#she still does contests! her n brendan both

[ribbononline]

Still trying to finish other things but in the meantime- updated design for my older May! She's an Ace Trainer

[movedto-consulsmirror]

My pokeprotag hcs :]

Red — nonbinary (he / they), homosexual, ace

- leaf's twin brother - Selectively mute, hard of hearing - Autistic - married to Blue - Originally called Red Branch, now called Red Branch Oak (as though that's any better) - Got Charmander as a starter

Leaf — trans feminine nonbinary (she / they), lesbian - Red's twin sister - Full of life, also hard of hearing - calls blue various fruits in sign language - Still called Leaf Branch - Chose the name Leaf specifically to match their family name - Got Bulbasaur as a starter

Kris — nonbinary (he / him), lesbian - off the shits little woman - Adopted sister of Ethan and Lyra - Does abt 50 sports in his free time - Became champion for abt a week but only so he could brag to Ethan that he did it first - Got adopted by Leaf as a sister after Ethan got taken into the family by Red and Blue - Got a Totodile as a starter

Ethan — trans man (he / him), bisexual - Lyra's identical twin brother - Healthy sibling rivalry with Kris - Chose the name Ethan out of the phone book - Got adopted as a brother by Red and Blue after finding Red on Mt Silver and losing to him pretty badly - Dresses himself in the dark 8/10 times - ADHD - Got Cyndaquil as a starter

Lyra — cis woman (she / her), pansexual - Ethan's identical twin sister - Does sports with Kris in her free time, could reasonably throw ethan like a rugby ball if she was so inclined - Became the champion after Ethan went off the Mt. Silver to fight their new brother - Really looks up to Leaf as a cool big sister type - Got Chikorita as a starter

Brendan — agender, (it / that), aromantic

- May's identical twin - Beat the Hoenn E4 but said fuck that to beating Wallace with a Blazekin and only a Blazekin - Currently the Contest master alongside its dear friend Lisia - Adopted child of Maxie somehow - QPP with Wally - Keeps trying to wear more trousers together to see who would try and stop him - Got Torchic as a starter

May — trans woman (she / her), lesbian - Brendan's identical twin sister - Currently Hoenn's champion, did it with a lone mudkip - Adopted child of Archie because they're both off the shits and also fuck you Norman - Never cared much for the contests bc they don't - appreciate her dear friend mudkip - Got Mukip as a starter

Lucas — cis man (he / she), homosexual -Dawn's younger brother (abt a year difference) - His scarf was a gift from Barry, his dear silly little boyfriend Barry - Hard of hearing - Turns off his hearing aid if Barry's trying to fine him - Got Chimchar as a starter

Dawn — trans woman (she / her), bisexual

- Lucas' older sister (abt a year difference) - Makes her own clothes and is really good at it - Visually impaired - Current Sinnoh champion - Got adopted by Cynthia after winning the title - Got piplup as a starter

Hilbert — agender trans man (no pronouns / it), homosexual - Hilda's twin brother - N's honourary little brother - Made the equiv of 100 gecs alongside Hilda - Didn't actually go on a pokémon journey to become champion, was too busy being called Hilbert and trying to befriend the tall green man to fight the league - Cheren's boyfriend - Got Oshawott as a starter

Hilda — trans woman (he / they), lesbian - Hilbert's twin sister - N's honourary little sister - Made the equiv of 100 gecs alongside Hilbert - Champion of Unova, punched Ghetsis in the face - Took Iris under his wing and practically adopted her as a sister - Got Tepig as a starter

Nate — nonbinary (they / them), Demi ace - Almost the champion but got beaten by Hilda, content at beating the E4 - Hugh's Partner - Cuts their own hair - ADHD + Autistic - Decided to dedicate themself to looking after bird pokémon and do research into them - Got Snivy as a starter

Calem — cis man (he / him), pansexual - Sycamore's semi adopted son - Fr*nch - idk i never played x/y - Got Froakie as a starter

Serena — nonbinary woman (she / her), lesbian - Calem's half sister - The current Kalosian Champion - Took Diantha to be her new big sister - Deaf - Got Fennekin as a starter

Elio — nonbinary agender (any prns but she), aro ace - Selene's identical twin - Hau and Gladion's QPP - ADHD - Got adopted by Kahili (specifically my Kahili) as a sibling and taught Alolan sign language by it - Originally from Johto - Got Rowlet as a starter

