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caramellody · 10 months

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OOPS! IT’S A TURTLES DANGANRONPA AU

This is a bit of a long one, and is. more rambly about rules n stuff??? so I'm sorry in advance it's PROBABLY going to be a very boring post. I caved after talking about the au sometime before like. VERY briefly so here I am now with a slightly more detailed explanation of the au…before ACTUALLY talking about the au

1- Names

writing [year][turtle] for everyone in the AU itself isn’t something that would naturally happen, so as expected, there are nicknames!

1987 Turtles:

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo

2003 Turtles:

Leo, Don, Raph, Mike

2012 Turtles:

Lee, Dee, Ralph, Mikey

Rise Turtles:

Leon, Donnie, Michael, Raphie

Other things to note: these are the names in order to identify them, especially if there are multiple of them. if there's only one of them left, then any nickname is fair game. narration will still refer to them as the assigned names above

For this post and any post talking about them OUTSIDE of the narrative, however, I will just be referring to them by year to make it easier to understand, just remember that in-universe that’s not how they’re referring to each other.

2- Memories

This gets mentioned later but I’ll put it here for easy reference, for the most part, in general, the turtles forgot everything surrounding their capture

1987 Turtles' memories are post 2012 Crossover episodes. They know of the 03 and 12 turtles, and due to Donatello’s portal ray, they can travel between dimensions. Being post-crossover episodes also means they are post-red sky seasons. (GRANTED Im still going through the 87 show rn since it's like. the last of the animated ones i have to go through, so this might change over time, but overall, i dont think so?)

The 2003 Turtle's memories are post Turtles Forever and are aware of the 87 turtles.

The 2012 turtles' memories are post-season 5. They are also aware of the 87 turtles.

The Rise Turtles' memories are post-Season 2. Due to a lack of knowledge in multiversal iterations, they know nothing about it at this point.

3-Collar Mechanism

Every turtle in the Killing game has a collar on their neck. These all have numerous functions:

They emit a faint noise that suppresses any superhuman powers (Most notably the Rise turtle's Mystic powers, but this also applies to slightly nerfing EVERYONE’s superhuman strength. They’re all still very much capable and superhuman fighters, but they’ve all been severely downgraded as a result)

There’s a fuse that will set off an explosion destroying the collar and the user as well.

There's a shock collar function that will emit a shock of varying degrees, from a faint shock to a massive surge that can knock them out but never outright kill the user

It also serves as an inhibitor for the turtle's memories, at least in the simulation. When the collar gets removed, their memories begin to return at a slow, but sudden and unexpected pace.

A pulse detector for Monokuma, as he can be aware of everyone's status and whether they’re alive or not throughout the game, the pulse detector isn't tied to code, it’s tied to the collar of the user

Collar removal is typically foolproof, as there is an automatic trigger that will explode if removed without careful thought

4- T-Handbook Rules

These are the set rules when the turtles first get their Turtle Handbooks (T-Handbooks) at the start of the game

Rule #1: Subjects must live in the bunker for the foreseeable future.

Rule #2: Once a murder takes place, all surviving subjects must participate in a class trial.

Rule #3: If the blackened is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule #4: If the blackened is not exposed, all remaining subjects will be executed.

Rule #5: If the blackened survives the class trial, they will graduate and re-enter the outside world.

Rule #6:The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving subjects remain’

Rule #7: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The dining hall and auditorium are off-limits at night.

Rule #8: Violence toward Monokuma, the headmaster, is strictly prohibited.

Rule #9: Monokuma will never directly commit a murder.

Rule #10: Your T-Handbooks are very important items. Please do not damage them.

Rule #11: The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more subjects discover a body.

Rule #12: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the campus at your discretion.

Rule #13: Subjects who violate these rules will be immediately executed through the mono-collars

Rule #14: If two different murders by different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened.

Rule #15: Further, there may be new additions to the rules according to the convenience of the headmaster.

#tmnt dr au #tmnt #tmnt 1987 #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2012 #rottmnt #i am getting the boring stuff out of the way before I go wild and silly about this au #that and. also its a much better starting off point than getting to the start of it without any explanation jbgfsdkjfdsn #anyway hope this shows that i have. REALLY been thinking about this au for. a while now.#yeah i basically took the rules from v3. whenever i use rules i use V3's as a base #theres going to be more added as chapters go on but those are the ones they start with #also i couldve been silly and be like make another black and white creature that fits in more than monokuma #but i think the implications of monokuma existing and being real is leauges funnier

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torensrus · 3 years

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Я сидела, никого не трогала, как мой мозг завизжал как девочка-подросток и сказал:

- Смотри, что я понял! Бак - высокий, светловолосый, голубоглазый с офигенным телом и его сравнивают с золотистым ретривером. Эдди - ниже его, темноволосый, кареглазый, так же имеет впечатляющее телосложение, ему тяжело дается говорить о чувствах и он старше Бака. Никого не напоминает?

- Эм...

- Стив Роджерс и Тони Старк! Это Стив Роджерс и Тони Старк!

- Черт возьми!

- Да! Представь, если бы они существовали в одной Вселенной! Злодей недели напал на ЛА, Мстители надирают ему зад, а 118 помогает с безопасностью гражданских лиц. Когда битва заканчивается Тони замечает Бака и начинает с ним флиртовать. И Бак флиртует в ответ. Они договариваются о свидании, но во время него понимают, что нет никакой искры. Да, они флиртуют, но им не хочется заходить дальше. В итоге они становятся друзьями, но все уверены, что они встречаются. Стив тоскует. Эдди ревнует. Мстители и 118 фейспалмят, считая, что Тони и Бак не понимают, что встречаются с копией Стива и Эдди. А Тони и Бак обсуждают свою безответную любовь к лучшему другу и делятся мороженым.

И в общем, как мне теперь это развидеть? Особенно, когда мой мозг напомнил мне, что во многих фиках Тони делают биологическим или приемным отцом Питера. Это же просто вишенка на торте!

#unexpected crossover #is this an unexpected crossover or was I just slow to understand #crossover #marvel mcu #the avengers #911 fox #911 show #tony stark #steve rogers #evan buck buckely #eddie diaz #tony and buck are friends #steve cries into his shield with longing #eddie wants to destroy something out of jealousy #tony and buck don't notice anything #avengers and 118 are in the front row of a drama they didn't ask for #but let's be honest clint and chimney will enjoy what's going on #someone should write this

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kim-poce · 2 years

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Bloodbag Neo and Celeste

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19

CW: pet whump, multiple whumpees, female conditioned vampire whumpee, broken bones, threats, fear of punishment

Tobias thought he'd been doing okay with watching his words; he hadn't mentioned the torture the girl went through, and he hadn't scared the boy. So he was honestly surprised when Alex's expression went stony with rage.

“Fortunately it was more than one?” the vampire asked. His tone made all of Tobias's instincts sit up and scream predator! at him. “Fortunately? Tobias, you should start to mind your words. Or are a few broken bones not enough to teach you that?”

Tobias set down his utensil slowly and placed both hands flat on the counter, wincing as it jarred his broken bones. He took a deep, slow breath, trying to figure out how to word his next statement.

For him, from a purely logistical standpoint, it was fortunate. Tobias had long since learned how to compartmentalize his emotions. His job led him to see plenty of nasty things, and he rarely had time to react emotionally. So he had gotten into the habit of boxing up his emotions about his work, and focusing solely on facts. He'd unpack the emotions later, preferably with alcohol involved.

That habit sometimes made him forget that other people didn't process things the same way. Alex, it seemed, was driven by emotions and unable to set them aside.

How is the vampire the bleeding heart and the human the heartless bastard in this scenario? Tobias wondered.

"I only meant that it was fortunate from a logistical standpoint," Tobias said finally. "To be able to do my job, I can't think about this emotionally. If I did, I'd end up punching people instead of getting anything done."

He gave a rueful, humorless smile. "This whole situation? It's fucked up. Absolutely nothing about this is okay in any way, shape, or form. The girl deserves better. No one deserves to go through what she did. No one deserves to be made into a pet." Tobias carefully did not look at the boy as he said that.

"I can't do my job if I'm thinking emotionally," he continued. "I am entirely aware that this is a shit situation. But at the moment? I can't focus on that. I have to focus on what I can do about it. Which, in this case, means that I might say things that make me sound like a heartless bastard."

Like the fact that having multiple people at Harding's party, while awful for the girl, was fortunate for the investigation.

Hopefully Alex didn't decide to break his other hand for saying this. It would make running the plates a lot more difficult.

---------------

The vampire waited for Ma'am Evelyn to walk closer. Would she kick it, to "wake" it? Would she finally put it to use, whatever use that might be?

Why was she here?

But Ma'am Evelyn didn't come closer. She stayed where she was, and spoke gently.

“Hello, child. I need you to wake up,” she said.

It opened its eyes, blinking as though it were truly just waking up. Dread pooled thick and heavy in its stomach. Why did she need it awake?

“I’m glad you were sleeping,” Ma'am Evelyn said.

It basked in the unexpected praise. It had done something right! It had done as Ma'am Evelyn wanted, even if it had woken sooner than she thought.

“Do you want to move to a room?” Ma'am Evelyn asked, voice still gentle.

It slowly sat up, making sure to watch Ma'am Evelyn for any sign that she disapproved. Once upright, it tilted its head to one side and furrowed its brow. Hopefully she would understand its silent question. Hopefully she wouldn't be angered by it daring to question her.

It didn't understand, though, and it couldn't answer a question that it didn't understand. Move to a room? What room? Why would it need to move?

And why was Ma'am Evelyn asking what it wanted?

Crossovers - Masterlist

=-=-=-=-=

"Logical, of course," Alex said bitterly before sinking his fangs into the blood bag again, draining it at once, trying to calm down.

Of course people can do that, he thought with himself, closing his hands into fists. Just so easily move from emotion to logic as if it all wasn't a whole mixed mess.

Alex can ignore his feeling, a bit, but he can't act logically anyway. Because he is fucking weak and an idiot. And he either acts by pure emotions or by orders.

"You sound like Evelyn," he said almost to himself, "Well, back when she bothered talking anyway," he took a deep –unnecessary– breath and the boy pulled the hem of his pants, looking up with worrying eyes.

Can you push your feeling aside, boy? You probably can. Alex gave a small smile, patting the boy before continuing, "Okay..." he said, Tobias can do the logic part and I make the physical work, it's how things have always been anyway. It's not like I can think of anything worth talking about. "So can we find out where they live this way?"

- - - - -

Explain what I'll do, okay that sounds easy. "Later, I'll get you some blood with the medicine to help your healing, until then you need to rest. Sleeping in the living room must be uncomfortable so maybe you should move to a bedroom?" Evelyn explained, trying to read any sign that the words were triggering the girl. "Nod if you want to go and shook your head if rather wait here."

=-=-=-=-=

@neverthelass, @latenightcupsofcoffee, @rose-pinkie

#Bloodbag!Neo and Celeste #Bloodbag!Neo AU #lady whumpee #female whumpee #vampire whumpee #vampire caretaker #nonhuman whumpee #non human whumpee #nonhuman caretaker #non human caretaker #it as a pronoun #wolfeyedwitch

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of-elves-and-mad-hatters · 2 years

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“The Azure Sky” - Chapter 10

Masterlist

Request Guidelines

Shadows to the Brightest Flame: Series

- The legacy of Lumia’s influence is scarred eternally into the lands of Elvendale. Burdened by a prophecy foretelling her demise and need for a successor, she watches for one capable of such power. Yet her enemies are working steadily to undo all she’s labored so long for, and it is millenia too late to make peace.

Emily Jones, heir to Eimileen, is a bold girl dedicated to protecting Elvendale, but the world she has grown so fond of is not so black and white as it seems, and the titles of Guardian of Portal and Guardian of Light may hold darker legacies some ancient elves have worked tirelessly to hide.

In conjunction with the extended version of the Guardian of Light prophecy I wrote previously

Basically a rewrite of all of the Lego Elves & Secrets of Elvendale storylines with an additional arc beyond the Season 4: Into the Shadows. There will be a varying degree of deviation from canon.

Technically a crossover with Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Silmarillion in terms of worldbuidling, as I set Elvendale as being north of Middle-Earth, cause this is fanfic and I can. So there will be mentions of the Noldor, Sindar, Silvan, and some Tolkien characters, but they will be mostly background. Definitely not an issue if you aren’t familiar with the Middle-Earth fandom; everything will still be easy to understand.

Book 1: The Azure Sky

Grieving over the unexpected death of her grandmother, Emily Jones is accidentally trapped in another world. Befriending a few young elves in an attempt to find her way home, Emily discovers many secrets about her grandmother’s past, but for every truth she learns two more questions take its place, leaving her vulnerable to darker force inhabiting this realm.

A rewrite of Unite the Magic

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

___________________

Chapter 10

Aira holds out the ragged map, frowning. “We’ll have to go back to the ship.”

“What? Why?” Farran inquires.

The air elf rolls the map back up, sighing. “The next key is far up the Drevklan Mountains. We’ll need to get more supplies, and some cold weather clothing. The trek will probably take a few days there and back, if not longer. The location of the key is beyond where I’ve traveled in the past.”

Naida nods. “Alright, but there’s no reason for all of us to go. Make up a list and Farran and Azari will go back to get the supplies. Scout out a site for a suitable base camp, and Emily and I will buy some extra food for the journey back at Johnny’s bakery, and walk to Urilis to find some suitable clothes for her too.”

The air elf finds that agreeable, and sets out north. Emily watches her disappear in the distance. The mountains are taller than anything she’s seen in her life; they are sharp, jagged peaks breaking up the sky. And the sky hanging over them isn’t blue, but bears the same hues of grey and purple that color the mountains. There’s a slight haze there too, not enough to be a fog or even a mist, just a slight blur in some areas. Places Emily has to blink a few times to get her eyes to focus.

Farran accepts his job more relunctly, though his grumbing has more to do with his partner than his task. Naida manages to shoo the earth and fire elves off, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Naida never considered sarcasm to have a place in her decorum.

The water elf turns to Emily, smiling gently. “Urisil is around two miles from here through the grove,” she gestures westward, where the human notices a cobblestone road peeking through the edge of the trees. “Are you up to going now, or do you need to rest a while longer?”

Emily nods. “I’m alright, we can go.”

