving the extra power-boosts on top of what she already had

No, using a Miraculous doesn’t hurt her or make her sick, because channeling or ‘wearing’ magic is different than being attacked with it (Plus, in DC canon, Superman is able to use magic items (it was a sword if I remember right) that can grant him powers and such. Having a vulnerability to something does not equal having a negative reaction to general contact with it.

“Just because a knife can cut you doesn’t mean you have to grasp it by the blade; grab the handle.” - SilverWhiteRaven)

Her X-Ray and 4-D vision powers start acting up, and this is where she purely by accident gets to see exactly where Hawkmoth and Mayura have hidden themselves while they wait the fight out. She does notice she can’t X-ray any of them while their Miraculous were transforming them, and she guessed it was another magic thing interfering with her abilities

As soon as the Sentimonster and Akuma are defeated, she informs the two local heroes about who she saw and where

They seemed uncertain, and a bit sad about the news, and guessed they may have had previously unknown personal connections to their villains

She helps them make a quick plan of action. They used the post-battle recovery time that usually happens, the short recharge period, to their advantage

The three of them storm the Agreste mansion together, and it’s all over before even a rush of adrenaline can kick in

Robin spends a short moment of time to monologue a rant on morality and heroism to the two defeated supervillains as their two abused Miraculous are recovered. She was pretty sure that by the time she finished her speech and left to rejoin her family, both heroes were looking at her like they had instant crushes

Ideas for the Justice League start up after learning about the hit-and-miss cries for help from Paris

[End Interlude: Alright, back to it!]

By 22, Marinette has gone through 7 years of being Robin, and also college, and she and Damian have joined Tim in running Wayne Enterprises. Tim can go take a nap now, and none of the other Waynes are going to let anything stop him

Marinette, the genius she is, has invested in Stuart Semple, the creator of Black 2.0, as her first move in the business, and that I will come back to in a minute

Superman reveals himself to the world, and, loandbehold, every member of the Bat Clan who are in on her secret recognizes that very power set he displays, and all eyes are on Marinette

She realizes, too, that suddenly, she isn’t the only one. Her escape pod was too damaged and missing too many parts after crashing to have given her anything about her original home, and now there’s Someone Else who might have answers!

Pulling herself together, she asks her dad to accompany her to Metropolis, all the way in Kansas (yes, I am doing that, it is way more logical to protect a whole country when the city you put yourself in is in the middle of the thing and not even over on the coast closest to Alaska and Hawaii)

Marinette, when she gets there, makes her way to the top of the tallest tower, Batman in tow as her overseer and moral/emotional support

She gets Superman’s attention by legit just yelling for him, because what else do you do from the top of buildings besides yell into the wind?

He shows up, a little confused, but mostly surprised by the sight of someone who looks a lot like him

She’s very nervous now, a bit scared that they’re wrong and that Superman isn’t like her, that they are nothing alike, and as she notices their similarity in appearance, is anxious about how high her hopes have suddenly become, and how far of a fall the disappointment will be. But a little reassurance from her dad in the shadows and she gets the words out

“Hi, I’m Marinette, and I was wondering- Well, I mean, I needed to know- Just- Wow this is hard, I’m not usually like this, uhm- Superman, are you- are we- did you come from the same place I did? Can you look at me, and- just x-ray me if you can do that, because I can, and if you can, too, that might mean… Well… Please..?”

His eyes are wide and disbelieving but he does it, he looks, and all the time that he, too, spent looking at himself with his X-ray and 4D vision, comparing his biology and it’s differences to that of humans, recognizes the traits of a Kryptonian in her. “Kia?”

Marinette tears up at his response, and chokes out, “I don’t know if that’s me, but please, I want to find out.”

Marinette is able to collect herself, as is Superman, enough to call Batman out of the shadows and introduce the two, explaining that Batman had ‘assisted’ (have to at least try to keep secret identities intact) in her raising and was simply acting as backup and support for her while she came to Metropolis

Superman invites her to visit the Fortress of Solitude with him, and she accepts, telling her dad to head home and, if things went well, not to expect her home for a few weeks, as she would be spending all of her time learning everything she could

There’s a lot of happy crying and comfort hugs the moment the Fortress welcomes her as Kia Jor-El, twin of Kal-El

Just like she warned Bruce, she spends weeks away in the Fortress, learning as much about Krypton as she can get

She listened to the holograms of her birth parents telling her stories, even the ones every Kryptonian child was told to scare them into behaving, or little tales told to teach morals. She didn’t care that she was already an adult, already knew all these lessons from human versions, but they were what she wanted to hear

Learning of old legends, gods, and mythical creatures were some of her favorites to hear, and she was determined to retell them to her family when she returned

She listened to a lot of kryptonian music, too, discovering it had just as much variety in genres and cultures as Earth

You can bet your bucks that she is going to be recreating Kryptonian instruments a to learn to use, as well as learn every dance the Fortress has recorded in its archives

She has a field day when she discovers there are kryptonian puzzle boxes she can recreate

Her favorite days, however, are when Clark comes by to check on her, finding her in the middle of the day, after yet another all nighter of reading Kryptonian non-fiction novels, and he orders her to bed. She doesn’t like the orders, but after the first time, she never complained again. Clark had left the Fortress after day three of them being in the Fortress, and came back to check on her a couple days later to find her sleeplessly tired and still reading. After forcing her to lay down, he convinced her to stay put if he taught her one of the lullabies he had learned himself. Now, every night he was with her in the Fortress, they either sung the Kryptonian lullabies together, to each other, or, fell asleep to the voices of their parents singing instead

Keeping true to the self-promise, when Marinette returned to Gotham, she excitedly told her family as much as she could

Dick, inspired by many of the stories, and wanting to pay tribute to his youngest sister’s heritage, asks if he can create a new hero identity

She happily agrees after asking Clark about it over the phone, and Nightwing is born

They laugh a bit at it, actually, considering that Robin’s colors are a tribute to the Greysons, and Nightwing is one of the Kryptonian Gods, and yet they’ve ended up swapped between them

Justice League time! This is my favorite part, where it gets into pure identity shenanigans

Give it a few more years before the whole idea comes together. Batman may trust his daughter’s brother, but he still needs to get to know him. They still butt heads often enough, but Marinette is a good, if exasperated, mediator that helps them settle down and come to agreements more

When the JL is finally founded, Marinette is 25, and Bruce is, in fact, only there for the official first day of it in operation

That’s right, Bruce retires!

After so long of fighting the corruption and crime of Gotham, there has actually been progress and improvement. Enough so that Bruce is comfortable with actually retiring as a field vigilante, instead joining the behind-the-scene bats by becoming Agent B

Who other than Marinette takes up the cowl of Batman?

She outright told Dick he can’t pull off the attitude for it, and even Damian could agree she was the best fit

There were, of course, questions of how she would hide the fact of Batman suddenly becoming a woman. After rolling her eyes and saying the fact that female armor doesn’t have to look feminine, she tells them that the answer was simple!

Stuart Semple

That’s right, Marinette was already planning to become Batman after her dad!

She also manages to convince Bruce to play a long-term prank on the JL, all the way from day one. What is the prank, you ask?

They don’t tell anyone except those within the Bat Clan that the cowl is being passed on, and no one will ever know that there was a new identity behind Batman

So, how is it pulled off? Like this:

For one, Bruce will reveal his identity as Batman as a sign of trust to the heroes of the JL

Then, immediately after, he will go home and hang up the cowl for good

Then Marinette is going to take out her redesign and take up the Batman role

The entirety of the new suit is going to be made with Black 2.0, and combining it with the cloak that will cover her whole body, a new full-face mask/helmet, full body armor, a speed that will keep pictures from getting clear pictures of even her profile, and her Kryptonian ability to masterfully manipulate her voice to keep the frightening baritones of her dad, her identity is securely secret, and the prank perfectly maintainable

Add in her own personal touch of changing the usual white eye lenses to gold, layering the cloak with a mechanism that raises and lowers the layers to allow for maximum looming height (where no one can tell if her feet are touching the ground) while also keeping it out of the way when crouching or keeping low, and you have a Batman that not only looks like a literal and legit void with creepy glowing eyes, but one that is going to be scaring the hell out of every single hero, too, when she walks by them in the halls of the JL

Really, it’s the perfect functional prank

It gets more fun every time she comes home from a mission and tells everyone about how her teammates kept commenting that they had worried about Bruce’s age, but with ‘him’ upping the scare levels and seeming to actually be improving in ‘his’ skills, speed, and strength, they find they have nothing to worry about

It’s barely a week in before she overhears a few people considering begging Batman to tone down the endless-void look, but she accidentally scares them off when they spot her, and she’s certain the prank is going to last a good amount of time now

Gotham continues to improve, enough so that the constant presence of Batman isn’t required, easily manageable by the other bats, even in lessened numbers

Most of the bats suspect Marinette taking up the cowl and the new look had a great deal of impact on the most recent crime drops

Bruce has taken to putting lawn chairs in the mansion’s library and using one of Marinette’s old sippy-cups for his evening scotch and cocktails, claiming to be catching up on a missed childhood, with an adult twist

Bruce discovers the Wii, and family game nights have become a thousand times funnier after all the wrist straps get lost

There’s something else Gotham and the JL notice after Batman ‘stopped holding back’ along with the new look. Batman got gentle

It wasn’t that he wasn’t gentle before, no; Batman has always cared about others. Has always treated the villains with humanity and made sure the ones that needed it got the treatments they needed, always made sure no one got hurt unjustly and no one died. Always made sure victims were looked after and safe. But now it’s a lot more

Batman becomes slower, softer, gentler when handling people, good or bad, ‘his’ fist a gauntlet of iron coated in the fluffiest of velvet and stuffed with plush cotton. He even began using words first a lot more, kicks and fists less and less

It boggles everyone this sudden new contrast, this scary as hell void, this renewed cryptid, this beastly monster of the night, having a heart light as a feather, pure as gold

In fact, oddly enough, it scares them all, heroes and villains alike, a hell of a lot more

Everyone knows never to underestimate someone who seems soft, and if Batman is already a better fighter than before, and softer than ever, then please, they beg in the names of the gods, what else is hidden under that cowl?

The prank still works wonderfully, of course, because no one connects the cryptid-ness of the last Robin, that everyone was told had ‘moved on from the Robin mantle’, with the improved cryptid-ness of Batman. Remember that ‘I sure hope it’s just Batman’ thing? Well now they’re frightened of Batman all over again, but they still fear the ‘Return of Robin’, because once again, if Batman has improved, what in the world has Robin been up to?

The prank finally ends with the decision of picking her duty over continuing to keep the secret

Themyscira is in need of some help, some problem there that the Amazonians can’t figure out themselves

Thing is, it’s a women-only place

So the decision is to volunteer for the mission, or keep up the prank

Obviously, she’s a good person and volunteers, deciding it’s time for the prank to be revealed

Thing is, she doesn’t say she’s a woman or even drops the deep scary voice before raising her hand and saying, “I’ll go.”

Everyone is dead silent and just stares

Her hidden straight poker face cracks and she stands up with a laugh, before she unclasped her cloak and drapes it over the back of her seat

Then she pulls off the full-headed mask/helmet, fully breaking the look of an endless void

Everything is dead silent still as everyone stares, before Superman drops his head into his hands, realizing what has been happening, and just bemoans, “Kia, why…”

That’s when the noise breaks and everyone looks at Superman, basically all asking, “WAIT, you KNOW her???”

Marinette is cracking up, trying to suppress her laughter as she subtly sends a message to her family not present at the meeting that the gig is up

Everyone quiets down when Batman stands and clamps a hand down on our unmasked Batman

“Everyone, this is Marinette, ex-Robin, Bruce Wayne’s daughter, and Kia Jor-El, my twin sister.”

It’s noisy all over again, and this time she can’t keep the laugh in

Diana, though, may or may not be dead silent, staring at Batman, and feeling very, very gay right now

Everything settles down eventually, and everything gets back on track, but it will be months before the JL members stop being absolutely disbelieving that they got bamboozled so well and for so long, and they may just be even more frightened of Batman than ever before

The Bat Clan gets a whole new round of laughs after Marinette returns from Themyscira and describes the reaction of the Amazons when Diana introduces Batman as one of the volunteering heroes, before remembering to also mention that Batman, despite the name and previous holder of the mantle, is indeed a woman

Also, considering that Kryptonians are functionally immortal when their powers are working, Marinette is basically permanently Batman now, and can watch over Gotham and everyone else for basically forever now alongside Superman and Wonder Woman

Good luck figuring out how to explain it when the public notices the youngest Wayne daughter isn’t aging any more

Imagine all the kids she’s probably going to end up adopting into the Wayne family over time, too. ‘Mominette’ is too valid to exclude, and this is absolutely going to be a moment of “Oh my god, it’s a learned behavior.”

AND THAT’S BASICALLY IT!! I really hope you liked this, I had so much fun thinking up this whole idea!!

Edit: Now has a Companion/Alternate Story! Krypto-Rogue Twins AU!!!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 17

Then Perish (in which the Plot is Happening No Matter How Many Nat 20’s you Roll Ally Beardsley)

Strap in my dudes. It’s a wild one. 

Last ep, we’d just entered the forest of the nightmare king and things went sideways pretty quickly. All of the non-familiar NPCs have been poofed away and Kalina is currently fully killing Kristen. Riz, recently cured by Kristen (something that seemed to genuinely distress Kalina), can hear Tracker getting further and further away from them in wolf form. He gives Kristen his flare gun, tells her to run, and looks for the pollen they need to make the Kalina vaccine. Kalina disappears and in comes Sandra-Lynn with a weird mandrake-y plant for Kristen to bite. But, with a nat 20, she realizes that she’s seeing an illusion and Kalina is trying to get her to bite and reinfect Riz.  

All of the Bad Kids try to find each other, using all the tricks at their disposal to move faster (Fly, Jump, Dashing, etc). Fabian gets the Hangman to meet them at the edge of the forest with Gilear. Kristen shoots up the flare (presumably to alert Gilear of her position?) and cures herself as she runs, trying to buy time.  Kalina tries to make a deal with her so she and her friends will destroy the photo of her and their crystals but Kristen is not about that at all. She just tells everyone to run. Once Fig catches up with her, she does her one better and Dimension Doors with her almost all of the way out of the forest (after Fabian hits her with some Heroism which gives her regening temp HP to help combat the constant damage Kalina is doing). This cuts down the rounds needed to escape from 44 to a much more manageable 12. She manages to just get out alive after 24d6 of damage and Kalina is stuck at the edge of the forest with a threatening, “Get you next time.” The rest of the Bad Kids also make it out without too much trouble due to all their speed buffs.  

After everyone takes a tight five to be like, “Welp, that sucked,” they head to the Tinkerer’s Hall to enlist help with making tinctures. Overnight (together with Riz--since Kristen has quarantined herself) they’re able to make six doses of the tincture. Meanwhile, Fig learns more about her bass and Gorgug gets a new Ax from the very grateful tinkerers. Fig’s bass does a lot to help her be effective while she’s being attacked by all sides but--most importantly (imo)--gives her a +5 to performance checks, something I think Brennan is gonna live to regret. Speaking of regret, Fig is beset by whispers of guilt for her “fault” in the disappearance of their friends. Let’s put a pin in that. Gorgug gets a choice between a sick lightning ax and a dope gravity ax. He picks the latter, which, among other things, gives him auto-crits on objects (which seems like a plot tease for sure). While this is going on, Adaine makes two days worth of progress on a spell for Ayda. Kristen, who is being understandably sad in the van, prays to “not knowing” and gets her spells back, clearly (to us at least) missing something as she rolls a Nat 1 perception check. 

