#port brat au

[discordiansamba]

Takashi Shirogane is a free man.

...probably.

If he's being honest, he's kind of at a loss as to what's going on. The Galra kid that's been talking to him after his matches all this week helped him break out of the ship he was being held in. Which is great! But it's also confusing. It's somehow both less and more confusing when they pull down their hood and the mask that's been covering the lower half of the face to reveal they look... almost human.

Almost. The eyes are definitely Galra.

He takes him back to what Shiro can only describe as some kind of delinquent's hideout. There's other Galra there, who look as bewildered by his presence as Shiro feels. There's some rapid fire discussion between the maybe human kid and the Galra that Shiro can't even begin to follow.

Then the kid turns to him, and in broken English, asks him if he can take him back to Earth if he gets him a ship. Shiro knows a ticket home when he sees one, so he agrees. He needs to get back and warn everyone about the Galra.

The kid seems satisfied with that. Someone scrounges up Shiro a change of clothes. Over the course of a few hours, he learns that the kid he's been talking to is a.) half-human and b.) his name is Keith.

(He has another name the Galra gave him, but he doesn't use it anymore.)

They make plans to steal a ship. Keith's delinquent friends (they really are a gang of delinquent teens) helps them secure it. Shiro still has so many questions.

At least he has all the time in the world to ask them now.

[goodlucktai]

okay just because we were talking about this - how do you think an asl reunion at alabasta would look like?

i hope its ok that i took this as an excuse to write an au no one asked for :')

read on ao3

x

A lot of the problems in Ace’s young life—most of them, if he was being honest—could be attributed to the shitty choices that adults around him made. 

When Bluejam grabbed Luffy by the scruff, the business end of a pistol jammed painfully into the nape of his neck, he was talking a bunch of shit about how Sabo’s dad ripped him off. He was paid to kill Ace and Luffy but he’d been short-changed, and for a man who seemed to think he was entitled to a certain lot in life, it rankled. 

“But that noble brat doesn’t make a bad ransom,” the man said, shaking a weepy Luffy in one meaty hand to shut him up, like Ace’s baby brother was nothing but a piece of dirty laundry. “If his family won’t buy him back, I’m sure someone will.”

Ace’s blood turned to ice in his veins. Whatever time Ace didn’t spend in the jungle he spent in the gutters and outskirts of the city, where every unwanted, street-sharpened child knew the risk a certain kind of stranger brought with them. 

If Sabo ended up with a slaver, Ace would never get his brother back. Pieces of him, maybe. But not the same golden boy he was right now. Not the brave, proud, secretly soft-hearted person Ace loved so much. He’d come back different if he came back at all. 

He had to compartmentalize. He couldn’t act rashly until he had Luffy back. His mind raced frantically, but he made sure it didn’t show on his face. He snatched Luffy up when Bluejam finally let him go and made his own body a wall between his brother and the men who had no compunctions about hurting him to prove a point. 

They were left to spread gasoline throughout the terminal, while the pirates made their way back down to the beach. Not one of them lingered to make sure Ace and Luffy did as they were told, and Ace should have wondered about that. Should have wondered why they were making themselves scarce, why the city gates were barred, what all those fuel canisters are for, but his thoughts were too full of other things.

That was why, the second the coast was clear, he tossed his gasoline drum aside and seized Luffy by the arms. He stooped to look right into his eyes, trying to ignore the way his chest panged at how wide and red they were. 

“I have to go get Sabo,” he said firmly. “You have to stay here.”

“Let me come!” Luffy cried immediately, predictably. “Don’t leave me behind!”

“It’ll be faster if you wait,” Ace snapped, because he didn’t want to say that Luffy was going nowhere near any ship bound for the slave market, because then he would have to explain why. Even without the Fruit that made him a special novelty in the Blues, Luffy would be snatched up by evil hands in a heartbeat. “You’re too little, you’ll just slow me down,” he said instead. 

It wasn’t nice, and when Ace had time later, he would feel bad about the way Luffy’s lip trembled. But for now, it was important that he got his point across. Every second he lingered was another inch ahead Bluejam’s crew got. Ace’s world would literally end if their ship left port without him. 

So he gave Luffy’s shoulders a push that propelled him back a step. Then he pointed in the direction of the treeline. He made his face mean and forbidding. 

“I mean it, Luffy,” he said. “Go wait for me at home.”

Luffy finally tucked his chin in a miserable little nod. Ace gentled despite himself and reached out because there were two people he would always reach out for and one of them was right in front of him.

He flicked the brim of Luffy’s hat up enough that it fell off his head, and then ruffled his hair. A gesture so familiar and well-practiced it was like muscle memory to him now. Luffy didn’t smile, but it kept the tears at bay for a bit longer, and Ace left him with another firm point back at the jungle. 

Ace was a child, doing his best to keep his tiny family together. He had a half-formed plan that he would sneak about Bluejam’s ship and find Sabo wherever he was and they would fight their way out and escape together and reunite with Luffy in time for a midnight dinner. He was a pragmatic youth, and was made wiser by the world than any ten-year-old should have been, but he was still only ten years old. He couldn’t have guessed what was going to happen. 

He would piece it together later—that Bluejam had been commissioned by the kingdom to make sure the Gray Terminal burned down, a noble title he planned to come back to collect once he had auctioned off Outlook’s eldest son to the highest bidder—that Ace had chased after one brother and left the other alone in a place that was about to go up in flames. 

When he climbed aboard the Blood Batako, he didn’t realize it would be the last time he saw Dawn Island for almost half a year. 

He didn’t realize that Luffy would wait for him right there where Ace left him, even as the fire spread into walls of flames much taller than a scrawny seven year old—frightened and crying, little hands bunched in the front of his own shirt as he choked for each breath in the thick, acrid smoke. That Dadan would find him there and haul him away kicking weakly but not screaming, because there wasn’t enough oxygen left in his body to scream. That the asphyxiation, not the fire, is what nearly killed Luffy that night. That he would spend the next week in Foosha Village tended to by their only doctor and wake up with some of his memory intact, but not all. That he would recognize Makino, but wouldn’t know Dadan. 

Ace had no way of knowing, when he and Sabo finally made their way home, well-traveled at the tender young age of freshly eleven, and relieved to see journey’s end for the time being, and looking forward to reuniting with a certain crybaby who had probably been miserable cooped up in Dadan’s country or at Party’s Bar without them, that Luffy will have been gone for months by then. 

“A cruise ship docked further up the island,” Makino says fretfully, “and a little boy who worked in the kitchens came down here to play because he said he didn’t like the way the kingdom smelled. He and Luffy were fast friends. I had no idea Luffy was planning to leave with him until I found the note he left in his room, and by then they were long gone.” 

It’s a good thing Sabo is there, because Ace’s head is just a roar of white noise. Sabo is the one who chokes out, “But—what—did—did you call Gramps? What did he say? Is he going to find him?”

“I don’t have his direct line. I’ve left a dozen messages with his office, but you know how he is,” Makino says, forgetting that they don’t, actually. “He hardly remembers that he has an office. And the number Dadan has for him is no good.”

“Why would Luffy wander off like that?” Sabo says, progressively getting louder. “Why wasn’t someone watching him?”

“He’s just been so restless since the fire,” Makino replies. “There wasn’t anything keeping him here anymore, and it seemed like he just needed one good excuse to leave.”

Sabo looks as gutted by that as Ace probably feels, hurt and confusion racing their way across his face. And Ace finally makes his contribution, in the form of a choked, “What do you mean?” which is when Makino realizes there’s something they still don’t know. 

She sits them both down at a table and holds one of each of their hands in hers, and gently explains that while they were gone, the world as they knew it had changed forever, and the happy little boy who always ran to catch up to them wasn’t running after them anymore. 

———

Ace still forms the Spades, and Sabo still falls in with the Revolutionary Army, and the only reason they don’t sail together the way they promised when they were young is because the ocean is awfully big. They have a lot of square footage to cover, and splitting up is the only way they could even hope to cover it all. 

It doesn’t occur to either of them to give up at any point. As Sabo climbs ranks, as Ace gathers a crew, both their bounties increasing every day, they continue to search faithfully. Either they’ll find him one day, or they’ll simply spend the rest of their lives looking. 

Masked Deuce says, “What about the cruise ship he left on? Did you track it down?” 

“Boarded by pirates that same year,” Ace replies. “According to the official report, it sank in a storm.”

The loaded silence says everything Masked Deuce will not say. Ace doesn’t care what someone who has never met Luffy thinks about his odds of survival at sea. If Deuce knew Luffy, he would understand. Since he doesn’t, Ace’s first mate can believe his captain is delusional all he likes as long as it doesn’t keep him from doing his job. 

Deuce turns out to be a better friend than Ace deserves. One day when Ace leaves his crew to party with some locals and sets off into town to distribute flyers and put his ear to the ground, he hears someone rumble something under their breath about a hopeless cause. He doesn’t even have time to turn around before Deuce has seemingly teleported across the bar and knocked the dissenter out cold. 

“Anyone who shares his opinion is free to get their shit and leave,” he says calmly. 

The only voices that rise up are ones who sound very offended that Deuce would lump them in with that guy, and Ace refuses to look as touched as he feels. 

When he hears word of Red-Hair Shanks in nearby waters, he tracks the man down to a wintery island and leads his crew up a small mountain to meet him. In part, he wants to thank this man who saved his little brother all those years ago. But also…

“I heard about the fire,” Shanks said grimly. “And Makino kept me updated about little Anchor until he disappeared. I’ve got eyes out looking, too, Ace. The world is big, but not so big that we’ll never find him.”

It’s a relief to know that Luffy is so loved, that more than just his brothers care if he’s ever found. But in true Luffy fashion, he explodes onto the scene when he’s good and ready. 

Ace is woken up by Deuce kicking the door of the captain’s quarters off its hinges and shoving a crinkled Wanted poster into Ace’s bleary face so that a toothy, stretching smile is the first thing he sees. 

He accidentally sets half the room on fire, a slip-up the likes of which hasn’t happened since the first week after he ate his Fruit, and there’s a lot of screaming, and someone shoves a baby Den-Den at him so he can call Sabo. From the way his nakama were carrying on, you would think it was their long-lost brother in the paper.

“I was about to call,” Sabo says breathlessly in lieu of a hello after only barely half a ring. “You saw it?”

“I saw,” Ace replies. The newspaper is rattling noisily in his hands but he can’t get them to stop shaking. “He took down Arlong Park. There are all these witness statements from the villagers. They’re saying he did it all for his friend.”

“If anyone even thinks about coming for his bounty, I’m killing everyone on the Grand Line and then myself,” Sabo says. It takes knowing him as well as Ace knows him to be able to tell over the phone that he’s crying buckets. 

“Get in line,” Ace says. If anyone so much as looks at Luffy wrong he’s burning this goddamn planet down. He can’t tear his eyes away from the poster for more than a few seconds at a time. At the urchin grin, the pencil-mark curve of a scar, this bright young man he’s never met who is so, so familiar. 

“They’re calling him Straw Hat Luffy,” Deuce says. He’s a pillar of serenity in a sea of absolute chaos, leaning on Ace’s shoulder to read with him. There’s a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Now I’ll finally get to meet him.”

Which turns out to be easier said than done, because Luffy and his merry band of lunatics won’t seem to stay in one fucking spot for longer than an hour. It takes weeks to finally track that cute little caravel down to a summer island about halfway through the Grand Line, and by that time Sabo has taken a leave of absence from the Army to join him. They’re close now. They’re so close. 

Wait for me, Ace would beg him if he could, wondering if this was how Luffy felt all those times his big brothers ran ahead and left him behind. 

———

Ace never knew how heavy a heart could be when he was a child, a half-feral, angry, touch-starved thing. But now his heart is full—now it bursts at the seams, spills through his ribcage, until there’s no part of him that isn’t touched by it—and it’s the heaviest thing he’s ever carried. 

A precious burden. He’s twice the man he would have been without it. He will never, not one time in his life ever, entertain the idea of putting it down. 

But gods, Ace thinks, it would be easier, so much easier, to rip the stupid thing out of his chest and walk around a hollow shell of someone once-loved than it would be to stand here for one more minute and look down at his baby brother looking up at him like he’s a total stranger. 

“Who’s this guy?” a blond man behind Luffy mutters. With the touseled hair hanging in an artful curtain over half his face and the cigarette between his teeth and the well-cut linen suit that makes it very clear he never skips leg day, blondie gives off an air of Do Not Fuck With Me just by breathing in a way that reminds Ace of Sabo at that age. 

The swordsman beside him, called Roronoa Zoro on his bounty poster, is scowling outright, gray eyes sharp, ready at any moment to leap over Luffy like a faithful hound and dig into Ace with his teeth the second he presents as danger. 

It makes Ace feel kind of nostalgic, like he’s looking at an old photo of himself. 

He tries to focus on the nostalgic feeling, because all the rest of his brain is drowning in guilt and grief. 

Somehow, he wasn’t prepared for this moment. Years of searching, nearly half his life, and he’s finally standing in front of the person whose absence tore a hole clean out of his whole future, and he has no idea what to say. 

