#in my head i'm trying to fit it into stranger things canon

[florallylly]

i love a child model steve harrington au .... it's so heart to me

[housetargaryenloyalist]

From a seed grows

Chapter II: Petunia

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon x reader

Synopsis: To claim a dragon one must be prepared to give up their life, yet this is the one thing you never wished to give up.

Wordcount: 9.6k

Warnings: Canon divergence!! This will not follow canon completely and will mix book with show canon (because I can ❤️), bastardphobia, mention of death and killing, yelling, Jace is a bit hot tempered but so is reader.

Author's note: I'm a bit insecure about this chapter with all the recent happenings in the Jace, plus it's my first really writing this much for one chapter. so I hope you'll like it. Also feedback is super duper appreciated as well as likes and reblogs!

(Future chapters will most likely also be around this lenght)

English is not my first language, apologies for any mistakes.

Happy reading <3

♡Chapter I: Thyme♡

Dragon fire burned hotter than anything else known to man. Bards all throughout Westeros have sung of how the dragon fire of Balerion the Black Dread melted together thousands swords and create the Iron Throne. A testament to the strength of dragons and their riders. It was meant to intimidate enemies and inspire reverence in allies.

Everyone knew that dragonfire burned hot, and now you would experience just how hot firsthand

A most horrid end, yet one fitting for a bastard of Targaryen Lineage most would say. No pyre would be made for you, your body instead burned to ash on the cold beach of Dragonstone, with not a soul to mourn you.

Your eyes were closed as those thoughts surged through your head. It terrified you to be of so little consequence, to be so mortal.

Someone once told you that when death was near you would think back onto your life and all your most important memories.

You would be filled with happiness of your most joyous moments before the Stranger would give you their kiss. Death would be warm, warmer than your bed in Flea Bottom, warmer than a mother's embrace.

At the time you had smiled and cheerless smile , eyes looking into the distance as your hands gripped a black shroud, “that would be nice” you had whispered.

Now you cursed them quietly in your mind. There were no memories drowning you in happiness, no memories to distract you from the ice cold terror that had settles in the pit of your stomach and spread throughout your body. You waited with abated breath for the beast to devour you, you waited for low rumbling followed by a bright burst of flames and then indescribable pain would consume you until there was nothing left to consume.

Silence.

Slowly, you opened your eyes, expecting to see large teeth and open mouth waiting to devour you. Instead, you were met with an intense gaze from emerald eyes. The creature’s gaze was locked onto yours, and for a moment, you could have sworn there was a flicker of recognition, almost as if the dragon was studying you, trying to understand. You didn’t know what to do, lying there, coarse sand digging deeper into crevices of your body and etching more scratches into your skin.

The dragon remained unmoving, letting out an occasional snort as it studied you intensely. Trapped partly underneath its snout you do nothing but observe the creature in similar fashion. Both of you started at one an another, a weird feeling flourished within your chest.

“Why aren’t you killing me?” you whispered, voice hoarse and exhausted. The dragon only coked it’s head slightly, as if to convey they did not understand. You tried to stand up, slowly, with uncertainty tainting every move. First you scooted further away from the dragon’s snout, careful not to touch it and startle it, then you pushed you against the sand to try and stand.

Unfortunately you overestimated your own strength, because as soon as you stood you could feel the unsteadiness of your legs. In a matter of seconds you feel them give out. Out of instinct you reached for something to hold onto.

Callused hands met rough, burning scales. The heat beneath your fingers felt like touching a warm bowl of soup, hot enough to startle but not enough to burn. You let out a shaky breath when you realised what you had done, leaning on the snout of the dragon.

Once again the beast let out a loud snort, much like a horse would make. It startled you, making you release its snout the moment its hot breath engulfed your body.

Your cold body felt cold no more, heating up just from being close to the dragon. Your brows furrowed, confusion settling in your mind. What had happened to the intense fear and terror you were feeling mere minutes prior, yet now you felt a strange comfort wash over you. As if this creature would never hurt you, as if they liked you.

Something primal hidden within you took over, as if centuries of dragon riders that had come before you took your hand and put it on the dragon's snout. First it burned, seared beneath your finger and then it shifted. Fear ebbed away from your being, slowly being replaced with a feeling much like veneration and somehow, you knew what it meant. There, in the dragon’s emerald eyes glistening in the late afternoon sun, you saw yourself.

A bastard with silver hair.

A dragonseed.

A dragon rider.

Beneath your fingers the heat had dissipated, yet there was still power beneath them. You were able to feel it's breathing, knew that with one wrong move your life would be forfeit. Power reverberated beneath the scales, dragon fire of unknown heat was now yours to command.

The longer you held the dragon into submission, the more you felt yours souls intertwine. A rumble resonated from deep within its chest as if acknowledging this newfound bond. Your feelings became more than your own, the paranoia from growing up in Flea bottom became shared with a fear of being hunted by other dragons. Everything you once felt now held a dragon counterpart. You were no longer your own. You were one half of a whole.

And for the first time since gods knows how long,

you were not alone.

The moment did not last, for soon you heard a distant roar much softer, and higher pitch than the one that came from the dragon before you. You whipped your head around towards the direction of Dragonstone castle. There beyond the sand dunes that covered much of the castle from view, you saw a dragon flying towards. Although a much smaller dragon, it was a dragon nonetheless. Behind you your dragon rumbled, raising its head and standing tall behind you. You were but a mere speck in comparison once it stood to its full height.

The dragon roared loud, a warning or a threat, you did not know. The other dragon landed in the distance, far enough not to be immediately eaten and far enough that it would not be consumed by fire.

To see that far you squinted your eyes, the afternoon sun low and bright making it difficult to discern what the dragon looked like or who the figure was walking towards you. As the figure got closer, you readied yourself, hand near your dragon in an attempt to keep it calm.

“Who are you?!” you screamed, your dragon let out a loud snort, dipping its head. The figure did not reply, instead they kept walking closer, their features becoming clearer the closer they got. You saw some hesitation as they got closer, their head turned towards to dragon’s snout. Gauging whether they could get closer or not. You looked to the dragon, “stay calm,” you said, turning back to the man in front of you.

“He won’t understand you,” the man said, his face not an unfamiliar sight. His brown curls were more ruffled than how they had been hours prior, the wind most have messed them up. His hands were once again crossed over the pommel of his sword and his tunic still the same black and red. Jacaerys Velaryon stood there just as arrogant as before, yet there was a fear within his stance.

“what do you want?” He cocked his head to you, perhaps not used to such a blunt way of speaking, “Her grace wishes to speak to you about your”- his eyes went from you to the black scaled beast-”dragon.” He spat the word dragon out as if it was a curse, as if it was something he did not want to say. “What does her grace want with us?” “The queen does not need to explain herself.”

His tone was clipped and you watched as he tightened his grip on the sword. You let out a snort, at the same time your dragon did. Eliciting a most lethal stare from the crown prince. There was no point in arguing you found, he did not like you and he would come to like you any day soon. Besides, you were fatigued, hungry and in pain.

You could not return home to Flea Bottom with a dragon in tow, nor could you stay here on the beach. “Apologies, my prince” you smiled an overtly polite smile as you empathised the words. “I shall gladly speak to the queen.” Sacarsm dripping with every word, even if there was some sincerty in them. His sour expression did not change, he only nodded in response.

“Follow me then,” he said and turned around. You bit your lip to keep laughter a bay, for some reason, you were terribly amused by the sour mood of the prince. “What of the dragon?” you asked as you looked back at the magnificent beast, a part of you already feeling wistful at the notion of parting from it. “Leave it,” the young prince said, “it can fend for itself.” He did not await a response, instead taking off to the same place he came for. “I will see you soon,” you whispered to the dragon, hand reaching out to caress the part of its torso that was closest to you.

The dragon let out a rumble, and in your mind you felt that it was trying to reassure you. With one last pet, you took off to join to prince who had already walked quite far. “Wait for me!” you shouted, and you only got a look of utter annoyance in response.

The prince had walked with you all the way to castle, his dragon flying above you both. His sour disposition did not change, even as you tried to engage him in conversation his replies would be short and clipped which irritated as much as it amused you. “So... what did you mean earlier?” he looked at you with cocked brows, “when you said my dragon could not understand me?” He rolled his eyes as if the answer was as obvious as saying the sky was blue.

“Dragons don’t understand the common tongue.” “Then what do they understand?” you asked, genuinely curious, yet you were able to see that it annoyed him from the way his jaw was set, “They only understand Valyrian.” “That old language?” “Yes," he gritted out.

You hummed in response, “can I learn Valyrian?” He looked sideways as if pondering it before saying, “Perhaps,-” he looked to you, looking over your frame, scrutinising you no doubt-” in due time.” You nodded slowly, not knowing how to respond.

The conversation ended like that, and although you were brimming with questions, you knew that he was not likely to entertain him. Instead you opted to continue forth in silence. Dragonstone grew larger and closer with every step you took. Soon enough you would have others who might be able to answer your questions answers.

Upon entering Dragonstone various guards had flocked to the young prince, awaiting commands, yet the prince turned them all away. He declared that he must escort you himself as the queen wished. You had to restrain yourself from rolling your eyes, all this pompousness was not something you were fond of.

This constrained way of talking, hiding all that you really felt behind petty facades and poisonous words. In Flea Bottom things were brutal, harsh, dangerous, yet when someone disliked you, they made it known. Here it felt as though every step you took was a tender balance between chaos and peace. One wrong word, and you would be ousted from the castle forever. You knew that within these walls you would need to be careful. Play the game, or die.

Your second time walking through Dragonstone felt much different than the first, now you knew what happened underneath the stone floors, knew the bodies that laid in the Dragonpits, perhaps not by name but you had seen their faces. Hope, fear, pride, all human, all mortal and most were now dead.

You wondered how to prince seemed to unaffected, knowing the lives taken. One more reason to add onto your list of “royalty sucks.” The prince walked in front of you which allowed you some leeway to openly gawk at the tapestries and statues you were not allowed to gawk at previously. Death payed well you thought.

Candles illuminated the hallways, casting shadows that danced around your feet as the wind blew the flames into every direction. A storm was brewing the young prince had muttered under his breathe, not meant for your ears to hear.

Storms didn’t scare you, not when you found yourself sheltered between ancient stones that had withered centuries of storms, yet anxiety was a funny feeling. It started clawing its way from the back of your mind all the way to the front. Haunting your mind with the most horrific of scenarios, from the castle collapsing in on itself to a deluge bursting through the heavy doors, drowning all within.

As you passed the occasional window you saw the weather worsen, at first the sky clouded over, the next window you passed had already been stained by drops of rain, and at last window you could no longer clearly see the outside, the rain pouring down hard enough to obscure everything.

Soon the prince came to a standstill in front of large oak doors, opening it with little effort, and you see now how much strength the young prince had. He stood there, in silence, looking at you. Beyond the doors were long, spiralling stairs, the end of them you were able to see from where you stood. You stepped forward with some hesitation, eyes looking up a head to see where the stairs led.

“You are expected on the top floor,” he said, closing the door behind you both. Here within this tower, you could clearly hear the thunder and rain raging outside, adding to the terrifying nature of this place in particular. The prince stepped around you and made his ascent, not bothering to look back to see if you were following. After the prince turned around the first round corner, you snapped out of you slight reverie, quickly hurrying after him.

The walls of the tower were bare, no tapestries or intricate carved design, the only thing you saw were old stones. It was a long ascent, occasionally the stairs would halt and change into even floor and on those small patches of floor there would be two heavy doors. The prince told you those led to private quarters, the higher up the more important the inhabitants.

“Where do I sleep ?” you asked as you passed what you assumed to be the fourth floor, the prince looked to you, down his nose and truly looking down on you., “the queen shall decide that.”

You hummed in response, a part of you not to keen on the prospect of residing in this looming tower, with the way the thunder roared here in a way you had never heard thunder roar.

Soon the stairs came to an end in front of a small door, leading into a hallway with only candles to light your way, the hallway was not long and at the end of you were once again faced with a set of doors. Two Queensguards, silver armour shimmering in the candlelight, stood on either side of it. As the prince moved forward, the guards rushed to open the door. The doors creaked and groaned, alerting all behind them of the impending intrusion.

A grand chamber was revealed to you as the doors opened. In the middle of it stood a large table in an unusual shape, candles were scattered on top of, coating parts of the table in wax. It was a marvellous piece of craftsmanship, with intricate lines and drawings carved into it in way that allowed for them to be illuminated by placing candles underneath it.

The prince stepped forward, “I have brought her, your grace,” he said before making his way towards his mother’s side. Sparing a single glace to you which you replied to with a smile, something the young prince seemingly did not appreciate for all you got in return was a scowl.

The queen extended a soft smile to her son as he made his way to stand closer to her, bypassing all the other lords in the chamber. The mother and son pair whispered briefly amongst themselves, eyes occasionally glancing to you while you pretended you didn’t see it.

Their eyes weren’t the only ones on you, the entire room had made you their object of intrest. Some wore scowls of displeasure, others regarded you with intrigue. After growing up in Flea Bottom where shadows were you best friend, being this visible was unsettling. They looked over your entire garb, your entire being. Examined you silver-blond here, unruly and no longer in the shape of a braid, they scrutinised your lack of violet eyes and most of all, detested that you were not of high born blood. They did not need to speak it aloud, their gazes were enough.

“My lords,” the queen raised her head, her quiet conversation with her son over, “I kindly ask that you leave this chamber.” The words left the room abuzz, some muttered protests under their breaths, other had no such shame. “We shall reconvene on the morrow,” she smiled once again, but it was not a smile of affection, but a smile that screamed not to oppose her, “enjoy your evenings.”

You stepped away from the doors as the hoard of lords approached, talking amongst themselves while glancing at you and the queen. No doubt they felt spurned for not being allowed to be present for the upcoming conversation.

The queen approached you, as her son stood back, eyes watching your every move. ���Please sit,” the queen motioned to one of the chairs scattered around the weird table. “My son told me something quite fascinating,” you furrowed your brows, sparing a quick look to the man in question. “He told me that The Cannibal approached you,” as she spoke she filled two goblets with a ruby red liquid, most likely a very expensive sort of wine.

She placed one goblet in front of you, afterwards, taking a sip of her own. All the while her lilac eyes observed you. You had never found yourself in such a scenario and were admittedly at a loss. Before uttering any words, you decided to take a sip of the wine, you couldn’t remember the last time you had any beverage that was not sea water. It tasted sweet, thick and sweet, unlike any other wine you had ever tasted.

As the wine warmed your body, and softened the aches of your bones you spoke up, “If by The Cannibal you mean the black dragon I met, then yes, it did approach me.” The queen looked at you, nodding and taking another sip, then placing her goblet on the table. Her son still boring holes in your figure from where he stood.

“What was the encounter like?” She eventually asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity. Her kindness and patience were unusual to you, for her, the queen, to speak to you with even the tiniest bit of respect was unheard of. It is no wonder she commanded the other lords to take their leave, they would not stand for this familiar sort of talk.

They would pass out to know that you sat on their honourable chairs, imagine what they would think if they knew you had the opportunity to partake of their wine. They might die on the spot. You had to keep yourself from letting out a chuckle at the imagine your mind conjured, instead bringing yourself back to conversation at hand. You looked towards the queen, the awkwardness palatable as she looked at you with expectation.

“The encounter was life altering,” in the distance you heard the prince clear his throat, commanding your attentions. You raised your brow at him, as did his mother. “you are to address the queen by her rightful title,” he said, looking at you as if you had committed the greatest of offence, which you suppose, you kind off did. You huffed out a breath, “Apologies your graces I am not used to the manners of court.” The queen nodded in response, “It is alright,” she picked her goblet back up and drank of it once more.

God you hated this, the silence, the awkwardness, the forced politeness. It made you feel stifled, trapped. However you persisted, there was something they wanted, you could feel it hanging in the air like you could feel the heat from the heart. “So,” the queen continued, “we are to understand that you claimed that dragon?”

You gulped, and nodded, “I suppose that is what happened your grace,” you chuckled lightly after having said it, the notion of having claimed a dragon was still a bit foreign. The queen nodded, as she casted a look towards her son. You looked to her and saw that she was clearly mulling something over in her head, debating and weighing the options in front of her. As she thought, you took another sip of the wine, letting the liquid further ease your mind and buddy. The queen’s eyes soon turned back to you, her mind made up,

“You understand that we are fighting a war,” she asked, looking at you with a gaze full of expectations and a lingering hurt,”we need fighters.” You nodded slowly, knowing where the conversation was going.

“I want to you to fight for my claim with your dragon.”

The words were spoken, the proposition laid bare on the table. You took another sip of the wine, the sweetness of it had faded, coating your tongue in bitterness. Placing the goblet on the table, the thud echoing in the empty room as the queen and her son looked at you, one with expectation, the other with a dull fury.

“What would be in it for me your grace?”

The queen smiled.

Night had come early, partly thanks to the storm that still raged outside your rooms. Rooms that were placed two floors down from those of the royal family, in the middle of the tall tower. A show of gratitude from the queen, you were far enough up in the tower to be respected but not too far up that it would be deemed inappropriate. It suited you perfectly.

The goose-feathered bed was a comfort to your sore, aching and bruised body. The medicinal oils the maids had used for your bath had helped, but now it was up to you to heal yourself.