The gang cures Kristen with a dose of tincture then they upload the video of Kalina Riz took with his tie cam (which, btw, can scan for good and evil while recording and only pings Celestial magic from Tracker and Kristen, Kalina doesn’t ping as either). To my immediate delight, they post the video (respectfully clipped to not include Tracker) as sort of a fantasy version of The Dress, and it very quickly goes viral as people try to figure out why some people can see the tabaxi in it and some can’t. 

Back to Fig for a bit, Fig realizes the whispers in her head berating her aren’t external. They’re internal. She says she’s better than being loud than quiet and attempts to drown them out rather than ignore them. Fig realizes that, now that she’s out of the forest, Ayda’s feather is glowing again. Using that connection, Adaine tries to Scry on Ayda and sees that she (along with Zathriel) are caught in a horrifying web with web going into all of their face holes. Ayda’s eyes are clear because the fire of her eyes burn out the webs but she's full on weeping. She’s also trying to use the bloody earring Fig gave her to teleport back to her (knew that was gonna come back, at least for flavor) but her restraints won’t allow it. This absolutely lights a fire under Fig’s ass and she is ready to go back into the forest immediately. Before they do, Gorgug gives his Van to the gnomes (since it was bought with KVX money) and Riz makes one of the potions into a tranq dart for Tracker.

The journey to the temple Adaine saw in her Scry is two days away which means a bunch of sleep and navigation checks (without the Van or Tracker there to cast a Moon Haven). They sleep in shifts with Kristen, Fabian, and Fig sleeping first. Kristen rolls and 19 and Fig gets a 17 with Adaine’s Portent. Fabian is the low man with a 10. Even though Fig seemingly made the check, we still get dream narration for her as she is met by a pre-horned, 13 y/o version of herself who berates her. But Fig (who has made the check and can leave the nightare at any time) says she’s so much happier now than she’s ever been and boom! She loses her College of Whispers subclass and becomes a College of Lore Bard (gaining the Cutting Words feature). Whispers banished, she finds she’s able to communicate with Gorthalax who tells her being a devil doesn’t just have to be about being “evil”. At its core, being a devil is about rebellion. It’s about flipping off the universe, something Fig can very much vibe with. 

When Fabian wakes up, not having had a dream, he sees a familiar, tri-cornered hat a little ways away. As soon as he steps away from the group, he is possessed and starts attacking his friends--brutally as per DM’s orders. Luckily, Adaine has a low portent roll to give him, Riz has a net gun, and Gorgug now has a super heavy axe which he simply lays on Fabian, restraining him. They snap Fabian out of it and Adaine can tell it wasn’t an ambient effect of the forest. It’s something that was actively cast on Fabian (the same thing that was cast on Fig when she gem’d Gorthalax). However, it’s probably stronger in the forest. They also realize that when the Baron thing happened, Riz was attacked but not possessed and he also didn’t go to sleep. So, if they go through the forest not sleeping, they’ll be safe from possession at least. The next three are able to sleep without problem (even Riz who rolled a 7) but, in the morning, they don’t do so hot on their navigation checks. Instead of losing time, they decide to push through to the temple.

When they get there, they see that it’s basically surrounded by skeletons, like people just showed up to lay down and die. Something above the entrance has been moved and they also see (from much more recently) three sets of footsteps joined by a fourth set halfway (boots, not talons or paws). Adaine casts Locate Creature on her mom but doesn’t sense her within 1000 ft. Riz takes point and decides to scout the temple and report back. On a Nat 20 for a total of 30 Investigation, he fully cases the joint in less than ten minutes. He sees a brick of Dusk Moss and a bunch of spooky books which he realizes means a ritual happened to take the casters almost further into the forest in some kind of non-euclidean direction. He sees a skeleton of a unicorn filled with webs and egg sacs which died looking at a portrait of a woman in a black robe with black hair but the face is destroyed. 

Riz reports back all of this to his friends and Adaine decides that she’ll shoulder full responsibility for looking at the potentially evil books, trusting her friends to snap her out of it if she gets possessed or something. Equally supportive in their own ways, Fig plays a countercharm for her off to the side and Riz points a gun at her. From reading the book, Adaine is able to piece together a lot about the mechanics of what’s going on. There is a tree in the center of the forest (the broom that was turned into a tree) which helps to boost all the illusions in the forest. Because of this, illusions are all more real. For example, illusory wings created with Disguise Self would actually grant you flight. The Dusk Moss used in the ritual was probably to give them some measure of control over the insane nightmares (as in, “I know this is a dream sorta, therefore I can’t be hurt”). Brennan says Adaine would probably be able to do the ritual with some time and study. Siobhan Galaxy Brains and scours her spell list for spells involving illusions for what she calls, “some fuckery” (“Give me the fuckery,” Brennan says, even the game DM). Adaine wants to use Illusory Script to write a spell that will allow her to do the ritual with the hope that it will become real. Brennan looks directly into the camera like it’s The Office and asks for a DC 30 Arcana check. She doesn’t get it but she does get the sense that the principle behind the idea is solid.  Anyway, back to the other transubstantiations. The Familiar to a Plague is, as we all already knew, Kalina who is controlling the illusions in the forest. The Spellbook is the KVX coin and is (1) aligned with the Enchantment school of magic and (2) responsible for the possessions that have been happening (ie: Fig, Ragh, and Fabian this ep). The Sanctum to Cottage is aligned with the Abjuration school of magic and basically a trap for Celestials coming into the forest and also will prevent certain levels of spellcasting as they get progressively deeper. And now back to the tree (he doesn’t say the school of magic it is and also he says there are four when there are actually 8 so I’m not sure which school it’s supposed to represent--Divination maybe since that’s Adaine’s school?). The forest becomes alive the further in they go. The more safe they feel, the more the paths will move around. The only way to get they can get to the center is by feeling fear and uncertainty--which has got to be simultaneously great and terrible news for someone with major anxiety to get. 

All of that is all going on in the main chamber. Meanwhile, Gorgug is in the hallway and Fabian is in the chapel with Kristen who is checking out the picture of the goddess. Kristen, on international DM’s day, rolls a nat 20 religion check because of course she does. She hears the goddesses’s voice in her head. “Why do you search for me?” Kristen says she’s really into the praise through doubt thing. Brennan makes her roll a Con check with disadvantage--13.  

He says, “I’m gonna describe what Kristen sees and then I’m going to describe what Fabian saw,” instantly activating my Fight or Flight. 

Kristen feels a wave of spite, rage, and betrayal from the goddess and then she feels blinding pain as the unicorn skeleton runs over and gores her through the heart from the back. 

“What praise will you have in death?” the voice in her head says, as she collapses, fully lifeless. 

The unicorn turns to a panicked Fabian (who is only not driven mad by his immunity to Fear) and says, “You should not have come here.” 

In conclusion, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Detention

Brennan for Killing Kristen on a Nat 20

Using a Nat 20 to kill a player is such a power move and please do not let this placement make you think I don’t respect the unmitigated gall. 

Honor Roll

Adaine for An Incredible Piece of Fuckery

The fact that it didn’t work doesn’t change the fact that this was a Galaxy Brain connection that she made instantly and will almost certainly end up saving their asses. Mark my words: Before the end of the season, some Looney Tunes-ass painting a black circle to make a real hole type nonsense is gonna happen.

Random Thoughts

Emily’s constant awe at Ally’s dice rolls is so funny to me. She’s like head parishioner at the church of Ally’s dice. 

“Don’t bite the baby your mom gives you.”

Adaine taking pics of Fabian on Gorgug’s back while running out of the forest.

The teamwork shown during Kristen’s rescue? *chef’s kiss*

“It doesn’t protect you from losing all your friends in a forest.” Ow. 

Emily going, “Thank you Brennan,” like a little kid when she got her new bass’s stats.

“All of our girlfriends are in there!”

Brennan, upon being denied a wisdom save from Emily: You have to! I asked. 

Ice feast?????? Ally, what????

There is very much a world where the Bad Kids immediately leveraged Fig’s social media presence to get a better sample size on what was going on with Kalina. I wonder what would have happened if they’d gone viral with it much earlier.  

Ayda was drawn to the cottage with Zathriel because she’s part Celestial apparently. Are Phoenixes Celestial? That’s news to me. 

Also, on the topic, very Concerned about where the remaining NPCs are. 

The fact that Ayda had Fig’s earring in her hand while bound and unable to move much or do a spell that would allow her to get it into her hand implies that her split second reaction when captured was to reach for it and that was the one thing she could do before she was incapacitated which is A Lot.

Kristen keeps asking Riz to hold the tranq gun because she wants to look out for Tracker, which is sweet but you have -3 Dex girl. The kindest thing you can do is never touch that gun and toss Riz some Bless. 

The break they took between leaving the forest and going back Concerned me as it was happening. I was like, y’all literally anything could be happening right now. I had no sense on the amount of tie they realistically had to spare before something unreversable happened. 

Lol at Brennan clearly trying to throw some levels of exhaustion at the party and them just rolling out of it, no problem.  

I feel like Brennan knew Kristen was dying this episode no matter what and I gotta say: (1) I think it’s a great skill as a DM to keep our story on the tracks while also having the players actions matter and have meaningful consequences and (2) I wonder if she hadn’t gotten a Nat 1 when she got her spells back, if we’d get some information that could potentially contextualize what happened. 

I do not remember what the unicorn’s deal is but I remember it was mentioned specifically at the top of the season and I don’t trust anything about it--separately from the fact that it gored our girl. Was it speaking independently or was the goddess speaking through it? Or was it just the unicorn the whole time and Brennan was lying--not for the first time that episode? 

Fig being asked by her younger nightmare self what all the people in her life who had bad stuff happen to them have in common: Aguefort Advenuring Academy?

The image of an angel falling out of heaven and then rising up to flip off God and go, “F You,” is so cinematic that it makes me upset there aren’t animatics for this show. 

I am dying to know whether Brennan thought about the implications of making a setting where illusions are hyper-real in a game where Emily Axford is lousy with illusion magic. Did he consider it? Is there a mechanic to limit this? Or, next week, is Emily gonna say, “I cast disguise self on myself and I disguise myself as a super buff version of me with sick devil wings and I also create a minor illusion of a tiny, fairy, cleric.” What could stop her? Minor Illusion is a cantrip, guys. It’s a CANTRIP. I feel like either Brennan wildly miscalculated and made himself a double edged sword which Emily and Siobhan are gonna use to make him eat his dice OR he’s about to throw some absolutely unfair nonsense at them that even he doesn’t know the way out of and he’s trusting them to harness the power of the fuckery to figure it out. Either way, there are only 3 episodes left so I guess there’s only so much they can break the game in 3 episodes (she said, fully expecting to be proved wrong). 

“Crunch it up bro.”

When Brennan was talking about the ritual, he said, “Your parents and stuff” with regard to who did it, which makes me think Anguin was the fourth figure. But the “and stuff” is vague hedging language which makes me think we’re still being played. Brennan, tell me what’s going on in Abernant-Land, I’m begging you bro. 

One thing I didn’t mention in the main recap because it was getting long is the 4 transubstantiations were done on 4 gifts from the 4 tribes who worshiped the goddess The cat was from the wood elves. The sanctum was holy to the centaurs. I think the sprite was the spellbook which would make the broom from the treents.

Partial credit to @camwritery for this: Brennan gave Gorgug a weapon that, among other effects, insta-crits on inanimate objects. Which is a random ability unless a future plot point involves destroying some items--a la the pylons they destroyed earlier in what feels like a tutorial level in retrospect. And camwritery is the one who pointed out, hey, isn’t there a super important tree in the middle of the forest? Magic axe? Magic tree? Feels connected y’all. 

Everyone getting new gear and spells the past two eps has felt like that scene in Lion/Witch/Wardrobe where Santa shows up and is like, “Here are some weapons kids. Shit’s about to hit the fan!”

The fact that Riz escaped possession on a 7 seems to be explained by the fact that the cursed money is linked to possession and he gave all of his away. Which means Fabian and Adaine are still in danger, along with I think Fig since she kept her tour money which is likely infected. 

Anyone else get Wrinkle in Time/The Boy Who Reversed Himself vibes from all the dream travel talk this ep?

OK, I guess we gotta talk about Kristen dying for the third time in her life. Poor girl. She’s just trying her best to be a good person and earnestly trying to find meaning in the world. And what has it gotten her? Killed three times. And yet she keeps trying! The fact that it’s her makes me kinda more and less worried at the same time, you know? Because she is currently the sole healer on the team which is BAD--if Fabian went down, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal because Kristen would presumably just need to make her fright check and then cast Revivify. K-girl doesn’t have anyone to heal her (barring some illusion shenanigans from Fig or Adaine). However, Kristen’s motto might as well, “Whatever does kill you makes you stronger.” She basically has an at least 1 death per season clause written into her contract. If anyone can face death with grit and come out singing (and prob with some sick new powers) it’d be her. What an absolutely brutal way to end the episode.

She was mentioned in this episode for a hot sec I think--that racist ranger from earlier in the season--I don’t trust her. She could just be a one off NPC but I feel like there’s more to her. 

So I guessed correctly that the photos of Kalina would end up being a bargain chip potentially but somehow it didn’t occur to me that they could just...leave. Lol, I was like, “I guess they’re in it,” and they were like, “Yeah, bye.”

Kalina didn’t come after the gang in the forest the second time except maybe to possess Fabian if she did that directly. I wonder why that was. She had plenty of time.

I don’t like this spider motif. I don’t trust this spider motif. My spidey sense is going off re: this spider motif. I just want that on the record. 

This episode, Adaine rolled 1 Nat 20, Riz got 2, and Kristen rolled 3 but one was cancelled out by disadvantage. Meanwhile, Fig, Kristen, and Gorgug each rolled one Nat 20 each. 

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recap: “As Above, So Below”

Welcome back, everyone. So. Last Saturday I was actually feeling pretty good about RWBY. Not as a whole, but for that particular episode because, as I explained to a lovely anon, not much happened. Sure, there were some semi-important bits in the form of meeting Willow and Weiss discovering the recording, but compared to everything else we’ve gotten this volume it was all around a tame fifteen minutes. Which meant there wasn’t much space for RWBY to mess things up. There simply weren’t any stakes last episode. You don’t like how the group gets past Whitley or the exact words Ironwood says to Jacques? It’s ultimately whatever in the grand scheme of things. Last episode was mostly details.

“As Above, So Below” is not that kind of episode. So much happens and I’m once again left metaphorically banging my head against the wall, not regarding the writing choices themselves per se, but rather at how they’re used and portrayed. There is so much that I want to enjoy about this episode but Rooster Teeth continually ignores aspects of a situation in order to highlight one very narrow, very biased viewpoint. The scenes throughout demand that we conveniently forget or outright ignore certain things in order to immerse ourselves in whatever emotion the writing has decided we should be feeling right now ... and I simply can’t do that. RWBY is a show based on the claim that it’s a bright sunny day, so pay no mind to the rain clouds hovering above your head. It’s the animated equivalent of a Jedi mind trick. These are not the interpretations you’re looking for.

