#now instead of just having to write a lot of scenes with branching parts

[some-horny-alt]

"I think my first idea for a nsfw text adventure was a bit too ambitious for a first try, I should start with something more simple."

*New idea ends up 100 times more complicated*

[lvlyghost]

The Things I Never Said: Part 3

Pairings: Simon 'Ghost' Riley

Summary: You're required for one last mission.

Word Count: 2.5k

Tw: aaaaaangst, hurt with a lot of comfort. injuries, mentions of blood, kissing and slightly suggestive but nothing too explicit. price has to make a hard choice:(poor grammar, bad english ofc💅🏻 foreshadowing to my price fic 'salvation' if you squint.

A/N: i'm not gonna lie, when i wrote the first part of this fic i was bored and never in a million years did it cross my mind y'all would like it this much. sorry if this isn't as good, this is the final part of it, although i plan to write little drabbles every now and then. this was such a nice ride 🩷✨ thx for the support; remember english isn't my first language, corrections are welcome 🤍🐸

Masterlist✨ Part 2

Desk rotation wasn't fun, but it seemed to be the only suitable work for you considering your pregnancy, besides, it would allow Simon to keep an eye on you. At least he's sure you'd be safer in the military base than alone in your home.

Your only companion as you sit in the tech room is nothing more than a computer with two screens and Jimmy, the other tech guy who sits in the far corner across from you.

True to his word, Price had saved you and Simon a horrible martial court plus being discharged. Technically you're no longer a part of the 141 task force which is already upsetting to all of your team; instead working strictly under Price's command and assisting the different branches of the military. Meaning you're no longer subdued to Lieutenant Riley, therefore you're not his subordinate, at least not directly.

You respond to Price and only Price.

Nearing the end of your first trimester your swollen belly has started to show, the same you try to dissimulate by wearing bigger shirts than you would usually wear, but enough for Simon to notice when he'd place a big calloused hand on your stomach.

'It's... tiny.' He had stated, to which you laughed softly.

'Of course it is, your hand is massive!'

You shake your head, with a small smile on your lips as you remember that scene.

"Everything good?" You ask your companion.

"Mhm. You know you're the best for creating the security system right? Not a single breach or flaw. Couldn't ask for a better partner."

"Is that a chai?" Completely ignoring what he just said you point the white disposable cup next to him. He looks between you and his drink.

"Yeah? Didn't know you liked it, here... have it. I can get another." He assures you when you hesitate.

You thank him with glowing eyes and excitement. Cravings... you're embarrassed of the amount of food you've asked from Simon in the middle of the night. Sushi, pizza and even peaches just for the sake of the baby.

He's being the gentlest man on earth. Caring and supportive. Your phone buzzes as you're about to start to work. The screen lights up with a message from your Captain. Huffing you stand up, letting Jimmy know you'll be back in a few minutes, or so you thought.

You're not prepared for the hell unfolding inside John's office.

You're able to hear male voices from the other side of the hallway. You don't know why but your heart begins to race, knocking twice once you've reached the brown wooden door.

"Come in!" Price shouts from inside.

You open the door, greeted by John's hardened eyes and Simon's back as he hunches over the Captain's desk. Confused and much to your dismay there's a gigantic folder between the two men, your eyes fall on Ghost's trembling frame.

He is enraged.

Body buzzing in anger as the soft click of the door interrupts the silence that's fallen suddenly inside.

"You wanted to see me Sir?"

Price slowly stands, Simon doing the same, turning his head ever so slightly to watch you from over his shoulder.

"I need to talk to you, sweetheart." Price begins.

A deep breath exits Simon's chest.

"What is it?" You take a step closer to them, until you're standing next to him, crossing his arms over his chest he remains silent.

"We need you. For a mission." He states. "It's important, sergeant. I don't think anyone else would be able to pull this off." Your eyes dart back to your boyfriend. Staring daggers at his superior. "I'd never ask for this if I had to."

"Bloody hell Price, she's not fucking going!" He is seething.

The gut-wrenching feeling sets in your belly, tossing and turning with anxiety. Simon isn't taking this well and you don't want to see him like this, it breaks your heart.

"How important, Sir?" You ask.

Ghost snaps his head towards you. Jaw tightening, and calls your name ever so softly.

"Don't." He barks. "Don't fucking play the hero, kid." He warns you.

"I'm not trying to play the hero, Simon." You talk back. "I'm trying to figure out how to get this done. I might have someone else that could go in my place." Price sighs. "Can I do it from the base? Maybe I don't have to leave the compound."

"Reports say the files are heavily encrypted. It's the Russians, sergeant. We're not dealing with amateurs." He turns to Ghost emphasizing the last word. "You more than anyone should understand, Lieutenant."

"Not when you're bloody sending her to a suicide mission!"

"These are not my orders Simon! General Shepherd wants her! I tried to talk him out of it. I can't do much more, son." You swallow when Simon starts pacing around like a rabid dog, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is there any way I can do it? She can guide me through it the whole time..." he's back, leaning closer to his Captain. "I know I...-"

"Unless you know how to code and decrypt systems to perfection it can't be, Ghost. I'm sorry."

"It would only slow down the mission, get you caught. And in danger..." you reasoned, mumbling and staring down to your feet. There's no one else. Not even Jimmy. The one you had in mind.

Simon's mouth snapped shut.

His eyes are helpless when he connects them with yours. The realization of what's about to happen sinking in his core, he tried. He really did.

One long stride and he's embracing you, so tightly you think you'll suffocate; you hug him back, head resting right over where his heart beats frantically against his ribcage.

"I'm coming with her." He snarls. "Not Kyle, not Johnny. And certainly not someone from fucking KorTac." He turns to glare at Price with a death stare. "It'll be me, no one else."

-

"John's devastated." You tell him. Your back pressing against his hard chest. The water in the bathtub is warm, and smells like lavender and sandalwood. After the catastrophic meeting a few hours ago, Simon was too outraged to remain at the base so he drove both of you back to the safety of his apartment. You rest your head on his left shoulder, enjoying the delicate touch of his hands on your lower belly. He hums, almost absentmindedly. He didn't want to think about Price, or the mission for all that matters. All he can think of is you. He sighs, closing his eyes he presses a kiss on your hair.

"Bloody fucking bald cunt." He spits. You snort at his comment. Shepherd was a complicated man, and hardly one you could negotiate with once he had his mind set on something or someone.

"When do we have to...-"

"Tomorrow." Your lips are pressed into a thin line. "I'll be there no matter what, right next to you, love." He reassures you. You were never one to hesitate during missions but now... releasing a shaky breath you turn your head to look at Simon.

"I'm scared..." Simon's body goes rigid. The hand on your stomach halting. "It's not even for me, you know?" Swallowing your free hand reaches down to find his own, lacing your fingers with him. A muscle becoming prominent in his jaw as he grits his teeth.

"Nothing will happen to you. Bloody count on it, yeah? First shite I deem dangerous I'm pulling us out of there, understand?" You nod.

"Promise me you won't get hurt." There's a moment of silence that becomes unbearable the longer it extends. "Simon..." his eyes are fixated on yours, shining with what you can only describe as worship. The faintest of smiles spreads across his features.

"Don't you worry about me, sweetheart. Not for one second." Breathing deeply you pull him down for a kiss. It's slow and tender; makes you forget about all the difficulties you face. Biting down his lip, Simon takes it as a sign to further deepen the kiss. Tongues finding each other in a fight for dominance. "Don't wanna think about what tomorrow holds. I have you here right now. That's all I need."

-

Your mind goes back to the moments you and Simon shared last night. It was so simple, so real.

That's how things were supposed to be.

Easy.

Not heart wrenching, not stifling down a cry as you watch him get shot. A bullet that was aimed at you .Breaking in had been easy. Way too easy for your liking. But you thought that for once maybe a mission wouldn't be a pain in the ass. The hardest part was getting inside their systems; John was right. It was hellish even for you. It took more time than what you had anticipated. No one would've been able to pull it off.

"Whoever is behind this, they're good." You acknowledged as you type down the codes that will eventually get you in.

"Bloody brilliant you are, kid." Simon watches from the other side of the room, eyes scanning the hallway every now and then looking for any possible hostiles. You send him a coy smile.

"Keep looking at me like that and I'll get no work done."

"How am I supposed to look at you then?" He asks

You don't answer because the screen in front of you suddenly shifts from 'Access denied' to 'Access granted'.

"Got you." You whisper. Simon stands straight. You plug your USB and start downloading all the information as well as setting a virus so their system gets permanently damaged.

"What is it?" He gruffly asks when the files finished downloading on your own device. Clearing your throat you try to ignore the horrible pictures you just took a glimpse of.

"Just... insanity." Is all you can say. A loud metallic sound echoes in the room, you never get to see the person behind you. Ghost's eyes widen and he barks an order your ears don't register, static fills your eardrums. The gunfire starts but lasts mere seconds. Crimson blood splutters from Simon's body.

You stand up, knocking down the chair as you jump out and run where Simon's injured body kneels. You fall down grabbing him by the face. The pain you're feeling deep inside has never been worse.

"I'm fine." He hisses. "Just my fucking shoulder."

As if that would make you feel better.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Your lips quiver. You run back to retrieve the small USB drive.

The body of a man lays down, a pool of blood forms around him. He was hiding behind you the entire time. Had Simon been distracted the outcome could've been atrocious. Yo don't dwell on it.

"Come on, baby." You urge him, crouching down to help Simon as much as you can to get him standing. His weight is just too much for you, you think, when he finally raised to his feet.

"S'okay love. Don't... don't overwork yourself. I'm too heavy, don't wanna get you hurt because of me."

Tears form in the corner of you eyes at such selfless act.

"You're the one who got hurt because of me, Simon." You stammer.

"So what? Would fucking die for you." You shake your head but keep close to him. Pressing down the wound on his shoulder as you head towards the exit. "Evac point is ten minutes away. We should be fine." The gun that rests on your thigh feels heavier than it should.

You're lucky, you guess as you walk away from the god forsaken building.

Lucky that you have him by your side, even when his blood stains your fingers. He's there, you're there and you're making it out alive. Wounded or not, Simon would never let anything happen to you, that's how deep his love for you was.

He wasn't like his dad at all.

He was real, caring, something not much people knew. Not in their lifetime.

The amount of blood he was losing was inhumane. An injured shoulder couldn't cause someone to lose this much blood, you ponder. Your black shirt feels sticky and damp, you take a quick glance and hold back a sob. Another gunshot wound, one he didn't care enough to tell you about and you didn't notice, too scared to even think.

Far in the distance between two big threes a black truck awaits. Johnny's face dropping when he noticed Ghost's decaying form. He rushes in your direction, taking him off of you, carrying his weight. He gives you a concerned look.

"Johnny..." you choke up. "We have to save him, please."

-

It's been the worst 48 hours of your life since you landed. He got two surgeries done in order to remove the fragments from inside his body. You were exhausted, barely ate or slept. It almost felt criminal, selfish, when your eyes started to close and finally gave in.

Then the nightmares came.

Ones where he didn't make it back and instead you had to leave him behind and never got to meet his child.

A warm feeling spreads from your skin. A faint touch. Are you still dreaming? His face erupts in your subconscious mind and you cry again. He's fine.

When you slowly open up your eyes you're met with blue eyes and a raspy voice.

"Don't neglect yourself for me, kid." You're speechless, the searing pain in your heart eases. He knows you so well. Knows you haven't left his side. "Takes more than a bullet to keep me away from you." When you don't move nor speak he continues, clearing his throat. "Come here, sweet thing."

There's a new wave of tears that fall mercilessly down your cheeks. You carefully climb up next to Simon's good side.

"Don't you ever scare me like that!" you weep. Sobbing uncontrollably Simon hushes you. Murmuring words of comfort in your ear. The anesthesia is still making him feel dizzy but that doesn't stop him from kissing every part of your face. Your hair, your forehead, your cheek and finally your lips.