“Good. We’ll stop at the bakery on the way back. Everyone should be back here by nightfall.” She waits for Emily to catch up with her, and leads them steadily down the trail.

Naida’s pace isn’t brisk, but not noticeably slow, either. She seems to sort of slide across the ground, barely letting her weight rest on her feet. Emily’s quiet steps seem suddenly loud in comparison. She tries to move more softly, but without success. She ends up sticking her hands in her pockets and looking down at the ground.

“Oh, Emily?”

“What?”

Naida gestures towards her face. “Your ears. You should cover them while we’re in the village. It wouldn’t be wise to spread the news of a human wandering around this far north.”

Emily reaches up and undoes her braid, smoothing sections over her ears and the sides of her face. “Better?”

“Yes, that will be fine.”

They walk along, Emily tapping her fingers nervously. “Do you think they did the right thing?”

The water elf looks at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think the five sisters did the right thing by opening the portal to the human realm?”

“I…” Naida looks away, “I really don’t know. Like I had said before, I think Nuala regrets it, but I don’t know if she does because creating the portal itself was a bad thing, or because of the elves’ reaction to them doing it.”

“But what do you think?”

“I honestly do not know enough to have an opinion.”

Emily swallows. “But ever since I got here you’ve been focused on nothing but getting rid of me.”

Naida’s eyes open wide. “Just because I am aware of how some elves perceive humans does not mean I share their views. All I’m trying to do is get you back home safely; do you really think I just want to get rid of my cousin that I’ve barely had the chance to met?”

Emily stills. “I didn’t think of it that way.” A smile flickers on her face. “We are cousins, aren’t we? I mean technically second cousins but still…” She looks around at the forest, at the glimmering leaves, and breathing the air that tastes almost sweet. There’s a kind of energy throughout it all, one that weaves itself through the trees and the ground and deep into her bones. “I can’t believe there was this whole other part of my heritage, family, part of me that I never knew about.”

Naida frowns, considering. “Do you not want to go home?”

“No, I do, it’s just…I don’t know how I can leave this all behind. To just leave and pretend it never happened. I don’t think I could live with that either…” Emily sighs. “I don’t know. I’m overwhelmed trying to wrap my head around all of this, of elves and portals being real and my grandmother having kept so many secrets from me when I thought we were so close…and having a cousin who can manipulate the ocean with her mind.” The girl smiles at that last statement.

Naida smiles in return. She walks over and drapes her arm over Emily’s shoulder. “We’ve still got one key left to find, and the location of the portal after that. And when we’ve made it that far we’ll figure out the next step, and the next, and we’ll do what we can to make sure you don’t have to choose because this realm and the one you came from.”

Emily leans into the embrace. “Thank you,” she whispers.

And they keep holding on to each other the rest of the way to Urisil.

#the azure sky #lego elves #unite the magic #background lotr crossover #emily jones #naida riverheart #aira windwhistler #azari firedancer #farran leafshade #familial relationships #friendships #fanfiction #fandom #elvendale #elvendale fandom

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sedge-yells-at-comics · 3 years

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Reprinted below, in case the link implodes.

Flash #27 Reveals Why Reverse Flash Is a Truly Unique Villain

The finale of "Running Scared" provides a gut-wrenching Rebirth update to one of DC's most complicated villains: Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash.

By Meg Downey Published Jul 27, 2017

If you’re a fan of the Flash, you’re probably pretty familiar with the concept of the Reverse Flash, a man named Eobard Thawne who, like Barry, has super speed and wears a flashy costume. Of course, the “Reverse” might sound like he’s the literal opposite of the Flash -- maybe someone who slows things down instead of speeding himself up? Or maybe someone who runs backwards?

There are a lot of obvious and incorrect guesses pretty readily available for casual or newer fans to throw darts at. The reality of the Reverse Flash is, however, pretty complicated. Mostly because his “reverse” status is actually ideological at its core. Flash media, be it print, animated or live action, has traditionally made this apparent by painting Eobard as someone who is essentially pure evil -- a sort of manic, time traveling serial killer who is motivated solely by his endless need to destroy Barry Allen from the ground up.

At that point, the problem then becomes finding a way to make Thawne’s homicidal drive, well… unique in the scope of the DC Universe, a place that just so happens to be populated by enough over-the-top villains to populate a decent sized Midwestern town. Why is Reverse Flash someone that’s specific to The Flash? What differentiates him from any of DC’s other iconic arch rivals, like Lex Luthor or The Joker?

Well, The Flash #27 has the answer, and it's probably not the one you expected.

Running Scared

The rebirth of the “classic” Eobard Thawne (as opposed to his New 52 revamp) began in the Flash/Batman crossover mini-event “The Button” back in April, a four-part storyline which connected the original Thawne to the events of last year’s DC Universe: Rebirth one-shot.

Since, then, Thawne’s taken up residence as a perpetual thorn in Barry’s side in the hero's own ongoing series, stepping directly into the spotlight for the three-part “Running Scared” arc which served to highlight Thawne’s Rebirth status quo. For the most part, it’s a story that fans will be pretty familiar with, borrowing heavily from elements of stories like The Flash: Rebirth and Flashpoint. Thawne’s from the future, he time traveled to kill Barry’s parents, he’s connected to a negative form of the Speed-Force, and so on -- But that’s where things start to get their Rebirth-specific legs.

It’s not that creators Josh Williamson, Howard Porter and Paul Pelletier are trying to reinvent the proverbial wheel with “Running Scared” -- just unlock a different side of it by shining a light on one of the most unique aspect of Eobard and Barry’s relationship.

Reverse Flash doesn’t hate Flash the way Lex Luthor hates Superman, or Bane hates Batman. It’s actually (appropriately) quite the opposite. It’s the reverse. Eobard Thawne loves Barry Allen, obsessively and vengefully, which is where his endless, destructive need to ruin Barry’s life comes into play.

“Running Scared” highlights the fact that a young Eobard grew up alone (though Williamson was quick to confirm that that particular story element came out of an earlier Geoff Johns Flash issue) with only his idealized and imaginary version of Barry -- a character from his history books -- to keep him company. Barry was, for all intents and purposes, Thawne’s only friend, confidant, and emotional anchor, despite the fact that the two of them wouldn’t actually meet for years and years.

It was plenty of time for a very troubled and very lonely Thawne to fall in love with a version of The Scarlet Speedster that existed only in his imagination...and, well, it’s pretty obvious how that particular emotional endeavor actually went down. Actually meeting Barry and subsequently being forced to deal with the fact that he was just a guy and not the cartoon character Thawne had built in his head for years, proved to be too hard a stress test for Thawne’s fragile psyche.

Fatal Attraction

Meeting and being disappointed by a personal hero is a rough experience for just about anyone, but rather than allowing himself to move on -- or even allowing himself to simply decide to hate Barry instead, Thawne’s obsession only doubled down.

As issue #27 hurtles to its conclusion, Thawne’s real motivations become abundantly apparent. As Barry, infected with Thawne’s own inverted Negative Speed Force thrashes Thawne within an inch of his life, he presses him with a question - Why, if Thawne has always been so inspired by him, has he gone out of his way to ruin Barry’s life at every turn? Why has he done all of these terrible things, from killing Barry’s parents to beating Wally within an inch of his life, to kidnapping he and Iris and hauling them to the future?

Thawne’s answer is as unexpected as it is heartrendingly honest: because these horrible things are the only way Thawne understands how to make Barry spend time with him.

It’s that simple.

Thawne’s love for, and obsession with Barry Allen has permeated his life so deeply and completely that he is even willing to count his time spent being pummeled half to death by Flash as a win. He’s completely unable or unwilling to differentiate between Barry’s affection and Barry’s hatred, and he’s ready to do whatever it might take to put himself at the center of either emotion in Barry’s mind.

“A few years ago, it would have really hurt my feelings to hear you say that,” Thawne taunts after Barry threatens him, “but now to think that I caused you that anger? That I could get under your skin like this? It warms my heart.”

It’s deeply troubling, of course, and horrifyingly uncomfortable to get a look into the head of a villain who is, essentially, the personification of a fan gone terribly, terribly awry -- a theme that only gets more difficult to swallow when you begin to think about the increasingly complicated relationship between fans and their idols in actual, genuine, non-super heroic world around us.

This subtle reworking of the Reverse Flash has made him one of comic’s most poignant ruminations of the idea of toxicity in fan communities, idolization of strangers, and self destructive obsession, and it did so in a way that boldly allowed Thawne to win at the end of the day.

The issue closes, and the arc completes, with Barry exactly in the position Thawne wanted him in: completely alone, just like Thawne was as he built Barry into a hero of mythological perfection in his head. Now, where Barry will end up, and whether he’ll be forgiven by Iris, Wally and the roster of people he’s been manipulating as he leads his vigilante double life, is still largely a mystery.

It’s clear that Thawne didn’t expect, or even really want, Barry to come running into his arms to start their life together the second he succeeded in isolating him -- he makes that abundantly clear as he warns that he’ll just return again and again and again, de-powered, killed or otherwise hindered. Iris may have added an exclamation point to the end of the story arc by “vaporizing” Thawne with a Black Hole gun, but it hardly matters.

Reverse Flash will be back, somehow, at some point, and it’s doubtful that his love and obsession for Barry will have wavered in the slightest. We know now that’s just now how his mind is capable of working. It’s unlikely that Thawne will ever feel anything for Barry beyond his own supremely twisted adoration, no matter how many times the Flash pummels him into the ground. It’s just not the way Thawne’s brain is able to process information anymore.

It’s complicated, messy, and uncomfortable, but it’s also one of the clearest articulations of exactly what makes Reverse Flash such an interesting villain in the scope of not just the Flash family of books, but the DCU as a whole.

#the flash #eobard thawne #barry allen #eobarry

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berena-cpr · 3 years

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Unfinished Masterpieces - Fic Rec List

Remember the WIP on ao3 you can’t let go? The one that resonated with you? The one that you’d give anything to know how it ends?

While the Berena Creative Project Resuscitation event is all about starting to work again on projects sitting in our draft folders, life can get in the way of finishing a project for a hundred reasons.

These works, posted, but still a few chapters short of ending, are loved though and with this list we’d like to share the love for the unfinished masterpieces one can find in the Berena tag on ao3.

Given the high response we had when we asked to tell us about your favourite WIPs, you’ll find the list under the cut:

Anything Else to Declare? - LittleMissO

“I've personally had sleeping issues since I read LittleMissO's Anything Else to Declare because yeah, I'm still there, breath held and heart pounding like crazy after the most delicious slow burn, and pining, and that outrageously flirtatious conversation over a whiskey.”

that line between your heart and mine - ktlsyrtis

“it is just plain hot but also I love the idea of them writing letters to each other and I also love the exploration of what their relationship might be like with Bernie still being in the RAMC.”

you disappear like your cigarette smoke (now the taste of your kiss is all that remains) - bonnissance

“A wonderful, emotional angst filled fic, looking at how Bernie’s life might still have progressed after Serena left. I loved how it showed her testing her own boundaries to see if it was possible to find another relationship with someone else and when she found that wasn’t something she could do, she accepted it and found other ways to be happy without Serena. I reread it fairly often because although unfinished it doesn’t ever seem incomplete. But the last word “Serena” always leaves me full of a hope that I would dearly love to have fulfilled.”

Secrets in the Dark - Wonko

“I’d love to see this continued!”

For a Good Time Call - Regency

“Young Serena using that pure sex voice of hers to make a little extra as a phone sex operative, and young nervous Bernie taking the first tentative steps in exploring her sexuality. Who better than Serena to help her figure things out? The premise of the fic is ingenious, the writing amazing, the dialogue just outstanding. Hot, sexy, soft and full of compassion and feels. I would sell a kidney to read the next chapter to this – Bernie and Serena meeting years later and recognising each other’s voices.”

you're the only one I never looked for - gutsandglitter

“Never expected I'd enjoy a Baby Boom AU, but I love this fic. Serena hanging out in the country feeling extremely overwhelmed and constantly running into this weird tall, awkward woman named Bernie is a mood. I will forever hold out hope for an update so that I can someday read about them having lots of sex (after an appropriate amount of angst, miscommunication, and unexpected grocery store encounters, of course).”

Things Kayryn doesn't write - Kayryn

“So they’re not exactly unfinished, because they are complete, beautifully crafted, amazingly inventive, head canons, but they’re not completed fic’s so I’m counting them. I actually think that’s one of the lovely things about them, there’s a full story in there but enough space in them to bring your own imagination to the details. The fact that every head canon is spot on and you can completely image it happening is the icing on the cake, and the perfect characterisation is the cherry on top. Canon could have taken lessons from from Kayryn”

I Want to be Your Fantasy (Maybe You Could Be Mine) - Regency

“I just love the concept and the first chapter just pulled me in and I so very much want to know what happens next.”

Notting Hill - Bat_and_Breakfast

“All the “Rom Com idiots in love but they don’t know it miscommunication capers” re-envisaged for Berena you say? Sign me up! I love the way the plot of Notting Hill is absolutely recognisable, but never at the expense of Bernie and Serena’s characters. Everything they do, their responses, the dialogue, is so them. And the cleverly cast Holby regulars as supporting stars - genius. It’s an absolute triumph of transformative work. It’s wonderfully and engagingly written. If you’ve ever got sucked into watching “just a bit” of rom com and found you’ve just lost a couple of hours of your life - this fic does the same thing.”

Follow Me There - troiing

“Full disclosure: I’ve never watched Sanctuary and I know nothing about the characters. But this crossover fic is so good, that it doesn’t even matter.”

hold me closer (tiny dancer) - serenacampbell

“I don’t know why I’m so attached to that fic, but I am. I love the premise of a slow burn fic where the characters still get to do sexy things during the awkward slow burn oblivious period. It’s like the best of both worlds.”

Machu Pechinku - Jrnsaxa

“Forget France and Nepal, what if Serena spent her sabbatical in Peru? The setting in this is beautifully vivid, as is the the delicate ways in which Serena and Bernie start to reconnect after Elinor.”

Hello, Major - lesbianquill

“This is a near perfect Serena being fixated on Bernie in fatigues fic. The first chapter is very insightful, helping us to understand why Bernie might not be happy to accede to Serena’s small kink/obsession. That of course doesn’t last for too long because Bernie loves Serena and she loves having sex with Serena. It was offered as a smutty one shot, but then they rewarded us with an even smuttier second chapter and teased us with the news that a third chapter would be forthcoming. It never happened. Main reason for wishing it could be continued? I enjoy well-written smut.”