Secrets are finally revealed, folks, and oh boy. It’s a hot mess.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Undermining my assumption last recap that Watts had dismantled something that was regulating just a portion of Mantle’s temperature---something specific to maintaining rain over snow---we learn that all heating has been lost across the city. Which, if you know anything about temperature and the fragile human body, is really fucking bad. Here RWBY actually did a good job of introducing Weiss’ comment early in the volume about how people can freeze to death within an hour or so. We were still left with a few detail-oriented questions like how useful aura is in combating that, why Ruby was still so cold with her, why no one was showing symptoms back during the walk to the farm... but at least the setup is clear here. Civilians don’t have aura so that’s that. They’re dead if they don’t find some way to keep warm (riot fires help...) or aren’t evacuated somewhere else. It’s a big deal, though how exactly this fits into the rest of Watts’ plan and the other bits of chaos he’s accomplished is still unclear. More on that in a bit.

We see Pietro and Maria, but they don’t actually do anything this episode. They just stand around looking scared as people get violent and the city is covered in ominous red lights. At least the show remembers that they exist, but we don’t get to see the brilliant scientist specializing in creating weaponry and the former Grimm Reaper doing something to help. So... B grade on that one?

There’s no time skip this episode so with Mantle unraveling we segue right back to the dinner at the Schnee’s. Ironwood is still getting called out for having too much power. He pushes back that there are checks and balances in place to keep everyone, including him, from abusing that power. This is countered with a broad and not very persuasive claim that they simply haven’t worked. Ironwood comes back with a line about intentions and the nameless (?) council guy goes, “What people intend and what people do are not always the same thing!” Well no shit. If that were the case everyone’s lives would be staggeringly easier. You intend to find the madman who dismantled your army at Beacon? Boom, done. Intend to find the murderer responsible for attacking Robyn’s supporters? Congratulations, you did it. RWBY now has a habit of throwing out lines to remind us that the evil men in power---notably Ozpin and Ironwood---might intend to do good, but look! They haven’t managed it! Which... yes? Sometimes intentions fail, but that leaves the unanswered question of what these characters (and the writing) want them to do instead. No one has the luxury of changing their situation and everyone continues to ignore the fact that there are only bad options all around. I’d rather have someone with good intentions at the helm than, you know, Jacques. It also speaks volumes that as much as the council and RWBYJNR has been criticizing Ironwood lately, everyone still expects him to make the hard call himself. They don’t want that responsibility; they want a scapegoat if and when things go wrong. Just like the group was happy to scream at Ozpin and then get pissed that he left, leaving them to make the hard decisions themselves for once, everyone is screaming at Ironwood and then two minutes later turn about with, “So what should we do, General? What’s your plan? How are you going to fix this?” Though I don’t think any of it is intentional, RWBY has a lot to say about how only good and lucky leaders get to come out of their role unscathed. No matter what you do someone hates you for it and even choosing to abstain isn’t an option, as we saw clearly with Ozpin.

At this point the meeting is briefly interrupted by a waiter who tells Jacques about the heating issue. He responds with a, “My authorization?” before trying to cover things up, awkwardly agreeing with the conversation he just missed. Robyn announces that she’s not done with Ironwood yet though and accuses him of more failures, ending with, “yet you won’t let your own council help you?” which... honestly? Just hammers home how not useful this “Ironwood should trust everyone!” mindset is. Because is Robyn really that dense? The council is Jacques and two of his lackeys. You know, the guy who is about to be arrested for treason and as an accomplice to murder. Even though that hasn’t been revealed yet, Robyn is very well aware of what a corrupt, dangerous individual he is. Remember that she herself is not the council. She was given a “seat at the table” because Jacques wanted to use her against Ironwood. Robyn is sitting here symbolically pointing to Jacques and the two members he has wrapped around his finger going, “Why aren’t you trusting them?” like that’s in any way a sound suggestion. Sometimes the answer to, “Why are you doing Bad Things like keeping secrets?” is “Because people can be unimaginably stupid.” This is an example of that. Robyn wants to know everything and right now she’s willing to risk that information falling into an enemy’s hands to get it.

(Also, that picture in the background? Says a lot that Jacques has a picture of him, his obedient son, and his terrified wife in the room where he conducts business. No Weiss or Winter in sight.) 

Ironwood, of course, tells a straight out lie with an excellent poker face. “I’m not hiding anything.” Which inspires Robyn to use her semblance. Oh no! An insanely convenient ability that would undo every conflict we’ve set up for this season! However will we avoid this? Timing, obviously. Weiss, also conveniently, barges in right when Robyn has put Ironwood on the spot. I said it as soon as Robyn’s semblance was introduced: if you give someone that level of power---something that can too easily solve all the problems you’ve set up---then you have to keep coming up with semi-contrived ways of keeping them from using it.

Also, does she need skin-on-skin contact for her semblance to work? I wonder if that’s why she’s got that one random finger missing on her glove.

Wiess plays the recording of Watts and Jacques, giving us the rest of their conversation. We don’t learn anything new. Watts promised Jacques a seat on the council and he in turn (supposedly) would get the satisfaction of ruining Ironwood’s life. Jacques handed over his login information, including what he gained post-election, and now Watts has access to everything he built and then some. To say that’s bad is an understatement. You might be distracted from your worry though by hearing that cake line again as well as the men’s villainous laughs. RWBY really went full cartoon for that conversation.

A detail I really love though? Ironwood’s rhythmic footsteps as he walks around the table. Super ominous and intimidating. Meanwhile, a hilarious detail is how awkward Jacques gets when he’s finally lost that precious control. This isn’t a confident man capable of denying the accusations against him in anything like a persuasive manner. He doesn’t have Ironwood’s poker face. Jacques is a coward who looks like a schoolboy seated in the principal’s office once caught.

He attempts to escape only to find Weiss’ knight blocking the exit, the one we now know was the possessed armor that belonged to her grandfather. In a thoroughly satisfying moment she declares that Jacques is under arrest... and then turns around to ask Ironwood if she can actually do that. I’m on the fence about this. Normally I don’t mind a bit of humor lightening the mood, but in this case we have three things that I don’t think are improving the situation. The first is the sheer emotional impact that should be accompanying this arrest. This is Weiss’ abuser. The man we’ve known about (incidentally anyway) since Volume 1 and who has driven nearly the entirety of her character development from working to escape him pre-RWBY to coming back as a huntress. Provided that Jacques doesn’t pull a Torchwick and escape himself somehow, this is the culmination of nearly seven volumes worth of heartbreaking struggle. There are some things that I think should be allowed to shoulder their weight without undercutting it with a joke and this is 100% one of them. Just like finding out that a friend you thought had been permanently torn to pieces in front of you should generate heartfelt shock and joy, reaching the moment where you finally arrest one of the show’s biggest personal villains should be treated seriously. Let Weiss have this and put the joke later if you still want it. Weiss could be staring hollow-eyed at her father being put in handcuffs and Ruby could try to cheer her up. “So...” she says. “Can we arrest people?” Weiss blinks, coming out of her stupor, and gives a tentative smile. “Don’t know, actually. But it’s working in this case.” There. Serious moment leading to a bit of comedy-bonding. Humor is a wonderful tool, but it also lessens the other emotions of a scene if not used properly.

Potential issues #2 and #3 are smaller. On a personal note, hearing Weiss’ question simply reminded me, again, that RWBY has failed to establish hard rules for its world, including what a huntsmen’s job entails. A few weeks ago fans were arguing over whether Blake and Yang should feel anything in regards to killing Adam because, according to some, it’s already a part of a huntsmen’s responsibilities to arrest and if necessary kill people. Why would they flinch at something they knew they were signing up for? Others (myself included) pointed out that although we see the students sparing with one another at school, no one says anything about them taking out human and faunus criminals. RWBYJNR’s adventures---from Ruby stopping the robbery in her trailer to tracking down the White Fang---are presented as outliers. This is not the sort of stuff huntsmen are meant to get up to. They fight grimm first and foremost. Everything else is a case-by-case surprise. Note, for example, that Ironwood expects his army to keep the peace and presumably the police when things aren’t quite so dangerous. He’s not sending huntsmen out to track down everyday criminals because that’s not their job. Killing grimm is. Weiss’ comment reinforces that. Can I arrest someone? Is that within my power as a huntress? And Ironwood... doesn’t answer. Because it’s meant to be a joke, not a legitimate bit of world building.

And then the third... is just how Rooster Teeth is using humor throughout the entirety of this episode. AKA not well, which makes me less inclined to give this particular moment the benefit of the doubt. We’ll get to that in just a second though. For now I’ve written way to much on a two second scene.

While Jacques’ plans unravel the rioting in Mantle is getting worse and worse. “Atlas killed the heat on purpose! They’ll do anything to control us!” which is very much a conclusion born of panic. It feels like every other episode Mantle is on the verge of collapse and, by extension, all of these moments feel anti-climactic. We’ve watched Mantle rioting over the embargo, and then Penny, and then the election, and now the heat... none of it feels like it has weight anymore. Rioting is just the way we’re ending most episodes now. It also (again) raises that question of what exactly Watts is trying to accomplish, and not in a “Still to be revealed!” kind of way. We do still have an element of that, but at this point there’s also just a, “Literally what was the point?” aspect too. Why is Mantle rioting most episodes? Shouldn’t that be something to build to? More importantly---as I’ve said before---WHY did they frame Penny? We see in the next scene that Jacques’ guilt likewise reveals Penny’s innocence... even though everyone important knew that two seconds after she was accused. There were no consequences attached to blaming her and, as just established, we clearly didn’t need the loss of a city defender to bring that city to the brink. Mantle has been going over the edge for a variety of reasons and the people were at that point before the group even arrived. When Penny was first framed that seemed like a brilliant setup. Now we see definitively that it led nowhere. Why did Watts bother and why did the writers? It’s another case of RWBY chucking in things they think are “cool” without bothering to follow up on them.

So yeah. The Penny situation is done. We didn’t even get any development out of her from it. That really is disappointing.

With everything Jacques did on the table the situation looks bleaker by the minute. What can Watts do with this control?  “With enough time… whatever he wants.” The group finds out that the first thing he did with this power is shut off the heat and Weiss has the most dramatic reaction, which makes sense given that she’s the one who best understands the risks here. And then... then.

Oh dear god.

Ironwood realizes that Watts may eventually have access to the Amity info, if he stumbles across it or actively goes looking for things to uncover. This revelation on its own is good. That’s something Ironwood needs to try and prevent, so it would have been an excellent moment of storytelling to show us Ironwood’s moment of revelation, perhaps with a bit of dramatic music to hammer things home. Except that instead of keeping this issue between the people who know about it---Ironwood and Ruby could have exchanged knowing glances like Blake and Yang did when they first started keeping their secrets---Rooster Teeth has Ironwood talk about loud to himself about the major secret he’s keeping. He literally calls it a secret! “No. The secret is safe for now. But if he learns about Amity…” Hello?? I understand that this episode is all about things coming to light, but that moment was an absolute insult to Ironwood’s character. We just saw this man claim with a perfectly straight face that he had nothing to hide. Five minutes later he’s apparently lost so much intelligence he stands in front of four people he’s keeping secrets from, including Jacques Schnee, and starts soliloquizing about said secrets. That is the most stupid and contrived way to get caught in a lie. Oh no! I totally forgot a bunch of people were standing beside me! Now everyone has heard that I’m keeping a secret since I felt the need to state that out loud...

And in case anyone thought this is a case where I’m reading too much into things, Robyn literally laughs and goes, “Yep! Still here, everyone!” Reminding them that someone who is not supposed to know about this stuff is standing... right there... listening in... The writing draws attention to it. 

This trumps all other former stupidity. Like the group loudly announcing their attempts to avoid getting arrested in the city covered with surveillance. This is so stupid I want to turn it into a meme. Cleanse this scene somehow.

Anyway. More rioting. More anger. Shock, surprise, that draws a ton of grimm. Take note of the fact that Ironwood’s army is almost useless against this barrage. The missiles from the airships don’t seem to take the horde out. Nor do the guns. Two other soldiers are forced to cower when some pterodactyl-type grimm flies overhead. 

I say this not to bash the army itself (they’re doing their best while up against horrible odds), but rather to re-emphasize how not good telling the whole world about Salem is. Everyone seems to forget that, first and foremost, this is the concern that Ozpin dealt with. Even if he was 100% wrong on every other count---no one would lose hope, no one would ever betray him---it is impossible to hear about Salem and not experience negative emotions and those negative emotions draw grimm that kill everyone. Ironwood’s primary justification was that he’ll use his army to protect the people when that happens and (ignoring that his army can’t possibly be everywhere at once) we see here that it’s all but useless. His soldiers may have been able to handle the grunt grimm seen at the breach and the Battle of Beacon, but they’re  helpless in the face of anything stronger, the exact sort of stuff that world-wide panic over an immortal woman would draw. Clover makes it clear when he arrives that only huntsmen stand a real chance and huntsmen are few and far between nowadays. They lost an entire school. Lionheart made sure nearly all the huntsmen in Mistral were killed. They’ve reached a point where teens are given licenses at least two years early, without full training, because they need the help that badly. Ironwood cannot protect the people if their fear grows stronger. That’s not his fault, but it also means he can’t afford to deliberately stoke that fear. Telling the world about Salem, whether she’s immortal or not, is a 100% death wish for lots and lots and lots of people.

That’s why I can’t get behind an idealistic view of, “But they deserve to know.” Maybe they do, but if given the choice I’d rather keep people in the dark and let them live their lives than tell them for the sake of the moral high-ground and risk the very likely possibility that they’ll die a horrible, bloody death. 

Then, finally... we come back to the group’s secrets.

As established, Robyn is calling Ironwood out on his own secret keeping because he just admitted aloud to having a secret. 100% dodged her suspicion  by Weiss’ timely arrival and Jacques getting outed as a traitor, then went ahead and shot himself in the foot. Sorry. I just really can’t stress that enough. Anyway, she’s homing in like a bloodhound, backing him into another corner, and this is the animation they decide to give us.

This is why I haven’t liked the group since mid-Volume 5. Because they’ve become reckless, hypocritical, often incredibly cruel people. Animation is a drawing. Someone had to decide and design this moment. Nothing is left to chance. So Rooster Teeth made a conscious decision to have Ruby almost-smiling in this moment. Looking pleased and happy at the very least. She’s still keeping her own secrets and is taking pleasure in the fact that Ironwood’s are coming to light. This is the exactly the same behavior we saw with Ozpin and (to a lesser extent) Cordovin. The satisfaction this group derives from either seeing or handing out what they perceive as another’s just desserts while they themselves are committing the same or worse sins. Ruby should not look happy here in the same way that she should not have pushed for Ironwood to sacrifice Mantle in the name of finishing a doomed project. And as we’ll see in a moment, she shouldn’t be giggling with Oscar over the shared damage they’ve caused.

At this point everyone is ganging up on Ironwood. Yes, including Oscar. As a preface to all this, I love my farm boy. Just not how Rooster Teeth has been writing my farm boy. Because this is what I meant at the very start of this recap. Oscar and Ruby’s speeches here are only inspiring if you choose to ignore the fact that, in this moment, they’re still keeping their own secrets. I honestly thought Oscar was going to come clean when he approached Ironwood leaning against the wall. Instead he offers his advice which is, straight up, to just stop keeping secrets. Says the kid who is still keeping secrets. Oscar even goes so far as to say that “You already knew that wasn’t the right course” which is the biggest load of BS I’ve heard on this show so far. No! No one agreed that was the wrong path. You all explicitly decided that keeping secrets was the right thing to do. They’re telling him he was wrong to choose the thing they benefited from and continue to use to their advantage in this scene.“Tell the truth,” Oscar insists, still not telling the truth. “You’re not alone,” Ruby adds when she hasn’t trusted Ironwood once this season. This moment is manipulation because Oscar and Ruby both are trying to convince Ironwood to do something using false personas. Ironwood believes that he should listen to them precisely because he thinks they’ve achieved the very thing they’re demanding of him: sharing all their secrets. He thinks they’re models to look up to. When in fact Ironwood is the only one who has ever managed this demand by sharing his plan with them, completely of his own volition. 