Being aided in your bath was a most unusual experience, hands different from yours rubbing and scrubbing the dirt off. You soon excused them, feeling to exposed for you liking and although they did an excellent job, you were not one who particularly enjoyed the lavish attention. By now the maids had already come to empty the bath and put it to the side, before asking you whether you desired anything else.

You had sheepishly asked for some food, and they happily obliged. Some moments later you were laying on your bed, with a tray of food placed on your nightstand; bread, cheese, grapes, a goblet and small carafe of water were there to fill your very empty stomach. As you laid there munching on a piece of bread, the events of the day truly dawned on you. What you had done, what you witnessed, the promise you had made.

You closed your eyes, savouring the piece of bread, remembering a time where the only bread you ate was either stale or partly mouldy, gods things have changed. The moon shone throught

With your old dagger you cut through the hard bread, trying your hardest to cut off the part of it that had been tainted by mould. The boy at your table eager to finally have something other than gruel for food. “How were you able to get bread?” he asked as you put a plate in front of him, alongside a bowl of bland soup that was more lukewarm water than anything of sustenance.

You weren’t too keen on replying, knowing that what you did wasn’t exactly lawful. “The baker no longer wanted it,” you replied clipped, as you dipped the bread in the soup. The boy didn’t reply, to busy devouring his bread. Hunger was a nasty feeling, and he had known too much of it. You smiled softly at him, and although the bread wasn’t procured honourable, it was able to feed him which is all that mattered to you.

“The madam has another job for me,” he said in between bites, causing you to pause your eating. “Really?” you furrowed your brows,” she was happy then? With your performance?” He nodded proudly, “very happy.” You smiled at him again, this job would surely put more money in both of your pockets. Money you desperately needed.

“She asked if you considered her offer,” he looked at you, soft lilac eyes filled with expectation. Eyes you never could resist. “I did,”- you took another bite-”I think I’m going to accept.”

You awoke the next morning with knocking at your door, the maids from the previous night entered your room. They carried clothing, fresh water to fill a small basin, and tray of food. First they helped you out of your bed, in your tired state you didn’t say anything as they helped you out of you night shift and into what they described as riding clothes.

They sat you down at the table in front of the hearth, the food to break your fast that was on the tray now laid spread out before you. As you ate, one maid started to straighten your bed, as another cleaned up the tray you had requested the night before. Soon you were left alone, rubbing sleep from your eyes as you took a bit from a piece of bread with jam.

It tasted amazing. You had seen jams in the homes of others, had even been able to taste it years ago yet you never had the luxury of affording it for yourself. Even the juice that accompanied your breakfast tasted expensive, especially due to the fact that the goblet you drank it from seemed to have gold embellishments. If you took one of those goblets and sold it, you would be set for life.

Your mind flashed to the little boy with lilac eyes, how much he would have loved all of this. You took a deep breath and tried to change your train of thought, a difficult tasks but one you had to undergo if you wished to leave the room with your sanity in tact. You grasped at the necklace you found yesterday, tracing over in an effort to soothe yourself and it proved effective. Soon you were out of your room, headed off to chamber of the painted table as the queen had requested last night.

It did not take you long to reach said chamber, having memorised the path when you were traversing it with the prince yesterday. Guards opened the door for you once more, and inside you were met not with councillors, but with three man of various age, the queen, the prince, a knight and men you remembered from the dragonpit. You were the last to arrive.

“My apologies for my later arrival,” you bowed your head, eyes darting up to meet ones of a soft brown. ”your grace.” you added as you saw the fiery glare form, he looked away with you with anger set in his jaw and you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes. The queen nodded, “Apologies accepted.”

you hurried to join the other three, standing next to who you thought to be the youngest. He was a handsome young man, tall with ebony hair and dark hair, and with a beautiful smile he extended towards you as you stood next to him. “Now that you are all gathered here, I thought it imperative we discussed some things.” The man furthest from you with hair half up and a messy beard nodded dutifully, while the one next to him looked bored out of his mind.

The prince standing next to his mothers looked at the man as though he wished to have him burned with his gaze. “You are to train with your dragons, learn the commands so that soon you will be ready to fight.” You gulped, a sliver of anxiety settling in on the bottom of your stomach.

“Y/n,” lilac eyes looked at you, “you will train outside with prince Jacaerys, a dragonkeeper and a few knights. I trust my son will be a great teacher to you,”she smiled as she continued to discuss and divide the roles of the others, however you’re attention was taking. The brown haired prince stared at you, his attention equally diverted. His gaze on you made you want to thwart your own, however your pride would not let you.

Instead of averting your eyes, you looked him in his beautiful brown eyes and smiled. An action that angered him for he immediately looked away, back to his mother. Anger rolled off him in waves, hands clenched on top of the pommel of his sword, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed. A small victory for you, but a victory nonetheless. The meeting concluded shortly thereafter.

;With some words of caution and well wishes you were dismissed. Your anxiety had momentarily settled thanks due to your little staring contest, but now it was back tenfold as you followed the prince. “Where are we training?” you asked as you tried to keep up with his fast pace, “somewhere far away from the castle with enough space.” You nodded, “will you be the one to teach my Valyrian?” He looked at you with an annoyed expression, his new role as teacher must not have been one he accepted with much happiness.

“Only the most basic commands.” he looked you up and down,” I doubt you will have much use for more.” At his words you scoffed, “Perhaps I wish to write Valyrian poetry, I can’t very well do that with only basic words” you spat at him in rebuttal, causing him to laugh in disbelief, “Someone like you is not capable of that.” Your nostrils flared at that, “And what is that suppose to mean?!” “It means that you are not a Targaryen” he spat the words out, looking at you as if you were a stain on his shoe. “So what?! You think the non Targaryens don’t write poetry?” “Perhaps they do, but it certainly isn’t in Valyrian.” he stated as though it was a fact,

“And how would you know that my prince?” you asked sarcastically, “I doubt you spent enough time with any non Targaryens to know.” At that he tutted his lips in response, angry at your response. “I don’t need to spend time with them to know,” he said and it made you laugh. “You people have no education. What would you know of poetry, let alone Valyrian poetry?!” You stepped closer to him as a challenge, “And who’s fault is that,” you looked him straight in the eyes, “My prince.”

He did not reply, stunned at your actions. He retreated, seething and walked away from you. What a waste of a gorgeous face, you thought, for it to be wasted on such a personality. You looked to him and saw the distance he had already put between you, anger was a great motivator apparently. You took a deep breath to calm yourself before following in his direction.

“Drakares!” you shouted with full confidence, and the prince tsk’ed at you once again. “Wrong. it’s Drakarys, it has a y sound not an e,” he was annoyed as he tried to teach you the commands, growing more impatient with every mistake you made yet you tried again.

“Draakarys!” He sighed and tsk’ed again, “wrong again, your first a vowel should be shorter, listen closely,” he looked towards where Vermax stood, a safe distance away from you both “Drakarys!”

He said it with great confidence and you both watch as Vermax released fire upon the ground, burning away the grass and insects. The prince looked towards with a smug smile, before saying you should try again. You turned towards where your dragon stood, even further away from you both and also a safe distance from Vermax. You took a deep breath and readied yourself,

“Drakarys!” you commanded, and you watched with pride as the cannibal unleashed a large fire onto the field, you had not felt the heat of Vermax’s flame but the heat of the cannibal’s was unavoidable. You let out a gleeful laugh, proud to have finally done it.

“Did you see that?” you looked at him with happiness and pride, “It worked!” he only spared you a small glance before saying, “it took you long enough.” In an instant, your happiness and pride were trampled upon, and anger surged within you.

“Well fuck you,” you said, walking away towards your dragon, eager to be away from the prince. He stormed after you, “How dare you?!” he shouted as he neared you, “Need I remind you that I am a prince of the realm?!”

You turned to face him, rolling your eyes. “Do not roll your eyes at me!” He shouted, eyes filled with a burning fury. “Why not?” you asked as you stepped closer to him, so close that you were nearly touching his nose with your own, breaths becoming mingled. Your heart beating ferociously due to the proximity, “Will you chop off my head? Feed me to your dragon?” You knew it was reckless, to taunt him so, but this man brought out the worst within you. He did not reply. “Thought so,” you said, ignoring your racing heart.

Breaths uneven as you stood there so close to him, looking into his eyes. His beautiful brown eyes, framed by gorgeous brown curls. Gods, he was unfairly beautiful. It made your heart race and your mind desire things it should not. You almost reached out to tuck away a stray piece of his hair that had blown in his face. The moment broke however when he cleared his throat and took a step back, “perhaps we should take a break for now.” You dropped your hand, hoping he hadn’t noticed what you were thinking of doing.

“Perhaps that’s for the best,” you agreed and walked towards your dragon, as did he. You patted the part of the Cannibal you were able to touch, cooing to him as you felt him growing restless. He was unused to this, the sitting stil, being commanded, everything. It had been a great challenge to get him saddled, it had almost ended with one of the dragonkeepers dying. Yet the bond you shared, however short, was strong. You felt the fear that he held within, and knew it well.

“Just a bit longer big guy,” you smiled up at him, but couldn’t not look him in the eye “I’ll ask if we can try flying now. ” You could almost swear that he responded when he let out a few clicking sounds and rumble from within his chest, near your hand, “Good boy,” you whispered as you gave him one last pat before making your way to the prince who was in deep conversation with his own dragon. “ziry amīvindī nykēla Vermax.”

The language he was speaking sounded strange in your ears, and you knew it must by High Valyrian because he spoke it to his dragon. His tone sounded annoyed, and you thought that whatever he was talking probably pertained to you. “ugh Issa kesīr,” he muttered as he noticed your approaching.

“The Cannibal wants to fly,” Jacaerys looked at you and sighed, ”Very well, let’s try flying.”He walked with you to your dragon and he was even so kind as to stabilise the netting you had climb up. Before you had started training the commands, you had practised sitting on the dragon, when the saddle was still on the ground. He had showed you how to strap in, how to use your buckles and the best way to hold your reigns, even if it was often with annoyance, he still did it.

He had told you to wait for him to fly to you before you were to even attempt the fly command, but you couldn’t wait. Anticipation bloomed within you alongside anxiety and you could feel the dragon brimming with a fiery energy. He wanted to fly, did not even wait for a command before reading himself. As he stretched out his winds you exclaimed “Sōvēs!”

You felt your heart hammer within your chest as the beast moved beneath you, breathing in and out at a rapid pace. It almost felt as though your heart would move so fast as to rip out of your chest. It was exhilarating. The moment your dragon set off, you let out a loud shriek before falling into a fit of hysterical giggles. Soon you were above the sky, holding onto the reigns for dear life as your mighty beast flew through clouds.

A smile was plastered on your face, your heart still beating miles per second. You felt invincible. With a few deep breaths you tried to steady your heartbeat, but it didn’t help much. Adrenaline filled your body and you could feel your hands shake slightly because of it. This ride you let yourself be guided by the cannibal, forgetting the young prince who had just saddled himself.

He was hurrying to get himself in the air, and although he didn’t personally mind if you fell to your death. His mother certainly would. Soon he was chasing after you, his small, young dragon much faster than yours, but you didn’t care. He saw you as he rose above the clouds. Beautiful silver blond hair shimmering in the sun with a wide smile unlike any he had ever seen.

For a moment he allowed himself to look at you unashamed, no other eyes observed him. There in the sky on top of the mighty beast, with the sun shining on you, you looked ethereal. There on his own dragon, he could momentarily shed the burdens on his shoulders. He could almost see all his worries and duties drift away in the wind. His eyes were focused on you, your gleeful laughter, your beauty, and for a moment you were not a bastard and he was not a prince.

You were dragonriders.

Yet reality never waited long to crash back down, he saw your head turn towards him but was not fast enough to turn his own. You were looking at him, and it felt like he was falling through the sky. Your smile fell and you waved at him awkwardly, which he reciprocated equally before turning to face forward, hiding the small hue of pink now dusting his cheeks.

Both dragons flew relatively close to the other, not too close you would be touching on another, but close enough that the riders could see each other. Your heartbeat had calmed down quite a bit, but you could still feel it beating furiously. Never had you ever been so free. If you so desired you could take your mount and fly away, away from this war, away from the arrogant prince. You could fly to Braavos, or Pentos. Anywhere and everywhere was now within your reach.

You looked back to the castle and knew that those thoughts were pretty dreams, you had made a promise. A promise that you would fight in this war, that you would fight for the queen and you knew you couldn’t not break it for it was a promise made to more than Rhaenyra Targaryen, it was also a secret promise you made to him.

“I wonder if you were looking at me now,” you whispered as you looked up further into the sky, hands tight on the reigns, “what would you say?”

No response came.

You had underestimated the strength that dragonriding demanded. The moment your feet touched solid ground, your legs started wobbling whether because of the leftover adrenaline or the simple fact they used more muscle than expected. Jacaerys Velaryon had descended with every grace expected of a prince, and made his way over to you.

No doubt to scold you over your disregard of his direction, or because you didn’t fly as pretty as he did. Whatever it may have been, it didn’t matter. The moment he reached you, your legs gave out and simple fell to the ground with a loud thud. All the scolding he was going to do was forgotten as he tried (and failed) to surpass a laugh at the scene.

“Ha Ha very funny,” you said as you looked up to him, slightly embarrassed at your predicament. “Could you help me up?” you asked, extending your hands to him. He nodded while trying to suppress a smile. He looked pretty like that you thought, he had looked prettiest in the sky with his curls flowing in the wind, the sun casting a glow around him like a halo.

He helped you up quickly, even holding your hands as you steadied yourself. Although both your hands were hidden beneath leather, you could’ve sworn you could feel their warmth. The moment the thought crossed your mind, you pulled them back. “Thank you,” you said, turning away to look at The Cannibal, as he was being unsaddled by a few dragonkeepers, with great effort on their part. They were terrified of the beast, and he was equally as terrified of them.

You could feel it, and even hear it in the tone of his shrieks. “Where will he go now,” you asked to the prince, eyes focused on your beast. “If he wants he can follow us to the caves, but most likely he has his own cave somewhere,” he looked at the beast briefly before turning his eyes to the back of your head, “perhaps he will take you to his lair someday. “

You turned to him, catching his eyes. “I hope so.” He was about to say something when a loud gurgling interrupted him, embarrassment crossed over your features when your realised that it was your stomach. Whatever he was going to say was lost as he laughed once more. “Don’t laugh,” you say, hardly able to suppress your own smile, “Dragon riding is hungry business!” A sentiment that caused him to laugh even harder.

For a moment, all previous hiccups were forgotten and only laughter remained. However the moment did not last long, a knight came from the castle summoning the both of you for supper. Perfect for your gurgling stomach, less perfect for what you thought was a budding friendship between you both. His laughter and smile faded, leaving behind the stoic prince from before. “

We should get going,” he said, “the queen does not like to be kept waiting.” You nodded and followed after him, his shoulders were tense and from the way his lips pursed you could assumed his jaw was equally as tense.

Dinner with the queen was a grand affair. The moment you set foot in your chambers the maids pounced on you to get you ready, your riding garb was thrown off and replaced with hot bath water. They did not give you time to protest, as they scrubbed your body clean and replaced the smell of dragon with the smell of lavender. They then dressed you in a fine dress of dark red fabric, with small dragon details around the cuffs and neckline.

“Curtsy from princess Baela,” one of the maids had said, before starting on your hair. By the end of the full makeover you looked unlike yourself. Dressed in such fine clothing, your hair was let half up and half down, a small braid in the back keeping long tresses out of your eyes. They tried to adorn you with a beautiful necklace made of small rubies, but you refused in favour of the silver necklace you brought from home. A reminder of your humbler beginnings, yet also a harbinger of the new things that came.

Soon you were seated at a grand table, not remember how you even got here with how fast it all went. On your right the seat was empty, on your left was the tall handsome man from this morning. In front of him was another dragonseed, with his hair in a half up ponytail and in front of you was the man with the beard.

“Good evening,” you muttered as you looked to them, your fellow dragonseeds. “Good evening,” the man on your left said, smiling brightly. The man in front of you smiled as well, “Good evening.” However the other man was too occupied with his cup to ever pay attention to the other. The man to your left leaned in closer to you, “my name is Addam,” he said, then motioning towards the man in front of him, “That’s Ulf, and the one next to him is Hugh,” You nodded, “I’m Y/N,” nice to meet you,” Addam smiled even brighter at you, “You’re the one that claimed The Cannibal right? We’ve all been very eager to meet you.”

You nodded at that, “Indeed. And what about you? Who did you claim?” “Seasmoke,” he said, his voice filled with pride, you looked towards Ulf, who now had tuned into the conversation. “I claimed Silverwing! Fast little thing she is,” he smiled smugly at you.

You turned to Hugh who had looked at Ulf with annoyance, before turning to meet your eyes. “Vermithor,” he spoke and he saw as your eyes widened. “The bronze one in the dragonpit?” You asked, bewildered that someone managed to claim that ferocious beast. He smiled a little shyly and nodded, “Yeah that’s the one.”

The conversation came to standstil as the doors opened to reveal the queen herself, wearing her golden crown. Behind her were her son and a young girl you didn’t know, with white curls and dark skin. She was pretty and as she walked you could tell she was a princess. You, Addam and Hugh immediately rose to your feet, whereas Ulf was still to busy examining his cups.