Selene — nonbinary agender (any prns but he), Lesbian ace - Elio's identical twin - Lillie's partner - Also got adopted by Kahili (specifically my Kahili) as a sibling and taught Alolan sign language by it - Alolan Champion - Originally from Johto - Got Litten as a starter

Victor — trans man (he / him), homosexual - Gloria's twin brother - The part of the relationship between him, Hop and Bede, that keep getting them all into trouble - Galar's tower master after Leon - Studying to be a pokémon professor alongside hop - Really fucking quiet, only really talks to Gloria and his boyfriends - Looks up to Raihan (brother in law in law) as the coolest trainer in Galar, sorry Leon - Came from Sinnoh at 4 years old and grew up in Galar - Got Scorbunny as a starter

Gloria — nonbinary (he / they), lesbian - Victor's twin sibling - Marine <3 - Currently the Galar champion - Tourettes - Came from Sinnoh at 4 years old and grew up in Galar - Got Sobble as a starter

[redhoodsjacket]

Hard to Understand - Steve Rogers (1/2)

Hey I’m back, for a while I hope. So um, I’m trying to write something light but it just won’t work haha. WELL. That’s what I got. Hope you enjoy more drama. Part 2 coming eventually.

If you want light stuff send me prompts because I’m running dry here

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Cop!Reader

Genre: drama

Word count: 2414

Summary: Four years after Steve left, he shows up again at your work, asking for your help on an urgent task.

Warnings: A gun, and maybe one (1) curse words? Can’t remember exactly if I watched my language in this one. Most likely not.

"Um, (Y/N)..."  You paused your typing on the keyboard and looked up at Brendan, another of your precinct's detective and your best friend. You raised an eyebrow, silently inviting him to continue. "There is someone here for you" He said slowly before adding one quick remark. "Please don't freak out" 