The fact that they decide to tell him a few minutes later doesn’t matter. They already got what they wanted and the damage is done. I mean that literally. By manipulating Ironwood into spilling the beans, they’ve created a situation where Ironwood revealed the Salem secret to the council and Robyn but not her immortality. Ironwood himself only learns of that afterward, back in the dining room, and you can see the utter devastation on his face.

Is it still a good idea to tell two highly suspect council members and a woman who has been his semi-enemy about Salem given that she can’t be killed? Who knows. We don’t get to tackle that question because Ironwood wasn’t given a choice. It’s too late. He was pressured and manipulated into a making a huge decision without all the necessary information (which, for the record, is still not the same thing as the group deciding to help people and do the job they signed up for without knowing about Salem). Even if nothing horrible results from these three people now knowing about Salem, Oscar and Ruby have created more problems. We hear the council woman ask fearfully whether Ironwood can defeat Salem. The only thing holding them together is the hope that they can still win with their army... but they can’t. What’s Ironwood going to do with that expectation now? Will he tell them about her immortality too? Risk what they might do in response? Don’t you think this is something he should have known about weeks ago, Ruby? “You should know before you make any… sacrifices” Oscar tells Ironwood, completely ignoring the fact that he already made sacrifices. Mantle was a sacrifice. Those resources were a sacrifice. Telling the council was a sacrifice. Ironwood’s ongoing hope that he could finally end this, stretched out far longer than it had to be, was a sacrifice.

What kills me is the casual nature of it all. There was no catalyst here. Nothing new happened to convince the group that they can suddenly trust Ironwood. If they’re willing to trust him now that means they trusted him before and just didn’t tell him because... they didn’t. The defense of “He’s unstable, who knows what he might do to them and Mantle once he finds out the truth!” was a smokescreen the whole time. Because nothing changed. Ironwood said and did nothing in the last fifteen minutes to suddenly cause the revelation of, “Oh my god. We can trust him. Now we finally know we’re safe to reveal this secret.” They could have done it on day two and avoided so much strife. Like, you know, the situation in Mantle that Nora felt the need to scream at Ironwood about. Maybe if you’d told him his plan was doomed he might not have taken so many resources from the people, given that he’d have known there was no longer a justification for that. You had the power to fix the problems you blamed him for from the get-go.

Combine this with Oscar and Ruby’s horrible conversation. Sure, the rosegarden shippers are thrilled, but beyond the fact that I’m personally not shipping Ruby with a boy housing her 1,000 year old headmaster, that (once again) was not the correct emotion to apply to this moment. They both come across as horrendously callous by laughing and giggling through the decision to finally tell Ironwood. It’s not like these secrets have driven this entire volume and are about to absolutely devastate him or anything. Why would you have a serious conversation about this? Why express even an ounce of sympathy and regret for what you’ve done? Nah, better to jump around and give each other thumbs up. Act so proud that you’ve randomly decided to come clean, like you deserve praise for this. Kids, am I right, Marrow?

Seriously. This is how these two treat the situation vs. what the situation actually is.

Which in a horrible way is fitting because there are zero consequences for all this. (Cue my shock...) Ironwood isn’t mad about any of this. He jokes with Oscar! “No more surprises, alright?” Given that RWBY releases weekly and thus there’s plenty of time between episodes, I feel like people forget the expectations they developed months back. The more optimistic side of the fandom (god bless you all, you’ve got more hope than me) keeps insisting that eventually the group’s new behavior will lead to repercussions, but time and time again Rooster Teeth tells us they won’t. Not for putting Argus in danger. Not for stealing an airship. Not for keeping the secrets Ozpin was crucified over a whole volume for. And that’s still going. Alongside Qrow’s talk with Ruby, Ironwood is given the space to blame Ozpin again---“Why? Why would Oz keep this from us?”---and has no desire to blame the group for doing the exact same thing. Oscar is allowed to go, “Sorry! We just didn’t trust you” but the same justification out of Ozpin’s mouth doesn’t fly, despite the fact that he had a hundred more reasons not to trust a bunch of teens. The level of hypocrisy in this episode is just staggering. We all watched Ruby tell Ozpin’s lies and went, “Oh yeah. This is going to come back to bite them” and it didn’t. 

There is nothing the group can do to get in trouble, or even a reprimand for. Anything and everything is twisted to praise them:

Destroyed precious military equipment (which this episode’s attack shows that the world desperately needs) and nearly get people killed by attacking an ally? You get a free ride to Atlas.

Broke Atlas’ laws by stealing their property and then avoiding the police? You get hugs from your sister and early huntsmen licenses.

You tell the exact same lies you demonized your headmaster for? You’re so much better than he is and I’m so proud of you.

Keep secrets from Ironwood, making a horrible situation even worse? Haha no more surprises in the future please!

And yes, this also includes: Going behind everyone’s back to spill information to Robyn? No one will even find out you did that. I’ve seen a post going around with people expressing how pleased they are that Robyn didn’t rat Blake and Yang out. That’s the level of bias the fandom and the writers are working under. The group gets away with everything because they’re the protagonists. Everyone adores them unconditionally. At this point I think they could join with Salem and people would insist that it’s the smartest and most badass move they could possibly make. Fans and the writing would praise them for that too. 

Ugh. Sorry for the level of salt in this recap. For the record I am glad that others are able to enjoy all of these moments. I just can’t. Oh boy I can’t. 

Alright. Close to wrapping up now. A series of smaller things: Oscar has another moment where he draws on Ozpin’s memories of Atlas being built. “You say that like you were there---” Ironwood says. We’ve spent a lot of time theorizing about the merge but in light of this episode... are we really expecting an explanation? RWBY hasn’t adequately explained dust vs. magic, or Qrow’s semblance, or why we should be rooting for heroes who do everything their perceived opponents do. Why would we expect them to explain something as complicated as this merge either? I think we should just expect a continually wishy-washy situation that changes based on the whims of the plot.

Ren and Nora have a moment on the airship that sparks another charged look between Blake and Yang. Are we ever going to tackle the huge concerns Ren had a few episodes back before they were silenced with a kiss? Does he or anyone else know that Oscar spilled the beans? For that matter, did Oscar admit that there’s still a question left in the relic? Does Ironwood actually want to lock it up now like they should have from the start? Did he explain precisely why Ozpin ran off? These answers remain lost to the void.

Jaune looks like he’s going to be sick after the airship is attacked. Nice throwback to episode one.

Whitley is devastated by his father’s arrest, truly alone now. He slinks off with Willow watching him go. Hopefully with Jacques out of the way she and Weiss (and possibly Winter) can start helping him. Show him how to connect with others in ways besides cruelty. 

The group then jumps out of the destroyed ship... but not before Elm and Harriet tease each other a bit. In a kind way. One might almost say... a friendly way...

Yeah these people aren’t friends. No way. What an absurd assumption. Will the show ever come back to that assertion, or will it remain another illogical way of insisting that the group is intrinsically better than everyone else they come into contact with? I’m betting on the latter.

Finally, we catch glimpses of a disguised Neo infiltrating the Schnee manor. After everyone leaves she returns to Cinder who says, “Oh, you’re back early. Tell me you’ve found what we’ve been looking for” and Neo gives an affirmative gesture. To which I respond with no emotion whatsoever because this episode has scorched me from the inside out.

1/10 with the 1 given because yay arresting Jacques. Everything else I’d happily put through a paper shredded. I’m gonna go cleanse my mind with more Witcher 3 now.

Until next week! Everyone start praying...

[svft2jae]

‘icy secret‘;

➵ genre: fluffy fluff, i guess-

➵ pairing: ice prince! jaemin x knight! reader.

➵ warnings: none, just probably a bad writing sorryhbfvbgj

summary: “wherein y/n still struggles on denying the heart inside to burn through the breastplate.”

➵ songs rec.: ice queen - baekhyun ; moonlight - wavycake feat. navy, nathania.

[5:19 PM]

tiny snowflakes touch the fresh ground through your walk besides captain of guard! jeno with the more you get closer to the castle, both of you coming back together exhausted from your daily training, in the time he so called as "when afternoon waves goodbye".  you kept your footsteps by his side steadily marching, just as you tried your best all the time to pay attention to what he was saying, about things that made him glad in today's exercises and fight simulations with the knights, but it was barely impossible for you to control your mind which kept on flying away, filled with thoughts of the prince — about yesterday when he sneaked in all disguised through your window at the dorms, for the fourth time this month, with his big white cloak full of gold details and his breathtaking, dazzling smile. you remember about his eyes just like the luck of hot chocolate and hazelnut in the winter, in contrast to his long, icy lashes hitting the snowy white skin, as inviting as his husky but soft like vanilla petals voice, calling you to go out with him on another adventure to the other side of the river which bordered the castle area. this time on the pretext of wanting to see the newly arrived auroras with what he claimed to be a "truly competent" one to protect him.

— at first you refused, saying that even if you were there to accompany him whenever he wanted, you were afraid of it ending up like the last time when you two almost got caught. but it didn't take long for him to convince you with his sweet requests and large hands covered by gloves holding yours, nervousness mingling with sweat between your fingers by the way he squeezed them all the time unwillingly to let go. soon you were already running outside tripping a little as he guided you extremely excited on the secret path you two always went for and just before you think both of you were already under the auroras, surrounded by the beauty of them. "how... beautiful." you let out, looking around completely amused, trying to even touch some of the dancing lights passing by, but stopped embarrassed as soon as you realize the prince's wide pearly smile, who somehow was trying to capture the colored rays in a glass but had stopped to watch you, his extremely fluffy white-blond hair just like sunbeams hovering over his forehead, innumerous fanciful ideas coming to meet him under it. “did you know you can get on a higher beauty level than theirs? i bet they must be jealous now.” he whispered playfully, cold air coming out from his rosy lips, chuckling while only a stutter sound came out of you in response, heat all up your cheeks at once. "i want to show you something. come with me.” you followed him, wondering why he went behind a rock where there was nothing but some pieces of grass with flowers and another part of the river, even more so when he just stood still and began to take off his gloves, asking you to hold the crystalline pot with auroras. “this is my secret, which will as well be ours, ok? everyone in the castle already knows but, i want you to keep it for me too.” you nodded vehemently although not having any clue of what it could be, promising loyalty to the overflowing gaze deep into yours. suddenly you saw the prince's hands get both filled with brilliant designs going up to his nails as soon as they got exposed, his skin had turned translucent as ice and snow smoke came out of it, all while your jaw simply was left dropped with the sight, eyes widened in pure wonder as you watched him shocked. the prince then made a cold breeze which took the pot from your hands and blew your hair lightly, as if stroking it and slowly smiled a little awkwardly when he noticed your stunned, practically speechless expression at what you saw, and without delaying asked what you thought of it, a small hint of fear in his tone for some possible rejection. "it's, it's... simply wonderful... just like fairytale- how, how do you-??" you stuttered, earning another soft giggle from the prince who got to feel relieved seeing the way you wanted to touch his hands, curious. “i don't know, i guess i was just born like this. but yeah i also think it's nice, like a super power. do you wanna see what it can do?” he said excitedly, a certain mischief taking over his tone, what immediately made you want to decline the offer, but as curiosity consumed your heart you accepted smiling. then just before you knew it you two already had two huge flake-decorated ice forts, snow angels on the floor, sculptures and handmade giant slides, both of you laughing loudly running after each other with countless snowballs, him of course with his own. so far you can't forget how much fun you had that afternoon, less even it’d be like that, one more time next to the prince — just while he was showing you some things he could do with his special ability, such as when he froze temporarily a part of the river to teach you how to skate, when he made ice arrows for target shooting or the high ladder across the oak to see more of the pink-tinted horizon, you also played, jumped, ran a lot, and even fell like two children in their blooming childhood, without caring a single bit about the world around. yet you also couldn't forget the way he looked at you that kept on making your heart flutter so much, the downy touch of his cold fingers when he complied your request to draw some flakes on your face, or especially when you were both already tired and he called you to sit beside one of the forts, saying he wanted to show you one more thing. “can you give me your hand?” he asked extending his own, holding your hand by its back when you gave it. you watched him carefully as he began to draw lines on your palm with his thumbs, making a small snowflake in the shape of what looked like a heart. your eyes kept watching every move of his until you couldn't help but get them widened to see him out of sudden take the small form by your hand and kiss it, but before you said anything you noticed it made the little thing shine and levitate over your palm, just like a star. “woah- i, i can't believe you can do that too!” you exclaimed with a giant smile taking over your lips, the prince as well grinning all happy as he saw you trying to play with his creation. "of course! where do you think all the decoration in the palace comes from, hm?” he smiled playfully again, you immediately looking at him surprised at what he had just said — so this is was how the castle always kept covered with really thin snow and absolutely stunning, delicate details and iced arts, monuments, chandeliers, flowers, and designs you always admired and thought they looked more like actually made by some millennial fairies than built by human hands, just like it was also why jeno sometimes complained about how his best friend from the royal court spent so many mornings on one of the castle's rooftops for no reason or explanation. again you looked at him speechless, disconcerted by how incredible he was, as if it wasn't already enough to be so brave, righteous, kind, exceptional in practically every combat and sword fight, a strong and exemplary prince and leader, also owner of a fantastic ability, besides being able to make your heart run countless marathons in the simplest actions, just as in that moment. “it's for you. i hope you’ll like it, and you’ll remember me every time you look at it. just as i do remember you every day.” he let out in such soothing words like an embrace. just in time you turned your gaze back to him, again not believing what you had just heard, but before anything you’d do in response he sighed lightly and leaned in to you, touching his velvety lips on your cheek in a kiss which lingered a little until he pulled away, sighing again as soon as your eyes met, asteroids and comets crashing into the vast skies that were his pupils. —