You gave him a pointed look as Hugh muttered “get up.” With clumsy feet he rose from the chair, almost knocking it over. All bowed before the queen and her entourage, although it was with little grace and wobbling knees.

As the queen was seated you were all allowed to sit down once more, servants delivered plates of food. Fruits and vegetables you never had to opportunity to taste, there were even these little bird like things. You had seen them before, but no longer remembered the name.

Ulf was quick to dig in, not waiting for anyone, or for a prayer. A part of you felt slightly annoyed at his rudeness, another part of you wanted to follow his lead. Never in your whole life had you seen this much food. He ate messily, yet you could not really blame him. It was not as though there were schools of etiquette back in Flea Bottom.

Due to Ulf’s impatience the order of things had been slightly altered and you noticed how it didn’t go over well with the royals at the table. The prince looked as though he would rather be dead, and the princess in front of him tried her hardest to remain neutral. The queen smiled tensely as she asked everyone to please dig in. On your plate you had stacked a variety of food, a little bird, beans, some potatoes. You wished to have a taste of everything, to savour every piece, because you knew that this opportunity was a rare one.

“You’ve got to taste the fish,” the man next to you excitedly said with a warm smile. You smiled back at him, “I will,-” you motioned towards your small bird-”but first this.” He nodded, before nudging your shoulders, “Look’s like Ulf is enjoying them,” he laughed along with you as you both watched Ulf absolutely devour the birds. Your laughter drew the stare of the prince, his big brown eyes focused on you and Addam as you conversed with one another.

The staring resulted in a nudge to the foot by the princess in front of him who looked at him with puzzled brows. “More wine here!” Ulf proclaimed, interrupting the conversation between Addam and you, “taming a dragon is thirsty work.” As he said that you rolled your eyes, but you soon regained your composure as you saw the queen grab her cup and stand. Your eyes turned to her, but not for long for Ulf once more spoke up “Oh, and some of these little bird.”

You looked at Addam who was looking at his food, head bowed slightly letting out a sigh. You could tell his was embarrassed in Ulf’s place. You eyes then went back to the queen who looked most displeased.

“A toast,” the queen spoke, “to our new riders.” The whole room fell silent at her words, eyes upon her, cutlery laid to rest. “The four of you are not of noble birth but you have done a thing never dreamed of before now,” All at the table rose their cups, some more enthusiastically then others you noticed as you finally dared to sneak a glance at the prince.

The queen sat back down, and drank the wine, a silent permission of all to do the same. She was however not done with her speech, “I have entrusted you with a power only few have known. And I charge you to take it up with fealty and respect,” she smiled at the four of you, “Serve me well and I will you knights and lady of the realm.” All eyes were on her, before Ulf opened his mouth, much to everyone’s annoyance. “Huh? What do you think of that, boys?” he asked in a slightly mocking manner, “We’ll be knights…just like that.”

The smile on his face made you uncomfortable, the food visible in his mouth. Hugh and Addam did not respond to his words, the later responding only to the queen, “we will not fail you, my queen,” he said, looking away from Ulf and instead towards her.

After Addam, Hugh also spoke up, “What must we do?” He asked nervously. The queen darted her eyes to the side, thinking over her words before responding, “I had thought that the mere fact of you might stay the enemy’s hand.” Her eyes roamed over you all, a slight tone of regret seeping into her voice, “but lord Corlys is right. We must strike while we have the advantage,” she looked briefly towards her son, before returning her gaze to the other, ”and end this war.”

You nodded at her words, knowing that she was right. The enemy might be deterred for but they won’t be for long. If you didn’t strike now, they will. You looked to others, saw as the princess leaner forward slightly in her chair. Her features were covered in slight surprise as the queen continued, “learn your beasts and your commands. You will fly in two days time.”

You took a deep breathe in, gnawing at your bottom teeth. The appetite you had suddenly disappeared with growing anxiety taking its place but she was not done speaking yet. “The strongholds of the usurper, Oldtown and Lannisport, and their armies, all must be subdued,” she put great emphasis on the last words, as she looked each of you in the eyes.

“Alone, without allies, he will have no choice but to surrender.” You understood her reasoning, yet her words implied you would be putting to death hundreds, thousands of people. Innocent people. A thought you apparently shared with the princess, “you wish for us to kill innocents.” “And so many,” Hugh added, a look of disbelief on his face. “It is hard,” the prince interjected,”but it cannot be helped.” The way he spoke about it so calmly made you mimic’s Hugh’s look.

You were no stranger to death, nor to what causes death, yet to have such a responsibility upon your shoulders. It was nauseating. You didn’t speak up, you knew this was expected, you had made a deal after all. In the background you could hear Ulf grunt as the prince and queen exchanged a look. “We must break the will of our enemy,” the queen spoke, “or more will die in a struggle that stretches on without end.” What she said was true, but didn’t ease the guilt that was already weighing on you.

“What about Vhagar?” Addam asked, knowing that none of your dragons were a match for her, safe for maybe The Cannibal but he was not battle trained, not in a way that Vhagar was. The queen leaned forward a slight smile on her lips in an effort to reassure him, “she is fearsome… but she is one dragon. The prince regent cannot defend against all of us.” You wanted to say something, ask about who should face her. You were readying yourself to speak up, but were too late. “I’ll take him on myself,” Ulf said, drunk on wine and good food, “Silverwing’s a goer, she is.”

He waved around his finger to mimic a dragon flying, “we’re afraid of nothing.” Addam looked at him disapprovingly, but Ulf continued, “even if you are.” A sentence that you knew agitated Addam, you could see it in his posture as he spoke, “there will be time enough,”- he turned his head to look Ulf directly in the eye-”to see which one of us is a coward.” Ulf only smiled in response, before turning towards where the servants stood, raising his cups and demanding once more that they bring him more little birds. An act that greatly displeased all the others at the table. The queen tried to reprimand him softly by stating, “A knight will comport himself with grace at the queen’s table.” It didn’t work on Ulf however, who responded, “best make me a knight, then.” A statement that earned him sharp glares from the princess.

“You forget yourself,” the prince stated, “friend.” It was said in a tone that indicated he did not want to be messed with, his jaw was set once more. However the statement had another emotiong to it, as if it was a follow up to a conversation none of you were aware of excpet the prince and Ulf.

Ulf scoffed in response, grabbing his goblet. “ Sense of humour would do you all good,” he said before taking a big swig. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife, and you hoped that the dinner would soon come to an end. A prayer that was answered quickly when the maester entered to room to whisper something into the ear of the queen.

The queen rose from her seat once more, but this time it was not to give a toast. You glanced towards the prince who was staring at his mother, for the first time this evening you really looked at him. His curls had been styled, his tunic a different one from before. This time he had no cape nor any red embellishments.

He looked handsome you thought, and as soon as the thought crossed your mind you looked a way. In the meantime the queen was in deep conversation with the maester and you could only pray that the new was good, but from the looks on either faces, that did not seem the case.

The queen soon turned back to the table, “Addam,” she called, the man looked startled upon hearing his name, “come with me.” In silence Addam followed after her, and you watched them both leave. Ulf finally received his birds, yet your appetite was long gone.

You pushed yourself off your chair, and bowed to the prince and princess, you knew was expected. “I wish to retire to my room,” you said, watching the both of them exchange glances before they nodded. The princess smiled at you, “you may go,” she said and you nodded to her in response.

You walked towards your rooms, your stomach twisted and turned as you mulled over all that had just happened. The inevitable was soon to come. Westeros was at war, a war in which you swore you would participate. A promise you had perhaps made too quickly, yet could not take back.

Blood was already on your hands, were you truly ready to add more?

Tagslist (open)

@madame-fear, @/corruptedcruiser, @rav9n-16, @/blackravena, @kaymej, @burningwitchobject, @/vee-mage, @thenotesapppoet, @benjinotes, @/kitkat1sstuff, @/cxcilla, @alyssa-dayne, @i-padfootblack-things, @seaheaded

(A dash after the @ sign means that I wasn't able to tag your blog for some reason. Sorry💔)

[deliriumsdelight7]

Okay so I'm too afraid to watch Stranger Things (I have on good authority that it would actually break me) but I feel like I Need to know about hellcheer, what are the most important things to know xD

You, my friend, are in luck, because Hellcheer has all of, like, five minutes of interactions. I’ll only show you the video for the good one so as not to break you. This scene OOZES chemistry:

As for things to know, I will do my best to stick with strictly canon material and avoid headcanons (of which there are many).

For Chrissy Cunningham:

1.) She is a senior in high school, head cheerleader.

2.) She is dating the captain of the basketball team, Jason Carver.

3.) She is being plagued by visions from an otherworldly creature who is essentially feeding off of her trauma. That’s why she’s so jumpy in the clip.

4.) She has an eating disorder. This manifests in her visions as a table full of food that is rotting and fly-infested.

5.) Her mother is abusive. This manifests in her visions with her mother at a sewing machine altering Chrissy’s clothes to fit. Additionally, in the vision, her father is sewn to his recliner, his eyes and mouth sewn shut - implying that he has been violently blinded, immobilized, and silenced by his wife.

6.) Later in the night the same day as the above scene, Chrissy goes to Eddie’s trailer so he can sell her ketamine to try to ignore her visions. The creature haunting her takes this opportunity to kill her brutally in front of Eddie.

For Eddie Munson:

1.) Eddie is loud and abrasive. Compare the scene where he’s introduced to how soft he is with Chrissy:

2.) Eddie lives in a trailer with his uncle. According to the prequel book, his mother is dead and his father is in jail. His father taught him to hotwire cars when he was a kid.

3.) Eddie has been held back twice. His goal is to graduate high school, flip off the principal, and get out of Hawkins, Indiana.

4.) He is not the same person after Chrissy dies. He is deeply traumatized, and blames himself for running away and leaving her in his trailer (even though she was already dead).

5.) Eddie’s uncle, Wayne, is Eddie’s number one supporter. This guy is continuing to shelter his twenty-year-old drug dealer metalhead nephew when he has no obligation to. When he comes home from work to see a dead cheerleader in his trailer, he is 100% positive Eddie didn’t do it. We would all die for Uncle Wayne.

6.) In the last episode of the season, Eddie goes into the alternate dimension where the evil creature lurks and plays Master of Puppets by Metallica as a distraction. Now, people take this as Eddie being a guitar prodigy because that song came out only WEEKS before the events of this season. But more importantly: he dedicates his performance to Chrissy.

(Only the first few seconds of this are relevant)

7.) Chrissy’s death affects Eddie right up to his own. He successfully distracts the creatures in the alternate dimension. He’s in the process of returning to his own when he stops, turns around, and sacrifices himself in order to keep the monsters at bay a little longer. As he’s dying, he says, “I didn’t run away this time.”

Jason Carver (because no Beauty and the Beast style ship is complete without a Gaston):

1.) Jason is Chrissy’s boyfriend and the captain of the basketball team. He is handsome and well-liked, but very self-centered. One of the first times we see him, he takes a town tragedy - a “mall fire” that killed dozens - and makes it about his upcoming basketball game.

2.) When Chrissy dies, he goes off the rails. He gathers his teammates, packs his trunk full of weapons, and goes hunting for Eddie.

3.) We never really see Jason sad about Chrissy’s death. He’s only angry. There’s a scene where a classmate offers her condolences to Jason. He changes the subject.

4.) When someone tells Jason that Chrissy went to Eddie because she was scared, he grows angry and says that she would have come to him. Kinda says a lot about the relationship.

5.) Fun fact: the actor who played Jason based his personality off of Tom Cruise and mega church leaders. Yikes.

Parallels:

1.) ‘86: Chrissy wears a 1986 necklace, and Eddie says that ‘86 is going to be his year.

2.) We never see either character out of their “uniform” - her cheerleading outfit and his Hellfire Club t-shirt (his DnD club).

3.) Both characters were victims of the town’s perception of them. Chrissy didn’t get the help she needed because her life seemed so perfect. Eddie was pursued by a literal mob because the town succumbed to Satanic Panic.

4.) Both had parents who put unfair expectations on them: Chrissy’s mother put the burden of beauty on her, and Eddie’s dad made him help steal cars.

Hopefully that’s a good jumping off point! If anybody else wants to chime in with anything I missed, feel free!

Let me know if you want popular headcanons to go with it!

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Sidekick_Hero! @sidekick-hero has 82 works on AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 80 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@steddieas-shegoes recommends the following works by Sidekick_Hero:

I wore his jacket for the longest time

Suitcase of Memories

to the rhythm of eternity

Will you cleanse me with pleasure?

Sandy is an incredible writer and always manages to paint beautiful scenes regardless of rating or situation. She was one of the first authors I found in the fandom who really captured so many things about Steve and Eddie that I love. She continues to inspire me constantly! -- @steddieas-shegoes

Below the cut, @sidekick-hero answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Great question! I'd been out of fandom and on a writing hiatus since 2016, the spark had just left me. Until early 2023, when I wanted to give Tumblr and fandom another try, but nothing really clicked until late summer when this wild-haired, bambi-eyed guy started popping up on my dash more and more. I fell in love with Eddie first, looked him up, and found that people were shipping him with this Steve character. I've never seen Stranger Things. I went to AO3 looking for some fic and the rest, as they say, is history. I fell in love with this ship the way you fall asleep, slowly, imperceptibly, and then all at once. I think what drew me in is these two characters who are so different from each other on the outside that you'd never think they'd work, but the closer you look, the more you can see how well they would fit, how good they could be for each other, bringing out the best in each other.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Wow, so many. I actually love the range of tropes this fandom offers. I'm a big fan of modern aus, especially ones where one or both are famous. If it's canon-based, I'm a sucker for Kas!Eddie. In general, I love it when one or both are creatures of any kind. I also love friends with benefits fics because they are idiots. Enemies to Lovers and Fake Dating are also high on my list. Last but not least: Porn with feelings and hurt/comfort.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

That's tough. I enjoy writing all kinds of smutty tropes as one-shots. When there's more plot going on, I really enjoy the "exes to friends to lovers" trope, just because as someone in their 30s, I look back on past relationships and hookups and realize what went wrong and how it could be different today, and I think that's something I can relate to a lot when I'm writing it for Steddie. I also love writing about second chances in general.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

It’s impossible to pick just one, sorry. I give you three with the disclaimer that there are so many more I could - and probably would - have picked on a different day. But I wanted to share some older ones in the spirit of what this blog is all about. the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you by greatunironic Keep it Steady, Eddie by outofmygourd Love blooms, love hurts, love prevails by corrodedbisexual (mishabawlins)

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Yes! I definitely want to explore some fantasy/creature fics (more outside of a pwp I wrote with Lake Creature Eddie), I already have the idea for Werewolf!Steve, and I really want to try my hand at Vampire!Eddie. I'm also super excited to finally get to work on a fake-dating trope fic for the summer exchange, I've been dying to do that. Last but not least, I really want to try writing an omega!verse at some point, I just don't have an idea yet.

What is your writing process like?

Pretty straightforward, I guess? It never really feels like a process, to be honest. I have an idea and I let it grow in my head (daydreaming, my beloved) until it has grown enough to become an actual fic, and then I sit down and write it out chronologically. Before I start writing, I need to know a few things about the story. I don't usually work with outlines or anything like that, but in my head I know where it starts, what the emotional beats and major plot points are, and how I want it to end. The rest I let unfold as I write. That's why I'm not the fastest writer (plus the whole not-native-English thing). Often the story tells me where it wants to go, so as long as I have the cornerstones, I let it flow.

Do you have any writing quirks?

Not sure if these are quirks, but my sentences tend to be very wordy. My dear friend @yournowheregirl used to comment on my fics when she beta-read them, "Another Sandy sentence. Make it multiple sentences." Also, I only write in present tense, even though I know most people prefer past tense, but it's too hard for me. Other than that, I can't have too many WIPs, I have to finish one story before I can start another.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Post when I'm done writing, for sure. I hate waiting, I have the patience of a toddler.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I wore his jacket for the longest time, no question.  It's still so precious to me, especially because I got to write it with my platonic writing soulmate @legitcookie, but also because I got to really explore these characters and their growth in this story. It has so much of me in it and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

How did you get the idea for I wore his jacket for the longest time?

Actually, it wasn't all me. I just had this idea of them being kind of friends with benefits, but Eddie wants more than Steve is willing to give him, so they hook up one last time before Eddie sends Steve away for good. That was the original idea that inspired the prequel "we pass the ghosts that haunt us later". The idea for that actually came from a song, "we can never be friends" by mgk. Jen (legitcookie) would not accept the ambiguous (sad) ending, so she demanded that we fix it. So we decided to find a way to let them both grow as people apart and then rebuild their friendship, because only then would they have a real foundation for their second chance.

When writing I wore his jacket for the longest time, what was something you didn’t expect?

How much fun it would be to develop those OC side-characters, especially Mrs. Horowitz but also fucking Tom or even Fritz. It was also the very first time I collaborated with someone on a fic and I was a bit apprehensive if this would work out so I was surprised when I discovered how much I love writing with someone else.

What inspired to the rhythm of eternity?

My love for London, really. I am madly in love with this city and have explored it a lot, so I wanted to use my experiences in a fic. And when @tboygareth asked for a long distance relationship fic for our server holiday exchange, I knew this was my chance. Their meeting as well as the ending is heavily based on my own experiences.

