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nightscythe · 4 months ago

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xlvii. parallax

→ alpharius x saphis [oc, she/her] → 4.7k, 18+ but no sexual scenes, tw; yandere, kidnap, mental torture, pregnancy, obsession. you know. alpha legion things → unknown point in time (wink), alpharius is obsessed with a woman and his brother hates her for it basically

“I love you,” he tells her. She hears it again, and again, whispered into her like a spell that would stop her from leaving him. She knows they have an audience, yet she doesn’t care. “Please, Saphis.”

“She is a weakness,” the other says from behind. He still doesn’t move. She refuses to look at him. Alpharius’ fingers dig into her skin with every word. “Let her go.”

He looks up to her, eyes glassy, skin red. As she places her hand over his cheek, brushing away a tear, he leans into her touch. “I didn’t want this.”

“What is your plan, brother?” the other asks. Brother. Saphis’ heart beats faster than ever.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise you,” Alpharius tells her.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Midnight had passed. 1am. 2am. It must have been close to the next hour now.

Saphis hadn’t found sleep. She’d watched the rain on the glass since he’d said goodnight, turned to his side, and slept peacefully without another word or touch. Another drop slides down the window, another crack of thunder that’s quieter than anticipated.

She was thinking.

A silent hum buzzes around the room, the faint glow of the strip lights that lined the ceiling dimming as though it followed his heartbeat. No other noise.

She her head away from the glass, attention turning to the man beside her. The warm pillow beneath her head agitated her to no end, but she’d easily overlooked it as her eyes looked over him, scanning his entire being for something, anything, that was wrong.

Last night he faced her, mumbling to himself as he drifted to sleep. He’d reached for her whilst he still has some semblance of consciousness in his system, holding her colder and far less tired body against his. He’d kissed her softly on her cheek, then lingered on her lips. But tonight?

He’d faced the other way. He’d said goodnight and spared her the briefest peck to the corner of his lips. He’d not reached for her or wanted to feel her beside him at all.

She knew it long before this night, but she’d only realised it now.

Her hands push her up gently. She can’t move too quickly, he’d feel it. Any training she had left from her days holding a weapon and hiding her identity come into place there and then. The smoothest of movements. The quietest of actions. Just so she can peer over him, get a good sight of his arm.

She wasn’t sure when she started counting. Months, maybe a year ago. Her endless nights of insomnia drove her to try something which may just make her tired – and at some point she stopped counting the groves in the ceiling and started counting his scars instead.

Never touching him, she begins her search. Details every scar she can see on his body. Labels them against what she knew in her head. She felt crazy. Like one of those girls obsessed with their lovers, like she felt he had something to hide. She did. Every night it felt worse, and now the bubble was about to burst.

She stops by his elbow. His arm is bent, but it usually was. A centimetre below the curve, on his lower left arm, there should be a scar exactly an inch long. Beneath, two centimetres down, there was a tiny, pale-brown freckle. She studied it. She had the image burned into her head.

She’d mapped it a hundred times in her mind.

On him? A scar below the curve of his elbow on his lower left arm with a tiny pale-brown freckle beneath it. 0.9 inches long. 1.8cm below.

It wasn’t him.

She’s crazy, right?

No. She knows. She had seared everything into her head exactly. She can’t be wrong. She wouldn’t let herself be wrong. Not about this.

She wants to scream. She lays back down against the pillow, facing the ceiling, deafened by the sound of someone walking past in the hallway outside. She doesn’t look to the door, she doesn’t dare move. Her heart races. Her mind races.

Everything meant more now. The way he touched her. The way he spoke with her. The way he watched her. Things were missing. He was missing. His love wasn’t there.

He was playful, teasing even, smirking at her with a promise of his love. A hand that lingers on her lower back, a whisper in her ear that made her heart race with possibilities. It was that which started all this. He always, always touched her neck when he walked past. It was instinct. A hand on her shoulder, his fingertips brushing the curve of his neck with a silent reminder of his feelings. A slight possessiveness. A claim.

Then he didn’t. Just one time, when he would always do it. She overanalysed. The touches were wrong. Too impersonal. Too stiff. Like a role being played without any care for the meaning.

And she was afraid.

The next time she saw him, he did it like usual. It wouldn’t matter. The seeds of doubt were sown.

But now she was angry.

Livid.

She knew his duty. She knew what it meant when he confessed to her how he truly felt and instead of running she leant into him and allowed him to pursue her further. She knew what a primarch was, what it meant to her, how it would work going forward. She knew her friends thought she was crazy when she said I’m not sure, I think Alpharius is the most attractive, in the mysterious, strange kind of way.

She turns back to him, eyes narrowed. He would send one of his sons to play his part?

To send some nameless astartes to touch her, to pretend to love her?

It was insulting. It was cold and cruel.

She moves silently across the bed, careful not to disturb whoever laid beside her. She creeps on the floor, feet barely touching the cold metal to avoid unnecessary noise. She knows how to stay invisible. He trained her to be once before. The only trace of her ever leaving is the click of the door latch.

She stills, expecting a reaction. There’s no movement behind her. She leaves without confirming.

Her quiet is lost in the halls though. Her breathing is heavy, vision tunnelling, fury setting fire to each step behind her. She knew where he would be. Where he always was. She could trace his very steps to his command room. Though where she once felt safe, she felt foreign. Nothing more than a pawn in his game.

She enters the code on the keypad without a second thought. She’d learnt it the first time she’d seen him here – by accident then, but now she was happy she did. The quiet buzz to let her in echoes through the bare halls, then the door opens just slightly, no noise this time.

He’s sat on the other side of the room. She almost laughs. Almost. He’s reading a stack of reports. He’s completely unbothered. He’s relaxed. This is Alpharius. She knows it. He’s always relaxed behind closed doors, he felt as though he didn’t have a standard to uphold. He told her that himself.

“Alpharius?”

He looks up to her immediately. He hadn’t expected her voice. His lips drop, his eyes widen. He stands before thinking to speak, talking a step towards her, though he stops without warning.

His gaze moves behind her. She feels it – a presence behind her. Too close. Too familiar. A shiver crawls up her spine as she turns.

Alpharius.

The heat drains from her face as she realises. It was not an astartes. He did not share her with an astartes. She shared her with… himself. Another him. Another primarch. Their energy, it was unmistakable. They were two halves of a whole. Yet to her, he was everything.

“Alpharius,” the man behind her says. Her breathing hitches as he looks to her with the slightest smirk. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t bother trying to explain. He doesn’t even seem to care. His voice mocks her. “You told her.”

His words aren’t answered right away. The cold, flat voice was not wrapped in the silk of his love. But the other? His voice is low. Calm. Possessive. “She worked it out herself.”

Neither look at her. Not really. They speak over her, beside her, around her – like she isn’t even there. Like she isn’t standing in the middle of something far bigger than she should ever be part of.

“She will ruin everything,” the other says, closing the door behind them. He was logical. He didn’t accuse, it was a fact. She should be deathly afraid of the man behind her yet she knew in her heart that the man who truly loved her would not let a thing happen to her. “You know this.”

Alpharius takes a step forward. There is no hesitation in his voice. “She won’t.”

The other scoffs, exhaling sharply through his nose. Maybe he laughs. She’s not sure. She’s suffocated by the feeling of Alpharius behind her. He does not touch her, but he would not let the other get to her first.

She looks up to him, though still ignored. She forces herself to speak. “I… I don’t care.”

Both of their eyes lock onto her at once. She should have said more, explained what she meant. She wouldn’t. She would tell anyone, wouldn’t speak of it, wouldn’t destroy anything they had built right under her nose. But she doesn’t.

She turns to Alpharius, moving into his space, their hands just touching, and she looks him right in the eyes. “I want you.”

His hand brushes against hers, only slightly. Behind, she feels the eyes of terror itself staring her down. She cannot look away from Alpharius though, the mix of worry, heartache, fear that runs through him. He won’t look away from her either.

“Saphis, I—”

He doesn’t finish his sentence. She watches as Alpharius, primarch, a god in his own right, falls to his knees before her. Her lips fall apart as she watches. His hands reach for her hips, gripping them tight as he lets his forehead rest against her lower chest. He holds her against him, refusing an inch of space, as if she was air itself.