"Let's leave this place for a while. Go on vacation while we still can..." you beg.

Simon's lips twitch. He's smiling down at you.

"What do you have in mind doll?"

You breathe deeply.

"Greece. I always wanted to go to Greece."

There's moments in life when you doubt you'll get a happy ending. Being with Simon at first was pure coincidence, something that had evolved from deep admiration and respect, which then turned into something more. It turned out to sleepless nights at the common room with the task force. Longing stares during briefings. Looking after each other during missions.

The training sessions together. Lending his massive leather jacket because you were always reluctant to bring your own. That one night he couldn't resist it anymore and went to your dorm. How you felt under his touch, oh he was touch starved when it came to you. And when he learned he was going to be a father, that moment would be ingrained into his memory until his very last day.

"Greece it is."

It's a promise.

TAGS:

@nijiru @illyanam1011

[iwoulddieforher]

Kiss it (Softball to the Ribs) | Alex Cabot/Casey Novak

Inspired by @jeongonion 's idea of Alex & Casey going against eachother in court

This is the other part of Softball to the Ribs (Kiss it) written from Alex's perspective! I've never tried to write a dual sided fic like this, so :) This part features more context as well as Olivia as the sweetheart she is.

Warnings: Exercise dependence as a means of self-harm, canon-typical cases, recovering from shooting (no descriptions of shooting, though), implied use of the f slur

Summary: Alex has finally recovered enough for her uncle to permit her back into the workplace- but her first case is as a defense lawyer, against her ex... whatever Casey Novak was to her. All seems well in court until she realizes Casey hasn't settled in the way she assumed she had.

Informal summary: Alex just wants Casey to be okay.

Alex Cabot felt as though she had been thrown aggressively into a washing machine with the way everything had flipped for her so suddenly.

The gunshot had claimed everything she valued about herself. Her unshakable demeanor, her facade of untouchability, her sense of safety, and, as if that wasn't bad enough, the movement in her arm.

The doctors explained it as a fragment of the bullet having branched out to sever one of her tendons, and when she woke up after life-saving surgery she was greeted with the knowledge it wasn't over and she was forced into a very rigorous regimen of physical therapy over the course of a month to regain the lost mobility.

"Maybe more?" She had anxiously shifted her gaze from doctor to nurse when they told her, met only with resignation.

"Maybe more," The doctor confirmed, "there's no way to understand how well you'll be able to heal until you do. Full recovery could take months."

"Months." She echoed, staring down at the hand she could barely move.

She was diagnosed with Acute Stress Disorder only days later, when she had called her father sobbing over the phone when a tray of something had dropped loudly in the hallway of her hospital room. It sounded too much like a gunshot and she couldn't explain to a frazzled intern until she just screamed at the poor guy to get out and called her father instead. Her dignity was now stolen from her, too.

Olivia had visited her in the hospital a little while later, when she had finally used to phone to scroll through the barrage of notifications she had been ignoring.

"Hey, you." Liv had greeted warmly, handing Alex her coffee order and a croissant in a takeout box which the attorney gleefully accepted. It was one of her better days, she didn't feel as anxious, and Olivia was warm and safe and she trusted her wholeheartedly.

"Hey," she greeted back, opening the takeout box with her usable hand and picking it up without further pause. It was a lot better than the hospital food she had been choking on.

"How's it going?" Olivia asked her casually, settling on the side of her hospital bed, and Alex scoffed softly.

"That's what I should be asking you. Nothing happens here."

"Well, it's been- as it normally is," came the brunette's response, and Alex shrugged to herself and accepted that. It's hard to say working for SVU was 'good' or 'bad'.

"My replacement?" Alex cut right to the point and it was Olivia's turn to scoff, but it was good-naturedly.

"Well- she's fiery." She muttered, "She showed up to crime scenes and runs everything herself. It's like she's trying to put us on a leash."

Alex's eyebrows raised but she grinned. "Oh? Maybe I should take notes from her if she managed to leash you. You need it."

Olivia swatted the air in front of Alex with a roll of her eyes, but she smiled softly. "She's not all bad. I'm pretty hard on her, I guess. She's not you."

"No one else is, Olivia."

"That's true enough."

"What's her name?"

"Casey Novak."

"Oh." Alex stopped eating, settling the croissant back down in the box after a hesitant pause. That name meant a lot to her. With a twinge of guilt, she remembered skipping Casey's text to respond to Olivia's.

"Do you know her?" Olivia asked, and Alex wished she hadn't.

Casey was an enthralling, redheaded fireball that Alex had been watching since the first time she had realized the DA's office had gained another newbie. Her talents were wasted on white collar, that much was definitely a fact, but apparently Casey was well settled from the second she stepped into the office space.

She had grinned at Alex while drunk one night at an office party- the DA's office tried to hold one every once in a while, to promote some sense of community or solidarity between people with jobs so complex they could only really be understood by one another.

And understand one another, they certainly did.

It had started with simple things, like subconsciously registering when Casey took breaks for coffee and trying as much as she could- which wasn't very often- to time it appropriately to arrive in the break room at the same time so she could listen to Casey ramble about some stupid man with some stupid problems.

It progressed to seeking her out, and realizing she was being sought out, Casey leaving little items- a loaf of bread she left a note saying she had accidentally doubled the recipe of, Alex leaving a well-done sticky note when she heard Casey had prosecuted an especially difficult case and the like.

Alex at some point had realized she was, in fact, actively courting her, and it digressed to making stops at her office in the night. "I work better while with company," she had justified it, and Casey had laughed with a raised eyebrow but had no complaints about letting Alex claim the other half of her desk.

At some point, her coffee order was waiting for her, still hot because Casey could estimate what time she'd arrive at, one half of the white collar's desk cleared as if saved permanently for her just in case.

And then one night Alex hadn't managed to ensure justice was appropriately served and in comfort, Casey ended up on her desk, and Alex couldn't have been more pleased with how the taste of the redhead's skin between her teeth made her forget whatever she had previously been worried about.

She had kissed her goodbye and hadn't seen her since then. She had gotten shot a few days after.

"I do know her," Alex answered Olivia instead, vaguely, and Benson knew better than to push.

"Okay. Well, she's doing fine, but I can't wait to have you back."

A couple weeks later, when she was due to return, her uncle had sat her down and told her that in fact, unfortunately, he would not be allowing her back in. Off the record, but she'd be vanishing instead.

"I don't understand," Alex tried to argue, but he pointed at her arm as evidence and she shielded it with her other with a self-righteous glare. "I'm ready to go back to work," she insisted regardless.

"You have a stress disorder." He said firmly, and Alex flinched. "Was your diagnosis repealed yet?"

"No, but things like that-"

"How do you expect to control a courtroom when you can't control your brain or your arm?"

"Uncle, I assure you, I-"

"Alexandra." He reprimanded her, harsh as always. "This isn't about you. I can't risk the mistakes you could make due to your state as a mar on the Cabot name."

It wasn't really about her- it never was, with him. To anyone else who may say this to her, she'd raise a brow and tell them to get lost, but she couldn't argue with her elder male family members. Not her uncle, anyway. He called the district attorney for her, right there, and told him she was extending her leave indefinitely, and to reassign her position permanently.

She wished she could've driven herself there so she could grip the steering wheel as hard as she could, but she knew one hand's knuckles wouldn't clench around it the way she wanted it to, even though she could now make shaky movements of her shoulder to some degree.

She briefly considered calling Casey, calling someone- but what would she tell them?

Hey, Casey, Cragen, everyone I know, I'm such a wreck now I permanently have to leave my position- I hope you settled in without me, because I can't come back- also, I can't move my arm, I can't control my head, and I feel like a little kid again being scolded by my uncle, so, unfortunately, I have no clue what to do with my life now and I'm going to go hide.

So she didn't tell them. She texted Olivia 'need space, don't ask', trusted her to spread the information on, and then curled into her apartment.

She left her apartment only to go to physical therapy or mental therapy, and her phone was on do not disturb for over two months with her father and her uncle as the only two authorized to override it. No one else needed to know how much of a wreck she was.

Time did heal wounds, despite how bitterly she regarded that fact.

After two months she could move her arm well enough that she'd only need to meet her physical therapist every month, and to the unknowing eye, it didn't seem like she had any issue. Her diagnosis had been repealed- she had to purse her lips when she thought about it though because she had not answered the diagnostic entirely honestly in her hast to be once again regarded as normal.

She wanted to be normal so, so badly.

Alex started texting her uncle daily, literally- once a day, at exactly noon, she would text him,

← Good Afternoon. I feel ready to work again.

And then she'd curl up under the covers with a very dissatisfied huff, flexing her hand over and over and hating how much effort it took for her to do so.

And she stayed like that until she got a call from her uncle, who disgruntledly told her he'd let her take a case that involved the daughter of one of his college buddies if it meant she'd shut the hell up.

Playing defense left an odd taste in Alex's mouth, but a case was a case- an opportunity to help someone- so she agreed to at least meet with the woman.

"It's my husband, he-" Ms. Connings' voice broke, and Alex sympathetically handed her a tissue, meeting in the woman's apartment because Alex had no workspace to invite her into.

"He-?" Alex prompted, and Ms. Connings nodded after blowing her nose into the provided napkin.

"He's really manipulative- he's trying to steal my kids." She looked up at Alex with wide eyes, and Alex felt her heart move. "He had this whole sexual fantasy thing where he wanted me to hurt him, and he's trying to spin the whole thing to frame me."

"I've got you," Alex hummed, "I understand. I know this may be difficult, but we need to talk everything out."

This case provided Alex with what she so desperately wanted- a chance to prove herself, but also, a chance to fix something. Save someone. Reassure her of her power and her worth by bringing something that was tarnished and salvaging the parts that mattered.

She felt very lost, but in every conversation with the defendant, she started to regain a little of her confidence. She could help. She could make sure this woman didn't lose what she had.

It didn't matter so much that once her determination had grown, the woman's mannerisms and phrasing shifted Alex's stomach uncomfortably, but, she supposed, that didn't matter. It wasn't her job now.

Showing up at the courthouse as a defense lawyer was a weird feeling. She was forced into small talk with several people, which had her arrive slightly late to the judge's chambers, but when she pushed open the door her eyes weren't drawn to the judge's apologetically.

No, they were drawn straight to Casey.

Her hair had changed- instead of stark red curls around her face, she had bangs and had straightened her hair out to curl up at the ends. It looked unbelievably sweet, despite the cold look on her face Alex had already assumed she'd find. She swallowed as she remembered Casey's warm huff when she realized Alex's fingers in her curls when the white-collar attorney had gone down between Alex's thighs meant she'd have to bike home with messy hair.

In a slightly oversized blazer- or, at least, it seemed like it was from the size of the sleeves, Casey was perched in the chair opposite the judge, and although returning the judge's attention finally Alex could not move her eyes off of her.

Casey refuted the notion that they knew each other so firmly that Alex wanted to argue against it, for a split second, but that kind of argument in front of a judge would not bode well at all. She felt hurt, but to some degree, she supposed she understood it. If Casey wanted to pretend they hadn't happened, she was within her right.

It didn't mean Alex couldn't watch her, though. And watch, she certainly did.

She watched as Casey prowled, strutted around the floor of the court building like a leopard about the pounce whenever she elicited the response she needed from a witness, the way her emerald eyes gleamed as she studied the jurors and softened when she glanced at the plaintiff. She had settled into Alex's former position well- better than anyone else would've, even.

Alex tried very hard not to be jealous, not to scowl when Casey made the exact same moves she knew she would've made if it was her up there. It wasn't her place.

Nothing really seemed to be her place anymore. But she could do this, she could defend this client, she could do that.

And then, she watched Casey get verbally degraded by her client.