What was your favorite part to write from Suitcase of Memories?

The dreams! They were so much fun to explore because there's a certain mood I wanted to set with them, that dreamy feeling mixed with events from another time period. Their first date and especially their first kiss is a close second, though, because the swing set scene is something I've been thinking about since I saw 13 going on 30 as a teenager.

How do/did you feel writing Suitcase of Memories?

To be totally honest, a bit stressed 😀 It was my first big bang and I was so glad to have Jen by my side, but then real life happened and I realized it's hard to write on deadline. BUT I still love this fic. Especially the theme of love as a choice, even if some cosmic interference gives you a second chance, you still have to WANT it, you still have to work for it and choose it, over and over again. I feel like we nailed that pretty well and I'm proud of us and this story.

What was the most difficult part of writing Will you cleanse me with pleasure??

The emotional setup, because it was a gift for Ger (@steves-strapcollection) and he wanted them to be disgustingly in love, but I also needed Eddie's condition to be something he kept from Steve at first for fear of losing him. Besides that, the logistics, really. So many tentacles, man. So many.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Okay, some very, very self-indulgent scenes I wrote are for my Runner!Steve verse. I am a passionate runner, and it was so much fun to write that love for Steve and to geek out about it in my writing. Another scene I'm very fond of is from my very first ST fic, "I'm tired of asking to settle the debt," and it's a scene where they're both kids and meeting for the first time, it's winter, and Eddie is doing an impression of a dragon with his breath.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Well, by the time this comes out, I will have posted my reverse big bang fic "Emotional Motion Sickness" with art by the amazing @arimakes. There's also the summer exchange, in which I was lucky enough to claim my dear friend @starryeyedjanai's prompt, and the steddie big bang 2024. I'm also finishing the last chapter of "hold me close (I'm shaking apart)" and hope to post it soon. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Yes, I want to thank everyone for making this project possible! This fandom has grown so much and there is so much amazing fic that easily gets buried under all the content, so having this project to give the writers of this fandom some visibility and love is precious to me. Thank you, really 💜🙏 Also, all my love to every single writer out there - you make my life and the lives of so many better by sharing your gift with us.

Thank you to our author,  Sidekick_Hero, and our nominator,  @steddieas-shegoes on tumblr! See more of Sidekick_Hero's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[mxtxfanatic]

... Warning, rant in coming. Sorry.

Hot take, the only morally gray character in mess, that fits the exact definition of it, is Nie Huaisang.

I've seen more and more people trying to tone down Jiang Cheng's terribleness by saying that he's morally gray. I'very also seen those same people say that Wei Wuxian is morally gray because he did terrible things for good (and, no, lmao, he didn't. Most of those come from people not understanding how his cultivation works.) and that that was why he is so interesting. (Again, lmao. Lol even. Just say you don't appreciate depths and confuse "kind" with "boring", so you gotta give every character that you don't find boring a label to justify why you like them.)

I think the term "morally gray" has become a buzz word thrown around for any kind of character that isn't one dimensionally good or evil.

Jiang Cheng isn't morally gray. He is a bad person. Again, a PERSON. Not a monster, not some sort of creatures that has no concept of humanity, just. A bad person.

Society's habit of separating people that do bad things from themselves, that "us vs them" mantality, that dehumanization of bad people, it just leave a bad taste in my mouth. Even fucking serial killers have qualities, can be smart or charismatic or empathetic. Even pedophiles have hobbies and people that love them. Even rapists have people that they love and respect.

Being a terrible person doesn't mean that they're not human. There is no one in the world that has absolutely no redeeming qualities to them. But because of that separation that so many people take for the truth, because of that "they did this because they're a monster, but I'm not so I would never do this", people just cannot accept when a bad person isn't bad all the time.

They'll look at Jiang Cheng that, ultimately, loves his family and is arguably hard working, and they'll think that that means he's "morally gray", because he possesses good qualities, completely ignoring the fact that he's just a trash human being in general.

Low key, it pisses me off. Especially the people that relate so hard to him, and ask me if I wouldn't do the same in his shoes. Because no. I fucking wouldn't cause genocide. I wouldn't torture and kill complete strangers because they dared to have a surname I don't like or because they make me think of someone I resent from my past.

Like, I took can see myself in him, totally. He IS well written, and between the cartoonishly bad Xue Yang and the paragons of moral virtue that is Wangxian, he's definitely the one that feels closest to an everyday man, in personality if you ignore all the murders. I am petty, I hold grudges, I can be entitled and selfish, I am overall a massive rude cunt, but I do not want to hurt people and everyday I strive to be better than the last, even in infinitesimal ways. As should anyone. But that is something that Jiang Cheng doesn't even acknowledge, stuck as he is in his victim mentality and inferiority complex.

But Jiang Cheng is morally bankrupt. He is not morally gray. Not even dark gray. As an adult, he is painstakingly human and in general, a bad person.

And that is OK.

To make him a better person, you don't have to change his entire character with half assed head canons, just make him acknowledge his flaws and let him (finally) grow as a person, past that stubborn mentality he has had for decades.

He IS a bad person, but even bad people have a capacity for growth and change, of the moment they allow themselves to. If he ever gets forgiven for his past actions, that's on the people he has hurt, not that it should even be considered in his journey towards growth.

(Frankly, I don't think he would be. I think he shouldn't be, but that's not for me to decide. However, I can definitely JC finally making some tiny progresses but for all the wrong reasons, and get insulted when, if he ever even get to that point, his apologies don't end up fixing everything. He is totally the kind of person that would see you being mad at them and feel like he's the one being victimized because you didn't accept his half assed apologies. The emotional maturity on this man is below -100.)

(Also, Wei Wuxian isn't morally gray in the total opposite, in that he is such a good person, be it morally or emotionally, just. God, I envy his mental fortitude and his capacity for forgiveness and love.)

Sorry again for the ask, just had to rant somewhere about this and I am kind of curious about how you consider the "morally gray" argument. I think it's total bullshit, if the entire post didn't tell you, but yeah, I'm curious.

I hope I was coherent enough, I did not plan this ask at all, it was all streams of consciousness.

So before I get to the actual material of your rant—of which I agree with—I want to go on a tangent. Bad people as a category are not “dehumanized.” Dehumanization is the act of stripping someone or a group of people of their humanity as a tool of oppression, and it must come with material consequences. Saying that a continent of people are only capable of non-human animal intelligence to justify centuries of enslavement is dehumanization. Saying that a country of people are born terrorists to justify flattening their homeland and claiming it by a different name is dehumanization. Claiming that the man who called you out on your desires to be the new oppressors is a literal demon wanting to destroy your heritage in order to justify leading an army to kill him and his charges while attempting to remove their ability to reincarnate is dehumanization. Calling a child abuser a monster is not dehumanization. It is just an insult.

In fact, the “human traits” of terrible human beings do not need to be defended, because more often than not the absolute worst human beings are materially protected from the consequences of their actions by people who want to defend their “humanity.” In mdzs, I don’t give two fucks about Jiang Cheng’s one “human” trait of loving his nephew, because his “inhumane” traits of abusing said nephew and everyone else in his life intentionally overshadow that by his own design. Jiang Yanli loved her son just as much and lost much more than Jiang Cheng ever did, but she didn’t become an unrepentant monster. Humans are not “monsters-in-waiting” whereby we must act as if every individual is always one step away from committing unspeakable acts of depravity. If that was the case, we would not have survived as a community-dependent social species. Therefore, I do not find Jiang Cheng as the most relatable character ever because I do not find the way that he gives into anti-human behaviors to be relatable to me on a personal level or to be representative of most people’s actions throughout the course of their lives. To feel pain is human, and to have outbursts about it is understandable. To abuse about it? To murder about it? To mass murder about it??? Absolutely anti-human, anti-community, and the type of behavior that can only survive and thrive in an environment that privileges people with those specific “inhumane” traits above everyone else. (One might even call it the environment of a corrupt hierarchy of power that mdzs critiques.) The exact opposite of dehumanization. So if I choose to call Jiang Cheng a monster, it is to intentionally point out the ways that his conscious actions as a character in this story are a negation of human life and community.

On that note, I’ve discussed how this fandom uses “morally gray” in this ask (excuse the fact that I switch between “grey” and “gray” lmao). To bring back a point from my rant from above, Jiang Cheng has his one (1) good trait leveraged by fandom to whitewash his crimes under the guise of “morally gray,” while Wei Wuxian is the one actually being dehumanized by that same label as people use it to justify his literal murder (and those of the Wen remnants) in the story, so that’s my feelings on that. Whether Jiang Cheng can be redeemed or not, I frankly do not care to speculate because the story concludes his character arc at him regressing back into Jiang “hunter of Wen” Cheng, still rich, still single, and still only loved by his nephew. At the end of the day, he is not a real person and I’m only here for wangxian.

[capn-rikshu]

I was discussing Earthspark with a friend. In our conversation I said one of my critique is that the Terrans feel… too same, I want more distinct dynamics and personalities from them. At times they blend together.

Here are some of my ideas.

Twitch - The leader of course, to make her stand out I want her to be more "serious" of the bunch. She'll be a bit bossy, maybe she thinks being the leader = bossy, at those times her siblings may not listen to her but when things get dire they will. The show touched on her competitive side a bit but I REALLY want to exaggerate that aspect of her. I also want her to butt heads with Thrash very often much more often than in the show, they could fight over who's leader, who's older. Petty fights, it will seem like they will never get along.

Thrash - Rebellious hedonist, he'll say like 'chill dude relax', less hyper than in the show but definitely more rebellious and looking to get away with things when he can. I think it would be much more distinct if we made Twitch the more hyper one and Thrash the more mellow. But just because he's more calm does not mean he's more mature. Now I'm imagining him sounding like a surfer dude HAHA, well his voice and personality would match the eyebags in his design.

Hashtag - The dickhead sibling of the bunch. She'll have a more cocky personality and overall quite the menace to society, she makes a lot of roasts and jokes. She'll pick on Jawbreaker and when Twitch isn't around she'll use her size to her advantage "I'm the biggest, go do what I say". She'll pull a lot of pranks. Very much a menace. But like an internet troll she's all talk no action, perhaps she shall be a bit of a coward. When she's frightened she goes to little big sister Twitch for help hehe.

Nightshade - The voice of reason... at times. They'll be the goody two shoes, they'll be the teacher's pet, they'll dob on you when you misbehave. But they are a hypocrite because they will barely hesitate to do a dangerous activity when it interests them or if it's for "science" or with Hashtag. When they are with her their sensibilities turn off. The voice of reason and the impulse, and they're the pair of siblings that most hang around each other, incredible dynamic. I imagine them influencing each other.

Jawbreaker - The ingenue. Innocent, cute Jawbreaker. The one that Hashtag will trip over with her foot and the one that is infantilised by his siblings. I see Nightshade doing most of the infantilisation, it would make him feel like a stranger in the triplet trio. He tries to act tough and mature to fit in and get along with his group of 'The Triplets' but Hashtag will just keep picking on him and Nightshade would just be like 'there there, be a good boy, little brother'. He isn't sure if they are purposely excluding him. This may cause bursts of anger.

And here's my first change to canon, instead of Grimlock causing the rampage it will be Jawbreaker. Jawbreaker would feel frustrated because of his constant demeaning by his two siblings and so when he gets taught by this very cool bot he looked up to, Grimlock, and when Grimlock displays his symptoms of being 'not 100 per cent present' because of what Mandroid put him through thus he infantilises and dismisses Jawbreaker like his siblings, Jawbreaker would get very upset. Because why is his idol treating him like his siblings? He'll break ground, scan his alt mode, and because of the dinobot alt mode it makes it harder to control his emotions and so he runs a rampage into town. Now Grimlock, Hashtag and Nightshade must chase after him and try to calm him down and right what they did wrong with him.

This is copied from a conversation.

[obey-my-twisted-logic]

Name-Your-Friend : You find a rather tall boy with an interesting look in your yard at Ramshackle. Despite your initial wariness, something draws you to the man and an interesting friendship blooms. Platonic!Malleus Draconia x GN!Reader

Synopsis : you make a new friend who's almost as bad at socializing as you are. He's quiet, gentle and awkward in a way that's endearing. He won't share his name, so you decide on a nickname as you confide in this mystery man. Begins the night after Riddle's Overblot.

Warnings : general spoilers about the game Disney's Twisted Wonderland. Light fluff, purely platonic and friendly, use of personal head canons and what I know about the game pre book 5. Slightly different from the in game meetings but same vibe. INCREDIBLY SELF INDULGENT BECAUSE HORNTON IS MY BEST BOY. Reader is normal font. All thoughts and musing by Malleus are italic.

Authors Note : this has been living rent free in my head since I first met Malleus in game. They can't show us every second and every interaction, so I think there's a lot of late nights he visits because he's just as lonely, and it's nice to have someone who's not groveling, calling him "my prince" or scared of him. God I love him.

---

You were physically and emotionally done for the day. Grim was passed out and dreaming of tuna all ready while you began to close the curtains. As you did, something caught your eye. Something? More like someone. You couldn't tell from this distance but because of the lighting of the moon, you could see a student of NRC just staring at your house.

It definitely startled and when you made eye contact from the window you pulled the curtains shut and dropped to the floor. Why did you feel like you'd been caught peeping? After a moment of collecting yourself, you pull on a hoodie over your pajamas and stuff on your shoes before making your way down and out of the house.

The ghost trio gave light teases as you passed. A midnight tryst?! And so soon! You'd have to introduce them. You waved them off, a little annoyed but mostly focused.

Had he run off? You can't help but wonder as you step outside into the brisk air. Scanning your surroundings you find him nearer than before. He had what you could barely call a smile on his calm and handsome features. He was so beautiful you felt inferior. Shaking off the nerves, you stepped onto the dying lawn and stood beside him, looking up to see what had caught his eye.

You weren't sure if he acknowledged your presence, but he made no move to leave or brush you off. He just continued to stare up at your roof.

"Is it the gargoyles?" You ask suddenly. It was the only thing of interest you could spy. It kind of fit his spooky yet handsome appearance. "I couldn't believe myself when I was first dumped here. Old place has a lotta very cool bits and bobs, even if it is falling to pieces..." You grumble that last bit, still frustrated that Crowley had been avoiding the topic of fixing the roof, despite all your work so far. The near perfect grades you got, handling Riddle's outburst and Overblot without dying, and just generally baby sitting some of the rowdier students.

"A child of man?" Was the first thing he said. You try not to gasp, he had such a pleasing voice. "To my knowledge, this dorm has been abandoned and forgotten for quite a while." You noticed for a split second a look of confusion. Had you not been studying his face, you may of missed it all together.

"Ah yea, I had heard that from some of the ghosts and the headmaster. My name is [Y/N], I'm Ramshackle Dorms new Prefect." You explain quickly and offer your hand.

A moment passes, and you begin to feel a fool for offering your hand to a stranger. He does however accept it within his firm gloved grasp. "A pleasure to meet you child of man. I am-" he paused and shook his head. "My name matters not, you may call me what you wish. Though careful, you may come to regret it." He gave a playful smile, exposing sharpened canines. Between the horns and his teeth, you knew he wasn't human. This didn't scare you near as much as it should, but then again three of your roommates were ghosts.

"Shy?" You ask with a shrug and give it a thought. "How about Hornton? It's a bit on the nose but it's all my brain can come up with."

He bursts into laughter, giving you his first genuine smile. "You are quite fearless child of man. Truly." He gives you one last smile. "While it's been pleasant having the ruined house to myself, I look forward to what you bring to the future." He gave the gargoyles a fond look. "Remember the gargoyles as you fix things up, and give it attention." he finished with a short bow, as he burst into a beautiful green light, leaving nothing behind but some fireflies.