You look well, springs to mind, because Luffy does. His hair and skin and eyes are all different shades of brown that gleam with good health under the desert sun. He’s still skinny, but not in the waifish, underfed way of all the Gray Terminal kids. He looks like he’s been eating well. It settles something in Ace’s heart in the one tiny corner of it that isn’t breaking. 

I should have been there, is the next-most immediate thought, and it almost takes Ace’s knees out from under him. He should have been there to make sure Luffy ate well. He should have been there to save him from the fire, to help him recover from the smoke sickness, to hold him when he cried in his sleep and to take his hand when he wandered aimlessly around the village with no one to play with and nothing to look forward to. 

I’m sorry I left you, is what it boils down to, what Ace has held close and carved into his heart over the years, hating himself, hating the child he was who thought he knew better, who thought he could conquer everything without losing anything. I never should have left you. 

But Luffy doesn’t know him from any other person in this busy marketplace, his head tilting to one side like a curious little bird’s, and Ace can’t think of anything to say to him that he’ll understand. 

He needs Sabo. He’s about to become a walking fire hazard, and he’s about to mess this whole thing up, this reunion that was almost a decade in the making. Luffy’s two friends are eyeing him with mounting suspicion the longer he stands there and stares at their captain, every line of their body still the way a predator’s body stills in preparation for a pounce. Luffy, for his part, is still engaged, but only barely. His interest is slipping away—there are too many sights and smells and things bustling all around for him to want to stand still for a gawking stranger that doesn’t even have anything exciting to say.

His little brother. Crybaby Luffy. The boy who crawled under Ace’s blanket when their treehouse quaked in a storm, who held Sabo’s hand when they stayed out too late and walked home through the jungle in the dark. He’s a pirate now, a Wanted person, with a crew and a ship all his own, and he got this far without them. The last time Ace saw him was that last night in the Gray Terminal, when Ace was being mean on purpose to make sure Luffy stayed away from certain danger. 

It occurs to Ace, for the very first time, that Luffy doesn't need him anymore. That tiny seven year old grew up. 

“I saw you in the paper,” he finally says, making a concentrated effort to sound like a human being. “You’re pretty cool.”

Luffy brightens immediately. “Yeah? Are you a pirate, too?”

“I am. Made a promise to my brothers when I was a kid that we’d sail the seas together one day.”

“Wow!” Luffy says, suitably impressed. “We made a promise like that, too.” He loops both his arms through one of Blondie’s and one of Roronoa’s. “We decided way back when we were little that we were gonna stick together and become the pirate king, and the greatest swordsman, and the man who discovers All Blue!”

So one of his two guard dogs must be the little kitchen boy from The Orbit who spirited Luffy away from Foosha. The other must have come along not much later if they were all children together. Ace wants to hear the story so badly he has to clench his jaw to keep from asking. He wants to hear about everything. 

Instead, ignoring the way Roronoa’s hand closes around the hilt of one of his swords, Ace reaches out and flicks the brim of Luffy’s hat so that it slips backwards off his head. Luffy squawks, and tries to free his arms in time to catch it, and then freezes in place at the touch to his hair.

Ace ruffles it fondly, muscle memory that hasn’t corroded even after a decade, and says what he should have said the first time that sunshine child in a worn straw hat shared a wild, impossible wish; 

“I hope I’m there to see it when all those dreams of yours come true.”

If he had stayed a second longer, he would have seen the way Luffy mirrored Ace’s touch with his own fingers, frozen in place. 

Instead, Ace has officially reached his emotional threshold, and formally retreats to find his twin. They take turns being the stable one and Ace is calling dibs on being a basket case for the next month. Masked Deuce is just going to have to deal. 

Sabo got back to their meeting spot first, an outdoor table outside a tavern that hasn’t yet opened for the day, and already has their map rolled out and pinned down at the corners by various junk from their luggage. He’s marking something down and calls over a distracted hello, and Ace bleakly replies, “I found him.”

His tone is all wrong for the remarkably momentous occasion he’s announcing, so it’s not really Sabo’s fault that it doesn’t click right away. Sabo says, “Found who?” and Ace just looks at him with all his helplessness and weariness plain on his face, and Sabo drags an ink mark all across Sandy Island on the map as he whirls around and says, “You found him?” 

“It’s not going to be how we thought,” Ace says, trying to manage his brother’s expectations. They share everything, but Ace would keep this heartbreak to himself if he knew how. “It’s—I think we took too long.”

“What do you mean?” Sabo asks, hands clenching into fists and unclenching. The fountain pen is dripping ink, ruining the fine leather of his left glove. 

“He didn’t know me. I knew he wouldn’t, not really, but he—he didn’t recognize me at all,” Ace tries to explain. He feels stupid and childish and ungrateful, but really he just has no idea what to do. Luffy doesn’t know him and doesn’t need him and how is he supposed to fill a place in that kid’s life that doesn’t exist anymore? “We’ll have to—to start over from scratch, but how? How are we supposed to make someone like Luffy care about people like us? He’s sunshine personified, and deserves to have everything he wants and the best this shitty world has to offer, and we’re just—two selfish idiots who couldn’t even take care of one little kid between the two of us.” The awful truth, delivered quietly: “Luffy doesn’t need us anymore. I can’t see why he’d want us around now.”

Sabo is watching him like something carved from marble. Ace would never tell him, because it would hurt his feelings in a way nothing else ever could, but there are times when Sabo looks every bit the nobleman his biological family wanted him to be. The line of his jaw and the fall of his hair and his deep set eyes are regal, especially when he’s focused, when he’s working through a problem, when he’s the last sane voice in a room and he’s waiting for the morons wasting his time to run out of breath. 

And then his eyes flicker past Ace’s shoulder, and his expression transforms. The breath leaves him in a rush like it was punched out of him, his lips parting, blue eyes widening in a way that seems to shave whole years from his face. 

Something causes him, impossibly, incongruously, to smile. 

“Would you put money on that?” he asks. 

“What? Yes,” Ace says, thrown off by the inappropriate lightness of his tone. He feels himself start to bristle defensively. “Are you even paying attention?” 

“One of us has to,” Sabo says, only smiling wider, and Ace feels sparks falling off his fingers in sheer aggravation as he turns around to see what is so—

He has three seconds at most to take in the sight of Luffy hurtling up the hill at top speed. It’s been years and years, but three seconds is all he needs. His arms remember how to reach out and catch him. 

“I waited where you left me, but you never came back!” Luffy shouts. “You can’t be mad! I waited and waited, and then I went out to find you instead! I didn’t remember you but I had to find you! I still don’t—I still don’t know some things—but I know it’s your fault for taking too long!” 

Sabo lurches over and Luffy’s rubbery hug wraps around them both and Ace is too shell-shocked by the last minute to do anything but hug back. 

Luffy shoves his face in Ace’s shoulder, and there’s a hot, wet smear of tears there. It gives away that Straw Hat Luffy, the pirate captain worth thirty million berries, is maybe not as grown-up as Ace had initially feared. 

Sabo presses his face against the crown of Luffy’s head, too overcome to do anything but hold him. The regal young man from moments ago is long gone. The one standing here with them is that street-rat from Dawn who knew the best places to steal food from, who always made sure they never went hungry, who once shrugged off his fine winter coat at the market and traded it to a vendor for a pair of sturdy boots for Ace and thick woolen mittens for Luffy. He had shivered all the way home, where there was an extra coat in the treehouse he could use, until Luffy had the bright idea that they should all bundle into Ace’s oversized cloak together for warmth and whined until Ace agreed just to shut him up. That had been the most annoying hike up Mount Colubo in history. It’s a memory that Ace cherishes beyond reason. 

Ace whispers, “Of course I’m not mad, Lu.” It’s been ages since he was that hostile, hateful little thing who would take a bite out of anything that dared to show its soft underbelly to him. He presses as close as he can, cheek to cheek with this piece of his family that’s gone missing for far too long, and adds, “You’ve never been obedient a day in your life. If I expected anything different, that’s on me.”

Luffy laughs, and it’s snotty and choked and pure music to Ace’s ears. The kid worms closer, makes himself smaller, and lets himself be held. 

He doesn’t need his brothers. His shoulders are broad, and his arms are solid and strong. He’s already made a name for himself, and even now those two friends of his are lingering watchfully further down the road—far enough away to give the respectful illusion of privacy, near enough to make Ace and Sabo’s day a living hell if they try anything fishy. It’s probably been a long time since he’s needed someone to hold his hand or carry him home. 

But if, by some insane, undeserved miracle, Luffy still wants them…

It’s enough. It’s more than enough. It’s more than Ace has had in ten years. 

What one piece? he thinks, arms full and aching. I’ve got it all right here. 

[starlightshadowsworld]

I love the role swap AU's with Bungou stray dogs so this is my idea for one. Though this is pretty much a rewrite.

18 year old Osamu Dazai leaves the Port Mafia after Odasaku was killed. 2 weeks later, Dazai met up with Cheif Taneda who put in a request to the Agency.

Dazai stays underground for 6 months. Because of his past Dazai is put under supervision of Ryuunosuke Akutugawa and his partner Doppo Kunikida.

Neither are particularly pleased about babysitting but do so anyway. They will all grow on each other, very much.

Dazai spends a lot of time in the office lazing about as he's not an official member yet. A sentiment he loves rubbing in Kunikida's face when the latter tells him to make himself useful.

He does end up sorting some files in the cold cases box. The one he picks to read is about a tiger. "A tiger showed up in Yokohama ?"

"Figures you'd find that one. Yeah, it was what 6, maybe 7 years ago. Caused us quite a lot of trouble, and than vanished into thin air."

Akutagawa explains, almost fond. "You think if I find it I'll get the bounty?" Asked Dazai, Akutugawa snorts "If you do, let me know. I'd love to see it."

Dazai's entrance exam is his canon entrance exam though it's with Akutugawa and Kunikida on the case with him.

He passes and is made an official member. It's at his welcome party where Akutugawa gifts him his brown coat. (Akutugawa's wearing his grey one from Beast)

Dazai is still wanted by the Port Mafia though and a bounty is put on his head. Akutugawa senses that's something is up, declining the Agency's weekly dinner to go out.

"Ooo? Does someone have a hot date tonight?" Teases Dazai. Akutugawa rolls his eyes, ruffling his hair "nothing like that you brat. I'll see you later, and atleast try and behave for Kunikida."

"I make no promises" grins Dazai, leaving with everyone else and talking to Gin. Gin's a student and works part time at the Agency like Junichiro.

Akutugawa chuckles at their antics and heads elsewhere. "Didn't think you'd actually show up. Long time no see, traitor." Said Atsushi Nakajima.

The Port Mafia's White Reaper.

He's sat eating something from a lunchbox and Akutugawa mock gags. "Did you really have to bring your lunch with you?" Atsushi smiled and it would've looked innocent if Akutugawa didn't know him.

That, and the blood in his teeth definitely didn't help.

"Didn't know the Agency made you soft. You were never the squeamish type." Atsushi moves his head out the way before Rashomon can stab him, too used to Akutugawa at this point.

Though thankfully Atsushi puts his meal away. His demeanor shifts to a more serious one.

"About the information you asked for, I hate to admit it but you're right. The Boss wants Dazai back for obvious reasons. But he's not the only one searching for him, he didn't put the bounty up."

Akutugawa frowns "who is it?"

"Funnily enough, same people hunting me." Said Atsushi and Akutugawa paused. He hadn't expected the Guild to be after Dazai.

"And before you ask, I don't know why."

"Of course, but you must have a theory."

Atsushi snorts "I thought you were the Detective here?" He hums thoughtful. "They want me for the book, who's to say those reasons are connected? But..."

He shrugs "I can't say what they'd need him for. Other than that his gift must be involved."

Akutagawa nods, as vague as it was it made sense he supposed. "You can ask Kyouka if you'd like, but I'm not getting more involved in this." Said Atsushi, an edge to his tone.

Akutugawa wasn't suprised. The fact Atsushi still met up with him on occasion and was willing to divulge even this much said a lot.

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the Port Mafia as loyal as Atsushi. Mori had plucked him out of an Orphanage that was hell on earth and raised him.

Atsushi had practically pledged his soul to the man. His need to save others became replaced with a need to protect his city, something he excelled at from the shadows.

Akutugawa's purpose was to protect, similar to Atsushi's but he had forced himself to fit into darkness. While Atsushi was a light that could only exist in darkness.

Atsushi wasn't an executive but he was invaluable to the Port Mafia, invaluable to Mori.

Akutagawa knows if Atsushi had someone left with him, Mori wouldn't have simply let him go.

If Mori asked Atsushi about these meetings Atsushi would tell him. But otherwise he'd keep this to himself, it spoke of his loyalty to Akutugawa even after the man had left the organisation.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to intrude on your job. How is Kyouka by the way?" Asked Akutugawa, switching to a much safer topic.

Atsushi smiled fondly, a genuine one unlike the one from earlier.

"She's still on desk duty at the office. You'll probably see her around."

Kyouka was also a special case. Her parents were government assassins and had been killed at her home. Their unit had taken Kyouka in and raised her to be their true successor.

Kyouka was a talented assassin and became the governments spy into the Port Mafia. However unbeknownst to them, she'd switched sides.