Alex was entirely unaware of how her client had even known Casey was sapphic, but she hoped very desperately it had nothing to do with anything she was a part of.

She scrambled to try to find Casey to apologize personally on behalf of Ms. Connings' actions, but the redhead had vanished the second the recess was called and Alex was too bashful to use any form of digital communications seeing as the last ones that had been exchanged were Casey's plead for her to answer back.

"So," she said, hours later in a cell, not even trying to hide the resentment in her voice, "what the hell was that about?"

"She was provoking me," the woman growled, looking like a pitbull about to snap Alex's arm off, "you should've objected to whatever she was saying- you should've stopped it- spending the night in this decrepit box is your fault."

Alex sighed, rubbing her temples, trying not to argue.

"You're my lawyer! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I am on your side," Alex reprimanded, "but you're not helping your own case right now."

The woman stopped, stared, and then broke into sobs. The desperate version of Alex who had been clinging to the idea she could save someone, she could work again, she could feel the rush of pride when she got someone the justice they deserved- that Alex would've crumbled, sighed, and waited it out. But Alex was now disillusioned with crocodile tears.

It was her job to see the duration of this case though, so she still sighed as she would've and waited as she would've if she was sympathetic. But internally she wasn't. She'd ensure this woman met the standard of legal expertise she could offer, but that was it.

Strangely, this turn of events had changed something in her. The emotional investment she had placed into this woman and her case in order to solve the turmoil within herself trickled out, slowly but surely, with every insult or half-truth she heard her client spit out. She didn't like being defense, she didn't like being chosen cases for nepotistic reasons, and she realized she'd been projecting her issues which was very unbecoming of a lawyer. She felt rather guilty about that.

She comforted Ms. Connings to the best of her ability and then left, preparing her arguments for the next day, and in the back of her mind, she wondered if tomorrow would be the day Casey wore heels.

She had liked it when Casey wore heels- it accentuated the curves of her calves nicely. Alex wasn't sure why she had been so adamant about wearing exclusively flats for the past few days.

She pursed her lips when the ADA showed up the next day in loafers.

The trial, although complicated and intricate, was over relatively quickly. Alex did not want to draw it out beyond what was necessary. She had defended within the law of their land as best as she had managed, and despite the twinge of desperation that she really wanted to win the first case she took after the shooting, she resigned to accept the verdict without emotion.

"Guilty."

Alex swallowed, bowing her head for a long second. She felt Olivia appear beside her, the detective's hand on her shoulder, and she turned around with a quick tug of the eyebrows to signal her gratitude.

"It was anyone's game," Liv justified, and Alex half-shrugged. It had been. It was very surprising Casey had won this, actually, with the stigma surrounding cases like these- but at the very least, perhaps she'd be able to see the glint of triumph in Casey's eyes.

That's what she was thinking when her gaze roamed from Olivia's sympathetic face to Casey's figure, and it struck Alex immediately that something seemed wrong.

Casey was being wrapped in a tight, awkward hug by the defendant- Alex had been there before, the more emotional victims always went for a grab when the trial was over, and it was always somewhat cumbersome. But despite her facing the opposite direction, the redhead's body language read as far different- she looked in pain.

Her spine had stiffened straight to maximum capacity, her arms loose around his shoulders, but the tension in her body seemed so palpable it was almost as if it would snap.

And snap it did, because a second later Alex studied her as she gently pushed him off, touched the top of the daughter's head softly, and then paced out of the courtroom fervently like she was running from something.

"Benson- have you noticed anything about Casey?"

"What?" Olivia glanced, managing to catch a glimpse of the quickly-moving redhead before she vanished, a small crease appearing on her forehead.

"No, I haven't- I guess she's seemed a little skittish, lately, but that's all."

Skittish? The bold, fierce spirit of a woman Alex knew Casey as would not be skittish.

Her fear affirmed, and she quickly excused herself, striding as quickly as she could into the hallway- she managed to watch a flash of red when the women's powder room door closed.

She hesitated outside of it for a long second, before she heard a sound like a gag and pushed the door open impulsively.

"Casey."

The redhead looked so small, so defeated, and when she raised her eyes from the sink to her face Alex realized she apparently couldn't see as she was just squinting vaguely in her direction instead of meeting her eyes. Either that, or she was pretending she couldn't.

One of her arms was trembling as she forced the weight of her thin frame on it, and the other was clutching at the space beneath her chest. The blouse was lifted slightly, pooling around her arm, and the way her arm was twitching showed Alex very plainly she was in pain.

Casey hadn't graced her with a response for a long moment, so Alex started forward softly, hoping her presence could be something of a comfort, hoping Casey would tell her to leave if it wasn't. But Casey didn't stop her, so she crept close enough to envelop the wrist she was using to hold at something to move it away, and then using her index finger pushed the fabric that fell back into place up once more.

"Jesus Christ, Casey." Alex exhaled when she saw it. A dark shade of red was sprawled across the center of Casey's left ribcage, purple crawling lines indicating where blood vessels had burst blood beneath her skin, dotted by similar colors of grey and dark red. It looked ridiculously painful and she couldn't see any traces of unsaturated green or yellow that might indicate healing. This must be a recent injury- why the hell had Casey come in today?- they hadn't even been in session, just hearing the verdict, she could've skipped. Honestly, she should be in the hospital- Why wasn't she? Why had she let the defendant hug her like that with this sporting beneath her clothes?

Casey tried to chuckle and the sound broke Alex's heart.

"Did someone do this to you?" Alex breathed, a slight bristle in her tone that she hoped Casey hadn't caught on. Casey's new partners were none of her business. If Casey wanted intimacy after her that shouldn't be anything she should be upset about. But someone who did something like this? Alex would make them bite asphalt.

"You think you have a right to know?" Casey retorted, and Alex knew she was trying to be intimidating, but she just looked hurt. "You think you have a right to ask me anything?"

"Casey," the blonde sighed. Although she was taken aback, slightly, by the snarl that laced the attorney's voice, she took the hit with grace and tried to reach out regardless, only to see Casey shake her head. Alex let go of the wrist she hadn't realized she was still holding and watched Casey as she turned away, grasping for the side of the sink, but she didn't make clear enough contact for Alex to be sure Casey could manage her limbs in this state.

She saw the redhead's leg shudder and she tensed, quickly skirting around her to lift Casey onto herself, trying to get her to the floor before she ended up there more painfully. It wasn't hard to do. Casey seemed very weak, and very overwhelmed, and she let Alex maneuver her to the wall, sliding down the side of it when directed, and Alex took a step back tentatively, watching her, wondering if she should leave. If she could leave. It felt irresponsible but she didn't know if Casey wanted her there.

"You left me." Casey said after a pause Alex had taken to study her, snapping the blonde back into reality, and she realized Casey was glaring up at her through red-rimmed green eyes.

"You fucked me-" Alex winced at the impolite language, "in my office, no less- and then you left me."

Alex clenched her jaw, and although Casey wasn't wrong she couldn't stop herself from defending herself. "I got shot,"

But she got cut off before she could explain, and with a resigned sigh she realized Casey was trying to scare her off, which now made her sure she couldn't leave her alone.

"You know how I found out? No texts, no calls, and you know I don't listen to rumors. I only found out when they called me in to force me into your job."

"I got shot," Alex repeated again, harshly, harsher than she meant, but she needed Casey to understand. "I'm not sorry I didn't make that about you."

She regretted it when she saw Casey tighten herself, her knee planting against her ribs in a way she knew must be incredibly painful, and she realized Casey wasn't going to stop punishing herself despite the wince that was barely registered. She dropped slowly, to her knees in front of the furious sitting woman, and pried the redhead's left knee away from her as gently as she could manage.

She had used her bad arm on instinct, and she hoped Casey didn't realize how the movements of Alex's hand were unnatural as it gently pulled on her knee.

"Do you think I'm a whore?" Casey blurted out, and Alex jolted backward as if hit. What?

Alex exhaled shakily, her eyebrows drawn together as she leaned forward, trying to check her temperature. Was Casey acting this erratically because she was feverish? Was something genuinely medically wrong here, was it in her best interest to call a bus despite how harshly she knew Casey would protest that?

"I have no idea where you'd get that from," she tried to soothe, but Casey's unrelenting glare caused her to pause and thus Novak took to opportunity to cut her off.

"I don't have sex with just anyone-" Casey continued, seething, and Alex swallowed, switching her hand- she had used her bad one to estimate her temperature, but for the more refined task of moving locks of her hair out of her eyes, she needed the stability the untouched arm could give her.

"I don't- It means something to me. You thought that was just a quickie with some colleague you could toss aside?"

Is that what she had thought?

Alex thought back to the office parties, the way her eyes had skimmed over the crowd the second she had arrived to find a red-headed face Casey's green eyes would already be shining back in her direction. The late run-ins by the coffee cart, the sound of laughter from Casey's throat, the way her lips felt. The way her squirming had felt like electricity whenever her skin had made contact with Alex's, the way her breathless gasps had made Alex feel like she'd never need another painkiller, she'd just need to remember that. And now that breathless voice was being snarled at her with layers of pain Alex felt like she was trying hopelessly to wade through, accusing Alex of intentionally- what? Is that really what she thought?

Alex had been struggling, fighting with everything she could to return to the level of control that had been stolen from her. It wasn't fair.

Despite herself, Alex's nostrils flared and she pursed her lips, a twinge of hurt in her voice when she replied as firmly as she could, "I'm surprised you have such a low opinion of me."

"You haven't given me much else to think", she muttered, which only fueled the hurt in Alex's blood as she regarded the redhead with mounting concern. She really was trying to fight her off. Alex clung to that thought, trying to feel less gravely insulted. Casey wasn't in the state of mind for her to take anything she said seriously.

"I courted you," Alex whispered fiercely, trying to stop the indignation from leaking into what she hoped would come off as a soft, reassuring tone, and she was entirely genuine when she muttered, "I did not sleep with you out of convenience."

Because she hadn't. Casey had been the object of her desires for weeks. She had stopped by her office at least a dozen times before the night in question.

Casey hadn't responded for another long second, and Alex was starting to be concerned the long pauses in their conversations weren't from Casey thinking but rather from her spacing out, so she moved on, deciding to physically examine. She leaned forward, hesitantly unbuttoning a button of Casey's blouse. It wasn't a first nor a last, so nothing really opened. She was trying to create a window, not expose anything that wasn't necessary for her to see.

The redhead didn't stop her- she didn't move at all, so Alex unbuttoned the next three, prodding the fabric to the side and grimacing at the sight of it again, even though she knew how what to expect. She took her time examining, and then the nudged higher slightly.

When she had held her wrist, Alex had realized her arms seemed thinner than they used to be, but now she saw clearly how malnourished Casey was. She had been able to see the faint outlines of her ribs when Casey flexed, previously, but now they stood out against her skin avidly. Casey must not be eating properly- she must've been neglecting herself for a while to lose weight like this. God. She knew her job sucked, but to do this to someone?

She glanced at Casey, who apparently didn't realize, and decided she wanted to make sure nothing was really broken. If she had broken her ribs, she was calling an ambulance immediately.

Casey growled in the back of her throat, swiping at Alex's wrist with a pained expression when she felt the pads of Alex's fingertips tracing her ribs, trying to feel for any sort of abnormality. "Stop, stop-"

"Can you take a deep breath, Casey?" She quizzed instead, retracting her hand but leaving it hovering over her slightly. She didn't know how to check for things, but if Casey could take a deep breath, that was probably a good enough sign.

"You're not a doctor." Casey accused, and Alex sighed internally- her hesitance at examining must be showing, Casey must be questioning the extent of her medical knowledge, but she disguised it with an arched eyebrow.

"Would you let me take you to one?" She cursed to herself when her voice sounded so hopeful. Casey, though, apparently read it as sarcasm, which worked in its place.