You looked up at the bullpen, immediately noticing the tall blond man awkwardly observing around, like a lost child. You froze into your seat as he noticed you as well, trying a small, timid smile. He walked up to you and stopped at a reasonnable distance from your desk.  "Rogers" You greeted first with a professional nod, avoiding his glance. You still caught the hurt look on his face at the cold words.  "(Y/N)" He returned after a sigh. "It's uh, good to see you" "What do you want?" You cut to the point directly, not in the mood to make small talk with your ex boyfriend. You had met Steve a few years ago, when he moved in Washington after the events of New-York. Back then, you were an aspiring Lieutenant who was willing to take any big case to prove your worth, even if it meant working along with S.H.I.E.L.D on a situation you were violently under qualified for. Luckily for you, Captain Rogers had been there to make it all the better. It had instantly clicked between you two, and despite both of your packed up schedules you managed to give a try for a romantic relationship.  It was great while it lasted. You had always had a hard time to find a guy that would respect you and your job, but with Steve, you didn't have to worry about that. He was amazing, on top of being funny and witty. The perfect guy, really. But then, SHIELD fell. It was the beginning of the end for your relationship. Steve started to become more and more secretive, leaving for long period of times without clearly telling you what he was doing. Steve was overall great, but he couldn't lie to save his life. So he was always poorly deflecting the topic, throwing you some shitty excuses.  Now you understood that being a genetically modified dude from the 40's couldn't be easy, and that secrets came in a package deal with the man. But it became much more than you could handle, so you parted ways.  "I need your help" Steve said, and you sat back in your chair. "Something important was stolen from me" "I will give you the stolen possession form to fill and transfer you to detective Richardson" You replied, digging out the form from your desk. "No!" He hurried, and you paused again. He looked alarmed, quickly glancing from left to right. "I need your help. I can't trust anyone else with this" You crossed your arms over your chest as your eyebrows raised to the ceiling. "Uh, that's new" You huffed sarcastically. "What made you change your mind?" "(Y/N) please" Another pained look flashed across his face. "It doesn't have to be like that" "Well I think it does" You said flatly. "You're the one who ghosted me, remember?" "And I will be forever sorry about that" He admitted, and at least he seemed sincere. You knew he was, but it didn't make it better. "But this might be very well a life or death situation" "Yes and that's why I'm transferring you to Richardson. She's specialized in this kind of situation and will handle your case with the utter most professionalism" You explained. He leaned on the desk and bent closer to you. "I need to find it before it falls into the wrong hands" He ushered. "You're the best detective in this city. Please, I'm begging you, I really need your help. You know I wouldn't have bothered you if I didn't have anyone else to turn to" You debated for a few seconds, then nodded. He truly looked desperate, and even if you were still angry and hurt from your relationship, you couldn't deny your duty. That sounded like an important item indeed, and safety could be at risk. You nodded shortly with a sigh. His shoulder sagged in relief. "Thank you so much" "Not doing it for you" You clarified, standing up. You gathered the file you were currently working on and went to Richardson's desk. "I'll need you to take over this case for me, an emergency has popped up" "Right on Lieutenant" She replied and took the file. "Thank you" You gave her a small smile and walked back to your desk, grabbing your jacket.  "Where to?" /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ "You must be kidding me" You said with the straightest face, but you really wanted to scream at him. Was he doing it on purpose? "You wasted my time for your personal journal?" "It's not just a journal" He defended. "It's important-" "Listen" You interrupted him, trying to keep your cool, which was becoming harder with the second. "I get that you're sentimentally attached to that thing, or that you wrote some personal shit you'd be embarrassed to see out in the media, but labelling this as an emergency? Seriously? What are you trying to do?" "Wha- No!" He exclaimed. "It's not that! In that journal I had a list of active Hydra operatives, and it's been stolen" "Oh so you had a list of international terrorist just hanging around your stuff?" You drew your eyebrows. "Nice shot. Although I doubt that the person who stole it will do the same mistake. Forget it Steve, it's gone" "Do you think I would just have a list of name clearly written for anyone to see?" He asked, sounding a bit hurt by your assumption. "They are coded in my drawings" "Alright, great, they're coded" You let your hands fall loudly against your thighs. "Why not going straight to the court of justice then, to bring them to trial?" "Because I need to have a solid file against all of them, which I don't have yet" He explained. "If I only have a handful of them, the rest will flee and they'll be off radar forever" You didn't reply as Steve stopped the car in front of an old building in a semi legit part of DC. You got out of the car and pulled your jacket tighter around yourself, feeling the cold hitting you harder now that you weren't sheltered by the buildings anymore. You entered the place and walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, every steps squeaking under your feet. You finally followed Steve into an apartment at the far end of the corridor, where only ushered voice were coming from another room. You went ahead, passed two doors and walked right into the kitchen where two men were bent over the table, checking out what seemed like blurry pictures. One of them looked up, and your instincts reacted faster than your mind.  Recognizing the face instantly, you grabbed your gun from your holster and pointed it at him. Your heart was beating fast, but he seemed as calm as ever. He never jumped or even flinched, he just stood there, seemingly accepting the situation. It made you confused.  