“She is a weakness,” the other says from behind. He still doesn’t move. She refuses to look at him. Alpharius’ fingers dig into her skin with every word. “Let her go.”

He looks up to her, eyes glassy, skin red. As she places her hand over his cheek, brushing away a tear, he leans into her touch. “I didn’t want this.”

“What is your plan, brother?” the other asks. Brother. Saphis’ heart beats faster than ever.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise you,” Alpharius tells her.

She hears the breath of his brother behind her. No more words, no more facts. She hears the door behind them close. Not a slam. Nothing to draw attention. A calm and collected close shut. Alpharius only tightens his grip on her, never once breaking eye contact.

He curls his fingers around the hand on his face, taking it away so he can hold her hand. He doesn’t rise to whatever challenge is behind. “You will never leave me.”

She’d wouldn’t have known how truthful he was being.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

A light switches on above her.

She doesn’t even look at it.

Her eyes are fixed on the wall before her. This was the longest she’d been left. She’d counted all the cracks, the imperfections. She’d run through in her head just how long she had sat on the corner of insanity and madness by the ache in her bones and sound of her own breathing. It was her only constant.

Her right hand is shaking. It doesn’t move, it sits on the tiled floor, somewhat damp, moving left to right so quickly. Her left hand is still, bar her index finger that tapped over and over again meaninglessly. Tap tap tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap. Her gaze moves down to the next concrete brick to count. The light switches off again. She could restart when it came back.

Darkness was her closest friend. Stayed with her through the night. Reminded her of a time before. How long had it been? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t remember the last time she heard her own voice. She wasn’t sure if her throat could make a noise, let alone her lips remember how to make the sound. It was all just memories. Broken, shattered, left too far for her to pick and piece back together.

She hears the click of the door. Three slabs late tonight. He was usually perfect. He was always on time.

She doesn’t look to him, there’s no need. Her only other friend, the only other person in her tiny world. She hated him, deep down. Why? She wasn’t sure. She felt it when he entered the room each day, she felt a desire to kill whenever he approached her. She never moved though. Not anymore.

His steps echo as he moves towards her. His boots pick up the drabs of water on the floor and sprinkle them around her. He stops before he touches her. He waits a second to see if she speaks. Then, he places a bag over her head.

Not tight. He wasn’t cruel. It was only to stop her seeing. When he’s satisfied, he lifts her to her feet and guides her. To where, she was never sure. There was always darkness. A small guiding light at their feet. He walks her for precisely 387 seconds. He takes a step a second. Straight. Left. Right. Straight. Right.

He sits her on the ground. He takes the bag from her head. She looks up to him and expects something. She may not know whether she even existed, but him? She knew him. Brother. The other one. Cold. Without care. He never reacts. He never removed his helmet. He left her there. Another cell, another room, another nightmare.

And she lets herself sleep.

A light switches on above her.

She doesn’t even look at it.

Her eyes are fixed on the wall before her. She counts the cracks, the imperfections. She started in the top corner of the wall across from her. Did each concrete brick at a time, slowly, carefully, recounting the number in her head until she was sure that was correct.

Her right hand is shaking. It doesn’t move, it sits on the tiled floor, somewhat damp, moving left to right so quickly. Her left hand is still, bar her index finger that drifted over the floor. Her nail scrapped along the concrete over and over. She could feel her skin becoming sore as she meticulously drew the same thing over and over. A cross with a line through the bottom two lines. A sign. Please help me. He told her it meant please help me. A cross with a line through the bottom two lines. That’s all it was.

She hears the click of the door. She had only completed three slabs. He was usually perfect. He was always on time.

She doesn’t look at him, there’s no need. His steps don’t make any noise as he moves towards her. The floor hasn’t even had a chance gather enough water for his boots to sprinkle anything. He stops before he touches her. He waits a second to see if she speaks. Then, he places a bag over her head.

When he’s satisfied, he lifts her to her feet. His hands are different. His indifferent disposition is challenged. He’s careful with her. He’s gentle. He doesn’t want to hurt her. There was less darkness. The path was lit completely at her feet. He walks her for precisely 613 seconds. He takes a step a second. Straight. Left. Left. Straight. Right. Left.

He sits her down. Not on the ground. It’s soft. It’s dry. He takes the bag from her head. Familiarity sinks in. No concrete slabs, no damn floor and metal pipes. She looks up to him and expects nothing. She knew him. Alpharius. Her lover. Warmth. A new room. A new cell. An entirely different nightmare.

He doesn’t talk. She studies the metal floor, she listens to the rain against the glass behind her. She hears the lock of the door at the end of the room. He removes his helmet. Her fingers fall into the soft comfort of the sheet she sits on. A bed? Her legs tremble. She feels the prickle of tears in her eyes.

And, even if she wanted to enjoy the feeling for just a little longer, she let herself sleep.

She wakes beneath a blanket, its edge pulled all the way up to her chin. She methodically looks to the wall, expecting to count, but its impossible to. She was too far from it, it had been covered with something to make it look perfect, and it was lit so perfectly that she thought it was impossible for there to be imperfections.

Her body is trained not to move. A cold, hard floor had become her bed for however long. The feeling of a mattress, of something so soft beneath her, it was unreal. She embraced the feeling, wanting a little more, just in case this fantasy of hers ended before she could enjoy it all.

Her eyes trace along the rooms edge. A window, to the left, showing the grey clouded skies that poured down rain and the occasional strike of lightning in the distance. To the right? A furnished room, dimly lit by lights that lined the corners and pulsed in time with her heartbeat.

A couch, or something similar, tucked away in the corner. A desk across from the bed with machinery on it she didn’t recognise immediately. A pot of pens, but only two pens inside. A chair that looked unused for untold time. A cork board on the wall that had one thing tacked on. Alpharius, and a woman, a dark haired woman that seemed so happy with him.

“Saphis?” his voice says softly. She freezes, her breathing catching in her throat. His hand, so gently, reaches for her leg under the cover. He’s sat at the edge of the bed, the armour she always remembered him for discarded, only a loose tunic and laced leather bracers. When he meets his eyes, he smiles. “You’re okay.”

Her lips part. Was that her name? Saphis. She doesn’t remember it. She wants to say it, but as she tries to speak, nothing leaves her mouth. Her eyes darken as she tries again, her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly.

“Do you remember?” he asks. He almost crawls towards her on the bed. She lets him approach, but she flinches when he tries to touch her. He… laughs to himself. “It’s okay, little one. I promise you. You don’t have to be afraid. He won’t take you from me again.”

She wants to ask. Who. Who is he. The brother, the other him. She can’t bring herself to say any words. All she can manage is a pitiful squeak, another that his lips curl ever so slightly for. She feels her eyes start to burn.

“I know it’s hard. I know.” He lets himself lay beside her, reaching for her right hand under the cover as he holds it gently in his. It starts to shake, but he holds it tight enough that it won’t move. Her left hand, her index finger starts to tap. Tap tap tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap. “I thought I had lost you. Do you know what it was like, thinking you were gone forever?”

He wipes her ears for her. She flinches again, but he chuckles. He shushes her, strokes her hair, holds her a little tighter as she shakes her head.

“My constant, you don’t have to be afraid of me. I promise you. Everything he took, I will return it. Your name, your voice, your place with me. I will find it. You’re here, you’re safe. You don’t need to remember it. You don’t even have to try. You’re with me.”

She nods. She tries, even as her fingers burn, to hold his hand back.

“You remember me though, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes.” He moves closer to her. He doesn’t force his touch, no more than already done, but he makes sure she can feel him everywhere. He doesn’t even seem disappointed with her lack of reply. “You’re tired. That’s okay. Don’t think. Let me think for you. Let me take care of you.”

She closes her eyes. A silent thank you. She lets his arms wrap around her, embrace her, make her feel the warmth missing for years.

“We were everything, Saphis,” he whispers to her, holding her tighter, not letting her go. “You’ll understand soon. I promise.”

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

She didn’t even know when she started crying.