Casey let out an angry huff of an exhale but must've resigned to humor her. She straightened her spine slightly, taking a deep breath, gritting her teeth in pain after two or three seconds. Alex clicked her tongue, but pulled back, resting her body on the heel of her foot, still on her knees. Her chest had risen enough to be a normal inhale, so Casey's previous shallow inhales must've been for a different reason than physically not being able to, which did not help her concern. And the fact Casey couldn't breathe deeply didn't help much, either.

"Are you trying to avoid the hospital to protect the person who did this?" Alex murmured, hesitantly. Casey only snorted in response.

"Don't act so concerned, Alex, you aren't the Sex Crimes ADA anymore, you're the defense now- for some reason- and no, this wasn't a person's fault, other than mine. I got hit with a softball."

Alex narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, bristling at the implication that Alex would only care because she'd be running prosecution and doubly upset by the idea Casey being hit with a softball was somehow her own fault. No, it wasn't. What?

She briefly considered that it wasn't actually softball and Casey was simply lying to her. She had no real way of figuring out if the redhead was being honest or not- Casey was too smart and too complex to have a 'tell' like most anyone else would have. But Alex wanted to grant her the benefit of the doubt. She had more pressing issues to spend mental processes on.

Casey had hit a little too close to home questioning her new position, and Alex had to think back to what she was doing almost half an hour ago- standing next to a woman who she was now near sure was a rapist. Jesus Christ. All she had wanted was the rush she had grown so accustomed to, the pride she had used to feel for her worth. She could save people. That's all she could do.

"I'm the defense because I thought I was helping," Alex said after a pause, rubbing the space between her eyebrows with her middle finger to soothe the tension there, "god knows I needed to do something."

"So now that that attempt failed you're getting your savior complex fix with me?"

"Casey," Alex warned her, trying very hard not to let resentment drip into her tone because her jabs were actually getting somewhere now and she had to chide herself that Casey was literally out of her mind with pain and Alex couldn't argue with her right now.

"Don't pretend to care about me," Casey bit, shaking and struggling to stand, using her arm on the sink as an anchor back to an upright position that Alex couldn't believe she was attempting. She was shivering on the floor, how the hell did she expect to move while standing- but somehow she did it, and Alex inwardly grimaced that her fiery determination was one of the captivating parts about her. If only she wasn't using it for self-destruction.

"Casey," her tone was admonished now, incredulous, despite her attempts to stifle it. "Tell me you don't mean that."

"Did I mean anything to you?" Casey growled, and Alex steeled her nerves not to flinch away from her. How dare she accuse her of something like that? She clicked her tongue, but Casey didn't seem to really register it.

"Yes." Alex barked, then, after a moment of standing there waiting for an apology, "Yes, you did. And you still do. And I don't like watching you hurt yourself so please sit the hell back down."

"I want to go home," Casey sighed, and with a shake of her head, Alex restrained her in the most simple way imaginable. She'd never done it before, but all she really had to do was hold Casey's wrists very loosely and back her into the sink, and the redhead stopped moving.

"Then I'll come home with you," Alex's mind raced for some sort of compromise. She understood that, in pain, Casey must just want to fall into bed and sleep, and she was entirely content to try to cook something in the redhead's kitchen from a safe distance away so that she could check in on her every couple of minutes. "I'm not letting you get away from me, not when you're like this."

"Like what?" Casey scoffed, starting to move. Alex inched her hips just slightly forward, and Casey stopped moving as she was greeted by the sink. In fear she had inadvertently hurt her with the movement, Alex relented immediately and closed her eyes prematurely at the jab she knew Casey must be formulating from the pain she had just caused. She deserved this one, then.

"You don't trust me to take care of myself?" Casey snarled and Alex just swallowed. No, no she didn't. Not at all.

Alex was starting to get impatient. She didn't like that Casey was still standing, and she didn't like the sound of her voice- scratching and raw, now, and Alex could tell she was utterly exhausted. And her previous bites to Alex's intentions still stung in the back of her mind. Alex wanted her to submit, just for a little, just so she could get some food or water in weak figure or get her to lay down, and then once she had more strength Alex was content to fight with her for the next year. Next decade. If Casey wanted to fight so badly, Alex would nurture her beyond her original strength so she could break Alex's heart properly. Not like this.

"I just saw your ribs," Alex snapped, concern and impatience causing her voice to crack, and she leaned closer, trying to get Casey to see the genuine look in her eyes. "I just saw your ribs, and they did not look like that before."

Casey stiffened, her eyes widening, and Alex gritted her teeth. She needed Casey to please just let her in. This interaction couldn't drag out this long. God knows what would happen if they were still at odds when someone else needed the bathroom- Casey would dart out of her grasp and Alex knew she'd never get her back.

"You're not eating- god, I'm not sure if I should be glad I can tell your rib isn't actually broken because the only way I can tell is because it's so prominent if it was broken it would've just cracked out of your skin-, you weren't this thin when we slept together-" Alex rambled, the desperation finally seeping into her tone, taking a deep breath to stop herself before she became incoherent.

"Please. I understand that I need to regain your trust after leaving so suddenly. But we were somewhere, weren't we? Don't I have at least a little stature with you?"

She didn't like how it felt as though she was begging, but with a sigh, she realized she was.

"Let me help you," Alex finally let her facade break entirely. She hoped the note of imploration would finally get the redhead's resolve the crumble, and apparently, it did, because she felt Casey's arms go limp.

Alex backed away, slowly, her eyes darting down to make sure that Casey wouldn't fall when she did. To her relief, Casey seemed to have stopped shaking.

"I'm sorry," Casey said while staring determinedly at Alex's heels, echoing it a second later with a defeated note in her low hum that used to send a shiver of interest down Alex's spine.

"I don't want you to be sorry," Alex leaned down slightly, trying to catch Casey's eye, but the redhead looked to the other side instead, avoiding her. "I want to make sure you're okay."

"I will be," Casey muttered, shaking her head slightly, and Alex felt her heart drop into her stomach when the redhead's eyes shone in the bathroom lighting with tears she wasn't sure if Casey realized. Casey wiped her nose, though, on her sleeve, so at least she was registering something.

"What can I do to ensure that?" She tried to make her voice as soft as possible.

Casey bit her lip, and Alex instinctively moved her hand up to soothe over her cheek, trying to make sure in her mess of emotions the redhead didn't break her skin. Casey let her lip go obediently, which Alex was satisfied with.

"We can get dinner." Casey responded, finally, after a pause in which Alex could count every best of her anxious heart.

Alex nodded, straightening, and motioned for Casey to lead her out of the bathroom. The redhead sucked in another pained inhale and began walking, before faltering slightly, her hand pausing on the doorknob.

"Alex," she started, her voice low and heavy with exhaustion, and Alex was momentarily again concerned she was about to collapse. "Do you actually care-"

Alex knew what she was going to finish that sentence with, and she knew she wouldn't let Casey finish it. She didn't want to hear the question out loud, she didn't think she could stand it. Alex clenched her jaw, her eyes narrowing hopelessly in some fit to figure out how to soothe Casey enough that the redhead would resign herself to letting the blonde help her. She sighed, wracking her brain, before doing the only thing she could formulate to do.

Casey's lips felt the exact same as they had when Alex had kissed her before, but her jaw and her cheekbones were more discernable under her fingers, and that helped ensure Alex did not lose herself in the feeling of Casey's mouth on hers. She separated the second she felt Casey's soft exhale against her nose, but couldn't help herself- a soft kiss to her forehead which would've been followed by more if Casey had looked anxious.

But Casey looked okay now, studying Alex with interest, so much so that the blonde could feel her composure break slightly, and the question that pressed too densely against her skull slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Casey," She began, and then bit down, not wanting to ask. She needed to be more careful of Casey than that and- and she wasn't entirely sure she could handle the answer. If Casey did, Alex had already resigned herself to caring for her, and this would make everything so much more complicated.

"Yes?" Casey prompted regardless and Alex couldn't quiet herself to her.

"Do you regret sleeping with me?"

"No." She answered, "I don't."

Alex exhaled, slowly, and swallowed. She knew she shouldn't have asked, shouldn't have gambled, and she didn't trust that Casey hadn't just answered in that way for her own benefit. She shouldn't have kissed her, either. She'd have a serious conversation later, when Casey looked less like the door handle and sheer determination were keeping her upright.

Alex stepped around her to open the door, inviting her out, and the two began walking side by side toward the exit of the courtroom.

Olivia glanced over, a flicker of relief in her eyes when she spotted the two lawyers, and she moved to approach and try to reassure that everything was okay before Alex shook her head softly. Olivia nodded, one eyebrow shifting with a nonverbal question, and Alex half-smiled back. I've got it from here, it meant, and Olivia was content with that.

"Let me take you somewhere nice." Alex murmured, "and then you tell me what's been happening, okay?"

Casey's hand was shaking next to her and Alex swallowed, thinking for a hard second if it would be appropriate before gently confining the shivering fingers in her own. A moment later, she felt quite pleased- that was her bad side.

She used to need to focus so hard to move that hand. Now it felt natural.

Casey leaned into the touch, just barely, but enough for it to signal that at least to some degree she found it reassuring.

Alex felt reassured, too.

↓↓↓

To read Casey's perception of these events, please continue:

[sqtorux]

Hii!!!! If ur not taking requests rn feel free to ignore this but could you write something for gojo (preferably hcs) about him with a fem reader who has powers like the scarlet witch from the mcu? And is maybe even a little stronger than him? Idk if you’re familiar with marvel but you can just search up the scarlet witch scenes on youtube and you should see videos just displaying her powers 😭 thank you !!!!!

── the strongest duo .

okay first i think gojo would have known you ever since the both of you were children because how can he not? you were the strongest, along with him. although there were speculations that you would grow to be even more stronger than him and he does not like that at all.

maybe because of that fact, he never really liked you. he was intimidated too but he would never admit that part.

so imagine how happy he was when he found out you were going to the kyoto branch instead of the tokyo one where he's going. he'll finally be free of other people trying to lump the both of you just because you both happened to possess powers far greater than others.

well that didn't last for long with the sister school games coming up. it wasn't surprising either when you were face to face with him out of all people.

but by then, gojo had grown a little. somewhere along the way he got tired of trying to be a weapon of threat, at the beck and call of the corrupted and selfish higher ups who don't know better despite their "experiences" in life.

so this time gojo decides to indulge you and take the time to really know you, instead of looking at you through a vision where he only saw you for your technique. he hadn't realised it but all he knew about you, were the things you were capable of and not actually you.

he was a victim to the very thing he hated so much. so this time, he listens.

you were a bit skeptical about his changed behaviour at first and it took a while to convince you that he really wanted to listen to you and maybe, get to know you more.

gojo realises you were similar to him in more ways than one. from that day, the animosity faded and slowly turned into friendship. no one was on par with both the strongest.

until that one fateful night where gojo came all the way to kyoto, all bloodied and gaze wary. you'd had heard of his fight with toji and that he almost almost died.

you'd never forget the way his voice quivered that night while you held him in your arms.

"maybe if you had been there, everything would have been different. you're stronger than me, maybe you could've saved riko."

you'd never seen gojo this defeated. maybe because he knows that you share the burden of being the strongest along with him, he knows you would understand him out of everyone else.

and you do, thats why even when his best friend left him, he finds comfort in your arms and the soft words from your mouth.

"you can warp people's reality right?" gojo looks up from your arms and you don't like the sentence that would come next.