Akutugawa reckons it was because of her close sibling bond with Atsushi and himself.

But whatever it was, Kyouka came clean to Mori and he offered her to be his eyes and ears. That's what she became.

All the while searching for the answers of who caused the tragedy that lead to her parents deaths that night

When Atsushi said she was at the office, it meant Kyouka was currently with the Special Abilities Division. The two still met up to get tea now and again.

"Oh, and I didn't take this job. It wasn't handed to me." Said Atsushi, Akutugawa looked at him in suprise.

He'd expected Mori to trust only Atsushi with such a task.... Which meant something else was a foot. Perhaps he wanted the Guild to get Dazai first.

"Can I ask who has?"

Atsushi smirked "Nakahara."

Akutagawa was quiet for a few moments before chuckling. "Of course, who else would be sent."

The animosity between those two was something that rivaled Akutugawa and Atsushi in their early years.

Chuuya Nakahara, formerly the King of Sheep was a force to be reckoned with. He'd only been with the Port Mafia for 3 years, same as Dazai and he'd taken the place by storm.

It wasn't any suprise given his gift. And that he'd been mentored by both Kouyou and Atsushi. And from Atsushi's demeanor, Akutugawa knew just how proud he and Kouyou were of him.

If Akutugawa had to guess Mori was trying to make a new Double Black out of Chuuya and Dazai. Which meant something was definitely up.

He'd say good luck getting those two to work together, but the same had been said that about him and Atsushi.

"I guess I better prepare myself for that fight." Said Akutugawa with a grin. Chuuya wouldn't give him shit for leaving, as long as Akutugawa gave him a worthy fight that was.

"You'd better, he's a lot more stronger the last time you sparred." Said Atsushi, getting to his feet. "I best be off, it was good seeing you."

"And you." Akutugawa watched him vanish into the shadows before heading to the restaurant the Agency were seated at.

Dazai grinned, waving him over to a very obviously saved seat. "I thought you'd be back, your date go that bad?" He was teasing him, but there was a hint of concern.

Akutugawa smiled "I told you, not a date. But it went well, and I am starving." Dazai inspected him for a moment before grinning "well, order up Kunikida's paying."

"I did not agree to this!"

Yeah, Akutugawa was going to protect this kid no matter what.

[writingwenches]

Beginnings

synopsis: we meet our peasant girl!OC, Lyn, as she travels to a market to sell her wares were she runs into a supposed prince, who is a bit of a brat lol. (it is alluded to that the OC is plus size and mixed race, but I did write this quick so its missing lots of info bits).

authors note: this is basically an info dump LOL the opening chapter of an oc/au House of the Dragon Aemond/Peasant!OC fic. Very Princess and the Pauper. The main idea behind it being – wanting to introduce more woman living at court in the Red Keep. Targaryen!cest is not my thing, and I think there's a lot to be said about the lack of woman at court and the fact that Targaryen daughters are expected to marry their brothers #oops.

additional lore: More about Lyn, the Lannisters, and Helaena/other characters.

word count: ~3k

warnings: barely edited, ableism, classism, body image issues, misogyny, general medieval sentiments, very AU/fast and loose when it comes to ASOIAF lore (such as I know the Septas teach girls to read, but its more fun for a cute crush to do it)

The road was well built and raised from the dank, mudded ground. The sound of horse hooves pounding ebbed in and out of focus as they hurried by. The Sister Septas never wanted to give the impression of favoritism, so they made sure to never allow the girls in their charge to ride along, if they were old enough to walk, they could carry themselves to the market, it was one of the many harsh lessons the sisters blessed her with other the years, made up of weeks of seven days, each guided by one of the seven gods.

The Day of the Mother was spent serving those in need and Lyn had worn the village paths well. Lyn was no stranger to hard work. Her frame was sturdy and healthy. Her back was wide, good for hauling bales of hey and baskets of stone. Her legs were powerful, easily carrying her the tens of miles to those in need of her services. And, adorning her face since birth, was a black mark of raised flesh below her right eye. Many say it's an omen of her mother’s sins, and a reason to be left to the charity of the Sisters. Whatever it was, it made Lyn easily requested for hired labors.

Most in the Realm would scoff at the offer of manual labors from a woman, but those in need are much kinder. They they are not always grateful, it is not because of her sex but because no one wants to turn beggar. 

The Day of the Crone was for lectures, often on the immorality of allowing one self to be in need or unwanted. For unwanted men of the realm, there was the Night’s Watch. Some unwanted boys are sent as soon as they were old enough to lift a sword. They were raised and trained to be useful along their brothers, forged to the sole purpose of defending the realm and never to be left wanting. 

The Faith recruited woman of fine birth, in want of a life not owned by a husband, and those who’s families were willing to pay handsomely for a life of purpose for their unfortunately female child. Women worked and clawed and won their way into the duty of a Septa, the Faith had no use for useless girls. There was no place in the realm for unwanted girls. Brothels did not want them. They already had enough bastards, and young flesh did not turn enough of a profit. Girls were not wanted unless they were useful, and many unuseful girls found themselves living on the streets or dead in a ditch. 

That was what would befall Lyn is she were ever to be found wanting, of something more, of something else. She was lucky to have been given her place amongst the holy woman of the Faith, even if she was not going to benefit from their handouts much longer.

Lyn was not sure how many baskets she was carrying, she had threaded her arms through as many as she was able and began the miles long trek to Haronfall Port for the market. Though she was not yet allowed to keep her own coin, it was good practice for her future life of trading and bartering amongst the peasants of the realm.

Charity is the only hope for useless girls, and not enough to go around. The Maidenhouse of Haronfall was an ancient structure, run by the Faith for centuries as a place to send discarded girl-children, forging useless girls into something worthy. It was their true calling, regardless of what those girls’ wants. 

Lyn owed everything to the Faith and the Septas, even when she received her lashings. She always deserved them. Six lashes for each offense, as was the law of the land, one for every god of the Seven, counting out The Stranger. It was bad luck to strike a seventh time, unless wishing them death. And the Septas were never that cruel. 

Lyn had received lashing her six lashing for talking back, and being a layabout, for asking too many questions, for being too ambitious, for pride, for stealing bread, for not finishing supper, for lying to protect another, for being too loud, quiet, and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The same was true for all the girls. Sets of six lashings for each failure on the long list of their life, unless there were seven failures, then eight sets of lashings would be administered. For good luck. 

Lyn was forced to the side of the road by passing carts, hounds barking from the back of the cart as they passed the strange shape of her basket cocoon. The mud is thick and pliable, every footstep loudly sucked from the dank swamp like floor. The hundreds of other feet that had trodded the ground began the kneading. Lyn feels like she is swimming along the the edges of the road.

Lyn surmised most of the Septas had not imagined ending up in such a cold, dank place in the middle of the Kingsroad. The western shores of The Bite was unforgiving terrain, a swamp of brackish, mud-colored water that every structure eventually sinks into. The Reverend Mother often reminded the girls of her life in the southern Reach, of the endless summer days and sweet smelling grass. The wet, grey skies where the North, Riverlands and Vale meet leaves much to be desired for a southerner. 

Lynora was not meant for a life as a Septa, as was foretold since her youth. The maesters and Septons tested the young girls as they came into the charge of the Faith and Lynora, and the other girls of the Maidenhouse, left them unimpressed. She had not shown intelligence, or gifts for art, or sums, or memorizing prayers. So, she was ranked amongst the useless girls who needed to be molded into something more. 

On the Day of the Smith, the girls were instructed to work on their personal projects. Lyn was a skilled basket maker, she harvested, dried and weaved the fibers all on her own. If only the world had been in want for more basket weavers. The Septas assured her there was never a need for an extra weavers apprentice.

“Lyn!” a voice called, her face blurred out by the rising sun. “Have you been to the market yet today?” It was Mads, her fellow ward of the Maidenhouse. 

“No, it is too early,” Lyn answered the obvious question, “How did you–“

“Listen, Lord Ryver sent a raven,” Mads continued, finally coming into speaking distance. 

“But, the Septas hate when he does that–“

“Lord Ryver is playing host to none other than the prince,” Mads could not keep the secret any longer. “I have seen him myself, silver hair and all.” 

Lyn did not bother reacting, as Ryver was a known talltale-teller. “And I am secretly Lady Frey,” she laughed, “The prince is not in Haronfall.” 

“It is fated that you say Frey, because you shall never guess–“ 

“The septa told us nought a week ago of the King’s birthday tourney, don’t you think his son would be there…in the Crownlands, with his father.” 

“Waltel Frey has seen his dragon!” 

Lynora stopped at this. “And we are now believing Waltel Frey?”

“I have to go fetch Wren! She can not miss this,” Mads was the one walking now, back down the road towards the Maidenhouse to spread false whispers the Septas were sure to retaliate for. 

Lyn stepped aside when she heard the call, a two horse cart clomped past with banners of indigo, emblazoned with a proud, white bird. A matching figure sat on the cart, in the place of honor. A woman in a white dress, adorned with dyed feathers and pearls.

It was a strange feeling, knowing someones name, there was an old power Lyn felt creeping from the roots below the swampy road. Lady Hanna Mallister, filled to bursting with another pup for her lord husband. It was sickening the way her belly jiggled as the horse mindlessly aimed for the most uneven path before them. The lady had traveled a week from Seaguard for the monthly market, and Lyn had watched her grow every month with child, enough for Lyn to wonder how many babes were inside her belly this time. 

There was a parodical to bow in the presence, but there was nothing behind the lady’s eyes to notice. Lyn studied her as she passed, searching for something in response, something that could say why this woman would spend half of her life on the road, when so pregnant. 

If there was something to be said about unwanted girls, is that they were unwanted by all. Lyn was glad she would remain unwanted, there was nothing expected of her, so no one would ever be disappointed. 

Sometimes as the Lady Hanna Mallister passed, she would take a passing place down at Lyn. Lyn imagined she was looked at the mark on her face. Many people would say a quiet prayer when they say her, especially those swollen with child. A prayer that their girl doesn’t end up so disfigured and disgusting. Lady Hanna did not seem to say a prayer when she gazed down on her face, the lady did not seem to do anything. 

Lyn did not mind being disgusting and ugly, actually she enjoyed it. Girls did not care about such things as ugly, they cared about her all the same. She knew of the dangers of a beautiful face, the Septas told them every tale that could exist of beautiful girls being dragged away and savaged by men of all ages and sizes. It was horrifying. Lyn was glad that no man would ever want to drag her away or trap her in a tower. All she could promise was ugly children in return. No man wants that. So, she was glad the world was not ruled by women, just like the Septas they would force a use for her in their world, no matter what she looked like. 

By the time she reached Haronfall, long after the Lady of Seaguard she imagined, Lyn had almost forgotten about the tale of the silver haired prince. The other girls of the Maidenhouse fell into step with one another, each of the group responsible for their own wares. Name sharpened knives, Name jarred herbal jams, Name made rope, Lyn wove baskets, and the girls would peddle their wares every monthly market, bartering with connections, always on the lookout for open positions or wanted work. They were not going to live in the Maidenhouse forever, and the older they got, their chances of a comfortable life dwindled. 

His father had thrown yet another grand week in his own honor, tourneys and a great hunt in the Kingswood. Aemond had been forced to sit through enough for one lifetime, even if he was barely a man grown. He could not help but find a quick reason to excuse himself from the festivities, especially with the task of traveling halfway across the kingdom. 

Helaena had been born so closely to his father, the king, that her own name day celebrations were always greatly overshadowed. He could not help but jump at the opportunity to fetch her a gift in the Riverlands…or the Vale…or potentially the North. Flying above the lands on Vhagar, he had noticed a distinct lack of boundaries, like the ones on the Maesters maps. 

Aemond had been stuck in the cold swamplands for nearly a day, and could understand why his studied of geography skimmed over the shores of The Bite, there was simply nothing there. He was glad at the lack of fanfare at his arrival, the Lord of the keep was away, celebrating the King’s name day, and all that was left was his two sons, one near his own age, and the other barely aged out of childhood. 

His fist connected with bone. Blood leaked from holes in the boy’s face. Aemond had wrapped himself on the boy, to pin him to the first and wailed into his face. Aemond could hear the other boy shouting and grabbing his shoulders, Aemond did not yield. He was going to prove himself the victor even if it killed the boy. 

Aemond could feel hands wrapping around his face, his reflexes reacting as if they were clearly going to remove his eye patch. 

“My prince!” Ryver shouted, as if he were about to warn of a fire.

Aemond pulled his punch as Ryver’s alarmed expression bringing him back into focus to the world around them. The bustling sounds of the town. 

“The maidens,” River said, gently shaking Aemond’s shoulders at his confusion. “They are arriving!”

Walton Frey, the boy Aemond had been beating with his bare fists, smiled as blood splattered out of his mouth. 

The young boy, River’s kid brother, barely old enough to be out from his mother’s skirts, offered him a skin of water.

“What?” Aemond could not find any other word to describe his confusion. He knew of Maidenpoole and House Mooton, but they were on the other side of The Vale. The young prince racked his brain for the towns and houses of the area, unable to find an explanation. 

He simply needed to follow the pointed finger of Lord Ryver, as the Frey boy cleared the blood from his face with half the skin of water.