You would have expected him to jump over and disarm you, or at least run away. But he didn't move an inch. "Hey hey hey" Steve hurried, stepping in your line of shoot and pushing down the gun. "Don't, he's a friend" You let Steve disarm you as you kept up the staring contest with the metal armed man. James Barnes, he was called. Last time you've seen him, he was destroying your city and getting civils caught in his crossfire.  "I'm sorry" He spoke in a voice that kind of made you pity him. You hadn’t accused him of anything yet, and there he was, apologizing. That threw you off real good, because you were left blinking like an idiot. Out of all the things you thought he'd say, that definitely wasn't in the list.  "Bucky, you don't have to-" "What is going on here?" Someone else chimed in, and you welcomed the break of the tension. The man stopped in his tracks as he took in the scene, his eyes travelling from Barnes, to Steve, to the gun in his hands, to you, then to Steve again in the middle, and finally snapping back to you. "Jesus Christ, is that..." "We needed her help" Steve defended. "You said it was impossible without an access to legal matters" "And you thought bringing a cop here was a good idea? With Tin-man and all?" He deadpanned while Barnes rolled his eyes. "She's the only cop I'm a hundred percent sure is clean" He replied. "She won't give us away" "And it had to be her" He stated, glancing quickly at you. "No offence" "None taken" You half shrugged. "If you'd excuse me a second" He nodded harshly at Steve and they went in another room. It left you in an awkward silence with Barnes, something you would have rather not experienced.  He still eyes you carefully, as if you would pull another gun on him and shoot. However, he didn't seem like he wanted to attack you, or anyone else for that matter.  "What's their deal?" He tried a conversation, tilting his head toward where the two men went.  "I uh," You didn't expect the question, so it threw you yet again off. "I'm Steve's ex" You admitted.  He too didn't expect that, because his eyes went wide for a second. "Oh" "Yeah, oh" You pulled your lips together in a thin line.  "Why'd ya break up?" He asked, and you could tell he hadn't meant to say that out loud. You laughed dryly and crossed your arms against your chest, swaying slightly from one foot to another. "That's a funny story" You said, looking down. You too didn't mean to spill anything more, but the hurt you had felt resurfaced full force. "You see, he suddenly left with a guy he knew for fifteen minutes on a top secret quest I just discovered the purpose of" Realization flashed in his eyes as he put two and two together. Steve had left you, called things off when he left with Wilson to find Barnes. He wouldn't tell you why back then though, and he had never clarified after either. You understood what they were looking for-or rather whom-sometimes in between you clicking the safety off of your gun and Steve blocking your path.  "That's not ideal" He carefully said, his eyes shifting to the threshold when Steve and Wilson came back into the room. "So, let's start with..." Steve began, but his words were halted by Bucky's stare on him. "What? What is it?"  "You're such a punk, you know that?" Barnes said, making Steve frown in confusion. "You literally left her for me" You felt your face redden at his bluntness as Steve raised his eyebrows at you. "You told him?"  You took a deep breath and pumped some confidence in your veins. "Yeah, I thought it would suck for him to be the only one not knowing what was going on" You answered with a tight smile.  "Oh damn" Sam whispered as Barnes' eyes widened.  "Fair enough" Steve cleared his throat and gestured you to the table. "Now let's focus on the task at hand" /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ "Wait" You paused your motion of opening the car door and turned to face Steve. He looked uncertain, but there was something in his expression that told you he was about to say something important. "I uh, I'm really, and I mean really sorry for how we left off" He said, not meeting your eyes. "I know I hurt you, and I discovered today that I actually hurt you way more than I initially thought. It was wrong of me to do so, and I hope you can one day forgive me" You sucked in a breath at his words, not expecting such a heartfelt apology, especially not now. You knew it had been bothering him for a while, and that he was being sincere. "When you told me you'd be leaving and that you wouldn't even tell me why, I felt betrayed" You admitted. "We had known each other for more than two years, and you seemed to trust everybody more than me. I knew some serious shit went down back then, and that there were some secrets I'd never know, and I was fine with that. But I never thought you’d leave without any explanation, only with the proof you clearly didn't trust me enough to keep your secrets" "That's the thing" He replied, finally meeting your eyes. "I knew you'd keep the secret no matter what, and that's why I didn't tell you" "I'm not following" You drew your eyebrows in confusion. "You've always said that becoming Lieutenant was your dream, you had just applied for the position and you were likely to get it" He began. "What if I had told you I was trying to protect an international terrorist from being caught, and some people found out you knew about it all along and said nothing? The last thing I wanted was to make you chose between me and you job. It wouldn’t have been fair" You stayed silent for a while, processing what he had just said. It made sense, considering Steve had acted so out of character when he left. He wouldn't be lying either, you knew that much.  The atmosphere in the car was tense as you fidgeted with your finger, still not sure of how to react to that. You took a deep breath and closed you eyes for a second. "You could have told me that instead of leaving without a word" You whispered. "I know" He acknowledged. "I was an idiot, and I'm sorry" "I..." You hesitated, but after that apology it was hard to back track. "I accept your apology. Thank you for explaining" "Thank you, (Y/N). It means the world to me" He said with relief in his voice. You nodded and opened the door, setting your foot on the pavement of your apartment building. But you weren't fully out that he spoke again. "Do you think there's any hope for us?" You bit your lip hard as you wished he hadn't spoken. You turned toward him and gave him a thin lipped smile that didn't reach your eyes.  "Goodnight Steve"