almost immediately as you bring your fingers to the spot on your cheek he touched you feel it flush, your pulse barely to explode just by thinking of the simple but tender contact. quietly you let out a deep breath while you put your hand in the pocket of your red tunic underneath the breastplate to remove the glowing heart-shaped gift, your thumb a little shaky holding the object that didn't get out of your hands through the entire sleepless night before yesterday, passed with just the image of the graceful boy in your mind. “y/n? planet earth calling y/n?” you hear jeno's voice abruptly bring you back to reality, worry in his expression until you shove the small form back to your pocket and turn your face to him, eyes wide as you get startled, making him let out a sigh of relief. “you know, i think you should stop reading about astronomy for a while y/n, it's already the millionth time this month you go out of orbit.” he laughs amusedly, showing up his so characteristic, gorgeous eyesmile. you look at your best friend still bewildered, but soon smile at his silly joke, reaching your hand out to ruffle his golden hair based with an undercut. “you little goofy- and you now turned into my control tower to bring me back all the time." both of you laughed at the same time, jeno even more when you started tickling him, running to the side to try to get away from you. "but yeah i'm sorry, i really didn't pay much attention... my head has been indeed full lately." “it's fine, i was just blabbering. i just wanted to understand what goes on in your head, seriously. you even look like jaemin staring at nothing and giggling alone." jeno laughs again, shaking his head in disbelief, not realizing you froze beside him when he mentions the prince's name, a wave of thoughts hitting you again and nervousness coming all up. "don't worry, it's nothing... i-it's just the training stuff, of this tough knight routine..." you try to build an answer, shaky words coming out. "i know, i know i understand you perfectly. and you know you can count on me whenever you want, that i'm always here with you, right? afterwards that's what friends are for." he said, a warm smile now taking over his face along to his hand going to rub your back, making you relax and smile back, comfort filling your chest. "thank you jeno. im always here for you too." you pat him on the back, adjusting his sword which was falling a little. "tomorrow on the way back home i'll buy you that fried fish stick you like so mu-“ "and as i once said and repeat y/n my buddy you're such a wonderful being, just tell me if ever there's someone bothering you and i‘ll come quickly to throw one right, one left, ha!" he exclaimed cheerfully, simulating a fight with his silver sword giving kicks and punchs in the air at an invisible enemy as you laugh nonstop watching him, jeno doing just so. “y/n! jeno! thank god i found you two! i, i need help! arf..." right in the time you and jeno get interrupted hearing someone call out loud, almost breathless. soon you see royal advisor! renjun coming close as if he had just run a marathon, so both of you immediately go to hold him by his hands so he wouldn't get dizzy, worried about what could be happening. “what happened, renjun?! are you ok? where‘s the prince? wait, take a deep breath-" “i, i'm ok, it's all fine, it‘s just that, just... aH no, no nothing's fine! he ran away! he ran away again! just because the lord was going to bring the new clothing for tomorrow's ceremony, aHh but when i catch him-" you try to calm renjun down while he fists and simulates punches, jeno already going back to laugh nonstop just by imagining the kind of situation familiar enough going on, having in mind some of the prince's typical tricks. “no need to explain anything anymore, i already got it- ahh jaemin i swear to god-" “but, but what‘s going on?? i can't understand anything." you ask. “don‘t worry y/n it's nothing, just another episode of the prince giving daily headache to his royal adviser.” jeno tries to contain his laughter, hugging renjun by the side who was now much calmer yet still a little upset. “it‘s just that, he always does this, y/n- he always runs away when it‘s time to choose the linen and colored pieces for any upcoming special occasions, he says he doesn't like them because they're just ridiculous and that he doesn't need them, that he feels so much better in his usual weekly clothes he‘s always wearing to do practically everything and that always comes up with some smears of whatever possible on it, and simply goes like this every time right in front of the ancients council! then there always lasts for me the noble women's commentaries, about me not teaching him things right so this is why he does what he wants- aHh but this time i can‘t admit it! that's why i was looking for you two everywhere so i'd ask you to help me find him and bring him back." renjun explained sounding kinda sulky, jeno going forward to squeeze his cheek lightly and you smile nodding with your head to sign to him you did understand everything, not even much surprised since it all just fits the prince so much. “alright then, let‘s look in separate parts. y/n goes to the gardens at the west, renjun goes to the surroundings of the castle and to the adjoining areas at the east, and i go to the chambers, galleries, throne centre and all of the rooms where he usually goes. if we don't find him after all we shall go to the city entrance and meet there to enter together, ok? let's go, before our injunnie start malfunctioning." jeno explained his plan, all of you saluting like a real team as he went for renjun's neck and ruffled his hair, the shorter brown haired boy complaining in his own adorable way while you giggle to yourself watching them walk to the opposite direction, a high blow of confidence raising up your chest. you adjust your belt and tighten your knee pads, then getting ready to stick a step forward filled with attitude when suddenly two gloved hands cover your eyes, causing your shoulders to fall along to all your courage and nervousness take over. "but who-" "guess who it is." you feel your heart begin to pound crazily again at the sound of that voice, air hitching in your throat feeling how close it was to your ears. "p-prince?" almost at the same time he sighs a little and gently removes his hands from your eyes, going in front to look at you, his long, flavescent cloak moving in the process. "hey... i remember i've said you don't have to call me like that. i just want you to call me by jaemin." he did a light frown and pouted cutely as he played with your hands, what makes your stomach flutter immediately. "a-ah yes... pardon me your highne- i mean, j-jaemin" you stutter, seeing his face soon lighting up again, his charming smile shows almost like a cupid's arrow ready to hit. "you know, if you want you can also call me by jae, or nana. it'd make me really happy too- oh and please come with me, there's something i really wanna show you." he said, pulling you by your hands again, just as excited as in that day. "what- wait!" you try to process his words but as always before you could ever do anything you were already running beside him, letting the prince once more guide you, now on a new route apparently to the outer staircases of the palace. "renjun, jeno and i were looking for you! you shouldn't have run away, what are you going to say to him now? you, you have a ceremony tomorrow and he's afraid thinking of how you're going to look there." you said apprehensively, hearing him chuckle like a carefree young boy in response, giving your hand a little squeeze as you continued to go through the stairs steps. "don't worry about that it's all ok, i'm fine the way i do everything, renjun just worries too much but im sure he'll understand it soon. i've told him several times how important it is to not to pay attention to people's comments all the time and just be yourself. he knows if it weren't for that he'd probably still have his biological restoration ability inactive till now." he talked through both of your paces slowed down by the weariness of the stairs, your own mouth now agape at what he had just told. “renjun can… heal?!” you let out, jaemin nodding with another smile, melted with the innocent way you asked. "yes. actually it was because of him my lungs didn't end up literally frozen once in my childhood... we owe each other's lives in fact, so that's why for our friendship too, i can never leave his side. just like i can’t from yours..." you feel comfort in your chest again as you listen to him until the material inside it stops for a second when you realize his last sentence, and you could swear you've clearly seen reddish hues blooming in the prince's so niveous face when he looked away at the same time he said it. later on he hastened his pace a little to where the stairway led, then out of stopped, saying you were already in the exact place, which was nothing more than the inaccessible rooftop at one of the farthest points of the castle, as in the moment you set your foot there you couldn't help but feel just the same way of when you came close to the auroras at that day, completely enchanted. “oh my… god.” you exclaimed, grinning widely as your eyes light up with fascination seeing each of the beautiful works around you — paintings, small sculptures, handcrafts, various forms, many colored by auroras and several other shining ones like the one he gave you, everything made of snow and ice, organized like real stars in a sky studio. "remember when i said that thing, about the palace's decoration? i was thinking and, wanted you to know the place where i do what i like the most on earth, since you showed me the knights' training camp before..." he said hiding his hands in his pocket, you watching and trying to touch the pieces one by one, the prince's frosted lashes yet only focused on your reactions he cherished so much. "i think i'm in heaven." you take one of the little forms in the shape of a levitating cotton cloud in your hand and look at him smiling joyfully, his eyes sparkling perhaps as much as yours when he looks at you like you were so precious as a rare gem, what made you blush violently in the second you noticed it. he then smiles disconcertingly at you, some snowflakes coming out of his mouth while he coughs a little and covers it with his hand trying to hide his already reddened face again, looking to the side at something that caught his attention. "there's one more thing- you need to see." he exclaimed quickly, pulling you with him to another part ahead where you came across a wide view of the whole kingdom covered by the warm shades of the sunset magically coloring the horizon, snow falling like invisible crystals over the forests and around the city. a calm wind stirs your hair when one more sigh escapes you, the prince slowly going to sit on an iced marble support and guiding you to take place right by his side, all while you couldn't take your eyes off the scene before your eyes. "it's amazing, isn't it... i've been trying to reproduce some of these colors since i‘ve found this place." his voice echoes softly, for a minute you look at him and notice what appeared to be a hanging painting beside him with lots of orange and pinkish sketches, every one of them too delicate and well made. "but tell me, how do you feel now? i, hope you're not upset because i brought you here, instead of letting you do your job... anytime you want we can go back and meet jeno and renjun." you watch him kick his feet against the marble and lower his head a few times, as if he was somehow ashamed. "no i, i'm happy. all of this is just so incredible, like a dream. now i understand why you spend so much time here... oh and the boys- they won't mind too much, let‘s just not stay too long and go soon." you giggled jokingly making him smile too, the prince's expression filling up with joy again. "if you're happy then i am too..." suddenly he approached you making your heart pound to almost jump out of your mouth and rested his chin comfortably on your shoulder, doing what seemed like nuzzling into it as his arms come to wrap around you gently as if asking for permission. you felt the extremely soft, cold skin of his cheek brush agaisnt your warm one at the crook of your neck, silky blond strands also caress your face and the prince takes a deep breath, his hug tightening slightly. "thank you for trusting me, for always being with me. you don't know how much it means..." he says almost like a hesitant whisper and for some reason you can hear a bit of his loud heartbeats, your stomach fluttering at the same time jaemin pulled away to look at you, just as loving as you swore you never saw anything in your life. “you deserve everything, y/n…” your chest burns with the prince's cozy and so sincere words as well as his deep eyes and the touch of his cold fingers on your hot face once more but simultaneously to your flourishing feelings a hint of desperation runs through your head, causing you to no longer watch your own words. “b-but, majesty… i don't—” you go away a little but stop when you realize what you just called him, seeing his brows frowning and him sighing deeply with what he heard, looking a little disappointed. some few seconds of silence take over until you decide to say something, but jaemin breaks it up first, turning his face back to you already with a small smile at the corners of his lips. "you know what? from now on every time you call me like that i'll kiss you. sure now you'll stop.” the prince still tries to contain his smile but fails right after seeing your wide eyes and cheeks just like he thought of as two of the elegant roses from the royal garden and the rare, hard to get red auroras. “you look so cute when you blush… it's unbelievable.” jaemin just lets himself smile, captivating and gracious like a mirage, reminding you of when he first jumped into your window taking off the hood of his cloak from his forehead to let you see who he was — right in time you quickly put the back of your hand in front of your face, but a boost of courage rises to the flush coloring your ears and you remove it, resting it on your knee. “and you're just so beautiful… outside and inside… everything about you, everything you do or create is. you're just, loving… and although we're so different, my heart always feels so warm when i'm with you.” silence settles in for a while as you let out the last word, lowering your head for a moment before you look at him again. now sweat forms through your palms when you notice the prince's smile fading, replaced instead with his lips getting slightly parted and his chocolatey irises as bright as they never were locked in only you, untold feelings screaming in his chest every second thoughts of you and your words filled his head more and more. "that was, so sweet i could kiss you right now..." he says almost like a whisper, breath fastening little by little just like yours right when you heard him. “p-prince-” you let out again without noticing, your nervousness speaking louder again as your eyes widen in disbelief at what you have just done, but jaemin only smiles tenderly when he realizes your mistake, internally grateful to his soul for it. but before you could do anything, once more, the prince had already approached enough so his puffy yet gelid nose could touch yours, his large gloved hand comes to hold yours and your heart seems to burn away feeling how close he was, however you can't help but come up with any reaction except to just lower all your guards to the one that since the start has been filling your dreams. “i warned you… now suffer the consequences.” you heard him say out like in a playful tone for a moment, his other hand going to tickle the red fabric part under your breastplate, causing you to instantly laugh out of control along to him, both having fun at the same time you try to stop him, until all out of sudden he meets your foreheads and with his right hand touches your face as if caressing it, another beat skipped out of you when your eyes meet up again. “i'm in love with you y/n. since when i first met you… i don't know how to be without you anymore.” he confesses softly, catching every nerve in your body by surprise like time just seemed to stop with the sound of his husky voice and his small confession in your ears. but almost in the blink of an eye the prince leaned in and closed the space between you two, his delicate rosy lips, how you've always seen them, now pressed gently on yours, sealed in a kiss so sweet, and so genuine like your true yet hidden feelings for each other. and albeit your nervousness always came for the fact that yes, you two were indeed like fire and ice — you've been always afraid of the distance he had from you high like a castle, and the danger of what could happen if you two got too close — now you could do nothing but cast your burning heart in place, with him.

then as your eyes shut tightly and your sweating, shaking hand goes to cup jaemin's cheek, without you noticing the spot warms up with your touch and it turns red, making the prince feel like losing his breath for a second and open his lips a bit more to deepen the kiss, nibbling softly into your own — after all through it had never been iced, his heart was always there melting, and getting tinted by you, each by each day he got to jump your dorm's window.

[determinationisnotcrash]

Conspiracy! Search Between the Lines of the Movie Script!

I wrote animated actor skits between the characters as a joke on the RP part of the @gbpack-discord , but then I thought about what kind of studio would allow the use of very real laser-shooting bone beasts in movies, as well as what kind of actors would stay around laser-shooting bone beasts, and this oneshot was born.

Impact and Soichiro belong to me.

Sabre and his brother (tentative name: Tsurugi) belong to @paddie-ut

Rigel and his brother (tentative name: Kaoru) belong to @skellepuns

Sabre helplessly clung for his life to the branch at the top of the prop tree like a stuck cat. “So this is how I die… Mum… Dad… Bro… I’m so sorry… You were right, I should have just stayed home doing Super Robot Wars recordings all along…”

Impact – or rather, the creature playing the role of the beastman’s body – kept trying to leap up at Sans, eying him hungrily like it had just discovered what it would have for its next meal.

From a safe distance (knowing well that trying to interfere himself would lead to being ripped in two), Impact’s voice actor yelled. “Hang in there, Sabre! You’ll be alright! Help is on its way! As long as you sit tight and don’t move-”

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The raptor started munching on the tree, its massive jaws easily slicing through the thick material like butter! The skeletal actor facepalmed, feeling quite foolish for jinxing it.

On the other hand (or rather, paw), another actor decided he’d had enough of seeing his co-worker being chased around by beasts. With several heavy footsteps, Rigel dashed towards the raptor and tackled it, wrestling it to the ground.

In his base humanoid form, it would have been like throwing himself at a brick wall. But in that half-beast shape, not only did he have a lot extra weight to throw around, he had quite the solid constitution. The ravenous animal snapped and struggled like the beast it was, but it was completely pinned.

Just in time, the people Impact’s voice actor called over arrived! Rigel carefully handed it over, not releasing his grip until it was safely in chains.

Rigel turned upwards towards his friend, putting on what he hoped looked like a reassuring smile. “Alright, Sabre! It’s safe to come down now!”

The small half-Blaster slid down to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprinted past the others and off the set.

“Sabre…? Wait! We’re not finished with this scene!”

***

Break Room

Sabre huddled in the break room, staring grumpily at nothing in particular. During this time, several staff passed by, such as the ones in charge of props and special effects, but it felt too awkward for them to talk.

This continued for about half an hour… before he was startled out of his sulk by the sound of a coin rolling into a vending machine slot. A claw-tipped hand holding a canned drink entered his field of vision. “Wanna talk about it?” Sabre followed the arm to see…

“You’re Rigel… no, your real name is…”

“My name really is Rigel. Rigel H. Aster. Yours?”

“Rigel H. Aster…?” Sabre’s face lit up at the familiar surname. “I know you! You’re one of the leads of Pink Dark Boy! And the main lead of The Silver Soul! As for my name… it’s also really Sabre. Sabre Midorikawa.”

Rigel’s smile remained on his muzzle, but his eyes slightly narrowed at the last sentence. “Heh, that is what I’m famous for. But Midorikawa…? The actor half the staff- no, half the world is practically in love with? Did you use connections to…? And hold on a sec, how can a blind man watch television?”