He heard their song first, the same tune he had heard carried by the Septas in King’s Landing when he went light candles with his mother, the queen. He had never heard the tune carried to lightly, with punctuations of laughter, and the crisp voices of youth. 

There were about a dozen of them. 

“The old bats let them come to our markets,” Ryver offered the prince his hand, to finally move Aemond off the Frey boy. “Truely, it is the only thing the market has to offer, if you ask me,” Ryver laughed, ushering the prince to the edge of the weakly fenced in training yard. “The Maiden’s of the Maidenhouse,” Ryver sighed, melting into the fence.

Pesants. The lot of them. Girls dressed in grey wool that made Aemond’s skin itch. They were each different, wearing the same dress, lacking the graceful symmetry of courtly woman. The ladies of court had their places at the sides of their husbands and fathers, offering a gentle voice and soft hand to hold. Women were there to make men better, otherwise, Otto had told him, men would regress into beasts, doing nothing but fighting and burning the realm to the ground. The ladies of court were raised with the knowledge of how to quell thoughts of violence with a simple kind glance. Not that Aemond had ever experienced it himself, but his grandsire had assured him during their many conversations about…urges.

“Ladies!” Waltel Frey called out with a wave of his sore arm. 

Aemond scoffed, it was an insult to the world to call these creatures ladies.

They approached in an uneven form, whoever veered down the path at their beckoning of a Frey. One limping girl was even carrying her own shoes amongst her wares, and Aemond could see mud past her ankles. 

“Lord Frey, do you not have two castles to sleep in, and yet you still choose to be here?” The first girl asked as she reached the fence, knocking on the helmet Ryver’s kid insisted on wearing, Aemond assumed even to bed. 

Aemond did not bother hiding his disgust at the pathetic display of peasantry that appeared before him. During his rides through King’s Landing, the prince had seen more organized gaggles of geese. The cream atop the cake approached, wearing armor of baskets, and a face smeared with mud.

She dropped the baskets at the fence line, releasing a long, labored breath. “So,” she spoke, clearly minded. 

Aemond wondered how heavy baskets could possibly be. 

“Is this your prince, Lord Ryver?” The grey clothed girl looked him directly in this eye, no sense of pretense or reverence. 

Ryver wrapped himself around the nearest fencepost to Aemond, with a wolfish grin, ready to pled his case to the nonbelievers. He had said these girls were raised by the Faith, but Aemond knew of piety, and these girls were a poor example of what a pious woman could be. 

“Are we to believe that he is the only one-eyed, silver haired, man in all the world?” a sceptic asked. 

“How many could there possibly be?” Ryver argued. 

“Yes, but,” a smaller girl interrupted, “he looks like he lost his eye, rather than–?” 

There was a bubbling in Aemond’s chest, as the peasantry spoke about him as if he weren’t even there. He could feel the dragon fire bellowing in his chest, daring them to speak ill of him, ready to burn their pathetic village to the ground. 

“Wouldn’t he had been born that way? They are forced to marry their bothers, after all? Resulting in…such things?” 

Aemond’s mouth was open, without him realizing. The rage at the memory of his defeat at the hands of his nephew vanished and was replaced with the vision of a cyclops babe, writhing in its crib. 

Ryver eyed him with suspicion. 

Aemond could not help but laugh.

[sansxfuckyou]

tear a hole exquisite red (fuck the rest, and stab it dead)

Summary: Creek has layers to his personality just like any other Troll does, rotting and wretched and vomit inducing layers, but he has layers nonetheless

Warnings: psychological manipulation, physical violence, check Ao3 port for full tags

Authors Note: @bulliestrolls started the psychopath Creek au, so go give him some love for all of the glorious ideas his brain spawns. also Creek's a bit of a whore, just to spite Branch even if it means sleeping with all four of his brothers, because I think it's funny. anyways! if ya'll enjoyed consider dropping a reblog or checking the Ao3 port, it really means a lot

It's all a game for Creek, he's playing the long con and Floyd is his perfect little experiment. Who knows, maybe after he inevitably decides to make Floyd cut the cord, he'll try for Bruce, really tear a hole into Branch and his family. He can laugh at the thought of getting Bruce to divorce, to manipulate him into leaving Brandy for another Troll after Creek himself picks apart Floyd and and gives Branch enough mental anguish for a thousand lifetimes.

But no, that won't be enough, not for Creek. Oh not in the slightest, not after all the agony that Branch has given Creek, his vendetta will never be satiated. Who knows! Maybe he'll go so far as to return Branch to his gray state, that'd be delectable. That could make him feel a sense of satisfaction if anything ever could, or Branch's head on a platter, but the downside to the otherwise beautiful idea is that he wouldn't be able to torture Branch anymore.

"Creek!" It's Floyd, the specific tone of his voice is one that Creek has learned to pick out of a hundred in a similar fashion to Branch's. Just so he can hunt down Floyd and use his sweetness and ignorance of Creek's intentions as a weapon. The magenta Troll has this adorable smile on his face, well, adorable if it weren't for the downturned ears that look just like Branch's.

Creek gives a smile, warm like a fireplace on the TV screen, "Floyd, lovely to see you," He catches sight of Branch trudging behind the slightly older and quells a smirk before tacking on, "My love."

Then he's being hugged and as much as he wants to recoil in disgust when it comes to anything that Branch has any form of relation too, he doesn't. He has a performance to enact, and he plans on fulfilling the part with precision as much as it makes him feel ill and want to gag. But at least Floyd is tolerable compared to the likes of John Dory, Clay, or Bruce. He has gripes against each of them for seperate reasons than being Branch's older brothers.

John Dory is far too obnoxiously loud and arrogant and stubborn and always thinks he's perfect, and apparently he bailed on Branch which he can respect. Clay is somewhat paranoid, always has this brat (Poppy's sister, disgusting) clinging to his side, his hair is a mess too. And Bruce, well, Bruce isn't half bad, his only problem is how often he says sorry for leaving Branch to raise himself, and his domesticity, it reeks like rotting flesh.

"What brings the both of you to my meditation alcove?" Creek asked, giving a small bow to his 'boyfriend' and his least favorite person. He wanted to just be cold and cruel to Branch up front and center, the amount of vitriol stored in his tiny body towards Branch and the queen was unreal, but he refrained. He didn't let it seep through the cracks of his composure, he didn't let it show through until he was alone and could tear something to shreds.

"My brother has been having anger issues again, and he's looking a lot more gray than usual," Floyd explained and Creek just watched Branch get even more agitated as Floyd spilled details that should be confidential, or saved for close Trolls at the least. But wait, that's right, Creek is a close Troll now, and Branch just has to deal with that.

Creek gives a hum as he steps ever closer to Branch and takes his paw, it's yanked away and Creek feigns hurt.

"Branch, he's trying to help," Floyd hissed.

"Really, Branch, I just want to lend a hand," Creek tacked on.

Branch gave a long groan of annoyance before reluctantly letting Creek take his paw, only because it made Floyd smile. He hated every second of his bristled fur brushing against Creek even though it was for just under ten seconds.

"Unless he finds a way to perk up," Creek goes the extra mile to grab the tips of Branch's ears and flick them up, the graying Troll stumbles back. Oh he relishes in that and tries to hide his smirk, "He'll go gray again, I'd suggest meditation."

"I'd suggest meditation," Branch bitterly smarms back at Creek who raises a paw to his chest in faux hurt that only Branch can see through for some fucking reason.

"Branch! If you make one more jab at Creek, I'll," Floyd falters, "There will be consequences."

"Love," Creek begins with, "It's fine, I'm used to dealing with children," The glare Branch shoots is sharp enough to slice diamonds, "If you'd like you can leave him here and I'll teach him the basics of meditation."

Floyd gives this soft smile, completely wrapped up in Creek's performance, and then he presses a kiss to the purple Troll's cheek. Creek returns the favor before Floyd speaks, "Thanks, Creek, I'll be back in hour," And then he's taking his leave.

"You're gonna leave me here? With him?!" Branch questioned, a frantic lilt to his voice as he spoke. Two paws held one of Floyd's, desperation clear with how he held himself.

"You're in good hands," Floyd answered with before gently lifting Branch's paws off his own, "I'll bring snacks when I return."

Branch knows he won't win, "Alright, be careful."

Both Branch and Creek wait patiently for Floyd to be out of earshot range before they interact any further. And their interaction consists of Branch trying to tackle Creek to the ground without any remorse behind his actions. Creek doesn't scream, doesn't writhe, doesn't kick or retalliate, and that scares Branch more than any other reaction could. Instead the Troll in question just smiles, this calculating and cruel one that oh so often is matched with the rest of the face, not now, his eyes are cold and most of his face is stilled.

"What do you want with my brother?" Branch tried to snarl, hands resting atop of Creek's arteries, a bit of pressure and he'll go lightheaded, maybe even pass out. It's illegal to kill a Troll, but every single day that Branch has to watch Creek feign domesticity around Floyd he gets closer to committing an atrocity.

Creek gives a hum, "Your suffering, as sweet as he is he's not my type," He watches Branch go through a thousand thoughts at once and the second he knows Branch is starting to formulate a response he adds on, "I'd go for a guy like Bruce if nothing else."

"You absolute cunt," The expletive is more of a harsh whisper, voice coarse with rage, "You homewrecker."

And Creek just laughs, "Oh, Branch, don't you get it?" He ever so carefully raises a paw and traces it across Branch's face, and he knows that the graying Troll would flinch back but he can't lest he wants to let go of Creek's throat, "I'll drop to lows you've never even heard of it'll hurt you- and if your brothers are the collateral damage? That's not really my problem."

"You're fucking sick, do you know how Floyd's gonna react hen he hears this? You'll break him," Was all that Branch could supply in response to to the downright sickening knowledge he had been given.

"And that'll hurt you, which is really what I'm looking for. But if I want a chance to have a go at any of your other brothers then I'll have to let him down easy," Creek said, "I've talked my way into getting a Bergen to not eat me and give up on happiness. You know damn well I can convince Floyd he's the monster so your brothers and all of Pop Village will come to my aid."

Branch steps back from Creek, speechless, and then the fucker laughs.

"They'll come to my aid Branch, they'll be doing everything they can to make sure I don't off myself while leaving Floyd to suffer- and the best part of it all, Branch? It's a two for one deal, and I just know that one of your brothers will be too caught up in making sure I'm okay to even realize how fucked Floyd is," Creek spat, "I'll fuck that one next."

"I'm gonna tell Poppy everything," Branch said firmly like the words would register as a threat to a Troll that's escaped death three times over now.

"She'll never fucking believe you," Creek answered with and the break of silence from Branch is all he needs as an answer. He stands up and makes his way over to Branch, firmly grasping his jaw, "What're you gonna do about it, Branchie?"

Branch doesn't have an answer ready for what he just had unloaded onto him, all he can do is wrench away Creek's paw. He steps back and wipes his paw off on his vest, "Something."

Creek gives a hum and a smirk, "Cute, you think you can beat me at my own game."

"Oh I don't think I can, I know I will," Branch snapped back with.

"We'll see," Creek said, again with this calculating and cruel smile on his face, "When Floyd crumbles you'll go down with him," It isn't an idea, it's something that Creek knows is true, "I look forward too it."

-/-/-/-

Its Bruce.

After Creek has cried a god damn ocean of crocodile tears and used gold to frame Floyd as the monster, Bruce ends up being his next weapon. And he even went so far into twisting Floyd's perception of reality that the magenta Troll is the one saying sorry even though he did nothing wrong. Even though he was the sweetest Troll in all of Pop Village, turned to a somewhat paranoid and reclusive Troll whose graying just like Branch is.

He loved Floyd to pieces. He loved Floyd into his basic elements. He loved Floyd into a million little bits that can never be arranged again. He loved Floyd and played him as the monster with so much accuracy that even the true victim was fooled into thinking he did everything wrong. He loved the way he played Floyd, he loved the way he could use Floyd, he loved everything about Floyd except for the fact that he was Floyd.

Maybe it's wrong, being a user in the way that Creek is, but he doesn't quite care. So long as it brings Branch mental agony than he'll be enacting it, whether it's him being the source of Floyd's joy or pain. And now he's going to go through the same song and dance all over again with Bruce, except, to a considerably more intensive degree.

Because with Bruce he has competition; and that would be Brandy, Bruce's soon to be former wife. What fun really, Creek can tear two families to shreds in one go while no one is looking. He'll gouge another gaping wound into Branch's family and he'll completely excommunicate Bruce from his family.

He's playing this pathetic act when he casts out the first bait for Bruce, sniffling and whimpering as he leans against the purple Troll. He has his knees hitched, "God, I just, I can't believe I was so blind for three months," He forces his breath to catch.

Bruce rubs comforting circles against his acquaintances back, "I wouldn't have seen it coming either, Floyd of all Trolls," It makes sense he'd never have seen it coming what with it never happening at all. All those years in acting school finally paid off for Creek, and he's using them to seduce a Troll with a wife and thirteen kids just to spite Branch.