Her hands are wrapped around a single piece of paper. An declaration of how much he loved her from when they first started to know each other. When she realised the man who trained her was not just a son of the Alpha Legion, it was Alpharius himself. The words had started to blur, hidden behind a veil of tears that protected the little amount of sanity she had left. Her hands, shaking, bony and fragile, clutch onto the paper like the very strings of the reality she knew.

She had left him.

She’d slipped away in the dead of night. She saw past his curtain of lie, his whispered falsehoods disguised by a truth she never understood. She’d told herself she couldn’t do it any longer. She couldn’t trust their life, she didn’t know what was real, what he’d fabricated, what he’d wanted her to believe.

The people he had taken from her. Friends, family, ex-lovers. Anyone who dared know her name. Gone. Never existed. Died on the frontlines. MIA. Nothing in her life made her real. Her own records, the years of training she did to become as cold as he was, every record of her service to the Emperor, to the Alpha Legion, gone.

She was nothing but his.

And she had left him.

She had to leave.

Didn’t she?

A tear falls onto the paper, smudging part of his writing and furthering the crack that splintered down her heart. She leans back against the wooden wall, letting her legs slide down against the floor, her hands resting on her thighs. She looks up at the ceiling, but lets her eyes fall closed.

She sees him sitting across from her, soft smile on his lips, waiting for her to crack. He’d tell her to come back to him, he’d watch her crawl across the floor and fall into his arms so he could hold her tightly and never let her go. Good girl, he’d whisper, knowing she’d always come back.

Until he left the door unlocked. He’d started doing it more and more, but she was never tempted. Not until one night, she remembers him falling asleep early, holding her hand against the mattress, telling her to stay with him. She’d waited until he was breathing softly, unconsciousness finding him, then she crept to the door and poked her head out just to see what there was.

He was there in the corridor, watching. He was in bed, sleeping. She’d closed the door and locked it so quickly that it had woken him. He told her, she never needed anyone else, that he kept her here for her protection. His brother was waiting. His brother would try anything to lock her up again.

So she listened. She didn’t try again. Not until she felt herself slipping.

She spent years absorbing his presence; his control. She did everything he said. She’d wait to hear him whisper praises in her ear, calling her good girl and mine as he slowly condition her to become his perfect presentation of perfection right in front of her. She hated it. She hated him.

The why did she miss him?

Why did she want to go back?

Why did she need him?

And why, why, why…

“Saphis.”

Her eyes open. She stares at the ceiling, thinking her mind is playing tricks on her. She processes the voice once, then again, then another time. She crumples the paper between her fingers as she lets herself look forward.

Why is he standing right in front of her?

She doesn’t make a noise. She doesn’t even breathe. The rain falls down on him, soaking his clothes, yet he doesn’t seem to care. He doesn’t even flinch as each drop hits his face. He just watches her. He doesn’t move. He waits. He stares.

He didn’t need to chase her. She’d always return to him.

“Alpharius,” she returns, a silent invitation back to her. The warm feeling behind her ribs starts to bloom. She sits up straighter, crossing her legs, allowing her hand to instinctively rest against her stomach. “How did you—”

“If you want me to leave, I will leave,” he tells her.

He moves towards her, slowly, carefully. He takes a deep breath as he stops, just before her, then kneels before her. His fingers twitch as they near her, but he doesn’t touch her. He speaks like he’s really giving her a choice.

She doesn’t answer him.

“You look tired, little one,” he says softly, his silken voice wrapping around her like ties to stop her. She looks down from him, just briefly, a silent confirmation of the truth.

He hums to himself, smile weaved onto his lips as he leans forward. Hesitant at first, he reaches for her. He breathing catches in her throat, her eyes locked on his as she sees him reach for her own hand on her stomach. His fingertips brush against the back of her hand, so gently, then he places his hand just above hers.

She feels it before he does. A small kick. Then another. She sees the way his face softens, his body stills. It was the first moment she had ever seen a vulnerability in his eyes, a smile that wasn’t knowing, or curious – it was real. The choice was never hers.

“Did it help?” he asks, not moving. He wanted to feel more. “Did leaving make it easier?”

She doesn’t answer again.

“You never stopped thinking about me, did you?”

He already knew the answers to his questions. They both did. He wasn’t being cruel. In his own way, he sounded pitiful, concerned. Happy. Every step she took away from him was only returning her to the shadow he left behind.

“I won’t make you beg,” he tells her. He takes his hand away, just briefly, to wipe the last tear that fell to her cheek. Her eyes close as her lashes flutter, falling into his touch. “You’re the one who left, little one. You tell me. What do you want?”

She stays quiet again. She lets the feeling of his touch embrace her just a little longer. He waits, and she tries to whisper. Her voice breaks, more tears spill, and he’s there to clean her up.

“I forgive you,” he tells her, gently. She opens her eyes, slowly, meeting his gaze once more. Her heart pounds. “I missed you. I would follow you to the ends of the galaxy and still take you back. But this time… if you stay, you stay forever. For me. For our child.”

He leans closer to her. His lips ghost hers, never touching her still. His hand finds her own, entwining his fingers with hers, but not tight enough that she would not pull away.

“Just say the words,” he whispers, “tell me you won’t run again.”

He sits back. He watches her for a moment, then places his hand back to feel his child once more. He lets his eyes fall shut for a moment, then offers her a genuine smile of happiness.

“You know it now. You know you were never meant to be without me.” He reaches for her hair, pushing the loose strands behind her ear. “I know you tried hard. All those nights alone, all those days waiting, thinking one day you’d forget me, hoping to forget the way I loved you. But you never could.”

His expression falls. His voice drops to something quieter, final.

“Because you belong to me.”

He stands, tall figure so imposing over her. He extends his hand out to her, palm open and upwards, ready to answer her every wish. One final illusion of choice, as if she was ever making this decision.

“Tell me, Saphis. What do you want?”

She takes his hand.

She lets him embrace her, whisper her promises of their future, together, never apart, just them, lets his words coil around her like silk and steel.

But she sees the shadow in the doorway. Unmoving. Watching. Empty.

Waiting.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

a/n: thanks very much for reading! I thought there was no better candidate for the yandere position than this guy right here. hope its not too confusing!! although maybe its meant to be.

#alpharius x reader #alpharius x oc #Alpharius #alpharius omegon #alpha legion #warhammer 30k #warhammer 40k #lua.wrt #primarch x oc #primarch x reader

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argentinpantsuit · 1 year ago

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It just …. I really heavily dislike the Parallax retcon and it’s been irritating me for YEARSS at this point but i think the reason i hate it so damn bad is that Parallax Hal was kind of the best downward spirals and villain arcs i have ever read.

It humanised him because the fact is he had a reason a right to be incensed at the guardians , he had a right to hate them and hate Sinestro it just felt so real and genuinely believable that Hal would lash out and react that way after Coast City was destroyed.

It was such desperate hopeless ending and such a fantastic arc because I really felt his anger his fear ( Key word - HIS ) his absolute hatred it felt understandable and possible and it made him up as formidable friend who lost everything and turned after tragedy more powerful than ever.

It felt realistic and gave him a soul crushing end as he realised how far he had come and sacrificed himself in a final act of redemption for HIS actions not some parasite It was his anger that hurt people. He hurt people. He was never perfect or a saint and his fall from grace felt at least to me atrociously human. Human’s whose emotions can get the best of them. Humans who can have a thirst however cruel for vengeance and power. Human’s whose perception of emotions is COLOSAL . And Hal being more human than the Guardians liked.

The Guardians VS Hal doesn’t feel as meaningful if he was actually just being manipulated all along and no guys he’s actually just totally perfect and has 0 problems and his humanity is absolutely not suppressed because creating Coast City again was very bad and he would never do it was just fear !!!!!!!

Like it has grown on me over the years mostly because i would actually like Hal back a Green Lantern in the Corps and all that after he stops being Spectre but i don’t know i think that a lot of the story could’ve been handled differently and not completely deny Hal of ever being bad ever.

#ok so this was rant and a half sorry #OBVIOUSLY IF I YOU LIKED THE RETCON ITS FINEEE #it just ….. irked me #hal jordan #green lantern #dc comics #dc #rants

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omniblades-and-stars · 6 months ago

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2024 FIC WRAPPED

Tagged by @teamdilf - thanks my friend!