A green blush tinted the small Blaster’s cheeks. “O-oh, I’m not actually blind.” He lifted a handpaw and with a cartoonish POP sound, the socket-blackening lenses came out. “And yes, I would like to talk about it. I just can’t stand the Director’s choices anymore! I thought I had the resolve to keep coming here, no matter what, but now…”

The tall, bulky skeleton nodded, taking a sip of his own soda, but his eyes bugged out upon the unfamiliar flavour reaching his tongue. He looked down at the can. Grass Jelly…!? Then Sabre got…

“EUUUUGH!” Several splutters and coughs left the man’s maw, his entire face seemingly scrunching up. “This milk…! It expired years ago!”

“Sorry, I should’ve known not to trust in company import vending machines.” Taking both cans, the blue humanoid dragon poured them down the sink, before chucking the empty cans away. It was for the sewage plants to deal with now. He silently wished them luck. “…Anyway, people drop in and out all the time. I don’t think anyone would blame you for wanting to leave. Just one question I’d like to ask, first…”

Sabre felt uncomfortable, shifting under the dragon man’s gaze. “Depends what it is…”

“Why did you come here in the first place? Everyone around the world is aware of the Director’s extreme methods. His movies have a massive following, but he’s renowned on the streets as a terrible employer.”

The smaller Blaster’s eyes seemed to shift their focus to thin air, recounting a time that had already passed. “Can you keep a secret?”

Rigel nodded solemnly.

Sabre checked the area around him, before ushering Rigel into the restroom and locking the door. He sat down on the toilet, getting ready for a long explanation. “It’s the reason I chose to have my character be a blind man to begin with… And the reason why that ‘Impact’ creature the Director brought along makes me so uncomfortable. I’m not only an actor, you see…

“I do detective work on the side – anything from missing pets, goods, or people… to dangerous cases, involving things like human trafficking and drugs. Mind you, I don’t operate alone. The reason why I’m not beloved as a detective is that my brother Tsurugi is the figurehead of our operations.”

That name was enough to make Rigel’s hair stand on end… is what would have happened if he had any. Instead, his ectobody tensed up, going from the consistency of blueberry jelly to more firm agar jelly. “That Tsurugi… The Early Genius? You’ve gotta be pulling my leg!”

Sabre disproved him, taking out his wallet and revealing a photo of them together. “I’m dead serious.”

“N-no way…”

“Way. Tsurugi’s hailed as a genius and a fighter, but that isn’t entirely correct. He’s the combat expert who handles the battles, whereas I’m the discrete thinker. He shines in the light, whereas I loyally provide him with everything he needs from the shadows.”

Cogs in Rigel’s skull started to turn. “I see… but… wasn’t he recently…?”

A grimace formed on the shorter man’s face as he confirmed. “Yeah. It was a crime in my hometown…”

***

La Gias City, two months ago

“HAAAAAA…! TASTE THIS, MY SIGNATURE TECHNIQUE! HUNDRED STORM FIST!” With strength beyond that of mortal men, the skeleton let out a fist rush, the wind stirred up from each punch being enough to blow away all his opponents!

“Heads up, bro! They’ve got reinforcements coming from below!”

Tsurugi’s confident grin didn’t fade. “Is that so? Then…” He leaped into the air, a powerful aura flowing around him, before doing a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree spin and colliding straight into the wave of mooks coming from downstairs. “LIGHTNING KIIIICK!” The room around him illuminated brilliantly! In one fell swoop, they were all immobilised!

Sabre couldn’t help but grin upon witnessing his brother’s handiwork. He really was amazing…! “Alright, proceed! The ‘boss’ is at the top!”

“Roger that!” Tsurugi sprinted up the stairs, entering a large, grandiose office room. It looked almost like the huge, majestic boss’ offices he saw on television: larger than a personal office had any right to be, elaborate paintings on the wall, and the back wall being a transparent window showcasing the night city skyline. Within it… he came face-to-face with the enemy.

Shouting with bravado, the man pointed a finger at the human woman behind the desk. “Well then, you’re the one behind all this! Kidnapping all those poor schoolboys!”

“Of course~!” The Evil Eleanor giggled. “My desire is nothing more than to dominate the young. So rather than brutes and savages, those boys are used to create fine gentlemen! Gentlemen for me to do whatever I wish with!”

“Such dreadful desires…! Desires befitting of a supervillain! Therefore, you must be punished as one!”

Eleanor cackled like a witch, the laugh of an evil hag erupting from the otherwise beautiful face. “Just try and stop me, Tsurugi! Come, my loyal guard dogs!”

“B-bro…! Be careful! My console is picking up several extremely high energy readings right next to you!”

The paintings to the side opened up, revealing skeletal demonic creatures that looked like they crawled out of hell itself. Curved, goat-like horns. Maws filled with vicious, blade-like teeth. They were completely covered in wicked spikes, to the point where simply approaching one would cause physical harm. And the worst part was…!

Tsurugi had seen his fair share of criminals, but the eyes of these creatures? They were something far worse than even the scummiest of lawbreakers! These beings… they radiated pure evil. An unstoppable force of nature unbound by the laws of society or the modern world! The simple sight of them made the half-beast skeleton break out into a cold sweat.

“Ufufu~ Marvellous, aren’t they? I know you’re world-renowned for your close combat fighting style. These wonderful creatures are the ultimate counter!”

“Indeed…” Tsurugi took out a handkerchief and dabbed at his skull. “You have me beat… I truly have no way of countering with my Dragon Style CQC… However!” Determination ignited in his eyes. With a snap of the fingers, several airborne mechanical drones burst through the roof and from below. “You’re sorely mistaken if you think my hands and feet were my only weapons!”

Eleanor’s face contorting into all sorts of ugly expressions, she screamed, “DO IT! MAUL HIM!”

“FULL BURRRRRRRST!”

The world become awash with light… and when it cleared, there was nothing left of the demons but ash. The skeleton let out the breath he was holding. He didn’t say it out loud for obvious reasons, but those laser drones were experimental. There was an equal chance of them detonating and blowing him up.

Warily, he approached the soot-covered mastermind. “Now tell me, why did you kidnap all those boys? What meaning is there in taking innocent children away from their family and friends? Most importantly… where are they now!?”

The only response he got was a wad of spit in his face. “Fufufu… You foolish skeleton… because you had to play teen detective, you’re marked! ‘They’ will pursue you to the ends of the Earth, until you’re silenced! Guhhh…” The life faded from her eyes. Unfortunately, it seemed that was all the information he would ever be able to receive from her.

***

The next night, Midorikawa Household

Tsurugi shifted in bed uncomfortably, that woman’s words still bouncing around his skull. It was the wee hours of the morning, yet he was unable to sleep. They… they… who were they…?

The sound of the fridge opening and being messily rummaged through, for once, was welcome. Sabre! Someone he could talk to about this!

Tail wagging vigorously, he leaped out of bed and all but sprinted downstairs into the kitchen. The creature he saw there would be the last thing he would see for quite some time. “…Y-you’re-!”

SLASH!

***

Present Day

Sabre finished his tale, a lump in his throat. “He was taken completely off-guard. The fact that he managed to fight it off anyway while blinded, unable to use his equipment, and hurt by physical contact with it is impressive, but just what I’d expect of my bro.

“No damage is permanent… he’ll heal, thanks to the funding and technology we have… but it’ll be a while before he’s able to see or move properly again. For that purpose, he’s in hiding right now while recovering. We took the opportunity to fake his death for now.”

The Blaster shuddered again at the recollection. “I felt crushed by that. If it weren’t for me wanting my brother to have all the glory… He wouldn’t have been targeted. I tried to make up for it by coming here, but… I’m starting to wonder whether it’s even worth it, if simple situations like these nearly kill me. If I’m just causing more problems…”

Rigel attempted a comforting purr, patting his friend on the back. “Sabre… It’s admirable that you’re doing something like this. I… I have a secret to reveal, too.” He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a shiny golden badge. “I’m a member of the International Police. Kit is, as well.”

“What!? I thought that was just a thing in movies!”

Chuckling, the dragon gave a friendly wink. “That’s what they want you to think!” The amiable expression, however, disappeared as he continued his explanation. “There have been a lot of funds diverted to the Director and his projects, some through legal means, others through not-so-legal means. A lot of money laundering’s been going on.

“And additionally, there’s… you know, that… thing. ‘Impact’. I became familiar with creatures like it prior to coming here. I performed an infiltration in one of the Director’s secret labs with my brother. What I found was something terrible…”

***

Lightbringer Labs, one month ago

Rigel had to physically clutch his snout to prevent the vomit from coming out. “T-this is…!” Familiar footsteps quickly approached from behind him, causing his heart to leap into his throat. “Kaoru, don’t look-!”

Too late! His brother had already seen the awful sight. “N-no… No, no, no, no, no, no, no…!” Those children were…!

In contrast to the hi-tech, futuristic outer walls of the institute, this room looked like it belonged to a deranged cult. Strange symbols, coupled with indecipherable writing were drawn in red paint(…?) all over the walls and floor, and beaten, ragged-looking children were placed in the very centre.

Cloaked figures surrounding the circle chanted out harsh, disgusting-sounding words, as a large muscular figure approached the children. It slowly raised its blade, and…! And…!! The two brothers reflexively looked away, but the sound of the splatter and the scent of blood were enough to confirm what had happened.

The room was soon filled with a terrible atmosphere – one that made Rigel even more physically sick than he already was. He had to fight the instinct to just flee that rose within him. The waves of evil aura became stronger and stronger… and a ball of shadow coalesced at the centre of the room. One of the cloaked figures grabbed it before Rigel could get a good look at it… but it was skeletal. And moving.

A smile – not genuine in the slightest and more like the fake one of a dog’s or dolphin’s – spread across the face of the staff member next to them. “Remember, you signed the legally binding contract! If you speak a word of this classified information to the general public… You’ll soon join them.”

A voice in Rigel’s mind screamed at him to tear the man apart. But he knew that wouldn’t get him anywhere, and he had to bear it for now.  

***

“Connections across the world, where they kidnap sacrifices… Labs, where they create hellbeasts… A movie, where they use real live hellbeasts… and, where they aim to portray said hellbeasts in a positive and affable light…

“I don’t know what the Director’s goal is, but it’s something sinister for sure. That’s why Kit and I decided to come here.”

This new information made Sabre’s head spin. Those children Tsurugi couldn’t save… and it was happening all across Earth…? After what felt like hours, though in reality it was a minute at most, the skeleton came to a decision. “…If the incident’s grown this large, then I have no choice but to keep going! My brother would have never turned a blind eye to an injustice like this! For my brother, and those poor children…”

Resolve starting to grow in his voice, Sabre continued, “We’ll beat that bastard at his own game! We’ll make a great movie, and find out what this Director is up to! Red, Doc, Mr Ignis, Magester, Ginger… maybe even that Soichiro guy who does lines for Impact! If we get them in on this as well, and use the creative control we’re allowed, we can foil the Director on all fronts!”

A grin spread across his face as the two of them left the toilet cubicle, heads held higher than anyone who had just taken a dump would look. Several stares went their way, but Sabre didn’t care at all. Just keep waiting, bro… soon, I’ll get to the bottom of this!

[danijimenezv]

A Spooky Kind of Love

Prompt/Summary: Old Mansion

Pairing: Winterhawk x reader

Warnings: Jump scare, kinda. Clint’s an ass. A few swear words

Word Count: 4924 words

A/N:  I wrote this for Kari’s Marvelous Halloween Challenge ( @until-theend-oftheline ). I’m tagging some new people, so if you didn’t want to be tagged in this, please let me know and I won’t tag you in the future. This is my first time writing Winterhawk, so feedback would be much appreciated!

Y/N plopped down in the middle of the huge bed, her muscles screaming at her from the long day as she finally let herself relax. Pillows were scattered and the duvet was messily thrown to a side, giving the bed the aspect of a nest. She snuggled further into the comfortable mess when she heard the door to the adjacent bathroom opening and closing, and soft footsteps walking over the carpeted floor. When she raised her head to look, she noticed Clint, wearing black sweatpants and a gray shirt, with his hair slightly disheveled, as if he had been napping just before she’d arrived.

“You’re here.” Clint let himself fall on the left side of the bed, right beside her, and pulled her close to him, depositing a single kiss on her forehead.

“Finally.” Y/N sighed, turning fully to one side to face her partner.

“Took you long enough.”

“Sorry, Bruce and I lost track of time in the lab.” she ran her hand up and down his arm, as his hand came to rest on her waist.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, simply cherishing each other’s presence. It had really been a long few days for them, and they hadn’t been able to spend much time with each other. And yeah, they shared a bedroom, but they ended up so exhausted they would skip everything and head straight to bed. Now that it was finally the weekend, Clint was looking forward to spending some quality time with his two favorite people.

“Where’s our grumpy old man?” he asked Y/N.

“I haven’t seen him all day.” Y/N frowned, “But if I had to bet, I’d say he’s probably in the training room, sparring with Steve.”

“You know, Barnes really needs to stop pretending he’s dating Steve. He has us to pay attention to.”

“Why, you jealous?” she teased with a soft smile.

“Pff, no. I’m just saying, people might get confused.”

“Uh-huh.” Y/N giggled and pressed a lazy kiss over his lips, “Would you please go and get him? It’d be nice to finally spend some time the three of us.”

With a string of groans and complaints falling from his lips, Clint got up from his comfortable position on the huge bed. As he stretched out slowly, Y/N rolled on the bed to get a better look at Clint. She made a low hum of appreciation as she watched one of her men with a soft grin on her face. The muscles of his back tensed and relaxed, giving her quite the view, as he exited their shared bedroom.

The cold tiles made Clint shiver as he skipped past the other bedroom doors, where the rest of the team members were minding their own business. At that time of the night, the compound was quiet and with no signs of activity in the common area. Leave it to the two super soldiers to continue their intense training when everyone else had decided to call it a day. Clint rolled his eyes, annoyed, and continued his way down the hallways.

He made sure to skip quickly to the training room, where sure enough, Bucky and Steve were combating each other. Clint leaned on the railing, temporarily distracted by watching Bucky, but after a few minutes of just admiring the view, he decided he’d had enough with just observing and actually claimed his boyfriend back.

“Hey, Cap!” Clint interrupted, causing both men to stop their sparring and look back at him, panting slightly, “You think I could have this old man back for the night? You can always try to swing a punch at his pretty face tomorrow, I promise.”

Steve chuckled softly, placing a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, “Go ahead. He’s all yours.”

“Well, not all mine per se, but I’ll take it.”

With a last pat on his friend’s shoulder, Bucky gathered his phone and towel and jogged back to where Clint was waiting for him. He cleaned the sweat off his face and smiled sheepishly at the blonde guy.

“Hey.” Clint greeted, trying to look annoyed, though he couldn’t help but smile softly at having Bucky so close, “Do you have anything against going to rest early or something? Feels like I’ve been waiting for ages for both of you to get your asses back to our room.”

“Sorry.” Bucky mumbled, “Y/N’s already there?”

“Yeah, she got there some minutes ago. She actually sent me to get you.”

“Sorry, Steve and I lost track of time.”

“That’s exactly what she said too.” Clint huffed, “You two have no regard for our free nights.”

“Don’t be dramatic, Barton.”