"I don't even think any of the kisses were real," Creek sighed, slowly lowering his knees and tilting himself to face Bruce just a little bit more. He had to work this operation delicately, like giving someone a transplant, one wrong incision into Bruce's psyche this early on will botch the entire attempt. And he can't have that happening, no not at all, then he wouldn't have a chance to break apart Clay or John Dory afterwards.

"I get it, being the heart throb brings a lot of insincere praise your way," Bruce laughed a little bit as he spoke, edging away from Creek just a bit.

Creek gives this smile, the smallest upturn of his lips at one corner, "Well, if I kissed you it wouldn't be insincere," There's a slight twitch in Bruce's expression. Exactly what Creek is looking for.

"Yeah well, I'm married now, I have a wife willing to give me as many kisses as I so desire," Bruce said, a hint of defensiveness to his voice.

"Well," Creek begins, dragging out the 'L' as he speaks, "Brandy doesn't need to know, it's just between two friends isn't it?"

Bruce is crumbling, Creek can feel it, he can see it, he devours the destruction of resolve. The purple Troll gives a sort of discontented sound, a partially confused one, "Just between two friends, to make up for the falling out between you and Floyd."

Paws are already upon Bruce's face before he can finish his sentence because Creek already knew that the answer would be yes. He's swift to lean in and speak in a tone that he knows will snag Bruce on a barbed hook, "Thank you, Bruce."

And Bruce moves first and Creek has to try his hardest to not smirk into the kiss that picks up pace so much faster than he thought it would.

Hook, line, and sinker.

[freudensteins-monster]

Waitwaitwait... how about "everyones human and can see ghosts/rival spn detective agencies au"?

London crew:

Edwin - the brains, encyclopaedic knowledge of the occult, magic user

Charles - the brawn, street smart, people person (soothes the feathers blunt edwin ruffles), carries a magic bag of tricks

Crystal - psychic medium, demonic possession survivor, hacker, recovering trust fund brat

vs

Port Townsend crew:

Monty - witch, spellcraft, astrology, recovering dark magic user

Thomas - mind-reader, con-artist, flirt, knows a guy who knows a guy who can get you anything you need

Niko - naturally empathic and inquisitive, people just want to tell her things, currently possessed by something... explosive.

[safely-in-vhagars-belly]

The heart is an Ocean (brat oc x darkish aemond)

Darkish aemond x reader/oc (?) (TITANIC THEMED!)

Cool devider credits: its uhm me.

Tags: Au Aemond, criminal Aemond, angst and hurt titanic au aemond x oc aemond x you aemond x

🔷Summary: You attend the ship of dreams, the Balerion in hope of finding your match to enrichen your family. But fate is cruel for those who dream. And the Balerion might not even reach the harbor of Valyria.

🔷Author's note: ''WILL THIS BE THE MOVIE REWRITTEN'' ASHSHSHDH I WISH! NO, its so not the movie. I was planning on naming the ship ''Titanic'' but I could not do that, it felt so icky. Big fan of the movie, big fan of books, the boat in general, and big nerd of it all. I went with a copy of the boat, and named it the Balerion. The route was original from Belfast to America i think but it will be from Crownlands to Valyria.

🔷Wordcount:4397

Warnings can be found under here

🔷Warnings: blood, arranged marriages, smoking, cocaine, illegal drugsdealing, eventually...you know, and murder. (the you know refers to the well-known fate of the boat) Classism, violence (not aimed at OC) and darkish criminal ruthless aemond.

1912

The year 1912 started the way only a disaster year would. Your father, who had finally found gold and diamonds in a mine somewhere in Dorne, had been killed in a mysterious incident, leaving your mother widowed with you and two of your younger sisters. 

But your family would not be your family if you had not survived into the cold and golden world of the rich for generations. And your mother was assured that you would continue the generation, by finding a rich match. 

‘’Another boat,’’ You commented, putting your gigantic elegant hat straight on your head. ‘’I hope Mother tires of these useless vacations soon.’’ The boat looked like a monster that had just risen from the bottom of the sea. A steel death trap, filled with dozens of already cheering workers and middle-class citizens who had been dreaming of even touching the dirty decks of The Balerion. 

‘’Don’t be negative, Y/N.’’ You rolled your eyes at your sister’s constantly annoying optimism. ‘’And besides, it’s a ship. The Balerion is known to be the ship of dreams.’’ You thought you would not survive being with your sister Maelyn that long. You would not see the Port of Valyria before you had thrown her overboard, into the cold icy waters. Or so you thought.

Your brain had no trouble seeing the negative, dark reality that all fools around you ignored. ‘’Why does it look like a nightmare, then?’’ You commented. ‘’It’s like a death trap. Once we are at sea, nothing will save us.’’

‘’Y/n!’’ Your mother hissed as you passed suitable gentlemen of your age. You briefly lingered to inspect the men. Some smiled back at you, some adjusted their ties. You huffed before walking back in pace with your mother, climbing the big stairs and finally, you walked the bridge that connected the big ship to the shore.

Your cabin had been styled in the latest true nobility fashion, with a double bed and your very own vanity, and fresh roses were put in every vase they could fit in your room. Your servants had already brought your luggage and your dresses were neatly hung into your wardrobe. You let yourself fall in the luxurious blush-colored armchair, comfortably resting your arms on the soft fabric. 

It could very well be your last vacation as a rich noble lady, should you not find that match your mother seemed so eager for. You had always known you would marry for stability and riches, but back then it suddenly felt real. As if you have been eating good meals all your life, and someone just handed you the bill. You were not aware of the consequences.

Your second youngest sister, Dysera entered your rooms, looking at your cabin in clear envy and with balled fists. ‘’When will I get the pretty grant rooms?’’ She whined like a little spoiled brat.

You didn’t even look up from your gloved hands. Dy was often not worth the effort. Just a teenage spoiled brat looking for trouble. ‘’The moment you bring home a man. It is expected of me that I have the bigger cabin, as I am the heir and the eldest.’’ You tell her, your voice bored and yet very sharp.

Her envy only grew as you reminded her of this fact. ‘’You are only the heir because mother failed to give father a son. The only thing you attract is drama and toxic men. Good luck finding a match here, sweet sister. I think you’ll need it.’’ She turned to leave, but your voice called her back, hissing as a wildcat.

‘’What is that supposed to mean?’’ You demanded an answer from her. She turned around to face you, with a wicked grin.

‘’It means, that’s a point for me.’’

—-----

Your mother wasted no time throwing you at suitors, as she hired one of the many restaurants for your quick-sessions to meet the eligible men aboard. She had no regard for age. Or rather, no respect for yours. Men that were so old that they could have been there to witness the grace and beauty of the dinosaurs themselves.

One man was interesting, around your age. Jacaerys Velyaron. He was to inherit the Velyaron cruises from his grandfather, the very same man who designed the boat you were both dining at. Jacaerys or Jace as he preferred to be called, was a true gentleman in all aspects, having raised incredibly well in manners and grace. When the waiter tripped and spilled your meal over your gorgeous red wine dress, Jacaerys helped up the waiter first. 

That was a little annoying. You are the lady. His concern should be with you. Not some waiter who can’t keep his tray straight. ‘’I must say, I had hoped your staff would have been better vetted.’’ You entrusted him with a half-meant coyish catlike smile. ‘’My dress is simply ruined. You must make it up to me, now.’’ You told him, filling his head with guilt, manipulation, and lies, folding your hands as you placed them under your chin, smiling seductively at a blushing dumbstruck Jace. 

‘’I shall, Miss.’’ He promised you quickly. ‘’I shall. My apologies for your dress-’’ He might have been your best shot at marriage at the ship. The other men were old enough to wet themselves if you told them a funny joke about the likes of the lower class you have seen aboard this ship. 

But when you returned from ‘’adjusting’’ your dress (slightly loosening your corset so that Jacaerys could see more of your wares) you were met with a horrible and utmost disappointing matter. Jace, your perfect victim, was with a harlot—a gold digger. 

Someone beat you. Someone bested you. And someone just made the biggest mistake of their lives.

The girl laughed loudly at his jokes and you could tell she had him wrapped around his finger in ways you never could. ‘’Damn it.’’ You muttered, under your breath as you made your way over to him. You smiled sweetly at the girl. ‘’Sweetie, I think you got lost. The third class is actually below us.’’ You told her, waiting for Jace to laugh but the weasel kept quiet.

‘’The only one who is lost is you, Miss Waters.’’ She told you when she rose from her seat, perfecting her annoying gorgeous blue dress. ‘’You seem to have forgotten that your family is powerless and poor. No man will look at you.’’ You faked a smile. 

‘’You would know what men like, don’t you, Lady Baela?’’ You would recognize her everywhere. Gorgeous girl with silver locks and beautiful blue gowns, that was Lady Baela. Your mother had warned you about her and her sister, who too, were hoping to find a good match. There were only so many good men aboard this…disaster and she scooped up the only good one that seemed somehow a bit decent.

Baela seemed very contemptuous with your hatred and dislike. ‘’You know my name. I am shocked that there was even enough space in that delightful little thing you call a brain.’’ That hurt, and you were close to ripping that diamond necklace off her neck right there and then. Jacaerys was the only reason you remained civil.

‘’At least I have one.’’ You bit back, your fists balling in an unladylike fashion as Jacaerys became uncomfortable. He made a gesture to the waiter who nodded. You watched in shock as he came to you, to Y/N Waters, heiress and rich heir. ‘’That must be why you are clearly trying to compensate with your jewels for what you lack inside your head.’’ You replied, smiling as Baela’s smug little smile died a miserable death. 

The waiter who had ruined your dress earlier had the audacity to open his mouth to you. He spoke three words that would dig his, and Baela and Jace’s graves. ‘’Miss, please leave.’’ You scoffed, thinking he was joking at first. Perhaps that is something new under servants. But that was not the truth. He was serious about your removal.

So you became angry. ‘’Me? My mother hired this restaurant!’’ You yelled, in righteous anger. ‘’If any should leave, it’s her.’’

‘’For only an hour Miss.’’ The waiter told you and you were shocked at that. The thought that you were just a third-class passenger, was disgusting, disheartening, and unfair. You were more than that. Why didn’t those stupid people see that? Why didn’t anyone see your worth?

Baela snickered and Jace joined her. You felt your cheeks redden with shame before you left the restaurant, but before you left you made sure to accidentally bump into a very expensive vase, causing it to fall into a thousand little pieces. You smirked at Baela before bringing your hand to your mouth, faking a gasp, and heading off.

You sighed, groaning when you had left the mediocre restaurant, and looked for anyone or someone to help you find your way back to your cabin. The ship was like a maze to you. You would not be surprised if you opened one door that led straight to the ocean floor itself. 

Hot tears full of anger ran down your face, as you angrily wiped them away with your satin gloves, as you noticed tiny holes in the fabric. 

The lights briefly flickered, sent chills down your spine, and made you briefly clutch your locket. When the lights were turned on again, a man in an elegant black and white suit greeted you with a small elegant bow and a boyish smirk on his lips. ‘’Fancy a smoke?’’ He wondered, his voice betraying he was from the Crown lands.

You huffed, still insulted that your fish did not take your bait. ‘’Do I look like I smoke?’’ You are a lady, a woman of noble class. Smoking is for the gentleman and the homeless.

The man stepped into the light, and for the first time, you could take in his good remaining eye and his sapphire that covered where the other once used to be. ‘’You look bored and stressed. Any man would tell you to smoke.’’ You would enjoy a good cigarette, just blowing off some steam and forgetting the ugly world for a moment. You loved smoking, that was a truth, but your mother always disencourage you to do it in front of other men or anyone important.

He must think your worries could be solved by a simple smoke, he must think you were some lonely depressed rich girl in need of her daddy. The worst part is, you were just that. You needed and missed your daddy’s fortune, but most of all, you missed him. Your mother had barely made time to mourn him and soon you would be married into a loveless marriage, making you completely alone.

 ‘’You would be too if they sent hoards  of bored old men your way.’’ You replied, and usually, your icy cold exterior sends men running from you. Men don’t like women they can’t outsmart or control. Men don’t like well-read women. Men don’t like unknown or mysterious women. Men want to know what they purchase when they try to find a wife.

This one started to smile, however taking you completely by surprise. ‘’You’re the Waters girl.’’ He knew of you. You exhaled deeply. You could not take another peasant storming in and demanding you to leave the room again. You could not face the reality that this could be the final chapter of your family’s legacy and that you would be their downfall. 

You had hoped to shut him up before he would even start. ‘’Yes. What of it?’’ You snapped,  crossing your arms over your chest when readjusting your dress. 

He briefly scratched behind his left ear, before he stepped closer, his hips swaying to the rhythm of your every unsteadier growing heartbeat. ‘’Quite hostile, aren’t we?’’ He tsked, grinning from ear to ear and revealing his beautiful white teeth.

He grabbed your left hand and went to his breast pocket before handing you a cigarette. ‘’Smoke with me, Princess. It might do you some good.’’ You looked at his cigarettes, likely all the good stuff from the Riverlands. The good stuff.

You wanted to smoke when he grabbed his lighter and made a flame for you, carefully shielding it with his hands. But you pretended, as always, that you were not interested right away. ‘’Alright, let’s see if you have anything worthy of my company.’’ You brought the cigarette to your lips after he had lit it for you, and for a brief moment the tabaqua cleansed your soul of all its troubles and misery.