What a magical way to end a very long and unpleasant day. You hoped he'd visit again, he was pleasant to be near. He gave you an odd calm feeling, even though his aura screamed danger.

~~~

You intrigued Malleus Draconia greatly. Not that he had revealed his name. Despite his overwhelming aura, you approached him with little to no hesitation.

In the following months, you'd catch him admiring the quiet of your house, even going so far as to give you advice on how to deal with the OctoTrio when they had taken hold of the dorm, threatening to leave you homeless in a world that wasn't your own and was hardly kind. Especially not kind to those without magic.

Other times you'd join him in his quiet studies of the gargoyles and surrounding forest. Occasionally you would break the silence with questions or just to add your own musing to the about the surroundings and recent event. You told him about everything, from mundane classes to nightmarish Overblotting of several Housewardens.

His favorite part about you was how you genuinely treasured your time with him. You never pushed for his identity, happy to have him as your gargoyle enthusiast friend Hornton. He found himself chuckling over the name, even when not around you. Lilia had asked about you more and more as he noticed the lingering visits Malleus spent at Ramshackle. He waved it off, merely stating he needed to check on you, his "Child of Man" who was almost completely alone in a terrifying new world, full of a magic you had never seen before. Lilia would always laugh and nod along, even going so far as to deliver a holiday card when Malleus could not himself.

Not long after the winter, he was once again in front of Ramshackle, waiting patiently for his Child of Man. He was surprised when he heard your familiar footsteps. Not surprised by them exactly, more stunned by the speed and noise that you made rushing to open your door.

"Hornton!" You exclaim and practically threw yourself at him, embracing him. It felt like so long.

The embrace surprised the fae dragon, but he caught you none the less, carefully returning the embrace. "Awfully excitable tonight aren't you child of man?" He teased lightly.

You beamed up at him with a pleased grin. "Yes! Tonight is important. It's very special." You assure him, kicking your door gently open further.

Freeing yourself from his embrace, you give him a little bow and extend your hand for his. Before he could even pout, you continued to smile at him and take his hand. "Ramshackle is finally presentable enough for me to invite you in. Hornton," you begin to lead him inside. "I welcome you in to my dorm, come have a drink or something! I'm excited, you're the first person I wanted to invite in."

"You're inviting me inside Child of Man?" Malleus asked surprised, but genuine smile and delight on his face.

"Of course! You're one of my best friends, and I wanted to share this with you as soon as I could." You led him in and rambled about how you had to enlist Azul and professor Trein to finally get Crowley to get off his ass and make the place at least a safe haven from the elements.

Malleus had stopped listening from the moment you confirmed the invite. All he could do was smile and keep his hand in yours. You truly were special. His Child of Man would always remember to invite him, always remember to have him in your life. He quite looked forward to that night, and any following adventures he would have with you.

[dreadsuitsamus]

I have a request! Remember the scene in the movie where Paragus uses the shock collar on Broly? Well, can I request a short one shot where he uses the collar, & the reader comforts Broly when the two are alone? Maybe a timeskip to his battle with Goku, where he sees the reader & calms down upon remembering the kindness she showed him? Please??

author's note: i hope you've been enjoying these! i assume you're the same anon since my only requests have been broly lol i ended up feeling very lovey for broly as i wrote this, as you'll find out when you read! i'm not sorry for being a romantic sometimes :p i created a bit of a new species in this and may expand on it in the future! i didn't expand on it very much so i apologize! i also have changed the prompt just a tad, as far as the timing goes when Broly calms down. also i'm very tired but wanted to write this story so if things don't make sense i am very sorry

pairing: broly x fem!reader

warnings: parental abuse, shock torture (as it is in canon)

Solace | Broly x Reader |

Broly sits by himself in an empty room, having managed to get away from his father and his new acquaintances. His father had shocked him again, but he couldn't understand why his father couldn't see what that awful man was trying to do. Broly had never voiced it to Paragus, he hardly ever even wanted to think of it in his own mind, but he hated how his father used that collar on him, and in his heart he harbored those deep feelings of hatred.

He looks up when the door to the room opens, the light flicking on. He immediately looks away from the person at the door, but even in his sadness from being electrocuted again, he takes note of the attractiveness of the stranger.

"This is new." You murmur and step in, setting your chestplate down. "Ah... You're the guy from the cafeteria, right?"

"My name is Broly." He murmurs softly. "Is... This your room?"

"Mhm." You slip off your boots. "You can hide out here though. After what the old guy did, I don't blame you for finding a quiet place to yourself."

Broly's lips quirk to the side. He's not sure what to make of you. You seem to... Be on his side and not agree with his father's actions. Cheelai had also seemed to feel that way. Perhaps... His father was the one in the wrong?

It felt like a sin to think of his father like that.

"Thank you very much." He says after a beat, remembering to mind his manners on his own, for once.

"Don't mention it." You're in your blue under-armor now as you sit at your small round table with him. "You're the only company I've ever had in here."

"How come?" As far as Broly is concerned, you're kind and beautiful, and he would visit you all the time if he were someone living on this ship.

You chuckle to yourself, tapping your nails absentmindedly on the mahogany table. "Because I hate everyone on this damn ship."

"Oh." Broly frowns.

"Not to trauma-dump, but I was sold about ten years ago by my own father and haven't been home since."

"Your father? He... Sold you?"

"Mhm. I didn't even know you could sell a thirty-year-old that doesn't live with you, but he did it anyway."

"I'm sorry he did that." Broly's brows come together in a deep frown.

You laugh a little, and even with his lack of social interaction, Broly knows it's not because you find anything humorous. "It was that or be pillaged by the pirates that invaded us. They were eventually killed by Frieza and that's how I ended up working under him. I only wish to go home."

"... My father told me about my species growing up. He says we're a proud race of warriors."

You nod your head. "What are you?"

"A Saiyan."

Your eyes widen. "Wow. I can't believe there's more of you besides Goku and Vegeta."

Broly looks down at the table. "My father and I were told about... that... when we were discovered..."

"Ah, man... I can't say much about the Saiyans since I was so young when Frieza blew up Planet Vegeta, but I'm sure you would've been a good fit. You look every bit a warrior."

"Really?" He looks into your eyes.

"Sure. Big, tall, with muscles that could break anyone in two... You don't got the scary, pillaging personality though." You wink. "So as far as I can tell... You're a pretty perfect guy."

Broly's cheeks heat up and he could never explain why, but his eyes dart to your chest for just a split second, and you can see just a bit of red on his tanned cheeks. You laugh softly and lean forward a little. "Now that I think about it, have you ever seen a woman until today?"

"I... N-No." Broly mumbles, looking away.

"Hmm. You're an interesting fella, Broly."

"Thank... You?" He's really not sure if that's a good or bad thing, so he figures that erring on the side of using his manners will be best.

"Tell me about you. What's that green pelt you're wearing?"

Broly quietly launches into the story of Ba, of how he was his only friend and how his father ruined it for him. In fact, every story he tells seems to end with Paragus somehow destroying happiness for Broly. At forty-one years of age, it doesn't sound to you like he's ever had one day to enjoy life. And with how horrible that planet he was stuck on was, you weren't surprised. He'd been attacked every day!

Your heart feels a pang of sadness at his story. Oh how you wish to bathe him in the love of your home planet...

You smile a little and stand up, heading to your small chest of drawers and pulling out a small pendant. "I doubt you're gonna be on the ship long, I may not even see you again, so... Here. To remember me." You bring it to him, setting the small thing onto his large palm.

Broly looks up at you for just a few seconds, taking in your smile and sparkling eyes and wondering how someone could be so charming, before looking at what you've gifted to him. It's a small, golden, diamond-shaped pendant on a golden chain, an engraving in the center of what looked like an elegant flower.

Broly rubs his thumb over it. "It's beautiful."

"Thank you. The flower is the one of my people. It can only be found on my planet. I'm sure if I could ever go back home that they'd be everywhere, just waiting to be picked and used for decoration, cooking, medicine..." You look out the window, Broly studying how wistful you look. He wonders what it's like to have a home worth missing, that wasn't uninhabitable and didn't attempt to kill him every day.

Broly holds the pendant back out to you, but you gently close his fist around it and push it to his chest. "Keep it. I'll always have home with me in my memories. And my body." You chuckle softly and pull your undersuit down enough to show him a tattoo at your collarbone of the same flower. "The zantedeschia stays with me always."

Broly reaches his hand out, and you allow him to touch your tattoo. He gently traces the elegant, black outline. "You're warm." He mumbles.

"So are you." You murmur, looking into Broly's curious eyes as he traces the zantedeschia tattoo. "So is Albomaculata."

"Is that your home?"

You nod, putting your hand on top of his. "We're a beautiful species. Home is so lovely, so nurturing, so gentle and romantic and different from anywhere else... We're not fighters." You mutter. "I suppose we're the opposite of Saiyans. We're lovers."

"Saiyans love too." Broly counters gently.

You smile and brush some hair out of his face. "Hmm... That's an interesting thought."

There's a sudden commotion outside, and you hear the voice of the old man from earlier, who you've assumed is Broly's father. You look back at Broly and swipe your finger down his nose playfully. "Guess you'd better go, huh?"

Broly scrunches his nose cutely, but does stand and gently remove his hand from your chest, instead moving it to the shock collar on him. Fear strikes in his eyes. "I.. I should."

"Goodbye, Broly. I hope we meet again."

He moves for the door, and when he turns around one last time, all he sees is your naked silhouette bathed in the light of the bathroom. He blinks slowly, committing the beauty to his memory before stepping out of the room and finding his father.

Broly's been thrust into battle sometime after he parted ways with you, and he's lost himself in his rage. His father is dead now, and it's probably all his fault. Before him is Gogeta, the fusion of the only other full-blooded Saiyans left.

You watch from the ship, scared for your friend as he faces off against the new challenger. He's losing badly, and it's looking like they'll kill him. And god dammit he doesn't deserve to die like this.

You push the two lower-ranking soldiers away from the Dragon Balls, ignoring their protests as you make your wish to the giant green dragon.

"Save Broly and send us to Albomaculata!"

You close your eyes, and within a flash, you feel yourself surrounded by the warm air of home. You open your eyes and look around for Broly, praying you weren't too late. You then see the glowing form of your new friend, his body smaller now and close to his normal size.

"Broly?" You whisper.

Broly turns with a shout, in between the beast within and his normal, gentle self. You hold your hands up and he pauses, the glowing fluctuating. You take a shaky breath and carefully ease down the undersuit, revealing your tattoo to Broly once again. "Broly... The zantedeschia stays with me always. And it can be with you too... We're on my home planet."

Broly's wide eyes look around and he realizes he's surrounded by several zantedeschia of many colors, ones he's never even seen before in his life. The planet is vibrant and the air around him is so clean and lovely it's intoxicating. He finally relaxes into his base form, falling onto the field of flowers, breathing heavily and still looking around.

"How...?"

You kneel between his legs and hug him tightly. "I made a wish. Those Dragon Balls are pretty handy... But we're here, Broly. My home." You smile, tears in your eyes. "We're safe here."

"You saved me?" Broly whispers, his hand coming to rest on your tattoo again. It's a comfort to him, your warm skin underneath his palm.

"Of course." You murmur. "You deserved so much more... I could only imagine showing you life on Albomaculata. No pain, no suffering... Just beautiful things."

"You are beautiful."

You smile at him and place a blue and white zantedeschia in his hair. He feels hazy and blinks slowly, drunk at the effects of the flowers and the air, not yet used to the romantic aura of the planet. He looks at you and smiles with hooded eyes. "The... zantedeschia is... with me?"

"Yes. And I'm with you too." You whisper, rubbing his chest and coaxing him to sleep. And when he wakes, you'll show him all of the love and life and colors he's missed out on. Your heart is already giddy at the thought of being home again and sharing it with Broly, giving him everything he's missed out on throughout his life.

[beepersteeper]

I Will Always Find You -- Astarion x Tav-- Full of Surprises | Part 11

Astarion and F!Tav live happily together for the remaining years she has, she refuses to be turned into a vampire because her faith says that her soul isn’t finished with its work yet. Tav dies of old age and leaves Astarion to put together the pieces of his broken heart.

AN: Lord of Light lore taken and changed to fit the story's means. Not canonically accurate. TLDR storyline stuff. This is an AU where Astarion ascends but isn't a power-hungry bastard and Tav is able to help him continue healing. Wyll is immortal and the Duke. Karlach in my mind, if given a new engine would be able to live a lot longer than the usual tiefling.

Another AN: idk if anyone wants tagged in this WIP but let me know.

Astarions eyes meet hers for half a second before he grips the stranger's collar pulling them close to his face, bearing his fangs. “If you so much as lay another finger on her I promise to make sure it's the last thing you ever do.” He growls with his face inches away from the aggressor who is pinned to the wall

“I… I…” the person stammers as their hood falls to their shoulders to reveal a young human boy bleeding from his nose.

Astarions fierce eyes stay trained on the boy's form.

“I'm sorry!" The boy squeaks an apology and grabs at Astarion's wrists, trying to free himself and rising onto his tiptoes easing some of the strain on his shoulders. He starts to ramble almost incoherently about a dare to impress his mates.

“Let him go Star." Vira whispers and puts her hand on his shoulder 

“Absolutely not,” he responds flatly.

"Let him go.” She gently urges again, shaking her head "He's just a kid.”

"He just tried to mug you and you just want me to let him go." He asked dumbfounded, not loosening his grip.

“He didn't though. Either he learned from this experience or he'll learn the hard way another time.  But it doesn't have to be at your hand, my love. You've shown your power, now show your mercy."

His eyes meet hers and he squints trying to read between the lines for any hint. He heaves out a heavy breath and pushes the boy back as he lets his grip go. “Don't cross my path like this again." he points a damning finger at him as the boy turns around.

“Yes sir." The boy's voice cracks as he runs full speed down the alley and out of sight.

Astarion turns toward Vira and holds her face in his hands, studying to make sure she is okay. 

“I'm alright Star." She smiles at him

“No one hurts you." He says quietly, but with an unfamiliar heat while making direct eye contact. “I'm supposed to keep you safe …” his voice wavers. 

"And you did, you didn't let anything happen to me Star, and I never doubted that.” she makes sure his eyes meet hers.

He moves his hands from her face to her hands to bring them to his lips. She winces and pulls her dominant hand away, noticing for the first time the pain and swelling where her last two knuckles should be. “Darling… I'm no doctor but I've seen my fair share of broken bones” he stifles a chuckle, “I think you fractured your hand on that poor kid's face..." he gently holds her sore hand and wraps his handkerchief around it to splint the injury. “This will hurt, but I'm going to split this. Let's get you to Karlach, she can reset it for you so it can heal properly. It'll feel better when she gets it put together.” He lets out a pained sigh before his voice lifts again "I didn't expect you to be able to throw a punch." He no longer tries to hide his laugh when she playfully swats him with her good hand.

“I surprised myself if I'm to be totally honest." She laughs as well, looking at the makeshift bandage. “I don't know where that came from." She places her good hand in his and starts to walk to the bar again.  They walk into the building and hear their names called from a back booth and see Karlach waving her hand in the air to get their attention. They slide into the empty side of the booth. 

“What happened to you? We left you alone for like 30 minutes." Karlach asks, pointing at Vira's hand while Astarion pours wine in their glasses.  

“Some kid tried to jump me." Vira shrugs and takes a drink from her glass.

“And she punched him in the fucking nose. Properly fractured her hand in the process.” He looks at Vira from the corner of his eye with a smirk hiding behind his glass. 

Karlach reaches out her hands to look at the damage “I'm no healer, but I've had to reset a couple of bones in my time” She carefully takes the wrap off to survey the damage. "it's going to hurt like a bitch but once it's back where it belongs it'll feel better. You want me to get you put back together, slugger?" Vira nods "On the count of three okay?” Karlach flicks her eyes to Astarion who purses his lips before he slips his hand into Vira's. “1, 2" She pulls her two fingers out and pushes down on top of Vira's hand with her thumbs, feeling the bones pop where they should be.

“Gods, Fuck!" Vira hisses and holds her hand to her chest like a wounded animal. “What happened to three!?" 

Both Wyll and Astarion snicker and try to hide their laughter because they've both been on the receiving end of Karlach's countdown when they’d dislocated or broken things in the past. Karlach answers with a shrug reaching for Vira's hand again to put the wrap back on. "If I went on three you would have tensed up and it would have hurt more. You handled it surprisingly well if it's any consolation.”

"She's just full of surprises tonight.” he winks at her causing her to blush, momentarily forgetting about her hand.

"It seems that you are too, you haven't implied that any more harm than a punch to the nose came to the boy." Wyll raises his eyebrows in question at his friend.

"Duke Ravengard, are you implying that I could be capable of bringing harm to someone else?" He laughs pushing his hand to his chest, feigning insult.

“Implying my ass." Karlach chokes on her drink.

“Vira talked me out of it." He sighs “he was just a kid, and I think Vira punching him probably taught him the lesson he needed to learn.”

Vira groans and hides her face in her hand "I can't believe I punched a child.”

"If it makes you feel better, it wouldn't hold up in court because he approached you.” Wyll shrugs.

Vira rolls her eyes and sighs talking down at the table “I don’t think he's going to tell anyone. Star put the fear of the gods in him. I'm just embarrassed that I hit him.”

Wyll and Karlach talk at the same time giving sentiments about their first fights making her feel more comfortable. 

Hours pass far too quickly while the four talk, drink, and dance. Astarion watches Vira and Karlach talk like they've known one another for more than one evening. The two women excuse themselves to the restroom leaving wyll and Astarion sitting at the booth.

“They're getting on well.” Wyll chuckles and finishes his drink.

“Almost like they're old friends." Astarion smirks. 