In the Spirit of Three Stars - alwayssomethingelse

“Bernie and Serena as Federation officers on Deep Space Nine. Oh, the potential!”

Anatomically Correct - phantomunmasked

“Bernie severely overcompensating for any possible awkwardness in their first time by ordering a mountain of sex toys is a premise that will always delight me. Every time I go back to this one, I ponder what their weekend away would bring with a big grin.”

The Clinic - RexWolfe

“Maybe it’s all the Bramwell we’ve been watching, but this one’s been on my mind lately. Can’t go wrong with a Victorian AU.”

a life in pictures - Regency

"I soooo want to see Serena maybe modelling for Bernie (or at least just how the date goes)”

working up a storm inside my head - sevtacular

“While this isn’t actually an unfinished fic in the sense of chapters missing, the prompt fic collection of Sev can always be added to as far as I’m concerned. Love what has been written so far, hope there will be new chapters with time.”

Body and Soul - ChalkHillBlue

“Possibly the weirdest AU idea ever, this body swap AU makes my brain go crazy with the possibilities every time I read it.”

When We Need One Another The Most - Whispersmummy

“I know this isn’t strictly Berena but it wouldn’t have been written if not for the Berena fandom who love most every conceivable way these two dorks might get together. Very well written (imo) and cleverly constructed fic. Lots and lots of angst and who doesn’t love angst? Only thing missing is a small amount of smut. (Yes I’m back there).”

Ring In The New - fiveroundsrapid

“Fics where Bernie comes to Holby before/during Adrienne’s illness are my kryptonite, and this one is so good!”

Holby One: A Star Wars AAU Story - elitryalittle

“Holby One is my favorite unfinished fic. It’s not just because I came to Berena via Star Wars (a bit of an unusual way, but here I am), but also because I can totally see Serena as a healer and Bernie as a Jedi knight. Kudos for their excellent knowledge of the SWU and this great idea of a crossover fic. I’d give them a limited edition “Looking for Leia” patch and a sticker if they’d finish it.”

to gaze at you, from afar (I sigh, I sigh, I sigh) - bonnissance

“The photographer/model AU you never knew you needed in your life, but you really, really do.”

Heroic Endeavor - Nicolaruth27

“I never would’ve thought I’d be down for a Greek god AU, but this fic has permanent residence in a corner of my brain. Bernie as Athena in mortal form is inspired, and the way the fic is interwoven with canon is a delight.”

what a lovely way to burn - ktlsyrtis

“I just love anything that's weaved into canon but with them being happy and dating and communicating."

Love, Unexpected - Igerna

“Bernie is still married to Marcus when she meets Serena during a conference. They immediately bond and keep in contact, sharing both professional advice and thoughts on their private lives. Love, for them, happens rather unexpectedly. I do love conference fics and slow burns - and this is a good one.”

a little less war torn - kitnkabootle

“The setup for this - in which Serena is the one who goes to help when Bernie is brought to Holby, instead of Raf - is one of my favorite ‘what ifs’ to ponder, and the writing is outstanding.”

#berena #bernie wolfe #serena campbell #holby city #berena cpr #fic rec

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alderaani · 3 years

Text

in the ashes

written for @commandercodyweek day 6: AU, and this one’s a dragon age crossover, folks, to fit the ‘high fantasy’ subprompt. I don’t have much to say about this one apart from that it is completely self indulgent and the epitomy of that meme “it makes no damn sense, compels me though”. i might expand this one into a proper story, but for now here’s...whatever the hell this is lmao.

summary: when the battle of Ostagar goes sour, Cody grabs what brothers he can and escapes into the Wilds. trouble of an unexpected sort is waiting for them there | also on AO3

warnings: swearing, death mention, blood.

- “I could have chopped your fucking head off!”

That’s his first thought, once his blood stops roaring in his ears. The bloodspattered, ginger haired man in front of him sidesteps the sword at his neck and gives Cody a jaunty grin, though there’s a brittle edge to it.

“And yet you didn’t! What a happy accident.”

Cody doesn’t lower his sword. He’s not sure he would call this either an accident, or particularly happy. It’s not exactly a mystery as to how either of them have gotten here, or why anyone of this man’s calibre would be stranded in the middle of the Korcari Wilds. He really hadn’t been interested in running into another living soul - not until they’d gotten much deeper into the Wilds, anyway, and particularly not anyone from Ostagar. He’s not going back to Ferelden’s army. He’s not letting his brothers go back to the army. He’ll die first, and he’ll take as many people with him as necessary on the way down.

“Who’s your friend? There any more of you?” He asks, nodding towards the glowering young man that has appeared out of the shadows, flanking the first with a mulish expression. He feels Rex step up next to him in response, and the other two tighten up formation at his back as best they can around their missing pieces. He swallows, pushing the grief away.

“That’s none of your -” The second man starts.

“Peace, Anakin.” The ginger haired man tilts his head up towards the canopy. “You can come down, Ahsoka.”

Far above them there’s a sigh and a muffled curse, before a short, slim figure drops promptly into their midst. Cody doesn’t jump, but he’s pretty sure that’s just because he’s already so hollowed out and empty, battle fatigue gnawing at every inch of him. You can’t be surprised by much when it feels like the world has already ended.

Behind him, he hears Fives curse. The elf rolls to her feet, and he notes the two short swords, the snarl on her face, and beneath it, the same bone deep shock he feels in his soul. She’s young, he can tell that much, young and afraid, and it makes him pause.

Boil shoulders forward. “What the fuck were you playin’ at? Were you gonna ambush us, huh?”

He puts up his arm, automatic, and the ginger haired man mirrors him as the girl lunges, catching her deftly by the back of her armour.

“Only if you’d deserved it!”

“Oh, I can make us deserve it -”

“Boil!” Cody snaps, turning to look at his brother. The expression on Boil’s face carves through his chest, all shattered edges, and he knows what he’s seeing, what he’s thinking. He turns the hand on his shoulder and leans in, tapping their foreheads together. Boil holds himself rigid for a moment, then crumples into the touch, exhaling roughly. “It’s not their fault.”

When he lifts his head it’s to find the ginger-haired man eyeing him warily. With his heart rate slowing in his ears he looks at him anew, at the blue armour, the griffon emblazoned across the chest, the staff strapped to his back.

“You’re Grey Wardens,” Rex breathes, beating him to the punch. The man smiles bitterly.

“Guilty as charged. So perhaps you can understand why we might be a little distrustful at the moment.”

The man at his side scoffs. Cody’s heart sinks, solid as a stone, and he closes his eyes. Grey Wardens...just what they need. He doesn’t know what in Thedas the Teryn was thinking when he pulled the troops out and left them - and the Wardens - to die, and they have his sympathy for that. But his concern is his family, whatever shreds are left of it, and it seems that wherever the Wardens go, trouble follows.

They are so close to rejoining their clan, so close. The nearer they get, the more fierce the longing for those familiar sights and smells, hands that reach out in welcome rather than recoil in fear. He knows that what he’s dreaming of no longer really exists - that it died with Waxer and Echo several hours ago in that thrice-damned ruin, but...he can’t stop himself straining for home all the same.

“Guess it is true what they say,” Boil mutters behind him. “The Grey Wardens really will take anyone.”

Despite his red-rimmed eyes, Fives grins. “Looks like the set up to a punchline. If two mages and an elf walk into a tavern…”

The elf growls, the torchlight just catching the edge of her lips and glowing off dark skin. There are tattoos across her cheeks and forehead, though he can’t make out what of. She’s Dalish, then, and he wonders briefly which clan agreed to give her up to the Wardens, at such a young age, too. From what he knows of their people, and their fierce guardianship of their children, they wouldn’t have given her up easily, or given her the Vallaslin so early without cause. There’s a story there, no doubt.

He elbows Fives, keeping his touch gentle. Too hard and Fives will shatter.

“Why stop us, then? Why not just let us be on our way?” he asks, more defensively than he means to.

“Trust me,” the sulking man says, crossing his arms over his chest. One hand glows silver, and after a second Cody realises that it’s made of silver, replaced by metal. “We wouldn’t have, if we weren’t lost.”

He throws an accusatory look at the ginger haired man, who grimaces back at him. The elf’s lips quirk a little.

“Well what makes you think we can help?” Rex asks, gruff, one shoulder still knocking Boil back into the pack. “We’re just some stragglers, same as you.”

“Well…” the ginger haired man trails off, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “We couldn’t help but notice you rather look like you know your way around.”

Cody lifts his sword again, a pang of fear racing through him. “You’ve been following us.”

“As I said...it hasn’t been a good day for blind faith,” the man says, cautious. “Can you not understand that?”

Cody doesn’t move an inch. The man sighs, then sticks out his hand.

“Fine, let’s start again, shall we? My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. We need help finding passage out of the Wilds as soon as possible.”

He’ll reflect on this handshake many times in the months to come, when he’s knee deep in Darkspawn, demons and politics, and wonder if this was the second that things truly started to go wrong. In the moment, though, he just thinks that Obi-Wan’s hands are strangely calloused for a mage.

Ignorance, as they say, is bliss.

#this probably has so many typos #for anyone interested cody et al are chasind warriors who got forcibly conscripted for petty theft #so cody saw his chance and yeeted out of there #codyweek2021 #dragon age #star wars #commander cody #obi wan kenobi #captain rex #ahsoka tano #alderwrites #dragon age: origins #star wars crossover

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torchwoodfanfests · 4 years

Text

Torchwood Bingo 2020 Masterpost

The masterpost is here - browse through every work submitted to the 2020 Torchwood Bingo Fest! You can also find most of the fanfiction in our AO3 Collection. Thank you to everyone who took part in out first ever fest. Your response blew us away; we had a total of 172 fanworks from 32 wonderful participants. Hope you all had a good time, and congratulations to everyone who got bingo!

If one of your works should be on this post but isn’t, please let us know and we’ll add it ASAP.

@shejustcalledmeafish

FANFICTION

To Love a Harkness

Coffee/Coffee Shop

Let’s Do the Time Warp Again

Time Loop, Black and White, Friendship, Secrets

Wrong Face, Wrong Time

Twelve/Frobisher confusion

Kiss, Bang

Bullet wounds

A Soul in Twain

Andy Davidson, Lois Habiba

Just the Messenger

Time Travel, Tarot Girl

Golden Days

Gold

Out of Order

Torchwood One, Prequel/Set Before Canon

Kiss of a Viper

Dancing, Betrayal

I’ve Got a Fascination (With Your Presentation)

Grooming/Bathing, Genderbend

World and Enough Time (Stories From the Loop)

Accidental Marriage, Cold/Warm, Bed Sharing, Plants/Vegetables

Commissioned

Human Monsters

Technician, Free Thyself

Timelord AU

Never Has He Ever

The Hub Goes On Lockdown

@princess-of-the-worlds

FANFICTION

Moments in Grayscale (and Eternity in Colour)

Anniversary, Cultural Differences, Immortality, Gifts, Water, Boeshane

i would’ve followed all the way, no matter how far

Psychic Power/Telepathy, Benign Alien Visitors, Canon-Compliant

silver lining

Fake Dating/Fake Marriage

found you made us in a star

Friendship

sing me like a choir

Kink/Sex Talk/Innuendo

the world is at my feet (i am standing on the ceiling)

Secrets, Torchwood One, Under the Influence (Alcohol, Drugs, Alien Pheromones, etc)

perfect premiere

Red, Pink

@torchwoodbutmostlyowen

POETRY

Photographs filled with Lense Flares

Rhys POV

@toshsato

FANFICTION

I Don’t Even Know What I’m Doing Tonight

Rarepair

the night-time is the hardest

Bisexuality, Friendship, Healing

I ain’t letting go

Music, Benign Alien Visitors, Dancing, Werewolves and/or Vampires

GIFSETS

Martha Jones

The Resurrection Gauntlet

Backstory, Camping

@iianto-jones

FANFICTION

On Family

Bullet Wounds, Domesticity, Immortality

Our Worlds Move On

Friendship

How Much of It You’ve Got Left

Interspecies Romance

@dinodina

FANFICTION

In Which Ianto May or May Not Be Fully Human

Domesticity, Meet the Family, Canon Character is an Alien AU, Interspecies Romance, Betrayal, Cold/Warm, CoE Fix-It, Mission-Related Trip, Myfanwy

Rosy-Fingered Dawn Flipped the Page of Life

Healing, Flat Holm, DW Companion, Crossover, Rarepair, Under the Influence, Amnesia, The Year That Never Was, Original Character

@aellesiym

ART

Canon Character is an Alien AU

Mary, Canon Divergent AU

Domesticity, Based on a Song of Your Choice

Werewolves and/or Vampires

@cxptained + @agent-harkness

FANFICTION

Burn Me

Immortality

Inside My Mind (Trying To Get Things Right)

Disability

@ultraviolet-eucatastrophe

FANFICTION

You’re gonna heal over (someday)

Doctor’s Orders, Hurt/Comfort, DW Companion Cameo

Take it on trust

UNIT

All some children do is work

Kids

By the green you shall know us

Con-man/Grifter, Green

Keep holding on

Team Bonding

Half-lives

Past Canonical Character Death

A place to start from

Torchwood One

But the blues are still blue

Big Finish Audio or TW Novel Tag/AU, Food, Curtain Fic/Ordinary Everyday Situations and Chores

@agent-sato

FANFICTION

I Know Not Everybody (Has A Body Like You)

Genderbend, Team Bonding, Hurt/Comfort, John Hart, Pining

Off The Grid

Harriet Jones/Mickey Smith

Imposters Among Us

Rhys POV, Human Monsters, Doctor’s Orders, Canon Character is an Alien AU, Under the Influence

@moonlightrhosyn

FANFICTION

For I Chose the World’s Sad Roses

Plants/Vegetables, Therapy

An Exile on Lemnos’ City Streets

Mary

My Favourite Kind of Rain

Gold

The Cordiality of Death, with his Metallic Grin

Canon Character is an Alien AU

@currently-very-asleep

FANFICTION

Ianto’s Funeral

Meet the Family, Dead

@captainawesome242

FANFICTION

It’s the Taking Part That Counts (but the winning is great too!)