He stood there, watching as you peacefully smoked his cigarettes, both of you not giving a damn about the bypassing passengers who glared daggers. ‘’What is your name?’’ You asked him after you finished your cigarette.

He spoke again, his voice rough as a diamond with a befitting sharp edge that could slit throats. ‘’Aemond.’’ He said. 

Your chin lifted and you nodded, as you recalled that your mother had given you and your sisters a warning about absolutely not engaging with this ‘’new-money’’ called ‘’Aemond Targaryen’’. You wondered how a Targaryen could be New money, as most of them relied on their ancestors for wealth. Yet you were in the mood for teasing, perhaps in the mood for upsetting your mother.‘’Oh, mother warned me for you.’’

The moment you mentioned that, something changed and shifted the mood from teasing and fun to serious and worry. ‘’Did she?’’ He asked, his fingers slightly fumbling with his ring. You eyed it, curiously. It did not look like a wedding ring, however.

You nodded, eager to make him sweat. ‘’Yes. She says you are a bit of a bad boy.’’ You recalled what your mother told you, as well as many ladies in her gossip circle.

He smirked, quite liking your description as you moved closer to him, staring at his pink luscious lips that seemed quite comfortable to touch, perhaps to lick. ‘’Hm.’’ Was all that left his lips, and you would not know if it was an answer or a moan.

You continued filling his head with info you overheard, reminding yourself in the process why he would be a horrible match. ‘’You have a reputation of a horrible temper, flirtations that don’t end well respectively, unbefitting of a follower of the Seven.’’ You were a good religious woman. Your faith mattered to you.

Aemond seemed insulted by your catlike smirk, before grinning. ‘’Life is too short to keep yourself chained down. Unless you like your chains.’’ He added, sizing you up and down as if he was picturing you in chains.

You huffed. ‘’You see, Mr Aemond: I am a woman. Our reputations matter and we can’t just flirt with anyone.’’ You were insulted that he would think you would let him tie you up as some weak meak thing.

Aemond grabbed your gloved hands, making contact with your skin before staring into your eyes, making contact with your very soul. ‘’Are you really that bored with the old fucks she sents your way?’’ You heard of the word fuck before, but never in that way, and certainly not o describe your future husband. It is disgusting, but the silver lining is, whoever you would marry would perhaps not live very long.

‘’Mr Aemond-’’ You started, your sentence unsure as he pushed his fingers against your reddened lips, silencing you before grabbing you gently by your hips.

He breathed against your throat. ‘’Yes or no, love?’’ He asked as you felt more like a woman than any of those old fucks ever could.

You nodded, hesitant at first. ‘’Yes.’’

He grinned, happy that he was handed what he was ever. ‘’Good girl.’’ He whispered against your lips as you breathlessly watched. ‘’I will make you a deal. My father will name me heir soon, and I’ll become a very wealthy man. We can pretend you are my fiancee.’’ His breath briefly raged over your throat, as his eye danced with mischief and promises he would not dare to keep. ‘’No man would dare to bother you during this voyage, after that, I help you find a proper match.’’ You had never been very romantic or desperate. Not the way your little sisters are.

You knew what men wanted. You knew it back then, you know it now and you would know it until the Stranger dragged you into the seventh hell, screaming and dragging your nails into the carpet.  Yet you asked, coyly as if this was a great sacrifice. ‘’What shall you wish in return, Mr Targaryen?’’ Aemond grinned, brushing his fingers against your cheeks before slightly bending his face so he could whisper in your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

His price was simple. ‘’One night alone with you, love.’’ He had hoped for one night alone with you. You can imagine what you will be doing that night. ‘’I want you to surrender fully to me, for one night. Just one.’’ He must mistake you for a harlot.

You knew his intentions and you knew his plans. Yet you kept coy as a lady and pretended to not understand where he was hinting at. ‘’And what shall we do on that night?’’ Aemond glanced subtly at your breasts.

He grinned devilishly. ‘’I can think of many things.’’

You liked the attention of someone your age for once. And there was something else about him too. He was like fire and you loved to get burned. You knew he would hurt you, but that didn’t stop you. But no businesswoman would accept her first offer.  ‘’What if I talk to your father, hm? How you dare to propose this ridiculous offer to me?’’ You knew Viserys Targaryen was on this ship as well.

His smile vanished and he became quite catty and serious. You liked how he glared at you, clearly affected by your threat. ‘’Talk to him all you want love, I did so for 20 years and he’s not very good at listening.’’ You and Aemond decided to take to the quiet coffee lounge.

‘’But your father has four other children. How are you so certain that you will become the heir?’’ You asked him. 

He grinned as if he found it very funny before answering. ‘’I just am, Love.’’

You nodded, lowering your eyes as his lips got closer to yours. ‘’Confidence is the most attractive trait a man can have.’ He simply nodded and bent his head to kiss you. You turned at the last moment, letting your locks touch his lips before you took another cigar from his breast pocket, your red-stained lips curling into a smile. ‘’But cockiness is not.’’ He tried to trap you under his arms, with a grin before you outsmarted him once more, stepping aside, taking off with the cigarette.  ‘’I enjoyed your company, Mr Targaryen. Let me know if you ever become anything more than your father’s second-born son, and we shall converse again, perhaps under the delight of a glass of champagne.’’ He grinned, his breath still heavy of your almost kiss before he ran a hand through his silver-blonde hair, nodding as you walked away.

‘’Miss.’’ He muttered, more to himself than to you.

—

Aemond Targaryen stood on the deck of the Balarion, smoking a cigarette and watching the beautiful stars drift by, as clouds blurred the skies. He liked to watch the stars, even when he was homeless for a while, the stars were all he had. And he was soon to be atop of the very world, and he would soon have everything they tried to take from him. 

An eye, a woman, a legacy. It was within his grasp. He could not lose focus now. He would not lose focus now. One of his handymen he hired for his dirty work, made himself known by whistling the few short tones they had agreed on. Aemond snapped his head. ‘’How did it go?’’ Cregan wondered as he took a seat beside Aemond. No one was there but the regular watch post.

Aemond grinned, madly as his best friend took a seat beside him, also stealing one of his cigarettes. He thought back to the girl he saw earlier. The photos they sent him did not do her justice. Her luscious lips, her beautiful hair, and her attitude. He always loved a strong-minded and strong-willed woman. ‘’Excellent. She is even more stunning than her in the photos.’’

Cregan brought the cigarette to his lips before taking the lighter from his pocket and smoking a well-earned cigarette. ‘’You weren’t worried about that, were you Boss?’’ He always called Aemond boss, despite Aemond insisting they were friends.

No. Her beauty was unmatched and unrivaled. ‘’I was worried about my nephews fucking it up, I knew she agreed to meet with Jace and various other men. I must snatch her up before her little kitten claws wander to another man.’’ He muttered. ‘’I’m new money, she does not like new money.’’ And that could be a problem.

‘’Money is money,’’ Cregan commented with a shrug. Aemond would agree. Money is money.

He nodded.‘’To us, yes, we are sane men.’’ But they were not sane men. ‘’To them its like an insult. But I have seen the way she looked at me. I will get her on her knees.’’ He vowed to himself before taking another smoke.

‘’You’re evil, boss.’’ Another man commented, who had just arrived with a very important guest. Aemond made eye contact before grinning, sending his guest into waves of terror.

He stood up. ‘’I know. Perhaps if the good path gave me the rewards the evil path has given me, more people would choose for good. Good does not pay pills, unless you’re a septon.’’ He strutted over to the guest, before grabbing him by the throat. The poor man was arranged with sending the suitcases to Y/n’s rooms. He knew where she slept.

Aemond and Cregan ignored their hostage and the watch did nothing, as the entire trip, the entire ship, was one big coverup to get Cocaine to Valyria. The ship, the walls of it, were filled with bricks as big as doors. ‘’I will seduce her. She seems to like me, so far. I just need to keep sabotaging her little attempt at finding a rich husband, and she will have no one to turn to but me.’’ The more he talked with himself, the more he became convinced this could and would work.

Cregan grinned as their hostage briefly whimpered. ‘’Does she remember you, boss? Do you think she recalls?’’ How she kicked him out of the house? How she left him to die in the cold, in the streets? How he almost starved? That brat would not only not know, she would not give a damn. He was middle-class. But now he is upper. And soon, she would become his.

‘’No. She did not. Y/N Waters thinks herself a clever woman, but I assure you, she is not.’’ Aemond turned his attention to the hostage. ‘’Now, I believe you handled the suitcases for my lovely lady friend. Do you know where she sleeps?’’ He saw the fear increase in the eyes of the poor stewart his men kidnapped after dinner.

He nodded, the foolish man, fiddling with his glasses before speaking. He did not eye Aemond at all, afraid of him. ‘’I do, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you, Mr Targaryen.’’

Aemond did not bother to respond.

Cregan laughed. 

He continued, nervous and scared. ‘’She is a lady, it would not be proper to share her room number with just anyone, Sir. Please unhand me.’’ That is true, Aemond admitted to himself. Normally he would not ask, but this was not a normal situation.

He nodded to the other man, Cole. ‘’Very well. You can unhand him.’’ He told his loyal watchdog.

The stewart was relieved at first, until Aemond grabbed him by his dirty blonde hair, dragging him with him to the prow of the ship, where the decorative seahorse was hanging. ‘’No! Sir! Please!” His terrified cries echoed over the sea, and Aemond briefly exhaled the sweet scent of salt, fear, and death.

He whispered one thing in the Stewart’s ear, convinced the boy would wet himself in terror. ‘’Her room number?’’

The boy finally caved, tears streaming down his face as he told Aemond. ‘’192B. The second door on the left.’’ The boy whimpered once he was done speaking. Aemond grinned, pleased as Cregan had noted the number down.

Aemond slowly petted his sweaty hair, rubbing him as a loyal good dog. ‘’That’s a good boy.’’ He told him.

‘’Please sir…’’ the boy croaked, weakly. ‘’I told you. Please let me go.’’ That would be a risk.

He kept the boy above the waves, staring down as the ship created new fresh waves, ever moving forward. ‘’I wonder if they have sharks here. What do you think?’’ He asked the terrified boy.

He shook his head. ‘’No, Sir. Sharks are common in warm waters, they dislike the cold.’’ Aemond was surprised by that but didn't show. 

He kind of could sympathize with the sharks. Lonely, powerful misunderstood creatures. Killers. ‘’Hm. I can understand. I am the same way. The cold, cruel waves. No one would live long. You would not drown, it will be the cold that stops your heart.’’ He told the terrified boy. The boy clung tightly to the rails before Aemond slashed his fingers off, sending a scream to the boy's lips. Cregan handed him a wrench, and all Aemond had to do was hit the back of his head. The wrench craved a hole in the skull, knocking the boy out cold. He then used his dark boots to give him a final kick that sent him flying in the cold dark waves below.

No one would hear him scream, for he was now with the gods, if not now, then he soon would be. The fishes would eat away the evidence and the problem was solved. 

Nothing was heard except the engine of the boat and Aemond’s pleased sigh as he became a step closer to his revenge and a step closer to building his empire. 

And now you have seen my horrible banners xD

no, im just going to share this here, its my playlist for the story. You are not like FORCED to listen to it, but i wanted to share it.

And thank you for always reading my random stuff. It means the world.

[chiptrillino]

I desperately need to know more about the Tooth AU

i think i have to come out and be honest here and admit that the tooth part is just an subplot in between and mainly its an whole au about sokka still following his father to war. (katara and gran gran none the wiser) and sokka is discovered hiding on the ship, when the Southern Water Tribe Fleet is restocking on kyoshi. and well... technically its not to late to turn back and drop sokka off back home and ground him for the next 10 years. but nope. now sokka with sweet fresh 12 years is on a warship. getting the oportunity to be with his tribe and grow to be a full warrior for the next three years. (don't worry sokka meets suki and she does more then just punch the sexism out of him.) (hakoda adopts his own son au? )

traveling the seas and staying in ports leads to cross path with the fire nation prince jerk that searches for the avatar. they obviously don't get along. even in neutral/mixed ports or grounds the boys can't help but constantly jab and antagonize each other till one day it comes to a brawl where sokka punches zuko in the face and a tooth gets lost. (zuko still wins though. sorry sokka you get later your chance)

and uh well... zukos tooth is found by bato and well they kind of keep it? as trophy? who can say they knocked the prince of the fire nation tooth out and has the proof!!! (that nobody believes, because it could be anyones tooth and the crew is not backing sokka up. TRAITORS ALL OF THEM!) (meanwhile zuko gets his golden one. and his crew wont stop with the pirate jokes. TRAITORS ALL OF THEM)

when i was talking with a friend about it i was always like "the only ship here involved are for transportation" but a few silly headcanons of drunk characters later leads to this sub plot of bato and jee kind of hitting it off behind the boys and their superiors back. sharing their love the wide blue sea and freeing feeling of sailing through her waves. sharing drinks ranting over their brats. jee losing it when he hears that sokka has the princes tooth now as necklace to not lose it. bato having fun pushing jee's buttons to get any reaction out of him (subtly wondering if this counts as bending). they both know they don't have much time to tiptoe around it, when they meet they have to go for it, who knows in what kind of circumstances they could meet the next time. they drink and make a toast to making the best of their time, share a bitter sweet good bye the next morning, hoping the memories last till their next encounter that could also be their last.