"can you warp mine? just for a while. only just a little while" his bright blue eyes now shadowed behind his tears, how could you say no?

you wave your hands and slowly gojo sees his best friend and the girl he couldn't save. they were laughing and playing around, life was good. but you weren't there with them.

when you withdraw your technique, gojo realises that despite all the people he lost, he still had you and for him, that was enough. perhaps his reality isn't all that bad.

he hopes you won't leave like the rest of them. this time, he hopes you really become stronger than him just so he wouldn't feel the pain of losing you, even if that made him selfish.

its the way i had to look at wanda scenes and ask my marvel fan friends for this ahahha i haven't kept up with the mcu ever since endgame this brought back lots of nostalgic memories :')

[athanza]

Starlett - Final part

Cooper Howard/fem!OC (not self-insert)

Tags: Hurt/comfort (sort of?), non-allowed romantic connection, lots of tention, pre and post war drama, romance, some fluff

Warnings: Mentions of domestic abuse (no graphic scenes or descriptions of that nature), angst, canon wasteland violence

This branches out from canon but I thought it was a cute story idea so I had to write it. Enjoy! ♡

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

2077

That night, after dinner, Irene found Cooper on the sofa with Janey asleep on his lap, watching an old noire film with the volume down low.

"Thank you very much for dinner Mr. H- Cooper." She corrected herself, speaking low so as not to wake Janey. "It was lovely."

He looked up as she walked over. "It was no trouble at all. Janey loved having you here."

She smiled at his daughters sleeping face as she sat down on the edge of the sofa. "You've got a good kid there."

He looked down at her proudly. "Yeah, I sure do."

"She reminds me of my baby sister, she lives with my folks in Sacramento. I don't get to see her much anymore with my work and everything with Frank and Lee. It'll be good to see her again."

"How long has it been?"

"Almost 2 years. I know my sister resents me for how much I'm away, but hopefully that'll change now that I'll be away from Frank, at least until the divorce proceedings." She sighed with uneasiness.

"You'll be fine." Said Cooper encouragingly. "You're stronger than you think."

"Ditto." She smiled warmly. "And don't worry about Janey, you both love her so much. She'll understand when she's older, I promise."

He smiled, touched by her words. "Thank you."

She looked into his eyes and saw something she never had, a good man, a man who loves unconditionally and stands up for his family.

She, just for a moment, imagined what it would be like if he was her husband instead of Frank, if Janey were their daughter, if this was her life and not the daily abuse she had been going home to every night.

She could feel emotions begin to well behind her eyes and she snapped out of it before she embarrassed herself.

"Well, I should get some sleep, I'll be leaving early tomorrow. Thank you again."

The warmness that emanated from her was a welcome comfort in the midst of everything that had happened in the last few months. He almost didn't want her to leave, but he couldn't let himself fall, not now, not for her. They were meant for another time, another world, not this one.

"Irene?" Said Cooper, stopping her before she left. "This whole thing with Vault Tec...something's happening, something I'm not sure we'll ever come back from.

You're free from it now. Whatever's coming...it won't be worth giving up your happiness."

What he said about Vault Tec concerned her, not that it was surprising, but he was right about her happiness, he was right about everything. She wasn't going to be held back any longer.

"Thank you." She said, smiling softly.

2296

The sky was still dark when he left the cave. He'd covered Irene with whatever he could find to try to conceal her from raiders, hoping nothing else would find her while he was gone.

He knew there was a clinic in this area somewhere but whether it had anything left in it was a gamble.

As he made his way hastily through the area, he couldn't stop thinking about her and it just made him angry, 219 years of trying to become the monster that he had to be in order to survive, only for her to show up and remind him of that warmth that he'd long since forgotten. It made him weak, but he couldn't let her die, not now.

He heard movement up ahead, two men laughing drunkenly as they stumbled to find somewhere to relieve themselves.

Raiders.

The cages and skewered bodies around the building were a dead give-away and their little base just happened to be the clinic he was looking for.

Jackpot. They definitely had a stash in there somewhere.

The two men separated to find somewhere to piss but just as one got comfortable, Cooper blast his head off and took the other one out just a split second later.

"Oh HELL no!" Came a voice from the doorway of the clinic.

Without hesitation, Cooper shot him too, a bloody mess left on the door frame behind where he had been standing.

He stormed inside, his pump-action shotgun in hand, willing to use up all of his ammo to get what he needed.

Bullets and wood chips were flying every which way, and he took a bullet or two, but it took him no time at all to obliterate every person in that building.

He searched hastily for supplies, and when he found a first aid box full of stimpaks and cotton thread, he grabbed it and left, picking up several blood packs on his way out.

2077

The next morning, Irene was up early, her bag already in her car when Cooper came out to meet her.

"You weren't kiddin' about leavin' early." He said, the clock in the hallway reading 7:12am.

"I thought it'd be best if I left earlier rather than later."

He knew why. He didn't argue.

"Give this to Janey for me, would you? I noticed she liked it and I know it'll be in good hands."

She handed Cooper a silver locket with a daisy engraved delicately on the front.

He looked at it a bit surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I don't much care for it anymore. It'll be more appreciated with her." She smiled.

She did one last check of her purse to make sure she had everything and the tention in the air was starting to thicken. When she knew she had everything, she looked back up at him.

"Cooper?" She asked. "Do me a favour and don't let the world harden that heart of yours, ok? That part of people is important, even if it makes us feel weak, always remember that, ok?"

She leant forward and kissed his cheek. "See you 'round cowboy."

She smiled at him one last time before getting in her car, and as he watched her drive away he felt his heart ache a little. He would miss her, her warm smiles, and how she made Janey laugh, but it wasn't meant to be, and he knew that.

2296

He pulled off the foliage covering her now pale body and opened the case.

Her breathing was shallow and laboured, a puddle of blood underneath her that had started to coagulate.

He used one of the stimpaks, then another, then another until he had used all six, then pulled out the thread and started sewing up the deep gashes on her side that were sticky with blood.

He remembered the last time he saw her, her smile, the kiss. He remembered watching her drive away and wishing she hadn't. He remembered the last things she said to him.

"...don't let the world harden that heart of yours, ok? That part of people is important, even if it makes us feel weak..."

When he finished sewing, he hung up one of the blood bags and attached the long tube to her arm.

He was still and focused, hoping he wasn't too late, his hands now covered in her blood.

When she woke up after only a few minutes, she saw him sitting by the fire beside her and smiled sleepily.

"Hey there cowboy."

The End

[beneathsilverstars]

kay i know youre not the creator of the overkill thing but im curious about several things and every character was siffrin? at least in a few different pieces of it i saw in the last few days and im wondering if its explained how that happened.

and in a more general question which is why im not asking the creator cause ir seems a little direspectful but why do people make that sorts of stuff?

like ive made splatoon characters and eventually i decided no i dont want what ive made to be tied to something a company made and changed them up a little and made a completetly new thing for them. i understand the wanting to play around in the world someone has made through a game or a movie or something but to take it and spin it around into something kinda new is weird to me and i dont get it ?

not every character, but like half the cast! yes, it's explained - not all the way yet, but it's a central mystery. i'll put some of what we know so far at the bottom of the post (bc spoilers).

to me, big AUs have the exact same appeal as post-canon fics or "missing scene" fics or fan art. except, by widening the field of possible plots away from the canon universe, we get to enjoy more different kinds of stories instead of just the same couple types over and over! i actually tend to follow the same arc of topics over my first couple months in a new fandom: first post-canon hurt/comforts, then other canon-adjacent things like shipfics and canon divergence, then alt ships and alt canons, then major AUs. i'll jump around some but generally my focus is branching out more and more as time goes on.

there are some types of stories that i really love bc they hit a lot of my favorite tropes, like secret research lab AUs. so when someone writes a lab au for my fandom du jour, it means i get to experience two of my favorite things at the SAME TIME!!! like i love chocolate and i love ice cream and now i get to eat chocolate ice cream??? fuck yes.

i also really like the puzzle of figuring out how to fit an AU together. what job would this medieval fantasy character work, given only modern options? what non-magical traumatic event could result in the same personality traits that are tied to magic in canon? what powers would this character have under a whole different magic system? it's a lot of working backwards to analyze the root causes of a decision or result, then extrapolating the patterns into a different context. it's a type of character analysis! and i love having a reason to do the things i do, so this analysis is extra fun to me because it has a goal: torturing my blorbo in a secret research facility. or yknow making them make lattes, or whatever au floats your boat.

AUs that are closer to canon, like alt-looper AUs or overkill, are even more locked in on character analysis - the more things stay the same, the more stark the differences. how would odile react to timelooping? how would siffrin react to a timeloop that covered a different set of events? what would've happened if no timeloop happened at all? it's peak playing toys, moving the same pieces into different arrangements and seeing what happens! and then major AUs like my research lab are like when you start breaking out the barbies *and* the superhero action figures at the same time, so the superheros get to live in the dream house and the barbies get to defeat thanos.

personally i don't understand people who get really into canonverse OCs to the point of spinning them off, lol. or even entirely original OCs. i do have a couple OCs i love, but i was only able to care about them so much because i played a whole dnd campaign about each, which is basically like being in a 3-6 person fandom. my odile x oc ship is actually the only time in my life i've done a canon x oc ship iirc (aside from games like dragon age where your oc is canon), and i only did it because odile mentions her ex in-game, and thus it was a vital part of her backstory. i never could've cared about rei like i do if it wasn't odile's toxic ex-situationship!

that's just the way in which i get autistic about fandom... like sometimes i literally won't eat because i'd rather keep thinking about The Character, so i have to trick myself by saying "bonnie loves cooking, and you love bonnie right, so cooking is basically like being just like bonnie, it's nearly as good as writing fanfic" and it's not nearly as good but at least now maybe i'll do it. i just love my favorite characters SO MUCH, i want to take them to work with me and i want to take them to the store with me and i want to take them to secret lab AUs and alt-canon AUs and [redacted] AUs and coffeeshop AUs!!!

like an AU is like the concept of "ice cream," but if you eat Plain Ice Cream it'll just be sweet milk? you want some kind of flavor in there, even if it's just classic vanilla. and flavor is the characters! if i already know i like chocolate, of course i'll eat chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake and chocolate pudding - maybe not every single chocolate dessert but a decent chunk of them, especially if i already know i enjoyed that type of dessert before in different flavors. the chocolate cookies of canon were delicious but AUs let me experience so many variations on the taste i love! and i guess i could also go try [mystery flavor] ice cream (i.e. original fiction about my tropes) or even try to invent some new flavors myself. but i might not like it, and even if it's fine it still won't be the chocolate that i'm currently craving.

i do read/watch/etc original fiction occasionally, or else i'd never find new fandoms! but no matter how good an original piece is, it's not gonna scratch the same itch as fan works for my current fandom. even when a new piece of media is so good that i abandon ship and switch to this new fandom, that initial switch is a whole different kind of experience than reading an AU for a fandom i'm already in.

i do have an original story that i'm hoping to make some day - about one of the aforementioned OCs who started as a dnd character - but it's not a priority bc i just do not care about her as much as i care about my fandom du jour, and making original fiction simply isn't my favorite hobby, making fanworks is. i love the puzzle of it, the community, the endless variations that mean i can tell the same story for two years straight and yet simultaneously be telling a new story every day. ever since i was a little girl i knew that i wanted to put my blorbos in situations <3

x

overkill spoilers

x

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there's a big outer timeloop happening that starts a year ago and ends in the regular little timeloops, so it covers mirabelle's whole Journey. every time siffrin gets too worn down by the inner two-day timeloops and gives up, that resets the big outer timeloop. each repetition of the outer timeloop also warps the entire world a little further (we don't know yet if this warping is mostly a side effect or mostly done by someone), meaning the whole party is a little different from before, including siffrin - these new siffrins don't remember the outer timeloops, they reset/change the way the rest of the party does (just like how canon siffrin doesn't remember being loop).

it's implied that there have been many iterations of the outer timeloop, and we can assume at least one of the alt sifs in the au is from a different iteration and went through their own inner timeloops and gave up, then lived the whole year again while the current party went on their journey and met current siffrin. (the other alt sif i'm not as confident assuming, they might have something even weirder going on.) plus the siffrin and loop we know from canon are around, though they've changed in the years since then.

it's a really good au, starlightshore is a REALLY good writer. they keep writing AU concepts that i'm unsure about and pulling it off SO well. at this point i would follow him into hell and trust it'll end up being a 10/10 experience.