•••

Tag list:

(can’t remember who wanted to be on my permanent list. If you wanna be added message me)

@thehabssuck-getoverit @potato-with-possible-standards @ fortisetgloriosusinarduis

[gengarfamily]

I still get reviews and messages sometimes about Don’t Take Forever, and whenever I’m sad I read through them and it makes me SO happy so I thought I’d share My Top DTF Moments and their origins.

Part One: Johto (slowburnhell)

so when I started writing this it was going to be a little cute oneshot collection of nice moments at various points in their journey (but then plot happened so) and all the plot fell together because I was obsessively listening to Lucy Rose at the time, specifically her song Little Brave (which actually gave the title, bc don’t take forever is like the chorus riff).

FAVE part of this chapter is the cafe scene in Olivine, where the foghorn jokes begin and May was crying but subtly doesn’t feel AS sad when she’s around him. The foghorn jokes that I get so much shit for now are from an irl conversation between me and a friend, when we used to give each other shit for our own bouts of seasickness, and he lived in a place where we needed boat transportation to see each other.

Other fave part is probably the hug in Blackthorn, because it makes me all squirmy and warm to think about, and it’s also my fave bit of the piano arrangement I did for this. anyway.

Big belief that Drew associates every single sunset he sees with May so obviously that’s why I kept writing her has wearing burnt orange I’m not sorry. AND OBVIOUSLY THEY KNOW EACH OTHERS BREAKFAST ORDERS THIS ISN’T EVEN A QUESTION.

Top Quote:

“Well you know, foghorns,” he shrugged, and she laughed harder. “They just call out to me.”

Part Two: Sinnoh (angst city)

I love lonely Drew. I LIVE for lonely Drew. Drew brooding and sulking and quietly repressing his emotions because he has more important things to focus on than just his girlfriend being far away; this is my aesthetic. I think my 100% top moment in this was probably catching Driftloom? I love Floroma Town and the windworks as an area in Sinnoh from way back when I first played D/P, I thought it was such a pretty place and if I lived anywhere in the Pokemon Universe it would DEFINITELY be there. 

Originally, I was going to write Drew’s mother as promising lots, and then ditching all the time. Sort of, she really wishes she could be a good mother but she’s just terrible at follow through and she can’t be counted on, so she was going to miss the final match and let him down or s o m e t h i n g, and I was going to have a bit of a stand off between Brendan and Drew, not over May, but over Marina and Drew’s dislike of her making Brendan super angry or SOMETHING. (I had a lot of vague ideas). In the end, I realized Marina was best left alone to be developed properly another time, because I always wanted to let her fall back into place with Jimmy. I also knew I wanted Karen to have some horrible bitterness to her, and some kind of “once mine, always mine,” mentality, so this idea of desperately clinging to her last chance of a good reputation seemed appealing.

Dawn and May in the coffee shop and Dawn yelling loudly about May’s feelings to embarrass her in front of Drew’s Dad is everything that matters to me. Also, I gave May an astigmatism because if you tell me that’s a girl who can see 100% you’re telling me a lie. ALSO DREW AND MAX SHOULD BE BEST FRIENDS that’s all.

Top Quote:

“Drew likes to make you think he’s cool,” Max informed them dutifully, pushing his glasses up his nose a little, “but it’s a lie. It’s a well thought out, calculated lie. This is part of the lie. Never forget, he is in fact a weenie.”

Part Three: Hoenn (1)

I live for the Christmas section here. I wanted to set them up as companions, that even though they traveled separately they were a unit and they were a partnership and what better environment than navigating a family christmas? Caroline and Drew as a friendship means EVERYTHING to me. And anyone who has spoken to me for more than three seconds knows that I have a LOT of feelings about Norman and May, but I’ll talk about that in the next section.

#letpaulappreciatecontests2k17

Shout out to this section for Max, who introduces Drew as top coordinator and full time weenie when he battles Norman. This is the most frequently commented upon moment when I get messages and reviews, and it means so much to me that you seem to share my terrible sense of humor. 

the bit where May does Drew’s tie because she’s used to league functions with her family and Drew is just a sarcastic mess was completely improvised because I had just realised that I would have to cut Hoenn into two parts, and I was naive and thought I’d need padding. I thought I might take it out when I realised HOW LONG Hoenn p2 ended up being but it’s now my fave bit of fluff in the whole thing, so. you know. have at it. and it also kind of hints at the whole sexual tension part of their relationship that gets addressed in part four so here just take it you sinners

The whole phone cliffhanger at the end was originally going to go somewhere SO MUCH MORE DEEP and have this horrible plotline where Drew’s parents had a huge thing and Matthew tried to reach May to talk to Drew before Karen could but I decided it was best to Leave Drew Alone for a while.