Words posted: 42,888

Additional words written: Hmm, let's see ... I'll see if I can get a rough idea. Looks like roughly 35,000 or so.

Fandoms: Mass Effect and Dragon Age to the absolute surprise of no one.

Highest Kudos: Pass the Knife - 81 Kudos (Mass Effect)

Highest Hit Oneshot: Dear Joker - 250 Hits (Mass Effect)

New Things I Tried: This was the year that I dipped my toes a couple of times into ships other than Shaeed and Shakarian. I also just allowed myself to write a bunch of short little things for prompts and I really enjoyed that. This year was also just for having fun and following my weird little heart.

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: That's definitely going to be Pass The Knife, as I actually started writing this in June or July 2023 and I am nowhere closed to finished.

Fic that I Spent the Least Amount of Time On: Hard to say but I think it's probably going to be Defy. It was a short little prompt fill that didn't take me long at all, but I am actually very proud of it. It's a bit experimental. And kind of a gut punch.

Favorite Thing I Wrote: I am once again shouting from the rooftops for literally everyone to please go and read blood & grenadine!! It's sooo much fucking fun. Who cares if you're not into a Zakarian ship? You won't regret it, and you will have a great time reading it the whole time. It's a oneshot too, so it won't take much effort.

Favorite Things I Read: Mapmaking by teasoni - I'm back on my Dragon Age: Origins bullshit again and I am obsessed with Bann Teagan and the Hero of Ferelden. Smutty smutty oneshot. XII. press your fingers to my weary eyes by korble - Korbie knows me too well and this Bray/Femshep piece is both sexy and will hurt your heart in all the right ways. Stellar Parallax by korble - Korb's in progress no Reapers AU has me by the fucking throat. As A Stranger Or A Friend? by writernopal - This is @writernopal's (hi!) original story that I have not finished reading (I'm so sorry Nopal I swear I will finish it, I'm just so bad at focusing my reading!) and it's so much fun. Do you like pirates? Do you like fantasy? Do you like lizardfolk, like a lot? Please go read it!

New Works: Oh lord, here we go...

- Holding On To Hell: Shaeed post-destroy ending trauma fest. Will make me cry (already has). Shepard isn't doing so great after she somehow survives the explosion on the Citadel. There are gaps in her mind where the Reapers used to be, where visions of the first big casualty of the war, Ashley Williams, takes root. Zaeed takes her to the middle of nowhere to try to live again after it all. Can they reconcile everything that's happened and their own feelings? Has Shepard lost her mind for good? All this and more once I sit my happy ass down and write it. - Tentatively titled: Moths to a Flame: Lavellan/Blackwall post Trespasser. After seeing Solas for who he really is, losing her connections to her clan and feeling lost at see, Valethen Lavellan asks to travel with Thom Rainier as he finishes his apology world tour. During that time, friends grow closer, as well as Valethen begins to plan a wild and desperate (albeit very crafty) plot to get Solas to talk to her once more, in an attempt to sway him from his path one more time. - Vainglory - Valethen Lavellan's origin story. A young mage, she goes off on a desperate bid to save her husband's life, who is dying of a mysterious wasting illness. She makes a deal with a spirit and everything goes devastatingly wrong. - Kith & Kin - Months before the events of the Divine's Conclave, Bahek Adaar is an up and coming member of the Valo-Kaas mercenary group. Eager to proof herself, everything seems to be going very well for the witty rogue. - placeholder title: The Flock - Just as the case of the mysterious death of a cult leader goes cold, a young detective joins the Agency for Criminal Investigations (a department within the bureaucratic nightmare that is Colonial and Extra-Planetary Affairs), and not all is as it seems. - placeholder title: No Happy Endings - Mór Cousland thought she had exactly the life she wanted. The daughter of a powerful Ferelden noble, she lived a life full of adventure by traveling often for combat tournaments and duels, and joining the rangers and scouts in Highever to help keep the lands her family holds safe from threats both natural and unnatural. That is until it is all ripped away from her on one fell night. Conscripted to the Grey Wardens in exchange for saving her life from Arl Howe's betrayal, she must learn what duty actually is, and grapple with the horrible things she must do to defeat an unthinkable evil: the Blight.

Tagging: @commander-krios, @sparatus, and @stormikins if you guys want!

#this is my tag game tag now #daisy screaming into the void #I had more WIPS but that's already so maaaaaany

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thelongestway · 6 months ago

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Writing heists is hard, haha! Especially while trying to troubleshoot a computer you haven't seen in a while. :P At least that gives you a lot of wait time.

But there we go - and yeah, no way this is 12 chapters. 14 or 15, so about the same size as the last story. Gonna do an actual word count when I get everything set up again.

Chapter 11

SecUnit

On the second jump to Parallax, the Friend went under for an operation that would allow Dandelion to decide what to redact from its memory. (When it learned I would be going with it onto the station it asked if I would be erasing my memory, too. I told it to fuck off with that idea. It looked at me in a way that reminded me of my first meeting with Dandelion. Dumbass judgmental research transport and her dumbass judgmental human.)

Iceblink, the only one of the human Trellians to work with us in the feed, asked the Friend, How does that even work? To go on a mission when you have no idea what you're even defending?

This Friend remembers the circumstances around the operation and that it chose to allow your bot pilot to work on itself. It knows it has decided that the mission is important enough to not risk leaving the erasure to automated mechanisms upon imminent death. It is fine with that.

ew. She said to me on a private channel. i could never trust that, could you, SecUnit. like if they erased my memory and i could only remember i was fine with it i could not trust that.

If someone could erase your memory like that, they normally wouldn't let you remember anything at all. They just use a real governor module to tell you what to do.

I sent her the schemas (with most of the critical details of implementation redacted).

oh wow you people really are living preneek horror movies. ok fuck this. (you are bringing the Friend back alive tho, right? tell me you're not going to just leave it to a heroic last stand or something)

I don't let my clients do heroic last stands.

Technically, my client was Dandelion, and the Friend was her client, and I had explicit instructions under which the Friend turned into a target, which was the weirdest arrangement I've had so far as a security consultant choosing its own contracts. But Iceblink seemed satisfied.

Then the wormhole exit notification rang out across the ship. Dandelion transferred the Friend's feed leash to me, and we disembarked onto a shuttle that the Friend had also spoofed. We stayed dark for about a cycle, going over the station plan and our various strategies, code words and lines. I got through about half a season of Found. The Friend listened to music as it checked its equipment again and again. (It mostly liked instrumentals with chorals). When Dandelion, now a private yacht called "Lessel's Rays", came back from the wormhole, we started moving slowly. As soon as we reached the station's feed radius, I tapped the line to S-Sec. It was finally go time.

"Parallax Station Security, this is Ivlic Lesert, junior security officer for the transport Silverwing One. We had a stow-away that tried to take the ship. Requesting to rent a holding cell for three days and a search for any active warrants for one Atmir Ran, biometric data attached."

S-Sec confirmed receipt of message and then presumably ran its checks. Then they said suspiciously:

"S.O. Lesert, didn't Silverwing One leave a cycle ago? How slow is that shuttle?"

"Fast enough. According to our intel, this asshole might have friends on Parallax, so I was trying to draw them out. No luck, so now I just want the bounty if there is one and a drink." (This one was the Friend's idea. "Make them think you just want to get it over with; make them think all you want is the next dose." Humans and mind-altering substances, ugh.)

"S.O. Lesert, you can proceed to private ring 3, docking bay 5. An escort will meet you there."

The worst part about this plan was having to talk with human security while they processed the Friend. The Friend had written most of the lines, and its feed leash doubled as an encrypted comms channel, so it could shadow the conversation when the leash was activated. It insisted on keeping some of the least realistic elements that I had initially flagged at superfluous, and it worked. Station security was entertained. They were even more entertained when the Friend swore at them from behind holding cell bars, deploying increasingly improbable sex acts and genitalia combinations, and got shocked for its trouble.

Security informed us pretty quickly that BreharWallHan had a warrant that matched the Friend's description, so I could start an open search for details in the background. BreharWallHan had a small representative office here, as well as a corporate hotel, part of which had shittier accomodations, stricter security and doubled as barracks for workers on their way to places. I got the floor plans, worked in a code word so that the Friend knew to throw itself against the cell bars again, and activated the feed leash, piggybacking the plans onto the control signal.