[thanostherappersupremacy]

Comparing the writing in the first film overall with the writing of the Third so people can Hopefully see what my problem is with TBT.

First off lets start with the two films big emotional music numbers that are meant to showcase meaningful character Growth that being "" True Colours ""

and "" Better Place "" now the main Difference between these two is that despite what some negative reviews of the first film said at the time

Branch's character Arc wasn't literally just wrapped up in this one song like Bro zone's was in TBT

True Colours was the climax to Branch's arc but it wasn't literally the only piece of Branch's arc throughout the film

we had small hints under his uncaring exterior that he was actually a good guy who just wasn't good at showing it.

like the fact he saved Poppy from those spiders and when he tried to help her come to terms with Creek's supposed death even if his way of doing so wasn't 100 percent perfect.

and of course after finally opening up about his grandmother he showed more signs of trying to change for the better helping Bridget by giving her his love poem to say to Gristle Jr

and afterwards attempting to join in on the Snack Pack's happy screaming over Creek still being alive and even pulling a little High five Joke on Poppy showing clear effort of attempts to change beforehand

he also attempted to comfort Poppy and the others when they opened the locket and Creek was gone and they assumed he was dead and all this leading to True Colours which was the big moment for his Arc.

but Bro zone didn't have any of this before hand instead all their moments prior to Better Place are either them being Jerky

or its mostly comedic gags with not real flashes of positive character moments for them that could help with their Arc.

anyway back to True Colours despite technically getting what he said he wanted at the start of the film

( that being for the other pop Trolls to finally stop seeing the world as all cupcakes and Rainbows and finally see the Dark sides of things )

he was actually disheartened to see them all this way and worked to help them get out of this state which he was all too familiar with.

anyway one thing that makes True Colours work better than Better Place imo is that

Branch still has agency in the choice they're all about to die and well his choice to try and lift up the other people's spirits doesn't effect that at all

I find it very powerful how he still chooses to be happy in that moment and tries to lift the spirits of everyone around him despite the fact that for all he knows his worst fear is about to come true

they're all about to be eaten by Bergens aka the very thing he's spent most of his life terrified of,

but with Better Place his Bros don't have agency so it isn't a meaningful character moment they're literally imprisoned and forced to take part in the Harmony in order to save their own lives its not even just about Floyd anymore.

its sorta like if Branch only sang True Colours to lift everyone's spirits because he needed them to all have access to their longer Hair Powers so they could lift the lid on top of the cooking pot in order for them to escape

so therfore True Colours would have been sang for a purely pratical reason rather than a selfless emotional one

kinda lessens the impact of the scene a bit doesn't it? 🤔🤔🤔🤔.

and as I said before True Colours would be a cute scene on its own but if it was literally the only scene that was meant to show Branch's character Arc and growth

then yeah it would still fall flat imo but it isn't because the movie made sure to have lots of other little moments.

showing Branch making the effort beforehand so True Colours was just the final result and not literally the only action taken in his Arc.

unlike Better Place where

1. the Bros Agency was taken away so they literally did the Harmony for self serving reasons and

2. it was the only moment meant to show their character Growth which just isn't how character Arcs work.

you don't get to have characters showcase a whole bunch of flaws and frankly crappy behaviour

and then have their Arc be wrapped up with a single action that isn't even all that noble no character Arc works that way

the writing of the first film understood this and did a Fair amount of it Right but TBT didn't seem to understand this at all tbh.

[bobbydagen24]

comparing the writing in the first film overall with the writing of the Third so people can Hopefully see what my problem is with TBT.

first off lets start with the two films big emotional music numbers that are meant to showcase meaningful character Growth that being "" True Colours ""

and "" Better Place "" now the main Difference between these two is that despite what some negative reviews of the first film said at the time Branch's character Arc wasn't literally just wrapped up in this one song like Bro zone's was in TBT.

True Colours was the climax to Branch's arc but it wasn't literally the only piece of Branch's arc throughout the film we had small hints under his uncaring exterior that he was actually a good guy who just wasn't good at showing it.

like the fact he saved Poppy from those spiders and when he tried to help her come to terms with Creek's supposed death even if his way wasn't 100 percent perfect.

and of course after finally opening up about his grandmother he showed more signs of trying to change for the better helping Bridget by giving her his love poem to say to Gristle Jr.

afterwards attempting to join in on the Snack Pack's happy screaming over Creek still being alive and even pulling a little High five Joke on Poppy showing clear effort of attempts to change beforehand.

he also attempted to comfort Poppy and the others when they opened the locket and Creek was gone and they assumed he was dead and all this leading to True Colours which was the big moment for his Arc.

Bro zone didn't have any of this before hand instead all their moments prior to Better Place are either them being Jerky or its mostly comedic gags with not real flashes of posotive character moments for them that could help with their Arc.

anyway back to True Colours despite technically getting what he said he wanted at the start of the film ( that being for the other pop Trolls to finally stop seeing the world as all cupcakes and Rainbows and finally see the Dark sides of things )

he was actually disheartened to see them all this way and worked to help them get out of this state which he was all too familiar with.

anyway one thing that makes True Colours work better than Better Place imo is

1. Branch still has agency in the choice their all about to die and well his choice to try and lift up the other people's spirits doesn't effect that at all.

I find it very powerful how he still chooses to be happy in that moment and tries to lift the spirits of everyone around him despite the fact that for all he knows his worst fear is about to come true their all about to be eaten by Bergens aka the very thing he's spent most of his life terrified of.

but with Better Place his Bros don't have agency so it isn't a meaningful character moment their literally imprisoned and forced to take part in the Harmony in order to save their own lives its not even just about Floyd anymore.

its sorta like if Branch only sang True Colours to lift everyone's spirits because he needed them to all have access to their longer Hair Powers so they could lift the lid on top of the cooking pot in order for them to escape.

kinda lessens the impact of the scene a bit doesn't it? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

and as I said before True Colours would be a cute scene on its own but if it was literally the only scene that was meant to show Branch's character Arc and growth then yeah it would still fall flat imo but it isn't because the movie made sure to have lots of other little moments.

showing Branch making the effort beforehand so True Colours was just the final result and not literally the only action taken in his Arc.

unlike Better Place where

1. the Bros Agency was taken away so they literally did the Harmony for selfish reasons and

2. it was the only moment meant to show their character Growth which just isn't how character Arcs work.

you don't get to have characters showcase a whole bunch of flaws and frankly crappy behaviour and then have their Arc be wrapped up with a single action that isn't even all that noble no character Arc works that way.

the writing of the first film understood this and did a Fair amount of it Right but TBT didn't understand this at all.

I'm not an Expert writer but this is all fairly Basic stuff.

[black-flag-if]

What kind of story is it?

A motorsports IF. You're a formula driver. It's romance-focused and deals with drama and angst while going after what's really important to you.

Can I romance more than one RO?

Absolutely. Be as messy as you want or as loyal as you want. There will be a choice to lock in who you want to pursue, but for the start, it's up to you what you do.

Will there be consequences?

Yes! Some ROs will deal with it better than others.

If I choose to be friends with the ROs, can I get on their romance route later?

As of now, no. It would be nice to explore, but it's not a priority yet unless I see a good opening for it in the story.

Is there an enemy to lovers route?

I was thinking of doing one for Ryder's route but I haven't decided yet. It fits the character the best, but it's a WIP and I will just have to see how it presents itself later on. So maybe? Not sure yet. If there's a good opening, I would like to add it but it'll just depend on how much I have on my plate.

Is Lane canon?

I don't think any of the LIs are canon. This story works just fine with trying to improve MC and focus on themselves and their career. Take out all the ROs and it's still simply about MC finding their place. It is a romance story though so if you're simply here for the plot and don't want to deal with romance, it might not be as fun but do with your time what you will. I try not to push any of the ROs onto the player, so I hope Lane doesn't feel canon. The story makes sense with any branch. Lane comes up a lot, yes, but they're a big part of MC's past. You should not have any scenes with Lane nor should your MC think good of them unless you choose such options. If you simply want to be friends - they're friendly interactions. If you don't want anything to do with Lane, they should hardly make an appearance in the story except when needed and it won't be anything romantic. So, if you feel like you have too much of Lane, then maybe reconsider your choices. The most important one is if you say you still have feelings. That's telling the game you want to explore that part more so it'll offer romantic choices and a way to reconcile but you will still get a chance to choose what to do with it all.

Will there be jealousy/break-ups?

I get this one a lot. Not sure if that's a good thing or something you all want or are just afraid to explore, but yes, this game has all of that. It'll depend on the RO because not everyone is jealous, but expect some angst, arguments, breakups, etc.

Why is there no back or save button?

I am working on a save button for future update. Back button will still not be implemented simply because it will be a coding issue for this game.

There's a bigger chance for errors if I let you go back to fix something because some codes use a variable that tracks choices. An example is I sometimes use "history macro" and if you visit the passage more than once, the code won't work so you'll end up with missing information and it will fail to properly connect you to other passages.

When are updates?

I don't have a schedule. It's a WIP, it's a side project, so whenever I have time or energy to write, I do, and update at the end of every chapter.

Why am I not answering you?

I don't purposely avoid comments unless the messages are rude. If I don't answer, but you want an answer, please try again. I could have simply missed it. Send in with a username instead of anon so I can actually get back to you. If I have something to say or add to your comment, I usually do unless it's repetitive. If it's already answered in FAQ's, it's also another reason I might not answer from now on.

Find spelling, errors, or mistakes in general?

I appreciate people letting me know and yes, send them in, but PLEASE let me know WHERE. The sentence or screenshot will work fine just so I know where to look. If you just say there are mistakes, I have no idea where to look and will most likely stay that way until it comes up again. If you want a reply but not make it public, please give a note stating so and I won't post it publicly. Instead, I can just reply to you personally if you don't write as an anon. Thank you to everyone that sends the mistakes in, especially to some anons that take their time to write out every sentence where they saw a spelling mistake. I appreciate it and you make things loads easier.

[dustdeepsea]

extended author's notes | castling

castling (Lucanis/Rook/Spite, DA: Veilguard, explicit): AO3 link

I wrote one of these notes for another fic, and I really enjoy looking back at a completed project and talking about it. Here's the DVD commentary + my process notes for anyone who's interested below the cut!

An evolving story

castling was written after a 6-month writer's block. I talk a little about it here, but basically, it started out as a drabble that I kept adding on scenes to, and it changed along the way.

The original planned theme of the story was mimetic desire. Basically—do we value a thing for what is, or because others desire it greatly as well? In an OT3 this leads to interesting dynamics that I wanted to explore.

As I wrote and played more of the game, I found my second theme: acceptance of the shadow self. This eventually became the main theme I focused on, so I'll reproduce my fevered tags here:

what if the parts that you've been taught are ugly or wrong your whole life manifested as a literal demon

but that demon also gave you the strength to do what was required to survive

what if your trauma taught you survival mechanisms to keep you alive?

what if someone understood they were as much a part of you as everything they loved about you

what if they loved them just as much as the rest of you

what does forgiveness and letting go look like?

2. Remixing canon

I didn't want to do a straight retelling of the canon Rook/Lucanis romance (lots of authors have done a fantastic job of it! I don't know what I would add!)

The challenge I set myself was to branch off from the "Minrathous is saved" decision point. In this world state, Lucanis and Rook have been flirting gently up to "Coffee With The Crows", before things get messy. I wrote a few guiding statements and motivations:

Lucanis is hardened and becomes avoidant of Rook.