Water, Fake Dating

If You Should Fall Upon Hard Times, If You Should Lose Your Way

Mental Health

Who Wants to Live Forever

Immortality

You’re the Better Half of Me (you’re the only half I need)

Mickey Smith, The Year That Never Was, Weddings, Family

Meet the Family

Public Displays of Affection, Kids, Confessions

@golyadkin

ART

Dancing

Meet the Family

Werewolves and/or Vampires

FANFICTION

What Comes Next

CoE Fix-It AU

@amlaich

ART

Harriet Jones/Mickey Smith

Under the influence

Martha Jones, AU/Canon Divergence

Immortality

@thirteeninafez

FANFICTION

Lost in Translation

Handcuffs

Porcelain Penguins and Other Such Knick-Knacks

Canon Character is an Alien AU

@asarahworld-writes

FANFICTION

hen night

Under the Influence

Gafr Siafft

Kids

@searching-for-arcadia

ART

Genderbend, Dancing

first, you must be buried (to understand light)

Canon Divergent AU, Mission-Related Trip, Exercise

Plants/Vegetables

Bullet Wounds

Ianto’s Criminal Past

The Hub Goes on Lockdown

@horselover107

FANFICTION

Team Tardis

Secrets

Date Night

The Child

Kids, Alternate Universe

Missing

Missing, Nosy Coworkers, Friendship, Future!Fic

Sibling Rivalry

Family

PLAYLISTS

Broken

Mental Health

Coffee: A Janto Mix

Coffee/Coffee Shop

@chandelle13

FANFICTION

Resurrection of the lost

Torchwood 4

Some secrets

Team Tardis, Family and Domesticity

With some help

Character Do-Over, DW Companion Cameo, Canon Divergent AU

Surprise!

Pets, Big Finish Audio or TW Novel Tag/AU

Once a year

Friendship, Curtain Fic, Blue, Comfort

Expect the unexpected

Anniversary, Doctor’s Orders, Date Night, Hurt/Comfort, Boeshane, Missing, Prequel/Before Canon

Things change

Bilis Manger, Canon Divergent AU

Annoyance

Gwen has some of Gwyneth’s powers

Unexpected Events

Pink, Fake dating/Fake Marriage, Undercover/Disguise

@my-random-fandoms

FANFICTION

The Animals Always Know

Pets

The Devil and the Time Traveler

Rarepair

EDITS

Weevils

@mathemagician7

FANFICTION

Returning to Torchwood

Old Friends, Big Finish Audio Tag

Physical Therapy

Therapy

Haunted By You

The Ghost Machine

To The Letter

Clothes, Gifts

ART

Almost Perfect

Genderbend

Mary

@itneveroccurredtomeatall

FANFICTION

Undercover On The Bachelorette

Undercover/Disguise

Black and White

Missing

Sabbatical

Future!Fic

Pollen

Sex Pollen

@garknessandbones

COMICS

Domesticity, Secrets

Dreams, Music

@celstese

PLAYLISTS

Heartache and Pain Tracklist

Diary, Betrayal, Friendship

A Different Doctor (Time Lord Owen AU Tracklist)

Music, Timelord AU, Prequel/Set Before Canon, The Year That Never Was

FANFICTION

Congratulations its a doctor!

Character(s) of Your Choice is/are Trans

Gwen and Rhys garden

Plants/Vegetables, Domesticity

Gwen Cooper gets her groove back

De-Aging/Aging Up, Date Night, Old Friends/Chance Meetings

ART

Clothes/Outfit

Fantasy, Undercover/Disguise

Grooming/Bathing

Bisexuality

@agent-jones

EDITS

Holiday Celebration

Domesticity

Family

Martha Jones/DW Companion Cameo

Rhys POV

Exposed (NSFW)

Human Monsters/Suzie Costello

Amnesia

Old Friends

Stars

Camping

Torchwood One

@i-really-should-be-writing

FANFICTION

Surrender my everything

Immortality, Based on a Song of Your Choice

Always With You

Psychic Powers/Telepathy

Lights in the Darkness

Hurt/Comfort, Family

@toshsatos

FANFICTION

poenitentia

Alternate Realities, Interspecies Romance

shining, she was, like moonlight

Anwen, CoE Fix-It AU

roughneck

Undercover/Disguise, Benign Alien Visitors

ART

Timelord AU

Crossover of Your Choice

@samantharyderthelionqueen

FANFICTION

Barbecue

Cooking, Interspecies Relationship

On Romance

Big Finish Audio or TW Novel Tag/AU

Sam’s Vision

Future!Fic, Psychic Powers/Telepathy

Serves You Right

Bullet Wounds

Skeleton-Knapper

Kidnapping

Slow Tango in Saint Lucia

Dancing

The Perfect Present(s)

Gifts

We Catch Aliens

Crossover of your Choice

What Families Do

Authority

ART

“Aunt Mei! Mama and Daddy are being gross again!”

Public Displays of Affection

Lust Flower

Sex Pollen

Myfanwy is Trans!

Myfanwy

“This Time I Won’t Let Go…”

Boeshane, Episode Tag/Missing Scene

Torchwood Said Nonbinary Rights!

Genderbend

Torchwood vs UNIT

UNIT

MOODBOARDS

“FRIENDS” moodboard

Friendship, Based on a Song of Your Choice

Janto blue moodboard

Blue

Towen black & white moodboard

Black and White

@this-is-quite-homoerotic

FANFICTION

Joke’s On Me

Anger

I’m holding tight cause it feels alright, my love, when I’m with you

Cold/Warm, Vegetables

Don’t You Know You’ve Haunted Me For Years:

Gwen has some of Gwyneth’s powers, Gifts, Bisexuality

You Got Me On Edge (Any Minute I Might Jump):

Exercise, Rarepair, Cultural Differences

EDITS AND MOODBOARDS

Blue, Gold

Black and White, Gold

Prequel/Set Before Canon

Clothes/Outfit

EDIT AND PLAYLIST

The Bad Old Days

Music

@hotchocolatedictator

FANFICTION

Little Green Men From Mars

Green

@violetmessages

FANFICTION

Sustenance

Plants/Vegetables

Clairvoyancy

Canon Character is an Alien AU, The Doctor Meets the Team

Tales from the Filing Cabinet

Mission Related Trip, Flat Holm

the hands on the clock keep ticking

De-Ageing/Ageing Up

#torchwood fan fests #torchwood bingo fest 2020 #2020 bingo fest fanworks #2020 bingo fest masterpost #torchwood fan fests masterpost

51 notes · View notes

anncanta · 3 years

Text

The imagery of BBC ‘Dracula’: mythology, alchemy, literature. Part 5

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Part 4.

Literature

The classic horror novel by Bram Stoker, which formed the basis of Dracula, has gone through many adaptations. The new BBC series is one of the closest to the text of this work.

To begin with, the entire first episode, with minor changes, almost literally repeats the description of the story of Jonathan Harker from his diary in the novel, and those details that look different in the film are changed so delicately and embedded in the narrative so gracefully that when watching it, you get a complete feeling of the exquisite classical setting.

But this feeling is deceiving. Like much of what Steven Moffat offers to his viewers, this story is a complex text, saturated with all sorts of meanings and literary references.

First of all, as I have already said, the film itself ‘lies’ on the material of the novel as a basic fabric. All its plot and psychological twists come from here, as much of the story, and – characters, which are recognizable even when their roles are changed. Further, as you move through the text, hidden ‘pockets’, motives, and whole plug-in plots are revealed in it.

The most obvious, of course, is the plot, parodying the novel by Agatha Christie Ten Little Niggers (And Then There Were None) about people gathered in a closed space from which it is impossible to get out, dying one after another.

What matters here is not so much what work is chosen for the parody as the way it is introduced into the text and creating a kind of crossover by the authors of the film. Absolutely in the spirit of fanfiction.

What if Count Dracula finds himself in a situation from Ten Little Niggers? How will he behave? What will the other people do? Will Count be revealed? And if he will, in what way this problem could be solved? In this sense, it seems to me that it is very important to pay attention to how the narrative structures from one genre (fanfiction) affect another (film) and how naturally these very structures invade today where it was difficult to imagine them thirty years ago (or they were forced then to ‘hide’ or disguise).

The teenage ‘vampire thrash’ that the story of Dracula and Lucy Westenra shows us is just as parody. Balancing on the verge of drama, comedy, erotic novel, this story consistently passes through all the stamps of films and books about bloodsuckers loved by young fans of the genre and turns them inside out.

Love watching a fragile and beautiful heroine meet a fatal man? Here the guy is for you, spectacularly appearing in red light in a nightclub. Do you like impudent girls who themselves throw into the arms of vampires and are not afraid of anything? Please, here's a date at the cemetery. Do you prefer romantic conversations and slow cuddling to a gentle neck? It's not difficult for us. And all this is lined with restrained, slightly melancholic, calm laughter of an adult, showing tricks to a child. With a final note that will show everything that is needed to the one who understands.

And finally, the most vivid, unexpected, and beautiful literary allusion, which gives the story an additional dimension and special meaning, is, of course, the finale. I didn't immediately notice the reference and realized exactly what it meant after the second or third viewing. Probably because it is too obvious.

Who first appears in your memory when you think of the great lovers in world literature? That's it. Only, unlike that one, this story does not seem sad.

But how elegantly done and played.

Romeo and Juliet were representatives of warring families, in fact, enemies that could not be together under any circumstances.

Who could be more antagonists than a vampire and a nun?

Romeo and Juliet fell in love with each other in spite of everything and against the will of their relatives, they strove for each other.

The entire episode on the ship is about how mutual attraction, interest, and love arise despite the circumstances, the wishes of the characters, and the frankly cruel behavior of one of them. And in response to Dracula's words that the kiss of a vampire is an opiate, the quote requested by, ‘You kiss by the book.’*

For violating the order of the Duke, Romeo was expelled but returned after learning that Juliet had died. Finding himself in the crypt in front of her (as he thought) dead body, he was poisoned.

One of the main plot conflicts and drivers of the third episode – is there Agatha here or not? Is she alive or dead? And if there is not Agatha, can she be returned?

And when Juliet, according to the plan of the priest, who undertook to help the lovers, woke up and saw the lifeless Romeo next to her, she stabbed herself with Romeo's dagger.

In the final episode, Dracula dies from the poison in Zoe's blood and Agatha – from the bite of his fangs.

Not enough for you?

Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene II

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Conclusion

All the mythological, alchemical, and literary images we have considered here, in one way or another, ultimately work for the story. Not only to make it sound brighter and more original in a new performance but also to understand it. Because there is no Dracula without Shakespeare's heroes, without Agatha Christie's half-fabulous, hermetic detectives, without tension between the ‘vampire’ canon of the nineteenth century and the same canon one hundred and fifty years later, changed almost beyond recognition and made a new round in the story of Edward Cullen. And the better you understand them, the more voluminous and profound the story being told becomes.

So much the better you can see how far art has gone and how it today reflects what it feared yesterday and what it only briefly mentioned.

You see, after all, in Stoker's novel, Dracula is not so much a man or even a monster, but a certain mysterious incomprehensible element, chaos embodied, the personification of natural force, which is opposed by human reason and courage. It is no coincidence that the novel is constructed as a collection of written evidence – documents, newspaper clippings, letters, and diaries. The ‘screen’ of words, created by the author, allows the reader to distance himself from what is happening to the extent that he can perceive it calmly, without being captured by the emotions that are caused by the incomprehensible and supernatural. This is a very wise decision on Stoker's part, especially in the nineteenth century, when such stories were new to people and served in part as a way to ‘tame’ and make familiar their own fears.

Therefore, this novel probably gave rise to a whole genre. From this seed, almost all Western European horror literature grew. And the way the new Dracula is shown in the BBC film shows how long it has come.

From overwhelming panic horror through reckless falling in love (which psychologically can be considered an inverted fear – something like Stockholm syndrome) to the search for humanity. And love.

Because the stories of monsters and vampires are always about us. About how we look at the world and at ourselves. What we love in ourselves and what we hate. What are we ready to run headlong for, and what we turn away from. And what makes us who we are.

And if Sherlock Holmes helps us to understand how high we are ready to fly, then Dracula – how much courage we have to see who lives in the depths.

* W. Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet, Act I Scene V.

#dracula 2020 #bbc dracula #dragatha #agatha van helsing #count dracula #psychology #literature #meta

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damn-stark · 4 years

Text

Crossed Stars Ch.4

Star Wars x Marvel crossover

A/N- this is or may not include a lot of relationship development ;) I hope you guys liked it!! Let me know what you thought!!

Warning- violence, swearing, slight angst, fluff, slow burn

Pairing- Steve Rogers x reader, Poe Dameron x Reader

Takes place- after Infinity War

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

———

“Miss me?”

You grinned at his unexpected entrance, that smile alone rare to flash him—well not rare, but just uncommon given your one sided dislike for him. Albeit none of that mattered now, you couldn’t be happier to see him. You were glad he came. Even after he said he wasn’t going to be by your side, he came.

Poe Dameron came back for you.

“No.” You responded. Was that a lie? No—perhaps. Whatever it was though he had seen your smile the moment he walked, it was hard to miss, and he took that as an answer instead of what you actually said.

“Come on we have to go.” Dameron urged as he grabbed your hand to start pulling you with him as he ran out of the cell, not really caring if the others imprisoned with you were following. “The ship is this way.”

Surprisingly you hadn’t pulled your hand away yet and instead kept in his grasp, noticing that his hand was warm, contrasted to the cold ship you were currently trying to escape. It was slightly calloused, after years of working on and handling his X-wing or other work around base, but it was still soft and in many ways felt right and comfortable to hold—but no! What the hell were you even thinking? You hated him and you needed to remind yourself about that feeling...even if he did come rescue you and everyone else.

Dameron actually came back.

Thinking of that you parted your lips to remind him what he had told you the other day, “I thought you said you were going home and that you weren’t going to follow me, or be by my side?”

Dameron sighed and you could practically hear his eyes roll in his head. “We’ll talk later, right now let’s just focus on escaping.”

“Fine.” You grumbled.

Given that quick answer you both continued rushing through the ships halls, The Avengers following close behind. And before you could turn the last hall, a few of the sentients from before blocked your path, the red sentient from before nowhere to be seen.

“Nowhere to go!” One of the sentients shouted as she walked towards the front of her group, “You killed our boss and for that you have to pay.” They all took their weapons out and aimed them at all of you.