When the women come back to the table they notice that it has been cleared and Wyll and Astarion are waiting for them. The bar had started closing down and gently urging patrons to leave. Astarion leaves to settle the group's tab and meets them outside the bar. The group walks toward the palace. Astarion walks beside Vira with his hand on her lower back guiding her through the twists and turns.

The group says their good nights and goes their separate ways for the evening. Astarion starts to walk toward the kitchen.

“Where are you going?" Vira asked, leaning on a desk in the hallway.

“Just going to dip into my reserve, I need a little extra after all of the drinks I had tonight.” he shrugs.

“Oh." She says putting her hands in her pockets, a little disappointment tinged in her voice.

He walks back to Vira and threads fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck while looking into her eyes, smiling just enough for his fangs to peak out. “Tsk why do you sound disappointed, darling?”

“I had just assumed you'd be eager to test your theory from earlier." She playfully shrugs. 

He runs his tongue behind his teeth and rakes his eyes across her face and down her neck. “What theory was that exactly?" He toys with her while he moves his hand to her neck to feel her pulse. 

“Well, if you don't remember, I guess you should go to your reserve.” Vira smirks and pushes herself away from the desk.

"I just think I need someone to jog my memory.” He steps forward pushing her back and onto the table, slotting himself between her legs tracing his hands down her sides, and resting them on her hips.

“Maybe it's because you're hungry that your memory doesn't serve you.” She playfully suggests.

She feels his smile widen as he kisses her neck. “Well, darling, what do you suggest since my mind is so clearly clouded by hunger,” he responds with an equally playful whine. 

“We could," She starts and pauses just for a moment, feeling his breath against her skin “Go to your room and you could feed from me.” She moves his head from her neck, kisses his palm sweetly and whispers "See if I taste different from this morning.”

“Oh." His eyes roll back for a moment and his breath catches “that theory." A small smile ticks up in the corners of her mouth He lifts her off the desk and feels her arms drape over his shoulders. He walks down the hall and up a flight of stairs still kissing her neck while he does.

Vira giggles when she feels her back press against the door before it opens. Astarion steps through the door and kicks it closed behind them. He strides across the room and leans her onto his writing desk.

“On the desk?" She laughs

“I might need to take notes.” He laughs at his joke and pushes his hand under her skirt and up her thigh just above where he had fed this morning. He squeezes her thigh gently “May I?" He raises his eyebrows, knowing the answer. 

She rolls her eyes and smiles “Of course." 

He licks his lips and kneels on the floor. He rests his chin on her thigh and looks up meeting her gaze. “Thank  you, darling." 

Vira runs her fingers through his hair “You know,” she starts and pauses when his teeth pierce her flesh “I don't mind this." she smiles “I wouldn't be opposed to doing this regularly.”

His eyes flick to her and he removes his lips from her thigh “I have quite the reservation of donors blood darling, you don't have to do this. I don't want to inconvenience you." He returns to her thigh lapping up two thin stripes of blood before taking another swallow.

“It’s no inconvenience, Star.." She pauses and loses herself in a moment of deja vu.

You've fed from me for months, my love, why do you need to go out and hunt for animals?  A voice that wasn't hers speaks but feels familiar.

Darling, as much as I adore you and your delicious blood I hate having to ask and inconvenience you. Astarion, who looked the same save for his clothes which were more elegant than even what he wore to the graduation. 

It has never been an inconvenience Vira felt her heart swell but I understand why you wouldn't want to just rely on me. 

Well dressed Astarion pressed a white handkerchief to her neck what do you suggest then my treasure? His voice was a pur tingling her ear as he spoke and let his other hand get lost in her hair and thumb stroking her cheek.

You are now a mighty lord of Balder’s gate. I'm sure you're clever enough to find a way to get and keep a reserve of blood for you to have whenever you want. She felt a coy smile cross her face that is when I'm otherwise occupied.

Tav, Astarion smiled so wide it could light up the room you are brilliant and beautiful.

“Vira?!" Astarion asks says urgently. “Ta’vira are you okay?" He adds with more panic in his voice.

“I'm fine Star." She shakes her head and forces a smile trying to steady her breath.

“Deja vu again?" He asks, standing and placing a black handkerchief with some pressure on her leg. Vira nods slowly. “Seems taxing lately my love…”

"It is.” She sighs. "I just- I need to study.” She said without effect. She slid off the desk and walked to her bag and dug through to find her journal and a beacon.

"Do you… want company?” He asked carefully, taking a half step forward before stopping not wanting to impose.

“I…” she paused in the doorway, and turned to look at Astarion face to ground herself. "would like that.” she reached out her hand for him to take.

They walk quickly through the halls to the library. Astarion finds some textbooks and other literature for them to read while Vira scrawled in her journal. He flips through books and bookmark passages that he hasn't read before. Vira sighs heavily, shuts her journal and rests her head on the book.  She groans and reaches for a book that Astarion has already marked and starts flipping through the pages. She stands up from her chair and starts tracing lines on the page she's stopped on.

Her finger trails a line in the book she reads out loud “After adolescence, people who are blessed by the light begin to recall things from their past life (or lives) in a process called anamnesis, this may be uncomfortable for some, and will often leave the person feeling like they are missing major parts of themselves.” she chuckles to herself and adds “at least I know it has a name I guess.”

“Are… you remembering things Vira?" He asks quietly and reaches for her hand.

She shrugs and shakes her head when she closes her hand around his "Today was the first that wasn't just blurry faces. There- there was context and feelings. Such strong feelings.”

"What happened? We were just talking about-”

"Your blood reserve." She interjects. “You've never told me why you started keeping a reserve right?”

"Not that I recall.” He shakes his head and studies her face. 

Without another word, her mouth turns down before she opens her journal and flips to previous pages to read again, trying to see if she had made any note from their conversations that would have influenced her Deja Vu. After finding nothing she continues to pour through an old textbook.

@zoeloveslotr @silverfangmarks @prudent-nerd

[jackoshadows]

Sorry to send you a sansa ask lol I was just wondering if you could help me out. I'm trying to understand why people say sansa is a literal child right now but they also want her to be queen in the end. Are they assuming we will have a big time skip? I mean, if she should be excused for being dumb because she is a child then why do they want her to be queen, wouldn't that make her situation worse?

Welcome to Schrodinger's Sansa!! It's an asoiaf fandom phenomenon where the character of Sansa Stark is simultaneously many things at the same time.

No, they are not expecting time skips. They are arguing that Sansa is simultaneously both very smart and also she's a little child unable to understand when adults tell her things.

Exhibit A:

Linking to this essay because it's often send to me in discussions about Sansa being very smart.

But there’s no reason the readership should share those views. Sansa is a very clever individual who makes increasingly good use of several skills she started the series with, and develops greatly as an observer and an actor over the course of the story.

Same person then writing about Sansa pushing the Maester to drug SweetRobin with the dangerous SweetSleep despite the Maester warning her that it has long term consequences for SweetRobin's health:

I’ve said before that I don’t think Maester Colemon is doing nearly enough to actually explain the problem with sweetsleep to Sansa, so I’ll have none of that either, thank you. She’s thirteen with no grounding in any sort of natural science whatsoever;

More broadly, do we expect thirteen-year-olds to be able to take full responsibility for another’s medical care? Do we expect them to have a sophisticated understanding of, say, heavy metal poisoning, or prescription drug abuse? Even with modern resources? Sansa, who cannot head off to wikipedia and start researching for herself, is in a situation where she doesn’t know what she doesn’t know.

Sansa does not have wikipedia and therefore cannot double check on what a doctor is telling her about a drug is still one of the funniest things I have read on here about the character 🤣, right up there with Sansa being the 'embodiment of hope for the future' and 'flames coming off the side of the face' for a bnf when a blogger called out Sansa for bullying and mocking Arya's appearance.

Again, keep in mind that Maester Coleman is Westeros' version of a physician, a doctor who treats the sick. This doctor is telling Sansa all this in the text:

Give his lordship a cup of sweetmilk,” she told the maester. “That will stop him from shaking on the journey down.”

“He had a cup not three days past,” Colemon objected.

“And wanted another last night, which you refused him.”

“It was too soon. My lady, you do not understand. As I’ve told the Lord Protector, a pinch of sweetsleep will prevent the shaking, but it does not leave the flesh, and in time …”

I try, my lady, yet his fits grow ever more violent, and his blood is so thin I dare not leech him any more. Sweetsleep… you are certain he was not bleeding from the nose? I must speak to the Lord Protector. This feast… is that wise, I wonder, after the strain of the descent? Lord Robert mislikes strangers, you know that, and there will be drinking, noise… music. Music frightens him”

“This descent… my lady, it might be safest if I mixed his lordship some milk of the poppy.

And then when he gives her a final warning, she threatens him with Littlefinger because 'father and I have larger concerns' than SR's health and well being.

Very well.” They paused at the foot of the stairs. “But this must be the last. For half a year, or longer.”

“You had best take that up with the Lord Protector.” Maester Colemon cares only for the boy, though. Father and I have larger concerns” - Alayne, AFfC

This is what happens when fans self-insert and project onto a character and rely on fan made headcanons instead of actually interacting with the canonical text. They want her to be flawless, therefore she's a naive, innocent little baby. The same consideration is never afforded to the other children, even Arya who is two years younger to Sansa. And yet if one looks at their character endgames, Arya is always an assistant to Sansa, there to give her the information while clever Sansa puts together and uses the information to rule.

They want Ned Stark and Maester Coleman to explain stuff to Sansa like this for her to understand what they are telling her:

And yet she is also the smartest, most cleverest character in the series - smarter than Jon, Dany, Arya, Bran, Tyrion, LF etc.

One of the reasons for why we get so many of these bnfs thinking that 'Sansa Smart' will be queen/lady of WF and at the same time arguing that Sansa is naive/innocent/a little child is because they see her as this flawless symbol of kindness and compassion.

I already wrote about this here that in fandoms like asoiaf, virtues like compassion and kindness is seen through the lens of white, western liberalism and traditional femininity. I wrote that long ago and now with the rise of tradwives, it's even more relevant to this discussion.

It has always baffled me that the character trait most often highlighted in fandom for classist and sexist Sansa is kindness and compassion simply because fandom thinks that being polite and having good manners = being kind and compassionate.

This results in posts like this where they argue that Sansa is actually being kind to Jon Snow by treating him like a bastard when the author through Jon Snow is actually being critical of the character!!

Remember this is the quote from the books!

He missed his true brothers: little Rickon, bright eyes shining as he begged for a sweet; Robb, his rival and best friend and constant companion; Bran, stubborn and curious, always wanting to follow and join in whatever Jon and Robb were doing. He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but “my half brother” since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant. And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. - Jon, AGoT

We also have a bnf chiming in and agreeing that yes, Sansa was indeed being considerate of Jon's feelings here!

Even Jaime Lannister has had moments of kindness, where he tries to help Pia. And yet the only character in the series on whom these character traits are constantly pushed onto is Sansa Stark.

Sansa can actually be an interesting character if her fans let her be one. She's not a little child who does not understand what Ned and Maester Coleman tell her. She does understand and chooses to ignore it for her own selfish reasons - marrying Joffrey, whom she loved, and becoming queen or wanting LF's plans in the Vale to succeed. That's why she feels 'as wicked as Arya' when she goes and tattles all of Ned's plans to Cersei. That's why she thinks that while the Maester cared for the boy, she and LF had larger (more important) concerns.

Sansa is interesting in the way she deflects and refuses to acknowledge the unpleasant truths before her and lives in this alternate reality where everything is fine. She ignores Joff's sadism because it clashes with her idea of noble, beautiful princes. She ignores what is being done to poor SweetRobin because she thinks it is essential to her own survival that LF's plans succeed.

The reason her stans refuse to dig deeper into the character other than extremes of naive, innocent child and smartest character ever is because Sansa would then be as flawed as Jon, Arya, Dany, Bran etc. and they don't want that for her. They want her to be special in some way and this is it.

Arya killed the guard to survive - and she's portrayed as too damaged to ever live happily with her family. Jon and Dany face hard choices of doing the pragmatic or the morally right thing and are often called out on those choices, especially Dany. Pretty much most of our protagonists engage in morally grey actions.

And yet Sansa fans insist on her being this flawless character- it's everyone else' fault except hers. It's Ned's fault, it's Coleman's fault - they didn't explain properly. It's Arya's fault for trying to help Mycah, Arya should have tried to build a relationship with Sansa. Suddenly it's Sansa who is the outcast in Winterfell and Arya the favorite. Suddenly Sansa is Ned like and Arya 'bites people like Catelyn'.

This leads to her being interpreted as this idiot who cannot understand when a doctor is telling her a drug is dangerous. Which then clashes with their essays about 'Sansa Smart' and how she is going to be the best queen ever and change the system and bring about women's rights and all that.

It's the same with this 'pawn to player' stuff they write for the character. They expect her to be this smart player of the game and at the same time remain this good, idealistic, 'kind and compassionate' leader... How?! LF and Varys did not get to where they are by being good people. Sansa has to get her hands dirty, be ruthless and often times not be concerned about the well being of others - just as she does with poor SweetRobin. And yet her fans think she will become LF level of game player and do it while being kind.

Especially baffling because GRRM is deconstructing all these tropes of good knights and kind ladies. Brienne of Tarth is the embodiment of the perfect knight and yet she is not what one would expect a knight to be. This was part of Sansa's arc of growth - where she sees and experiences up close the brutality and lack of morals of these knights in KL.

The Northerners are loyal to Ned Stark, not because he was some beacon of kindness and compassion or because he had good manners and said please and thank you but because he ruled according to the laws of the land and enforced those laws in a just manner and was therefore an honorable Lord. He beheaded those who committed crimes, he put down rebellions, he took child hostages and he also kept the peace of the land.

And Ned Stark was as flawed as all the other characters. So this insistence that Sansa has to remain this caricature of 'kindness and compassion' - even if it's canonically untrue considering bigotry is not kind - is bizarre and one of the main reasons for why we have Schrodinger's Sansa. I can't wait to see all the excuses and justifications bnfs will come up with if we get TWoW and Sansa is doing all sorts of morally grey shite and going along with LF's plans.

[ghost-orca]

Channeling Your Love; Chapter 1

Mind you, this is video game Joel, everything that happens in this story means the pandemic started in 2013 so all the songs are "canon" until after September of 2013, IM SORRY PEDRO PASCAL FANS!!!

Description; You're a music radio show host for Jackson with a hidden past in the apocalypse. What more can I say?

Warnings: Future smut, for now its just meet cute fluff; PTSD for future chapters: it gets real dark guys, this is my first time writing Fanfic so bare with me....

“Alriiight Jackson, it's time to rise and shine! How about we start our day with some positive energy and a good old classic, Conga by Gloria Estefan!” The music playing loudly through the living room, Joel was immediately irritated. “Christ” he mumbled

“Ellie! Turn the radio off!”

“Why?” she yelled back 

“I hate this song, it's too damn loud.” He replied

“Then leave! I'm having fun!”

“Ellie, plea-” 

“Nope! Get grumpy somewhere else, old man.”

Joel sits for a minute, shaking his head “I have had enough of this” he decides, picking up his jacket making his way to the door.

“Where are you going? I was just joking when I said to leave and the song is almost over y’know!” Ellie yells out shaking her body along with the music

“I’m going to that damn radio station, gonna tell them how I feel about their early morning music choices and hopefully change their mind”

Ellie scoffed “good luck ruining everyone's fun dinosaur.” continuing to dance along to the music

Joel scoffed back at her and exited their shared home

After a five minute long uphill walk, Joel spots the radio station Tommy had told him about, stomping upwards to have a word with the radio show host. He knocked loudly on the front door before entering, trying to appear polite at least to have the upper hand, but after a minute of no answer he decided to let himself in, walking up a narrow staircase, following the sound of music, not caring what song was playing even if it was something he liked 

“You can ring my beeellllllll” Was heard reverberating through the walls walking up, finally entering the studio apartment that connected to the radio station room with a glass wall to suppress noise from the outside world. The first thing he sees is you, shaking your hips and ass along to the song, eyes closed never noticing him there. Looking at you he recognized seeing you around town, thinking you were surprisingly fit for someone who doesn't go on patrols, realizing why you were as he watched you. He couldn't help but focus his attention on your ass, the way your hips moved along with the rhythm. 

“Shit” he mumbled to himself, lost in thought looking at you as you swayed by yourself, like no one was watching. 

You open your eyes for a moment noticing the man standing in your studio apartment, immediately freezing in your tracks. “How long has he been standing there?” you thought to yourself, chest heaving, making unbroken eye contact with your stranger. Oh god, he's handsome too you thought, cheeks reddening. 

Joel sees you see him, witnessing you completely stop what you were doing, and gulps.

“Keep going.” He says, feeling rude for interrupting you, but mostly embarrassed, thinking you’d caught him in the act of leering

“W-what?” You respond, having trouble hearing through the glass panel separating the two of you and loud music, gesturing to the glass and record player so he could understand.

Joel understood, and got all the more embarrassed, huffing towards the ground to gain some courage 

“Keep dancing.” He says louder now, and does an awkward little shimmy before pointing to you to make his message more clear. His cheeks start growing red from further embarrassment. “The hell did I do that for?” he questioned himself quietly, rubbing the back of his neck.