The BreharWallHan agent came, and we negotiated for the bounty with stock dialogue that made me feel even more like I was in some kind of stupid serial. But we managed to drag the whole thing out to a time frame where Dandelion and Iceblink were either doing their part of the hack or were not, and then I released the Friend into their custody.

"The feed leash is time-locked," I said as the agent locked huge electronic manacles on the Friend's arms and legs. "It'll hold another 24 hours. Consider it a premium serivce guarantee."

The agent smiled at me and batted her eyelashes in a way that made my organic parts crawl.

"So if anything goes wrong, we can contact you about it, S.O.?"

I knew the line. It was, Ivlic, sir/maam/ker/ser. For you, it's Ivlic.

I said, "No. I will be getting drunk in my hotel room. The leash will hold."

"Ah well," the agent said, unbothered. "That fee should be enough for some excellent stuff. Enjoy your rest, S.O., and thank you for excellent work."

So that was just what I did. I found a cheap hotel room, ordered some of the swill that had the crappiest side effects on humans, and sequestered myself in the room. Then I hacked the hotel's feed, spread the swill all over the floor and giant bed, with a splash on the view screen for good measure (even though it was a nice view screen. For a cheap hotel room), changed my visual presentation and walked out to hack the BreharWallHan barracks from the outside. Thanks to the malware in my leash, the Friend should have been free of the manacles and doing the same from its cell. We'd agreed that whoever got to the walled garden feed first would take it out.

When we met in the middle as planned, and with no alarms raised (this was a very shitty little representative office), I thought that for once things had gone as planned. For about 0,2 seconds.

And then five other prisoners filed out from around the corner, looking terrified.

#the nameless fanfic #ttou #time to orbit unknown #the murderbot diaries #my writing #horrible crossover thoughts #mission: stick to defined mission target - impossible

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gasps-inspanish · 2 months ago

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Notes for the fifth and final chapter of my Green Lantern fic Fear and What Follows: Fear Remains, But So Does Your Kindness. This has some worldbuilding notes and GL headcannons i included in my fic as well as thoughts about the chapter so you dont need to read the fic to read and enjoy this.

I didn’t want to write them as fearless bc like, no one is truly fearless. And if they never felt any fear that locks off a lot of emotions. being a GL is about overcoming great fear, not being fearless. They feel fear, they just can overcome it easier! Thats why Chance died, he gave into fear-

Surprise Helen is alive!!!!!

Ollie, Hal, Barry and their families spending the holidays together is important to me. It’s their tradition they started just the three of them

Running gag that Hal never brings Carol because they are never together during the holiday season-

Kyle and his space friends (lovingly calling them Space Squad) are stupid but they love him and he loves them. I wanna write more about their adventures

If someone even hints at being interested in the volley ball incident I will write it I have no self control

I am a Hal and Carol shipper, but they don’t get back together in this fic sorry guys. They do later- Damn now I want to write them.

Please know that the eggs Hal made were bad but Kyle is polite and ate them. He’s surprised he didn’t die

Planning on writing Kyle’s graduation. Idk when yet

Also Bruce did go to Barry’s graduation. They just don’t know any of the Batfams secret identities at this point in the time line

When Kyle gets mad he draws himself bonking people he’s mad at on the head with hammers

I’m also very fond of the hc that Kyle draws people he’s mad at pregnant. That’s so funny to me idk-

Idk if anyone noticed, but like Kyle showing the contents of his sketchbook to Hal is a HUGE trust thing. U dont just share ur sketchbook with everyone.

Yes I’m a DonnaKyle shipper. Don’t look at me like that-

the donnakyle playlist is getting so long guys the brain rot is real but I get NO CONTENT-

Titans Teams in my au!!

So the Titans are divided into A and B, but they do also work together a lot!

Titans A: Donna, Dick, Wally, Garth, Roy

Titans B: Gar, Vic, Rachel, Kori, and Karen

Titans West (not yet established at this point in the story but they are brewing!): was supposed to have Jason as the leader with Connor, Jackson, and Joey but Jason died. M’gann is added a bit after Jason dies, and later Jaime, and Kelli are added.

Kara and Kyle are besties agenda being ran by me over here-

With the whole debate about the Parallax retcon, i decided I like both versions so i mixed it. Parallax wasn’t able to completely take over Hal, so everything that Hal did as Parallax was a group effort. You get to decide how much Hal would’ve done without Parallax

This fic actually wasn’t going to be written at all, but my friend BETRAYED me so I wrote this as a revenge fic. It was just supposed to be the scene in chapter three where Hal is helping Kyle get free from Parallax, but this turned into a 5 chapter 36k word fic so I hope u guys enjoyed this! But my point here is supposed to be, there are some plot points such as Kyle not sharing his name or face with the other lanterns yet and what happened between Kyle and Titans A bc thats gonna be explored in an other fic im writing! no official name yet, but its under the code name T7 for now but is another Kyle centric thingy with Fab 5 and Kara (pov switch between Kyle, Donna, Wally and Dick), and ofc Kyle interacting with the other Lanterns. So you should totoally follow me if you want updates on that

How did I write a whole 36k word fic about Kyle where Kyle’s name isn’t mentioned once? Crazy right

While the fic is in Hal's pov, the chapter titles are in Kyle's pov!

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stereopticons · 11 months ago

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writing patterns/first line analysis

rules: share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

Tagged by @hippolotamus and @kiwiana-writes!

I'm excluding drabble collections from this.

a long winter of indifference [david/patrick]

The gap between their bodies is maybe six inches at most, but to David, it feels like miles.

oh honey, you can have me when you want me [david/patrick]

It started, as things often did, as a joke.

love just leaves you bruised [david/patrick]

The cottage is eerily quiet when David opens the door.

come on, get higher, loosen my lips [firstprince]

Henry isn’t asleep, but he is trying.

we'll take a cup of kindness yet [david & rachel]

David’s not sure what crimes he committed this year to deserve this, but absolutely nothing is going right today.

my misspent youth and my slow decline [david/patrick]

Patrick tries not to think of it, but it comes to him anyway.

everybody's waiting for the next surprise [david/patrick]

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” David says, eyeing the building in front of them warily.

parallax [david/patrick]

There are two frames leaning against the living room wall, identically sleek, black, and heavy, though their contents couldn’t be more different.

crossed words and open hearts [david/patrick]

“Paaaatrick,” David whines, flopping dramatically across his husband’s lap. “It’s time for bed.”

knock on wood [david/patrick]

The morning of their fifth anniversary dawns bright and cool, and David wakes, as he often does, with Patrick pressed up against his back and an arm thrown over his hip.

Patterns:

I don't like to start with dialogue. I feel like this has changed over the years.

Do like to start with David being dramatic about something

I seem to try to start with a short punchy sentence with mixed success.

All but 2 of the 9 SC fics are in David's POV (not a surprise, tbh).

I have not published very much this year (also not a surprise, but it kinda sucks to see it laid out like this!)

tagging @indestructibleheart @alienajackson @rosedavid @mostlyinthemorning @ninzied and anyone else who wants to play

#tag game #writing patterns

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commenter2 · 1 year ago

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Scrambled Eggs review

We get to see the Hotel crew interacting without Alastor for a change, while Alastor meets up with some old pals when babysitting the Eggs.

There are Razzle and Dazzle, I was wondering where they were after the first episode.

With this being Hell, Pentious’ paranoia and want to defend himself must be common with the people. Maybe if there were less demons with asshole or perverted personalities we’d see that. Plus if this continues HH and HB is going to become like Family Guy and depend on that kind of stuff for every joke.

We finally got a name for the scientist from the pilot, Odette.

Carmilla Carmine, an Overlord centered on weapons. Her introduction could lead to some interesting fights.

Vaggie is kind of right, just because someone flips you off, doesn’t mean they want you dead. Niffty on the other hand is someone you should always worry about as she will likely want to do more than murder you.

It’s another example of how we wouldn’t have gotten the storyline if it happened, but I’m surprised Charlie or Vaggie (mostly Charlie) didn’t bring up the idea of having the Eggs join as part of the Hotel’s staff. They look like they could try and aid in cleaning and repair.