[starlemonbunki]

DILF SKK IM SORRY

Also headcanons bc I'm so normal about them

Dazai

Janky old broke hobo spiderman energy

When I say broke I mean BROKE

Will swindle his way into getting money

Absolute SLUT will sleep with someone just to have a place to stay the night

Not exactly homeless, he's more like a roach. Just kinda scatters anywhere and stays somewhere he finds comfortable even if he's not welcome (cough cough chuuyas apartment)

Giving frank Gallagher energy but if he actually tried to be a good dad (source: shameless)

Oh did I mention he's a dad

YESSSIRR HES GOT A DAUGHTER BC GIRL DAD DAZAI CANON

His daughter is actually kinda embarrassed of him

She's def the one who worries about him the most

Lives with her mom, who is one of dazais old one night stands (IT SHOULDVE BEEN ME FR)

Her mom couldn't give two shits about this man even if she tried

His daughter doesn't want to be anything like him

She inherited his intelligence tho, just not his irresponsibility

Dazai doesn't live with them, he and the mother aren't dating but they're not friends either, she just kinda accepted that he's this cockroach in her life and her daughter is a nice piece of leftover trash he can't get enough of

Don't get me wrong, dazai LOVES his little girl

Absolutely adores her

She's usually just annoyed by him

He finds it cute when she yells at him cause it reminds him of when she would throw tantrums as a toddler

But she does genuinely love her dad more than anything

It's just hard for her to show it

She's not particularly close with her mom either since she's kind of a cruel and bitter woman

Still not over how dazai treated her

He's not perfect, but he tries

Chuuya

This man is like the complete opposite of dazai

He's a single father who wouldn't leave his daughter alone for a second

Unlike dazai chuuya fell genuinely in love with a woman but she died during childbirth

At first he was angry that his wife was taken away but one look at this little girl in his arms and all the pain and anger washed away

He promised her he would give her the world no matter what

He's absolutely the best father you could ever ask for

His daughters spoiled spoiled SPOILED

Nothing but the best for his little girl🥺

And unlike dazai bro is LOADED so yeah she pretty much gets anything she wants with a snap of her fingers

But she's not a brat tho (at least, not when she's older)

She takes after chuuya in her need to be useful and independent

She's actually way more calm than he is, but she does have a little of his demeanor

Anyway enough abt her since I'm very early into the development of this au and Idk much about how I want the kids to be yet

Chuuya does bulk up as years go by cause ain't no way this child having a TWINK for a father🙄

He does also get a teensy bit taller bc I wanna throw this dog a bone, man

"I'm still growing" You know what?? Yeah you are buddy keep believing in urself😊

Still in the mafia, but since having a kid he's withdrawn a lot more from this life

He's not the type to try to get a higher position for his kid since he knows that the more involved he is with the Port Mafia, the more danger he and his family is in

Only a few in the Port Mafia actually know he's got a kid

For a while they tried to keep it a secret from mori not knowing what he'd do

Also do not leave his young daughter alone with this man

WEVE SEEN YOSANOS BACKSTORY GOODBYE

Chuuya is a lot less violent than he was in his 20s

Having a kid really softened him up

Now when he's on a mission, he doesn't kill anyone unless he was ordered to

He can see the fear in his enemy's eyes and all he can think of are their kids and what would happen to them

So unless he absolutely has to, he won't kill anyone

His job is also a secret from his daughter

He doesn't want her involved in any way whatsoever

He wants her to find her own path, to be her own person, and most of all, to be safe and happy

Wasn't gonna do this part but

SOUKOKU

Dazai and chuuya do get back together in this au

After the unofficial breakup they did have a couple nights together but after a while they drifted apart, chuuya finding a wife and family, and dazai slowly spiraling deeper and deeper into his own mess

Their lives are intertwined again upon an incident where their kids are in danger

That's when they pull a spy x family and secretly defeat the enemy without their daughters knowing about it

It was supposed to be a one time thing, after this they're back to their normal lives

But unfortunately their girls became quite good friends, so they had to keep seeing each other

They went from hanging out with their kids in a daddy-daughter tea party to absolutely destroying each other in the bedroom

Ok that's all I genuinely wanna develop this au so ask me anything! I'd love to answer ur questions!!!

[imliterallyjustsittinghere]

poly!East Blue five au where they all have symbolic tattoos of each other. I really like the idea of Sanji having a bunch of tattoos because he gets new ones whenever they're in port for long enough (a habit he started when he was still at the Baratie)*, so he was probably the start. Nami was most likely next, with Usopp and Zoro being a toss-up. I feel like there would be some logistical issues that would need to be solved before tattooing a rubber man, so Luffy would probably be last. To make it EXTRA sappy, each of them had at least a hand in designing "their" tattoos for their partners.

*inspired by a post that I now can't find headcanoning Sanji, being a seafaring brat raised by former pirates, probably learned about the tradition of getting new ink when landing in new ports or having something significant happen when he was still pretty young (even if I don't think he was allowed to get any tatts until he was past most of his growth spurts).

[gabessquishytum]

Sorry but pirate au dreamling is giving me such reverse warprize hob vibes?? Except it doesnt even START with anything but enthuestic concent and dream wanting to shed his royal image and expectations and being the pirate captains captured wench. He gets the fancy revealing dresses that the prostitutes at port wear and hob laces him in his corset soo tight every morning so "get those little tits to show" he does get the cutest little clevage the actual dress in NO WAY covers!! He looks like such a harlot!! He lovveessss being hobs easy little slut that is always begging to be filled and distracting him... was he crowned prince after destiny became a priest? Yes. Does he care that destruction also left? No. Honestly he thinks the kingdom would do best with Death!! He gets to be loved by the man hes wanted since he knew what wanting someone even was... he gets to be gently debased and fucked stupid and humiliated in the sweetest ways by his rough pirate "captor". Everyone knows dream is 100% OFF LIMITS and hes suchhh a brat!! Hob eventually learns of this and starts taking "complaints" about his snobbish little princeling-whore and they all get resolved with a public spanking over a mess hall table with dream bent over and his skirt flipped up. Hes wearing a biiggg plug that keeps going further the more hob spanks him and hes crying and begging by the end. Hes so much sweeter after that... for a bit 😂

-🔪

Ohhh yes.

When Dream isn't busy riding Hob’s cock, or having his little tits played with, he likes to swan around the ship, generally getting in the way and making a mess so that the crew will have something to "complain" about. In reality they all love Dream for making their (slightly terrifying) captain happy. But Dream loves being publicly punished just like a naughty tavern whore. His pretty little pink cock drools and leaks all over the mess table, so Hob always makes him clean up with his mouth as a final punishment.

If he's feeling particularly mean, Hob will order Dream to dance as part of the evening entertainment for the crew. Dream is a beautiful dancer of course, but he's so embarrassed to do it in front of so many people. A couple of sharp slaps across his tits generally convince him to do as he's told, though <3

[discordiansamba]

thinking about that idea where Keith really is a port brat raised on the fringes of the Galra Empire but taking it in a different direction this time. He was still born on Earth, and Krolia left him and his dad like she does in canon, but they later wind up abducted when the Galra come back a third time (though Heath manages to prevent them from finding out about the blue lion).

The Galra establish that Keith is half-Galra, so he's separated from his dad at a young age to be raised as a part of the Empire. He runs away when he's a teenager, and ends up as part of a group of Galra delinquents who typically make trouble for the soldiers while dodging the draft themselves. He's passively looking for his dad (he can barely remember him) and is not really looking for his mom at all when he hears a rumor that the current Champion looks just like him.

When he hears that he'll be brought to the colony he lives in... curiosity gets the best of him. He wants to see this Champion for himself.

[kaurwreck]

curious what specifically your opinions are for romantic relationships in a/b/o au since it came up... i feel like i've seen you mention entangled polyamory before but idk about specifics

Entangled polyamory is almost always how I approach romantic fictional relationships. I don't really care for dating or sex myself, but I really love romance and sex in fiction as a means for exploring personality, characters' relationships with themselves through others, interlocking dynamics, and narrative themes. I tend to experience my own relationships very intensely and romantically (for lack of a better word; none of them are romantic in the sense that the term is generally used). They're all intense and distinct, even if some are more ephemeral or impersonal or contextual than others, such that they're not interchangeable or relative to each other. So, when I'm exploring sex and romantic relationships in fiction, I gravitate towards a similar intensity and diversity of emotion and attachment, and it sometimes feels unnatural to separate, prioritize, or neglect one relationship over another.

(In other words, some are more ambiguous and mercurial than others, such that polyamory might not be quite the right term, but platonic isn't well fitted either.)

I approach romantic relationships in the a/b/o au the same as I do in my canonverse bsd headcanons, as adapted to a/b/o genre conventions and worldbuilding:

Dazai and Chuuya each have the other's mating bite/are swan-married. But their mating bite scars are wild; they're messy and vicious and it looks like they mauled each other (they did). They also bit each other at 15, which is not socially acceptable, to Mori and Kouyou's exasperation.

Dazai and Chuuya are dating Kunikida, together and separately from one another. Kunikida is their partner, but not their mate (i.e., it would be egregious, offensive, and violating for him to bite them.)

Ango and Dazai are in a years-long situationship that. Resists description. If you asked each of them separately about the nature of their relationship, they'd offer wildly different but similarly cryptic explanations.

Ango is an alpha and becomes immensely sexist regarding omegas when speaking about Dazai, like, entirely unprovoked; flagrantly offensive; shockingly out-of-pocket. But only in contexts involving Dazai. Otherwise, he doesn't seem to notice or harbor any explicit or implicit biases related to designations.

Katai and Kunikida have each other's mating bites/are swan-married.

Jun'ichiro and Naomi blatantly have each other's mating bites, because there isn't a reality in which they don't.

Ranpo and Poe are in a relationship but haven't bitten each other as far as anyone is aware. Fukuzawa is not tolerating the matter especially well regardless.

Chuuya and Dazai's heats are synced, and typically spent in the Agency dorms rather than Chuuya's Port Mafia-affiliated penthouse to avoid triggering Dazai while they're both vulnerable.

They're both aggressive while in heat; Kunikida doesn't join them until near the end of each cycle, when they've calmed down enough to tolerate him.

Chuuya has an elaborate, multilevel nest in his penthouse. He makes do in Dazai's dorm.

Atsushi also has an elaborate nest, but only because of an incident in which Kunikida threw most of Chuuya's makeshift dorm-nest in the wash without realizing it was a nest, resulting in a conniption over which Dazai quietly sent Akutagawa and Atsushi on an errand to fix the matter, during which Atsushi discovered fancy, high-end nesting furniture and engaged in intensely brat-like behavior until Akutagawa conceded his credit card.

The above incident is also how Kunikida learned he has been regularly destroying Dazai's nests on the assumption they are trash piles; Dazai just let him without saying anything, unlike Chuuya, who made him duly suffer for the transgression.

Akutagawa and Atsushi keep using sudden and vicious mating bites to one-up each other/prove points/win fights against the other, only to scamper to Yosano to whine and throw fits and accuse each other of impropriety until she heals them. The first time it happened was a miscalculation, but it's become habitual. They're in a romantic relationship, and Atsushi, who would rather not be cut to bits by Yosano every time Akutagawa is about to lose an argument, insists they could just leave the mating bites alone. But the circumstances in which they bite each other are so terribly stupid and unfit for sincerity that Akuagawa is committed to shaking Atsushi like an Etch-a-Sketch until they're competent about it.

[jeiku-whalelele]

Bungou Stray Dogs ✦ Normal AU

・┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆・

⚕ These HCs might not even make sense. EW.

( •̯́ ^ •̯̀) I'm sorry that some of them are super-duper random / confusing.

𓆩♡𓆪 Advice / compliments / comments are appreciated!

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

↪ Although I personally love the headcanon of Atsushi and Ryuunosuke being roomates, I feel like the Akutagawa siblings would live together instead (because one of them is an overprotective brat)

↪ Ryuunosuke works in the Port Mafia Studios as a V-Tuber. No one knows of this, except for Gin and the Port Mafia company.

↪ Gin works as a V-Tuber designer for their customisable avatars. Her job is able to grant the two of them a small house near their university.

↪ The siblings go to Yokohama University, the one that most of the cast go to as well.

↪ Atsushi and Kyouka would live together and Kyouka would definitely cook because Atsushi probably has no idea how to / burned the kitchen down before in a pathetic attempt to. Most of the time they just have take-away.

↪ Kyouka loves crepes; every weekend Atsushi takes her to the local crepe café and they get the sweetest things known to humankind. Atsushi always ends up paying, though.

↪ That's also how they met Lucy M. Montgomery, a worker at the café. They find out that Lucy also goes to Kyouka's high school and sometimes, when Atsushi drives Kyouka to school, he picks up Lucy too.

↪ Lucy lives in a small house with Louisa and Poe. They both have important jobs working in the Fitzgerald Policy Bank, which is how they have so much money. However, Lucy wants to be more independent so she also has a job at a café to help pay off the bill as well.