You understand him, but the song was almost over at this point, and it's your cue to go back to the live recorder and continue onto the next song. You jolt over to the mic as the final note fades out “Well, ha, that was Ring My Bell from the one hit wonder, Anita Ward everybody! I hope you guys had fun with that one!” You say into the mic, hiding exasperation in your voice. “Up next is-” You look down at your handwritten list of songs scheduled for the day “Last Night by The Strokes!” you announce with fake excitement. You didn't hate the song, but you had just heard it too many times before. Still, it was important for the future to hear as much music as possible as you thought.

Joel is still watching you at this point, impressed by how quick you can turn your heel. You exit the room, into your own studio apartment, facing the man before you, straightening your back and raising your head to meet his hazel green eyes. “Can I help you with something sir?”

“Uh yeah, I um…” Joel felt completely lost, he came here to complain, take out his anger on you, maybe even teach you a thing or two about ‘the real world’, but all those thoughts he had racing up the hill to confront you had muddled after actually seeing you. He didn't know what to say.

“Ash?” you both hear from downstairs, you sighed in relief, recognizing the voice “What's up Eugene?” you yelled down, starting to feel wary of this strange quiet man in your presence. 

“Was just checking if you were okay, I saw the door was open so,” 

“That's my fault, sorry” Joel yelled down in admission, recognizing Eugene's voice as well, Tommy had introduced the two and grew to respect the old man on patrols with him. 

Hearing footsteps up the stairs Eugene enters the room, “Oh hey Joel, didn't know you were a fan of Ash’s station” 

“Um, no I'm not, I mean…” Joel pauses, trying to find the right words, “So your name is Ash?” he dodges the question retorting back to you 

“No” you respond bluntly “Only Eugene calls me that.”

Eugene looks between the two of you, feeling the uncomfortable energy in the air. 

“What do I call you then?” Joel asks, slight frustration he can't control in his voice, trying to stay civil.

“Call me whatever you want, host, radio person, I don't really care” You responded honestly, sensing his frustration, feeling like pushing his buttons. “Why are you here, Joel?” 

“Well” he starts “If I’m being honest, I find your music to be obnoxious.”

“It's not ‘my music’, Joel, it's just music, and if you don't like it you can just turn off the radio or cover your ears if your missus appreciates it more than you do.” You have a smug grin on your face, knowing you have the upper hand “Besides” You start  “No one else in Jackson has complained to my face about what I decide to play, the first exception being you.” You cross your arms. 

Before Joel can say anything, Eugene interrupts “Alright you two, how about I let you just sort this out amongst yourselves. Ash, if you need anything, just gimme a holler. Joel.” he looks at Joel giving him a respectful nod, getting out of there before he can get involved “Thanks Eugene, sorry to worry you.” You wave him goodbye as he books it downstairs out the front door waving back. You're left alone standing with your new ‘acquaintance’ feeling ready for whatever he might throw at you. Joel sighs. “Alright look, first of all I don’t gotta ‘missus’ like you call it, just a very annoying 14 year old who does whatever the hell she wants if it can’t be helped. So you can imagine the strain of dealing with that alone every morning, and then I have to hear the damn Conga song at 9 in the morning trying to enjoy my coffee in peace because it's the only point in the day I can get some time to myself. So forgive me if my much wanted peace and quiet interrupts whatever you have going on here.” You stare at Joel, appreciating his honesty 

“What's her name?” you ask. He looks at you in surprise for a second, breaking his avoidance towards you.

“Ellie, uh, her name’s Ellie” He responds

“Pretty” you say, fully taking her name in to get an image of her in your mind. “Why don’t you send her up here sometime so I can take her off your hands in the morning? I’ve been meaning to find a young apprentice who's passionate about helping me with the work I do around here. If she’s got a lot of energy I think this would be perfect for her.” 

Joel’s still holding eye contact as you see his eyes widening, taking in the idea. “You don-You don't have to do that really. I love the kid to death but- she can be a real handful honestly.” Joel’s embarrassed at this point, surprised at your compassion to help. 

“She sounds like a great kid” you confess, “I can promise you with the work I do she’ll be tuckered out by the time she comes home to you. Plus, with my schedule she’ll be too busy to bother you in the mornings, so you can start enjoying your coffee in peace.” 

Joel thinks on it, starting to consider the pros and cons of the idea. “I’ll have to ask her if she’d even want to first.” he replies, it would be nice if she had something productive to keep herself busy he thinks to himself.

“That’s alright, if she wants to she can just stop by whenever she likes. Today even, I’d be happy to start showing her the ropes, whenever she’s ready.” You smile at him, realizing you might’ve just solved the problem between you two, wanting to start things off civilly with this gruff but shy handsome man you were meeting for the first time. “Okay” He agrees, scratching his beard after making his decision. “Great!” You respond “Tell her she can stop by anytime after 9 am and before 9 pm. I’m excited to meet her!” 

Joel chuckles, “You don't even know if she’s gonna say yes to this whole thing. Don't get too excited.” he explains.

“Well, based on your description of her, and the fact that she’s 14, I’m guessing she’s feeling pretty bored without much to do around Jackson. Besides helping the community, I'm sure she’d be excited at the idea of a creative outlet.” You say in confidence, smile almost giddy remembering how you felt around the same age. “You got a point there.” he responds, smiling back, blushing at the thought of how cute you look when you're excited.“I’m uh, I’m glad we could talk this out. I’ll go and see her right now.” he starts making his way down the stairs to the doorway. 

“Hey Joel!” You speak out, stopping him in his tracks to look up at you, “Don’t be a stranger, stop by sometime to tell me what music I should play for your morning coffee. Or any music, really.” Joel starts to blush again, surprised by you reaching out to him for company. 

“I’ll think about it.” he says, knowing he will come back again just to see you dance again when he works up the courage. He waves you goodbye. “Nice meeting you!” You reply “Yeah, You too.” looking up at your pretty little face one more time before leaving. Making his way straight to Ellie to tell her the news.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Would love a director's commentary of any/all your fics 🙏

AH! I wasn't expecting an answer so fast! And they're so massive where do I even start? Like my biggest thoughts right now are all MoaH, which I have some things queued over the next few days, but everything else I'd wanna say...it's all spoilers. I'm not trying to avoid the ask, it's just a very big question with all of them. I guess I'll throw out a bunch of factoids and feel free to ask me more specifics.

To condense the star ask as well since this is gonna be a random chapter grab, and since the first chapter of the final battle is out tomorrow for GoS, I've had this arc planned since basically 2012. There was one major change on which individual would be the target of a particular stage of the fight, but other than that, it's been this fight since 2012. And the whole thing can get played to the 25th anniversary medley. I have a note somewhere where I wrote down the chapter time stamps to it for the AMV in my head (which maybe I'll put out after GoS is all done). It was the same song that is the reason Endeavor plays violin as well.

I have never been huge about idol groups, but the Earth Sages in GoS are my absolute favorite. I knew I wanted the dungeon to be musically themed and so the boy band idea was an early decision with that. I wanted their names to be musically themed too, so all of the Earth Sages actually have names based off Japanese music scales, which fit with the Keaton. Do Re Mi names might have been too obvious. Following that, Dominus is probably my favorite Sage.

Same dungeon had a prime opportunity for a triple inspired boss name. The Earth Temple's boss, Dungeon Master, has three inspirations. One, it follows franchise convention on most powerful versions of enemies, so Wallmaster/Floormaster -> Dungeon Master. Two, it's a nod to the TTRPG role, as this boss occupies the literal fourth wall of a theater, which is fitting to compare to a DM. And three, this fight was the first time Ganondorf made an appearance in the story, and I was trying to invoke a bit of Mr. Mercer's performance for a lack of ability to convey an actual voice via some pop culture osmosis.

Princess has a Muppets reference after the dungeon once she drops the idea of marrying Link, Zeal mentions it. It may help to circle back on Princess being a pig moblin leaning Blin who is also a diva.

Admittedly a lot of GoS before that is a bit fuzzy cause of the whole nap in the Temple of Time I did on it. From starting up edits, I can say that Bruce's horse, The Wind, is a personal reference. Any time I'd convince my dad to play a Zelda game, he's always name himself A.Stud and in the case of TP, he named Epona The Wind. When I started writing, that was a recent in joke for me.

One of the reasons the Dark Portal gets mentioned so early was because Minecraft was just getting big when I started writing GoS and I had the unrealistic idea that I'd build GoS's Hyrule in it. The Dark Portal would have been a Nether portal. I never went anywhere with that idea, but it's the reason the GoS map sketch I have is divided on a grid. That was theoretically gonna be chunks (highly ambitious plan there, no what it would have fit).

I have actually no idea how much time takes place between the start and end of GoS. Loosely, it's from the beginning of summer to the end of autumn. Whatever time skips make that work are canon in my head. And it's one of the reasons I have been so serious about keeping track of time in MoaH. The rapid pace of GoS though does fit. GoS Link really did get woken up in a dream by some stranger and then harassed by a bird until he did it what they said, so. No rest.

My favorite Sage dragon design is the Forest Sage's, all though the Soul Sage's dragon is pretty good too. That's an easy second. I'm a plants person, what can I say? Though the Earth Sage and Fire Sage dragons have good chonky boi personalities that I love too.

And there's absolutely so much to say about MoaH and like. I can say basically none of it because y'all only have the current 23 chapters and I'm writing the 65th? chapter now. MoaH's first book will be written before its updates are out, that's for sure. It'll likely hit about 250k words, compared to GoS's current 410k. So. There's a lot to say about MoaH. I guess the few that I've got for MoaH, uh...

Rephi x Rudoe is my favorite couple, hands down, those two are amazing NPCs and criminally under used. I need to find an excuse to go back to Deku's Shelf to write them again. I picture Rudoe's voice now like the Luma in the Mario movie.

I know all of my Links talk in my fics, largely for the purpose of medium. Writing a mute Link I think is a lot harder in fic over comics, and it's a little outside my wheelhouse with my limited skill in sign. That said, of all my Links, MoaH Link is the one I think most fits being a talking Link. And I even have some in text response to that later on in the story.

I know a lot of people don't like Zelda presently in MoaH (kinda the point), but I absolutely adore her and Link's dynamic. It really starts coming out in the Nayru's Temple act of book 1, but this man has a massive blind spot for this woman and I love writing it even though the secondhand embarrassment causes me like actual physical pain.

In general, I adore writing MoaH Link. The balance between exceptionally competent fighter and likeable male protagonist is a difficult but very fun line to walk. I think because of the mercenary comment, a lot of people expected a Geralt or a John Wick or some other machismo personality for Link when I originally started MoaH and that has never been franchise characterization of Link and it's not true about MoaH Link. He is a lovable idiot. GoS Link has this very humble, almost bashful personality to me (mostly cause of then teen angst) while MoaH Link gets to be this absolute dork and it is a joy to write. And also seeing how different they are as incarnations of the same character is a lot of fun, particularly for spoiler reasons. But man, that contrast between awkward, fumbling, kinda impulsive guy into combat where he gets to be efficient. Mmmmm, that's some good shit.

I cannot wait for y'all to get more time with Floan. I love her and Link's relationship. It is a bit of a polished sibling relationship, I'll admit that, mostly because I don't know how to handle an age gap as big as theirs (MoaH Link being 27 at the start of the fic and Floan being 10, which not impossible for siblings, but a wide gap) as accurately as my two year age gap with my younger sister, but they are the best. I have a chapter coming up that's just them getting loads of interaction time and it's so goddamn cute.

And I'm getting into spoiler territory, not to mention an essay, so I'll cap it there for now. Please let me know if there's anything else, I have a lot of thoughts on all of this.

[marc--chilton]

idea: alphas in rut have their chest cavity expand such that they are physically incapable of speaking quietly (the way neanderthals couldn't, if my linguistics professor is to be believed). i think this would fit well with bellows, but i also think it would be hilarious.

do you like this idea? i'm picturing wilson trying to say something quietly and it coming out about twenty decibels higher than he intended and him becoming Flustered about it.

also, is it possible to get sick while in rut or heat? just imagining the misery of having a head cold at the same time as your body is telling you to find a mate. would not be pleasant. and and and does vicodin interfere with house's normal heat processes? like wilson's whiskey dick?

oooo but like what if chest expansion, but instead of it going max boom, it just toes the impolite volume level so wilson (who is canonically anxious in conversation anyway) would be putting his whole brainpower into Being Quiet, which of course means he fucks it up more. but he stops getting embarrassed about it when he's on house arrest for his rut bc soundproofing is just commonplace in omegaverse housing, and he physically can't be quiet for his ruts since he's just chatty in bed as normal anyway.

and yes, you can very much get sick. post-heat syndrome is a thing itself, not a virus so much as it is just the body struggling to acclimate back to normal functions -- and is more commonplace in omegas who don't get proper care during their heats, like someone forcing them to eat at least a little something and have a drink even if they don't feel like it (wilson manages to trick house into eating during his heats by starting to eat whatever himself. it sets off that little bell of Want To Steal Wilson's Food so he does. realizes usually he eats whatever he steals, but he's not hungry.... but he has to prove his point so he just glares at wilson while he eats. it rarely ever fails)

house's vicodin misuse + chronic pain (his leg spasms terribly during his heats) both contribute to him not being able to slick enough for sex sometimes. he's no stranger to little blue pills either so this is just another bitter point for him to hate himself for. not only is he a male omega, the most uncomfortable gender for his father, but he's not even a good one. only ever came to know he was pregnant once and in the same breath was told he wasn't anymore, we're so sorry. now he can't even do the barest minimum of being an easy fuck for the too-good-to-him alpha that is wilson

(it's a stupid self-pitying spiral and he knows it. it's just familiar fare at this point though, and he's a creature of habit)

[custardmylovewrites]

☘ Requiem for Yesterday // prologue + chapter 1

SUMMARY: Kobii is a boy who knows very little about most things, which isn't exactly ideal when faced with a very big landscape full of both creatures that won't hesitate to harm him and the local towns people not exactly welcoming him with open arms. But, that's fine, he has nothing to worry about. Not remembering where he came from? It's best to focus on the future! Not remembering his family? If they're not around, its for the best! Flashes of a godly figure he can't remember appear in his dreams and having a suspiciously similar phone to said godly figure that tells him every single task he should concern himself with doing? Well, that just makes it easier to manage tasks!

WARNINGS: none for this chapter! :D

WORD COUNT: 2.9k

NOTES: here's the first chapter of the fic that made me want to make a tumblr in the first place! This fic is a multi-chapter Pokemon Legends Arceus fic focused on an oc! It will have no ships unless canon and focuses on found family vibes mainly :D It's also available on A03 or Wattpad if they're more your jam.

masterlist | chapter 1 | next chapter

"You know I'm proud of you right?" Kobii stopped trying to battle the hotel's fitted sheets and turned to face his mother who was standing in the doorway with a soft smile on her face, the soft yellow glow of the lamps in the room illuminating the space.

"Of course, I do, why?" He responded with a slightly confused tone. Sierra looked upon her son with nothing but pride and love, walking over to him and ruffling his hair.

"You've grown so much during the last few months. You've helped countless people and made some lovely new friends. I hope you're ready for a pretty boring vacation in comparison to your last adventure." Kobii looked up at her before grinning,

"I think boring sounds really good right now." He leaned back out of range of any further hair ruffling, causing Sierra just to sigh with a smile.

"I'm sure you'll think otherwise next week." She took one last look at her son and walked back to the doorway,

"I love you, don't stay up too late alright? I was thinking we could go to Mount Coronet and have a picnic tomorrow." Kobii nodded with a smile. "I won't, love you too. Goodnight mum." .

.

.

Kobii awoke to the taste of sand in his mouth, the third worst place for sand to be, a pounding headache and the sound of faint yelling in the distance that was slowly getting closer. So, perfectly normal. He thinks. Pushing himself up to sit up, he ignores the yelling that is in fact still getting closer and prioritises spitting out the sand that had invaded his mouth. In the back of his head, he has a small thought questioning why and how he got to be in such close proximity of said sand, but the reasoning behind such a thought is gone as soon as it came.

Sitting up, he was met with a relatively small beach and a sky that was currently progressing towards late afternoon. Another nudge to his hand pressed into the sand brought his attention away from the landscape and to a small creature.

'Cyndaquil, a fire type Pokémon.' The thought felt both familiar and foreign at the same time, although this didn't stop Kobii from giving the smiling creature a light, if not slightly confused, pat on the head. It let out a happy noise in response, along with two other noises from behind him which turned out to be two other Pokémon.

'Oshawott and Rowlett. Water type and grass type.'

Kobii kept his gaze on the two before the sound of heavy footsteps got closer. The footsteps belonged to a man dressed strangely. Why was it strange? Kobii himself didn't quite know why but in his mind it didn't quite fit. The man wore a white lab coat, waistcoat and black bowtie combo and a purple beanie with a white pom-pom. Instead of commenting on the bold if not clashing colours and themes, Kobii waited for the man to catch his breath once he reached where he was currently sitting on the sand.

"My boy, are you alright?" The stranger asked, a genuine look of concern, if not also mixed with a bit of wonder, crossed his face as he took in the boy's appearance.

A white shirt with short sleeves and short black pants one would wear in warmer weather. The stranger continued to speak before Kobii could even collect his thoughts enough to give the man a cohesive answer.

"You gave me quite the shock falling from the sky like that," He spoke with a smile,

"But thank goodness you seem unharmed!" Kobii wasn't quite sure what the man was on about but at least he didn't seem threatening, if the choice of headwear didn't point that out already.

"... Who are you?" He stood up from the sand, much by the disappointment of Cyndaquil who seemed to be trying to nap on one of his feet.

"I'd like to ask you the same! I mean...you did fall out of the SKY you understand?" Kobii did not understand.