“Shit.” You cursed as you let Dameron’s hand go and raised them to show that you weren’t a threat, “you didn’t bring our weapons did you, Dameron?”

“Oh well you know, no because I was busy trying to save you, so, no sweetheart I didn’t. Sorry, next time I’ll do that first.” he remarked, pulling out his single blaster and aiming it at them, like if one sole blaster was going to take out the five sentients in front of you.

“No need to be rude. I was just asking.” You snapped, forgetting that you had people standing behind you, who were waiting for a way out. Before any of you could attempt and fight all of them, Artoo pushed forward and shot out oil that covered all the sentients faces in its thick black texture, the droid then shot out a thick mist and beeped urgently for you all to hurry.

Not hesitating to listen you all did just that, The Avengers behind you completely struck by the droids actions, and no one was more impressed then Rocket who quickly added a comment. “How much for that robot?!”

You glared back at the small sentient before responding, “my droid is not for sale.”

Rocket just chuckled coldly, causing Artoo to roll away faster.

“We have to get our weapons before we leave.” Nebula added.

“I know.” Dameron answered, stopping and turning around to face you, “take them to the ship, and have it ready to fly out. I’ll go for the weapons.”

“What? Alone? What if something happens?” You stressed, making him slightly smile at your unintended worry.

“I’ll go with him.” Natasha interjected.

You looked between her and Dameron, your jaw clenching and before you could add something, Steve spoke up and vouched for her, “don’t worry she’ll keep him safe, we have to go.” Steve offered Natasha a quick nod before she and Dameron disappeared down the hall. You hesitated to leave towards the ship, but did so anyway.

When you finally made it to the hanger, you saw the Falcon waiting for you all, and in that moment you couldn’t be happier to see that old ship.

“Don’t tell me we’re leaving in that piece of junk?” Rocket questioned with a disgusted expression on his face as he saw the Falcon.

You shrugged, “she’s gotten my crew and me out of tough situations, she won’t fail us now.”

Before Rocket could remark, he spotted his ship and smiled, explaining that he was taking his ship instead, with Nebula tagging along and Steve following you.

Once you got onto the ship, BB8 greeted you in a panic, asking for his owner. Immediately you reassured the little droid, informing him that he was coming back any minute. The droid didn’t really want to believe you, but he had no choice but to do so. With that in mind you rushed to the cockpit and didn’t waste a minute to hop on the pilots seat and ready the ship.

While you impatiently waited for Dameron and Natasha to return you turned to Steve who sat beside you, unlike you he was actually calm; “I’m sorry for what happened, it was my fault we all got taken today. I’m sorry.”

Steve looked at you with a reassuring look, “you don’t have to apologize, I’m used to these kind of things happening. All of this is just normal now, don’t worry.”

“Still.” You continued, “it was all for nothing, the person I was looking for is gone. I risked all of your lives for nothing.”

“We knew what we were getting into.” Steve assured you, “don’t blame yourself. We just like you are doing whatever it takes to bring them back.”

You showed him a faint smile and nodded in comprehension. “I’m not ready to give up just yet, and if you’re still up for it I would like if you kept tagging along. I just mean I don’t think Dameron is sticking around and well I don’t think I can do this alone.”

Steve reached to grab your hand, giving it a comforting squeeze while sharing a soft smile, “I’m not giving up yet.”

“Thank you.” You whispered with a soft smile, keeping your eyes locked on one another, the room filling with heavy tension, all while you began to feel flustered, much like him. You had the urge to lean in, but before you even had the chance to, Dameron and Natasha rushed inside, instantly making you pull your hand out of Steve’s grasp and focusing on the matter at hand.

Before either Natasha or Dameron could comment on anything, you announced your departure to them and then Rocket and Nebula. And in a hasty escape you pulled out of the hanger and flew into space. “Preparing for jump to lightspeed,” You looked to Steve and then back at Natasha with a smile, “hold on.”

Without sparing a second, you pulled back the handle and the ship jolted forward, jumping into the familiar cold vacuum of hyperspace. In that moment you noticed how Steve firmly held onto the seats handles, a grasp that slowly loosened as he admired the view. His eyes wide and amazed on the blue and white smeared stars that hyperspace provided. Noticing his reaction you couldn’t help but smile to yourself.

“Stars.” You spoke softly, “We’re passing by thousands of stars.”

“All of them?” Natasha asked curiously, sharing the same reaction as Steve.

“Yes, it’s beautiful isn’t it? Even after years of flying I’m still amazed by the sight.” You mused, the smile your carried not faltering, “it’s going to get cold and it’s going to take some time, so I recommend going to the main room. Artoo can show you the game board to pass the time, or he can give you a tour. Whatever you guys want, just tell him, he’ll understand you.”

Steve turned to Natasha and then they both followed the droid out, while Dameron and you stayed behind. You would’ve left, but you still had a conversation pending, questions you still needed answered.

Neither of you spoke up first, just sat and listened to the deafening silence of hyperspace. From the corner of your eye watching as he sat on the co-pilots seat, not asking you to move and letting you pilot the ship.

“Uhmm.” You paused and tried to find what to say out of all you needed to say. “Why did you come?”

Dameron scoffed but spoke regardless of your lack of a thank you. “Artoo, communicated that you were in trouble.”

“You said you weren’t going to follow me. Or be by my side.”

“Never said I wouldn’t help you.” He said, looking away from the view ahead and focusing on you, “you’re not going to go home are you?”

You responded with silence, but he didn’t need anything else as a response, he knew what that meant. “You didn’t need to go after me.”

“No? It didn’t look like you had it handled. In fact it looked like you needed me, so you’re welcome for that.” He snapped.

“Thank you.” You grumbled, “just take me and the rest back to earth and then you can leave. I don’t want to be a bother.”

Dameron scoffed and shook his head at your response, but decided not to argue back and instead say what he’s been wanting to say, even if he didn’t say the whole truth. “I don’t think Finn would’ve liked it if I left you alone.”

Your eyes filled with tears, but it was something you tried to hold in. “You said—”

“I know what I said, but if you believe theirs a way then I trust you. We’re a team, we can only do this together.” He reached for you hand, this time hesitating, but when he didn’t see you turn away he held onto it, his words turning soft and sweet, something that caused the tears to slip down your cheeks regardless of what you wanted. “I’m with you.”

—

“The Avengers are the ones to blame! This happened because of them and they are doing nothing and continuing with life! Captain America was seen going on—”

The “T.V.” clicked off, the people talking inside it disappearing and showing nothing but a dark screen. It seemed that rest wasn’t an option, right after you arrived back to Earth, The Avengers had another problem with their own people. They were restless and angry, just like that sentient that had kidnapped you all. In a lot of ways you understood the people’s anger, but they’re too quick to blame people who are trying to find something and tried to fight against it.

This also put pressure on your search for a solution. Everyone looked to you for a plan, a plan that you didn’t have planned out but instead had as you went along. Like always.

“What’s the next move?” Natasha asked, pulling her eyes away from the black screen to meet your own. “This person who you’re looking for, who is he? Where can we find him?”

“That’s the question I’m wondering too. I—”

You were loudly interrupted by the triangle faced sentient while he jumped down from the table, “I’m sorry...actually not really, but we’re having this conversation later. I was just imprisoned by a red magic douche, I’m taking some well deserved rest before we go run into trouble again.” Without letting anyone else protest his decision he left the briefing room, with Nebula quietly doing the same seconds after.

Leaving only Steve, Natasha, Dameron and you awkwardly sitting around the table.

“Maybe he’s right,” Steve spoke up, thankfully breaking the silence, “we should all rest and come back later.”

Seeming to have no other choice you nodded in agreement and stood up to leave next to Steve, but he disappointingly enough was pulled back to the room for a meeting with Natasha, leaving you to walk alongside Dameron.

“I’ve been meaning to ask.” You started as you walked alongside the General, “what was Commander Zuko’s reaction when you left?”

Dameron responded in a serious tone, meaning he was completely serious even if he tried not to smile for what he was going to say, “You know I wouldn’t know. I left like you did. Without telling anyone. But you should have seen him when he found out you left.” His smile broke through as he began to explain, now holding back his laugh as he described the Commander, “his face got all red and he went on a long rant about you.”

You scoffed with a roll of your eyes, “he’s annoying and a kiss ass. I’m pretty sure he’s taking advantage that we’re gone to take over.”

“Probably.” Dameron shrugged.

“Something else,” you paused and fisted your hands at your sides, hesitating to ask to what had been bothering you since he said he was joining you. “Are you sure about joining along? I just mean you’re a General and you’re risking your position to come along.”

Dameron didn’t hesitate to answer, like if he had his answer planned out. “We’re both risking our position, but it’s all for them, we’re trying to find something. They’ll understand.”

You scoffed and couldn’t help the smile that slipped through, “you’re sure? This all sounds like the dreadnought situation. The one that also led to your mutiny against Admiral Haldo.”

Dameron shook his head, and his smile turned smug at the memory. “The one that you also were apart of? Actually you were by my side for both plans.”

Only because you thought you were going to get rewarded for destroying the dreadnought, and well because you wanted one up the man...as always. But that ended horrible in a sense that you got in trouble alongside him.

“General Organa was pissed.” You recalled joyfully.

“Yeah, I was the one that got slapped while you just got your title as commander revoked.” Dameron grumbled.

“Just like you.” You pointed, “but it was worth it, we took down our first dreadnought. That was awesome.”

“True.” He smiled.

In that moment you forgot you disliked the man, recalling one of the many memories you shared with him. This current memory though was one that you wished you were reliving instead of what you were living now. At least then Finn, Rey and Chewbacca were there—and just like that you remembered your dislike for Dameron, the happy little moment short lived as you remembered your friends.

You cleared your throat and returned to your cold and serious demeanor directed to only him—even if deep down you were happy he did come back. “We’ll talk about the plan later.” You excused yourself whilst not waiting for answer to enter your new appointed room.

Leaving Dameron to only watch as you completely changed your attitude towards him, one minute being nice and behaving like you were two old best friends, and then the next acting like you hated him. But it was also something he was used to and didn’t question anymore, not if he wanted to hear the same answer, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” With the usual furrowed eyebrow and scrunched you nose. A straight give away that you were mad, usually at him.

He knew a lot about you that you cared to admit. All thanks to years of knowing each other. He knew more than Finn ever did or these people ever will. He knew how to read each of your expressions without you having to actually speak. He knew every dislike and like you had to a lot of things, he probably knew things about you that you didn’t even know, and he also knew that if you weren’t so weird around him that you two would be great together...in a “friend sense.”....yeah in a total friend way.

Regardless though, he went along with the way you acted and didn’t question it, because being here was changing your relationship in good way. Well kind of...you weren’t as mean to him as before and he liked that, he liked that you were kinder and he didn’t know if this was going to last but he hoped it would, he just hoped that your relationship would be as it once was.

—

The sound of loud and constant smacking echoed through the hall, a sound that got louder as you reached the location where it was coming from. At first you thought of walking away and coming back to the home gym later, but as your eye caught sight of the flash of familiar dirty blonde hair you silently walked in.

Steve seemed to be lost in his own thing, mindlessly hitting the punching bag harder and harder every passing minute. You parted your lips to make yourself known, but instead you decided to keep quiet for a moment longer, watching as his arms were covered in sweat, something that only showed them off more as the light hit them with every swing of his arms. His face also gleamed with sweat, but the most noticble thing wasn’t his muscles or how great he really looked this way, but his frown and his watery gaze.

You continued to walk towards him to try and ask what was wrong, but before you could, you caught sight of a picture on the table. In a delicate motion you picked it off the table and studied it, noticing him him and an undeniably handsome brunette at his side, both men sporting happy grins on their faces, and something you could instantly tell was how close they appeared to be. Which let you know that this had to do with how Steve was now.

Putting the picture back to it’s place you looked over to see Steve holding the now ripped bag in place, his forehead resting on the rough leather as he tried to calm his heavy breathing.

“This is the opposite of resting you know.” You spoke gently to finally make yourself known.

Steve pulled his forehead off and turned to look at you before he spoke in-between heavy breaths. “Too much on my mind, I couldn’t rest.”

You sat down on the chair behind you and let your eyes follow him as he began to replace the bag. “I suppose it had something to do with your meeting?”

“Partially.”

You hummed softly as a response, your eyes for a brief second falling on the picture again, an action you didn’t think he would notice, but he did. Albeit Steve didn’t mention anything instead he looked at his gaze got lost in it before he quickly looked the other way and kept busy with something else, leaving you be the one to speak up.

“What’s his name?”

Steve hesitated but answered all the same, “Bucky.” You were about to ask something else, but Steve soon added more, “he’s my best friend.”

You got the idea of what he meant to Steve, by just studying the picture, but now you pieced it together. The other day when he agreed to join you in your search for a solution, Steve did specify that he wanted to get “him” back. This man in the picture was that “him.” And you didn’t need to ask to know that the snap had taken him too. That was obvious.

“He would’ve liked you.” Steve tried to lighten the conversation, but you heard the pain in his voice..and you saw it in his eyes. “He’s like my brother. He was my family.” You could hear the crack in his voice, and even if he had his back facing you, you knew that he had tears rolling down his cheeks. “Even when I had nothing I had Bucky.”

A tear of your own slipped past your cheek. You knew the pain he felt, you knew of that exact feeling of having nothing but just that one person to mean everything...

You pushed yourself off your seat and carefully made your way to him. When you stood before him, he looked down to try and hide the fact that he had cried, and only met your gaze when you spoke to him. “I promise that we’re going to find a way to get him back,” you didn’t hesitate to reach your hand to caress his cheek, a gesture that shocked you but one you didn’t question or pull away from. Just like he didn’t. “I promise you Steve.”

You continued to show him an assuring smile, both of your gazes lingering on each other’s, something that urged you to once again try and close the gap, but you knew that it wasn’t the right moment, so instead you wrapped your arms around his neck to wrap him in a tight embrace. One he didn’t hesitate to return.

A sweet gesture that didn’t go unnoticed, one that was mistaken for more than what it was by Poe.

—

“People blame us for what happened, they’re all desperate for a solution.” Natasha sighed.

“I would too.” Rocket added all nonchalant, making all heads turn to him to question his comment, something he just shrugged to, “look, I just mean if the people that promised to fight all evil and protect everyone, lost then I would blame them too.”