I also do like that Charlie didn’t, as so far I’ve seen a lot of examples where Vaggie sacrifices more in the relationship, so I’m counting this as an example of Charlie taking Vaggie’s word/side.

They made the famous Alastor pic of him eating deer into an animation!

BTW with his room being part swamp and the writer’s love of making memes, how long before we get a Kermit the Frog joke from this? If the writers ever decide to do that, they should get YouTuber DevilArtemis to help since he knows a lot about Kermit :)

Another change in Al’s voice when he said “that’s a lot less fun”. Now thinking back to the last episode, Vox had something similar going on with his voice so maybe it’s a common trait for sinners like them but I feel like that is a too simple reason for Alastor of all characters.

Another example of Charlie’s reality altering illusions. Did I ever mention who I think she could fight in an episode of Death Battle?

Is Vaggie afraid to lead people? It is an interesting idea but we have seen her doing just that before, though I guess those previous time could be considered “angry outburst/feelings”. I am one of the people who thinks Vaggie is a former Exorcist and if there is the slightest chance that is true, I could see this being a reason why she left. A bit off topic but going back to something I said in my Overture review, this also would have worked for the alternate idea of how it was common for Heaven losing Exorcist every year till now, as maybe they “lost” some because they quit during/after Exterminations.

Technically Husk did catch Angel, so there is trust their but annoy him and he’ll stop helping.

IDK how to describe it, but its nice seeing the fun art style that Angel and Cherri were drawn as in the pilot return for Angel, Husk, and Pentious here.

With the situation you and Hell are in Charlie, any progress should be considered good.

So that guy’s name is Zestial Modre. You think he talks that way because he is chronologically very old, or just for effect as I’m guessing he’s the Overlord of Fear? You think DC Comics/Warner Bros. would be okay with Vivzie if she gave Zestial a power similar to Scarecrow’s fear gas or have his full demon form look similar to Parallax, the emotional entity of Fear? Viv worked with Disney for a bit, so I bet Warner Bros. would be okay if it meant getting one over their rival company.

If you turn on subtitles, one of the Egg Bois is named Frank. I recall it being said that the Eggs are cloned from an original Egg, so could Frank be said original?

Sure Al, nothing suspicious happened during your break.

Not even the Eggs know about the name thing.

An Overlord meeting!

I recall Zilla being tall, but not THAT tall. Also does any still ship her with that guy she was seen with in the pilot, the one who was laughing at Charlie and said they should leave?

Nearly everyone in Hell has sharped teeth, so how is Rosie any different Frank?

Apparently the VA of Carmilla is also a dancer, fitting given how Carmilla looks like a ballerina. Also as LK Yusei Fudo would say, “what is up with her hair”?

“Older generation vs. never generation” trope. How long before Velvette makes a “okay boomer” joke?

The Exorcist severed head! Didn’t see that coming!

Now apparently there are theories of Lilith being disguised as Rosie, which I could see, but I do want to point out that she was shocked at the severed Exorcist head. Lilith seems like a kind of actor, so she could have acted being surprised but it’s still something that should be pointed out.

Looks like Zestial agrees with me that it’s possible that something else could have killed the Exorcist. Also that it sounds like he IS very old, maybe even older than Sir Pentious.

I’m wondering if this scene could help later on if there is a future scene where people blame Charlie for moving up the next Extermination, but then Alastor and maybe the other Overlords defend her by revealing the severed head. If it means preventing Charlie from having a “all is hopeless” scene then I hope it does.

It is interesting that the sinners are divided about if they should use the knowledge of knowing Exorcist could be killed to fight back or wait till they either learn more or to not risk having the whole Pride Ring population be wiped out. Both sides make sense but also have their flaws.

Looks like Angel and Cherri have some competition with Zestial and Carmilla for the title of number 1 BFFS.

“Respectless” is my favorite HH song so far. Really love how it switches between opera music and rap.

HOLY CRAP ODETTE AND CARMILLA ARE RELATED!!! THIS is going to be fun and lead to some interesting discussions, like is she (and the other girl Odette is always with) adopted or did Carmilla and the others die and get sent to Hell around the same time?

Again I get that this is an M rated show, but the series is already good enough that I don’t think it always need to rely on extreme violence and NSFW stuff, as it kind of killed the mood after seeing what happened in the next see. Again, Family Guy.

WHY!

Another example of why the “Vaggie is a former Exorcist” theory could be true.

I bet Vaggie has been dreaming about thrown Angel to his doom XD.

Liking how Charlie said there are other ways to solve things, going back to an older comment about her and Lilith having different views of how to make Hell thrive.

I’m going to count this as Charlie and Vaggie’s first fight, but at least it’s a good one since its just Vaggie being mad at herself of her lack of leadership and Charlie being mad (more annoyed/concerned) of Vaggie unnecessarily blaming herself.

Confirmation that the other girl (named Clara) is also Carmilla’s daughter.

So Carmilla killed the exorcist. OR MAYBE she witnessed who really did and had to promise to not tell or else something bad would really happen to the point being the fall gal would be a slap on the wrist in comparison.

With Carmilla being against fighting Heaven, I wonder if she could become a potential Hell based ally of Charlie’s in the future. They both want to protect the people they care about from Heaven so I don’t see why not.

Vaggie’s line of “There’s so much I wished that I could say”, is ANOTHER possible hint at Vaggie’s Exorcist past.

Another great song, showing how similar Carmilla and Vaggie are, which again could help in making a future alliance between the Hotel and Overlord.

Yeah I shouldn’t be surprised that Alastor is going to keep the Exorcist info hidden, since he loves chaos. Also a possible an ally of that Roo character, who is on my list of possible characters being behind everything.

Again, Charlie and Vaggie are cute!

It’s adorable to see Pen sleep with the eggs like an actual snake.

SEE! THE EGGS CAN LEARN!

“character not realizing the dumb/innocent/etc. character is actually talking about something real and big to the story” trope.

I’m late bringing this up, but does anyone else think there should be end credit segments at the end of SOME episodes? I mean thanks to movies and videogames it is a surprise when there aren’t any, plus it would have been fun in some cases. Maybe they’ll do one for the season finale.

That was great episode! We got Overlords, great songs, hilarity, and some big reveals.

I really like the idea of Carmilla being a mother, as it adds more to the “always serious businesswoman” vibe she gives off. I’m also hoping it leads to pics where her daughters spend time with their “Uncle Zestial”. Speaking of which, he was a good new character to look about, reminds me a lot of Jack Skellington with a pinch of DC’s Scarecrow with his interest in fear.

We also got news about the dead Exorcist and while I’m okay if Carmilla did kill it with a weapon, I still like the idea of how she is taking the blame or else she will suffer by the hands of the true culprit. It also brings up the drama as the Vs could make this worse for everyone if they decide to get people to fight the Exorcist. At least if they do and fail, Charlie will no longer be the target of the sinner’s anger.

Nothing that bad besides that one creepy NSFW scene as it was annoying that it happened after a pretty big scene.Leave your thoughts about the episode below.

#hazbin hotel #vivziepop #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel carmilla #hazbin hotel vaggie #hazbin hotel egg bois #hazbin hotel zestial #carmilla carmine #hazbin hotel zilla #hazbin hotel rosie

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inquartata30 · 2 years ago

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Parallax

Fandom: Mass Effect Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Minor Character Death, Politics Relationship(s): Lexi T’Perro/OC (Thaia Kallistrate), Benezia/Aethyta, Benezia/Aethyta/Shiala Characters: Lexi T’Perro, Thaia Kallistrate (OC), Aria T’Loak, Matriarch Benezia, Suvi Anwar, Nakmor Drack, Vetra Nyx, Cora Harper, Matriarch Aethyta, Shiala Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, Slowburn, Original Characters Summary: 55,000 years ago, the protheans won a Pyrrhic victory over the reapers. From the ashes of the Prothean Republic and the rusting hulks of the reapers, the ancient asari grew into a galaxy-spanning empire. Two people on opposite sides first meet during an abduction that threatens to upend the tenuous armistice between the Asari Empire and the Terminus Systems. Decades later, they face each other again as forced allies and unwitting political pawns when the galaxy’s three major factions collide.