Top Quote

“Gross,” Marina commented sagely. “You’re that couple. The ‘oh we just... you know, spent a few weeks drifting around Sinnoh, on a whim. No big deal. We’re so in love, look how gross and happy we are’.”

Part Four: Hoenn (2)

Dawn as main rival is best main rival; obviously. I wanted a differing ~main~ person for M&D to come up against as a collective in every section at first, so it would start with Marina and then Brendan and then Dawn, but all with very differing kinds of rivalries. But then when Brendan stopped being an antagonist, and Karen and Matthew became the bulk of the issue in Sinnoh, much reevaluation happened and I wanted to talk about Drew’s relationship with Harley, so once M&D were together I wanted them to have their own conflicts as individuals and seperate battles to fight, and not lose them to some unified being that lost both of their personalities. I always wanted to have conflict between May and Norman, and definitely May and Solidad as well (again, p4) but once I figured out the Anti-Ikarishipping subplot and the difficulties I wanted Drew to have in that contest season, it made sense to pit him against Paul and Harley in different ways. Harley was a very aggressive rivalry and full of a lot of hurt on both sides, but with Paul I wanted it to be very passive. He was like a figure head for everything Drew had struggled with, and Dawn’s issue with Paul was supposed to mirror what could have happened with May and Drew if it had all gone Wrong.

cookieshipping was OBVIOUSLY going to be a part of this.

I desperately wanted some kind of conflict between Soledad and May, and originally it was going to be more around Soledad’s battling lul and her blaming May for that, and then also blaming her for Drew’s lul, and then all these negative feelings just sort of consuming her and snapping her, and while that doesn’t happen there’s an undercurrent of frustration that May caught her up and makes her a little dismissive but not to the point where she won’t prioritise her and Drew being happy? I guess. I like that their conflict ends up being nothing about coordinating, and nothing about their actual friendship, because they’re two very non-confrontational people, but two very emotionally intelligent people also, so their conflict all stems from an inability to agree with how Drew should process and how much they each individually care about him. Soledad dismissing May as overreacting felt natural because I felt May DID overreact while I was writing it, and with all the grand festival pressure I wanted that. Sometimes I wish I could rewrite it and make the underlying tensions a little clearer, because a lot of that is lost in the actual writing and it doesn’t come through the way I wanted it to, and it makes them all a little petty, but it can’t be helped now. (AKA: my biggest regret.)

I got a lot of people calling me out on the fact May and Drew had sex. in general, I feel like this chapter was both the weakest and the strongest in different ways, depending on what you’re looking for. I knew from the MOMENT I knew the plot that they needed to have that part of their relationship aired, because it’s such a natural and caring part of a lot of relationships and it didn’t seem right that they were becoming so emotionally firm and absolute with each other but were completely limited to little pecks on the cheek - it felt wrong with their characters when they’ve always been - even in the canon - so drawn to one another in a way that would so easily build to that, in the most respectful and caring of ways. anyway I wanted it to parallel their communication, so the more openly they talked with each other, the more physical they would be, in both mannerisms and in eventual actions. (I kept the scene PG so it’s all fine, I guess.)

I’ve gotten a few messages I’ve never publicly responded to about May and Norman and their relationship and where it comes from so here’s my official answer. : no. you’re wrong. it’s not me and my dad. congrats sherlock. I based it off moments in the ruby/sapphire game and the way May responds to him in the anime. Now, the relationship between them in An Adventurer is quite different, and I’ll cop to a part of that being my exploring my relationship with my dad. But it’s mostly manga references and a little bit of lingering tension from an unresolved relationship in DTF.

May and Dawn’s fight was the MOST FUN to write, and when I got to the last of Dawn’s pokemon I was legitimately like “okay so how many pokemon has she got left” and I was STUNNED because there were none, so I wrote that reaction into May’s numb-post-win feel.

The Elite Four part? mmmmmmmm. can’t possibly comment. maybe i’ll explain in the sequel. (COMING THIS SUMMER) *maybe* ((((oh god let me graduate)))))