“The raccoon oddly makes sense.” Colonel Rhodes interjected. “Which means, what are you all planning to do?”

Everyone looked to one another, lost and questioning the same thing.

“We need to find something before people get worse, because they will. In times like these people go to desperate measures.” The Colonel finished.

“We’re going to space again.” You revealed, “the only place where I know I’ll find answers for who I’m looking for. My home planet. Tatooine.”

“Exactly who is it that you’re looking for?” Dameron asked.

You inhaled sharply before clenching your jaw at the thought, “A friend. Jaro Kestis.”

A/N- I didn’t want to use a force sensitive character that’s already part of the Star Wars universe because I don’t know if they’re alive or not, so to make things easier I just made me own! If you’ve played or heard of the game Jedi fallen order then you recognize that name :) (if you don’t then click here. Also the character I mentioned isn’t him but a son that I made up...)

Tagged- @itsbuckyb1tch, @kaitlynw011 , @blushingwueen , @80sthottie, @thescarletknight2014 , @bbuckysbeardd , @ellvswriting , @sakurashortstack , @whatthefrickfrackwereyouthinking, @danicalifxrnia , @lanatheawesome , @perryoncw , @panic-onthegroundsofbrooklyn , @abysshaven , @valeecruz16 , @gummy-bears16 , @winchescumberholland , @a-somehow-functioning-dumbass , @randomhanabananas , @just-a-sad-chicken-nugget-xxx

Permanent taglist- @ms-dont-care

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estelofimladris · 4 years

Text

The Healer: Critical Role

[ warning: here follows a long rambling story of feelings about losing a fandom and finding new love and happiness in an unexpected way ]

Here’s a little personal story about how some fandoms hurt and some heal. It goes from Fillory to Exandria. (It feels really right when I say it that way.)

I wasn’t ready for the healing that I got, but it’s here now. Thank Sarenrae.

Everyone loves that thunderstruck feeling when you fall in love with a fandom. It’s literally like all the tropes about falling in love. You meet and sometimes there’s just a spark.

That was me with The Magicians. I spent a year immersed in a welcoming fandom in a show that made me feel seen and whole. I had friends in the fandom as well as the friends irl who were into the show. I got to dive into it when I really needed a fandom to help carry me a little through a hard time.

It was heaven. Until it wasn’t.

In April of 2019, The Magicians broke my heart. Again, just like all the tropes about love. Just like a bad breakup, there’s things about it that I really enjoyed, but at the end of the day, I can’t go back to the way things were with that fandom. No matter how welcoming the fandom remained, I couldn’t go back because the show had cut me so deeply.

Then through 2019 and into 2020, I drifted through some new loves and lived in my love of some of my oldest fandoms. Lots of Star Wars. New excitement from Good Omens, The Dragon Prince, and The Old Guard. It’s not to say that I don’t love these things, but at least two of my new favs are, for the time being anyway, done. And, though Star Wars (and in the same breath my other love Marvel) are never really done, I like loving them in a bubble because as anyone in those fandoms knows it can be a complicated relationship.

Also in late 2019, my buddy @wittynamehere1443 decided she wanted to try and run a D&D campaign for our family of misfits. I hadn’t played since high school (D&D 3.5) and was super excited to get back into it. I picked up quite a bit while prepping to play from a mix of reading, remembering old things, and watching some tutorials and stuff on ye ol’ YouTube. I had dabbled in tabletop, but never thought I’d go charging back in, but once I started I couldn’t stop.

I immersed myself in as much as I could, but I’m really a visual & kinesthetic learner, so eventually I was going to have to supplement my book-learning with some real-play to really understand. I played as much as I could as I delved deeper, but even as I dove, I realized I wanted to do more. I started to write my own campaign setting and adventures. I suddenly found myself needing to just know how D&D worked without having to always have the books open.

Now, I had been lightly introduced to some real-play before I really understood what it was. A buddy of mine had shown me a clip of Critical Role out of context quite some time ago and I really didn’t understand how so many people I knew and shared a lot of crossover interests with could be so obsessed with watching 8 people play D&D.

My buddy who was now my DM had consumed all of The Adventure Zone and had very lovely things to say about it and I had the lingering curiosity about Critical Role form the many people who had recommended it to me as well as the complete mystery attached to why people loved it so. And me, being a big lover of visuals and being at home because of COVID, dipped my toe into real-play with the first episode of Critical Role back in late June.

I did it completely on my own at first, which is rare given that most things I watch, I watch them with my best friend and roommate, @hawkeyekate.

( Also, as a weird note, I’ve managed to deftly avoid most spoilers about Critical Role up to this point and I’m not completely sure how. I know one big one in Campaign 2, but until yesterday (when I watched the first episode of Campaign 2) I didn’t even know the classes of 1/2 of the Mighty Nein. I didn’t even know Sam played Nott until about three weeks ago. That bubble has come in very handy. )

I immediately began to get out of it what I was originally there for: great real-play with explanations of rules (especially vs. house rules and the whys of everything). Watching the cast fumble through transitioning from Pathfinder to D&D 5e was very helpful to me because I had some similar questions from the figments of memory I had from 3.5 as well as my other random tabletop experience. I was completely inspired and found myself cranking through pages upon pages of my own world and campaigns as well as delving deeper into my characters that I’d been honing already.

I quickly noticed that I was worrying less about the rules when I played and was getting to enjoy my character for who he is. I was starting to craft interesting mechanics and not just story in my adventures I was writing.

Lightning had struck and suddenly I was in love in a way I hadn’t been in a long time.

As I was watching Critical Role, I definitely wasn’t just learning to be a stronger DM and a better player. I found myself able to tell the twins apart. I was invested in the mysteries as they unraveled in Exandria. I hung on Mercer’s every word.

Then without warning, when the party said goodbye to Pike in Vasselheim, I found myself in tears. I don’t know why but I remember being so struck by that moment. I knew it was partly because Ashley was leaving for New York, but the story for Vox Machina hit a soft spot for me. I was no longer just watching 9 people play D&D. I was invested in the story, the characters, and the world.

I was suddenly a Critter.

I think notoriously at this point, when I fall for a fandom, its often connected to a character. I saw in Vax’ildan a lot of things that really sucked me in from the beginning. He is at the same time like many of my favorite characters of my youth and like many of my favorite characters as an adult. I feel like he’s my heartstrings manifest in a lot of ways, complete with many of the flaws in that.

Then what was a slow crawl accelerated. I would occasionally ramble to @hawkeyekate about the adventures of Vox Machina and it would be on when she was around, but she wasn’t exactly watching it with me. Then at some point during “The Trial of the Take”, she was suddenly sitting with me to watch. She was asking me to pause when she had to go do something - and wait for her.

We were watching together.

We were acutely aware of how the twins echoed things in us and that often we are referred to in the same sentence in the same way. I had my Vex’ahlia.

Only a little over a month later, we’ve battled Briarwoods and now we’re hunting Vestiges and gathering allies. It is a rare day that we don’t watch a little Critical Role. I sport my “Gilmore’s Glorious Goods” shirt. I’ve read Vox Machina: Origins and am making plans for two cosplays already.

I’ve also DM’d six sessions of my first adventure-turned-campaign in my own world I’ve built, Perlen. I play tabletop two-to-three days a week with my friends via the internet. I hoard dice.

I’ve fallen in love again and this time it feels safe.

I know good and bad things will come for Vox Machina ahead. I know the same can be said for The Mighty Nein in my future as well, but the Critters in my life have been so welcoming and it’s been so nice to have something new to talk to my friends about. And I trust the cast of Critical Role not to destroy things just because they made them like The Magicians creators did, a trust I didn’t think I would grow back any time soon. I know that some of the pains in Critical Role aren’t just scripted but are actually to chance, which gives me comfort, too. People live and die by the dice in tabletop and I can abide that. It doesn’t mean I won’t cry and ache every time something bad happens to them because I love them all.

So I will go running through Tal’dorei and look forward to Wildemount while I carve out the mountains and seas of my world of Perlen. I’ll cry when they hurt and smile every time Pike and Grog talk. I’ll be healed the way that stories can in ways I didn’t expect, which has now happened much more than once.

I’m here now and I love it.

[ special shout-out to the Critters in my life that have been so welcoming. Especially my super-enabler, @oniumbra. ]

#critical role #thoughts #personal #d&d #posts like this make me miss livejournal #because i'm also fandom old yall #the magicians

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lost-your-memory · 4 years

Text

Old friends, aliens and curiosities - Part I

Listen, I can’t stop thinking about this gifset made by @lonely-night in which H.G Wells (Warehouse 13) & Lena Luthor (CW Supergirl) are old friends and working together in the present to retrieve a curiosity (A ping, darling) meant to kill Lena.

So this is VERY AU-ish and with a crossover no one knew we needed but well, we do. Here’s the first part (it covers the two first gifs, I think), I’m gonna try to write the whole thing.

---

“Uh, I’m really sorry to disturb you Miss Luthor but … You have a … an unexpected visitor.”

Jess’ uneasiness can be felt through her clipped tone and the slight pauses she marks in between her words. It’s so strong that even the disembodiment caused by the interphone doesn’t mask it.

Lena looks up from the blueprints she’s been studying for the best part of the last hour and frowns.

She’s specifically left instructions not to interrupt her under any excuse, not unless it was a matter of life or death and until today, Jess has never, not even once, disobeyed her. She’s always been nothing but an exceptional assistant, excellent at keeping Lena’s days smooth and organised amidst the ordinary chaos of everything going on in her life.

Lena glances at the TV playing in a corner of her office and sees Supergirl displayed on the screen, apparently busy dealing with the newest menace in town. Besides, Jess knows better than to allow Kara in nowadays.

Lena sighs and rolls her shoulders, a vain attempt at getting rid of the tension permanently settled in her muscles and at the base of her neck.

“What is it, Jess?” Lena asks, a finger on the button of the interphone.

She doesn’t want to sound too short but really, she’s getting tired of interacting with people. She’s never been good at it but it’s been even worse lately, with the amount of betrayal she had to endure.

There’s a beat on the line before Jess’s voice echo again.

“The woman says her name is … H. G. Wells?”

Another voice instantly jumps on the line, thick with a British accent Lena hasn’t head in years. Centuries even.

“Oh for fuck’s sake! This is ridiculous.”

The doors to her office suddenly open wide and Helena Wells strides in with a trademark smirk on her lips and a knowing gleam in her dark eyes.

“Lena Luthor, long time no see!” Helena greets, walking around the office as if it was hers.

Jess stands in the doorframe, looking utterly confused and at a loss as to what to do. Lena doesn’t blame her, Helena Wells often had that effect on people.

“It’s alright Jess, I’ll deal with it. Thank you,” Lena smiles at her assistant, who only hesitate for a handful of seconds before nodding, closing the doors in her way out.

Lena sighs again and swirls her chair toward her open bay windows.

“You’re done quite alright for yourself, Lee,” Helena appraises from her spot on the balcony. “I always knew you’d make an excellent inventor.”

The way the sun hits her hair causes silver reflections to sparkle and glow and her fair skin looks a little out of place in this sunlight but her smile is wide and genuine. She looks incredibly good for someone who’s been bronzed for centuries, Lena thinks.

“Thankfully, this century is a little kinder to woman with ideas,” Lena retorts, keeping her voice neutral and clipped. “Not by much, mind me, but it’s still an improvement from the outrageous and blatant misogyny of our time …”

“I’ve seen your president, I’m not entirely convinced,” Helena replies without missing a beat. She comes back into the office and instinctively walks toward the liquor cabinet. “Drink?”

“It’s eleven in the morning …” Lena shakes her head, annoyed by how at ease Helena seems to be in her office.

“Like that has stopped you before,” Helena chuckles and the low sound makes Lena’s skin tingle with memories.

Images of a buried past flash in front of her eyes, a man in tweed with a bowler hat and an awe-shuck attitude. The echo of a spontaneous laughter. A living room filled with books and leather couches and armchairs. A mischievous child with remarkable wits and a smile that looked a lot like Helena’s.

Lena shakes her head and glares at her visitor. “Let’s cut the chase, shall we? To what do I owe this unexpected and quite frankly, not so welcome visit?”

Helena’s smile fades. For a moment, she focuses on making her tumbler swirl in her hand, slow and steady. The amber catches sunbeams sometimes and it sends bright sparkles of light all across the room, a myriad of lively tiny dots with a honey-ish glow.

“We used to be … friends,” Helena eventually says, nostalgia lining her voice. “The best of friends even, once upon a time.”

Lena doesn’t reply, she simply stares and waits.

The past has brought her nothing but pain, ever since she got debronzed, and she doesn’t want to reminisce it.

Helena seems to understand that because she doesn’t add anything.

Instead, she comes to sit in one of the chairs in front of Lena’s desk. Her eyes are dark but Lena still knows how to read them, even after all that time. She sees the loss, the regrets and the tentative affection in the soulful brown irises, the obnoxious heaviness of a life filled with painful memories.

Lena sighs and nods, offering a smile to her friend. She’s never been able to stay mad at Helena, despite everything they’ve been through.

“Believe it or not, it’s actually lovely to see you again, Lee,” Helena smiles in return. It’s a little tentative but the brown of her eyes lit up, shining with hope and joy. “I should have … reached out sooner.”

Lena chuckles and shakes her head before arching a brow.

“I’m guessing you’ve been busy with all sort of evil plans, which is what prevented you from reaching out to your oldest friend …”

“You’re not too far off, actually,” Helena chuckles again but something in the way the muscles of her jaw move tells Lena she’s been spot on. “However, I … calmed down. I let go of most of my anger and desire for revenges and now I’m …”

Helena pauses and tilts her head, seemingly looking for her words. Lena knows better than to speak so she waits.

“I’m not exactly happy nor am I in peace, but … I’m at ease with myself. I’m back at working for the warehouse, it provides me with a purpose and keeps me sane.”

Lena lets out a dry laugh at that.

“Did you just say that working for the warehouse keeps you sane? Who are you and what have you done with Helena Georges Wells?”

Helena throws her an unamused look but the smirk on her lips is smug.

It’s familiar and comfortable, it almost feels like no time has passed since they used to work for Warehouse 12 together. Lena finds herself relaxing a little more against the back of her chair.