Chapter 1: High Salinity

It was bugging the ever-loving fuck out of her. The dossier Thaia and the rest of her squad had been given indicated that their target, Lexi T’Perro, was a pirate. But Thaia had met a lot of pirates over her centuries of service to the Empire, and Lexi wasn’t anything like any of them. Something was off. And it bugged the fuck out of her. After getting the attention of her squadmates, Thaia gestured toward the smallish cell holding their irate captive. “I’m telling you, she doesn’t look like a pirate.” “Why’s that?” asked Paion, their sniper. She was a Specialist Third Class a couple centuries younger than Thaia, but still had the full set of commando face tattoos like everyone else. Hers were red where Thaia’s were white—the only element of the mandatory tattoos that was theirs to pick. “Pirates don’t usually wear lab coats, for one,” Thaia said. Lexi finally spoke up for the first time since they’d reached the prefab base. “I’m wearing a lab coat because I’m a physician. Tell me, do you each possess one lonely brain cell? Or do you share a single cell between the three of you?” Lovely as Lexi’s voice was, the things she said hurt more than getting fucking shot. “Also,” Thaia said, “pirates usually eviscerate people with sharp knives, not sharp words.” “I’m good with a scalpel. Would you care for a demonstration?” Lexi asked.

Read the rest of Chapter 1 on AO3

Note:

This started with an “enemies to lovers” prompt from@skyllianhamster for Thaia and Lexi. Right after came a ton of brainstorming for a situation that would have these two start as Actual Enemies, which is how this AU was born. Initially, it was supposed to be more Mirror Universe like, but I discovered that the constant dark anxiety of getting backstabbed (often literally) that is the atmosphere of a mirror universe was too much for me to handle. Trust doesn’t really exist there, and I wanted an alternate universe where there could be trust and love that wasn’t practically guaranteed to be duplicitous. Well, once the work’s put in on both sides. So the asari are an Evil Empire, but we aren’t talking something like Star Trek’s Mirror Universe. More like adjacent to it. Some characters are still fundamentally themselves despite changes of circumstance or at first glance (and second or third, in some cases) appearing different from how we know them in whatever canons they exist. Others are absolutely the complete opposite of who they would be in other stories. Matriarch Benezia, Liara, and Skyham’s OC Fejla Na��vis in particular. As in, canon Fejla would burst into tears if she stepped on a bug, which, well. Not at all so much here. This fic was also supposed to be a one shot and so I’d started it on a writing app on my phone. Even though it grew beyond a one shot, its first draft was still exclusively written on my phone, writing time on my laptop being reserved for my main fic.

Anyway, on re-reading it, I figured it’s time to share.

Benezia, Aethya, and Shiala draw from the Trinity (@dr-jekyl and @theivorytowercrumbles) versions of themselves—and then deviate toward mirror universe-type tendencies. Musahir Ordaca and Farizah T’Soni belong to @theivorytowercrumbles, Fejla Na’vis and Nefraellynx T’Sein to@skyllianhamster. While Fejla is the opposite of herself, Nef is more “like she always is, except now she’s trustworthy.” In another AU, Nef once sold an unwitting Thaia a ship she’d stolen from the leader of the Blood Pack—without informing Thaia of the shuttle’s original owner—so this was quite the change.

#mass effect #fanfiction #lexi t'perro #asari #alternate universe #parallax #thaia kallistrate #kallipyro

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dramatisperscnae · 1 year ago

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@1rstflight

"you have no idea of what you could do, have you?" the voice is a familiar one, even if the image of the man that uses it comes a moment later than the sound as parallax steps through space-time continuum, right into the space by kyle's side at monitor duty room, watchtower vacant except the two of them. it's an affront, no doubt, that the entity would come to his side at the heart of the league's base. "no one taught you the limitations of the ring, or rather, the lack of it it possesses." a pause as he watches the younger lantern, savoring his surprise. "alan does not understand. his ring is not like ours. i could teach you, if only you decide to trust me."

He hates monitor duty. Always has. Hated it with the Titans, hates it now with the Justice League. It's dull, generally boring, and it's lonely. Sure it gives him time to work on art projects, but he can't afford to work on anything serious because he has to keep an eye on the stupid monitors, so it's just idle sketches to stave off boredom, interspersed with the occasional ring-constructed game of darts, or pool, or bowling, or whatever else Kyle's mind settles on to stave off the boredom.

It wouldn't be so bad, he thinks, if there was someone else here, but even J'onn's out of the Watchtower right now. It's just Kyle and an empty base, and no way to even send out for a cup of Radu's coffee.

The stuff in the kitchen here really just does not compare.

Plus all this isolation and quiet gives Kyle way too much time to wonder why he's even here. Wally The Flash hates him, Batman's hardly his biggest fan, Wonder Woman, Aquaman…here he is playing in the big leagues, and he's had his ring…what, barely a year? He's done okay, sure, but - as Flash delights in pointing out - he's the newbie, with hardly any idea what he's doing.

He's so lost in his own thoughts, in fact, that the sudden voice out of nowhere nearly has him falling out of his chair; Kyle scrambles to his feet, ring already glowing on his finger as he looks around. He's hearing things, he has to be, or so he thinks until a concerningly familiar figure steps out of quite literally nowhere.

Oh hell.

Oh this can't be good.

What the hell is Hal Jordan Parallax doing here?

Kyle watches the man cautiously, eyes narrowed behind his visor. No, no one's taught him shit about the ring, not really; John and Guy have told him some, and Alan gave him the Cliff's Notes on the legacy he got saddled with carries, but outside of that - and there's a lot outside of that - Kyle's entirely self-taught. Which, he personally thinks, ought to count for far more than it apparently does with the Flash some people.

By rights, he knows, he should sound the alarm. The man in front of him has already tried to kill him - twice! - and take his ring, and honestly shouldn't even be here right now, but something holds him back. Half-remembered words from Alan Scott: Hal's not evil. "…I'd like to trust you," he says slowly, "but past experience tells me I shouldn't. What is this, like, your Vader moment? Join me, and we can save the galaxy or something? Because you have to know my answer to that, Hal…"

#1rstflight #kyle ic #kyle verse: last green lantern #[kyle got stuck in his head and this got long whoops XD]

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danothan · 2 years ago

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God your dc thoughts are so good like you do amazing art but also your interpretations and analysis' of things are so cool and you phrase everything in such good digestible ways augh!!!! Thank you for the rambles they're the bestest ever they make me proud to be involved in a media/franchise that invites such in depth readings and in a fandom that has such talented people to do those readings!!! Ahh!! That being said do you have any Hal reading suggestions I've read enough Barry to have him constantly circling in my head but my knowledge on Hal stuff is pitiful in comparison so if you have any recs that'd be greatly appreciated keep up what you do thank you AHHH

i need to die rn so this can make it into the eulogy. i can’t even begin to describe how touched i am, so. i won’t. but just Know.

and i’ll gladly give you a list of what i have!! i’ve barely touched on most of them tho, so i can’t give a firsthand review for each one. quite truthfully, i am very apprehensive of GL titles in general, but these are the ones i enjoyed or have a good feeling abt!:

- Emerald Twilight (MANDATORY)

- Spectre 2001 (MANDATORY)

- Green Lantern: Darkseid War (essential to me but not mandatory)

- Green Lantern: Secret Origin (essential to me but if you have a low tolerance for geoff johns feel free to finish at the backstory + skip to the last couple pages that close it off)

- Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax (this one was a rec, apparently it’s not that good but does have some very important character moments for hal?)

- Green Lantern 1990 #40-42 (also a rec, dunno much abt this but i was told that i’d like it!)

- New Frontier 2004 (justice league stuff!)

- Green Lantern: Earth One (fun astronaut hal au! i hear it makes the supporting cast ooc but hal has a pretty strong character study)

- Flash/Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold (MANDATORY for halbarry)

- The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #10 “Burnout” (hal makes an appearance to cheer up his bud!)

- edit: Green Lantern: Willworld (also a rec!)