Rook must win back his trust through words and deeds ("Bloodbath").

Spite is fascinated by Rook, maybe even to a worrying degree. (To him, she is Determination personified.)

Spite has autonomy and wants to separate from Lucanis.

Rook reciprocates Spite's attentions. More importantly, she acknowledges his autonomy.

Lucanis cannot tell where his desire for revenge and his attraction to Rook arises from—or he knows but is afraid to confront it.

Spite will never knowingly hurt Rook.

From there, it was easier to figure out the scenes I wanted to write, and everyone's behaviours. For example:

Spite becomes the obvious "wingman", manoeuvring situations to bring him (and Lucanis) closer to Rook.

Rook becomes the more active partner who initiates romantic gestures. There is no "almost kiss" scene in the pantry. Instead, Rook initiates a hand-kiss.

Spite uses "we" in the waking world but "I" in the Fade to refer to himself (special cookies for you if you spotted this :)

"Inner Demons" never happens in this world state. Instead, Spite and Lucanis learn to work together because of Rook.

3. In character

Ada "Rook" Aldwir

Rook's personality is pretty well defined in the game so I tried to stay true to it. ("Heroic nonsense saved your grandson and is rescuing you now.") She is outgoing, intuitive, and direct but ultimately well-meaning. Rook is a Veil Jumper—and no one goes into the haunted magic forest willingly if they love the modern city and systems they live in. (She hints at this in chapter 4, and I would love to explore it in future.) This affinity for the strange and liminal makes her sympathetic to Spite. Rook is more of a cipher in the earlier chapters, but I think she came to life in the sparring scene. The way she fights barehanded was inspired by wushu and the Monk class from DnD, focused on her element of lightning. (In Veilguard, she is a Spellblade.)

Spite

Spite is sarcastic, demanding and mercurial. I took a few liberties with this character, including picking he/him pronouns to add to the blurring of boundaries with Lucanis. Spite speaks much more eloquently in-game in the Fade (in Inner Demons), and I preferred that style. He begins castling by taking over Lucanis, but once he finds equilibrium (through them both agreeing on their feelings for Rook), they start sharing the pilot seat. I knew that I wanted Spite and Rook to have a connection, apart from Lucanis, so the Fade was the natural place to set their "bottle episode". As I wrote about Spite and Lucanis' imprisonment, I realised that for a spirit who was content in the Fade, being ripped away and trapped in a limited form would be horrific. I didn't need to write elaborate, graphic torture after that—the implications for them were terrible enough. (Most of chapter 5 was me sobbing over this.)

Lucanis (I know he's everyone's blorbo, and I'll try not to step on any toes here!)

Lucanis is cautious, charming and kind. I chose to write him not as demisexual, but tied up in knots about sex and violence because of the nature of his work. I didn't want him to be an afterthought to the Rook/Spite relationship. He kept running away so much at the beginning, I was genuinely worried we would have no story, so I deliberately wrote chapter 4 from his POV. After that, Lucanis was surprisingly the easiest character for me to inhabit while writing. He's also such a naturally sweet character that his almost silly overprotectiveness of Rook just happened. I really enjoy the way they both play off each other, because Ada is such a Creature in so many ways, and he's simply moonstruck. It's one of my favourite dynamics that appears in my other stories as well.

4. Recurring motifs I enjoyed discovering

Not all of these were planned, but in no particular order: the knife to the neck, electricity, spirits/angels and demons, small repeated gestures (a lover's vocabulary), awareness of the breath, restraint/self-denial as torture, hand holding, the body as both a site of violence and pleasure.

5. In closing

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for listening to me ramble! I hope you enjoyed reading castling as much I did writing it: I learnt a lot, and I exorcised a lot of hang ups about my work in the process. I definitely have thoughts about how to improve the story (crucially, the Lucanis/Spite relationship is missing here), but I'll take that energy into the next piece.

I realise most of this is about the "framework" of the story; if you'd like to know my thoughts around any particular scenes please feel free to send me an ask anytime <3

[sarilolla]

Really love your Hanahaki Branch au! Quick question, does the Hanahaki have a role in anything during the world tour? Cuz I feel like that garner a lot more sympathy from the Country trolls to prevent them from throwing the group in jail. And maybe the Bounty Hunters. Hickory for sure.

I know there’s that potion Branch could take but does he have to willingly take it for it to work? Ik the Snack Pack and Kismet would never betray Branch’s trust like that but if someone were to dose Branch without his knowledge, who would it be and what would the aftermath look like?

Thank you! It's so fun that so many are enjoying my work, and I love answering questions, so here you go!

The Hanahaki will have a bit stronger role in World Tour, mainly because it has gone a bit of time, and also since they're looking for more Trolls, isn't there a possibility to find his brothers too? The more he thinks about his brothers, the stronger the Hanahaki will be. (Imagine how fucked it will be when he's actually with them-)

Don't want to say too much, but yeah, it will garner sympathy. Hanahaki is a rare disease, but Trolls know more about it. Branch will try to hide his illness (being stubborn), but when it is noticed, there is sympathy. I'm also going to be just a tad bit delusional about the Country scene because it frustrates me to high heavens and I just... don't want to write that. So the Hanahaki will play a part in it, yeah. Bounty hunters also figure out and worry for him when they meet him. Hickory especially (I like Hickory)

Now for the potion, it is true it can be taken unwillingly, but I don't think that would be a Troll thing to do. Trolls seem like very caring (and forgiving) creatures, so forcing someone to forget about someone is just too cruel to do. They can persuade him, but the decision is his and no one else's. The potion is supposed to be a last resort, when there's no other hope of survival

Now if he was forced to drink the potion... I genuinely don't know who it would be. The only version I can imagine (and sorry to V&V fans), would be if Branch was taken by Velvet and Veneer instead of Floyd, and they knew about what the Perfect Family Harmony could do (shatter diamonds). They still had Branch as bait for the brothers to come (because they will always come, no matter who was taken), but Branch doesn't remember them, so will he join the song? They're banking on him not doing it. Maybe the Perfect Family Harmony returns his memories, if he can be persuaded to join. Maybe he's doomed, and so are the brothers also inside the diamonds, the Family Harmony never completed without the youngest

As for the effects of the potion... it's bad. The potion doesn't take away the flowers kindly in any shape or form. It burns them away, and with it, burns the memories or feelings of the person the flower is for. It hurts, badly, worse with a forced ingestion. It would take of his energy even faster. At least if he took it willingly, it would be in the safety of his village with doctors, friends/found family, and a loving girlfriend to heal. In the V&V scenario (because that's the only way I can imagine he would be forced by someone else), he has nothing like that, including the stealing of his talent/essence... Yeah, he's fucked

Mildly insane about this au, so...

Thanks for the ask ^^

[dairyminki]

elle congrats on 300!!

i'm thinkin about cooler weather at the moment; could i give you autumn with mingi for a prompt? tysm and congrats again!! <33

✨️part of my 300 milestone event 🪄

title: pumpkin spice and everything nice

pairing: song mingi x gn!reader

genre: slice of life, coffeeshop au

warning/s: none

wc: 888

a/n: hello orion!! ♡ tysm for requesting ahhhh i rlly enjoyed writing this one esp the descriptions. i hope this one is to your liking tho ><

* reblogs and feedbacks are highly appreciated!

—

The sky is quite gloomy as you saunter through the wet asphalt road. A mix of yellow, orange, red, and brown leaves are scattered all over, the previous downpour having them glued to the pavement.

You got quite lucky that the rain stopped when you got out of work, or else you've been stranded at your workplace with nothing but the smell of leather and the sight of your almost robotic-like coworkers surrounding you.

It's a good thing you're out of that hellhole now, and approaching a quaint coffee shop, instead.

The bell by the door jingles as you push it open, the warm and nutty aroma of coffee and sweet caramel welcomes you, beckoning you towards the counter where the barista stood donning a brown apron over his head, his hair, a striking yellow and orange ombre.

The shop was bare, and you're betting, with all of the pennies currently in your pocket, that it had been this way since earlier today and the barista himself wasn't expecting any customers anymore to suddenly pop up.

You, being that unexpected customer, offer him a small smile as you proceed towards the counter.

"Hi! May I please have one pumpkin spice latte?" You state after carefully reading through their menu.

"Anything else?"

"No, that would be all, actually."

The barista merely nods in reply, and as he starts punching buttons on the register, you can't help but stare at him. Now that you think about it, his overall fit including his hair color actually resembles the colors of autumn. A giggle slips out of your mouth all of a sudden, making the barista give you a look.

Fortunately, he doesn't comment on it and just simply hands you the receipt, saying that he'll have your drink ready in a few. And so, you went to pick your seat by the shop's glass windows.

The sky is looking a lot gloomier than before, you take note. Although, not long after you've sat down, the rain came.

The sound of the barista's movements and the whirring of the blender and espresso machine accompanies your view of the falling rain and the dropping leaves from one tree branch to another.

The scene of the colorful leaves gradually forming a carpet on the road seemingly occupied you to a great extent that it took you a while to notice someone clearing their throat.

"Uhm, excuse me?" The barista, who was now standing by your table, says, finally earning your attention.

"I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now but you seemed to be engrossed with whatever's outside," He says while he puts your pumpkin spice latte on the table. Embarrassed, you mutter an apology.

"Thanks. It looks pretty, by the way," You tell him with a smile after admiring the aesthetically pleasing drink in front of you.

"Thank you, please enjoy," The barista says, mirroring your smile and then off he goes back to the counter.

—

"Hi, I don't want to bother you but-"

"Oh my god, have I overstayed?" You panic, glancing at your wristwatch and finding out it's already been over an hour since you've sat down in this coffee shop, your drink perfectly empty. "I can leave now, I'm sorry. You probably have to close up already, right?"

It's not like you didn't plan to leave after finishing your drink. It's just that the rain is still pouring hard, you didn't get to bring your umbrella with you, and your house is quite far from here. You're not sure if you're ready to go out and battle it out with the ongoing wetness outside.

"Oh, no, no! I can't let you leave in this weather," The barista had the same panic lacing his voice and he's quick enough to make you take your seat once again.

"And, uh, I actually came here to ask if you'd fancy a few slices of this apple galette…" The barista rubs at his nape, giving you a sheepish smile.

For a minute you look taken aback, and just when you were about to say something, he speaks yet again, exclaiming, "This is on the house, by the way!"

"Wow, that's so…sweet of you."

"Nothing biggie, really. Just figured you'd want something to accompany you since your drink's already finished and I don't think this rain's about to stop any sooner, so," He shrugs, placing the galette in front of you. An aromatic mixture of cinnamon and baked apples wafts through the air, and it awfully smells like home, fall, and everything warm.

"What's your name?" You ask just when the barista makes an attempt to retreat into his spot at the counter.

"My name is Mingi," He answers, pausing for a little bit before he asks you the same question, quite politely.

"I'm Y/N, and if you don't mind, would you like to accompany me, Mingi? We could share these pastries while we talk or something," You say, already standing up to pull up a chair for him, because you're not one who takes no for an answer.

"Well," Mingi drags out the word while he looks down at his feet, one foot lightly tapping against the floor. "Alright, I guess there's no harm in doing that." He gives in finally, taking the additional chair from you.

"Good choice."

[nessarolla-in-constant-flux]

🌈Just saw Trolls 3 today!🎀

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Things I liked:

The new design types of characters

The singing

The songs, especailly the one they use to save Floyd

Floyd

Grizzabella and king what's his names wedding stuff

Floyd in flashbacks and in general

Bruce and his family of muppets

The knockoff muppets

The designs of the world and the textures ugggghhh so good!

Velvet and Vaneer being designed like Betty Spagettis

The moment when we think Floyd is gone and some girl behind me said "Se murio?!"/"Did he die?!"

The little crinkle paper lady, she was so cute.