Clint laced his hand with the super soldier’s, seeking his warmth, and smiled inwardly as he practically pulled Bucky impatiently to get back to the room. Bucky’s smile matched Clint’s, even as the former spy continued to pretend to be annoyed with him. However, when both men finally got to the room, they found their bed empty, the covers messily thrown to one side, as if to emphasize her absence.

“Didn’t you say Y/N was already here?” Bucky frowned, and Clint groaned loudly.

“She was, about five minutes ago!” he threw his head back and closed his eyes momentarily, “One night. Is that too much to ask?!”

“Maybe she went for a glass of water or something.”

“Oh, I’m gonna kill her.”

“We can go find her.” Bucky suggested, “It’ll take just a few minutes.”

“We? Oh no, no, no. You’re gonna sit right here and stay put, Barnes.” Clint pushed him to the bed, “I’m gonna go find her. And you better be here when we’re back.”

“I will.” he tried to calm his boyfriend.

“I swear, it’s like dealing with children.” Clint grumbled.

“Says the six-year-old trapped inside a grown ass man’s body.” Bucky rolled his blue eyes.

“Shut up, and stay here.” he reminded him, before storming out of the room once again, practically stomping his feet loudly in annoyance.

It wasn’t hard to find Y/N, Clint just had to follow the sound of her giggles that resonated through the halls. As he found himself in the kitchen area, he soon spotted Y/N, sitting on the counter with a glass of milk and a package of cookies in her hands, talking animatedly with Tony. She smiled brightly, her whole demeanor lighting up, as soon as her gaze fell on him, and no matter how hard Clint tried to remain irritated with her, her expression was enough to dissolve his efforts. Though, he still put on a glare on his face, causing her to pout and make the puppy eyes.

“I’m sorry.” she whispered and extended a hand towards him, “Cookie?”

Clint let out a long sigh, accepting the cookie, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Barton.” Tony nodded in his direction in acknowledgment, “I presume you came to get her.”

“Tony.” he greeted back with a nod, before taking the glass of milk from Y/N and taking a gulp, “What were you two up to?”

“Maybe she should tell you.”

“Way to throw me under the bus, Tony.” Y/N glared at the genius.

“Y/N, what is he talking about?”

“Don’t get mad.”

“That’s my line.” Clint pointed out, usually being the one in the relationship to always get in trouble, “But when you start like that, I already know it can’t be good.”

“Tony’s throwing a Halloween party next weekend, and I already promised the three of us will attend.”

“Is it a costume party?”

“No.” Tony rolled his eyes, “Apparently, none of you wanted to wear a costume.”

“Why?” Clint actually looked a bit disappointed at the fact that he wouldn’t dress up this year.

“I’m sure there’ll be other opportunities. Next year, maybe.” Y/N shrugged.

“Whatever.” Tony dismissed, “So, the three of you up for it?”

“Sure.” Y/N answered again.

“Alright, I guess, but you’ll be the one to convince James.” Clint took that responsibility off his own shoulders, knowing their other third wouldn’t be too happy about it.

“Okay, coward.”

“Sweetheart, this is not about cowardice.” he chuckled, “If I wanna get laid, I can’t have Bucky annoyed at me, or the mood will be ruined.”

“Okay, too much information!” Tony raised his voice, “That’s my cue to leave! FRIDAY, please make sure I don’t hear that.”

“Copy, boss.” the voice of the AI resonated clearly.

“Please, limit your activities to your own room.” he scolded.

With one last look of disgust to Y/N and Clint, Tony stormed out of the kitchen and headed towards his own living quarters. Y/N and Clint giggled uncontrollably, still with the image of Tony’s face fresh in their minds. Once they regained their breathing, Y/N hopped off the counter and went to throw away the empty package of cookies, so they could finally head back to their room. After she had placed the glass on the sink, Clint offered her his hand, which she quickly took, and they made their way back to the room, to where Bucky was waiting. Or where they thought Bucky was waiting, because once they got to the room, they didn’t see the super soldier there.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Clint raised his voice in frustration.

“Clint.” Y/N chastised him softly.

“I’m gonna kill him.” he stated with a serious expression on his face, “I told him to stay put and not move, and what does he do? Moves!”

“Calm down, Hawkeye.” Bucky’s teasing voice rang clearly through the room, “I was just in the bathroom.”

Y/N and Clint turned their heads in the direction of the voice, and noticed Bucky emerging from their bathroom. Both their breaths got stuck in their throats and their gazes checked him out immediately as he stood shirtless in the doorway. The gray sweatpants hung low on his hips, and he had a dark, navy blue material in his hands. He smiled shyly at them, and they returned the gesture, but Y/N was the first to break out of the daze and walk to him. With confidence, she ran her hand up his chest, enjoying how his muscles contracted at her touch, and finally placed them on both sides of his neck. She pulled him down and finally connected her lips with his, kissing him fervently. Bucky dropped the shirt and his hands found their way to her waist automatically.

A few seconds later, she felt a firm chest pressed against her back, along soft kisses being peppered on her shoulder, but firm arms went past her sides to rest on Bucky’s hips. As Y/N went to deepen the kiss, Clint’s arms brushed her sides, making her wince and pull away.

“Not yet, it seems.” Clint sighed, pulling away, and Bucky did the same, dropping his arms from her waist.

“It was nothing.” Y/N denied quickly, wanting to go back to their position a few seconds ago, “Come on.”

“Doll.” Bucky said seriously, “You’re still hurt from the last mission. We’re not going to do anything while you’re like this.”

“I’m fine!” she insisted.

“No, you’re not.” he lifted her shirt slightly to show the bruises that marked her body.

They were finally starting to fade, but purple spots were still visible, staining her skin. She cursed internally, and yanked her shirt back down to cover her.

“My ribs are bruised, not broken.” Y/N explained, as if that would change their minds.

“Y/N.” Clint stopped her, “When you get better.” he promised.

“I am better.”

“Better than now.”

She groaned softly under her breath, scolding herself for being so reckless in the last mission. Clint walked away and plopped down on the bed, happily snuggling the pillows, while Bucky picked up the shirt he had let fall to put it on. With a frown on her face, Y/N went to the bathroom and got herself ready to go to bed, washing her mouth and changing into her pijamas. When she came out, she noticed Bucky waiting by the door, wearing the navy blue henley shirt Y/N and Clint had gotten for him a few months ago.

“You know…” Y/N decided to start, looking up at Bucky through her eyelashes, “Tony’s throwing a party next weekend.”

“Doesn’t really surprise me.” he commented, “Stark doesn’t need a reason to throw a party.”

“I want to go.” she stated, “I want us three to go, together.”

Bucky frowned, not really sure how to respond, but one look into her hopeful eyes and he knew he was lost.

“If that makes you happy…” he agreed with a resigned sigh.

She smiled shyly up at him, grateful he had agreed and knowing he was doing it just for her. Y/N leaned in to kiss him once again, but Bucky pulled away before she had the chance to deepen the kiss and tempt him to do something he knew they shouldn’t, with her still hurt.

“Bed, now.” he ordered with amusement at her attempts.

Y/N’s eyes sparkled with mischief, “Bed, of course.”

“To sleep.” he clarified.

Y/N pouted adorably, but she still did what she was told and headed to bed, climbing up and settling down in the middle of it. As it was obvious, given their past life experiences, neither Clint nor Bucky felt comfortable sleeping in the middle of the bed, in between two other bodies, so they usually slept at both sides, while Y/N happily lay between them. It was an agreement they had accepted since they moved to the same room, and it had stayed that way. Y/N didn’t really mind, as long as it could give her men a bit of peace of mind. As soon as the three of them settled, Clint cuddled closer to Y/N, burying his head in the crook of her neck, Y/N’s head rested over Bucky’s bicep, and Bucky was turned in their direction, with his other arm draped over Y/N and all the way to rest over Clint too, and their legs intertwined with each other. That was their usual position to sleep in, the three of them as close as they could. Y/N knew she would probably wake up drenched in sweat, feeling like she was burning up from their body warmths, but she didn’t seem to care; as long as she was with both, Bucky and Clint, she was in her happy place.

The next weekend came around quickly, after another busy week, and the whole team was happy that they could unwind for a while. The team was scattered around the room, in small groups as they enjoyed the party. Clint had disappeared with Tony some time ago, Bucky was lounging and spending time with Steve and Sam, and Y/N was talking with Nat and Wanda. Though, as time passed and they consumed more alcohol, they slowly found their way around the coffee table, the whole team sitting on the couches and talking casually.

“Y/N.” Clint’s eyes sparkled dangerously as he changed seats with Thor, to be closer to her.

“Clint.” she retorted, “What’s up, babe?”

“Tony and I have a dare for you.” he smirked mischievously.

“Clint.” Bucky warned him, being the most sober, along with Steve, Vision and Natasha.

“What kind of dare?” she smiled excitedly, like a little child.

“Well, it’s Halloween related.” her smile immediately faltered, and Bucky frowned as he noticed her mood dropping, “Do you remember the old mansion down the street?”

“The creepy one? Yeah…”

“We dare you to go there.” Tony completed for Clint, “Walk through the whole mansion and then come back.”

Y/N’s eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently. She wasn’t good with creepy, horror stuff; Clint should’ve known that, so why was he doing that to her?

Bucky could sense her fear, even if he weren’t right beside her, but before he could say anything, Tony continued.

“Come on, Y/N, you’re an Avenger. An old mansion is nothing to you.”

She looked at Clint pleadingly, but as the rest of eyes laid on her expectantly, she sighed in defeat and got up from the couch.

“Why?”

“It’ll be fine, it’s nothing.” her dirty-blond boyfriend dismissed and gave her a comm to place in her ear, “This way, we can hear you.”

“Just walk around one time and leave, right?” she made sure.

“Sure.”

Her nerves and slight fear to do so made her sober up a bit, and with a last look to her teammates, she exited the building and starting to head towards the mansion. Her feet dragged as she walked dreadfully towards the place. She slowly approached the mansion as it towered in the dark of the night. Even the weather made it more decrepit. The broken gates were open, and Y/N was careful to slip part them without touching them, not wanting to hear the sound of the rusty hinges. The mansion was dark and gloomy. It had narrow broken windows and a moldy, wooden door. Y/N’s heart began to beat faster as she finally got to the entrance. Overgrown weed covered the door, as if to warn her away, but with the last shred of bravery she had, she took the brass door handle and opened it, before stepping inside. She was careful to close the door softly behind her, not wanting to hear it shut forcefully like in every horror movie. Though, as she closed it, the door immediately locked, causing her to gasp in panic.

“Guys, the door just locked.” it was probably the only door to enter the house, which meant it was also the only exit.

She was too freaked out to pay attention to what they had to say, but she tried to calm herself, though it was proving to be a hard task. Even if the windows were shattered, little to no moonlight shone through them, making it hard to decipher her surroundings, but she forced her eyes to adjust to it. The floor creaked with every step she took like every abandoned mansion did. A musty stench filled her nostrils the more she ventured inside. The furniture was dusty and old, and mold seemed to eat away at the walls and flood, with cobwebs in every corner, making it look like the whole mansion would crumble apart and collapse on her if she made a wrong move.

She chanted internally “You’re an Avenger, you’re an Avenger, you’re an Avenger”, as if that would make the terror she felt go away.

The old mansion definitely had that spooky charm to it, dull and quiet, with chandeliers suspended from the ceiling and creepy sounds coming from everywhere. Even if it was deserted, and it had been abandoned for years, Y/N felt as if something in the shadows was watching her, making her scalp itch, but she knew it was just her fear and paranoia acting up.

As she finally finished roaming on the first floor, she headed towards the steps that lead upstairs, and swallowed deeply. She tried out the bottom step with hesitation, hearing it squeak as she applied pressure with her foot, but it didn’t crumble. Every step was a different height from the last, making it impossible for Y/N to go up quickly and get it done so she could go back home, she had to watch carefully where she placed her feet. There was a flash of brown fur as several rats dived for cover once she reached the second floor, causing a scream to erupt from her throat.

Laughs echoed in her ear, causing her face to heat up. She placed a hand over her chest, trying to calm her heartbeat.

“There were rats here.”

“Only rats?” Tony teased.

She ignored him and continued the tour, informing them she was already on the second floor. The floor crunched and sank slightly with each step. The lights started flickering suddenly, making her gasp loudly. On the other side of the line, Clint and Tony snickered, trying to keep in their laughs. They had planned it carefully as a prank, knowing she was probably the only one that would get scared with it. Finally, Tony smirked and activated the last surprise, with the remote he had designed specifically for it.

Just  as her back was to an old closet, the doors opened slowly, and a hand came to rest on her shoulder. Y/N let out a blood-curling scream for a second, before her instincts kicked in and she attacked whoever was there. Except, when she did and kicked it, it stumbled and fell loudly on the floor, the metal clanking sonorously. Now, their laughter was uncontainable.

“Clint.” she asked softly as she wiped the few tears that she couldn’t stop from falling from the corners of her eyes, “What…?”

“It’s not haunted, Y/N. It’s just a plain, old mansion.” his laughter finally dying down, “Tony helped set a few things up so we could spook someone. And I’m sorry, but you were the most likely to get scared.”

Once she calmed down a bit, she turned to look at what had scared her. She recognized it immediately; it was one of Tony’s robots from the Iron Legion, styled differently to match the Halloween vibe they were probably trying to give it. Something ignited inside Y/N as she heard that; pure rage. How could he do something like that, knowing she hated this stuff? All the fear seemed to disappear from her mind as it quickly started to think of a plan. It was evil, yes, but then again, Clint hadn’t exactly thought about how it would affect her either, so why not? Breathing deeply, she started her acting.

“Hilarious.” she sounded annoyed, but made her voice quiver a bit, just to give it effect, “Tony, can you please stop it?”

“Stop what?”

“The lights are flickering again.” she lied.

Clint and Tony shared an uncertain look, and then their gazes stopped on the remote, laying on the coffee table.

“Y/N, we’re not doing anything.”

“You already scared me, you don’t have to keep doing it.” she continued and walked to the side to kick a wall, making a crashing sound, “Guys, really, stop it with the sound effects.”

“Y/N, hear me out.” Tony turned serious, “Get out of there. We’re not doing that.”

“What do you mean?” she smirked, knowing she had gotten them, and she continued making other sounds, breaking a few objects she found, “Guys?”

“Y/N.” Clint snapped, actually worried.

“Why did you make me come here?” she whispered, causing a pang of guilt to hit Clint, and took the comm off her ear.

“Y/N.” her name sounded faint now that she had taken it off, “Come back.”

“Clint!” she cried out in what she hoped would sound as pure panic, before stepping hard on the earpiece and breaking their communication. She smirked once again, knowing she only had to find a good place to hide and wait for them to come get her, so she could scare them back.

Though, back in the Tower, as soon as the connection was lost, Bucky jumped out of his seat and glared at Clint, who looked ready to freak out, “Get up, Barton. We are going to go get our girlfriend back, and you’re going to fix this.”

With a meek nod, Clint sprinted out of the main area and gathered everything he might need to get Y/N back, same as Bucky. In a matter of minutes, both men were ready and exiting the Tower in a rush. They sprinted the rest of the way to the mansion, only taking a few minutes to get there. They didn’t talk, Clint too worried thinking about worst case scenarios and Bucky too annoyed with Clint, though he remained quiet about it; scolding him would do no good until they found Y/N.