- edit: Green Lantern: Knight Terrors (disappointing to many, incredibly important to me. on a personal level.)

i hope this helps or at least guides you in the right direction! ik i’m missing some pretty classic ones but i have no experience with them myself, even in passing, so i don’t feel qualified to recommend them. enjoy your hal reading journey, and thank you again for the kind words! seriously, made my day :”)

#shamefully i know more abt hal titles than barry ones #i like to read random barry ones here and there but idk any of the essentials!#so if you’d like to trade titles 👀#danswers #dc #green lantern #hal jordan #reading guide #<- not rly but it’s from my own reading list so ^^;

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thevindicativevordan · 2 years ago

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What do you think about these rumors about Scott Snyder launching some sort of ''Ultimate DC''? And also, if you were tasked with such a job, what would you do?

Alright so for those of you not obsessing over DC rumors, Bleeding Cool claims that the word going around NYCC was that Scott Snyder has signed on to curate an "Ultimate DC" line of books. Quoting them:

Whatever this DC Ultimate Universe-style publishing line is, it is expected to be bigger and more comprehensive than Marvel's Ultimate line was – or will be. And it will also encapsulate a lot of classic DC Comics continuity, reshaped and refigured for the modern day, and emphasising creative freedom. Earlier attempts to mirror the Ultimate Universe with the Earth One graphic novel didn't go entirely as planned. But this… whatever it is… is meant to be very different.

Do I think there's merit to these rumors? Surprisingly yes. Now I have two other things to add to what BC shared: First off, I think Scott Snyder seeded the base for this at the end of Death Metal.

Remember "Earth Alpha", the Elseworld introduced at the end of Death Metal? Set up as the replacement for Earth 0 as the center of the Multiverse? It had a twin, Earth Omega, which became Darkseid's prison and was followed up on in Infinite Frontier. Earth Alpha however was seemingly forgotten and never touched on again. Apparently Williamson was asked about that and all he could say is that it was another creator's story to tell. Given Williamson is the one who brought back the Parallax Hal from Convergence when everyone else had forgotten the guy, he's not one to just ignore huge loose ends like there being another Earth which is at the center of the Multiverse. Snyder probably left this as a backdoor for him to do his "Ultimate DC" line if he ever came back, which is why Williamson never brought it up.

Second, someone on reddit shared that they had talked to Snyder around the time Death Metal was wrapping up, the two of them went to the same LCS, and he shared that Snyder told him he was pitching this. Seems Snyder was talking about his plans for Superman under this initiative, which that person thought sounded cool. Rando making unverifiable claims for attention? Maybe, but Snyder has always been bad at keeping secrets. I stopped reading his interviews because he would spoil entire lines of dialogue word for word. Doesn't feel at all unbelievable that he would share something like this.

I bet Snyder pitched a "Alpha Universe" starring the classic heroes while Didio did 5G with the main guys. We know Snyder was not on board with the 5G plans, to the point he asked Morrison to help him stage an "intervention". This likely was envisioned by him as an alternative: Didio could do his radical reboot, while Snyder and co reimagined the classic heroes on a new Earth. Understandable why Didio would reject that - if all your big names are working on the classic heroes, who would want to read the 5G guys? Who would read Luke/Jace Fox Batman while there's a new Bruce Wayne ongoing? Much like Earth One got rendered pointless via the New 52, 5G would have been overshadowed by the "Alpha DC".

Now though, I could see something like this happening. It's a chance to do the New 52 right, the mainline continuity is all fucked up, DC needs an easy way in for new fans. Gunn is about to reboot DC in theaters, perfect time to roll out a new onboarding for casuals that everyone hopes are going to check out Superman: Legacy. And just like how Gunn is going to start his new universe with Superman, I bet Snyder is going to be writing the "Alpha Superman" book. Towards the end of his tenure at DC, he was on something of a Superman kick: Supes and Lex both had very key roles in Last Knight on Earth, Lex was obviously a big part of his JL run, he gave Supes a lot of cool moments in Death Metal, etc. I think he finally clicked with the character and had an idea for what to do with him. Might be he is finally coming back to do his shot. I noticed he was taking lots of pics with other DC creators at NYCC this year: King, Taylor, Aaron, Kaminski, Williamson. Perhaps those were the guys he was talking to about this line? Hope he brings in some new blood, confident he will since in the past he either directly brought in creators like Tynion, or mentored those who eventually found their way to DC like Rosenberg and PKJ.

TL:DR I do believe this is happening, I think it will be called Alpha DC, I think Snyder will be writing the Alpha Superman book, and I expect we will get an announcement at SDCC 2024 if I'm right.

As for what I would do, part of why the original Ultimate Marvel line succeeded was that they kept the line small. Four books at most: USM, Ultimates, UXM, and UF4 with the occasional mini here or there. Hickman's new line seems set to maintain that number. BC claims that this will be much larger in scope, which frankly I think is a mistake. Copy the number of Ultimate Marvel books at 4, and here's the lineup I would do:

Alpha Superman - Do the basic concept of the New 52 Superman as envisioned by Morrison again. Clark Kent is just starting out in his career, around six months in. He's wearing an outfit with a Fleschier style symbol, it can be either the t-shirt and jeans or a proper suit, I don't care. He can't even fly yet merely leap, he's working at the Daily Star not the Planet, he's roommates with Jimmy Olsen, and he's not dating Lois yet. Do not pair Clark with Lois or with Diana, do something else. I'd pair him with Leslie Williams, they both co-host a podcast for the Daily Star and are dating, with the relationship going south after Leslie becomes Livewire. Since they're alive on Earth 0, kill the Kents here. Pa is likely going to be dead in Superman: Legacy anyway. First year should focus on Superman fighting Ultra-Humanite, Intergang, Toyman, and Bloodsport. Brainiac and Lobo show up for Year 2. Scott Snyder writing and Miguel Mendonca on art.

Alpha Batman - Don't envy anyone trying to launch yet another Batman reboot, but I guess the appeal of this could be seeing Bruce actually start off alone, recruit Dick Grayson for Robin, and get to grow from there? It's Batman there's nothing new left to do with him, but a gritty realistic Batman book could compliment the over the top nature of the main Bat book. Get Christopher Priest to write and Ivan Reis to draw.

The Alpha Authority - The big twist of this universe under me is that Superman does inaugurate the age of superheroes - but not the age of superhumans. Those have been around for a while, but metahumans are forced to serve their governments as WMDs. A new kind of war has covered the globe - the Super War. Everyone is racing to create the most powerful metahuman, and the Authority serve as America's metahuman defense under the umbrella of Stormwatch. Their current mission: retrieving the Century Baby Jenny Quantum, reincarnation of Jenny Sparks, who has just manifested her powers in Singapore, before rival nations can acquire her. Si Spurrier writing, Jorge Jimenez on art.

Alpha Shadowpact - Our magic team composed of Zatanna, Swamp Thing, Constantine, Dr. Fate (Khalid), Deadman, Detective Chimp, and Etrigan. Khalid is the new guy and point of view character for the audience. He just recently finished training with his grandfather Kent Nelson, and has inherited the mantle. For ages magic has slumbered, but the birth of Tim Hunter has changed all that. The Books of Magic have manifested and every magician and sorcerer across the world is seeking them out, for they hold secrets of magic long forgotten, as well as the way to unlock new magical sources of power. And of course Tim himself has drawn the attention of everyone, for he is fated to be magic's brightest hero or it's darkest villain. PKJ writing and Rafa Sandoval on art.

In this new world, Superman and Batman are the first of a new kind of breed: superheroes. Outlaws with powers or tech who refuse to bow to governments. Ultimately I would have the World's Finest first team-up come about to bring down the Authority and Stormwatch, which threatens to turn the Super War hot as now America no longer has it's metahuman protectors. A new team must form to replace the Authortiy - a Justice League Alpha. The Authority book would last for about three years, and then give way to the Justice League book. I could see a Wonder Woman book happening later if the sales are good, but everyone else would just get minis. You would have to read JLA to get updates on Aquaman, GL, The Flash, Vixen, and Martian Manhunter. Is that would Snyder is going to do? Probably not. I expect he will have all seven of the Leaguers get books, but I hope he holds off on a JL book for a while. Build the universe up first, then do the big team up.

#ultimate dc #alpha dc #scott snyder #nycc 2023 #5g

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