Things I didn't like:

Poppy

Viva

The forced lore of Poppy's new sister

The forced family is everything and nothing is more important than family

The way JD got a minute of character detail and than it's never touched again.

The way none of the other holders of music were seen at the wedding.

The way we didn't see the brothers reconcile and how they got to the venue.

Floyd's lack of scenes outside of the diamond.

Also Baby Diamond. I just can't.

So, yeah I liked the movie over all but when I tell you giving Poppy a sibling out of the blue felt so dumb. Like I get it, they 're gonna make her a new doll line but wow was that not necassary. This could have been a found family story with Grizzabella and while yes they are best friends could have led up to the I see you as a sister conversation and it would have been ten times more impactful.

Some people don't have siblings and sometimes wish for them but as someone with 5 and as the oldest I can tell you it's not always sunshine and rainbows. Poppy finding her sister was nice and all but I couldn't care less about Viva or her plight becuase it was just so out of nowhere. Branch's family dynamic was more realistic of having lots of siblings but even then they didn't even try to have meaningful conversations about how they got to that point. All they did was fight, fight again, and then suddenly they're in total sync? Talk about a magic moment.

And not to mention the total swept under the rug moment when Jd talks about how being the oldest put presure on him to be perfect. How it made him the way he is but they don't linger on that and move on so fast we never get a resolution.

Oh and for Poppy's part, she's still so very pushy, obnoxious, and overall a terrible person to Branch's feelings. He tells her numerous times that he's not ready to talk about his past with her and instead of accepting that she borderline manipulates him into telling his story that he wasn't ready to tell. AND THEN she makes the decision for him to go on an adventure to which he says no until he finds out it has to do with Floyd. Branch had every right and reason to not want to join JD, HIS own brother who he put a boundry on becuase of how he hurt him, but Poppy goes on and on about how SHE wishes she had a sister basically guilt tripping him into going disregarding his feelings about it entirly becuase family or whatever.

I like Poppy but I cannot stand Poppy and now there's Viva too and I don't think I can stand the both of them.

Normalize cutting famliy off and living your best life. If they hurt you, be it physically or emotionally, you have every right to cut them out of your life and owe no one an explanation.

Sometimes the writing is very good but if they were trying to make a meaningful story about family they I feel they missed the mark a bit. Still visually a fantastic movie and the music was equally very good.

I'll give it a 8/10 and if your a fan you'll like it. I think I still like the 2nd one the best just becuase of the places we saw and the music we heard was so diverse.

[keysandmirrors]

Wow we’re on week two already that’s fun! So today is the Fame DR of this event and I’m gonna warn you right now it’s not gonna be as detailed as the other two cause I haven’t actually physically scripted for this one lol

So I actually struggled thinking of a DR for this prompt cause I don’t find being famous very appealing. It sounds stressful af and I like my privacy so I gotta script out like paparazzi and parasocial people for my own sanity lol. But I think being a director will be fun cause I’m not in the limelight like an actor would be but I still get to tell the stories I want!

I’m kind of on the fence about basing this DR off of the mobile game Hollywood U (rest in PEACE my love 😔😔💔) because I love that game and the story and the people but I haven’t given it a lot of thought so idk how it would feel. Also if I was gonna have a s/o then I would script Thomas Hunt but idk how I feel about dating my professor 🤔🤔

ANYWAY onto the actual point of this DR, when I was a kid I loved writing my own plays and stories and would always use a script format to write them. Mind you they were never good but I miss the joy I would get from writing that way and I feel like being a director could heal that little part of my childhood y’know? I would mostly write horror movies probably mixed with some comedy but I would take a lot of inspiration from classic, gothic, horror. Not that I hate jumpscare movies, trust me I love all kinds of horror, but the stories I wanna write I would want to be more psychological or classic slasher (without all the needless sexualization and SA scenes for shock value 🙄). Idk I could get creative with it and branch out I don’t wanna restrict myself to one genre.

In this DR I would probably set it a little in the past because I don’t know how many of you are Slenderman fans but you might know of that era on youtube where people were making a LOT of Slender inspired series. (Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID, etc) I have a DR about being in those realities but I also love the idea of creating my own series during that era so in my director DR the first “series” I wrote, directed, and filmed was a Slenderman inspired youtube series. It was just me and my friends in highschool messing around and filming but it would gain its own little niche fandom. Then when I make it big as an actual movie director I can imagine people being like “wait a minute isn’t that the guy who ran around in the woods in that one series from 2010”

As a director I also would love to be able to create a safe, healthy environment for the actors and crew because some of the stories you hear about how Hollywood treats people is just despicable. And ofc as a queer person I would love to make more movies to give my community more opportunities to work in 💞 In THIS reality we’re in rn I’m not really “into” Hollywood stuff so I can’t really recognize actors or other famous people so I’d like to be an unbiased director who casts people for their acting ability instead of casting famous people for the sake of having a famous person in my movie. Don’t get me wrong they’re famous for a reason but lately it feels like movies are casting some people just to play themselves instead of to play a character. 🤷 that’s just how I feel though so don’t take me too seriously

—

That’s pretty much all I have on this DR, sorry it was more “maybe I’ll do this” instead of “this is how it goes”. Idk maybe that’s a fun change though. I kinda like throwing ideas out and asking for thoughts and opinions, so on that note you should come into my inbox and talk about what kind of movies you like 👀👀 I’m also open to talking about that youtube series idea I mentioned exists in this DR

Event Masterlist

[garfield-mug]

Lights

A/N: Written for Liz's (@sailor-aviator) Christmas Challenge! There was too much shit happening the past few weeks for me to write full fics, so please enjoy these fluffy headcanons instead!

Pairing: Bob Floyd x fem!Reader

Word: Lights

Warnings: none

bob did really enjoy christmas.

since he was little, it had been his favorite holiday. he enjoyed the presents and cookies and seeing extended family, sure, but his absolute favorite part about christmas were the lights.

every year on christmas eve, him and his siblings would pile into the car with their parents and slowly drive through the streets of a few different neighborhoods in town to see the lights.

some houses had no lights, others changed out their porch lights to bulbs of red and green. a few were completely decked out, strings of vibrant, dazzling lights from rooftop to driveway, all blinking in time to whatever christmas song was playing at the time. if little bob had to guess, he'd say those people had miles and miles of string lights wrapping their homes (as an adult, he can't comprehend the sheer cost of their electric bill). there was one house that had a lawn completely filled with different blow-up lawn ornaments. bob didn't really like that one, he thought it was much too busy.

his favorite house, by far, every year was a one story cape cod. it wasn't the most flashy, it didn't have all the bells and whistles. the trim of the roof and the pillar supporting it over the front porch were lined with soft, delicate vintage bulbs, casting a soft yellow glow across the drive and front yard. it was simple in its beauty. it was like the house knew (and the people living in it) that it didn't need to be bright and flashy to be beautiful. bob thought it was absolutely enchanting.

he found his mind drifting back to that house every christmas after he moved away and joined the navy, forever at the beck and call of uncle sam.

he pictured that house when he was on long deployments and craved a moment of peace and quiet. a tranquil winter scene played out before him: the golden glow of the lights gently washing over him as he closed his eyes, leaning into the feeling of the chilled air around him, enjoying the serene silence that winter brought every year.

when he opened his eyes, he was back on the aircraft carrier, but he was also a touch calmer, a touch more grounded.

it's a lot like how bob felt after he met you.

one fateful day during fleet week, and one guided tour later, bob landed your number and a date.

thankfully, it worked out and now you're coming up on your second christmas together.

you knew bob loved the christmas lights every year, and you had every intention of going all out in your apartment, but things just did not go your way.

life was life-ing.

work was extra busy in the weeks leading up to the holiday. longer hours meant less time to do things around the house and more time to dwell on how things weren't going how you planned.

you somehow managed to get the tree up just in time for your next date night, lights on, and ornaments in a bin for you and bob to put on together.

despite all the last minute decorating, you still didn't find yourself in a particularly festive mood.

frustrated, a little bit sad, and a lot exhausted, you decided to lie down on the floor, head under the tree. bleary eyes looked up through the fake branches, watching the vintage bulbs twinkle and sparkle.

so lost in your thoughts, you didn't hear bob come through the door and call your name.

"honey?" he calls again, confused, as he walks into the living area.

bob didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't his girlfriend lying on the floor with her head under the tree. a bit of a strange sight, but a smile spreads across his lips as he watches you for a moment. he knows this time of year can be tough on you.

he shrugs off his jacket and makes his way over to your spot on the floor, taking your lead as he lays beside you, crossing his arms over his chest.

"what are we doing?" he asks, voice soft and sweet as he turns to face you.

"lights." you vaguely gesture to the tree above your heads.

"lights?"

"lights."

you grab his hand and lace your fingers together.

[greenbergwrites]

There's another 3-day "stuff your Kindle" promotion going on where a bunch of books are free right now, link to the master list here~

Some notable mentions:

Favor by Kiki Clark - Book one in a trilogy. I own both available books in this series and the third one comes out next week. I'll be honest, it's been a while since I've read this, so I can't give you specifics, but Kiki Clark is one of those authors I trust enough to grab their stuff immediately.

In The Shadows by Hailey Turner - Book #3 in a 6-part series. Not sure why book 3 is free instead of book 1 but I will tell you that the whole series is on KU and it's pretty cool. Good X-Men vibes if the X-Men were a branch of law enforcement. I own the whole series in paperback. HT is heavy on the plot but she also throws some casual kink into her sex scenes. Alexei is one of my favorite characters and this is his romance. It feature a good couple'a tropes that I'm a sucker for. [HIGHLY recommend the audiobooks, too, if anyone is interested. I found this series through Audible.]

Lost Touch by Eliot Grayson - The 7th book in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone. A lot of books in the series aren't really connected, or only tangentially connected. Another series I own the paperbacks for. I read this book while DEEP in my depression state, though, so I remember almost nothing about it but EG is another author I automatically grab. [In case you're wondering, my favorite of the series is the one just before this, Lost & Bound. Only free if you have KU, though.]

Lacuna by N.R. Walker - I have not read this book, but I do know the author and I tend to like their stories. I'm looking forward to this one since it has fantasy elements. Most of NRW's stuff is contemporary, and the works I've read by them are among those.

Drive Me Crazy by Beth Bolden - I have read this one, it's decent if you want something that's a quick read. BB has a couple of different food-related series that are interconnected so there are mentions of other couples but I didn't have a problem following it without having read the others. [Sweet As Pie is another BB title and a better read imo but it's only free if you have KU.]

The Wrangler & the Orphan by Jackie North -- JN has another series called Love Across Time. I've read most of that series and own it in paperback. I haven't read this series, so I can't vouch for it, but the other one was pretty good.

Here are some authors on the list that are hit or miss for me, but fair warning, I haven't read any of the titles:

Professor Daddy by Nora Phoenix -- I own this one, but I don't seem to remember it? Maybe if I re-read it, idk. NP is technically a good writer, I just think they infodump too much sometimes and I find myself glazing a lot. I like books that I'm invested in emotionally and I don't find myself too invested in NP's stuff.

King of Askara by Victoria Sue - I own things by VS but some of their stuff is objectively terrible. I haven't read this title, I don't know which it will turn out to be.

Out of the Frying Pan by Elouise East - I have this ongoing probably where I know I've read things by Elouise East because the name is familiar but I can't for the life of me remember the title or if I liked it. I'm guessing they're somewhere in the middle re: writing, because if it was terrible, I'd remember it.

The Problem by Piper Scott -- They also write under Emma Alcott and I own all of EA's books in paperback. I also own all of Forbidden Desires (y'know, that dragon-shifter series I talked about a while ago) in paperback.

I cannot vouch for any other Piper Scott titles, but I do know that everything where her co-author is Susi Hawke is objectively terrible.