As soon as they arrived, Bucky knew he should’ve never let Y/N leave the Tower. The place was everything the girl hated, and he glared at Clint for even thinking about this stupid prank in the first place. Without a second thought, both got inside the mansion, as alert as ever. The lights were off, probably after Tony deactivated everything, but they couldn’t care less, they were only thinking about finding her. As they reached the second floor, where they knew Y/N had been last, Clint brought up his bow at the minimum sound, and Bucky did the same with one of his guns. The mansion felt desolated, and even if they strained their hearing, they couldn’t tell if Y/N was there at all. Clint dropped his head and closed his eyes shut, starting to freak out.

“Clint, hey.” Bucky called him, dropping his gun and pulling Clint by his shoulders to face him, “Come on, look at me.”

“Buck, I-I…” he took a shaky breath, “I fucked up.”

“Don’t say that.” he tried to calm his boyfriend, knowing he was about to lose it completely.

“But, what if something happened to Y/N–” he choked up just thinking about it, “What if they took her again, like last time? What if–”

“Hey.” Bucky interrupted him, pulling him in a tight hug.

Of course he knew what time Clint was referring to. The time Y/N was taken by HYDRA. The time they came really close to losing her for real. But Bucky also remembered that time being his fault, at least in his mind. He hadn’t been able to save her, to get them both, and she had been taken, and suffered the consequences. That time, Clint was there for Bucky, to pull him out of the dark place he had put himself in, to assure him everything was going to be alright, to remind him he didn’t have to be alone anymore. This time, it was Bucky’s turn to do the same for Clint.

“Clint.” he pulled back from the hug to place a soft kiss on his lips, “Y/N’s gonna be fine, you hear me?”

“It was just a prank, it wasn’t supposed to–”

“I know. We’re gonna get our girl back.” he stated with as much security as he could muster, “But for that, I need you to calm down.”

“You…” Clint took deep breaths, “You’re right.”

“I love you.” he reminded the blond archer.

They didn’t say it frequently, because they didn’t really need to; they knew exactly how they felt. The words were reserved for moments like this, when they really needed to hear them.

“I love you.” he repeated.

“And Y/N loves you too.” Bucky added.

“I’m sure she now hates me.”

“She might be a little pissed about the prank, but she still loves you, dumbass.”

“I hope you’re right.” he muttered.

After that, they resumed their search with newfound determination. Unbeknown to them, Y/N had heard their conversation. Part of her felt guilty for scaring them like that, but another part of her was still mad at Clint and Tony for doing that. She waited until they were unprepared to come out of her hiding, being as sneaky as she could. Once she was behind them, she skillfully crouched down and swept her leg across the floor, going for Clint’s feet so he fell on the floor. But before he could react and point his bow at her out of instinct, Y/N placed a hand on it to stop him, and looked down at him from her standing position.

“That should teach you not to scare me, asshole.” she raised a single eyebrow in defiance.

Bucky let out a laugh of disbelief at their girlfriend, dropping his weapon and hugging her from behind as she still towered over the tackled Clint. She leaned back against the super soldier, melting at his touch, before taking her feet from Clint’s chest, so he could get up.

“Okay, I deserved that.” Clint admitted, “But I was really worried.”

“So I heard.” her expression softened, “It wasn’t really my intention to worry the both of you like that.”

“Wasn’t it?” Clint scoffed.

“Well, a little. I had to get my revenge somehow, and that’s what occurred to me at the moment.” she shrugged, “I just wanted to scare you a little. I’m sorry for making you worry like that.”

“You’re okay. That’s all I care about.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Bucky asked rhetorically, mouthing a soft ‘Apologize’ behind Y/N’s back, so she wouldn’t see him. Clint got up and looked at her with puppy eyes, begging for her forgiveness without actually saying it, which in turn made Bucky shake his head in exasperation, but a bit of amusement was noticeable on his expression.

“Alright, come here.” Y/N gave up, rolled her eyes and pulled Clint by his shirt, joining their lips, “You still have a lot of making up to do.” she whispered over his lips.

Clint practically melted against her touch, more relieved than anything, and his arms went around her waist immediately, pulling her as close as he could. Though, one of his hands reached out in search of Bucky. Bucky grinned at the scene, and let Clint pull him close to them. Y/N broke the kiss and turned around to now face Bucky, kissing him as well.

“Thanks for coming.” Y/N said truthfully, “It was Clint’s mess. I know you had nothing to do with this.”

“Nonsense.” he chuckled, entwining one hand with Y/N’s and one with Clint’s, “The three of us, we’re in this together, right?”

Y/N’s face heated up, and she stared at both of them with what could only be described as heart eyes, “Yes, we are.”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Clint completed.

Tags: @until-theend-oftheline, @missflashgeek, @thinkwritexpress-official, @docharleythegeekqueen, @mizzezm, @smoothdogsgirl, @thisismysecrethappyplace, @marvelismylifffe, @sebsunshinestan, @serienjunkiegirl

[itshigh-boop]

Greetings! May I request a fic with Writing Prompt 111 about HanMei? (Mei seeing and reacting to Hanzo’s Ultimate for the first time?)

You sure can! I’m sorry if I went a lil overboard with this - but I really liked the idea and got carried away! Either way, I hope you like it and thank you for requesting HanMei!! I love this pairing so much ❄💙❄– ( Prompt 111: “ You have… Superpowers? ” )Getting to Lijiang from Antarctica had been such a long and arduous trip, the climatologist barely had the energy to run when she found out she was being pursued. Making use of her new invention, she made it as far as she did by mostly creating icy barriers and patches of slippery footing in their wake to deter them from trailing her. “Ha!” she smiled triumphantly as she turned and aimed, creating an extremely well-timed, thick and curved wall of ice that intercepted what could have very well been an opportunity for them to grab her. Mei-Ling pointed her blaster once more, considering creating another layer to her barrier. Lifting the contraption, she pressed the trigger mechanism, only to feel it shake her in hands with a loud rattle. “Ai ya!” The climatologist shook her creation, hoping that it would still have a bit of life left. However, a glance down at the fuel meter quickly let her know that her last icy wall was the result of her last fuel reserves. The telltale sound of cracking ice alerted her to how much time she had left before her barrier would shatter and allow her pursuers to continue. With a frustrated whine, Mei-Ling placed the blaster back into its makeshift sheath at her hip and turned to begin running again.“Snowball,” she panted as she ran, each heavy pound of her feet against the ground sending her closer to the eventual crash she’d experience when she no longer had the energy to spare. “Go. Please. You know the message I recorded with you? The coordinates I had you download?” When she received the affirmative digitized chatter from her companion, she nodded. “Good…no matter what…you must get to Winston…pass him the data we’ve collected…we need…to…”“She’s over here!”Mei-Ling grit her teeth, urging herself to run faster, if not just to give Snowball a chance to leave the area safely. She turned a sharp corner and into a dark sidestreet, hoping to make as many detours as possible. She rounded corner after corner until eventually finding herself face to face with a tall, cement-brick wall, the crude and chipped graffiti mocking her helpless situation.The little droid floated out of his spot on her empty fuel tank, hovering before her. What she took as a sad noise and the droop of his ‘eyes’, Mei gently stroked her thumbs over Snowball’s visor. “You’re my only hope now, Snowball.” She ushered the droid to float toward the sky. “Go!” she whispered, nodding to him once and then turned around as the thuds of combat boots swarmed her senses. “What is that you want from me?” Mei-Ling asked as she turned, managing to muster up the courage to sound and look angry with the unwanted guests. “You’re either a valuable research asset or a dangerous liability, Zhou. You’ve got two choices: come quietly, or you can die here.”Mei-Ling blinked away the hot tears that sprang to her cinnamon colored eyes. This was unfair. Even now, she looked down at the empty fuel canister for her blaster, hoping for some kind of miracle. “I don’t know who you are but I have something I must do.” Her fingers clenched around the blaster as she glared at the soldiers from beneath her lashes. “And I won’t stop until it’s done.” With a simple nod from one of the chasers, all their weapons were now focused on her. “I’m sorry to hear that. But you were in Overwatch -  you knew the risks.” I did know, Mei-Ling thought. hoping that Snowball was safely on his way to wherever from Winston had made his broadcast. This was the least she could do for the world - to ensure that her friends’ deaths weren’t in vain. She closed her eyes tight and with a shaking sigh, wondered if she’d be reunited with her teammates in just a few moments. The flurry of bullets that she expected never came. It was both an instant and an eternity passing as a new pair of footsteps reached her ears. There were confused and angry shouts and the once still evening breeze suddenly picked up in intensity, tossing her hair about. Faint sparks of electricity seemed to dance around, peppering at her cheeks and rousing her to open her eyes. Just as she did, a blue glow filled her vision. Then, a powerful and proud shout, in a language not of her homeland resonated off the narrow walls of the alleyway. “Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau!”Mei-Ling felt more than heard the shaking roar that followed the shout. Dragons had always been an important symbol of power and luck with her people. To actually see one (no, two), even the ever positive and creative Mei-Ling Zhou was questioning her remaining sanity. The dragons were transparent but radiated a fierce blue light, their scales shimmering like precious gems and their entire aura sparked. Yet, as their maws gaped open, as if to swallow anything in their path, Mei-Ling felt safe in their wake. Their brilliant light consumed the soldiers, and as they approached, their bodies passed through her body, filling with her a rush of energy from her temples down to her very toes. The raw power she’d seemingly only been touched with was enough to lift the breath from her throat. Mei-Ling sank to her knees, the bout of energy from earlier instantaneously gone. When the winds had died down and the alleyway became dark and dingy again, she dared to open her eyes. “Mei…?” came the digital voice of Snowball, flaring his voice box with an intonation of concern. “Snowball?” A relieved laugh escaped Mei-Ling’s lips and she smiled as the droid chirped, nudging her cheek affectionately. “How are you here? I thought you left…”Footsteps approaching her had Mei-Ling on her guard, quickly lifting her head, only to find that the soldiers were all now strewn about, seemingly unconscious. Stepping over their bodies was a man who, in her very honest opinion, appeared no less intimidating than the unfriendly men who’d chased her down…but there was a calm on his face - sharp features capturing Mei-Ling’s attention and that had her feeling not so on edge as before. The most eye-catching thing about him being the large bow he held in his hands as he approached. When he was close enough, he leaned down, offering a gloved hand to her. “Are you alright?” he spoke in English, though with a slight accent.It was much better than her own, anyway. Mei-Ling blinked and eventually took his hand. “Uh…I am fine. Xiè xie…” Bringing her hands up to fix her glasses, she swallowed the small lump in her throat. “Who are you?” she finally asked. “And how did you manage to find me?”The stranger’s shoulders tensed, eyes glancing to the side. “I am no one important. I was simply passing by the area when your droid found me and alerted me to your situation.” “My droid?” she repeated, turning to look at Snowball who flashed the words ‘danger’, ‘help’, and ‘follow’ across his visor in red lettering. Mei-Ling felt a small rush of heat rise to her cheeks in a bit of shame. To think she was so ready to just have it all end when Snowball was trying to save her. “I see. You didn’t have to follow him…but I thank you.” She inclined her head and back slightly in her gratitude, designating someone having saved her from certain doom as worth a bow.“Ah, please,” the man stated. “You do not have to. I was simply…helping someone in need,” he finished awkwardly. “In any case, you are unharmed and that is what matters.” That seemed to be the end of the conversation. However, there was a pressing issue that forced her to speak. “Ah, I know this may sound strange but please, I must know!”She took his blank stare as permission to continue. Biting her lip, she hoped that this question would not sound as nearly as foolish and insane as it did in her head. “Do you…you have superpowers?” Had the curiosity not been burning something fierce, Mei-Ling would have giggled at the sight of his serious expression fall into one of confusion. “Super…powers?” the man questioned. Mei-Ling fiddled with her glasses once more. “It’s just…I may just be hallucinating, but I could’ve sworn I saw…dragons. Two blue dragons, looking like they came from you after you shouted.” Her brown eyes scanned the area, refusing to look at his face as she continued. “I am a scientist and I just cannot think of any sort of explanation for what I saw.”A few moments of silence and her savior let out an exhale through his nose, shoulders slumping. “It would be a difficult thing to explain, one that I am not truly comfortable discussing with a stranger,” he admitted. “But I assure you…I do not have…superpowers…” The word appeared to physically cause him tension as it left his lips and she couldn’t help the tiniest grin that graced her features. Instead of laughing, however, she rubbed at one of her eyes, suddenly extremely tired. “Well, even if you don’t have super powers,” Mei-Ling began, only now realizing how silly her question was. “You still saved my life.” Contemplating her next inquiry, she shrugged her shoulders, smiling. “Would it be too much to ask for your name?” Surely he could do at least that? The last time she’d held a conversation this long was…technically nine years ago. No matter how strange the circumstances, her desire for a connection, even if temporary, was intense. He appeared to finally relent. “Hanzo,” was all that he answered with. “Hanzo…” Mei-Ling repeated, trying her best to say his name as intended without her own accent. “My name is Zhou Mei-Ling.”Hanzo nodded, glancing over his shoulder and then looking down at her. “Would you like me to escort you back toward the markets, Miss Zhou?”“I would like nothing better. Come on, Snowball,” she called to her droid companion who floated gently along with the pair as they stepped over the bodies of the mercenaries and walked out of the alleyway. “Hanzo,” Mei-Ling repeated as they walked, causing him to look at her in question. “I will remember this moment,” she smiled at him.“Hm.”

[archiveda]

Superman’s Stray

The girl was on the prowl. Hands were stuffed in the pockets of the leather jacket she had stolen off some dude’s bike and shoulders were hunched as she headed down the boulevard. Her beat up combat boots, which had seen far more abuse and worn through in several places, barely made a sound against the concrete. She could ghost through a crowd without notice-- perhaps it was a gift? Or maybe it was a curse.... Either way no one paid any mind to the scrappy girl which slipped among their midst.

She was hungry. What was new, though? Hunger was a constant in her life. She could not recall a single day when she had gone without the gnawing sensation in her stomach, clawing at her bones. Often she simply felt numb to it. But now... now she was feeling almost weak from the many days she had gone without a proper meal. However she paused as the scent of freshly made sandwiches wafted around her. It was almost dizzying.

As quietly as possible, she crept along to follow the scent. Kveta had learned to sharpen the sense of her nose as a child when she had spent the first years on the streets with the feral cats. And so she found herself at the entrance of a studio. Of course she hesitated-- keeping to the shadows and out of sight for as long as she was able. Golden hues surveyed the area. She had been kicked out of places far less nice than this...

However, no one seemed to be around. It was deserted. How odd? Yet, Kveta was not about to question it. Instead she hesitantly slipped into the room where plates upon plates of food sat-- something for the actors she supposed. Certainly they would not miss the food. And so she began to dig in, ravenously. She stuffed cheese puffs, chips, and sandwiches into her mouth-- not caring if she made a mess. She paused only to swallow.

In the midst of chowing down, though, the girl heard the heavy footsteps of someone coming towards her. Quickly she skittered away, attempting to finding a hiding spot. Grabbing one last apple, she clambered up a pole which supported industrial grade lightning. Curiously, the one that approached to the remnants of her mess was someone she had not expected in the least. He was some man dressed in a super hero costume..... What the actual fuck?? Was he for fucking real? She glanced at the apple. Were there some sort of hallucinagenics in this food??

Allowing herself to fall back so that she was swinging upside down by her legs from the light post, Kveta was just behind him. 

“Wha’ t’e fuck is yew doin’ walkin’ aroun’ in yewr superman pajamas a’ t’is ‘our?“ The girl cackled with a cant of her head.

@boltyxboy