"Come now – Who in the world does that!?" The man asked quite bewildered, oblivious to the fact that the boy looked just as confused as he did in this moment; Although he did look Kobii over properly, perhaps to double check for serious injury.

"I must say," He spoke thoughtfully,

"Your clothing is...unusual. You wouldn't happen to have an acquaintance in these parts would you?"

"Where.. exactly are these parts?" Kobii replied, slowly realising how strange the situation was becoming. And also, the headache that was forming in the back of his head.

"Why, this is Prelude Beach of course." The man's look became slightly worrisome as he continued,

"Dear me, did the shock of your fall somehow addle your memory?" He asked. Kobii himself took a moment to think about it before shrugging,

"Can't say the name is ringing any Chinglings for me."

'What is a Chingling?' Kobii just said it like it was normal, but he couldn't seem to actually pinpoint what a Chingling was. Perhaps a device? The man continued unaware of Kobii's dilemma.

"I see...you seem to be in a bit of a pickle. Might I offer some directions? Do you have anywhere around here you could stay?" Despite his mind urging him to nod, he shook his head.

"Doubt it.." He mumbled. The man frowned.

"So you don't know anyone here, and you don't even know where to spend the night...Well...this is a proper pickle indeed." He said unhelpfully.

"Are you quite sure you'll be able to survive?" At first the question seemed a bit out of pocket for one to say, especially to someone of his age, he's only fourteen! But just as soon as he thought of that, he also couldn't come up with why that would be. Kobii resolved on just shaking his head again.

"I see..." The man grinned and nodded as if making up his mind on an important decision.

"Well, no gentleman would abandon a person in such need!" He exclaimed, much to the relief of Kobii. It was then that the three Pokémon who had previously been waiting at Kobii's feet decided they didn't have enough attention and decided to make themselves relevant again.

"Oh my, I'd completely forgotten!" The stranger said, focusing his gaze onto the Pokémon.

"I had just caught up with these three runaway Pokémon when you tumbled out of the sky...It's almost as if they knew you'd appear here!" The man grinned. Kobii doubted it but when he looked down at them, the three creatures seemed to give him playful expressions. Huh.

"Ah, but do you even know what a Pokémon is?" This made Kobii focus back onto the man. Although he himself didn't exactly know what a Pokémon was, he found that he felt compelled to nod. And after all, he did recognise these three somehow so maybe the growing headache he had was to blame? He nodded. The stranger seemed happy with his answer.

"My, that's a relief! Though you fell from the sky, it seems we have some common ground, eh?" Before Kobii could even respond to his comments, he kept speaking.

"Yes, well, these three Pokémon belong to me, mysterious creatures that they are." The Pokémon at Kobii's feet, moved to chase each other around the man's feet, happily chatting amongst themselves in their own ways. He smiled and crossed his arms, looking up once again.

"Oh yes, and...what might your name be?"

"Kobii." He responded immediately. Although his mind was a mess at the moment, he was sure of this. The man nodded.

"Oho, so you're called Kobii! That name has quite the ring to it! I imagine it must have some lovely meaning." The man grinned and crossed his arms, before his expression became one of surprise.

"Oh, but I do apologize! I haven't even introduced myself! My name is Laventon. I am something of a Pokémon Professor."

'Pokémon Professor..' The term sounded familiar to Kobii although he couldn't pinpoint if it was because he knew of some other person with the role, or it was purely because he had heard of the role before. Professor Laventon continued on, not seeming to notice the boy's slight confusion or recognition of the term.

"That is to say, I'm a scholar seeking to deepen our understanding of Pokémon." He nodded to himself, as if used to people not fully understanding what the term meant.

"Yes, Pokémon such as these three here, whi-" As soon as Laventon had turned to gesture to the three creatures, they turned and ran up the beach, past a slightly run down wooden hut and around a grassy corner.

"Oh blast and bother! My darling Pokémon! Why must you run from me again!?" The professor exclaimed, looking he was just about to give chase before turning back to Kobii,

"I'm terribly sorry, but do you think you could help me round them up? I beg you!" He seemed desperate, perhaps Pokémon were a lot more dangerous than Kobii thought? Without waiting for a response, Laventon turned and started to run after the creatures.

"Wait you three! Waiiiit!" Kobii took this moment to put a hand to his head and take a deep breath, the Professor's yelling not helping his now growing headache. He took one breath in, one breath out, and looked out to the seemingly never ending ocean behind him, rolling blue waves crashing against the sand and a small wooden boat tied to an equally small wooden dock. Taking one last moment to enjoy the almost quiet scenery, Kobii started to walk towards the sounds of Laventon's pleas and the sounds of Pokémon.

He was close to the corner where the sounds of Laventon's struggle seemed to be coming from when something shining on the ground to his left caught his attention. Stepping closer to it, although with slight caution, quiet beeps coming from the object could be heard. He took a few steps closer to it before carefully picking it up. A black smooth surface with a hard white outer case and strange yellow details, a few shiny green gems were on it too.

'A phone with a weird case..' Kobii didn't even bother trying to ponder how he knew what a phone was or how he forgot what it was in the first place. He turned it over in his hands a few times before looking at the shut off screen again. Suddenly the screen flickered to life, causing Kobii to nearly drop the device. A single message was displayed;

'I bestow upon thee this Arc Phone and thy mission: seek out all Pokémon.'

Huh. All Pokémon... Kobii himself felt a tiny bit of dread at the thought of seeking out all Pokémon, despite not knowing how many Pokémon there even were. He guessed it was probably more than ten. Not wanting to dwell on it more, he slipped the newly dubbed Arc Phone into a pocket in his shorts and continued to walk towards where he assumed Laventon was struggling trying to catch the three Pokémon from earlier.

Kobii walked up to Laventon, who was standing in the middle of a small field, the ground below them dirt from constant foot traffic he assumed. The professor sighed, shaking his head.

"Alas... yet another miss!" Hearing Kobii's approach, he turned around with a smile, his failures seeming to not dampen his mood as much as one thought they would.

"Aha! I'm glad you've come to my rescue, my new friend from the sky!" He didn't bother asking what the professor meant by that, surely he didn't actually fall from the sky. Right?

"I tried catching my little runaways by tossing some poke balls their way, but I'm not the best at this sort of thing you see..." He explained, with a troubled expression, crossing his arms once again.

"I'd love to give you a go at it, but perhaps I should tell you more about these three first?" For once, he seemed to wait for Kobii to give his own response, he promptly nodded.

Laventon smiled and turned to point to the most birdlike out of the three creatures, who was scratching around on a small grassy incline.

"Now, that one is Rowlet!"

'So I was right..' Kobii noted as the Professor continued.

"Rowlet can photosynthesize like a plant and apparently it uses it battles using it's sharp feathers." With that, Rowlet stopped scratching around to stretch out it's short brown wings and let out a krooing sound. Laventon then pointed to the one Kobii had recognised to be Cyndaquil, it was darting around some rocks on a dirt patch, the flames on it's back flaring up occasionally.

"That one over there is Cyndaquil! The fire burning on Cyndaquil's back will flare up whenever it is surprised or irate." And just like that, Cyndaquil came to a skidding stop and stretched, the flames on it's back flaring up for a moment before it continued to race around.

And finally, Laventon directed his attention over towards the last creature who was investigating the small shallow pond.

"The Pokémon by the pond is Oshawott. Oshawott naps while floating on the water, and it can battle using the shell like object on it's belly!" Even though the small facts the Professor offered were pretty obvious, Kobii could tell he seemed genuinely interested and excited with sharing his knowledge on them with someone else.

"Oh my! I nearly forgot to cover the most crucial thing—How to go about catching a Pokémon!" As Laventon turned to face Kobii, he felt the strangest feeling of déjà vu, nearly as if he had been in this exact situation before and heard a phrase startingly similar. Something in the back of his mind told him to be ready to hold something. What that something was, Kobii wasn't quite sure.

Reaching into the pockets of his white coat, Laventon pulled out a singular ball and handed it to him with a smile.

"Here you are, my boy: Poke balls! Throw these at Pokémon to catch them!" Kobii looked over the smooth wooden ball, tracing his fingers over the cool metal clasp. For a moment, he thought to ask why it was made of wood, but he couldn't think of why it wouldn't be made of wood. For some strange reason, the fact it was a more vermilion and light brown instead of bright red and pure white made him feel a bit strange in a way he couldn't pinpoint.

Assuming Kobii's examination of the balls to be one of unfamiliarity, Laventon continued on with his explanation,

"Ah, but that won't do for an explanation, will it? I do apologize. Let me be more thorough." He grinned.

"Now, I've mentioned already that Pokémon are strange, marvellous creatures. What's so strange about them you ask?" Laventon continued, starting a spiel that Kobii thought sounded oddly like he had either rehearsed it or had said it multiple times.

"Well, each and every Pokémon is able to shrink itself down to miniscule size!" As ridiculous and far fetched that idea sounded, it also didn't sound all that surprising or far fetched to him.

"And that's where poke balls come in!" He nodded along as he spoke with a grin,

"Poke balls are a recent invention, you see. Throw one at a Pokémon and why, the Pokémon will shrink down and fit inside the ball, comfy as can be!"

The small pit of unease and slight distress that had been at the bottom of Kobii's stomach since he had awoken on the beach grew tenfold as soon as he heard about the poke balls, more specifically how recently they had been invented, but yet again, he couldn't tell why he felt this way.

"And with that, you've caught a Pokémon!" The professor grinned as he finished his explanation. Kobii hoped his growing worry wasn't visible on his face.

"I know we've just met, but I have no one else to turn to," He shook his head with a slight frown,

"I'd be awfully grateful if you could catch my three runaways!" He held his hands in a pleading motion. Well, Kobii already had the poke ball in his hand, which he couldn't say didn't give him a little sense of comfort for whatever reason. With that, he slowly nodded.

"Um, I can try?" To be honest, he couldn't tell if he'd be able to accomplish the task if even a Pokémon Professor couldn't, but again, he had a feeling in his gut that he'd be fine. Even if his answer didn't exactly scream confidence, Laventon smiled nonetheless,

"Now, the proper technique is to take aim at the Pokémon, then let the ball fly—it's quite simple!" He then seemed to deflate a little as he continued to speak.

"Though, far be it from me to say so, I suppose, given my own dire lack of skill in this area."

"W-well, at least you're good at explaining it? I think I've got the idea." Kobii tried to console, although he hadn't actually seen the Professor's skill or lack thereof. However, he seemed to appreciate it anyways.

"Exactly! Now, go and try it for yourself! I will wait here so I don't accidently spook them." He grinned and offered a thumbs up. With that vote of confidence, Kobii turned to face the field and choose which Pokémon he would try to catch first...

[aparticularbandit]

I don't know if you've seen Death Note, but I've een listening to the musical of it again with Danganronpa on the mind... so I was imagining Danganronpa characters to the songs. A lot of the L and Light songs remind me of Enogiri, which then got me thinking well who would be Misa, which... obviously it would be Mikan. So Junko as Light, Kyouko as L, and Mikan as Misa... sounds chaotic already. Though... honestly I think Junko fits Ryuk better personality wise, and if Light reminds me of anyone it's honestly Kyosuke. But that would completely wreck the Enogiri and Junkan angles so who even knows. (Mild death note spoilers, but) I honestly think the whole situation would be massively different with Junko with the Death Note than Light with it. So maybe everything would be much different in how it plays out - with Junko's motive being despair and world wide chaos instead of justice. And then how does Mukuro fit into this? (End)

I also just imagined regular DR to the songs, like not a death note AU, just regular DR to the songs. Kyosuke is "where is the justice?", Mukuro and Junko are both singing "they're only human" (with the line "I'm intrigued by their love" being about her crush on Makoto), "secrets and lies" I was actually imagining the DR3 killing game (with "familiar faces watch you, but with a perfect strangers eyes" being a reference to Chisa and her deal), and "mortals and fools" being a duet with either Ryota or Nagito in Rems role and Mikan in Misa, with either of them trying to convince her that Junko is bad news. Misa songs in general to Mikan... I also was imagining borrowed time to be a duet between Mikan and Nagito, with Nagito singing about Chiaki and Mikan Junko. Idk. The Death Note musical is good. I think all of L and Light's songs are great for enogiri ("the game begins", "stalemate", and "playing his game") and I can't get the idea of Misa!Mikan out of my head...

I, unfortunately, have not seen Death Note. It has its first chapter published in Shonen Jump around the time that my undiagnosed OCD was not doing so great (it ebbs and flows), and the premise of "once you use this Death Note as a human being, you can never go to heaven or hell," despite the fact that the protagonist didn't necessarily know that sent my brain alarms going off and bothered me so much that I determined to never read more of it. Or see it.

Which is unfortunate because I've heard so, so many good things about it.

Alas.

But! I enjoy your analysis and thoughts on who each character would be! And songs! And how to set all that up!

I just. don't necessarily get it on the level someone else who knows both canon would. ><

(But someone else around here probably does?????)

Sorry!!

[this-is-krikkit]

LH x skating AU when? 🤭

anon, whoever you are, i'm a little bit in love with you right now. i was initially going to reply that i love yuuri and victor so much i haven't really thought about levihan while watching yoi, but....... as always, everything is levihan to my sick obsessed little mind, and that would have been a big fat lie.

i do genuinely love these new characters, so much more than i expected.

but since you insist... here we go for not just levihan skating AU, but actual, full on levi on ice headcanons:

first off, and you guessed it from that title, Hange = Victor. i know this is not the most popular hc in the snk fandom, but i'm convinced Hange's is at least as old, if not older than Levi is, and they perfectly fit the part of being a nearly retiring athlete whose sole purpose in life is to surprise their audience

so yeah, they've had a crush on Levi and his late-blooming but impressive ice skating abilities since they were up against each other in international competitions, and it did culminate at that banquet where he got black out drunk and openly flirted with them

but Levi's dog Hanjo (named after his idol, and of the same breed as their own dog Moblit (i mean that as a compliment, guys)) died during the season and the pressure was too much and Kenny is a useless fucking coach.... and so Levi fucked up his finale, and gets back home all defeated and unsure of his future

until his childhood friends Petra and Oluo's kids film and post him imitating Hange's years old dance on the local ice ring!!

can i add smth real quick btw? i just love the idea of Levi having a family, and him being Yuuri in this AU provides that. he deserves to be surrounded and supported by living loved ones (his sister Isabel, the childhood friends i mentioned before, and his alive and well mom Kuchel who's running the onsen), and i love that for him here

anyway back to the plot and come on, my guys. what's more Hange-like than spontaneously jumping on a plane and moving to another country/into a near stranger's family just because of a video that went viral and the memories of their crush on this very cute, very short, very intoxicated guy showing amazing dance moves (including pole dance!!! like what) and asking them to coach him bc he's such a fan??

you know the "fell first/fell hard(er)" ship meme? i go back and forth on it for levihan because there are so many ways to interpret their relationship in snk. but in this AU, i have no doubts: Hange fell first (no, i am not counting Levi's childhood crush on them here, bc that ain't love bitch) and planned the whole thing. and okay, it was chaotic planning and they had no clue what they were doing and mostly just jumped at the chance to train this rough diamond and maybe try and seduce him if he let them along the way.... but still, they're the one who went it and gave it a shot. Levi, on the other hand, thinks he just has a childhood crush, and he is absolutely the one who ends up falling hard, head over... skates (shut up, i'm hilarious), which he shows by having Yuuri-level Gay Panics anytime Hange's too close to him or by, yk, dedicating his heart WAIT NO THIS ISN'T SNK whole performance of the season to his new coach (but iT'S jUsT bC hE adMiRes tHem riGHt?? (wrong, Levi, you're so wrong. you idiot, ily so much aaaaah))

also, i dare anyone to tell me that flaunting their nakedness around complete strangers and then foregoing all societal bounderies by harrassing Levi so he'll let them into his secrets and life isn't the most Hange thing ever. yeah, you can't, because that is practically their canon relationship in snk, minus snk-Hange's aversion for baths and with an emphasis on just how clueless they are about wooing someone (and just bulldoze right into it so violently everyone mistakes their insane lovestruck behavior for Hange-usual eccentric behavior. what a romantic disaster they are, they desperately need help. i love them!!!!)

i was initially going to say that Zeke is Levi's biggest rival through all this, but something felt off, and you know what? Yurio is actually a dead ringer for the other insufferable jeager brother!! and so, lo and behold: Eren = Yurio! he's young, talented, ANGRY ALL THE TIME, wants to annihilate his competitors... really the only difference here, besides hair color (and the ability to turn into a giant monster, i mean), is that he becomes a decent human being and not a genocidial maniac in this AU. good for you, yoi-au-Eren, it's what you deserved.

i haven't decided yet if Zeke is more Christophe Giacometti or JJ Leroy material. i will have to think on it, anon, my apologies.

anyway, of course, in this AU (just as in my hc of snk, but don't tell anyone) Levi's a blushing virgin. and of course, Hange steals his first kiss after his stunning performance during China's tournament, as a way to surprise him back after he blew their brains out with his dancing (spoiler alert: it's Hange's first kiss too, even though everyone thinks they're a player who fucked their way through the competitions they've won before -nope. they're both ridiculous I LOVE THEM DEARLY)

oh but whatever you do, anon, don't think about yoi-Levihan using snk-Levi's final salute to snk-Hange as a way to support each other every time Levi gets on the ice (well, Hange used to do the simple salute on their own chest before hugging Levi, until the Russia tournament when he grabbed them by the tie, delivered That Iconic Yuuri Line and then transformed the salute into this much more intimate gesture for the first time). and especially don't think about these two fucking assholes choosing to put the hand that wears these ridiculously closeted romantic identical """""lucky charm""""" rings on each other's chest, right before Levi launches himself on the ice and towards breaking Hange's free skate world record. don't, okay? it's dangerous territory.

right. i'm going to stop here (and i've deleted a big chunk of other stuff actually), but i could go on and on and on...

the point is, anon

you win

there is now a "levi on ice ugggh fuck my life" titled document in my precious, already full fics folder

jesus.