↪ Poe mainly spends most of his time at home, all holed-up in his room, writing horror stories and mystery fanfiction. One time, Ranpo asked him to write a romance story and it actually blew up.

↪ Kouyou owns a small flower shop. Her adoptive son, Chuuya, sometimes helps out when he has time. Dazai, one of Chuuya's school-mates, one which he doesn't particularly like, once came into the shop looking rather lost. Chuuya had helped the brunette find a fitting bouquet of flowers, and they didn't speak of the incidence since.

↪ Kouyou worked at a preschool a long while ago, which is when she had met Kyouka. Other people that went to the preschool include Kenji, Kyouka, Elise, Q and Karma.

↪ Chuuya wants to be an actor and is in the same university as Dazai.

↪ Ango works in the Government and rarely goes home at all, being the workaholic he is, so usually his work college, Mizuki Tsujimura, has to take care of him.

↪ Oda used to own a bookstore called The Flawless Bookshop and had met Poe and Kunikida before through his occupation. They were regular customers who sometimes stopped by to chat with Oda. Now that Oda has passed away, Dazai manages the bookshop whenever he can.

↪ Kunikida would definitely be a maths teacher at a private school who specialises in algebra. He lives alone and his house is probably very organised and tidy.

↪ I feel like Dazai would be his very annoying neighbour that Kunikida tries to avoid at all costs (but obviously fails in).

↪ Dazai majors in Business Studies as well as Economics.

↪ Kenji helps out in An Encouragement of Learning by keeping everyone cheerful and marking the scores. Fukuzawa shows his appreciation by giving the boy glasses of milk whenever he drops by.

↪ Kenji actually lives with Chuuya and Kouyou and helps out with the flower shop whenever possible. Both Chuuya and Kouyou absolutely adore and treasure the blonde.

↪ Tachihara is a famous V-Tuber working under the company Port Mafia Studios. He lives with Higuchi and they go to the same university (Yokohama University).

↪ Usually, they bicker a lot. Tachihara and Higuchi had both had a slight, small (very insignificant) crush on Gin and strangely, they actually bonded over that.

↪ Higuchi likes eating Sakura Mochi and Cherry Blossom Dumplings. They, like Atsushi and Kyoka, go to the local crepe café to get the snacks. Tachihara and Higuchi split the payment are share the food.

↪ Several people have mistaken the pair as a couple, much to their amusement. Tachihara likes to jokingly flirt with Higuchi, and Higuchi likes to shoot pick up lines at the other. However, their relationship is purely platonic.

↪ Kajii is a lab scientist. He's basically the BSD Dottore equivalent. He locks himself in his lab all day to work on his projects and incoming reports. No one really knows much about him, except that he likes to talk really loudly and in complete, utter nonsense. He comes out of his lab-cave at night only to get a hot bowl of Chazuke.

↪ Paul and Arthur live together and both work under Port Mafia Studios. However, Arthur works in the economic part of the company and Paul works in the business part, like a spokesperson / ambassador (public speaking). They play chess on weekends and sometimes volunteer in the schools / community whenever they can.

↪ I don't know why, but I think Yosano would live with Ranpo and Fukuzawa and would be currently studying / getting a doctor degree.

↪ Ranpo and Yosano are seen as a sibling duo to their neighbours!

↪ Fukuzawa works in his office room all day, organising his small business on tutoring (An Encouragement of Learning). Ranpo likes to assist whenever he can by getting small treats for him.

↪ Mori owns the company Port Mafia Studios. He spends lots of money on people who design the avatars. Elise even gets her own avatar because she thought they looked really cool.

↪ Hirotsu works in the Port Mafia Studios, doing most of the paperwork and managing the connections. He thinks it's quite a boring job, but it's nice to see different recruits and get to know them.

↪ Higuchi is almost like a privately hired scout for Port Mafia Studios. She finds people that fit into the requirement for V-Tubers.

↪ The Tanizaki siblings live in the same apartment complex as Fukuzawa, Ranpo and Yosano. Naomi works at the same café as Lucy and I have a feeling Junichirou would work in The Flawless Bookshop. Junichiro also works part-time in a tutoring company called An Encouragement of Learning.

↪ They enjoy going to the local park often together. Sometimes when the evening is warm, the siblings get ice cream together. Naomi's favourite flavour is strawberry or taro and Junichirou likes vanilla or mango best. Sometimes, they even see Kenji, Kyouka, Elise, Q and Karma in the playground and wave to the little group as they pass.

↪ Fyodor, Sigma, Nikolai, Bram and Mushitarou live together. I really like the idea of combining the two groups together and how singularly, their energy is kind of muted, which together, they would all be a chaotic mess.

↪ They all share one house. Their neighbours often file complaints about how much yelling would come from the house on Saturday evenings, when the five would play card games / poker. The complaints got so bad that Kenji had to literally knock onto their door (only to get a goofy clown in his face).

↪ The Hunting Dogs minus Fukuchi and Tachihara (aka Teruko, Jouno and Tecchou) reside on the university campus. They love practicing Martial Arts in their backyard and sometimes they help out with the community. Other times, they go along their street with hand-baked cookies and offering a packet to each household.

↪ Jouno and Tecchou cannot cook nor bake. Teruko enjoys being able to feel helpful and also able teach them something new, as she takes Food Tech and Studies, as well as Maths.

↪ Jouno and Tecchou both take English, although I feel like Jouno would take Geography as well and Tecchou would take History, too.

↪ Aya Koda and Bram randomly met at the local park one fateful evening. It was a rather comical first-impression; Bram was swinging on a kids' playground swing and Aya and Q wanted to go on. The two had an intense staring match with a lot of yelling and Q screaming in the background.

↪ Now, Aya and Bram go to arcades on weekends. Q sometimes tags along with them and they spend all of Fyodor's bank credits on plushies and the like.

↪ There isn't much known about Shibusawa either, like Kajii. The man usually just stays in a university dorm on campus, but he studies Fashion Design Tech and is really good at it, especially the designing part of the criteria.

↪ Dazai claims to see Shibusawa and Fyodor at an ice rink together once. He reckons they were professional skaters and told everyone who would listen that he joined them. Nothing is really known about that recount.

[charkyzombicorn]

Here’s a thought I had. An au where Shanks goes around giving Buggy’s snail number out to people. The reasons? 1. To be an asshole because it’s funny. 2. Maybe it will help Buggy with his issues somehow?

Luffy gets the number and while he does somehow memorize instantly, it never occurs to him to use it, although he did teach his brothers about the super cool number Shanks left.

Yassop leaves Brachina the number, but it’s Usopp who actually uses it years later, trying to find his dad so Yassop will come home and help Brachina.

Instead he gets a very confused clown pirate, wondering how this little boy got his number.

Buggy is so fucking annoyed. His snail phone is exhausted from being called so much. He wants to rest but children keep calling him in the phone and then saying the most gut-wrenching stories with the same tone they would use to comment on the sky being blue.

First it was Luffy, who said his name, that he was going to be king of the pirates (Brat) and that he had two new brothers and he wanted to tell everyone because he finally wasn't alone (and No it didn't remind Buggy of himself before Shanks and the Oro Jackson, Fuck Off).

Then it was Usopp who declared himself the bravest warrior of the sea because he didn't shed a single tear when his mother died, and hasn't since and now he's super strong because he has to do odd jobs to feed himself now. So Buggy, clown that he is, decided to visit - only for that douche Kuro to stop him by starting shit and almost sinking his ship. Buggy wanted to punch his glasses into his face but he was fighting for his right to visit some random snotnosed brat that got his number. So he left.

Then some brat named Ace called him, and asked what he would think if the pirate king had a son. So Buggy was completely honest, because that was a very strange and very specific question and he was still tired from helping patch the ship. "Roger did have kids - two of em', got one in a treasure chest and the other from a dumpster. But of course he gave the first kid his life's treasure and the second kid a mop. If he had a third kid I'd just hope they were born on neutral ground so they could see to their own future and not the one that asshat forced on them. Now Where Do You Kids Keep Getting My Number". But the line was silent, and a few seconds later went dead.

Then he got Another call from Another child, this one called Sabo. He said he knew Buggy was a pirate, said he could be a choreboy, a navigator and a fighter on Buggy's crew for the small price of Getting Him Out Of Goa. Buggy said he didn't want a toddler on his ship, "Sabo" insisted that he was 15 (not even a chance), and he could pay Buggy - 50 thousand for a spot on his ship. Buggy was definitely one for bribery, but he accepted such a low offer because the kid seemed desperate and people have good reasons to need to leave a place like Goa. So he shipped off, made it to port the next day and then promptly shattered himself into bits when he saw the celestial dragon ship in the distance. Then a blonde brat with neat clothes, a rucksack and a purposefully mean-looking glare said he was Sabo and that he wouldn't give the money until he was on the ship.

Buggy told him to go fuck himself, they were hiding the ship and praying the celestial dragon left without calling a buster call. Then his snail rang. Again. He ordered his crew hide the ship nearer the mountain before picking up the phone. It was Luffy again. "Listen, Luffy, calling me twice a week to tell me about your--" Luffy was crying.

"There was a fire. Sabo's gone. Ace hasn't woken up since the fire. What do I do? I can't lose my brother's they're all I have--" Buggy got the snail phone smacked out of his hand by a metal pipe and he yelped while Sabo was already curled around it with both hands on the receiver like it could break.

"Luffy?" And the mean face was gone, and he was definitely 10-ish. "Luffy, what happened to Ace--"

"SABO!!!!" The snail yelled so loud Buggy could tell its throat hurt. "You're with Shanks' mystery friend! You're okay! You need to come back, I went into the fire and so did Ace and Ace got hurt protecting me and we need you back I'm sorry if I'm why you left--"

The blonde kid was crying. Buggy wasn't known for his skill with children, so he just stood there. "Okay - I'm coming home, okay? I'm not leaving, I promise. Just - just watch over Ace until I get there, okay?"

"Yeah!"

Sabo hung up the the phone and looked back up at Buggy. "Change of plans." He said, after trying and failing to wipe his tears.

"Oh no shit." Buggy mocked. "Go home, kid."

Sabo nodded, but then hesitated. "You know Shanks, right?"

Buggy couldn't help the sneer - not that he wanted to.

"Shanks gave his arm to save my little brother's life. I owe him a debt, but. Thank you for helping a stranger." He put his little hand out as if Buggy wanted to shake sticky toddler hands.

Buggy flicked him. "You're just lucky Luffy's my biggest fan, or you'd be scrubbing the floors, brat."

[lanaisdoe]

Hi, i found your blog. That is raely cool und fantastic. Im a big fan too from Daemyra. And i think was allone was so impressed and obsessed of them too. Do your write fanfictions?

Greetings Amaryllis

Hello, my dear Amaryllis <3 :))

Thank you!!! I am very happy to hear we share the same passion. Feel free to send me a personal message! In messages it's much easier to chat :)

And yes, actually:) I am currently writing one fanfic. It's called MORE THAN YOU KNOW. (...yes, it's got to do with the song's lyrics :D : "I just need to get it off my chest, yeah, more than you know, yeah, more than you know! You should know that baby you're the best, yeah, MORE THAN YOU KNOW...I saw it coming, from miles away I better speak up if I got something to say...Your good intentions are sweet and pure but they can never tame a fire like yours...Right where you wanted, down on my knees, you got me begging, pretty baby set me free...") It's a modern AU but with Daemon and Rhaenyra mostly true to GRRM's books. My Daemon's protective, adoring, caring, devoted, passionate and obsessed when it comes to Rhaenyra but cunning, smart, sarcastic, impulsive, self-seeking, and unhinged, with a Targaryen superiority complex, when it comes to everything else. My Rhaenyra's love-struck, naive, a dreamer, adoring, obsessed, a charmer and a sly fox when it comes to Daemon (at the beginning of the story), but spoiled, self-important, egocentric and a brat when it comes to everything else. They're family (second cousins once removed) but they call each other uncle/niece 'cause Daemon and Viserys practically grew up together, like brothers. (And yes, their union is legal in the U.S., I've checked, so no worries :D) In my fic the Targ family are wealthy but private people; they own a King’s Landing shipbuilding and logistics company. We follow Daemyra's story throughout years, their dynamics change as the story progresses. (Rhaenyra's basically 18 at the beginning, Daemon 30). It starts with them reuniting after 5 years apart. It's a story with detailed relationship development, with lots of texting, calling, hanging out, and lots and lots of cute, hilarious, caring, passionate, and truly deep moments between the two. Soulmatism. Fire. Targ superiority. Us against the world vibes.

Here are some pics to give you an idea of what to expect in the first few eps (and the story will be long, I'm afraid. Very long :D it already is long, and it's just the beginning. But it's all action, all about Daemyra's bond). It's set on the Olympic peninsula, Washington state, in a small seaside town Port Townsend + Marrowstone Island, Tacoma and Seattle :) It's all written in a form of entries with exact time, place and date... We see Daemyra's rship develop, change, deepen, and all that in different seasons of the year in everyday life moments:)

romance, comedy, drama / 10% drama, 90% feel-good

etc ... :)