“You’re one to talk, what happened to Agent Luthor, anarchist extraordinary?” Helena retorts, waving a hand around the office. “You used to hate every form of government, warehouse included, and now you basically supply every single one of them with tech weapons.”

Lena shrugs.

“People change, don’t they? Beside … that way I know exactly what kind of weapons end up in our government’s hands and I can make sure it’s as safe as possible ...”

“Hm, that’s one twisted point of view,” Helena arches an unimpressed brow but there’s another smile tugging at the corner of her lips, one Lena recognise as praise. She’s seen it on Helena before, usually reserved for Christina or even Wolcott but, in rarer occurrences, it’s been directed at her too.

“Look at us. Sharing anecdotes about our lives as if no times has passed …” Lena smiles and then her voice soften.

“It’s been a long time, Helena. I’m … happy to see you too.”

That earns her a bright, wide smile.

For a brief moment, it’s like they’re back to that happier time they don’t really talk about, one where the echo of a laughter only them can remember never fades.

#Warehouse 13 #Meets #Supergirl #Lena Luthor #H.G Wells #AU-ish unexpected crossover #Sentences prompt #Listen I really can't stop thinking about this #I can't promise anything but I'll write the whole gifset #It's stuck in my head #What the hell am I doing?#No idea #You'll have to bear with me #Whoops

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freddieslater · 4 years

Text

Turn the world back in time just to never say goodbye

Steelatom + Crisis Angst, requested by a lovely, patient anon [also on ao3]

Gonna be honest, this feels a little less like Steelatom and more just Team Legends angst, but there is a little bit of it in there, I hope??

The Waverider's silent for once. It's not right. Everything about it feels wrong, like the calm before a storm, and Nate can't help but think that that's exactly what this is right now.

There's been no word from Sara or Ray since they last contacted them to tell them they were gonna help Barry and Oliver out with some crisis that could apparently destroy the universe.

He paces the library; three of his nails are already bitten down to the beds and a fourth is soon to join them. This is his fault.

Maybe not the crisis—or who knows, actually, they could have easily messed something up in the timeline after everything that went down with Neron.

But he should have gone with Ray and Sara. They asked if anyone wanted to help, but everyone was reluctant. The last crossover, as Ray's been dubbing it, that they had to do wasn't so great and it lost them Stein.

But now not going could have left Sara and Ray without additional backup that they might have needed.

He, at the very least, should have volunteered to go. His powers combined with Supergirl's would certainly have upped the odds by a fraction.

And he wouldn't be here with the rest of the team, waiting with growing anxiety. Charlie's the only one talking, but her attempts to lighten the mood a little falls flat when no one can bring themselves to be distracted.

"Gideon?" he asks, stopping in front of the screen on the wall. "Any news on Ray and Sara?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Heywood," Gideon informs him.

Nate closes his eyes. He forces himself to take in a slow breath.

"But I feel I should inform you that there have been several more aberrations created to the timeline since you last asked," Gideon continues, and the screen lights up as Nate opens his eyes. Red lights flash to life all over the map of the timeline. "They all appear to be located in the future."

"What does that mean?" Nate asks, shaking his head. "More time-jumping escapees?"

"No. These appear to be created by unexpected changes to events in 2020, affecting the future timeline. Including the future of the Legends, as well as Barry Allen, Kara Zor-El, Oliver Queen, and a few others. It appears as if Crisis happening earlier than it was supposed to has changed the course of the events and ruptured the timeline that had been in place."

Nate can feel a balloon inside his stomach filling with air, expanding until it's in his chest, getting closer and closer to exploding.

He sucks in another deep breath and silently tells himself to stay calm. It doesn't sound so bad.

"What kind of things have changed, Gideon?" he asks, scanning the screen of dots and dates.

"Well, for one, The Flash and Supergirl are alive," Gideon answers, and a small pang of relief hits him. "Oliver Queen is not. His death was altered; it happened sooner than it was originally meant to by cause of some ripple effect in the timeline, from what I can tell. He died two days ago."

Nate's heart drops at that. Oliver's dead. They weren't exactly best friends, but—Oliver was the Green Arrow, but also, he was Oliver Queen. A legend all of his own. He wasn't supposed to—how can he just be dead? Just like that, with no warning?

"What else?" he forces out through gritted teeth.

"I'm afraid if I tell you much more, it could only make the rupture worse, Mr. Heywood," Gideon apologizes.

"Gideon, what else has changed?" he asks again, because he doesn't like the sound of that one bit. "What parts of the future are different?"

"Nate?"

He turns around at the sound of Charlie's voice. She's hovering uncertainly in the doorway, but her eyes dart to the screen with some glint of understanding held in them that tells him she may have heard a word or two.

He sighs and faintly registers that Gideon stays silent. Probably for the best, some part of him thinks.

"Hey, what's up?" he asks softly, crossing his arms. Even he can hear the weariness in his voice. He just wants this Crisis to be over.

Charlie shakes her head but steps further in at the implied invite. "Nothing. Just wanted to see how you were doing."

Nate doesn't even know how to begin answering that. It must show on his face because Charlie's own expression turns sympathetic for a moment.

This thing is affecting all of them, but part of him can't help but think she has a little bit of luxury, not knowing anyone else well enough to really be that worried. To not have this pit of dread in her stomach, or have this hollow aching in her heart that's telling her something is wrong.

"No news then, I take it?" she asks, dropping the pretence as she motions her head to the screen.

He glances at it and all of the little dots—more time aberrations they'll have to fix now thanks to whatever the hell the multiverse is doing this time—before shaking his head. He presses his lips together and tries not to think about what that means.

"Not about Ray or Sara, no." He shifts his eyes back to her, and he stops.

Her face has dropped, a crease between her eyebrows. It's such a familiar expression and yet completely foreign to him at the same time, because never has he seen Charlie look this upset or really worried.

It occurs to him that he's wrong, was too caught up in his own mind to really focus. Of course she has just as much reason to worry as he does.

Guilty, he sighs once more, then steps forward, trying to mold his expression into something resembling assurance.

"I'm sure it doesn't mean anything," he tries, getting Charlie to look him in the eyes. He falters. "It's...I mean, no news is good news, right?"

"Don't think that really applies when the universe might be ending," Charlie says, and yeah, he wasn't buying it either.

He at least manages to crack a small smile at that, Charlie giving one in return. Nate reaches out, resting a hand on her shoulder for a moment, squeezing gently. Charlie glances at it, and her smile slips ever so slightly.

"I know everyone's worried about Sara and Ray," she starts, and he nods slowly, remembering seeing Mick sitting quietly in a corner of the kitchen, just staring at a full bottle of beer. "But...you're really worried about Ray, aren't you?"

Nate pauses, his head tilting. But Charlie's looking at him with wide, gentle eyes that look just as scared as he feels. His hand slips from her shoulder, back to his side as his tongue darts out across his bottom lip.

He is terrified of losing either of them, because they have lost so many people already, and he loves them. They're his family. Especially Ray. It just feels...different.

"That obvious that I'm a mess, huh?" he jokes, but it's not really a joke at all, because he feels like a mess, and he's sure it is obvious.

He leans back against the table behind him, staring up at the ceiling as he feels Charlie move closer to stand beside him.

"Kinda, yeah," she says.

He snorts at her honesty, throwing her a glance, and she shrugs. He just returns to staring at the ceiling as his shoulders sink a little.

"I just got him back..." he says softly, his heart twisting. "I can't handle going through that again. Losing him. Or Sara—or any of you guys. But I just...I need him to be okay. He's not supposed to go off and die in some heroic attempt to save the entire freaking multiverse from being destroyed in some crossover that we weren't meant to be a part of, not before—especially not without—"

He cuts himself off, closing his eyes.

"Not without knowing that you're in love with him?" Charlie ventures, and it's really not like she has to go that far.

She already sounds like it's common knowledge but she's trying her hardest to not be obvious about it. He appreciates the effort.

Sighing again, he nods.

"Yeah. Exactly. I didn't sign up to be a part of one of those tragic romance novels where one of them dies before they get together—or at least confess how they feel! Those suck, and we are time travellers. We shouldn't have to deal with that stuff, because we should be able to go back and fix all of the bad things before they even happen so that we can avoid situations exactly like this!"

Charlie's the one placing a hand on his shoulder now. He turns his head to meet her gaze, and he already knows.

"That's not how this works for us, though," she tells him gently. "You lot taught me that. Bad things happen sometimes that we can't fix. If we could go back and redo every situation that could have gone a different way with just one decision without messing up time itself, we would, but...we can't. Not even for stuff like this."

Nate deflates. Why did she have to be right?

Why couldn't she just suggest they hop in the timeship and go fix whatever mess is happening, or at the very least help out everyone else with it like they should have been doing already?

The team's really rubbing off on her. It makes him a little happy, to be honest.

"Besides," Charlie gives his shoulder a light squeeze, smiling once more as she points out, "nothing bad has actually happened. We would know about it by now if it had. So, really, there's nothing to fix."

"I guess that's true," Nate agrees, willing to look on the light side of things. It's all he has, and he'll cling to it for as long as he can. "Alright. Come on. Why don't we—"

An alarm sounds throughout the entire ship, piercing the air like a screech.

Nate and Charlie look at each other, wide-eyed, then they're both running out of the library. The rest of the team are all quick to join, panicked and confused, the alarm still blaring and the lights flashing red.

"What the hell is that?" Mick roars, looking ready to fight the ship itself if it doesn't pipe down.

"Gideon!" Nate shouts, striding over to the panel. "What's going on?"

"A large wave of antimatter has been detected heading straight for the ship," Gideon answers, a projection of her most basic form—a simple, featureless head—appearing to them. "I'm afraid that the attempt to prevent the Crisis from finishing its course has failed. In twenty-seconds, we will be consumed by the antimatter and erased from existence."

Nate's heart drops into his stomach, his skin going ice cold.

"Guessing that'll have something to do with that then." Constantine nods his head towards the window with an edge of resignation in his voice.

They all look up, and Nate couldn't possibly fee more nauseous right now. Space is no longer endless black with stars lighting the way, but bright, burning red flames tearing apart everything in sight. And soon, them.

"Well, what do we do then?" Charlie asks urgently, gesturing at the window as well. "How the bloody hell are we supposed to stop that?"

"You can't," Gideon says. "Once we are destroyed, the antimatter wave will consume Earth-1 and it will be the end of the multiverse. It's up to the Paragons to restore it, if they can."

"The Para—what do you mean?!" Nate sputters, the desperation seeping into his voice. "Gideon, we are literally about to be wiped out. We can't just sit here, and—let the multiverse be destroyed!"

"I don't think we've got a say in that, mate," Constantine says, his voice strangely quiet.

There's something dark in his eyes as he stares out at their supposed end. It's as if he isn't surprised, as if he was expecting this. They don't have the time for pointless questions.

Nate shakes his head. "No. No. Ray and Sara—"

"Captain Lance will be okay," Gideon cuts him off, as if agreeing. "She is a Paragon. It is up to her and the others to stop the anti-monitor."

Hope lights up in him for a second, because that sounds good. Right? But then it flickers back out, because—wait.

"Well—what about Ray then?" he can't help but ask, his hands tightening a little on the edge of the console. "He's with Sara, right? So, the two of them—they can fix this? They can...restore the multiverse or stop the antimatter or whatever?"

Gideon pauses. Gideon never pauses. She's an AI, she doesn't have reason to pause, and yet, she actually pauses before answering him. If her projected face could have physical expressions, he's got a good feeling he knows exactly what one she would be wearing.

"Mr Palmer is not a Paragon," she says, and Nate doesn't fully understand what exactly the hell that means, but he knows it isn't good, so everything in him still drops like an anchor. "I'm afraid he will be erased by the antimatter as well."

Nate closes his eyes, dropping his head forward. Just hearing it makes his stomach turn and have to swallow past that lump in his throat. This can't be real.

This isn't how this happens. Ray isn't even here, he can't just be erased on a completely different earth, not without the rest of them being there as well, at the very least. Not without him.

The control panel lights up, and Nate can feel it now. The resignation. Knowing this is it.

"Ten seconds until the antimatter reaches the waverider," Gideon informs them, a timer now displayed on the screen in front of them all.

"Do something!" Mick shouts, whether at Nate or Gideon or just the universe itself.

"There's nothing that can be done!" Constantine shouts back, waving his hand at the console. "We're screwed. That's all there is to it."

"Five seconds."

"Could we not just take the ship somewhere else?" Charlie asks, already scrambling to turn dials and hit buttons despite nothing happening when she does. "Go back in time, or—or forward? Just anywhere but here?"

Nate shakes his head, even if he scans the console desperately for something, anything, a last resort that will get them out of this.

But the waverider would never be able to outrun a wave of antimatter this big and this close to destruction, and even if they did, that would mean leaving Sara and Ray behind on Earth-1.

"No. It's over," Nate says quietly.

He lifts his head to look up out the window as the timer hit three seconds. Those three seconds as he just stares out at the burning red antimatter feel like they pass in slow-motion, part of him wishing that they were facing Earth. All of him wishing he were on Earth-1 with Ray.

All he can hope for in that last second as he feels the ship start to burn, the antimatter tearing through the window like it's nothing, is that Sara can really find some way to fix this.

He can't let this be the end for any of them, not like this, they deserve more. He closes his eyes, breathes out, and thinks of how he would be saying goodbye to Ray in this very moment if he could as the antimatter engulfs the entire ship. He's almost glad that he doesn't have to. And then there's nothing.

#steelatom #legends of tomorrow #crisis on infinite earths #ray palmer #nate heywood #fanfiction stuff #I hope this is okay anon!!#you said angst and I went with the first angstiest thing I could think of!

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just-for-cal · 5 years

Text

Spin the Bottle - [c.h]

word count: 3208 warnings: swearing, implied smut (if u squint so much ur eyes are almost closed) summary: the simple game of spin the bottle really works wonders prompt(s): #39: spin the bottle kiss + #64: being unable to open your eyes for a few moments afterward

“You’re playing, right?”

You turned around to the familiar Australian accent, smiling gently up at Calum for a moment, before asking what he meant.

“Playing what?”

The band had brought you with them to one of their infamous parties. They’d told you so many insane stories that you just had to experience one of them. Partying isn't usually your thing, and getting blackout drunk was definitely not. So you’d sipped on one drink and just admired the atmosphere.

Calum, on the other hand, had been dying for you to come to one of the parties. He loved your presence, and knew they would be ten times more fun with you there. Whether or not that had to do with his minor-not-so-minor crush on you, he wasn’t sure. He just knew he liked having you around, and would like it if you hung out more.

“Spin the bottle” He answered, pointing to the group gathering on the floor in the living room. You snorted out a laugh, looking at him with his big grin on his face.

“Really? Are we twelve?” You asked, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Come on, it’ll be fun” Calum insistied, catching your wrist in his hand and pulling you towards the group. It comforted you a bit to see the other boys there, but you still voiced your concern.

“Cal, I don’t want to make out with a random drunk stranger,” You told him with a slight chuckle. He looked at you with furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips. “I’m serious!” You laughed and smacked his chest. “For real, it’s a game for middle schoolers-”

“All the more fun!” He argued, and tugged you to an open spot in the rather large circle of people playing the game. “Look, you’re sat almost directly across from that guy, it’s pretty likely you’ll get to make out with him, doesn’t that sound fun?”

You winced as you glanced at the stranger across from you. Put simply, he was trying too hard. Wearing a tight v-neck and much too tighter jeans, with too much gel in his hair and a tattoo on his neck.

“Gross” You muttered to Calum, who threw his head back laughing.

“(y/n’s) playing!” Ashton cheered, and getting a few other drunk people to cheer because they were disoriented enough to clap along with him.

“Calum’s not allowed to fight us if the bottle lands on her though,” Luke said with a laugh before taking a swig of his drink. “But he should’ve known better than to make her play”

You crinkled your brows, not understanding the comment, but Calum rolled his eyes and shook his head, brushing it off without a word.

“Okay! Rules of the game!” Someone hollered, who must’ve set it up in the first place. “You spin the bottle, whoever it lands on, you have to go into the closet, and makeout with. It’s like a fun spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven crossover!” They said excitedly. “Alright, who wants the first spin?” Someone called, and an eager girl raised her hand, and went right for it.

She leaned forward and spun the empty bottle of Svedka, and it landed on another girl. You weren’t sure if either of them were happy about it or not, but they still got up and headed off to the closet down the hall.

You gave Calum a wide eyed look, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t be so nervous,” He said quietly, bumping his shoulder against yours. “Not like you’ve never kissed anyone before” You shrugged, too shy to look at him.

“It’s not like that,” You mumbled. “What if I get laughed at?”

“Laughed at?” Calum shook his head. “(y/n), why would someone laugh at you?”

The two girls came back, and it was clear that they’d followed through on the rules. The one who’d spinned the bottle, her hair was all over the place, and half of her large tee shirt was untucked from her jeans. The other girl had her lipstick smudged, and was currently trying to clean it up using the camera on her phone. Not to mention the obvious hickey on the side of her neck.

“Well what if I mess up?” You said quietly.

“It’s still just a game, (y/n/n), you’re overthinking it, really,” His words were sweet, but you were still unsure. “Besides, you’re gorgeous, no one would laugh at getting to fool around with you” He added, and you nudged his arm with your elbow.

“Cal,” You scolded with a small laugh. “Shut up”

“I’m serious! You’ve got nothing to worry about”

The next two people got up from the group, looking a bit too eager to head off to the closet. You wondered if they’d wanted to be picked by one another, or if they were just happy to get some action.

“So who here are you trying to feel up?” You asked Calum, and he laughed at the question.

“Ashton, fingers crossed,” He answered jokingly, and you shook your head, wondering why you expected an honest answer. “I’m here for the experience, (y/n), never got to play this before”

“Really?” He nodded. “This was how I had my first kiss. But it wasn’t the horny adults version, it was just regular old peck on the lips spin the bottle” You told him.

“I didn’t know that” Calum commented, just as the last two came back from the closet.

The next person to spin was sat right next to Calum, meaning his turn was almost next.

“Sorry that I don’t tell you of all my romantic endeavors,” You replied, making him chuckle a bit. “What was yours?”

“My what?”

“Your first kiss,” You said. “What was it?”

“Boring, that’s what,” He laughed at his own answer. “She wrote me a note in class, I think we were in like… fourth grade. She wanted me to meet her behind the playground after school”

“And you did?”

“Yep. She kissed me, and then her friends laughed… pretty sure it was a dare”

You frowned at that, and then scoffed.

“Well that’s shitty,” You told him. “Poor girl probably realized too late that she missed a chance with the Calum Hood”

He laughed quietly and grinned at you.

“You’re ridiculous” He mumbled, watching the guy next to him stand up and practically chase after the girl his spin had landed on.

“You’re next,” You said eagerly, pulling your knees to your chest. “You got a top three?”

“A top three?” He repeated.

“Yeah, top three girls, or guys, I won’t judge, that you want to drag with you into that closet” (y/n) clarified. Calum rolled his eyes.

Yeah, you, you, and… you, he thought, but didn’t answer.

“No, I don’t”

“Really? Come on, there’s gotta be someone here, besides Ash, that you want to put a move on” You said, but Cal pursed his lips and shook his head. In all honesty, he’d rather not play than have to go into that closet with someone that wasn’t you.

“No, this game isn’t my thing” He said.

“What? But you made me play?” You argued and chuckled. “Drag me down with you”

He laughed, and you both caught sight of th last two lucky love birds coming back from the closet. The guy looked way more thrilled than the girl that had gone with him.

“Your turn” You said softly and Calum gave you a look before reaching for the bottle.

“Give me some luck” He replied, and you grinned and nodded.

You felt a pit grow in your stomach, and you weren’t sure why, you just really didn’t want that bottle to land on anyone. It was ridiculous, and you knew it, but you wished that you were both suddenly not playing the game anymore.

He spun the bottle, and you both stared at it with an intensity that you thought might make the glass burst.

Now, you prayed it would land on Ashton, or Luke, or Mike. Because then you knew nothing would happen, they’d have a laugh and shrug it off, and it would be your turn, and Cal wouldn’t be making out with some stranger.

The bottle stopped, but before you could let out a sigh of relief, you lost your ability to breathe completely.

It was on you.

The other three boys had their jaws dropped, but they were grinning like mad men, heads moving to look between you and Calum expectantly. The other players were not so happy about how long it was taking the two of you to get moving, but you were drowning out everything that wasn’t that bottle pointing at you.

You looked at Calum, and he looked just as surprised, if not a bit nervous, as you were. You were pretty sure he was silently asking you if this was okay, but before you could answer, people began to shout at you two.

“Well get going, you’re wasting your seven minutes!”

“Yeah! You’re taking to long!”

Calum stood up, and you awkwardly scurried to your feet, but were still slow to move. He offered you his hand, and you shakily took it, letting him guide you to the closet. The closer you got, the more you drowned out everything around you. Deaf to the hoots and hollers, blind to anything that wasn’t Calum’s hand in yours.

“You know the rules, lovers,” The girl who’d organized her game said, holding her phone up to show the seven minute timer she had set. She pushed you into the closet a bit, making you stumble on your own feet. “Have fun, kids” She winked and shut the door.

You quickly turned around, your back to the door as you looked up at Calum. There wasn’t that much space in the closet, as expected, and you could feel him just a few inches away from you. In the dark, you could make out his silhouette, towering over you a bit, but you didn’t feel nervous. About that, at least.

“Well this is unexpected,” You said quietly, peering up at him from under your lashes. You could hear him chuckle under his breath. “So…”

“So…?”

“I mean, d-do we-”

“We don’t have to,” Calum shook his head, squeezing your hand that was still in his gently. “It’s alright, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable”

“You’re not-” You said quickly, shaking your head. “I-I mean you wouldn’t be, like it’s okay- with me- if you um… wanted to”

He laughed again quietly, eyes flickering between yours. “You’re so cute when you ramble”

You froze up for a moment, staring at him, and realizing just how fast your heart was beating. A short laugh escaped your lips in a breath, and your lips pulled into a small smile.

“You can kiss me,” You told him, before you could chicken out of it. “It is the game”

Calum nodded, squeezing your hand again, before releasing it to set it respectfully on your hip. You felt your breath hitch in your throat as he raised his other hand to your cheek. It wasn’t until he stepped in a little closer that you let your eyes fall shut, and you felt his nose prod against yours to find your lips.

“You’re sure?” He asked, and you could only nod, lips brushing his briefly and you took in a shaky breath in anticipation.

Calum closed the distance, kissing you sweetly. Your hand found the collar of his jacket, gripping it tightly like it would keep you grounded as he kissed you. It was like your lips were in sync, the way they molded together near perfectly. You were ten feet off the ground, and not once had you ever felt a kiss like that before.

When you had finally pulled apart, your eyes squeezed shut so you didn’t have to open them and face reality, you were fairly certain that your seven minutes were up. Because that lasted a lifetime.

“(y/n)?” Calum called softly when you still hadn’t opened your eyes. His thumb stroked over your cheekbone affectionately.

“Yeah?” You questioned, voice shaky, he seemed to laugh quietly at that.

“You alright, love?”

“Yeah” You said again, and again, he chuckled.

“Well then can you look at me, maybe?” His eyes glanced over your features, eyes still shut, lips still parted. But you shook your head, not wanting to see him just yet. “Alright… well are you gonna tell me why you won’t look at me? Was it that bad?”

“No!” You spoke up too fast, and your eyes opened as you protested. Calum just smirked down at you, because at least he’ gotten you to open them.

“Gotcha,” He said, and you sighed, falling back against the door. You gave him a playful glare, and he just smiled at you. “See, no one’s laughing at you,” He told you, and your glare fell. “Told you, nothing to worry about”

Still, you were silenced. Something about the way he stared at you with absolute sincerity, it made your heart pound in your ears.

“Cal…” You murmured, eyes falling to his lips and then back up to his eyes. He looked at you curiously, wondering what you were thinking.

“What?” He asked you, and you counted in your head.

One. Two. Three.

With that, you leaned up and pressed your lips against his, hands sliding across his jaw, fingers carding through his hair. He kissed you back, both of his hands holding your face in place, pushing in closer until you were completely pressed against the door. You exhaled a sigh through your nose, and tugging on his hair so he’d come impossibly closer.

Your lips moved together quickly, because time was running out, and you could only give reason to it while playing the game.

You took his hands from his face, pushing them down to your hips, and when he wouldn’t move any further, you pushed them down just a bit further.

You could feel him smirking against your lips, and you broke apart for a moment, just taking a moment to breathe. She smiled, their lips brushing together because they were still so close, and her nose bumped into his, making her giggle softly.

“You were top pick, number one” Calum told you, breathless, and leaning his forehead against yours.

“What-?” You mumbled, but were cut off by a loud knocking on the door, and then it opened.

“Times up horndogs!” The same girl from before announced, a sly grin on her face. “Get lucky?” She asked, looking at you and winking. Before you could give her some cocky remark, Calum was raking your arm and pulling you away.

“Bitch” You grumbled anyways, and he chuckled, shaking his head. You looked up at him, and took his hand off your arm, making him stop in his walk away from the living room. “Calum-”

“I’m going to get a drink, do you want one?” He asked before you could say anything, and you cocked your head to the side, giving him a look.

“Calum” You stated. “Just stop for a moment”

“Alright,” He agreed, and squeezed your shoulder. “But, drink first”

He walked off to the kitchen, and you groaned, stomping your feet a bit as you followed him.

“Calum,” You called again. “Are you really gonna-”

“Beer?” He offered you, and you shook your head, but then took it anyways.

“Cal, really,” You said softly. “Did you mean it?”

“Of course, you can drink whatever you want, you’re a big girl-”

“Calum!” You cut him off. “Did you want it to be me?”

He stopped what he was doing, messing with the cap of his bottle, and sighed, before giving her a strange sort of smile.

“Yeah. I did” He stated, like it was that simple.

You blinked, and didn’t say anything right, because Calum hood just admitted that he wanted to kiss you, and you weren’t exactly sure what to do with that information.

“Is that all you wanna say?” You asked, and stepped closer to him, crossing your arms over your chest. “You’re gonna drop that weight on me and not stay anything else about it?”

“That depends on what you want me to say”

You blinked, and glanced around the room before working up the courage and replying. “I want you to tell me that you meant it and-and-” You froze up for a moment, but shook your head and continued. “And that you’d do it again”

He let out a short chuckle, and set his beer down on the counter, and took you by the waist, staring at you with an intensity you couldn’t put to words.

“Calum-” You gasped, but he spoke before you could say anything else.

“(y/n), I like you so much that I don’t know what to do with myself”

You giggled, because you couldn’t help it, and Calum took your face in his hands, grinning at you, one of his beautiful infamous grins.

“Love that laugh,” He told you, and kissed you chastely, barely giving you enough time to shut your eyes, let alone kiss him back. She blushed under his gaze, biting her lip to keep from smiling. “And that smile, and how you blush when I make you nervous”

He kissed you again, a little longer this time, making her smile into his lips and lean up to reach him properly.

“Thing is, I really like you, and I want to ask you out, properly, nor through some lame middle school game-”

“That sounds good to me” You said, and leaned up again to kiss him.

“Look at that! They’re still playing the game!” Michael called, pointing towards the two who were laughing in between kisses in the kitchen.

“Guess we only get privacy in the closet” You giggled against his lips, and he laughed with you, still stealing kisses in between.

“Holy shit! I’m taking a picture for instagram!” Luke hollered, and at the brightness of a camera flash, you and Calum tore away from one another, with you giving Luke a bored stare and dropping your hands to Calum’s torso. Luke just took another picture. “Come on, lemme take a cute one” He slurred.

You gave in, leaning into Calum’s chest and smiling brightly, which in turn made Calum smile as well, and Luke took a few more pictures.

“Great, it’s official”

Calum looked down at you, trying his best to hide his grin as you stared right back up at him.

“Official?” He asked, not even needing to say any more than that one word.

“Yeah, I kinda like the sound of that” You answered, smiling cheekily. He leaned down and kissed your nose, and then your lips.

“Good. Cause I do too”

“You don’t care that Luke is going to be the one to go make us official all over the internet?” You asked, and Calum pursed his lips, thinking for a moment, but shook his head no.

“Nah, he can say whatever he wants” He said.

You smiled, wrapping your arms around his middle a little more securely, and hugged him close.

“You wanna take me home?” You asked quietly, and he smiled down at you, nodding his head.

“Sure do, baby”

xoxo ~ jordie

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